Indian-spiced chicken with cauliflower, potatoes and peas

Recipes: Indian-spiced chicken with cauliflower, potatoes and peas, Cucumber raita

This dish will taste to many like "curry", although a well-known Indian cookbook writer has said there is no such thing as a curry dish in India. Rather, the spicing is just what's commonly used there, differing somewhat depending on where in the vast country you are cooking and eating. Who knew?

This particular recipe is an adaptation of one from Madhur Jaffrey's 1975 book, An Invitation to Indian Cooking. Regardless of what you call it, it's delicious and relatively simple to make. We loved it for dinner recently, I think you will too.

Indian-spiced Chicken with Vegetables

• One large or two small boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 2 medium potatoes, red or yellow
• 1/2 medium cauliflower, cut into flowerettes
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (I keep cardamom seeds and grind them when I need them)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 small red chilis (I use my homegrown red Fresno chilis. The result is moderately spicy.)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup of tomato sauce (could be canned) or fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth, canned is fine
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup frozen peas

In a small saucepan, bring your whole potatoes to a boil in water to cover. Cook until they are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and leave in pan or a colander to cool.

Place chopped onion, garlic, and ginger in a blender with 5 tablespoons water and blend to a smooth paste.

Pat chicken breasts dry and cut them into 1 1/2-inch pieces.

Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet on medium high. Add cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, red peppers, ground pepper, and chicken pieces. Fry chicken pieces quickly, turning them over in the spices, until they no longer look pink, about 2 minutes. Remove from the skillet and set aside in a small bowl.

Pour the paste from the blender into the skillet, averting your face in case it splatters. Add turmeric and fry, stirring, for about 3 minutes. Now add the tomato sauce and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Cut the cooked potatoes into bite-sized pieces. Add salt, the potatoes, and the cauliflower pieces to the sauce. Stir, bring to a boil, cover, lower heat, and simmer gently for 10 minutes.

Add chicken pieces and simmer, covered, 10 more minutes. Turn chicken and vegetables a few times while they are cooking.

Meanwhile, cook the peas in water in a small saucepan for 5 minutes. Toss with 1 tablespoon butter.

To serve: Put chicken and potatoes in soup bowls and pour sauce over it. Top with a generous helping of peas. Serve with cucumber raita on the side.

Cucumber Raita

This refreshing relish can take the place of a salad. It's especially good in summer with fresh cucumbers out of your garden.

• 1 cucumber, peeled and either grated or cut in half lengthwise and sliced very thin crosswise
• 1 cup plain yogurt (I've used Greek yogurt as well as regular - both are good)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• A good grind of black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• A dash of cayenne pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika for garnish

Empty the yogurt into a serving bowl and beat it well with a fork until it is smooth and paste-like. 

Add the cucumber, salt, black pepper, cumin, and cayenne to the bowl.

Sprinkle with paprika and, if you wish, a little additional cumin. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve - at least 30 minutes so it's nice and chilled.

Tomatoes

Recipes: Marinara tomato sauce, Polenta with cheese and tomatoes

This time of year, we're always inundated with gorgeous homegrown heirloom tomatoes.

Brandywine heirloom tomato

That's a good thing, of course. Except that they all come ripe at once and it's a race to eat them, cook them, use them all before they spoil. We have five big tomato plants and they've all produced like champs. I've been cooking sauce all week.

Last night was the fifth big pot of sauce I've made in the last four days. To say I'm tired of cooking tomatoes would be an understatement. However, I'm not yet tired of eating tomatoes and the sad thing is . . . suddenly they will be gone. And there won't be any gorgeous homegrown delicious tomatoes until this time next year. I'm not complaining.

Most of the sauce I've made I've frozen in quart freezer baggies, to use when I have no tomatoes. This year's crop is super sweet, and even though canned tomatoes beat tasteless supermarket tomatoes by a mile in winter, there is no option that will come even close to what I have in the freezer. We'll get to enjoy the bounty later, which brings me joy.

Half the sauce I made last night went into a terrific polenta dish I learned to make from an old Greens cookbook. Greens is a wonderful vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco, one of the first really gourmet vegetarian restaurants, and is still going strong. Here's the method for both the sauce, just enough for the polenta this time, and the polenta with cheese.

Marinara (Tomato) Sauce 

• 5 good-sized ripe fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped, with their juices. Best way to peel tomatoes: Cut out the stem/core at the top, slip the tomatoes into boiling water to cover for 5 seconds, pull them out with a slotted spoon. Once cooled enough to handle, the skins slip right off.
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, sliced thin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• A sprinkle of crushed red pepper
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional)
• 1/4 cup dry white wine

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Turn off the heat and put the sliced garlic in. Stir a bit and let cool down slightly so the tomatoes don't spatter. Put the tomatoes in. Turn the heat back up to medium low. Add the herbs and seasonings and stir.

Add tomato paste if you have it. I keep a baggie of tomato paste in the freezer and use it to thicken the sauce, but it will be fine without it.

Simmer the sauce over low heat for about an hour, stirring now and then to keep it from sticking. You will see when it cooks down and starts to become thick. When it gets quite thick and the pieces of tomato have broken down, add the wine. Stir well and cook for another 15 minutes.

Polenta with Cheese and Tomatoes

You will need:

• 5 ounces Danish fontina cheese
• 1 ounce Gorgonzola cheese

For the polenta:

• 1 cup medium ground polenta
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add salt. Whisking all the while, slowly add the polenta. Cook over medium heat, whisking, for 15 minutes.

Pour the cooked polenta into an 8" x 8" pan and let cool. This is a good thing to do while the tomato sauce is cooking, as it takes about an hour for the polenta to cool completely.

To assemble the dish:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly butter a gratin dish.

Put 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce into the prepared gratin dish.

Cut the cooled polenta into rectangles. Place a rectangle of polenta into the gratin dish, then put a matching slice of fontina cheese next to it. Place another rectangle of polenta next to the cheese and continue layering until the gratin dish is full. You can push the rectangles together a bit to get some more in.

Decoratively drizzle a few thick stripes of tomato sauce over the top of the rectangles. Crumble the gorgonzola cheese over it all and give it a good grind of fresh black pepper.

Bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes. When it's done, you can top it with some chopped fresh basil if you have it. I served mine with a kale salad, any salad or simple vegetable would go well with this dish. Buon appetito!

Homemade ice cream

Recipes: Vanilla bean ice cream, Summer peach ice cream

Vanilla bean ice cream with fruit

Very little says summer like ice cream, and homemade ice cream is the best of the best. With an electric ice cream maker, it's also very easy to make, and even with an old-fashioned manual crank maker, it's worth the effort. 

Don't think it can be a last minute decision, though, like 'oh let's have ice cream for dessert' as you start dinner at 5:30 p.m. There is some time involved as the ice cream maker tub chills (6 to 24 hours) and as the custard that will become the ice cream chills (3 hours to overnight) before it goes into the ice cream maker. You must plan ahead a bit, and you will be well rewarded!

The ice cream maker I bought is a Cuisinart with a capacity of 2 quarts. There are several different brands available, and most of them include a tub which must be frozen for 6 to 24 hours before ice cream can be made in it. I recommend keeping this tub, wrapped in a plastic bag, in a corner of your freezer, preferably in the back which is coldest, so it's ready to go when you are.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2/3 cup whole milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs

With a knife halve vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape seeds into a large heavy saucepan. Sitr in pods, cream, milk, and sugar. Bring mixture just to a boil (watch it carefully or it'll boil over and make a mess!), stirring occasionally. Remove pan from heat.

In a medium bowl, lightly beat eggs. Add hot cream mixture to eggs in a slow stream, whisking, and the pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Cook custard over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until a thermometer registers 170F. This will only take a few minutes. Do not let it boil.

Pour custard through a sieve into a clean bowl and cool. Chill custard, its surface covered with wax paper or cling film, at least 3 hours and up to 1 day.

Freeze custard in an ice cream maker according to the directions for your machine. If you want the ice cream to be hard, once it's done (about 35 minutes for most), transfer it to an airlight container and put in freezer to harden. It may be kept in the freezer for a week, if you can stay away from it for that long.

This ice cream is very rich. It is, of course, amazingly delicious. The next time I make it, I may try substituting 1 cup half and half for 1 cup of the heavy cream, just to see if it's still fabulous and I can save a few calories.

Summer Peach Ice Cream

Disclaimer: I have not yet made this ice cream, but I have it on the word of a VERY reliable friend/cook that it is fabulous. Since peaches are in season, I'll be trying it next! The recipe comes from The Greens Cookbook, a 1980's compilation from the celebrated vegetarian restaurant Greens in San Francisco.

• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 plus 1/3 cup sugar
• 5 or 6 peaches (use any kind of peach as long as it is ripe and full of flavor)

Slit the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and put it in a saucepan with the milk and 1/2 cup of the cream. Set it over a medium low flame to heat, and while it is warming, beat the yolks and the 1/2 cup sugar together.

Stir the hot milk slowly into the yolks and sugar, taking care not to create too many bubbles. Return the mixture to the pan and set it over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Check the back of the spoon frequently, and as soon as the custard is thick enough to coat it, remove it from the heat and pour it directly into a bowl. This will only take a few minutes. (Be careful not to let the custard come to a boil, or it will curdle.)

Pour the cooked custard through a strainer into a clean bowl, then stir in the remainder of the cream. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean into the custard, put the pods back in, and set the custard in the refrigerator, with waxed paper on its surface, until it is thoroughly cooled.

Peel the peaches and slice them. Use a potato masher or large fork to break them into a very coarse puree that has plenty of small chunks of fruit. Stir the remaining 1/3 cup sugar into the fruit, and let it sit until it has dissolved, about an hour.

When the custard is well chilled, remove the vanilla pods, add the peaches, and freeze according to the instructions of your ice cream machine.

Stir Fry!

Recipes: Chicken with broccoli, Perfect white rice, Dry-fried green beans

When I told my friend Yvette, who was raised in Beijing, that I was experimenting with stir fry dishes, she rolled her eyes. "What?!" I said. "That's like saying I'm experimenting with saute," she said. "There are no such thing as stir fry dishes in Chinese. It's just the way we cook."

OK, I guess it's how we, as Westerners, talk about something that seems special because it's not the way we commonly cook. And it tastes good and is undoubtedly healthy. I wanted to learn more, so I wouldn't always have to find a recipe and follow it. I wanted to understand the spicing and the sauces and the sequence of cooking well enough to be able to create dishes on my own. I'm still experimenting and here's what I've found so far. I have to admit there have been some successes and a few failures!

Chicken with Broccoli

One of the first things I read, and realized to be true, is that our Western stoves are not made for woks. Chinese stoves have a large recess to accommodate the rounded bottom of the wok, with gas jets underneath. Our burners are flat, whether they're gas or electric, so they don't heat the wok the way Chinese stoves do even when you use the common rounded base to set the wok in. We have better success with a heavy flat-bottom skillet, like a cast iron one. As a result, even though I own two woks, I have used a skillet for each of these dishes with good success.

Chinese cooking is all about preparation. Prepare and measure out all the ingredients in advance, and the cooking will be easy!

Here's what you need:

• 2 small or 1 large half chicken breast, cut in medium sized cubes
• 3 scallions, whites only, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced (peel with a vegetable peeler or by scraping with a teaspoon)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon, plus 1 separate teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 1/4 teasoons sea salt
• 1 tablespoon dry sherry
• 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
• 4 or 5 cups raw broccoli, or a combo of broccoli and cauliflower, stalks trimmed and sliced and flowerettes cut into medium small pieces (keep stalks and flowerettes separate)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (peanut oil or Wesson oil)
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce

Put scallions, half the garlic and ginger, the soy sauce, sugar, 1 teaspoon of the cornstarch, 1 teaspoon of the salt, the sherry, and the sesame oil in a medium bowl.  Add the cubed chicken and mix well with your hands. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate at room temp for at least 15 minutes.

Mix the remaining tablespoon cornstarch with the 1/3 cup water and set aside.

Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil and heat. Add the broccoli stems and fry, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the flowerettes and the remaining garlic, ginger, 2 tablespoons of water, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and freshly ground pepper to taste. Stir fry until the broccoli (and cauliflower, if using) is tender but still crisp, about 2 minutes. Test with the tip of a paring knife. Transfer vegetables to a plate.

Get the skillet hot again and then heat 2 more tablespoons oil. Add the chicken and chili flakes. Stir fry until the chicken loses it raw color and gets a little brown, about 3 minutes. Do not overcook chicken. Add the hoisin sauce, and a little more is better than a little less. Return the vegetables to the pan and toss well to combine and re-heat. Stir in the reserved cornstarch mixture and bring it to a boil to thicken.

Serve over rice. Can be garnished with toasted sesame seeds if you wish.

Perfect White Rice

I often use basmati rice, but jasmine is also delicious and works the same way.

In a medium to small pot, combine 1 cup raw white rice (not converted or pre-cooked) and  1-1/2 cups water. Turn the heat to high.

When the water is boiling and you see small holes forming in the surface of the rice, cover the pot and turn the heat down as low as you can. Cook for 12 minutes.

Turn off the heat and leave the pot covered. Let it sit, covered, at least 10 minutes.

Dry-fried Green Beans

This photo shows a meal I made around dry-fried green beans: The beans, plus grilled sausages over sauerkraut, and salted potatoes (saltzkartoffeln). It was a multi-cultural meal and a delicious combination!

Here's what you'll need for the beans:

• 1/2 lb. green beans (or Chinese long beans)
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger, chopped
• 1 scallion, white part only, finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon red chili paste
• 1/2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• sprinkle of sea salt, to taste
• grind of black pepper, to taste
• 1-1/2 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil

Wash the green beans, drain and trip tops and bottoms. Cut on the diagonal into 2-inch slices.

Chop the garlic, ginger, and scallions.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the green beans and stir fry until they start to shrivel and turn brown (6-7 minutes). Remove the beans from the skillet and drain in a colander.

Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in the skillet on high heat. Add garlic, ginger, and scallions. Stir fry for a few seconds, then add the chili paste and stir fry for a few more seconds until aromatic.

Add the green beans and the soy sauce, sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir everything together.  Serve hot.

Not sure what the Chinese expression for buon appetito is, but I hope these goodies whet your appetite and encourage you to experiment too!

Have you ever used a Pressure Cooker? Here's how to braise pork shoulder quicker

Recipe: Braised pork shoulder with carrots and potatoes

Pork shoulder is a delicious cut of meat, but it requires 2 1/2 - 3 hours of cooking in a slow oven. Unless, that is, you use a pressure cooker. Then it's about 45 minutes.

Some of us grew up with Moms who used pressure cookers, and we were warned to stay far away from them. The early pressure cookers were somewhat unstable and could blow up. I'm still a little scared, but new pressure cookers are foolproof. They are heavier, the tops lock onto them more securely and the valves that relieve just enough pressure to keep things in equilibrium are eons better than they used to be.

Pressure cookers cook fast by trapping steam so food cooks hotter. This is not only faster but also means fewer nutrients are lost, less energy is used, and everything tastes better. It's a great way to cook, and not only for meat. You can cook vegetables in a pressure cooker, you can cook pasta, you can even cook desserts. It's all about the length of time you cook it. Some foods take only a matter of a few minutes.

I have a stovetop pressure cooker, in fact it's the one pictured. I really like this cooker - it's easy to use. There are also electric pressure cookers, but they seem to have trouble after only a few uses. If you are thinking of buying one, I'd recommend the stovetop type. The one I have is a 10-quart size. If I had it to do over again, I would get a smaller one. I bought my son and daughter-in-law a 6-quart size and they say it's the perfect size for them. There are also 8-quart cookers, which would be a good compromise.


I'm experimenting with mine to learn how to use it best. Here's how I made some wonderful pork shoulder in one-third the time it usually takes. It was delicious!

Quicker Braised Pork Shoulder with Carrots and Potatoes

2 lbs pork shoulder, cut in 2-inch pieces and rubbed with:

• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• several grinds fresh black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground ancho chile

1 onion, peeled and cut in chunks
1 large carrot, peeled and cut in chunks
1 large or 2 medium potatoes, cut in large chunks or whole if medium size, peeled or not as you wish
1 teaspoon oregano
1 small dried chile, seeded and crumbled
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cup chicken broth

Put all the peeled and cut vegetables in the pressure cooker. Add the seasonings and the meat. Pour in chicken broth.

Lock the pressure cooker according to your product directions and turn the heat under it to High. When your pressure indicator comes up, turn the indicator to High Pressure if your cooker has two pressure levels. Many have only one, and in that case it's High Pressure by default. Once the pressure comes up, turn the heat down and start timing. Cook for 45 minutes.

Turn the heat off and turn your cooker indicator to release pressure. Be sure you read your product instruction the first time or two you use it. This stuff is important! When the pressure is released and your pressure indicator is down, you can open the cooker. Dinner's ready!

This dish is gluten free and was delicious with a fresh kale salad. Buon appetito!

Creamy cauliflower soup

Recipes: Creamy cauliflower soup

This recipe gives a shout-out to Ree Drummond, who cooks and writes under the blog name The Pioneer Woman. I took her recipe, which was great, and tweaked it a bit for my tastes and for the appetites of two for dinner. It's also a nod to Autumn, and Winter which is just around the corner. Some of the things I love about Autumn and Winter, aside from warm fires and cozy sweaters, are the vegetables that grow best during this time in my climate - the cabbages, the chard, the cauliflowers, the kale. Mmmmm.

On a recent chilly evening, this soup paired beautifully with a roasted beet and butter lettuce salad.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

• A small cauliflower, or half a large one
• 1 or 2 carrots, peeled and chopped medium
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped (optional)*
• 1 small red or yellow bell pepper, stemmed and chopped (optional)*
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup half and half
• 1 tablespoon butter, plus 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour (gluten free flour also works well)
• Salt
• Grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
• Sour cream (or light sour cream) for serving
• Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving

*I didn't have celery so I used a red bell pepper instead. I'd use one or the other, or both if you have them.

Cut the cauliflower in half and then half again, and cut the core out. Then roughly chop the cauliflower into 1 or 2-inch pieces. Melt one tablespoon butter in a medium heavy Dutch oven and add the chopped onion, carrots, celery, and/or bell pepper. Saute for 3 or 4 minutes.

Add the chopped cauliflower and saute over medium heat until the vegetables all begin to get soft, about 10 minutes. Add the broth and bring it to a boil. Simmer for 10 more minutes.

Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small heavy saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook over medium low heat, whisking, until the flour just barely begins to get tan, 2 or 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time. You will see it gets very thick at first, but it will thin out as you keep whisking and adding milk until it has all been added. Then add the half and half. Whisk occasionally over medium heat until it gets a little thicker, about 8 minutes. This is called "making a white sauce", but don't let it scare you. It's just as easy as it sounds.

Add a tiny bit of nutmeg and the curry powder and cayenne to the white sauce. Then stir the white sauce into the soup and simmer it for a few minutes. Add salt to taste and pepper if you think it's needed.

Serve this delicious soup in bowls topped with a spoonful of sour cream and a sprinkling of fresh parsley. Yum!

Beans and fresh tomatoes

Recipes: Fresh tomato sauce, Beans in fresh tomato sauce

Here's another delicious way to use an abundance of fresh, beautiful heirloom tomatoes, Yesterday I found myself faced with a growing pile of ripe ones, and a few nearly over-ripe, with more about to come in from the front yard. What a huge harvest, and what a shame it would be to let even a few go to waste! First thing in the morning, I separated out the fruit that needed to be used right away - red, red-green, orange, yellow - and put together a simple sauce that would simmer over a low burner until it thickened.

Fresh Tomato Sauce 

Choose a medium to large Dutch oven with a cover. Turn the heat on under it at medium and add 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add two cloves of garlic, sliced, and turn off the burner. Let it sit to cool down while you chop the tomatoes.

Chop a lot of tomatoes into roughly one-inch pieces. I used about fifteen large tomatoes. Put all the chopped tomatoes into the pot and turn the heat to medium. Add 1 teaspoon sea salt and 1 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano). If you like, chop up one small moderately hot pepper - I used a red padron - and add it to the pot. Stir everything well. Once it starts to simmer, turn the heat down to low and set the cover on askew. Let it simmer for at least one hour (I simmered mine for two hours *see note), stirring all the way to the bottom now and then.

Note: My tomatoes are particularly juicy, so there's a lot of liquid when I chop and cook them. The goal in simmering the sauce for a long time is to concentrate the liquid so the sauce thickens and has a very deep and complex tomato flavor. If your tomatoes don't produce a lot of juice, you should cook them about one hour before proceeding with the next step. It took two hours for mine to begin to thicken.

When the sauce starts to thicken, add 1/4 cup dry white wine, like a Sauvignon Blanc. Stir it in and simmer uncovered for a few minutes while the alcohol burns off. Then partially cover the pot again and simmer for another 30 minutes to one hour, or whenever the sauce reached the consistency you want.

This sauce can be successfully frozen in freezer bags or a freezer container for about two months. Or, you can use some of it right away and freeze the rest, which is what I did. It makes a delicious sauce for pasta too!

So then I had this sauce, which I let sit covered and cooling on the stove until I decided what to make for dinner. The smell was gorgeous! A couple of hours before dinner, beans with tomato sauce came to mind. Lucky thought!

Beans with Fresh Tomato Sauce

Here are a few things I've learned about dried beans:

• Buy the freshest you can get. It seems funny to think of dried beans being fresh, but there's a world of difference between a bean that's been sitting on a shelf for years and one that was grown and dried recently. Old beans take much longer to cook. Sometimes they never get tender. Fresh beans have a more delicious flavor and they're easier to digest. While some supermarket beans are fine, you never really know how long they've been around. I buy most of my dried beans from Rancho Gordo. Here's their website http://www.ranchogordo.com/  They also have a store in the Ferry Building in San Francisco, if you're in the neighborhood. Here's what one of their packages looks like - gotta love the label!
• You don't have to soak dried beans. If you soak, you must pour off the soaking water and you lose some valuable nutrition. It works just fine to rinse off the dried beans and then cover them by about two inches with fresh water. Simmer until they're tender.
• Some beans cook faster than others. Lima beans, which I used for this recipe, cook in about an hour or a little more. So do black-eyed peas. Other beans take maybe an hour and a half or two hours, IF they are fresh dried beans.
• Never add salt to beans until they are almost done. Salt keeps them from getting tender.
• Add some leftover bacon drippings or a little lard to the beans while you cook them. I save my bacon drippings every time I make bacon (BLTs this time of year!) and keep them in a covered jar in the fridge.
• It's worth it to grow an epizote bush outside your kitchen door - in a pot or in the ground. Epizote is a plant that grows wild in Mexico and is easy to grow here in northern California. It is perennial and comes back every spring. Many bean-eating cultures put a big sprig of epizote in their beans while cooking, and they say it helps with digestion. In my opinion, it's true.

Ingredients for the beans:

• 1/2 pound dried beans (I used large Lima beans)
• bacon drippings, if you have it
• epizote, if you have it
• the fresh tomato sauce you just made (yum!)
• cut up sausage, like chorizo, optional
• sea salt (add last)

In a medium large Dutch oven with a cover, put 1/2 pound rinsed dried Lima beans and cover them with water so that the water is about 2 inches above the beans. Turn the heat on medium and bring the water to a boil. Add a tablespoon of bacon drippings and a big sprig of epizote. Turn the heat down to low and let simmer, covered but with the cover ajar, for 30 minutes.

Add a half cup of the fresh tomato sauce to the beans, and a half cup of cut up sausage, if you wish. The beans will be equally delicious without sausage. Stir to combine. Continue to simmer until the beans are almost tender (you have to taste them at this point). While the beans are simmering, watch the liquid, and add a little more water if the beans absorb it all. There should be 'gravy' with the beans at the end.

When the beans are almost tender, add 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, stir, and continue cooking until beans are very tender. Serve in bowls with a little topping of fresh chopped tomato if you have tons, like I do.

Buon appetito!

Heirloom tomato chutney

Recipe: Heirloom tomato chutney

What a year for tomatoes! We have a bumper crop in our front yard in Oakland, big delicious heirlooms, and I'm on the lookout for ways to use and preserve them before their sweetness fades. Ah, the drama of tomato season! Use them quickly, or lose them!

Today I made tomato chutney using a recipe based on one from Jamie Oliver. I made a double batch, because I have so many tomatoes. It lasts four months in the refrigerator. I know we'll use this chutney before four months have passed, but it's something to think about.

I'm looking forward to eating it with meats - lamb, braised pork, and chicken. It's sweet, tart, and a bit spicy. Oh so good! Jamie says it's wonderful on a piece of good bread with cheddar - will definitely try that too. Here's how to make it, and this is the recipe for a single batch. Double it if you dare!

Heirloom (or any) tomato chutney

• 1 medium red onion, peeled and sliced thin
• 1 pound (or a little more) fresh tomatoes, any or various colors, stemmed and chopped rough
• 1 fresh red chili, stemmed, seeded, and chopped fine (or a small red bell pepper if you prefer not hot)
• 5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (scant, i.e. not packed, if your tomatoes are as sweet as mine are)

In a heavy medium saucepan, combine all ingredients and add a little sea salt to taste. Mix well to combine.

Cook over medium heat for 45 minutes, or until it reduces to a fairly thick jam-like consistency.

Meanwhile, sterilize a pint jar with a lid by submerging it in boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain the jar and fill it with chutney. Cap it and refrigerate it when it is cooled. Will keep in the refrigerator for up to four months. As if you won't eat it before then! Yum.

A review: Blue Apron

It might seem weird that a person who loves to shop for food and cook, like I do, would be interested in a service that delivers it all right to your door and tells you exactly how to make it. You're right, I wouldn't ordinarily do this. Nevertheless, for several reasons I became interested in Blue Apron:

• They offered me a free week of food to get acquainted because my neighbor and friend recommended me to them. Free is almost always good. They didn't, incidentally, know I write a cooking blog.
• The meals they showed on their website looked well balanced and interesting.
• They offered a lot of options for food preference like no red meat, vegetarian, gluten free, fish only, or eat everything.
• It seemed like it might be good to have something to recommend to people who don't know how to cook, don't like or don't have time to grocery shop, or just know there are going to be times when they need food support that doesn't involve living on chips and dip or greasy takeout. I totally support that!

So I decided to give Blue Apron a try, just for fun. I picked a week that showed food I thought we'd like, and I ordered three meals for two, eat everything. This would ordinarily cost a little over $9.50 a meal, or around $20 for two per meal. Pretty comparable to takeout. Here's what I got and here's what I thought.

This is the box the food came in, after I had opened it. It was packed with three reusable frozen ice packs, and everything was in a metallic bag. The meats, two salmon fillets, two chicken breast halves, and one small pork loin roast, were frozen solid. The box was delivered while I was out, and sat on my front porch for nearly two hours. Still frozen.

All the vegetables were in separate plastic bags - snow peas, English peas, a carrot, a bunch of collard greens, green onions, arugula, two red potatoes. In addition there was a big baking potato, a lemon, a radish, and a head of garlic, plus three paper bags marked Knick-Knacks, one for each meal. These contained spices, vinegars, and the like. Blue Apron assumes you have olive oil, salt, and pepper in your kitchen, and little else.

My Grilled Salmon Salad

I made the Grilled Salmon Salad the day after I got the box, when the salmon had defrosted. All the ingredients were very fresh and the dish was, in a word, delicious! The salad included red potatoes, peas, and radishes, and the salmon had a moderately spicy rub. I'd make it again, on my own.

Clear, simple directions were given on a laminated sheet with pictures. It couldn't have been easier. The portions were just right for two people. For those who are interested, the calorie count is on the sheet - this one was 740 calories per serving.

Day one was a big hit. We both loved it!

My General Tso's Chicken

Two days later I made the second dish, General Tso's Chicken with rice and snow peas. This dish was more like what you'd get for takeout at a Chinese restaurant, just a lot fresher. It was fun to make, although I think it would have been harder for someone who didn't already know how to cook. We enjoyed the meal, yet of the three in the box it was our least favorite.




The third meal was a roast pork loin with mashed potatoes, served over collard greens stewed in a molasses sauce. Although sweet sauces aren't usually my thing, it was interesting and really good. On top of it, I learned something about mashed potatoes. I love mashed potatoes, but I've always made kind of a big deal of them. You know, cream, butter, peeling Yukon Gold potatoes. What could be easier than cutting an unpeeled baking potato into chunks, cooking it in salted water for 15 minutes, then mashing it with a fork and two tablespoons of butter? That's all it takes and it is as mashed potatoes should be - simply delicious.

The vote from us on Blue Apron is mostly very positive. If you want or need someone to put the food together for you and tell you how to cook it, this group seems to do it right. The food is very fresh and very high quality. The recipes are clear and easy to follow. The meals are healthy and interesting, and it's plenty of food.

Of course, I love to shop for food and I love to cook, so I'll still be doing it my own way. Just saying.

Beginnings: Appetizers to tantalize your tastebuds

Recipes: Smoked trout spread, Curried fried garbanzos

I have always struggled with appetizers, much preferring to concentrate on the main meal. My friend Jackie, who dines with me nearly every Monday evening, has changed my mind on this subject, little by little. Jackie and her partner have appetizers before dinner regularly. And they're not an afterthought, or a last-minute thing. They are planned, often with one person creating the appetizer and the other the dinner. Their appetizers are fully as creative as the main meal, which I admire.

In the spirit of inspiration, Jackie brought me their recipe for smoked trout spread, which is easily made in a few minutes. This is an adaptation of that recipe, delicious when I made it the other night and served it with crackers. A memorable beginning.

Smoked Trout Spread

• 2 ounces smoked trout
• 2 tablespoons sour cream (I used light sour cream)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon chopped red onion
• 1 tablespoon shredded carrot (optional, in my opinion. Good both with and without it.)

Remove and discard any skin from the smoked fish. Finely chop the fish. Place chopped fish, sour cream, and mayo in a small bowl and mash with a fork. Stir in chopped onion and carrot, if using.

Curried Fried Garbanzos

I love garbanzo beans and often use them in salads and in stews. They're very healthy eating too, full of protein and fiber. This is so easy, and everyone seems to love curried garbanzos.

• 1 14-oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• Sea salt
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Heat the oil in a small skillet. Add the drained garbanzo beans, the curry powder, and a dash of salt. Stir to coat. Fry the beans for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.


Serve on an appetizer plate with a small serving spoon.

Yasmin's Shakshuka (eggs in tomato sauce)

Recipe: Shakshuka

Whenever our friend Yasmin comes to stay, she introduces us to another delicious meal from her homeland, which is Israel. This dish, she says, is a typical Israeli dish, served for lunch or dinner, or even for breakfast. I think it would make a spectacular entree for Sunday brunch. We ate it for dinner and loved it then. I had some the next morning for breakfast, and loved it then too. Yum.

It's very quick and easy to make. A dish of broiled asparagus would be wonderful with it, if you are serving it for lunch or dinner, and chunks of good bread are a must for getting the last drop of sauce.

Shakshuka (for two people)

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced thin
• 1 medium hot dried pepper, seeded and chopped or crumbled
• 3 or 4 medium fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 5 oz tomato paste
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 tsps sweet paprika
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• A handful of cilantro, chopped
• Fresh basil, chopped if you have it
• 4 large eggs

In a large skillet, heat oil and fry garlic and onion over medium heat. Add bell pepper and hot pepper. Saute until softened. Add tomatoes and a little salt and mix well. Cover and cook over med-low heat for 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix the tomato paste, a little water, the cumin, and the paprika. When the tomatoes are cooked, add this sauce to the skillet and stir well. Add salt and pepper to taste and the basil if using. When the mixture begins to bubble, carefully break each egg into it so it stays separate. Top with the chopped cilantro. 

Cover and cook over low heat for 10-15 minutes. Uncover and let sit for a few minutes before serving. 

Serve each person 2 eggs with sauce and chunks of good artisan bread. 

Yasmin hasn't yet taught me how to say buon appetito in Hebrew, so the Italian will have to suffice!

Sweet endings: Poached pears

Recipe: Poached pears

I don't often make desserts. I would honestly rather have an extra helping of potatoes or pasta than use up all those calories on something sweet. However, I had invited a few of my neighbors over for a celebration of Spring dinner, and thought some of them might enjoy a dessert. This lovely and easy recipe from a 1970s cookbook I still use came to mind as a great finish for the meal, which would include braised lamb. Mmmmm, poached pears. Beautiful, aren't they? And so deliciously silky served with a scoop of ice cream on the side.

Poached Pears

Fortunately, you don't have to search out perfect pears for this dessert. In fact, underripe pears, which most pears are when they are picked, hold together better than ripe pears. Use Bosc, D'anjou, or Bartlett pears - they will all work.

Poached pears are quick to make, but need to chill for several hours. I made them the night before and left them in the fridge until dinner the next day.

For two. Double the ingredients and buy one pear per person to serve more lucky people.

• 2 pears, slightly underripe
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 whole cloves

With a vegetable peeler, peel the pears, leaving the stems on. Drop the peeled pears into a bowl of cold water with a little lemon juice in it until you are ready to cook them. This keeps them from darkening.

In a deep pot that's just large enough to hold both pears comfortably, bring the water, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon rind to a boil. Add the cinnamon stick, cloves, and the pears. Cover the pot and keep it at a rolling boil so the pears keep moving a bit as they cook. Cook until the pears are tender (test with the tip of a paring knife), which should be about 25 minutes.

Take the pears carefully out of the syrup with a large spoon and stand them up in a dish with sides. If you have to cut a small slice off the bottom to make them stand, do so. They are very soft and will flatten if they lie down. Pour a little of the syrup over the pears and chill them, covered with plastic wrap, for several hours or overnight.

Serve in small bowls with a little of the syrup and a scoop of good ice cream. I served it with salted caramel ice cream and it was scrumptious. Buon appetito!

Red cabbage: A vegetable side that acts like the main attraction

Recipe: Braised red cabbage

Not just a pretty face, red cabbage tastes fabulous cooked this way and it's wonderfully good for you! Simple to make, it can be vegetarian or not, it's gluten free, and it can stand alone on a night when you feel like a simple dinner that satisfies. Or it can be part of something bigger. Wouldn't you love to eat some tonight? Here's how to do it.

Braised Red Cabbage

In a medium Dutch oven, saute two slices of bacon, cut up. When the bacon pieces are nearly crisp, remove them to drain on a paper towel. Leave the bacon fat in the pot. If you want your dish to be vegetarian, skip the bacon and substitute 1 tablespoon good olive oil.

Core and cut a medium head of red cabbage into bite-sized pieces or coleslaw-like strips. Put all in the pot. Add:

• 1/2 large onion sliced medium thick
• 4 tablespoons butter cut in chunks
• 1-1/4 cup chicken stock
• 1/3 cup red wine (something like zinfandel or cabernet)
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Add the cooked bacon pieces if using and combine gently with a wooden spoon.

Turn your oven on to 375 degrees F. Bring the pot to a boil on top of the stove, then turn the heat down and simmer for 20 minutes uncovered while the oven heats up. Cover the pot and put it into the oven for one hour.

Braised red cabbage is delicious by itself, or with sausage or any kind of meat. It would be wonderful with roasted new potatoes. It would be good with a little goat cheese sprinkled over it. Use your imagination. Buon appetito! 

Jambalaya (in honor of running in New Orleans)

Recipe: Chicken and shrimp jambalaya

I've gone with friends to New Orleans several times to run the Crescent City Classic, a 10k that usually takes place in the spring. Three things about this race stand out in my memory. First, regardless of how early in spring it was, the weather was always hot and humid, at least to this west-coaster. There was always big-time sweat almost immediately after we started running. The second thing is related to the first, and that is that people stood in their front lawns all along the race course and handed us beers over their fences, to keep us hydrated and also to make sure it was a party! Loved that! The third fond memory was at the end, when we were hot and tired and famished. Huge pots of spicy jambalaya awaited us in the park where the race ended. Those folks fed hundreds of runners jambalaya, and was it ever delicious! Every time I make jambalaya, I think of those fun times.

Jambalaya is surprisingly easy to make, given its complex tastes. It's basically a highly flavored rice dish with meat and fish, usually shellfish. I base this recipe on Paul Prudhomme's book, The Louisiana Kitchen, with the caveat that I pare down his heat quite a bit. As I've mentioned before, Paul's spicing is wonderful and way too hot for me. This adaptation uses all the wonderfulness and has a spicy kick that's manageable. This time I used chicken and shrimp, although you can also include sausage if you like. Paul includes raw shucked oysters, and you can do that too if you add them with the shrimp.

Incidentally, I previously posted a recipe for Poorman's Jambalaya, which uses a different cooking method. There are many roads to Chicago, as they say!

Chicken and Shrimp Jambalaya

Seasoning mix:

• 1 bay leaf
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon bacon fat (I save mine in the fridge when I cook bacon) or olive oil
• 3/4 cup chopped onions
• 1/2 cup chopped celery (I have also used chopped cauliflower instead of celery, yum)
• 1 red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 skinless boneless half chicken breast, cut in bite-sized pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 14-oz can chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup chicken stock or seafood stock, if you have it
• 1 cup uncooked white rice, basmati works fine
• 1 pound or more peeled shrimp, tails on OK

Make the seasoning mix first in a small bowl. Set aside.

Turn the oven on 350 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, saute the onions, celery, and bell pepper in the fat or oil about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chicken, raise heat to high and cook 1 minutes, stirring.

Reduce heat to medium, add the seasoning mix and the garlic and cook about 3 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan. Add tomatoes and water and cook about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Stir in the stock and bring it to a boil. Add the rice, shrimp (and oysters, if using) and stir to combine. Transfer the jambalaya to an ungreased 8x8 baking dish or a deep pie pan. Cover it tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Rice should be tender and liquid should all be absorbed.

Remove the bay leaf and serve at once. It's delicious all by itself or with a green salad. Yum!

Black-eyed peas and a Happy New-ish Year!

Recipes: Black-eyed peas, Seared lamb loin chops

Yes, I know the season for Happy New Year has more or less passed. I was out of town for New Year's, however, so I didn't get to make traditional good luck black-eyed peas like I usually do. Better late than never, don't you think? I decided to make them last night with lamb chops, and they were pretty delicious!

This method of cooking dried black-eyed peas will work for almost any dried pea or bean. The difference is black-eyed peas (and lima beans and split peas) cook a lot more quickly than other kinds of dried beans, and without soaking. To me, black-eyed peas are one of the tastiest of the dried legumes and they can easily be made in an hour for dinner. I think you'll want to add this one to your cooking repertoire!

Black-eyed Peas

I pack a lot of vegetables into my black-eyed peas. Why not make them as tasty and nutritious as possible? Then they can stand alone as a vegetarian or vegan dinner, possibly served with steamed brown or white rice, or they can be a base for a simply cooked meat, like the seared lamb chops I served them with last night.

• 1 cup picked over and rinsed dried black-eyed peas
• 1 tablespoon butter and 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion, white or yellow
• 1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped small
• 1 red or yellow bell pepper, stemmed and chopped
• 1 small dried mild or spicy pepper, seeded and broken into small pieces, or 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 small bay leaf
• sea salt to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

In a heavy pot or Dutch oven, melt butter and heat oil together. Saute the onion, carrot, bell pepper, and dried pepper for a few minutes, stirring, and then turn the heat to low, add a sprinkle of salt, cover the pot, and let it cook slowly for 15 minutes. Stir it once during this time.

Add the black-eyed peas and stir them into the vegetables. Add 2 cups water and the bay leaf and bring the pot to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium low and simmer the peas, uncovered, until they are tender. This should take about 40 minutes, and you will need to check the pot and stir it several times while it is cooking. You should always be able to see some liquid. If the liquid cooks away, add another half cup of water. Toward the end of 30 minutes, taste the peas to see if they are soft. When they are nearly soft, and not before, add 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste) and the dried thyme. Stir well and continue to cook over medium low heat until the peas are completely soft but not falling apart. Remove the bay leaf and serve.

You can let the peas sit, covered and with the heat off, while you prepare meat or whatever you are serving with them. For the lamb chops, I used tiny loin chops so I planned on two per person. I salted and peppered them when I started the peas, so the seasoning would marinate into the meat a bit. Once the peas were done, I heated a cast iron skillet with a bit of olive oil and sauteed the chops 3 minutes on each side over high heat. Then I let them sit on a plate for 10 minutes to finish cooking and adjusting their juices. To serve, I put two big spoonfuls of peas in a soup plate and arranged the chops on top, pouring juices from the chops that had gathered on the plate over it all. I finished it off with a little dollop of mango chutney on top of each chop.

We ate in front of the fireplace and a roaring fire. It tasted great on a rainy winter night!

Happy New-ish Year!!

Pork and beans

Recipes: Braised pork shoulder with chiles, Baby lima beans

This post's title is a play on a childhood staple - Campbell's pork and beans, which comes in a can and was a reliable lunch or dinner when I was a kid. We all loved it - or at least we preferred it to the usual "adult" food we were offered. The "pork" was one or at the most two tiny pieces of fat, and the beans were cooked in a tomato-y sauce. It was probably laden with sugar and salt, always attractive to kids. All you had to do was heat it up.

The pork and beans we're talking about here isn't anything like that, apart from the name. Our pork is Alice Waters' version of slow-cooked pork shoulder braised with dried chiles, and the beans are baby limas cooked separately and served as a bed for the pork and its mouth-tingling sauce. Yum, yum, and double yum.

Braising is an especially good way to cook a shoulder roast, whether it be pork, or lamb, or beef. Shoulder is a muscular, sinewy roast marbled with fat that has maximum taste and tenderness when cooked right, but it must be cooked for a long time at relatively low temperature in order to achieve those heavenly qualities. I usually use a boneless roast, but if you can get a shoulder roast with bone in, the flavor will only be enhanced and the meat will fall off the bone when it is finished.

The roast can easily be done in a slow cooker. Just follow the recipe except put everything in the cooker in the morning, cover it, and turn it on Low. Forget about turning it. It'll be done and totally yummy by dinner time. The lima beans don't really need to be soaked prior to cooking, but if you feel better doing so just soak them for a couple of hours rather than overnight. Limas cook rather quickly so the fact that they don't need soaking makes them ideal for an after-work accompaniment if in fact you decide to do the roast in the slow cooker. In a pinch, you could also just warm up canned or frozen limas, although I like the results of using dried beans better.

Pork Shoulder Braised with Dried Chiles

Make a dry rub by mixing together:

• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• A good grind of black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground chile

Season on all sides with the rub:

• a 2-pound pork shoulder roast  

If you can do this the day before and keep the roast, seasoned and covered with cling film, in the fridge overnight, do it. If not, just season it all over before cooking. If you have the roast in the fridge, take it out one hour before cooking.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Put in a heavy baking dish or roasting pan that just fits the roast (or in the pot of your slow cooker):

• 1 onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 dried chiles. Anchos are good, one ancho and one dried chipotle would be good and spicy, dried chiles of any kind you like can be used. Take out the seeds and break the chiles up into pieces. This roast is also delicious with no chiles at all.
• 8 large cloves garlic, peeled and halved
• A few black peppercorns
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Place the seasoned meat on top of the vegetables and pour in:

• 1 cup chicken broth (1-1/4 cups if you are using the slow cooker rather than the oven)

The liquid should come about 1/4 of the way up the roast. Add more if necessary.

Cook, uncovered, in the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the roast over and cook for 30 minutes, then turn again. Cook for another 30 minutes and test the meat for doneness, continuing to turn and cook until done. In my experience, this takes about 2-1/2 hours, or 2+ turns, for a 2-pound roast. All ovens are different, and yours may take a little longer.

If you are using dried beans, you can start cooking them any time after you've put the roast into the oven.

Remove the meat from the pan and let it rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes. It should be very tender and almost falling apart. Alice Waters' recipe suggests skimming the fat off the sauce and putting the sauce and vegetables through a food mill to make a gravy for serving. I have most often just served the vegetables alongside slices/pieces of the meat with a little of the sauce to pour over. Suit yourself. It will be delish either way.

Baby Lima Beans

• 3/4 cup of dried baby lima beans, picked through for stones and rinsed under cool water.

Normally beans call for a few savory additions, like onions, carrots, and garlic. Since these beans will be served under a savory roast, vegetables, and sauce that's really not necessary here.

If you've soaked the beans, add water to measure at least two inches above the level of the beans. Bring them to a boil, turn the heat down to low/medium low, and put a cover at an angle to partially cover the pot. Do not add salt yet, do not continue to let the beans boil. They should simmer gently...low and slow.

After 30 minutes, taste the beans. If they are not almost soft, continue to cook them low and slow. After 10 more minutes, taste them again. Always keep an eye on the liquid; the pan must not cook dry. Add a little water if necessary. You are trying to find the moment when the beans still have the tiniest bit of bite, but are almost perfectly soft. Keep tasting until you find that moment, then add 1 teaspoon sea salt and 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme. Cook a few minutes more, maybe 5 or 10 minutes, or until perfectly soft. Turn off the heat and put the cover on the pot to keep the beans warm until the roast is ready to be served.

To serve, spread the beans on a serving platter with a slotted spoon so any remaining liquid stays in the pot. Top with slices of pork surrounded by the vegetables. Pour a bit of the roasting pan juices, or the sauce/vegetable gravy, over it all. Dig in!

Buon appetito!

Yummy fish tacos

Recipe: Fish tacos with salsa and cilantro-lime sauce

Fish tacos were a last minute decision on a day when I was going to broil fresh wild rockfish for our dinner. I just felt like something different, and what happened was a fabulous, delectable dinner. This one is a keeper!

It's easy too. There are a couple of steps, but nothing difficult. I'd suggest making the salsa (also called Pico de Gallo) and the cilantro-lime sauce first. They both benefit from sitting for 30 minutes and this will give you plenty of time to put the rest of the tacos together.

Note: I served the tacos with Brussels sprouts brown rice, which takes 40 minutes to cook and should sit for 10 minutes after it's done. If you want to add this to your dinner, start the rice before doing anything else. Here's the recipe. Otherwise, you could open a can of black beans and cook them in their juice for 10 minutes. Serve with chopped onion and avocado alongside the fish tacos.

Fish Tacos

For the Salsa

• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped hot pepper, jalapeno or red padron
• 2 or 3 plum tomatoes, or one small regular tomato, chopped in small pieces
• Juice from 1 fresh lime
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• A grind of fresh black pepper

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Let sit for 30 minutes.

For the Cilantro-Lime Sauce

• 2 heaping tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 heaping tablespoons sour cream (light sour cream works fine)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic granules (not garlic salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Let sit for 30 minutes.

For the Fish
Mix together the following spices in a small bowl:

• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

Cut 1 large fish fillet, or 2 small ones, into medium cubes. You can use rockfish, as I did, or snapper, or tuna, or whatever you like. Sprinkle the fish cubes with the spice mix and toss with your hands.

Heat a skillet with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Add the fish cubes and cook, tossing with a wooden spoon, for 1 minute. Add 1 clove garlic, chopped, 1 tablespoon good white wine, and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro. Cook, tossing, 1 minute. Turn off the heat.

Heat corn tortillas (2 or 3 per person) on a hot griddle or wrapped in damp paper towels in a microwave until they are soft (10-15 seconds in microwave). Place 2 or 3 on each plate, fill with fish and salsa and then drizzle the cilantro-lime sauce over. Serve immediately with more salsa and sauce on the side.