Category: Food

I seem to have gotten an inordinate number of spam comments this week schilling for the Zune. Wasn’t the Zune discontinued?
(I also got one non-spam comment. Thanks!)
This was a big hit with my wife, and I’ll likely make it again. The prep work was a bit labor intensive. Since I’d had a slightly carb-heavy lunch, instead of rice, I served this over a cutlet (Is that even the right word?) of seitan. This was my first time making seitan (or eating it for that matter), and I think my technique needs some work. I probably should have introduced it to the curry while the curry was still cooking to let it pick up some flavor. Of course, seitan is off the menu for the gluten-intolerant, in which case, just go for rice, or even something like cauliflower.
(You can look up how to make seitan at home for tips and tricks, but the general gist is to mix about 4 parts Vital Wheat Gluten with about 3 parts water, erring on the side of less water, and a bit of soy sauce. Knead until it tuns into a sort of rubbery ball, then roll it out into several thin flat shapes, and simmer it in a liquid that tastes like what you want the seitan to taste like until it plumps up and becomes firm)
The time-consuming step of this dish is pressing the water out of the tofu. I think it was worth it for the texture you end up with (and for your tofu not dissolving into mush), but people with more experience than me at tofu might have better suggestions for how to get that texture. Heck, for all I know, you can buy your tofu pre-pressed at fine upscale tofuscarias.
I tried two methods to press the tofu. First, I laid them out on a cookie sheet, then placed a second cookie sheet on top, and weighed the top sheet down with a water-filled casserole dish. This spent an hour in the oven at 250°F. That got a lot of the water out, but the tofu still felt like it wouldn’t survive cooking, so it went into the skillet with a large plate on top, weighted down with a jumbo-size jar of peanut butter. That spent another 20 minutes on the range at low heat. During both steps, I drained the pan occasionally to get rid of the water that pressed out of the tofu. The result had a firm, meaty texture that wasn’t entirely unlike grilled paneer cheese.

• 1 lb firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch thick 1 inch squares and pressed
• 2 cups of your favorite tomato-based spaghetti sauce (If your favorite is especially sweet, use someone else’s favorite.)
• 3 tbsp Vegetable Curry Spices (I used 2 tbsp of Shan Vegetable Curry Mix and 1 of Mohini Indian Fusion Vegetable Blend
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 cup mixed vegetables
• 1/2 cup almonds (optional)
• 1 tbsp heavy cream
• 2 tbsp Greek yogurt
• Vegetable oil

Fill a skillet with enough oil cover the bottom of the pan thoroughly and bring it up to a high temperature. Fry the onions for a few minutes, but not all the way to translucency. Add the tofu. Now, I had a hard time getting the tofu to fry without breaking up without keeping the pan so hot that the tofu instantly burns to the bottom. Anyone who has experience pan-frying tofu, pointers are welcome.
The tofu won’t need more than a light sizzle before you reduce the heat to medium and add the spaghetti sauce and vegetables. Stir in the curry spices, being careful not to break up the tofu too badly. If you’ve got the tofu pressed really well, this shouldn’t be too much of an issue, but I made the mistake of trying a similar recipe with unpressed tofu, and it basically dissolved into a mashed potato consistency.
Sprinkle the almonds into the mix. You could try cashews instead, but I wouldn’t use salted nuts, as it’ll make the curry too salty. Stir in the cream.
As it happened, I had a pack of breaded spinach fritter appetizers in the fridge, and I put a few on top while the pan simmered for about 20 minutes. They mixed well and added a lot to the eating experience.
Right at the end, stir in the yogurt. You can adjust the amount of yogurt up or down based on the final level of spiciness you want. Leah sometimes uses sour cream to the same end when I make dishes like this, but for this one I think the you don’t want to add any additional sourness over the acidity of the tomato sauce.
As I said above, I served this over a seitan fillet, but next time, I think I’d prefer to cut up the seitan and cook it in the curry. It should work over rice or maybe over naan bread. With all the vegetables and onions, and depending on the consistency of your spaghetti sauce, you might be happy to just eat this like a stew, without any kind of substrate.

Somewhere between a quiche and a brunch casserole, this uses a layer of zucchini in lieu of a pie crust. Not bad, but my food processor couldn’t grind the almonds finely enough. May try again with a mill.

• 3 Eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tbsp heavy cream
• 1/2 can sliced mushrooms, drained
• 3 oz Cheddar Cheese, shredded
• 1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp low-fat Ricotta Cheese
• 1/8 tsp paprika
• 1/4 cup low-carb bake mix (or bisquick)
• 4 Italian Sausage links, sliced (Optional)
• 4 oz Zucchini slices

Layer a pie pan, quiche pan or casserole dish with zucchini slices and warm in the oven to dry out. Cover zucchini with ground almonds and dust with a few pinches of bake mix. Whisk eggs. Mix milk and cream, then heat. Add milk to eggs slowly, whisking briskly. Whisk in cheese, mushrooms, paprika and remaining bake mix. Chill filling while cooking sausage and preheating oven. Arrange sausage slices in pie pan. Pour filling over sausages. Cook 1 hour at 400.
Serves 6. Approximately 570 calories per serving (350 without the sausage). When made with the low-carb bake mix described below, 6 grams of carbohydrates, of which 2 are fiber.

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Low-carbiness is achieved by using a low-carb bake mix. Here’s the one I used. I’m still fine-tuning the proportions. As mentioned above, you really need to mill the almonds.

• 2 part whey protein
• 4 parts finely ground almonds
• 1 parts flax meal
• 1 part wheat gluten
• 1 tsp baking powder per 2 cups mix

Note that bisquick has shortening in it as well, so you’ll need to add that for baking.
I originally tried this will more flax meal substituting for the almonds in a couple of popovers. It worked out okay when mixed 50-50 with flour, but using it straight, the mix broke down during cooking, and it basically ended up cooking into a muffin sitting atop a fritatta.
The tricky thing about this mix is that there’s a vast density disparity between flax, almonds and whey, so you pretty much have to mix the heck out of this until the moment it goes into the oven, and then cross your fingers and hope it sets before it separates.

I tried serving this with some low-carb simulated popovers using flax meal, but they didn’t turn out. Real popovers might have worked out.

• 1 large steak, cut into strips
• 8 oz. Sliced Bell Peppers and Onion
• 1 tsp unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 oz (1/2 can) Sliced Mushroom Stems and Pieces

For the sauce:

• 1 T butter
• 1 T heavy cream
• 1/2 c milk
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp mustard
• 1 T white wine
• 1/3 c Cheddar Cheese, shredded
• 2 T Grated Parmesan cheese

Sear the steak in a large pan and drain. Add the flour and toss the pieces lightly to coat, then add Worcestershire and reduce heat to medium. Add peppers, onions, and mushrooms. Cook over medium heat until steak reaches desired doneness.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a small sauce pan. Whisk in xantham gum, then remove from heat and add cream. Bring mixture up to temperature slowly but do not boil, then incorporate milk. Add cheeses, stirring continuously until cheese melts. Add wine and mustard, and stir briskly.
Just before serving, pour cheese sauce over steak and toss lightly.

In retrospect, I might try baking the zucchini layer for a few minutes to dry it out a bit for a firmer texture.

• 1/4 c heavy cream
• 1/3 c Grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 8 oz. Sliced Bell Peppers and Onions (Costco or BJs has a good mix they sell as fajita vegetables
• 8 oz. Zucchini Slices, Frozen
• 1 oz almonds, ground and toasted
• 1/2 c Mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1/3 c Cheddar and Gouda cheeses (or really anything you like), coarsely shredded
• About 30 slices of turkey pepperoni
• Salt
• 1/4 tsp Garlic powder
• Basil
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 350°. In a measuring cup, add parmesan and garlic to cream and whisk. Spray a deep casserole dish with your favorite baking spray and layer the bottom with zucchini slices. Brown the beef in a large skillet, adding salt and Worcestershire Sauce. Drain the beef and layer atop the zucchini. Cover the beef with a thin layer of ground almonds. Pour about 3/4 of the cream and Parmesan mixture over the almonds. Lightly sautee the onions and peppers in the beef drippings and layer in the dish. Top with a layer of pepperoni. Cover with mozarella and dot with the other cheeses. Sprinkle with basil and drizzle remaining cream sauce. Bake at 350° for about an hour.

Needs some fine-tuning. Probably add some more ground nuts at the end. The marinated artichokes add too much tartness. Using canned might be too mild, but maybe rinse the marinated ones first. Also, the spinach flavor didn’t quite integrate. Consider preparing the spinach, cream, and parmesan like creamed spinach ahead of time.

• 3 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 10 oz. Spinach, thawed & well-drained
• 1/4 c. Cashews, ground
• 1/2 c. Parmesan Cheese, grated
• 1/4 c. Heavy Cream
• 1/3 c. Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
• 1/2 c. Marinated Artichoke Hearts
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• Parsley Flakes (to taste)
• Basil (to taste)
• Salt (to taste)

Preheat oven to 350°F Line the bottom of a casserole dish with the chicken. Sprinkle with parsley and basil. Layer spinach on top, then cover the spinach with ground cashews. Sprinkle with most of the Parmesan. Add garlic and salt to taste. Pour cream over cheese. Layer with artichokes and top with mozzarella and remaining Parmesan.
Bake at 350° until chicken reaches an even temperature of 165°F, about 40-50 minutes. Don’t worry about overcooking; the extra water from the spinach should keep the chicken moist (Yeah, you didn’t get all the water out of the spinach. Neither did I).

Tuesday night, I found myself in need of a foodstuff to bring to a party at work. I had a bag of frozen meatballs, and I could have done meatballs marinara, but I always like to try something more interesting than folks are expecting. I’d made meatballs in a cream-of-mushroom-soup-and-sour-cream based sauce once, and I wanted to try that again, but I had no cream of mushroom soup on hand. So I did what I do best in these circumstances: I improvised.

The result was well received, so I thought I’d commit it to electrons…

Swedish-Inspired Meatball Sauce

• 1.5T butter or comparable lipid
• 2T white whole wheat flour (I imagine white will work, but wheat gives it a heartier and more complex texture, and is also just generally better for those not sensitive to it)
• 2-3T Sour cream
• 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/4 tsp salt (adjust based on the saltiness of your beef broth)
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• pinch nutmeg (optional)

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat exercising care not to burn the butter. Slowly sprinkle in the flour, working it into the butter with a whisk or paddle until it forms a roux. You should end up with a sort of doughy lump that doesn’t flow. Fold in the sour cream. This step should be done quickly as the sour cream may burn from contact with the pan (If this proves too challenging, work the sour cream in after the milk. It’s harder to get the sour cream to mix evenly, but you’re less likely to burn it.) Pour the milk in at a continuous, steady pace, working the roux in. If all goes well, you should have a smooth, lumpless liquid about the thickness of pepto bismol. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Add the beef broth. Be careful not to add the broth too fast or you might get lumps. Remove from heat.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Also, if you find the taste of the sour cream too aggressive, sprinkle it with sugar (or sucralose). For a more authentically Swedish taste, stir in a pinch of nutmeg. White pepper will also give it a nice exotic kick, but only if you like white pepper.

Suggested SFW Application

Fill a crock pot with your preferred sort of cooked meatball. I used frozen Italian meatballs because I had a bag of those. Cover with the meatballs with the sauce. You may need to double the recipe depending on the size of your crock pot. I used a 4-quart crock pot and about 20-30 meatballs, and needed two batches to achieve adequate coverage. I ended up with about half of the sauce left over. If you’ve got something like a chafing dish (or you just want to serve the meatballs on a platter or shallow dish), you’ll need less.

The astute among you may note that there’s nothing in this recipe that’s aggressively Swedish or Meatballish. I think this would work well over beef tips and noodles, or throw in some mushrooms and serve it over a steak on a bed of wilted baby spinach leaves. Hey, that sounds good. I gotta go get something to eat.