Chard Sweet Potato Gratin

I like to pretend that root vegetables are just as healthy for me even when I slather them in cheese.

The only major change we made was the cheese. Deb calls for using gruyere cheese. I forgot to pick it up at the store, so we were stuck with what was in the fridge. Those choices were parmesan or smoked cheddar that I had picked up from our CSA. We went with the cheddar and it was a brilliant choice. The smokiness added a nice subtlety to the sweetness of the vegetables. We also cut this recipe in half since it feeds 12 and even if we included the dog and his massive appetite separately, we'd still only have four. CCO and I thought this would be lovely as a side at Thanksgiving dinner.



Eat Rating: This is what heaven tastes like.
Difficulty: Medium. It helps if you have a mandoline for slicing the sweet potatoes. Also a whisk for making the bechamel sauce.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

3 1/2 tbsp butter
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1 large bunch of swiss chard, leaves cut off the stalks and roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 tbsp flour
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3/4 cup smoked cheddar, grated

Fill a medium-sized pot with water and add the sweet potatoes. Bring the water to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. You just want the potatoes parboiled a little.

After ten minutes, drain the potatoes and allow to cool until you can easily handle them. Using a mandoline, slice thinly, about 1/8 inch (Note: you can do this with a knife if you don't have a mandoline. Try to get the slices as thin as possible). Set aside.

In a medium saute pan, melt 1 tbsp of butter. Add the onions and saute until translucent. Add the chard and cook until the greens have reduced by half. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the remaining butter (1 1/2 tbsp). Add the garlic and sautee about 1 minute until browned. Using a whisk, add in the flour, constantly stirring until you have a light brown paste. Gradually add the milk to the flour/butter paste about a 1/4 cup at a time, stirring constantly between additions. You want a thick, gravy-like sauce to develop. Once it's sufficiently thick, remove from heat.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Butter or grease a 8 x 8 square glass dish. Layer some 1/3 of your sweet potatoes on the bottom, then 1/2 of the chard on top. Spoon a few tablespoons of the bechamel sauce on top and sprinkle cheese. Repeat once more, topping with the last 1/3 of sweet potatoes. Top with any remaining bechamel sauce and cheese.

Bake for 1 hour until the cheese on top has browned and the liquid is bubbly. Remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly and serve immediately with crusty bread for soaking up the leftover sauce.

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Sausage Apple Pilaf

Squash stuffed.

I made this recipe up on the fly for dinner a few nights ago. It turned out even better than I had hoped.

2 medium-sized acorn squash, cut in half and seeds removed
1 cup of brown rice
2 cups water
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 white onion, diced
1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced
1 lb sausage, removed from casing (LN: Italian or herb will do. I used Sage Sausage I picked up at the Farmer's Market)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Brush the faces of the acorn squash with some olive oil and place face down on a cookie sheet. Bake for 45 minutes or until a fork inserted into the squash comes out easily.

While the squash is cooking, place 1 cup of brown rice and 2 cups of water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes or until rice is tender. (LN: Note, you can also do this in a pressure cooker and it will take half the time)

When there's about 15 to 20 minutes remaining on the rice, cook the sausage in sautee pan until browned. Add in the onion and apples and cook until soft. Remove from heat. Once the rice is cooked, mix the sausage/vegetable mixture into the rice. Once squash is done, remove the cookie sheet from the oven and carefully transfer a half squash to a place. Fill the center of the squash with the pilaf mixture.

Serve immediately.

Minestrone

How could you not get off the couch for that?

Lately, in the war of Leah versus inertia, the inertia has been winning. When I get home at the end of my 10+ hour days, I just want to sit on my couch and stare at the wall. It's almost embarrassing to think about how much time I spend staring at the walls. And it's not as though I haven't been cooking. A girl does, after all, eventually have to stop staring at the wall, get off the couch and eat. But lately there have been a lot of meals of cheese and crackers. Or cheese and bread. Or sometimes just large chunks of cheese.

To get me out of the funk, CCO and I cooked up a batch of soup, minestrone to be exact. Minestrone is my absolute favorite soup. I don't really know why. Probably something to do with it having both pasta AND beans. Also it's one of the only foods (along with carrot cake) where I willingly eat carrots.

This recipe has sausage added in. You can leave it out to make it vegetarian. Use veggie broth in place of the beef broth if that's the case.

Eat Rating: Awesome.
Difficulty: Easy. You just need a big pot.

1/2 pound pork sausage, casings removed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 white onion, chopped
2-3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 bunch of swiss chard or other greens, ribs removed and chopped
3 roma tomatos, chopped (LN: You can also sub a can of diced tomato with the juice)
2 cans of white beans (Navy or Small White Beans), drained
1 cup of small-shaped pasta (LN: I think I used orecchietti)
7 cups of beef broth (LN: I used better than bouillon)

In a skillet, cook the sausage until browned. Remove from pan and set aside.

In the bottom of a large pot, heat the oil, then cook the onion, carrot and garlic until slightly softened. Add the tomatoes and cook until they release their juices. Add the chard and cook just until it begins to wilt. Add in the beans and beef broth and stir back in the sausage. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until the broth has reduced some. Add in the pasta and cook for about 8-10 minutes, until the pasta is sufficiently soft. Serve with some crusty bread and red wine.

Couscous and Feta Stuffed Peppers

The reason I didn't have enough peppers to pickle.

I liked this recipe but I shall share a secret: I don't actually like stuffed peppers. The fillings are definitely good. I always feel like the peppers get dried out, though, and taste somewhat leathery. Half the time I just end up eating all the filling out. But this filling was so delicious, I've made just the filling another half dozen times and eaten it all by itself. If you want to do that, just skip the part about baking the pepper shells and chop one to add to the onion/zucchini mixture.

Eat Rating: Delicious, though better without the outer-pepper shell.
Difficulty: Easy.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 1/4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup of dry couscous
5 bell peppers
1 tbsp olive oil
1 zucchini, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup chickpeas, either canned or soaked overnight then cooked (LN: CCO liked them, but I've omitted them subsequent times)
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp fennel seeds (can omit if you don't like the taste of fennel)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the tops off the bell peppers and pull out the seeds and membrane. Place the peppers cut side up on a baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes until softened. Remove from oven and set aside.

While the peppers are baking, in a small saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Remove from heat, add the couscous and stir just until combined. Cover and let sit for 10-15 minutes.

If desired, cut the stem out of the middle of the pepper tops and chop the leftover peppers.

In a large saute pan, heat oil then add the onions, zucchini and pepper if using. Saute for about 5-7 minutes until softened. Add the chickpeas, fennel seed and tomato paste. Cook another minute. Remove from heat.

With a fork, fluff the couscous, then add to the vegetable mixture. Stir well, then add the feta cheese and mix until well combined.

Fill the pre-baked peppers with the couscous mixture. Return the peppers to the oven for 5 minutes until cheese has softened. Serve immediately.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce with Pasta and Mozzarella

Better than tomatoes.

In a fit of inspiration (insanity?), I bought five pounds of peppers at Eastern Market the other day. The intention was to pickle them, but then a recipe for stuffed peppers struck my fancy. After I made those, I was one pepper short of the pickled peppers recipe. Instead I roasted them and left them in a jar of olive oil in my fridge for a few days. I thought I might try making a red pepper pesto to use up the leftover pine nuts, but then I found this recipe, which seemed perfect. Pine nuts and red pepper might be weird anyway.

The recipe calls for you to use store bought roasted red peppers. You can obviously do that, but to roast your own, heat the oven to 450 degrees and place two red peppers on a baking sheet. Cook 10 minutes, flip over and cook 10 more on the other side. You want the skins to be blackened and shrivelling. Remove from the oven and use tongs to place in a bowl. Cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for about 15-20 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap. The skins should slide off easily. Tug the stem and the top and seeds should also remove easily. Use immediately or pack in oil in a jar and refrigerate.

Eat Rating: Awesome.
Difficulty: Easy. Requires food processor or blender.

Adapted from Food and Wine February 2008, via Kate in the Kitchen

1 lb dried gemelli (LN: I'm not even sure which one that is. I used penne)
2 roasted red peppers
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 cloves of garlic
2 sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil (LN: Omitted. I was out.)
9 fresh basil leaves, divided
6 oz. fresh mozzarella, cut into 1-inch cubes
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pot of water to boil and cook the pasta according to the package instructions.

While pasta is cooking, place the peppers, olive oil, tomato paste, garlic, tomatoes and 3 basil leaves in a food processor. Pulse to combine.

Once pasta is cooked, drain and toss with the sauce and mozzarella. Tear up the rest of the basil and add to the pasta. Serve topped with parmesan cheese.

Enchiladas Verdes

Enchiladas Verdes.

I apologize for the delay in posts. But rather than making excuses, I shall make promises. I took a class last week on pickling, so posts on Leah's Adventures in Pickleland shall begin shortly. Look for a bunch of posts on peaches in the near future as well.

I love Mexican food. But I am a wimp when it comes to spicy things. Seriously. Sometimes I start sweating when I eat salsa. I've had these enchiladas booked for awhile (since May 21st, if my Delicious account is to be believed), but was a little bit scared of them because of the serrano chiles. So I just cut them out. I know, pretty wimpy. But I thought the enchiladas were perfect without them. If you aren't a wimp, feel free to add them back in.

Eat Rating: Awesome.
Difficulty: Easy to medium. Requires a food processor or blender. Also a tolerance for hot oil.

Adapted from Eating Out Loud

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs (LN: You can also use breasts. These were on sale.)
6 cups water
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 small onion, cut in half
1 carrot, cut into chunks (LN: omitted. I dislike carrots.)
4 serrano chiles, seeded (LN: omitted because of previously disclosed wimpiness.)
2 lbs tomatillos, husked
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
12 corn tortillas
1/2 cup oil for frying (LN: I used peanut oil. Canola oil would work too.)
1/2 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded

In a medium sized pot, place chicken, water, two cloves of garlic, half of the onion and carrot if using. Bring to boil, then reduce to medium, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove chicken and shred it into pieces. Reserve the broth.

Bring a second pot of water to boil. Place two more garlic cloves and chiles, if using, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the tomatillos, cook another 7 minutes, then drain.

Place the chiles, garlic and tomatillos in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the remaining half onion and cilantro. Pulse again. Add one cup of the stock, pulse one last time until combined. Pour the sauce into a saucepan (you can use that second one from before if you'd like) and cook for about 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened a little. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Get out a baking dish, a large 12-14 inch one and set next to the stove. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet or cast iron pan until hot. Add the corn tortillas one at a time, cooking about 10 seconds each side. Remove from the oil, let drain for 30 seconds or so on a paper towel, then dip the tortilla in the tomatillo sauce. Fill with chicken, pour a little tomatillo sauce in the middle, then place in the baking dish. Repeat with the other tortillas, then top all of them with the remaining tomatillo sauce. Cover dish with foil and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with the monterey jack cheese then cook for another 8-10 minutes until cheese has melted.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and a helping of black beans.

Enchiladas as modern art.

Risotto with Spring Vegetables

Risotto with Spring Veggies.

In case I hadn't mentioned before, I love risotto. A normal person, after returning from the market with fresh peas, spring onion and mushrooms would make a stir fry. I make risotto. The funniest part about it is I never made risotto until I met CCO. I always thought it would be too hard. But he taught me the secret. It's not hard really. Just don't add more than 1/2 cup of broth at a time. That'll let it soak in the broth slowly, making it luscious and creamy.

Eat Rating: Awesome. My mouth is watering a little just thinking about it now.
Difficulty: Easy to Medium. Two, maybe three pots.

1 1/2 cups of arborio rice
4 to 5 cups mushroom broth
6 oz. fresh mushrooms, preferably shitake
1 quart English shell peas (or any other peas that require shelling)
2-3 spring onions
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine (LN: I used a Viognier because it was open in the fridge)
1/4-1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cut the bulbs off the spring onions, reserving the stalks. Dice the bulbs finely. Cut up the onion stalks, making sure to keep separate from the bulb. Dice the mushrooms, if necessary.

Shell the peas. Bring a pot of water to boil, then steam or boil the peas for about 5 minutes until they become a bright green color. Remove from heat and set aside.

Bring the mushroom broth to a boil, then reduce heat. In a medium-sized saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil, then add the bulbs from the spring onions and sautee until softened. Add the rice and wine, cooking for about 1 minute until wine has begun to absorb. Add about 1/2 of the heated broth and mushrooms. Cook the risotto until the rice has almost fully absorbed the broth. Add another 1/2 cup of broth and repeat, until all of the broth is incorporated. The rice should get puffy, the texture creamy like oatmeal. Once all of the broth is incorporate, mix in the Parmesan cheese and peas. Cook just until cheese is melted. Stir in the remaining onion from the green stalks. Serve immediately, preferrably with any leftover wine.

Fried Chicken

Blurry photo of chicken and waffles, taken with my friend's IPhone.

Sometimes I do crazy things. Like invite a ton of people over to my house for chicken and waffles, thus causing me to spend an hour standing over a pan of boiling peanut oil. Yeah, crazy.

Last weekend, I had some people over for dinner. I had seen this recipe for pan-friend chicken in Cooking Light and, for whatever reason, I decided it would be a good idea for me to make that for dinner. It was good, but it took A LOT of work.

The Cooking Light recipe suggests putting the flour in a ziploc bag and shaking. I think this doesn't coat the chicken as well so even though it gives you dough fingers, I always hand coat in a bowl.

I also used Michelle Obama's fried chicken techniques. Ever since I worked on the book, I've always wanted to bust those out and then casually mention, "Oh yes. This is Michelle Obama's recipe." But it's actually just a pretty common technique. Flour the chicken once, then soak in milk (or buttermilk for a nice tang) then flour again. Her real secret, that I did not incorporate, involves crumbling Ritz crackers into your flour mixture. Perhaps we'll have to try that sometime.

Eat Rating: Delicous. The spices in the flour mix really kick it up a notch.
Difficulty: Hard. The peanut oil is finicky. Also it spits at you.

Adapted from Pan-Fried Chicken, Cooking Light Magazine, June 2009

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 bone-in chicken breast, skins removed
2 bone-in chicken thighs, skins removed
2 drumsticks, skins removed
2 cups milk or buttermilk
2 cups ice-water
1/2 cup peanut oil

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Set aside.

Place the ice water in a bowl and the milk in another bowl. Dunk a piece of chicken in the ice water, shake off and then drop in the flour bowl. Coat thoroughly. Drop in the milk mixture for a few seconds, then recoat in flour. Repeat with all the pieces of chicken. Don't throw away your flour mixture.

Place the chicken on a cookie sheet and cover with plastic. Refridgerate for 90 minutes.

In a large skillet, heat the peanut oil. You want the peanut oil to be 350 degrees. That's hot, but not spitting. If you have a thermometer, use it.

Line your cooling rack with brown paper bags. (If you use paper towel, they will make the coating soggy because they hold in the steam). I recommend using the ones you get from the grocery store. If you don't have those, you can use lunch bags, but make sure to add several layers.

Once the oil is hot, take a piece of chicken and coat it one last time in the flour. Then add to the hot oil. Cook for 25 minutes, turning the pieces every five minutes to ensure even cooking. Place cooked chicken on the brown paper to cool for at least 5 minutes. Serve immediately (over waffles, if you'd like).

Mushroom Ragout with Creamy Polenta

Creamy polenta goodness.

Back in the day, when we were first starting "Meatless Monday," I found a bunch of vegetarian recipes I wanted to try and made a list. One of those was a mushroom ragout with creamy polenta. I don't actually know what a ragout is and I promptly lost the recipe. I still wanted to try it though, so I Googled, got the basic gist and made it for dinner last week. Initially CCO was not on board because of previous bad experiences with polenta. I think this might have made him change his mind.

Eat Rating: Awesome. I think this is going to become an MM staple.
Difficulty: Easy. Two pans. A knife. Some mushrooms.

Adapted from "Creamy Polenta" at Simply Recipes, Wild Mushroom Ragout from Martha Stewart

Polenta
4 cups water
1 cup coarse cornmeal
4 tbsp butter
6 oz. (3/4 cup) cream cheese
Salt to taste

Mushroom Ragout
2 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3.5 oz. sliced button mushrooms
3.5 oz slice shitake mushrooms
3.5 oz porcini mushrooms (LN: You might have to buy these dry and reconstitute)
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1/2 cup red wine (LN: I used a Pinot Noir, but anything comparably full-bodied would work)
Fresh parsley, for garnish (optional)

In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Whisk in the cornmeal, reduce heat to a simmer and add in butter. Cook five minutes or until the mixture appears to be the consistency of thick grits. Turn off heat, cover and set aside.

In a skillet, sautee onions and garlic for 1-2 minutes until translucent. Add mushrooms and sautee until they have cooked down. Add the rosemary and cook for 1 minute until thoroughly mixed. Add the red wine and continue to cook until most of the wine has been incorporated. You want the mushrooms mixture to be the consistency of a thick sauce. Once it has reached the desired consistency, remove from heat.

Return to the grits and add the cream cheese, whisking thoroughly until fully incorporated.

Top a large spoonful of the polenta with the mushroom mix. Garnish with parsley if desired.

It's a Recession!: Egg Drop Soup

Egg Drop Soup

After a rockin' good time at our friend Chris' wedding in Northwest Arkansas, CCO has come down with a gross cold. He asked for soup and rejected my first two suggestions because he secretly wanted to order pho from the place down the street. We compromised on Egg Drop, since after all, it is Meatless Monday. Normally I would order from a Chinese restaurant up the street, but it is a recession and we did just come back from a four-day weekend extravaganza (or as extravagant as you can get in Northwest Arkansas...).

I'll link to the recipe below as I found it on a fellow food blog (Simply Recipes). It's also awesome because, with the exception of the mushrooms, I had all the ingredients in my cupboard. The recipe calls for green onions. Since I missed the farmer's market this weekend, I didn't have any and instead subbed some minced shallot. I think it would be better with the green onions, though, so if you have to go to the store, pick up some. The recipe also calls for chicken stock as the base. You can sub veggie broth to make it totally vegetarian.

Eat Rating: Awesome. Actually better than I've had at most Chinese restaurants.
Difficulty: Easy. Requirements: Pot, fork, bowl. Voila!

"Egg Drop Soup" at Simply Recipes

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Two bowls full.

Halibut with Tomatoes and Basil

Roasted Halibut with couscous.

I've had a hankering for fish recently. My go-to fish is (predictably) salmon, mostly because I only like fish that is firm and flaky. But CCO was tired of my salmon obsession, so we bought a filet of halibut at the store this weekend.

Roasted in a foil packet with tomato, basil and oil, it was everything I dreamed of and more.

Eat Rating: Delicious.
Difficulty: Easy. Just a long strip of aluminum foil.

1 cup of basil leaves, loosely packed and then chopped
1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp dry white wine (LN: We used Sauvignon Blanc)
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 1/2 lb filets of halibut

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Tear two long sheets of aluminum foil, about 6 inches long.

In a bowl, combined the chopped basile, grape tomatoes, garlic, wine and olive oil. Mix until all the ingredients are coated and add salt and pepper to taste. Wash the filets and pat dry with a paper towel. Place a filet in the middle of a sheet of aluminum foil. Top with half the tomato/basil mixture. Fold one end of the foil up over the fish, then fold the other side over so you have a roll with two open ends. Then fold each of the open ends over so all sides are closed. Repeat with the second filet. Place the packets on a cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Unwrap and serve immediately.

Italian Meatballs

Tiny balls of buffalo meat.

The farmer's markets have returned! Which means I should probably use up the ground buffalo I bought last fall in order to buy fresh. Having exhausted CCO on my favorite recipe for ground meat, we decided to make meatballs instead.

Eat Rating: Good. The buffalo makes them nice and savory.
Difficulty: Easy. No fancy instruments, just get your hands dirty

Adapted from Christie's Corner, "Italian Meatballs"

1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup skim milk
1 lb ground buffalo
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup fresh oregano, finely chopped (LN: I subbed 1 tbsp dried oregano)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the bread crumbs and milk. Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the buffalo, onion, garlic and egg with your hands until well mixed. Add the oregano and milk/bread, and mix again until combined through-out. Add the parmesan and nutmeg. Break off small clumps of meat and roll into balls. You can get up to 48 bite-sized meatballs. (I got more like 25)

Set out the meatballs on a cookie sheet and cook for 20 minutes.

Add the meatballs to the sauce and mix with pasta, or cool and then freeze to use later.

My hands.

Spanish-style Pork Roast with Pan-Roasted Romesco Sauce

Juicy circles of pork.

Romesco is a tomato and red pepper sauce from Catalonia, Spain (or so Bon Appetit magazine tells me). All I know, is it looks real good in the picture. When my brother and sister-in-law came over for dinner last weekend, I made a pork loin roast with the sauce and, man, was it good. Bon Appetit tried to convince me that instead of buying pork at the store, I should buy something called heritage pork from one of these web sites. It was not exactly clear to me why buying pork on the Internet was better, so I just picked up a pork loin at the store. The recipe recommends you use a pork rib roast, but they were out at the store I visited. The pork loin worked just as well, same time roasting even. The recipe also calls for Marcona almonds - these are apparently roasted, salted Spanish almonds. My usual go-tos for random ingredients (Whole Foods, Trader Joes, random Hispanic grocery up the street) did not have them, so we subbed regular roasted almonds.

Eat Rating: Very good. Ours was a little too salty, so I recommend omitting the salt from the pork rub.
Difficulty: Medium. You need a food processor for the Romesco sauce. Also requires some random ingredients: Marcona almonds, smoked paprika and dry Sherry. I subbed for the almonds and sherry.

Adapted from Bon Appetit magazine, May 2009

2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp kosher salt (LN: I'd recommend omitting, otherwise the pork is really salty)
1 tbsp chopped fresh marjoram (LN: I used 1 tbsp dried)
1 tbsp smoked paprika (Sometimes labelled Spanish paprika)
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 8-10 bone pork rib roast, or 6 lb pork loin
4 large roasted red pepper (about a 15 oz jar), drained
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1 ripe Roma tomato, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup Marcona almonds (or roasted, salted almonds)
1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 cup dry Sherry (LN: Don't use cooking Sherry. It has extra salt added and is generally gross. I couldn't find any at my neighborhood package store, so I subbed 1 cup Ruby Port)

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl and mix to form a paste. Rub the paste on the pork loin and let rest in the roasting pan for 1 hour. (You can do this up to a day ahead of time. Refridgerate and then let come to room temp for 1 hour before proceeding). Preheat oven to 425 and roast the pork for 15 minutes. While pork is roasting, combine the red pepper, 6 cloves of garlic and tomato in a pie dish and set aside. After 15 minutes, reduce temperature to 325 degrees. Place the dish of red peppers in the oven with the pork and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the red peppers from oven and cool.

Continue roasting pork for another 1 hour and 15 minutes (2 hours total) or until meat thermometer read 140 degrees. Remove from oven. Transfer pork to a cutting board and tent with foil. Reserve any drippings from the pan (LN: To be honest, there were practically no drippings from the pork loin, probably because it doesn't have as much fat as a rib roast. But keep any you do have.)

Chop the almonds and bread crumbs in the food processor until you finely ground. Add the red pepper mix and blend until you have a rough paste. Spoon any reserved drippings into a saucepan and add the 1 cup of Sherry/Port. Boil until reduced to about 1/4 cup, about 7 minutes. Let cool 1 minute, then add to the sauce in the food processor. Mix until smooth.

Cut the roast into slices, about 1/2 inch thick if pork loin or between bones if rib roast. Serve with sauce.

With Romesco sauce.

Gnocchi with Mushroom Sage Ragu

Gnocchi. Not as hard as you think.

Last weekend, I was flipping through the May issue of Bon Appetit (the "Travel the US" issue) when I came across a recipe for gnocchi. A perfect recipe for Meatless Monday, I thought. Then I noticed there was something a little strange about the recipe. For one thing, there was no picture. That's not enormously weird, after all only about half of the recipes in any given magazine have accompanying pictures. What was weird is that instead of a picture of gnocchi, there was a picture of a wine bottle and the words "EXPERIENCE ARGENTINA." This was not a recipe in Bon Appetit, this was an Argentinean wine advertisment. I was more than a little bit disappointed because I had gotten myself all psyched for making gnocchi. I looked around online for a different recipe, but then I decided it could be a little experiment to see how good the recipes are in random advertisments. Besides in tiny print in the corner it said "Recipe created by Bon Appetit Chef de Cuisine Jonathan Lindenauer for Trapiche," and he was wearing a chef coat and, according to the internet, he's an actual CIA grad even if his hair could use some work. So yeah, I made a recipe from an advertisement. And it was damn good.

Eat Rating: Absolutely awesome. It's a little heavy, so definitely break it into four or five servings.
Difficulty: Medium. The recipe calls for a potato ricer. I'm not even sure I know what that is (See Annie, I don't know everything). Instead I used the food processor.

From Trapiche adverstistment in Bon Appetit, May 2009

Gnocchi
2 lbs russet potatoes (that's about 4-5 medium-sized ones)
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Ragu
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cups wild mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 1/2 tbsp garlic, chopped
1 tbsp minced fresh sage
2 tbsp mince shallots
1 cup white wine (predictably they recommend Trapiche Torrontes. I used Chardonnay)
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake potatoes on a bed of kosher salt for 45 to 50 minutes (I have no idea what the kosher salt is supposed to do except make a mess). Let cool a few minutes so you don't burn your fingers then, while still warm, halve the potatoes and scoop out the flesh. Pass the flesh through a "potato ricer" if you actually know what that is. If not, stick in the bowl of food processor and pulse a few times until the potatoes are mashed up. In a large bowl, add the egg yolks and spices to the potatoes and mix until thoroughly combined. With your hands, add the flour to the potato mixture. It will form a dough. You'll know it's ready once it no longer sticks to your fingers. Transfer the dough to a generously floured surface, then roll into a 3 inch thick log. Cut the log into eight pieces. Roll out each piece of the dough on the floured surface until you get a 1/2 inch thick tube. Cut up the tube crosswise into 1/2 inch pieces, about the size of a large cashew. You don't want them to be too big because they will expand some when boiled. Let dry at room temperature for 20 minutes. You can make the sauce while they sit.

Heat a large saucepan and add oil. Add the mushrooms and without stirring, cook for 7 to 8 minutes. Stir and season with salt and pepper. Add the garlic, cook for 1 minute, then add the sage and shallot and cook for one more minute. Add the white wine and cook until the wine has reduced by about half. Add the cream and simmer until reduced to sauce consistency, about 5 minutes.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add the gnocchi and continue to boil. The gnocchi is done when it floats to the top of the pot, about 1-2 minutes after added. Use a slotted spoon to remove from the pot. Pour sauce over gnocchi. Garnish with parmesan and parsley. Eat immediately. Makes 4-5 generous servings.

Baked Ziti with Walnut Sauce

Almost like an exotic mac n cheese.

I am a tomato and pasta kind of girl. I might consent to a creme sauce ala alfredo, but in general if it doesn't have tomatoes I wonder what's wrong with it. CCO, however, is an exotic sauce kind of guy. He's always trying to convince me to add strange things to our pasta like canned tuna or bacon (I'll admit that one was good). So when he said he wanted to make walnut sauce for pasta on meatless Monday, I balked a little. True I had a 10 lb bag of walnuts I bought at Costco on a whim, but still they didn't need to be used for pasta. He eventually wore me down and I consented to replacing tomato with nuts.

Eat Rating: Good, but not stellar. The walnut sauce is very subtle, you could almost miss it entirely. The dish overall ends up almost like an exotic type of mac n cheese, except it would need more cheese.
Difficulty: Medium. Requires a food processor or blender. Also a lot of cheese grating. Note: You can make the walnut sauce ahead of time, if desired.

Adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

For the walnut sauce
1 slice of Italian bread
1/2 cup milk
1 cup walnuts
2 gloves of garlic
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

For the baked ziti
1 lb ziti
1/2 lb fresh mozzarella, grated or chopped
bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place the milk in a small bowl and soak the bread in it. In a food processor, combine the nuts, garlic, cheese and marjoram. Gradually add the oil while the machine is still running. The mixture will form a thick paste. Squeeze out the bread and add it to the mixture, combining until the bread is completely diced. Add the milk. If your sauce is still a little thick (ours was) add a few tbsp of water. You want the consistency to be about that of thick tomato sauce, not like tomato paste.

Walnut sauce

Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the ziti, about a minute or two less than the instructions on the box. (If you start this at the same time as the sauce, you won't have to wait as long).

Once the ziti is cooked, toss it with the sauce and half the mozzarella. Grease a baking dish and pour the ziti mix in. Top with the remaining mozzarella and bread crumbs. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until the top is browned.

Bouchons au Thons

In French, that apparently means "tuna corks." We already tried the cake that got Orangette a husband, so I figured I should try the recipe that got her a french lover. CCO said it wouldn't have to be too impressive since french men are "horndogs" but that is beside the point I think. The corks are very light -- just a hint of tomato and tang from the creme fraiche. They are hard to stop eating too. A batch makes about 8-9 corks, which was supposed to feed four people. Instead CCO and I ate them in one sitting. In all a wonderful spring-type dinner. I think I may make for an appetizer next time I host a dinner party.

The creme fraiche was the most difficult ingredient to find (they do sell it at Harris Teeter, maybe also Whole Foods. Check the fancy cheese section.), but I figured I should follow the recipe once before I started making changes. I might substitute full fat sour cream next time and see how they turn out. One other note, if you don't have a muffin tin, you can still make by filling disposable muffin cups and baking on a cookie sheet (I had to do this since I lent out my muffin tins). Make sure to buy the aluminum tins though. They hold the shape much better than the paper ones.

Eat Rating: Awesome. I sort of want to be her French lover now.
Difficulty: Easy (aside from finding creme fraiche)

From A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg

1 6 oz. can of tuna in water, drained
1 cup Gruyere, finely shredded (LN: I used my nun-cheese, which I still (!) have in the fridge)
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup creme fraiche
3 eggs (LN: subbed egg beaters and it worked fine)
2 tsbp finely chopped Italian parsley (LN: couldn't find any, subbed 1/2 tbsp dried)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a muffin tin or line with disposable muffin liners.

Drain tuna and place in a medium sized bowl. With a fork, break the tuna up into small pieces. Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Divide the mixture evenly between 8-9 tins. Bake 20-25 minutes until the corks appear set on top. Let cool for 5 minutes. The corks will collapse a little, don't worry. Remove from liners or pan and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Eating Down the Fridge Challenge: Day 5 (Thursday)

You may have noticed that there is no Wednesday. We cheated (sort of). When I got home from work, I ran into our upstairs neighbors. It came out that this week was my birthday, also that she had been home all day with her sick (not contagious) son and had spent the day cooking. So she invited CCO and I to dinner with her family. We had delicious Korean food. We did eat food from a fridge, just not ours. And in the spirit of EDF (and being good guests) we brought them a bottle of wine.

To make up for my lapse, though, I promised myself I'd be adventurous for Thursday's dinner. So this can of salmon has been around for awhile (don't worry, it doesn't expire till 2010). I think it was my mother's. She accidentally bought it one time, mistaking it for tuna, then got home and stuck it in the back of her cupboard. When I moved to my new place last summer, she brought me a bag of all this food to help fill my cabinets. It was supposed to be things I requested -- spices I had left with her after moving back from Chicago, important pots and pans like my pressure cooker. Instead I ended up with canned salmon. But never fear. I remembered we had a couple red bliss potatoes sitting around. Also, as used in previous recipes, tons of bread crumbs. So why not salmon croquettes?

Adapted from the New York Times

Eat Rating: Good. CCO commented that the croquettes were a little short on salmon. If I were making it again, I would probably use 2 cans of salmon.
Difficulty: Easy-to-medium (no strange utensils, but does require breading and frying)

3 medium-sized red-skin potatoes
1 can salmon, drained
1 shallot, minced
2 eggs
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 cup sour cream
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup fresh chopped dill (or about 1-1 1/2 tbsp dried dill)
1/2 tsp salt
Oil for frying
Flour

Boil potatoes in medium-sized saucepan until tender. Mash with masher or electric beaters until smooth. Mix in can of salmon, shallot and one egg. Shape into patties and place on a cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Beat remaining egg in a small bowl. Place breadcrumbs in a separate bowl and spread several tablespoons on a plate. For each patty, cover with flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Set aside. Heat oil in a frying pan until hot, the edges will just begin to bubble. Fry the patties in the oil until brown, about 3-4 minutes per side. Dry on a paper towel before serving.

Salmon patties, frying

While patties are cooking, mix sour cream, garlic, salt and dill to create a garlicky cream. Serve salmon croquettes with a dollop of cream.

With a dollop of garlicky dill cream

Eating Down the Fridge Challenge: Day 1 (Sunday)

Cheese from nuns

So Sunday officially began the Eating Down the Fridge Challenge, a week-long adventure where I will refrain from going to the grocery store and instead cook meals solely out of what I have stored up in my refrigerator and cupboards. CCO thinks this isn't really a challenge, but then again he thinks I keep too much stuff in the cabinets anyway.

Lunch:
So at one point last week, we happened to have 9 lbs of cheese from Cistercian nuns in our fridge. Yeah... Back in November, I was trying to find someone local to get some good quality cheese from, the idea being I could give half of it away as gifts and use the rest for my Christmas baking. Someone suggested the Our Lady of Angels Monastery down in Crozet. The monastery is run by Cistercian nuns (CCO tells me that its called a monastery rather than a convent because of their order). It had some good reviews and I figured I was supporting a good cause by giving money to nuns. So I ordered a bunch in mid-November. Their form said that as long as you ordered before Thanksgiving, you would be ok for delivery before Christmas. Not actually true. In their defense, it was a bad year (higher costs for stuff due to the crazy prices during the summer) so I got a postcard from them mid-December that I would not be receving my cheese until February or March. I was a little bummed, but figured I could at least give it away as Valentine's Day cheese... and in the meantime the nuns have been keeping me up-to-date on their goings-on. They sent me pictures of their visit to the Vatican earlier last year and frequently send me letters about how they are praying for me. They look like such nice nuns in the pictures that I haven't had the heart to throw away their newsletters and keep them on the fridge. (I freaked someone out a couple months back because one had a large picture of the Pope and the person began to worry that I was secretly devout) Anyway, the cheese arrived last week, all 9-lbs of glorious smoked gouda. I obviously can't eat 9-lbs on my own, so I took a wheel in to my office where it was promptly devoured by swarms of hungry reporters. The cheese is super good, a really light gouda flavour. This whole long story has really been to convince you to buy their cheese. Just make sure to leave plenty of time for delivery...

Grilled cheese

For lunch, we made grilled cheese sandwiches with the nun cheese and ate them with leftover carrot-ginger soup.

Dinner:

Leah's birthday meatloaf

For my birthday dinner, I really wanted meatloaf. Except my birthday falls on a Monday, which would violate Meatless Mondays. Instead I insisted on eating meatloaf on Sunday. The Pat Nixon meatloaf was good, but I was feeling lazy and didn't want to wait the hour it has to sit in the fridge. Instead I made up a barbecue meatloaf recipe.

1 lb ground bison (beef will do as a substitute)
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
3/4 cup bread crumbs
3-4 tbsp barbecue sauce (LN: I used a Hickory-smoked blend)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and mix with your hands until thoroughly combined. Spray 9x9 inch square pan with cooking spray. Shape meat into loaf in pan. Bake 45-50 minutes or until meat is browned throughout. Serve with extra barbecue sauce.

Roast Chicken with Cornbread Stuffing

In case you're worried, the chicken has green spots for a reason (sage leaves). So this week was my mom's birthday (Happy birthday, Mom!). To celebrate, we had a big family dinner complete with aunt, uncle and grandma. My mom was a little at a loss for what to serve. She wanted something nice that didn't require a ton of prep time, so I suggested roast chicken. This was partly for selfish reasons. I happen to love roast chicken. But also, its very versatile. You can use the leftovers for pretty much anything. I also have a new-found love of cornbread stuffing. I had always hated stuffing at Thanksgiving, mostly because it tends to be dry and have tons of celery (which I also hate). Cornbread stuffing, on the other hand, is moister, in part because cornbread itself is pretty moist and sweeter than bread.

Adapted from Tyler Florence recipe "Maple Roasted Turkey with Sage, Smoked Bacon and Cornbread Stuffing"

Eat Rating
Difficulty: Easy to Medium. You need some sort of basting brush or baster to glaze the chicken.

1 whole chicken for roasting, recommended 5-6 pounds
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1/2 bunch of fresh sage leaves
1 onion, finely chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped (LN: As I said, I hate celery. So I only put a little in. Add more as desired)
2 apples, cored and chopped
1 loaf of cornbread, chopped into cubes or torn into pieces (about 6 cups) (LN: If making from scratch, I recommend Jiffy.)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set rack to lowest height. Chop sage leaves and then work into butter with your hands. The butter should be flecked with green spots all throughout.

In saute pan, melt half the sage butter, then saute chopped onion and celery about 5 minutes until softened. Put cornbread pieces in a medium bowl. Mix in chopped apple and softened onion/celery mix. Add the egg, buttermilk and chicken stock and mix until thoroughly moistened.

Wash chicken, removing gizzard packet from cavity. Pat dry with paper towel. Using your fingers, separate the chicken skin from the underlying meat on the breast and leg pieces. Slide pats of the remaining sage butter under the skin and massage into a thin layer. Fill the center cavity with the cornbread stuffing. Do not overpack. The cavity should fit about 1/3-1/2 of the stuffing. Grease an ovenproof bowl or casserole dish and place remaining stuffing in it to serve on the side.

Excess stuffing and maple-syrup glaze

In a small bowl, whisk the hot water with the maple syrup until it is the consistency of a glaze. Using a basting brush or baster, glaze the chicken with the maple syrup mixture. Place chicken in oven. Baste with the maple syrup mixture about ever 30 minutes. Place the extra dish of dressing in the oven about 30 minutes before the chicken will finish cooking. The chicken should take about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to cook. If the roaster has a pop-up timer, remove from oven after the button pops. If there is no timer, check to ensure a meat thermometer reads 170 degrees before removing. When you cut into the thigh, the juice should run clear.

After removing from oven, scoop the stuffing from the chicken cavity and serve in a separate bowl. Cut chicken from bones and serve.

Chole

Once when I was unemployed and bored during the day I signed up for a community cooking class on Indian food. It was held in the kitchen at a high school. I had half expected the class to be boring, but you got to bring the food home at the end, so I figured I might as well try it. The class, however, ended up being awesome. It was run by this woman, Prithra Mehra, who does cooking classes for a ton of places, including Whole Foods and William Sonoma. Aside from teaching me how to cook some awesome Indian food, the class also made me less afraid of pressure cookers (although I still hesitate to stand directly behind the pot lest it explode). It also taught me how to use fresh ginger. My whole kitchen laughed at me when I took the piece of ginger and dropped it in the pot without peeling or dicing. I now use fresh ginger as much as I can.

Eat Rating:
Difficulty: Easy to Medium.

Prithra Mehra, The Mystic Kitchen

1 cup dried chickpeas
4 cups water
4 tbsp dried lentils
2 tsp salt
2 pods, cardamom
1 cinnamon stick
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 1/2 onions, chopped
1 tomato chopped (LN: you can also you a can of diced tomato, drained)
3 tbsp oil or butter
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp red chili powder
1/4 cup coriander leaves, chopped (Most often this is labelled "cilantro" at the store)
1 tsp channa masala*
2 green chilis (optional)
1/4 tsp mango powder (optional)

Wash chickpeas and soak overnight in 4 cups water and 1 tsp salt. Soak lentils in water for 30 minutes before you begin cooking.

Peel and chop the ginger and the onion. Put chickpeas, water, lentils, salt, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, ginger and 1/2 onion in pressure cooker. Bring to full pressure on high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 10-12 minutes. (LN: This almost always takes me longer, more like 20-30 minutes. You want almost all the water to have been steamed out.)

Heat oil or butter in a frying pan. Add onion and cook until onion begins to brown. Add tomato, coriander, cumin, chili powder and coriander leaves. Cook till the oil begins to separate and the mixture becomes shiny around the oustide of the pan. Add chana masala and simmer 1 minute.
Add mixture to the chickpeas (make sure to remove the cinnamon stick and cardamom pods first) and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Garnish with remaining spices if desired. Serve with rice (basmati if you have it) and top with yogurt or raita.**

* When I first tried to find chana masala, it took me forever. You'll need to look at an Indian grocery or try World Market if there's one close by. You can also make it yourself by combining: 1 tbsp coriander, 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp black pepper, 1 tbsp ginger, 1 tbsp cardamom, 1 tbsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp nutmeg.
** We made some make-shift raita by combining yogurt-cheese and cucumber. To make the yogurt-cheese, find a large bowl and place a colander in it so the colander rests on the edge. Line the colander with several layers of cheese cloth and place 1 cup yogurt in middle. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 12 hours or overnight. Discard liquid in bowl. You will have a thick cheese, the consistency of cream cheese, but with a slight yogurty taste. Peel, seed and dice cucumber, then mix with cheese.