Curried Butternut Squash Soup - Theme

The cool weather is coming in - as are the Fall vegetables. Butternut and acorn squash instead of zucchini and pattypan, beets, carrots and  parsnips joining (not yet replacing) the peppers and tomatoes...

And hot soup is starting to sound like a good idea. This is soup and salad season - lunch bridging heat and cold, creamy smooth warm soup with crunchy colorful cool salad.

This is a vegan "creme" soup I've been making for a couple of years. I'd seen some recipes for using silk tofu to make a creamy soup, or a bisque, tried the idea out a bit, and liked it... and experimented with several variations. It gives the feeling of a cream soup, with less fat and no milk, and it is ridiculously easy, as long as you have a blender or food processor.

Silk tofu is a specific type of Japanese tofu. It is most readily available in the shelf stable aseptic packs from Mori-nu. The name is a reference to the smoothness of the tofu, unlike regular, sometimes called Cotton tofu in Japan. It does not refer to the curds being strained through silk, as I have sometimes read... indeed, the difference is that they are not strained at all, and the whey is part of the final product. This does mean that it has less protein per ounce than the regular.

If you can't get silk tofu, regular will work, but it will not be as smooth and luscious. Use soft, rather than firm, and blend very thoroughly.

First, I cooked my squash. Since I was making soup, and wanted the liquid, I simmered it. Take the squash, peel it with a swivel blade vegetable peeler, to remove just the tough part of the peel with as little waste as possible. Then cut it down at the bulbous end, and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Cut the squash up into chunks, put in a large soup pot - bigger than you think you need -  cover with water, add a little salt if you wish,  and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, for about 15-20 minutes, until the vegetable is very soft.

Now - my directions are going to diverge... First, I'll tell you what I normally do. Then, I'll tell you what I really did this time - since a migraine hit while the squash was cooking, so I put it  away for another day... And both are useful options.

Normally... When the squash is cooked, uncover it and let it cool slightly. While it cools, chop a medium onion, and saute it in a little olive oil. When it is soft, add 2 teaspoons of curry powder - more if you like it. The tofu blands out flavor, so you will want more than you usually do - but it's easier to add than to remove... Stir the curry powder with the onions over the heat for just a minute - the heat helps bring out the flavor.

Now, scrape the pan into the soup pot. Swirl a  little of the squash cooking liquid in the fry pan to make sure you get all the onion and spice.

Open a 12 ounce aseptic pack of tofu and put the tofu into the soup pot. It's best to break it up into chunks at this point. (If you can actually get fresh silk tofu - available at Japanese stores, and very occasionally elsewhere, you can use it - you want about 12 ounces. 14 works.  If the package is larger, but so is your squash, go for it...)  Then take an immersion blender - sometimes called a stick blender - and use it to puree the squash, cooking liquid, onion mix, and tofu until smooth. Stand back a bit - it will splatter slightly, and it's still hot... (This is the reason I suggest a large pot!) If you do not have an immersion blender, definitely cool it first, and then put it, in smaller batches, in a regular blender. You shouldn't blend a hot mixture - hot liquid has been known to shoot out of blenders and scald cooks - let's not go there... It will be quite thick, and you may want/need to add liquid (especially if it is in a traditional blender.) This can be plain water, soy milk, or broth.

Now reheat the soup to serving temperature. It's a great make ahead dish for a nice dinner - do everything before now when convenient, then heat just before serving... Taste, and add more curry powder if you like. Remember, not only tastes vary - so do curry powders! Some are much hotter than others...  I sprinkled just a little on top as a garnish, too...

Now - What I Really Did...

It all started the same - but as the squash was just about cooked, the migraine struck. I was actually cooking this in advance for the next night, so I just turned off the heat, lay down, and asked Rich to put the squash away in the fridge when it cooled.


The next day - I got the squash out. Instead of cooking an onion, I just used some of my handy frozen cooked onion (though that did mean I didn't heat the curry powder.) I put part of the squash, a chunk of onion, the tofu, the curry powder and some water in the blender. (Rich had drained the squash - I'd forgotten to tell him I wanted the cooking liquid in the soup.) Blended it until smooth - stopping the blender periodically to push the mixture down towards the blades, and adding more water. (Always stop the blender to push food down... just so many things can go wrong if you do not...) I poured most of that mixture into a pot, put the rest of the squash in the blender, and repeated the process. Mixed it all together in the pot, heated, adjusted spice (my new jar of Hot Curry Powder from a local grocery store is much milder than my old jar from the spice store. I needed to add a lot.) Served.

Now, this lends itself to variations. One fast one is - just follow the last paragraph, using two cans of pumpkin. (Or one can, and only half the tofu.) With shelf stable pumpkin and shelf stable tofu this can turn into a really useful whip together recipe for unplanned company.

Another variation is to change the spicing. I sometimes use pumpkin pie spice, or even just ginger. The taste is quite different, and equally good. And, of course, you can use any winter squash - acorn, carnival, hubbard, cheese pumpkin, whatever you have - they all taste just a little different. It can be a good use for leftover squash, if you baked a large one and need to use that Other Half... just be sure to add a lot of liquid.

It's not really a full meal soup - but great with lunch, or as a nice first course for dinner. It can really dress up a plain meal.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash
salt (opt.)
1 onion
olive oil to saute
2 t (or more, to taste) curry powder
1 12 oz. pkg. silk tofu
water, soy milk, or broth, as needed

Peel and cut squash, cover with water, add salt if desired, and cook until very soft. Let cool slightly.

While it cools, saute onion in oil. Add curry powder, stir around to heat, then add onion mix to soup pot. Add tofu to pot. Use an immersion blender to puree, adding water, broth, or soy milk to achieve the desired consistency.

Heat to serving temperature.

Preserving the Harvest - Conveniently - Peppers

People are starting to return to the idea of  putting up their own produce. People are canning, again - even here in Manhattan, high end cookware stores carry canning kettles and jars. In their desire for local food, people are buying produce and canning it, or making jams and pickles.

Yeah - I'm not going there...

OK, understand - if you enjoy it, it can be a cool thing to do. If you have your own garden, and the time and energy, it's wonderful.  If you have a good source of produce, and like to cook, it's a great and productive hobby. I have, in my day, made small batches of pickles and chutneys. I thought it was fun, and I enjoyed having them in winter. That's not what this blog is about, though...

I've discussed my take on Convenient Foods.  This is an elaboration of that, with the seasonal nature of produce added. For example - in August and September in the Northeast, we get lots and lots (and lots...) of hot peppers. I can't use them all at once... In fact, cooking for two, I don't always want even one whole pepper (depending on the dish and the type of pepper.)  But I can chop them, put them in a freezer bag, and then sprinkle a little out at a time, and add a bit of zip to our meals for months. I've never found I needed to cook them first - they cook rapidly, and I haven't had them deteriorate in the few months I store them.  (Most vegetables do need to be blanched or sauteed to kill enzymes.)

We interrupt this blog to give the Pepper Warning.

Hot peppers are - HOT. When cut, they exude capsaicin, which sticks to your fingers. It burns. This is easily avoided... so avoid it.  Wear gloves, do small amounts at one time. Most of this won't bother most people *too* much chopping one pepper at a time. But sensitivities vary, and it will still cause a great deal of discomfort, and doing it all in advance means you never have to worry about it again...

Wear gloves. These can be rubber dishwashing gloves, or latex (or other) food handlers' gloves. Even with the gloves, be aware that you have transferred oil to anything you touched - including the hand that took the glove off... and to any objects you are now picking up.

Wearing the gloves, you still need to be very careful about not touching your face. We tend to do that without thinking - brush a hair away, push up glasses, scratch a nose... heaven forfend, rub an eye... Don't! The skin on your face is more reactive than most other skin. Do Not Touch your Eye. I was planning this post a few weeks ago, though didn't have a chance to shoot pictures and write it up then. I was thinking about this, while chopping peppers - and five minutes later cleverly rubbed my eye (I had hay fever) and felt pretty foolish... Remove contacts *before* handling peppers, unless you can be certain there will be *many* hours before you need to. (A friend told me that...) When you are done, wash your hands thoroughly with soap - and *still* be careful for a couple of hours.

Do not (how to put this delicately...) touch mucous membranes - your own or anyone else's. (You don't want to know...) That includes mouth and lips, by the way...  don't pick up a piece of cheese and pop it into your mouth - or your child's. (Children are more sensitive than adults.) Don't lick your fingers 10 minutes later.

Now that I've scared you all... I usually actually don't bother with gloves. I have small hands, and have trouble getting them to fit, and feel more control without them - so I try to be careful and, unfortunately, accept a certain amount of a burning sensation. As I said, though, different people react with greater or lesser severity - start by being cautious. Still, none of this (usually) does any actual damage - you just really don't want to hurt if you don't have to.

The easiest way to do it - the way I do so much of this - is to just chop a few at a time. Get 5-6 peppers from the market or CSA? Chop 3 this evening, toss a bit into tonight's dinner and the rest into a freezer bag, do the same in another couple of days...  takes maybe five minutes (if that) more than you would have spent on tonight's dinner anyway... This time, I had a lot, so I did about a dozen - but you don't have to.

You often hear that the hottest part of the pepper is the seeds. That's not exactly true - the hottest part is the whitish pith that surrounds the seeds. Removing the seeds *and* much of the pith is generally a good idea... I cut the pepper lengthwise, and then use the tip of the knife to sort of scrape out the seeds and pith (the knife helps me avoid touching it, as well as cutting any thick parts.)

Then I chop the peppers into pretty small pieces - you don't want to suddenly bite down on a big hunk o'pepper in your sauce - and scoop them with a knife or a spatula into the bag. One handy thing is that I find I can just keep adding, and replenishing - you can see this bag has been used a lot. I do periodically empty and wash it. And I do use up all the peppers at some sad point in midwinter...

I flatten the bag, and lay it flat in the freezer. The bits don't stick together - after they freeze, I can put the bag, with all the peppers in the bottom, on the freezer door. That is where I keep all my assorted flavor boosts. They're easy to find, and don't get in the way of, or get confused with, the other food. I don't want to have to push through frozen peppers and leeks and celery and parsley to find the cooked kale for tonight's dinner!

I like being able to add a bit of heat without it being any big deal at all - I just drop a  little in with my onion and/or other aromatics. I like having that summer taste in December. I like that mixing the different kinds evens out the heat a little - we get a wide variety, as you see, and some are much hotter than others. If I have them mixed, I don't accidentally get a fiery dish from using the same amount as I did of another kind last week... And, really, I like the attractive variety of colors. Don't they look festive?

Theme: Chicken Vegetable Soup

It's August in New York City. It's hot, and humid, and sticky, and miserable, and... 60 degrees??

Well, every few years, in the middle of our proverbial dog days of Summer, we get just a few days of Fall weather, just to  tease us, before the weather returns to the usual oven. It's a wonderful respite, and really helps for the rest of the summer, too, as the concrete and brick cools off and stops radiating heat at us. You can't count on it, it won't last, but... it is lovely...

Well, we had a few days like that last week. And I had a container of chicken stock in the freezer, and some cooked chicken,  and some odds and ends of both raw and cooked vegetables - and I thought a bowl of a light soup would be a nice addition to lunch.

I looked in the fridge, and assembled my ingredients. Half an onion, half a celery stalk, half a carrot (remember, I'm cooking for two. Sometimes a whole onion or carrot is just too much...) Chicken, and chicken stock. Leftover greens, frozen in cubes.

What? Well... with two of us, a whole bunch of kale or chard is usually too much for one meal, especially as I often serve other vegetables as well. So we freeze the leftovers. My favorite trick, actually, is to freeze them in muffin pans - that gives me little half cup muffins of greens... little manageable chunks. This time, the freezer had been full, though, and we really had some tiny bits,  so Rich (he cleans up, since I cook) put them away in little ice cube holders. (They were my grandmother's - they're useful for all sorts of odd little bits of things... but if you don't have them there are many small containers you can use.) I usually pop them out into a zippered freezer bag the next day, and assemble a bag of muffins and cubes of various cooked greens. They're useful when we carry a meal, they're my go to for  Anne Can't Cook nights, and they're a great size to toss into other dishes.

So, anyway... I got everything together, and put a pot over heat. The chicken fat (there wasn't much) had risen to the top of the stock. I used a spoon to scrape off some of it, and put it in the pan to saute the vegetables. You can scrape all of it off, if you want, and, if there had been a lot of it, I'd have discarded some, but a lot of the flavor is in that fat. It makes more sense to me to just use some of it, instead of adding oil. If I were using packaged stock, which is usually lower in fat, I'd just grease the pan with olive oil.

I chopped the onion, celery, and carrot (Aromatics,  remember?) and put them in the pot. Let them saute just a little, while I chopped the frozen greens. This is one feature I really like about the cubes and muffins rather than one thick chunk - I find them easy to chop more finely, which I want if I add them to soup or a sauce. Let's avoid long strings of kale dripping out of spoons, shall we? They get messy... Then I added the greens to the pot.

Anyhow, when the aromatics had softened a little I popped in the chunk of frozen stock. As it was thawing, I knew I would need more than a pint of broth, and I wanted it to have plenty of flavor, so I crumbled and threw in some dried shitake mushrooms. We're lucky enough to be able to shop in Japanese stores where they are inexpensive, we love mushrooms, and they are very useful for quickly adding some flavor to a broth or sauce. Soup base or seasonings would also be an option here (or just a larger container of stock, if you have one...) Since I was using mushrooms, and not a seasoned soup base, I also added a dash of salt.

While the frozen broth continued to melt, I chopped a piece of the cooked chicken. The soup wasn't going to be a whole meal, so I just put in a little - for flavor, as much as anything else. I added it, then, when the broth was mostly melted, added about a cup of water.

Then I just put on a lid, left it on medium heat until it all simmered about 5 to 10 minutes and all the vegetables were tender, and called it soup.

This kind of soup is a great way to fill out a meal. I use it as part of lunch, as I did here - but it is also a way to get a bit more vegetable, or meat, or... whatever... into a meal that is light on that food group. (I didn't add a grain or bean, this time - but that's easy...)  Or - there is *almost* but not *quite* enough of that casserole left for dinner... or "Of course you can come over!" Or, most often, probably, just that you want to Do Something with those bits and pieces without it feeling like leftovers.

Now, the point of this is to let you cook without a recipe - but I know that, for beginners, it can be easier to have a written out recipe. So I'm adding that, here - and I'm doubling it, instead of actually *calling for* those half pieces of vegetables... but, remember - that's what you can  use...


Recipe - Chicken Vegetable Soup

1 onion
1 carrot
1 rib celery
olive oil (opt.)
1 c cooked greens (any assortment - kale, chard, spinach, beet greens - whatever you have on hand)
1 qt. chicken stock or broth
4 dried shitake mushrooms (or 1 t soup base)
salt, to taste
6 oz cooked chicken

Chop onion, carrots and celery.

Grease the pan with either the fat from homemade stock, or olive oil. Saute the aromatics for a few minutes, until they start to soften.

Chop the greens finely, add them to the pot.

Add stock, and mushrooms or soup base (breaking the mushrooms up into small pieces.) Add another 2 cups of water.

Chop chicken into small chunks, and add to pot.

Let simmer about 10 minutes, until all vegetables are softened and flavor is blended.

Browned meat with Beans (and no time...)

In a post last week, I described the situations in which I might used precooked browned meat.  

I then promptly hit the trifecta... 

I was delayed on a job, and got home late. With a (very mild) migraine. And I had a container of cooked beans in the refrigerator... which could be the basis for dinner, but were not, alone, enough. 

But, I had my cooked meat with onions...

I broke off a chunk, and dropped it in a pan.(I didn't even bother to heat the pan first...)

If I'd been more together, at this point I might have added any spices, such as cumin, or hot pepper, which I might want to heat. This time, I didn't bother...

I poured in the beans, and bean cooking liquid.

I routinely cook enough beans for more than one meal, so I have some to use later. This time, as you see, I was using up odds and ends... (OK - so, I could claim this is my Three Bean Special. It was odds and ends dumped in the same jar until I had enough to use... This time - kidney, navy, and garbanzo beans... maybe a couple of pintos?)

If I were using canned beans, which would work just fine, I'd drain them and rinse them off. The starches that accumulate in the can are one of the causes of... um... digestive disturbances, shall we say... for some people. I'm never bothered by beans I cook myself, but I sometimes have trouble with canned beans - one reason I usually cook my own. I do find that cooking them a little longer, not just heating them up, also helps prevent problems.

If I were using canned beans, I'd also add a little water - I want it just a bit soupy, to begin with, because I'm going to simmer it all a bit, and I don't want it to stick.

I sat down for a few minutes, while it heated, and the meat thawed.

  

I then cut up a yellow summer squash, and tossed it in, and let it all cook for about five minutes, until the squash was just tender. (I sat down...)  I also had a small container of some broccoli rabe from dinner the day before - I tossed the cooked greens in. Then I just stirred it together until everything was heated up, and served over rice I had handy (Yes - I cook enough brown rice for 2-3 meals at a time, also - it heats up beautifully in the microwave.)



I had Rich take pictures every time I stopped (and sat down a minute...) while that step cooked. Neither of us remembered a picture of the plated food. It wasn't, to be honest, particularly pretty - though not bad, with the green and yellow  vegetables - but it tasted awfully good for something that was ready in 15-20 minutes - including breaks for the cook to rest...

I could still, of course, write this up as a Recipe - but that isn't the point. The point, here, is cooking within the constraints you face. What time and energy do I have? How much cooked or canned beans do I have? What's a vegetable that will take little or no effort? I have the frozen cooked meat...

How would your family like it?  Would it need to be something recognizable - say, chili - for them? In which case - chili powder in the pan with the meat,  kidney or pinto beans, a can of tomatoes added with the beans, and other veg on the side. Not your Prizewinning Chile Recipe - but something fast the kids will eat...

Or - skip the beans, use more meat, add a jar of decent commercial  pasta sauce. I'd go ahead and add the squash and rabe (though I'd chop the greens a bit more) and serve it over pasta. We always have a jar or two of commercial sauce in the pantry, just in case... though I usually make my own, when I have time and energy.  (We often have a container or two of that in the freezer - but not always.)  If I didn't have the jarred sauce (or didn't want to use one) I'd use plain canned diced or crushed tomatoes, and crush  in some basil and oregano. Like the "chili" - not exciting, not as much flavor as I'd usually like, but it works.

Or...  What would you do with something like this,  for your family?

Summer Saute - Theme

Sometimes a meal just tastes like a season, to me...

We have corn, now, and zucchini... We have the first tomatoes, now, and are glorying in them raw in salad, but I'm not cooking them, yet. That comes later, with abundance.

I get most of my vegetables from the CSA, but I stop at Greenmarket to buy fruit, and occasionally fill in something specific I need. Last week, one of the farmers had beautiful shallots - at the same price as yellow onions! So I bought some.

When I started to cook, I chopped a few shallots and dropped them into my prepared pan.  My what?

I put a frying pan or saute pan over medium heat, and let it heat for a minute or two, while I chop my onion/garlic/shallots. Then I pour in a very small amount of olive oil, and rotate the pan - the heated pan warms the oil and lets it spread all over the pan quite easily, so there is a film of oil covering the surface. I really use a teaspoon or even less... even in multi-ply stainless steel or cast iron.

Then I add the aromatics. That's a handy phrase for a variety of vegetables used, in this context, mostly for flavoring. Onions and garlic, other aliums such as shallots, or leeks, but also peppers (either sweet or hot,) celery, sometimes finely diced carrot... Which ones you choose strongly affect the flavor of the finished dish - enough that simply varying them can change a whole meal.

I've mentioned combining flavors in traditional ways. The choice of aromatics is so traditional that it has names in several cultures. French mirepoix is onion, carrots, and celery. The sofrito I've heard about from neighbors was onion, garlic, and hot pepper - but I gather that varies widely in different Caribbean cultures, and is different still back in Spain. The Cajun combination (sometimes referred to as the Holy Trinity) is onion, garlic and green pepper. And, of course, you can use your own selection, dictated by family tradition, desired taste on the day, mood, or simply what you have on hand. (The latter, of course, is a major influence on all the traditional mixtures - we're fortunate enough to have choices.)

So, anyhow, I cook the aromatics, usually just until soft. (And, in this case, I only used the shallots, not a mixture.) Then I add the rest of the vegetables.

I had zucchini from the CSA.

This is a Japanese cutting technique called a roll cut. I learned it back when I was first cooking, and have used it routinely ever since for round vegetables like carrots and summer squash. It creates irregularly shaped chunks with a lot of surface area, and I find it allows the vegetable to cook very evenly. When I was a child, I didn't like zucchini, because it was often cooked to mush. This technique helps prevent parts becoming mushy before the  rest is soft.

Basically, you cut the vegetable at an angle, instead of slicing it. Then you roll it slightly, so the knife, held at the same angle, is now cutting the vegetable at a different angle. This gives you oddly shaped chunks, with a great deal of surface.

And, of course, you can slice or cut your vegetables into cubes - it's your cooking, do whatever you and your family like!

I then added the zucchini to the hot pan with the onion. (This all took much less time to do than to explain...) I stirred it around, and let it cook.

The abundance of summer... corn... We've had corn on the cob, but sometimes we have a single ear, sometimes I can't use it for a day or two (so even supersweet isn't at its peak,) sometimes I just want it off the cob... And it is (not surprisingly) a wonderful combination with the other midsummer vegetables.

In this case, I took an ear of corn, microwaved it just three minutes, and let it cool a little still in the husk. I then cut off the kernels. You can, of course, cut it raw, but I've found that cooking it slightly makes them easier to cut (without getting them all over your kitchen...) I added the corn to the pan with the now softened zucchini, and scraped the ear to get all the germ and milk.

The corn was already mostly cooked, so I stirred it around until everything was heated through, and cooked to our taste.

Then I served it with small boiled new potatoes, and a piece of roast chicken. The perfect summer meal!

Summer Saute

olive oil for pan
4 shallots
2 small zucchini
1 ear of corn, slightly cooked if desired,

Heat the pan over medium heat while chopping shallots. Oil the pan, add shallots. Stir.

Cut up zucchini. Add to pan. Stir.

Cut corn kernels from cob. Add corn to pan when zucchini and shallots are almost cooked to your taste. Stir.

Cook until all vegetables are cooked to your taste - usually just another few minutes.

Theme: Basic greens

Just as I started getting this going - wouldn't you know, my computer died. And took two weeks worth of pictures with it... Oh, well, this was the stage to have that happen - and learn how to make sure it doesn't happen again!

I do now have some computer access again - and some new pictures. And here I start, yet again.

The CSA is well under way, and we've had many bunches of cooking greens. Chard, kale, broccoli rabe, beet greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, radish greens (Yes, you can eat them - I didn't know that myself, until recently!) and collards. This is my preferred basic cooking method for all but the toughest. I don't personally like mature collards cooked this way - but some do. (A friend just ate the first collards she ever liked, sauteing them with this method...) I'll write about them, later.

The washing method is key. I use this to wash lettuce and other salad greens, too. Vegetables from a CSA or farmer's market haven't usually made the detour supermarket vegetables may have made to a washing plant - where everything is made nice and clean, at the loss of another day or so of freshness, more handling, another layer of expense... I don't mind washing the sand from my own kale, but I need to be sure I actually do so.

Take a bunch of greens. I prefer to chop them before washing, though you can do it the other way around. Trim the ends and any tough parts of the stems.  I eat most of the stems of most vegetables, but I remove them if they are getting stringy. Chop the greens if desired.

Fill a sink or a large bowl with water. Place the greens in the water, swish them around, and lift them out. This does a much better job of leaving dirt and grit behind than rinsing them in a colander does. Then place the greens in a strainer or colander to drip dry. Chop them now, if you wish, and haven’t already.

Take a large saute pan or frying pan, and heat it. Add a little olive oil (about a teaspoon or less) to the pan, and let it heat slightly. Put the greens in the pan, with still just a little water clinging to the leaves, and toss them around in the oil. (A pair of cooking tongs is the easiest way to do this, but you can stir with a spatula or spoon, as well.) You want all of the greens to come into contact with the oil.

As they cook, you will see them start to become a darker green. When they are thoroughly tossed, let them continue to simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until they are cooked to your taste. (I prefer a dark but bright green, not yet olive colored. If you are not sure, cook less to begin with - you can always cook more later.) Note that the vegetables also cook down considerably - a large bunch usually gives us just two or three generous servings.

Variations of this are very easy. The simplest is to saute onion, garlic, or other aromatics in the oil before adding the greens - I almost always do this. Other, flavorful cooking fats, such as a single chopped slice of bacon, substituted for the olive oil,  add flavor. (Butter burns too easily - if you really want that taste, say, with a delicate green such as spinach, mix half olive oil and half butter.)  A splash of good vinegar or pepper sauce at the end is tasty.

And, of course, each different vegetable itself has a very different taste. Spinach, for example, is radically different than the equally tender but slightly bitter broccoli rabe - and they are both different from kale.  It can even be interesting to mix several kinds, such as assertive mustard greens with milder, sweeter chard. Even though we have some form of sauteed greens several times a week, it never feels repetitive - too much variation in taste.

Theme: Salad dressing - Variation: Herb

We're doing the CSA again, this year. I love walking to the pickup point, and selecting my choices. We have a small share - and our CSA often handles that by listing, say, four kinds of greens and telling us to choose two. Or we have a choice between an acorn squash - in that season - and a buttercup squash, while the full share people get one of each.

Even with the small share, we have had lots of salad greens - and I'm eating salads for lunch every day, as well as side salads with some dinners. I wrote about this before in this post about salads.  I love mixing two kinds of lettuce, and arugula, and spinach, with chopped fresh radishes and peas to make a Spring salad.

And I'm not about to pour a bottled commercial salad dressing over this glorious green freshness.

Now - dressing a salad  with  the classic French oil and vinegar is an art. You take your wooden salad bowl, and rub it with a cut clove of garlic. Then you carefully tear your freshly washed greens into it, adding some fresh herbs, perhaps a scallion, and toss the greens with your salad tongs or serving spoon and fork set. Carefully pour a dribble of fruity green olive oil over the greens and toss. Then, add a pinch of salt - toss again. Then just a little good wine vinegar - about a third as much vinegar as oil, is the most traditional ratio, but you can vary it to your own taste - and toss that. Now you have your perfectly dressed salad - and, I hope, the applause of your guests.

Am I doing this on a weekday evening when I'm trying to get dinner on the table quickly? Well, no. Am I doing this to prepare a lunch salad I'm assembling in a plastic covered bowl, to go eat in a park, between clients? Be real! So I compromise. I make my own dressing - and yes, I put it in a bottle - but I control the ingredients.

A basic dressing is still as I described. Two thirds oil, one third vinegar. That can be varied infinitely, though. Olive oil, always, in my house...  Usually (but not invariably) a good sharp wine vinegar. In a pinch, I may just use that, or sprinkle in a pinch of some dried herbs - mix that first with the vinegar, it won't blend well with the oil.  I put it in an old shaker bottle from (I confess) a commercial dressing - I find the shaker bottle helps prevent it from separating in that moment between shaking and pouring.

But right now, my CSA is also giving me bunches of beautiful fresh herbs. So I don't have to compromise - I can make a perfect fresh dressing, ready to pour on every salad I eat.

In this dressing, I used sage and thyme - always a good combination, and what we happened to get. I think there's a sprig of dill in there, too...  I pulled the leaves and flowers off the stems, as I don't want woody stems in my salad. I would not have to do that with a softer herb, such as dill. If I used rosemary, I would make sure I ground it very finely, probably with a bit of salt - the needles themselves can be prickly. I then chopped the leaves coarsely, and put them, with 1/3 of a cup of white wine vinegar, and just a pinch of salt,  into the jar of a  blender.  I then blended them until the herbs were finely chopped, almost liquefied. I poured that into my handy bottle, then filled it with the oil (I know the bottle holds a cup, so I didn't have to measure the oil separately. The volume of the herbs means I'm actually using just a bit less than the full amount of oil - but it's close enough.)

Herb Dressing

Handful of fresh herbs, exact amount and variety depending on both taste and availability
1/3 c wine vinegar
pinch salt (opt.)
2/3 c virgin olive oil

Chop herbs coarsely. Place in blender jar with vinegar, and salt, if using. Blend until finely chopped. Mix vinegar herb liquid with the oil, and blend.

Theme: Braised Chicken

The key to cooking Dinner every day is to be prepared to do so - and the easiest way to do that is to make sure you have ingredients on hand. And, if you want to be able to cook quickly, with little effort (the bus was delayed, you're exhausted, and a family member needs to eat and get out to a meeting.) it helps if you have a few already cooked, or ready to cook, ingredients on hand.

This can also be the key to making a lunch to carry, instead of relying on the local fast food place... I've spoken before about making a lunch salad with previously prepared foods.

One thing I try to have on hand is cooked chicken. It is versatile, inexpensive, nutritious,  and it tastes good.

In this case, I bought a family pack of bone-in chicken thighs, and filled a soup pot with them. Then I poured in enough cold water to just cover the meat. I covered it (with the cover just a little ajar, to allow some steam to escape,) brought it to a slow simmer,  and simmered it about an hour, just until the meat started to fall from the bone.

Another time, I might season it, at least with salt, or add vegetables, but this time I just wanted a plain stock and unseasoned meat.

I removed the meat from the stock, let it cool, and removed and discarded bones and skin. Then I packed the meat in a couple of containers - one for the freezer, for future use, and one in the refrigerator, to use in dinners and salads. I also poured off the stock into containers, and saved it - to add to sauces, to make a soup, to add flavor to anything I make. The fat rises to the top, as it cools, and I can skim it off, or choose to use some of it for flavor. (If making soup, I discard most but not all of it - the fat does carry much of the flavor.) This is the rendered chicken fat, or schmaltz. used in traditional Ashenazi Jewish cooking in the way other cultures use bacon fat or butter - and I occasionally use it in that way, for the flavor.

I prefer legs or a whole chicken for braising - breasts alone end up dry and tasteless. And the thighs are the easiest to bone. Boneless skinless thighs would be even easier, of course.

The next day, when I did not have time to cook, I sautéd half an onion in a little olive oil, added enough chicken for the two of us, poured in some of the stock, and brought it to a boil.

Then I added Frozen Mixed Vegetables. Yes, if you read this blog, you know I use and prefer fresh, local vegetables from Greenmarket or a CSA. However, I *always* have some sort of frozen vegetable in the house. In a few months, they will be vegetables I have cooked and frozen for later use (aka leftovers,)  but, at this time of year, with fresh vegetables few on the ground, I have commercial frozen vegetables. Honestly, even in midsummer I may have either these or frozen peas, because they are so easy to add to things - they mean I never skip vegetables because I'm tired - they're never "too hard."

Anyhow - I heated all that through (frozen veggies just really need to be heated, they're already cooked,)  sprinkled in some Spike (a seasoned salt,) microwaved the container of leftover brown rice I also had handy (I always make rice in batches with enough for 2-3 days) and I had... Dinner. In 10-15 minutes.

Simple enough, better than a commercial frozen dinner, faster than ordering out, and I had control of the ingredients.

I will show and discuss more interesting meals. It is important, though, to remember that this is still cooking - indeed, it is cooking from scratch (though I had done some of the cooking at an earlier time.) And it really did taste good...  And it is really achievable, however busy you are. 

Theme: Salad

I often find myself, lately, talking with people about salads. I eat a salad for lunch  most days, much of the year. For many years, that was a goal, but I never managed to reach it - and my greens would sit limply in the crisper... A few years ago, though, when I was carrying a lunch to work every day, I got a system going, which I think may help other people.

The major shift was to preprep my food. Absolutely, in a perfect world, it is better to wash and prepare lettuce and other salad vegetables immediately before eating them. If you are doing that, and it works for you, by all means continue. But I was running out to work without a lunch, because it would take too long to fix something. And *if* I remembered a salad at dinner, it was plain lettuce, because, at the end of the day, chopping one radish, one scallion, and half a carrot was just too fussy.

I got a good vegetable keeper, though. And I had used Zip-Loc produce bags, which have tiny holes to let air circulate, and keep vegetables surprisingly fresh. And, somehow, I got the bright idea...

Washing lettuce and storing it, carefully dried, was just the first step. I collected little one cup containers, and started washing and cutting up other vegetables. I ended up with a little stack in the refrigerator, with four or five assorted vegetables. Scallions and radishes, sure - but also cut snap peas in spring, and broccoli or zucchini later on,  and whatever other vegetables I want. Without planning it, I find that I often finish one container a day - and it's easy, then, to wash it and refill it with the next vegetable from my refrigerator.

So, that is all I need for a good side salad. But for a meal - I need to add some kind of protein. Again, I preprep. I try to have at least three things on hand, and then choose two, so my salads have some variety over the course of the week. And I often have more than three...

Cheese. I like feta for salads (usually lower fat, and a nice bite - the salt isn't a problem for me.) But others are good, too.
Cooked beans. I add a little vinegar, so they keep well. Sometimes I use a nice salad dressing, instead, to vary the flavor, or add herbs. Or I just make a classic three bean salad, or lentil salad.
Tofu. I know some people just cube it as is - I like to cook it a bit to firm it up - and again, I may add a marinade.
Meat. If I'm cooking chicken for dinner, I may add an extra piece. If I cook ham, I definitely keep some for salads.
Hard cooked eggs.

Again, I have a stack of small containers - though, in this case, they may be of different sizes.

When I want to make my salad, I just take out the bag of washed greens, and the stacks of add ins - and proceed as if I were at a salad bar. Personally, I like to mix one animal protein source  with one vegan source - but that's my taste. You do what works for you. I may also add  olives, or capers, or... a bit of something to fancy it up.

If I'm carrying the meal, I put salad dressing in a smaller leakproof container. I make my own vinaigrette, but I find creamier ones are better for carrying - they're less likely to dribble a bit after you use them, if you don't have facilities to wash your dishes right after use. I'll be experimenting with more salad dressings over time.

I eat  whole grain bread or crackers with it. I may have a topping for them, too - but that's another post.

(Edited to add pictures...)