Super Quick White Beans

This dinner was just a quickie, thrown together out of things that I had on hand, but it was pretty good, so I figured I'd share it just to show that you're never in quite as dire straits as you think...

What you need:

-1 can white beans (cannellini beans or white northern beans, or white kidney beans), drained and rinsed

-a few handfuls spinach, or if it is all you have, frozen spinach

-walnuts (toast them, seriously)

-half an onion, chopped

-1 sausage (I used Trader Joes chicken sausage)

-garlic, about a tsp

-a bit of olive oil

What to do with it:

Saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil until soft. Add sausage and cook until done or heated (depending on what kind of sausage you're dealing with, mine was cooked already). Dump in can of beans after draining/rinsing, including a few tablespoons water. Stir around and heat up. Toss in the spinach, heat until wilted (or melted if it is frozen). Serve, and top with toasted walnuts.

This entire process takes about 10 minutes, which seriously is not bad at all, and very handy for a week night. I think all of it went well together, but toasting the walnuts really makes it delicious and also makes it taste like something that took a lot longer to cook (of course, I'm also obsessed with toasted walnuts right now and am putting them on everything and keeping a big bag in the freezer at all times, so I may be biased, but, still, you should do it). Anyhow, if you have basic ingredients on hand, this could be your dinner! Also, obviously, you can leave out the sausage and vegetarian-ize the whole thing.

Kale Chorizo Soup

This recipe was made by special request of Feesh (my co-gardener across the city), who got extremely excited when kale appeared in my CSA box and immediately requested kale-chorizo soup. And, who am I to deny something that sounds so delicious?

The stuff:
1 onion, chopped
~3 tablespoons olive oil
1.5 lbs white potatoes, thinly sliced
8 cups water or low-sodium chicken broth (I used half and half)
.5 lb Spanish chorizo (spicy cured pork sausage), cut into 1 cm cubes*
a big bunch of kale, washed, with spines cut out, leaves roughly chopped

What to do with it:
In a large soup pot, start the onions, and add the chorizo. Once the chorizo is pretty much cooked, add the potatoes. Then add the liquid, and cook until the potatoes are tender- break some of them up to release the starch and thicken the soup. When everything seems ready, add the kale and just let it get soft. Then, serve!



*Ok, so here is the dilly with the chorizo. Basically, chorizo is not just chorizo- there is Spanish chorizo (which this recipe actually called for) and Mexican chorizo (which we used, because we are in LA, and you can't swing a stick in the sausage section of the grocery store without hitting some Mexican chorizo) and soy chorizo, which you could sub here, but I believe it is closer to the Mexican variety. What is the difference, you ask? Well, I'm not going to claim to be a chorizo expert and I'm certainly not interested in thinking too deeply about exactly what is in it, but I have learned this... Spanish, or Portuguese chorizo is firmer, and can be more easily chopped while Mexican chorizo is ground, has a softer texture and is spicier. Theoretically, you can't normally cross- substitute them (although, I did learn that in a pinch, you can actually chop up ham and season it with smoked paprika to approximate Spanish chorizo). However, in this recipe I'm here to tell you that the Mexican version worked just fine (which I assume means the soy version would also work just fine), so... do what you will!

Warm Kielbasa Spinach Salad

I'm a sucker for spinach, which I consume on a daily basis on one form or another (iron? calcium? folic acid? lets hear it for green leafy veggies!). So, obviously its my go-to basis for any form of salad, but I think it especially stands up well to salads with warm toppings. This salad was inspired by the French Lentil Salad and is similar; this version is very summery, light(ish), and all the toppings can be made on the grill.
Dressing (single serving):
-1.5 tbsp grainy mustard
-1.5-2 tbsp red wine vinegar
-pinch salt
-2 pinches pepper
-tad bit of garlic

Toppings:
-washed spinach leaves
-grilled bell pepper (I like yellow)
-Jenny-O lean turkey kielbasa, cut in half lengthwise, cooked on the grill until hot and splitting
-scallions, if you like, grilled
Basically, make a bed of spinach, top with some chunks of kielbasa, sliced veggies, and the dressing. It could definitely serve 4, and your choice of veggies is your own, but I like the simplicity of just the peppers. At any rate, you're done! Eat and enjoy!

(Whats that you ask? Whats the delicious looking bread product you see in the top picture? why, nothing but beer bread, made with Blue Moon!)

French Lentil Salad

Well, its been a few weeks since my last lentil post, and given that they're pretty much a staple around here the next was was bound to show up soon! This, though, is totally different. I'm kind of bored with my usual rotation of Indian-ish or Mexican-ish spices, so it was the perfect way to shake things up. It is also one of those things where you take the first bite and stop a second and go, wait, did I really make that?


This is hacked together as a combo of this recipe from epicurious and this one from userealbutter, and my own little tweaks.

lentils:
1.5 cups lentils (I used regular green lentils. Red lentils are not recommended)
5 cups water
2 bay leaves

non-lentil warm stuff:
1/2-3/4c chopped carrot
1/2-3/4c chopped celery
one medium onion, chopped
1 Jenny-Oh low fat turkey kielbasa, cut in small pieces

dressing:
1/4c olive oil
1/3c balsamic
1/3c white wine vinegar
(basically a lot of vinegar of your choice- could be all red wine. don't use all balsamic, it'll over power)
2 tablespoons mustard (I used grainy dijon)
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1.5-2tsp dry thyme
1 chopped garlic clove

a very big bunch of parsley (don't leave this out)

what to do with it:
-Boil lentils with bay leaves until done, but not mushy. Drain extra water.
-In the meantime, cook the veggies and sausage in a little bit of olive oil until browned and soft (carrots and celery can be a little crunchy)
-While that cooks, mix up vinaigrette ingredients.
-Mix it all together!
-Chop parsley, and stir in at the end, after you are done heating (this does not have to be served super hot, it can just be warm).

This was delicious as is, I mean, really delicious. It also went really quickly for a weeknight, because you can basically cook everything during the time the lentils cook, which is about 20 minutes. I'm not usually a sausage person, but it really worked here, and if you get the lowfat turkey kind, its pretty low guilt. I think you could also sub in smoked tofu if you wanted to veggie-fy it.

The next day I wanted it a little more veggie heavy, so heated up a portion of the lentil mixture, and added 2 large handfuls of rinsed chopped raw spinach. This was much more salad like and would make a really perfect lunch.

Pasta e Fagioli

A friend of mine passed on this recipe which turned out to be really delicious. Its that magical combination of delicious and easy... try it! You'll like it!



The stuff:
--1 T olive oil
--6 ounces hot turkey Italian sausage (I don't usually eat sausage, but this was a key component of the flavor here. if you veggie-fy it, be sure to amp up the spices, and consider adding some extras, like sage and rosemary)
--1.5 T bottled minced garlic (how easy can you get?)
--2 cups water
--1 (16-ounce) can chicken broth (can use low sodium, fat free)
--1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce (no salt added)
--1 cup uncooked small shell pasta, or other similarly sized pasta, like bows
--.5 cup parmesan cheese
--1.5 teaspoons dried oregano
--1/4 teaspoon salt
--1/4 teaspoon white pepper
--2 (15-ounce) cans white beans, drained
-- red pepper flakes


What to do with it:
Brown the crumbled sausage and chopped garlic in a very large saucepan, or soup-type pan. Add water, broth, beans, tomato sauce, oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes; bring to a boil. If you happen to be having a glass of red wine while you cook, pour in a slosh or two. Lower and let it simmer for about 40-45 minutes- its going to smell awweeessooommmmeee, you want all the flavors to blend and get to know each other. Stir in pasta, bring this whole thing to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 15 more minutes or until pasta is done- if you need a bit more water, just add it. Once its done, let settle for 5 minutes and stir in the cheese

You can serve it with a nice salad, or some crusty bread. The hands on cooking time is really minimal, but you get that nice wintery feeling of having something delicious simmering along on the stove, its the absolute perfect thing for a cold winter day!

Summer in a Skillet

Ok, I lied. The "Summer in your ear" (did I really call something summer in your ear? yes. yes I did) earring post was not the end of my summer series... THIS one is.

This is something I threw together (which, to be honest, is how most of my dinners come about), but it was really tasty. Basically, what we have here is whatever summer veggies were on sale. I got white corn (2 ears), 1 Anaheim chili, 2 small tomatoes, and some yellow squash. In just a little bit of olive oil I stir fried some onion and the chili, then threw in the squash, followed by the tomatoes (because I hate raw tomatoes and wanted them to be really cooked), and at the very end put in the corn, which I had cut off the cob*. I like to put the corn in at the end so its still crisp- then, add salt, pepper, and a splash of apple cider or white vinegar (this makes ALL the difference, it just makes everything taste fresh). When it was all ready I threw in a ton of fresh chopped cilantro.

I wanted to add a little protein because basically this was dinner (although it would make a great side dish), and I was too lazy to make chicken or something, so I threw in defrosted turkey meatballs from Trader Joes. It was so fresh and delicious! Perfect and easy for a hot summer day.


* I have an on-off relationship with Rachael Ray, but in an 'on' phase while watching her show I learned an awesome corn slicing trick. Take a big bowl, and put a much littler bowl upside down inside it. Balance the corn on one end on the little bowl and slice off the kernels- they all go into the big bowl and you don't get corn kernel shrapnel all over the place!

Balsamic Lentils... Holy Smokes!

This recipe comes courtesy of The City Girl Cooks who picked it up over at Savory Spicy Sweet which is quickly becoming a favorite, as it was also the source of the very delicious butternut squash gnocchi from a few weeks ago.

Anyhow... I consider myself something of a lentil connoisseur (seeing as how they are both healthy and cheap, two criteria which top my list), and these lentils are, to say it briefly, completely awesome. My first thought upon tasting them (well, first of all after "woah!") was basically, "and, why don't I use balsamic vinegar on absolutely everything?". They have sausage, which I almost never cook with but I decided just to try the recipe as is and it was really good and hearty. It could be easily veggie-fied, either by just leaving it out (it would be really flavorful just by itself) or else substituting veggie sausage.

Here is my take on it...

What you need:
some olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves of minced garlic (probably 2-4 depending on taste)
red pepper flakes, to taste (I like a lot, probably used half a tsp- 1tsp)
3 links fully cooked chicken sausage, sliced- I got some garlicy sausage from TJs
2T balsamic vinegar
14oz can diced tomatoes
chopped fresh basil (could sub dried basil, in which case you should put it in at the same time as the pepper flakes)
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup dry lentils
1 1/4 cup water
5 oz fresh spinach or so, roughly chopped (I threw in almost a whole bag and did not chop it because I am lazy)

What you do...
Heat some olive oil in a pretty decent sized saucepan/pot (I just used my olive oil mister- all you need it for is browning the onions). Add the onions and cook until softened and a little brown.
Add ~1T balsamic vinegar, garlic, chicken sausage, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and sauté a couple minutes more.

Then, add the lentils, canned tomatoes, and water, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for around 25 minutes or until the lentils are just about done. Add spinach and chopped basil and cook 10 minutes more, until spinach is wilted and lentils are tender. Stir in remaining balsamic vinegar, garnish with extra basil, and serve.

This was seriously delicious. The balsamic vinegar really brought out a great flavor in the lentils, and it smelled absolutely fantastic. This recipe is definitely a keeper!