Crispy Potato Veggie Melt

Crispy bottom, creamy middle, gooey top, that’s why you should always throw in a few extra potatoes for later in the week when you’re making baked potatoes. 

Preheat your oven to 500.  Place your fully baked potatoes in an oven proof dish, squash them flat with a potato masher, salt, pepper, and drizzle generously with olive oil. When your oven reaches temperature, roast on a lower rack for approximately twenty minutes.

While your potatoes are cooking, slice up some mushrooms, scallions, spinach, kale, or leftover veggies you may have in the fridge…broccoli, cauliflower, or peppers…nearly anything will work. Sauté together until they’re soft and wilted, then salt and pepper to taste. You could add some chili flakes too for some heat. 

When your potatoes are crispy on the bottom and around the edges, pull from the oven and cover with the sauteed veggies and some shredded cheddar, mozzarella, or Monterey Jack cheese.  Turn the oven down to 350 and bake for another fifteen minutes.

Carrot Ginger Dressing

It was incredibly difficult to hide my emotions when I saw my first bag of local spinach at the market last week, big thanks to those that helped me get back to my feet. 

After I gained my composure, I couldn’t get home fast enough to make a salad. I wasn’t even out of the parking lot before I knew what dressing I’d be going with, carrot ginger…one of my favorites. It’s a sure thing whether you toss it with spinach, kale, iceberg, Brussel sprouts, endive, or grilled asparagus.

Roughly chop a couple of carrots and pulse a few times in a food processor. Add an inch or so of chopped unpeeled ginger, a couple tablespoons of fresh lime juice, three teaspoons of honey, a teaspoon or two of sesame oil, a quarter teaspoon of salt, a third of a cup of extra virgin olive oil, and a third of a cup of rice vinegar. Run until smooth, add more salt to taste.

Support your local farmers!

Bacon and Pea Pasta

 

This pasta is reason enough to always have bacon and peas in your freezer.

Cut a half pound of bacon into quarter inch slices and sauté over medium heat. Once it starts to brown, remove from the pan and set aside.

Add a large finely chopped shallot to the hot pan with the bacon fat and sauté until translucent. Slide in a couple of minced garlic cloves, cook for another minute then turn down the heat to low. Stir in the defrosted peas as well as the cooked bacon and leave on the heat while the noodles are boiling.

Before draining the pasta reserve a cup of the pasta water in a measuring cup and stir in a teaspoon of concentrated chicken stock.

Add a half a cup of the chicken stock to the bacon and peas scraping any bits up from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the drained pasta and a cup of grated parmesan or pecorino. Toss well, adding the rest of the chicken stock as to loosen things up. 

Let it sit for minute, top with a little more cheese, and serve.

Maple Soy Glazed Salmon

 

Maple syrup and mud, must be spring. Time to lighten things up in the kitchen, stew and casserole season is over.

In a small bowl, stir together a minced garlic with a few tablespoons each of maple syrup and soy sauce. Cut a pound and a half of salmon into four pieces then combine with the sauce in a large zip lock bag and marinate for thirty minutes.

Remove the salmon from the bag and pour the sauce into a small sauce pan.  While your roasting, pan frying, or grilling your salmon, reduce the sauce for a few minutes over medium low heat to thicken. Add some Sriracha for a spicier version.

Pour over your cooked salmon just before serving.