Vietnamese Sauce

This traditional Vietnamese sauce also doubles for a super flavorful marinade as well as a salad dressing. This time around I marinated the steak for an hour, the brown sugar makes for some awesome caramelization. I then served it with a small bowl of the sauce on the side along with some raw cucumber and radish. Yum!

No cooking required, just stir together a half a cup of fish sauce, the juice from three limes and the zest from one, two tablespoon of brown sugar, two minced garlic cloves, and a seeded minced jalapeno. 

Celery Parmesan Soup

 

This is the perfect soup for this time of year, almost spring.

In a large soup pot with some olive oil, sauté a chopped shallot, a minced clove of garlic, and a chopped head or two of celery…leaves and all. Give it about ten minutes then add a quarter teaspoon of black pepper and enough chicken stock to cover the celery by about an inch. As always, the better the stock, the better the soup.

Simmer for approximately thirty minutes or until the celery is very soft, then puree using a stick blender or transfer to a food processor.

Put the soup back on low heat and stir in a cup or two of grated parmesan. It depends on how much soup you made, but it’s hard to add too much. To finish, salt to taste.

Roasted Eggplant with Oregano

Meat, veggies, cheese, beer, salami, tortillas, rum, the list goes on.  The number of food and beverage producers here in the MRV is incredible! And if we cooks weren’t already lucky enough, we can now add dried herbs to the list of local products. The Mad River Botanicals’ dried oregano I picked up at Mehurons for this eggplant roast was the best thing to fresh I’ve ever found on a supermarket shelf.

Preheat your oven to 450 then slice about two pounds of eggplant into ¾ inch rounds. In a large bowl, use your hands to toss the eggplant with a tablespoon of salt and enough olive oil to coat well.  It may take as much as half a cup depending on how thirsty your eggplant is.

Place the slices on parchment lined cookie sheets and bake for approximately 45 minutes.

While those are cooking, mix together six to eight minced anchovy fillets, a tablespoon plus of red wine vinegar, a minced garlic clove, two to three tablespoons of olive oil, a quarter teaspoon of black pepper, and a half a teaspoon of salt.

Pull the eggplant from the oven when they’re golden on the outside and creamy all the way through.  Set aside to cool, then gently toss with the anchovy mixture, a quarter cup of chopped parsley, and a tablespoon of dried oregano. 

Scallion Chicken

This one may look familiar, it’s an exceptionally tasty recipe I saw recently in NYT Cooking. I used a couple of pounds of boneless chicken thighs.

Preheat your oven to 450 while you stir together 4 thinly chopped scallions, 3 tablespoons each of Dijon mustard and fresh minced ginger, 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, a tablespoon of white miso paste, 2 teaspoons of lt. brown sugar, a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of black pepper, and 6 tablespoons of vegetable oil. 

In a large bowl, toss together the chicken and sauce until it’s well coated.  Spread the thighs out in an oven proof baking dish or sheet pan and roast on until they’re cooked through, approximately 25 minutes. 

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.

Fennel Avocado Salad

One fennel, one avocado, and half a lemon…that’s about all this super satisfying salad takes. A firm, barely ripe avocado will work best.

Cut the stalks from the top of your fennel bulb saving any fronds to add to your salad later.  Remove any wilted or coarse outer layers.  Cut in half, and halves again…quarters are easier to work with…then thinly slice.

Halve the avocado, remove the pit, and cut into quarter inch chunks. Combine the avocado and fennel in a bowl along with the juice from half a lemon, a few pinches of chili flakes, a nice drizzle of your best olive oil, the fennel fronds, and salt to taste. Yum!

Polenta with Mushrooms and Arugula Puree

 

I like my polenta soupy, think cream of wheat consistency. So, for a cup of polenta, ignore what the directions on the package say and use six cups of water.

Bring the water to a boil with a teaspoon of salt then slowly stir in the polenta. Turn the heat to very low and cook for around 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

While the polenta is cooking, sauté a finely chopped shallot and 12 to 16 ounces of sliced cremini or white mushrooms in a few tablespoons of olive oil.  Once the mushrooms start to brown, remove from the heat.

Peel two cloves of garlic, cut into chunks, then mince in a food processor.  Add two large handfuls of arugula and a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt. With the processor running, drizzle olive oil into the mixture until you get a smooth somewhat loose consistency.

When your polenta is done, stir in a little butter, half a cup of grated parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the polenta onto plates and top with the mushrooms and arugula puree…chicken or shrimp is optional. 

White Bean Garlic Soup

 

Dry beans are best as the water you boil them in makes for the richest broth. But canned beans are still good, just make sure you strain them and rinse well before using. Navy, cannellini, or any white bean will work.

If you’re starting with dry beans, soak for six hours, drain, then add them to a soup pot with enough water to cover by several inches.  Lightly boil until the beans are soft, then drain, making sure to reserve all of the bean broth. 

The golden-brown garlic is the key to this soup. Generously cover the bottom of a soup pot with extra virgin olive oil and set over low to medium heat. Add a handful of peeled garlic cloves to the pot and cook for around twenty minutes, stirring occasionally until golden all over…not dark brown.

Add a chopped onion and cook until translucent. Stir in the beans and enough liquid to cover the beans by a couple of inches.  Use either half and half bean broth and chicken stock if you used dry beans, or all chicken stock. 

Simmer for twenty minutes, then blend until silky smooth using a stick blender or food processor. If it’s too thick add some more broth or stock.  If it’s too thin, simmer longer.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Miso Cod

You’re going to be very surprised how easily this miso butter can turn a plain piece of baked cod into something worthy of dinner guests…something we’ll hopefully be thinking about sometime soon.  If you’re not big on cod, it works just as well on salmon, scallops, chicken, steak, cooked veggies, and sweet potatoes.

To make the miso butter, use a fork to mash together 4 tablespoons of room temperature butter with two tablespoons of miso paste. That’s it.

Salt and pepper the cod and bake at 400 for 15 to 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillet.  It will flake easily with a fork when cooked through. 

Remove from the oven, transfer to a plate to ensure it doesn’t overcook, and hit it immediately with the miso butter.  Give it a half a minute to melt and serve.