Pee Risks kat eer

. THE FRUGAL GOURM

THERE IS a new emphasis today
on eating grains. It has something
-to do with a new interest in
healthy eating — less animal fat
and all of that.

Rut the truth is that grains are
delicious. It may take your family
a short time to change from
potatoes to pasta, fice, barley,
lentils and the like, but the group
will be happy they did.

1 am not claiming ihat you
should give up potatoes. | would
never do such a thing, because
potatoes are healthy and versatile
as well as delicious. ;

‘But there are so many other
- wonderful food products — such
as grains — that will put starch
and substance into our lives.

PEAS AND LENTILS
(serves $ to 10 as a side dish)

This is a great dish that resem-
bles something from the Middle
East.

The recipe points to the fact
that we should blend grains and
vegetables — a practice that goes
clear back to ancient Roine.
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1. medium yellow onion, peeled
aad sliced
4 cups fresh or canned chicken
stock .
1% cups lentiis
1 16-ounce dag frozen green peas,
defrosted .

Heat a frying pan and add the

Dumplings: enjoying

SIMPLE COMFORT food has a
great survival rate from generation
to generation, But sometimes, the
techniques we use to make old
family favorites get lost.

LqUiSitive

oil, garlic and onion. Saure until
just tender,

Place the chicken stock and len-
tils in a 4-quart pot and bring to
a boil, Cover and simmer for 15
minutes.

Add the sauteed onion to the
pot of cooking lentils and simmer
10 minutes mere or until the liq-
uid is absorbed. Salt and pepper
to taste.

Stir in the peas and cover. ‘Turn
off the heat and allow to stand
for 5 minutes.

RICE TJMBALES

(makes 12 to 16, depending on

the size of the moulds)

Rice is great for dinner and easy
fo prepare. It is so easy that I
simply cannot understand why
people buy instant rice. The favor
is closer to that of a cardboard
box than to rice.

You can mix rice with
vegetables, serve it with gravy or
spaghetti sauce, pan-fry it with
chopped meats ur just serve it
with a little melted butter and
grated Parmesan or Romano
cheese. .

To cook rice, simply put 2 cups
of the grain in a medium sauce-
pan. The pan should, have a
tight-fitting lid.

Add 4 cups of water, a pinch of
salt and bring to a boil with the
lid off.

When it boils, cover with the lid
and turn the heat to very low.
Cook for 15 minutes, then,
without removing the lid, turn off
the heat and iet the pan sit on the
burner for another 10 minutes.
That’s it! .

While the rice is cooking, go
ahead with the rest of the dinner
preparations. The rice will be
perfect, so don’t worry about it:

By the way, rice doubles in vol-
ume when cooked.

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crashed
1 cup peeled and coarsely chopped
medium yellow onicn

1 stalk celery, coarsely ciiopped

VY: cup peeled and coarsely chop-
ped carrots

Ya csp cored, seeded and coarseiy
chopped red bell pepper
’ cup coarsely
mushrooms

chopped

One reader laments that her
mother and grandmother have
taken with them the secrets of
making ordinary fluffy dumplings
to “the great hitchens in the sky.””

I’s a caminder to each of us:

that family heirlooms can also ve
fecipes, and how nice it is “hen
these are shared,

Dumplings come in many guises
but those she remembers are the
plump, moist variety you would
plop acop a chicken stew to paach
during the final few minutes of
couking.

A common dumpling dough i¢ a
simple variation on baking powder
biscuits.

Using a pastry blender or cwo
knives, cut 2 tablespoons (28 mi}
of margarine or butter into 4 mis

Wednesday, February 3, 1993 - North Shore News - 514

THE He ih quite F

is
NEWS photo Mike Wakofleld

THERE ARE so many wonderfuS food products, such as pasta, rice, barley, lentils, and the like, that
will put starch and substance into our tives.

Ya cup heayy cream
2 eggs, beaten

1 cup grated Monterey Jack

cheese
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1% cups iong-grain rice (cook

this; you will have 3 cups cooked
rice)
See Barley page 53

simple treasures from the past

ture of 1 cup (250 mL) four,
teaspoon (2 mL) salt and 1%
teaspoon (7 mL) baking powder,
until the shortening pieces are the
size of peas.

Blend one ceg with 4% cup (75
mL) milk and stir into the flour
mixture jusc until the dough can
be pressed intu a ball,

Like biscuits, ris dough doesn't
need to be smooth. Too much
handling makes dumplings tough.

This recipe yicids roughly cigh-
teen one-inch dumplings. Small
dumplings cook quickly and are
less prone than larger ones to be-
ing done outside but raw in the
niiddle.

Dumpling recipes vary. -In-
cluding a fitde shortening makes
the dumplings ender. :

A deavener such oan baking
powder means they will be lighter.

We find that including an egg
reduces the tendency of dumplings
to be gluey since the cooking liq-

uid surrounds, rather than com-
bines with, a firmer dough,

For extra flavor, add freshly
ground pepper, chopped parsley,
finely chopped herbs, grated
onion or cheese.

Dumplings can be cocked in
stock or salted water. Or they can
be dropped on top of soups or
thickened stews,

In any case, the liquid must be
kept at a gentle boil. Too rapid a
boil causes the dumplings to
disintegrate. If it’s not hot
enough, the dumplings become
soggy.

As they cook, dumplings double
im size, so give ther roam to ex
pand.

They also need hot liquid on alt
sides and space. for steam above,

so an. ample cooking pat is a.

quire:
: a trial dumpling first. If

+. soft and falls apart, add a
little extra flour to the dough. Uf it

seems dry, add more egg or milk.

Dropping the dough from teas-
poons into the cooking liquid
makes a soft, very moist dumpl-
ing.

Instead, we prefer to roll the
dough inta balls and then in Tour
or cornmeal.

This makes the dumplings |
likely to be soggy, since moisture
doesn’t penetrate a coated surface
quite as much.

Leave the lid on and don't
peak! A glass lid is ideal. Steam
from the top is just as important
as the heat that comes from
below,

Dumplings
are lighter.

‘Large dumplings are done in 16
to 15 minutes; smal! ones take
roughly seven minutes,

They don't sit weil so just as
the last dumpling is cooked, serve
dinner and cujoy these simple
treasures from the past.

that cook quickly