Spring Greens season is here - make some Saag

Spinach is one of the first greens to pop up in the garden in the spring. Amazingly, spinach can germinate in cold soils, as cold as 33 °F! I usually plant spinach in the fall, when it germinates easily in the warm soil. When the cold weather comes, it hibernates for the winter. As soon as the soil warms up again in the spring, it's off and running. That makes spinach the very first green to make it to my table.

I posted this recipe for Saag Paneer, which is Indian Greens with Cheese (or tofu if you prefer - it's easier to find than the fresh cheese and much cheaper). The original recipe called for frozen spinach, which is inexpensive and available year-round. But, this being the start of spring greens, you can make it with fresh spinach. Substitute 2 bunches of coarsely chopped fresh spinach for the frozen spinach and make the original recipe as written.

If you do use fresh garden or farmers' market spinach, make sure you wash it well (the process is described in this recipe for sautéed kale) because it holds onto sand and gritty greens is way icky.

Nowadays, you can also get bags of triple-washed fresh spinach, which is a great leap forward for spinach. You'll need a big bag of spinach for this, 20-24 oz. worth.

Indian Greens and Cheese

I love the interesting flavors in Indian food. India has so many amazing spices that the combinations are limitless. There is also a strong tradition of vegetarian cooking. You put these two together and you have the makings of a delicious Meatless Monday meal.

Paneer cheese is the firm, drier cheese used in saag (spinach) paneer. It will keep its shape and won't melt. Mozzarella will melt and become gooey (in a good way). Queso fresco (also called queso blanco) can go either way depending on how dry it is. Any of them are delicious but the texture will be quite different.

Garam masala is a blend of warm spices, often coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, and cloves. Unlike curry powder, it doesn't contain turmeric, the spice that gives curry its yellow color. It is available in many supermarkets, Indian markets, and Savory Spice Shops.

Indian Greens and Cheese
(serves 4)

1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced thinly
1 Tablespoon minced or grated ginger
1 pound of greens (beet, chard, or spinach), washed well
¼ teaspoon salt
a pinch of cayenne
8 oz. queso fresco, mozzarella, or paneer cheese, cut into ½" cubes
a pinch of garam masala, optional

Heat a dutch oven or large covered skillet over medium-high heat. Add the fennel seeds and ground cardamom. Stir for a few seconds, then add the onion and ginger. Cook until browned, stirring often to prevent burning. Add the greens and cover. Cook for a few minutes until the greens begin to wilt. Stir to mix onions with greens. Sprinkle with salt and cayenne. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 20 minutes until greens are tender. Add cheese cubes, cover, and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with a pinch of garam masala, and add more salt if needed. The cheese can be salty so you may not need any. Serve over rice.

Return of the Tofu

Peanut-sauced tofu, chard with garlic & ginger on rice. Yum.

When you test recipes, you have a lot of leftovers. I had a bit of the peanut-sauced tofu that went into the vegetarian spring rolls. I had some leftover rice and a big bunch of chard leaves. It became my lunch today. Super fast and delicious.

I love leftovers!

The tofu recipe is in with the Vegetarian Spring Rolls from my last class.

The chard is a simple greens sauté,  garlic, ginger, oil, salt, and pepper. Check out my post on kale for techniques and ideas for sautéing greens.

Italian Wedding Soup

When I was a kid, I loved Progresso's Chickarina© Soup which is chicken soup with little chicken meatballs. It's a regional thing; I can't find it in Colorado. But, Italian Wedding Soup, a chicken broth with little chicken meatballs and greens, is pretty close. It's a good dish for sneaking some greens into your diet.

Here's my rendition of that soup.

The broth is stock in a box, the best way to get a decent stock without simmering bones for hours. The meatballs are made from scratch and take a bit of time, but you can cook them, freeze them, and then reheat them in soup when you want a comforting bowl of soup. These meatballs are very tasty and would be delicious in a meatball sub too. For the soup, we make them small.

Italian Wedding Soup
(serves 6, costs $10)

Meatballs (makes enough meatballs for 2 batches of soup)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound ground chicken
½ pound ground lean beef
1 large egg
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (see Note)
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
10 sprigs of parsley, chopped
1 ¾ teaspoons salt
leaves from 1 sprig of basil, minced or 1 teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Soup
10 cups low-sodium chicken stock
salt if needed
6 cups (about 6 oz.) fresh greens such as escarole, chard, or spinach, washed and chopped coarsely
¼ cup soup pasta such as stars, alphabets, or use broken pieces of angel hair pasta
2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan for garnish
¼ teaspoon black pepper for garnish

Heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté for a few minutes. Add garlic and continue cooking until onion is soft and golden. Remove from heat and set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a large rimmed baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray or oil lightly with vegetable oil.

Combine the rest of the meatball ingredients in a large bowl and mix together thoroughly. Shape into 1 ½" meatballs and place on the greased baking sheet. Bake the meatballs for 20 minutes. You can turn them after 10 minutes if they seem to be browning quickly on the bottom, but this usually isn't necessary. Remove from oven. At this point, you can drop half of them immediately in the soup and serve. Cool the rest in the fridge and freeze for some later batch of soup or refrigerate for use with a few days.

To make the soup, bring the stock up to a simmer. If using frozen meatballs, add the greens and meatballs. You'll need to simmer them for about 15 minutes. Add the pasta after 10 minutes. The meatballs are completely cooked already but you don't want to bite into a semi-frozen meatball.

If using hot meatballs, add the pasta along with the greens and meatballs and cook for 5 minutes until greens are wilted and the pasta is done. Taste for salt. You may need to use more if you use a sodium-free stock.

To serve, ladle in soup, greens, and 4 meatballs into a bowl. Garnish with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and black pepper.

Note: To make fresh breadcrumbs, very lightly toast the bread (or use slightly stale bread which isn't as soft) and use the fine side of a grater to grate it into crumbs. You can also grate them in the food processor. A slice of bread with yield about ½ cup bread crumbs.

Risotto for Meatless Monday

Those are really chickpeas, black ones that I found at the Boulder Farmer's Market.

Risotto has a rather intimidating reputation. You must stir it, constantly! for 25 minutes or so. Or else! What, you'll end up with sticky rice? Which is really the point. Risotto is made with a short-grain rice called arborio which has lots of soluble starch. That's what makes it creamy (not cream or butter or cheese, though these things don't hurt). Fact is, you don't need to stir it constantly but you do have to stir it a fair bit to release the starch. It's also important to have enough hot stock to add in increments as the risotto cooks. Making risotto is a process - not a difficult one - but it will take you about 30 minutes. I think it's worth it, especially on Meatless Monday. The creaminess of the rice makes risotto so rich, even when no cream or cheese is added.

Risotto is adaptable to many additions: vegetables (some raw if quick cooking, others cooked), cooked meats, seafood, beans, mushrooms, and the ever popular cheese.

Arborio rice can seem a little pricey, but compared to meat, it's quite economical. You can find it now in many supermarkets, Whole Foods,  and gourmet shops. If you buy it in bulk, you will get the best price. Also check out Cost Plus World Marketplace, if they have stores in your area. They usually carry it and at the best price I've found.

In this recipe, I've used chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, and some greens. No cheese, no cream. Just a little bit of olive oil and butter.

Risotto with Chickpeas, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Greens
(serves 6 as a side dish, 4 as an entree)

3 ½ to 4 cups stock (vegetable or chicken)
2 Tablespoons olive oil (can use the oil from the sun-dried tomato jar)
1 bunch of scallions or 1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 ½ cups arborio rice
2 cups coarsely chopped greens such as spinach, escarole, or chard (about 2 oz.)
1 cup cooked chickpeas (canned are fine; rinse and drain them first)
½ cup coarsely chopped sun-dried tomatoes in oil (about ½ a 8.5 oz. jar)
1 Tablespoon butter
leaves from 1 large sprig basil, chopped
1 large sprig rosemary, chopped
½ teaspoon black pepper
salt to taste, you may not need any if the stock is salty

Heat the stock in a medium saucepan and keep it at a simmer.

Heat the olive oil in a small stockpot or a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the scallions and garlic. Sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the rice and stir in the oil until it is coated in the oil. At this point, you'll need to pay attention for about 20-25 minutes. Add ½ cup of the hot stock to the rice and stir it around. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir it every few minutes. When all the liquid is absorbed, add another ½ cup of stock and do it again. Keep doing this until the rice is just done, not mushy and not hard in the center. Just right!

Add the greens, chickpeas, tomatoes, butter, herbs, and black pepper. Taste it before adding any salt. Many stocks are very salty and you will not need to add any more.

If you must, you can stir in some Parmesan cheese or goat cheese. :-)

Pasta with Greens, Garbanzos & Feta Cheese

A pot full of tasty pasta

Here's the second pasta dish from out latest class. Super easy and quick. It actually takes longer to boil the water and cook the pasta than it does to put the final dish together. The lemon zest is key. Along with the feta cheese and tomatoes, it brings some bold bright flavors to a pot full of earthy ingredients.

The recipe calls for orecchiette (which means "little ears" in Italian) or small shells. Any smallish pasta will work. We used campanelle (which means "bellflower" in Italian) and that worked just as well. We found that it was necessary to cook the pasta for nearly 12 minutes, but we are cooking this at an altitude of 5400 feet. If you are at sea level, it will probably be al dente in 10 minutes.

Pasta with Greens, Garbanzos & Feta Cheese
(serves 4, cost is $10.30)

8 oz. orecchiette or small shells
¼ cup olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
12 ounces baby spinach
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup small cherry or grape tomatoes
4 ounces feta cheese, cut into ¼“ cubes or crumbled
1 teaspoon lemon zest (see Note)
Salt and black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm, stirring occasionally, about 8-12 minutes. Reserve about a 1⁄2 cup of the pasta water and drain pasta.

Wipe the pasta pot out with a towel, and over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant and lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Using a spoon, remove the garlic and discard.

Add the spinach, the beans and tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the pasta, half of the cheese, the lemon zest, and season with salt and pepper. The feta cheese is quite salty so be careful not to over-salt. Toss well and thin out the sauce with a little of the pasta water. Garnish with the remaining cheese and serve.

Note: How do you zest an lemon if you don't have a lemon zester? Use a vegetable peeler to carefully peel off strips of lemon peel. Try to get as little of the white pith as possible since it is terribly bitter. After you have peeled about ½ the lemon, which should be enough for this dish, mince it. It smells intensely lemony and provides great flavor to this dish, so don't leave it out.

One of our students checking out the intense aroma of lemon zest

What's in Season Now?

Pumpkins and apples, out in an orchard near Syracuse, NY

Autumn is such a wonderful time of year - crisp weather and there is loads of wonderful produce everywhere. Most of these are available all year, but are at their best in the fall. Apples are freshly picked, not pulled out of storage. Greens, such as kale and collards, are at their sweetest after a touch of frost. Here's a list of great produce now in season and some recipes to help you cook them. Check back in to the blog, because we'll be posting more great fall recipes.

Winter squash: In my supermarket, winter squash is currently displayed in giant bins. That's a lot of squash! There are many varieties, but two of our favorites are acorn squash and butternut squash. Both come in size that a single person can handle. Acorn squash has ridges which make peeling it a royal pain. Don't even try. Microwave them instead and then it is easy to scoop out the cooked flesh. You'll find an easy recipe for acorn squash at the end of this post. Butternut squash is another favorite because it is easy to peel. That makes butternut squash one of the best for roasting. You can learn all about roasting vegetables, including winter squash, in this article we wrote earlier this year.

Sauteed Kale with Asian Pear

Greens: It's true - greens are better in the fall. Extremely cold hardy, they not only thrive in cold temperatures, they produce more sugar. If you are afraid they will be bitter, this is the time of year to give them a try. Try our basic sauteed kale. You can use other greens such as collards or mustard but you'll need to cook them longer. And, kale is the sweetest of the bunch, making it a good "starter" dark leafy green for most folks.

Apples: The most popular fruit of fall in the US. Currently, apples are selling for 49¢ a pound in one of my local markets. Now, that's cheap! There are endless varieties. Need help figuring out which one to use? Check out this post on the most popular ones in US markets. And, we recently posted a recipe for a delicious yet simple apple crumble.

Orange-Pecan Acorn Squash
(serves 4, costs $1.50)

Unlike many recipes for baked acorn squash, this one depends on the natural sweetness of orange juice and pecans.

1 1-pound acorn squash, cut in half lengthwise and seeded (see Note)
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons orange juice
¼ cup chopped pecans
¼ teaspoon salt

Place acorn squash halves in a microwavable container. Cover and microwave on high for 10 minutes. Let stand, covered for 5 minutes.

Combine butter, orange juice, pecans, and salt in a 2 cup microwavable measuring cup. Cover tightly and microwave on high for 1 1/2 minutes.

Using a soup spoon, scoop out flesh from the acorn squash into a serving bowl. Pour over pecan mixture and serve.

Note: Winter squash can be difficult to cut in half because of its tough skin. You can soften the skin by microwaving it for a minute. The best tool for removing the seeds from squash is a soup spoon.

Sauteed Kale

Kale is one of the super foods. Great, but do I want to eat it?

Yes, you do. Kale, of all the super food greens, is the most tasty and most versatile. It's not too bitter. It cooks fairly quickly but not so quickly that it turns to a grey-green mess in a few minutes. It has a great texture, nicely crunchy but not tough.

Kale is great simply sauteed in olive oil with a little garlic. With that basic recipe, you can go in a wide variety of directions. Add salty: olives, anchovies, bacon. Add sweet: raisins, currants, apple, pear. Add tart: some lemon juice and/or zest, a little vinegar-sherry vinegar is my favorite. Add spicy: crushed red pepper, Sriracha sauce, chile paste with garlic. Even, add a little of each! This is a vegetable that can stand up to big flavors and take them all. I have made kale with garlic, currants, sherry vinegar, and crushed red pepper. The picture above is kale with garlic, Asian pear, and crushed red pepper. Play with the flavors and discover what you like.

Kale holds onto dirt, so wash it well because no one likes grit in their greens. Fill a large bowl or your sink with cold water. Strip the leaves off the stems (the topmost part is usually tender enough to leave on) and dunk in the water. Swish it around a bit and leave for 5 minutes in the water. Here's the important part: lift the greens out of the water; don't dump the whole thing in a colander. The dirt will sink to the bottom and by lifting out the leaves, you get the greens without the grit.

Basic Sauteed Kale
(serves 3-4)

1 big bunch of kale, leaves stripped off stems and washed well
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Toss in the garlic slices. Saute for about 1 minute; do not burn. Dump in all the kale. Cover and cook for a couple of minutes. Toss around, cover, and cook for another 5-15 minutes. Great thing about kale - you aren't likely to overcook it.

Season with salt and serve.

Some possible variations (experiment!)

• Use 1 tablespoon of olive oil to saute a slice of bacon, chopped, and proceed with recipe.
• Add ½ tablespoon anchovy paste to olive oil when you add the garlic.
• Add a small handful of olives, sliced or halved, at the end of cooking.
• Add a teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar at the end.
• Saute ½ tablespoon chili paste with garlic in olive oil.
• Add a pinch of crushed red pepper or a teaspoon of hot sauce at the end.
• Add 1-2 tablespoons of raisins or dried currants at the end.
• Add ½ an apple, pear, or Asian pear at the end.