Poco-Cocoa

I love summer corn. There’s just something about seeing those huge cobs of corn with a sign next to them saying “5 for $1.00”. What? Something that’s only twenty cents? No doubt other vegetables and fruits are just as cheap…if they were all labeled this way, “Asparagus…20 for $3.00” or “Bananas…five cents each,” I think I’d buy more produce.

Anyway, I bought corn. And made this chowder. And it was good. The whole house smelled heavenly while it was simmering, and the flavor was just as wonderful. Next time I think I’d puree half or more of the corn in the blender or food processor to give it a more chowdery texture. This chunky version was good, but I’d like it smoother. I’d have to puree it before the sweet potatoes went in, though, because I loved those soft, sweet chunks.

Also, are you interested in what kinds of crafty things I’ve been up to lately? This just about sums it up:

Yes, I’ve managed to break out the crayons. It’s the extent of my creative abilities this week, for some reason. Happy Friday, everyone!

Corn and Sweet Potato Chowder

• 8 ears corn, husked and silked
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 leek, white and tender green parts, thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
• Salt
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half
• 1 tablespoon sugar, or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper

Strip the kernels from the corn and set aside. Combine the broth and corncobs in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain, discarding the cobs and reserving the broth. It should now be infused with corn flavor.

Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the leek and saute until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another 2 minutes. Add the broth, corn kernels, sweet potatoes, and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer or 25 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.

Add the half-and-half and the sugar. Season with pepper. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, sugar, and pepper, if desired. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Source: The Garden Fresh Vegetable Cookbook by Andrea Chesmnan.

Here’s another foray into the frozen dessert world, this time with actual milk products. I’m used to trying sorbets and such, but this week I decided on this creamy and decadent Caffe Latte Gelato. It’s jam-packed with coffee flavor…a bit much for me, in fact, but perfect for Justin. I was really pleased with the texture and pure coffee flavor…though it was hard to use whole milk, egg yolks, and heavy cream without guilt. Darn those nutrition classes!

In other (sad) news, I just noticed today that my bloglines list hasn’t been updating correctly. I’ve missed several posts from some of my favorite blogs, (Joe! Sally!) and now it’s back to individually checking each one, I suppose. I should have known when I didn’t see a daily update from Jessica…

It’s a partly cloudy, mostly hot day here in Austin, perfect for gelato.

Caffe Latte Gelato

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup coffee beans, freshly ground to a very fine powder
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 cup heavy cream

In a medium saucepan, combine milk and ground coffee. Bring to a low simmer over very low heat and cook 20 minutes. Cover and let stand 30 minutes, or refrigerate overnight. Strain milk through a fine-meshed strainer. In a medium saucepan, heat milk over medium heat until bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Set aside and cover to keep hot.

In a blender or food processor, blend sugar and egg yolks until very thick and smooth. With machine running, gradually add hot milk.

Transfer mixture to a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

In a deep bowl, beat cream until soft peaks form. Fold cream into custard mixture. Transfer to an ice cream maker; freeze according to manufacturers directions.

Makes 1 1/2 quarts. (Hmph. I only got about 3 cups.)

Source: Gelato! Italian Ice Creams, Sorbetti & Granite by Pamela Sheldon Jones.

The past couple of days, I’ve been working hard in my little sauna of a kitchen, cranking out goodies to no end. Sometimes you just feel like cooking.

This little salad single-handedly heated my kitchen up to almost unbearable. After roasting the vegetables in the oven, cooking the quinoa on the stovetop, and using the gas flames to char the peppers, it was HOT. It was worth it, though…the salad is delicious! I love the texture of quinoa, and the flavor of the roasted garlic really comes through in the dressing. I think next time I might cut the quinoa down to 1 cup raw…just to have more vegetables and dressing per bite. I changed a few things from the original recipe (of course), so what follows is my adaptation.

I also have to tell you that last night I walked my first 5K! I’ve walked 3 miles before, but never in an organized event. Last night was the “Bat Run,” benefitting Bat Conservation International, a great group dedicated to taking care of and increasing awareness of our bat community. If you’re not familiar with Austin, we have 1.5 million bats living under a downtown bridge…and in the evenings they swarm out in a beautiful stream. Anyway, the 5K was a lot of fun, starting and ending right under the bat-filled bridge just as the sun was setting and they were preparing to head out for the night. Lindsay and I walked together, and Chad and Justin ran ahead, each nabbing a medal for being one of the first 50 to finish. I think Lindsay and I were among the last 50. Or maybe the last 5. But it was fun.

Quinoa and Roasted Vegetable Salad

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Cooking spray
• 1 head garlic, unpeeled, top third cut off to expose tops of cloves
• 3 zucchini or yellow squash, sliced
• 1 eggplant, peeled and cubed
• 1 1/2 cups quinoa
• 3 cups water
• 1 poblano chile, charred, peeled, seeded and diced
• 1 red bell pepper, charred, peeled, seeded and diced
• 2 plum tomatoes, one whole, one diced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
• Several fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 375ËšF.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray; spread zucchini, eggplant, and garlic bulb on the sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, and mix with your hands until evenly coated. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until vegetables are tender and garlic is soft (garlic may take 10 to 20 minutes longer). Let the vegetables cool slightly.

As the vegetables bake, cook the quinoa: Place the quinoa in a fine-mesh sieve and rinse thoroughly several times; drain well. Bring the water to to a boil in a saucepan and add the washed quinoa. Stir once and let the water return to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 12 to 16 minutes, or until the water is absorbed and the individual grains have turned translucent. Turn off the heat and let stand for a few minutes; fluff with a fork.

Place the warm quinoa in a bowl, and add poblano, bell pepper, and diced tomato.

Add whole tomato to food processor with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Squeeze the cloves of cooked garlic out of the papery skin of the bulb and into the food processor, adding salt, pepper, lemon juice, vinegar, and basil. Process until smooth; this is your dressing.

Add the zucchini, eggplant, and dressing to the quinoa mixture, and stir to combine. You may serve it warm or cold.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Adapted from Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon.

Justin was wary of this dish, because he thought that “White Chili” just didn’t sound good. I think when I made it, he was worried that he wouldn’t like it…but when he tasted the first spoonful, he said, “Wow! This is really good!” So we changed the name a bit to make it sound more appetizing.

The original recipe in Passionate Vegetarian was quite different…I adjusted things to fit our tastes, and was really pleased with the results. It was pretty spicy, probably from the wonderful locally grown serranos we used (I left the seeds and membranes in). This dish reminded me just how much I love hominy…when I was little, the only time we had hominy was when we ate menudo…and the only time we ate menudo was at Christmas. I think I associate hominy with “special” dishes or holiday fare, but I need to get that out of my head and eat it more often!

On a non-food note, we watched Project Runway again last night…I love that show! I do get tired of the mean-ness, and find myself hoping certain people will be “out” just because of their attitudes, regardless of their design skills. It seems that so far everyone who has been eliminated showed poor execution of the design, with sloppy sewing skills. You can always tell which designers will be in the final best/worst group, because the editors focus on them throughout the show. I’d love to learn more about Michael and Robert…their designs are always gorgeous, even if they aren’t among the top three. Hopefully next week we’ll see a bit more of them, though it looks like it will be more about the huge scandal that gets a designer kicked off the show. I’m so hooked.

Poblano, Hominy and Cannelini Bean Chili

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 poblano chiles, chopped
• 2 serrano chiles, chopped
• 2 large zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 can (10 ounces) tomatoes and green chiles (Ro*tel)
• 2 cans (15 ounces) cannelini beans, undrained
• 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) vegetable broth
• 1 can (15 ounces) white hominy, drained
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 3/4 cup crumbled queso fresco

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook 4 to 5 minutes, until softened. Add garlic, poblanos, serranos, zucchini, cumin, and oregano, and cook a few minutes more. Add all remaining ingredients except queso fresco and simmer 20 minutes, or until chiles and zucchini are tender. Top each serving with two tablespoons queso fresco.

Makes 6 servings.

Based on an idea from Passionate Vegetarian by Crescent Dragonwagon.