Monday Recipes

Here are six yummy recipes to help you start your week off just right, including Cheese and Bean Enchiladas and Lemon-Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwiches. (Do I have your attention yet?) Enjoy!

JOLLOF RICE

This is from Yewande Komolafe in the The New York Times cooking email. Yewande wrote, “A successful batch of jollof rice requires a few key ingredients (tomatoes, peppers, onions, a few herbs, spices and some stock) and a perfect sauce-to-rice ratio, so the cooked grains remain separate. I have found that the best, no-fuss way to do this is in the oven. Jollof is typically made with long-grain rice, though in Nigeria, parboiled rice is the norm. Most jollof is prepared over an open flame or on a stovetop. Missing from this oven version is the slightly smoky flavor you get from the little bits of rice that have browned on the bottom of your pan, but that’s nothing a pinch of smoked paprika can’t fix. Serve with braised goat or other stewed meats, and a side of fried plantains.”

Note: Okay, this is me writing. Obviously, for this blog, I'm adding that, if you're a vegetarian (like I am), you might not be serving this with any meat. But that said, it would be fantastic with any vegetarian stews or chilis, anything that you might otherwise serve over noddles, rice, crackers, etc.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings; Time: 1 1/2 hours

This was featured in “Yewande Komolafe’s 10 Essential Nigerian Recipes” and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020288-jollof-rice.

Ingredients

For the Obe Ata:

1 (14-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes with their juices

1 medium red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and roughly chopped

1/2 medium red onion, peeled and roughly chopped

4 garlic cloves, peeled

1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 red habanero chile, stemmed

2 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil

For the Jollof Rice:

1/2 cup canola or other neutral oil

2 medium red onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)

3 cups parboiled long-grain rice (such as Carolina Gold or Uncle Ben’s Original), basmati or jasmine rice (about 1 1/4 pounds)

5 fresh thyme sprigs

1 fresh bay leaf

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups beef, chicken or vegetable stock

Preparation

Prepare the obe ata: Working in batches if needed, combine all the obe ata ingredients except the canola oil in a blender and purée on high until smooth. The liquid from the can of tomatoes should suffice, but you can add up to 1/4 cup of water if necessary to get the purée going. (You should have about 3 cups of purée.)

Heat the 2 tablespoons canola oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high. Add the purée and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer until the sauce is slightly reduced by about a third of its original volume, 18 to 20 minutes. (It should make about 2 cups. Obe ata can be cooled and refrigerated for up to 2 weeks, or frozen for up to 1 month.)

Prepare the rice: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the 1/2 cup canola oil in a large Dutch oven over medium until shimmering, about 1 minute. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove half the onions to a plate and set aside. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant and translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste, turmeric and smoked paprika, if using, and toast, stirring occasionally, until turmeric is fragrant and tomato paste has deepened to a dark red color, about 2 minutes.

Stir in the obe ata sauce and bring to a simmer over medium heat. The habanero oils love to disperse in the air, so you may want to turn on your stovetop fan or open a window while simmering the obe ata. Stir in the rice, thyme and bay leaf, and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the stock and cover with a lid. Transfer the pot to the oven and cook until rice is just tender, 35 minutes.

Remove the pot from the oven and let sit, covered (no peeking) for 15 minutes. Uncover, fluff the rice with a fork and stir in the reserved sautéed onions. Adjust seasoning, if necessary, and discard the thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Serve warm.

TUMBLE-JUMBLE STRAWBERRY TART

This is from Dorie Greenspan at The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Dorie wrote, “I first had a strawberry tart like this one more than 10 years ago at the Paris cafe La Palette, and I’ve been making my own version of it ever since. It’s simply a crust slicked with some jam and then topped with an abundance of berries; whipped cream or crème fraîche is optional. The recipe is straightforward, but the construction is genius. You bake the crust, which is both crisp and tender, to a beautiful golden color and then set it aside. (Use the scraps of dough to make cookies; sprinkle with sugar before baking.) When you’re ready for dessert, you cut and finish only as many servings as you need, ensuring that the crust will always have great texture and the berries will always be fresh and bright. You could use a store-bought crust, but there are so few components in this dessert, it’s good to make each one count.”

Yield: 6 servings; Time: 45 minutes, plus chilling and cooling.

This was beautifully featured on “My Summer Jam: An Update of the French Fruit Tart”, and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020343-tumble-jumble-strawberry-tart.

Ingredients

For the Crust:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup/40 grams confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Grated zest of 1 lemon (optional)

9 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus additional for greasing

1 large egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Topping:

1/2 cup strawberry jam

1 quart fresh strawberries, hulled

Granulated sugar, as needed (optional)

Whipped cream or crème fraîche, for serving (optional)

Preparation

Put the flour, both sugars, salt and lemon zest, if you’re using it, in the bowl of a food processor; pulse to blend. Scatter the butter on top; pulse the butter into the dry ingredients until you’ve got a bowlful of curds. At first the dough will look like cornmeal, but it will change as you go, so work in long pulses — you might need as many as 20 — and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl often.

Whisk the yolk and vanilla together, and add in three additions, pulsing after each. Pulse just until the dough starts to come away from the sides of the bowl; it should form moist clumps and hold together when pinched. Turn it out onto a counter, knead it into a compact ball and flatten it into a disk between two sheets of parchment or wax paper.

Roll the dough into an 11-inch circle. If it’s cold enough, fit it into a 9- to 9½-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, prick the bottom with a fork and trim the top even with the pan’s rim; if it’s not cold, chill it until it’s workable. Refrigerate the crust in the pan for at least 1 hour (or cover and freeze up to 2 months; bake straight from the freezer).

Heat oven to 400. Place the dough in its pan on a baking sheet, cover with a piece of buttered foil or parchment and fill with rice.

Bake for 20 minutes, then carefully remove the foil or paper and rice. Bake, uncovered, until the crust is golden, another 8-10 minutes. Let cool, at least 30 minutes.

If you’re serving 6, cover the bottom of the crust with a layer of jam, and then cut the tart into wedges. (Otherwise, cut the number of wedges you need, and spread each portion with jam.) Halve or quarter as many berries as you’d like — be generous — and if you want, toss with a little granulated sugar. Place each wedge of crust on a plate, and spoon over berries, letting them tumble where they might. If you’d like, top each serving with whipped cream, or pass the cream at the table.

CHEESE AND BEAN ENCHILADAS

This is from MyDailyMoment.com, and begins, “Ole! Ole! Life without Mexican is boring! Spice up your dinner with this bean and cheese enchilada recipe. It will leave you saying Cha, Cha Cha!”

Serves: 4

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

8 large corn tortillas

1 teaspoon oil

1 green pepper, chopped

2 small onions

3 tablespoons chili powder

3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 teaspoon onion powder

1 2/3 cups cooked kidney beans, or 1 can, drained

1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese

1 1/2 cups tomato puree or sauce (1 10.75 oz. can)

2 ounces shredded Monterey jack cheese

Directions

Soften tortillas if needed by wrapping in a damp paper towel and microwaving on high for 30 seconds. Cook onion and green pepper in oil until soft. Drain beans and mash. Add 2 tbsp. of the chili powder, 1/2 tsp. of the garlic powder, 3 tbsp. of the tomato puree or sauce, and the mashed beans and cottage cheese to the onions and green pepper. Mix well. Place 3 tbsp. of the bean and cheese mixture on each tortilla. Roll tortillas up and place in a baking dish. In a small bowl, combine remainder of tomato puree, remainder of the garlic powder, and all the onion powder. Stir well. Pour the seasoned tomato puree or sauce over the enchiladas, and top with Monterey jack. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes, until heated through and cheese on top is melted. Ready in 50 min.

LEMON-GINGERBREAD ICE CREAM SANDWICHES

This was posted on the Vegetarian Times web site on MAY 1, 2017, and begins, “These ice cream sandwiches will become a year-round favorite.” Makes 12 servings.

To view this online, click here.

Ingredients

1/3 cup molasses

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup boiling water

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

2 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. each ground cloves, ground nutmeg, ground black pepper and salt

8 Tbs. (1 stick) soy margarine, softened

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 pints lemon sorbet

4 cups vanilla soy "ice cream"

Preparation

Put molasses in heatproof bowl. Sprinkle baking soda over top. Add boiling water; whisk with fork.

Blend flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, pepper and salt in large bowl. Cream margarine and brown sugar in another bowl. Add molasses mixture; beat until soft dough forms. Divide in half, wrap each in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.

Put 1 dough ball between 2 sheets wax paper. Roll into 8 1/2 x 12 1/2-inch shape; remove top wax paper. Using sharp knife, trim dough edges; cut dough into 12 2x4-inch rectangles. Prick with fork. Transfer on wax paper to cookie sheet; chill 30 minutes.

Repeat with remaining dough.

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease 2 cookie sheets. Transfer rectangles from wax paper to cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but still soft to the touch. Transfer to wire rack, and cool completely.

Meanwhile, scoop sorbet and ice cream into large bowl; blend with wooden spoon. Freeze 20 minutes or longer, or until mixture is firm.

When completely cool, spread 1/2 cup frozen lemon filling onto bottom of one cookie. Pat filling down with spatula. Place second cookie on top (pricked side up), and gently press down. Scrape away any filling that spreads past edges, and use it to fill in corners. Smooth edges. Repeat with remaining cookies. Wrap sandwiches in plastic wrap, and freeze until firm, about 30 minutes.

HONEY BEE AMBROSIA

This is from the infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

4 medium oranges

1 medium banana

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup honey

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup flaked coconut

Pare oranges. Cut crosswise into thin slices. Place in serving bowl. Peel bananas. Cut thin slices. Place in the bowl with oranges. Toss fruits. Blend orange juice, honey & lemon juice. Pour over fruits. Sprinkle with coconut.

FETTUCCINE ALFREDO

This also comes from the infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list. Makes 4 Servings. 1 Serving size = 1 cup. 1 cup fettuccine alfredo provides a 1/2 serving of Benecol®

2 tbsp. Benecol® Regular spread

4 to 5 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 1/4 cups skim milk

3 tbsp flour

4 ounces fat free cream cheese

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

4 cups hot cooked fettuccine noodles (about 1/2 pound uncooked)

Heat Benecol & garlic slowly over low heat, 5 to 7 minutes, allowing full flavor of garlic to be released into Benecol.

Meanwhile, combine milk, flour, cream cheese, & Parmesan cheese in blender; then puree until smooth.

Add pureed mixture to Benecol® and garlic. Increase heat to medium-low and whisk continuously until mixture has thickened. Add freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Toss with fettuccine noodles.