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15 Oct Ole!

A couple of weekends ago, after a lovely hike high above Truckee with a dear friend and her absolutely adorable baby, we stopped into a grocery store for dinner supplies. We didn’t have a plan for the meal, so while we wandered the aisles, I quizzed my lovely host about some key details that helped me shape a vision. (It sort of reminded me of the old Choose Your Own Adventure books:”Do you want Indian flavors, Italian flavors, or Mexican flavors?” “Okay then, do you want tortilla chips, tortillas or a cornmeal crust?” etc.) The result was a super simple and hearty dinner, perfect after a hike, perfect for that late summer, early fall transition with fresh cooked vegetable wrapped cozily in warming spices and light layers of beans and tortillas.

Some of the things I especially like about this recipe:

It’s a nice balance between fresh vegetables and canned food, making it a good go to if you have a well-stocked pantry.
It’s sort of a no brainer. In other words, there are no fancy sauces to make, no special techniques. Chop, grate, saute, stir, spoon.
The spicing is really versatile. You can easily make it hot spicy by using spicier salsa, or adding chili powder to the beans and/or veggies, or you can make it deeper spicy by adding more cumin, oregano and basil, maybe some garlic powder, etc. Too much salt is probably the only unforgiving experiment.
You can use any combination of vegetables you like (e.g. try adding mushrooms, sweet potatoes, or butternut squash).
This is also a great way to use up stems of greens. I made good use of the broccoli stems, but could easily have added kale or chard stems saved from other recipes that just used the leaves.

Mexican Vegetable Casserole

6 corn tortillas
8 oz jack cheese, grated (pepper jack, if you want this spicier)
1 medium stalk of broccoli, florets and stem diced (peel stem and cut off tough, fibrous end, if necessary)
1 largish carrot, peeled and diced
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 red bell pepper
1 small or 1/2 larger onion (I used red for the sweetness), diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 1/2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can diced tomatoes, regular, Mexican or Italian style
1/4 C (plus a little extra) favorite chunky salsa
4oz can of green chilis or equivalent amount of salsa verde (optional)
1/2-1 t cumin, to taste
1-2 t oregano, to taste
1-2 t basil, to taste
sea salt, to taste
olive oil
1 avocado, sliced or diced
yogurt or sour cream (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Find a small casserole dish, ~8in (preferably round).

2. In a large pan, saute onion and garlic in a little olive oil over medium high heat until onion begins to soften. Add pinch of salt.

3. Add all other fresh veggies and saute until tender. Season with cumin, oregano, basil and salt, to taste. (You can use a taco seasoning instead, but it’s hard to find one that doesn’t have a lot of nonsense added to it, e.g. maltodextrin.) Add green chilis (the first time I made this, I used salsa verde instead, which was perfectly fine – I also think this bit is entirely optional, but you’ll likely want to increase the other spices if you skip).

4. While the vegetables are cooking, mash half of the black beans with the back of a fork or spoon. Combine the beans with the diced tomatoes (including the juice) in a medium pot. Add 1/4 C salsa and pinch of salt, to taste, and heat over medium until warmed through. (Be sure to check your veggies, and adjust seasoning to taste.) And, if you haven’t already grated your cheese, now is a good time (trick: toss the cheese in the freezer before you start doing any of other prep – that’ll be just enough time to make it extra firm for faster grating, without making it a icy brick).

5. When vegetables are tender and beans are heated through, you’re ready to build the beast. Pour a little salsa or juice from the bean/tomato mixture into bottom of your casserole dish (maybe ~2 T – just enough to lightly coat). Put down a layer of tortillas (my dish used 1 whole tortilla, plus one split in half, the halves arranged to provide a full layer of coverage). Then add a layer of vegetables, a layer of beans, and a layer of cheese. Repeat. Top the final layer with tortillas and then a last sprinkle of cheese. (It’s important not to make the veggie layer too thick, or the wedges you cut and serve layer will fall apart.)

6. Immediately place in oven and bake for 15 mins. (If you assemble while the veggies and beans are still warm but don’t bake right away, your tortillas will get soggy and the top layer will curl up in weird ways. So, if you want to prep this ahead of time, wait until everything has cooled at least to room temperature and either assemble right before you’re ready to eat or store built casserole, covered, in the refrigerator. Realize, you’ll probably need to keep bake it a little longer to heat the inner layers all the way through again.)

Use a large serving spoon to cut/scoop pie-like wedges. Serve with sliced avocado, extra salsa and yogurt or sour cream, as you like. Takes around 45 mins to an hour – from first chop to serving, depending on how fast you chop and how well you multi-task. Serves 4-6.

18 Nov Sweet, Sweet Love In a Cup …

It is cold in San Francisco. It seems like over night *poof* we went from an Indian Summer to Winter (yes, with a capital W!). So, of course, soup – warm, comfy soupy soup – has been on my mind. The only problem with craving soup is that, no matter how many times I make a pot, I continue to hold onto the misguided notions that soup making (1) is a laborious task, (2) takes forever and (3) will require a special trip to the grocery story (I think the first two are holdovers from childhood memories of chicken soup simmering for hours on the stovetop – delicious end result, but a drawn-out process). So, it’s always a delightful revelation when I throw veggies into a pot, add some broth, maybe blend it up a bit and *poof* just like summer somersaults into winter, raw ingredients suddenly are satisfying soup. So, I guess that makes this sweet, simple and scrumptious Carrot Apple soup a little pot of magic, huh? (Can you tell I’m dying to see the new Harry Potter?)

This recipe is completely straightforward and beautifully basic. It’s also great for an unexpectedly cold and raining evening, requiring few ingredients and cooking up in a flash. The clean simplicity of carrots and apple, with a hint of rosemary, is light enough to be a first course, but also goes really well with a hearty bread or buttery biscuit to satisfy as a main. It’s so warm and refreshing, I’ve already made another batch since last week! Of course, variations are already dancing in my head (swap the rosemary for curry and cumin? add a spoonful of coconut oil at the end? a cup of white beans blended in to give a protein punch?) and maybe some will show up here soon….

Carrot Apple Soup

1 medium/large yellow onion
5 large carrots (or the equivalent, whatever sizes you have on hand)
3 medium apples
olive oil
1 T (heaping) fresh rosemary
2 C vegetable broth
2 C water
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pot on stove, medium-high. Roughly chop onion. When pot is hot, add two turns of olive oil. When oil is warm, add onion, give it a dash of salt, and saute until just starting to get soft (~5-7 mins). Meanwhile, give the carrots a rough chop, set aside. Quarter and core apples and, you guessed it, give a rough chop. (The smaller your chop, the quicker the veggies and fruit will cook, but it takes a little longer to chop fine, so six of one, half-dozen of another?… Do what works for you.) When onions are ready, add carrots and saute for another 10 mins or so, then add the apples. The apples will cook faster than the carrots, that’s why they go in last.

After the apples have sauted for a few minutes, add rosemary and a little water or vegetable broth – maybe 1/2 to 1C – keep temperature medium high and cover. As the liquid comes to a boil, the steam will help the carrots and apples cook and sort of deglaze the bottom of the pot, which deepens the flavor. (Don’t leave covered for too long or the liquid will evaporate and you could burn everything.) When liquid is almost gone, uncover and continue to saute as needed until carrots are tender and apples start to soften, but try not to let them completely break down. Turn off heat and get ready to blend into creamy goodness.

You can blend it up two ways: with a handheld wand or in a blender. I’m the kind of genius that never fails to splatter half the soup on the walls with the handheld blender, so I usually opt for the regular blender. Remember, hot food in a closed container will generate steam and pressure: (1) let the veggies cool a little to minimize steamage and (2) HOLD THE BLENDER LID DOWN when you blend to prevent it from blasting off if steamy pressure builds up.

I like to add 1/3 of the veggies and a cup of vegetable broth and blend well. Then (without emptying the blender) add another 1/3 C of veggies and blend well again (adding more broth as necessary for the mixture to churn freely in the blender. Finally, add last 1/3 C and blend. When I toss all the veggies in at once, even if I let the blender go for a few minutes, the soup just doesn’t get as smooth as when I do it in increments like this. When everything is blended well, pour back into soup pot and add any remaining vegetable broth and water until you reach desired consistency (of course, you can always use all vegetable broth or all water, as desired).

Bring soup back almost to a simmer. Salt and pepper to taste. Remember, if you accidentally add too much liquid, just let the soup simmer until it cooks down a little.

This last batch (which looks oddly oily in the picture below, but that’s a trick of light since there’s barely two tablespoons of oil in the whole thing), I garnished with some diced radish to give some tart, crunchy contrast to the smooth sweet soup. I think diced avocado and/or Roma tomato would be good, too. Gives me four, main meal-sized servings. Yum!

16 Oct And the Beet Goes On . . .

A few weeks ago, I whipped up this really simple beet slaw, which was much enjoyed at a bbq by not-really-beet-loving friends. I was inspired to make it tonight – even with the evening’s chill (true source for the inspiration is below).

Beet Slaw

1 large beet, scrubbed clean
1 large carrot
1 granny smith apple
4 kale leaves
juice of one lime
salt and pepper to taste
large handf ul walnuts

Optional dressing:

2-4 T olive oil
1-2 T apple cider vinegar, with an optional splash of balsamic
salt and pepper, to taste
pinch dried herbs (optional)

Scrub your veggies. Dust off the shredder blade of your food processor. Cut beet and apple into chunks that will fit through your food processor feeder tube. Shred apple, carrots and beet, one after another in food processor (no need to empty between them unless you’re making a big batch and it won’t all fit). Empty into a large bowl. Peel kale leaves off of stems and chiffonade leaves. Add kale to bowl and toss. Add juice of one lime and a pinch of salt and mix thoroughly. Just like this…

Sometimes I stop here. But sometimes I like to add a little zingaling to it – an optional dressing. I don’t like overly dressed salads, so I usually start small, one tablespoon or pinch at a time, tasting along the way until I have a nice little vinaigrette. This is why the quantities in this dressing aren’t exact, but general ranges that I like. So… with that said: in a separate small bowl, mix olive oil, vinegar(s), salt and pepper to taste. Add pinch of herbs, if desired, and mix well. Drizzle over slaw and toss thoroughly. Plate up and eat! (Note: this salad keeps really well. In fact, letting it sit a bit makes it extra yummy.)

And now, my inspiration, my muse, if you will… my SUPER talented friend, the actor, photographer, editor, filmmaker and beauty product connoisseur, Patrick Gallo: