Category: Fast and Good

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.

Cinnamon Granola

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Granola with fresh berries!

One of our favorite breakfast places, First Watch, has a great Chia Seed Pudding, made with coconut milk, berries and really cinnamonny granola.

I make it at home sometimes, but it’s the granola that I make over and over again, using a recipe from Melskitchencafe.com.

Mel bakes her granola at a higher temperature, and let’s it cool completely before breaking it up. It stays in little chunks that way.

I use this granola for snacking, or on top of oatmeal or with fruit over yoghurt. It’s so good.

Ingredients

6 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans (can use other nuts, too.)
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher salt (use 1/3 tsp if using table salt)

Syrup:
½ cup light olive oil
½ cup honey or agave nectar
1½ tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Line two half sheet pans with parchment paper or a silpat mat and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine all of the granola ingredients and toss or stir to evenly combine.

In a small bowl, blend syrup ingredients until well-combined. Pour the syrup over the granola ingredients and stir until all the ingredients are evenly coated.

Scrape half of the mixture onto each sheet pan. Spread into an even layer.

Bake for 15-25 minutes, stirring once or twice and rotating pans halfway through. Keep an eye on the color – you want it to be lightly brown, without getting burned.

Leave it to cool completely. Gently break it up and store in an airtight container.

Mushrooms with Brown Butter & Sage

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This is such a delicious dish – mushrooms sauteed in brown butter and sage, seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic with a little spinach and a dollop of Mascarpone cheese. These flavors always feel very woodsy to me and I love that it feels meaty and satisfying, but not heavy.

Ingredients
8 oz pasta, any kind
4 Tbsp butter
1 tsp dried Sage, crushed
1 ½ lbs mushrooms (Costco package), washed and halved
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp garlic powder
3 cups baby spinach
2 Tbsp Mascarpone cheese (Cream cheese is fine, too.)
Romano cheese grated as a garnish (Just a little)

Start a pot of salted water boiling, and add Pasta. Cook until done – but not mushy.

Meanwhile, rinse the mushrooms well. I know you’re not “supposed” to do that, but rinsing is so much quicker and any little water that they absorb cooks off anyway. For washing larger quantities of mushrooms, a basket strainer like this works great:

In a large frying pan on medium heat, melt the butter and continue cooking and stirring until the butter gets a nice brown color and smells nutty. Takes about 5 minutes or so.

Add the Sage and stir for about 30 seconds.

Add the mushrooms and toss well. Continue cooking and stirring until the mushrooms release their water, and then add the salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Continue cooking and stir occasionally, until only about a half cup of liquid is left. Add the baby spinach and stir to wilt. Take off the heat and add the Mascarpone cheese, stirring gently to combine.

Taste a mushroom and add a little salt, pepper or garlic powder if needed. Sprinkle a good-sized pinch of rubbed sage over the top, and grate a little Pecorino Romano cheese over.

Serve over pasta. Delish!

Mushroom, Leek & Cheese Scrambled Eggs

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Poked through the veggie drawer this morning, hungry for something “brunchy” yet healthy. Fortunately I had some really nice mushrooms and a leek, perfect for scrambled eggs. I made up a recipe on the fly and to my delight, it was surprisingly delicious. Thought I’d have enough for leftovers, but nope – ate the whole thing!

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 medium leek, halved and cut into 1″ pieces (be sure to wash really well)
1/4 cup diced onions
2 Tbsp diced peppers
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 kosher salt
few grinds of freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of dried basil leaves
½ tsp butter
2 eggs, beaten
1 slice sharp cheddar cheese (approximately) torn into smaller pieces

Heat olive oil on medium heat in a large frying pan and add mushroom, onions and peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally until the mushrooms have released their water and it has dried back up again. (7-8 minutes?) Add the butter, leeks and seasonings and saute for another 5 minutes.

Once leeks have softened up a bit, turn the heat way down. After a few minutes stir in the beaten eggs and start folding and gently stirring. Once eggs are mostly cooked, add cheese and continue folding and stirring until cheese is mostly melted. Check seasoning and serve immediately.