cooksimple.com

I’m back in Florida so now have my copy of the Joy of Cooking. As I said before this is one of my favorite salad dressings. It is great in a spinach salad with avocado, egg & red onions. And also perfect with mixed greens, toasted walnuts & sliced pears. Personally, I could eat it on every salad!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 6 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• salt & pepper to taste
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese

Directions

Whisk together vinegar, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper. Slowly add the olive oil while continuing to whisk. Whisk in the blue cheese. Use immediately or refrigerate. It keeps well though you may have to let it sit out for a few minutes in order to “de-congeal” due to the olive oil in the dressing.

I’m trying very hard to eat as much local produce as possible. To do this, I canned a lot of things during the summer and signed up for a winter farm share. I was surprised at how much food I got, but after a few weeks, I started getting sick of roasted root vegetables. So I’m trying to find creative ways to make summer recipes with winter veggies. This bruschetta is one successful attempt.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup roasted pine nuts
• 2 carrots
• 10 heads Brussels sprouts
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 T olive oil
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 T fresh tarragon
• fresh bread
• 2-4 oz chevre

Directions

Chop the carrots, sprouts, and onions into big pieces while heating the olive oil over medium high heat. Saute veggies till tender and starting to brown. Add minced or crushed garlic and tarragon and stir.

Meanwhile, slice bread lengthwise and toast. If it’s fresh from the oven bread you don’t have to toast it. Spread some goat cheese on the bread.

When all the veggies are cooked through and the garlic is almost translucent, add the juice from the lemon. Add the pine nuts and then season with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Stir and then spread on top of the bread and cheese.

You will all notice I’ve been absent and not posting much. I have been cooking but haven’t had the time to update the site will full posts (pictures, recipes, etc.). To make up for this I thought I’d share several of the best new recipes I’ve tried over the last few months. In no particular order:

Puree of Chickpea Soup – from the NY Times

Swiss Chard & Sweet Potato Gratin – from Smitten Kitchen

Whole Wheat Biscotti – I made these into lemon whole wheat biscotti by adding some lemon juice and lots of lemon rind

Granola Bars – from Smitten Kitchen

Pumpkin Spice Syrup – Yummy in a latté. I put the recipe & latté directions in a new post.

Mixed Greens with Garlic, Cumin and Paprika – A great veggie side dish. I posted the recipe in a new post.

Blue Cheese Vinaigrette – from the Joy of Cooking. Quite possibly the best dressing recipe! It is a basic vinaigrette made with apple cider vinegar and crumbled blue cheese. I’ll post the recipe once I get home and have access to the book

This was a really yummy side dish. I used smoked paprika which added a great flavor. The recipe is originally from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

Ingredients

• 12 cups mixed greens, such as kale, chard, beet, or escarole
• Salt to taste
• 3 large garlic cloves
• 1 cup finely chopped parsley
• 1 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• Lemon wedges, for garnish

Directions

Discard any inedible parts of the greens, such as stems and tough ribs. Tear or chop into bite-sized pieces. Place the leaves in a microwave safe glass dish and cover. Microwave on high for 1-2 minutes until leaves are still green though wilted.

Pound the garlic with 1/2 teaspoon salt in a mortar until you have a rough paste, then work in the parsley and cilantro and pound them briefly to release their flavors. Add the paprika and cumin. (If you do not have a mortar and pestle, chop the garlic with the parsley and cilantro, then add the spices.)

Warm the oil in a wide skillet over medium heat with the garlic-herb mixture. As soon as it releases its flavor, when the oil has heated, add the greens. Cook, stirring frequently, until any extra moisture has evaporated. Taste for salt. Pile into a dish and garnish with the lemon wedges.

I made several batches of this for great pumpkin lattés. To make the lattés I combine 2-4 T of the syrup, 1/2 cup steamed milk & 1/2 cup strong coffee in a mug.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp of ground ginger
• 1 tsp of cloves (or allspice)
• 1 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions