Spring meal: White pizza with ramps & strawberry salad.

From our CSA this week, we received more flavorful salad greens, mustard greens, 2 pints of strawberries, & a bunch of radishes. We hadn't even finished our first set of salad greens yet! Plus, we've had 3 weeks of strawberries. PLUS! We've still have copious amounts of ramps & scallions. What to do!!

So, tonight I made a white pizza with ramps & a strawberry salad. It was a very nice balanced meal. PLUS!! We had a nice white wine with the meal.

Nice.

Just a warning - don't be afraid of the number of ramps. Ramps are much mellower than garlic or scallions/leeks. Don't fear the ramps!


Here's the basic recipe:

White pizza with ramps
10 ramps
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 or 3/4 cup shredded Italian cheese (we used Sargento's reduced fat Italian blend)
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
2-3 tablespoons dried basil (or a handful of fresh basil)
1-2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tomato, diced
1 pizza crust

So, I did a dirty, clever trick with the tomato. I purchased an heirloom tomato from the crappy Giant near me (not the super nice Giant). Mostly, heirloom tomatoes have tons of tomato flavor, which is indicated by their scent & their minimal travel time. However, I screwed up & chose a random heirloom without a good scent that traveled from Canada. After I chopped the tomato, I sprinkled it with a very small amount of sugar & a ton of basil. Then, it tasted more tomatoey. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than tasting like water.

Basically, the pizza crust is topped with ricotta cheese, then 1/2 of the ramps, the seasonings, then the tomatoes, then the shredded cheese. (Jeff says that you can cook all of the ramps in the pizza. I liked a few of them raw on top. But taste a raw ramp & choose your own adventure!) Sprinkle the top with the parmesan. Also, I brushed the exposed crust with some olive oil & sprinkled with some parmesan.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Top the pizza with the rest of the ramps & (if you're feeling feisty, some fresh arugula leaves).

Enjoy with a nice white wine, such as a 2007 Cascina del Pozzo Arneis Roero (Italian white table wine - cheap!). Also, make a nice green salad & top with sliced strawberries & balsamic vinaigrette.

Very Spring-y!


Aside: Ramps are SUPER ULTRA good pan-fried with potatoes. Just add the ramps near the end of the cooking. Nice onion/garlic flavor with potatoes - very good!!

Watermelon Granita

Okay everyone! Annette here.  I'm guessing you're probably wondering what's going on and where I've been.  Sorry! The month of April was really busy for me so I've been cooking and taking pictures of it, just not writing it up on here. I have a lot of dinners to catch up on. Also, you might have noticed some other people writing.  I opened up the blog to some of my cooking friends so you'll get all kinds of interesting things on here know.  Read more about them in the Who's in the Kitchen link on the right.

We spent Saturday in a cute, historic town nearby I was able to snag this cute blue Ball jar.  Some day when my man and I buy a house I want to do an aqua/poppy kitchen so I was excited about my new vase.



What's this have to do with cooking? Nothing. I just thought you might like some flowers. Okay...on to the Granita.  I originally got the idea for this from Amy at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free.  It was awesome and I want to do it with all kinds of fruit now. So good!






Watermelon Granita
Adapted from Simply Sugar & Gluten Free
Ingredients: 
1 whole seedless watermelon
3 Tablespoons lime juice
 1/4 cup sugar (I used Coconut Palm Sugar)

Directions: 
Puree your watermelon in a blender/food processor until liquid.  Add in lime juice and sugar. Taste to make sure it tastes good to you and add more juice/sugar if needed. Pour into shallow pans and put in freezer.  Stir with a fork after a few hours. It might take up to a day to freeze depending on how thick your pan is. Once frozen, scrape with a fork and enjoy.  It makes a ton so you can certainly share with others or use less watermelon!

I made mine in a huge Rubbermaid container and then didn't want to spend hours scraping it.  I let it thaw for a bit and then was able to break it into chunks and put in the food processor to turn it into a sorbet texture.  Either way is fun. Next time I make it I plan to freeze it in smaller containers so I can just dump it in the food processor and grind up.  It was so good! My man said he wasn't a watermelon fan but really loved the texture.

It's a great hot, summer day healthy treat.  Enjoy! --Annette

Food & Wine Steak with Herb Nut Salsa

Keri here with a review of a recipe and wine pairing!

Tonight, the man & I had steak with an herb nut salsa. The recipe came with our Food & Wine Adventurer Club wine shipment.

Aside: Food & Wine introduced two wine clubs last Fall/Winter: a collector edition & an adventurer edition. They ship us 6 bottles with a recipe booklet that pairs each wine with a primary recipe (& 3 alternates). Some wineries also do the same, which is pretty awesome.

The wine was really good for a cheapy wine, & it paired really well with the recipe. Good job, Food & Wine!!

Wine: Domaine de Baumard - Logis de la Giraudière - 2005. Fancy name for a red table wine... but it is really nice. Don't pay over $20 for it. Rating: 3.5/5

Recipe: Hanger Steak with Herb Nut Salsa Rating: 3.5/5

The salsa was salty herby goodness - So, I made very simple sides: roasted potatoes & onions with very little salt & some pepper and halved grape tomatoes with leftover herbs, basil, & shallot. Both cleansed the palate nicely after bites of the steak/salsa & sips of the wine. We made a few minor modifications: no tarragon, no chervil, anchovy paste in lieu of anchovies, less oil.

Also, ignore the recipe's note about 12 minutes for toasting the hazelnuts. Toast until fragrant, & don't wander away. Otherwise, it's a mad dash to open the door, turn on the fan, & cover the smoke detector.

Overall, the dish was very good together. We will probably make this again when the vegetable & herb garden is in full force. I recommend the wine & recipe together as a semi-fancy meal.

(This item was cross-posted to Twice If It's Nice.)

No-Picture Thai Chicken Stir-Fry with Coconut Rice

That's right.... I committed the cardinal sin of blogging. I have no picture of this.  However, it was delicious so I should share it with you.  I'll have to update this post in the future when I make this again. For some reason I procrastinated on making this dish.  The ingredients sat in my fridge for over a week.  They were just about to start getting bad when I finally realized I was stalling because I didn't want to eat stuffed cabbage rolls.  Stir Fry! Problem Solved. 

Thai Chicken Stir-Fry with Coconut Rice
Inspired by: Thai Chicken in Cabbage Leaves
(pg. 276) 2009 Cooking Light Annual Recipes

Ingredients: 
1 pound boneless/skinless chicken breast, cut into strips

1 red pepper, sliced into strips
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 napa* cabbage, sliced into strips
1 sliced red onion
1 lime
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
4 teaspoons Thai Fish Sauce
1 Tablespoon Dark Sesame Oil
1 bunch chopped green onions
crushed peanuts (optional)

*It's Chinese Cabbage...not wine country! 

Directions: 
(If making the Coconut Rice...start that before cooking the stir-fry.)
In a large-ish skillet with large sides (or a wok if you have one!) toss in the chicken, juice from the lime, fish sauce, and sesame oil.  Cook over medium heat until chicken is mostly done.  Then toss in the sliced red pepper, carrots, onions, cabbage and cook until chicken is finished and vegetables are tender.  Take off the heat and mix in the mint, green onions, crushed peanuts, and cilantro.  Server over rice.


Coconut Rice
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups brown jasmine rice
1 can coconut milk (you can go low fat if you want but there are rumors that coconuts are actually good for you! :) )

Directions:
Cook rice as directed on your package or toss into a rice cooker* except instead of 3 cups water, use the coconut milk.  I also added about 1/4 cup of water just to thin it out a bit.  When it's tender, serve with the stir fry.  This also tastes amazing with a little spritz of lime juice. 

*My man got ours free from Coke Reward Points! Thank you fellow office workers obsessed with their cokes! I would highly recommend getting a little $20 rice cooker if you're a big fan of rice dishes.  It makes it so easy.   

Vegetarian/Vegan Option:  Take out the chicken and fish sauce and instead use a little soy sauce, tofu or shelled edamame, extra veggies like mung bean sprouts/more peppers/broccoli/water chestnuts... play around with it and have fun.

Ultimate Chili

For Valentine's Day I gave my man a beer-making experience.  He and a friend went to Shenandoah Brewing Company and brewed their own beer.  After about 6 weeks it was bottled and ready for drinking.

 To celebrate, we threw a "Release Party" with a ton of chili.

When I make chili I don't really measure anything so it never turns out exactly the same.  Feel free to increase or lower the amount of things in here to fit your taste buds.  But whatever you do, make sure to include the secret ingredients... it makes all the difference!

Ultimate Chili
Ingredients

1 28oz can of whole tomatoes, slice them up a bit
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes, (w/green chilies or w/o)
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)*
1 can black beans*
1 can dark red kidney beans*
*OR you can do 1/2 cup dried beans and let them soak overnight in water.  Then dump out the soaking water and cook them on the stove in fresh, boiling water for 10 minutes.  Drain.
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow or orange pepper, chopped
1 red onion, diced
3 cloves of minced garlic (or more, or less...)
1 pound browned & drained ground beef or turkey
1 package spicy sausage (My Favorite Cajun  Style Andouille found here)
1 Tablespoon Chili Powder (or more, or less...)
1 Tablespoon Ground Cumin  (or more, or less...)
1/2 teaspoons sea salt (or more, or less...)
Dash of Cayenne Pepper
Secret Ingredient: 2-4oz of good quality unsweetened dark chocolate (YUP! That's right... I said Chocolate!)  (Ghirardelli, Dagoba, or Scharffenberger do actually taste & look different....)

Easy-have-a-lot-of-time-Directions: 
Chop all the veggies (peppers, onions, garlic).  Split the sausage lengthwise and then cut into 1/4 inch thick pieces.  Brown the ground beef (or turkey).  Make sure beans are drained of their can liquid or their soaking water (and have been heated for 10 minutes in boiling water--I've read something about a chemical kidney beans release when first heated that you're not supposed to eat? I don't know...)

Dump everything into a crockpot, stir and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5-6.

Got-to-get-to-a-Beer-Party-Soon-Directions: 
Chop all the veggies (peppers, onions, garlic).  Split the sausage lengthwise and then cut into 1/4 inch thick pieces.  Brown the ground beef (or turkey) in a large stockpot.  Add in veggies & spices to the ground beef (you could drain the fat before adding veggies if you wanted.)   Cook covered for about 7 minutes or so, just to soften everything up.  Add in all the other ingredients: tomatoes, beans*, chocolate, sausage.  Stir and cover.  Simmer for the next 1.5-3 hours on low, stirring about every 20 minutes.  The slower you cook a chili the better it will get.  If it ends up being too watery, take off the lid and/or add some cornstarch.  (To add cornstarch, spoon out about 1/2 cup of the liquid and add a Tablespoon of cornstarch to it.  Mix it up so there aren't any lumps and pour it back in.  In about 20-30 minutes you'll have a thicker chili.)  Serve with some tasty cornbread (GF cornbread Represent!) and some homemade Nut Brown Ale (although....that's not gluten free!) 

*Make sure beans are drained of their can liquid or their soaking water (and have been heated for 10 minutes in boiling water--there is something about a chemical kidney beans release when first heated that you're not supposed to eat? I don't know...)

 Vegetarian/Vegan Option: 
I've made this plenty of times before without meat and it's just as delicious.  Certainly with all the beans it's packed with protein and fiber!  I would however:

Increase the spices (Chili Powder, Cumin, Cayenne Pepper)
Cook in the crockpot so the beans break down a bit more and make it thicker
If you're a soy-sausage fan I'm sure it would taste great in this.
Sometimes I also add some frozen corn.....but it does make the chili sweeter. 

Enjoy!

Emily's Vegetarian Curry & Hummus

Last night was generic* Middle Eastern Night at our house!  I made this vegetarian curry recipe given to me by my friend Emily.  She blogs about her poetry and photography here.  It's awesome!  You can go and check it out... I'll wait.

(Insert hold music here.)

See? I told you it's awesome!  Anyway!  I combined the curry with homemade hummus and blue corn tortilla chips.  Overall, a delicious generic* Middle Eastern supper.

*Not sure which country this particular kind of dish would be made.   

Emily's Vegetarian Curry

Ingredients

¼ cup oil (I used a bit less..)

1 onion, diced

4 garlic cloves

1 Tablespoons minced fresh ginger

1 ½ Tablespoon curry powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

14oz can diced tomatoes (no need to drain)

½ tsp salt

2 ½ cup diced potatoes

3 small med zucchini, sliced*

¾ cup dry roasted, unsalted cashews

1 TBsp lemon juice

Rice (whatever kind you like. I used a Texmati Blend)

Plain yogurt ( I used a plain, unsweetened soy yogurt)

*The zucchini in the store looked gross, so I opted for the asparagus that was on sale.  It worked well.  

Directions: 

Begin cooking your rice according to the package. I just throw mine in our rice cooker. 

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add onion, garlic, and ginger and saute 5 minutes.  Mix in curry powder and cumin and cook two minutes to toast spices.  Add tomatoes and 1 cup water and bring to a boil.  Stir in potatoes and cover pan.  Cook at a gentle simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  Remove the cover of the pan and add zucchini and cashews.  Cook uncovered until zucchini are tender, about 10 minutes.  Mix in lemon juice. Serve over rice with a spoonful of plain yogurt on top.  YUM.  (You might notice that there is no yogurt on top in the picture.... I forgot it until I took my first bite!  Then I hopped to add it....it makes a big difference in the taste.) 


Homemade Hummus
Adapted from Hummus III on All Recipes

Ingredients  2 cups canned garbanzo beans, drained 1/3 cup tahini 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 cup Extra Virgin olive oil paprika

Directions: 
 Cook the garbanzo beans (chick peas) in water on the stove for about 10-15 minutes, or until they are softened.  Cool them in a bowl of cold water.  Drain. Toss beans, tahini, lemon juice, salt, garlic and olive oil into a food processor or manly blender.  Process away until smooth! I like to add some water or olive oil as it processes to help it come to a smooth constancy.  When it's the way you like it, spoon it out into a bowl and make a well in the middle.  Pour a little olive oil in the center and sprinkle paprika around it for the full Middle Eastern Restaurant effect.  Enjoy!

Thai Peanutty Noodles

The first time I ever went out for Thai food was the first (AND LAST) time I came down with a case of the drinking flu. Long after college, after a failed attempt to go to West Virginia and go skiing, a few friends consoled ourselves by having a fun night at our apartment filled with peppermint patty shots.  You know what I'm talking about right?  Pour some Hershey's syrup in your mouth and chase it with Peppermint Schnapps.  Anyway, later the next day, when I was able to eat again, we went out for Thai.  Perhaps it was because it was the first thing I ate all day, or maybe it was just because it is amazingly delicious, but I was a convert of the flavors right away.

By far my favorite dish is Pad Thai, and this recipe is the closest I've ever come to recreating the flavors of that first experience.  (The good flavors/experience...not that bad one.... )

Thai Peanutty Noodles
Adapted from: All-New Complete Cooking Light Cookbook, 2006.  Pg. 280.


Ingredients: 
1 pound uncooked rice noodles
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
1 Tablespoon Canola oil
2 teaspoons grated, peeled fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chicken broth (feel free to use lower sodium)
1/2 cup natural style unsweetened peanut butter (ex: Smucker's)
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce (I use GF Tamari) 
3 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon Sriracha Sauce (This particular brand
                                            MAY be contaminated with Gluten but it works for me) 
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast cut in strips or bite-sized chunks
Cooking Spray
2 cups red bell pepper strips
1 pound snow peas or sugar snap peas (I like the sugar snap better.)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup crushed peanuts
1/4 cup chopped green onions

Directions:
      Cook the noodles according to the directions (minus any salt or fat), drain, and set aside.
      Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a skillet with high sides (so you can fit lots in later!) on medium heat.  Add in ginger, minced garlic and saute for 30 seconds or so.  Add in chicken broth, peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, chili garlic sauce, and salt  and stir until it's blended.  Add in your cut up chicken, cover and simmer over low--ish heat until the chicken is cooked through.  If you have room in your pan add in your veggies--carrot strips, peppers, & peas--and cook until they are still slightly crisp but not raw.  (Or you can cook them to death like my Grandmother does....your choice!) If you don't have room in your pan, then just saute the veggies in a separate pan and mix in later.

Mix in the cooked and drained rice noodles and you're good to go!

Serve topped with crushed peanuts, cilantro, and green onions.   Yum yum yum! 

Feel free to play around with this one.  Take out the chicken, use veggie broth instead and it's vegetarian/vegan.  Mix and match your stir-fry veggies all you want. You could use shrimp instead if you're a seafood fan!  Experiment and make it your own!

Pizza Soup!

So tonight I made a quick pot of Pizza Soup.  It tastes exactly like you'd think.

Sadly for my hubby, on the way home from picking him up, he reminded me that the last time I made Pizza Soup I incessantly sang the phrase "Pizza Soup." I had forgotten until that point.  :)  Needless to say there was a lot of "I'm going to tickle you if you don't stop singing that!"  and "It's your fault for reminding me!"


Pizza Soup: 

1 15oz-can of your favorite pizza sauce
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1/2 package pepperoni, cut in half (I used Hormel Turkey)
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1-2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
1-2 cloves minced garlic
2 Italian sausages
1 to 1 1/2 cups Pasta (I used Trader Joe's GF Spiral Brown Rice Pasta) 
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

**This is just what I put in the soup, but anything that you love on pizza will work--mushrooms, broccoli, olives, sprinkling cheese on top when you serve it, etc.

Directions: First I slice the sausage down the middle and take it out of the casing.  Saute onions, garlic, and sausage in a pot with a drizzle of olive oil. (I know heating this kind of oil destroys a lot of the good fat in it....but for Italian foods I cook with it anyway!) Add in peppers (red and green).  Saute for a bit and then pour in your cans of tomatoes and sauce.  Put in the pepperoni too.  Add enough water to make the soup your desired constancy.  At this point you can also add in the pasta and cook it within the soup.  Just make sure to add a bit more water so it doesn't steal all your broth.  Or, you can cook the pasta separately and just add it in when you're ready to serve.  It's probably better cooked separately, but if time or effort is an issue, just toss it in.   Simmer the soup for about 25-30 minutes or so until the sausage is cooked.


 I served the soup with a green salad with balsamic vinegar and fresh ground pepper, and some leftover pizza crust that I spruced up.  A few weeks ago we made actual pizza so I had a plain crust left over.  I sprinkled it with olive oil, lots of garlic powder and Italian seasoning and mozzarella cheese on my man's half.  Then I baked it in a 425*F oven for 12 minutes or so.  My man loved it!  I've found that Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust is the best one out there. You do have to make it from scratch, but it's far superior to any others that I've tried.

Enjoy the soup...I'm off to go sing my hubby to sleep... "Pizza soup....pizza soup...pizza soup... " :)