Spring Vegetable and Mint Polenta

I will readily admit that one of my all-time favorite foods is polenta.  I love the stuff!  And frankly, it makes for an incredibly simple and wholesome meal when you cook it using this no-fuss method borrowed from the great Marcella Hazan (all hail the Queen of Italian cuisine!).  While Marcella, unsurprisingly, favors the labor-intensive method of constantly stirring, she offers a wonderful alternative method in her masterpiece, The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, one of my most treasured cookbooks (and while we're on the subject - if you don't own a copy, yet, you should immediately run out and purchase one!).

My Spring-time version of polenta is light, colorful and full of flavor.  The sauteed leeks add richness and depth while the peas add a pleasant sweetness to the dish.  The bright, cooling burst of mint adds an unexpected element to the flavor profile and makes the polenta taste decidedly Springy.  As I am incredibly fond of poached eggs, I love serving one on top of this dish, but it would certainly work well as an accompaniment to roasted chicken or lamb. 

As far as the polenta, itself, I am absolutely crazy about Anson Mills' Polenta Integrale.  It is a rustic, coarse polenta milled from an Italian heirloom red tentrino flint and has a lot more texture and flavor, when cooked, than any other polenta I've tried.  If you don't feel like seeking out the fancy stuff, regular ol' polenta grain will work just fine.  But, for heaven's sake, don't buy that instant stuff!  It is pallid and lifeless compared to slow-cooked polenta and since the cooking time is mostly inactive, anyway, why on earth would you cook it any other way?  Marcella would be so proud...


Spring Vegetable and Mint Polenta
serves 6-8

7 1/2 cups water
scant 2 cups polenta
3 T butter
1 large leek
10 oz peas (thawed, if using frozen)
4 cups spinach leaves, chopped
1/4 cup chiffonade of mint leaves
salt and pepper, to taste

In a large pot, bring water to a rolling boil.  Pour polenta in a very slow, thin stream, whisking constantly.  Switch to a wooden spoon and stir for two minutes.  Reduce heat to lowest setting and cover pot.  Cook for about 30 minutes, stirring for one full minute every 10 minutes.

While the polenta is cooking, prepare the vegetables.  Cut off the tough green ends of the leek and slice in half lengthwise.  Thinly slice the leek and rinse very well with cold water.  Allow to drain.  In a large, shallow pan, add butter and melt over medium-high heat.  Add leeks and saute until slightly caramelized and soft, about 10 minutes.  Add peas and cook until warmed through, another minute or so.  Add cooked vegetables, chopped spinach, and mint to the cooked polenta and stir well.  Add plenty of salt and pepper, to taste.  Serve immediately with a poached egg on top, if desired.

Rainbow Latkes

Latkes are a traditional part of celebrating Hanukkah, but I often see them make their way into Passover Seders.  And why not?  They are the ultimate crowd pleaser!  If you are planning on including them in your Seder this year and want to impress your guests with something a little out-of-the-ordinary, look no further! 

These Rainbow Latkes look like a major departure from the traditional russet potato version, but those who are die-hard fans of the original might find these to be surprisingly similar.  They take on a beautiful ruby hue thanks to the beets, but are also studded with carrots and purple potatoes to give you almost all the colors of the rainbow (once you sprinkle on the chives, all we’re missing is blue!).  The flavor is more complex and layered than the all-potato latkes while still maintaining that homey, comfort-food taste.  The parsnips add a hint of herbal sweetness and the beets lend a pleasant, earthy fragrance to the dish. 

I love to pair these latkes with MM Local Pear Sauce.  The rich, brown-sugar sweetness of the pears adds a wonderful contrast and feels unexpected and yet familiar at the same time.  MM Local items are unique to Colorado and are made entirely with locally-grown produce.  Their products are available in many markets across Colorado, but if you can't find the pear sauce, regular ol' apple sauce works just as well.  Once you try this version of the traditional side dish, you might just want to adopt a brand new tradition!

Rainbow Latkes
makes 12-14 latkes

1 medium russet potato

2 medium purple potatoes

1 large carrot

1 small parsnip

1 medium red beet

½ yellow onion

¼ cup matzo meal

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Salt and pepper, to taste

Vegetable oil, for frying

¼ cup chives, finely sliced

MM Local Pear Sauce

Scrub root vegetables well and peel, if desired.  Shred the potatoes, carrot, parsnip and onion on a box grater (alternatively, a food processor on the grater setting makes fast work of this step).  Place grated vegetables in a large bowl and set aside. 

Lay out some old newspaper to protect your work surface and grate the beet.  Set the grated beet aside in a separate bowl and toss with the matzo meal.  Add egg, salt and pepper to root vegetable mixture and toss well to combine.  Add matzo-coated beets and toss quickly with a fork to minimize “bleeding.”

Place a large frying pan over medium-high heat and add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan well.  Once oil is hot, reduce the heat, slightly, to prevent smoking.  Wet your hands with cold water and form vegetable mixture into flat cakes, using about 1/3 a cup of the mixture per latke (you can use more if you like larger latkes).  Gently place each latke in the hot oil and fry until golden and crispy, about 3 minutes per side.  Allow to drain on newspaper or paper towels and serve hot, with pear sauce (or applesauce) on the side and plenty of chives sprinkled on the top. 

Watercress and Pear Salad with Cashew-Coated Goat Cheese and Citrus Vinaigrette

Watercress is really a stunning salad leaf.  It has a pleasantly mellow and slightly peppery taste (not to mention, it looks so pretty on the plate!).  In addition, Watercress has been touted as a “superfood” for all of its nutritional benefits – a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition even found that a daily serving of Watercress can significantly reduce DNA damage to blood cells, which is considered to be an important trigger in the development of cancer.  

 

With all of its wonderful health benefits, I love pairing Watercress with something a little bit decadent – in this case, Cashew-Coated Goat Cheese!  Haystack Mountain has been making their Boulder Chevre since 1991 and it has been a staple in my kitchen for years.  It has that signature goat’s milk tang and pleasant notes of hay with a wonderful, creamy texture.  The fried goat cheese patties make a rich and flavorful accompaniment to this salad and give the dish enough heft to be a meal, in itself.  

Watercress and Pear Salad with Cashew-Coated Goat Cheese and Citrus Vinaigrette
serves 4

Salad:

2 Watercress bunches, rinsed well and cut from the root ball *see presentation note

1 pear (any kind), thinly sliced

4 oz (1 small log) Haystack Mt. Boulder Chevre

¼ cup Flour

1 egg

1 T milk

3 T panko bread crumbs

3 T finely chopped cashews

peanut oil

salt and pepper

Dressing:

1 garlic clove, chopped

Pinch of Meyer lemon zest

3 T Meyer lemon juice

Pinch of blood orange zest

3 T blood orange juice

1 T D’Anjou Pear Vinegar (may substitute Champagne vinegar)

½ tsp Dijon mustard

½ tsp honey

3 T extra virgin olive oil

salt to taste

Assemble the goat cheese patties:  Allow chevre to come to room temperature (let stand, unrefrigerated, for at least 30 minutes or longer, if possible).  Divide log into four equal portions.  Roll portions into little balls and then flatten, slightly, into a small patty.  Arrange the ingredients for the crust:  Place flour on a small plate, crack the egg into a bowl and lightly whisk together with milk, and mix together the bread crumbs, cashews, and a little salt and pepper in another bowl.  Working one at a time, dredge each cheese patty in flour, then quickly dip the patty into the egg mixture, allowing any excess egg to run off.  Place the patty in the bread crumb mixture and gently press the crumbs into the patty to coat well.  Allow to chill in the refrigerator until you are ready to fry.

Make dressing: Add all the dressing ingredients except the olive oil and salt to a blender.  Pulse a few times to blend, then slowly drizzle in the olive oil with the blender running.  Add a generous pinch of salt (or to taste) and blend.

Place a large, shallow pan over medium heat and add enough peanut oil to coat the bottom of the pan well.  When oil is hot, add goat cheese patties and fry until golden and crispy, about 3 minutes per side.  Remove from pan and allow to drain on a paper towel. 

Place Watercress in a bowl and drizzle with dressing (recipe makes more dressing than you will need - the leftovers will keep in the fridge for at least a few days).  *Presentation tip:  If you want to create a "bouquet" on your plate, as pictured, cut the watercress greens from the root ball while holding the stems together above the cut (kitchen scissors work best for this).  Place the leaf bunch in the bowl so that the stem bottoms are to your left and leaf tops to your right and gently roll the bunch into the dressing as though you were pushing a French rolling pin, making sure to get dressing on each leaf.  Arrange watercress on each plate, then dress the pear slices in the same bowl.  Place the fried cheese on the base of the stems and arrange pear slices in a fan formation.  Serve immediately.

Herbed Farro and Chickpea Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

It is the first day of Spring!  Visions of farmer's markets, CSA shares, and herb seedlings perched in the windows are dancing through my head and yet, here in Colorado it is still too early for local produce.  Soon we will all be inundated with so many salad greens, spring onions, fiddleheads and asparagus spears that we won't know what to do with them, but for now we are patiently waiting...

But no matter, you can still make a dish that invokes the spirit of Spring using some of our friends from the late-winter produce family.  This wonderfully fragrant salad is bright with the flavors of blood orange and meyer lemon.  The farro is cooked in aromatic Herbs de Provence and tossed with locally-grown carrots (one of the few Colorado items available right now!) and sweet, chopped spinach.  The ensemble makes for a light, wholesome, and decidedly springy dish that is sure to cure your Spring Fever, if only for a day!

Herbed Farro and Chickpea Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette
serves 6

Salad:
3/4 cup Farro
3 cups water
1 T Herbs de Provence
cups cooked chickpeas
2 large carrots, shredded
2 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped

Dressing:
1 small garlic clove, grated on a microplane (or very finely minced)
Juice of 1 medium blood orange
1 tsp. meyer lemon zest
Juice of 1/2 meyer lemon
1 T D'Anjou pear vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
4 T extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

In a medium-sized pot, add farro, water and herbs de provence and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat, slightly, to maintain a low boil and cook, uncovered, until tender and fragrant, about 20 minutes.  Drain farro in a colander and toss with a handful of ice cubes to cool the grains down.  Set aside.

Assemble the dressing.  In a small bowl, add the garlic, citrus juices and zest, vinegar and mustard.  Whisk ingredients together.  Continue to whisk and slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mixture so that it emulsifies.  Season with salt and pepper.

Toss remaining salad ingredients together in a large bowl and add as much dressing as desired.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  You may serve immediately, or, for a better depth of flavor, allow to chill for several hours before serving.  Garnish with citrus slices, if desired.

Counter Culture Jambalaya

It's Fat Tuesday!  Laissez les Bon Temps Roulez!  While Fat Tuesday is usually all about indulgence, I am putting a healthy twist on a Louisiana favorite - enter, Counter Culture Jambalaya.

 This classic Southern one-pot dish is usually heavy and meat-laden, so my translation is a healthful, delicious, and rather Bittman-esque version.  I like my Jambalaya Creole-style (made with tomatoes), heavy on the spice, and just lightly studded with shrimp and andouille (for all you Coloradans - one of my favorite local sausage companies, Continental Sausage, makes a tasty and sustainably raised andouille which is often available at Whole Foods and, of course, Marczyk Fine Foods for the Denverites).  

When you cook it low and slow and use a heavy hand with the seasonings, the flavor of this Jambalaya is so good you don't need all that extra protein!  Using brown rice also yields a more toothsome texture and a nice, toasty flavor and is well worth the extra cooking time.  Tony Chachere's is the quintessential Cajun seasoning, and is pretty widely available, but there are lots of other versions that would work well.  

For those of you who really like to sweat (this recipe yields a medium-spicy Jambalaya) add more hot sauce, rather than spice mix, so you don't make it overly salty.  I used Tapatio, but if you are lucky enough to have any Louisiana hot sauce on hand - that would be even better!  If using a salt-free spice blend, make sure to add salt to the dish.

Counter Culture Jambalaya 
serves 4


2 T olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 28 oz. can San Marzano diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
1 T Tony Chachere's Cajun seasoning (or other cajun spice mix)
1 1/2 cups long-grain brown rice
1/2 pound raw shrimp
1 Andouille sausage, sliced
2-4 tsp. red hot sauce
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 bunch scallions, sliced
1/4 cup chopped parsley

In a large dutch oven (or large pot) heat olive oil on medium-high.  Add onion and celery and saute until slightly browned, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and peppers and saute another 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes, stock, bay leaves and Cajun seasoning and bring liquid to a boil.

Add rice and stir well.  Allow mixture to return to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover.  Allow to simmer, stirring occasionally, until rice is almost  cooked, about an hour.  Add shrimp and sausage, mix well, and continue to cook until rice has absorbed much of the liquid and is tender, about another 20 to 30 minutes.  Remove from heat, add hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce and stir well.  Cover and allow to sit for another 10 minutes.  Serve with plenty of parsley and scallions on top and hot sauce on the side.