A too heavy subject

Sunday, November 4, 2012

How do I diet? Let me count the weight.

Must reduce calories by hundred times eight.

To know what to stick to, there must be a plan.

Will I glom onto it? Don’t know if I can.

In for a penny, or in for a pound;
Not an aphorism that seems awfully sound.
Were I single I’d not have a date.
Must succeed or I’ll soon be called “late.”  

How I wish this was not necessary, but since quitting smoking a bit more than 18 months ago I have steadily and slowly gained nearly 20 pounds. I’ve been eating like a wanton (better that it should have been a wonton) and of late inhaling large servings of ice cream after dinner. This afternoon I filled my shopping bag with some things I will transform into snackables tomorrow. I regret that the ice cream must go by the wayside for some time to come.

My goal is to pare away the 20 lbs over the remainder of November and then during December. I hereby make a New Year’s resolution: I will eat ice cream on Jan. 1, but not a day before.

Below I am sharing with you a few of my ideas for stuff in that snackables category I referred to.

Begin the Terrine – layers of zucchini, chayote squash and cubanelle peppers with some low fat sour cream, part-skim mozzarella, salt and pepper (paprika for color). I’ll poach the chayote and the cubanelles a bit to reduce them to a texture more or less compatible with the zucchini. Then weigh the whole thing down (in a glass loaf pan by the way) and bake it for 30-40 minutes. As I contemplate this idea I am full of the milk of human self-doubt. Will this work? (It worked.)

Splenda-id Cucumber Salad - my mother liked to slice up some cukes and douse them with vinegar and sugar. In my case I had a boatload of pickling liquid from my dills, which welcomed some Splenda as a counterbalance.

Orange Junius (my title; the Julius version is no doubt under copyright) – This will be carrot/dried apricot salad dressed sensibly, i. e. no mayonnaise. I’m thinking some rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, pepper and Chinese Shiaoxing cooking wine. My little food processor does a fine job of shredding veggies. While the photo shows raisins, I found that dried apricots have 1/2 the calories. And I love them. Do I need better reasons?

Egg flower soup - broth, egg and peas. Other than a bit of seasoning that's all this requires. When the egg is drizzled into simmering broth which has been stirred into a mini-vortex, it "flowers" beautifully.

I'm pleased with how these innocuous thingies turned out. I promise not to talk about my weight everyday for the remainder of November and during the month of December. I'll save my crowing for January 1, when I will be eating ice cream and lobster.

Zucchini pudding cakes

Well, well, well, I've finally done something totally my own again. It's been a while. I thought about these pudding cupcakes for a long time and even had the zucchini in my veggie drawer in the fridge for several days before getting around to doing my magic. In the end I was thrilled last evening when I put these on the table for Peter and me; they're tasty and have a marvelous pudding-like interior. I might have to go to a chiropractor as a result of patting myself on the back.

Zucchini pudding cakes
1 Tbs butter
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 medium onion, chopped fine
12 oz zucchini, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 Tbs mascarpone cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/8 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbs chopped basil leaves
1 tsp chopped thyme leaves
1/2 tsp baking powder
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the butter in the olive oil in a saute pan. Add the onion and zucchini and cook 5-6 minutes, until softened. Remove from heat, place in a medium bowl, and allow to cool.

In the meantime mix the flour, baking powder, basil, thyme, salt and pepper in a small bowl.

Place the zucchini and onion mix in the food processor along with the egg and mascarpone. Puree.

Return this to the bowl you used to cool it. Stir in flour mixture.

Lubricate a six muffin pan with Pam. Divide the zucchini mix into 6 equal portions. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before turning out onto your cutting board. Serve warm or at room temperature.

A zucchini duo

Shallow-fried zucchini rounds

Sauteed zucchini rounds

The last two nights’ dinners have included zucchini as the greenage. I did them two different ways. Cutting them into rounds and cooking them minimally seems to make Peter happy. I know it makes me happy.

Both methods start out the same way, by extracting some of the moisture from the zucchini (the same way you would with eggplant – by sprinkling it with salt). Trim the ends of the zucchini and cut into 1” (or so) rounds. I usually get 10 rounds out of each one. Put the rounds on a baking rack and sprinkle them liberally with kosher salt on both sides. Let them sit for 30 minutes, then rinse quickly and dry thoroughly with paper towels. From this point on the recipes diverge.

There is enough residual saltiness that I don’t add more.

Shallow-fried zucchini rounds
1 large zucchini
kosher salt
black pepper
smoked paprika
all-purpose flour
1 beaten egg
breadcrumbs, homemade or panko

Heat 1/8” vegetable oil in a wide sauté pan.

Let some moisture exude from the zucchini via the above method.

Sprinkle the zucchini pieces with paprika and pepper. Dredge in flour, shaking off excess, dip in egg, then coat with breadcrumbs. Set them aside on the rack for half an hour to let the coating set up.

The oil is hot enough when a drop of water flicked into it pops instantly. Fry the rounds 2 minutes per side, drain on a paper towel and serve.


Sauteed zucchini rounds
1 large zucchini
kosher salt
black pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
all-purpose flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large sauté pan. When the butter’s foam subsides you’re ready to cook.

After the salting, rinsing and drying, sprinkle the zucchini pieces with onion and garlic powder and black pepper. Dredge in flour.

Saute 2 minutes per side until the zucchini browns a bit. Serve.

Shallow-fried zucchini rounds

They look a little dark here, but that's a function of questionable photography and homemade breadcrumbs. They aren't burned, they're excellent!

Peter was busy at work making pasta ponza, a Giada Delaurentiis inspired dish. No recipe for it here, all I know is that it involves eggplant. It became my task to provide a green vegetable. At first I thought I’d make my braised broccoli, but changed my mind and decided to recreate one of the only zucchini dishes Peter ever spoke highly of. It consists of 1 ½” rounds of zuke, dredged in flour, dipped in egg and then in breadcrumbs. Then it’s quickly shallow-fried in about 1/8” of vegetable oil.

It may surprise you to know that I last made this on August 8, 2008. How do I know that? Because it’s in my (unpublished) book, “A Year of Food.” Don’t know why I haven’t done this again since. One of the great mysteries of life.

I can report that Peter was as enthusiastic about this as he was over 2 years ago. Me too.

Shallow-fried zucchini rounds (2 servings)
1 zucchini large enough to yield 8 1-½” rounds
kosher salt
black pepper
paprika
all-purpose flour
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp water
unseasoned bread crumbs, homemade or panko

Trim the ends of the zuke. Cut it in half, across, in the middle. Cut each half in half and then one more time. Now you should have 8 pieces. Put the zuke on a rack over a paper towel and sprinkle each cut side liberally with kosher salt. Let stand 15 – 20 minutes. Wipe the salt off with the paper towel.

Sprinkle the rounds on both sides with some black pepper and paprika. Dredge in flour, dip in egg, and coat with breadcrumbs (just the cut sides as that is all that will come in contact with the sauté pan).

Heat 1/8” vegetable oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat (6 on my 1-10 dial). When oil is very hot, fry the zukes about 3 minutes per side, until golden brown and hot throughout. The goal is not to soften them in the center, rather let them retain their structural integrity. Serve at once.

Copy cat cooking

Last night it gave me great pleasure to use recipes by Jen (http://jensfoodjourney.blogspot.com/) and (don’t know her name: http://fortheloveofcooking.blogspot.com/). I did a slight modification of Jen’s, baking instead of grilling the tilapia. Also, her marinade called for tequila, of which we had none. I substituted vodka, with which we are always well-stocked. As for the zucchini-crust casserole there was a more significant modification.

We pulled up all the mustard greens from the garden yesterday and Peter labored mightily to clean, blanch, and freeze them. I reserved some for the casserole and used our arugula on the top. Any of you who garden know how satisfying it is to eat your own goodies!

Four zucchini was more than I needed. If you use four, buy the smallest ones you can find. I ended up using probably three.

Basil & Lime Tilapia
2 tilapia filets
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh chopped basil
½ tsp salt
2 tsp vodka
pepper to taste

Aioli
3 tbsp finely chopped basil
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp lime juice
1 ½ tsp Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
½ tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients except fish. Place fish in a ziplock bag and pour the marinade over it. Seal the bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Mix together all ingredients for aioli. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Place fish filets in foil packets that have been lubricated with cooking spray. Seal, place on a baking sheet, and bake for 14 minutes.

Since the casserole that follows bakes for longer than the fish, time the baking of the fish to coincide with end of casserole cooking time.

Vegetable pie with a zucchini crust
4 zucchini, shredded and squeezed in a towel to remove moisture
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 ½ cups mozzarella, divided
2 tomatoes, diced
1 1/2 cups blanched and squeeze-dried mustard greens
4 oz. mushrooms, sliced
2 green onions, chopped
½ cup parmesan, grated
1 1/2 cups arugula, tossed with olive oil to coat
dried oregano, to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a casserole dish with cooking spray.

Combine zucchini with eggs and 2 cups of the mozzarella. Push the zucchini firmly into the casserole to form a crust. Season with salt and pepper and bake for 10 minutes.

Allow to cool for a few minutes. Then layer in mustard greens, mushrooms, green onions and tomatoes. Top with remaining ½ cup mozzarella and the parmesan. Sprinkle with oregano to taste. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Scatter the arugula on top of the casserole. Bake 5 more minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes and then serve.

Yakisoba with duck and zucchini

Mark Bittman writes “The Minimalist” column for Wednesday’s NY Times Dining section. More often than not the recipes he posts are interesting. We’ve tried a number of them, always with happy results.

This one (which Peter and I adapted in order to use ingredients on hand) is so, so easy. Bittman actually encourages variations on the theme. Our duck breast (see post of 3/4/10) was copious enough to allow for plenty of leftovers to incorporate in our version. Any protein you have should work with this.

The noodles we had were from packages of ramen.

Yakisoba with duck and zucchini
1 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp mirin
Tabasco sauce, a few drops to taste
2 packages ramen noodles, cooked according to package directions; save or discard flavor packets
2 tsp sesame oil
1 ½ tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp minced ginger root
1 small zucchini, cut into matchsticks
2 cups hearts of romaine, roughly chopped
3 oz. duck breast, already cooked and thinly sliced (substitute chicken, beef, shrimp, etc.)
scallions for garnish, green and white parts

Stir together in a small bowl ketchup, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mirin and Tabasco.

After cooking the ramen, rinse the noodles under cold water, drain and toss with sesame oil. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add the ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add zucchini and romaine and stir; sprinkle with salt. Cook 1-2 minutes until the romaine has wilted slightly. Add noodles, sauce and duck and stir until everything is warmed through.

Serve with chopped scallions for garnish.

Giant meatballs with spaghetti and a pattypan galette

Even the best recipes can always be improved. On Jan. 19 of this year I posted a recipe for giant meatballs. They were made from Jimmy Dean sausage, which I happened to have had in the freezer, having bought it at a considerable saving.

When I came home from Safeway last week with some pork loin chops I knew from the get-go I was going to have another round of giant meatballs. In the days before I acquired a digital camera, I had to beg, borrow and steal pix to use with my postings. The original one for these meatballs is kind of amusing: it's a collage - a little goofy, but effective enough.

Above you see a photo of the latest meatballs. Why do I make them so big? It just amuses me and, from a presentation standpoint, it's impressive, no?

Spaghetti with giant meatballs and pattypan galette (4 servings)

1 lb. pork loin chops

3 oz. crusty bread, cut to 1/3" dice

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 eggs, yolks and whites separaed

3 scallions, white and green parts chopped fine

2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

1/4 bread crumbs

1 tbsp flour

salt and pepper to taste

8-10 oz. whole wheat spaghetti or other pasta

2 cups chopped cabbage

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp fennel seed, smashed with a mortar and pestle

2 pattypan squashes (palm sized), sliced into rings 1/8" thick (use a mandoline)

parmesan cheese

chopped fresh parsley (optional)

If the loin chops are on the bone, cut out same. Leave as much or as little fat as you wish. Cut into 1" pieces and chop in food processor as you would for any ground meat.

Make a brandade by combining the bread and cream in a bowl and mashing up a bit to that the cream is absorbed.

Place the ground pork in a large bowl and add: brandade, scallions, garlic, egg yolks, thyme, oregano, breadcrumbs, flour, salt and pepper. Mix together thoroughly (using your hands is best but best). Form a 1" ball with a bit of the mixture and microwave it for 30-40 seconds. Taste for seasonings and adjust as desired.

Form the pork mixture into 4 meatballs. Refrigerate them for at least an hour to firm them (they may be quite "wet," at least mine were).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the meatballs on a "Pammed" cooking sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Allow to rest 5 minutes before serving.

Cook spaghetti according to package directions until just al dente (it's going to cook a bit more with the cabbage). While the pasta cooks, heat 1 tbsp each of oil and butter in a saute pan. Add the cabbage, fennel seed, and salt and pepper to taste. Saute until softened and lightly browned, 5-6 minutes.

Using a spider, transfer the pasta to the cabbage pan and toss to combine. Serve in heated bowls with grated parmesan and chopped parsley as garnish.

Pattypan galette

This was a fun way to prepare the squash.

Brush both sides of the squash slices with lightly beaten egg white. Arrange slices in a circle on a greased plate the diameter of the base of a large saute pan (make sure you use one with sloping sides), overlapping as necessary. Set aside to allow the egg white to dry somewhat. This while form a kind of "glue" to hold the galette together when it cooks.

Heat 1 tbsp each butter and olive oil over medium high heat until the butter is melted and just starting to brown. Slide the galette into the pan, cover the squash with a piece of foil and place a weight on it (an empty teakettle can be perfect for this). Cook until the bottom is well-browned (4-6 minutes). Slide the galette out onto a plate; invert a second plate over it; flip it over and slide it back into the pan. Again weight and cook another 4-5 minutes until the second side is browned. Slide out onto a cutting board and divide into 1/4's to serve. Garnish with parmesan and chopped parsley as desired.