Kitchen Sojourn » bake

Get your kids into the kitchen (recipe: Mexican casserole)

Greg Turner — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:18:16 +0000

Two nights ago my son helped out in the kitchen. He’s two and a half, and I’ve been including him in kitchen stuff forever. He first noticed, I think, at about three months. We cooked frittata together, and he was fascinated by the eggs.

My son staring at eggs in a pan

Before last night, he’d done a few things here and there to help out: adding a dash of salt to a chick pea salad, putting the coffee filter in the coffee maker (we make the coffee together almost every morning), and adding a splash of lemon juice to some sauteed greens. But the night before last, it really felt like he was helping. We made a mexican-style casserole, modified from a vegetarian layered enchilada recipe I found in the Whole Foods app. My son helped me line the pan with tortillas; helped me measure out the corn, chili powder and lime juice; helped mash the black beans; and helped spoon the black bean and vegetable mixtures into the pan.

Too young?

Lining the casserole dish with tortillas

Some poeple might think he’s too young to be in the kitchen. Some people might think that he’ll get hurt, what with all the knives and hot pans and scariness. And yes, he might. But I think the positives far outweigh the negatives. I want him to get an appreciation for food and cooking. I want him to undersand how good it feels to make something (he was super excited when I pulled the finished dish from the oven), and though I never put it together before, cooking can teach kids some valuable skills, like addition, measurements and time:

You can get two cups of corn kernels by counting out four half-cup measurements
A tablespoon is three teaspoons
Fifteen minutes is one quarter of an hour

Whether he puts any of this togther at this point is irrelevant. He counted to four when we measured the corn, and it made him happy. He was able to hold a measuring teaspoon steady enough to fill it three times with lime juice, and each time tipped it into the right bowl. He added two pinches of salt to the kale I sauteed on the stove. And when we’d finally put everything together and I slid the food into the oven, he raced into the living room and said, “I helped make dinner!” It was followed by multiple high-fives all around.

Don’t make it too complicated

If you’re going to cook with kids it’s important to keep things simple. Casseroles are perfect. You mix and layer a bunch of ingedients, then put it in the oven to cook.

veggie Mexican casserole

Mexican casserole (nee layered veggie enchiladas)

Ingredients:

At least 12, small white-corn tortillas (They’re probably listed as taco-sized on the package)
16oz freesh greens
2 cups frozen corn kernels (or fresh, if you have them)
2 cups thinly sliced bell pepper
15 oz. diced tomatoes (it’s tomato season in many places, and fresh is best)
2 cans black beans (if you make fresh, you’re looking at 28oz., give or take)
1 cup shredded cheese (equal parts cheddar and monetery jack works great)
Cumin
Chili powder
Salt
Pepper
Lime juice

Supplies

9″ * 13″casserole dish
1 large bowl
1 large skillet
Measuring spoons
1 wooden spoon
A potato masher (or sturdy fork)

Set your oven to 400 degrees. While the oven heats, you can do everything else:

Sautee a pound of greens over medium heat in about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. You’ll want them to cook down^1., so it might be best to work in batches. We used kale.

While the greens cook down, mix the bell pepper, tomatoes and corn together in a large bowl. Add a tablespoon of chili poweder, a tablespoon of lime juice and a sprinkle of salt. Mix it together. Then line the bottom of the casserole dish with half the tortillas.

note: the tortiallas should overlap and should come up some on the sides of the casserole dish.

Once the greens have all cooked down, add the corn mixture to the pan and mix it together.

While that warms through, put the beans into the bowl, add some chili poweder, a little salt, and a little cumin and mash them (if your potato masher will work, great. Otherwise, use a fork).

When you’re done with the beans, spread them evenly on top of the tortialls. Spoon half the corn mixture over the beans, and sprinkle half the cheese evenly over the vegetables. Top with the remaining tortillas, spoon on the remaining corn mix, sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top, then slide the dish into the 400-degree oven for 15 minutes.

Slice and serve.

1. When you cook down greens, you’re essentially extracting water and wilting them. It’s best to work over medium heat so your greens don’t burn. Add a little oil to a large pan, get it hot, then begin adding the greens. Add enough so you can still stir them a bit, but get as much in as you possibly can. Let them sizzle, and move them from time to time. When you can add more greens, do so, then stir it up so the newest addition gets worked to the bottom and closest to the heat. Working in this way, you should be able to get your greens wilted down so you have enough room to add the corn mixture.

How to cook vegetarian

Greg Turner — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:15:58 +0000

On the way back from my in-laws Christmas day, my daughter announced she was officially a vegetarian. My wife and I weren’t surprised. We knew it was coming the day she disavowed bacon, and I’ve been encouraging her since reading Michael Pollan’s “Farmer In Chief,” which includes striking information on environmental impact of the US food industry. Still, it throws a wrench in my overall plan of learning again how to cook.

To mark the occasion of my daughter’s vegetarian transformation, I wanted to do something special. An appetizer. In the past, we’ve enjoyed the frozen spinach artichoke dip produced by T.G.I. McGuilicutty’s (and yes, I’ve hated myself for it). Why not do something similar? Luckily, I’d seen a close recipe in Rocco’s 5 Minute Flavor. Did I mention how I already hated myself a bit? Don’t judge. It was heavily discounted, and there must be some merit, some universal truth in spending $7.95 on a book that lists at $26.95 by a former chef (he’s just a cook now) who enjoyed one of the most well-publicized and precipitous falls from favor in the public cooking world.

And I tell you this: if there is no other recipe in the whole book, the artichoke dip alone is worth the price of admission.

Ingredients (serves 4)
1 14 oz. can of artichoke hearts, finely chopped (I’m a fan of Virgo. They’re organicish and inexpensive, which is much more than I can say for Progresso)
3/4 cup mayonnaise (the original recipe suggested low-fat or reduced fat, but that doesn’t quite have the same wonderful unctuous mouth feel as the real stuff)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated fine
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped fine (yes, fresh counts here. I wouldn’t dare use the dry stuff for this recipe)
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (this is my addition, for color and some texture)
1 fine French baguette

Technique
Mince
Chop, fine

Method
Bake

To make the dip, simply combine the artichoke hearts, mayonnaise, garlic, parmesan cheese, and basil in a 8” * 8” baking dish. Stir them all together then sprinkle the top with the bread crumbs. Cut the baguette on a bias and arrange the slices on a baking sheet. Put the sliced bread and the artichoke dip in a 425(degree F) oven for about 5 minutes. The bread will crisp up and the dip will get nice and bubbly. Right at the end, zap the dip under the broiler for about 30 seconds to brown the bread crumbs and give them some additional crunch.

For the main course, I went with an old standby, spaghetti and tomato sauce with garlic bread.

Ingredients (serves 4, without being piggish)
For the sauce
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, mostly drained
1 8oz can tomato sauce
four garlic cloves, crushed and copped fine
kosher salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano (or more, to taste)
1/4 cup grated parmesan + 1/4 cup grated parmesan held in reserve

For the pasta
1 16 oz package of dried spaghetti (duh)
2 level tablespoons kosher salt

For the garlic bread
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 loaf of crusty Italian or cu ban bread, cut in half lengthwise

Technique
Chop, fine
Mince

Method
Boil
Simmer
Broil

Fill a 6 qt stock pot with four quarts of water. Add two level tablespoons of kosher salt and set the water over high heat

While the water is coming to a boil, set a large sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil. The pan is at temperature when it feels warm to a hand that’s several inches above it. Add the garlic and let it soften and turn translucent at the edges. Make sure to keep it moving so it doesn’t burn.

note: burned garlic is very bitter and gives a hard, sometimes unpleasant edge to sauces and soups.

When the garlic has softened some, add the diced tomatoes and the tomato sauce and stir it all together. Let the mix come to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low (low-medium), and allow the sauce to simmer. Give it a taste and add a little salt, if necessary.

Without any extra ingredients, the sauce will taste very bright and acidic, like a slightly under-ripe tomato. Add the oregano, stir it in, and taste. The sauce should taste more mellow now. Gone is the tannic edge and in its place is a rounder, deeper flavor. If the sauce still tastes tart, try adding a bit more oregano or a couple grinds of black pepper. As a last resort, you could add a trace of sugar, but then you might as well have saved yourself the trouble and just bought the jarred stuff at the store, savored its cloying sweetness.

When the sauce tastes good (tasting along the way is the secret to an excellent tomato sauce), slowly stir in 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese and then leave it alone. From here on out, the sauce will take care of itself.

Your water should be boiling now, so go ahead and carefully place your pasta in the pot, give it a stir, and let it go. Set the timer as directed on the box (I usually go for the lowest suggested time so I don’t inadvertently cook my pasta to mush), and give it a good stir about two minutes into the cooking time. That’s when the pasta will release most of its starch into the water and thus will be most likely to stick together into a giant spaghetti rope. Looks cool, but is pretty inedible.
After you’ve given the pasta the second stir, It’s time to toast the garlic bread. Set a small sauce pan on one of your remaining burners (sorry, Bittman) and bring it to medium-high. Add the olive oil and butter. When the butter has melted, add the minced garlic. Don’t let it sit in the pan. Stir, keep the pan moving and heat the garlic until it begins to go translucent, then use a slotted spoon to remove it from the pan. Get a brush (or you could just pour it over the bread) and brush the bread with the butter mixture.

Note: If you want an extra garlicy touch, reserve the minced garlic to spread on the bread once it’s out of the oven.

Stick the bread in the oven under the broiler for about a minute (check it at 45 seconds, just to be safe). When the bread begins to brown on the edges, take it out.
When the beeper beeps, drain the pasta.

Plate the pasta, cover with a couple spoonfuls of the sauce, and serve with the garlic bread, sliced. Put the remaining Parmesan cheese on the table so guests can adjust the sauce’s cheesiness to their liking.

A good spaghetti sauce is easy to make. Cook it slow, taste along the way, and add nothing in huge quantities. Use the best ingredients you can (don’t you dare use off-season tomatoes; go for canned), and keep it simple. It’s a formula that’s served me well for a long time, evidenced by this exchange:

Daughter: What are we having for dinner?
Me: Spaghetti and tomato sauce.
Daughter: The stuff you make, or the stuff from a jar?
Me: The stuff I make.
Daughter: Good.

That vote of confidence from a picky eater? It’s a wonder I don’t make the stuff every night.