Kids Dish

Thursday’s box contained two quarts of shelling peas, a bunch of beets, a bunch of baby pak choi, a bunch of lacinato kale, and a bunch of shard. I still had some green onions, the entire bunch of turnips, some of the lettuce and a head of regular sized pak choi left from the week before when I was sick and couldn’t bring my feverish self to the kitchen.

To make sure I’m using all of the vegetables in a timely manner I’ve been making a list on the fridge and crossing the vegetables I use off as I go. We didn’t do too badly last summer and so far we’ve only lost a bit of lettuce to the compost bin. Two heads of lettuce is more than we can eat in a week, but since that box was farmer’s choice I don’t blame myself.

The two year old has become quite the picky eater as of late, subsisting mainly on fruit and noodles. I’m not too concerned. I know that this will pass and until it does I’ll just keep offering. I don’t cook him a separate meal (though we do cook more pasta then we need so we’ll have leftovers at the ready) so he gets what we eat on his plate and if he doesn’t eat it I’ll bring out something from the fridge or cabinet so he won’t go to bed hungry.

So what do you do as an adult if you’re stuck with something in the CSA box you don’t like? I don’t like radishes and last summer our radishes (I ordered them once on a whim) ended up in the compost after a month or two in the fridge. This time I did a search and found a recipe for radish sandwiches. It sounded pretty awful- just baguettes, butter and thinly sliced radishes, but the reviews said they worked. And sure enough they did.

Here’s the recipe from epicurious.com

2 1/2 bunches radishes, trimmed
Unsalted butter, room temperature
20 1/4-inch-thick diagonal slices baguette
Maldon sea salt or coarse kosher salt

Place radishes in medium bowl of ice water and chill at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours. Drain radishes and slice thinly. (use a mandoline or v-slicer if you have one)
Spread butter generously over baguette slices and sprinkle lightly with sea salt or coarse kosher salt. Arrange radish slices atop buttered baguette slices and serve.

I skipped the chilling, used 3 large radishes and salted butter. I also toasted the baguette. If you have radishes to use up this is a palatable way to do it.

Disinterested as I’ve been, I’ve still got to get dinner on the table most nights. Dinner has primarily consisted of boxed pasta and jarred sauce with a boring, steamed vegetable, but that’s about all I can take these days. Last night Bob said he’d make dinner. I’d bought feta cheese last week so I could make zucchini and feta patties with the last of the zucchini from last summer but I figured that would be too complicated for him with the draining, mixing and frying. I had a package of organic spinach so I decided to have him make a quiche with spinach and feta instead. I had him pull a package of puff pastry out of the freezer to defrost before he went to scrape paint in one of the third floor bedrooms.

Close to two hours later I realized that if I wanted dinner on the table before 9 I’d have to make it myself. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees, the temperature on the puff pastry package directions for a fruit dessert, and rolled out the puff pastry a little bit. I knew it was too late to make a quiche, so I wasn’t really sure of what to do with it once I rolled it. I decided to just cut it into squares and make little turnovers. I chopped an onion and sauteed it in a knob of butter. When the onion was soft and slightly browned I added a few cloves of garlic. About 30 seconds later I added the fresh spinach and stirred until wilted. I added about 4 ounces of crumbled feta, some fresh ground pepper, a few shakes of dried basil and oregano,and a pinch of nutmeg to the pan and stirred well. I put a spoonful of the spinach filling in each square of puff pastry and sealed the edges. I thought an egg wash would be nice, but didn’t feel like making the effort so I took out the Misto and sprayed each turnover with a little olive oil and stuck them on an ungreased baking sheet and baked for about 20 minutes, until the puff pastry was golden brown.

Aside from defrosting, the whole thing took about 30 minutes start to finish. The turnovers were delicious. Easier than spanakopita and much quicker.

Double posted from Farm to Philly

One of the unfortunate side effects of pregnancy for me is an aversion to most vegetable matter. Ordinarily I cook several vegetable heavy meatless meals a week, but since learning I was pregnant in September we’ve mostly eaten take out pizza, meals involving ground beef, and cheesy pasta dishes. This does not bother my husband at all. My taste for vegetables eventually returned, but my desire to buy and prepare food other than pizza and cookies has been lackluster at best. I used to go out of my way to shop at the farmer’s market in Ardmore every week. Now I’m feeling ambitious if I manage to stop in to the Marketplace at East Falls on our way to the zoo or Smith Playhouse. Our refrigerator has never been so bare. One week we even forgot to get our Meadow Run Farm monthly meat order from the pick up site and sheepishly found it still on the porch the next day. It’s a good thing it’s cold outside.

Yesterday, after eating a cupcake and Utz (local!) pretzels with Bobbi’s (local!) hummus for lunch I figured it was time to cook something that wouldn’t be found on a school cafeteria menu. I knew I had a butternut squash still in the dark cabinet beneath the pantry and decided to use it. I found a recipe for Butternut Squash, Bacon, Rosemary and Phyllo Pizza on Epicurious and scoured the kitchen and freezer in the garage for the rest of the ingredients.

In the freezer I unearthed some bacon from Meadow Run and my rosemary plant is still thriving out back. I didn’t have scallions or red onion, but I had a regular onion that I sautéed in reserved bacon drippings with a clove of garlic from my CSA I found hiding behind the squash. There was half of a package of phyllo dough in the freezer, and to add some greens to the dish (since I had no intention of making anything other than the pizza for dinner) I pulled out some Swiss Chard I’d frozen early in the fall when I couldn’t bring myself to eat it.

I’m pretty good with phyllo so the whole thing took about an hour from start to finish. I wasn’t sure at first, but after my second slice I decided the pizza was delicious. It could have used a bit more rosemary, and the squash puree needed some seasoning other than salt and pepper, but on the whole it was good. Really, I’m a sucker for just about anything made with phyllo dough. (And it was a lot easier to make than the butternut squash and caramelized onion that filled my house with smoke last month.) I would definitely make it again as party appetizer using phyllo cups instead of sheets.

The local ingredients were bacon from Meadow Run Farm, butternut squash, garlic and Swiss chard from Red Earth Farm CSA and rosemary from my backyard.

We were away for the long President’s weekend in New Hampshire with two other couples. My plan was to make some sort of casserole or easily frozen dish to reheat for dinner one night. Bob, however, felt that my suggestions (spanakopita, lasagna) weren’t meaty enough- never mind that my favorite lasagna to make is lasagna Bolognese- so I scrapped the idea and brought nothing but a batch of cranberry muffins, a dozen bagels and cream cheese, fruit and Sam’s favorite snacks.

The two nights we cooked (the third night we had pizza) I ended up making the vegetable dishes and garlic bread to serve along with the pasta and salad. I can’t help but mention that all of the meals prepared over the weekend were most decidedly not meaty, but that’s neither here nor there. We had fettuccine carbonara the first night and baked ziti the second night.

Sam, in typical toddler fashion, preferred to snack on crackers instead of eating dinner. He did eat a ton of bacon on the carbonara night, something he’s never shown interest in before. But in typical Sam fashion he did eat the veggies and lots of them. One night I cooked asparagus, a vegetable we haven’t really eaten since spring. Sam LOVED it.

Asparagus is pretty versatile, but it’s really only in season for a short period of time. The rest of the year it can taste woody and stringy, especially if you’ve been lucky enough to eat it in season. While I learned to prepare it quickly and simply in spring to showcase its flavor, in the winter it benefits from roasting to bring out its sweetness.

Roasted Asparagus

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lay the asparagus on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil. Shake the baking sheet back and forth so the asparagus is coated. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast for 10 minutes, or until fork tender. You want the asparagus to still have a bit of crunch. Thicker stalks may take a bit longer, thinner stalks will take less time.

Sam and I are both suffering through a virus right now. Our symptoms include runny noses, hurty coughs, and low (but high enough make us feel like crap fevers. The other day, after not eating much of anything for more than 24 hours I decided to suck it up and make some chicken soup.

I used to save every last bit of vegetable I didn’t feel like eating. That half of an onion I’d forgotten in the fridge, the sprouting garlic cloves, the wrinkled carrots long past their prime, the broccoli stalks Bob turns his nose up at, and the tips of green beans all made their way into freezer bags which I’d save to make stock with. Depending on the other contents of the freezer- if I’d been saving chicken parts as well- I’d use the bags to make either veggie stock or chicken stock.

Since I started composting over the summer the contents of my freezer have reduced accordingly. There are far fewer veggies making their way into the freezer, which sadly results in less flavorful stock. To make up the difference, I decided to give the bouquet garni a bit of an Asian twist. I threw in a hunk of ginger, a hot pepper, some whole cloves, allspice and mustard seed.
I used the general recipe I posted a while ago, only instead of a whole chicken I used chicken carcasses, backs, necks and wings I’ve been saving the past few months and threw in a whole chicken breast in the last forty minutes of cooking. I thought about adding rice noodles, but thinking of my sick little boy I threw in some regular noodles that he’s more used to instead. Honestly, I couldn’t taste a thing. But Sam loved it and Bob seemed to enjoy it too.

If you don’t already and you like to reduce, reuse and recycle, give the stock bag a try. You’ll use vegetables and/or chicken parts that would otherwise go to waste, and you’ll always have something on hand to make a big pot of soup with when you just don’t feel like eating anything else.

I had every intention of making Spanakopita for dinner last night. I remembered to defrost the filo at room temperature and remembered to buy all of the ingredients I don’t usually have on hand. Bob and I planned on walking to our favorite bakery for coffee and pastries when he got home from work and I figured we’d be home before five, giving me plenty of time to get dinner on the table by seven. But then, when we were on the front porch with our coats on and Sam in his wagon anxiously awaiting the cookies to come, I realized I’d completely forgotten to pick up our meat order the day before.

After filling up my kitchen with great clouds of acrid black smoke, this was my second major case of pregnancy brain in a week. So we packed the unhappy toddler into the car and drove to the house where the meat is delivered, hoping it would still be there and still be frozen. The temperature was on our side and even though someone had removed our order from the cooler it was still there. We drove straight to the bakery and enjoyed cookies (Sam and I) and eclairs (Bob) with our coffee.

By the time we finished our snack it was after five and I still wanted to stop at the library to pick up a book that had come in from my reserve list. It was way too late to make Spanakopita. So we had grilled Delmonico steaks from the meat order, steamed green beans and baked potatoes instead. Dinner was on the table in under an hour, and it would have been on the table sooner if Bob hadn’t lost track of time and forgotten to light the grill.

The part that surprises me most about dinner being ready so quickly is the part about the baked potato. Believe it or not, it’s possible to have a perfect baked potato in half an hour. The amazing people from America’s Test Kitchen have found the perfect recipe for a potato with a crispy skin (my favorite part) and a soft, flaky middle.

30-minute Baked Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Prick the top of the potatoes several times with a fork. Microwave for 8 to 12 minutes, or until soft to the touch, rotating halfway through the cooking time. Bake the potatoes for twenty minutes. Using the tines of a fork, make an x on the top of each potato immediately after removing from the oven. Squeeze the potatoes open, allowing the steam to escape. Serve immediately with butter, salt and pepper or your favorite baked potato toppings.

I cooked an amazing Butternut Squash with Caramelized Onion Galette the other night. It took longer than I anticipated because I somehow managed not to read the part of the directions that specified the bowls used for the dough ingredients needed to be chilled for an hour in the freezer. Combined with the hour needed to chill dough, I was about an hour behind schedule, which wasn’t too bad since I’d planned to eat dinner at six, but it was still late considering we have an almost-two year old who should be getting to bed earlier than he is.

Because I was trying to rush I cut the dough refrigeration to 40 minutes instead of the full hour leaving me with a sticky, wet dough that was tough to roll out. I managed to roll the dough into a 12 inch circle, get the cooked filling in the center, and wrap the dough around it. The problem was when I went to transfer the dough to the baking sheet. The bottom stuck to the floured counter and started to rip. In a hurry to get the galette into the oven I grabbed a cookie sheet and slid it under the pastry, rather than sliding the pastry onto the sheet. It ripped a little, but I was able to patch it and slide it in the oven.

I’m going to fast forward an hour and half now then fill in the blanks.

We sat down to dinner. A hungry Sam came into the dining room and sat down next to me instead of his booster seat. Rather than argue with a hungry toddler I put some of the butternut squash pastry on his Thomas plate and put it in front of him. He grabbed his fork, and without even testing the temperature he stabbed a piece and started to eat. I was so proud of my little boy. He doesn’t usually react so well to unknown foods. The fact that he just started eating without hesitation thrilled me to my core.

Now I’ll get to the part I omitted. After the galette had been in the oven for about 15 minutes the oven filled with smoke and the smoke began to fill the room. A quick look inside showed the oven was not on fire, I’d just made a tactical error. The butter from the dough and the liquid from the filling was pooling on the unlined baking sheet and dripping to the oven floor where it smoked and burned. I shouted for Bob to pull the batteries from the smoke alarm and help. We turned on the fans and he dug an industrial strength fan in the window backwards to suck out the smoke. I didn’t know what to do. I turned off the oven and removed the galette. Bob told me it would be fine and I should just put it back in. So I put the un-rimmed cookie sheet onto a rimmed baking sheet and put it back it the oven to finish cooking.

Smoky kitchen panic aside, dinner was delicious. Because Sam ate it and liked it I will share the recipe with you.

Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette
from Smitten Kitchen

For the pastry:
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into
pieces
¼ cup sour cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
¼ cup ice water

For the filling:
1 small butternut squash (about one pound)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 to 2 tablespoons butter (if you have only non-stick, the smaller amount will do)
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced in half-moons
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of sugar
¼ teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
¾ cup fontina cheese (about 2½ ounces), grated or cut into small bits
1½ teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves

1. Make pastry: In a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Place the butter in another bowl. Place both bowls in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove the bowls from the freezer and make a well in the center of the flour. Add the butter to the well and, using a pastry blender, cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Make another well in the center. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add half of this mixture to the well. With your fingertips, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Remove the large lumps and repeat with the remaining liquid and flour-butter mixture. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2. Prepare squash: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Peel squash, then halve and scoop out seeds. Cut into a ½-inch dice. Toss pieces with olive oil and a half-teaspoon of the salt and roast on foil lined (for neatness sake) sheet for 30 minutes or until pieces are tender, turning it midway if your oven bakes unevenly. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Caramelize onions: While squash is roasting, melt butter in a heavy skillet and cook onion over low heat with the remaining half-teaspoon of salt and pinch of sugar, stirring occasionally, until soft and lightly golden brown, about 20 minutes. Stir in cayenne.

4. Raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Mix squash, caramelized onions, cheese and herbs together in a bowl.

5. Assemble galette: On a floured work surface, roll the dough out into a 12-inch round. Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. (note: Make sure it is rimmed!!) Spread squash, onions, cheese and herb mixture over the dough, leaving a 1 1/2-inch border. Fold the border over the squash, onion and cheese mixture, pleating the edge to make it fit. The center will be open.

6. Bake until golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes, then slide the galette onto a serving plate. Cut into wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature. Serves 6.

I took a picture of my own efforts, but Bob has the camera so I’ll upload later. Until then I’ll leave you with the photo of Deb’s from Smitten Kitchen. Her picture is prettier than mine anyway.

I don’t eat a lot of white bread. Almost all of the bread I bake or buy is either whole wheat, multi-grain, pumpernickel or rye. One of the notable exceptions to this rule is Italian Bread. There’s something about an authentic loaf of Italian bread with it’s hard crust and soft, spongy middle that makes me want to eat the whole thing, slice by slice with a thick layer of butter.

There’s a fantastic Italian bakery up the street from me that specializes in desserts but bakes bread as well. It sells out pretty quickly so whenever I see it on the racks I can’t help but buy two. For only a dollar a loaf it’s well worth it. We can usually eat the first loaf the day I bring it home. The second loaf doesn’t always get eaten right away making it perfect for this recipe for Eggplant and Country Bread Lasagna from Lidia’s Italy.

Yes, I know I just wrote about lasagna, but this dish is different. Instead of noodles, Italian (or country bread) soaks up the sauce and causes crisp, sauteed eggplant to lose all traces of bitterness. Even people who claim not to like eggplant like this dish. It’s perfect.

Eggplant and Country Bread Lasagna
(recipe adapted from Lidia’s Italy- the recipe wasn’t on the site the first time I tried it so I improvised)

*you can skip this step if you’re pressed for time.

This recipe isn’t exactly quick- it takes about an hour start to finish- but it is definitely easy and for the most part it’s hands off. All you need are some carrots, onions, a couple of cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and a carton or some cans of chicken stock.

Roasting vegetables gives them a richer, sweeter taste. Carrots, which are sweet to begin with, are less cloying and more grown up when roasted with onions and garlic. Without any extra fat or dairy, Roasted Carrot soup is rich, creamy, healthy and simple. You can make the flavors more complex by adding a bit of ginger (fresh or powdered) or you can make it even creamier by serving with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt. If you prefer a vegetarian (vegan, actually) version, use vegetable stock.

Last night, with a pathetically empty refrigerator I had no choice but to keep it simple. With a fussy toddler tugging on my legs and a husband who had to work late I had neither the time nor the inclination to defrost anything from my freezer stash or run to the store for extra ingredients. We had Roasted Carrot Soup and half a loaf of French baguette for butter with dinner. There were no complaints, though Sam did insist on eating his soup with a fork.

Roasted Carrot Soup

Let the vegetables cool slightly. If you have an immersion blender add the vegetables to the stock and blend directly in the pot. Otherwise, remove the veggies to a blender and puree, adding stock as needed. (Don’t add all of the vegetables at once- do two batches. If the vegetables are too hot and the blender is too full it can cause pressure to build up and blow the top right off the blender. I’ve done it. Now I blend in two batches) Put the vegetable puree in the stock and stir to combine and reheat. Serve hot.

Feta cheese, a Greek cheese usually made from goat’s milk, is sharp and salty. The consistency varies, but most feta available in regular supermarkets has a dry, crumbly consistency. Some feta cheeses are now made of cow’s milk and others are creamy rather than crumbly, but feta can be addictive in all of its forms.

Feta is a great cheese crumbled on salads. Bob loves traditional Greek salads made with chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, olives and feta. Here’s a recipe from the Boston Globe. I like feta on baby spinach with cranberries, grapes, nuts and a balsamic vinaigrette. The feta adds a punchy, salty counterpart to the tart, sweet fruits, the nuts (I like walnuts or pecans) add protein, and the baby spinach base has more nutrients and a stronger flavor than lettuce but the baby leaves are still tender.

But my favorite way to use feta is in another traditional Greek dish- Spanakopita. Spanakopita is a pie made with spinach and feta layered in crispy phyllo (sometimes spelled filo) dough. You can usually find prepared spanakopita in the freezer case at your local supermarket but it’s a fun, though labor-intensive dish to make yourself. You can make it as one large pie or if you’re throwing a party you can make individual spanakopita triangles that are light, crispy, slightly healthy finger foods. I say slightly healthy because the spinach, cheese and egg may add protein, calcium and nutrients, but the butter needed for the phyllo may just cancel it out. Here’s a recipe for the triangle sized version from the Food Network. When I make spanakopita I use the recipe from the Moosewood cookbook. (The original version seems to be out of print. I don’t know if the updated version has the recipe.)

Spanakopita

Bake uncovered, about 45 minutes–till golden.

Phyllo dough is notoriously tricky to work with until you get the hang of it. I like making one large pie because it requires less fiddling with the delicate layers of pastry. To keep the phyllo from crumbling, lay it out on the countertop and cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap and a damp kitchen towel. You’ll have to remove the cover to get a new sheet which requires some finagling, but it will keep the feta from drying out and help it stay in one piece. It’s not a big deal if the sheets rip. Just lay the ripped portion over the other piece so it overlaps.

This is also a great recipe to get your kids involved in the cooking process. They can stir the spinach mixture and be in charge of brushing the phyllo with butter. Having the kids “paint” the butter on the pastry will make it easier for you to transfer each phyllo sheet into the pan.

(Easy as ABC Monday’s last F post was F is for fish)

Sweet potato latkes, almost identical to latkes made with regular white or yellow potatoes looking at a list of ingredients, are (dare I say it?) possibly superior. Seriously, they are amazing. And I’m not talking about the fact that they’re healthier than regular potato latkes. Yes, sweet potatoes have more fiber and nutrients, but the taste is superb. I don’t know what it is about the simple substitution of a sweet potato but the difference is incredible.

Bob took his first bite and asked, “What did you put inside of these?” I said they’re sweet potato latkes. He asked again what I put inside them. Again, I told him sweet potatoes. He said “yes, but what’s in them?” I explained that they were practically identical to the previous night’s latkes except for the type of potato. He said, “yes, but they taste like something’s in them. They’re delicious.”

After I took another bite I understood what he was talking about. Unlike the plain potato latkes they have a bit of a soft, sweet center, like they’ve been filled with something. This might be a bad comparison since the two foods are absolutely nothing alike, but they’re crisp on the outside and warm and soft of the inside like a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. Only salty, and served with sour cream and applesauce.

This recipe serves 4 but it’s easy to double if you want more. It takes about half an hour start to finish.

Sweet Potato Latkes

Heat oil in a deep 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 4, spoon 1/8 cup potato mixture per latke into oil and flatten to 3-inch diameter with a slotted spatula. Reduce heat to moderate and cook until golden, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Transfer latkes with spatula to paper towels to drain.

My notes. I didn’t quite have a pound of sweet potatoes so I used one small Yukon Gold potato in the mix. I also didn’t have scallions so I used half of a finely chopped yellow onion. I used less vegetable oil than the recipe called for. In my non-stick pan I ran out of oil altogether with about 5 latkes to go. I didn’t add more and the last latkes did just fine without it. I’m not recommending not using oil. You need oil for authentic latkes. However, if you run out, I wouldn’t add more unless you’re willing to wait for the oil to heat again.

This is crucial. For latkes that stay crisp, do not drain them on paper towels. Place a wire rack on a foil lined baking sheet in a preheated 250 degree oven to drain and stay warm. The oil will drain, but the latkes will stay crispy, no matter how long it takes to finish the rest of the latkes. This is important if you’re doubling the recipe.

I should add that Sam wouldn’t touch these. I guess latkes aren’t familiar enough. But if you read the reviews at the recipe site at Epicurious most of the reviewers stress that their kids, even those who won’t touch sweet potatoes, went back for seconds and thirds.

Last year we had about a dozen people over for latkes and candle lighting, but this year we decided not to do a big Chanukah dinner. Even though Sam’s too young to really remember I still think it’s important to keep the ceremony going, whether we celebrate it with friends and extended family or just celebrate the holiday ourselves. Last night we lit the first candle in the menorah and said the traditional prayers. Sam got a Chanukah present, a collection of Curious George board books in a little carrying case. He was thrilled with the books and didn’t want to let them go when it was dinner time and pretty much ate nothing. Tonight we decided to do it differently. We ate dinner first, then lit the candles.

Dinner wasn’t necessarily a traditional Chanukah meal, but tonight Bob helped me make latkes, fried potato pancakes. Oddly, tonight was the first time I’ve ever made them. As a kid my grandmother or mother made them. I don’t know what recipe they used. But their latkes weren’t made with shredded potatoes. I’m pretty sure they mixed them in a blender with matzoh meal and onion. The resulting mixture was liquid and fried up more like a traditional pancake. Crispy on the outside and soft and warm in the middle. I like that version but decided to go with a more typical grated version. I saw several different recipes online but they all seemed pretty complicated for something that I just thought was made with potatoes, onions and egg. Epicurious, the old standby provided the recipe I used.

Bob grated the potatoes while I chopped the onion. He drained them and squeezed out the water while I prepared the rest of our untraditional dinner- buttermilk biscuits, spinach and leftover meatloaf. The biscuits (a new recipe I’ll post later) were awesome. But the latkes were fantastic. Crisp and delicious. Sam, true to form, wouldn’t touch them, instead eating all of the spinach off my plate and a few spoonfuls of applesauce. At least he eats his veggies. One of these days he’ll realize fried foods are a gift from the gods and beg for more.

Potato Latkes

Serve with sour cream and applesauce.

I think this just may be latke week. Tomorrow I’m going to try sweet potato latkes and later in the week I’m going to have to give these apple fritters a go. Happy Chanukah!

Escarole is a variety of chicory with bitter, bright green leaves. Similar to kale and spinach, it’s packed with nutrients. It’s eaten raw in salads but I usually prepare it by steaming or braising. I love escarole and beans, but my absolute favorite way to eat escarole is in Italian Wedding Soup, where escarole is cut into thin strips and cooked in broth.

Italian Wedding Soup is appealing for a variety of reasons. It has little meatballs, pastini, and a chicken broth base. It’s a perfect soup for little mouths and the escarole adds vitamins and nutrients. Even if the escarole is overcooked or your picky eater picks it out, you’re cooking it in the broth so any lost nutrients will just be absorbed by the soup and pasta. It’s a win, win situation.

Italian Wedding Soup

Soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs, pasta and escarole and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through, pasta is al dente, and the escarole is tender. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.

A few notes. If you have time, precook the pasta. That way you can add the cooked, drained, pasta to the soup and it won’t suck up all the broth. If you’re so inclined, brown the meatballs before adding them to the soup. It’s not necessary, but it adds a nice flavor. If you’re trying to sneak veggies past your picky eater kids you can grind them in the food processor and add them to the meatballs. If you brown the meatballs before adding them they probably won’t notice.

I found my green bean recipe after a quick search last night. It was between two- Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots and Haricots Verts with Herb Butter. The herb butter recipe only had one review, and though it was glowingly positive and I’m making herb butter anyway I decided to go with the shallot recipe for a few reasons: It sounds delicious, It can be completely made ahead of time and reheated before serving, and the reviews were all positive.

I’m kind of low on shallots since I have more than 2 pounds of green beans to cook and they’re the regular kind which aren’t as tender. (I’m bummed I used all of the haricots verts from my garden during the summer, but I didn’t really grow enough to save any. Note for next year: either skip the green beans or plant 3 times as many) And I’m going to use fresh thyme from my garden. Reviewers suggest cutting the butter/oil a bit so even though I’m going to use more beans than the recipe calls for I’ll try it with the original amount of butter and oil and add more if necessary.

Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots
Bon Appétit | December 2006

2 pounds haricots verts or slender green beans, trimmed
1 pound medium shallots
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Cook haricots verts in boiling salted water until tender, about 4 minutes (or 6 minutes if using green beans). Drain. Transfer to bowl of ice water to cool. Drain well. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap in several layers of paper towels. Seal in plastic bag and chill.

Cut off and discard ends from shallots. Cut shallots lengthwise in half, then remove peel with paring knife. Melt butter with oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low; sauté until shallots are browned and tender, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover loosely with foil and let stand at room temperature.

Add haricots verts to shallots in skillet and stir over medium-high heat until heated through, about 6 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl and serve.

Cut off and discard ends from shallots. Cut shallots lengthwise in half, then remove peel with paring knife. Melt butter with oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and sauté 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-low; sauté until shallots are browned and tender, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with thyme. Season to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 hours ahead. Cover loosely with foil and let stand at room temperature.

Add haricots verts to shallots in skillet and stir over medium-high heat until heated through, about 6 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl and serve.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Epicurious.com is the best place for me to find new recipes. (Allrecipes is great too, but the recipes on Epicurious are just a bit more gourmet, and when I’m hosting ten for dinner, I’d rather err on the side of classy.) Aside from the fantastic search function, where you can search by course, by ingredient, and even by kid-friendliness, you can sort by user reviews. I only ever bother with recipes that have been reviewed multiple times and have high ratings. In many reviews the reviewers post modifications they’ve made and some of the modifications become the standard- in some cases almost all of the reviewers follow the advice of one person and rave about the recipe.

Today’s search was for sweet potatoes. I make sweet potatoes pretty regularly and have cooked them a variety of ways but never for Thanksgiving. The last two years my mother-in-law has made and brought them to my house, but this year I’ve got a good 6lbs of sweet potatoes left from my CSA and I’ve got to use them. Rather than reinvent the wheel (new, interesting recipes got me nowhere last year) I’m going for tradition. I know I don’t want anything with marshmallows on top (yuck!) and I know I don’t want pureed or mashed because my aunt’s bringing mashed potatoes. (I wish I was making the mashed- I have a ton of potatoes from the CSA and I make phenomenal roasted garlic mashed potatoes. Another time.) After browsing by rating for a while I came across two contenders.

Maple-Glazed Yams with Pecan Topping and Candied Sweet Potatoes. After reading the reviews, Candied Sweet Potatoes was the clear winner. I’ll make them a day in advance and reheat them while the turkey rests.

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Simmer brown sugar, butter, water, and salt, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and syrup is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in bourbon to taste. Drizzle syrup over potatoes and bake in middle of oven, basting occasionally, until syrup is thickened, about 1 1/4 hours.