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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.

10 Aug Summer Lovin’…

This summer has been busy busy. In between a ton of work, some good family and friends time, and the search for sun (Dear Fog, I can’t miss you if you never leave San Francisco), here are a few of the things I’ve been loving….

1. Spiralizer

You may remember this little gadget from an earlier post this summer. My spiralizer is truly one of the most frivolous purchases (kitchen or otherwise) I’ve ever made… and I love it! Especially with a stack of zucchini waiting to be eaten. In fact, this may be my favorite way to eat zucchini, and I swear it’s less than 10 minutes from popping the zuke on the spiralizer to taking it out of the pan. Finish with a sprinkle of salt, red pepper flakes, lemon zest and parmesan cheese… maybe toss in a handful of prawns… so fresh and yummy.

2. Eatwell Farm Dried Lemon Salt

I’ve been sprinkling this on everything – zucchini spirals, tuna steaks, braised greens, heirloom tomato slices… endless opportunities to make food a little brighter and zestier. And, a little goes a loooong way, so no breaking the bank with this obsession.

3. Coconut popsicles

Refreshing and richly satisfying. I’m determined to start making my own using coconut milk, just as soon as I can find someone’s popsicle molds to borrow.

4. Stove roasted corn

I can’t believe it took me this long to stop boiling my corn! I’m already a light boiler – barely three minutes for me. But roasting corn on my stove has opened up a whole new world.

5. Arizmendi‘s Cowgirl Cookies

Arizmendi opened up on Valencia Street this year – if you don’t know Arizmendi, do yourself a favor and change that now. Look them up, get to the nearest location and feast on their deeelicious fresh baked goods: breads, scones, cookies, and pizza. So, how did it take me until this summer to find the Cowgirl Cookies, my fantasy cookie realized? Check it: oatmeal raisin with walnuts and chunks of chocolate, and some other secret ingredient that has me addicted. And, it’s Arizmendi, so you know the ingredients and the people working the mixers and ovens are quality. The perfect treat for a long walk through SF’s sun-belt neighborhoods.

You know, that cookie is so good, it deserves two pictures:

How could you possible resist?

Hope you’ve been enjoying fresh treats this summer. Burr… I feel fall coming on. Maybe I have time for just one more cookie.

17 Apr You Say “Linguine,” I Say “Zunguine”…

Looks kinda good, doesn’t it? That’s linguine with mussels and clams in a spicy, fresh tomato sauce. Doesn’t it seem like a great way to end a week, to sit down to this and a nice glass of Chardonnay? Too bad I can’t eat it. So, what is a currently gluten-free woman to do, especially when she’s sharing this meal with a gluten lover? The answer, my friends, is compromise. And a spiralizer: linguine for him and zucchini linguine (or, as I like to call it, zunguine) for me.

Yes, there are a lot of gluten-free pastas on the market, made from rice, quinoa, vegetables, etc., and some of them are quite tasty. But sometimes I want something a little lighter, fresher and… well, I really like kitchen toys, too.

Meet an alternative answer for gluten-free pasta loving: the spiralizer. It looks a little complicated, with its crank and different blades, but it’s soooo easy, once you get started you want to spiralize everything you see (well, maybe that’s only me). Just insert your zucchini (or veg of choice – sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips – lots of veggie-into-spaghetti options), make sure the smallest blade plate is inserted (the one for making thin, multiple spirals) and crank away!

Out comes crazy-fun pasta-like spirals. I get made fun of aplenty for how excited this kind of thing makes me. But I don’t care, I love it. Food should be fun and delightful, in both the making and eating of it.

Okay, now for the recipe pictured above, for both gluten-lovers plus info on how to sub in the curly-cues above for the gluten-free. Should serve two hungry people. Pair with a bright salad.

Linguine With Clams and Mussels in a Spicy Tomato Sauce

6 oz linguine, or 2 large zucchini, sprialized into “zunguine” shape (or 3 oz linguine and 1 large zucchini, if you’re compromising)
1 T olive oil
1-2 large shallots, minced
5 cloves garlic, pressed
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 C white wine
2 T fresh sage, chopped fine
1/2 t red pepper flakes
pinch sea salt
2 large leaves of Swiss chard, stripped of the ribs and chiffonade
12 little neck clams
12 mussels

How to:

1. Place mussels and clams in a large bowl of cold water. A good soak should encourage them to open a little and release any sand they’re holding onto inside those pretty shells. When everything else is prepped, carefully scrub each one (tug out any “beards” you see on the mussels) and place in a clean bowl. Whatever you do, don’t just dump the bowl of soaking mollusks into a colander as this may damage the shells and will definitely deposit any released sand all over them again.

2. Put on a pot of water to boil and fix pasta according to package directions. Alternatively, spiralize your zucchini, place zunguine in a sauce pan and put off to the side.

3. In another sauce pan – a large one with deep sides – saute shallots and garlic in olive oil over medium heat. When shallots are soft, add tomatoes, wine, sage and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil and simmer for a couple of minutes. Taste and season as necessary (pinch salt, more red pepper flakes).

4. Add Swiss chard and shellfish to tomato sauce, cover for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, check to see if the shells are starting to open. Re-cover the pan, but keep the lid a little off center, this will allow the clams and mussels to finish steaming and let the sauce reduce a little. When all shells are open (no more than 10 mins total), uncover completely. If the sauce looks a little watery, let the liquid reduce a little. (Remember, any shells that don’t open = already dead mollusk = don’t eat it.)

5. While shellfish are cooking, drain pasta and plate on individual plates (pasta bowls or plates that can handle saucy food). If using the gluten-free option, heat pan with zucchini (medium high). The zucchini should have enough water in it to simmer in its own juices. Let simmer until zucchini just starts to soften, then turn off heat. Plate your zunguine.

6. Ladle shellfish and sauce over the linguine/zuguine. Now, EAT.