Meatless Monday - Its Not Easy Eating Green

Rustic Sweet Onion Tart

May 15, 2013 - 10:42 pm | Appetizers, Baking, Breads and Doughs, Cheese, Grains, Main Dish, Meatless Monday, Recipe, Sides, Summer, Sustainable, Vegetables, Vegetarian

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I was a childhood cooking-show junkie. On sick days at home, while other children would spend their days watching music videos on MTV and “You Can’t Do That on Television” on Nickelodeon, I watched PBS. Hours spent watching Jeff Smith, Martin Yan, Justin Wilson and “The Great Chefs” series. “The Great Chefs” series made me want to become a chef; Martin Yan made me want to be an entertainer, and Justin Wilson just reminded me of my family (not at all cajun but they were a bit of a wacky southern group).

I hated most vegetables though, so I would watch the cooks make recipe after recipe looking for something wonderful that was free of onions, tomatoes, celery and peppers. There was a show I cannot remember the name of with a cook whose name and face are a distant memory; I distinctly remember watching him make a chicken fricassee. It looked so good, and I remember thinking that I would eat it, regardless of onions or no onions. Watching him make this dish made me realize that if I wanted to be a professional cook, that I was going to have to eat the things I did not like.

I’ve written before about teaching myself to like vegetables, one vegetable at a time, by learning how to properly prepare each one. To like onions, I started by teaching myself to make good caramelized onions; not just browned onions, but good and properly melty, gooey, sweet and sticky caramelized onions. Once I had that down, I was in love. Onions show up in just about everything of mine. I think my childhood self would H-A-T-E having me as their parent; and I think I would get really annoyed with my childhood self because the little brat wouldn’t eat anything I made for her. While not little kid-friendly, this tart will agree with older kids and pretty much everyone else. Sweet Vidalia onions, which are in season right now, are the onion of choice, but other sweet onions will work as well.

This recipe is all about balancing flavors. The sweet onions are balanced by briny feta, tangy balsamic vinegar, spicy black pepper and herby thyme. The crust is part of the flavor, not just a shell to hold it. It becomes part of the whole picture, so don’t cut corners and use a pre-made crust. The crust can be a little crumbly, but a rustic look works here, so just work with it until you have a roundish shape and it’s okay if it isn’t perfect; because that is perfect. Enjoy!

Caramelized Onion Tart with Feta and Balsamic
Serves 6

This tart is a fantastic snack, but also makes a wonderful meal when paired with a salad. I love the sheen of the egg wash on the crust, but you could easily leave that out to make this egg free.

1 Recipe Savory Pastry Dough
2 pounds Vidalia Onion (or other sweet onion)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, plus another 1/2 teaspoon to garnish
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1 egg yolk

Peel the onions and slice very thin; I used a food processor. Heat olive oil in a large skillet with a lid over medium-high heat. When the oil starts to shimmer add the onions and salt. Cover the onions and let cook until they release their liquid, about five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Uncover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook slowly, stirring frequently until evenly brown and greatly reduced; about another 25 minutes.

Add the thyme and balsamic vinegar and cook another two minutes to let the thyme release its flavor. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 375. Roll out the dough to form a roughly 15 inch circle.

Transfer the dough to a piece of parchment paper and spread the onion in a 12 inch circle in the middle of the dough. Sprinkle the feta on to the exposed onion filling.

Turn the edges of the dough over, tucking under any uneven edges to form a 1 1/2 inch edge over the top of the onion filling.

Brush the edges with a light coating of egg wash. Move the tart to a baking pan and bake for 30 minutes or until the crust is a nice even brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool for five minutes. Serve warm or room temperature.

Cooking Light for Dinner Tonight

May 5, 2013 - 9:34 pm | Entertaining, Main Dish, Meat, Meatless Monday, Pasta, Poultry, Quick, Salad, Summer, Vegetables, Weeknight Meals

Sauteed Baby Greens with Crispy Shallots

March 28, 2013 - 3:07 pm | Gluten-Free, Local, Main Dish, Meatless Monday, Recipe, Salad, Sides, spring, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Winter

Fun with Real Yams and Pancit Noodles

February 21, 2013 - 3:43 pm | Caribbean, Field Trips, Grains, kid-friendly, Main Dish, Meatless Monday, Pasta, Recipe, Sauces/Condiments, Sides, travel, Vacation, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Foxboro Cheese and Sundried Tomato and Spinach Turnovers

February 6, 2013 - 5:01 am | Appetizers, Baking, Breads and Doughs, Cheese, Italian, Local, Meatless Monday, Recipe, Vegetarian

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Places like Lawton Family Farm are hard to find these days.

Sorry for the image quality; I took this on my first trip with my cell phone.

They are even harder to find in the shadow of an NFL stadium. (This is not the best picture. The brown building behind the first row of trees is the farm, and behind that you can see the top deck of Gillette Stadium. It is a lot closer than this picture makes it look, the cows can probably make out the play-by-play).

It seems impossible that this farm is churning out hormone and antibiotic free raw milk and cheese in a barn that was built in 1832.

This is the type of place you see driving through the tiny towns of Vermont, not suburban Boston. Their small store sells their own raw milk (by order only), cheese, meats and other Massachusetts products.

I discovered this little gem at local farmers markets. They always bring samples of their Asaigo and Fromage Blanc cheeses for all to taste, and they are good. If you are unfamiliar with Fromage Blanc, like I was, it’s a fresh cheese similar to cream cheese, but with less fat and cholesterol. It’s much more common in Europe and is frequently eaten sweetened for breakfast much in the way we eat yogurt. You can cook with Fromage Blanc too. I think it cooks up a little nicer than cream cheese. These turnovers are the perfect example of how good it is cooked; the cheese flavor is subtle compared to the other flavors, but still distinct.

I’m always annoyed when a food trend fades from style. Usually it’s a food trend because it tastes good (not always). Sun-dried tomatoes were the gem of every foodie’s eye forever it seemed. Now days they are usually only found stuffing bad banquet chicken at your cousin Selma’s wedding. It’s a shame too because they taste good and are a nice way to get your tomato kick in the dead of winter. That’s how I use them here. Mixed with just a touch of basil and a bunch of cheese and spinach, they are almost like an Italian take on spanokopita. The finished product is a turnover that is perfect for any occasion. They freeze very well. I made up several batches when developing this recipe and froze them after I formed the turnover but before baking them. I then bake them frozen and they turn out wonderful. Enjoy!

Oh, and if you are in the Foxboro, MA area and want to stop by Lawtons Family Farm, bring cash and don’t expect much in the way of interaction. You come, you buy, you leave.

Lawtons Family Farm
70 North St., Foxboro, Mass.
Tel. 508-543-6460

Spinach and Sun-dried Tomato Turnovers
makes about 36 turnovers
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, minced, about 1/4 cup
4 packed cups baby spinach (about 4 ounces)
1/2 cup basil leaves, finely chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped (about 2 1/2 ounces)
1/2 cup Fromage Blanc (or cream cheese) about 4 ounces
1 1/2 oz Asiago (or Parmesan), grated
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1 recipe Savory Whole Wheat Pastry Dough (below)

1 egg for egg wash to brush over the top of the turnovers

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallot and cook until translucent, about five minutes.

Add spinach and basil, and cook until the spinach is thoroughly wilted.

In a medium bowl combine spinach mixture, sun-dried tomatoes, Fromage Blanc, Asiago, salt and pepper. Taste the filling and adjust seasonings to taste. Let completely cool before filling turnovers.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll pastry dough out to 1/4″ thickness. To form the turnovers, you can cut circles out of the dough with a 3″ biscuit cutter or you can roll half of the dough into a long rectangle and use a ravioli mold. Spoon 1/2 tablespoon (about 1 1/2 teaspoons) of filling into the center or each turnover.

If you are using the ravioli form, roll out the second half of the dough and place over the top using your fingers or a rolling pin (depending on how to use your ravioli form). If you are using the biscuit cutter, fold the dough over the top of the filling to form a half-moon. Use a fork to crimp the edges.

Using a biscuit cutter to make the turnovers

Using a ravioli form to make turnovers
Place the turnovers on a baking sheet. Beat the egg with two tablespoons of water and brush over the top of the turnovers.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges of the turnovers are starting to brown. Serve warm.

Savory Whole Wheat Pastry Dough
1 crust
This tasty crust is easy and does not need to chill before using. Olive oil and lots of pepper is the secret to a nicely flavored dough.

1 cup whole what pastry flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoon olive oil
4-6 tablespoons ice water
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

In the bowl of a food processor combine flour, sugar, salt, pepper and baking powder.

Pulse several times to combine. Add olive oil, ice water and vinegar and pulse again until small clumps form, about the size of peas.

Scrape the dough onto a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap and form into a solid disc and let sit for at least 15 minutes. Do not refrigerate or the dough will be too hard to work with. If you do make the dough ahead of time, refrigerate it but you will need to let it come up to room temp before working with it.

Vegetarian Boston-Style Baked Beans

January 16, 2013 - 5:00 am | Beans, kid-friendly, Local, Main Dish, Meatless Monday, Recipe, Retro Recipes, Sides, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Winter

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This past week marked the anniversary of a truly terrible and bizarre piece of Boston history; the great molasses flood of 1919 when a tsunami of molasses covered two blocks of Boston’s North End with a 15 foot wave of hot, sticky molasses. If you take a look at these pictures from the Boston Globe you’ll see the absolute devastation that the molasses flood brought to the densely packed neighborhood. Boston was the center of the molasses universe in those days as the area was home to many rum distilleries. Because of its abundance, molasses also was a key ingredient in local cuisine.

Molasses was the main sweetener for early settlers too. American style baked beans were introduced to the Pilgrims by local Indian tribes. While the Indian tribes used maple syrup and, the Pilgrims used molasses that was readily available and familiar because it was imported to Europe from the West Indies. The early settlers used molasses to sweeten everything from bread to beans to desserts such as Indian Pudding. While many Americans are not familiar with Boston Brown Bread and Indian Pudding, almost everyone is familiar with baked beans. While even today in northern New England they still use maple syrup, using molasses to sweeten the beans turns plain baked beans into Boston Baked Beans. It’s no surprise that the combination of beans and molasses became so popular that it earned Boston the name “Beantown”.

Traditional Yankee cuisine is still available here, although it’s a little harder to find than it used to be. Baked beans and brown bread were the traditional Sunday meal for much of New England for hundreds of years because it can be made ahead of time and kept warm; so locals could observe their religious rules of not cooking on the Sabbath. Now, there are restaurants that still serve traditional baked beans, but they are more of a novelty than a sought-after dish, except maybe by tourists. The real exception to this is Durgin Park – a touristy, yet all the same historical restaurant that still serves traditional Yankee fare. Here you can still get Yankee pot roast, baked beans, brown bread, Indian Pudding and cracker crumb cod. I worked right next to Durgin Park for several years, and it is where I was first introduced to Yankee cooking.

Whenever I want to tackle a traditional dish I’m torn between modernizing it or embracing the traditional recipe. Never has this been more so than with baked beans. Living in New England I feel obliged to make such a traditional dish the way it was intended: the way I first encountered it at Durgin Park fifteen years ago. But, that’s just foolish, because I want to make them vegetarian; that’s not the way they were intended. So, with this recipe I’ve thrown out the rule book and instead embraced the spirit of the original recipe. This is still a hearty winter dish full of rich sweet flavors, but I’ve replaced the fatty pork belly with a hearty dose of veggies. Not really an even trade is it? All the same, this is still a full meal, especially when paired with a slice of the heavy and hearty classic brown bread.

The brown bread is another traditional recipe. For this one I have adapted several very old recipes which I found in a few ancient cookbooks I have around. They all have variations of the same recipe. Most of them call for equal parts of rye and graham flour and corn meal. All of them call for sour milk and baking soda. I noticed that most new recipes for brown bread use whole wheat flour, white flour and corn meal, not rye flour, but why add white flour to a recipe that traditionally calls for something much healthier? The quick bread is sweetened with molasses and steamed – always. I use a Bundt pan (or you can use a tube pan) placed in a dutch oven for steaming instead of the traditional can, but the finished product is still hearty, sweet and the perfect accompaniment for the beans. It’s even better toasted with butter and jam the following morning. Enjoy!

Baked Beans
Serves 8
These beans re-heat beautifully in the microwave. Just add a half cup of water, cover and cook for 10 minutes on 50% power, stirring once half-way through the cooking time.

2 cups great northern or navy beans soaked overnight
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 carrot, chopped fine
1 celery stalk, chopped fine
1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped fine
4 cups water, divided
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Heat a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add the oil and heat until it begins to simmer then add the onions, celery, carrots and apple. Cook until the onions are translucent, about five minutes. While the vegetables are cooking combine the molasses, brown sugar, tomato paste, cloves, bay leaf, mustard powder, whole-grain mustard and vinegar in a small bowl. Add the molasses mixture once the vegetables are soft. Add two cups of water and bring the mixture to a boil.

Place the soaked beans in a large oven-safe dish. Pour the vegetable and molasses mixture over the beans and seal tightly with a piece of foil. Put the baking dish on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Cook for 2 hours.

When 2 hours have passed, remove the pan from the oven and stir the beans. Add the salt dissolved in another cup of water. Recover the beans with foil and return to the oven. Check once an hour stirring the beans and adding more water as needed. The finished beans should be a rich brownish-red in color and very tender. The total cooking time will vary depending on the type of bean you use; about 4 hours for navy beans and 6 hours for the larger great northern bean.

Steamed Boston Brown Bread
Makes 1 large tube pan loaf, about 30 slices
This is essentially a graham flour bread that is leavened with baking soda instead of yeast. Most of us don’t have a steamed pudding pan hanging around, and I don’t even have a 1 pound coffee can. So, this recipe is adapted to use a large dutch oven and a standard metal loaf or Bundt pan. This means that it produces a much larger than normal loaf. If you’re not that into brown bread, you can half this recipe and steam it in a 1 pound coffee can (oh, and the cans really don’t hold one pound of coffee anymore, but people still refer to them as such). Do not use a glass loaf pan for this as it could shatter when steamed on the stove.

2 cup rye flour
2 cup graham flour
2 cup corn meal
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup molasses
3 cups buttermilk

Grease a 12-cup tube pan or Bundt pan and set aside. Bring 1 inch of water to boil in a large dutch oven set over medium-high heat. While the water boils, combine the flours, salt and baking powder. In another bowl combine the molasses and buttermilk. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Scrape the batter into the loaf or Bundt pan and lower the pan down into the boiling water. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Cook the bread until it is firm to the touch, about two hours.

When the bread has finished steaming use a pair of tongs inserted into the center of the tube to raise the pan out of the pot of water. You can use a paper towel to soak up any water or moisture that has collected around the edges of the bread. Heat an oven to 325 degrees. Bake the bread for about 20 minutes to dry out the edges of the bread and prevent the bread from becoming sticky. When the bread is done, remove and cool for ten minute before turning the bread out onto a wire rack. Serve immediately warm or toasted the following day. Can be kept covered for three days or frozen for two months.

Happy New Year – Hoppin’ John Cakes

December 28, 2012 - 10:45 pm | Earth Friendly, Grains, Green, Holiday, Main Dish, Meatless Monday, Recipe, Sides, Southern, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Winter

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Although the new year is not quite here yet, I’ve already begun to celebrate it’s arrival. Since the Mayan’s were wrong about the end of the world last week, I now feel the need to hurry up and enjoy myself before we all slide off the Fiscal Cliff. So, I kicked off a week long party by reinventing a southern new year’s tradition; Hoppin’ John.

Southern tradition dictates eating peas on New Year’s Day. Different parts of the south do this differently. Some parts say you need to eat black-eyed peas, others say it needs to be peas and rice, other parts say peas and greens. In low country cooking, it needs to be Hoppin’ John served on rice. Hoppin’ John is a pea dish made most often with black-eyed peas and ham hock. Whatever the combination, the eating of peas on New Year’s Day is supposed to bring you luck and wealth in the coming year.

I’m not really picky; all of the above sounds good to me. Well, almost all of it. I’m not a greens fan. I know, I know. How dare I claim to know anything about southern cooking and hate greens. It’s like an New Yorker hating pizza. But there you have it. I think my distaste is rooted in the smell of mustard greens cooking all day in my house when I was a child. On days when my grand-mother was down in the kitchen cooking up a mess of greens, I would hide out in my room, sometimes even burying my head in my pillow to hide from the stench. It takes a lot to get that smell out of your mind.

But now I’m the grown-up. I’m supposed to like vegetables. So, as the good girl that I am I decided to turn greens and peas into something I could like, even love. Mixing a mild in-season green like kale with the rice and peas the flavor became something to get excited about. Forming the rice, peas and greens into a patty, dredging it in corn meal and frying it makes this traditional dish into something strangely more southern. It tastes of the south. The total flavor is nothing but satisfying: crunchy cornmeal, homey peas and rice and the rich flavor of greens. Several people even commented that it reminded them of fried okra. It can be a little crumbly to work with, but it’s worth it in the end because of the crunch and the flavor. Alone or with a generous splash of hot sauce, these are perfect for a home cooked meal with nothing but a salad or a piece of fish. Or if you are entertaining for New Year, you can start the party in style and make these into small appetizers. I can’t promise that they will bring you wealth or luck in the new year, but they will make you popular. Enjoy!

Hoppin John Cakes

Makes 16-3” cakes or 32 small hors d’oeuvres size cakes

I love these cakes fried up with just a splash of hot sauce. Depending on your rice and peas, you may need to stir in a tablespoon of flour to make these stick when forming them into cakes. The baking soda used in the cooking of the kale helps keep it’s nice bright green color.

1 cup dried black-eyed peas
1/2 small onion, chopped fine
1 cups medium grain rice
1/2 small bunch of kale (take the other half bunch and make kale chips – everyone else is)
1 teaspoon steak seasoning or rib seasoning with natural smoke (two of my favorites are Adams Rib Rubb and Penzey’s Chicago Steak Seasoning)
2 teaspoons hot sauce such as Crystal
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup corn meal
bacon drippings or vegetable oil for frying

Pick over the dried peas to make sure there are no rocks, pebbles or debris. Soak them overnight or bring the peas to a boil and let boil for five minutes.

Turn off the heat and let them sit for 1 hour. Cook the peas without any seasoning until just tender, about 30 minutes. When they are tender, drain off the cooking liquid and season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and two teaspoons of hot sauce.

Set aside to cool.

While the peas are cooking, add the onion and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to a medium pot without any oil. Saute on medium-low heat until the onion is translucent, 7-10 minutes.

Add two cups of water and steak or rib seasoning and bring to a boil. Add the rice, cover tightly and reduce the heat to low. Cook for twenty minutes or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

To cook the greens, remove the stem from the leaves and chop the kale into 1 inch pieces and rinse well.

Add to a pot with a 1/2 cup of water, a 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently until the kale is wilted.

Cover and continue to cook until the kale is tender, about another five minutes. When tender, drain off the cooking liquid and squeeze the extra liquid out of the greens.

Combine the greens, rice and peas together and season to taste.

Form the cakes by pressing the mixture into a round cookie or biscuit cutter or down into a ring mold.

Small cakes can be formed by pressing the mixture into the desired size with your hands.

You want the mixture to be tightly packed to prevent the cakes from crumbling. If they do start to crumble, you can add a tablespoon or two of flour to the mixture. Carefully dredge the cakes in corn meal.

Heat a thin layer of oil (about 1/8” deep) in a large pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the cakes in batches cooking for about five minutes a side.

They should be very crispy and dark golden brown on both sides. Repeat with remaining cakes adding more oil as needed until all the cakes are done. Serve hot with lots of extra hot sauce.

Buttermilk Bread Pudding with Roasted Cranberries and Acorn Squash

December 19, 2012 - 7:42 am | Autumn, Breakfast, Fruit, Holiday, Main Dish, Meatless Monday, Recipe, Sides, Vegetables, Winter

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We’ve been busy celebrating Hanukkah and getting ready for Christmas (we are equal opportunity holiday celebrators around here!) I’m cooking all week this week getting ready for our big Christmas dinner next week. I’ll share a few details of our meal soon. In the meantime, with fall ending this Friday, I wanted to share this dish with you. This time of year I’m craving cranberries. I love them in relishes and sauces, but also baked in a savory dish like this bread pudding.

We had this for dinner with nothing but a salad of field greens tossed with a mustard vinaigrette, as good as it was by itself, I couldn’t help but think how good it would be with baked ham or roasted duck – even turkey. Its the balance of tangy buttermilk, savory Gruyere, herbs and mustard, and the sweet squash and maple sugar that really make this dish. It’s a keeper. The buttermilk really keeps the calorie count down too! Enjoy!

Bread Pudding with Roasted Cranberries and Acorn Squash
serves 6 as an entree, 10-12 as a side

This bread pudding is a delicate balance of flavors. Savory but with sweet notes, it’s perfect for many different occasions. Paired with fresh fruit it makes an ideal brunch casserole; savory enough to have as a side with roasted turkey, ham or duck or even with a side salad for a meatless entree.

1 medium acorn squash
1 cup fresh cranberries
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, minced
1 tablespoon fresh sage, minced
1 tablespoon butter
1 leek
3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons maple sugar (or brown sugar), divided
8 cups french bread or other sturdy chewy bread, cubed into 2” cubes
1 1/2 cups low fat buttermilk
1/2 cup low fat milk
4 eggs
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
5 ounces Gruyere, shredded
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425. Cut the stem off the acorn squash and split in half. Scoop the seeds and strings from the middle and place on a large baking sheet lined with parchment. Sprinkle the top of each of squash halves with about 1/4 teaspoon salt, a pinch of pepper, a 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of the maple sugar.

Place in oven. Toss cranberries with thyme and 1 teaspoon olive oil. Place cranberries on another parchment lined baking sheet and bake until soft and split, about 15 minutes.

Cranberries before and after roasting…

Remove the cranberries from the oven and toss with remaining 3 tablespoons of maple sugar.

Continue to cook the acorn squash until tender about another 30 minutes. Remove the squash from the oven and allow to cool.

While the squash is cooking melt butter in a small pan and add leeks and sage. Cook until soft and translucent, about five minutes.

In a medium bowl combine eggs, buttermilk, milk and mustard. When the squash has cooled, peel the outer skin and chop into 1 inch cubes. You can also use a small scoop to scoop the squash out from the skin.

Peeling and scooping the squash from the skin…

Toss cranberries, squash and leek mixture together and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Lightly mix in bread cubes and Gruyere.

Spray a two quart baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and add bread and squash mixture. Pour buttermilk egg mixture evenly over the bread. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350. Place baking dish on the middle rack of a preheated oven. Cook for 1 hour or until the middle is lightly puffed and top is light brown. Allow the finished bread pudding sit for five minutes before serving.

Winter Salad

December 6, 2012 - 9:07 pm | Fruit, Meatless Monday, Salad, Sides, Winter

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For my first three years of school I attended an all-girls school in Baltimore. While I have many memories such as May day and the great tire swing I loved to play on during recess, there is one memory that is so ingrained in my mind that I keep coming back to it every time I smell an orange. Every year the school held a fund raiser selling citrus fruit (grapefruits and oranges). When the fruit would arrive directly from Florida it would make the entire building smell like a citrus grove. Imagine the worst smell you have ever smelled, then imagine the polar opposite of it, and that is what it smelled like. Ambrosia comes to mind to describe it. And like most scent memories, this memory is now triggered every time I smell fresh citrus. It is, I’m sure, the reason that I begin to crave citrus fruit the moment I see the first of the Clementines hit the shelves in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. I’m sure my cravings have something to do with the seasonality of food, and I crave it because it’s been a year since it was in season and all of that stuff. However, I think it’s the smell of it that I crave even more than the flavor. I want so badly to return to that hallway, lined with white boxes of orange and yellow–heavenly scent bombs from floor to ceiling. But I can’t go back, so I now greedily grab up countless numbers of oranges and grapefruits this time of year so I can fill my kitchen and tummy with all that citrus. I bring home fruit after fruit to zest, section, juice or just peel and eat. I love the way the smell sinks into my fingers and hands. It’s just so good.

Of course, citrus isn’t the only thing in season this time of year. I’ll take oranges and grapefruit almost anyway I can get them right now, but there’re a few other things I’m also hoarding and eating at breakneck pace right now. Beets and fennel, when added to my beloved citrus create a wonderful winter salad that has all the juiciness of summer fruit with a decidedly winter feel to it. Every flavor of this salad works together to create something greater than the sum of its parts. The licorice flavor of the fennel is balanced with the sweet, sour, and bitter from the fruit. The sweetness of the beets is amplified by the honey. The creamy Gorgonzola is paired with the crunch from the walnuts, and the slightly sweet mustard vinaigrette is full with black-pepper bite. It’s a salad that will wow guests when you serve it at your holiday dinner, but also something easy enough to want to make it again just for yourself. Enjoy

Winter Salad
Serves 2 as an entrée or 4 as a side salad
This salad is also wonderful with a soft goat cheese like chèvre instead of the gorgonzola. You can save time by roasting the beets in advance, and you can roast a bunch off at a time and keep them in the fridge for up to a week. While the beets are roasting you can prep all the rest of the ingredients for the salad.

Salad:
2 golden beets
1 grapefruit
2 oranges
6 cups watercress (one large bunch), washed
1 bulb fennel
4 ounces Gorgonzola Dolce, cubed or crumbled
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped and toasted

Dressing:
1 tablespoon whole grain Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons good quality wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
zest of one orange
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut all but an inch of the beet greens off of the beets and scrub the beets thoroughly.

Place the beets on a baking sheet and roast them in the oven for about an hour, or until a knife easily slides into the beets. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

To make the dressing, combine mustard, vinegar, honey, orange zest, salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl. Slowly whisk the olive oil into the bowl. Set aside.

To peel citrus fruit cut the ends off of the fruit and then carefully slice the knife around the outside of the fruit removing all of the peel and pith while leaving as much of the fruit as possible.

Click here to see my video on how to peel citrus..

To section the fruit, slide a sharp paring knife down along the partitioning skin of each section to the center of the fruit, then turn the knife and come back out along the other side of each section. Repeat with the remaining sections and squeeze any remaining juice into a separate bowl for another use.

Click here to see my video on how to section citrus…

Remove the fennel bulb from the greens. Core the bulb by slicing a triangle out of the bottom end. Slice the rest of the fennel into thin slices.

When the beets have cooled, peel the outer skin off of them and slice them thinly.

To build the salad: Place the watercress on the platter first, then the fennel, beets, citrus fruit walnuts and cheese. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and serve.

Potato Leek Soup with Cheese Rinds

November 15, 2012 - 10:04 pm | Autumn, kid-friendly, Main Dish, Meatless Monday, Recipe, Soup, Vegetables, Winter

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It’s been a stressful week around here. Little Guy’s 4^th birthday party was over the weekend, and there’s nothing like a kid’s birthday party to push the stress buttons. Luckily it was a small affair, and luckier still, Little Guy requested an easy theme and cake. A cake so easy in fact that I couldn’t possibly pay someone to make it; I just had to do it myself. Yes, I really am that stupid. Now, let me tell you I can make soup that will bring tears of joy to your eyes, polenta so creamy you want to bathe in it, and pulled pork so tangy and tender that even New Yorkers will let out a yee-haw, but I am no cake baker. So, I was pretty darn pleased when I produced a cake that even I was proud of. See….

Yeah, if you happen to notice that I have done nothing at all but simply covered the cake in a sort-of smooth coating of buttercream and then thrown a few Disney toys on top, don’t tell anyone. I’m really really proud of this one!

We also had a make-your-own pizza bar for everyone which was super tasty and a big hit, albeit a little heavy on the work for the cook. Grilling pizzas for everyone wasn’t hard, it’s just that they all looked so yummy and I had to wait till the end to get a bite of my white pizza with Gorgonzola and caramelized onions. I don’t like waiting for caramelized onions!

After we cleaned up the curling ribbon and I eradicated the leftover buttercream from the house (homemade buttercream and diets don’t go well together for me). I was left with a messy house and a tired, stressed-out cook that wanted a light, buttercream-free meal. Mix in a cold front, and you get the perfect night for an easy, warm, comforting meal that tastes rich and creamy without a lot of cream and fat. So it happened that we dined on potato leek soup the night after Little Guy’s party. It’s easy, comforting, tasty and feeds a hungry family.

One of my soup secrets is cheese rinds. I always save them and throw them in the freezer when I get to the end of my wedges of Parmigiano Reggiano and (more often) Grana Padano. I also try to leave just a little extra of the inner cheese on the rind to melt into my soups and give them a rich flavor.

Don’t tell anyone, but I don’t remove the rinds before serving like others do; I just cut them up prior to serving and leave them in the soup as bits of chewy, cheesy goodness for the eaters to enjoy. If you like chewy and cheese then you’ll understand. Don’t judge.

I think that the few tablespoons of butter and the cheese rinds used makes up for the lack of cream in this soup. Of course I won’t tell if you throw in a glug of cream at the end to finish off this soup. The soup doesn’t need it, but then again, I don’t need buttercream. Enjoy!

Potato Leek Soup with Cheese Rinds
Serves 8-10

The beauty of this soup is its versatility. You can use vegetarian or chicken broth, leave out the dairy all together or substitute a little sharp cheddar at the end in place of the cheese rinds. You’ll still end up with a great soup.

3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
1 large bunch leeks (about 4 leeks), dark green parts removed
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 pounds peeled potatoes (I like yukon gold or russet)
6 cups broth or stock (vegetable or chicken)
2-3 large Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese rinds (about 7 ounces)

To clean the leeks, cut off the dark green tops and the root end. Split each leek longways and separate the layers.

Rinse them thoroughly in cold water to remove all the hidden sand. Melt the butter in a large soup pot or sauce pan over medium-low heat. When the butter has melted add the leeks, salt and pepper. Allow the leeks to cook slowly until they are soft and translucent, about 10 minutes.

Add the potatoes, broth and cheese rinds and bring to a simmer.

Allow the soup to simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft but not yet falling apart and the cheese rinds are well softened. Remove the cheese rinds and puree the soup using either an immersion blender or stand blender. (If you use a stand blender be very careful to vent the top of the blender and cover with a towel so you don’t burn yourself or end up with a soup covered kitchen). If you want to leave the softened cheese rinds in the soup, chop them up and return them to the pureed soup.

Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.

Category Archives: Meatless Monday

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Cooking Light for Dinner Tonight

Sauteed Baby Greens with Crispy Shallots

Fun with Real Yams and Pancit Noodles

Foxboro Cheese and Sundried Tomato and Spinach Turnovers

Vegetarian Boston-Style Baked Beans

Happy New Year – Hoppin’ John Cakes

Buttermilk Bread Pudding with Roasted Cranberries and Acorn Squash

Winter Salad

Potato Leek Soup with Cheese Rinds

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