Vegetables + Salads – Page 15 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Pear and Mushroom Pizzetta

I like assembling my own pizza at home. I say assemble rather than bake because I buy my pizzettas from Sullivan Street Bakery. I’ve tried their ciabatta bread and their focaccia with rosemary, but my favorite would be their light pizza bianca. A pizza square good for three people costs about $2. I used some ingredients I already had in my fridge. For olive oil, I used the shiso oil I made. Instead of goat cheese, I finished the sheep’s milk cheese I picked up with my lamb earlier in the week. Of course, you can put anything and everything on your own pizzetta.

Ingredients:
1 square of pizza bianca or focaccia bread
4 slivers of pancetta
fresh arugula, rinsed, pat dry
1 small pear, sliced thinly
a handful of bella mushrooms, wiped clean, sliced
1 small red onion, finely chopped
sheep’s milk cheese or goat cheese
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
olive oil

1. Preheat oven at 350Âº. In the meantime, heat some oil in a skillet, sautÃ© onions and mushrooms with the balsamic vinegar. Cook for about 10 minutes or until mushrooms are soft.
2. Prepare pizzetta on a baking sheet wrapped in aluminum foil. On the bread, lay the arugula and top with pancetta, pears and mushrooms. Drizzle some olive oil.
3. Bake in oven for 20 minutes, enough to cook the pancetta and toast the bread.

Chicken and Bacon with Chickpeas and Spinach

I was doing my grocery shopping in Chinatown when I came across a pack of extra small chicken drumsticks. About a dozen pieces were tightly packed for about $1.50. At home, I opened them up and realized they weren’t chicken thighs but the other half of chicken wings–the arms, I call them. I had two packs, 24 pieces in all, and I immediately thought I’d just deep-fry and snack on them. But the temperature outside dropped and the weather called for a thick stew. This recipe requires a lot of ingredients, but fortunately, I already had them in my pantry. If you don’t have chicken and spinach, chickpeas alone make a satisfying meal, as long as it’s cooked in bacon. Just skip the step with the chicken and spinach and top with a fried egg.

Ingredients:
12 pieces chicken wings, halved, rinsed and pat dry with a paper towel
4 strips of bacon
half a bag of chickpeas, soaked overnight
1 bag of baby spinach, rinsed
2 cups chicken broth
juice from half a lemon
zest from half a lemon
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp cumin, grounded
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tbsp honey
a knob of butter
a handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
salt and pepper

1. Sprinkle chicken wings with salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven, render fat from bacon until golden brown. Add butter. Brown chicken wings on both sides. Remove chicken from pot and set aside.
2. In the same pot, sautÃ© garlic and onions. Add the chick peas and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes to cook chickpeas.
3. When broth is slightly reduced and chickpeas are tender, add the rest of the ingredients. Add back the chicken wings. Cook for an extra 5 minutes or until spinach is wilted. Mix well and season to taste.

Drunken Romanesque Salad

My first reaction was, What the hell is that? The sign at the farmers’ market said romanesque, a hybrid of a broccoli and a cauliflower. It was so pretty and it made me so curious, I picked up one for myself for $3. It reminded me of a small piece of coral. Before cooking it, I actually let it sit on my table at work as a conversation starter. The spikes are as tender as cauliflower. If you apply enough pressure, they break easily and crumble. But it’s as sturdy as a broccoli. I was able to take it home in a plastic bag without damaging it. I could have made a stir-fry dish but I just wanted to taste it on its own without any sauce or dressing.

I reluctantly cut up the pretty-looking romanesque in smaller pieces and salted and steamed them for 12 minutes. I shocked them in ice water to stop its cooking, drained and put them on a plate. I had leftover umbriaco cheese in the fridge and it was like a jackpot tasting them together. Adding prosciutto was also a nice touch.

Ubriaco means “drunken” in Italian and the hard cheese I got from Di Palo’s is made from cow’s milk soaked in red wine. A stripe runs through the middle to give it a nice touch of color. It actually has a plum taste to it, a little bit sharp and tart.

Ingredients:
1 romanesque, cut in smaller pieces
Umbriaco cheese, shaved (or any hard cheese will do)
prosciutto
salt

1. Steam romanesque for 12 minutes, salting them halfway through. When done, shock them in ice water and drain to a plate.
2. Sprinkle shaved cheese and serve with prosciutto.

Fennel and Beet Salad

Adapted from Mary’s Fish Camp

Ingredients:
1 bulb fennel, sliced thinly
1 bunch red beets, rinsed, pat dry
shaved aged goat cheese
lemon juice
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Preheat oven 350Âº. Wrap beets in aluminum foil and roast in the oven for about 1 1/2 hours. Set aside. When cool enough to handle, peel with a paring knife and slice in rounds.
2. Meanwhile, soak fennel in a bowl with lemon juice. This is to keep the fennel’s color.
3. When ready to serve, drain fennel and combine with beets, salt, pepper and olive oil. Using a peeler, shave off some goat cheese on top.

Related post/s:
Visit Mary’s Fish Camp

Spiced Kohlrabi

I keep seeing this weird bulb in Chinatown but no one could tell me what it was. I asked the vendor and all I got was a OneDOLLAH! So I asked my dependable Chinese friend, Shao, and she said her mother calls it choi tao but she wasn’t sure what Americans call them. A visit at Telepan answered my question. Our friend’s chicken dish came with cauliflower and kohlrabi. I’ve never heard of kohlrabi before so when I got home, I Googled it and lo and behold, it was that Sputnik bulb!

The name comes from two German words that mean cabbage and turnip but its flesh is like the stem of a broccoli. You peel off the tough outer layers and cut the flesh in an angle to get slices like that of an apple. Shao’s mom uses two bulbs to include it in a pork and vegetable stir-fry. I found an old zucchini recipe that I thought would work with the tender flesh of a kohlrabi.

Ingredients:
1 kohlrabi, peeled, diced
1 garlic clove, crushed, sliced
1 tsp cumin, grounded
1 tsp fennel seeds, grounded
1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
1 red chili
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Toast bay leaf until fragrant and remove. SautÃ© garlic. Add kohlrabi and spices. Set aside some of the ground spices for garnishing. Cook until soft, stirring constantly, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Serve in ramekins and sprinkle with a little lemon juice and remaining ground spices.