First Friday Food

Saffron Zucchini Couscous

/ Shane / 1 Comment

The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.

The Reason:

The recipe came from my sister Rachael. I don’t remember when she first made it, but she seemed pretty excited to share it with us, since I don’t think she gets many requests for it.

The Journey:

This is something we make a *lot*. In fact, going out on a limb here, I’m going to guess we make it more than Rachael does.

If you follow along on these First Friday Food posts, you’ll notice the major theme is that this is both healthy and easy to make.

The interesting thing is that it uses saffron. If you’re unfamiliar, saffron looks like tiny red threads and is ridiculously expensive. In fact, by weight, it’s one of the most expensive spices in the world. I’ve heard this is because each flower produces only one thread, and it must be harvested by hand. Luckily, you only need to use very little.

The major change that we made to Rachael’s original recipe was to add chickpeas. I guess you could consider them optional, but I think they’re perfect. They add some good texture and stretch it a little bit, without adding any extra work.

The Verdict:

Scrumdiddlyumptious. You can eat it hot, you can eat it cold (one time I ate it so cold it had icicles in it, but I probably wouldn’t recommend that). You can eat it immediately, or make it in advance. You can take it as a dish to pass and even the kids will eat it. What’s not to love?

The Recipe:

Recipe courtesy my sister.

  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 zucchini, diced
  • 1 can chickpeas
  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat couscous
  • 1 cup chopped basil leaves
  • 1 cup chopped parsley leaves
  1. Bring stock to boil, and turn off heat.
  2. Add spices and steep for 15 minutes.
  3. Heat butter in frying pan. Saute zucchini for 5 mins.
  4. Bring stock to boil again.
  5. Place couscous in bowl and add zucchini and chickpeas. Pour hot stock over this, and cover tightly.
  6. Stand for 15 minutes.
  7. Add basil and parsley, and toss with fork. Serve warm or room temperature.

Cabbage and Cannellini One-Dish Meal

/ Shane / 3 Comments

The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.

The Reason:

Okay, I have to admit that a cabbage-based dish didn’t sound all that appealing to me. I mean, cabbage is just…cabbage, you know? Please don’t let that stop you from trying this, because if you do you will be missing out on something that is awesome.

The Journey:

This is so easy to make, which means it’s one that we can keep in our regular rotation. We’re always looking for easy meals for weekday preparation. I’d say we probably eat it at least once every other week.

Even though the cabbage and cannellini are what make this unique, it’s mostly really a fried potato recipe. And come on, who doesn’t like fried potatoes?

The Verdict:

The fried potatoes give it a sort of breakfasty feel, but we eat if for supper. So what, you never heard of brinner?

I’m telling you, when we have this, I can’t shovel it in my mouth fast enough. And the best part? It costs like $3 to feed the four of us!

The Recipe:

Adapted from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson

  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and cut into tiny cubes
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • One 15-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 a head of very finely shredded green cabbage
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
  1. Dice the potatoes and cut up shallot
  2. The cabbage has to be shredded. I suppose you could buy shredded cabbage, but we prefer to shred our own in the vitamix.
  3. Fry the potatoes in oil turning as needed ~10 min (add shallot and salt after about 5) or until golden brown
  4. Add the cannellini beans and continue to cook ~3 minutes
  5. Add cabbage and cook until wilted, ~2 – 3 minutes
  6. Top with parmesan

Simple Potato Soup

/ Shane / Leave a comment

The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.

The Reason:

Now that it is starting to be fall, it is starting to be “soup season”. Sara kind of thinks soup season extends year round, so she has quite a lot of soup recipes in her arsenal, but this one is by far my favorite.

The Journey:

Let me start by saying, I am very anti-creamy soups. I like thin soups, like chicken noodle, french onion, etc. And this soup is as thick as it gets. The next day you can practically cut it with a knife. And yet, I love it.

Maybe it is not coincidental that it has bacon in it, which certainly doesn’t hurt.

The Verdict:

Sooo yummy. It’s in the crock pot, so it’s not too difficult to make, but you do have to do a lot of potato chopping first which takes a long time. However, it makes a lot, so you get multiple meals out of it, making the effort more than worth it. It works fine to freeze it.

It is a very hearty soup. I recommend serving it with some fresh baked bread.

The Recipe:

Recipe from Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook

  • 5 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1 stick of butter
  • 1 cup half-and-half (or whole milk)
  • 1/2 cup sour cream (we use our homemade plain yogurt instead)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 8 ounces bacon, cooked, drained, and crumbled
  • 6 green onions, sliced
  1. Put the potatoes in the slow cooker and add water to cover. Cover and cook on high until the potatoes are cooked and falling apart, about 5 hours.
  2. Turn the cooker to low, add the butter, half-and-half, and sour cream, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until hot, about 20 minutes.
  3. Stir in the crumbled bacon and green onions. Serve immediately or keep warm on low, adding water or milk to thin if necessary.

Tamal Azteca with Quick-Cooked Tomato-Chipotle Sauce and Whole Fruit Margaritas

/ Shane / 6 Comments

The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.

The Reason:

This is probably a lot more work than we would normally put into for a meal, but it was Sara’s birthday, and Sara loves Rick Bayless. We just so happened to have his cookbook on loan from the library, and there you go. The margaritas were just bonus, but they were the perfect compliment.

The Journey:

So it’s kind of a lot of work, but honestly not that much work. The hard part is roasting and peeling the tomatoes for the sauce. Make sure you roast the tomatoes until the skin is falling off. The rest of it is pretty straight forward.

The sauce is spicy! I was pretty surprised, because there’s not that much in the way of spices, just the chipotles. In fact, in general, I can’t believe how flavorful the whole thing is, considering the only real seasoning is salt. It’s like I can’t rectify the ingredients list with the amazing taste in my mouth. It just goes to show you, you really don’t need much to make an amazing meal. Less is more. (It probably also helped that the tomatoes were from our garden, and thus were a lot more flavorful than store-bought tomatoes.)

These were hands down the best margaritas we’ve ever made at home. And so simple with the Vitamix! I’m not sure what you would need to do to adapt this to a regular blender.

The Verdict:

Magnífico! Seriously, you knew Rick Bayless wasn’t going to lead you wrong. Although we make Mexican food a decent amount, we have never made anything as fancy as this. It is well worth putting in the effort. We have already made two more batches and froze them for later!

The Recipe:

Recipes courtesy Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen and Whole Food Recipes by Vitamix

Quick-Cooked Tomato-Chipotle Sauce

  • One can (7 0z.) chipotle chiles en adobo
  • 12 garlic cloves, unpeeled
  • ~5 lbs ripe tomatoes
  • 1 tsp. salt

Tamal Azteca

  • 6 cups loosely packed spinach
  • 2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch dice
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, defrosted
  • 9 oz. shredded Chihuahua cheese (the original recipe called for 1 lb., but it was tasty with only 1 package…use your discretion)
  • 12 – 16 corn tortillas, depending on the size of your pan
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • ~1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

Quick-Cooked Tomato-Chipotle Sauce:

  1. Roast the unpeeled garlic in a skillet, turning occasionally until soft, about 15 minutes (they will blacken in spots). Cool and peel.
  2. Roast the tomatoes on a baking sheet 4 inches below a very hot broiler until blacked on one side, about 6 – 8 minutes, then turn and roast the other side. Cool, then peel, collecting all the juices with the tomatoes.
  3. Working in batches in a food processor or blender, process the tomatoes with their juices, chipotle chiles and garlic to a medium-fine puree.
  4. Heat a medium-size, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the tomato puree and stir nearly constantly for 8 to 10 minutes as it sears and thickens. Taste and season with salt.

Tamal Azteca:

  1. In a vegetable steamer, steam the spinach, covered, until tender (~2 minutes). Immediately spread out on a baking sheet to cool, then roughly chop.
  2. Steam the diced zucchini until just tender, ~3 minutes, then spread out to cool.
  3. Sprinkle the veggies with 1/4 tsp. of the salt.
  4. Set out the corn, tomato sauce and shredded cheese.
  5. Pour the 1/2 cup of the oil into a small skillet and set over medium heat. Line a baking sheet with several layers of paper towels. When the oil is hot, quick-fry the tortillas one at a time for a few seconds per side, just to soften them. Drain the tortillas in a single layer on the paper towels, blotting them dry. (Note that we skipped this step and just used the tortillas right out of the package, and it was fine!)
  6. Cut the tortillas in half.
  7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 baking dish. Spread a thin layer of the sauce over the bottom, then lay out 8 tortilla halves in a single layer, arranging them to cover as much sauce as possible. Evenly spread the greens, a scant 1 1/2 cups of the remaining sauce and 1 cup of cheese. Top with another layer of 8 tortilla halves. Spread on the corn and the same amount of sauce and cheese. Top with a third layer of 8 tortilla halves, the zucchini and another round of sauce and cheese. Top with remaining tortilla halves, sauce and cheese.
  8. Cover lightly with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, until bubbling and lightly browned. Let stand a few minutes before cutting into squares. Sprinkle with the cilantro.

Whole Fruit Margaritas

  • 1/4 cup water
  • 6 oz. tequila (we used 1800 Silver)
  • 2 oz. Grand Marnier
  • 1 orange, peeled, halved
  • 1 lime, peeled, halved
  • 1 lemon, peeled and seeded, halved
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 6 cups ice cubes
  1. Place all the ingredients into the Vitamix in the order listed.
  2. Blend on high for 45 seconds (not sure how long it would need to be blended in a regular blender)
  3. Serve. (This filled 6 margarita glasses)

Kale with Bacon and Cannellini Beans

/ Shane / 5 Comments

The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.

The Reason:

This recipe actually came from Sara’s mom, who made it for dinner one night at our house, but the reason we really picked it up and ran with it was because of all the delicious kale we have growing in our garden this year.

In fact, the best part about this recipe is that we usually have everything we need to make it on hand at any given moment. There have been many a night where we say, “We have nothing to make for supper,” and then we remember this recipe and go from having absolutely nothing to eat, to having a fantastic gourmet meal.

And if you need another reason why you should make this delicious, yet vegetable-filled dish, I present Exhibit A:

(Stock bacon photo…you’d be surprised at how many of these I have)

The Journey:

It’s hard to say whether this is a hard or easy dish to make. It’s pretty simple, but at the same time it’s sort of a pain to remove all the stems from the kale. Also, we usually make the bacon ahead of time (you’d be amazed at what you can do when you have pre-cooked bacon easily at hand). So if you already have cooked bacon and you have a sous chef to de-stem the kale, it’s a piece of cake!

I should also mention that, while you can eat it by itself, we usually serve it over rice, pasta, or quinoa. It’s plenty flavorful, and the addition lets it stretch far enough to have some leftovers for lunch the next day.

The Verdict:

You know, when I originally put a section for “the verdict” I kind of imagined I would use these First Friday Food posts to try new things. Instead, I usually select from our cadre of favorite recipes. So I always just end up saying, “Yeah, the verdict was it’s awesome!” because otherwise I wouldn’t have put that recipe up there.

So, the verdict is, it’s awesome.

I am well on record saying I do not enjoy the combination of salty and sweet, and yet that is exactly what this is. What can I say, I am a man of many inconsistencies. The sugar combines with the balsamic vinegar, which combines with the saltiness of the bacon and makes something totally new and delicious.

I think this is the best recipe we have for kale, I like it even better than kale chips. If you have kale lying around, like we do, then this is the perfect way to use it (says me — the kids mostly just try to pick out the beans and bacon — oh well, what are you gonna do).

The Recipe:

Recipe from Weight Watchers.

  • 3 slices uncooked bacon
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1 cup onion, diced
  • 1 pound uncooked kale, stemmed, roughly chopped
  • 1 cup canned chicken or beef broth
  • 15 oz canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tsp sugar, in the raw
  1. Set a large, heavy pot or skillet over medium heat; add bacon and cook to desired crispness. Remove bacon from pot and set aside; leave bacon drippings in pot.
  2. Add onion and red pepper flakes to bacon drippings; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes.
  3. Add garlic; cook, stirring, until garlic becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
  4. Add kale; cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to wilt, about 5 to 7 minutes.
  5. Add broth; cover and simmer over low heat until kale is just tender, about 8 to 10 minutes.
  6. Add beans; simmer, uncovered, until liquid is almost evaporated, about 5 to 7 minutes.
  7. Stir in salt, vinegar and sugar; sprinkle with crumbled bacon and serve immediately.