White Beans with Kale and Cabbage

I know you’re going to look at this picture and the title of this post and think: “Thanks, but no thanks.” It just doesn’t look or sound like anything special. But, please, stay just a moment longer and hear me out. This was one of the best recipes I’ve made all year.

Deborah Madison is a well-known cookbook author who is passionate about connecting folks to local farmers and food. She specializes in vegetarian cuisine and is therefore a master at creating recipes that center around the flavors and textures of vegetables. Though I grew up eating cabbage only in its raw form, via coleslaw or salads, I’ve come to appreciate its sweet flavor and buttery texture when cooked. And kale has been my best vegetable friend for more than a year now, after showing up weekly in our winter CSA box last year.

End of Summer Tomatoes

It’s the official first day of autumn. My favorite season is slowly creeping in. I anticipate this moment all year long and am looking forward to welcoming fall flavors in addition to fall temperatures. With the humidity today, it looks like I’ll have to wait a bit longer, which means I can still savor some summer recipes.

Here in the South this is a transitional culinary period for us. The farmer’s market is beginning to fill up with radishes, greens, beets, green beans, and pumpkins. However, they also have the last of the corn, peppers, and tomatoes. Tomato pie has been all the rage this summer, showing up in magazines and food blogs alike. My first inspiration for it came from Aunt Anne, who was gifted with a beautiful lime green pie dish for her birthday. Grammie gave her the present one night when we were all at the beach. She exclaimed that it would be perfect for Uncle Glenn’s favorite green tomato pie. This immediately piqued my interest. I never got a chance to ask her what the green tomato pie consisted of (Anne? Are you reading this?) but I began searching for recipes when I returned home. I quickly learned that green tomato pie is traditionally made with the same spices as apple pie, and probably has a quite similar taste. Though that thought was intriguing, I decided to put it on hold for the early fall. I then did some searching for a more savory tomato pie.

Broccoli Two Ways

Broccoli shows up on our plates frequently at our house; it’s one of the veggies J & I both love. Though we usually eat it unadorned – simply steamed with salt, pepper, and lemon juice, I do sometimes need to spice it up, especially out of season when the broccoli available is a little limp. These are two recipes that I love. They take a little extra effort but make the broccoli the star of the meal.

The herb flavor of this recipe is pronounced and somewhat unexpected. I don’t find the garlic flavor overwhelming, but I am a garlic lover. Whenever I make fresh breadcrumbs I make extra and stick them in a bag in the freezer. That way I can pull them out the next few times I need them without digging out the food processor.

Market in the Fall

After last night’s last minute novel.. whew, that’s a tongue twister!, I feel the need to keep this short and sweet. Luckily I have the perfect photo of a dish that needs no recipe.

Hopefully this inspires you to grab some of your favorite root vegetables (fingerling potatoes, butternut squash, and turnips in our case) from a farmer’s market near you, toss them with some olive oil, chopped rosemary & garlic, and coarse salt & pepper, and roast them at high heat until tender. You won’t be sorry!

End of Summer Corn

I haven’t had corn nearly enough this summer. It’s one of those items that I never eat out of season because it’s just not even the same species. When I saw some fresh local corn was still available last week, I knew I’d use it in this recipe. I made it over the weekend and ate it as a base for a lunch for a few days. I halved the recipe and used the BEST black forest bacon from Whole Foods. I wish I’d pureed a little more than half of it, because it was still a little chunkier than I had imagined it being. However, for a creamed corn without the cream, I’d say it was a real winner. Coincidently, this appeared in the Cooking Light’s “Best of” edition this September as the best grain side dish. I guess there’s a reason it won the title!

Creamed Corn with Bacon and Leeks
Serves 6

6 ears corn
2 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 slices bacon
1 cup chopped leek

Cut kernels from ears of corn to measure 3 cups. Using the dull side of a knife blade, scrape milk and remaining pulp from cobs into a bowl. Place 1 1/2 cups kernels, low-fat milk, cornstarch, sugar, salt, and pepper in a food processor; process until smooth, scraping sides.

Cook bacon in a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat until crisp, turning once. Remove the bacon from pan, reserving 1 teaspoon drippings in pan; crumble bacon. Add leek to pan, and cook 2 minutes or until tender, stirring constantly. Add pureed corn mixture, remaining 1 1/2 cups corn kernels, and corn milk mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 3 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Sprinkle with the crumbled bacon just before serving.

From Cooking Light

Two Non-Recipe Recipes

It’s so good to be back in the kitchen! I overdid my planning a bit this week and pulled out more recipes than I’ve had time (or appetite) for. Hopefully we’ll get hungry before the ingredients go to waste. 

When I saw green tomatoes at the market on Saturday I realized that I hadn’t made them yet this summer. So we had fried green tomatoes and some other veggies one night. They are just sliced, salted and peppered, coated in cornmeal, and fried in some olive oil. I love mine with goat cheese and honey on top. I convinced J to try the honey and he wasn’t so sure about it, so I guess it might be a personal taste. But hey, I thought I’d throw it out there. This was our first use of my new cast iron skillet. The whole not using soap thing is still a little hard for me, but I’m looking forward to using this skillet for cornbread, fried chicken, and my favorite blackberry cobbler, among other things I’m sure. 

You say butter beans, I say lima beans

I couldn’t help it. I let out a squeal when I saw limas at the market on Saturday. In fact, it might have been more of a yell. It just felt like I’d been waiting forever for them! I’m always so excited to try new recipes that there are very few repeat performances at our house. This recipe, however, gets a workout every summer. I’ve never had them cooked any better than this.  I use fresh limas and skip the soaking. They need a little bit less water than the dried, maybe about 1 3/4 cup instead of 2 cups.

Country Lima Beans
Serves 8

2 cups dried lima beans (about 1 pound)
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3 bacon slices, chopped
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped carrot
2 cups water
2 tbsp. butter, softened

Sort and wash beans; place in a large Dutch oven. Cover with water to 2 inches above beans; cover and let stand 8 hours or overnight. Drain the beans. Return beans to pan; stir in salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 300ºF. Cook bacon slices in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon; set aside. Add onion and carrot to drippings in pan and sauté 5 minutes or until golden. Add onion mixture, bacon, water, and butter to bean mixture in Dutch oven; stir well. Cover and bake for 2 ½ hours or until beans are tender, stirring every hour.

From Cooking Light