Roasted asparagus and potatoes with thyme

Asparagus is the hot veggie of the season - we are getting bundles of it in our produce box. The first week I made asparagus pesto and last week I roasted the bunch. It was a light and tasty summer lunch.

Serves 4 as a side dish

1 bunch of asparagus with stem ends snapped off

2 yukon potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 tsps of fresh thyme

Salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg.
2. Cut asparagus into inch long pieces.
3. In a baking dish large enough to hold potatoes and asparagus in a single layer, add all ingredients and roast in the oven for 25 mins.
4. After 25 mins stir the mix and check potatoes for doneness. If still very firm, then leave it in the oven for another 10 mins.

Cauliflower, potatoes, carrots and peas

... these are some of my favorite things..la la la...I was singing this for no apparent reason while cooking last night. Perhaps, happy to be back in the kitchen after a long hiatus.

Serves 4

1 head cauliflower, cut in florets

1 russet potato, peeled and cubed

2 smallish carrots, peeled and sliced

1 cup frozen peas

1 onion, diced

1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp grated ginger

3-4 cloves

1 cup of chopped cilantro

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp turmeric

Salt to taste

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1. Heat a tbsp of oil in a skillet. Add garlic, mustard and cumin seeds. Cook until garlic is lightly browned.
2. Add onions with salt. Cook until golden, about 5-6 mins.
3. Add tomatoes, ginger, red pepper, turmeric and salt. Cook until tomatoes are cooked through and most of the water is cooked off, about 10 mins.
4. Add potatoes and carrots with a tbsp of water. Lower heat to medium, cover and let cook until potatoes are closer to done but not completely done.
5. Add cauliflower with 1/4 cup of water. Stir to combine, lower heat to a slow simmer, cover and cook until cauliflower is cooked through. About 20 mins.
6. Add peas and cilantro. Cook for another 5 mins.
7. Enjoy!

Roasted winter veggies and Kale soup

Back in January when I had enough of the ample winter squash supply in my CSA share - I chopped half of them up into cubes and roasted the rest with soy sauce. Then froze them in ziploc bags and pyrex containers. I used roasted squash for this soup. Serves 4

1/2 squash, halved, drizzled with soy sauce, wrapped in aluminum foil anf roasted at 425 deg until you can easily pierce it with a blunt knife
2 carrots, roughly cubed
1 potato, cubed
1 large red onion, cubed
1 turnip, cubed
1 bunch of kale, stemmed and chopped in strips
3 springs of fresh thyme leaves
2 crushed red pepper
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oevn to 375 deg. In a baking, add potato, carrots, onion, turnip, crushed red pepper, garlic, salt, pepper and a healthy glug of olive oil to coat.
2. Roast uncovered until potatoes are cooked through and onions have caramelized at the edges.
3. Process roasted veggies along with the squash pulp until a few chunks remain.
4. In a soup pot combine processed veggies, kale and thyme. Add 1 1/2 cups of water and bring to a boil.
5. Lower the heat, cover and cook until Kale is done, about 20 mins.
6. Taste and adjust for salt.

Potatoes and peanuts

Lots of potatoes this winter!

Serves 4 as a side

2 red potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/4" cubes

4 tbsp raw peanuts

1 medium onion, diced

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp turmeric

salt to taste

crushed red pepper

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/4 cup of chopped fresh coriander + 1 tbsp for garnish

1. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once it begins to sputter, add onions and peanuts. Cook until onions are slightly browned.
2. Add turmeric, salt and crushed red pepper. Stir in for a minute. Add diced potatoes and a couple tbsp of water with lemon juice Stir, cover and cook until potatoes are done, about 10 mins.
3. Add 1/4 cup of fresh coriander and cook for another minute.
4. Garnish if necessary and serve hot.

Roasted potatoes and cauliflower

I have always found cooking cauliflower fussy and not very rewarding at the end except when V makes his version of gobi-aloo (cauliflower and potatoes). Since I have been roasting everything I can lay my hands on - why not roast cauliflower. Well it turned out fantastic :)

Serves 4

1 head of cauliflower, cored and cut into medium sized florets

2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cut in 1/4 inch cubes

Kosher sea salt to taste

2 tsp Ground black pepper

2 tsp Crushed red pepper

3 tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup grated cheese - I used aged gouda and manchego mix

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg.
2. In a 9x13" baking dish put in the cauliflower and potatoes. Add salt, black pepper, red pepper and lime juice. Drizzle with olive oil.
3. Roast uncovered for about 30 mins. Check to see if its done. It was a bit crunchy and very lightly browned for me. If not, leave it in there for aother 15 mins.
4. Garnish with the cheese mixture and serve immediately.

Shepherds pie

This is a quick one pot dish. Great for cooking on a week night with fresh winter produce - potatoes, onions and carrots.

Serves 4

1 lb ground meat - I used mutton

3 large pototoes, peeled and cubed into 1/2" pieces

1 large yellow onion, cubed into 1/2" pieces

1 cup string beans, chopped in 1 inch pieces

1 cup of carrots chopped into 1/4" pieces

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1 tsp crushed red pepper

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsps of butter

2 tsps fresh thyme

1 tbsp of fresh cream

1. Steam cubed potatoes until they are cooked through. Mash them with cream, salt, pepper and thyme . I used my food processor.
2. Preheat oven to 375 deg.
3. Heat some oil in an oven safe pot. Saute onions and garlic with salt until they are slightly browned and translucent.
4. Add carrots and beans and cook for 5 more mins.
5. Add the meat, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Cook until the meat is brown. Add 2 tbsps of water if the meat mix is completely dry.
6. Turn off the heat and layer the mashed potatoes over the meat and onions. Bake in the oven for 20 mins or until the top layer is golden-brown.
7. Garnish with fresh thyme. I served this with a side of sauteed chard.

Note: Consider adding peas to this recipe as well. I didn't have any on hand.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Adapted from H's mom's recipe

Ingredients:
2 green bell peppers
3 medium-sized potatoes
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper pwdr
1/2 tsp cumin pwdr
1/2 green chilli, chopped fine
salt

Boil the potatoes to cook them thoroughly. Peel the skin off, and mash them well. Add the turmeric, cayenne, cumin powders, chopped green chilli and salt to season.

Now, take the whole bell peppers and slice off the top with the stem. Empty out the inside contents to create a hollow which can be stuffed with the potato filling. Scoop the potato filling inside. Arrange the filled bell peppers on a greased baking tray and bake for 20-25 mins at 375F. I turned the gas mark to broil for the last 5 mins of baking to allow the outer skin of the pepper to roast.

Zuccini-potato gratin

You have a couple of Zuccinis and 1 potato in the pantry - make Mekhala's Herbed Zuccini-potato torte or old fashioned gratin. I stuck it into the oven and forgot about it for 45 mins - now I have a delicious side for a couple of days. Not much to look at but delicious nonetheless.

Source: James Peterson's Essentials of Cooking

Serves 5-6 as side dish

1 large yukon potato, cut horizontally into 1/4" circular slices

2 large zuccinis, cut into 1/4 " circular pieces

1 1/2 cups of milk and heavy whipping cream mixed half and half

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup grated cheese (parmesan or aged gouda or manchego - any cheese that is a salty and easy to grate)

2 tsps dried rosemary

1. Saute zuccini slices in oil until they become slightly brown on both sides. The idea is to cook off most of the water in zuccini. If you don't do this, your gratim will turn out watery instead of crispy brown.


2. Season milk-cream mix with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 375 deg. In a 9"x12" baking dish, layer the milk-cream mix such that it comes up to approx. a little less than 1/4". Layer potato slices - overlapping them slightly. To check if the milk-cream mix is at the right level, it should partially cover the potato slices on it edges when depressed into the mix.


3. Add a single layer of cooked zuccini slices. Layer grated cheese - followed by leftover milk-cream mix.


4. Continue layering until all of the milk-cream mix and zuccinis are used up. The topmost layer should be grated cheese and dried rosemary.


5. Bake in the oven for 45 mins until the top is evenly browned. Check on the gratin in halfway through - if zuccini is sitting in liquid increase the temperature or if its bubbling wildly descrease the temperature. The idea is to maintain a temperature at which it is gently simmering and browning evenly while it cooks.

Good to know: The potato slices add starch to thicken the sauce and provide a stable base layer for the gratin.

Aloo tamatar (potato-tomato)

It's called Aloo-Tamatar but I usually end up using any root veggies (except sweet potato) I might have on hand. This time I used a combination of turnips, carrots and potatoes. This quick and tangy recipe is from V's mum.
Serves 4-5

3 cups of cubed (1 inch) potatoes, turnips and carrots
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3 green chillies chopped
3 small tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
2/3 cup of yogurt
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala

Heat oil and add cumin seens. As soon as you can smell them roast, add tomotoes, green chillies, salt to taste, turmeric, coriander powder and garam masala. Cook until you see the oil seperating out. Add cubed root veggies and stir to mix. Bring to a simmer. Take 1 tbsp of the simmering sauce and whip the yogurt with it. Doing this before adding the yogurt prevents the yogurt from seperating when added to the hot sauce. Add the whipped yogurt to the sauce-veggie mix. Cover and cook until root veggies are done (~10 mins). Garnish with fresh coriander.

Herbed Zuccini and Potato Torte

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

This was a quick-fix Sunday evening dinner, after a rather tiring sailing expedition on Lake Michigan. The ingredients for this recipe magically materialized in my refrigerator, and voila, said torte was ready in 50 minutes!

Makes 4 servings

1 bunch green onions

thinly sliced1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/2 tablespoon fresh dill (the original called for thyme, which I substituted)

1 teaspoons salt

3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1/8-inch-thick rounds

2 zuccini, cut into 1/8-inch-thick rounds

2 teaspoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 375°F. I buttered a 8" cake pan. In a separate bowl, mix together 1/2 the green onions, cheese, flour, dill, salt and pepper to create a crumbly mixture. For the first layer, use 1/6 of the potatoes and arrange in concentric circles, overlapping slightly. Next create a second layer using the zuccini. Drizzle with EVOO, and sprinkle the cheese mixture. Repeat with the remainder of the potato, zuccini, and cheese mixture.

Cover pan with foil and cook for about 40 minutes. After the potatoes are cooked, remove the foil and allow the dish to brown on top. I turned the setting to broil for 15 minutes.

Cut torte into wedges. Sprinkle wedges with 1/4 cup green onions; serve.

I paired it with a glass of chilled lemonade and it was delicious!

Kale with potatoes, anchovies and hot pepper

V and I have been quite apprehensive using Kale in our cooking just because its a tough veggie to cook and it can taste flabby and bitter quite easily. So we learnt that even though its a tough veggies, Kale should be used within 1-2 days of purchase. So we had Kale last night paired with the shrimp tomato sauce. I think we have found our sweet spot with Kale!

Makes 4 servings

2 bunches of Kale, ~1.5 lbs

2 medium potatoes cut into 1/4" cubes

1 tbsp minced garlic

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

6-7 anchovy fillets, cut into 1/2" pieces

lemon juice

black pepper

olive oil

Strip Kale leaves from its stalk or stem and wash thorougly. Slice the leaves into 1/2" strips.

Heat oil, add garlic and cook over low heat until lightly fried. Toss in potatoes and crushed red pepper. Stir quickly. Add Kale, a bit of salt to help wilt the leaves and chicken stock. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are just barely tender. You might have to stir now and then to avoid potatoes from sticking at the bottom of the dish. Once the potatoes are done and the Kale has wilted, toss in anchovies and lemon juice. turn off the heat and drizzle olive oil to taste. Serve with sprinkled black pepper.

Source: Elizabeth Schneider's Uncommon fruits & vegetables.