Category: Fast and Good

Lemony Shrimp and Bean Stew

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Another fast and fabulous recipe from Sue Li in the New York Times. I made it with a few tweaks for supper last night. It was just delicious – with a wonderful, creamy texture from the Cannellini beans, rich flavor from the shrimp, onion, shallots, garlic and paprika and a burst of citrus from the zest and lemon juice.

INGREDIENTS

1 Tbsp fresh lemon zest and 2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp sweet or smoked paprika
2 garlic cloves, grated
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined, tails removed (save peels for stock)
4 Tbsp butter (½ stick)
1 yellow onion, cut into large chunks
2 large shallots, cut into large chunks. (Or 2 large leeks, trimmed, halved and sliced)
1 big handful spinach (2 cups?)
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups shrimp stock, or chicken stock*
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley (optional)
Toasted bread, for serving

PREPARATION

Peel shrimp and remove tails. Add peels to a small saucepan with 2½ cups water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer while you cook. Strain through a fine mesh strainer to get 2 cups shrimp stock.

Combine lemon zest, paprika, garlic, ¾ tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper in a medium bowl. Add shrimp and toss to coat.

In a large pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. When butter is foaming, add shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, until pink and starting to curl, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer shrimp to a plate; set aside.

Add onions and shallots, season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium until soft and starting to brown on the edges, 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add spinach and cook for a minute or two until wilted.

Gently stir in beans and hot stock. Bring to a simmer and let cook 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in reserved shrimp and any juices from the plate, lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley if using. Serve with toasted bread.

*Can use chicken stock if your shrimp is already peeled. But the shrimp stock is super tasty! You can also use any white bean. I added spinach and used an onion and shallots because I didn’t have any leeks – and we loved it that way.

Yogurt, Raspberries and Granola

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This is the simplest breakfast, dessert or snack imaginable, but it’s really good, and it looks so pretty!

The tartness of the raspberries is perfect with the yogurt and the jam and granola give them just the right amount of sweetness. I honestly would rather have this than ice cream for dessert.

For 1 serving:

2/3 cup 2% Fage Plain Yogurt (5.3 oz )
couple small spoons Raspberry jam
6-7 fresh raspberries
couple spoons of Cinnamon Granola

Place yogurt into a pretty serving dish, pour jam over (may need to add a drop or two of water to thin.) Sprinkle fresh raspberries over and then granola. Yum!

Greek Style Beans with Onions & Spinach

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I found this recipe by The Doctor’s Kitchen, aka Dr Rupy Aujla, on the BBC website. I was incredibly skeptical about these flavors combined, but I have to say I am totally won over.

It’s super satisfying – a very solid healthy main dish, and very quick and easy to make. I made some tweaks, since he uses some ingredients less easily available in the US.

It uses mostly pantry ingredients, but tastes super fresh and delish. Kumy and I had it with naan and we totally devoured it! It’s also great with toast.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced (red’s fine, too)
½ tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 can chopped tomatoes, with juice (14.5 oz)
2 tsp honey
1 small dry red chilli, deseeded and broken into chunks
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1 can Cannellini beans, drained and rinsed, 14.5 oz (Can use any white beans.)
8 oz baby spinach (really big handful)
Feta cheese, crumbled for garnish

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400.

Heat the oil in a large oven-proof frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-5 minutes until softened.

Add the tomatoes, honey, chilli, cinnamon, paprika and oregano. Simmer for a few minutes. Stir in the beans and the greens. Toss the spinach to help it wilt.

Bake uncovered for 20 minutes and serve sprinkled with Feta.

Chicken, Kale and Bean Soup

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Even though it’s feeling a little warmer here, a good hearty soup is still a wonderful supper and this was a real keeper! It’s based on Melissa Clark’s Lemony White Bean Soup With Turkey and Greens from the New York Times. She has the best recipes!

It’s a very flexible soup. You can use different beans or greens and Melissa makes it with ground turkey. I used kidney beans, cooked chicken (from a Costco chicken) and kale, because that’s what I had. I also added a leek since I had them.

It was wonderful. Both Kumy and I kept sneaking back for bites!

INGREDIENTS

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 leek, halved and cut into ½” pieces
4 cups shredded kale
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
⅛ tsp red-pepper flakes
2 cups cooked chicken roughly chopped
1½ tsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp finely grated fresh ginger
1 tsp kosher salt
1 quart chicken stock
2 (15-ounce) cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
Juice of 1 lemon

Heat oil in a large pot. Once shimmering, reduce heat to medium and add onions, carrots and leeks. Cook stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes, until everything looks softened and a little golden.

Add tomato paste, cumin, red-pepper flakes, garlic powder, ginger and salt to the pot. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes, then add chicken. (If using raw chicken add to the pot and cook 5 minutes or so.) Add stock, beans and kale and simmer for 15 to 25 minutes. If your soup is getting thick, you can add a bit more water.

Just before serving, add the juice of one lemon. Check seasoning and serve. Yum!

Shepherd’s Pie

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I’ve been on an Alton Brown kick lately. His Southern biscuits are heavenly and super easy, and so I was inspired to try his Shepherd’s Pie. (Really Cottage Pie since it’s made with ground beef, but let’s not quibble.) I halved Alton’s recipe, since it serves 8, and I used bacon drippings instead of olive oil, since the ground beef we had was super lean, and I added a tiny bit of maple syrup. Crazy delicious!!!

For the mashed potatoes:
1 lb Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled and cut into ½” chunks
1/8 cup half & half
3 Tbsp butter, cut in chunks
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the meat filling:
1 Tbsp bacon drippings or olive oil
1 medium chopped red onion
2 carrots, washed well and diced small
½ tsp garlic powder
1 lb ground beef
½ tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp tomato paste
½ cup chicken broth
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dried rosemary, roughly crumbled
½ tsp dried thyme leaves
½ tsp maple syrup
handful frozen corn kernels
handful frozen peas

Boil potatoes with a good pinch of salt in a large pot of water. Turn down to a simmer and let cook 15-20 minutes until very tender. Drain, add butter and mash. Stir in half & half, salt and pepper and check seasoning.

In another large pot, add bacon drippings or olive oil. Add onions and carrots and cook over medium heat 5-6 minutes, until onions are a translucent and carrots are softening. Add garlic powder, ground beef, salt and pepper and cook several minutes, stirring occasionally until most of the liquid at the bottom of the pot has dried up and the meat is browned. Add the flour and stir well. Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, thyme and maple syrup, and continue cooking for 3-4 minutes until everything has thickened up a bit. Stir in corn and peas, and check seasoning.

Spread in a 9×11 baking dish. Drop the mashed potatoes by heaps onto the beef and spread to cover completely.

Bake at 400 for 25 to 30 minutes. Let rest for a bit before serving.

You can dab the top with butter, and if you want the top with browner bits, you can put it under the broiler for 2 minutes.

Cabbage, Leek and Toasted Walnut Pasta

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This is based on a great recipe from Hetty Lui-McKinnon in the New York Times. I’ve made it three times in the past month or so, and every time it is really good. I love sautéed cabbage and when you add leeks, cheese, walnuts and pasta, it’s practically perfect!

I usually have Romano Cheese in the fridge, but tonight I had a couple of other hard cheeses I needed to use up, and they tasted good, too. So it’s very forgiving about what kind of cheese you actually need.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
1½ tsp whole cumin seeds
3 medium leeks, halved, cleaned and cut into 1″ lengths
1 lb. cabbage, cut into 1″ cubes (about 1/2 of a good-sized cabbage)
1 ½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ pound spaghetti or any other pasta
1 cup grated Romano Cheese (or other hard cheese) plus a little more for a garnish
Juice of ½ lemon
1 cup walnuts, toasted in the oven for 5 minutes or so

Directions

Heat oil and butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and stir for 10-15 seconds. Add leeks, cabbage, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Cook stirring from time to time – about 10 minutes or until you can see the cabbage has softened and it’s starting to brown on the bottom of the pan just a bit. 

This is really delicious as is – and you could stop here for a simple side dish. But keep cooking it, so it caramelizes just a little and really brings out the sweetness in the cabbage.

Meanwhile, set a pot of salted water boiling and cook the pasta for the time recommended on the package. When it’s done cooking, save ½ cup of the pasta water and drain the rest of the pasta.

Add pasta, pasta water and cheese to the cabbage mix and stir well. Squeeze lemon juice over and stir in walnuts, saving a few for a garnish. Check seasoning and serve hot with extra walnuts and cheese sprinkled over. So delicious!

Ina’s Lemon Mashed Potatoes

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Ina Garten has one of the best recipes for Lemon Pureed Potatoes. I basically make her potatoes, but I don’t peel the potatoes and I just mash them. But they are absolutely incredible. It’s basically just mashed potatoes, but you add lemon zest at the end, which completely transforms it. It doesn’t need gravy or extra butter or anything – it’s perfect just the way it is.

Ingredients:

2½ lbs large Yukon Gold potatoes, washed but not peeled, cut into 1″ pieces
2 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ lb (2 sticks) butter or vegan butter
3/4 cup whole milk or whatever plant-based milk you like
1 Tbsp grated lemon zest (2 lemons)

Half fill a large pot with water and add a tablespoon of salt. Add potatoes, and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and let them simmer for 15-20 minutes until nice and soft when you poke them with a fork.

Remove from heat, drain and mash with a potato masher. Add salt, pepper and butter and continue mashing until the butter has melted. Add the milk and stir well. If you’re going to serve right away, add the lemon zest and stir. Check seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed. 

I left the potatoes a little lumpy, since we like it that way. If you want them perfectly smooth, you can buzz them or run them through a food mill, but just add a 1/4 more milk if you do that. (That’s what Ina does.)

Ina says that the lemon zest can get bitter and to wait and add it later if you aren’t going to serve it right away. I haven’t noticed bitterness when I’ve had leftovers the next day, but just to be on the safe side, listen to Ina.

Apple Cranberry Upside Down Cake

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I made Thanksgiving punch with apple cider, ginger ale and a pinch of pumpkin pie spice mix, served with a glass with sliced apples, sliced oranges and frozen cranberries, tossed with a little lemon juice. It was pretty good and several people enjoyed it, but of course I cut enough fruit for 30 extra glasses!


So I found this amazing recipe by Rachel Ballard on FeastandFarm.com, to use up the apples and cranberries. Rachel uses 12 full ounces of cranberries, but I just used about a 1/2 cup since that was all I had. It is fast, super easy and so delicious!

Ingredients
1/2 cup frozen cranberries
4 cups Fuji apples, cored and thinly sliced but not peeled
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbsp freshly grated orange zest
1/4 cup orange juice from the orange you zested
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 stick butter melted and cooled slightly
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream or heavy whipping cream (I only had whipping cream)
1 cup all purpose flour
Good pinch Kosher salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 10-inch pie plate.

In a medium bowl, mix the cranberries, apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, orange juice and zest. Put in the bottom of the pie pan.

In the same bowl, beat the eggs until lighter and fluffier–about 2 minutes. Add the white sugar, butter, vanilla, salt and sour cream (or whipping cream) and mix well.

Gently mix in the flour just until no pockets of flour remain.

Spread the batter over the fruit as evenly as possible. It will be thick.

Bake 45 to 50 minutes or so, until the cake is lightly browned. Check it with a toothpick–if it comes out clean it’s done.

Let cool for 10 minutes or so, and then gently loosen the edges with a butter knife and hold serving plate over it and flip. Serve warm or at room temperature. So good!

Bhuta ka Salen (Corn Curry)

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This is the first dish I ever learned to cook when I moved to Karachi. I learned it from Kumy’s sister and mom and it remains an all-time favorite. I love to fish out the rounds of corn and dip them in the curry, but it can be messy! If you’re squeamish, cut the corn off the cobs before you cook it.

When sweet corn is in season, there is nothing better.

Ingredients:

6 ears sweet corn, cut into 1½” wide rounds
1 yellow onion, finely diced
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 large bunch cilantro, leaves and about 2″ of stems, rough chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded (if desired) and rough chopped
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 large clove of garlic (or 2 small)
1/2 cup corn water
3 Tbsp gram flour (check online for substitutes)
1 can coconut milk
½ lemon

Boil water (do not add salt!) in a large pot and cook corn pieces for 3-5 minutes, until tender. Remove from heat and drain, saving a cup or so of the corn water.

Heat oil in a large frying pan and add onion. Sauté on medium heat for several minutes until onion is soft and transparent. Let cool a bit.

Add cooked onions with cilantro, jalapenos, turmeric, salt, garlic and water, and buzz with an immersion blender or food processor until smooth. Then pour back into frying pan and cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly.

In a little cup, stir together a couple spoons of the corn water with the gram flour until smooth. Add gram flour slurry into the frying pan and cook a few more minutes to thicken, stirring frequently.

Reduce heat and add coconut milk. Stir well and finally add the sweet corn, tossing to coat with the curry.

Just before serving over rice, squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the dish. Yum!

Garbanzo & Feta Salad

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I’ve made this amazing “Chickpea Salad” from The Pioneer Woman twice in two weeks. Does that tell you something? I did make a few changes to her recipe, but nothing too drastic. It’s a great side dish, or even main dish, since there’s protein in the garbanzos and feta. So delish!

I made it yesterday, holding back on the avocadoes and dressing until just before tossing it and serving it today at a picnic. So you can easily make it ahead of time.

INGREDIENTS:

2 15-ounce cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
6 oz. feta, cubed (omit for a vegan version)
4-5 baby cucumbers, (or 1 English cucumber), cut into half moons (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 pt. cherry tomatoes, halved
1 red or orange bell pepper, diced
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced (optional – Kumy doesn’t like raw onions, so I didn’t add this.)
2 avocados, cubed
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

FOR THE DRESSING:
1/3 cup olive oil
3 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp dried Basil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

Mix all veggies, beans and feta in a large bowl. If making ahead, don’t add avocadoes.

Mix dressing ingredients in a mason jar, close lid and shake like crazy.

Drizzle dressing over and toss well.

Note for photo: my avocadoes were quite ripe, and were very creamy.