Khichdi

After reading an article about what kids around the world eat for lunch, I was curious to try khichdi, a one-pot Indian comfort food made of lentils, rice, and vegetables. This dish was delicious, comforting, and happily devoured by adults and toddlers alike.

Recipe adapted from here and here. You can use smaller lentils for a creamier consistency or larger lentils (like chana dal) if you want it chewier; I liked a blend of both. Feel free to sub out various veggies depending on what you have on hand—just keep the proportions of rice to lentils to veggies about the same as what's listed here. Everything blends together into creamy, subtly spiced deliciousness.

Ingredients
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 tsp cumin seeds
1.5 tbsp julienned fresh ginger
3 carrots, diced
1/2 cup frozen green peas
1/2 medium to large orange sweet potato, diced
2 cups chopped cauliflower
2 handfuls coarsely chopped greens (spinach, collards, mustard greens)
1 Anaheim chile, chopped
3/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chili powder
1.5 cups mixed lentils (e.g., toor dal, moong dal, red lentils, chana dal), rinsed well and checked through for stones
6 cups water

2 bay leaves

4 whole cloves
2 cardamom pods, crushed
2 tsp salt
1.5 cups white Basmati rice, rinsed well
Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the butter and olive oil. When the butter melts, add the cumin seeds and ginger and sauté for 30 seconds, then add the veggies. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes.

Add the turmeric and chili powder and stir, then add the lentils and mix well. Pour in the water and stir. Add the remaining spices and salt, then cover and bring to a gentle boil. Turn the heat down and simmer 10 minutes. Add the rice and simmer for another 30-40 minutes or until everything is tender and the desired consistency.

Remove the two bay leaves (you can also try to find the cloves and cardamom pods while you're at it). Serve warm, sprinkled with cilantro.

Serves 4-6.

Grilled Curry Yogurt Chicken

This recipe is simple enough for a midweek dinner and delicious enough for a dinner party; it works well as leftovers to top a salad for tomorrow's lunch or it can scale up easily to serve 8 or 16. Magic? Perhaps. Accio dinner.

Ingredients
Four boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp curry powder
2/3 tbsp garam masala
Squeeze or two of a lemon or lime
1 clove garlic, pressed
Sprinkle of salt

Pound 4 chicken breasts flat in a gallon-sized ziplock bag. Add all the other ingredients, smush around, and let marinate in the fridge overnight.

Preheat grill to medium-high. Brush grill with oil. Grill chicken breasts 4 minutes on the first side, then turn. Grill 4 1/2 minutes more. Serve hot.

Dinner suggestions: Serve over rice, quinoa, or farro tossed with lime, lemon, and/or orange zest, chopped cilantro, and a pat of butter.

Leftovers for lunch: Toss leftover rice, quinoa, or farro with a little olive oil and some lemon or lime juice. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and layer on top of the grains. Top with baby greens tossed with olive oil, lime juice, and very coarsely chopped fresh cilantro.

Serves 4.

Best Ever Chicken Soup with Vegetables

I caught a cold last week and decided enough was enough—it was time to conquer chicken soup. Here's what resulted from a stubborn determination to make something unexpected enough to hold my foggy-brained, taste-dampened interest for an entire bowl of delicious.

Ingredients
6 cups chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, peeled and scored
2 chicken breasts (about 1 lb)
Olive oil
2 large leeks, white and light green parts, halved lengthwise and rinsed well
3-4 stalks celery
4 carrots
2 medium parsnips
1/2 bulb fennel (or 1-2 bulbs baby fennel)
3-4 thin slices fresh ginger, julienned
2/3 cups pink rice (or sub red or brown rice, or whole wheat orzo)
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the broth in a soup pot until it simmers. Add the garlic and chicken breasts and simmer 8 minutes (until tender and no longer pink). Remove pot from the heat, uncover, and let cool with the chicken sitting in the broth for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the leeks, halve the celery stalks lengthwise and slice thinly, slice the carrots, and cut the parsnips into similarly sized pieces. Slice up enough of the fennel bulb so that you have equal parts carrot, parsnip, and fennel.

Heat a wide, deep pan over medium heat. When hot, add a glug or two of olive oil, then add the leeks and a pinch or two of salt. Sauté the leeks, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes, turning the heat down to low after the first couple of minutes. Add the celery, carrot, parsnip, fennel, and ginger, and turn the heat back up to medium. Continue sautéing another 7-10 minutes or until veggies are al dente, adding a bit more olive oil as needed.

Meanwhile, remove the chicken from the pot and place on a cutting board. Cover the pot and bring the broth back to a simmer, then add the rice and simmer for 20 minutes or however long it says on the package (brown rice will probably take 30 minutes).

While the rice is simmering, shred the chicken into pieces with a fork. Fish out the garlic cloves from the broth, mash them, and stir back in.

3 minutes before the rice is done, add the veggies, chicken, and about half of the parsley. Stir to combine and continue to simmer. Adjust salt to taste.

Serve hot, sprinkled with parsley and freshly ground pepper.

 

Serves 4-6.

Wordless Wednesday: Blog vs. Kansas, Round 2

Sauteed Corn with Cilantro and Avocado

Smoked Bacon and Mushroom Risotto

 

Black-Eyed Peas and Polenta

Sauteed Green Beans with Almonds and Balsamic Reduction

~Shopping Lists~

From Door-to-Door Organics: Local sweet corn, green beans, red onion, parsley, cilantro

From Whole Foods: Heirloom tomatoes, Niman Ranch applewood smoked bacon, yellow lentils and black-eyed peas from a great bulk aisle, baby arugula, beautiful mushrooms

From Trader Joe's: Basmati rice, Trader Giotto's balsamic vinegar, sliced almonds

From Natural Grocers: Avocado, Bhutanese red rice, Imagine chicken and veggie broth, and assorted herbs and spices from a top-notch bulk spice selection.

~

Moonfish with Curry Leaves, Ginger, and Asparagus

Spring is here, and with it comes green garlic, red spring onions, asparagus, and memories of our trip to Maui. Throw those together in a pan over medium heat, and you get this.

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 tsp chopped red spring onion or shallot
1 tbsp chopped green garlic
1 bunch asparagus, sliced at an angle into 1 inch pieces
1/2 lb moonfish (opah)
8-10 fresh curry leaves
1 tbsp julienned fresh ginger (slice thinly, then slice crosswise)
Salt
1/4 cup coconut milk

Heat a pan over medium heat. When hot, add a glug of olive oil. Add the asparagus, onion, and a bit of the green garlic, and saute, stirring, for 2-3 minutes. Cover, turn down the heat, and let cook for 1-5 minutes longer (depending on how thick the stalks are) until al dente, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with salt, then transfer into a bowl and set aside.

Add another glug of olive oil to the pan, and return the heat to medium. Press a few curry leaves onto
one side of the fish, and then flip leaf-side down into the pan. Press curry leaves onto the upward side of the fish as well, and sprinkle with a little salt. Cook until the bottom of the fish is golden brown, then flip, and cook the other side till golden brown as well.

Add a little more olive oil, the rest of the green garlic, curry leaves, and ginger to the side of the pan and saute, stirring, for about a minute or until the garlic softens but before it browns. Add the coconut milk and a splash of water, stir to combine with the garlic ginger mixture, and then add the asparagus back to the pan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until the fish is almost but not quite cooked through, then immediately turn off the heat.


Serve over jungle rice. (The heat of the rice will finish cooking the fish on the way to the table).



Serves 2.

Jungle Rice

If you think of rice as a plain old staple—something to plop down on your plate as a generic staging ground for a hunk of chicken or slab of fish—think again. Or better yet, stop thinking and just make this.

Pairs wonderfully with seared fish, sauteed bok choy, grilled garlic shrimp, avocado tossed with cilantro, ripe mango, and probably anything else you might find yourself cooking with Hawaiianesque ingredients (we named it "Jungle Rice" in honor of the little patch of Maui jungle in which we were staying when we first cooked it). And it's flexible—if you're missing something like pistachios, you can substitute cashews (or just leave the nuts out). If you don't have curry leaves or coconut milk, it will still turn out quite well (though make sure you add enough water to replace the liquid from the coconut milk). And you can make it with other kinds of rice as well (we just discovered that Madagascar pink rice is particularly delicious in this recipe...just make sure to adjust the water and cooking time for the type of rice you use).

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
4 fresh curry leaves
2 tbsp shelled pistachios (roasted is even better)
1 scant cup black Forbidden rice, rinsed and drained
1 cup water
1/4 cup coconut milk, plus a couple spoonfuls to drizzle over the top if desired

Heat a glug of olive oil in a smallish pot over medium heat. Add the shallot, curry leaves, and pistachios and saute, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until the shallot softens. Add the rice and saute for 1-2 minutes more. Stir in the water and coconut milk, cover, and bring to a simmer, then turn the heat down to low and simmer for 23 minutes or until the liquid is all absorbed and the rice is tender.

Serve hot, with a little coconut milk drizzled over the top.

Serves 2-3.

Sauteed Corn with Cilantro and Avocado

Let us say, for the sake of argument, that you are trapped in Tahoe. In a condo, overlooking the lake. With the sound of water lapping away below you.

Clearly, the circumstances are dire.

(You pause, to contemplate the pink tinge of sunset washing over the dire circumstances.)

To make matters worse, there is nothing in the fridge. Well, there's corn, technically. And there is a bag of rice on the counter. And there's a bit of cilantro. But there are no beans. And nothing else. A clove or two of garlic, yes, but nothing you could make a meal out of. And you are—did I mention?—totally trapped. The only way to acquire proper dinner ingredients would be to find your sandals, track down the front door, open it, walk out, get in your car, and...well, you can see the problem. Even the first part would be too much for a sunset-addled brain.

Fear not, good readers. Dinner is hidden everywhere. Even when all you've got is rice and corn and a sunset to steer them by.

Serve this over Bhutanese Red Rice or one of the nuttier varieties of brown rice. And don't be fooled by its simplicity. It is totally amazing, and worth making even if you have to go to the store. Or, you know, send someone to the store while you make sure the lake keeps lapping.

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 medium clove garlic, smashed
3 ears sweet corn, shucked, de-silked, and kernels sliced from the cob
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Large handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 - 2/3 cups grated pepper jack cheese (Petaluma Creamery is still by far our favorite)
1 avocado, quartered and sliced just before serving
1 small ripe tomato, chopped and tossed with a bit of the cilantro

Heat a pan over medium heat. When hot, add a glug of olive oil (just enough to lightly coat the bottom), wait ten seconds, then add the garlic. Saute for about a minute until it softens slightly, then add the corn and a pinch or two of salt and stir. Saute 2-3 minutes until the kernels are al dente (they should still retain a hint of crunch while also bursting with juicy sweetness...just taste them every minute or so until they taste amazing, then stop cooking).

Turn off the heat. Toss in about two-thirds of the cilantro, sprinkle with pepper, then taste and adjust salt and cilantro as needed.

Serve in layers: Rice first, then a thin layer of cheese, then the corn. Top with avocado, and add a dollop of the tomato salsa to finish it off.

Serves 2-3.

Butter Beans with Sweet Peppers and Tomato

 Found in the garden: Sweet Italian heirloom peppers, tomatoes, flat-leaf parsley

Found in the cupboard: Red Bhutanese rice, butter beans

Found in self: A lazy summer reluctance to go anywhere near the store

Solution: Quick, easy, and delicious—variation #1,304 on rice and beans

Serve this over rice, orzo, or even polenta. Perfect for a night when you want something that tastes gourmet but can throw itself together in twenty minutes.

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 large shallot, chopped
1/3 cup chopped sweet pepper (bell or heirloom)
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 oz fresh mild greens, chopped (e.g., chard, amaranth, and/or spinach)
1 can butter beans, mostly drained
1 handful fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped*
1 tomato, diced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese

Heat a glug of olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Saute shallot until it softens, then add the pepper and saute a minute more. Stir in the garlic and a pinch of salt (unless your beans are already highly salted) and continue to cook for another minute or two, then fold in the greens and saute until wilted.

Add the beans, stir, and simmer 2-3 minutes, covering the pan if it starts to get dry. Toss in the parsley, tomato, and another pinch of salt, cook for another minute to heat through, and turn off the heat. Serve layered over rice or pasta, and top with pepper and a little grated Parmesan cheese.

Serves 2.

*Like any fresh herb that isn't from a supermarket, the amount you want will depend on the particular bunch. Bite into a leaf. If it's potent (young and recently-picked), use a small handful. If it's very mild (older and picked awhile ago), use a larger handful. Or just start with a small handful and adjust to taste as you cook.

Mostly Plants in a Hurry: White Beans with Tomatoes and Cilantro

This isn't the flashiest dish, looks-wise, but they say it's what's on the inside that counts. And oh, my, its insides are delicious.

Good for when you're low on time and happen to have some tomatoes and fresh cilantro on hand. It reheats well, so consider doubling the recipe and saving some leftovers for lunches. Serve over brown, black, or white rice.

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 tsp Aleppo pepper (or sub a small pinch of cayenne)

1 1/2 cups chopped ripe, fragrant tomatoes (or halved cherry tomatoes)

Small handful fresh cilantro, chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup grated pepper jack cheese (optional)

Sprinkle the tomatoes with a couple pinches of salt, toss, and let sit while you begin to cook (the salt draws the flavor out of the tomato and makes it taste more tomatoey—a particularly handy trick if you're using supermarket tomatoes or tomatoes that have been in the fridge).

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. When hot, add a generous glug of olive oil. Add the onion and saute, stirring occasionally, until it softens and smells sweet. Add the garlic and a pinch of salt and continue to saute, turning the heat down to medium-low and adding a little more olive oil if necessary, until the onion begins to turn golden in a few places.

Add the beans and turn the heat back up to medium. Saute, stirring from time to time, for 3-4 minutes more. Sprinkle with Aleppo pepper to taste, and turn off the heat. Cover and let sit 5-15 more minutes to let the flavor blend while the rice finishes cooking.

Toss the tomatoes with the cilantro and a little drizzle of olive oil. Serve in layers: rice (sprinkled with a little cheese if desired), beans, then tomatoes on the top.

Serves 2-3.

Red Rice and Black Beans with Peppers and Cilantro

There are few things as simple, hearty, inexpensive, and roundly delicious as rice and beans. Here's one of our favorite versions yet.

For the rice:
Combine 1 cup red Bhutanese rice and just barely under 1 1/4 cups water in a pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. (You can substitute brown rice, but red is worth seeking out if you haven't tried it before.)

For the beans:
1 onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, finely chopped
1 green bell or Anaheim pepper, chopped
Olive oil
Salt
1 can black beans
Handful cilantro, chopped
1/2 cup grated pepper jack cheese (Petaluma Creamery is still our all-time favorite)

Saute onion in a wide saute pan until translucent, then add peppers and continue sauteing until onion begins to lightly brown around the edges (more cooking brings out more flavor). Add the beans and salt to taste (unless beans are already highly salted) and stir. Turn down heat to low or very low and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes.

Serve in layers: rice, a sprinkling of cheese, beans, a sprinkling of cilantro, and the rest of the cheese over the top.

Serves 2.

Pan-Roasted Halibut with Smoked Bacon and Lemon

Fish and I have a long and complicated history. Long ago, when I was young...last weekend, to be precise...I would have summarized our relationship as follows: (1) Raw fish is wonderful (except sea urchin "roe," which I vote we put in a separate category devoted to parts of animals I'd rather not think about). (2) Cooked fish is meh (technical culinary term; exceptions include salmon when we cook it or when ordered at Alouette; trout when my mom cooks it; unagi in good sushi restaurants). (3) Shellfish get more complicated and are not included in this summary in the interest of reader sanity.

As of last weekend, however, my carefully ordered fish worldview has been shattered, and it's just the latest in a long list of overturned culinary preconceptions. Could it be that my once extensive and carefully cataloged collection of disliked foods were all over-generalizations? That it's just a matter of finding the right way to cook something?

In any event, I now love halibut. LOVE halibut. At least when it's made like this (loosely adapted from here).

Serve this with a black Forbidden rice pilaf (Heat a little olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add a shallot, chopped, and saute until soft, then add the rice and stir to coat the grains. Stir in 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and simmer gently for 20-25 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender).

Ingredients
2 halibut fillets
1/4 cup chickpea flour
1/4 cup stone ground whole wheat flour
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Ñora pepper (optional)
Olive oil
2/3 to 1 strip Niman Ranch applewood smoked bacon, sliced crosswise into strips
1/2 cup white wine
Juice of a little over half a Meyer lemon
1-2 tsp sliced castelvetrano olives (cured with salt rather than pickled, and therefore an olive even an olive-hater can love...available at Whole Foods and the Sacramento Co-op)
2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tbsp pastured butter

About ten minutes before you need it, take the fish out of the fridge so that it's cool rather than cold when you start to cook it. Mix together the flours, 1/2 tsp salt, and peppers to taste in a shallow bowl. Coat the fish on all sides with the flour mixture just before you start cooking.

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat. When hot, add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pieces start to turn golden brown along the edges, lowering the heat a little if needed. Remove with a slotted spoon and let dry on a paper towel. Pour out most, but not all, of the bacon grease, and return the pan to the flame.

Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil, stir, and increase the heat back to medium. Set the fish in the pan skin side down. Jostle the pan a bit to make sure they don't stick, and sprinkle the tops with a pinch of salt and a little extra black pepper. Let sizzle for 4 minutes or until lightly golden along the edges, then flip gently with a spatula or flat nonstick tongs. Cook for another 3-4 minutes or until golden brown, then flip back. When the fish is almost done, it may fall open a bit along a seam. The inside should be nearly cooked through, with a little bit of the center still translucent. Remove the fish from the pan immediately—it will cook through the rest of the way from its own heat.

Add the wine, lemon juice, butter, and 1 tbsp olive oil to the pan and bring to a strong simmer. Cook for about a minute, then add the olives and most but not all of the parsley. Continue to simmer for another couple minutes until the sauce is reduced and somewhat thickened. Turn off the heat, and add the bacon to the sauce to reheat.

Serve the fish over black rice, spoon the sauce liberally over both, and sprinkle with a little parsley and a bit of black pepper if desired. Pairs very, very well with roasted kale and a glass of Torrontés (like Urano's Torrontés from Mendoza, Argentina, available at BevMo).

Serves 2.

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto with Leeks, Smoked Bacon, and Sage

After experiencing a deeply inspired pumpkin pizza at Tuli Bistro a few weeks ago, we vowed to recreate it ourselves as a grilled flatbread. Which we haven't done yet, mostly because it's cold and dark and Novembery in the evenings outside in our grilling area, and warm and cozy and light inside in our non-grilling area, which creates a distinct bias toward non-grilling activities. Maybe next summer. In the meantime, we decided to reincarnate the pizza (or at least, its revelationary triumvirate of winter squash, cured pork, and goat cheese) in risotto form.

I don't care if you think bacon and goat cheese couldn't possibly coexist peaceably in the same dish. Neither did we. Make this anyway. Your taste buds will eventually emerge from their deliciousness-induced coma long enough to thank you.

Ingredients
One smallish butternut squash (about 2 lbs), halved lengthwise and seeds scooped out
Olive oil
4 cups veggie and/or chicken broth
1 + 1/2 strips applewood smoked bacon, divided, sliced crosswise (or sub pancetta)
1 large or two smaller leeks, white and light green parts, chopped
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 cup Arborio rice
White wine
8-10 leaves fresh sage, thinly sliced crosswise
2 handfuls arugula
Salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
1-1.5 oz good-quality goat cheese
Garlic chives, for garnish (or sub regular chives)

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Cut each squash half crosswise into half-inch strips. Arrange in a single layer without crowding on a large, nonstick or foil-lined baking sheet lightly brushed with olive oil. Roast in the oven for 25-40 minutes or until lightly golden on both sides, turning the slices about halfway through. When the squash are tender, remove from oven and let cool. Peel the slices and cut into bite-sized rectangles.

Heat the broth in an uncovered pot over medium heat. When it simmers, turn the heat down slightly and let simmer, uncovered, as you make the risotto so that it reduces slightly.

Meanwhile, heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the half strip's worth of bacon and cook, stirring from time to time, until it starts to turn golden. Turn the heat down just a bit, add the leeks, and continue to saute until they soften. Stir in the garlic and saute for another 20-30 seconds, then add the rice and stir to coat evenly with the bacon-leek-garlic mixture.

Saute the rice for about a minute, then pour in a ladleful of white wine. Let cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is absorbed, then add a ladleful of broth. Continue to add broth by the ladleful, stirring and allowing the liquid to absorb before adding more.

Meanwhile, heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and fry until golden, then drain off the excess fat and add just a light drizzle of olive oil in its place. Turn off the heat, throw in the sage, and stir a couple times to combine.

When you have just one or two ladlefuls of broth left and the risotto is just tender, fold in the arugula and pour a ladleful of broth over the top to help it start to wilt. Continue to cook, stirring, for another minute or two until the arugula is just wilted. Add in the squash and allow to heat through, then gently stir in the bacon-sage mixture. If the risotto seems dry, add a little more broth. Turn off the heat, and add salt and white pepper to taste.

Serve on preheated soup plates, with goat cheese crumbled over the top. Garnish with snipped garlic chives.

Serves 2, and pairs well with Pinot Noir like Talbott's 2009 Kali-Hart from Monterey County, available at our co-op.

Black Beans and Rice with Greens and Oregano

The combination of rice and beans and whatever greens we have on hand tends to be my go-to meal when I haven't thought ahead about dinner and just want something straightforward and easy that doesn't require going to the store. But because it's the Backup Plan and doesn't really sound that glamorous, I'm always surprised when it turns out to be not just passable but really good...and it almost always does. So here's another version that works well if you have black beans and beet greens or chard nearby (if you have fresh cilantro instead, see this post or this one, and for white beans and kale, go here).

Ingredients
1 cup Forbidden rice (or sub brown basmati rice), cooked
Olive oil
1/3 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp(ish) chopped green garlic
1 jalapeno, minced
1 red pepper, chopped
2-3 cups beet greens (or sub chard), sliced into ribbons
1 can black beans, partly drained
Finely chopped fresh oregano, to taste
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A little extra sharp white cheddar, grated

Heat a glug of olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. When hot, add the onion, green garlic, and jalapeno, and saute for 2-3 minutes until soft. Add the red pepper and cook for a minute or two more, then stir in the beet greens and saute until they begin to wilt. Add a pinch or two of salt.

Stir in the black beans, cover, and turn the heat down to low. Simmer for 5 minutes or so to let the flavors blend, then add a couple pinches of oregano and cook a minute more. Turn off the heat, add some pepper, and adjust the salt and oregano to taste.

Serve over rice with a little grated cheddar sprinkled over the top. This is one of those dishes that will taste more complex when it's not piping hot, so leaving a minute or two between serving and starting dinner will help bring out the flavors (you want it to be warm, just not molten).

Serves 2 for a light dinner (if you're hungry, you might want a little salad too or a fruit course afterward).

Nopalitos with Cilantro

Found in our produce box: Spineless nopales. Which seem on par with seedless watermelons, as culinary inventions go. Now if someone would only develop stingless nettles....

Ingredients
2-3 medium (6" or so) Luther Burbank Spineless nopales (cactus pads)
Small handful cilantro, chopped
Olive oil
Black pepper

Slice the bottom off each cactus pad, then cut crosswise into 1 inch sections. Turn 90 degrees and slice each section lengthwise (or what would have been lengthwise when the pad was whole).

Toss in a bowl with olive oil, cilantro, and a little freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Serve as a side salad or relish with tacos, or layer over rice and beans (here, we sauteed some chopped spring onion, Aleppo pepper, and green garlic, added a can of black beans, and simmered for 5-10 minutes before serving over red rice and sprinkling with a little pepper jack).

Serves 2-4.

Black Beans and Rice with Cilantro and Lime

I'm not sure it's possible to go wrong with rice and beans, but this version turned out to be particularly addictive. I suspect adding some avocado on top would do delightful things, as well.

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 medium shallot, chopped
1 1/2 cups black forbidden rice (or sub brown and adjust water and cooking time)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 red bell pepper, chopped
Spoonful Aleppo pepper (or sub a hot pepper, minced)
2 cans black beans, drained just slightly (or sub home-cooked beans and some of their cooking liquid)
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup grated extra sharp white cheddar
Salt & black pepper to taste
Lime wedges for garnish

Heat a glug of olive oil in a smallish pot over medium heat. Add the shallot and saute for 2-3 minutes until soft, then add the black rice and saute for a minute more. Stir in 1 3/4 cups water, bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat another glug of olive oil in a larger pot over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent, then add the garlic, peppers, and a pinch of salt and continue to cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes more. Stir in the black beans with their cooking liquid, bring to a simmer, and turn the heat down to medium-low. Simmer for about 10 minutes, with lid either on or off to evaporate some of the liquid, depending on how much cooking liquid is in the pot (you want just enough at the beginning so that the beans can simmer in it, and to have some left at the end without it being very soupy).

Add the cilantro, simmer another minute, then turn off the heat. Adjust cilantro, salt, and pepper to taste. (This is a dish that will do fine if you have to let it sit for a little while before serving -- in fact, it will allow the flavors to blend even more).

Serve the beans layered over the rice, sprinkled with just a little cheese and garnished with a wedge of lime.

Serves 3-4, and does well reheated the next day for lunch.

White Beans and Rice

I got home one night last week at 8pm, walked into the kitchen, and went to gaze half-heartedly into the fridge to find something not too ridiculous to make myself for dinner ("not too ridiculous" has been known to include microwave popcorn, but ever since our cupboards got their whole food makeover, we haven't had any in the house). I noticed the leftover home-grown cannellini beans from our pasta and some dino kale in the vegetable drawer, and threw together an easy, all-in-one sort of dish in the vague hope that it would be mildly edible.

Apparently, the cooking gods owe me one from a certain roasted vegetable fiasco last week that I am choosing to pretend never happened, because this ended up being amazingly delicious. Serve it over black Forbidden rice or else regular brown rice, and top with some good-quality extra sharp white cheddar.

Ingredients
Olive oil
2 medium shallots, chopped
1 clove garlic, smashed
1/2 bunch dino kale, sliced crosswise into ribbons*
2-3 cups cooked cannellini beans (or sub canned)
1/2 cup cooking liquid and/or chicken broth*
1/4 tsp dried oregano or more to taste
Salt (unless your canned beans are already high in salt)
Sprinkling ñora pepper or crushed red pepper flakes
1 tsp chopped parsley or more to taste
1/2 cup grated extra sharp white cheddar

Heat a glug of olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat. When hot, add the shallot and saute for a couple of minutes until it just begins to soften, then add the smashed garlic clove, pressing it into the olive oil. Continue cooking for another minute or two until the garlic clove begins to brown and the shallots are soft.

Add the kale and saute, stirring, for 2-3 minutes until it wilts. Next, stir in the beans, and add the chicken broth, oregano, and salt to taste. Bring to a simmer, turn the heat down a little, and simmer for a few minutes. Add the dried pepper and parsley, cover, and simmer for 5-7 more minutes, adding a little extra broth if necessary (you want some liquid left at the end, like a sauce, but it shouldn't be soupy).

Serve over rice, lightly sprinkled with cheese.

Serves 2.

*Variation on a theme: Substitute chard for the kale, white wine for the chicken broth, and sprinkle with extra parsley at the end.

Tomatoes Stuffed with Sushi Rice and Quail Egg

Just when we thought our CSA box couldn't get any more interesting, we opened it today to find ten little quail eggs in a miniature egg container:

Del Rio Botanical always sends a little insert describing what on earth they've sent you and some suggestions on what to do with it. This week, they recommended poaching the quail eggs and putting them on top of some cavern striped tomatoes (also in the produce box) stuffed with sushi rice. After careful calculation, I estimated that there was approximately one snowball's chance in a flying pig that I was going to be able to poach a quail egg with any sort of success, so instead, I just cracked them on top of the stuffed tomato and let them bake in the oven, which worked out pretty well.

Ingredients
4-6 cavern striped tomatoes (or other good stuffing tomato)
2/3 cups uncooked sushi rice (you could probably substitute Arborio rice, but the cooking time would be a little different)
Seasoned rice vinegar
1 cup cooked and chopped spinach (or 1 cup thawed frozen spinach, packed)
1 medium shallot, chopped
4-6 quail eggs

Combine the rice and a little over 3/4 cups water in a small pot, bring to a boil, turn down heat, and simmer for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and sprinkle liberally with seasoned rice vinegar and stir to coat the grains. Adjust rice vinegar to taste (the rice will get diluted by other things, so make it definitely flavorful but not overly strong).

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice the top off each tomato and cut or scoop out the inside. Place on a foil-lined baking pan.

Saute the shallot with some olive oil in a fry pan over medium heat for a few minutes. Just as it begins to brown, add the spinach, stir a few times, and turn off the heat. Fold in the rice with a rice paddle.

If the tomatoes are pretty big, precook them in the oven for 5-7 minutes before stuffing.

Fill each tomato with the rice and spinach mixture, and then press your fingertip into the top of each mound of rice to make a slight indentation for the quail egg. Take a quail egg and crack it against the back of a knife (the trick is to do this firmly and fearlessly, but not so hard that you smash the egg into tiny pieces. They're stronger than you think, though, so give them a good whack to crack both the shell and the inner skin. If you're tentative, the shell gets very crumbly). Work a fingernail into the crack and gently peel back the top of the shell. Slide the egg out gently into the indentation you made in the rice-filled tomato, taking care not to break the yolk if possible. Repeat for each tomato.

Slide the pan into the oven and bake for 7-10 minutes until whites become opaque. Serve on a bed of lightly dressed mixed baby greens.

Serves 2 for a light lunch.

Best. Chickpeas. Ever.

At some point last week, I decided it was about time to learn to soak my own beans. Now, if you've soaked beans before, you probably think this is about as momentous an announcement as someone declaring they've decided to stamp their own envelope in the old-fashioned, lick-it-yourself sort of way.

But, if you're like me and tend to assume beans grow in cans in the supermarket aisle, you may not yet know that home-soaked beans (or home-grown beans, as my husband dubbed them after noting that they grew to twice their initial size after soaking and had therefore been grown, in the home -- can't argue with that) are (a) simple to prepare (kind of embarrassingly simple, actually, in light of the fact that I had never considered doing it before), (b) way cheaper, especially for anyone moving their culinary practices in an eat-food-mostly-plants sort of direction, and (c) way tastier. This last one nobody told me, which has me slightly irked because I'm pretty sure I would have done this sooner if they had. Although maybe I wouldn't have believed it could make that much of a difference. But apparently home "grown" beans have an entirely different taste, and texture, than their canny canny cousins.

So, I soaked some cannellini beans last week, and got hooked, and yesterday morning found me trying my hand at chickpeas. Which were again incredibly easy. If (like me) you have no clue how to do this, here's a cheat sheet:
1. Rinse a bunch of dried chickpeas, checking through them carefully for stones
2. Throw in a pot of water (the water should be several inches above the beans, because they'll expand quite a bit), bring to a boil, and boil for two minutes
3. Turn off the heat and let them to soak for about two hours (you can also just let them soak in cold water overnight, instead)
4. Drain and rinse the beans, then add them back to the pot with some fresh water and a few whole peeled cloves of garlic, and simmer them for another 60-80 minutes until they're tender
5. Drain and stick in the fridge until you're ready to use them

6. Optional, but highly recommended: Make the following recipe. Which turned out to be...well, what the title says.

Ingredients
3 cups cooked chickpeas (soaked and cooked yourself, else canned)
1 Meyer lemon, zested and cut in half
2 cloves garlic, pressed
Salt & pepper
Ñora pepper (optional)
1 yellow onion, chopped
3/4 cup black Forbidden rice (could substitute brown basmati rice & adjust the cooking time)
Saffron threads
Scant 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (or two generous pinches)
Scant 1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds (or two generous pinches)
1/4 cup broth or water
3/4 cups cooked chopped spinach (frozen works: thaw for 2 minutes in the microwave and then drain. If fresh, blanch, drain, then chop)
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
Aleppo or other hot pepper, to taste
Pinch or two ground cumin
Pinch or two sweet paprika


Whisk the juice of half the lemon with a generous glug of olive oil in a bowl. Add the garlic, a pinch of salt, and some black pepper and ñora pepper if you have it. Add the chickpeas, stir to coat, and marinate in the fridge for about half an hour.

Saute about a quarter of the chopped onion in a small pot over medium heat until it softens. Add the black rice and a pinch of saffron and cook, stirring, for a minute or two, then add a little less than one cup of water. Cover, bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer for 20 minutes or until done. (If there is extra liquid left at the end, uncover, turn heat to medium, and cook for another minute, stirring to evaporate the water.)

Meanwhile, heat about 2 tbsp olive oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the cumin and mustard seeds and toast until they start to pop (about 10-20 seconds). Immediately add the rest of the onion and cook, stirring, for several minutes. Just as it starts to brown, add the chickpeas (and a little more olive oil if it's too dry) and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 more minutes.

Next, add the spinach, turmeric, a pinch or two of salt, pepper, and Aleppo. Cook, stirring, for a few more minutes, adding the broth as it starts to get dry. (Depending on how cooked your chickpeas were to begin with, you may want to cover the pan and let it simmer for a couple minutes at this point.)

Add the cooked rice, stir, and cook for a minute or two until heated through. Then dust with a bit of cumin and just a little paprika. Add the lemon zest, cook for about 30 more seconds, and then turn off the heat. Cover pan and let sit for 10 minutes to blend the flavors. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hot or at room temperature, garnished with a lemon wedge. Goes well with roasted carrots with cumin seeds (below).

Serves 3-4 (or 2 for dinner with some leftovers)

Smoked Salmon Risotto with Kale

Ha! Take that, kale. I have cooked you, and you are delicious.

As risottos go, this one is fairly simple to prepare (as in, there aren't too many ingredients, and they don't need to be cooked separately or cut in intricate ways), but the resulting flavor is complex enough to keep things interesting. 

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 rounded cup of Arborio rice
About 4 cups of broth*
Dry white cooking wine
1 bunch dino kale, sliced into ribbons, rinsed, and dried in a salad spinner
6 oz smoked wild salmon, sliced crosswise into strips (and separated into individual pieces if necessary, so they don't clump together when you add them to the risotto) 
1 Meyer lemon, zested and halved
1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

And any of the following that strike your fancy:
Some asparagus, thinly sliced at an angle (diagonally across the stem)
A scattering of frozen peas
A handful of baby arugula


Heat the broth in a small pot until it simmers, then turn off heat. Leave covered on the stove.

Heat a generous glug of olive oil in a big pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent. Turn the heat down to medium, then add the garlic and cook for another minute or two. Next, add the rice, stirring to coat the grains. After a minute or so, add 1-2 ladles full of white wine and cook, stirring, until it evaporates. Add a ladle full of broth, and again simmer, stirring, until the excess liquid is gone. Continue adding broth and stirring until rice is just tender and most of the broth is used up.

Then, add the kale and any other vegetables you'd like along with another ladle full of broth. Cook for a few minutes until wilted or tender (asparagus will take the longest, so add it first if you're including it. Kale and peas seem to need about 2-3 minutes, and baby arugula barely needs any time at all). Next, add the smoked salmon, lemon zest, juice of half the lemon, and parsley, and turn off the heat right away. Stir everything together gently, adding a bit of the remaining broth if it seems at all dry. Pepper liberally, stir in the grated Parmesan, and serve. Garnish with a half-slice of Meyer lemon and a sprig of parsley, or sprinkle a little chopped parsley over the top.

Serves 4, or two for dinner and two for lunch the next day.


*Half chicken and half veggie works well.

Black Rice "Risotto" with Wild Clams and Peas

There's nothing like 102 degree weather to make venturing outside long enough to restock on fresh produce seem like a crazy, over-zealous, obsessive sort of notion. Any sane person (said my rapidly baking afternoon self, after hauling a 3-gallon watering can back and forth across the garden to water the new moss roses, which were a better idea when it was pleasantly cool several mornings ago) would stay at home and sit in front of the air conditioning vent and meditate on the virtues of icebergs. So I did. This, however, left me with mostly just cupboard and freezer ingredients to raid in search of a whole food, mostly-plants-especially-leaves dinner. Right.

So here's what we've got:
- Half a bag of organic black Forbidden rice.
- A can of clams, from the Coop, that says sustainably harvested and wild. These seem like good things.
- In the fridge: Garlic, white wine, yogurt. Nix the yogurt.
- In the freezer: Frozen spinach, frozen peas, leftover vegetable broth, leftover chopped onion.
- Outside: Assorted herbs.

Here goes...

Ingredients
Scant 1 cup Forbidden rice
1 cup vegetable broth
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 can chopped clams
About 1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained
About 1/2 cup frozen peas
Splash dry white wine
Aleppo pepper and/or freshly ground black pepper
1 small handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
6-8 leaves fresh basil, thinly sliced1/4 cup grated parmesan

Saute about a third of the onion in olive oil in a small pot over medium heat until soft. Add the rice, stirring for a minute, then the broth. Cover, bring to a boil, and turn down heat. Let simmer for 15 minutes, then add the juice from the can of clams and continue to simmer for another few minutes (I turned the heat up a little and left the cap off at this point, to let some of the liquid boil off).

Meanwhile, when the rice has been cooking for about 10 minutes, heat a little olive oil over medium-high heat in a separate pot. Add the rest of the onion and saute until translucent, then add the garlic and turn heat down to medium. After another minute, add the spinach, and then the peas. When the peas have thawed, add the cooked rice, then the wine, parsley, basil, and pepper. Cook for a couple more minutes, stirring, until most of the liquid has evaporated (the rice should still be very moist). Add the parmesan, stir, cross your fingers, and serve.




Definitely edible. Serves 2, but you might want something on the side or a large fruit course afterward.