multi-ethnic stew in search of a good home

On Serious Eats, this dish is listed as a braise, but when I was making it I didn't feel like it actually was braised at all. It ended up thick and curry-like, though with sun-dried tomatoes, coconut milk, and cilantro, I'm not quite sure what kind of curry it would be. The original recipe also called for spinach, but our farmer's market just has kale this time of year. No matter - it was delicious and hearty, and we love kale!

Chickpea & Kale Coconut Curry
adapted from Serious Eats

• 2 teaspoons oil
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 4 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger, from a 3-inch piece
• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 1 large lemon, zested and juiced (about 2 tablespoons juice)
• 1 dried hot red pepper or dash of red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 large bunch kale, cleaned, center ribs either removed or diced
• 1 14-ounce can coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• dash of lime juice (optional)
• Cilantro leaves, to garnish
• Toasted unsweetened coconut, to garnish

In a large sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook until soft and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, tomatoes, lemon zest, and red pepper, if using. Cook until the garlic is fragrant, 1-2 minutes. (Don't worry if some of the spice mixture sticks to the bottom of the pan!)

Turn the heat to high and add the chickpeas, toasting for 3-4 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent burning.

Add the kale, lemon juice, coconut milk, salt, and ground ginger. Stir vigorously to deglaze the pan. Turn down the heat to low and simmer until the kale is very soft and the chickpeas are tender, 10-15 minutes. Season to taste with more salt and lime juice as needed (the lime juice will "brighten" the dish if necessary).

serves two very generously

Creamy Parsnip & Leek Soup

The last couple of weeks have really kicked my ass. Nothing terrible, just a lot of little things that added up to a whole lot of stress and not much cooking. I had the best intentions, cooking-wise, but often didn't feel up to making much of anything. Nonetheless, there were a couple of pretty wonderful meals in there, and this week has been MUCH better (though slow with the posting).

I continue to like Cook This Now, enough so that I bought a copy (I had it on loan from the library).

When I made this soup, I had a little jar with the pan juices from roasting a chicken - I used the (thick) layer of schmaltz that had solidified on top instead of the butter in the recipe and poured the rest into the soup with the chicken stock (... which was otherwise just water with "Better than Bouillon"). This isn't something I expect most people to just have sitting around in their fridges (I don't usually have chicken drippings, either), but it speaks to the kind of kitchen economy I try to practice: I didn't know what I'd do with the drippings, but since we ended up not wanting to make gravy with them, I also knew I didn't want to just toss them. And the next day, when I made this soup, I was grateful that I hadn't.

Creamy Parsnip and Leek Soup
adapted from Cook This Now

• 4 Tbsp butter or what-have-you (I would have used bacon drippings here if I hadn't had the schmaltz; no reason not to use oil if you'd like to keep the recipe vegan)
• 4 large leeks, trimmed of tough/dark green parts, carefully cleaned and sliced (the tough leaves are great to save for stock, though!)
• 1 tsp kosher salt, more or less
• freshly ground black peper, to taste
• 4 large celery stalks, sliced, with leaves if possible (keep the leaves separate)
• 4 thyme sprigs
• bay leaf
• parsley stems (totally optional)
• generous 1 lb parsnips, peeled and sliced
• 1 lb potatoes, peeled and chunked
• 1 qt chicken or veggie stock
• 2 C water
• a bit of fresh lemon juice (if needed for brightness)

Melt fat in your soup pot over medium heat. Saute leeks with salt & a little pepper until soft, about 5 min. Add celery and saute another 5 min or so until leeks are getting golden and celery is shiny.

Tie thyme, bay leaf, celery leaves and parsley stems (whichever combination of these things you have) together and add to the pot with the broth, water, parsnips, and potatoes. Bring to a boil and then turn heat down to a simmer. Cook until veggies are nice and soft (20-45 min).

Discard the herb bundle and puree the soup, adding water if it's too thick, lemon juice if the flavor is flat, and more salt and/or pepper to taste.

serves 6

We had the soup with garlicky croutons as (more or less) per the recipe's suggestion:

• thick slices hearty bread (we used whole wheat)
• 1 garlic clove
• drizzle of olive oil

Toast the bread. Meanwhile, cut a little cap off the end of the garlic. When the bread is toasted, rub it vigorously with the cut end of the garlic (which will kind of shred into the bread). Drizzle with a bit of olive oil.

 

all greens, all the time

I'd planned to make a bit more for dinner, but Monday night's nosh ended up being very light: just this kale salad. I didn't really measure any of the ingredients, but it came out very well. V kept saying "This is DELICIOUS" in an incredulous voice - I don't think he'd had very high hopes for a raw kale salad (truth be told, I was a little dubious too). We ate most of it last night; I had the rest for breakfast.

well, that worked out pretty well

Sunday: Braised White Beans; sauteed greens; bread. Apple Sharlotka for dessert.

I made all the recipes pretty much as-written.

For the braised beans: It took about 45 minutes on medium-high before I was satisfied with the beans' caramelization. They smelled amazing - the finished recipe was good, but wasn't quite able to live up to their initial aroma. I added about 1.5 Tbsp strong Dijon mustard, lots of salt, a bit of better-than-bouillon (chicken flavor), and a bunch of pepper. I ended up simmering the beans for just under two hours (I started with the saddest looking bag of discount beans from the grocery store, but then soaked them for two days. YMMV.)

The greens were a bunch of semi-random greenery that had been floating around the fridge - a half-bag of Trader Joe's prewashed greens that I picked up in a moment of panic on Christmas Day and a bag of greens from last week's farmer's market excursion. I cut up a single strip of bacon, fried it 'til crispy, and then cooked two garlic cloves a bit before adding the greens, some smoked paprika, and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. I added some water to steam, and kept cooking 'til we were ready to eat.

Because we decided (somewhat last minute) to have someone over for dinner, I made Smitten Kitchen's Apple Sharlotka as well. I LOVE this recipe, and I don't even know if I cooked it enough. Was it really supposed to be creamy in the center and crisp around the edges? Does it matter? It was delicious, and I'll definitely be making this again. But for the time it takes to cut up the apples, it's very low-effort, and the ingredients are minimal.

I can't speak for my dinner companions, but for me, this meal was a total success.

Impulse Purchases

Monday: crispy brussels sprouts with sriracha; baked sweet potatoes

We were armed with our usual list when we went to the farmer's market yesterday, but Victor was beguiled by some beautiful brussels sprouts and I decided I couldn't leave without some of the world's best sweet potatoes. Tonight I was planning to make some slow-cooked beef shanks, but didn't get the slow cooker going in time, so I was glad we had something extra around to make.

I used a hybrid of these two recipes for the sprouts - lots of stove-top cooking (in bacon fat) while the potatoes roasted, then a quick deglaze/steam with a sriracha/lime/honey mixture. The sweet-spicy flavor of the sprouts also complemented the sweet potatoes, though the ones from Lydell Farms are so sweet that they really don't need any additional flavoring.