Broccoli-Mushroom Custard GF

This versatile one-dish meal is delicious, also easy to make ahead, or in quantity for planned-overs. I made the broccoli-mushroom version for supper for our 51st wedding anniversary: we wanted to spend time on a nice long walk, not sitting in a restaurant.

This recipe features a custard that surrounds both veggies and rice. The cheese adds richness, and if you choose the feta-cheese option, it also provides the salt.

Here's the recipe. It's helpful if you have some leftover cooked rice. I always make extra rice, 6 cups at a time in my rice cooker. The cooked rice keeps for several days in the fridge, or forever in the freezer. If you don't have leftover rice, cook some up right away!

This recipe makes about 6 servings.

Ingredients. All measures are approximate. This is a very flexible recipe! (see below for variations)

1 1/2 pounds broccoli
1 pound brown mushrooms
1 T butter
3 cups cooked rice. I think white is nicer in this recipe. I use short-grain.
1 cup feta cheese crumbles
3 extra large eggs or equivalent
1 cup whipping cream
2 1/2 cups whole milk
Whole nutmeg (optional)

1. Pre-cook the broccoli by steaming it briefly in the microwave. Chop into bite-size pieces.
2. Coarsely chop the mushrooms, then saute in the butter until beginning to brown all over.
3. Heat the rice until soft in a 9x13 glass baking dish in the microwave, about 2 minutes.
4. Toss the broccoli, mushrooms, and rice together in the baking dish.
5. Sprinkle the feta cheese over the mixture. Use more if you'd like.
6. Beat the eggs well, then add the cream and milk and beat again. Pour over the contents of the baking dish.
7. Grate nutmeg over the top (optional)

Bake at 350 for nearly an hour. Check after 50 minutes to see if it's cooked to the center.

Variations:

• Use other vegetables. Sauteed greens, strips of pre-steamed carrots, sauteed onion, whole cloves of garlic, strips of sauteed pepper (red bell would be particularly nice, or if you want some zip, sauteed chilis).
• Use parmesan instead of feta. You'll probably want to sprinkle salt on the rice while warming it unless you use feta.
• Add meat, such as roasted chicken or pork; or add canned salmon. Increase the milk by 1/2 cup.
• Sprinkle the top with crumbs (no longer GF) or ground pecans or ground hazelnuts.
• Add 1/2 cup pumpkin or winter squash, cooked and pureed, to the custard before pouring it over the rice and vegetables. 
• For added piquancy, use sour cream instead of whipping cream. 
• Make in individual casseroles, adjusting cooking time. 
• Serve on a bed of sauteed greens. Or serve with a green salad, or fruit salad. 

Whole-chicken and garden soup

We've eaten this soup all winter. This is a small variation on Creamy Chicken Soup because when I got home with the cream I found it spoiled. Improvise! (I am not going to make an 8-mile 40-minute round trip for cream.) This soup takes days but very little labor.

Put the whole chicken into the crockpot, cover (or almost cover) with water, set the pot on low, cover with the lid, and plan something else for dinner for the next few days.

When the chicken is thoroughly cooked, after 24-30 hours more or less, lift out pieces of meat for immediate use or freeze them. Discard the skin. Leave the bones and more of the meat in the pot for this recipe. Cook them for one more day.

On the third day, discard the bones and skin. Return any meat to the pot. Add veggies, such as:

• leftover baked squash
• dried summer squash pieces
• dried mushrooms, or fresh
• leftover mashed potatoes
• roasted veggies (potatoes, onions, peppers, carrots, etc) - or they can be raw
• chopped celery, or freeze-dried celery
• fresh chopped onion
• good salt to taste

Add water to the rim and return the lid to the crockpot. Let everything cook on high until heated, or on low overnight if the veggies are fresh and need more cooking. 

Using a Vita-Mix, food processor, or wand, homogenize everything that's in the pot.

Serve steaming hot. Add cream (half cup?) just before serving, or at the table.

Serving idea: Heat up some red pepper flakes in a little dish of olive oil in the microwave for 2-3 minutes. Using a teaspoon, drizzle this mixture over the soup in pleasing patterns. Don't mix it in - the variations in taste of hot soup, cold cream, and spicy oil make a nice little culinary adventure.  Serves about 8.

This soup can be the basis of many meals in the days to come, or can be frozen for eating at home or on the road.

No-fry refried beans

This week's Anasazi beans had a wonderful flavor that got better every day. I thought I'd make something similar to be the basis of several meals this week.

I'm out of Anasazi beans but I have plenty of pintos.

Since we're traveling soon, I want to freeze a couple of servings to heat up along the way. A quart of the Southwest Baked Beans are already frozen for the road.

Homemade refries next week means starting the beans now. We won't be able to eat them till at least Day 4. Here's how I make refries that are smooth, creamy, and full of flavor without frying even once!

Day 1 (today, 3 pm) - Measure out the beans (3 cups), rinse them, pick out the broken ones, then cover them with cold water in a big bowl. They're going to grow so they need space.

Day 2 (tomorrow afternoon sometime) - Pour off this water, add fresh, and make sure the beans are covered.

Day 3 (Monday afternoon sometime) - Check the beans to make sure they're beginning to ferment (little bubbles are forming). If not, let them go a while longer. Or if you want, let them go till the next day after rinsing them and making sure they're covered.

Let's say I'll find them fermenting on Monday afternoon and I have time for the next step. Then I'll go ahead and....

Cook them. Pour off the water, put them into a pot, cover them barely with fresh water and cook on low. Don't set the lid down on the pot, but you can tilt it to help keep the heat in.

OR

Cook them in a crock pot the same way, except that you will want to cover them completely.

Cook for about an hour. Check for softness. How quickly they cook will depend on how old the beans are, among other things. You want the cooked beans be creamy. (Some beans never soften that much, but pinto beans as well as others do.)

My old beans cooked for over 4 hours before they looked like good candidates for creamy refries.

Those are the basics. But what I'm going to do is add the same veggies I did with my wonderful Southwestern Baked Bean concoction. These included an onion, several cloves of garlic, and chopped chili peppers. This time I'm using ones I roasted earlier today. You can also add finely chopped carrot - but don't add celery: then you would have savory refried beans, which haven't been invented yet. The veggies should all be added when you begin cooking the beans.

Once the beans (and veggies) are soft and creamy, take the pot off the heat and let the mixture cool a little. Then mash it all up or run it through a food processor or use a wand mixer to homogenize the mixture. Then salt to taste w/ good salt. I used a wand mixer and in about 5 mess-free minutes I had delightfully creamy 'refried' pintos.

Variation: add side pork to the pot of beans when it starts to cook. The amount is up to you, maybe 1/4-1/2 cup, chopped. Or maybe more.

Serve these refries alone, or with cheese, on tacos or burritos or in a bowl with a spoon. 3 cups dry beans makes a lot of refries! You can cut the recipe in half but these are easy to freeze, so why not make enough for planned-overs?

PS - The fresh chilies I bought for this recipe were wimps. I could have used 5 or 6 instead of the two that should have given the beans a decided zest.

Farmers' Market Fare - Greens and pork

A couple of years ago we were driving around the small farms of Skagit County here in Washington State, and found a cheese shop (essentially a shack) by the side of a small rural road. We stopped in and discovered Samish Bay Cheese Company. We were delighted to learn that they milk their own cows, that the cows are on pasture, and that they also had pigs on pasture, supplemented with whey from the cheese-making.

We indulged in some of their strong gouda, which ran out too fast. We also bought some bacon, the best bacon I've tasted.

Not many weeks later, we discovered them at the Anacortes Farmers' Market. Now we see them regularly. Last week we bought some side pork from them to go with the armload of greens we bought from Moondance Farm. Here's what happened next:

Greens and Side Pork 

1 lb or so grass-fed side pork
3 lbs or so mixed greens, such as collards, kale, beets, spinach, etc
1 bunch garlic scapes
3 T or more balsamic vinegar (or according to taste)
½ t coarse sea salt

On coming home from the farmers’ market, leave the side pork on the counter to come to room temperature. Leave all the greens on the counter, or wash if gritty. With scissors or your hands, snip or tear the greens into strips about an inch wide. Chop the coarsest stems about an inch long. Cut the garlic scapes, including the buds, an inch long or so. Snip the side pork with scissors into about ¼-inch strips. Saute the strips till some of the fat melts, then add the garlic scapes and stem pieces and cook for a minute or two. Add the prepared greens, a handful at a time, and stir until hot and wilted before adding more. When all the greens have been added to the pot and stirred well, add a cup of water and cover. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until as done as you like. This dish is nicest when it has been cooked thoroughly.  Remove the lid, stir a few more times, and add the balsamic vinegar and salt. Stir some more, taste, adjust the amount of vinegar and salt, and serve with a yellow vegetable. Can also be served over rice. Leftovers, if any, are excellent for breakfast the next day.