potatoes aligot

This comes a little late for Thanksgiving but if you've ever wondered how those expensive restaurants make the decadent potatoes or looking for something that 'sticks to your ribs' here it is. Potatoes Aligot come from the Auvergne region in France and traditionally is made with tomme cheese, an unpasteurized cheese that is unavailable here. I make this dish with gruyere instead. A little of these potatoes go a long way and you won't need gravy. Bon appetite!

Potatoes Aligot

1 lb. potatoes, in large chunks (I don't peel, but that's my preference)

1/2 c. cream, warmed

4 T. butter

2 cloves garlic, pressed

4 oz. gruyere, or other cheese

salt + pepper

Boil potatoes until tender, but not mushy (~15 minutes, dependent on size). Drain. Mash them (or rice/whip) until smooth. Return to pot over very low heat, mix in cream, butter, and garlic. Add cheese and whip until elastic. Enjoy!

Yield: 4 side dish servings

curied celery potage

This past weekend when I saw my CSA list for the week I thought, "very thanksgiving, but what am I going to do with that celery?" I like the crunch of celery, but usually use it in bits (and buy one or two stalk at a time) and just wasn't sure what to do with a whole bunch. All brilliant ideas are hatched just before we fall asleep and that's when I thought, 'celery potage'. I usually make this potage with celeriac and sweet potato but it can also be made with celery as a variation.

Curried Celery Potage

2 t. olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 leak, washed and sliced

1 1/2 lb. celery, chopped (reserve leaves for garnish or include in soup)

1 T. curry powder

4 c. stock

8 oz. potatoes, washed and diced

1 T. garam masala

salt + pepper, as needed

Heat oil in soup pot and add onion, leek and celery. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add curry powder and cook for two more minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender. Blend with handblender (or by other method). Reheat until hot and serve.

spinach white sauce pasta

Not to tell tales, but once someone (who shall remain nameless) made a white sauce for pasta and shared it with me. Despite their being a good cook and claims of previous success it tasted like wet flour on pasta (yuk!). Not very appetizing. I have since made white sauce for recipes (primarily souffles) but this is my first time eating it straight.

I wanted to replicate a favorite spinach pizza (from one of those hole in the wall pizzeria's next to a 7-11) and therefore needed a white sauce. The pizza turned out tasty (spinach white sauce with shallots and mozz). I made the full recipe (below) with lots leftover I get to try other iterations. First I reheated it to top some cooked pasta. It was part of a tasty lunch on a cold rainy winter's day. I have more sauce left and am considering the options: more pasta, egg dish, vegetable sauce, casserole. Other ideas?

Spinach White Sauce (or béchamel)

2 1/2 T. butter

2 1/2 T. flour

2 c. warmed milk

1/2 t. salt

pepper

~1 c. frozen spinach, steamed

2 cloves garlic, minced/pressed

1. Melt butter, stir in flour and cook for 1 minute, don't allow it to color beyond a buttery yellow. Remove from the heat. Gradually stir in 3/4 warmed milk into flour mixture to make a smooth sauce. Return to heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly with wooden spoon. When thickened (about 3 minutes) remove from heat. Add remaining milk as needed.

2. Add steamed spinach and garlic to sauce. Stir periodically to prevent skin from forming, if necessary.

potato and eggplant curry

Less than a year ago I decided I wanted to master curries. Especially my favorite: green curry. My first attempts didn't go well. I tried pre-made curry paste. I tried making my own curry sauce (inedible as the lemongrass was like wood chips). I tried Trader Joe's curry simmering sauce. I asked a friend, who makes awesome curry, to teach me. He suggested another pre-made curry paste that was sold at a small asian food store. I bought the paste. I helped him make curry and it turned out delicious, mouth watering-ly spicy. I went home and tried following his technique. I used the same ingredients. No luck. I kept trying and finally Sunday night I succeeded. I think I'm getting somewhere and I have renewed hope for green curry.

I used MAE PLOY's masman curry paste (and I didn't follow the recipe on the paste) with onion, eggplant, potatoes, carrots and chicken (also coconut milk, ginger, garlic, water, honey, basil, cilantro and fish sauce). As I continue to 'master' curries I will start to post some of my recipes.

butternut squash and apple soup

In my last CSA box I got a butternut squash and I knew what I wanted to make: butternut squash and roasted apple soup from the New York Times. I was really excited to make this soup and as always it was super easy, first roast the apples and squash, then put everything in the pot and heat through. Voila! The soup was a little too sweet for me, so next I'll include less cider and replace with broth or water.

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

2 butternut squash, chunked

2-3 granny smith apples, quartered

2 T. olive oil

salt + pepper, to taste

2 c. apple cider (less than org. recipe)

3 c. broth (more than org. recipe)

1 t. ground cinnamon

dash nutmeg

1 lemon, juiced

garnish? dried cranberries or toasted almonds

1. Preheat oven to 400 deg. F. Place chopped apples and squash in large dish, dress with olive oil and salt + pepper. Stir. [You will be peeling the apples and squash after roasted, so quartered/eighths is best]. Cover tightly with foil.

2. Roast in oven for about 30 minutes, remove apples to another dish and allow to cool. Return covered squash to the oven for another 15-30 minutes, or until soft. Allow squash to cool. When cool scrape squash and apples into 4-6 qt. pot. Discard skins. Puree with hand blender. Add apple cider, if needed.

3. Add remaining cider and broth or water to desired consistency. Warm over medium-low heat. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice. Eat warmed.

holiday inspiration: cranberry lemon cheesecake

Heading out to a holiday party feast I decided to try my hand at a lemon cheesecake with cranberry sauce. I haven't perfected it yet (and have no excuse to make another already) but conceptually very tasty.

mashed parsnips

Looking for another way to prepare my stash of parsnips I decided to try a suggestion form the veggie encyclopedia - mashing them! Last year I finally decided to try mashed cauliflower (fashionable amongst recent low glycemic* diet plans) and I couldn't stomach the mashed cauliflower, so I was a little hesitant to try another take on mashed potatoes. You won't confuse it with a potato but it's still tasty. I mashed boiled parsnips (about 10 minutes) with milk, salt, and pepper.

* Beware! Parsnip's GI (glycemic index) is higher than potatoes and much higher than cauliflower.

pineapple

I love grilled pineapple so I decided to try a winter-friendly (and non-grill owning friendly) version. I simply broiled the pineapple for 10 minutes per side. Cooking pineapple sweetens the fruit and seemingly destroys the pucker possibilities (maybe that is a problem that I only have because I can eat it until I get 'sores' in my mouth).

roasted roots

Another tasty way to prepare my stash of parsnips is to roast them. Parsnips are super sweet and full of flavor when roasted. I mixed them with some other roots including onions, carrots, garlic, and huckleberry potatoes (a pink heirloom potato from Oregon). The exact quantities were determine a bit by what I had on hand (I probably would have added a few more carrots and another onion). Douse with olive oil, salt, and pepper and then roast in a medium oven.

Roasted Roots

4 potatoes

3 parsnips

2 carrots

1 head garlic

1 onion

2-3 T. olive oil

1 t. salt

pepper, freshly ground

Clean, chop, and peel (if desired) all veggies and place in large baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix. Roast (375 deg. F) in oven for 30-45 minutes until done, stirring periodically. Enjoy! Reheats well.

swiss chard + parsnip POTAGE

Several years ago, as an exchange student I discovered soups of all sorts. In the US, I ate my childhood quota of Cambell's chicken noodle and cream of tomato, but the closest my family got to soup was chili con carne. We never even had stew.

My host mom served soup everyday at the start the evening meal and although she was not a good cook in general (dinner often arrived charred) she could make soup, or rather potage quite well. The French have many classifications* for what we americans call 'soup' including soupe, potage, consommé, velouté, crème, gratinée, garbure, and bisque (and many, many more). Although, I most frequently make soupe or veloutés I really love potages.

A potage is a blended soup without milk or cream (adding milk or cream will most likely make it a velouté or a crème). Potages are an elegant soup (although I always think of porridge when I see it written!) that are excellent starts for a meal, but usually too light to be considered a meal themselves. To turn it into a light meal have with half a sandwich, a salad, a quesadilla /grilled cheese or treat it as a starter for a small dish of pasta. I've been enjoying this soup with a quesadilla and another vegetable for lunch this week.

This marriage came together from my csa box. I have too many parsnips, I suspect I will be having many parsnips potages in the weeks to come (I really need to expand my parsnip preparations ... any favorites?). The basic potage recipe can be applied to any two seasonal vegetables and works well with winter greens and vegetables.

swiss chard and parsnip potage

1 T. olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch swiss chard (I used rainbow), cleaned and chopped

3 parsnips, well scrubbed and sliced

broth/water, to cover

sea salt + pepper, to taste

1. In large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat and cook onion until translucent (about 5 minutes). Add garlic, chard, parsnip and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes.

2. Cover the vegetables with broth and/or hot water, bring to a simmer. Cover. Cook for 25 minutes, or until vegetables are cooked through.

3. Use your immersion blender to whiz the soup to a smooth, velvet consistency. If you don't have a hand blender (I'm sad for you), use a food processor, blender, food mill, or potato masher and blend the soup as smoothly as you can. Add more water/broth if potage is too thick.

* the most complete online resource I found, not conclusive: French Soups