Wine Braised Leeks with Mushrooms, Polenta, and Gorgonzola

Summertime is just so busy, so many events, weekend getaways, and dinner making with lovely friends that I can't believe it is all coming to the end!  But that end also means we are that much closer to our Europe trip!!!  This also means that all of our gardens are producing lots of yummy vegetables, and speaking of eating things we grow here is a cool little guide on edibles easily found in most neighborhoods.  This part of the summer is so wonderful because the peaches are out in full force and my mother just gave me some delicious ones from Hood River.  Tonight I plan on having some good old fashioned peaches in cream!  Onto the food, last night I adapted this recipe and made it for my wonderful parents who both recently got back from a long trip in Hawaii.  They loved this meal.

Serves 3-4

The Ingredients
2 leeks, trimmed of their greens
2 large portobello mushrooms, sliced, no stems
1 cup red wine
2 tsp fresh marjoram
3 tbsp butter
2 cups water
1 cup corn meal
2 tbsp soy sauce
a splash of white wine
Gorgonzola, for garnish
salt and pepper to taste


The Process
1.  Over medium heat, heat 1 tbsp butter in a large sauce pan. As it is heating, trim the leeks into a log shape. Slice in half lengthwise and briefly rinse under running water to remove any dirt that may be trapped between the layers.

2.  To the butter, add the mushrooms, soy sauce, white wine and cook until done (about 8 minutes). Remove from pan, set aside and keep warm.

3.  In the same sauce pan, place the leeks cut side down in the remaining with 1 tbsp butter. Gently saute until the leeks start to get nice and golden brown. Add the marjoram, wine, and a pinch of salt. Reduce heat to low and cover. Gently cook until leeks are cooked through and wine has reduced to a few tablespoons. (This takes a while, I believe it was about 25 minutes).

4.  Meanwhile, in another pot, bring the water up to a boil. Add last tbsp of butter and a healthy pinch of salt. When the water is at a full boil, quickly whisk in corn meal. Reduce heat and cook until the cornmeal has absorbed all the liquid, stirring occasionally.

5.  Assemble by plating the polenta and then the mushrooms. Spoon the reduction over the mushrooms and top with a few leeks. Garnish with Gorgonzola and black pepper.

Kielbasa and Cabbage Skillet

April and May are the months of many many birthdays for me, in fact today is my friend Bethany's birthday and tomorrow is my little brother's birthday.  All these birthdays make for very active weekends.  Among celebrating and working all weekend I will be going to Purrington's Cat Cafe for the first time this weekend by request of Bethany, followed by an amazing Ethiopian meal cooked by her old neighbor.  This past weekend my boyfriend and I finally watched The Jinx, if you like real life crime stories this is an amazing HBO documentary series about a rich and corrupt man from New York.  In other completely unrelated news did you know that Multnomah County Library offers free English classes?  It is a wonderful resource for people in our community that have English as their second language, check out the classes here.  Onto the food, I was looking for a healthy way to make dinner and use up our head of cabbage, so I adapted this recipe and it was delicious!

Serves 4

The Ingredients

1 package (14oz) Kielbasa 

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 head cabbage, coarsely chopped

1 large sweet onion, cut into large pieces

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

3 teaspoons rice wine vinegar

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

The Process

1.  Heat olive oil in a large nonstick sauté pan over medium-high and add kielbasa. Cook, without stirring for 1 minute. Then stir occasionally for about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon.

2.  In the same pan with some of the rendered kielbasa fat, add the cabbage, onion, garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3.  Mix in the vinegar and mustard; add the sausage back to the pan and cook for another 2 minutes to heat through. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.

4.  If you want more flavor add a dash of rice vinegar and more mustard to your individual plate...I did:)  You can also serve this over mashed potatoes if you want a heartier meal.

Thai Chicken Tacos

Yesterday we lost someone very very important in the world, Leslie Feinberg.  If you don't know who this is you should read up on the amazing work she did as a transgender pioneer.  In other news this weekend is my mother's 60th birthday so we are going to have a big wonderful dinner Friday night to celebrate.  I will be making the main dish, which will be stuffed cabbage rolls.  I haven't ever made these and they take almost 3 hours to make...hopefully I don't screw them up!  I am constantly searching for new and different recipes because I like the challenge and I love trying new food, especially from different cultures.  If any of you have a recipe from a different culture that you absolutely love, it would be great if you could share it with me.  Tonight I will be making this Pakistani dish with my Lebanese parsley onion salad and saffron rice, it will be delightful.  These adapted tacos were really delicious so enjoy!

Serves 2

The Ingredients

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

3 Tbsp. rice vinegar

1 Tbsp. tamari

salt and pepper

2 Tbsp. olive oil

6 small corn tortillas

2 cups shredded cabbage

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions

Spicy Thai Coconut Peanut Sauce

The Process

1.  In a large bowl or a Ziplock bag, toss the bite-sized chicken pieces with the rice vinegar and tamari until evenly coated. Let marinate for anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 hours.

2.  In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Remove chicken from marinade with a slotted spoon, and add to pan. Season immediately with salt and pepper. Saute for 5-7 minutes, turning occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink inside. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

3.  In a bowl mix together cabbage, cilantro, and green onions.  Lay out tortillas on a work surface. Portion out the shredded cabbage mix and cooked chicken into the center of each tortilla. Drizzle the chicken in each tortilla with Thai peanut sauce. 

Blue and Blackberry Ginger Pie

This last weekend we had a very social but somehow still relaxing weekend.  We rode our bikes to the Skidmore Bluffs and had a very nice picnic and played many rounds of rummy until the sun set.  On another night we attended our friend's 5 year wedding anniversary potluck party, for this I actually baked a pie!  As you have seen in the past I don't really bake nor do I like to, but pies are my one exception.  I like making pie and I'm actually good at it.  I only very slightly adapted this recipe because if I were to improvise much at all I would end up with a mess, baking is just a little too precise for me.  I used fresh blueberries and blackberries from my mother's yard, I also used her kitchen and moral support to make sure the pie turned out perfect and it did.  Enjoy!

Serves 8

The Ingredients

 

For the Crust:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Cup cold, unsalted butter diced

4 Tbsp. ice water

 

For the Filling:

4 Cups  blackberries fresh or frozen

4 Cups blueberries fresh or frozen

1 Tbsp small tapioca

3/4 Cup granulated sugar

1/3 Cup all purpose flour

2 Tbsp crystallized ginger diced finely

1 Tbsp lemon zest

2 Tbsp unsalted butter diced

1 egg beaten (for washing the crust)

 

The Process

 

Prepare the crust:

1. In the bowl combine the flour, butter and salt. Pulse until combined and the mixture looks like coarse meal.
2. Slowly add the ice water and mix until just combined. Dump mixture out on to work surface (will be crumbly) and mix until incorporated.
3. Divide in half, press into flat circles and wrap individually in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes while you prepare the filling.

Prepare the filling:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine the berries and all remaining ingredients except the butter and egg in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
2. Roll out dough on a floured work surface in two large rounds. Line a 9" deep dish pie plate with one. Cut 8, 1" strips from the other round. Re-rolling if necessary. Pour filling into the bottom crust, dot with the diced butter, and top with four strips of crust, weave into a lattice or use a fun cookie cutter and make designs in the top, just be creative! Brush top with the beaten egg. Place on a rimmed baking sheet.
3. Bake at 425 for 20 minutes, then lower heat to 375 for the remaining 40 minutes, or until the juices bubble and the crust turns golden brown.
4. Remove from oven and let cool before slicing.

 

Blackberry Peach Crisp

So on Sunday evening after making pickles all day it was time to go out back and harvest the garden, we picked a ton of peas, green beans, and the wild blackberries that are worming their way over and through the fence.  With fresh blackberries and several peaches in the fruit bowl I decided it was that time of year to start making crisps, cobblers, and pies and every type of baked good that has fruit in it, so I decided on blackberry peach crisp.  I looked at several recipes and kind of combined them to create this recipe...and I will admit from the beginning that the top crunch layer was not thick enough because I used too much butter and not enough flour, so the recipe below adds additional flour to avoid what happened to my crisp.  I will say though that I easily fixed the need for crunchy goodness by sprinkling some honey-nut Cheerios over the top and yes it was very good!  So here is my first blackberry item of the season and hopefully not my last.

Serves 9ish

The Ingredients
2 full cups fresh blackberries
2 medium peaches, skinned and cut into cubes
2 tablespoons quick tapioca
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 lemon squeezed for juice
1/3 cup butter, room temp
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup old-fashion oats

The Process
1.  In medium bowl gently mix together blackberries, peaches, tapioca, white sugar, and lemon juice and set aside.

2.  In another medium bowl thoroughly mix together butter, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, and oats.

3.  Turn on oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease a glass 9x9 pan.

4.  Pour in berry and peach mixture into baking dish and then crumble (in large chunks) the oat mixture over the top of the berries and peaches.  Put in oven for 25-30 minutes or until berry mixture is bubbling and the crisp on the top is slightly browning.

And don't forget yours will look better because I changed the recipe after my mistake...oh and why did I think I could just make up my own recipe when it's baking?! I never make pretty baked goods,they always taste good, but they are never pretty....well except for my blackberry pies...I should make that next!

Marinated Eggplant

I love eggplant and one of the rad things about eggplant is it acts like a potato and meat.  Its like a potato because it doesn't have tons of flavor to begin with but loves to absorb flavor that seasons it.  Its like meat because its chewy and hardy, the way I like things to be.  It is not often that I buy eggplant because its not the cheapest and it doesn't have amazing amounts of nutrition like the green leafy vegetables I usually eat.....But I have been trying to branch out in my grocery shopping.  It is SO easy to just get in a routine and habitually buy the same food all the time.  Don't get me wrong I always buy cheese and bread...and coffee..and....and exactly my point, so with this need for change and creativity in cooking I bought an eggplant (I totally feel pathetic narrating my inner "lame" thoughts but hey whats a blog? exactly that).  Anyways while my friend so honestly said "wow that looks like poop" it does, eggplant marinating in brown liquids....not so attractive but it tastes sooo good, not like poop.

Adapted from Amateur Gastronomer
Serves 3 (as a side salad or appetizer)

The Ingredients
1 medium to large eggplant, chopped into large bite size chunks
5 tablespoons soy sauce
3 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons mirin
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 inch chunk of fresh ginger, chopped coarsely
black sesame seeds (as garnish, optional)

The Process
1. After chopping eggplant, steam for 6 minutes, or until slightly soft

2.  In medium bowl mix soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin, sesame oil, and ginger.

3.  Add eggplant to mixture and stir.  Cover and marinate in fridge for at least 24 hours. (the longer it marinates the better it tastes.

4.  Serve with garnish of black sesame seeds.

Red Cabbage Salad

Ok here is the start of the long over due St. Patty's day meal.  I had a long weekend full of library school presentations and my lovely friend Branden who just got back from south Korea and came to visit...thus the blog gets neglected.  Also might I add that while red cabbage is called red cabbage...it is truly a purple color, so I have been having some trouble with deciding what color to catalog this recipe under.  This salad was really good and not overwhelming with flavor. A nice light salad to go with mounds of corned beef.

Adapted from Sunset
Serves 8 as side dish

Ingredients.
1 head red cabbage, thinly sliced
6 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons creamy horseradish
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 firm-ripe Bartlet pears, cut into bit size pieces
Salt and pepper

The Process
1.  In a big bowl mix together the cabbage, onion, and pear and set aside.

2.  In a small bowl mix together rice vinegar, sugar, creamy horseradish.

3.  Dress salad right before serving.  Add the liquid mixture to the big bowl and mix thoroughly so everything is coated.  Then add salt and pepper to taste and mix again.


Might I add if you are not a fan of the raw cabbage taste then don't make this and try to like it...cause you won't.  But if you have mature taste buds you are in the clear hahaha j/k (ew! I hate it when people say that, but I had to since this is digital communication).  Also the cabbage is very much purple, so that is my final decision.


Picture from: http://www.seedfest.co.uk/seeds/cabbage/cabbage.html