Brassicas Bowls

Posted on March 14, 2017 by melsmosaic

When I make birthday dinners for friends I always aim for new recipes. I was flipping through a Bon Appetit and there was a recipe at the very beginning that was from a chef or that somebody had submitted. It just sounded great and was definitely up my friend’s alley based on ingredients — you can’t go wrong with stuff like hummus, kale, Brussels sprouts, avocado (a lot of green here) and more… It was Brassicas Bowl.

Ingredients
4 Servings

4 large eggs (I didn’t use these as I opted to serve the dish with pan seared tuna)
1 bunch broccolini, trimmed
5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Kosher salt
1 small shallot, finely chopped
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
½ bunch curly kale, ribs and stems removed, leaves torn into 2-inch pieces (about 8 cups)
8 ounces Brussels sprouts, trimmed, thinly sliced lengthwise
Freshly ground black pepper
½ cup unsalted, roasted sunflower seeds, divided (great to grab them from salad bars if you don’t want a whole bunch)
½ cup hummus
1 avocado, quartered lengthwise
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Crushed red pepper flakes (for serving)

Preparation

Cook eggs in a large saucepan of boiling water for 7 minutes (whites will be set and yolks still slightly soft). Drain; transfer to a bowl of ice water and let sit until cool. Drain; peel eggs and cut in half lengthwise. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 500°. Toss broccolini with 1 Tbsp. oil on a rimmed baking sheet and season with salt. Roast, turning occasionally, until crisp-tender and charred in spots, 8–10 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop.

Whisk shallot, vinegar, mustard, and remaining 4 Tbsp. oil in a large bowl (large bowl is key because of all the other ingredients you’re going to add — I had to change the bowl several times because of the volume of greens!) until emulsified; season with salt. Add kale and Brussels sprouts and toss to coat; season with salt and pepper. Massage kale until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add roasted broccolini and 2 Tbsp. sunflower seeds; toss again.

Swipe some hummus along the inside of each bowl with a spoon. Divide salad among bowls and add an avocado wedge and 2 reserved egg halves to each. Top with chives, sesame seeds, and remaining sunflower seeds; sprinkle with red pepper flakes.

This salad was delicious. So many flavors and very hearty. The tuna on top was great, so much more flavor than an egg! Will definitely be making this again. And it was enjoyed with a bubbly red (one of my favorite types of wines, and hard to find sometimes). It was the I Quercioli Dolce Reggiano Lambrusco DOC. Some nice bubbles, not overly sweet and some nice fruit notes.

Kale and Cucumber Salad with Roasted Ginger Dressing

Posted on January 16, 2017 by melsmosaic

Does the name of the recipe not say enough? This was from a recent issue of Bon Appetit. Kale, love it, cukes, well, I will say I don’t absolutely love them solo (not as much as tomatoes), but when with other stuff, bring them on, and I love ginger. And, I’d never roasted it.

Ingredients

Dressing
8 ounces fresh ginger
1 green or red Thai chile (I used a couple dashes of tabasco b.c of my low heat tolerance)
1 garlic clove
3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

Salad
1 bunch small Red Russian kale, ribs and stems removed, leaves torn into bite-size pieces (ended up using baby kale)
1 English hothouse cucumber, very thinly sliced
3 Persian cucumbers, very thinly sliced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons sugar
Kosher salt
1 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped (love cilantro)
¼ cup store-bought fried onions (nixed these)

Preparation

-Heat broiler. Broil ginger in its skin, turning once, until very dark brown and beginning to scorch in places and a paring knife passes through the center with relative ease, 40–50 minutes (if skin is getting too dark before flesh is tender, turn down the heat or move to the oven). Let cool; slice (leave on the skin).

*This really does take this long, and I had a smaller piece. I would highly recommend putting it on foil on your baking sheet as it can ‘scar’ the thing — make major black marks. I’m not saying cookie sheets are all about looks, but it does leave evidence of what was there. Come the end, the skin of the ginger is very crackly and also bulbous, is the best way to say it. Quite cool! Forgot to take a picture.

-Pulse ginger, chile, garlic, fish sauce, sugar, oil, and 2 Tbsp. water in a food processor, adding additional water by tablespoonfuls if needed, until a smooth paste forms.

Do Ahead: Dressing can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.

Assembly

-Toss kale and ¼ cup dressing in a large bowl to coat; massage with your fingers until kale is slightly softened.

-Toss English and Persian cucumbers, onion, lime juice, and sugar in a medium bowl to combine; season generously with salt. Let sit 10 minutes to allow cucumbers and onion to soften slightly.

-Add cucumber mixture to bowl with kale and toss to combine, adding additional dressing if desired. Serve topped with cilantro and fried onions.

This was a very nice salad — very fresh! Can definitely be paired with a variety of food. It’s fairly light and has a great flavor. And fun to make since the roasted ginger isn’t your everyday affair. And a side note, it was enjoyed with the wild boar burgers highlighted in another post.

Soup of the Day

Posted on March 4, 2016 by melsmosaic

Real Simple always has some good recipes to check out. The most recent one I put to the test was their Squash, Mushroom, and Kale Soup With Dill. All ingredients sound pretty darn good!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 pound mixed mushrooms (such as button and shiitake), stemmed and halved (or quartered if large) (grabbed some good ones from Trader Joe’s)
4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into ½-inch chunks (about 12 ounces)
1/3 cup orzo (could even use quinoa, etc if gluten intolerant)
4 cups loosely packed baby kale leaves (about 2½ ounces)
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill, plus more for garnishing (just used dry stuff)

Directions

-Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, ½  teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, about 4 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and lower heat to medium. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are tender and have released their juices, 6 to 8  minutes. Stir in the broth, squash, and orzo and bring to a boil. Reduce heat  to medium-low and simmer until the squash is tender and the orzo is cooked, about 15 minutes.
-Stir in the kale until just wilted.  Season with salt and pepper and stir in the dill. Serve topped with more dill.

When I sampled this mid-way through I was a bit disappointed. But then, when you add the dill…totally amazing flavor punch! Very happy with the end result and nice one to add to the list.

Brussels Sprouts Turned Chips

Posted on March 4, 2016 by melsmosaic

I love kale chips so it’s fun to find recipes that parallel them. I was going through some sites recently and found a similar one for Brussels Sprouts chips. Those little round green veggies taste great to begin with so why not try them in another form?

Ingredients:

-2 cups of Brussels sprout leaves (outer leaves from 2 pounds of sprouts)
-2 tablespoons of melted ghee (I used olive olive)
-Kosher salt to taste (threw some pepper in there, too)
-Lemon zest (optional)

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350°F
-Mix the leaves, ghee, and salt together in a large bowl
-Line two large baking trays with parchment. Divide the leaves evenly in a single layer on each tray.
-Bake each tray for 8-10 minutes or until crispy and brown around the edges.
-Microplane some lemon zest over the chips (optional)

My deep thoughts on these; they took WAY too much work. You have to peel all these sprouts. My friend and I must have stood there for well over 20 minutes doing this. I felt like we were picking crabs. We tried various methods for this — quick tear, cutting the bottom to see if leaves would fall. No method seemed super efficient.

The taste was great. Crisp, flavorful. So, if I need to kill time, will totally make them again. Otherwise, will stick to kale chips.

Kale and Garlic = Perfect Match

Posted on September 12, 2015 by melsmosaic

As usual, flipping through food magazines looking for recipes. I now tear out the recipes that look good vs. dog-earring them. I then clip them on the baker’s rack in my kitchen and have to make them. So part of last night’s dinner was Kale Salad with Garlicky Panko from Food & Wine. Hmmm…kale, delicious and garlic, delicious X2.

Ingredients

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
1/2 cup panko (Trader Joe’s has great stuff)
Kosher salt & Pepper
1 bunch curly kale (I was lazy and grabbed the bag of stuff from Trader Joe’s — can you tell where I shop?)
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (the blocks of stuff from Trader Joe’s are great, and real Feta is from sheep’s milk so lactards can eat it safely)
6 fried eggs (optional) — I threw some shrimp on top vs eggs

Preparation

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Stir in the panko and cook, stirring, until golden and crisp, 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a plate to cool.
Cut the stems from the kale and tear the leaves into pieces. In a bowl, whisk the vinegar with the remaining 1/2 cup of oil and season with salt and pepper. Add the kale; massage with the dressing using your fingers. Season with salt and pepper and toss. Transfer to a platter, top with the feta, garlic panko and fried eggs, if using, and serve.

I could not stop eating this stuff!!! The slight bit of saltiness from the feta, the garlic in the crispy breadcrumbs. WOW WOW WOW. Try this! You will not be disappointed.

Veggie Hybrid

Posted on February 18, 2015 by melsmosaic

You can rarely say no to samples when you to into grocery stores! So, when doing my weekly shopping at Trader Joe’s the other day they had these green leafy things out to lure you in. Hmmm…let’s investigate. They mentioned the name, sounded safe, took the bite, SOLD! They were sampling Kale Sprouts.

It’s essentially a hybrid between delicious kale and amazing Brussels sprouts…how can you go wrong? You’re getting great taste and all the (insert loads of info) health benefits in one bite! The official rundown on them per the package:

When pulled out of the bag, so cute!

Based on how they cooked them in the store (and tips on the back of the bag), I sauteed/steamed them. I also added garlic, of course. So, just put a bit of oil a pan, added garlic, tossed the kale sprouts in there for a bit, added some water then covered the pan and waited about 3 minutes. Then just sprinkled some lemon juice over top and some S&P. Voila! Delicious little ‘things’ — don’t know what else to call them. Give them a try if you see them in your local TJ’s.

Some tahini here, some lemon there, and kale everywhere!

Posted on February 18, 2015 by melsmosaic

Had some friends over for dinner and was going on an Asian theme. Was making some stir-fry like chicken dish and was looking for a salad to go with it. I found a great Cooking Light recipe to pair with it based on a whole page of kale salad ideas they had.

I went with the Tahini-Lemon Dressing — quick, easy and refreshing!

Ingredients

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon tahini

2 teaspoons lower-sodium soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon pepper

6 cups thinly sliced stemmed Lacinato kale

3/4 cup cooked quinoa (I did not include this)

Prep:

Combine water, lemon juice, olive oil, tahini, soy sauce, and pepper in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk.

Add kale (and cooked quinoa; toss) — I did this in a more normal salad way. After making the dressing, I dressed the salad/kale.

Delicious, I’m addicted. I’ve made it twice since they’ve been over. And the dressing keeps/holds well, so you can make a good amount and just keep it in the fridge.

Grapefruit and Hearts of Palm Salad

Posted on January 18, 2015 by melsmosaic

Found this recipe in Cooking Light and it just sounded so good. Many of my favorite ingredients. It just doesn’t seem like something that would be published in a winter issue (Jan/Feb) but I’m happy it was.

Grapefruit and Hearts of Palm Salad

Ingredients

2 tablespoons canola oil (I used olive oil)
1/2 teaspoon grated lime rind
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon canola mayonnaise (nixed that)
1 teaspoon honey
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 cups baby kale (I chopped it)
1 1/2 cups ruby red grapefruit sections (about 2 large grapefruit)
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
2 (14-ounce) cans hearts of palm, rinsed, drained, and cut diagonally into 1/4-inch slices
1 small red chile, seeded and thinly sliced (I just used pepper flakes)
1 ripe peeled avocado, cut into thin wedges

Directions

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl; stir with a whisk until smooth.

2. Place 2/3 cup kale on each of 6 plates. Arrange grapefruit sections, onion, hearts of palm, chile, and avocado evenly over kale. Drizzle with dressing. (ok, I didn’t make it that fancy — tossed all that stuff in a bowl and dressed it).

So good! Served it with some pan-seared scallops. I could eat this every night.

No-Recipe Stew

Posted on October 23, 2014 by melsmosaic

Last Sunday I finally had the time to break in my new kitchen (just moved). So wanted to make something fun. And, the night before I opened a bottle of red wine that did not merit being finished. I don’t really want to waste wine therefore determined I would just cook with it. It had been a windy, sort of cold day around DC, so determined I wanted to make a stew-like meal. I did some research online and didn’t find anything that truly struck my fancy so got creative and put together my own thing.

Ingredients (all quantities are some/non specific):

-chicken (sliced or cut into pieces)
-cannellini beans
-stewed/canned tomatoes
-mushrooms
-kale
-red wine
-onion (used a red one)
-garlic
-thyme (had some fresh stuff on hand)
-water
-S&P

I sauteed the garlic and onion for a few minutes then added the chicken and sauteed that until it was cooked. After that I added the balance of the ingredients and cooked it over low heat for about an hour — I was in no hurry.

It was a very tasty stew, lots of flavor. I served it with a quality-of-a-name Zin, Zinzilla. It was a nice wine!

Explore in the kitchen! Never hurts to have fun and try something new.

No Recipe Green Sunday Dinner

Posted on March 17, 2014 by melsmosaic

Last night I wanted to make a pre-St. Patrick’s Day dinner, color-wise. I had done an Irish brunch so needed something lighter but wanted a green theme. I assessed what I had in my kitchen and off I went.

Started with some green olives to nibble on while prepping. Then went for some scallops with ginger, garlic and green onions, some Brussels sprouts (with pistachios) and arugula with grapefruit.

The key to the taste of this was some sesame oil!

Put some of that in a pan then added the green onions, garlic and ginger. My kitchen smelled SO good.

Then, I purposely used a big pan to (1) save time and (2) get some of those amazing, drool inducing flavors/tastes into both the scallops and Brussels sprouts.

Wanted to add some (more) tang to my arugula salad so added some grapefruit.

While all this was happening, had some kale chips going — just tore some kale, tossed in olive oil, sprinkled with salt and baked at 400 for 10 minutes. I put the kale on a rack so I don’t have to flip it.

Opened up a red from Italy that I’d had for awhile to serve with dinner — amazing! Osel Ruche.

Final product all around was AMAZING. Plenty of green on the plate — green kale, green arugula, green Brussels sprouts, green pistachios (tossed with them), green onions, green olives for apps. Love just throwing stuff together!