Can’t wait for spring? I feel your pain. We long for something green under foot and something fresh, crisp and flavorful from the garden. But there is something anyone with a few proper seeds up their sleeve can do about it. Grow some “micro greens!”
image: 66squarefeet.blogspot.com Continue reading “Maine Micro Greens” »
Want a recipe perfect for a Maine spring? Very nice asparagus is in the markets now, although not yet locally available. But it’s still cool enough to enjoy a steaming bowl of velvety green goodness. I’ve got a recipe that couldn’t be simpler or more tasty. Here it is, soothing and warming but tasting of Spring’s promise. We’re going to blend it smooth with an immersion blender, so all ingredients can be coarsely chopped, making this a quick fix meal with salad and a crunchy roll.
image:coconutandquinoa.wordpress.com
Here is an innovative breakfast dish that could double as a simple supper, breakfast, or brunch dish. A recipe as forgiving as they come, the variations are endless and dictated only by your imagination. I like mine with smoked ham, artichoke hearts, and chevre. Making it vegetarian is a simple option, too.
One thing that makes this dish even easier is that it can be prepared a day in advance and popped in the oven in the morning. A great way to use left over bread crusts if you have a recipe (like crab cakes or tea sandwiches) that uses just the white part of the bread. I save those in the freezer and create this dish when I have enough.
image: ifood.tv
Looking for the perfect dessert to compliment your St. Patty’s Day dinner? Irish eyes will be smiling when you bring this to the dinner table.
This is an easy one layer cake, often baked into a square shape but can be made into a two layer round cake by doubling the batter recipe. I like this cake, when presented as a two layer with an old-fashioned burnt sugar icing. There is a nice recipe for that icing at www.allrecipes.com. But the coconut and walnut broiled topping featured here really hits the spot too! Good old Irish whiskey really turbo charges the flavor.
Continue reading “Irish Oatmeal Cake” »
If we were farmers living in the 19th century, we might be headed down to the root cellar right about this time of year to sort through our cabbages and apples to grab a few remaining salsify roots to boil with our pork belly or liven up a meat “pie.” More popular 100 years ago than now and long popular in Europe, this root has begun to make a resurgence into seasonal and heritage menus.
Also known as “Oyster Plant” or “Goat’s Beard” the Salsifies are the genus Tragopogon, flowering plants within the family Asteraceae, and usually considered weeds. The vegetable comes in two colors, the smaller white and stick-like variety and the thicker and longer black root (scorzonera), which has a bark-like brown skin, resembling a brown carrot.
A deep growing and miky tap root with a flavor resembling either artichoke hearts or oysters, this root is available in markets from fall through early spring. Select roots that are smooth and firm. I prefer the larger, darker and meatier roots, which are prepared by scrubbing, peeling, and trimming. Either slice them or leave in chunks to cook, depending on the recipe. Salsify may be steamed, mashed, baked, or roasted and pairs well with other vegetables. I like them boiled with potatoes or grated, seasoned, and made into fritters or in a cream soup. They over cook easily, becoming mushy.
Here is a recipe for pan roasting salsify that I enjoy at home. It serves four to six as a side dish. A great accompaniment to a roast beef.
image: goinglocal-info.com
Continue reading “Salsify: An Heirloom Vegetable Gets a Make Over” »
Here’s good news to go with the evening news…it’s a dinner dish that takes ten minutes to prepare. This meal is almost entirely vegetarian, with the goodness of greens, a serious crunch from the panko, and a salty jolt from the anchovies. So fill your plate and digest the news in style.
Campanelle with Broccoli Rabe, Toasted Panko, and Anchovies
Laura Cabot, Laura Cabot Catering
1 pound campanelle (or any other corkscrew type pasta)
1 pound broccoli rabe, trimmed of the coarse stems and cut into one-inch pieces
6 large garlic cloves, chopped coarsely
½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes, fresh pepper
1 2- ounce can of anchovies in olive oil
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese to taste
1 cup panko bread crumbs, toasted with a touch of olive oil in a moderate oven till golden and seasoned with salt
Cook pasta in plenty of well salted water in a large pot until almost al dente. Stir in broccoil rabe and cook three minutes more until greens are bright yet tender, and pasta is perfectly done.
While the pasta/rabe is cooking, sauté the garlic, red pepper flakes, and anchovies in the olive oil in a heavy skillet, mashing up anchovies a bit.
Drain the pasta mixture well and add to skillet without rinsing.
Toss to combine. Season further to taste, add a little Parmesan if desired, and sprinkle with panko crumbs.
Serves 4-6.
Can’t go tropical this year due to personal budget cuts? Me either. But I am revisiting one of my favorite recent vacations, Puerto Rico, from a culinary point of view. We’ll just have to imagine the sea and sand and tropical breezes….
Sofrito, Adobo and Annato were terms much bandied about in Latin cooking, but that didn’t mean that I really understood what they were. That is until I visited the magical island of Puerto Rico. I soon decided that “getting into one’s bathing suit” and Mofongo, their national dish of plantains with pork cracklings and pork stew, didn’t really go together.
I came to love the island cooks’ delicious and deeply orange-y take on Arroz con Pollo, colored with Achiote oil or Annato seeds and Adobo, the richly flavored rub for meats or poultry and the basic seasoning behind so many traditional island foods we call Sofrito.
Here are recipes for preparing each and a recipe to practice your “Latin’ on….
ANNATO OR ACHIOTE is the seed of a tropical tree. If you can’t find them in a specialty market, I sometimes use a good paprika to achieve the rich reddish color that predominates in much Latin cooking.
image: clovegarden.com
FOR ANNATO OIL…All you do is cook the ANNATO seeds with good paprika or saffron (if you are feeling flush and can’t find annato) until sizzling in lard or oil until you get that nice red-orange color. Do not overheat the oil or it will turn an off color. Cool a bit, then strain out the seeds. Keep this oil in the refrigerator and use by the spoonful for recipes like Chicken with Rice.
ADOBO is a blend of ingredients used to rub a unique flavor into meat or poultry. This recipe is appropriate for one pound of meat or chicken.
image: penandfork.com
1 teaspoon black peppercorns, whizzed in a coffee blender (I keep one in my kitchen for nothing but pepper)
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
¼ teaspoon of fresh or dried oregano, minced or crumbled
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon olive oil
½ teaspoon fresh lime juice
Mix all ingredients together and rub into your meat or chicken thoroughly. Let marinate for several hours for the best taste.
SOFRITO is the seasoning behind so many native dishes.
image: arrozyfrijoles.com
1 ounce salt pork
2 ounces lean cured ham (pork and ham optional; you can make a great vegetarian version)
½ cup vegetable oil or lard, divided use
½ pound green pepper
½ pound white onion, peeled
¼ pound sweet red peppers
1 small head of garlic, peeled
1 small bunch of cilantro
1 Tablespoon dried oregano
You may want to add some salt to this recipe if salt pork is not used.
Tabasco sauce to taste
Wash all ingredients, seed them, and cut into small pieces.
Pour the first ¼ cup of vegetable oil into a blender and gradually add all the pork, vegetables, cilantro, and oregano and grind them up.
In a heavy kettle, pour the second ¼ cup of oil into the pot. Bring to medium heat and add the ground mixture. Bring up to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer and let cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Allow to cool, season with Tabasco to taste.
A great way to use and keep Sofrito is to make ice cubes with it and keep them handy in the freezer, pulling out a few at a time to make a dish. They don’t stick together. Two to three cubes will suffice for a dish that feeds 6-8 people.
ARROZ CON POLLO
image: flickr.com
¼ cup of annato oil
1- 4 pound chicken, cut into ten pieces
Kosher salt and ground pepper
½ cup sofrito
¼ cup coarsely chopped green pimento stuffed olives (alcaparrado)
1 teaspoon cumin
Pinch of ground cloves
4 cups of long grain brown rice
5 cups of homemade chicken stock
1½ cups of roasted red peppers, cut into strips
Choose an attractive Paella pan or something that you can bring to the table for serving. It must have a tight fitting lid. In this large shallow pan, heat the Annato oil until it ripples. Add the salt and pepper seasoned chicken to the pan, only as many pieces as you can without crowding them, so you’ll be working in batches browning the chicken and cooking it almost through. Set it aside.
When the chicken has been cooked, add the sofrito and alcaparrado. Season to taste with more salt and pepper, adding the cumin and clove. Raise the heat and simmer off some of the water from the sofrito.
Stir in the rice and coat with the seasonings. Return the chicken to the pan and add enough broth to cover the rice by a width of two fingers (an inch, basically). Bring the rice to a boil and cook until the broth reaches the level of the rice. Stir and cover the pot tightly, reducing the heat to low. Let it cook until the rice is tender but firm, about 20 more minutes.
Fluff the rice with a fork, garnish with the red pepper strips, and bring the whole pot of chicken and rice to the table. If you don’t have a great looking pan, you may arrange the contents attractively on a large platter and dig in while hot.
Absolutely delicious, and cheaper than air fare!
Serves 6.
What to do with those beautiful Maine shrimp we’re seeing on roadside trucks everywhere? Sometimes, simple is best. Once you’ve had enough Maine shrimp cocktail, try this simple sauté that takes under five minutes to prepare. This recipe serves four.
Here we are in Maine. It’s mid-winter and we’ve got some time on our hands until spring. With another foot or two of snow expected this week and, in fact, most of the country hunkered down for another huge storm, I know what my plans entail tonight.
I’ll be in my favorite chair, the one I have to fight the dog for, reading my FEDCO seed catalog, lemon drop martini in one hand and a marking pen in the other.
I suppose if I didn’t love winter I wouldn’t be in Maine. One thing that makes winter more bearable is the fact that Meyer lemons abound. I always keep a simple syrup around for drinks and never tire of Meyer lemon in recipes like risotto, under the skin of a roasted chicken, in a vinaigrette for bitter winter greens, added to a black bean soup, etc. In other words, I eat them all winter long.
Not exactly a true lemon, the Meyer lemon is thought to be a cross between a Mandarin orange and a lemon tree and is far less acidic than a normal lemon. Common to California backyards and now grown commercially, the fruit is rounder and colored the shade of a free range egg yolk, a beautiful orange-y yellow hue. Alice Waters brought the use of the fruit forward during the California Cuisine Revolution. It was (naturally) named for the man who “discovered” it, Frank Nicholas Meyer in 1908, though I suspect many clever housewives were onto it long before.
image:bunkycooks.com
Feel like changing up dinner tonight? Try Okonomi-yaki, or Japanese Vegetable Pancake. Perfect for brunch or a light supper, it is even appropriate for breakfast for those who prefer a savory start to the day over a sweet one, as the Japanese do.
There are many variations on this recipe and substitutions are just fine, so if you don’t like sweet potato, substitute carrot, for instance. It’s a very forgiving recipe. And a great low fat way to begin or end your day.
Continue reading “Japanese Vegetable Pancakes (Okonomi-yaki)” »
I’ve been lucky enough to have friends from large Lebanese families. These families stick together, celebrate together, pretty much do everything as far as I can tell…and these families cook.
One friend of mine from central Maine, Janet Nichols, had a wonderful “sitto” or grandma that lived during the time she and I were in close proximity to each other, which was in the late 1970s and early 80s. I was honored to meet her before her passing and privileged to sample her recipes time and again. They live on through Janet and the many talented cooks in her family. This year I will be further honored to cater the wedding of Sito’s great-granddaughter, Saida.
I hung out with Saida’s mom, Janet, when her children were young. We worked together then, and we loved to cook and eat. At that time, I watched her make yogurt, stuffed squash, little Swiss chard hand pies, tabouleh salad, batlawa, hummus and the flat bread with za’atar that her sitto used to make. I used to love to visit her because I knew good food would abound and believe me, that has not changed.
Za’atar, now that was an epiphany! So savory, the flavor so inexplicable, so over the top good! I couldn’t guess then that I was tasting sesame, salt, sumac, oregano, savory, and thyme. And plenty of great Lebanese olive oil. It was really my first focaccia, just from a different part of the Mediterranean. Since then I have learned more about za’atar, its origins, and some new applications for contemporary dishes using this ancient mix of ingredients.
Basically a Middle Eastern phenomenon, za’atar is a condiment that can vary widely. It’s a regional thing and your za’atar mix can actually define where you may be from in some Arabic circles. I asked for it in Cairo and got oregano, and in fact wild oregano is sometimes called za’atar and is now a protected species. I’ve purchased it in red and green varieties. It is generally prepared by using ground thyme, oregano, marjoram, toasted sesame seeds, salt, and sumac. Often, the recipes are closely held by families, not even being passed to new wives or daughters.
Traditionally za’atar is prepared by drying wild herbs in the sun. It’s then blended with salt, sesame seeds, and sumac. It can further be blended with good oil to make a paste to dip pita bread in, or to stuff breads with, to spread on a flat bread before baking (something like a pizza) or as a seasoning for vegetables. Try it as a “rub” for meats and in the case of the following recipe, a savory coating for chicken cutlets. It is available already blended in specialty and ethnic food stores.
image: thepurplefoodie.com
According to folklore, collard greens served with black eyed peas and hog jowl (or smoked hocks) on New Year’s Day promises a year of good luck and financial bounty. To ward off evil spirits, hang a fresh collard leaf over your door to ring in the New Year! Headache the day after? Try a fresh leaf on your forehead. Hey, it’s worth a try!
A large quantity of greens is commonly referred to as a “mess o’ greens” in the south. My northern garden affords me many messes of greens well past snow fall and I love them with almost any bean and side meat. In fact, collards and kale are often tastier after a hard frost.
Here we’ll stick to the lucky black eyed peas with a side of greens. The greens are said to represent folded paper money and the peas represent coins.
image: nytimes.com
What’s better than chocolate? Not much in my view, but these Christmas cookies make a good thing better. Deep, delicious, chewy chocolate with a peppermint crunch on top. If you want to go to the top for your topping, think Portland’s own Haven’s Candies, home of wonderful home crafted, hand pulled candy canes. Almost too beautiful to crush up, I decided it was worth it in the end. The result is decadent and delicious. A final chocolate drizzle is optional, then another dusting of peppermint crunch.
image: tease-spoonofsugar.blogspot.com
Imagine a beautiful, snowy, winding drive in the country. Destination: a historic island inn with an organic farm to which one can drive. Arrive at the well kept grounds of a grand 1763 farmhouse and enter the front door. A charming woman with a divine accent takes your coat and leads you to a private room with a roaring fire in a fireplace almost large enough to walk into. Elements of a well traveled life surround you: marionettes from Prague to Swiss family heirlooms to a few portraits of a very handsome chef in an obviously European kitchen.
Our intention this evening? Well, frankly, it’s all about cheese tonight. And good Swiss wines to go with that cheese. We’re at the Squire Tarbox Inn on Westport Island, and we’re lusting for cheese. Appenzeller, Gruyère, Emmenthaler…all molten and bubbling in a big pot scented with wine, accompanied with bread fresh out of the oven offering the perfect combination of tender and crusty to dip and twirl and completely cover in gooey, delicious cheese.
Found now in the winter markets is the delicious Cippolini (chip-ohh-lee-nee) onion, or allium cepa.
Specific to Italian cooking, these onions vary in color from brown to golden to yellow but are mostly yellow. Distinctively small and flat with a disk-like shape, they tend to be more intense in flavor but less “hot” than a usual onion.
Besides being relished for roasting, kebabs, or my favorite, braised and marinated with balsamic vinegar, this onion is much appreciated for its therapeutic values. It is considered a toner and is high in vitamins A, B, and C and its mineral salts such as calcium, sodium, and phosphates.
Here is a recipe I return to time and again. I love these onions with roasted meats of any sort or on an antipasti tray:
Doesn’t bacon make most things better? I love the smokey edge it gives to the turkey breast while ensuring its moistness. The bird doesn’t get the maple syrup bath until the last hour of cooking, lending a sweet note to the pan drippings and, therefore, the gravy.
Continue reading “Maple Basted and Bacon Barded Turkey with Homemade Gravy” »
I love the sweetness of Maine maple syrup and a hint of tangerine to offset the tartness of cranberries. This unique cranberry sauce recipe is one of those “make ahead” components of a holiday meal that all hosts will cherish.
image: nourishingmeals.com
Got a house full of picky eaters for the holidays? Rock the house with this simple recipe. It serves four, but multiplies nicely for a crowd. I use foil under the bacon for easy clean up. So simple but definitely has the WOW factor written all over it!
image: cookeatfret.com
Continuing with the theme of great holiday tricks to have up your sleeve, here’s an easy crowd pleaser, great for pre-turkey noshing with a cocktail. They can be made well ahead of time…always a plus, and are easy to prepare. These sweet and spicy nuts pack a serious protein punch as well.
image: foodnetwork.com
It’s not too early to begin thinking about the holidays and the entertaining that lies ahead.
One recipe that I keep in my arsenal (actually in my freezer, and ready at a moment’s notice) is cheese crackers. Ever so easy to make, the dough when shaped into logs will freeze beautifully and is easy to handle. The logs slice more uniformly when semi frozen, so this is a quick hors d’oeuvre that’s smart to keep at the ready.
And these cheese crackers can do double duty. Being prepared for impromptu visitors, or having a hostess gift at the ready takes some of the stress out of spontaneous gatherings and gives you a leg up on socializing.
Isn’t enjoying yourself, and having time with family and friends, really what it’s all about?
image: courtesy of goodcheapeats.com
