Pamela Toman

Alternative Pizza Sauce

An alternative pizza sauce recipe to Mom's pizza sauce.

Ingredients Step
head of garlic Roast by rubbing with olive oil, sprinkling with salt, then wrapping in aluminum foil and baking at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.
2 T. olive oil
2 twigs fresh oregano
¼ white onion, finely minced
¼ yellow onion, finely minced
2-3 squished roasted garlic cloves
up to 1 T of combined salt, black pepper, red pepper		 Cook in a saucepan over medium-high heat until onions are translucent.
28 oz. can peeled San Marzano tomatoes (avoid tomatoes packed with calcium chloride) Add to saucepan. Stir intermittently until sauce develops a deep red color.
Source: dannyphantom

Alternative Pizza Sauce was published on 8 January 2025.

Plain Cheesecake

A 9" cheesecake. You must make it the day before so it has time to set up -- but it's a nice dense cheesecake in the Eli's style.

The tricks to non-cracking cheesecake: use room temperature ingredients, introduce minimal air, don't overbeat your eggs, keep a stable oven temperature (no peeking!), free the crust from the pan, and cool the cheesecake slowly.

Springform pans will work, but they may leak -- you may want a dedicated cheesecake pan if you make this often.

Ingredients Step
32 oz (4 containers) cream cheese
⅔ c. sour cream
4 large eggs		 Pull out and let rise to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Ensure the rack is in the center of the oven.
1½ c. graham cracker crumbs (1 package)
2 T. white sugar
1 T. brown sugar
7 T. melted butter		 Combine (probably in the food processor), then press into a 9" round pan. Place the pan on a cookie sheet lined with foil (just in case).
32 oz cream cheese Stir gently until smooth and creamy, scraping as needed.
1 c. sugar Stir gently again until creamy, scraping as needed.
⅔ c. sour cream
1½ t. vanilla
⅛ t. salt		 Stir until well-combined, scraping as needed.
4 eggs One at a time, lightly beat each egg and then gently stir into the cream cheese mixture. Do not over-mix. Scrape sides as needed.
Tap the cheesecake batter against the counter until you're satisfied that you've eliminated most of the air bubbles you introduced during mixing.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 325 for 50-75 minutes, until the edges are slightly puffed and possibly turning light golden brown, and the center is still jiggly like Jell-O.
Turn off the oven and open it, letting it cool for 10 minutes. After ten minutes, use a knife to gently loosen the crust from the pan -- but leave the ring attached.
Let the cheesecake cool until it is near room temperature (1-2 hours), then refrigerate the cheesecake overnight before serving.

Source: Sam Merritt

Plain Cheesecake was published on 6 January 2025.

Recipe uses: cream-cheese, sour-cream, eggs

Egg Drop Miso Soup

The easiest meal in the world. Packs a boatload of delicious nutrition in 10 minutes of prep.

This gave me the most dreadful stomach ache with soy-based miso, but the chickpea miso works great.

Ingredients Step
1 qt. stock Heat the stock in a saucepan, bringing it to a boil.
3 eggs Blend together in a separate dish.
¼ c. miso Measure the miso into a separate dish. Retrieve a bit of the heated stock, and loosen the miso into a dissolvable texture.
While stirring the boiling stock, slowly pour a thin thread of the egg mixture into the stock. Once it's all in, let the egg cook for a minute. Then stir in the loosened miso.
chives or green onions Cut with scissors atop the soup bowls to add a bit more flavor and garnish.

Based on: Aveline Kushi, via South River Miso

Egg Drop Miso Soup was published on 28 December 2024.

Recipe uses: stock, eggs

Chickpea Tagine

Very nice. This is a dish that Sarah made. It keeps calling to me.

Zucchini and red pepper aren't really fall vegetables, but the green and red color is nice. Perhaps the zucchini could be substituted with green beans and some more water, and the red pepper left out entirely? Or red onion used instead of yellow?

Serve with bread, couscous, harissa, mint, and/or yogurt.

Ingredients Step
2 T. olive oil
2 t. paprika
1 t. ginger
1 t. cumin
½ t. salt
¼ t. garlic powder
¼ t. pepper
¼ t. cinnamon		 Saute spices in pressure cooker until fragrant, about 1 minute.
½ c. water
1 butternut squash, cubed into ½" pieces
2 zucchini, cubed into ½" pieces
1 red pepper, coarsely chopped
1 onion, coarsely chopped
12 dried apricots, halved
2 t. honey		 Stir in. (You don't need more water.) Cook on high for 2 minutes, then quick release the pressure.
15 oz. can chickpeas
15 oz. can crushed tomatoes		 Stir in.

Source: Taste of Home

Chickpea Tagine was published on 1 December 2024.

Recipe uses: chickpeas, dried-apricots, butternut-squash, red-bell-pepper, zucchini

Soy Sauce Noodles

Dim sum dish, stylized for us. Serves 6-8.

Could toss in some tofu or other vegetables.

Fairly greasy when made according to instructions, so reduce where possible.

Ingredients Step
10 oz. thin Chinese egg noodles (e.g., lo mein) Cook according to package instructions until just tender, then rinse under running water. Set aside.
8 T. soy sauce
2 T. walnut oil
6 T. water		 Combine.
eggs (as many as people want) Fry them until edges are frizzled, whites are set, and yolk is to your taste. Season with a pinch of salt.
half a green cabbage, sliced thin
½ t. salt		 Saute until softened and reduced in size, 2-3 minutes.
whites of scallion bunch, 2" segments Add. Toss for 2 minutes until softened.
noodles
soy sauce mixture		 Add. Toss for 2 minutes until well coated.
greens of scallion bunch, 2" segments Add. Toss for 1 minute until wilted. Serve.

Source: Hetty Lui McKinnon (NYT Cooking)

Soy Sauce Noodles was published on 19 November 2024.

Recipe uses: eggs, cabbage, scallions