African Peanut Stew

What Sister F. served us for Sunday dinner over rice and with some form of deliciously grilled strips of chicken. She served this with whole unsalted peanuts on the side and with herbed flatbread. What a hearty, delicious Sunday meal! I ate some leftovers the next morning for breakfast.

From Sister F., original source unknown.

Ingredients:

1 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 C. finely chopped red onion (about 2 medium)

1 1/4 C. finely chopped green bell pepper (1 large)

1/2 C. chopped carrot (1 medium)

1/2 C. chopped celery (2 stalks)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 T. minced, peeled fresh ginger

1 T. curry powder

1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes, drained

1 bay leaf

4 C. reduced sodium vegetable broth

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 1/2 C. shelled edamame

1/4 C. creamy or crunchy peanut or almond butter

1/4 - 3/4 C. chopped fresh cilantro

1 6 oz. bag baby spinach, torn

1/2 tsp. salt

Blank pepper and additional salt to taste

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a 4 qt. saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and peppers, carrot and celery. Saute until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

2. Add garlic, ginger and curry powder. Saute until fragrant, about 1 minute (do not brown garlic.)

3. Add tomatoes and bay leaf and cook, uncovered, until tomatoes are slightly reduced, about 3 minutes.

4. Add broth and sweet potatoes, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 8 minutes.

5. Add edamame and peanut butter, stir to combine. Add cilantro and spinach, cook until thoroughly heated and spinach wilts, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and desired.

Spinach and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

The last in the quesadilla series. There is one more recipe, but it is called "mushroom quesadillas" which automatically disqualifies it from my attention. This recipe I tried because the Robber is in love with spinach and in my efforts to love him I am attempting to incorporate spinach into the things that I love.

It is a losing battle. (He loves mushrooms too but I guess there are limits to my love.)

Not that these were bad. Just that they weren't my favorite. Given the choice I would put black beans between my goat cheese and red pepper (because of course I added roasted red pepper to this recipe, just because I had it) than the spinach. I wilted some left over basil for the mix also.

I was having a g-chat conversation with my old roommate K. the other night who said she mostly just throws things together these days, which is a valuable skill, but I think for me while I might modify most of the recipes I make in some way, I still very much am in an exploration phase of cooking. I crave ideas, combinations, new ways of production. I don't have a fully developed cooking tool box with which to magically throw all by myself. I am still so very much a student. I saw someone post on Facebook how they were learning to cook and were approaching it by making some very fancy sounding things. I don't think I'm even like that. Eventually the goal is to do it all-- throw things together, make a gourmet meal, feed a batch of hungry kids. The approach for now is just to become familiar enough with a variety of basics that I could move one direction or the other in the future.

For now, I am grateful to have made the following discoveries from these quesadillas:

1) Melted goat cheese!

2) Roasted red peppers!

and

3) Vegetables as the primary quesadilla component

And I think those are lessons I can use in every direction of my cooking. So without further ado, I give you spinach and goat cheese quesadillas from Ms. Shulman:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/health/nutrition/18recipehealth.html?ref=nutrition

Ingredients:

1 6-ounce bag baby spinach or 1 bunch spinach, stemmed

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 to 2 garlic cloves (to taste), minced

Salt and freshly ground pepper

4 corn tortillas

2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled (1/2 cup)

Directions:

1. Wash the spinach but do not dry. If using bunch spinach, chop coarsely. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy frying pan. Add the garlic. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds, then stir in the spinach. Raise the heat, and stir just until the spinach wilts. Remove from the heat. Press down on the spinach with the back of your spoon, and drain off any water in the pan. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. In a microwave: Place a corn tortilla on a plate. Top with half the spinach, and spread in an even layer. Sprinkle on half the cheese, and top with another tortilla. Press down gently, then microwave for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, until the cheese has melted. Remove from the microwave, cut into quarters or sixths, and serve. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

In a pan: Place a corn tortilla in the pan. Top with half the spinach, and spread in an even layer. Sprinkle on half the cheese. Turn the heat to medium-high, and heat until the cheese begins to melt. Place another tortilla on top of the cheese, and press down lightly. Flip the quesadilla over in the pan, and heat for about 30 seconds or until the cheese has melted. Flip back over, and remove to a plate. Cut into quarters or sixths, and serve. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

Yield: Two quesadillas.

Advance preparation: The cooked spinach will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator. Reheat gently before assembling the quesadillas.

Nutritional information (per quesadilla): 272 calories; 8 grams saturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 30 milligrams cholesterol; 17 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 211 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 13 grams protein.

Baby Salad Greens With Sweet Potato Croutons and Stilton

I made this salad-- with my own personal revisions-- for A.'s baptismal lunch in Syracuse. I was a little bit intimidated by the salad assignment, given picnic attendee S.O.'s salad expertise, so I thought I'd better look around for something a little bit different and promising. I found this recipe in a salad slide show on the NYTimes (where else) and thought the idea of the potato croutons with the Stilton was intriguing. I'd never had sweet potato "croutons" before, but have long been a fan of Stilton and so the recipe had the elements of both challenge and familiarity. I don't have a steamer, and so I had to "steam" the potato in the microwave and then saute them, so they ended up both a little wetter and a little more burned than was ideal, but it didn't seem to deter anyone too much.

I doubled this recipe, and added to it 1 cup of candied pecans, which I used making the candied nuts recipe found in the April 2011 section of this blog. I made the recipe as originally written, using syrup instead of honey and found the nuts to be much less sticky. I also added about 2 cups of fresh blueberries to the salad, so all-in-all it was really a sweet-potato-blueberry-candied-pecan-stilton salad but it was, truthfully, so delicious and worth the extra effort of both the nuts and the sweet potato cooking. I'm tempted even to just candy a whole bunch of nuts and keep them around for the purpose of carelessly tossing into salads on a whim at any time.

Ms. Shulman says of her recipe, "Sweet potatoes contrast beautifully here with the pungent Stilton. Other cheeses that work for this salad are goat cheese and feta." Amen. Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/health/nutrition/18recipehealth.html

Ingredients:

For the salad:

1 large sweet potato (10 to 12 ounces), peeled and cut in 1/2-inch dice

1 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 6-oz. bag baby salad greens

1 T. chopped fresh herbs, such as tarragon, parsley, chervil, chives (I used chives)

2 oz. Stilton or blue cheese, crumbled or cut into small pieces (about 1/2 cup) (I used the cranberry Stilton, but I really wanted to use the apricot Stilton, both would be good!)

(Blueberries and candied nuts!-- for the RMR version)

For the dressing:

1 T. fresh lime juice

1 tsp. balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 small garlic clove, minced

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

1/4 C. buttermilk

Directions:

1. Steam the sweet potatoes for 5 minutes, until just tender. Remove from the heat and drain on paper towels.

2. In a medium, nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the sweet potatoes and cook, shaking the pan and moving the pieces around often, until evenly browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and drain on paper towels.

3. Whisk together the lime juice, vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic, salt pepper, olive oil and buttermilk.

4. Place the salad greens in a salad bowl and top with the cheese. Toss with the dressing. Sprinkle on the sweet potato croutons and serve.

Yield: Serves 4

Advance preparation: You can steam the sweet potatoes and make the dressing several hours ahead.

Green Mashed Potatoes

My final NYTimes recipe for the Easter season, but one well worth posting as I actually really enjoyed this one. The mashed potatoes turned out so pretty and green! And so delicious! I did make some minor (major?) changes to the recipe, Mark Bittman would be so proud! Instead of using one whole pound of greens (a whole pound! so many greens!) and boiling them, I used 6 oz. of fresh spinach and chopped it up finely, and then added it uncooked to the hot potatoes before I mashed them, so that the spinach softened a little bit in the hot potatoes. I used double the amount of potatoes (three large, three smaller) for that amount of spinach, and added butter and some milk powder to the potatoes instead of the olive oil recommended by Mr. Bittman. I did use seasoned bread crumbs, and baked the potatoes in a pie plate, but I found that the bread crumbs were not to my taste although I could see how others might like them. If I make these again, I would either not add the crumbs, or I would serve it with croutons or top it with larger crumbs so the final result is not as gritty feeling in the mouth. Also, if I did use bread crumbs, I would be tempted to mix them separately with olive oil and then spread them over the top, so as to more evenly distribute the oil across the crumbs.

Overall I think the idea of adding greens to the potatoes, no matter how you do it, is quite nice and might as well be done if you have the little bit of extra time.

Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/dining/111mrex.html

Ingredients:

2 large starchy or all-purpose potatoes (about 1 pound), peeled and cut into quarters

Salt

1 pound dandelion or other greens, washed and trimmed of thick stems

1/4 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup homemade bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Put potatoes in a large, deep pot and cover them with cold water. Add a large pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Cook until soft but not falling apart, 15 to 30 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain; meanwhile, add greens to water and cook for about 1 minute. Rinse under cold water. Drain well, then chop.

2. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Rice potatoes, run them through a food mill, or mash them with a fork or potato masher, adding enough olive oil to moisten them well. Mash in the greens, adding more olive oil as needed. Sprinkle with salt and lots of pepper.

3. Put mixture in an ovenproof dish and top with bread crumbs. Drizzle with more olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and bake until bread crumbs are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

Yield: 4 servings.

Enchiladas

I decided to make enchiladas. I am on a Mexican food kick, having escaped the dreary North-ness of Rochester and come back to the land of mangoes and strawberry. I made Bob purchase some Mexican hot chocolate at the grocery store (they have Mexican hot chocolate! and tostada shells here!) and I have been drinking it, with my Mother's almond cookies and whipped cream, like a mad woman. What a world.

It turns out that enchiladas can be found in great variety, and upon reflection, don't require a recipe. Nonetheless, I went forth in search of enchilada recipes, and considered especially these listed below:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Layered-Chicken-Enchiladas-with-Tomatillo-Cilantro-Sauce-232700

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Garden-Vegetable-Enchiladas-5672

http://www.wordofwisdomliving.com/home/beths-vegetarian-enchiladas.html

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-and-Green-Olive-Enchiladas-4965

http://joeandanna.blogspot.com/2008/06/beef-enchiladas.html

In the end, I parselled together a pan of chicken and a pan of beef enchiladas, with similarities between the two, out of what I had available. Unfortunately, as it was all parselly, I don't have recorded some of the exact measurements or amounts. It mattereth not. The Robber fell head over heels for the chicken variety-- thanks in part to the secret ingredient (feta cheese!)-- and I was, perhaps, more satisfied with the beef. A lovely meal that has stretched over dinners and lunches and only now is on its last legs. I present to you:

Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

12 wheat tortillas (the medium size 8 inches?)

4 chicken breasts, boiled and diced
1 cup fresh spinach leaves
2/3 diced red bell pepper
5 green onions, chopped
1 green zucchini, chopped
1 container feta cheese (4-6 oz.)
1 big old can green enchilada sauce (removed 1.5 cups for topping)
8 oz. pepper jack cheese, grated
1 can olives, minus some for topping

On top I put:

1.5 cups green enchilada sauce
4 oz. pepper jack cheese, grated
Remainder of olives
2 small tomatoes, chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro


Directions:

1. Mix all the filling ingredients together in a big bowl. Use 1/3 to 1/2 cup filling per tortilla, put all 12 tortillas in 9 x 13 pan. Top by pouring remainder of sauce over enchiladas evenly, then the cheese, and finally olives, tomatoes, and cilantro.

2. Bake at 375F for 25 minutes on middle rack, then increased temp to broil and broiled 5-10 minutes until top of enchiladas becomes light brown and toppings are crispened, just a little. Serve with sour cream.


Beef Enchiladas

Ingredients:

18 corn tortillas (smallest size 4-6 inches?)

1/3 diced red bell pepper
1/3 bag frozen corn, thawed
5 green onions, chopped
1 can black beans
8 oz. colby jack cheese, grated (use sharp cheddar in the future)
1.5 lbs. ground beef, browned and cooked with 1/2 of a chopped onion
1 big old can red (picante hot) enchilada sauce minus 1.5 cups
1 cup Mexican hot chocolate! (This was just a random add-in. So unnecessary, but why not?)

On the top I put:

1.5 cups of red enchilada sauce
4 oz. pepper jack cheese
2 chopped small tomatoes
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Mix all the filling ingredients together in a big bowl. Use 1/4 cup filling per tortilla, put all 12 tortillas in 9 x 13 pan. Top by pouring remainder of sauce over enchiladas evenly, then the cheese, and finally olives, tomatoes, and cilantro. There was some filling left over, which we froze and hopefully can use in the future. Could also use bigger tortillas, maybe that would help use all the filling.

2. Bake at 375F for 25 minutes on middle rack, then increased temp to broil and broiled 5-10 minutes until top of enchiladas becomes light brown and toppings are crispened, just a little. Serve with sour cream.

Thai Chicken Stir-Fry With Spicy Peanut Sauce

This is a recipe that the Robber found that we have now made twice together. It is tasty and a nice meal all in one dish, with the meat and rice and vegetables. I especially love the peanut taste! It comes from here: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1627,158167-247199,00.html, but we alter it by adding in a whole can of coconut milk to dilute the otherwise very strong peanut taste and to make the curry a little bit thinner. The recipe is quite versatile, really you can throw in anything you want. Onion, pepper, whatever in addition to the broccoli.

Ingredients:

2 whole chicken breasts, skinned, boned & cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. water
2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. peanut or vegetable oil
2 or 3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
3 to 4 c. sliced broccoli or spinach

Directions:

In a small bowl, blend peanut butter, water, soy sauce and sugar; set aside. In a wok or large skillet, heat oil over high heat. Add garlic and pepper; stir-fry 30 seconds. Add chicken, stir-fry until firm and white, about 5 minutes. Add broccoli or spinach, stir-fry until bright green, about 3 minutes. Stir in peanut butter mixture. Cook, stirring constantly until sauce is smooth, about 3 minutes.

Serves 4.