Ingredients

Topping

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
¾ cup maple crystals
6-8 medium apricots, halved lengthwise and pitted

Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup maple crystals
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
2 large eggs at room temperature
¾ cup well-shaken buttermilk

Recipe

1.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and have a rimmed baking sheet on hand that you can place on the rack beneath the cake pan to catch any drips.

2.     Prepare the topping. In a 10” cast iron skillet (at least 2” deep), heat the butter over a low heat until the foam subsides. Sprinkle the maple crystals evenly over the melted butter and cook, undisturbed, for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat, and arrange the apricot halves, cut side down, close together and on top of the maple crystals. Resist the temptation to fill the pan to the edges with apricots; you will achieve a nicer result by leaving the outer inch or two of the pan free for cake batter. Depending on the size of your apricots, you may have some halves left over.

3.     Prepare the cake batter. In a small bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt. Using a mixer and a large bowl, beat together the butter, maple crystals and two extracts until they are light-colored and fluffy, at least five minutes at a medium speed. Add eggs one at a time, scraping the sides and bottom after each addition. Mix on medium speed for a few minutes until the volume has nearly doubled. Using the lowest speed, add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Beat only until combined and finish mixing gently with a rubber spatula.

4.     Spoon the batter over the apricots and spread evenly, though not to the outer edge. Bake the cake in the middle of the oven for about 40 minutes, taking care to place a rimmed baking sheet on the rack beneath the skillet to catch any overflow. When the cake is ready, a toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.

5.     Let the cake cool in the skillet for at least ten or fifteen minutes, or up to half an hour. Then place the cake back into the oven, which will still be gently warm, for a few minutes to loosen the apricots from the bottom of the pan. Using oven mitts, invert a large plate over the skillet and, keeping the plate and skillet pressed firmly together, invert the cake onto the plate. Gently lift the skillet off the cake and replace any fruit that may be still be stuck on the bottom of the skillet.

6.     Cool and serve.

Copyright 2011, Ellen Arian, Ellen’s Food & Soul

Imagine scrambled eggs all dressed up and you will have some sense of this dish–lovely to look at and good tasting, too. Wild salmon is a delicious source of omega-3 fats, which regulate inflammation; it’s also one of the few food sources of vitamin D. If you’re tempted to leave out the chives, you will want to reconsider. They really make this dish shine.

Ingredients

8 eggs, lightly beaten
4 ounces wild smoked salmon, cut into small pieces
1-2 tablespoons minced fresh chives, plus extra for a garnish
½ teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Recipe

1.     Place the eggs in a medium bowl, and whisk in the wild salmon pieces, chives, sea salt and pepper.

2.     Warm a large, heavy skillet over a low heat for 5 to 10 minutes. Add the butter and, when it is melted, add the egg mixture to the skillet.

3.     Cook it, stirring gently, until the eggs are lightly cooked but still soft.

4.     Serve the eggs, sprinkled with additional chives as a garnish.

The Difference Between Brown and White Eggs

The color of an eggshell is connected to the breed of hen that laid the egg and not much more. White-shelled eggs come from hens with white feathers and ear lobes, and brown-shelled eggs come from hens with red feathers and ear lobes.  Since these red-feathered hens are larger and eat more than white-feathered hens, their brown eggs can be more expensive. Inside both white and brown eggs, a rich dark orange-yellow yolk can indicate high levels of omega-3 fats, vitamin A and other anti-oxidants.

Copyright 2010, Ellen Arian, Ellen’s Food & Soul

This granola is tried and true. I’ve been making it for years, and it’s delicious whether eaten dry by the handful or served in a bowl with yogurt and fresh fruit. It’s easy to make and one batch lasts for weeks or longer in the refrigerator. You can also double the recipe to feed a crowd, or to make a supply that will last you for months.

Ingredients

¼ cup virgin organic coconut oil
4 cups rolled oats (not quick oats)
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup almonds, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut (medium shred works well)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
zest from ½ organic orange
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons brown rice syrup
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3/4 cups chopped, pitted dates

Recipe

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.     Place the solid coconut oil in a small pan on the stove top. Warm it on the lowest heat and when it’s melted, remove it from the heat and set aside. (If you melt more than you need, you can add the extra back into the jar—one of coconut oil’s loveliest qualities.)

3.     In a large bowl, combine the oats, pecans, almonds, coconut, cinnamon, nutmeg, sea salt and orange zest.

4.     In a liquid measuring cup or small bowl, combine the maple syrup, orange juice and reserved melted coconut oil.

5.     Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well, completely coating the oat mixture with the oil mixture.

6.     Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the granola mixture across over the parchment. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring well 2 or 3 times to be sure it cooks evenly.

7.     When the granola is finished cooking, mix in the chopped dates. Let the granola cool, and store it covered in the refrigerator.

Copyright 2010, Ellen Arian, Ellen’s Food & Soul

Making a bowl of homemade soup doesn’t have to be complicated, and there may be no better way to enjoy, and even celebrate, the essence of whatever fall vegetable you have than with a simple bowl of soup. What we have here can hardly be called a recipe; it’s just an easy formula for turning a single vegetable–parsnip, celeriac, or cauliflower–into soup. You can use this basic technique with other vegetables as well, so give full reign to your imagination and keep in mind that making it is especially quick. All you do is cook up some onions and garlic, add water and the vegetable of your choice, and cook it all a bit more. Then puree it, season it, and you have soup; add a little cream, and you have an indulgence.

Master Ingredient List

1-2 tablespoons butter or extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, peeled and diced
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1-1/2 pounds vegetables, as detailed below
6 cups water
1/8 cup heavy cream, optional
fine sea salt to taste

Specifications by Vegetable Type

Parsnips: Peel, if necessary, and cut into 1″ dice. Cooking time: 20-25 minutes.
Celeriac: Peel and cut into 1″ dice. cooking time: 25-30 minutes.
Cauliflower: Cut into florets. cooking time: 20-25 minutes.

This recipe will work with many autumn vegetables–but not tough leafy greens, brussel sprouts or cabbage, to name a few. I tried it with winter squash, but the soup was so intensely “squashy” that it didn’t appeal to me. If you try the soup with “wetter” broccoli or spinach–both available in early autumn–you may want to add a peeled potato (cut into pieces) to the cooking water to give the soup more body.

Recipe

1. In a heavy soup pot, warm the butter or olive oil over a medium-low heat. Add the diced onion and sea salt and cook until the pieces become translucent. Add the crushed garlic cloves and cook for a few minutes more.

2. Add the vegetable pieces and water and bring the soup to a gentle boil. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, until the vegetables are tender enough to be crushed when pressed against the inside of the pot with a spoon.

3. Using an immersion blender or a regular blender, puree the soup. Finish it with cream, if you like, and season to taste with sea salt.

Copyright 2010, Ellen Arian, Ellen’s Food & Soul

Broth made from chicken bones is a rich source of minerals, including calcium. When properly made, it is also a wonderful source of gelatin, which can aid digestion and help you assimilate nutrients. In folk medicine, and more scientifically today, chicken broth is a prized treatment for colds and flu and helps maintain an overall state of health.

Uncovering broth while it cooks allows for a deeper concentration of flavors. Simmering it over the lowest heat–so there’s barely a smile, as the French like to say–ensures clarity and preserves gelatin. And the most important piece of information you need for cooking broth is this: It prefers to be left alone. It’s simple catchphrase is “Do Not Disturb.”

Ingredients

1 3-4 pound chicken, whole or in parts; or the same measure of chicken bones, necks, and skin (and feet, if you are lucky enough to get them)
10-12 cups cool filtered water
1 onion, outer layers peeled and cut in half in either direction
4-5 medium carrots
2-3 stalks celery, with leaves
6-8 cloves garlic, cut in half and outer leaves peeled
1 leek, well-scrubbed, both white and green parts
handful of parsley leaves or stems
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
6-8 whole black peppercorns
optional additions: 1 parsnip, 1 zucchini, a bit of butternut squash, fennel fronds, chard stems

Notes: 1) To turn this broth into a “medicinal” tonic, add 3 pieces astragalus root and 1 piece of dried ginseng, both available from Kamwo Herbal Pharmacy. 2) To ensure a gelatinous broth, do not add vinegar to the cooking water, a technique often recommended for better extraction of minerals from bones. In my experience, vinegar inhibits the formation of gelatin. Additionally, cook the broth at the lowest temperature; any higher and the gelatin seems to break down.

Recipe

1. Wash the chicken pieces or bones, and place them into a stock pot with water. Bring the water to a low boil and then reduce the broth to the lowest simmer. The surface of the broth should only slightly ripple. Cooking the broth over a low heat in this way preserves the gelatin.

2. Skim any foam that rises to the surface. When the surface is relatively clear, add the remaining ingredients and simmer uncovered for 6 hours.

3. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer and allow it to cool before refrigerating (discard the cooked vegetables). It will become thick and gelatinous when cool, though a gentle heat will reliquify it. You can use the broth as is, or you can turn it into a nourishing soup. Simply slice 1 carrot and 1 celery stalk (thinly) and simmer the vegetable pieces in salted water for 10-15 minutes, until softened. Add a handful or two of egg noodles to the salted water, and boil until cooked. Add the strained vegetables and noodles to the stock. You will need to add little, if any, salt, because the long cooking extracts sodium from the bones, leaving you with a well-salted broth.

Note: If you are making the broth with chicken meat, rather than just bones, and you want the meat for your finished soup, here is what you do (boiled meat is rather spent after 6 hours of cooking). Follow step 1, but simmer the chicken for only 1 hour and then remove it from the pot so the meat does not overcook. Let it cool enough to handle and, meanwhile, add the remaining ingredients to the pot. While the vegetables are simmering, remove the chicken meat from the bones, break it into pieces, and set the meat aside to use later. Add the bones and skin back to the pot and finish making the broth. When you are ready for soup, add the chicken pieces to the strained broth, along with any cooked vegetables and noodles you may be using and you will have one big, delicious pot of soup.

Copyright 2010, Ellen Arian, Ellen’s Food & Soul

To get the most health benefits from a cup of green tea, you need to steep the tea leaves for about 10 minutes. This works beautifully with Japanese Green Tea. But if you’re drinking Chinese Green Tea, which is the variety sold in most grocery stores, this long steep will cause the tea to be bitter. A good solution is to steep the same tea leaves (or tea bags) 3 times over the course of a day, for about 3 minutes each time, so you still benefit from the full complement of polyphenols.

With this approach, only the first cup of tea will contain caffeine, which is information you can use if you generally prefer your tea to be caffeine-free. Since caffeine is released quickly into water, to eliminate caffeine simply steep tea leaves (or tea bags) in just enough water to cover them for about one minute. Then discard the water and cover the same tea leaves with enough water to make a full cup. This time, allow the tea leaves to steep as you normally would. This decaffeinating technique works with all varieties of tea.

Keep in mind that, with or without caffeine, you need to drink green tea within an hour or two of steeping it to benefit from its full polyphenol punch.

Ingredients

1/2-1 teaspoon Japanese Green Tea leaves, or 1 teabag
6-8 ounces cool water

Recipe

1. Heat the water, bringing it close–but not all the way–to a full boil. Using boiling water tends to “cook” the leaves and make green tea bitter. (Yet the hotter the water, the more polyphenols are extracted from the tea leaves. So your tea water should be very hot, but not boiling.)

2. While the water is heating, put the green tea leaves into a ceramic or glass teapot. Or, if you’re using a tea bag, simply place it into a mug. Then pour the hot water over the tea leaves and steep them for 10 minutes. If you’re using a tea bag, try moving it up and down in the mug as it steeps to increase the extraction of polyphenols.

3. Strain the tea into a mug or, if you’re using a tea bag, simply remove it. Discard the tea leaves or tea bag.

4. Enjoy your tea within an hour or two.

Remember, if you are using Chinese Green Tea, follow the instructions above, but steep the tea leaves or tea bag for 3 minutes. Then repeat twice with the same tea leaves.

Sources for my favorite Sencha Japanese Green Tea Leaves: Kushi Store, Goldmine Natural Foods

Copyright 2010, Ellen Arian, Ellen’s Food & Soul

There are two simple steps to making homemade yogurt. The first is to heat the milk and then partly cool it. The second is to ferment the milk for a period of hours. All varieties of milk–sheep, cow, or goat–work for making yogurt, with each providing a slightly different result.

Ingredients

1 quart whole milk (or, for a richer yogurt, use 1/2 cup heavy cream and 3-1/2 cups whole milk)
scant 1/8 teaspoon yogurt culture (I like ABY612 from the Dairy Connection), or 2 tablespoons plain yogurt with live cultures

Recipe

1. In a heavy saucepan, heat the milk (or milk and cream) to 180 degrees, watching carefully to be sure it doesn’t boil. Elevating the temperature in this way thickens the final yogurt, so even if you are working with raw milk, do not delete this step.

2. When the milk reaches 180 degrees, remove it from the heat. Let it cool a bit and then pour the milk into a glass canning jar and let it continue to cool on the counter top. If you want to speed the cooling process, you can immerse the glass jar in a bowl of ice water.

3. Check the temperature every so often until the milk reaches 110 degrees, the optimum fermentation temperature. If you are using powdered yogurt culture, keep it frozen until the milk reaches 110 degrees. Then remove the culture from the freezer, shake the jar well, and pour the amount of culture needed onto your measuring spoon. (Do not dip the spoon into the culture as this may contaminate it.) Then add the culture, or the plain yogurt, to the milk and mix well.

4. Keep the mixture at 110 degrees for about 6-7 hours, or until it reaches the desired consistency.* Note that the yogurt will thicken as it cools so, with each batch, note the consistency after it has been refrigerated and then make adjustments with your next batch. (Yogurt fermented for 24 hours is said to be lactose-free.)

5. Refrigerate the finished yogurt and use within a few weeks.

*I generally use two different approaches for holding the temperature of the warm milk. With both, I begin by wetting a thin towel with warm water and wrapping it around the canning jar. Then I place the wrapped jar into a Salton 1-quart yogurt maker and cover it with the plastic lid. Or I put the wrapped jar into a small, sturdy cooler (not a lunch bag, but a real cooler) and surround it with more warm, wet towels. With this second approach, experience has taught me to re-warm the towels every couple of hours.

Other ways to hold the temperature are to place the canning jar into a large pot of warm water; then keep the water on the stove top over the lowest heat, checking the temperature of the water to be sure it hovers around 110 degrees. Or, if your oven has a reliable 110-degree setting, put the canning jar into the pot of 110-degree water and place the pot into the oven for the desired amount of time.

Copyright 2011, Ellen Arian, Ellen’s Food & Soul

This is a very special pizza crust. It’s easy to make; it also tastes good, handles well, and has, for me, moved pizza out of the ranks of ambitious undertakings and into the realm of food that works when there’s little time to spare. You will not miss the white flour that’s included in most pizza dough recipes, and you will not miss the kneading either. With this recipe, making whole-grain pizza at home becomes practically effortless—and I don’t use that word lightly.

The vital wheat gluten included in the ingredient list is optional, but I like to add it because it makes a tender dough that rolls out beautifully. In practical terms, this means you get a crust that rolls out large; if you like a thin crust, you will get two pizzas, each about 10” x 14.” If you like a thicker crust, simply roll the dough smaller and thicker. Taking into account the long, slow rise of this dough, if you want to serve pizza for dinner one night, just pull the dough together the evening before, which will take five minutes, and your dough will be ready to roll before dinner the next day.

Dough Ingredients

¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
1-1/2 cups lukewarm water (110 degrees), divided
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for parchment paper and rolling pin
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
2-1/2 cups whole-wheat bread flour
½ cup rye flour
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten, optional

Pizza Ingredients

2-1/2 cups pizza sauce*
1 pound fresh, or 8 ounces shredded, mozzarella cheese

Recipe

1. Sprinkle yeast into ¼ cup of warmed water and let it sit for 8-10 minutes to ensure that it’s active. You should see a creamy foam develop, and if you stick your nose into the bowl it should smell like bread. (If you do not see the foam or detect the smell of bread, discard the mixture and start again with new yeast.) Once the yeast foams, add the remaining 1-1/4 cups water, along with the rest of the dough ingredients, and stir with a wooden spoon or your hands until the flour is evenly moistened and the ingredients are well mixed. Transfer dough to an oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and leave on the counter top for about 16-18 hours in a room that is as close to 70 degrees as you can make it. Two or three times during the rest, you may need to lift the cover of the bowl to release trapped gas. (You don’t need to wake up in the night to do this step; just lift the cover in the morning.)
2. One hour before you plan to bake your pizza, preheat a pizza stone on the lowest rack of a 500-degree oven.
3. Punch down the dough and divide it in half. Let each half rest covered on the counter top or in an oiled bowl for 30-40 minutes.
4. Lightly oil 2 pieces of parchment paper, each about 11” x 15” and place one ball of dough on each piece. Flatten each ball into a disc and let one rest, covered with plastic wrap.
5. Take the other disc and, if it feels sticky, sprinkle it lightly with flour. Using an oiled rolling pin, roll the dough out on top of the parchment paper—into a 10” x 14” rectangle (if you used vital wheat gluten) or a 9”-10” round or rectangle. If you like a thicker pizza crust, roll the dough smaller and thicker. Cover the dough and let it rest for 15-30 minutes. Repeat this process with the second disc of dough.
6. Cover the first dough you rolled with a generous portion of tomato sauce—the amount depends on the size of your pizza. For a 10” x 15” pizza, you will need about 1-1/4 cups of sauce. Then cover the sauce with half of your mozzarella cheese.
7. Using a pizza peel, slide the pizza, along with the parchment, onto the pizza stone and bake for about 15 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is lightly browned.
8. Repeat this process with the second pizza dough.

*To make a simple pizza sauce, fill a 2-quart saucepan with diced tomatoes from one 28-ounce can, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2-4 cloves peeled and crushed garlic, 1 teaspoon dried basil, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Bring the contents of the saucepan to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 30 minutes. Puree and season to taste with additional sea salt and freshly-ground pepper before using.

Embellishments

For a good-tasting and nutritious pizza topping, wash and chop about 3 pounds of escarole for one pizza. Then coat it lightly with olive oil and sprinkle it with fine sea salt. Put it on top of the mozzarella cheese before cooking the pizza, and bake the pizza for the same amount of time.

In Transition

If you’re transitioning away from pizza dough made with white flour, you may want to substitute 1 cup of white bread flour and 1-1/2 cups of whole-wheat flour for the 2-1/2 cups of whole-wheat flour in the recipe. Add the same quantity of rye flour called for. This change will lighten the flavor and texture of the pizza dough.

Copyright 2010, Ellen Arian, Ellen’s Food & Soul

Ingredients

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 ounce fine-quality (70%) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup pitted dates, coarsely chopped (check for pits)
3 tablespoons Grade-B maple syrup
1 large egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch fine sea salt
2 tablespoons whole-wheat pastry flour
1-1/2 teaspoons virgin organic coconut oil or butter

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Place the cocoa powder and chocolate pieces into the bowl of a food processor.

3. In a small saucepan, bring the water and dates just to a boil. Remove them from the heat and let cool for a moment. Then add the dates and water to the food processor and pulse once to combine. Uncover the food processor and let the mixture cool for a couple of minutes.

4. Add the maple syrup, egg, vanilla, baking soda and sea salt and puree until smooth. Then add the flour and pulse until just mixed. Gently finish mixing with a rubber spatula and let the mixture sit for 15 minutes.

5. While the mixture is resting, liberally oil a 12-cup mini-muffin tin with coconut oil (or butter). The oil is an ingredient in the cupcakes as well as a lubricant that prevents the cupcakes from sticking, so don’t worry if there seems to be an ample amount in each cup.

6. Divide the mixture evenly between the muffin cups and bake, rotating once, for about 20 minutes (the tops should be firm to the touch). Let the cupcakes cool in the tin for about 10 minutes.

7. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and cool slightly. These are nice served gently warm, though the cupcakes keep for one day, covered, at room temperature.

Copyright 2010, Ellen Arian, Ellen’s Food & Soul

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