Eat Your Greens Soup

This week's CSA haul of kale, collards, chard and cabbage was perfectly timed with my acquisition of an immersion blender. This many greens calls for special reinforcements!! Time to puree them up into a soup. First, prepping and washing them all...love my salad spinner for this. I just put the chopped greens in the basket, fill it up with water, swish & drain, repeat.

(I even took out almost a gallon-size plastic bag's worth before this photo, for rob's breakfast scramble creations.)

- Saute lots of chopped onion and the chopped chard stems in olive oil in a large pot.
- Add 3 cloves chopped garlic.
- Spice to taste - I used Penzey's Mural of Flavor; ended up adding a bit of Black & Red and smoked paprika at the end.
- Add 1/2 head cabbage, chopped. Cook for a few minutes, until wilted.
- Add a load of mixed chopped greens - kale, collards, chard.
- Add 3 medium potatoes, cubed.
- Cover with 2 cartons chicken broth (or vegetable broth).
- Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
- Puree with an immersion blender.
- Add a splash of lemon or lime juice, and optional - a bit of half & half or heavy cream.

The new blender - yes, it's green!

I had a hunk of stale French bread, so I also whipped up some homemade croutons. Though the color is a bit alarming, this was really good. Greens have been conquered!

Pasta with Leftover Brisket, Chard & Tomatoes

I came home from my gig last night with a tub of leftover brisket. It wasn't stellar in the BBQ sandwich I had at the party, but I figured I could turn it into something good. Had some chard and tomatoes from the CSA to use up, so...pasta dish! I would have put an onion in this but couldn't find the one I thought I had, then discovered half of it in the fridge when this was almost done. Ah well, it was still good.

- Saute 4 cloves chopped garlic in olive oil briefly (start with onion, if you have some).

- Add leftover brisket, chopped or shredded.

- Add 2 large tomatoes, chopped (or used canned). Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

- Add a few handfuls of chopped chard leaves and cook for a few more minutes.

- Add salt, pepper & hot sauce to taste...maybe a splash of half & half. I also added a little bit of BBQ sauce that I had with the brisket.

- Use short, chunky pasta like rigatoni, and serve with parmesan.

Kale, Potato, Squash & White Bean Soup

I've returned home from a month-long tour, and though we did have some great restaurant meals on the road, eating out definitely gets old after awhile. Towards the end of the trip, two of the folks we stayed with made us pots of soup, and it was SO good after a spate of eating mostly heavy/fried pub food. Vegetables!! They can be a rarity while traveling. And we've had several days of cold & rainy weather, so that calls for more soup!

Our return coincided with the Thursday pickup of CSA veggies, so we had kale, tomatoes and Delicata squash which went into this soup. I've never used Delicata - it's an oblong winter squash that I read is like butternut, but easier to deal with and you don't have to peel it. Truth! Much easier to cut and chop than butternut.

I find soup recipes a little silly, 'cause soups are good for throwing in whatever you have and improvising. But, here's what went into this one (easily made vegan by leaving out the sausage - probably use 2 cans of beans in that case - and use veggie broth). This was definitely a chop-and-dump, so I prepared things in this order as each one went into the pot:

- 2 Andouille sausages, halved and sliced - saute in olive oil in large pot.

- 1 large onion, chopped

- 4 cloves garlic, minced

- 4 potatoes, cubed

- thyme & smoked paprika

- 2 boxes low-sodium chicken stock

- 1 Delicata squash, cubed (after adding, simmer for 15 minutes)

- 1 can white beans

- 1 large tomato, chopped

- 1 bunch kale, stemmed & chopped (simmer for a few more minutes)

- salt & hot sauce to taste

Garlicky, Cheesy Spaghetti Squash with Spinach

Let me be clear - I don't have anything against good old pasta. But I had half a spaghetti squash to use up, and this happens to be low-carb/gluten free if that floats your boat (top with a fried egg for a complete meal). Don't pretend it's actual spaghetti, just enjoy it for what it is! Spaghetti squash has a pretty neutral, slightly sweet flavor. You can add whatever odd vegetable/meat bits you might have hanging around.

I usually roast spaghetti squash in the oven, but it's 90+ degrees today and I also didn't want to wait 45 minutes for it to cook. The microwave does a pretty decent job - but unless you have a huge microwave, you can probably only cook one half at a time. That of course works out if you only have half a squash! If you want to cook a whole one, I'd probably just do it in the oven.

- Scrape out the seeds from half a spaghetti squash (be careful when cutting and use a sharp knife). Place cut-side down in a glass or ceramic dish and add water to come slightly up the sides.

- Microwave for 6 minutes, carefully flip the squash over and cook for another 6 minutes. See if it's soft when pierced with a knife. I put mine in for another couple minutes.

- Meanwhile, slice a small onion thinly and saute in some butter & olive oil until browned. 

- When squash is done, drain the water and scrape up the flesh with a fork into spaghetti-like strands.

- Add a clove of minced garlic to the onion and cook for a few seconds. Add a couple big handfuls of baby spinach and stir until just wilted.

- Scrape the squash strands into the pan, season with salt & pepper, and mix everything together well.

- Add some grated cheese and let sit in the pan for a bit to melt.

- Optional - top with a fried egg.

Roasted Summer Veggies & Jalapeno-Bacon-Cheddar Grits

More eggplant this week! No PRO-blem! For the veggies, use whatever assortment you have. It'll be delicious. I used our CSA eggplant, green peppers, garlic and tomatoes, plus half a large onion. Chickpeas would be good if you want some more protein (or a fried egg on top, which I think I'll do with the leftovers for breakfast), but it's pretty filling already. I sort of wished this was a little saucier but it was good as-is. For the grits, use quick-cooking if you want (and leave out bacon and/or dairy if you want), but the old-fashioned stone-ground kind are delicious if you have the time. Or use polenta, same concept. I think I'm down to two out of the 10 or so jalapenos we got last week. It's been a spicy week.

Jalapeno-Bacon-Cheddar Grits:

(start these first if using the stone-ground kind)

- Boil 6 cups water in a large, heavy pot. Add some salt.

- Lower heat to medium and pour in 1 1/2 cups of stone-ground grits. Whisk well.

- Cook for about 20 minutes, whisking occasionally. Add 1-2 minced jalapenos* and turn the heat down to low.

- After 30-40 minutes total the grits should be thickened & smooth. Add a couple pats of butter and a splash of half & half.

- Add some grated cheddar cheese and some diced cooked bacon (2 strips)

* if you have the patience to roast jalapenos, that would be tasty - add at the end instead. 

Roasted Summer Veggies:

- Heat oven to 450.

- Cut vegetables into similar-sized 1-inch-ish pieces: eggplant, peppers, onions, squash, etc.

- Toss veggies in a bowl with some minced garlic, 3 tablespoons olive oil, salt & pepper and whatever other spices you want.

- Spread on a baking sheet and roast for about 15 minutes.

- Stir veggies and add a couple of tomatoes, cut into large chunks.

- Roast for another few minutes.

- Tear some fresh basil over the top and serve the veggies over the grits.

Pre-roasted veggies

Cantaloupe-Cucumber Salsa & Spice-Rubbed London Broil

I've never made either of these things before but I thought they would go together well for a potluck I was attending, and the salsa made good use of the cantaloupe, jalapenos and tomato from our last CSA haul. The salsa was good, but the London Broil was GREAT, and I should remember this for the future. It was really easy and not expensive (under $7 and would probably make 4-6 dinner servings), and disappeared pretty quickly at the party. I think more people ate the salsa with chips than with the meat, but it's good with chips too. Also over eggs the next morning.

Cantaloupe-Cucumber Salsa

The essentials in this (according to most recipes online) are the cantaloupe, lime juice, onion, jalapeno and cilantro - but the other veggies are good in it as well.

- Dice half a red onion and add to a bowl with the juice of 1 lime while you prepare the other ingredients (I have a theory this starts pickling/mellowing the raw onion; not sure if that's true but go for it...)

- Cut half a cantaloupe into small cubes and add to the bowl. Dice finely and add: 1-2 jalapenos, seeded* (two made it fairly spicy), half a red bell pepper, 1 large cucumber (seeded), 1 large tomato (if in-season and awesome, otherwise don't bother), and about half a bunch of cilantro. Season with salt and toss well.

*I put a plastic produce bag over one hand when I cut/seed jalapenos to prevent the Dreaded Burning.

Spice-Rubbed London Broil

I've seen recipes for coffee-rubbed steak and thought that might be good, but I only mixed a little finely ground coffee in with this to keep it subtle. 'Twas delicious; coffee's probably optional. I did not measure the spices but there was probably about 2 Tablespoons of the rub total. Use whatever floats your boat. I'm sure this would be good on the grill too, but it's easy in the broiler.

- Take yer London Broil out of the fridge. Might be sold as "top round" depending on the store. I think my piece was between 1-1.5 lbs.

- Mix together the spice rub. I used cumin, smoked paprika, a garlic-onion blend, chili powder and kosher salt. Optional - add a teaspoon or so of finely ground coffee beans.

- Coat the meat with a little bit of olive oil and rub the rub on both sides. Let sit while you preheat the broiler. 

- Preheat your oven's broiler and a broiler pan (or baking sheet with a rack on it).

- Put steak on the pan and broil for 5 minutes on each side which should hopefully be a perfect medium rare.

- Let sit for 10 minutes and slice thinly against the grain.

Beef & Eggplant Stew with Spinach-Feta Couscous & Yogurt Sauce

This was an experiment, but turned out delicious! Wanted to try something different with eggplant and I had some ground beef in the freezer, so I googled "beef eggplant" and kind of improvised this from several recipes I found. Sorta Greek, sorta middle easternish. The eggplant isn't very forthright in this, so if you're not a big eggplant fan, you'll probably like it. Besides 1/2 of a large eggplant, the other CSA veggies were garlic, jalapeno, green pepper, tomatoes and chives. If you'd like the beef mixture to be a little saucier, you could add a can of tomato sauce.

Beef & Eggplant Stew:

- 1 onion, chopped finely

- 1/2 large eggplant (or 1 medium), cut in small cubes

- 1 lb ground beef

- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced (save a little bit for the yogurt sauce)

- 1 jalapeno, minced

- 1 green pepper, chopped

- 2 tsp Penzey's Turkish Blend (or cumin & oregano)

- 1 tsp smoked paprika

- 1/2 tsp cinnamon

- splash of red wine 

- 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped

In a large skillet, saute onion in olive oil until soft. Add eggplant, season with salt and cook over medium-high heat until eggplant browns & softens. Remove mixture to a plate. Cook ground beef in same pan until no longer pink. If there's a lot of fat, spoon off some of it. Add garlic, jalapeno, green pepper and spices (+salt & pepper), and cook for a couple minutes. Add red wine, tomatoes and the eggplant & onion mixture. Lower heat, cover & cook for about 15 minutes. Add a bit of water if it seems dry. Serve over couscous & top with yogurt sauce. 

Spinach-Feta Couscous:

- Boil 2 cups of water with some salt. Add 1 box instant couscous.

- Throw in a couple big handfuls of baby spinach, cover pot and let sit off heat for a couple minutes.

- Stir & add a couple pats of butter and some crumbled feta. Toss until spinach is wilted & taste for salt.

Yogurt Sauce:

Stir together 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt (2%), some minced garlic, chives, salt and pepper & the juice of 1 lime or lemon. If you have mint or other herbs that would be good, and/or some chopped cucumber.