Beans and Greens

Dried beans and fresh greens are staples in our household. We eat them regularly, and rarely the same way twice. There are so many varieties of dried beans and fresh greens that the combinations are endless.

Here's the most recent one I made, combining curly kale, white lima beans, and canned tomatoes.

It actually tasted as good as it looks.

Here's what I did.

White Beans and Curly Kale Stew
1/3 cup dry white lima beans or canellini beans
4 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 dried red chile pepper, crumbled
1 large bunch curly kale, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves

Cook the beans in boiling water until tender, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Drain and set aside.

Warm olive oil in large sauté pan. Add garlic and chile pepper and cook over medium heat until fragrant. Stir in kale and vegetable stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until the kale wilts, about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes with their juice, cooked beans and thyme. Cover and simmer 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle stew into shallow bowls and serve.

Serves 4

Asparagus Frittata

Spring is here. The scent of freesias and orange blossoms waft around the garden. The hummingbirds are flirting, and squawking baby jays hide in the undergrowth.

Spring makes me think of young spears of asparagus and fresh eggs from happy hens. I bought some of each at the farmers market on Sunday and made this great sunday brunch frittata.

There's a lot of asparagus in this dish, and not very many eggs. The green flavor shines, but I did dampen it a bit with some aged gruyere - I thought this was a great combination. But a milder cheese, or even no cheese at all, would be fine too.

Leftovers were great for lunch during the week as well.

Asparagus Frittata
1 lb asparagus
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded gruyere

Snap tough ends off asparagus spears and cut the rest into 1-inch lengths.

Pour oil into a warmed 9-inch cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and salt. Cook about 3 minutes until onion is softened but not browned, stirring occasionally.

Stir in asparagus, reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook 6-8 minutes until asparagus is just tender. Pour in eggs and cook until they are almost set but still runny on top, about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle cheese over top and broil until cheese is melted and browned, 3-4 minutes.

Serve in wedges.

Serves 6-8

A simple rice cooker meal

There's something cool about appliances doing all the work. I don't mean actually choosing my options - that's my job. But I do enjoy leaving dinner to cook without worrying about it burning or boiling over. It lets me go putter in the garden, knowing that when I'm ready for dinner, it will be ready for me.

The other night I made this great spicy mushroom rice dish in my rice cooker. I have a very low-tech rice cooker - turn it on and let it do its work. No fuzzy logic. No bells and whistles. And it works great. When the rice is done, the cooker turns to low and keeps it warm until I remember it's time for dinner. A simple salad or a steamed vegetable can round out the meal.

I sautéed leeks and mushrooms, added chipotles in adobo, then stirred in raw rice. I poured the whole thing into the rice cooker. When I have some smoked jack in the fridge, I stir in about half a cup diced at the end to add a "bacon-y" flavor. But the chipotles add enough flavor that it's not necessary. (Chipotles in adobo are dried smoked jalapeños in a spicy tomato sauce. You'll find them in cans in the international section of the grocery store. I use what I need then store the rest in a jar in the refrigerator where they'll last for a few months.)

Spicy Mushroom Rice
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
4 small leeks
2 chipotles in adobo, chopped
4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
8 oz crimini mushrooms, sliced
6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 cup brown rice
2 1/2 cups water

Warm the butter and olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Cut the roots off the leaks, then cut them in half lengthwise. Wash them well to get dirt out from between the layers. Thinly slice the white and pale green parts and add them to the warmed oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Raise the heat to medium and add the chopped chipotles, sliced mushrooms and chopped garlic. Cook until mushrooms darken and are tender, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the salt, pepper and brown rice. Pour into the rice cooker. Add the water. Lower the lid and turn on the cooker.

Serves 4-6.

This reheats well. It also freezes and defrosts well. It's a great go-to easy dinner dish.

Roasted Root Vegetables

Hunting through the fridge the other day, I found a couple of beets, a few small turnips and half a celeriac. Combined with a parsnip, carrots and some potatoes, these made a great simple dish of roasted root vegetables.

Roasting the vegetables in a covered casserole lets them steam more than blacken. The flavors blend, the olive oil, salt and pepper get absorbed, and the roots come out buttery and delectable.

Use whatever roots you have lying around. Peel (as needed) and chop enough vegetables to fill your casserole. Pieces of one inch or less are good because they cook more quickly. I always cut beets and turnips into small bite-size pieces.

Toss the vegetables in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper. Put them in the casserole, cover, and bake at 425°F for 30-45 minutes. The timing will depend on the size of your vegetables. They're done when they pierce easily with a knife.

Warning: this is weird

I like to vary the grains we eat: various kinds of rice, millet, quinoa, barley, and —last week — buckwheat.

Buckwheat is technically a seed, not a grain, and it's no relation to wheat. It originated on the Russian steppes and is a good warming winter grain.

It is strongly flavored — as you know if you've eaten buckwheat pancakes. I tend to serve it with mushrooms — a classic combination. Last week I cooked it up with potatoes to balance the intensity of the buckwheat. Served with steamed vegetables, it made a simple healthy dinner.

But there was a lot left over. I thought a bit, and then I realized it would be great for breakfast as a sort of hash.

Knowing this might be a little weird, I did not offer it to Larry. But I enjoyed it every morning for a week.

I scooped the grains and potatoes into my small cast iron skillet, fried them up, bashing them a little, and then added an egg — sometimes a hard-boiled one that I bashed into the mix, other times I moved the buckwheat to the side and fried an egg in the pan next to it. Salt, a good grinding of pepper and a drizzle of rooster sauce and I had a stick-to-the ribs-breakfast.

I encourage you to try it with whatever leftover grains you have in your fridge.

And if you want to try buckwheat with potatoes, here's the recipe.

Buckwheat and Potato Casserole
1 1/2 cups buckwheat (also known as kasha)
3 cups water
1 1/4 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut in 1-inch pieces1 cup diced onion (1/2 large one)
1 tbsp organic canola oil

Bring the water to a boil, add a little salt, and cook the buckwheat, covered, 15 minutes. It should absorb all the water.

Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until soft. Drain and set aside.

Fry the onion in the oil until lightly browned.

Combine all together in a large bowl. Add 20 grinds of black pepper and a little salt to taste.

Scoop into an oiled casserole. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes.

Serves 6-8

Cinnamon Tea

This has been a challenging winter - the weather is cold and wet, then hot, then wet again. My Canadian body, which is used to 6 months of ice, finds it's stressful to try to keep up.

As preventative medicine, on those damp chilly days when it feels like a virus might be floating around, I brew up a cup of cinnamon tea and snuggle under a blanket with a good book.

Cinnamon has been shown to have antibacterial and antiviral qualities. It's also a restorative, used for centuries in Chinese medicine to get the blood moving and restore strength to a body depleted by illness or stress.

It's also a sedative and mood booster. After a couple of cups of cinnamon tea and a good nap, the whole world looks brighter.

I usually drink it without sweetener, but a little raw honey, added once the tea has cooled a little so as not to destroy the beneficial enzymes, helps soothe the throat. I have teaspoons made from organic bamboo (from bambuhome.com). Unlike metal spoons, they stay cool while stirring the honey into the tea.

Of course, you don't have to be under the weather to drink a cup of this delicious tea.

(Organic cinnamon sticks are becoming more commonly available. If your local health food store doesn't have them, you can order them online at Mountain Rose Herbs. Buy raw honey at your local farmers market.)

Cinnamon Tea
2 2-inch organic cinnamon sticks (4 inches total)
1 tsp honey or to taste

Bring 2 cups cold water to boiling in a small saucepan. Add the cinnamon sticks, cover, and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Your house will smell great.

Strain the tea into 2 mugs (or save half in the saucepan and reheat it when you're ready for a second cup). Sweeten to taste with honey.

Makes 2 cups

(I let the cinnamon sticks dry on a rack in the kitchen and use them for a couple more pots of tea before throwing them in the compost.)

Penne with Broccoli, Mushrooms, Rosemary and Thyme

I ventured out between the rain showers the other day to pick some rosemary and thyme to add vigor to this simple pasta dish. The aroma of the fresh herbs elevated this easy supper to another level, yet it was still quick to prepare.

One of the pleasures of living in Southern California is the ability to grow herbs outside year round. While they may not be at their most fragrant after all this cold rain, they still add pungency and freshness to a meal.

The broccoli and mushrooms cook while the pasta boils, and the dish is ready in under half an hour.

There is no real sauce per se, so save a couple of ladlefuls of pasta cooking water to add at the end to loosen it up if necessary.

Penne with Broccoli, Mushrooms, Rosemary and Thyme
1 (10 oz) head broccoli
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 dried chili pepper, crushed into pieces
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
parmesan to serve (optional)
1/2 lb penne pasta

Cut the florets off the broccoli stems and set aside. Peel any tough skin off the broccoli stems and chop them into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

Sauté the onion in the olive oil until it's browned around the edges. Add the chopped broccoli stems and stir for a minute. Add the mushrooms, salt, rosemary, thyme, chili pepper and sunflower seeds. Stir another minute or so. Add 1/4 cup water to the pan. Place the broccoli florets on top of the vegetables, cover the pan, reduce the heat and let it all steam, covered, 13-15 minutes until the stems are soft and the florets are cooked but still have some bite.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in plenty of boiling water, following the directions on the package. Drain, reserving some of the pasta water.

When the sauce is cooked, stir in the pasta along with a little pasta water if desired.

Serve sprinkled with parmesan if desired. (If you're not using parmesan, a little extra salt might be necessary.)

Serves 4