Cast Your Fate to the Wind

Sometimes I think I know better...

I'm not saying that I'm directionally challenged, because I have always felt that I had a rather keen sense of direction.  But it just doesn't work all the time.  And my phone doesn't help.  What has this got to do with cooking, you may ask?  Well let me tell you about my recent trip to CT.  I'm making decent progress, and Cyril is dutifully reminding me of the various exits and turns I need to make (Siri has been replaced by a gentlemen from Bangkok with a lovely accent).  About 2 hours in, I reached a point where I suddenly felt as though I had a better idea as to where I should be headed.  So, despite Cyril's frantic attempts to redirect me to the planned route, I suddenly found myself driving through a town that has deemed a stop-light every 500 feet to be an absolute necessity.  Cyril had given up on me at this point, and I was supremely aware of my error in ignoring him.  I eventually got back on track, and let Cyril get me to where I needed to be (I did end up running one of those red lights...I just couldn't take it any longer).
And this brings us to tonight's dish...Broccoli Cheese Stuffed Sweet Potatoes.  The recipe is pretty straight forward, and I had most of the ingredients (not the same cheese, but no biggie), so I figure this one will be quick and painless.  Bake the sweet potatoes, chop the broccoli, pulverize the cannellini beans, shred the cheese...done.  Right?  But I decide that the recipe isn't quite right (nothing wrong there...tweaking recipes is a given), but I also didn't follow a few of the basic directions, and suddenly I'm creating something different, and I'm not quite sure where to go with it.  So, I just went with it.  By all means, go to the linked recipe, and try that out...I'm sure it's just as good as this mess I made here...

So far, so good...baked them just right
 (and ALWAYS put foil under them...you do NOT want that stuff leaking onto the bottom of your oven!)

Here's where I start to diverge...I hollow them out...

...and I add the mush to the pureed beans and broccoli.  Why?  Well, 2 reasons:
1- when I pureed the beans and shredded cheese, I believe I must have added too much water, because I suddenly had soup.  NOT what I was going for.
2- What the hell else was I going to do with that sweet potato goop?
(The recipe actually tells you to set it aside and use it later, for something else.  Right.)

So, now I'm basically making "twice baked potatoes"...nothing wrong with that.
Except for the fact that I have a lot of cheesy potato, broccoli, cannellini, sweet potato glop to fit into 4 hollowed out skins.
I heated the mess up a bit to try to thicken it, then just spooned it in and piled it high.
A little grated cheese (why not, at this point...right?), and into the oven for a 10 minute heat-up.

Lovely...yes?  

So there you have it...no need to follow directions, right?  You always end up somewhere.

You just may be a tad late.  Or you may show up at the wrong place.

Side note...
it's all Christmas music, all the time, here at this house, per order of a certain 15 year old, so my soundtrack this evening was this:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTJIAncqNDknWgEMH3WF0IchVRnX_qZZx

You can take the punk out of Paris, but you can't take Paris out of the punk

A request for Potato Leek soup always brings me back to the first time I tried this superlative soup. Paris, 1986, in a lovely apartment on Blvd St Germain.  Marie-Josèph whipped this dish up without seeming to give it any thought.   Although I have never been able to replicate that exact elixir, I have made it often enough that I can create a delicious approximation with ease.  Perhaps if I was in Paris, and was using Parisian leeks...
But for now, Four Town Farm leeks will suffice (and are gorgeous right now), and my crumbling Colonial is where my kitchen is located, so I make do.
There are a lot of variations on this soup, but mine is pretty basic:  leeks, potatoes, half an onion, light cream, and vegetable stock.  The basic Julia Child recipe, more or less.

I love the way the farm trims the leeks...

Sliced thin, and sautéed with diced onion in a mixture of butter and olive oil

Peel and dice the potatoes, toss in with the leeks, then pour on the vegetable stock.  Then it's time to let it simmer.  Oh, add some good sea salt (or Pink Himalayan, perhaps) and ground black pepper.

Two of my favorite Vegetable Stocks.  I really like Trader Joe's, too.

And here it is...smooth, velvety...une soupe impeccable.

So getting back to the title of this post...

I've included a video by one of my favorite French punk bands.  They were popular when I was in Paris during college, and I brought home a lot of their albums (yes, as in vinyl).  Give it a listen.  It will give you a pretty good idea of the soundtrack running through my head during that part of my youth.  And it is still running in the background today.  Once a punk, always a punk.

Berurier noir - Salut à toi

Morphine - Cure for Pain

Morphine: It's What's For Dinner

Last weekend, I actually had two days off in a row, which is a rare occurence for me lately.  Given this "Get Out of Dodge" pass, I hit the highway and made it to Cambridge in record time.  Sunday was Octoberfest in Harvard Square, and one of the bands I got to see perform was Vapors of Morphine.  Great music, fabulous friends, beer gardens and gorgeous weather made for a splendid day.  
What this all means is this: when I got home Monday evening, I needed a meal that was quick and easy to prepare, and didn't require a whole lot of thought.  Enter the Tortellini Bake.  It may not be the most interesting or culinarily daring meal, but it wins points for taste and efficiency. And that counts for something, right?
All that you need is a bag of fresh tri-color cheese tortellini (you have to get this one, because it looks healthier than the regular kind), a can of tomato puree, some fresh spinach, and some cheese.  Oh, and an onion and basil, if possible.

Spinach, because anything you add it to becomes that much healthier, right?
Just throw it in a skillet with a little water to quickly wilt it.
Then cool, squeeze, chop, and Popeye!  You've got the green veg covered!

While the tortellini is boiling, get that sauce going.   Olive oil in a sauce pan, a half  yellow onion diced, a crushed clove of garlic.  After a few minutes of medium heat sauteeing, add that can of crushed or pureed tomatoes (San Marzano, if possible, because it is superlative), a sprinkle of red pepper flakes, sea salt, and ground pepper and simmer.
If I have it, I also  add a blop of basil.

Once the sauce has adequately simmered, add the tortellini and chopped spinach, and pour it all in a casserole dish.  Top with some cheese (I used pre-shredded mozzarella and parm because this is a "cheat meal", so stop judging).

350 for about 15-20 minutes...gooey and delicious.  

Relatively painless.  Not too many pans, and it makes good left-overs.  Would Julia approve? Absolutely. (Well, she might draw the line at the pre-shredded cheese. And she would be unquestionably justified in doing so.  I have found that the pre-shredded stuff does not taste as good or melt in quite the same way; but when convenience is at stake, it's there for you.)

Getting back to the beginning of this piece, my soundtrack while putting this together was music by the band Morphine (from whence Vapors of Morphine arose).  Don't know them?  Then check them out.  Both bands. Click on their names for more info.

Oh, and this is how I add basil when the actual herb is not in season...

It's in the produce aisle, with all of the "fresh" herbs.
Trust me, this stuff is magical.  And much better than the out-of season herbs it sits next to.

*Tonight's meal was made even more pleasant by the glass of wine accompanying it:
Capa Tempranillo.

Falling into Autumn

…And, I'm back…(although, I did not go anywhere…just couldn't/didn't find time for this blog, but then I started to miss it, so here I am).

I've still been cooking meals for the man up the street, and for my family.  I have filled an entire journal with each week's recipes, and it has become a fantastic "go-to" when I'm at a loss as to what to make. 

To make up for my extended absence, I'm going to start off with a fancy new gadget (that I actually got for FREE!).  This is a Spiralizer.  Sounds like a gimmick, but it is seriously one of the most amusing things in my kitchen right now (besides the fork that's giving people the finger).  And this is my first dish with it: 

lemon-garlic zucchini noodles with roasted tomatoes

So this is the crazy device that makes noodles out of vegetables…

I altered the recipe by adding some pasta to the Zucchini noodles, because I knew it wouldn't fly with the kids, otherwise.  Why 2 different kinds, you ask?  It's called poor planning, and no time to run BACK to the grocery store.  Use what you've got, I often say (by necessity)…so my lovely green "noodles' were accompanied by a bit of linguine and a bit of fettucine.  They all got along just fine.

 The tomatoes I got were just perfect little ovoids of redness…and they were generously doused with sea salt, crushed garlic and olive oil before getting roasted.

Some lemon zest, and freshly squeezed lemon juice, and some toasted pine nuts and grated parmesan nicely finished this dish.  Surprisingly easy to make (however, it involves a lot of pans and other kitchen tools, and therefore the clean-up took me longer than the preparation…but that is also because I'm a terribly messy cook).

And here it is (minus the pine nuts, which I neglected to add for the picture…but don't  leave them out because they really foo add to the dish!)

This, by the way, is what is left of the courgette aprés spiralization.

My soundtrack for the evening was all Nick Cave…in honor of his birthday.

If you don't know his music, I highly recommend you give it a listen.

https://youtu.be/1GWsdqCYvgw

Oh…and here's that fork: