Mushroom Scallion Tartine with Poblano Yogurt

I think of this as a sheet pan sandwich recipe. You roast a bunch of mushrooms and scallions in a hot oven as your main components. And you whip up a simple poblano yogurt while those are roasting. Pile everything high on top of hearty slices of well-toasted bread, and you’re set.

The poblano yogurt is a key component here, but I totally understand if you want to skip out on it because of time, lack of poblanos, or you’re anti-chile. No problem, just about any flavor-forward yogurt slather will do in its place. You could simply crush a clove of garlic into some paste with a pinch of salt, and stir that in your favorite plain yogurt – also delicious. Or, whisk a tablespoon of harissa paste into your yogurt.

 

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Turmeric Cashews

Some fascinating emails have come through my in-box over the past decade. One example arrived back in 2015 from Erica Sonnenburg, which led to this write-up shortly thereafter. Erica and her husband, Justin Sonnenburg, are researchers at Stanford where they study the collection of bacteria that inhabit our gut. It’s called the microbiota. Her name struck me as familiar because the Sonnenburgs, both Ph.D.s, were included in Michael Pollan’s article – Some of My Best Friends are Germs from May 2013. Her note went on to say they often cook recipes from 101 Cookbooks because many of them have the hallmarks of “good microbiota food”. This immediately made me feel great, but also sparked many questions that have been dancing around my head ever since.

When it comes to broad strokes, I get it. You want to encourage, nourish, support your internal bacterial community. The good bugs. And there are some general “best practices” in life that help. But, for me, the real, well-researched, specifics beyond that start to get increasingly hazy. I immediately wanted to know from her, which recipes exactly, and why? How exactly do I befriend and support my microbiota? How much does food impact it, and what are the other major factors? Best beverages – beer? wine? smoothies? In short, I wanted to know what sort of things I was doing in my day-to-day to support (or hurt) my unique-to-me friendly bugs, so I could continue to do more to support my microbiota.

Erica went on to tell me about the book they were working on – The Good Gut. It establishes the case for the importance of gut microbiota, and documents their research and findings. They’ve done a lot of work to start to understand the role of diet in this realm, and what they’re finding is that a diet rich in dietary fiber (plant matter) helps to keep the microbiota happy. Also, because different microbes feed on different things, diversity in your diet is key. Broadly speaking, you’re after a wide range of beans, whole grains, seeds, and vegetables. And you’ll want to consume foods rich in microbiota accessible carbohydrates. It’s a fascinating read that goes well beyond dietary recommendations. They are doing the direct research into what makes your microbiota happy, and have some amazing findings based in good science.

The back of the book includes a recipe section to set the tone for this type of beneficial food choice. These turmeric cashews became one of my favorite snacks of the week. They’re substantial and filing, and microbiota friendly. I used the recipe in The Good Gut as a jumping off point, and flared it out with a few extra spices. They were extra special because I used turmeric gifted by Tara (Seven Spoons) when I saw her last recently. She told me the turmeric is from her maternal grandfather’s estate in Dehra Dun (Dehradun) in Uttarakhand, in the north of India – beautiful turmeric. I’ve exhausted my turmeric supply from Tara, and fortunately I’m now able to source this special turmeric from Diaspora Co. 

Related Links:

– The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-term Health

– Cute Family. And You Should See Their Bacteria

– Some of My Best Friends are Germs

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A Vibrant Beet Caviar

I’m lucky to be the occasional recipient of Josey Baker experimentations. The other day Josey handed me a still-hot loaf of 100% einkorn bread – substantial, fragrant, a dark brown crumb with a craggy top-crust. It smelled like a great brewery – all malt, and grain, and warmth. And it begged to be treated right.

The first question to come to mind was slicing strategy…the consensus was: 1) Allow the bread to cool completely. 2) With this loaf – not too thick, not too thin. Not to digress too much, but when it comes to toast, the thickness or thinness of the slice is key. Some breads lend themselves to a thick slab – Blue Bottle Cafe (in downtown San Francisco) cooks an egg-in-the hole of Acme’s pain de mie. Perfect. There are other breads I like thinly sliced and extra-toasted – Josey’s rye comes to mind, also Anna’s Daughters’ Rye – a beautifully distinctive local bread. Once this was sorted, Josey got on with his afternoon, and I started thinking about what I’d eventually put on the bread.

Silvena Rowe’s book had been in my bag for a few days, I was reading it when I was on the bus, or waiting on a coffee. So I started paging through, and settled on a beet spread I knew would be beautiful – the sweet earthiness of the roasted beets accented with toasted walnuts, chives, dates, a bit of booziness, and a swirl of creme fraiche.

Silvena has written a couple of other books I have in my library – I suspect a good number of you might find them inspiring as well. I first purchased Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume: Cuisine of the Eastern Mediterranean, and then Orient Express: Fast Food from the Eastern Mediterranean.
The beet caviar was a nice accompaniment to the einkorn, and I imagine it would be brilliant as a spread or dollop on just about anything – from toasted pita, to a harvest soup. A swirl would be nice in risotto, or as part of a mezze spread. Enjoy!

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Glissade Chocolate Pudding

I’ve done chocolate pudding many, many ways over the years. And it’s nearly always good. But from this day forward if you come to my house for dinner, and I decide chocolate pudding might be a nice finish to the meal, this is the recipe I’ll be using. 

It’s from a whimsical, illustrated French children’s cookbook published by Random House in 1966, La Patisserie est un Jeu d’Enfants, with text and drawings by Michel Oliver. The pudding completely caught me off-guard, in the best way possible.

French versus American Chocolate Pudding

This is not like a typical American chocolate pudding, it has no milk, cocoa powder, or cornstarch – which makes sense because it is from a French book. This is more of a deep, concentrated, dark chocolate mousse, although if you’re used to chocolate mousse that has whipped cream folded in, it’s different from that as well.

Tips & Tricks

The key here is good chocolate, then a gentle touch bringing a short list of common ingredients together, and the bit of patience required to let the pudding cool and set. That last part makes all the difference. Time in the refrigerator allows the pudding to set into the densest dark chocolate cloud imaginable, the consistency of whipped frosting. 

Choosing the Right Chocolate

I’ll make note in the recipe below, but you’ll want to use good-quality chocolate in the 60-80% range – semi-sweet to bittersweet. Aside from the chocolate, you’re only adding a bit of water and butter, a sprinkling of sugar, and two eggs, so don’t skimp on the quality of ingredients here, there’s really no place to hide.

As you can see up above here, the book itself is incredibly charming. The edition I have alternates French and English pages, so you’ll have a page in French, then the same page in English. The French title for this recipe is “Glissade” which they’ve translated on the following English page to Slippery Chocolate Pudding – which made me smile. Keep your eyes peeled, you can find copies of La Patisserie est un Jeu d’Enfants (Making French Desserts and Pastry is Child’s Play) here and there if you look around.

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Five Crazy Good Chocolate Recipes

I could do a list of twenty chocolate recipes here, but why mess around? Valentine’s Day is this week, and less is often more with chocolate, so let’s lock it down to an all-star list of five crazy good chocolate recipes.

1. Chocolate Puddle Cookies – A cookie I encountered while visiting Portland, Oregon years ago. It’s an incredible crackle-edged puddle of chocolate with a texture that made me think of the collision between a soft meringue and a fudgy brownie.

2. An Incredible No Bake Chocolate Cake – The easiest chocolate cake you’ll ever make. And it’s always a huge hit. If you like the sound of a truffle cake, this is for you.

3. Glissade Chocolate Pudding – A chocolate pudding that is hard to beat. From this day forward, if you come to my house for dinner, and I decide chocolate pudding might be a nice finish to the meal, this is the recipe I’ll be using.
4. Violet Bakery Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake – This is exactly what you want when you’re craving a homemade chocolate cake. The chocolate factor is deep and strong. The cake itself is rich, moist, and tender.

5. Homemade Chocolate Bars / Dark Chocolate Energy Bites – The easiest chocolate cake you’ll ever make. And it’s always a huge hit. If you like the sound of a truffle cake, this is for you.

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A California Panzanella

This is a wildcard panzanella. And it is very Northern California inspired. I first featured a grilled version of it in Super Natural Cooking after enjoying a quirky sandwich while driving up the California coast to a spot near Anchor Bay. The sandwich was a mix of oven-roasted tomatoes, peanut butter dressing, grilled tofu, and sprouts, all pinned between two slices of multigrain bread. Odd yet completely delicious. I liked it enough to rework it into this twist on panzanella, the much-loved Italian bread salad.

This version in Super Natural Cooking is grilled. This version you can make using your oven instead. Just remember, when the weather warms, roll out your grill – toast the bread, and cook the tofu slabs that way.

You have some options with the tomatoes. When cherry tomatoes are abundant, and in-season, I love to toss them in a bit of olive oil, and roast them on a sheet pan in a hot oven until browned and blistered. But, you can also use chopped, sun-dried tomatoes, the ones packed in oil are best here. Kind of raisin-y in texture.

This is a great way to use up day-old bread. It’s even better than using a loaf of fresh because the bread ends up more structured and hearty.

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