Rookie Cookery

Pasta e Fagioli (pasta with beans)

Pasta with beans may sound funny, but it is a traditional combination in Italy.  Once you try it, you will understand why. For this light, quick supper I added a few pieces of sauteed sausages, tomato sauce and a garnish of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. 

INGREDIENTS

small shaped pasta such as bow ties

several sausage links (Italian style)

small can red kidney beans

small can diced tomatoes

small can tomato sauce

small white or yellow onion

two garlic cloves

Parmesan cheese for garnish

salt and pepper to taste

optional: red pepper flakes

DIRECTIONS

Here's what you do:

Boil water and cook some bow tie (or other favorite) pasta. This dish works best with small shapes of pasta rather than noodle styles.

In a medium size sauce pan, add a drizzle of olive oil and saute sliced pieces of sausage. I used a spicy turkey sausage. When the sausages are browned, remove them from the pan and set them aside.

Add chopped onions to the pan and cook them until translucent.

Add a couple of minced garlic cloves and cook until they are fragrant. 

Now add a can of drained and rinsed kidney beans.

Add a small can of chopped tomatoes and half a can or so of tomato sauce. Add a splash of red wine to get the consistency you like.

Add salt and black ground pepper to taste, and a little red pepper flakes if you like a kick of spiciness. (I do).

Return the sausages to the pan and heat it all through.

When the pasta is done, drain it and place a serving on a plate. Cover it with the bean and sausage sauce, then garnish liberally with fresh Parmesan cheese. Enjoy with a hearty red wine. This is one of my favorite meals.

A Simple Falafel Recipe

Pita bread is a round, flat bread from the Middle East. By gently slicing it open, it can form a pocket to hold any number of sandwich fillings. For a delicious vegetarian sandwich, try the traditional falafel.

A falafel is simply a fried dumpling made with chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans).  In the recipe below, I suggest you start with dried chickpeas that you soak overnight in water. However, if time is scarce, you can also use canned chickpeas that you drain and rinse.

PREPARE AHEAD:

Take one and 3/4 cups of dried chickpeas and cover it with two to three inches of water. The chickpeas will triple in volume, so put them in a large enough container to hold ample water, and be prepared to add water if need be to keep them covered.  Give them at least 24 hours to soak.

INGREDIENTS:

1 and 3/4 cups dried chickpeas, soaked and drained (see above)

2 cloves are garlic, minced

one small onion, chopped

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 cup chopped parsley (Italian flatleaf)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon lemon juice

enough vegetable oil to fry dumplings

DIRECTIONS:

Drain the soaked chickpeas, reserving some of the water. Place them in a food processor. Add all the remaining ingredients except the oi and pulse until well combined. Add small amount of water from soaking the chickpeas if the mixture is too thick to mix well. 

Pour the oil into a large, deep pan to depth of about two inches. Turn the heat to 350 degrees F., and heat oil until a drop of batter will sizzle in the hot oil.

Using your hands and a spoon, shape the chickpea mixture into small balls about one inch in diameter. Fry them in the hot oil, small numbers at a time, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Fry them until they are deep golden brown in color, remove with slotted spoon to a paper towel where they can drain. 

TO ASSEMBLE THE SANDWICHES:

Slice open the pita bread to form pockets. Fill with the falafel, adding other items such as chopped lettuce, sliced cucumbers, chopped tomatoes etc. as desired.

OPTIONAL:

Falafels are traditionally served with a hummus type of sauce, thinned with water or lemon juice. Or try tahini (sesame paste) mixed half and half with plain yogurt, a tablespoon or two of lemon juice, seasoned with salt and pepper.  Alternatively, I also enjoy falafels with chili paste or salsa on them. 

Falafels travel well and can be eaten hot or cold.

Thoughts On Not (Yet? Ever?) Learning To Hunt

    A local food blogger, Holly Heyser of NorCalCazedora, just posted news about an opportunity for local women to learn how to hunt for food. This caught my attention. The notion of learning to hunt had been a barely perceived question brewing in the back of my mind, especially because I am a carnivore and strongly believe we ought to respect the animals we cull for food. That includes understanding and respecting the quality of life, and necessary death, of those animals.  Now I was presented with an opportunity. Do I want to learn to hunt?  My own answer came quickly: I am not yet ready, and I may never be ready, to hunt.

    Was it simply a matter of cold feet? Too busy? No, that's not it. I realized that although I am never one to shy away from a challenge, and I am not especially squeamish about life and death, learning to hunt has a big potential price tag associated with it.

    You see, when it comes to hunting a live animal, I am terrified of Doing It Wrong, of making a mistake. I am terrified, but not of  missing my shot. I am, in fact, a very good shot with a handgun on a shooting range. I am terrified of wounding, not killing,  an animal. I dread the possibility of shooting an animal, injuring it, then the poor creature would run or slink away, and I wouldn't be able to find it, (or would find it after a time), and it would die a slow and painful death all because I made a mistake.

    I am sure all hunters deal with this.  Target practice must be a frequent routine, to ensure that wounding animals is a rare event. When the inevitable wounding does occur, the majority of hunters are, I like to think, (and hope and pray) responsible and kind enough to spend all their efforts to track and down the injured prey and finish the job, as quickly as possible. I'm certain that most hunters (at least the ones I know and respect) anguish over this issue.

    Cal me a coward, but wounding an animal while hunting it is a risk I am simply not willing to take at this time. Not even once.

    This is why I prefer good old fashioned animal husbandry. I increasingly entertain the idea of raising my own meat animals, most likely chickens. In such a case, the life of the beast is truly under my jurisdiction. I can make sure it is well cared for, treated with respect and kindness and yes even love, until the day I would dispatch it as swiftly and with as little of the necessary pain as possible. Until that time I can select organic and responsibly raised sources of meat at the market.

    I am not anti-hunting for food. I definitely oppose hunting for non-food sport.

    Even though fishing can also result in wounded fish (the wayward slash of a hook that did not catch), fishing seems more humane to me.  Maybe I'm really wrong about that. Trapping... that's a grey area with lots of potential for animal suffering, (best avoided) but I would not oppose lobster traps for example. I do admit to being curious about trapping and eating squirrel or rabbit. But these would have to be non-wounding traps. That's a grey area for me right now, and I have not had the opportunity to discuss it with friends who trap small animals.

    What do you think, readers? Would you endeavor to learn to hunt for food? Why or why not? If you are a hunter I'd love to hear how you work with these issues. One caveat: I don't tolerate or publish spam or antagonistic  comments. Speak passionately, but respectfully, if you want to be heard in this venue. Thanks.

A (Better) Traditional Shortbread Recipe

Behold: A study in Beige on White.

I know that's an uninspiring picture of shortbread.  But I wanted to finish telling you about my entry in the Traditional Shortbread category of the Shortbread Baking contest at the Scottish Highland Games in Woodland CA, (see my last post) AND I need to perform the blogging equivalent of "Stop the presses!" because THIS recipe is FAR superior to the one I previously posted. 

Let me tell you the odd way this came about.

There I was, having decided it was pointless to enter into the Traditional Shortbread contest because, really, what's to compete about? Shortbread is virtually defined by its basic simplicity. Shortbread is as shortbread does. Or something to that effect. But then as I said, my genetics kicked in and I was compelled to offer a traditional entry as well as non-traditional.

Meanwhile, after I posted my first article about the contest, a reader left a comment gently chiding me for referring to shortbread as a "cookie". In my defense, I pointed out that I was referring to Michael Ruhlman's  book, "Ratio", in which he states that shortbread is in fact a basic cookie dough.

Fast forward to my own decision to enter the traditional recipe contest. Just for kicks, I do a quick Google search on the term "traditional shortbread"  and found this little gem of an article, titled Scottish Shortbread,  written by--of course!--Michael Ruhlman!  Even more coincidentally, he posted this article on March 9 of this year, ,several weeks before I posted my article on shortbread.  And even though I am a reader (and fan) of Michael's blog, this particular post got past me. 

I made note of the fact that Michael's recipe was from a very traditional source: The Edinburgh Book Of Plain Cookery Recipes, published in 1920.  I also noticed that the recipe calls for a portion of the flour to be substituted with rice flour, or alternatively, corn starch.

I didn't have any rice flour on hand, but the night before the contest I knew I had corn starch and all the other necessary ingredients in my pantry. So I used the Edinburgh recipe and whipped up a batch early on Saturday morning for the contest.

I decided to use my hands to mix the ingredients, and pat the dough into a round pan. As I worked the dough gently, I meditated on all the other Scottish women and men who had made this shortbread down through the decades. Maybe I was being overly romantic, but I felt connected to them that morning, in a kind of culinary lineage that blended with family ties that went all the way back through my Dad, to his Father whom I never met, back to my ancestors in Scotland. 

I tasted a small bite of the shortbread after it finished baking. It tasted absolutely delicious, and I knew this was a superior recipe.

My shortbread was not a winning entry in the contest, but I noticed the judges lingered over it very thoughtfully. The flavor and color were right, as I learned later from the baker who took first place. But it was thin; I should have heeded Ruhlman's advice about making it thicker. Next time.

No matter.  I claim a personal victory, for I have found a traditional shortbread recipe that is so, so, so good. It is now my new standard.

Turns out one shortbread recipe is NOT as good as another! Not by a long shot.

This shortbread is soooooo good.  Out of deference and gratitude to Mr. Ruhlman, I'll recommend you find the recipe here on his site.  

This is what I did:

INGREDIENTS

4 oz. flour
2 oz. corn starch
4 oz. butter
2 oz. (granulated) sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Sift flours together, then add all other ingredients and mix by hand, being careful not to overwork the dough. Pat the dough into a nine inch round cake pan* and place in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees F. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until shortbread is very light tan color. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before scoring with a knife to cut. When completely cooled, remove carefully from pan to slice and serve.

*Use a bread pan or smaller cake pan for thicker shortbread.