d Constitutional Cooking: June 2007

Monday, June 18, 2007

Back! With Stuffed Peppers.

So David Kirsch is a columnist for Shape Magazine. Apparently he's written some book too. He has a recipe every month and I've noticed a pattern of obsession with quinoa. This month was no exception, but I'm willing to excuse it because the recipie is quite tasty. Here it is:

Red Peppers Stuffed With Quinoa
1/4 cup quinoa
1 cup water
2 red bell peppers
1/2 green apple, cored and chopped
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1-1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1-1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 cup all-natural chopped tomatoes
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Rinse and drain the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer under running tap water until the water drains clear. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the quinoa, and cook for 15 minutes over medium-low heat, until all of the water is absorbed. Set aside.

Halve the peppers lengthwise, and scrape out and discard the seeds and membranes. Leave the stems intact so the peppers hold their shape. Place the peppers skin side down in an ovenproof dish.

In a medium bowl, mix the apple and lemon juice. Add the quinoa, herbs, garlic, tomato, scallion, and oil. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste, and mix well.

Divide the quinoa mixture between the halved peppers. Pour a small amount of water in the dish around the peppers, and cook for 20 minutes, until the quinoa filling is hot.

posted by ek at 8:22 AM 1 comments

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

MB's Whole Wheat Blueberry Bran Muffins

Adapting recipes is old hat (like adding mushrooms to anything) but in the context of baking it seems more dangerous. Luckily some friends with some sense (and a few more years of experience in the domestic realm) fixed this recipe into a brunch-worthy yet healthy muffin.

Inspired by the muffins at everyone's favorite non-chain bookstore/coffee shop in town, here's MB's Whole Wheat Blueberry Bran Muffins. Originally it looked like this http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/231587, but MB took out the oil and exchanged it for bananas. Brilliant. Other adaptations include the addition of a 1/2 tsp of lime oil and 2 tsp of dry/ground ginger, no figs and instead blueberries. Surprisingly light and fluffy.

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat bran
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 bananas
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups reduced-fat (2%) buttermilk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract1
/2 tsp lime oil
2 tsp ginger (dry or ground)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 14 muffin cups with paper liners. Spray liners with nonstick spray. Whisk next 7 ingredients in bowl. Stir in blueberries and buts. Whisk sugar and mashed bananas in large bowl. Whisk in eggs, then buttermilk, and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Divide batter among cups.
Bake muffins until browned on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Cool on rack. Makes 14.

The good news: this recipe is extremely forgiving. I couldn't find oat bran so I used wheat bran, skipped liners, didn't have lime oil or ginger so used some lime juice and added back cinnamon and nutmeg. Being the full-throttle cook that I tend to be, turns out after I'd mixed all the dry ingredients I realized I added 2/3 cups whole wheat flour and bran rather than 1/2 c of each. So, I added a bit more buttermilk and rising things (salt/baking powder/soda) and they still turned out just fine.

posted by mg at 12:09 PM 0 comments