Health in a Bowl

As I mentioned last month (cannot believe it has been that long - ugh!), I've spent a couple of weeks feeling rather under the weather recently. Being sick for a few days sucks. Being sick for two weeks is really a whole other story that I hope to never experience again. At some point in week two of this malaise I decided what I really needed was a bunch of vegetables. I'm sure if I owned a juicer I would have been going crazy with that thing.

I don't own a juicer.

I actually am kind of anti-juice. I don't understand why or how juice could possibly be better for you that eating the whole fruit or vegetable itself. But I'm funny like that. Juice is just not my thing.

On the other hand, I can really get behind a good, brothy veggie soup. This was another "let's be thrifty and environmentally responsible and everything and use what's already in the fridge" move. Also an "I feel like crap and don't want to walk a block to the grocery store" move. And with a few supplements, I had a pretty tasty vegetable soup that I will happily make again, only in probably half the quantity as I've discovered that three consecutive days of a vegetable soup meal represent my absolute limit.

If you want to feel healthy, or if you have a lot of veggies in the drawer that are about to go, this is your recipe.

Doesn't this gorgeous kale just scream "I AM SO GOOD FOR YOU!"?

Kate's Vegetable Soup
Makes four big servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 small red or white potato (thin-skinned, not Russett), peeled and diced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
4 cups chicken broth (I'm a fan of Swanson Natural Goodness)
1 can diced tomatoes with their juice
parmesan rinds (optional)
1 zucchini, diced
1/2 roasted red pepper, seeded and diced
1/2 bunch of kale, chopped coarsely
kosher or sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Directions

(Before you start, I highly recommend pre-chopping all the veggies.)

1. Roast your red pepper if you haven't already. I only had half a red pepper but I still just stuck it on the burner. (God, I love having a gas stove.)

2. Once the pepper is good and blackened, put it in a bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the pepper steam for about 10 minutes. Then use paper towels to rub off the blackened skin. Chop the peeled pepper.

3. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium-high and saute the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery until the onion turns translucent, about 10 minutes. You don't really want to brown it here. 

4. Add the potato, spices, chicken broth, and tomatoes. Simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 5 minutes. Toss in one or two parmesan rinds, if you have them. 

5. Simmer for another 15 minutes or so, until the broth looks a little cloudy and starts to smell delicious. 

6. Add the zucchini, red pepper, and kale.

7. Simmer for another 5 minutes or so, until the zucchini is tender but not mushy. 

I love all the gorgeous colors. It's like rainbow soup.

8. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with some whole grain crackers. And a big spoon.

I finally kicked that crazy flu a couple of days after I made this soup for myself.
So clearly, this works. Sample size of one. I'm a believer.

A Fall Salad and My Perfect Granola

Hi Blogosphere,

I miss you. It's been awhile. A lot has happened since I saw you last. Although nothing very exciting, to be honest. I made a bunch of food. I took some pictures. I did a lot of work. I went to some concerts. I had lots of fun with friends.

Mostly, I didn't blog. But I'm back and I'm vowing to do this more regularly. I'm sure I'll regret this. But like taking my packet of vitamins each morning, I believe it's good for me. Kind of like this salad.

Because I've been a bit under the weather lately, I've been doing a lot of working from home. The benefit to working from home (i.e. one of the few benefits to being sick) is making lunch for myself, on the spot. For some reason, I love making lunch for myself. A couple of days ago, I opened the fridge and decided to just make a salad from what was in there. Here was the result - a very tasty autumnal salad.

Mixed greens, sliced fennel, mission figs (fresh!), green apple, halved grapes, sliced parmesan, toasted walnuts with a dressing of sherry vinegar, olive oil, a little bit of honey, and salt and pepper.

It was a delightful little lunch and I think it even made me feel a little bit better. Food can do that, you know.

Unlike the salad, which I made up on the spot, this granola recipe has been several months in the making. I actually honed it at the end of July but, as previously discussed, have lacked the time to blog about it. By which I mean, I totally didn't prioritize it. Clearly, I had time. I just didn't make time. So now. I'm making time now. Even though I did a terrible job taking pictures of this granola. Oh well. I'm out of practice. Or something.

Anyway, I've finally got My Perfect Granola. I still can't believe how easy it is to make. I'm never buying granola again. For real this time.

This recipe is super easy to modify. You can add or change the quantities on pretty much anything. I like the balance of this one. It's just a little bit sweet and just a little bit nutty.

I certainly don't know anyone like that. 

Kate's Perfect Maple-Vanilla-Pecan-Coconut-Pepita Granola

Ingredients
3 cups old-fashioned (not quick!) rolled oats. Quaker Oats. Obviously. 
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup pepitas
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
pinch of kosher salt
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons real, pure maple syrup

Directions

1.     Preheat oven to 350F. Line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

2.     Combine oats, pecans, pepitas, coconut flakes, and pinch of salt in a medium to large bowl. 

3.     In a small bowl, combine canola oil, maple syrup, and vanilla bean seeds. Whisk to combine.

4.     Pour maple syrup mixture into oat mixture. Stir until all the future-granola bits are coated evenly.

5.     Dump granola into baking pan and evenly distribute across pan.

6.      Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Stir once in the middle of baking.

7.     Cool completely, then store in an airtight container. I like to keep mine in a glass jar with a rubber gasket like this one. 

8.     Eat! I like mine over Fage 0% Greek Yogurt with whatever fresh berries I can get my hands on. Or peaches. 

Or straight from the jar with a spoon.

Something Old and Something New

Let me preface this post by saying: I am doing a terrible job on the cadence of this blog. Sorry, really and truly. It's annoying.

You know by now about the Tyranny of the Vegetables, also known as the fall season Capay Valley Farm Box.

I really like the Valley Box because the food is super local and I love eating seasonally. However, two weeks ago, we had a real... incident. The Farm Box gave me bok choy. Two whole bags of it. Ten little heads of bok choy.

I hate bok choy.

I thought I had bok choy on my Farm Box "Do Not Send" list but I guess it fell off, because I found myself unpacking more bok choy than I would ever want, the amount I would want being none, of course.

I also unpacked something I'd never cooked before: delicata squash.

Let's start with my produciary nemesis: bok choy.

Produciary is totally a word, ok? 

When I first moved to San Francisco, bok choy would arrive in the Farm Box every week. Evidently, it grows year round in Northern California. Lucky me.

My primary complaint about this vegetable is that it's boring. It's fairly flavorless. And every recipe I find has it steamed with some combination of soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and chile. I'm not that into vegetables that can be cooked only one way. Like so much in life, I grow bored quickly and require new options. I like my veggies promiscuous.

Bok choy is basically the Catholic Nun of vegetables.

After searching high and low for a new bok choy recipe that I could make with ingredients I had at home, I ended up adapting a recipe from this Everyday Food one.

Yeah. Soy, ginger, garlic, chile.

Sigh.

Sauteed Baby Bok Choy with All the Usual Flavors

Ingredients
5 heads of baby bok choy, leaves separated and washed
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 squirt (maybe a teaspoon?) sriracha


Directions
1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Prepping the garlic and the ginger.

2. Add bok choy leaves and toss to coat. (Tongs are super helpful when making this recipe.) Cook leaves until they become crisp-tender at the base, about five minutes.

3. Add pepper flakes and sesame oil and toss to coat.

4. Remove from heat and add soy sauce and sriracha. Toss to coat again.

I realize this barely looks different from the photo above but in this one it's sauced with soy and sriracha and it just a teeny bit browner, I swear.

To offset the bummer bok choy (which tasted fine but still BORING), I am happy to announce my new love: delicata squash.

This stuff is fantastic. You don't have to peel it (like butternut, which drives me crazy) and it has a wonderful flavor that's pumpkin-y and acorn-squash-y. I could eat this stuff like candy.

My preparation for the squash was super-simple.

Core.

 

Slice and toss with olive oil and salt.  Roast at 425 degrees.

I finished the squash with a sprinkle of sea salt and pepper, and some grated parmesan. That's the recipe. And it's delicious. Make this! It's so good. This might have to be on the Thanksgiving menu. I may well fly across the country with a few of these stripy gorgeous treats.

The Third Wheel

The thing about being a single 30-something (as Bridget Jones will tell you) is that sometimes you find yourself in the third wheel position. Hopefully you are lucky, like me, and you find yourself in the company of marrieds who are neither smug nor under the delusion that under your clothing, your entire body is covered in scales.

But I digress.

Being a third wheel is really not so bad. After all, the third wheel on a Big Wheel is the namesake wheel itself. Without that, it's just a plain old low-riding tricycle. Lame!

Here is a real chat conversation - unedited - that happened in the lead up to this dinner I'm about to share with you:

4:29 PM Kevin: hey, its christine

  we are thinking about making white chicken chili tonight

4:30 PM me: interesting

  it's so cold out!

  OOH

4:31 PM Kevin: i know, its not fun

 me: when you say white chicken chili

  are you talking about the ATK recipe??

 Kevin: yep

 me: YES

  I have had that one saved in my tivo for a year

 Kevin: we just watched it this am

 me: have always wanted to make it!

4:32 PM Kevin: now is your/our chance!

 me: this is so perfect.

Yup, that's right. I've had the White Chicken Chili episode of America's Test Kitchen saved in my Tivo since April 12, 2010. (Yeah, I Tivo PBS and Martha Stewart. What of it?) I cannot emphasize to you enough how excited I was about this plan to cook it.

A little bit of thinking later, I realized I also had the copy of the Cook's Illustrated issue with the recipe in it - from January 2007. That was two apartments and three time zones ago. See, sometimes saving things is smart! Actually, I can't claim credit for this behavior. My mom used to save every Gourmet magazine - we had cabinets full of them when I was a kid. Luckily, the internet was invented (thanks, Al!) and now all those Gourmet recipes are free online at Epicurious. But the Cook's Illustrated recipes are not free online, which is why you should save them. And why I did.

Chris Kimball and his minions probably could have done a better job writing the title of this article.

This is a funny blog entry for me because I didn't actually do any cooking. I did a lot of wine drinking and some cheese eating, but mostly my job was "recipe reader" and "recipe re-reader" and "commentator" and "opinion-giver." I fairly well excel at all of these things, luckily.

Kevin tackled the chili, with assistance from Christine in the sous chef role. It came out great. Spicy but not too spicy. Somehow incredibly healthy.

Christine had the wise idea to steam some rice to serve the chili over and to use a little yogurt for a cooling topping, both of which were an excellent additions to the proceedings. I'm not typing out the recipe because ATK doesn't offer it up for free, but a little birdie told me you can find it here.

Action shot!

Here's the final product. My contribution was the wine, which was pretty tasty. I've been dipping into the "good" wine stash lately because...well, why not?

Looks amazing, right? Food styling credits to Christine. Poor photography/lighting credits to me.

Major thanks to Kevin and Christine for keeping me a well-fed and entertained third wheel. Sometimes I'm not sure why you guys put up with me, but I'm glad you do!

xoxo

Please note the new barstools and table, and wildly apropos succulents.

Oh, p.s. - and this was a big bonus for me - this meal is totally gluten-free. Yeah, looks like I'm back on that wagon. For now, anyway. Sigh.

      

Embracing Diversity

There's not a lot of prelude to this post; I'm just going to share with you the meal I ate every Monday for the duration of my formative years. In our house, Monday night was chili night, and in our house chili meant the chili of Cincinnati, my mom's hometown.

We've had this recipe in the family for longer than I've been alive. To call it a staple minimizes its role as a foundation of our family meals. This recipe is an institution. I've tweaked it only the tiniest bit to make it healthier since the first time I made it for our family's dinner "all by myself" in 1991. While I no longer eat it on a weekly basis, I still love it. Simply, this recipe means home to me.

When you've been eating Cincinnati chili for as long as you can remember, the act of eating your chili on spaghetti doesn't faze you. Some people I know get freaked out by this. Those people need to settle down. Other styles of chili have their place, and so does this. There's no one right chili. Embrace diversity, people. Your stomach will thank you.

Empress Chili

Empress Chili was the primary chili parlor in Cincinnati until the 1950s, when an Empress employee left to start the now famous Skyline Chili. We're Empress people. Skyline is ok, but Empress is the best. 


Ingredients
1 pound ground beef (the leanest possible) or 1/2 pound ground beef and 1/2 pound ground turkey
1 yellow onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 15 oz. can tomato sauce
15 oz. water (measure using empty sauce can once the sauce has been added to the pan)
1 dash A-1 sauce (yes, that brand and only that brand)
3/4 tablespoon vinegar
2 dried red peppers or 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons chili powder
3 medium bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on your heat tolerance)


Spaghetti
Sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained


Directions
1. Heat the pan over medium-high heat. Brown the meat, onion & garlic in the pan. The goal is to break up the meat into fairly small pieces during this process.  

Yes, you really do just dump the meat, onions, and garlic into the pan with no oil. I use the leanest meat I can get and I don't drain it, but if you want to use fattier meat, that's fine - just be sure to drain off the fat before proceeding to step 2.

Now we're browned and ready to go.

2. Once the meat is browned and the onions are translucent, add the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine.

 

3. Simmer for 30 minutes to an hour until thickened.

And we're simmering. I should add: this was the first "nice" pan I ever got. My mom sent it to me when I got my first apartment as a senior in college. It's the same pan she makes chili in at home, but it's incredibly versatile. It's classic Calphalon anodized alumnium and it's now in its twelfth year of use. It still looks nearly new. Consider this the next time you want to plunk down cash for crap cookware. It's not worth it. Get good stuff and you'll keep it forever.

 

4. While the chili is simmering, cook the spaghetti according to package directions. These days I always use whole wheat spaghetti. 

5. Season the thickened chili with salt and pepper. (I find this normally needs at least half a teaspoon of kosher salt, sometimes more depending on whether your tomato sauce is salt-free.) If the sauce gets too thick, you can add more water to thin it and keep cooking it.
 

This is just about done. Thickened but still saucy.

6. Serve the chili over spaghetti with kidney beans and shredded cheddar. This is known as serving it "four-way bean"* but we never called it that. We just called it chili.

For some reason, we always ate our chili on plates, but now I tend to serve it in bowls.

*In Cincinnati, you can get your chili several ways - see below for a guide. Long ago, we cut out all the stuff we didn't like and have always stuck with the beans (because they are good for you) and the cheese (because it's delicious). DO NOT make this without the cheese. I'm serious. The cheese MAKES it.

Two-way: chili and spaghetti
Three-way: chili, spaghetti, cheddar
Four-way: chili, spaghetti, cheddar, chopped white onion
Five-way: chili, spaghetti, cheddar, chopped white onion, kidney beans
Four-way bean: chili, spaghetti, cheddar, kidney beans

All of the above are traditionally served with oyster crackers. We never ate ours with oyster crackers. Never.

Twirl with a fork. Love.

'Tis the Season

It always starts like this.

One day, you find yourself sneezing. You never sneeze. "Funny," you think. "I never sneeze."

The next day, the scratchy throat starts. It sneaks up on you out of nowhere. But it's there. You clear your throat hoping maybe it'll go away.

It doesn't.

Before you know it, you sound like Cybil Shepard. You wonder if you should re-record your outgoing voicemail message. You find yourself compelled to nap, and you switch from wine and coffee to orange juice and tea. You decide 6pm isn't too early to change into pajamas.

You've definitely caught it. Whatever "it" is.

I don't know if chicken soup really makes you get over a cold faster or not. I've heard that there are some enzymes in the broth that are supposed to help your immune system. I've also heard that the soup works simply because it's hydrating. The one thing I am sure of is that it's just about the only thing I have an appetite for when I get sick.

I seem to be fighting (valiantly, if I do say so myself) some kind of cold that has shades of laryngitis. I'm hoping I don't completely lose my voice this week, although I'm sure my friends, family, and coworkers would probably be excited about this development. Ok, not probably. Definitely.

This soup is incredibly easy to make. Which is good, because when you're making your sick self some soup, it's not really the time for complicated recipes. This takes very little time to make and keeps well for a few days in the fridge. In fact, I'd say it keeps for almost the exact amount of time it takes to get over the worst of a cold.

Kate's Chicken Soup
4 servings

Ingredients
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, poached and shredded (see below)
1 quart of low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch(ish)  coins
2 ribs of celery, trimmed and diced
1 bunch of fresh dill, chopped finely
salt and pepper
egg noodles or rice, precooked


Directions
1. To poach the chicken, put the chicken breast in a saute or sauce pan and cover with cold water. Cover the pan and cook over high heat until the water boils. Turn down to medium heat (simmer) and cook until chicken is done, about 10 minutes. Shred using a fork and knife (or cut into cubes).

I like my soup chicken shredded into medium-sized chunks that will fit on a spoon.

2. While the chicken is cooking, put the stock, water, carrots, and celery into a soup pot and turn to high. Boil for about 8 minutes, or until the veggies are a bit tender. 

If you have a mandoline, it's ideal for slicing carrots into perfect quarter-inch coins.

The dill makes this soup. Please, don't make it without fresh dill. The fresh green-ness of the dill really makes the soup feel healthy and will make you feel better, I swear.

3. Add the shredded chicken and half the dill, and season with salt and pepper. Continue the boil for another 5 minutes or so. Taste the broth and adjust seasonings as necessary. If the broth tastes bland, add a little more salt. Add the rest of the dill and stir to combine. Turn off the heat. 

Sometimes a little soup scum forms on the top of the soup when it's cooking. You can skim this off with a spoon. No big deal.

4. Put a scoop of egg noodles or rice in a bowl and ladle the soup over the top. Eat while swaddled in a blanket on the sofa, watching your favorite movie. 

Ideally this is the movie you know all the lines to that you can't watch with other people because you can't not recite the lines aloud. Mine is Soapdish, the best ensemble comedy ever. It includes such awesome lines as "I have feelings ABOUT you, not FOR you, there's a VERY BIG difference!"

Here's hoping I kick this sucker soon. Go away, Cold!

A Cool Kitchen Tool

And no, it doesn't go in a drawer.

Epicurious has a Peak-Season Map which shows you what's in season in your state at any given time.

I love this. Not to preach from the gospel according to Alice Waters or anything, but seriously, everyone should use this, at all times.

I had no idea artichokes were in season in California now. I thought they were just a spring vegetable! What a delightful surprise.

Check it out!


P. S. Sorry I've been slacking on the blog. I've been out of town fourteen days since the last post and all that travel makes for a lack of time for homemade anything. I even had people over and the only thing I made from scratch was cookies - a recipe I've made so many times I have it memorized.

These are, indeed, dire times. 

I'm optimistic I'll be able to crank out some goodness over the upcoming holidays. In the meantime, thanks for your patience.