Amateurs with Knives

This weekend I was in the mood for a healthier muffin, so I pulled this mouthful from Bon Appetit: Whole Wheat Bran Muffins with Figs and Pecans.

And I liked that it gave me a reason to use the wheat flour and oat bran I have sitting in my pantry.

I liked these muffins and I’m sure you’ll like them too — provided you don’t mind the distinct flavor of oat bran. And I have to say that the most ironic thing about them is that these very healthy muffins are best served warm with butter.

Yep. Bake up something that’s healthy for your bod, then slather it all in tasty, tasty butter.

What, you have a problem with that?

Whole Wheat Bran Muffins with Figs and Pecans
Adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat bran
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (packed) diced dried Black Mission figs (about 6 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups reduced-fat buttermilk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

What took the most prep was chopping the figs.

I cut off the little hard nubs on the ends, quartered them and sliced them small. I love figs, so I wish I hadn’t chopped them so tiny — I made them a little smaller than raisins. While I baked up the muffins, I polished off whatever was in the bag. Figs are delicious! They’re very soft and incredibly sweet. If you don’t care for figs, I won’t talk about you behind your back. (Maybe.) Golden raisins would also be a great substitute if you happen to have those on hand.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a nonstick 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray. Whisk next 7 ingredients in bowl. Stir in figs and pecans. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl. Whisk in eggs, then buttermilk and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Using a 1/4 measuring cup, divide batter among cups.

Bake muffins until browned on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Cool on rack.

After these have cooled to room temperature (or if you’re eating them the next day), they’ll seem dry and much less exciting than when they were warm. I recommend popping them in the microwave for about 15 – 20 seconds.

And then go for some butter.

To say that I love soup wouldn’t quite be enough. I heart it. I have a box with all of my soup keepsakes under my bed and at night I practice writing my name with soup’s last name.

Too much information?

Anyway, ATK’s Light & Tasty has a version of soup that elevates a delicious vegetable soup by combining it with a tortellini soup.

A regular tortellini soup is mostly just a garlic broth with cheese tortellini and wilted spinach leaves tossed into it. That’s a very tasty combination, but the texture always leaves me wanting. It’s light, it’s mushy, and I suppose it will do on a cold night when you want pasta and a hot soup and can’t decide which you prefer.

A vegetable soup is usually a barbaric concoction of kitchen sink vegetables and beans with a broth, and I end up with more vegetables that I don’t care for than ones that I do.

Now we have the perfect hybrid — the cheese tortellini goodness and the favored vegetables together, at last, they way they were always meant to be.

Or maybe I’m just a sucker for anything with zucchini and pasta.

Whatever the case is, this soup is incredible and I definitely recommend it. It’s also a quick and easy recipe with very little mess, which is why I added the “Weeknight Cooking” label above. When I described the dish to Citizen Chef, he commented that it sounded too light. If this is your concern, fear not — there’s a lot going on in this soup. The vegetables are very hearty and, to top it off, there’s a cheese pasta in the mix. I served this with garlic bread and, when my household had finished off our meals, we were stuffed and happy.

Tortellini & Vegetable Soup
Adapted from ATK’s Light and Healthy 2010
Serves 8

6 garlic cloves, minced
1 zucchini, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt
1 onion minced (about 1 cup)
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried
6 cups low sodium chicken broth
3 bay leaves
1 (9-ounce) package fresh cheese tortellini
2 1/2 cups baby spinach
1 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
pepper
1/8 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Measure out and reserve 1 teaspoon of the minced garlic. Combine the zucchini, 1 teaspoon of the oil, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a large Dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini releases its juice, 3 – 5 minutes.

As a reminder, when the recipe calls for a small, specific amount of oil or salt, I know a lot of people don’t measure that. They just “eyeball” the amount. I typically do that as well however, because this book shows the “light and healthy” versions of food, I measure. There’s no point in calling it light and healthy if we’re not being careful to cut back where we can.

Uncover, increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the zucchini is golden brown and just tender, 2 – 3 minutes longer. Transfer the zucchini to a plate.

Combine the onion, garlic (minus the reserved teaspoon), the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and 1/8 teaspoon salt in the pot. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 8 – 10 minutes. Uncover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is lightly browned, 4 – 6 minutes longer.

Stir in the thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the broth and bay leaves, scraping up any browned bits. Bring to a simmer, add the tortellini, and cook, stirring often, until just tender, 3 – 6 minutes.

I got lucky – my grocery store carries fresh whole wheat tortellini, so I scored some of that for the soup. I thought the whole wheat version was delicious, so if you can get that, do it.

Off the heat, stir in the zucchini, spinach and peas, cover and let sit until heated through, about 3 minutes.

Stir in the reserved 1 teaspoon garlic and basil. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste, ladle into bowls and sprinkle each portion with some of the cheese before serving.

Eat up. Yum.

Welcome back to The Monday Muffin! I’m pretty excited to share this one, since I’ve not been so excited about a muffin since we discovered Mizz Nezz’s Banana Muffins. This one throws its hat into the ring for the title of Greatest Muffin Ever and has a shot at taking it home.

There’s no sugar or streusel topping for this muffin and you won’t miss it. The cake has the perfect amount of sweetness and the blueberries bring a delectable burst of freshness. The cinnamon goes very well with the blueberries — not to mention your house will smell incredible while the muffins are baking.

The process is also everything I believe a muffin should be: simple. Mix the wet ingredients, mix the dry. Combine. Add blueberries. Bake. I whipped these up with ease on Saturday morning and the results were amazing. I should have doubled the batch because they were gone by Sunday night.

Cinnamon Blueberry Muffins
Adapted from Gourmet
Makes 12

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup 1% lowfat milk
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups blueberries (7 1/2 oz)

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a nonstick 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray. Whisk together butter, brown sugar, milk, and egg in a bowl until combined well.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Add milk mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in blueberries gently.

Distribute batter into a nonstick 12-cup (1/2 cup) muffin tin. I used a 1/4 cup to scoop and divide (somewhat) evenly. Bake until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Stuff face. Be happy. Feel alive.

I suppose the best way of starting this out wouldn’t be by admitting that I’m not a huge fan of spinach and cheese lasagna. Most of the time, it comes across as a mushy mess in my mouth, and I’m put off by the texture. I typically crave lasagnas with a little more stability to their structure. And in the case of my new cooking project, exploring the entirety of ATK’s Light and Healthy book… Well, I found the same thing to be true. However, I really enjoyed the taste and, put on a plate next to a cool, crisp salad and some crunchy garlic bread, I liked it.

What brought this dish to the home plate was the addition of shredded Fontina. Even though I couldn’t get a decent Fontina (I could only find a local brand – no Italian), the taste was still there. And to be honest, I’m not a big fan of pungent cheeses so maybe that’s why I liked it so much.

The other reason I liked it was because of something ATK is very conscientious of: texture.

You probably already guessed that making a lasagna light and healthy involves cottage cheese and, I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like a mouthful of curd in my lasagna. Even if it’s small curd, it doesn’t matter. I feel like I’m eating diet food and the thrill of indulgence is gone. You may as well take that away and stick a bowl of dry lettuce in front of me.

ATK curbs this nicely by blending the cottage cheese with the eggs in a food processor, producing a creamy sauce:

Everything else about the recipe was actually pretty predictable in terms of how to lower the fat content: using lowfat cottage cheese, lowfat milk, etc. But all of those little things together brought the nutrition numbers down to something I was actually pretty happy about. I also did my own part in a few different ways, such as not adding as much Parmesan as the recipe called for. I cut it in half and was still happy about the result.

Putting the whole dish together was also a fairly standard process. Here’s your food montage, a la Eye of the Tiger:

And what that all boils down to (rather, bakes up to) is a delicious and creamy spinach and cheese lasagna. It’s pretty rich, so I suggest small pieces to be served with a little salad and bread.

Next week, join me for Vegetable and Tortellini Soup!

Yesterday, I announced that I was doing a cookbook challenge — ATK’s Light & Healthy 2010, cover to cover. And I meant every word.

Let’s dig into the cover recipe, Spaghetti Carbonara!

Carbonara is a rich and heavy dish. No question. The essential players that make up the dish are spaghetti and bacon smothered in a cream and grated Parmesan sauce, then beaten eggs are poured into it for a rich and creamy decadence that leaves you feeling happy but sluggish afterward. On their own and in mass quantities, the ingredients aren’t the best for you, let alone poured together. Typically, Carbonara recipes hover around 600 calories and 28 grams of fat per serving. And don’t even get me started on the cholesterol — around 150mg. Yikes.

Now these are the numbers provided in the book by the Test Kitchen. So whatever recipe they were basing these off of, I don’t know. They might be a little inflated, though I doubt it. I’ve had a few different Carbonara recipes before, some of them from well known chefs (Zuni cafe comes to mind) and I would guess this is a fairly accurate number across the board. The book provides a much lighter solution that is delicious, definitely lighter and I didn’t miss the old, heavier versions at all.

Light & Healthy nutrition information:
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 410
Carbs: 58g
Protein 16g
Fiber 3g
Sodium 420mg
Fat: 11g
Sat. Fat: 3.5g
Cholesterol: 55mg

So right off the bat you can see why I said yesterday that this is not a diet book. This is merely a way of making your favorite, decadent foods lighter and healthier. At 11g of fat it’s still hefty, but you’ve at least taken the gun out of its hands and stilled the crazy look in its eye before it comes charging at your gut like a crazed rhino. In the past, I only dared to cook this dish once a year. Now I can cook it more often.

Light & Healthy Spaghetti Carbonara
Serves 6
Adapted from Light & Healthy 2010

2/3 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (can substitute Parmesan)
1/4 cup fat-free evaporated milk
1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon mayonnaise
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2 ounces Canadian Bacon, chopped coarse
2 slices bacon, chopped coarse
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 pound spaghetti
Salt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Process the cheese, evaporated milk, 1/2 tablespoon of the mayonnaise, egg, and egg white in a food processor until smooth, about 15 seconds. Leave the mixture in the food processor.

Cook the Canadian Bacon and bacon together in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat until the fat has rendered and the bacon is browned, about 7 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper-towel lined plate and set aside.

When I stuck the bacon into the frying pan, my cat came over to check it out, hoping I might drop something for her. I never did, but something better happened — the Canadian bacon was getting so hot it was “popping” out of the pan and flying out — at my cat. She was so startled by the sudden bacon attack that she went running from the kitchen.

In Soviet Russia, food hunt you.

(Overused meme win!)

Add the garlic and pepper to the fat left in the pan, and cook over medium heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the wine, bring to a simmer and cook until thickened slightly, about 1 minute. Cover to keep warm and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. If you’re a good multi-tasker, you can put the water on during the bacon step. Add the pasta (I used whole wheat spaghetti since it’s better for you and, I think, more hearty) and 1 tablespoon of salt. Cook, stirring often, until al dente. The spaghetti box will tell you how long. Reserve 1/2 cup of the spaghetti water, then drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Toss the pasta with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon mayonnaise until coated.

Add the wine & garlic reduction, with 1/4 cup of the reserved cooking water, to the food processor mixture. Process until smooth and frothy, about 1 minute. Immediately pour the egg mixture over the pasta and toss to combine. If it’s too dry for your liking, add a little more of the reserved pasta water. Stir in the bacon. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Did you miss us?

After a long hiatus, we’re back and badder than ever. Our knives are sharpened and kitchens ready to go. Really. I reorganized it this weekend.

Long time AwK readers will know of our undying love for America’s Test Kitchen and its Cook’s Illustrated brand. So, it should come as no surprise to you that we’re bringing the site back with an ATK cookbook challenge:

ATK’s Light & Healthy 2010: We’re cooking our way through, one recipe per week.

I’ve cooked a few recipes out of this book and so far I’ve been happy with every single one — enough to make them staples in my kitchen. The only thing that should be pointed out is that this book is not a diet book. It’s a collection of ATK’s recipes lightened. For example, I’ve eaten a lot of different takes on pasta carbonara. The dish is simple, but thick: spaghetti smothered in cream and bacon and cheese and eggs. And don’t get me wrong, it’s a plate of awesomeness. Unfortunately, most of us can only eat so much of it because it’s just so rich. Light & Healthy 2010 stuck pasta carbonara right on the cover, having successfully turned it into a light and delicious dish. I made it this weekend and didn’t miss the original recipe at all. It was indulgent without making me feel as if I had clogged my arteries.

I’m very excited about this new challenge, as it will break me away from my current list of recipes and introduce me to something new. If anyone would like to join me in this endeavor, let me know. Each week I’ll include a link or photo to your blog. I don’t plan on going through the recipes in order; we’ll be skipping around and I’ll let you know in advance what we’ll be doing the following week.

Now here’s the caveat. (There’s always one, isn’t there?) America’s Test Kitchen does not rely on advertising for their revenue. They rely on paid subscriptions and book sales to keep their 30-year business afloat, and very few of their recipes are free. Posting every single recipe on this site would not be fair to them and, since I am a big fan, I want to support their business model. That said, I will not be posting all of the recipes. I will be posting a few here and there, but not all of them. Hopefully the pictures will sway you to buy a book so you can cook the recipes along with us!

Tomorrow: Light & Healthy Spaghetti Carbonara!