This week we wander from Italy to Spain to Israel and beyond. I noticed that bread plays a prominent role in three dishes, lending texture, body and flavor. The Spanish are very clever when it comes to frying bread and garlic and making a paste to thicken and flavor soups. And there’s an invention of my own with toasted bread this week in the form of an unusual beet salad. Enjoy!
Garlicky-Sesame-Cured Broccoli Salad
Polenta with Sweet Pepper and Tomato Sauce
Baked Penne with Fennel Tomato Sauce
Spinach (Beet Green) and Chickpea Soup
Cream of Tomato with Tuna and Hard-boiled Eggs
Beet and Bread Salad
Garlicky-Sesame-Cured Broccoli Salad
–adapted from In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite by Melissa Clark
This is a perfect side dish but you could cook a pot of rice and have yourself a delightful supper or make a simple frittata (my go-to suggestion for when you’re in a hurry). Or you could add some carrots or peppers to it. . . .
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
2 heads broccoli, 1 pound each (more or less), cut into bite-size florets
generous 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil (sounds like a lot but it works/is needed)
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
Large pinch crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
In a large bowl, stir together the vinegar and salt. Add the broccoli and toss to combine.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil until hot but not smoking. Add the garlic and cumin and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the sesame oil and red pepper flakes. Pour the mixture over the broccoli and toss well. Let sit for at least 1 hour at room temperature, or chilled, up to 48 hours (chill it if you want to keep it for more than 2 hours). Adjust the seasonings (it may need more salt), add the sesame seeds and serve.
Polenta with Sweet Pepper and Tomato Sauce
This time of year in many parts of Italy, sweet red peppers are stewed with onions and tomatoes (and sometimes sausages) and then ladled over bowls of creamy polenta. It’s a lovely combination.
If you want to add sausages you can either cook them whole, separately or slice or crumble them into the skillet when you’re cooking the onions and peppers, before you add the tomatoes.
3-4 sweet peppers (more or less), well washed, cored and seeded and cut into thin strips
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
4-5 medium tomatoes (heirloom or slicers), diced
Olive oil
Salt
Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes. Add the garlic and peppers and several pinches of salt and sauté, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes, making sure not to burn the garlic. You do want the onions and peppers to take on a bit of color. Now add the tomatoes and bring to a lively simmer. Turn down and gently simmer for about 15 minutes until the tomatoes have thickened a bit. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and another good glug of olive oil.
Top the polenta (recipe below) with the sauce and a nice grating of Parmesan and some chopped fresh basil if you have it.
Basic Polenta
Note: Polenta is basically coarsely ground cornmeal. If you ever go to the Hillsdale Farmers Market, Ayers Creek Farm (Gaston, OR) sells the most delicious cornmeal and dried beans in the winter (late November they’ll be back at Hillsdale for the winter).
1-cup polenta (Bob’s Red Mill polenta is good if you don’t have an old stash of Ayers Creek cornmeal sitting around☺)
4 cups water, veggie bouillon or milk
1-teaspoon kosher salt (less if you’re using veggie bouillon)
2 tablespoons of butter
½ – ¾ cup grated cheese (parmesan, asiago stella, . . .)
Bring the liquid and salt to a boil in a heavy, large saucepan. Whisk in the polenta and turn down so that it’s at a steady simmer. Whisk or stir frequently for the first few minutes to ensure that there are no lumps. Continue cooking and stirring occasionally over low-medium heat for about 35-45 minutes until the cornmeal is tender. Add butter and cheese, if using. Serve with a pepper and tomato sauce, above.
Baked Penne with Fennel Tomato Sauce
–loosely adapted from The Fresh & Green Table via DanaTreat.com
This is fall comfort food but made all the better by fresh tomatoes.
If you can, make your own breadcrumbs for this dish. If you don’t have stale bread on hand, throw a few slices of good bread in the oven until crisp and then grind it up (tearing into small pieces first) in the food processor.
¾ cup fresh breadcrumbs
¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan, divided
Olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
Sea salt
2 fennel bulbs
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons vodka (optional)
3 cups chopped tomatoes (heirloom or slicers or a mix)
3/4 pound penne rigate
½ cup heavy cream
4 ounces diced fresh mozzarella cheese
Preheat the oven to 425ºF. In a small bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, ¼ cup of the Parmesan, 2 tsp. of olive oil, the parsley, and a large pinch of salt. Set aside.
Trim the stalks from the fennel. Trim any brown spots from the outside of the fennel and halve the bulbs and cut them into into ¼-inch thick slices. Place a large pot over medium-high heat. Drizzle in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then add the fennel slices. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the fennel is very tender and well browned, 12 to 14 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the vodka and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot while it simmers down (this will take just a few seconds). Add the chopped tomatoes and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot, until well mixed, about 30 seconds. Turn the heat down to medium-low.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until just shy of al dente (the pasta will continue to cook in the oven, so be sure to not overcook it). Pour the cream into a 2 cup measuring cup and keep it by the stove. When the pasta is ready, ladle out ¾ cup of the cooking liquid and add it to the cream. Drain the pasta and add it to the tomato fennel mixture. Pour in the cream mixture and stir well to combine. Stir in the mozzarella cheese and the remaining ½ cup of Parmesan. Season to taste with salt.
Turn the mixture out into a 8×12-inch baking dish. Using a spatula, press down on the top. Scatter the breadcrumbs over the top. Bake, uncovered, until the top is browned and crusty and the casserole is bubbling vigorously, about 25 minutes.
Shakshuka (Eggs Poached in Tomato Pepper Sauce)
–loosely adapted from Saveur
There are many variations of this Israeli dish—some with hot pepper, some without tomatoes. . . so this may not be authentic but it’s awfully good.
Serves 4 to 6
1/4 cup olive oil
3 sweet peppers, washed, seeds removed and cut into thin strips
1 small onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, crushed then sliced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
4 cups chopped tomatoes
Sea salt, to taste
6 eggs
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Warm pitas or good bread, for serving
Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add peppers and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 more minutes.
Add diced tomatoes and their liquid to skillet along with 1/2 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Season sauce with salt.
Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle shakshuka with feta and parsley and serve with pitas, for dipping.
Spinach (Beet Green) and Chickpea Soup
–adapted from The Food of Spain
This a Castilian version of a common Spanish soup often eaten during Lent. It’s richly textured thanks to the addition of mashed fried bread, garlic and spices. While nowhere near lent it’s a great place for your spinach and beet greens this week. The quantity of the beet greens and spinach is approximate so if you have a half-share I’d use all of it and with a full share maybe all the spinach and no beet greens or half and half.
3 medium potatoes, scrubbed and cut into chunks
4 cups of cooked chickpeas (or 14-ounce cans, well drained)
6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 bunch spinach, very carefully washed and roughly chopped (small or large bunch)
1 bunch beet greens, stems removed, carefully washed and roughly chopped (small or large)
1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar
Salt
2 hard-boiled eggs
¼ cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
2 slices bread, crusts removed
1 teaspoon smoked Spanis Paprika (Pimenton)
Pinch of cayenne
Put the potatoes and chickpeas in a large pot with 4 ½ cups of the stock and simmer, covered for 10 minutes. Add the spinach and beet greens and cook, covered, for about 5 minutes. Add the vinegar and some salt and cook for 10 minutes more.
Meanwhile, remove the hardboiled egg yolks and reserve them. Chop the egg whites and reserve them.
Heat the oil in small skillet and fry the garlic cloves and bread over medium-high heat, turning them, until golden brown. Watch closely, as they will brown quickly. Drain on paper towels.
Put the garlic and bread in a food processor, add the spices and process to a fine paste. Add the hard-boiled egg yolks and blend well. Gradually pour in the remaining stock and blend to a thin sauce.
Pour this garlic mixture into the soup, stir well, and check the seasoning. Cook for another 10 minutes, then stir in the egg whites. The soup is meant to be quite thick.
Cream of Tomato with Tuna and Hard-boiled Eggs
–adapted from The Food of Spain
Another Spanish recipe today. This one from Andalusia and also one that uses bread for texture and body.
2 lbs tomatoes, roughly chopped
5 slices good crusty bread (though crusts should be removed☺)
1 sweet red pepper, seed and cored, and quartered
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar
½ cup good olive oil
4-6 hard-boiled eggs, quartered or sliced
2 5-ounce cans Oregon albacore tuna (or other tuna)
Dry the bread out under the broiler without browning it, turning the slices once. Let cool and grind to coarse crumbs in a food processor and transfer to a bowl. Add the pepper to the processor and blend to a paste, then add the tomatoes and garlic and blend until very smooth. Add the sugar, salt, pepper and vinegar to taste and then the olive oil blend again. Return the bread crumbs to the processor and blend briefly just to mix them in. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Pour the tomato mixture onto a platter and arrange the egg and tuna, broken into pieces on top. Serve with more good, crusty bread.
Beet and Bread Salad
I threw this combination of things together for lunch today. I often toss whatever I have on hand together for lunch and it’s usually good but I don’t always make a note to repeat the dish. Well today, I did.
When I have a bunch of beets, as you know, I almost always roast the whole batch and then have the pleasure of having roasted beets on hand to use however I want. So, I highly recommend roasting all at once while you’re doing something else in the kitchen since they do take some time. Then, instead of getting moldy in the crisper you’ll be snacking on them with great pleasure and seemingly little effort.
3 medium beets, roasted and peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 slices of good, crusty bread (I had Grand Central Bakery’s Peasant Levain on hand) toasted and cut into bite-sized squares
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
2 green onions, thinly sliced (or chunk of regular onion, very thinly sliced)
2-3 tablespoons toasted and salted sunflower seeds
1-2 ounces sharp cheddar, cut into little squares (that’s what I had on hand but feta or goat cheese would be lovely)
2 -3 cups lettuce, cut into thin strips (optional—I did not have this on hand but the lettuce would be a good way to stretch this)
Juice of half a lemon or about 1 ½ tablespoons red wine or sherry vinegar
2-3 tablespoons good olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Toss everything together. Taste and adjust seasoning and dig in.