Wrapping Up Another Month.

January has come to an end and with that we will all close our Moosewood Restaurant New Classics and open an exciting new cookbook for February. As for David and myself, Moosewood will be at the ready, we were impressed by the dishes made from it and will use it again and again.

With the end of a month, comes a Q & A style sum up of the chosen book, so without further adieu, here is what everyone thought of Moosewood Restaurant New Classics:

1. What were your favorite aspects of this book?

Amy-"Lots of variety."

Stephanie- "I love the focus on healthy, flavorful eating. I enjoyed the multi-cultural cuisine; dishes, flavors and seasonings from around the globe. I really liked the introduction to the cookbook and the pages leading up to the actual recipes... the explanation of the restaurant history, how the recipes are developed, and the goal in assembling the cookbook- great, fun insight!"

Crystal- "I love the wide variety of foods!"

David- "The simplicity of the recipes and the complex flavor that comes from such simplicity."

Kimberly- "I realized upon making some of these recipes that we were getting doses of spices and flavors we rarely enjoy on a regular basis. I think I had unknowingly missed some of the ethnic flavors on my taste buds and really enjoyed digging through our spice cupboard on a regular basis."

2. Any recipes you would happily make again?

Amy- "Presto Chocolate Cake"

Stephanie- "I really enjoyed the Veggie Pho, and will definitely be making it again. It had great presentation and filled the room with beautiful aromas."

Crystal- "I loved making the scones! They are the perfect Saturday morning breakfast."

David-"The curried quinoa, the bulgur, and the vegan chocolate cake."

Kimberly- "The grains made great side dishes (though we usually ate them as a meal) so keeping those handy will be a priority. Last night we took the Israeli Couscous and French Lentils (pg. 231) to a little potluck and it was a successful crowd pleaser."

3. Any recipes you will be avoiding for life?

Amy- "Nope."

Stephanie- "None that I came across. I plan on making the PistachioCardamom cake.... we'll see how that turns out. Sounds intriguing, but cardamom can be a strong spice."

David-"There were a few recipes we didn't find post worthy after trying, but wouldn't avoid them for life. The broccoli rabe with orecchiette and butter beans (pg. 251) was pretty bitter and might be better with broccoli since the bitterness really killed the whole dish."

Kimberly- "I have some strange memory of a Peter Rabbit Salad I made in first grade that I hated. Memories of shredded carrot and raisins spring to mind. And mayonnaise...was there mayonnaise in that salad!?!? So, I will likely not give Two Shredded Carrot Salads (pg. 111) a second glance, nor the opportunity for creation in our kitchen. In fact quite a few of the salads left me less than enthralled simply based on the title, which is surprising, as I typically love a good salad."

4. What type of friend would you recommend this book to?

Amy- "A vegetarian."

Stephanie- "Someone who is up for a little taste-adventure in the kitchen. I think that any skill level will be able to successfully cook form this book, however. The recipes are very straightforward and easy to manage."

Kimberly- "Someone looking for some ways to cut meat from their diet, add some new ingredients to their plates, and some blasts of flavor from the world's spices."

5. What was the biggest challenge in using this book?

Amy- "Not a lot of pics."

Stephanie- "I would have to say the "visual stimulation". However, once you begin reading the recipes and looking at the ingredients, your imagination comes alive with the potential flavors each dish offers."

Crystal- "I think pictures are really important in cookbooks. I would have liked to have seen more pictures of the dishes in the book so I knew how they were supposed to look".

Kimberly- "I'm a sucker for beautiful photographs in a cookbook. This cookbook had zero."

6. What was the biggest surprise about Moosewood Classics?

Amy- "I was surprised to see so many tasty desserts."

Stephanie- "How simple the recipes were! Dishes that sound involved or complicated are so easy to make! I had a LOT of fun with this book and look forward to cooking more with the Moosewood Restaurant family."

Crystal- "How quick and easy it was to make the scones! Who would have thought?"

David-"How much I liked almost every recipe."

Kimberly- "A completely boring looking book delivered on simple yet fabulous tasting recipes. Reminding me of that old saying, 'you can't judge a book by its cover'."

Presto! Chocolate Cake pg 421

Hi my name is Amy and I am a choca-holic :) All the chocolate desserts in Moosewood sound amazing. I chose this recipe because it is soooo simple and I had all the ingredients on hand. All I did was get a special jam for the glaze, I went with black cherry. I really cant express how amazing this cake is!!! I was in heaven as I ate it. My hubby hates when I make things tooo chocolatey and he said this was perfect. The cherry jam gives a nice tartness. The texture is moist and delicate. WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW! You have to try this cake. So far the best thing I have made from this whole blog : ) : ) It would be the perfect dessert to throw together in a rush. Easy and quick to make and looks and tastes like it could have taken forever. Makes the perfect size for a small dinner party.

Caribbean Sweet Potato Gratin pg 272

I love sweet potatoes! I am always trying to find new ways to cook or bake with them so this recipe was the first from Moosewood that caught my eye...well it basically jumped off the page: ) I also love Caribbean flavors and cooking with coconut milk so this was a must try in my house. The recipe states that there will be extra coconut milk leftover due to the amount you need and how the cans are sold so I chose to cook basmati rice for the "cooked rice" ingredient with the extra coconut milk and water to drive home that creamy coconut flavor! I was nervous about the cornmeal topping and if I would like it or not...but it was very tasty! I forgot to add the veg oil so near the end of the cooking time I drizzled extra virgin olive oil on the top to get that golden brown that was missing. The flavors of this gratin are fab. I would say that the only thing missing is a bit of texture so next time I will go heavier on the corn meal topping. I also just had a brillant idea that you could sprinke some coconut flakes on the topping to give some extra crunch. I am excited to try that next time. This gratin would be great for a potluck! My hubby liked it. He is a meat lover so I served it with curry panko crusted chicken cutlets and it was a delicious Sunday dinner. Up next.....dessert

Amy

Polenta Cutlets with Olives

Hello fellow chefs! This is my first post on your totally awesome website. I'm living on the Big Island of Hawaii, surviving by limited means, so I told Steph I'd be able to do a recipe once a month...so here it is!

I told my good friend, Jen, about this blog, and we decided to make a fun girly time out of it by cooking and blogging as a team. She's currently taking a 3-month School of Photography and gets to try out her camera skills, while I learn the skill and art of cooking. The recipe we chose to make was Polenta Cutlets with Olives.

Neither of us had ever made polenta before, but I'd seen Rachael Ray do it on her show, so I was confident we could do it. The most important thing about making polenta is making sure the heat, stirring, and level of water/vegetable broth are all right...in the end, I think it cooked too fast, because the texture was a little more gummy than what it was supposed to be.

Never the less, all the ingredients went together so well. We sauteed the chopped onions and garlic, then added the sun-dried tomatoes and olives...the sun dried tomatoes weren't supposed to be oil-packed, but that's all the store had....I think this was vital because our cutlets ended up being very oily in the end. Once all the ingredients were sauteed, we mixed it with the cornmeal and then poured the whole mixture into the boiling veggie broth. Once it thickened, we popped it in the oven for 15 minutes and spread some parmesan on top when we took it out. After cutting it into diamond shapes, we also had a garnish of marinara sauce and more olives.

I really liked the taste and texture....Jen's husband, Nick, was not so keen on the texture, but said the taste was great. I think to do it differently, I would have used a smaller pot for the boiling broth, added the cornmeal at a lower temperature, and gotten sun-dried tomatoes with no oil. But the thing is, neither of us had had polenta cutlets before, so we had nothing to compare it to....lesson #1 of cooking (for me at least) will have to be this: Don't cook anything you've never tried before:)

Jill and Jen

Vegetable Pho with Shrimp

I had a bit of a craving for a delicious, bright soup flavored with tangy lemongrass, so I decided to make this Vegetable Pho with Shrimp (page 259) and it totally hit the spot. While there were a few steps that took some time (making the lemongrass stock, peeling shrimp, chopping veggies, soaking noodles) none of which were remotely difficult, and all my efforts came together in a soothing, layered soup.

I opted to use very fine rice noodles (not only for the limited availability but for the delicate texture they provide) as opposed to the wider stick noodles, and they worked perfectly. There was plenty of soup for a generous lunch, and then some (I have actually been eating this for lunch the last few days... still so good!). A beautiful dish that is sure the please!

Stephanie

Deep Chocolate Vegan (Cup)Cake(s)

Sunday's "Family Dinner" was incomplete when we realized moments before guests were arriving, that we hadn't planned a dessert. Because we didn't want to run to the store we decided we needed a baked good that called for zero butter (as we were out). Brownies? Cake? We flipped to the dessert section of Moosewood and discovered a vegan cake recipe (pg. 242) that we actually had all ingredients on hand to make...sometimes vegan baking seems to equal an unusual ingredient here or there, but not this time.

We whipped up the batter and decided cupcakes would be best, so we used a cupcake pan instead of the called for cake pan. Upon tasting the batter we got a bit worried, as the cider vinegar was really strong, but hoped that would bake off and trusted the history of our successes with previous recipes from this book. It's just not one of those batters you're gonna want to lick the bowl clean of.

For the frosting we simply rigged up a double boiler to melt some bittersweet chocolate with a touch of cream (note NO LONGER VEGAN) and dipped each cooled cupcake into that for a smooth shiny finish. The cupcakes had an unusually crispy exterior with a delicate crumb, zero vinegar flavor, and tasted great!

Pad Thai

Pad Thai (page 252) is a favorite in our book. Though we couldn't find the Chinese chili paste and tamarind concentrate and at our local food co-op, we were able to grab a sauce (G.G.'s Recipes Red Dragon Asian Sauce) containing many of the ingredients on the list, that fit the bill. We also improvised with the vegetables that were easy to come by or what we already had on hand. We ended up making this recipe twice in one week because it was that good. This was a super easy recipe that delivered on taste.

Eat well,

Kimberly and David

Roasted Vegetable Quesadillas

Let me begin by saying that while this is my first post of the month, I have been looking forward to cooking from this book since day one. I picked up Moosewood Restaurant New Classics at the library and immediately started marking all the recipes I wanted to make until I realized I had gone through a number of Post-Its and was only on Breakfast & Brunch! I had to quickly abandon that plan. All that to say, this book, while void of visual encouragement (no pictures of the food... I know, I sound like a child that wants to see "pretty pictures"), is irresistible and compels one to get in the kitchen to try new, delicious and healthy recipes.

I decided to make the Roasted Vegetable Quesadillas (page 136) for dinner last night, since I had arrived home late and had all the items on hand. It was extremely easy, just a quick chop and season, then into the oven at 425° until tender. Layer between 2 tortillas with cheese (I used Havarti since it was just lingering in my fridge, but turned out to be a great addition) heat in a skillet and voilà! I also accented the inside and top with cilantro, since everything is better with a bit of coriander. I imagine this to be close to a Tortilla Española with the potatoes. The roasted vegetables were savory, filling and wonderful after a long day. I am adding this to our dinner repertoire and will even experiment (as suggested in the book) with other items such as eggplant and portabello mushrooms. YUM!

Note: I was so stoked to score 2 of the earlier Moosewood Restaurant cookbooks plus The Enchanted Broccoli Forest (written by Mollie Katzen, author of the original MR cookbook AND author of the children's classic Pretend Soup) at the thrift store last weekend. I am looking forward to cooking some great food!

Stephanie

Grains Galore.

We've had a streak of great meals from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics and though we haven't been taking the pictures, we wanted to encourage others to give them a try.

Curried Quinoa (pg. 141)

Bulghur with Carmelized Onions (pg. 139)

Both would be great to have as side dishes, though we had them as a main dish and loved them. Both have great flavor from a variety of spices and herbs, while being super easy to prepare.

Eat Well,

Kimberly and David

Fajitas (Pg 162) and Mole (Pg 379)

We love having family dinners at our place (doesn't mean everyone included is actually family, but who's keeping track?). Last week we invited the "fam" over for a little Mexican night. Fajitas, mole, and margaritas.

The fajitas were really easy to prepare, having sliced the tofu and veggies ahead of time and set to marinade in the fridge. Anything requiring a baking sheet and hot oven always feels like cheating it's so easy. Once the veggies got spread out and in the oven we were practically done.

The mole was a huge hit and easy to make, as it was all done in the food processor. It would be a good little sauce to use for any and all Mexican food nights. The perfect green sauce for a burrito buffet to go inside the tortilla or on top for a wet burrito.

Eat well,

Kimberly and David

Not so whole wheat, cherry "whole wheat cherry scones"

I love breakfast! But unfortunately, I never really get to enjoy it. Most days, I make myself a piece of toast or an eggo, or just grab whatever I can find in the pantry or fridge and eat it at work. Rarely do I ever just sit and savor this meal, especially on a weekday. So I decided to make one of the breakfast dishes from this month's cookbook.

The one that stood out to me was the "cherry whole wheat scones". Now, I am a total protein girl. I love meat and eggs and the like, and for me the ultimate breakfast has some form of both. But who can resist a scone! Especially one right out of the oven! I have never made scones before, and I decided to give it a shot.

Gathering up everything that I needed was a bit of a challenge. First of all, I didn't have a sifter. I went to Target and they didn't have any! Can you believe it!?! So then I tried the local cookery shop, but unfortunately they were closed. So when I went to Safeway to get the flour for this recipe, I decided to check there. And praise the Lord they had one left! I now have a sifter, so yay me :) Unfortunately, both Target and Safeway do not carry whole wheat pastry flour, which I needed for this recipe. So I decided to just use regular old unbleached all purpose flour instead and hope for the best. The other change I made was instead of using dried cherries and got mini chocolate chips instead. So my whole wheat cherry scones were no longer whole wheat or cherry, but I was definitely okay with that.

The scones were SUPER easy to make. Despite the book saying that the prep time was 30 minutes, it really only took me about 10 or 15 to put it all together. And then only 15 minutes to bake. This and a cup of Kona coffee was a perfect breakfast to make for a lazy Saturday morning.

The Moosewood Restaurant New Classics

This month we're reading and cooking from The Moosewood Restaurant New Classics by The Moosewood Collective. We first heard of the Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York, via the blog world. Since August we've occasionally checked out copies of their books at our local library. So, they haven't been on our radar all that long, but seeing that soon after we discovered them, we were asked to write on this very food blog, we thought it only best, to feature one of their books.

We are vegetarian (K)/pescetarian (D), as is this book, as is their restaurant. However, just as we've substituted tofu for meat while using books in past months on this blog, we hope you'll be able to substitute meat for tofu where you see fit.

The Moosewood Restaurant is based on whole grains, organic produce where possible and no processed products. This sounds like a modern trendy food diet, but the Moosewood Restaurant has been open with this platform since 1973.

The most famous of the original members is Mollie Katzen. She started Moosewood with her brothers and has gone on to be one of the best selling cook book authors of all time.

Moosewood operates as a collective of individuals working together. All of their cookbooks are written and assembled by a team of Moosewood staff. You will not find an author or a cook's name listed in this book beyond the list of members in the opening pages. All success and failure is a team effort at Moosewood.

We hope you enjoy the book and the meals that come from it.

Eat Well.

Kimberly and David