Monthly Cooking Adventure: Stuffed Artichoke Bottoms

"Remind me to tell you about the time I looked into the heart of an artichoke." -- All About Eve.

 This month's recipe actually features artichoke bottoms, not hearts, and let me tell you -- it took some effort to find them! I know I should have just butchered my own, but I was feeling quite lazy yesterday, especially knowing that I'd be cooking a full meal for three guests later on! So I used canned artichoke bottoms. Lazy, yes. And delicious? Oh, yes yes yes! So I recommend laziness if that's where you are. And, if so, this recipe comes together so quickly it's just delightful.

Because the vegetarian isn't crazy about artichokes, and therefore wouldn't be eating them, I treated myself to the addition of an omnivore ingredient -- anchovies. In my opinion, anchovies get a totally undeserved bad reputation. As our friend Hill put it last night -- they're like delicious additions of salt. And, really, how bad can that be? (For a vegetarian version, add 1 tablespoon soya sauce.) Along with some garlic and sour lemon juice and zest, they were the perfect accompaniment to our Arugula and Fava-Bean Crostini and Smoky Fried Rice. To drink I recommend an Espiral vinho verde. Enjoy!

Stuffed Artichoke Bottoms
Adapted from The Book of Jewish Food

• 2 ounces anchovies, finely chopped (or 1 tablespoon soya sauce)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• bunch Italian parsley, finely choppped
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• zest from 1/2 lemon
• 1 can (14 ounces) artichoke bottoms
• 1-2 cups water

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix anchovies (or soya sauce), garlic, parsley, breadcrumbs, oil and lemon juice and zest together in a medium-sized bowl. Place artichoke bottoms in a baking dish and fill with stuffing. Pour water around artichokes, making sure it doesn't reach the filling. Bake 25 minutes. Serve at room temperature. Bon appetit!

Edible Inspirations:

• Carciofi Ripieni from Food.com
• Stuffed Artichoke Hearts from Allrecipes.com
• Vegetarian substitute for anchovies? from Chowhound
• Stuffed Artichoke Bottoms from Gourmet Kosher Cooking

Kreplach: Pasta Stuffed with Veggie Burgers (or Lamb)

Last Friday night, Stina, a friend from college, came over for Shabbos dinner and a cooking lesson. What a treat! The vegetarian and I rarely have Friday nights off so our ability to have a real homecooked Jewish meal has been quite reduced recently. Not wanting to make something too complicated (or that had to cook for hours) and also wanting an easy way to make our dinner vegetarian-friendly, I decided to teach her how to make kreplach. 


Kreplach are the Jewish version of ravioli. Often served in chicken soup, you can also have them with gravy as a pasta dish. Because the filling has to be cooked beforehand, they're a fantastic use of leftovers. They're often a "second-day meal," meaning that you use leftovers from a holiday meal to make them. But they're so delicious that you can make up whatever kind of filling you want -- just for them!

And because they're a pasta, they're my entry for Presto Pasta Nights #262, hosted (and created) by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast. Join us!

These kreplach, I must caution you, are anything but traditional. First of all, I make them with wonton wrappers. Easier to find than fresh pasta sheets (and certainly simpler than making your own), these have always been our "family secret" when making kreplach, ravioli or dumplings. They're easy to work with and, more importantly, delicious!

For these kreplach, I made two batches of filling -- one with ground lamb and the other with crumbled California Veggie Burgers (from Dr. Praeger's -- super delicious). Everything else about both fillings stayed the same. Both of these "proteins" have sweet and astringent notes. So in went some pungent pearl onions to balance it out. (Buy these pre-peeled to save time.) Everything got sauteed in neutral canola oil and seasoned with  fleur de sel and pungent, hot black pepper. To bind the filling (and make it easier to work with), I whisked it in the food processor with cream. Round out the meal with a bottle Cotes du Rhone (we had a fantastic biodynamic bottle from that I brought back from Paris three months ago) and, of course, challah. Some apple pie makes a wonderful dessert. Enjoy!

Kreplach (Pasta Stuffed with Lamb or Veggie Burgers)

• 6 pearl onions, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 6 oz ground lamb (or veggie burgers, crumbled)
• 1/2 teaspoon French sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons Italian parsley, finely chopped
• 1 pack wonton wrappers (about 50)
• small bowl water

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it moves in the pan like water. Add onions and cook 5 minutes, until soft. Add lamb (or veggie burgers), salt and pepper and cook, breaking up the meat (or patties) with a wooden spoon, until the meat is cooked through and no longer pink (at least 5 minutes). Let it come to room temperature, then blend to a paste in food processor with heavy cream and parsley.

Transfer to a bowl and make the kreplach. Place 1 teaspoon filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper (don't overstuff!). Lightly run water around the edges of the wonton wrapper (this is best done with your finger). Fold diagonally to make a triangle. Press out excess air and and seal the edges (the water makes them stick). Now make a ring with two opposite corners of the wrapper and press them firmly so they stick together. Let stand 15 minutes.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook kreplach 20 minutes, until they all have floated to the top and the wrappers have turned translucent. Serve in soup or dry, with sauce. Bon appetit!

Inspirational Links:

• Pastitsio from Dairy Free Recipes
• Pasta Shells Stuffed with Lamb, Feta Cheese, and Spinach from What Did You Eat?
• All About Onions from RecipeTips.com

Passover Cooking: Chopped Eggs with Chives

Whew! Between Passover, work and both of us taking turns getting sick, it's been AGES since we've posted anything! And, truth be told, other than holiday cooking, our kitchen hasn't been seeing much action lately either. We even skipped March's Monthly Cooking Adventure. But now April's halfway done (time really does fly!) and I've ventured back into the kitchen.

Today's recipe is a quickie and extremely versatile. I often make it during Passover (in various permutations) and it's delectable with matzoh. Drier than typical egg salad, you could even eat it with a fork or, after the holiday, serve it with slices of bread. Normally in my family we make chopped eggs and onions. But I decided I didn't want to go through the trouble of cooking any onions (and substantial amounts of raw onions are the only food that gives me heartburn). So I embraced spring and brought a lighter touch to my eggs with some chives. I also had some tarragon languishing in the fridge so I added that in for a touch of sweetness. This makes a wonderful breakfast, lunch, snack or, alongside some couscous (or quinoa) mixed with cucumbers, dried figs and fontina d'Aosta, a light dinner. Bon appetit!

Chopped Eggs with Chives

• 6 eggs, hard-boiled
• 15-20 chives, finely chopped
• leaves from 6 sprigs tarragon
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 3 tablespoons chicken fat or olive oil

Place all ingredients in a wooden bowl and, using a mezzluna, chop coarsely. Serve at room temperature.

Links to inspirational recipes:

• Asparagus and Chopped Egg Salad with Lemon-Chive Dressing from The Chalkboard
• Egg and Herb Salad from Recipes for Health

Stir-Fried Brown Rice with Salad Greens

In my ongoing efforts to like salad, I started thinking about other ways I could use salad greens. Everyone always has them raw, but what if I tried cooking them? There are many salad greens that do double-duty as cooked greens and raw greens (spinach, arugula, escarole and radicchio all come to mind) so why stop there? I've heard of wilted lettuce before so I decided to turn my spring salad mix into a stir-fry.

This was honestly one of the easiest and most successful dishes I've ever made. A (mostly) vegetarian friend stopped by last night and, since I can't resist feeding people, he happily stayed for dinner. And he couldn't stop raving about the stir-fry! The vegetarian's only complaint? That I didn't make enough. So, if you're feeding more than two, make extra!

To preserve the "salad" feel of the greens, I stir-fried them in olive oil along with 4 cloves of garlic (to add some heat). Make sure you have everything prepped and your rice cooked and cooled (you can even be lazy and buy already-cooked brown rice) before you start. We enjoyed it with Mixed Green Salad with Pecans, Goat Cheese, and Honey Mustard Vinaigrette, as well as a bottle of Vinho Verde. Bon appetit!

Stir-Fried Brown Rice with Salad Greens
adapted from Food.com
Serves 2 as a main dish, 4 as a side

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups salad greens, packed
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup vinho verde
• 2 ribs celery, diagonally sliced
• 10 cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 3 cups brown rice, cooked and cooled
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

Heat wok over high heat until smoking. Swirl in olive oil. Add greens and garlic and stir-fry for 2 minutes.

Remove greens and garlic to a bowl. Without cleaning out the wok (or removing it from the heat), add vinho verde, celery and mushrooms. Stir-fry 3 minutes.

Add rice, green onions and greens and garlic. Stir-fry until everything is heated through, breaking up the rice with your spatula if it's clumping together. Drizzle with soy sauce. Serve immediately.

Links to other salad green delicacies:

• Asian Greens Salad from From Scratch Club
• Orange, Walnut, Gorgonzola and Mixed Greens Salad with Grilled Chicken from Pasta Princess & More
• Grilled Bitter Greens Salad with Roasted Beets, Spiced Pecans and Roquefort from The Kitchn
• Roasted Greens Salad with Balsamic Drizzle from Eighty Twenty
• Warm Broccoli and Baby Greens Salad from the rebel grrl kitchen

Bruschetta with Escarole, Capers and Mozzarella

I don't like salad. There, I said it. It's not that I don't like greens; to the contrary, I absolutely adore them. Especially when the weather's warm and springlike. But raw greens (or vegetables of any kind, for that matter) are just not my cup of tea. Flash-cooked, yes. But raw? No thank you.

That's not to say I don't like the individual components that make up a salad. I find various kinds of salad greens very tasty, especially escarole, a less bitter form of endive that, at least to my naive eyes, is difficult to distinguish from lettuce. But just bite into a leaf and -- yum yum! It's bitter and refreshing. I love it braised with onion but many people have it as a salad. And, since it's been delightfully warm out I started thinking about how to make a salad I'd like.

This bruschetta is like a deconstructed salad. There's greens, cheese and croutons but, instead of the lettuce being on the bottom, the croutons are. (This also means you can eat it with your hands -- a major plus in my book.)

Trying to see if anyone else had a similar idea, I stumbled upon Kait's recipe for Curly Endive, Prosciutto & Mozzarella on Bruschetta. I started thinking about the prosciutto in her bruschetta. What does prosciutto add? Saltiness. So I added some capers instead, which also brought in some pungent sour notes. Because of the sourness of the capers, I toned down that flavor in the vinaigrette (because every good salad needs a dressing) by adding in some cream. Kosher salt kept the vinaigrette savory and black pepper made it hot and pungent. Enjoy with a Smoky Mushroom Calzone and Chianti. Bon appetit!

Bruschetta with Escarole, Capers and Mozzarella
inspired by I Can Cook That

• 1 loaf French bread, cut into 18 pieces
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 18 leaves escarole, thick stalks separated
• 1 large ball mozzarella, cut into 18 slices
• 3 teaspoons capers, pickled in brine, drained

Red Wine Vinaigrette

• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/8 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, ground
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350F. Arrange bread pieces on a foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake 15 minutes, until crispy.

Meanwhile, make vinaigrette. Whisk together (I do this in a liquids measuring cup) vinegar, cream, honey, salt and pepper. Drizzle in olive oil, whisking after each addition. When bread is done, place an escarole leaf, a slice mozzarella and several capers on top of each slice. Drizzle everything with vinaigrette. Serve at room temperature.

Links to other escarole delicacies:

• Chicken and Escarole Soup with Veal Meatballs from Gianni's North Beach
• Tortellini in Brodo with Escarole from The Secret Ingredient
• Escarole with Spaghetti from Living the Gourmet
• Meatball and Escarole Soup from 400 Calories or Less
• Minestrone with Turkey Meatballs and Escarole from Christie Koester

Bruschetta with Broccoli Rabe

This time of year is always the hardest for me, cooking and eating-wise. The calendar says March, my body starts craving green vegetables but the temperature and available produce are still stuck in winter. In the past, I would just buy some tomatoes completely out of season and, while complaining about their lack of taste, find some way to disguise them and make them palatable.

But that's not how I like to cook anymore. First of all, I'd rather find good, seasonal food that I have to do very little to. Second of all, particularly when I'm just cooking for the vegetarian and me, I really prefer cooking simple food. So no tomatoes.



Broccoli Rabe, a bitter leafy green vegetable is a cold-weather green that I love and the vegetarian tolerates. I should say -- he likes the taste but not the texture of the stalks. A while ago I had bookmarked a recipe for Sauteed Chinese broccoli and fresh ricotta bruschetta at the hungry bambino. I decided to put my broccoli rabe on some bruschetta with grated Parmesan Cheese. Alongside Tofu (for the vegetarian) and Rib-Eye Steak (for the omnivore) in Lemon Juice and Herb Marinade and (several) glasses of Tocai Friulano (from the Long Island winery Channing Daughters, with whom we have a CSA), it was a perfect meal. Bon appetit!

Bruschetta with Broccoli Rabe
adapted from the hungry bambino

• 1 loaf French bread
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 bunch broccoli rabe, woody ends removed and discarded, stalks separated from leaves
• 4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated
• lemon Garlic Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut bread in half lengthwise and then into smaller pieces (about 5 inches in length). Place on baking sheet and bake 10-15 minutes, until crispy.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over a medium-high flame. When it swirls like water in the pan, add garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook very briefly, moving around constantly, just until they release their aroma (but careful not to burn them!). Add broccoli rabe stalks and saute 1 minute. Next add leaves and saute, tossing to coat with flavored oil, for 5 minutes.

Remove bread from oven and sprinkle each piece with Parmesan. Place 1-3 pieces of broccoli rabe on top. Drizzle with lemon garlic olive oil. Bon appetit!

Links to other broccoli rabe delicacies:

• Broccoli Rabe from Stay at Stove Dad
• Baked Ziti with Broccoli Rabe from LaMotta's Italian Restaurant
• Sauteed Broccoli Rabe from Momma's Meals
• Gemelli with Broccoli Rabe, Bacon and Chickpeas from The Bacon Show
• Sausage and Broccoli Rabe and Pistachio Pesto Pizza from Just the Tip

Chunky Banana Bran Muffins

Without a doubt, February has been the banana month. I think it's something about the weather (not that it's been particularly wintry this month but bear with me): when it's cold, I crave sweets. Not sugar so much but definitely fruits. And heavier foods. And spices (especially cinnamon). All of these lead me to baking, hence the influx of muffins.

So when the end of the month rolled around and it was time for our Monthly Cooking Adventure, I knew I wanted to make something with bananas. I was inspired by a recipe from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa at Home. I wanted to make the flavor more complex, however, so I added a sour undertone with creme fraiche and lemongrass. Not wanting the sour to be overpowering, in went some sweet cinnamon and nutmeg. That led us to "theme" the evening "Breakfast for dinner" so some Beet Pancakes with Pomegranate Syrup came along for the ride. To round it all out, we drank the vegetarian's Pomegranate Mimosas. Bon appetit!

Chunky Banana Bran Muffins
inspired by Barefoot Contessa at Home

• 2 cups wheat bran
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons creme fraiche
• 3 medium eggs
• 2/3 cup blackstrap molasses
• zest from 1/2 orange
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemongrass, minced very finely
• 1/2 teaspoon safflower oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, ground
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
• 2 cups raisins
• 2 bananas, diced
• 2 cups walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If desired, fill muffin pans with paper liners. In a medium-sized bowl, stir together wheat bran and buttermilk. Set aside. In a food processor, cream together butter and sugar for 5 minutes.

Add creme fraiche, eggs, molasses, orange zest, vanilla extract, lemongrass and safflower oil, pulsing 1-4 times and then scraping down the sides after each addition. Add the bran-buttermilk mixture and pulse another 4 times. In a clean large bowl, stir together cinnamon, flour, baking powder, baking soda and nutmeg. Add to food processor in three stages, pulsing 5 times and scraping down the sides after each addition. Don't overmix! Fold in raisins, bananas and walnuts. Fill muffin pans full with batter and bake 25 minutes. Makes 24 muffins.

Links to other banana cinnamon delicacies:

• Banana Muffins with Cinnamon Sugar Streusel from OliePants
• Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread from Big Mama's Home Kitchen
• Banana Vanilla Cinnamon French Toast from Mama to 4 Blessings
• Cinnamon Banana Bread from Man and Van Moving Blog
• Banana, Blueberry, Cinnamon and Strawberry Yogurt Muffins from Bakersbeans