Roasted leek, mushroom, and white bean casserole

When M. is out of town, I like to treat myself by cooking food that I like but he doesn't. Making the most out of a bad situation. Living large. Mushrooms feature prominently in my solo cuisine for this reason. I improvised this dish the other day and was very pleased with it. It is savory, flavorful, and healthy. Delicious! I even had it for breaknap today (meal before night shift - when one never decide between breakfast food or dinner food.)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Trim, half length-wise, and clean 1 large leek. Slice into ~1/4" pieces. Clean carefully and thoroughly. I like to spread out the leaves under running water as they are often full of dirt.
Clean ~1 pint of baby bella mushrooms using a paper towel or a mushroom brush. Do not rinse - the water will soak into the mushrooms and make them chewy. Cut large mushrooms into 4 pieces and small ones into 2 so they're all roughly the same size.
Put these into two large baking pans along with 3 cups of white beans. Since you'll be roasting them, you want things to pretty much be in one layer.
Toss with a generous splash of EVOO (~2T per baking pan), a splash of balsamic vinegar (~1T per baking pan), a squirt of dijon mustard (~1T total), crushed rosemary (~1/2T total if you're using dried), white pepper (a shake per pan), and salt, to taste (~1/2t total).
Bake until mushrooms and leeks are lightly brown and beans are dry but not burnt (~30").
As soon as it comes out of the oven, sprinkle lightly with finely grated Parmesan.

I accompanied the above with mixed greens ("power greens") sauteed with a sliced leek, EVOO, lemon juice, salt, and white pepper.

I put both dishes into a bowl together and ate it with homemade white whole wheat rosemary bread. The next day, feeling in more of a breakfasty mood, I added a fried egg on top.

Mmm!

Glorious Easter at Suzanne's!

Suzanne and M hosted Amanda and Dave, and Ben and Big Dave for a really happy Easter dinner. Dan got into the act, too, but not productively. I think he was very pleased to observe food on the dry sink and thought that might be his territory.

Amanda's contribution was Devilled Eggs Two Ways. Suzanne and the Munsons enjoying M's kirs and beer.

One of Suzanne's many contributions was the Easter Bunny, perhaps looking a little startled about Dan. My contribution was a Rhubarb and Asparagus salad. For the salad, for 4 eaters (a WP recipe which I've fiddled with): Heat 3/4 c. water and 3/4 c. sugar over medium low heat until sugar dissolves, stirring. Add 3 c. Moscato or other sweet white dessert wine, plus 1/4 c. juiced rhubarb or grenadine for color. Lacking these, I used 2 c. Moscato and 1 c. ruby port. Add 2 1/2 T. whole back peppercorns, lightly crushed. I was cooking for 8, doubled the amounts, and had way too much liquid left over. I froze it for another day. I think you could reduce these amounts also when cooking for 4. Bring this to a simmer and add 4 stalks rhubarb, cut into 4 inch pieces with objectionable strings removed. Simmer until "cooked through but not soft, about 5 minutes." Drain, remove peppercorns (the recipe says "rinse," but I thought it needed to keep the sugary coating), and drain again. Chill immediately; it gets mushy fast. A bag in the frig worked fine. Cook 12 stalks asparagus until bright green and barely tender. Plunge it in ice when done, drain it, and refrigerate it. For vinagrette, mix 3 T lemon juice, 1 T dijon, and 1/2 c oil. I think if I offer this again I might also put some of the cooled, strained poaching liquid on the table for people who want something sweeter. I was tempted to just drink it. Mix 1/2 lb salad greens with 1/2 c fresh herbs (dill, parsley, tarragon, basil, chives). There are all sorts of ways to serve this. The WP article had a nifty square of red (rhubarb) and green (asparagus) stripes at the bass, topped by lettuce. I lined a bowl with the various stalks and put the greens in the middle.

Salmon from l'Entrecote Couronné

This Geneva Bistro was either a very convincing retro or simply untouched for 80 years. The walls had metal channels, as if they housed electric wiring merely tacked on in the modern era. I did not expect to find any seafood here, given the name, but the seafood entreés outnumbered the beef. They even offered plats végétarien.

Maybe not so retro after all. I had a salmon entreé with capers and cherry tomatoes. I found a pretty good facsimile online as follows, for 4 people: Preheat oven to 425 In a bowl or bag, toss 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, pulsed into halfish pieces in the FP, 1 medium shallot, thinly sliced, 1 T. drained capers, 2 T. red wine vinegar (next time I'll try balsamic for more kick), and salt. Put 1 T oil in a medium-sized ovenproof skillet, Season salmon and put it in the skillet, skin side up. Cook over moderately high heat until well-browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Flip the salmon and put it into the over to roast for about 7 minutes. Pour off the fat in the pan and plate the fish. Put the skillet over moderate heat and add the tomato mixture, plus 1/2 t cumin and 2 T oil. Cook about 2 minutes, until the tomatoes just soften. Pour the sauce over the fish and sprinkle on 1 T minced basil. Another recipe I found calls for roasting the salmon, brushed with oil, in a 400 degree oven along with the tomatoes, also brushed with oil.

Brussels Sprouts Salad

Tried something new yesterday! Inspired by a delicious brunch at Liv2Eat and some 101cookbooks posts, I finally made a raw brussel sprout salad. It turned out really nicely- similar to a cole slaw, but a little tangier and more substantial. One of the things that made me hesitate about making this dish for so long (aside from the obvious risk of farts) was that I thought you could only make this if you had super fresh, pristine, farmer's market brussel sprouts. Not true. Yes, it would probably be better if you had such creatures - better ingredients, better... Well, you know. The salad turned out really nicely, though, with Shoppers' finest. If you can't decide whether that's a compliment to Shoppers' or a backhanded diss, don't worry, neither can I.

Wash about 1.5 lbs brussel sprouts and cut off their stems
Shred finely - I used the 2mm blade on my food processor
Make the dressing: whisk together 3T lemon juice, 3T evoo, 3T buttermilk, 1/4 t salt, black and white pepper, thyme, 1/4c romano cheese.
Pour the dressing over top and knead a little.
Toast about 1.5 cups slivered almonds or hazelnuts
Stir together the sprouts, almonds, and a handful of craisins
Toss it all together.

In the dressing, you can manipulate the liquid ingredients depending on your tastes... I might favor more buttermilk and less evoo.

Enjoy!

Pancakes! Because you deserve them!

One of you asked for The Pancake Recipe. Alas there isn't a recipe, but there are guidelines: 1. I use roasted almond oil on the griddle and in the recipe for a buttery flavor. The real thing in equal proportion would be tasty. 2. I set my griddle at near the max of 400 degrees. Maybe 375. The batter should sizzle when it hits. You can heat up syrup in the microwave. 3. For a lively batter that makes those crispy bubble craters, I think you want liquids and dry ingredients in a proportion of about 7 to 6. (I am working from a generous 2-person batter of about 1 3/4 c. liquid and 1 1/2 c. dry ingredients.) The goal is to have a solution like a slightly-thick soup that will drool off the spoon - - not as thick as a plop but with more conviction than a straight pour. Maybe thicker than V-8 and similar to thawed orange juice concentrate. I think some flours absorb more liquid than others, so exact measurement is beyond me. 4. Flour: King Arthur whole wheat. Very sweet. You can add in some ground flax seed, although this may just be an add-on to the dry side since it probably doesn't absorb much liquid. For 1 1/2 c flour I use 2 t. baking powder and 1 t. salt. Mix dry ingredients in a 4 c. container. 5: liquid: 1 c milk, 1/2 c. eggbeaters (2 eggs), and 1/4 c. oil. Mix in a small measuring vehicle. Then stir into the flour. 6. Add fruit. Using frozen blueberries may produce a more liquid batter as they thaw. Observe consistency and adjust accordingly. 7. Pour onto hot griddle and prepare to stand around for a while. A tasty beverage might be someone else's post.

Update (by S.): I added 2T of sugar to the batter to make it sweeter. I think a griddle is the best way to go, but since I don't have one, I use my LeCruiset skillet on a setting of 5 (out of 10) and cook the things in butter... still have to watch it carefully to make sure they don't burn.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

aka salsa verde

I've posted a tomatillo sauce recipe before, a concoction that is mild and goes very nicely with a mild, cheesy enchilada. This salsa verde by Rick Bayless is much more flavorful, though, and is more of a star unto itself - great for serving with chips, or livening up simple beans and rice. M. saw the recipe featured on Mr Bayless's delightful show, Mexico One Plate at at Time. We first tried it out when Mom, intending to buy 4 tomatillos, accidentally bought 4 pounds of tomatillos via Peapod. This time around, we got a unit of tomatillos from our farm box and M. scored a free habanero from another stand.

Below is my adaptation of this recipe. You can add more or less hot peppers, depending on your type.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

Makes ~2 cups
Heat up the broiler.
Husk, stem, and wash ~1 lb tomatillos.
Peel 4 cloves garlic and 1/2 sweet onion.
Stem 1-2 hot peppers (we used 1 jalapeno and 1/2 habanero).
Roast the tomatillos, garlic, onion, and peppers in a rimmed pan (like a brownie pan) ~4" under the broiler until the skin of the tomatillos partially browns/blackens, about 4". Check them frequently - you can overdo it with a broiler pretty quickly.
When 1 side of the veggies looks good and roasted, flip/stir them and roast the other side for another 4 minutes or so.
Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.
Meanwhile, wash and chop a small handful of cilantro (~1/4 c).
Put the roasted veggies, cilantro, and 1/2c water in a blender and run for just a few seconds - you want everything to chopped/mixed up but not completely uniform in consistency.

Note: this freezes really well!

Swordfish and Vegetables to Great Falls

Suzanne and M came to Great Falls (August 3) bearing swordfish from Whole Foods, zucchini from the rooftop at 704 William, and tomatoes from One Star Farm. (And lots of other things that made a fabulous gazpacho.) They also brought the following recipe from Whole Foods, calling for 3/4 lb. swordfish, skin removed 2 medium tomatoes, diced 2 small zucchini or yellow summer squash, or one of each [the recipe is so user-friendly], diced (about 2 1/2 cups) 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 T brined capers, drained and chopped We mixed the vegetables and put them atop the swordfish in an oiled casserole and let it meld in the frig. Suzanne added pepper and salt, and Robin leaned out the window and got thyme from the flowerbox. We cooked it for 35 minutes.