Polenta and Chard

Lucky us. 

A cool spring rain falls outside perking up the flowers and trees. Inside we're snuggled with the dogs enjoying the weather and the excuse to be lazy together.

Days with bit of chill call for hearty warm suppers. Stews, soups, and of course -- polenta.  But since lazy is the word of the day I went for an easy oven baked polenta (no stirring). 

First, so I didn't have to make a separate vegetable, I boiled some chard cut into 1/2" pieces in salted water for about 13 minutes (I put the stems in first for 3-4 minutes and then followed with the leaves for another 10). I drained the chard and reserved the cooking water to flavor the polenta. In an oven proof saucepan I combined 4 cups of chard cooking water, 2 TB of butter, a pinch of pepper and 1 cup of polenta. After the mixture baked for 40 minutes I gave it a good stir and let the polenta cook for just 10 minutes more.  It was creamy, hot and smooth (no stirring and no lumps -- oven magic) afterwards when I stirred in the cooked chard and a good sized handful of grated cheese.

With a couple minutes to spare while the polenta cooked with no effort from me, I whipped up a quick sauce with ground meat, madeira wine, capers and thyme based on Mark Vetri's lauded veal ragu` 

Warm and easy nearly fuss free cooking -- a perfect simple dinner for a drizzly spring day.

Sort Of Macaroni And Cheese

In between rushing through the kitchen cooking up dishes for the freezer to keep James fed while I'm away, James walked in and looking happily into a pot of pasta and chard fresh from our garden he said," Is this dinner?"
Well no, it wasn't supposed to be. But, I quickly changed course and headed the collards beans and sausage dish I was stirring towards the freezer and whipped up a quick white sauce -- a very cheesy white sauce. I didn't have quite enough milk for all that pasta so I thinned the sauce with some of the pasta cooking water which gave this decidedly rich dish a deceptively light feel. Chard, pasta, cheese, sausage and a little time in the oven for dinnertime magic. And and a couple for the freezer too.

Spaghetti With Bacon And Chard

I'm on my way out of town again. I scoured the fridge for bits that might not be at their prime by the time I get back and came up with the ends of a variety of fatty, porky, meats-- yum. Bacon, pancetta, Canadian bacon and even a little sausage. While the pasta water boiled I started the chopped bacons rendering in a hot pan and let them crisp up for about 10 minutes. I piled those into a waiting dish and then added sausage slices (it was a cooked Italian not fresh so it didn't really need more than to crisp up in the hot fat). I added the sausage to the dish and added a whole sliced onion (and a dash of chili peppers) to the fat remaining in the pan and let it sauté until just soft -- about 7 minutes. Meanwhile the spaghetti was in the pot and I added a good quantity of chopped chard (I cleared out the garden too) along with about 1/2 a cup of the pasta cooking water to the pan. While the chard wilted I drained the pasta and added it back into the pan along with the chard, bacons, sausage, about 3 TB of olive oil and a good splash (maybe 1- 1/2 TB) or balsamic vinegar. Everything got a good stir. I served James' garden fresh spaghetti topped with a heavy sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

Kind Of An American Classic

Not quite the way grandma made but still an all-american chicken dinner. I roasted the chicken whole at high heat, 50 minutes at 450º, seasoned simply with olive oil and S&P. The cavity stuffed with lemon halves, garlic cloves, and parsley stems. Alongside the chicken I baked whole sweet potatoes. Beautiful yellow, super sweet, tubers. For a vegetable I sautéed chard and mushrooms in a light cream sauce. I thought that would be a big winner with James but he seemed to miss the chard's bitter edge. So much for dressing up the greens, my boy likes 'em straight.

Call It Anything Else

"Stoop." She calls it "stoop."

Her legions of fans sit mesmerized by her boundless cheerfulness and seemingly endless recipes for lasagna roll ups but I can't stand the sound of her voice. The slap-dash quality of her food. The very boundless cheer others admire. But "stoop," although I can't bring myself to say it out loud, is a useful word. I often get over ambitious while whipping up some soup for James and end up with something too thick for soup, not quite stew, a dinner bowl . . . a "stoop." Though I would never call it such.

Tonight with a pot of cooked white beans and a container of leftover braised chard I ventured out to make a chard and white bean soup. I started with shallots, celery, carrots, and garlic sautéing in olive oil. When they were soft added in about 1 cup of red wine (I would have used white if we'd had some open) and let that cook down. Next into the pot went 4 cups of chicken broth, 1 small can of tomatoes I put up last summer, a bay leaf, about 2 cups of the white beans with a bit of their flavorful cooking liquid, and about 3/4 cup of rice (A bit too much I see now). After coming up to a boil the whole mixture simmered for about 25 minutes. Because the chard was already cooked I just stirred it in to heat through. Off the heat I stirred in a TB of sherry vinegar for a bit of tang and then served James' dinner soup with crusty bread for dipping and sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Oven Baked Polenta

I'd heard it was possible. I was skeptical. How could polenta left on its own in the oven come close to the creamy sublime texture brought forth from near ceaseless stirring?

With a whisk I mixed one cup of polenta, two cups of chicken broth (okay not traditional but I thought it would make my "diet" portion a little more flavorful), 2 cups of water, a few sprigs of thyme, S&P and a crushed clove of garlic in a 2 quart pot. After 50 minutes (uncovered) in a 350º oven I stirred in a pat of butter. On a normal non-diet day I would have mixed in some grated cheese or milk too. Ten minutes later I had creamy soft luscious polenta. No one would ever guess how easy it was. I'm gonna try this one for guests -- just when you need your hands free. I topped James' "hands-off" polenta with braised chard and buttery seared scallops.

Crostini Summer Continues

This summer all I feel like eating are salads (tonight's was homegrown lettuce, fresh corn, cucumber and red onion) and little tastes on toasts -- crostini of many flavors.

Tonight I pulled out a recipe I've been saving for chicken liver paté from Nancy Silverton's Pizzeria Mozza (still a tough reservation to get). The rustic mixture is flavored with pancetta, capers, lemon zest and plenty of olive oil. I topped James' toasts with crisp shards of pancetta.

For some variety I went for a new twist on salt cod purée -- drizzled with olive oil, quickly broiled and topped with olive oil braised chard. A favorite at San Francisco's Zuni Cafe (a favorite of ours).

Savory and delicious. Just right for summer.

Comfort Food From The Garden

I decided not to go to the farmer's market this week, and finishing work at 7 am the morning of only had a little bit to do with my decision. We're not taking full advantage of our garden and before I turn the beds fully over to spring crops I thought we should celebrate the last of our winter crops. Tonight, Tuscan kale and a bit of burgundy chard. While looking to make the most of my late in the season but still super fresh produce I stumbled on an earthy recipe from Italian culinary matriarch Lidia Bastianich, polenta with white beans and black kale. The beans are cooked simply with olive oil and bay leaves (I did that a couple days in advance). The kale is quickly braised with chunks of bacon in plenty of olive oil, and the polenta is velvety soft and laced with easy melting nutty (I used Gruyere, Toma and Parmesan) cheese. This is the kind of simple Italian cooking where the ingredients, not technique, play a starring role. A perfect way to show off our garden's bounty.