If all goes well, Harrison will come home with us tomorrow. We spent the evening relaxing with Jane and Jeremy. Jer cooked some wonderful salmon with a fabulous peach, avocado salsa.
My contribution was this grilled kale salad with ricotta and plums. It was a delight. Wow. The grilled kale was crispy and added wonderful texture and flavor. Will I make it again? That depends on what Harrison has to say about cooking!
Grilled Kale Salad with Ricotta and Plums
I was looking for a new, easy dish and tried this from Real Simple. It was quite tasty and very quick. Nothing super rave-worthy but still worth a repeat down the road.
Robin did ask where this dish came from. When I told her 101 Cookbooks she said she had assumed as much.
Predictably Heidi Swanson and predictably good.
Heather’s Quinoa with tofu, kale, shallots and pesto.
For the first time in far too long, a new recipe in the Knitchen.
Tonight I turned back to 101 Cookbooks for this great, easy recipe. I served the white beans & kale with crab cakes. Extra of Kathy’s Kale Salad for Robin’s lunch and snacking.
I love cooking a dinner I know without the recipe. I also love it when I know exactly which pots and pans I like to use for a given recipe. Tonight was just that. Penne with white beans and kale. We know it, cook it without the recipe, cook it in the same pots every time, and love it every time.
No photo. Sorry ’bout it. This was quite yummy but could have been supported by a nice protein. Grilled fish? Sausages? Even a steak. A great side for the future.
1 pound fresh kale or one 10-ounce package frozen kale, thawed
1/2 cup water
5 medium-large potatoes, peeled and very thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cup Swiss cheese, grated
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
11/4 cup milk
If using fresh kale, thoroughly rinse it and shake off the excess water. Pull the leaves from the stems and discard the stems. Stuff the kale into a medium pot and add about 1/2 cup water. Cook until the kale just wilts, about 7 minutes. Drain and cool the kale. Squeeze out the remaining water with your hands. Roughly chop the kale and set aside. (If using frozen kale, simply squeeze it dry with your hands and set aside.)
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Generously butter a 10-by-10-by-2-inch baking dish or other large shallow baking dish. Spread half the potato slices on the bottom of the dish. Spread all of the kale, then sprinkle on the garlic and half of the cheese, butter, salt and pepper. Top with the remaining potato slices, cheese, butter, salt and pepper.
Carefully pour in the milk and gently shake the dish to distribute. Bake 50 minutes or until the potatoes are tender and the top is nicely browned.
With so many new recipes on the horizon, I went back to an old favorite. This will give Robin plenty of lunch leftovers. The big change this time? Fresh beans. Wow, what a difference. I threw one pound of dried cannellini beans in the pressure cooker with 7 cups of water for 35 minutes. The result was one of the best white bean and kale pastas ever. That is saying something as I have made this dish over 50 times. Recipe linked on the Recipes Page.
After a long week with back to back work events on Thursday and Friday, it was great to cook at home on Saturday. We were joined by Polly & Marshall and surprise, long distance guests, Jen and Claire. It was great to be together with everyone. On the menu:
BA’s Salt and Pepper Bone-In Rib Eye. This is my go to steak and there is a good reason. Bought the steaks from Drewes Brothers in Noe.
Mashed Potatoes with Crimini Mushrooms from Epicurious. Followed the lead of one reviewer and added a little truffle oil.
Cook’s Illustrated Really Good Roasted Brussels Sprouts: 2.25 lbs Brussels sprouts trimmed and halved. 3 Tbs. olive oil 1 Tbs. water. Toss Brussels sprouts, oil, water, .75 tsp. salt, .25 tsp. pepper in large bowl. Transfer to baking sheet with sprouts face down. Cover sheet with foil and roast for 10 minutes at 500. Remove foil and cook another 10-12 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Tuscan kale & Ricotta Salata Salad. Take out the rib from the kale, slice very thinly (chiffonade) cross-wise, toss with ricotta salata and dressing of shallot, lemon juice & olive oil.
Photos by Marshall and his sick off-camera flash skills.
Mondays are tough. Robin stays late to coach Stanford Ultimate practice and often I have not shopped for the week. We managed to get in and out of Whole Foods with three good dinners worth of groceries and some breakfast food for around $60.
Tonight, a recent favorite, a new salad, and darn good salmon.
Spanish White Beans with Spinach: Incredibly fast, easy and tasty.
Nancy’s Kale Salad: I re-met Nancy last week wine tasting in Napa. She is a good friend of my parents and, my parents tell me, quite the chef. She suggested this salad and we LOVED it. Very similar to Kathy’s Kale Salad
Pan Seared Salmon. Salt, pepper, hot olive oil and about 8 minutes.
The astute observer out there (are there any observers out there?) will note that I changed up the plan just hours after making it. It was a cold afternoon here in SF and I am still battling a cold. This roasted squash dish felt much warmer than the planned cold salad and salmon.
The result was a bowl full of health that we will certainly have again. The miso-curry was more like a paste going on the squash, potatoes and tofu. This crisped up nicely and really gave those three nice flavor. The lemon juice things the paste and makes for a wonderful dressing for the greens.
A great dinner and some leftovers for Robin’s lunch. You will see this one again!
Link to the recipe on another blog.
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