Farro Risotto

J has been talking for weeks about wanting to make a risotto using farro instead of the usual arborio rice.  The dish has been tasted by him, me, my mother and one of my co-workers and everyone gave it rave reviews!

The farro is nutty and earthy, and yet consistency-wise the dish comes off much lighter than the typical risotto.  The shiitake mushrooms went perfectly with the farro and this was a great way to use the Upton's Naturals Italian Sausage-Style Seitan we picked up at the co-op. 

FARRO RISOTTO

1 1/4 cups farro
32 oz homemade chicken stock (or vegetable stock for an entirely vegetarian dish)
1 - 2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 large spanish onion diced
6 oz shiitake mushrooms sliced
2 garlic cloves minced
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 tsp dried herbs de provence
pinch (abt 1/2 tsp) crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 package (4 oz) Upton's Naturals Italian Style Sausage-Seitan
1 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup grated pecorino romano
large handful chopped parsley
salt and pepper
squeeze fresh lemon

In a small sauce pan, warm the stock over low heat.

In a large pan, heat oil over medium/medium-high heat.  Add onions, salt and pepper lightly and sautee until translucent.

Add shiitake mushrooms and garlic, stirring while sauteeing for about 3 more minutes or until the mushrooms start to wilt.

Add farro and continue cooking for about 4 minutes.  Add white wine and cook until wine almost entirely evaporates.

One ladleful at a time, add the stock to the farro mixture and stir until liquid is almost absorbed.  Continue adding stock 1 ladle at a time, allowing the farro to absorb most of the liquid until the farro puffs up and breaks the husk, taste for consistency.  For this recipe we used all but almost 1 ladleful of the 32 oz.

Midway through adding the stock, add the red pepper flakes and herbs de provence.

Near the end, in a separate sautee pan, brown the italian sausage-style seitan.

When farro is desired consistency, remove from heat, stir in the cheese, parsley, 1 Tbsp butter and seitan.

Salt and pepper to taste and add a squeeze of lemon!

Quinoa Turkey Muffins with Wild Rice Pilaf

I had seen a recipe for quinoa turkey burgers that I've been wanting to try, especially since the success of my last turkey burgers.  We decided to try making little quinoa turkey muffins to have for the week.  I had a bag of wild rice that I've been waiting to do something with, and along with some carrots, mushroom, onions and celery it made a delicious pilaf!

QUINOA TURKEY MUFFINS

Makes 12 muffins
1/2 cup dry quinoa
1 cup water
1 lb ground turkey
1 egg
1 packet dried onion soup mix
worcesteshire sauce
black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375

For the quinoa:
Rinse the quinoa.

Put the quinoa and water into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Cover and simmer until all the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes

For the muffins:
In a large bowl mix the turkey with about 2/3 of the quinoa (I felt like cooked, all of the quinoa was going to be too much)

Whisk an egg and add it to the bowl with the turkey along with the packet of soup mix, a few shakes of worcestershire and some black pepper.

Scoop the mixture into the 12 muffin tin.

Bake for 25-30 minutes

Kale and Red Cabbage Gratin

I took this recipe from a greens and red cabbage recipe I came across in the NY Times Health section.  I like the idea of gratins and this came out even better than expected!  I forget how sweet red cabbage can become, nothing like the stink of boiled green cabbage (which does have its place).  I have been undersalting my food recently, to a fault, and managed to get the seasonings really right on this time.  The eggs and cheese make the dish feel much more decadent than it really is while getting plenty of servings of veggies.  Enjoy!

KALE AND RED CABBAGE GRATIN

1 pound kale stemmed and cleaned
1 pound red cabbage, chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
2 large garlic cloves minced
salt and pepper
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese (2oz)
**1/2 cup cooked rice

**I used an arborio which I wouldn't normally use in this manner, but the recipe recommended it.  To cook, I used 1/2 cup arborio and about 3/4 cup water.  Bring to a boil and the lower to a simmer for about 10 minutes

Preheat oven to 375.  Butter a 2 qt. gratin dish.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and fill a bowl of water with ice water.

Once water is boiling add a couple healthy pinches of salt and the kale.  Blanch for about 2 minutes, until tender and bright.  Transfer to ice water, drain and squeeze out excess water.  Chop and set aside

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium/medhigh heat.  Add onion and cook until soft about 8 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another minute.  Stir in cabbage and some salt, cook until cabbage is tender, about another 10 minues.  Stir in the chopped kale and season further with salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the vegetables from the heat and continue stirring to cool before adding to the egg mixture.

In another bowl beat the eggs and stir in the parsley, rice and cheese.  Add a Tbsp or two of the vegetable mixture to the egg mixture and stir.  Adding the vegetables in small doses will prevent the eggs from scrambling.  Continue doing so until all of the vegetables are incorporated.

Pour the entire mixture into your gratin dish and cook for about 40-45 minutes. 

Vegetable Soup

Returning home from San Francisco and Sonoma after an incredible vacation of friends, good food and lots of wine tasting (more on that to come!) I needed to get back on track with my eating and exercising!

The first thing that came to mind as a meal to get us through a few days was a rustic vegetable soup.  I picked up a few ingredients at lunch and assessed what, if anything, we had left in the fridge once I got home.  I let it simmer for quite awhile while sorting through our vacation photos.  Luckily J came home with a spare loaf of bread with roasted garlic to round out the meal!

VEGETABLE SOUP

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 carrots peeled and sliced
1 clove garlic minced
1 zucchini, halved and sliced
1/2 head cauliflower, broken up into very small florets
12-15 green beans, sliced
1 red potato diced
1 handful parsley chopped
1 small bunch kale chopped
32 oz. chicken stock
1 can crushed fire roasted tomatoes
a pinch of celery salt
1 tsp or so chili paste
a few dashes worstershire sauce
salt and pepper
1/2 can white beans, rinsed

In a stock pot, heat the oil over medium heat.  Prepare the onion, carrot and garlic and add that to the oil with some salt and pepper.  I let those soften while I chopped the rest of the veggies.

Next add the cauliflower.  While that cooks, chop the potato and run it under water to try to get rid of some of the starch and chop the kale, parsley and green beans.

Add the stock, canned tomatoes (with their juices), potato, green beans, kale and parsley.

Toss in the chili paste and a couple of dashes of the worstershire.

Bring the soup to a boil and then lower to a simmer for about an hour. 

If needed, add a little extra water.

Add the beans a few minutes before you are going to turn off the soup so that they heat but don't get mushy. 

Taste and adjust spices if necessary.

Baked Camembert with Onion Chutney

My other Superbowl snack was a new use for my second batch of onion chutney.

BAKED CAMEMBERT WITH ONION CHUTNEY

1 round of Camembert Cheese
Several heaping Tbsp of onion chutney
crackers or bread for serving

Preheat oven to 350

On a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, lay out the camembert and top with as much onion chutney as you would like.

Alternately, using small ramekins, cut the camembert into quarters and put each quarter into a ramekin and top with chutney.  I found this option to be the best alternative.

Bake until the cheese has started oozing. 

Let cool just a little and enjoy with crackers or bread!

Roasted Garlic Hummus

I wanted to bring dip and veggies to a Superbowl party yesterday.  I was tired of my go to Bobby Flay White bean, chipotle and roasted red pepper dip, and thought plain hummus might be too boring, so I decided to go with a roasted hummus garlic!  It was really good, but with all of the delicious roast beef sandwiches, homemade hot wings and french onion dip, people weren't too into getting all of their veggies!

ROASTED GARLIC HUMMUS

3/4 head garlic
1- 25oz can garbanzo beans
2 Tbsp tahini
4 Tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Olive oil (to texture)
Chopped carrots, celery, cucumbers and red bell peppers for dipping.

Preheat the oven to 350

Cut the top of the head of garlic and drizzle with a little olive oil.  Wrap in tin foil and bake for about 50 minutes.

In a food processor add your beans, tahini, lemon and a few healthy dashes of salt and pepper.  Once the garlicd has cooled enough to handle, squeeze the roasted garlic into the food processor as well.

Begin processing, slowly adding olive oil as you go to get the hummus to the consistency you like.

Stop frequently to taste and reseason as needed.

Serve with assorted veggies.

Onion and White Bean Soup

I took my inspiration for this recipe from Fabio Viviani's Sweet Onion and Mixed Legume Soup recipe.  Fabio was one of my favorite contestants ever to be on Top Chef and to top off all of his successes, according to his Food Network bio he is also William Shatner's private chef???

This winter I keep finding myself with excess bags of onions and so this soup was born.  I made it tonight and have tasted it but, as with most of my soups, I really prefer to make it in the evening and not eat it until the next day.  The soup ended up being quite sweet which I cut with worcesteshire and hot sauce. 

Maybe with my next spare bag of onions I'll finally try to make a true french onion soup!

ONION AND WHITE BEAN SOUP

1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large carrot diced
3-4 stalks celery diced
2 cloves of garlic sliced
2lbs onions sliced
1 cup dried white beans soaked overnight, rinsed and simmered the next day until tender (or about a can and a half of cannellini)
6 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper
worcesteshire sauce
hot sauce

Heat the oil in a stock pot.  Add the carrots, celery and garlic and sautee for about 6 minutes with a healthy dose of salt and pepper. 

Add the onions and 1 cup of the stock.  Simmer until all of the liquid is absorbed and the onions are almost stringy, about an hour. 

Add the rest of the stock and the white beans and continue to simmer. 

Add salt and pepper to taste.  At this point the soup should be pretty sweet.  Add some worcesteshire and hot sauce in small doses, continuing to taste.

Remove from the heat and blend with an immersion blender (or the boat motor as my husband calls it!).

Twice Baked Ramekin Potatoes with Roasted Garlic

 I love miniature kitchen items and could not resist registering for little individual sized red Le Creuset ramekins when we got married.

It was hard to break the bread and cheese habit after the weekend and I was still craving something that felt indulgent.  We had a bunch of potatoes and decided to make a twice baked version in the ramekins.  They turned out delicious and seemingly uber indulgent without being too bad.  The roasted garlic really made this something special.

TWICE BAKED RAMEKIN POTATOES WITH ROASTED GARLIC

1 head garlic
3 medium red potatoes
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp (approx.) half & half
grated pecorino to taste
salt and pepper
5 mini ramekins

Cut top off head of garlic, wrap in tinfoil and roast in 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes.  Remove from oven when done and turn heat up to 400. 

In the meantime, peel and quarter the potatoes.  Cover with water and boil until fork tender.  Drain.

Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves into the potatoes.  Mash with the butter, cream, salt, pepper and grated pecorino.

Butter ramekins.  Fill each ramekin with the mashed potatoes and sprinkle with a little extra cheese. 

Bake in 400 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes or until cheese browns.

Let cool for a few minutes then run a knife along the inside of the ramekin to dislodge and invert onto plate.

Chicken with mustard shallot sauce, twice baked ramekin potatoes and sauteed spinach

After the Wisconsin weekend I was dying to eat some nice, clean food AND try out my new mustard.

We decided to do chicken cutlets in a mustard shallot sauce with a dash of cream, twice baked potatoes in our little red le creuset ramekins, which I love, and sauteed spinach.  I was dreaming about greens, literally.  Friday night I dreamt that I had my juicer with me on the trip and mixed up a ton of veggies for breakfast in the morning! 

CHICKEN CUTLETS IN MUSTARD SHALLOT SAUCE

FOR THE CHICKEN:
3 chicken cutlets
scant 1 Tbsp olive oil
lemon
salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a pan and cook each of the cutlets with salt and pepper.  As they are cooking, squeeze a little bit of lemon juice directly onto the chicken.  The juice almost carmelizes and gives the chicken a nice brown.

Set chicken aside

FOR THE SAUCE:
1-2 shallots diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp of my new Green Olive and Lemon Mustard (or mustard of your choice)
2-3 Tbsp chicken stock
dash of cream

Heat the oil in the same pan you cooked the chicken in.  Sautee the shallots.  Pour in a little chicken stock and stir to pick up all the delicious bits on the bottom of the pan.  ***here you could also use some white wine, we just didn't have a bottle that we wanted to open.

Add in the mustard and a dash of cream and continue to stir until it thickens.

Return the chicken cutlets to the pan with the sauce and turn to coat.

Onion Chutney

I have been eyeing this recipe for onion chutney that I found on Closet Cooking.  Yesterday I had a bag of onions and was going to our friends K & A's house for dinner so I decided to try it out!

It was a success!  We bought some cow's milk cheese and just scooped the chutney over cheese on a cracker.  The cheese we bought was disappointingly boring but the chutney livened it up.  I've never made a chutney before and am still not 100% sure what actually makes a chutney.  My husband thinks it is the combo of sweet and spicy.  Any opinions?  Either way this dish is destined to become a new go-to for book clubs and parties. 

ONION CHUTNEY

6 cups onions sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp mustard seeds
4 dried chilis crushed (I just crushed them by hand)
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice

Heat the oil in a pan. 

Add the cumin mustard seeds and chilis and heat until they start to sputter (you will hear it!)

Add the onions and sautee until they turn golden brown.  I cooked them for quite awhile on about medium heat, probably about 30 minutes.

Add the chili powder, salt, sugar and lemon juice and cook until all the sugar dissolves and everything has blended together.

Store in a jar.

You can try my recipe for baked camembert and onion chutney

Quinoa Bake

I love quinoa and have been cooking more and more with it over the last year or so.  It's gluten free so it's a great alternative to barley or farro (both of which I also love).

This quinoa bake is delicious and feels like comfort food even though it is really healthy and very few calories.  I use the website Spark People to log calories and they have a function where you can add up all of the elements of a recipe and get the overall calorie content (along with protein, carbs etc.)  This recipe makes about 8 servings, each of which is only about 270 calories.  The recipe is gluten free but not vegan.

1 medium onion diced or 2 leeks
1 red bell pepper diced
1 yellow bell pepper diced
5 shiitake mushrooms diced
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
4 cups spinach
2 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 cups quinoa rinsed
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 eggs
3/4 cup shredded swiss cheese
salt and pepper
parmesan for sprinkling on top (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 and butter a 9x13 baking dish.

Rinse the spinach and sautee in a pan with just the rinsing liquid until spinach is wilted.  Chop and set aside.

Heat the olive oil and add the onion, bell peppers and mushrooms over med/med-high heat.  Cook until softened.  Season as you go with salt and pepper.  How much may depend on what type of stock you're using.  I used my homemade stock which I don't add too much sodium to, so I definitely added salt.  If you're using a packaged stock check the label. 

Add the quinoa and garlic and cook until quinoa starts to become opaque (about 4 minutes).

Add the stock (you can also use water) and cook until most of the liquid is absorbed.

Meanwhile, whisk 2 eggs together in a large bowl and add the cheese and spinach.

Once the liquid is absorbed from the quinoa and vegetable mixture remove it from the heat and continue to stir it to let it cool.  I also let it sit for awhile.  It needs to cool before adding it to the eggs or your eggs will scramble!

Once the quinoa seems pretty cool (definitely not steaming anymore) add a small bit to the egg, cheese and spinach mixture and mix well.  Continue folding in all of the quinoa mixture.

Pour the mixture into your greased baking dish, sprinkle with cheese if desired and bake for 35 minutes.

Most versions of this recipe I saw call for adding a cup of milk to the eggs.  We don't drink milk in my household so I just omitted it.  Adding milk will definitely make it a little creamier if you have it.  Even without the milk it was a perfect Saturday lunch.  I often eat it as a main course but it is a great side dish as well.

Cannellini Bean Puree with Barley

This is the second puree soup recipce, or Vellutata, I have taken from my new La Cucina Italiana subscription.

The beauty of the cauliflower puree from last week and this Cannellini Bean Puree is the simplicity and velvety texture of the soup, combined with an additional textured food spooned on top to serve.  In this case, the silky smooth cannellini puree is topped with herbed barley. 

The soup is delicious, hearty, comforting and healthy.  It was also my first time using dried beans instead of canned (can you believe I have never used dried beans before?).  The difference was measurable and even my husband, who has pooh-poohed the idea of using dried beans in the past, is a convert.

I made it last night and reheated some tonight after a big glass of fresh vegetable juice as part of my revamped eating plan to kick of 2010!  Cannellini are very high in folate and iron and a good source of non-meat protein. 

CANNELLINI BEAN PUREE WITH BARLEY

2 cups dried cannellini
1 slice of onion
1/4 cup pearled barley
2 Tbsp good extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, gently smashed and peeled
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mixed herbs, I used parsley, basil and oregano
sea salt
white pepper
black pepper to taste

Place the beans in a pot.  Cover with cold water by 3 inches and let sit overnight.


Drain beans.  Add 5 cups of cold filtered water and the onion.  Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium low and simmer until beans are very tender, adding water if needed to keep the beans covered.  I ended up cooking mine about 1 hour 15 minutes and adding another 2 cups of water overall.


Meanwhile, bring about 4 cups of salted water to a boil.  Add barley, reduce heat to med-low and simmer until tender, approximately 45 minutes.  Drain.


When the beans are tender, transfer in batches to a blender and carefully puree until smooth.**(see note).


Pour the pureed beans through a fine mesh sieve and with a rubber spatula, push the puree through the sieve, leaving behind the bean skins which can be discarded.  While this is labor intensive the result is a perfectly silky smooth puree.


Return the beans to the pot, whisk in 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil and heat gently.  Season generously with salt and white pepper.  I used white pepper to keep the pristine white color.  At this point you may need to add more water to thin soup.  My soup was very thick and definitely needed water.  When eating leftovers I added additional water prior to reheating.


In a large skillet heat the remaining 1 Tbsp oil over med-high heat.  Add the barley and garlic clove and cook while stirring about 2 minutes.  Add the herbs and cooking another minute or so.  Remove from the heat, discard the garlic clove and season with salt and pepper.


Ladle soup into bowls and spoon barley on top.  Sprinkle with a little extra salt and pepper.

**I've learned my lesson pureeing hot liquids.  First of all, start small!  The first time I ever tried to puree a soup in my blender I filled the blender to the top and almost got sprayed the second I turned it on.  Pureeing in several small batches, while a hassle, is much easier than cleaning puree off your kitchen walls.  Secondly, remove the plastic cap from the lid and instead, hold a dish towel over the hole.  The hot air can blow the plastic cap right off if you're not careful. 

I know I waxed pontific about the virtues of the immersion blender for the cauliflower puree.  In this instance, since we want to separate the bean skins from the puree, using the blender was the best idea.

Bobby Flay's Roasted Red Pepper and Chipotle Bean Dip

This is a recipe I started making a couple of years ago during football season.  It was a huge hit and has become one of my go-to party dips.

When serving, I do feel compelled to warn people about the spiciness.  Friends will just assume it is hummus and give it to their kids. 

ROASTED RED PEPPER AND CHIPOTLE BEAN DIP

2 red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic minced
1 Tbsp chipotle puree  **see note
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
Honey to taste (about 1 Tbsp)
Salt and black pepper to taste

Put the roasted red peppers, red wine vinegar and chipotle puree in a food processor and blend


Add the white beans and garlic and continue to process until smooth.


Add honey, salt and pepper to taste.


Serve with tortilla chips or chopped vegetables such as red, yellow and orange bell peppers

**CHIPOTLE PUREE  to make the puree, take canned chipotle pepper and some of the adobo sauce and process in a mini food processor.  You can keep leftovers in the fridge for a few weeks

Cauliflower Puree Soup

After the decadence of the holidays, it's time to get back to some normal eating and cooking!  I recently discovered the magazine La Cucina Italiana, and a good friend was kind enough to give me a subscription for Christmas!

I adapted this recipe from one I found in the current edition.  It also gave me a second time to use my new Immersion Blender which I got in the Family Christmas Secret Santa Exchange!

I was hoping to make a nice, healthy vegetable based soup.  And while it is primarily vegetable, overall I would use much less butter than the recipe called for.  I might actually just sautee the leeks in only oil.  And the bacon is just an optional garnishment to sprinkle on top.  The recipe I got my inspiration from actually used veal.

CAULIFLOWER PUREE SOUP

2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 of a very large onion sliced thinly (about 1 - 1 1/2 cups)
1 head cauliflower cut into small florettes (approximately 1 lb)
1/2 lb yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced into 1 in. pieces (approximately 1/2 lb)
3 1/2 Tbsp butter, divided
3 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 leek, white and yellow parts chopped
2 slices of bacon diced
salt and pepper to taste

In a large stock pot heat the olive oil on medium heat, add the onions, lower the heat to med-low and sautee for about 5 minutes or until they are soft

Add the cauliflower, potatoes a healthy pinch of salt and 2 Tbsp of the butter.  Cook for about 10 minutes.

Add 2 cups of broth, bring to a boil and simmer on low, covered for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, start the leeks and bacon.  In one pan, heat the remaining 1 1/2 Tbsp butter over medium heat and sautee the leeks for about 15 minutes.

**again, in the future I would not use this much butter

After 15 minutes, add 1 1/2 cups of stock and a dash of salt and simmer on low for another 15 minutes.

In a separate pan cook the diced bacon on med-low until it is nice and crispy. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Drain the cooking liquid from the leeks into the soup pot and reserve the leeks.

Remove the soup from the heat and with an immersion blender puree the soup.  Test the consistency, you can always add more stock or water to thin out the soup if you like, but I found this consistency perfect.

**if you do not have an immersion blender, puree in batches in a blender

Ladle soup into bowls and top with leeks, bacon and some freshly ground black pepper

Merry (Molecular Gastronomy) Christmas!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.  I enjoyed myself immensely and the long weekend felt truly like a break.  We saw family and friends, ate well, opened wonderful presents and started our foray into Molecular Gastronomy!

The main component to Jason's Christmas gift this year was a Molecular Gastronomy Starter Kit from ThinkGeek.com.  It was true inspiration and turned out to be one of the best gifts I have given him!  We spent Saturday afternoon and evening at our friend Nancy's house familiarizing ourselves with the kit and trying out our first recipes!  Spherification was a total success, gelification a strong start. 

First up, prepping Capri Sun Spheres!

  

Capri Sun

Then a Green Juice Gelee:

Next a Sparkling Wine Semi-Gel (didn't quite turn out)

Time to make the spheres!  Capri Sun mixed with sodium alginate and allowed to rest for about 30 minutes.  Then dispensed with a pipette into a bath of calcium salt and  water, then rinsed in a pure water bath. 

The green gelee formed with Agar-Agar as well as another gelee we made with some leftover Capri Sun.  We topped them off with a few capri sun pearls, or caviar.

Quite an interesting day!  I think we will be adding a whole new twist to our cooking!

TZATZIKI

TZATZIKI


1 package greek yogurt
1 cucumber peeled, seeded and diced
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Dill (use fresh if possible, if not substitute dried)
Black pepper

Salt the cucumbers and set over a colander. This will draw out some of the liquid to prevent the sauce from becoming too watery

After about 20 minutes, pat dry the cucmber and add to a food processor with the garlic, lemon and some black pepper and dill.

Process and then mix into the yogurt. Chill.

This sauce is best made in the summer with fresh herbs but it works even in the dead of winter!

Turkey Burgers

I'm not much of a Thanksgiving meal fan, so I didn't burn myself out on turkey.

My friend Michelle had passed along to me her turkey burger recipe and I had been wanting to try something similar.  I combined her used of dry onion soup mix with a few other flavors and am really happy with the result!  It's an easy week night meal and provides me with some protein for a few days!

TURKEY BURGERS

1 lb ground turkey meat
1 package dry onion soup mix
Worstershire sauce
3 oz (approximately) feta crumbled
Garlic powder
salt and pepper

Put the turkey in a big bowl.  Add the onion soup mix, a dash or two of worstershire, a few sprinkles of onion powder, the crumbled feta and some salt and pepper.  Mix well, form into patties and grill on a stove top grill pan.

I don't usually cook meat, but I would say I cooked them about 5 minutes on each side? 

The burgers were tasty!  I topped mine with some homemade tzatziki sauce for an extra kick!

Quinoa Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Pomegranate Vinaigrette

I hadn't cooked quinoa in awhile and, as you know, love pomegranates.  I used a few recipes from the blog Closet Cooking as inspiration.  I made a big batch of this on Monday night which we ate as a side all week!

I also made my lentil and sausage soup which was even better than I had remembered.  I was intent on having food prepared for the whole week and we didn't have to eat out once (except for the sushi dinner we chose to have on Wednesday!)

QUINOA SALAD WITH ROASTED VEGETABLES AND POMEGRANATE VINAIGRETTE

1 eggplant
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 bulb fennel
2 red peppers
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
1/4 cup walnuts
3 oz (or so) feta
1 cup quinoa
1/4 cup pomegranate vinaigrette

Preheat the oven to 400.

Cut up the eggplant into cubes, salt generously and set aside in a colander to drain or about 20 minutes (by salting and draining the eggplant, you remove some of the bitter taste eggplant can have)

Stick the red peppers on a baking sheet lined with tin foil.  But in the oven under the broiler and turn every few minutes until all sides are blackened.  Take our, put in a covered bowl and let sit until the peppers have cooled enough to handle and the skins peel off easily.  Chop the peppers into 1 inch pieces.

Rinse and pat dry the eggplant.  Put in a baking dish and toss with some olive oil and the cumin, paprika and cinnamon.

Cut the fennel into slices, put the slices in another baking dish and toss with a little olive oil.

Roast the vegetables in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime cook the quinoa according to the directions on the package.

But the quinoa in a bowl.  Add the roasted eggplant, fennel, red peppers, walnuts, pomegranate seeds and feta and drizzle with the pomegranate vinaigrette.

I found that this salad was fine the night I made it but incredible the several days following!  J ate his room temperature, I heated mine up in the microwave before eating.  Delicious!

Braised Pork in the "Black Rooster" (Brasato di Maiale Nero)

Even without tv we still will pop onto hulu or some other website to catch a show or two.  One night, I got home to find Jason watching "Molto Mario", Batali's show.  We watched him make this pork dish, a pork roast braised in red wine sauce alongside roasted butternut squash in agrodolce and knew we had to make it one day.

We have revived our Friday cooking sessions this fall and today we decided to try this dish.  It was incredible.  Instead of the butternut squash, we substituted spaghetti squash (which I love) and added a side of braised chard.  We substituted bacon for the pancetta and made a roast about half the size of what he did on the show. 

The dish was incredible!  Along with the rotolo, we now have decided on our Christmas eve dinner!

BRAISED PORK IN THE BLACK ROOSTER (Brasato in Maiale Nero)

One 2 pound pork roast, rolled and tied
2 teaspoons salt
several fresh sage leaves
2 slices of bacon
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3/4 cup parsley leaves
Olive oil
2 cups dry red wine (we used a tempranillo, chianti would also be perfect)
1 can fire roasted tomatoes
black pepper

First tie up the roast (we use Food Loops which are easy and can be washed and reused)

Slide sage leaves under the loops all the way across the roast

Chop up the bacon, parsley and garlic together until it becomes the consistency of a paste.  Add a splash of olive oil if you need it but we didn't use more than a teaspoon.

In a large dutch oven, cook the bacon paste in a little bit of olive oil until it essentially melts.

Then, brown the roast in the mixture on all sides

 

Add 1 cup of the red wine, bring to a boil and reduce.  Add the remaining 1 cup of wine and the tomatoes and bring to a boil

Cover the pot, lower to a simmer and cook about 2 hours.  When finished cooking, pull out the roast to let rest, turn up the heat on the pot and reduce the braising liquid.

Remove the string and sage leaves from the roast.  Serve cut into slices and doused with the sauce!

Rotolo

Greetings!  I've been remiss since Thanksgiving.  I have to say I have been doing a lot of cooking. 

The day after Thanksgiving we had a great group of friends over.  Due to the nature of J's job, he gets a lot of presents at this time of year.  Usually in the form of cash or gift cards.  This season, we received something new, fresh pasta!  J was given 4 bags of ravioli (2 pumpkin and 2 spinach and sausage) and something I had never seen before, a Rotolo.

rotolo before adding sauce on top and baking

In this form, a rotolo is a stuffed pasta roll.  Three types of pasta - plain, tomato and spinach - in a large sheet, layered with mozzarella, ricotta and spinach and rolled into a log, almost like the pre-cooked polenta logs you can buy in the store, but larger. 

To serve, spread a baking dish with a thin layer of red sauce (we just used a store bought arrabiata), slice the rotolo, lay the slices in the dish and add more sauce on top and around the slices.  Put in a 350 degree oven and cook for about 20-25 minutes.

We served with sauteed spinach and roasted cauliflower.  Add in a couple of bottles of wine and a side of 6 friends and 3 kids and you have the perfect way to recover after Thanksgiving!