The Flexitarian Cook

There used to be a bakery right across the street from my school in Bourg-la-Reine, a few miles south of Paris. When school let out in the afternoon (usually around 4 p.m.), we would descend on that bakery like Attila the Hun on the steppes of Central Asia to get something for le goûter (aka le quatre-heures), the mid-afternoon snack that is so intrinsic a part of French childhood that we have not one, but two names for it. We would sometimes get croissants or pains au chocolat, but most of the time, we would choose a few pieces of candy, as many as 1 franc could buy us. I was (still am) partial to gummy bears, chocolate covered marshmallow bears, and Carambar, a hard-to-chew caramel confection that has likely removed more fillings from French teeth than any dentist out there.

These are Caranougat, somewhat softer than the original Carambar.

But my favorite thing to get, bar none, was a small container of Nutella. It was very small indeed, containing at most two teaspoonfuls of the stuff. I would peel back the foil cover and use the little plastic spoon it came with to savor it, tiny bite by tiny bite, and make it last as long as possible.

Yum

I’ve had a love affair with Nutella for my entire life. In high school, my best friend and I would stay up till the wee hours of the morning, eating it by the spoonful straight from the jar while listening to our mixed tapes and talking about boys. As an adult, it was my responsibility (and I took it seriously) to introduce my children to that fabulous chocolaty goodness; they are, of course, just as addicted as I am – even my chocolate agnostic son.

My favorite way of having Nutella is still straight from the jar or on a crêpe, but I did come across Nutella cookies online and I was intrigued. Other than using it as a filling in Linzer cookies, I had never baked with it. I simply had to try.

The recipe I found is for a straightforward drop cookie, very simple and quick to make, and with a great chewy texture. The addition of chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli’s 60%) is a must, as the chocolate taste in Nutella probably wouldn’t come through enough all by itself.

These chocolate pieces are larger and flatter than regular chocolate chips.

I adapted the ingredients just a bit, reducing the amount of white sugar to 2/3 cup instead of a whole cup. They’re still very sweet, and oh so delicious. That’s a pretty nice way to create new memories from old ones.

C is for cookie; that's definitely good enough for me.

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, room temperature
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup Nutella
1 cup chocolate chips

Cream together the butter and sugars. Add vanilla and egg and beat well. Whisk flour, soda and salt together and add to the mixture slowly, making sure the flour is well incorporated. Add Nutella and chocolate chips – no need to beat it in too thoroughly; it’s okay to have swirls of Nutella in the batter.

Nutella and cookie batter: we have a winner!

Drop 2″ apart on baking sheet covered in parchment paper and bake 9-10 minutes in a preheated F375 oven.

Ready to be baked

Remove from oven and let cool 2 minutes on the baking sheet before moving cookies to a rack.

Tempted?

Makes about 2 dozen large cookies.

Tags: chocolate chips, cookies, nutella

My daughter has often been the primary motivator for the vegetarian recipes I have written about here. She turned vegetarian around the age of 11, and since then, the rest of us have seriously curbed our consumption of meat and poultry, even if we still enjoy those once or twice a week (we’re flexitarians after all). It’s better for us and the environment, so what’s not to like?

It’s really not very hard to eat more vegetarian meals more often. A number of recipes out there are quite easy to adapt for vegetarian tastes. For instance, you don’t really need meat in a tomato sauce to make it hearty and enjoyable: just add a pound of sauteed sliced mushrooms instead, and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. Similarly, you can stuff cabbage, peppers and tomatoes with a variety of grains and chopped vegetables without ever missing the pork or beef you’ve become accustomed to using. Veggie burgers are another obvious substitution, with beans playing the role that meat typically does.

Today, I will use tofu instead of chicken in a dish that is ubiquitous in most Chinese take-out restaurants. Again, it was my daughter’s request; she loves the curry sauce but won’t have the chicken. Our local take-out place will happily substitute tofu in that dish, but I thought I could make it at home with a couple other tweaks we would enjoy: I use a combination of broth and coconut milk for the sauce and add basil towards the end, for a little taste of Thai. I kept the onions and bamboo shots from the original recipe, and fried up the tofu before adding the wet ingredients, to make sure it did not fall apart in the sauce. It’s so fast and easy to make, it’s not worth the trip to the take-out.

The Flex strikes again.

Tofu with Onion and Curry Sauce

1 lb firm tofu, drained.
1 large onion
1 can bamboo shots
1 cup coconut milk
2 cups vegetable broth or water
2 tsp curry powder
neutral oil (grapeseed or peanut)
salt to taste

Cut the tofu in 6 even slices widthwise, then again in 3 lengthwise, to obtain 18 even pieces. Let them sit on several layers of paper towels for a few minutes to absorb some excess water.

This portion of The Flexitarian Cook is brought to you by the number 18.

Lightly salt the tofu. Heat about 2 Tbsp oil in a nonstick saute pan over medium heat, and gently fry up the tofu on all side for a few minutes, until it starts to turn golden in color. Remove from heat and set aside.

Peel the onion and cut it in half, then slice, not too thinly. In the same pan you used for the tofu, heat up a little more oil if needed (that is, if there is none left from frying up the tofu), and lightly cook the onion for about 8 minutes.

I wish this were in smell-o-rama.

Drain and rinse the bamboo shots and set aside.

Bamboo shots also taste great in salads.

Add the curry powder to the onion and continue cooking gently until the spices become fragrant, about one minute or so. Add coconut milk and broth, and stir well. Add tofu and bamboo shots, salt to taste, and give the pan a shake to mix it all up (avoid stirring with a spoon so as not to break to tofu up too much). Let cook for about 10 min, add basil and cook 3 minutes more. Remove from heat and serve with some basmati rice or quinoa.

A take-out standard, reinvented.

Tags: bamboo shots, chinese, curry, onion, thai, tofu

What do you do when you’ve got many pounds of plums, and you’ve already made jam, ice cream, butter and barbecue sauce? You ask around, and if you’re lucky, somebody makes a brilliant suggestion.

Our cousin Stacy, who lives in England, mentioned that she had made damson gin in the past, and wondered if the same might not be done with the plums I have. Now, that’s something I should have thought of on my own, since macerating fruit in alcohol is something that is commonly done in much of Europe, and something that is still done in my family. My sister Catherine makes a delicious aperitif called vin de noix (walnut wine) by macerating green walnuts, red wine, alcohol (such as eau de vie), sugar and spices for a few months before filtering it.

The idea was thus quickly adopted, and Rob and I went out to look for a jar big enough to hold a couple pounds of plums, sugar, and two liters of vodka (which we like better than gin). The only thing we could find was a (very) large pickle jar, and it works wonderfully well – once you’ve managed to relocate the pickles in other containers, that is.

Here are some pictures of the process – no recipe as such; it’s really more of a use-your-own-judgement kind of thing. The only thing I suggest is cutting through the plums after they’ve been washed, so they get to absorb the liquid even better.

Fill the jar half-way up with plums.

Cover the plums with sugar.

Next, fill up the jar with vodka or gin (no need to use the expensive stuff). Shake well to dissolve the sugar.

The brew after 3 days. I will keep it in a cool, dark place for the next couple of months, giving it an occasional shake, and report back with the results. See you then!

Tags: plum, vodka