Foodmomiac

Successful New Dish: Lentil Potato Salad

On Saturday night, we decided to stay in and cook dinner. Dylan was at a sleepover, so it was just me and the two guys. We had some prime ribeye steaks from Costco, so we knew that would be the focus, but it was up to me to come up with a side dish. My first instinct was some sort of potato dish. Unfortunately, when I checked our potato supplies, I realized that we only had one pound of potatoes which wouldn't be enough. It was time to get creative.

When Michael and I went to Paris last month, I spent an hour in G. Detou, one of the world's most amazing grocery stores. One of the treats I came home with was a tin of French de Puy lentils: 

 

Lentil de Puy are a great treat if you've never tried them (and you don't need to buy them in Paris - they are available at many specialty grocery stores in the U.S. - I have even purchased them at Whole Foods). They keep their shape and texture when cooked. Typical lentils get soft and mushy, which is great when you are making a soup and stew, but not ideal when you want the lentils for a salad. 

So, back to my story. I had one pound of potatoes and I had the lovely tin of lentils. I decided to combine a couple of recipes from The New York Times Cookbook; a Mediterranean lentil salad and a French potato salad. French potato salads are served slightly warm or at room temperature and are made with olive oil instead of mayonnaise. They are much more suited to cold weather than the standard mayo-based varieties.

The salad was easy to prepare and delicious. I hope you love it as much as we did!

Lentil Potato Salad

1/2 cup de Puy lentils
1 pound new (red) potatoes, scrubbed and cut into a 1/4 inch dice
1 Tb onion, finely minced
Vinaigrette of your choice (I used this one) 
2 carrots, finely diced
2 stalks celery, finely diced
salt and pepper to taste 

Combine lentils with three cups of water in a pot. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 - 20 minutes (you want them tender but not mushy). Drain and set aside.

Cover potatoes with cold water in a pot and bring to a boil. Cook until tender. Drain and place in a large bowl. Toss with the minced onion and a few splashes of vinaigrette. Allow the vinaigrette to soak in a bit. Taste. If there is no flavor, add some more (the potatoes soak up quite a bit - by dressing them while they are warm, you insure great flavor). 

Add the carrots and celery and lentils. Toss with more vinaigrette and the salt and pepper, tasting as you go. This is a very flexible recipe - you will want to play around with it until it is seasoned to your tastes.

Enjoy!

Baba Rice (a weeknight lifesaver)

This is my dear friend Lisa. Our husbands have known each other since Kindergarten (!!) and when we lived in Toledo, Lisa was a constant in my life. I remember calling Lisa and Todd just a couple of days after they brought their oldest son home from the hospital to tell them that we, too were going to have a baby! Now Ty is almost 11, and Dylan is 10, and I feel like an elderly woman, but that's a story for another day.

Lisa is the friend who introduced me to Bunco (which I greatly miss - why don't people play Bunco in Chicago??), and the person who brought over food after Dylie and Max were born. And the one dish that was ALWAYS included with this delivery was Baba Rice. Baba was Todd's grandma, and she was from Bulgaria. I love Baba Rice, but I could never make it properly no matter how many times Lisa walked me through it over the phone.

This has always been a source of frustration for me, so when we visited Todd and Lisa Thanksgiving weekend, I watched her make it and took very detailed notes. I am happy to report that I have now made Baba Rice twice and was successful both times. Woot!

And now I am sharing with you. Enjoy.

Baba Rice
2-1/2 cups Uncle Ben's rice (the brand is important here, so don't try to get all fancy. You need the original Uncle Ben's converted rice)
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 small onions, chopped
5 cups chicken broth
freshly ground black pepper
1 Tb. dill
1 Tb Spike seasoning or summer savory (Chubritza is the Bulgarian word for this)
1 tsp chicken bouillion paste (I use that Better than Bouillion stuff from the supermarket)
1/4 cup canola oil 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put the rice in a 9x13 Pyrex dish. Add the celery, onion, broth and spices. Break the bouillion paste up into smaller pieces and distribute throughout the dish. Pour in the oil and mix everything well. Cover the pan with foil and place into the oven for an hour. Remove from the oven and mix up a bit with a fork. Enjoy!

FoodKIDiac: Guest post by Dylan - Baked Acorn Squash

My favorite dish lately has been baked Acorn Squash it is SO delicious! It is fun and easy to make! I was able to make it all by myself, actually. Today we had it with chicken and a nice little salad! It is such a great comfort food and it adds a little sweetness to your dinner! I guarantee that you will LOVE this dish! Acorn squash is probably the best fall dish you can ask for! Today my Dad built a fire in the fireplace so it was really nice and cozy in our house.

I could eat acorn squash forever! You HAVE to try this dish!

Here is the link to the recipe I used:

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/classic_baked_acorn_squash/

 

 

My Favorite Kale Salad

I just loved this salad. I feel like it is a LITTLE bit of a cheat because the kale isn't raw (it is lightly steamed), but it is just delicious, and I prefer the steamed texture, especially with the crunchy sunflower seeds on top. Once again, I got this recipe from my amazing Harvest Moons Farm CSA.

Kale Salad

1 bunch kale
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 medium clove garlic
1 Tb. extra virgin olive oil
 salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup crumbled feta (ricotta salata would work here too)
1/8 cup sunflower seeds 

Mince the garlic finely, and let it sit for five minutes (apparently this enhances its health-promoting properties - who knew??). Fill a steam with about three inches of water and let it come to a boil over medium high heat. While that's happening, chop your (cleaned and stemmed) kale into 1/2 inch wide slices, and then cut it again crosswise, so you have some nice bite-sized pieces. Once the water is boiling, add the kale to the steamer and cover it, steaming for a total of five minutes.

Transfer the kale (while still hot) to a salad bowl and toss it with the garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil. Let come to room temperature and serve topped with the feta and sunflower seeds. 

Note: I ate an entire bowl of this myself one day for lunch, so if you are preparing this for a crowd, you might want to multiply the recipe accordingly.

 

Foodmomiac's Macaroni Salad

I have never been a huge fan of macaroni salad. It's usually gloppy and overly sweet, and just... blah. But, there's something really appealing about a macaroni salad. I love elbow macaroni, and I love mayo-based salads, so I always knew that I could probably rescue this dish.

After doing some online research and some in-kitchen tinkering, I think we have a winner. This is based off of a recipe I found on All Recipes, but the additions and changes make it my own. Enjoy! (Note: this makes 10 VERY generous servings, so make sure you have plenty of guests, or are ready to eat macaroni salad every day for a week.)

Foodmomiac's Macaroni Salad

1 box elbow macaroni
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
2-1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 sweet white onion, cut into 3-4 big chunks
2 stalks celery, cut into 3-4 big chunks
2 carrots, cut into 3-4 big chunks (you can use a handful of baby carrots if that's all you have on hand)
3 hard boiled eggs, diced
2 dill pickles, diced

Cook macaroni for eight minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water and set aside.

Mix together the mayo, vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt and pepper in a large bowl.

In a food processor, mince the onion, celery and carrots. (You can also just dice these finely on your own, but the food processor does a great job and is super fast.)

Add the veggies to the sauce in the bowl, along with the macaroni, eggs and pickles. Mix to combine, cover, and refrigerate for at least two hours (overnight is fine, and probably preferable!)

Hangin' Around (with some Sweet and Sour Cabbage)

It's Sunday evening, and we are still at our cottage. The plan was to leave after dinner, but we just couldn't do it. We had to prolong the fantasy of a stress-free life just a TEENY bit longer.

It was a great weekend at the cottage. Michael's dad, sister and her boyfriend came up, and we loved showing them around. We did the Holland Farmers' Market (where we scored country pork ribs, rhubarb, radishes and a giant jug of Michigan maple syrup), Chicken Scratch Farm, Saugatuck downtown and the beach. The weather wasn't warm enough for any sunbathing, but we skipped rocks and explored a bit.

Megen and Nick left in the early afternoon, but, as I said, we just couldn't do it. Michael's dad is still off work from his car accident, so he was able to stick around as well. The kids are in bed, and we're just sitting around and watching TV.

Dinner was terrific. I bought some Korean meat rub at the Saugatuck Spice Merchant, and we rubbed it on the pork ribs from the market. We are very much asparagus'd out, so we grabbed a head of red cabbage at the little farm market down the road, and I made some old fashioned sweet and sour cabbage. The recipe is from the Betty Crocker cookbook, which came with the cottage. It's not the type of cookbook I'd normally buy, but I'm loving the recipes. They are simple and comforting - just perfect for a weekend hangin' around in the country.

Sweet and Sour Cabbage

1 head red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
4 strips bacon, diced
1 red onion, sliced
1/4 cup brown or Turbinado sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons white vinegar
freshly ground black pepper

Boil one inch of water in a 10-inch skillet. Add the cabbage, and cook, uncovered for an additional 15 minutes. Drain, and set aside. Place the bacon in the skillet and cook it on medium for about 3-4 minutes. Add the onion and cook an additional 4 minutes, until the onion is soft and the bacon is crisp. Remove from the grease with a slotted spoon, and place it on a paper towel or brown paper bag covered plate to drain. If your bacon is super greasy, remove some of the grease (you want to leave about 1 tablespoon). Add the sugar and the flour, and stir to combine. Add the water and vinegar, stirring well to scrape up all of the bits from the bottom of the skillet. Add the cabbage back into the skillet, stir well to combine and season with some freshly ground pepper. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Easiest Grill Dish Ever - Potato Packets

Potato packets
Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

We make this dish all the time, and it is so easy. If you don't do it already, you must try it.

Slice a bunch of potatoes very thinly. Slice an onion thinly as well. Take a big sheet of foil and spray it with olive oil (or brush some on if you don't have an olive oil sprayer). On ONE HALF of the foil, layer on potatoes, onions, salt, pepper and more olive oil. You can get crazy here with variations. The potatoes pictured above are made with white truffle salt and a red onion. I've added green and red peppers, and also garlic on occasion. Whatever you want goes. As you create the packet, it will look like this:

When you are done layering, fold the foil in half and pinch it closed so that no air can get in. It should look like this:

Cook over indirect heat on the grill for up to an hour.

When you unwrap the packet, be VERY careful. The steam inside gets crazy hot, and I've burnt myself a few times. You might want to even poke a few holes in the packet before unwrapping to prevent this.

Summer Favorite: Ranch Dressing

I am not a huge fan of commercial Ranch Dressing (except on pasta salad, for some reason). However, homemade Ranch Dressing is a different story entirely, and my kids agree. They never eat the bottled stuff, but the homemade version is a favorite, especially as a dipping sauce.

I only find myself making this recipe in the summer, probably for a number of reasons. I love using fresh dill, but the dressing doesn't call for enough of it to warrant a purchase, so I just pinch some off from my garden. It also has a very light, summer-y flavor. In the winter time, my salads are heavier. I might try making this year-round, though.

The recipe is not an original to me. I use this one with some modifications. Instead of onion powder, I substitute garlic powder, and instead of dried dill, I use fresh. I used the celery leaves only once, and didn't notice any difference in flavor. Feel free to substitute a sprinkle of celery seed or omit altogether. You can also substitute fresh parsley, which is my preference. The most important ingredient on the list is the powdered buttermilk. This stuff kicks butt. You can find it in the baking aisle of your supermarket, or you can order it online (in bulk).

Roasted Vegetable Risotto (with a story)

  Roasted Vegetable Risotto 
  Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

Jen was my roommate in college for both our sophomore and our senior years. Actually, (and this is probably one of the reasons we still keep in touch), we never had to share a room. Our sophomore year, we had the very best dorm room at Vassar. It was called the Rockefeller suite, and legend had it that it was built for the Rockefeller girls. I'm not sure if that's true, but the room ROCKED. There were two bedrooms, a full bath (seriously!) and built-in bookcases. We were living the life.

Senior year, we shared a townhouse with three other roommates, and did a ton of cooking. Towards the end of the year, we decided to invite one of our professors over for dinner with his wife. I can no longer recall what inspired us to do this, but I remember working so hard on a risotto dish. I'll need to pull out that recipe sometime, but it wasn't a true risotto (I'll explain what that is in a minute). It was basically rice, veggies and LOTS of cheese. It was really good, though. So good, in fact, that a couple of months ago, Jen emailed me asking for the recipe and for tips on how to make risotto!

As is often the case with me, I don't use a recipe. But, trust me, this is easy. I made this last night with Max literally hanging from my back pocket. (I don't recommend that, by the way. TOTALLY annoying.)

Risotto alla Danielle

Stock
Onion, chopped finely
Arborio Rice
White wine or dry vermouth
Stuff (roasted vegetables, cooked chicken, sauteed mushrooms, whatever you want)
Parmigiano Reggiano

Pull out two pots (one bigger one, one smaller one). In the small one, heat up some stock (chicken or vegetable), and keep at a low simmer (I used almost an entire 32 oz. box). Heat the large one over medium heat, and add some olive oil. Add the onion and saute until translucent. Put in the rice. For a family of four, a cup of raw rice is sufficient. Saute the rice for a minute or two. Add a splash or two of the wine (I used dry vermouth since I didn't have a bottle of white open), and cook until it evaporates. Then, using a ladle, add a 1/2 cup or so of stock and stir it into the rice. Continue stirring until the rice absorbs the liquid. Once it's absorbed, add some more. You want to continue doing this until the rice is cooked. Arborio rice will still be kind of al dente when it's done. It will have a nice chew to it. When the rice is NEARLY done, you can add your "stuff." I added some roasted cauliflower and asparagus (roasted with olive oil at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes). You can add sauteed mushrooms, or cooked chicken, or whatever, really. A good idea is to Google "risotto" and find some ideas. The above formula will work for whatever risotto you make.

When the risotto is done, top with grated Parm and serve!

The World's Most Expensive Chicken (with a recipe for Hungarian Dumplings)

  Homemade Chicken Soup - Max's Bowl 
  Originally uploaded by Foodmomiac

I think I mentioned that after I finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I did my food shopping online. I got my staples from Peapod, and then ordered my meat and produce from Fresh Picks, a local service that gets food from (mostly) local farmers, and delivers it once a week. One of the items I ordered was a whole chicken, cut up. It was about 5 pounds, and the total cost was $20.

For those accustomed to buying their chickens at Costco or the supermarket, this price is outrageous. But, when you consider that this chicken was organic, and was raised at a family farm, allowed to roam free all day, it becomes worth it. Also, if you compare it to eating out, it's way cheaper. This $20 chicken fed three adults and two children on Wednesday (we made a version of Chris' recipe). And then it make a delicious soup for two adults and two children last night. AND, I have a really big container of the soup left over. See?? A bargain.

For the soup, I was craving Hungarian dumplings (virtually the same thing as German Spaetzle), which are really easy to make, especially if you have a Spaetzle Maker. I put the leftover chicken in a big pot with carrots, celery and onion. Then, I covered everything with fresh water and let it cook for a few hours. I removed and discarded the onion. I pulled the chicken off the bone and chopped it up, adding it back into the stock. I also chopped up the carrots and celery and added those back as well. This soup went into the fridge to hang out until we were ready to eat.

About 45 minutes before dinner time, I put the soup pot back on the stove. In the meantime, I prepared the dumpling batter. The recipe came from The Frugal Gourmet on our Immigrant Ancestors. It's super easy. Combine 2-1/2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. baking powder. In another container, combine 2 eggs beaten, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup water and 2 Tb. oil (you can also use lard for a more authentic Hungarian flavor). Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well. This will produce a very sticky batter. Let it hang out on the counter while you wait for your soup to get nice and hot. When the soup is ready to be dumpling'd, put the batter into your spaetzle maker, and let the dumplings fall in. They will quickly rise to the surface, at which point your soup is ready to eat. If you don't have a spaetzle maker, you can put the batter in a large ziploc bag and cut a 1/4 inch size hole in one corner. Then, squeeze out small pieces into your soup.

You can also cook spaetzle in salted, boiling water. Once done, transfer them to a colander. If you cook them this way, you also have the option to follow the boiling with some pan frying in butter. Yum.