Speedy summer supper: succotash

Nothing says summer like tomatoes and corn! A quick, tasty way to combine them is to make a succotash, which also traditionally includes lima beans, and is a light, but filling summer meal, especially nice served over rice.


Succotash (serves 4)

2 ears corn
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
half a large onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup (thawed) edamame or (cooked) lima beans
salt, pepper to taste (sometimes use Season All instead, or add dried thyme also)
1 large tomato, coarsely chopped
2 cups hot cooked rice

Cut the corn kernels off their cobs, and set aside. In a large frypan (preferably cast iron), heat oil over medium heat (swirl oil around in the pan a bit). Add the onion, stir and cook a few seconds, then add the garlic and stir some more, about another minute. Add the cut corn and stir some more to cook another minute. Add the edamame or lima beans, add the seasonings, and stir again to cook a couple more minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, stir, and cover the pan to let cook another five or so minutes, until the skins are slightly falling off the tomatoes and the mixture is thickened.

Serve over hot cooked rice and enjoy.

Food, American style (inauguration edition)

The following recipe is for a delicious appetizer, a strata (pictured above, being prepared). It's a good dish to bring to a gathering when, like me, you have an aversion to transporting cooked food (and the resultant sloshing of food inside your car or on the subway), which does not need to be reheated, and is not a dessert.

It's best made the night before an event, so that it can "set" completely, making it easy to cut into squares. Like inauguration week, this dish is colorful, packed with flavor, and easygoing.

Vegetarian strata (savory bread pudding)

11 ounces day-old bread, torn into bite-size pieces (I used most of a sesame semolina loaf from Firehook Bakery, but any crusty bread will work)
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon dried porcini
1/2 cup whole flax seeds
1 cup water
1 large red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons canola or other vegetable oil
1/2 cup soy milk (oat or rice milk are good substitutes)
1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
1 or 2 green onions, finely chopped (white and green parts)
1 sprig fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 package veggie shrimp, thawed, OR 2 links veggie chorizo, finely chopped*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a small bowl, pour the boiling water over the dried porcini and let soak.

In a small saucepan, add the flax seeds and one cup water, bring to a simmer, and let simmer for five minutes. While flax mixture is simmering, in a small frypan, heat the oil over a medium flame, then add the red bell pepper and cook for two or three minutes, until softened.

After five minutes, strain the flax seeds and let the liquid drip into a small bowl. (The liquid should be clear yet thickened, akin to raw eggs in texture.) Add the soy milk, porcini water (use the leftover mushrooms in another dish), salt, and pepper. Gently mix.

Place the torn bread pieces into a casserole dish, then pour the flax seed/milk mixture over the bread and combine thoroughly. Mash mixture around with either a fork or a potato masher, so that the bread becomes mushy. Add all remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly in the casserole dish.

Cover casserole dish with foil, then bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. After removing the strata from the oven, let cool, then refrigerate overnight.

To serve, cut into squares. (The pieces are easiest to pick up, after cutting, with toothpicks.) Yum!

*The veggie shrimp is available at area health food stores and co-ops, as is the veggie chorizo, which is also available at supermarkets and Whole Foods.

'Tis the season...

I love the holidays--the singing, special food and drink, decorations, cards, gifts, the whole shebang.

While there's little money for gifts this year, it's an excuse to make yummy homemade gifts to take to party hosts. The best part about this is that there are always leftovers! In addition to Christmas cookies (which will be baking tomorrow), I tackled, as it were, a criminally easy fudge, a bit of which will go to auntie as a present, some for a present tomorrow, and some to remain at home.

This fudge is absurdly easy because there's no candy thermometer to fiddle with, no baking, and takes, oh, ten minutes to prepare in all. Honest! (Recipe adapted from Shmooed Food.)

Vegan Fudge (makes one 9-inch x 9-inch pan)

4 cups powdered (confectioner's) sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 nondairy milk
2 tablespoons nonhydrogenated margarine (e.g., Earth Spread or Soy Garden)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon almond (or other flavored) extract, optional
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional

Lightly oil or spray the baking pan and set aside.

Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa powder together into a large mixing bowl. (For my purposes, "sift" can mean stir around with a fork until the lumps are out, the ingredients are nicely mixed, and are lightly fluffed.) Add the chocolate chips, and set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the nondairy milk and margarine to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly to avoid burning. When the milk is at a steady, strong boil, pour it over the powdered sugar mixture and stir well with a wooden spoon until everything is well combined and the heat has melted the chocolate chips.

Stir in the vanilla (and other extracts, if using), and the nuts, if using.

Spread the fudge into the prepared pan and refrigerate overnight to solidify.

Enjoy (a little at a time--this stuff is rich!), preferably with hot liquid refreshment.

* * *

Surviving the holidays...

An unfortunate side-effect of modern life is that many of us eat like the holidays much of the time, with high-sugar, high-fat diets year round. For many, this results in devastating conditions like strokes.

There is treatment available for strokes, when they are detected early. An easy way to detect if someone might be having a stroke is ask someone the following questions (STR):

S -- ask the individual to SMILE

T -- ask the person to TALK and SPEAK (coherently) a simple sentence

R -- ask the person to RAISE BOTH ARMS

If the person has trouble with any of these tasks, call 911 immediately, and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

Other warning signs can be found in Don Hazen's Alternet article, Want to Save Some Lives? Here is a Simple Formula for Identifying Strokes.

Please don't ignore the signs--I have a friend on the Hill who is alive and well today because her stroke was treated in time.

To paraphrase the old saying, a sign in time saves lives!

Easy pre-holiday prep..the sauce!

Homemade cranberry sauce is akin to a chutney, and is just as versatile, post-Thanksgiving, because it's easy to handle--just spoon away! It's also easy to make (takes only about an hour to prepare, then let it cool off), doesn't require precision, and is even better after sitting overnight in the fridge. This makes it great if you are doing the holiday cooking, because you can make it a couple days ahead, sparing yourself much aggravation. If you're going to someone else's home, it makes a great gift for the host. Its jewel-like appearance, with chunks of fruit, makes it a grown-up holiday delight!

* * *

Um, thus is born this cranberry sauce "recipe," if you will...a new family favorite! The following makes enough to take some to your host, and some to keep for yourself as well.

• 2 12-ounce bags cranberries (it's OK if you froze them beforehand; no need to defrost frozen ones before cooking, but give a quick rinse first, to remove any stems)
• 1/2 cup or more juice
• an orange, lime, grapefruit, or lemon (zest the fruit first; add the rest of the fruit to the sauce, if you prefer)
• 2 1/2 cups sugar (may need to add more after tasting)
• ground coriander (or ground ginger, ground cardamom, or ground nutmeg--cinnamon, allspice, or cloves are too overpowering to fruit flavors, in my opinion)
• one pear or apple

In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, over medium heat, add the juice, the rinsed cranberries, sugar, then stir. If mixture seems a bit dry, add more juice--any juice is fine.

Add the citrus zest, then chop up the rest of the fruit, and add it to the sauce, if using the entire citrus fruit, then add the spice(s), and stir some more. Finally, chop the pear or apple and add it to the sauce, and stir again.

Stir the pot occasionally to keep it from sticking. The sugar should soon begin to melt within the sauce; after you see this, the berries should soon start simmering, and popping open. (You can assist the process of popping those berries with a wooden spoon, if you're impatient!) Turn down the heat a bit, to keep the sauce from spilling out of the pot.

The sauce is done when it's noticeably thicker than when you began; dip a spoon in it--some of the sauce should remain on the spoon. Taste it at this point; if you think it needs more sugar, add another 1/4 to 1/2 cup, and stir again until this sugar is fully melted into the sauce.

After turning off the heat, let the sauce cool in the pot another hour before spooning it into glass jars and refrigerating; theoretically, it keeps a few weeks, although it's usually eaten up within a couple of weeks!