More Protein than a Pancake, More Substantial than a Crêpe—It's a Crêpecake!

Granted, I love crêpes—light, airy, eggy wisps filled with yummies and topped with yummies, but tricky to make well. And I love pancakes, too—who doesn't?—although pancakes do not love me (uggghhh—all that starch!). So what's a hungry foodie to do? Take the best of both worlds and you get, voila, a crêpecake. A freshly made light-fluffy-tender-moist cake—lighter and richer than a pancake, chock full of eggs like a crêpe. Crêpecakes. You'll never go back to plain pancakes again. And your family will get more protein and a better breakfast or brunch meal out of the deal. No need to serve eggs on the side, because crêpecake already have the egg base covered.

Ingredients

1 cup whole milk
4 eggs, separated
1 cup unbleached white flour
Dash salt
2 tablespoons raw sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
4 tablespoons butter, melted,
Extra butter and non-stick spray (like Pam) for the frying pan

Optional: 1 cup whole, fresh blueberries or chopped strawberries to add at the last minute to the batter

Serve with little bowls of:

• Warmed maple syrup
• Melted butter

How to Make Crêpecakes

1. Here's the secret: use your mixer to whip up the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Set aside while you make the rest of the crêpecake batter.
2. Mix the egg yolks into the milk until well-blended.
3. Stir the dry ingredients together, and then stir in the egg yolk-milk mixture a little at a time. Stopping as soon as blended (it will be lumpy—don't fret!).
4. Stir in the melted butter s-l-o-w-l-y, so as not to over-work the batter.
5. Fold in the fluffy egg whites a little at a time.
6. If you are adding fruit, add it now.
7. Heat a nonstick frying pan on medium heat, testing to see if a drop of water dances on the surface. Add a small amount of butter, and spray the pan with nonstick spray.
8. Pour about a heaping tablespoon of batter for each crêpecake. Cook on one side until bubbly on top and toasted a bit on the sides (one to two minutes). Flip and finish cooking for 30 seconds to a minute. Crêpecakes should be light brown on each side.
9. Continue in this way, adding a small amount of butter and/or nonstick spray for each batch. Remove each batch to a covered Dutch oven kept in the oven on the lowest heat, until all are ready to serve.

· Drizzle with melted butter and maple syrup and enjoy the accolades.

· Crêpecakes freeze beautifully—just store in a plastic freezer bag and reheat in a microwave or toaster over for a quickie breakfast treat.

Sangria: The Taste of Joy and Summertime

¡Sangre, Sangria, San–gracias!
From the Spanish word for blood, sangre, comes the bloody well delightful wine punch, sangria. Sangria is wine when it dons a fiesta dress, puts a flower behind its ear, and starts to PARTY! Sangria is the taste of joy and summertime, and can't be beat for "awe versus effort" factor. Remarkable, in fact, that a beverage served only in warm regions or when the summer sets in in earnest, a beverage that makes guests lurch toward it with gigantic grins, could be so ridiculously easy to make. The hardest part, really, is deciding which kind to make, what variations to play with, and how best to use what you have on hand. (Two major pieces of joy in cooking are 1) Getting the most awe for your effort, and 2) Using what you have on hand first. If you are struggling to make a dish that hardly raises an eyebrow, you're not going to be a happy chef. Nor will you be if you have to dash off to the store for ingredient-hunting expeditions!)

Sangria Breakdown
Here are the nitty gritty factors about sangria. Once you know these, you can whip up your own sans recipe. Just pour, chop, mix, ice, and enjoy!

1. Start with any kind of wine you like--cheap wine, fine wine, sparkling wine, dessert wine, red wine, white wine--it all tastes fabulous when sangriad. (Note: cheap wine may give you a residual yucky feeling the next day, unless you go with a good brand, like Two-buck Chuck. More on this later.)
2. For each bottle of wine you use, add roughly HALF the equivalent quantity of other liquids. The liquid portion could be sparkling water (good because it adds no sugar), fruit juice, sweetened sodas (like ginger ale), lemonade, or a combination. Only add more than that with caution, or your sangria will become too diluted. Feel free to add less, though, for a more potent version. But taste test to be sure.
3. Add about two cups of fruit per bottle of wine--fresh, frozen, or a combination. Mixed fruit, all-one-fruit--you are the designer of this punch. But I do recommend you use at least a bit of fresh citrus--because it lends such a punch to the punch. Use fruit that looks pretty floating in the sangria, like peaches and sliced strawberries. Yum! Probably best to avoid bananas or any starchy fruit, but pretty much anything else goes nicely in sangria. Pineapple. Blueberries--why not?
4. Add a kicker, if you like, in the form of 1/4 cup of booze per bottle of wine. This could be brandy or a flavored liquor, such as Grand Marnier, Kirsch, Chambord, Triple Sec, Limoncello, etc. Stay away from whiskey, bourbon, and dark liquors, but rum or vodka work wonderfully. The kicker step is optional.
5. Taste the pre-chilled sangria to see if it's sweet enough. If not, you may want to add a bit of simple sugar. (Simple sugar is just sugar mixed with water, and then microwaved so that the sugar dissolves. You do not want crunchy sugar crystals in your drink!) I don't add sugar to my sangria, but it's all good. If you usually add sugar to your sangria, I'd suggest adding a fruit juice first, and then tasting it. It may be sweet enough as is.
6. Cover, and let the fruit, wine, and liquid mixture rest in a refrigerator for at least two hours if you have time. This lets the flavors have a chance to mingle and get happy before their big debut. Chilling means you won't have to add ice. Ice will dilute and change the proportions of your mix-mastering.
7. Garnish, if you like, with a few slices of fresh fruit. Citrus looks lovely, a giant strawberry would work. Pineapple too. Have fun with it.

Sangria Suggestions

• If you live within proximity to the almighty foodie heaven called Trader Joe's, you are in luck! They sell a delightful, inexpensive wine of Napa Valley vintage called "Charles Shaw," owned by the Bronco Wine Company, and that costs a meager $1.99 per bottle. You heard right. (Surely it's more than that just to bottle the stuff.) Affectionately known as Two-buck Chuck, this stuff is decidedly NOT rotgut--it's a drinkable wine, and the absolutely best option for sangria-making. But you can use whatever wine you have on hand. Probably not a great idea to bury a truly high-end wine in a punch, but, hey, if you are feeling magnanimous—or desperate—go for it.
• Don't forget the option of using champagne! Oh, how lovely those bubbles taste in a sangria. Whoo-hoo! You are gonna love it!
• You can add a bit of spice by squeezing some grated ginger root into your sangria. Guaranteed to be a fun surprise for your guests. Love the combo of champagne-peaches-ginger juice-ginger ale. I made that for a Christmas party, and it was da bomb! Ginger juice works better with white-wine based sangrias than red ones, though.
• Think about keeping some choice frozen fruit on hand--like mixed berries, mango, or pineapple--these not only are fruit that may not be in season otherwise, but the sheer coldness of the frozen fruit kicks the sangria up a notch. But if you do use frozen fruit, at least add SOME fresh fruit. Why? Because the frozen fruit isn't as pretty, usually, as fresh fruit is. Part of the appeal of sangria is visual. Think circles of citrus dancing lazily in frosty glasses. Guests languishing happily around your patio table.
  

¡Viva la Sangria!

Grilled Curried Lamb Shish Kebobs—Savory, Summery, Ecstasy

Nothing says summer savory fun like kebabs. And the secret of fabulous kebabs is marinating in advance. When the meat and veggies soak in a piquant marinade, they evolve into something different altogether, something irresistible when grilled. Now, you have to be generous with salt—marinating is not a good time to ration salt. Salt brings out the gorgeous flavor of meats. And lamb, ahhhhh, the king of all meats, for serious omnivores. Get as fresh a lamb leg as possible and as local as possible (not always an option—stores around here carry mostly New Zealand or Ozzie lamb, which is a bummer—why aren’t there more U.S. lamb ranches?). My little girl’s fifth birthday party is next Saturday, June 14, and we are serving this dish—among a cornucopia of other dishes. We always make some vegetable-only kebabs, too, for our vegetarian friends (marinate the vegetable separately to keep it all copacetic). Don’t be afraid of kebabs. Just take it in two steps: marinate the pieces the first day and load the kebabs and grill the second day.

Meat Preparation:

1 boneless Leg of Lamb

1 tablespoon Ground Cumin Seeds

1 tablespoon Ground Coriander Seeds

½ teaspoon Ground Turmeric

½ teaspoon Ground Cardamom Seeds

½ teaspoon Ground Fennel Seeds

½ teaspoon Ground Black Peppercorns

1 teaspoon Salt

1 tablespoon Grated Ginger Root

1 tablespoon Crushed Garlic

¼ cup Red Wine—or more to get slightly sloshy consistency

3 tablespoons Olive Oil—or more to get slightly sloshy consistency

Vegetable Preparation:

4 to 5 cups Assorted Vegetables [Cut in 1 to ½ inch chunks]

Use summer squash, zucchini, patty pan, Vidalia or other sweet onions, green onions, mushrooms, asparagus, green, red, or orange peppers, etc. Veggies that don’t work well are both hard veggies (such as potatoes, parsnips, and carrots—because they won’t cook through in the same amount of time as the rest of the items on the kebobs) or soft veggies (because they’ll fall apart—don’t use tomatoes or white mushrooms, though portabellas would be good).

1 tablespoon Ground Cumin Seeds

1 tablespoon Ground Coriander Seeds

½ teaspoon Ground Turmeric

½ teaspoon Ground Cardamom Seeds

½ teaspoon Ground Fennel Seeds

½ teaspoon Ground Black Peppercorns

1 teaspoon Salt

1 tablespoon Grated Ginger Root

1 tablespoon Crushed Garlic

¼ cup of White Wine or Sake—or more to get slightly sloshy consistency

3 tablespoons Olive Oil—or more to get slightly sloshy consistency

Putting It All Together

Make this recipe one day in advance to knock your guests out with ecstasy. If you are short on time, at least prepare it in the AM and grill it in the PM—but no less time than that, as the spices won’t get into the meat and veggies otherwise.

You can mix up all the spices and the ginger and garlic in one batch (because they are the same for the veggies and the meats) and then put red wine in the lamb Zip-lock bag and the white wine in the veggie one.

Marinate the lamb chunks, the spices, and the wine and oil (listed under Meat Preparation) in one large Zip-lock freezer bag. Keep refrigerated for one to two days, turning the bag each time you open the refrigerator to distribute the marinade. If the marinade is not sufficient to coat all the pieces luxuriously (if lamb leg is too big), then double the marinade quantities.

In the same way, marinate the veggies in the spices and wine and oil (listed under Vegetable Preparation) in a large freezer bad and turn every time you open the refrigerator door.

When you are ready to grill, use wooden skewers and alternately skewer meat chunk, veggie chunk, meat chunk, veggie chunk, etc., leaving at least an inch at the bottom and the top of the skewer.

Grill, turning occasionally, until you see some charring on the edges of the onions and the meat looks cooked through.

Enjoy with rice and a salad for a terrific and simple summer meal.

Creamed Shrimp with Butter Rice (Ebi no Kurimu ni Bataaraisu Zoe)

A visual treat and a delight to eat, this dish satisfies on every level, and never fails to impress. Although not difficult to prepare, it does require many steps and ingredients. If you have a rice cooker, though, you are halfway there. I took the original recipe from Keiko Hayashi's Japanese Cooking: Try It, You'll Like It, and added more veggies, tarting it up in a distinctly southern California way (I bought the dish a Hurley surf-skirt and some Oakley sunglasses, is all). I'm convinced, though, that despite it's Japanese association, this creamed shrimp dish likely evolved from French cuisine--who else uses so much butter so wantonly (beside me)? Here's what this colorful presentation can look like (above), with many layers and textures. Because salad and starch and entree are all in there together, no need to serve with anything but a large spoon and a smile.

Creamed Shrimp with Butter Rice and Vegetables, a la Tumerica

Shrimp and Sauce
1 pound raw, shelled shrimp
Salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons sake or white wine
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup mushrooms (crimini, portobello, white, or shiitake--if dried, reconstitute first)
2 tablespoons brandy or cognac
3 tablespoons flour
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup cream

Butter Rice
1 1/2 cups jasmine or other long-grained rice
2 to 2 1/4 cups chicken stock--to prepare rice according to package directions
2 tablespoons butter

Garnishes
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
1 large or two medium tomatoes, chopped
2 cups fresh Swiss chard or spinach leaves, chopped loosely, stir-fried only to wilt

1. Prepare rice according to package directions (Jasmine rice is 1 1/2 cups of rinsed rice to 2 1/4 cups water), substituting chicken stock for water and adding in butter before the water boils. Set aside, covered.
2. Sauté shrimp and wine only to cook the shrimp, a couple of minutes, max. Set aside.
3. Saute mushrooms and shrimp in two tablespoons butter, sprinkle with brandy or cognac off-flame and return to heat. Remove the shrimp and mushrooms and add in the chicken stock.
4. Melt one tablespoon butter, whisking in flour, and cook until bubbly. Add in the chicken stock mixture., stirring well, and cooking to a smooth consistency. Remove from heat again, and this time add in the whisked egg yolks and cream. Return to heat, add in shrimp and mushrooms, and correct seasonings with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Mold the rice in a bowl and overturn the bowl into the center of a serving platter. Create a well in the center of the rice. Pour the shrimp-sauce mixture into the hollow, letting the sauce dribble down the sides of the rice.
   
6. Create a circle of sauteed Swiss chard or spinach around the outside of the rice. Spread evenly to make a ring of green.
7. Just inside the ring of green, create a ring of red by scattering the chopped tomatoes the same way.
8. Lastly, garnish with the cilantro in the very center and serve immediately.
   

A Short Course on How Lentils Could Save Planet Earth

Lentils. Daal (or dal or dahl). Sambar (or sambhar). Lentil soup. Lentil curry. Lentils and veggies. Over rice. Nice.

Lentils are seeds, of course, like all good pulses, and are shaped like little lenses. In fact, their genus is lens. Lens culinaris. Culinary lenses. Probably the earliest plant actually to be planted for cultivation purposes—the dawn of human agriculture—lentils make a huge contribution to the human diet with their 26% protein content (bested only by soybeans for sheer plant-protein-fortitude).

Lentils come in an eye-catching array of colors: green, orange, yellow, black, brown, red, white. And sizes—from teeny lenses to pea-sized lenses.

What I notice when I work with lentils is how fast they cook, compared to other beans (20 to 30 minutes for smaller lentils, more for larger ones). So, if you are serving rice and lentils, start them both at the same time, and you will be eating sooner than if you went out and bought Chinese take-out. Vegetarians love lentils—and with good reason—if you serve lentils along with a grain dish, between the two, you'll be getting complete protein, with all essential amino acids. Wow.

Some folks, like my husband (who has a tendency to explosive digestive issues), express concern about the inherent, um, fart-causing aspect of lentils and other beans. Well, it turns out there is a trick: soak lentils in water prior to cooking, and then discard the water. You will be pouring a good percentage of the fart-factor down the drain—and your whole household will be happier for it (unless that sort of thing amuses you—but probably best to reserve explosive digestive displays for say, camping trips, where the air is fresh).

Oh, yeah. Did I mention vitamins, minerals, and fiber? Lentils pack heaping doses of these too. It's even thought that regularly eating lentils can lower your risk of heart disease, and help balance your blood sugar. And don't forget—lentils are inexpensive. If you are a starving student, buy rice, lentils, and veggies and you will stretch your dollars to the maximum, while still eating well (and saving on doctor bills that your well-fed compatriots will later have from being part of the fast-food nation).

Drought-tolerant and grown simply everywhere, lentils are adept at feeding the world. Lentils could save the Earth and the people inhabiting same. Need any more reasons to start adding lentils to your family's diet? Nah—just some cooking ideas, please!

Here's a great list from Indian Foods Co. of spices and seasonings to use with lentils:

Cumin Seeds	Red Chillies	Mustard seeds
Ghee or oil for base of seasonings	Ginger Paste a must in most dals	Garlic Paste is sometimes used in dals
Coconut shreds (optional)	Tamarind or lime juice or fresh tomatoes or amchur powder to flavor the dal sour	Jaggery, maple syrup, brown sugar or palm sugar to flavor the dal sweet (optional)
Sambhar Powder to make the popular southIndian dal called sambhar	Garbanzo spice package to make the popular North Indian beans called Channa

A good rule of thumb is to use four cups of water for every cup of lentils and to cook for somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes (again, cook longer for larger lentils). Do not add salt until AFTER the lentils are already cooked. This is also true of all dried beans. Salt impedes the absorption of water during cooking. Save salt and salty seasonings until the end. (Sambar seasoning usually does not contain salt, so you can add that whenever you like).

You can buy a nice sambar powder at any Asian or Indian grocery store, with a recipe on the back. Sambar is a tangy, piquant, and irresistible lentil stew—but you will need tamarind paste to make it correctly. You can always treat lentils like curry, and start with sauteeing onions in butter or olive oil, adding garlic and grated ginger root, cooking the lentils in enough water (lentils are thirsty!), and then adding the usual suspects of turmeric, cumin, and coriander to flavor it "curry."

But honestly, you could also keep it simple: saute chopped onions in olive oil or butter, cook lentils in enough water, and then add a couple of cups of chopped veggies: eggplant, carrots, green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, spinach, etc. Add salt to taste, and serve. If you want to play around, throw in some Cajun spice or Tabasco. It goes without saying to use your imagination and play around. Lentils are forgiving. Even if they are cooked to death, they merely resemble pea soup, and are still good to eat. And good to save your health and the planet.

Please send in your favorite lentil discoveries to me (Tumerica).

An incredibly scrumptious curried lentil dish

Cold Savory Soups for Hot Days

What to Serve Your Loved Ones When It's Hot Outside

Hot days got you in a daze? Feel like going into the kitchen and firing up the oven? Naaah. Want something refreshing, simple, yet pallet-satisfying for a summer supper? How about a cold soup with a simple garden salad and a loaf of fresh artisanal bread (the chewier, the better)?

You may be imagining cold soups are frou-frou dishes served only in uppity restaurants. Would you even like a cold soup? Wouldn't it be, well, icky? Once you get over the idea of a cold liquid as an entrée, I think you'll find yourself enjoying it.

The loveliest way to serve cold soup is in two concentrically sized bowls: the smaller bowl holds the soup. The larger bowl holds ice, and the smaller soup bowl nestles atop this bed of ice. But you don't have to be that fancy.

I almost forgot to mention—all these soups can be vegetarian (if you substitute vegetable stock for chicken stock). None contain any meat. You do not have to serve meat to have a satiated and happy feeling after eating. But don't mention this lack of meat to your resident carnivores and probably no one will notice.

Here are my favorite savory cold soup suggestions. Have any other favorites? Let me know—I'd love to add to the list.


Gazpacho

Gazpacho is one of the most-loved and best-known of the cold soups. If you serve gazpacho, which is rich in veggies, you may want to skip the salad and simply serve with a delightful chewy bread, like sourdough. Ahhh. How yummy is that? I like recipes for gazpacho that do not involve the cheat of adding tomato juice. Nothing beats whole, fresh tomatoes as the basis for gazpacho—if you have them. If not, use canned tomatoes along with the juice they are packed in. You are basically making a salsa. Feel free to be flexible about adding other garden ingredients as you like.

• Six fresh medium-sized tomatoes or two cans tomatoes and their juice
• One or two cloves of crushed garlic. (Go easy on the fresh garlic so as not to overwhelm the other flavors. If you have the roasted garlic that comes in little jars, that would be ideal--it's much milder and you can use it more lavishly.)
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped coarsely
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and chopped coarsely (or half of a large one)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor. Pulse lightly, only until ingredients are slightly melded but not pulverized (coarse texture is good). Taste and adjust the seasonings, as desired. Add a few drops of hot sauce, if you like.


Vichyssoise (Potato Leek Soup)

Vichyssoise is another soup that's been around forever--for a good reason. Once you taste it, you will understand why. Potato flavor, rich and delightful, with leeks adding to the inscrutability, with butter and other ingredients all playing roles in this operetta of a soup. For any guests--or children--who might be afraid of the fancy name of this soup, you could always call it "Potato leek soup." My grandfather was a Francophobe, so whenever I made him quiche, I always told him it was "egg pie." If I mentioned it was quiche, he wouldn't eat it. Egg pie disappeared from his plate. Go figure. Bon appetite, er, enjoy!

• 2 leeks, chopped, using all of the white part and a couple of inches of the green par
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cups coarsely chopped, peeled potatoes
• 2 cups chicken stock (I especially love the chicken stock paste that comes in little jars--the brand name is Better-than-Bouillon, and you can get it at Trader Joe's or other high-end grocers. If you use the paste, reconstitute one teaspoon of paste for each cup of water)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup half and half (or whole milk)

Basically, you add everything except the half and half to a pot. Cook until the potatoes and leeks are very tender. Remove from heat. Then, either pour the soup into a blender or food processor and blend, or, if you have a hand-held blender (I do--it's a marvelously handy gadget), blend the soup in the pot. Puree until the ingredients are uniform. The soup will be a beautiful creamy, light green color. Add in the half and half and allow to chill in a refrigerator for about an hour. Serve cool, not cold, however. Top with chopped chives, if you have them. In the winter, vichyssoise is superb hot (I serve it with Thanksgiving dinner).

Cold Cauliflower Curry Soup

Don't let the name fool you--cauliflower curry soup is righteous! I invented this recipe, and I am proud to say, it is one of my favorite soups—it's surprising, luscious, and no one can tell what's IN it. When you serve this cold soup, you will see many empty soup bowls and contented smiles.

• One head cauliflower, coarsely chopped, with most of stem removed
• 1/2 white onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons curry powder (preferably the fresh kind that you make yourself, see Homemade Curry Powder)
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup half and half (or whole milk)
• Cornstarch to thicken

Like vichyssoise, add everything to the pot except for half and half and cornstarch. Cook until the cauliflower and onion are tender and falling apart. Add in the half and half, and blend, as for the vichyssoise, with a blender, food processor, or hand-held blender, until the soup is pureed and of uniformly creamy texture. Mix a tablespoon or so cornstarch with enough water to make a loose paste. Stir this into the soup as you are heating it to thicken it to a lovely consistency (vichyssoise doesn't need it because the potatoes do the thickening). Chill for at least an hour in the refrigerator before serving.

Tom Ka With Tofu (Or Tom Yam) Soup

When I went to Thailand and had this soup for the first time I think my whole world just flipped right over on me all at once--it was the most remarkable taste experience ever. The flavors just blew me away--piquant, sour, spicy, rich, amazing! You have to try it. And you can easily make either Tom Yam or Tom Ka with a simple substitution. This soup is simple to make, but what's tricky is having the ingredients on hand. Because I love this so much, I stockpile fish sauce, coconut milk and dried shiitake mushrooms (although the original calls for straw mushrooms). My hubby grows lemongrass in the garden year-round, and we have a lime tree that contributes a leaf here and there. You can make this without lime leaf and lemongrass, but add some lime zest to substitute. I think you are going to love this special and wonderful soup--one of the great wonders of the culinary world!

20 min 10 min prep

Change to: servings US Metric

4	tablespoons fish sauce
1 (12	ounce) can coconut milk (Not the reduced fat kind. Fat makes it taste DELICIOUS!)
2	cups chicken stock (I use the chicken stock paste that comes in little jars. It has no MSG and is all-natural, without t)
2	cups water
2	sprigs lemongrass, root (two inch sprigs, chopped into tiny slices)
1	kaffir lime leaf (or other lime leaf, tossed in whole) (optional)
1	lime, juice of
4	garlic cloves (or more depending on your preference)
1 (8	ounce) package silken tofu, drained and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2	cup shrimp (optional)
1/2	cup mushrooms (Any kind, such as white, shiitake, portobello, straw, white, etc. I mostly use shiitake because I keep a giant container on hand, but the most authentic is straw mushrooms--mushrooms rock--use the ones you have handy)
1	teaspoon red chili paste (I like Sriracha brand. Add more to taste.)
1	tablespoon grated fresh gingerroot
1/4	cup chopped cilantro (for garnish)
1/4	cup Thai basil, for garnish (optional)

• <>
  
  
  
  
• Thai Bisques/Cream Soups
  
  
  
  
• Shrimp Bisques/Cream Soups
  
  
  
  

1. Throw everything in a pot and boil for about 10 minutes, saving shrimp until last (if you are using shrimp--I often just make this vegetarian).
2. Garnish and serve.
   
   

Vegetarian Soup Instead

• To make this soup vegetarian, substitute vegetable stock for chicken stock, and leave off the prawns. You've already got tofu, so that's a great protein source.
  

Tom Ka Instead

• To make Tom Yam instead of Tom Ka, do everything the same, except subsitute more chicken stock to replace the coconut milk.

Greens, Greens, Glorious Greens

Funny thing about greens--I never really liked them until my hubby taught me how to make them. Growing up, all I ever got was canned spinach (it was the culinarily unenlightened 70s). The first time I ever had spinach salad, I was an adult--and I thought it was the yummiest thing I had ever tasted! Finally, hubby is a greens devotee, and a gifted gardener, and he grows lots of them. (He makes a crispy collard greens that is to-die-for too--amazing.)

Anyway, I finally figured out that the way to really enjoy greens is to dress them like you would salad--with some sort of oil and some sort of vinegar or lemon juice, and salt, if needed. Also great with veggie or chicken stock. Voila! Greens that I cannot stop eating. So many kinds of vinegar that make greens fun--rice vinegar, umeboshi (pickled plum) vinegar, spicy vinegar with those little peppers in it (that's big in North Carolina, where I'm from--and I swear it is YUMMY!). Also good with garlic, bacon or ham (sorry, vegetarians!), hot sauce--you name it!

Eww--I love creamed greens too--ever make creamed spinach? Just make a white sauce and add frozen or slightly sautéed fresh spinach--add parmesan cheese, if you like--it's heavenly. I figure we could all do well to have more greens in our lives. So whatever gets them into our mouths is good.

One big thing to consider with greens is how tender/tough they are. Because that affects the cooking time completely. The more tender, the less they need done to them (thus spinach is great raw and to cook it takes only seconds--just enough to wilt it).

So here's my rough approximation of where some greens lie on the tender/tough scale:

Spinach
The tenderest of all. The "king" of greens. Most mild flavor too. What's not to love? Great wilted, great fresh. I'd eat spinach every day if I had the option. Also, makes your tummy feel good.

Swiss Chard
The leaves are delightfully tender but the stems can be anywhere from somewhat tender (and lovely) to very tough (and inedible). Try using just the green leaf if there is any doubt about the stems. Tastes similar to spinach, with a texture that is only slightly beefier.

Dandelion Greens
If fresh, needs little cooking. They age quickly and can turn bitter and tough soon. But if you get them when they are tender, they are truly delightful! Greeks love them. They are great in Japanese shabu-shabu--one pot communal cooking, like Swiss fondue.

Kale
Somewhat chewy--needs more cooking than chard, has more robust flavor (e.g, somewhat more bitter) than chard. You may want to cut out the stems.

Collard Greens
The toughest and most robust of all, but worth it. On the positive side, you can't hurt them. You can cook them for 20 minutes, forget about them, and when you come back, they are delicious and tender. Needs lots of seasoning, though.

Mustard & Turnip Greens
I'm not that familiar with mustard greens. How are they? Where do they fall on the tender/tough scale? Let us know here at What I 8.

Mysterious Salad Dressings: Everybody Loves Them But How Do You Make Them?

You're in a Japanese restaurant. You are served a nice cucumber salad with wakame seaweed and some delightful gingery brownish salad dressing. What is that and how do you make it?

You're in a natural food (Vegan or vegetarian) restaurant or maybe a Middle Eastern restaurant. You are served a salad dressing that is creamy and delectable and goes perfectly with crudités as well as falafel. What is that and how do you make it?

The answers are here, my friend. And the process is so simply, really, that all you'll need to do is make sure you have the ingredients on hand.

Both of these salad dressings I love so much, I could just drink them. Don't tell, I'm sure this isn't civilized. ("Look—there's that woman who drinks salad dressing.")

Japanese Restaurant Ginger-Soy Salad Dressing
Easy to make, this Japanese salad dressing will surely become a favorite in your family. Even young kids can enjoy it--the same ones who would find raw ginger root too spicy. The rule of thumb for remembering how much to use of each ingredient is 1-2-3 and 1/3.

• 1 tablespoon ginger juice (grated ginger root that you squeeze the juice out of)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar (Nope, other vinegars will not do--rice vinegar rocks this recipe. And it's great to have on hand for everything from sushi to potsticker (gyoza) and shabu-shabu dipping sauce. If you get the seasoned rice vinegar (that has sugar and salt in it), just a splash is good enough for a low-fat salad dressing in a hurry.
• 1/3 cup of salad oil (Canola, corn oil, whichever you prefer)

Pour the ingredients into a glass jar, cover, and shake. Shake before serving and do not dress the salad until the last second. Store in a glass jar, refrigerate, and enjoy within a week.

Notes:

• For a different flava, add in a tablespoon of sesame oil--you'll get a rich, nutty taste
• Especially great on cucumber, raw sprouts, and fresh mixed lettuces

Middle Eastern Lemon Tahini Salad Dressing

• 1/3 cup tahini (ground sesame paste, available at Middle Eastern delis and grocery stores as well as health food stores and some supermarkets)
• 1/4 cup water to thin the tahini
• Juice of 1/2 medium lemon (strain off the seeds and pulp)
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  Stir the tahini in its original container to mix the heavy sediment at the bottom with the lighter liquid at the top. Once the tahini is well-mixed, pour it into another container. Stir in the water with the tahini. As you stir, the mixture will at first look thin, and then it will get thicker. Strange to watch, but true. Add in the lemon juice and the cumin, garlic, and olive oil. Mix thoroughly and add salt to taste. Your salad dressing should be creamy but not too thick (like blue cheese salad dressing), and not too thin (like Italian salad dressing). If the consistency is not to your liking, add small amounts of water to adjust. Taste again before serving. You might need more salt or more garlic. No need to shake—tahini salad dressing stays mixed for a good long time. Store in a glass jar, refrigerate, and enjoy within a week.

Notes:

• If you make the lemon tahini dressing thick, it can serve as a wonderful dip
• Simply add this dressing to a blender with garbanzo beans (chick peas), blend, and voila! You have hummus. Now, aren't you smart?

Easy Gourmet: Homemade Ice Cream—How About "Lavender White Chocolate" Tonight?

Ice cream? You betcha! I love ice cream, just like everybody else. I love homemade, just like everybody else. I love saving money, just like everybody else. Well, I finally decided to put my passions where my mouth is. For Christmas, Santa (aka, me) brought our family an ice cream maker. I've wanted one for a long time. Now, ice cream makers come in three types: the kind where you add ice and salt; the kind where you store the container in the freezer and then plug it in; or the kind where you just plug it in. I found that the ice-and-salt kind makes ice cream that's a bit too soft. The plug-it-in kind works great but costs a fortune. So I chose the container-in-the-freezer option and bought a Cuisinart ice cream maker for about $50 (you can get them for about $35 now).

Ice cream is so ridiculously easy to make yourself; really, the only barrier is you. Plus, when you make it yourself, you don't add icky ingredients like guar bean gum and carrageenan, do you? Artificial flavors and colors? Didn't think so. You get pure-as-grandma's-sheets-hanging-out-to-dry ice cream. And surprisingly, homemade ice cream is a good bit cheaper to boot. So why not make it? Are you scared? Don't be—it's no big deal and the kudos-to-effort factor is huge (you get gigantic rewards in the way of oohs and ahhs with little energy in the making).

And probably the most fun thing I have found about having an ice cream maker is the chance to experiment. No reason to feel stuck to the same ol' vanilla, chocolate, strawberry routine, or the other extreme of rocky-road-über-chunk-cookie-dough-kitchen-sink flavor. You are the master of your flavors and with a few simple rules of thumb, you will be creating your own ice creams with exotic names like "Cherimoya Custard," "Blueberry with Blueberry Maple Syrup," "Lychee Sorbet," "Cranberry Candied Pecan" and collecting all the praise that you so rightly deserve.

So let's get started. The instructions below are for the Cuisinart ice cream maker. If you have a different size, adjust accordingly. The idea is that you are creating from rules of thumb and not cast-in-stone recipes. Dare to show flare! Invite some perpetual kids over and have fun!

Homemade Ice Cream Rules-of-Thumb

• Use a total of about four cups of dairy. The more heavy whipping cream you use, the richer your ice cream. The more whole milk you use, the lighter your ice cream. If you use all whole or skim milk, you do run the risk of having a crystallized effect (crunchy ice cream). Better ice creams are velvety smooth. I recommend using either some proportion of whole milk to heavy whipping cream or all heavy whipping cream. This is ice cream, after all. It's not a diet food—it's a food of love and joy and summertime and smiles. If dieting is a challenge, enjoy a smaller amount and feed the rest to your loved ones (this stuff is rich—you will not want to gorge on it). When you make small batches like this Cuisinart ice cream maker makes, there's not a lot left over anyway. So four cups total: I usually do three cups heavy whipping cream and one cup whole milk. You can also make half a batch, and then, eat only super-fresh ice cream
• Where you can cut back, diet-wise, is on the amount of sugar you use. Most ice cream recipes call for a humongous amount of sugar (1 cup or more for this amount of ice cream!). I recommend half that, or about 1/2 cup sugar for four cups of dairy. You could also substitute maple syrup, honey, stevia extract, and more, but use less if it's more sweet, e.g., honey is extremely sweet so you'd need less than 1/2 cup of honey. (Honey is surprisingly delightful in ice cream.)
• If you are using sugar, I recommend raw or turbinado sugar because it's the most nutritious and because it tastes heavenly! With sugar, though, you cannot simply throw it into the ice cream maker. You will have to "melt" the sugar before adding it (to create simple syrup). That way you do not get crunchy sugar granules to ruin the texture of your confection. To make simple syrup, put the granulated sugar in the microwave with a small amount of liquid (milk or fruit juice) and heat it until the sugar dissolves.
• If you are using chocolate and want the ice cream smooth, then melt it before stirring it in. When you stir the melted chocolate into the other ingredients, do so outside of the ice cream maker. If you take an ice-cold ice cream maker container and pour melted chocolate into it, your chocolate will immediately harden, and you’ll get crunchy ice cream (if that’s what you like, go for it!). But mix the chocolate with the dairy and then pour it into the ice cream maker for smooth, blended ice cream.
• Use about 1 tablespoon of either vanilla extract (which is basically booze and vanilla) or some other kind of liquor. Good ones are Grand Marnier, Limoncello, Rum, banana liquor, Frangelica, etc. Don't use too much liquor or your ice cream will get overwhelmed (unless that's the effect you desire!).
• Other ingredients are optional, such as fruit or fruit mixtures, dark chocolate, white chocolate, nuts, etc. But the important thing to remember is that if you are adding fruit, make sure the fruit is cut into small enough bits that if you bite on a frozen fruit bit you aren't going to lose a tooth. Smaller bits really are better. If you throw big chunks of fruit in, you'll regret it! The ice cream maker will not chop them up for you unless the fruit is very soft (like raspberries). I did this once with big peach slices and found it nearly impossible to eat—big fruit chunks in ice cream are rock-hard!
• If you like a custardy ice cream, then cook your beaten egg yolks along with a small amount of the liquid, stirring over low heat frequently until the egg mixture is smooth. Then add the egg mixture to the rest of the liquid—while still outside of the ice cream maker. Once everything is mixed thoroughly, add it to the ice cream maker. Mark Bittman, of “How to Cook Everything” fame—whom I admire and adore—believes no ice cream is real ice cream unless it has egg in it. He’s a purist. For me, custard ice cream (French style) is one category, and regular ice cream is another. I prefer regular, but, as they say in Japan, “Juu-nin, tou-iro.” Or “Ten people, ten colors.” In other words, to each his own.
• Feel free to dip a spoon in while the ice cream is cranking to taste if you need to adjust the recipe.
• After making your ice cream, freeze it for a while in the freezer before serving. Why? Because homemade is somewhat softer than store-bought ice cream. You may get a good consistency or you may not. But if you run the ice cream in the machine until it is finished—about 20 to 30 minutes, then freeze for an hour or so, you ice cream will be the perfect consistency—scoop-ready!

That's basically it! So here's my freebie to you—my own invention, I am proud to say—and so delicious it could win you admirers or even paramours. Certainly the neighborhood kids will follow you around expectantly after one taste of this! Enjoy.

Lavender White Chocolate Honey Ice Cream
Three cups heavy whipping cream
One cup whole milk
1 tablespoon culinary lavender seeds (you can get this online or at gourmet markets—lavender is great to have around for other savory foods and for lavender martinis—don’t tell the kids I said that)
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of white chocolate (not "white baking chips," but REAL white chocolate, that is, cocoa butter and flavorings)
1 tablespoon of vanilla

1) Make a tea of a couple of tablespoons of hot milk with the lavender seeds. Let the seeds steep for a few minutes and then strain the seeds off (the seeds are too bitter to make a yummy ice cream addition, but the flavor they add is close to ecstasy!) and reserve the “tea” you created.

2) Melt the white chocolate along with about 1/4 cup of the milk and the honey on a burner at low heat, stirring constantly and removing when the chocolate is melted.

3) Add the chocolate mixture to the lavender tea and the rest of the cream, milk, and vanilla. Stir everything together and pour into the pre-frozen ice cream container.

4) Cover the ice cream maker and turn it on, letting it run for 20 to 30 minutes. After the ice cream is made, remove it to a freezable plastic covered container (Tupperware makes a great one—the Rock 'n Serve, medium deep) and freeze for an hour or so before serving.