Tasty Mixed Mediterranean Vegetables

When I went school for a semeseter in Spain, I lived with this 85 year old woman we all called Abuela (Grandma).  Having been through a lot in her life, she was stingier than most of the other “parents” people were staying with.  My first few days she treated me to mystery meat which was tough and gross and supposed to be a special treat!  I come from Nebraska – land of tons of big animals on the prairie, and so I have come to learn a thing or two about how meat should taste and let me tell you, this was NOT good at all!  While at her place, I lived on tortilla espanolas, fruit, vegetables and sardines.  A little digression on the sardines.  When I told her that I liked sardines, she became sardine happy and I literally ate them for lunch and dinner for a week.  Every single day.  Finally, after losing too much weight on this strange sardine diet, I had to tell her that something else would be okay!  She seemed relieved though so I think she just somehow thought I actually wanted them all the time.  Anyway, the frozen vegetables in Spain were delicious – usually there were eggplants and fennel and red peppers and all kinds of goodies.  Abuela cooked them in lots of olive oil until they were soft and some of the veggies had a nice toasty doneness.  YUM.  I never did get sick of the Spanish frozen vegetables and she came to call me, “La De La Verduras”  Basically, Vegetable Girl.  Unfortunately, we do not have any good mixed vegetables here.  Seriously – none.  Whole Foods used to carry this excellent mix from France with similar vegetables to mine above, but with eggplant, rice and tomatoes as well.  They were the only frozen mixed vegetables that I really liked and of course they’re gone.  I’m thinking $6.99 per small package is the reason – I bought them every time they went on sale.  The mix I made above is basically the same thing as the Spanish frozen vegetables, the ones from France, and the Italian vegetables I’m used to eating.  This mix would also be fantastic with mushrooms and obviously the tomatoes and eggplant as well.  I was trying to tone it down a little since I didn’t want to get ingredient happy and feel too intimidated to make this again…what with chopping time, price and all.

Another reason I like this vegetable mix so much is that my husband will eat them.  It’s pretty amazing.  At first he complained: “Ewwwww, I don’t like zucchini or fennel.”  I said, “Wrong, you don’t like restaurant zucchini that’s hardly cooked, boring and flavorless.  Cooked well zucchini takes the flavor of what it’s cooked with – it’s full of flavor, not chewy and boring.  You don’t like raw fennel but you’ll LOVE it cooked.”  How can someone not like raw fennel anyway?  Well…you can’t please them all.  My hubby chowed a huge portion of the vegetables and then ate more.   I get really happy when I can get him to eat his vegetables!  I feel like a proud mom:)   My Dad, husband and I inhaled all of these vegetables in one meal, but I think it should serve more than three.  We are all just pigs I guess.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch skinny asparagus (you could use fatter but just cut it into smaller bits)
• 1 fennel bulb
• 1 small zucchini
• 1/2 red pepper
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• parmigiano reggiano
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 stem fresh rosemary – all the little leaves chopped
• fresh basil – depending on leaf size, about 2 TB chopped 
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• butter (optional)

Method:

• Chop fennel – here is a handy video on how to get started if you’ve never cooked with fennel before (a note before watching – fennel is NOT anise, the video incorrectly calls it anise, and some stores label fennel as anise…like yams and sweet potatoes…still, it’s a good video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Woq5xV7G_N0
• Cut or snap off the tough bottom off of the asparagus, then cut into 4s
• Thinly slice red pepper and cut in 1/2s or 1/3rds
• Thinly slice zucchini
• Heat skillet to medium-high heat and add enough butter (or olive oil) to coat the pan.  I like to start with butter and then add olive oil as it needs it.
• Add all vegetables and cook about 25 minutes, stirring often.  If it seems to be cooking too fast or burning, turn to medium heat – adding olive oil as needed
• Add juice of half lemon, garlic, rosemary and basil – cook another 5 minues or so or until all vegetables have softened and some have browned a little
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Add freshly grated parmigiano reggiano to each serving – it adds another happy flavor punch.

Photo by Roland A Manarin

The inspiration for this yummy corn dish comes from this new line of sauces and condiments called Saucy Mama.  I was lucky enough to be one of 25 bloggers out there to get a nice big boxful of sauces to try out (in addition to 4 extras for a giveaway for you!)  I wanted to make something non-intimidating that people could take to a barbeque as a side dish or throw it on top of some great Asian salmon or chicken.  Also, as I have mentioned, I live in Nebraska!  Omaha to be exact, but farmers from all over the state drive to Omaha for farmer’s markets and random stands set up all over the place.  This leaves us with some of the best tasting sweet corn in the world at our fingertips daily.  How can I pay homage to our fantastic corn farmers and state?  By naming this dish after them of course.  Well, and that darned football team that steals my husband away every season.  Love the corn, could do without the football due to the husband snatching.  The Cornhusker’s also produce crazy fans who like to talk smack and annoy the crap out of me.  Believe me, I’ve tried very hard to care about football but I just can’t do it!  I get myself pumped up for tailgating food (and the wonderful people we tailgate with have wine so I’m happy).  But when the game starts I’m basically good to go!  Home.

Saucy Mama Sesame Ginger Dressing

Ingredients:

• 3 cups fresh grilled corn kernels, cut from cob
• 2-3 green onion stalks- green part only, sliced into thin rounds
• 1/4-1/2 cup Saucy Mama Sesame Ginger dressing (or as a subsititute, your own favorite sesame ginger dressing)
• 1/2 cup sliced tomatoes (I used cherry)
• 2 celery stalks, chopped finely

Method:

• Grill the corn (for extra flavor, you can coat it with some butter, salt and pepper)- my favorite method is using our outdoor grill at about 325 for 8 minutes turning frequently.
• Cut the kernels from the cob (my mom gave me the advice of using a mechanical knife, I felt like a man in his tool shed, it was so much fun!)
• Put corn in refrigerator until cooled
• Add the rest of the ingredients and enjoy!

So, back to the sauces!  I’m going to host a giveaway of 4 bottles of Saucy Mama Lime Chipotle Marinade (it’s spicy:)  Look out for my next post, which is a Lemon Chicken with the Saucy Mama Parmesan Garlic Marinade.  The giveaway will be officially underway on that post and that’s where you can comment to win!  My husband likes it when I cook with these sauces due to the name.  He likes to ask if I’ve put any Saucy Mama on it even when it’s obvious that I didn’t.  Men:)

Wait a minute, I just changed my mind, if you comment on this page, you’re also entered to win – and you can comment on the Lemon Chicken post too!  Double your chances man.  For fun, you can tell me what you might make with the Lime Chipotle marinade!

Disclosure:  I was provided free product from Barhyte Specialty Foods

Photo taken by Takako Yazaki

I called my sister in law, Takako, to see if she could help me make spicy tuna rolls.  If you’ve read the miso soup recipe, you’ll know she’s from Nagasaki, Japan and knows her Japanese food of course!  She informed me that spicy tuna rolls are American and she had no clue how to make them but she’d be willing to help me out!  I already knew that most of the popular rolls were American but for some reason thought that the spicy tuna were a Japanese original but…nope!  However, I don’t care, I still love this roll and figured it would be much cheaper to make it at home.  Having Takako there while making these rolls gave me the courage to eat raw fish at home.  Now, of course I bought the fish from a reputable fish market in Omaha and made sure it was sushi grade tuna first (should be at over $25/lb).  But that still didn’t calm my nerves!  Yep, these rolls were delicious, just as good or better than many restaurants’ versions!  That didn’t stop me from thinking my stomach hurt later that night…which some wine fixed.  You see, the alcohol in the wine killed anything the fish may have had in it!  Okay, I realize this is all absurd, but I’ve just never eaten raw fish that I have prepared before and so it was a tad bit nervewracking.   I think the alcohol really just killed my nerves.  Either way, my stomach felt fine later that night.

This recipe comes from the two of us working together adding this and that until it suited our tastebuds best.  If you like yours extra spicy, go ahead and add more sriracha!  This version was spicy enough to feel the heat, but not spicy enough to kill the tastebuds. 

Ingredients:

• 1/4 pound sushi grade tuna…ahi or yellowfin
• 1 Tb mayonnaise
• 2 tsp sriracha (a Thai hot sauce, it should be in the Asian section at your grocery store…if not, you can probably just use Tabasco or a Mexican hot sauce but it won’t be quite the same)
•  2-3 Nori sheets, depending on how much fish you want per roll
• 1 lemon wedge
• scant 1/4 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar (the back of the bottle should imply that it is good for sushi rice)
• 2 cups cold sticky rice, brown rice would be best.  Takako said to make sure that you use cold rice, never use warm or hot or it messes with the fish!
• 1/8 of avocado, sliced lengthwise (optional)

Method:

• In food processor or blender, add tuna, mayo, sriracha, and juice of squeeze lemon wedge.  Pulse until mostly pureed but not pasty (pasty if fine if you’ve gone too far), refrigerate until ready to put on Nori
• With the side of a spoon, cut rice vinegar into the rice, you want to be gentle or you’ll ruin the integrity of the rice.  If it seems too liquid, just wait a bit and it gets dryer fast
• On a bamboo sushi mat (or just on a plate if you don’t have the mat, it’s fine) place a sheet of Nori and enough rice to cover, don’t smash the rice down with the back of a spoon (like I tried to do), gently pat it down with the side of the spoon.  Leave a 1/2 inch border at the top (where you are going to aim your roll, so that’ll be the end of the roll)
• Put sushi in the center horizontally (parallel to the 1/2 border on top, but mid-way through the roll)  We made two rolls so used half of the tuna, but if you want to make three rolls, use 1/3 of the tuna mixture, I’d recommend you put avocado in them if using less tuna…or just put avocado in them anyway, yum!
• If you’re adding avocado slices, place them on top of  the tuna.
• Carefully and firmly start to roll the Nori at first almost folding the roll in half, squeeze gently and continue to roll slowly and tightly, firmly pressing as you go along.  The bamboo mat will make it easier to roll but if you think you won’t make these much, I would wait to buy one
• Slice to desired width carefully with a sharp sharp knife
• Repeat, if you’re making 2 rolls, you will have some leftover rice

Enjoy!  Hey, did you notice the cool purple carrots?  I couldn’t resist them at the farmer’s market (another Black Sheep Farm’s special) knowing that pretty much anything purple is going to deliver some great antioxidants.  If you’re curious how they taste, they’re not too different than your regular carrot, yet slightly less sweet.  The carrot flavor is 100 % there and they’re fresh and delicious.  You just rinse them and eat.  If you peel them, the purple comes off and the inside is white or orange…the above pictured are white inside.  Nifty little fact:)  My toddler even gnawed on one for awhile, and he won’t eat the orange variety.  Hmmm, maybe I should buy some more purple stuff?

Coconut Oil Vinaigrette Coleslaw

You may ask yourself, how does coconut oil work as a vinaigrette?  When you put it in the fridge, does it solidify?  Well, I have the answer to both of those questions now!  Tropical Traditions was kind enough to send me some of their Gold Label coconut oil to try out along with a copy of their book (and sponsor a GIVEAWAY, look below).  I’m very happy with this oil in fact.  It really is rich and delicious!  If you like the strong flavor of coconut in your coconut oil like I do, this is perfect.  I did flip through the book – there is so much information on coconut oil and the process that they use and the company’s history (ummmm, I haven’t read it all yet but I did watch this video which is pretty interesting).  The book has plenty of different recipes and two popped out that I HAD to try right away!  Simple vinaigrette and mayonnaise.  I’m excited!

Photo courtesy of tropicaltraditions.com

• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 3/8 cup coconut oil, liquefied (I used Tropical Traditions:)
• 3/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp agave nectar
• 10 cups cabbage mix/coleslaw (was feeling lazy, I used a bag of  mixed shredded cabbage/carrots and a bag of pre-shredded red cabbage totaling roughly 10 cups) – but you can shred whatever cabbages and carrots you feel like shredding
• 1/8 cup roasted, salted, shelled sunflower seeds

Method:

• Whisk vinegar, agave nectar, salt and pepper until salt dissolves
• Slowly add oils, whisking away
• Allow to stand 5 minutes, taste and adjust to your liking, whisk again
• If you’re serving the whole thing, add the dressing to the cabbage mix and then add the sunflower seeds, mix well.  Otherwise, just put some of the vinaigrette on your cabbage mix and sprinkle with sunflower seeds.

If you’re interested in some great information about coconut oil, you can check out these links: this one or this one.  There’s lots of great information about potential health benefits, the flavor is fantastic, and it works as an alternative to awful-for-you shortening.  I just love the flavor it adds to the things I’m cooking – sweet or savory.  Coconut oil fried potatoes are amazing and so simple! 

***GIVEAWAY RULES: To win a free quart of Tropical Traditions coconut oil, sign-up for their newsletter http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/subscribe_for_special_sales.cfm, and comment below so I know you signed on.  I’ll use random.org to pick the winner Wednesday, July 15th. 

***Tropical Traditions also has a Referral Program, so if you place an order with them as a first-time customer, please select “Referred by a friend” and in the box that says “How did you hear of us?” enter my sponsor ID number… 5254567.  By telling Tropical Traditions that I referred you, you will receive a complimentary copy of the book Virgin Coconut Oil: How it has changed people’s lives and how it can change yours! by Brian and Marianita Shilhavy with your first order!  This book is filled with testimonies and research showing how healthy coconut oil is, and it also includes over 85 recipes showing how one can incorporate coconut into their diet.

Here are some easy to use directions for your referrals:

1. Add the items you would like to purchase from the order form linked to Tropical Traditions.  Visit www.healthybuyersclub.com/orderform.cfm

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4. When you are ready to check out please click on the “Continue” link which will take you to your shopping cart.

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6. Fill in your account information as directed. In the box: “How did you hear of us?” you must select: “Referred by a friend” on the drop down arrow.  When you make this selection, a box for your sponsor’s User ID number should appear if you are a first time customer.

7. Enter your sponsor’s User ID number.

8. To complete your order click on “Save and Proceed to Checkout” at the bottom of this page and follow the instructions through the checkout process.  You will receive an order number when you have successfully placed your order.

By following these steps, you will receive a complimentary copy of the book Virgin Coconut Oil: How it has changed people’s lives and how it can change yours! by Brian and Marianita Shilhavy.  Your sponsor will receive a coupon for a complimentary gift. These will vary from month to month.

Those with additional questions about taking advantage of the referral program when creating their new account may call toll free 866-311-2626 Ext. 2.

Disclosure:  I was provided free product from Tropical Traditions

Spinach and Feta Swirls

Spanakopita is one of my favorite Greek heroes.  Even at Costco I’m tempted to buy that gigantic frozen box of the triangles just for severe craving times.  Spinach and feta just go so well together.  Recently, I can’t seem to get enough puff pastry down either.  I know, it is not the healthiest of foods by any means, but it’s delicious!  These spinach and feta swirls are best served warm – because the buttery flakiness of the puff pastry shines with the spinach and feta filling.  I gave a few to friends but for the most part wolfed them down myself.  Originally, I made them for a fourth of July party, but they just didn’t get past my kitchen.   Oink oink.  My son did eat half of one which is pretty impressive since he’s 2 and still very suspicious of vegetables.

One afternoon while watching Ina Garten make some extremely rich looking cinnamon rolls with puff pastry in a muffin pan, I felt inspired to do the same but with a spinach/feta and ham/cheese mixture.  I’ll bet there is a healthy and/or gluten-free way to home-made puff pastry, but I haven’t found it.  If you do, I’d love it if you shared the recipe!  I’d most definitely give it a shot.  I imagine it’s quite difficult but worth the effort.  However, this recipe is pretty darn easy since it involves frozen puff pastry dough!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb spinach (I had a big plastic container of organic baby spinach that I used)
• 6-8 oz feta, crumbled
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 onion (I used Vidalia), finely chopped
• 1 egg
• parsley (2TB fresh flat-leaf) chopped
• salt and pepper
• 2 sheets puff pastry dough (one box of frozen puff pastry dough), thawed about 40 minutes at room temp
• butter

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 375
• In saucepan – over medium-high heat, melt just enough butter to coat the pan, add garlic and onion and cook until onion is see-through
• Little by little, add spinach (add butter if necessary) until it’s all wilted and cooked-through – allow liquid to boil for a few minutes stirring occasionally
• Pour spinach into colander in sink and allow to drain- pushing through excess water
• Pat spinach with paper towels to make sure it’s fairly dry
• Add beaten egg – some of the egg will go through, that’s okay
• Add feta and parsley
• Brush the pastries with melted butter (not boiling hot butter)
• Spread spinach mixture evenly amongst both puff pastry squares- leaving a 1 inch border on all four sides
• Cut edges off the rolls and cut evenly into six equal parts totaling 12 (cut each roll in half, and then with each half cut into thirds)
• Grease muffin tin and place rolls spiral-side down
• Brush the tops with butter if you want
• Bake about 30-35 minutes

I found the best way to re-warm these swirls is either in the oven or toaster-oven.  You can eat them cooled to room temperature after baking, but once they start to dry a little, they need to be re-heated and the oils will re-emerge.  Microwaving will work, but the swirls become more bread-like than pastry.  In the picture above, I ran out of feta – so I didn’t quite make it to the 6-8 ounces that I think would have been ideal.  However, they were still extremely flavorful and delicious!  Warning!  Just the dough alone in each serving is roughly 170 calories.  Yikes!  So, I’ll re-iterate that they’re not really that healthy, the spinach mixture is though.  You could make the same filling and use filo dough to lighten it up.  However, I was honestly just in the mood for puff pastry while making these.  I’ll make up for it, I promise!

Everyday Salad

So…an everyday salad.  Sounds silly to post a recipe for any old salad since you can throw any vegetable in it and make a decent salad.  But this one…it never fails, it’s simple, you don’t have to go to a specialty store to make it and it’s budget friendly!  It’s a sort of copycat recipe from an old restaurant called Little Roma- a couple of Croatian brothers ran it and made this salad either as an entree or starter salad.  I have been in the mood for it lately, and since the restaurant shut down a couple of years ago (they’re running a Greek place now) – I decided just to make it for myself, and it’s every bit as good as I remember it.  They used iceberg mixed with whatever greens they had, but I just use the lettuce picked from my Dad’s garden along with the farmer’s market specials.  However, this salad is great because it’s easy to find these ingredients in winter as well!   When I’m not making this salad, I usually get carried away having fun throwing all kinds of different veggies, fruits and nuts into my salad…sometimes sprinkling gomasio with seaweed on it as well.

I snack all day long, I basically never stop eating.  I decided with having to be in a swimsuit coming up, that I could stand to lose a couple of pounds.  Literally, just a couple, and after not even a week of replacing one snack a day with this simple salad (I’m not sick of it yet!) and not eating a half a bag of Vic’s Popcorn (light/half salt) at night hanging out with my husband watching something on TV…I’ve already accomplished it!  Oh, and I do not measure it and make a pretty darn big bowl.  If I buy an average organic mix in the plastic container at the grocery store, I probably use about a half to third of it.  In the picture above, much of the vegetables fell to the bottom after mixing.  Some people would call this salad a meal, but unless there’s lots of protein and something else on the side, this could only satisfy me for a snack.  It is a big salad though so it may fill you up.  I think Elaine would classify it as a big salad as well.

Ingredients:

• lettuce, mixed greens, baby greens
• tomatoes, I prefer around 4-6 grape or cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered 
• seedless cucumber, a couple of inches worth, chopped up
• yellow or vidalia onion, finely minced (about a half of a ring slice, or a half of a teaspoon to 1 teaspoon)
• sliced black olives, I buy jumbo ones and slice them myself, about 5
• green pepper, finely chopped – about 1-2 teaspoons, I just use the size of 1 or 2 fajita sized pieces
• extra virgin olive oil
• red wine vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
• parmesan, romano or little feta bits

Method:

• Chop up all of your veggies
• Put that lettuce in a bowl, add the veggies, sprinkle with salt and pepper
• drizzle with olive oil and red wine vinegar
• freshly grate some cheese on top – or sprinkle the feta
• mix, enjoy!

I don’t see any point in measuring out my olive oil or counting calories.  I did it after college for awhile and it didn’t do me any good.  Plus, for a semester of college I studied in Valencia, Spain.  They probably fed me about a half a cup of olive oil daily…or more!  It was wonderful and I actually lost weight there practically drinking the stuff and not trying in the least!  Well, now that I think about it, I also lived with an 85 year old lady we called, “abuela” and she tried to feed me mystery meat one too many times so I always requested vegetables, sardines and tortilla Espanola.  She called me, “la de las verduras.”  Had I lived with a different family, I still think the same would hold true because for the most part, processed foods weren’t popular at the time.  Their frozen vegetable mixes are much better over there by the way.  In Spain, they just ate good food and didn’t worry about calories or diet products.  Well…I take that back, I did meet a few young women who existed on Coca Cola and cigarettes, but for the most part, just live and eat and have fun!  You also learn that same lesson traveling to Italy.   Okay, sorry, I’m diverging much too much. 

Back to the salad: my mom prefers it with garlic salt.  My son likes to sit on my lap and pierce everything with a fork and feed it to me.  This takes forever so I try to make this as a snack after he naps, but he does have fun and every so often eats a lettuce or spinach leaf while he’s at it.  If he can have fun with my salad and get a little taste here and there, even better!  I’d also like to mention the raw onion in there.  I typically only like cooked onions, especially caramelized onions.  The crunch and strong flavor of raw onion and the aftertaste and breath are not appealing to me, but by mincing just a little bit of onion in there, the crunch and flavor blitz doesn’t happen and the flavor is nicely distributed throughout.  If it weren’t for those Croatian boys, I’d never have put raw onions in my salad.

Raw Fennel With Lemon and Olive Oil

You’ve probably had fennel before, either the seeds or cooked.  Raw fennel has the crunch of celery without the strings or the overly watery beefed up celery you get sometimes.  Fennel seeds can be quite tasty but I still can’t get over the fact that my grade school pizzas were covered in fennel seeds which made a gross pizza nastier by giving the appearance of bugs all over.  Anyway, cooked fennel is quite delicious and most people eat it that way.  By cooking fennel, it reduces the anise flavor.  Although fennel may have a slight anise flavor, fennel and anise are different plants (and so is licorice).  People often call anise fennel, but of the anise plant, only the seeds are actually eaten.  Licorice makers often add anise to their black licorice, but anise is actually NOT black licorice, which has a much stronger flavor.  Fennel does have a subtle anise (but not licorice) flavor, but don’t let that stop you from trying it!  A few health benefits: fennel contains quercitin, a natural anti-inflammatory, which is awesome for my family’s allergies in the summer months, it also contains vitamin c, folate and fiber.  A bulb of fennel has about 70 calories and 7 grams of fiber.  Eat up! 

My Italian aunt used to always prepare fennel (and a myraid of other things)  for everyone at family gatherings for us to snack on before we ate our meal later on.  I kinda forgot about it until my cousin Erica brought it to a family event last summer.  It was the first thing gone – everyone was so excited to have it again!  Of course, all of us grew up with it so we knew what it was…if you bring it to an event, some people may be afraid of it since they’ve never had it and it could just sit there untouched.  If so, call me and I will come over and literally eat all of it.  No big deal.  I usually maneuver my way over to the fennel Erica brings and hover in hopes that no one will notice I’m eating it all.   It’ll probably just be easier to explain what it is though.  

Raw Fennel With Lemon and Olive Oil:

• Remove celery looking stalks and cut base (a half inch to an inch, you can always cut off more if you think it needs it) – discard
• Rinse, and cut in half (a vertical cut if you’re thinking of it standing up whole)
• Remove inside core, discard
• Remove outer layer – you can still eat this if you peel it with a vegetable peeler, otherwise, the outer layer will most likely be too tough to eat
• If too much of the base is still stuck on the fennel, remove that portion
• Quarter the inside like an apple (Cut the halves in half) – and you may cut them smaller if you’d like
• Lay out on your serving dish and drizzle with olive oil and juice of half of lemon, use rest of lemon for garnish or more flavor later.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper

Morel Mushrooms

Morel mushrooms have caught on the past few years as a major fad in the foodie world.  Why didn’t anyone catch on to this before?  Morels are delicious with a more meaty flavor and slightly tougher texture.  I grew up with them every spring; they grew in the land behind our house.  Unfortunately, the past five or six years the morel thieves come and steal them and make a killing so it has been awhile since I’ve had them.  They bring back fond memories of my childhood so I was happy to find them at our local farmer’s market and pay a ridiculous sum (I talked my way into almost paying half) -but it still seems crazy to spend so much when they should’ve been free had someone not stolen them!!!  I know there are lots of ways to cook morel mushrooms, but I used the old family recipe, which is quite simple.  It was nice to see my toddler keeping up the tradition, he loved them. 

Method:   

• Slice mushrooms in half, if really dirty, rinse with your kitchen sprayer on high.  If you don’t cut them in half and your morels are as dirty as mine were, you’ll just get the dirt crunch from the dirt that worked its way up inside the stem.  If not really dirty, just rinse with a light stream of water.  Pat dry with a paper towel.
• Cut up a clove of garlic and mince, add butter, we add a few tablespoons for flavor but if you want them lighter, just use less butter. 
• When butter heats up, add garlic and morels, morels will sweat a ton.  Let the liquid cook down and once cooked down, add some dry red wine, about a quarter cup.  Stir until wine cooks down and morels look like the picture above. 
• Season with salt and pepper.  Eat

Oh, and don’t eat them raw!  Morel season is almost over, so you’ll probably be able to buy some this weekend still at the farmer’s markets.  If not, some people freeze them or dry them and they retain the flavor nicely, so if you find them anytime in the year, give them a try!

Artichoke With Lemon Butter

If you’ve never eaten a fresh artichoke, you’re missing out!  To me, they taste nothing like their flavored jarred, canned or frozen counterparts.  Once the choke (hairy part on the inside) is removed, the heart is a mini-meal in itself.  It is rich and creamy and dense.  Dipping it in simple lemon butter is my favorite method of eating the heart.  It’s so easy!   

Artichokes are full of health benefits.  Quoting The Silver Spoon, “Artichokes are rich in iron, phosphorus, and calcium, and their considerable fiber content makes them useful for the digestive system.  They have another beneficial effect on the digestion because they contain cynarine, a substance which stimulates bile production.”  It has a positive effect on the liver.  It’s high in folic acid and magnesium.   If you’ve ever been pregnant, you know folic acid is extremely important in the healthy grown of your little one.  A large artichoke has about 60 calories and 6 grams of fiber.  With only 60 calories, I say, go ahead and dip in that lemon butter!

I based my recipe out of The Silver Spoon cookbook.  If you are looking to find a great Italian cookbook, this is it!  According to the cover, it’s Italy’s best selling cookbook for over 50 years.  Just flipping through it will make you drool.

Method:

• Remove outer leaves until more tender leaves show, cut stem to roughly 1 1/2 inches, remove tips (I just cut some off the top with the type of artichoke I bought)
• Open up leaves and scoop out inner choke (or, you may just cook with the choke and remove it after eating the leaves before eating the heart)
• Using fairly tall pan, put in artichokes, stem on the bottom try to stand up, then add water and olive oil until artichokes 2/3rds covered.  You may just use water if you prefer.  I threw a garlic clove in there whole as well and added salt.
• Cover and cook over low 30 minutes

To eat, melt some butter and squeeze in fresh lemon.  Make sure you have a bowl for disposal of leaves/choke.  One by one, dip leaves into lemon butter and then scrape bottom of leaves with teeth.  The edible portion will come off naturally.  When you get close to the inside and the leaves get super-tender, discard those and chow down on your heart!  The stem is edible as well with the heart but if it’s bitter- cut it off.  You wouldn’t want to ruin that melt in your mouth flavor of the artichoke heart!

My 21 month old thought it was so fun to rip off the leaves, dip them in butter, and then discard them.  I guess he’s not quite ready to actually eat them yet.  I fondly remember getting so excited when my mom made artichokes as a kid.  I hope my kid eventually feels the same way.

My friend Nicole recommended that I try this Mediterranean Grain Salad recipe that she found from Everyday Food- a Martha Stewart magazine.  The recipe contains bulgur, something I love to eat when I go places that serve it (in Omaha, that’s pretty rare).  I have never cooked with bulgur and found it to be so simple and wonderful!  I think it’s definitely a new favorite grain to cook with!  My problem with grains is cooking them correctly with the right amount of liquid/grain ratio and timing on the stove.  It’s not that I mess it up usually; I guess I don’t have a lot of patience for this and usually end up not cooking with grains, but I love eating them.  I need to get myself out of this mindset and try new grains!  Bulgur is pre-cooked, dried and cracked wheat so all you have to do is boil some water and throw it over the bulgur (remove from heat) and cover it for a half hour.  Then, strain it through a wire mesh strainer and you’re done.  Ridiculously simple, why was I intimidated?  The recipe calls for medium-grind bulgur but all I found in the bins was course-grind and it wasn’t a problem.  Bob’s Red Mill also sells a medium-grind bulgur.

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup medium-grind bulgur
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 to 1 ounce fresh goat cheese, crumbled

1. In a heatproof bowl, mix bulgur with  1 cup boiling water.  Cover, and let stand until tender but slightly chewy, about 30 minutes.
2. Drain bulgur in a fine-mesh sieve, pressing to remove liquid; return to bowl.  Add tomatoes, parsley,vinegar and oil.  Season with salt and pepper and toss, top with cheese.  Take a a picture because it’s so pretty!

I found the original recipe (which included shallots) pretty good, however, for me the shallots were too intense.  After making this, I got all kinds of ideas in my head about more healthy varieties of this Mediterranean salad.  One more version I tried:  no need to measure in this version!  Chop up some fresh mozzarella cheese, grape tomatoes, parsley (basil would be better but our grocery store ran out today so I used the parsley from when I made the above recipe), 2 spears asparagus – cut into 1/2 inch pieces, a few heads of broccolini, cut into chunks.  Mix with the bulgur, add salt and pepper and either red-wine vinegar or balsamic, and extra virgin olive oil, mix.  Eat.  Yum!  Next time I’ll add some cut up grapes and pine nuts or roasted chicken or even the some leftover fillet.  It all would add a nutrient packed delicious flavor to the mix.  Warning!  If you decide to sautee some veggies such as spinach, do your best to drain the liquids before adding because it could get pretty watery.  Thanks Nicole!  You’ve created a monster.