Prudent Foodie

Root Vegetable "Rösti" - or root vegetable hash browns!

 

Classic Swiss cooks will want to avert their eyes from the remainder of this post, as it involves using whatever root vegetables you happen to have around in addition to potatoes, and some tips on how to speed up the cooking process.  On the other hand, if you're looking for a simple tasty dish, that will make a whole vegetarian meal, or a good side, and aren't too worried about culinary purity, look no further! 

I was inspired to make this when I spotted ham steaks at my fantastic local butcher, Sparrows .  As my two faithful readers will know, "eternity is two people and a ham" and a nice steak is a great, economical, and easy to prepare solution to this problem.  As soon as I saw those ham steaks I remembered the rutabaga and celeriac in my fridge, and decided that a rosti with a kick would be great with that ham.  As you may know, rosti is Switzerland's answer to hash browns, but with greater mystique.  So, by including other root vegetables, I'm taking liberties here, but those who know me, will realize that it's a long standing habit ;-)  Also, quantities (and even ingredients) are approximate because you could use a combination of potatoes, rutabagas, parsnips, carrots, celeriac, turnips, etc. in this dish. I happened to have potatoes, rutabagas, and celeriac laying around, and I recommend using about 50% potatoes, but feel free to experiment!  You want to add an onion to whatever mix you choose.

Preheat oven to 400-425F.  Stick a cast iron skillet in to warm up while preheating.

Peel:

3-4 medium to large potatoes

about 1/3 rutabaga

a 1/2 to 1 inch thick slice of celeriac

1 medium yellow onion

Put all of these (or whatever equivalent selection of root vegetable you decide to work with) in your food processor using the shredding blade.  Basically, if you fill the bowl of a standard food processor you will have enough vegetables for a regular size cast iron skillet.  Put the shredded vegetables in a microwave safe dish with a glass lid (a large corning covered dish works nicely) and "parboil" for about 10-12 minutes.  You can add about 1 TB of water to the bowl.

Meanwhile,

chop 1/3 cup fresh italian parsley

find your nutmeg and  box grater (unless you happen to have a nutmeg grater, in which case you can find it)

When the shredded vegetables are partially cooked, take out the skillet and put 1-2 TB butter in it.  While it is sizzling, stir the parsley into the veggies, grate about 1/4 tsp nutmeg in it, and add quite a lot of black pepper and salt to taste.  Put all of it into the very hot, buttery skillet and spread into an even layer.  Put back in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the top is brown. 

If you are feeling vegan, you can eat this just as it is, with a nice salad.  If you are feeling ovo-lacto  you can shred some lovely cheese over it - raclette, quattro formaggio mix with extra parmesan, pecorino romano, a nice salty spanish brebis, will all be very good, just sprinkle over the top and put back in the ovenfor five minutes to melt.  If you are feeling carnivorous, well there's always that ham steak, or a nice smoked pork chop (kassler), or even some thick bacon to enjoy with this dish.  Warms you up just to think about it!  Dee Dee

Old Fashioned Chocolate Pudding Cake

The Prudent Foodie has been delinquent in the posting department lately; the first two weeks back to work (and my daughter's school) since the New Year have been rough!  This week we are back to desserts - and I'm not much of a dessert eater, so what's with that?  I think it is my northern european genes kicking in; searching for ways to survive the long hard winter, via increased calorie intake :-) 

We had friends over for dinner last night, and I had this wild fantasy about making individual chocolate souffles for dessert - for about 15 seconds until I got a grip on myself, and realized that this would completely prevent me from actually spending time with my guests, and enjoying my dinner.  Not that souffles are so hard to make, but they take both time and timing, and I wanted to enjoy the evening too!  Then I remembered one of my favorite desserts as a child, a chocolate cake that forms as if by magic over a creamy chocolate pudding type underlayer.  This is a fair, though less fluffy facsimile of the chocolate souffles, and way, way less trouble and fuss.  I have adapted it to my taste by adding extra cocoa powder at every opportunity!  Next time I try it, I may add a little cognac or Grand Marnier, and update this post if I like the results!

I assumed that it would be a chore to make when I first asked my mom for the recipe many years ago, and was thrilled to find that it is as easy to make as it is yummy.  And, it contains no exotic (or expensive) ingredients, so when you are making a last minute dessert, you will have all these things in the pantry, with no need to run out to the grocery store for those asian pears, or some pomegranate molasses ;-)  

Preheat oven to 350F.  If you are using a convection oven set it at 325F.

1 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

3 TB cocoa powder

The instructions say to sift all these dry ingredients together in a bowl.  I don't think anybody ever sifts any more  (does anyone even own a sifter these days? ) so I just run a whisk or spatula through the ingredients. But feel free if you are having a master pastry chef moment! Stir in:

1/2 cup milk

2TB melted butter or shortening - I suppose you could also use corn or canola oil.

blend in 1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Spread this in a 9" square baking pan - if you are going for the souffle look, this looks quite pretty in a white ceramic souffle style dish

Sprinkle the batter with a mixture of

1 cup brown sugar

5-6  TB cocoa powder

Then pour over all of it

1 3/4 cup hot water

If you are using the 350 degree standard oven plan on 45 minutes, for convection 325F, about 30 minutes)

When this comes bubbling out of the oven, it even looks satisfyingly like a souffle, although like a souffle it settles as it cools. I like to serve this still warm with vanilla flavored whipped cream - ice cream is lovely too!  Serve it forth, and enjoy!  DeeDee

Flourless Chocolate Raspberry Nut Cake

We're talking about dessert again today - I guess this is a seasonal thing.  I'm not big on baking, but I also don't like paying a lot of money for cakes from the store that look beautiful but have little flavor.  The idea for this recipe came to me when I was making raspberry sauce for my swedish christmas rice pudding.  I decided to adapt a chocolate cake recipe that I like very much to incorporate raspberries as well!  With the addition of the anti-oxidant power house raspberries, I now view this as health food :-)

Butter a spring form pan –  to make sure it releases smoothly. I dust it with cocoa powder instead of flour for this recipe, or you can line with parchment paper.   Preheat oven to 325F.

2 + cups blanched slivered almonds – more than 2 cups, but no more than  2 ¼

6 eggs

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 ¼ cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)

12 oz frozen raspberries, defrosted

Put the almonds in your cuisinart and grind them fairly fine. Add 3/4 of the raspberrires and all the other ingredients and blend it until you have a cake batter – it doesn’t take long because you don’t have to get it super smooth like a regular flour cake.  Pour everything into your spring form pan and stick it in the oven. Bake for 45-mins to 1 hour – test the cake for doneness – it’s quite dark, so easy to over bake, and I recommend you remove it before it tests completely dry in the middle. Let cool and remove from spring form pan to serve.    While the cake is baking, use the remaining 3 oz of the raspberries to make a sauce.

3 oz. raspberries

1-2 TB brandy or armagnac

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup boiling water

Put all the ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil stirring.  Let cool.  Serve the cake with the sauce poured over each slice, and a nice big dollop of sweetened whipped cream.  Drool.  DeeDee.

Serve t with just sweetened whipping cream