It’s the last of the peppers I’m guessing and some Spanish or Spanish-inspired recipes are here to enjoy them. Pick up some cilantro this week since several of the recipes call for it.
Garbanzo Bean Salad with Roasted Carrots and Cumin/Lemon Dressing
Roasted Pepper Salad with Onions, Cumin and Sherry Vinegar
Romesco
Simple Turnip and Joi Choi Stir Fry
Baked Acorn Squash Wedges with Sweet Pepper and Cilantro Sauce
Slow Cooked Chard and Onions
Rice with Eggs, Cheese and Chard
Carrot and Cumin Salad with Cilantro
Garbanzo Bean Salad with Roasted Carrots and Cumin/Lemon Dressing
This salad is also delicious with grilled or sautéed shrimp, rounds of cooked pork sausage or served with quartered, hard-boiled eggs over which you drizzle some of the dressing. You could also easily add leftover chicken to this to add even more protein. The garbanzo beans have a good amount already though. You can also add chunks of roasted acorn squash to this or use it instead of the carrots.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees
5-6 medium carrots, sliced into ½-inch slices on the bias
Olive oil
Salt
3-4 cups cooked garbanzo beans (soaked and cooked or canned) if using canned beans, rinse well before using.
½ bunch of parsley (optional, but excellent and you might have some left over from last week)
Green onions or chives (fine to omit if you don’t have it on hand)
Vinaigrette
2 tsps red wine vinegar
2 tsps lemon or limejuice
3 tsps ground cumin
1-2 garlic cloves (grated or minced)
1/3 cup olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Clean carrots slice in the bias into 1 ½ – 2-inch pieces. Mix with olive oil and salt and roast carrots at 500 degrees for about 15 minutes until tender and browning on the edges. Mix garbanzo beans and carrots with dressing, add green onions and parsley (if using). Let marinate a few minutes.
Roasted Pepper Salad with Onions, Cumin and Sherry Vinegar
This traditionally includes roasted tomatoes as well as the peppers but it is such a good combination it’s worth doing with the last of the peppers.
All the peppers you have—broiled until blackened and blistered and seeded and peeled and coarsely chopped
Small chunk of onion, sliced as thinly as you can
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 hardboiled eggs, finely chopped
Salt
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons sherry or champagne or red wine vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper
Some slices Jamon Serrano or prosciutto
Arrange the roasted peppers, slivered onions on a platter. Sprinkle the hardboiled eggs over the peppers.
In a small bowl mix the cumin, salt, olive oil, pepper, garlic and vinegar. Drizzle the dressing over everything and top with the slices of jamon. Enjoy with some good bread.
Romesco
There are so many versions of this pungent, zippy sauce. It’s delicious with many things and often served with roasted waxy potatoes or with fish.
2-3 sweet peppers, broiled until black and blistered, deseeded and peeled
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped and fried in olive oil until golden brown and removed from pan
1 thick slice crusty bread, fried in the garlic oil
1/4 cup toasted almonds (marcona almonds if you have them)
about 1/3 cup sherry or red wine vinegar or a combination
good glug of olive oil
Salt
Process everything until smooth in a food processor. Taste and adjust seasoning. It should have a good vinegary kick.
Simple Joi Choi and Turnip Stir Fry (with or without tofu)
This is more of a technique than a recipe. Play around with it as you like.
If you’re going to use tofu, use firm tofu and pat it dry well. Cube it and pan-fry it in a little peanut oil, without disturbing for a 8 minutes or so. Gently turn and fry the other side. Set aside.
Peanut oil
2 clove garlic, minced
chunk of ginger, minced
4 cups Joi choi, sliced
2 turnips, scrubbed and cut into matchsticks or small dice
1 bunch turnip greens, well washed and chopped
about 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
about 1 1/2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
about 1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
Mix the sesame oil, vinegar and soy sauce in a small bowl.
In a large skillet or wok, heat 1 ½ tablespoons or so of peanut oil over high heat. Add the garlic, ginger and turnips and cook for about 4 minutes, keeping the ingredients moving the whole time. Add about half the oil and vinegar and soy mixture to the pan and the joi choi. Cook for another 3 minutes or so, then add the turnips greens and the rest of the oil/vinegar mixture. Cook for another 2 minutes. If you’re using tofu you can add it back in at this point and gently heat through. Adjust seasoning and serve immediately.
Baked Acorn Squash Wedges with Sweet Pepper and Cilantro Sauce
1 large acorn squash
olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 sweet peppers, broiled until blackened and blistered
2 cloves garlic, minced
about 2 tablespoons sherry or red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup finely chopped cilantro (or parsley)
Salt and pepper
Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.
Halve squash lengthwise, then cut off and discard stem ends. Scoop out seeds and cut squash lengthwise into 3/4-inch-wide wedges. Toss squash with black pepper, salt, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a bowl, then arrange, cut sides down, in 2 large shallow baking pans. Roast squash, switching position of pans halfway through roasting, until squash is tender and undersides of wedges are golden brown, 25 to 35 minutes.
Peel and deseed the roasted peppers and chop finely. In a small bowl mix the peppers with the cilantro, vinegar, oil, garlic and salt.
Arrange squash wedges on a platter and drizzle with the sauce. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.
Slow Cooked Chard and Onions
This is a bit of an atypical way to cook chard since you cook it for a quite a long time. It is well worth it though—silky and rich.
Wash a large bunch of chard. Separate the leaves from the stems and reserve stems for another use. Cut the leaves into 1-2 inch ribbons. Slice 1 large onion into thin half-rounds and begin stewing them in some olive oil in a good-sized pot or pan. When the onion has softened a bit add the chard, season with salt and pepper, cover and stew, stirring occasionally for 20-30 minutes. You can add a little lemon zest and juice at the end but just by itself it is pretty much perfect
I’ve used this as a pizza topping with some feta or just a side to whatever else I made for dinner. Also wonderful with eggs.
Rice with Eggs, Cheese and Chard
–adapted from Deborah Madison via Ellen Jackson
This is a simple, hearty dish that can be varied with whatever greens you have. It’s a bit like pasta carbonara but with rice and greens and bacon would be a wonderful addition.
1 bunch chard, washed, stems removed and saved for something else, leaves chopped
1 cup rice (uncooked)
2 eggs
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup grated parmesan or other hard cheese
finely chopped parsley or oregano or chives
Toasted nuts such as walnuts or hazelnuts or pine nuts (optional)
Blanch chard in an inch of water in a wide skillet for 2-3 minutes. Drain and squeeze dry when cool enough to handle. Chop finely.
Cook rice in salted water until tender. Whisk eggs with salt and pepper and cheese and stir them into the hot rice along with the butter. The heat of the rice will cook the eggs and coat the grains. Stir in the chard and herbs. Taste and adjust seasoning. Top with toasted nuts, if using.
Carrot Salad with Cumin and Cilantro
I love grated carrot salads. This one is seasoned with cumin, lime juice, minced jalapeno and lots of cilantro.
Grate however many carrots as you’d like. Make a dressing of ground cumin, lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. If you have whole cumin seeds, toast them briefly in a dry skillet, let cool and then pound in a mortar or in a spice grinder for extra fragrance or just use already ground cumin. Toss the grated carrots with the dressing and a minced jalapeno and plenty of chopped cilantro or mint. If you have toasted pumpkin seeds they are a wonderful addition as well.