celeriac fall soup

1 tablespoon neutral oil
1 shallot
1 medium celeriac/celery root
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon dried tarragon
2 large sweet apples - peeled (I used Rosa Lee)
3 medium red potatoes - peeled
1 teaspoon jarred chicken bouillon
4 cups of water
3 tablespoons of butter
Salt to taste 

Chop celeriac, potatoes and apples into bite sized pieces. Dice shallot. 

Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan or Dutch oven. Add shallots and heat until translucent but not browned. Add fennel seeds and tarragon and warm through until fragrant. Add celeriac, potatoes and apples and stir. Add bouillon and water and stir. Bring to a boil and simmer on medium high, partially covered, for 20 minutes or until the celeriac is mostly softened. 

Use an immersion blender to process the soup until smooth. Stir in the butter until combined. Add salt to taste.

tomato-tini

Makes 2 cocktails

8 cherry tomatoes
2 teaspoons of champagne vinegar
pinch of salt
6 large basil leaves
4 oz of gin
1 oz of dry vermouth
cracked black pepper
dash of olive oil

Place cherry tomatoes, champagne vinegar, salt and basil leaves in the tin and muddle until the tomatoes are fully smashed. Add the gin and vermouth to the tin with ice and shake thoroughly. Double strain into coupe glasses. Crack black pepper on top and add a dash of olive oil to each glass.

coconut curry base

amaranth and/or mustard leaves or spinach leaves
1 can of coconut milk
1 large onion, diced

3 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
15-20 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt

fish sauce 

Bring water and salt to the boil in a large pot. Add washed leaves and boil for 10 minutes or until tender.

In a separate pan, heat the oil and cook the chopped onion until softened. Add the garlic and ginger and heat until fragrant. Add the curry powder and cook until fragrant.

Add the well drained leaves and tomatoes and stir to combine.

Add the coconut milk and continue cooking for about 10 minutes.

Add fish sauce and salt to taste.

greatest rice ever

This is the best rice I've ever had. I call it the good good rice.

4 cups water
2 tbsp chicken or beef Better than Bouillon 
1 packet of Sazon con Culantro y Achiote
1 small onion whole
2 cups long grain rice uncooked
4 tablespoons salted butter
1 teaspoon salt

Add 1 small onion to the center of the Instant Pot. 

Add 4 cups of warm water to the Instant pot, add in chicken bouillon and Sazon packet and mix well.

Add 2 cups of rice to the IP.

Seal and use the Rice function to cook for 15 minutes. Let pressure naturally release for 9 minutes then release the remaining pressure.

Remove the onion.

Stir in 4 Tbsp. butter until completely melted.

Taste your rice to see if it needs any salt. 

Adapted from Sunday Supper

brown butter frisee

 An accidently delicious discovery.

1 head of frisee
2 tablespoons of butter
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a non-stick pan until browned and bubbling. Tear frisee into smaller pieces and add to the pan. Stir frisee in pan until it is softened and browned. 

Remove from pan and salt with Maldon flakes and black pepper.

roberto!

This is the best soup! Helen Rosner is a soup queen! Go read her original recipe. The condensed version here is to make shopping easier for me.

Ingredients

Olive oil
1 big onion
2-4 cloves garlic
Salt
1 pound hot or sweet italian sausage

1 28oz can tomatoes, diced or crushed or whole (crushed)
1 14oz can of beans of any type
4 cups of broth (chicken, beef, veggie, or honestly just a mix of water and wine is great)
1 bunch of kale
Pepper
1 lemon

Put the olive oil and onions in a soup pot over medium heat, with a pinch of salt (a pinch is about a quarter teaspoon) and stir them all together. Slowly cook them all until the onions are soft and translucent, about 4 minutes, but sometimes as many as 7. Add the garlic and wooden-spoon it around in the onion until you get hit with that nostalgic garlic-and-onion smell, about 1 minute. 

Raise the heat to medium-high and add the sausage squeezed out of its casing. Stir it into the onion and garlic, breaking it up in the pot into small pieces that could comfortably fit on a spoon. It's better to overcook than undercook the sausage: For the best flavor, you want the pieces to start to brown on the outside. It should look speckled with dark spots.

When the sausage is starting to brown dump in the tomatoes (including all the liquid), the beans (it's okay if there's a little liquid left in the can, add that too), and 4 cups of the broth/whatever and bring the whole thing to a simmer. If you'd used canned whole tomatoes, use your wooden spoon to break them up against the side of the pot.

Once it's at a simmer, add the kale. Get the greens in there and put the lid on and turn the heat down back to medium and let the whole thing simmer for about 5 minutes more, or even longer if you want to. Taste the soup (use the wooden spoon, you're less likely to burn your mouth) and decide how much salt and black pepper you think it needs. Then add half as much salt as you want to, and twice as much pepper. Add a little more pepper. 

Serve the soup, which is very hot, in bowls and squeeze a wedge of lemon juice into each bowl. Add parsley if you want.

new shiny veggies

 Super tasty, super easy sauce.

1 onion
1 red pepper
kale
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon base 
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Chop onion, red pepper and kale into equal size pieces. Heat a pan, add a glug of olive oil, and add the onions and red peppers. Cook until browned. Add the kale and heat until wilted. 

In a cup combine the red wine vinegar, chicken bouillon, cornstarch and water. Add to the pan and stir until thickened and shiny.

vodka cocktail roundup

Green Garden

Makes 2 cocktails

2 ounces gin
2 ounces vodka
2 ounces celery simple syrup
1/2 ounce lime juice
1/2 ounce lemon juice
Peychaud's Bitters
Salt

Combine gin, vodka, simple syrup and citrus juices in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and then pour into a coupe glass. Add two dashes of Peychaud's Bitters and a pinch of salt to each glass.

To make simple syrup:

Combine 3 sections of celery stalks with leaves, with 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes and let steep for 10 minutes. Strain the liquid into a jar.

Nick's Flower Fields

Makes 1 cocktail

1/2 ounce lavender butterfly pea flower simple syrup
1/2 ounce elderflower simple syrup
1.5 ounces vodka or gin
1/2 ounce lemon juice

Add vodka and simple syrups to a shaker and shake until tin is frosted. Pour into a glass with ice. Then add lemon juice to change the color and stir. Top with a splash of club soda and fresh flowers.

Sage Lemonade

Makes 2 cocktails

2 ounces sage simple syrup
1 ounce lemon juice
2 ounces vodka

Add the vodka, lemon juice, and sage simple syrup to a cocktail shaker and fill it with ice. Shake vigorously until cold.

Strain into cocktail glass. 

Strawberry Lemonade

Makes 1 cocktail

Strawberries
3/4 ounce simple syrup
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1 ounce vodka
Polar dry orange

Cut up strawberries and muddle in a glass with the simple syrup and lemon juice. Add ice and vodka, and stir. Top with Polar orange dry.

Chocolate Orange Martini

Makes 1 cocktail

1 1/2 ounces vodka
3/4 ounce white crème de cacao liqueur
1 splash orange liqueur

Add the vodka, crème de cacao liqueur, and orange liqueur to a cocktail shaker and fill it with ice. Shake vigorously until cold.

Strain into cocktail glass. 

grape jelly ribs

Sweet and a little savory.

1 large rack baby back pork ribs (3 to 3½ pounds)
1½ teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, crushed but left whole
¾ cup Concord grape jelly
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Position an oven rack 6 inches from the broiler and another rack on the bottom of the oven. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. If you’d like to remove the membrane from the bony underside of the ribs, use a small knife to release one corner of the thin membrane, then pull off the rest with your hands and discard.

In a small bowl, stir together the salt, onion powder and black pepper. Season the ribs on both sides with the spice mixture. Wrap the ribs tightly in aluminum foil as if wrapping a present, place on a sheet pan flesh-side down and bake on the bottom rack until the meat is tender and pulls away easily from the bones, 2 to 2½ hours.

Remove the ribs from the oven, then heat the broiler. Unwrap the ribs and, reserving the foil with its juices, transfer the ribs to the sheet pan flesh-side up. Carefully tip the juices from the foil into a large skillet. Stir in the garlic, jelly, vinegar and soy sauce, and bring to a simmer over medium-high. Cook, whisking occasionally, until the glaze is syrupy and reduced by about half, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Brush or spoon half of the glaze, including the garlic cloves, over the ribs. Place back in the oven and broil until charred in spots, 1 to 3 minutes. (Don’t step away!)

Place the ribs on a cutting board and spoon over the rest of the glaze. Cut between the bones into individual riblets and transfer to a large platter to serve.

now for umami fish

Another killer fridge clean out dish.

1 pound of white fish
4 yellow potatoes
1 package of chard
7-10 campari tomatoes, quartered
1/2 cup pickled banana peppers, chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced
3 tbsp pickled banana pepper liquid
splash of Cynar
ground mustard
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Quarter potatoes, coat in oil, sprinkle with salt and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Coat fish in ground mustard, salt, pepper and olive oil. Add a pat of butter and a tbsp of olive oil to a stainless steel pan over high heat. When butter is bubbling, add fish and cook on each side for 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Remove from the pan to a plate.

Add sliced garlic to the hot pan. Cook for a couple minutes until browned but not burned, add a splash of Cynar and then add the tomatoes and banana peppers and scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the chard (chopped if large pieces) and combine. Cover and let chard wilt for a couple minutes and then stir again. Add the fish to the top of the vegetables, cover, and put back in the oven for 8-9 minutes.

Plate the fish with the vegetables on top and spoon sauce over the top.

little chefs calamari

The best calamari recipe I've ever had.

Calamari Marinade

1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1.5 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
zest of one lemon
3 smashed and chopped garlic cloves
1 handful chopped basil
1 handful chopped parsley
1 handful chopped Cuban oregano
1/4 cup olive oil (enough to have a wet marinade)
squid tubes and tentacles

Calamari Dressing

5 olives
1 handful parsley
juice of 1-2 lemons
zest of half a lemon
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons crisp white wine

Combine all ingredients in the marinade and then marinate the squid for 20 minutes. Add as much olive oil as necessary to make it saucy.

Combine all dressing ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add more wine if needed to loosen the dressing.

Grill calamari until cooked and plate with arugula and dress both the calamari and the arugula with the dressing.