Green Bean, Caramelized Onion & Apple Salad (V)

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.

Chorizo, Apple & Kale Sandwich

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!

Roast Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches with Fresh Apple-Corn Relish

This was one of those "just throw it together" things that turned out really well.

Ingredients:
1 t oil
about 2 lbs pork tenderloin
salt & pepper TT

1 t oil
3 ears corn, kernels cut off the cob
salt & pepper TT
1 lemon, juiced
1 Fuji apple, diced

1 baguette, sliced thinly

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Season the tenderloin well with salt and pepper.
3. Get a large saute pan hot over high heat, then add the first teaspoon of oil. Allow to heat up, then brown the tenderloin well. Transfer to a baking dish and roast in the oven for about 12-15 minutes, or until pretty firm to the touch.
4. Let the meat rest for 5-7 minutes under cover on a cutting board, so it remains moist when you cut into it.
5. Get the same saute pan hot over medium-high heat, add the last of the oil and the corn. Saute for 4-5 minutes.
6. Cut the heat and add the lemon juice. Scrape the good stuff off the bottom of the pan, turning it into a sauce with the lemon juice. Add the apple. Taste it. Mmmmm. Taste it again. Mmmmmm.
7. Cut the tenderloin into thin slices. Make sandwiches with the bread, pork and the corn relish.

Chorizo & Apple Sandwich

this is a condensed-format recipe, designed for a pocket recipe book called "Learn to Cook" I made and gave out to random people at the Pike Market for a few months in 2009. some of the ingredients may be difficult to find outside of the market, and can be substituted or disregarded.

Serves 2 for under $12

[Prep: wash & cut apple, wash arugula, peel & slice garlic, get other ingredients ready]
[Production: saute sandwich filling, assemble sandwiches]

1/2 lb cured (Spanish style) chorizo, diced
1/4 head garlic [peel & chop]
1 bu arugula [wash]
1/2 apple [dice]
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
[saute sausage over medium-high heat in 1/2 t oil for one minute, then add garlic. reduce heat to medium and cook 2-3 more minutes. then add the arugula and apple, turn off the heat and set aside.]

2 rolls
mustard, mayo, whatever you like

[assemble and serve]

Apple and Kale Bread Salad

Ingredients:

1 loaf bread, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 yellow onions, sliced ¼ inch thick

1 bunch lacinato kale, sliced ¼ inch thick

2 T oil

salt and pepper TT

½ bunch celery, sliced ¼ inch thick

4 apples, diced

½ bunch parsley, sliced

1 bunch thyme, minced

1 lemon, juiced

salt and pepper TT

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400. Toast bread for 10 minutes.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add oil, onion and kale, and season with salt and pepper. Cook 10 minutes, or until onion begins to caramelize.

Combine with all remaining ingredients and serve.

Beet Soup w/ Apple

Ingredients:

1 onion, rough-chopped

1 ½ gal water

1 bunch celery, peeled & rough chopped

5 carrots, peeled and rough-chopped

1 bunch beets, peeled and rough-chopped small, stalks into stock, greens rough-chopped

4-5 loose beets, peeled and rough-chopped small

4 large russet potatoes, peeled and rough-chopped

1 head garlic, peeled

1 onion, rough-chopped

3 apples, peeled and rough-chopped

salt and pepper TT (to taste)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450.

2. Bring water to a simmer.

3. Toast onion for 15 minutes in the oven.

4. Add the onion to water and cook over medium heat. Add all accumulated vegetable scraps (from everyone) available and cook for 40 minutes.

5. Strain stock. Add celery, carrots, beets, beet greens, potatoes, garlic, and the second onion.

6. Cook 30 minutes, or until potatoes and beets are tender.

7. Add apples, salt and pepper, puree, in batches if necessary. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.