Spiced Eggplant and Tomato Stew
Fennel and Onion Soffrito (link to earlier post)
Fennel and Mizuna Salad with Toasted Sunflower Seeds
Early Fall Hash with Potatoes, Fennel and Peppers
Tomato Salad with Toasted Bread (and Mizuna and Feta)
Beets and Beet Greens with Garlicky Yogurt
Beet Green Tart
Nigel Slater’s Carrot Cake
Spiced Eggplant and Tomato Stew
–adapted from Tender by Nigel Slater
I included this recipe last year with this headnote: “I have to admit that I have not made this—I’ve had it bookmarked for a year. I am committing to making it this week. It is definitely a bit of a project but my mouth is watering as I type. . .please report if you make it. I’d love to know how it turns out. And I should say that I trust this cookbook author completely. Everything of his I’ve ever made I’ve loved.”
Well, I finally made it last week, not a year ago. And it was everything I’d hoped. I have simplified some of the steps and while it is a bit of work, you can break up the process and make it very manageable, it is totally worth it and it makes a lot.
6 -8 generous servings (and it keeps getting better with age-to a certain point!)
2 large eggplants
3 onions, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons peanut oil
8 green cardamom pods
2 tablespoons coriander seeds (or 1 tablespoon ground)
1 ½ teaspoons black pepper corns
4 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
2 teaspoons ground turmeric
3 0r more large tomatoes
2 cups vegetable stock
2 cans coconut milk (not lite)
2-3 serrano or jalapeno peppers, minced (remove seeds if you want it less spicy)
1 small bunch mint
1 bunch cilantro
Cut the eggplants into fat chunks. The dish will be more interesting to eat if you don’t cut them too small. Put them into a colander, set in the sink and sprinkle with sea salt. Leave them for a half hour or longer.
Cook with onions in the oil in a large pot until soft and translucent. While the onions are cooking, crush the cardamom pods with the flat blade of a knife or a rolling pin and shake out the little black seeds into a mortar or spice grinder. Add the coriander seeds and grind them to a coarse powder.
Stir the garlic and ginger into the onions with the turmeric and ground spices. Seed the tomatoes by cutting them in half on the equator and squeezing them gently over your compost container. Then roughly chop them and add to the pan with the onions and spices.
Rinse the eggplant of their salt and pat dry. Without oiling them, grill them on a cast iron ridged grill pan (I don’t have one of these and just used my regular cast iron pan with just a little oil and it worked great) until they are starting to soften and have dark grill lines across them. Turn and cook on both sides. Continue with the remaining eggplant. Add them to the onions and pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Add the coconut milk, chilies and a little salt and continue cooking for about 45 minutes. The eggplants should be very soft and silky but not actually falling apart.
Lift out the eggplants, tomatoes and some of the onions with a slotted spoon. Reduce the rest of the sauce by boiling hard for 50-10 minutes or so. Return the vegetables and the sauce to the pot, then chop the mint and cilantro and stir them in, together with a final seasoning of salt and black pepper. Serve with rice.
Potato, Fennel and Sweet Pepper Hash
This is a wonderful quick hash that utilizes many of your items this week, such as peppers, potatoes, onions and fennel. Top this hash with a poached or fried egg and dig in.
You don’t want to crowd the pan so if you don’t have a very large skillet use two. You don’t want to steam the vegetables but get them all tender and a bit browned and if you have too much in one pan they’ll got mushy—still tasty but not a nicely browned hash.
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter or
2 slices bacon, diced and 1 tablespoon olive oil if bacon isn’t very fatty
1 medium onion, diced
3 medium potatoes, scrubbed and cut into ¼-1/2-inch dice
1 fennel bulb, trimmed, halved and then diced
2 sweet peppers, deseeded and chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Heat the oil or butter in the largest skillet you have or if you’re using bacon, start with that and add a bit of oil and cook for just a few minutes. Add the onions, fennel and peppers and cook for 5 minutes over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Add the potatoes and maybe a bit more oil if things are dry. Add several pinches of salt, stir well to make sure everything is coated with a bit of oil and cook, stirring occasionally for about 10-12 more minutes. Cook until everything is nicely browned and tender. Adjust seasoning with salt and freshly ground pepper. Top with egg of some kind or fresh salsa or lots of chopped cilantro if we end up with some this week . . .
Fennel and Onion Soffrito (link to earlier post)
I will be making this recipe with at least some of my fennel this week. For this weather is definitely my favorite preparation.
Fennel and Mizuna with Toasted Sunflower Seeds
Toasted sunflower seeds improve so many salads and particularly this one.
And this more simple technique than real recipe. It easily scales up and down and you can change the ratio of fennel to mizuna so use however much you want. The below quantities are just suggestions.
½ bunch mizuna, washed and dried and cut into1-inch strips
1 fennel bulb, well washed, trimmed and outer fibrous layer removed, cut in half lengthwise and sliced as thinly as you can
1 -2 sweets peppers, halved, deseeded and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons minced onion
1/3-1/2 up toasted, salted sunflower seeds (toast on a sheet pan in a 300 degree oven tossed with just a little oil and sprinkled with salt until nice and golden brown and toasty smelling about 10-15 minutes)
3 tablespoons Greek or plain yogurt or sour cream
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard (or more)
2 tablespoons cider or red wine vinegar
juice of half a lemon (or more vinegar, to taste)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Put all the vegetables in a big bowl. Whisk together the dressing ingredients mix well with the veggies though you may not need all the dressing. Add sunflower seeds toss again and adjust to taste.
Tomato Salad with Toasted Bread (and Mizuna and Feta)
This from a recent blog post of mine, inspired by SIO tomatoes:
This quick salad is what I made at least three times last week with the gorgeous and delicious orange heirloom tomatoes from last week’s share. I’m sure this week’s will be equally suited to this preparation. This is not a panzanella, at least not in the typical Tuscan sense, though it may look like it to many. This is panzanella- http://racheleats.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/bread-love-and-fantasy/! Thank goodness for a better writer than me and one with more authority on Italian food than me to write a proper post about this wonderful, soggy, yes soggy, Tuscan dish that I ate day after day in Italy and have recreated for students and friends alike, almost always to raised eyebrows of skepticism before and appreciation and wonder after ingestion! I like many of the more modern, American adaptations with toasted bread, I just resist calling them panzanella for some stubborn nod to tradition that occasionally comes over me.
This is the version I made last week with red onions and arugula and basil. This week you can use mizuna and Cortland onions.
1 large heirloom tomato cut into large dice
2 thick-ish slices of good, crusty bread, toasted and cubed
2 cups (or more) washed, dried and chopped mizuna
small chunk of onion, finely chopped or thinly sliced
1-2 ounces feta, crumbled
2 or more tablespoons of best olive oil you have
1-2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Toss everything together, adding the feta last. Taste and adjust seasoning. Buon Appetito!
Beets and Beet Greens with Garlicky Yogurt
I come back to this dish over and over again. It is very garlicky. Reduce if you want it milder.
1 bunch of beets, with greens (4 medium beets) or whatever you have on hand
3 small cloves of garlic, divided and minced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
½ cup of Greek yogurt or plain, full fat yogurt
1 teaspoon lemon juice plus an extra squeeze or two
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Cut the greens off the beets, wash well and cut into wide ribbons. You can use most of the stems. I usually just toss the 2-3 inches closest to the beat root. Scrub the beets well and cut into wedges. Put the beets in a small pan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook covered for about 15-20 minutes until beets are tender when pierced with a fork. Alternatively you can roast them (better flavor but takes longer). Drain well and toss with a little lemon juice and salt. Meanwhile sauté the onions in a little olive oil over medium high heat until soft. Add beet greens and a little olive oil if necessary and one clove of garlic, minced, and a few pinches of salt. It will only take about 3-5 minutes for the greens/stems to be tender. In a small bowl mix the yogurt with the remaining garlic, a pinch or two of salt and the teaspoon of lemon juice. Mix the beet wedges with the greens and heat thoroughly and then serve with a generous dollop of the yogurt.
Beet Green Tart
This tart is quicker than it might seem. It’s a wonderful use for your beet greens and onions in this week’s share. The tart dough comes together very easily and does not need to rest or be chilled before baking. I bake the tart, in its tin, on a pizza stone that gets preheated in the oven. That way the crust cooks quickly and well and doesn’t get soggy. The high oven temp usually ensures that it works anyway so don’t worry if you don’t have a pizza stone.
It’s also a great dish to make in advance since it’s excellent at room temperature and it transports well and can be cut into thin slices for an appetizer too.
Preheat the oven to 425ºF
1 recipe Tart Dough (recipe follows)
1 large bunch beet greens, stems removed and finely diced, leaves roughly chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 eggs
1 cup whole milk
Zest of 1/2 small lemon (optional)
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan (or Gruyère or just plain old cheddar if that’s what you have)
A few pinches of ground nutmeg (optional but very good)
Heat the olive oil in a wide skillet; add the onion and beet green stems and cook over medium heat until the onions are translucent and softening. Add the garlic, and beet greens. Sprinkle a few pinches of salt. Turn the leaves over repeatedly so that they are all exposed to the heat of the pan, and cook until they are tender, about 5 minutes.
Make the custard. Beat the eggs; then stir in the milk, lemon peel (if using), grated Parmesan, and a few scrapings of nutmeg. Stir in the greens and onion mixture. Taste and season with salt and a few grinds of pepper. Pour the filling into the prepared tart shell and bake until the top is golden and firm, about 40 minutes.
Tart Dough
–adapted from David Lebovitz
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or ¾ cup apf and ¾ cup whole-wheat pastry flour)
4 1/2 ounces, about 9 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into cubes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
2-3 tablespoons cold water
Make the dough by mixing the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and use your hands, or a pastry blender, to break in the butter until the mixture has a crumbly, cornmeal-like texture.
Mix the egg with 2 tablespoons of the water. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the beaten egg mixture, stirring the mixture until the dough holds together. If it’s not coming together easily, add the additional tablespoon of ice water.
Gather the dough into a ball and roll the dough on a lightly floured surface, adding additional flour only as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to the counter.
Once the dough is large enough so that it will cover the bottom of a 10-inch tart pan and go up the sides, roll the dough around the rolling-pin then unroll it over the tart pan. “Dock” the bottom of the pastry firmly with your fingertips a few times, pressing in to make indentations. (I occasionally forget to do this with no ill effect so don’t sweat it if you forget.) If you don’t have a tart pan you can use a 9 or 10-inch pie pan too. The recipe for the dough is pretty generous so will fit a pie pan too.
Carrot Cake
–adapted from Tender by Nigel Slater
This is a superb version of this classic cake.
3 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour or 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour and 1 cup apf
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
scant 1 cup light brown sugar
2-3 carrots, grated on the large holes of a box grater
juice of half a lemon
11/4 cups walnuts, toasted
Frosting
9 ounces mascarpone cheese
7 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup maple syrup (or 1 cup powdered sugar)
grated zest of a medium orange
A handful of walnut halves
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter two 9-inch cake pans, then line each with a round of parchment paper.
Separate the eggs. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Beat the oil and sugar in a stand mixer until well beaten, then add the egg yolks one by one. Add the grated carrots into the mixture, then add the lemon juice. Coarsely chop the walnuts and add them too.
Fold the flour into the mixture with the mixer on low speed. Beat the egg whites until light and stiff, then fold gently into the mixture using a large metal spoon (a wooden one will knock the air out).
Divide the mixture between the two prepared cake pans, smooth the top gently, and bake for forty to forty-five minutes. Test with a skewer for doneness. The cakes should be moist but not sticky. Remove from the oven and let rest for a good ten minutes before turning the cakes out of their pans onto a wire cooling rack.
To make the frosting, put the mascarpone, cream cheese, and confectioners’ sugar into an electric mixer and beat until smooth and creamy. It should have no lumps. Mix in the orange zest.
When the cake is cool, sandwich the halves together with about a third of the frosting. Use the rest to cover the top and sides of the cake. I don’t think you need be too painstaking; a rough finish will look more appropriate here. Decorate the top with walnut halves.