Kat of All Trades

I think it’s time that I declared this to the world: I love foods made with cornmeal. Cornbread? Fantastic. Corn muffins? Delicious – especially with some fresh fruit mixed in. Grits? Be still, my heart. And then…there’s polenta.

A few years ago, I was making polenta on a regular basis. It was a staple in my diet thanks to its affordability and versatility. A cup of cornmeal, once cooked, makes four to six hearty servings, and it can be served as breakfast, lunch, or dinner depending on the topping. So why did I stop making it? Good question. Thankfully, I remedied this last week as I work to stick to a tighter grocery/dining out budget.

My system has been to make a batch of polenta at the beginning of the week, and then throughout the week as I’m cooking dinners, I’ll have a variety of sauces and other toppings to bring with the polenta for lunches. In the past week and a half, I’ve topped my lunches with eggs over-easy and arugula; sausage, olives, and goat cheese; tomato sauce with ground beef; and, my current favorite, sauteed asparagus and mushrooms with lemon juice, butter, and thyme.

That last one is the perfect meal for spring, and I can’t resist eating it.

Polenta

2 c water
1 c unsweetened almond milk (or milk of your choice)
1 c polenta (corn grits)
2 tbsp salted butter
black or white pepper

Combine water and almond milk in a medium-sized pot, and bring to a boil over high heat. When liquid reaches a rolling boil, turn heat down to low and stir in polenta. When polenta and liquid are combined, add butter and stir. Continue to simmer, stirring regularly, until polenta reaches a thick oatmeal consistency. (Note: The instructions I’ve read say that polenta will take 20-30 minutes to cook. Mine usually reaches the thick consistency within 10 minutes. Cooking time may vary for you.)

When polenta has thickened, add pepper to taste and stir. Turn off heat and serve.

You can also pour the polenta into a rectangular baking dish – mine is 1-1/2 quarts – and refrigerate, covered overnight. After that, you can slice pieces, reheat, and serve!

Lemon Butter Asparagus and Mushrooms

3 c sliced crimini mushrooms
2 c asparagus, chopped into one inch segments
2-1/2 tbsp salted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp dried thyme
pepper to taste

In a non-stick pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil and 2-1/2 tbsp salted butter. When butter has melted, add asparagus and mushrooms. Saute until asparagus is tender, about 7-10 minutes. Add lemon juice, thyme, and pepper. Serve over polenta or as a side dish.

My internet friend Robyn loves overnight oats. I’d never heard of them before reading her blog, and after seeing all of her delicious posts, I was intrigued.

The problem is, I am pretty terrible at prepping food for the next day before I go to bed. Embarrassing confession: I’m one of those people who occasionally often falls asleep on the couch while reading or internetting, and then I’ll wake up, brush my teeth, and promptly settle into bed.

Morning is the time when I really shine.

Because I was so curious about the magic of overnight oats, I decided to see whether I could make them happen in the morning with delicious results. The answer: YES.

This has become my go-to weekend breakfast, as it’s substantially cheaper than cereal, more filling, and just as easy. I mix up the ingredients before I shower, and by the time I’m ready, my breakfast is waiting. Delicious food before heading out for the day is a good thing!

30 Minute Oats

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup almond milk (or whatever you prefer)
1 tbsp agave nectar*
1/4 cup slivered almonds*
1/4 cup berries (frozen from last summer!)*

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix thoroughly and place in refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes. Stir once more and enjoy!

*These are my standard ingredients, though I sometimes add in shredded coconut or nut butter. Inspired by Robyn, I may try them with cocoa powder soon.

Note: Picture taken prior to mixing to avoid photographing a bowl of mush!

I buy nearly all of the food that I cook at home from my local farmer’s market, so winter is a fun (read: challenging) time, as many of you are aware. I’ve also cut dairy (except butter) and wheat out of my diet, so I feel like I’ve been re-learning to cook and bake for myself in a lot of ways.

When my friend Emilie visited recently, we wanted to stay out of the cold (read: hang out on my awesome couch with Arrested Development and knitting), so I threw together a butternut squash and apple soup from our trip to the market the day before. I hadn’t yet stocked my pantry for a lot of wheat-free baking, so then what for dessert?

I’d overestimated the number of apples that I needed for the soup, so we settled on baked apples. Below is more of a guideline than a recipe, but it’s delicious and a great way to use pantry items – or, if you’re like me, some of the many bags of fruit occupying your freezer. Everything I used except the sugar, salt, cinnamon, and cashews came from the farmer’s market.

Also, baked apples make a tasty breakfast the next day!

Baked Apples

as many apples as you would like to eat, cored
handful of brown sugar
handful of frozen sour cherries, halved (or any type of berry)
handful of frozen raspberries, halved
handful of cashews, roughly chopped (or any other nuts)
sprinkle of finely ground sea salt
cinnamon to taste
1/2 tbsp salted butter per apple
1/2 cup apple cider
1/4 cup maple syrup (grade b)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place cored apples in baking dish of appropriate size. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, cherries, raspberries, and cashews. Fill apples with the mixture, and top each apple with 1/2 tbsp of salted butter.

Stir together apple cider and maple syrup, and pour into baking dish on top of apples.

Bake  for 30-35 minutes, basting apples with cider/syrup mixture every 7 minutes.

Save remaining juices to eat over ice cream, if your apartment is as absurdly hot as mine.

Before I move into talking about 600 ways to use zucchini – it is, after all, nearly that time of year – I want to discuss this garlic scape pesto more. Have I mentioned how peppery and garlicky and creamy and generally delicious it is? Yes? Well, it is. I like this pesto, and I wanted to come up with ways to use it. After all, I made 1/2 cup for my first batch, and then plenty more with the giant bag of scapes. (I’m pretty sure this pizza, which Jeanne told me about on twitter, is in my future.)

Remember way back at the beginning of this blog, when I told you how much I like roasting chicken? Well, I bought a chicken at the greenmarket the same day that I got all of those garlic scapes. I enjoy experimenting with chicken, and it’s hard to screw up. I started thinking that the pesto could be a good rub between the skin and the meat, plus I had that lemon that I’d used for the juice in the pesto, and those potatoes from my CSA, and those green beans from the greenmarket…

Pesto Roasted Chicken with Potatoes

2 or 3 potatoes
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon
1 medium onion (about the size of a tennis ball)
1 chicken (I usually get a 3 lb bird for the two of us)
1/4 c garlic scape pesto
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash potatoes and chop into one-inch pieces. Add potatoes to a baking pan (I used my 9 x 13 pyrex dish lined with aluminum foil) and toss with olive oil. Peel onion, and slice lemon and onion into 1/2-inch thick rounds.

Rinse chicken with cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. Use the handle of a wooden spoon to separate the skin from the meat as best you can. I try to separate it on the thighs and back as well as the breasts. You want to separate the skin enough to get your hands under it.

Using your hands, spread the pesto under the skin. It’s gloppy and messy, but do your best to coat the chicken evenly everywhere you lifted the skin. Use about 1 tbsp of the pesto on top of the skin and inside the cavity.

Once you’re done giving your bird a pesto rubdown, take the lemon and onion slices and stuff them inside the cavity. I never keep twine around to tie the drumsticks, so what I do is cut a little slice in the skin near each of them, and then you can tuck the end of the drumstick through that to hold them in place.

Push the potatoes to the sides of the baking dish, making room for the chicken in the middle. Put the chicken in the center of the dish, and sprinkle salt and pepper over it and the potatoes (especially over the potatoes).

Bake for about an hour and twenty minutes, or until a meat thermometer reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit in the thighs (Make sure you aren’t hitting a bone).

Allow the chicken to rest, breast-side down, under a foil tent for about ten minutes before carving and serving.

I’m kind of in love with garlic scapes. They remind me of some weird vine out of a horror novel – think The Ruins – and I think they’re really tasty. I usually chop them up and use them in dishes in lieu of garlic cloves…until now. Because last week, Madura Farms Mycomedicinals, the mushroom purveyor at my local greenmarket, was giving away a shopping bag full of scapes to every customer. How could I pass that up?

The same Saturday that I came into my scape bounty, I had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer of In Jennie’s Kitchen. I like her approach to food – how could I not, with her passion for Italian cuisine? – and she’s wonderful to chat with in real life! At any rate, I was browsing around her website for recipes, and I came across her garlic scape pesto. That fit my qualifications: Uses lots of scapes at once? Check. Freezer-friendly? Check.

Of course, at the same time I was readying myself to make the pesto, my oregano was flowering like crazy. By crazy, I mean that there were flowers and buds on about half the plant. I like oregano, and I can take a hint.

I used Jennifer’s recipe as a jumping-off point and added some other flavors I enjoy. I used it on roasted chicken – I’ll tell you about that soon – and I always love pesto on pasta and bread. I think I need to go home and make some more.

Garlic Scape and Oregano Pesto (adapted from Jennifer Perillo)
Makes one cup.

12 garlic scapes
1/3 c almonds
1/2 c grated Romano cheese
1/4 c oregano
4 basil leaves
1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/4 tsp salt
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 c + 1 tbsp olive oil

Add the scapes, almonds, cheese, oregano, basil to a food processor, and pulse until they are finely chopped.

Add the butter, salt, and lemon juice, and pulse until the ingredients begin to blend.

Begin adding the olive oil one tbsp at a time, until you reach desired consistency.

Eat on everything.

A partial loaf of bread decided to hide in the back of our fridge for a few weeks. While perfectly edible, it left something to be desired in terms of using it for sandwiches. No better way to make it new again than to drench it in milk, eggs, and spices, right?

I also wanted to try out baking with my canned rhubarb, as I’d like to use this method to preserve more while I can still get it. This seemed like a good first attempt, as I could then use the sugar syrup to sweeten the pudding.

I’ll call this sweet success, though next time, I’ll add a full cup of tangy, wonderful rhubarb.

Rhubarb Bread Pudding (adapted from Diana Shaw’s The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook)

4-1/2 c loosely packed stale bread cubes (about 6 slices)
1/2 c canned rhubarb
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1 c milk (I used 2%)
1/4 c rhubarb sugar syrup
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom

Grease a 1-1/2 quart baking dish, and place the bread cubes in it. Add the rhubarb

Whisk together the eggs, egg whites, milk, syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and cardamom until well combined. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread and rhubarb. Mix together to make sure all bread is coated. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30-40 minutes.

Twenty minutes before you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, about 50 minutes.

In case you weren’t sure what was topping my yogurt in my last entry, those are the entire wheat kernel – sans hull – which are also known as wheatberries.

I got the idea recently that rather than just eating granola, I could change up my yogurt additions by throwing on a variety of whole grains. I spotted these grains from Cayuga Pure Organics at the farmer’s market, and decided to try them first.

Here’s the thing about wheatberries: they apparently take forever and a day to cook. I soaked 1 cup of these for over an hour in 3 cups of water, then put them on to cook with 1 tsp of salt. I brought them to a boil over medium-high heat, and then simmered until the water was gone. At that point, I tried a few, and they were still crazy hard. So I added more water – about another 1/2 cup – and continued to simmer until the water was gone and some of the kernels popped open. They were still rather al dente, but it was time for me to head out, so I went with it. Next time, I’ll start them soaking in the morning before work and cook them in the evening.

I added some of my rhubarb in sugar syrup to add some fruit and sweetness to the mix, which was pretty tasty. I can’t get enough rhubarb these days. Fresh fruit or preserves would also be good.

Variety is the spice of life, though, so I made some granola, too. Last week, Ian and I took a wild edibles cooking class with the charming Louisa Shafia, author of Lucid Food, and I picked up her cookbook at the end of class. The boastful name of her granola recipe caught my eye, and it used ingredients I had in my pantry. Why not try it?

The Best Granola Ever (adapted from Louisa Shafia’s Lucid Food: Cooking for an Eco-Conscious Life)

2 c raw nuts, coarsely chopped (My mix was about 3/4 c walnuts, 1/4 c slivered almonds, and 1 c cashews)
2 c rolled oats
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Dash or two of salt
6 tbsp maple syrup
5 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1-1/2 c dried apricots, coarsely chopped
1/2 c raw, unsweetened coconut flakes

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Combine nuts, oats, spices, and salt in a large bowl and stir. Add the maple syrup, 4 tbsp of the oil, and the vanilla extract, and mix thoroughly.

Spread the granola evenly on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Stir the granola well, rotate the pan, and bake for 15 minutes more. At this point, the granola should be almost completely dry. (Mine didn’t get especially dry; next time, I would bake for longer.) Add the apricots and the remaining 1 tbsp of the oil to the mixture, stir well, and return the pan to the oven for 5 minutes. Add the coconut flakes and bake for 2 minutes more.

When I saw these beauties at the farmer’s market on Saturday, I couldn’t resist buying them. I tried pickled ramps for the first time at the foodie book club last week, and I. was. hooked. I’m hoping there will still be more at the farmer’s market this weekend, because I don’t think I can live without a few more bunches. At least.

Things that are awesome about ramps:

1. They’re delicious.
2. They’re tiny, cute, wild leeks.
3. You can eat all of them: bulbs, stems, and leaves.
4. Have I mentioned they’re delicious?

Since I only purchased enough ramps to make one pint jar’s worth of pickled ramps, it was pretty easy to pickle in the morning before work, and then save the greens in a covered bowl for pesto making that evening. (Have I mentioned that I love pesto?) I like when cooking can fit into my life even when my schedule gets hectic.

For the pickling, I cleaned and prepped the ramps, measured out the spices, and put some pots on to boil (one to blanch the ramps, one to sterilize the jar, and the third to boil the vinegar). I put the greens in a covered bowl to save for pesto making later.

It’s worthwhile to note here that while I did sterilize the jar by boiling it in hot water, I did not hot water or pressure can these ramps, so they do need to be refrigerated and consumed within a few weeks. (If anyone knows how long to boil pickled ramps so that they can be stored for longer periods of time, please let me know!) I also want to mention that I am, by no means, a canning expert; however, I can tell you that if you’re planning on canning goods for longer-term storage, make sure to follow the recipe precisely, including hot water/pressure canning times, so that you don’t get crazy diseases including botulism. Nobody wants botulism.

Pickled Ramps (adapted from Tom Colicchio’s Think Like a Chef)

2 bunches of ramps
1/2 c white wine vinegar
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c water
1/2 teaspoon mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon coriander seed
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon pink peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon white peppercorns
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt for blanching
1/2 tbsp salt for the pickling liquid

Trim the root ends off of the ramps and cut down the leaves leaving about 1/4 inch of green (save the greens for the pesto recipe below!). Wash the ramps with cool water.

Blanch the ramps quickly – about 30 seconds – by dropping them in a large pot of salted, boiling water, and then shock them by removing them from the boiling water and putting them in a bowl of ice water. Drain the ramps well and place them in a mason jar.

Combine the vinegar, salt, sugar, and water in a small pot and bring to a boil. Add the bay leaf, mustard seeds, coriander, pink and white peppercorns, and fennel seeds.

Pour the hot vinegar mixture (preferably through a funnel) over the ramps in the mason jar and let cool, sealing tight and transferring to the refrigerator.

Notes

This recipe makes one pint. I halved the original recipe.

In the refrigerator these pickled ramps will last a few weeks to a couple of months. If you follow traditional, safe canning techniques, these will last for a few months, or until you eat them all, which ever comes first.

Ramps Pesto (from Eugenia Bone)

2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 heaping cup chopped ramps greens
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/4 c pignoli nuts (pine nuts)
3 tbsp chicken stock (homemade if you’ve got it, or veg stock if you prefer)
1/4 tsp lemon juice
Salt to taste (I used sea salt)

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a small nonstick skillet. Add the chopped ramps greens and garlic (the garlic will make the pesto a bit hotter). Sauté a few minutes, until the greens have wilted.

Dump the ramps and the remaining ingredients, including the remaining tablespoon of oil, in a food processor and blend to a puree the consistency of basil pesto.

Makes about 1/2 cup.

A friend/coworker of mine made these Earl Grey shortbread cookies a few months ago, and I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about them. I want to make a scone version, so I decided to make the original recipe first and then play off that. All in all, these are a pretty quick venture, especially if you have a food processor and can follow the recipe to the letter. I don’t have a full-size food processor – I have a little three-cup one – so it took a little longer, though I doubt by much. I’d like to try these with other tea flavors, too!

Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies (from Claire Robinson/Food Network)
My additions are in italics.

2 c all-purpose flour
2 tbsp loose Earl Grey tea leaves (or substitute tea leaves of another variety)
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (I bet almond or lemon would be good with other teas!)
1 c (2 sticks/8 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature

In a food processor, pulse together the flour, tea, and salt, until the tea is just spotted throughout the flour. If you have a three-cup food processor, pulse together the tea, salt, and three tablespoons of flour, then whisk that mixture into the rest of the flour. If you don’t have a food processor, finely chop the tea leaves, and whisk together with flour and salt.

Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and butter. Pulse together just until a dough is formed. If you do not have a food processor, whisk in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla, then cut in butter using a pastry blender or your hands. Combine ingredients until dough is able to be formed into a log.

Place dough on a sheet of plastic wrap, and roll into a log, about 2 1/2-inches in diameter. Tightly twist each end of wrap, and chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Slice the log into 1/3-inch thick disks. Place on parchment or silpat lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart (One inch apart worked fine for me; these don’t really spread.). Bake until the edges are just brown, about 12 minutes 15-20 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks and cool to room temperature.

I love hummus, and it seems like every time I find my dream hummus at Whole Paycheck, they stop carrying it. This happened about a year ago with their in-house edamame hummus – which I have yet to recreate – and then again a few months ago, with their smoky harissa hummus.

Since I haven’t had it in a while, I can’t guarantee that I’ve been able to precisely replicate it; however, the recipe below is a more than adequate stand-in. It’s garlicky, the harissa adds an amazing spicy kick, and the pumpkin seed oil provides a delicious nutty note.

Harissa Hummus

1 can chickpeas (or 1 c that have been soaked and cooked chickpeas)
2 large garlic cloves, minced to a paste (or use a garlic press)
1/4 c tahini
juice from 1 medium lemon (approximately 1/4 c)
1-1/2 tbsp pumpkin seed oil* (plus a little extra drizzled on top before serving)
1 tbsp harissa (plus a tiiiiiiiiny bit on top before serving)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coarse kosher salt

I remove the skins from my chickpeas because that’s what my dad and I did when we made hummus together; it’s definitely more labor-intensive, but the finished product is smoother and has a better mouthfeel. I usually pinch the chickpeas between my thumb and forefinger to remove the skins, though I found some other methods online that people say work for them.

Blend all ingredients together using an immersion blender or food processor.

Makes about 1-1/2 cups.

*I was fortunate enough to get Styrian Kernöl from my friend Kay; if you can’t find it, I’d recommend substituting Stony Brook Oils, or olive oil would work in a pinch.