Category Archives: Winter CSA
Dinner for Breakfast?
This week has flown by. It was nice to have an extra day off on Monday. It snowed the whole day, so at least my cold January world was pretty. It was a good day for the slow cooker, but the recipe I tried was a dud. Not worth writing about.
The results of the special election turned Tuesday into a disappointing day. I wasn’t enamored with either candidate, but to me, the choice was clear. Unfortunately, the majority didn’t agree with me. At least I was with the majority in Lexington, where I live. I’m still stunned.
I made a tasty dinner on Wednesday: sweet potato, black bean and corn hash. It offered a whiff of summer. We had frozen the corn in August when it was at its best. We ate the hash with a fried egg on top. Why is that whenever a meal includes an egg, it seems like it should be breakfast? Breakfast, dinner, it was good both hot off the stove and again as leftovers.
One more thing… Tonight, for the first time in 20+ years that Howard and I have been together, I craved some ice cream. Howard is an ice cream fiend, but I’m indifferent. Tonight, I really wanted a scoop of ice cream on top of some brownies we have. Wouldn’t you know that we don’t have any! I can’t believe it. Oh, well.
sweet potato, black bean and corn hash
adapted from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics by The Moosewood Collective
Serve 6
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 or 4 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into ½ inch pieces
1 jalapeno, mined
1 Tbsp ground coriander
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
3 cups corn kernels (thawed if frozen)
1 cup cooked black beans
Dash of Tabasco sauce
1 Tbsp butter
6 eggs
Minced scallions
Chopped cilantro
Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet with a lid. Add the onions, and sauté until they start to soften. Stir in the garlic, cook a few second, then add the sweet potatoes. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the jalapeno, coriander, cumin, and salt. Cover and cook another 3 minutes. Add the corn and black beans, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. If the potatoes are too firm, add a little water and cook over low heat until the potatoes are tender. Add salt and Tabasco to taste.
When the hash is ready, in another skillet, melt the butter. Break the eggs into the skillet and fry on both sides to preferred doneness. I like a runny yolk.
Spoon hash onto dinner plates, and top each serving with a fried egg. Sprinkle with scallions and cilantro.
Happy New Year 2010
Happy New Year 2010! I hope your year has started off well.
Howard and I shared a quiet dinner at home on New Year’s Eve. We had a few lamb shoulder chops from Chestnut Farms. I had never cooked this cut before, only rib chops and loin chops.
Browsing through a few cookbooks indicated shoulder chops needed a slower cook than the chops I was used to. I found a yummy-looking recipe that baked the shoulder chops on a bed of potatoes and onions.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t read the recipe all the way through. Around 6:00, Howard popped open a bottle of champagne, and I opened the cookbook. Uh-oh, the lamb needed to bake for almost 2 hours. I guess I was starting (or ending) the year with rather poor planning.
Howard looked in one of his ever-trusty Cooks Illustrated cookbooks and found that the shoulder chops could be simply broiled. I traded in the bed of potatoes for a pot of lentils and some roasted carrots and celery root. Dinner was ready in the half the time. Redemption!
While dinner cooked, we sipped champagne and nibbled on salmon caviar and crackers and some local oysters (Wianno, Wellfleet and Island Creek, all from the Cape, courtesy of Whole Foods).
After dinner, we watched a movie (Away We Go) and managed to stay up until 11:45 before dropping off to sleep. Seeing midnight no longer seems as important as it did when I was younger.
Our New Year’s Eve dinner was quiet and romantic. On New Year’s Day, we invited our friends Laury, John, and Isabel for dinner. We had a pork roast from Codman Farm. I made a spice rub from garlic, lime juice, cumin, and cilantro to go on the pork plus Cuban Sweet Potatoes and Braised Cabbage to go with the meat. The big hit was the sweet potatoes. It had similar flavors to the pork, and the whole bowl disappeared fast.
The year is off to a great start with two things that are really important to me: spending time and sharing meals with some of my favorite people, and eating food that has been sustainably and humanely produced, from local farms. I’m looking forward to more of the same in the year ahead.
Cuban Sweet Potatoes
Serves 4
2 lbs sweet potatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, minced
½ cup chopped cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
Preheat the oven to 450F.
Peel the sweet potatoes. Cut them into ½-inch slices. If the rounds are large, cut in half again (into half moons). Toss the potato slices in a bowl with olive oil. Spread them out on a baking sheet (or two) in one layer. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until they are nice and tender.
Combine the garlic, cilantro, and lime juice in a big bowl. Add the hot sweet potatoes and toss. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
A Plateful of Happiness 