You put polenta in what??

Jeez louise. another oopsie (don't ask...), a cold, and a not quite fabulous attempt at baking... today was a real winner :-P I've had this recipe in my "to-try" pile for quite some time (the page said June 2005), but when Sabrina chose polenta for this week's BSI, I knew just what I was going to make! I haven't cooked much with polenta (tried it for the first time last year), so I didn't come up with one myself. Instead, this one's from Fitness of all places... Chocolate Polenta Cake!! I mean come on, a dessert with 120 calories and 4g protein per serving? Not that i didn't have two... oops :)

looks like someone didn't fold things together all that well!

Ok, so the recipe... a little strange, as it has you beat egg whites and eggs... together... i don't think i did this step long enough, but i was tired (i think this why mine was kinda flat). But it tasted good so that's all that matters! Not too dense or too chocolaty, almost reminded me of a souffle? (I question that b/c i don't think i've had too many of those, either :)) Ok, without further ado:

what a lovely fuzzy picture

Chocolate Polenta Cake
Fitness, June 2005

1c plus 2T skim milk
2 1/2T polenta

2/3c semi-sweet choc chips

3T sugar
2 large eggs
4 large egg whites

1T unsweetened applesauce
1/2t baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium saucepan, over hi heat, bring milk to a boil then whisk in polenta (watch this if you really do have it on hi heat milk will boil over quickly!!). Lower heat and whisk constantly for 3-5min, until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

In med saucepan, melt choclate over very low heat. Stir in polenta mixture, then set aside. (I actually did this in a double broiler b/c of the next step--I just swapped out bowls)

In a bowl over simmering water, whisk together eggs, egg whites, and sugar until warm (you don't want to cook them!) Remove from heat and beat on hi until mixture is 6-8 times original volume.

Stir applesauce into chocolate mixture and mix well. Fold 1/5 of egg mixture into chocolate. Sprinkle with baking powder and gently combine. Slowly fold in remaining egg mixture 1/3 at a time. Pour batter into 8" square baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake for 25-30min. Cool on a wire rack.

New to Me: R+D Kitchen and M Cafe

Yabu, Il Fornaio and Musha are my favorite restaurants. They have great food and they're comfortable and affordable. I'd go to them every week if I could. Having said that, without realizing it, I'd fallen into a rut. It took my wife, Michelle, to shake things up and get me to try two new restaurants.

R+D Kitchen (310-395-3314) is part of the Hillstone restaurant group that includes Bandera, Gulfstream, and Houston's among others. Recently opened at 1323 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, R+D took over an address that was something of a black hole. Montana Lounge and Yu Restaurant had failed. Even a successful entrenpeneur like Wolfgang Puck couldn't make the space work for him. With the Aero theater directly across the street, this should be a good location.

Good design makes such a difference. The previous tenants had sealed off the space, creating dark interiors. Walking into the restaurant, it's easy to see that R+D came up with a fresh approach. With a minimalist design, a skylight in the middle of the dining room, an L-shaped bar to one side, and windows that open out onto Montana, R+D is inviting both inside and out.

Running along the street side of the restaurant is a window space that in warm weather is covered by almost invisible screen. The effect is complete openness.

A single sheet, bar-style menu focuses on a few choices: sandwiches (cheeseburgers, Reuben Sandwiches, Veggie Burgers), salads (Mediterranean tuna salad, chopped chicken salad, and an heirloom tomato salad), a few entrees (chicken, pasta, omelet, and steak), and one or two specials.

The night we visited the restaurant we came early while it was still light, all the better to enjoy the airy interior. The portions are large. The Featured Sandwich for the day was an ahi tuna burger which the kitchen obliged us by splitting. We shared a salad as well. The Newporter was a perfect salad entree, with pieces of roast chicken sharing the plate with a mix of apples, bacon, cashews and greens. Judging by the crowded tables and with a lively bar and a good wine list, R+D certainly seems to have hit a sweet spot on Montana.

M Café (310/838-4300) adds a macrobiotic kitchen to the ever-expanding restaurant row on Culver Blvd. Like R+D, M Café is a member of a larger family of restaurants. The Chaya organization in Los Angeles has always been known as a design-savvy company with an eye on fusion cuisine. M Café in Culver City is an inviting restaurant with a large space inside and a shaded patio out front. With its refrigerated cases, the offerings have the feeling of an upscale deli.

If you think that "macrobiotic" means a subsistence diet of whole grains and raw vegetables, you will be pleasantly surprised. M Café bends the rules to include fish. An avoidance of refined sugar, eggs, or dairy doesn't mean that the pleasures of the patisserie are ignored.

An extensive menu offers salads, rice bowls, sandwiches (hot and cold), sushi, and desserts. As befits a restaurant that has "fusion" embedded in its corporate identity, Cole slaw comfortably shares space in the deli display with whole-grain brown rice inari sushi.

Since Michelle has recently embraced a whole grain, sugar-free, largely vegetarian diet, M Café is a dream-spot for her. With the original M Café at 7119 Melrose, she can enjoy her new diet on the West Side and in town as well.

When life gives you beans...

... roast them! Really? Yes, really! I'm a huge fan of roasting veggies, but had never thought about beans in the same way until I came across this recipe. It was delicious, and I was sold!


Another gift of the farm, I came home with a VERY large bag of yellow beans. They were pretty hefty in size, so I gave them a quick boil (just a couple of minutes) to make sure they cooked before they burned. You can add anything you'd like; this time I threw in some garlic cloves and shallots (be sure not to slice them like i did the first time, they'll be done much faster than the beans! i used chunks about the size of my garlic cloves). With green beans, definately throw in some red pepper slices if you have them (again, slice them about the same size as your green beans). Season with a little salt and pepper, transfer them to a baking sheet, and roast away! I'm usually not wanting to dirty another bowl, so I just mix it all on the pan. And you can set the oven anywhere from 400-450. I was a bit afraid of setting off the fire alarm in my new place (not the way I want to meet my neighbors!), so I opted to turn it down halfway through cooking. Time it takes will depend on the thickness of your beans... I think mine took ~30min. Delish!! I love the ones that got nice and browned :) They are definately better the night you make them, they lose that little crispy-ness in the fridge. Enjoy!

Greens and Beans

As I sit here RICE-ing my knee, I thought I'd tell you guys about another way I used up that swiss chard from the farm... Garlicky beans and greens, brought to you by Amy over at Eggs on Sunday. I kept the red chard to contrast with the white beans, and it made for a pretty sight :)


I ate these as is, but they'd also be good tossed with some pasta, nice and creamy! Are you ready for winter yet? just kidding, swiss chard just seems more of a winter green... Night all :)

Build me up, Butternut...

It's days like today that i wonder how on earth I've never broken a bone. *knock knock knock* Adding to the battle wounds incurred while moving, last night I dropped a porcelain casserole dish on my big toe. I wasn't wearing any shoes... this morning I realized there's a nice bruise. A bit later I decided to go for a run around the park to see some of my new surroundings. About a mile in, I fell and did a number on my knee. I'll spare the bloody details, but that cut my run short. ~sigh~ Now I'm nursing a swollen and stiff wound as I try and catch up on all the blogs I missed!!

But first, I wanted to get to BSI: Butternut Squash. I wanted to do something besides the risotto and ravioli that first came to mind... but i think my creativity was preoccupied with my knee. I managed one idea while cooking, so maybe that'll make an appearance later in the week-- it was one big squash i cooked up!

So first we have a twist on a butternut squash puree that i found interesting due to its use of medjool dates to sweeten the deal. Found on npr's website here, it was contributed by Susan of Food Blogga.


For my next trick, I tried some butternut snack bites that I had seen over at Mostly Eating. I don't know exactly what was off, but my batter was really dry as written so I ended up adding at least another 1/2c of squash and 1/2c applesauce until moistened. I think it was either my use of whole wheat pastry flour instead of whole wheat flour, and/or a less-moist squash (maybe I should've actually pureed it?). Very tasty though, and I can see them being a good, nutritious snack! Too much batter eating though, I'll have to put them straight into the freezer...


Ok, well hopefully everyone else had a better sunday! I capped mine off by nicking myself with my knife while washing dishes... sheesh! Guess someone over here needs a GOOD night's sleep!

A Coffee Cake of Thanks!

THANK YOU for all the good luck wishes!! Just for all that, I made you an apple coffee cake ;-) See, here's a slice...


A note on the recipe: i loved the cake part, chock full of apples just how i like it. The topping, well... it turned out alright (made it ahead of time so it sat for about a day before consumption), but it looked very dry (due to the lack of fat) coming out of the oven. So I might try another topping next time.

The move? Hmmm, well, there was no elevator like i was told (grrr)... but my dad and i were able to move me in quite quickly. Luckily I am only on the second floor, so I made dad unload the truck and I did most of the running boxes upstairs. Why didn't I know there was no elevator? well... i hadn't seen the apartment (looong story). And even luckier still, everything worked out and i think i am going to love it. tomorrow (so long as my feet are no longer crying out in pain) i'll be exploring the adjacent park (Back Bay Fens)!! It felt soo good to be walking around a city again today as I ran errands :) I picked up a map of running routes in Boston today at Marathon Sports, but please let me know good things to do/see/favorite spots!!!

I'm about to put all my pots and pans on the living room floor to try and figure out how to fit them into my [few] cabinets :) pot rack? lol. ok, hopefully i'll be back tomorrow with a butternut squash recipe for the challenge!

Grilled Vegetable Couscous Salad

For a confirmed meat-eater like myself, everything tastes better with crisp bacon, grilled sausage, or a roasted meat. Michelle's new diet has challenged me to come up with dishes that are as flavorful as she's used to but focus on vegetables.

Experimenting with recipes has sent me searching for ingredients I often over-looked. In our pantry I discovered packages of couscous, dried beans, and polenta, all gifts from the Il Fornaio Passport program.

If you haven't eaten at Il Fornaio, I'd like to recommend the restaurant. We have been regular customers of the Santa Monica Il Fornaio ever since it opened. We appreciate the friendly service, fresh ingredients, well-prepared dishes, and affordable prices. And we enjoy the Passport program and its monthly gifts. When the gifts are ingredients to make at home, Chef Maurizio Mazzon provides easy-to-follow recipes for each.

As an end of summer dish, couscous with grilled vegetables seemed like a perfect dish to make for Michelle. Traditional couscous requires a lengthy cooking process. Il Fornaio provided a quick-cooking couscous, which I recommend. This recipe is indebted to Chef Mazzon.

Grilled Vegetables Couscous

Yield: 4-6 servings

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups couscous (quick-cook style)

1 1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons olives, cracked green or kalamata (pitted, finely chopped)

1 basket cherry tomatoes (washed, quartered)

1/4 cup capers (chopped)

1 cup Italian parsley (leaves only, washed, finely chopped)

1 ear of corn (husks and silks removed, washed)

1 carrot (washed, peeled, trimmed, cut into slabs 4"x1/4")

2 garlic cloves (washed, trimmed)

1 ripe avocado (optional)

1 bunch arugula (optional)
Olive oil

Sea salt and pepper

Method

Drizzle olive oil onto a flat plate, season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, roll the corn on the plate to coat with the seasoned oil. Do the same with the carrot slabs and garlic cloves. Lightly brown on a hot grill or roast in a 350 degree oven for 10-20 minutes, turning to avoid burning. Let cool , finely chop the carrots and garlic. Cut the kernels off the cob.

As Chef Mazzon instructs, boil the water with 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. In a non-reactive bowl (stainless steel or glass) mix together the couscous with the salted hot water and 2 tablespoons olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 10 minutes.

To the couscous, add the carrots, corn, garlic, parsley, capers, olives, and cherry tomatoes. Add another 7 tablespoons of olive oil. Toss well. Taste and adjust the seasoning with sea salt or black pepper. Can be served chilled or at room temperature.

Variations

Add grilled broccoli (treated in the same way as the carrots).

Serve with arugula.

Serve with a sliced avocado.