Edamame Pesto

I really thought I was going to make pea pesto today from Giada de Laurentiis' recipe. Sadly, I ate the last bag of frozen peas and didn't remind myself to buy more. But, what else is green and comes in a pod...? Edamame, the sexy name for soybeans. Per cup, edamame has about 17 grams of protein vs organic green peas which have 4 grams of protein per 2/3 cup (if you were looking at a Trader Joe's package). These pair well with the multiseed flatbread crackers that Trader Joe's also carries. One day, I'll figure out the ratio of seeds on top and make these myself. Onto the recipe...

Ingredients for edamame pesto

Ingredients

1 lb edamame in-shell, cooked then unshelled
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste

Directions

1. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together edamame, cheese, and garlic.

2. While running, drizzle in olive oil, salt and black pepper until well combined. Less than a minute.

3. Scoop everything out into a small bowl.

Makes almost 2 cups.

Spreadable Edamame Pesto

Faux "Cheddar" Cheese aka Coconut Cheese

One of the most dangerous things to have in the pantry is all the ingredients for an experiment. Cost-wise, it isn't any cheaper than buying a gallon of milk on sale; but it does make a lot more of that cheesy substance. The coagulation is achieved by using agar agar, a vegetarian gelatin derived from seaweed; and also tapioca starch, which helps with the thickening. Before I added turmeric powder as a colorant, it tasted a tad on the salty side and had the consistency of a molten cheese sauce.

Coconut Cheese Ingredients

Also, the agar agar that I bought from Fubonn came in a two-pack of moulded agar agar bars. I used one and ground it into flakes using a mini food prep.

Coconut cheese in a parchment lined loaf pan,
looks ominous...

Since coconut oil is a solid at room temperature, as the coconut cheese cools, it will firm up. If I stick it into the refrigerator overnight, I might just be able to slice or grate it like a normal block of cheese. 

Ingredients

2 cans (800ml) coconut cream (70% or more coconut milk)
3 tbsp agar flakes
1/2 tsp cider vinegar
4 tbsp tapioca starch
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sea salt (more than this is too much)
1/4 c nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (optional, for color) doesn't help the taste

Directions

1. In a large pot, bring coconut milk to a boil. Add vinegar, agar flakes, and salt. Boil gently for 15 minutes until the agar dissolves completely.

2. Whisk in the remainder of the ingredients, one at a time, until everything is well combined. I put in the starch all at once and it clumped up immediately. Maybe next time I should just sprinkle and whisk it in. Cook for another 8-10 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and pour into either a greased glass bowl or a parchment paper-lined loaf pan.

4. Let cool for a few hours. It will set at room temperature. If you would like it to be firmer, for grating or slicing, put it into the fridge overnight.

Recipe ratio from All the Cooks.

[update] 2015-01-29: Well, 2 tsp of sea salt was too much. This batch made 1 lb 7 oz of faux cheese. It is so salty, I'm thinking of reheating it with some potatoes. Refrigeration did not help the consistency. It's like cutting through soft tofu. Definitely cannot "shred" it with a grater. Spreads easily.

Ginger Beer

After the disastrous episode of making hard cider from scratch (came out tasting flat and very, very dry), I thought I would try my hand at making some ginger beer. I hope there is still some oomph left in the leftover champagne yeast. It's been lurking in a ziplocked bag in the fridge for about a year. This batch will presumably make 2 liters, which is good since I have two one-liter flip-top glass bottles.

If everything goes right, ginger beer in 2-3 days.

The ingredient ratio comes from The Roasted Root. 

Ingredients

1/4 c fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 c fresh lemon juice (1-2 lemons)
1 c cane sugar (add additional 1/4 c sugar if you enjoy a sweeter ginger beer)
1 tsp active dry yeast or champagne yeast
4 cups of filtered water + 5 cups of cold filtered water
One 2-liter plastic bottle with a screw top or a 1-gallon carboy with an S-curve airlock

Directions

Start by adding ginger, cream of tartar, and lemon juice to an 8-quart stock pot. 

Add 4 cups of chlorine-free filtered water. Bring to a boil and add sugar. Boil until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add remaining 5 cups of chlorine-free filtered water.

Wait until the liquid temperature is between 75-100 degrees F. Then, add the yeast and stir.

Cover and let rest in a dark place for 3 hours. I just covered the pot with its lid and stuck it into the oven. Seems dark enough in there.

Use a fine strainer and pour liquid into a 5-quart bowl, to remove the small bits of ginger.

Use a funnel to fill the carboy. Fill airlock with water and attach to carboy. Place carboy in a dark, warm room.

Wait 2 days (sweeter), or 3 days (drier).

Once the beer has finished brewing (e.g., airlock stops releasing CO2), transfer to glass bottles with flip-top lids and store in the refrigerator. This slows the fermentation process and be careful when opening the bottles. 

Radish Kimchi

This is also known as daikon kimchi or Korean "kkakdugi", though it could probably use a lot more chili flakes for that. This recipe is from a book called Asian Pickles by Karen Solomon. When I weighed the radish, I found that I didn't quite have two pounds. I reduced the amount of salt and chili flakes for the initial ferment cycle. 

Ingredients

1 daikon radish, about 2 lbs
1 tbsp fine sea salt
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 tbsp Korean chili flakes
2 tbsp fish sauce

Directions

1. Peel and cube the radish into 1/2" pieces. Toss in a large bowl with salt and sugar. Let the water drain from the radish for 30 minutes. Drain the water and reserve the radish.

2. In the same bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine.

3. Cover with a lid and set bowl in a cool, dark corner in the kitchen. Let ferment for 1-3 days. Stir once each day it ferments.

4. Transfer pickled radish to a clean glass jar and cap. Store in refrigerator. Eat within two weeks.

Pumpkin Pound Cake

This was my favorite dessert for this year's T-Day holiday. Not only was it delicious the day I made it, it was just as tasty the next day and the next. What can I say. I love pound cake. I had a hard time spreading the sugar glaze and it seemed as though the glaze could handle a lot more liquid than what the recipe originally called for.

Pumpkin Pound Cake with a Sugar Glaze

Cake Ingredients:

3 3/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 c organic pumpkin pureé
3/4 c whole milk
6 large eggs
1 1/2 c organic granulated sugar
1 1/2 c unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Cake Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and dust with flour a 12-cup Bundt pan.

1. In a large bowl, sift together flour, spice, baking powder and baking soda.

2. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Add an egg, one at a time and beat until combined.

3. Alternate flour and milk while mixing into the egg/butter/sugar mixture until everything is combined.

4. Spoon into a prepared Bundt pan and bake for an hour. If a toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done.

Sugar Glaze Ingredients:

1 1/2 c powdered sugar
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
3+ tbsp whole milk

Put glaze ingredients into a bowl and whisk together with enough milk until it is thin enough to pour on top of cake.