Vegetables - 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

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My dinners at night are not all my own creations. In a typical week I usually make at least one or two dinners from existing recipes. Most of these are from online sites like Cooking Light and various blogs. Some of these I make frequently and others are weeknight adventures. So, in addition to sharing my own original recipes with you, I thought I would also share what else I’m making for dinner in a new series called Cooking Light for Dinner Tonight.

The past month saw birthdays and the beginning of warmer weather, finally. Meals are quickly moving from heavy winter comfort food to lighter fare. Fresh produce is starting to look somewhat seasonal again with strawberries and asparagus readily available (even if not yet local).

Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Once the Twin’s birthday party was finally over we went into recovery mode–it took days! The fridge was stuffed full of leftovers, but there was no protein to be had. That’s where these sandwiches from Cooking Light came in. They went perfectly with the leftover Herbed Potato Salad and I topped them off with leftover Firecracker Coleslaw (instead of the suggested pickles). I followed the recipe with only a few small changes. Instead of using just chicken thighs, I used a combination of white and dark meat chicken (boneless and skinless). I also added in a pound of crimini mushrooms which I grilled whole, then sliced and tossed in with the shredded chicken. They were tasty and made plenty for multiple meals. We ate them as sliders like in the picture above, and we also enjoyed the chicken days later piled on top of toasted bread rounds as a light tapas style meal with friends.

Straw and Hay Alfredo with Roasted Asparagus

The Twin’s birthday party was the weekend before their actual birthday. On the actual day, we had a much lower key dinner. I wanted something easy for the little ones to chew and something that we would enjoy as well. I made the recipe as written except that I used only multi-grain spaghetti instead of half whole-wheat and half traditional spaghetti. It was a perfect weeknight meal with a big salad.

Butternut-Kale Lasagna

I was immediately drawn to this recipe from the March 2013 Cooking Light because I love the combination of butternut squash and Gruyere cheese so much. This was easy for such a complicated looking recipe. I did not use pre-cut squash or kale. Instead, I roasted a small squash that I had peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces. I then tossed that with half a bunch of kale that I had de-stemmed and chopped. I did that early in the day, so that before dinner, all I had to do was make the Bechamel and layer everything together. I did add a large pinch of rubbed sage to the sauce because when is sage and squash are together its a good thing. This was a great weeknight meal, but I will make this again when I’m entertaining because it’s a great recipe that has a big WOW factor. Yummy!

Orzotto with Asparagus

I loved the lemon zest in this risotto-style pasta. My asparagus was thick; I’m pretty sure I would have enjoyed this more with thinner asparagus. It was a fantastic quick weeknight meal. The twins devoured it (Little Guy turned up his nose, but we ignore him as he does this to pretty much EVERYTHING these days).

Greek Chicken Bread Salad

It doesn’t take much for me to want to start summer-style cooking. That’s what this salad is. The recipe calls for toasting the bread and pan roasting the chicken. I opted for the grill for both, and I was rewarded with a fantastic salad. I’ll be making this again next week!

Sausage and Kale Stuffed Shells with Homemade Italian Sausage

May 2, 2013 - 8:19 am | Cheese, Cooking, Italian, kid-friendly, Main Dish, Meat, Pasta, Poultry, Recipe, Sauces/Condiments, Vegetables

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Sausage and Kale stuffed shells

Comfort food is the heart of my home cooked meals these days. Whether it’s Chicken and Dumplings or Turkey Meatloaf, comfort food makes up the majority of what my family eats on a nightly basis. Probably because by the end of a day of wrangling three kids, I want a little comfort anyway I can get it. But comfort food does not need to be unhealthy food.

When I moved to New England for college two decades ago, I was immediately immersed in a crash course of Italian American food. Stuffed shells, Manicotti, Ricotta in pretty much anything was what I took away from the local restaurants and even the dining halls. It wasn’t until I moved to Boston’s North End that I really started to learn the differences between Italian-American fast food and what it meant to truly identify yourself as an Italian and an American and what role food played in that identification. I learned this through friends who knew a lot about food who were also Italian Americans, by living in a predominately Italian neighborhood where I could walk around and still hear Italian spoken, and by trips to Italy where I learned the differences between Italian and American food.

Italian-American food is not a set-in-stone canon of recipes. Yes, Ricotta is in some of it, but not in all of it. (I also learned that not all Ricotta is grainy and tasteless.) The dishes are comfort food to many, but that does not mean that they cannot be lightened and improved.

This week’s recipe is an example of that. I have had stuffed shells a few times over the years. Sadly, most of the time the dish was very disappointing. The shells tend to be over stuffed with tasteless grainy Ricotta, and the pasta is usually overcooked and blown out, soggy and bloated with sauce. The sauce is usually the only vegetable matter on the plate.

This recipe is not that dish. These shells are filled with a homemade Italian sausage which you can make from any ground meat you wish; I’m a fan of lean ground turkey. You then mix the sausage with kale and cheese and fill the shells with a moderate amount of the filling. The shells are easily frozen and can be pulled out and topped with a fresh, easy to make sauce before baking. I don’t put any cheese on top of the sauce when baking, as it seems pointless since the shells are full of it. When serving I top each portion with a small amount of freshly grated Parmesan and that’s it.

I highly recommend making your own sausage. The idea that sausage is hard to make is a misconception. It couldn’t be easier and the flavor is superior; especially for the lower fat meats like ground chicken or turkey. The vinegar in the sausage recipe really helps bring the flavor to life, and you can make it as spicy as your family wants. Since Italian sausage is not smoked or cured, it’s easy to make, and it does not need to be stuffed into a casing if your using it as a filling or topping.

You certainly don’t need to be Italian-American or Italian or even American to enjoy this dish. It’s comfort food any way you dish it. It tastes good, it makes you feel good and it will make you smile. Enjoy!

Italian Sausage and Kale Stuffed Shells
Serves 8

Quality Ricotta is very important to the success of this recipe. I love Naragansett Creamery’s Ricotta; it’s insanely smooth and very flavorful. If you live outside the region find a local cheese producer that makes it. Good Ricotta is an entirely different product than most of the stuff in the grocery stores.

1 package large shells, about 40
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound Italian sausage (see recipe below)
1/2 bunch kale, rinsed and dried
1 cup whole milk ricotta (8 oz)
1 cup mozzarella, shredded (4 oz)
2 tablespoons Parmesan, finely grated (1 1/2 oz)
1 egg
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons basil, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Sauce:
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes (Eden Organic does not contain BPA)
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon garlic, minced (about five cloves)
1 teaspoon salt
8 large basil leaves, torn into small pieces

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the shells according to the directions until al dente, removing 1-2 minutes before the recommended cooking time.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it starts to shimmer, add the onion and saute until soft but not yet brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and continue to cook until the garlic is very fragrant, about a minute. Add the sausage.

Cook the sausage breaking it into smaller pieces until it is cooked completely through and the pieces are no bigger than a 1/2 inch. Add the chopped kale and cook until the kale is wilted and has released most of its liquid, about another 3 minutes.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely down to room temperature.

While the sausage and kale mixture is cooling combine ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, parsley, basil, egg, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

Once the sausage and kale have cooled add it to the mixture and thoroughly combine.

Using a tablespoon or 1/2 ounce scoop, fill each shell with a rounded tablespoon of filling.

Place seem down in an oiled baking dish or on a baking sheet for freezing.

Cooking:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Make the sauce by combining the tomatoes, chicken broth, olive oil, crushed red pepper, garlic, salt and basil in a large bowl.

Line the shells up in a large baking dish and cover with the sauce. If you are baking off only a small portion of the shells, allow 1/2 cup of sauce for each five shells. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes, 30 if frozen. Remove the foil and check to make sure sauce is bubbling and all the shells are hot cooked thoroughly. Serve with a light grating of Parmesan.

Italian Sausage

1 pound ground turkey, chicken or pork
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Combine the red pepper flakes and the fennel in a small pan and toast, shaking constantly until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Combine the ground meat, garlic, sugar, salt, black pepper, fennel and red pepper mixture and vinegar together.

Use in any recipe that calls for Italian sausage with the casing removed.

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

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ReVision Urban Farm has a winter growing season where baby greens are available in salad blends and in what they call braising blends. I found the braising green mix intriguing. A mix of mizuna, Swiss chard, spinach, baby bok choy and kale. This blend packs a nutritional punch that’s hard to match. Not wanting to take food from those who needed it I substituted their mix with the saute greens now available in grocery stores (although the store blend is missing the baby bok choy). The mix is perfect for the quick saute and makes a killer warm salad or side dish.

AAAAANNNNDDDD…that works for me because this is the time of year when I start to get a little itchy for salad season. The days are getting longer and that has me longing for the warm days of summer when the horrible thought of anything hot to eat has me eating different variations of salad for dinner for a silly number of days straight.

One problem with my itch; its cold–snow still covering the ground, winter coats and wooly slippers in the morning cold. So I decided to try a warm salad. Ding, ding, ding! I discovered a way to cure my salad craving and stay warm at the same time. I fried thinly sliced shallots to top the greens with a crunch, finished the greens with a splash of balsamic vinegar for acid and then topped the whole thing off with crumble blue cheese because I really, really love blue cheese.

I call this a warm salad but it disguises a little secret of mine. This is actually a side dish. The first time I actually made this was as a side with pan-seared fish and polenta, but it was so good that I made it again the very next day for lunch and then ate all of by myself (with hefty chunk of blue cheese this time). Boom, side dish turned warm salad. It’s great with or without the blue cheese, but the blue cheese gives the warm salad a touch of fat and flavor to round into a complete meal.

Sauteed Baby Greens with Crispy Shallots
or
Warm Salad of Wilted Baby Greens with Crispy Shallots and Blue Cheese
Serves 2-3 as a side or one as a salad

This is both an excellent side or a warm salad. The blue cheese is optional, but if you do use it, choose a smooth mellow blue so you don’t overpower the flavors of the greens. I am a big fan of Great Hill Blue out of Marion, MA. This recipe produces a little extra shallot oil which is leftover from frying the shallots. The extra oil is good in almost everything. Deeply fragrant of shallots, it’s great for salad dressings, seafood or for even more sauteed greens.

1/4 cup olive oil
2 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 package saute greens (about 6 oz)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 black pepper
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 oz blue cheese, crumbled

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil starts to shimmer, add thinly sliced shallots.

Cook stirring frequently until most of the shallots are golden brown.

Remove the shallots with tongs or a slotted spoon allowing as much of the oil to drain as possible, and then move the shallots to a paper towel and sprinkle them with a pinch of salt.

Drain all but one tablespoon of the oil from the pan. Reserve the extra shallot oil for another use. Return the pan with one tablespoon of oil to the heat. When it returns to a shimmer add the greens, salt and pepper.

Turning the greens as they wilt, cook them until they are almost all wilted, but a few pieces remain.

Turn off the heat and continue to cook until all the greens are wilted. Add the balsamic vinegar and toss to coat the greens.

Remove the greens to a serving vessel and cover with the crispy shallots. If you are making a salad, or want the blue cheese, add the crumbled cheese over the crispy shallots. Serve immediately.

Field Trip: ReVision Urban Farm

March 28, 2013 - 7:36 am | Earth Friendly, Field Trips, Green, Healthy Planet, Local, Sustainable, Vegetables, Winter

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On a crisp March morning that was colder than it should have been I pulled up in front of the ReVision Urban Farm in the economically challenged Boston neighborhood of Dorchester. The half-acre site looks out of place nestled between the triple-decker homes in the neighborhood. A large greenhouse stretches most of the way across the rear of the lot, and the growing beds sit dormant, covered in a layer of late spring snow. As I step inside the greenhouse, everything changes. A biting wind gives way to warm, slightly humid air, and the cold, snow covered ground changes into early summer soil with rows of tables covered in baby plants. The smell of warm earth fills my lungs and the diffused sunlight filters in with surprising warmth.

Here I meet Jolie Olivetti, the Farm Manager. Bent over a giant salad spinner, Jolie is harvesting greens and radishes which are part of the new winter growing program made possible with the addition of the greenhouse. The bunches of radishes and bags of baby greens Jolie is packaging are as fresh as anyone can get anywhere. The produce she is preparing is for the attached shelter, whose tenants are eligible for free produce upon request from what is currently in season.

As she fills orders, I look around. The greenhouse is bursting with life. Rows of seedlings are in various states of growth. A table marked “winter greens” brims with baby greens ready for harvesting, while other tables are covered in seedlings that have barely sprouted. Everything is growing though, which is such a surprise in a winter laden with snow, snow and more snow. As she works, Jolie explains that certain beds are growing plants that will be sold as produce, others sold as seedlings and still others will be transplanted to the outdoor growing areas. It’s a busy place to be a plant.

Don’t let the size fool you though, this little farm does big things for the community. Although the plot of land is just barely over a 1/2 acre along with a new smaller plot down the street, they provide enough produce to support a farm stand in the neighborhood, a CSA in conjunction with Trustees of the Reservations’ Powisset Farm, produce sold at local farmer’s markets, seedlings sold into the community and produce free to those living at the attached homeless shelter. In addition, there is a job-training program and outreach programs to teach neighbors urban growing skills, like how to start a kitchen herb garden or the basics of composting.

While not certified organic, the farm follows organic practices, and Jolie and other growers use a common sense approach. To avoid contaminated soil, the farm land consists of about a foot of transplanted soil that sits over a barrier between the preexisting soil and the plants which essentially makes the farm one giant raised bed. Contamination from city life is only one challenge the farm faces though. A large farm has the opportunity to let fields rest for a season, an option not available on a small urban farm. Crop rotation at ReVision means moving the tomatoes from one place to another ten feet away, not two fields away which opens the crops up to greater pest and disease pressure. Of course, the biggest challenge for a small urban farm is space. They cannot easily grow some crops that require a lot of land, so popular vegetables like corn, potatoes, onions and winter squash are available through the farm’s partnership with Powisset Farm, a farm that is part of the Trustees of the Reservations program.

The success of ReVision Urban Farm is the result of over twenty years of hard work by volunteers, members of the community and employees. Before there was the farm, there was the homeless shelter for young pregnant women and mothers. Over time this has evolved into a home for about 30 families who live there for a few months while they get back on their feet. ReVision Farm and ReVision House together act as a vital support for the community, providing not only homes to many in the disadvantaged Boston neighborhood, but produce, training, support and a wide-ranging positive influence. In fact, when asked what the single most important need for the organization was, Jolie instantly answered that it was to continue to develop positive relationships with those in the community.

Everyone I met at ReVision seemed deeply interested in helping those around them, and the farm is simply an extension of that. While I was there, Shani Fletcher, a Grower at the farm, was proof-reading an upcoming cookbook that the farm is publishing. (As soon as the book is available, I will add a link.)

ReVision Farm is an asset to the community and the City of Boston. Jolie, Shani and everyone that works there, the hundreds of volunteers and all those in the community that have bonded together to make this improbably little place a success are proof of hope in a part of the city that needs it most.

Baked Potato Tots

March 7, 2013 - 11:02 am | Breakfast, Gluten-Free, kid-friendly, Recipe, Retro Recipes, Sides, Vegetables

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Crunchy potato tots are a pretty unanimous family favorite. Kids love ‘em because they are tasty, crunchy, slightly salty, go well with ketchup and they seem like they are bad for you. Parents love ‘em because they are tasty, crunchy, slightly salty, go well with ketchup and because the kids like ‘em.

Good potato tots are as good as potatoes can get. They are crispy, hot and flavorful with just the right balance of starchy potato and salt. Bad potato tots are undercooked, limp, lukewarm, falling apart and taste of old potatoes and the freezer (think back to your school lunches).

These are very good potato tots, and they are baked which makes them healthier. Not to mention that you don’t need to deal with the hassle of frying. They only take a few minutes to whip together. From start to finish you can have these on the table in well under an hour (about 40 minutes once you’ve made them once or twice).

By making your own potato tots, you get to control the ingredients. You can use organic or local potatoes and eggs. If you want gluten-free potato tots, just substitute potato starch for the flour. If you want to make them low-sodium, reduce the amount of salt, use light salt or even use a salt-free seasoning like Mrs. Dash or Penzey’s Forward. However you make them, you will enjoy them, as will your whole family. After all they are tasty, crunchy, slightly salty and go well with ketchup.

Baked Potato Tots
serves 3-4 as a side

Replace the flour with potato starch to make these gluten-free. Don’t be tempted to cook these until they are golden brown. Lightly golden is the best. They can get tough and a little bitter when they are over-cooked.

1 pound potatoes, peeled (about two large)
1 egg white
1 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon flour
non-stick cooking spray or olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the potatoes into large chunks and place in a food processor with the normal blade in place.

Pulse several times until the potatoes are in small (1/4”) pieces. Depending on the size of your food processor, you may need to do this in batches.

Remove the potatoes from the food processor and place on a large, clean kitchen towel.

Wrap the kitchen towel around the potatoes and squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the potatoes.

Place the potatoes in a large bowl and add the egg white, onion powder, salt and flour. Mix together well.

Spray a lined baking pan with non-stick cooking spray or lightly brush with oil. Use a small scoop (such as a cookies scoop) or a tablespoon to scoop the potatoes into round “tots” and place on the baking sheet leaving a small amount of space between each tot.

Spray the tops with non-stick cooking spray or lightly brush with oil and place in the oven.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the tops are light brown. Serve hot.

Shelter from the Storm (Roasted Plantains and Mango Painkillers)

March 1, 2013 - 6:52 am | Beverages, Caribbean, Field Trips, Fruit, Gluten-Free, Recipe, Salad, Sides, travel, Vacation, Vegetables, Vegetarian

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On the afternoon of February 6^th, 1978 thousands of people left work early to avoid a heavy snow forecast for the area. Their cars piled onto Rt. 128, along the outer edge of the Boston area. Quickly the cars were overcome with the heavy snowfall and travel became impossible. As snow piled up on the roadways, the trapped commuters began to realize they would not make it home anytime soon. In fact, most of them would not make it home for days. Many of them, my father-in-law included, would spend most of the next week trudging through record snow levels to and from their car every day just to get to basic food and water. Here’s a link to picture of rt. 128 during the Blizzard of ’78.

Eventually the national guard was called in to evacuate the interstate. While all of these people were stuck living out of their cars and trying to survive, their families had to do without them at home. My mother-in-law was trapped at home without power or any means of transportation with three sick children. Neighbors had to bring her in supplies on sleds. If you live anywhere in New England you hear the stories like these of the Blizzard of ’78 on a yearly basis. Every storm is compared to it and everyone has their own where were you story of the blizzard.

Flash forward exactly 35 years to February 6^th, 2013. It was day five of our trip to Turks and Caicos and we awoke to a message from our airline that we should consider rescheduling our return trip due to heavy snow forecast for the Boston area the day of our return. We were more than lucky. Not only did we take action early enough to get a flight out two days after the storm, but we were able to find a place to stay that would allow us to continue to enjoy our vacation while our friends and family endured hurricane force winds and over two feet of snow.

The new place was the opulent Ocean Club West. With it’s huge two bedroom unit and screened-in porch just four stepping stones from the vast tropical pool, we lived our last two days on Providenciales in luxurious style.

Our view from Ocean Club West

I like the idea of karmic reward for my in-laws who traded in their blizzard of ’78 horror stories for walks on the beach and sweet coconutty rum drinks. I like the idea riding of their karmic coattails too. I don’t know a lot about karma except that it is important that I show gratitude for my gift, which I do. I am very grateful for the extra two days in paradise while taking shelter from the storm.

To show my gratitude, I share with you two recipes which were particular hits of our trip. The roasted plantains with orange juice and rum is adapted from a recipe in Modern Caribbean Cuisine by Wendy Rahamut and Michael Bonaparte (see link below). The recipe calls for almost ripe plantains, but after making this a few times now, I highly recommend using ripe plantains so you can avoid an gummy/starchy texture. We had these twice in Turks and Caicos. The first time was the magical night with the grilled lobster. The sauce is what makes these delicious. It is really something else with the grilled lobster and even more so when it’s mixed with a little melted butter and lime juice. The second time we had these was our last night at Ocean Club West where we had them with rice, grilled shrimp and a salad of local veggies.

The local veggies were a rarity in Turks and Caicos. Almost all produce is flown in from the mainland and from other islands like Jamaica and Puerto Rico. However, there is a revival of local produce lately. There are farms in Turks and Caicos like the Misick Farm which is discussed in this post from 2 Gringos in the Caribbean. The local produce I had was all hydroponic, but tasted perfectly ripe. The tomatoes tasted like summer fruit which is pretty special in the middle of February.

The second recipe was the one we had more often than any other. The Mango Painkiller is my take on a rum drink we discovered on our previous visits to the U.S. Virgin Islands. Painkillers are a mix of orange juice, pineapple juice, cream of coconut and aged rum. They are served over ice with a grating of nutmeg on top. The local rum drink on Turks and Caicos is rum punch, which was delicious but we all still craved the sweet and creamy Painkiller. We picked up all the supplies for the Mango Painkillers on our first visit to the grocery store and kept ourselves stocked the entire time we were there. The mango nectar is my addition which makes this decadent drink even more dessert-like, but also even more tropical. One of these is capable of transporting you to your own island paradise. Enjoy!

Roasted Plantains with Orange Juice and Rum
Serves 4

Be sure to use ripe plantains in this recipe so the finished product is soft enough. Adapted from a recipe in Modern Caribbean Cuisine, by Wendy Rahamut and Michael Bonaparte

2 ripe plantains, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons rum

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the plantains, orange juice, sugar, salt and rum in an oven-safe baking dish and cover. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the plantains are very soft and the sauce has thickened. Serve with seafood and rice.

Mango Painkiller
makes 4 drinks

This is one of those curiously strong drinks that can catch you by surprise. The mixture of juices and coconut are surprisingly good at disguising the amount of rum in this drink. So, watch out; more than one of these can really get you. It’s important to note that there is a difference in brands of cream of coconut. Coco Lopez is the creamiest and makes the best finished product. The flavor of the grated nutmeg really stands out in this drink. Try to avoid using pre-ground nutmeg.

1 cup Coco Lopez brand cream of coconut (1/2 of a 15 oz can)
1 cup mango nectar
3/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup pineapple juice
1 cup aged rum (not spiced rum or light rum)
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch nutmeg, freshly grated
Pineapple spears for garnish
Lime wedges for garnish

Combine, cream of coconut, mango nectar, orange juice, pineapple juice and rum in a large pitcher. Stir well and pour over glasses of ice. Top with sprinkle of nutmeg and cinnamon and garnish with pineapple spears and lime wedges.

Turks and Caicos Recommendations and Links

I thought I would share a list of places we recommend for those of you considering a trip to the island.

Lodging

Atlantic Beach Front Villas – This is where we stayed for the majority of our visit. These comfortable villa units of varying size are set in the sleepy area of Turtle Cove. Some of the villas, including the one we stayed in, are as close to the beach as any on the island. The owners and staff are exceptionally friendly and helpful.

Ocean Club West – This super luxury resort has very spacious 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units set among manicured tropical gardens, a lovely freshwater pool, prime beach space and several restaurants on site. OCW, as it’s called, is over-the-top comfort and luxury at an over-the-top price. It’s located in the heart of Grace Bay and is walking distance from most of the well-known restaurants as well as a grocery store.

Restaurants

Sailing Paradise – There is a view here as pretty as anything you will ever see. The food is outstanding and the ambiance is casual, laid-back and everything and island restaurant should be. If you go be sure to try their cracked conch and fried snapper with escabeche sauce. I swooned when I tried the snapper with escabeche sauce.
Bugaloos Conch Crawl – I found out about this place from a post at a fantastic blog about life in Turks and Caicos called 2 Gringos in the Caribbean. All the hype on the island is about a place called da Conch Shack. This place is better (we tried both). The people here are friendlier than most (and almost everyone in Turks and Caicos is VERY friendly), and food is exceptional. The conch salad was the standout dish, but even Little Guy’s chicken fingers were delicious.
Le Bouchon – This new french bistro is in the heart of Grace Bay. It is classical french with strong hints of island flavor (such as the conch croissant amuse bouche they served). The food is good for any city, New York included, but this is not a family restaurant. Hubby and I enjoyed a date night out here.
Caicos Bakery – Caicos Bakery is a wonderful small french bakery that sells freshly made croissants, danish and a variety of breads. The almond croissants here are different than others I’ve had and are filled with an almond pastry cream instead of almond paste. I was lucky enough to score one still warm from the oven, and I am very happy that I did.
Mother’s Pizza – Pizza is generally sub-par on islands I’ve visited, but this pizza was a significant step above any others I’ve had. It will also be the cheapest meal you eat on the island!

Places to Go, Things to Do

Caicos Tours and the Undersea Explorer: This is a semi-submersible boat that tours the reef so you can see everything the reef has to offer without getting wet. It is the perfect way for young children, and those not up to snorkeling to see the beauty of a healthy reef system. On our ride we saw turtles, stingrays, lots and lots of fish, beautiful fan coral and even JoJo the dolphin famous for it’s desire to interact with humans. Little Guy was awe struck seeing the coral and all the sea creatures. This did more to increase his understanding of the world that lives under the sea than anything we’ve done.
Sapodilla Bay: This 1/4 mile long beach has some of the softest sugary sand I’ve ever seen. The water calmer than many lakes I’ve been to, yet as crystal clear as any pool. The real treat here, besides the sunset views, is that it remains about 3′ deep a good 100 feet out from the shore which makes it perfect for children. In fact, the locals have dubbed it children’s beach.
Grace Bay Beach: This is as famous as a beach can get and for good reason. The beach is seven miles long and is an uninterrupted stretch of soft white sand. Almost all of the islands resorts are along this beach, but the beach is also the entry point to two stellar and HEALTHY reefs (Smith’s Reef and Bight Reef) with fantastic snorkeling. The Turtle Cove end of Grace Bay Beach is much less crowded and has better deals on rentals.

Turks and Caicos Information and Links:

Where, When, How: A site devoted to information on the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Turks and Caicos Reservations: A travel booking site by locals from Turks and Caicos. There blog is an unlimited source of information.
Home Away: A site that lists vacation rentals all over the world. This is where we first found our rentals in both Turks and Caicos and St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.

This is not, of course, a complete list, but rather the things we did and the places we ate that we recommend.

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

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The easiest way to save money and control the sustainability of your food on vacation is to do your own cooking. Renting a condo with a kitchen can save a lot of money and usually give you prime locations that would cost substantially more in a resort. After doing a lot of searching, we booked a week at The Atlantic Beach Front Villas on Grace Bay in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos. The villa was very comfortable and as close to the water’s edge as I can imagine ever being. The sands of Grace Bay Beach were quite literally our backyard. We had everything you needed to make a good vacation: a nice place to sleep, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world at our feet, and a kitchen so I could have fun exploring Caribbean ingredients. If you are ever looking to book a Turks and Caicos vacation, I highly recommend our villa.

The view from our beautiful condo

For months before leaving for Turks and Caicos, I researched Caribbean food. A particular highlight of my research was reading An Embarrassment of Mangoes, by Anne Vanderhoof. If you have any interest in food and the Caribbean, then you will enjoy this book. She cooks her way through the Caribbean in a tiny galley kitchen with wonderful stories that make you feel like you are on vacation with her (and make you think twice about buying a boat and sailing the islands). Her book gave me the courage to try my hand at cooking local food from my sparse condo rental kitchen.

I decided to try cooking ground provisions, the Caribbean term for starches cooked in any variety of ways. Provisions include cassava, plantains, yams, sweet potatoes and many, many others. This article from the St. John, USVI restaurant, “Sweet Plantains,” talks in depth about provisions and is an interesting read (with several typos so I feel a real connection to it). So, when I found real yams (as opposed to sweet potatoes) at the store, I jumped at the chance to serve ground provisions with our jerk chicken at dinner. Never-mind that I didn’t know what type of yams they were or how best to serve them. I just wanted to make provisions for dinner; I can be stubborn that way.

Real yams are very different from sweet potatoes. Real yams are also a starchy root vegetables, but that is where the similarity ends. The yams I found were sold in big chunks and were hairy. They looked like a cross between an overgrown horseradish and a tree stump. My insufficient research had not informed me about this type of yam or how best to prepare it. I decided to roast it like a normal sweet potato. Well, I’m going to make a really long story short. It didn’t work out so well. After fighting with the slimy beast and finally roasting it, I tasted it only to find out it was so bitter we couldn’t eat it. In fact, a much-too-late internet search suggested that bitter yams can be toxic. The garbage can enjoyed my roasted yams that night, and that ended my adventure in yam cooking. I guess I lucked out too because the slimy juice is also supposed to itch terribly if you get it on your skin. Well, I was dripping with it but didn’t itch at all. Later in the week I had much more success with another provision, plantains. I’ll share my recipe for plantains with you soon.

With the bitter, possibly toxic, itchy yams in the garbage I was stuck with a grill full of jerk chicken and nothing to serve with it. For someone that likes for the meat to be the flavor and not the center of the meal, this was a problem in a rental kitchen with exactly one days worth of food and no convenience foods to fall-back on. At home I would pull out a bag of frozen fries, chop up a big salad and be done with it. I checked the cabinets and found two boxes of cereal, a tub of peanut butter, two bottles of rum (ummmm), a head of garlic, and a package of unusual Asian noodles called Pancit noodles. They caught my attention at the IGA because the recipe on the back of the package did not require boiling the noodles prior to stir-frying them. I’m a big fan of cutting out a few steps. Jamaican jerk chicken over Asian noodles: I could make that work! I LOVE Pancit noodles; you need to find these suckers! They are a gift to the busy vacationing mom-on-the-go (or anyone so lazy that they are bothered by having to cook pasta before tossing it with the sauce. Yeah, that’s me). Just throw these noodles in the pan with some stir-fry sauce and a little water, and ten minutes later you have saucy noodles full of flavor and only one pan to clean up. That’s especially helpful when you have exactly one pan in the kitchen.

Caribbean cuisine is highly identified with peas & rice, jerk seasoning and plantains, but other aspects of the cuisine hint at an Asian/Pan-Pacific influence as well. Both Indian and Chinese workers came to the islands to work on the sugar cane plantations and left their imprint on the local cuisine. Traditionally Filipino, Pancit noodles can be wheat or rice and are used in many different recipes. Pancit is just a form of lo mein or chow mein and if you can’t find the Pancit noodles then you can use the slightly thinner chow mein Chinese wheat noodles they sell in the store. The Cook’s Thesaurus website has a handy page that lists different type of asian noodles and what can be substituted. The noodles I bought in Turks & Caicos were wheat and included a recipe for “Pancit Canton.” I didn’t follow this recipe, but I did cook the noodles right in the pan with the sauce to form chewy noodles in a thick sauce that was very slurp-able and tasty. I had a little onion, a carrot, a red bell pepper and some stir-fry sauce (and lots of garlic) on hand and that is all it needed. You can make this with any veggies you wanted, and it would be wonderful stir-fried with a little tofu. We had this with Jerk chicken the first night I made it. We all liked it so much that we had it again the very next night with grilled snapper.

These chow mein noodles were similar to the pancit noodles I used

On most Caribbean islands, almost everything is imported which drives up the price (as well as the carbon footprint). Stir-fry sauce that I usually make at home, I bought pre-made to keep costs down and convenience a priority. One jar of sesame stir-fry sauce eliminated the need for soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar, sesame oil and chili paste. You could use pretty much any sauce you want. I could see this working with hoisin sauce, oyster sauce or any stir-fry sauce you have on hand. I’ve included a recipe for an approximation of the sauce I used, and you can use either your own homemade or store-bought sauce to make these. Enjoy!

Pancit Noodle Stir-fry
Serves 4 as a side dish or two as an entree

Pancit noodles usually come in either flour or rice versions. This version uses wheat flour noodles, sometimes called flour stick. They can be difficult to find. If you cannot find Pancit you can substitute Chinese wheat noodles or chow mein noodles. Just don’t make the mistake and buy the cooked chip-like product intended to be eaten as-is and not cooked.

1 tablespoon oil (vegetable oil such as canola or coconut)
1/2 sweet onion, sliced (I used red onion in the Caribbean and Spanish onion at home)
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ginger, minced
6 oz package Pancit Noodles or chow mein noodles
1/4 cup stir fry sauce (pre-made or recipe below)
1 3/4 cup water
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1 cup carrot, julienned
2 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
1/2 lime, cut in wedges

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat until it shimmers. Add the onion and cook until the edges start to brown.

Add the garlic and ginger and cook for about thirty seconds or until it is fragrant.

Add the noodles, sauce and water. Cover and cook, stirring frequently until the noodles are almost tender and the liquid has turned into a thick sauce. You may need to add a little bit more water.

Add the vegetables, stir everything together and continue to cook for about four minutes or until the vegetables are crisp-tender and the noodles are done.

Remove from the heat and top with chopped cilantro and lime wedges.

Basic Stir-fry Sauce
If you are using this in a stir-fry (as opposed to noodle sauce) add 1 teaspoon corn starch to the mixture to help thicken your sauce.

2 tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
2 teaspoons dry sherry or white wine
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (or to taste)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir. Use in any stir-fry or noodle dish.

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.

Bean and Sausage Stew

January 9, 2013 - 10:18 pm | Beans, Green, Main Dish, Meat, Recipe, Soup, Vegetables, Winter

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So far our legume series has featured two unusual ways to prepare them—fried in an appetizer and a french-fry substitute. This week we fall back to the tried and true, the traditional bean soup (or stew). People have been cooking up beans in a pot since before the invention of farming. They were first gathered from wild vines. My guess is that the first gatherers just popped a few freshly shelled beans in their mouth. They were tasty, but a bit later in the night, the digestive problems set in and they changed their minds. Beans have various complex sugars and combined sugar-proteins (lectins) in their husks. Some of the sugars are hard to digest and others are downright toxic to humans. See http://www.usdrybeans.com/nutrition/nutrition-facts/. They soon discovered that cooking destroyed most of these problem nutrients and thus into the pot went the beans.

By the way, some slow cookers (mainly older ones) don’t get hot enough (176 degrees Fahrenheit) to break down the lectins. If you suspect that your slow cooker isn’t adequate, check its temperature or soak and/or boil the beans and discard that water before finishing them in the slow cooker.

“Pease porridge hot. Pease porridge cold. Pease porridge in the pot nine days old.” Was Mother Goose a negligent cook, unconcerned about her childrens’ nutrition? Well, if she was one of the multitude of peasants in middle-ages Europe, peas porridge (from the French potage) might be all she had for the week’s rations. Even the well-to-do began their medieval feasts with a course of potage or two. What’s potage? Anything cooked in a pot. Ummm, soup or stew; I’m still undecided.

Let no one doubt that bean soup is a cornerstone of civilization. The United States Senate has bean soup in its private dining room every time the doors open. This unbroken tradition began over a century ago by order of some farm-state senators of that day.

Tradition aside, about this time, mid-winter, I start to really crave this stew. It’s this recipe that started me on my cheese-rind-in-the-soup kick a few years ago. In this recipe the cheese rinds help tame the spicy sausage, mellow the beaniness and lend a soft cheesy flavor. I choose to use lots of different beans because each size has its own distinct purpose. The small lentils, peas, and beans dissolve into the soup to thicken it into a stew, the mid and larger beans provide texture. Bob’s Red Mill 13 Bean mix is what I’ve always used, but of course there are others.

As long as the mix has both large beans and small lentils and split peas it should work. One cup of this soup will give you the warmth and energy to shovel the walk or even to bundle up the kids in the countless layers necessary for snowman building. Enjoy!

Mixed Bean and Sausage Stew
Serves 8
I’ve made this soup with kielbasa, chorizo, and andouille sausages. I use the turkey variety, but as long as your using a good quality, smoked and strongly flavored sausage it should work.
2 cups dried mixed beans with no flavorings such as Bob’s Red Mill 13 Bean Mix
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 package smoked sausage (12-16 ounces depending on the sausage), quartered lengthwise then cut into 1/2” pieces
1 large onion, diced in small 1/4” pieces
3-4 large carrots (about 3/4 pound) diced in large 1/2” pieces
1 teaspoons dried thyme (or 2 teaspoons fresh)
2 bay leaves
6 ounces Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese rinds
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon salt

Soak the beans overnight or bring to a boil for five minutes and soak for one hour, then drain. In a large stock pot or dutch oven, heat two tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. When the oil begins to shimmer add the sausage.

Cook the sausage, stirring several times, until it is brown on all sides, about eight minutes. Add the onion and carrots and continue to cook until the onions are translucent, about four minutes longer.

Add the beans, the thyme and bay leaves and the chicken broth and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and simmer until the larger beans are just tender, about one hour.

Add the cheese rinds and one teaspoon of salt and continue to cook until the smallest of the beans have fallen apart and the largest of the beans are very tender, about another hour.

Be sure to stir the stew occasionally to make sure the cheese does not stick to the bottom of the pot. Season to taste and serve with crunchy bread.

Category Archives: Vegetables

Rustic Sweet Onion Tart

Cooking Light for Dinner Tonight

Sausage and Kale Stuffed Shells with Homemade Italian Sausage

Sauteed Baby Greens with Crispy Shallots

Field Trip: ReVision Urban Farm

Baked Potato Tots

Shelter from the Storm (Roasted Plantains and Mango Painkillers)

Turks and Caicos Recommendations and Links

Fun with Real Yams and Pancit Noodles

Vegetarian Boston-Style Baked Beans

Bean and Sausage Stew

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