Cauliflower, Broccoli, leek and Fava bean Salad

Luke, I am your Fava, where have you bean?!

Fava beans....always scared the hell out of me. Not that their disgusting or hard to cook, it's just that I didn't really grow up on them and to be honest (whats the point in lying about a damn pea looking bean thing) have only had them a few times in my life.

so this is a fly by the seat of my pants, quick salad that I think ruled!

what you need:

broccoli

cauliflower

leek

fava beans

lemon juice

EVOO

red pepper flakes

S&P

Step 1: blanch un-peeled fava beans till outer layer startes to turn a light color, pull out of water and put in a ice bath. Repeat with the broccoli and cauliflower (blanch till they are tender). 

Step 2: add a bit of EVOO into a pan and saute chopped leeks till they are soft.

Step 3: de-shell fava beans and add to the saute pan with the leeks, cooking for only a few moments.

Step 4: in a bowl add leeks and fava, then add broccoli and cauliflower (make sure to cut into bit sized pieces if you haven't already done so, otherwise it could be awkward).

Step 5: make the vinaigrette by adding 1:1 ratio of EVOO and lemon into the same pan you used to saute the leeks in- to that add the seasoning and whisk together, the residual heat from the pan is all you need, no need to return it to heat. Once vinaigrette is emulsified add to salad and give a toss! 

sorry for lack of photos, I have some how misplaced my memory card in the heat of the moment......iphone will have to suffice fava the time bean.....

POM-mond Feta Salad

No Dinner is complete without a Salad, however I am really into the K.I.S.S (keep it simple stupid) style of Salads; I hate it when I find the kitchen sink in a leaf of lettuce. This salad is simple but delicious, the creaminess of the sheep's feta and the nice textual elements from the pom arils and almonds really work well together. I made this salad for 8, please use your discretion for the amount and measurements you want.

What you need:

Field Greens

Toasted and chopped Almonds

Pomagranate Arils

Valbreso or any Sheep's Milk Feta 

Pepper

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Vinaigrette:

POM Wonderful Juice

Walnut Oil

squeeze of brown mustard

EVOO

dash of Apple cider vinegar

Step 0: Toast and chop raw almonds, set aside.

Step 1: Rinse and place greens in a large mixing bowl.

Step 2: Add Almonds, Feta and Arils to greens. Sprinkle with pepper.

Step 3: make vinaigrette by adding 1/4-1/2 C. POM Juice, cider vinegar, and mustard into a bowl, then whisk in EVOO and Walnut Oil (equal parts about 1-2 T ea.). Finish with S&P and add to salad.

Step 4: Give the Salad a toss and serve on plates.

Enjoy!

Check out my POM Wonderful dinner party here!

Deux Cheese and Green Quiche!

I was having a hankering for quiche last night, and figured what the hell, why don't I try and make my own. Never done it before but how hard can it be? I looked online for recipe after recipe and in every cookbook I own, everyone has their different take on it. One thing I did realize that cream is usually used and anywhere from 2-4 eggs. Since I wanted the richness of cream but not cream I used whole milk and a few dollops of goat cheese to thicken it up. I got a pretty clear consensus that my quiche kicked some major taste bud butt! 

Crust! Prepare a pie crust before you start this, here is my recipe it's pretty simple and the steps can be done while you are sautéing and custarding. Remember you will want to par bake your crust at 400˚ for about 10 min. and let it cool before adding the filling. You can cheat and use a box, but essentially making one from scratch will be about the same amount of time, and you will be putting less unknown ingredients into your body.

What you need for the filling:

1 1/2 C. Whole Milk

Bunch of Spinach

Bunch of Kale or other Green

1 Leek

Pepper

Mushrooms

3 Large Eggs or 4 small

1 Tomato

1 Clove Garlic

1 oz. Goat Cheese

1/2 C. Cheddar (or cheese of choice)

S&P

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

mixed fresh herbs of choice (parsley, thyme, oregano, marjoram, sage)

EVOO

Step 0: Pre-heat oven to 375˚ and start your pie crust.

Step 1: Chop and rinse Leeks and saute in 1 T EVOO, once they are soft add garlic. DON'T BURN!

Step 2: Add Chopped Mushrooms, peppers and greens (cut greens into thin ribbons and rinse well) to the saute pan a pinch of S&P, cook till all of the excess water is out. In the meantime start the custard.

Step 3: The Custard! Gently whisk Eggs, then lightly mix together Goat Cheese, Milk and Herbs S&P and Nutmeg.

Step 4: Building! On a cooled Pie Crust sprinkle some shredded cheese on the bottom, then add sauteed green mixture, more cheese and then the custard. 

crust, cheese, greens, cheese

custard on top

Step 5: Put in oven for 30 min. when the quiche is at the 20min. mark remove and place sliced tomatoes on top, sprinkle with pepper. Put back in oven for the remaining time or until it is brown and firm to the touch.

out of the oven par cooked

par cooked with tomatoes

Step 6: Remove from oven and cool, slice and serve with a salad to someone you love!

cooling

ready to eat!

 and for your listening enjoyment my favorite song about Quiche!

simple salmon cakes with a lemon cucumber arugula salad

so my logic on salmon cakes is this: I love them. But why spend about $15 to hack up a good piece of sustainable salmon for a salmon cakes? So my no canned food is kinda out the window on this one, but you will see no charlie in my kitchen cabinet, only prime canned stuff for this lady. 

This is another kitchen sink type recipe (which I find to be the best type) it is completely flexible, and I have done many variations and never with measuring implements....just check out the photos for a guide.

simple salmon cakes with a lemon cucumber arugula salad

what you need:

a can of (sustainable) salmon

1 egg

some crunchy vegetables:

sweet peppers

celery (leaves and all)

fennel (for flavor)

sesame oil

rice flour
cumin

S&P

red pepper flakes 

Step 0: open can (yes can) and drain the salmon.

Step 1: dice all of the dicable vegetables and toss them into a bowl (equal parts about 1/4 C. each), add the salmon, egg and spices. mix.

(taste before you add the egg to see if the seasonings are where you like them)

 start to heat a skillet (I like cast iron for this) with about 1-2 T. Sesame oil.

Step 2: the tricky part add about 1 T. of rice flour to your mixture you essentially want most the liquid to go away and look more a thick oatmeal than wet cat food....sorry I couldn't resist the two worst visualizations. Just make sure you add a little at a time and not too much you don't want dry cakes either.

should kinda look like this

Step 3: form into patties slightly smaller than the palm of your hand, think slider size all you good 'mericans. Drop onto pre-heated skillet. Cook for about 3-4 min. on each side or till golden brown- be sure to watch the temp and oil, you don't want to cook them too fast or else the flour won't dissipate.

Step 4: and since this was my quick lunch, I used a store bought wildwood organic vegan aioli with some chopped no-sun dried tomatoes to top it off. I will post my simple Aioli recipe on here though the next time I make it.

and since no meal should go lonely on a plate I made a quick lemon cucumber, arugula salad with a simple vinaigrette of EVOO, cider vinegar and mustard.

I think with taking photos I spent under 30min. making this. Next time you are at the store grab a can of salmon and keep for a lunch or dinner that you don't feel like dealing with.

walnut pesto squashghetti over white beans, with fried eggplant and summer salad

This recipe is a great alternative to boring pasta, especially if you are gluten-free or trying to eat a bit healthier. Just make sure to use the best and most fresh ingredients you can get your hands on, it makes the world of difference. 

walnut pesto squashghetti over white beans, with fried eggplant and summer salad

what you need:

warning: this is easier and less ingredient heavy than the list of ingredients looks-trust me. Just make sure to over view the whole recipe and time yourself accordingly, there are parts of this that can be done well in advanced but overall it should take you about 1.5 hours to complete start to finish and will serve 2-4 people (depending on appetites)

Cannellini beans:

Step 1: Sort your beans, rinse and throw into a pot of boiling salted water, cook till tender about 1 hour. 

Step 2: Once done drain water, toss beans with S&P and a bit of Olive Oil. (set aside)

no-sun dried tomatoes

as many tomatoes you can get your hands on

good quality EVOO

S&P

Step 1: Slice tomatoes length wise place on a lightly EVOO'd baking sheet and cover with S&P and more EVOO (sorry about all the abbr.) bake in the oven 300˚ oven for about an hour. 

done

Step 2: Once they are cooked put in a jar and cover with a good quality Olive Oil.

fin.

while beans and tomatoes are cooking start the pesto

walnut pesto

1 C. packed fresh basil leaves

3 cloves garlic-pealed

1/2 C. Walnuts

1/4-1/2 C. good quality EVOO

1/8 C. Parmigiano-Reggiano

1/2 T. lemon juice

S&P

Step 1: add basil and garlic into a handy food processor and chop, then walnuts and chop,

slowly drizzle olive oil into the processor till it turns nice and shiny. Season with remaining ingredients to taste.

Summer Salad

lettuce (your call, but something that has a flavor)

Cherry tomatoes

valbreso feta cheese (sheeps milk feta)

dressing:

EVOO

ground mustard

apple cider vinegar

splash of lemon juice

Step 1:  Put lettuce tomatoes and feta into a bowl.

Step 2: In seperate bowl make dressing by whisking 1 T of EVOO and 1 T. apple cider vin. with 1/2 T mustard and lemon juice.

Step 3: pour over salad and toss when you are about to serve, keep salad dry and in the fridge till that point.

once the beans and no-sun tomatoes are almost done

gluten-free fried eggplant

eggplant (1/4" thick sliced)

1C. rice flour

1 egg

splash milk (soy, almond, hemp, water ect.)

and a dash of the following:

paprika

red pepper flakes

S&P

Step 0: heat enough 1/2" of Olive Oil in a pan.

Step 1: in one bowl add egg and a splash of soy milk (water/any type of other milk product) and whisk, in the next bowl add flour and seasonings.

a.

b.

c.

Step 2: Dunk sliced eggplant into the egg mix, then into the flour mixture, then into the oil. Cook till brown on each side.

Step 2: put in a pan with a little bit of Olive Oil saute till limp and lightly brown, season with S&P.

Plate!

Step 1: Place beans on plate and dollop with pesto.

Step 2: lightly combine pesto to squashghetti and top beans, add tomatoes to to the tower.

silhouette 

aerial view

Step 3: place salad and eggplant on plate and eat!

Bon food coma!

Roasted herby lemon chicken, braised carrots and lemon cucumber tom. salad

As noted in my post from yesterday I was going to make a meal with the majority of my CSA box, this is the dinner I have come up with. It's a mixture of Winter comfort and Summer flavors (winter because SF is 50˚ in August). I will also show you how to flatten out a chicken for quick and even roasting, stuffing is for thanksgiving. I learned this technique in the Joy of cooking cookbook, but it took me awhile to figure out their drawings- I hope my images help you out.

Lemon Herby Chicken

what you need:

lemons

garlic

EVOO

fresh herbs 

half onion quartered

S&P

whole roasting chicken (veg. fed)

3 cloves garlic, fresh lemon basil, lemon thyme, rosemary and sage

2 tlbs lemon

and a chicken for roasting

Step 0: Preheat your oven to 375˚, get out a baking dish and get ready to get gross.

Step 1: In goes lemon juice, EVOO, herbs and garlic into food processor (or blend and cut by hand), should be a nice light green slurry.

Step 2: In baking dish add the lemon remains from step 1, a few cloves garlic and the onion. Pile them in a nest like fashion for the bird to land on.

Step 3: Get into the Bird! Open the bad boy up and take out the sac o' stuff and set aside (we will talk about this later). Rinse the chicken and pat inside out with paper towels. Once that is done place the bird spine side up, or as I like to call it the nasty extra skin side up.

Step 3.5: Time to cut!!!!! Get out some poultry sheers or a knife (if you are crazy) and cut between the spine (or that nasty extra skin thing), cut through the bones all the way to the other end. Do it on both sides. 

the joy of cooking only has confusing drawings.

Once cut on both sides rip it out! (place spine to the side)

Step 4: Breaking some Bones, Breaking some Bones!!! Flip the bird over (as you will notice it seems like the joints are loose now, they are). Place your hand in the CPR position and Push! you want to hear some cracks and when you notice the legs and thighs are lying flat you've done your job.

Step 5: Make a small incision (button hole) in the extra pieces of skin around the thighs and tips of legs, then tuck the tips of the legs in the button holes. This eliminates the need for string ever!

Step 6: Grab your herby slurry and start to cover the bird with it, make sure to go underneath the skin (do this by finding a skin "entrance" and wiggling your little hand gingerly inside being care not to tear the skin) once the bird is totally covered begin to salt and pepper it, I strongly recommend a kosher or sea salt as well as fresh ground pepper, table salt and old pepper don't do a good meal any justice. 

Place the covered and smothered creature on it's lemon, garlic nest, tuck the tip of the wings under the bird so they don't burn. Add some remaining lemon segments in the joints to get some extra lemon flavor, throw it in the oven for about 20min/lb. (4 lb=80min or so) and call it a day....

Step 7: When you feel that the chicken is almost done (you will know when it is done if the leg and thigh pull away from the bird easily), but may need some more browning crank the oven and let it go- don't forget to baste the chicken every 20min or so. When the chicken is nice and brown pull it out and let it rest for 10min DON'T FORGET! you can always stick a knife in it after it's rested to check for doneness, if you do it before all the juices will run out and you won't actually be able to tell.

Wait!!! there are sides!

Braised Carrots

what you need:

Carrots

thyme

1 T. butter

1/4 C. chicken broth

garlic

S&P

Step 1: Heat butter in pan, on a low temp.

Step 2: Clean carrots but don't peel, cut in half or more if larger (if small carrots leave whole). Throw into melted butter add thyme, garlic and S&P cook till tender, not brown about 10min then add broth.

Step 3: Put in oven for about 30min (till broth is absorbed into the carrots).

Lemon Cucumber Tomato Salad

what you need:

lemon cucumber (or reg. but it won't be as cool)

cherry tomatoes (sliced)

fresh basil

1 T. lemon juice

  1 T. EVOO

1 tsp. rice wine vin.

S & P

Step 1: Slice cuc. put it in a bowl, add toms and basil (lightly tear it).

Step 2: whisk lemon juice, EVOO and rice wine together till it emulsifies.

Step 3: pour and mix in to salad add S&P to taste.

your plate should look like this: