Cabbage & Noodles

So today's blog title may or may not disgust you depending on your feelings about cabbage.  And in all honesty, when my mom would make this for dinner when I was a kid, I carefully picked out all traces of cabbage that could taint the salty, buttery noodle goodness.  But of course, as my mom always predicted, my taste buds changed as I got older, & I can finally fully appreciate this dish in all its cabbage glory.

Cabbage & noodles (or haluski) hails from the lands of my ancestors in eastern Europe.  A Google search revealed its popularity in Polish, Slovak, & Hungarian cultures.  As you can imagine, this is cheap food.  And it's not really the healthiest dish either.  But it is really freakin' easy, & you can always eat it with a side of broccoli for good measure.


Cabbage & Noodles (Haluski)
Cooked from memories of my mom's recipe which has probably never been written down.  I'm sure there are variations, but this is how I remember it.

1/2 bag of egg noodles
1/2 head of green cabbage
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
salt
freshly ground black pepper

1.  In a large pot, boil water for egg noodles.  Cook noodles until tender, drain, & return to pot.

2.  Roughly chop 1/2 head of cabbage.

3.  Place pot over medium heat.  Add butter & cabbage to noodles.  Season with salt & pepper.

4.  Cook over medium heat until cabbage is wilted & some noodles start to get a little crispy.  Stir just enough so that things don't burn.

5.  Season with extra salt & pepper as you like.

Makes 4 large servings.

Kale & Feta Frittata

Well, now it's finally Fall.  So, in addition to our normal Saturday morning routine of sleeping in & cooking brunch, we add watching college football the list of Saturday habits.  Since we're only lowly grad students here at the University of Colorado, we don't have to care about hasn't-looked-good-since-1990 Buffs football, & instead, are free to dedicate ourselves to teams that actually win more than they lose (& therefore, actually play games that we can watch on TV).

A recent brunch discovery is the frittata, which is like a quiche with less eggs & no crust.  They work well with most greens mixed with tomatoes, onions, or mushrooms (if you like those kinds of things) & topped with plenty of cheese.  They also make good leftovers.

Kale & Feta Frittata
Adapted from Family Meals by Maria Helm Sinskey.

1 bunch of kale (or spinach or swiss chard, etc), stems removed & roughly chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium red onion, chopped
a bunch of cherry tomatoes (I used about 15; you can add, subtract, or eliminate)
handful of basil leaves (about 10-12), rinsed 
salt
pepper
8 eggs
1/2 cup feta cheese (parmesan would also be good)

1.  Preheat oven to 400°F.  Rinse the kale in a colander.

2.  With some water still sticking to the kale, wilt it in a pan over medium heat, tossing occasionally, less than 5 minutes.

3.  In a 10 inch dutch oven (or something approximately that size that can go from the stove to the oven), heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the onion & garlic, & cook about 2 minutes.  Then, add the tomatoes, & cook another 2 minutes.  Remove from heat, & season with salt & pepper.  (You'll be adding feta later which is already salty so add only a little salt here.)

4.  Drain any remaining water from the kale, & chop finely.  Add the kale to the dutch oven.

5.  Roughly tear basil into smaller pieces, & add to the dutch oven.  Stir to combine.

6.  Whisk together the eggs & a sprinkle of salt in a small bowl.  Pour the eggs into the dutch oven, making sure that they're distributed evenly throughout.  Sprinkle feta over top.

7.  Bake about 15 minutes until the top becomes a little puffy.  Add a final grind of pepper over top before serving.

Makes 4 servings.

Iced Coffee

Coffee...it is my morning joy and a frequent afternoon friend.  And yet, would you believe that my husband, amazing in so many ways, is defiantly anti-coffee?  In the almost 3 years that we've been together, I have not managed to wear him down.  Until...

Enter iced coffee.  It's all the wonders of coffee in cool, convenient summer form, & it's a form that appears to sneak past David's coffee defenses.

Yes, I know it's turning into fall, and hot mugs of coffee are more suited to the current season.  But the past week here has been sunny & actually kinda hot so iced coffee was clearly called for.

Iced Coffee 
I developed this recipe after consulting various sites around the Internet.  It's a hot-brewed pour-over method, if you're up on all that coffee lingo.


32 ounce (4 cup) glass jar
paper coffee filter
clothes pins
2 cups boiling water
~1 1/2 trays of ice cubes
1/2 cup medium-fine ground coffee


1.  Fill the jar about 3/4 full with ice cubes.

2.  Attach the coffee filter to the top of the glass jar with the clothes pins.  Fill the filter with the ground coffee.

3.  Slowly pour some water over the grounds, making sure that they all get wet.  Then, continue to pour water slowly over the grounds until your jar is full.  Remove the filter.

4.  Fill some glasses with more ice.  Pour in the coffee, add milk & sugar, & stir.

Makes (obviously) 4 cups of iced coffee.  With this method, the coffee is brewed stronger to account for dilution by the melting ice cubes.  The extra will last about 2 days in the fridge. 

Painted Ceramic Trivets

David & I spent Labor Day weekend celebrating the wedding of one of my best friends.  It's always fun going to a wedding.  Marriage is such an awesome gift, & now that I'm married too, it's even more exciting to see someone I love get to have this great gift too.

For a wedding gift, I made these painted ceramic trivets to match the couple's new kitchen.  They are pretty enough to display but fully functional to protect your counter, table, etc from piping hot pots & pans of food.  So you won't be wanting to eat today's post, but you will definitely want to use it while cooking.

Painted Ceramic Trivets
Inspired by this Design Sponge DIY tutorial

6in x 6in white ceramic tiles  (47 cents each from Home Depot)
6in x 6in cork squares  (JoAnn's sells these in a 4 pack)
double-sided tape  (the cork squares came with this included)
contact paper
x-acto knife
scrap cardboard
can of spray paint
can of glossy finish spray

1.  Decide on a design for your tiles.  You'll need something that you can easily cut out.  Feel free to copy my design.  (right-click on the image then click "save as...")

2.  Print out your design directly onto the contact paper.  Make sure that it's formatted to print out in 6in x 6in size.

3.  Cut out the stencil with the x-acto knife.  It's helpful to cut on top of a piece of cardboard.

4.  Adhere the contact paper stencils to your tiles.  Use both the positive and negative images.

5.  Spray paint your tiles.  Do this preferably outside or at least in a well-ventilated area.  Let dry for 30 minutes, & paint another coat.  Let dry again then remove the contact paper.

6.  Spray the tiles with the glossy finish.  Again, do this outside (the fumes are not good for you).  Let dry completely for proceeding.

7.  Adhere the cork squares to the back of your ceramic tiles with double-sided tape.


Makes 2 painted ceramic trivets.

Almond Basil Tomato Pasta

Today I sing the praises of the food processor. It's so useful...pestos, hummus, mmhhmm. For real, this is the third day in a row that I've lugged it out of the cupboard. Today's use was to puree some of the pasta sauce which instantly makes the sauce thicker & creamier (without cream). For all of the cooking I've done, I don't usually make traditional-ish pasta sauces like the kind with tomatoes in them. But this recipe is a keeper, & I'm eager to try the leftovers tomorrow after the sauce has had time to sink into the pasta.

Almond Basil Tomato Pasta
Adapted (slightly) from Cookwise by Shirley O. Corriher

3/4 cup sliced almonds
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme (or 2 teaspoons dried)
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
28oz can whole tomatoes, roughly cut tomatoes with kitchen shears
1 pound dried penne pasta
3 tablespoons vodka
zest of 1 lemon
bunch of basil leaves, cut into slivers
salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spread sliced almonds on baking sheet, & toast until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. (Be careful! They can burn quick!)

2. Stir toasted almonds & butter together to coat. After the almonds have cooled, grind them in a food processor until almost paste-y. Leave in food processor for later step.

3. Heat olive oil on medium heat in large sauce pan. Saute onion, thyme, bay leaf, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, salt, & pepper until onions are soft. Add garlic, & cook 1 minute. Add tomatoes, & simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf.

4. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, but do not rinse.

5. Add 1/2 cup of tomato sauce to food processor with almonds in it, & blend for several seconds. Add another 1/2 cup, & blend until smooth. Return puree to sauce pan, & stir to combine.

6. Add vodka & lemon zest to sauce, & bring to boil. Turn off heat, & add basil.

7. Combine pasta & sauce. Let sit at least 1 minute before serving. Top with parmesan cheese (of course).

Makes at least 4 servings.

Smaller Spaces

In a break from our (rarely) regular food posts, I thought I would share about the new home of Worth the Mess. Two weeks ago, we moved into a 1 bedroom-1 bath duplex a few blocks from my old place. Now, I REALLY liked my old house. I had lived there for 2 years, & everyone knows that moving is not the most fun you can have on a Saturday (or any day).





But we moved for 2 main reasons:
1) After we got married, we wanted to move into a house that was ours. Not ours in the sense that we own it (because we definitely do not), but ours in that we picked it out together & will set up our home in it together.
2) Washer & Dryer...do not underestimate the convenience of having your own.

Not to mention, the lower rent that comes with a smaller house is definitely a plus. We realized that we just didn't need 2 bedrooms, especially as newlyweds. It's not cramped; we like being close together! But the smaller space did prompt us to go through all of our stuff & evaluate if something earned a spot in the new house. Turns out this was actually a good time to do this as we were trying to combine 2 lives together.

Now, with things pared down, I'm having fun organizing the new space & making sure that there's enough places to sit when people come over. I'll be attempting some DIY projects to make this place ours, & if the results are worth the mess, this seems like the place to share them. And even though the space overall is smaller, the kitchen is a decently good size, & there's lots of counter space. So stayed tuned for more (hopefully) delicious food from the new location.



In the mean time, I can't have a blog post without a recipe. Our Saturday routine consists of sleeping in & then making brunch. My absolute favorite brunch recipe is baked eggs with greens courtesy of Smitten Kitchen (who else?) Make it on a lazy Saturday; it's super easy for how good it is.

Vegetable Stir Fry

When the CSA share gives us lots of random produce, the dish we most often cook that produce into is a stir fry. Stir fry is awesome. Lots of vegetables equals lots of servings which means that not only do we get leftovers but lots of veggies means that they're even healthy leftovers. And I would much rather eat dinner leftovers than PB&J for lunch. (Although, on a side note, thanks to the CSA share, we've been eating salad after salad after salad for lunch recently. As a result of the salad lunch invasion, David discovered that he can make homemade french salad dressing using our shiny, new, wedding gift...the food processor. Maybe I can convince him to post that recipe next.)

Another great thing about stir fry is that there's no specific combination of vegetables that you have to use. I would recommend at least some type of greens & something crunchy. The recipe below lists what I used when I made stir fry this time, shown in the picture above. We even happened to have edible flowers (marigolds) from the CSA so this stir fry seemed extra fancy.

Vegetable Stir Fry
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, chopped
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 bunch of greens, washed with stems removed (I used kale)
~15 basil leaves, washed with stems removed
1 cup vegetable stock
2 eggs
half of a cucumber, sliced lengthwise
petals from 4 edible flowers
soy sauce, to taste
2 cups cooked rice or soba noodles

1. Cook rice or soba noodes according to package directions.

2. Heat sesame oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add garlic, onion, ginger, & red pepper flakes. Cook about 3 minutes until garlic is just starting to brown.

(If you are using broccoli or asparagus or another hard vegetable, add it here before the greens & cook it a few extra minutes.)

3. Add greens & basil & about half of the stock. Cook until greens soften, stirring regularly. When the liquid has cooked off, add the remaining stock & continue to cook & stir.

4. When all of the liquid has cooked off, turn up the heat to high & add both eggs, stirring constantly until the eggs are cooked.

5. Remove from heat. Serve on top of rice or noodles. Add soy sauce to taste. Top with cucumbers & flower petals.

Makes 4 servings.

Braised Greens Tostadas

Another 2 months, a wedding, & a honeymoon to Ecuador have all passed since my last blog post. I come to you now with new (matching!) dishes, knifes that are actually sharp,& the beginning of this summer's CSA bounties. Here in Colorado, June means greens. We start getting the amazing zucchini & yellow squash soon, but for now, it's greens...spinach, arugula, Swiss chard, bok choy, lettuce. We even get edible weeds like purslane. And we get them in giant quantities which are perfect for braising because the mass of greens shrinks down into a more manageable size.

These tostadas/tacos are vegetarian but don't have any beans or tofu (what??). Yet, they are still substantial enough to make a summer dinner without sweating to death in the kitchen. Use any kind of greens you have available. I used a mixture of chard, lettuce, kale, & purslane.

Braised Greens Tostadas
Adapted from Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
large yellow onion; chopped into long slices
3 garlic cloves; finely chopped (I used my new garlic press!)
1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
large bunch of greens; de-stemed, rinsed, & ripped into 1/2in strips
1/2 cup water
salt
4 tostadas (or taco shells or tortillas)
1 cup salsa (I used Newman's Own black bean & corn salsa)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (crumbled queso fresco would also be awesome)

1. Heat oil over medium heat in large skillet. Add onions & cook until golden, about 5 minutes.

2. Add garlic & red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, for another minute.

3. Add greens, water, & salt. Cover & cook for 5 minutes. The heat needs to be high enough that the water is boiling in order to steam the greens.

4. Remove cover & cook until most of the water boils off.

5. Layer salsa, greens, & cheese on tostadas & serve.

Makes 4.





And one more thing I made yesterday that's not food but is kitchen related...refrigerator magnets!

Blackberry Peach Pie

As has now become tradition, David & I made our orange-glazed ham for Easter dinner this year. During our first attempt at cooking a rather large piece of meat, we had only been dating a few weeks, & now here we are making ham again & about ready to get married. Little did we know...

Of course, we couldn't invite people over for dinner without having dessert, & that's where the pie comes in. Making pie crust, while usually frustrating & quite crumbly, is always worth the mess (haha...couldn't resist). But no judgment from me if you use the pre-made kind. And no need to slice peaches here; the canned kind work just fine. You might notice in the photo (which I should have taken before we started eating) that I baked the pie in a skillet instead of a pie pan. Nothing special about that; I just didn't have a pie pan. I have since added 2 to our wedding registry. Happy Easter!

Blackberry Peach Pie

Crust recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen & filling adapted from All Recipes.

5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

4 tablespoons sugar

4 sticks butter (2 cups), cut into 1/4in cubes

1/2 cup ice water

2 large cans of peaches, drained

2 cartons of blackberries, rinsed

3 tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1. Combine flour, salt, & sugar in large bowl. Add butter, & blend with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse corn meal.

2. Sprinkle water over flour mixture, & knead until dough just sticks together. (Be careful not to add too much water.) Divide dough into 4 balls. Wrap individually in plastic wrap, & refrigerate at least 45 minutes (& up to 2 days).

3. Roll out 2 balls of dough, each to a size that will fit your pie pan, adding another teaspoon of water if necessary to make dough stick together. Press dough into pie pans, & refrigerate until ready to add filling.

4. Preheat oven to 350°F.

5. Combine peaches, blackberries, cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon, & nutmeg in large bowl.

6. Add filling to pie pans. Roll out last 2 balls of dough, & cover tops of pies.

7. Bake for about 30 minutes.

Makes 2 9in pies.

Chicken & Fennel Tostadas

First of all, happy Easter!
And second of all, apologies for the lack of blog posting over the past couple of months.  There's been somewhat of a lack of cooking (or more accurately, a lack of interesting cooking...quesadillas, anyone?).  I blame it on the wedding planning which is fun but time-consuming.  Check out www.weddingwire.com/DavidandAlana to see how that's coming.

Anyway, we made today's recipe a while ago, but it's definitely a good one.  There's a lot of steps, but it actually doesn't take too long.  If you keep the leftovers separate & assemble them right before you want to eat them, they taste almost as good as the first day.  And you feel like you have an extra special lunch.

If you're lucky, tomorrow I'll post the recipe for the blackberry peach pie that's currently in the works for Easter dinner.


Chicken & Fennel Tostadas
Adapted from the January 2011 issue of Bon Appetit.

2 15oz cans of pinto beans, liquid drained but reserved
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 tablespoons dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2 teaspoons chipotle chiles in adobo, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt

1 large fennel bulb
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/3 cup coriander seeds

6 tostada shells
bunch of romaine lettuce
shredded cheese 
lime wedges


1.  Blend beans, onion, oregano, garlic, chiles, & cumin in food processor until mixed but still chunky.

2.  Heat oil over medium heat in saucepan.  Add bean mixture & 1/2 cup reserved bean liquid.  Heat about 5 minutes until warm; then season with salt & pepper, & remove from heat.

3.  Trim leaves & end of fennel bulb.  Cut bulb through the center into 1/3in thick slices.  Brush the slices with oil, & sprinkle with salt & pepper.  

4.  Coarsely crush fennel seeds.  (Pound them in a plastic bag, or use a mortar & pestle.) 

5.  Flatten chicken until it's about 1/3 in thick.  Season with salt & pepper, & coat with crushed coriander.

6.  Heat skillet over medium high heat, & when hot, sear fennel slices until lightly browned about 2-3 minutes.  Transfer slices to plate.

7.  Heat remaining oil in same skillet over medium high heat.  Saute chicken about 3 minutes per side until cooked through.  Cool 5 minutes then cut into long slices.

8.  Now you're ready to assemble.  Top tostada shells with beans, chicken, fennel, lettuce, & shredded cheese.  Top with freshly squeezed lime.

Makes 6 servings.

Black Bean Tacos/Pitas

If you're looking to cook something quick & easy, this is your new go-to meal.  Seriously, it requires minimal ingredients & is ready so quickly you don't have to eat a snack before starting to cook dinner (like I usually do because I'm so hungry).  It works equally well with pita bread cut in half or soft taco shells.

Black Bean Tacos/Pitas

This meal was originally inspired by a Smitten Kitchen recipe.

1 can black beans, drained & rinsed

1 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon cumin

~ 1 cup fresh spinach, rinsed & ripped into small pieces

juice from half of a lime

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled

4 soft taco shells or 2 pieces of pita bread cut in half & opened

salt & pepper

1.  Heat black beans over medium heat in small pan, stirring occasionally until hot.  Add salt, pepper, & 1 teaspoon cumin.  Stir to combine.

2.  Combine spinach with 1/2 teaspoon cumin, lime juice, olive oil, salt, & pepper.

3.  Heat taco shells or pitas either in the microwave or oven.

4.  Layer beans then spinach, & crumble feta cheese on top.

Makes 4 servings.

Parmesan Brown Butter Pasta

Check out my awesome Christmas gift!  The pasta press attachment for the KitchenAid stand mixer made its debut in my kitchen this week.  I had never made fresh pasta before, but it was actually quite easy (at least with this attachment).  I paired the fusilli pasta with a simple brown butter sauce so that we could determine if the fresh pasta tastes any different than dried box pasta.  It tasted great (although I'll still probably keep some dried pasta around just in case).

Parmesan Brown Butter Pasta

 

1/2 pound short pasta (fresh or dried)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/8 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

salt

pepper

extra parmesan to sprinkle on top

1.  Bring salted water to boil, & cook pasta accordingly.  Drain, & return to pan.

2.  Slice butter into 4 large chunks, & melt over medium heat in large pan.  Add parmesan, salt, & pepper.  Turn heat to medium-high, & cook butter until it lightly browns.

3.  Pour butter over pasta, & stir to coat.  Serve with extra parmesan on top.

Makes about 3 servings.

Pizza!

The NFL playoffs are upon us (Steelers!!) so I keep seeing all of these pizza commercials.  But, really, there's no need to order pizza when you have this awesome homemade recipe.  If you already have the pizza dough, it only takes about 30 minutes to make the sauce, assemble the pizza, & bake it.  David & I highly recommend some Lagunitas Brown Shugga' beer to go with this pizza or to drink while watching football or to enjoy anytime really.

Homemade Pizza
Adapted from the April 2010 issue of Bon Appetit magazine


~1 pound of pizza dough
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 ounce bag of cherry tomatoes, stemmed
1 garlic clove, chopped 
1/2 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
8 ounces mozzarella, shredded
bunch of basil leaves, ripped into small pieces
salt & pepper, to taste




1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Lightly coat baking sheet with olive oil.  Roll out dough to fit baking sheet, & shape crust.  Lightly coat dough with olive oil.

2.  Heat olive oil over medium high heat in skillet.  When hot, add tomatoes whole.  Cook until tomatoes start to char & break down.  

3.  Combine cooked tomatoes, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, garlic, salt, & pepper in bowl.  Stir to combine, & crush tomatoes into coarse chunks.

4.  Sprinkle mozzarella & basil pieces over pizza dough.  Drop spoonfuls of sauce on top of cheese, leaving some cheese uncovered.

5.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Serves at least two people (possibly more if you're not as hungry as we were). 

Three Bean Chili

Friday night, I needed a quick entree to bring to a potluck surprise party.  As usual, smittenkitchen.com was one of my first stops to look for a good recipe.  And, also as usual, Deb at Smitten Kitchen never lets me down.  Maybe one day I can be an awesome food blogger like her.

This three bean chili only takes 30 minutes to make & will definitely be added to my list of meals to make when I don't really feel like cooking. 

Three Bean Chili
You can find the original & other awesome recipes at smittenkitchen.com

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
1 15 ounce can of pinto beans, drained & rinsed
1 15 ounce can of black beans, drained & rinsed
1 15 ounce can of kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1 28 ounce can plus one 15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 cup water
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa

1/2 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper, to taste

1.  Heat vegetable oil in a large pot; add diced onion & saute until browned. 

2.  Add beans, tomatoes, water & spices (including cocoa), & simmer for about 30 minutes or until you're ready to eat, stirring occasionally.

Serves 6-8.