Category: vegetables

Swiss Chard and Red Pepper Gratin

Swiss Chard and Red Pepper Gratin

What? Another gratin? Has the kitchen really gotten this boring? Well, actually no. This gratin couldn’t be more different from last week’s Sweet Potato and Spinach Gratin. In fact, I’m not even really sure that this is a gratin. It seems a lot more like a frittata, but if the New York Times wants to call it a gratin, who am I to argue?

I bookmarked this one a year and a half ago, and every time I came across it subsequently, it just didn’t catch my attention the way it had at first. But this week, for some reason, it stood out. I think it was the red peppers. I buy red peppers so infrequently in the winter that I can’t even remember the last time I had them. But the red peppers at the produce market last weekend were so brilliantly red I couldn’t resist them. And I was intrigued by what looked like a frittata with rice, which I’ve been eating a lot more of lately, so I decided I had to try it. I only wish I’d tried it sooner.
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Sweet Potato and Spinach Gratin

Sweet Potato and Spinach Gratin

I’ll be honest, I had little niggling voices of doubt in the back of my mind as I started putting this dinner together. It sounds like a dubious combination: Sweet potatoes, spinach, garlic, and cheddar cheese? For reals? Well, I’m here to tell you, my friends, to allay your fears of a weird dinner. This is excellent! The flavors balance each other very nicely, and it is a wonderful cold weather comfort food dinner: warm and cheesy, but with the added kick of nutritiousness that sweet potatoes and spinach bring to the table: beta carotene, vitamin C, iron, vitamin K, the list goes on and on. I love it when I get my indulgence and my health boost in one place.

You might think that the cheese cancels out the benefits of the vegetables, but let me tell you, that is simply not true. Some vitamins are fat-soluble, meaning they aren’t absorbed in the body without a complementary dose of tasty, tasty, fat. So don’t skimp on the cheese. It’s good for you!
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Brussels Sprout and Brown Rice Salad

Brussels sprout and brown rice salad

This might not look like the most appetizing meal you’ve ever seen, but I have to tell you, it is so tasty and satisfying it has become a very regular dinner in my little house. I’ve tried a few variations of this recipe, and have concluded that this one is the best: the crunchy walnuts and thinly sliced Brussels are very well accented by the earthiness of za’atar, a blend of sumac, sesame seeds, and other dried herbs. I was introduced to za’atar by an old college friend, whose father is Lebanese, but until now hadn’t found much use for it other than making the flatbread her father would bring up when he visited.

My brother, Patrick, inspired this concoction when he mentioned that he had started cooking Brussels sprouts sliced very thinly. They cook a lot faster, and have a little more delicate flavor. And why, you might be wondering is this dish so very yellow? I decided to cook the rice with turmeric, a little suggestion from a former housemate, Christa. So this is dish is like a big amalgam of inspiration from people I’ve known, and a quick and easy weeknight dinner full of crunch and flavor.
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Spinach Potato Mash

Spinach Potato Mash

I have to say, I don’t know if there’s anything I like so much as a big bowl of mashed potatoes for dinner, especially in February, when it’s cold and damp and winter is still a long way from being over. Before I knew the first thing about cooking, or sound nutrition, for that matter, I would frequently mix up a pot of fake, dehydrated mashed potato flakes and happily enjoy my beige dinner. And my parents always knew to quadruple the mashed potato recipe at Thanksgiving if they wanted any hope of leftovers.

I do still love mashed potatoes, but have since figured out that if I want to eat them for dinner, it would be wise to find some way to make them a more complete (and healthy) meal. Not to knock the humble potato. Potatoes have a reputation for being nutritionally suspect, but one potato packs a healthy wallop of vitamin C, potassium, vitamin B6, and fiber, not to mention a ton of important, good energy for the proper functioning of the body. Potatoes are most certainly our friends.
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Barley, Pumpkin, and Swiss Chard Salad

Barley, Pumpkin, and Swiss Chard Salad

I’m not quite sure that it’s right to call this a salad. Maybe it’s a pilaf? It’s warm, and full of vegetables and nuts and grains. It’s a hodgepodge of flavors and textures. It’s finished off with a quick drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar. And it’s really good. I love it when something so full of healthiness is also full of yum.
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Kuri Squash Gratin

Kuri Squash Gratin

I love the end of September. I love the way we seem to be hovering between summer and fall: Cool mornings and sunny afternoons, the crisp smell of colder weather in the air, but no need to pull the jacket out of the closet just yet, and still plenty of zucchini at the farmers’ market, right alongside the first of the winter squashes. As much as the harsh New England winters made me hate the cold, I have to admit I love sweaters and casseroles and big pots of chili, and someday, I swear, I’ll have a fireplace, and I’ll probably light fires in it at the first sign of the inkling of a frost.

This gratin is tailor made for this time of year: It is super comfort food, but isn’t so heavy you’ll need to lie prostrate on the couch after eating it. And it combines winter squash and summer squash in perfect balance, just like late September.
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Squash and Pepper Enchiladas

Squash and Pepper Enchiladas

I knew I had found my Walla Walla grocery store when I stumbled upon the Mexican food aisle in the Super 1 Foods. Queso Fresco, Mexican-style chorizo, Jarritos soda: I am definitely back on the West coast. I almost squealed aloud with glee when I spotted the nopales and chayote squash, and then again when I saw my favorite brand of refried beans, unavailable to me on the East coast (though now that I know they’re made by ConAgra, my affection is wearing thin).

I had been craving enchiladas for weeks. I have a pretty standard enchilada recipe that I usually swear by, but I thought perhaps this time I would try something different. And I am glad I did. These squash and pepper enchiladas might just supplant my stand-by chicken enchiladas in the roster of recipe favorites.
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Garlicky Sauteed Kale and Chickpeas with Polenta

Kale and Chickpea Saute

I am not very good at summertime cooking. When most normal people are throwing their fresh tomatoes and mountains of zucchini into cool and refreshing salads, I insist on standing in front of a hot stove before dinner. I will heat the oven to 550 degrees, and keep it on for over an hour, in the middle of August. I will labor over risotto, trying not to sweat into the stock. I don’t know what it is, but I just have to have a hot meal at the end of the day. It’s a strange compulsion, but there it is.

I am getting a little better at reducing the amount of heat I produce in the kitchen when it’s over 100 degrees outside of it. Last week roasted red pepper tacos turned into sauteed pepper tacos, and this week another recipe I’ve had in my to-be-tried pile was similarly reinvented to avoid using the oven. Garlic roasted garbanzos, you say? I say nay, but the stovetop might work just fine.
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Saucy, Spicy Pepper Tacos

Saucy Pepper Tacos

Dinner was originally supposed to be Roasted Pepper Tacos, from a recipe I’ve had tagged to try for months. But it has been 172 degrees here in Walla Walla all week, and the last thing I wanted to do was turn on my oven to roast peppers. And I know that grilling is supposed to be great for hot weather, but grilling the peppers would have required I stand outside for more than 30 seconds, not to mention in front of a fire, not to mention building said fire would have taken For. Ever. All that to say that my Roasted Pepper Tacos turned into Sauteed Pepper Tacos. But you know what? I think they were even better than Roasted.
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