COVID Cooking: Roasted Whole Cauliflower with Creamy Green Tahini

Note: During this time, I am trying to post more regularly in the hopes that in my small way, I can help people cope with a crisis.  As I usually do – through food.  I am trying to fulfill the requests for pantry-focused meals that are wholesome to the mind and the body.  You can find all the recipes here.  Wishing everyone all the very best from NYC!

Eating in quarantine is…interesting.  Much has been made of and written about the vacillations between wanting comfort and joy from food, and pursuing (often in contrast) food’s health-giving promise.  Yesterday, I ate two plain hotdogs and macaroni and cheese from a box for lunch.  I blamed my toddler, and he did indeed find it thrilling.  But, really, it was all me.  I wanted it.  I asked my husband to make it (back-to-back Zooms; thanks, Mr. English!).  And I ate it.

So, dinner needed to be better.

I love vegetables.  Simple sentence and simple truth.  I kind of appreciate that you can’t just throw vegetables under the broiler, like a hot dog, and expect them to hide behind fat and salt and magically become something irresistible (to me or to toddlers).  They need a bit of thought – but not too much effort – to reach their full potential.

Here, a whole head of cauliflower is simply roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper – left alone to become crisp on top, melting in the middle.  To go with it, I whiz up a simple sauce in the blender of tahini, yogurt, lemon, and herbs.  THAT IS IT.  The result is a stunning centerpiece vegetable star afloat in a sea of creamy, dreamy tahini.  I can see myself making versions of this weekly.  If only I can find more tahini….

Roasted Whole Cauliflower with Creamy Green Tahini

serves 2 – 4

INGREDIENTS

1 “jumbo” cauliflower

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ cup tahini

6 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt

1 cup of loosely packed fresh herbs (I use chives, flat-leaf parsley, and mint; cilantro would work well too)

1 small clove of garlic, grated (this is optional; I don’t love raw garlic, so I omit, but I can see the appeal)

Juice of 1 lemon

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Trim the base off the cauliflower and place it on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet.  Drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Rub the oil and seasoning all over the exterior of the cauliflower.  Place in the oven to roast for 1 to 1 ½ hours, until a knife can easily piece through to the core of the cauliflower and the crown is golden.

Meanwhile, make the sauce.  Add the tahini; yogurt; herbs; garlic, if using; lemon juice; and 4 tablespoons of water to a blender.  Season with salt and pepper and whiz up.  You may need an additional 2 tablespoons of water to get the creamy texture you want.

Pour the sauce onto the bottom of a plate and arrange the cauliflower on top.  You can drizzle with olive oil and scatter on some fresh herbs if you feel fancy.  Cut into quarters with a big knife and eat one or two (or two and a half, as I did last night).

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Categories: Easy, Eat, Main Courses, Recipes, Sides, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Vegetarian
 

COVID Cooking: Crispy, Crunchy Chickpeas with Garlic and Green Herb Yogurt

Note: During this time, I am trying to post more regularly in the hopes that in my small way, I can help people cope with a crisis.  As I usually do – through food.  I am trying to fulfill the requests for pantry-focused meals that are wholesome to the mind and the body.  Wishing everyone all the very best from NYC!

In our family, we are HUGE fans of l’apero, or the early evening snack and drink combo commonly observed in France.  Sometimes it’s just olives and a glass of cool seltzer, but it must be observed.  In my mother’s house, this is served every evening around five o’clock; even the dog gets his special carrots.  She just left Asheville, one of the greatest food towns I have ever been to, and there was one “apero” snack that we actually got not at home when we were there: these crispy, fried chickpeas with yogurt at my favorite pizza place, All Souls.

In “normal” life, I spend the apero hour at my desk downtown, and so it goes uncelebrated.  But the other night (albeit around six o’clock), I trotted out these beauties to my husband and son.  It’s perfect COVID cooking, because the essential ingredients are pantry staples: a can of chickpeas (this was, for a while, difficult to get for me, but I now have a small stash and I wish the same for you!), olive oil, and salt.  These are roasted and toasted together in the oven until the chickpeas are crispy, salty, and crunchy.  Then, if you like, mix together a little sauce of Greek yogurt, garlic, herbs, and lemon.  The combo is ridiculous.  Even my three year old asked for thirds and he is very bean-skeptical.

Eat well and be well!  Bon app!

Crispy, Crunchy Chickpeas with Garlic and Green Herb Yogurt

serves 2

INGREDIENTS

1 15-ounce can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ cup plain Greek yogurt

1 small clove garlic, grated

2 tablespoons chopped green herbs (I used flat-leaf parsley and mint with a few leaves of thyme)

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.  Line a rimmed half sheet pan with parchment.  Toss the chickpeas, olive oil, and a nice pinch of salt together on the pan and roast for 25 minutes, until the chickpeas are crispy and golden tanned.  Leave to cool for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix the yogurt, garlic, herbs, and lemon juice together in a bowl with a sprinkle of salt.

To serve, smear the yogurt sauce on the bottom of a plate and pile the crispy, crunchy chickpeas on top.  Devour.

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Categories: 30 Minutes, Appetizers & Hors D’Oeuvres, Cheap, Easy, Eat, For a Crowd, Recipes, Sides, Starches, Vegetarian
 

COVID Cooking: One-Pot, No-Bake, “It’s Spring!” Mac and Cheese with Green Veggies and Herbs

Note: During this time, I am trying to post more regularly in the hopes that in my small way, I can help people cope with a crisis.  As I usually do – through food.  I am trying to fulfill the requests for pantry-focused meals that are wholesome to the mind and the body.  Wishing everyone all the very best from NYC!

My friends and family and especially my husband like to poke fun at me (that’s what I am calling it) for my inability to compromise.  I want both, is almost always my answer to any choice, difficult or easy.

I love cheese and pasta for their ability to comfort and hug and fill and fulfill.  Especially at a moment like this, standing at my NYC window, listening to the wailing of the sirens, recovering my own health, parenting from my doorframe, working from bed (so gratefully), watching the tumbleweed streets.  Even when I am trying to remember to keep my physical health a priority, sometimes my mental health dictates: mac and cheese.  I have learned not to argue with myself in these moments.

But I also love very fresh things.  This time of year.  The daffodils.  The blossoms.  The sparkling sunlight.  Even if I can’t be with them, I sense them.  I feel them on the breeze filtering in through the screens and bars on my windows.  I want to bring them inside.  I want to experience spring, inside and out.  To me that is green, green vegetables, herbs, freshness, verdure, crispness, cleanness, life.

Here is my no compromise suggestion: a simple, one-pot, no-bake macaroni and two cheeses: cheddar with a Gruyere accent.  And laced throughout, vegetables of the season: spinach, peas, broccoli.  You could use asparagus, zucchini, green beans.  And a surprise handful of herb confetti: fresh mint and sweet basil.  It’s grown up, responsible.  But also, it’s mac and cheese.  Eat well and be well.  Sending love from NYC.

One-Pot, No-Bake, “It’s Spring!” Mac and Cheese with Green Veggies and Herbs

serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1 pound of dried cavatappi pasta – fusilli, penne, ziti, or rigatoni would work too, as would whole wheat varieties

½ head broccoli, cut into small spears

2 ½ ounces frozen peas (or about ¼ bag)

4 ounces baby spinach leaves

A small handful of mint and/or basil leaves, torn

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 cups whole milk

8 ounces sharp white cheddar, shredded

4 ounces Gruyere, shredded

A pinch of freshly ground nutmeg, if you have it

METHOD

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water until it is al dente – usually one minute shy of the recommended cooking time on the box, or, if there is a range, the bottom of that range.  My box said 6 to 8 minutes, so I went with 6.  A note on the pasta: I recommend the longer of the short shapes here, to pair with the shape of the long vegetables.  Three minutes before the pasta is cooked, add the broccoli to the pot, keeping the heat high so the water is boiling nicely.  One minute before the pasta is cooked, add the peas.  Then drain.  Set aside.

Add the pot back to medium heat and add the butter.  When it is completely melted, add the flour and whisk until smooth.  Add the milk, bring to a simmer, and whisk until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  Whisk in the cheese and the nutmeg, if using.  Taste, and season with salt and pepper as needed.  Add in the spinach and the mint and/or basil and toss until wilted.  Add the pasta and veggies and toss, allowing the pasta to cook 1 to 2 minutes more in the cheesy sauce.  When you see the perfect mac and cheese texture, spoon too much into a bowl, and eat.

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Categories: 30 Minutes, Cheap, Easy, Eat, Main Courses, Recipes, Sides, Starches, Vegetarian, Vegetarian
 

COVID Cooking: Fiesta and Siesta Black Beans

Note: During this time, I am trying to post more regularly in the hopes that in my small way, I can help people cope with a crisis.  As I usually do – through food.  I am trying to fulfill the requests for pantry-focused meals that are wholesome to the mind and the body.  Wishing everyone all the very best from NYC!

I spoke to one of my best friends today.  She is a mother, a doctor – so incredibly busy, and we have been talking for a long time about recipes that are healthy and doable that she could make for her family instead of ordering takeout.  We had been chatting about the possibilities of my Salvatore Beans for about a year, and this week I finally posted the recipe, and finally she was going to make it.  But alas, COVID food shopping struck.  Her Instacart delivery arrived with a bag of dried black beans instead of cannellini.  I know everyone is in the same boat right now.  You can’t get exactly what you’re looking for, or you’re looking for something to do with what you’ve got.

I get it and we can make it work!  Because as I have said, when it comes to cooking beans, you just need to know the formula.  1 pound of dried beans, soaked overnight.  6 cups of cold water.  1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt.  Simmer this, covered, for 90 minutes to 2 hours, and you have fantastic beans.  With white beans (cannellini, “small white”, Great Northern, navy), I add olive oil, garlic, and rosemary for Salvatore Beans.  But I use the same formula to make my fiesta and siesta black beans – so named because they taste like a party but I always eat too much, so I need to lie down after I eat them.

These really are the little black dress of beans, perfumed with cumin and coriander and cinnamon, and I accessorize them according to my mood.  Here, what I could get last week was fresh store-bought mango and mint salsa and a sliced ripe avocado.  So bright and uplifting.  I often to queso fresco or feta.  Plain Greek yogurt.  Pico di gallo.  Crumbled tortilla chips.  Sliced radishes.  Add rice if you need a good solid carb foundation (now more than ever!).  Eat well and be well, friends!

Fiesta and Siesta Black Beans

makes a pot of beans

INGREDIENTS

1 pound of dried black beans

1 clove garlic

1 medium yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 green bell pepper (optional), seeded and roughly chopped

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or other neutral oil)

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground coriander

A pinch of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

METHOD

The night before you want to make this, place the beans in a large bowl and cover with one to two inches of water.  Drain and rinse the beans just before you want to use them.

Place the garlic, onion, and pepper in a food processor (or use a stick blender like I do) to mash them to a pulp.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed stockpot.  Add the mashed up vegetables and the cumin and coriander and cinnamon and sweat for 3 – 5 minutes, until translucent and fragrant.  Add the drained and rinsed beans, the salt, and 6 cups of water.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer, covered, for 1 ½ to 2 hours, until the beans are tender but not mushy.

I love to top these with crumbled queso fresco (or feta in a pinch), sliced ripe avocado, pico di gallo or in this case, mango-mint salsa, torn cilantro leaves, even cool Greek yogurt.  Sometimes I serve with rice.

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Categories: Cheap, Easy, Eat, Main Courses, Recipes, Sides, Starches, Vegetarian, Vegetarian
 

COVID Cooking: Lazy Pantry Meatballs with Super Tomato Sauce

Note: During this time, I am trying to post more regularly in the hopes that in my small way, I can help people cope with a crisis.  As I usually do – through food.  I am trying to fulfill the requests for pantry-focused meals that are wholesome to the mind and the body.  Wishing everyone all the very best from NYC!

I spent a few moments this morning counting my cans.

Words I never expected to write; an action I suppose I never expected to take.  It was oddly reassuring as I sat on my floor, in a mask, stacking tomatoes with tomatoes and chickpeas with chickpeas.  But I have, over the last few weeks, rejoiced in securing a Fresh Direct delivery slot by over-ordering hard-to-get items – particularly canned tomatoes and ground meat.  Between being sick and working and the fact that we are currently keeping our canned goods under the couch in front of the TV (I love NY!), I had lost track of what we had.  I had turned into a human squirrel – living high up with a stash of uncategorized nonperishables for the foreseeable.

It is a very BASIC meatball.  But I’ve always loved basic.  Especially when I need food that I feel I can rely on – physically, emotionally, as my support system and my source of joy, which food has always been for me.  And speaking of basic, the sauce is just a can of crushed tomatoes in which you cook the meatballs, uncovered, so the meat soaks in and the water evaporates and you get the super-tomatoey burgundy varnish.  I added a clove of garlic and a bit of Parmesan rind because I could (I keep the butts of my Parmesans in a baggie in the freezer for just such an occasion).

You could pour these meatballs over pasta, but really my intent, in reducing the sauce, is that you eat these on their own, next to some salad or vegetables or even braised beans, like the recipe below this one.  I hope you stay well and eat well.  Sending love!

Lazy Pantry Meatballs with Super Tomato Sauce

serves 4-6

INGREDIENTS

1 slice of good bread (I used a rustic whole wheat)

½ cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for serving

1 garlic clove, grated, plus one, smashed and peeled

1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons

2 pounds of ground meat (I used a combination of beef and pork, but you could use turkey, chicken, whatever)

1 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes (if you can’t get crushed, use a stick blender to crush them yourself)

METHOD

Make the meatballs.  Blitz the bread in a small food processor, or cut into small cubes and run your knife through until you get rubble.  Add to a bowl, alone with ½ cup Parmesan, 2 tablespoons parsley, the grated garlic clove, the milk, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Season generously with salt and pepper (this will also season all the meat).  Stir to combine thoroughly.  Add the meat and use your hands to work the meat and seasonings together until it is just combined. You don’t want to overwork it, or your meatballs will be tough.

Heat a heavy-bottom pan over medium-high heat, and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Use an ice cream scoop to form 12 meatballs.  Add them to the pan and sear until golden brown.  Flip and sear on the opposite side.  Add the remaining garlic clove to the pan, along with the tomatoes.  If you have a piece of Parmesan rind, throw it in!  Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat for 30 minutes, turning the balls in the sauce once.  Top with more grated Parmesan and chopped parsley and serve with warm bread.

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Categories: 60 Minutes, Cheap, Easy, Eat, Main Courses, Meat, Recipes
 

COVID Cooking: Salvatore’s White Beans with Rosemary, Olive Oil, and Garlic

Note: During this time, I am trying to post more regularly in the hopes that in my small way, I can help people cope with a crisis.  As I usually do – through food.  I am trying to fulfill the requests for pantry-focused meals that are wholesome to the mind and the body.  Wishing everyone all the very best from NYC!

People have been requesting pantry recipes as online delivery and trips to the store have become more harrowing, and I have to say, this is my husband’s and my favorite dinner even when we are not forced to figure out what to do with dried beans.  To give you context, I’d say we eat Salvatore Beans about once a week under normal circumstances.

When Mr. English and I decided to move (back, for me) to New York City from London, we negotiated with our jobs to let us have a few weeks off between leaving London and starting up in NYC.  We made a pact to go to the places in Europe that you can’t easily or cheaply get to from the States, but can go to for a song when you live in the UK.  Tuscany was one such place, and we stayed at one of these trendy little agriturismo hotels.  We were in the middle of Tuscany, and yet we never wanted to leave the hotel because the food was so outstanding and harvested from the back garden.  The chef made dinner for the handful of guests every night, and we ate outside on a patio under a black and starry sky, among lavender bushes.  The dinner guests said hi, and pulled up tables next to each other, and introduced themselves over glasses of local wine.  From the States, the UK, Australia.  It is a precious memory, especially now.

One night the chef brought out these small pots of white beans  as a side dish.  I can’t remember what else he served that night, because to me and to Mr. English, this was the night we discovered Salvatore Beans.  I said to the chef, how did you make these?  He told me, modestly, that they are so easy.  Just olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and salt.  I asked his name, and he said Salvatore.  I got back to New York, fiddled around, and have been making Salvatore Beans ever since.

These are the last thing I made before I got sick, and having these to eat over the following few days provided me with comfort and sustenance and a little bit of joy and remembrance.

I wish you well with them.  You can festoon your bowl with a drizzle of fresh EVOO and a shower of Pecorino or Parm.  Fat cracked black pepper is a nice touch as well.  One thing to note is that every pot of beans I make uses this formula.  ¼ cup of olive oil.  1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt.  1 pound of dried beans.  And 6 cups of water.  So if you don’t have cannellini beans, use kidney beans or navy beans or what Goya charmingly calls “small white beans”.  And I’ll share some other renditions for you over the coming days.  Stay well and eat well!

Salvatore’s White Beans with Rosemary, Olive Oil, and Garlic

Makes a pot of beans!  (I’d say serves 3 to 4, or 2 with leftovers)

INGREDIENTS

¼ cup olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, smashed and peeled

1 small branch of rosemary, leaves chopped and stem discarded

1 pound of dry cannellini beans

1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt (I use La Baleine in the red container, for reference)

METHOD

The night or morning before you want to make this, put the beans in a bowl and cover with cool water by one to two inches.  I try to do this the night before, but I’ll often do it in the morning before I go to work.  (Or, nowadays, before I start work.)  I know it’s a pain, but if you just remember to remember, it’s really not a heavy lift at all.

When you are ready to cook, drain and rinse the beans.  Set aside.

In a wide Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed stockpot, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the garlic and toast until just golden.  Then flip the garlic over to toast on its second side and add in the rosemary.  Add the beans and the salt and six cups of water.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Then lower the heat and simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours, until the beans are tender but not mushy.  Check after an hour to see if you need to add more water, and do if the pot seems dry.  The final result will be a pot of brothy, savory white beans.  So good!

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Categories: Cheap, Easy, Eat, Main Courses, Recipes, Sides, Starches, Vegetarian, Vegetarian
 

COVID Cooking: Easy Rosemary Bolognese with Whole Wheat Pasta and Lots of Parm

Note: During this time, I am trying to post more regularly in the hopes that in my small way, I can help people cope with a crisis.  As I usually do – through food.  I am trying to fulfill the requests for pantry-focused meals that are wholesome to the mind and the body.  Wishing everyone all the very best from NYC!

Moving into week three of staying at home, and it has me daydreaming, planning of all the vacations I am going to take, all the restaurants I am going to sit in, all the sunny skies I will bask under.  Can you imagine – travel?!  I was remembering a trip to Lake Cuomo with Mr. English, where the dramatic steep slopes of the mountains around the lake feel somewhat like the walls closing in on my small NYC apartment, although with much more grandeur and greenery.  When we were there, we went to this local Italian place (we were told Clooney is a regular, though I swear that’s not why we went) night after night.  They had this pulled lamb ragu over handcrafted whole grain wide wheat noodles.  Because I personally love using whole wheat pasta (you don’t have to!), I was vindicated seeing it used for flavor and texture, rather than just wholegrain health, but real Italians.

I personally am finding meat hard to get at the moment, so use what you have.  I used beef here (thank you, Fresh Direct!).  You could use ground lamb, a pork/beef blend, even turkey.  The sauce, with its rosemary backdrop, is thick and rather dry, so it is a strong partner to the nutty wholegrain pasta.  Shave Parm over the top and dream of other times and places.

I was reminded, as I have always loved Greek mythology, of the myth of Pandora.  When she opened Pandora’s box, the myth goes, she unleashed pestilence, but also hope.  I feel if we can still dream of other times and places, then hope is strong.  Stay well, and eat well.  With love from NYC.

Easy Rosemary Bolognese with Whole Wheat Pasta and Lots of Parm

serves 4 (or, 2 with leftovers!)

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, finely diced

1 medium carrot, finely diced (and peeled if you like)

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and slide

The leaves from ½ sprig rosemary, chopped

1 pound ground beef

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 14.5-ounce diced or crushed tomatoes

1 box of whole wheat pasta (I used fusilli)

Parmesan, on top

METHOD

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

In a wide Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and carrot and season with salt and pepper.  Sweat five minutes until translucent, and add the garlic and chopped herbs.  Sauté another minute.  Stir in the meat, season with salt and pepper, and sauté until the meat is cooked through and crumbly.  Add in the tomato paste and sauté for 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes, stir in, cover, and simmer over medium-low for 30 minutes, stirring every now and again.

Cook the pasta according to package directions.  Reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water before draining.  Add the pasta back to its pot and add 2/3 of the Bolognese.  Toss through and wet with some of the reserved pasta water.  Top with the remaining Bolognese and shavings of Parmesan cheese.

The original pasta from Italy – amazing.

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Categories: 30 Minutes, Cheap, Easy, Eat, Main Courses, Meat, Recipes, Sides, Starches