Broiled Brussels Sprouts with Hazelnuts

From Mark Bittman's blog

Heat the broiler. Trim about a pound of Brussels sprouts and pulse in a food processor—or use a knife—to chop them up a bit. Spread out on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle with two tablespoons olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss. Broil the sprouts for about five minutes, until browning on the edges. Meanwhile pulse a handful of hazelnuts (or chop them). Shake the pan to flip the sprouts, add the nuts and broil for another three minutes. Sprinkle with freshly squeezed lemon juice and plenty of fresh parsley.

RESULTS: 

this was really good, and just a hair easier than the other Brussels sprout recipe I dig. Just be careful that brown on the edges doesn't turn into black all over--I had mine on the low broil setting and they charred pretty quick on the top rack. Next time, I'll be careful to only put them on the top rack for a minute or so, and then one rung below after that, especially after the nuts (I used walnuts) are added. To turn it into a full lunch, I tossed the sprouts with pasta, a little more oil, lemon juice, and some cheese (feta and parmesan). Yum! The pan didn't even need too much cleaning. Easy peasy.

Curried Cauliflower [with raisins]

From the Washington Post

Ingredients:

• 1 head (2 pounds) cauliflower (green leaves and stem removed), cut into 2- to 3-inch florets
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
• About 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup golden raisins, coarsely chopped
• 1 medium onion, finely diced (1 cup)
• 2 teaspoons sweet curry powder, or more to taste
• 1 to 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place the cauliflower florets in a large, shallow roasting pan. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil and 1/8 teaspoon of the salt and toss to combine. Arrange the florets in a single layer; it's okay if the fit is snug. Add 1/4 cup of the water. Roast for 25 to 35 minutes (start checking after 20 minutes), until the florets are just tender and lightly browned.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the curry-onion mixture: Put the raisins in a small bowl and cover with very hot water. Let the raisins soak for 10 minutes.
4. Use the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil to lightly coat a medium skillet; place over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens.
5. Add the curry powder, 1 tablespoon of the butter and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Stir to combine, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
6. Drain the raisins (discarding the liquid) and add to the skillet, along with the sugar and half of the remaining water (2 tablespoons). Stir to combine, and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, adding the remaining 2 tablespoons of water if the mixture seems dry; it should be moist but not wet. Taste and add salt and/or butter if desired.
7. Toss the roasted cauliflower with the curry-onion mixture. Taste, and adjust seasoning as needed. Transfer to a shallow serving dish and let sit for 15 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

RESULTS:
Despite having a large spice container of curry, I haven't cooked with it much so I wasn't quite sure what I was going to get. Basically, this was awesome, and still awesome the next day for leftovers. Naturally, I left out the raisins, because raisins are disgusting. Also, after an initial attempt at roasting the cauliflower, I got impatient and just threw it in the saute pan with the curry and onions and butter and put a lid on that. The cauliflower steamed/sauteed pretty quickly then. Ideas to make it even better: lentils? chicken? Note to self: cook with curry more often.

Roasted tomato soup with broiled cheddar

From Smitten Kitchen. If you saw this recipe before now, could there have been any doubt that I'd make it?

Serves 4 (though closer to 6 if served in mugs)

Soup

• 3 pounds plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 large or 4 small cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried
• 1/4 teaspoon (or more to taste) dried crushed red pepper
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

Lid

• 4 1-inch slices from a large loaf of rye bread, whole wheat sourdough or bread of your choice (or 16 1-inch slices from a baguette), toasted until hard and lightly buttered on one side
• 1 tablespoon grated raw onion
• 1 cup coarsely grated cheddar (or more to taste)

Make soup: Preheat oven to 400°F. Wrap garlic cloves in a tight foil packet. Place tomatoes, cut side up, on large baking sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper (I used 1 full teaspoon of Kosher salt). Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil. Add foil packet of garlic to tray. Roast until tomatoes are brown and tender (garlic will be very tender), about 1 hour. Cool slightly.

Unwrap garlic packet and peel cloves. Transfer cloves, tomatoes and any accumulated juices to a blender or food processor and pulse machine on and off until tomatoes are a chunky puree. Transfer tomatoes to medium pot and add thyme, crushed red pepper and stock and bring to a boil Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and adjust seasonings to taste.

Create cheddar lid: Preheat oven to 350. Arrange four ovenproof soup bowls, crocks or large mugs on a large, foil-lined baking sheet. Stir grated onion into the warm soup. (I love this last-minute suggestion of onion.) Float toast slice(s) in each bowl, buttered side up and divide grated cheese generously over top. (If you’re using a wide bowl, you might find that you want more cheese to create a thick, broiled lid.) Bake soups on tray for 15 to 20 minutes, until cheese on top is bubbling and brown at the edges. If you’d like it even more bronzed on top, preheat your broiler and finish soups for a minute or two under it. Serve immediately.

Do ahead: Soup can be prepared one day ahead, and kept covered in the fridge. Rewarm before serving, or before finishing with cheddar crouton.

RESULTS: Um, amazing. Even Chris, who is not a soup guy, offered his highest praise: "This is pretty good, sweetheart." I left out the grated onions and subbed onion powder. Cheese: sharp cheddar. Bread: Ry sourdough. The toms took a lot longer to roast, possibly because I doubled the recipe so there was more moisture in the oven. Anyway, it might not happen in exactly 1 hour so leave yourself time. Also, don't go overboard with salting the toms before roasting, especially if you're using a full-sodium broth. I think I used too much (although that might be why Chris liked it). Bethie asked if it would be good with meat, and Chris had actually said it would be perfect if there was some bacon in it. So again, adjust salt accordingly (but don't leave it off altogether on the toms pre-roasting, I think you need some to help with the roasting process). Also, ground beef or shredded chicken might work well.

My one complaint, and it's not really a complaint and more of a caution: I doubled the recipe thinking I'd get a lot of leftovers to freeze in our new chest freezer and use when things are more hectic this winter. I did get extras, but I think I only got about 6 servings from doubling the recipe.

Lemony Zucchini Risotto

K came up to visit this weekend. We had an awesome time hanging out at the park all day at a bluegrass festival. We stayed until our ears were full, and then we decided to come home and fill our tummies. I found this online, but it's from Bittman's Food Matters Cookbook.

Makes: 4 servings

Time: 45 to 60 minutes

Risotto can be almost meager or incredibly luxurious; this one manages to be both, as the grated zucchini mostly melts away, leaving behind a creamy richness that doesn’t depend on tons of rice or mounds of cheese. Parboiling the brown rice as directed in Step 1 helps the rice absorb water quickly and evenly.

• Salt
• 1 cup short-grain brown rice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• Black pepper
• 1⁄2 cup dry white wine or water
• 3 to 5 cups vegetable or chicken stock or water
• 4 small or 2 large zucchini (about 1 1⁄2 pounds), grated
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1⁄2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, optional
• 1 tablespoon butter or additional olive oil, optional
• 1⁄2 cup chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish, optional

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil and salt it. Stir in the brown rice, adjust the heat so that the water bubbles steadily, and cook, without stirring, for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well.
2. Put the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. When it’s hot, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is glossy and coated with oil, just a couple of minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then add the wine. Stir and let the liquid bubble away.
3. Begin to add the stock, about 1⁄2 cup at a time, stirring after each addition and every minute or so. When the stock is just about evaporated, add more. The mixture should be neither soupy nor dry. Keep the heat medium to medium-high and stir frequently.
4. After about 15 minutes of adding stock, stir in the zucchini and cook, stirring, until it releases its liquid and the mixture again becomes dry. Begin tasting the rice about 5 minutes later; you want it to be tender but with still a tiny bit of crunch. It could take as long as 45 minutes to reach this stage. When it does, stir in the lemon zest and juice, and the Parmesan, butter, and basil if you’re using them. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately, garnished with additional basil if you like.

Lemony Zucchini Risotto with Fried Eggs. When the risotto is almost done, put a medium skillet over medium heat for about a minute. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter and swirl it around the pan. When the oil is hot, crack 4 eggs into the skillet. When the whites become opaque, a minute later, turn the heat to low and sprinkle the eggs with salt and pepper. Cook until the yolks are set as you like them and the whites are completely firm; cut through the uncooked parts, if necessary, to encourage the still-liquid white to spread over the surface of the pan. Put 1 fried egg on top of each serving of risotto.

RESULTS: We both thought the flavor of this was spot on. Lemon + basil + Parmesan + shallots = yummy. (We used a shallot instead of an onion because we halved the recipe, and that's what I had on hand anyway.) The egg was also great. However, we found it took considerably longer than 60 minutes to make. After an hour and a half, we decided that it was good enough and ate it a bit closer to crunchy than al dente. From that, we have a couple notes: The first is to really par boil the rice for longer at the beginning (we did use the brown rice. This wouldn't be a problem if you used arborio rice). We only did it for 10 minutes, so try 15 or maybe even 20. The second is that if you do need to use more liquid than the recipe calls for, just use more water, not more stock. It gets more salty the more stock you add, and we found that even with an extra cup of stock (and trust me, I put in more than just one cup of extra liquid) it crossed the line from good salty to too salty. Otherwise, a great recipe! 

Beet Rosti with Rosemary

From How to Cook Everything:

Yield 4 servings

Time 30 minutes

Keep the heat moderate — cooking too quickly will burn the sugary outside of the pancake while leaving the inside raw. And don’t forget to wear an apron when you're grating the beets. 

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds beets 
• 1 teaspoon coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Minced parsley, a few rosemary leaves, or grates Parmesan cheese for garnish

1. Trim beets, and peel them as you would potatoes; grate them in food processor or by hand. Begin preheating 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat.

• 2. Toss grated beets in bowl with rosemary, salt and pepper. Add about half the flour; toss well, add rest of flour, and toss again.
• 3. Put butter in skillet; heat until it begins to turn nut-brown. Scrape beet mixture into skillet, and press with spatula to form a round. With medium to medium-high heat -- the pancake should gently sizzle -- cook, shaking pan occasionally, until bottom of cake is nicely crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Slide cake onto a plate, top with another plate, invert the two plates, and return cake to pan. Keep cooking, adjusting heat if necessary, until other side is browned, another 10 minutes or so. Garnish, cut into wedges, and serve hot or at room temperature.
• Results:
• Salty, sweet, and buttery, this is basically beet hash browns. It was just a gorgeous treat to make, first of all. I used red and golden beets, so the shredded beets in the glass bowl with little bits of rosemary were just lovely. To make things "easier" on myself, I learned how to use the grater on my food processor. I say "easier" because there was a bit of a learning curve. But once Chris figured it out, it really was very fun -- the food processor makes a great whirring noise--and I didn't have beet juice all over my kitchen.  I love that food processor. 
• Burning the sugars in the beets before the beets are cooked through is a real possibility--I would aim a little lower on the heat (medium or medium low), and only turn it up only if things seem to need a little more oomph. Be patient. If you're the only beet eater in the house, I would say go ahead and make the full recipe--the leftovers, though less crispy, are still pretty tasty, and beets are a great source of vitamins. And cheap, especially now at the farmers market.
• Finally, don't get too hung up on the amounts listed here. The recipe I found online actually called for 2 pounds of beets for 1/2 cup of flour and 2 tsp of rosemary, but I'm pretty sure the recipe in the book said 1.5 pounds of beets for the same amount of flour and half the rosemary (which is what I retyped above)... basically, this can really be to taste as long as you've got enough butter and flour to make the mechanics work. 

Zucchini Ricotta Fritters

Only three posts in July, shameful! And, here's another one for the "to-do" list. I might actually get to this one. :)
http://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2011/08/zucchini-ricotta-fritters.html

I swear I've been cooking, just nothing all that exciting or new. Although I did make a pretty fabulous Beet Rosti this weekend, I'll see if I can find that recipe for you...

Cold Corn Soup

From the Washington Post:

This is a distilled flavor of high summer. The coconut milk accentuates the sweetness of the corn.
Serve with salad and a glass of chardonnay. The soup tastes better with a day's refrigeration.

4 servings
Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons sweet butter
• 3 or 4 medium shallots, cut into thin slices
• Pinch curry powder
• Kernels from about 8 ears white corn (4 cups)
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 4 whole black peppercorns
• 6 whole coriander seeds
• 3 stems parsley
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk, preferably low-fat (may substitute whole milk)
• Salt

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in an uncovered Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are softened but but not browned. Add the curry powder and cook for 1 minute, stirring to coat evenly.
2. Add the corn and chicken broth, stirring to combine.
3. Tie the peppercorns, coriander and parsley in a small cheesecloth bundle, then add to the soup. Reduce the heat to low and cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat.
4. Stir in the coconut milk. Cover, and let the soup rest for 20 minutes.
5. Discard the cheesecloth bundle.
6. Reserve 1 cup of the soup. Puree the remaining soup in a blender (working in batches) or with an immersion (stick) blender until smooth.
7. Set a strainer over a bowl; strain the pureed soup, gently pressing on any solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Add the reserved 1 cup of unpureed soup to the bowl (for texture); mix well. Season with salt to taste, keeping in mind the soup will be chilled.
8. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled before serving.

RESULTS:
This wasn't all that much different from the other cold corn soup that I posted up here a while ago and am too lazy to link to now, but I did really like the combination of coconut, coriander, and ground ginger (which I used because I didn't remember that I had curry powder until just typing this sentence now...). I thought the whole cheesecloth thing was unnecessarily fussy, so I just tossed the spices in there and figured, if I get a whole peppercorn, so be it.

Spicy Squash Salad with lentils and goat cheese

Recipe, intro, and footnote from Smitten Kitchen:

If you’d like to toast the seeds, simply clean them off, rinse and pat them dry and toast them in the oven on an oiled baking sheet, sprinkled with salt. But this comes with a warning: they like to pop, seemingly more than regular pumpkin seeds do, or maybe it’s just my bad luck. I suspect if you let them dry out for a day first, they wouldn’t, but who has that kind of patience?

Serves 6 as an appetizer, 3 as a main

• 3/4 cup black or green lentils
• 6 cups peeled, seeded and cubed butternut squash or sugar pumpkin (1-inch cubes) (from about a 2-poudn squash)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon hot smoked Spanish paprika*
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 4 cups baby arugula (I skipped this)
• 1 cup soft crumbled goat cheese
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced mint leaves (optional; I used this, but added it after I took a photo)
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, plus additional to taste
• Roasted seeds (about 1/2 cup) from your butternut squash (optional; see note above)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss squash or pumpkin cubes with 2 tablespoons oil, cumin, paprika and salt. Arrange in a single layer on baking sheet and roast 20 minutes. Flip pieces and roast for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until tender. Cool.
2. Meanwhile, soak lentils for 10 minutes in a small bowl, then drain. Cook lentils in boiling salted water until tender but firm, about 30 minutes. Rinse with cold water, then drain and cool.
3. Combine lentils, pumpkin, any oil you can scrape from the baking sheet (I didn’t get enough for this to be worth it) with arugula, if using, half of goat cheese, mint, vinegar, and 1 tablespoon oil. Season with salt and pepper and extra vinegar, if desired (we felt it needed it). Divide among plates and pass with remaining goat cheese to sprinkle.

* I swapped half with sweet (not hot) smoked paprika. If you don’t have either on hand, there are ways to approximate this smoky/spiciness with what you have in your pantry, such as mixing some regular paprika with a ground chipotle powder or another smoky spice, and then a pinch of cayenne for extra heat.

RESULTS: Needs bacon. Otherwise great.

Crushed Peas with Smoky Sesame Dressing

From Smitten Kitchen


1 1/2 pounds fresh peas in pods or about 1 1/2 cups already shelled or frozen and defrosted
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon paprika, smoked if you have it
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 scallions, thinly sliced
Toasted pitas, cut into wedges, for serving

Cook peas: Have ready a colander and an ice bath, and bring a medium pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Blanche peas for 30 seconds (if you like them with a real residual snap) to 1 minute (for a slightly more yielding pea) and drain them, then immediately shocking them in the ice water. Drain the peas again and pat them dry on a large towel.

Crush peas: Using a potato or egg-masher, muddler or meat pounder (be gentle!), lightly crush the peas. Aim for mixed textures, some left whole, most in halves and a few a little more broken up. Put them in a large bowl.

Make dressing: Whisk together tahini, yogurt, lemon juice, water, cumin, paprika and salt. You might be tempted to swap the water with olive oil but don’t do it — it makes a horrible curdled mess you will be sad to have to toss.

Assemble: Mix peas with about 3 tablespoons of the dressing, to start, then add more to taste. Sprinkle with scallions. Heap pea mixture on toasted pita wedges.

RESULTS:
You know, I didn't bother with the pita wedges, I just ate the peas. Possibly due to this, I ended up with about three times the dressing that I needed, which is ok because it turns out it makes a great salad dressing, especially as I've been in the mood for something creamy but didn't want to ruin a healthy salad by putting ranch on it.

Panzanella of Bell Peppers

Another one from Chef Matt:


This salad is one that often has tomatoes, but the real “heart” of this salad is the bread. (Hence the use of “pane,” meaning “bread” in the name.) The best choice for the bread is to use leftover stale bread, since this will really soak up the flavors of the oil, vinegar and fresh herbs.  Tuscan bread is typically made without salt, and while it is traditional, it’s not my favorite choice. Use leftover focaccia (page XX) to really bring this salad to life.

Yield: Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp        red wine vinegar
• 1 clove     garlic – minced
• 1 tsp        fresh thyme – minced
• 1 tsp        fresh oregano – minced
• ¼ tsp        crushed red pepper
• ½ tsp        salt
• ¼ tsp        freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup        extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cups        stale bread cubes – or fresh bread cubes lightly toasted
• 2 ea        red bell peppers
• 1 ea        yellow (or orange) bell pepper
• 1 ea        green bell pepper
• ½ ea        red onion
• 1 ea        cucumber – large
• ½ lb        fresh mozzarella
• 20 ea        fresh basil leaves – large,  roughly torn by hand

Method:

1. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the vinegar, garlic, thyme, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt and black pepper. While continuing to whisk, slowly add the olive oil to the bowl, and whisk to fully emulsify.
2. Pour half of the vinaigrette into a large serving bowl.  In the medium bowl where you mixed the vinaigrette, add the bread cubes and toss to coat. Set aside and allow to soak while you make the rest of the salad.
3. Slice the sides off all of the bell peppers (of all colors) and remove any seeds and white ribs on them. Cut peppers into 1” squares, and toss with the vinaigrette in the large serving bowl.
4. Cut the red onion into thin slices, and toss with the peppers.
5. Peel the cucumber and slice in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds with a spoon, and then slice crosswise into semicircles. Toss in with the peppers and onions.
6. Cut the fresh mozzarella into ½” cubes and toss with the peppers.
7. Add the bread and vinaigrette mixture to the salad, and toss everything together to combine.  Taste and correct for salt and pepper.
8. Top the salad with the torn basil leaves and toss in lightly. Serve immediately.

RESULTS:
This one has real wow factor. I made it for a lunch with Chris, Tiffany and Tom, and it was really pretty. Really pretty. And it went over pretty well. The one thing we all agreed on was that maybe there was too much onion. Like, if you really really love red onions, it would be a good amount. But if it's just sort of OK to you, you might want to cut back. Also, personally, I like my vinaigrette more on the vinegar side, but I think that's the beauty of this recipe, it's so changeable. This would be a great one to make, especially in the late summer when we've got all these peppers and no one really knows what to do with them.

Oh, and, there weren't any leftovers. Well, there were, but they didn't survive the night...If you know what I mean...Because I ate them.

Roasted Red Peppers

This is the roasted red peppers recipe that goes with this penne dish.  Chef Matt mentioned that this will work with any number of peppers (you don't need to use 4). And just a note from me: I would strongly recommend you not skimp on the foil. I did, and I have completely ruined one of my baking sheets. Good thing they're super cheap.

These roasted peppers are a useful base for so many dishes, and can add flavor and color to a lot of dishes where we are excluding tomatoes. This technique also works just fine if you want to roast orange or yellow peppers too.

Yield: ~ 2 cups

Ingredients:

• 4 ea        red bell peppers
• As needed    olive oil, salt, pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Split each of the peppers in half lengthwise. Remove all the ribs and seeds from the inside.
3. Rub the outside of each pepper with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Place peppers on a baking pan lined with aluminum foil.
4. Roast the peppers until the outsides are very dark – black even. Rotate the pan while cooking to ensure even coverage. This process could take up to 40 minutes. Be patient and let them roast thoroughly.
5. Remove the peppers from the oven, and immediately place them in a large sealable plastic bag. Seal tightly, and let sit for 20 minutes so the skins can steam off.
6. Remove the peppers from the bag, peel off all the skin.
7. Cool peppers, and use as needed.

Chard and White Bean Stew

• 1 pound Swiss chard (can also swap kale, spinach or another green), ribs and stems removed and cleaned
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup (5 1/4 ounces) chopped carrots
• 1 cup (5 ounces) chopped celery
• 1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) chopped shallots, about 4 medium
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 15-ounce cans (or about 3 3/4 cups) white beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups (or more to taste) vegetable broth
• 1 cup pureed tomatoes (from a can/carton/your jarred summer supply)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 fresh thyme sprigs
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
• Toasted bread slices, poached eggs, chopped herbs such as tarragon, parsley or chives or grated Parmesan or Romano to serve (optional)

1. Bring medium pot of salted water to boil. Cook chard (or any heavier green; no need to precook baby spinach) for one minute, then drain and squeeze out as much extra water as possible. Coarsely chop chard.
2. Wipe out medium pot to dry it, and heat olive oil over medium. Add carrots, celery, shallots and garlic and saute for 15 minutes. Barber warns not to brown them but I didn’t mind a light golden color on them. Add wine (scraping up any bits that have stuck to the pot) and cook it until it reduced by three-fourths. Add beans, broth, tomatoes, a few pinches of salt, freshly ground black pepper, thyme and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes. Add chard and cook for 5 minutes more. Remove thyme and bay leaf. Add more broth if you’d like a thinner stew and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
3. Serve as is drizzled with sherry vinegar. Or you can ladle the stew over thick piece of toasted country bread or baguette that has been rubbed lightly with half a clove of garlic, top that with a poached egg and a few drops of sherry vinegar and/or some grated cheese.

RESULTS:  This was very satisfying, especially with the poached egg and the toast. I replaced the celery with mushrooms, and I wish I could say it was because I had some culinary insight, but it was because I did not have celery, but I did have mushrooms that had to be used up. Anyway, it was a good substitution, I'd recommend it.

Tahini Collard Greens

Serves four and prepared in 20 minutes

• 2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil-I used 2 tbs olive oil and 2 tbs bacon fat
• 1 Tbs. chopped fresh garlic or more to taste
• 1 Lb. Fresh Kale or other dark green leafy vegetable, cleaned with large stems and veins removed and roughly chopped. Pat dry after rinsing.
• 1/2 Cup or more chicken stock or other healthy stock such as vegetable or beef marrow stock.
• 3 Tbs. Tahini
• Sea Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
• 2 Tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice.
• Chopped fresh tomato for garnish (optional)

1. In a large dutch oven or deep covered skillet with a lid, heat oil on medium high until hot. Drop in the garlic and sautee for a few minutes until golden brown.
2. Add the kale and press down and toss to coat with oil. Add in the stock, tahini, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well and cover to cook until the greens are wilted and tender, which should take about 5 minutes.
3. Uncover and continue cooking on a lower heat, stirring frequently until the greens are very tender, which should take about 5 more minutes. If you need to add more stock to prevent the greens drying out, do so, but you do not want to over do it.
4. Remove the greens from the heat and stir in the lemon juice, tossing well to distribute. Taste the greens and adjust the seasoning to your liking. Garnish with fresh tomato and serve over rice hot, warm or at room temperature.

RESULTS:
This tasted exactly like it seems like it would taste. (I don't know why I sometimes think some recipes will end up tasting like something other than the sum of their parts, especially when there's no baking involved). I mean, it was really good and very filling, and I fully intend to make the variations (one of which is peanut butter, lime juice and ginger instead of tahini and lemon juice), but it tasted just like collards with tahini. You can also use broccoli raab (which, thanks to The Office, I can no longer say without giggling), beet greens, dandelion or turnip greens, chard, bok choy, tatsoi, cabbage, spinach, or something called gai lan.

Cannellini and Kale Ragout

From Epicurious:
The oversize croutons add a nice crunch to this warming dish, which is a cross between a soup and a stew. Serve with: Romaine salad with sliced oranges, black olives, and balsamic vinaigrette.

Yield: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 1 1/2-inch-thick slices Italian bread, crusts removed, each slice quartered
1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
5 cups (packed) thinly sliced kale (about 1 large bunch)
1 14 1/2-ounce can vegetable broth
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes with green pepper and onion in juice
1 15-ounce can cannellini (white kidney beans) or Great Northerns, drained

Preparation:
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add bread and 1 teaspoon thyme; cook until bread is golden on both sides, turning with tongs, about 2 minutes total. Transfer croutons to bowl; sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Add remaining 4 tablespoons oil, garlic, and crushed red pepper to same pot; sauté over medium heat 30 seconds. Add kale and broth; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until kale wilts, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice, beans, and remaining 1 tablespoon thyme. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle ragout into shallow bowls. Top with croutons and serve.

Results:
So easy and great for our first snowy weekend. I had to simmer it for a while without the cover because it was a little too soupy for my taste. I think it would also be good with other herbs than thyme, like oregano. So, I had this ragout with the crouton for lunch today, and I plan on mixing it with some pasta to take to work for lunch sometime this week. If you want to turn it into a soup, I would say your could just add more broth.

Quick Pickled Zucchini

Just the other day I was wondering, "I wonder if I can pickle zucchinis?" and then Beth emailed me this recipe from 101 cookbooks.

Ingredients

• 3 medium (1 pound) zucchini, thinly sliced

• 1 medium white onion, thinly sliced

• 3 shallots, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fine grain sea salt or pickling salt
  
• 1/4 cup (small handful) fresh dill sprigs
• 1 small fresh red chile pepper, very thinly sliced
• 1/2 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
• 
3/4 cup cider vinegar

• 3/4 cup white wine vinegar

• 1/3 cup sugar

Directions
Toss the zucchini, onion, shallots, and salt together in a colander and place over a bowl to catch the liquids. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least a couple hours. Toss once or twice along the way. You're aiming to get as much liquid out of the zucchini as possible.

When you're finished draining the zucchini, shake off any water. At this point you want the zucchini as dry as possible. Place in a 1 liter / 1 quart jar along with the dill, chile pepper, and mustard seeds. Alternately, you can cram them into a 3/4 liter Weck jar like I do, but it's always a bit snug in the jar.

Combine the ciders and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves, and continue to boil for a few minutes. Pour the liquid over the zucchini and seal the jar. Let cool, then refrigerate. The pickles are good for a week or so.



Makes one quart.

Results:
Unknown. I'm in Stevens Point right now for a conference and I put these together right before I left. At first whiff, they smelled like McDonald's pickles, but better.

Addendum:
These are pretty good! They go really well with, of all things, tuna fish. They don't keep tremendously long, only a couple weeks, so don't hold back when you're eating them.

Chris was gone this weekend, so....

Items put up this weekend:

• 1 qt raspberries (frozen)
• 5 lbs roasted roma tomatoes (frozen)
• 6 pints pickles (frozen, thus bringing the season total for freezer pickles up to 12 pints)
• 20 pints crushed tomatoes (canned--it was a group effort, I'm getting 5 jars)

Items unsuccessfully attempted:

• 10 lbs apples sauce from crab apples (I don't have a food mill, and I wasn't going to peel all those tiny apples, but I thought maybe a sieve or a potato ricer would work to separate the peels from the apple mush. They didn't. Luckily, I tried it with only 2 lbs first, so I only have a little bit of skin-on apple mush to work through. It tastes very good with yogurt!)
  

Sweet Corn Pancakes

I got to go to the farmer's market for the first time in weeks yesterday. I went a little overboard and bought enough to feed a family of four vegetarians. Contributing to this was my mistakenly buying a dozen ears of corn instead of my usual 6 (I must have been checked out yesterday because when he gave me the corn and I noticed how much heavier the bag was than usual, I thought it was due to all the rain we've been getting. It didn't occur to me until I was home that it was heavier than usual because I had bought twice as much corn). However, this is a happy thing, to have too much corn, especially when it is literally the tastiest corn I have ever had in my life. Very, very sweet. But what to do with it all?

Enter the recipe below. It was good, it pretty much tastes like pancakes with corn in it, but that's a fun twist, no? From Smitten Kitchen.

Makes about 9 to 10 4-inch pancakes

2 tablespoons butter (1 ounce or 28 grams), plus additional for brushing pan
3/4 cup kernels cut from one large ear sweet fresh corn
1/8 teaspoon (1 gram) salt plus additional for seasoning corn
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups (296 ml) buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon (13 grams) sugar
3/4 cup (3 3/8 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (3/4 ounce or 22 grams) cornmeal, any kind
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Melt butter in a large cast iron skillet or griddle pan over medium heat. Add corn and saute for 4 to 5 minutes, until it begins to brown ever-so-slightly. Sprinkle with salt and set aside to cool. Wipe out skillet.

Lightly beat egg in the bottom of a large bowl, then whisk in buttermilk, corn, vanilla and sugar. In a smaller bowl, whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Stir dry ingredients into wet, mixing until just combined but still lumpy in appearance.

Reheat your skillet or saute pan to medium. Brush the pan with butter and ladle 1/4 cup batter at a time, 2 inches apart. When the pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around the edges, flip them over and cook them until golden brown underneath. If they seem to be cooking too quickly (dark on the outside, raw centers) turn your heat down to low for the next batch and inch it up as needed. Repeat with remaining batter, and serve immediately with a pat of salted butter and a healthy dose of maple syrup.

Corn Chive Pudding

From Gourmet cookbook. This recipe is the reason I bought the cookbook. Suz would make it and it would be heavenly. You can use fresh corn or frozen corn. Make sure you stick to the amount of corn (20 oz) as if you have too much corn, the pudding will be loose and runny.

Serves 8

Ingredients

• two 10-ounce package frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups milk
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped, reserving pod for another use
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
• a pinch freshly grated nutmeg

Garnish:
Garnish: 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. and butter a 1 1/2-quart quiche dish or pie plate.
2. In a food processor pulse half of corn until chopped coarse. In a bowl stir together chopped corn and remaining corn kernels and sprinkle with sugar and salt, stirring until combined well.
3. In another bowl whisk together milk, eggs, vanilla seeds, butter, flour and chives and stir into corn until combined well. Pour pudding into quiche dish or pie plate and sprinkle with nutmeg. Bake pudding in middle of oven until center is just set, about 45 minutes. Garnish pudding with chives.

Nothing like pickles in the morning

I got up early today to finish up a batch of freezer pickles before work (is that weird? Maybe). I think they'll turn out ok. The recipe called for a ton of sugar. I only used 2/3rds of what it called for, but I was afraid to cut it out because I didn't know what functional use sugar serves in pickling. Any? None? More research is required. Anyway, if you, too, are interested in making freezer pickles, here's the link I used from the UW Extension office. See page 54. If you want to can your own pickles, you may want to see if your local state university has an extension office with tips. It seems that altitude is really important. I also just really like the UW Extension. Always handy with a good tip.

Pickled Sugar Snap Peas

How's this for irony? I just got back from the doctor, where I apparently have a TMY, or strained jaw joint. I'm to eat soft foods for a week. The irony is twofold. 1) I have some anti-inflamatory medicine that I absolutely have to take on a, quote, "very full stomach," (not easy to do when all I can eat are soft foods, and have a cold coming on to boot), and 2) my pickles are ready. SIGH! Here's the recipe for you to enjoy below. From Smitten Kitchen.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups white distilled vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups cold water
• 1 tablespoon kosher or pickling salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 pound sugar snap peas, stems trimmed and strings removed
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 or 2 small dried chile peppers, slit lengthwise or a couple pinches dried red pepper flakes

Directions:

1. In a nonreactive saucepan, heat the vinegar with the salt and sugar until they are dissolved. Remove from the heat, and add the cold water. (This gives you a leg up on getting the liquid to cooling the liquid.)
2. When the vinegar mixture is cool, pack the sugar snaps, garlic and chile peppers or flakes into a 1-quart jar or bowl, and pour the brine over it. Cover with a non-reactive cap, or, er, plastic wrap.
3. The original recipe suggests you store the jar in the refrigerator for two weeks before eating the pickled peas, but good luck with that. They’re quite delicious and already lightly pickled by 24 hours later.

Results:
Just what you would imagine them to be. Trust me, though. Go easy on the red pepper flakes. It seems to get spicier over time. I've been sampling these all along, but it's hard to have to go a week without them. By the way, "non-reactive" means no aluminum, and I don't know about non-stick (I used my enamel coated dutch oven, I think that's non-reactive), and no plastic storage. Use a glass jar.