Pineapple-Buttermilk Sherbet

Thanksgiving reminds me not so much of my father, but of not having my father around. See, he's a Christmas tree farmer, and when we were kids, Thanksgiving was when the tree harvest started up, so he was usually gone for most of the holiday weekend. So, I think of Dad, and of missing him, which happens a lot more often since I'm 3000 miles from him most days of the year these days.

I remember talking with my dad about making ice cream; he brought up memories of childhood and making pineapple sherbet with no fancy equipment, just forks and a pan and a regular freezer. So, in honor of missing Dad at Thanksgiving, here's Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites's take on his fondly remembered treat.

Pineapple-Buttermilk Sherbet

This simple and delightful sherbet requires no special ice cream-making equipment -- just a fork. It has a tangy flavor and gives the illusion of rich creaminess. Pineapple-Buttermilk Sherbet will keep, stored in an airtight container in the freezer, for 1 to 2 weeks.

2 cups nonfat or regular buttermilk
2 cups undrained canned crushed pineapple (20-ounce can)
2/3 cup sugar

In a bowl, stir together the buttermilk, pineapple, and sugar until the sugar has dissolved.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in the freezer. After about an hour, when the mixture has begun to harden, stir it with a fork until it becomes slushy. Cover and return to the freezer for another hour or two, until it is very stiff but not frozen solid. Stir it again with a fork and serve. If the sherbet has frozen hard, remove it from the freezer to soften for about 30 minutes before serving or whirl it in a food processor, scraping down the sides several times, for about 2 minutes, until well blended and smooth.

Makes 5 to 6 cups
Serves 8
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Freezing time: 3 to 5 hours

So darned simple, there's really no excuse not to give it a try. And, hey, your turkey's out of the freezer by now, so you have room!

This is the last of the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites posts for now; tomorrow, it's Thanksgiving dishes from my home, and then we'll start a new cookbook.

Should it be regional? Time-specific? Boozy? Something to help you prep for winter holiday treats? Cookies? Candies? Punches? Something to get you through bring-a-dish parties? Pot lucks? Office shindigs? What do you want to explore in more depth?

Cassoulet

One of the biggest culinary gaffes Chefly Husband and I ever made was mistaking peasant food for haute cuisine; we decided to make a cassoulet and followed a recipe to the letter, buying a hard-to-find and expensive kind of sausage, particular heirloom beans... the fussy list went on and on, and in the end we ended up with a bean casserole that cost $100.

Peasant food shouldn't cost $100. Peasant food shouldn't cost $10. Don't be a slave to a list that doesn't make sense... substitute, substitute, substitute, and use yer brain.

There are no $30 surprises in the list for Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites cassoulet recipe. It's just simple, wonderful, tasty peasant food. As it should be.

Cassoulet

Cassoulet is the name for the classic baked bean dish that is popular bistro fare throughout France. Although baking is the traditional method, you can gently simmer our vegetarian version for 20 minutes on the stove top instead.

1 teaspoon olive oil
6 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
3 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon minced fresh or dried rosemary
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 cup peeled and diced carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
1 cup diced potatoes
1 cup diced tomatoes
3/4 cup diced pepperoni seitan
1 tablespoon molasses
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 cups cooked kidney beans (15-ounce can, drained)
1 1/2 cups cooked cannellini beans (15-ounce can, drained)
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350°.

In a medium saucepan, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic, onions, thyme, bay leaves, marjoram, and rosemary and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the wine, cover, and simmer until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the carrots, celery, potatoes, and tomatoes, cover, and simmer 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the seitan, molasses, mustard, and both kinds of beans. Return to a simmer, stirring gently, just until the seitan and beans are heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a casserole dish that has been prepared with cooking spray, cover, and bake for 45 minutes.

Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 30 minutes, if using already cooked or canned beans
Baking time: 45 minutes

Note: Almost any highly flavored seitan will work in the dish, but if only plain seitan is available, we suggest adding more herbs, garlic, and mustard to taste.

See? Simple! Easy as pie ... and you might want to think of putting this together to cook after you done your pies for Thanksgiving. The oven's already hot, why not cook up lunch for the next day? Also, if you have an unexpected vegetarian drop by your feast, you'll be well prepared.

This freezes well. It's a casserole, after all.

I recommend you make a buttery bread crumb topping and sprinkle it on before baking. The crunchy element is great with a cassoulet.

Have a big crusty loaf of bread on hand when you eat the beans. Sop up any liquid, and just enjoy.

Spaghetti With Onions

And, we're back! The Georgetown Gilbert & Sullivan Society's production of "Urinetown" was a blast, but very time-consuming, and I've spent the time since the show closed to catch up on the rest of life. One big wonderful thing: my kitchen's recovered! I can cook, whenever I like, with a clean kitchen and a shiny sink.

I just had dinner, a simple spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, and freshly crushed red pepper (a reminder of this summer's harvest, and the coworkers who have abundant gardens). Last night, dinner was ziti with some doctored up jarred sauce. It's just a few days until Thanksgiving, and this week seems to be about keeping it really simple before the big feast. If you're of the same mind, try this recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites:

Spaghetti with Onions

We modified this recipe from Ed Giobbi, who found it in a very old Italian cookbook. Just as he says, it's a winner.

The pasta is only partially cooked when you add it to the sauce, so as it finishes cooking, it releases the rest of its starch, creating a sauce so thick and unctuous you'd swear it had cheese in it -- a bit of kitchen wizardry at work!

4 large onions
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons ground fennel (optional)
1 pound spaghetti
1 cup skim milk
1 cup canned tomatoes, crushed or coarsely chopped (8-ounce can)
1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste

Slice off the ends of the onions. Cut each onion in half lengthwise and remove the peel. Lice each half lengthwise into strips.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

While the water heats, pour the oil into a large skillet or wide soup pot and add the onion and fennel, if using. Sauté, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.

Ease the spaghetti into the boiling water, stir, and cover. Cook the spaghetti for just 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, add the milk and tomatoes to the onions. The milk will curdle, but don't worry. Cover and gently simmer.

When the spaghetti has cooked exactly 5 minutes, drain it and add it immediately to the onion mixture. Simmer the spaghetti in the sauce for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the pasta is al dente and the sauce is smooth. Drizzle in a little more milk if the sauce becomes too stiff. Add the salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.
Total time: 40 minutes.

Here's for a spaghetti recipe that acknowledges that one pound of pasta is NOT eight servings! Hurrah for a really big plate full of noodles so unctuous the recipe actually uses the word "unctuous."

I'm fond of this recipe in part because of the phrase "don't worry." It's reassuring at a point that most cooks would probably freak out. "Holy crap, it's CURDLING!!!" you might shriek (if you were me) as you then dumped out the entire mess, served the spaghetti with a (large) pat of butter, and uncorking a bottle for a big consolation glass of wine. But no. The Moosewood folks want you to know that you're on the right track, even when it looks like you're not. Good times.

We'll finish up with Moosewood this week, before Thanksgiving. On the big day, I'll share recipes not from a cookbook, but from our table. And then we'll start anew, with a cookbook a week, and a recipe a day.

Take One Cookbook is back!

Guacamole with Cottage Cheese

Sometimes, it seems to me that this blog is a never ending cavalcade of foods I couldn't stand or never tried as a child. Today's recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites is half stuff I couldn't stand, and half stuff I loved beyond all passion -- take that, cavalcade!

Guacamole with Cottage Cheese

Before you even taste this guacamole, you will be impressed by its lovely light green shade. We've never seen anything quite like it before, and the bonus is that it doesn't darken a bit as it sits, the way most other guacamoles do. Collective member Ned Asta's seven-year-old son Tazio devoured most of this recipe in one sitting and asked if he could have it every time he went to Moosewood.

1 ripe avocado, preferably Hass
2/3 cup low-fat cottage cheese
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon chopped scallions
3/4 teaspoon minced fresh chile
2 garlic cloves, pressed
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Slice the avocado in half lengthwise and separate the halves by gently twisting. Remove the pit. With a tablespoon or soup spoon, scoop out the flesh of each half. In a food processor, combine the avocado, cottage cheese, lime juice, scallions, chile, and garlic and purée until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately or chill.

The flavor of the guacamole will increase in intensity as it sits.

Makes 1 1/2 cups
Total time: 10 minutes

Yeah... I'm nearly ashamed to admit it, but I couldn't stand to be near an avocado when I was growing up. A high school friend turned me around on that point the summer of 1994...so, right after college graduation. I was a late bloomer. Cottage cheese and I go way back, though. I like it plain. I like it sweet. I like it savory.

And, yes, I like it in guacamole.

It's great served with the black bean chilaquile, or any other spicy TexMex dish. It's also great on chips, or with any other dip-able. I also like it schmeared onto a turkey sandwich. Mmmm...

Did you know that all Hass avocados descend from one avocado tree? Mail man Rudolph Hass had a particularly lovely avocado tree in his back yard, and patented the tree back in the 30s. It survived until 2002, and every Hass avocado tree is a descendant of Mr. Hass's original mother tree.

I love that you can get fresh avocados all year long. They're never out of season! And once you learn how to judge a ripe avocado, you'll be able to whip up guac whenever you want. My ripeness trick? Flick off the stem "button" -- if it comes right off, the avocado is ripe. If it doesn't come off without resistance, it's not ripe yet. If you don't want to use the avocado right away, buy it under-ripe; it'll be perfect in a day or two.

Pasta with Chickpeas

One of the signs of a well-loved recipe in a well-loved book: pencil marks. Today's recipe from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites has calculated Weight Watchers Points next to all the ingredients, and then a total-points-for-the-whole-recipe in the upper corner. See, though the recipe may say it serves 4 to 6, it has pasta in it, and that makes it a crazy guessing game for serving size around me. Pasta = more, please.

Pasta with Chickpeas

Pasta with Chickpeas is considered an unusual dish in the United States, but this combination is very common in Italian cuisine. In ancient Rome, Horace wrote about it with longing and glad anticipation. Tomatoes are a relatively recent addition to the sauce.

Our tasty sauce, thick and substantial with a high protein and high fiber content, is quickly produced from economical pantry items. There is just enough rosemary to make it interesting without being overpowering; use fresh rosemary so that the whole sprigs can be removed from the sauce.

1 1/2 cups finely chopped onions
2 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed
3 fresh rosemary sprigs, 2 inches each
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 cups chopped fresh or 3 cups canned tomatoes (28-ounce can, undrained)
3 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (two 15- or 16-ounce cans)
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 pound short chunky pasta, such as ditalini, tubetti, or orecchiette
2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
chopped fresh tomatoes (optional)

Combine the onions, garlic, rosemary, and oil in a well-seasoned skillet or nonstick saucepan and sauté on low heat for about 10 minutes, until the onions are soft and golden. Add the tomatoes and half of the chickpeas and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove the rosemary sprigs and discard (see Note). In a blender, purée the tomato-chickpea mixture until smooth. Return it to the skillet, stir in the remaining chickpeas, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, bring a large covered pot of water to a boil. When the water boils, add the pasta, stir, cover the pot, and return to a boil. Stir the pasta again and cook, uncovered, until al dente. Drain the pasta. In a large serving bowl, toss the pasta with the chickpea sauce and serve immediately. Sprinkle with feta cheese or pass the feta at the table and top with tomatoes, if desired.

Note: For a stronger rosemary flavor, strip the leaves from one of the rosemary sprigs and add them to the blender with the tomato-chickpea mixture before puréeing.

Serves 4 to 6
Total time: 20 minutes

So quick! So easy! So darned tasty!

But...Horace and chickpeas? Turns out, he does mention them. And why not? Chickpeas (or garbanzos, or cecis) have a long history. According to Wikipedia, there've been 7,500 year old chickpeas found. And, no, they weren't in my cupboard (oldest chickpeas there: probably about 7 years...).

What I love about this recipe: It's got pasta. And tomatoes. And chickpeas. What's not to love?

Okay, it doesn't freeze well. And it really is better hot, though it will do a passable reheat in the office microwave. The cheese melts, though; you figured that one out already, I bet. It's easy as pie to make a huge batch of for a really cozy if somewhat last minute dinner party; if you invite friends over for an unexpected game night, you can all sit around with big bowls of this and not make as much of a mess as you would with a saucy dish of longer noodles. Pairs great with a medium-bodied red wine, too.

Really, the more I type, the more I think this has "game night" written all over it.

I'm a linguistic chameleon on the chickpea vs. garbanzo divide; I grew up referring to them as the former, and now tend to go with the later.

Black Bean Chilaquile

The first time I made this dish from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites, I couldn't help thinking of it as a Tex-Mex lasagna.

Black Bean Chilaquile

Here is one of our favorite casseroles. The cooks at Moosewood always try to make more Chilaquile than the customers can possibly order so the staff won't be disappointed at the end of the shift. Chilaquile is colorful, jumping with flavor, and filling to boot.

1 cup chopped onions
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (15-ounce can, drained)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups rinsed, stemmed, and chopped Swiss chard or spinach
2 cups crushed baked tortilla chips
8 ounces grated fat-free sharp Cheddar cheese
2 cups prepared Mexican-style red salsa or Blender Hot Sauce (page 358)

Preheat the oven to 350°. Sauté the onions in the oil for about 8 minues, until translucent. Stir in the tomatoes, corn, black beans, lime juice, salt, and pepper and continue to sauté for another 5 to 10 minutes, until just heated through.

Meanwhile, in another saucepan, blanch the greens in boiling water to cover for 1 to 3 minutes, until just wilted but still bright green. Drain immediately and set aside.

Prepare an 8x8-inch casserole dish or baking pan with a very light coating of oil or cooking spray. Spread half of the crushed tortilla chips on the bottom. Spoon the sautéed vegetables over the tortilla chips and sprinkle on about two-thirds of the grated Cheddar. Arrange the greens evenly over the cheese and spoon on half of the salsa. Finish with the rest of the tortilla chips and top with the remaining salsa and Cheddar. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and beginning to brown.

Serves 4 to 6
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Baking time: 35-40 minutes

If you happened to choose Salsa Mexicana or Salsa Borracha, I think you'd be well served.

I like that Moosewood is careful to capitalize Cheddar, but I have a hard time doing so myself when looking at using a low-fat or fat-free cheese. Don't get me wrong: I've made this dish exactly as written, more than once. But fat helps cheese melt in pleasant melty cheesy ways, so if you're not being manic about your fat intake, consider replacing at least some of the cheese here with the real stuff.

Chilaquiles are often served as breakfast food, and I can imagine this casserole on a brunch table quite nicely. Some suggest it's good hangover food, but I think I'll stick with my McDonald's sausage biscuit for that. Personal cures aside, I think this would be a great dish on the way to a hangover, too -- would be good with beer, or margaritas (rocks, not frozen), or sangria.

Like most casseroles, this is a heck of an option for a potluck. It freezes well, so it's also good for any time you'd like to stock someone's freezer to ease up on the pressures of life (new parents, anyone?) -- it's tasty, comfort-foody, and darned healthy.

Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites; Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito

I'm really excited to share this week's cookbook: Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites (published in 1996). This is one of my favorite cookbooks; if I were allowed only 5 cookbooks to take with me to a desert island (you know, one that had all the food stuffs I could ever possibly desire...), this would be in the suitcase before you said "boo." Do not be scared off by the "low-fat" in the title -- Yes, they're all low fat, and healthy, and you can even use the nutritional information provided for each recipe to figure out Weight Watchers Points if you're so inclined (my copy has my Points calculations written in up in the corner of most pages). But, honest, the reason I love this cookbook? Everything tastes amazing.

In what I think is a neat change of pace, this week I will only post recipes that I have personally tried, and loved.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito

Sweet potatoes add an unexpected creaminess to the filling in these burritos. One young Moosewood waitperson said this was the first time she had ever loved a burrito without cheese. Serve the burritos on a bed of rice, if you like, with plenty of salsa.l

5 cups peeled cubed sweet potatoes
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons canola or other vegetable oil
3 1/2 cups diced onions
4 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 tablespoon minced fresh green chile
4 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons ground coriander
4 1/2 cups cooked black beans (three 15-ounce cans, drained)
2/3 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
8 eight-inch flour tortillas
Fresh Tomato Salsa (page 360)

Preheat the oven to 350°

Place the sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan with the salt and water to cover. Cover and bring to a boil, then simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

While the sweet potatoes are cooking, warm the oil in a medium skillet or saucepan and add the onions, garlic, and chile. Cover and cook on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are tender, about 7 minutes. Add the cumin and coriander and cook for 2 to 3 minutes longer, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a food processor, combine the black beans, cilantro, lemon juice, salt, and cooked sweet potatoes and purée until smooth (see Note). Transfer the sweet potato mixture to a large mixing bowl and mix in the cooked onions and spices.

Lightly oil a large baking dish. Spoon about 2/3 to 3/4 cup of the filling in the center of each tortilla, roll it up, and place it, seam side down, in the baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake for about 30 minutes, until piping hot. Serve topped with salsa.

Serves 4 to 6
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes

Note: You can also mash the ingredients in a large bowl by hand using a potato masher. The result will be a less smooth but nicely textured filling.

We tend to triple this recipe. Yes, triple. If you wrap each burrito in foil before baking, you can then plop them in the freezer for take-to-work lunches. So! Good! So inexpensive! So tasty! So healthy! And so darned easy. (Take out of the foil before nuking up at work, folks.)

Chefly Husband has crossed out the word "lemon" in the ingredients list, and written in "lime." You can choose whichever citrus you have on hand.

What do I love most about these burritos? They taste like they have cheese in them. They do not have cheese in them! They taste cheesy and creamy and rich! This effect is lessened, though, if you use a potato masher and leave in lumps -- the smooth texture of the sweet potatoes fools the mouth.

I forget if, when we first made these up and fell in love, we used a food mill or a ricer to purée the mixture. I know we didn't have a food processor or blender in our lives yet. I got this book the year after it came out, and have been cooking from it constantly ever since.

I've never been to Ithaca, so I've never had the opportunity to eat at Moosewood. It sounds like a hoopy sort of place, and I'm really excited to go through the recipes here this week. Which I may have said already, but I get kind of bouncy giddy about the Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites. It's worthy of a gushy post or seven.