Recipe: 2 Lumps Please aka How Not to Cook with Green Garlic

I was getting over a bug last week and really craving comforting mashed potatoes.  We thought green garlic would be a great addition, but made a mistake: we didn’t cook it before adding it to the mashed potatoes.  The dish wasn’t inedible by any means and we ate up the mashers with abandon, but the green garlic did have a rough texture and not a huge amount of flavor.  Here’s the recipe I should have made.

Lump 1:  Ingredients for the mashers

• 4 russet potatoes, scrubbed & cubed (leave the skins on)
• 1/2 bulb of green garlic, chopped finely
• some milk
• some sour cream
• some butter

Put the potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold water and bring to a boil.  Boil the potatoes for about 20 minutes, or until soft.  Meanwhile, put the green garlic, milk and butter in a saucepan.  Slowly bring to a simmer, and then turn off the heat, allowing the green garlic to infuse the milk/butter and soften in the heat.  Combine all ingredients to taste and mash with a potato masher.  Taste for S&P.

Lump 2: Ingredients for the Greens

• 1 bunch chard, ribs removed and leaves sliced into 1-inch ribbons
• greens from 4 beets, ribs removed and leaves sliced into 1-inch ribbons
• the other half of the green garlic, finely chopped
• juice from 1/2 a lemon
• red pepper flakes, to taste

Sauté the green garlic and a pinch of red pepper in some olive oil until softened.  Add the greens in batches and sauté until wilted.  Once the greens are cooked and most of the liquid has evaporated, squeeze lemon juice on greens and add more red pepper flakes, s&p to taste.

Recipe: Towers of Power

Yummy baked portobellos topped with mashed turnips and potatoes and spicy mustard greens.  Super satisfying and fancy enough for a dinner party, yet surprisingly quick and easy and light.

Ingredients for the mushrooms

• 2 large portobello mushrooms, stems and gills removed
• balsamic vinegar
• olive oil
• handful of fresh marjoram or other herb
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped

Mix the oil, vinegar, herbs and garlic in a large baking dish.  Toss the portobello mushrooms in the mixture, basting with the juices, cover and put in the refrigerator to marinate for about 2 hours.  Preheat the oven to 425.  Drain the mushrooms and cook on a lined baking sheet for about 20-30 minutes.

Ingredients for the potato/turnip mash

• 4 turnips, peeled and chopped
• 1 russet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 1 oz goat cheese
• 1 T butter
• 1 T cream

Put the turnips, potato and thyme in a pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil then simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.  Drain, remove the thyme and return veggies to pot.  Add in the goat cheese, butter and cream and mash with potato masher until smooth.  Taste for S&P.

Ingredients for the spicy mustard greens

• 2 bunches of mustard greens, cleaned and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 t cumin seeds
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 t red pepper flakes
• 1/2 T balsamic vinegar

Saute the onion in some oil until soft.  Add the cumin, garlic and red pepper flakes and saute for another 2-3 minutes until fragrant.  Add the mustard greens in bunches, allowing the greens to wilt before adding the next handful.  Cover with a lid and let cook for 20-30 minutes.  Add vinegar at the end.  Taste for S&P.

To assemble

If you’ve timed everything just right – all the elements should be ready at just about the same time.  To assemble, place the mushroom on a plate, top with the mashed turnips and then the mustard greens.  Enjoy!

Recipe: Stinging Nettles Soup

Quick & easy soup that’s satisfying yet light.  I ate it hot, but would be good cold as well.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 russet potatoes, cubed
• 2 handfuls nettle leaves, rinsed
• a dash of cream
• sour cream & chives to garnish

Saute the onion in some butter until softened.  Add the potatoes and cover with water.  Bring to boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.  Add the nettle leaves and cook 5 more minutes (to prep the nettles, tear the leaves off the stems and wear rubber gloves and don’t psyche yourself out too much by worrying that the poison is somehow getting through the rubber – it’ll be ok).  Puree the soup using your new immersion blender (yay! so much easier than the blender) and return to the heat.  Add a little cream to taste and taste for S&P.  Serve topped with sour cream and chives.

Recipe: Cabbage Lasagna and Green Garlic Mashers

I’ve never been a huge cabbage fan and you may have noticed that I hadn’t posted a recipe using that oxheart cabbage we got for Valentine’s Day.  Well, the March issue of Vegetarian Times arrived in our mailbox last week and included a feature about cabbage with various recipes.  Below is my take on their “Cabbage Casserole with Leeks, Ricotta and Pine Nuts.”  I didn’t really read through the recipe before I started making it, and thought that it would make a nice topping for mashed potatoes (or mashers), but it turned out that the recipe was more like a lasagna with cabbage filling in for pasta.  The mashers made a great side dish for this hearty, yet healthy meal.

Ingredients for the Cabbage Lasagna

• 12 large leaves of oxheart cabbage (or savoy)
• 2 baby red onions, sliced (or 3 small leeks)
• 1 baby garlic, sliced
• 1/2 cup veggie broth
• 3 slices lemon
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 15-ounce can chopped tomatoes – we had fire roasted tomatoes with peppers, which made the dish spicy
• 3T chopped parsley
• 8 oz ricotta
• 3T toasted pine nuts

Blanch the cabbage leaves in a large pot of boiling salted water about 5 minutes or until softened.  Drain, pat dry and set aside.  Heat some oil in a skillet over medium high eat and add the baby red onions, baby garlic, and broth.  Place lemon slices on top and bring to a simmer.  Drop the heat to low and cook for 25 minutes.  Drain the liquid in a colander, remove the lemon and put aside.  Preheat the oven to 350.  Heat some more oil in the skillet, add the garlic and cook for about a minute before adding the tomatoes.  Cook for about 10 minutes or until most of the liquid is evaporated.  Stir in the parsley.

To assemble.  Oil a baking dish and the lay down a layer of 3 or 4 cabbage leaves.  Top with 1/3 of the tomatoes, 1/3 of the ricotta, 1/3 of the pine nuts and 1/3 of the onion mixture.  Repeat 3 times and top everything with a last layer of cabbage.  Bake for about 30 minutes.

Ingredients for the Mashers

• 3 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into large chunks
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup veggie broth
• 1 bulb of green garlic, chopped (including green parts)
• sour cream (to taste)
• pats of butter

Combine milk, broth and green garlic in a pan and bring to a simmer, turn off and let milk infuse.  While the cabbage is baking, put potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold water and bring to a boil.  Simmer until potatoes are cooked, 15-25 minutes.  Once soft, drain and return to the pot.  Let sit 30 seconds or so to allow the water to evaporate.  Pour the infused milk into the potatoes (making sure to get all the green garlic) and mash with a potato masher.  Add a few spoonfuls of sour cream to taste and mix in.  Add S&P to taste.  Serve with a pat of butter on top.

Recipe: Roasted Veggies & Goat Cheese

Roasting vegetables is one of the easiest and yummiest preparations you can do.  I thought I was making enough veggies for leftovers, but they were so good we polished off everything.

Ingredients

• 3 turnips, scrubbed and quartered
• 1 bunch young carrots, scrubbed
• some fingerling potatoes, washed
• some Brussels sprouts, outer leaves removed and halved
• a small handful of herbs – thyme, rosemary, marjoram, etc.
• 1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
• 2 baby shallots, sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• goat cheese
• arugula
• balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl and toss with olive oil and a good pinch of s&p.  Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and place into the oven.  Stir the veggies around every 10 minutes or so.  Meanwhile, combine the broccoli, shallots, and garlic and toss with more olive oil, s&p.  Once the veggies are pretty much done (about 25-30 minutes) toss in broccoli mixture and cook for another 10 minutes.  While the broccoli is cooking, toss arugula with some balsamic and s&p and arrange on the bottom of a plate.  Place roasted veggies on top of arugula and top the whole mess with some goat cheese.

Recipe: Vegetable Bollito Misto with Mustard Butter

Bollito Misto literally translates from Italian to “Mixed Boil” and doesn’t sound like the sexiest way to cook vegetables.  In Italy, mammas make bollito misto by boiling various meats together for hours (tongue, capon, veal, etc.) then serving the meats with tasty sauces and serving the broth with tortellini.   Deborah Madison had a veggie version of bollito misto in Vegetarian Suppers that I wanted to try and it was fantastic.  Easy to make and super satisfying on a chilly, rainy night.

Ingredients for the broth

• Several sprigs of thyme and parsley
• 5 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 t peppercorns
• 2 t salt
• 2 t olive oil
• 2 baby shallots, sliced down the middle (or 1 small onion chopped)

Take 2 large sautee pans (I used a 10-inch and a 12-inch) and fill 2/3 with water.  Divide ingredients among the saucepans and bring to a simmer.

Ingredients for veggies (vary the amount depending on how many people you’re serving.  This made enough for 2 with leftovers for lunch the next day.  Leftover veggies can also be joined with their stock to make a pureed soup)

• 3 turnips, pealed and cut into wedges
• 4 or 5 radishes, quartered
• 2 stalks of celery, cut into long sticks
• 1 large carrot, cut into long sticks
• 4 Brussels sprouts, quartered
• 1/4 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
• a handful of fingerling potatoes, larger ones halved lengthwise

Use one of the pans for stinky or difficult vegetables (turnips, radishes, brussels sprouts) and the other for more neutral vegetables.  Slip the veggies that take the longest to cook in the water first (potatoes, carrots, celery) and then continue to add in the other veggies as you move along.  Basically I added in the veggies as I prepped them.  Keep checking the veggies and gently stir them.  If you’re afraid that anything’s getting overcooked, it’s easy to take it out of the broth.  Continue to simmer until everything is cooked through.  It won’t take long.

Ingredients for the mustard butter

• 4 T butter, softened
• 2 t dijon mustard (or any other mustard you happen to have)
• small handful chopped herbs (I used parsley, thyme, basil and marjoram)
• salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and set aside

To serve:  With a slotted spoon pile the vegetables in a dish and pour a little bit of the broth on top.  Dot with the mustard butter, which will begin to melt into the sauce and serve with some good bread.

Recipe: Potato Skillet Pie with Green Garlic

This recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks of all time, Vegetarian Suppers by Deborah Madison.  The skillet pie is great with a simple salad and really showcases the green garlic.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons butter or oil
• 1 cup bread crumbs or 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese for the pan
• Scant 2 pounds Yellow Finn or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and chunked
• Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten with a little water
• 3 tablespoons chopped sage
• 2-3 heads of green garlic, whites and tender greens minced

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Put a 10-inch cast-iron skillet in the oven with a tablespoon of the butter until melted (we don’t have a cast iron skillet, so we used our regular non-stick, but i think this would work much better using cast iron, we had a little trouble getting the pie out in one piece). Brush it around the pan, then scatter bread crumbs or Parmesan cheese into it to make a crust for the potatoes.

Put the potatoes in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Add a teaspoon of salt, bring to a boil, then simmer until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. While they’re cooking, smash the regular garlic in a mortar with 1/2 teaspoon salt until smooth. Take the green garlic and simmer in a little water until tender, then drain.

Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot. Add the garlics and remaining butter and mash. Taste for salt and pepper, making sure the potatoes are highly seasoned. Then stir in the eggs and sage, transfer the mass to the skillet, and smooth the top. Bake until golden and pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 45 minutes. Remove, let stand for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and unmold onto a serving plate.

This is great topped with sour cream!

Recipe: Mustard Green Gratin with Roasted Potatoes

I’ve never cooked mustard greens before and wanted to do something fun with them.  Most recipes I found featured ham hocks, which ain’t my thang chicken wang.  I found this recipe from trusty Alton Brown and tweeked it a bit.  I don’t know if it really showcased the delicate greens in the way I was hoping, but it sure was tasty!

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch curly mustard greens, cleaned and tough stems removed, then roughly chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 2 eggs
• 5 or so ounces of ricotta (left over from the baked pasta)
• 1/4 cup of parmesan, grated
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 6 ounces mushrooms (or the other half of the tub left over from the pasta), sliced

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt the butter and saute the mushrooms and garlic with a pinch of salt until the mushrooms give up their liquor.  Add the mustard greens and continue to saute until wilted and any water has evaporated.

Meanwhile, mix the ricotta, eggs, and parmesan together.  Season with a little salt & pepper.  Stir in the mushroom/greens mixture and pour the whole thing into a small gratin dish (note:  this does not make a huge amount).  If you’re feeling a little white trash, sprinkle crushed ritz on top of the casserole.  For something classier, try some more parmesan.  I did parmesan and breadcrumbs, but I would skip the breadcrumbs next time.

While you’re prepping the gratin, have your husband slice a bunch of new potatoes, coat with olive oil and salt & pepper and place on a rimmed baking sheet.

Place the gratin and potatoes in the oven and let cook for about 30 minutes, stirring the potatoes around once or twice to promote even browning.

Let the gratin cool for about 5 minutes before slicing and serving.  Yum!