Poached Eggs and Veggie Hash

Tonight, I wanted to use up some of the stuff I had on hand for dinner. Just didn't want to run out to the store, despite the balmy 13 degrees. Well, it was partly motivated by the pathetic balance in my checking account also, but that's another story.

Ahem.


Back to dinner. I wanted to use up some eggs, and this is what I came up with. Of course, the possibilities with this are endless. Just depends on what you have on hand, or whatever you're in the mood for. I even sprinkled a little feta cheese on the top of mine tonight, because it called to me, but it was a bit  over-powering. I probably won't do that again, but I bet some cheddar would be good.

Poached Eggs and Veggie Hash

4 small potatoes

2 carrots

1 tablespoon olive oil (or ½ & ½ olive oil and butter)

2 ribs celery

2 green onions

4 eggs

Dice potatoes and carrots into ¼” pieces. Heat olive oil (& butter, if using) in a medium-sized skillet until hot. Add potatoes and carrots. Cook, stirring infrequently (this will help the potatoes get crispy) until they are almost tender. Dice celery into ¼” pieces and thinly slice green onion, add both to pan, now stir often.

Meanwhile, heat water in egg poacher and spray or butter the egg compartments. When the water begins to boil, get eggs from fridge and kick yourself when you see the partial green pepper in there and think about how good THAT would have been in the hash. Add eggs to poacher and cook to desired done-ness (about 5 min for soft, 8-9 minutes for firmer yolks).

If you don't have an egg poacher, heat a saucepan about ½ full of water. When the water is just about boiling, crack the eggs gently into the water (watch out for the hot steam!). Lower heat to simmer, and cook to desired done-ness (about 5 min for soft, 8-9 minutes for firmer yolks).

Arrange ½ of hash on each of two plates and top with 2 poached eggs.

Enjoy!

Beans & Greens

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Yay! Another recipe post!

Since hubby did up the rest of the accumulated dishes today, I get to cook a nice dinner, right? Actually, this is kind of a one-pot-wonder meal, so I'm not too concerned. I found this recipe in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of Cooking Light magazine. (Dang. All those stinking English classes and I can't remember if I'm supposed to underline the title of a magazine, or put it in italics. Well, in my defense, it's been a few years...) They put the recipe in the Budget Cooking section of the issue. According to their calculations at the time, this comes out to $1.75 per serving. Not too bad.

Of course, after making this about a thousand times since I found the recipe, I've made a few adjustments: I cut back from 2 cans of beans to 1, I use more bacon, (hey, it's bacon...) and, the original recipe was a little soupy for me, so I've cut back on the liquids.

FYI: Kale is is low in saturated fat, and very low in cholesterol. It is also a good source of protein, Vitamin E , Thiamin, Riboflavin, Folate, Iron and Magnesium, and a very good source of fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Potassium, Copper and Manganese. Garbanzo beans (also called chickpeas) are very low in saturated fat and cholesterol and are also a good source of fiber, Vitamin B6 and Folate, and a very good source of Manganese. The canned beans are usually high is sodium, though. Make sure you rinse them well, or splurge and buy organic which are usually lower in sodium — check the label!

Cooking Light called it Garbanzo Beans and Greens. I just call it:

Beans & Greens

4 pieces thick cut bacon

1 c chopped carrots

½ c chopped onion

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp paprika

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp ground cumin

1 c chicken broth

½ c water

1 (15-once) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

4 c chopped fresh kale*

4 “dollops” plain yogurt, for garnish

Cook bacon in a dutch oven over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and crumble. (Leave the drippings in the pan.) Set bacon aside. If the pan has a lot of yummy bacon-y stuff stuck to the bottom, you can release it by de-glazing the pan. Pour a splash of white wine (or chicken broth, I suppose...) into the pan, and CAREFULLY scrape up the bits.

Add carrots and onions to the pan and cook for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic, paprika, salt and cumin, stirring constantly. Cook for ½ to 1 minute. Stir in broth, water and beans. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add kale to pan and stir until it starts to wilt a little. Cover pan and simmer 10 minutes or until kale is tender. Ladle into four bowls and top each with a bit of yogurt and ¼ of the bacon. Serve with crusty bread to sop up the juices, if desired.

*The original recipe says you can substitute collards or escarole for the kale if you like. I tried fresh spinach once, in a pinch. If you use that, it will wilt and become tender very quickly.

Dinner tonight!

Dinner tonight:

Venison steak with Bloody Mary sauce, risotto with spinach, and honey-ginger carrots. And, for dessert, grilled grapefruit!

Bloody Mary Sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes with oregano, garlic and basil, drained (reserve juice)

¾ c Bloody Mary mix

1oz vodka

Additional spices, if desired*

Heat olive oil in a small saucepan. Add drained tomatoes and saute about 5 minutes, until tomatoes start to break down.

Add Bloody Mary mix, vodka and any desired additional spices. Simmer until thickened to desired consistency. I also pulsed the sauce a few times with a stick blender to make it more thick/less chunky.

Serve over steak, pasta, eggs, etc.

* I've got a “Bloody Mary Sprinkle” that I keep on hand to give a little extra flavor to store-bought mix. It's made from 2 parts celery salt, 1 part onion powder, 1 part garlic salt, ½ part ground coriander and ¼ part dried pepper flakes of choice.

For the grapefruit, I cut it into wedges and coated each with brown sugar. We tried grilling them two different ways: right on grill and wrapped in a foil packet. Directly on the grill worked better. It heated through faster, and the sugar caramelized better and got kind of crunchy around the edges.

Skillet Chicken & Kale

Something new for dinner tonight! Feel free to swap out the pasta shape, use frozen or fresh chopped spinach instead of kale, add some sliced mushrooms, onion, and/or garlic toward the end of the chicken cooking time, use whatever cheese you have on hand, etc.

Skillet Chicken and Kale

2 c rotini pasta

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 pkg boneless skinless chicken tenders, cut into bite size pieces

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

1-1/4 c milk

Salt and pepper to taste

3 c coarsely chopped fresh kale

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes, drained

1 c shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Before draining, reserve a ½ c cooking water.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until browned and no longer pink. Set chicken aside and keep warm.

Add butter to hot pan, melting over medium heat. Sprinkle flour into butter and whisk for 2 minutes to cook flour. Add milk, salt and pepper and stir constantly until beginning to thicken.

Add kale to skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until kale is tender. If needed, add some of the pasta cooking water to thin sauce. Add tomatoes, chicken and pasta to skillet. When heated through, sprinkle with cheese, cover and turn off heat. Serve when cheese is melty.

Mostaccioli Skillet

This is a family favorite. Tasty, quick, easy, cheap and you might have what you need on hand anyway. I even served it on my night to cook for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Grand Cayman. I think that was the night we broke into song at the dinner table..."I Will Survive," I do believe it was...

Mostaccioli Skillet
1 lb ground beef
2 c mostaccioli or penne noodles
2 c water
1 jar/can premade spaghetti sauce, any brand/flavor
1 pkg (8 oz) shredded Mozzarella cheese

In a large skillet, brown ground beef until no longer pink. Drain any excess grease. Add pasta and water, cover, and simmer until the pasta is al dente, 6-8 minutes. Drain any excess water from pan.

Add spaghetti sauce to pan and heat through. Stir in the majority of the cheese, and when melty, divide among plates. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Squash and Apple Soup

Is it bad when the squash call to you at the store?!? Don't answer that.

Regardless, these two buttercup squash seemed to beg me to put them in my cart and bring them home with me. So, I did, and I quartered them and dug out their seeds, drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled on some salt and dried rosemary and roasted them in the oven until....

Mmm. Nice and tender! 

Next up, saute some red onion, garlic and apple and in butter. (The original recipe I started with called for pear, but I only had apples.)

Add the roasted squash, a little milk and some veggie stock. Puree, either with a stick blender, or a regular one, and heat to serving temp.





                                                                         Ta da!

Squash and Apple Soup

2 medium buttercup squash
Olive oil, for drizzling
2 tsp salt, divided
1 tsp dried rosemary
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 c diced red onion
1 clove garlic, minced

1 small apple, cored, peeled and chopped
3 c vegetable stock
1/2 c milk
1/2 tsp sage

Preheat oven to 400º. Cut squash in half, remove seeds and cut pieces in half again. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with 1/2 the salt and the rosemary. Roast until tender, about 40 minutes, rotating squash around to avoid over cooking. Cool until you are able to handle the pieces. Remove squash from the skin.

Melt butter over medium-high heat in a soup pot. Add onion and garlic and saute 2-3 minutes, until they begin to turn tender. Add apple pieces and saute, stirring frequently, until apple is soft. Add squash, stock, milk, remaining salt and sage to pot and heat over medium-low heat. Use an immersion blender to puree soup to desired consistency (or, use a regular blender, working in batches as needed).

Butternut Squash Lasagne

Squash are a good source of iron, riboflavin and vitamins A and C. And, I learned on the farm last summer that even cows like them! I got this recipe from twincitieslive.com. When assembling this, I split the ingredients between two 8" square pans (one lined with foil, then sprayed, assembled and put in the freezer before baking). It will take about 20-30 min longer to bake from frozen.


Butternut Squash Lasagne

1 T olive oil
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced (about 3 lbs.)
4 T butter
1/4 c flour
3-1/2 c milk
1/8 t ground nutmeg
1/8 t ground cinnamon
3/4 c lightly packed fresh basil leaves
2-1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 package (8 oz) oven-ready lasagne noodles
1/3 c grated Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add squash and toss to coat. Add 1/2 cup water. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, or until tender. Cool slightly. Puree squash in food processor and season with salt and pepper.

In  a medium saucepan melt butter over medium heat. Add flour, whisking for 1 minute. Increase heat to high and gradually whisk in milk. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Whisk in nutmeg and cinnamon. Let cool slightly. Pout half the white sauce into a blender, add the basil and blend until smooth. Return basil sauce to saucepan and combine with the rest of the white sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

Heat oven to 350º. Reserve 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. Lightly spray 13“ X 9” X 2" baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Spread 3/4  cup of basil sauce in bottom of dish. Place 1/3 of the noodles over sauce. Spread 1/3 of the squash puree over the noodles, followed by 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Repeat layering.

Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and sprinkle with reserved ½ cup of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Return to oven and continue baking 15 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

Freezer Pickles

Probably, if you're still reading, you're tired of listening to me apologize for my delays in posting. So, I'm not going to do it this time. I'm just going to jump in.

Today, I made freezer pickles. Care to follow along? I'll type up the recipe at the end, and you can cut and paste that into a word processor, if you like.

Find some beautiful, happy cucumbers. (Don't forget to wash off the bird poop off that one.)

 
Cut them up to accommodate your slicer of choice, and slice thinly. You should end up with about 8 cups of slices.

 

Put the slices in a large bowl and add sliced green pepper and onion, if you like.

 

Sprinkle with salt and stir thoroughly. Allow to stand at room temp for 2 hours.

 

Drain the liquid off, add the vinegar, sugar, dill and celery seed. Stir thoroughly.

I happened to have some fabulous dried celery leaves, so I used them instead of the seed.

 

Package in desired portion sizes with a smashed garlic clove and a jalapeno, if desired, and freeze for up to a year.

Mmmm!

Freezer Pickles

8 cups fresh cucumber slices

1 bell pepper, sliced (green, red, etc.)

1 med. onion, sliced

3 tablespoons kosher salt

3/4 cups sugar

1 cup white vinegar

Dried dill weed, to taste

Celery seed, to taste

Garlic cloves, peeled, optional

Jalapeno peppers, cleaned and slit open on one side (but still whole), optional

In a large bowl, combine cucumber, bell pepper and onion. Add salt and combine thoroughly. Allow to marinate for 2 hours at room temp. 

Drain off liquid. Add sugar, vinegar, dill and celery seed and combine thoroughly. Refrigerate for one hour before serving, or freeze in desired portion sizes with a smashed garlic clove and/or a jalapeno for up to one year.

"BLT" Pasta

This is one of my favorites.

“BLT” Pasta

12 oz mostaccioli (or other short pasta)

4 sliced bacon

Splash of white wine (if desired)

1 pint container cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half

6 oz fresh baby spinach leaves

Salt and pepper, to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large pan until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and chop into 1/2”-1” pieces. Drain off all but about 2 tbsp of drippings from the pan. If desired, pour a splash of white wine in the the hot pan, and cook until almost evaporated, scraping up the bacon bits from the pan. Add tomatoes to pan and cook over medium heat until they start to release their juices, stirring occasionally. Add spinach to pan and continue to cook and stir until tomatoes are tender and spinach is wilted. Remove from heat.

Add cooked pasta and bacon to pan and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serves 4.

Roasted Radishes with Sauteed Tops

Last summer, I learned that even though I don't like raw radishes, I do like them sauteed. When I saw a recipe talking about roasted radishes, I thought that sounded good, too! The original recipe called for the green tops to be just chopped and sprinkled raw on top of the roasted radishes, but I mis-read it at first, thinking the tops were sauteed in butter. I couldn't get that out of my head, (especially when I tried a bit of the raw greens and didn't like it) so I sauteed them with some garlic. Mmmm.

Roasted Radishes with Sauteed Tops

2 tbsp olive oil, divided

2 bunches radishes, radishes and greens

Lemon juice

1 tbsp butter

1 clove garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 450º. Drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil in a rimmed baking dish. Wash radishes and greens thoroughly. Cut greens from radishes and remove root ends. Cut radishes in half lengthwise and toss in prepared baking dish to coat with oil. Roast radishes until tender, about 20-25 minutes, stirring several times. Sprinkle with lemon juice.

Meanwhile, in a small heavy fry pan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil and butter. Chop greens and add to fry pan with minced garlic. Saute until garlic begins to brown and greens become crispy.

Serve radishes with greens sprinkled on top. Serves 2.

If you try this, let me know what you think!!