notes from my food diary

When life gives you a box of green tomatoes, what would you do with them?  I found a perfect recipe for using your late harvest green tomatoes a few weeks ago.  Those hardy green tomatoes don’t want to turn red in my garden box that I almost gave up on them.  I hate cutting the plants away but October came and went, those plants really need to go.  So enchiladas it is then, butternut squash and pinto beans are the filling along with Monterey Jack cheese.  The green tomatoes came out pretty tasty, similar to tomatillos, but without the hint of lemon.  Since green tomatoes are pretty tart, adding sugar would balance the flavor better.

Squash, Beans and Cheese Enchiladas with Green Tomato Sauce

Makes 4 to 5 servings

Sauce:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 7-ounce can whole green chiles, drained and chopped

1 pound green tomatoes, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup vegetable broth 

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Filling:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

2 cup peeled and diced butternut squash (1/2-inch pieces)

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 diced chipotle chile in adobo (1 tablespoon)

1 14-ounce can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

10 corn tortillas

1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese (divided)

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.

To make sauce:  Heat the oil in a large skillet ste over medium-high heat.  Add the onions and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute more.  Stir in the green chiles, green tomatoes, cumin, oregano, salt, sugar, broth and water.  Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes break down and the mixture becomes saucy, about 10 minutes.  Pour the mixture into a blender or food processor, add the cilantro and puree until smooth.  Set aside.

To make filling:  Rinse and dry skillet and return to medium-high heat.  Add the oil.  When hot, add the onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute more.  Add squash and saute for about 3 minutes or until it is starting to brown around the edges.  Add the water, cumin, sugar and salt.  Cover and cook until squash is tender but not mushy, about 10 minutes.  Add the chipotle in adobo, pinto beans and 1/2 cup of the green tomato enchilada sauce.  Simmer for a few minutes until beans are heated through.

While the filling simmers, wrap the tortilla in foil and place in the oven until warm and pliable, about 5 minutes.  Ladle 3/4 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch pan.  Spoon 1/4 cup filling onto each tortilla, then top with 1 tablespoon cheese.  Roll up the tortillas and place folded side down in the pan.  Cover enchiladas with the remaining sauce and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.  Bake until hot in the center and cheese is melted, about 30 minutes.

Source:  from FOODday test kitchen director, Linda Faus

Dinnertime could be stressful and to make things easier, I choose easy but equally tasty meals.  One of my family’s favorite proteins is egg.  Eggs could be made into frittata or omelette, with the addition of vegetables or cheese and pair it with a side dish, you’ll get a meal in about one hour.  I made the latter about a month ago and it was also submitted to ThinkSpain guide for the recipe section in its October edition.  The recipe was adapted from my favorite cooking book, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison.  Armed with this one book, I won’t go hungry at every meal time

Chard and Onion Omelette (Trouchia)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large white onion, quartered and thinly sliced crosswise

1 bunch chard, leaves only, chopped

Salt and freshly milled pepper

1 garlic clove

6 to 8 eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons chopped basil

2 teaspoons chopped thyme

1 cup grated Gruyere

2 tablespoons freshly grated Pecorino-Romano

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a 10-inch skillet, add the onion, and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until completely soft but not brown, about 15 minutes. Add the chard and continue cooking, stirring occasionally,
until all the moisture has cooked off and chard is tender, about 15 minutes. Season well with salt and pepper.

Mash or chop finely the garlic with a pinch of salt, then stir into the eggs along with the herbs. Combine cooked chard mixture with the eggs and stir in the Gruyère and half the Pecorino-Romano.

Preheat the boiler. Heat the remaining oil in the skillet and, when it’s hot, add the eggs. Give it a stir and keep the heat at medium-high for about 1 minute, then turn it to low. Cook until the eggs are set but still a little moist on top, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the remaining Pecorino-Romano and broil 4 to 6 inches from the heat, until browned. Serve trouchia in the pan or slide it onto a serving dish and cut into wedges.

Source: adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

These series of photos taken about a week ago.  When there was sun in Oregon.  When the weather was in the upper 80’s and lower 90’s.  In other words, perfect and gorgeous days welcoming the summer.  Not like this week’s weather, blecchhh…, where the sun hid behind the clouds and the temperature never climbed past lower to mid 60’s.  Fortunately, when I’m writing this, the sun decided to come out and the clouds disappeared somewhat. 

That day I was thinking of taking some photos for Click! event which the theme for this month is Stacks.  I could bake some cookies and stack them, but they’d take my time away, I wasn’t in the mood.  I was looking for something simpler, something easier to do with the time on my hands at that moment.  I did make some pizza for dinner that day because since I discovered a good recipe for pizza dough, I’m always in the mood for making pizza.  And that pizza saved my day.  I figured if I stacked pizza slices together, these could make a nice stacks.  I spent sweet time in the backyard taking these photos…

I threw some oregano leaves and chive flowers with the slices since I love the color combination of the purple and green.  My two chive plants grow big this year along with my oregano and sage, they’re sprouting beautiful purple flowers.  I’m somewhat lazy doing any gardening this year, but I’m hoping to get tomato and zucchini plants this week.  Hope it’s not too late!

Pittsburgh wedding soup is also known as Italian wedding soup.  Why made soup when the weather is so warm outside?  Because my hubby was sick and had a sore throat, I figured making him soup was best for his overall health.  We had our wedding anniversary and his birthday passed this month without having any cake or celebration yet.  The cake has to wait until he wants to eat something heavier than soup.

I’ve been wanting to try this recipe ever since I read it in The Cook’s Country Cook Book.  Hey yeah…even though I wasn’t born here but my heart belongs here in the heartland.  That’s why I’m trying to a good country cook, which I hope is working

The soup is super delicious especially if you get the meat loaf mix, which is a mixture of ground beef, pork and veal.  But if you can’t find such a mix, use 85-percent lean ground beef.  The meatballs will be slightly drier but still taste good.  According to the book, the origin of the soup was from a centuries-old southern Italian meat and vegetable soup called minestra maritata.  "Maritata" means marriage in Italian, and in this case the pairing of meatballs and the greens in the soup is the holy matrimony.  As for the greens, kale or Swiss chard can withstand the hot broth without disintergrating.  The meatballs can be made smaller by using a melon baller.  One thing I found out that was that refrigerating the meatballs after making them is crucial because if this step was skipped, the meatballs tend to break apart in the soup.

Today was the second day since the soup was made and we ate it with club sandwiches for lunch.  The flavor has gotten better and it just needs a sprinkle of grated Parmesan and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil to make a complete meal.

Pittsburgh Wedding Soup

Serves 6 to 8

Meatballs:

2 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into pieces

1/2 cup low-fat milk

1 large egg yolk

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

3 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 pound meat loaf mix or 85-percent lean ground beef

Soup:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

3 quarts low-sodium chicken broth

1 large head kale or Swiss chard, stemmed, leaves chopped

1 cup orzo

3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Salt and pepper

To make the meatballs:  Combine the bread and milk in a large bowl and mash them with potato masher until smooth.  Add the remaining ingredients except the meatloaf mix/ground beef, mash until combined.  Using your hands, incorporate the meat into the bread and milk mixture, knead until all combined.  Form the mixture into a 1-inch size meatballs (use an ice cream scooper if you like) and place them in a large baking pan.  Wrap the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate about 30 minutes until quite firm.  The meatballs can be made ahead, up to 24 hours in advance.

To make the soup:  heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Cook the garlic and red pepper flakes about 30 seconds, or until fragrant.  Add the broth and bring to a boil.  Stir in the kale or Swiss chard and simmer until softened, about 10 to 15 minutes.  Stir in the meatballs and orzo, reduced the heat to medium, and simmer until the meatballs are cooked and the orzo is tender, about 10 minutes.  Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper.  The soup can then be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Source:  adapted from The Cook’s Country Cookbook

This is one of the first two posts that I made last year just before the Christmas holiday began.  I didn’t have time to post this and felt like maybe today is the right time to finally write about it.  Just last night I was watching an episode of Last Restaurant Standing series where they talked about takeaway meal, and in the beginning the host was talking about pasty pie   The recipe came from the book Eat Feed Autumn Winter which was given to me by Anne Bramley.  Pasty pie is a flat, mostly circular pastry pie with beef, potatoes and onion filling.  Originally this was eaten by the coal miners as lunch in mining towns of England.  The shape of the pie made it easy to transport and it could stay warm for several hours, perfect for those men who work in the mines.  More often, one end of the pie contains savory filling and the other end contains sweet filling.  That way they get to eat a meal and a dessert at the same time. 

This particular recipe used rutabagas with the beef and potatoes.  I tried hard to like rutabagas, but honestly I didn’t think I could in any way like rutabagas.  The flavor was too strong for me even though the texture was similar to potatoes once it is cooked.  I felt like my tastebud was still immature to enjoy root vegetable like this.

Authentic pasty pie is made into individual serving, but this pie was made to serve for the whole family at dinner time.  If any of you like me, who don’t like rutabaga, feel free to substitute it with more potatoes. 

Pasty Pie

Serves 6

Crust:

1 large egg yolk (reserve the white)

1 tablespoons mmilk

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

1/4 cup ice water

Filling:

1 pound Russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3/4 pound rutabaga, peeled and thinly sliced

1 pound London broil or sirloin beef, thinly sliced

1/2 cup packed chopped parsley

1 samll onion, or 1/2 large onion, thinly sliced

1 large egg white

To make the crust:  Whisk together the egg yolk and milk in a small bowl.  In a food processor, combine the flour and salt.  Pulse to combine.  Add the butter and pulse several time until the butter is the size of marble.  With the motor running, pour the ice water, then pour the egg and milk mixture until the dough forms a large clumps.  Turn the dough onto a lightly floured pastry board or counter.  Lightly knead the dough about 3 times to bring it together.  Divide the dough in half, shape each into a disk, and wrap each in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. 

Preheat the oven to 400 degree F.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

To make the filling: Remove one dough disk from the refrigerator.  On a lightly floured surface roll into a 13-inch circle.  Keep lifting and turning as you go to prevent sticking, and flour your surface if necessary.  Transfer the crust into the parchment-lined baking sheet.

On the bottom crust, create a layer with half of the potatoes, overlapping slightly, leaving a 1-to 2-inch border of crust.  Generously sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Next create a layer of half of the rutabaga, overlapping slightly.  Repeat the first two layers, sprinkling with salt and pepper and a teaspoon of water.  Layer half the London broil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and water.  Sprinkle with half the parsley.  Add all the onion, salt, pepper, and water.  Finish with the remaining beef, salt, pepper, water; the remaining parsley, salt, pepper water.

Roll the second dough disk into a 14-inch circle on a lightly floured surface.  Keep lifting and turning as you go to prevent sticking, and flour your surface as necesarry.  Lay the top crust over the pie.  Seal the edges of the top and bottom crust and fold over all around, using your fingers to create a rope-like design.  Make sure to leave no cracks.  In a small bowl, whisk together the egg white and 1 teaspoon water.  Brush the wast all over the crust.  With a sharp knife, make a few cuts in the top crust to allow the steam to escape.  Bake for 60 to 75 minutes, or until golden brown.  Cool for 5 minutes, cut into wedges, and serve.

Source:  adapted from Eat Feed Autumn Winter by Anne Bramley