Sauteed Purple Cabbage with Apples and Red Wine

Have you ever wondered why a cabbage is so heavy? Its because that homely crucifer has far more layers tightly wound inside than you could ever imagine. Seriously, I cut up a medium-sized purple cabbage on sunday, sauteed it, served it to several guests and ate it every day for 3 to follow. I STILL have leftovers. The good news is it goes with everything. 


The first two days we ate it with pan seared poultry sausages, the next day I ate it as a cold salad with hard-boiled eggs and finally we mixed it into our butternut squash soup for dinner one night - that was Chris' idea and I'm not sure I ever want to eat that soup without it now.

I'll get to the soup recipe later but for now go buy a purple cabbage and break out the dutch oven.

Sauteed Purple Cabbage with Apples and Red Wine

I served this with pan-seared chicken sausage from Brooklyn Cured
Serves a small army

olive oil

I medium size head of purple cabbage, sliced into ribbons

1 small or medium yellow onion sliced into thin ribbons

about 1 cup red wine

balsamic vinegar

hot pepper flakes

salt

pepper

ground sage

2 bay leaves

2 golden delicious apples sliced into thin sticks

Heat a large dutch oven over medium high heat and add a glug of olive oil.

When the oil is hot add a pinch of hot pepper flakes and the onion. 

Sautee until softened, about 1 minute.

Add the cabbage, and red wine and stir to coat. There should be extra liquid at the bottom of the pot.

Add a splash of balsamic, 2 bay leaves a teaspoon or 2 of ground sage and a hefty pinch of kosher salt. 

Stir and cover.

Let the cabbage cook down and soften stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes or so. Add more wine and/or balsamic as needed to keep just a little liquid at the bottom.

Once cabbage is just about cooked add the apple slices and a few grinds of black pepper

Cook uncovered until the apple is softened and most of the liquid is absorbed.

The cabbage should be tender and not to tough but not totally mushy either.

Remove bay leaves and serve with pan seared sausage or pretty much anything else.

Brussel Sprouts with Romano Cheese and Lentils

This is the only thing I've cooked in at least a week and I'm not sure it really counts as cooking. Just a little steaming, boiling and grating and lunch (or dinner) is ready. You see, I have a new job. Have I told you about my new job? WHAT!? I haven't? Oh my. 
I'm also moving. I haven't told you about that yet either? Oh wow. We have some catching up to do.

[New boots for a new job and a new Autumn]

Sunday was my first day working for the New Amsterdam Market in South Street Seaport (downtown Manhattan). I'm an intern so I set up the market in the morning (bright and early which explains the 6am sunrise pictures) and hang out for a few hours during the market helping out vendors and milling around. If you are in the area you should definitely come down and check it out. Right now it's market season until december 19th which means we are there every Sunday (except November 28th), rain, snow, sun whatever. We're there. I'm doing some other work for them during the week as well but the job is not what's taking up all my time - at least not yet. It's the moving. Mostly because I don't know where I'm moving to. However the search may be coming to a close this week (so let's all cross our fingers that it goes smoothly). In which case I'll have some actual packing and moving to do and hope to be settled as soon as possible. After all, fall is my favorite season (in case you haven't figured that out) and I want to make apple sauce, brisket, apple crisp, butternut squash soup, chicken soup, braised mushrooms, apple pie, pumpkin pie and lots of things with prune plums - in no specific order (although prune plum season is coming to an end). 

[Jack's Coffee Shop, South Street Seaport]

Right now I've been dragging home all these wonderful fruits, vegetables, breads, meats and of course apple cider from the Market and eating them as close to their natural form as possible. Like these brussel sprouts for instance; steamed and tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper and Romano. The little baby ones are my favorite. 

Brussel Sprouts with Romano Cheese and Lentils

Serves 1

1/4 cup green lentils (dry measure) - I like sprouted but regular work fine

175g brussel sprouts (about 1 1/2 cups), with the base trimmed off

1 tsp olive oil

Juice from half of a lemon

Salt and pepper

Freshly grated romano cheese

Cook the lentils according to the directions. Toss with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Steam the trimmed brussel sprouts until cooked through but still firm. Length of time will vary depending on size, mine took about 7 minutes.

Toss with oil, salt and pepper. Pour on top of lentils.

Sprinkle with freshly grated Romano and serve with a cold glass of apple cider.

Lisa's Rainbow Black Bean Salad

Lisa's Rainbow Black Bean Salad

I made this salad up based on the brightly colored rainbow peppers I found at the farm stand last week. After I served it at a bar-b-que Sunday night I had a few requests for the recipe so I thought I would post it here. If you can't find rainbow peppers, replace them with a mix of red, yellow and orange bell peppers. Cilantro would also be a nice addition here if you have it on hand.

Serves 4-6

15oz cooked black beans (or 1 can rinsed well)

2 small rainbow peppers, diced small

½ small onion, diced small

1 large handful blanched string beans, chopped into 1-inch pieces

1 large scallion - green and white part, chopped

fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped course

Juice of one lime

1 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon honey

⅛-¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper 

fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped course

Whisk the lime juice, oil, cumin, salt, honey, and cayenne pepper in a large bowl

Add the remaining ingredients and toss to combine.

Refrigerate at least one hour to let the flavors combine.

Salad will keep for 3 days in the refrigerator.

With eyes toward tomorrow.

"All the bags are checked

And the reasons why

Yesterday lingers on

That’s the piece you keep when you say goodbye".

- Conor Oberst (Monsters of Folk)

Just like realizing you've out grown snow days, discovering you no longer have a place in a city you previously called home, is a hard pill to swallow. It may be a gradual realization or it may hit you head on when you return for a visit, either way it's your  first step in going forward - especially if you've been dragging your feet as much as I have.

Above picture courtesy of Max Horowitz

I went back to Binghamton this weekend to go to Spiedie Fest and to spend a night out with some friends before we scatter to all parts of the country, including Alaska, South Carolina, Georgia and New York.

We raised our glasses and celebrated with those who are leaving to settle in a new place and commiserated with those who don't know what to do next. We made promises of visits and tucked loose questions into neatly packaged answers wrapped in promises not to fall out of touch.

Saturday night blurred into Sunday morning without skipping a beat. The sun rose, as it always does, and brought with it a new relief and nothing left to do but head off in our various directions.

The drive back down state was three hours longer than usual but somehow underlined with a sense of calm;  the monotony broken up by a roadside farm stand in Monticello. A small sign on the highway lured me off with the promise of local peaches but I left with no less than two pounds of tomatoes, 2 onions, 2 green peppers, 4 ears of corn, 1/2 pound of string beans, 1 pound of white peaches and 1 and a half pounds of the best apricots I've ever eaten. The farmer was friendly and talkative as were his customers and suddenly nothing seemed as important as his local produce. The traffic and roadwork became irrelevant and the uncertainty of tomorrow faded in the presence of a plump, imperfect tomato. After that, I opted to avoid the main thruway for as long as possible, instead choosing a winding state road that meandered through small towns.

When I finally walked in the door at 9pm, I turned one of my farm-stand tomatoes into bruschetta, topped with basil from our backyard. The simplicity of it was familiar and comforting and I ate it on the back patio in the cool, dark night. Afterwards, I folded myself into bed and set my eyes toward tomorrow.

Farm-stand Bruschetta

Serves 1-2

1 Large beefsteak tomato; washed and chopped, seeds removed

1-2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing on bread

freshly ground salt and pepper to taste

fresh basil

1 large clove of garlic

2 large slices thickly cut bread

Toss chopped tomato with 1-2 teaspoons olive oil, salt and pepper. Set aside.

brush both sides of bread lightly with olive oil. place in oven or toaster oven on 375 degrees or grill on medium until golden. Remove and rub garlic clove on top side of bread. 

Top with tomato mixture and garnish with basil.

Add another grind of salt and pepper if desired.

Enjoy!

Click here for more pictures from the weekend.

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes

Sometimes I write posts that never get published. They just sit there forgotten and lonely, branded by the orange letters that scrawl out "draft". What is normally a benign word, signifying something saved for further review, seems more like a death sentence. Sometimes these forgotten words make just a sentence or two but sometimes they are whole posts long and detailed. They are stories and recipes I had every intention of releasing into the blogosphere but just got lost in the mix of things. Maybe it's because I hadn't yet typed the recipe or maybe I didn't upload the pictures right away. Sometimes I'm unhappy with the pictures and wait till I make the recipe again or maybe I just lost interest, as I do with so many things and moved on to a new post, a new recipe. Many times I don't revisit these abandoned posts - I'll reread them just a couple days later and they seem like old news. Eventually I say my goodbyes and set them free with a click of the delete button. But every now and then, just once in a while, I'll revisit them. It could be that the recipe is just too good not to share or the experience returns for a second round and suddenly my words no longer taste like stale bread as they roll off my tongue. I think in this case it's a combination of the two.

On my 9 hour flight between New York and Budapest I read a book by Molly Wizenberg called "A Homemade Life". The whole thing. I dog-eared page after page to remind myself of the recipes I wanted to make when I returned home 3 weeks later and sure enough the first one I made was for slow roasted tomatoes. They are deliciously simple and so versatile you'll want to make a big batch. Mix them into pasta,  eat them with fresh mozzarella, toss them in a salad, add them to you sandwich or take Molly's recommendation; turn them into pesto. Whatever you do, just promise me you'll give them a chance okay?

Slow Roasted Tomatoes

The coriander is optional and could be left out altogether or replaced with dried basil, oregano, caraway seeds or cumin. Makes 40 Halves

20 Roma Tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon ground coriander (optional)

Salt

Pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees

Cover two baking sheets with tin foil and set aside

Toss the halved tomatoes with olive oil, coriander

Line them up on the baking trays and sprinkle with a few hefty pinches of kosher salt

Grind a generous amount of fresh black pepper over the top

Place the trays in the oven and roast for 4-6 hours.

The tomatoes when the edges are shriveled but the centers are still moist and they are about half of their original size

Refrigerate in and airtight container for up to a week.

When it's too hot to eat.

Dear Blog,

I realize you are feeling neglected and I'm sorry. It's just too hot to cook. In fact, it's just too hot to do anything. We even lost power for around 5 hours yesterday as a result of some downed power lines. 


I love big storms and power outages are kind of fun. I like watching the dark clouds roll in, the wind pick up and the leaves whip around. Usually, I sit on the front porch with my dogs and watch as the rain slides off the roof in wall of water and hits the ground. Each drop landing with a heavy plunk and a wet splatter in our direction.

This time, though, the wind was too intense and it was essentially raining sideways against the house. Instead we sat in front of the open front door and watched through the storm door (which in hindsight may not have been the smartest idea with such strong winds, so don't go standing in front of glass doors in wicked storms saying I told you to). There was really no thunder or lightening to speak of which is odd for such high heat and humidity but the dogs were grateful. Yea, I know, I have such wonderfully brave dogs. One crack of thunder turns them into sniveling, shaking masses of fur that will hide in or behind anything - especially any space too small for them to squeeze into in a normal situation.

The heaviest wind and rain only last about thirty minutes but the rain continued for another hour or two. When it finally stopped it was still humid as ever and our power was still out. In the past, some widespread outages have last a few days.  No power means no air conditioning and with no air conditioning, the possibility of cooking, and therefore adding heat to the house, was out. I could tell you that I'm completely innovative and made some great meal without using the stove or even opening the refrigerator (I didn't want to let the cold air out) but that would be a lie. Nope, I didn't lift a finger. Instead I up and went to Long Beach for dinner and walked on the boardwalk where I didn't take a single picture of the beautiful sunset or salty waves crashing on the beach. Why? because I brought my camera - without a memory card in it. Sigh.

If you are wondering why I have no pictures from the storm either it's because, in all my excitement, I straight up forgot to take any. Oh well.

So I don't have any pictures for you and I don't have a recipe related to this story (by the way the power did come back on last night around 8:30 but many houses on the north shore - even down the street - are still without), but I do have a seriously easy cucumber recipe for you. One that I made last week but could have made last night if I had been so inclined to do anything. It requires no cooking and only a few minutes to throw together. It may not be a balanced meal, but when it's too hot to eat anyway, a bowl of cold spicy cucumbers is as good as it gets.

Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad

Smashing and tearing the cucumbers creates a more jagged surface than clean knife cuts would. This helps the marinade cling better. Finely grated ginger or minced garlic would also be a nice addition to this as would black sesame seeds. Serves 2 as a side or 1 as a light (unbalanced) summer meal.

5 Persian cucumbers
1/2 teaspoons natural cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon rice vinegar (white vinegar works fine too)
1 teaspoon organic toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon chili oil

Cut ends off cucumbers and smash them with the flat side of a large chef's knife.

Break the cucumbers into pieces by hand and throw out and loose clumps of seeds.

Place cucumbers in a large bowl with sugar and salt and toss to combine.

At this point you can refrigerate the cucumbers for an hour or so and let flavors combine, I was too impatient and only waited about 10 minutes which was just fine.

After you let them sit, the cucumbers will have released juices. Drain most of this before proceeding.

Add the vinegar and oils and toss to combine. Taste and add more salt if desired.

Enjoy now or refrigerate up to 2 days.

With lemon and little else.

After spending time in Georgia, we went back to Yerevan for the day before heading out to the villages.

We went for lunch at a little cafe that's frequented by many of the expats in the area due to its english speaking staff, air conditioning, wifi, and somewhat american menu.

After a week and a half of khatchapuri, pastries, and bread I was happy to find a lentil salad on the menu. It was simple and absolutely perfect, dressed with lemon and little else.

I made a note to recreate those lentils in New York and they were one of the first things I made when I got home.

I planned on using regular organic green lentils but I came across a sprouted version that I used instead. I'm sure you've read about all these supposed health benefits of "sprouted" grains and things of the sort just as I have. I'm not exactly sure how a legume can be "sprouted" and I don't know if buy into all that macro, accessible, nutrient talk (we're getting into crazy-land here) but they look interesting and it couldn't hurt. You could easily use normal green lentils though.

When I first made the lentils they were a bit bland, obviously missing something but what it was, exactly, was not obvious. I put them in the fridge to let the flavors combine and the next day they had greedily soaked up all the juices. The next day I added another few generous grinds of sea salt and black pepper plus another fresh squeeze of lemon to wake them up.

For a little crunch, I cut up a head of belgian endive and piled the lentils on top.

Chopped tomatos (with or without fresh mozzarella) would also be a great summertime accompaniment.

5-Minute Lentil Salad

Serves 2-4

1 cup organic dried green lentils

Olive oil

2 lemons

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Fresh cilantro

2 medium heads of endive (optional)

Cook the lentils according to the instructions. Since mine were sprouted, they only required five minutes in boiling water and a two minute rest in the covered pot of hot water. Regular green lentils probably take longer.

Drain the lentils and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Pour them into a large bowl and add a slick of olive oil. Toss to coat, add salt and pepper to taste and the juice from one lemon. Mix in a handful of fresh cilantro and refrigerate until you're ready to eat.

Slice the endive and divide amongst the plates. Spoon lentils on top of the endive and add another squeeze of lemon. Sprinkle with a bit more cilantro and adjust the salt and pepper again. Serve immediately.

Alternatively, you could chop up the endive and mix it in but make sure to do that no more than an hour before eating otherwise it will turn soggy.

Enjoy!