cooking @ home

Archive for the ‘Vegetarian’ Category

©2008 Harry Kenney

What can I say about mushrooms? Ok, first off, they’re obviously delicious! Eating-wise they can add another dimension to a steak. Or to chicken as well. They give that extra “something” when added to soups, a rice mixture or pasta. They can serve as a tasty vessel for stuffing.

In many ways they are “meaty” for both the vegetarian and the carnivore in us alike. I recall the oft-quoted here Frugal Gourmet, Jeff Smith, saying something to the effect of mushrooms being a sign of a generous God that from horse manure could such amazing things as mushrooms spring. Or something to that effect. He said it partly in jest and partly serious. Anyway, we get the idea of what he meant.

In other regards, by now you probably already know it’s a fungus or fungi. That there are edible and poisonious varieties; fortunately the poisonous ones don’t make it to the market. The term toadstools has often referred to them somewhate interchanably, especially in and since the European middle ages. However today that term seems old fashion and when it’s used — more often in fairy tales than in reality — they refer to the poisonous kind of mushroom. They can be used in medicines and lately cosmetics as well as some varieties used by shamans and others for psydelic trips. These also don’t make it to the grocers.

By the way, if you’re absolutely wild about mushrooms (edible and not) then head over to MykoWeb for what’s perhaps the greatest resource of knowledge pertaining to “mushrooms, funghi and mycology” on the Web. Just the Funghi of California section alone contains over 500 species and ia approaching 3,500 photographs.

While once considered to be without nutritional value, in modern times we know better. They are excellent sources of selenium and ergothioneine, two antioxidants, as well as copper and potassium/ Additionally, they are one of the few natural sources of vitamin D. Mushrooms are also good sources of three essential B-vitamins: riboflavin, niacin and pantothenic acid. Mushrooms are low in calories, fat-free, cholesterol-free and very low in sodium.

Flavor, hmm. Overall I think mushrooms are delicous, but describing the differences in types difficult to convey, but I’ll try. Crimini taste just like white button mushrooms taste like, well, I’d have to say they are what we normally think of with a mushroom, sort of the baseline. Portobellos taste meatier somehow, and shitake a bit more spicy and a bit more aromatic. Together though, wow, what a supeb and sublime combination.

As with other recipes, substitute the chicken stock for vegetable stock and you have a 100% vegetarian version of this incredible soup. And again, if I had found vegetable stock at the store (or had the presense of mind to have made some myself homemade) I would have easily gone that way. Oh, and timewise this is fairly fast for a soup. I’ve seen a few recipes where something like this is given to take up to two hours; really, I have no idea what they’re thinking in doing that. After prep work, this takes about 40 minutes from start to finish.

Hearty Three-Mushroom Soup
©2008 Harry Kenney

4 oz shitake mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed, rough chopped
6 oz baby portabellos (or mature portabellos) mushrooms, cleaned, rough chopped
6 oz crimini (or white button) mushrooms, cleaned, rough chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 leek, well-cleaned, chunks
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2/3 cup dry white wine (I used Pinot Grigio, if you’re wondering)
4 cups chicken broth (substitute vegetable broth for vegetarian version)
1 pint heavy cream
chives (topping, optional)

Add butter and oil to stock pot on medium heat. Add onions, celery and garlic and sweat for about 8-10 minutes. Add all the mushrooms and more oil, cook down, stir often. Again, not trying to brown or cook completely, but partially, about 10 minutes, adding more oil if needed. Then add wine, stir and add chicken stock. Cook for 20 minutes.

Now either transfer stock in sections to food processor and return to pot or use emersion blender to puree. Mushrooms will still be there in a very fine mince. Add cream to pureed mixture and cook for 10 minutes. Top with chives. Suggest serving with crostini, fresh bread or maybe polenta rounds. Makes about six servings.

©2008 Harry Kenney

Before I publish my recipes I like to do research. Especially those recipes that feature ingredients that are considered more unusual or less-known to the American palette. And definitely those that require a different technique of preparation and/or cooking. Regular visitors here already know that I want to present you with more than just a recipe but also with some knowledge and background to go with it.

I look around not only to compare the different styles of various recipes but also to determine what are the variations folks have come with as well as what are the classical, traditional components of a dish. For instance, for this vegetable tian, every recipe but one talked about slicing the veggies such that you had 1/4-inch thick disks of roughly the same size (as much as possible) laid out on it’s side and forming a single layer atop of a bed of onions.

Where as dozens and dozens conformed to the manner I just described only one, Emeril’s recipe, differed. As such it was more confusing and it stood out from the crowd as being very different, and so it seemed that must be his special variation. Then, however, after I actually made this dish (and obviously before publishing it here) I discovered a second totally different version, different from both the “norm” as well as from Emeril’s, so a third variation. The “troubling” thing is I found this at Epicurious, and it was from Bon Appétit magazine, and it was by a three-star French chef known for his Provencal dishes, Roger Verge. And so yes, he makes it a third way. So that’s Emeril’s way, Verge’s way, and the most proliferated way which is the very one I did here as well.

So which is the original? I’m in doubt, thrown off balance from that last discovery. Ok, so does this even matter you might wonder? In a big sense: no, it’s the taste that matters in the end. But as said, I like to usually establish the norm, and then figure out the variants off it. Why? Just so that I have a centering, a balance. You see I am neither a “classist” nor a “fusionist”. I’m whatever I want to be at the time I make something. But I do like a “compass” when I’m cooking — to know if I’m heading in the right direction, going a totally different direction or just going around in circles. And now my compass needle is spinning around quite haphazardly.

So much for what I can’t say definitely. Let’s brush that past and now the question becomes: What can I definitely say about this dish? Well, it’s worth the trouble, that’s number one. It will taste rather different than you are used to — and I mean that in a very good way; that’s two. Vegetarians rejoice for even though, omnivore that I am, I treated this as a side dish at my home — I had it with ham and pineapple in case you were wondering — this tian can very very much be an entree for certain. I don’t think any real vegan is going to say this is dish is just another veggie side. It’s a meal.

What else can I say? That tian is not only the name of the dish, but it’s named for the shallow casserole of the same name — buy just try finding one either to buy or just to see what it looks like, and I couldn’t. Also, Epicurious’ Food Dictionary says “a tian can be any of various dishes, but originally referred to a Provençal dish of gratineed mixed vegetables.” Now it’s time to define what a gratin is. While most famously (in America) referring to au Gratin potatoes, a gratin is “any dish that is topped with cheese or bread crumbs (this one has cheese) mixed with bits of butter (nope, I used olive oil) then heated in the oven or under the broiler (oven for this dish) until brown and crispy.” However before all of that, a tian is braised (lid on) and then it is roasted (no lid).

You’ll find my “faithful” rendition here contains, because of the “need” to keep things all about the same diameter (back to the often-made disk version): zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes and potatoes. And since I now know there are other versions where the size doesn’t matter and others where one makes two or more layers, I’m already looking forward to sometime in the future trying out one of Verge’s tians which involves eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes, olives and anchovies.

A final thought: Recall I mentioned I had this as a side with ham? If you are not having this as your main course and you are likewise having some kind of meat with it, I suggest that to get the most out of this dish you should serve it with a more neutral or understated protein. That is, while it might go fine with steak or beef or pork, I think they might be too overpowering. And so you will likely find that ham or chicken or fish would make a better pairing. But, paired or solo, you will find this a delicious and very different way to have the same old vegetables, and I think once you’ve had this you’ll have it again and again. Bon appetite!

Vegetable Tian Provencal
©2008 Harry Kenney

1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin (into strips)
1 large zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch disks
1 yellow squash (of similar diameter), sliced into 1/4 inch disks
2 tomatoes (of similar diameter), sliced into 1/4 inch disks
2-3 Red Bliss potatoes (of similar diameter), sliced into 1/4 inch disks
1 glove of garlic, smashed and thinly sliced
olive oil
1/4 cup grated Gruyere (or grated Parmesan)
thyme, fresh preferred, dried otherwise, lots of it
herbes de Provence, light sprinkling (optional)
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 375°F. In small frying pan, medium heat olive oil, put in the garlic and add the onion. Do not brown, you want translucent medium-soft onions. When these are done place them into large area shallow-to-medium height casserole dish.

Now alternating, take a slice of yellow squash, tomato, potato, zucchini and place them in the dish in whatever four-set order you began with and make this a tight fit. If you have a circular dish you can try to make a circle and then an inner area. Or you can make rows. See photograph above for best visual of this. When completed, give a heavy drizzle of olive oil atop all the vegetables, salt and pepper, then a heavy dose of dried thyme or a medium (but still heavy for fresh) dose of fresh thyme on top, you can even leave the sprigs on at this stage if you wish. If you have herbs de Provence a light sprinkling of that too works out nicely.

Place in oven for 40 minutes either with a lid or covered in aluminium foil. Take out after this amount of time. If you used fresh thyme remove any sprigs (if you did dried, nothing to do here.) Sprinkle again liberally with the oil. Now cover with the cheese on top. Back in the oven, now uncovered for 30 minutes until cheese melts and gets a brown on it.

Take out. Leave cool for five minutes or so and serve. Depending on if this is your entree or a side and how much you portion out, this can serve anywhere from 2-3 (as an entree) to 4-6 (as a side).

©2008 Harry Kenney

This recipe was actually going to go in two different directions from where it ended up. Recipes happen that way sometime. It was originally going to be pure vegetarian. Visits to two supermarkets and failing to find vegetable stock at either (as well my being too “lazy” or not that interested in making it myself) meant I ended up using the more traditional chicken broth as base. Also, once I got past that, I decided bacon would definitely give this a more interesting taste.

So, for those of you looking for vegetarian dishes that are robust and stand-alone and not merely “sides”, you can oh so easily alter this recipe and make it so. To make it vegetarian (as mentioned above) simply substitute vegetable stock for chicken stock. Don’t use bacon. Then either leave the rest of the recipe exactly as is, or you add still more vegetables in the form of finely diced zucchini and/or yellow squash. Also black and/or white cabbage would be nice and is often used in some parts of Italy in one of the many variants of this recipe.

Seems like a lot of ingredients maybe, but they are all pretty basic. We start of with basically a mirepoix. Then add garlic and take it out. Then to get some “meaty” flavor going, we sweat bacon and then mushrooms in with the bacon. Then the chicken broth goes in on top, the mirepoix goes back in, then the white beans and spinach. Along the way comes wine and heavy cream, and a side trip to the food processor to puree part of the mixture, giving it a creamy thick feel while still leaving the rest of the soup chunky. Add some grated parm and you have an absolutely delicious, rich, full-bodied soup for a cold winter’s day. And you have to serve this with the Toasted Polenta Cheese Rounds. That’s specifically why I did that recipe yesterday in preparation for this one today.

You probably know from my (at the moment only other soup recipe) Butternut Squash Soup with Chorizo and Rice. I like my soups a mix of creamy and chunky. Rarely all creamy. I enjoy that mixed texture much more. Speaking of things I’ve done before. You could if you wish puree the part of this soup in a blender. However, big warning … as I said in a past article called “But I Saw the TV Cook Do It” you can only do this in one of the newer, powerful blenders that come with the newer, stronger containers.

If you use an old kitchen blender, glass or plastic, the heat could crack or smash the container, causing not only a big mess but possible personal injury, so either use a food processor or one of the new blenders. And even then, still be careful. Be sure you take the feeder tube or top cap off, because of the heat, and then place a folded kitchen towel or potholder over the top when doing this. Taste is nice, but hey, safety is number one.

Oh, right I said at the start this recipe was going two ways. At first, as mentioned I was going to make this vegetarian. The second thing was, the Tuscan white beans were going to be the star of this recipe. But hey, when I added the spinach for extra taste, well, I forgot myself how much spinach colors everything. I know better, after all that’s how you get green pasta such as spinach fettucine. Now the fact this soup turned out green instead of beige with green flecks, hey, I can live with it. It’s still a very pretty looking soup, and more importantly you will love the taste of this. Every component comes out when your eating it. It’s really a nice complex taste as all these different yet very compatible tastes just burst on the taste buds.

Creamy Cannelloni-Spinach Tuscan Soup
©2008 Harry Kenney

1 small onion, diced fine
1 medium carrot, diced fine
1 celery stalk, diced fine
3 gloves garlic, smashed and sliced thin
4 slices of thick sliced bacon, sliced 1/3-1/2 inch pieces (leave out for vegetarian version)
3-4 oz of portobello mushrooms, 1/2 dices
1 quart chicken (or vegetable stock)
19 oz can cannelloni white beans, washed and drained
8-10 oz chopped frozen spinach, partially thawed (don’t drain)
1 cup dry white wine
1 half pint heavy cream
1 small or 1/2 a medium-sized bay leaf
1 tbsp dried oregano
salt
pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Olive oil in the bottom of a large soup pot on medium heat. Put in the onion, carrot and celery and sweat in pan, keep stirring and don’t brown. After about five minutes, add the garlic and continue to sweat. After another two or three minutes, take this out and reserve in a dish on the side.

Turn heat up to medium-high. Bacon in, sweat, again do not brown, get it to where it’s softened and going translucent. About three minutes. Lower heat add then mushrooms add in a bit more olive oil. Keep stirring. As you don’t want the bacon to brown, nor the mushrooms to start sticking, after about two minutes add the chicken broth on top. This will also help to get the browning bits that are starting at the bottom and stop all browning.

Along with the broth, add back in the reserved diced veggies, the drained white beans and the spinach. After a couple minutes this is where to season. Add herbs, salt, pepper. Cover with lid and give it a simmer on medium for 20 minutes. Take lid off every five minutes or so, give it all a good stir and replace lid.

After the 20 minutes, take out no less than 1/3 and no more than 1/2 of the hot soup, place in a food processor and puree carefully. Take off the top tube or cap and place a towel or pot holder on top for the puree. Return this mixture completely back into the soup..

Add white wine. After three to five minutes add cream. Mix, simmer another three to five minutes then add Parmesan. Lower the heat and stir more often as the added cheese can stick and start burning on the bottom if you’re not careful. After two or three more minutes, it’s done.

Depending on size of serving, makes 4-6. Serve with toasted polenta cheese rounds on the side.

©2008 Harry Kenney

Chefs are funny people. Normally they’re drawn to foods that are inherently flavorful. Sometimes, as a challenge I think, they are also drawn to things not so flavorful, but which if cooked a certain way can be made tasty and tender. Meats that are very lean such as rabbit or venison which need long time cooking and often a fat added to them come to mind.

Then there are these foods such as couscous and polenta which basically are, well, by themselves quite bland — and in recent years top chefs go nuts over it. Apparently because they can infuse taste to them. I sorta get it and I sorta don’t …. depends upon the food, the technique, the time it takes and my mood for that day. All of that said, of course this polenta is indeed tasty. For me the taste infusion comes from the long roast, browning and carmalization, and adding cheese that does it.

A quicky lesson on what polenta is and where it comes from. Yes, it’s definitely Italian. But not solely. It’s often referred to as Italian grits, and I’ve seen on television where cooks have taken either a southern grits recipe and “Italianized” it, and vica versa. Both are made from cornmeal, polenta from boiled cornmeal and is often classified as a “maize-based porridge”. According to Wikipedia, polenta under various other names is popular in many cuisines of many countries including such diverse and far-flung (from each other) countries as Cuba, Hungary, Georgia, Corsica, Peru, Mexico, Switzerland.

When it can be found in American supermarkets (which more often it can), it is either as stone-ground or coarse cornmeal which you can make into polenta, or a prepackaged “instant” polenta or the way I found it, as a premade tube or log infused with herbs. The tube I picked up was basil and garlic polenta. Of all the cooks out there, this seems to most often be found in Rachel Ray recipes. (Giada sometimes does instant and Mario of course has to make it from scratch).

Alright, enough history of this former “peasant food” now turned “premium product” and darling of cooks everywhere. Give this a whirl. Do I like it? Yes. Is it a bit of work when someone else might as easily suffice? Yes. But as said before, same can be said of couscous. Maybe it’s me, but when plain white rice with a little butter, salt and pepper tastes just great, and you either jazz it up or not, I’m not sure if these other bland-tasting grain products are necessarily worth the extra effort.

Does that mean polenta “whelms” me? Not necessarily. It tastes good. Especially when you go through the necessary motions and techniques and add tomato sauces or cheese or whatever. Anyway it is different and I do welcome a change from the “same old same old”. And yes, I’m betting you will indeed find this a very tasty and easy way to enjoy polenta, a nice and different side dish, especially to something else Italian. Bon appetito.

Toasted Polenta Cheese Rounds
©2008 Harry Kenney

1 lb prepackaged tube of polenta (or herbed polenta)
olive oil
salt
pepper
grated parmegan

Preheat oven to 375°F. Slice polenta log into 1/4 inch pieces. Put olive oil on both sides and season. Place on baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Place on top shelf of oven for 45-50 minutes until it starts to brown. Take out, liberally top each with grated parmegan. Place back in oven 10-15 minutes until cheese starts to brown. Makes 12-16 quarter-inch thick by roughly two-inch diameter rounds. About 3-4 servings.

Fennel is one of those “strange vegetables” Americans just don’t know much about. Fortunately, as with many vegetables and many foods nowadays, there is a greater embracing of the culinary unknown — in short, where before folks would see something in a supermarket and pass it by, slowly more and more people are now not only avoiding them, but also seeking these items out.

So I was delighted to find in a single week the sudden appearance of fennel bulbs at both my supermarket’s produce section as well as my favorite produce speciality store. Interesting, in each place it showed up as, in turn, first “anise” and then “anise root” because of it’s taste.

To me, it has a consistency most like celery and somewhat like apple or potato, and a taste that is again somewhat like celery mixed with a bit of licorice. We’re talking mildly-flavored, of course. I don’t think something tasting robustly like licorace would be anything other than pungent. This versatile initially Mediterranean grown vegetable — and it’s more famous herb, fennel seed — is used from Spain to Greece, Morocco to the Middle East, to India and China (afterall fennel seed is often one of those mentioned in Five Spice Powder).

Because of it’s licorice like taste you would expect to see this in many a sweet dish and possibly a few savory ones. Turns out to be the absolute opposite about 20 to 1 in favor it being used in something savory, often in a sauce or soup.

I decided in this case to take advantage of both it’s celery-like consistency and it’s fruity (anise, anyhow) taste and make a light salad with it. It was a good choice. Definitely highlighted the taste of the fennel and showed me how it can stand up well against other flavors without overpowering them. No wonder it’s used in soups and sauces so much. Trust me, this salad — which is oh-so amazingly simple — will surprise you. My one “taste tester” who can never take anything too far out there — aka, different from the norm — loved this. So did I. So I’m betting will you.

Fennel Tangerine Salad
©2007 Harry Kenney

One medium fennel bulb, cut off top, take out inner core, slice into chunks
Three tangerines, peel, deseed, make into half slices
Half one-red onion, chunks (or a quarter one yellow onion, minced)
Half bag of assorted spring mix lettuces

salt
pepper
orgeano
basil
garlic powder

Mix together veggies in bowl. Add lettuce, season, place in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes so flavors mix and to add slight chill. (Do this with all salads) Preferrably top with bottled or fresh Italian dressing. Serves four.

Here’s another side — one I did for Thanksgiving — and yet another “odd” root vegetable. Now, depending upon where you live, you’re saying “that’s not at all odd; we have it all the time”. Here in the Northeastern United States, well, common as it is at the market during the winter, it’s also one of those vegetables most people tend to pass up when they’re shopping. Often for the same reason as they might a rutabaga or the various winter squashes, simply because they are both unsure of what it is and of how to cook it. (But then that’s why you come here to find out, isn’t it?)

While the recipe itself is one of the simplest and shortest, there does need to be a some-what extended backstory here. You see, not only is this vegetable very much confused with at least two other veggies, but to make matters worse, depending upon what country you live in, they all have different names. And, of course, to compound things still further these differing names all confuse each other, meaning the same veggie called one thing in one place, that same name refers to a totally different vegetable in yet another place.

In fact, I won’t even try to do this myself when Wikipedia has done such a good job with it, so, taking advantage of the Creative Commons usage, let me just plop down their table right here for you. I’ve altered the one row which deals with the turnip to stand out more.

Ok, we’re cool then. This recipe is about the turnip. The real turnip. The one sometimes referred to as a white turnip. (I also refer to it this way myself as I think it lessens the possible mixup.) And even though it is mostly white (where as a rutabaga or swede is yellow), there is also some purple on the turnip as you see in the photo where it has gotten extra sunlight.

Now that we have the name and the color down, there is one final slightly confusing thing you should know, and that is it can be found at the market in one of three shapes or forms. Sometimes you will see turnips either with the long tail root still attached, or with both the long tail root and the green crown of leaves on it, or, as they just happened to come where I bought them, pretty much round with what seems to be a nub on them, where all the excess has been taken off and looking more like an odd potato.

Whew! Are we through all that? Yes. So basically, in this particular case I treated the turnip much as I would a potato. That said, one thing to note is turnips can really hold water well. I’m talking about the same way chopped spinish does, where you have to not just drain but “smoosh” it or press it really well to get all the water out. Make sure you do this else your dish will not come out as well. So, to quickly recap, you boil it much like a potato for mashing, then drain it extra well as you would with spinach, and enjoy the unique and delicious taste.

White Turnip Mash
©2007 Harry Kenney

2 pounds turnips
butter
salt
pepper

Peel the turnips (may be easier with a knife than a peeler) and cut into chunks. Toss into boiling water. After about 20 minutes or when a fork can go through them with some ease, remove and drain thoroughly. Very thoroughly. Place in large bowl and mash as you would potatoes. Add butter, salt and pepper to taste and serve. Makes roughly four servings.

If you’re coming here for leftover turkey recipes, sorry. I work in “real time” like you. What does that mean? Well, it means beginning today I’ll start putting up recipes for what I had for Thanksgiving. But wait, shouldn’t I have put them up last week or the week before, you might be asking. You know, back when you were interested in such things. Like, before Thanksgiving? Well, as I said, I do what you do; I work in “real time”.

Again, what does that mean? It means I’m not the Food Network. I’m not even PBS. I don’t get paid for this. I am not given money by someone to go purchase a mess of food and cooking it all up weeks ahead of time. And then who would eat it all? My vast kitchen or network staff? You know, the one’s I don’t have. So that is why I don’t have things ahead of time. Because I am just like you. Average everyday person making meals on and for the days I’m going to eat them.

There is good news though. If you come by and read this a year from now, then I’m ahead of the game. There will be this nice archive area of what I did last time (this time, that is) that will work out. Besides that, come on, admit it. Today, or tomorrow, sure, you might be sick of looking at turkey. But Christmas is coming and you know — unless you’re doing ham or goose or something — you’ll be back looking for turkey recipes. And this time, I will be early and have it all here waiting for you. You might be here right now for that, who knows.

Ok, remember that butternut squash from the other day? Well I finally got around to the other one I showed you, the acorn squash. So did this taste like the other? Nope. This actually tastes something like a pumpkin to me. Not quite. I sure wouldn’t say interchangeable. But I would say, very reminiscent of pumpkin. I know of a few different recipes for acorn squash. It’s one of those interesting ingredients you put such-and-such with it and it’s more a savory dish. Or you can put something else to it and emphasize it’s sweeter flavors. And the latter is precisely what I did this time. It made a nice counterpoint to the rest of the foods on my Thanksgiving plate too.

Btw, unlike the butternut squash, this was not difficult at all to cut. Wham, right down the middle. You’ll see in the photo I went slightly off-center, but that’s not a biggie. Peeling wasn’t a problem as I waited to scoop it out after it was cooked. One more thing, you’ll notice I’ve again used that unsung cooking tool and appliance known as the microwave. Why? First, off it works just fine in it, that’s why. Second question you might ask is, if I was putting it under the oven broiler anyhow, why not do it completely with the oven? Easy answer: the first stage of this would have taken 45 minutes in the oven. It took 11 in the microwave. To do the identical thing. And when have you ever known me to recommend anything that takes four times longer with zero increase in taste benefit? Never.

So, do enjoy. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised and not only add this to your Thanksgiving or Christmas meal, but it’s such a quick and easy meal to prepare you might have it a lot more often. You never know but even the kids could enjoy this. Plus it’s a totally natural vegetarian dish. Now that’s what I call win-win-win.

Broiled Ginger-Apricot Acorn Squash
©2007 Harry Kenney

1 average acorn squash
butter (or margarine)
apricot jam (or preserves)
ground ginger (or regular, grated)
salt
pepper

Take an acorn squash, half it vertically. Place in a microwavable dish that can both accomodate both halves and also about 1/4 to 1/3 inch of water. Place halves face down into the water. With a fork, make two piercings on the outside skin of each (to prevent any exploding). Place in microwave. For an 1100 watt microwave, it will take about 11 minutes. For a more underpowered one of 6-700 watts probably closer to 14 minutes.

If you’re making several squashes, then opt for the oven instead, 350°F, laying them on a baking sheet, add a little bit of water if you wish, same thing, poke holes and put face down. This will take roughly 45 minutes, but keep checking as oven times will differ.

When done, place face up on a baking sheet (for oven version, turn over, remove any water). Lightly butter the rim and the inside. Also, again, lightly dust with ginger. Lightly spoon apricot jam everywhere on the inside too. Finally, a little salt and pepper. (The key to this everything with this recipe is lightly). Place under broiler for 5-10 minutes until browned.

Although this looks very nice the way it is, the skin is quite mushy, so I would not serve it this way (even though it’s tempting). Best to spoon out of skin, mix it up well with fork, and serve. One medium squash makes two servings.

This began as one of my experiment meals a good decade or longer ago. You go to restaurants, you see various veggies in the rice. Get a box of Rice-a-roni, little carrots or peas in the rice. So, what the heck, one night way back when, I put two dishes together, spinach and rice. They tasted good, looked great together. My mother and step-father Dave who I was cooking for enjoyed it a lot, as did I.

Can’t say it was great, but it was darn good. As time went on I started to mess with it more — aka, perfect it. Adding raw onion was too bitey. Dave thought it was an improvement though. Mom and I didn’t. Then again, Dave could smother so much horseradish sauce on a hot dog you couldn’t see the hot dog.

Eventually, it came to what you see below, with onion nicely cooked in butter and parmesan cheese added. It’s literally funny how much this super-simple combination of basically four ingredients can taste so good and yet it does. I almost forgot to add it here, as, whatever the reason, haven’t made it in a good six months. Maybe it’s because it’s turned Fall that it came back to my mind. Something about it yells robust and warming and soothing.

In any event, it makes a beautiful side. Trust me, once you’ve had this you will make it again and again. Great alongside a starch, though naturally with all the rice in it, this really should be the starch on the plate. I feel like I should write more, but there’s nothing else to say except: it’s true, sometimes simple is best.

Spinach and Rice
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

6 cups of cooked white long-grained rice (follow box directions)
16 oz cooked frozen chopped spinach (steam or light boil, and do reserve the water when draining)
one onion, diced and browned (preferably in margarine or butter, not oil)
3-4 oz grated parmesan

season to taste:

salt
pepper
died basil
dried oregano
garlic powder (optional and if use, use sparingly)

Boil the rice, lightly brown the onion, cook and drain the spinach, mix with big spoon in pot thoroughly, add spices, stir thoroughly, add parmesan, stir well. When adding parmesan, do to taste and texture, that is, go for the taste you want, but as it also dries out the mix, add 1/8 cups of spinach water to it, keep adding cheese and water as required to get taste and good consistency. When have those where you desire them, one more taste for seasoning (you may have watered that down while adding the water and cheese) so season more as needed, serve. Makes enough for 8-10 servings.

This was one of the items I had listed last month in my article “Food Terms You Keep Hearing About“. There I said, “In which bread is toasted, raw garlic is rubbed into it, then olive oil is drizzled on top. Now for some folks that is the complete definition, and it stops there. For myself and others it is not complete until the above is topped with a chopped tomato, garlic, basil and olive oil salsa. Mmm. (Toss some slices of very fresh mozzarella on top for the ultimate.) Until it’s got the topping, to me it’s not a true bruschetta. This is one of the best appetizer’s in the world as far as I’m concerned.”

When I went to the local supermarket the day before a recent party to pick up a freshly baked loaf of Italian bread, I found it was all old and none had been made that day. On top of which, instead of being long and having some width to it, whoever had made all the long loafs made it in my opinion way too thin, more like baguettes — which would be wonderful were I recipe-wise going to Paris, but I was aiming closer to Rome, (And this was supposedly Italian bread, remember.)

So I perused the shelves for something else, and happily came upon a shorter, fatter oval Italian bread. Not only that, it was made with sun dried tomatoes. And it was made within the last six hours, that would make it perfect for tomorrow’s party, a little body, but still what I consider to be fresh.

In fact, check out the photos of the sliced bread, big, wide pieces. That long skinny kind they had would have been about a third the size, “cocktail” cracker almost — not what you want, you want to serve the big meaty, “this is something I can dig into” slice of Italian bread you see there.

Tangent warning: Some other day I’ll figure out why day old is considered stale and why bakeries all like to keep their bread in the air to hasten the staleness, whereas I head home and wrap it up in plastic and alumninum foil and it lasts and tastes fresh for several days. Also for another day, how many ways — there seems to be about a dozen — in which people will pronounce bruschetta. (The two major ones being bru-shet-ta or bru-sket-ta. I often say the former, though there seems to be more of a conscientious as time goes on that the latter is most correct).

At the recent part, I served near it a separate plate of cut fresh mozzarella with some cherry tomaotes on the side. And next to that a plat with two different olives. As I suspected, half the guests grabbed the garlic bread, put on the tomato mixture and added a slice of the cheese on top. So there’s a tip for you. When you can offer some complimentary elements, and folks can mix and match (or not) as they want. I’ve even included a couple of photos of those here below (that I actually took for a “menu” or “meals” page section I’ll be adding in the near future.)

I have to mention, I put the food out on the table, went for my camera which was nearby, came back quickly, and already parts of the food presentation were gone. So, sorry I couldn’t get full shots of the all of the food in my photographs; hard to fault my guests for grabbing the food so fast off the plates! Anyways, this is such a delightful appetizer and so simple easy to make it’s ridiculous. Grab a glass of Chianti or Merlot or Pinot Noir with this and nosh away!

     

Bruschetta
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

garlic bread, bakery fresh (that morning up to a day old)

diced tomatoes. canned are preferred to fresh
fresh garlic, two to three cloves, sliced thin
fresh basil, chopped

salt
pepper
olive oil

Preheat the oven at 350°F. Slice the Italian bread load thickly. Assemble on baking sheet and drizzle olive oil along the tops. Place in over for 7-12 minutes. You want a golden brown. Crispy but in no way hard, just a little crunch.

Meanwhile in a bowl place tomatoes, add basil, garlic, salt, pepper and a tablespoon of olive oil, mix together.

Take out bread from oven. Once toast is cooled enough to work with (as soon as you can) rub a clove of garlic across the top of each one many times. Pretend as though you are grating something. The warm heat of the toast and the movement will get the garlic on the toast. (I did this, but then knowing my guests wouldn’t mind very garlicky bread I also got a jar of minced garlic out and put a tiny bit of that on each as well.)

Make a nice presentation and serve to your guests, garnishing with basil leaves. Later you can place it back on the cookie sheet with oven on low and serve again if it gets cold. If necessary, re-warm in oven at 170-200°F (or “warm” or “low” setting). Or make some more.

The amount of people it will serve varies greatly due to size of bread, slicing, etc. If you’ve made 10 slices, that could be five to 10 people depending. Sauce should be enough for ten people with some left over. You might want to add fresh sliced mozzarella on the side too.

I needed a side for my oven BBQ brisket. Yeah I had little baked potatoes and some fresh coleslaw, but I still wanted something warm and flavorful and that was (for lack of better words) very “veggie”. I also wanted something more “regional” … in this case, southern or western or southwestern. It just seemed like that would go right with my indoor BBQ meal.

Now last week there were quite a few things I had bought for my BBQ party that I never made it out to the table. Why is that, you may ask? A combination of my being too ambitious, wanting to make too much food than was necessary, as well as for various reasons six people, three couples basically, had to bale out because of sickness or previous commitments. So there just wasn’t the impetuous to cook twice the amount of food for half the amount of people.

In short, I had these wonderful sweet yellow corn cobs in the freezer (Now, don’t knock frozen. When the Iron Chef makes Frozen Peas a secret ingredient, and various other frozen veggies are used by even five star chefs, frozen doesn’t deserve a bad knock, necessarily.) Ok, so here I was doing a Texas-style BBQ dish and I had corn. Only natural thing to do was stay in the same general area and go Southwestern.

Just as I had made my brisket in the oven. Here I was going to treat my frying pan more like a grill and “grill” (obviously the technical term here is actually in the title, pan roast) some corn and toss in some more regional ingredients and spices. I never tried this one before and I was happy with the success, the taste of it, this one is definitely going to be a oft-cooked dish in this house from now on!

Two thangs (yes, I said thangs), one, if you think this meal based on the ingredients is going to be hot, you’re wrong. It’s spiced but not spicy and actually a tad sweet. So no reason to be faint of heart, try it out. And secondly, considering this recipe I’ll jump right over giving any kind of “bon appetites” and just say instead: pull up a seat and chow down, amigos!

Southwestern Pan-Roasted Corn Vegetable Medley
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

4 small cobs or 2 large ones, kernels cut off
14 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup of diced tomatoes, drained (no can juice)
1/2 of a medium red onion, chunks, (or one whole small one)

season to taste:

cilantro
chilli powder
garlic powder
onion powder
salt
pepper
half-lime, juice

Roast the kernels in a pan on medium-high heat with a little vegetable or peanut oil. Don’t make it too oily as you want more of a “grill” thing than a “fry” thing going here. That said you do want a lot of movement of the food in the pan (like a stir-fry). Do though add oil now and then as needed as pan will burn it off and corn may soak some up. Add seasonings. Do want to see darkening of the yellow. A touch of brown. You do not ever want to see black or “burn” on your corn. If you do, it’s either too hot, or more than likely you are not moving the pan around enough or moving the corn with a spoon enough.

After a few minutes add the onion. And a little more oil. After another couple minutes, constantly stirring or flipping the pan, add the beans and tomatoes, more oil, a second helping of all the seasonings. Turn down to medium heat. After a few minutes, juice of half a lime. Wait another half minute for that to mix in and burn a little off. Serve. Makes enough for about four people.

A few minor mistakes and one or two interesting things I came up with for this dish. Let’s get right to it.

First I put the entire pound of lasagna noodles in, only to find out I only needed maybe 1/4 to 1/5 of the box. Now I guess I’ll do something weird or slice them down or something, as I have 3/4 a box of cooked noodles now sitting in the refrigerator. Had I known, I would have chosen to use just what I needed. Live and learn.

I haven’t cooked everything. Not by a longshot. There are plenty of areas I still look forward to trying or conquering. I have a ton of casserole dishes (you know, the white ceramic kind) and some newer “tins” for cupcakes or brownies. What I don’t have is a lasagna pan for the simple good reason I never made it before. So when I fished the noodles out, I realized they were too large to fit what contained I did have. No biggie, this. I just set them up on the cutting board atop each other and halfed them.

My messiest mistake was not judging how high the layers would go. I grabbed this one casserole dish out and started, and immediately saw this was way too low (it was maybe 1 inch possibly 1-1/2 inches high. So then I got out my deepest one at 3 inches and had to transfer over noodles drenched in sauce over to the new dish without making much of a mess.

That’s pretty much it. Everything pretty much went off without a hitch. Ah, and I had one nice discovery I made as well …

It became apparent early that all those slices of eggplant, were I to precook them in a pan, even in my largest 13 inch frying pan, were going to take two to three rotations to get them all done. At four to five minutes per side, that was going to take a half hour and be very inefficient. Since I had to use the oven anyway, it only made sense to do them on a cookie sheet instead. The bonus was, while the eggplant slices were in the oven, the noodle sheets were boiling at the same time. Plus they would get done at about the same time too. Worked out great.

Eggplant Lasagna
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

eggplant, 2.5-3 pounds
1/4 box/pound lasagna noodles
8 oz. shredded mozerella or mixed Italian cheeses
1/2 cup parmagen
3 lb jar spaghetti sauce (or use your own homemade sauce)
2 eggs
1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
salt
pepper
garlic powder

Get water boilling for lasagna noodles. Meanwhile, slice eggplant into thin 1/4 inch slices. Salt and pepper on each side of slices. Add additonal garlic and parmesan cheese to Italian bread crumbs and mix. Dip each eggplant slice in egg wash then cover with breadcrumbs. Arrange on pre-greased (I used butter spray) baking sheet. Place in preheated oven at 350 for five minutes. Flip each slice once, and go for another five minutes.

As you’re putting the eggplant in the oven, place the noodles in boiling water and cook until til al dente. This is one of those rare times, when after draining the noodles you actually should put cold water on them, since you are both going to need to arrange them by hand and since they are going to get another cook in the oven.

Get out your lasagna pan or any sizable casserole dish — in my case (see photo) a deep oval casserole dish 11 x 8.5 x 3. Begin to layer: First place enough sauce to lighly cover the bottom, then overlapping sheets of lasagna noodles, slices of eggplant, cheeses (meaning the shredded and the parm, then more sauce. Continue the pattern. Make sure your uppermost or last layer is noodles, then sauce then cheeses.

If you have a long, wide pan, you might want to keep the oven at the current 350. Or if you have a shorter, deeper dish as I did, set oven for 375 for 35 minutes, covering with aluminum foil. At the 35 minute mark, remove the and bake another 10-12 minutes to get a nice crust on top. Makes 8-10 servings.

Just the other day I was talking to a neighbor who I had given this recipe to a couple months back, and she told me hers didn’t taste at all as good as mine, and then detailed the problems she had. So, while (for once) I didn’t make any mistakes, I’ll share hers with you so you don’t get the chance to make them yourself.

First, she took everything out of the can, including that gunky “reminants” that’s left in the bottom of cans of beans. Also she didn’t know to wash them well first. So that took something away from the taste. It was apparently much worse the next day when she decided to take some to work for lunch: she had put the dressing, feta and salad altogether.

Nope, can’t do that. Not only must you keep them in separate containers in the refrigerator. But even for a lunch even for just a few hours, you’ll need to take them into work as three separate items and always “assemble” them fresh.

Just wanted to add, I’ve had this once or twice as a “three beaner” (when my very annoying supermarket was out of the Italian beans), and while it’s not bad, I just love the Italian green beans; they really make the difference in this dish. Make it “come alive” in your mouth. Sure, you can substitute regular green beans if you want, but while they are close, they are still just not the same, not as much taste. Btw, in case you never heard of them, they are also known as Romano beans, Italian string beans, flat Italian green beans, and flat beans. And officially they are described as “flat, wide snap beans”.

I am definitely an ominvore (meat and veggie eater), leaning more towards the carnivore rather than the herbivore side, Even so, I really do love this salad. There is something, somehow “meaty” in eating beans that really surprises me. Dunno, maybe something in me recognizes the high-levels of protein. Needlesstosay this is one very healthy, and yet somehow hearty meal, that’s as delicious to look at as it is to taste.

Mediterranean Four Bean Salad
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

19 oz can garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas)
19 oz can red kidney beans
19 oz can black beans
10 oz. italian green beans, frozen, steamed crisp
1 large red onion, large chop
4-6 scallions, green and white parts, chopped
2 cucumbers (peeled, deseeded, chunks)
1 yellow or orange bell pepper, julianned (optional)
olives, green or black, to your taste (optional)
three roma (plum) totmatos, chunks (optional)

seasonings, to taste:

basil
oregano
mint (optional)
garlic powder
salt
pepper

1 cup italian dressing
2 tbsps fresh lime juice
feta cheese (optional)

Take a little more than half of a one-pound bag of frozen Italian green beans, steam about three minutes, put into cold ice bath to stop cooking (also known as blanching). With each can of beans, empty into large strainer and wash under cold water for about half a minute, then add to large bowl. Add Italian beans, oniones, cucumbers. Add tomatoes and olives. (optional) Season once with listed seasonings. Toss using clean hands. Add more, toss again. To the cup of Italian dressing add 2 tbsps of fresh lime juice and mix. Serve with crumbled feta cheese on top. Makes about six portions.