Garlicky Greens, Polenta, Poached Egg

Last fall I ate this dish for brunch.  I was curious, if a bit dubious since I have a rocky relationship with eggs, but I’d read about egg and polenta for breakfast and I’d read about egg on a bed of cooked leafy greens so I decided to try it.  I don’t remember being enamored of the dish, but I enjoyed it.  This week I knew I wanted to make polenta to go with the bunch of kale; I never got around to purchasing blue cheese (one of my favorite combos) and this meal popped back into my memory.  It was nagging me, “make me, make meee”.  And so on Friday night, which turned out to not be date night after all, I made a half-recipe of polenta with butter and parmesan from The New Best Recipe – note even though you are having the recipe (3/4 c polenta and 3 c water), go ahead and use the 4 qt pan, I sort of splattered all over while I tried to gently pour the cornmeal into the pan.  I also made some garlicy wilted greens with the lacinto kale I go this week and I tried poaching eggs for the first time ever.  Surprisingly I got the timing almost perfect.  First you start the water to boil, and prep the kale while you wait, then you add the polenta to the water and stir.  When there are 10 minutes left on the polenta you start the pan for the kale.  And at 5 minutes left you start the pan of water for the poached eggs.  I actually removed the pan of polenta from the stove so I could move the egg pan to the front burner; so I could see letting the polenta sit for a few while you cook the eggs.

In retrospect, I’m not sure I really needed to add parmesan to the polenta – but cheese is one of my crutches for eating eggs so of course I decided to add the cheese.  Also, I think if you poach eggs you want really good eggs.  This week we have some fresh farm (pastured) eggs from a local farm.  For a non-egg-lover I sure will go out of my way for good eggs of course then I sometimes think that they are “too good” to use for random baked goods; but really I like to buy pastured farm eggs for the sake of the chicken as much as the fact that it is a superior product (not to get too high horse on everyone, I do buy grocery store eggs when I can’t get ahold of local eggs).

101 Cookbooks Garlicky Greens (not quite what I did, but close – I like to add a few tablespoons of water to do a mix of saute and steaming)

spinach ricotta omelet

I finally figured out what to do with my tiny bunch of spinach.  It made the perfect amount to fill one omelet which made a great brunch for two.  Also, did you know you can spell omelet or omelette?  Of course now both look wrong to me.

This past week has really been a cooking by the seat of my pants sort of week (when I’ve cooked at all).  It is kind of nice for a change.  At 11:30 am [Sunday] we encountered the “I’m getting hungry what’s for breakfast?” of our lazy weekend mornings.  I had sort of been tossing around the idea of pairing some ricotta cheese with my garlic scape pesto and eggs for a while but hadn’t gotten around to it – I rarely crave eggs.  I wasn’t craving eggs this morning, but an omelet sounded pretty good.  Digging in the fridge I realized that the spinach and green onions would make a great addition.  And they did, plus it turns out that I had practically the perfect amount of spinach.  I remembered to do all my prep ahead of time and it went together nicely, even though I can’t remember the last time I made an omelet I managed to not turn it into scrambled eggs.  If you have never made an omelet I’d suggest consulting a cookbook instead of my instructions, there are no amazing omelet secrets in this post.

Omelet filled with spinach, ricotta and garlic scape pesto

• 1 small bunch spinach (probably around 16 full-sized leaves)
• 1-2 green onions
• butter and/or olive oil

Clean and rinse your spinach, shake the water off but don’t worry about leaving it a little wet.  Remove the tough stems, make a nice pile and cut into thin ribbons.  I like to cut it in half vertically and then stack the two piles and do 1/2″ ribbons from that.  Thinly slice your green onions, set some of the green tops aside.  Heat a 10″ skillet and add enough butter or olive oil (2 teaspoons or so) to just coat the bottom, let it get hot and add the green onions.  Toss the spinach ribbons on top of that and cover for a minute.  Uncover and stir, if it has reduced dramatically in volume and is bright green go ahead and remove it from the heat – I just put it back on the cutting board I originally used to chop the spinach.  Using your silicon spatula sort of scrape any bits out of the pan.  Return it to the burner (turn off the heat if you aren’t quite ready to add the eggs at this point)

• 3 eggs
• 1 T water
• butter
• ricotta cheese
• garlic scape pesto
• finely grated parmesan cheese
• remaining green onion tops

Crack open the eggs into a smallish bowl (but enough room to beat three eggs), add the water and beat till nice and fluffy (it would probably be a good time for seasoning with salt and pepper, but I forgot) add a spoonful of garlic scape pesto and whisk to incorporate.  Using the same 10″ pan, heat it over medium heat and add a chunk of butter (I’m guessing a tablespoon).  Twirl the melting, foamy butter around to coat the pan and as soon as it is all melty and foaming add the eggs to the pan.  Let it coat the bottom of the pan, and gently pull up edges with your spatula and tilt the pan so the liquid egg can flow under the cooked bits – not too much or you just get scrambled eggs.  Cover the pan and turn down the heat.  Check in a minute or so.  When the egg is all set dallop the ricotta on one half of the egg, a bit more pesto and then add the cooked spinach on top.  Sprinkle a little bit of parmesan on it and gently fold the other half of the egg on top.  I like to sprinkle more parmesan and the reserved green onions on top of the folded omelet.  And serve, with toast if desired.

Zucchini Mushroom Bulgar Salad

Last weekend during our “heat wave” (it got to like 92 folks!, actually I jest, when you live in the land of no central AC, 92 is just barely tolerable) I made bulgar wheat for that chard-feta-beet salad.  This is what I did with that leftover bulgar and the two extra zucchinis and a few spare mushrooms.  Sometimes I get in the habit of always cooking by recipes and then I break from the mold and feel super proud of myself when it turns out really good.  This was one of those times.  I’m sure it is a highly flexible recipe since I basically made it up as I went along.  It kept nicely in the fridge all week too – great for packed lunches.

Zucchini Mushroom Bulgar Salad

• olive oil (probably about 1-2 T)
• 2 zucchini, diced
• 10 mushrooms, diced
• 4-5 green onions, sliced
• 1 garlic clove, smooshed
• 1/4-1/2 t dried oregano
• salt
• pepper
• 1/4-1/2 c slivered almonds, chopped
• big handful parsley, finely chopped
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups cooked bulgar

Heat the olive oil in a nice big pan (I actually used a 12″ skillet) and saute the zucchini and mushrooms until just barely tender.  Add the garlic and green onions and stir until fragrant, then add the oregano, salt and pepper.  Add the chopped almonds and give everything a good stir.  Remember to taste as you go along.  Turn off the heat, add the bulgar and toss everything together.  Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add in the chopped parsley.  Taste and adjust seasonings if needed.  Serve or stash in the fridge to use for lunches throughout the week.

Year 2, week 2

lettuce, kohlrabi, spinach, kale and green onions

Veggies, dip and baked beans

Tuesday;  I got back from the CSA pickup just after 7 and starving.  We had leftover baked beans that needed to be eaten. Carrot sticks plus this pea dip Mark Bitten recently blogged about sounded appealing.  Since both sort of fit a bbq theme (minus oh, the bbq part) I decided to prepare both for dinner.  Simple and fairly quick, I even used the same pan for the peas and the beans with just a very quick rinse in between cooking the peas and reheating the beans.  One kohlrabi was plenty for the two of us, and even though I only used 1 cup of peas we had leftovers of the pea dip (which is also good on trisket-type crackers).

Pea dip with mint and parmesan by Mark Bittman

carrot sticks

kohlrabi quarter rounds

Grilled Zucchini Sandwiches

Okay, so nothing was from the CSA this time around – but it could be and I really liked these and want to share this impromptu recipe.  It started out as a vague idea to use up some zucchini we hadn’t gotten to yet, some leftover garlic scape pesto and some leftover bread (if it was deemed soft enough, I’m so glad it was).  As we started cooking I grabbed whatever sounded promising from the fridge and at the very last minute (post-sandwich assembly) I grabbed some arugula from my mini-garden.

+ =

Grilled Zucchini Sandwiches serves 2

• 2 medium (6-8″) zucchini
• canola oil
• salt & pepper
• ricotta cheese
• garlic scape pesto
• kalamata olive spread
• sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil
• arugula from my container garden
• 4 thin slices of sourdough bread

Slice the stem end off the zucchini (and flower butt end if it needs it) and slice it into 1/2″-3/4″ thick strips.  I sliced ours into fourths vertically, the two middle pieces were perfect, the end pieces were a bit thin.  Brush with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Toss on a hot grill (sorry I don’t do this part and have no clue how to explain grilling veggies or the proper temperature), turn once and remove when cooked.  If your sourdough comes unsliced, take some care to get a thin slice, not much thicker than the pre-sliced variety.  Brush one side with the oil and quickly toast, oiled-side down, over the remaining coals on the grill (not too much or you will tear the roof of your mouth while trying to eat the sandwich). Now it is time for assembly, I actually did two slightly different sandwiches and we each had half – a favorite wasn’t picked so do whichever appeals to you.

Sandwich #1) Spread ricotta cheese on one piece of bread (non-grilled side), top with some arugula and the grilled zucchini slices; spread garlic scape pesto on the other slice of bread (non-grilled side) and gently top with some kalamata olive spread.  Put the pesto’d and olive’d bread on top the zucchini.  Slice in half.

Sandwich #2) Spread ricotta cheese on one piece of bread (non-grilled side), top with some arugula, the grilled zucchini slices and some pieces of lightly drained sun-dried tomatoes (sliced if necessary); spread garlic scape pesto on the other slice of bread (non-grilled side) and place on top the first.  Slice in half.

Pick a favorite or trade halves so you get to try both variations.

week 1 roundup

We successfully used up most of our veggies before yesterday’s pickup.  Except the lamb’s stuff which I learned was actually called lamb’s quarters.  TheHusband and I both nibbled on a leaf and went, “huh, doesn’t taste like much” so I’m not sure what to do, at least I have more info for research.

On Friday, as planned, I finally made our first CSA meal (opposed to using a single green onion and radish in some salad), and it turned out well enough, not amazing but with good potential.  Instead of following the recipe I just used it as a guideline.  It turns out that bulgar is a great grain for hot weather cooking if you have an electric kettle.  Just pour some boiling water over it and let it sit.  I only had 4 tiny beets (think the size of radishes) and about 1 1/2 oz of feta, so I diced both of those and added it to 1 cup of cooked bulgar (leaving another cup or so in the bowl for another use).  Finally I tossed the now pink bulgar with ribbons of swiss chard and gave a squeeze of lemon juice and dash of olive oil over everything.  It was visually vibrant but  otherwise underwhelming, but served as lunch anyways.  I think more beets (and maybe feta) would have been a vast improvement.  Incidentally, TheHusband showed me a new trick to clean beet stained plastic cutting boards, he scrubbed it with a bit of Bon Ami before washing it.

Friday night we made fabulous grilled zucchini sandwiches.  These didn’t use any of our current CSA produce, but did use stuff that could have been CSA produce so I will do a separate post (I think they are worthy).  Here is a tease:

On Saturday I made a nice big green salad, using up our remaining radishes but no other CSA veggies.  It was your run of the mill salad with lettuce, radishes, cucumber, grated carrots and cherry tomatoes.

On Sunday we had a filling, late lunch out and then just at the leftover green salad for dinner.  So much for using the kale that night.

On Monday I made a simple kale & pasta dish that turned out nicely.  I washed the kale and chopped it fairly small (aiming for 1″ squares, but not precise at all).  I boiled whole wheat spaghetti and about half-way through the cooking time I heated a large saute pan with olive oil.  I added 3 smooshed cloves of garlic and good sprinkle of red pepper flakes and about 4 sliced green onions.  Once that was soft I added all the kale, gave it a quick stir and covered it.  Then just before the timer went off for the pasta I pulled about 1 cup of the pasta water from the pan (a metal measuring cup makes this easy) and poured about 1/2 of over the kale to help it wilt, oh and pinch of salt.  I drained the pasta, checked the kale (bright green, mostly soft but with a slight bite) and then added the pasta to that pan, tossing everything together (all the pasta water hadn’t yet evaporated).  6 oz of pasta and 1 small-medium bunch of kale made 2 generous dinner servings.

Right after making dinner on Monday I made another bulgar wheat salad for weekday lunches, this time with zucchini, mushrooms and parsley (oh an a few green onions – I’m just throwing those suckers everywhere at the moment).  That too will be its own post due to yumminess.

Soup and bread

hmmm, it seems I never posted this, when I made this back at the beginning of May.  Oops.  I was probably waiting on myself to pull the pictures from camera to computer to intertubes… or dragging the cookbook upstairs to finish up the recipe which I no doubt starting typing from memory.  Well, forget the picture, here it is.  IIRC we really enjoyed this soup and I definitely will make it again.  Wonder if it will work with kale as the green veggie of choice?

Our last CSA pick-up was, oh 6 months ago, and despite me claiming to be finished with all those veggies, I realized that I had some squash lurking in the garage (unheated and therefore our dark and cool storage spot), then forget and then remember and forgot and remembered.  Well, yesterday I grabbed the two delicata squashes and decided to make soup – but I didn’t.  Luckily for me, I didn’t have to think about dinner at all today because my decisions were all ready made – gypsy soup and beer bread (so easy and quick, I use whatever beer we have on hand, even stuff we didn’t like drinking and only 2 T of butter).  For many years I passed by the recipe for gypsy soup, I’m not sure why, but last fall it caught my eye and I kept meaning to make it.  At first glance, it would seem I did not have the right ingredients, but I trusted the intro that I really could swap any pair almost any orange veggie with any green veggie instead of the sweet potato and green bell pepper it called for.wi

Gypsy Soup adapted from The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen

• 1 med. delicata squash, peeled, seeded and diced (2 cups)*
• 1 1/2 onions, diced
• 1/4-1/2 t celery seed*
• 3 garlic cloves, smooshed
• 2 t paprika
• 1 t basil
• 1 pinch saffron*
• 1 dash cinnamon
• 1 dash cayenne
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups water
• 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes*
• 1 19 oz can garbonzo beans, drained and rinsed
• big handful frozen green beans, broken into bite size pieces*
• 1 cup water mixed with 1 teaspoon bouillon

*my substitutions for the sweet potato, celery stick, tumeric, fresh diced tomatoes and green pepper respectively

So, to make soup with that list of ingredients above… I probably sauteed the onion and celery seed together. Once ithe onion got tender adding the garlic till fragrant and then the rest of the spices. And then dumped everything else in the pot (boiling that one cup of water separate and dissolving the bouillon in it before adding it to the pot) and let it all simmer until the squash was tender.  Which I think was more than 10 minutes and less than 30.

menu plan week 1

Due to an email snafu my first CSA pickup was a bit of a last-minute thing and I already had a fridge nearly full, sadly including most of the head of lettuce. I gave my neighbor the beautiful head of CSA lettuce so it would get used during its prime. Produce to use up: roasted beets, zucchini, basil, parsley, cucumbers, purple potatoes, radishes, green onions, chard, kale, unidentified green, various fruits that will surely be used

Tuesday: freezer meal
Wednesday: Greek Salad w/lettuce, tomatoes, radish, green onions, feta, kalamata olives and greek dressing made from a Penzey’s mix, chunk of bread on the side
Thursday: tacos (leftovers from Sunday – it was eat or toss tomorrow)
Friday (lunch): Bulgar, Beet, Chard and Feta Salad (modified from this AT The Kitchn post)
Friday (dinner): grilled zucchini sandwiches with garlic scape pesto?
Saturday BBQ meal (my contributions): nice green salad (lettuce, radishes, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, white bean dip (with rosemary or garlic scape pesto)
Sunday: something with kale… maybe Heather’s Quinoa from 101 Cookbooks
Monday: ??? at this point I’ll be ready to reassess and plot for whatever remains in the fridge

Year 2, Week 1

So the breakfast blogging idea was a bust, oh well, forward march, back to the veggies. Our CSA had it’s first share this week, I drove out to the farm and grabbed my veggies in a hurry yesterday (sadly missing the opportunity to perhaps mingle with other CSA members), tossed them in bags and ran out the door for a concert that night – not the best start. But I am so glad we dropped down to a half-share, this picture doesn’t look overwhelming. Except I have no clue what to do with that lamb’s ears stuff (step one: make sure I’m calling it by the right name).

Red-leaf lettuce, radishes, green onions, swiss chard, kale and lamb’s ears quarters

et: (lamb’s ears is an ornamental plant, and not edible -this stuff looks nothing like it but was the only thing associated with “lamb” that my brain could remember last week).