Baby Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing
Serves 2 for dinner, or 4 as a side-dish

4 slices of bacon, diced
1 shallot, fine mince (or an 1/8 cup finely minced red onion, if you must)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar — no substitutes this time.  this is the real deal.
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp dried mustard
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 package baby spinach (about 6 cups)
1 cup white mushrooms, sliced paper thin (about half a small package)
1/4 cup red onion, sliced paper thin
2 hard-boiled eggs, cut into wedges

Go ahead and put your eggs on to boil.  Seriously, I know you don’t have any sitting around in your fridge.  For the record, I like to start mine in cold water, bring to a rapid boil over high heat, cover and switch the heat off.  20 minutes later the eggs are perfectly cooked.  Then drop the whole pan under the faucet and run cool water in until the eggs are chilled enough to handle.

While the eggs are cooking, drop the bacon into a large skillet over medium heat.  The closer the bacon gets to done, the lower I drop the heat.  It takes 7-10 minutes for the bacon to get beautifully golden and crispy.  Remove with slotted spoon and let the bacon drain on a paper towel while you finish the dressing.

You should have about 3 tbsps of drippings left in the pan. Add some olive oil if you’re short to round it out. Gently saute the shallot over medium heat until its lovely and golden.  Now add the vinegar, sugar, mustards, a healthy grind of pepper and a pinch of salt and whisk to combine, scraping up all the little bacony bits that stuck to the pan.  Allow to simmer for 1-2 minutes so the dressing can thicken up and for some of the bite of the vinegar to cook off. If you really feel the need to wilt your baby spinach, or if you’re using the adult spinach leaves, toss the greens into the skillet for the last 30-60 seconds of cooking, being sure to flip/stir the spinach to ensure even wilting.

In a large bowl, combine the spinach, mushrooms and red onions and toss gently. Pour the warm dressing straight from the skillet into the bowl and quickly toss to coat evenly.  Now sprinkle over those yummy bacony bits.  You forgot about them, didn’t you?  No you didn’t, you’ve been snacking on them the whole time you’ve been cooking.  Wait, that was me.

Season the egg wedges with a bit of salt.  Serve the salad in a big bowl with the wedges of egg adorning the outsides.  Look at that, what a pro.

I love veggies.  My life/meal/body/face/soul feels incomplete unless I have them several times a day.  Here is a quick and healthy way to get your veg on.

2 medium red potatoes, cut to inch squares
2 medium purple potatoes, cut to inch squares
half a head of cauliflower, divided to bite size
1 zucchini, sliced 1/3rd inch thick
1 teaspoon of olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Put it all in a bowl, mix, put into a baking pan. I like the heavier glass/pyrex ones. Place into the oven for 45 minutes. Toss them half way inbetween. SO EASY!

If you’ve never heard of Columbia Restaurant, it means you haven’t spent much time in Florida.  It’s a chain of about a dozen restaurants that to my knowledge is restricted to the Sunshine State.  To be perfectly honest, it’s not a very spectacular restaurant overall.  It definitely caters to the tourists and the snow birds, and as a college student, I found it severely overpriced.

So why is it worth mentioning?  Because they have a spectacular salad on their menu, called the 1905 salad, named for the year their flagship restaurant opened in Ybor City, a district in Tampa.  The 1905 salad is Columbia’s big ta-dah, because all the servers know the recipe by heart and whip it up table-side.  This should clue you in to how simple and fast you can prepare this for a weeknight dinner.  The classic is with ham, which you can swap out for turkey or shrimp.  I like the combo of ham and turkey, but rock it out to your tastes.  Oh and did I mention it was really delicious?

Columbia Restaurant’s 1905 Salad
Makes 2 giant entree portions, or 4 appetizer/side dish portions

For the Salad:
1 small head of iceberg lettuce, chopped
2 vine ripe tomatoes, diced
1/4 lb swiss cheese, sliced extra thick and julienned
1/4 lb deli ham, sliced extra thick and julienned
1/4 lb deli turkey, sliced extra thick and julienned
1/4 cup green spanish olives, sliced
2 tbsp fresh grated romano or parmesan cheese

For the Dressing:
1/8 cup white wine vinegar
1/8 cup lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tsp dried oregano
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, preferably Spanish

In a large bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients except the olive oil, along with salt and a fair bit of fresh ground black pepper.  Pour in the olive oil in a slow stream, whisking vigorously until fully incorporated.  (Alternatively, you can also drop all the ingredients into the blender, or mix them quickly with an immersion blender as I did here.  The bowl-whisked dressing is traditional.)

You know the drill.  Drop all of the salad ingredients into the large bowl, coating everything in the dressing.  Portion out into serving bowls, and top with more ground pepper and romano cheese as desired.

Pre-dressing…

And yum…

This really makes for a filling, yet light dinner.  The flavors are very balanced and the dressing is super yum.  And I seriously cannot stress enough how quickly you can whip this up on a weeknight.  Enjoy everybody!  Oh, and thanks to that magazine that published this recipe which I found in that snobby coffee shop in Sarasota that I never patronized again.

Hi friends! It’s me again! This time with an entry for the CSA Super Extreme Ultimate Challenge! As you saw in Gwen’s post, last week we received a whole metric buttload of kale. The trouble is I don’t particularly like kale, and my husband has a hardwired aversion to all things new and leafy and green. What to do?

Scanning around the internet, I saw a Gourmet recipe for a Potato and Kale Galette that was awfully similar to a recipe in my repertoire called Potatoes Anna. I’m a big believer in having a few core recipes that can be modified to make a different dish. Adding kale to Potatoes Anna seemed like a prime candidate. I was hoping the potatoes would mellow out the harshness of the kale, and I figured that if you add enough garlic and Gruyere to anything it’s bound to be good.  Luckily, Gourmet was right on the money, and this dish even earned a “Mmmmmm!” from my veggie phobic hub.

You will need:

- 1 metric buttload of kale. To be more precise, about 4 good sized bunches, to cook down to about 1 cup. I used a variety of kales, and a little chard. I think any hearty green would hold up well in this dish.

- 2 medium Russet potatoes

- 2 cloves garlic, minced very fine

- 1 cup grated Gruyere (use a little less if you’re feeling health conscious)

- 1 tablespoon butter, melted

- salt and pepper

- olive oil

First, set your oven to 450 degrees. Then, wash and dry your greens well. Roll them up and chop them in a fine julienne. Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan, then add the kale and a heavy pinch of salt. You want to wilt the greens down well in this step, but the real cooking will happen in the oven. About 2 minutes before you pull the kale from the heat, add the garlic and cook briefly. Next, we need to remove some of the moisture from the kale. Place it in a fine strainer or on a bunch of paper towels and gently press the excess moisture out. You may want to chop the kale even finer at this point if it still seems really chunky.

Peel the potatoes and slice them very thin. Using a mandolin is best to get even pieces, but if you have to do it the old fashioned way, I’d aim for between an 1/8th and 1/16th of an inch. Brush the inside of a lidded, oven safe dish with some melted butter, then start placing the sliced potatoes in the bottom of the dish so they overlap slightly. Once you have one layer of potatoes complete, brush with a small amount of the butter, then sprinkle very lightly with salt, pepper, and Gruyere. Remember, go very light on the seasonings here, because they will add up over the layers. Then, sprinkle half of the cooked kale over the potatoes. Add another potato layer, season, then a kale layer, and one last potato layer without the cheese. Cover, and then place in the oven for 20 minutes. After the time is up, remove the cover, and then back in the oven for 10 minutes. Add the rest of the Gruyere to the top, and then 10 more minutes. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes, so the potatoes and cheese can set a bit. Then, slice like you would a pie and serve!

Alright, here’s the first of my CSA veggie exploits! Sort of a play off of a classic gratin., using squash, potatoes and tomatoes for a fun twist. We ate it as an entree with a spinach salad, but I think it’ll work better as a side dish. On to the recipe…

Squash Medley Gratin
Serves 4 as a side dish

1 medium zucchini, ends trimmed
1 medium summer squash, ends trimmed
1 large patty pan squash, ends trimmed and quartered.
2 – 3 medium red potatoes
2 – 3 roma tomatoes
1 cup half and half
1 clove garlic, finely grated into pulp
1/2 tsp dried thyme (or 2 sprigs fresh if you got it)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 -2 tbsp cold butter, cut into tiny cubes plus more for greasing the pan

Preheat your oven to 375ºF. Butter a 13×9 or comparable sized casserole dish and set aside.

Its time to slice the veggies (so sharpen your chef’s knife, pull out your mandolin, or ideally… both). Start by slicing your tomatoes into 1/8 inch thick circles. Tomatoes are highly watery, so I suggest salting them gently on both sides and setting them aside while you prep the other veggies. Switch over to your mandolin, if you’re lucky enough to own one, and slice the potatoes, zucchini, summer squash, and patty pan squash into 1/8 inch thick slices.

Starting at one end of your casserole dish, arrange the slices with one vegetable per row, overlapping as you go. You’re attempting to create a striped pattern, which looks really elegant in the final product. Try to separate the squashes with the potatoes and the tomatoes to create variety in the overlapping textures. Work your way row by row until the entire casserole dish is covered. Top with salt and fresh ground pepper, the thyme, and the grated parmesan cheese. Dot with the tiny butter cubes. The combination of the butter and the cheese ensure lots of flavor and a golden brown top to our gratin.

In a small saucepan, combine the half and half and the garlic. You want the garlic to be as close to pulp as possible (I recommend grating it straight into the saucepan using your fine microplane grater/zester. Bring the liquid to a boil of medium-high heat, removing from heat immediately when it starts to foam up. The technique here is to dissolve the garlic into the half and half, offering a gentle garlicy flavor that more efficiently infuses the dish, unlike minced garlic that you’d only taste every few bites. You can also use this technique to make some killer mashed potatoes. The other benefit of this technique, is that the hot liquid helps the dish come to temperature faster in the oven, offering a quicker cooking time.

Gently pour the half and half over top of the casserole, taking care not to disrupt the veggies too much. If you’re using a smaller casserole dish, you might not need all of the half and half. You’re only looking for the liquid to barely come halfway up the vegetables. Pop this into the oven. This takes about 30-40 minutes to get nice and caramelized on top, and make sure you rotate your pan halfway through the cooking process to ensure even browning.

Mmm, delish. It was luscious and light all at the same time. Enjoy it, we definitely did!

I’m a big advocate for whisking up a super simple salad dressing rather than relying on the fatty, chemically bottled alternatives from the super market. I mean, seriously, it takes all of 3 minutes.   Typically I just rock a vinaigrette on some baby greens.  Tonight, however, I spotted a mixed container of mache and butter lettuce on the refrigerated shelf at Trader Joes, which made me a very happy lady.  If you’ve never tried mache, do it.  Do it now.  It’s tiny, sweet, tender and slightly nutty.  And for a lettuce as mild and gentle as mache, this called for a special dressing.

Yogurt Chive Dressing
yields about 1/2 cup of dressing

1/4 cup greek yogurt (I use Fage 0% greek yogurt)
1 small clove garlic, very finely minced
Zest of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice (about half a lemon)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp chopped chives (I use my kitchen scissors for easy cutting)
1/4 tsp sugar or honey
large pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper

Whisk together all of the above ingredients in a large bowl.  Season and sweeten to taste, depending on how tart your yogurt and lemon juice are.  Add  4 cups loosely packed greens and gently toss to coat.  Serve as a delightfully light and simple side dish for chicken or fish, such as the breaded pan-fried chicken tenders pictured above.

Tonight, Firat and I were craving something simple and delicious. I’ve also been spending more time learning about Turkish dishes because I know he misses the flavors of home. I’ve been especially attached to the cookbook “Turquoise: A Chef’s travels in Turkey” by Greg and Lucy Malouf. It’s part travel memories, part photo-journal, mostly killer cookbook. What’s impressed me most about this book, is that the chefs have created recipes that replicate true Turkish flavors, while still using easy-to-find ingredients. So tonight I decided to make tomato pilaf, which has a special place in my heart, because it was the first Turkish dish Firat cooked for me when we started dating.

This recipe is crazy yum. It makes a spectacular side dish for 4 people, or, much like a risotto, can stand alone as well as a generous entree for 2. Its incredibly flavorful, considering most of the ingredients come out of your pantry. Here’s the Malouf’s recipe with just a couple tiny adjustments on my end.

Tomato Pilaf

1 cup basmati rice
3-4 very ripe roma tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped (don’t forget the trick of blanching tomatoes in boiling water for an easy peel job)
3/4 cup chicken stock or vegetable stock
4 tbsp butter
1 shallot, finely diced
2 tsp tomato paste
1 tsp lemon juice
1 sprig of fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper
Wash the rice in a bowl under cold running water. Work your fingers through it to loosen the starch off the rice. Once the water is clear, drain and set aside.

Pulse the tomatoes into a rough puree (like a salsa) in the food processor. You should get about 1 1/4 cups of tomato puree. Add enough stock to make 2 cups of liquid. Pour into a small saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and keep at a low simmer.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the shallot and saute over medium-low heat until the shallots become soft, about 3-4 minutes. Add the tomato paste, lemon zest, and thyme and stir to combine evenly (the tomato paste likes to be difficult here, so make sure there’s no lumps).

Add the rice to the pan and season generously with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly, allowing all the grains to be coated in the butter. Stir over medium heat for just a couple minutes, allowing the rice to toast. Pour in the simmering tomato stock and stir to combine. This should come to a boil almost immediately since you kept the liquid hot. Cover, and cook over the lowest heat setting for 15 minutes. The grains should be plumped up and the surface will be dented with little steam vent holes. Remove the pan from heat, then slide a clean, folded tea towel under the lid and leave it to stand for another 15-20 minutes. When ready to serve, fluff with a fork, and savor the yum.

This is a recipe from my charming cousin Constance who lives somewhere there’s actually seasons. The first time I tried it, she had made it as an entree for the feasting vegetarians at a family holiday dinner. The best part about the recipe is how flexible it is, but I was super impressed with how inexpensive and filling it was for a dinnertime meal for 2. She sent me her bare bones recipe and her blessing for experimentation and this is what it evolved into in my kitchen. Onto the recipe!

Constance’s Stuffed Acorn Squash

1 acorn squash
2 1/2 cups cooked brown rice (about 1 cup uncooked if you’re making it for the recipe)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 small onion, small dice
1 apple, peeled, small dice (i like fuji)
1 rib celery, small dice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp brown sugar
Fresh ground black pepper
1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)
1 cup grated colby jack cheese
1 egg, beaten

Preheat your oven to 350. If you don’t have pre-cooked rice, start by cooking it and set aside to cool.

Split your acorn squash in half (I prefer lengthwise, some people prefer horizontally). Scoop out the seeds and place facedown in a microwave safe dish with a few tbsps of water, and cover tightly with syran wrap. Microwave 10 – 12 minutes until the flesh is fork tender.

Very carefully, scoop out the flesh of the squash, leaving the skin intact. This is a delicate and very hot process! Mash up the flesh and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, heat the oil and butter until melted over medium-high heat. Saute together the onion, celery, and apples until they begin to soften and become translucent, about 5-8 minutes. Add the garlic and saute an additional 2 minutes until the raw flavor cooks out. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, mix together the rice, the contents of the skillet, the flesh of the acorn squash, all the seasonings, almonds, raisins, breadcrumbs, and 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. Give this mixture a taste, and season accordingly. Then add the beaten egg and mix again. Make sure the mixture is not too hot or the cheese and egg will begin to cook too soon. Divide this mixture in half and fill the empty squash skins, then top with the remaining cheese.

30 minutes later… mmmm golden brown and delicious. The squash makes the filling rich and creamy and oh so tasty. ENJOY! And don’t forget to experiment to your tastes, this recipe is as forgiving as it is delicious! THANKS CONSTANCE!

So on Sunday, Firat was craving Chicken Piccata. I was craving a food adventure. So I decided to experiment with a couple new side dishes I’ve been meaning to test out. The first was Tyler Florence’s Raw Zucchini Carpaccio (follow link for recipe). It was light and delicious, but needed more acid then the recipe called for. I’ll definitely play around with this more in the future, because I think the dish has serious potential and looks much more impressive than it is to make. Always a solid choice.

The second is Israeli couscous, which I’ve never eaten but seen it used widely on Top Chef. Probably what took me so long is that I’ve never been a fan of African grain couscous. It’s small and mealy and despite its delicious flavor and super quick cooking time, I hate the texture and the way it sticks to your throat. Well when Firat saw it in the grains bin and explained that this was what true couscous looked like in Turkey, I figured hey, no time like the present.

I dug through a few different recipes online and was fascinated to see that it could be treated like: 1. a pasta, boiled in an excess of water ; 2. a rice pilaf, toasted in oil/butter, then steamed with an exact amount of liquid; 3. a risotto, slowly stirred for a softer, creamier texture. Being ridiculous, I went for the most complicated option first: door number 3. So I adapted a recipe posted by LATimes and here’s what I came up with:

Herbed Israeli Couscous Risotto-style
Serves 3 – 4

1/2 lb dried Israeli couscous (about 1.5 cups)
1-2 tbsp butter
1 young spring onion or 1/2 sweet onion, small diced
1 bay leaf
3-4 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp chopped parsley
1 1/2 tbsp chopped mint
1 1/2 tbsp chopped dill (try any combination of chopped herbs, perhaps basil, chives or tarragon)

Melt the butter into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onion until just translucent, about 3 minutes. Dump in the couscous and the bay leaf and stir to thoroughly coat with the butter. Saute about 5 minutes until the couscous starts to get toasty-looking:

Now it’s time to get the broth going. Pour in the first cup and give the couscous a good stir. Lower the heat to about medium-low so that there’s only the slightest simmer happening. I didn’t stir quite as religiously as I do when I make risotto, but keep your eye on it and keep it moving around the pan. You want the liquid to slowly be absorbed before you add the next cup-full. How do you know when it’s ready for more? Scrape your cooking utensil along the bottom of the pan. The couscous will slowly drift back into place, but there’s clearly not a puddle of liquid left at the bottom.

After about 3 cups of the stock have been absorbed, which takes about 20 minutes, give the couscous a taste. Check the texture (is it al dente? still too chewy?) and the seasoning. Add some salt and pepper to taste and the lemon juice, along with a tiny bit more stock if it needs it. About 5 – 8 minutes later, the liquid should all be absorbed and the couscous should be perfectly soft. Right before serving, I stirred in another 1/2 tbsp of butter for a nice sheen and mixed in all the chopped herbs. Oh and don’t forget to pull out the bay leaf.

Wowwiewow was I a happy lady!! And think of the endless varieties this recipe could be adapted for! Tomato and basil, roasted veggies, seafood stock with shellfish and saffron, mushroom and thyme, peas and mint… soo much yum, so little time.