Last Night’s Dinner

Barbecue and Iron Man with friends on Friday, a trip to the farmers’ market and the newest Farmstead outpost on Saturday, wandering Federal Hill on Sunday… yeah, despite the cold and rain, we had another great weekend in our new city.

We’re trying to be frugal these days, but I couldn’t resist picking up a package of lobster tortelloni at Venda Ravioli yesterday. Tossed with thinly sliced asparagus, a bit of creme fraiche, and the remainder of the spring onion pesto I made last week, it was sinfully good (and totally worth the splurge).

I don’t usually talk about breakfast here, but this morning’s meal was worth mentioning. I had some Black Valentine beans left in the fridge from a previous dinner, which I reheated and mashed with a little bit of bacon fat until creamy. Add to that a couple of fried tortillas, chipotle salsa, cheese and chopped radish and cilantro left over from that same dinner, top with fried egg, and voila - huevos rancheros.

Not a bad way to kick off another week of good eating, I’d say.

Are you ready for another rave about Rancho Gordo beans? I hope so, because I continue to be dazzled by them and the meal I made with them last night was no exception.

While the temperature is still quite chilly I am so ready to move on to lighter dishes. I am so over braising, stewing, roasting, and the last thing I wanted after a full weekend of overindulgence was anything heavy for dinner. I made a mental inventory of the contents of our fridge and pantry on my commute home to try to come up with something – anything – that tasted of spring. I thought first of the various beans in the cupboard and decided to use some as the base of a warm salad.

I chose Rancho Gordo’s Flageolets, a delicate little bean with a lovely creamy texture, cooking a cup of them in an abundant amount of water, and adding salt near the end of their cooking time (about an hour and a half total). I then drained them and set them aside to cool slightly while getting to work on the rest of the dish. I whisked together plenty of fresh lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil with salt and pepper in a big bowl to dress the salad, added the beans to the bowl, then a bunch of chopped veggies: scallions, radishes, and a couple of Israeli cucumbers. I added a tablespoon or so of chopped fresh mint and a handful of fresh dill fronds, gave everything a toss, then finished the salad by gently folding in about 4 oz. of cubed feta. I served the bean salad on a bed of baby greens (you can really never have too many veggies), and it was just what I needed – the beans were super tender and held their shape beautifully, and the crunch of the veggies, salty bite of feta and brightness of the herbs and lemon were perfect counterpoints. As warmer weather arrives, this salad is going to be a great one to have in the arsenal for lunch or a light dinner.

I had hoped to give my system a bit of a break after our Valentine’s Day gut-buster of a meal, but I ended up doing quite the opposite. I kicked off my long weekend early, taking Friday afternoon off to enjoy a long, leisurely lunch with the lovely and delightful claudia of cook eat FRET fame. We met at A Voce, and bonded over two glasses of wine each and a steady flow of excellent plates – three appetizers, two pastas, and a positively swoon-worthy dessert. The food was fantastic, and I’d highly recommend A Voce to anyone looking for a nice place to dine in the city, but really, my dining companion was my favorite part of lunch. I haven’t smiled and laughed like that in far too long, and I look forward to the next time claudia and I can share a meal.

Since Mike and I had both had lunch dates on Friday, we did go a little light on dinner, nibbling on wild Portuguese sardines in piri piri, crackers, olives, good bread and a bit of cheese. We had a full day of running around ahead on Saturday, starting with a visit to Anne for our bread, eggs, milk and cheese for the week, and we ended up ferrying half a wheel of Bartlett Blue up to Karen at Union Square as a favor. In return, we got free cheese from Anne and the lamb kidneys we planned to purchase from Karen were comped as well. Nice. We had plans Saturday night but ended up staying in, too wiped out from the day’s activities, both of us feeling a bit under the weather. I whipped up a quick pasta toss, melting a little butter into some olive oil, sizzling garlic in it until golden, then adding chopped anchovies and capers to the mix. I tossed the sauce with some hot cooked linguine and topped the dressed pasta with coarse toasted breadcrumbs spiked with hot Dijon mustard.

On Sunday we picked up a Zipcar for the day, made a Target run, then headed down to Red Hook to stock up on some much needed provisions at LeNell’s and grab dinner at The Good Fork. No photos, but our appetizers and entrees were excellent across the board. If there was an easier way for us to get down there I think we’d be there all the time.

We woke early on Monday to ferry a few things over to the Salvation Army in Williamsburg, then enjoyed a big breakfast at egg and headed home to work on our remaining projects for the weekend. Mike returned the car and did some work on our computer setup, while I cleaned, culled and reorganized around the apartment. The day was unseasonably warm, so we opened windows and our back door to let in the fresh air while we worked. We were hungry again by mid-afternoon, so I put together some sandwiches using the last bits of tapenade we had in the fridge, some lightly pickled red onions, and some fontina, mortadella and sopressata we picked up over the weekend.

I had planned to make some gooey, cheesy enchiladas for dinner on Monday night, but when a delivery man arrived at our door bearing a shipment of Rancho Gordo beans, I veered in a different direction. The warmth of the day was fading and rains were moving in, so a big pot of beefy chili felt like just the thing. Chili is one of those things that I never make quite the same way twice, but I was so pleased with how this batch turned out I decided to take notes. It’s a bit time-intensive what with the use of the dried beans, but I think the flavor and texture are well worth it.

Before I get to the recipe, let me just say hello and welcome to any of you who have wandered over here from REAL SIMPLE. What a nice surprise to be mentioned and what an honor to be in such great company. I hope you like what you see here!

Beef and Black Bean Chili

1/2 lb. dried black beans (I used Rancho Gordo’s Black Valentine)
Cold water
1 bay leaf
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2 tbsp. olive or vegetable oil
1 red onion, peeled and diced
3 large cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
Kosher salt
1 lb. ground beef (I used grass-fed ground beef from Hardwick)
3 tablespoons good-quality chile powder (I used Mike’s homemade blend, based on Alton Brown’s version)
3 teaspoons ground cumin
3 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2-1 teaspoon ground chipotle powder
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 28 oz. can fire-roasted whole tomatoes with juice
1 bottle amber ale (I used Abita)
2 tablespoons canned green chiles, chopped
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Shredded cheese, sour cream and scallions for serving

Place beans in a pot, add the bay leaf and a generous amount of cold water. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to the lowest temperature possible and continue cooking the beans until they are very tender. Discard bay leaf.

Add the oil to a deep, heavy-bottomed soup pot and add the onion, seasoning with salt and cooking until softened. Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant, then add the ground beef, breaking it up with a spoon. Add a bit more salt and cook the meat until it loses its raw red color, then add the chile powder, cumin, oregano and chipotle powder, stirring through to coat the meat. Let cook over medium heat a few minutes longer, then make a hot spot and add the tomato paste, allowing it to toast before stirring it through. Add the tomatoes, breaking them up with a spoon, then add the beer and chiles. Drain the beans and add them to the pot, stirring well. Cover and simmer over low heat for an hour or more. Serve with your favorite sharp cheese, sour cream, and sliced scallions – a squeeze of fresh lime juice would also be good but we were out of limes.

What with all of the excitement around the city and around Chez Dietschyblossom recently, I somehow missed this site’s first birthday. It’s pretty amazing how this little blog has grown since then, and I want to thank all of you out there for your inspiration and support. As Peter Murphy once sang, “We love our audience!”

While I’ve been a bit frazzled, I did remember to plan a Mardi Gras meal for our dinner last night, a tribute to one of my favorite cities. Just like he did last year, Mike started us off with a round of Sazeracs, and just like last year I made red beans and rice, though this time around I made a few changes.

I was inspired by Leah Chase’s recipe which was reprinted in a Williams-Sonoma catalog I recently received, but I noted that her method called for a pressure cooker. Since I don’t yet have one of those in my arsenal, I went with our trusty Le Creuset pot instead. I didn’t have a chance to run around and track down some good andouille, so I used some beautiful chorizo we recently got from Tamarack Hollow instead. I sliced that up and got it browning in a bit of olive oil, added one whole onion, chopped, and softened it in the fat. I added a pinch of salt and cayenne, plus a little bit of smoked paprika and stirred them through, then added about two tablespoons of fresh thyme and one bay leaf.

I had soaked some gorgeous Anasazi beans from Rancho Gordo overnight, so I added those next along with their soaking liquid and two cups of my homemade chicken stock. I lidded up the pot and let the beans cook over low heat for about an hour and a half, until the beans were very tender. I added a bit more salt at this point, as well as a dollop of tomato paste for richness, then mashed some of the beans with a potato masher and stirred everything through.

I ladled the beans over some steamed Carolina Gold rice, topped each serving with some sliced scallions, cracked open a couple of Abitas and we drank a toast – to the city of New Orleans, and to the future. It’s going to be an exciting year and I look forward to sharing the ride with you all.

I’ve been playing with recipes for meatless chili for some time now, trying to develop one that will become my go-to version. This black bean chili has come closest so far, though it still needs a bit of work. I used fresh mushrooms to approximate the texture of ground beef in the dish, and I was pleased with the result, though I think next time I’ll try a coarser grind. While this dish still needs some tweaking, it was very, very good, and is going to make great lunchtime leftovers.

I’m going to keep working on this one, and when I get it right I’ll post a recipe.

Since the day I watched the presumed-dead-but-very-much-alive Emily Sloane preparing it for dinner in a remote Tuscan villa, ribollita has seemed like a very romantic dish to me. I have a soft spot for peasant-style fare anyway, and what could be cozier than sharing a dish based on beans, bread and hearty greens with your (hopefully not evil) beau?

Maybe it captures my fancy since it isn’t really ribollita until the soup itself is on its third day, reheated or “reboiled” with bread, leading a girl to wonder what distractions led to the soup not getting eaten on day one or two… a little too much wine and canoodling in front of the fire, perhaps?

In any event, when the weather turns cold and I’m looking for ideas for hearty meatless dinners, my thoughts often turn to ribollita, but my soup never quite makes it to that third day. It’s funny how a soup so simple, a mixture of onions, garlic, carrots, celery, parsnips, beans, tomato paste, kale, herbs and water, a combination you wouldn’t think would taste like much, can turn into something so sublime. Sure, a parmesan rind in the soup helps, as does a liberal slather of pesto on top of crusty peasant bread in the bottom of the bowl, but really, the earthy beans and kale are the stars of the show. For such a substantial and hearty soup, it’s amazing how quickly and easily it goes down, dashing my hopes for a proper reboiled version.

Maybe we just need a fireplace.

You regulars may have noticed the lack of a “Weekend Eats (and Drinks)” post yesterday. This weekend was filled with some truly wonderful food and drink, but it turned out to be my undoing.

After spending the better part of our Saturday trekking around the city on food safari, and then heading out again on Sunday to check out Wintermarket (you can see my photos here) – well, let’s just say that my body was not entirely happy with me. Two days in a row of schlepping around in the cold and damp while carrying heavy bags sent me right into a flare, and I spent much of my Monday in bed trying to recover.

But I don’t always do a good job of listening when my body tells me to slow down, so I didn’t rest as much as I probably should have – who can rest this time of year, anyway – and I went forward with the dinner I had planned for Monday night.

I used to make a version of this white bean and roasted garlic soup all of the time using canned beans, but on our last visit to Marlow and Sons I noticed they are now stocking the Rancho Gordo beans all of you Bay area peeps rave about, so of course I grabbed a bag.

Using dried beans instead of canned required an extra step and a bit more time on the stove, but I think the soup benefited from both. The hardest part was the chopping, really, and once everything was in the pot I could sit back with my feet up and relax with the cats while it simmered away.

White Bean & Roasted Garlic Soup

8 oz. dried cannellini beans
Olive oil
2 leeks, halved and sliced into half-moons
3 sprigs winter savory (rosemary, thyme or sage would also work well)
4 cups rich vegetable or chicken stock
1 parmesan rind
1 head garlic
2 cups diced potatoes
1 cup diced carrot
Salt
1/2 cup ditalini or other small tube-shaped pasta

Rinse and pick through the beans, place them into a pot and cover them with enough cold water so that there is about an inch of water above the top of the beans. Place a lid on the pot and bring it to a boil, then turn off the heat and let the beans soak for an hour.

In a large, heavy bottomed pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the leeks and cook for a few minutes until tender. Add the beans with their cooking liquid (you should have about 2 cups worth), the savory, the parmesan rind and the stock, cover the pot and simmer for about an hour, until the beans are tender but still a bit firm.

While the soup simmers, preheat the oven to 375. Cut the top off of the garlic bulb, place it in the center of a square of aluminum foil, drizzle a bit of olive oil over the top and seal the garlic up in the foil. Place the garlic into the oven and roast until the garlic is very soft, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside until it is cool enough to handle. Remove the roasted garlic cloves from their skins, place them into a small bowl and mash into a paste.

Remove any savory stems from the soup and discard (the leaves should have fallen off into the broth). Stir in the garlic paste until well-incorporated, then add the potatoes and carrots. Season with salt, re-cover the pan and let it simmer another 30 minutes or so, until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Add the pasta and cook for another 10-15 minutes. Remove the parmesan rind and spoon the soup into bowls, topping with grated parmesan if desired.

I had every intention of coming home last night and making enchiladas with some chicken we had left over from the weekend, but as you can see, that’s not exactly what I ended up doing. There was the ice storm. And the train delays. And by the time I finally got home it was VERY late and the last thing I was up for was frying individual tortillas and dipping them in sauce. So I punted, yet again, and ended up with something that had the flavor of enchiladas but was so ridiculously simple to put together I felt like I was cheating in a major way.

But it was so good we had two helpings each.

It’s amazing how any not-completely-from-scratch guilt just melts away when you’ve got a belly full of something good at the end of a long day.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

4 tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
8 oz. grated Monterey Jack cheese
Kosher salt
Hot pepper sauce
12 corn tortillas
1 12.5-ounce jar best quality tomatillo salsa, or equivalent amount of homemade
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons dried oregano

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Using 2 tablespoons of butter, generously grease the bottom and sides of a baking dish or cast iron skillet. In another skillet, melt the remaining two tablespoons of butter. Whisk in the flour and allow it to cook for a few minutes, then add the milk and whisk until smooth and thickened. Add a small handful of the grated cheese and stir through. Season with salt and hot pepper sauce.

Spoon about 1/4 cup of the cheese sauce into the bottom of the pan or baking dish, spreading it around. Add the shredded chicken to the remaining cheese sauce and stir through. Layer 4 tortillas on the bottom of the baking dish or cast iron skillet over the sauce. Spoon 1/3 of the salsa over the tortillas, then add half of the chicken/sauce mixture, half of the beans, a tablespoon of the oregano and 1/3 of the remaining cheese, distributing them fairly evenly. Cover with four more tortillas and repeat the layering. Top the next layer with the remaining tortillas, salsa and cheese. Bake for 35-40 minutes and allow to rest briefly before slicing. Serve with sour cream or crema and chopped fresh cilantro.

Wine Pairing: We dipped into the mixed case we recently bought, selecting this 2006 Cuilleron Syrah. Mike and I both liked how it worked with our meal - lots of dark fruit and a bit of pepperiness which worked well with the richness and mild spiciness of the dish.

I love all types of beans, but there’s something about cranberry beans that really sends me. I’m probably in the minority here, but I find the process of shelling them incredibly satisfying – pulling their mottled rose-colored pods open to reveal the deep red swirls on the beans themselves makes me smile every time. While they lose their color in cooking, their nutty flavor and creamy texture make up for it. They’re more than just a pretty face.

My original plan was to use the beans in a hearty soup in the style of a minestrone, but when the forecast called for temperatures in the 80s, I changed things up a bit. I thought a smooth soup would feel a little lighter, and since the basil in our garden is still going strong, I decided to make a basil-walnut pesto to dress it up a bit. With crusty rolls and some sliced garden tomatoes on the side, this meal was a nice celebration of the changing seasons.

Fresh Cranberry Bean Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced red onion
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
Kosher salt
1-2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1 pound fresh cranberry beans, shelled (about 2 cups)
3 cups stock (I used some of the homemade chicken stock I made over the weekend, but you can use veggie stock or even water)
Several sprigs fresh thyme
One parmesan rind*
Optional: 1/4 cup crème fraiche or heavy cream
Basil-walnut pesto (recipe below)

*When I get to the end of a wedge of Parmagiano Reggiano or similar grating cheese, I always save the rind. Toss them into a zip top bag and store them in the freezer – they’ll stay good for a long time, and they add great flavor to soups

Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot, and add the onion, carrot, celery and salt. Allow the vegetables to cook for a few minutes until they begin to soften, and then add the garlic and stir. Cook for an additional minute or two until the garlic is fragrant, and then add the cranberry beans, stock, thyme and parmesan rind. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook 30 minutes, until the beans are tender.

Turn off the heat, remove the parmesan rind and thyme sprigs, taste and add more salt if needed. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth. Whisk in the crème fraiche or heavy cream if using. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with a spoonful of the pesto.

Basil-Walnut Pesto

2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup shelled walnut halves
1 cup fresh basil leaves
Extra virgin olive oil

Place garlic, salt and walnuts into a food processor or mini chopper and pulse. Add the basil and pulse again until you have a coarse, chunky mixture. With the blade moving, slowly add olive oil until the pesto is at the consistency you want (some people like a looser, more fluid pesto; I like mine a little tighter).

This has been a busy weekend for us food-wise, as it led into what we fondly refer to as Dietschtoberfest - our annual celebration of my husband’s birthday. Last year’s celebration was a bit low-key, as our our best little kitchen helper was in the hospital, so this year we wanted to extend the celebration a bit, and in that regard, I made plans to cook up a variety of Mike’s favorite dishes throughout the course of his birthday week.

We kicked things off on Friday with a glass of champagne before dinner, some baguette and brie and (yes, another) roast chicken with potatoes. Mike warned me he felt a cold coming on, and unfortunately when he woke on Saturday it was full-blown. Also unfortunate is the fact that he had to work on Saturday, so as he headed into the city fortified with cold medicine, I got to work on another batch of chicken stock.

Despite the hot weather we’ve been having, I had been craving chili, and I thought a lighter version, made with some of our rich stock and lots of chiles and spices might do Mike some good. We were out of his homemade chile powder, but I improvised with a combination of things we had in the pantry and came up with a blend that had a nice kick. We were both sweating as we finished our bowls, but it must have done my sweetie some good, since he said he was feeling much better the next day. I’m a firm believer that chicken soup of any kind is good for what ails you, and while this isn’t technically a soup, it seemed to do the trick.

White Chili

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 lb. savory chicken sausage (you can substitute ground chicken, ground turkey or turkey sausage)
1 red onion, diced
Kosher salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons chipotle powder
1/2 teaspoon piquin chile powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 chipotle chile, canned in adobo
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cups chicken stock or broth
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 can small white beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups shredded cooked chicken (white or dark or a combination of the two)
juice of one lime

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Remove the chicken sausage from its casings and add to pot, breaking up with a spoon. Brown the sausage, then add onion and season with salt. Allow the onion to cook over medium heat until softened. Add the spices and stir through. Push the sausage and onion mixture aside and add the tomato paste, allowing it to caramelize a few minutes before stirring through. Add the stock, beans, shredded chicken and lime juice, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer - after about 30 minutes or so it will be ready to eat, but you can let it go longer if you like. Serve in big bowls with warmed tortillas and your favorite garnishes - a little grated cheese, diced onion or scallion, or sour cream are all nice additions.