White Bean and Squash Gratin

Around this time of year I try to cook earthy, casserole-y type foods for those cold, it’s-dark-too-early nights. Pot roast, chili, stew and so on. But also side dishes I can make ahead and reheat so I don’t have to take much time to do the actual cooking on days when the evenings already seem too short.

Here’s one that pairs with most vegetarian, fish, poultry and meat dinners.

White Bean and Squash Gratin

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium carrot, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 medium clove garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1 cup cooked white beans (drained, canned beans are fine)

1 cup mashed cooked winter squash (such as butternut or kuri)

1/4 cup half and half cream, coconut milk or soy milk

1 large egg, beaten

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/3 cup packed fresh bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and thyme and cook for about 3 minutes or until the vegetables have softened. Spoon the mixture into a food processor. Add the beans and process until smooth and pureed. Spoon the mixture into a bowl. Add the squash, cream, egg and salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly to blend ingredients. Spoon the mixture into a baking dish. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the puree. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the gratin is hot. Makes 4-6 servings

Turkey Chili

It’s freezing here in Connecticut. Not that that’s any surprise for January. But the weather has been so crazy for the past year or so that I kind of got used to things being warm in November and December with just an occasional cold or snowflaky day.

But, today is more like the Connecticut winter days I remember. 20 degrees and blowy.

Time for hot, filling food. 

Like chili.

I made this version with turkey, which makes it milder than traditional beef chili con carne.

Turkey Chili

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 large cloves garlic, chopped

1 serrano (or other hot) pepper, deseeded and chopped 

16-20 ounces ground turkey

28 ounce can tomatoes, coarsely chopped, undrained

1/4 cup tomato paste

1/2 cup water or vegetable stock

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

15-19 ounce can kidney beans, drained

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and serrano pepper and cook briefly. Add the turkey and cook, stirring to break up the pieces, for 3-5 minutes, until the meat has turned color. Add the tomatoes with their juices, tomato paste, water, chili powder, cumin, oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pan and simmer for 1-1/2 hours. Stir in the beans. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes. Makes 4 servings

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Vegetable Hash with Sunnyside Eggs

Happy New Year!

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Salmon Spread

Need a quickie hors d’oeuvre you can make for New Year’s in just a few minutes?

Try this one: Salmon Spread.

I just did and it took under 10 minutes.

I usually fuss a lot for New Year’s when our cousins Leslie and Neil come for a few days. I like to experiment with hors d’oeuvres and usually wind up making 2-3 in addition to the standby favorites.

But this year I’ve had a lingering cold and I haven’t been up to the usual food prep. So I bought some frozen and take-out stuff but managed to do the Salmon Spread because it’s so easy.

Also, I didn’t have to do any extra shopping for it. I always have cream cheese, lemons, white horseradish and a shallot in the house. And because I had made myself some chicken soup the other day, there was a bit of fresh dill left over too.

There was also some leftover salmon from yesterday’s dinner, so I used that, but canned salmon (always a good item to keep on the shelf, for just-in-case moments) would have been just fine too.

I like this spread with Stacy’s pita chips, but crackers or crudites are perfectly fine too.

Salmon Spread

8 ounces cooked salmon (canned, drained red salmon is fine)

4 ounces cream cheese, cut into chunks

1 small shallot, cut into chunks

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

2 teaspoon prepared white horseradish

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Crumble the salmon into a food processor. Add the cream cheese, shallot, lemon juice, dill and horseradish and process until well combined and blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes about 1-1/2 cups

Vegetable Hash

I’m not the kind of woman who tells her husband “we’re going on a diet” or “I’m serving smaller portions” or “lets go low-carb for a while.” Because those sorts of statements can be provocative and irritating and might start a conversation that won’t be pleasant when I’d rather talk about the Fiscal Cliff or the Debt Ceiling.

I just do it. I make less fattening food and serve smaller portions and make dinner with several vegetables instead of carbs and just never mention the obvious.

Ed is good with that and frankly, he’s an extraordinarily sharp guy who notices practically everything so I’m always surprised when he says something like “really, we’ve been on a low/no carb regimen?”

So he isn’t yet aware of the “meatless, more vegetarian” thing yet. But I have been making more vegetarian meals lately. 

Last week I made Veggie Burgers that looked like real, raw beef (and were absolutely wonderful on toasted multigrain bread with a little Dijon mustard spiked mayo). This week I made Vegetable Hash. It has lots of crispy bits of caramelized vegetables and loads of onion (Ed loves that). I topped the hash with Sunnyside-Up eggs. When you break the yolk it runs into the crusty stuff below and gives it that rich, velvety coat that tastes so good and feels so good on your tongue.

It was so delicious I decided to make it for our cousins Les and Neil, our annual New Year’s sleepover guests. We usually have smoked salmon, bagels and such on New Year’s Day, but sometime during their visit over the long weekend, we’ll be eating Vegetable Hash with Sunnyside Eggs. 

In my opinion it’s way better than corned beef hash, but I wouldn’t ask Ed to compare. I’ll just serve this and keep quiet about it and watch him eat up every morsel on the plate and nibble on any leftovers cold from the fridge.

Vegetable Hash

• 8-10 large Brussels sprouts

• 4 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice

• 3 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, approximately

• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• 4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice

• 1 large yellow onion, chopped

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1/3 cup vegetable stock (or use cream)

• 3 tablespoons chopped chives

• Sunnyside-up eggs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the Brussels sprouts into small chunks and wash thoroughly under cold running water; drain. Place the Brussels sprouts, carrots and parsnips on a baking sheet. Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil over the vegetables and toss to coat the pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for about 25 minutes or until tender. Set aside. While the vegetables are roasting, cook the diced potatoes in lightly salted simmering water for about 8 minutes or until tender but still firm. Drain and add to the roasted vegetables. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes or until softened and beginning to brown. Place the butter in the sauté pan. When the butter has melted and looks foamy, add the vegetables, stirring and mashing them slightly for the first minute. Pour in the stock and add the chives and stir to incorporate them into the vegetables. Cook, flipping the hash once, for about 15-20 minutes or until browned and crispy. Add some olive oil if needed to prevent the vegetables from over-browning or sticking to the pan. Serve the hash topped with Sunnyside-up eggs.

Makes 4-6 servings

Applesauce Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Well, we had our annual goose dinner and this year it was positively the best, best, best goose ever. Roasted plain, just a bit of pepper, garlic and paprika for color. Okay, okay I also added a glass or two full of sweet white wine for basting and that may have made it so scrumptious.

There was the usual braised red cabbage, roasted potatoes (baby Yukon golds, parboiled and rubbed with olive oil and goose fat before cooking in a hot oven until crispy) and green peas.

I like to serve something with apple at my goose dinner. But didn’t this year, so later in the day, when it was time for dessert, I served Applesauce Spice Cake. It’s a simple, coffeecake type cake, warmly spicy, with a soft crumb and a crunchy crust. You can make this cake ahead and freeze it too (as I have many times).

Applesauce Sour Cream Coffee Cake

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup applesauce

1/3 cup sour cream

1 large egg, beaten

1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/3 cup milk

streusel topping:

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons cold butter, cut into smaller pieces

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup chopped nuts

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease an 8” square cake pan. Beat the sugar and butter together with a hand mixer or electric mixer set at medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the applesauce, sour cream, egg and lemon peel and beat the ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until smooth. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into a bowl. Add half the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat until well blended. Add half the milk and beat until well blended. Repeat until all the flour and milk have been used up. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Combine the streusel topping ingredients and mix them with your fingers, a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is mealy. Sprinkle over the batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan 10 minutes then carefully invert the cake twice onto a cake rack to cool completely. Turn the cake right side up to cool completely. Makes 8-10 servings

Ginger Chicken Skewers

During the hearings for Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, Senator Lindsey Graham wanted to know what she knew about the Christmas Day Bomber. So he asked: “where were you on Christmas day?”

And Kagan, who is obviously smart and witty, said: “You know, like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.”

She got a fierce round of applause.

I don’t know if Senator Graham understood the joke, but anyone who is Jewish, or hangs out with people who are Jewish or at least lives in a place where there are Jewish people knows that Jewish people are famous for doing three things on Christmas:

Going to the movies

Working in a Soup Kitchen

Eating Chinese food

Some say it’s a tribal thing. I don’t know. My children and grandchildren are always at my house on Christmas, especially if it falls over a long weekend like this year’s kind of is. We re-do Hanukkah, open gifts that I hadn’t bought in time for that and go to my brother Jeff and sister-in-law Eileen’s house because they have a universal type holiday party. And there are too many young children in the family to go out to any Chinese restaurant that would have us or go to the movies or work in a soup kitchen.

So I make a Chinese dish at home, sometimes a nibble, like Pearly Meatballs and sometimes an entree, like Chicken and Peanuts.

This year it’s Ginger-Chicken Skewers. They’re tangy and sweet, have eye appeal and can be prepared up to the point of actualy cooking, in advance.

Which makes these perfect hors d’oeuvre for New Year’s if you’re entertaining. Or any old time I suppose.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year to all.

Honestly, I think it’s a whole lot easier just to say Happy Holidays, which covers it all. But I don’t feel like getting too political here. This is about a good hors d’oeuvre.

Ginger Chicken Skewers

1/3 cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons orange juice

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 teaspoons sesame seed oil

3 scallions, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped ginger

2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

Combine the soy sauce, orange juice, vegetable oil, sesame seed oil, scallions and ginger in a medium bowl. Cut the chicken into strips about 3-inches long and 1/2-inch wide. Immerse the chicken in the soy sauce mixture and let soak for 2-3 hours. Remove the stem, pith and seeds from the peppers and cut them into chunks. Soak 2-1/2 dozen wooden skewers in cold water for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven broiler or outdoor grill. Thread the skewers using one strip of chicken, placing different color pepper pieces between the curves. Broil chicken 6 minutes, turning skewers occasionally, or until chicken is cooked through.

Makes 2-1/2 dozen

Braised Red Cabbage

The holiday season continues this weekend in our family because for one reason or another we never had our annual Hanukkah goose dinner. So, when my kids and grandkids come on Sunday we will open the gifts we haven’t yet opened and we will also have the goose dinner: Roasted Goose, baby potatoes with rosemary (fried in goose fat), string beans and probably carrot-and-parsnip fries (also in my book, Hip Kosher).

And of course, Braised Red Cabbage and some sort of apple dessert.

Love this meal. 

Braised Red Cabbage

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 medium apples, peeled, cored and chopped

1 medium head red cabbage, shredded

1 bay leaf

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 cups water

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

juice of half a lemon

8 whole cloves

salt to taste

Heat the vegetable oil in a large, deep saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and apple and cook for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add the cabbage, bay leaf, brown sugar, water, wine vinegar, cider vinegar, lemon juice, cloves and salt and toss the ingredients until they are evenly distributed. Cover the pan. Simmer the ingredients, stirring occasionally, for one hour. Remove the bay leaf  and cloves. Makes 8 servings

Butter Crunch

If the world is going to end tomorrow, I want Buttercrunch.

Whoever invented it knew all about combining sweet and salty together in a candy long before the modern love for caramels with sea salt.

We didn’t talk about the sweet and salt back in the Buttercrunch day. We just ate it like there was no tomorrow.

So again, if there isn’t going to be one (a tomorrow I mean), I want to bite into a piece or eight of this; every bite with a brittle, salty crunch and creamy, soft, sweet chocolate melting around it and that final flourish of tender, toasty almonds.

Butter Crunch

1 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 tablespoons water

9 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (1-1/2 cups chocolate chips)

3/4 cup chopped lightly toasted almonds

Lightly butter a 9”x13” sheet cake pan. Place the butter, sugar, salt, corn syrup and water into a deep saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture starts to bubble. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is golden brown (about 7-8 minutes) or until a candy thermometer reads 280 degrees. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread it out evenly. Immediately sprinkle the chocolate on top. Let it melt briefly, then use a spatula or the back of a large spoon to spread the chocolate evenly over the candy. Keep spreading until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Sprinkle the nuts on top and press them in lightly. Let cool until the chocolate is firm and set, about 2 hours. Break into pieces. Makes about 1-1/4 pounds, enough for one person, or two if you want to share

:)

diadoumenos:

“If a pre-school child hits another child with a rock… the solution is not for every child to have a rock!”

INDEED