Spaghetti Squash with Bacon and Turnip Greens

Spaghetti squash is a delicious and crunchy vegetable. Don't treat it like a low-carb alternative to pasta. That doesn't do it justice. When I was a kid, my mom always served spaghetti squash roasted with butter. That is a delicious way to eat it, but you can only do that so many weeks in a row before it becomes a little bland. So CCO and I tried this morrocan spiced spaghetti squash. Don't do it. For whatever reason, it was really bad. I mean immediately-into-the-trash-and-order-pizza bad. Undetered, I returned to the internet and found this recipe for spaghetti squash with bacon and turnip greens. I'm glad I did. Bacon makes everything better.


Adapted from Cooking by the Seat of My Pants

Eat Rating: Awesome. Just enough bacon for flavor, with a nice crunch from the squash.
Difficulty: Easy.

1 medium spaghetti squash
1 large bunch of turnip greens, ribs removed and chopped (or 1 package frozen chopped turnip greens)
1 small onion, chopped
4 slices of bacon, cooked until crispy and chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment. Prick the spaghetti squash all over with a fork, place on the cookie sheet and then bake for 1 hour or until tender. Allow to cool.

Once cool, cut the spaghetti squash in half and remove seeds. Using a fork, pull out the strings of cooked squash and place in a bowl. Set aside.

In a medium-sized sautee pan, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and saute about three minutes, until slightly browned. Add the garlic and cook 1 additional minute. Add the greens and cook for about 8 minutes or until greens have wilted and cooked completely through. Add squash to greens and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in bacon. Serve immediately.

Bread and Butter Pickles

Bread and butter pickles have always been my grandma's favorite. Unlike tart dill pickles, these are sweeter, probably from the 2 cups of sugar added to the vinegar during cooking, and a little spicier than your regular pickle. They get their signature yellow-green color from tumeric added to the vinegar during cooking. Bread and butter pickles supposedly got their name during the Great Depression when people would eat them on sandwiches in the place of meat between two pieces of buttered bread. That sounds somewhat gross, but I wouldn't be surprised if my Gram ate them that way. She has, after all, been known to drink pickle juice on occasion.

B&B's are best served as a side dish or a condiment to hamburgers.

This recipe makes 1 quart.

Eat Rating: Awesome. I am more partial to these than straight dill.
Difficulty: Easy to Medium.

Adapted from Brock Kuhlman, Hill's Kitchen

3 pickling cucumbers, cut into 1/4-1/2 inch slices
1 white onion, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup pickling salt
1 1/4 cup white vinegar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1 tsp crushed red pepper
3/4 tsp celery seeds (LN: Omitted. Didn't have any.)
1 inch cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
6 whole all spice
6 whole cloves
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1 tsp alum (LN: Omitted)

Place the cucumbers and onions in a colander sitting over a bowl and sprinkle vegetables with the salt. Let sit in the fridge overnight.

Place the jar(s) on a cookie sheet and place in the cold oven. Heat to 250 degrees. Once the oven reaches temperature, turn off the heat and leave the jars sitting in the oven.

Wash the cucumbers and onions to remove residual salt. Set aside.

Fill a small pot with water, bring to a boil then toss in the jar lids and rings to sterilize.

In a medium-sized pot, combine the vinegar, sugar and spices. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add the cucumbers and onions to the vinegar, then boil an additional 30 seconds.

Remove a jar from the oven with a clean kitchen towel. Using a slotted spoon, fill the jar with cucumbers and onions, leaving at least 1/4 inch of space from the top of jar. Once filled with cucumbers, pour vinegar into the jar, making sure the cucumbers are completely submerged and there is at least 1/8 inch between the top of the jar and the vinegar.

Remove lid and ring from water. Wipe the lip of the jar to make sure it is clean and nothing will mess up your seal. Place ring on lip of jar, then tighten the ring until it is finger tight.

Let the capped jar sit upright for two minutes, then flip over so the jar is sitting on its top and leave upside down for 10 minutes. Flip back over and let come to room temperature. The lid should form an airtight seal. You will know if when you push down on the lid it does not give.

Pickles are best if steeped 4 weeks but can be eaten after 10 days. Once the jar has been opened, eat within a few weeks.

It's a Recession!: Homemade Dill Pickles

"Canning is the new knitting," according Brock Kuhlman, the chef instructor at Hill's Kitchen in Eastern Market.

A few weeks ago, I took his class on pickling. It was sort of a strange class choice. For one thing, I don't love pickles. I mean I like some pickles, relish in particular. But when they ask me at the deli whether I need a dilled spear with my sandwich, I usually say no. However, I thought it would be cool and I didn't already know how to do it. In the past, I've found a lot of cooking classes to be very elementary (this one CCO and I took in the winter, the instructor spent about five minutes talking about the difference between an onion and a shallot.) This one, though, was pretty cool. He covered the science behind pickling, several different methods and about four recipes. At one point, I even got to be his Vanna White-like assistant to help with the Chow Chow.

Canning is not as hard as you think. I've done it for years with jam, but he still showed me a couple new tricks. Most important rule: when cutting the cucumbers, make sure the spears will fit in the jar. You're pretty much screwed if you're filling jars and then realize the spears are too long. I've also started always using his oven-sterilization method. So much easier than boiling the jars.

Buy very firm cucumbers.

Pickling salt is plain salt without the extra compounds they add in to prevent clumping. If you can't find pickling salt at the store, look for sea salt.

This recipe made me about 4 quarts (actually 3 1/2, but it could have been four). If you want fewer, you can cut the recipe in half, but it's very important you not change the ratio of water to vinegar. Otherwise you might mess up the chemical balance.

Eat Rating: These are pretty sour and very dill-y.
Difficulty: Medium. You need two pots. It's a good idea to have a funnel and a jar lifter on hand.

Adapted from Brock Kuhlman

4 pickling cucumbers
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
4 cups water
2/3 cup pickling salt
16 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1/2 of a bunch of fresh dill, washed thoroughly
2 tbsp red pepper flakes
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
4 bay leaves, crumbled or torn into smaller pieces
2 tsp alum* (LN: Omitted)

Prepare the cucumbers. Wash them to remove any dirt, then cut off the ends. Cut into quarters, lengthwise to make spears. Place the spears in a bowl of ice water and soak for two hours.

About half an hour before your cucumbers will be ready, place 4 clean, quart-sized jars on a cookie sheet and set in the cold oven. Turn the temperature up to 250 degrees. When the oven reaches 250 degrees, turn it off and leave the jars inside.

Heat a small pot of water to boil, then reduce heat. Drop the rings and tops in. You will need these later.

In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the water, vinegar and spices to a boil. Drain the cucumbers and add to the vinegar mixture. Return to a boil and cook for about 1 minute.

With a clean kitchen towel, remove the jars from the oven. Using tongs, place several cucumber spears in the jar, along with a few garlic cloves and some dill, if possible. Once the jars are packed with cucumbers, set the funnel on top of a jar and fill with vinegar mixture, making sure that the cucumbers are completely covered by the liquid.

Remove a lid from the hot water and place on top of the jar. Take a ring and twist it onto the jar finger tight. Do this for all the jars, then let them sit for two minutes. Flip the jar over so they are standing on the lid. Let sit upside down for 10 minutes, then flip right-side up. This will pressurize the jar, creating an airtight seal with the lid. You can tell if it has sealed correctly because you won't be able to push down on the lid.

Allow the pickles to sit in a cool place for six to eight weeks before opening. Once opened, enjoy the pickles within a few weeks.

* Alum is a chemical used in canning to help maintain the crispness of the produce. If you buy firm produce and use the plumping method outlined at the beginning of the recipe, you don't really need alum.

Sun-Dried Tomato Mint Rice Pilaf

You'd think sun-dried tomato and mint is a weird combo. You'd be wrong.

When I read Mark Bittman's Food Matters, I was somewhat shocked to discover that white rice wasn't very good for you. This was perhaps a dumb assumption, but rice was in the "grains" part of the food pyramid, so I always assumed that meant it was healthy.

Wrong.

So I've been trying to incorporate brown rice into my diet more. Except plain brown rice is boring. The other day I didn't have time to make pilaf, so I googled a couple ingredients I had in the cupboard to see if I could find anything half-decent to add to rice to make a side dish. I found this vegetarian site that had suggestions for how to make a quick rice pilaf. Now I wouldn't normally assume that sun-dried tomato and mint go together, but they are actually a pretty amazing combination. Both savory and refreshing. Add a little bit of feta and it's really great.

Adapted from Simple Vegetarian Recipes

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

1 cup brown rice
2 cups broth or water (LN: I used chicken broth, but you could use veggie broth or water)
1 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mint, choppped
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup sundried tomatos, reconstituted
2 gloves of garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1/4-1/3 feta cheese, crumbled

Place rice and broth/water in pressure cooker. Bring to boil and cook for 25-30 minutes. (If you don't have a pressure cooker, bring to a boil in a saucepan and cook for 45-50 minutes.)

While rice is cooking, place parsley, mint, sun-dried tomatos and garlic in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Gradually add oil, scrapping down sides of processor. The ingredients should form a thick paste.

Once rice is cooked, add the mint-tomato paste and stir to combine. Let cool, then add feta cheese crumbles. Serve warm.

Summer Squash with Garlic, Lemon and Pepper

Lemony slices of squash.

Apologies for the lack of posts. It has been very hectic the past two weeks, necessitating carryout. Also my camera wasn't working, so I missed out on pics of a great stir fry.

Anyway, it is officially the start of summer squash season. This weekend at our farmer's market they had huge crates of squash, so I picked out some for Meatless Monday. I got six since they were small, three zucchinis, three yellow squash and some other light green variety. The light green was actually my favorite. I found the yellow one sort of bland. Feel free to mix and match with various squashes for a variety of flavors or use all the same kind.

Mini zucchinis.

Thinking that these probably also would have been good in my stir fry, I sauteed them up with some garlic and lemon. I think some spices might have been a nice touch, but sadly I didn't have any fresh ones.

Eat Rating: Good. It wasn't great as a main course, mostly because it's all the same flavor and texture. But I definitely think I'd make again for an easy, simple side dish.
Difficulty: Super easy.

Non-zucchinis. My favorites.

Adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

6 small squash or 3 large ones, washed and sliced
1-2 tbsp olive oil
2 clove garlic, minced
1 lemon, juiced
Ground black pepper, to taste

Heat the oil in a large sautee pan, then add the garlic. Cook for about 1 minute until garlic is soft. Add the squash, and cook for about 10 minutes until softened. Remove from heat. Squeeze the lemon juice over the cooked squash, tossing to cover. Add black pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Lemon Roasted Haricots Verts

Roasted Haricots Verts

That's a fancy way of saying "roasted string beans."

For CCO's birthday this year, my mom signed us up for a cooking class. I was pretty stoked - the last time I took a class, I end up with cool recipes. This one was at the Sur La Table in Pentagon City and the theme was "Date Night in Paris." Again pretty cool. All in all, I liked it. The guy who taught it was pretty neat, gave us some good tips on onion chopping, lemon zesting and other random cooking skills. But I had somewhat expected that the other people in the class would be cooking nuts like me who wanted to try something new. That was not the case. It was a lot of people who had never cooked before. I mean I knew those people existed, but I guess they don't often introduce themselves to me in that fashion. So, for example, I was the only one who had ever made a souffle before. Also, the only person who had ever made my own salad vinaigrette. My kitchen was amazed when I showed everyone the trick where you roll the pastry dough back on the rolling pin to transfer it from the cutting board to the pie dish...

Anyway, it was some pretty great French food and my favorite part of cooking class is you get to eat it all when you're done. Tart au chevre (fancy way of saying "goat cheese tart"), potato galettes (grilled "potato patties"), paillards of beef in port wine sauce. Mmmm. To recreate our fun Friday night, CCO and I remade the green beans to go with our meatloaf.

Eat Rating: Delicious. I am so happy it's spring.
Difficulty: Easy. Needs a zester or grater for the lemon peel.

Adapted from "Date Night in Paris," Sur La Table, 4/17/2009 with Chef Luke Taylor
(The recipe can be halved. But if you do, make sure to reduce the lemon juice or your string beans will be super tart)

2 lb of Haricots Verts (string beans), trimmed
1 onion, peeled and cut into 8 wedges
6 large sprigs of fresh marjoram (LN: you can also use about 1 tsp dried marjoram or fresh oregano)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon peel

Position racks in the oven so one is near the top and the other near the bottom. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with oil or line with aluminum foil. In a large bowl, combine beans, onion and majoram. Drizzle with the olive oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper if desired. Lay out in a single layer on the cookie sheet and roast for 15 minutes on top rack. Move the sheet to the bottom rack and roast 10 more minutes. The beans will be ready when they are beginning to brown in spots.

Remove from cookie sheet and return to bowl. Add lemon juice and zest and toss to coat. Serve warm.

Fennel Rings

If I ever owned a bar, I wouldn't serve onion rings or fries, but fennel, fried with a lovely crisp coating. Unlike onion rings, the fennel doesn't lose its crunchy texture and doesn't taste so bland. It's spicier, with a kick of pepper. And it's full of fiber and potassium.

Adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

1 bulb of fennel
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 lemon (or several tbsp lemon juice)
3 tbsp butter plus 3 tbsp olive oil

Clean fennel, trim and cut the bulb crossways into 1/4 inch thick slices. Squeeze lemon over the cut fennel rings and season with salt and pepper as desired.

Mix the flour and bread crumbs in a small bowl. In a second small bowl, beat the eggs. Dredge the rings one at a time in the egg then bread crumbs. Repeat a second time for each slice until thoroughly coated.

In a medium sautee pan, melt butter and oil. Cook the breaded fennel in batches, about 2-3 minutes per side until browned. After the fennel is cooked, transfer to a paper towel to drain. Serve immediately.

Lemon Mint Artichokes

I've been very anxiously awaiting spring so I can have some new fruits and vegetables. I love winter squash and root vegetables, but they get old after awhile and the winter months always seem so long that I'm practically dying for something new when spring finally rolls around. So when I saw that it was the first week for artichokes this year, I bought some even though I had never cooked an artichoke in my life. Luckily, Gourmet magazine this month included a recipe on how to cook fresh artichokes for Passover.

Artichokes are hard work though what with all the cutting and peeling. This recipe takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours total (although apparently you can split it up if you wanted).

From Gourmet Magazine, April 2009

Difficulty: Hard. The artichokes take a lot of preparation. You also need a melon baller and peeler.
Eat Rating: Awesome. After all the work, I thought there could be no way they would be worth it. I was wrong. These things are pretty amazing. The right amount of sour lemon and sweet mint. All that being said, I probably wouldn't make them again, unless someone specially requested for Passover or something.

2 lemons, cut in half
8 large artichokes with long stems
3 cups water
1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh or otherwise)
5 tbsp chopped fresh mint
3 garlic cloves, minced

Squeeze the lemons into a small bowl of cold water. Set aside. You will use this to keep your artichokes from browning later on.

Cut off the top 1 inch of the artichoke (the pointy part), then pull off the leaves until you reach the pale yellow leaves. Discard leaves (LN: we kept the leaves and steamed them to eat later.) Cut the artichoke off about 1/2 inch from the stem. Scoop out the fuzzy part in the bowl of the artichoke with a melon baller. Trim the dark green parts with a vegetable peeler from the base and stem of the artichoke. Trim down the stem to the pale green inner core. Rub the cut artichoke with the lemon to prevent browning and then place in the bowl of lemon water.

Once all artichokes are trimmed, place lemon juice, water, 3 tbsp mint and garlic in a heavy pot that is large enough to fit all the artichokes in one layer. Simmer, then stand artichokes stem facing up in the pot. Cover with parchment or silicone steamer mat. (LN: At this point, I put the extra artichoke leaves in and let them steam as well) Simmer for 25 to 30 minutes until the base of artichoke is easily pierced with a knife. Remove artichoke stems and set aside.
Simmer remaining liquid about 20 minutes until it is reduced to about 1/2 cup. Whisk to emulsify then pour over the artichokes and sprinkle with remaining mint.

Serve at room temperature.

Lemon mint braised artichokes

Carrot Ginger Soup

I love it when the pictures capture the steam rising off my food. In my effort to be healthier, I picked up a 2 pound bag of carrots at the store last weekend. Then I got home and remembered that I hate carrots. The crunchiness is nice, I feel like I always get served carrots one of two ways: as little sticks that have sat in the fridge too long and leached away their flavor or as tasteless shreds covering limp lettuce in a pathetic salad. To prove that all carrots aren't bad, CCO suggested carrot soup, specifically his favorite Ginger Carrot Soup from the Moosewood Cookbook. Frankly, he was right.

Eat Rating: Great. The ginger gives it a kick of spiciness that lingers. Drizzle with a bit of buttermilk for extra tang.
Difficulty: Easy to Medium (requires a blender or food processor)

From The Moosewood Cookbook, 15th Edition by Mollie Katzen (Has anyone else noticed how all the good cooks are named Molly?)

2 lbs carrots, peeled and chopped into 1" pieces
4 cups of water (or broth)
1 tbsp butter or oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp ginger, peeled and grated
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp ground fennel
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp mint
3-4 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup lightly toasted cashews, toasted

Add water and carrots to medium sauce pan, boil and then cook carrots for 10-15 minutes until carrots are softened. While carrots are cooking, heat oil in a saute pan and saute onions about 5 minutes or until translucent. Add garlic, ginger, salt, spices. Continue cooking for about 5-8 minutes until thoroughly mixed. Add lemon juice to the onion-garlic mixture. Set aside. Once the carrots are sufficiently soft, add the onion-garlic mixture to a blender/food processor along with cashews and part of the carrots. Blend until carrots are pureed. Add puree to soup pot, then puree remaining water and carrots. Mix puree altogether and heat until warm. Serve with drizzle of buttermilk or dollop of yogurt.

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.

Oatmeal Molasses Bread

I made this bread earlier in the week to accompany a soup (Mushroom Barley Stew, to be exact). Unfortunately there are no pictures, as my camera seems to have finally died. It's a dark bread, very dense, with just a hint of sweet. Very good for soaking up broth. If you're making it for a savory stew, omit raisins.

Difficulty: Easy-to-medium (involves kneading)
Eat Rating: Good. Not great. But decent enough. It was good with the stew and subsequent leftovers, but I probably wouldn't make it on its own.

From Cooking Light, October 2003
Yield: 2 smallish loaves

2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (LN: Due to a shortage of all-purpose, I used 1 3/4 cups)
1 cup whole wheat flour (LN: I used 2 cups whole wheat flour)
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup raisins
1 tbsp yellow cornmeal

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine buttermilk, oats, molasses and oil in a bowl and mix well. In a separate large bowl, combine flours, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add buttermilk mixture and stir until moistened. Add in raisins. Let dough sit for 2 minutes.

Divide dough in half. On a floured surface, knead one half the dough with floured hands for about 1 minute. Shape into loaf. Repeat for second half of dough.

Dust a cookie sheet with corn meal. Place loaves on cookie sheet and make 3 diagonal cuts on the top of each loaf.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Without opening oven, reduce heat to 375 degrees. Bake another 15 minutes, until a spoon tapped on the bottom of each loaf makes a hollow sound. Let stand 15 minutes before slicing.