Lentils, Chard and One Fabulous Poached Egg

I don’t even know where to start with this. It was so GOOD. I ate every last bit. I loved it, told Anne about it. She made it pronto, and it got rave reviews from her husband, too.

Hands down, amazing. I like my poached eggs pretty cooked, but I know the pic would look pretty with the yolk running down. Suffice as to say, it didn’t happen with mine. I also wished I managed to get this on the table before the sunset. It would be much prettier in natural light. Oh well – excuses to make it soon! I am not a big meal-repeater usually (exceptions for pizza), but I want to make this weekly.

I found the recipe on Dishing Up Delights‘ blog and copied it, word for word.

Roasted Beet and Blue Cheese Salad

1 bunch of beets, trimmed and sliced into half rounds

1/2 bag of baby spinach

1 ear of corn, kernels cut

blue cheese

salt, pepper, olive oil, balsamic

Preheat oven to 350. Put beets in roasting pan. Add a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast about 45 minutes, or until done. In a bowl add spinach, corn (I don’t cook it, and use it right off the cob. Very fresh.), and blue cheese. Add cooked beets to the salad. It’ll melt the blue cheese a little. Add balsamic, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

Picnic Lunch

I love monograms. If I could monogram our cat, I would do that. Poor Baby Bean. I’m not sure her opinions on monogramming though. This LL Bean bag is our beach and picnic tote. And it has my married initials on it. AND it’s green. I love it.

It was a Friday and shockingly, we both had the day off. We were Vermont bound the next morning (and for the subsequent weekend). Now, generally on a day off, I’ll do this: workout like a lunatic (whoo hoo, extra workout time!), clean the whole house top to bottom, do all the laundry, cook, bake and then collapse. On this day off – I said screw that! We’re going on a picnic. MUCH BETTER use of time.

I made a Panzanella Salad for Michael (see week 10, same recipe), and a cottage cheese salad for me. Cottage cheese salad is my go-to lunch choice. I eat it All. The. Time. And here is a rough idea of what I do:

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1/2 cup chickpeas (I use all kinds of beans)

yellow tomato

red tomato

avocado

cucumber

dill

salt, pepper

I have about 25 variations on this (I make one with black beans, cilantro and scallions, which I had for lunch on Monday). Mix it all together and nom it up. I use the 2% or 4% cottage cheese. It’s a nice protein hit. I use beans as a carb source and not a protein source, so I don’t feel like I’m missing carbs with this. (Plus, carbs from the vegetables.)

Peach Cobbler

Peaches make me think of my sweet, southern belle of a girlfriend, Zara. She’s off in Mexico with her new husband, and I miss her dearly. She’s from Georgia, and I thought of her when I made this.

4 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 cup milk

4 peaches, sliced

flour to coat

zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 350. In a mixing bowl, cream sugar and butter. Add dry ingredients to combine. Add milk and blend until it’s not lumpy.

Cut peaches and toss with lemon juice, zest and a palmful of flour (just to coat).

Put peaches in a greased pan, and top with batter. Bake about 20 minutes or until done. I went a little under with mine, because it looked like it was bubbling and fully cooked.

Top with ice cream or whipped cream, if you desire!

Chickpeas and Swiss Chard: Dinner for One

Alone on a Friday night, I made something that I used to make when I was a single gal in my bachelorette pad. Quick and dirty, and oh so tasty. Recipe is approximate.

5-6 swiss chard leaves, cut into ribbons

1 scallion, diced

bunch of grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup chickpeas

few diced pieces of mozzarella

magical herb salt from farm share

Sautee the swiss chard and scallions until the greens are very tender. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas. Sprinkle with salt. Add cheese when you remove from heat. It will melt on contact. I had it with some of that lovely bread.

Brown Butter Green Beans

Not gourmet and by no means complicated, this is just plain old good food. My husband is a huge fan of green beans. I try.

1 tbsp butter

large bunch green beans, trimmed

salt, pepper

Brown the butter in a pan, and let the pan get very hot. Add the green beans and sautee quickly. You want them to stay green and crisp and too overly cooked. Remove from heat, sprinkle on salt and pepper. There ya go.

• 8 to 12 carrots, peeled and trimmed
• 8 to 12 baby turnips, peeled
• 6 to 8 fingerling potatoes, scrubbed and cut lengthwise in
• halves
• 1 or 2 large parsnips, peeled, trimmed & cut diagonally into
• 1in thick slices
• 1 or 2 medium onions, trimmed, peeled and quartered
• 1 or 2 large beets, peeled & cut into thick wedges
• 1 or 2 kohrabi bulbs, peeled & cut into thick wedges
• 1 celery root, trimmed and halved, cut halves crosswise into
• 1in thick slices
• 1 whole head of garlic, separated into cloves, unpeeled
• 2 or 4 sprigs fresh rosemary, sage and/or thyme
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive Oil

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Put all vegetables and the herb sprigs in a large baking dish.
3. Season well with salt & pepper, drizzle generously with olive oil, and toss them with your hands to coat them evenly.
4. Put the baking dish in the preheated oven and cook, stirring the vegetables occasionally, until they are tender and golden brown, about 45 minutes.

** If you have a smaller amount of produce, follow the

directions above but instead of roasting in the oven, grill

them in a grill basket over the grill, microwave to parcook

The goodies:

Week #5 was chockful of: black raspberries, blueberries, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, beets, carrots, walnut sourdough, basil vinegar and arugula.

I love the photos my husband takes!

It seemed to be a little cooler this week (or perhaps I have acclimated finally?) so I did more than just salad assembling. What did I do with this lovely haulage? Check it out.

Black Raspberry Bread with Whipped Creme

I was imagining a spongey, lemony, fluffy goodness of a bread. My husband pretty much wants everything with whipped cream (I am incredibly grateful for my KitchenAid stand mixer!) and I wanted something light and refreshing to accompany it.

I adapted it from this Lemon Blueberry Bread recipe over at All Recipes, which is a handy site (espescially if you’re wondering what to do with an ingredient you’ve got on hand. You can simply enter random ingredients into their search feature. It gives me lots of ideas when I get stuck.)

1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup sugar

juice and zest of 1 lemon

 2 eggs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1 pint black raspberries

Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Cream together eggs and butter for three minutes. Add milk, lemon juice and zest. Add dry ingredients. After washing black raspberries, toss in flour before adding to cake batter. This assures they won’t sink to the bottom of the bread. Which makes for prettier pictures.

Bake at 350 until it’s done. My oven took about 25 minutes.

For the whipped cream, I used about a cup of heavy cream (I prefer this to whipping cream as I feel it’s got too many unnatural ingredients and I don’t want monoglycerides in my food) and 2 tablespoons of organic powdered sugar. You can use a hand or stand mixer, or, if you’re looking to work your upper body, whisk it by hand! I topped the whipped cream with mint, because mint makes things look fancy. 

Caprese Salad

 I know, right? You can totally taste it. These tomatoes were HANDS DOWN pretty amazing. I wanted to really taste the tomatoes and make them the feature of the dish. I paired with slices of mozzarella, and farm share basil (from the potted herbs in week #1). I arranged in a circle, topped with extra virgin olive oil, cracked pepper and coarse salt. Suffice as to say, there was nothing remaining in short time. We loved it!

Roasted Zucchini and Summer Squash with Lemon Ricotta

Blogging pics of (mainly) everything I cook has opened my eyes a lot. I tend to make a lot of salad! I was trying NOT to do that this week. I decided to roast these up instead.

1 zucchini, diced into even pieces

1 summer squash, diced into even pieces

drizzle of olive oil

pinch of fennel seeds

pinch of cumin seeds

juice of 1/2 a lemon

Salt, pepper

ricotta

Preheat oven to 400. Add veggies and oil to a pan and roast for about 18 minutes. Remove from oven, add spices, toss, and return to oven for five minutes.

In a bowl, add a few spoonfuls of ricotta, and juice of the lemon half. Mix up, and plate next to the zucchini and squash. Add a wee bit more olive oil to the ricotta. They’re really good when you eat them together!

Roasted Beets with Rosemary

My girlfriend Anne and I could talk about food and recipes for days on end – and we sometimes do! So when she sent me a link for a recipe for roasted beets, I jumped right on it. We made the same thing for dinner that night. And when your dear friend is all the way in Kentucky, it’s a nice little feeling.

You can check it out right here: Roasted Beet Wedges

Moroccan Tagine

This is 1) a favorite in our house and 2) a total joke in some ways. I have “threatened” to make this on many a hot night, only to scrap it at the last minute. Hey, I always have the best of intentions. And while I can do lots of things, I can’t control the weather. So now “moroccan” is synonymous with “we’re-totally-getting-takeout-instead”.

I came across this recipe this past winter, and ohhhhh, I have been in love with it since. I used the farm share carrots for this little gem.

Moroccan Tagine from Bon Appetit is a great recipe. I make it exactly as it reads here. I think you could substitute ground chicken, turkey or ground meatless, for the vegetarians. It’s really REALLY good. I hope you make it and LOVE IT!

• 1 cup chopped or sliced cooked beets
• 1 cup chopped or sliced cucumber
• 2 chopped or sliced hard-cooked eggs
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup sour cream or whole milk plain yogurt
• lemon juice
• salt, pepper, possibly dill

Combine all ingredients, add lemon juice. You can substitute a simple vinaigrette for the sour cream and lemon juice.

There are (at least) two approaches to making this salad. You can cut and dice everything and toss it, in which case you will have a savory and nutritious salad, which can even serve as a lunchtime dish, accompanied by bread and cheese. Everything will become beet color. Or, you can slice the cooked beets, cucumbers and hard cooked eggs and arrange the colorful circles on a platter, scatter the chopped scallions on the top, and carefully nap the painterly arrangement with a vinaigrette (mustard vinaigrette goes well with beets).

• 1 to  1 1/2 lbs. beets
• 1 tsp. coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1tsp. salt
• 1/4 flour
• 2tbs. butter

1. 1. trim beet and peel as would potato; grate them them in food processor. 
2. preheat a medium to large non-stick skillet over medium heat
3. Toss grated beets in a bowl with rosemary and salt, add half the flour, toss well, add rest of flour, toss again.
4. Place butter in skillet and heat until it begins to turn nut-brown. Scrap beet mixture into skillet, shape it into a circle, and press it down with a spatula.  Turn the heat to medium   cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until the bottom of the beet cake is nicely crisp, 6-8 minutes.  Slide the cakes out onto a plate, top with  another plate,  invert the two plates and slide the cake back into the pan.  Continue to cook, adjusting the heat if necessary until the second side is browned.
5. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

• 1 bunch arugula
• 1 bunch beets, greens removed
• 2-3 Tbsp. olive oil
• Salt Juice of half a lemon
• 8 oz. Crumbled feta cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil or steam the beets with their skins on, until just tender, and allow them to cool.
2. Roughly chop the arugula, rinse several times in cool water, and spin dry in salad spinner.
3. Rub the skins off the cooled beets and cut beets into bite-sized cubes.
4. Toss the arugula in a bowl with the olive oil until it looks wilted and darkens.
5. Add the beets and lemon juice and toss. Toss in the feta last, and add salt and pepper to taste. Let salad rest about ten minutes, toss again and serve.

1 lb fresh beets
1 tbsp oil (I used olive, but canola or grape seed would work just as well)
8 pitted prunes, cut in fine dice
1 small clove garlic, crushed to a paste
1/4 cup walnuts, finely ground (you’re looking for walnut meal here, not walnut butter)
1/2 cup Greek style yogurt (I prefer whole milk yogurt, but low or nonfat will do)
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Cut the stem and root ends off the beets, and cut the large beets in half. You can leave the skins on the beets for now. Place the beets in a pile on a large sheet of foil and toss them with the oil until they are coated. Fold the foil into a packet, sealing the edges tightly. Put the packet of beets into the oven and roast for 50 – 60 minutes, or until the beets are tender. Set the beets aside to cool.

 When the beets have cooled, peel them – the skin should come off very easily – and cut them into 1/4 in dice. Put them in a large bowl with the remaining ingredients and stir until everything is combined. Serve chilled. Serves 4-6 as a side dish.

from How to Eat by Nigella Lawson

• 2 or 4 small beetroots (about 725 gm- that’s a little more than 1 1/2 lbs)
• 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• buttermilk, yoghurt or smetana (soured heavy cream) optional

1. Put the beetroot in a large pan, cover with cold water and boil for 2 hours.  (maybe an hour and a quarter if they’re small)  Beetroot takes much longer to cook than anyone ever tells you.

2. Scoop out the cooked beetroots (retaining the cooking liquid) with a slotted spoon and gingerly pull off the skins, before putting in a processeor or blender together with the mustard and balsamic vinegar.

3. Puree, adding cooking liquid until the texture is as you like it,

Keep some of the cooking liquid, as the soup will thicken as it sits in the fridge and you may want to thin it out later.  This soup is wonderful with a splash of buttermilk or yoghurt (or more authentically, smetana) as you eat it.  It can also be eaten cold.

(taken from the Silver Palate Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins)

• 6 medium beets, peeled
• 10 cups cold water
• juice of 3 lemons
• 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup dairy sour cream (garnish)
• 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced (garnish)

1. Cut beets into halves.  Place them in a soup pot with the 10 cups of water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer partially covered until beets are tender, about 30-40 minutes.  Skim foam from cooking liquid as necessary.
2. Remove beets from cooking liquid with a slotted spoon and cool them to room temperature.  Grate the beets and return them to the cooking liquid, along with the lemon juice, sugar and salt.
3. Return to the stove and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and let soup cool for 15 minutes.
4. Beat eggs and milk together in a bowl.  Gradually wisk 3 cups of the warm borscht into the eggs and milk.  Pour this mixture back into the remaining borscht slowly.
5. Cover the soup and refridgerate until very cold.  Taste and correct seasoning; the soup should be nicely balanced between sweet and sour.
6. Ladle into chilled soup bowls.  Garnish with sour cream and diced cucmber.  Serve immediately.

Yield: 8 or more portions.