A Trio of Sauces for Vegetables

It's summer and vegetables everywhere are popping up. Fresh tomatoes, zucchini, beets, green beans, eggplant, peppers. You name it , and they're available. In local grocery stores, farmer's markets, neighborhood produce stands, and CSA farms. The heat is also creeping up, and sometimes I just don't feel very creative. With that in mind, to celebrate fresh summer vegetables and my own laziness, I decided to revisit a cooking project from many years ago.

Greek Cooking Show

If you click on the link below, you will be taken to an episode of the Greek cooking show, Simply Delicious, that my husband produced for Access Sacramento television several years ago. Of course, I'm the Greek cook! This episode features three sauces that Greeks traditionally use for vegetables. As a warning, these episodes & recipes were developed before Congestive Heart Failure. Nowadays, I eliminate the salt. Since all three recipes call for lemon juice, I find it easy to add a bit more lemon to brighten up the flavor. I usually just add a teaspoon at a time, tasting as I go.

Olive Oil, Lemon, Garlic, and Oregano: Fundamental Greek flavors!

The first recipe is for the simplest of sauces, ladolemeno. Just olive oil & lemon juice. This is a staple of Greek households. It's used over any freshly cooked vegetable, especially greens. You can gussy it up with freshly chopped herbs or a bit of garlic, if you like. The second sauce is avgolemeno. This sauce recipe is different from the one used in the famous soup of the same name. It uses a roux to create a sauce that can be easily kept warm for a while and can also be reheated. This sauce is great over stuffed cabbage or grape leaves, salmon/tuna patties, and any of the cruciferous vegetables. This is one of my favorite sauces, and I make it acceptable now by using low sodium/NSA chicken broth and extra lemon. The third sauce is skordhalia, a potent fresh garlic sauce. It's traditionally eaten with beets, fried eggplant or squash, and fried fish. I love the stuff, but I really have to be in the mood for an overpowering garlic experience.

Links to printable recipes for the sauces are listed below:
   Ladolemeno - olive oil & lemon
   Avgolemeno - egg & lemon
   Skordhalia - fresh garlic

This link will take you to the PDF versions of all the TV recipes. You'll find the sauce recipes listed under "Sauces."  All the TV shows can be accessed by visiting the Simply Delicious YouTube Channel. Each episode is about twenty minutes long, so you may want to fast forward or skip over some sections. This link will take you to the three sauces episode.

My Mother & Grandmother:
Two GREAT Cooks!

The Yaprakia show features three generations of Greek cooks -- my mother, me, and my daughter. This video project was a wonderful way of preserving my family's culinary heritage. My grandmother, my mom, and I all were the typical "pinch of this & a couple of spoonfuls of that" type cooks. Doing the TV shows forced me to codify & quantify the family recipes. Now I've got something concrete that my children & grandchildren can refer to. I hope you enjoy the video and the recipes.

Desperately Seeking Bran Muffins

I make a batch of bran muffins just about every week. You know the old saying, "A bran muffin a day keeps the doctor away." OK, that's not quite right, but bran muffins are a necessity when, like my husband, you're taking a pile of pills with all kinds of side effects. Plus, we're both at that age where we need a little help. So for the last 2-1/2 years I've been trying out different bran muffin recipes. I've spent countless hours searching online, but I've been pretty picky, however.

First off, I wanted a simple recipe that didn't involve elaborate steps & ingredients. After all, I'm making these every week! So recipes that called for creaming butter & eggs were out. I didn't want to fuss with dragging out my electric mixer or deal with getting butter at the perfect temperature for creaming. So I wanted recipes that used oil. I also didn't want to deal with chopping up apples, grating zucchini, carrots, smushing bananas or whatever.

Secondly, I wanted recipes that used just plain old wheat bran. No raisin bran cereal, no Kellogg's All Bran. I didn't want to have to worry about keeping those cereals stocked in my pantry, and they also add a level of sodium that I didn't want.

Thirdly, I wanted recipes that use one teaspoon of less of baking soda. Many bran muffins recipes call for molasses, honey, or buttermilk -- acidic ingredients that need baking soda added for leavening. Since I really like the flavor of molasses, honey, & buttermilk, I knew I'd have to try to keep the baking soda content down. (More about baking soda below.)

And finally, I wanted a muffin that had good flavor & texture and was moist. Something that didn't remind me of sawdust.

I've tried several recipes. One had two cups of sour cream -- good but kind of heavy & greasy. I made three from Cook's Illustrated. One called for creaming butter & eggs. It was good but not spectacular, definitely not worth the trouble. I used two others for a while. But one required pulsing Kellogg's All Bran in a food processor (too much hassle for me) and the other called for 4-1/2 teaspoons baking soda (way too much sodium!). Recipes from Epicurious & RecipeZaar were OK but nothing special. So I kept searching.

Eventually I decided to give the recipe printed on the Bob's Red Mill wheat bran package a try, "Moist Molasses Bran Muffins." I wasn't expecting much but was pleasantly surprised. They were indeed moist, and the molasses gave a good flavor. And I managed to get 14 muffins out of the batter rather than the dozen that the recipe indicated. A few weeks later I tried another winner, "Extra-Easy, Extra-Moist Bran Muffins" from Veggies, Crafts, & Tails. This turned out to be a good recipe too.

Baking with No-Sodium Baking Powder and Baking Soda

Before posting the muffin recipes, just a note about using no sodium baking powder & baking soda. I've been using Hain Featherweight Baking Powder (no sodium) successfully for almost a year now. I can order it online or pick it up from my local Safeway or Raley's markets. I have not noticed any negative impact on the texture or taste of any of the baked goods made with it. I use exactly the same amount as regular baking powder, so I don't have to remember any special formulas. This is a great product!

A few months ago I ordered Ener-G No Sodium Baking Soda. I thought it would work as well as the no sodium baking powder. The first thing I made was my usual oatmeal scone recipe. You're supposed to use twice the amount of the regular baking soda called for in a recipe. I did that, but the scones did not seem to rise as much as normal, and I detected a slightly "off" taste. When I made the Cook's Illustrated bran muffin recipe that called for 4-1/2 teaspoons of baking soda, the muffins were horrific. Doubling the baking soda amount as directed resulted in gummy, squat, muffins with a strong metallic taste. I decided that this product wasn't for me. Now I will only use a recipe if it calls for less than 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, and I use the real thing. Also, I purposely choose baking powder recipes.

Bob’s Red Mill Moist Molasses Bran Muffins
(Printable Recipe)

1 cup Wheat Bran
1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour (I used 1 cup WWW & ½ cup AP)
1/2 cup Raisins (or other dried fruit)
1 tsp. Baking Powder (I used Featherweight No Sodium)
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 cup Milk
1/2 cup Molasses or Honey (I used 1/4 cup each)
3/4 cup Applesauce
1/4 cup chopped Nuts (I omitted)
2 Tbsp. Oil
2 Eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine wheat bran, flour, baking soda and baking powder. Stir in nuts and raisins. In a separate bowl, blend applesauce, milk, molasses, oil and egg. Add to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened (the batter is very liquid). Spoon into greased muffin tin (or paper muffin cups) and bake for 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins (I ended up with 14 muffins).

Extra-Easy, Extra-Moist Bran Muffins

Veggies, Crafts, & Tails
(Printable Recipe)

1/3 C. vegetable oil
1 large egg
4 T. dark brown sugar
1/3 C. molasses
1 ½ C. unbleached white flour (I used 1 cup AP & ½ cup WWW)
1 C. natural wheat bran (not cereal)
1 teas. EACH baking soda, baking powder (I used Featherweight No Sodium), ground cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
¾ C. plain yogurt* (See buttermilk substitution below)
½ C. milk
1 C. raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. Grease muffin tins thoroughly and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine first 4 ingredients. In a medium-sized bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, adding the raisins if desired. In a cup or small bowl, combine the yogurt and milk.

Add dry ingredients alternately with the yogurt/milk to the first ingredients, stirring JUST to combine, don’t over-mix, batter should be lumpy (I added dry ingredients to combined liquid ingredients). Pour into prepared muffin tin, filling each cup approx. 2/3 full. Bake 15-20 minutes, until done. Reduce heat to 375 after first 10 minutes if browning too fast. Makes 12 muffins.

Variations: Substitute 1 ¼ C. buttermilk for the yogurt/milk. Add the grated zest of one large orange with the dry ingredients. Add chopped nuts, dried cranberries etc…or combination of, in place of the raisins.

(For more bran recipes, check out this POST.)

Grilled Chicken Spice Rub

Don't ask me why, but I've always felt grilling was beyond my capabilities. Stuffed grape leaves -- no problem. Baklava -- no problem. Homemade bread -- no problem. A grilled hamburger -- oh, no! But last week our local grocery store had Foster Farms California-raised, salt free, whole chickens on sale. I couldn't pass up a bargain like that, and I didn't want to turn on the oven for roasting. I've cooked whole chicken in my crockpot, but it comes out steamed, with rubbery skin. I knew I had only one other alternative. I was going to have to break down and cook the bird on my gas grill.

Where to get the courage and know-how? I turned to the members of the Cooking Forum. And, luckily for me, they gave me some good advice and the confidence to go ahead with my plan. One of the members, Terri, gave me a good dry rub recipe, while Ann gave me instructions on how to do the actual grilling.

With their encouragement, I prepped the chicken and marched out to the patio. In fear & trembling, I plopped the five pound bird onto the hot grill and closed the lid. I set the timer for 50 minutes and waited. Boy was I surprised when I opened the lid up and found a wonderfully brown & crispy skinned chicken. I let it rest about 10 minutes before carving it up. It tasted great, and, the best part for me, the house was cool. I think I have finally conquered my grillaphobia.

I've since grilled some eggplant & squash, and my daughter used the grill for burgers. One thing nice about grilling is the added flavor & texture from the slight charring. That goes a long way in making low sodium foods more palatable. I'll eventually grill some more, but due to the many raging fires and triple digit weather here in Northern California, it's far too smoky & hot outside to grill right now.

Smoky Barbecue Dry Rub
Terri from Cooking Forum/SFGate.com
(Printable Recipe)

2 teaspoons smoked paprika (The smoked paprika makes this rub special. It won't be the same without it.)
2 teaspoons kosher salt (I omitted all the salt, and the chicken was still very flavorful)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Combine the paprika, salt, sugar, pepper, cumin, garlic powder, chile powder and cayenne pepper in a small bowl and mix well with a small whisk. Yields 3 tablespoons