ode to a quiet weekend

"the monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind." - Albert Einstein

 

Dinner for 12: The Meat Hangover

One of the risks you take in setting few rules in a dinner co-op is the potential for too much of the same thing to be eaten in a given week. Surprisingly, we haven't encountered this problem often. But last week was one of those rare times: three nights of heavy meat-eating (all delicious, mind you, but whoa!). As expected the pendulum swung hard. Call it the meat hangover. This week featured a roster of (almost) fully vegan meals completely different from each other in cuisines and flavors.

This beauty does not deserve the name "Turnip Dip"

We'll call it terrine de navet, oui?

Russian red lentil soup

My meal this week included an apricot-kissed red lentil soup served with a hearty turnip-herb dip. "Dip" doesn't quite do this justice; it's more of a savory rich vegetable terrine or pate that you slice thickly and spread on the crunchiest cracker you can find. I think some people describe it as having umami, whixh means it leaves your mouth really happy. I also say someone should change the name because "turnip dip" sounds like a euphemistic insult. When I lived in Montreal, I loved the veggie pate made by a local vegetarian chain resturant. This recipe is the closest I have ever come to replicating that delicious pate in my kitchen. We added a small platter of pickles, olives, crudites and a wedge of creamy Delice de Bourgogne as accompaniment.

Russian Red Lentil Soup for 12

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dried apricots, chopped
3 cups dried red lentils
12 cups of homemade chicken stock (NOTE: I just used veggie chicken-flavored base here)
1 28-oz can of diced tomatoes
2 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. dried thyme
Yogurt (for topping soup)
fresh mint for garnish (optional)


Combine all ingredients except yogurt and fresh mint (if using) in a crock pot. Bring to a boil then turn down and simmer 3-4 hours. NOTE: I actually just simmered overnight and it worked out great. Serve up a bowl with a dollop of yogurt and a sprinking of chopped mint.


Hearty Turnip Herb Dip
(Adapted from the recipe in From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh, Seasonal Produce)


3 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup vegetable oil (I ran out so it was a mix of veg and olive oil)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/3 cups sunflower seeds
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups nutritional yeast
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 1/2 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 tsp dried sage
1 tsp nutmeg
2.5 cups boiling water
4 cups shredded turnips
1 1/2 cups shredded onion
2 cups shredded carrot
9 bay leaves

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350F. Grease three 9x9" baking dishes (You can improvise here, I was making servings for three families). 
2. Combine the first 7 ingredients and stir well.
3. Stir in spices and boiling water.
4. Add vegetables and stir until well-combined.
5. Pour mixture into the baking dishes and press 3 bay leaves into the top of each dish. 
6. Bake until firm and golden brown, about 1 hour.
7. Serve on rye crackers (Ryvita or a similar crispy kind).Itgets firmer and more terrine-like on the second day.

You can improvise with any number of root vegetables including potatoes, beets, turnips and carrots or anything you root out of the deep corners of your fridge, really.

girl meets vintage camera app.

Jan at olbrich, originally uploaded by Helen de madison.

sigh. I'm in love.

Dinner for 12: Pasta with Broccoli and Ham with Cheesy Cauliflower Sauce

Catching up on some previous weeks' dishes so I hope to post more often over the next week or two.

I am not one to be drawn in by heavy comfort food often but this dish won me over both because it didn't involve terrifying amounts of cheese and cream and because it did involve terrifying amounts of crucifers. And, well, I am kind of a broken record about how much I love me some crucifer. The ham lent a smoky depth to this otherwise and sweet dish but it's easy to omit the ham and still make it a scrumptious vegetarian meal. If you are looking for a vegan option, this one is on my "to make" list soon.

The dish was fragrant, filling and satisfying. I also felt a teeny bit smug about the fact that even if kids wound up picking around the chunks, they would still be getting a belly full of cauliflower and not just noodles. I served this with a crusty baguette to soak up the sauce and a green salad topped with oranges, grapefruit and radish.

Baked Spirals and Broccoli with Ham and Cheesy Cauliflower Sauce (adapted from Martha Stewart Living, February 2012)

Serves 12
9 cups cauliflower (2 large heads or 3 small), cored and chopped
1 head of garlic (yes, head!), roughly chopped
12 shallots, roughly chopped
Salt n' Peppa
1/4 cup flour
12 cups skim milk
3/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
18 oz pecorino cheese, grated (about 6 cups)
1 1/2 lbs whole grain pasta spirals (I used 2 bags of noodles which seemed to be more than enough)
3/4 lb sliced smoked ham (I am a fan of Willow Creek Farm's sliced ham and it was perfect in this dish)
2 heads broccoli (roughly 15 cups), trimmed and cut into florets
1 1/2 cups of breadcrumbs (recipe called for panko, but I have homemade breadcrumbs that I used)

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add cauliflower, garlic, shallots, and 1 1/2 tsp salt. cook until softened but not brown, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with flour, stir to coat well.

2. Gradually stir in milk; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; gently simmer until cauliflower is very soft, about 15 min. Let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer to a blender and puree with nutmeg and half the pecorino until smooth, about 2 minutes (I did this in four batches since it's a large amount of sauce).

3. Preheat oven to 400F. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook pasta until slightly tender but not fully cooked through, about 5-8 minutes. Drain well, return to pot. Add ham, broccoli and cauliflower sauce and toss to combine. Transfer to 3 3 1/2 quart baking dishes. Sprinkle with remaining pecorino and bake until bubbling, about 30 minutes. Heat the broiler and broil until golden on top, 1-2 minutes. Divide among dishes, top with toasted breadcrumbs and enjoy.

Quick and Healthy: Green Sushi Salad

January has been our month of regrouping around these parts. I've purged years of files out of the office, We've pared down the books at home (high school Cliff's Notes to Macbeth? Really, Helen?). I've even been reorganizing the kids' art supplies. Good times. This cleansing has even extended to the cooking we do. I've promised myself to incorporate a little more vegan cooking into my repertoire, a raw dish here or there. We've enjoyed a delicous raw carrot, cabbage and beet salad recently.

Last night, I tried a recipe for a kind of suhi-as-a-salad dish I've been drooling over at Green Kitchen Stories. Actually, I drool over pretty much everything on this blog, but this was one recipe that didn't take hours to make. And that it can be made as a composed salad and involves toasted seaweed pretty much guarantees a family hit. Bright, crunchy, gingery and just the thing for a light dinner that's heavy on superfoods.

And beautiful, yes?

photo: 2010, Green Kitchen Stories

Green Sushi Salad (adapted from Green Kitchen Stories here)

This serves 4 but is easily doubled or tripled for a crowd.


Marinated tofu (marinade recipe below).
Steamed brown rice (I used 1.5 cups of uncooked rice and had plenty left over)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 large broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces
2 avocados, cubed
12 mushrooms, quartered (shiitake would be awesome; I only had button and still yummy), cut in quarters
1 handful sugarsnap peas
1/2 cucumber, cut into sticks
8 sheets nori seaweed
1 handful roasted sesame seeds
1 handful cilantro

Tofu Marinade
300 g tofu
5 tbsp sesame oil
5 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 clove garlic
1/2 red chili
2-inch (6 cm) fresh ginger, peeled and minced


 

1. Begin by marinading the tofu and let it sit while you prepare the rest of the salad. Drain and dry the tofu and cut it into 1-inch cubes. Mix the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl and add the tofu. Make sure the marinade covers all of the tofu. Put in the fridge for 1-2 hours (HS - I did not have time t do this but the tofu was still delicious!).

2. Steam the brown rice. When cooked, stir in the rice vinegar and sesame oil.

3. Steam the broccoli, peas and mushrooms to crisp-tender (I did each veggie separately).

4. Toast the nori sheets briefly over an open flame (I use the burner on my gas stove). Alternately, you can use the nori sold as seaweed snacks which is toasted and lightly flavored and skip this step. Cut or tear the nori into bite-sized pieces.

5. Divide the rice into 4 large bowls and top it with all the vegetables and tofu. Drizzle the rest of the tofu marinade over the salad, top it with sesame seeds and cilantro and serve it with soy sauce and chilis on the side.

 Note: for the kids, I left it as a composed salad, i.e. I kept everything separate which seems to make them like it more. Whatever, they ate it with gusto!

Post Post Post Christmas Post.

Though technically, the holidays are long gone, the winter has really only started around these parts. The days are calling for indoor inspiration. And we had a chance to do some pretty fun things that I'd love to share in case you are looking for a little incentive to shake up the daily routine.

Thanks to the wildly popular advent calendar, there was a lot of making in our house in December (some will argue too much making...) and there were constant project piles on every available surface. Particularly around the sewing machine and oven. What was so great this year was how much more the making involved the whole family. It's hard - it's sometimes a drag, really - to have to plan something every day for a month and come home from a long day of work and school and find the energy to do things besides curl up on the couch and read books together. But it is clearly shaping the kids' perspective of what Christmas and holidays are all about and the focus is on other people and doing things. I have to repeat this to myself often to remember why the hell we do things so much the hard way sometimes. It pays back. 

 We received a gorgeous box of citrus for our fruit share in December. Much of the clementine and orange rinds were made into candied citrus peel.

 Of course, gingerbread men were on the menu.

 The solstice was celebrated over two days in our house, the first night was at a neighborhood solstice bonfire and the second was a candlelight dress-up dinner at home. We donned our finest and tried to keep K from blowing out the candles the entire time.

 

I had helpful reminders whenever I tried to slack off on advent activities.

Yes, we remembered the popcorn string. After the tree came down in January, the popcorn and cranberries were taken outside for bird food.

 Another surprising hit activity in our house was the making of wrapping paper and cards. This went on all night. We had enough wrapping paper to wrap six families' worth of gifts.

The cookie and candy-making was in full force this year. The 2011 roster included:

• Panforte (thanks, Meg!)
• Candied orange peels dipped in dark chocolate (from scrumptious The River Cottage Preserves Handbook)
• Coffee Toffee
• Peppermint Bark
• Gingerbread cookies

These peppermint-coconut lip balms were made for M's preschool teachers. Making the balm and whipping up a few hand-stamped labels took less than one hour for a beautiful gift he was incredibly proud to give. This great idea comes courtesy of SouleMama.

 My biggest project was to make a pile of recycled sweater mittens (I took a class with this terrific lady to jump start my making and it was worth every penny, but you can find her free tutorial for the mittens right here). The ones above are a father-son pair for J and M. These are easy but not-so-fast when you are a beginner sewer like me. Also, you can end up with kattywompus mittens that you wind up giving anyway because they took you so damn long to make. I'm all for wabi-sabi gifting.

Really Freaking Loud!

Why send it in an envelope when you can shout it really freaking loud instead?

From us to you.

Holiday Adventures

As a couple with a young baby a few years ago, we struggled with what to do with Christmas as a family. We knew that we wanted it to be a celebration of winter, of the darkness and return of spring, of gathering and family and beauty. We knew that part of becoming our own family was keeping some of what we grew up with, but also creating our own rituals that felt right for our home. I got really excited about the advent calendar because it made a little celebration of every day, not just a long, sweaty shopping marathon leading up to present-opening day. Last year, we made our very first advent calendar, composed entirely of paper bags and images cut out from catalogs and flyers that landed in the mailbox. Luckily, it survived enough to be used again this year.

Into this advent month, we throw a little bit of making, doing, and giving. There are things we already know will be traditions, and things we toss in to mix it up and make the daily grind a little more fun for everyone. I am a huge fan of celebrating the everyday, and here's a little of what's been going on around here:

Making snowflakes since we have none of our own

  

We took a trip out to a beautiful farm complete with bonfire, hot cider, homemade venison sausage and smores and cut our own tree down (not so romantic: getting that tree to stand upright in our house)

Some were smitten with that tree and its sparkly ornaments.

Others have been focused on decorating the house or creating the perfect fishbowl diorama involving a pirate on a wolf, a hatchet and a pipecleaner tree about to meet its end.

Yesterday brought St. Nicholas bearing clementines, nuts, masking tape and staplers. Of course.

Tonight, it was about sitting quietly with a .cup of cocoa and enjoying what we created together this week.

Dinner for 12: Shrimp, Cod, and Fennel Soup

I've been at this dinner co-op thing for three years now. There are the recipes I make that are stalwarts: delicious, simple and very amenable to upsizing. But every once in a while, I can't help myself. I get a little frisky, my eyes wander, seduced by the sexy centerfolds in magazine like this one. As a result on those weeks, there are a lot of people who get to be dinner guinea pigs. They will tell you this is not always a good thing. This recent meal was a cod and shrimp soup flavored with fennel and tomatoes in a light white-wine broth. I love a good fish stew, particularly one served with a dollop of garlicky rouille and a glass of Pouilly-Fume. But this was not that soup. It is light and delicate and maybe the perfect thing to cleanse the giblets and gravy out of your system. I served it with a green salad with sectioned oranges, fennel and beauty heart radish with a citrus-hazelnut dressing. And of course, the crustiest baguette you can find. This soup would probably also be delicious with a little feta crumbled into it for deeper flavor.

A note about the fish and shrimp: Anytime you're serving fish for 12, it's not the cheapest ticket in town. One great tip I learned is to buy the fish pieces sold at my neighborhood co-op for any fish stews. This time around, I got extra lucky since they were all cod pieces (ha! codpieces!). If you don't need full fillets, this is a significantly more affordable option. As for shrimp, I use it very judiciously, it's not the most sustainable seafood around. In this case, I upped the amount of fish and went low on the shrimp.

Shrimp, Cod, and Fennel Soup with Tomatoes (adapted from this recipe printed in Martha Stewart Living, Oct. 2011)

• 6 tomatoes (I used my frozen paste tomatoes but canned will also work)
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 large leeks, finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 small fennel bulb, quartered lengthwise, cored, thinly sliced crosswise, (I saved the youngest, tenderest fronds for the salad)
• Coarse salt
• Freshly ground white pepper
• 3 cups dry white wine
• 12 cups fish stock
• 3 lbs skinless cod fillets, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (tails left intact)

Directions

1. Prepare an ice-water bath. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Score an X into the bottom of each tomato using a sharp paring knife. Blanch tomatoes until skins loosen, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer to ice-water bath using a slotted spoon. Peel and discard skins. Core and coarsely chop tomatoes.
   
2. Heat oil in a medium Dutch oven or a large pot over medium-high heat. Cook onion, garlic, and sliced fennel until fragrant and softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon white pepper. Remove from heat, and add wine. Return to heat, and bring to a boil, scraping up brown bits from bottom using a wooden spoon. Cook until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.
   
3. Add stock and chopped tomatoes. Bring to a simmer. Stir in cod and shrimp, and return to a simmer. Remove from heat, and let stand, stirring halfway through, until cod and shrimp are just cooked through, about 3 minutes. When serving, drizzle with additional oil. Garnish with reserved fennel fronds.
   

Autumn in Pictures

 

 

Hello, November!

It's been a tough October around here, I'll admit. But to keep spirits up, I use a failsafe trick: remind myself of the good bits that the fall brought. And there was much beauty and goodness to this season. Um, can you spot the trend?