Chickpea and Vegetable Couscous Salad

On June 14, 2024June 14, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, saladsLeave a comment

Once I accepted that I was never going to justify housing a giant couscoussière in my tiny Montana kitchen and using its vastness, sized for the average Moroccan family, to feed my household of two, instant couscous became a staple grain not just at home but for lakeside picnics and onboard dinners. We recently wrapped up a two-week sailing adventure aboard The Blue Mule in the San Juan and Gulf Islands, and the couscous recipes I’ve been sharing in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon were part of our cruising menu.

The little grains cook so well in just-boiled water that I keep a collapsible silicone container with a tightly sealing lid in my galley box. I pour the couscous into it, add a pat of butter and sprinkling of cinnamon and salt, and then pour JetBoil-heated water on top and seal the container. For dinner before an evening sail on Flathead Lake, I use the same technique but boil the water on my kitchen stove and take it to the lake in a thermos.
Learn to make Chickpea and Vegetable Couscous Salad with Pour-Over Cinnamon Couscous

Black Bean Veggie Burgers

On May 31, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, frozenLeave a comment

Like many homemade versions of popular prepackaged foods, veggie burgers can taste exponentially better when mixed from fresh ingredients than pulled from a grocery store’s freezer section. Unfortunately, scratch-made versions often underperform their commercial counterparts when it comes to structure. As I note this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, I’ve eaten many delicious handmade veggie burgers that need to be eaten straight from the pan because the leftovers readily fall apart. Yet the ability to pull a vegetarian-friendly burger from the freezer and slap it on a clean grill is its key selling point for summer parties and quick dinners.

Balancing flavor and freezability became my goal when developing a black bean burger recipe, and I was so successful that I make double or triple batches for summerlong enjoyment. I’ve made these burgers with fresh-from-the-garden vegetables or ones pulled from the freezer, grilling or sautéing them to intensify their flavor and work out much of their natural moisture. A couple of patty-forming tricks create burgers dominated by vegetables and beans, packed with herbs and spices, and easy to freeze, reheat, flip, and serve, one compact patty at a time.
Learn to make Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

On May 23, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilled2 Comments

I’ve shared several grilled vegetable recipes in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, mostly featuring summer’s harvest. We grill several meals each week in summer, piling on eggplant, corn, and other homegrown vegetables. Yet we get coals going throughout the year, regardless of temperatures and weather. Before the garden produces its first crop of asparagus and after I’ve cut the last broccoli florets of fall, my favorite grilling vegetables are mushrooms.

I briefly explained my technique for smoking and then searing mushrooms when I shared my recipe for Vegan Memphis-Style Barbecue Sauce. The preparation is delicious but takes a few stages. For a simpler approach still loaded with flavor, I marinate the mushrooms, grill them until cooked through, and serve.
Learn to make Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

Rhubarb–Vanilla Syrup

On May 16, 2024May 16, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, refrigeratedLeave a comment

We tend to buy fruity sparkling waters and hard seltzers in cans, but bottles of fruit syrup concentrate are easy to make and stash in your fridge, or freeze in ice trays, for homemade spritzers and cocktails. You can also play with flavors you’re unlikely to find on the store shelf, like the tart–sweet rhubarb syrup I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

The technique for making fruit syrups that you plan to use in beverages is simple. I make them from spring to fall with fresh fruit, cycling through flavors as they ripen. In winter, you can make them with fruit from the freezer in the same way you make Frozen Strawberry Syrup to pour over pancakes or waffles—just don’t let it cook as long to keep it fully pourable.
Learn to make Rhubarb–Vanilla Syrup

Homemade Vanilla Extract

On May 10, 2024May 10, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, dry storedLeave a comment

I’ve been working on pieces lately with recipes that are so simple but that have become more common as store-bought items for most people, including salad dressings, herb salt, and the latest recipe in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon: homemade vanilla extract. Beyond all of the reasons I give in my column for turning vanilla beans into extract, I’ve found that the process essentially acts as my vanilla bean storage system, keeping the expensive pods from spoiling.

Most grocery stores sell vanilla beans a pod at a time, the long, thin, dark shape tucked into a vial. Depending on how well it’s been sealed, the bean might be oily and pliable or dry and brittle. Sellers recommend keeping the bean as packaged until you need to use it but airing it out if you still have it 3 to 6 months later. I hadn’t realized how crucial this was until a friend who had bought oily, pliable vanilla beans in a vacuum-sealed pack opened the bag one day to find they had molded. But if you store the beans in alcohol, they not only create vanilla extract for you but also stay mold free. Just make sure they’re completely submerged.
Learn to make Homemade Vanilla Extract

Herbed Bean Salad

On April 26, 2024May 10, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, saladsLeave a comment

The other day, I was asked how I come up with my recipes. The inspiration varies, but they’re like jazz tunes: once published, I continue to play and let them evolve. The recipe in my latest Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon is among those that I’ve been riffing on for years.

The salad began as a way to use some of my favorite homemade condiments, which I later included in my cookbook, The Complete Guide to Pickling: the bright pink vinegar and softened flowers of Pickled Chive Blossoms, the complementary flavor of German-Inspired Spicy Mustard, and Pickled Nasturtium Seeds as the homegrown stand-in for capers. To feature Quick Homemade Mozzarella, I plated the salad in layers with slices of fresh cheese and encouraged my cheese-making workshop students to do the same. Then I revised the recipe to share with buyers of vertically farmed fresh greens, using it to showcase the brand’s baby spinach, arugula, and chard. When the company shut down, I altered the recipe again, tossing the warm beans with the first lettuces and herbs to appear in my garden each spring: spinach, arugula, butter lettuce, chives, and sorrel.
Learn to make Herbed Bean Salad

Warm Quinoa and Feta Salad

On April 18, 2024April 18, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, saladsLeave a comment

We’ve had our usual cyclic spring weather in Montana, with a high of 76°F on Sunday followed by nights in the 20s. It makes me appreciate even more the first spring greens and herbs that eagerly pop through the sun-warmed soil and then tough out the crisp nights and frosty mornings. As I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, my first spring salads mainly consist of store-bought ingredients and sneak in handfuls of whatever garden treats appear first for fresh pops of green.

I make variations on these spring salads throughout the growing season, transitioning to homegrown summer vegetables and herbs as the weeks pass. But there’s something special about the ones made with those first perennial and self-seeded herbs and greens, the plants that bravely leaf out through 50°-plus temperature swings.
Learn to make Warm Quinoa and Feta Salad

Bagna Cauda-Style Mashed Potatoes

On April 12, 2024May 10, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, dry storedLeave a comment

This time of year, I’m always pairing what remains of last season’s harvest with the first of spring’s perennial edibles. As they push through the ground and show off their bright green tops, I can’t help but snip a handful at a time onto whatever I’m trying to use up from dry storage or the freezer.

That approach to homegrown produce applies to this week’s Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. In my unheated mudroom, the last of the potatoes that we dug and cured in October have begun to sprout in their storage box, an old, lidless cooler with a few shims in the bottom to allow air circulation and a towel thrown over the top to keep the light out and the potatoes from turning green. They’re still firm and ideal for mashed potatoes. The final garlic heads and onion bulbs are also trying to sprout but haven’t softened. All it takes is a sprinkling of the emerging onion tops cut from perennial walking onions to make the storage vegetables worthy of a spring meal.
Learn to make Bagna Cauda-Style Mashed Potatoes

Berry Chocolate Muffins

On April 5, 2024April 4, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, quick breadsLeave a comment

As much as I enjoy baked goods, I don’t really have a sweet tooth. My favorite pastries minimize the sugar and boost the flavor, so I incorporate some unexpected ingredients into my recipes. One of those ingredients appears in the recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. I make Berry Chocolate Muffins with the whey left from draining Homemade Yogurt to thicken it. Not only does it add nutrients and tanginess to the muffins, but I avoid pouring the whey down the drain, a practice that can lead to environmental problems when dumped on a commercial scale.

My next choice for the liquid in these muffins is Cultured Buttermilk, the tastier and thicker version of an artificially thickened store-bought buttermilk or the milk you hastily spike with lemon juice to hint at the soured flavor. Once you start baking with these liquids, you’ll find a place for them in everything from biscuits to cake.
Learn to make Berry Chocolate Muffins

Golden Baked Custard

On March 29, 2024March 29, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn baked, Column1 Comment

Although my family probably ate baked custard for dessert, I mostly remember it as an afterschool snack, scooped from a well-worn casserole dish and served without ceremony. It seemed like the homemade, comforting equivalent of vanilla pudding.

It wasn’t until I started experimenting with custard-based desserts at home, like flan and crème brûlée, that I realized the creations that can fetch high prices at an upscale restaurant are really just stylish versions of old-fashioned baked custard. As I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, once you become comfortable with making custard, fancier desserts are just a topping away. The main transition from old-fashioned baked custard to the more exotic sounding desserts is a caramel sauce, made by simply heating sugar until it melts and becomes golden, or a crunchy caramelized sugar shell, best achieved with a kitchen torch.
Learn to make Golden Baked Custard