greens gratin

I finished off my week of following Tamar Adler's advice from The Everlasting Meal, and the last two dishes I made with her guidance and my roast vegetables were a gratin with the sautéed greens, and a pasta sauce with the odds and ends left over from chopping the raw veggies back on the first day of vegetable prep work.

Both were, once again, delicious.

The gratin was a very basic dish. Other than needing to be able to put it in the oven an hour before eating, there isn't much to do.

First, make a basic white sauce.

Melt a tablespoon of butter in a medium pan over medium heat. Add a tablespoon of flour and stir together. Add a cup of milk and stir and simmer until it thickens up a bit. To this, add a small handful of parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Combine the cup of cooked white sauce with a cup of cooked greens. Spread it into a small buttered baking dish, and bake for about an hour at 350.

It came out creamy and sweet and delicious! It was a great side for chicken breasts.

Sandwiches made with sautéed greens, mozzarella,and garlic

This was the second meal I made out of the pile of veggies I roasted and sautéed earlier this week.

I am telling you, I love each meal more than the last one!

These sandwiches took only minutes to prepare, but they were so very flavorful and scrumptious, that I am already wishing I could have another one tonight!

First, make some more vinegared onions (thinly slice some red onion or shallot, sprinkle vinegar over them, and let them sit for 10 minutes or so to soften). When the onions are ready, take some good crusty bread (I bought a fresh baguette), and slice thickly. Take out 2-3 cloves of the garlic you roasted with the vegetables, and squeeze the mushy garlic out of its skin. Spread this over one side of the bread. Then spread a thick layer of the sautéed greens (mine were chard, green garlic, and beet greens). Finally, top each with a slice of mozzarella cheese and close the sandwich.

Place the sandwiches on a baking sheet, and place another baking sheet on top. If your baking sheets are not heavy, you may want to put another pan on top of that, to weigh it down.

Place the smooched sandwiches in the broiler for just a few minutes... until the sandwich is a bit warm and toasty and the cheese just on the verge of melting.

Enjoy one of the tastiest, easiest meals ever!

roasting and sautéing enough veggies for a week

Come along with me.

I am going on a little bit of an eating journey this week.

I have been reading The Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler. It's an amazing book. As I read, and thought, and made my plans for my vegetables this week, my mouth was literally watering. Let's hope things turn out in reality the way they are in my mind. I am only part way through it, but I had to stop right there in the middle of chapter three and do what she told me to do.

If you love food, and cooking food, and eating food, this book is amazing. I am not going to say it is light reading or a page turner by any means. It is also not a cookbook that you can leaf through during spare minutes or while making your shopping list.

But, it you like to enjoy great writing and amazing descriptions of food and its preparation, this book is fabulous.

Her entire premise is that we ought to stop burying ourselves in recipes. We can stop having to go through a process of researching, reading, shopping, and prepping every time we want to put dinner on the table. Although the book is all about how to cook food and enjoy amazing meals, there are actually very few recipes, and very very few measurements. Rather, she describes what type of ingredients to use, and what ways they can be prepared. By letting each thing you cook build on the last thing you cooked, you don't ever have to find yourself standing in the kitchen at 5:00, wondering what the heck is for dinner. Tonight's dinner can most likely be built upon last night's dinner, and is therefore mostly decided upon and already partially done.

At any rate, in chapter three, she describes her process for shopping for a bunch of vegetables, roasting and sautéing them all on one day, and then having prepared ingredients for a week's worth of meals. According to Tamar Adler, they will be as easy and versatile to use as a can of beans, once the initial cooking is completed.

Most importantly, though, the ways she describes the meals she makes out of the vegetables... soups, salads, risotto, curries, pestos, and sandwiches, made me wish I were sitting at her kitchen table. Right. Now.

Well, since I have a beautiful box of vegetables sitting here that I picked up from Abundant Harvest Organics, I decided to give it a go.

I followed her instructions to roast the hefty veggies and sauté the greens on the first day.

Tamar Adler lists many many different veggies to roast, and I chose to use everything in my box that seemed like a "cookable" vegetable (All that was left, besides fruit, was cilantro, napa cabbage, a salad green called mache, and arugula).

I had broccoli, potatoes, cauliflower, beets, brussels sprouts, turnips, and carrots to roast. I also sautéed chard, green garlic, and the greens from the beets.

I thought I was doing well with making candy out of orange peels and stock out of onion skins, but according to Tamar I am not making the most of my vegetables! She suggests saving the core and leaves of the cauliflower, the tough stems of the broccoli, the core of a cabbage or the stems of chard. These can be made into a pesto, and I will give you that recipe when I try it later this week. For now, I have dutifully set them aside and I'm saving them for their ultimate fate.

I began with this amazing pile of gorgeous, fresh vegetables:

I chopped and roasted two pans that held broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts, with some whole cloves of garlic.

I also chopped and roasted two pans with the root vegetables: carrots, potatoes, and turnips.

Finally, I roasted a pan of beets. These need to be tented and cooked with a bit of water so they steam all the way through while they roast.

Preheat the oven to 450. Scrub, peel, and chop all the vegetables except the beets.

Spread each set of vegetables out on a baking sheet. The sheet can be pretty full, but they need to be in a single layer, with a bit of space between them. Toss them with some olive oil, until they are coated, and sprinkle with salt. Pop them in the oven, and after a half an hour, start checking them to see if they are done enough to make you want to keep eating. Be sure and tuck a few whole cloves (unpeeled) of garlic onto each baking sheet. Apparently we will use this later this week.

This is romanesco cauliflower. More on that to come! It's wild!

The beets are a bit different. Cut the greens and stems off and place them in a sink full of water, to use later with the other greens. Tuck the beets, tails intact, into a baking pan, and wash them with hard running water. Tip the pan while you wash them, and allow the water to run out. Once the waste water is clear, the beets are clean enough to cook. (Removing the skins after roasting them also removes any little bits of dirt that are left). Leave a little bit of the water in the pan, drizzle with olive oil, and and cover the pan tightly with foil. Place this in the oven.

Now that all of your veggies are cooking, you may want to check them once in a while. If they are getting too brown but not soft enough, scoot them all together to build up steam. If they are getting soft but not browned, spread them out.

The majority of the veggies should be done in half an hour to 45 minutes. She explains that they need to roast until they are "completely, completely tender." Rather than giving a specified time to let them cook, she says to check after a half an hour, "Test the doneness of...vegetables by tasting them. When you don't wonder, but reach to eat another, they're done."

And boy oh boy was she right about that. I couldn't stop myself from reaching again and again to munch on the first pan of veggies to come out of the oven while I continued prepping and cooking other things.

The beets, though, are going to need a bit longer, and won't necessarily all be done at the same time. Check the beets by lifting the foil, and trying to pierce each one with a knife. If it goes in easily, pull the beet out of the oven. If not, let it keep cooking. Tamar says "If you're not sure if they're done, they're not." Be sure to re-cover the pan tightly after checking and removing any beets, so they can continue to steam. After they are done and cooled, remove the skin by rubbing it off with your fingers. Cut them into slices or wedges and then sprinkle them with red wine vinegar and salt.

Once a pan of veggies finished and there is a little space in the oven, Tamar recommends placing a pan of nuts in. Let the walnuts or pecans cook for about 10 minutes, and they will come out toasted and perfect for topping a salad.

After all of the roasting vegetables are in the oven (and some may be back out again by this point!), it's time to take care of the greens. Add any greens you have to the beet greens that are soaking in the sink. In my case it was green garlic and chard leaves (I cut the chard stems off and added them to my collection of cauliflower leaves and core and broccoli stems that I am saving for later). Swish them all around in the sink to get them clean, and then pull them out, chop them roughly, and sauté them in a little olive oil and a tiny bit of salt. Keep most of the water that clings to them after washing... they are supposed to steam more than they sauté. If they dry out while they cook, add a tablespoon of water every once in a while. Cook them in as many batches as you need to. I did two frying pans full. Tamar recommends adding chopped garlic in with the greens, but since I had green garlic I didn't want to overdo it. These are done when they are completely wilted and can be easily cut with a knife.

After I spent a couple of hours in the kitchen, I had changed that beautiful pile of veggies into these containers of prepared ingredients:

Come back tomorrow and I'll share the first meal I made out of them! It couldn't have been simpler, and it was one of the most delicious meals I have eaten in a long long time.

summertime and the livin's easy

Wednesdays are quickly becoming my favorite day of the week. It is the one day that all three kids go to school and I don't work. It is also the one day that we have no classes, lessons, practices, or games. I get the majority of my cooking done on Wednesdays.

This week was no different. I spent the morning in the kitchen, getting a few things ready for the week ahead. Then, I spend the afternoon in the backyard, barbecuing and playing catch with the the kids.


Grilled Ribs on a bed of grilled greens:

Use your favorite rib recipe, or buy your ribs precooked. (Don't tell anyone I used the precooked ribs this time. I just couldn't do it all today, okay?)

Place them on the grill to cook.

While these begin grilling, prepare your greens:

No, not those greens. That's just the ivy that grows behind my barbecue. These greens:

I can see where you would make the mistake, though. These greens are a mixture of collard greens, beet greens, and who knows what else (thanks to the mix that AHOrganics provided my this week).

To prepare them, simply toss them with a little bit of olive oil and some sea salt.

When the ribs only have a couple of minutes to go, it's time to grill the greens. Toss them into a grilling basket, and keep stirring/tossing until they are all wilty.

Place the greens onto a platter, and place the ribs on top. All of the sauce and drippings from the ribs will soak down into the greens, making them absolutely delicious! That right there is the taste of summer.

the beet. is neat. and sweet. such a treat.

I don't know if you remember, but last time I got beets in my box, I avoided them like the plague. They sat in my fridge and called out to me every time I opened the door, until I finally made a beet salad.

Having gotten over my fear of beets, I went ahead and confronted the beets yesterday... only two days after the four of them came home to roost. And boy am I happy I did! Not only did I cook them, I ate them all up... single-handedly.  Sorry to those other people who live with me. I didn't share.

The beet is really not such a beautiful vegetable on the outside.

It does have a beautiful ruby red inside, though, as my fingers can testify.

Last time I cooked beets, I felt bad about all the vitamins that got thrown out with the bathwater...

So this time I went for a recipe that didn't involve boiling these guys. As a matter of fact, I didn't even peel them, so they didn't lose any nutrients that way, either. And all you add to the beets is salt, so there isn't any added calories or fats, either. Win-win-win!

I present to you.... Beet chips!

First, slice the beets as thinly as you can. If you have a mandolin, use it. I don't, so I went ahead and did the best I could with a knife. Lay the slices out on a baking sheet, on top of a sheet of parchment paper. With parchment paper, you don't even need add oil. Shake a little salt onto each beet slice, and pop them in an oven that has been heated to 325 degrees.

These take a little longer to cook than other veggie chips. Start checking them after about half an hour.

You will know when they are done when they turn a lighter pink color.

Not done beet chip                            done beet chip 

Take out any chips that have turned pink, and let the rest keep cooking. Lay the done chips on a cutting board so they can cool and crisp up. As for the rest, check them every five minutes or so. After they turn pink, they can burn and turn back to a darker color, so you want to make sure you get them out while they are pink. Keep pulling out the done chips when you check, and let the rest cook. The thinner they are, the faster they will cook, of course, and the less likely they are going to turn tough and stale over time.

It was all I could do to wait long enough to take a picture of these before I ate them. I was eating them as they came out of the oven in little batches!  They are great by themselves, or dipped (I had some leftover yogurt-dill dip), and if I had any left, I would crumble them on top of a salad. I can always hope for more beets next week!

While I was at it, I used the green leaves to make some green chips. Here is how you do it, if you are interested. They are also a delicious and nutritious snack.

And they're kosher, to boot.

Why is it, that when I hear of something new, I google it, only to find out that 1,120,000 people have already done it? I am SO not a trendsetter. We could argue that I come rather late to all things trendy, actually.

I guess today I am hoping that you are one of the 6,908,880,000 people on earth who haven't already put something on the internet about how to make green chips.

At any rate.

Green chips.

Take a leafy green vegetable. (I have done this with kale, beet greens, and collard greens, but I hear rumors of it being done with chard and even spinach. For me, I'll stick with the heartier veggies.)

This time, it was collard greens who needed to make their exit from my refrigerator. I discovered that just about every recipe for sautéing collard greens starts with bacon or ham. Like I have said before, if you have to disguise the taste by hiding it in some bacon, it isn't that good to begin with.  So, I chose to skip the stove, and throw them in the oven instead.

Actually, though, cooked into chips, these leaves are very very good! I would eat these every day.

Take your greens, whatever they are, and tear them up into chip-sized pieces. The shape and exact size doesn't matter at all.

Throw them all on a baking sheet, drizzle a little olive oil over it all, and then toss them with your hands, to get them nice and evenly coated.

Amazingly, they will go from the dull green above to a vibrant, bright green.

Shake on some salt and pepper, or even red pepper if you like spice, and spread them out on a baking sheet or two. They need to be in a single layer.

Now stick them in the oven, heated to 300 degrees, for about 5-10 minutes. As soon as they start to brown you need to pull them out, so watch carefully.

Now, you get to enjoy a crispy, salty, tasty snack -- with no guilt!

Real food, fast

I watched a cooking show once a long long time ago, and the chef (I think his name was Yan?) told me that when using my wok, the secret is to remember that it is "Stir-fry, not stare-fry. Keep stirring it, don't just watch it!" The trick is to crank the heat up all the way, and keep the food moving so it doesn't burn.

The high heat makes for quick cooking time, and that makes this meal perfect for a weeknight. Even a weeknight when you have to go to your kids' parent-teacher conferences, and you will only have a few minutes to get it all on the table when you get home, for example. You can do all of the chopping, and even some of the cooking ahead. As a bonus, it all cooks in one pot, so you will have very few dishes to wash.

Here's a fun story. In college, I had a roommate one semester who was an exchange student from China. All she unpacked in our kitchen was a wok, a cleaver, 2 sets of chop sticks, and a bowl. She was able to cut her food up, cook it, and eat it all with those four items. And everything she cooked was delicious. Even when she came home from the grocery store with a vegetable she had never heard of. "What's this?" "Celery." "Okay. It's good?" "I'm sure it will be when you are done with it!"


But anyway, here we go:

First, you want to chop up all of your vegetables and your meat. You will have a hard time constantly stirring, if you pause to chop in the middle of it all. The exact amounts don't matter. Event the seasoning can be approximated, which makes this very easy to cook.

Start by warming your oil in the wok, on high heat. Once it gets hot, add in a minced garlic clove, about a tablespoon of minced lemongrass, and a tablespoon of minced ginger.

Since you are cooking at a hight temperature, the seasonings will brown very quickly. As soon as they are golden, throw in all of your tougher, thicker vegetables. I used a shallot and two carrots, cut into 1/4 inch slices. You could also do broccoli, celery, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, etc. Whatever you have in your fridge is what you should use in your dinner.

Once the shallots are clear, you can add your meat. I used two chicken breasts, but you can add whatever you like. Keep stirring and cooking this until the meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

At this point, if you really do have a crazy schedule, you can pause and leave the rest for later. For example, you could leave it sitting while you head out to your parent teacher conference. If you are going to be gone for more than an hour, I would stick it in the fridge, but if it's a quick trip, just turn the stove off and go.  If you are going to a parent-teacher conference, though, I would either make sure you wear an apron, or change your shirt. That way, as you enter the classroom, you won't look down and see greasy garlic splattered on your front. Just a suggestion.

Now you are ready to add your leafy vegetables.

I very carefully picked out a variety of greens. Bear with me as I use their Latin nomenclature:

Clockwise, from upper left: red leaf with green stem, green leaf with white stem, red leaf with red stem, and green leaf with green stem.

Okay, I didn't really carefully pick them out. I got them out of my CSA box. Whatever they are. I am pretty sure the one on the top right is bok choy. The others? I have no idea.

Then I threw in another bunch of leaves for good times. This one, I happen to know for sure, is a beet green. I know this because I cut it off of the beets.

 You can use whatever type of leaves you want. If it wasn't picked out and delivered to me in my box, I would buy a head of bok choy or napa cabbage. Or even regular green cabbage. Do you still have half a cabbage left over from Saint Patrick's Day? Use that.

Don't spend time chopping these up nicely. They cook down so much that you can start with pretty big pieces, in any manner of crazy shape, and it will all make perfect bite-sized pieces in the end.

You may feel like you have a ton of greens, but it won't be soon. Here is my wok filled to the brim with the fresh chopped leaves:

And here is my wok a few minutes later, once I'm done cooking:

So, now that you have your wok filled to the tippy top of health and vitality, keep stirring. Cook this all until the greens are wilty but still green. That will take about 5 minutes. Then, put a lid on it, turn the heat down to low, and stir together some sauce. I used a tablespoon of soy sauce, two tablespoons of hoisin sauce, and a teaspoon of corn starch to thicken it all.

Once you have the sauce ready, stir it into the veggies and chicken, and serve it with quinoa or rice. Or if you are watching your carbs, just serve it as it is. 

Here is my recipe, if you care to try this at home:

Vegetable chicken stir-fry

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 Tbsp. minced lemongrass

1 Tbsp. minced ginger

1 shallot, chopped fine

2 carrots, chopped into 1/4" slices

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 head of bok choy

1 Tbsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp hoisin suce

1 tsp. cornstarch

Heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Once it is hot, add the garlic, lemongrass, and ginger. As soon as they are golden, add carrots and shallots to the wok. Stir these constantly until the shallot is clear and the carrots are tender (3-4 minutes). Add chicken, and stir fry until it is cooked through (5 minutes). Add bok choy, and continue to stir until the leaves are wilted, but still green (3-4 minutes). Turn heat to low, and cover.

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and corn starch. Stir this into the vegetables and chicken, and serve immediately.