In honor of St. Patrick’s day, my local bread baker is making Irish Soda Bread. So I was inspired to try it myself. It really is very easy. Irish Soda Bread is similar to an Australian Hamper bread. You use baking soda and baking powder instead of yeast. So it is very quick to put together. This recipe uses whole wheat flour and rolled oats so it is a little healthier than the average white flour variety. Buttermilk seems to be a key ingredient in all Irish Soda Bread recipes. I even had to make a special run to the store to get some. Basically it comes out like a big scone but not as sweet. I served it hot, slathered with butter, to accompany the Butternut Squash and Pear Soup. Read the rest of this entry »
Butternut Squash and Pear Soup
10 03 2010
Wow, last night I made this fantastic soup! I looked in my refrigerator and found a butternut squash and some overripe pears. This recipe used them up beautifully. I could really taste the lovely combination of the sweet pears and the creamy butternut.
Before I made the soup though, I quickly threw together a Vegetable Stock (see recipes). I kept throwing in things like the peelings of the butternut squash as I was preparing to make the soup. I really think the key to a good soup is the stock. If you have to buy commercial stock, then use less stock and dilute it with water. Commercial stock is thicker than homemade.
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Tags: pears, squash, sweet potatoes
Categories : Soup
Diggin’ Granola
6 03 2010
A good friend of mine asked me specifically to put my granola recipe on the website. I have served this granola to a lot of people over the years and they just can’t seem to get enough of it. When my friends visit me from around the country, they insist on being fed Diggin’ Granola. This is the basic recipe, but of course, it comes out a little different every time because when I make it, I basically use whatever is in my pantry. I vary the dried fruits and the nuts. You really can’t go wrong no matter what you add to it. This is great served with fresh fruit and yogurt or homemade almond milk. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: nuts, oats
Categories : breakfast
Fantastic Olive Oils and Vinegars
6 03 2010I just finished leading a Gourmet Market Tour here in Denver with Culinary Connectors. (See my link.) They give Gourmet and Ethnic Market Tours and Restaurant tours in the Denver/Boulder area and soon to be expanding to Aspen.
We had such a ball at EVOO Marketplace in Lodo Denver. They have the finest selection of Olive oils and Balsamic Vinegars I have ever seen. Not only do they sell 18 year old Balsamic vinegar but many flavors of fused Balsamic vinegar such as black cherry, peach and their newest item, Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar. I had to buy some of that and I am going to use that in mascarpone with a little brown sugar and then dip strawberries into it. A fabulous, simple dessert!
I also found a great combination of Peach Vinegar and Persian Lime oil. That would be great drizzled over a lemon risotto topped; with grilled asparagus. Or how about the Mushroom and Sage oil drizzled over a Butternut Squash risotto?
We had so much fun tasting and combining flavors. When you go into the store, they show you how to pour little tasters into cups and then dip bread, cheese, or even just your finger in to taste. You could spend hours coming up with new flavor combinations.
EVOO sells online as well. So go to my links and see what they have. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: balsamic vinegar
Categories : condiment
Pear Cobbler with Dried Blueberries and Cornmeal Biscuits
1 03 2010
This was the dessert we made at the cooking class. I chose it because it is a good example of a cobbler, which is just a baked fruit dessert with a batter or bisuit topping. Also, the great thing about cobbler is you can substitute almost any fruit depending on the season. Try peaches and berries in the summer, or maybe even a tropical cobbler with mango and papaya. This cobbler uses apple juice instead of sugar so it is really just sweet from the pears and blueberries. There is a little sugar added to the biscuits. The technique for making these biscuits is the same for making scones.
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Tags: berries, pears
Categories : desserts
Wild Mushroom Barley Risotto
1 03 2010
Risotto Stirring
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Tags: barley, mushrooms, risotto
Categories : Main Dish, Rice
Vegetable Stock
1 03 2010
In order to make the risotto we did in class or any great vegetable soup or stew, you need to begin with a good vegetable stock. I think homemade stock is far superior to any stock you buy in the store. Making stock is a great way to use up vegetables in your refrigerator that may go bad. What’s even better is that you can customize it to your recipe. So if you are making a Mushroom risotto, add more mushrooms to the stock, or if you are making a soup that would go nicely with fennel, add fennel to the stock. The options are endless. This is only an example of a stock. Of course some of the ingredients are optional, but you will need to add at least carrots, onion, celery, parsley, bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme and salt if nothing else. If you want a slightly thicker stock, then add potatoes. Don’t use too many cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli or kale because their flavor is too strong.
Remember, when making a stock, begin with cold water then add all the vegetables and bring it to a boil. By starting with cold water, you will extract all the flavor from the vegetables into the stock. This is different from just boiling up some carrots to eat where you want the flavor to remain in the carrot.
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Tags: carrots, celery, garlic, onions, Potatoes, tomatoes
Categories : Soup
Tomato, Basil and Goat Cheese Bruschetta
28 02 2010
This appetizer dish was a spontaneous addition to our dinner party menu at the first cooking class. We wanted to make sure our guests had something to nibble on when they arrived so we through these together in about 10 minutes. We did use a very secret ingredient. I had some Spanish Roasted Black Olive Sea Salt, which I purchased at the Savory Spice Shop (see my links). If you don’t have it, just use some very good coarse sea salt to add to the tomatoes. Everybody loved them and the students were pleased to see how easy it is to put together a quick yet impressive first course. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: basil, cheese, tomatoes
Categories : Appetizer, Italian
Smoked Trout, Avocado and Grapefruit Salad
28 02 2010
This was the starter course to our fantastic first cooking class. The flavors are complex but the preparation is quite simple. The key ingredient is the smoked trout and the crisped trout skin. This salad might also be good with sliced fresh fennel bulb instead of the endive.
Trout Salad Prep
Serves 8
4 boneless smoked-trout fillets with skin
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste
3 red grapefruit
2 avocados
5 cups arugula
3 Belgian endive, sliced across
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
4 red radishes, very thinly sliced Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: arugula, avocado, endive, grapefruit, radish, trout
Categories : salad
First Cooking Class – A Great Success!
28 02 2010Yesterday I taught the first cooking class of Vegout Gourmet in my kitchen. I believe the ladies who attended had a great time and learned a lot. Instead of doing my scheduled Cooking with Grains class, the ladies requested a full dinner party menu so we could invite our spouses at the end and serve them a full 4-course meal. Yes, at times I do cook and eat seafood as demonstrated by the smoked trout salad we concocted. We worked hard for four hours beginning with the basics of making vegetable stock and ending with a delicious barley risotto. One of our biggest surprises was how delicious the smoked trout skin was after we crisped it in the oven. It was like sprinkling bacon bits on top of the salad. The complete menu was as follows:
Fun with Risotto
- Tomato, Basil and Goat Cheese Bruschetta
- Smoked Trout, Avocado and Grapefruit Salad
- Wild Mushroom Barley Risotto
- Steamed Broccoli with Garlic, Walnut, Browned Butter Sauce
- Pear and Blueberry Cobbler with Cornmeal Biscuit Topping
Look for all of these recipes posted on the site. Read the rest of this entry »
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Categories : Uncategorized
Katherine
vegoutgourmet.com 