My friend Alison, who is known for making gorgeous, decorated cupcakes, cookies and other desserts, also cooks a lot for her family, as I try to do. She forwarded this recipe to me recently, and I thought J. would love it — I was right.
Triple Tomato Sauce uses fresh tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, and tomato paste for a super-simple uncooked sauce that is whipped up in a blender or food processor, and mixed right into hot, freshly-cooked pasta.
This sauce has a really fresh, herbal flavor thanks to the uncooked tomatoes and fresh basil, which gives it a totally different taste than a cooked sauce, even one that’s homemade. I thought it was even better before it went over the hot ziti, which led me to wonder out loud if it would be nice for a cold or room-temperature pasta salad in warmer weather. J. insists absolutely not, but I still might try it next summer.
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November 2nd, 2008
I intended to follow ZestyCook’s recipe for sweet potato fries tonight, but I didn’t read it all the way through this morning, and didn’t leave myself enough time to soak the potatoes. Instead, I improvised.
When I think of sweet potato fries, I think of Luna Grill & Diner in Washington, DC (I lived nearby there more than a decade ago!). They serve their hot sweet potato fries with cool sour cream, and if that is not a divine combination I don’t know what is. I don’t recall anything particularly special about the preparation of the fries, just that they were a reason to head to Luna.
Tonight I cut up just one sweet potato from my CSA, and it yielded an entire toaster oven full of fries. This single spud was 9 inches long, and 9 inches in diameter at its widest point. Huge! It’s also a relatively pale potato as far as the sweets I usually see — a light orange rather than deep and golden.
I peeled the sweet potato and cut it into large wedges, then tossed the pieces with a drizzle of olive oil, some fine-grain sea salt, and a little cinnamon. They went into a toaster oven at 425° for 30 minutes, and I turned them twice while they cooked.
I thought they were tasty (and even had a slightly crunchy exterior), but the boys wouldn’t touch them. If I hadn’t needed to get dinner on the table, I might have baked them for another 5-10 minutes to really develop a crust on the outside. And next time, I’ll remember to buy some sour cream for dipping.
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October 30th, 2008
I’m enjoying the colder-weather crops we’ve been receiving more than I expected. I can’t help but laugh a little at myself when I get excited over a particularly lush bunch of broccoli rabe, or think I’ve really scored because we got another bag of sweet potatoes.
This week we picked up a small head of broccoli, a large bunch of broccoli rabe, another large bunch of Toscano kale, a quart of white potatoes, a bag of sweet potatoes, a quart of beets (no greens), some braising greens, and a bag of carrots.
I really enjoyed the Vegetarian White Bean & Kale Soup I made with last week’s kale, but I had enough of it to freeze so I want to do something different this week. I’m leaning towards Mashed Potatoes with Kale.
I’m making a small batch of Sweet Potato Fries tonight, but the rest I’ll use in my Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burritos this weekend.
I’ll probably combine the braising greens with the broccoli rabe, and do a pasta and sausage dish with them. I’m looking at this Savory Carrot & Tarragon Tart to put a dent in my carrot stash. The beets will keep — I’ll hold on to them until I’m ready to roast them as a side dish.
Only three more weeks in this year’s share. According to Roxbury Farm’s blog, they’ve harvested a bumper crop of cauliflower, and I’m eagerly awaiting my portion!
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October 30th, 2008
When I planned my menu for this week, I had no idea a huge, cold, rainy, windy storm was upon us. Wet leaves are whipping around my yard, I’m chilled to the bone. It is a perfect day for soup.
I noted in the title that this soup is vegetarian, because many of the recipes I found with kale included sausage. Take Mark Bittman’s Pasta With Black Kale, Shiitakes and Italian Sausage, for example. While I do cook with sausage every now and then, I was looking for something without meat for tonight — I was trying to avoid going to the butcher for another week!
This soup turns out rich and creamy thanks to the navy beans being blended into the soup. It has a fresh but hearty flavor, and if you’re not a huge greens fan this is a good way to eat them since their flavor is not overbearing. Substituting sweet potato or squash for the navy beans would also be a delicious variation.
I use Spike seasoning because I have it in the house, but any spice blend that you enjoy (Mrs. Dash, herbes de Provence, etc.) will work fine. I served Alexia Ciabatta rolls with the soup, which were delicious. Just pop them in the oven for 10 minutes straight from the freezer, and you have freshly-baked rolls ready for dinner.
Vegetarian White Bean & Kale Soup
Adapted from Bean Soup With Kale
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large sweet onion, diced
3 tsp. crushed garlic (or 6 cloves, minced)
2 carrots, peeled and diced
3 c. fresh Toscano kale, rough-chopped (about 8 large leaves, stems removed)
4 c. vegetable broth
2 15-oz. cans navy beans, undrained
4 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 tsp. Salt-Free Spike seasoning (or any general spice mix you like)
1/2 tsp. salt (adjust based on your spice mix)
ground black pepper (I used about 15 grinds)
Parmesan cheese (optional, to sprinkle on top)
Heat oil in a large soup pot, and cook onions, garlic, and carrots over a medium-low heat until they are caramelized (about 10 minutes). Add remaining ingredients, stir well, cover and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and simmer the soup, covered, for 20 minutes. Using an immersion (stick) blender, blend soup until almost smooth. BE CAREFUL not to splash hot soup on yourself! Cover and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Adjust seasonings and serve hot, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.
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October 28th, 2008
Right now, my kitchen counters are scrubbed clean and there isn’t a single pot, pan, or dish that needs my attention. I feel the need to mention it because it’s become somewhat of a rare occurrence — I’ve been feeling beaten down by dirty dishes lately! So, this week is going to be simple, using a stockpile from my freezer to keep the number of pots and plates to a minimum.
In addition to the dinners below, I’ll make a batch of PB & Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins this week, too.
Monday: Meatballs in tomato sauce (homemade, from the freezer), whole wheat spaghetti, carrot sticks
Tuesday: Bean Soup with Kale, Italian bread
Wednesday: Chicken salad (defrost cooked chicken from the soup I made last week), bagels, edamame
Thursday: Chicken soup with noodles (from freezer), sweet potato fries
Friday: Halloween! Yogurt, grapes, and challah
Saturday: Triple-Tomato Penne with fresh mozzarella, farm share veggies
Sunday: Some sort of soup and bread, depending on what we get from our farm share (squash soup?)
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
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October 26th, 2008
This recipe for Crispy Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies comes from Deb at Smitten Kitchen, and I’ve been itching to make it for many months. I followed her recipe closely, except I used white whole wheat flour instead of AP (that’s what I keep in the house) and a cup of Ghirardelli Classic White Chips instead of a chopped-up white chocolate bar.
I whole-heartedly agree with Deb’s assertion that “These are scandalously good, yes, scandalously.” I am not a huge chocolate fan, and these chocolate-chip cookie alternatives are the perfect combination of not-too-sweet, a tiny bit salty, and crunchy without falling apart. The salt is not too prominent (you wouldn’t know it was there if I didn’t tell you about it), but it just adds this fabulous extra dimension that makes your eyes roll back in your head. I would say that these are now my all-time favorite cookie, and I have made and eaten many different kinds!
Interestingly, my father-in-law, who is also not much of a chocolate person either, agreed with my excessive gushing about how yummy these are. On the other hand, J. — a die-hard chocolate and super-sweet fan — said they were just “better than no cookies at all.” The boys liked them too, but they’re not too discriminating when it comes to cookies.
One minor alteration for next time: a half cup of the chips would have probably been better — the dough is super-stiff and I could barely get the cup-worth of chips incorporated. Also, I used an inexpensive, finely-ground sea salt from my supermarket, sprinkling a micro-pinch of salt over half the batch of pressed cookies before they went in the oven. The half without salt was very tasty too, but didn’t give me that same pause-from-deliciousness moment that the salted version did.
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October 25th, 2008
A packet of organic Chicken Tikka Masala spices from Arora Creations caught my eye at my kosher butcher a few weeks ago. The price made me pause — $4.49 for spices that would wind up serving 6 — but I bought it anyway just to give it a try. I love Indian food, and J. hasn’t been into it lately so I was looking for a fix!
It was delicious, and worth every penny. (Yes, I could make the spice mix myself, but I wouldn’t. Plus buying all the spices I needed would be a much more expensive outlay.) The spice packet comes with a simple recipe on the back, so it’s easy to cook a restaurant-quality dish with minimal effort, even if you’re not familiar with Indian spices.
I served the tikka masala with brown basmati rice and side of roasted cauliflower that I’d sprinkled with garlic and curry powder.
Arora makes several other organic spice blends, including a bhindi masala mix that looks great and is one of J.’s favorite Indian dishes.
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October 23rd, 2008
I remember the fennel I cooked from last year’s CSA very fondly, when I roasted bone-in chicken pieces on top of it and other root vegetables. Look away if you’re a vegetarian: the drippings from the chicken mixed with the vegetables, giving them delicious flavor and adding just the right amount of fat to the dish. (I would do that roasting differently now, putting the chicken in first and adding the vegetables around the chicken after 20 minutes or so, then roasting them both together for another 40-50 minutes. It’s a technique Merrie taught me!)
I was really excited to cook with fennel again. This time I followed Elise of Simply Recipe’s suggestion to toss the fennel in balsamic vinegar and olive oil before roasting. I also sliced a medium sweet onion into the same thickness as the fennel slices, and sprinkled the whole thing with a little sea salt. I don’t care for raw or even still-firm cooked fennel, so I roasted my fennel and onions for closer to 45 minutes, until they were soft and caramelized.
My mom, J. and I all enjoyed this preparation, but I still prefer the fennel roasted with chicken.
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October 23rd, 2008
I was so happy with this week’s share — it was autumnal and varied, and will be easy to use up while still being fun. (Yes, broccoli rabe and squash can be fun, didn’t you know?) I was particularly excited to get our first batch of sweet potatoes!
We received: 4 very dirty sweet potatoes, arugula and braising mix (I combined them in the green bag at the back of the photo), a beautiful cauliflower, a large bunch of broccoli rabe, toscano (dinosaur) kale, 2 carnival squash, and a bag of carrots.
I knew the toscano kale is also referred to as dinosaur kale from researching this vegetable last year. What amazed me was that G. was able to immediately figure out why it would have that name — the dark green, bumpy leaves resemble what we can imagine dinosaur skin might have looked like.
Only four weeks left in this year’s share. It went so quickly, and only my second year in it seems like such a normal, regular part of our weekly schedule. I’m sure some cabbage is coming my way in the next few weeks!
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October 22nd, 2008
I had my plan finalized in my head by Sunday evening, even though I’m only posting this now!
Monday: Ropa Vieja (crock pot), brown rice (yum — it was delicious as always)
Tuesday: Leftover Ropa Vieja, sauteed greens, roasted fennel, whole wheat egg noodles
Wednesday: Chicken soup (make a new batch in crock pot), challah rolls, sugar snap peas
Thursday: Chicken Tikka Masala (using an Arora Creations spice mix), farm share veggies, brown rice (or noodles for boys?)
Friday: Baked chicken drumsticks, farm share veggies, challah
Saturday: Grilled steaks, baked potatoes, farm share veggies
Sunday: Take out
For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura at Organizing Junkie.
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October 20th, 2008
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I'm Dara, the chick in the kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two boys, ages 3 and 5, and husband. Trying to feed my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Reach me at .