Red Pepper and Potato Frittata

 It's been too hot to cook this week, so we've been enjoying leftovers for dinner each night. One of my favorites has been this red pepper and potato frittata that I originally made for brunch on Sunday. Cold with a green salad it made good dinners too.

Often frittatas like this include bacon. The key to getting good flavor without the bacon is to brown the onions until they are deep golden in places. A few bits stuck to the skillet are no bad thing, just unstick them before pouring in the eggs.

The other key flavor is the fresh oregano. It adds a green base note that offsets the sweet pepper and salty cheddar.

This is the beginning of red pepper season, and I can think of no better way to start it than with this frittata.

Red Pepper and Potato Frittata
1 potato, peeled and cut in 1/4 inch dice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
8 eggs
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
1 cup grated cheddar

Put the potato cubes in a saucepan, cover with cold water and add a little coarse salt. Bring to the boil, covered, and simmer until just tender. This will take 5-8 minutes depending on the size of the cubes. Pierce with the tip of a knife to see when they're done. Drain and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a 10 inch cast iron skillet (or other oven-proof skillet) over medium-high heat. Add the red pepper, onions, and a sprinkling of salt. Sauté 5 minutes or so until tender and the onions are starting to brown. Add cooked potato, garlic and oregano. Sauté another minute or so until it smells great and the onions are well-colored. Smooth the vegetables out, scraping the bottom of the skillet to release any stuck pieces.

Whisk together the eggs, salt and pepper. Pour over the vegetables, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and let cook until the eggs are set around the edges, 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the broiler.

The center will still be wet. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and place the skillet under the broiler until the cheese is melted and browned. This will take about 3 minutes. As you can see in the picture, mine got very dark in places. Larry allowed as to how that tasted even better.

Let the frittata stand a minute before cutting into it.

Serves 6-8

Zesty Potato Salad

When we barbecued last Friday, I was concerned the black bean burgers would be dry and boring so I made this zesty potato salad to go along side.

Fortunately the burgers were fine. But this potato salad almost stole the show. It has lashings of tabasco and mustard to make it interesting. I used our homemade keffir in the dressing — plain Greek yogurt is fine if you aren't growing your own keffir.

Zesty Potato Salad

2 lbs yukon gold potatoes
1 1/4 cups kefir

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

2 tsp tabasco

1 tsp dijon

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

Scrub the potatoes well and cook them, whole, until tender all the way through. This will take 15 to 25 minutes depending on the size of your potatoes. Drain and let cool a little so you don't burn your fingers, then peel and cut the potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces.

In a large bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients. Whisk together well.

Stir in potatoes. It will seem like a lot of dressing, but the potatoes will absorb much of it.

Cover and refrigerate to blend flavors. Add salt and pepper or more tabasco as needed.

Serves 6

Breakfast Potatoes

While our Sundays start with the stress of driving the 110 freeway at 7:30 a.m. en route to the Hollywood Farmers Market, once we've power-shopped and made it home our morning becomes more relaxed.

Larry squeezes oranges for fresh juice while I cook up some variation of eggs and potatoes. Then we settle down with the Sunday papers for a leisurely meal.

Last Sunday I made breakfast potatoes that were similar to what you'd find at a Mexican restaurant. I served them with spicy scrambled eggs and sourdough toast. I always make too many of these potatoes because the leftovers make great potato tacos.

Breakfast Potatoes
3 large yukon gold potatoes (1 1/4 lbs)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup coarsely chopped onion
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 tbsp chopped cilantro

Peel the potatoes and cut in 1/4 inch dice.

Warm the oil in the bottom of a large cast iron skillet. It should shimmer as it coats the bottom of the pan. Add the potatoes and a spoonful of water. Cover the skillet and let the potatoes cook until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Stir them occasionally. They will stick to the pan and create wonderful browned crusty bits.

When they're almost cooked, stir in the onion and green pepper. Season with salt and cook, covered, until the green pepper is tender.

Sprinkle on some black pepper and the cilantro. Serve hot.

Serves 4


Potato Tacos
Combine leftover breakfast potatoes with some grated cheese, a diced roasted red pepper, lime juice, extra cilantro and onion if you like. Season well. Put the filling on tortillas — I used a wheat/corn tortilla the other day — pressing it about 1/4 inch thick. Cover with another tortilla. Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Put the tortillas in. (Commercial potato tacos are fried in oil which gives them a crunchy exterior. These are cooked on a dry skillet, more like a quesadilla. But you can still get a decent crunch on the outside.) Cook until they are browned on the bottom, then flip them and cook the other side. Serve hot with salsa or guacamole.

(We ate them all before I remembered to take a photo.)

Potato Salad with Pickles

Usually when we barbecue I make my standard potato salad — cooked potatoes with a buttermilk dressing and a roasted poblano for zing.

But this Fourth of July, I tried something a little different. I found a jar of bread and butter pickles in our fridge and decided to add them to the potato salad. These weren't just any old pickles — I made them last year when our zucchinis were out of control.

I had planted seeds of an heirloom zucchini called Trombetta di Albenga from Renee's Garden Seeds. It's a vining zucchini plant that likes to grow up into trees. The zucchini then grow stealthily down among the branches. Fortunately, they are still tender even when they're three feet long.

Needless to say, I gave away a lot of zucchini. People still talk about the zucchini I gifted. And yet, we still had way more than two people can eat. I diced, blanched and froze. And then I made bread and butter pickles.

I am once again growing Trombetta di Albenga. (Really, they are the most entertaining vegetable plants I have ever grown.) They are not flowering yet, but I know what is coming. Emptying a jar of pickles into the potato salad seemed like a prudent move.

And I have to say that the potato salad tasted really good. It was slightly grey from the pickle juice I added to the dressing, but it was yummy. (I would have added a lot of colorful parsley if the birds hadn't eaten it all.) The potatoes were German butterballs from Flora Bella — the first time I've used them in potato salad and they tasted nicely creamy and held their shape well.

It's a good thing I'm growing more zucchini so we'll be able to replenish our pickle supply. This potato salad is one we'll want to make again.

Potato Salad with Pickles

1 1/2 lbs German butterball potatoes (or other waxy potatoes)

2 eggs

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp juice from the pickle jar

2 tsp dijon

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup kefir or buttermilk or yogurt

6-8 radishes, diced

1/2 cup chopped bread and butter pickles

Peel the potatoes and cut in quarters (about 1 inch pieces). Put in a pot, cover with cold water and a pinch of salt, and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Bring a small pan of salted water to the boil. Pierce a small hole in each egg with a safety pin. Lower into the boiling water, stirring so the eggs rotate a few times after entry. Cover and let simmer 10 minutes. Drain and cover with cold water. When cool, peel the eggs and separate the whites from the yolks. Chop the whites and add them to the bowl with the potatoes.

Put the cooked egg yolks in a blender with the vinegar, pickle juice and dijon. Whir together. With the machine running, slowly drizzle in the oil, then the kefir. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour most of the dressing over the potatoes and egg whites. Toss to combine. Add the radishes and pickles. Toss again and season to taste.

Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Serves 4-6

Trombetta zucchini.

Yummy Potatoes

Sometimes, when I feel Larry has eaten enough weird healthy vegetable dishes for a while, I serve him some yummy potatoes. Potatoes are happy food, pretty much any way they're served.

Of course, he helps by going to the library and getting books  like Smashed, Mashed, Boiled and Baked: A Celebration of Potatoes in 75 Irresistible Recipes by Raghavan Iyer.

Iyer's previous book was 660 Curries, so you know he likes flavorful food.

The other night I made his recipe for Moroccan Potato Stew with Saffron Biscuits. I think it would have been delicious without the biscuits, but heck, why not go all out on potato night.

Needless to say, the dish was a hit. In fact, it was even a hit on the 3rd night of leftovers. The seasonings were robust and the vegetables blended beautifully with them. The simple biscuits were delicious, even without the saffron. (I remember using the last of my saffron and deciding it was time to start growing my own saffron crocus. While I still want to do that, in the meantime I think I'd better just buy some more to last until the fall harvest. I'm sure the biscuits would have been even better with a little included.)

This is really a healthy recipe. Chickpeas and spinach, sweet potatoes as well as white — it's not that different to the food we usually eat. Maybe that's why I made the biscuits — it's important to be a little decadent on yummy potato night.

I did alter Iyer's recipe a little to suit what I had in the house. I hope you do the same thing when you cook the recipes on this blog. After all, half the fun of cooking is experimenting.

Here's what I did:

Moroccan Potato Stew with Biscuits
2/3 cup chickpeas
1 lb potatoes
1/2 lb sweet potatoes
1 tbsp oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
3 inch cinnamon stick
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp smoked chili flakes
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
14oz can diced tomatoes
1 bunch spinach

Cook the chickpeas in simmering water until tender, 2-3 hours depending on the age of the beans. Or cook them in a pressure cooker for 22 minutes and let the pressure come down on its own. (Or use 2 15-oz cans chickpeas.) Drain and set aside.

Peel the white and sweet potatoes; cut into 1-inch cubes. Put in a bowl and cover with water so they don't turn grey before you need them.

Grind the coriander, cumin and cinnamon in a spice grinder (or coffee maker reserved for spices) until they are a fine powder. Pour into a small bowl and stir in the paprika, chili flakes, salt and turmeric.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. When it begins to shimmer, add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring regularly, until they start to brown around the edges. Stir in the spice blend and stir for about 15 seconds until wonderfully fragrant. Pour in the can of diced tomatoes (including the liquid),  2 cups water, cooked chickpeas and drained potatoes. Stir it all together well so the vegetables are coated with the spices. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to medium-low, and cook, covered, until the potatoes are tender.

Wash the spinach and remove any tough stems. Stir into the pot. Cover and let steam until cooked, about 3-5 minutes.

You can eat this excellent stew now, or you can go wild and put biscuits on top.

Biscuits
2 cups white flour (plus extra for dusting)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
4 tbsp butter, cut in slices and chilled
1 cup keffir or buttermilk
1/2 cup whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 475°F. Pour the cooked stew into an ovenproof casserole.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add chilled butter and break it up into pea-size pieces with your fingers as you mix it in.

Stir in the keffir and whipping cream to make a wet batter.

Mound a half cup of flour on a large board or surface. Cover your hands with flour too. Scoop up 1/3 cup batter with your well-floured hands and drop it into the mound of flour. Gently roll it around to coat it completely with flour, then shape it into a biscuit and put it on the stew. Repeat with all the dough — you'll have 6-7 biscuits.

Place the casserole, uncovered, into the oven and bake until the biscuits are browned on top, about 25 minutes.

Serves 6

Breakfast Potatoes

Sunday morning I wanted a fry-up for breakfast. Usually that means eating at the pub, but we'd been there the night before (possibly why I craved a fry-up) so I decided to make a healthier version at home.

Instead of frying the potatoes, I roasted them in the toaster oven. It was slightly healthier yet really delicious with fried eggs on the side. Actually they'd be good for dinner too.

Breakfast Potatoes

2 medium red potatoes (about 8 oz total)

4 cremini mushrooms

1 small shallot

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

10 grinds pepper

Preheat toaster oven to 450°F.

Peel the potatoes and cut in 1/2" dice. Cut the mushrooms in quarters. Peel the shallot, halve lengthwise, and slice thinly. Toss these all together with the oil, salt and pepper. Spread out in a small roasting pan and cook for about 18 minutes until they are tender and golden. Stir after 10 minutes, making sure to scrape any browning onion bits back to the center of the pan.

Serves 2

Potato Salad

I love a good creamy yet zesty potato salad. And that's what we had Sunday with our first barbecue of the year.

I stirred together keffir and mayonnaise for the dressing, added a little red onion, and then sprinkled over some snipped Egyptian walking onion greens for color.

It was peppy and comforting at the same time.

Here's the recipe.

Potato Salad
1 1/2 lbs potatoes
1/2 cup keffir (or plain yogurt)
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 small clove garlic
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 small red onion, sliced in thin strips
1 scallion or 1 leaf Egyptian walking onion or a couple of chives

Peel the potatoes and cut into 1-inch pieces. Put in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add some salt, bring to a boil, and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 12-15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the keffir, mayonnaise, vinegar, garlic and lemon juice. Add the warm potatoes, stir, and let rest a while, stirring occasionally. The potatoes will absorb a lot of the dressing, which is part of what makes this salad great.

When cool, stir in the red onion. Sprinkle with chopped scallion greens, onion greens or chives.

Serves 4

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

Beans and Potatoes with Kale

I made this simple dish of beans, potatoes and curly kale the other day. It is both satisfying and highly nutritious. The beans have protein and fiber, the potatoes have essential insoluble fiber (read my post on the health benefits of potatoes here), and the kale is full of vitamins and minerals.

Plus, it was pretty on the plate.

I used the small pale green flageolet beans beloved by the French. White lima or cannellini beans would be good too. Or trout beans - my latest heirloom bean purchase - which are small white and brown beans also called Appaloosa beans because of their coloring.

Beans and Potatoes with Kale
2/3 cup flageolets
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large red-skinned potato, cut in 3/4 inch dice
1 small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 bunch kale, tough stalks removed, leaves sliced in ribbons
juice of 1/2 lemon
grated parmesan (optional)

Cook the flageolets in a large pot of simmering water until tender, about 90 minutes depending on the age of your beans. Drain and set aside. (They can be cooked up to a day ahead and stored in a closed container in the refrigerator if needed.)

Warm the olive oil in a large skillet with a lid over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes and a sprinkle of salt. Stir well, cover the pan, and let cook a few minutes while the potatoes turn golden brown. Carefully turn the potatoes over with a spatula and continue cooking them until they are cooked through and golden.

Add the onion and cooked beans to the pan. Keep cooking, with the lid off, letting the beans brown a little and catch on the bottom of the pan to enhance their flavor. Don't stir for a couple of minutes until the onion has softened and the beans have browned a little.

Stir in the garlic and kale. Lower the heat a little and cover the pan. Let the kale wilt for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

Serve immediately with grated parmesan on the side if desired.

Serves 2-3

Eating the Decorations

This time last year we were munching our way through the winter squash I had bought as Thanksgiving decorations. This year, I was restrained in my squash purchasing, and instead decorated with flowers and nuts.

The bowl of nuts decorating the hall table were chestnuts from Ha's Apple Farm. I love chestnuts, and I planned that we would roast them in our outdoor fireplace after Thanksgiving dinner.

But we're not lighting our fireplace in this time of drought — the air is too dry as it is. So instead of roasting the chestnuts, I boiled them, and combined them with pumpkin in a stick-to-the-ribs soup. Delicious!

Boiled chestnuts were a revelation. They were moist and sweet — unlike the black-edged lumps I pull from the fire when I roast them — and I started dreaming of chestnut mousse and marrons glacés. But I regained my focus and added the chestnuts to this soup where they added a wonderful rich creaminess. Best pumpkin soup ever!

If you don't feel like boiling and peeling chestnuts, you can use a one-pound jar of whole, peeled nuts.

When buying pumpkin or winter squash for this soup, ask the farmer for a dry starchy one like hubbard or buttercup. Roasting the pumpkin gives the soup more flavor than those made with boiled pumpkin. Also, because I was using my homemade stock, I used 3 cups stock and 5 cups water. Vary the ratio depending on your stock.

Pumpkin Chestnut Soup
4 lbs pumpkin or dry squash like Hubbard or Buttercup
1 1/2 cups chestnuts
4 tbsp unsalted butter or olive oil
2 cups chopped onion
8 cups vegetable stock (or stock and water mixed)
3 1/2 lbs potatoes

Preheat oven to 400°F. Carefully cut the pumpkins in half and scoop out the seeds. Brush the cut surfaces with olive oil and place cut-side down on a cookie sheet. Bake 30-40 minutes until flesh is soft and slightly caramelized. Let cool enough to handle. Then scoop the flesh from the skins and cut it into chunks. Discard the skins.

Meanwhile, put the chestnuts in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil. Let simmer 5 minutes, then take the pan off the heat and let cool a little. One by one, remove a chestnut from the pot, hold it in a kitchen towel, and remove both the thick outer peel and the thin brown inner skin with a small sharp knife. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add onion. Cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the stock, cooked pumpkin, potatoes and chestnuts. Simmer over medium heat 45 minutes until vegetables are tender.

Purée the soup with a stick blender. Or let it cool and purée carefully in a blender. Add more stock if the soup is too thick (but it's delicious when it's thick). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 8-10

Root Vegetable Pie

When the chilly winter evenings draw in, I feel the need to turn on the oven and cook something hearty for dinner.

The other night I combined roots and lentils in this simple casserole with a pie-crust top. It's a one-dish supper, although a side of sautéed greens would add extra color to the plate.

This is one of those meals everyone will love. If you can't find parsnips, use rutabagas or turnips or celeriac — whatever root vegetables you have. You can't go wrong with root vegetable pie.

Root Vegetable Pie
2 tbsp olive oil
2 potatoes, peeled and diced into bite-size pieces
2 parsnips, peeled and diced
2 carrots, sliced
2 medium onions, peeled and diced
3/4 cup frozen peas, defrosted
1 cup red lentils, picked over and rinsed
14oz can diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp nutmeg
pastry for 1-crust pie
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Sauté potatoes, parsnips, carrots and onions in olive oil for 5 minutes until soft. Add peas. Cover and cook on low for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in lentils, tomatoes with their juice, bay leaves, salt, cumin and nutmeg. Cover and cook 10 minutes until soft, adding 1/2 cup water partway through so it stays moist. A little extra liquid is better than it being too dry.

Pour into a 2 quart shallow casserole. Dampen the rim of the dish. Roll the pastry out 2" wider than the dish. Cut a 1" strip off the outer edge of the pastry circle and line the rim of the dish with it. Dampen this with water and then put the pastry lid on top and seal well. Trim the edges and flute if desired. Cut small holes in the top to vent steam. Brush with the beaten egg.

Bake 45 minutes until golden.

Serves 8

Reheats well as leftovers.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie

It's been chilly in LA this week - in the high 60s - great gardening weather. And in the cool evenings, the warmth of this baked lentil casserole has been welcome.

Green lentils are a good substitute for ground meat in chili - they add a similar texture. In this version of shepherd's pie they replace the ground lamb (or whatever meat is generally used). This is a filling casserole that is even better the second day.

Feel free to vary it by adding corn (traditional in the French Canadian version inexplicably called Pâté Chinois) or other vegetables. And if the mashed potato topping is your favorite part, double the number of potatoes you use. Add chiles or hot pepper (or serve hot sauce on the side) if you'd like a dish with a little kick.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie
1 cup green or brown lentils
4 medium potatoes
1 large onion
2 carrots
2 sticks celery
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp olive oil
14-oz can tomato sauce (not spaghetti sauce)
2 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp chopped parsley
paprika
2 tsp nutritional yeast flakes (Bragg's is a good brand)

Pick over lentils, discarding any small stones or clumps of dirt. Rinse them, then add to a pot with at least 3 cups of boiling water. Simmer, covered, until tender, about 30 minutes. Check occasionally and add more water if necessary to keep them well covered. Drain and set aside.

Peel and chop potatoes. Place in a pot and cover with cold water and a sprinkle of salt. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, until tender, about 15 minutes depending on the size of the potato chunks. Drain and mash. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Chop onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Warm olive oil in a large skillet and sauté the vegetables for a few minutes until the onion is starting to get translucent. Add a splash of water, cover the skillet, and let the vegetables simmer until tender, another 5 minutes or so. Stir in the tomato sauce, soy sauce, parsley and cooked lentils. Put in a 2-quart casserole.

Spread the mashed potatoes over the top of the lentil mixture. Pat down with a fork - making a decorative pattern if you like. Sprinkle with paprika and nutritional yeast.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until bubbling.

Serves 6-8

Potatoes with Rosemary and Sage

Eggs and potatoes are a Sunday staple around here. The eggs from the happy hens at Ha's Apple Farm are so delicious that even simply poached they taste better than any eggs we've eaten in restaurants.

Yesterday I served them with these Mediterranean-inspired herb-roasted potatoes. Whenever I eat these I remember that their pungent herbal flavor would be great for dinner too - with a crisp salad and an omelet, or a bean burger. Or even with a lentil stew.

The potatoes are flavored with rosemary, sage and bay - which, if you live in Southern California and have even a small patch of sun, you can grow. They are drought tolerant and can be snipped year-round for an extra pop of flavor in whatever you're cooking. Rosemary and sage can be overpowering, so a little goes a long way. (The plants grow in winter-y climates too - the sage will go dormant outside, but the rosemary and bay will need to be taken in as house plants before the first frost.)

Fresh eggs, freshly-squeezed orange juice, and potatoes aromatic with herbs from the garden: there is nothing like good simple food to start the day off right.

Potatoes with Rosemary and Sage
3/4 lb potatoes (2 medium)
1 heaping tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tbsp chopped fresh sage
1 bay leaf

Peel the potatoes and place in cold salted water for 15-20 minutes. This reduces the amount they will stick to the pan when you roast them.

Preheat toaster oven to 500°F.

Drain the potatoes and cut them in 3/4 inch cubes. Place on a baking dish and toss with the oil, garlic, rosemary, sage and bay leaf. Spread the potatoes in a single layer and bake 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Lower the heat to 375°F and cook until tender, about 10 minutes longer. Turn them occasionally while they cook.

Serve hot.

Serves 2

Thick Bean and Tomato Soup

The weather is cooling off in the evenings (down to the 50s), making soup a welcome meal.

A good vegetable stock and some vegetables and grains or beans makes a great soup.

This Bean and Tomato soup is a little more complicated than I usually make, but it's worth the extra time. First I made a thick tomato soup and puréed it. Then I added cooked beans and more chopped vegetables for texture. When they were tender, dinner was served. (For my simpler creamy tomato soup, see here.)

We ate this delicious soup three times this week, and I've frozen the rest to eat in future weeks. It makes a lot, which is a plus in my book.

I love good soup.

Thick Bean and Tomato Soup
3 tbsp butter or olive oil
2 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced 1/2 inch
1 leek, white only, halved and sliced
3 onions, peeled and diced, divided use
3 cups diced celery, divided use
28 oz can tomatoes
1 lb tomatoes, quartered and stem removed
1 tbsp dried Mexican oregano
3 cups vegetable stock and 5 cups water (or some combination)
4 carrots, diced (about 2 cups)
2 fennel bulbs, diced (about 2 cups)
1 1/3 cups white beans, cooked (or 2 cans, drained)

Melt butter in large soup kettle and sauté potato, leek, 1 onion and 1 cup diced celery, stirring frequently, until onion just starts to brown, about 10 minutes.

Add canned tomatoes and fresh tomatoes; stir well, scraping any onion off bottom of pan. Add oregano, water and stock. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and cook, loosely covered, until soup begins to thicken, about 45 minutes.

Remove from heat and purée with an immersion blender (or in batches in a blender). Season with a teaspoon of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Depending on the saltiness of the stock you used, you'll need to add more salt. I added close to a tablespoon. (Still very little salt compared to packaged soups.)

Stir in carrot, fennel, remaining onion and celery, and simmer gently until they are almost tender. Stir in the cooked beans, and keep cooking until all is warm and tender, stirring regularly, about 25 minutes total.

Taste and season to taste.

Serves 10-16

Lasts a week in the fridge. Freezes well too.

Yummy Potato Casserole

I maintain that if you want someone to eat something weird, make it smell like pizza.

This casserole of eggplant, potato and tomato smells like pizza, and it tastes really good. The vegetables are layered in a dish, sprinkled with a little parmesan, and baked for a couple of hours. They soften and meld together like the best ratatouille but with very little oil and no stove-top cooking.

You will read this recipe and think it can never work: not enough liquid, everything will be dry. But the long cooking allows the vegetables to release their juices, and the flavor is unbelievable. I think it's similar to the long slow cooking of meat, but of course this is way better.

I prepped it Sunday afternoon, let it sit for a while before putting it in the oven, and then let it cook gently until we were ready to eat dinner. Wow. It should feed 6, but 4 will fight over it.

I feel this recipe is a throwback to when we cooked in clay dishes in the ashes of our fires. It is too hot to have a fire, but you'll get the same flavor in pyrex in the toaster oven. I cannot recommend this dish more highly.

Potato Tomato Eggplant Casserole
3 large tomatoes
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
6 potatoes (18 oz)
1 large onion (8 oz)
1 medium eggplant (1 lb)
1/2 cup parmesan
fresh basil to garnish (optional)

Start by making the tomato sauce. Cut the tomatoes on the equator and scoop out the seeds with a small spoon or your finger. Core and chop the tomatoes into small dice. Stir together with the olive oil and tomato paste. Peel the garlic, chop it and mash it with the 1/2 tsp salt. Add to the tomatoes along with the red pepper flakes.

Peel the potatoes and slice thin. Peel and halve the onion and slice thin. Take the top and bottom off the eggplant. Slice the rest thin.

Butter a 6-cup casserole. Put 3/4 cup of the tomatoes in the bottom, spread thin. On top, put 1/2 the potato slices and season with a little alt and pepper. On top, put half the onion slices and season again Pour another 1/2 cup tomato sauce over top, then half the eggplant slices and more salt and pepper. Next put 1/2 cup tomato sauce and 1/4 cup parmesan. Then the remaining potato slices, salt and pepper, the onions, more salt and pepper. Finally, the last of the eggplant, more seasoning, and the last of the tomato sauce.

The vegetables will rise up above your casserole. That's okay. Squash a lid on them. Press it down while you preheat the toaster oven to 350°F.

Bake the casserole, covered, for 1 hour. Use a spatula to press the vegetables down (and peel them off the lid if necessary). Put the cover back on and continue to bake for another hour. Press the vegetables down again. Sprinkle them with the remaining 1/4 cup parmesan and bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes or so until the cheese is bubbly.

Let the casserole sit at room temperature at least 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with the fresh basil (I usually forget to do this).

 It's also good at room temperature and as leftovers reheated the next day.

Serves 4-6

I pressed the vegetables down with a jar of kamut while the
toaster oven was warming up. By the end of cooking, they
had shrunk down to below the side of the casserole dish.

Fried Eggs and Potatoes

On Sundays we usually have a leisurely brunch with the Sunday papers. Yesterday, however, I wanted to eat a quick meal before getting out to dig in the garden. I had plans.

So I made these simple fried potatoes with eggs. The potatoes mopped up the egg yolks, and the meal fortified me for a good day of work.

Fried Eggs and Potatoes
3/4 lb potatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1/2 tsp tumeric
4 eggs
2 oz feta
sriracha or other hot sauce
1 tbsp cilantro

Scrub the potatoes, cover with cold water and a sprinkle of salt, and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Put the lid on and let them simmer until tender, about 10 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes. Drain and let cool until you can touch them.

Dice the potatoes into 1/2" pieces. Warm the olive oil in a skillet, and add the potatoes, caraway and turmeric. Cook the potatoes, stirring occasionally, until they start to brown.

Turn the heat to low, move the potatoes to the edges of the pan, and crack the 4 eggs into the center. Sprinkle the feta and a drizzle of hot sauce over the top. Cover the pan and cook 5-8 minutes until the whites are cooked. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Serves 2

Sunday Morning Hash

After the morning rush of driving the crazy freeways to the Hollywood Farmers Market (yes, the freeways are crazy early on Sunday mornings - speed racers weave in and out, every couple of months we pass accidents, especially in the rainy season), buying the week's groceries, then braving the traffic home, we are ready to relax with a leisurely breakfast.

Yesterday, I went for simplicity. While Larry squeezed the o.j., I tossed diced potatoes and sweet potato in olive oil and cooked them in the toaster oven. I diced them small enough that they cooked quickly and became the perfect foil for simple fried eggs. Fresh blueberries and strawberries rounded out the meal.

(You might remember that Larry is not a fan of the sweet potato, but he really enjoyed this potato dish - the sweet potatoes, shallots and mushrooms mix with the red potatoes to make a hash that is fun to eat.)

A word about vocabulary: When we ate breakfast at Kitchen 24 on Cahuenga a couple of Sundays ago, the waiter explained to us the difference between hash browns, home fries and breakfast potatoes. My eyes glazed over, so I'm not sure what the technical term is for diced potatoes cooked in the toaster oven.  I'm calling it hash.

Sunday Morning Hash
5 oz cremini mushrooms
3 1/2 oz sweet potato
8 oz red potatoes
1 small shallot
1 tbsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Wipe the mushrooms clean and cut them in 1/2 inch pieces. Peel the sweet potato and red potatoes and cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch dice. Peel, half and thinly slice the shallot.

Toss the mushrooms, sweet potato, potatoes, shallot and oil together. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread in an even layer on a baking sheet and cook for 18-20 minutes, stirring at 10 minutes and 15 minutes, until tender and golden brown.

Serves 2-3

Vegetable Stew

Once the vegetables are prepped, this stew cooks quickly. It's a satisfying, comforting stew, suitable for this season of cool evenings before the summer vegetables hit the farmers market. It's a good winter stew too -- add some hot chilies to give it a kick, if you like. The turmeric gives the potatoes a pretty yellow color.

Serve it on brown rice with a crunchy salad on the side. It makes great leftovers too.

Vegetable Stew

1 large onion

3 red potatoes

1 small butternut squash

2 large carrots

1 tbsp olive oil

14-oz can diced tomatoes

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground turmeric

14-oz can chickpeas, drained

Chop the onion coarsely in roughly 1 inch pieces. Peel the potatoes and cut them in 1/2 inch chunks. Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise. Peel it, scoop out the seeds and stringy pulp, and dice the flesh into roughly 1/2 inch chunks. Peel the carrots, cut off the ends, and slice in 1/2 inch rounds.

Warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is lightly browned, 5-7 minutes. Add the potatoes, squash, carrots and the canned tomatoes with their juice. Pour in enough water to barely cover the vegetables, cover and bring to a simmer. Stir in the cumin and turmeric, cover the pot, and simmer gently until the vegetables are tender, about 25 minutes.

Add the chickpeas, and season to taste with salt and pepper. You'll need at least a couple of teaspoons of salt. Simmer over low heat another 5 minutes to blend the flavors.

Serves 6-8

Roasted Root Vegetables

We had some totally cute root vegetables in the fridge this week: baby rutabagas, tiny turnips - I decided to roast them for dinner last night.

Usually I roast vegetables by tossing them in olive oil and salt and pepper and then cooking them in a covered casserole for 40 minutes or so until they're tender.

But last night I decided to roast them on a cookie sheet. This way they would get a little more browned in places, adding more texture.

And I think it was a success, even though I forgot to add the sprigs of fresh rosemary from the garden.

Here's what I did.

Roasted Root Vegetables
1 bunch baby rutabagas
1 bunch small turnips
1/2 a small butternut squash
4 shallots
4 medium red potatoes
2 large radishes
olive oil
salt and pepper
2 sprigs rosemary (optional)

Remove any greens and save them for another use.

Peel the rutabagas if they're hairy. Peel and chop the larger turnips, but leave the small (1 1/2 inch) ones whole. Peel and dice the butternut squash. Peel the shallots. Scrub and dice the potatoes. Peel the radishes if the skin is thick, and dice the flesh.

Toss all the roots in a bowl with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Spread on a cookie sheet, add the rosemary if using, and cook at 450°F 35-40 minutes until the vegetables are tender when poked with a small knife. (The time will depend on the size and age of your roots.)

Serves 3-4