Variations on a Chard & Onion Torta

We are up at Lake Tahoe and I decided to make the chard and onion torta again, since I have fresh chard from the CSA box. Up here I don't have fresh basil or thyme from my garden, but I do have dried basil and thyme from my garden, so that's a close second. I also substituted parmesan for the bread crumb crust, and that is a keeper. So delicious! I just pressed a little parmesan, rather than bread crumbs, into the butter lining the pan. I also used a combination of chard and spinach.

Apparently, this is a very forgiving dish. My only advice is don't leave out the saffron. It makes this dish distinctive and oh-so-tasty.

Let me know if you try this one.

Chard and Onion Torta

This is an extremely tasty dish and not too difficult to make. It does have to bake for 30 minutes, but the prep time is about half an hour and then you can relax. The saffron in this dish really adds a lot of flavor. This is a great way to use the chard that is in season right now.

Start by preheating the oven to 350 and buttering a baking dish. Cut the crusts off 2 slices of bread and put the bread in a food processor to make bread crumbs. Press the crumbs into the buttered dish to make a crust for the torta. Set aside any extra crumbs.

Heat 2 T. butter in a skillet and add 1 large, thinly sliced onion. Crumble 2 pinches of saffrom threads over the onion. Cook until onion is very soft, about 15 minutes. Add a little water or wine to the pan to keep it from crisping, if needed.

Add 1/4 cup slivered basil leaves, 1 teaspoon thyme leaves (or 2 pinches dried thyme), and 2 big bunches of chard leaves that have been separated from the stems and cut into 1 inch pieces. Cook until the chard has wilted and is tender, about 7 minutes. While that's cooking, smash 2 garlic cloves in a mortar with a pinch of salt to make a paste. Add the garlic and some salt and pepper to taste to the onions and greens. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in any extra bread crumbs. Add 1 cup grated gruyere cheese, 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan, 3 lightly beaten eggs, and 1 cup milk or light cream. Stir until just combined.

Pour the filling into the prepared dish, grate a little extra parmesan over the top, and bake until golden, about 30 minutes. Poke a knife in the top to make sure the eggs are set. Let rest a couple minutes before serving.

Approximate cost to prepare:

2 slices bread - $.60

1 large onion - $.40

1/4 cup slivered basil - $.50 (?)

2 bunches chard - $5.00

2 garlic cloves - $.40

1 cup gruyere - $2.00

1/4 cup parmesan - $.25

3 eggs - $1.50

1 cup milk - $.50

saffron - ??

mint, garlic, salt, oil - negligible

TOTAL - $11.00 for 4-6 people

Good potluck dish.

It's CSA time

My husband and I belong to a CSA, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture. The idea behind a CSA is that you buy a "share" in a farm and you receive fresh, organic, seasonal produce that was picked fresh that day. Some CSAs operate year round, but ours is seasonal operating from mid-May through mid-November.

We belong to a CSA in Sebastopol called Singing Frogs Farm. Our farmers are Paul and Elizabeth Kaiser, a lovely young couple with 2 adorable children. Each week we receive a box of produce from the farm, along with farm fresh eggs. The box of produce costs $21.25 and the eggs are $3/half dozen. Each box comes with a newsletter packed with information about goings on around the farm, some history and background on the more unusual veggies and recipes and serving ideas.

Now that we are getting fresh produce from the farm and some from our own garden, it will be more difficult for me to come up with the cost of each dish. I will make my best guess about what you can expect to pay at the grocery store, but keep in mind that prices change really quickly depending on what's in season.

I'll also share some ideas and experiments from my own kitchen as I attempt to use the produce we receive in our box. For example, last week we got fava beans from the farm and we did some experimenting to figure out what we like. Please comment and share your ideas as well.

Lentils and Shells with Cilantro-Scented Onions and Spinach

This was a really unexpected and unusual direction to take lentils and pasta. It runs a little more along the mexican flavor spectrum than the italian, featuring lime, cumin, cilantro, and mint. It's easy and delicious. You don't need anything else with it except a nice spicy wine and maybe some bread. I used the french green lentils with this and it really had a lovely color and visual appeal. Plain brown lentils would be a little too drab.

Here's what you do:

Rinse 1 cup green lentils, and simmer them in 6 cups water, along with 1 bay leaf, 1 celery rib, and 2 thyme sprigs. (You'll want to remove the aromatics later, so you can tie them together if you want.) Let them cook until very soft but not mushy, about 35 minutes.

While they're cooking, start water boiling for the pasta. Wash and trim 1 bunch spinach. Slice 2 large onions. Chop 1 cup cilantro and 3 T. mint. Heat 2 T. olive oil or butter (or a mixture). Add the onions and cook until golden, about 20 minutes. Stir in cilantro, mint, 1/2 t. ground cumin (or more). Turn off heat and squeeze the limes over the onions. Season well with salt and pepper.

When the pasta water boils, add salt and 1/2 pound small pasta shells or other short type pasta. Cook until al dente. When finished, scoop them out of the water and put them directly into the lentils. (Remove the aromatics first.) Add the spinach to the boiling pasta water and cook until wilted. Scoop it out and add it to the lentils and shells.

Toss the lentils, shells, and spinach with half the onions and a little extra olive oil. Taste for salt and season with pepper. Spoon the remaining onions over the top. Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and a little extra cilantro.

Things I'd do differently next time: Deborah's recipe called for spinach crowns, which are the rosy base of the plant including a few inches of the stems. They're usually thrown out, but she says they're delicious and very pretty. I left them out because I couldn't find any. In fact, I couldn't even find heads of spinach and I used baby spinach instead. Any kind of spinach is fine, I think. You could even use other kinds of tender braising greens if you wanted. I have lots coming in from the farm right now, so I might try it with other greens.

Approximate cost to prepare:

1 cup french green lentils - $1.00

1 bunch spinach - $1.25

2 large onions - $.50

1 cup cilantro - $.50

1 lime - $.25

1/2 pound pasta shells - $1.00

mint, cumin, olive oil, aromatics - negligible

TOTAL for 4 people - $4.00

A nice spicy but fruity red wine would go great with this. Try a Santa Barbara Syrah.

Brown Rice Supper with stir fried carrots and roasted peanut sauce

Have you ever been to a vegetarian restaurant of the 70s, hippy variety where all the food tastes bland and the texture is a little like cardboard? Where everything is whole wheat, no salt, no fat, and healthy in a way that makes you never want to eat healthy food again?

I was worried that this dish would be like that, but it is bright and popping with flavor. I didn't think I liked cooked carrots, but these are sweet and tender without being mushy. The peanut sauce is so fabulous, I couldn't stop sneaking little spoonfuls of it after the meal was over. The peanut sauce isn't the kind you find on satay in thai restaurants. It is made with lots of cilantro, mint, and lime which makes it very green and fresh. This dish is filling, comforting, and amazingly delicious. I'm really looking forward to making it again. If you don't like tofu, or you're craving some other type of protein, you could easily make it with chicken.

Here's how:

Rinse 1 1/2 cups brown basmati rice and put it in a pot with 3 3/4 cups water and 1/2 t. salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook until done, about 40 minutes.

Then make the peanut sauce. Toast 1/2 cup raw peanuts in 1 T. peanut oil in a skillet on the stove. Put the peanuts and the oil in a food processor, along with 1/2 c. chopped cilantro (I used about 1/2 a bunch with the stems cut off and let the food processor do the chopping for me), 1 T. chopped mint leaves (about 6 big leaves), the zest and juice of 2 limes, 2 garlic cloves, 1/4 t. chipotle powder or 1 serrano chile (I used the chipotle powder), 1 t. soy sauce, and salt to taste. Thin with water until you have the desired consistency.

Peel and cut 5 large carrots into mouthsized chunks. Peel and slice a 1-inch knob of ginger into thin strips. Heat 2 t. peanut oil in a skillet. When hot, add the ginger, then the carrots. Stir fry for several minutes and then add a few teaspoons soy sauce and stir fry for another minute. Pour in 1/2 cup water, cover the pan, and cook until the carrots are tender (5 minutes or more). While they're cooking, cut 4 scallions on the diagonal, including some of the greens. Remove the lid and add the scallions, cooking until the liquid is reduced to a glaze. Taste a carrot and season with salt, if desired.

Cut 1 carton of tofu into triangles or rectangles. Fry in a little peanut oil with a little salt until all the water cooks out and the tofu starts to color nicely. Cook on both sides. Add a little soy sauce to the pan to glaze the tofu.

Serve the rice, the carrots and the tofu, layered and arranged on plates. Dollop peanut sauce in several places and garnish with a little cilantro. Pass the remaining sauce at the table.

Approximate cost to prepare:

1 1/2 cups rice - $.75

5 large carrots - $.60

1-inch knob of ginger - $.25

soy sauce, peanut oil - negligible

4 scallions - $.25

1 carton tofu - $1.25

1/2 cup peanuts - $.50 (maybe less)

1/2 bunch cilantro - $.25

mint from my garden

2 limes - $.60

garlic and chipotle powder - negligible

TOTAL for 4 people = $4.45

Once-baked Goat Cheese Souffle

This is the recipe I was most intimidated by, so my daughter, Brittany made it for me. I was busy in the kitchen with other things, but I watched as she prepared it and it didn't look difficult. You're supposed to use a souffle dish or a rustic gratin dish. I wasn't sure what the difference was, so I googled it.

This is a souffle dish.

This is a gratin dish

Apparently, it is any large, lowish dish that batter can puff up in. We used 6 ramekins, and one pyrex round bowl. They worked great.

I thought that when the souffle came out of the oven it was going to collapse down into a sad, shriveled, wrinkled looking thing. It didn't. It was beautiful. It had a golden top with attractive little cracks in it. The souffle itself was light and fluffy with that wonderful tang of goat cheese. Brittany doesn't like the taste of browned eggs, so she preferred the one cooked in the larger dish rather than in the smaller ramekins.

Making the souffle didn't look all that difficult. Here are the instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375. Butter your souffle dish(es). Slowly heat 1 1/2 cups milk with 2 onion slices, 1 thyme sprig, 1 bay leaf, 1 crushed garlic clove, and 1/2 t. salt. Turn off the heat when it nears boiling and let it steep. Separate 4 eggs. Add the whites from 2 more eggs to your egg white bowl and discard the 2 yolks.

Melt 3 T. butter in a saucepan, stir in 3 T. flour and cook over low heat for 1 minute. Pour the heated milk into the saucepan through a strainer and whisk. Cook over low heat for a couple more minutes, then remove from the heat. Stir a little of the milk mixture into the 4 egg yolks. Whisk them and add them back into the sauce, whisking as you go. Stir in 5 ounces crumbled goat cheese. Taste for salt and season with pepper.

Whip the egg whites until they're nearly stiff, then fold them into the base and transfer to your prepared dish. Bake until puffed and golden, but still a little wobbly when you shake the dish (about 25 minutes). Serve immediately.

Things to try next time: Bake it all in one dish.

Approximate cost to prepare:

1 1/2 cups milk - $1.50

aromatics - $1.00 (?)

3 T. butter - $.30

3 T. flour - negligible

6 eggs - $2.50

5 ounces goat cheese - $4.50

TOTAL - $9.80 for 4 people

Since this dish is substantial but somewhat neutral in flavor, many dishes can be paired with it. Try wine braised lentils, beets, dark greens, or a light spring salad.

The best grilled cheese sandwich I ever ate

I haven't had grilled cheese sandwiches in years, but this version has made me a true believer again. This is the grown up version - with olive tapenade - but just like the kid version it is still fast and easy to prepare.

The olive tapenade takes about 10 minutes to prepare, but in our highly scientific taste test, we found that it was fresher and tastier than what we usually buy at Trader Joe's. It keeps for quite a while in the fridge and is really easy if you have a food processor. The recipe calls for nicoise or gaeta olives, but I used kalamata because they were easier to find and less expensive than buying the other varieties at the olive bar. I have recently found that you can buy kalamata olives at Costco and they are perfect for this recipe.

To make the tapenade, combine the following in a food processor and pulse, leaving a little texture: 1 cup olives (see comment above), 2 T. rinsed capers, 2 garlic cloves, grated zest of 1 small lemon or half a large lemon, lemon juice to taste, 1 T. chopped parsley, freshly ground pepper, and 4-6 T. olive oil.

To make the sandwich: Slice 2 pieces of rustic whole wheat or italian bread. I used sourdough from my local bakery. Cover one slice with a thin swipe of tapenade, then add sliced cheese over that. The recipe calls for carmody or teleme cheese because they melt well, but I used marinated mozzarella and it was super yummy! Top with the second slice of bread and lightly butter it or brush the outside with oil. Set the butter side down into a hot skillet. Butter the top of the second piece. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until crisp and golden. Cook on the other side. Take your time so that the cheese melts without burning the bread.

Add some greens and a glass of wine and you have an excellent meal.

Cost to make the tapenade. This really depends on where you get your olives. I made a double batch because the container of olives I got was about 2 cups. I also recently got kalamata olives at Costco for $5.99 for a 1.5 liter jar. I think there are about 4-5 cups of olives in the jar. If you buy olives at your local olive bar, they'll run you about $10/lb which I think is about $5.00 per cup. I get my organic, extra-virgin olive oil at Costco. It has an excellent flavor and costs $21.00 for 3 liters. This makes it $7.00/liter or about $1.75 per cup (about 11 cents per tablespoon). Capers are also widely variable in price. For the batch I made with the 2 cups of olives costing about $5, here's the cost:

2 cups kalamata olives - $5.00

4 T. capers - $.50

1 lg. lemon - $.50

2 T. parsley - negligible

4 garlic cloves - $.50

6 T. olive oil - .65

fresh ground pepper - negligible

TOTAL - $7.15 for 2 cups, so about $3.60 per cup

Trader Joe's costs $3.00 per 8 oz. jar. I think it's definitely worth making your own for the really fresh flavor.

The cost of the sandwich is also highly variable depending on the kind of bread and the kind of cheese you use. The marinated mozzarella cost $5.50 for an 8 oz. braid. I used about 1/8 of it, so that's 69 cents. I get 12-16 slices of bread per loaf, so at $4.50 per loaf, that's .28 - .37 per slice. You're supposed to use very little tapenade, but I love it so I probably used 2 t. per sandwich. That still makes each sandwich about $1.00 - $1.25. Not bad for the best grilled cheese sandwich ever!

Wine-Braised Lentils

I normally think of lentils as being pretty bland, but these are full of flavor and they make excellent leftovers. This recipe comes from the "supper sandwiches" section of the cookbook. Although it features something over bread, it certainly didn't seem like a sandwich.

The red wine in the lentils, along with aromatics and tomato paste really give these lentils a wonderful flavor. The recipe called for french green lentils, which I decided to try even though I had regular lentils on hand. The green lentils are smaller and they have a firmer texture. They were super yummy, but I bet plain lentils would be fine in this, too. The red pearl onions are really tasty with this dish, but too fussy for me. In the future I will just used sauteed onions, or better yet, caramelized onions. The recipe calls for chard, spinach, or other greens. I happened to have spinach in the fridge, so that's what I used. This would also be fine without the greens, though they lend flavor, color and nutritive value.

This dish didn't take long to cook. Here's how you get started.

Rinse 3/4 cup french green lentils (or other lentils). Parboil them for 5 minutes, and drain.

Dice 1 large carrot, 1 small onion, and 1 or two celery ribs (about 1/3 cup each). Heat a little olive oil in a sauce pan and saute the veggies over medium-high heat until browned a little. Add one crushed garlic clove and 1 T. tomato paste, mixing well. Add 1 1/2 cups dry red wine and 1 t. dijon mustard. Add 1 1/2 cups water, 1 t. salt, and the drained lentils. Simmer covered 30-40 minutes until the lentils are done.

While the lentils are cooking, blanch 12 red pearl onions and peel off the skins. Saute them in olive oil for about 5 minutes or until they begin to color. Add a splash of wine or water toward the end to deglaze the pan. Season with salt and pepper.

Wash one big bunch of greens. With the water still clinging to it, wilt the greens in a skillet. Season with salt and pepper. Stir the cooked greens into the lentils, add a tablespoon of butter or olive oil, taste and season.

Toast 4 slices country bread and rub each slice with halved garlic. Spoon the lentils over the bread and garnish with the onions.

Things I'd do differently next time: Start one or 2 onions cooking over low heat before starting the lentils. Let them caramelize while the lentils are cooking. Use the same pan for cooking the greens to cut down on dirty dishes.

Approximate cost to prepare:

3/4 cup french green lentils (organic) - $.75

1 onion - $.20

1 carrot - $.10

1/3 cup celery - $.10

1 1/2 cups red wine - $1.00

12 red pearl onions - $.90

1 bunch spinach - $2.00

4 slices country bread - $1.50

TOTAL for 4 people = $6.55