Roasting Weather Arrives

Who really needs official recipes in September and October in the Midwest, when the farmer’s market is full of flavorful in-season produce? So today, I just have some quick snapshots of what we’ve been eating. Yummy!

Yesterday I was working at home and it was sweater-weather, so I killed two birds with one stone by roasting some of my Saturday Farmer’s Market goodies and warming up the kitchen at the same time.  

Winter squash, orchard apples and onions

This is butternut from the market and another winter squash, from my neighbor’s garden. I peeled and sliced, sprinkled generously with freshly-ground nutmeg; added a little bit of cinnamon, kosher salt and pepper. On top, I added fresh orchard apples from our outing on Sunday, and sliced sweet yellow onion. Cover and bake at 350 for about 45 min. until soft.  Two very enthusiastic thumbs-up on this one from the kids. They had seconds, and Milo had thirds.

Fingerling potatoes - on the way into the oven

While the squash was baking, I threw in some beets (of course) for a later meal in the week on the bottom rack. And I tucked this dish of heirloom fingerling potatoes on the rack next to the squash, for tonight’s dinner. I had selected about 4 different varieties from the farmer’s market, all with exotic names I forgot immediately, but those dark ones are blue. I scrubbed the potatoes, then tossed with some sliced leek, purple onion, carrot, olive oil, dried thyme and rosemary, and fresh marjoram and oregano leaves. (cover until almost done). Look at those colors, mmm.

Our kitchen is still filled with the pungent smell of pesto-making

Tom’s been harvesting the basil that Milo and I grew from seed way back in April. With the squash, we ate pesto ziti with freshly-grated Parmesan (more thumbs-up), and an unbelievably good spinach recipe, which I’ll share later this week.

Greek Tomato Soup

A few years ago, our friend Joe gave us the Daily Soup Cookbook. Everything we've made from it is fantastic, but I wouldn't go looking for inspiration there on a weekday normally because - well, it's soup, and often that means an all-day wait. I knew I had to share this recipe when Tom made it on a Tuesday and mentioned that it was fast and easy. It's also vegetarian, and the kids loved it. (Milo cheered when he heard there were leftovers. I swear.)

The recipe calls for trahana pasta, but Tom used orzo. The feta snuggles in with the tomato, somehow cutting the acid but accentuating the piquant and adding richness of flavor. It took me a few minutes to figure out what that flavor was. 

Another thing about this dish. Cheap. We had garden tomatoes. If you make your own stock, I think you can serve this for about a dime a bowl. Maybe a quarter if you buy the fancy feta - but then you'll have leftover feta for the salad and extra dollars for the french baguette. Mmm.

Greek Tomato with Trahana Pasta [soup]

(from The Daily Soup Cookbook)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 medium white onions, chopped 

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes, diced

8 cups Basic Vegetable Stock [make your own or canned - more on vegetable stock in an upcoming post]

2 ripe beefsteak tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 cup uncooked trahana pasta or couscous [we used orzo]

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese [2 tablespoons for the soup; the rest for garnish]

1/2 cup scallions [garnish]

1. Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and sugar and sweat for 4 minutes, until tender

2. Add the cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, and cinnamon and stir to coat.

3. Add the canned tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Add the stock, bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat, partially cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

5. Stir in the fresh tomatoes, pasta, and 2 tablespoons of the feta cheese; simmer for 2 minutes.

6. Remove from the heat and let stand 5 minutes.

7. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and top with the remaining feta cheese and chopped scallions. [cook's note - we skipped the extra feta cheese - it did not really need it.]

Makes 12 cups

Beet and Potato Salad with Beet Greens and Blue Cheese

This is a combination of a couple of different recipes, with a nod to Martha Stewart, who has a similar recipe which uses the beet greens. I made this for Labor Day BBQ with our neighbors. The bright colors look great on a buffet!

Beet and Potato Salad with Beet Greens and Blue Cheese

• About 6 smallish/medium red/pink (not purple) beets, roasted, cooled, peeled and diced.
• About 6-8 medium Idaho gold potatoes (or other waxy potato). Boil with skins on, toss on some vinegar and oil to coat, cool. Peel and dice (you can skip the peeling if you like.)
• Sweet onion, 1 medium, chopped 
• Salad oil, about 1/2 cup
• White sweet vinegar, about 1/4-1/3 cup total. I used a combination of mostly white balsalmic and a little seasoned rice vinegar, which is really sweet.
• Salt and pepper
• Blue cheese, about 2-3 oz. I used an amish blue from Whole Foods, but any stinky cheese will do. I wouldn't use pre-crumbled crumbles.
• Beet greens, cooked as shown below recipe

Gently combine the cooled, diced beets, potatoes, and onion. Mix the oil and vinegar, adding salt and pepper to taste. Dress the salad with the oil and vinegar, stirring gently. You may need to add more or less, depending on how absorbent the potatoes are, your own preferences, size of the beets and potatoes you used, etc. You can also change the ratio to add more vinegar if you don't mind a stronger vinegar flavor.

Taste the salad and when it seems about right, put in a serving bowl. Garnish the top with dollops of the beet greens (be sparing - I used about half of what the greens from my 6 beets made) and then crumbles of the cheese. Chill until ready to serve.

Beet Greens

• olive oil, about 2 tablespoons
• 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, peeled, minced
• Beet greens from the beets, rinsed and trimmed and chopped into medium pieces. You'll only use about half of them, so don't worry if you have to discard a lot.
• Kosher salt (optional)

Heat olive oil on low/med in large skillet. Add garlic and cook until golden. Add greens and allow to cook down until completely wilted. If necessary, cover and stir occasionally. It will take about 5 minutes. Salt (optional) to taste. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Lentil stew (Italian style)

I don't have a photo, because this was one of those, 'OK, what's in the pantry that we need to use up?' meals. But the kids absolutely loved it, so I wanted to jot down what I remember of it for future reference. It really was pretty good.

The pantry item that inspired this dish was a can of lentils I'd bought at Caputo's Cheese Shop back in the fall and wanted to use. I wasn't in a curry mood, so I started looking for other ideas. You could make this dish with regular green or brown lentils - either add more water to the dish and use dry, washed lentils directly, or cook the lentils beforehand (following package directions.)

Lentil Stew (Italian style)

Olive oil (about 1 tablespoon)

1 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium or 1/2 large green pepper, chopped

15 oz. can lentils (brown or green), drained and rinsed (or about 1.5 cups cooked lentils, or about 3/4 cup dry lentils, see above)

1 32-oz jar spaghetti sauce. I used Barilla Tomato Basil. (You could also use canned, diced whole tomatoes and adjust seasoning. I had a jar of open sauce that I had to use up.)

1 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. marjoram

Water

1/2 small can tomato paste

1 1/2 to 2 cups uncooked vegetables of your choice, cut in largish chunks. You need the largish chunks because otherwise you will end up with a paste instead of a stew. I used 2 medium waxy potatoes (do not use baking potatoes) because that was all we had, but I think green beans, carrots, and zucchini would all be good.

About 1/2 cup meatless crumbles or one chopped meatless burger (optional)

1/2 cup rice (I used white; you can use brown but add extra liquid and cooking time)

about 3 tablespoons of small pasta, like for soup (optional)

Tabasco or other hot sauce, optional (to taste)

Parmesan cheese, for topping

In a large saucepan or heavy-bottomed stockpot, cook onions, green pepper, and garlic in the olive oil until onions are mostly cooked. (Note: If using carrots and potatoes, you may want to start them now, too.) 

Add the lentils, spaghetti sauce, marjoram and oregano, tomato paste, vegetables and (optional) meatless crumbles. Add about 4 cups of water. Add the rice.

Cook, covered, stirring as needed, until rice is cooked and mixture has thickened - about 15-20 minutes. Add up to 2 cups more water if needed. (If you have some red wine on hand - I did not - it would go well in this step too.) If you have too much liquid and your mixture looks more like soup than stew, add the optional small pasta. Taste, and add salt, pepper, and tabasco as needed. When done, the stew will be very thick, and delicious.

Serve topped with grated parmesan cheese. This got 4 thumbs up and an "Amazing!" from the kids.