Rutabaga, Onion, and Kale

I can't believe that Thanksgiving is this week! Somehow the year is almost over and winter is sneaking up on me. I'm not ready! Can someone please tell winter to wait a minute? I need to prepare myself for this cold weather.

Thank goodness for things that don't need to do anything special to prepare for the cold... like brussels sprouts. I have left brussels sprouts out all winter before. When I want brussels sprouts I just go out and break the frozen sprouts off the plants. I've sometimes left parsnips in the garden, too. I keep digging them up and using them until the ground freezes and I can't dig them up anymore.

Turnips and rutabaga survive a bit of chill, and so do onions. Kale does quite well through several frosts. But too much cold will destroy these things. Knowing that their days are numbered makes me want them more, especially now, while I can still get them straight out of the garden. So yesterday I combined rutabaga, onion, and kale in a big skillet and sauteed them slowly in some butter and olive oil.

It was really really really really good.RUTABAGA, ONION, AND KALE

rutabaga
onion
kale
butter
olive oil
garlic, minced
salt and pepper

Cut rutabaga into julienne type strips. Thinly slice onion. Tear leafy green parts of kale into small pieces, discard stems. Saute rutabaga, onion, and kale with butter and olive oil in a large covered skillet for about 30 minutes. Uncover frequently to stir. When all ingredients are tender add minced garlic and simmer for a few more minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes

Since my last post was about Whipped Rutabaga and Potato, and this post is about Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes (in which I whip the potatoes instead of mashing them), you are going to start thinking I have a thing for my electric hand mixer.

But I really don't have a thing for my electric hand mixer. I actually generally prefer to mash potatoes by hand.That being said, the overwhelming evidence here indicates that I like to whip out my electric hand mixer.
I guess the more accurate truth is that I have a thing for potatoes in general. Whipped, mashed, scalloped, baked, fried in a skillet, made into chips, simmered into soup, served with pot roast, or transformed into gnocchi, I like potatoes.And lately, since I've been getting some hits on an old post, Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes, I thought I'd write about them again (and hopefully take better pictures this time around).Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes are a great Thanksgiving dish. Not only are Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes extra special, extra tasty potatoes, but they are easy to incorporate into a busy Thanksgiving menu. You can prepare them a day or two ahead of time. Put them in the refrigerator unbaked until the day you want to serve them. Then, on that day, you can bake them early in the day, and then set them aside for a while until it's time for the meal. Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes stay hot for a long time after being baked.

Long live Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes!THANKSGIVING MASHED POTATOES

3-4 pounds of potatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup milk or cream or evaporated milk
salt, black pepper, and white pepper, to taste
1 egg

Peel potatoes, chop into large chunks, and cook until tender in salted water.

While potatoes are cooking saute onion in butter for a few minutes, just to soften and sweeten the onion. Add minced garlic to saute and cook for just a minute after onion is softened. Remove from heat. (The little bits of onion and garlic will disappear after the potatoes are baked in the oven.)

Drain cooked potatoes. Add onions and garlic. Add cream cheese and milk. Then whip everything together really well with an electric hand mixer. Add salt, pepper, and any additional seasonings to taste.

Let the potatoes cool to just warm and then add the egg and whip again. Pour into a buttered casserole dish. Use a casserole dish slightly larger than your amount of potatoes because these puff up in volume a little bit while baking. Potatoes can now be baked, or you can put them in the refrigerator for a day or two until it's time to bake them.

To bake: Cover casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for at least an hour (longer if chilled). You will know they are done cooking when the top has puffed up evenly. Remove lid for the last 10-15 minutes to make a nice golden crust.

These will stay warm for a long time after baking if re-covered and set aside in a warm kitchen.

Carrot Loaf

I recently posted about a fun retro cookbook I picked up at a charity book sale. It was published in 1972 by the folks at Southern Living magazine.The cookbook is full of simple and delightful vegetable recipes that were "created and perfected by homemakers from Maryland to Texas." and credit is given to the homemaker who contributed each recipe.

This recipe for "Carrot Loaf" was contributed by Sara Hancock of Florence, Alabama. She combines cooked mashed carrots with bread crumbs, chopped peanuts, and a few other ingredients. Then she spreads it in a shallow dish to bake. Simple!Sara Hancock, Florence, Alabama might have used her own home grown peanuts when she made carrot loaf. But I shelled some spicy hot seasoned peanuts to make mine...... and from now on I will always use these nuts to make this because the spicy crunch of those nuts was really tasty in this recipe!

Let's address two little issues before I share her recipe...

Firstly, I know it doesn't look like a "loaf." But "Carrot Loaf" is what Sara Hancock, Florence, Alabama named it, so "Carrot Loaf" it is. She suggests baking it in "greased molds or (a) shallow dish" and then "remove from molds or cut in squares to serve." So maybe if you use small molds it will look more like a "loaf." Secondly, when I first ate it, warm out of the oven, it was tasty (very tasty) but I didn't like the texture. The carrot part was too light, too fluffy. I put the remainder in the fridge and thought I probably wouldn't blog about it.

But I found that the texture had firmed when I cut some chilled pieces to go alongside a cup of Roasted Tomato Vegetable soup" the next day. And now I can tell you that "Carrot Loaf" is a really great finger food to serve with a cup of soup!CARROT LOAF

(From The Vegetables Cookbook, Southern Living Library, 1972, recipe contributed by Sara Hancock, Florence, Alabama)

1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 1/2 cups mashed cooked carrots
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon finely chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoon butter (I used melted butter)
3/4 cup chopped peanuts (I used spicy hot seasoned peanuts)

Combine the crumbs and carrots. Beat the eggs and milk together. Add the egg mixture and remaining ingredients to the carrots. Turn into greased molds or shallow dish and set in a pan of water. (I used a greased 7 x 11 pan and set it in a 9 x 11 pan of water.) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. (I suggest placing it in the fridge overnight and serving it chilled.) Remove from molds or cut in squares to serve. 8 servings.

Roasted Tomato Vegetable Soup

This past Sunday was a gorgeous day! It felt like autumn blew in on a cool, crisp breeze. It brought beautiful clouds that dwarfed the fields, wisps of burning wood fires, and jacket weather.Trees are only beginning to hint about their color changes but soybeans have turned golden and will be harvested soon. This early autumn weather urges me to finish stacking my firewood. And it reminds me of all the other chores that I still need to get done around here before winter.

But autumn makes me think about fun things, too, like fresh apple cider, smokey campfires, bumpy hayrides, and soup...... this soup.

I love this soup!

When you read how to make this soup it might sound like it's complicated, but this is really a very simple recipe. Three different pans of ingredients are roasted. Then they are combined with some stock in a blender. That's it. Done!

This soup cans well, too. It maintains its flavor and consistency if you home can it. When you open up a jar of this soup it's just as fresh and tasty as the day you made it.

Here's how to prepare this soup:

1) Peel, seed, and chop 5 pounds of tomatoes. Spread them out into a shallow non-reactive pan. Add several cloves of rough chopped garlic. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Sprinkle with thyme, fresh ground pepper, and salt. Roast at 300 degrees for a couple of hours. This will yield about 2 quarts of roasted tomatoes, including their liquid. (Don't drain the liquid.)2) Roast, core, and peel 3 or 4 large red (or orange or yellow) peppers. Here's how I do it... I cut the flesh of the peppers into large sections that will lay flat on a baking pan. I place the pan in the oven under the broiler until they become mostly blackened. Then I remove the pan from the oven and I lay a piece of plastic wrap loosely on top of the blackened peppers. I let the peppers rest until they are cool enough to handle, then I rub the skin off of the peppers.3) Peel and roughly cut 4 cups of carrots. Peel and slice 2 cups of onions. (Optional: add a chopped jalapeno.) Combine carrots and onions (and jalapeno, if using) in a shallow baking baking pan. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and salt. Cover pan and roast at 350 degrees for 1-2 hours, stirring or shaking pan occasionally, until carrots and onions are soft.

4) Puree prepared and cooled ingredients and a quart of vegetable stock, in a blender. This is quite a bit of soup. I have to blend 10-12 batches of it in my standard sized blender to puree all of it. I add a bit of each ingredient (some roasted tomatoes, some roasted and peeled peppers, some roasted carrots and onions, and some vegetable stock) to each batch that I whirl in the blender. Blend ingredients well so that no chunks of vegetables remain. Pour each blended batch into a large stock pot and stir to combine all the batches.

5) Heat soup. Add a pinch of sugar, adjust seasonings to taste, and serve!If canning, fill hot jars, leaving one inch of headspace, and process in a pressure canner at the pressure that is appropriate for your altitude. (Despite the tomatoes, this is a low acid food and can not be processed in a boiling water canner.) I process it for 35 minutes at 11 pounds pressure, the amount of time recommended for the least acidic ingredients, and the pressure required for my elevation. This recipe makes 7-8 pints of soup.ROASTED TOMATO VEGETABLE SOUP

5 pounds tomatoes
several cloves garlic
2 tablespoons of olive oil
thyme
salt and pepper

3-4 red (or orange or yellow) sweet peppers

several large carrots
1-2 onions
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

1 quart vegetable stock

more salt and pepper, if needed
a pinch of sugar

1) Peel, seed, and chop 5 pounds of tomatoes. Spread them out into a shallow non-reactive pan. Add several cloves of peeled, rough chopped garlic. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Sprinkle with thyme, fresh ground pepper, and salt. Roast at 300 degrees for a couple of hours. This will yield about 2 quarts of roasted tomatoes and their liquid. (Don't drain the liquid.)

2) Roast, core, and peel 3 or 4 large red (or orange or yellow) peppers.

3) Peel and roughly cut 4 cups of carrots. Peel and slice 2 cups of onions. (Optional: add a chopped jalapeno.) Combine carrots and onions (and jalapeno, if using) in a shallow baking baking pan. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and salt. Cover pan and roast at 350 degrees for 1-2 hours, stirring or shaking pan occasionally, until carrots and onions are soft.

4) Puree prepared and cooled ingredients and a quart of vegetable stock, in a blender. This is quite a bit of soup. I have to blend 10-12 batches of it in my standard sized blender to puree all of it. I add a bit of each ingredient (some roasted tomatoes, some roasted and peeled peppers, some roasted carrots and onions, and some vegetable stock) to each batch that I whirl in the blender. Blend ingredients well so that no chunks of vegetables remain. Pour each blended batch into a large stock pot and stir to combine all the batches.

5) Heat soup. Add a pinch of sugar, adjust seasonings to taste, and serve!

Stovetop Tomato Chicken Stew

Healthy, filling, and full of flavor, this meal cooks up on top of the stove in one pot. It's easy enough to be a quick weeknight meal but it's classy, too, and perfect for company because it doesn't require much attention while it simmers and cooks and teases you with its delicious aromas.

Change the spices to suit your own taste. Use some basil and oregano to give it an Italian flair and serve it topped with Italian cheeses. Give it more of a New Orleans spin with your favorite Creole seasoning. Or, use cumin, paprika, and some heat to give it a Mexican taste.

This time I seasoned mine simply with a bit of my "hot" spice... a variety of hot peppers, dehydrated and then ground. I rubbed the chicken pieces with a mixture of kosher salt, pepper, and "hot." Then I sprinkled more of those same seasonings and pushed a little sprig of fresh thyme into the dish as it was beginning to simmer on the stove. Usually I like to eat this with crusty bread or buttermilk biscuits. I like to push the bread down into the bowl to soak up every drop of that tasty sauce.STOVETOP TOMATO CHICKEN STEW

3-4 pounds, bone in, skin on, chicken parts
kosher salt, pepper, and a hot spice, (cayenne, chili, or chipolte powder, or red pepper flakes)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chicken broth
1 quart jar of tomatoes, undrained
1 cup tomato sauce
2 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups sliced onion
several cloves garlic, roughly chopped
a pinch of sugar
1-2 bay leaves
fresh or dried thyme, to taste
more salt and pepper, and hot spice, to taste

Rub chicken with kosher salt, pepper, and a hot spice such as cayenne pepper, chili powder, or chipolte powder. Heat olive oil in large stock pot and brown chicken on all sides, then remove chicken and set aside. Add chicken broth to pot and scrape up browned bits from bottom of pan. Add canned tomatoes and tomato sauce. (I like to can some 8 ounce jars of tomato sauce and chicken broth because I seem to use "1 cup of tomato sauce" or "1 cup of chicken broth" in a lot of recipes.) Add chopped vegetables and garlic, pinch of sugar, bay leaves, and thyme. Place chicken back in pot, Push pieces of chicken down into liquid. Simmer on stove top for about an hour, until chicken is very tender and falling off the bone. Remove chicken and let sit until cool enough to handle. Pull meat from chicken and return meat to pot (or skip this step and just leave the pieces of chicken whole). Add more salt and pepper and hot spice, to taste. Serve with fresh crusty bread or buttermilk biscuits.

What to Do with Overgrown Green Beans

One of my favorite things about summer is getting to eat this meal.

It's so simple yet so delicious.

You know those green beans that you should have picked a few days ago? Those beans that you now think are probably too big and too tough? Use those beans to make this!

Generally I like fresh green beans to be slightly crunchy. I like to steam them just a little bit, so that they are still bright green and have some bite to them. But this meal is different. In this dish the beans cook for quite a while with small potatoes and a meaty smoked ham hock. Those large, tough beans soften and absorb some of that smoky ham flavor without becoming soggy. They retain their shape and their bite.

On a hot day I like to cook this outside on campfire or grill coals, but I have also cooked it on my kitchen stove.I've never measured any of the ingredients for this because nothing needs to be measured. Just throw the ingredients into a dutch oven and let it simmer for a while.

This is always a crowd pleaser!DUTCH OVEN GREEN BEANS, HAM, AND POTATOES

A meaty smoked ham hock
Small potatoes (or larger potatoes, quartered)
Large green beans
A little bit of chopped onion and/or minced garlic
A generous chunk of butter
A tiny pinch of sugar
Salt and pepper
Water or chicken broth

Place ham hock in bottom of dutch oven. Add remaining ingredients. If cooking on kitchen stove add enough water or chicken broth to half cover ingredients. (If cooking on campfire or grill coals use enough water or broth to almost completely cover ingredients.) Cook until potatoes and green beans are tender and meat is falling off hock (probably about an hour and a half). If using small tender green beans instead of larger tough ones, don't add them until after the potatoes and hock have already partially cooked.

Ham and Beans

I was shocked, recently, when it dawned on me that I have not yet talked about beans here. How could this be? Beans! My most favorite food on the entire planet! How could I have ignored beans? I don't know how this could happen. But I will change that today. Let's talk about beans!These are pinto beans. They are delicious, tender, quick growing bush style green beans. In early summer I harvest and eat some fresh as green beans, but then I let them go. I let the pods get big, overgrown, and tough. Through summer I let the pods dry out right on the plants. By fall they have usually become quite dry, but not dry enough yet to shell and store. At that time I pull the drying dying plants out of the ground. I shove those plants down into feed sacks and put them in a dry place. Shoving whole plants into the sacks allows some air to circulate and the beans dry nicely like this. I let them stay there for several weeks, until the beans are dry enough to shell and store.

Each year I put up jars of these beautiful beans.But I always save some for seed so I can plant more of my beloved pinto plants the following summer.

Many of my favorite meals are made with these beans.

Let me introduce you to this one: Ham and Beans.Here's how I make them...

Soak beans in water overnight. When ready to cook, drain and rinse them and put them in a pot with a chopped onion, a nice smoked ham hock, and cover with water. Put the pot on a campfire, grill, or cook them on your kitchen stove. Let this cook for several hours.When the beans are tender and the meat is falling off the hock, remove the hock and let it sit until it is cool enough to handle. Pull the meat off the hock and put the meat back into the pot. Season with salt, pepper, a touch of molasses, and a bit of your favorite hot spice, like cayenne pepper or chipolte powder. Then simmer with the lid off until it reduces to the consistency you like.

I like these just like this, with cornbread.But they are also good with a bit of fresh crunchy chopped onion on top.Or add some cheese.And sour cream.Or any combination of these toppings.

Try these ham and beans... I know you'll like them!HAM AND BEANS

2 cups dry pinto beans
1 smoked ham hock
1 to 2 cups chopped onion
1 to 2 tablespoons molasses
a pinch of hot spice, cayenne or chipolte powder
salt and pepper, to taste

Soak beans overnight. When ready to cook, drain and rinse beans. Put beans, ham hock, and chopped onion in a large pot. Cover with two inches of water. Cover pot and cook for several hours, until beans become tender and meat is falling off the hock. Remove hock and let it sit until it is cool enough to handle. Pull meat from hock and return meat to bean pot. Add molasses, hot spice, and salt and pepper to taste. Let beans simmer, uncovered, until liquid in beans thickens to the consistency you like. Top with chopped onion, shredded cheese, or sour cream, as desired. Serve with cornbread!

Mushroom and Garlic Pot Roast

I affectionately refer to this as "My Favorite Pot Roast."But don't tell the other pot roasts I said that!

Truth be told, my favorite pot roast is always whatever pot roast is piled on the plate in front of me, regardless of the form it takes.

Sometimes I make a whole pot roast just so I can make it into sandwiches!

As with all pot roasts, this one just takes a little bit of preparation. Then it sits in the oven and does its own magic without any sort of intervention... so cooks and countrygirls and other busy folks can get stuff done while it is cooking.

Pat the meat dry and sprinkle some salt and pepper on it.I always use coarse salt and a pepper grinder when I season the meat. It makes me feel fancy.

Smash and peel some garlic cloves.I leave small ones whole but I cut larger ones in half. (The garlic simmers and turns so sweet and delicious while cooking.)Slice up a large onion.And brush the dirt off of a whole bunch of mushrooms.I didn't grow these mushrooms! I got them at the getting place.I would leave small mushrooms whole but these were giants so I quartered them.

Then I pull a frozen sprig of rosemary out of the freezer.In the summer, when herbs are at their peak, I cut, vacuum pack, and freeze some sprigs of different herbs to use in soups, stews, and roasts the rest of the year. This works great... they add flavor to things just like fresh herbs would and they take up only the tiniest bit of freezer space.

I get the wine and chicken broth ready...I heat some olive oil in my roasting pot and sear the meat a few minutes on each side so that it browns a bit. Then I remove the meat and stir the onions around in the pot for a couple of minutes.

Then I remove the onions, too. The bottom of the pot looks brown and burnt by now... but then I pour in the wine and it helps to release all those delicious brown bits from the pot.

Then I add the broth, some seasonings, and put the meat and onions back in the pot. I also add the herb to the pot.I dump the mushrooms on top and grind a bit of black pepper (and throw a bit more salt) over them.Then I put this in the oven for a long time. It makes the house smell so good...

I like to ladle the hot roast (and the delicious broth it makes) over a pile of mashed potatoes but this time I lost track of time and didn't have the potatoes ready.

I couldn't wait. The house smelled so good and I wanted to eat some right away. No potatoes, no photos, and no napkin. I just ate a big bowl of it.

And then I ate another one.

After a couple of helpings I didn't even miss the potatoes (or the napkin).

But look! There was still plenty left for making sandwiches the next day!MUSHROOM AND GARLIC POT ROAST

a 2-3 pound cut of roasting beef
salt, pepper
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups sliced onion
1/2 cup red wine
1 pint chicken broth
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
a whole lot of whole or halved garlic cloves, slightly smashed
a sprig of herb (I used rosemary this time)
8 cups whole, quartered, or sliced mushrooms
more salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Pat meat dry and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil in dutch oven over high heat on stove top. Sear meat 3-4 minutes on each side to make it nicely browned and flavorful, then remove it from pan. Add sliced onions to pot and stir them around until they are slightly softened and have a tinge of tan color, but be careful not to burn them. Then remove onions from the pot, too. Turn off heat and immediately pour in wine to deglaze pan. Add chicken broth. Add worchestershire and liquid smoke. Return meat and onions to pot and add garlic. Place sprig of herb into pot. Add mushrooms. Sprinkle with more salt and pepper. Put lid on dutch oven and place pot in oven. Cook for at least an hour per pound of meat, plus probably one extra hour. It could take even longer, depending on the shape of the meat. A thin cut of beef will cook and get tender much faster than a thick wedge... but the house will smell glorious the whole time this is cooking.