the penniless foodie

Some Saturdays the only thing to be made is Palak Paneer (my version)…  Perhaps there are those of you out there who won’t agree with my recipe because I’ve kind of changed some of the details around.  Instead of Paneer (an indian cheese), I use Tofu.  And instead of using cream, I just add more yogurt.  Basically I cook all my spices, add three tablespoons of yogurt, 600ml water, and ~600g of frozen spinach and then cook it for ten minutes.  Purée with an immersion blender.  Add another three tablespoons of yogurt and toss the cubed tofu, serve with rice.  Yum.

I also know I don’t use the right spices, because I just throw a bunch of stuff into the pot and then taste it.  Add some more and taste again.  Repeat until its delicious.  But here’s the basic idea.

A good bunch of cilantro, half an onion, a few garlic cloves, some grated ginger, some chili, a tomato chopped, a bunch of cumin, turmeric, cardamom, nutmeg, fennel, cinnamon, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and a pinch saffron.  Yep that’s right, I throw open my cupboard and start blindly mixing things until its just right.

As you may notice in the photos, I also press my tofu to get it a little firmer.  I slice the tofu into layers and then place paper towels between to absorb the excess water.  A few plates on top of it will add a little pressure.

—jk

Some Saturdays you have to make the most delicious breakfast food ever, Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread…  Joy the Baker sure knows how to write instructions.  There’s no way I could out do her!  The only way I could make them better is to steal them straight from her website and call them my own.  But I won’t.  So instead I’ll post lots of pictures of her Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread and you can see the directions here yourself.

—jk

Some Saturdays you are excited to try a new smoothie recipe…  A few weeks back I mentioned I had found an orange rhubarb and ginger smoothie in one of my cookbooks by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.  Unlike typical ‘raw’ smoothies, this mixture you have to cook and cool before whizzing it up in the blender.

6 stems of rhubarb (mine were chopped and frozen from my parent’s garden last summer)
4 oranges juiced
1/8 cup of sugar
Some grated fresh ginger

Combine all the ingredients and cook over low heat until the rhubarb is soft.  Turn off the heat and let it cool completely!  Put about 10 ice cubes into a blender and crush them up a little bit before adding the rhubarb mixture.  Blend until smooth and sweeten with honey to taste.

—jk

Some Saturdays the only thing to be done is to make quiche…  I had a bunch of leftover ham from Easter in my freezer so naturally my thoughts headed this direction.  Quiche has been a favorite of mine since I was born.  Or near that long.  I have a vague recollection wanting quiche for my third birthday and instead of saying the word properly, I was only able to pronounce it “yee-sh”.  

The pie crust is pretty simple, one cup of flour to 1/2 cup of butter.  Cut the butter into the flour until it is well integrated, the mixture will almost look like breadcrumbs.  Add a little water (like a teaspoon or two) until the mixture becomes a dough.  Roll out into a tart pan and blind bake the crust.  You do this so that the pie crust has good texture.  The crust will puff up and shrink some so be generous with the crust, cover it with tin foil and lay some dried beans on top of the foil, this helps to keep the crust from becoming too warped.  I think I baked mine at 400 for about 7-10 minutes.  Let the crust cool.

For my quiche I cooked up some mushrooms (I think I used a pint worth), half an onion, 4 oz of Chèvre goat cheese, about 4 oz of Manchego cheese, and some of the Easter ham.  I placed all the ingredients in the pie crust.  Mixed together 6 eggs and one cup of milk and poured it on top of everything else and baked the quiche at 350 for 1 hour.  Once finished, enjoy!  But not too much, because I always want to eat the whole thing right then.  Use some restraint and save some for your week!

—jk