Rainbow Salad

This is one of those recipes where I started looking up ideas for various things I had in the fridge, and magically found something that used ALL of them. “Broccoli, comma, and roasted pepper salad with tomato vinaigrette.” Further proof that things that grow together go together.  Also, considering I had olives on hand as a take-home gift from a recent Cook Club (thanks, L!) and had feta in the fridge from some other random recipe, I didn’t have to buy a thing to make this. So it’s also proof that a well-stocked kitchen is the most essential ingredient for quick and easy cooking. And it’s so very pretty.

First, preheat the oven to 400F and spatchcock the peppers. This is not a term used with vegetables usually, but it’s applicable. Cut in half, remove the core and the seeds, and smoosh them onto the cutting board, so they sort of almost lie flat.

Put them on a baking sheet, cut side down, and brush the skins with olive oil. Bake for 10-20 minutes, until the skins are wrinkled, then transfer them to a bowl and cover it with a plate.

Then, make the vinaigrette. Mash up a clove of garlic with a little salt, and combine it in a bowl with some diced onion (or shallot), red wine vinegar, a little balsamic, and some fresh ground pepper. Let it stand while you dice some tomato and halve and pit some Niçoise or Kalamata olives. Whisk in some olive oil, then add the tomatoes and olives.

Cut up the broccoli into little florets, and cut the stems into chunks about the same size. Blanche in salted water, then strain.

By this time, the roasted peppers should be cool enough to handle. Uncover the bowl and remove the skins. Then cut them into bite-sized pieces.

Then it’s just a matter of combining everything: the peppers, the broccoli, the tomato dressing, and some crumbled feta. Finish it up with some chopped parsley, oregano, and/or marjoram, and taste for salt and pepper.

Finished Products – Winter meets Summer

After making the bread pudding, I had about a cup of pureed butternut squash left. I was wondering what to do with it when E. brought over some millet, which reminded me of some millet muffins I’d made last year. A quick google for “pumpkin millet muffins” turned up (surprise!) Pumpkin and Millet Muffins courtesy of Whole Foods. I replaced the sour cream with plain yogurt, and used 1% milk instead of whole. Next time I’m going to halve the cloves, but other than that, the recipe was a success.

Incidentally, the irregular quadrilateral shape of the muffins is the result of my not actually having a muffin tin. So I just stick as many paper liners as I can in a lasagne dish and let them all squish up against each other. It works well enough as long as I have enough batter to make JUST the right number of muffins that fit in the dish.

Then I had half of the package of broccoli left, after putting some curry M. and I had one night. Also in the freezer were some chicken (cooked) and some pesto, made (I think) from the opal basil I got back in August and waiting patiently in frozen form ever since. Combine all that with a half a pound of whole wheat pasta and call it dinner. And then lunch for a few days.

Not pictured is a big mess of bell peppers, onions, black beans, and cubes of butternut squash, sauteed, and rolled up in a tortilla with grated cheddar and the tomatillo salsa that had only been in the freezer since October. And since the black beans were freezer goods also, I felt, on the whole, very accomplished because now there’s actually room in there for next week’s pick-up!

The Contessa Makes Her Entrance

Historically, broccoli has been one of my favorite vegetables. As a kid, sometimes the only vegetable I might eat all week would be broccoli, steamed, with butter and salt. I didn’t like green beans, didn’t like bell peppers, didn’t even like lettuce. My poor mom. But I would always eat broccoli.

I seem to have been avoiding it of late, though, now that I’m all grown up. I’ve had a hard time finding interesting things to DO with broccoli. And since my dinners these days are more likely to be a Big Pot of Something, rather than a meat, a starch, and a vegetable partitioned on a plate, broccoli has not found its way into my fridge very often. (Notwithstanding, of course, the recent Cook’s Illustrated recipe I made, which was delicious.) But broccoli showed up again this week. And rather than redo the aforementioned success, I wanted to try yet another something new.

And so we opened up Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics: Fabulous Flavor from Simple Ingredients, because that is exactly what I wanted. A basic recipe, but one worthy of the paper it’s printed on. And what we came up with was her Parmesan Roasted Broccoli.

First off, you cut the broccoli up into pieces. She uses only the florets, but I could not bear to throw away the stems, so those got cut up, too. Place in a baking dish in a single layer, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with slivers of garlic from a couple of cloves. Roast at 425F for about 20 minutes, until the florets start to brown.

Meanwhile, toast some pine nuts. (I’m getting better at not letting them burn.)

And then also meanwhile, mix up the dressing, which is olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, grated parmesan, and julienned basil leaves. (Picture courtesy of my camera freaking out temporarily.)

I was cutting down the recipe quite a bit, and I played a little fast and loose with the amounts for the dressing. That said, I would personally cut down on the lemon juice and zest. I am quite fond of lemon, but it was too dominant the way I made it. And also I’d use more basil, because I adore fresh basil. (Thanks, A., for the plant you gave me this year–I hope it survives the near-freezing rain we’re having this week.) And finally next time I make this I’ll likely add the parmesan after the cooked broccoli is in the bowl, so it melts and gets distributed a little more consistently.

I know it sounds like this recipe was a failure, but that is not the case. It was more of a learning experience. The techniques and flavors were all great, I just need to figure out the quantities for next time.

Served here with a grilled goat cheese sandwich, pickled peppers, and a fried egg.

When Life Gives You Winter Squash, Make Soup

Take one kabocha squash and one butternut. Roast in a baking dish with a little water until soft.

Saute some onions in a little vegetable oil

Add a boatload of ginger, and lemon zest (because life did not give you lemongrass), and possibly garlic.

Then dump in the cooked squash, and a bunch of chicken stock, and lime zest (because life, again, did not give you kaffir lime leaves).

Simmer a bit. Then puree in a blender (small batches, please–nobody likes getting burned by splattering blender soup).

Return to the pot and finish with a can of coconut milk, then garnish with Thai basil.

And while all that simmering is going on, you can deal with the broccoli that life gave you.

Cut up the florets, and then peel the stems the best you can and slice on a bias, roughly 1/4″ thick. Cook the stems first, for a couple of minutes, and then add the florets. After another couple of minutes, drizzle in a little water with salt and pepper. Cover for a couple of minutes, and then remove to a bowl.

Then in the same pan, brown some butter.

Turn off the heat and dump in some minced garlic and red onion.

And then some lemon juice and fresh thyme.

Broccoli back in the pan, mix it all up, and you’re good to go.