Vinegar and Oil Mashed Potatoes

Vinegar and Oil Mashed Potatoes

It doesn’t look like much but this is my favorite way to eat potatoes.


The Portuguese love their potatoes and my family is no exception. I’m half Portuguese on my father’s side and I grew up eating one of my dad’s favorite dishes to make: salt cod, grelos/broccoli rabe and boiled potatoes with red wine vinegar and olive oil. A common sight on a traditional Portuguese table is an oil and vinegar tray and both condiments are poured on potatoes, fish, cooked vegetables and salads. I was craving some boiled potatoes with vinegar and oil but decided to make it as chunky mashed potatoes instead. What a discovery! This is the best way to eat potatoes in my opinion. I love the tang from vinegar and the flavor of the oil. I can never get traditional mashed potatoes quite right. That balance of cream, butter, salt and pepper is difficult to attain and I always tend to prefer chunks versus a silky smooth mixture.

It took a few tries but I figured out that the best formula for this recipe is a 1:1:1 ratio. 1 boiled russet potato, 1 tablespoon of red white vinegar and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. You can modify this if you like. Less vinegar if you don’t like how tart it is, more olive oil if you want it to be less dry. I like the 1:1:1 formula the best and that’s what I’m using!

Vinegar and Oil Mashed Potatoes
5 Russet Potatoes, peeled and diced into 1 inch cubes
5 tablespoons of Red Wine Vinegar
5 tablespoons of Olive Oil (I use Extra Light)
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Put the peeled and diced potatoes in a pot of cold water. Enough water so that the potatoes are covered. Cover the pot and bring to a boil. Uncover and cook 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are done.

Add potatoes to a strainer. Add the vinegar and oil to the bottom of the pot. Return the strained potatoes to the pot. Add salt and pepper and the stir carefully to incorporate all the ingredients. Serve hot and enjoy!

Vinegar & Oil Mashed Potatoes, Chorizo, Roasted Tomatoes and Asparagus

Zucchini Tomato Pesto Pasta Bake

This casserole is ridiculously good! I got the idea from WebMD's recipe for Pesto Zucchini Tomato Gratin. The picture shows it on top of pesto penne but didn't say anything about cooking the gratin with the penne. I decided to combine the two and turn it into a casserole. This makes a lot so you'll have plenty of leftovers.

My husband hates Zucchini and while it's not my favorite vegetable either I am determined to sneak it into as many dishes as I can. I shred the zucchini to make it more palatable. It works really well in this casserole!

Zucchini Tomato Pesto Pasta Bake

Ingredients:

1 box of whole wheat penne
1 7 oz. container of prepared pesto, divided
3 large zucchinis
3 plum tomatoes
2 cups of panko bread crumbs
extra light olive oil
1 container of Pearl Mozzarella
extra light olive oil

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. Fill a large pot with water, cover with lid and heat to a boil.

Shred your zucchini and slice your plum tomatoes into thin slices (I remove the jelly and seeds as much as I can). Set aside.

Add a drizzle of extra light olive oil to a large skillet and heat. Once the oil starts to sizzle, add the shredded zucchini. While that's cooking, add the penne and some salt to the boiling water and cook 10-12 minutes based on package instructions. While the penne is cooking, continue cooking the zucchini. Stir occasionally. You want to dry out the zucchini a bit so there is not so much water. After 10 minutes, stir in 2 tablespoons of the pesto. Set aside.

In a bowl, add the 2 cups of panko bread crumbs and about 3 tbsps of extra light olive oil and mix.

Drain the pasta reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water. Add the remaining pesto to the pasta and add the 1/2 cup of pasta water. Stir until all the pasta is coating in pesto.

In a 11 X 13 baking dish, add the pasta. Cover the top of the pasta with the shredded zucchini pesto mix. Top with half of the panko bread crumbs. Then add a layer of sliced tomatoes. Top with the pearl mozzarella balls and the rest of the panko.

Cover with aluminum foil and add to center rack of oven. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove foil, switch oven to low broil and broil for a couple minutes until the top gets brown. If you have patience, you can wait a little longer and it'll brown on top in the 375 degree oven. I am not patient so I like to brown with a quick broil. Watch the casserole closely or you can burn the top!

Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving. Or dive in if you can't wait.

Bon appetit!

Davis Square Farmer's Market - August 15th, 2012

Farmer's Market in Davis Square Somerville, MA - August 15th, 2012

 Radishes and Carrots 

Heirloom Tomatoes

 

Pumpkin Blossoms

 Local Apples

Fresh Corn

Picked this morning!

 

Squash

 

Peaches

Farmer's Market Haul - 2 cucumbers, 1 green pepper, 4 tiny Heirloom tomatoes, 5 ears of corn and 4 peaches.

Chicken Cashew

Carlos and I did a one week experiment in which we ate dinners (which resulted in lunch the next day with the leftovers) that consisted of little to no carbs. No rice, no potatoes, no beans, no pasta, no bread, no nothing. I made this Chicken Cashew dish and added some extra vegetables and skipped the rice. It came out really well and was very easy to make. The original recipe is from Taste of Home magazine and I have modified it for my own purposes.

Chicken:

3 chicken breasts cut into 1/2 inch chunks

2 tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil

Vegetables:

2 cups of pea pods, snipped

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 red bell pepper, hulled, seeded and cut into strips

2 celery stalks, chopped

Sauce:

1/3 cup of chicken broth

1 tablespoon of cornstarch

1 tablespoon of honey

1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon of hoisin sauce

1 1-inch section of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

salt to taste

1 teaspoon of extra light olive oil

1/4 teaspoon of sesame oil

1 tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce

1/2 cup of cashews 

I find it's easier to cut the chicken breasts when they are slightly frozen.

Add the sesame oil and soy sauce to the chunks of chicken. Mix and set aside. 

In a bowl, whisk in the cornstarch into the chicken broth. Then add the honey, rice wine vinegar, hoisin sauce, grated ginger, salt, extra light olive oil, sesame oil and soy sauce. Whisk together.

In a wok or large skillet, heat up a bit of canola or extra light olive oil. Once it starts to sizzle, add chicken in batches and cook until nice and brown. Set aside. Add a little more oil and cook the vegetables just until they start to get a bit brown and their structure breaks down. You still want them to be a bit crunchy.  

Add the chicken back to the skillet, toss in the cashews and stir in the sauce mixture. Cook for only a couple more minutes until the sauce thickens. Serve hot (with or without rice). Enjoy!

Grapefruit Yogurt Bread with Grapefruit Yogurt Sauce

I'm not kidding when I say those Wilson Farm guys sure know how to sell me produce. I'm still over-doing it on the citrus purchasing (remember this post?). And I'm also not kidding you when I say I eat 5 grapefruits a week. I bring one to work with me every single week day and I have it with my lunch. After having grapefruit juice every morning with breakfast, I decided to switch it up and eat a whole grapefruit. Less sugar, more fiber and more nutrients for sure than just juice. I love cutting the grapefruit in half and running my knife along the sections. I sprinkle some sugar over the top, scoop out the sections and the juice with a spoon and I'm in heaven.

In the blogosphere, there have been a lot of dessert recipes involving grapefruits. Grapefruit cakes and breads especially. I decided to take a traditional lemon yogurt loaf and use grapefruit zest and juice instead. It's especially wonderful with the yogurt sauce on top which is simply and delicious. If you don't like grapefruit, I pity you. Because you are truly missing out.

Ingredients

Loaf:

1-1/2 cups of flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder

3/4 cup of sugar

3 eggs beaten

1 cup of nonfat plain yogurt

1 teaspoon or so of grapefruit zest

1/4 cup of grapefruit juice

1/2 cup of extra light olive oil (or canola oil)

Yogurt Sauce:

1/4 cup of light agave nectar (or honey)

2 tablespoons of grapefruit juice

1 cup of nonfat plain yogurt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and sugar until well combined. I think we have way too much sodium in our diets as it is so I've stopped putting salt in my desserts altogether. If you want to put 1/4 teaspoon of unnecessary salt into this dish, by all means go ahead. It's your health that is at risk.

In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, yogurt, zest, juice and oil until somewhat smooth. What you'll get is a big bowl of ugly looking gloop. But don't worry it will look glorious in a bit. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until smooth.

See? What did I tell you. Glorious huh?

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray and add the batter. Tap on a table to get settle any air bubbles. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out smooth AND it looks nice and golden brown on top.

While the loaf is baking, make the yogurt sauce. In a small bowl, add the grapefruit juice and agave nectar. The acid from the juice should break down the nectar a bit. Stir then add the yogurt. Mix until smooth. Dip your finger in and taste. Repeat several times but make sure you don't eat the whole thing. This really is the best part of the whole process.

Once your loaf is done, let cool. Then drizzle the yogurt sauce over the top. Slice and enjoy! You may want to have some extra sauce on the side for more drizzling purposes.

Miniola Heaven

Sorry I haven't around much. Been concentrating on developing recipes for my column Thoughtful Eats on the Woburn Patch while also trying new recipes so I can advance my cooking knowledge.  So far it's been working but I also don't want to neglect this little haven of mine, so here I am!

A few weeks ago, Bill from Wilson Farm encouraged me to try a Miniola. I bought one to test it out and was a little disappointed by how fibrous and full of seeds it was. When I explained my experience with him, he told me to try it again and even cut me a piece to try it right then and there. Oh my! What a taste explosion that little bite was and I have been hooked on these ever since. Bill explained that fruit is always the most flavorful and juicy when it's in season. I concurred because what's more delicious than a summer peach? There have been so many instances of me biting into a luscious peach in August only to be wearing the juices on my chin.

My first bad Miniola was just a one-off because ever since then I've had nothing but juicy delicious ones. I buy anywhere from 6-8 each Friday and I'm lucky if I still have any in my fridge by Thursday. I take my pairing knife and remove the rind while also making sure to cut into the flesh a little bit. I take the sections of rind and run them along the bottom of my top teeth, scraping any meat off the inside (like you would with artichoke leaves). Once I get all the rind off, I cut the Miniola into 6 sections making sure flesh is exposed. The reason I do this is because the outside of each segment is really fibrous whereas the inside flesh is really tender and juicy. If you eat them by sections you'll be gnawing on the segment and not fully appreciating the juice inside. Instead, when I expose the flesh it gives me an opportunity to just eat that part and throw out the skin of the segment. It's really messy to eat these but boy is it worth it. I eat one at work almost every day and I make sure to bring my special paring knife (a gift from a great friend!) and load up on the paper towels.

If you can find a Miniola, buy one immediately. Nay, buy 5! You won't regret it. Make sure the Miniola is a bit firm to touch and that it feels heavy when you hold it in your hand. That's how you know you have a good one! 

And do make sure you buy your produce at a reputable place. Especially one that focuses on quality produce and great customer service. If you live near Lexington, MA, Wilson Farm is the place to go!

I may or may not have overdone it in the citrus-purchasing department. Eek!

(Miniolas, red grapefruit, cocktail grapefruit, lemons and limes)

How to Section a Grapefruit

First acquire a good grapefruit. Pink grapefruits are ideal. They should be round in shape, with a bright red flush and should have no indents or sores. You want a nice firm, round specimen.

With a good sharp knife, cut off the bottom of your grapefruit. This will give the grapefruit stability on your cutting board. Remember that the grapefruit is round and round things like to roll away.

Stand your grapefruit on the cutting board, cut-side down. Then run your knife down the sides, taking the peel as you go.

Why shouldn't you just remove the peel by hand you say? Well, cutting off the peel this way will also remove the fibrous tissue from the grapefruit sections. The whole point of this exercise is to get at the delicate fruit within without all that excess.

Once you finish going all the way around, cut off the remaining pieces of peel on the bottom of the grapefruit and any pieces you missed.

Now take a paring knife and cut into each section along the fibrous tissue wall that separates the sections. Run the knife along the inside of one side and the other and scoop out the flesh. This is tricky and will take lots of practice but it is well worth it.

Once you have gone all the way around, throw out the fibrous middle section. Now you have delicate and delicious sections of grapefruit. These work well in a nice fruit salad. I like to eat the sections as they are with a little sprinkle of Splenda or sugar. You can also use this same method for oranges. Enjoy!

Apple-Pear-Raisin Crisp

It's official. Carlos and I are on a diet. We've gained quite a bit in the past year or so and it's time for us to slim down. It'll be especially important for us to stick with a good diet and exercise plan through the holiday season and the winter time. Because as you know, it's the time for eating lots of rich foods high in fat and calories. I'm going to start incorporating a lot more vegetables and fruits into our diet as well as reducing the amount of carbohydrates and fat we intake. I'll be baking more low-calorie desserts including this one. Apple-Pear-Raisin Crisp. Slices of Granny Smith apple and Bosc pears alongside plump, juicy raisins. It's quite heaven. And I replaced the butter in traditional crisp recipes with extra light olive oil. I also nixed the flour altogether. The result, quite delicious and refreshing!

Ingredients:

3 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and thinly sliced
2 Bosc Pears, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup of raisins
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon of cornstarch

for topping:
1 cup of oats
3 tablespoons of brown sugar
3 tablespoons of extra light olive oil

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

Mix the apples, pears and raisin in a bowl and toss with the sugar, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Toss again with the cornstarch. Usually, I sugar the fruit and let it sit so that some of the excess juice comes out and then I drain. However, during the cooking process the raisins will soak up some of that juice. I did add the cornstarch just to make sure that the result wasn't a watery mess.

In a separate bowl, add the oats, brown sugar and olive oil. Add the olive oil 1 tablespoon at a time until you get the texture you want (a bit clumpy and not dry). You can substitute canola oil for the olive oil if you prefer.

Add the fruit mixture to a 9" round pie dish. Make sure the mixture is even by spreading it in the dish with your hands. Sprinkle the topping over the mixture so it's evenly covered on top. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes and let cool. Serve at room temperature. Enjoy!

Pumpkin-Apple Pancakes

Two Autumnal flavors in one pancake!

Today is National Pancake Day and to celebrate I came up with a new pancake recipe. I usually make Lemon Ricotta pancakes on Sundays and since I love my simple recipe so much I just adapted it to accommodate pumpkin puree and apples. These were very delicious and a perfect way to start off the Sunday. We followed the meal with a 6 mile walk so I'm sure we burned some of those calories.

This is also my very first recipe post after the big move. I'm still not a 100% comfortable in my new kitchen but I'm getting there slowly but surely.

Ingredients

1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
cinnamon to taste

1 cup of flour
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1 cup of pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2/3 of a cup of almond milk (or regular milk)

Butter

Toss the apples with some cinnamon to coat and add them to a small plastic microwaveable container with a lid. Cook in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir, then cook for 30 more seconds. This will soften the apples. Set aside.

In a large bowl mix all your dry ingredients then incorporate your wet ingredients.

Heat up a griddle to medium height (or just below). Add some butter and spoon some pumpkin pancake batter. Add some slices of apples on top. Once the pancake starts to bubble and you've checked with a spatula that it is flippable, flip it over and cook for another minute.

You can top these pancakes with maple syrup or some powdered sugar and serve alongside some scrambled eggs.

Vegetarian Portuguese Kale & Potato Soup ~ Caldo Verde

My friend Kate Gabrielle, over at Scathingly Brilliant, asked me recently for an idea of how to use kale. My favorite way to cook with kale is to make Caldo Verde, a Portuguese soup that is comprised of kale, potatoes, garlic, onions, carrots and chorizo sausage. Since Kate is a vegetarian, I adapted my recipe by taking out the chorizo, adding red kidney beans for protein and replacing the chicken broth with vegetable broth. She made the soup and loved it.

So when my friend Kevin, who is also a vegetarian, mentioned that he is growing kale in his garden, I told him that he should try using some of that kale for a Vegetarian version of Caldo Verde. I promised him I would post the recipe and here it is! Enjoy.

Ingredients


1 onion, chopped
2 large carrots, sliced
4 potatoes, peeled and chopped
4 cloves of garlic, smashed
crushed red pepper flake to taste
a bunch of kale, shredded
6 cups of vegetable broth
1 15.5 oz can of Red Kidney beans

Chop your onion.

Slice your carrots.

Peel and chop your potatoes. Make sure you keep them in water so they don't start going brown.

Thinly shred your Kale. This is tricky. Make sure you refer my step-by-step instructions (complete with photos) here: Caldo Verde Recipe

Heat up some olive oil in a big soup pot. Add onions and cook until they start to get soft. Then add your carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add potatoes, crushed red pepper flake, and garlic. Stir.

Add 6 cups of broth and bring the pot to a boil. Then add all of your shredded kale and cover the pot and simmer until the potatoes are cooked through. Stir occasionally. Add your red kidney beans last. Once they heat through, serve. You can crush the potatoes with a spoon to make the soup a bit thicker.

Enjoy while it's hot. Sorry for no picture of a bowl of soup. The whole pot was devoured pretty quickly.

Peach Blueberry Bread

August is the best time for peaches. They are really at their prime and the really ripe ones don't cling to their pits making them perfect for all sorts of baking. Wilson Farm had an abundance of beautiful peaches as well as locally grown blueberries so I decided to combine the two into a bread. What better way to celebrate August?

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of sour cream
2 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla

10 tablespoons of butter mostly melted and cooled

2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
3/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of blueberries
3 ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine wet ingredients in one bowl and dry ingredients in another. Then mix them together and careful fold in the fruit.

Add to a greased loaf pan and bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool. Serve at room temperature. Enjoy!

Goose Valley Wild Rice - Wild Rice Salad Recipe

The good folks at Goose Valley noticed that my blog had an unpardonable dearth of wild rice recipes. In fact, I only have one: Turkey & Wild Rice Casserole. So they sent me a few packages of their wild rice to try. I'm always looking for wild rice in my local supermarket but I always find the same old wild rice pilaf in a box (with a seasoning packet I always throw away). I'm very glad to be able to try Goose Valley's wild rice in it's all-natural state.

Goose Valley Wild Rice comes from their Goose Valley ranch out in California. Here is some information from their website:

Only Goose Valley Wild Rice™ comes from just one location - Goose Valley. Other wild rice brands are blended from the output of many growers and locations. We hand select the plumpest Grade A wild rice for our Family Reserve.

We are not just concerned about quality at the ranch. We share ownership of the most modern wild rice mill in the industry, certified for organic production. Our packaging is filled by another family-owned company, also organic certified. No other wild rice brand is grown by a family in one location, milled by them, and packaged in an organic certified facility.

Family-owned Goose Valley Ranch™, is nestled high in the Cascade Mountains, south of Mt. Shasta, in the evening shadows of Hatchet Mountain. Goose Valley is still a wild place – we share Goose Valley with geese and duck, eagles and hawks, elk and deer, coyote, mountain lion, and bear. Since the 1980s the wildlife has grown along with our wild rice production. We started with a few acres, but demand caused us to expand production until we became the leading grower of certified organic and natural wild rice in America. Goose Valley’s red volcanic soil helps give Goose Valley Wild Rice its nutty flavor. Most agree that the pure water from spring snow melt is also critical. The summer’s hot days and chilly nights, and the winter’s freezing snow are ideal for growing wild rice.

Definitely check out Goose Valley wild rice if you can. I was impressed with my samples. I'll be doing two wild rice recipes using Goose Valley wild rice. This is the first one. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

5 oz package of Goose Valley Wild Rice - Natural

2 ears of corn

4 tablespoons of chopped scallions

2 plum tomatoes chopped

1/2 lemon juiced

2-3 tablespoons of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Cook the Goose Valley Wild Rice according to the package instructions. Drain and set aside in the fridge to cool.

While the rice is cooking, grill two ears of corn (with a light coating of olive oil) and set aside to cool.

Chop the plum tomatoes and scallions. Add to a bowl with the cooked and cooled wild rice. Cut the kernels off the cobs and add corn to bowl. Add lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and toss. Enjoy!

Serve with Frango com Piri-Piri (find the recipe here)

Full disclosure: Thank you to Goose Valley for sending me some of their wild rice to try out!

Goose Valley is a company you can get behind. They believe in selling all natural and organic products, in sustainability and in charity. However, they have mixed feelings about geese! You can buy Goose Valley wild rice in several different forms on their website as well as on other online sites. They have a nice collection of recipes if you want some ideas of what to do with wild rice.


Wild Rice Salad Recipe

Black-Eyed Pea and Corn Salad

Very simple salad that is healthy and hearty. I made this alongside grilled chicken and some simple cucumber salad. It was a perfect meal for a hot summer day.

Ingredients:

15.5 oz can of black-eyed peas, rinsed

2 ears of corn grilled

1/2 red bell pepper diced

sliced scallions to taste

1/2 lemon, juiced

drizzle of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Remove the kernels off the of the ears of corn. Add to a bowl along with the black-eyed peas, diced red-bell pepper and scallions. Season with salt and pepper and mix

Black-Eye Pea & Corn Salad