Butternut Squash & Baby Kale over Farro

I cooked only once this past week (on Wednesday) and, all modesty aside, I have to say with pretty good success. My Tuesday grocery delivery included some pretty fresh-looking broccoli and baby kale that I couldn't wait to put to good use along with a medium butternut squash from a few weeks ago.

I know from experience that the contrast between the sweetness of the squash and the earthiness of the kale works pretty well - I had experimented with this combo, which served as the ingredients of a delicious pasta sauce, a while back.

Since I was looking for a no fuss, quick meal, I started by steaming the squash. I then tossed it with a bit of honey, sea salt, coarsely ground pepper, thyme and rosemary and put it under the broiler for 10-15 minutes.

I forgot to mention that I threw some faro (one of the great ancient grains!) in the rice cooker even before starting on the squash:

I figured that because the broccoli were so fresh, it did not make sense to process them too much. It occurred to me that I can take advantage of the steam that was still coming out of the pot where I had steamed the squash so I put in the broccoli in there (heat was off) for a few minutes to soften them a bit. As you can see in the picture below they appear raw with the green color still appearing quite vibrant. The dressing was simple - a bit of honey, red wine (pinot noir, to be precise) vinegar, high grade EVVO, salt and black pepper.

While the squash was in the oven, I sauteed some minced, leftover teryaki chicken meat balls with some garlic, hot chili pepper flakes and olive oil. In the meantime, I also cleaned and roughly chopped the baby kale.

The kale didn't take too long too cook (again preserving the vibrant green color was of utmost importance).

Once the kale was done I added the nicely roasted squash with charred and caramelized edges.I mixed everything well to integrate the flavors and proceeded to spoon the cooked faro into the bowls. A little trick that I like to use to kick the taste up a notch is stirring a bit of butter and parmesan into the grains for extra je-ne-sais-quoi. An unintended side effect - they seem to photograph better this way too (compare vs. rice cooker picture).

...I topped the farro with the kale+squash and happily chowed it all down.

Bittman, a copy cat??? Just kidding - Great minds think alike

Did any of you see the latest installment of Bittman's Minimalist column in the New York Times?

Whole Wheat Muffin, the Remix

Remember my rendition of Plodova Salata's blueberry muffins? Well, I swear he must have read my post and "borrowed" some of my ideas :) His tricks include "whole wheat pastry flour" and "a mashed fruit"...Hm ...

Lunch in a hurry and questions for you :)

Not so many postings these days! The girls are not cooking, they're getting in shape for the V-day :)
Just be patient, we may see some exquisite dishes, post factum. Something like strawberry trifles, hazelnut semifreddo, or chocolate souffle ... oh my goodness, I can't wait ....
So,  here are the questions for you:

• Do you cook for your sweet heart on Valentine's day?
• What do you think the perfect Valentine's day dinner would be?

In the lack of great recipes, I'm sharing my modest lunch today.
I spent an hour in the gym this morning, and despite the delicious oatmeal breakfast, I felt hungry pretty early,  even before 11 am. I needed something light and satisfying to keep me full for a couple of hours. Fish and avocado are a great source of proteins and healthy fats, and I love fish, all kind of fish.
I remembered, I had a can of pink salmon left in the "cleaned out" pantry. I decorated it with one tomato, 1/3 of avocado, some celery and cilantro, spiced with salt, pepper, a few drops of extra virgin olive oil and vinegar.

It would've been better with a toast, but I haven't yet baked any bread this week. Even without bread the salad tasted great, fresh and not very fishy. As you can expect it was very reasonable calorie wise, around 220 calories.

Squasagna ... or the perfect squash lasagna

My friend SVM has inspired me with this dish. I have borrowed her *squasagna* recipe and have modified it to fit my cooking style and eating / taste buds habits. I am a firm believer that recipes should be regarded as guidelines only, and not as strict rules, and often times I have hard time sticking to a recipe (hence my dislike for baking...). So without further ado, let me present you with my interpretation of Squash Lasagna:

0. I used no-boil lasagna noodles. They work just fine and shorten your cooking time by at least 30% (guesstimate).



1. Squash filling:

• 3 butternut squashes, peeled and cubed
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, smashed
• spices: thyme, sage, chives, basil
• seasonings: salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cube of vegetable bouillon (dissolved in 1 cup water)

What to do:
Sautee the onions and garlic in olive oil over medium heat for 10 min, or until soft and translucent. Add salt and pepper to taste and add some thyme, chives, and sage. Then transfer to a bowl and set aside. In the same pan that you cook the onions, add the cubed squash and 1 cup of vegetable bouillon and cook on high heat until the squash is soft to the point that you can mash it with a fork (~15 min). Add salt, black and cayenne pepper, sage, thyme, chives and basil (don't be afraid to add a lot of spices... :) Once the squash is ready, remove from heat and mash it with a fork and mix it with the onions. It is a good idea to taste the mixture and make sure it is adequately seasoned.



2. Cheese mix:

• 15 oz ricotta cheese
• 2/3 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded (save ~1/2 cup aside to use as final topping of the noodles)
• 1/4 lb pecorino romano cheese, shredded
• sage, thyme, chives, basil
• salt, black pepper to taste

Mix the cheeses and spices together in a large bowl. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

3. Bechamel sause:

• 2 table spoons butter
• 2 table spoons flour
• 1.5 cups milk
• 1 cup water
• salt and black pepper to taste.

In a small pot, melt the butter over low heat. Then add the flour and whisk quickly so no chunks remain. Then, while constantly stirring, slowly pour the milk and the water. Add salt and pepper and bring to a gentle boil in ~ 10 min.




Assembling the lasagna:

1. At the bottom of your baking pan, pour 1/2 of the Bechamel sause and then put the first layer of noodles.



2. Then layer the noodles with the squash filling and the cheese mix:

• noodles
• squash filling
• noodles
• cheese mix
• noodles
• squash filling
• noodles etc..

3. Cover the top layer of noodles with shredded mozzarella and pour the rest of the Bechamel sauce over the lasagna.



4. Bake at 375F for 40 min and enjoy!

Fancy Grilled Sandwiches

These are some of my favorite sandwiches to make. All it takes is some tomatoes, veggies, various cheeses, and bread + some spices.

This is what I used:

- 2 slices of home made bread

- 10 cherry tomatoes

- 1 avocado

- 1 mushroom

- 1 thin slice bulgarian cheese

- 1 thin slice smoked gouda

- 1 table spoon shredded parmesan cheese

- 1 thin slice blue cheese

- a bit of butter 

- a bit of mustard (you can substitute with curry powder -- it gives it a different tasty flavor)

Preparation & cooking time - 10 min.

On the bread spread the butter and mustard. Place a thin slice of bulgaria cheese, arrange the sliced mushroom, crumble the blue cheese, sprinkle with the parmesan. Then cut the cherry tomatoes in 1/2 and place on top, and finally finish with the smoked gouda.  Place the sandwiches in the grill. The important thing here is the bake on low temperature, so all cheese melts well. While waiting on the sandwiches to grill, cut one avocado length and arrange in a plate. When the sandwiches are grilled well ( I personally like them more toasty) -- simply enjoy! :)

PS sorry about the picture -- it just wouldn't get positioned right so finally I just stopped fighting with it.

Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon

I cooked Boeuf a la Bourguignonne last night, the Julia Child's Boeuf Bourguignon :). I started out late around 7:30pm, and we had dinner at 10:30PM, but it was well worthy.
It took me some time to mentally and logistically prepare to cook this famous and already iconic dish. I have read the recipe couple of times, found the right products, the right casserole, the right spices,  etc.  According to Julia, the casserole should be 10 to 12 inches wide and 3 inches deep. The enameled cast iron by All Clad Emerilware, I got recently, perfectly matched the requirements.
These are the ingredients  you need:

• 6-once chunk of bacon or 6 bacon strips
• 3 lb lean beef for stew
• 1 sliced carrot
• 1 onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp flour
• 3 cups young wine, like Chianti
• 2 cups beef stock
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1 crumbled bay leaf
• 1 lb mushrooms
• 18-24 white pearl onions (I used yellow, sorry Julia :)
• parsley

STEP 1: Cut the bacon and simmer it for 10 minutes, then drain and dry.

STEP 2: Saute the bacon in 1 tbsp oil in 10-12 inch casserole until lightly browned and remove to a side dish.

STEP 3: In the bacon fat brown the beef. Make sure you dry the beef well with paper towel, otherwise it won't brown. Remove it from the pan.

STEP 4: In the same fat, brown the sliced onion and carrot.

STEP 5: Preheat the oven to 450F. Return the beef and the bacon to the casserole. If there is a lot of fat in the casserole you can pour it out. Sprinkle the salt, pepper and flour over the meat and  toss it. Put the casserole in the oven for 4 minutes. Take it out, toss the meat again, and leave it in the oven for another 4 minutes. This browns the flour and covers the meat with a light crust.

STEP6: Stir the wine, the beef stock, the tomato paste,  the smashed garlic, and the spices in the meat.

STEP 7: Cover the casserole and return to the oven at 325F for 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

STEP 8: Meanwhile saute the mushrooms in 2 tbsp butter and 1tbsp olive oil. Don't crowd the mushrooms, brown them in two batches if needed.

STEP 9: Brown the onions in 1 1/2 tbsp butter and 1tbsp oil. Be careful not to break them. Season them with salt and pepper and set aside.

Caramelized onions and mushrooms in butter, OMG, the aromas were fantastic. I wish, you could've smelled it :)

I use a convection oven and the beef cooked faster, it was done after only two hours.  

STEP 10: Take the casserole out of the oven. If you see a lot of fat, that is the time to get rid of it. Also if the sauce is too thin or thick you can fix it. Put it in a separate bowl and add whatever is needed, flour or stock. I did not have to do any of these. I just added the mushroom and the onions on top of the stew.

You can serve with noodles, rice or with boiled potatoes, the way the French serve it. Sprinkle with parsley and pour a glass of Beaujolais, Bordeaux or Burgundy.

The dish exceeded my expectations. I'm not a big fan of these types of stews, but to be honest, this one was out of this world, or as Julia says " Carefully done, and perfectly flavored, it is certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man..."

Bon Appetit!

Two birds with one stone... or Moussaka and Soup!

I made these two dishes last week. I have been really busy at work lately and wanted to cook something that was going to be easy and would yield enough food so that I can take with me to work. Also i did not have time to do any shopping so i decided to use up all the ingredients that we had accumulated in the refrigerator. I had leftover ground beef and pork (~1lb) and used 3/4 lb for the moussaka and 1/4 for the soup. The ingredients that went in both dishes were onions, carrots, celery, garlic, potatoes, bell peppers, muchrooms and the ground beef. Despite the fact that these were made of almost exactly the same starting materials, to difference in texture was sufficient to make me think that I was eating completely different items so I managed to eat these for a week without getting burned out:)

For the Moussaka:

• 7 good sized potatoes, cubed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• one stick of celery, chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 1/2 lb of baby bella mushrooms, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, sliced
• 1 cup of frozen peas
• 1 can diced tomatoes, no salt added
• ~3/4 ground beef and pork seasoned with salt, black and cayenne pepper, cumin, savory

Sautee the onions and garlic in olive oil until soft. Then add the meat and cook for ~10 min over medium heat with occasional stirring. Once the meat is ready, add the carrots, celery and the bell pepper and cook ~ 5 min. Then add the mushrooms and the frozen peas and cook additional 10 min. Season to taste with salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, savory and cumin. Lastly, add the tomatoes and the chopped potatoes and ~1 cup of water, and transfer the whole mixture to an oven-safe dish and bake at 375F for ~30 min (or until the potatoes are completely cooked). Voila!


Now for the soup:

• 1 onion, 3 carrots, 1 bell pepper, 2 sticks of celery, 4 potatoes, 1 yam - all finely chopped in the food processor
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 lb of baby bella mushroom - cut into larger pieces so that the soup will have some texture
• 1/4 lb of ground beef/pork mixed meat.
• Spices: salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, cumin, savory and fresh parsley for garnish

In a large pot, saute the garlic with the ground meet until the meet is well cooked. Then add the mushrooms and cook for additional 10 min. Add spices to taste (salt, pepper, cumin, savory etc...) and finally add the potatoes and the yam. Add water and bring to boil and cook for ~20 min. Serve and garnish with parsley...Yum!

The Sunday Report: Prep for the week ahead

Here is this Sunday's prep report:

• The staples: beans (chickpeas) and grains (hulled barley and spelt mix)

• The pyrex containers in the back -- savoy cabbage salad with avocado (not pictured), roasted veggies (cauliflower, sweet potato, butternut squash with thyme, lemon juice, olive oil and rosemary; no steaming)

sauteed mushrooms with bacon

• Vegan banana muffins

• Faux seaweed soup with mushrooms (not pictured)

Spicy Stew with Leftover Chicken

The sumac chicken was tasty, but I cooked it in the middle of the week, so we could not finish it. I like using leftover chicken for stews or salads, especially when the chicken is roasted. The dish cooks faster and the chicken adds another layer of flavour, that is hard to accomplish if you start with raw meat.
The two beautifully roasted chicken breasts, nobody cared to have, were perfect for my spicy stew. A friend of mine cooked the stew for me few years ago, and I' ve been cooking it quite often since then. It is a very healthy and delicious meal. You can use whatever vegetables you have available, and play with different spices as well. My friend was recommending using exactly seven vegetables.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 zucchini
• 2 bell peppers - red and green
• 2 cups of cabbage
• 2 cups of mixed beans, chickpeas
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 2-3 Thai chili peppers
• 2-3 potatoes, not pictured
• 2 cups cubed chicken 

  Spices:

• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/3 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• salt to taste
• black or white pepper

Wash and chop your veggies. Try to make them equally sized. Start with sauteing the onions and the garlic. I usually add the salt and the rest of the spices to the onions, so I can extract most of the flavour. Then I add the carrots, the celery, the beans, the cabbage, the peppers, in order depending on the time required to cook. Add two cups of water and reduce the heat. When the carrots become soft, add the chicken, the zucchini, and the potatoes.

When the stew is ready, sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve the stew on top of couscous or quinoa.

Blueberry Muffins Re-invented - Vegan Style

When I saw Plodova Salata's blueberry muffins this morning, I was...inspired and I wouldn't let the lack of eggs and milk prevent me from whipping up some good breakfast delights for SM.

A quick glance in the fridge revealed that I still had some almond milk on hand. The egg-replacement issue was a little harder to fix. I recalled an article in the New York Times that discussed replacing eggs with ground flax seed in a cookie recipe. As far as I could recall, the experiment yielded some pretty good results.

Here were my modifications to PS' Blueberry muffin recipe:

• Swapped regular milk for unsweetened low fat almond milk
• Replaced 1 egg with 1tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 3 tbsp water (read more on this here) - I placed the bowl with the mixture in the freezer for 5-10 minutes
• Used half a frozen banana instead of the blueberries
• Added a couple of tablespoons of dried cherries, almonds and pistachios
• Added some cinnamon and extra vanilla
• Used whole wheat pastry /cake flour which is really fine
• Usd only 3tbsp of sugar

I blended all of the liquid ingredients in my blender:

The consistency of the mixture was very thick (I think because of the banana addition...). Next time I need to add a bit more moisture or fat.

I think I could have baked the muffins for only 20 minutes (vs. 25)

The muffins were not sweet and definitely benefited from the confectioner's sugar. They paired very well with the sweet Lupicia Golden Honey Dew tea.

The muffins were very light = they definitely exceeded my expectations!

Curious about the nutritional info? Take a look below - 3g of fiber!!!