Salsa Fresca Nueva

Recipe inspired by Casalegno Farms

Every time I make salsa I wonder why I don’t make it more often. It’s easy and delicious, and can be varied numerous ways. Though I usually make salsa with lime juice, recently I learned a Casalegno Farms family secret: grandma used apple cider vinegar in her salsa. I was skeptical, but its subtle fruitiness enhances the tomato and pepper flavors without adding extra flavors from the citrus. So it allows me to bump up the Southwest spicing with cumin and cilantro, or whatever else I might have on hand.

Sausage and Peppers

Recipe by Robin and Bruce

‘Way back when the millennium was new, my husband-to-be and I moved in together and started cooking. Sausage and peppers was one of our first comfort food recipes. I credit Bruce for the chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (smoky preserved jalapenos), which spices up the traditional Italian recipe. We quickly discovered that making large batches of the recipe allowed us to either freeze half or share some with friends who were tending sick or injured family members. Originally we served sausage and peppers over wide noodles. On French bread is also traditional. These days we prefer no-carb, all-veg spaghetti squash.

Polish Egg Salad: Salatka z Jaj

Egg Salad, Polish Style

Recipe Adapted from Polish Cooking

Growing up in a Polish family in a small New England town full of other Poles, I took Polish cuisine for granted. My grandmother and her sisters working together for days to make hundreds of pierogies or scores of nut rolls and poppyseed rolls, my mom whipping up galumkis (stuffed cabbage), my Bopcha’s freshly-made chrusciki (angel wings), potluck tables laden with egg, potato, and beet dishes; these were my world. How soon after we moved away recipes and traditions were forgotten as the cooks aged and died. But memories live on, as I seek to recreate and record these recipes from the past. A new thrift store cookbook and a surplus of Easter eggs inspired me to delve into my Polish cooking heritage.

Spicy Salsa with Lime, Home Canned

Salsa Stash for Winter

Recipe adapted from National Center for Home Food Preservation

I inadvertently made one of the best cooked salsas I’ve ever tasted last week. In trying to use up enormous quantities of u-pick tomatoes and peppers, I discovered the National Center of Home Food Production at University of Georgia. NCHFP is a treasure trove of safe recipes for home canners. Their Choice Salsa ingredients allow the cook plenty of creativity in proportion and types of peppers and onions used. High acidity is their key to staying safe, as in all canning. In this recipe, acidity is accomplished deliciously with lime juice, lemon juice, or a combination. Try my decidedly lime-flavored scaled-down recipe (4 pints), or check out NCHFP’s recipe and make up your own variations.

Simply Braised Greens

Braised Greens with Rice and Turkey

Recipe by Robin

As readers who follow my Recipe Links by Month posts know, I’ve been trying to come up with a recipe for simple braised greens all summer. Flavoring the greens without overpowering them, while keeping the recipe simple, has been my goal. The secret, I knew, was a zippy braising liquid with a balanced combination of sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and salty flavors. I’d been off on unsatisfying broth-and-lemon and ginger-and-raspberry-vinegar tangents for some time. Then sweet red peppers began ripening at the same time that our CSA provided a bunch of green onions—plus loads of assorted greens. The sweetness of the peppers contrasting with the bitter pungency of green onions is key to this dish—along with a significant amount of garlic.

Pasta with Onion, Green Garlic, Sundried Tomato, and Basil

Top with Parmesan Cheese, or Not

Recipe by Robin

Most great cooks love improvising from written recipes with inspired and/or wacky ideas. Not only does improvising tickle the cook’s creative bones, it’s also a practical way to deal with an overly enthusiastic garden and odd bits of leftovers in the kitchen. As case in point, I’ve just reinvented my classic “cheap fare” recipe, Pasta a l’Olio.  I incorporated a backlog of onions and green garlic from our CSA, a bounty of CSA basil from this week, and dried tomatoes from our last year’s garden harvest. Soon this year’s tomatoes will be ripe for drying, so I used a rather large amount from last year along with some tomato paste. You could reduce the quantity of dried tomatoes, and/or add some fresh tomatoes or tomato sauce. We’re improvising here, eh?

Bacon and Caramelized Onion Pizza

Let the Party Begin!

Recipe by Robin and King Arthur

It’s almost time for the Super Bowl, which means it’s almost time for Super Bowl parties. I don’t know much about football, but I do know that food and drink is at least as important as a big screen for a successful Super Bowl party. If tradition holds, now is not the time for lightweight dainties like fruit salad and carrot sticks, unless accompanied by dips, toppings, and possibly wings. But it is the perfect time to roll out a couple of handcrafted Bacon and Caramelized Onion Pizzas. This recipe is adapted from a step-by-step pizza contest entry I posted last week at instructables.com. If you like how-to forums and pizza, I humbly ask that you head on over to Instructables and rate my recipe.

Turkey Drumsticks with Veggie Gravy

Serious Comfort Food

Recipe adapted from Meals for One or Two

I’ve been wanting to share this wonderfully retro recipe from this classic 1978 cookbook ever since I started Seasonal Eating in 2011. Turkey drumsticks are baked with a wintry mix of finely chopped celery, carrot, and onion. Then the veggies are boiled down into a chunky gravy, flavored with catsup and paprika. The meat stays moist and lends its juice to the gravy because – get this – it’s baked in an oven bag! Just like Mom or Grandma used to make. How fun is that?

Winter Greens Soup for Immune Boost

Colorful, Nutritious, and Most Especially Yummy

Recipe from Field of Greens

Looking for ways to strengthen your immune system? Good idea for staying well at this time of year. According to WebMD,  “A diet rich in antioxidant vitamins and nutrients can boost immunity. Top antioxidants include vitamins C and E, plus beta-carotene and zinc.” Their top antioxidant food picks include kale, onions, spinach, carrots, chard, and garlic. And that’s pretty much the ingredient list for this soup. So it’s healthy, but the real surprise is its savory deliciousness, considering its simple ingredients. Preparation method is key. As my friend Gwen, who makes this soup every winter says, “If you throw it all into a pot, it won't come out right. Follow instructions, then it's delicious!” Luckily, the instructions are pretty easy.

Chicken Cacciatore

Served over Spaghetti Squash

Recipe by Robin

One way to almost guarantee success with a recipe that you haven’t tried before is to make something with tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes. Your chances of success are even greater if you use homemade tomato sauce and/or homemade stewed tomatoes. Add a little wine for even higher odds of success. Case in point: I have only made chicken cacciatore twice but both times it was enthusiastically enjoyed and compliments rolled in. The first success was back in yesteryear when feeding an under-appreciative boyfriend with a recipe from the new 1985 Joy of Cooking. The second success was at a recent dinner party where my husband hoped that I knew what I was doing when I made up a recipe at the last minute.  It’s hard to go wrong with variations on this recipe, as long as you use a wine that you’d consider drinking. It doesn’t need to be expensive wine. I used a 2001 Two Buck Chuck Shiraz. Yeah, I might consider drinking that if the occasion were right, though it’s even better for cooking.

Ratatouille

Lunch, Dinner, Main Dish, or Side Dish

Recipe by Robin

A few years back, our CSA went a bit crazy with eggplant. Italian eggplant, Japanese eggplant, large eggplant, small eggplant, our farm share was loaded with these every week throughout the summer. Unfortunately, my husband Bruce hated eggplant: its puffy yet squishy texture, its bitterness, even the mere idea of eggplant. Luckily, during those same summer weeks we received plenty of tomatoes and peppers from our CSA, and a mondo load of zucchini from our neighbor Dana. I started making huge batches of ratatouille, which is basically a sauté of these four veggies along with onions and garlic. At first I chopped the eggplant finer than the other veggies, thinking that Bruce would notice it less and be more likely to enjoy the dish. This strategy worked beautifully, and throughout the summer I increased the size of the eggplant pieces. Ratatouille became a favorite dinner for both of us. Especially since it’s filling and my recipe is very low in calories.

Minestrone with Fresh Beans

Warming, Healthful, and Italian!

Recipe by Robin

What’s the #1 way to use up lots of veggies from your CSA when nights are cool? That’s right: a hearty, warming soup. One of the keys to good soup is tasty broth. Onion, celery, and carrots, added at the beginning of the cooking time, make a savory broth base. Or use leeks and shallots instead of all or part of the onion. To fully develop their flavor, sauté these veggies before adding liquid to make the soup. Late season tomatoes, added after the broth has developed a bit, turn the broth in a decidedly Italian direction, especially when paired with garlic and dried oregano, basil, and marjoram. Almost any veggie can be “souped,” but be aware that cruciferous veggies like broccoli or kale will tend to dominate the soup’s flavor. Combining milder veggies like squash, potatoes, and green beans with them mellows the blend, as does pasta, rice, or beans. Greens such as spinach, parsley, or leftover basil add freshness and texture to your creation.

Slow Cooker Tomato Sauce

Pasta Alternative: Cooked Chicken and Kale

Recipe created from Conversation at Farmers’ Market

I love men who can cook and like to do so. It’s especially heartening to see young men experimenting with their own recipes and talking about them. Such was the case at the farmers’ market a few weeks back when a handsome young tomato vendor told me how he’d cook the discounted sauce tomatoes he was selling. Yes, I know it was a sales pitch. And it would have worked if I didn’t have 5 lbs. of tomatoes at home already. It almost worked anyway.

Harvest Vegetable Chowder

Instant Love!

Recipe adapted from Healing Foods

Welcome to Fall! Sometimes we need a bit of comfort food to ground ourselves. Perhaps we’ve been betrayed by a trusted friend, perhaps we feel alone in our world, perhaps we’re just stressed and need some nurturing…and perhaps I’m just projecting. Perhaps the change of season has left us a little blue. In any case, comfort food doesn’t really help if it’s filled with unhealthy ingredients. That’s not taking best care of ourselves. So I present a milk-based vegetarian chowder filled with comforting whole ingredients like corn, potatoes, and winter squash. Worked for me, and hope it does for you too.

Grilled Vegetables & Grilled Peaches

Fill Up the Grill

Recipe by Bruce

It’s almost Labor Day. I know, I know, end of summer is coming too soon, just like last year. But we have one more holiday, and several more grill-friendly weekends before we need to winterize the BBQ. Late summer produce is cheap and plentiful…so let’s get grillin’…veggies! All types of summer squash, eggplant, sweet and hot peppers, and onions are classics. Peaches make a yummy dessert at barbecues, with or without vanilla ice cream. Grilled corn is delicious, but remember that it’s typically genetically engineered (a GMO) when grown commercially. GMOs have not been well tested for safety. Buy corn from your local farmer or organic market if you don’t grow it in your backyard.

Quick and Easy Chicken Soup

To Your Health

Recipe by Robin

Summertime colds seem so counterintuitive and unfair. Staying in bed shivering under blankets while everyone else is outdoors playing in the sun, swimming with the kids, or sipping cocktails at a barbecue just doesn’t seem right. So the other day when I felt a bit under the weather, I chose to nip the virus in the bud. In addition to getting extra rest and drinking ginger tea and lemon tea, I made chicken soup.

Spaghetti and Broccoli

Healthful Pasta

Recipe from “The Cooking Decade”

“Weird!” said my husband both times I’ve mentioned making this recipe. I could tell from the tone of his voice that he didn’t mean “different and interesting,” he meant “sounds terrible,” mainly because he’s not fond of yogurt. But I’ve been intrigued by this no-red-sauce spaghetti for awhile. My husband isn’t home today, but a huge bunch of CSA broccoli is, so the time was right to try it.

Vegetarian Spinach Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

Jae's Potluck Idea

Recipe by Jae and Robin

A few years back, I was completely socially inept. Not only was I unable to make conversation at parties, I was absolutely clueless about what kind of food to bring to these gatherings. So many foods seemed unacceptable: chips and salsa were brought by too many people already, anything with meat was a faux pas if a vegetarian accidentally ate it, shellfish was suspect by individuals who thought it might not be cooked sufficiently, beer was assumed to accompany something else, and the ramen and veggies that I largely subsisted on rapidly deteriorated in texture as the evening progressed.  Because I wanted to mingle with others, I asked my few girlfriends what to do.

Smoky Chicken Paprikash

Smoky Chicken Paprikash on Steamed Zucchini

Recipe by Robin

One of the most thoughtful gifts I’ve ever received was a bottle of exotic smoked paprika from my friend Betty. We were talking smoked paprika at a monthly musical gathering. The following month she surprised me with a bottle of my own, from her supply of La Chinata sweet smoked paprika. La Chinata, a manufacturer in Spain, also makes hot smoked paprika and bittersweet smoked paprika, half hot and half sweet.

Classic Tomato Sauce: Pasta for Winter

Classic Sauce Changed up with Rigatoni

Recipe from Bruce's family

This dish has been part of American cuisine for generations. It was born into American culture in an era when stores stocked few non-local ingredients, especially in winter. Onion, green bell pepper, tomato paste and tomato sauce have been available year-round in most of the US since the 1950s. Bruce’s family cooked this particular recipe, and my mom made a similar one.