Here is a recipe I found at Vegetarian Times that I have changed quite a bit. It takes a little over 1 hour from start chopping to finish cooking, so, it is fairly fast to make. I really like the additional seeds and the fig balsamic vinegar in the dish. If you don’t have that, just add some dried figs or raisins to the curry. I think I may add some dried figs, apricots or other dried fruits to the next batch, it would really be a nice melding of savory and sweet flavors. The really more complex flavors of the yellow fin potatoes, golden beets and seeds just add a nice, satisfying “tooth” to the dish. Naan, rice or quinoa, and a sweet tomato, mango or mint chutney would be a nice accompaniment.

Masman Curried Potatoes

Serves 6-8
Equipment: A 4 quart cast iron dutch oven or stock pot with a lid, wooden spoons to stir with

1 1/2 T canola oil
1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
4 yellow fin or yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed and large chopped
1 large golden beet, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
2 large carrots, scrubbed and sliced in about 2″ X 1/2″ sticks
3 T Mae Ploy Masman paste
1 15 oz can black beans with juice
1 15 oz can organic diced tomatoes with juice
1/2 C homemade vegetable broth or boxed broth (add more as needed)
1-2 jalapeno chiles, deveined, seeded and minced (depends on how hot they are)
1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar (I used a nice fig balsamic vinegar)
1/2 – 1 C water or more as needed
1/2 – 1 tsp each of: cumin seeds, fennel seeds, cardamon seeds, crushed red pepper (use less of this until you know how hot it is) crushed in a mortar and pestle

Heat oil in pot about medium to medium high. Add onion and saute until translucent, add potatoes, beets, carrots and Masman paste and saute for 4-6 minutes, stirring a bit. Make a space and add the spices and saute a little. Stir up and add the garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes more. Add everything else but the water, stir and bring to a high heat to boil, then turn down to a bubbling simmer, add 1/2 C water and cook for 15 minutes, add more water or broth throughout the simmering as needed to keep a sauce going. Adjust seasonings like the vinegar or Masman. Turn down the heat to a slow simmer for another 30-45 minutes until potatoes are flaky and soft.
This dish needs to be almost a stew, not a soup. Put salt or pepper on the table.
Serve over quinoa or rice.

I found this recipe on the Apartment Therapy Kitchen site with a number of other recipes for school lunches. I’ve been thinking of not using tuna much anymore because tuna is overfished and now full of mercury. So this recipe fit the bill for what I had been thinking about for awhile. Cooking chickpeas is pretty easy to do. Soak overnight, rinse, put in a pot and fill with water. Boil then turn down to a semi-fast simmer for 40 minutes to 2 hours until tender, depending on how fresh your dried chickpeas are, drain and use or freeze for use later.
We went to the Washington coast this week and enjoyed a chickpea of the sea sandwich with some snickerdoodle cookies on the side while watching a flock of pelicans flying up and down the beach looking for dinner.

Chickpea of the Sea Salad

1 1/2 C cooked and drained chickpeas
1/3 C sugar free mayonnaise
1 T whole grain mustard
2+ T Italian white wine vinegar
1 tsp celery seeds
1/8 – 1/4 tsp cayenne powder
freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 T finely diced celery
1 scallion, finely sliced
1 T red onion, finely diced
3-4 cornichons, finely diced plus 1-2 T of the juice

In a food processor (or by hand with a fork), pulse (or smash) the chickpeas a few times, add the mayo, mustard, vinegar and spices. Pulse until well mixed but still a little chunky. Add the cornichon juice and more vinegar if moisture is needed but don’t overdo it, you don’t want a sloppy mixture. Place in a bowl and fold in the celery, onions and cornichons. Let sit awhile for flavors to meld.
Serve as a sandwich (toast the bread!) with some lettuce on both sides or as a dip with celery sticks or crackers or pita bread.

MY GARDEN PEA POD SALAD

Serves 2 as dinner and about 4 as a side

DRESSING:

1 clove garlic, minced
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp white balsamic vinegar
3 T extra virgin olive oil
a mix of fresh herbs like mint, parsley & basil, chopped or torn
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

Mix together until emulsified and set aside for flavors to meld for at least 20 minutes.

THE SALAD:

sugar snap pea pods
radishes
basil leaves
baby spinach
cucumber (I used a seedless variety)
nasturtium leaves

Thinly slice cucumber and radishes, tear spinach, nasturtiums and basil leaves. Tip and tail the pea pods but leave whole. Toss all together. Add dressing and toss. Serve immediately with toppings.

Toppings:

greek yogurt* topped with lemon zest
nasturtium flowers

*I drain my goat’s milk yogurt overnight and it makes a thick and tangy greek yogurt. You could use a plain greek yogurt instead.

A good green bean salad can be taken to any summer event and enjoyed without a problem of spoiling if you don’t use mayo or eggs or other protien. The beans are harcort verts or skinny French green beans. This salad is good warm or room temp, cold, not so much. So, the perfect salad for a picnic.
I made a much larger version of this salad for our local congregational dinner for the homeless, therefore, no garlic or too spicy a dish. For a smaller group of 8-16, this recipe works well.
The recipe originally came from an old Jamie Oliver cookbook (I think).

Warm French Green Bean Salad

1 lb frozen or fresh French green beans
3 tsp Dijon mustard
2 T white wine vinegar (I used a mellow Italian brand)
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot, diced
1 T capers, drained
1-2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Serves 8 for a side dish

Boil some water and turn down to a fast simmer and drop the prepped green beans in. Stir and simmer for 2-5 minutes until barely tender keeping the green color. Using a spider, drain the beans into a large colander. Toss the beans until dry. Combine the mustard, vinegar and olive oil and whisk until thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste and whisk again. Pour over the dry green beans in a serving bowl along with the shallots, capers and garlic. Toss well and taste and adjust the seasonings. Serve warm or room temperature.

We planted some collards, kale, radish and salad spinach this year for the first time and, even though we planted each in a 1 foot square plot, we got a really good crop. We harvested the salad spinach last week, the radishes two weeks ago and since and the collards for the first time this last weekend. Fresh collards cooked are so amazing. Easy to grow and easy to cook. They are firm to the tooth and keep well in the fridge for several days. Lovely as a lunch or a side for a dinner later in the week.
I am a fusion chef, so, I made this dish from several cultures. Do use either a Walla Walla or a Vadila onion for the flavor these sweet onions impart. The Spanish pimenton (Spanish smoked paprika)# was a revelation! It is so flavorful and, at only $3.49 for a 2.6 oz container, a good bargain. I am becoming an addict because it is so aromatic. The brand is De La Vera by SANMEL.

Vegetarian Collard Greens

Serves 8 1/2 C servings

2 lbs fresh collard greens
1 -2 T canola oil
2-3 fresh garlic cloves, minced
1 lg Walla Walla onion, chopped
4 C vegetable stock (I used Better Than Bouillon 1 T vegetable and 1 T mushroom + 4 C water)
1 tsp sea salt
1 1/2 tsp unsalted butter
1 tsp ground Spanish pimenton# (paprika) or another smoked sweet paprika
1/4 C organic apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp dried bonito*
1/2 – 1 tsp Korean vinegar hot pepper paste (I use SAJO brand – this is used in making kim chee)

Prepare the collard greens by trimming the stems off, soaking and rinsing the greens and tearing the leaves in large strips.
Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat, add the onions and saute until they turn golden and get a little caramelized. Add garlic and saute for 2-4 minutes until they are translucent, add the stock and all other ingredients except the collards and bring to a boil, turn down and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste and adjust flavors as needed. Add the collards, bring barely to a boil, turn down the heat to a fast simmer for 30 minutes. You want the collards to still be somewhat green and firm and not mush!

Note: I used not only collards but some spinach and radish tops from my garden that just needed usin’.

*Bonito is a dried fish flavor enhancer use it or not, just adjust the other seasonings to your liking.

This is one of the wonderful things that Alice Waters brought to California. A simple French tart with fruit. There are so many great cooks that made this kind of a recipe possible. I see Fannie, Julia and James here, too.
Easy to make and easy to eat. Oh, get the best apples you can, please? It’s almost apple season! The way I make it, it is a sweet/slightly salty tart. I use some tart and some sweet apples to help the galette be less juicy and more fruity. I like it that way.

Apple Galette

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Equipment: 9 1/2″ ceramic tart pan, lightly buttered

Dough:

1 1/4 C all purpose King Arthur flour
1/2 C salted butter, chop in small cubes and keep in fridge until needed
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white sugar
1/2 C ice water

Combine flour, salt and sugar, sieve butter into flour with your fingers until lightly incorporated. Add water a tablespoon at a time and mix until dough is coming together and pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Pat into a disc and wrap in saran and place in fridge for 1 hour or more. When ready to bake, roll the dough out to a circle about 14″ in diameter and place in the tart pan.

Filling:

4 good size apples, two tart and two sweet (I used 1 granny smith, 1 jazz, 1 pink lady, 1 cameo), peel, core and slice (save peels and cores)
2 T butter, melted
3 T white sugar
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon

There are two methods of slicing the apples and using them in the galette. Either slice and keep the quarter slices together to place in the tart or toss all the slices together. Once you get the apples sliced, put them on the dough. Combine 1 1/2 T sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and sprinkle over the apples. Pour a little of the melted butter over the apples. Fold the dough over the apples and crimp as needed to make a neat package. Baste the dough with the rest of the butter and sprinkle with the sugar/spice mixture. Bake in center of oven 45 minutes or so until the apples are soft and the crust is a golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on rack 15 minutes.

Glaze:

1/2 C sugar
1/2 C water
apple cores and peels
Fleur de sel

While tart is baking, make glaze in a saucepan. Fast simmer sugar, water and apple cores and peels until syrupy (about 25 minutes). Strain and reserve. Brush syrup all over galette and the fruit in the middle when cool. Sprinkle with a little Fleur de sel.

Topping:

sour cream or ice cream or gelato

Enjoy the galette plain or with sour cream or ice cream or gelato

TEX MEX CHILE GRAVY

3 whole dried ancho chiles, seeded and stemmed
3 C vegetable or chicken broth
1/3 C spicy white onion, chopped
6 T vegetable oil or lard
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
6 T all-purpose flour
1 T ancho chile powder (or to taste, you may not need this much)
2 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 T butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
good garlic powder as needed (I use Frontier brand)

Place chiles in a small saucepan and cover with 1 1/2 cups of broth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, turn down to medium and cook until chiles have softened, about 5 minutes. Let cool.
Pour mixture and onion in a blender, cover and pulse on high until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups broth and pulse to combine.
Heat oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat until hot but not smoking, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook until soft and tender but not browned, about 1 minute. Add flour and cook, whisking constantly, until flour smells toasted but garlic remains pale in color, about 2 minutes more.
Whisk in ancho chile powder, cumin, and oregano and let cook for 30-45 seconds while stirring and slowly pour in chile mixture. Whisk until chile mixture is completely incorporated, about 2 minutes. Add the butter. Remove from heat and season well with salt, black pepper and garlic powder, if needed.

TEX MEX CHEESE ENCHILADAS

Serves 2-3
Preheat oven to 375

6 corn tortillas, warmed so they are pliable
1/4 C spicy white onion, sliced and chopped (you could use a nice red onion)
6 tsp pickled jalapenos & a little juice, diced
3-4 T cilantro
3/4 C chile gravy
1-1 1/2 C cheese (I used a really good cheddar, you could use jack or jalapeno jack or a Mexican cheese)

In this recipe, I used a small Corningware dish with a lid, you could use a pyrex dish with foil for a lid, but use some type of lid in the beginning of cooking so the enchiladas don’t dry out.
Spread about 1/4 C chile gravy in the bottom of the pan. Assemble the tortilla adding some cheese, onion, pickled jalapeno, a little cilantro and a little drizzle of the pickled jalapeno juice. Roll tightly and place in dish seam side down. Pour the rest of the chile gravy over the top and pop the lid on and bake for 10-20 minutes until the cheese is melted and the dish is hot. Take the lid off and sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top. Bake until the cheese is melted. Sprinkle some cilantro on top and serve warm.

This recipe is expandable if you have more to serve. It could also be done in a microwave, but I would put a cup of hot water in the microwave with the dish to keep it moist. You would have to watch it closely so the cheese doesn’t get hard and crusty and just melts.

Pantry Pasta Dinner

4-6 servings
Equipment: 2 QT saucepan for the pasta, 12″-14″ skillet with lid for the sauce

spinach and cheese ravioli, frozen (or fresh, if you will)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
12 oz jar bruchetta
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 C white wine
1/2 tsp of each: Italian herbs, onion powder, dried or fresh oregano
1/2 C zucchini, shredded
1/2 C italian Castelvetrano green olives, pitted and halved
2 T capers
1 tsp lemon zest
salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste
more extra virgin olive oil
Grana Padano, shredded

Boil a pan of water and drop in the ravioli and cook until done according to directions on the ravioli package, drain and reserve.
Meanwhile, in a skillet over medium heat, saute the garlic until tender in a little olive oil, add diced tomatoes, bruchetta and more olive oil. Add the herbs and the wine and cook down until the mixture absorbs the liquid. Stir in zucchini, olives, capers, lemon zest and salt & pepper. Taste and add more salt or pepper or olive oil as needed. You want a tomato sauce that is tight. Add ravioli and toss. Add pasta water if the mixture is too dry and toss. Add the cheese and toss. Add some olive oil if the sauce needs it, you can tell! Serve on plates with a nice salad and parmesan bread and top with some more of the Grana Padano.

Sorry I’ve been away so long. On a mini vacation and then sick with the hacking cough and upper respiratory ICK! But, I’m back!
We had a really nice and sunny mini vacation on the mid Oregon coast near Tillamook. We walked on the beach, visited the Cape Mearnes Lighthouse and spent a day in Tillamook at the Cheese Factory and toured the Tillamook Air Museum. This is a great museum if you love planes and large structures. It’s where they kept many blimps during WWII, and is the largest wooden structure in the world. They now display over 30 warbird planes there. At the Blue Heron French Cheese Company, we had lunch with a baby grand piano being played for our entertainment. They have wonderful cheeses and wine and especially Oregon wines you can purchase at the place or on the internet. This is where I had the Cream of Spinach Soup. So, when sweetie and I got sick, I just had to try and recreate this warm, creamy and filling delight.

Cream of Spinach Soup

Makes 4-6 Cups

3 T butter & more to taste
1/2 C yellow onion, finely diced
1/2 C carrot, finely diced
1/2 C celery, finely diced
3 T all purpose flour
2 C of a combination of whole milk, 1/2 & 1/2, and buttermilk, and a little yogurt thrown in
1 1/4 C chicken or not-chicken broth
1/2 C zucchini, finely diced (optional, I had it, I used it)
2 T basil
1 T cilantro
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 C white wine
1/4 C broth whisked with 1 T cornstarch
2 C fresh baby spinach, stemmed and washed
1 oz medium sherry
1/2 tsp sea salt and more to taste

In a 8 Cup saucepan, melt the 3T butter and saute the miripoix (carrot, celery and onion) until softened and translucent. Add flour and stir until beginning to thicken. Slowly stir in the milk and cook on medium low until thickened. Add in the chicken broth a little at a time until it is the consistency to your liking. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Add zucchini, nutmeg, basil, cilantro and white wine and stir. Add the broth/cornstarch mixture a little at a time, stirring in between additions. Add spinach, sherry, salt and more butter to taste. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes until spinach is wilted, taste and re-season if needed. Serve hot.

You could use some vegetarian broth or I want to try some mushroom broth and add some sliced mushrooms in the soup. There are all sorts of vegetables you could add in season, the miripoix and fresh spinach are the important veggies to keep in. This soup is not a pepper heat kind of soup, just gentle, warming and filling. With some good bread and butter, YUM!

OMG, OMG, OMG!!!
This is the best sandwich ever!!! You just cannot believe what a freshly baked baguette and lovely ingredients do to make a savory sandwich. Yummy, yummy, yummy!!!
The baguette is fairly easy but making the bread takes three days with a little fiddling and not too much hands on time. The sandwich fixings are mostly refrigerator stuff with fours extras. You won’t be sorry if you try this.
And that olive thing in the back between the halves? My pickled okra. That was yummy, too!

French Baguette Sandwich

These are the ingredients I like, you may like something different, just know that what you don’t want is anything too juicy, it will make the sandwich mushy. Most of these ingredients can be picked up at a grocery store olive or salad bar!

A French Baguette about 6″ long cut in half (King Arthur Baguette Recipe)*
stuff from my fridge:
Dijon mustard (very little)
mayonnaise (very little)
basil pesto
pepperoncinis, cut in half and seeded and drained
roasted red bell peppers, drained
green olives, chopped in half
stuff I just happened to have:
herbed goat cheese
red onion, halved and thinly sliced
fresh spinach, washed and patted dry
cherry tomatoes, halved and drained

You can get a baguette or a bola and heat it up and make this sandwich. I found the baguette to be a great adventure to make. Try it!
To assemble the sandwich, take a little mustard on one side and a little mayo on the other, add pesto to the mayo side and the goat cheese to the mustard side, add all the other layers and put together and smush a little to make the sandwich stay together. Sit down and eat slowly! It really is that good!

*What I did different to this recipe: proofed the starter for the whole 14 hours, added the whole 1 1/4 C water to the dough, added 2 tsp. sea salt to the dough, mixed the dough with a mixer with dough hooks for 15 minutes, let the dough rise and punched it down 3 times after 1 hour rise time each then let it sit overnight until the next afternoon, instead of grease while kneading and forming into the baguettes the last time, I used a little flour and resting the dough several times, I did not slash the sandwich baguettes, I did slash the long baguettes a little, I baked at 425 instead of 450, I baked it on a pizza stone and spritzed with warm water. Little difference, no?