Arugula Lemon Pasta

Here's a nice meal we made last night with a big bag of arugula from our CSA share.  You could use spinach in its place, but the arugula gives it a nice peppery punch.  

Wash and roughly chop two bunches of arugula, removing any thick stems.  Mince three very large garlic cloves and zest and juice a lemon.  Boil one pound of long pasta in salted water until done.  Drain and set aside, reserving a cup or so of the cooking water.

Into the empty pasta pot, add a long pour of olive oil and a couple tablespoons of butter.  Place over medium-low heat and saute the garlic until it just begins to brown.  Add the arugula and stir, letting it cook down.  Add salt and pepper to taste, as well as the lemon zest and juice.  Once the arugula is cooked to your liking, add the pasta back to the pot along with a good handful of grated Parmesan.  Toss everything well and add some of the pasta water if it seems dry. 

Serve with extra grated Parmesan and chile flakes.

Goat Cheese Appetizer

Here's one thing I plan on making for our Christmas get together.  Super simple and it sounds really yummy to me....plus it's Christmas colors :)

 

 

Goat Cheese Log with Pistachios and Cranberries

1 8-ounce log goat cheese
1/2 cup pistachios, shelled
1/2 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped

sliced baguette or crackers for serving

In a small pan over medium-high heat, toast the pistachios until fragrant; about 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool.

Combine the pistachios and cranberries in a plate and roll the goat cheese log in the mixture until completely coated. Place on a serving dish and sprinkle the remaining pistachio/cranberry mixture around the log. Allow to sit out at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before serving so the cheese will soften nicely and become more spreadable. Serves approximately 6-8.

Recipe Source: Real Simple

Mini Ham and Cheese Rolls

I'm thinking these might be good for Christmas.  Has anyone tried them? 

Chicken (or turkey) and dumplings

This was dinner tonight and one of the ways I used up some of our leftover turkey. This is one of Travis's favorite dinners so I make it often.  When I don't use leftover turkey I usually boil a whole chicken - it's good both ways but the broth from the chicken makes it extra yummy :)

 

Here's what you need:

 

1 whole chicken

poultry seasoning

garlic powder

black pepper

 

Dumplings:

2 C flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp poultry seasoning

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 C butter

1 egg, beaten

2/3 C chicken stock, cooled

 

Place whole chicken and enough water to cover into large pot or dutch oven, add poultry seasoning, garlic powder and pepper.  Cook chicken for about an hour or until done. When done, carefully remove chicken from pot and cut into bite size pieces. Remove 2/3 cup stock and set aside to cool.  Add chicken back to pot and continue to simmer. 

 

To prepare dumplings: combine flour, baking powder, poultry seasoning and salt.  Add butter and combine until mixture is crumbly.  Add egg and cooled chicken stock and stir to form dough.  Roll out to approximately 1/8" thickness and use a pizza cutter to cut dumplings into squares. Drop dumplings into pot and simmer for about 30 minutes.  Easy enough, right? So, no more using canned biscuits as dumplings ;)

Grenadine

Although this recipe is a bit unusual, and not universally useful, it seems appropriate for my first post.

I recently spent several weeks picking and processing pomegranates (over 200) from the 2 trees in our yard.  I made jelly--lots of it!--pomegranate molasses, cordial and grenadine.  It all turned out good, but the grenadine is spectacular!  It bears no resemblance to the commercial kind.  It's easy to make and stores well.  You can start with actual pomegranates, or just go buy good quality, unsweetened juice.

Use grenadine in alcoholic or non-alcoholic cocktails. A little splash also moves fruit salad to a new level.

Grenadine

2 1/2 cups unsweetened pomegranate juice
2 cups superfine sugar
2 Tbsp pomegranate molasses*
1 Tbsp vodka, preferably citron (optional, but improves shelf life)
1 tsp orange blossom water (don't skip this)

Bring juice to a boil; simmer until reduced to 2 cups (10 minutes). Remove from heat.  Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add remaining ingredients. Store in refrigerator for up to 6 months.

*Can be purchased at Mediterranean food stores, or you can easily make your own.

Book Review: An Everlasting Meal: Cooking With Economy and Grace

A confession:  I  love a good food book.  I read cookbooks like novels and food-related essays are some of my favorites.  A book like Tamar Adler's An Everlasting Meal:  Cooking With Economy and Grace was probably going to be a winner for me from the start, but I had no idea how much it would appeal to my sensibilities.  This is a food book for the masses - a collection of musings, suggestions and ideas for the way that real people really cook (or should).  Being a good cook starts with being a good eater, and Adler shows us all the little ways to treat food with reverence and relish its essence and purity.

While this does contain some recipes, it's not as much a cookbook as it is a manual of sorts.  It will encourage you to think about meals in ways you probably don't.  She stands firmly on the principle that ends, scraps and odd bits should not be wasted - the trash can or compost heap doesn't deserve so much flavor.  She offers enlightenment on how to start meals, how to finish them, how to make the most of something and how to make the most of nothing much.  Her ideas aren't new - this is, in fact, they way humankind has cooked and eaten for most of our existence.  Sadly these ways have been eclipsed by the glamour of celebrity chefs, food TV and the insistence that we all cook restaurant food at home.  Make no mistake - her suggestions are neither bland nor boring.  With a subtle wit and very engaging prose, she reminds us that the simplest meals are often the most satisfying.  She refreshes our overstimulated palates with marvelous descriptions of what good food ought to be like: 

"There are plenty of good olives around.  They can be buttery or tart, if that is how you like them, but they should never taste crabby or mean."

If you've ever found the idea of cooking to be too pressuring, read this book.  If you're a fledgling cook, longing to be a better cook, in need of inspiration, or just enjoy an outstanding food read, read this book.  Adler's humble but beautiful writing is sure to be an eye- and mind-opener.  Never has a telling of such age-old ideas felt so fresh.

Bakery Style Blueberry Muffins

This is my favorite recipe for the best bakery style blueberry muffins.....seriously, they are crazy good. :)

 

2 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cups sour cream (I have also used full fat baby yogurt here...both vanilla and banana- both ended up delicious!)
1 1/2 cups blueberries, dusted in flour (I use frozen blueberries and about 2 tablespoons flour)

Topping:

1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners. In a medium bowl mix together flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. In a large bowl beat together eggs, white sugar, and brown sugar. Mix in oil, vanilla, and sour cream. Mix dry ingredients into wet mixture just until moistened. Don't over mix, it's okay for the batter to be a little lumpy. Gently fold in blueberries. Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups so they are full. Mix the topping ingredients together with fork, and sprinkle about 1 tablespoon over muffins before baking. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until cooked through.

Tortellini and Roasted Vegetables

Around here, we're getting tired of looking at (and dealing with) Thanksgiving leftovers.  We needed a meal this week that bore no resemblance to turkey and stuffing, and had never met a sweet potato.  We did a bit of improvising and wound up with an easy and tasty weeknight dinner (and don't we all need more of those).  My husband gets credit for the general idea, and I did some fine tuning during the execution.  This was a big hit with all of us, including our six-month-old daughter.  Sorry - I didn't get a chance to take a photo!

A word to the timid:  try not to shy away from ample salt, butter and toppings.  They are the fine line between boring and brilliant here.

Chop half a head of cauliflower and an equivalent amount of broccoli into medium-sized pieces.  Toss with several minced garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon of salt, juice from half a lemon and enough olive oil to thoroughly coat everything.  Roast in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes or until completely tender and beginning to brown - stir the mixture every 15 minutes or so. 

Meanwhile, mix some fresh bread crumbs with melted butter and toast in a skillet over medium heat.  In a large pot, cook a pound of tortellini or small ravioli.  Drain the pasta, reserving at least one cup of the cooking water.

Combine cooked pasta, roasted vegetables, a tablespoon or two of butter and a few splashes of the pasta cooking water.  Add a bit more olive oil if it appears too dry (but bear in mind this will basically be sauce-less).  Serve with toasted bread crumbs, crushed red peppers and freshly grated Parmesan.

Enjoy!

Post-Thanksgiving Stuffing Strata

It always seems to me that after Thanksgiving has come and gone, there's never enough stuffing left.  It's one of my favorite sides, and there's never as much hanging around over the weekend as I would like.  This year I made a double batch of stuffing, and wouldn't you know, there was so much food on the table that we barely made a dent in it.  What does one do with an excess of stuffing?  Good bread that has already been soaking in butter and turkey juice is practically begging to become strata.  Use whatever vegetables and other fillings you have lying around and that sound good to you.  I can imagine all sorts of possibilities for this - broccoli, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, winter squash, asparagus or Brussels sprouts, just to name a few. 

This makes about enough for a 2 quart casserole or a 9 x 12 pan.  

Leftover stuffing to almost fill a 2 quart casserole (add extra bread if you come up short)

1 red bell pepper, diced

3 green onions, diced

1 bunch collard greens, kale, chard or spinach, washed and chopped

a handful or two of crumbled bacon or sausage, or diced smoked sausage (optional)

6 eggs

2 cups milk or half and half (or a mix)

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

1 cup grated Parmesan

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Butter a 2 quart casserole dish.

Heat some olive oil in a large skillet and saute the peppers and onions until soft.  Add greens and continue cooking until soft, adding salt and pepper to taste.  You can also add herbs and seasonings here.  I opted not to since my stuffing was already well seasoned.  In a large bowl, combine stuffing, vegetables and bacon or sausage (if using) and transfer to the buttered casserole.  sprinkle Parmesan evenly over the top.  

In a medium bowl,  beat eggs, milk, mustard and some additional salt and pepper until combined.  Pour this mixture over the bread and veggies.  Press the bread down into the egg mixture to ensure it's thoroughly saturated.  Bake at 375 degrees for one hour or until the middle is set and the top is nicely browned.  If it begins to brown too much before it's finished, cover with foil for the remainder of the cooking time.

Corn Casserole

Since today is the day after Thanksgiving I decided to start by posting a recipe that was one of the favorites at our table this year....it was also probably the easiest thing I made. Wish we could have all enjoyed our Thanksgiving meal together...looking forward to celebrating Christmas in a few weeks!  xoxo, meg

1 (15 1/4 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained

1(14 3/4 oz) can of cream corn

1 (8oz) package Jiffy corn bread mix

1 cup of sour cream

1/2 cup of butter melted

1cup of shredded Cheddar

Preheat oven 350 grease a 9-by 13 baking dish or a large casserole dish.

Mix together the corn jiffy, sour cream and butter in a large bowl next stir in cheese. Pour mix into greased baking dish.

Bake for 55 minutes, or until golden brown , let it sit for 5 minutes before severing.