Category Archives: Snacks and Apps

Queso Fundido with Mushrooms, Greens, and Chiles

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So, those chiles.

They arrived in Seattle lovingly packed and frozen, straight from the Santa Fe farmers market.  Someone who loves me seeded the roasted chiles and pulled them apart into strips, a painstaking labor.  I had to do right by them.

There’s this little taqueria in Santa Barbara called La Super-Rica that became famous as Julia Child’s favorite taco joint.  There is always a line down the block.  There are a lot of great tacos in that part of the world, and some of my personal favorites actually come from Reyes Market in Carpenteria, but La Super-Rica makes one dish that I love.  Love.  They call it “rajas,” a name referring to the roasted strips of poblano pepper, but those peppers are also smothered in salty cheese.  You scoop them up with a warm tortilla and let the grease run down your arms.  Luckily Seattle is not very close to Santa Barbara, so this is an occasional indulgence.

I’m calling my version “Queso Fundido,” which is a Mexican dish of melted cheese enhanced with bits of meat or vegetables or spicy peppers, meant to be scooped up with chips or wrapped in corn tortillas.  As I like to do, however, I’ve inverted the traditional proportions, starting with a pan chock-full of vegetables and stirring in just enough cheese to make the dish come together.  And we loved it.  Continue reading Queso Fundido with Mushrooms, Greens, and Chiles (click for recipe)

A Delicious Cracker: Homemade Matzo with Olive Oil

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Tonight is the first night of Passover, so we are baking matzo (matzoh? matzah! I can never decide which spelling to use) this morning instead of challah (hallah!).  Inspired by a sweet post on Gourmandistan, I took their advice and didn’t use their recipe, instead opting for one that Mark Bittman published in the NY Times a couple years ago.  Already untraditional in its use of olive oil and salt, I took the glad-not-to-be-actually-fleeing-Egypt spirit one step further and sprinkled the tops of some with the outstanding fennel and nigella salt from SugarPill and others with a dukkah blend from World Spice.

The result? Truly delicious crackers.

The recipe admonishes you to roll the dough paper-thin.  And when you say paper-thin, I say pasta roller.  That did actually work quite well, but I will also share that the much thicker rounds that my three-year-old rolled out by herself were equally delicious and only marginally less crispy.  So this is not a fussy dough.  Enjoy yourself.  And once you try these, you may decide to make them a year-round staple.  I am already thinking of the dips I want to serve these with after Passover is over and I can avoid the spelling conundrum by simply calling them “flatbreads.” Continue reading Homemade Matzo with Olive Oil (click for recipe)

Kale Chips

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Are kale chips so 2009?  I used to be in the kale chip vanguard, an evangelist for their crispy crunch and umami allure.  I sang their praises, shared the recipe (such as it is) with anyone who’d listen, made batch after batch.  But suddenly I keep hearing that kale chips have become as passé as the combination of sun-dried tomatoes and asparagus.  It is with great regret that I will have to give them up to keep abreast of current food trends….

Not really.  I don’t even really know what the current food trends are.  So, friends, two questions.  One, what are the current food trends?   And two, what do you put on your kale chips?

I have heard of all kinds of fabulous-sounding additions that could take your kale chip experience in many possible directions: sesame seeds, Parmesan, smoked paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, you get the idea.  But I usually just go with olive oil and salt.  I hesitate to call this a recipe because you can really do anything you want here as long as you dry out some kale in the oven until it’s crisp without burning it.  Any kind of kale.  I’ve made these chips with lacinato kale (pictured), green and purple curly kale, Red Russian–all great.  Wash and dry a bunch of kale and tear it into small or large pieces.  Rub with a little olive oil and salt and additional seasonings if desired.  Spread leaves in a single layer on two cookie sheets.  A relatively foolproof method is to bake the chips at 250 for 30-35 minutes, switching the top and bottom pans halfway through and watching closely near the end of the cooking time.  (Thanks, Bon Appetit in 2009!) Remove chips as they crisp and return the rest to the oven to finish cooking.

But IF you can’t wait half an hour for this magic, and IF you’re feeling daring and eagle-eyed, you can roast these chips at a much higher temperature (say, 450).  It goes without saying that they will cook, and burn, more quickly at a higher temperature.  On the other hand, they’ll be ready more quickly for you to gobble up like they’re going out of style.

Sweet Potato Chips

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I occasionally see sensational headlines about how you can make potato chips in your microwave.  That is bunkum, I say.  I tried it out, just to be sure, and the results were as ridiculous as I expected.  I got cardboardy, chewy potato slices with some occasional hard spots.  My kids did eat them (I mean, I called them “chips,” so what’s not to like?), but they weren’t good.  And they took a while to make, what with having to check and remove “crisp” specimens then re-microwave the rest.  Luckily you can only make a plate at a time, so the damage was limited to half a potato.

You want chips without a deep fryer?  THIS is the recipe for you.  We do this with regular potato slices as well (I keep promising that potato chip pizza recipe), but for eating on their own these sweet potato chips are the best.  They crisp up right through, you can make two big trays at a time in the oven, and they are a sweet and salty side or snack.  Crunch, crunch, crunch. Continue reading Sweet Potato Chips (click for recipe)

Chickpea and Avocado Smash

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Do you find that sandwiches always taste better when someone else makes them for you?  I do.  If you make your own sandwiches and enjoy them, can you tell me your secrets?

Sure, I like a luscious grilled cheese sandwich made with leftover curried onion jam.  And I can always snuggle a cold slice of any of these frittatas between two pieces of whole wheat toast swiped with mayonnaise and harissa.  But a real, well-composed, flavorful vegetarian sandwich takes some work.  I usually leave it to the professionals.  Or, you know, anyone else who’s offering to make me a sandwich.

But a spread?  A spread I can do.  In fact, I learned, I can make this one with one hand while holding a clingy baby in the other arm.  (When I was preparing to welcome my first baby, why didn’t anyone tell me to practice feeding myself with one hand?  I’ve got some experience by now, but even if you’re a novice, you too can make this spread with one hand.)  It was inspired by this good-looking sandwich from the makes-me-want-to-eat-cookies blog Two Peas and Their Pod.  But you know how I feel about making my own sandwiches.

You also know how I feel about making my own beans, but on this occasion I used canned chickpeas.  No biggie.  They get a bit lost in the smash anyway, adding more texture and protein than flavor to the creamy, salty, mustardy spread.  And although this would be a perfectly acceptable dip for veggie spears (or chips, for that matter), I heaped it onto rounds of a seedy baguette.  Almost like a sandwich.

Continue reading Chickpea and Avocado Smash (click for recipe)

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

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End of the weekend.  A sweet one, full of friends, that left the kitchen a disaster.  Everyone’s gone, kids are sleeping, we’re talking in the kitchen.  I’m eating sweet potato fries.  Cold.  Off a cookie sheet.

Casually at first–there are only a few left, it seems easier than putting them away.  I absent-mindedly take another, wonder if we could just clean up next weekend instead. (Is that soon?)  Then I give the tray my full attention to peel up the last sticky, crispy, sugary bits of sweet potato.  No wonder my kids love these.

If your kids don’t get to them first, you’ll be glad to have these roasted sweet potato fries alongside a burger or sandwich of any sort, for an afternoon snack, or topping an untraditional soba or sushi rice bowl.  Or maybe, like me, you’ll find yourself eating them cold from the pan as dessert.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries: Cut sweet potatoes into batons of any size.  Place on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil and salt.  Roast at 450, checking every 10 minutes and turning them as they start to brown.  Remove when edges are crisp; smaller fries may be done before larger ones.  Total baking time depends on how thickly the sweet potatoes are cut.  Serve with ketchup, or maybe a garlicky aioli.

Oatmeal Cracker with Black Pepper, Parmesan, and Rosemary

Savory Oatmeal Cookies with Rosemary, Black Pepper, and Parmesan

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Continuing the cheese-and-cracker-in-one theme of this week’s happy hour menus, I baked a batch of savory oatmeal “cookies” with rosemary, black pepper, and Parmesan cheese.  It sounded a little zany when I first read the recipe on The Kitchn, but I was on a tear with the homemade crackers and jumped right in.  (A much later search on the internet turned up all manner of variations on the theme of cookies and crackers combining oats, Parmesan and savory herbs–who knew?)Oatmeal Cracker with Black Pepper, Parmesan, and Rosemary

These are not really cookies and not really crackers.  They’re a little sweet and a lot savory.  Cookers?  Crackies?  No matter.  They wouldn’t be out of place in a cocktail party spread or on a cheese board, but they’d also make a great ending to a meal by themselves alongside a glass of port.  Or, you know, just leave a jar of them on the counter.  They’ll be gone before you know it.

Savory Oatmeal Cookies with Rosemary, Black Pepper, and Parmesan: Sprinkle 1/4 c. hot water over 1 c. rolled oats in a large mixing bowl.  In a smaller bowl, whisk one egg with 1/3 c. olive oil and 1/4 c. light brown sugar.  Pour this mixture over the oats and stir to combine.  In a third bowl (I know, sorry!), mix 1 c. flour with 1/4 tsp. baking soda, 2 tsp. chopped rosemary, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper, then stir in 1 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  Gradually stir the flour mixture into the oat mixture until well combined.  Roll into 1″ balls, flatten each to 1/4″ thick, and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  They can be close together because they don’t grow much.  Sprinkle a pinch of salt (flaky sea salt if you have it) on top of each cookie.  Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes, until the edges are crisp and golden brown, then move to a rack to cool.

Pictured on the left: Savory Oatmeal Cookies.  On the right: Parmesan and Black Pepper Crackers.  Just add Rye Crackers with Apricot Chevre Spread, a bowl of salty nuts, and the house cocktail.

Quick Whole Wheat Spice Bread with Brown Sugar, Orange Zest and Walnuts

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This afternoon, as my five year old drifted off to napland, she  opened her eyes to dreamily ask, “Mommy, after my nap, can I have TWO MORE PIECES of that bread you made, with butter?”  I smiled and nodded, and she was fast asleep.  Inspiring that kind of delight is the best reward a cook can hope for, in my book.

It’s lucky that this recipe makes two loaves of bread, because my family started  hovering around the cooling rack the moment the bread came out of the oven.  The source of this recipe, Cheryl Sternman Rule (writer of this lovely blog), calls it “Toasting Bread.”  She advises you to cool the bread completely before slicing,  toasting, and spreading it with honey butter.  I am here to tell you that the “letting it cool” part will be very difficult.  We could not withstand the siren scent and ate most of the first loaf warm, slathered in salted butter.  It was heavenly.  Lest it appear that I am contradicting Ms. Rule, however, I should add that the loaf we could bear to let cool was indeed delicious toasted.Quick Whole Wheat Spice Bread with Brown Sugar, Orange Zest and Walnuts: Grease two loaf pans well with softened butter.  Whisk an a egg in large bowl, then whisk in 3 Tbs. honey, 1 c. dark brown sugar and 1 1/2 c. milk.  Zest two oranges directly into the bowl.  Trade your whisk for a wooden spoon or spatula and stir in the dry ingredients: 2 c. whole wheat flour, 2 c. all-purpose flour, 3/4 tsp. ground cloves, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 4 tsp. baking powder.  Mix well, then add 1 c. chopped walnuts and mix again.  Divide batter between your two prepared pans.  Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, until a toothpick tester comes out clean.  Remove from pans and cool on a rack.  Hover over the bread, inhaling deeply, resisting as long as you like, then serve toasted (or still warm) with butter.

 

Savory Shortbread: Parmesan and Black Pepper Crackers

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My grandfather is visiting me in Seattle this week along with my parents.  He is 98 and just the way I hope to be if I am ever that age.  Fit, happy, and he always has something nice to say about everyone and everything.  And he is something of a gourmand.

We are four generations under one roof when everyone is home, and I try to be mindfully grateful for this time together.  But while one half of my brain is enjoying the sight of my grandfather laughing at my baby’s hysterical giggles, the other half is thinking ahead to happy hour.

Happy hour was a religious observance in my grandparents’ home.  Five o’clock?  Drinks magically appeared, ice cubes tinkled in glasses, salty snacks graced the coffee table, everyone stopped what they were doing and came together.  Time has not diminished my grandfather’s appreciation of this ritual, and why should it?  It’s never a bad idea to wind down your day with a tasty beverage and the people you love.

These crackers, really a savory shortbread, are perfect cocktail hour fare.  I’ve also made my grandpa those rye crackers, of course.  This recipe is Ina Garten’s.  You need to allow at least 30 minutes to chill the log of dough, or you can make the dough ahead of time, freeze it for a month or two and then just let it defrost slightly before slicing and baking.Parmesan and Black Pepper Crackers: Start by softening a stick of butter in your mixer.  Add 3/4 c. grated Parmesan, 1 1/4 c. flour, 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, 1/4 tsp. kosher salt, and 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper.  Mix again.  If the dough is too dry (if it doesn’t form crumbs when pinched together), mix in a few spoonfuls of water or milk.  Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap, shape into a 13″ log, wrap well and freeze for 30 minutes.  Slice about 1/4″ thick and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until the crackers begin to turn golden brown.  Cool completely on a wire rack.  Serve at happy hour.

Homemade Rye Crackers with Apricot-Chevre Spread

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Welcome to Emmy Cooks!  You can see some of my favorite recent recipes by clicking the “My Favorite Recipes” category on the sidebar (here are June, July, and August).  If you like what you see here, you can sign up on the sidebar to receive a daily recipe by email, or follow Emmy Cooks on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

I buy a lot of foods in bulk from my local co-op.  I think they are cheaper and maybe fresher that way, with much less wasted packaging.  But I never considered a benefit that I was missing out on when I skip the packaging: the recipes on the back of the bag!

Circumstances (read: laziness, since I didn’t want to make an extra grocery stop) recently required me to pick up an already-packaged bag of Bob’s Red Mill Dark Rye Flour.  I like to have rye flour on hand because I use it in my pizza dough and in bread, and someone recently made me delicious Finnish rye cookies that I want to try out soon.  And that’s how I discovered these rye crackers.

This recipe is straight from the back of the Bob’s Red Mill bag.  The crackers are thin and crisp and make a lovely little snack by themselves.  I can imagine serving them alongside a big bowl of cabbage and white bean soup.  But today we ate them in the early evening, topped with a jammy smear of apricot-chevre spread, with a glass of sparkling wine and some good friends.  I thought the combination was rather nice, myself.

To make Rye Crackers: In a medium bowl, mix 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, 1/2 c. rye flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 Tbsp. Turbinado sugar, 1 tsp. baking powder and 2 tsp. caraway seeds.  Add 4 Tbsp. butter and work into the dough until crumbly (I recommend using your hands to pinch and rub the butter into the dry ingredients).  Stir in 3 Tbsp. milk.  Form dough into two balls and roll each out to 1/8-1/16 inch thickness between two sheets of waxed paper.  Cut into desired shapes and prick with a fork.  Bake at 400 degrees on ungreased cookie sheets for 5-8 mins (depending on how thin you rolled them) until edges begin to brown.  Cool on rack and, in the unlikely event that you have leftovers,  store them in an airtight container.

We enjoyed these crackers with an apricot-chevre spread, which was simply a few good spoonfuls of homemade apricot jam stirred into a few oz. of soft goat cheese.  I’m sure they’d also be good with a sharp cheddar, soft havarti, or blue cheese.