Boxty Party! - Roasted Succotash and Caprese Salad

Gruber and his roommate, Mark were making boxties and chicken wings last night. I wanted to bring some veggies to the table, so I made Caprese Salad, featured in a previous blog post, and Roasted Vegetable Succotash. I melded a few different recipes I found together to create the succotash I envisioned. Here is the recipe I came up with:

Roasted Vegetable Succotash

2 small/medium or 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes

1 medium red onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 thyme sprigs

1 oregano sprig

scant 1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

4 ears corn, kernels removed from cob

1 cup shelled edamame

3 tbsp basil

3 tbsp parsley

1 lemon, juiced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix sweet potato, onion, pepper, garlic, thyme, and oregano on rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil until coated and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roast in oven for 45 minutes until sweet potato is tender; stir every 10 minutes.

Add corn and edamame to baking sheet and roast for another 5-10 minutes, until corn is roasted and sweet.

Remove from oven. Transfer ingredients to serving bowl. Mix in lemon juice, parsley, and basil. Taste and add seasoning if needed.

This smelled delicious while cooking! It tasted delicious too! The garlic added a lot of flavor to the sweet potato. I would consider added some red pepper flakes at the beginning of the roasting step, and adding spinach at the end and roast/stir until wilted. Alex thought it was fine how it was and said I would ruin it with those additions. I didn't think it was a big hit at the party, but when it came time to leave, the bowl was empty! Gruber was able to taste the caprese salad and loved it. I left the remainder for him and he enjoyed it for breakfast the next day.

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili with Orange, Crock Pot Black Bean Soup, and Maple Cornbread Muffins

We needed to use up the Cornbread Muffins I made for a different Black bean soup, Vegetarian Black Bean Chili with Orange and Cumin. I followed both recipes for the most part. In the cornbread muffins, since we didn't make the maple butter, we put some maple syrup in the batter to add sweetness. Also, fresh corn is available at the market, so we added the kernels from an ear to the batter too. The recommended cooking time is not quite long enough. The edges browned and got crispier the second time I reheated in the oven. I would recommend making muffins ahead of time, then crisping up right before dinner. For the black bean chili, I substituted chipotle powder for the chili powder and added 1 tbsp cocoa powder with the other spices, for more of a deeper, mole flavor. I substituted 1 1/2 lbs diced plum tomatoes for the canned tomatoes. the soup didn't need the hot sauce because the chipotle powder added enough spice. This was super delicious, but only fed 3 of us perfectly, not exactly 4 servings plus leftovers! I did misread how many cans of black beans and only put the equivalent of 2 cans, not 3. This could potentially make up for the missing servings.

The second black bean recipe, Crock Pot Black Bean Soup with Chipotle was really easy and really good. Alex thought it was more of a chili, but i thought it was more of a traditional black bean soup. We followed the recipe exactly but halved it because we didn't have a 6-quart slow cooker. That must have been a typo, because there was plenty of room for more than double the half recipe we used. Next time I will make the entire recipe, as the two of us easily finished the half. I followed every direction except we used 1 whole chipotle and the juice of one lime. I also added 2 sprigs of oregano and a bay leaf to the mixture. After 7 hours it wasn't quite as thick as I expected, so we put it on a bit longer since we weren't overly hungry yet. We topped it with shredded white cheddar and sour cream. I forgot the cilantro and do not care for raw tomato. This was sooo easy and we will make the other half sometime this weekend! I will use veggie stock instead of water next time since i will have it on hand. A great easy recipe for when I don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, just need to plan ahead. The beans were perfect too, easy way to cook beans from dried, and only need to plan ahead the morning of, not the night before! I will definitely try more bean recipes this way!

Linguine with Zucchini, Caprese Salad, and Garlic Bread

I decided to try one of my cookbooks I hadn't tried before. It's called Student's Vegetarian Cookbook: Quick, Easy, Cheap, and Tasty Vegetarian Recipes. It has recipes for 1-2 servings that are easy and low budget. I selected Pasta with Zucchini and Basil because we had an extra zucchini in the fridge. I also added a few other items we had in the fridge and doubled it to serve 2. Below is the recipe with my modifications.

Linguine with Zucchini, Peppers, Red Onion, and Basil

1/3 lb uncooked linguine

2 tbsp olive oil

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 large zucchini sliced 1/2" and quartered

3 mini sweet peppers, diced into 1/2" squares

1/4 red onion, largely diced

1 1/2 tbsp basil

salt and pepper

1 lemon juiced

grated parmesan cheese

1. Bring a covered pot of water to a rapid boil. Stir in the pasta and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat to medium but maintain a simmer. Cook until pasta is al dente, start checking about 4 minutes before cook time on the box.

2. While the pasta cooks, heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, zucchini, peppers, onion, and basil. Quickly fry until the zucchini begins to brown, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the lemon juice and stir, remove from heat.

3. When the pasta is al dente, drain it (reserve some cooking liquid). Place the hot pasta in a warm bowl, top with zucchini veggie mixture, and grated parmesan. Add a few tbsp reserved water to pasta. Toss lightly. Salt and pepper to taste.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to add the correct amount of basil to the dish. The basil brought back from the grocery store was only half usable, and I put it all in the Caprese Salad. I remembered at the end the pasta needed basil too, so I spooned some from the caprese dressing onto the zucchini mixture. I think if I had put the correct amount of basil into the dish, it would have been more flavorful. Also it needed more of a sauce. Next time I would reduce 1 cup of white wine in the zucchini mixture after it was browned. This should add a lot more flavor and liquid. All in all, the dish was mediocre, even with the addition of the peppers and onions (which were delicious!). This is ok because the Caprese Salad turned out amazing!

Caprese Salad

I did not have access to good heirloom tomatoes, so I substituted the most flavorful tomatoes the grocery carries, campari. Fortunately for us, they were on sale! I have been waiting months to see them 2(1 lb packages) for $4 rather than $4-$5 each! I used 1 lb tomatoes and 6 oz of mozzarella for the 2 of us but pretty much used the entire vinaigrette recipe. I didn't measure the oil and vinegar exactly, just kind of poured and stirred until it looked right. I substituted white balsamic vinegar for the red wine and it was a perfect substitution. Alex and I were discussing whether I should follow the recipe, use balsamic, or white balsamic. Alex thought I should use balsamic because of it's sweetness, but I thought it would be too strong and compete with the other flavors. We both thought red wine vinegar is just too boring. I decided to use white balsamic because it is light, but very bright. It worked perfectly and I would use it again and again. I quartered each tomato (it is about the size of a pingpong ball) and cubed the mozzarella into 1/2" cubes. Alex and I almost ate the whole thing! I loved it on garlic bread and by itself. This is definitely a repeat, especially while the campari tomatoes are on sale. If i was still in Orlando, I would definitely go to the Winter Park farmer's market every Saturday to buy the heirloom tomatoes to make this salad every week. They are also wonderful and come in MANY different colors, purple, yellow, orange, green.

Scarborough Fair Stew - AKA White Bean and Escarole Soup With Herb Swirl

For dinner last night I combined the recipes Kale and White Bean Stew with Chicken and White Bean Soup with Herb Swirl. I would call the soup Scarborough Fair Stew as it includes the herbs parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme.

I made the herb oil per the recipe but used less herbs only because I harvested what I could from my herbs and bought the sage. I didn't want to spend $10 on just herbs at the grocery, and the grocery was out of parsley. Next time I won't skimp on the herbs because I think it would have added more flavor to the recipe.

I blended the recipes by using 1 small onion, 1 shallot, 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks, 3 garlic cloves, 1 cup pureed roasted tomatoes (3 big plum tomatoes), 2 bags of frozen white beans, 1 cup wine, veggie broth, cup of jasmine rice, handful of spinach, and half a bunch of escarole, and sherry vinegar, and LOTs of salt and pepper.

I would add the entire bunch of escarole next time. It seemed like a ton at first, but then wilted way down. Also the soup seemed very thick so I added 2 more cups of veggie broth, and it still thickened a lot when it cooled down! 1 cup of rice seemed adaquate, but maybe I would cut it down to save on broth next time. 2 bags of frozen beans was a lot, next time I might just add 1 bag.

The soup didn't have as much flavor as I had hoped, but it was really good. We garnished with leftover garlic croutons (from the caesar salad sunday) and several dashes of hot sauce (cholula).

*addendum

The soup became a lot more flavorful (and thick) from sitting overnight.

Easter Dinner

Taren made lamb and Ann and Buzz brought scalloped potatoes and greens. Greens turned out to be asparagus with sesame oil and broccoli with almonds. I brought the following

Mac and Two Cheeses with Caramelized Onions

My favorite mac and cheese recipe (probably the goat cheese). I doubled the recipe. I substituted onions for the shallots($$) and added oven dried tomatoes before baking in the oven. It turned out a bit dry, I would add more cheese sauce or less pasta next time.

The Oven-Dried Tomato recipe I got from Jack Bishop's book, The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook. It is probably the recipe I use most often from this book. They may be time consuming, and one needs to plan ahead, but they are super delicious and packed with flavor! I never use sun-dried tomatoes anymore! The recipe and intro are as follows:

Oven-Dried Tomatoes

Makes 1 1/2 cups

Oven-dried tomatoes are quite different from sun-dried ones. Sun-dried tomatoes, even those packed in olive oil, tend to be a bit leathery and have a strong, sometimes harsh flavor. Oven-drying removes much but not all of the moisture, so the tomato halves become very wrinkled but still have some juice in them. The tomatoes can be marinated in olive oil, herbs and/or hot red pepper flakes. If packed in olive oil and refrigerated, they will last about a week.

10 medium plum tomatoes (about 2 lbs)

1/2 tsp of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Set a large cross-woven wire rack over a large baking sheet. trim a thin slice from the stem end of each tomato to remove the core. Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise. Place them cut side up on the rack and sprinkle with salt.

2. Place the baking sheet in the oven. Oven-dry the tomatoes until they are wrinkled and greatly reduced in size, 6 to 7 hours. Do not dry them completely; some moisture should remain.

3. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and cool the tomatoes completely. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate. (Dried tomatoes can be refrigerated for several days. Bring the tomatoes to room temperature before using.)

I used 3 lbs of tomatoes and then quartered them once dried and cooled for the mac and cheese. I also use them in my dijon alfredo pasta and any other recipe i might use sun-dried tomatoes.

Eggplant Salad with Basil Dressing
This turned out delicious! I layered some roasted peppers with the eggplant when I plated. This added nice color contrast and sweet flavor. Next time I might take a reviewer's advice and add some crumbled goat cheese on top and serve with a crusty bread for a main course.

Here is the recipe with all my modifications:

Ingredients:

• 
  
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 garlic clove, chopped and mashed to a paste with 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves, washed well and spun dry
• 2 large eggplants (about 1 1/2 pounds each), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 3 bell peppers (i used one red, one yellow, and one orange), cut in half through core, cored and seeded (can substitute jarred roasted peppers)
• 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

Preparation:

Preheat broiler.

In a blender, blend oil, lemon juice, mustard, garlic paste, and half of basil until smooth.

Arrange bell pepper halves on cookie sheet and place under broiler until skin is charred, about 15 minutes. Place in covered bowl or paper bag and allow to steam and cool. Peel skin from peppers and cut into strips.

Arrange eggplant slices in a single layer on cookie sheets. Reserve 1/4 cup dressing. Brush eggplant slices with remaining dressing on both sides. Broil about 4 inches from heat until golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Turn slices and broil until golden, 5 to 7 minutes more. Transfer eggplant slices to a plate to cool and broil remaining eggplant slices in same manner.

Arrange eggplant, bell pepper strips, and remaining basil on a platter. Drizzle salad with reserved dressing and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Orange Molasses Sweet Potatoes

For these I used only 2 lbs of sweet potatoes but made the normal amount of orange molasses sauce. They turned out pretty mushy but when i reheated in Taren's oven at 350 for about 30 minutes, they got nice and chewy and caramelized.

Chocolate Strawberry Tart with Walnut Crust
This turned out very rich and delicious! It definitely didn't need 2 pints of strawberries to top tart with! Only about a cup or 2. I would use more jam next time and would like to add a peanut butter layer.

and I made Strawberry Jam from scratch.

Alex brought Deviled Eggs

The recipe is from my mom, who I think got it from my aunt. Per my request, Alex doubled the mustard and used the low end of the horseradish. I am not a huge horseradish fan but these are ok with the extra mustard.

Eggplant Crisps with Skordalia and Oven-Dried Tomatoes and Balsamic Roasted Squash

Eggplant Crisps with Skordalia and Oven-Dried Tomatoes

Trying to clean out the fridge, I stumbled on this recipe. all I needed to complete it was eggplant and some herbs. It was a very time consuming recipe (allow almost 3 hours!), but very delicious. Timing is everything...

First, preheat oven and prep garlic, tomatoes, and eggplant. The garlic can roast during the first hour with the tomatoes. since i don't know my oven well yet, I would turn the temp down next time, as it seems to be running very high. My tomatoes were roasted after an hour, not really oven-dried. Soak the eggplant in just enough milk (NOT 4 cups) for the first hour while the tomatoes and garlic roast. Then prep and boil the potatoes, almonds, mix together sans roasted garlic, and set aside. Once garlic is roasted and cooled, it can be mixed in. Then prep the eggplant breading ingredients. check on tomatoes and garlic (should be about an hour, remove garlic if done), and start breading eggplant. While breaded eggplant is resting, prep the other dish you are serving. Alex started frying the eggplant while I did this (he also breaded it, it is useful to have a sous chef!) Take tomatoes out when they are done and start stacking. before serving. I would let it rest in a 200 degree oven to bring everything to temperature.

It was suggested to double the roasted garlic, which I did, but it was waay too garlicky! I couldn't get the taste out even the next morning! A lot of people say this isn't a true skordalia, but it resembles what I have tried at Mykonos, and the soft texture compliments the crunchy eggplant very well. This whole dish has a lot of flavor! We can't wait to eat leftovers! (tonight possibly?) Also I used only 2% milk (what I had on hand) for soaking the eggplant and subbed for the cream in the potatoes. Others have suggested omitting the butter and cream and subbing with olive oil, but since I had milk, that is what I used. Our eggplant did not yield 18 slices, more like 12. There is exactly enough left for us to have one more stack each.

Also we decided to make balsamic roasted squash. I bought 1 large zucchini, 3 small yellow squash, sliced and quartered. Then I diced half a sweet onion. Threw all in a roasting pan with a splash balsamic, olive oil, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper (ended up needing more balsamic at the end, will put in more next time!) and roasted in oven at 350 for about 20 minutes. SO good!

Served with garlic bread, that baked next to squash while it was roasting. If I had two ovens, I could have heated the eggplant through, but we just ate it at room temperature. definitely was an amazing dinner!

Oven-Fried Chicken with Pineapple Salsa and Potato Salad

Even though I've been on a healthy kick, I have been craving fried chicken! This low-oil version looked like a good candidate.

Spicy Oven-Fried Chicken

I forgot to make the marinade the night before so it did not marinade as long as I had intended. I used the Cholula Chipotle hot sauce because I am obsessed with it. It is unclear what they intended for the onions. I followed the recipe and sliced them (maybe i will make onion rings - oh so healthy!) but they were just in the way when I was trying to find chicken strips to bread. I think the chicken strips were smaller than what the recipe intended, as some of the chicken strips were dried out after baking. Also several stuck to the baking sheet, so I would lightly grease next time to prevent losing breading. It was a mediocre dish, I am not sure if I would make again. Alex and Kelly made a different fried chicken (real-fried, NOT part of my diet atm) that was a lot more flavorful.

To dip the chicken fingers in, I decided to make a pineapple roasted poblano salsa.

Pineapple Roasted Poblano Salsa

This turned out very tasty. I blended in blender for a few seconds to give it more of a dip quality. I also added two roasted red jalapenos alex picked up from the nex since poblanos have no spice. It definitely got some heat. I think it is delicious as a salsa, but not necessarily for a chicken tenders dip.

To accompany fried chicken, I chose a mayo-free potato salad. It had sweet and regular potatoes, so I figured the more variety and color, more nutritious. Kelly requested mashed potatoes, but I just couldn't justify nutritional benefits.

Yam and Russet Potato Salad

I decided to forgo the bacon (I considered turkey bacon, but decided with the chicken, we didn't need any extra protein and fat) and I substituted mustard greens for spinach (as other reviewers did) since we had spinach in the fridge and since I have never seen mustard greens at the grocery. The marinade turned out very honey-mustard, but not as spicy as I hoped. I think the olive oil flavor was a bit overwhelming. Next time I might sub for a more mild tasting oil, grapeseed oil perhaps? When I steamed the potatoes for the recommended time, I thought I had steamed through, but discovered at dinner that many were not quite cooked through all the way. Also, the spinach did not wilt like I had hoped. Next time, I will make sure to cook the potatoes through and maybe throw the spinach on the steamer in order to wilt a bit.