Fava Beans Two Ways: Friday Fail Edition

In addition to the dried fava beans we already had from last summer, we have been getting fresh fava bean pods the last couple of weeks, just like last year.  I decided to try to make both kinds (dried and fresh) for dinner one night when I couldn't come up with any better ideas.  In hindsight, maybe I should have thought harder about other meal possibilities.

The inside of a fava bean pod is pretty cool.  Each bean is surrounded by this spongy material, which makes them look so comfy cozy in there.

The first recipe I got started on seemed promising as it had a base of tomato, garlic, and onion that all got chopped up and cooked together. 

Along with some seasoning and the beans, that was basically all there was to it.  Doesn't seem like there would be a whole lot to mess up.  Unfortunately, my interpretation of "shelled, dried fava beans" perhaps was not the same as the recipe's.  That, combined with my reliance on HH to guide me when cooking dried beans, was this dish's downfall. 

If I had paid more attention to how to prepare dried beans, I would have known that they usually take hours to cook after soaking in water overnight.  Note that the recipe uses less than an hour of total cooking time.  And I don't know if you have ever seen a fava bean, but they are quite large in comparison to others like black or kidney beans.  And by quite large, I mean huge (at least the ones we have been getting).

So, the beans took forever to cook and were not done in time for dinner.  I ended up adding a bunch of extra water to the pot and letting everything cook together until bedtime.  A couple days later, I chopped/mashed up the beans and put them in enchiladas, so all was not lost. 


The second recipe with the fresh fava beans went a lot more smoothly, but the results were a little bland.  (I did the Middle Eastern Fava Bean Pilaf about halfway down the page.)  I think the recipe was pretty standard for a rice pilaf (though I've never actually made one before).  I ended up squeezing in quite a bit of lemon juice and cilantro for flavor, and thought it could have used even more. 

Sorry for my lack of pictures of the finished product.  By the time this was ready to eat I was too annoyed at my overall failure and didn't feel like taking any more pictures, I guess.

In order to redeem myself (and because we still had a bunch of fresh beans), I made this recipe that was very similar to a dish HH cooked up last summer.   The fresh fava beans were combined with orzo pasta, garlic, and onions for a nice lunch.  I have decided that I much prefer the taste of the fresh beans to the dried ones, which is a bummer since we have a bunch of dried ones still to use. 

Modified Dulce de Leche

I recently got a hankering for some caramel apple popsicles, but I didn't want to use store-bought caramel.  I had tried that before and it didn't freeze very well.  I decided to make my own, but instead of doing it the regular way by cooking the sugar and adding in cream and butter, I found a recipe that uses coconut milk as the base.  So I guess that makes it more of a dulce de leche than caramel, but it was just as delicious. 

I started by heating up the coconut milk, honey, and sugar, which is a combination that is fantastic all by itself.

I cooked it until it turned a caramel color, about 20 minutes.

Then I stirred in some vanilla, salt, and a tiny bit of butter, and sampled on some apple slices I was preparing for the popsicles.  Oh my goodness, it was delicious. 

This sauce would be delicious used for a variety of purposes: as a dipping sauce for fruit, drizzled over ice cream, whipped into some cream cheese frosting (I did this...post coming soon), added to iced coffee, and so on. 

How to Make Chocolate Mousse

On the back of a thank you card HH and I received for the Christmas aprons I sewed was a recipe for chocolate mousse, something that always sounds so delicious but that I don't think I've ever actually eaten before.  When Valentine's Day rolled around I figured it was the perfect time to give the recipe a try.  The ingredient list is very small, but there is kind of a lot of work that goes into it because you need to address each ingredient separately before gently mixing them all together in a certain order.

Weighing out the chocolate for precision.  In reality, I ended up using more than I was supposed to because that's how much chocolate we had.

Melting the chocolate in a double boiler.

Separating the whites from the yolks so they could be beaten separately.

The melted chocolate and egg yolks.

Mixing in the whipped cream.

Whipping the egg whites...

...into soft peaks.

Adding the egg whites, which look a bit like soap suds.

The finished mousse before getting chilled and devoured.

There was a little extra so I put it in a popsicle mold.  Unfortunately, it didn't set up and we ended up eating it with a spoon anyway.

Our Valentine's Day dinner: banana pancakes with whipped cream, apple cider syrup, and homemade bacon.  OMG it was all so delicious and we hadn't even had the mousse yet.

And for dessert was the scrumptious mousse.  It was rich and creamy and exactly what I imagined it should be like.  Definitely a keeper for special occasions, or, you know, whenever.

Black cod

When we visited NYC, JP make us some baked white fish for dinner one night.  LJ and I both looked at each other and said, "Why don't we eat this more often?"  I'm not really sure why we ignore white fish, but it probably has something to do with living in such a salmon friendly area, so that is always what is on my mind when I go to our favorite fish monger.

When we visited this time we had lots of options and settled on black cod, for no reason in particular (it was actually the most expensive fish they had so I'm really not sure why we ended up with it, I guess it just looked the best to my untrained eye).  It actually was unclear to me if we were purchasing black cod or sablefish, but from what I've read the terms are often used interchangeably.

I used some seasoned bread crumbs we had on hand to coat the top.  I baked the fish for 10 minutes at 400F and then broiled the fish for 3 minutes to get the top crispy.

I pulled the fish out just in time as few of the bread crumbs were just starting to turn black and the parchment paper was near smoking.

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This fish has an interesting texture that might not be for everyone.  For a white fish it has a higher fat content and the flakes of fish are a little more buttery than your typical white fish.  It isn't bad, just something you should be aware of it if you are expecting something flakier.  We are looking forward to trying a few more fish types to see what we like best for white fish, though with Copper River salmon season coming up that plan may get derailed.

Ham and Cheese Pretzel Bites

There are certain days of the year that just seem like they are made for snacking all day long, no meals needed.  (Well, besides breakfast; some of you know how I get if I don't get a good breakfast.)  Christmas Eve, New Year's Day, Superbowl Sunday.  I first made these pretzel bites on New Year's and will be making them again tomorrow so we can snack on them while listening to the game on the radio.  I suggest you do the same (but feel free to watch on TV if you are able).

I think I came across the recipe because someone posted it to Pinterest which then showed up on my Facebook feed.  I do have a Pinterest account but I've only spent about 10 minutes on there looking for speechy work-related things because it is all a little overwhelming for me.  Anyway, the recipe is pretty easy if you are used to making yeast doughs and/or cinnamon rolls.  Even if you don't yet have those skills, go ahead and give it a try now because the result is definitely worth it. 

This time around HH suggested making the whole amount of dough, but only making half of it into the ham and cheese bites, and making the rest into regular soft pretzels.  That way we won't be so overwhelmed with the cheesy bites which, in my opinion, were only okay after reheating.  I think the regular soft pretzels might keep better over a few days time. 

HH is impressed with my proof box technique.

More Grand Champion hog!

After boiling for about 30 seconds each, they get puffed up.  Somehow I failed to get a picture of that process.

Brushing on melted butter to help the salt stick.

Braised Short Ribs: A Solstice Treat

A couple of years ago HH and I started a tradition of celebrating the winter solstice, which falls on December 21st or 22nd.  Usually this means that we open our gifts to each other and make an especially nice dinner to enjoy.  This year HH was adamant that we try braised short ribs and mashed potatoes.  Since I was in the middle of a two-week winter break, I had plenty of time to prepare the meal which needed to be started in the afternoon in order to be ready by dinnertime. 

After looking at 10+ recipes online I settled on this one, mostly because it was only a one-day process, we had all the ingredients needed, and it would use up some of the CSA veggies that we hadn't been able to put to use yet.  Instead of carrots and celery, I substituted parsnips and celeriac which are very similar in taste and texture. 

I had never used short ribs before, so when I opened the package I wasn't sure what to expect.  The beef is from a cow that my parents purchased at their local county fair and was butchered nearby as well.  The cuts were much fattier than I expected, and I don't know if that's normal or not. 

 

The first step was to cut the ribs into chunks and sear the outside over high heat until everything was nice and brown.  This took multiple batches because they couldn't all fit in the dutch oven at once. 

After the meat was browned and removed from the pan, I added all of the cut up veggies and spices to the dutch oven and sauteed them for a bit.  Then, I added the meat back in along with nearly an entire bottle of wine cut with some water, and the additional seasonings.  The whole pot was then allowed to cook in the oven for a couple of hours.

 

When the meat was cooked through and the liquid had reduced a bit, everything came out of the oven.  The liquid was transferred to a pan on the stovetop and allowed to reduce to make a thick sauce.  Meanwhile, the ribs were put under the broiler to crisp up along the edges. 

Like I said, the ribs were served with mashed potatoes with the sauce poured on top of everything.  The meat was very tender and juicy, and the sauce was delicious.  Some of the pieces were a little too fatty to easily enjoy, but other than that the food was pretty good for a special occasion meal.