Category Archives: Recipes

Leek and Green Garlic Risotto

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With the benefit of hindsight, I can confidently tell you that this is not really the kind of dish that you whip up quickly on a weeknight. In fact, if you don’t turn your attention to dinner until eight p.m., you may be eating close to ten, which is fine if you’re in Madrid but rather late in our household.

Plan this meal for a weekend, then, after you’ve been to the farmers market in the morning and loaded up on springy leeks and green garlic. This risotto is rich and delicate at once, and perfect on its own, but by ten o’clock we were so hungry that we felt the need to gild the lily with a fried egg. You know how I like to do that.

Why did a simple risotto take me so long, you might ask? Well, the only kind of broth I like better than my frozen homemade broth is one custom-made on the spot, extracting every last drop of flavor from the trimmings of the vegetables to be used in the dish. Tonight I started by making a simple stock with the leek tops, garlic tops, and parsley stems that weren’t going into the risotto. I added a bay leaf, a few sprigs of thyme, 2 scant tsp. kosher salt, and covered it all with 2 qts. water. It simmered on the back burner while I chopped my vegetables, then I strained it straight from the stock pot into my risotto as it cooked. So that took a few extra minutes.

And then there was the chopping of three enormous leeks and seven little heads of green garlic (the kind where the cloves haven’t formed yet and you just peel off one papery outer layer). And the stopping to inhale their lovely fragrance. And I put the baby back to bed a few times in the middle. So, you know. You’ll be much faster than me. Because once your stock is made and your alliums are chopped, making this risotto is a breeze.

Continue reading Leek and Green Garlic Risotto (click for recipe)

Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower, Tomatoes, and Olives

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When I first meet J, in college, I was wowed by his prowess in the kitchen.  He had two specialties: one was a fried egg sandwich, and the other a box of Spanish rice to which he added a can of black beans and shredded cheddar cheese.  He made it look so easy.  I was smitten.

Later our shared cooking repertoire expanded quite significantly, but J remains a man with a specialty.  These days it’s a perfectly grilled side of salmon or an impeccable vinaigrette, but for a few years (about a decade ago) J’s claim to fame in the kitchen was pasta puttanesca.  He’d whip up a pan on nights when we both worked late and were too tired to deal with the CSA vegetables or walk three blocks to the nearest restaurant.

We were pleasantly reminded of those pasta puttanesca days tonight with this dish from the NY Times Recipes for Health series.  The genius improvement, though, is that this recipe incorporates another family favorite: roasted cauliflower.  We used whole wheat pasta because we’re crunchy like that (and it was great), but you do what you like.

Continue reading Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower, Tomatoes, and Olives (click for recipe)

Turnip Soup with Spicy Greens

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It’s not what you think.  Dull?  No.  Bitter?  No.  Stodgy? No way!  How did the poor turnip get such a bad reputation, anyway?

The spring turnips you may be seeing at your farmers market these days are delicate little morsels, and you should grab a bunch, along with their green tops, to make this sweet soup.  I always want more greens than they have attached, though, so if you’re like me you should also grab a bunch of mustard greens and pluck the leaves off your radishes as well to enhance your pile of greens.

This recipe is adapted from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, and she serves it with Gruyere croutons, which are lovely–but it’s also lovely without.  If you want to make them, mash 1/2 c. grated cheese with a tsp. dijon mustard, 1 Tb. butter, and a few grinds of pepper.  Spread onto baguette slices and toast until bubbly.  You also couldn’t go wrong with a homemade bread here, maybe a soda bread (whole wheat? rye?) or an oat bread.

Continue reading Turnip Soup with Spicy Greens (click for recipe)