Smoky Vegetarian Crock Pot Baked Beans

After a trip to the southern BBQ joint Blue Smoke, I was craving some more warm, tangy baked beans. I figured it would be easy enough to make in my crock pot. I was also lucky enough to receive a jar of Catskills homemade maple syrup as a gift from Jesse's coworker - I don't know how he made it, but his syrup has a crazy smoky flavor! So it was perfect for whipping up a smoky barbecue sauce to coat the beans. Thanks to the special syrup, this recipe tasted great without any bacon or pork (as baked beans traditionally include), but I think I'd be happy making these vegetarian again even without the benefit of the smoke.

Smoky Vegetarian Crock Pot Baked Beans

2 cups dried beans
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp smoky maple syrup
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp mustard
2 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp salt
several grinds of pepper

The night before, place dried beans in bowl to soak, filled with water about two inches above the beans.
Whisk together remaining ingredients and reserve in an airtight container in the fridge overnight.
The next morning, drain and rinse beans. Combine beans, barbecue sauce, and 1 1/2 cup of water in crock pot and stir until beans are coated in sauce. Let cook on low approximately 4 hours, turn to high for 2-3 hours, and then turn to low until ready to serve.

Roasted Root Vegetable and Bean Casserole

While the pumpkin was roasting on Sunday night, I also roasted up this squash casserole for dinner. This is one of our favorite go-to fall/winter dishes, so I thought I'd bring it back from the archives for you.

I like making it best with butternut squash, potatoes, onions, and a couple different kind of beans, but you can throw in whatever you have on hand. Other kinds of squash, carrots, parsnips, celery root, and leeks also work well. If you only have a squash and a can of beans, you can make a small batch like that, or you can make a huge casserole with all the vegetables in your fridge, but the fuller your casserole dish, the longer it will take to roast. Either way, at the end you will have a dish of tender roasted vegetables and beans that are slightly softly falling apart on your fork, enhanced by creamy melted parmesan.

Roasted Root Vegetable and Bean Casserole

1 butternut squash
2 small or 1 large potato
2 small or 1 large carrot
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 can white beans
1 can black beans
extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
dried rosemary and/or sage
parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Peel the squash (but not the other vegetables) and chop vegetables into 1 inch pieces. Dice the garlic. Rinse the beans. Coat the bottom of a casserole dish with olive oil. Throw all the ingredients in, add the spices and another glug of olive oil, and lightly stir to create an even mixture. Cover with aluminum foil and cook in the oven for 20-45 minutes until tender. Remove the foil and cook for another 10 minutes, until vegetables are soft and browning slightly. Grate and stir in parmesan cheese.

Save Your Parmesan Rinds!

The good news is that I got the internet working on my computer again. The bad news is that I'm sick. I stayed home from work today, lounging on my bed with my napping dog to keep me company. Somehow, earlier in the week before I came down with this cold, I had the foresight to make a big batch of soup, which is interesting because I'm usually not much of a soup person. Must be the chilly fall weather.


Well I'm glad I had this tasy lentil vegetable soup to warm my aching bones for lunch this week. Paired with hearty whole wheat toast, it was just what I needed. That, plus hot toddies and lots of sleep and bundling up in warm clothes and episodes of Mad Men and a leisurely walk in the autumn air, have me feeling a lot better this evening.

I had a couple rinds of old parmesan in the freezer, because I'd heard that throwing a parmesan rind in soup is a great way to add flavor. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was true - the rind melted and added much needed salt and richness to what would otherwise be a somewhat bland soup. I will definitely continue to freeze parmesan rinds once they're too stale to grate, and use them in future soups and stocks. It's the thrify way to go!

Lentil soup doesn't require an exact recipe. Here are some guidelines:
Soak a cup of lentils in water for an hour. Meanwhile, dice and sautee vegetables in a big pot until softened - I used 3 carrots, 3 leeks, and a bag full of banana peppers, becase that's what I had in the fridge from the farmers market. Add lentils and parmesan rind to the pot, along with enough chicken or vegetable stock to cover it all by an inch or two, add desired spices such as salt, pepper, oregano, sage, crushed red pepper, and then simmer for about an hour until lentils have softened. Remove parmesan rind, and ta da!


As for the bread I paired this with, it was a whole wheat loaf from the farmers market, because the bread I made myself last weekend was inedible. A sad waste of flour. I had no idea what went wrong, since the two loaves of dough felt perfect in my hands until they headed into the oven. As you can see, the crust puffed up , while the bottom layer of dough remained gummy, with a huge pocket of air in between. I had never seen anything like it, and I thought I did something wrong, but it turns out that our oven is broken! This also explains the undercooked eggplant in the eggplant parmesan I made last week, and our inability to bake potatoes into fries in the oven this week. We're getting a new oven this weekend, and I cannot wait to bake some cookies or pumpkin bread or some other tasty fall treat. It's fall, it's cold, and our landlord doesn't like to turn on the heat, so I'm dying to do some baking to warm/cozy up the apartment!

White Bean Dip

I haven't felt very inspired when it comes to cooking lately. My life is still all out of sorts, and I've moved but not really, so half of my cooking supplies are in one apartment, and half of them are in another. I made a couple of meals this week, but neither is worth dishing out to the blogosphere (pasta with roasted tomatoes and chicken; attempted indian spiced crock pot vegetables).

There's just one thing I've made recently that was a huge hit, unexpectedly. I had a "housewarming" party (for an apartment I haven't really been living in) last weekend, so I whipped up a white bean dip on the fly, not sure what to expect having never tried making a spread with white beans before, but everyone loved it. White bean dip is so flexible. I thought it would taste great with sundried tomatoes or roasted red peppers, but I didn't have time to procure those, while fresh herbs beckoned from my deck.

This week, as cool fall air begins to set in, I've really been itching to bake up a storm of sweet treats to satisfy my daily afternoon chocolate cravings, so hopefully you'll see some delectable baked goodies on here soon.

Roasted Garlic and Herb White Bean Dip

1 can white beans

2 cloves garlic, whole, unpeeled

1/4 cup olive oil

small handful fresh rosemary

small handful fresh thyme

zest and juice of 1/4 lemon

salt

pepper

Through the garlic onto the baking sheet while making crackers. After about ten minutes, when the crackers are done, squeeze the garlic out of its peels. Throw all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. Add additional seasoning as needed. Spoon into a serving dish. Reserve a few of the fresh herbs to sprinkle over top. Serve alongside crackers.

Changing?

Things are changing in the world of the Wounded Chef.

But despite this, I still managed to get some fresh local foods in me. Last weekend, I grilled a chicken breast from Quattro and a red pepper, and so my lunch for the week was sandwiches of homemade whole wheat bread, garlic marinated grilled red peppers, and grilled chicken.

Just now for dinner, I made myself another peanut sauce stirfry with broccoli, pepper, onion, and the rest of the grilled chicken.

And yesterday I helped prepare food for a very vegetarian friendly barbecue. Earlier in the day I went to the farmers market to pick out goods for vegetable kebobs - peppers of varying colors, deliciously sweet cherry tomatoes, onion, zucchini, and mushrooms (from the supermarket because there were no mushroom vendors at the market yesterday). I chopped everything into 2-inch pices and then marinated them for an hour in a marinade using what my friend Cassie had in her pantry - soy sauce, water, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and garlic powder. Then we painstakingly skewered all of the kebobs,and thankfully someone else did the grilling work. They were a big hit. Thanks to Cassie for hosting an amazing party - the high point might have been when a room full of singers belted out old-school angsty Alanis Morisette songs.

For the party I also made tabbouleh, a Mediterranean dish that is best eaten scooped up with pita chips, crackers, or flatbread. Last night we ate it with pita chips, but I saved some tabbouleh to bring to another bbq tomorrow, so to accompany that, I just made the rosemary flatbread from July Gourmet that Deb recently spoke so highly of. The recipe is similar to that of homemade crackers I've made before, but the addition of baking powder really lightens things up into a beautifully crisp and tasty flatbread, perfect for snacking. My past cracker were heavy and not crisp, no matter how thin I rolled the dough. Although, actually, I almost think this flatbread is too light - I would sub in half whole wheat flour next time to give it a little more flavor and heft.It's is going to be my new base recipe that I use whenever I want to make some kind of cracker.

Tabbouleh

1 cup bulgur
1 1/2 cup boiling water
2 tomatoes
1 cucumber
handful of fresh herbs such as mint, parsley, basil
1/2 red onion
3 cloves garlic
1/2 lemon
2 tsp red wine vinegar
salt
pepper

Pour boiling water over bulgur in a bowl, stir, and let sit for 20-30 minutes until water is mostly absorbed and bulgur has softened. It will still be a little crunchy. Drain any extra water.

Meanwhile, chop vegetables and herbs into a fine dice and combine in a large bowl. Add the zest and juice of half a lemon, along with the red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. When the bulgur is ready, add to the large bowl and stir to combine. It is best if made ahead of time and kept in the fridge for at least a few hours to allow the flavors to mingle.

Grilled Pizza with Arugula and Goat Cheese

Another grilled pizza success, using dough balls that I had kept in the freezer since last time I made pizza. I changed up the topping by making simple arugula and goat cheese pizzas. I drizzled olive oil over the top, scattered a handful of fresh arugula leaves, dotted it with goat cheese, shredded some parmesan, and finished it off with a little salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning spices. The peppery argulua wilted down nicely and goes oh so well with creamy goat cheese. As you can see above, I didn't use so much goat cheese - because I find my local Patches of Star goat cheese to be really rich and like it best in small, savored doses.


After making two such pizzas, I ran out of arugula - what to put on the third? Then I spied a mushy Heirloom tomato that needed to be eaten soon in my fruit bowl, so I sliced the tomato thinly and placed it atop all the ingredients on the pizza, minus the arugula. Also delicious - how can anything with crispy bread and sweet heirloom tomatoes not be?

The Dog Days

A simple dinner tonight of pasta caponata and a smoothie, that I forgot to photograph. So here are some pictures of my dog Spencer instead; more on him below.

I first made caponata last week, and munched into it atop toasted whole wheat bread spread with goat cheese, inspired by lunch I had a while ago at Landmarc in the Time Warner Center. Caponata is a Sicilian dish of eggplants, peppers, and/or tomatoes and other veggies, diced and cooked together until soft and mushy, spiced with olives and capers. However, olives and capers aren't local or budget friendly, so I left them out, and didn't find my caponata lacking at all. Instead I spiced it up with lemon, crushed red pepper, and red wine vinegar, which were already handy in my pantry.

Tonight I had tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers from the farmers market waiting patiently in the fridge to become caponata again. But I didn't have enough bread to serve it on, so I decided it would work just as well with pasta. And it did, though I found myself craving a little sausage in there too. Most recipes for caponata call for you to roast the eggplant first, but in New York City's oppressive summer heat, I grilled the eggplant, and it was a much quicker way to tenderize rounds of slightly-chared and oiled eggplant.

For dessert I made a peach and nectarine smoothie with Ronnybrook yogurt. I don't like to eat fruit or yogurt on its own, but I do like them in smoothies and baked goods. So I decided I would buy the ingredients at the farmers market to make smoothies, in a concerted effort to be healthier. Since I'm not a big fan of peach flavor, I also threw in the last of some frozen strawberries that had been hanging around in my fridge for, oh at least six months, to brighten the flavor - but if you like peach, then plain ice cubes will do just fine for cooling down your drink.

And as for the dog days...does anyone have advice for remedying a sweet-turned-vicious dog? We adopted our dog from the shelter and accepted his growling nature toward other dogs as a hazard of his troubled past. Because he's just so darned cute, and, though he doesn't like other dogs, he loves people and is a bit of a whore with seeking out petting from other people on the street.

Until suddenly after two years, for the past two weeks straight he has started growling and trying to bite random people. For no apparent reason. The people he targets run the gamut of teenagers, old ladies, construction workers, and guys just sitting on their stoop. It's scary, and I don't know what to do. And it's so bizarre! It's bad enough that I have to walk this guy every day when I could be getting a few more minutes of precious sleep or gallavanting about town instead of coming straight home after work, that we leave the energy guzzling AC on during the day for him (at 75-77 degrees), and that he gets a full third of the bed at night! And now he's turned into a devil dog! But then he's just so darned cute and lovable with us, and you have to forgive him/forget all his sins...

Grilled Eggplant Caponata
olive oil
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
3 green peppers
3 tomatoes
1 large or 2 small eggplants
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt
pepper

Dice onion and mince garlic and sautee in olive oil over low heat. Dice peppers and then tomatoes and add to pan. Let cook over low heat, with the tomato juices simmering away slightly.

Meanwhile, slice eggplant into thin rounds, brush with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Grill over medium heat, about 4 minutes on each side, until eggplant is tender with browned grill marks. Remove from grill. After eggplant has cooled a few minutes, dice eggplant and add to the pan, along with the remaining ingredients. Continue to sautee another 5-10 minutes, until vegetable mixture is evenly softened and flavored.

Serving suggestions:
Toast slices of bread, top with goat cheese or mozzerella, and then top with caponata.
Let caponata cool in the fridge, and then eat with pita chips on a hot summer day.
Make 4 servings of pasta, toss pasta with caponata along with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/3 cup grated parmesan for caponata pasta.
As an accompaniment to fish or chicken.

Peach and Nectarine Smoothie
1 small peach
1 small nectarine
2/3 cup yogurt
1 1/2 tsp honey
2 frozen strawberries or ice cubes

Wash and roughly chop peach and nectarine. Add yogurt and honey to blender, followed by the fruit and frozen strawberries or ice cubes. Blend until smooth. Makes one whopping glass or two small glasses.

Asparagus Frittata with Grated Carrots and Beets

Frittatas are a great way to use up whatever vegetables you have laying around. I had some asparagus in my freezer that I originally intended to turn into soup. But then remembering that I don't actually like my homemade pureed soups, I decided to throw the asparagus in a frittata instead after letting it thaw. And in an extreme example of not wasting food, into the frittata also went garlic scapes that had been steamed with mussels but not actually eaten that night.

Making the frittata was easy as pie, especially with the help of my sister, who's in town again. I love eggs in all forms, so I thought this frittata was great, but it could have used more cheese, so I raised the volume to half a cup for the recipe below. I used an cheddary alpine cheese from Consider Bardwell Farm, but parmesan, swiss, or gruyere would also work well.


I wanted a side salad, but didn't want to buy a whole head of lettuce that would inevitably go bad before we could eat it all, since we're going away this weekend. So instead I bought ruby red beets with large veiny leaves from the farmers market to make Clothilde's Grated Carrots and Beets. To my shock, everyone else near me who was buying beets requested that the beet greens be chopped off. Yes, it does make it easier to transport them, but what a waste of food!

The beet and carrot salad was good, but it wasn't as fantastic as Clothilde's raving led me to believe. For some reason, I didn't expect it to taste so much like carrots. Duh. So of course because I don't love raw carrots, I didn't love this. I even tried adding fresh mint from my deck, but its flavor was too subtle. But if you are a carrot fan, give it a whirl.


Asparagus Frittata

olive oil
1/2 onion
2 or 3 garlic scapes
1 lb asparagus
6 eggs
1/2 cup grated cheese
2 tbsp milk
salt
pepper
dash of cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Heat olive oil in an ovenproof pan. Dice onion and sautee over medium low heat until softened. Meanwhile, break woody ends off asparagus and chop into 1 inch pieces. Likewise, chop garlic scapes into 1 inch pieces. Add asparagus and scapes to pan and sautee another few minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together remaining ingredients. Pour egg mixture over vegetables and turn the heat up to medium. Cook for five minutes, until the frittata begins to set. Then move the frittata into the oven for another 8-10 minutes until cooked through.

The Other White Meat

Tofu's not something I cook with often. I used to eat it more when I was a semi-vegetarian in college, for no better reason really than being wary of handling raw meat, but since careening down the path of eating local, whole, farm fresh foods, I left tofu behind, along with all the other "Chik Patties" and overprocessed fake meats I stopped eating.

But after work the other day, I made a rare trip to Whole Foods to check out their organic chicken selection, since I wasn't able to stop at the farmers market the day before, and I needed more food for dinner that night. To my surprise, Whole Foods' organic chicken breasts are more expensive than at the Greenmarket! Why would I pay $10 a pound for factory farmed meat when I can get happy chicken breasts from Quattro's Game Farm for $6-7 a pound? No thanks. Seeking an alternate source of protein, I ambled (more like pushed and dodged) my way over to the tofu section. And what did I behold but a tofu package beaming "Local Tofu" back at me, made in Nyack, NY. No, it is unlikely that the soybeans were grown in the area, but I was happy to at least be supporting a local vendor. And at $1.99/package, tofu definitely trumps chicken in terms of keeping my savings in my pocket.

I've realized lately that I am spending more money than I'd like to on food, probably as a natural consequence of being a foodie. Of the money I spend, most of it goes toward food (and some to alcohol), since due to my anticonsumerism stance, I don't buy much clothes, or makeup or books or movies at all (thank you library). And yes, I totally espouse the idea that it's good to pay more to buy sustainable food, because it's important to pay the true cost of food. But I still don't like to see my money disappear. So I've been making a concerted effort to cut down costs by buying cheaper cuts of meat like sausage, cooking less meat, cooking with dried beans (at $1-2/lb in bulk, they are the cheapest protein ever!), baking my own bread, buying the less fancy vegetables like radishes that have dual uses (roots and greens), growing my own herbs, and meal planning up the wazoo to make sure food in my fridge gets eaten or frozen in some form before it goes bad. As food prices rise, we all want to find ways to cut costs, and Cathy also recently posted helpful suggestions on how to "combat soaring food prices."

So speaking of meal planning and using up what's on hand - after dinner that night (radish, bok choy, and tofu stir fry with soy sauce, sesame seeds, and quinoa), I combined the rest of the tofu with my leftover garlic scape pesto, this time adding parmesan and almonds to beef up the pesto. I left the tofu pesto salad in the fridge for a couple days to let the flavors mingle. Then, amidst all the running around before camping last weekend, it made the perfect lunch served on homemade bread with fresh lettuce. The tofu pesto salad sandwich was creamy and had a nice spicy kick from all the garlic scapes. I thought it would also taste good blended into a tofu cream cheese (speaking of which, I really need to attempt that), or warmed up on the stove a bit, for a form of imitation scrambled eggs. Something tells me we'll be seeing tofu a little more often around here.

Moroccan Carrot Dip and Hummus

This Saturday I held my annual holiday party, and for some reason decided to be ambitious and spend all day in the kitchen for it. It was nice to spend the day by myself cooking in a peaceful apartment. My roommates were both out all day so no one was in my way, and I just had my cute dog hanging out on the couch to keep me company.

When party time came, and people didn't eagerly gobble my food, I decided that I won't go to so much effort next time. No one cares that it was homemade. They would have been perfectly happy with storebought hummus and chips and chocolate and so on.

Early in the day, I made chips and dips. I used my old standby recipe for pita chips, which is always a crowd pleaser. Next it was time to tackle the food processor. Jesse got the food processor for Christmas. For some strange reason, he decided that we needed it. I was, and still am, skeptical about this, as I always got along fine in my life without one. Up until Saturday I had never used a food processor before. If I wanted to puree something, such as soup or pesto, I have always just done it in my blender.

I watched the 45 minute instruction video to see if I could get some idea of whether this device is actually useful. Interestingly, on the video they often put prepeeled and sliced vegetables into the processor to chop them up more finely and mix them. Now I think this is kind of silly. If you've already gone to the trouble of getting out a cutting board and a knife to chop a pepper into large pieces, why not just go all the way and knife it up into fine little pieces rather than having to use electricity and getting a whole other object in the kitchen dirty to chop it up more finely. Same goes for mixing cookie batter in a food processor. Are people too lazy to use their arm muscles anymore?

But I figured I should give the food processor a try, since it is ideal for making dips and spreads. After completing the recipes below for hummus and Moroccan carrot dip, I will agree that it is a lot easier to use the food processor than the blender for dips. I think I might also try using the food processor when I want to tackle pastry dough someday. But other than that, I think it will stay hidden in our makeshift kitchen storage, aka the underneath of a table in my living room (our kitchen is impossibly small).

Some Moroccan carrot dip recipes call for cinnamon and honey, so I included them. However, carrots are already sweet and this made the dip a little too sweet for what should be a savory snack, so I omitted them from my recipe below. The hummus came out great. In the next month I really want to try cooking Mediterranean food more often - hummus, falafel, tabouleh, tajine, and so on. Mmmm.



Moroccan Carrot Dip

4 medium sized carrots
1 large garlic clove
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ginger
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon squeezed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Chop carrots in large pieces and unwrap garlic clove, leaving it whole. Place carrots and garlic in a pot of salted water, bring to a boil, and then let simmer, partially covered, about 20 minutes until carrots are tender. Drain in a colander, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water. Let carrots cool for a few minutes.

Place carrots and garlic in food processer and process until smooth. Add cooking water and process again until smooth. Add spices, honey, and lemon juice, and process again. Add olive oil slowly while the machine is running. Taste and add more spices to your liking. Spoon into a serving bowl, drizzle with a little olive oil, and serve with pita chips.



Hummus

1 cup dried chickpeas
1/3 cup tahini
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 garlic cloves
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
dash of paprika

Put the raw chickpeas in a pot with cold water to cover and soak overnight.

The next day, drain and rinse the chickpeas, then place them in the pot and cover with about an inch of water. Add one whole clove of garlic to the pot. Bring to a boil, and then simmer, partially covered, for about an hour or until the chickpeas are tender.

Drain the chickpeas and garlic, reserving the cooking liquid. In a food processor, process the chickpeas and garlic until finely ground. Add tahini, lemon juice, remaining garlic clove, and 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and process until smooth. Add cumin, salt and pepper and process again, adding more of these spices to taste. While food processor is running, add 2 tsbp olive oil. If consistency is too thick, add more of the cooking liquid a little at a time until hummus is smooth and paste-like. Spoon hummus into a serving bowl, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle paprika over the top. Serve with pita chips.

Stuffed Kabocha Squash with White Beans, Kale, and Rice

We've been trying out new squashes from the Greenmarket, and this week we selected Kabocha, a Japanese winter squash. According to Wikipedia, it has a strong, sweet, moist, fluffy texture, but I didn't find that to be particularly true. It tasted a little more bland and bitter than butternut squash, and the texture was flat - but I think this is because of how we cooked it. First, we roasted it the first time with the insides up, and next time I would try with the insides down because in past squash-roasting experience that allows sweeter carmelization. Second, we didn't continue to cook the squash long enough once we added the stuffing. Jesse took it out too early, when we really should have left it in until it was mushier, or fluffier.

This is a labor intensive dish, because all of the components have to be cooked separately before being combined, stuffed, and cooked all together in the oven. After all that work, it turned out to be fairly bland. Next time, in addition to cooking the squash longer, I would add a lot more cheese, more salt, more pepper, maybe some crushed red pepper, and more spices in general. At least by the time I was eating the stuffed squash, I had drank enough wine to feel relaxed and able to enjoy eating this food that Jesse and I had prepared together for our friend. (Even though we had started the cooking process by fighting over cooking space and know-how in our tiny kitchen.)

I've been trying to cook with dried beans more often than canned beans, but it's hard because it involves knowing ahead of time when you will be cooking the beans, so that they can soak long enough. This time, I started the beans soaking in the early afternoon, and 5 hours turned out to be enough - the beans still cooked in an hour - so that's good to know.

To make this vegan, I would recommend adding soy cheese, since this dish really needs some kind of cheese to turn it from bland health food to a delicious dish.

Stuffed Kabocha Squash with White Beans, Kale, and Rice

2 medium sized kabocha squash

3/4 cup dry white beans, soaked in water for at least six hours or the night before (or 1 can beans)

2 2/3 cup water

1/2 cup short grain brown rice

1 cup water

1 bunch kale

1 small onion

3 cloves garlic

rosemary

sage

salt

pepper

olive oil

1/3 cup grated cheddar cheese

Drain beans that were soaking in a colander and then return to their pot. Add 2 2/3 cup water, 1 tsp olive oil, rosemary, sage, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for approximately one hour, until beans are tender and a small amount of liquid is left.

Meanwhile, add rice and water to small pot, bring to a boil, and then let simmer for approximately 50 minutes, until rice is fluffy and all water has been absorbed.

Preheat oven to 400. Slice squash in half and scoop out seeds. Drizzle with olive oil. Place squash insides down on baking pan and bake for 20-30 minutes until slightly tender.

In a large pan coated with olive oil, sautee garlic and onion over medium low heat until softened. Rinse kale, tear into small pieces, and add to pan with a tbsp water. Place cover over pan to allow kale to steam, uncovering occasionally to stir so that garlic and onion don't stick to the bottom.

When all above ingredients are done, combine kale mixture and rice with the beans and bean liquid in the bean pot. Stir in cheese, rosemary, sage, salt, and pepper. Scoop mixture into squash halves. Roast stuffed squash in oven for additional 20-40 minutes, until squash is totally tender. Serves 4.

Beet and Roasted Garlic Cheese Crostini

My parents made a monumental trip the other day - not in distance, as it is only 56 miles from their home to mine , but psychologically, since they have an extreme aversion to "New Yuck City," and this was their first visit to my apartment (I've lived here for over a year). We decided that I would make an appetizer to welcome them before going out to dinner.

(We went to Aurora, which they didn't like, and that is just insane because it is seriously the best Italian restaurant in Williasmburg. The cuisine is Italian, not Italian-American, owing to the chef from Piemonte, and every bite is a delicious balance of simple flavors. The star last night was wild striped bass over fregola, a larger version of couscous, with shrimp, cockles, and tomatoes, creating an ethereal broth tasting of the sea.)

So, I racked my brain trying to decide on an appetizer that would be appropriately seasonal, and beets came to mind. I've been seeing them at the farmers market every week, somewhat daunted by their dark dirty exterior, waiting for the right opportunity to roast some beets.

Beets are typically served with goat cheese as a salad, but as a bread lover, I had to get bread involved even though I've never seen beet crostini before. I wasn't sure if it would work, but it was great. I went with what I was able to get at my Greenmarket that morning, which was a loaf of hearty multigrain bread and a small tub of Ronnybrook Dairy's raw milk roasted garlic soft cheese. I would have used goat cheese if it was available, but this cheese worked well too - it was creamy, rich, spread easily, and the roasted garlic added a good punch of flavor to the crostini. I ended up with some leftover cheese and an extra roasted beet, because I hadn't realized that one beet would be more than enough, so I will happily be making this again as an appetizer for my holiday party next weekend.

Beet and Roasted Garlic Cheese Crostini

1 medium sized beet
half loaf of multigrain bread (or baguette)
4 oz raw milk roasted garlic soft cheese (or goat cheese)
olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
salt
pepper
1 clove garlic

Preheat oven to 425. Wash beet thoroughly. Place beet on aluminum foil, drizzle with olive oil, and then wrap foil over the beet into a pouch. Roast in oven for 45-90 minutes, depending on size of beet, until the beet is tender when you stick a fork through it.

Let beet cool. Cut into small, thin slices. Place beet slices in a bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, lemon, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, and stir lightly to coat.

Preheat oven to 450. Cut baguette into slices. Rub with garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Bake in oven approximately 10 minutes until toasted. Let bread cool.

To prepare each crostini, spread approximately 1 tbsp cheese on a slice of bread and then top with a few slices of beet.

Dinner Party

Last night I had some friends coming over for dinner and decided to use it as an excuse to make it into a real dinner party with seasonal and local ingredients, of course. The menu for the evening was:

Kale and white bean crostini on homemade bread with grated piave cheese

Butternut squash tortellini with sage brown buttered sauce

Chocolate chip apple cake

A bit ambitious, but I had time to kill.

Part 1: Crostini

The night before I made the bread. It took longer than it was supposed to, and then after all that effort, it came out no good. While baking, it sunk into a dense rectangular block. A rectangular block that I was ashamed to photograph and that didn't taste great because I included buckwheat groats. The recipe said I could! But I should have known. Considering that I don't like the smell of buckwheat groats...its horrible smell was overpowering and affected the taste of the bread. Jesse liked it, but he seems to like anything. I almost went out and bought a baguette, but decided it would be passable, especially with a topping to mask the smell.

I also made the crostini topping the night before - I sauteed 2 cloves garlic, half a bunch of kale, and half a can of white beans, salt and peper to taste, then pureed it and put it in the refrigerator to store it.

To assemble the appetizer, I toasted half slices of bread with the kale and bean puree spread on top to warm both a the same time. Then I grated piave cheese over top - a mild cow cheese a bit more tasty than parmesan. Personally, I don't think I like kale enough for it to be a delicious crostini topping...it tastes too healthy!

Part 2: Squash Tortellini
The night before, I also roasted the butternut squash - I cut it in half, scooped out the seeds, drizzled it with olive oil, and then placed it scooped side down on a baking pan to roast for approximately 45 minutes at 450. When it was soft and mushy, I scooped out all the flesh into a large bowl. Then I added a tsp or so each of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and pepper and mashed it all together, and also stored it in the refrigerator.

Originally, I had hoped to make butternut squash ravioli myself from scratch. However, Jesse warned me not to make the pasta as he thought we should stick with the pros and buy pasta sheets from Raffetto's in the West Village. However, it turns out they don't sell pasta sheets for ravioli making, just their own ravioli fully made. So the Italian man sold Jesse spinach (hence the green color!) pasta for tortellini making with some vague directions on how to shape the tortellini. From the picture, you can see it looks nothing like tortellini. It was really hard to fold it up small like real tortellini, so Jesse took it upon himself to fold it into giant pockets with loose flaps.

Just before dinner, I took the butterut squash out of the fridge, and Jesse as my sous chef helped me plop little teaspoons of the squash filling into giant pasta messes. I boiled them in two batches of about three minutes each because they wouldn't all fit in our biggest pot.

Meanwhile I made the sauce. I sauteed 2 cloves garlic and a diced shallot in olive oil. Then I added half a stick of butter and 2 tsp of dried sage, as well as some rosemary, salt, and pepper. I was scared of too much butter, but realized it wasn't enough for sauce, so I added another half stick or more of butter and let it heat and brown a little. When the pasta was done, I strained it and then plated it, pouring the sage brown buttered sauce over each plate with some grated parmesan. We ended up with about 6 servings of giant tortellini, so there is still some in the fridge.

Part 3: Cake

For dessert, I made a moist chocolate chip apple cake. I would have used applesauce instead of all that milk, but someone ate all my extra apples, even though I bought them from the farmers market especially for this dessert. :-(

Cream 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup butter. Beat in 2 eggs one by one. Combine with 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp lemon juice, as well as 3/4 cup milk. Add 1 cup white flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt. Stir it all together. Add one package of chocolate chips. Dice one apple and throw that in. Stir it all together again. Grease a 9-inch round pan. Bake at 350 for approximately 40 minutes until golden brown. Sprinkle confectioners sugar over the top. Eat for dessert that night, and another huge hunk for breakfast the next morning.

Potato Salad with Basil Oil, Tomato, and Onion

This dish is inspired by the August 2007 Bon Appetit - potato salad with basil oil. Because I had potatoes and basil and wanted to use them up. However, I also wanted to use my bounty of tomatoes and onions, so I decided to add them into the mix. Also, the Bon Appetit recipe called for me to make a basil oil and a dijon vinagraitte but 1- i didn't think they would taste great together and 2-why complicate things? so i stuck with just the basil. it didn't get the best rating from my boyfriend, but it will do. i just had this for dinner because i didn't feel like making a main meat dish, but it would be good as a side too, with pesto or balsamic chicken.

1 large potato

1 tomato

1/4 onion

1/2 cup basil

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 tbsp hot water

salt

pepper

In large saucepan, bring enough water to boil to cover potatoes with 1 inch water. Meanwhile, chop potato into 1 inch cubes. When water boils, add potatoes, lower heat to medium, and simmer until potatoes are tender, approx. 10 minutes. Meanwhile, blend basil with 3 tsp olive oil, 3 tbsp hot water, salt, and pepper. Dice onions and tomatoes and combine in a bowl. Add basil mixture to bowl. When potatoes are tender, drain in collander and add to bowl. Serve as warm summer side dish for two.

Pesto Pasta

2 cups fresh basil
4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup walnuts
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 tsp lemon juice
salt
pepper

Combine pesto ingredients in a blender until desired consistency. Heat in a saucepan over low heat. Serve over pasta. Makes 4 servings.

Bruschetta

Fresh loaf of bread - baguette, or in my case, whole wheat Italian
2 tomatos or 1 large tomato, diced
1/4 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
handful of basil, torn into small pieces
1/4 cup grated parmesan
olive oil

Preheat oven to 375. Slice bread and place on baking sheet(s). Rub bread with garlic and brush with olive oil. Bake in oven for approximately 5 minutes, until bread is golden brown and crunchy. Meanwhile, combine tomato, onion, garlic, basil, parmesan and a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a bowl. When bread is done, let cool for a few minutes before arranging on a plate. Spoon bruschetta mixture over bread. Makes a great August appetizer with ingredients fresh from the farmers market. Make it vegan by leaving off the parmesan.

Lemon and Basil Eggs over Foccacia

Fresh loaf of foccacia bread (or whatever yummy fresh baked bread you can find - I used black olive semolina)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
3 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup parmesan, grated
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Cut the top off the foccacia and hollow out the bread inside. Tear the top of the foccacia and the inside bread into 1-inch pieces and save for the egg mixture. Brush the inside of the foccacia with the lemon olive oil. Place on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the basil, cheese, salt, pepper, and milk. Whisk lightly. Stir in bread pieces. Carefully pour the egg mixture into the toasted foccacia bottom. Return to the oven and bake until the eggs have cooked, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cut the baked foccacia into 8 pieces and serve.

From Giada de Laurentis, Everyday Italian

Rice and Beans

1/2 cup rice
1 cup water
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 green pepper
1 tomato
1/2 small onion
3 cloves garlic
2 cups or 1 can pinto or black beans
3/4 cup water or chicken stock
salt
pepper
crushed red chilli pepper
cumin
hot sauce
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese

Combine rice and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, dice pepper, tomato, onion, and garlic and sautee in pan coated with olive oil for five to ten minutes until tender. When rice is 3/4 done, add rice, beans, and water or chicken stock to sautee pan. Simmer for about 15 minutes until water is absorbed and rice and beans are tender. Add spices and cheese (or no cheese to keep it vegan). Serves 3-4. Leftovers make great burrito filling.

Vegetarian Taco Salad

2 cloves garlic
1 tomato
1/2 onion
1 can pinto or black beans
salt
pepper
crushed red chili pepper
hot sauce
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated.
Couple large handfuls of tortilla chips, crushed or broken into small pieces
Mixed greens


Dice garlic, onion and tomato and sautee over medium low heat in extra virgin olive oil. Rinse beans and add to sautee pan. Cook until onions are soft and tomatoes and beans begin to disintegrate. Add salt, pepper, crushed red chili pepper, and hot sauce, to taste. Add grated cheese and chips. Stir mixture. Serve over mixed greens. Serves 2.

Whole Wheat Rosemary Crackers

1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup dried rosemary
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup warm water

Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, rosemary, and garlic powder in a large bowl. Add the oil and water, and mix well. Mix with hands if necessary. The dough will be a little sticky, but it shouldn’t be hard to handle. If it feels too sticky, add a little more flour. Flour a work surface, and a rolling pin, and roll the dough out as thin as possible, approximately 1/16 inch.
Use a knife to cut the dough into rough squares. Lightly oil a baking sheet and place crackers about 1/2 inch apart on the sheet. Bake for approximately 15 minutes.

(From Kitchen Illiterate)