mum's cheese pies

to say i learned everything i know about cooking from my mother would not be entirely true, but i learned a hell of a lot from her, and more importantly she imparted to me a passion for cooking -how to wrap the day up with a fine meal like putting a bow on a present. as french gourmand tallyrand put it, "show me another pleasure like dinner, which comes every day and lasts an hour."
this is one my favourite recipes of hers, all the better for its simplicity. she says to have learned it from an old, greek friend of the family, dora.
first you mash up some feta or goat cheese with a beaten egg. in this particular incarnation some suateed spinach was added as well. defrost some filo dough and cut it into strips about 3 inches wide. layer them 2 or 3 sheets thick. place a teaspoon of the filling on one end of the filo strip and then fold up like a flag, sealing the last fold with a little water. fry in olive oil until golden brown. there's no need to grease the filo because of the frying. quite a treat!

rumbledethumps

made this more for the sake of the name than anything else. basically it's just bubble and squeak baked with cheese on top. now i've got no roast dinner's leftovers to use up, but this combines two of my favourite things, mashed potatoes and greens, and is totally worth making in it's own right. in my csa box last week i had some savoy cabbage (i think) so i decided to use that as the green component. i also had garlic scapes, which i didn't even know existed - and now that i do i guess i'll have to wait until next year to get them again. the guy at the farmers' market told me that the green parts of fresh onions and scallions were edible, which i had been uncertain about before, so i threw those in as well.

these are the garlic scapes above, very tasty. i used:

• 4 baking potatoes
• 3 tbs. butter
• 3 tbs. heavy cream
  
• ~6 garlic scapes, roughly chopped
• green parts of 3 fresh scallions, roughly chopped
• 1 small white onion, diced
• 1 small (fist sized) head of broccoli, roughly chopped
• 1/2 head savoy cabbage, or any other dark green, roughly chopped
• cheddar cheese to top
• oil to saute

wash the potatoes then place them in cold water and bring to a boil. simmer 30 min or until cooked through. cool enough to handle, then peel and pass through a ricer or food mill. mix in cream and butter, set aside. in a saucepan over medium high heat saute the onion, scapes, and shallot greens for ~5 minutes until translucent. add the broccoli and cabbage and ~1/3 cup of water. cover tightly and let steam for 10 minutes or so. when everything is cooked through mix into the mashed potatoes. place in a casserole dish and cover with shredded cheddar cheese. bake at 375 f for 15-20 minutes until bubbly and starting to brown on top.
one of my favourite cookbooks, vegetarian entertaining for friends, by simon hope, has a great recipe for cheesy bubble and squeak where, instead of baking, egg and cheese are added to the potato/greens mix with some bread crumbs and flour, formed into patties and then fried. delightful. great recipe and infinitely adaptable. any dark leafy green or cruciferous vegetable can be brought into the mix. this week's rumbledethumps was great, but i've made a most delicious version with brussel sprouts and mustard greens.

grilled salad

one of my favourite summertime meals. who says you can't put everything on the grill? pretty much anything you'd normally put in a salad - grilled. i have here a head of romaine, quartered lengthwise, four slices of bread, one tomato, quartered, and three shallots, quartered lengthwise. - all drizzled with oil and seasoned. the shallots and tomatoes take the longest while the bread and lettuce just need a couple of minutes per side. dressed simply with olive oil and vinegar.

potato gnocchi with mushroom leek cream sauce

fresh pasta is not all that difficult to make and once gotten the hang of sure to impress. i had some boiled potatoes left over from my pot pie the other night and decided to make gnocchi. they came out very well, perfect little pillow-like dumplings. i understand that authentic potato gnocchi contain no egg, but it sure makes them much easier to work with. maybe next time i'll be brave. i used for the gnocchi:

• 2 medium russet potatoes, boiled whole and peeled
• 1 chicken egg
• ~1 cup all purpose flour, plus or minus to feel

put the potatoes through a ricer or food mill to break them up without making them gummy. beat the egg and fold in. now add flour little by little and fold to incorporate. the way to handle this dough is more akin to biscuit or pie dough than fresh pasta, that is as little kneading as possible to bring all the ingredients together. the dough should be still fairly wet, tacky not sticky. i had about 1/4 cup of flour left over which i used for the rolling out. let rest 20 min. cut off a palm sized piece of the dough and roll with flat hands into dowels 3/4" thick. cut into 1/2" pieces and roll each one off the back of a fork, pressing down with a finger to create a concave on one side and ridges on the other.
boil in lots of salted water for ~3-4 minutes when floating vigorously or freeze for later use. sauce with whatever you'd put on pasta. i just sauteed leeks and button mushrooms in oil until browning then deglazed with port and added cream. garnish with plenty of cheese and parley.

pot pie

thursday night i made one of my favourite fallback recipes, veg pot pie. it's a great way to empty out the fridge as you can put just about anything in and it always comes out scrumptious. pictured here with a puff pastry crust, my preferred way to cook it is with a biscuit crust (i was being lazy). i used:

• small head of broccoli, cut into small florets and stems cut into 1/4 in. dice
• 1 russet potato, boiled whole for ~30 minutes, peeled and cut into 1/2 in. chunks
• 1 red onion, cut into 1/4 in. dice
• 2 small carrots, cut into 1/4 in. dice
• 2 stalks celery, sliced thin on the bias
• 3 cloves garlic, minced fine
• 1 habenero, minced fine
• 2 stalks tarragon, stemmed and roughly chopped
• small bunch thyme (i'm lazy and just tie it up in cotton twine and fish it out later, most of the leaves fall off while it cooks- for fancier preparations by all means stem it)
• 7 or 8 dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in hot water for half an hour and roughly chopped, soaking liquid strained and reserved
• 1 sheet puff pastry or 1 basic biscuit recipe
• wee dram of wild turkey or other bourbon (there's no actual pot in this pie, but there is some booze)
  

heat a saucepan over medium heat with enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan. cook the onion, celery, carrot, habenero, and garlic for about 10 minutes until translucent. add the herbs and the mushrooms and cook an additional five minutes. now if you're like me and you like pyrotechnics, add the bourbon and enjoy the fireball - it will be big (especially if you've got good high proof bourbon like old rip van winkles 107). if you have low ceilings or some special attachment to your eyebrows you may want to take the pan off the heat, add the bourbon and stir for a minute or two while the alcohol boils off before adding back to the heat. now add in the mushroom liquid, broccoli, and potatoes. you now have a choice to either boil down the sauce to your desired consistency or mash up some of the potato to thicken it. pour into a baking dish, top with your desired crust and bake at 350 f until golden brown on top and bubbling below.

bean sprouts and hot spots

long week. one of my dogs has a relatively minor skin infection that is driving her absolutely mad and she won't do anything on her own (e.g. eat, eliminate). she needs a lot of supportive care and i didn't have time to post anything, but these were the meals of the week.
my bean sprouts exploded. i started with a measly half a cup of mung beans in two pint mason jars (not nearly enough room) topped with cheese cloth and rubber bands, rinsed twice daily for about four days. i got this method from the pictures in the sprouting section of madhur jaffrey's world of the east vegetarian cooking which is interesting only because the text of the section describes something completely different involving zip top bags and a colander. anyway, i would recommend using two quart jars for the same amount of beans and hopefully the sprouts won't look so stunted. they tasted great, though, spicy and crunchy. the most annoying part was picking off all the little green bean skins.
monday night i made spring rolls with fried tofu, bean sprouts, rice noodles, scallion, sesame oil, and cilantro for an appetizer (and lunch the next day) and stir fried the same ingredients with some chopped veg, lime juice, and sriracha for a kind of a pad thai thing for my main course.
tuesday i used the farmer's market morels and tried to make a fancy sauce for some new potatoes. it wasn't inedible, but lacked the rich taste i expected from such a fancy ingredient. i'm not sure if i just didn't have enough of them. with roast tomatoes it sustained life processes sufficiently for me to cook another day.
wednesday and friday were comfort food nights, and i made the exact same thing both nights. taco salad in an edible bowl. it is merely a vehicle for the things i like most to eat: cheese, refried beans, and chiles.

gumbo z'herbes

green gumbo. i love greens. from the first time i had salty collard greens at a thanksgiving potluck on the west side of chicago i have loved greens. up until a year and a bit ago i worked at a little independent pet store. i loved that job because, for the most part, there was always something that needed doing and everything was different. my last year there i was in charge of the reptiles and had, amongst all other things, the task of feeding them. we had an eleven year old sulcatta tortoise (about a foot diameter) as well as two adult iguanas (not at the same time) that had been found in trees in the city (they're cheap and small as babies, but they get big ~5-6 feet) - all total herbivores with big appetites. in addition to this were the omnivorous lizards: the bearded dragons, the uromastyxes (guessing at the plural here), the skinks, etc. so i cut up each week a varied and varying mix of greens that i would wash, dry, and chop up at home then feed to the animals at work. as a result i had a great variety of greenery passing through my home, and needless to say, took my tithe.
mustard, collard, turnip, beet greens, carrot tops, chard, spinach, and all matter of lettuce. since then i have not eaten nearly as many greens (save probably spinach) if it wasn't thanksgiving. but with the farmers' markets becoming lush and my csa basket not letting me choose, i got some greens in the fridge
gumbo z'herbes is a traditional good friday dish with as many different kinds of greens as you can find. my version this night was untraditional, no okra, no file powder, but i've never made a roux this good and i think that sealed the deal. i used (quantities of greens very approximate):

• rainbow chard, stemmed (~1 bunch)
• baby spinach (3 big handfuls)
• beet greens (from one bunch of beets), stemmed - all washed and chopped into ribbons
  
• ~2 sprigs tarragon leaves
• 1 medium yellow onion, fine dice
• 1/2 green bell pepper, fine dice
• 1 stalk celery, fine dice
• 3 cloves garlic, fine dice
• 2 bay leaves
• sprig of thyme
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 oz. flour, by weight
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• salt, to taste
• black pepper, to taste
• cayenne pepper, to taste

in a medium dutch oven over medium heat add the oil, when shimmering add the flour and cook whisking often for 30-50 minutes. the flour should get darker and darker while starting to smell crazy good. if you just can't take it anymore, or you're worried it might burn, then add the veg. a brick colour is ideal, but i gave up at a brown roux and it tasted better than any gumbo i've ever had.when satisfied with the colour, add the onion, bell pepper, and celery, cook 7 minutes or so and add the garlic, bay leaves and thyme. cook 3 or 4 minutes more, then add the stock and the greens. simmer 30-40 minutes uncovered and serve over long grain white rice with hot sauce as needed.