Pasta with Bacon & Yellow Chard

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By Lisa

Yesterday, the day got away from me, and even though it was Sunday, I hadn’t gotten the pot of black beans to simmer before the soccer game, as I had imagined I would, and 5:15 rolled around and even though I had a house full of food, I had no idea what to cook.

So, I took a page from Ben’s book, and I foraged.  Meaning, I started pulling things out of my refrigerator one at a time, in this order:

  • green olives with herbs, newly purchased from a new vendor at our farmers market (this suggested pasta)
  • mini baguettes (another nudge in the direction of pasta)
  • bacon (bought for the beans but I figured I might as well find a way to use some of it)
  • yellow chard (because it’s a little more work to clean and chop than spinach, so better for a Sunday than a weekday…)

And then I pulled a little suburban iron chef action and did this:

Pasta with Bacon and Yellow Chard

  1. Cook 5 slices bacon until tender crisp. Set aside to drain, then chop into 1 inch pieces.
  2. Drain off most of bacon fat and reserve for another use.
  3. Rinse and chop stems, then leaves of 1 bunch yellow chard into 1 inch slices/strips.
  4. Saute chard stems in bacon fat until they begin to soften.
  5. Add chard leaves and sautee about 4 minutes.  Add about 1/4 cup vegetable broth and simmer until liquid is mostly reduced and chard is tender but not too soft. Turn off heat. Return bacon to pan.
  6. Cook pasta according to package instructions.
  7. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking water, and add pasta to bacon and chard mixture along with 1/2 cup finely grated pecorino or romano cheese. Toss quickly to coat. Add a bit pasta water if it seems too dry.
  8. Serve immediately.

The olives & bread made nice sides.

The dish was a huge hit, especially with the kids, who seem to have turned into little bacon monsters over night, and really, who can blame them? It’s fast, not too messy, and one dish meal.

Foraged Salad

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by Caroline

For a while when I was a kid, my dad kept a couple burlap bags in the trunk of the car. He never knew when he might drive past a nice-looking patch of dandelions, or day lilies, or elderberries, and he wanted to be ready to gather them. It was the 70s, he had read Euell Gibbons, and although he cultivated an enormous garden in our front yard, he also liked to make food out of what he found growing locally. Initially, this foraging delighted me, but of course as I got older I would shrink down in the front seat when Dad pulled over, wishing I were invisible, praying that none of my friends would see me as they went by. Now, I’m back to admiring his foraging impulses, grateful that he still gathers hickory nuts for our cookies and pies every winter.

Apparently, the foraging instinct skips a generation. Last week, Ben spent his school’s Day of Service with his teachers and classmates in Golden Gate Park, the latest in a series of terrific 3rd grade field trips. They learned about the resident birds from local ornithologist Josiah Clark, they learned about the park’s plants from a couple Park & Rec employees, and then they did some weeding to help restore a bird habitat. At dinner that night, Ben told us all about the weeds they’d pulled and the plants they’d tried to protect — one of which, miner’s lettuce, I’ve seen (and purchased) from the farmer’s market for over $5 a pound. The following day at Eli’s baseball game, he spotted a patch of miner’s lettuce, and picked a few leaves to nibble. A couple days later, at Eli’s baseball practice, he found a great big patch of miner’s lettuce:

I didn’t have anything to collect our harvest in but my purse, but we filled it up:

And then made a delicious foraged salad to accompany our dinner that night:

Foraged Salad:
miner’s lettuce or other salad greens
a handful of dried cherries
a handful of toasted, slivered almonds
a sprinkling of ricotta salata
balsamic vinaigrette

Toss all the ingredients in a salad bowl and serve.

Roasted Tomato and Pumpkin Seed Salsa

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by Caroline

Really, this is Tony’s post, as he is the only one in our family who will enjoy something in a restaurant and then try to recreate it at home. He’s done it with Eos’ shitake mushroom dumplings, Jackson Filmore’s gnocchi with chard in lemon broth, and now taqueria Papalote’s delicious salsa. His is a simplified version of this recipe, and it was such a hit at our recent dinner party that I don’t have a picture!

Tony writes, “I use canned, fire-roasted tomatoes, because it’s so much faster and the difference is hard to notice. It also means I can make the salsa year-round. I also forgo the dried chiles, and just use two different kinds of chile powder. Simpler and faster. You could certainly substitute different kinds of chile powder to good effect. I also added the onion and garlic to give it a little more sweetness and overall richness. I’m definitely not trying to copy Papalote at this point… I’d just call it an homage!”

1 15 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes (Muir Glen and Trader Joes both make them)
[Or you can simply halve some roma tomatoes and put them
under the broiler for 7-8 minutes until slightly blackened.]
1 small onion
4-5 cloves garlic
1 tsp dried ancho chile powder
1 tsp dried pasilla chile powder
4 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup cilantro
2 tbsp white vinegar
1/4 cup water

Coarsely chop the onion into big chunks. Leave the garlic cloves unpeeled. Pan roast the onions and garlic with no oil for 7-8 minutes until they are slightly blackened. (You could also do this under a broiler or on the grill) … you’re just trying to get a little color and roasted/charred flavor.

Peel the garlic and transfer onions and garlic to a saucepan with the tomatoes, dried chile powders, sugar, salt, and water. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. If it feels too thick feel free to add a little more water.

Add the vinegar and cook for one minute more.

Let cool a bit. (Or not, if you’re impatient like me!)

Transfer tomato mixture to a blender. Add the pumpkin seeds and cilantro. Blend until smooth.

Pannini

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by Lisa

My new favorite appliance is my Breville pannini press. Actually, we’ve had it for a while, but getting rid of the microwave (actually, the microwave sort of exploded and we haven’t replaced it) has made counter space for the rice cooker & the pannini press, both of which I now use all the time.   The press is great for quick marinated & grilled meats for rice bowls (think Thai chicken skewers, etc) & clean-up is really fast.  But not so long ago  Trader Joe’s started carrying this bread, and our life changed (a little).

This bread makes a perfect pannini–and it makes all the difference between a run of the mill grilled cheese and a sandwhich that’s something special. The bread is not too thick, the crust grills perfectly and it’s very, very fresh–just the right combination of crisp and soft.   Pannini has become one of the kids favorite dinners–and one thing I’ve turned to a lot over the past month of crazy book launch things-to-do. We serve them with a sides of green salad, and there’s not much faster on a weeknight.  The kids like them simple:  cheddar or mozarella; or salami or mortadella and mayonnaise.  Kory & I like some variation of meat + cheese + thin slice of crisp fruit for crunch. For instance:

  • mortadella + provolone
  • salami + cheddar
  • prosciutto + mozzarella + apple
  • ham + cheddar + apple
  • provolone  + pear
  • cheddar + tomato
  • turkey + jack + apple

You get the idea:  whatever you like; whatever you have on hand.  Make a few variations, cut them up , and serve a platter–and there’s nothing like a platter to bring a family together.  Also, giving the kids a choice–even a small one–makes them happy.

Frozen Food

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By Lisa

Here it is, the list of the things I have come to rely on in the last month for fast meals. I have never stocked or relied on so many frozen things, and even now, I don’t think I have enough, but my erratic schedule, deadlines, and many evening events have meant a lot of paring back.

Because I haven’t been to the farmers market much lately, and when I have the fruit has been largely last fall’s apples and loads of citrus, I’ve bought a lot of frozen fruit. Between our orange tree and the following list, we’ve avoided scurvy:

  • frozen mango
  • frozen blueberries (eaten nearly daily for breakfast)
  • frozen mixed berries
  • frozen pineapple (used largely in smoothies)
  • frozen chocolate covered bananas (a treat, yes, and full of sugar, yes, but also a banana for dessert. could be worse)
  • frozen edamame (for snacks, lunches, side dishes with storebought sushi)
  • frozen french fries
  • frozen green peas (kids hate these, but I use them for somethings)
  • frozen corn (K & I eat this on herbed pizza dough w/red peppers)

Sadly, I’m the only one who will  eat garden burgers, but I’ve kept on hand:

  • frozen middle eastern flatbread (nothing beats falafel mix for a quick dinner)
  • Frozen, breaded, pre-cooked tilapia (great for fish sandwiches, crumbled for fish tacos, or eaten whole with fish and chips)
  • Frozen pre-cooked, batter-fried cod (see above, I don’t buy this oftens since it’s less sustainable than the tilapia)
  • frozen pie shells (quiche can nearly make itself, and it keeps well & can be served at room temperature)
  • frozen, pre-cooked sausages (great baked with apples and potatoes. Mess free and fast.)
  • frozen crab cakes
  • frozen ravioli (even easier if you just serve with butter and cheese)
  • lots of breads: tortillas (for fast bean and cheese tacos); pizza dough (for fast pizza); hamburger buns (for fish sandwiches or panelle); italian bread (because sometimes just a little bit of warm garlic bread makes a boring spaghetti more palatable)

I’ve made other fast things, too, and as you can see–not a whole lot of range in ingredients, but from one kind of fish, I can get three different kinds of meals. We survived.

I’d love to know what frozen foods you rely on. What do you love? Your family? What’s healthiest, fastest, most satisfying? What do you splurge on?


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