Tortillas and Oranges » Vegetables

Potatoes Scalloped in Cream (Ellen)

admin — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 20:11:31 +0000

2 cups heavy cream
6-8 large, waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into even 1/8-inch thick slices
1 clove garlic, peeled
Salt and fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Butter a shallow casserole and set aside. In a large, heavy saucepan, heat the cream to boiling. Add the sliced potatoes and garlic an simmer until the potatoes are tender, 10-15 minutes. Spoon the potatoes, garlic, and cream into the casserole and season to taste. Bake until the top browns slightly and the cream thickens, about 20 minutes. Serve hot.

Roasted Green Beans

admin — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 08:36:26 +0000

Today I’m taking roasted green beans to my friend Elizabeth’s house.
Preheat oven at 400.
Spread fresh green beans on cookie sheet.
Pour 1 Tablespoon olive oil into my hands.
Massage green beans with olive oil.
Roast in 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.
Sprinkle with Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel Seasoning.
Done.

Cooking School: Roasted Vegetables

admin — Sat, 15 Nov 2014 17:12:53 +0000

Cooking School/ Roasted Vegetables

Roasted vegetables are easy, fancy, and healthy. No matter what you make for dinner, a plate of roasted vegetables is always a good addition.

How to Roast Vegetables

Preheat your oven to the vegetable’s desired temperature (see table below).

Rinse and pat dry your favorite vegetable. Slice or chop your vegetable into manageable pieces (no bigger than an egg, no smaller than a grape).

Lightly drizzle pan of vegetables with high quality olive oil. Bake at recommended temperature for 10-15 minutes, depending on how crisp you like your vegetables.

Asparagus is roasted at 400 and goes well with
*Becca’s Roasted Veggie Sauce
*Shredded Parmesan cheese
*Lemon Juice, Olive Oil

Broccoli is roasted at 425 and goes well with
*Becca’s Roasted Veggie Sauce
*Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Brussel Sprouts go in at 400 and are yummy with
*Becca’s Roasted Veggie Sauce
*Pure Maple Syrup

Butternut Squash cooks at 400 and is delightful with
*Pure Maple Syrup
*Alfredo Sauce

Cauliflower likes to cook at 450 and can be bathed in
*Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Sweet Potatoes want to be baked at 375 and like
*Pure Maple Syrup

Tomatoes (cherry) are roasted at 400 and are paired well with
*Becca’s Roasted Veggie Sauce
*Fresh Mozarella and Basil

Zucchini is roasted at 450 and can be dunked in
*Tomato Sauce
*Alfredo Sauce
*Basic Vinaigrette

Becca’s Roasted Veggie Dipping Sauce
1 cup mayonaisse
fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp minced garlic
dash of salt

Peel garlic clove and cut the garlic into teeny tiny pieces. Set aside.
In mixing bowl, combine mayonnaise, lemon juice (just squeeze as much lemon juice as you can out of any ‘ole lemon), minced garlic and salt. Mix until thoroughly combined. Put in a pretty bowl for people to dip their veggies in!

Side Vegetable: Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Caramelized Onions

admin — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 11:29:44 +0000

Halloween has passed and Thanksgiving approaches, but who says we have to save sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving? Not I. These are so refreshing as a side to a Sunday roast. Give your regular mashed potatoes a rest and try this dish. You’ll impress everyone and you won’t have any left in the bowl. They are yummy.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Caramelized Onions (Jennette Fennimore)
½ cup unsalted butter
2 lbs. yellow onions, thinly sliced
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground pepper
4 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes (about 10 cups)
1/3 cup dairy sour cream
Salt and ground black pepper

Caramelize the onions in a skillet with ¼ cup of butter. Stir frequently for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Season with the ½ tsp. pepper. Remove from heat and set aside. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in a large pot, covered, in lightly salted boiling water for 12 minutes or until tender; drain. Add the remaining ¼ cup butter to the pot the potatoes were cooked in and let melt. Return potatoes to the pot and mash with a potato masher until smooth. Stir in the milk, sour cream, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in carmelized onions, reserving a few for garnish. Cook and stir over medium heat until heated through. Transfer to a serving dish. Top with reserved onions. Makes 8-10 servings.

Salad: Warm Tomato Salad

admin — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 11:03:42 +0000

One of the great things about loving to cook is the loss of fear in a restaurant. That sentence was wordy, I know, but let me explain myself. I read a lot about food. I crawl into bed with cookbooks (current read is “Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone” by Deborah Madison). I ask everyone who will listen about food. I ask parents what they love to cook and kids what they love to eat. I check food blogs online. So much of my mental capacity is absorbed by food. I carry this need to absorb all things food into restaurants. A great friend (Florian Z.) taught me that the more you know about food, the more you can ask. Florian himself is a great foodie. He has a taste for finer things in life and taught me how to chop onions and make my first galette. Florian also taught me that there is no shame in asking a waiter about the menu. If I don’t know an ingredient, I ask. If I want to understand how something is prepared, I ask. All that asking leads me to today’s recipe. Once upon a time Danny and I were enjoying an anniversary dinner several over an amazing tomato salad (and just in case you were wondering, we’ve been married for 17 blissful years. He’s my bestie.). My first taste of the salad was beautiful, the second taste was remarkable, by the third bite I was beyond help. I had to have the recipe or I was going to implode. When the waiter came by to check on us, I stood up, grabbed his lapels and said “Give me the recipe to that salad! End my misery!” Stellina’s Warm Tomato Salad rocked me to my core. And in honor of tomato season, I pass this gem to you, dear reader.

Warm Tomato Salad (Stellina Restaurant)
4-6 ripe plum tomatoes cut into 8-10 pieces
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1-2 cloves minced garlic
5-6 fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 oz. fresh goat cheese
4-8 slices of crusty Italian bread

Brush the bread slices with olive oil, place under broiler or over grill until lightly browned. Arrange on a large platter. Heat remaining olive oil in a sautee pan with the garlic. Just as the garlic starts to turn color, add the tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. Toss with a large spoon until just heated through (Hint: don’t overcook to the point where the tomatoes bring to disintegrate). Spoon the warm salad over the bread slices with goat cheese on the side.

Appetizer: Mexican Baked Bean Dip

admin — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:56:12 +0000

Got a bunch of tomatoes hanging around this time of the year? I’ve got just the thing for you.

Sometimes I get stuck in a rut, and I make the same thing over and over again. This factors in most prominently on Sunday evenings. As we gear up for a new week, we all like to gather at the table and eat something comfortable, yummy, easy, and reliable. Enter my favorite bean dip in the world. Once you make this, you’ll see that’s it more of a bean dish that a dip. But we scoop it up with sturdy tortilla chips and gobble, gobble, gobble. Add this to your rotation and you’ll be thanking me.

Mexican Baked Bean Dip

1 can black beans
1 can cannelini beans (or navy or great northern)
1 can shoepeg corn
1-2 cups salsa verde (green salsa)
6 whole roma tomatoes, diced and salted
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
4 cups mexican blend cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400. Dice and salt tomatoes and scatter in the bottom of 9×13 baking pan. Drain all beans and corn, add to top of tomatoes. Pour salsa over bean mixture. Sprinkle entire pan with cheese and cilantro. Bake in oven until cheese and salsa melt together and bubble, about 15-20 minutes. Serve with sturdy tortilla chips (Costco’s Kirkland Signature Brand Organic Tortilla Chips are by far our favorite). Enjoy.

Salad: Corn and Black Bean Salad

admin — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 11:28:03 +0000

When we lived in Berkeley, we had a Sunday night tradition. When the weather was just right (90% of the year), we (all of our fellow graduate school neighbors) gathered outside of our apartments and had a beautiful supper during sunset. The salad below was brought by my dearest friend. She just threw it together. And in honor of corn’s lovely season, here is one of my favorite corn salad recipes.

Corn and Black Bean Salad

1 12 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained -or- corn off of two corn-on-the-cobs, fresh
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup green onions, slice with tops
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro
1 avocado, chopped

dressing:
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vinegar (type is up to you)
1/4 cup lemon juice (I’m begging you, please use fresh)
1 tsp. sea salt
1 clove minced garlic
chili powder or hot sauce, to taste

Mix dressing ingredients to emulsion. Add everything but avocado to salad bowl and mix with dressing. Add avocado just before serving.

Dinner: Roasted Beets

admin — Tue, 17 May 2011 17:18:41 +0000

There is a secret society in my little town. I noticed when I had a little party a few months ago. I invited some friends over for a Crepe Fest. My directions to friends were “Bring your favorite crepe filler.” When people walked in the door and set up their food I noticed something. Two brought beets. I said nothing. I acknowledged to myself that I was starting a new secret club– the “We aren’t afraid to eat Beets” club.

Beets are underrated and misunderstood. When I was in elementary school in Thatcher, Idaho (google it), canned pickled beets were a common item. Much to my schoolmates’ dismay, I liked them. A lot. As an adult I bought them in secret, prepared them in secret, and ate them when no one looked. But I will be silent no longer. More of us like beets than we want to admit.

I have a recipe for beets that is so good, I can no longer order beets in restaurants (and I’m talking about fancy eateries). And so friends, its time for you to grow up and abandon your childhood hatred of the purple beauty. Reintroduce yourself to sophisticated beets.

Roasted Beets

2 pounds beets, peeled and diced

walnuts

gorgonzola or any other good and crumbly blue cheese

Lightly grease an 11×17 cookie sheet with olive oil and set aside. Prepare your beets. If you haven’t worked with beets in while you will be surprised at how intense their color is. You’ll want to wear an apron and be prepared to stain whatever you chop them on. Peel each beet with a potato peeler, then dice as you would a potato into 1 inch squares (use a good knife and a decent cutting board). Toss diced beets with 2 Tblsp. olive oil. Spread beets in greased jelly roll pan or rimmed cookie sheet. Sprinkle with a bit of kosher salt. Roast beets at 450 for 15 minutes or until tender.

When tender pierce of fork, remove from oven and toss with crumbled gorgonzola and walnuts. Eat to your heart’s content. I often serve this as a side dish with grilled chicken and tossed greens. Man writing this is making me hungry.

Salad: Roasted Butternut Squash, Onions, and Fresh Greens

TandO — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:49:06 +0000

Is a green salad included on your Thanksgiving table? I rarely hear of green salads as part of the holiday must haves. But, I’ve been wrong before. A few years ago, I created a Holiday Salad that I now include in most of my holiday meals. But that beloved salad has some competition. My girlfriend brought over a salad the other evening that knocked my socks off. I’d like to share it with you. But here’s the deal–this salad requires a little more than just throwing a few things together. It involves a lot of olive oil and roasting. So don’t make this unless you are planning on spending a bit of time in the kitchen. If you do, you will be the talk of the town. I copied my uber cool girlfriend and made this salad last week. For a few minutes, I felt very popular.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Onions with Fresh Greens and Apples

Fresh Greens With Roasted Butternut Squash and Onions

Ingredients:
4 cups Butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 apples,diced, peels kept on (You decide the type of apple. I use honeycrisp or gala.)

Romain lettuce (or spring mix or baby spinach), hand torn into bite sized pieces

Additional add ins: (I won’t give you measurements so you can decide how much flavor you want)

homemade croutons
crumbled blue cheese or gorgonzola
sliced almonds
crumbled bacon

Toss diced butternut squash and sliced onion with ¼ cup good olive oil. Spread squash and onion on greased jelly roll pan and roast in 450 degree oven until vegetables are tender and slightly browned. While veggies are in oven, make croutons (those directions can be found here). Once bread and veggies are completely cooled, toss with greens, and other add-ins listed above. Dress salad a few minutes before serving.

On my girlfriend’s advice, I use Ina Garten’s dressing for this salad, found here. If you don’t know about this dressing, you should. It is a basic dressing that turns any blah-blah-salad into a can’t-stop-eating-it-salad.