Take It Slow

We ate this up, we loved it so. Sausage, White Bean and Kale soup is a weeknight staple at our house. I add ginger to my broth to soothe after a weekend of rich food. To make the meal more substantial, I served our dinner with al dente farfale pasta, but it's delicious on it's own, and it would be even more nutritious (and gluten free) over quinoa or brown rice.  

Sausage White Bean and Kale Soup
Serves 6

2 large savory chicken sausage links, uncooked, casing removed
2 cans white beans, rinsed
1 bunch kale, stems removed, cut into strips
1 yellow onion, diced 
12 cups chicken stock (prepared or homemade)
2 tbsp fresh ginger, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
optional 1 tsp red pepper flakes for extra heat 

Combine all ingredients in a slowcooker/crock pot, portion sausage into tbsp sized meatballs.  Set to low cook for 4 hours, keep warm until ready to serve. 

Together We Are Giant

Hope you had a great weekend.  Ours was busy, as we hopped from one youngling party to the next. Yesterday we hosted our annual pumpkin carving party here in Petaluma. Picture a packed house full of screaming little children smuggling cookies with some pumpkin carving on the side. We capped it all off with a party of 3 in my family room, which ended in a fit of excitement when our San Francisco Giants won the World Series.  Jasper has become quite the baseball nut, and we let him stay up well past his bedtime to watch what we all suspected would be the final game of the long season.  He got the go ahead to throw a cauldron of popcorn in the air to celebrate.  It was better than champagne.

      

This week I'll be burning the midnight oil sewing furry costumes among other things, and I won't have a ton of time to write or even make dinner, so I'll be doing a lot of simple slow cooker recipes.  With 15 minutes of prep into the crock pot, they make your house smell amazing at the end of a long day. Stay tuned, I'll be sharing a few throughout the week. 

Pigging Out

Today is the Teacher Appreciation Day Banquet at our elementary school. I'm the daughter of a teacher, I'm also married to a teacher turned principal, and therefore an authority on what they like, and I will tell you, all teachers like buffets.  

I will also tell you that nothing says "thank you" like pork.

Here's my simple crock pot recipe for barbecue pulled pork sliders, perfect for teachers and potlucks everywhere.

Pulled Pork Sliders
Feeds a village


6-7lbs of boneless Pork Butt (stop laughing)or shoulder
3 diced carrots
1 diced yellow onion
2 diced celery stalks
3 cloves of garlic, smashed
16 oz vegetable stock
16 oz sweet, tangy barbecque sauce
salt + pepper
Slider buns (I found mine at Trader Joes)
Peppers (I like sliced pickled jalapenos)
 
For this, I make coleslaw simple and without mayo (sits out well)
See recipe below.

Salt and pepper the outside of the pork, I'm pretty generous with the salt.

In a large pan or cast iron skillet brown the pork on all sides to seal in the juices.

Put the pork in the crock pot, adding the vegetables and stock, cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours, if you have less time, cook on high setting for 6 hours. The less meat you have, the shorter the cook time.  The important thing is that the pork breaks down and shreds softly.


Once it finished cooking transfer the meat to a grooved cutting board and using two forks, gently pull the meat apart until it looks like this:

At this point you can do a few different things.  If you do not like barbecue sauce slathered all over your pork, I suggest draining part of the liquid (skimming the fat) from the crock pot and returning the meat to stew, using a slatted spoon to serve.


If you do like barbecue sauce on your pork, discard all but 1 cup of the juices, mix in 16 oz of bbq sauce and return the meat to the crock pot.  


You can serve directly from the crock pot or put the pulled pork in a covered serving dish for the table, or you could assemble the sandwiches and serve on a platter.


If you have leftovers, may I suggest taco night?




Coleslaw

1 head of green cabbage, finely shredded
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
Pepper to taste

Whisk dressing ingredients until emulsified, toss with cabbage.

 

Family Style

One week out of the year, our family gets together in Pajaro Dunes, a small coastal resort south of Santa Cruz, CA.  We stay in a multilevel four bedroom compound that houses 5 grandsons, 3 couples and two grandparents. During the day we try to spend as much time at the beach as the fickle weather allows and and night we dine.  We are a family of eaters, and we can spend a lot of time cooking elaborate meals. Other times, like last night, we make special, but simple comfort food.  Grandma C found this paella recipe years ago in Sunset magazine. It's a family favorite and special to me, as we served a similar version of paella at our wedding reception. I made a butter lettuce, avocado and grapefruit salad to compliment the salty and spicy flavors of the dish. Here's an adaptation of the original recipe.

Simple Seafood and Sausage Paella (adapted from Sunset Magazine)

Serves 6, prep and cook time about 1 hour

12 oz linguisa, firm chorizo or other cooked sausages
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 red bell pepper rinsed, seeded and diced
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 cups arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine
1 quart fat-skimmed chiken broth
1/2 tsp paprika (smokey spanish variety)
1/4 tsp ground tumeric
1/4 tsp saffron threads, crumbled
Salt and pepper
8 oz boned, skinned firm white fish (halibut) 
1 lb shelled, deveined shrimp, tails on
8 oz mussels (or small clams) in their shells 
1/4 cup slivered green onions
Lemon wedges 

1. In a 15" paella pan or 12" frying pan (with at least 2 1/4" tall sides) over high heat, turn sausages occasionally until browned on both sides.  For ease, we pre-slice the sausage. The recipe instructs to brown them whole, allow to rest, then slice. 


2. Reduce heat to medium-high and add olive oil to pan; when hot, add onion, bell pepper and garlic and stir often until onion is limp.  Add rice and stir until it begins to turn opaque, 2-3 minutes.  Stir in wine, chicken broth, paprika, tumeric, and saffron.  Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered, stirring once of twice, until rice is almost tender to bite, 15-18 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.


3. Meanwhile, rinse and drain fish and shrimp; cut fish into 1" pieces, pull beards off mussels and scrub mussels (or clams) discarding any gaping ones that don't close when you tap their shells.  Cut sausages diagonally into 1/2" thick slices.


4. Gently stir fish, shrimp and sausages into rice mixture; arrange mussels on top.  Cover pan with foil or lid and cook until the rice is tender to bite, fish and shrimp are opaque but still moist looking in center of thickest part, and mussel shells have popped, about 7-8 minutes. 


5. Sprinkle with green onions and garnish with lemon wedges. 

Cuckoo for Coconuts

Ginger Spice has a new favorite treat.  Pretty much since last Halloween my kids have been sugar crazy and ask for dessert every night (not happening).  Yesterday, I had to stop in to Whole Foods and my bribe for good behavior was a treat.  I spotted the young coconuts in the section with the overpriced cut up strawberries and thought that drinking out of a coconut might just gimmicky enough to qualify as dessert. I chilled them in the freezer during dinner and put fancy straws inside. They loved it.  
Coconut water is low in sugar and hydrates. I've also read that it boosts immunity, is good for the kidneys and cleanses the digestive tract. Worlds perfect dessert?

Mmm Mmm Good

You can see the size of this pan.  Let me start by saying we ate the whole thing, and by we I mean this kid.  Fortunately it's chicken pot pie that is both hearty and healthy. Here's the recipe. For a vegetarian version sub in veg stock and double the root vegetables.

Chicken Pot Pie

3 Tablespoons of olive oil
1/4 Cup of flour
3 Carrots,chopped
1 parsnip, chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
2 large yukon gold potatoes, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped 
1 cup frozen peas 
3 Tablespoons of fresh thyme
2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 2" pieces
Generous pinches of Salt and Pepper
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
6 sheets phyllo dough (thawed for an hour in refrigerator)


Preheat oven to 350
Bring stock to a simmer

In a large, deep skillet, over med-high heat:
Combine olive oil and flour until it forms a paste.
Add the vegetables and stir until they are coated.
Add Chicken until coated. Season.
Add Broth and bring mixture to a boil, then simmer for 5-7 minutes.

Pour the stew into a 9x12 casserole dish. 
After basting the phyllo dough with olive oil, place sheets over the top of the stew and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until crispy.

Side note: one of my kids is dairy free, I found a great Phyllo dough from The Fillo Factory (Whole Foods)that is made without butter, which is lower in fat and could lend itself well to making this recipe vegan.