Oven Stuff

When I turn on my oven I like to cook a lot of stuff at once. It makes better use of energy and it also allows you to have more options for eating later. I find that there is a sweetness brought out of vegetables that have been cooked in the oven. Below are three different vegetables that I like to cook in the oven.

Slow Baked Beets

In my neighborhood I can usually find nice fresh beets for not to much money. I like to buy the beets that still have there greens attached because they are fresher than the beets that are sold loose. You can really tell the difference between fresh and not so fresh beets. I also like to buy beets with the greens attached because I like to save and wash the greens and later use the greens like I would spinach, either raw or cooked.





I cut the beets from the greens, trim the tops and scrub them with a veggie scrubbing brush, or just wash them in a big bowl of water with my hands really well. I then set them on a piece of parchment paper, that I will wrap and staple into a cooking packet. You could probably use tinfoil, but I'm a little paranoid about aluminum so I always use parchment.

Once I have my beets folded in the packet they are ready for the oven. I don't add seasoning or anything until I am done cooking them. I usually like to cook them for 1-3 hours on 300-350, or until they start to smell sweet, and done. I find the longer they are cooked the sweeter they become. Once they are cooked I set them on the counter, wait a while and then unwrap the packet. If you want to take the skins off the beets, it will be really easy to peel off once they have been cooked long enough.

I like to slice the cooked beets into about 1/4 inch thick circles and add a little sugar, salt, vinegar and olive oil to them, or just eat them plain. I keep sliced beets in the refrigerator and add them to salads or serve a few slices alongside whatever else I make for dinner.

Asparagus

I love the beginning of spring because I always find fresh asparagus in the grocery stores. Once I have washed the asparagus in a bowl full of water I like to hold it near the end and break away the tuff portion of the lower stalk. You sacrifice some of the vegetable but I find that the asparagus always comes out tender when I prepare it in this way. I usually cook asparagus by placing it in well salted, boiling water for about 7 minutes, depending on the diameter of the stalks. But the other day I saw a New York Times article where they baked asparagus in parchment. Since I already have developed a fond love of beets cooked in parchment I decided to try baking asparagus. I made a parchment packet of asparagus and baked it in a 300-350 degree oven for about an hour. I love to top asparagus with olive oil, a generous pinch of coarse sea salt, fresh milled pepper, some Cayenne pepper and the juice from half a lemon. The New York Times article said to bake the asparagus packet with mushrooms and sliced shallots as well as salt and pepper, which I am sure would taste yummy as well.

Roasted Peppers

Peppers are a vegetable that I really try to buy organic if I can, because I hear that they are grown with a lot of pesticide. If I can't get organic peppers I always roast them and peel of the skin. Hoping that removing the skin will take away a lot of the pesticide. I like roasting all different kinds of peppers as each kind of pepper develops a unique flavor once it has been roasted. My favorite roasted peppers are the New Mexican green chili peppers that are harvested in the fall. On the baking sheet pictured I roasted green peppers, red peppers and Jalapeno peppers. I also like to roast poblano peppers as they have a really nice flavor as well.

To roast the peppers preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place your washed peppers on a cookie sheet and when the oven is warm place them inside and cook them for 1 hour. Every 20 minutes or so turn the peppers using tongs so that they get nice and evenly roasted. When the peppers are done they will have roasted black areas on all sides and the skin will be wrinkly. You will also notice a really nice sweet smell in your kitchen! Let the peppers cool on the counter and peel the skin off, cut them open and scrape away the seeds with a knife, sometimes I run the pepper under running water to make all of the seeds go away. I cut the peepers up, and place them in a glass jelly jar, covered with a little olive oil in the refrigerator, then I have them ready to add to whatever I find myself cooking. Soon I'll post a recipe for Roasted Poblano Pepper and Mushroom Linguine.

I cooked the peppers, asparagus packet and beets pictured above all at the same time, in a 350-375 degree oven, I let the peppers and asparagus cook for an hour and then lowered the temperature to 300 and let the beets cook for another hour.

The Roots of my Love of Cooking

My Mom's Mom, Baba immigrated to America, from Slovakia in 1946. I have her to thank for my love of cooking and sewing. When I was growing up she had two large gardens and grew most all of the produce my family ate. I love cooking with Baba and am thankful for the recipes she has passed down to my mom and me. This pierogie recipe comes directly from my Grandma. I find its best to make pierogies with another person or too, as they can be time consuming and it's a more enjoyable process with friends. Baba made these pierogies, with her sisters every Sunday morning, before church they would make the dumplings and leave them on a board covered with a dishtowel, when they returned home they would cook them.

Prune and Cottage Cheese Pierogies with Brown Butter and Sugar

Dough

2 cups of white flour

1-2 tsp salt

1 whole egg or 2 egg yolks

1/2 cup luke warm water

To make the dough mix the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl lightly beat the egg or egg yolks and mix with water. Make a well in the center of the flour/salt mixture and and add the water and egg. Slowly incorporate the flour into the liquid. If the dough is too dry add a little more water a tablespoon at a time. (I find it's easiest if you start mixing the dough with a large tablespoon and the use your hands to fully incorporate all of the flour towards the end). When the dough is formed, lightly knead it (about 3 minutes, or "until it feels like dough"). Once you have the dough made divide it into two parts and make two balls. Cover the dough balls with a dish towel and let the rest on a floured board for 10 minutes.

I use a silicone mat called from France called, ROUL'PAT, when I work with dough, because I am not experienced as my Grandmother and I always have trouble with the dough sticking to the rolling surface when I work with it.

Prune Filling

About 2 cups of pitted prunes

optional sugar to taste (I don't add sugar and find them plenty sweet)

Water to cover

To make the prune filling you place the prunes in a sauce pan and cover them with water. You then bring the water to a boil and let them cook for 5-10 minutes or until they are soft. If you want you can add about a tablespoon of sugar while your cooking the prunes. In the end you want to end up with a prune paste. I like to mash the prunes while they are cooking on the stove (adding a little water if necessary). If you don't want to mash the prunes by hand, you can run them through the food processor, but be careful as you don't want the paste to get too watery.

Cottage Cheese Filling

1 1/2 cups dry curd cottage cheese

1 egg

1tsp. salt

1/3 cup sugar (I use about 1/4 cup as I don't like a lot of sugar in my diet)

To make the cottage cheese filling mix the above ingredients together. If you find the mixture too watery you can add a little four to thicken the mixture.

Typically Baba made these with "dry curd cottage cheese" or "farmers cheese" Dry curd cottage cheese is hard to find. You can find it at some European specialty stores. In my neighborhood there are a lot of Greek stores and they sell "farmers cheese" which I find similar to ricotta cheese. You can also make something similar to dry curd cottage cheese, by straining a container of large curd cottage cheese thru a sieve. If you can't find dry curd cottage cheese, farmers cheese and/or you don't want to strain the large curd cottage cheese you can substitute ricotta. When I made the pieogies pictured below I used farmers cheese.

Brown Butter Topping

1 stick of butter

sugar and salt

to make the brown butter melt a stick of butter on the stove and let it cook until it turns brown. I usually do this as I am cooking the pierogies. Once the butter is browned you will pour it on top off the cooked pierogies and sprinkle them with sugar and a little salt to taste.

Assembling it all Together

Once you have made the dough and both fillings it time to start making the dumplings. Take one of the dough balls and flatten it into a disk shape. Roll the dough from the center out, until it is very thin (between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick). While rolling out the dough check to make sure that it is not sticking to the rolling surface, add a bit of flour to the rolling surface as necessary. Once you have a nice thin piece of dough you will want to cut it into about 2 inch x 2 inch squares. If using the silicone mat don't cut the dough on the mat as it will ruin the mat.

Once you have cut the dough it is time to start filling the squares. Take about a tablespoon of filling and place it in the center of each square. Fold the dough into a rectangle shape and pinch the ends together so that they are closed. Once you have sealed all of the squares it is time to cook the dumplings.

To cook the dumplings have a large pot of salted water boiling. Place about 6-7 dumplings in the boiling pot of water at a time. The Pierogies are done when they rise to the top of the pot and the dough has "puffed up" (in approximately about 7 minutes). When they are done scoop the pierogies out of the boiling pot of water using a slotted spoon. Place the pierogies into a strainer to drain and then into a bowl. Once in the bowl cover the pierogies with brown butter so that they don't stick together. Once you have finished cooking the pierogies sprinkle them with sugar and a little bit of salt to taste. When we make pierogies together we usually eat some as soon as they first are cooked (long before we have finished making them all) as they are so yummy.