Beans on Toast, Haute Rendition

M. came up for dinner the other night, and there was a lot of talk (or, rather, gchat) beforehand regarding what exactly we would make. She has different points of reference than I do in the kitchen, and always seems comfortable just winging it. I’m happy to throw together random things in a pot when I’m the only one eating dinner at the end of the process, but if there are guests–even guests like M, whom I have known since birth–I usually want to be more by-the-book.* But wing it we did, and with fine results.

I had this massive bunch of Swiss chard in the fridge, which I lobbied pretty hard to have included in the meal plan. When your produce was picked just a day or two before it arrives in your kitchen, it tends to last longer than something you bought at Gristede’s. But even so, I’m trying to be smarter about using the more delicate & perishable items earlier in the week and saving the cabbage and other hearty things for the weekend. So I was inclined to use the chard sooner rather than later. 

I also had a can of chickpeas. And M. had a half a loaf of excellent bread she’d been given by someone that day. (This seems to happen to M. all the time, the receipt of random gifts of food. I wonder sometimes how I can reconfigure my life so that it is a common occurrence for me, too.) And since there are almost always tahini and lemon in my fridge, the conclusion was to make a sort of deconstructed hummus–chickpeas smashed lightly with a fork and dressed in my favorite tahini dressing from The Metropolitan Bakery Cookbook. Those we would spread on toast and top with some sauteed chard.

The end result was a wonderful, light summer dinner, which was almost impossibly healthy. But don’t hold that against it.

*It doesn’t much matter what book that is, however. Ottolenghi, Deborah Madison, David Tanis…

Chickpea & Swiss Chard Tartine

makes 6-8 little sandwiches

Tahini dressing:

(adapted from the Metropolitan Bakery)

1/4 c tahini

1/4 c warm water

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 cups chickpeas

2 Tbsp parsley, chopped

1 large bunch Swiss chard, stems & leaves separated

2-3 Tbsp olive oil

salt

lemon juice

3-4 scallions, chopped

6-8 slices good crusty bread

Whisk together all the ingredients in the dressing. Smash chickpeas lightly with a fork. Toss with the dressing and parsley. Let sit while you prepare the chard.

Dice the stems and cut the leaves into ribbons. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Add the stems and cook until they start to soften. Add the leaves & a bit of salt. Saute until the leaves are cooked through and the stems are tender. Add the chopped scallions and a squeeze of lemon juice. Remove from the heat and taste for salt.

Toast the bread. Spread some of the chickpea mixture on each piece, then top with some chard. Drizzle with a bit more olive oil if you like.

Kimchi Tacos

I don't have photos of the cooking process here, because I honestly didn't think it would turn out well enough to want to share with anyone. Swiss chard, Great Northern beans, my untested homemade kimchi, and some month-old corn tortillas. This was one of those dinners where I was very glad I wasn't feeding anyone else, because it seemed like such a potential disaster. But it was Monday night, and the week's delivery had just arrived, and I needed to use up last week's chard to make room in the fridge. I'd cooked up a pot of white beans the day before, and I had (have) this massive tub of kimchi, and a bag of corn tortillas that were leftover from C.'s birthday dinner (fish tacos & salmorejo). And a quarter of an avocado. "How bad could it be?" I thought to myself. "I mean, it could be terrible, but I'll be the only one who knows. And I can always just have a salad if it's totally inedible."

So I diced up the chard stems, and sauteed them in olive oil with a little garlic, and then added the chopped leaves until both were pretty tender. Then a few big spoonfuls of the beans, just to heat them through.

Then it was just a matter of heating up a few tortillas and assembling. I learned the second time around that it makes more sense to start with a lettuce leaf (good protection against the excess liquid from the chard, like putting peanut butter on both slices of bread & jelly in between to keep the bread from getting soggy). Then a scoop of the chard & bean mixture, a slice of avocado (absent in the photo below because I had finished it the night before), and some chopped kimchi. 

I'm more surprised than anyone that this was actually delicious. Though I'm still learning the proper way to heat up corn tortillas so they are soft and pliable and not dry and cracking. (For the record, that problem was evident even when the tortillas were freshly purchased, so I don't blame a month in the fridge.) Maybe if you crisp them up and do a hardshell taco? 

Swiss Chard & Kimchi Tacos

makes 10-12 tacos

10-12 small corn tortillas

1 bunch Swiss chard

1-2 cloves garlic

olive oil

1 cup cooked white beans

10-12 small lettuce leaves (or 5-6 large lettuce leaves, cut in half)

1 small avocado

Kimchi to taste

Cut the stems away from the leaves of the chard. Dice the stems and cut the leaves into thick ribbons. 

Peel and thinly slice the garlic. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the garlic, and when it is fragrant, add the chard stems. Saute for a few minutes, until they start to get tender, then add the sliced leaves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the leaves are tender. Add the beans, keep cooking until they are heated through, then remove from the heat.

Heat up the tortillas in the manner to which you are accustomed (I hear microwaves are useful for this). Place a lettuce leaf in the center of each tortilla. Add a spoonful of the chard & bean mixture. Top with a slice of avocado and as much chopped kimchi as you like.

Tamarind

The last time I was at Kalustyan’s, I bought myself a little container of tamarind paste. Or possibly tamarind concentrate. Or extract, maybe. I had no idea what I was going to do with it–and apparently no idea what was actually inside the little plastic tub–though I had definitely flagged a few recipes that were likely suspects. It also shows up a lot on the menu of one of my favorite take-out joints, Cafe Mingala. And mostly it just seemed like a good idea. But then it sat in my fridge, unopened, for ages, while I got distracted.

Ottolenghi to the rescue! I stumbled across an older post on his blog, a recipe for swiss chard, chickpea and tamarind stew. Score!

Like many recipes from everyone’s favorite Cordon Bleu-trained London-based Israeli chef, there are some unusual ingredient combinations. And it’s not a “let’s throw everything in a pot and see what happens” kind of stew, either. I suspect that it could work with that technique (one of my favorites) but I decided for this maiden voyage, I’d stick to the playbook. Mostly.

So I blanched and drained some Swiss chard.

And I sauteed some onions with caraway seeds.

I may have forgotten to add the tomato paste to cook before the chickpeas, canned tomatoes, and spices, but I don’t think any serious harm was done. I also realized that whatever the form of the tamarind in my fridge it was not the same as what Ottolenghi is asking for. Mine is thickly runny, a bit like pomegranate molasses. But after searching around online a little, I made a somewhat-educated guess and swapped in about 2 teaspoons of the concentrate for the 4 tablespoons of watered down pulp.

And then I let it simmer while I made some rice (short grain, like I was told to do).

To serve, spoon the stew over the rice and top with a big spoonful of Greek yogurt, a drizzle of good olive oil, and a pile of chopped cilantro.

It is rather tart (thanks to the tomatoes and the tamarind) but with a good amount of sweetness, and then the occasional zip of a caraway seed. And it is delicious. I should probably find some other recipes that call for tamarind, because I have a lot of it now, but I might just wind up making this weekly until it’s all gone.

Have you lived?

I don’t think you have lived. Until you have tried this Swiss chard recipe, I don’t think you have lived. Yes, that’s right, in the photo below, the slightly over-exposed, flash-heavy, un-color-corrected photo of my dinner, the most exciting thing on the plate is that messy mush of dark green on the right side.

More exciting than lamb chops? More exciting than potatoes (or anything, really) with pesto?! Yes. Trust me. Even when I tell you it’s vegan. Just trust me. Serve it with lamb chops to make up for that. Serve it with anything. It is my new favorite thing in the world and I fully plan to make huge batches of it and freeze it so I can always have it on hand.

Here is a close-up:

Not much to look at, but if you could see her like I do…

Here is what you need to do (thanks, again, to Deborah Madison):

Take a bunch of chard and separate the leaves and the stems. Cut the leaves into ribbons and the stems into a coarse dice. Dice a small onion, mash up a clove of garlic with some salt, and dump it all in a big pot with some olive oil, a little bit of water, a big handful of cilantro, a teaspoon of paprika, and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir it all up. Put the heat on low. Put a lid on it. Let the magic happen. Come back in 45 minutes (and maybe stir it once or twice in the interim).

That’s it. There’s no butter, no chicken stock, no parmesan. I cannot explain the depth of flavor in this dish knowing what goes in. It is making me completely rethink my stance on cooking vegetables for long periods of time.

The also-rans from the dinner in question:

Savory Mint Lamb Chops with window-box mint

Potato salad with pesto and green beans, a now favorite inspired by Smitten Kitchen

It was a very herb-heavy meal, and I was worried there’d be some conflicting flavors, but it was delicious. There’s no chard coming this week, but there is kale, and turnip greens, and it’s a 50/50 shot that I’m going to try the same recipe with one or both of those.

Mole Is Never Ready for Its Close-Up

My friend S. discovered, probably before anyone else did, that all you have to do to get me to cook for you is send me a link to a good food blog with pretty pictures and say “mmmm…” I think the deciding factor in that case was an apple cake recipe from 101 Cookbooks, which served the secondary purpose of introducing me to a great recipe source. Sometime last fall, I adapted her recipe for Borlotti Bean Mole with Roast Winter Squash, which I made again this week. I can’t say it’s a very pretty meal, and I also can’t say how authentic this version is, but I can say that it is worth the time it takes to prepare.

Mole is that rare food that I love and am capable of making but yet am never confident in preparing. It is such an odd combination of ingredients that I never trust they will all meld together into the rich, spicy, theobromic goodness that I love so much. But this version is a good ‘un, a keeper if you will, and it’s what I made last night. The thing I forgot from making it the first time is that it takes a loooong time to make. Not difficult work, but this is not really designed to be a weeknight dinner.

Start with some winter squash (delicata here), or alternately sweet potato, in bite-sized cubes. Roast in olive oil until it’s just barely tender.

You’ll also need some chard (kale works, too). Not a whole bunch, though.

While the squash is cooking, caramelize some onion and hot peppers in butter. This takes time, at least 20 minutes, ideally 30, over medium-low heat. I generally do not caramelize onions, ever, because I don’t have the patience for it, as much as I like the flavor.

Add some minced garlic, then a can of tomatoes and some paprika, and simmer 10-15 minutes.

Then here is where it gets weird. Or not weird. It’s just how you make a mole. Add almond butter and cocoa powder, and stir it up to sort of let it all melt in.

Then in goes that squash you roasted, plus a couple of cups of pinto beans (or cranberry beans), and the chard leaves, cut into wide strips. Stir it up, cover, and stick it in the oven for a good 2 hours at 250F. You can get away with less time if you omit the stems of the chard, but the longer the better, really.

Meanwhile, since you don’t have anything better to do, and you’re not eating for 2 hours anyway, cook up a pot of polenta. If you’re feeling ambitious, pour it into a baking dish and let it set up so you can cut it into funny shapes. (Round is funny, right?)

Then, 2 hours later, here comes the mole!

Serve on top of the polenta.

It is a singularly unattractive dish. It looks like any number of things you don’t ever want to think about eating, and since you know what went in it, it’s understandable if you’re hesitant. But give it a go. It’s very rich, very hearty, and delicious.

Return of the Prodigal Daughter

Let me start by saying that there is no cheese in this dish. You read that correctly. This is an egg dish that contains no cheese whatsoever, and yet it is delicious. I didn’t think that was possible.

Now that that’s out of the way–E. has returned to the city! Hooray!

I had this whole lovely post written out, about adapting this recipe from Bon Appétit, which I first saw on Smitten Kitchen and then Blogger decided that it was going to log me out and make me sign in again, and the draft saving hadn’t worked. So it’s gone and I just do not have the patience to re-write it all. So here’s the short version of my adaptation:

Eggs and mix of heavy cream + milk, seasoned. Savory semi-whole-wheat version of Martha Stewart’s pate brisee.

2 leeks + diced chard stems, cooked in butter with summer savory. Then add chard leaves.

Mix cooled veggies into the eggy bowl, and pour it into the pie plate.
Wonder idly why your camera started adding these funny streaks to some photos.
Bake at 425F for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 350F for another 15.

Done and done.

E. and I both had two helpings, and then went through her GRE flashcards. It turns out I’ve been misusing the word “nonplussed” my entire life.

Things I Never Ate as a Child

Growing up, we did not eat eggplant. I think my dad didn’t like it, and much like my mom’s distaste for beans, that preference was one of the deciding factors of our dinner menu. Then there were the foods that just didn’t cross anyone’s minds to cook, like Swiss chard. As an adult, I’ve explored the produce panorama pretty extensively, and discovered that I really love a lot of these things. In searching for a vegetarian lasagne recipe earlier this year, for example, I found one from Deborah Madison that is made with Swiss chard and eggplant, and it is absolutely delicious. Her note in the margin of the cookbook talks about how that particular combination brings out a synergistic depth of flavor in the dish, and I couldn’t agree more.

This week’s delivery included a couple of eggplants and a big bunch of chard. But it’s July. And it might well be unseasonably cool in New York City, but I’m not making lasagne. (I already baked zucchini bread today, this time with cashews and cocoa nibs, and that was quite enough use of the oven, thank you very much.) So I decided to adapt a recipe I found on Not Eating Out in New York.

First, though, a cucumber salad. This is something I ate a LOT of as a kid, because I didn’t care for lettuce, and it was an easy way for my mom to get some raw vegetables into my stomach. Our family recipe was impossibly simple–peeled cukes sliced thin on a mandoline, tossed with olive oil, red wine vinegar, a little salt and sugar, and sometimes some chopped tomato. Tonight I got fancy.

I had 2 slicing cucumbers, and 2 heirlooms of a variety called Boothby blonde. I took one of each.

Many recipes advise that you remove the seeds from your cucumbers (a spoon works well), but personally, I like the flavor with the seeds. So they stayed.

The recipe was another from David Tanis’s A Platter of Figs, and it might not have been a culinary match for the eggplant dish I was planning, but it sounded good. Mix the cuke slices with some julienned ginger, a little salt and pepper, some fish sauce, and some brown sugar. Let it sit while you dice up a hot pepper of your choosing (this is a Holland chile).

Toss in the pepper and squeeze over some lime juice.

Then cover and stick in the fridge until dinner is ready. In my experience, cucumber salad tastes better the longer you let it marinate. When you’re ready to serve it, toss in some chopped mint and basil and scallions.

And now, moving on to the real thing. And let me tell you, this is a recipe that’s going in the permanent repertoire. It’s one of those meals where I had to force myself to put the leftovers away before I served myself a third plate.

Start off with some eggplant. Any variety will do, though not the little baby ones.

Slice them about 1/2″ thick, sprinkle some salt over them, and let them sit a bit while you mix up the breadcrumbs.

I suppose you could use pre-seasoned breadcrumbs, but where’s the fun in that? So mix together some plain breadcrumbs with salt, pepper, and some chopped fresh herbs–thyme and savory worked beautifully, but rosemary would be great, and probably oregano, too. Or parsley. Hard to go wrong, really.

Cook the slices in olive oil, not much more than a minute each side. (I won’t admit how much olive oil I went through tonight, although I will say that I’m glad I hunted for regular as opposed to extra virgin. The smoke point is much higher.)

Set the eggplant aside and turn to the chard. You could do this step first, but that involves thinking ahead. Separate the stems from the leaves, and dice the stems as finely as you have patience to do.

Chop the leaves very roughly.

Cook the stem bits for a few minutes, and then add some sliced garlic cloves and white beans.

Once they chard is mostly tender and the beans are warmed through, add the leaves, stir, and cover. Stir a couple more times over the course of a few minutes, and you’re ready to go. The original recipe called for chopping up some capers and some sundried tomatoes as a garnish, which is perfectly nice but almost unnecessary.

In retrospect, a spicy Asian cucumber salad with a breaded Italian dish pairing is not the most, um, cohesive pairing. But both were delicious.

Eggplant Schnitzel with Swiss Chard and White Beans

2 eggplants (about 1 lb), sliced lengthwise, 1/2″ thick
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp chopped fresh herbs (e.g. thyme, rosemary, oregano, savory, parsley)
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 bunch Swiss chard, about 3/4 lb, leaves chopped coarsely, stems diced
2 c white beans
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1-2 teaspoons finely chopped sundried tomatoes
1 teaspoon capers, coarsely chopped
lots of olive oil

Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt and let sit. Mix breadcrumbs with salt, pepper, and herbs. Pat eggplant slices dry, and then dredge in breadcrumbs to coat each side. Cook in olive oil over medium heat, 1-2 minutes per side, until just cooked through and lightly golden. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Wipe any remaining breadcrumbs out of the pan and add some more olive oil. Raise the heat to medium-high and toss in the diced chard stems. Cook 4-5 minutes, until just tender, then add beans and garlic slivers. Cook 2-3 minutes, until beans are warmed through and chard is mostly cooked, then add chard leaves and stir. Cover, checking and stirring every few minutes until the leaves are cooked to your liking.

Serve eggplant slices over the bean/chard mixture, and garnish with the capers and sundried tomatoes.

Dinner with More Friends

So one of the wonderful things I’ve already discovered about doing this CSA is that it is a great lure to get people to trek up to the Upper East Side. “Hey, want to come uptown? I’ll make you dinner–I have a fridge full of fresh, organic vegetables that need to be eaten!” There are many people who will happily accept such an invitation. So it’s proving to be very good at helping me fight my anti-social tendencies.

Tonight’s dinner was with some friends who are all former co-workers of mine, A., G., and K. The menu was a simple one, inspired by a recent New York Times Recipe for Health, specifically their Provencal Zucchini and Swiss Chard Tart. Mine is a bit different, partly because who has the patience to make a yeast crust that needs to rise, and partly because A. had the brilliant idea that we should double the cheese.

I actually got started on this Monday night, blanching and dicing up the chard, so I saved a little time, but it’s still not bad as a weeknight dinner. So the chard is technically step 1, making this step 2, sauteing things in a pan:

And step 3, baking:

I think I will start referring to things as being “easy as quiche.”

My food photography still needs some serious work, though. I served the quiche with the aforementioned oregano pseudo-focaccia, and a green salad with herbs. The carrot ginger dressing was much more appealing than it looks here, I promise:

Summer Squash and Swiss Chard Crustless Quiche
adapted from the New York Times

1 lb. Swiss chard, leaves blanched and chopped, stems diced
1 lb. summer squash, diced
olive oil
1 red onion, diced
2 garlic scapes, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
fresh herbs, chopped (e.g. parsley, chives, oregano)
salt & pepper to taste
4 oz. Emmenthaler, grated
4 large eggs
butter and grated parmesan to line pie pan

Preheat oven to 375F.

Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Add onion and chard stems. Cook until soft. Add squash and garlic scapes, and cook until tender. Add garlic and fresh herbs, and cook briefly. Stir in chard leaves and remove from heat. Season with salt & pepper.

Beat eggs in a large bowl. Mix in vegetables and cheese. Prepare pie pan by buttering the whole thing and sprinkling it liberally with grated parmesan. Pour egg mixture into pie pan and bake for about 30 minutes, until set and just barely browned. Let cool briefly before slicing.

Serves 4 respectably hungry people with a little leftover for lunch.

Catching up — weeks #1-3

Lemon Balm (week #2) Syrup

1 1/2 c. water
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 bunch lemon balm

put all ingredients in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes. turn off heat and steep an additional 15 minutes. strain. chill.

Lemon Balm Martinis

2 Tbsp. lemon balm syrup
4-5 Tbsp. vodka

mix over ice. pour into chilled glass. serve with a lemon twist.

garlic scapes (weeks #2 & #3)

White Bean and Garlic Scapes Dip

courtesy of the New York Times

Penne with Bright Lights Swiss Chard (week #3), Garlic, and White Beans

adapted from Gourmet

Summer Spinach (weeks #2 and #3) with Chickpeas

courtesy of Madhur Jaffrey in Saveur
cool collapsible tupperware courtesy of my sister, Lindsay