Poblano Peppers for the Win

It’s been a tasty and interesting weekend on many fronts. After a long week at work Friday was a welcome respite - complete with an over the top roasted eggplant (fresh from the garden.) Dan was in charge of dinner on Friday (because I am usually in charge of dinner every day so hey every once in a while I catch a break.) He took one of the freshly picked eggplant and added the following:

2 TBSP balsamic vinegar

1 tsp mustard

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

2 cloves garlic ( to be honest I am sure he did at least 3 - 4)

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 tsp sugar

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until combined. Toss in the eggplant slices and stir to combine. Place marinated eggplant on a stone cookie sheet (Pampered Chef works well) and lay in a single flat layer. Roast at 425 for 30 - 40 minutes, turning half way through. 

We dipped them in a mayo, lime juice and chili powder sauce - they were delicious!

Fast forward to Sunday - I spent some time in the garden weeding and gathering up the latest harvest, which included poblano peppers. What to do with ALL. THOSE. PEPPERS? Stuffed poblano peppers of course. 

This is a totally new recipe (and pepper for that matter). I’ve had them in dishes but we have never grown them - it’s our first harvest - and OMG they are prolific. 

This recipe takes about an hour and a half to prepare so it’s definitely not something you want to do on a week night when you’re starving after a long day at work. Save this recipe for the weekend when you can enjoy both making it and eating it because it’s worth it - so so worth it. 

Before I go any farther I need to give a shout out to Traci York from Vanilla and Bean - the author of this recipe. I made a couple of small - very small - changes but only because I didn’t have the exact ingredient. 

Roasted Stuffed Poblanos with Smoky Quinoa, Sweet Potatoes and Black Beans

Ingredients

For the Peppers:

1 1/2 C Sweet potato peeled and diced

4 tsp Olive oil 

1/4 tsp Chili powder

6 Poblanos peppers

3/4 C Onion diced small

3/4 tsp Sea salt

1 1/2 tsp Cumin ground

1/2 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Chili powder

1/2 tsp Garlic salt

1/2 C Quinoa rinsed 

1 Can tomatoes with green chilies

1/3 C Water 

2 C Cooked black beans

For the Avocado Cream

1 Medium avocado

Fist full of cilantro

1/2 tsp Sea salt

1/2 a Lemon - juiced

1/4 tsp Cumin ground

Water for thinning

Roast the Peppers:

Set one oven rack to the top of the oven and preheat to broil. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Make one slit in each of the poblanos from the stem to tip (the seeds will be removed after roasting). Arrange evenly on the parchment lined baking sheet. Place under the broiler and roast being sure to turn the peppers every 2 minutes to ensure an even charring. Remove from the oven and place in a paper bag. Tighten down the bag and let the peppers steam for approx 10 minutes. 

Toss sweet potatoes with 2 tsp of oil and chili powder. Spread evenly on a parchment lined baking sheet. Lower the oven temperature to 450F and roast the potatoes until fork tender. Remove from oven and set aside. Lower oven temperature to 350F.

Once the peppers are steamed, carefully peel the skins off the peppers, working the seeds out with a little bit of running water and a gentle knife keeping the peppers in tact as best you can. Pat dry and set aside.

For the Stuffing:

In a medium sauce pot, add the remaining 2 tsp of oil and heat on medium until shimmering. Add the onion and saute' on medium low for about 5-6 minutes or until softened. Add the sea salt, cumin, paprika, chili powder, garlic salt and stir for about 1 minute or until spices are fragrant. Stir in the quinoa, tomatoes and water. 

Bring to a simmer, place the lid on and cook for 15 minutes on low. Uncover, and stir in the black beans and sweet potatoes. Taste for seasoning adjustment and allow to set for about 10 minutes, without the lid on, before stuffing the peppers.

Spray a large casserole dish with pan spray. Carefully stuff each pepper with quinoa mixture. Bake, uncovered in a 350F oven for about 20 minutes or until heated through.

While the peppers are baking make the avocado cream. In a food processor add the avocado, cilantro, salt, lemon, and cumin. Whirl ingredients while drizzling about 1/3 C of water in. The cream should be thin enough to slather or dip. Thin to desired consistency.

Remove the peppers from the oven, top with avocado cream and enjoy!

A Delicious Weekend in the Kitchen

I hit my cooking rhythm last weekend. It started on Friday after a long and productive day at work. I was planning to make ratatouille but didn’t have zucchini and wasn’t in the mood to drive to the store so I put that on hold, roasted  a batch of tomatoes, sautéed a boat load of garlic, shredded basil and boiled some edamame noodles - tossed it all together - poof dinner.

Ok it took a little bit longer than it sounds but not a lot longer. The roasted, just picked tomatoes were sweet and bursting with flavor and the fresh basil was a wonderful compliment to the tomatoes and garlic it was hard not to eat the entire bowl. 

Earlier in the evening (before dinner was underway) I was thinking of pie - we had a few apples in the pantry trying to get my attention so at 8pm I finally gave in and made an apple crumb pie, which wasn’t actually ready to eat until around 10pm. I know 8:00 probably isn’t when most people are baking pies but I was on a roll and in the end it turned out to be a great decision!

I started by making a standard single pie crust and putting it in the freezer while I made the filling. 

Filling:

7 - 8 cups peeled, cored and thinly sliced apples (I had a mix of Harrison and Fugi)

1/3 cup plus 1 T granulated sugar

1 lemon - juice and grated zest

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 1/2 T cornstarch

Place the sliced apples, lemon juice and zest in a bowl and let rest for 10 - 15 minutes. Combine the 1 T sugar, nutmeg and cornstarch, add to the apple mixture and stir to combine. 

Remove the pie crust from the freezer add apples and bake in a 400 degree oven on lower rack for 30 minutes. 

While the pie is baking make the crumb topping

Oatmeal crumb topping

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick of cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, cut butter into bowl and mix with your hand until you have small crumbs. 

Remove pie from oven, add crumb topping (note that you will not use the entire amount of topping, store the rest in the freezer), reduce heat to 375 and bake for an additional 30 minutes. At the 15 minute mark you may want to tent the pie with aluminum foil to keep the crust from burning. 

The house smelled wonderful and Dan couldn’t wait; he cut a piece, put a wedge of cheddar cheese on top and dug in - I guess it was okay :-) 

Which brings me to Sunday and ratatouille — one of my favorite dishes; especially when everything is garden fresh. We’ve been picking eggplant and peppers recently and the tomatoes don’t show any sign of slowing down any time soon so it seemed like it was definitely a ratatouille day. 

I got the original recipe from a cookbook Dan brought to the relationship some 14 years ago (wow has it been that long) called The Classic Vegetable Cookbook by Ruth Spear. I checked on Amazon today and you can get a copy for $1.35; in my opinion a great deal. Over time I’ve tweaked the recipe into the version we had last night but to be honest, my recipe is very close to the original - it’s that good! This dish is good hot, cold or warm but best after the flavors have melded for a day or so. Prepare it on a Sunday, pop it in the fridge and serve on Tuesday, you will not be disappointed. 

Ingredients:

2 - medium eggplants 

4 - medium zucchini

2 tsp salt

6 Tbsp olive oil

4 - medium onions - thinly sliced (I used my Pampered Chef Simple Slicer on 1)

2 - small green peppers, seeded, cored and thinly sliced

3 - 5 garlic cloves - depends on your love of garlic - I’m usually in the 5 -7 range

4 - 6 tomatoes, seeded, juiced and chopped

Salt and freshly gourd pepper

1 bouquet of 2 bay leaf, 5 to 6 sprigs of thyme, 4 - 5 basil leaves and 3 - 4 sprigs of oregano

Preparation:

Slice eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds, then cut into medium cubes. Cut the zucchini into 1/4 inch rounds. Toss eggplant and zucchini with the salt in a bowl and let set for about 30 minutes. Drain and pat dry with paper towels. 

Lightly and quickly saute the eggplant and zucchini mixture in 2 - 3 Tbsp olive oil. Make sure that the vegetables are in a single layer - you will need to do it in multiple batches. Remove sautéed pieces to a bowl. 

Heat the remaining oil in a heavy enameled cast-iron pan with a lid. Saute onions, pepper and garlic until softened. Add the tomatoes, cover and cook for approximately 5 - 7 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

In the cast-iron pan, add the tomato/onion mixture to lightly cover the bottom, then add 1/3 of the eggplant/zucchini mixture. Continue to layer seasoning veggies (if necessary) as you go, and ending with the tomato/onion mixture. Thinly slice 2 small tomatoes and add as a layer on top, add in the bouquet gari and cover. Simmer for 1/2 hour. 

Tilt the pot and pour the excess liquid into a small pan. Boil over high heat until reduced to about 1/4 cup. Add a few shakes of chili flakes, stir and pour over the vegetables. Cook over medium-high heat, uncovered for 15 minutes (until top tomatoes are soft).

Remove the bouquet garni and sprinkle with fresh parsley before serving 

This weekend; Dan’s cooking up something with the eggplant and I have my eye on a recipe for stuffed poblano peppers!

Tomatoes, tomatoes and did I mention tomatoes?

I just came in the house with yet another shirt full of tomatoes - yes I did say a shirt full. I forgot to grab the basket I normally use to bring in the daily harvest and rather than going back in the house finding it and then back to the garden seemed silly after all there were only a few tomatoes right? Wrong - so many tomatoes. 

What to do with all the tomatoes - bruschetta and gazpacho of course!

The tomato harvest has exploded in the past couple weeks. If your a regular reader I’m sure you saw the first tomato and mayo sandwich post - we we so optimistic and naive but then we are every year because you never know what Mother Nature will throw at you and how your little plants will respond. This year she has been generous and the garden has responded in kind. 

Starting with bruschetta - we’ve been doing some entertaining lately; movie night with Gerd and Maria and last night we had a college friend of Dan’s over for dinner (and her daughter too). Her daughter will be attending the University of Minnesota to work on her PhD so we hope to have other opportunities to have her join us for dinner and of course we hope the parents will visit from time to time too. Both evenings were a lot of fun, great opportunities to catch up and perfect for a batch of bruschetta. 

Bruschetta is best when everything is freshly picked from the garden. On both occasions I picked and washed a large batch of cherry tomatoes and about 15 - 20 basil leaves. I sliced the tomatoes into quarters, added olive oil, balsamic vinegar, 6 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper and then shredded the basil and tossed. I served it over lightly toasted, crusty french bread (because Dan does not like crunch bread - it’s a ongoing discussion topic here) it was delicious. 

With Gerd and Maria we served additional appetizers; brie, honeyed goat cheese and marinated cucumbers and roasted beets - quite lovely if I do say so myself. With Dan’s college friend we went a bit simpler; chips, salsa and guacamole - no complaints from either camp. 

So now gazpacho - hands down one of the fastest and easiest soups to put together in my Vitamix - 15 minutes from start to finish and tho I know many recipes suggesting chilling for a couple of hours, I’m fine adding a little chopped avocado to the top and eating immediately - which is exactly what we did. 

I started by taking 1 large and one medium tomato, coring them putting them in the blender and making 1 1/2 cups of tomato juice. To that I added 1 large tomato, 1/2 cucumber (from the garden of course), a green pepper (also from the garden) and a small onion. 

to the veggie mixture I added 2 T olive oil, 1 1/2 T red wine vinegar, a couple of squirts of siracha, and and then salt and pepper to taste. Blend on a low speed for a clunkier soup or on high for something more pureed. Top with chopped avocado and serve - it was delicious. 

Now what to do with the watermelon, cauliflower, cucumbers,eggplant and squash that are soon to be taking over the kitchen. 

Ciao!

Summer Harvest

After a slow start in the garden all I can say is wow. We’ve been eating green beans nearly every night for the past week or so and keeping up with the lettuce and kale is becoming a challenge. 

I planted cucumbers this year and last count we had 2 in the house and 5 will be ready in the next few days. Our Japanese eggplant is doing very well and the squash (3 kinds) are exploding. It’s shaping up to be another wonderful year. The only disappointment - the broccoli; all of the crowns are very small - tasty but small. 

Dan made a delicious dip out of the eggplant. He chopped it fine and added onion, a bit of zucchini, garlic and sautéed it with olive oil - it was delicious on a piece of crusty french bread. 

Those 5 cucumbers followed us to the lake where I made a simple salad of tomatoes, cucumber and avocado dressed with oil, rice wine vinegar, a bit of agave and garlic. I let it marinade for about an hour - and added some salt and pepper it tasted fresh and delicious. 

We also made calico beans - vegetarian and regular two giant crockpots of tasty. Lucky for us some followed us home because for some reason they never made it to the leftover meals. Guess that’s what happens when you leave the husband and step-daughters in charge. Not a problem tho I’ll heat them up for dinner tonight and toss a quick salad to round it out. 

And speaking of tonight, I am going to try to replicate the buffalo cauliflower  we’ve had at J Selby’s - a new favorite vegan restaurant in St Paul. I’ve looked at more than 50 buffalo cauliflower recipes and I think the one I’m going to use will be spot on - I can’t wait. And here is the end result - good first effort but I'l make a few tweaks going forward both in cooking times and saucing the cauliflower.

Next weekend is movie night - I hope our guests are hungry for some veggies - cuz they’ll be a lot of that going on.

Thanks for stopping by!