Pasta with MGC pesto

What does MGC stand for? WAIT AND SEE.

Ingredients

• 1 lb pasta (we used ziti)
• 1/2 lb collards (the C), stems removed, leaves chiffonaded and then washed
• 1/2 lb mustard greens (the MG), stems removed, leaves torn and then washed
• the juice and zest of 1/2 of a small lemon
• 3 tbsp parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves garlic
  
• 1 tbsp dried basil flakes
  
• 2 Laughing Cow triangles (alternatively, 2 oz. of creamy cheese)
• salt
• pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• water, until the texture is right
• 1 small tomato, chopped
  

In a large saucepan, add the collards and a few tablespoons of water. Cover the pot and put over medium/high heat. Cook until the collards have wilted, about 5 minutes.
Once the collards have wilted, add the mustard greens. Add more water, if necessary. Cover again and cook until the MG have cooked down. This shouldn't take long - keep an eye on it.
Once they've cooked down, add the garlic, salt, basil flakes, and pepper. Mix until incorporated.
Heat a pot of water for the pasta. When it's boiling, cook the pasta.
Remove the MG&C from the stove and put in a blender. To the blender, add olive oil and lemon juice/zest. Blend until thoroughly blended. Add more oil and/or water if the mixture gets too thick. Add the cheeses. Blend some more.
The pasta should be cooked by now. Drain it and return the pasta to the pot.
Add the MG&C pesto to the pasta. Stir until the pasta is thoroughly coated.
Add chopped tomatoes on top.
Devour.

Thoughts: OH MY GOD. SHUT UP. THIS IS AWESOME. But seriously, I was expecting the pesto to taste like any other pesto (we've made pesto with things like kale and swiss chard etc...), but it does not. It has this really interesting, savory flavor. We really lucked out. The greens paired really well with both the chopped tomato and the lemon. And this was hella easy. To be honest, I like this version of pesto better than traditional pesto. I would eat this all day. Sweet fancy Moses.

Disaster Index: Can I give a -1? 1/10 I guess

Real French Fries

Not your typical "oven fry" baked potato wedges, these are actually fried. In oil. But they contain 30% less oil than NORMAL french fries because of the unique cooking process. READ ON!

Ingredients

• yukon gold potatoes, (NOT russets & unpeeled) cut into sticks of an appropriate "fry" size. You choose how big. We've had good luck with both small and large sizes, but you have to be consistent.
  
• peanut oil for frying (canola or vegetable oil work also).
  

Dump the potatoes into room temperature oil on the stove. Use a container that is a) large enough, b) can take a lot of heat. Turn to high heat. After about 5 minutes, the oil should be at a rolling boil (actually, the water coming out of the fries is what's "boiling", but whatever). Turn the heat to medium-high (enough to keep at the current temperature). After another 10 or 15 minutes, you can stir the fries around a little with some tongs, scraping up any that stick to the bottom (we didn't have a problem with this). Fry until golden. Pick the fries out with the tongs and place in a towel lined bowl. Dust with salt and continue to remove oil. Enjoy!

Thoughts: On our first try, the fries were too crisp. They were still tasty, but not quite how we liked them. Also, the fries were uneven, so the larger pieces were cooked just right, while the smaller pieces were overcooked. Next time, we tried small match-stick sizes (well, maybe a little bigger than that). They cooked evenly, and gave us perfect frites. Delicious. Will definitely try again, but not until we get a chance to do some cardio or something. Even so, these fries have less oil than standard fries. Because they cook so slowly, the moisture inside the potatoes isn't replaced by as much oil as the standard process. It's complicated. Trust me.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Cottage Cheese

Not as successful. Alton Brown's recipe.

Ingredients

• 2c skim milk
  
• 1.5tbsp white vinegar
  
• pinch salt
  
• heavy cream / half and half / whole milk
  

Put the milk in a sauce pan and heat to 120*F. Take it off the heat and add the vinegar, stirring for a minute or two. The curd will separate from the whey. Now cover the pot and let sit for 30 minutes. When you're done, strain the curd and whey through a tea towel, catching all the curd. Wrapping the curd in the tea towel, proceed to rinse the curd (through the towel) in cold water, squeezing the curd (and excess water) periodically. Finally, dump the curd into a bowl with a pinch of salt and break apart into smaller curds with a spoon. When you're ready to serve, add a little cream/half-and-half/whole milk and stir together.

Thoughts: I'm not a huge cottage cheese eater to begin with, so this wasn't really for me. Claire didn't seem to like it too much. I mean, it has nothing to do with the stuff being home-made - that actually made it a lot more appealing - it's just that it was kind of bland. Not a lot of flavor. We used whole milk, so maybe heavy cream next time (if there is a next time). But store-bought is just fine for us. Another (minor) problem is that for a pint of milk you get out maybe 1/2c of cottage cheese. Something to consider.
Claire: as a hard-core cottage cheese fan, I had an issue with both the texture and the flavor. I don't know if there will be a next time. A fine recipe to try, for sure, but Alton Brown has failed us for the LAST TIME.
No, no, we'll still use him. But probably not for this. I'm also editing the disaster index.

Disaster Index: 9-10/10

Tomato and Cannellini Panade

Based on a recipe from the kitchn blog. Very similar to ribollita.

Ingredients

• 1 onion, diced
  
• 2tbsp minced garlic
  
• 28oz can of diced tomatoes in juice
  
• 1c chicken broth (or vegetable)
  
• 1tbsp brown sugar
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• pinch of anise
  
• 1tsp oregano
  
• 1tsp thyme
  
• 3-5 slices of good, crusty bread, cubed
  
• 16oz can cannellini beans, rinsed
  
• 1/2c parmesan
  
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Saute the onion in olive oil (with a pinch of salt) until translucent. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant - 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes & juices, and the broth along with the brown sugar, bay leaf, and anise. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes. Fish out the bay leaf and add the bread and beans. Stir for about 5 minutes, until the bread is mushy. Add a little more broth (1/4 to 1/2c) if needed, and stir some more. The goal is to get something only a LITTLE soupy - the bread soaks up most of the soup, so it's more of a stew. After you've adjusted this to taste, stir in the cheese and see if it doesn't need more salt or some pepper. Serve!

Thoughts: pretty great, but Claire and I agree that it could use some sort of greens. Maybe some frozen spinach? It would be a cinch to toss 5-10oz of frozen chopped spinach. On the plus side, it's a simple recipe and it's easy to adapt to be veg friendly. It's really quite good - I think I prefer it to ribollita texturally, even if they're pretty similar. It's kind of comfort-food. I would definitely make this again, just maybe with some modifications.

Disaster Index: 2/10 - with spinach I'd say a 1/10.

Melon lassi

Okay, hardly a "recipe" but it was something I tried out today. I was originally thinking "smoothie" but it pretty much tasted like lassi. So there you go.

Ingredients

(roughly)

• 1c honeydew melon
  
• 1/2c vanilla ice cream
  
• 1/2c plain yogurt
  
• 1/4c milk
  
• 1tbsp honey
  
• 1/4tsp cinnamon
  

Throw everything in a blender. Enjoy.

Thoughts: Pretty delicious. It's like lassi, but with a subtle melon-y taste (go figure). I was mainly trying to get rid of a not-so-great honeydew melon, and this worked. My only gripe is that the melon doesn't blend TERRIBLY well - it takes a lot of blending to get it into small enough bits to be enjoyable. But the melon in question wasn't completely ripe - otherwise I wouldn't have been blending it in the first place. Catch-22. It could use to be thicker, too. Maybe some quick oats next time, no added milk, and a banana. That would make it a little more smoothie-like and probably the desired density.

Disaster Index: 2/10

UPDATE:

Ingredients

(roughly)

• 2c honeydew melon or honeydew-cantaloupe hybrid OR whatever you want
  
• 1/4c vanilla ice cream
  
• 1/2c plain yogurt
  
• 1/3c quick oats
  
• Any additional flavors you want - other fruit, cinnamon, etc
  

Throw everything in a blender (make sure you add the oats last or it'll be tough to get it started blending). Blend for 20 or 30 seconds, until it looks pretty smooth. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. I just throw in the whole blender bowl and leave the base on the counter. During this time, the oatmeal (now more like oat flour) will plump up and thicken the smoothie, also enhancing the oat flavors, but it gets kind of lumpy. Take it out and re-blend it for 10-20 seconds on high speed after it's done. Enjoy.

Thoughts: Much improved. The oats actually add a little extra sweetness to the smoothie, and the texture is much thicker & richer. This works great if you have some melon that isn't quite sweet or flavorful enough to motivate you to eat it straight OR if you just bought way more melon that you needed and Claire won't help you eat it.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Collard Greens

Perfect in combination with the grits. The slight acidity of the tomatoes really complements the rich creaminess of the grits.

Ingredients

• some olive oil
  
• 1 smallish onion, chopped
  
• 1 green pepper, chopped
  
• garlic (1tbsp?)
  
• 1lb collard greens, stems removed, chopped coarsely.
  
• 3c chicken stock (or veg, if you don't like flavor)
  
• 1-2 tomatoes, chopped
  
• Salt and pepper
  

In a large pot, saute the pepper and onion until the onion is translucent, then add the garlic and go another minute or so. Throw in the (well cleaned) collard greens and the stock. Bring to a simmer and cover, leaving for about 30 minutes. Fish everything out and toss with the tomatoes.

Thoughts: This recipe was adapted ONLY SLIGHTLY from a recipe by Sunny Anderson, but I have to say: way too liquidy. In the future, I might add 1/2c of stock, let it steam the collard greens, and add more only if it's needed. As such we had to pour it through a strainer. Probably we'll use the stock again at some point, but I would rather we didn't have to. Other than that, it was pretty delicious. It may have been our first time having collard greens, but we would definitely do it again.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Creamed (?) patty pan squash

Ingredients

• 4 small/medium patty pan squashes
• 2 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp water
• 2 cloves garlic
• lots of pepper
• lots of basil
• moderate amount of salt
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream
  
• Parmesan cheese, to garnish

Scrub the squashes. Using a box grater (or cuisinart, if you prefer), grate the squashes (using the largest holes on the grater). Set aside.
In a large pan with a tight-fitting lid, heat the butter, water, garlic, basil, salt, and pepper. When the butter is melted and the seasonings are incorporated, add the squash. Cook on high heat, covered, until the squash is tender, around 5 minutes. You might want to drain off any excess liquid after this (squashes are generally quite watery).
Meanwhile, mix the sour cream and flour together until the flour is incorporated. Add into the squash and keep on heat until thoroughly incorporated.
Remove from heat. Sprinkle with Parmesan.
We recommend that you serve this atop some crostini brushed with olive oil. It is delicious.

Thoughts: This dish could definitely have used more seasoning, though I'm not sure what I would add. With the seasonings we used, it tasted pretty much like pasta. You could essentially pretend that you were eating pasta. Maybe it was the Parmesan cheese on top. Maybe substitute the water for dry white wine/vermouth? Maybe add mushrooms? Dan also thinks we could replace the sour cream with yogurt, which is probably true. We'll give it a shot. It's a work in progress.

Disaster Index: 2/10

Cheese grits

Courtesy of Alton Brown

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk (you may need more)
• 2 cups water
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 4 ounces cheddar cheese, grated/shredded

Place the milk, water, and salt in a large pot over medium/high heat and bring to a boil. Stir often, so that the milk does not burn. You don't want that.
Once the milk mixture comes to a boil, gradually add the cornmeal while continually whisking. Be careful with this step, because this is when clumps are most likely to form. It might be helpful to use two people for this one, so that one person can whisk violently while the other person delicately sifts the cornmeal into the milk. Whatever.
Once all the cornmeal has been incorporated, decrease the heat to low and cover.
Remove lid and whisk frequently (every 3-4 minutes) to prevent grits from sticking and clumping. You may find that you need to add more liquid. We couldn't bring ourselves to add more whole milk, so we added skim (about 1/2 cup total), and that worked fine.
Cook for 20-25 minutes, until mixture is creamy.
Remove from heat, add the pepper and butter, and whisk to combine. Once the butter is melted, gradually whisk in the cheese a little at a time. Serve immediately.

VARIATION: Add some steamed corn into the grits. It is delicious. I highly recommend it.

Thoughts: Fantastic. The grits sort of have a subtle flavor, but it is a delicious flavor. I can't really imagine them without cheese, but we'll try some variations later, I imagine. Again, we have some pretty major clumps in ours because we didn't add the cornmeal slowly enough, but with some frantic whisking, we managed to make them unnoticeable. Just be careful on this one. Don't eat too much of this in one sitting, or you'll become a fatty. To be completely honest, it pairs nicely with Sauvignon Blanc. How dare you doubt me? Try it.

Disaster index: 1/10

Apple Upside-Down Cake

Success!
Ingredients

• Topping
  
  
  
  • 1/2 stick unsalted butter
    
  • 4 apples
    
  • 2/3c brown sugar
    
  • 2tsp juice from a lemon
    
  • possibly some corn starch
    
  
  
• Cake
  
  
  
  • 1c unbleached all-purpose flour
    
  • 1tbsp cornmeal
    
  • 1tsp baking powder
    
  • 1/2tsp salt
    
  • 3/4c granulated sugar
    
  • 1/4c brown sugar
    
  • 2 eggs
    
  • 3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
    
  • 1/2c sour cream
    
  • 1tsp vanilla extract
    
  
  

Cut the apples in half and cut out the core area. Cut two of the apples into 1/2" slices, and two of the apples into 1/4" slices (keep separate). Heat the 1/2 stick of butter in a sauce pan until the foaming subsides (takes a few minutes). Then add the 1/2" slices of apple. Let those cook until they start to caramelize, 4-6 minutes. Only stir a few times during those 4-6 minutes to turn the apples - they'll caramelize a lot more easily if you leave them alone. Now add the remaining topping ingredients (the brown sugar, lemon juice, and other apples). Stir until the sugar dissolves and apples are coated - about a minute. Transfer the apples into a 9" round cake pan. We used a HEAVILY GREASED springform with a layer of parchment paper on the bottom. I would also recommend putting a layer of foil around the bottom of the springform to catch leaks. In our try, the apples gave off a lot of water. So we spooned JUST the apples into the pan, then put the brown-sugar, butter, and lemon-juice mixture back on the stove and added corn starch (dissolved in some cold water first) and cooked until it thickened considerably. Then we spooned this over the top of the apples in the cake pan.

Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, mix together the sugars and eggs until homogenized. Slowly whisk in the butter, then the sour cream and vanilla until just combined. Add the flour and whisk until combined. Then pour the batter over the apples. Bake at 350* for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool for 10-20 minutes. Run a paring knife around the edge to loosen it, then invert onto a plate (good luck - use oven mitts or let it cool more if you can't do it). Cool a little longer - 20 more minutes? Then serve.

Thoughts: Claire and I were surprised by how relatively un-seasoned this cake is, but it was really delicious. We made it for breakfast, but it's probably more of a desert. In the future, Claire says she could use more seasoning, but I disagree. Some of the apples were a little crisper than either of us thought they would be, so maybe next time I will cook the apples a little longer before we add them to the cake pan. The original recipe has us peeling the apples, but I didn't notice it and my cake turned out delicious so I don't think I would peel them in the future.

Disaster Index: 1/10

Better Granola

Based on a recipe called "Seven Year Granola" I came across through the Kitchn blog.
Ingredients

• 2/3 lb quick oats, 1/3lb rolled oats
  
• whatever nuts you have on hand (up to 3c)
  
• 1tsp cinnamon
  
• 1/2tsp ground cardamom
  
• 1/2tsp ground mace (or replace all of the seasonings with a little less than 2tsp Penzy's Baking Spice mix, like we did)
  
• 1c dark brown sugar
  
• 1 stick unsalted butter
  
• 1/3c water
  
• 1/2tsp salt
  
• 2tsp vanilla extract
  
• a bunch of raisins or other dried fruit
  

Preheat oven to 300*F. In a cuisinart, grind 1/2 lb of quick oats into a fine powder. In a large bowl, mix all the oats (and oat flour you just made), the nuts, seeds, and spices, and set aside. In a small sauce pan, add the butter, water, and brown sugar, and heat until the butter has melted. Take off the heat and add the salt and vanilla and stir to dissolve. Pour this over the oats and nuts mixture, stirring until everything is uniformly damp. If you can't get everything damp, add a little extra water and stir some more. Let it stand for 10 minutes.

Spread the mixture evenly over a large baking dish, and then make several divisions with a spatula or something so that it's more like a series of clumps of granola. The basic idea is that you want to expose a little more surface area to the dry oven air so that you can get more clumps in the finished product. Bake for ~30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Remove from oven and gently stir the mixture around. This will break the mixture into slightly smaller chunks. This is OK. return to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes. Repeat this step (mixing and baking) until the granola is dry. Then set it out on a counter to cool. Once it reaches more or less room temperature, add all the dried fruit.

Thoughts: This granola is unique among the granolas we have made in the past insofar as it actually has CLUMPS of granola. Awesome! Personally, I could use to adjust the seasoning somewhat, and next time I will probably want to use more rolled oats and less butter. I hypothesize that the oat flour is responsible for getting things to stick together, so I can reduce the fat content a little and it'll be fine. We'll see. Otherwise, this is fantastic. Claire and I agree that it's probably the best granola we've made.

Disaster Index: 1/10