Winter Warmth

 

One of my favorite winter meals is Turkey and White Bean Chili.  The recipe is one that I've adapted slightly from Emeril Lagasse of Food Network fame.  Its subtle spiciness is countered by the freshness of the cilantro, while the turkey and beans make it hearty and satisfying while warming you to the core.  Whether you make a big pot to share with friends, or just eat it yourself over the course of a week (which you can do, because it reheats beautifully), I guarantee that you'll love this chili. 

Symphony in Green

 

...a.k.a.: Lima Bean Puree with Pecorino Romano on Crostini, a.k.a., your new favorite thing that you never knew you were missing .

So I think I ripped this recipe out of the Boston Globe Magazine at some point, although I can't be sure, because it doesn't have a date or any other identifying info on it.  But let me say this: it's good.  Very good.  Very very good.  In fact, the reason I was too full to actually eat the delicious Chard and White Bean Stew that I was cooking simultaneously. 

It took me a while to find frozen lima beans (not quite sure why these are better than canned, but that's what the recipe recommends).  But when you find them, buy them, then make this absolutely fantastic puree.  It is great on its own, but slathered on crostini and topped with a shaving of Pecorino Romano seriously elevates it to heavenly.  I don't even like Pecorino Romano that much on its own (a little too salty and sheep-y tasting for me), but on top of this light, fresh, herby, lemony puree...well, the best thing I can say is the whole is even greater than the sum of its parts.  And the parts are pretty darn good.

So the next time you're throwing a shin dig, and you want an easy and different alternative to hummus or some dull store-bought spread, whip this little baby up.  You'll love it, I promise.

Creamy Lima Bean Puree and Pecorino Romano Crostini (From the Boston Globe Magazine, perhaps?)

Makes About 48 Crostini

* 1 Tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 1/2 a lemon)

* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

* 1 pound frozen baby lima beans, cooked according to package directions and cooled

* 1 shallot

* 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano or about 1 teaspoon dried

* 2 generous Tablespoons of chopped flat leaf parsley

* Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

* About 48 crostini, either freshly made or store-bought

* About 48 pieces of shaved Pecorino Romano

1. In a measuring cup, combine the lemon juice, olive oil, and 3 Tablespoons of hot water, set aside.

2. Peel the skin off the shallot and roughly chop into a Cuisinart bowl, fitted with a sharp blade.  Pulse until the shallot is chopped.  Add lima beans, oregano and parsley, pulse until the ingredients are as blended as possible.

3. With the feed tube open and the motor running, add the lemon-oil mixture in a slow, steady stream.  Continue to process for a full minute, stopping to scrap down sides if necessary.  Taste, and adjust with salt, pepper, and more parsley, if desired.  (I ended up adding a little more parsley to bump up the fresh taste).

4.  Allow mixture to stand for at least 30 minutes to let flavors develop, or store in a covered container in the fridge for up to 2 days.  

5. T-1 hour before your fete, spread about 2 teaspoons of spread on top of each crostini, and top with a shave of Pecorino Romano.  The easiest way to get nice shaves of Pecorino Romano is actually with a veggie peeler.  Just run it over the cheese just like a big root vegetable, and you'll get beautiful shaves of cheese.  

Party ready

Enjoy these!  And tell me what you think--part of me thinks I'm crazy for being in love with lima beans, so please justify my new obsession! 

Bean Stew For A Healthy You

 

Well, the 12 days of Christmas are officially over, so I figured I had to move on from Christmas cookies.  Tear.  And on to semi-healthy things, since it's January, and that's how people roll in January, right?  Actually, the fact that this next recipe is on the semi-healthy side is purely coincidental.  I saw it on Smitten Kitchen and it looked absolutely amazing, AND I realized that I had nearly everything I needed in the pantry already, and so that's what I did.  

So, the recipe:  Chard and White Bean Stew.  Doesn't that excite you?  It excites me.  Seriously.  It's full all sorts of yummy things that I love, like beans and tomatoes and garlic and shallots and herbs.  The real bonus was, as I said, all of these things are pantry staples for me, other than the chard.  I made a special pilgrimage to Whole Foods just for that, and for 20 whole minutes felt way too uncool to be there.  Cambridge is just too hip for me...  Anyway, I got home, then whipped this up.  It probably takes about an hour to make, if you're actually paying attention, but I was distracted with several other things, so it probably took me a longer.  But it's great because after you've got all your aromatics chopped and sauteing, you don't really need to pay close attention.  Perfect for cleaning up as you go, or doing other projects that I'll tell you about shortly.

Smitten Kitchen says that the chard can be replaced with kale or spinach or another hearty green, if so desired.  As for serving (which I haven't actually done yet, due to too much snacking while cooking), it can be served as is, or with some fresh herbs or grated Parmesan or Romano on top.  To make it an even more filling and delicious meal, try toasting at thick piece of rustic bread, rubbing it with a clove of garlic, then ladling your stew on top of that, then topping it with a poached egg, then some fresh herbs, few drops of sherry vinegar and/or some grated cheese.  Gosh, I wish I could take credit for that, but I cannot.  But I am definitely doing that tomorrow, once I'm hungry again.  Ooh, golly I just can't wait.

Chard and White Bean Stew (Adapted only slightly from SmittenKitchen.com)

Serves 6 to 8

* 1 pound Swiss chard (or kale, spinach or another green), ribs and stems removed and cleaned
* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 cup (5 1/4 ounces) chopped carrots
* 1 cup (5 ounces) chopped celery
* 1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) chopped shallots, about 4 medium
* 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
* 1 cup dry white wine
* 2 15-ounce cans (or about 3 3/4 cups) white beans (such as Navy Beans or Cannellini beans), drained and rinsed
* 2 cups (or more to taste) vegetable broth
* 1 cup pureed tomatoes (canned is fine; this is less than a 15 ounce can)

* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 3 fresh thyme sprigs
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar (Red wine vinegar also works in a pinch)

* Garnishes: Toasted bread slices, poached eggs, chopped herbs such as tarragon, parsley or chives or grated Parmesan or Romano, if desired

1. Bring medium pot of salted water to boil. Cook chard (or any heavier green; no need to precook baby spinach) for one minute, then drain and squeeze out as much extra water as possible. Coarsely chop chard.

2. Dry out the medium pot and heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add carrots, celery, shallots and saute for 15 minutes, adding the garlic in the last few minutes.  Light browning is okay, although don't go crazy--you mostly want soft veggies, not crispy ones, and definitely no burnt garlic--bitter city!

3. Add wine (scraping up any bits that may have stuck to the pot) and cook it until it reduced by three-fourths. 

 4. Add beans, broth, tomatoes, a few pinches of salt, freshly ground black pepper, thyme and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes. Add chard and cook for 5 minutes more. Remove thyme and bay leaf. Add more broth if you’d like a thinner stew and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

5. Serve as is drizzled with sherry vinegar. Or try the aforementioned toast/stew/egg/cheese/sherry vinegar combo.

Enjoy!

A Monstrously Good Salad

 

I may have created a monster.  This is what happened: 

My family came to visit this weekend, and brought with them several bags of Trader Joe's goodies.  Happiness!  Among those things was a bag of haricots verts, yummy skinny green beans (pre-trimmed!), and a box of cherry tomatoes.  On Saturday, after a long walk around town and on the beach, and a quick visit to the Whaling Museum, we were hungry for lunch, but it was already 2 o'clock, and I didn't want to eat anything that would spoil my appetite for what I knew would be a delicious dinner at Centre Street Bistro, where we had 7 o'clock reservations. (Dinner was fantastic, by the way.)  My dad suggested we use the green beans, so working with what we had in the house, I boiled the green beans, sliced some of the cherry tomatoes, and tossed them with a simple mustard-y dressing with just a hint of balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Meanwhile my mother soft(ish) boiled two eggs, which she peeled and sliced, and tossed on top of the green beans and tomatoes.  Instant success!  My dad loved the salad so much that he insisted we make it again for Easter breakfast/brunch, so we did, and had it alongside scrambled eggs and bacon, and chocolate cake (another post for another time).  Unconventional, but delicious.  Erik had the green bean salad for the first time on Easter, and liked it so much that today he called me at work, and asked if it would be okay if he made it again for dinner!  I said yes, and so tonight we had it again alongside delicious spicy turkey burgers with grilled red onion, avocado slices, and pepperjack cheese.  Slightly unconventional yet again, but you see, this simple combo is so yummy that we'll eat it with just about anything!  Erik hadn't seen me make the salad the first two time, so his take was slightly different : he used apple cider vinegar instead of balsamic and tossed in a minced shallot.  These little changes were delicious, and I couldn't say which version I like better.  But either way, this quick salad is a winner, on its own or alongside any unconventional thing you can think of.

UPDATE:  I have received several questions about the egg issue: what constitutes soft boiled, and if it's soft, does the yolk mix into the dressing?  For the past three days when we've made this salad, the egg topping has been slightly different.  When my mom made the eggs, the yolks were not completely set, but were not runny, either.  The yolks mixed in a bit, but I wouldn't say they coated the beans.  On Easter I lost track of time and ended up hard boiling the egg, so when the egg was sliced and tossed into the salad the yolk chunks sort of distributed themselves.  Erik's egg was somewhere between those two.  If I make this salad once or twice more I will probably cover all points along the egg-boiling spectrum!  Personally, I hate runny yolks, so I always want them to set up at least a bit.  However, if you like runny yolks, by all means, just cook your egg until your whites are set and the yolks are still liquid-y enough to coat the beans along with the dressing.  I'm pretty sure there is no wrong way to do this, and I'd love to hear from anyone who tries the runny yolk method to hear how it is!

Although I didn't take pictures, my mom captured this image on her iPhone.  

The huge hand belongs to my dad.

Impromptu Green Bean Salad

Serves as many as you like, just scale accordingly

* Haricot Verts or regular green beans, ends trimmed

* Grape or Cherry tomatoes, halved

* Minced shallot (optional)

* Good Dijon mustard

* Balsamic or Apple Cider vinegar

* EVOO

* 1 or 2 soft or hard boiled eggs

1. Prepare your eggs:  I like the Julia Child method, which is to cover the eggs with water, bring to a boil, then remove from the heat, cover the pan, and let sit 17 minutes (for a hard boiled egg), then transfer to an ice bath until the eggs are cool enough to peel and slice.  I haven't experimented with the perfect length of time for a soft-er boiled egg, and I'm simply too lazy right now to go downstairs and find out if the cookbook says what it is, so let's guess that it's maybe 10 minutes? 12 minutes?  Who knows?  I ended up overcooking the egg the second time around, and the salad was still delish.

2. Bring a larger pot of water to a boil, add salt, and then boil the green beans until they are about 90% cooked.  Drain and refill the pan with very cold water and a handful of ice cubes to stop the cooking process.  (It's always best to pull the beans off the stove just before they're finished, because they always cook just a tiny bit more before you get them in the ice bath.)

3.  In the bottom of your serving dish of choice, mix together equal parts mustard and vinegar.  When they are combined, slowly add about the same amount of EVOO.  The dressing here should be a bit thicker than regular salad dressing.  Taste, adjust components if necessary, and season liberally with freshly ground black pepper, and salt, if desired.

4.  Wash and halve cherry tomatoes and add to the serving bowl. 

5. When green beans have cooled, pat them dry(ish), cut them in half, and toss in with the tomatoes.  Add minced shallot, if using, and toss all together.

6.  Slice eggs and add to the salad, and toss once more just to incorporate the eggs.  Serve and enjoy!

Luckily for me, tonight's salad used the last of the green beans, and Erik promises that we won't make it tomorrow (but then added a moment later that haricot verts are on sale at the Stop n Shop right now :)  While three days in a row might be my limit, I know this is one simple salad I will return to again and again (and again and again...)

Shortcut Soup

 

I have a backlog of recipes that I've been meaning to blog about, but I haven't written much lately because I haven't photographed anything because my camera is back at my cottage, while I've been cooking at the house where I've been cat sitting all winter.  However, I've decided just to forge ahead in the blogging, and I'll fill in photos later, because all of these recipes are definitely keepers, so I'm sure I'll make them again soon.

I'm calling tonight's recipe Shortcut Soup, but 400 Best-Ever Soups, the book in which I found it, calls it Butter [Lima] Bean, Sun-Dried Tomato and Pesto Soup.  It's a shortcut soup because instead of simmering a laundry-list of ingredients for hours to create complex flavor layers, this soup uses just three ingredients that already pack a flavorful punch, along with healthy lima beans, to create a fast soup that tastes like it was on the stove all day.  While I managed to take about five times longer than necessary to cook this soup, and created a huge mess in the process, I was pleased with the result....although on second thought, it's probably good that I didn't have a camera to document the cooking.

As mentioned, I've been cat sitting this winter, and I made this soup at the "cat house" tonight.  After failing to find canned lima beans at my local grocery store, I had to boil dry ones, so that added an extra hour to the cooking process.  When I got to the blending stage, I realized that the blender (which Erik declared probably dates back to the Eisenhower administration) leaked, so I had to quickly dump the soup back in the pot before it all oozed out.  In my haste I whacked the ladle, catapulting soup all over the stove, the counter, the floor, and the cookbook, which is actually a library book...oops.  At that point I decided to switch to the food processor to finish the blending, which worked fine, though food processors are just inherently slower and messier than blenders (when your blender isn't leaking, that is) when you're working with liquids.  However, I eventually got all the soup blended, and dinner was finally on the table.  To round out the meal I toasted thick slices of whole wheat ciabatta topped with brie under the broiler until it was bubbly and melting into the nooks and crannies.

Butter Bean, Sun-Dried Tomato and Pesto Soup (Adapted from 400 Best-Ever Soups)

Serves 3-4

* 2 14-ounce cans of butter beans (lima beans), drained and rinsed or about 2/3 of a pound dried lima beans, boiled until tender (about 1 hour), or about 4 cups of frozen lima beans, thawed.

* 1 quart of good quality chicken stock, or vegetable stock, if you want to make a vegetarian meal

* 4 tablespoons of sun-dried tomato puree, or about 8 sun-dried tomato halves, finely chopped

* 5 tablespoons of good quality store-bought pesto, or homemade, if you feel so inclined

* Freshly ground pepper, to taste

1. In a large sauce pan (4 quarts or so) combine lima beans and the stock, and bring to a boil.

2. Reduce the heat and stir in the tomato puree and the pesto.  Cover, and simmer for 5 minutes.

3.,  Transfer the soup, working in batches if necessary, to a blender and puree until smooth.  Return to pan and reheat gently, about 5 minutes.  Season to taste, if necessary--between the stock and the pesto, the soup is plenty salty, but a generous grind of fresh pepper gives it a nice punch. 

If you have the right ingredients and reliable appliances, this soup can be on your table in just about 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

Beans, Beans, They're Good For Your Heart...

Diet & lifestyle books are a dime a dozen, and sometimes you have to take what they say with a grain of salt. (I'm on a cliche roll here, any more I can throw in?). This past January my mom got into South Beach, and when she came to visit me over the winter she bragged that she hadn't had a piece of fruit since the New Year. I mean....okay, but is that even healthy? Meanwhile she was eating eggs, peanuts, and more red meat in a sitting than I eat in a week. I guess I shouldn't knock South Beach since I have never read the book. But no fruit? I live for fruit! So instead I will talk about a food guru that I have read and respect: Mark Bittman. Bittman's book Food Matters, which I mentioned briefly in my sweet potato soup entry, basically posits that both the planet and our bodies could be much healthier if we ate less meat and more fruits and veggies. He wasn't the first person to make either of these claims, but his was the first book that I read and took to heart, and it has changed the way I eat (plus it has about 75 recipes!). For example, I've only bought soda once or twice since January! (Apparently soda takes a lot of energy to produce). More to Bittman's point, however, I've gone from eating meat at nearly every lunch and dinner to eating meat only about half the days of the week (because meat industry = polution & high energy consumption). Sometimes it takes me a few more minutes to think of a balanced vegetarian meal instead of using the meat-vegetable-starch formula that I was raised on. (Or, when carbs went out of fashion, meat-vegetable-vegetable model). However, after nearly a year of less-meat cooking I have collected a few go-to veg recipes. In particular, I've really gotten into making my own bean burgers, which I think are tastier than many brands from the freezer section. The one I am going to share with you tonight is Black Eyed Pea Cakes, courtesy of Cooking Light (September 2008). This is also a recipe that uses chilis in adobo, and tonight will be using the same chilis in adobo that have been kicking around since I blogged about Radloff Salad With A Twist in September. I'm telling you people, I need more ideas for how to use that stuff up! But without further ado, the recipe:

Black Eyed Pea Cakes with Adobo Cream (Cooking Light, September 2008)

* 1/4 cup fat-free sour cream
* 1 teaspoon adobo sauce
* 1 15 ounce can no-salt-added black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
* 1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
* 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
* 1/2 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 1 large egg, lightly beaten
* 1 large egg white, lightly beaten (if things are dry--I usually skip it)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
* 1/4 cup (about 1 ounce) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

1. Combine sour cream and adobo sauce in a small bowl, set aside.

2. Place beans in a medium bowl; partially mash beans with a fork. Stir in the breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, cumin, salt, pepper, and egg. With clean hands, divide pea mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each portion into a 1/2-inch-thick patty.

3. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add patties to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden and thoroughly heated. Remove from pan; top each cake with 1 tablespoon cheese. Serve with sour cream mixture.

Check out that healthy pile of veg

Cooking Light suggests serving this with rice and tomato wedges dressed with vinaigrette. I like to make a more jazzed up salad based on a relish from In The Kennedy Kitchen, which incorporates finely diced red onion, avocado, tomato, and cucumber dressed with a simple balsamic, EVOO, chives and basil, salt & pepper. For a bigger meal cornbread (with or without jalapenos) can round things out nicely.

Enjoy!