spacekadet blog

My momma gave me permission to post her recipes on the interwebs, and since I’m still quite sickly and without the brain capacity to write anything original, I thought today would be a good day to share her latest success. It’s a Sweet Potato Quiche, inspired by our meal at London’s Food For Thought, a tiny vegetarian eatery in Covent Garden. The food is simple: quiche, stews, soups, rice salads, green salads, wholemeal bread. It’s the kind of food you could probably make at home, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth the money.

Food For Thought’s best sell is that it’s the only place in central London’s main shopping district that serves really fresh, tasty veggie food that won’t make you feel like butt after eating it. My mom liked it so much she bought their cookbook, which had a number of quiches but not the one she had that day. So she winged it from memory and churned out a pretty damn tasty quiche. She also has a good tip for anyone who’s crust-averse:

I also made a “crust-less” quiche which was fabulous! I put the sweet potato on the bottom to form a mock crust. I used spray on the ramekin, but you can use whatever you wish to keep it from sticking.

So there you have it.

Sweet Potato Quiche

4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt or to taste
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 sweet potato, boiled, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup frozen corn, yellow
1/4 cup green pepper, chopped
1/4 cup red pepper, chopped
olive oil, dash
1 tomato, chopped
1 pie crust
Mrs. Dash Original - a few dashes

Prepare pie crust and set aside.

Saute onion, garlic and peppers in a little dash of olive oil. When onion is translucent, turn off the heat and add the chopped tomato.

Whisk eggs, and add milk slowly. Add spices to egg mixture.

Spoon 3/4 of the onion/pepper mixture onto the bottom of the prepared crust.
Layer slices of sweet potato over that.
Sprinkle with cheese, evenly over the top.
Add another layer of potato slices.
Top with the rest of the onion/pepper mixture.
Pour the egg mixture over all letting it seep into all the nooks and crannies.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes, uncovered. Knife inserted will come out clean, when the quiche is done.

Crossposted to SmarterFitter.com

Isn’t it nice when you cook food for someone and they enjoy it so much that they lick every pan, plate and utensil that touched it? That was a certain someone’s (I won’t say who for sake of their dignity) response to my enchiladas last night, made possible in part by my mom who brought a big bag of corn tortillas with her when she came to visit me in London. Thanks, mom!

The enchiladas themselves were nice - a simple filling of sauteed onion, mushroom and spinach - but the sauce really made the meal. I adapted this recipe on RecipeZaar, which used cocoa powder in the seasoning. I also added sauteed onion and sliced carrot, inspired by Julio’s in Austin, Texas.

The enchilada sauce was good enough to eat by itself with a spoon, and I could see using it to spice up all sorts of things: scrambled tofu, black beans, refried beans, steamed vegetables… it would also make a good base for a veggie chili.

Cocoa-Spiked Ranchero Sauce

Carrots are optional but do add a nice texture, especially after they’ve been baked in the oven. Feel free to experiment with other herbs and spices such as jalapeno, cilantro, or parsley. But don’t ever forget the cocoa!

2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 liter water
1 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 carrot, sliced (optional)
salt to taste

In a medium saucepan on a low heat, add the olive oil and garlic and cook until soft.

Stirring constantly, gradually sprinkle the flour into the oil to form a thick paste (ever wonder what a roux is? This is it!).

Continue to stir and add the cocoa powder, cumin, oregano and chili powder.

With a wire wisk, continue to stir while slowly adding the water.

Add the tomatoes, salt and sliced carrots and bring everything up to a boil.

Turn down the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the sauce reaches the desired thickness. Taste the sauce and add more chili powder or salt if desired.

Makes enough for about 8 enchiladas, plus little leftover for spooning onto the enchiladas after they come out of the oven.

To use this on enchiladas:

Warm the sauce in a saucepan wide enough to fit a corn tortilla.

In a baking pan, ladle enough sauce to cover the bottom.

Place a corn tortilla into the saucepan and cover with the warm sauce. When the tortilla is warmed through and soft enough to roll into an enchilada, remove and fill with your desired filling. Roll the tortilla into an enchilada place in the baking pan.

Repeat until the pan is full.

Pour more sauce on top of the enchiladas.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the foil, top with grated cheese if desired, and bake until cheese is melted. Tip: turn on the grill for a minute or two to get the cheese nice and brown and crispy!

Thanks, mom!

Crossposted to SmarterFitter.com

Me so hungry for miso!

Now that I’ve had my little rant, it’s time to say something useful. I am going to talk about miso.

Japanese miso is a delightfully salty paste made by fermenting rice, barley and/or soybeans with salt and the fungus, kojikin,

I’ve had a lot of miso these past few days because that’s what you do when you have a cough: you eat soup. I’ve been drinking it as a tea by dissolving a tablespoon of barley miso paste into a mug of hot water. I prefer white miso, but the barley stuff was cheaper.

Whoa, what a second, hold the chopsticks!

White miso? Barley miso? What am I going on about?

Yes: there are different types of miso. This is often confusing to the miso noob who often achieves unexpected outcomes when they try to recreate the miso soup they had at their favorite Japanese restaurant.

Let’s get one thing straight:

The “typical” miso soup you eat at most Japanese restaurants are made with SWEET WHITE MISO.

However, there are many varieties of miso, the four most common being

• Red Miso (Akamiso) is made from white rice, barley or soybeans and contains the highest levels of protein of all types of miso

• White Miso (Shiromiso) is made with lots of white rice and fewer soybeans, so it has the highest carbohydrate content of all miso varieties and therefore tastes the sweetest
• Barley Miso (Nukamiso), shown above, is (surprise) made from barley and is very dark in color and sharply sweet in flavor
• Soybean miso (Hatchomiso) is made only from soybean and is known for its rich astringency

Okay, so how you do you make the miso soup you get in restaurants? Let’s discuss.

Heads up to any veggies in the audience: miso soup is traditionally made with dashi, a stock flavored with dried fish flakes. The good news is that miso soup is still damn good without it. So if you can’t find or don’t eat dashi, here is a dashi-free miso soup recipe for you to try:

Basic Miso Soup

• 4 cups water
• 1/3 cup sweet white miso (or more to taste)
• 1 tbsp dried wakame flakes (seaweed)
• 1/2 block firm tofu cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 green onions, sliced

Combine everything but the green onions in a pot and bring to a gentle boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook until the miso is dissolved and the tofu is hot. By this time the wakame should be sufficiently hydrated. Pour into bowls and garnish with sliced green onions.

Variations: add carrots, mushrooms, peas, noodles, whatever you fancy in your cuppa miso!

Miso varieties [Soya.be]

Crossposted to SmarterFitter.com