Cooking and eating

Brianda's Extra Beans

2011-09-26T17:00:00.002-07:00

Makes 10-12 servings

1 smallish bag of brown rice, cooked and set aside

2 T olive oil

1 yellow onion, sliced

½ head garlic, cloves peeled and thickly sliced

3 T harissa spice blend

[in a large sauté pan, sauté together for 10 minutes over medium-high heat .]

4 cans kidney beans, drained

[add to the pan and stir, cook for 3-4 minutes more. Serve with the rice.]

Clare's Crazy Salad

2011-09-26T17:00:00.000-07:00

Makes 10-12 servings

[preheat oven to 325.]

Odds and ends of stale bread or break ends, chopped into bite-sized chunks about the same size

Olive oil to lightly coat, and pepper

[roast in oven for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.]

2 bu lacinato kale, sliced ½“ thick

1 bu spinach, chopped bite-size

2 bu broccoli, cut bite-sized; stem peeled and chopped as well

5 carrots, sliced ½“ thick

1 bu radished, sliced

½ bu parsley, minced

½ pt snap peas, sliced

1 bu green onion, sliced

[toss all ingredients with salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice.]

Diana's Roasted Goodness

2011-09-26T16:58:00.001-07:00

Makes 10-12 servings

[preheat oven to 375.]

6 japanese eggplant, sliced ½“ thick

8 Yukon Gold potatoes, sliced into ½“ thick half-moons

6 sweet potatoes, peeled & sliced into ½“ thick half-moons

2 onions, sliced into 8 wedges each

½ head garlic, cloves peeled

6 yellow squash, sliced ½“ thick

[toss all ingredients except the squash and garlic with salt, pepper and olive oil. roast for 20 minutes. toss the yellow squash and garlic with salt, pepper and olive oil, then roast for 10 minutes. remove everything, toss together with some lemon juice.]

Tess's Rice

2011-09-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

Makes 10-12 servings

1 smallish bag brown rice, cooked & cooled

2 bulbs fennel, sliced thinly

2 bu grapes, sliced

1 bu green onion, sliced thinly

6 carrots, shredded

[combine all ingredients with ¼ C olive oil. adjust seasoning with honey, salt & pepper, and lemon juice.]

July CK Recipes

2011-08-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

Thank you Sarah Lemione for writing these recipes!

Collard Greens Penne

2 boxes penne pasta

1 bunch collard greens

two cans diced tomatoes

16 ounces water

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 Tablespoons lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 C parsley, diced

1//2 C basil, diced

1/2 C green onions, diced

olive oil

1. Boil salted water for pasta in a large pot. Add pasta to water, boil for 10-15 minutes. Drain.

2. Add oil to a pan, add largely chopped collard greens and diced onion. Let the greens and onion brown.

3. Add minced garlic

4. Add 1 can diced tomatoes and 1 C water to the pan.

5. Add 2 Tablespoons lemon juice, salt and pepper

6. In a different pan, brown onions and garlic

7. Add salt and pepper, 1 can tomatoes, 1 C water, allow this to simmer on medium-low heat.

8. Add diced green onions, diced parsley and basil. Continue to simmer for up to 30 minutes

9. Add the contents from your second pan to the first pan. Pour all the sauce over your drained pasta and enjoy.

Hearty Salad

Potatoes, chopped into smallish cubes

Onion, sliced

Mushrooms, sliced

Sunflower seeds

Garbanzo Beans, 2 cans

3 Cloves of garlic

1 bunch collard greens, chopped

olive oil

lemon juice

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425 if using convection oven, to 400 if using a convection oven.

2. Onions, tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper and minced garlic. Lay out evenly on a baking sheet. Roast until brown.

3. Toss the mushrooms in olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay out evenly on a baking sheet. Roast until bacon aromas start to fill your nostrils.

4. Drain two cans of garbanzo beans and rinse. Mix with grunions and lemon oil, set asid.

5. Pour sunflower seeds into a pan and roast with lemon juice.

6. Toss collard greens in olive oil, salt and pepper, lemon juice. Roast until crispy.

Braised Chicken & Vegetables over Rice

2011-05-24T17:06:00.001-07:00

Ingredients:
Cooking oil (not too much)
8-10 chicken drumsticks
Salt and pepper

2 onions, diced
4 carrots, rough diced (see note for xxx)
1 head garlic, cloves chopped
4 bell peppers, diced
Salt and pepper to taste
Cuban spice blend to taste

Brown rice and salted water for cooking

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat and add a little cooking oil. Brown the chicken well, then transfer to a deep braising dish.
3. Heat the pan again over high heat and add more oil if necessary. Sauté the onions for a few minutes, then add the carrots, garlic and bell peppers. Season with salt, pepper and the Cuban Spice blend. Cover the chicken with these vegetables and a little more spice, add a few ounces of water, cover and braise for about an hour and fifteen minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cook the rice according to the package directions. Serve the chicken and vegetables over the rice.

Seven Spice Greens & Pasta Salad (V)

2011-05-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

(with seasoning)

Ingredients:
1 box penne pasta
Salted water for cooking
Olive oil

Cooking oil
1 bu red chard, cut bite-sized
1 bu spinach, cut bite-sized
1 bu broccoli rabe, sliced thinly
1 grapefruit, juiced
Salt, pepper and Togarashi to taste

Instructions:
1. Cook the pasta in the salted water, drain it and toss it in plenty of olive oil. Set aside.
2. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat, then add the veggies in batches to brown them. Season as you go, combine all ingredients, season to taste and serve.

(without seasoning)

French Lentil Stew (V)

2011-05-23T12:19:00.000-07:00

A beautifully simple, almost humble soup with lots of flavor.

Ingredients:
cooking oil
2 yellow onions, diced
2 carrots, roughly diced (carrots don't grow in squares so don't worry about cutting them into cubes; just get them appropriately, uniformly sized. don't sweat the small stuff.
4 cloves garlic, chopped small
1 small head red cabbage, cut bite-sized
2 leeks, sliced
salt and pepper to taste

Melange Classique spice blend to taste

4 Yukon gold potatoes. diced
1 bag lentils
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Heat a large saute pan over high heat then add some oil. Saute the onions for 7-8 minutes first then set aside. Then, reheating the pan and adding more oil as needed, saute the carrots, garlic, cabbage and leeks for a few minutes per batch. Season each batch lightly with salt, pepper and Melange Classique.
2. Heat a large saucepan over high heat, rinse the lentils and add them to the pan. Add enough water to cover the lentils by an inch, season the water with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to a low simmer, cover and cook the lentils for about 12 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes and add more water to cover the lentils & potatoes by about an inch. Re-season the water to make it lightly salty. Cover and simmer for another 25 minutes or so, or until the potatoes and lentils are done.
4. Add the vegetables, adjust the level of water and seasoning if necessary, including the Melange Classique spice blend. Serve.

The May CK was Awesome

2011-05-23T11:45:00.000-07:00

Dear May Community Kitchen,

You were very different but very fun, and I think I like you.

Love Ryan

I bought a bunch of food immediately before the community kitchen, food that was inexpensive, nutritious and locally available. I brought it to the kitchen, stood back and asked everybody what they wanted to cook. Didn't write any recipes, didn't have much of an idea what people were going to choose to make. Giving up control was a lot of fun, and the results were delicious and nutritious.

It worked out well, so I want to stick with this format for the time being. I like that it keeps us on our toes, and enforces the idea that as long as you know how to cook, you can get anything in front of you and make a tasty meal. It makes the community kitchen a place where we can all practice doing that so that cooking from scratch at home is that much easier.

So, this is what I bought:

organic chicken drumsticks

1 bag lentils

1 box pasta

1 bag brown rice

yellow onions

garlic

carrots

bell peppers

radishes

green cabbage

leeks

yukon gold potatoes

red chard

spinach

broccoli rabe

grapefruit

Togarashi shichimi (Japanese seven-spice)

Melange Classique spice blend

Cuban Spice blend

And out of this, we made Seven Spice Greens and Pasta Salad, French Lentil Stew, Braised Chicken and Vegetables over Rice. None of these were my ideas; the pasta and vegetable salad in particular was something I don't think I would have thought of, and it rocked.

There were only three of us, so we had lots of food to eat and take home. It's Monday and I'm still eating leftovers we made on Thursday. In June, we will have lots of new delicious fruits and vegetables to play with. Come cook with us on June 16th at 5:30 at the Pike Place Market!

Bring your sexiest heels.

April Community Kitchen Digest

2011-04-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

It was great! The food was delicious, and even though there was a lot for everyone to do, it seemed like no one broke a sweat. I'm glad. But at the same time, unrest stirs in my heart.

You guys are all too good.

I should have expected that eventually it would get too easy for you to just follow my recipes. Since that day has come, let me tell you how the Pike Market Community Kitchen is going to go from now on:

The New Paradigm

-I won't write any recipes for you to follow anymore.

-I will buy a variety of nice things to cook, and it will be up to you all to figure out what to do with it.I will be there for advice or to answer questions, but I'm done telling you all what to cook. You tell me.

-Consider it extended training in making really good meals out of whatever you can find. I will write down what you come up with in recipe format and send the recipes out to you after the kitchen.

So! Last Thursday, we made a delicious salad, a braised chicken sandwich, and an entree of roasted and sauteed vegetables over Israeli couscous.The usual bright flavors of fresh produce and liberal use of spices pervaded.

The recipes had no names. I was hoping that they would grow names in the community kitchen, but it was not meant to be. So, they will remain nameless, and therefore kind of kitchy. Their recipes are attached.

I don't think there's anything more to say about the recipes. Try them at home, if you didn't get a chance to come to the community kitchen. Let me know what else you've been coming up with to make, or share with me your favorite recipes. Let me know what you'd like me to buy for the next community kitchen, and I will get it if I can find it!

This is your community kitchen now. Use it well.

Cheers!

-Ryan

Name This Entrée (V)

2011-04-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

Note the new, condensed recipe format!

Cooking skills focus: Roasting, sautéing, marinating, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
2 ½ # tomatoes, diced

1 C red wine vinegar

3 T Harissa

Salt and pepper

[combine and marinate for an hour. Do not drain the liquid when you combine this with the other ingredients.]

1 head garlic; top 1/3 cut off from the top]

2 T olive oil

2 t Syrian Zahtar spice blend

Salt and pepper

[roast in foil with spices, salt and pepper sprinkled on top at 375 for 30-35 min, squeeze out cloves and chop coarsely.]

1 onion, cut into 1/8ths

½ bu celery peeled and cut bite-sized

4 T olive oil

Salt and pepper

[roast at 375 for 25-30 min. chop the onions bite-sized.]

½ head red cabbage, cut bite-sized

4-6 T cooking oil (over a few batches)

Salt and pepper

[sauté over high heat in batches for 6-8 min per batch.]

1 grapefruit, juiced; zest of ½ of it added

3 bu spring onions, sliced thinly

2 T olive oil

3 T Syrian Zahtar spice blend

Salt and pepper

2 bu lacinato kale, sliced ½” thick

2 honeycrisp apples, medium diced (1/2” on a side)

3 bell peppers, julienned then cut in half

1 bu spring onion, sliced thinly

Name This Sandwich

2011-04-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Note the new, condensed recipe format!

Cooking skills focus: Braising, Sautéing, balancing flavors

Ingredients:

6 chicken legs
1 T cooking oil

1 yellow onion, diced

½ bu celery, peeled and cut ½ “ thick

½ head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced

1 # tomatoes, diced

3-4 T Urfa Biber

Salt and pepper

[brown the chicken well, then sauté the onions, celery, thyme and garlic in batches, then put in a deep dish, cover and braise at 375 for 1 hour. Pull the meat off the chicken in a separate bowl and add the chicken back to the roasted veggies.]

½ head red cabbage, cut bite-sized

½ bu chervil, chopped

2 T olive oil

1 lemon, juiced

1 T Urfa Biber

Salt and pepper

[combine with the chicken and other vegetables. Use as a filling for a sandwich or a wrap with cheese if you want.]

Name This Salad (V)

2011-04-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

(Chervil, probably my favorite herb)

Note the new, condensed recipe format!

Cooking skills focus: Roasting, sautéing, marinating, balancing flavors

Ingredients:

1 onion, julienned

2/3 C red wine vinegar

2/3 C water

Salt & pepper

[marinate 1 hr and drain.]

3 # Yukon gold potatoes, diced large (3/4” on a side)

2 T olive oil

Salt & pepper

[roast; oven at 375. Check after 30 min.]

1 lb assorted mushrooms, sliced thickly

½ head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced

3 T cooking oil

Salt & pepper

[sauté mushrooms over high heat in oil for 15 min, then drop heat to med and add garlic, cook 5 min more.]

½ bu chervil, chopped

1 bu spinach, chopped bite-sized

1-2 Fresno chiles, sliced (if you want)

2 lemons, juiced

2 T Vadouvan Curry powder

3 T olive oil

Salt and pepper

[combine everything.]

I bought some food.

2011-04-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

For today's community kitchen, I bought the following:

Yellow onions
Celery
Garlic
Spring Onions
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Lacinato Kale
Mushrooms
Tomatoes
Red Cabbage
Spinach
Fresno Chiles
Chervil
Thyme
Lemons
Grapefruit

Vadouvan (French) Curry Powder
Harissa Spice Blend
Urfa Biber (Dried Turkish Chile)

Israeli Couscous
Chicken Legs

So, I know what I came up with. What I'm curious about is: What would you have made out of this?

Spiced Bean Stew (V)

2011-03-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

This is from my second community kitchen, which is actually a weekly after-school program at the Miller Community Center for kids attending the Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center. It's so much fun!

Spiced Saute

2011-03-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

Caramelized Onion Hummus (V)

2011-03-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

Cooking skills focus: Sautéing, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
2 T cooking oil

2 yellow onions, diced

½ head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced

Salt and pepper

6 cans garbanzo beans

½ can tahini

2 lemons, juiced

½ head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced

2 ¼ C water

Salt and pepper

1 bu parsley, minced finely

Olive oil for serving

Instructions:
1. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the cooking oil, then add the onions and cook for 5 minutes.

2. Add the garlic, lower the temperature to medium-high heat, season with some salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes more. Then add about ¼ C water, and stir. Wait until the water evaporates, then do it again. When that water evaporates, turn off the heat and set the onions aside to cool slightly.

3. Put all the ingredients except the parsley and olive oil in a food processor, in batches if necessary, and puree until very smooth and creamy.

4. Transfer to a bowl, mix in the parsley and serve topped with a little olive oil.

March Crazy Salad (V)

2011-03-22T19:04:00.000-07:00

Cooking skills focus: Roasting, sautéing, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
2 # baby red potatoes, cut in half

2 T cooking oil

Salt & pepper

2 t Ras El Hanout spice blend

2 # crimini (brown) mushrooms, quartered

4 T cooking oil

Salt and pepper

1 grapefruit, juiced

1 lemon, juiced

1-2 T olive oil

1 T Ras El Hanout

Salt and pepper

2 bu lacinato kale, sliced ½” thick

2 honeycrisp apples, medium diced (1/2” on a side)

3 bell peppers, julienned then cut in half

1 bu spring onion, sliced thinly

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Toss the potatoes with the first 2 T cooking oil, salt, pepper, and 2 t Ras El Hanout. Put on a sheet pan and roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

3. Heat a large sate pan over high heat, then add the 3 T cooking oil. Add the mushrooms and sauté until browned, then set aside in a large bowl.

4. In a medium bowl, whish together the citrus juice, the olive oil, the last of the Ras El Hanout and season with salt and pepper.

5. Add everything to the large bowl, toss together, then toss with the dressing and serve.

Braised Chicken with Spiced Polenta

2011-03-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Cooking skills focus: Braising, sautéing, simmering, balancing flavors

Ingredients:

1 gal MINUS 1 C water

(Note: For creamy polenta it’s a 5:1 water to polenta ratio; for firm polenta it’s 4:1. There are 16 C in 1 gal.)

Light salt for the water

(Note: taste the water; it should be slightly salty.)

1 T cooking oil

9-10 chicken thighs (or 5 whole legs), scored with a knife

1 onion, julienned

½ head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced thickly

3 C polenta

4 T unsalted butter

2-3 T (spice blend) (whatever you want to experiment with!)

1 T cooking oil

1 bu broccoli rabe, sliced ½” thick

½ head garlic, cloves peeled and sliced thickly

3 lemons, juiced

1 bu green onion, sliced thinly

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Start heating the salted water to a boil in a large pot.

3. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the first 1T oil, then add the chicken, in batches if necessary to avoid crowding the pan. Brown them well and set them aside in a deep dish to braise.

4. Heat the sauté pan again over medium-high heat, then add the onions and the first part of the garlic. Cook for 5 minutes then add to the chicken. Cover the braising dish and cook in the oven for 45 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, when the water is boiling, add the polenta and begin to stir immediately. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook and stir until the polenta is done (taste it). Then melt the butter in it and add the 2-3 T spices.

6. Heat a new large sauté pan over high heat and add the last 1 T oil. Add the last of the garlic and the broccoli rabe, reduce the heat to medium-high and sauté for 5 minutes. Set aside.

7. When the chicken is done and cool enough, pull the meat off the bones and mix it with the onions and garlic it braised with.

February CK Digest

2011-02-22T12:14:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow cooks!

We had a great time on Thursday. I am so proud of how deliciously everything turned out and how well everyone worked together. We had a couple of twists to the usual recipes, in honor of a couple of my friends. Guest chef Teresa Huff led the recipe group in making a vegan version of the collard greens she grew up making and eating. And instead of braising chicken like we usually do, I switched it up and braised beef, because my friend Felix was at the CK for the first time ever, and it's his favorite.

We made Eggplant Coconut Curry, a progressive saute of delicious vegetables in oil and Madras curry powder, where we use the technique that a lot of the world uses: Saute aromatic vegetables (onions, garlic and celery) in oil and then add spices so that their flavor blooms, then add other vegetables so that the spices cook into each thing you add. I've seen this a lot in recipes for southeast Asian dishes, and it results in an incredibly rich flavor development there, too. Yay for delicious vegan dishes!

The Red Salad was another vegan dish, which combined the roasted (potatoes), with the sauteed (red cabbage & red chard), and the raw (red bell peppers) in a lemon juice & spice blend dressing. The spice blend we used was Melange Classique, a southern French blend that borders on the curry-like, but with the very French additions of thyme, rosemary and marjoram, as well as white pepper, cayenne pepper, clove, nutmeg and bay leaf. It's very, very pretty, and it makes salad taste pretty, too.

Teresa's Collard Greens omitted the usual pork influence per my request (we get a lot of vegetarians in community kitchens, which is a good thing!), but it was otherwise genuine southern cooking. You boil the greens in salted water, add sauteed onions and vinegar, boil for a good while and then strain out. The greens get rich and sweet, as well as tangy from the vinegar. I could eat them for every meal.

What can I say about Slow Beef? I used to make this as a sandwich when I worked at Seattle Coffeeworks (it's not there anymore, sorry). You always braise the cuts of meat that are made up of a lot of muscle groups. The same interconnecting tissues that bind the muscle groups together make the meat tough and inappropriate for the grill, but by using the braising method to gently cook the meat, those same tissues dissolve and melt into what makes braised meat to unctuous and tender. These cuts of meat are always the cheapest to buy.

Happy cooking! Please know that I am always available to talk about cooking with you.

Cheers!

-ryan

"A cook is an instrument of nature." -Eric Ripert

Eggplant Coconut Curry (V)

2011-02-22T11:41:00.003-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Knife skills, roasting, sauteeing, balancing flavors

Ingredients:

3 eggplants, striped (partially peeled) and cut into 1” slices

½ t salt

2 # Yukon gold potatoes, diced medium (1/2” on each side)

2 T cooking oil

1 T Madras curry powder (from World Spice Merchants)

Salt & pepper TT

3 C jasmine rice

Salted water for cooking

3 T cooking oil

2 yellow onions, diced

½ head celery, stalks peeled & sliced ½” thick

1 head garlic, cloves peeled and thickly sliced

3 T Madras curry powder

Salt & pepper TT

1 bu lacinato kale, sliced ½” thick

1 ½ # English peas, shelled

1/4 C water

1 small can coconut milk

3 bell peppers, cut into bite-sized strips (julienne, then cut in half)

2 lemons, juiced

Salt & pepper TT (if needed)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Toss the eggplant slices with the salt in a large bowl. They will start to exude water. After 15 minutes, gently squeeze a little more water from them, then cut into bite-sized chunks (this removes some bitterness and lets them absorb other liquids like the curry sauce we’ll be making).

3. Toss the potatoes with the first 2 T cooking oil, 1 T curry powder, salt & pepper. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside when done.

4. In the meantime, cook the rice: Rinse it, put it in a saucepan and cover it with water until the water comes up to the first knuckle of your finger when your fingertip is touching the level of the rice. Salt the water moderately, with about 1 ½ t salt. Simmer covered for about 20 minutes on low heat. (This is the way to cook nearly any kind of rice; see Ryan with any questions about the procedure.)

5. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the last 3 T cooking oil, then add the onions and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Then add the garlic, celery, last 3 T curry powder, salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium-high and continue to cook for 10 minutes.

6. Add the eggplant, kale, peas, water and coconut milk to the sauté pan and cook for 7-8 minutes more. Then add the bell peppers, roasted potatoes, lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.

7. Serve the curry over the rice.

Red Salad (V)

2011-02-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Roasting, sautéing, balancing flavors

Ingredients:

2 # Yukon gold potatoes, diced medium (1/2” on a side)

2 T cooking oil

Salt and pepper TT

2 T cooking oil

1 head red cabbage, cut in quarters, core removed and sliced thinly

1 bu red chard, stems removed and leaves cut bite-sized. Stems sliced ½” thick.

Salt & pepper TT

1 T cooking oil

1 red onion, julienned

½ head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced thinly

½ bu celery, stalks peeled & sliced ¼” thick

3 bell peppers, cut into bite-sized strips (julienne, then cut in half)

2 lemons, juiced

2 T Melange Classique spice blend (from World Spice Merchants)

½ bu parsley, minced

Salt & pepper TT

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Coat the potatoes in the first 2 T cooking oil and season with salt and pepper, then roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside in a large bowl when done.

3. Heat the large sauté pan over high heat, then add the next 2 T cooking oil. Add the red cabbage, chard stems and cook for 3-4 minutes, remove to the large bowl.

4. Heat the sauté pan over high heat again, then add the last 1 T cooking oil. Add the onion, garlic and celery and cook 3-4 minutes. Add to the large bowl.

5. Add the peppers, lemons, spice blend, parsley and season with salt and pepper. Serve.

Slow Beef

2011-02-22T11:35:00.000-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Braising, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
2 T cooking oil
5 # boneless beef chuck, cut into approx. 1# chunks

7-8 dashes Tabasco sauce

½ bu parsley, minced

Salt and pepper TT

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add a few pieces of beef to the pan (don’t crowd it or it won’t brown, which is what you want here) and brown well. Set aside. Repeat until all the beef is well-browned, then remove to a deep braising pan. Cover the pan and braise for 3-3½ hours.

3. When the beef is falling apart from the braising process, cool it so it can be handled. Then, pull it apart and remove any large portions of fat, and put the meat in a large bowl. Season it with salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce, then add the parsley. Serve as a sandwich filling, a meat dish, an omelet filling, a salad topping, etc etc etc.

Teresa's Collard Greens (V)

2011-02-22T11:29:00.000-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Sautéing, boiling, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
Large pot with about 3 qts. water

2 T salt

3 bu collard greens, washed, the thickest part of the stems removed and the rest twisted apart into large pieces

1 ½ T cooking oil
1 large white onion, diced large (3/4” on a side)

½ t salt

1 ½ C distilled white vinegar

1 T salt

Instructions:
1. Start a large pot of water boiling over high heat and add the 2 T kosher salt.

2. While waiting for the water to boil, heat a sauté pan over high heat, then add the cooking oil. Add the onions, add the ½ t salt and sauté them until almost browned.

3. When the water gets to a rolling boil, reduce heat to a low boil and add the greens. Cook uncovered for 5 minutes, then add the vinegar.

4. Continue to cook at a low boil uncovered until about half the water is gone. If you’re in a hurry, you can increase the temperature to a rolling boil, but the collards will turn out tougher.

5. When they are done, strain the collards and onions in a colander (preferably a comically large one), toss with the last 1 T salt and serve.

Kale & Mushroom Chip Fresh Lasagna (v)

2011-01-26T20:08:00.000-08:00

(made at home recently, for game night)

Ingredients:

2 # crimini mushrooms, sliced thickly
3 T cooking oil
salt & pepper TT

2 bu lacinato kale, sliced 1/2" thick
2 T cooking oil
salt & pepper TT

1 T cooking oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced
1 14oz can tomato puree (or crushed tomatoes)

2 oz nice olive oil
1 bu oregano, chopped
1 T molasses
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 14oz can San Marzano crushed tomatoes

6 sheets fresh pasta, cut into approximately 2" x 4" rectangles
1/2# ricotta cheese
3 medium balls fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Toss the mushrooms with the first 3 T oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast on a sheet pan for 30 minutes or until shriveled and crispy like little chips, but not yet burnt. Set aside.
3. Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add 1 T cooking oil, then add half of the kale, season with salt and pepper and saute for 6-7 minutes. Repeat with the rest of the kale and the next 1 T cooking oil. Set aside.

4. Heat the saute pan again over medium-high heat, add the last 1 T cooking oil, then add the onions and garlic. Saute for 6-7 minutes, then add the can of regular tomato puree (or crushed tomatoes), cut the heat and stir. Season to taste.
5. Add the San Marzano tomatoes, olive oil, molasses, vanilla and oregano. This is the sauce.
6. In a pan, alternate layers of sauce, cheese, kale and mushrooms with the little rectangles of pasta to create little individual lasagnas. Cover them all with sauce, then bake covered in the oven for 20 minutes. Serve and enjoy.

Turnip Pie (v)

2011-01-26T18:47:00.000-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Sautéing, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
3 medium-large turnips, peeled & sliced thinly (ideally, on a mandoline)

1 stick butter

2 onions, sliced ¼” thick

1 head garlic, peeled & sliced ¼” thick
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat, then add the butter. Melt, then add the onion and garlic and sauté for 10 minutes or until well-cooked and gooey.

3. Layer a baking dish with a layer of turnips, then a layer of the butter-onion mixture, a very light sprinkling of salt and pepper, then repeat until you’re out of ingredients.

4. Bake in the oven, partially covered, for 35-40 minutes or until cooked through, soft and fragrant.

5. Let set for 10 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve.

Indian Spice Chicken Sandwiches

2011-01-26T18:43:00.000-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Braising, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
2 T cooking oil
1 yellow onion, quartered and sliced 1/4" thick
1 head garlic, peeled & sliced

1 t cooking oil
5 whole chicken legs (or 10 each drumsticks/thighs), meat scored with a knife so heat can penetrate and cook it faster

2 T Sambar Masala spice blend (also from World Spice Merchants)
salt & pepper to taste

1 head green cabbage, cut bite-sized

1 T cooking oil

Salt and pepper TT

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large sauté pan, heat the first 1 T cooking oil over high heat, then add the onion and garlic and sauté 4-5 minutes. Remove to a baking dish.

3. Heat the pan again over high heat, then add the next 1 t cooking oil. Brown the chicken in the hot pan until well browned and remove to the baking dish. Combine with the onion and garlic, season with salt, pepper and the Sambar Masala, and braise in the oven for 40 minutes.

4. Heat the pan again over medium-high heat. Add the last 1 T cooking oil, then add the cabbage and sauté for 6-7 minutes or until lightly browned.

5. When the chicken's done, let it cool for a little bit so you don't kill yourself doing the following:
6. Pull the meat off the bones (the bones can still be used for stock), toss with the cabbage, and use the mixture to fill sandwiches or wraps.

Delicious Stuffed Delicatas (V)

2011-01-26T18:40:00.000-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Roasting, sautéing, balancing flavors

Ingredients:

5 delicata squash, cut into quarters & seeds removed

1 T olive oil

Salt & pepper TT

Stems of 1 bu red chard, sliced ¼” thick

½ head garlic, cloves peeled & minced

1 T cooking oil

Salt & pepper TT

3 cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed well

¼ can Joya tahini

2 lemons, juiced

1 bu parsley, minced

Salt & pepper TT

2 T sumac

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Coat the squash in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper, and roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until browned and tender.

3. Heat the large sauté pan over high heat, then add the 1 T cooking oil. Add the chard stems and cook for 3-4 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium, add the garlic and cook 4-5 minutes more. Put in a large bowl.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients, combine and season with salt and pepper. Stuff in the squash quarters, top with the sumac and serve.

Chimichurri Roast Potato Salad with Winter Veggies (V)

2011-01-26T18:37:00.001-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Knife skills, roasting, sautéing, blanching, balancing flavors

Ingredients:

4 # Yukon gold potatoes, diced large (3/4” on each side)

3 T cooking oil

Salt & pepper TT

1 bu chard, stems removed (give stems to the squash group!) and cut roughly bite-sized

1 T cooking oil

Salt & pepper TT

1 ½ # Brussels sprouts, sliced ¼” thick

2 T cooking oil

Salt & pepper TT

1 ¼ # green beans, trimmed and cut bite-sized

[ Big pot of salted water]

1 head cauliflower, cut bite-sized

1 lemon, juiced

2 heirloom navel oranges, juiced

1 T chimichurri spice blend (from World Spice Merchants)

Salt & pepper TT (if needed)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bring the salted water to a boil.

2. Toss the potatoes with the first 3 T cooking oil, salt & pepper. Roast in the oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside when done.

3. Toss the chard with the next 1 T cooking oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until roasted slightly crispy. Set aside.

4. Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add the next 2 T cooking oil. Add the Brussels sprouts and begin to caramelize for 10-12 minutes, or until browned and tender.

5. Blanch (boil quickly) the green beans for 3 minutes, then remove, drain and cool on a sheet pan.

6. Combine all ingredients, season to taste and serve.

Indian Spice Chicken Sandwiches

2010-12-22T19:20:00.000-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Braising, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
1 T cooking oil
1 yellow onion, quartered and sliced 1/4" thick
1 head garlic, peeled & sliced

1 t cooking oil
5 whole chicken legs (or 10 each drumsticks/thighs), meat scored with a knife so heat can penetrate and cook it faster

1 T cooking oil
2 medium bags braising greens mix
2 # tomatoes, cored & diced large

2 T Sambar Masala spice blend (also from World Spice Merchants)
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large saute pan, heat the first 1 T cooking oil over high heat, then add the onion and garlic and saute 4-5 minutes. Remove to a baking dish.

3. Heat the pan again over high heat, then add the next 1 t cooking oil. Brown the chicken in the hot pan until well browned and remove to the baking dish.

4. Heat the pan again over medium-high heat. Add the last 1 T cooking oil, then add the braising greens for 6-7 minutes or until well-wilted.

5. Combine the onions, chicken and greens with the tomatoes, and season everything with salt, pepper and the Sambar Masala. Cover the dish and start to braise for an hour.
4. When the chicken's done, let it cool for a little bit so you don't kill yourself doing the following:
6. Pull the meat off the bones (the bones can still be used for stock), toss with the potatoes and kale, and use the mixture to fill sandwiches or wraps.

Chimichurri-Tomato Naked Casserole (V)

2010-12-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Sauteeing, baking, balancing flavors

Ingredients:

2 T cooking oil

1 ¼ # mushrooms, sliced thickly

2 T cooking oil

1 onion, sliced thinly

1 head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced thickly

2 T cooking oil

2 bu red chard, ribs removed and cut bite-sized

2/3 C water

1 bu broccoli rabe, sliced ½” thick

2 # tomatoes, cored & diced large

1 ½ # potatoes, cut into medium dice (1/2” on a side)

Salt & pepper TT (lots)

4 t Chimichurri spice blend (also from World Spice Merchants)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat, then add the first 2 T cooking oil. Add the mushrooms and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

3. Heat the large sauté pan again over high heat, then add the next 2 T cooking oil. Add the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes, then add the garlic and cook 3-4 minutes more. Set aside.

4. Heat the large sauté pan again over medium-high heat, then add the last 2 T cooking oil.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the mushrooms, onion & garlic, and chard with all the remaining ingredients. Season with salt, pepper and Chimichurri spice blend. Transfer to a baking dish, cover and bake in the oven for 45 minutes, then serve.

French Fall Vegetable Salad (V)

2010-12-22T19:02:00.000-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Knife skills, sautéing/caramelizing, roasting, balancing flavors

Ingredients:

1 ½ # tomatoes, diced large (I know they aren’t seasonal, but they were cheap and available when I went shopping)

2/3 C red wine vinegar

Salt & pepper TT

2 T cooking oil

1 # yellow potatoes, diced large (3/4” on a side)

1 t Melange Classique spice blend (from World Spice Merchants)

salt & pepper TT

1 t cooking oil

2 acorn squash, sliced 1” thick and seeds/insides removed

salt & pepper TT

2 T cooking oil

1 ¾” Brussels Sprouts, sliced ¼” thick

1 T cooking oil

2 bags braising greens mix

3 T olive oil

2 cara cara oranges, juiced

1 lemon, juiced

4 t Melange Classique spice blend

salt & pepper TT

2 avocados, medium-diced

Instructions:

1. Toss the tomatoes with the red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and set aside until the end.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Toss the potatoes with the first 2 T cooking oil, salt & pepper. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside when done.

3. Meanwhile, coat the acorn rings in the next 1 t cooking oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned and soft. When done, remove the peel and cut into large cubes, then set aside.

4. Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add the next 2 T cooking oil. Add the Brussels sprouts and begin to caramelize for 10-12 minutes, or until browned and tender.

5. Heat the sauté pan again over medium-high heat, Add the last of the cooking oil, then add the braising mix and briefly brown for 5-6 minutes.

6. Combine all ingredients (remove the tomatoes from their marinade) except the avocados, then add the avocados at the end so they don’t get too mashed up.

Uber Thanksgiving Veggies (V)

2010-11-30T20:06:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:
2 acorn squash, cut into 1" thick rings and insides cleaned out
1 t olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

4 carrots, cut uniform & bite-sized
1 t olive oil
salt & pepper to taste

2 T cooking oil
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 bu kale, ribs removed & cut bite-sized
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 C water

1/2 C pumpkin seeds
1 lemon, juiced

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Rub the acorn squash with the first 1 t olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes or until well-browned and tender. Set aside.
3. Toss the carrots with the last of the olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 10 minutes. Set aside in a large bowl.
4. Reduce the oven to 325 degrees.
5. Remove the peel from the squash and cut into large chunks. Add to the carrots in the bowl.
6. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add the 2 T cooking oil. Heat up the oil, then add the onion and cook 2-3 minutes. Then add the kale & season with salt & pepper. Cook another 7-8 minutes, add the 1/2 C water and cook the water down.
7. Roast the pumpkin seeds in the oven for 5-7 minutes or until browned.
8. Add the lemon juice, combine with everything and serve.

Delicious Braised Turkey Legs

2010-11-30T19:50:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:
1 T cooking oil
2 turkey legs, scored (cut some slits in the meat down to the bone)
2 turkey thighs, scored
4 shallots, peeled and quartered
1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled and cut in half
4 stalks celery, peeled & cut bite-sized
salt & pepper to taste
2/3 C water

1 lemon, juiced

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add the oil. Brown the turkey legs in batches; don't overcrowd the pan. When all the turkey is well-browned, move it to a deep baking dish.
3. Heat the saute pan again over high heat and add more cooking oil if there isn't some left. Add the shallots, garlic and celery and brown them for 3-4 minutes. Be careful not to burn the bottom of the pan if you can help it, because you'll be deglazing it later. Add the vegetables to the turkey in the baking dish, season with salt and pepper and stir.
4. Heat the saute pan over low heat, add the 2/3 C water and scrape the brown goodness off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add the flavored water to the baking dish.
5. Cover the dish and braise for 1 1/2 hours or until the meat falls off the bone. Pull the meat off the bones, combine with the veggies, add the lemon juice, taste for seasoning and serve.

Cauliflower-Kale Pasta with Sausage

2010-11-30T19:18:00.000-08:00

This one is for those with some confidence, since you'll be sauteeing two things at a time. Which also means it's lots of fun to cook. Shawni and I made this up together and we had this locked down no problem, of course. :)

Ingredients:

1 T cooking oil
4 precooked sausages, sliced in half lengthwise and cut 1/2" thick

2 T cooking oil
1 yellow onion, medium diced (1/2" on a side)
1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced
1 bu kale ribs removed & cut bite-sized
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 C water

2 C walnuts, chopped coarsely

1 lb. fresh pasta (linguine or fettuccine would work well)

1 lemon, juiced.

Instructions: (read these through a couple of times before you start)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Start a large pot of salted (ocean salty) water boiling over high heat. Start two large saute pans heating over hight heat and add 1 T cooking oil to one pan and 2 T to the other. To the pan with 1 T oil, add the sausage; to the other, add the cauliflower.
3. Brown the sausage and the cauliflower each for about 5 minutes. Remove the sausage and set aside. Reduce the cauliflower's heat to medium-low and cook for another 5 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper. Set aside.
4. If both saute pans are unburned (no black stuff on the bottom, just brown stuff), deglaze one and add to the sausage or cauliflower (doesn't matter). Heat the other one (or the unburned one, if one got scorched) over medium-high heat and add the last 2 T cooking oil. Add the onion and cook 3- minutes, then add the garlic and kale, and season with salt & pepper. Cook another 7-8 minutes, add 1/2 C water and cook until the water is cooked out.
5. Roast the walnuts for 5-7 minutes or until browned & aromatic.
6. Cook the pasta in the boiling water according to the package, drain and combine with all the other & remaining ingredients. Taste for seasoning & serve.

Black Pepper Cranberries (v)

2010-11-30T18:43:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:
1 T butter
1 bag fresh cranberries

1/2 C water
1 T raw sugar
small pinch kosher salt
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

1/2 t vanilla extract
1 T butter

Instructions:
1. Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the first 1 T butter and melt it, then add the cranberries.
2. Cook the cranberries for 10 minutes or until well broken down, stirring occasionally. Then add the water, sugar, salt & pepper and cook for 5 minutes more.
3. Stir in the vanilla and the last of the butter. Taste, add more sugar if needed. Serve in a tart, over ice cream or over a pastry.

Braised Chicken, Kale and Potato Sandwiches

2010-11-30T18:27:00.000-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Braising, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
1/2 t oil
1 yellow onion, quartered and sliced 1/4" thick
1/2 head garlic, peeled & sliced
4 whole chicken legs (or 8 each drumsticks/thighs), meat scored with a knife so heat can penetrate and cook it faster
2 Yukon gold potatoes, cut into small dice (1/4” on a side)
1 bu lacinato kale (also called "dinosaur" kale because of its cool bumpy texture), cut into ½: slices

½ C water
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat, then add the onion and garlic and saute 5-6 minutes. Remove to a baking dish and heat the pan again, over high heat.
3. Brown the chicken in the hot pan until well browned and remove to the baking dish. Add the onions, potatoes and kale, and season everything with salt and pepper. Cover the dish and start to braise for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes.
4. When the chicken's done, let it cool for a little bit so you don't kill yourself doing the following:
6. Pull the meat off the bones (the bones can still be used for stock), toss with the potatoes and kale, and use the mixture to fill sandwiches or wraps.

Broccoli Madness Naked Casserole (V)

2010-11-30T18:24:00.000-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Sauteeing, baking, balancing flavors

Ingredients:

2 T cooking oil

1 onion, sliced thinly

½ head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced thickly

5 broccoli crowns, quartered and sliced ½” thick

4 Yukon gold potatoes, cut into medium dice (1/2” on a side)

5 carrots, cut into half moons ¼” thick

4 T olive oil

½ C water

Salt & pepper TT (lots)

1 T besar spice blend

2 lemons, juiced

½ bu parsley, chopped fine

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat, then add the 2 T cooking oil. Add the onions and cook for 3-4 minutes, then add the garlic and cook 3-4 minutes more. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the onions and garlic with all the remaining ingredients except the lemon juice and parsley. Season with salt, pepper and besar spice blend. Transfer to a baking dish, add the water, cover and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

4. Top with the lemon juice and parsley and serve.

Note: You can get besar spice blend in Seattle at World Spice Merchants.

Green Bean, Caramelized Onion & Apple Salad (V)

2010-11-30T18:13:00.000-08:00

Cooking skills focus: Knife skills, sauteeing, blanching, balancing flavors

Ingredients:

2 T cooking oil

2 yellow onions, sliced thinly

1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced thickly

salt & pepper TT

½ C water

1 1/2 # green beans, trimmed and cut into 2” pieces

3 carrots, trimmed & cut into half moons ¼” thick

1 head romesco cauliflower (a.k.a. broccoflower), diced ½” on a side

2 Fuji apples, cut into large dice (1/2” on a side)

3 T olive oil

1 lemon, juiced

salt & pepper TT

Instructions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. The water should taste salty like the ocean.

2. Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add the 2 T cooking oil. Add the onions and saute on high heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic. Drop the heat to low and season with salt and pepper. Cook over low, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Add the ½ C water and cook another 10 minutes. The onions and garlic should be dark and gooey. Set them aside.

3. When the water’s boiling, drop the green beans in and get ready to pull them out again after 2 minutes. Spread them on a sheet pan to dry and cool.

4. Combine all remaining ingredients.

Berbere Broccoflower & Mushroom Chips (V)

2010-11-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
2/3 lb. crimini mushrooms, sliced about 1/4" thick
3 T cooking oil
salt & pepper TT

1 T cooking oil
1/2 red onion, diced small
1 head broccoflower, core removed and cut about 1/2" on a side
salt & pepper TT
1 lemon, juiced
1 t berbere spice blend, or more TT

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Toss the mushrooms with the first 3 T cooking oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 20 minutes or until well-browned and crispy. When they dry, they should be like thick chips in texture.
3. While the mushrooms are roasting, heat a large saute pan over high heat and add the last of the cooking oil. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, then drop the heat to medium-high, add the broccoflower and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 5-7 minutes more, then add the lemon juice and berbere. Add the mushroom chips. Serve as a salad by itself or as a topping for something else.

Redbor Kale & Pomegranate Salad (V)

2010-11-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
2 T cooking oil
1/2 red onion, diced
1 bu redbor kale, ribs removed and leaves cut bite-sized
salt & pepper TT

2 T cooking oil

1 pomegranate, seeds removed
1 orange, juiced

Instructions:
1. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat.
2. Add the first 2 T oil and then half of the onion. Cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the first half of the kale leaves. Cook for 7-8 minutes more, stirring occasionally and seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 cup or so water, stir, and cook until the water evaporates. Set aside and repeat with the rest of the oil, onion and kale. Allow to cool slightly and then add the pomegranate seeds and orange juice. Serve as a salad by itself or on top of other vegetables, meat or eggs.

Togarashi Braised Chicken Sandwich

2010-11-03T16:02:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
1 T cooking oil
6 chicken thighs or drumsticks

1/2 red onion, julienned
1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled and thickly sliced
1 bunch rainbow card, ribs and stems removed and leaves cut bite-sized

1/2 grapefruit, juiced
2 t togarashi shichimi powder (Japanese 7-spice), or to taste
1 t soy sauce, or to taste

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add the oil when the pan is hot, then add the chicken and brown well. Remove to a small baking dish.
3. Heat the same pan again over medium-high heat, then add the onions. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then add the garlic and chard. Cook for 7 minutes more, then mix in with the chicken.
4. Cover the baking dish and braise the chicken and veggies for one hour. Pull the meat off the bones when they're cool enough to handle, then add the remaining ingredients and taste for seasoning. Make some sandwiches with this filling and some shredded carrots. Delicious!

Roasted Eggplant Soup (V)

2010-10-22T15:40:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!!

Cooking skills focus: Knife skills, roasting, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
1 onion, cut into large rough chunks
1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled
1 T cooking oil
salt and pepper TT

3 eggplants, cut into large dice (3/4" on a side)
1 onion, cut into large dice
1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled
3 T olive oil
salt and pepper TT

5 C water
(available vegetable trimmings)
1/2# tomatoes, cut into large rough chunks

1 Fuji apple, diced roughly
1 1/2# roma tomatoes, diced roughly
3 T olive oil

3/4# baby red potatoes, cut in quarters
2 T Harissa powder
salt and pepper TT

1/3 bu parsley, chopped finely
1 grapefruit, juiced

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Toss together the first onion, the first 1/2 head of garlic cloves, the 1 T cooking oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, then set aside.
3. Meanwhile, toss together the eggplants, second onion and 1/2 head garlic with the 3 T olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes, then set aside.
4. While that's roasting, start simmering the water in a large pot over medium heat. Add the tomatoes, vegetable trimmings, and roasted onion and garlic and bring to a low boil over medium-high heat for 30 minutes. Strain when done.
5. In a food processor, puree the eggplant with the onion and garlic, and the Fuji apple, tomatoes and last 3 T olive oil. Thin out with stock if necessary. Add to the strained stock, then add the potatoes. Season the soup to taste with harissa powder, salt and pepper at this point. Bring to a low boil over medium-high heat and cook until the potatoes are done. Add the grapefruit juice and parsley and taste for seasoning again. Serve.

Broccoflower Potato Salad (V, if you don't add the sausage)

2010-10-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry to say it like this, but if you can't have fun with this vegetable, I feel deeply sad for you.

Cooking skills focus: Roasting, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
1 1/2# baby red potatoes, cut in half
2 T olive oil
salt and pepper TT

2 T olive oil
1 # crimini mushrooms, sliced in half and thickly sliced
salt and pepper TT

4 sausages, cut or pulled into chunks 1/2" inch on a side

2 t maple syrup
3 T olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
1/3 C water
1/2 bu parsley, chopped finely.
salt and pepper TT
1 T Togarashi spice blend

2 heads broccoflower, diced small (1/4" on a side)
1 Fuji apple, diced medium (1/2" on a side)

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Toss the potatoes with the first 2 T olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 35 minutes or until golden. Set aside.
3. Meanwhile, toss the mushrooms with the second 2 T olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until brown and slightly crispy. Set aside.
4. Roast the sausage in the oven for 20 minutes or until well browned. Set aside
5. Whisk together the maple syrup, olive oil, lemon juice, water, salt and pepper, Togarashi and parsley.
6. Toss the dressing over the broccoflower and apple in a large bowl. Add the mushrooms and potatoes, toss and serve with the sausage as an optional topping.

Tomato & Fennel Braised Chicken Sandwich

2010-10-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

Eat them before they eat our babies!!!

Cooking skills focus: Sauteeing, braising, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
2 T cooking oil
8 chicken thighs, scored
salt and pepper TT

1 # roma tomatoes, cored & diced large (3/4" on a side)
1 bulb fennel, cored, outside peeled and sliced thinly

2 T cooking oil
1 onion, diced medium (1/2" on a side)
1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled and sliced
salt and pepper TT
1 T Berbere spice blend, ground

2 carrots, sliced thinly into coins
1/2 bu parsley, chopped finely

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add the chicken thighs in batches and brown well. Remove to a baking dish and set aside. Keep the saute pan out.
3. Heat the saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the tomatoes and fennel and saute for 5 minutes. Add to the baking dish with the chicken.
4. Heat the saute pan over high heat and add the next 2 T cooking oil. Add the onion and saute 3 minutes, then add the garlic and saute 5 minutes more. Add to the baking dish and mix everything together with the Berbere spice blend.
5. Braise covered for 45 minutes. Carefully pull out all the chicken bones and cartilage when done.
6. Stir in the carrots and parsley, and stuff into bread for sandwiches.

Near-Broccoli Naked Casserole (V)

2010-10-22T15:31:00.000-07:00

You'll be cooking with broccoflower (above) and broccoli rabe, but not broccoli.

Cooking skills focus: Knife skills, sauteeing, roasting, baking, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
2 T cooking oil
1 onion, julienned
1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced
salt & pepper TT

1 1/2 # roma tomatoes, cored & diced large (3/4" on a side)
2 T olive oil
salt & pepper TT

2 T cooking oil
2/3 # chanterelle mushrooms, quickly rinsed & dried, then diced small (1/4" on a side)
salt & pepper TT

1 head broccoflower, diced medium (1/2" on a side)
1 bunch broccoli rabe, 1/2" inch trimmed off the end and sliced 1/2" thick
3 T olive oil
salt & pepper TT
1 T Adobo spice blend, ground
1 lemon, juiced

2 C couscous
1 C water
salt & pepper TT

2 cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed well

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add the 2 T cooking oil. Add the onion and saute on high heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic. Drop the heat to medium and saute for another 5 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper. Set the onons and garlic aside. Keep the saute pan out.
3. Toss the tomatoes with the 2 T olive oil in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper and transfer to a sheet pan. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Keep the bowl out.
4. Meanwhile, heat the saute pan again over high heat and add the next 2 T cooking oil. Add the mushrooms and saute for 6-8 minutes, or until browned and slightly crispy. Remove and set aside.
5. In the large bowl, combine the broccoflower, broccoli rabe, roasted tomatoes, sauteed onions and garlic, the 3 T olive oil, lemon juice, additional salt and pepper and Adobo spice blend.
6. Put the couscous in the bottom of a baking dish and add the water. Season with salt and pepper. Add the garbanzo beans, then put the vegetable layer on top of the beans.
7. Bake covered in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the couscous is fully cooked.
8. Top with the sauteed chanterelle mushrooms and serve.

Dinosaur Pasta Stir-Fry!

2010-10-06T19:47:00.000-07:00

Harness the power of the mighty dinosaurs to calm your roaring belly!

Ingredients:
2 T cooking oil
1 onion, julienned
1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced
salt and pepper to taste
3 T butter, separated into three 1 T portions
2 C mushrooms, washed & sliced
1 bu lacinato ("DINO") kale, cut chiffonade
1 red bell pepper, julienned
2 T soy sauce
1 lemon, juiced

1/2 lb dry pasta, cooked according to package instructions

Instructions:
1. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Once it's hot, add the first 2 T cooking oil, then the onion and garlic, and some salt and pepper.
2. After 7-8 minutes of sauteeing, add the first 1 T butter and the mushrooms, and saute for 5 more minutes.
3. Add the next 1 T butter, the kale and the bell pepper and saute for another 5 minutes. Turn off the heat.
4. Stir in the soy sauce, lemon juice, and the last 1 T butter and then toss with freshly cooked pasta for a ferociously delicious meal!

The Mixer Salad

2010-10-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

I made this for a mixer at a friend's house recently. I think the mixer may have evolved into a shindig at some point.

[In condensed recipe format]

2 T cooking oil
1 bu collard greens, ribs removed and cut into strips
1/2 C water
2 t soy sauce
black pepper TT

[heat a large saute pan, add the oil and saute the greens on medium-high heat for 10 minutes. then, add the soy sauce, water and pepper, stir, increase heat to a boil and boil off the water.]

2 T cooking oil
1 red onion, quartered and sliced
1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced
1/3 C water
1 t soy sauce
black pepper TT

[heat the saute pan again. add the oil and saute the onion and garlic on medium-high heat for 6 minutes. then, add the soy sauce, water and pepper, stir, increase heat to a boil and boil off the water.]

1 head cauliflower, cut bite-sized
3 carrots, cut about 1/2" on a side
1 bell pepper, cut 1/2" on a side
2 cans beans, drained
3 T olive oil
1 T truffle oil
1/2 t black pepper
1 T soy sauce

[combine all ingredients. serve now or later, hot or cold.]

8. saute/sweat

2010-09-30T16:51:00.000-07:00

(Part of The Cookbook)

You've got a saute pan, which is a shallow, wide pan with a handle. You've got the pan hot. You put a bit of oil in the pan, and the oil can withstand a lot of heat because you very wisely chose vegetable, canola, grapeseed or peanut oil. And because the oil can withstand a lot of heat, it's getting really hot without smoking yet, and that's good for the flavor of your finished dish and for your health. You've got some food items all prepped and beautifully ready in little bowls next to the hot, oiled pan.

It's an exciting time, baby. You're about to saute.

Sauteeing is a dry heat cooking method. If you don't know what that means, stop and read this first. So, you'll be browning the food items you're sauteeing. You're cooking with a lot of heat and a little fat in a container that will allow steam to evaporate, rather than accumulating to create a steaming effect, which is a wet cooking method. Properly done, sauteeing cooks vegetables while preserving some of their natural crispness. It browns and cooks meat while preserving some natural juiciness. Improperly done, it makes a soggy mess; one of the main reasons this happens is either that the pan is overcrowded or the heat is too low, usually the former.

Flipping the items in the pan every four seconds is not sauteeing. Flip or stir the food every once in a while to make sure it's cooking evenly, but you need the food in contact with the pan for most of the time in order for it to cook properly.

Here are some great recipes for practicing sauteeing:

Chorizo, Apple & Kale Sandwich

Summer Afternoon Sandwich (V)

Pav Bhaji (V)

Caramelized Spring Onion Fried Eggs (v)

Cucumber & Sausage Green Salad

Roast Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches with Fresh Apple-Corn Relish

Lamb Heart Salad

Teresa's Delicious Wraps

Sauteed Asparagus with Walnuts & Lemons (V)

Sauteed Duck Breast with Pomegranate Seeds & Walnuts

Tuna & Broccoli Salad

Fall Lamb Salad

Apple & Kale Bread Salad (V)

Corn & Spiced Pork Tacos

Sweating is not sauteeing, but I included it here because it's a very similar process. Sweating is more of a wet cooking method than dry: it's basically low-heat sauteeing where it's OK to overcrowd the pan, since you want to encourage the steam from the food items to cook the other items around them. It's useful if you don't want to brown your food, or if you want to cook it gently.

Stir-frying is the opposite.. it's very high heat sauteeing, where you have to move the food around in the wok or pan quickly so it doesn't burn. It's fun! And healthy, because generally, the longer you cook something, the less nutritious it becomes (especially vegetables).

4. knife skills

2010-09-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

(Part of The Cookbook)

An important revelation for me was that every knife cut you make in the prep phase affects the cooking phase. How could it be otherwise? The smaller the item you're cooking, the less time it takes to cook. Not just that, but the shape you cut things into affects their cooking, too. A carrot that's cut into long and flat planks will cook faster than the same-size carrot cut into cubes, because there's more surface area in the first shape to absorb heat. This is probably obvious to you, but I'm a bonehead sometimes.

So, by paying attention to the size of things I was cutting, I became a better cook. If you're cutting carrots, try to get them the same size and shape, and they will be ready at the same time. If you're cooking multiple things together (like you usually will), cut them so they'll be ready at the same time.

Cook this recipe a few times and you'll understand what I mean really well: Red Cabbage & Cashew Slaw, Stuffed Collard Greens and Red Quinoa with Caramelized Fennel

It's important to hold a knife correctly, but what you do with your other hand (your "guiding hand") is even more important. You must learn to use "the claw." You hold the item you're cutting, but you tuck your fingertips under your knuckles and you tuck your thumb behind your fingers. This feels really awkward at first, but it pays off, because if you keep your guiding hand in this position, it's nearly impossible to cut yourself. Eventually, you will develop a sense of your thumb or fingertips being in danger if you slip out of the claw position.

If you want lots of practice cutting things, buy a bag of potatoes. Practice your hand position and also practice dicing at the same time: Cut a flat bottom and rest the potato on it, then cut 1/2 inch wide planks, take the planks and cut them into 1/2 inch wide batons, then take the batons and cut them into 1/2 inch wide cubes. There, you just medium-diced a potato (small-dice is 1/4 inch on a side, and large-dice is 3/4 inch on a side). Repeat until you're out of potatoes, then make a bunch of mashed potatoes.

I hope you like mashed potatoes!

3. understand prep vs. production

2010-09-30T12:58:00.000-07:00

(Part of The Cookbook)

In nearly every recipe, there's a crucial point to observe: The time it's OK to take a break. This magic time occurs between the preparation of ingredients for cooking and the beginning of the actual cooking (a.k.a.: prep vs. production). Most recipes omit this detail. In most of my recipes on this blog, the prep work is listed in with the ingredients (e.g.: "1 head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced"), and the first step of the instructions marks the beginning of production.

The idea is that first, you wash and cut your produce, cut any meat, and get everything else physically together that you will need to make the dish. Once you've done that, you can take a little break. Or a long one. Sometimes you can prep a day or two in advance, if the quality of your ingredients won't suffer. This is what cooks do in restaurants; it's why you can get pot roast that needs to be cooked for 3 hours on your table 15 minutes after you order it, or risotto that takes 40 minutes to cook in the same 15 minutes. The pot roast was cooked already and cooled; it just needed reheating in some delicious sauce, which was also made in advance. The risotto was cooked 2/3 of the way, cooled, and finished when the cooks got your order. This is how you can make cooking at home easier. Even a short break makes the whole experience nicer for you.

So, once you've got everything in your dish washed, cut and assembled, take a rest. And do whatever you can do in advance. You'll have more fun cooking.

7. understand wet vs. dry cooking

2010-09-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

(Part of The Cookbook)

With one exception, you don't create flavors when you make a dish. What you do is simply arrange foods and seasonings together so they complement each other and taste good, but the flavors in those foods are created by nature. I know you're with me so far.

The one thing you can do in the kitchen to add flavor is to brown a food item with heat. Browning changes the way a food tastes drastically. Think about the flavor of mushrooms simmered to doneness in a soup compared to mushrooms roasted crispy in a hot oven. Browning makes such a difference that it splits the whole world of cooking methods into three categories: wet cooking where no browning occurs, dry cooking where browning does occur, and combination cooking methods, where both wet and dry cooking takes place.

Wet cooking involves water somehow. Since water evaporates at 212 deg. F. and browning occurs between around 300 and 360 deg. F, you'll never get browning using a wet cooking method.

By understanding the nature of the cooking method you're thinking about using, you can more accurately predict what your result will be.

Wet cooking methods:
Boiling/simmering/poaching - immersion in hot, water-based liquid of varying temperature ranges
Steaming - contact with steam from some source of boiling water

Dry cooking methods:
Sauteeing - high heat, a little bit of fat in a shallow pan
Frying - high heat immersion in fat
Roasting/Broiling - contact with hot air (roasting) or proximity to a nearby object that radiates heat (broiling)
Baking - contact with hot air
Grilling - contact with heated metal and proximity to a nearby heat source

Combination cooking methods:
Braising/stewing - browning of large items (braising) or small items (stewing), then immersion in water-based liquid

For examples, you can find a list of recipes grouped by the above cooking methods here (scroll down to the "Browse by cooking method" section).

Why do I keep using the weird term "water-based liquid?" Well, oil's a liquid too, but it has nothing to do with wet cooking because it's not water.

There's another method that doesn't quite fit in the above categories. Sweating is low-heat sauteeing, and as a result, it doesn't brown food very much. It actually creates a steaming effect by gently bringing out the water in foods as steam. So, it's a kind of weird method. I like it, though. It's gentle and subtle.

In most cases, I think browning an item to develop flavors is a good idea and I do it a lot, even if I'm just going to add it to a soup later. If you put a little color on your onions by sauteeing them for a couple of minutes and then add them to your simmering stock, they'll add both the basic onion flavor and the rich, mellow, complex flavor of browned onion.

Given the choice of getting more or less flavor from something you paid for, which would you choose?

2. shop for meat

2010-09-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

(Part of The Cookbook)

Caution: politics ahead.

Try to find a butcher shop you feel good buying meat from. You should be able to tell the butchers what you're planning to cook and have them recommend the right cut of meat and tell you the best way to cook it. (We'll go over cooking methods for meat later.) If there isn't one near you, go ahead and go to the supermarket for your meat. Wherever you go, do not purchase meat from factory farms. This is harder to do if you go to the supermarket, but it's possible if you're familiar with a few large-scale producers that are also sustainable. Chicken from Draper Valley Farms in Oregon and Washington is a great example. You should be able to get a little information about where your meat is coming from. At a good butcher, the name of the farm the meat came from will be right on the price tag. Or, you should be able to ask the butcher.

But most of the meat you'll find in the supermarket is garbage, the product of over-subsidized, over-produced commodity crops like corn, and the practices of huge agricultural corporations focused on making money at the expense of their products' nutritional value and their customers' health. Sustainabletable.org put together a great list of reasons to buy meat produced in a sustainable manner, here: http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/ The list is even alphabetized.

You'll notice that "happy" meat looks healthier and smells better even before you cook it. It tastes better. That's because sustainable producers don't cut the corners that large conventional factory farms cut in order to drive their prices down. You'll also quickly notice that the meat is more expensive. Yep, that's what it costs to produce meat that isn't full of growth hormones and antibiotics, and packed into stacked cages or feedlots with such concentrations that their waste becomes impossible to contain. Remember the egg recall? The source of the salmonella was likely rodents getting into the chicken feed and pooping there. I remember an industry spokesperson defending their practice by saying something like, "You could have the same problem with pests whether you have an operation with a hundred or a million chickens." But which pest problem is easier to clean up? The sheer scale of such huge operations makes it nearly impossible to keep them clean and their products healthy for consumption. They do things to compensate, like feeding the animals antibiotics, washing their meat in chlorine baths or treating it with ammonia before you buy it, but those things aren't good for people, either.

Are they evil? I say no. They're responding to the public demand for lots of cheap meat. They're just selling us what they think we want so they can make money. I believe that the public demand needs an adjustment so it's more in line with our health needs.

So, good meat's expensive, but if you eat less of it, you can easily afford it. Most American diets are really meat-heavy. If you do eat a lot of meat now, a good way to wean yourself off it a bit is to try cooking with smaller amounts of nicer meat and notice the difference in the way the food tastes and the way you feel afterwards. Your palate and your body cannot lie to you. Pay attention to them and you'll be rewarded.

And, we're off the soapbox now. Thanks for your patience.

Oh, what cuts of meat should you buy? Mostly things you can braise. They're cheap and really flavorful.

14. braise/stew

2010-09-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

(Part of The Cookbook)

(I will put things here soon. Good things)

0. have some basic ingredients on hand

2010-09-26T23:19:00.000-07:00

(Part of The Cookbook)

Some things last for a recipe, like meats and produce. And some things last for several recipes, like these:

salt (kosher is best)
pepper (nice, freshly ground pepper makes a big difference in flavor)
high-heat cooking oil, like canola oil, vegetable oil, grapeseed oil or peanut oil
vinegar or extra lemons
unsalted butter
olive oil

I would say that if you're just getting started cooking from scratch, you need at least these things. You may think that it's a short list and if you think that, you're right. You use mostly fresh ingredients when you cook from scratch.

-1. have some basic equipment

2010-09-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

(Part of The Cookbook)

You need tools for any job. You need cooking tools for cooking jobs, and I think you should have at least these tools:

a chef's knife
a bread knife
a smaller knife that you like

a cutting board

a medium saucepan (2-3 qts)
a medium saute pan (around 8-10 inches)
a large pot (around 2 gallons)
a large wire mesh strainer
a couple spoons, one slotted
a rubber spatula
a baking dish (preferably with a cover)
a sheet pan or two
2-3 mixing bowls, at least one large
a whisk
a pair of metal tongs

I won't insult you by telling you to get things as basic as dinnerware, flatware & can openers, because you wouldn't try to open a can with a knife anyway. Messy. Blood and crying.

1. shop for produce

2010-09-25T18:50:00.000-07:00

(Part of The Cookbook)

I believe that one of the most important steps in cooking from scratch is selecting seasonal and affordable produce. If you do that first and then buy other things to complement the produce, it's pretty easy to cook without using a recipe.

So, I go to the produce stand first. Produce is a bigger variable than meat (more seasonal), and I like to cook food with a lot of veggies and a little or no meat, so once I get the produce together, I'll know what other things to get. I look first in the "#2" or slightly blemished produce bins, which exist at (I think) all the produce stands in the Pike Place Market, and many stands at neighborhood farmer's markets, too. The availability of these cosmetically damaged but still very nutritious and cheap items is even more of a variable than the rest of the produce. So, by starting there and building around those first selected items, you're maximizing your food dollars already. Some places sell pre-packaged bags of slightly blemished produce instead of keeping them in bins.

Still at the produce stand, after getting everything I can from the "#2" bins, I continue by selecting things that I like and that are in season. Ask someone if you don't know what's in season, but sometimes I can tell just by looking closely at everything and noticing which fruits and veggies almost appear to be glowing, their colors are so happy and vibrant. When I think I have about enough produce, I start physically grouping items together into clusters. If I think or know that things will taste good together, I put them together. Then I start thinking in terms of the types of dishes I like to make (salads, sandwiches, naked casseroles, soups, etc.), and I see which clusters of produce might fit those categories. I grab anything else I need to complete the recipes, which are at that point created in terms of what I know I will be cooking together.

Then I just go and get whatever else I need in terms of bread, grains, or whatever else I need to make the recipes I decided on at the produce stand. I write the details of the recipes later, which I will admit was a pain in the butt for me to start doing, but I'm glad I made myself do it because I'm able to share my recipes now. So, the next time you come up with something new, consider writing it down. I'd like to see it!

That's my process. If you've ever seen me stand for long periods of time at the produce stand with a vacant look on my face, now you know why.

If you want information on seasonal produce before you go to the farmer's market, here's an awesome site for that: http://seasonalcornucopia.com/sc/default.asp

September CK Digest

2010-09-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow eaters!

Thanks to those who came out to the Senior Center Thursday night. I had a great time cooking with you! It was a lovely group, filling the kitchen with lots of fun and energy. The recipes are attached*, so if you couldn't make it, you should try them at home. Let me know how they work for you, or if you come up with a variation on one.

We made some delicious food. I like these recipes, although I was planning to go with a different theme until a couple days before the community kitchen. My original plan was to research the cuisines of a few different countries, select a few traditional dishes that I thought would use a reasonable amount of in-season produce, and cook those recipes. We'll probably do that next month, and I think that'll be a nice change from the usual completely new and sometimes unusual combinations.

But I didn't do that research! Failed! So what to do? I just went with my normal process for writing recipes for the CKs. We actually talked about it at the Thursday CK as we ate our salad, but I'd like to repeat it here:

First, I go to the produce stand. I go there first because produce is a bigger variable than meat (more seasonal) and because I like to cook food with a lot of veggies and a little or no meat, so once I get the produce together, I'll know exactly what meat to get. I look first in the "#2" or slightly blemished produce bins, which exist at (I think) all the produce stands in the Pike Place Market, and many stands at neighborhood farmer's markets, too. The availability of these cosmetically damaged but still very nutritious and cheap items is even more of a variable than the rest of the produce. So, by starting there and building around those first selected items, you're maximizing your food dollars already. Some places sell pre-packaged bags of slightly blemished produce instead of keeping them in bins.

That's my process. If you've ever seen me stand for long periods of time at the produce stand with a vacant look on my face, now you know why.

cheers!

-ryan

*The recipes were:

Chorizo, apple & kale sandwich

Togarashi Naked Casserole

Crazy Vegetable Salad

Harissa-spiked chicken & corn stew with pineapple

Black Pepper Pineapple

Chorizo, Apple & Kale Sandwich

2010-09-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

From the September Pike Market Community Kitchen at the Pike Market Senior Center.

Cooking skills focus: Sauteeing, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
1 t cooking oil
6 chorizo sausages (Spanish style, fresh, not cured), sliced 1/2" thick
1 T cooking oil (if needed, see below)
2 bu kale, ribs removed & cut bite-sized
1 head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced
salt & pepper TT
1 lemon, juiced
3 apples, diced medium (1/2" or so on a side)

Instructions:
1. Heat a large saute pan over high heat. When you can see some wavy smoke lines coming from the pan, add the 1 t oil. Allow it to heat up for a few seconds, coating the pan, and get ready to add the chorizo.
2. Add the chorizo and brown well. reduce heat to medium-high and cook through. Remove and set aside. Heat the pan again over medium-high heat.
3. You will be adding the kale in batches since the pan won't hold all of it at once without being really overcrowded. Before the first batch, if there isn't enough combined oil and fat rendered off the chorizo to coat the bottom of the pan with a decent layer, add up to 1 T cooking oil.
4. Add the kale and garlic in batches, season with salt and pepper and stir gently, cooking each batch for 6-8 minutes or until the kale is well-wilted. When everything's cooked, mix it on a bowl with the chorizo and add the lemon juice. Taste it and season it with salt and pepper if it needs it. Add the apple.
5. Stuff it in a sliced, toasted baguette and eat it!

Taste how the sweetness of the apple complements the spiciness of the chorizo, the tartness of the lemon contrasted with the savory depth of the onion, garlic and kale, and how the textures create a variety of mingled sensations on your mouth. Great job!

Togarashi Naked Casserole (vegan)

2010-09-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

From the September Pike Market Community Kitchen at the Pike Market Senior Center

Cooking skills focus: Knife skills, sauteeing, baking

Ingredients:
2 T cooking oil
1 # crimini mushrooms, quartered
1 yellow onion, cut in half and sliced 1/4" thick
1 head garlic, cloved peeled & sliced 1/4" thick
4 Yukon gold potatoes, diced 1/2" on a side
1 head cauliflower, cut about 3/4" on a side
1 bu broccoli rabe, bottom 1/4" trimmed and sliced 1/2" thick all the way up
2 T olive oil
salt & pepper TT (about 2 t salt and 1/2 t pepper)
1 T & 1 t togarashi shichimi (Japanese seven spice)
1 lemon, juiced

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat a large saute pan over medium-hgh heat. When you can see some wavy smoke lines coming from the pan, add the 2 T oil. Allow the oil to heat up for a few seconds, coating the pan, then add the mushrooms.
3. Brown the mushrooms for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the onion and garlic. Saute for 4-5 minutes more. Transfer to a very large bowl.
4. Add all of the remaining ingredients except the lemon juice. Toss gently until well-mixed. Transfer to a baking dish, cover and bake for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the potatoes are done. Sprinkle with the lemon juice. Taste and add more seasoning if desired.

Doesn't that taste healthy and also delicious? Healthy doesn't have to taste like rabbit food, no no no. You can do this with any combination of vegetables; just make sure everything's seasoned and all the pieces are cut so they'll cook at around the same time.

Crazy Vegetable Salad (vegan)

2010-09-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

From the September Pike Market Community Kitchen at the Pike Market Senior Center.

Cooking skills focus: Knife skills, roasting, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
4-5 yellow squash, cut bite-sized
1 yellow onion, cut in half and sliced thinly
2 C vinegar (white/red wine, rice, apple cider, or even distilled white will do)
2 C water
2 t salt
1 t pepper

1 # crimini mushrooms, cut in half and then sliced thickly
2 T cooking oil
salt & pepper TT (about 1 t salt & 1/2 t pepper)

2 bu spinach, trimmed & cut bite-sized
1 bu radishes, trimmed & sliced thinly
3 avocadoes, diced
2 cans of beans, drained & rinsed
1 lemon, juiced
2 T olive oil
salt & pepper TT

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Marinate the squash and onion: divide the vinegar, water, salt & pepper into two containers and put the squash in one and the onion in another. mix and leave to marinate for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, toss the mushrooms with the 2 T cooking oil, salt & pepper, and transfer to a sheet pan. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes or until crispy. Set aside in a large bowl.
4. Remove the squash and onion from the marinade and add them to the mushrooms. Add all of the remaining ingredients. Season to taste and serve.

Another score for vegan goodness! This is less of a salad and more of a celebration of how nicely a variety of veggies and legumes can play together. Flavors and textures are distinctive but harmonize well.

Harissa-Spiked Chicken & Corn Stew with Pineapple

2010-09-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

From the September Pike Market Community Kitchen at the Pike Market Senior Center.

Cooking skills focus: Preparing meat for cooking, braising/stewing, balancing flavors

Ingredients:
1 qt chicken stock (homemade is strongly preferred, but sometimes you have to make do)
1 large can crushed tomatoes

1 T cooking oil
8 chicken thighs, meat cut off the bone & diced about 1/2" on a side
salt & pepper TT
1 yellow onion, diced 1/2" on a side
1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced thinly

6-7 ears corn, kernels cut off the cob
4 Yukon gold potatoes, diced 1/2" on a side
4 T harissa spice blend
salt & pepper TT (about 2-3 T salt and 1 T pepper)
water if needed (see below)

1/2 pineapple, diced about 1/2" on a side

Instructions:
1. In a large pot, heat the stock and tomatoes together to a simmer, over medium-low.
2. Heat a large saute pan over high heat. When you can see some wavy smoke lines coming from the pan, add the 1 T oil. Allow the oil to heat up for a few seconds, coating the pan, then add the chicken, season with some salt & pepper and brown well, for about 3-4 minutes on high. Be careful, especially when moving the chicken around in the pan!
3. Reduce the heat to medium-high and stir in the onion and garlic. Saute for 2-3 minutes and then add to the simmering stock & tomatoes.
4. Add the corn, potatoes and seasoning. Add a little more water if needed but keep the consistency stew-like. Cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minues to an hour, until the potatoes are done and the chicken is tender. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
5. Serve with the pineapple as a garnish in the middle of each bowl.

This recipe embodies the power of balancing flavors. You have sweet and savory playing together in a multitude of ways, given the chicken, onion and garlic as savory, the corn and tomato as sweet and savory combined, the harissa spice blend as sweet and savory also but in the form of spices, and the pineapple as sweet but also tangy, and that pineapple tangyness reaching back to the tomato's delicious acidity and connecting there. It's a complex web of flavors that's pretty easy to create.

Black Pepper Pineapple (vegan)

2010-09-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

From the September Pike Market Community Kitchen at the Pike Market Senior Center

Cooking skills focus: Balancing flavors

Ingredients:
1/2 pineapple, diced
1 tiny pinch salt
a couple good pinches of black pepper, preferably freshly ground

Instructions:
1. Toss the pineapple with the salt and black pepper, and leave to macerate (break down and exude its own syrup) for 15 minutes. Serve as-is, or over ice cream or cake.

Is this even a recipe? I almost feel silly writing it down, it's so simple.

April CK Digest

2010-08-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!

I had a great time with all of you on Thursday and I hope you enjoyed eating what you made. Here are the recipes in electronic form. When you go to make these recipes again, PLEASE feel free to modify them according to what you see available and what you'd like to play around with. Make them yours! The point of these community kitchens is to get as many people accustomed to cooking from scratch as possible, and we do that more successfully when we learn on our own through improvisation. Here are some ideas for you to start playing with:

For the soup, use whatever vegetables you see! Instead of beets and apples, try carrots and oranges, or turnips and rutabaga with grapefruit juice. The idea behind the recipe is what you want, and here the idea is to contrast the flavors of roasted and fresh vegetables with something sweet and fruity. Strawberries are really cheap right now but in my experience, they don't play well with savory flavors as in this soup recipe. Make jam with them instead, and support the strawberry farmers who have had a rough year.

For the braised chicken and veggies over rice, again use whatever veggies you find. I like greens (you may have noticed), but broccoli, celery, carrots, almost anything would work well. The idea with the braised vegetables is to build deep, rich flavors with things like onions, garlic and mushrooms, and then build fresher flavors on top of them with your green vegetables and things like bell peppers. Braising is the best way to develop flavors from inexpensive cuts of meat. Again, the definition of braising is to brown an item and then slow cook it in the presence of liquid. This brings out the best flavor and texture from things like chicken legs and thighs, as well as beef chuck, pork butt, beef and lamb shank, ribs and much more. Generally, the cheapest meats you can find at the butcher or in the meat section can be braised. It isn't quick, although tricks like scoring the meat with a knife (as we did with the chicken) allows the cooking to happen faster.

Browning, by the way, is the only way we can add flavor to things in the kitchen.. otherwise we just work with the flavors are already at the market when we buy our food.

For the salad, think outside the box. Almost any food you can buy can be turned into a salad. Just cook things, toss them together, add some acid like lemon juice or vinegar, and some oil, season everything and you have a salad. You don't even need any greens. Roasted vegetables, bits of sausage and some herbs with lemon juice can be a salad. Or rice, carrots, broccoli sauteed with garlic, finished with sesame seeds, sesame oil, soy sauce and rice wine vinegar. We made a salad dressing by deglazing our saute pan, in which we caramelized onions and garlic, with lemon juice, then whisking in some olive oil. Easy.

Thanks again guys.. I hope to see you next month, and in the meantime, have fun playing around! Please share your successes, questions and thoughts with me and the group. I am also available personally as well if you ever want to meet and talk about food; it's my passion and I can talk about it all day long.

*[PS]*

Carissa (correct spelling?), the chef at the Pike Market preschool was helping us at the very start of the last CK, and she told me that she got a lot of questions along the lines of "I have hardly any time to cook each night at home, I want to cook healthy meals from scratch but I don't know how to get them done in time! What do I do?"

This is a great question. Cooking from scratch, you can do cheap and healthy, but not really fast. Unless you plan ahead. What I told her is that if one plans meals in advance, you can bang out a great dinner in almost no time. Braise your meats in advance, then reheat them. Wash and cut your vegetables a day ahead, then throw them in a quick stir fry, finish with lime and soy sauce. Make your soup stock when you have time and then make a quick soup by throwing in meat and veggies. If you plan ahead, you'll find you have more than enough time to do cheap, healthy and fast too.

July CK Digest

2010-08-27T13:19:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday, we cooked some amazing food. Lots of new friends showed up to cook with Amy and me, and we all made dishes based around the theme for July, which was the bold use of delicious spices. All our recipes are attached, but as always, don't feel confined by them; just use them as ideas to cook whatever you do find when you go shopping.

I got some spices from my favorite spice shop, which happens to be World Spice. Shopping there is a little like going to church for me, especially when I don't know exactly what I'm going to get. I chose the following:

Tellicherry Black Peppercorns (ground medium-coarsely) - These are black peppercorns that are grown on India's Malabar coast, which is a really good place to grow them, and only the largest, ripest top 10% of peppercorns can be labeled "Tellicherry," after Mount Tellicherry on the coast. They're richer and smokier than regular black peppercorns, and I think they're worth the trouble of going to a spice shop to get. Even though OK, yes, it's not really trouble to me. The medium-coarse grind is a compromise: it won't go stale as quickly as more finely-ground pepper, but at the same time the pieces won't so big that they would be unpleasant to bite into. Grinding it fresh for each use is of course best, but getting it ground medium-coarse works pretty well.

Chimichurri Spice (ground) - Chimichurri is actually a sauce. It's a spicy, vinegary marinade for grilled meat made with oil, garlic, herbs and spices that originated in Argentina and Uruguay, so this is a dry spice blend that's inspired by the flavors in chimichurri sauce. It's got one of my favorite dried chiles in it, the Aji Mirasol chile pepper. *Drool* The name "mirasol" means "looking at the sun," and it's got a sweet, heady, floral spicy flavor. Breaking one open and smelling it feels like standing in a sun-drenched field of wildflowers where chile peppers are also growing.

Pakistani Curry Powder - There's a Madras-style curry powder with a pretty standardized flavor that's been marketed around the world for some time, and it tastes pretty good. But there are tons of unique recipes in existence for curry powders, with a wide variety of flavors. This one from Pakistan is sweeter then most of them, with a mellow kick of anise rounded out with clove, cinnamon, cumin and coriander. I thought it would go well with the eggs in the Zanzibar Egg Curry (below), and I think it totally did.

Masala Kala - Like curry powders, masalas are a family of spice blends that can vary widely. They're typically used in Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani cuisines. Garam masala is the one you usually see and smell when you pass by an Indian restaurant. Masala Kala is kind of like Garam Masala, but different in that it features flavors from Maharashtra, India's mid-western coastal state. Coconuts grow there, among other things. So this spice blend has a heightened flavor profile due to the sweetness of toasted coconut meeting the spice of guajillo chile peppers.

World Spice has its own descriptions of these spices and spice blends on its website here.

We used the Tellicherry pepper as a flavor in a Black Olive & Cashew Tapenade made with anchovies, olive oil, parsley and garlic. We learned about the importance of the pulsing technique when using the food processor (turning the processor on and off quickly several times, rather than leaving it on) to make a spread that's homogenized but still has texture. And we used the same spice in our dessert (Black Pepper Strawberries), juxtaposing the sweetness of strawberries with the smoky spice of tellicherry peppercorns.

The Chimichurri Spice flavored the braised chicken in the Chimichurri Braised Chicken & Cashew Salad, and complemented the vibrant flavors of the fresh bell peppers, lemon juice and parsley really nicely. We used the Masala Kala to flavor a blend of crushed potatoes and vegetables in a kid of tomato gravy, which gets served over a toasted bun in India as the light meal called Pav Bhaji.

And lastly, we made a curry unlike any I had ever made or seen before, a Zanzibar Egg Curry using the slightly unorthodox Pakistani Curry Powder. It also has a kind of thick tomato sauce binding together quarters of hard-boiled eggs, which we served over simple roasted potatoes. The eggs made the curry really substantial and took on the flavor of the vegetables and spices beautifully.

We made a lot of delicious food. Thank you to everyone that came, and I hope to see all of you in September. That's right, the August Pike Market Community Kitchen will be cancelled because I'm going to be out of town. But we will have a great one on September 16th.

In the meantime, if you came to the community kitchen, you went home your portion of these spices. I want you to come up with some new dishes using them; they all would go well with a wide variety of foods. If you didn't come, just go out and find a couple of interesting spices to take home. Taste them, think about their flavors and make something delicious with them. Here's the trick: write down what you're doing when you cook and make it into a recipe. I know this part is kind of pain when you're in the middle of creating, believe me. I've had a hard time getting into the habit of writing recipes, but doing so has proven very rewarding, mostly because it makes it possible to share my cooking with lots more people. I want your ideas too, so go and create, then show me what you came up with!

I'm always available for cooking questions; don't be shy.

Cheers!
-ryan

Roasted Chard Salad

2010-08-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

*Written for Clean Greens Farm & Market*

The texture of this salad is even more of a treat than the flavor, which is also excellent. Mmmmmmm!

Ingredients:
1 bunch rainbow chard, stems removed and leaves roughly torn (save for soup stock)
1 T olive oil
salt & black pepper TT
1 head red leaf lettuce, chopped bite-sized
1 C cherry tomatoes, halved
1 C Italian parsley, chopped
½ baguette, sliced 1/4" thick
Optional: 2 sausages, halved lengthwise and sliced. [Cook sausages in skillet over high heat using
approximately 1 t cooking oil for 6-8 minutes or until cooked through & well-browned.]

Dressing:
2 t soy sauce
1 lime, juiced
2-3 dashes ground cinnamon
4-5 dashes Tabasco sauce
2 T olive oil
Salt & black pepper TT

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Lightly crumple chard leaves onto baking sheet. Drizzle leaves with olive oil and mix with your hands. Add salt & pepper to taste. Chard should be left to roast for 12 minutes or until it is wilted & crispy around the edges. When done, set aside. But while it's cooking:
3. Line baguette slices on a baking pan, rubbing both sides of slices with olive oil, salt and pepper lightly. Bake until edges are browned. Once cooled to touch, use hands to break-up slices into bite-size pieces.
4. Combine chard and lettuce in large bowl with dressing, then top with baguette pieces, sausage (if used), tomato and parsley. Serve.

King Kohlrabi Garnish

2010-08-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

*Written for Clean Greens Farm & Market*

makes about 2 C of this "relish."
Ingredients:
2 kohlrabi, peeled & grated
3 carrots, grated
1 lime, juiced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp soy sauce
¾ c fresh parsley, chopped
6 dashes Tabasco
black pepper TT (there should be enough salt in the soy sauce)

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in bowl and add pepper to taste. If it needs more salt, add some more soy sauce.

That’s it! This relish adds a lovely spicy citrus note to any dish and makes really good friends with chicken + greens. As if chicken + greens were not delicious enough already.

Chicken + Greens Supper

2010-08-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

*Written for Clean Greens Farm & Market*
serves 3 as a main course or more as a small plate

Ingredients:
1/2 t cooking oil
salt & black pepper TT
6 chicken drumsticks (free-range and grain-fed whenever possible!), scored deeply with a knife for faster braising

salt & black pepper TT
1 bunch kale, chopped bite-sized
6 red potatoes, diced bite-sized
2 T olive oil
3 slicing tomatoes, cut in half & sliced 1/2" thick
½ head garlic, peeled & sliced 1/4" thick

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Season the drumsticks with salt and pepper. Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Once it's hot, add the 1/2 t oil. Add the drumsticks and brown on all sides for about 6-8 minutes. Set them aside in dish and reduce heat to medium-high. Add the kale (in batches if necessary), season with a little salt & pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes or until wilted. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Layer a baking dish from bottom in order as follows: potato, kale, chicken, tomato (embed among chicken), and garlic. Sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper. Cover and bake until chicken falls away from the bone, approximately 2 hours.

Caution: Chicken is terribly delicious. This chicken is especially terribly delicious.

Summer Vegetable Naked Casserole

2010-08-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

*Written for Clean Greens Farm & Market*

Vegetables!! Mmm-mmm. Fill your belly! So delicious and good for you!! You will feel a charge of wholesome energy after eating this and similar dishes.

serves 3-4 as a main course or more as a small plate

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C brown rice, rinsed
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 C water

1/2 head cauliflower, chopped bite-sized
2 broccoli crowns, chopped bite-sized (save the stalk for soup base!)
½ bell pepper, cut into 1/2" thick strips
3 carrots, cut into 1/2" thick coins
½ head garlic, peeled & sliced 1/4" thick
½ pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
½ red onion, sliced thinly

½ bunch thyme, rinsed & picked off the stem
1/4 C olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
plenty of salt & black pepper TT

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Cover the bottom of a casserole dish with the rice, the 1/2 t salt and the water, mixing gently to combine. Layer vegetables atop rice, preferably with cruciferous veggies (cauliflower & broccoli) at the bottom, bell pepper & carrots toward the middle, and tomato & onion on top. Season each layer with some garlic, salt & pepper as you build the casserole. If you try to season the whole thing at the end, from the top, there will not be enough seasoning and picky eaters may think to themselves, "You know what? Vegetables are bland and that's why I don't eat more of them." And we don't want that. Anyway, finish by sprinkle thyme across the surface and drizzle on the olive oil
3. Cover with foil and bake for approximately 1 ½ hours, making sure the rice on the bottom is cooked. Sprinkle the lemon juice on top, then serve hot or at room temperature. Pretty easy, right? Who said cooking from scratch was hard?

*Note: A "naked" casserole is just an assembly of delicious things baked together, as a casserole would be, but without a binding component such as eggs, flour, or cheese.

Summer Afternoon Sandwich

2010-08-23T14:27:00.000-07:00

*Written for Clean Greens Farm & Market*

makes about four little sandwiches

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil
½ medium red onion, thinly sliced
½ lb crimini mushrooms, cut in half & thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, peeled & thinly sliced
½ bell pepper, julienned (cut into thin strips)
6 sprigs thyme, rinsed & picked off the stem
1 c. cherry tomatoes, cut in half

½ lemon, juiced
½ c. parsley leaves, rinsed & coarsely chopped
salt & black pepper TT (TT=to taste*)

½ baguette, cut into 4"-5" segments and then cut in half lengthwise

Instructions:

1. Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Once hot, add the olive oil. Then add the onion and brown for one minute.
2. Add the mushrooms, tossing to combine with oil and onion. Reduce heat to medium. Cook for 6-8 minutes, until the mushrooms have cooked down and the onion is translucent.
3. Add the garlic and bell pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes, until they are just tender. Mix in the thyme and tomatoes and cook 3-4 minutes more, unti lthe tomatoes have broken down a bit. Turn off the heat. Add the lemon juice and parsley, and season with salt and pepper.
4. Allow this filling to cool slightly before assemblin the sandwiches, then serve. Enjoy with friends! mmm…

*Note: "To taste" implies that you taste your food before you serve it to make sure it's seasoned properly. If you're not already in the habit of doing this, get into the habit! It makes a big difference in your results.

Naked Vegetable Casserole with Greens and Spiced Pecans

2010-08-17T14:39:00.001-07:00

A naked casserole is a casserole-type combination of delicious things without a binding component such as eggs, cream, flour or cheese.

You know, I like cheese, eggs, milk and flour. But I also like the deliciously clean flavor of vegetables cooked together with some nice oil and a bit of seasoning. You don't have to be naked to cook this casserole, but you will be more popular if you are.

Ingredients:

2 T cooking oil
1 bu greens, washed and chopped bite-sized (any will do; I used collards)
2 shallots, peeled & sliced
1/2 head garlic, cloves peeled & sliced
salt & pepper TT

1 T olive oil
1 1/2 C pecans
1 t spice blend (I used a chimichurri spice blend from World Spice; most any spice or spice blend will do; just choose one you like)
salt & pepper TT

1/2 head cauliflower, washed & chopped bite-sized
1 crown broccoli (or enough to match the cauliflower), washed & chopped bite-sized
2 T olive oil
salt & pepper TT

1 1/3 C brown rice
1 1/3 C water
salt & pepper TT (enough to season the rice)

1 lemon, juiced
1 T truffle oil (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat and add the 2 T cooking oil. Allow the oil to heat up and then add the greens. Saute for about 5 minutes and then add the shallots and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Do this in a couple of batches if you think you're crowding the pan too much. Set aside. Wipe out the saute pan.
3. Heat the saute pan again over medium-low heat. Add the 1 T olive oil, pecans, and seasoning. Stir together and cook for 5 minutes. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cauliflower, broccoli, 2 T olive oil, salt & pepper. Toss to combine and set aside.
5. Rinse the rice and layer it in the bottom of a baking/casserole dish. Add the water and season with salt & pepper.
6. Top the rice with the broccoli and cauliflower. Top that with the greens. Top that with the spiced pecans. Top that with a cover and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the rice is done.
7. Sprinkle with the truffle oil (if using) and lemon juice. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Curried Chicken and Summer Vegetables

2010-08-11T12:37:00.000-07:00

Maria and Dan did everything. Thanks Maria and Dan!

Ingredients:

1/2 t cooking oil
6 chicken drumsticks
salt & pepper TT

1 T cooking oil
1 onion, medium diced (about 1/2" on a side)
1/2 head garlic, peeled & sliced thickly
1" ginger root, peeled & sliced thinly
3 serrano chiles, sliced [taste these and make sure you want all of them, with all their spicy seeds & membranes, in your mouth. I mean, I would. But you may not and I am not judging you. *cough* *yes I am*]
3 T curry powder (freshly ground is better)
1 13-14oz can of coconut milk
1 T soy sauce
1 lime, juiced

4 medium red potatoes, medium diced
2 summer squash (any), medium diced
1 bu green onions, sliced thinly

Instructions:

1. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the 1/2 t cooking oil, allow to heat up and swirl the pan to coat it. Add the chicken drumsticks and allow to brown well. transfer to a baking dish, cover and braise for one hour. Pull the meat from the bones when done and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, heat the large sauté pan again over high heat. Add the 1 T cooking oil, allow to heat up, then add the onion, garlic, ginger and chiles. Reduce heat to medium-high and sauté for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and mix in the curry powder. Transfer to a blender.
3. Add the coconut milk, soy sauce and lime juice, and blend until liquefied. Strain into a large saucepan.
4. Add 1/2 C water to the saucepan and add the potatoes. Taste the sauce to make sure it's salted enough because the potatoes will actually suck a bit of salt from the sauce. Add more soy sauce if necessary. Cook the potatoes over medium heat in the sauce for 10 minutes.
5. Add the chicken, squash and green onions and cook 5 minutes more. Taste everything to make sure it's done and well seasoned. Serve as-is or over rice.

Stuffed Potatoes Two Ways

2010-08-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

The two ways are: (1) Vegan, and (2) Decidedly not vegan. So you get to please everybody.

Well, except picky eaters, but you didn't invite them anyway.

Makes: a lot

Ingredients:
12 medium red or yellow potatoes, cut in half
3 T cooking oil
salt & pepper TT

3/4 lb mushrooms, washed & sliced thinly
2 T cooking oil
plenty of salt & pepper TT
1/2 pt cherry tomatoes, diced
1 t red wine vinegar

2 T cooking oil
2 shallots, peeled & sliced
2 bu mustard greens, washed & rough chopped
1 head garlic, peeled & sliced thinly
4 ears corn, shucked & kernels cut off the cob
salt & pepper TT
1 t mustard

1 t cooking oil
2 Merguez sausages, diced
2 other sausage (we used sausage made from BAAAAAACON *droooool*)

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Toss the potatoes in 3 T cooking oil and season with salt and pepper. Place on sheet pans and begin to roast for 25-30 minutes or until golden and soft inside.
3. Meanwhile, toss the mushrooms with the 2 T cooking oil, salt and pepper and begin to roast in the oven for 20 minutes. When done, toss with the tomatoes and vinegar.
4. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat and add 2 T cooking oil. Add the shallots and brown for 2 minutes. hen add the mustard greens and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the corn and cook another 5-7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Divide into two parts and add the mustard to one part.
5. Heat the sauté pan again over high heat and add the last 1 t cooking oil. Add the diced sausage and cook until done and slightly crispy.
6. When they're cool enough to handle, scoop out a divot from each potato half to make room for the filling. Reserve the potato for another use like meat or vegetable hash, or a pureed soup.
7. For the vegan potatoes, layer from the bottom: corn/mustard greens (w/o mustard), then mushroom/tomato. For the meat ones: corn/mustard greens (w/ mustard), then sausage.

Super Vegan Salad

2010-07-31T22:19:00.000-07:00

Bonanza of vegetables!

Ingredients:
1 T cooking oil
1 bu lacinato kale, washed and sliced thinly
salt & pepper TT

1 sm yellow onion, sliced thinly
1/2 C vinegar
1 large pinch each salt and pepper

1 C cashews
1 t olive oil
1 pinch salt
1/2 t curry powder

1 lemon, juiced
1 t masala kala or another masala spice blend
1/2 t salt
1/2 C olive oil

1/2 bu celery, peeled & sliced thinly
4 Persian cucumbers, washed & diced
4-5 heirloom carrots, washed & sliced thinly
1/2 C dried cherries

Instructions:
1. Toss the onion with the vinegar, salt and pepper and enough water to cover in a small container. Soak the onions for at least and hour and drain.
2. Meanwhile, heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add the cooking oil. Add the kale, season and cook for 5 minutes. Set aside.
3. Toss the cashews with the olive oil, curry powder and pinch of salt. Set aside.
4. Whisk together the lemon juice, masala kala, 1/2 t salt and 1/2 C olive oil.
5. Toss all ingredients together and serve.

Red Cabbage & Cashew Slaw, Stuffed Collard Greens and Red Quinoa with Caramelized Fennel

2010-07-22T15:53:00.000-07:00

To me, delicious vegan food means lots of vegetables. This recipe is a combination of three small dishes to create an entrée that's got a lot of variety but still hangs together as a whole.

Ingredients:
Red Cabbage & Cashew Slaw:

5 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 jalapeños, minced
1 grapefruit, juiced
1/2 t salt
2 t Chimichurri powder
1 t sugar (preferably raw sugar)
2/3 C olive oil
1/2 head red cabbage, sliced very thinly
2 red bell peppers, sliced thinly
4 Persian cucumbers (or 1 English cucumber), cut bite-sized
1/3 bu cilantro, sliced thinly (use the stems too)
2/3 C cashews

Stuffed Collard Greens:
1 T cooking oil
1/2 head red cabbage, sliced thinly
6 cloves garlic, peeled & sliced
salt & pepper TT
1/2 lemon, juiced (you use the other half below)
1 zucchini, julienned (cut into thin planks 2" long, and then cut along the planks into little batons)
1 bu collard greens, washed, cut in half & ribs removed

Red Quinoa w/ Caramelized Fennel:
1 T cooking oil
1 yellow onion, sliced thinly
1 bulb fennel, washed, outer layer peeled (vegetable peeler) and sliced thinly (remove the tough, cone-shaped core at the bottom of the bulb)
salt & pepper TT
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 1/2 C red quinoa

Instructions:
0. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Red Cabbage & Cashew Slaw:
1. Whisk together the first seven ingredients in a big bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix around.

Stuffed Collard Greens:
1. Heat a large sauté pan over high heat and add the cooking oil. Add the cabbage and garlic, season with salt & pepper and cook about 6-7 minutes. Mix in the lemon juice and zucchini.
2. Allow the filling to cool and stuff the collard greens with it like little burritos. Line them up in a baking dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover and bake for 20 minutes.

Red Quinoa w/ Caramelized Fennel:
1. Heat the same large sauté pan over high heat and add the cooking oil. Add the onion and fennel and brown for 3-4 minutes, then season with salt and pepper, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for 15 minutes or until all soft and deliciously caramelized. Add the lemon juice and set aside.
2. While the onion and fennel is cooking, cook the quinoa according to package directions. Combine everything together.

Summer Vegetable Salad

2010-07-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

So pretty.

Ingredients:
2/3 lb crimini mushrooms; washed, cut in half & sliced thinly
2 T cooking oil
salt and pepper TT

2 T cooking oil
5 ears corn, kernels cut off the cob
1/2 head garlic, peeled & cloves sliced
1/2 red onion, diced small
salt & pepper TT

1 bu lacinato kale, 1/2" trimmed off the bottom and sliced 1/2" thick
1 t cooking oil
salt & pepper TT

2 bu French breakfast radishes, washed & trimmed
1 T white wine vinegar (I used a really nice Pinot Grigio vinegar that my mom sent me)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Toss the mushrooms with the first 2 T cooking oil and season with salt and pepper. Lay on a sheet pan and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes or until crispy.
3. In the meantime, heat a large saute pan over high heat and add the next 2 T oil. Add the corn, onion and garlic, season and saute for 6-8 minutes, or until lightly browned and softened. Remove from heat and reserve.
4. Heat the saute pan again over medium high heat and add the last 1 t oil, then add the kale. Season lightly with salt and pepper, and cook for 5 minutes.
5. Combine all ingredients and serve.

Black Pepper Strawberries

2010-07-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

I know, it's barely a recipe.
from the last Pike Market Community Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 pt strawberries, washed, trimmed and quartered
1 t sugar
a few good pinches of black pepper, preferably freshly ground

Instructions:
1. Toss the strawberries with the sugar and black pepper, and leave to macerate (break down) for 15 minutes. Serve as-is, over ice cream or cake.

Chimichurri Braised Chicken & Black Bean Salad

2010-07-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

(Chimichurri is originally from Argentina & Uruguay, but is now used widely)
from the last Pike Market Community Kitchen

Ingredients:
1/2 t cooking oil
4 whole chicken legs, scored
salt and pepper TT
1 red onion, diced
1/2 head garlic, peeled & sliced
2 t Chimichurri
2 cans black beans, rinsed well and drained
2 bell peppers, diced
1/2 C cashews
1 lemon, juiced
1 t Chimichurri spice blend (ours was from World Spice)
1/2 bu parsley, chopped

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large saute pan, heat the oil over hgh heat. Add the legs (be careful! they like to spit hot grease at you!), season with salt & pepper and brown well. Remove to a baking dish.
3. In the same pan, saute the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes, then add to the chicken. Add the 2 t Chimichurri and mix. Cover the dish and braise for about 45 minutes.
4. Pull the chicken off the bones and combine with all remaining ingredients. Season to taste.