Spicy Chickpeas and Winter Vegetables

In anticipation of the travel adventure that the Husband and I will soon be embarking on, I spent a bitterly cold day yesterday transacting commerce in suburbia. It was the kind of day that makes you recoil when you step outside. The wind never died down and people ran from their cars to where they were going.

Yes. I complain about the cold all the time, so I lack credibility. I know this. But yesterday was different. Yesterday I was literally moved to tears when I saw a man at an intersection.

I was waiting to turn right, and he was standing in the median by the left lane. He was dressed for the weather. He had on thick canvas coveralls, a hooded sweatshirt, workboots and ski gloves. He looked to be about 65. There was a duffel bag on the ground near him, and he held a big, creased cardboard sign: Hard Worker.

[Heavy Sigh.] So many people are struggling this year to survive, just as the weather is getting dangerously cold. At dinner last night, I hoped that the hard worker had somewhere warm to go home to.

Spicy Chickpeas and Winter Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 TB vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

2 leeks, white and light green parts chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp whole cloves

3 c lower sodium vegetable broth

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, with juice

4 dried red chilies

2 carrots, chopped

2 small (or 1 large) heads of cauliflower, chopped into florets

1/2 lb assorted mushrooms

10 oz kale, stems trimmed, roughly chopped

1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

salt and pepper to taste
lemon juice or red wine vinegar (optional)

Preparation:

Heat oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions, leeks garlic, and cloves and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add broth and tomatoes, scraping bottom of pan to remove any browned bits.

Add the remainder of the ingredients (excluding salt, pepper and lemon/vinegar), and bring to a simmer. Cook with lid on for about 30 minutes, or until cauliflower and carrots are soft. Season with salt and pepper. Remove chilies prior to serving. Add a splash or lemon juice or red wine vinegar to each bowl prior to serving if desired. Serve with couscous or rice. Serves 6-8.

Roasted Grape Tomatoes

My mom warned me: some time this past month her grape tomatoes had gone from sugary sweet to sassily tart. Maybe they got bitter about the end of summer? Something gave these little orbs an attitude. I decided the only fitting treatment for them was Hansel & Gretel style: into the oven, my pretties.

I seasoned them with salt and pepper and put them on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. They cooked for about an hour at 400 degrees, and then I turned the oven off and left them to roast some more in the cooling oven.

They taste, as husband said, not unlike a tomato craisin, if such a thing existed. Slightly caramelized, and quite tart, almost like a sundried tomato. They'll be lovely in an omelet, sandwich or with fish. Thanks, Mom!

Pasta with Eggplant, Cherry Tomato and Olive Sauce

Sunday was another one of those magical WDC days, in my book. There was something about the air pressure that almost defeated my I-had-too-much-fun-last-night-and-am-now-suffering feeling. Almost.

My husband assured me that what I really needed to get rid of that feeling was a fifty mile bike ride, naturally. We set out obnoxiously later than planned (I wouldn’t trade a night with out-of-town friends for an early start, don’t get me wrong) and it took about 30 miles to feel like I wasn’t going to fall off of the bike. But what a gorgeous ride. We made it almost to Sugarloaf , but turned around just short of it.

In hindsight, it’s sort of hilarious how self-assured I was feeling at mile 45. Because at mile 46 I was ready to vote Republican if it would have made the ride end any sooner (OK, OK, it wasn’t that bad...).

We slurped ourselves home and tried to sort out dinner. We had had plans to go out, to enjoy the oddly cool evening weather, but we were not ready for prime time. I think I was drooling on myself, and husband was not much better.

Having raided my parent’s garden earlier in the day, I had handfuls of cherry tomatoes at my disposal. This sauce was easy, and tasted even better the next day.

Pasta with Eggplant and Cherry Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

½ lb pasta
1 TB olive oil
½ onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 eggplants, chopped into roughly 1 inch pieces
2-3 c cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1-2 c water
¼ c Kalamata olives, chopped
2 TB tomato paste
1 TB balsamic vinegar
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 handful basil
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Preparation:

Cook pasta according to directions, in salted water. Drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, add olive oil to a skillet that has been heated over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft, about four minutes.

Add eggplant and about 1 c water to skillet. Combine well. Cook covered, over medium heat, until eggplant is softened. Stir periodically to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom. Add more water as needed.

Uncover, and add tomatoes to mixture and cook until tomatoes are softened, about 3 minutes. Add olives, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar and red pepper flakes and stir to combine.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Prior to serving, add basil. Heat from sauce will wilt basil. Serve with cheese on the side. Serves 4.

Summer Salads

 This was another one of those dinners that had to stand in for what I really wanted: an ice bath.  

I do love summer, I do, I do! But this summer my love is being tested, for the first time really.   I know I'll come out the other side OK.  I would never forsake the refreshing afternoon thundershowers, insanely lush landscape and long nights for a cooler climate. Never, summer, OK? You're safe.

These salads are all quite simple.  The beet salad was my way of using up the last of my beets from the garden.  I lovingly swaddled them one by one in tinfoil... and then delivered them to a 500 degree oven.  They roasted for about an hour, because they weren't the hugest beets.  If you are working with bigger beets, just roast them until they feel tender when pricked with a fork. After removing the foil the skins slide off easily. 

I quartered the beets, and combined them with a healthy amount of dill, allspice berries, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper.  Optimally they should be refrigerated overnight to allow the flavors to combine, but chilling them just until they are cool is OK too. 

Next on the plate clockwise is  a simple tomato, basil, cucumber, red onion and parsley salad.  I combined those ingredients with olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Clean and comforting.

Finally, I made a hot zucchini, eggplant, and onion salad.  I simply sauteed chunks of the vegetables in a bit of olive oil, and then seasoned. Voila! It was quite good cold the next day, as well, but someone in my house (not naming names husband) has a real thing for hot food, even when it's so hot out that people's faces are warping.  So, hot salad it was. 

With the salads we had toasted pita and pureed white bean dip. This dinner was fairly virtuous, dietarily speaking, but still very satisfying, perfect for enjoying a summer evening. 

Summer Supper: Polenta, Spiced Black Beans with Sauteed Poblano, and Tomato and Corn Salad

It is so hot here in DC that the usually surly population has officially gone off the charts. In "only in Washington" fashion, I observed a character this week,  who I'll call "ridiculously hostile watermelon pusher man", or WP,  for short.  

I had seen him a few weeks prior, camped out on the same corner, a few blocks from DuPont Circle. He'd set up his shop of meanness outside of what was presumably his residence.  (Note: if you ever "work" where you live, try not to be a jerk. People know how to find you.)  The first time I saw him, I thought it had to be some sort of performance art.  Sadly, that was not the case.  

What was he peddling, in the 100 degree heat? Slices of cold watermelon.  Sounds refreshing, right?

Wrong.

WP's brilliant, and yet maniacal business plan, surely one not honed at Wharton, was to give the slices away. That's right, free of charge. Gratis.  Equipped with a blue cooler, lawn chair, and cardboard sign, WP set about trying to foist free produce on the unsuspecting masses.

But like all good city dwellers, the intended beneficiaries were highly suspicious.  Not many souls were brave enough to accept the free fruit. 

How did WP deal with this? By mocking and ridiculing anyone within earshot.  As in, "What the hell is wrong with people in this city?" "What, are you scared? You're scared, aren't you? Scaredy cat!" and, my favorite, "Don't be a loser, eat some freaking watermelon!"  

Further proof that the heat makes people crazy, and that no allegedly good deed goes unpunished. 

Good deed = no punishment; meanness = people avoid you. Think about it, WP.  

The heat has also resulted in me avoiding the oven, and even the stove, whenever possible.

Tonight's dinner was a simple combination of polenta, black beans, and tomatoes and corn.  I served it with a big spinach salad.  Perfectly summer. 

The recipes were so simple as to not really be worth mentioning.  For the polenta, I used a 50/50 mix of finely and coarsely ground corn, which I find to produce the best consistency.  The black beans were already prepared for me: I bought a can of seasoned beans.  To the beans, I added sauteed diced poblano and  few garlic cloves.  The corn and tomato salad featured fresh corn, cut off the cob, and San Marzano tomatoes.   San Marzano tomatoes are worth the extra cost-- they are so sweet, perfect with summer corn.  I added salt, pepper, sugar, and fresh basil.  

Very few of the ingredients had to be purchased; most were ingredients I had at home. Just a couple of seasonal ingredients can really make dinner special.

This concludes my Martha Stewart Moment for the day. Thank you. 

Tofu Caprese

Tofu Caprese

Ingredients:

3 TB extra virgin olive oil

(2)14 oz blocks extra firm tofu, each block well drained, sliced into quarters lengthwise, and seasoned generously with salt and pepper
4 cloves garlic, pressed

2 dry pints grape tomatoes, sliced in half

1/4 c pitted Kalamata olives, chopped

2 TB balsamic vinegar

8 oz fresh mozzeralla, sliced into 1 oz slices

2 large handfuls basil

salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

Heat 1TB olive oil in large skillet. When skillet is heated, add tofu slices, and cook for about 6 minutes per side over medium-high heat, or until tofu is crispy. Try not to move tofu while cooking, so as to allow tofu to crisp. Once tofu is done cooking, set aside.

In a smaller skillet, heat 1TB olive oil. When oil is heated, add garlic. Saute for 2-3 minutes, over very low heat. Add grape tomatoes to skillet. Mix together well, and turn heat to medium. Cover mixture, and cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until tomatoes begin to soften and release juices.

Uncover, and add olives and balsamic vinegar. Mix well, and cook uncovered over medium heat for 3-4 additional minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve dish, layer once slice of crispy tofu, and then two slices of mozzeralla. Generously spoon tomato olive mixture on top. Add several basil leaves, and top with another layer of crispy tofu. Finish with several spoonfuls of tomato olive mixture on top of stack. Drizzle remaining olive oil on the four stacks. Serves 4.

Rigatoni with Pesto,Yellow Squash Ribbons, and Grilled Grape Tomatoes

Rigatoni with Pesto, Yellow Squash Ribbons, and Grilled Grape Tomatoes

Ingredients:

1/3 c toasted almonds

3-4 handfuls basil leaves

4 TB extra virgin olive oil

1/2 lb. Rigatoni

1 dry pint grape tomatoes

2 squash, peeled into ribbons using Y peeler (discard center, seeded part of squash)

1/3 c grated parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

In food processor, combine almonds and basil. Drizzle olive oil in (reserving 2tsp), and combine. Remove mixture from food processor, and mix in parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. 

Cook pasta according to directions in salted water. Reserve about a cup of cooking water prior to draining.

Meanwhile, drizzle 2tsp olive oil in a grill pan, and heat. When oil is almost smoking, add grape tomatoes. Grill, turning occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Return pasta to empty pot. Add pesto and squash ribbons. Add pasta water  and cheese until desired consistency is reached. Season with salt and pepper. Top with grilled tomatoes before serving. Serves 4.