Kidney Beans & Rice

Photo by James Bowe

• 1 package pre-cooked brown rice from Trader Joe's
• 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium organic onion, chopped
• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 19-ounce can organic red kidney beans, rinsed
• 1/4 C organic chicken broth
• 1 tsp. cider vinegar
• 1/4 tsp. hot sauce
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. fresh ground pepper
• 1/3 C chopped fresh cilantro

Saute onions, garlic, and peppers in olive oil until transparent.  

Add cooked rice, canned kidney beans, hot sauce, pepper, and cilantro. 

Serve as a side dish or with chicken or beef.

  

Jerusalem Artichokes

My garden in Yakima in the 1980s is just beyond that swing set.  It's where I first grew Jerusalem Artichokes, a pretty plant that look like sunflowers.  You dig the tubers and eat them like potatoes, raw or cooked.  


Oh, at that's me and my daughter wearing dust masks, as Mt. St. Helen's has just erupted. 


Preheat the oven to 400°
1 1/2 Tbl. organic olive oil
8 organic cloves garlic
1 # Jerusalem artichokes, cut into 1 inch cubes
1/3 C. water
3 Tbl. lemon
1/2 tsp. each rosemary and sage
1/4 tsp. sea salt


In a small roasting pan, mix the oil, garlic, artichokes together and toss with the oil.  Roast, tossing occasionally, for 25 minutes.  ln a glass measuring cup mix water, lemon, rosemary, sage, and salt and pour over the artichokes.  Roast for an additional twenty minutes or until the liquid has almost evaporated and the artichokes are tender on the inside and crisp on the outside.

 

Grandma's Roasted Chicken in a Bag

Preheat oven to 400.

Wash a whole organic chicken and blot it dry with a paper towel.  Salt inside and out then stuff with a chopped onion and several sprigs of rosemary. Coat the outside of the chicken with paprika and slide it inside a clean paper bag on a cookie sheet.  Close up the bag end making sure the chicken isn't touching the paper.   Bake in the lower part of oven for an hour or so.  Remove and serve inside paper bag on a platter.  Side dishes could include blanched and salted green beans tossed with arugula and dressed with olive oil.  If you can eat cheese, top green bean salad with a little Parmesan.

Tasty and rustic, paper bag and all.  Eat deeply of good food. What more is there to life?     

Garlic Broccoli

This is an easy dish and good for you when you are ill.  Garlic is a natural antibiotic, so have at it during cold season.  Here's what www.garlic-central.com has to say: "Garlic's antibiotic properties have been more extensively studied than some of its other reputed health benefits. Louis Pasteur examined garlic's use as an antibacterial back in the nineteenth century and showed how it killed bacteria under laboratory conditions. Numerous modern studies confirm that garlic has definite antibiotic properties and is effective against many bacteria, fungi and viruses. According to Wright State University (1), garlic is approximately one per cent as potent an antibiotic as penicillin."


And it tastes good too.


In a large skillet, saute 1 head (trimmed) of broccoli flowerettes in olive oil.  As it begins to tenderize, add 1 Tbl. chopped garlic.  This would amount to about 3 to 4 cloves, depending on size.  Stir the broccoli and garlic together until tender.  Do not overcook the garlic, as burnt garlic becomes bitter.  Add salt and pepper or gluten-free soy sauce to taste.    Enjoy!

  

  

Cool Hand Luck 2011 (Hoppin' John)

You see, I'm on the "Cs" and we're at the end of the year.  So for Cool Luck in 2011, you must eat black-eyed peas on New Year's Eve.  I used to cook black-eyed peas in this tiny pressure cooker on the stove.  That was back in the 70s when I was a new wife.  I just made stuff up as I went along.   If you have a pressure cooker, make sure the knob on top rocks in a 2/2 rhythm, medium tempo.  Good for dancing.

So to your peas, wash, sort, and throw in pressure cooker.  (The package will tell you proportions.)  Add water, bay leaf, and a ham hock.  Cook about an hour--I think.  Serve with greens.  We never ate this at home growing up.  I must have gotten it out of a cookbook--or maybe from my hubby's Grandma Halter.

Here's the honest to God Cool Hand Luck 2011 recipe.  (Eat New Year's Eve.)

Hoppin' John

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large ham hock

1 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup celery, chopped

1/2 cup green pepper, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 pound black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and rinsed

1 quart chicken stock

Bay leaf

1 teaspoon dry thyme leaves

Directions:

Heat oil in a large soup pot, add the ham hock and sear on all sides for 4 minutes. Add the onion, celery, green pepper, and garlic, cook for 4 minutes. Add the black-eyed peas, stock, bay leaves, thyme, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes, or until the peas are creamy and tender, stir occasionally. If the liquid evaporates, add more water or stock. Adjust seasonings, and garnish with green onions. Serve over rice.

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, www.foodnetwork.com

Braised Carrots

Warm 1/3 cup olive oil in iron skillet.  Add 4 oz. pancetta, 1 chopped onion, 1 minced garlic clove and cook until onions are translucent.  Add 2 pounds peeled whole carrots and 1 Tbl chopped flat-leaf Italian parsley.  Stir well.  Cook gently for 20 minutes, adding up to 1/3 cup organic veg stock to keep moist.

This is a very pretty dish, with peeled slender carrots with a tiny bit of stem left on.  Very nice.  I've made this one without the pancetta and baked instead of sauteed.  Serve with chicken, or like Tuscany: The Beautiful Cookbook suggests, lamb or rabbit.

Enjoy!
.

Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Prosciutto

4 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto
2 1/2 Tbs ghee
2 red Anjou pears, cored and cut in 1/4 inch slices
2 celery stalks cut in 1/2 inch slices
1 yellow onions cut in 1/2 inch slices
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 jar butternut (2 LB) squash puree (Williams-Sonoma Stores) or cook your own.
2 cups organic chicken broth
1 tsp. minced fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup coconut milk

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Arrange the prosciutto slices in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake until crisp, about 20 minutes.  Transfer to wire racks and let the prosciutto cool completely.

Meanwhile, in a 5 1/2 quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat, melt 1 tbl. ghee.  Add enough pear slices to form a single layer and cook, turning once, until caramelized on both sides, 4 to 5 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.  Repeat to cook the remaining pears.

In the same pot over medium heat, melt the remaining ghee.  Add celery and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.  Stir in the butternut squash puree, the 2 cups of broth, thyme, half of the pears, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Using a blender, puree the soup in batches until smooth.  Return the soup to the pot and stir in the coconut milk.  Add more broth if needed to reach the desired consistency.  Ladle the soup into bowls.  Garnish with the prosciutto and remaining pear slices.  Serve immediately.  Serves 6.

Recipe from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen

Almond & Broccoli Stir-fry

2 tbl. olive oil
2 cloves garlic (pressed or chopped)
3 cups of broccoli (Trader Joe's is selling organic baby broccolli cheap)
1/3 cup of chopped almonds

Heat oil in 10 inch pan.  When hot, add garlic and saute.  Never brown garlic as it gets bitter.  So keep the heat medium.  Add broccoli and stir to coat in garlic and oil.  Salt for taste.  Stir-fry until tender-crisp.  Add chopped almonds and stir-fry until distributed.  Serve immediately.