La Platicona Habla: Tastes, Passions and Pursuits

I love breads and cakes made with olive oil rather than butter - the moisture content is much higher, and in a dry high altitude climate, that really makes a difference. As usual, I pulled this recipe out from one of my beloved cookbooks by Lidia Bastianich, but of course I've left some things out that don't like. The recipe, it says, was really taken from one of her cooking students' grandmother. Whoever that lady was - this recipe is delicious. The best part, is you can make this without a mixer.

You will need:

- 1 c olive oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 2/3 c sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla

- 2 c flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda

- 2 c shredded zucchini
- zest of one lemon

Step One: Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and prepare a loaf pan by greasing and flouring it.

Step Two: In a separate bowl, sift flour, cinammon, salt, and baking soda.

Step Three: In the main bowl, using either a whisk or mixer, whip eggs and olive oil until mixture is a frothy light yellow color. If using a whisk, slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking the eggs. Add sugar slowly and continue to mix.

Step Four: Using a wooden spoon or spatula, slowly add the sifted dry ingredients to the egg mixture. When fully incorporated, mix in the zucchini and lemon zest.

Step Five: Pour batter into the loaf pan. The batter will almost fill the entire pan, but don't worry, it won't spill over. Bake this loaf for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool. Eat to your heart's content.

You may choose to jazz up this vegetable bread with some walnuts or golden raisins. The result of this bread is a moist spongy texture that will last for about one week.

Labels: dessert, lemon, spices, zucchini

The image of children squealing at the sight of brussels sprouts is perhaps not that far-off from reality. I don't make these mini delights very often but I vowed to cook them and not suffer through eating them. I altered a recipe I saw browsing through one of Lidia Bastianich's cookbooks and recreate it here for you. Lidia's recipe attempts to remove that bitter flavor so common when biting into these tiny cabbages. Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking" tells us not only the correct spelling of "brussels sprouts" but also that they come from a cabbage variant that develops small and numerous heads along a greatly elongated central stalk. If you buy brussels sprouts, I suggest trying to find them at a natural food store or farmers market still on the stalk, it is the coolest thing you'll ever see of a common vegetable. McGee states that the bitter taste of sprouts comes from glucosinolates that simply release bitter whether cooked slowly for fast, but are especially concentrated in the center of the sprout. It is this useful bit of information that really confirmed Lidia's cooking method that requires removal of the bitter centers. The most intensive part about making this dish is coring out the centers and defoliating the sprouts so that all that remains is a beautiful arrangement of leaves in the pan.

You will need:

- 1 pound of brussels sprouts
- 3 slices of pancetta or bacon, chopped into bits
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1/4 white onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- olive oil
- 1/2 c white wine
- salt & pepper
- Italian parsley, chopped

Step One: To prepare the sprouts, take the sprout in your hand, and with a small knife remove the core of the sprout. Pull the leaves apart and repeat until all sprouts have their core removed and leaves pulled. Rinse leaves and set aside.

Step Two: In a saute pan, cook pancetta or bacon until it begins to shrink (over medium-high heat). Add garlic and onion, and 3 plugs of olive oil, cooking until onions begin to turn translucent.

Step Three: Add sprouts, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and white wine. Raise heat and stir, cooking until leaves soften. Stir in a handful of Italian parsley at last before serving.

I suggest serving these sprouts with roasted red potatoes.

Labels: brussels Sprouts, lemon

The sweetest thing is having a zesty and elegant tart in a hurry. After preparing the tart crusts in advance, making this sweet tart from Once Upon a Tart was easy and rewarding. The best part about making this tart was that the ingredients were simple and few compared to others I looked at. I suggest that if you make this tart, you par-bake the tart crust so that the custard doesn't seep out and stick to the sides of the tart pan. So how many times can you say "best part about this sweet tart?"

You will need:
- 3 large eggs
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1/2 c sugar
- zest of one lemon
- juice of 3 lemons
- 3/4 c of heavy cream
- 1 par-baked flaky tart crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Step One: Whisk eggs and yolks together in a medium sized bowl. Add sugar while whisking and pour in lemon zest and juice. Still whisking, pour in the cream.

Step Two: Slowly pour in the custard into your par-baked tart shell and ensure that none spills over. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until it doesn't jiggle. Remove from the oven and cool. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

I think this tart would go best with a dollop of cream and a piping hot cup of Earl Grey tea with milk. So far my tart making has been a success. The cookbook from Once Upon a Tart was worth every penny and makes a great gift for a first time or well experienced baker who enjoys classic pastries like scones, muffins, and these savory and sweet tarts.

Labels: cream, dessert, eggs, lemon, tart

After attending a garden party recently, I just couldn't resist asking the host for her cauliflower salad recipe. Cauliflower, that beautiful creamy floret, was bathed in a lemon parsley pesto and then dotted with sicilian green olives. While my host gave me the ingredients, I didn't ask for the exact portions, so I made them up (as usual). Feel free to tinker with this dish, serving it warm or cold, and adding different herbs if you have them.

You will need:
- 1 head of cauliflower, washed and cut into small pieces
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 chile piquin
- 1/2 bunch of Italian parsley
- 1 shallot or 1/4 white onion
- 8 large green olives for the pesto and 10 for the salad roughly chopped (I used green sicilian olives, but you can use kalamata too)
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1/2 c of olive oil

Step One: Place the cauliflower florets in a heated stock pot with 1/2 c of water and a pinch of salt. Cover the pan and cook over medium-high heat for 5-7 minutes until cauliflower softens. The texture you are looking for should be slightly crunchy as this is a salad, not a soup mush.
Remove, drain, rinse under cold water and set aside.

Step Two: In a blender, combine the parsley, garlic, chile, onion, 8 olives, and lemon juice. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil until totally incorporated.

Step Three: Bathe the cauliflower in the pesto and add the remaining olives to them. Serve warm or cold with a side of pasta or good bread and a salad.

Labels: cauliflower, Italian parsley, lemon, olives, salad

What can you use that leftover salmon or trout for? I suggest taking leftover fish and turning it into this light potato salad. I used pomme de terre or golden table potatoes, but new potatoes work just as well. Also, I suggest using green onions or chives in this recipe, but white or red onions work for this dish as well. Finally, this dish uses dairy, so beware my fellow lactose intolerant friends. Substitute a fresh aioli, mayo, or nayonaise if you wish.

You will need:
- 1/2 lb of cooked salmon (I used leftovers from the salmon dinner), cut into pieces
- 4 small golden table potatoes, boiled and quartered
- 4 tbsp of sour cream (or substitute)
- 1/4 white onion, or 4 sprigs of green onions finely sliced
- handful of chopped flat leafed Italian parsley
- 3 tsp of horseradish (not horseradish cream!)
- 4 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 clove of minced garlic
- zest and juice of one lemon
- salt & pepper to taste

Step One: Boil potatoes for 15 minutes or until soft. Drain and quarter. Set aside.

Step Two: In a mixing bowl, combine sour cream, lemon zest & juice, onions, clove of minced garlic, parsley, olive oil, and horseradish. Mix until well blended. Add in cooked salmon and potatoes, toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a wedge of iceberg lettuce or romaine with a side of bread.

My main complaint about this salad is that it doesn't keep well overnight, so eat it up for dinner because the horseraddish really looses its flavor the next day. I also suggest adding 1 tbsp of dijon mustard, and 1 tbsp of red or white wine vinegar to this dish to bring out the horseradish flavor (or in lieu thereof).

Labels: fish, lemon, potato, salad, salmon

Split peas, part of that lovely legume family, were the focus of my culinary experiment after eating a delicious bowl of yellow split pea soup from a middle eastern restaurant in Denver. I savored every bite of this soup and attempted to decipher all of its ingredients. While I was unable to do just that, I did manage to come up with a darn close version.
My only regret is that I did not cook the split peas long enough, so they turned out a little tougher than I would have wanted. This yellow split pea recipe will almost complete the split pea/daal soup array of recipes posted on this site. If you’ve never tried split peas, I suggest starting with the green split pea soup recipe first because its flavors are more common than the seasonings used for this dish.

You will need:
- 2 c of yellow split peas (pick through them and pick out the rotten ones)
- 3 c of vegetable or chicken stock
- 4 c of water
- ½ finely diced yellow onion
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp whole cumin seeds
- handful of chopped flat leafed Italian parsley
- juice from 1 lime
- salt & pepper to taste
- basmati rice, cooked

Step One: In a crockpot, combine the split peas, stock, water, spices (except Italian parsley), garlic, and onion. Put the crockpot on low and cook all day while away at work, or on high for 4 hours.
If you don’t have a crockpot, place the garlic and onions in a stock pot and sauté with 3 tbsp of olive oil. When translucent, add spices, split peas, stock, and water. Bring to a boil; turn this down to medium and cover it. Cook this for 1-2 hours until the peas are very soft. Stir this so it won’t stick to the bottom.

Step Two: When cooked, add the juice of one lime and stir in the Italian parsley. Correct the seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve this over cooked basmati rice, or eat as a soup. If you want more liquid, add more stock (1 c at a time) and cook for another 10 minutes until warm.

Labels: Italian parsley, lemon, split peas

I absolutely adore chickpeas, whether in a soup or on a salad, the texture and matte flavor is a wonderful addition to your legume family. Chickpeas are native to southwest Asia and have been cultivated for over 9,000 years. They are unique in the legume family for being nearly 5% oil by weight, as opposed to 1-2%. Chickpeas, a.k.a. garbanzo beans, form a main staple in India where the legume is hulled and split to make chana dal, a ground flour for pakoras, papadums, and fried goods. If you eat at Graze restaurant in Albuquerque, the chef makes these great chickpea french fries by molding chickpea flour into little french fry shaped sticks and lightly frying them.

So anyways, I decided to whip up a batch of fresh hummus for some dinner guests last week and it turned out marvelous. Hummus is basically a chickpea spread that is flavored with salt, lemon, parsley, and olive oil. It is a great lunch spread for vegetarian sandwiches, and makes a good appetizer for a dinner, and finger food for a cocktail party.

You will need:
- 2 cans of garbanzo beans, drained
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- handful of chopped flat leafed italian parsley
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 c of olive oil
- 1 tsp of kosher salt
- pepper to taste

Step One: In a food processor (if using a blender, add 1 can of beans, and slowly add the second so as not to over fill the blender container), combine the beans, garlic, parsley, pepper, and salt. Roughly blend.

Step Two: Add lemon juice and turn blender on high. Through the hole in the top of the blender or the food processor, slowly drizzle in the 1/2 c of olive oil, adding more if necessary. The consistency should be that of a bean dip, and should not be runny. You can experiment with flavors by adding a handful of roasted red peppers or kalamata olives.

Scrape the dip out of the processor or blender and serve in a bowl; drizzle the hummus with olive oil. Eat hummus with toasted pita bread (you can heat it in the oven for a few minutes), a side of olives and peppers goes well with this.

Labels: garbanzo beans, Italian parsley, lemon, olive oil