Category Archives: veggies

Green Bean Casserole with Crispy Onions from smitten kitchen

Posted on by

Adapted a little from Alton Brown and a little from trial-and-error

gbc

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crispy Onions
2 medium yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons panko or plain breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon table salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Canola, safflower, peanut or other high-heat oil, for deep-frying

Mushroom Sauce
3 tablespoons butter
12 ounces mushrooms, thinly sliced or coarsely chopped
Few gratings fresh nutmeg (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper
3/4 teaspoon table salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream

Assembly
1 to 1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed and halved (see note about volume)

Make the crispy onions: Toss onion with flour, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper. Heat a 1/2-inch or so of oil in a 12-inch cast iron skillet until a drop of water flicked into it will hiss and sputter. Add onions, just a handful at a time in something close to a single layer, and fry until a light golden brown (they’ll get more color in the oven; I overcooked mine a bit, forgetting this). Remove with a spider or large slotted spoon, let oil drip off a little, back into the skillet, then spread onions out on paper towels to drain. Repeat with remaining onions. Set aside until needed; this makes a lot.

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Prepare the beans: Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and boil greens for 5 minutes (for standard green beans) or 2 to 3 minutes (for haricot vert, or skinny ones). Drain beans, then plunge them into ice water to full stop them from cooking. Drain again, and set aside. (If you are adamant about only using one pot, you can boil them in your 12-inch cast iron skillet that you use for the other steps. But a saucepan can be easier.)

Make the mushroom sauce: Over medium-high heat, melt butter in the bottom of a 12-inch cast iron skillet. Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper and saute them until they start releasing their liquid, anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how they were chopped. Add the garlic and saute one minute more. Add the flour and stir it until it fully coats the mushrooms. Add the broth, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring the whole time. Simmer mixture for 1 minute, then add cream and bring back to a simmer, cooking until the sauce thickens a bit, about 5 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently.

Assemble and bake: Add cooked greens beans to sauce and stir until they are coated. Sprinkle crispy onions over the top. Bake for 15 minutes, or until sauce is bubbling and onions are a shade darker. Eat at once.

Do ahead, a few ways: Onions can be made long in advance (up to a day) and keep at room temperature, loosely wrapped (they’d get soggy in an airtight container). Green beans can be cooked and kept in fridge until needed, at least one day. Green beans can also be combined with mushroom sauce and kept refrigerated for up to a day. Add onions and bake shortly before serving. Finally, it’s less ideal, but the entire dish can be cooked, loosely wrapped (so the crispy top doesn’t get soggy) and then rewarmed in a low oven before serving. Just keep an eye on the topping so it doesn’t get too brown while reheating.

A few notes:

  • I made a half-recipe of this dish (in a 9-inch skillet) as there are only three of us. Yours will be bigger. It was so good, we wished we had more.
  • I recommend a range of quantities for the green beans; if you like your casserole to be heavier on sauce and lighter on vegetables, use the lower amount. If you’d like a more vegetable-heavy dish, light-to-moderately coated with the sauce (as mine is in the photos), use the higher amount.
  • This makes a loooot of crispy onions. We didn’t mind. But you could probably stretch half the onion volume more thinly over your whole casserole (saving the other half for snacking/sandwiches), or you could just say, “It’s Thanksgiving. Let’s do this,” and use them all. Either way, you win.
  • [Apologies, this was originally in the recipe and I’d meant to make it a footnote due to the unevenness of the results.] If you’d like to bake the onions instead of frying them, Alton Brown recommends spreading them on 1 to 2 oiled baking sheets (but I’d use parchment paper next time) and baking them at 475 (but I might try a lower temperature) for approximately 30 minutes (though I’d check it at 20 minutes), tossing them around a few times to ensure even cooking. However, I found this a little pesky — it’s much harder to get them crisp and golden and they’re prone to getting too dark before most of them are cooked. I ended up deep-frying the rest and have zero regrets. It’s Thanksgiving. Let’s do this properly.
  • About the sauce thickness: Alton’s original sauce was on the thin side (2T butter for 2T flour). I thickened it when I made it so that it is a moderately thick sauce — it coats the beans (as you can see in the photos) but it does drape a little bit once baked (i.e. there will be more on the lower half of the pan than the top half when it comes out of the oven). If you’re nervous and want to make sure that your sauce is definitely very thick, you can do so by using 1 extra tablespoon butter and 1 extra tablespoon flour in the sauce — i.e. more roux makes thicker sauces. Draining your green beans well and even patting them out on towels will help ensure they don’t “liquefy” the sauce too much.

Cheeseburger Soup — allrecipes.com

Posted on by

268210
1/2 pound fake ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
4 tablespoons butter
3 cups veggie broth
4 cups cubed potatoes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups cubed Cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 c sour cream

In a large pot, melt 1 tablespoon butter or margarine over medium heat: cook and stir vegetables and fake meat, sautee until veggies are soft.

Stir in basil and parsley. Add broth and potatoes. Bring to a boil, then simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10-12 minutes.

Melt the remainder of butter and stir in flour. Add the milk, stirring until smooth.
Gradually add milk mixture to the soup, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Stir in cheese. When cheese is melted, add sour cream and heat through. Do not boil.

Basil Green Goddess Dressing — Ina

Posted on by

ig0810_greengoddess_lg

1 cup good mayonnaise
1 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts (6 to 7 scallions)
1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
2 teaspoons chopped garlic (2 cloves)
2 teaspoons anchovy paste
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup sour cream

Place the mayonnaise, scallions, basil, lemon juice, garlic, anchovy paste, salt and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the sour cream and process just until blended. (If not using immediately, refrigerate the dressing until ready to serve.)

Mama’s Best Broiled Tomato Sandwich — allrecipes

Posted on by

698855

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 ripe tomatoes, sliced
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
4 slices bread, lightly toasted

 

Preheat oven to broil.

In a shallow bowl, whisk together the olive oil and vinegar. Marinate the tomatoes in the mixture, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, parsley, oregano, black pepper and 4 teaspoons Parmesan cheese. Spread mixture on each slice of toasted bread. Place marinated tomatoes on 2 slices and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.

Place on a baking sheet and broil for 5 minutes, or until cheese turns golden brown. Serve immediately, open faced or closed.

Dijon Potato Salad –Martha

Posted on by
  • 1 1/2 pounds  potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
  • 1 tablespoon white-wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • Coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 hard boiled egg chopped
  • red onion chopped

Place a steamer basket in a saucepan filled with 1 inch water. Bring to a gentle boil. Add potatoes. Cover, and cook just until tender, 15 to 20 minutes, tossing occasionally. OR or cook in salted water until tender

In a serving bowl, combine vinegar and Dijon; season with salt and pepper. Add hot cooked potatoes; toss. Let cool, tossing occasionally.

Add oil and parsley, onion and chopped egg to cooled potato mixture. Season with salt and pepper, and toss.

 

Daphne Oz’s Cheesy “Pizza” Broccoli

Posted on by

  • 1 head of broccoli
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 6 tablespoons grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried chile flakes
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon
  • Sea salt and fresh-cracked black pepper
Steam the whole head of broccoli for a lovely presentation, or speed the process along by breaking or cutting into bite-sized florets. Steam the broccoli until you can easily insert a knife into the center of the broccoli head (about 20 minutes) or fork into the large florets (5 to 6 minutes).

Preheat the broiler. Drain the broccoli and place it in a baking dish. Drizzle it with the oil, and sprinkle it withcheese, chile flakes and oregano. Broil the broccoli until the cheese is golden brown, 2-3 minutes. Squeezelemon juice onto the broccoli, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

Poblano Posole

Posted on by

2 large or 3 medium peppers
2 earscorn on the cob (optional seasonal ingredient)
Natural cooking spray
8 to 10 medium tomatillos, peeled and halved
2 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided
1 red onion, cut into wedges
4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1/2 teaspoons cumin, half a palmful
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
5 cups vegetable or chicken stock, divided

A handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

1 28- to 32-ounce can ominy, drained

juice of 1 lime
To serve: thinly sliced radishes, diced 
avocado dressed with lime, thinly sliced 
scallions – whites and greens cut on bias

Preheat broiler to high.

Char peppers all over until skins are blackened. Spray corn, if using, with cooking spray and broil until charred evenly.

Place peppers in a bowl and cover until cool. Skin and seed the poblanos, and coarsely chop. Cut corn from cob.

Turn oven temp to 450°F.

Dress the tomatillos with a tablespoon of EVOO and arrange cut-side down on a baking sheet. Arrange onions and garlic on a second sheet, toss with remaining EVOO and season with cumin and coriander. Roast the tomatillos for 15 minutes on an upper rack in the oven, or until charred at edges and lightly browned. Place the baking sheet on a lower rack and leave the onions and garlic in oven to cook for an additional 10 more minutes.

Purée the tomatillos, onions, garlic and poblanos with 1 cup of stock, a small handful of cilantro and the lime juice. Transfer to a large pot along with the remaining stock and hominy; bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for 15 minutes to combine the flavors.

Serve Posole topped with the radishes, avocados, scallions and a little more lime juice.

Tomato and Cheddar Pie — Bon Appetit

Posted on by

tomato-cheddar-pie-484

Crust

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ cubes
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk

Filling

  • 2 pounds large ripe tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/4″ slices
  • 2 1/2 cups coarsely grated extra-sharp cheddar (8-9 ounces)
  • 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan (1/2 ounce)
  • 1 scallion, trimmed, chopped
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons cornmeal

  • Special Equipment

    Use a 9″-diameter glass or ceramic pie dish

Preparation

Crust

  • Whisk first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Using your fingertips, rub in butter until coarse meal forms and some small lumps remain. Stir in buttermilk and knead gently with your hands until dough forms. Wrap dough in plastic and chill for 1 hour.

Filling

  • Lay tomatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with 2 layers of paper towels. Place another 2 layers of paper towels on top of tomatoes. Let stand for 30 minutes to drain.
  • Preheat oven to 425°. Roll out dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap to an 11″ round. Remove top layer of plastic wrap. Invert dough onto pie dish. Carefully peel off plastic wrap.
  • Toss both cheeses in a medium bowl until evenly incorporated. Reserve 1/4 cup of cheese mixture. Whisk scallion, mayonnaise, dill, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
  • Sprinkle cornmeal evenly over bottom of crust, then top with 1/2 cup cheese mixture. Arrange 1/3 of tomatoes over cheese, overlapping as needed. Spread half of mayonnaise mixture (about 1/3 cup) over. Repeat layering with 1 cup of cheese mixture, 1/2 of remaining tomato slices, and remaining mayonnaise mixture. Sprinkle remaining 1 cup cheese mixture over, then remaining tomato slices. Sprinkle with reserved 1/4 cup cheese mixture. Fold overhanging crust up and over edges of tomato slices.
  • Bake pie until crust is golden and cheese is golden brown, 35-40 minutes (check crust halfway and tent with foil if it’s getting too dark). Let pie cool at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours before slicing and serving.
  • Editor’s note: This recipe reflects the change made to the amount of buttermilk in the crust.

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/08/tomato-and-cheddar-pie#ixzz2bQjHYejV

Olive Tapenade Grilled Cheese

Posted on by

yum

 

 

 

my version

my version made with lemon boy tomatoes and provolone cheese

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Makes one big sandwich

  • 2 slices rustic bread, sliced
  • 4 tablespoons black olive tapenade
  • 2 slices mozzarella cheese
  • 2 slices tomato
  • Kosher salt, to taste
  • 2 tablespoons butter

yu Pat tomato slices dry, sprinkle with salt, and set aside while you assemble the other ingredients. Spread each slice of bread with two tablespoons of the tapenade. Top with cheese, and the sliced tomato. Butter outside of sandwich, and cook in a skillet over medium heat until cheese melts and bread is golden brown.

Read more: http://www.fromaway.com/sandwiches/olive-tapenade-grilled-cheese#ixzz2bOhcdP8M

 

Guaca-chi The Washington Post, August 7, 2013

Posted on by

This marriage of kimchi and guacamole isn’t anything close to traditional, but it’s what happened when Food editor Joe Yonan was called upon to make a quick appetizer for a group of hungry people while he was staying in an unfamiliar house.

Don’t mash the avocados the way you would when making guacamole; they’re best left in chunks. The dish is best served just after it has been made.

Serve with tortilla chips or crackers.  Makes 1 3/4 cups (4 appetizer servings)

  • Flesh of 1 ripe avocado, cut into large chunks
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from 1 lime)
  • 1/2 cup homemade or store-bought kimchi, preferably spicy, with its liquid
  • Sea salt (optional)

Toss the avocado chunks with the lime juice in a serving bowl.

Chop the kimchi if the pieces are bigger than bite-size, then gently toss it and all of its liquid with the avocado. Taste, add salt if necessary, and serve.