greg cooks

nourishing the body

Archives for February 2008

Tofu and Bulgar Cabbage Rolls

I was inspired by Jenn the Leftover Queen who recently posted her Golubki (Polish Cabbage Rolls). I had a hankering for some cabbage rolls. But I also wanted to make it low fat and healthier so I stuffed it with a bulgar wheat and tofu mixture. I have to say it turned out pretty good although next time I’d probably add something a bit more flavorful like just a touch of a strong blue cheese. Here’s the recipe I created:

16 cabbage leaves blanched to soften
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped Italian parsley
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 package Mori-Nu light firm silken tofu
2 cups cooked course bulgar wheat
1 8oz can tomato sauce

I started by carefully taking the cabbage leaves apart and blanching them in boiling water to soften. Next time I think I’ll steam the whole cored head as it would be easier to remove the leaves. I heated a pan, added the olive oil and sautéed the onions, garlic and most of the parsley. I reserved some for garnishing on top. This was cooked until softened. This mixture was added to the bulgar and tofu. I just mashed up the tofu with my hands with all the other ingredients. I also added salt and pepper and a bit of vinegar to the stuffing. These were rolled in the softened cabbage leaves, placed in a baking dish, and topped with the tomato sauce. Parsley was sprinkled on top and it baked for about 40 minutes at 375F.

Smooth Sustenance

I admit to eating a lot of liquid breakfasts. After a nice long run in the morning there’s nothing better than a big fruit and protein smoothie to rejuvenate those sore muscles. I usually use frozen fruits because they taste good all year long. My basic formula is to use milk, fruit, protein, and sometimes other flavors. Yesterday I had a nice long 15 mile run so I loaded it up with chocolate and peanut butter too. Here’s the recipe I used.

Strawberry Protein Smoothie

1 cup skim milk
1 cup frozen strawberries, slightly thawed
1.5 scoops vanilla flavored whey protein
1 tbsp Ovaltine chocolate powder
1 tbsp creamy peanut butter

Blend until smoooooooooth and enjoy.

Happy Birthday to Me

No! I’m not looking for gratuitous birthday wishes, so please don’t. 🙂 I want to share with you what I wanted for my birthday dinner. I had planned to pull out a bottle of 1995 Brunello di Montalcino that I had in my cellar for a few years now. I knew it was getting a bit on in age (just like me) so I it was time to open it. I was thinking all day long about making a creamy rosemary chicken pasta to go along with it. I thought something herbal and savory would be great. When I got home from work my wife had thought to plan an asian fish dinner. I thought “Ginger Soy Fish with Brunello? Um, nope – won’t work!” She didn’t mind that I went back to plan A. Dinner turned out great and I even managed to keep it on the lower fat side. I started by taking about a cup of non-fat milk and a tablespoon of flour and whisking that together well. To this was added a few tablespoons of chopped fresh rosemary. I heated this on the stove while whisking until it was bubbling. I cooked it for about a minute or two until it became a nice thick white sauce. It was pretty thick as it was going to be thinned down with some chicken broth later. I cooked some whole wheat spaghetti in a pot of salted boiling water. While the pasta cooked I sautéed some boneless skinless chicken breast that had been sliced into small pieces along with some olive oil and fresh garlic. When it was just cooked but still moist and tender the chicken was taken out of the pan. In went more garlic and about a cup of cut up asparagus. This was fried for a couple of minutes and some chicken broth, about a half cup or so, was added. This was simmered just until the asparagus was softened. The thickened white sauce was added and cooked together for a few seconds. In went the chicken and then the pasta. To top it off about 2.5 oz of freshly grated parmigiano reggiano was tossed in and the pasta was plated up. It was creamy and delicious. The rosemary flavor was just perfect. I think this recipe is a keeper! If you want a more rich version you could use real cream instead of thickened skim milk. You could also add some butter to the sauce to give it more richness. But I certainly didn’t need it.

Soup and Salad – Mediterranean Inspiration

I’ve been on kind of a Mediterranean kick the last couple days. Soup and salad usually go together but I actually made these on different nights. This evening I made a really wonderful soup. The other day I roasted an eggplant in a hot oven until it was soft and tender. I was thinking maybe baba ganoush would be on my menu soon. But there it sat in the fridge neglected. Tonight I decided to make a soup out of it. I started with a hot pot and a couple tablespoons of olive oil. In went a couple of chopped up onions, salt and pepper. These were sautéed until they were just starting to caramelize. Next I added a good dose of chopped garlic, about 6-8 cloves worth. These were cooked for about a minute or so with the onions. In went a can of diced tomatoes, 2 cans of chicken broth, the flesh of the roasted eggplant, and some seasonings. I added the juice of a lemon, about a teaspoon each of dried thyme and dried oregano, and a healthy pinch of spicy red chili pepper flakes. This was simmered for about 20 minutes until all the flavors were mingling together and the veggies were all well cooked. I wanted it to be on the creamy side so I added one can of evaporated nonfat milk. This is a good healthy alternative to adding cream. Of course cream would be over the top better, but this was pretty good. The soup was puréed with my hand blender. All I can say is YUM! The herbs and lemon along with the eggplant and onions. Delicious!

Last night started everything off with this Greek inspired salad. This was also very satisfying. I started with a bed of chopped romayne and green leaf lettuces. These were dressed with a lemon, oregano and olive oil dressing. On top are some sliced cucumber, sliced carrots, artichoke hearts, celery, sliced chicken breast, kalamata olives and lots of feta cheese. Another drizzle of the lemon dressing and a dusting of sumac and the salad was ready to go. It reminded me of the lemony greek salads from a local mom & pop shop I used to get when I was a graduate student.

Whole Grain Sourdough goes perfect with Chicken Soup

On a cold winter day there’s not much better than a hot bowl of chicken soup and a big hunk of homemade bread. More about the soup later. Let’s talk bread. I haven’t made any in quite a while and I was missing it. My sourdough starter has been sitting in the fridge neglected for a while. Earlier this week I got some out and started feeding it with whole wheat flour. As you saw in my last pizza post, the starter was going great after only a day or so. Power to the yeast! Those buggers really are hard to kill.

I like to make a pretty wet preferment before I actually add all of the flour for the bread. I don’t really know why I do this but it works. I add most of my flour at first and let it ferment for at least an overnight stint if not longer. Then I mix in a bit more flour to get to the dough consistency I want. I believe this gives the yeast a fresh boost of food for the dough to rise. I wanted to make a 100% whole wheat bread with whole grains. This is a challenge because 100% whole wheat breads usually don’t rise that well and end up being very dense. Again, this is because there is less gluten and the sharp edges of the whole wheat chaff cuts the gluten strands that do develop in the dough. That’s why commercial whole wheat breads are usually made with at least 50% white flour. Anyway, here is my preferment after sitting for 12 hours overnight. It was made from about 1 cup of my sourdough starter, 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 2 cups of water, 1/2 cup each of whole kamut grains, whole spelt grains, and steel cut oats. This was just mixed well together, covered with plastic and allowed to ferment.

The next morning I added 1.5 cups more whole wheat flour and 1 tbsp of salt. I always add my salt after the preferment so as not to inhibit the yeast. After the first ferment there’s a good healthy colony growing and it is much less likely to be inhibited by salt. This dough was kneaded by hand gently for about 5 minutes until the newly added flour and salt were well incorporated. The dough was shaped into a ball and placed in a bowl covered with plastic until almost doubled. I let it sit for about 2.5 hours. It could have risen more, certainly. The dough was shaped into a wide oblong shape and allowed to rise for another 1.5 hours. Here is the dough ready to go in the oven. I have scored the top. I was a little impatient. This could have risen even more. The dough is still a bit on the wet side.

I like to bake my bread using a covered iron pot like all of the no-knead recipes suggest. This helps keep the steam in. So, I let the dough rise on a piece of parchment paper and then it’s easy to lift and place directly in the heated pot without deflating the dough. It was baked at 500F for 30 minutes with the cover, then an additional 15 minutes at 450F without the cover. Here’s the result just out of the oven. It is a nicely shaped loaf. You can tell it has much less oven spring than a white flour bread. I think next time I’ll let it rise even more before baking.

The crust is perfectly browned and crisp.

Here’s the inside. I was pretty happy with this. It was not big and airy. As a matter of fact it was kind of dense but certainly not a brick! Inside it was soft and moist. The whole grains were crunchy. It had a very nice whole wheat taste – more intense than a commercial whole wheat bread. It was perfect dunked into the chicken soup.

Ok, so much for the bread. I know you’re interested in my soup as well. For this soup I used 6 chicken leg quarters. I cooked the chicken and made the broth in my trusty pressure cooker. All I did was take about 2 quarts of water, a good amount of salt, the chicken, and lots of seasonings. I threw in bay leaves, cracked black pepper, a cinnamon stick, dried oregano, dried thyme, some sezchuan peppercorns, a couple of cut up carrots and some celery stalks and leaves. I always keep a bag of celery trimmings in my freezer just for this. This was brought up to pressure and cooked for about 20 minutes. After cooling the broth was strained out and the chicken was deboned. I defatted the broth. To make the soup I softened some onion, carrots, and brussel sprouts in a big pot. I added a cup or so of frozen peas. The broth was added along with the chicken pieces. This was simmered for about 10 minutes just until everything was cooked and all the flavors integrated. Some more salt and pepper to season to taste and it was ready. By the way, the very subtle hint of cinnamon from the broth was wonderful with this.