Saturday, December 25, 2010

Clementine Countdown: 1!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Here's to laughing with the ones you love, new adventures, and enjoying the little things—like clementines. 

Sheesh, that was a lot of clementines. And I can honestly say that I am not tired of them. I had to buy a second, five pound bag to keep up with the countdown, and those will be gone by the end of the weekend.

I am, however, tired of blogging about them. Here’s an idea, just eat them. They’re yummy!
Thanks to all my friends and readers who came up with great ways to enjoy them. I will leave you with a few of my favorites:
  • On vanilla ice cream, drizzled with caramel sauce and sprinkled with pecan bits
  • In a champagne cocktail
  • In a stir-fry with pork
  • Tossed on top of some mixed greens with caramelized walnuts and a raspberry vinaigrette
  • And this one deserves to be quoted directly. Brilliant, Annie. “What about a clementine cocktail? Last spring I went through a little phase of making cocktails inspired by salads and it was so much fun to just totally make up my own recipes. You could make a syrup with the clem’s juice and add pepper, cardamom and cinnamon sticks. I’d be tempted to soak some pomegranate seeds in vanilla sugar and a hint of balsamic vinegar. You could add the juice they produce to the syrup and garnish the final drink with those gorgeous jewel red seeds. Toasted pine nuts and some sort of herb (flowering rosemary?) could be nice as a garnish…Oh, and for the alcohol. I always only ever have whiskey in my liquor cabinet thanks to a little birdie that turned me on to Knob Creek when I was still a wee pup.”

Friday, December 24, 2010

Clementine Countdown: 2

Enjoy clementines with the best friends in the world. The kind who make you birthday brunch, even when your birthday is on Christmas Eve. And serve clementines with pan de jamón.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Clementine Countdown: 3

Clementines with steel cut oats, toasted pecans, brown sugar and plain Greek-style yogurt. I had this great idea where I was going to broil clementine slices with brown sugar, and eat them on top of oatmeal. They came out beautifully. Only problem, they tasted awful.
So, here we are with a simpler and very reliable version: chopped. This is good, and a nice alternative to the frozen berries and raisins that I have been eating on my oatmeal for the past couple of months.

I like the steel cut oats, but they do take a while to prepare. But they keep well in the fridge and are great reheated, so I have been making a bigger batch (three servings) and enjoying them throughout the week for a quick and warm breakfast, or savory with parmesan cheese, olive oil, and cracked pepper.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Clementine Countdown: 4

Share your clementines with children. Tasty, easy to peel, seedless, little-hand-sized, and healthy—they’re kids’ bespoke fruit.


Clementine Countdown: 5

Clementine segments dipped in chocolate with spicy sugar and unsweetened cream. When you put these little jewels in your mouth, it’s sugar and hard chocolate first, then a burst of cold orange, then the chili flake fire, which gets put out by the unsweetened cream. It’s a saga in seconds. A story you want to hear again and again.
  • Line a cookie sheet or large tray with parchment.
  • Peel and segment 4 or 5 clementines 
  • Heat ½ cup good chocolate (around 70% cocoa) and a pat of butter in a double boiler.
  • Mix 2 T rock sugar and 1 t red chili flakes in a mortar and pestle until slightly broken down and well combined.
  • Dip clementine segments in the hot chocolate, then the sugar mixture, and then lay them to cool on the parchment. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
  • Serve with unsweetened whipped cream.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Clementine Countdown: 6

Stud your clementine with cloves and call it a pomander.
Repetitive, delightfully aromatic, and mindless enough to do while chatting with loved ones, enjoying a bit of bourbon, or both. Also, what I am doing tonight because it’s dark and cold and I don’t have a TV. And maybe tomorrow night if my friends are up for it.

Try setting out big bowls of clementines and cloves at a party and see what your guests come up with.

To make a clementine pomander, poke holes in your clementine with an awl or some other sharp pointy thing. I like to make the holes as close together as possible without breaking the skin between them so the pomander ends up almost totally covered with cloves. Stick cloves in the holes. Let the pomander dry in a warm dry place for a few weeks until it’s hard. Sniff.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Clementine Countdown: 7

Clementine Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
It's that time of year againthe time when it seems necessary to have dessert at brunch. That, and my recent commitment to daily clementines, is what inspired me to make tiny clementine cupcakes for my family’s annual Christmas brunch this morning. Seasonally appropriate, child friendly, and a rational portion size for a course that doesn’t really exist.

I used the Citrus Cupcake recipe from the new Cooking at Home, swapped clementines for oranges, and made a clementine cream cheese frosting. They’re bite-sized and great. So how many tiny cupcakes make up a serving? At least seven, right?

Clementine Cupcakes
Adapted from Cooking at Home, Williams-Sonoma.

1½ cups flour
1¼ t baking powder
½ t baking soda
¼ t salt
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter
2/3 c milk
Zest of 4 clementines
Zest of 1 lemon
1 egg plus 1 yolk

  • Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the sugar.
  • Combine butter, milk and zest in a medium sauce pan and heat over medium heat until the butter melts.
  • Whisk the hot milk mixture into the flour mixture until combined. Add the egg and yolk.
  • Pour the batter into tiny cupcake tins with liners, and bake at 350 for 10-11 minutes.
  • Remove the cupcakes from the tin to cool.
  • Spoon the frosting into a large zip lock bag, snip the bottom corner of the bag off, and squeeze the frosting out to top the cakes.
Clementine Cream Cheese Frosting
Juice and zest from 4 clementines
1 T sugar
1 # cream cheese, room temperature
6 T unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
1 t vanilla extract

  • Heat the juice and sugar in a small sauce pan over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the juice is slightly thickened, about 4 minutes. Set aside to cool.
  • Mix the cream cheese and butter in an electric mixer on high until smooth.
  • Reduce the speed to low and add the powdered sugar.
  • Mix in the vanilla juice mixture.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Clementine Countdown: 8

Clementines in a salad with curly endive, thinly sliced red onion, chunks of mizithra, kalamata olives, and toasted pepitas, all tossed with olive oil and salt. Soak the endive in ice water for 20 minutes or so to remove some of the bitterness.

Enjoy as a light weekend lunch, undoubtedly before a rich and slightly excessive holiday dinner.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Clementine Countdown: 9

Friday-style, clementines with spiced nuts and a cold beer.
It’s Friday, people, and even your clementines want to loosen up a bit. Kick back after work and enjoy them with some spiced nuts and a crisp lager. I’m having mine with an ice cold Coors Light, but I am sure a fancier beer would work as well, if that’s the kind of Friday you have in mind.

The combo is an aromatic overload sure to blast away any weekday woes and usher you into a fine, relaxing holiday weekend.

Cheers!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Clementine Countdown: 10

Do you have a huge bowl of clementines sitting on your counter? I do.

Maybe it’s because you can only buy them in a five pound bag (brilliant, btw). But I’m not complaining. I love the clementines—they look like nature’s Christmas ornaments, smell like winter sunshine, taste refreshing and clean, and are probably the only thing I have eaten all December that does not include refined sugar and/or white flour.

So bring it on, clementines. All five pounds of you. Here comes the Clementine Countdown. I am going to post a different way to enjoy clementines every day until Christmas. And I haven’t thought of all of them yet, so let me know if you have some good ideas.

Here goes!

Clementine Countdown 10: With Hot Cocoa as an afternoon snack. I work in a place that has an endless fountain of free hot cocoa, so this was a natural choice for my first post. Today I enjoyed the cocoa in my favorite new mug from Laguna Vintage Pottery.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Peking Nuts

“It starts out like Peking duck, then transitions into some sort of holiday cookie.” That’s what my friend said when he tasted my Chinese five spice candied nuts.

I should probably just stop here—leave you with the duck-cookie reference and dive right in to the recipe. I mean, you kind of have to try them after a statement like that, right?

But it took an emotional village to make these spiced nuts, and since it’s the holidays and a nice time to reflect on how lucky we are, I’ll tell you a bit more.

I was feeling discouraged about blogging for the holidays. Not only had every other blogger already posted the best cookie recipe ever or the most thoughtful and unique gift guide, but it’s also been so freaking dark that I never seem to be in my home when a photo might come out even remotely attractive. I had no ideas, and it was dark.

But I can be dramatic, and in reality, I was spending a lot of time with some pretty perfect friends and family, complaining about how my mind had gone dark instead of cooking. And after a rant similar to the paragraph above, a dear friend said, “Why don’t you make some interesting spiced nuts?”

I really couldn’t argue.

So I started hunting down the whole spices I would need to make Chinese five spice candied nuts. Fennel seeds and cloves from my spice drawer, check. Cinnamon stick and Sichuan peppercorns from the grocery store down the street, check. Then, of course, I didn't think I was going to find star anise (not to be confused with regular old anise seed), when I found it at my favorite food source of all, my mom’s house.

They’re really fantastic. Great with a sharp, soft cheese as a snack, or after dinner with dark chocolate. Or anytime you walk by the kitchen.

Chinese Five Spice Candied Nuts
1 t Sichuan pepper
½ t cloves
1 T fennel seeds
3 star anise pods
1 cinnamon stick
4 T unsalted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 # raw nuts (I used walnuts, pepitas and almonds)
2 t kosher salt

  • Put the pepper, cloves and fennel in a large dry frying pan and cook over medium heat until they begin to smell, about 3 minutes
  • Pour the spices into a mortar and pestle and let them cool.  
  • Grate 2 t from the cinnamon stick.  
  • Add the star anise to the mortar and pestle until all the pieces have broken down. Stir in the cinnamon.  
  • Melt the butter in the pan over medium heat. Add the nuts and sugar and stir to coat. Add 2 T of the Five Spice mixture. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the sugar is melted and it begins to smoke.  
  • Remove from the heat, salt, and continue stirring for a minute or two until it begins to harden.  
  • Pour the nuts onto a sheet of parchment to cool.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Green Speck

Because my parents know me so well (and because I am not a subtle hinter), they recently returned from three weeks in Italy with a bag full of cured meats, just for me. Nice work, parents.


A dark, meaty, almost hamburgery salami; a darling little wild boar sausage; a hard fennel salami, to name a few. And a big hunk of Italian Speck.

The speck is strong, fatty, difficult to slice, and a special treat. It is very good sliced thinly with rosé. However, my favorite way to eat the speck—a fact which I have learned retrospectively—is pan fried with greens. I think I have eaten speck with greens at least six times in the last two weeks. On pasta, with white beans, under eggs, with garlic, and alone, speck with greens has officially entered my repertoire as a simple, front running, fall favorite.

A happy companion of the many tasty root vegetables that are still around this time of year is their tops. I bring home turnips, beets and radishes from the farmers' market, and I end up with a pile of yummy greens. Greens with which to eat my speck.

Tonight, because it’s Sunday, I’m tired, and I still remember declaring yesterday that I would never eat again after a Thanksgiving weekend full of pie-based gluttony, I will have speck and greens alone. Perhaps I'll add a shave or two of Parmigiano Reggiano.

Tomorrow, maybe I'll deep fry it.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

I Want to be a Cowgirl

Did I mention that I bought the most amazing pair of cowboy boots last month? Well, I did. My friend from Uruguay calls them Texan boots, which I love. And the folks in Texas who sold them to me called them western boots. “Is this your first pair of western boots?” they asked. I think it showed. No matter what you call them, they’re quite sassy, and I intend to enjoy them for a long, long, time.

Much like the cookies I made this weekend. They’re a variation on a recipe for Cowboy Cookies that I have been enjoying for as long as I can remember. But no matter what you call them, they’re my definition of cookie—and quite a good one, I’d say. I’ve added dried cherries, and swapped pecans for the traditional walnuts. They’re salty and sweet, and wonderful.

Unfortunately, since it’s a snow day here in Seattle and I am the only one around, I am eating more than my fair share. I can attest first hand that they’re nice with coffee at breakfast, as well as after lunch with tea. Time to pack some up and distribute them around the neighborhood before they become dinner and midnight snack.

Cowgirl Cookies (aka Cowboy, Western, or Texan Cookies)
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
2 cups flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
½ t baking powder
2 cups oats
1 cup pecans
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1 cup dark chocolate chunks
1 cup dried cherries

  • Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla.
  • Mix the flour, soda, salt and powder in a separate bowl. Mix in to the dough.
  • Add the oats. Stir in the nuts, coconut, chocolate, and cherries.
  • Spoon balls of dough onto a cookie sheet. I use a mini ice cream scoop.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 15 – 18 minutes, until the edges are golden and the middle is still soft.
  • Hoot and holler like a real cowgirl.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Oreo Dragon

When the produce man told me they were like Oreo Cookies, I knew I had to try them.  Turns out, I am pretty sure he meant that they look like Oreo Cookies—or more accurately—cookies and cream ice cream. My mom and I were enjoying a girls' trip to Maui, and we were giddy with all the fresh, local fruits: papaya, pineapple, little bananas, passion fruit.  I thought we needed to try these Oreo Cookie flowers too.
But even though I thought I was buying one of my favorite junk foods disguised as fruit, and that turned out not to be that case, I still enjoyed my first ever dragon fruit. 
Inside, dragon fruit have a similar taste and texture to a kiwi (and they look like cookies and cream ice cream). Outside, they’re gorgeous: red or yellow with green tips and a tropical flower-like look.

We chopped ours up with avocado, red pepper, white onion, and sour tangerine juice and ate it with grilled steak. Then we had the leftovers on cottage cheese for breakfast. Tasty.

They’re also popular in juices and cocktails.  "Just add rum” is a pretty good recipe for many things, don't you think?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Local Addictions

Any organization that gives away local sugar pumpkins as a door gift is fine by me. And if that’s not enough, Seattle Tilth also teaches kids and adults about organic gardening, hosts classes on how to raise city chickens, and helps refugees turn their farming skills into a living. I am thrilled that Seattle Tilth is part of my community.


I am also thrilled with the sugar pumpkin they gave me.

As part of my post-Halloween, jelly candy overdose, I wanted to make something full of vegetables. And to use my pumpkin. After much cookbook perusing, I chose to tweak Suzanne Goin’s recipe for Farro with Kabocha Squash and Cavalo Nero from Sunday Suppers at Luques. I made some substitutions and omissions, not because I thought it was a particularly good idea, but that’s what I had in the house.

And oh my goodness, this was a yummy one. I cook with kale (cavalo nero) a lot, and I have never done to kale what Goin suggested I do. I cooked the heck out of it and it was amazing. I may very well become addicted to it.

Seattle Tilth does so much for me and the greater Seattle area. Including help me feed my addictions.

Farro with Pumpkin and Kale
Adapted from Farro with Kabocha Squash and Cavalo Nero, Sunday Suppers at Luques, Suzanne Goin
3 cups fresh sugar pumpkin, peeled and diced
¾ cup olive oil
1 T plus 2 t dried thyme
1 # lacinato kale
1 sprig fresh rosemary
2 chilies de arbol
1 cup sliced onion plus ½ onion cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 ½ cups farro
¼ cup red wine
½ cup shallot, sliced
Kosher salt and pepper

  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil with lots of salt.
  • Toss the pumpkin with 2 T olive oil, 1 t thyme, ¾ t salt and some pepper. Spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes, until soft.
  • Blanch the kale in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain and squeeze out the extra water.
  • Heat ¼ cup oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the rosemary sprig and one of the chilies, crumbled. Cook for about 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium low, add the sliced onion and ½ t salt, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the sliced garlic. Cook for about 7 more minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions start to brown.
  • Add the kale plus 2 T oil, and stir to coat the kale with oil and onions. Add ½ t salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, until the kale is a little crispy and almost black. Remove the rosemary and the chili.
  • While the kale is cooking, heat a medium sauce pan for 2 minutes, add ¼ cup oil, the onion wedges, the remaining chili crumbled, and the bay leaf. Cook for about 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Add the farro, 1 T thyme, and 2 t salt, and stir. Add the wine and 6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes until the farro is tender. Drain and remove the vegetables, bay leaf and chili.
  • Heat a large frying pan for 2 minutes, add 2 T oil, ½ t salt and the sliced shallots. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add the kale mixture, the pumpkin and the farro and cook until everything is heated through. Serve immediately or keep it warm in the oven.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

You Get What You Get


You don’t get to choose your birthday—you’re born when you’re born, and that’ll be the day and month that you’re supposed to celebrate for the rest of your life. More importantly, your birthday dessert options will more than likely be influenced by your season, so you’d better like it.
In this part of the world, winter birthdays get peppermint, chocolate, nuts, and other generally produce-free desserts. That’s me, a December baby. Spring gets citrus and carrot, maybe some coconut. Summer is a jackpot with all the fruit-based desserts you can imagine: berries and stone fruits coming out of your ears. And fall—fall is a great time for dessert: apples and pears, pumpkins and other squashes, cinnamon and nutmeg.
My dad is a fall baby and he loves bread pudding. So this year I decided to make him a pear raisin bread pudding from Chuck Williams and Kristine Kidd’s new cookbook, Cooking at Home. I swapped raisins for cranberries, and made a bourbon sauce and whipped cream to go with it.
It’s the first recipe that I’ve tried out of the book, and I’ll try more. They do a nice job of setting the stage for recipes: what’s a pudding, good ways to change the recipe. And the pages are well laid out—each step in the recipe lines up with the ingredient so it’s easier to read as you go.
 
I hope my dad is happy with his fall birthday desserts, because that's what he gets. I certainly enjoyed making this one. And eating it.

Pear Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce
From Cooking at Home, Chuck Williams

7 T unsalted butter
4 firm pears, peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
4 day-old baguettes cut into 1/2 inch cubes, about 12 cups
¾ cup raisins
6 eggs
1 t almond extract
¼ t nutmeg
1/8 t salt
4 cups half-and-half
1 pint heavy cream, whipped
Bourbon Sauce

  • Butter a 9x13 inch pan.
  • Sauté 4 T butter, pear slices, ¼ cup brown sugar and cinnamon in a large frying pan until soft, about 8 minutes.
  • Melt the remaining butter. Spread half of the bread cubes into the pan, and brush with half the melted butter. Layer the pears on top of the bread. Sprinkle with raisins. Cover with the remaining bread cubes and brush with the rest of the melted butter.
  • In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until blended. Whisk in ½ cup brown sugar, almond extract, nutmeg and salt. Add the half-and-half and mix thoroughly. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread and pears.
  • Cover the pudding with waxed paper and weight it down with another pan, let stand for 10 minutes so all the bread soaks up the egg mixture. Remove the pan, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, up to overnight.
  • Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove plastic and waxed paper. Sprinkle the top with ¼ cup brown sugar and bake for an hour. Remove from oven and let it sit for 10 minutes. Slice and serve with unsweetened whipped cream and bourbon sauce.


Bourbon Sauce 
½ cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ t kosher salt
5 T bourbon
5 T cream
  • Heat all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the sauce is slightly thickened. About 6 minutes.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Texas Ed

The last time I was outside of an airport in Texas was December of 1996. I was in a hurry to drive from the Grand Canyon in Arizona to Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida, and Texas was a long state. I saw Highway 10, the mechanic’s shop where my Hyundai was diagnosed but not fixed, and a motel room in San Antonio.

This weekend, however, was a different story. Eleven irreplaceable friends and a reason to celebrate would have been more than enough. But I also went for two jogs along the lake, drank beer outside, was referred to as Ma’am, felt the sun like I won’t feel in Seattle again until next July, had chile rellenos, bought cowboy boots, and began my education in Texas-style BBQ.
Mixed meats—that’s always a good place to start. We had brisket, two kinds of ribs, smoked turkey, and sausage. It was all slow cooked, smokey and tender, then slathered with habanero BBQ sauce. Not too spicy, not too sweet, not too thick, and totally irresistible in a way that made me want to sponge it up with whatever I had on the plate. The meat, the bread, the potato salad, the coleslaw, all candidates to sop sauce.  

I will say that next time I’ll use a different strategy for the sides. I’ll skip the beans, potato salad, and green bean casserole and go straight for the coleslaw and pickles. The cold and cleansing vinegar was a nice pause as I moved through my itinerary of meats. And they may have been the only vegetables I ate all weekend.

I still remember how big Texas is from my drive back in '96, and I know I just saw a sliver of it this weekend. But it exceeded my expectations and I will go back. If for nothing else than to continue my education.

Congratulations Todd and Monja! Thanks for everything!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Hard Cider Companion

I went to the Ciderfest wanting to find my favorite local cider. Instead, I walked away with a new-found allegiance to Eric Bordelet—a cider maker and sommelier from Normandy, France.


I did taste some great local ciders (Westcott Bay, Finn River), but Bordelet’s Brut Cider was without a doubt my favorite, and that of my cider-tasting companions. It was caramely—not caramely-sweet but caramely-roasted—and complex. The bubbles were tiny, and there was just the right amount of them. And upon tasting, we immediately launched into a discussion about what foods it should be enjoyed with.

So last night for dinner, inspired by my quest to make a meal that should be eaten with Bourdelet’s Brut, a gallon-sized ZipLoc bag full of fresh tarragon from my friend’s garden, and a great butternut squash panzanella that I had at Smith last Thursday, I made (and ate) the following. It's excellent with hard cider, and would be a nice meal with a rustic terrine.

Delicata Squash with Fried Bread, Tarragon, and Escarole
Serves two.

1 medium delicata squash
8-10 large escarole leaves
4 slices crusty bread
¼ cup toasted pecans
½ cup fresh tarragon leaves
¼ cup olive oil, plus more for cooking
1 t champagne vinegar
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
Cayenne
2 T currants, soaked in warm water

  • Cut the squash in half lengthwise, remove the seeds, and cut ¼ inch slices to make crescent moons. Toss them in olive oil, spread them out on a baking sheet, and roast at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until soft. Remove from oven, sprinkle with salt and cayenne.
  • Soak the escarole in cold water for about 10 minutes, drain and dry, and tear into bite-sized pieces.
  • Tear the bread into pieces. Heat 3 T olive oil on medium-high in a large skillet. Add the bread and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bread is crispy with some browned edges, but not smoking. Remove from heat and toss with salt.
  • Mix ¼ cup olive oil, vinegar and mustard to make the vinaigrette.
  • Toss all the ingredients and serve. 

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Hot Salad

When I say hot salad, I don’t mean fancy hot bacon-grease-wilting-fresh-spinach hot salad. I am talking about that salad-feeling you get in the summer when you pile so many ripe, juicy fresh things together that you become full without even noticing. When going to the farmers' market and chopping is as good as cooking dinner. I miss that already. I need salad. Hot salad.
So on a jog, a few weeks ago, my brother and I decided we needed to make hot salad with a warm and cozy, fall slant.

My first attempt, two weeks ago, was a simple beef stew. So ordinary and ho-hum that I didn’t want to burden you with reading about it. This week, however, I went for an oldie-but-goody and made a slightly modified version of a minestrone soup that my mom has been making since I can’t remember.

I spruce it up with freshness and green—some kale and fresh parsley to add the healthy hot-salad feeling that I am jonesing for, post summer. I’ll enjoy this hot salad all week long. You should have some too.

Minestrone
¼ cup olive oil
5 cloves garlic, sliced
2 medium onions, diced
2 cups chopped celery (about 5 stalks)
2 cups chopped carrots (about 4 large carrots)
1 t dried oregano
1 t dried basil
1 t cumin
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
5 cups water
1 # dried white beans, cooked
2 t kosher salt
2 cups kale, chopped
1 cup parsley, chopped
  • Heat the oil in a large, heavy, pot, cook the garlic for a few minutes, and add the onions. 
  • Cook until the onions are translucent and add the celery and carrots. Cook for 10 more minutes. 
  • Add the oregano, basil, cumin, tomatoes, tomato paste and water, bring to a boil, and simmer on low for about 45 minutes, until carrots are cooked through. 
  • Add the cooked beans, salt, kale and parsley and cook until the kale is tender, about 10 minutes. 
  • Serve with parmesan cheese and crusty bread.