Bubble & Squeak

Recently we had a roast chicken catastrophe in the kitchen. OK so catastrophe might be a strong term, but I was tired and when I roasted the chicken upside down, leaving the breast sort of raw in the middle it felt like a catastrophe. Especially since I didn't realise it was upside down until we went to carve it.

Honestly since I started cooking for myself (and others) I've made countless roasted chickens. Its easy, that's its whole draw.  Except after work when your stuffing herbs and lemons into a chicken's backside at 5pm, after cranking through another balls to the wall day during our busy season at my 9-5, with my mind on 700 other things. When my boyfriend came home at quarter to eight and pulled the bird out of the oven he asked if it was deformed...In these cases sometimes you want to cry, and it feels like a catastrophe. We all make mistakes, and sometimes we all eat chicken legs and mashed potatoes while the rest of our dinner roasts in the oven for lunch tomorrow.

Even better: sometimes delicious miracles come from kitchen catastrophe.

Bubble & Squeak is a traditional British dish typically made from the leftovers of a Sunday roast, mashed potatoes with a little egg and flour and whatever leafy green you roasted or boiled a side dish. In this case (and every case really?) I made some substitutions and additions so that it suited our palates, and what we have in the pantry.

I started with the leftover smashed potatoes (skins on is how we roll in this house, and we whip them with a good old fashioned hand masher, skim milk and local butter) I used kale chopped into ribbons and in place of the egg and flour I used a few tablespoons of nonfat cottage cheese and matzo meal (we're multicultural like that)

A quick spin in a warm pan sprayed with just a little olive oil, a flip and then i topped them with a spritz of thyme vinegar and a sprinkle of kosher salt. Its a warm, filling and surprisingly delicious lunch, or supper (I'd add a side salad).

Kitchen miracles can happen.

Bubble & Squeak

2 cups of leftover mashed or smashed potatoes
2 cups of kale, stems removed, sliced into thin ribbons
1/4 cup nonfat cottage cheese
1/2 cup of matzo meal
garlic powder, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flake to taste*

Mix everything above together, checking that the texture is not too wet or too dry to make patties if you need to add more matzo or cottage cheese to supplement, everyones leftover potatoes are different.

Form patties and chill while you bring a large skillet to medium heat, add a small amount of oil evenly to the pan and drop in your potatoe cakes. when you acheive a crusty brown bottom, flip them over and dio it again on the other side. Pull them from the pan and rest them for a minute before seving alongside your favorite condiments, we like thyme vinegar and salt, or spicy ketchup. Creamy horseradish sauce would be fabulous too. More...

Picnic Perfect

The best way to keep the memory of an all too brief vacation alive, is to picnic on the very same beach the following weekend. And to encourage your friends to eat your experiments, stored safely in your picnic hamper.

Since my friends are mostly vegetarian, and the beach is home to more than one case of sun induced food poisoning every summer; I decided to make everything veggie friendly, and although the picnic basket is insulated, I steered away from anything that might spoil, and therefore spoil our day. 

A muffaletta traditionally features various deli meats and cheeses layered in an entire loaf of bread with a tapenade mix that balances out all the richness. To Vegetarian-ize (yes, I'm making up my own words now) I grilled super thin slices of zucchini, and summer squash,(tossed lightly in coconut oil) and layered them with grilled onions, baby spinach, tapenade, and hummus. Simply pull out some of the inside of you loaf of bread, smear one side with hummus, the other with tapenade, and fill. Then wrap it up and stow it at the bottom of the picnic basket: it gets better if you give it a bit of a press.

The barley salad was inspired by one of my picnic companions. She once made a dip for freshly baked bread out of olive oil, garlic, and copious amounts of cilantro and I couldn't get enough of it. I’ve made it several times since, and when I was trying to think of a side dish that would be sun-safe and also refreshing it occurred to me that the dip would make a delicious dressing, I cut the olive oil way down and added a splash of white wine vinegar, for good measure a chopped cucumber from our garden went in.


For dessert we had Allison Attenborough’s lemon lavender shortbread. I made it in a small cake pan, so we could bread pieces off as desired. Its delicate enough that you taste the lavender but not so potent that you feel as though you ate a potpourri cookie, or licked your grandmothers drawer liner.

NOTE: There is nothing wrong with using fancy picnic fare to bribe friends to come to the beach with you, even though you know they have to work that afternoon.

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Zucchini Panzanella

Remember that zucchini that cropped up while I was on vacation? Well its starting to look like it might be the only one my Jurassic size plants create. And since it was enormous, I figured it deserved a place in the center of dinner, maybe to honor it in front of the garden gods so that they might give me one more zucchini.


Panzanella is a fabulous dish for when its too hot to eat, cook, or live in general. If you are like me, and lighting the grill and standing over it when its ninety degrees seems unappealing, you can use a grill pan and stand in your underwear in the kitchen.

For this version, I grilled cherry tomatoes until just blistered and corn on the cob until it looked - and smelled- really roasted, because my grill pan is teeny I  sauteed the zucchini with a sweet white onion but if you have the space I encourage you to grill all the vegetables.

I used a whole wheat rosemary bread bought at the farmers market, and toasted the cubes under the broiler. In this heat I sometimes just eat popsicles for dinner, so I'm willing to call this a win, even if its not really grilled the way I like it.


I dressed this with homemade raspberry vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper and a shallot all whizzed up in the blender. This is a substitution friendly sort of a dinner salad, so feel free to use whats on hand, if you have no zucchini, use another squash, or make it a little more fresh with a cucumber.


Quasi Grilled Panzanella
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 ears of corn, shucked and cleaned
1 loaf of rosemary bread
1 mammoth sized (or 2 small) zucchini
1 small sweet white onion
Raspberry Vinaigrette

Heat your grill to high, and place on the tomatoes and the ears of corn whole, turning occasionally to give an even char. * Once they reach your desired level of doneness, remove them from the grill and set them aside. To remove the kernels from the cob,I like to stand the ear of corn on the pillar in the center of a bundt pan and cut the corn off the cob with a sharp knife in a downward motion, just let the pan well collect all the roasted corn goodness. While you are grilling your vegetables, toast the cubes of bread and saute the onion and zucchini If you let this go as long as you grill the corn you should get a lovely caramelization on the onions. toss the ingredients together and serve warm with a drizzle of raspberry vinaigrette.

*Pay close attention to the tomatoes as they can explode in the heat, you want them just blistered, then you can remove them. Let the tomatoes cool while you prepare the rest of this salad, while cooking them deepens their flavor, because of their liquid insides they become finger and mouth scalding bombs when you cook them.

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Summer

This week I took time off to visit friends in New Hampshire. Sometimes living in an area where you have to get in the car and drive in order to see the woods allows you to forget that an hour up 95 there is open space and trees and fields that aren't rationed off to those who can afford to live near them. I spent alot of time lying in the sun, staring at the cornfield, and drinking dandelion wine.

 It was a solid reminder that somewhere other than my life things move a bit slower. Nothing particularly amazing happened in the way of food, except for a tour of a fairly sizable vegetable garden, but when I came home I got my first zucchini off our plant, and the first cucumber too. The gifts just keep on coming.

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Faux Pho

Its been a hell of a month, and it doesn't look like our summer is headed in direction that we had hoped. I'm working on a side project, trying to get it up and running before all the summer produce slips away from my fingers, and running myself in two directions. The man, who broke his ankle a few weeks ago and is awaiting a second surgery does a surprisingly large amount of 'the dirty work' keeping the kitchen, and the rest of the house running...and now that he's laid up for at least another month....Well lets just say I'm desperately clinging to the idea that he'll be magically healed in a week...
When he came home from the hospital the first time I had promised him whatever made him feel better would be dinner...cut to Eggs Benedict with hollandaise that was almost clear, takeout Chinese, and a mess of other kitchen horrors that look appetizing... until you bite into them and realize I've been so tired that I forgot salt...on everything.

But tonight, I was on my game...probably has something to do with having yesterday off and doing very little. Tonight I took what remained of the leftover ground beef from burgers we (ahem, my father) grilled on July 4th and made little ginger and beef meatballs, I thinly sliced pea pods from Allandale Farm and cabbage from Two Fields Farm and sauteed it in the wok. I simmered vegetable broth with ginger and garlic and a chile, and after the meatballs got a quick browning, they went into the vegetable studded broth to simmer. Flat Chinese egg noodles sparingly dressed in toasted sesame oil made little nests that cradled the meatballs (more like little meat dumplings, without dough, really) and swam with the broth. I topped it off with some of our very own cilantro and a super finely chopped garlic scape. Rose was poured and we ate before it got dark. I was the winner. The dish reminded me a little of the Pho we used to eat years ago when we lived by the beach. It was pretty easy and more importantly satisfying,(when you aren't eating on a regular schedule, sometimes salad will not cut it for dinner, even if its eighty degrees...besides that's why we have air conditioning)

These are the kind of nights I look forward to, when lunches are packed and the vegetable garden is watered and I live in (feigned) ignorance about the fact that there is not a single clean towel in the house.

I may be tired and not very good company but I'm still cooking.... More...

Jump Start

Yesterday the farmers market opened...I bought some seedlings, arugula, kale, French breakfast radishes and green onions...the market is a great reminder that while you may be seeing corn on the cob and zucchini as thick as your forearm in the grocery store, its still only the beginning of June in Massachusetts, and those things are still a few weeks away around here.

The market served as a beautiful jumping off point for me...I haven’t stopped cooking but its gotten awful quiet around here...and admittedly over the winter I did overindulge a bit. I’m blaming a new job, the holiday season and a damn fine French cookbook...holy-majoly, I was not eating right! But I’m back to eating my vegetables and watching my portions and I couldn’t be happier to see the warm weather (and the sunlight that stretches until 9pm) return. With its return I’m hoping to resurrect the writing I do here.

Lately I’ve broken through a few ‘food fears’ of mine: I baked a loaf of yeast baked bread (!!) and I managed to (miraculously) pull an almost flawless bundt cake from its pan. I’ve been feeling rather invincible…you know, until I burn something. The man and I have been experimenting in mixology which is exciting and terrifying at the same time…we are ardent beer and wine people, but I’ve recently found that if you crush herbs into a cocktail I’m totally smitten with it. (Next up: I’m going to conquer the Americano.)

As I said; we haven’t stopped cooking. There have been all sorts of spring risottos, with fiddleheads and asparagus. There was a week of cold rain that was eventually chased away with pasta carbonara (dear whole foods, thanks for selling prosciutto ends for almost free) I made apple rhubarb bundt cake and a loaf of sesame bread. I roasted fish over leeks and tomatoes, and last week I made amazing turkey burgers on our charcoal grill and I knew summer was on its way.

I cant wait to show you what else we're up to this season.

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Asparagus Pizza

have been living with the man for almost a year now, and since I do most of the cooking, and will mostly eat anything that grows in the dirt, I have had to cultivate a short list of Vegetables To Be Eaten Alone...That is to say, vegetables that the man wont be seen with, have on his plate, and are certainly no where to be found in his (our) fridge.Not that the man is a picky eater, in actuality he'll eat nearly anything you set in front of him, but there are certain vegetables that do not pass between his lips.
Sadly I'm responsible for some of his hated vegetables even becoming his enemies in the first place...I introduced him to swiss chard (he wont even be in the same room with it) and I forced beets on him maybe to forcefully.

Asparagus is one of my all time favorites, and when I heard that it was on the list of Veggies Not To Be Named I had to change his mind. So I did what any reasonable young person would do. I made pizza...

White pizza is a weakness of mine and I had some leftover ricotta leftover from a pasta dish earlier in the week. The Portland Pie Co sells their garlic pizza dough at our local grocery store, and when I picked up a glob I knew what I could do to swing the odds in my favor.

I mixed roasted cherry tomatoes and roasted garlic with the ricotta, along with salt and pepper, as well as some crushed red pepper. I smeared this mix on the uncooked dough and topped it with a bit of crumbled bacon and then topped the whole mess with half of a bunch of asparagus, shredded thin with a veggie peeler. The heat from the oven does an amazing job of roasting the thin shreds of asparagus and the seasoned ricotta and tomato mixture make a mellow base. Salty, crunchy bacon won over the man who admitted that he would definitely try asparagus again, and ate the pizza for dinner, as well as breakfast the next day. Win.

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This Week In The Kitchen

Geez the way I write around here you'd think the new job has killed all the cookery in our kitchen (Say that five times fast)
…In reality it hasn't, just this past week I made fusilli with chicken and asparagus in a spinach cream sauce (we had some fabulous company), a bacon and asparagus risotto (topped with poached eggs!), and a quinoa pilaf with leeks and spring peas that I made too much of and ate for the next two days in my little cubicle at work, totally unwilling to share the leftovers with the man. I’ve been quite good about feeding us right lately and I have every intention to continue it. As soon as the spring vegetables started poking their way into my reading, and my line of vision at the grocery store, I felt more awake about what I’ve been eating than I have in months.
I’m working hard to keep that spirit going, even as the food prices rise and the mercury dips back down into the thirties. This week I’m going to the grocery store armed with a plan. A weekly 'menu' based loosely around what I’d like to eat this week, what looks good around the internets, and what interests me at the moment.
It’s really for my own good,, because if i don’t start writing things down I will come home with one of the 'forbidden' vegetables that I can’t eat unless the man is out of the house, (or at least out of sight) like beets, or chard...you know those colorful and delicious winter veggies that got the rest of the food blogging set through the winter? Yeah, he can’t stand them, and really I can't stand to make something we both won’t eat…and so I wait until he goes out to eat them.
On the menu this week is a dish of chicken dress in pine nuts, lemons and cracked green olives, another quinoa pilaf, (with kale I think this time...), a gingery pork and napa cabbage stir ‘fry’over brown rice, and linguine with fennel and sardines…you might notice that I’ve added meat back into the equation, but it’s a very small amount of meat for the amount of vegetables and grains we eat…I find that that balance works best for me.
As for right now, well… I have to go rescue the cat, because she’s being slow motion chased by the man and its giving her anxiety. More...

Lettuce Wraps

Do you ever have trouble finding the words to make someone understand something? I feel like my life is a series of those moments lately. I must brush up on the english language...or whatever.


I made the lettuce wraps a WEEK AGO after eating some sort of nasty ones at a bar / restaurant that will go un-named. It was in Cambridge, but that is all I will say. Also the service was terrible, its like it would have killed the waitress and the bartender to smile...but anyway, lettuce wraps! they are super easy and delicious! and they are like asian tacos...its a beautiful thing really when you can eat a lettuce taco filled with charred (from the grill pan!) chicken -or tofu, ahem- thats had a bath in spicy, chili laced peanut sauce.

there. i put some words out...thats a step in the right direction! whew!


see you soon.

xo-elle. More...

Long Time, No See

I haven't been writing here much at all have I? Things in my life have been swirling along at a ridiculous clip and I find that this is the first evening where my errands (the really important ones that involve mechanics and buying tires,) are done. Even though my house is an absolute mess, I'm on the couch with the laptop and I'm typing away. How refreshing. The kitchen here got a little makeover in the time I've been away. Some lights and some paint on the cabinets, also a pot rack. Nothing glamorous, and yet it was just what I needed to get me back in the game. The kitchen isn't the only thing undergoing a makeover, as my diet is not so slowly leaving meat behind

Along with reducing meat in our diet we've also been trying to cut down on the extras but that doesnt mean we're leaving meat totally behind... Just tonight we sat down to roasted grape tomatoes with sicilian green and kalamata olives, topped with a roasted peice of steelhead trout. Cooking here is happening fairly frequently, but its taking alot of effort to find something that feels worth writing about. Dont ask me why, I'm sure it has nothing to do with anything...just a phase or whatever it is that they call it.

We did get a teaser or warm weather the other day and it inspired me to start our seedlings (lemon cucumbers! heirloom tomatoes! you will be mine!!) and plan out a summer garden. Hopefully as the light extends into the evenings, and the temperatures rise, I'll feel a bit more inspired to share whats been going on around here. In the meantime, since were trying to eat a little...lower fat, without turning to processed 'fat free' foods, I've been reformatting some of the favorites Ive shared here before.

Remember the banana bread? Well its gotten of makeover as whole wheat banana muffins. We can't even taste the difference between the old and the new, since instead of all that butter we're using greek yogurt, the muffins stay incredibly moist. If you're feeling decadent, a handful of chocolate chips takes these from breakfast to dessert...and thats made them quite popular around here.

Whole Wheat Bana Muffins

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large bananas)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup low-fat greek yogurt
1/4 cup rapeseed oil
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large egg whites
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper cups or parchment.

In a large bowl, mix the mashed bananas with the baking soda and yogurt. Meanwhile, whisk in the oil, egg whites, vanilla and sugar.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt.

Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture. Stir until just combined, careful; not to over mix, because the wheat flour can get tough if you overdo it. Pour into the prepared pan and Bake for about 45 - 55 minutes,
Remove from oven and pan then place on a wire rack to cool.

Makes about 12 muffins
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Healthy Eating

Last week I went back to being a vegetarian. Except for Thursday, on Thursday I was a pescetarian....but when your eating with a big group of family members that you love, and fra diavalo is the request...well who am I to stand in its way? In any event, the holidays kicked my butt and I gained some weight, so I have been using my time away from here to get caught up on sleep, drink more water than ever before, and realign my eating habits...all very exciting stuff. Moving forward I'll be posting what we're eating, just as before.

But while the zeitgeist is all in favor of meat meat meat (google charcutepalooza...you'll see what im talking about) Im moving toward a veggie existence... Since the man loves veggies, and even eats tofu, the switch has been fairly easy, most of what you'll be seeing here will be...ahem, flexitarian...and will stay true to my desire to reduce the amount of processed food that we consume. I'm looking forward to our kitchen's fresh start! More...

Hiatus

I realized this weekend that I need to focus more on some other things Like my health, and the fact that my bathing suit is the worlds smallest scrap of fabric. Putting so much focus on food, making cooking and baking a hobby has left me a little uncomfortable in my dress pants, if you will...Im going on hiatus, while I figure out where Im headed. I switched over to eating lacto ovo vegetarian again, and Im giving up alcohol during the week. I'm hoping to revamp my diet and my favorite recipes to remain as natural as possible but I need to step away for a little while.

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Soup's On

Its been snowy. Snowy and cold. Part of the 'charm' of living in a cottage built in the 1800s, is the drafts that seep in through every window frame and door jamb. They seem to even seep through the walls. When your warm nest feels not so very warm you drink alot of tea, (alot) and then there's the soup. There has been a new soup each week since Christmas.

Each week we make a big bubbling pot that feeds us through the week, for lunches and for simple suppers. Each one packed into the freezer when there's just a little more than two bowlfuls left. Money in the bank, as they say.

Hot and Sour, Pho, Chicken Tortilla, and Vegetable Noodle; There is something about soup. Its restorative in a way that nothing else really is. Maybe its how a pot of soup can bubble on the stovetop and make everything feel like home. Soups make you warm inside, and out. Since we're in need of keeping warm in our little cottage and we've made and eaten quite a bit of soup in the last month, its felt a little bit like a joke to write about it here.

There's no real science to soup. Vegetables swim in broth and maybe they get accompanied by chicken, or noodles. Maybe you thicken it with bread....if you are feeling especially brave, you may even season it with coconut milk and fish sauce. In the end though, even though its just soup, I figure its worth sharing. 



Chicken Tortilla Soup

This soup differs from most others in that we used finely crushed tortilla chips (the leftover ends of the bag are perfect for this) to thicken the soup. I like to garnish it with some sliced avocado.


2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 medium green pepper
4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups roasted corn
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
approx 32 ounces chicken
2 -14 ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 -16 ounce can of kitchen ready tomatoes
1 cup tortilla chips finely crushed
Sauté onion, garlic, jalapeño and green pepper with olive oil in a large dutch oven until soft.
Add all the rest of the ingredients to the large pot and bring to a boil. Poaching the chicken in the liquid for roughly 20 minutes, then remove the chicken breasts and shred. Return shredded chicken to the pot and simmer an additional 30 minutes, add the crushed tortillas to the soup and stir until the soup has thickened. More...

Resolutions

Maybe it was the winter blahs, the lack of an inspiring farmers market, the hectic holidays, or the new job that kept me away from here. Truth be told those same factors have seen me eating way out of my usual mostly-vegetables diet for the entire month…and I cant wait to get back to it

More than ever, this is a time of year to start lists, to visit gyms, to make fresh starts…well lets just say its been a long time since I felt the need to visit a gym just because of the new year but that doesn’t mean I don’t use the calendar as a benchmark. This year I’m recommitting to eating as healthfully, and locally as possible. I’m going to embrace the seasons, and spend time doing what I think is important for me. One of those things is being here…putting my thoughts on…er, virtual paper, and recording the history of our kitchen.

Over my month long hiatus I didn’t do a lot of cooking…I did a lot of heating and assembling…and ate take out far too often. I have started a new job, in a totally different industry, and just the amount of learning left me exhausted by the end of the day. I was eating the handiest thing, which was often crackers and cheese, or leftover lo mein then crawling toward the bed at night. I’m still learning so much, and I’m very happy in my new work, but I miss my kitchen and the creative outlet it provides me. I’m making a concerned effort to get back there, (and if you read this perhaps you will be inspired too?) So far, its been working.

We had a bit of a blizzard last Sunday here in Boston, and the man and I returned home from our holiday visits about 20 minutes after the snow began to fall. No groceries had been purchased for well over a week, and we were stuck in the house with whatever was in the pantry and the freezer. Thankfully we had more than enough to scratch out dinner. Out came the dutch oven (a Christmas gift from my parents) and into it went onions, peppers, cannellini beans and tomatoes. A single boneless breast of chicken-still frozen when I put it in- was poached in the liquid, then shredded. After some liberal seasoning we had a huge pot of chili to eat and after a little internet searching for a biscuit recipe made without milk, we had cheddar biscuits studded with some chopped cilantro I had frozen. They weren’t award winning, but they tender and crumbled almost perfectly. More importantly they were comforting, and it made for a very cozy blizzard to be cuddled on our little couch under a big quilt with a bowl of chili and a biscuit…

The next day as the roads were being cleared and the news people were urging us to stay in doors we put on the dutch oven again and made a tomato and roasted soup thickened with some crushed tortilla chips leftover from a party that were neglected at the back of the pantry. I was stuck inside with nowhere to go and nothing to do, so I went back to the kitchen, which is exactly where I wanted to be. I’m looking forward to many more nights in my favorite room More...