NEW RECIPE: Maneschewitz Fruit Crumble (Vegan!)

Copyright 2015, Constantine William Spyrou. All rights reserved.

Cooking a lot on your own and shopping for your own groceries really allows you to go for flexibility. This is especially the case when you can find cheap, new ingredients that you've never thought about using before. For me, this came in the case of Asian pears and Maneschewitz wine, both interesting but exciting new ingredients to cook with!

I've always been a fan of eating Asian pears whole, similarly to apples. However, I had never actually cooked with them, but wanted to give it a try because of the sweet but dense flesh that can hold up well to baking. My cousin and his roommate actually introduced me to Maneschewitz. It's a cheap, Kosher dessert wine with incredible flavor without being super strong or alcoholic. I decided to bring these two ingredients together in one of my favorite old-school desserts - fruit crumble.

Similar to a cobbler, fruit crumble has a thinner topping that isn't as dense or rich. It's incredibly easy to make vegan, so I went for that route, using simply nuts and some binding agents like flour and agave to bring it together. Combined with the fruity, sweet filling, it's an amazing warm dessert for the holiday season! 

Recipe serves 12-16 people.

For the Crumble Topping:

1 1/2 cups walnuts, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups almonds, finely chopped
(Tip: Use a food processor or blender on the nuts; a few pulses is all you need). 
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (or brown rice flour for gluten-free folks)
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground star anise

For the Filling:

2 medium Asian pears, peeled and roughly diced
3 medium tart cooking apples, peeled and roughly diced (Braeburns and Galas are the best option)
2 cups raisins
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup Maneschewitz wine
3 tablespoons lemon juice
(Tip: Add this to your apples/pears once chopped to keep from going brown)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon nutmeg

Cooking/Assembling:

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

2) Combine the diced Asian pears, apples, raisins, sugar, wine, lemon juice (that you didn't use on the apples/pears initially), cinnamon, and nutmeg. Transfer to a baking/casserole dish (this recipe works on a 13x9 casserole dish).

3) Mix together the nuts, flour, cinnamon, and star anise. Work in the agave to get clusters within the topping mixture, then spread evenly over the top of your filling.

4) Bake for 35-40 minutes, then let cool slightly before serving!

This crumble has an amazing combination of textures and flavors. You get chewiness from the raisins, softness from the cooked apples and pears, and a crunch from the nuts on top. The pears and apples keep the dish from being too sweet, which is contributed by the sugar, wine, and raisins. The lemon juice also balances it out slightly, and the nuts on top bring a richness to the dish. The overall warmth of the dish makes it an ultimate comforting dessert! 

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! enjoy! =) 

NEW RECIPE: Spicy Spanish Shirataki

Copyright 2015, Constantine William Spyrou. All rights reserved.

When I find a new ingredient to experiment with in stores, it usually ends up being a new flavoring, whether it be a spice like Szechuan pepper or a fruit like persimmon. However, when shopping a couple of weeks ago, a newer product came across my eye - shirataki - that is more of a base of a dish than a flavor. 

Shirataki is essentially pasta. It's got an interesting, pasta-like texture, warms through extremely quickly, and absorbs flavor extremely well - much like pasta. However, it is very low-calorie, at only 40 calories per pound! This is because the shirataki is actually made from a vegetable called Konnyaku, or "Devil's Tongue". It's got a special starch in it called glucomannan that humans can't digest, meaning we can't break it down into calories while it satiates our stomachs. The calories come from soy or other flavors that are usually placed into the shirataki (ie Tofu Shirataki has some soy in it). 

This is the perfect diet base food for anyone looking to enjoying pasta dishes at a lower calorie level. I went for a spicier Spanish-Meixcan style pasta for this dish, combining flavors like chili and toasted cumin with balsamic vinegar and fresh tomatoes for a bold but balanced low calorie dish! How low, do you ask? Using the My Fitness Pal recipe calculator, one serving of the dish below is under 50 calories, with 4 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fat, 1 gram of protein, and under 50 mg of sodium. Perfect for any type of diet! 

Recipe serves 4 people.

Ingredients:

2 8-oz packages Shirataki, drained
1 leek, finely chopped
1 tomato, diced (remove the wet pulp from the inside first!)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 Thai chile (or small chili with your preference of spice), finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper

Cooking/Assembling:

1. Add your cumin seeds to a pan on medium high heat. Toast for about 2 minutes until you can smell the cumin flavor from the pan.

2. Add in the olive oil and smoked paprika, and combine to get a reddish oil. Saute the leeks, chili, and garlic in the paprika-infused oil for 2 minutes, until the leeks turn soft. Season at this stage with your salt and pepper.

3. Deglaze the dish with balsamic vinegar, and mix well. Toss in the shirataki and cook until warmed through, about 5 minutes.

4. Stir in the fresh tomatoes, and serve!

This dish is incredibly warming and tasty while maintaining a healthy profile. With very little extra fat or carbs being added in, the shirataki makes for a great low-calorie dish that is perfectly balanced with the smokiness of the paprika, acidity and freshness of tomato, richness of the balsamic, and creaminess of the leeks. The aromatic cumin seeds cut through all of it to provide a great background of flavor. This has to be one of my favorite healthy dishes I've ever made!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy! =) 

NEW RECIPE: Upside-Down Roasted Turkey with Trivet Gravy (Happy Thanksgiving!!

Copyright 2015, Constantine William Spyrou. All rights reserved.

I hope that all of you had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!! Below was the abundant spread we had that was basically all cooked by the younger generation of the two families that came together for our Thanksgiving meal. How amazing is that? My younger sister made a pumpkin pie from scratch (not pictured here, but tasted amazing!) My older sister made the mashed potatoes. I helped out with two different kids of stuffing (regular and gluten-free!). Our cousin made sweet potatoes and toasted marshmallows! Of course, the centerpiece was the turkey - and the pressure was on for me this year. 

Last year, I did a smoked turkey that took a lot of prep work and time, but was worth it in terms of flavor. This year, I wanted to go for a simpler method that kept the turkey meat incredibly moist. I learned an interesting technique from British Youtube stars SORTED food - where they roasted the turkey UPSIDE DOWN. I know, it's crazy!! 

Using my mom's classic brine technique, I went for a similar method to SORTED with my turkey - and it worked brilliantly! The turkey meat was incredibly moist and juicy, and stayed warm even after over an hour of resting - which helped make it even more tender and delicious! Using a citrus and rosemary flavoring, this turkey is subtle in flavor but delicious and moist enough to grace any Thanksgiving - or Christmas - table! 

This recipe also comes with a gravy made from the roasting pan trivet (vegetable cooked underneath)- simple, but incredibly delicious! 

Recipe is good for a 10-11 pound turkey.

Ingredients:

1 10-11 pound turkey, neck and giblets removed if present
9-10 quarts water for the brine
4 oranges, halved
2 limes, halved
2 lemons, halved
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
1/4 cup cracked black peppercorns
4 tbsp cracked sea salt
2 tbsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
6 bay leaves
1 leek, roughly chopped
3 carrots, roughly chopped
1 large white onion, roughly chopped
1 small white onion, peeled
1 parsnip, roughly chopped
8 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 cup lemonade
2 tbsp clarified butter
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 cups water for the gravy
2 minced cloves of garlic
1 cup dry white wine
2 tbsp butter
4 cups turkey stock (or chicken stock)

Cooking/Assembling:

1. Pour the water into a brining container. Stir in 3 tbsp salt, all of the cracked black peppercorns, the bay leaves, and the rosemary. Squeeze in the juice of all of the citrus halves and add them in as well. Stir well to combine. Place in the turkey, and brine in the fridge overnight.

2. Preheat your oven to 355 degrees Fahrenheit (on convection bake if your oven supports that setting). In a roasting pan, toss together the leeks, carrots, onion, and celery with olive oil and some salt and pepper.

3. Remove the turkey from the brine and place it on top of the vegetables. Season the inside of the cavity with salt and pepper before placing in some of the citrus halves (at least one orange and one lemon), the small onion, and some of the rosemary/bay leaves from the brine.

4. Place on top of the vegetables on the roasting tray, then pour the water and white wine into the roasting pan. Cover the turkey with tinfoil and bake for 1 hour and 45 minutes (roughly 10-15 minutes per pound)

5. When the first portion of cooking is about done, melt 2 tbsp of clarified butter in the microwave and stir in warmed lemonade (to keep the butter from resolidfying).

6. Take the turkey out of the oven, remove the tinfoil, and up the temperature to 435 degrees F. Brush the turkey with the lemonade/butter mixture, then place back in the oven. Baste again every 10 minutes for another 20-30 minutes, until the thickest part of the breast reads 170 degrees F on a meat thermometer.

7. Remove the turkey from the roasting pan, cover with tinfoil, and let rest until ready to carve. Chop up the onion from inside the turkey, and place it and the squeezed citrus juice back into the roasting pan. Place your roasting pan on the stove on a high heat, bringing the liquid up to a boil.

8. Mash all of the vegetables up as much as possible, letting the liquid reduce by half. Add in the clarified butter, fresh thyme, and turkey stock, then bring back up to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes before straining into a pot and leaving to heat on low until ready to serve!

The turkey may not have the darkest skin, but it is beautifully cooked and moist on the inside. The gravy has a complexity of flavor from all of the roasted vegetables and layers of herbs that are added throughout the cooking process, making it the perfect complement to the most amazing, moist turkey!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know what you think and what you would change. If you make it at home, let me know how it turns out! Enjoy, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! =)