Pizza pizza...

After my bad dinner experience yesterday, tonight had to be something that was fail-proof.  My fridge is stuffed with bags of spinach, swiss chard, romaine and red leaf lettuce, plus I have a drawer full of yellow summer squash.  So - after some careful thought, my sister and I decided to make a veggie pizza with some spinach and squash.  It was easy and delish!

Spinach & Summer Squash Pizza

1 fresh/pre-made pizza crust

2 small yellow squash, sliced

1 small bunch (~1 cup) spinach

marinara sauce

fresh mozzarella

Italian spices

--> Preheat oven to 375 F.  Roll out the pizza dough onto a pizza stone or aluminum pan sprayed with PAM.  

--> Separately, heat a sauté pan over medium heat.  Spray with PAM and then saute/grill the sliced squash for ~3 min per side, or until they brown up and start to soften.  After the squash is done, grill the spinach (or steam it)  for a few minutes so that you get the excess water out of the spinach.

--> Back to the pizza.  Layer the sauce onto the dough, followed by the sliced, fresh mozzarella, then squash and then spinach.  Sprinkle with your favorite Italian seasonings and then place in the oven for ~25 minutes (check every 10 minutes to see how the dough is browning).  Enjoy!

Does anyone actually like escarole?!

I had good intentions with my dinner - really, I did... And I just looked back at last year's blog post about escarole and I seemed to like what I made.  But - this year, I officially decided I do NOT like escarole.  Maybe escarole is like cilantro - you either love it or hate it.  I hate cilantro and I think I am feeling the same way about escarole. The recipe I made was very simple and should be tasty, for someone who likes these greens.  That someone just isn't me.  Thank goodness I paired the escarole with something I do love - scallops!  YUM.  So far, dinner has been some perfectly grilled scallops... I'll share my simple escarole recipe for those who are in the love camp...

Sauteed Escarole with Parmesan & Almonds
1 head escarole
1/4 cup toasted almonds
bit of slivered parmesan cheese
EVOO or PAM
red pepper flakes (optional)

--> Spray large frying pan with PAM or drizzle with olive oil.  Heat the pan over medium heat and add the red pepper flakes.  Once the pan is heated up, add the escarole.  Saute for 3-4 minutes, turning the leaves sort of frequently.  After 4 minutes, throw the already toasted-almonds in the pan and move them around among the leaves for ~30 seconds before removing all from heat.  Dress the greens with the parmesan cheese and serve hot.

Veggie lasagna

A few years ago I posted a twist on lasagna - here is my classic veggie lasagna recipe... it uses swiss chard instead of (or along with) spinach.  It is sooo good and it also freezes really well - enjoy!

Veggie Lasagna

box of no-boil lasagna noodles
1 egg
1 bunch bright lights swiss chard &/or spinach if you have
1 container lowfat ricotta cheese (15 oz)
marinara sauce - home-made or your fave brand will do
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
shredded mozzarella cheese

--> Boil up a pot of water.  When the water boils, add some salt and then the chard &/or spinach.  Boil the greens in the water for ~5 min and then remove and press out most of the water.  Chop the greens as finely as you can.

--> Coat the bottom of a pyrex pan with Pam.  Lay down a layer of the uncooked lasagna noodles.

--> In a bowl, mix together the chard, ricotta cheese, egg, parmigiano cheese, salt & pepper.

--> Take 1/3 the mixture and spoon on top of the noodles.  Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and then cover with sauce.  Repeat with noodles, cheese mixture, mozzarella cheese and sauce - I like to have 3 layers and on the top layer I actually do the ricotta mixture then sauce and then mozzarella cheese.

--> Cover the whole thing tightly with aluminum foil so it is tightly sealed.  Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes at 375 F.  Let sit out of oven for 15 minutes before removing the foil.  Enjoy!

CSA Week 2 - an abundance of greens

Week 2 of the 2012 CSA season brought more greens! We had our basic salad varietals - red leaf & green leaf lettuce and arugula - plus oriental greens - Mizuna and Chinese Cabbage - plus big leafy greens - Bright Lights Swiss Chard and Summer Spinach and then more mustard greens. So many greens and so little time meant big cooking nights. I made a fantastic veggie lasagna that used both the Swiss Chard & the Spinach and then an asian-flavored stir fry that used the bok choy from week 1 and the chinese cabbage from this week. That leaves me with just the arugula, mustard greens and mizuna which I'll use tomorrow.

In the meantime, here is the Asian stir fry recipe: I found a recipe on another blogger's site and tweaked it a bit to my liking (plus I didn't have soba noodles)...

Asian Greens Stir Fry
1 head Chinese cabbage
few stalks of Bok Choy
1/2 cup mushrooms
2 shredded carrots
2 garlic scapes - sliced into small pieces
salt & pepper
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp peanut sauce (found in asian section of supermarket)
1 tsp sesame seeds

--> Heat up your wok or large frying pan. Add some olive oil then add garlic scapes and greens. Add a pinch of salt & pepper and toss the greens around for about 3-5 minutes until cooked through. Add the mushrooms and after ~1-2 minutes, sprinkle with the garlic powder.

--> Separately mix together the rice vinegar, soy sauce, peanut sauce and sesame seeds.

--> Remove the vegetables from the heat, add carrots and then add the sauce. You can serve with soba noodles like the original blogger suggested or over quinoa or rice - whatever it is to your liking!

A New CSA Season Begins!

The 2012 CSA Season started today. As usual, the beginning of the season in the northeast brings an abundance of greens and a CSA staple - garlic scapes. If you are a new CSA member, you probably don't know what to do with most of what you received. And you might be incredibly overwhelmed/disgusted by how dirty and bug-filled the greens are when they arrive. The easiest way to wash them is to let them sit in a bowl of water for a while and then depending on how dirty they were, rinse again. You are best off getting a salad spinner because the dryer the lettuce is when it is stored, the longer it lasts. Enough on preparations... now what to do with all the greens. Over the years I've learned that there are certain greens that are too bitter for me to eat raw and others that make the most delicious salads. Today, my share basket included Garlic Scapes, Cherriette Radishes, Red Leaf lettuce, Green Leaf Lettuce, Chinese Cabbage, Bok Choy, Mizuna, Suehlihung Mustard greens & Rhubarb. So - I prepared some lunch salads for the rest of the week with the red leaf lettuce, chinese cabbage and radishes, which I complemented with some store-bought carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, almonds and dried cranberries. While the mizuna is a green that can be added to leafy lettuces for a salad, I decided to mix it together with the mustard greens and sauté with onions, garlic and some grape tomatoes. To cut the bitterness of the greens, once they were almost all done sauté-ing, I added about 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar (you could prob also use red wine vinegar if you have that on hand). What a delicious side to accompany any meal!

Winter Cooking!

The CSA may be over, but I'm getting back to my cooking ways... Last night my little sis and I made a delicious and healthy dinner. It was full of colorful vegetables - all of which we normally would get from the CSA. This recipe is going to look overwhelming because at first glance there a lot of ingredients, but its a pretty straightforward recipe. It's basically Red Snapper over Veggies. I used all of the vegetables listed below, but really you could just do carrots and cauliflower or carrots, cauliflower and zucchini - this won't make or break the recipe, so it's up to your taste buds and/or what you have in the fridge!

Red Snapper over Veggies with a Chile Sauce
Chile Sauce
1 tsp EVOO
1 cup chopped leeks
3 cloves chopped garlic
2 tsp fresh oregano (chopped)low
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp allspice
some ground black pepper
2 cups chopped tomato
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup vegetable stock

Fish
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 cup cauliflower, chopped
1 cup broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup vegetable stock
2 zucchini, cut into chunks
red snapper fillets for 4
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped

--> Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line an ovenproof dish with aluminum foil and set aside. In a big saucepan, over medium heat, sauté the leeks, garlic, oregano, curry, allspice and ground black pepper. Stir occassionally until the leeks start to become see-through, ~3 minutes. Add the tomato, green pepper, celery and soy sauce. Cook until the pepper starts to soften, another 3 min. Then add the 1/2 cup of stick and simmer, covered for 25 min.

--> Put the carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and second 1/2 cup of stock into your prepared baking dish. Bake ~10 minutes or until the vegetables start to soften. Then add the zucchini (if you put the zucchini in with the carrots, etc at first, the zucchini would get too mushy). Place the fish on top of the vegetables and drizzle with the sauce you prepared in step 1. Bake until the fish is cooked through and veggies are tender - probably ~15-20 min depending on how thick your fillets are. Just before the fish was done, I sprinkled the dill over the fish (it adds interesting flavor though isn't necessary if you don't have dill lying around).

Yum - eat and enjoy!

Twist on the TBM

For two weeks in a row we've gotten lemon-basil. It has a totally delicious smell of both lemons and basil and I just couldn't decide what I wanted to do with it. I'm not in the mood for pesto, plus I can't eat the pesto fast enough before it goes bad (I've tried freezing it too but it's just not the same - when you want fresh pesto, you want it fresh, not frozen!). So, I decided to try making a homemade vinaigrette. After I made the vinaigrette, I figured - why not drizzle some over a tomato mozzarella salad since I have plenty of tomatoes. So, that was my lovely appetizer tonight. Picture to be posted later - I'm working on a temporary computer and I can't figure out how to upload a photo!!

Lemon Basil Vinaigrette
About 1/2 cup of lightly chopped basil or lemon basil leaves
1/4 of a medium sized onion or a shallot, lightly chopped
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
~1/4 cup red wine vinegar
~1/2 cup EVOO

--> This is an eye-ball type recipe. Basically, you put the basil, onion/shallot, mustard, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until everything is combined and chopped more finely. Scrape the sides and then add the vinegar. I probably added a little more vinegar and a little less EVOO but it's all to your liking - you can't go wrong here - well, try not to have too heavy a hand with the liquids or you'll have super soupy dressing... Pulse a few more times after the vinegar is added then slowly add in the EVOO while pulsing - be careful the mixture can splatter out. Once you are done adding the EVOO blend a little more and that's it.

1 Eggplant, 2 Peppers, 1 Leek, 1 Tomato

Yes, that is what I ate for dinner. It sounds blah, but it was delicious. Maybe that is also a lot of vegetables for 1 person to eat all in 1 meal, but I don't really care. I also don't have a picture of this one because it basically just looked like a veggie stir fry... but I used a splash of red wine vinegar that just brought out the deliciousness of the fresh vegetables. Also, since I live in NYC, I don't have a BBQ, but I do have a great grill pan which is what I used to grill the veggies.

Summer Vegetable Griller with Red Wine Vinegar

1 light green pepper
1 red pepper
1 medium eggplant
1 medium leek
1 medium tomato (I think mine was a roma)
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
salt & pepper
EVOO

--> I sliced the peppers into big pieces and then placed them on the grill pan over medium-high heat. Then I sliced the eggplant in smaller chunks (make rounds and then cut each round into 6 littler pieces) and also added to the grill pan. Sprinkle with salt & pepper then let them grill for about 10 minutes, turning over once or twice.

--> After the pepper and eggplant have been grilling about 10 minutes, I heated some EVOO in a medium pan that would fit all the veggies eventually. I added the sliced up leeks and then about 5 more minutes into the grilling (so ~15 min total) I started to add the diced eggplant into the pan with the leeks. I let the pepper grill a little while longer because I like my grilled peppers really grilled. Finally once the pepper, leek and eggplant are all in the pan together, I diced up the tomato and added it in. Mix the vegetables together well, sprinkle with salt & pepper and then add the red wine vinegar after a couple of minutes. Mix a little more and then you're ready to eat. I ate my veggie mix over some pearl couscous. Delicious and super healthy.

Springtime Vegetable Stew

We have made hearty salads from all the greens that the CSA brings each week. Summer squash also came early this year and with this week's delivery, we had 4 really pretty squash varietals in our fridge. We also have been getting a lot of herbs - thyme, oregano, sorrel, and our first bunches of basil came this week! For tonight's dinner I was trying to think of something that would use some herbs as well as squash and scapes. So, I decided to make a springtime vegetable stew... I found a recipe in my Local Flavors cookbook (by Deborah Madison) that calls for a lot of veggies including ones that I know will be arriving in the next few weeks though n the meantime, I supplemented from my local market.

Summer Vegetables Stewed in Their Own Juices (serves 4) with Basil Puree
Ingredients:
2 tbsp EVOO
2 bay leaves
1 medium onion, chopped into large pieces
2 garlic scapes, chopped into large pieces
3 thyme sprigs
6 sage leaves
2 large carrots, peeled & chopped into ~4-inch lengths
sea salt & freshly ground pepper
1/2 pound small new potatoes
1/4 pound green beans, ends trimmed
3 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded & chopped into large pieces, juice reserved
1 bell pepper - yellow or orange - cut into 1-inch strips
2 medium summer squash, cut into large pieces

--> Use a Dutch oven on the stove over low heat- add EVOO and bay leaves. After the EVOO starts to get warm, add the onions, garlic scapes, thyme & sage. Cover and cook while you cut up the other vegetables.

--> I don't use baby carrots, but if you prefer those, you can add them whole to the pot. Otherwise cut up a bigger carrot into small chunks and add to the pot. Season with salt & pepper as you add each layer of vegetables. Depending on the size of your potatoes, you will want to halve or quarter them. Add to the pot; salt & pepper. Cut the beans in half and add them along with the tomatoes, pepper and squash to the pot. Salt & pepper one more time. Pour the tomato juice over the top, cover and cook until all the vegetables are tender - about 45 minutes. Check and stir the vegetables every so often - if the pot looks dry, add some white wine. I found that my vegetables gave off enough juices that this wasn't necessary.

--> Serve the veggies in bowls and spoon the Basil Puree over the top if you want to make that too (recipe below the pic). I think the basil puree (almost like pesto) is delicious!!



Basil Puree:
Ingredients:
1 cup of basil leaves
1 garlic scape
EVOO
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

--> Put the basil & garlic scape in the food processor and turn on. Add EVOO and a couple of tablespoons of water (this is all eyeball - don't want the mixture to be too dry or too wet). Once mixed together, add the Parmesan cheese and pulse the food processor a few more times. That's it!

Homemade Breakfast Bars

The first week's CSA delivery every season brings a bunch of rhubarb and it's just about the only time I ever use or eat rhubarb. I realized I've never posted anything on this interestingly sour vegetable that resembles celery. This year I found a recipe for a homemade cereal bar and baked them with my CSA partner. They are super crumbly, but delicious.

Strawberry Rhubarb Bars
Ingredients:
1.5 cups fresh rhubarb, diced
1.5 cups fresh strawberries, sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2-3/4 cup butter softened
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

--> Combine the strawberries, rhubarb and lemon juice in a non-stick saucepan and cook on medium heat for ~10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add sugar and cornstarch to fruit mixture, bring to boil, and allow it to boil 1 min until the sauce thickens a little.

--> Meanwhile, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, butter, baking soda and salt in a bowl and mix with electric mixer until the mixture resembles course crumbs — it will be very dry.

--> Reserve 1.5 cups of crust mixture and pat down the rest of the crust mixture into a 9x13 pan that has been sprayed with PAM. Spread fruit mixture over bottom crust and then sprinkle the rest of crust mixture evenly over the top. Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.

YUM :)

New year, new recipes!

The CSA season has begun! Week 1 brought lots of lettuce (red sail, buttercrunch, mizuna), radishes, and garlic scapes - a CSA favorite! We made overflowing green salads and used up all of our lettuce that week. Week 2 brought more salad lettuce (butter head, romaine, red sail), radishes, more garlic scapes, escarole and summer squash! The summer squash doesn't usually arrive until mid-July but apparently all of the rain and hot weather in June ripened the squash early. We grilled up some zucchini last week and it was delish. You just don't get that much flavor in the zucchini from the supermarket.

Anyway, as we are 2 days away from Week 3's delivery, I thought I'd saute up the escarole and made myself a great Sunday night dinner!

Escarole and grilled chicken with linguine (serving for 1)
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
salt & pepper
1 tsp EVOO
1/2 garlic scape, chopped
a few dashes of red pepper flakes
2 cups chopped escarole
linguine

--> Grill chicken on the BBQ or in a grill pan with salt & pepper.

--> While the chicken is cooking, heat a skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. Add the garlic scapes and red pepper flakes - saute, stirring occasionally for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the escarole and cover the skillet. Leave covered for about 4-5 minutes and then uncover and cook until the escarole is wilted and tender, stirring often. Add salt & pepper.

--> Third thing to cook is the pasta - follow directions for your pasta, cooking in a large pot of boiling salted water. Leave al dente - drain and add to the escarole mixture. Stir in the chicken and season with salt & pepper and then serve when all is mixed together and heated through.

One thing to note is that the escarole cooks down a lot - it's similar to spinach or swiss chard in the way it cooks - so you want to use more over less. Also I added a few grape tomatoes to the pan with the escarole once I took the top off - it was a nice touch of color and added a little more flavor.

Ail des bois

Everything sounds better in french, no? Here is a test - would you rather eat an "ail des bois" or a "ramp" - yes that's an English word and yes it is a vegetable. A ramp is a type of spring onion - it looks like a mix between a mini leek and a scallion. Its quite flavorful too. This afternoon I had decided that I wanted to make scallops for dinner and since ramps are in season right now, I figured I'd use them in my simple scallops dinner...

Seared Scallops with White Wine & Ramps
Ingredients:
8 Sea Scallops (I figure ~6-8 per person - this recipe is for 1 person)
1/2 cup white wine
a bunch of ramps - chop up the white bulb-y part
a dab of butter

--> First step is to sear the scallops. Now I know making scallops can be a little daunting, but it's really easy! You are going to want to use a pretty hot saute pan - set your heat to medium-high. Make sure your scallops are dry - pat them good with a paper towel. Then add them to the well-sprayed pan and cook on each side for ~2-3 min (sprinkle with salt & pepper before and after flipping them in the pan). Take the scallops out of the pan and place on a plate when they are done. If you aren't sure, cut into one and see how easy it is to cut with a fork.

--> In the same pan, turn the heat to medium-low and add the ramps and butter. Saute for a min and then add the white wine - let reduce for another 1-2 min and then pour sauce over your scallops. Serve - it's delish.

I heart risotto

I'm ready for the CSA season to begin again, but I have another month to wait for some quality vegetables. In the meantime (and since multiple foreign object sightings in my lunches has led me to bring my lunch to work) I have resorted to purchasing produce at the local supermarket with all of my neighbors - sigh... Anyway, tonight we bought some lovely mushrooms and made some mushroom risotto - yummmmmm.



Mushroom Risotto:
Ingredients:
4 cups vegetable broth
EVOO
10 baby bella mushrooms, chopped
small box white mushrooms, chopped
1 medium shallot, chopped
1 cup Arborio rice
1/3 cup white wine
salt & pepper
fresh thyme
shredded Parmesan cheese

--> Bring the vegetable broth to a boil and then turn the heat to low to simmer.

--> Meantime, warm some EVOO in a pan and saute the mushrooms over medium heat. Cook until soft. Set aside.

--> In a separate pot, add some EVOO over medium heat and then stir in the shallot. Cook 1 minute. Add rice, stir to coat with the olive oil - when the rice has turned golden-ish in color, add in the wine. Stir constantly until the wine is absorbed. Now time to start adding the warm broth 1/2 cup at a time. Stir continuously and wait to add each next ladle of broth until the liquid has been absorbed. You may not need to add all of the broth - taste towards the end for your ideal al dente.

--> Remove the cooked risotto from the heat and stir in mushrooms, salt, pepper, thyme and Parmesan cheese.

It's delicious :)

While I am so sick of this cold winter we are having in NY, one thing I love about winter (well, aside from skiing), is filling up on hearty root vegetables. Those of you that know me would definitely think I would never go near anything called "Shepherd's Pie" - but a few weeks ago, I came across this recipe and I knew it would be delish. And so, tonight I had my first Shepherd's Pie...

Root Vegetable Shepherd's Pie (courtesy of Chow.com)
Ingredients (the way I made it):
1 medium regular potato - peeled & diced
1 medium sweet potato - peeled & diced
1/2 cup Fage fat free yogurt
salt & pepper
drizzle EVOO
10 oz mushrooms - cleaned, stemmed & quartered
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp thyme
2 cups veggie broth
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup frozen peas

--> First we make some mashed potatoes (white & sweet together). In case you don't know how to make mashed potatoes, here are some easy instructions. Fill a large pot with water and the potatoes (and a few dashes of salt) and bring to a boil over high heat. Simmer until the potatoes are just tender when pierced with a knife - about 5-10 min. Drain, then return the potatoes to the pot, mash coarsely, add the yogurt and some salt & pepper. Set aside.

--> Now we get started on the veggies. You should also turn your broiler on now - set it to low and move the rack to the upper third of the oven. In a large frying pan over medium heat, heat up your EVOO until it simmers. Then add the mushrooms and cook, stirring rarely, until browned - about 6 min. Add onion, salt & pepper and cook for another 3-5 min, until the onion starts to soften. Then add the carrots, celery, tomato paste and thyme. Stir around to coat the veggie mixture. Then add the vegetable broth and soy sauce and stir until incorporated. Bring to a simmer, stir occasionally, and cook until the vegetables are just tender when pierced with a knife, about 10 more min.

--> Now time to put all of this in a casserole dish - 7x11 is probably the best size. Put the vegetables in and then spread the reserved mashed potato mixture on top. Broil until the top starts to brown, about 5-10 minutes.

This is an incredibly filling vegetarian dish - and it's so delicious too!

5 Ingredient Supper

It's been a while. I have lots of excuses most of which center around the freezing winter we are having. But, tonight it is warmer out so I am back at it... My sister and I made a super easy and healthy dinner with just 5 ingredients (not including salt, pepper and margarine, but still - that's only 8 ingredients!): tilapia, onion, lemon, potatoes and mushrooms!!

Grilled Tilapia with Onions & Mushrooms... and Mashed Potatoes
Ingredients:
2 tilapia fillets
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 lemon
2 medium potatoes
salt, pepper, 1 tbsp butter


--> Let's get the mashed potatoes started because they take the longest to make. Peel and quarter the potatoes and put in a medium-sized pot with water. Bring the water to a boil and then lower the heat to medium (be careful not to let the water boil over!). Eventually, when the potatoes have softened, mash them up with the butter, some salt & pepper.

--> Now we'll work on the fish. If you have a grill pan, it's time to bring it out. Or, if you have a BBQ, turn it on. For this dish, we are simply grilling the tilapia. I used a grill pan - I put the pan over medium heat and then added the fish. Sprinkle the fish with salt & pepper and then squeeze the juice of half the lemon over the fish. Cook for about 3-5 min and then flip over. Repeat with salt & pepper and cook until the fish is done.

--> While the fish is cooking, heat a small saucepan over medium heat and saute the onions and mushrooms together. When the fish is done, pour the onions & mushrooms over the fish and serve with the mashed potatoes. There's dinner!

Once Upon a Time in Verona

About 10 years ago, a couple of friends and I found ourselves in Verona. It wasn't well planned (okay, it wasn't planned at all), but when disaster struck, we treated ourselves to a delicious meal. Ten years later, all I remember about the meal was that it was the first time I ever had polenta - and it was absolutely delicious!!! Then a few weeks ago, I took a cooking class and we made polenta which inspired tonight's dinner...

Polenta with Zucchini, Onion & Tomatoes
Ingredients:
EVOO
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium zucchini, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup diced canned tomatoes (try not to get much juice)
kosher salt & ground black pepper
4 1/2 cups water
1 1/3 cups coarse or medium cornmeal
grated Parmesan

--> In a medium saucepan, bring the water and ~1 tsp salt to a boil. Add the cornmeal slowly, whisking constantly. Also whisk in a few drizzles of EVOO (~2-3tbsp). Reduce the heat to a simmer, stirring frequently with a spoon until the polenta is thick, it takes ~20 minutes. Be careful with this, if the heat is too high, the polenta will pop and you do not want it to hit your skin. Stir in the grated Parmesan cheese while the polenta is still in the pot and hot.

--> While the polenta is cooking, heat up a large stirfry pan over medium heat and drizzle with EVOO. When hot, add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Then add the zucchini, stir and continue to cook until the zucchini starts to brown. Add the tomatoes (fresh & canned) and then some salt and pepper. Simmer until thick, takes about 10 minutes.

--> When both the vegetables and polenta are done, spoon the polenta onto a plate and top with the veggie mixture and serve. YUM.

It's Chili Out

Sorry for the sort of cheesy post title, but it's early in the morning and my creative juices aren't quite flowing yet. But, the winter is quickly settling in here in New York, so it is time for me to throw together a big pot of turkey chili. Last year I made my turkey chili so spicy that my sister couldn't touch it, so I scaled back just a little this year...

Turkey Chili
Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 ancho chile (if you have any left), diced
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes in the juice
1 can (15.5oz) black beans - drained
1/2 cup water
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp each cumin, red cayenne pepper, oregano
kosher salt
ground black pepper
EVOO

--> Heat large stock pot over medium heat - add EVOO and once hot, add turkey. Salt & pepper the turkey once it is in the pot. I added the garlic cloves about halfway into the cooking of the turkey. When the turkey is almost done, add the onions, peppers, and chile. Stir occasionally to get the onions and peppers cooked until onions turn golden. Add the brown sugar - mix thoroughly, then add tomatoes with their juices, the beans and the water. Follow all of these ingredients with the spices. The spice amounts are rough estimates and to your liking (the red cayenne pepper will give a nice kick so be careful with this one). Add more salt & pepper to taste as well.

--> As the liquid mixture starts to boil, lower the heat to simmer and cover. Keep on the heat for at least another 30 minutes. Make sure to taste your chili during the cooking process and add more spice if necessary. The chili freezes well too, so don't feel like you need to eat it all in one sitting - it's a long winter!

Post-Thanksgiving Dinner

So as much as I was completely sick of turkey after last weekend, I ended the weekend with a dinner of roasted cornish hen. Now, I learned last year that making cornish hens is a bit of a process, but they always turn out so good that I am always tempted to make them. This week's was another success - I found this recipe on Food and Wine but I tweaked it a little...

Stuffed Cornish Hens
Ingredients:
1/4 cup slivered, toasted almonds
1/2 cup canned low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
Salt & pepper
1/2 cup rice
1/2 tbsp butter
2 1/2 tsp honey
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Cornish hens (about 1.25-1.5 pounds each)

--> I bought my slivered almonds already toasted, so I didn't need to toast them myself. If yours aren't toasted, heat the oven to 350 F. Toast the nuts in the oven until golden brown, 5-10 minutes. Remove them and set aside. Raise the heat to 425 F (I have a Convection Roast feature on my oven, so I only raised the temp to 400 and the timing still worked).
--> In a small saucepan, cook the rice according to package directions using the broth and the apricots. When done, add the almonds, 1/4 tbsp butter, 1 1/2 tsp honey, cinnamon and dash salt & pepper.
--> Clean up the hens and then fill the cavities of the hens with the rice mixture. If you want, twist the wings of the hens behind their backs and tie the legs together (I didn't do this because I didn't have any string to tie them with, but it is what the recipe calls for). Put the hens, breast-side up, in a roasting pan. Sprinkle them with salt & pepper and dot with the remaining butter.
--> Roast the hens for 25 minutes. Then baste them with any pan juices (if none, no biggie) an drizzle another 1 tsp honey over the hens. Continue roasting until just done, probably another 10-15 minutes longer. That's it - serve and enjoy.

Pre-Thanksgiving Feast

Last week marked the end of another CSA season. The past few weeks have been incredibly busy for me so I haven't cooked as much as I would have liked to, but most of the veggies we've been getting stay for a while - potatoes, beets, winter squash, garlic, etc - so we have some time to use them. Anyway, to celebrate the end of the season we cooked up a most delicious dinner that centered around our autumn vegetables. In our house, no delicious meal is complete without brussel sprouts and we generally make them the same way, yum! Here's our full menu. (all recipes serve 3-4 people)

--> Squeeze the lemon over the fish and then sprinkle the pecan and shallot topping over fish and serve. YUM.

Sauteed Halibut with Pecan Shallot Topping (from epicurious):
Ingredients:
1 1/4 pounds halibut fillet
salt & pepper
EVOO
1/2 cup chopped shallot
1/2 cup chopped pecans
juice of 1 lemon

--> Rinse halibut and pat dry before seasoning with salt & pepper. Heat ~2tbsp EVOO in a large heavy pan over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then add fish. Saute fish until golden, turn once, should take 5-7 min total. Transfer to plates and keep warm, loosely covered with aluminum foil.

--> Add 1 tbsp EVOO to the same skillet and cook shallot over medium heat, stirring occassionally. Cook ~3-4 minutes until they are golden in color. Add pecans and saute over slightly higher heat, stirring, until they are a shade darker, should take another 3 minutes.

On the 2 side dishes - I'll be honest, I don't really have recipes here, but you can't really screw up either of these - so this is basically what I threw together!

Brussel Sprouts
Ingredients:
1.5 cups brussel sprouts (cut them in 1/2s if they are big sprouts)
1/4 cup chopped shallots
1 clove garlic, minced
EVOO
salt & pepper
1/2 cup mushrooms, halved
vegetable broth (or chicken broth works if you have that on hand)

--> Heat a small saucepan over medium high heat. Sprinkle with EVOO and add shallots and garlic - saute 3-4 minutes until golden. Add brussel sprouts, sprinkle with salt & pepper and continue to saute for another 3-4 minutes. Then add enough vegetable broth to mostly cover the brussel sprouts in the pot. Reduce the heat and cover. After ~4 minutes, add the mushrooms and stir. Cover again and leave the pot over heat until the broth is mostly or completely absorbed, probably another 3-4 minutes. Serve.

Roasted Butternut Squash
Ingredients:
1 medium butternut squash
a few sprigs rosemary
salt & pepper
EVOO

--> Preheat oven to 400 F (yes I actually turned my oven up for this dish). Peel the butternut squash and cut up into 1/2 inch cubes and put into a baking dish or even on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Drizzle with EVOO, salt & pepper, and rosemary. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour - test with a fork to when they are soft but not mushy. Yes, it is really that easy.

New recipe for the fall

Fall has settled in and the CSA season is in wind down mode. As sad as that is, some of the best vegetables start to arrive at this time of year - winter squash (I've already made the risotto twice!), potatoes, carrots and beets. Well, this past week we had a surprise - ancho peppers. In my 3 years as a CSA member, this is the first time we've had anchos. So - dinner tonight was my take on Chile Relleno (vegetarian style).

Baked Vegetarian Chile Relleno
5 medium ancho peppers
1 medium zucchini
1 jalapeno pepper
1 shallot, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1 can beans - your choice, I used pintos
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tsp ground cumin, divided
salt & pepper

--> Preheat broiler. Put the peppers on aluminum foil-lined baking sheet and broil a few inches from the heat for 8-10 minutes or until blackened and charred - turn them after 5 minutes. When you take them out of the oven, transfer to a zip-loc bag and seal. Let them stand and sweat for 15 minutes. Peel and discard skins - cut a lengthwise slit in each to discard seeds.

--> Separately, heat a saucepan over medium-high heat (spray with Pam), add zucchini, garlic and shallot - cook ~4 minutes. Stir in 1/2 tsp cumin, jalapeno peppers and tomatoes -bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Remove and discard jalapeno peppers.

--> In another bowl, mix together the beans, cheese, other 1/2 tsp cumin, salt and pepper. Place the peppers in a baking dish and put a heaping spoonful of the bean and cheese mixture into each pepper. Pour the tomato mixture on top of the peppers, cover and bake at 350 F for 20 minutes. My peppers were pretty spicy, so you might want to consider serving with white rice. Either way, it's a delicious, healthy do-it-yourself Mexican dish! Enjoy-