the arugula files

Conquering Kale Part 2 (Braised Kale with Farro, Gruyere, Parmesan)

I'm lovin it (the it being kale, my new favorite vegetable).  After last week's success with this nutritional powerhouse, I decided to make another kale dish.  I promised a dish by Dan Barber, the chef at the Stone Barns at Blue Hill, where I enjoyed a creamy, salty, tangy, soft-boiled egg drizzled with a pancetta vinaigrette, placed on a nest of arugula.  It was an amazing egg.  So, after searching for kale on the internets, I was pleased to find a recipe for melted kale and farro by Mr. Barber.

Conquering Kale with Molly (Braised Kale with Spaghetti and Chorizo)

Last night was the first time I tried kale.  Ever.  And, holy shit, I loved it.  Absolutely loved it.  I have one person to thank for my  new found appreciation for kale: Molly Wizenberg.  This past week, while I was traveling from Spokane to Seattle, I picked up a copy of bon appettit in the airport.  On page 74, Molly has a lovely article called, "how I learned to love kale."  She admits, she didn't like it at first.  It grew on her. 

Baked (But Creamy) Mac and Cheese with Sundried Tomatoes

What to do with half a jar of sun-dried tomatoes, a lonely shallot, and some leftover panko crumbs? Add pasta and cheddar cheese.   This dish was diabolically delicious--creamy, crumbly, salty, flavorful.  There's no way else to describe it, except to say it is the ultimate comfort food, which basically means you should make it once in a year, if you know what I mean.

Fried Quinoa

I've been testing some quinoa recipes lately.  Before my Aunty Franny calls me tonight to say, "Mary, What the heck is quinoa?  It sounds weird."  Let me say, yes, it is.  Quinoa (keen-wah) is a little bit like couscous, but less grainy, with a nutty flavor, and it is for that very reason that I think it tastes better than most whole grains. Sounds healthy, right?  Quinoa is 100 percent whole grain, packing protein, vitamin B, zinc and other assorted goodies that you probably won't get in your Fred Flintstone vitamin. It's for that very reason—sounds healthy—that I've had a box of quinoa sitting in my cupboard longer than it is taking Congress to pass healthcare reform (still waiting....). Making "fried rice" with quinoa seemed to me like a great way to make this healthy dish taste delicious.

Melon, Arugula, Prosciutto Israeli Couscous Salad

Summer is almost over.  Sigh.  Here's a light summer salad that's salty, sweet, and perfect for hot days.  It's also mayonnaise-free and features one of my favorite pasta products: Israeli couscous.  If you can't find Israeli couscous at your local supermarket, you can buy it on the internets. 

Mushrooms, Thyme, Shallots, and Polenta

We have known for years that too much meat, especially red meat, expands your waistline and upsets your heart.  And, today, the fact that meat is bad for the environment is slowly making its way into newspaper headlines and books. 

The solution? I suppose you could get a second job and buy all your meat from sustainable sources, but, as Michael Pollan and his disciples have written, if you are in it for the earth and yourself, less meat is best. Plus, I'm not sure grass fed meat tastes great (more on that topic later).

Giving up meat isn’t easy, and I don’t intend on becoming a vegetarian, but eating less meat is something I’m down with.  Not so down that I want to give up taste.  Taste is always first in my book, and, I think, that it's a losing battle to try to convince someone to eat something that tastes inferior.  Rice cakes are a good example if this.  Who wants rice cakes when chips are around?

So how do you cook meatless meals with lots of flavor?  One simple fungus: mushrooms.  Mushrooms are hearty, flavorful, and go well with most grains.  I put them on pizza, pasta, and in phyllo pie.  Here they are with polenta: my new favorite kitchen staple.

Sun-dried Tomatoes with Arugula and Ravioli

Here's a quick week night meal that's healthy, tasty, and made, mostly, with ingredients that I always have on hand.  Sun-dried tomatoes are a kitchen staple in my house.  I also like to keep pine nuts around.  What go-to ingredient do you keep in your pantry? 

A few of my favorite things: pesto

I have lots of favorite things, and many are associated with different seasons.  During spring, I love walking home through Dupont Circle and seeing everyone sitting on the edge of the fountain, some with their feet dunked in water.   Each year I look forward to picking blueberries from a local farm.  And for the first few weeks during spring that it's comfortable, I love having drinks at outdoor cafes (DC has a seven day window for this activity; then it turns sweaty and I grow irritable).  I'm even willing to venture to Fox and Hounds for jalapeno poppers and bad wine (who am I kidding, I love jalapeno poppers; not bad wine, though).

I have a new thing to add to my list: rogue mint and basil growing all over town.  I was walking past Zorba's the other day and I noticed that the ENTIRE sidewalk had basil plants growing along side of it.  This is not an isolated herb growing incident.  Larry's on 18th has mint growing out of its planters.  And on 16th Street, Local 16 has a fresh herb garden that people are free to pick from.  All of this makes me think that Mayor Fenty should plant herb gardens across the city.  Imagine a world where free herbs were sprouting everywhere.  All these sidewalk herbs, remind me of another thing I love: pesto.  Salty, garlicky, fresh, hearty, and yummy.  For the best pesto recipe I turn to a cook who provides endless tasty recipes that always work.

Lemony Israeli Couscous with Arugula

Remember when I said that I wanted to be eating more whole grains?   It wasn't really working out that well, mostly because I like pasta way more than I like quinoa.  I found something that might help me overcome my quinoa resistance.  It's from Trader Joe's and it's called Harvest Blend.  Sure, most of the blend is Israeli Couscous, which is, at least in my mind, basically pasta.  But there's also orzo, split baby garbanzo beans, and red quinoa.  For this dish, I added arugula, feta, and some more garbanzos. And lots of lemon.

Marcus calls garbanzo beans "butt beans" (because he thinks they look like little butts). He doesn't like them, and picks them out of his food.  I may not love quinoa, but I sure do love garbanzos. (Yes, it's true, I have a carbohydrate disorder).

This dish is quite delicious, and only takes about fifteen minutes to make, including chopping and zesting.  "Lovely," as Gordon Ramsay says.

Lamb Sausage, Spinach, Orzo, and Feta

I'm one of those annoying cooks who makes a dish, serves it, and then watches the person's reaction like a kid watches TV: I stare, without blinking, totally entranced, waiting for something to happen.  Basically, waiting for clues on whether or not they like the dish.  I can hardly let a few seconds pass before I ask - so, what do you think?  Then I want to talk about the dish, like forever.  Having been on the serving end of my dishes, like forever, Marcus has a routine response.  It's good.  That's it?  It's good?  What does that mean, I think.  Then I try to pull information out of him.  Essentially, he's been arrested at the dinner table and I'm the head of the interrogation team, except he has no right to remain silent.  He must answer my questions. What would you change about it if you made it?  Do you think it needs more salt? Do you really think it's good.  How good, is in your top ten? 

I'm sure it's really annoying, but I can't help myself.  So when I made this dish - with lamb sausage, feta, orzo, and spinach - I asked Marcus how he liked it.  His response?

Too much green stuff. 

So there you have it.  I thought it was delicious, and it's easy to make.