Dashi

 I've been suffering the past couple days from a very irritated digestive system and my only comfort is in liquids.  I finally made some dashi and it is simple and easy!  The perfect base to miso soup. 

I found the konbu and bonito flakes at Whole Foods.  I am sure you can find miso there as well.  I prefer white miso over red.    

For a simple quick soup add a heaping spoonful of white miso to the dashi.  Use another spoon to help dissolve it.  Yum! 

Ingredients

• 1 piece konbu (approximately 5 by 6 inches)
• 1 cup bonito flakes
• 5 cups cold water

In a medium pot, place konbu into cold water. Set pot over medium heat. Just before the water begins to boil pull off heat and let stand 5 minutes.
 Remove konbu, and bring back to heat.

Again, right before stock begins to boil, remove from heat and add the bonito flakes. When flakes sink to the bottom, strain through cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer.

Dashi keeps in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks (but it's so good it won't last that long, mine was gone in one day/3 bowls of soup!)

Greek Pasta Salad

This salad is perfect for a pot-luck or to bring to the beach.

I cut the recipe in half but wish I made more! Recipe from America's Test Kitchen.

 GREEK PASTA SALAD with
CREAMY FETA VINAIGRETTE

Hands-on time: 45 minutes
Time to table: 3 hours
Makes 14 cups (but easily halved)

PASTA
• 1 pound (about 4 cups) mini or medium pasta shells
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 green pepper, diced (it is fine if you omit the peppers)
• 4 green onions, white and green parts, chopped
• ½ cup Kalamata olives, chopped

VINAIGRETTE
• 6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 - 4 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt (you may want to omit, the olives add plenty of salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 ounces feta (small container)
• ¼ cup olive oil

BEFORE SERVING
• 8 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered 
• 1 large cucumber, peeled, quartered, seeded and chopped
• 1 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

PASTA Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain well. While still warm, transfer to a large bowl and stir in olive oil. Stir in peppers and olives.

VINAIGRETTE In a medium bowl combine all ingredients except olive oil. With the back of a fork, smash the feta until it ‘creams’ the vinaigrette, leaving small bits of feta intact. Whisk in the olive oil. Stir the vinaigrette into the pasta. Refrigerate for 1 – 2 hours until cold.

BEFORE SERVING Stir in tomatoes, cucumber and parsley. Serve cold.

Tuna Salad for Hungry Moms

Ah! I've made this so many times- finally posting it here. You don't need to be a hungry mom to enjoy it. Please keep in mind the hungry mom you know in your life who you could make it for! It keeps for a couple days. You can make it look fancy by serving over lettuce leaves and sliced tomatoes, even some hard boiled eggs tossed in (for the extra-ambitious).

Tuna salad for hungry moms

Serves 2 hungry moms

1 can tuna in oil
1 can beans of your choice, (red kidney works well) rinsed
1/4 cup sliced red onion (or less, really to liking)
1/4 cup finely chopped broccoli florets
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice (I like lemon but do try a nice vinegar)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
Chopped basil
Salt and Pepper

In a medium bowl, combine tuna, beans, onion, broccoli, lime juice and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste and mix well. The salad can be made up to this point a day in advance. Right before serving, arrange tomato on a plate, sprinkle with basil, top with tuna salad. Gobble up before the baby needs to be fed or changed.

Porcini Mushroom Soup

I crave mushroom soups!

On Saturday I took Andrew to the Museum of Fine Arts for the first time (they offered children's activities)! We ate lunch outside the cafeteria, in the garden. Perfect spot to sip on hot soup. It was good but not that good so I was thus inspired to try making something better.

Buy a 1/2 ounce baggie or use up to 3/4 ounce of dried Porcini mushrooms. Soak them in 2 cups of water for 15-30 minutes. Stir occasionally, they tend to release a lot of sand/grit.

Sautee one chopped up onion in 1/2 stick of butter over medium in an accommodating pot for your soup, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt.
Next add 1 peeled, small diced carrot and cook until softened, 5 minutes.
Add a large handful of chopped white mushrooms. I would have used Shiitakes, if they weren't $5 a package!
Also add a stalk of fine-chopped celery, or in my case since we didn't have any, 1 heaping tablespoon of dried celery flakes.
Also add in a clove of minced garlic and some thyme.

Add 1 cup of chicken stock (I had some homemade, frozen) and the Porcini mushroom liquid (scoop the shrooms out to cut up a little bit for the finished soup) and a splash of your favorite white wine or champagne vinegar. The acidity is important, you could also experiment with other choices you may happen to have on hand.
Bring to a simmer.
Add in a discretionary amount of heavy cream. I eyeballed it and would guess it was around 3/4 cup.

Simmer for 20 minutes to reduce and concentrate the flavor. Salt and pepper to taste.
Use a stick blender or other blending device to puree the soup. Add in the reconstituted (and chopped if large pieces) porcini mushrooms. Serve!

This soup was so delicious I even licked the pot! The taster did taste some but at that moment was more focused on snacking on hummus and Ritz crackers.

Baked Stuffed Potatoes

These are yummy treats! Not at all low fat, 1 potato could probably feed 4.

First, slice a big russet potato in half lengthwise. Put pats of butter under each cut side and bake at 375º for 45 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes until cool enough to handle. Scoop out potato and into a bowl. Try to maintain a 1/4" edge on the potato shell.

Put the shells back in the oven and bake at 500º for 10 minutes, to crisp them up.

Meanwhile, add a large pat of butter, scoop of sour cream, handful of cheddar cheese and sprinkle of green onion. I used a hand-held beater to whip up the mix really fast.

Put stuffing in shells, top with more cheese and bake a little longer until cheese melts.

Allow to cool because they'll be piping hot! Enjoy!

Haddock with Bacon and Onions

This dish is delicious! One thing to watch is the salt. The original recipe is by Rachel Ray. To cut back on the fat, I did not use butter and olive oil. I also did not use Italian bread crumbs.
It came out really flavorful (you can't go wrong with bacon & onions!); I'd definitely make it this way again. The tester liked it but did note it's saltiness.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound haddock filet
  
• lemon juice
  
• Salt (optional/I like smoked salt)
  
• 2 slices smoky bacon, chopped
• 1/2 a medium yellow onion, diced
  
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1 short stack of Ritz crackers (or any butter cracker), crushed with your fist
  
• 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon capers, drained and chopped
• 1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Sprinkle fish with lemon juice on a plate. Allow to sit while you prep the ingredients.

Heat a small skillet over medium high heat. Add the bacon and render the fat until it begins to brown. Use paper towels to wipe excess fat. Add onions. Cook until softened then add garlic. Cook a little longer. Remove pan from heat.

Add parsley, capers and crushed crackers.

Remove fish from plate, pat dry with paper towels and place in a baking dish. Fold any thin sections under, so that the fish cooks evenly. Optionally sprinkle with smoked salt. Cover/surround with the topping.

Bake 10-15 minutes.

Transfer fish to dinner plates and top with chopped tomato.

Chicken Stock

• 2 pounds chicken parts
  
• water to cover
  
• 1 large onion, halved and peel left on
  
• 3 stalks celery cut into pieces
  
• 4 carrots, cut into pieces
• 1 bay leaf
• 6 whole peppercorns
  
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (optional- depends on application of broth)
  
• salt to taste

First put your chicken in a suitable pot with a cover (the cover will stay on the whole time).

Cover with water. I actually used bottled. This is going to be the zen of broth, after all!

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for one hour.

Remove meat using tongs and allow to cool for 15 minutes (unless you have heat-proof gloves!)
Tear apart the chicken, put back in the pot, and use heavy scissors (or a hammer, mallet, cleaver) and hack apart the bones. Basically, include all parts of the chicken back into the pot.
I was tempted to reserve the chicken meat but after an hour it is well drained of flavor.

Add the remainder to the pot and more water if necessary. Bring to a boil then simmer away for 3 more hours. Stir occasionally and serve a few tender (cooled) carrot bits to little people.

Turn off heat and let it sit to cool for a bit.

Pour through a sieve into a bowl suitable to stick in the fridge. I pressed hard on a large spoon to extract as much juice as I could.

Once cooled in the fridge, skim off the fat and store in single use portions, in the freezer.