Fava Bean Pesto

Fava beans are still a fairly new food to my palette - and I adore them. If I had to guess, most folks look at them and don't know what to do with them. Others might have tasted them and thought they didn't like them. But for those of us that have figured out that if you get fresh fava beans, and prepare and cook them just right - they are divine.

This recipe is an example of that.

It is a labor of love. And if you have a little one - this might be done in steps (as outlined below) over a day or two (I've written the steps in the order I would suggest if you can't do this all at once). And trust me, it's just as good that way. If you have an older little one (3+ years old), enlist them to help! And if you are just plain busy, still try this on a weekend when you find good, fresh fava beans.

Ingredients
3-4 cups shelled fava beans (I started with about 3/4 of a plastic bag full of whole fava beans)
1/2 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
1-2 cloves garlic (garlic adds spice here so adjust for your taste)
Salt and Pepper
1/2 Cup of more of olive oil

Step 1: Take the fava beans out of their shell
Step 2: Boil the fava beans for 5 minutes (don't go beyond this)
Step 3: Let cool and peel the outer shell. Note that you can keep this on, but it's bitter. Especially for a toddler taste - it's probably best to peel all the way.
Step 4: In a food processor, pulse the garlic. Then the pinenuts. Then add the beans and the olive oil and salt and pepper. 

The more (and higher quality olive oil) and salt you add, the more it will mellow the flavor. 

Our recent favorites to use this on are:
1. Quinoa pasta (we love this one) - Our little one GOBBLED this pasta up. To enrich it you can add frozen or fresh peas. To make a bit more fancy, you can add truffle oil. 
2. Make zucchini 'noodles' using something like this, and saute a bit and then toss a few tablespoons of this in. 


Here is an old fava bean posting for something with skins on 

Black Beans - 3 Ways

First in my series of beans a la crockpot - black beans.
I really geeked out on this little project. It all started because I was reading this blog. and was inspired by the beautiful bean salads and a local bean grower with a real passion for beans (here).
I decided, we were going to do a day trip to Napa and one of my stops would be this bean shop. Each bag of beautiful, fresh beans cost about $5.50. I thought - ok, before I totally muck this up on my pretty beans- let's make sure I know what I am doing and use a cheaper bag.
So I also went to the store and bought a few cheaper bags of beans so I could test the cooking times and my abilities. I suggest you do this same thing - each crockpot can be different so you are going to want to test the timing on yours. And buying good quality beans is important because you want something that is fresh and you know how/where it was grown.
Another experiment was freezing the beans. I didn't think it would work, but it's better than canned!

What you need:
Water
Black beans

Process:
The night before you want to cook your beans, cover them with a lot of water in a bowl and leave on the counter. I used the whole bag because I didn't want to do this multiple times and freezing works great for beans!
Drain and rinse. Dump into your crockpot and cover with 2 inches of water.
For my crockpot it took 5 hours on high for black beans (again, these were pre-soaked). I like mine tender and not mushy.
Set it, and forget it.

Storing:
When your beans are cooked, you can use them immediately or let them cool and freeze them.
Just place them in a storage container and put the lid on and freeze. If you are not going to use them this month I would recommend vacuum packing them after they have formed in the freezer in the storage dish.

Black Beans My Way #1 {Black Bean Corn Summer Salad}

Ingredients
Black beans
Corn, grilled
red onion
cilantro
lime
olive oil

(no measurements here because some might like more corn and less onion, or more lime, etc) Just toss together and enjoy!

Black Beans My Way #2 {Refried}
An awesome use of the frozen beans - literally take them out, put them in a pot with about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water and over medium low heat defrost them. As they defrost mash them as much as you like your 'refried' beans and you are done.
Serve on homemade corn tortillas and guacamole for a yummy vegetarian snack!

Black Beans My Way #3 {Plain}
Plain with some salt - great side dish with some protein and veg!


{I am on a bean rampage so keep your eyes out for more black bean recipes!}

Quick Indian Cauliflower & Green Bean Curry

This is so quick and requires that you just have a few of the basic Indian spices on hand. And you can use this same method on a lot of vegetables, but this happens to be my favorite. Usually it's done with cauliflower and potato and peas, but I don't eat potato so this is my version - Hashimoto friendly!

Ingredients
2 tbls canola and/or peanut oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1-2 tsp ginger, finely chopped
1 head of cauliflower, core taken out and cut into smallish pieces (your choice)
2 cups green beans
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp garam masala (store bought or you can make your own)
1 tsp salt (plus more to taste)
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 cup or so of water

Process
In a pan (that you have a lid for) warm the oil over medium low heat. DON'T go crazy with the heat. Indian cooking is all about managing that so you can just lightly toast the spices.
When you think the oil is warm, put in one mustard or cumin seed. If you see it bubbling on the sides, put in the rest of the seeds. Cook until just fragrant (that literally means until you can smell it - don't let them burn if you do - start over).
Then toss in the ginger and onion.

When the onion is soft, toss in the cauliflower, green beans, spices, salt and water and cover with a lid.

Cook until the cauliflower is nice and soft. Keep adding water as needed.

Serve over basmati rice.

Powerful Quinoa

Quinoa is in itself one of the greatest grains for anyone - but a Celiacs best friend. You can do this up any way you want, but what makes it 'powerful' is the blend of veggies you get from the farmer's market and the addition of coconut aminos and seeds.
If you are not familiar with coconut aminos, read here. (I have found it at New Leaf and Whole Foods, but you can also get it on Amazon I think). They are awesome. Adds umami like soy sauce but is not soy. So for the allergen sensitive folks - this is the PERFECT alternative. You can also use it to dip sushi, toss with rice noodles. Delish.

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa, soaked overnight and rinsed
1/2 bunch arugula or spinach, cleaned and chopped
1/2 head of cauliflower and/or broccoli
2 small zucchini, chopped or sliced
1 good handful of green beans trimmed and chopped
1 cup shitake mushrooms
1/2 red onion
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1 lemon
coconut aminos
salt and pepper
olive oil

Part 1
Heat your oven to 400 F and roast the broccoli/cauliflower and/or zucchini on a sheet pan until golden with olive oil, salt and pepper

Part 2

While the oven is heating...

Warm the olive oil up in a pan and cook the onion until it's soft. 

Toss in the mushroom and cook until everything is just as you like it.

Part 3
While the oven is going and the pan is going...
Cook the quinoa and toss in the arugula - let the heat of the quinoa wilt the greens.

Toss together and squeeze the juice of the lemon, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt, pepper and coconut aminos to your taste; Add the pumpkin seeds.

Enjoy!

This is perfect cold or room temp - I actually don't eat it warm except the first time I make it.

The Indian Food Craving

So it's probably been nagging at Ben and I for about 2 months - but a serious hankering for some good Indian food. It's always when I drive past my favorite buffet. I just want to run in and smother myself in rice and curries - oy.

Trouble is, last time we did this - about 2.5 months ago, we both left not feeling so great. Ben especially. Major gluten problemo.

We asked what had flour in it and what didn't - and I trust them so I didn't get why the bad feeling. So I am in the Indian store on Saturday and pick up the asafetida. Uh. Damn.

Wheat starch.

It's in almost every Indian dish. I forget exactly what it is, but I think it comes from the bark of a tree. In any case, it adds a nice depth and it's supposed to help with digestion - but not for celiacs.

That's a hard one. So officially, I am determined in the next year to become an expert at a much larger variety of Indian dishes. It's a must.

So yesterday, I busted into a few that were FANTASTIC.

I started watching this show, Indian Food Made Easy on the cooking channel. Seems funny for some reason as I write about it, butI won't complain because the two dishes I made were great.

The three tricks are get the go to the Indian store so you can get the right lentils and real curry leaves (and I tried to find these nigella seeds with no luck but it worked out just fine), use your judgement, if you fail - try again!

The first I made was a cabbage dish - this was so incredibly easy and I had a small head of red cabbage in the fridge I had to use up anyway.

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/peppery-hot-cabbage-salad-recipe/index.html

The second thing I made is a great breakfast, comforting - pretty much any time of the day thing. Kicheri. YUM. Pretty easy too. Here I actually doubled the recipe and it was not enough - ok, I pigged out on it.

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/creamy-lentil-and-rice-dish-khicheri-recipe/index.html

Be on the lookout for more Indian food recipes and tricks I am picking up. I am bound and determined to figure it out, and explain it - because many of these sites that I have been looking at, they don't explain how they get the depth - and it's tricky stuff like just toasting the spices enough for example. Anjum (host of that show) kind of stinks at this too, but if you watch the show and try the recipe, you can figure it out. But, I will explain it once I get it down!

Root Vegetable and Mushroom Pie with Rosemary Biscuit Topping

I received a subscription to Bon Appetit for the holidays and I am so happy I did. The photographs, the ideas, the recipes! This is a winner. I decided to swap the flour in the pie mixture with arrowroot powder - it is a great thickener with no weird flavor or texture. The trick is adding it more towards the end (where with flour you need it at the beginning). You could definitely do the BA recipe for biscuits, but I decided to try a gluten free biscuit. Your choice, but I wanted to highlight that this could easily be GF and DF (dairy free), and it is a much more interesting way to get your root vegetables (and it has pretty much every root veg in there!). Much of this can be done ahead, so this can be a slow cooked Sunday meal, or it can be a comforting weeknight meal that you just assemble the night of.

You can find the recipe at:
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/03/root_vegetable_and_mushroom_pie

I have re-posted the recipe, but with my changes here:

Ingredients
filling
6 cups homemade chicken or vegetable broth
2 very large carrots, peeled, quartered lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large celery root (celeriac), peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 large parsnips, peeled, quartered lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large rutabaga, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 turnip, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 oz dried porcini mushrooms, covered with hot water for 10 minutes. Reserve liquid and chop mushrooms into 1/2 inch chunks
3 tablespoons butter or oil
3 cups chopped onions
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
2-3 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream (optional)
2 tablespoons imported dry Sherry
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Preparation
filling

• Bring 6 cups stock to boil in large pot over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve bouillon. Add carrots and next 5 ingredients. Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 7 minutes. Drain; reserve vegetables and broth.
• Melt butter in same pot over medium heat. Add onions; sauté until beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Mix in garlic and rosemary; stir 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in reserved broth. Cook until reduced by about half. Add the arrowroot powder. Then cream and Sherry. Cook until sauce is thick and reduced to 4 cups, whisking often. Mix in reserved vegetables and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer filling to buttered 13x9x2-inch baking dish. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover with foil; chill.
• Preheat oven to 400°F. Bake filling, covered, until bubbling, about 50 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare biscuits.

biscuits

Pre mix 1 cup rice flour, 1 cup tapioca flour, 1 cup cornstarch, 1 cup potato flour

7/8 cup of the flour mixture
1/2 tsp xanthum gum
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
1 tsp sucanat
1/2 tsp salt

3 tablespoons butter or vegan non-hydrogenated margarine
1/2 cup buttermilk

In a mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter until it resembles the size of peas. Stir in the buttermilk and work gently until the dough forms a ball. Roll out onto a dusted surface and roll to about 3/4" thickness. Cut the dough into rounds. Lay on top of the vegetable mix.

Final Preparation

Lay biscuit dough atop hot filling by heaping tablespoonfuls; sprinkle with pepper. Bake uncovered until tester inserted into center of biscuits comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool 15 minutes.