It has been a cold, wet and windy week this week in CA. Staying indoors with my students and my child is quite tiring. I think we are all ready for a little break so that we can get outside and enjoy some fresh air. I need to pull the many, many weeds that have sprouted since the rain began.
Grace is all dressed up in a hat and sweater. The same hat and sweater that my Nonna made for me when I was a baby. I love that my Mom saved it all those years.
Grace is learning to play baseball on her new toy.
This is what Grace's room looks like after a mere 5 minutes of being alone in it!
Russian Kale from Rainbow
So what is there to do when you are stuck indoors? Cook! I think that one of my favorite foods is greens- any kind of greens, although I tend to crave the more bitter ones like mustard greens. When we started making Grace baby food, she would gobble up the pureed kale and spinach and even loved it chopped in pasta when she began finger foods. These days it is a little harder to get her to eat those greens. They need to be chopped fine, put in a frittata or disguised in something else. I came up with this recipe to help to get more greens in her diet and it worked!
Southern Greens Pesto
You could really use anything bunch of greens for this, but I opt for the Southern Greens from Trader Joes because they are already washed and chopped, which is a plus in my book. I use the same technique for making basil pesto, with a few changes. I tried to keep the pesto a bit more healthy by using less olive oil and adding the greens water to thin it out. You could easily make this recipe dairy free by omitting the cheese and adding more nuts and salt.
1 bag southern greens (or 2 bunches of your favorite greens, washed chopped and tough stems removed)
Parmigiano Reggiano or a combo of p cheese and Pecorino Romano
nuts: I have used a combo of slivered almonds and pine nuts, but have made it with walnut and pinenuts too)
chopped garlic to your taste- (2 cloves)
extra virgin olive oil
1 lb of whole wheat spaghetti
toppings: sliced kalamata olives (or any briny black olive), lemon zest, p cheese.
Boil the greens in plenty of salted water until tender. Remove greens but save the water to boil the pasta. In a food processor combine the garlic and nuts. Add the cooled greens and pulse until chopped. Add a stream of evoo until the pesto is thinned out but not drowning in olive oil. Mix in Parmigiano Reggiano (about 1/2 cup). Taste for salt and season with pepper.
Bring the greens water to a boil. Add more water if necessary. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente. Reserve about 1 1/2 cups of the water before draining. Return the pesto to the pot and thin it out with the reserved water (add about 1/4 cup at a time). Toss with the spaghetti. Add more water to get it to the consistency you like. Taste for seasonings. Serve in bowls and top with chopped olives, lemon zest and more cheese. Ricotta salata would also taste good on the top.
Here is Grace enjoying the greens pesto! It was a messy business!
My favorite cookbook is
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone By Debra Madison. I love her approach to food and we have yet to make a recipe that we did not like. Her food is simple, nutritious and seasonal.
The next recipe is definitely a weekend meal. For one, it takes some time to prepare, and it has butter in it (don't you know that calories don't count on the weekend?). I think you could substitute olive oil, and it would taste great, but you really can't get the same flavor without the butter. I have added a * to parts of the recipe to include some of my notes.
Winter Portobello Mushroom Stew
from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
Serves 4
1/2 cup olive oil
1 large onion cut into 1/2- inch dice
2 teaspoons chopped rosemary
salt and freshly milled pepper
2 pinches red pepper flakes
1/2 lb portobellos, sliced 3/8 inch thick, gills removed
1 lb large white mushrooms, thickly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp tomato paste
1.5 cups quick mushroom stock, or water *
1 tsp sherry vinegar* (we used balsamic as we did not have)
2 tbsp butter, optional
2 tbsp chopped tarragon or parsley
*if you have the time to make the stock, I highly suggest it. It gives the stew a rich flavor that you just won't get from the water. I ended up using about 2 cups of the stock as I found that 1.5 cups was not enough liquid. We have used prepared mushroom stock in this recipe before. We added dried porcini and some wine to give it the flavor of the homemade stock.
Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and rosemary and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 12 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and remove to a bowl.
Return the pan to medium heat and add half of the remaining oil. When it's hot, add the portobellos and saute until nicely browned, about 5 minutes. Add them to the onion and repeat with the remaining oil and white mushrooms. Return everything to the pan and add the garlic, tomato paste, stock, and vinegar. Simmer gently for 12-15 minutes, then swirl on the butter. Add the tarragon, taste for salt and season with pepper.
Quick Mushroom Stock
1/4 cup or more dried porcini
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 large garlic clove, sliced
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 tbsp fresh marjoram, or 1 tsp dried
1/2 cup dry white or red wine
1 tbsp flour
salt and freshly milled pepper
1 tsp red wine vinegar
Cover the dried mushrooms with 1.5 cups of hot water and set aside. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Add the onion, carrot, garlic and fresh mushroom trimmings. Saute, stirring occasionally, until well browned, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, stir in the tomato paste, marjoram and wine and sprinkle on the flour. Cover the pan and cook until the wine is reduced to a syrupy glaze, about 3 minutes. Add the porcini and their soaking water, 1/2 tsp salt, a little pepper, and the vinegar and simmer for 20 minutes (*I added a little more water about 1/2-3/4 cup so that I could make more stock without having to double the ingredients. It was still very flavorful). Strain. Remove the dried mushrooms and add them to the stew.
*We served the stew over soft Polenta , which I think pairs perfectly with the mushrooms. We used stone ground polenta and cooked it in vegetable stock. We added butter and 1 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano to the polenta before serving it under the stew. Debra also suggests serving it over pappardelle (wide egg noodles) which would be nice too (though I personally like the combo of the polenta and mushrooms).
Enjoy! We would love to hear your comments if you decide to make either recipe.
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