Things From My Desk: Lunchtime Edition - Onigiri

I love my daughter. She loves Asian culture, especially the food. We've made sushi and egg rolls at home several times, but she has always wanted to make onigiri - Japanese rice balls. On a whim she asked if she could make some from our Indian curried chicken dinner and some other things we had on hand. She fused Indian, Thai, and Japanese together into lemongrass and curried chicken onigiri.

When I asked her what she was doing and I said it sounded interesting, she offered to make my lunch for me. I think they turned out pretty darn awesome.

Thai and Indian Onigiri

La Parmigiana Di Melanzane (Eggplant Parmigiana)

Nom, nom, nom, ...

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 Eggplants
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 pound Mozzarella (fior di latte)
• large bunch Fresh Basil, chopped
• Flour
• Egg, egg substitute, or egg white, beaten
• Marinara sauce
• Panko and/or Italian bread crumbs

As with all my Mozzarella dishes, I prefer fior di latte. It's mozzarella made from fresh pasteurized or unpasteurized cow's milk instead of the low-moisture rubber you find in zip-loc bags. A foodie will insist it's not real mozzarella, and they'd be technically correct. Real Mozzarella di Bufala, is made from domesticated water buffalo milk. It has to be imported from Italy and will only stay fresh for a day or two. If you can find it in the U.S. it's not going to be fresh and will have a slightly sour taste - don't bother with it. You'll find Mozzarella fior di latte in plastic tubs immersed in water or in a plastic tube with a layer of water around it. 

If you have time, make the Marinara sauce from scratch. I cheated and used some from a jar. I try to get one with the lowest sugar content possible - around 6 grams per serving. I used one with 11 grams today and it was a bit sweet for my taste.

Instructions

Peel eggplant and slice into 1/2 inch rounds. Lightly salt each side of the eggplant slices and place on paper towels, cover with another layer of paper towels. Four eggplants will give you some extra slices to eat before assembling the dish, yummy. Three will give you just enough, but what's the fun in that. Leave to sweat for about twenty minutes.

I peal the eggplant. I don't like how the peal gets tough when coked

Not done yet

Arrange three shallow bowls in a row. Place flour in the first bowl, beaten egg, egg substitute or egg white in the second bowl, and the bread crumbs in the third bowl. I've tried both Panko and Italian bread crumbs. The Panko bread crumbs are low fat and low sodium but a bit plain. Mixing both together gives you a nice crunch and flavor. Cover a large baking pan with aluminium foil and top with a wire rack.

Flour - egg wash - bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place an eggplant slice into the flour, shake off excess flour. Turn, dip, and shake again until all sides of the eggplant slice are covered with a thin coating of flour. Dip the flour coated eggplant slice into the second bowl of beaten egg, turn over to coat other side. A fork will help keep your fingers from accumulating a coating layer. Place the eggplant slice into the third bowl of bread crumbs and shake the bowl a bit to help the crumbs stick. Turn the slice over and coat the other side.

Flour first - the fine grains stick well to the eggplant

Egg wash second - the egg binds to the flour

Crumbs last - the egg can now support the larger bread crumbs

Gently place the coated eggplant slices onto the wire rack. Spray both sides of the slices with olive oil. I use a refillable pampered chef spray bottle. If you don't have a spray bottle, you can use another bowl with a shallow layer of olive oil to quickly dip each side.

Spray with olive oil

Place the pan of eggplant slices into the oven for about thirty minutes. Check after about twenty to make sure they are browning lightly. You can spray them with more olive oil and flip them over if you like. The thick slices of eggplant should start to get spongy, but remain firm. If they get squishy, your final dish will still taste awesome but you'll miss out on the firm bite. I've found that eating one of the eggplant slices after it has cooled a bit is the best way to test them - nom, nom, nom!

Nice and toasty

Cook it too long and the eggplant gets soggy - this was just right.

Now that you have your slices of eggplant ready, you can assemble your dish. Put two or three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in the bottom of a Pyrex dish. Then spoon some Marinara sauce on the bottom of the dish, enough to cover it.

Oil layer

Sauce layer

Put a layer of eggplant slices on top of the sauce, then a layer of cheese, and finally more sauce and chopped basil. 

Eggplant layer

Cheese layer

Sauce and basil layer

Repeat with another layer of eggplant, cheese, sauce, basil, and finally cheese.

Put the dish in a 350 degree oven for about thirty minutes, until it gets nice a bubbly and the cheese melts on top.

Ran a bit short on cheese for the top layer.

You should wait until it cools off a bit. The traditional Neapolitan way of eating eggplant Parmigiana is at room temperature. It tastes even better after it sits for several hours or the next day. If you prepare a day in advance, refrigerate and then bring it back completely to room temperature before serving.

King Arthur Banana Bread

Finally used up our stash of over-ripe frozen bananas. We eat a log of bananas. Ocassionaly, we don't finish them off before they are too ripe so we toss them in the freezer whole - peel and all. When you need them, take them out of the freezer and thaw. Or you can peel them while frozen and nuke to defrost. They're also great for making a smoothie while still frozen (sans peel of course).

Used a recipe from King Arthur Flour and their white whole wheat flour. The crumb is nice and the texture even. It's slightly dry for my taste. Probably should substitute some of the butter with applesauce, use egg substitute, and perhaps use a 50/50 mix of whole wheat and white flour.

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar, light or dark, firmly packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium or 2 large bananas)
3 tablespoons apricot jam or orange marmalade, optional but tasty
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, beating till smooth.

Add the mashed bananas, jam, honey, and eggs, again beating until smooth.

Add the flour, then the walnuts, stirring just until smooth.

Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan, smoothing the top. Let it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Bake the bread for 45 minutes, then gently lay a piece of aluminum foil across the top, to prevent over-browning.

Bake for an additional 25 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven; a long toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center should come out clean, with at most a few wet crumbs clinging to it. The tester shouldn't show any sign of uncooked batter. If it does, bake the bread an additional 5 minutes, or until it tests done.

Allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Remove it from the pan, and cool it completely on a rack.


Nutritional Info

Serving Size 1 slice (60g)
Servings Per Batch 18
Amount Per Serving

Calories 170 
Calories from Fat 50 
Total Fat 6g 
Saturated Fat 3.5g 
Trans Fat 0g 
Cholesterol 35mg
Sodium 230mg
Total Carbohydrate 27g
Dietary Fiber 1g
Sugars 14g
Protein 3g

Crock Pot Pulled Pork with BBQ Sauce

There are few foods as magical as pork. Steak is great and might just be the king of protein. But would any sane person seriously believe bacon is anything but meat candy. I've always wanted to make pulled pork but have never tried. I have no idea why not. It's almost as easy as frying bacon in the oven.

Ingredients

1 yellow onions, sliced thick
2 to 3 pounds pork butt or shoulder - really, you want as much as will fit in your crock pot
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder
4 Whole cloves
2 cans Verners - oh, you can use Canada Dry if you must, but I live in Michigan :-)
Your favorite barbeque sauce - I like Sticky Fingers Memphis Style
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
Buns, Sandwich Thins, or some kind of crusty bread

Directions

Rub the pork with equal quantities of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. You can use your favorite dry rub. This was just what we had on hand.

Put half the onion slices on the bottom of the crock pot.

Dump the pork into the crock pot and layer the top with the remaining onion slices.

Pour enough Verners into the crock pot to cover. I had so much pork, I had to shift it around to make sure the Verners worked its way to the bottom. Toss in the whole cloves.

Turn the crock pot to the lowest setting and cover. You want this to go low and slow. It needs to simmer at least 12 hours. We did ours overnight and didn't need to add liquid.

After 12 hours, remove the pork and onion slices and place them on a sheet pan so they cool quickly. Discard the liquid. Separate the fat and bones from the meat breaking the meat into chunks. I don't see how you can avoid breaking up the meat. At this point it's falling apart.

Return the meat and onions to the crock pot. Mix in Worcestershire Sauce and barbeque sauce. Turn the crock pot to the highest setting and reheat for an hour or use the microwave. We coudn't wait that long.

Pile the pulled pork on the bread and eat. What else are you going to do with it?

King Arthur Amish Dinner Rolls

This is a tweaked version of the Amish Dinner Roll recipe from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Catalogue. 

You can find the original recipe here http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/amish-dinner-rolls-recipe

Ingredients

2 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons butter
1 cup mashed potatoes
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
3/4 cup potato water (water used to boil potatoes)
4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Instructions
Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of your Kitchen-aid mixer. Mix the dough with a dough hook, knead for 8 minutes. Resist the urge to add more flour, the dough will be very sticky.

Remove the dough from the mixer bowl to a floured surface. Knead the dough by hand for a couple of minutes. The dough should now be smooth and shiny.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turn to coat, and cover with plastic wrap sprayed with Pam to prevent sticking. Allow dough to rise until doubled in bulk, about 90 minutes.

Dump the dough onto a floured surface. Knead a few times to work out bubbles. With a stainless steel dough scraper, divide the dough into 16 equal pieces. The next part is a bit complicated to explain. You need to roll the dough into smooth balls.

Dust your hands with flour. Place a piece of dough on the half curled finger tips of both hands with your palms facing up. Gently stretch the dough into a mushroom cap by pressing your thumbs down the side of the dough ball whilst pressing your fingers up. Pinch the bottom of the dough together to form a ball. Rotate the dough ball half a turn to the right or left, keeping the pinched end down. Repeat a few times, dusting your hands as needed. You should find the top and sides of the dough ball get smoother with each turn. If this is a bit complicated, you can always roll the dough ball in your hands but the resulting ball won't be as smooth.

Lightly grease a pan. For pull-apart-rolls, place the dough balls about half an inch apart on the pan. This will give you rolls with a nice brown top and bottom, and nice white sides where they touch. For stand-alone-rolls, place the dough balls about 2 inches apart. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap sprayed with Pam, and allow to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until they are quite puffy. The pull-apart-rolls with be touching each other.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Bake the rolls on the center rack, for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Carefully slide the rolls onto a cooling rack, and brush them with melted butter if desired.

Nutritional Information 

per serving (1 roll = 74g)

200 calories
6 grams fat
5 grams protein
28 grams complex carbohydrates
4 grams sugar
1 gram dietary fiber
41 milligrams cholesterol
223 milligrams sodium
117 milligrams potassium

Vegan Pumpkin and Cranberry Muffins Recipe - Modified

My first attempt at Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan Pumpkin Muffin didn't fare well. They were undercooked and dense. I was pretty sure the cranberries added too much moisture to the basic recipe.

A small adjustment (1/2 the soy milk) and an ingredient substitution (substitute 1/2 of the oil with apple sauce) gave better results. I think baking them longer helped too. 

Here's the modified recipe.

Vegan Pumpkin and Cranberry Muffin

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground or freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup pureed pumpkin (not pie mix)
1/4 cup soy milk (reduced from original recipe's 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (reduced from original recipe's 1/2 cup)

1/4 cup natural apple sauce (to reduce original recipe's vegetable oil)

1 cup whole fresh cranberries
2 tablespoons maple syrup (original recipe is molasses)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Use paper muffin liners or lightly grease a twelve-muffin tin.

Roughly chop the cranberries. I like larger chunks of cranberry in the muffin. 

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, soy milk, oil, apple sauce, chopped cranberries, and maple syrup. Mix together the wet and dry ingredients.

Evenly fill the muffin cups. Mine ended up about three-fourths full. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, until a toothpick or knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Nutritional Information


Per Muffin
Calories 193.6
Total Fat 2.9 g
Saturated Fat 1.8 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.1 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 175.8 mg
Potassium 93.4 mg
Total Carbohydrate 41.2 g
Dietary Fiber 1.8 g
Sugars 24.2 g
Protein 2.4 g

King Arthur Banana Bread

Finally used up our stash of over-ripe frozen bananas. We eat a log of bananas. Occasionally, we don't finish them off before they are too ripe so we toss them in the freezer whole - peel and all. When you need them, take them out of the freezer and thaw. Or you can peel them while frozen and nuke to defrost. They're also great for making a smoothie while still frozen (sans peel of course).


Used a recipe from King Arthur Flour and their white whole wheat flour. The crumb is nice and the texture even. It's slightly dry for my taste. Probably should substitute some of the butter with applesauce, use egg substitute, and perhaps use a 50/50 mix of whole wheat and white flour.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar, light or dark, firmly packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium or 2 large bananas)
3 tablespoons apricot jam or orange marmalade, optional but tasty
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, beating till smooth.

Add the mashed bananas, jam, honey, and eggs, again beating until smooth.

Add the flour, then the walnuts, stirring just until smooth.

Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan, smoothing the top. Let it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Bake the bread for 45 minutes, then gently lay a piece of aluminum foil across the top, to prevent over-browning.

Bake for an additional 25 minutes. Remove the bread from the oven; a long toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center should come out clean, with at most a few wet crumbs clinging to it. The tester shouldn't show any sign of uncooked batter. If it does, bake the bread an additional 5 minutes, or until it tests done.

Allow the bread to cool for 10 minutes in the pan. Remove it from the pan, and cool it completely on a rack.


Nutritional Info:
Serving Size 1 slice (60g)
Servings Per Batch 18
Amount Per Serving
Calories 170
Calories from Fat 50
Total Fat 6g
Saturated Fat 3.5g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 35mg
Sodium 230mg
Total Carbohydrate 27g
Dietary Fiber 1g
Sugars 14g
Protein 3g