Heirloom Tomato & Nectarine Panzanella

serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 medium-sized heirloom tomatoes
• 1 nectarine
• 1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves
• about 3 cups of bread cubes, cut from a crusty loaf
• olive oil
• white wine vinegar
• salt and pepper
• shaved or crumbled cheese of your choice (parmigiano, pecorino, feta, goat cheese, etc.)

Method:

• Heat oven to 400. Prepare a sheet pan or cookie sheet with a piece of foil.
• Cut tomatoes and nectarine into 1/4 inch cubes and place into a large bowl with their juices.
• Put the bread cubes in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil (1-2 Tblsp) and white wine vinegar (2-3 tsp). Add a sprinkling of salt and pepper and toss together.
• Spread bread cubes on sheet pan in a single layer. Cook until browned and crisp, about 10-15 minutes, being careful not to burn. Remove from oven.
• Add bread cubes and spinach to tomato/nectarine bowl. Drizzle with a bit more olive oil and vinegar and mix together with your hands or with tongs. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add more oil or vinegar if necessary.
• Let sit about 5-10 minutes before serving. This salad is best when the bread is half crunchy and half soggy.

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Homemade dressing is the final piece in the perfect salad puzzle. The Smitten Kitchen recipe is my favorite. It’s easy to make and tastes divine, without any of the funky multisyllabic ingredients that store-bought dressing is full of.

Get the recipe here!

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I’m just THAT good, people.

I’m kidding. My cooking philosophy is that cooking is all about experimentation- and sometimes it works out great, other times (most times?), notsomuch. This is just hitting a tiny lottery. Like, not the big one- but maybe that one where you win $10 and a chance to play again.

Here’s why it’s easy: at the end, you put it in a blender, so when you’re chopping everything, you can chop really lazily and imperfectly. Also, there aren’t a whole lot of ingredients to get together. Go for it!

Creamy Leek and Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 leeks, sliced (white part & light green part)
• 4 oz cremini mushrooms
• 4 ox shiitake mushrooms
• 4 cups chicken or mushroom stock
• 1/2 cup white wine
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Heat 2 Tblsp butter in a soup pot. Add onio and leeks and cook about 5 minutes, until soft and translucent.
• Add remaining tablespoon butter and melt. Add mushrooms and cook to soft, 5-7 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes.
• Add stock, wine, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about an hour.
• Let the soup cool on the stovetop (slightly or to room temperature, your choice) and blend in batches in a blender.
• Return to pot and heat through.

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So how did it get to be that color? Lots of artificial food coloring and FD&C red, of course! OK, not really. You just need to use a purple cabbage. Then, ShaZAM! (OK I might be over-Shazaming. That was the last one, I promise.)

I’ve mentioned before that Buddha said that if you want to be healthy, you should eat the rainbow. This recipe definitely fills that bill. I put some in a jar for Ross to take to work and the jar also looked beautiful.

SHAZAM!!! I lied earlier. I will never stop Shazaming this blog post. And now you probably think I’m drunk but I assure you I am not. Over-caffeinated, maybe. Excited by soup, definitely!

Wow. Excited by soup. That is pretty lame. I think I need to get out more.

Beautiful Cabbage Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, grated
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 large potato, grated
• 1/2 head purple cabbage, shredded
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 parmesan rind
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup parmigiano, grated
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

• Heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium high heat. Add onion and cook 5 minutes, until soft.
• Add carrot, potato, and cabbage and cook about 1 minute, stirring.
• Add broth, parmesan rind, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
• Add milk and stir to heat.
• Turn off heat and add grated parmesan. Taste and adjust seasoning.

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OK not really. That is what is known as “hyperbole”. What this salad will do for you is make you feel extremely smug about how healthy you are and how many vitamins and antioxidants and such you’re getting in one little salad, and make you really popular when you bring it to a picnic, and make you happy because it’s super tasty.

As for the unicorns, I guess you could cornify this recipe. You’re on your own with the rainbow poops. If you figure out how to do it, let me know.

Springy Super Salad

serves 2-3 as a main course, 4-6 as a side

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons + 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 small bunch asparagus, rinsed, trimmed, and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 small bunch baby broccoli, rinsed, trimmed, and chopped (can substitute regular broccoli)
• 2 cups shelled edamame (soybeans), cooked, drained, and rinsed in cold water
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon nonfat or lowfat plain yogurt
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese, shaved or grated
• Salt and pepper

Method:

• Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Add onions and ¼ teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Turn heat to low. Cook onions, stirring every few minutes, until soft, brown, and caramelized, about 45 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
• Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. Bring 2 cups salted water to a boil in a saucepan on the stove. Add broccoli and cook for 2 minutes. Add asparagus and cook an additional 2 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.
• Make the dressing by combining 2 tablespoons olive oil, lemon juice, yogurt, soy sauce, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. You can do this with a whisk or fork, or put all the ingredients in a jar and shake well.
• To assemble the salad, put broccoli, asparagus, and edamame in a bowl and mix well. Add caramelized onions, parmesan, and dressing to taste (you may not need all of it).
• If you want to make this ahead, you can mix the broccoli, asparagus, edamame, and onions together, make the dressing separately, and store everything in the fridge. Before serving toss the vegetables with the parmesan and dressing.

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If done well, Tortellini in Brodo is like a super delicious, rich, hearty, filling version of chicken soup. It’s a classic Italian dish, but the way I make it is far simpler than other recipes I’ve seen. After describing it to Ross he decided he wanted some too, so tonight I made it for dinner. It’s just the thing after a long day at work! Plus, it’s so simple I’d bet even your kids will eat it. Since the recipe is so simple, the quality of ingredients is extra important.

• Put broth and oil in a pot and bring to a boil.
• Add tortellini and cook as directed. When cooked, remove tortellini to serving bowls with a slotted spoon.
• Continue cooking broth until reduced by 2/3 to 1/2 of volume. Pour over tortellini.
• Top with a few shavings of parmigiano and serve immediately.
• Note: if your chicken broth is not as flavorful as you wish, you can add 1-2 small packets of liquid chicken broth concentrate (you can get it at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.)

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This soup has a very interesting, almost mousse-like texture. It is really rich tasting, lemony, and frothy. A definite hit that’s one of my go-to recipes. The chicken flavor reeeeeally does it for me but you could go vegetarian with a mushroom or vegetable broth.

Avgolemono
this amount will serve 6-8, depending on what else you’re going to serve with it.

Ingredients:

• 8 cups chicken broth (best quality you can find, or homemade ideally*)
• 1 cup orzo  or rice
• 4 eggs, separated
• juice of 3 lemons
• salt to taste
• chopped mint or cilantro for garnish

Method:

• Heat the broth until it boils, then add the orzo or rice and simmer until tender, about 20 min.
• Meanwhile, whip the egg whites until they hold medium peaks.
• While beating continuously add the yolks and then the lemon juice.
• Temper the egg mixture by adding 2 cups of the hot chicken broth in a slow, constant stream while continuing to beat so that you do not curdle the eggs.
• Add the tempered egg mixture back into the remaining broth and combine. Taste and add salt if needed.
• Garnish with mint or cilantro.
• You can make it ahead, but heat it up slowly over low heat so the eggs don’t cook too much.

* Here is a link to a recipe for homemade chicken stock. But don’t get me wrong. I never make chicken stock because I am LAZY. Occasionally I buy fancy stock from a fancy store but also I am CHEAP so that’s not my norm. For those of you who make stock, GOOD JOB. You are better than me and I bow to you. For those of you who are lazy and cheap, here is my secret to success: I like Pacific organic chicken stock (from Whole Foods, NOT reduced sodium, iww) with a couple of those semi-weird liquid concentrated chicken stock packet thingies (also from Whole Foods, or Trader Joes).

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You might be wondering why this salad is Buddha-Approved. My friend Linsey was visiting from New York, and we were cooking together. She was explaining that in essence, the Buddha’s diet advice was to eat things that were all different colors for the best nutrition and health. I have no idea if that’s true, but it sounds good and makes sense. Ergo she and I chose vegetablesof all different colors for our salad, including these pretty dark purple wax beans.

They lost some of their color in the cooking process but I think Buddha would still approve.

Buddha-Approved End of Summer Salad

Serves 4 as an appetizer. You don’t really have to measure the vegetables- feel free to eyeball, adjust, and play as much as you like.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb purple wax beans (green or yellow is OK if you can’t find purple)
• 1 cob white corn
• 3 cups arugula
• 1 cup mixed color heirloom cherry tomatoes, chopped in half
• 1 1/2 tsp dijon or grainy mustard
• 1/4 cup hazelnut or walnut oil
• 2 T white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp finely chopped marjoram
• 2 T finely chopped shallots
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil for sauteing

Method:

• Trim the beans and chop into 1 inch pieces. Cut corn off cob.
• Saute beans and corn briefly in a small amount of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt, just to tenderize. Remove from heat and set aside.
• Combine mustard, oil, vinegar, marjoram, shallots, lemon juice, and salt and pepper until thoroughly mixed. (I like to do this in a jar so it’s easy to mix by shaking the jar.) Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
• Toss arugula, corn, beans, and tomatoes in serving bowl with dressing. Serve immediately.

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Vieques is a notoriously, unabashedly casual place, and El Quenepo is probably the “fanciest” restaurant on the whole island. I say that in quotes because, well, nothing on Vieques could remotely be referred to as fancy- we’re talking about a restaurant with a hand-painted sign and no glass in the window frames. Still, it’s an utterly charming place with a laid-back island aesthetic and an adventurous, sophisticated fusion menu. The owners are a young couple from Virginia who encourage local farmers on Vieques to grow food for use in the restaurant, which is a real treat in the Caribbean, where most folks don’t emphasize the importance of eating locally. If you find yourself in Vieques, I highly encourage you to head to the Malecón in Esperanza and give El Quenepo a try.

A few notes about the recipe:

1. This would work better on a BBQ grill, but alas, I don’t have one, so I used a grill pan, which worked just fine.
2. For the bread for the croutons, you can really use anything. I used sliced sourdough that had gone a bit stale.
3. If you’re uncomfortable using a raw egg yolk, you can leave it out.
4. If you prefer your caesar with anchovies, you can add 3 to the dressing and/or you can place them on top of the salad when you plate it!

Grilled Caesar Salad

serves 2 as a main course; 4 as a side.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 slices bread
• garlic salt to taste
• 3/4 cup grated parmigiano or pecorino cheese
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• 1 raw egg yolk
• 1/4 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tblsp slivered almonds
• salt and pepper
• 2 small heads of romaine
• extra olive oil for grilling and toasting

Method:

• Make the croutons: Cut bread into 1/2 inch cubes. Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a non-stick saute pan (at least a couple tablespoons). Add bread cubes and a healthy sprinkle of garlic salt to the oil. The bread will quickly soak up the oil. Add more as needed (don’t be afraid you’re adding too much because in this case there’s practically no such thing.) Taste and add more garlic salt as necessary. Cook bread cubes until toasty on all sides, flipping often. Remove to bowl and set aside.
• Make the dressing: Put cheese, lemon juice, garlic, yolk, oil, almonds, and salt and pepper in a food processor or blender. Blend until thick and creamy, scraping down sides in between. Set aside.
• Grill the romaine: Cut the romaine lengthwise, leaving the hard connector part on the bottom intact (you’ll remove it later.) Heat a grill or grill pan to very very hot. Brush the cut side of the romaine with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper. Press the cut side onto the grill or pan, checking every 5-10 seconds (it will cook very quickly.) You don’t want the lettuce to wilt too much, just to get the cut side smoky and grilled.
• Assembly: Place romaine on plate and sprinkle croutons around. Drizzle dressing over.

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Now I have never been into dieting or counting calories, but from time to time, often around the start of swimsuit season, I begin to eye my middle section and think that it’s starting to look like Costco up in here with all these muffin tops. This extra unwanted pudge is most likely a result of my personal interpretation of the food pyramid, which, if I’m being honest, looks about like this:

From this pyramid you may deduce a few things. Such as: I am a food hedonist and I really don’t like to deny myself anything. I like to eat animals and gorge on starches. I loves me some wine and meat… and butter, heavy cream, and cheese are all vying for the role of “Karen’s BFF.” So, my goal is to change up my pyramid a bit while still maintaining my lust for life and all of its edible/drinkable wonders. This will mean reinforcing some good habits and rewiring some bad ones. I am aiming for a pyramid that’s more like this:

I’m also in love with this iPhone app called LoseIt! which lets you set calorie goals and then log all of your exercise and  food. It’s great at helping me figure out what some of my good and bad habits are! Tonight my goal was to eat something really tasty, filling, and low calorie, since I had totally crammed a huuuuge bagel with ginormous snowy peaks of cream cheese for breakfast, and I had a fair bit of wine last night (I’m going to let you interpret the phrase “a fair bit” however you wish…) I decided it would be fun to challenge myself tonight.

I wouldn’t have believed it was possible until I did it. But I am here to tell you: I am virtuous. I ate my veggies. I got my balance. My pyramid is turning a corner. I am still full, hours later. And I did it all for 190 calories. But don’t be afraid! I have sacrificed NO deliciousness for this meal. It’s the real deal: and I didn’t even have any wine or butter or bacon to go with it.

Asian Chopped Salad with Tuna and Mint

serves one.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 carrot, peeled and grated
• 1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts
• 5-7 mint leaves, chopped finely
• 1 1/2 cups spinach leaves, roughly chopped
• 2 scallions, chopped finely
• 1 three oz. can solid white albacore tuna in water, drained
• 1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1-2 tsp fresh grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• salt and pepper

Method:

• Combine veggies, mint, and tuna in a bowl and toss.
• Mix together lemon juice, ginger, oils, vinegar, soy sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Toss dressing with salad.
• Bask in the imagined glory of how thin your thighs would look if you ate like this every night!

The calorie breakdown, with the amounts in the recipe, in case you’re interested…

• 1/2 carrot: 13 calories
• 1/2 cup sprouts: 4 calories
• 5 mint leaves: 3 calories
• 1 1/2 cup spinach: 15 calories
• 2 scallions: 6 calories
• 3 oz. tuna: 80 calories
• 1 tsp. lemon juice: 4 calories
• 1 tsp ginger: 2 calories
• 1/2 tsp rice vinegar: 3 calories
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil: 20 calories
• 1 tsp vegetable oil: 40 calories
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce: 1 calorie
• GRAND TOTAL >>> 190 CALORIES!
  

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