Collard Greens

I wrote about my diet changes over on my blog so that's why I'm posting all these new recipes. I'd never had collard greens till about two months ago. Lucky for me, I've always loved vegtables so getting to try new stuff like this and others has been fun. The only draw back would be, I have no idea how to cook this stuff. I eat about 40% of it raw (like when I first ate collard greens it was literally me holding a huge leaf in my hand chewing at it while watching my girls). Here's a little something I've try and was good. Oh, I almost forgot, this amazing-for-you-vegetable is dirt cheap. I'm taking $1.29 for a HUGE bunch of HUGE leaves. Can't beat that.

Collard Greens with Nuts and Other Good Stuff

Put about a tbls olive oil in a pan - bring it to medium-high heat
Put whatever kind of nuts you have on hand (walnuts in my case) and saute about a minute. Be careful not to burn - I did this the first time I made these.
Add about 2-3 leaves of chopped collard greens and cook another minute or three. Remove from heat and sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and some dried fruit (raisins and cranberries in my case)

And voila! 

Easy and delicious roasted vegetable & chickpea casserole

I just made this recipe this week, and am currently heating up some leftovers. It is so delicious, and very simple, so I thought I'd share.

It's made up of roasted 'summer' veggies, according to the recipe name, but here in Turkey, these are 'all year' vegetables, so hopefully you can find them too.

Since it's from the BBC Good Food website, I'm going to briefly translate it into 'American English' just to avoid any confusion that will keep you from trying this yummy dish. (I've also added the modifications that I made to the recipe but you can find the original here).

1 eggplant, cut into thick fingers

3 zucchini, thickly sliced

2 red peppers, de-seeded and chopped into chuncks

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-sized chunks

1 Tbsp whole coriander seeds (although ground coriander will also do, I imagine)

1 14oz can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

2 14oz cans of chopped tomatoes

4-5 Tbsp olive oil

a small bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped

So, it's really easy. Preheat the oven to 4oo degrees F. Chop up all the vegetables, put them in a big oven proof dish or baking tin (if you've got one that can go on the stove and in the oven, use that), toss in olive oil, add the coriander seeds, some salt and pepper. Put it in the oven for about 45 minutes. When I cooked mine, I think it took a bit longer because my potato chunks were a bit too big, but roasted vegetables aren't an exact science, so you don't have to be too precise. When everything is soft enough to eat, it's ready.

Then put the dish on the stove, over low heat, add the tomatoes and chickpeas/garbanzos. Bring it to a gentle simmer and stir gently. When it's done, sprinkle on the chopped cilantro (I left the cilantro out because it's pretty tough to find in Istanbul) and serve with olive oil and crusty bread.

I actually made the meal one night and we ate it the next. I read from some comments that it was better the second night after letting the flavours mingle together. I reheated it in the oven and when it was just about done, added a sprinkling of feta cheese, which added a lovely flavour to it.

The recipe also suggested a meaty version. If you have a carnivore in the family, you can start to roast a chicken for 30 minutes, take it out of the roasting dish, put in all the vegetables above, nestle the chicken in the middle and continue roasting as per the recipe. Sounds pretty good. But trust me, the vegetarian version is delicious as it is. And it will make your kitchen smell amazing!

Roasted Eggplant Soup

Another gem from www.smittenkitchen.com who adapted it from Bon Appetit magazine. She suggests seasonings for an alternative taste and it was this way that I made it. It was delicious!!

Roasted Eggplant Soup
adapted from Bon Appetit
Serves 4

3 medium tomatoes, halved (I quartered them)
1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds) halved lengthwise, or 3 smaller ones
1 small or medium onion, halved (I quartered it)
6 garlic cloves, peeled (I used 3 )
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
4 cups chicken or veg stock
1/4 cup heavy cream (optional, or more to taste)
3/4 cup crumbled goat cheese (opt, I omitted because it didn't need it IMO)

Preheat oven to 400F. Arrange tomatoes, eggplant, onion and garlic on large baking sheet (you'll need two). Brush or drizzle vegetables with olive oil and roast for 20 mins. Remove garlic so it doesn't burn and return the trays to the oven for an additional 25 mins until the vegetables are browned in spots and tender soft. Remove from the onion and scoop the insides out of the eggplant (though since you puree it all, next time I am not throwing away the skins) and scoop into a large soup pot. Add the rest of the vegetables, thyme and stock. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Cook until onion is very tender. (Here is she says about 45 mins or longer, but since I had chopped some of the vegetables smaller mine were practically ready to puree after boiling). Cool slightly.

Puree soup. Add cream and bring to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper and add additional spices. I used 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1/4 tsp red pepper. Sprinkle with goat cheese if using.

More Vegetable From the Farmer Goodness

Matt and I tossed around the idea of getting a CSA box this year, but we either got lazy about signing up or just plain forgot, I don't remember which! It turns out to be a good thing, though, since we have several friends who are also "just us two" who DID sign up for boxes, and they ALWAYS have WAY too much stuff. Which they then give to us! :) We've been having fun roasting squash with butter and brown sugar, stuffing bell peppers with hummus, and, when at our wit's end with a pile of slightly tired veggies staring at us, making "wilted vegetable soup"!

I just turned off the burner under my latest creation: 2 bell peppers, seeded and chopped, 1 onion, diced, 1 bunch "teenage" celery, chopped, all sauteed together in 2 tbs butter until onions are tender. Add a few pinches of flour, stir until veggies brown up a bit. Toss into 3 c. water and 3 c. veggie stock with 3 chopped carrots, a handful of chopped bok choy stalks, and a cup of brown rice. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and stir occasionally for a half an hour, or until rice is just tender. Turn off heat and add the rest of the bunch of spinach that didn't make it into salads, and VOILA: Wilted Vegetable Soup with Brown Rice! This one will go into the freezer for post-baby meals!

:)

More Veggies

This is kind of similar to Jill's post, but I'm so excited about it! I don't know how I've never cooked like this before. It's so easy, so healthy, and so tasty!

I'm making a variety of this dish for my grandparents on Thursday, so I wanted to try it out first, and it was a roaring success!

You'll see there are many seasoning varieties, and I want to try them all! I substituted all dry herbs for the fresh herbs called for - using a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon. I'll just give the recipe as it's written and you can play around with it as you like.

Roasted Summer Vegetables from Simply in Season (my favorite cookbook!)

8-10 cups fresh vegetables (options include: summer squash such as zucchini, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, green beans, red or green peppers, mild chili peppers, carrots, eggplants, mushrooms, sugar snap peas, or fennel) Cut into bite-size pieces for even cooking time (slice longer-cooking veggies smaller and thinner than fast cooking ones). Toss with one of the season options below. Then spread seasoned veggies in a thin layer on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

To use as main dish: Served over cooked penne pasta, wild rice, or couscous and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
To use as salad: Cool veggies (or use leftovers) and 2 c diced tomatoes, 3 oz feta cheese and additional dressing as needed to lettuce.

Seasoning 1:
3 T fresh basil, chopped
2 T fresh cilantro, chopped
1 1/2 T fresh thyme, chopped
1 T olive oil
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
1-4 garlic cloves, minced

Seasoning 2:
1 T olive oil
1 t chili powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 t dried thyme
1/8 t pepper

Seasoning 3:
3/4 c Italian or vinaigrette dressing

Seasoning 4: (good with onion, eggplant, zucchini, green pepper and tomatoes)
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 c olive oil
2 T each fresh thyme, oregano, basil, chopped
2 T balsamic vinegar
1T Dijon mustard
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper