Hot Scallop Salsa Dip

  based on a crab recipe from Rick Rodgers' Thanksgiving 101 - Target then keep looking this great recipe up each time someone asks for it, putting it here where family can find it for themselves. We love this with crudités: romanesco broccoli, purple cauliflower, golden turnips (when we can find them) , cucumbers and then the usual carrots and celery.

Position rack in the center of oven and preheat to 350°. 

Drain in wire sieve

1 cup chunky tomato salsa

In a round 1-qt baking dish, work in with a rubber spatula until combined with 

Two 8-oz packages cream cheese

½ cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

 Stir in

1 pound fresh scallops (or thawed frozen)

Season with

Hot red pepper sauce

Sprinkle over the top

⅓ cup fresh bread crumbs, from good day-old bread

Bake until bubbling, about 30 minutes.  Serve hot with tortilla chips and vegetables. 

 

Zaatar Roasted Chicken Breast

 When you buy strange spices on a whim

and then have to find ways to use them.

This Mediterranean chicken was a hit. 

From amazing Egyptian chef Suzy Karadsheh

NOTE: requires an overnight marination (or at least 4 hours)

The Marinade

In a mixing bowl, combine

• the juice of 2 lemons
• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbs sumac
• 1 Tbs allspice
• 1 Tbs cinnamon
• 1 tsp sweet Spanish paprika
• 7 large cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 medium red onion, sliced
• 1/2 large lemon, sliced

The Chicken

In a deep dish, place

• 4 chicken breasts, bone in, skin on

Sprinkle with

• Salt and pepper

and cover with the marinade, working it beneath the skin of the chicken.

Cover pan and place in fridge overnight or for at least 4 hours.

The Roasting

Preheat oven to 400°.

Transfer chicken and marinade to a baking dish.  

Sprinkle with

• a little more sumac
• a little more paprika
• 1 Tbs za'atar

Work under the skin another

• 1 Tbs za'atar

Roast 40 - 45 minutes.

When ready to serve, sprinkle with

• a little more paprika
• 1 Tbs za'atar
• Toasted pine nuts
• Fresh parsley

Syrian Kale & Carrot Salad with Shattered Dates

During the hot summers of our new desert existence, 

savory salads are my go-to.  This deliciousness

adapted from Seattle's Nue was one of the best.

The Trick

1 hour before assembling salad, put in freezer

• 1/4 cup pitted dates 

The Dressing

Combine in blender and mix well

• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1-1/2 Tbs Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbs fresh ground black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed and minced
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp pomegranate molasses
• 2 tsp salt

With blender running, drizzle in until emulsified

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Set aside.

The Salad

Bring  a small saucepan of water to boil.

Add and blanch for 30 seconds

• 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Drain and set aside to cool.  Spread in a single layer on baking sheet and toast until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Set aside.

Coarsely chop frozen dates.  Combine in large bowl and toss with

• 1 large bunch young kale, center ribs removed, coarsely chopped*
• 2 large carrots, cut into 1/8-inch matchsticks

Pour on dressing and toss again

Top with toasted almonds and 

• 1 cup crumbled feta
• Nigella seeds

*If the kale is a little too old and stiff, massage with a little olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt.

Thai Salmon Curry

 My son-in-law made this for me first

from a Christian Science Monitor recipe.

Simply pretty amazing

In a deep skillet, heat

• 2 tsp peanut oil

Add

• 1/2 red bell pepper, cut into strips

and cook one minute.

Stir in

• 1 (14 fl.oz.) can unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 Tbs freshly grated ginger
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1 Tbs brown sugar (or palm sugar or turbinado)
• 2 Tbs fish sauce
• 2 Tbs red curry paste
• 2 Tbs lime juice

Place skin down in pan and bring to a boil

• 1 lb fresh salmon fillets

then reduce heat and cover. Simmer 5 minutes.

Add to pan

• 3 scallions, sliced into 3-inch pieces

and cook 2 -5 minutes more.

Stir in, just before serving

• 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
• 2 Tbs chopped cilantro
• 1 -2 minced Thai bird chiles

Serve with

• Steamed jasmine rice
• Steamed green beans
• 3 - 4 lime wedges

Honey Custard

We prefer an eggier, more subtly sweet take
on the classic Joy of Cooking baked custard

Preheat oven to 300°

Blend together:

• 4 c whole milk
• 1/2 c honey
• 1/4 tsp salt

Add and beat well:

• 5 eggs

Add:

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or the scraped seeds from a 1-inch vanilla bean) 

Once well-beaten, pour into baking dish. 

Dust with: 

• Nutmeg

Place dish into a larger baking dish and fill larger with boiling water. 

Bake an hour or more until custard firm and knife comes out clean. 

Basic Cornbread

Last night was a blood moon - it was also the Chinese Harvest Moon Festival.  We called and texted family, all of us sitting outside our distant doors, feeling close because our eyes were all seeing the same drama of death and rebirth as the pale pearl of the moon plunged into an eerie blood-bath shadow and then rose again pure and fair into the velvet sky.  

We oohed and ahhed together, although apart, and then those at this address went in and ate cornbread and Full Moon Soup - the food of home.

This moist, dense cornbread is so good with hot spicy soups. No need to slather on butter or honey, it's all baked in already.  I learned this recipe from years of baking a very similar version from Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook - some of her optionals (butter, honey) are for me entirely required.  Though I've made this with bacon fat in place of some of the butter and served it up with lots of juicy greens and that's not at all bad.

Preheat oven to 350°.  Butter a large oven-proof skillet with (obviously)

butter

Whisk together

2 cups cornmeal
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

In a separate bowl, combine

2 cups buttermilk, kefir, or plain yogurt
2 eggs
6 Tablespoons honey
3 Tablespoons melted butter

Stir the wet into the dry, mixing just enough to thoroughly combine. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the center is firm to the touch and a blade into the center comes out clean.

a life of abundance

We're going to get to see if it's really true that cutting back makes for a richer abundance.  Our former corporate warlord, whose annual compensation is 120 times what midrange middle-aged grunters get, decided his coffers would look better if he found younger hungrier grunters to do the job.  Thus we are freed to chase our private unsubsidized rainbows.  A blessing, but a hard one.

Our most promising option at the moment is a couple of years of lean living and fast & furious graduate studies before we can sure-foot our way back onto track.  Meanwhile, I am grateful everyday that we've stocked a storage pantry with wheat and oil, honey, salt and yeast (aka BREAD once you add water and stir) plus shelves of pickles and canned goods, buckets of beans and oats and a freezer with most of a half beef and the last of a whole pork, both raised by neighbors in pleasant pastures and pens.

It makes my new budget so much more livable.

According to USA Today in 2013, $145 a week was thrifty for food expenses.  That seemed squeaking through on bare beans when I first saw it, but apparently vast numbers of householders claim to live on $200 a MONTH.  (It's even possible some of them are living on that in 2015, rather than 2001).  I'm setting my new budget to squeeze between those two posts.

Since my gardening is still in the developmental stage (we have parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme! and tiny green beans! and 4 cucumbers so far!) and since our chickens (those who have survived the depredations of an as of yet unidentified beast with teeth) have not begun to lay, that budget will go for milk, cheese, eggs, fresh or frozen greens and fruit. as well as cleaning supplies, birthday presents, bandaids, toothpaste and other nonperishables of that ilk.  Can we do this?

I think WE CAN.

But I am aware always how much harder this would be if we didn't have so much to be grateful for.

My Gratitudes

1. I'm so grateful we have many staples and meat in storage.
2. I'm glad I've spent the last many years learning how to make bread, stock, beans, and all-veg meals and that my family has been learning to enjoy pretty much everything that shows up on the table.
3. I'm really glad I've already learned to shop the perimeter and to forgo most packaged glops and mixes. 
4. I'm grateful for the motivation to avoid bakery items -- better than membership at a fitness club!
5. I'm glad I recently realized that frozen is not only better and cheaper than canned, it's also less spendy and nearly as good as fresh.
6. I'm glad I've got a kitchen garden started where I can step things up and grow more of my salads and herbs.
7. I'm glad we started keeping chickens this summer and hopeful we'll have our own eggs soon.
8. I'm grateful for my shelf of excellent cookbooks that focus on nutrient-dense, delicious meals without lots of expensive ingredients with Cook's The Science of Good Cooking; Andrea Chesman's 366 Delicious Ways to Cook Rice, Beans, and Grains; Recipes from the Root Cellar; All About Braising leading the pack.
9. I'm grateful for a stocked spice shelf.
10. I'm grateful I've already scouted out less-expensive sources for great fruit for canning, bags of onions and garlic, boxes of potatoes and squash to replenish the root cellar I don't have a garden yet to supply.  Living in the rural Pacific Northwest has many benefits and this is just one of them.

Peppermint Fudgie Brownie Pie

Bittersweet: the first Thanksgiving 
without any daughters at all 
to share the cooking.

But the boys and I will still be making 
her signature chocolate pie

sprinkled with crushed peppermint.

And I'm posting the recipe here just in case she finds she needs it herself. 

Use your favorite unsweetened chocolate:

the better the chocolate, the better the pie:  

I think Madécasse has far and away the best flavor,

sprightly, with an almost citrus tang and smooth rich undertone,

beautifully and fairly made from start to finish in Madagascar.

Using a half batch of Best Pie Crust, partially pre-bake an empty pie shell to the palest light brown.  Don't forget to refrigerate shell  for 30 minutes before baking.

After baked shell is cooling on a wire rack, set oven to 350. 

Meanwhile in a small saucepan, combine and warm over low heat (or a double-boiler), stirring occasionally until melted

• ¾ cup unsalted butter (or 1½ sticks) 
• 3 oz. unsweetened chocolate 

 Remove from heat and let cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk together until smooth

• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1½ cups sugar
• 6 Tablespoons flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon real vanilla extract

Then stir in melted chocolate and mix well.

Pour filling into the partially baked shell.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until center is just set.  (Give pie a quick tug to see if it jiggles).

Sprinkle with 

• crushed peppermint stick

Transfer to a wire rack and let it cool to room temp.

  

Hummus

 Just the best and basic.  

From Molly Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook

We usually keep it a little chunkier and coarser

because we chop it with a pastry cutter.

You don't have to, but it's a nice change of pace.

Hummus

Mash with the back of a metal scraper/chopper

• 3 to 4 medium garlic cloves

Mince

• a large handful of fresh parsley
• 2 plump scallions

Combine all the above in a bowl with

• 3 cups cooked chickpeas (2 cans (15-1/2 oz) garbanzos)
• 6 Tbs. tahini (sesame butter)
• 6 Tbs fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 to 1 tsp salt (to taste)
• optional: cayenne and a little cumin to taste

Mix thoroughly with a pastry cutter.  Chill in fridge in a tightly lidded container.

Cinnamon Spice Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

If you love pies, you will adore Patty Pinner's Sweety Pies, 
the cookbook from which this recipe is adapted.
This is our traditional dessert for Easter Sunday after a simple meal
of fresh bread, fish and honeycomb.

  

Make one batch Best Pie Crust.   Line pie pan with half the dough. Reserve the other half for lattice, tightly wrapped and refrigerated.

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine in a large bowl and mix thoroughly

• ⅔ - ¾ cup sugar
• ¼ cup flour
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
•  ⅛ teaspoon cloves 

Add and toss gently until spices thoroughly cover

• 3 cups halved fresh strawberries
• 3 cups 1-inch chunks fresh rhubarb (or frozen and thawed)

Let stand 15 minutes, then toss again.  Spoon into the uncooked pastry shell.

Dot filling with

• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut small

Roll out lattice (or cut flower or heart shapes with cookie cutter) and place over filling.

Brush top pastry lattice (or shapes) with 

• heavy cream

and sprinkle with

• coarse sugar

Bake 30-45 minutes until the crust is a lovely golden brown, the rhubarb is tender and the kitchen redolent of spices and the warm spring smell of strawberries.

Basic Passover

My family has come to love celebrating Passover as we work through this week building up to Easter. After a simplified Seder with a retelling of the exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, we eat a simple meal inspired by the traditional Seder plate, to remember Jesus' Last Supper and as a gesture of unity with those yearning for freedom everywhere.

And now that daughters are away during this time of year, they've asked that I post the  basic recipes our family has come to love so we can be united even from a distance.

(For more authentic Passover menus,
please look at Epicurious)

Seder Plate
sprigs of parsley
salt water
horseradish
radicchio pieces
charoset
lamb shank (which is not eaten by modern observant Jews, see more info)
3 matzah bread wrapped in a napkin

This year I think we'll try making chicken soup with matzoh balls (which is traditional) and griddled eggs (which are not) though salted hardboiled eggs are. But the following are the recipes that have lasted our several years of experimenting.

Barley and Lamb
(2 hours in oven)

Roasted lamb is not kosher for Passover
ever since the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed,
but would have been included in Jesus' historical meal.
Barley is not kosher for Passover, especially cooked wet like this,
but Passover was timed to coincide with the barley harvest.
Butter is dairy, so never kosher with meat.

We still like this.

It's nice that it can finish unattended in the oven
while we go through the lengthy
Passover festivities before the meal.

2 Tablespoons butter
1 cup barley, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic
2 medium onions, chopped
1 pound lamb stewing meat, boneless and trimmed of fat, cut into bite-sized pieces
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 cups chicken stock, divided

1. Preheat oven to 350 ̊.
2. Brown barley in butter. Set aside in 2-quart casserole dish.
3. Saute garlic and onion mixture and add to barley.
4. Generously sprinkle lamb with salt and pepper.
5. Brown lamb in olive oil then place atop barley mixture.
6. Pour 3 cups chicken stock over the meat. Cover casserole dish and bake for approximately 1 hour.
7. Add the last 3 cups of chicken stock, recover, and bake for 1 more hour.
8. Dish is done when the lamb is tender with some chicken stock remaining. Season with salt and pepper as desired.

Parsley, Radicchio, and Napa Cabbage Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

This was surprisingly tasty -- we loved the lemony dressing. 
Honey was my change from the original found in Gourmet 2003.

1½ Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
¼  teaspoon honey
¼  teaspoon salt
¼  teaspoon black pepper
⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
6 cups thinly sliced Napa cabbage (½ lb; from 1 head)
4½& cups loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves (3 large bunches)
2 cups thinly sliced radicchio

1. Whisk together lemon juice, zest, sugar, salt, and pepper until sugar is dissolved, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking until emulsified.
2. Just before serving, toss cabbage, parsley, and radicchio in a large bowl with just enough dressing to coat, then season with salt and pepper.

Charoseth (spicy)

Also spelled haroseth, a dried fruit and nut paste 
that symbolizes the mortar Israelite slaves used 
when they labored in Egypt. 
Used as a condiment, rather like chutney, 
this very spicy version is from Yemen. 

⅔ cup dried Mission figs (6 oz)
⅔ cup dried apricots (6 oz)
⅓ cup pitted dates (4 oz)
1⅓ cups walnuts (4 oz), finely chopped, and cooled
¼ cup kosher grape juice (part can be balsamic vinegar for more zing) 
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon cayenne
⅛ teaspoon ground ginger

1. Chop together figs, apricots, and dates. 
2. Mix with walnuts, juice, and vinegar.
3. Sprinkle spices evenly over mixture and stir until combined well. 
4. Can be made 3 days ahead and kept, covered, in the refrigerator.

 I'm very fond of this pan-Mediterranenan Sephardic version
based on a recipe by Adeena Sussman,
Epicurious March 2006.

Charoseth (banana)

20 pitted dates (preferrably Medjool) 
3 bananas
½ cup golden raisins, chopped 
¼ cup kosher grape juice (part can be balsamic vinegar for more zing) 
3 Tablespoons date syrup (silan) or honey  
½ cup walnuts, toasted
½ cup unsalted shelled pistachios, toasted
½ cup whole almonds, toasted
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves

1. In food processor, purée dates until smooth.
2. Add bananas, raisins, grape juice, and honey and process to combine.
3. Add walnuts, pistachios, almonds, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves and process until smooth.
4. Keep covered, in refrigerator, until ready to serve.

Or if you want something more tame, try this traditional
Ashkenazi version based on a recipe by Adeena Sussman,
Epicurious March 2006. 

A pinch of salt is sometimes desirable.  

Charoseth (traditional)

3 medium Honeycrisp, Gala, or Jonathan apples, peeled, cored, and finely diced 
1½ cups walnut halves, lightly toasted, cooled,and coarsely chopped
½ cup kosher grape juice ((part can be balsamic vinegar)
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ cup raisins, chopped (or more)
zest from one orange (optional but sensational)&nbsp

1. Mix everything together.  
2. Keep covered, in refrigerator, until ready to serve. 

In addition, we usually serve honey or vanilla yogurt 

with pomegranate mixed in, if available. 

Otherwise,  just the yogurt with chopped mint. 

And then, of course, dessert . . .
which we have decided over the years simply must be
  Almond Pomegranate Thumbprint Cookies.

Kung-pao Stir-fry

Just yum.  
Also very veggie.

                     

chicken marinade

1 Tablespoon pineapple juice

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

½ teaspoon salt

⅛ teaspoon pepper

2 chicken breasts, diced (alternatively, tofu chunks, marinate overnight)

1 Tablespoon peanut oil

1.       Combine juice, starch, salt, and pepper. 

2.       Add chicken and oil, stirring to coat.

3.       Let stand 15 minutes.

cooking sauce:

2 Tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce)

1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar

2-3 teaspoons cornstarch

(optional coconut milk)

¼ cup liquid: pineapple juice, mandarin juice, a touch of honey; or broth or water with 2 tsp sugar

1.       Mix and put aside.

stir fry:

3-4 cups vegetables, chunked: broccoli, carrots, bok choy, onions, celery, cauliflower, green beans, etc.

4-6 small dried hot chili peppers

½ cup peanuts or cashews

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

2 green onions

(optional: pineapple chunks, mandarin oranges, bean sprouts, water chestnuts)

3 Tablespoons peanut oil

1.     Heat wok over medium heat.  Add 1T oil. 

2.     Add hot peppers and nuts, stirring until peppers just barely char.  Remove and set aside.

3.     Add 2T oil, heat to high.

4.     Add ginger and chicken, stir fry until chicken is opaque (3 min).

5.     Add raw vegetables and stir fry.

6.     Add peppers, nuts, green onions and optional fruit, etc. 

7.     Stir cooking sauce and add to pan until sauce bubbles and thickens.

8.     Serve with rice.  (Brown basmati is best.)

Makes 4-6 servings

Molly Brown Casserole

Comfort food from my childhood and a perennial top choice for my own children's birthday dinners.  A mid-20th century take on lasagna -- this mildly tangy casserole is easy to make and easy to like.  When I can't find crinkly noodles, I use mini lasagna noodles or even regular lasagna broken in pieces or, in a pinch, egg noodles.  But the pasta's ruffled edge is part of the pleasure of this dish and worth looking for.

In lightly salted boiling water, cook

1 (16-oz) package crinkly noodles

then drain and stir with

3 Tablespoons butter

in a 9"x13" pan.

Brown

1 lb. hamburger

Mix

1½ cup cottage cheese
8 ounces cream cheese
2/3 cup sour cream
¼ cup grated onion
1 teaspoon marjoram

and pour over noodles.  Mix browned hamburger with

2 cups tomato sauce
½ Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 drops Tabasco sauce

and pour over cheese mixture. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes.

Coconut Beans + Chapatis

This simple and satisfying recipe came to us from one of our daughter's

friends from Kenya.   The chapati recipe is softer than

other homemade chappatis we have made.

Coconut Beans

4 cans black beans, drained

1 can coconut milk

1 chopped onion

1 Tablespoon oil or fat

 Salt to taste

1. Fry onion in large skillet.
2. Add drained beans.
3. Mix in  ¾ can if coconut milk
4.  Let it simmer until it cooks down, then add the remaining  ¼ can of coconut milk.
5. Serve warm with chapatis or pita bread.

Chapatis

 2 cups flour

 ¼ teaspoon salt

 ¾ - 1 cup hot water

melted butter

1. Mix flour, salt, and hot water.  Knead until elastic.
2. Divide dough into fourths.
3. Roll each into thin circles and spread thinly with melted butter.
4. Roll up like a small jelly roll and then roll it into a coil, tucking end into the middle.
5. Roll flat again.
6. Lightly oil a hot heavy skillet and fry until golden-brown on both sides.   

  

  

Lemon Cakes with Basil Lemon Syrup

These little cakes are ineffably good.  We like them with the King's Feast
to celebrate the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday 
the week before Easter.  It's a wonderful start to Resurrection Week.  
I bake them as mini muffins so they are tiny, 
perfectly so. The lemon-basil sauce, though, 

is the secret key.

The original recipe in Gourmet, April 2005, 
adds a dollop whipped cream,

which seems gilding the lily to me, 
but you could add it if that appeals.  

I always have sauce leftover and it is delicious poured over,

for example, apricot & golden raisin bread pudding.

Cakes

½ cup unsalted butter, softened, plus 1 ½ Tablespoons, melted (or olive oil)
¾ cup matzo cake flour plus additional for dusting

⅔  cup plus ¼ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, separated, at room temperature for 30 minutes
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest 

1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly brush mini-muffin cups with some of melted butter and chill 2 minutes, then butter again and chill 1 minute more. Dust cups with matzo cake flour, knocking out excess. 
2. Beat together softened butter, ⅔ cup sugar, and ⅛ teaspoon salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, then add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating until well blended.  
3. Beat in lemon juice and 2 teaspoons zest until combined. 
4. Add flour and mix at low speed until just combined. 
5. Beat whites with remaining ⅛ teaspoon salt in another bowl with cleaned beaters until they hold soft peaks. 
6. Add 2 tablespoons sugar, a little at a time, beating, then beat until whites just hold stiff peaks. 
7. Stir ¼ of egg whites into yolk mixture to lighten, then fold in remaining whites gently but thoroughly. 
8. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. 
9. Blend remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon zest with your fingertips and sprinkle over batter, then bake until cakes are puffed, edges are golden, and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. 
10. Cool cakes in pan on a rack 15 minutes, then lift out cakes carefully (tops will break easily) and cool completely on rack.

Syrup
1 ¼ cups sugar
1 ½ cups water
1 (4 x 1-inch) strip fresh lemon zest
½  cup fresh lemon juice
8 large fresh basil sprigs 

1. Bring all syrup ingredients to a boil, covered, in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, then remove lid and boil 10 minutes. 
2. Pour syrup through a sieve into a bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids.  
3. Cool to room temperature.

Serve

Cakes are delicious served simply on a plate with sauce drizzled generously over them.  Garnish with tiny basil leaves, if desired.  A dish fit for a King!

Full Moon Soup : Portuguese Kale, Bean and Linguica Sausage

Portugese kale soup from the best cookbook for children and their adults:  Blue Moon Soup, by Gary Goss. We tend to like more vegetables and more spices than his recipes call for, so here are our tweaks played upon his general theme.  The original recipe calls for canned kidney beans which you can certainly use, but we think it looks especially full moony with lima beans soaked overnight. 

A quicker always-on-hand version uses frozen kale and canned beans

Rinse

1 cup dried beans 

and soak overnight in

3 cups of water 

Crockpot HIGH for 4 hours.

[or substitute 1 can of  beans]

Heat skillet over medium heat, then add

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 - 2 onions
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 - 3 carrots, chopped
half of 2 - 3 cups kale, chopped
1 - 2 teaspoon dried basil
(or 1 - 2 cubes frozen basil)
1 - 2 teaspoon dried oregano
(or 1 - 2 Tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped)
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon. Add

2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
2 pieces linguica sausage, sliced into rounds 

Sauté for another 5 minutes. Add the other half of the kale, the beans with their broth and more water if desired. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer, covered, 20 minutes.

Ladle into bowls and garnish if you wish with

minced kale, optional
grated parmesan cheese, optional

Though it's very good just as it is and even better served with Cornbread.

Dutch Babies

We sometimes discuss how these should really be called Dutch Bakies,

because they're a kind of eggy baked pancake, but the other name sticks best.
I'm sure you could fill these with something healthy -- sauteed greens maybe which 
I love with a nice scrambled egg and bacon, especially when there's a nutty raisin bread
to soak up the juices -- I can imagine that combination going very nicely with Dutch Babies,
but honestly, we usually just eat them with powdered sugar or jam.  Or au natural, 
which is also very nice.

¼ cup butter

6 eggs

1½ cups milk

1½ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven 425°.  Melt butter in pan; remove as soon as butter is melted.
2. Beat together eggs, milk, flour, and salt.
3. Pour batter into hot butter. Return to oven and bake until puffy and nicely browned, 20-25 minutes.

Polenta and Red Lentils

Polenta, or corn grits, are available for me locally through Bob's Red Mill 

(a coarse cornmeal poured slowly into three times as much boiling water 

while stirring and then cooked on medium low until thick—stirring regularly 

all the while.  Season the cooked polenta with a tablespoon or so of olive oil 

and salt.).  

Red lentils are also sold by Bob’s Red Mill and can sometimes be found 

at my local grocery in the health food / bulk section.  They cook up 

into a beautifully golden, soft mashed-potato consistency and are surprisingly 

satisfying and delicious served with polenta  for breakfast or an easy supper

Slices of very ripe tomatoes would make this combination beyond delicious.

Both of the recipes below are based on the directions that used to be

 on the polenta and red lentil packages from Bob's Red Mill.

Polenta

3 Tablespoons butter (or olive oil)
2 cups polenta
1 teaspoon sea salt
6 cups water

1. In a large, deep pan over high heat bring water and sea salt to a boil; gradually stir in polenta. Reduce heat and simmer gently, stirring frequently to prevent sticking until mixture is very thick (about 30 minutes); use a long-handled spoon because mixture pops and bubbles and can burn.
2. Stir in butter (or olive oil),  and more salt if needed.
3. Oil a deep medium sized bowl, spoon polenta into bowl and let set for 10 minutes. Invert onto a flat plate. Mixture will unmold and hold its shape. Cut polenta into thick slices and serve hot.

Makes 6 Servings.

Red Lentils

1 cup onions, chopped

1 - 2 Tablespoon butter or oil

1 cup red lentils

3 cups boiling water

1 ½ teaspoon salt

1. Set water to boil.
2. Sauté onions in butter or oil.
3. Stir in lentils and sauté for a few minutes.
4. Add boiling water.  (I've also had good success by just adding to cold water and then bringing to a boil—this method may take a little longer but not much)
5. Boil gently 30 minutes, stirring often, until very soft.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

 

Makes 6 (1/2 cup) servings