Eggs Everywhere: Shakshuka and the Paashaas

Well, here we are on another Easter Sunday, having survived the annual All-American marketing campaign loaded with images of rabbits and eggs—two things that don’t really seem to go together at all when you think about it.  Yes, there are occasionally baby chicks involved, but just point me toward a parent who has credibly explained to an inquisitive youngster exactly how the rabbit/egg thing works.  I was pretty much a big failure when faced with such questions—be it Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, whatever—because for every “reason” I could muster, there would be an inevitable follow-up question from a very smart five-year-old.  Best to change the subject, maybe, with something like “Look! The Popemobile!”

Dyeing (not dying—spelling counts) boiled eggs with pastel colors and other crafty stuff is another relatively inexplicable activity that may have its origins in the U.S.   As noted in the previous post (Kale Frittata recipe), Michel’s recollections of the Dutch Easter holidays of his youth do not include any form of egg-dyeing, just a lot of boiling with mixed results.  Of course, ornamental eggs have been part of other cultures for centuries—witness the elaborately carved/painted eggs from the Czech Republic or the opulently imaginative Fabergé eggs of the czars.

http://www.theguardian.com/

http://www.faberge.com/images/

After a little Googling, I learned that we have an enterprising New Jersey drug store owner to thank for our vinegar-y tradition of dyeing hard-boiled eggs with tinted tablets.  Mr. William Townley came up with the idea in the late 1800s and named the product PAAS after his Pennsylvania Dutch neighbors’ word for Easter, Passen. 

I never realized until I got to know Michel many years ago that “paas” is actually the Dutch word for Easter, similar to the word Passover.  It all makes sense, doesn’t it?  I also never knew that “haas” is the Dutch word for hare.  So the Easter Bunny in Holland is called the paashaas.  Easy to remember.  Easter traditions for children in Holland now include hunting for chocolate eggs—maybe something you would like to consider for next year as you contemplate what to do with all those leftover, discolored hard-boiled eggs staring at you every time you open the refrigerator.  Let’s admit that egg salad is nice once in a while, but it loses its charm after a day or two.

Now for those extra eggs that you didn't boil.  

Here’s a delicious vegetarian option for any time of day.  Michel has recreated a hearty dish that has Middle Eastern origins: Shakshuka (rhymes with bazooka).  Popular in Morocco, Tunisia, and Israel, it’s essentially eggs baked on top of a spicy tomato mixture. 

Heat oven to 400 degrees. 

You will need:

6 eggs

2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms (crimini will do)

½ an onion, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper cut into strips

1 jalapeño, chopped

5 cloves garlic, chopped

3 okra pods, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 can diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese

1 tablespoon toasted cumin seeds

1½ teaspoons ground coriander

1½ teaspoons pimenton

1 teaspoon ground sumac

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon dried salted capers, chopped

 

In a large, deep skillet:

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add mushroom slices, stirring to prevent sticking.  Cook until the mushrooms begin to brown. Add chopped jalapeño and garlic. Cook for one minute more.

Reduce heat, stir mixture, and add another tablespoon of olive oil if needed.

Add onion slices, okra, red pepper, and chopped capers. Cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes until onion and pepper are soft. 

When onion has softened, sprinkle with salt then add the remaining spices. 

Stir to mix. Add diced tomatoes, stir again, then top the mixture with feta.

Carefully situate six eggs on top.  Place skillet in the oven.  

Bake until egg “whites have set and yolks have heated through”—about 15 minutes.  

Enjoy!

Kale Frittata, Fancy Flipping Optional

Kale Frittata with Quinoa-Flax Bread

Sometimes it's nice to have breakfast foods for dinner.  It doesn’t matter if the dishes are savory or sweet; the feeling of casual comfort is the same.  The dark side of enjoying hearty breakfast foods at any time of day is all the baggage that comes with them in the form of longstanding dietary guidelines warning us against excessive consumption of cholesterol and sweets.  That takes care of eggs, pancakes, waffles, maple syrup, bacon, sausage, biscuits, ham, butter, grits, preserves, scones, doughnuts, hash browns, etc.—pretty much the entire Cracker Barrel menu.

Consumption in moderate amounts seems to be our problem in the U.S., not the foods themselves.  In a brief news report published on the NY Times "Well" blog this week, the “Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee” revisits the restrictions previously recommended regarding eggs and shrimp, stating that the data regarding cholesterol do not support limiting intake.  So now there’s no need to feel guilty about eating eggs once in a while.  However, the report does include a stern mandate regarding our outrageous sugar intake.  Here’s the link if you'd like to read more: 
Nutrition Panel Calls for Less Sugar and Eases Cholesterol and Fat Restrictions

People generally seem to be firmly pro or con when it comes to eating eggs.  I can’t think of anyone who has a take-it-or-leave-it attitude on the subject.  I grew up in a house divided; my father refused to eat eggs of any kind and my mother really loved them.  Michel’s egg recollections are closely tied to his mother’s limited culinary skills (noted in a previous post), including her uncanny ability to ruin a boiled egg.  He told me about their Easter family tradition that allowed each person to consume as many eggs as he or she wanted, cooked any way he or she would like—hard-boiled, soft-boiled, or fried.  So, young Michel quickly realized that he needed to cook his own eggs to his liking; by the age of eight he knew how to heat butter in a skillet and how to flip a fried egg perfectly.  He would proudly place his yummy fried egg on a slice of bread and eat it with a knife and fork. 

It’s this nascent egg-flipping skill that Michel recently employed to make his kale frittata recipe. He didn’t set out to make a frittata when putting together the ingredients for this dish.  We labeled it as such only after careful deliberation and some Google searching at the dinner table.  It was one of those winter evenings when you don’t feel like going out and you cook what you have on hand.  In this case it was eggs, kale, onion, and parsley.  

Based on what I’ve read about the dish, this impromptu approach typifies everything a frittata is supposed to be. There’s even an Italian expression to describe it: “hai fatto una frittata,” which loosely translates to, “You've made quite a mess.” That could easily apply to lots of situations but it aptly distinguishes the frittata from its uptight cousin, the omelet.  

Frittata comes from the root word meaning “fry” and all ingredients are cooked together.  The omelet is more high maintenance because the filling is added after the eggs have spent some time cooking—no mingling around. 

Now for the flipping part.  Some people cook a frittata on one side only; some people even cook it in the oven.  Some people use a couple of plates to flip it back into the skillet on the uncooked side.  For a very pretty price, Williams-Sonoma will sell you a special set of pans for cooking and flipping a frittata.  

They will even show you how to use it in a (rather boring) video tutorial.  It reminded me of the “Delicious Dish” SNL skit that parodied a public radio call-in cooking show.  Remember Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer hosting the likes of Betty White and Alec Baldwin?  You can find some old videos online if you're in the mood for a laugh. 

Michel does not buy into the idea that you need expensive tools and granite counter tops to make delicious food.  Even the plate-on-the-side frittata flipping method is tantamount to cheating for him.  He used his favorite skillet that he bought at a restaurant supply store years ago and devised a way to flip his frittata using a fish spatula and a regular spatula.  I’m not sure everyone would experience the same outcome using the two-spatula flipping system, but Michel is never one to back away from a challenge.  One of his former violin students describes him as “unflinching” and that’s exactly right.  (Hi, Carlos!)  It’s that same lifelong determination he showed as a young boy who just wanted a decently cooked egg.  

So good luck with your frittata flipping, regardless of your approach.  Your dish will taste delicious no matter what you do. 

To serve two people you will need:

4 eggs

3 stems of kale with leaves stripped and finely chopped

½ onion, cut into very thin slices

a fistful of curly parsley, chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon dried tarragon

 few grinds of black pepper

Heat olive oil in 10” skillet (“hot enough to have a real sizzle going” when you add the onion)

Add onion slices and reduce heat to medium low. Cook until onions are wilted.

Meanwhile, break eggs into bowl or other container then scramble with a whisk.

When the onion slices have wilted, add herbs, kale, and parsley.

Spread kale, herbs, parsley, and onion around in the skillet then pour scrambled eggs over the mixture.

Cover and reduce heat to low for about 10 minutes, give or take.  You are waiting for the eggs to become brown around the edges.

When the eggs have set and the mixture is brown on the sides, use a spatula to pry the eggs loose from the pan “so that it really moves”—no sticking anywhere.  

With a second spatula—preferably a fish spatula—on top and the other spatula underneath, turn the frittata and cook for another 1-2 minutes on the other side.

Remove from heat to serving plate, cut into four wedges and add salt/pepper to taste.  Eat. 

We devoured the kale frittata along with warm Whole Foods flax-quinoa bread and a kale salad embellished with pomegranate seeds, craisins, and sunflower seeds. 

Beet. It’s what’s for dinner. Actually, it’s Vegan Beet Ragout.

There is something inherently challenging about Sundays.  And “special” Sundays present even grander challenges when a holiday coincides with a holy day, for instance.   Even though it’s not labeled a holy day, Super Bowl Sunday might as well be.  The popular culture gods have decreed it.  Every year Michel and I pay as little attention to the Super Bowl as possible.  This is no small feat, considering the marketing hype has made its way into seemingly every facet of American existence. Cholesterol and concussions be damned, apparently.  Even the prepared food counter at Whole Foods was stocked with chicken in advance of the game—legs, thighs, breasts, wings of every imaginable variety. No thanks.  

The only thing I remotely like about the event is the admittedly antiquated Roman numerals that have traditionally been part of the logo.  They appeal to my compulsive reading/puzzle-solving tendencies.  Sadly (for me, anyway), I read yesterday that the NFL has announced they will drop the Roman numerals for the 50^th event in San Francisco next year.  True enough, the letter L on its own presents a far less engaging (i.e. macho) look than this year’s symmetrical bookend-ish XLIX.  

I’m not the only one who has an attachment to these numerals, just so you know.  It's comforting to know The Vatican is holding firm on the topic.  Here’s a quick, amusing NPR read for my fellow nerds:  V Reasons to Love Roman Numerals 

Yesterday was one of those special Sundays when we didn’t want to venture into the world—especially the supermarket world where we would encounter lots of people hurriedly buying chicken wings, pizza, tortilla chips, and beer.  Instead, as is his wont, Michel perused the contents of the refrigerator and pantry and invented a brand new dish from the ingredients at hand: Vegan Beet Ragout.  Recipe to follow.  It’s no coincidence that the only cooking television program Michel finds interesting is “Chopped.”  In case you’ve missed this wildly popular show, competitors are given a basket of mystery ingredients and very limited time to create a dish.  There is always one ingredient that’s a curveball and Michel says there is always a key to solving the combination of ingredients if you know what goes with what.  This mystery-basket-type beet ragout proved to be a hearty winter delight—one that Michel will make again.  He also commented that this new dish proves that he indeed “eats with his eyes,” with the chunks of caramelized beet not only resembling cooked meat, but their al dente texture providing the chewy experience carnivores (and former carnivores) crave. 

A note about the pasta in this dish:

The Rustichella d’abruzzo brand Michel prefers is locally available at Lotsa Pasta. He calls it “the best pasta I’ve ever bought in a package.”  Now you know.  His advice is to get the best pasta available in the store because it really is worth it.  The torch-shaped noodles he used for this dish hold the sauce and other ingredients more readily than a smaller, thinner noodle. 

A note about using pasta water:

Michel recommends adding a few tablespoons of pasta water to the mix to help the sauce adhere to the noodles.  If you'd like to know more about pasta cooking, here's a helpful article from Smithsonian Magazine:   

"You're Doing It Wrong: The Guide to Making Perfect Pasta"

Here’s a new recipe for Sunday or any day. Hope you enjoy it!

Vegan Beet Ragout in Tomato Sauce with Rosemary

You will need:

1 medium red beet, cut into cubes

4 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

6-8 olives, finely chopped

1 teaspoon dried salted capers, chopped

4 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves removed from stems and finely chopped

FYI: Michel says, “The more rosemary you add, the better it is.”

2 tablespoons olive oil

5 cloves garlic, chopped

½ an onion, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

Ground black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon pimentón

1 can diced tomatoes

1 cup vegetable broth

½ package (8-9 oz.) of Maccheroni al torchio (Rustichella d’abruzzo brand is preferable.)

In a skillet with high sides:

Heat olive oil.  Add onion and carrot.  Cook until onion becomes translucent.

Add garlic.  As garlic begins to give off its fragrance, add rosemary and reduce heat to low.

Add capers, olives, tomatoes, pimentón, salt and pepper, beet, and vegetable broth. 

Turn heat to medium, cover and stir every five minutes to prevent mixture from sticking to the pan.  Cook until beets start to soften, but they should stay al dente. 

Uncover and reduce heat to low while you cook the pasta. 

“Just follow the directions—between 10-13 minutes.” 

When pasta is done, add 3-4 tablespoons of pasta water to beet ragout.  The naturally starchy pasta water acts as a binder to help any sauce adhere to any noodle. 

Drain pasta.  Do not—repeat—do not rinse.  Did you read the Smithsonian article?  Add to beet mixture and stir to coat. 

Non-vegan option:  Top with grated cheese.  

Empty Shoes, Flat Santas, Easy Broccoli-Squash Soup Recipe

There is no middle ground with Michel when it comes to the ever-expanding and insanely commercialized Christmas holiday season in the U.S.  He wants no part of it.  (FYI, don’t even ask him about the Super Bowl, Thunder over Louisville, and Kentucky Derby—you understand.)  As a very young child in post-war Holland, Michel participated in the Sinterklaas traditions but he acknowledges that he always felt disappointed that he never got what he really wanted.  He did, despite his precocious skepticism, enjoy the nightly holiday ritual of putting an empty shoe in front of the hearth so that Sinterklaas could leave a trinket for the next morning—maybe a little bag filled with fondant drops or a new ballpoint pen.  Michel especially liked to find a chocolate covered marzipan letter ‘M’ left in his shoe.  That was a favorite.  There’s a Dutch children’s song about this empty shoe ritual which he can still recite verbatim.  And of course it's no surprise that I found it on YouTube. 

People do tend to become crazier than usual starting with frantic turkey acquisitions at Thanksgiving all the way through to those last wistful volleys of fireworks and random gunfire on New Year’s Eve.  Good times.   The hours that pass between the New Year’s holiday and the next week’s return to a relatively normal routine can be a real let down. 

http://141characters.wordpress.com/2009/12/18/lovehate-christmas-decorations/

It is undeniably depressing to drive by those (literally and figuratively) deflated holiday decorations splayed on people’s lawns, not to mention all the “live” tree carcasses strewn along curbside waiting to be hurtled irreverently into a recycling truck.  And those leftover lopsided red bows hanging on for dear life and the lingering, insistent symmetry of holiday lights still burning are kind of a bummer as well. Leave it to Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld to sum up our fickle holiday ways in under a minute. 

Let’s agree at the outset that, even when everything goes Martha-Stewart-Eat-Your-Heart-Out perfectly, the holidays are stressful.  By now you are probably ready to emerge from the food coma you may have induced with all the irresistibly indulgent goodies you (and the rest of us) consumed during the last week or so.  At this point, it’s likely that cooking is not at the top of your list of things you’d like to do right now.  Not to worry.  Michel has created an easy and satisfying soup that will please even the broccoli haters in your household.  You’ll see.  

Caramelized Broccoli-Butternut Squash Soup

You will need:

·        2 broccoli crowns

·        2 cups butternut squash cut into cubes

·        8 cloves of garlic

·        ½ an onion, chopped

·        2 cardamom pods

·        1 cinnamon stick

·        1 teaspoon salt

·        2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

·        1 tablespoon preserved lemon (You can substitute grated lemon rind or lemon juice but it’s “not as nice.”)

·        3 cups vegetable broth

·        5 tablespoons olive oil

preserved lemon

cardamom pods

In a 3-quart saucepan:

Add vegetable broth, cubed squash, garlic cloves, red pepper flakes, salt, cinnamon, and cardamom.  Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 30 minutes over low heat—but “45 minutes to an hour would be better.”

While the squash mixture simmers, cut broccoli crowns into flowerets, slice stems into ½ inch pieces, wash and set aside in a colander.

In a skillet:

Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil.

Sweat the chopped onion, then add preserved lemon. 

When the onion is really soft, remove from skillet and transfer to a blender. 

In the same skillet, heat another 2 tablespoons olive oil. Place broccoli pieces in skillet with a flat side down. Caramelize on one side only. 

caramelized broccoli

Note: Work in small batches to caramelize the broccoli “so there is room around each piece to keep the oil hot and to caramelize each piece.” Transfer caramelized broccoli to a plate.

Back to the blender:

Fish out the cinnamon stick and cardamom pods from the simmering squash mixture. 

Add a small amount of the squash mixture to the blender where your onions are waiting patiently.  Liquefy, then add more squash broth in small amounts to prevent an unfortunate blender explosion. 

Once you have liquefied the squash mixture, add caramelized broccoli pieces a few at a time.  Don’t liquefy the broccoli! Use your blender’s pulse feature just enough to “keep the mixture chunky.”

Your soup is ready.  Return it to saucepan or to your favorite serving vessel.  We are not fancy about this stuff.  Michel just puts the saucepan on the table and we help ourselves. 

Top with croutons if you like.  Enjoy! 

Okra-Phobic? Turn Up The Heat.

Poor okra.  The mere utterance of the word elicits immediate groans, turned-up noses, and one particular adjective: Slimy.  Even those deceptively tempting deep-fried bits are disappointing—oily golden batter goodness on the outside, slimy little okra nugget on the inside.  This sensory image makes all the okra-phobes cringe, right?  It’s not on the Oxford Dictionaries “official” list of phobias, but it’s clearly a problem for many of us.  If you can’t resist perusing a list, here’s the link. You might discover you have some other fun phobias, too, like a fear of itching (acarophobia) or fear of work (ergophobia). Happy reading!  a-list-of-phobias-from-atelophobia-to-zelotypophobia/  

Mother Nature is always smarter than we are (of course) and she designed a purpose for these hairy little pods.  The substance that makes them slimy inside is the same thing we love about the aloe vera plant we reach for when we burn a finger or stay in the sun too long.  This magic goop they share is made of sugar residues called exopolysacharrides and proteins called glycoproteins.  It’s best when used as a natural thickening agent for soups, gumbo, etc.  What’s the non-scientific name of this substance?  Mucilage.  Remember that amber-colored glue you had when you were in first grade? That’s the stuff. It’s no wonder more kids preferred to ingest plain old white school paste over mucilage.  I don’t recall seeing any of my classmates enjoying a swig of adhesive from those small glass bottles we all had in our desks.  I am proud to say I never ingested any paste, mucilage, or play-doh. I was the nerd who liked broccoli. 

Okra deserves our respect, nonetheless, for its high fiber content and its complete lack of fat and cholesterol.  Some people claim it helps lower blood sugar, too.  I found a few surprising applications for mucilage while reading about these “lady’s fingers” as they are known in other parts of the world. Researchers in Canada are experimenting with okra slime as an ice cream ingredient to replace the guar gum usually added to maintain a creamy texture.  Are you wondering what’s happened to all the guar gum?  Fracking.  Apparently the Big Energy companies have bought up all the guar gum to keep their equipment running smoothly.  While I don’t like the idea of okra goop in my ice cream, I’m even less charmed by the effects of fracking and (subsequent) earthquakes and climate change.  Here's the link to the CBC article: Okra Slime Tested to Keep Ice Cream Creamy  

One helpful lady has decided that okra goop makes a dandy hair conditioner. She recommends using mucilage as a chemical-free alternative to hair gel. It's nice of her to advise that we can "mask that unmistakable okra scent" by adding essential oil of lavender or mint. Are you laughing? She's not kidding. 

http://beautytips4her.com/diy-okra-hair-conditioner-for-shiny-bouncy-hair/

Now that you know far more about okra than you thought was possible (at least I do), let’s get back to the food.  Michel does NOT back away from a challenge. Whether it’s wrestling with a beastly violin passage or a clogged drain pipe, he is relentless.  Okra’s slimy, mealy texture is no match for him.  His solution?  Heat.  Oven roasting and hot peppers.  This new recipe incorporates some very hot peppers which “cut right through to the basic essence of a tasty gumbo.”   Michel says you can use a normal sweet pepper, but the hotter, the better for dealing with the okra problem.  For this dish he says one jalapeno or one habanero is “really groovy” but a combination of the two is “even groovier.”  He used red chilies, jalapeno, and habanero.  HOT, HOT, and HOT.

And a brief word from Michel about buying fresh okra:  “Don’t buy big pods.  Choose the ones that are no bigger than your ring finger. Make sure they’re nice and firm and unblemished.”  Michel says he learned his lesson about buying large okra.  It was too “fiber-y.” Ready to cook? Here you go!

Roasted Okra with Peppers

You will need:

·        Fresh okra, about 2 cups

·        ½ an onion, thinly sliced

·        4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

·        1 teaspoon salt

·        2 small red hot chili peppers (not the rock band), finely chopped

·        1 habanero pepper, finely chopped

·        1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped

·        Olive oil

·        Fresh basil, oregano, or mint, chopped—whatever herb “you have handy” will work

Heat oven to 400 degrees. 

Cover a baking sheet with foil unless you just really enjoy the dishwashing experience. 

Remove tops from okra pods, then slice in half lengthwise.

Place okra, onion, peppers, garlic in a bowl and top with “a healthy drizzle” of olive oil.

Mix ingredients while sprinkling with salt to make sure everything is nicely coated with olive oil.

Spread mixture on baking sheet and place in preheated oven.

Roast for about 15 minutes at 400 degrees. 

Transfer to serving dish and sprinkle with fresh herb of your choice.  Eat!

Another note from Michel about roasting time: “Watch to see that the pods dry out enough and the onion browns a little.”  If you think your pods aren’t slime-less enough after 15 minutes, let them roast a little longer.  

Easy Kale Gazpacho and "The Princess Bride" Fig Tree

Summer Soup and Salad

Labor Day weekend used to mark the end of summer and the start of the school year, but that’s no longer the case in many places these days.  With school districts opening in early August, the holiday weekend provides little more than a welcome day off.  For some, it means the end of swim season as pools shut down—but—some parks and swim clubs allow for a “dog day” after the humans leave.  The pooches get one glorious day in the pool before it is drained, cleaned, etc.  Our four Cavaliers would never go for such a thing. They don’t even like the little wading pool we bought them.  Too bad.  

Summer has been relatively polite this year, given the recent record-setting heat waves and drought conditions we’ve endured.  Remember that sad little fig tree I showed you in a previous post?  Turns out it wasn’t dead after all.  Just like the hero Westley in the “The Princess Bride,” it had been only “mostly dead” until midsummer.  Good news, but probably no fruit for at least a year or two.  

Michel is not much of a movie fan, but he did like the late Peter Falk who narrated the immensely popular “Princess Bride” film.  Some people think Michel looks a little like Peter Falk, others think he looks like Al Franken. 

http://tinyurl.com/qauwk9b

Sometimes I think Michel looks like Placido Domingo, while his youngest grandson called out “It’s Grandpa!” when he spotted Itzhak Perlman on television performing at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration.

via Susan Walsh  inauguration_music_1245705c

Here's the "mostly dead" video snippet in case you're one of the millions of people who can't get enough of this beloved 1987 movie. This opening image is of course Andre the Giant--who can't possibly be confused with anyone else.  

So if you’re feeling mostly dead after a summer’s day and cooking is the LAST thing you want to do, here is Michel's quick and easy recipe for a delicious and refreshing summer soup. It's also chock-full of nutritious goodness. Vegans, skip the cheese and add your favorite garnish. 

Kale Cucumber Avocado Gazpacho

You will need:

• 2 cups cold water
• 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1½   teaspoons red pepper flakes
• 1 English cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
• ½ bunch kale, removed from stems and cut into medium-sized pieces
• 1 avocado, peeled and cut into medium-sized chunks/[p
• Shredded pecorino cheese for topping (optional)

In a blender:

·       Add water and coarsely chopped garlic.

·       Liquefy until garlic is completely dissolved.

·       Add kale and liquefy.

·       Add cucumber chunks, avocado, salt and pepper

·       Liquefy, adding a little water if needed. There should be no chunks or lumps.

·       Taste for seasoning, adding more salt/pepper if needed.

Pour into serving bowls and top with cheese.  Yum!

You might enjoy serving this with a fruit-arugula salad like the one I made (yes, I made it) with seasonal items (figs, peaches, strawberries, blueberries) and feta cheese.  Top with a drizzle of agave and fig balsamic vinegar. The nasturtiums were a gift from a gardening friend.  Their peppery taste goes nicely with the baby arugula.