Better Vegetable Pot Pie

A couple of years ago I shared my vegetable pot pie recipe here.  After being inspired by my new favorite cooking magazine, Cooks Illustrated, I thought I would share my new and improved recipe.  I kept the filling similar, but added some key ingredients - mushrooms, soy sauce, and tomato paste, which really bring out a more meaty flavor that a vegetable pot pie is missing.  The other big change is the Parmesan crumble that is added to the top of the filling, instead of the puff pastry I usually use.  I have always wanted to my own crust, but after doing all the prep work, who really wants to add homemade pie crust in the mix?  Cooks Illustrated's topping adds great texture, so it is worth the extra 15 minutes.  I didn't take many photos this go around, but pot pie never looks that appetizing in a photograph to me anyway, better I didn't.

Green Beans with Lemon, Garlic, and Parmigiano Gremolata

Sometimes I can get stuck trying to combine all my vegetables to make one main dish, but recently realized there is nothing wrong with just letting each vegetable shine on its own.  A few weeks back, I roasted a buttercup squash and beets, while my friend made some baked eggs with tomato, goat cheese, and dill.  But the best part of the meal had to be the green beans with gremolata (a traditional Italian condiment, of lemon, parsley, and garlic) from Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift's cookbook The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper.  Super soft green beans, seasoned with fresh lemon, parsley and nutty Parmigiano, you really cannot go wrong.  So I thought this would be the perfect recipe to share, since I got green beans again from my CSA this week.

Ingredients for Green Beans with Lemon, Garlic, and Parmigiano Gremolata from The Splendid Table's How To Eat Supper, serves 4:

-Olive oil

-1 1/2 pounds green beans, stem end trimmed

-1/2 cup water

-Shredded zest of 1 large lemon

-1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, tightly packed

-3 large garlic cloves

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground pepper

-1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, fresh-grated

Lightly film the bottom of a straight-sided 12-inch saute pan with the oil.  Heat it over medium-high heat.  Add the beans and a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper.  Saute for 2 minutes, then add the water and immediately cover the pan, and turn the heat to medium low. Cook the beans for 15 to 20 minutes, checking them often for burning and adding a little water if necessary.  You want the beans to become very tender.

While the beans are covered and cooking, make the gremolata.  In a food processor, mince together the lemon zest, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper.  Stir half of the mixture into the cooking beans.  Blend the rest of the gremolata into the grated cheese and set aside.

When the beans are tender, uncover them, cook off any liquid in the pan, and turn them into a serving bowl.  Toss the beans with the reserved cheese-gremolata mixture.

Enjoy!

CSA Week Thirteen

Yes, I realize I forgot to post last week's CSA.  My apologies, but I had a flight to catch.  My BFF got married last weekend and I couldn't be happier - like I-couldn't-stop-crying-in-front-of-everyone-at-ho-down-happier.  That said, lets skip to this week's bounty.

Photo by AWD.

Here is what I got:

-Parsley
-Meslcun greens
-Lettuce
-String beans
-Tomatoes
-Red Peppers
-Potatoes
-Zucchini
-Peaches
-Plums
-Eggs


Thinking about making this plum cake (so pretty) over the weekend, and drinking some of these Porch Crawlers (so deadly).

Tomatillo-Sauced Enchiladas with Spinach and Mushrooms

So my best friend and I are a bit obsessed with Rick Bayless' Mexican Everyday cook book.  Each week we are always calling each other talking about what recipes we have tried.  A couple weeks ago I made Tomatillo-Sauced Enchiladas with Spinach and Mushrooms, and the best part is definitely the tomatillo sauce.  Thankfully, I had plenty of sauce left over from the enchiladas, so throughout the week I was making scrambled egg tacos and huevos rancheros.

Here are the ingredients for Rick Bayless' Tomatillo-Sauced Enchiladas with Spinach and Mushrooms from Mexican Everyday (Serves 4):

-3 cloves garlic, peeled

-Fresh hot green chiles to taste, stemmed and quartered (1 jalapeno or 2 serranos are suggested)
-1 1/2 pounds (10 to 12 medium) tomatillos, husked, rinsed and cut into quarters
-1/4 cup (loosely packed) roughly chopped cilantro, plus a few extra sprigs for garnish
-3 tablespoons vegetable oil or bacon drippings, plus more for the tortillas
-2 cups chicken broth (I used vegetable broth)
-8 ounces mushrooms (button, oyster or shiitake are good), stemmed and sliced
-1 large red onion, thinly sliced
-10 ounces (about 10 cups) spinach, stems removed*
-1 cup (about 4 ounces) shredded cooked chicken (about one-quarter of a large rotisserie chicken) or cubed ham (optional)
-Salt
-12 corn tortillas, preferably store-bought
-3 tablespoons Mexican crema, sour cream, heavy cream or creme fraiche
-1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional)
-1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled Mexican queso fresco or other cheese such as feta or goat cheese

*Note: I used twice the amount of spinach the second time I made these enchiladas, which I recommend if you are not adding meat.

To begin, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Husk, rinse, and quarter the tomatillos.

Quarter the chiles and peel the garlic.

With a food processor or blender, finely chop garlic and chile one piece at a time.  Add the tomatillos and cilantro, and process until smooth.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add the puree and cook, stirring nearly constantly, until the mixture has reduced to the consistency of thick tomato sauce, about 7 minutes.  Rick notes that the more you cook down the this base, the richer and sweeter the tomatillo sauce will be.

Add the broth and simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes to blend the flavors.

While the sauce is simmering, heat the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil in a very large (12-inch) skillet over medium-high and slice the mushrooms.

Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring nearly constantly, for a couple of minutes, until they begin to brown.

Slice the onion and add about three quarters of it to the mushrooms (reserve the rest for garnish) and continue cooking, stirring frequently, for another minute or two, until the onions look translucent.

Add the spinach and optional chicken or ham and cook, stirring constantly, for a minute or so, until the spinach is wilted.  Season with salt, usually a scant teaspoon.  Cover to keep warm.

Lay out the tortillas on a baking sheet and spray or brush lightly on both sides with oil, then stack them in twos.  Place in the oven and bake just enough to make them soft and pliable, about 3 minutes.  Remove from the oven and stack them in a single pile; cover with a kitchen towel to keep warm.

Stir the crema (or stand-in) into the sauce.  Taste and season with salt, usually about 1 teaspoon (add sugar if sauce seems quite tart to you).

Holding a tortilla by one edge, dipping most of it into sauce, then lay it on a plate.

Spoon a heaping 2 tablespoons of filling down the center, roll up and lay seam side down on a dinner plate.

Repeat with 2 more tortillas, arranging them on the same dinner plate.  Cover the enchiladas with 1/4 cup of sauce, sprinkle with a quarter of the crumbled cheese and garnish with some of the resered onion and cilantro sprigs.  Continue to assemble the rest of the enchiladas or save for later.

Eat immediately while still warm and delicious!

Last year around this time I made a delicious quinoa salad, click here for the recipe.

Or if you are looking to make a Valentine's day treat, try some royal icing sugar cookies.  Click here for the recipe.

Southeast Asian-Style Spring Rolls

Last week I made spring rolls for the second time in my life.  The first time was a disaster - the wrappers were ripping and sticking together.  I didn't really know the best way to soften the rice wrappers - luckily Cook's Illustrated had some advice and this time it was much easier.  My big mistake was letting the wrappers sit too long in water - you just want to dip the wrapper until just pliable (about 10 seconds).  These spring rolls were good, but I will definitely add some red leaf lettuce into the mix next time.  I also completely forgot about making some kind of dipping sauce - I was too busy making miso soup (click here to get the recipe), so below I have included some sauces from Martha Stewart's Great Parties book.


Ingredients for Southeast Asian-Style Spring Rolls, adapted from Cook's Illustrated:

-1 teaspoon granulated sugar
-1 1/2 tablespoons fermented fish sauce such as nuoc nam
-2 1/2 tablespoons lime juice
-1 teaspoon salt
-3 ounces rice vermicelli
-1 large carrot, peeled and grated with a large holes of box grater (1/2 cup)
-1/3 cup chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
-1  medium jalepeno or 2 Thai chiles, stemmed, seeded, and minced, or 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
-1 large cucumber, peel and cut half-wise and then cut 1/4 inch planks leaving the seeds behind.  Cut each plank into five 1/8 inch strips.  You should have about 40 strips of cucumber.
-8 round rice wrappers (8 inches in diameter)
-1/2 cup loosely packed fresh Thai basil leaves or mint leaves, small leaves left whole, medium and large cut in 1/2 inch pieces
-1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, loosely packed

To begin, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Meanwhile combine sugar, fish sauce, and lime juice in small bowl and set aside.

Add rice vermicelli and salt to the boiling water.  Cook until tender, but not mushy 3 to 4 minutes.  Drain and rinse under cold water.  Drain again and transfer to medium bowl.  Toss 2 tablespoons of fish sauce mixture to noodles and set aside.

Grate carrot, mince chiles, and chop peanuts in small bowl.  Combine and toss with 1 tablespoon fish sauce mixture.

Slice cucumber and toss with 1 tablespoon fish sauce. 

Now you are ready to assemble your rolls.  Place a damp kitchen towel on the counter.  Fill a 9-inch pie plate with 1 inch of room-temperature water.  

Working one at a time, immerse wrapper in water until just pliable, about 10 seconds; lay softened wrapper on towel.  

All photos below taken AWD.

Scatter 6 cilantro leaves and 6 Thai basil or mint leaves over wrapper.  

Arrange 5 cucumber sticks horizontally on wrapper, add 1 tablespoon carrot mixture and about 2 1/2 tablespoons noodles on top of the carrots.  

Fold over 2 inches of bottom border over filling.  Fold left, then right side of wrapper of filling.  Roll filling to top edge to create a tight cylinder.

And your done!  Below are some recipes for the dipping sauces.

Ingredients for Peanut-Hoisin Sauce from Martha Stewart's Great Parties (makes  1 3/4 cups):

-1 cup hoisin sauce
-1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
-1/3 cup finely minced yellow onion
-1 tablespoon ground-chile paste, or to taste
-1 tablespoon finely chopped peanuts

Combine 1/2 cup water, hoisin sauce, vinegar, and onion in saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat to low; simmer until onions have softened, 7 to 9 minutes.  If sauce becomes too thick, add water.  Let cool.  Transfer to serving dish; top with chile paste and peanuts.


Ingredients for Vietnamese Dipping Sauce from Martha Stewart's Great Parties (makes 1 1/2 cups):

-1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
-1 teaspoon ground-chile paste
-1 Thai chile or serrano pepper, chopped, optional
-1/4 cup Asian fish sauce
-2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
-1/4 cup sugar
-2 tablespoons grated carrot, for garnish

With a mortar and pestle, pound garlic, chile paste, and fresh chile into a paste (or mince together with a knife).  It is best to wear plastic gloves so that the chiles don't burn; be sure not to rub your eyes after chopping.  Transfer to a bowl.  Add fish sauce, 2/3 cup hot water, lime juice, and sugar.  Whisk together until sugar dissolves.  Serve sprinkled with carrots.

Last year, at this time I made Rainbow Cake.  Click here for the recipe.