Swiss Chard

Every time I go to the farmers market I look at the swiss chard and think, wow that is beautiful. I have never bought or cooked it until this past Sunday. I never knew what to do with it. I did a little research and found out that it is really good for you and very high in vitamin K...who knew?

recipe
3 tablespoons dried cranberries
2 pounds Swiss Chard
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves- minced
3 tablespoons sliced almonds.
salt & pepper

Wash the chard in many batches of water.


Cut the stems off and set to the side. Fill up a large bowl with cold water, set this aside. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the chard leaves for 1-2 minutes.

Put the chard into the bowl of cold water. Let it rest for a few minutes. Squeeze all the water out of the chard and then chop it coarsely. Heat oil in a pan and cook the chard stems for 1-2 minutes. Add in the sliced almonds and garlic. Cook for about 2-3 minutes.

Add the chopped greens and the cranberries. Make sure everything is coated in the oil and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper! Hope you enjoy this tasty dish- feel free to substitute the almonds and cranberries for any type of dried nuts and fruit.

Pasta Bolognese

Growing up I thought pasta bolognese was ground beef with red sauce from a jar tossed onto spaghetti. Boy, was I wrong. Over the past years, I have always made my own red sauce for quick meals, it is so easy. But now I know about this amazing dish called bolognese. I am sure we have all had a meat sauce where the meat tasted tough or like rubber. Well in this recipe the meat is nice and soft because you cook the meat in milk! I know it sounds strange, but it is delicious.

recipe
adapted from Cooks Illustrated, Weeknight Pasta Bolognese
1 green pepper- diced into 1 inch pieces
1 small onion- diced
2 roma tomatoes- blanch tomatoes to remove skins and then dice.
1/2 box pomi chopped tomatoes- or a 1 can of chopped tomatoes.
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves- diced
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pound pork sausage
1 1/2 cups milk- you can use skim or whole
2 tablespoons tomato paste
salt
pepper
1 pound pasta- you can use spaghetti, I used penne, that was all we had at the time.


Heat butter in 12 inch skillet over medium high heat.


Add pepper and onion. Cook until vegetables are soft. Add in garlic and cook until fragrant about 1 minute.


Add diced roma tomatoes (I was being lazy and didn't blanch the skin off my tomatoes, but next time I will), cook for another minute or so and then add in the meat. Break the meat up into small pieces as it cooks.


Now it is time to add in the milk, I know this sounds really strange and it even looks strange, but trust me it is the key to this recipe. Keep breaking up the meat into 1/2 inch pieces. Continue to simmer for about 12-15 minutes. Cook it long enough for all the liquid to evaporate. Stir in tomato paste and tomatoes, and pinch of salt & pepper.


Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 12-15 minutes.
*added note, at this point you can also skim off some of the fat that surfaces, or you can stir it back in!

In the meantime cook your pasta. I prefer mine al dente, just cook how you normally do. When pasta is ready, place some in a bowl and top it with the sauce, of course you can always add a little freshly grated Parmesan! This is a great meal for leftovers as well. I brought it for lunch the next day. It was so fab, everyone at work was drooling as I ate it over a lunch hour meeting.

Pulled Pork

Ok, one of the main problems I am having lately is the lighting in my new kitchen. It is horrible! I was spoiled in our loft because we had a huge south facing window, so I had great light all the time. I am going to invest in a great hot shoot flash for my camera. So for now, you will have to do with these poorly lit photos :( Moving on to the food, which really is more important. One of Chris's favorite things to eat is pulled pork. When we got a pork shoulder in our recent CSA I knew exactly what to do with it....smoke it! I made a cabbage slaw to eat along side (recipe coming soon)

Recipe
based on cooks illustrated "barbecued south carolina pulled pork"

3 tablespoons dry mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 4-5 pound boneless pork shoulder- I used bone-in and it was fine
4 cups wood chips.

sauce ingredients
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Combine the dry mustard, brown sugar, salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne. Make sure to mix it up well and eliminate any lumps. Dry the pork and then rub the spice mixture all over it.


Now you will need to soak the wood chips in water for about 15 minutes.


Once they have soaked, wrap them up in foil.

and cut slits on the top. Now it is time to place it in your grill. We have a gas grill, you will need to pull up the grate and put it under.

Turn all of your burners to high and heat the grill with the top down until the wood chips start to smoke about 15 minutes. Then you can clean the grill and brush oil on the grate. Leave the primary burner on high and turn off the other burners. Place the pork on the cooler side of the gill. Close the lid and barbecue for about 2 hours.

After it has cooked for about 2 hours on the grill, transfer the meat to a roasting pan. I used my Le Creuset. Heat your oven to 325 degrees. Move the rack to the lower middle position.

Whisk together mustard, brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, salt and pepper. Mix it till it is smooth. Brush 1/2 cup of the sauce onto the pork. Bake the pork covered for about 2-3 hours or until you can insert a fork with ease. Let the pork rest for about 30 minutes and when it is cool begin to shred it with a fork. Discard the fat and then toss the pork with the remaining sauce!

Top it on your favorite bun, I chose brioche for this meal.

Cherry Almond Granola Bars

Hello all, sorry for the lack of posts. This summer has been the craziest. Buying a new house, training for a triathlon and a marathon. Thank goodness the tri is done and the marathon will be done soon. Wow, I can't wait till it is over. On to better things....food. I have always wanted to make granola bars. I make granola all the time, so how hard could bars be? Well they are not hard at all. I love the idea of knowing exactly what is in my granola bars.

1 2/3 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup oats - crush in blender or food processor
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 maple syrup
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon water

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a pan with parchment paper, line it so you have extra hang over both sides, this will allow you to get the bars out of the pan a little more easily. Rub a little butter on the parchment paper and the edge of the pan.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients including the nuts and fruits.

In a separate bowl mix together the peanut butter, vanilla, butter, maple syrup, corn syrup and water. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry.


Once it is all combined press it into the pan. You may want to use a small piece of parchment paper to help press it into the pan.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes. I like mine to be a little brown around the edges and a little brown on the top. Let the bars cool for at least an hour. They can be crumbly so I placed mine in the freezer for about 10 minutes before I cut them into bars. Store them in a sealed container.

I promise to be back to my blogging this month! I am actually very excited to start cooking more cool weather dishes....stews, squash and soups!

Margaritas

I tend to only drink beer and wine, but I do love a great Margarita! I hate those nasty margaritas that people make with that MIX....ewwwww. This is a very simple recipe and it makes the best Margarita, I don't think you will ever want to drink one of those mix margaritas ever again.

Recipe - this is for 1 drink
1 shot tequila- go for the good stuff
1 shot orange liqueur- I only had some cheap Triple Sec, but it still tasted great!
juice from 1 lime

We have a lime tree on out front steps. It takes a long time for the limes to get big, about 4 months, a few of them are ready for picking so I grabbed one off the tree and headed inside. It was so juicy!



Once you have all the ingredients, start pouring the drinks!

Roasted Corn Salad

Sorry for the delay in posts. It has been a very busy month over here. We moved from the West Loop to a house in Logan Square. We are super excited to have a new home. We just got internet this week so hopefully posting will pick back up! We just got a fabulous new grill, so I am super excited to start sharing some grilled treats! This is one of my all time favorite summer salads. It is based on an Elote - which is a common street food in Mexico.

This is a picture of my friend Melissa eating an Elote! This picture is about 5 years old! I was living in New York at the time and there is a delicious restaurant in Soho that serves Elote.

I really can't believe that I haven't posted this salad yet. I think I make it about 5 times each summer.

Recipe
4 ears corn- leave the husks on
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 lime
3-4 ounces queso fresco- one of my favorite cheeses for salads!
3-4 green onions- chopped thinly
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 serrano pepper- chopped small

First you need to run the corn under cold water. Then grill the corn with the husks on over medium high heat for about 10 minutes. Then take the corn out of the husks and place back on the grill. Cook for about 5-6 minutes, make sure to continually turn them.


Let the corn cool a little and then cut the kernels off the cob.

Chop the onions, cilantro and pepper. Mix all the ingredients together! I hope you enjoy this salad.

Today I plan to drink the best margaritas ever on my new porch. I will post the recipe next!

Strawberry Shortcake

This is one of my favorite desserts! It is so fresh and tasty. All of the farmers markets have the best strawberries right now. I like my strawberry shortcake to have more of a biscuit for the bread. and I don't like it overly sweet, I like the fresh strawberries to give it the sweetness.

recipe

biscuits
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup milk or cream
1/4 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla
Sugar for sprinkling on top

Toppings
Fresh Strawberries

1 cup whipping Cream
1 tablespoon sugar

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the butter. Use your hands to mix this all together. You want it to look crumbly. Add milk, yogurt and vanilla. Mix it well. It should start to form a nice dough. If it is too sticky, add a little flour. Once combined place on a piece of floured parchment paper. Work the dough into a square.

It should be about an inch thick.

With a knife cut into 6 pieces. Try to cut straight down.

Brush each with a little butter and top with granular sugar. Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes.

They will come out of the oven looking delicious! Now it's time to whip up some whip cream. I don't know why anyone would buy pre-made whip cream. It is so easy to make your own and it tastes a million times better. Simply pour some whip cream into a bowl and mix on high speed. Sprinkle in a little sugar. Keep whipping until it is nice and fluffy. taste and see if you need to add more sugar.

Chop up some strawberries and you are already to assemble.


I hope you enjoy this delicious summer treat. Also, since the biscuits aren't too sweet. I used the leftovers to make egg sandwiches for breakfast, talk about good.