Spinach Cheese Soufflé

Now that we've hit that part of winter when we begin holding our breaths for spring, we might need some help getting through the dreary days ahead. Try this "incentivizing" cheese soufflé—an indulgent dinner that requires some elbow grease and silent conspiring with God.

Spinach Cheese Soufflé: Preheat oven to 400° F. Generously butter six ramekins or coffee mugs. Separate 6 eggs, and keep the whites in the refrigerator in a large, clean bowl until ready to use. Steam or boil 10 ounces of spinach. Transfer to an ice bath to cool, squeeze out as much water as possible, and then chop finely. In a medium saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium-low heat. Sprinkle 6 tablespoons flour over it, stirring constantly for two or three minutes, until it darkens slightly and smells nutty. Slowly whisk in 1-1/2 cups warm milk in increments so as to avoid any clomps forming. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens considerably, about 5 minutes. Now you’ve got béchamel! Whisk in the egg yolks and off the heat. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, a few gratings of fresh nutmeg, the chopped spinach, and 4 or 5 ounces bleu or goat cheese, and let be. In the cold bowl the eggwhites are in, beat them until stiff peaks form. Fold them into the custard mixture. Scoop into the prepared cups using a ladle, filling each an inch from the top. Wipe the rims clean with your finger (this allows the soufflés to rise evenly). Bake for about 20 minutes, until puffed up and golden brown; they’ll be a little bit jiggly in the center. Serve IMMEDIATELY.

Steel-cut Oats

Oatmeal is one aspect of childhood I seem to have missed out on. It’s a texture thing, because I also hated cereal with milk in it (still do), bananas (still do), yogurt (now I’m kinda “meh”), and any kind of cooked egg (I’m totally over that, thankfully). It's taken me twenty years to work though my fear of “soupy,” gluey foods, foods that might drip down your chin in a sticky panache of different consistencies, and I still haven't made much progress.

Somewhere in my brain I knew that it was possible to make oatmeal—or steel-cut oats, or rolled oats, or quick oats (note to self: learn the differences)—from scratch, but I've mostly believed that the life of oatmeal ended at individual Quaker Oats packets. Aside from backpacking, when one is willfully desperate, I wanted to keep those things away from me.

I recently reread Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking—which is just such an awesome cookbook, everyone should own it—and came to her recipe for Steel-cut Oats. Feeling brave, I decided to gave it a try. I’m happy to report that steel-cut oats have revolutionized breakfast for me. I have reason go get out of bed. This oatmeal is deliciously chewy, will fill your kitchen with the handsome aroma of a slow-cooked grain, and is super-dooper easy.

Homemade Steel-cut Oats

4 servings

The genius of Swanson’s recipe is that you make a large batch at once, and then just reheat it in the morning. Still, I halve the recipe because I’d rather just make it twice in a week than have it sit in the fridge for seven days.

To do this you’ll need 3 cups water, 3/4 cup steel-cut oats, and a big pinch of salt. There are two cooking methods:

1) Boil water, stir in oatmeal and salt, and cook over low heat until it’s reached desired consistency.

2) Pour boiling water over oatmeal and salt, stir, cover the pot, let sit overnight. Reheat in the morning.

I’ve tried both methods, and they both work, though for the latter method I had to finish cooking the oatmeal in the morning—it was still a little too “soupy” for my tastes.

The other genius thing about her recipe is that she offers seven different toppings—one for each day of the week! I’m still stuck on #1: toasted walnuts plus a drizzle of pomogranate molasses (I also add a pinch of brown sugar, which is no-no in Swansonland because it’s highly processed, but: baby steps). If you’re new to pomogranate molasses (reduced pomogranate syrup, a staple of some Middle Eastern cuisines) and you try it on oatmeal, you might find yourself wanting to add it to everything you eat. It's tart jolt is impossible to hide, and a little goes a long way.

Photo shoot

Apologies that this is a bit of a write-off of a blog post, but I was cooking for 72 hours and then yesterday was up at 4:30 AM to do a photo shoot for the Veggie Burger Cookbook (this is the first—maybe second?—of many shameless plugs). The thought of writing out a recipe is nauseating, so I thought I'd be better off sharing some of the photos from yesterday. Christina Heaston is the mastermind behind the lens. You know, towards the end of the shoot I'd look at the plates I'd put together and think, oh, man, I'm getting tired and it's starting to show, and then I'd look at her photo and—how's she do that? Do you understand photography? It's something that will forever stupefy me.

Some condiments:

My basic hamburger bun, here with different seed toppings:

Black-olive roasted potato salad (recipe here—and see what a good photo can do? it can make you hungry):

Baked cauliflower burger, with pickled red onion:

Spinach-chickpea burger (recipe here, ditto above):

Tofu burger with beet greens and sesame glaze:

"Pub grub" burger:

Thai carrot burger (recipe here):

And the baked falafel burger (another improved photo!):

Armenian Lentil Burger

This is a burger for the book I've been working on. Forgive the laundry list of ingredients—it's definitely not a complicated recipe: You cook the lentils with some aromatics, then fry an onion with some spices, blitz the cooked onion and beans and some eggs in a food processor (though last week I made this with my friend Emily, who owns a meat grinder attachment for her Kitchen Aide, and—wow!—what a terrific way to make a veggie burger!), then shape the mixture into patties, and then cook them.

Now I've not been to Armenia before and I have very (very) limited experience with Armenian food. The inspiration for this burger comes from an Armenian friend who, when she learned about this book, insisted that an Armenian burger be included. And she was onto something! The allspice and cinnamon and clove lend a warming, even slightly numbing quality that is delicious. But do let me know if you make this and have any suggestions.

Armenian Lentil Burger

1 cup French lentils
2 T plus 1 t olive or grapeseed oil
1/2 onion, sliced into two quarters from the stem
2 whole cloves
1-inch piece ginger, sliced into two pieces
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 cinnamon stick
bay leaf
1 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1-3/4 t ground allspice
1/2 t ground cinnamon
2 pinches ground cloves
pinch cayenne
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 t grated fresh ginger
2 eggs
1/2 t salt
squeeze lemon
3/4 cup toasted breadcrumbs

Pick through the lentils and rinse thoroughly. Stud each of the onion quarters with a clove. In a lidded medium saucepan, heat the 1 teaspoon oil over medium high heat. Add the onion quarters, ginger pieces, garlic cloves, cinnamon stick, and bay leaf. Stir, then cover and cook for one minute, until fragrant. Add the lentils and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Discard the aromatics (the onion, ginger, garlic, cinnamon stick, and bay leaf) and pour off any excess liquid.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-low heat. Add the chopped onion, ground allspice, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and cayenne. Fry for about 12 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to caramelize. Reduce the heat and add the garlic and ginger. Cook for about five minutes more, until the onions are fully cooked.

Set aside 1/2 cup of the cooked lentils. In a food processor, combine the remaining lentils, eggs, and onions, and pulse until thoroughly combined. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the reserved lentils, salt, lemon juice, and breadcrumbs. Adjust seasonings. Using your hands, shape the mixture into four large or six medium patties (or if you want to mimic the photo, you can make about a dozen mini-burgers).

To panfry: heat two tablespoons olive, grapeseed, or vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the burgers, in batches if necessary to avoid crowding, cooking 5 to 6 minutes on each side until browned and firmed.

To bake: Preheat oven 350-degrees. Place burgers on a lightly greased baking sheet for 15-20 minutes, until browned and firmed in the middle. Flip them over halfway through the baking time.

Crispy vegetables are wonderful with this—slices of cucumber and radish and romaine and red onion—on a toasted bun or stuffed into a warm pita. It’s also good with this easy yogurt sauce:

1/2 red onion, minced
2 t lemon juice
1/2 t salt
1 small cucumber
1 cup Greek-style plain yogurt
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint (loosely packed)
pinch cayenne

Combine the red onion and lemon juice and salt. Let stand while you grate or finely chop the cucumber. Stir in remaining ingredients. Adjust seasonings and serve.

Carrot-Butternut Squash Soup

You'd never believe that this one is vegan. It tastes—not unappealingly—like there might be a stick of butter in there, and in that respect will be a perfect addition to whatever you stuff your face with this weekend. For variety, you might want to add some roasted chestnuts before you puree the soup, or stir in some chopped greens like spinach, chard, or kale at the end.

Carrot-Butternut Squash Soup
Serves 4

• 1 small or 1/2 a large butternut squash, halved from the stem to the base
• 3 T olive oil
• 2 large shallots, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 carrots, cut into thin discs, peeled or unpeeled
  
• 1 bay leaf
• 5-6 cups vegetable stock
  
• salt & pepper, to taste
• fresh lemon juice, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Roast the squash: Rub about a teaspoon of olive oil all over the skin and the flesh of the squash, then place it face down on a baking sheet (foil-lined, if you'd like). Roast for 15 minutes, flip it over and roast it for 10 minutes, and turn it face down for about another 15 minutes. It will be done when you can effortlessly skewer it with a knife. Cool until safe to handle, then scoop out the seeds, trim off the skin, and roughly chop.

Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the shallots and fry until almost translucent, then add the garlic, carrots, bay leaf, and squash, tossing to combine. Cover the pot for three minutes, which will allow everything to steam and sweat and release its goodness. Pour in the stock, covering by about 3/4". Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes or so, until everything is tender. REMOVE THE BAY LEAF and then puree the soup either with an immersion blender, in batches in a regular blender or food processor, or through a food mill (it best pureed, otherwise I'd list here an option to mush it up with a potato masher). Add salt, pepper, and lemon, adjusting seasonings however you see fit, and serve.

Sweetspot Cookie Bars

It seems like it's time for a cookie break.

When I start pining for a chocolate chip cookie, this is the one I want. Which is lucky for me because it's an easy recipe, one that produces a slight sugar crust, which is basically an envelope for some pillowey, chocolate- and vanilla-laced half-inch-thick sweet spot chocolate-chip-cookie action. The recipe originally came from the America's Test Kitchen mavens (Melted butter? An egg and a yolk?); my only real modification is to press it into a 9x13 pan rather than roll them into balls.

I never thought I'd turn into this type of person, but what makes these cookies dangerously easy is a scale. You do have to do some math that requires adding fractions. Otherwise just dump the sugar and the flour directly into the mixing bowls, and your only dirty dishes will be a whisk, spatula, mixing bowl, a 1/2 t measuring spoon, and the dish you melt the butter in.

Sweetspot Cookie Bars

• 6 oz butter (12 T), melted and then cooled slightly
• 7 oz light brown sugar (1 cup)
• 3-1/2 oz sugar (1/2 cup)
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
• 2 t vanilla
• 10-5/8 oz flour (2 cups + 2 T)
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans or walnuts (optional!)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Whisk the butter into the sugars, mixing well. Add the egg, yolk, and vanilla, again mixing well. In separate bowl, combine the flour, soda, and salt, and then stir this mixture into the butter-sugar mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Press into a rectangular 13x9 Pyrex dish. Cook for 25-30 minutes, until puffed up and golden brown in the center. Allow to cool for at least a half hour before slicing into bars.