Darren’s Sauerkraut

Our friend Darren F. passed along this sauerkraut recipe of his mother’s, as well as the idea to make soup with it. I made a batch to quickly discover that this makes a TON of kraut! What to do with it? The soup was super easy to make (and very good), and then the rest was used in a classic sauerkraut/sausage dish (easily vegetarian-friendly or for carnivores).

Darren’s Sauerkraut
1/2 stick of butter
3-4 boullon cubes (get the MGS-free variety if you can)
1 or 2 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
1/8 tsp cumin
1 to 2 tsp caraway seed (more or less, to taste)
salt & pepper, if you think it needs it (totally to taste)

Saute the above for about 20 minutes, or until the onions turn golden.

Next, combine the onion mixture with the following in a slow cooker:
(2) 32 oz cans/jars Polish Sauerkraut (rinsed well under cold water)
2-4 carrots, shredded
1-2 potatoes, shredded
1/2 fresh cabbage, sliced or 1/2 bag of ready-to-go shredded cabbage

Cook on high for 3-5 hours, it will make its own juice as it cooks.
When it is done cooking (keep tasting it, it's done whenever you like it) mix it up well so that the juices get evenly distributed. At this point, the sauerkraut is done and ready to use as you'd like!

Sauerkraut Soup
Bring some veggie or beef stock to a simmer and mix in sauerkraut--the more you add, the thicker the soup. Heat through, and serve. I really liked this poured over a little brown rice, with a splash of soy sauce (I know... the soy sauce thing seems weird, but I swear it's heavenly).

Sauerkraut & Sausages (pictured above)
In a slow cooker, combine whatever sauerkraut you have left (which is probably a lot) with 12 oz of sliced kielbasa sausages. You could use a vegetarian kielbasa, or the traditional pork kind. Cook on low for 3-5 hours*, to heat through and allow flavors to blend. The cooking could also be achieved in a 13x9 pan in a 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes*, or whenever it seems ready.

*The cook times are appropriate for pre-cooked sausage. If you are using a raw sausage, check for doneness and cook longer as necessary.

Salsa for Cold Weather

Tomatoes of sunshine quality are difficult to find in a midwest winter; while my heart will always belong to pico de gallo, this is a great salsa to make in the dark depths of cold weather. It's fast and can be used on its own (with chips, tacos, etc) or used in a dish requiring ready-made salsa from a jar.

1 28 oz can stewed tomatoes

1 7 oz can diced chiles or 1 or 2 fresh jalapeno peppers, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped or pressed

2 T chopped onion (white, yellow, or green--any variety will work)

1 T olive oil

2 tsp red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar (optional, but highly suggested)

1 handful cilantro, chopped

salt & pepper to taste

Combine and it's ready to go!

Goodness Greens!

In our Fresh Picks deliveries, I was often faced with a few pounds of collard greens or kale. I really had no idea what to do with it, and all I could imagine was cooking them into a globby mess. How on earth could greens be cooked and still taste good?

Fortunately, I found this recipe and it's now one of our favorite things to eat along with brown rice. The greens retain their texture and the sweet/spicy seasoning is wonderful.

Collard Greens (adapted from Simply Recipes---also great for Kale)

2 lb collard greens of kale, washed well and chopped

2 T onion, finely chopped

1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or pressed

2 T olive oil

2 T sesame oil (optional--tastes great with or without)

chili pepper flakes (I like this on the spicy side, and use about 1 T)*

salt (1-2 tsp)*

sugar (1-2 tsp)*

cracked pepper

*The last three ingredients can be varied according to your taste. You'll find the right balance the more you make this dish.

In a big pot with a lid, heat the olive oil and saute onion and garlic for about a minute. Mix in the greens and remaining ingredients. Cover, turn the heat to low, and cook for 8-10 minutes. Stir, and serve. 

Winter Soup with Meatballs

My mom, awesome as she is, recently gave us TONS of frozen homemade meatballs. This soup was made with the last of them (sniff, sniff) but it's a recipe I will most likely turn to again when confronted with a freezer of meatballs waiting to be devoured. The lentils and pasta added to this are already cooked (a great way to use up leftovers); if you add them uncooked, you'll need to add more stock/water. 

12 meatballs (pre-cooked/frozen is easier; if you use raw, brown a little before adding to soup)

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced

1 carrot, sliced or chopped

olive oil

1-2 T flour

1-1/2 cups cooked lentils

2 c stock or water, or a combination

1 bay leaf

salt/pepper or soy sauce (for seasoning)

about 1-2 cups of pasta, cooked

This soup works well either on the stovetop (A) or slow cooker (B):

(A) In a soup pot, cook onion/garlic/carrot in oil for a few minutes. Add the flour, stir to coat and cook another minute. Add lentils, meatballs, and bay leaf, plus enough stock/water to cover. Let this simmer until heated through (if you used raw meatballs, cook until they're properly cooked through). Add pasta 15 minutes before serving, then season with salt & pepper.

(B) In a skillet, cook onion/garlic/carrot in oil for a few minutes. Add the flour, stir to coat and cook another minute. Transfer onion mixture to the slow cooker, add lentils, meatballs, bay leaf, plus enough stock/water to cover. Cook on low for 7-9 hours. Add pasta 15 minutes before serving, then season with salt & pepper.

Fish with Pasta in a Mushroom-Lemon Sauce

Here's the scene: We're in the middle of Mitsuwa Marketplace, and I'm wandering through the seafood section because I could walk around aimlessly for hours. I notice, happily, that the pollock looks pretty good and is really inexpensive. I buy a pound of it. I have never cooked pollock before. It's kind of like cod, right? And, from a little online research, it seems to be a sustainable fish (for now, anyway).

I'm guessing there are plenty of Japanese recipes using this fish, but I was craving something a little different--it needed to be warming and bright at the same time. And thus, came this dish. The ingredients are nothing special, I basically used what was available at the time, and I think there are probably quite a few ways to reinterpret this meal.

1 lb pollock fish filets (or other white fish)
flour for dusting
12 oz (or so) dried pasta (it doesn't really matter what shape--use what you have)
2 T olive or canola oil
2 T butter
2 c. mushrooms, sliced or diced
Juice of 2 lemons (please don't use the bottled stuff)
salt & pepper
2-3 T chopped parsley or cilantro

The key to this dish is timing. The fish cooks really fast. Basically, once the water is boiling and you are ready to add pasta, that is the time to begin the rest of the cooking. This gives you approximately 10-12 minutes, depending on pasta's directions on the package.

So, boil water and add pasta to the pot.

Meanwhile, pat the fish filets dry to remove excess water, and dust with flour. In a frying pan (I used the trusty cast iron skillet), heat up the oil and butter. When hot, add the fish. It will only take a minute or two on each side to cook through. When it's done (flakes with a fork) remove and set aside.

If your pan seems on the dry side, add a little more oil or butter. Keeping the heat on medium-high, add the mushrooms and saute until the start to shrink up a little. To this add lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. NOTE: If you don't like things on the tart side, go easy on the lemon juice. Add the chopped herbs. Stir.

By now the pasta should be done. Drain, and plate this meal quickly--it will cool off fast: pasta, fish, and top with the sauce.

TIP: I've found that about half way through the cooking time on the pasta, it works well to add a frozen vegetable such as french-cut green beans. They heat up in roughly five minutes, and they are easy to drain with the rest of the pasta. Sneaky, huh?

Pumpkin Bisque with Toppings

I made pumpkin bisque last night, and happily cheated by using canned pumpkin instead of roasting the little guy in the pic above. It's an extremely simple soup (basically two ingredients) and the topping below make it killer delicious.  The concept of taking building a soup like this is from one of my favorite food writers, M.F.K. Fisher, writing about borscht.

1 15-oz can pure pumpkin purée (not pie filling)

3-4 cups chicken or veggie stock

pinch of curry powder

salt & pepper to season

In a pot, whisk together the pumpkin, stock, and curry powder, adding the stock a little at a time so that the soup doesn't get too thin. Simmer 10-15 minutes, until heated through. Season well with salt & pepper. 

You could also add cream at the end if you wanted too, but once you add the stuff below you won't miss it. 

Toppings:

Toasted walnuts

Homemade croutons, made with olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper and fresh sage

Goat cheese

Sautéed onions

Black Bean Soup

When I was a student, there was a dive of a bar where I'd sometimes go for lunch with friends. They weren't known for their food, but it was cheap and filling---both essential for the student budget. Usually, it tasted pretty good too. The only particular dish I can remember from there is black bean soup. It was thick, tasty, and served so that when you dug your spoon into the bowl you'd find fluffy white rice at the bottom. Add some Tabasco sauce and it was oh-so-good. 

That pub is gone now, but when I make this I always think of finding the rice at the bottom of the bowl. I use ham in this recipe, but have used bacon with success as well. If you are vegetarian, I strongly suggest using a vegetarian ham or bacon (or liquid smoke) to give it a good smokey flavor. Tabasco is essential!

This can be made in a slow cooker, or on the stove. For best results, use black beans you've cooked at home; I'm no stranger to using canned, but I think it really does make a difference.

2 T oil

2 onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, pressed

4 c black beans (cooked or canned)

4 c chicken or veggie stock

1 T chili powder

2-3 tsp taco seasoning

juice of 1 lime

salt & pepper

1/2 to 3/4 c cooked ham, bacon, etc., cubed

cooked white rice for serving

Cook the onion and garlic in oil (if making on the stove, do this in a big soup pot; if using a slow cooker, cook in a pan and then transfer to cooker). Add beans, stock, seasoning, and ham. Bring to a boil and simmer 15-20 minutes (if using slow cooker, let it go 6-8 hours, and longer won't hurt). 

At this point you can do one of three things:

(1) leave as is (beans whole)

(2) purée half the soup, to thicken (this is what I usually do)

(3) purée all the soup, it'll be very thick & creamy

Add lime juice before serving, and adjust seasonings. Serve over cooked white rice and garnish with toppings such as avocado, shredded cheese, chopped green onion and/or Tabasco.

Pan-fried Farfalle Pasta with Butternut Squash, Sage, Walnuts, and Goat Cheese

Photo from www.thekitchn.com

We've finally entered the realm of cold weather, watching small bits of snow whirl around us as we bike around the city. This makes me realize a couple things: (A) I need better gloves for biking in cold weather and (B) it's time to get the oven going. My kitchen is now in full swing with warming comfort food.

I found this recipe (and the above image) on AT's The Kitchn, and have found a new earthly delight. It, um, rivals mashed potatoes as "feel good" food. I changed up just a couple things, so here is my version of the recipe. 

1 medium butternut squash, diced

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

olive oil

salt & pepper

1/2 cut fresh sage leaves

1 lb farfalle (bowtie) pasta

3/4-1 c. chopped walnuts, toasted

goat cheese to serve

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine the squash, onion, garlic, olive oil, half of the sage, salt, and pepper on a baking sheet and roast approx. 45 minutes.

Near the end of the roasting time, cook pasta according to package directions. When the squash mixture is done, toss it with the cooked pasta and remaining sage. Pan-fry in olive oil until slightly browned and crisp. I originally did this in two batches in my cast iron skillet, but am thinking I could do it all at once in the wok if needed.

To serve, top with toasted walnuts and bits of goat cheese. 

Apple Butter

For my parents this turned out to be a great year for apples, Red Delicious, and we brought plenty of them back with us to Chicago. They've never used pesticides on the fruit, which is fantastic, so we were ready to gobble them up. However, I knew we'd never get through a huge bag of them and I didn't feel like making a dessert. The solution was to make apple butter, my first time ever!

It's so easy that there is hardly a recipe for it. You could do this on the stove, but I prefer the slow cooker as it is completely hands off.

Apples, peeled, cored and sliced (or chopped)---you'll need enough to fill your crockpot to the point that the lid almost doesn't fit.
2 tsp cinnamon
Other spices (ginger, cloves, nutmeg)--totally optional, I didn't use them because I wanted a very mild butter

Contrary to some beliefs, apple butter doesn't have any butter in it.

Combine the ingredients above in a slow cooker, and let it run 10-15 hours or so. I started mine at 6pm one day and turned it off around 9am the next morning.

At this point you can puree the mixture, or store it is as with tiny chunks of apple (I didn't mind the chunks). I have yet to learn how to heat process anything in jars, so I simply filled 3 jars of apple butter and stored them in the fridge.

This is great on just about anything, like toast...!

Musings on a Rainy Night Salad

At times when my family gets together, we've played a what-if game titled "If you were stuck on a desert island for the rest of your life, what is the one food item you'd want to have with you?" (I guess we were short of other fun things to do that day.....)

My immediate answer was always potatoes, mashed with plenty of butter and seasoned with salt and pepper. French fries would also do if fat wasn't an issue. My dad, however, would promptly reply "a fresh green salad." I could never quite figure that out---if I was stuck on an island, I'd want something comforting. Like potatoes, obviously.

At any rate, I think my dad was on to something. When I was living in California, a friend of mine would mention the word "salad" as if she was dying and the only medicinal compound that would extend her life included greens and dressing. She apparently knew something too.

Well, folks, I just had my favorite fresh green salad (so far). It is (un)cleverly called Rainy Night Salad.

Vegetables
I purchased arugula salad mix in bulk, and balanced the bitterness with some grated carrot. Sliced some cucumbers.

Croutons
I had half a leftover baguette, and cut it into small cubes. Tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a tiny pinch of Italian seasoning. I "toasted" them à la Julia and Jacques, by lightly frying/tossing in a pan (or wok), but you could probably bake them, instead, until crisp. I tend to like mine a little on the soft side, so that they can be pierced with a fork easily when eating.

Dressing
A simple vinaigrette.
Combine the following in a small jar:
6 T olive oil, 2 T apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, pinch of salt, and a twist of freshly ground pepper. Either put a lid on the jar and shake to combine, or whisk together. This will keep for about a week in the fridge.

The dressing soaks into the baguette croutons...and now I'm craving salad, too.