Category Archives: 101 Cookbooks

Farmer’s Market Dinner

Taking a mini break from my Japan posts to share with you my dinner from last night.

I’d been wanting to make Heidi’s Sprouted Garbanzo Burgers ever since I saw the recipe in her book, Super Natural Cooking. I finally had the chance, although the sprouts lady at the Pasadena Farmer’s Market had run out of sprouted garbanzos by the time I arrived. Luckily she had some yummy smelling onion sprouts so I bought those to put in the mixture of regular, canned garbanzo beans, chopped onion, egg and a few additional ingredients which came together quickly. It was very easy to form the patties and after about 5 minutes on each side in a lightly oiled pan, they were done.

I didn’t use them as the bun part of a veggie burger (Heidi makes a good point that a beany burger isn’t exactly the best thing to put between two slices of bread and suggests putting avocado, tomato and other fillings between the two veggie patties) but served them alongside some gorgeous vegetables I purchased at the same market. A salad of spicy arugula and other baby greens, sweet corn cut from the cob, red onion, chopped chives and sweet basil went so nicely with the gigantic heirloom tomato which didn’t need much more than a drizzle of good olive oil and Maldon sea salt. The unfortunately looking avocado was actually good but got a little bruised when it found itself at the bottom of my very full market bag!

Speaking of Maldon, yes, I, too, jumped on the NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookie bandwagon and made a batch of what they call the “consummate chocolate chip cookie.” The ingredients aren’t that different from your standard chocolate chip cookie recipe minus the use of both cake flour and bread flour, plus letting your dough rest for 36 hours before baking. I made myself a small one and found it to be delicious- particularly due to the addition of a light sprinkling of Maldon salt on top. Was it the best chocolate chip cookie I’d ever had? I can’t be sure since I just haven’t eaten enough cookies in my life to really know (ask me about tuna sandwiches though, and I can be of some help!). Judging by the “MMMMMMMMMMMMMMs!” I’m hearing from my co-workers, I’m guessing this cookie does come close to being one of the best.

Ok, back to Japan posts now!

101 Cookbook’s Corn Quiche in a Teff Crust

I’d wanted to make this dish ever since I saw it on 101 Cookbooks awhile back- something about the deep, brown crust just really reached out and grabbed me. I’m glad I finally got around to it and I certainly won’t let too much time pass before making it again.

As some of you know by now, I hate rolling out dough and am always thrilled to find one that is easy to manage. This dough comes together with just a quick whiz in the food processor and really stays together nicely through the rolling and pressing-into-the-pan process. It also has the huge benefit of actually being healthy- the entire recipe contains only 4 tablespoons of butter and is enriched with teff flour which is high in protein, carbohydrates and fiber.

Heidi’s recipe lets you choose to use soy milk or regular milk for the filling, so I decided to try it with soy milk just to see how it’d turn out. I just blended together some raw corn cut straight off about four cobs, the soy milk, Tabasco, 4 eggs and salt until it make a smooth puree, then added some grated light Jarlsberg cheese, chopped fresh basil and chopped scallions. After decorating the top with some sliced tomatoes and a bit more cheese, I popped it in the oven.

Ready for the oven

The resulting “quiche” was super light and fluffy- almost cloud-like- and the crust was slightly sweet and nutty. I really, REALLY loved the flavor of this crust and am eager to try it with other fillings, both sweet and savory. The filling tasted like a sweet corn chowder and the sweet tomatoes and basil were the perfect additions. The only changes I would make are to not sprinkle cheese on top since it creates a crust that is difficult to cut through since the soy milk makes the quiche so ultra fluffy that it kind of squishes down when you cut (or I guess I could sharpen my knives, duh!) and I may add a bit more texture by mixing in some steamed broccoli or something in the filling next time. My dough also required about double the amount of water called for in the recipe before it came together in a ball in the food processor.

This makes a fantastic breakfast, brunch or even dinner. We had it with some “caramelized” zucchini (just take VERY thinly sliced zucchini and toss it in a very hot pan with a bit of butter until the zucchini turns golden brown) and a salad made with frisee and blood orange segments.

I’d like to add that, in addition to her wonderful website, Heidi has a cookbook out called Super Natural Cooking that is just filled with creative and unique healthy recipes.