Stracciatella alla Fritz

Lunchtime leftovers on Christmas eve at work.

I love making soup in the wintertime, but I don’t always have time to make it all from scratch. This recipe yields a delicious hearty egg drop soup in about a half an hour.

Ingredients
Low sodium or salt free vegetable soup broth, 8 cups. (you can also use chicken or beef. I use veg because I always have some on hand.)
1 small square package frozen spinach
Two eggs
2-4 oz grated cheese. I use a blend of pecorino romano and parmesan.
¼ cup orzo, acine di pepe, pastine, or other small pasta if desired.
Fresh ground black pepper
Tablespoon dehydrated onions
Pinch of oregano

Bring the soup base and spinach to a low boil. If you’re using pasta, add it here and stir well. Beat eggs and add grated cheese. Slowly drip the combined eggs and cheese into the soup, stirring all the while. When all has been added, cover and simmer until broth begins to clear. (it will probably still remain somewhat cloudy-don’t worry about it, it’s still good.) Add onions, pepper, and oregano to taste. You can add salt if you need to but you probably won’t, as the cheese will add salt flavor to the soup. Cover and keep on a low heat until ready to eat.

That’s it! It’s delicious and so easy.

Beef Short Ribs

Beef Short Ribs are a new thing for me. I never had any idea how to prepare them or how delicious they were until a few months ago, when I ventured into Tonic downtown, and got the poutine, made with homemade cheese sauce and braised short ribs.
Short ribs are a regular on the Penn’s Corner Farmstand meat menu so I decided to try making some. I looked at a few dozen recipes on the internet and then winged it. This is the result of my second try.

Ingredients-
Three large pieces of short rib (about three pounds)
One large onion, rough chop
Hot pickled garlic to taste
A couple of bay leaves.
1 ½ cup low salt vegetable broth
1 ½ cup red wine (chianti or burgundy)
Bag frozen mixed vegetables “for soup” (or not-regular old mixed veg works too)
Half a pound whole wheat pasta or egg noodles. (can also be served over potatoes.)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a dutch oven or other large, heavy saucepan, brown the short ribs on both sides. When you turn them over for the first time, add your onion and garlic, and cover.
Once you get a good sear on both sides, add the bay leaves, broth and wine. Add more water if needed to just cover the meat. Cook on medium-low heat until the meat is falling off the bones, at least three hours. (More cooking time gets more flavor out. Really, you probably can’t overcook these.)
Once it's all cooked, pull the meat out of the broth with tongs and set aside to cool. Pour the broth into a bowl or other large container and put it in the refrigerator. There is a lot of fat in short ribs and if you don’t do some kind of separation, it’ll be gross. I tried ladling it off the first time I made this and it was good but too greasy. I don’t have one of those nifty magic pour thingys that separates the grease, so chilling it works well. Make sure you don’t have any bones in the broth, but they’re hard to miss and it’s unlikely anyone would choke on one.
Once the meat is cool enough to handle, remove the bones and as much of the fat and cartilage and connective things as you can get off. Err on the side of leaving a little fat in, though, because the meat is scattered all through the fat. Put it in a container big enough to hold the meat and the broth together and put it in the refrigerator.
Now, go out for pizza.
When you get home, there will be a thick yellow layer of fat on the broth. Take it off and discard it, or save it for science experiments, or for adding to something that needs fat later. Whatever you want to do with it. Pour the remaining broth over the meat and return it to the fridge, using a larger container if necessary. Watch your favorite Drag Queen reality show if it’s on, then go to bed.
Get up in the morning and go to work. When you come home, put the meat and broth into your favorite saucier. Add the bag of frozen vegetables. Heat it up. Salt and pepper to taste.



Cook the pasta or potatoes separately, and when everything is hot, combine and eat. Take out the bay leaves, or give a door prize to the person who finds them. Congratulate yourself for being able to come home and make an incredible dinner in less than a half hour.




Feeds 3-6 people, depending on how hungry they are.

When I came out of work tonight, this song was playing on my google music player. It made me feel like I was in a movie or something.

What is better than Greens and Beans?

That was the question I asked Bob when we got in tonight. The answer of course, is Greens and Beans with Bacon!

This isn't really a recipe as such, more a general "how to do this" guideline. I'm no expert on making greens and beans but the times I've made them, they've come out delicious.

I started with good quality bacon from Penn's Corner Farmstand, one of my favorite places to get food. I had about five pieces, I cut them into chunks and cooked them until they were just starting to crisp, then added a generous spoonful of hot pickled garlic.



Mmmmm, hot pickled garlic. One of my basic food groups. I have no idea how I survived half a century without this stuff, but it is the bomb-diggity, let me tell you.




The greens are the last of our homegrown collards. Look at this magnificent leaf. The collards were far and away the most successful thing from our garden this year. I will definitely be planting them again, probably more of them, because they did way better than anything else. I wish there were more for this meal but we will enjoy them.



Wash and trim the greens as necessary and add to the pot with the bacon and garlic. Normally I would have cut up an onion or shallot and put it in but I forgot. So I added about a tablespoon of dry minced onion. I will report to the foodie police after we eat.

Another essential in my kitchen is unsalted vegetable broth. It is just so useful. I use the boxed kind from Kitchen Essentials and it's delicious. I use a fair amount of soup bases and stocks in my cooking because I do work a full time job and a good quality stock or base can really punch up a meal. Anyway, this stuff is a staple.



I covered the greens and cooked them until they started to wilt, then added a can of Cannellini beans.



Had to add some more stock at this point because for some reason, collard greens drink stock. I don't know why. Chard, mustard greens, turnip greens, most kale (lacinto kale excepted) all give off stock. Collards and Lacinto Kale drink it. Anyway. Cook it until the greens are tender enough to eat then add a splash of balsamic vinegar and a little red pepper flake IF you want it. I left out the red pepper flake this time.



Then eat it! I like a nice crusty bread with it to sop up all that yummy juice.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I've never been a big fan of squash, but this ended up being very tasty. A little savory, a little sweet, a lot delicious.

Ingredients

Butternut squash-five pounds or so (You can also use buttercup squash, pumpkin, acorn squash, whatever fall/winter squash you like or have on hand)
2-4 oz bacon
medium sized sweet onion
2-3 carrots, cut into generous chunks.
2 cups vegetable stock-low salt or salt free is best.
2 cups pinot grigio
1 cup cream, half and half, or whole milk
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
ginger
cinnamon

Directions

Heat oven to 350. Cut squash into large pieces to prepare to roast. (I cut it right down the middle, then cut those pieces lengthwise. You don't need to peel it unless you're masochistic.)

Place squash pieces skin side down in roasting pan. Place whole peeled onion in the pan with the squash. Brush everything with olive oil and sprinkle with ginger and cinnamon-not too much. Roast for approx 40 minutes or until cooked.

While the squash is roasting, cut the bacon into 1/2 inch strips or so and saute' in the butter. Add carrots. Cover and cook on medium heat until the carrots start to get soft. Add the wine and vegetable stock. Cover and simmer until the squash is cooked and cooled enough to handle.

Scoop squash out of skins. Add squash and onion to the broth. Stir, add a little water if needed for consistency, cover and simmer approx 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. You might need a little salt, you might not.

Add a cup of milk, cream, or half and half, and puree with an immersion blender, hand mixer, or whisk. You may add more milk to taste if you wish.

Serve with crumbled bacon or chives on top.

Mustard Greens with Bacon and Carrots

I made this dish for dinner tonight and wanted to write it down so I'd remember!

Ingredients
Pound of fresh, cleaned mustard greens
4 slices lean bacon, cut into small pieces
One carrot, sliced
Two shallots, sliced thin
Low-salt vegetable broth
White wine
Honey

I used my saucier, but you can use any saute' pan with a lid. It should be deep enough to hold the greens.

Saute' bacon with shallots until it begins to crisp. Add carrots, cover, cook for a few minutes until the carrots start to get soft.

Add 1/4 cup white wine and deglaze bottom of pan.

Add 1/4 cup vegetable broth, add greens, and cover

Allow greens to cook until just about done, then add a tablespoon of honey. Mix well into liquid, cover and cook until done.

Serve with crusty bread so you can sop up all the yummy juice!

Homemade Immersion Blender Mayonnaise

To make delicious fresh homemade mayonnaise with your immersion blender, you will need the following-

One egg, cage free organic and as fresh as possible
One tablespoon fresh or high-quality bottled lemon juice
One teaspoon (or slightly more to taste) white vinegar
Half teaspoon (or slightly more to taste) dijon mustard
Salt to taste
less than 1/4 cup olive oil
About a cup of vegetable, sunflower, or other oil that has very little taste by itself
A tall glass or good plastic container that is a little bigger around the bottom than your immersion blender. (Mine had such a container included, with measurements on it. Very convenient.)

Very important-everything must be at room temperature!

Break the whole egg into the container. Add the lemon, vinegar, olive oil, and mustard. Add about 1/4 cup olive oil, or until your container measures 1/2 cup.

Add 1 cup light oil.

Carefully place the blender into the container, all the way to the bottom. Turn it on for ten seconds, not moving it at all. After ten seconds have passed, move the blender slowly up and down in the container until mayo is completely blended. Don't over-blend! Add salt, more lemon or vinegar, or mustard to taste. Cover and refrigerate. Lasts a week or two if you keep it refrigerated.

Yields about a cup and a half of the best mayonnaise you've ever had. Seriously, you'll never buy it in a store again.

You can use white balsamic vinegar in place of regular white if you like it a little snappier. Blend with a higher proportion of olive oil for more flavor. Add garlic, herbs, chilies, whatever you want for that gourmet aioli experience you keep reading about. It's awesome, try it. Mayo's not scary to make if you have an immersion blender and a source for good fresh farm eggs!

Savory Sweet Potatoes with Bacon Crumb Topping

This is an easy recipe I came up with when trying to do something different with sweet potatoes for thanksgiving.

Quantities of everything are pretty much to your taste. Mine served 12 people, but it was in the context of a thanksgiving feast where the table was groaning from the load of delicious foods.

Ingredients
5 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed. (approx 4-5 pounds)
Reserved sweet potato peels (try to get a good number of long, reasonably straight peel pieces, as you are going to cook these.)
1/2 pound thin sliced good quality bacon
Two medium sized shallots
Heavy cream or half and half
Ginger, ground
Honey
Sea Salt

Scrub the potatoes well before peeling as you are going to use the peels in the crumb topping. Boil cubed sweet potatoes until they are a good consistency to mash.

While the potatoes are cooking, cook the bacon. Cook it nice and crisp, then place on paper towels to drain. Reserve the bacon fat.
Place a layer of potato skins into the bacon fat and cook until crisp, turning halfway through. Drain on paper towel with bacon. Do this two more times for three pansful of crispy potato skins.
Slice shallots very thin and cook in bacon fat until just crisp, being careful not to burn. Drain on paper towel with bacon and skins.

Place the bacon, the potato skins, and the shallots into a bowl and crumble together with your hands or a pestle. Set aside.

Mash the sweet potatoes using a hand masher, a ricer, or a mixer, to your preferred consistency. Add cream or half and half to taste. Add sea salt, ginger, and honey to taste. Since sweet potatoes vary greatly in sweetness depending on variety and season, you really have to taste them to get them flavored the right way. You want a nice hint of sweet and salt without it being overpoweringly sweet. We're not making candied yams here!

Spread the potatoes in a deep casserole dish or baker. Sprinkle crumbled mixture on top.

You may now reserve the dish for as long as you need to, I made mine the morning of thanksgiving and baked it uncovered for about 20 minutes before mealtime. It was delicious.

Tangy Bulgur Salad

I made up this recipe on the fly. I wanted to try bulgur wheat and didn't want a hot dish in our 85 degree summer, plus the thought of crunchy bok choy and lemon juice and olive oil and fresh tomatoes in combination was pretty appealing.

1 cup uncooked bulgur wheat
1-2 cups chopped bok choy
1 medium shallot, sliced thin.
1/2 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 large tomato or equivalent, diced
1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed (optional, but gives the dish a nice protein kick for vegetarians.)
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Balsamic vinegar (white)
Sea or Kosher Salt
Black Pepper

Cook bulgur wheat by bringing to a boil in two cups of water then simmering covered until done. Set aside to cool.
In a small saute' pan, coat bottom with olive oil, add bok choy, mushrooms, and shallot. Cook until bok choy is wilted but still crunchy.

At this point you can set everything in the refrigerator to cool off and walk away for an hour or so. I made the mistake of combining everything while it was still warm and it got a little mushy, as you can see in the photo below. Still tasted good, but not so aesthetically pleasing.

Once ingredients have cooled, mix everything together, adding more olive oil as needed. Add tomatoes and kidney beans, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and white balsamic to taste. Toss everything together and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tasty, hearty, healthy, and easy to make ahead. Just not so photogenic.

Beets with wilted greens

I love making this beet dish and everyone who has tried it loves it too!

When you select your fresh beets, make sure you get ones with good greens attached. Make sure the greens are free of holes and in good condition.

Beets with Wilted Greens

1 bunch fresh beets (Golden beets make this a particularly attractive dish)
One shallot, sliced thin.
Balsamic vinegar
Olive Oil
Fresh Ginger (optional)
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Skillet or Saute Pan with a lid that fits.

Remove greens from beets and set aside in water. Scrub beets well and cube. Add enough olive oil to a skillet to cover the bottom and add beets and shallot. Toss and saute', adding salt, ginger, and pepper to taste. Cover until done. Add balsamic vinegar to taste when beets are almost completely cooked. (If you're using golden beets, I recommend white balsamic but it probably doesn't make that much difference.)


Making sure your greens are very clean, remove stems and cut leaves into bite-sized pieces. Rinse and drain well. Add to pan with beets and cover. Leave on medium heat until greens wilt. Toss once or twice then remove from heat and serve.

Shown here using Golden Beets

Coconut-Ginger Cream Pie

Last weekend, friends invited us to a thai-inspired cookout for Memorial Day (US). I wanted to bring a dessert with a twist, so I made this traditional pie with an updated flavor combination. It was delicious!



Coconut Ginger Cream Pie (with optional pineapple)

Crust:
Approx 7 oz Trader Joe’s Triple Ginger gingersnaps
1 stick butter, softened

Process gingersnaps in food processor until all crumbs. Add butter and process until mixed. Remove and press into 9 inch pie plate, being sure to go all the way up the side. Bake in a 350F oven for ten minutes, remove from oven and cool.

Filling:
3 large eggs
3 cups half and half
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup coconut
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 Tbsp candied ginger, diced
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine half and half, eggs, flour, and sugar in a medium saucepan and on medium heat, bring to a low boil, stirring almost continuously with a wire whisk. As it starts to thicken, stir more.
Remove from heat, add coconut, ginger, and vanilla and stir. Pour into pre-baked crust. Chill.

If desired, once pie is chilled, layer chopped fresh or drained canned crushed pineapple on top then top with whipped cream. Garnish with toasted coconut and mint leaves if desired. Chill and eat.

I stablized the whipped cream using this method-
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 packet Knox unflavored gelatine
1/4 cup water

Sprinkle gelatine on water and bring to a boil in the microwave. Mix well and put in the refrigerator to cool.

Beat whipping cream with sugar until it starts to stiffen. Add COLD gelatin (Make sure it's cold but still liquid) and beat until stiff peaks form.

Orzo in cream sauce with capers

Sorry, I missed taking a picture of this yummy side dish, but it was too good not to post.

Ingredients
8 oz dry Orzo
3 Tbsp butter
One shallot, sliced thin
1/4 cup white wine
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 to 1/3 cup capers, drained.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Cook orzo in a medium saucepan to two minutes less than package instructions. At the same time, melt butter in small saucepan. Once the foam subsides, add the shallots and cook, stirring frequently, until they just start to brown. Add wine and bring to boil. Add cream. Add fresh ground pepper. Bring to just before boiling then turn heat down to a high simmer and allow to cook while you finish the orzo, whisking frequently but not continuously. Watch that it does not boil over.

Drain orzo, put back in saucepan, add cream sauce, stir in. Leave on low heat until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add capers just before serving and add salt if needed.

Enjoy!

Stuffed eggplant

Ingredients

One large eggplant
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
4 cloves Garlic, peeled and sliced
Two small yellow onions, chopped
Five medium Crimini mushrooms, washed and sliced
Tbsp butter
4 oz pancetta, cubed
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan, Pecorino Romano, Asiago or similar
2 tbsp capers
One egg or two egg whites
1/2 cup dry white wine

Preheat oven to 375
Slice eggplant in half lengthwise and score the inner meat with a knife, getting to about 1/2 inch from the skin but not piercing it.
Baste eggplant halves with olive oil, place skin side down in baking pan that has the bottom lightly coated with olive oil. Salt and pepper lightly. Bake for approx 20 minutes or until the cuts separate and the meat begins to soften. Remove from oven, but leave the oven on.

While the eggplant bakes, melt butter in a saute' pan. Add garlic and onions and cook until just browning. Add pancetta. Stir and cook for a few minutes. Add mushrooms. Stir, cover, and cook until mushrooms shrink by about half. Remove cover, add wine. Stir well, boil down until the liquid is starting to thicken.

With a spoon, scrape the meat from the eggplant halves, leaving a thick layer of meat against the skin. Add the meat to the pan with the other ingredients, and stir together, simmering about five minutes and blending the eggplant in.

In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs and cheese. Add the capers and the contents of the saute' pan and stir together. Beat egg and stir in. Spoon into eggplant halves and return to oven. Bake about 10-15 minutes until tops browned and sizzling. Remove from oven and let sit a few minutes before serving.

Potato Leek Soup

My own version, started with Emeril's recipe and moved on from there.

About five pounds of young white potatoes, sliced thin or diced.
Three large leeks, cleaned and chopped
One large sweet onion
Half pound pancetta, cubed
Half a stick of butter
A pint of heavy cream
Most of a bottle of dry white wine
4 cups vegetable stock
Garlic to taste

2 tsp Rosemary
3 Bay Leaves
Tablespoon dried parsley
Fresh ground pepper to taste
Salt to taste if needed

In large soup pot, combine onion, garlic, pancetta, and butter. Cook over medium heat until the onions are soft and the pancetta is cooked. Add the leeks, stir to coat with oil. Add potatoes, wine and stock, and seasonings. Bring to boil, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender.

Mash potatoes in the pot. I used a hand masher, you could use an immersion blender if you like. Add the heavy cream, stir, and simmer until cooked to taste.

If you're into puree type soups, you can run the whole thing through a food processor when it's done but I like chunkier soups, plus I don't have a food processor.

Also, I cleaned the potatoes really well and left the skins on. I like the nutrient boost from the skins, but if you're a purist, you'll want to peel them.

Pictures later, maybe.

Bewitched, bothered and bewildered

Just a quick drive-by recipe. Sorry for the lack of posting on Monday, I ended up working instead of being off as usual and I could not get it together sufficiently to blog. I did knit a hat.



Almost embarrassingly easy one skein hat pattern that I found via the Livejournal knitting community. I'll be making several of these for various relatives.

Monday, when I was supposed to be blogging and ended up working and shopping instead, I bought a bunch of vegetables and wanted to eat some of them. It is a coolish evening and I thought a nice fresh soup would be just the thing. So was born "3B Soup". The three B's being Beef, Broccoli, and Bok Choy.

I think the key to this is really the soup base. I made a lot of greens over the summer (and will continue to do so as long as they're available) and when I make greens, I tend to have a lot of broth left over. Broth from greens makes a wonderful soup base, full of flavor and so hearty. I freeze it and use it later, either in more greens, or in soup, like I did today. If you don't have homemade vegetable soup base in your fridge, you can use any type of vegetable broth.

Ingredients
1 1/2 quarts vegetable broth
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
One medium rutabaga, cubed
One good-sized stalk of bok choy, chunked
Two broccoli "trees", chunked
Three small to medium carrots, chunked
One sweet onion, sliced or chunked
As much garlic as you want
Salt and pepper to taste
(You can cut up the veggies any way you like, but it always looks and eats better if you keep the pieces a consistent size. In other words, don't dice the carrots tiny and have big hunks of broccoli floating around. I like to leave veggies like broccoli and cauliflower in large chunks because they can overcook so easily.)


Place ground beef in frying pan on medium and break up well. Put broth in soup pot on medium heat,add rutabaga and carrots, and garlic, cover. When the beef gets going well, add the onion to the beef and brown them together. Drain well. Add bok choy and broccoli to broth, put drained meat and onion on top, cover and bring to a boil. Stir well and turn down to simmer covered for about 30 minutes or until rutabaga is cooked.

You can substitute potatoes for the rutabaga, or do an East Asian version with a splash of soy or teriyaki sauce, water chestnuts, and bamboo shoots. You can use cubed beef, chicken, or pork in place of the ground beef too, I used it because it was what I had thawed out.



It looks good and tastes great!

Thanks to the I.L.G. we're paying our way

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." --Abraham Lincoln

Happy Labor Day to all my fellow wage-slaves out there. Today will be a mixed bag of sorts because I have no direction and no capability for cohesive thought at the moment to get a thinky post together.

First up, strangely enough, a recipe. I made this yesterday and we proclaimed it good.


Sauteed pork in pesto wine sauce

Approx 1.5 pounds of cubed pork. I used center cut rib chops, boneless, and cubed them.
Two cups of dry white wine (always use wine you'd drink, none of that cooking wine, eww)
Two tablespoons pesto
Olive oil
Frozen asparagus, thawed and cut into one-inch pieces
One cup sliced mushrooms of choice
Fresh garlic to taste
Large sweet onion
Black pepper
Flour for dredging, seasoned with salt and pepper if desired
Half to 3/4 pound of pasta of choice.

On medium-high heat in a deep skillet or wok, sautee onion, mushroom, and garlic cloves in olive oil until browned and tender. While that's cooking, dredge cubed pork in flour.

Remove onion, garlic, and mushrooms from olive oil and put the cubed pork in the pan, adding oil if needed. Cook until brown on both sides. Put the OGM mix back in and stir. Add the wine and bring to a near boil. Add pesto, fresh black pepper to taste, and asparagus. Stir to mix pesto well with sauce and cover, reducing to a simmer while you cook the pasta.

Serve over pasta. You're done! It's good.

I made that yesterday after we came back from Frick Park, where we went with the dogs to enjoy the gorgeous weather, which was perfect for a long walk in the park. I really pushed myself hard, I have not walked on trails since before the accident and parts of these trails were steep and hard going, and some had steps. I made it ok, though. Worn out but OK. My leg wasn't talking to me last night but it's ok today, so we'll have to do that more often.

I took some random pictures, here's some highlights.















We walked up to the corner ice cream shop after and had a cone. It was a nice day.

Dylan (the larger corgi, the one with the V on his head) is having some problems. He's getting older and he's starting to have back trouble in that he's losing control of his back legs sometimes. The vet put him on a course of steroids which seemed to help but just a little. If that doesn't work, options are limited as surgery is horribly expensive and not guaranteed to work IF it's a disc problem. It also might be a disease called Degenerative Myleopathy, corgis are prone to it and it's pretty much incurable and can't really even be treated. It causes paralysis starting from the back legs and is always fatal, but it's painless. Much of the time when you see a corgi using a cart, it's because they have DM. So we'll see what happens and make sure he has the best quality of life we can give him in any case.

We have grasshoppers infesting our lamb's ears plants.


Quite the little colony going there.



In crafting, I have two pair of socks in progress and can only show photos of one.


These are "Angee" from the Cookie A book. They're probably going to be for my mom.

Also spinning the orange Border Leicester from the Waynesburg sheep and fiber thing. This is working out to a nice laceweight two-ply, though I have no idea what I'm going to do with it yet.



It's very creamsicle when spun up.

Maybe a thinky post later in the week. Until then... look for the union label!