Leftovers = glorious

I’ll cook something new as soon as I run out of leftovers.

Best ever black beans and rice (+ mango)

Who knew that this would be one of the best things I’ve made since starting the blog?  Or perhaps ever?  My kitchen smells amazing.  The colors and flavors jump off the plate. You guys, I am not even a big bean lover, but I had a can of black beans and some rice in the house and was in the mood for hearty winter food that I could eat over the next few days.  I eyed this recipe all day, but ended up adapting Deborah Madison’s recipe from her book Vegetarian Suppers because it had prettier pictures. It’s the perfect example of how inexpensive staples can be doctored up into something amazing. Recipe after the jump.

Pork stir fry with tomatoes, spinach, cashews, and all the garlic & ginger

Happy 2010,  lovely readers.

Tomato soup with citrus and ginger

I think I got a variation of this soup recipe from Erica G. originally.  What you need to know:

• It has few, readily available ingredients and is inexpensive and quick to make.
• It’s a pretty color and it smells amazing.
• It freezes well.
• It’s perfect for right now when oranges are in season and you’re bloated from holiday feasting.

Vegetable soup with beef

Three things:

1.  It is colder than a witch’s tit here in Chicago.

2.  I have not been blogging because I’ve been busy finishing graduate school.

3.  I really like the moment when all the stuff you put together in a pot becomes soup.  One minute it’s just ingredients.  Apply heat and time, and pretty soon it’s soup.

This recipe is stolen from L. and then adapted to  how I remember it going together.  It’s like that can of Campbell’s chunky vegetable with beef, only much fresher and tastier and you don’t get that weird dog food smell that happens whenever you open the can.

Turkey soup with squash, kale, and leeks

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Let me tell you about soup.  Make your own stock with the leftover turkey carcass and the green parts of the leeks and stems of the kale and peels of the squash and a big fistful of parsley and 6-8 whole cloves of garlic and salt – cover everything with water, bring to a boil, and simmer for about an hour, strain well, and set aside to cool.  Skim off excess fat and funky stuff.

In the meantime, chop butternut squash, leftover turkey bits, kale, the white parts of the leek, and 2 cloves of garlic.

In a large heavy pot, sweat the leeks in in some olive oil for a minute over medium heat.  Add the squash and let them both cook in the oil for a few minutes.  Shake a good shake of salt and pepper over them.  Add the turkey, garlic, kale, and a splash of white wine.  Stir everything well and pour in 8-9 cups of broth.  Bring to a boil, then turn down heat and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes, until squash is tender.  Chop a handful of flat-leaf parsley and throw it in the soup.

Crushed red pepper makes a nice garnish and, in tandem with the garlic, prevents everything from becoming too Thanksgiving-y.

Variations on the theme:

• Turkey, (cooked) rice, carrots, celery, peas (garnish with parsley, black pepper, and lemon).  This is my Dad’s recipe and it is good.
• Stock (turkey or vegetable) with squash, kale & white beans instead of turkey.
• If you’re craving this on a weeknight or don’t happen to have a turkey carcass around, use commercially prepared chicken broth instead of laboring over a stock – no one will know and the soup will still be delicious.

Linguine with lemon, feta, and basil

The conversation went like this:

“Right now, here in this room, is one of your Christmas presents.”

“Ok?”

“I mean, I plan to get you other stuff, but I saw this and thought of you so I got it, and it’s here right now.”

“Okay…”

“So my question for you is do you want it now or do you want to wait until Christmas?”

I love when two people who like instant gratification find each other.  I’m now the proud owner of Gordon Ramsay’s Cooking for Friends.  The pictures are pretty, the recipes look really tasty, the writing is straightforward, and the author and I have similar feelings on bacon (we’re pro) but the emphasis on fresh, interesting ingredients means that the recipes don’t get weighted down.

P. made me Ramsay’s linguine with feta, lemon, and basil for dinner tonight.  It’s simple, quick, light-tasting, and really awesome.  I’d like to make it for a summer dinner party with little dishes of different kinds of olives all over the table, and a really dry cold white wine.

Roast pork with lemony Greek potatoes

I love Sunday food.  As a kid, Sundays meant dad making bacon or sausage and mom making eggs or pancakes or French toast.  We’d endure the 8 am Mass, stomachs growling, dehydrated, trying to scrape the styrofoam-like Communion wafer* off the roof of our mouths with our tongues, but when we got home there would be the Sunday comics and a really good breakfast, and later on a traditional Sunday dinner with a grilled steak or some pork chops or chicken and mashed potatoes or buttered noodles and some of the vegetables from my parents’ garden.  I’d watch Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery! with my dad at night and pick out my outfit for school the next day.

Pumpkin bread

Unlike Gisella, I get really excited about pumpkin-flavored breads and pies at this time of year.  Like Gisella, I also get excited about savory pumpkin dishes, and will be giving that pumpkin-bacon pasta thing a whirl and also posting my recipe for a squash soup where you put a piece of bacon in the soup and use it as a stirrer – it flavors the soup, and you get to eat crispy bacon.  However, my downstairs neighbors put their Christmas decorations up today and it’s kind of freaking me out, and I’m not ready for the whole “HARK HOW THE BELLS SWEET SILVER BELLS, PUT MORE SUGAR IN YOUR FACE AND BUY THIS THING!” extravaganza that will soon be upon us.

But right now, I’d like to tell you that if you take this recipe for banana bread, substitute one 15-oz can of pumpkin for the bananas, you can make pumpkin bread.  I also use 1/2 white and 1/2 brown sugar and sprinkle in some cinnamon and nutmeg.  It took me 10 minutes to mix everything together (if you don’t count the 15 minute grocery store run when I found out I was out of baking soda).  I’ll be taking it out of the oven in about 45 minutes and eating some warm with a scoop of coffee ice cream for dessert and then again plain for breakfast.

 

Curly kale and potato soup

Woman cannot live by sandwich and coffee alone.  Tonight it was time for a hearty, plain soup with lots of garlic and curly green kale.  Recipe is adapted from The Art of Simple Food, by Alice Waters.  The recipe makes 4-6 servings (2 quarts).

• Remove the tough stems from the leaves of 1 bunch of kale.  Wash, drain well, and coarsely chop it.
• Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a heavy soup pot.
• Add 2 onions, sliced very thin.  Cook them over medium heat, stirring occasionally until soft, tender, and slightly browned – about 12 minutes.
• While the onions are cooking, peel and chop 1 pound of potatoes (Yellow Finn or Yukon Gold) into small chunks.
• When the onions are cooked, stir in 4 garlic cloves, chopped.  Cook the garlic with the onions for a minute or two, then stir in the potatoes  and kale.  Add a healthy shaking or pinch of salt.
• Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add 6 cups of chicken broth.  Raise the heat, bring to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes or until kale and potatoes are tender.  Taste the soup and add more salt if necessary.
• Waters suggests garnishing with a little grated parmesan.  I threw in the rind of a hunk of parmesan when I added the broth to give a nutty flavor to the soup, a trick learned from making minestrone.

You can, of course, easily substitute vegetable broth to make this a vegetarian soup, hence the “vegetarian” tag.  White beans could supplement or replace potatoes.  Carnivores, if you wanted to throw some of your leftover holiday ham in here and use the bone to flavor the broth, you would not be wrong.  You could also think about browning some spicy garlic sausage or linguica and adding when you add the kale, but don’t think that you need to do that, because the soup is miraculous on its own.