Some Menu Ideas for St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day is a week away, and we are looking over past recipes we've done to inspire ideas for our upcoming annual Irish Dinner with neighbors D and J and their kids. Here they are, for your inspiration as well.

Chef Lise's Irish Stew, recipe here, is a long-time favorite, not just for St. Patrick's Day, but all of stew season.

It's easy to get into the spirit with a little bit of green food coloring! 

Add it to frosting for "Irish" cupcakes. No corned beef necessary.

Add it to your favorite light beer, then layer that with Guinness to make a "Black & Green," (instead of a Black & Tan). 

Prefer to re-purpose an old standby for the holiday? Color up some powdered sugar to decorate an everyday dessert with shamrocks, as we did with our lemon bars.

How about cooking with Guinness? Try our Guinness Glazed Chicken Wings, the perfect accompaniment to your Irish-style beverage.

Overdid the celebrating? Another delicious soup is our Sweet Potato and Kale. This one has all the right colors for St. Patrick's Day, but is also really really healthy, so you can feel better about having that extra brew or two. Bonus? St. Patrick's Day is a Monday, so if you are doing Meatless Monday, you're all set with this one!

Tune in next week to see what we come up for St. Patty's 2014!

Meatless Monday: Celery Root Soup

It's only recently that we have come to love celery root, or celeriac as it is also known. It's pretty ugly, and as the saying goes, you eat with your eyes first. But we have found this funny-looking root vegetable to be quite delicious in dishes such as our Potato, Leek and Celeriac Gratin. Then again, cheese can be like bacon in that everything-tastes-better-with-it kind of way. Regardless, we bought a couple of celery roots the last time we were at the farmers market and were looking for something new to do with them.

Rewind to Christmas, when Amy received this beautiful set of cookbooks from her cousin J (Thank you so much, J! We love you!). The cookbooks are particularly meaningful as they contain recipes created by the Rome Sustainable Food Project at the American Academy of Rome, where Amy was lucky enough to study in the summer of 2004 via a Fulbright Grant. She has so many wonderful memories of her time at the AAR and her other adventures in Rome, and while this particular program did not exist back then (darn it!), Italian, or more specifically, Roman, food is definitely something close to her heart and soul. Suffice it to say, she loves these books and she has been flipping around in them almost daily since she got them. 

Now back to the celery root thing. Since the volume on soup, Zuppe, is arranged by seasons, one of the first things she had looked at was the chapter focusing on winter, and there it was! Celery Root Soup (or, rather, passato di sedano rape), a velvety soup with beautifully rich flavors of celery, leek and potato that was as comforting as it was nourishing. Just lovely. And perfect for Meatless Monday.

Now, normally, we would post the recipe for you. But, as is noted on their website, "The American Academy in Rome is a private institution supported by gifts, grants and membership fees of individuals, foundations, corporations and leading colleges, universities and arts and cultural organizations." And purchasing items in their store, particularly these amazing cookbooks, is part of that support. So we don't want to do anything to take away from that. Perhaps this post and its photographs will inspire you to consider buying the book from AAR (or on Amazon here) and enjoying this and 49 other amazing soup recipes.

Spring Vegetable Farfalle for Meatless Monday

It is officially spring in Connecticut. It's 70 degrees out, the sun is high in the sky even at 5:00 p.m., and we have mini-forests of crocus all along our driveway. Oh look! Our spring onions and chives are coming in! At last, at last, it's spring at last!

And it's Monday, so what better meal to make for this beautiful spring day than something for Meatless Monday? This Food and Wine recipe seemed like the perfect gift when it arrived in our email box last week and we saved it for a day just like this one. As usual, we made some adjustments based our tastes and what we had on hand.

What we loved about this recipe was the wonderful fresh taste it gets from the green vegetables, seasonal herbs and tangy lemon. While we enjoyed it hot, we could see gracing our summer picnic table as a pasta salad alongside some barbecue. Mmmm...mmmm.

Spring Vegetable Farfalle

adapted from this recipe from Food and Wine

Ingredients:

2 slices white sandwich bread, finely chopped

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons snipped chives

1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 bunch broccolini

1 pound mini-farfalle

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 fennel bulb - halved, cored and thinly sliced

juice from 1/2 lemon

2 drops lemon oil

Preheat the oven to 350. On a baking sheet, toss the bread with 1/4 cup of the oil and toast for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring once, until golden. Let cool, then stir in half each of the chives and tarragon. Season the crumbs with salt and pepper and set aside. In a pot of boiling salted water, cook the broccolini until tender, 1 minute; using tongs, transfer to a cutting board and coarsely chop. Boil the pasta in the broccolini water until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water. In a deep skillet or wok, melt the butter in the remaining 1/4 cup of oil. Add the garlic, fennel and broccolini and cook over moderate heat until the fennel is crisp-tender, about 6 minutes. Add the pasta, lemon juice and cooking water and season with salt and pepper. Cook over moderate heat until the water is nearly absorbed. Stir in the remaining herbs and lemon oil. Sprinkle the pasta with the bread crumbs just before serving.

Meatless Monday: White Pizza with Arugula

Tonight we used the last of the dough we made (we had frozen it) in a recent cooking class we took to make a pizza for Meatless Monday. We infused garlic and red pepper flakes into olive oil and brushed the dough with that, topped the pizza with a blend of mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, and baked it in a super-hot oven. While it was cooking, we tossed arugula (we got a bagful at a local farmers' market for $1!) with lemon juice and more olive oil, and when we took the pizza out, we placed the arugula right on top. Delightful!!!

White Pizza with Arugula

Ingredients:

1 premade pizza dough

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 cloves garlic, sliced

pinch red pepper flakes

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 cup fresh arugula

2 tablespoons lemon juice

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat pizza stone in 500-degree oven for at least 45 minutes. In a small sauce pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes for 5-7 minutes over low heat, taking care not to burn the garlic. Stretch the dough and place it on a brown rice flour-dusted pizza peel. Brush the infused oil onto the dough. Top the dough with the cheese mixture and bake until crust is done to your liking and cheese is melted. In the meantime, whisk together the remaining olive oil with the lemon juice, salt and pepper, and toss the arugula in the mixture. Lay the arugula over the cheese when pizza comes out of the oven. 

Meatless Monday: White Beans Provençal

Ah, December. Sure, it's crunch time at school, with mid-marking progress reports due, and midterm exams just around the corner. Sure, we should be cleaning and decorating and buying presents and boosting the economy and all that. But what we love most about December is, of course, all about the food. It's about the cookie swapping, Chex mix eating, candy making, soup stewing, meat braising, and last week, beans simmering.

 

For last week's Meatless Monday, we came up with a simple white bean dish perfect for wintry weeknights. Since it's Monday again, we figured we'd share. Hearty and filling, these beans are packed with herbacious flavor from the wonderful spice blend that is herbes de Provence. Since our New England garden has been laid waste by the weather, we use this particular version of the traditional dried blend which includes garlic, lavender, a variety of other herbs and spices, lemon peel and sea salt. Add some vegetable broth to make it a stew, or serve it over rice for a more filling meal. We liked it the way it is here, served with a crusty French baguette.

 

White Beans Provençal

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

2 teaspoons (or to taste) herbes de Provence

2 large (1 pound, 13 ounce) cans cannellini beans

2 bay leaves

kosher salt, to taste

freshly ground white pepper, to taste

1/4-1/2 cup hot water

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add chopped onion and garlic and cook until onion starts to become translucent. Sprinkle with herbs de Provence and cook, stirring, for another 2-3 minutes. Add white beans and bay leaves and season with salt and white pepper to taste. Add 1/4 cup hot water (or more, to desired consistency) and cook over medium heat for about an hour. Drizzle with additional olive oil before serving.

Goose Egg Oven Pancake

Last spring, to celebrate their 40th birthdays, Amy and her bestie Karen went on a girls' weekend to Bennington, Vermont. They stayed at a quaint and charming bed and breakfast called the Eddington House Inn. The proprietor, a very hospitable lady named Patti, made the most amazing breakfasts and afternoon treats that we were stuffed the whole weekend. Thank goodness there was plenty of shopping to be done in town, so we had a few chances to walk it off!

As we (sadly) packed up to leave, Patti very kindly offered to send us some of her breakfast recipes, and somehow, we have never gotten around to making any of them. Now Meatless Monday has approached, and with it, four fist-sized goose eggs from Amy's generous friend M. As we were running through our egg-dish repertoire, suddenly Amy thought about Patti's "oven pancake." A perfect Meatless Monday breakfast-for-dinner choice!

This simple yet delicious pancake can be made in about 15 minutes and is big enough for two to share. Topped with chopped fruit, maple syrup, yogurt, or some simple berry jam mixed with a little water (as we did), it is a delightfully different dish suitable for breakfast, brunch, or dinner.

Special thanks to Patti for sharing this fantastic recipe!

Note: The only change we made was to substitute one goose egg for Patti's 2 large eggs.

Goose Egg Oven Pancake

Ingredients:

1/2 stick butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup low-fat milk

1 goose egg

1/4 cup raspberry jam, thinned with water

confectionary sugar for sprinkling on top

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter in an ovenproof (we used cast iron) pan. While the butter is melting, whisk together the flour and the milk. Add the goose egg and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter into the melted butter and place pan in the oven. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until fluffy. Carefully remove from pan and place on a platter. Drizzle with thinned jam and sprinkle with confectionary sugar (or other toppings of choice).

Meatless Monday: Shakshuka

Okay, it has been a while since we have done a Meatless Monday post. Amy has had a stressful time the last few months, and when she's stressed, it's not chocolate she wants, it's steak. She's a carnivore to the core, but the Big Bad Work Project is over, and it's time to focus on health and all that, especially as the Big Bad Holidays draw near. So, at least for now, we have a Meatless Monday post for you.

A few weeks ago, we learned that a fellow food blogger by the name of Daniel Saraga died suddenly, and a bunch of his fellow bloggers, including us, made some of his recipes in his honor. We posted about them on the same day as a tribute to Daniel, and it moved us to be a part of that. When we took a look at everyone's posts that day, we were inspired to make more of Daniel's recipes. One that really spoke to us was Shakshuka, or Israeli eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. To us, it was fascinating. Neither of us had ever had anything like that before.

So recently we made Shakshuka for Meatless Monday. Following Daniel's recipe and suggestions, we created a spicy, chunky tomato sauce, poached heirloom eggs in that sauce, and ate the eggs using pita bread and our hands instead of forks and knives. While we made a few slight changes, we mostly followed Daniel's recipe, which can be found here. Exactly what we did is below, and the result was a unique Meatless Monday breakfast-for-dinner dish that we thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks, Daniel. Requiescat in pace.

Shakshuka

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon CT salemme pepper

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon hot paprika

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes

6 eggs

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Heat oil in a large skillet (we used our paella pan) over medium-high heat. Add onions and crushed pepper and cook, stirring occasionally for six minutes until soft and slightly browned. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently for 2 minutes. Add diced tomatoes with liquid, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Reduce to medium-low, stir and make six wells in the thick sauce. Crack eggs over wells, cover the pan, and cook for about five minutes, or until yolks have set to desired consistency. Uncover, and baste the eggs with a light coating of the tomato sauce. Sprinkle the feta throughout the pan, turn off the heat, and let sit for 1-2 minutes.  Serve right out of the pan with toasted pita bread and a side of home-fried potatoes.

Meatless Monday: Spring Onion and Ricotta Fresca Tart

Our Spring Onion and Ricotta Fresca Tart is being featured this week at Meatless Monday. This delicious tart makes the best out of spring's wonderful bounty - spring onions, ricotta fresca cheese, garlic scapes, sage and farm-fresh eggs. Check it out!

Meatless Monday: Green Grape and Gorgonzola Pizza

Yes, you are reading that correctly. Inspired by one of the pies we saw on Cooking Channel's recent special, "Pizza Outside the Box," we made a Green Grape and Gorgonzola Pizza, a perfect meal for Meatless Monday.

Does it sound strange? Sure. But it's very much like nibbling on a cheese board: three different cheeses, grapes, and bread. A virtual picnic in Paris, no airline ticket needed. We urge you to try it. You won't be disappointed. It's a party on your tastebuds - sweet, salty, crispy, chewy, cheesy, crunchy, tangy, herby and, in a word, fabulous.

Green Grape and Gorgonzola Pizza

Ingredients:

3/4-1 lb. pizza dough

corn meal

olive oil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 cup shredded provolone cheese

1-1 1/2 cups halved grapes

1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese

2 tablespoons chopped rosemary

Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F for at least 30 minutes. Take the pizza dough and flatten it with your hands on a slightly floured work surface.

Starting at the center and working outwards, use your fingertips to press the dough to 1/2-inch thick. Gently stretch the dough until it reaches the desired diameter - 10 to 12 inches. Use your palm to flatten the edge of the dough where it is thicker. Lightly sprinkle a baking sheet with corn meal and transfer the dough to the baking sheet. Brush the top of the dough with olive oil to prevent it from getting soggy from the toppings. Sprinkle the outer edge of the crust with the kosher salt.

Mix together the mozzarella and provolone cheeses; spread this cheese mixture in a thin layer over the dough. Cover the cheese with the halved grapes. Sprinkle the pizza with the gorgonzola cheese crumbles and chopped rosemary.

Carefully slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone and bake at 450 for 15-20 minutes, until crust is browned and cheese is melted and golden. Enjoy!