Chicken Pot Pie

Make beer can chicken a few nights before. Bake the potato while you're at it. Then make chicken stock. Then make pot pie.

2 pie crusts
2-3 cups of chicken stock (vegetable for vegetarian)
1 potato, baked
1 small sweet potato, baked
2 large carrots
several sprigs of celery
1/2 onion
1/2 can of corn
1/2 14 oz can of artichoke hearts
other veggies of your choosing: mushrooms, tomatoes, asparagus, etc.
herbs
salt and pepper
shredded chicken (optional)
1 egg white

Chop up everything but the pie crusts into bite-size pieces, and place in crock-pot with chicken stock. Cook on low for about 12 hours. In a cup, mix some of the hot stock with flour or cornstarch to thicken. I wasn't happy with the thickening from just flour, and did a second round with corn starch, which was perfect. Turn the slow cooker to high for 30 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Prep the pie crust and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Fill the pie crust with the filling, and cover with the top crust. Brush with egg, and bake until golden brown.

Makes 1 pie, plus a little filling leftover. Good with biscuits the next day.

Pear Pie

2 Trader Joe's pie crusts, or pie crusts of your own making
5-6 pears
1/2 cup turbinado raw sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4-1/2 t cinnamon
1/8 t cloves
1-2 T sweet wine (Riesling)

Prepare the pie crust. Preheat the oven to 350.

Cube the pears and mix with the dry ingredients. Pour the wine into the pie crust and add the pear mixture on top. Arrange the top crust however you like. Mine was supposed to be a lattice, but the crust was too defrosted, so it ended up being more of a modern cubist arrangement.

Bake until golden brown (well over an hour). Allow to cool at least to the point where it won't scorch your mouth. Eat with whipped cream and Mrs. Robinson's butterscotch caramel. Die.

Eggplant Pasta Sauce

3 medium-sized eggplants
1 head of garlic
2-3 T olive oil
28-oz good-quality can of tomatoes (I like TJ's whole plum tomatoes with or without basil)
2-3 sprigs of fresh mint
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
~2 T balsamic vinegar or lemon juice
salt & pepper
red chili flakes if desired
rigatoni pasta
Parmesan cheese

Cube the eggplant and remove the skins of the garlic. Pour the olive oil in a roasting pan or 9X13" baking pan, and mix the eggplant and garlic in. Roast at 375-400 degrees for approximately an hour until the eggplant is nicely browned. Remove from oven and pour in the can of tomatoes.

Chop the mint leaves and assemble the food processor or blender while waiting for the roasted veggies to cool a little. Start the pasta. Spoon in as much of the veggies and mint as will fit, and puree. Continue until all has been pureed, adding it back to the pan when finished. Season to taste. Mix in the Parmesan cheese, and then mix the pasta in. Serve, and sprinkle pine nuts on top.

Feeds approximately 4.

Notes: We didn't have any pine nuts, and it was fine without. You could puree them as well if you wanted.
I forgot the lemon juice or balsamic vinegar, and it would have been better with one of them, especially combining with the mint.
I didn't have red chili flakes, and it would have been good with a spicy kick.
I didn't have rigatoni pasta, although the point of this recipe is a vegetarian way of doing a ziti, since the eggplant looks sort of like ground meat, so I used linguini. It was good.
I had some fresh mozzarella balls I almost added in addition to the Parmesan, and I wished I had. It would have been good.

Sweet potato waffles

We had sweet potatoes from the CSA to use up, and I was thinking of making a potato pancake or potato fritters type dish with them, when it occurred to me to make sweet potato waffles with our new waffle maker.

Honestly, this was over a month ago, and I cannot remember if I used the standard waffle recipe, or the following waffle recipe. I'm fairly certain it's the latter.

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour (or a mix of APF and whole wheat flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1 3/4 cups milk
2 beaten egg yolks
1/2 cup olive oil
2 egg whites whipped till stiff

I used 3 or 4 sweet potatoes that had been steamed in the pressure cooker, then pureed, allowed to cool a bit, and added with the olive oil. I used a little less than 1/2 cup olive oil because I was worried that the sweet potatoes and oil would make for too much moisture, but the waffles did stick enough that I had to spray the waffle maker between each waffle, so the full amount of oil would probably be best. I used as much flour as necessary to bring it to the right consistency before folding in the egg whites.

I didn't want these to be sweet waffles, so I didn't put in the 1 1/2 T sugar and 1 t vanilla this recipe also calls for.

You mix everything together but the egg whites, and then whip those to peaks, and fold them in. Makes nice crusty waffles.

We had ours with a choice of monastery honey in clover and orange flavors, maple syrup, or treacle on top. They would have been really good with fruit as well.

Heather declared them to be the best waffles she's ever had.

Update: After much begging from Heather, I made these again, and this time I roasted the sweet potatoes. I don't think I'll do that in the future because I ended up losing some over-browned sections. I also used the immersion blender to mix the batter, and just pureed the potatoes in with the batter. I did the whipped egg white recipe with a cup of whole wheat flour, and this time had to add quite a lot more milk to get the right consistency. They were delicious, with melt in your mouth centers.

Zucchini Parmesan

We got a huge zucchini from the CSA, and thought zucchini parmesan sounded good, and it was! I was going to make a batch of my marinara sauce to put in, but that didn't happen. It would have been out of this world if I had.

To serve 2 without leftovers:
1 foot-long, 4 in diameter zucchini, or 3 regular-sized zucchinis
3 T olive oil
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
3/4 cup of Panko bread crumbs
1 t herbes de Provence
1 t oregano
1/2 t thyme
1 t basil
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup marinara sauce
3/4 cup mozzarella cheese (string cheese chopped, or fresh mozzarella sliced, or the usual grated)

Slice zucchinis into "coins" about 1/3 inch long, thicker being better. In a small mixing bowl, combine bread crumbs and herbs. Combine a third of the parmesan cheese with a third of the bread crumb mixture in a separate bowl. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet, coat the zucchini slices with olive oil, and place on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture on top of the zucchini, salt and pepper, and put in the oven for 30 minutes or until browned. Pour most of the marinara sauce into the bottom of a small casserole (oven safe) dish, saving some to put on top. Remove the zucchini from the oven, and lower the temperature to 400 degrees.

Layer the zucchini into the casserole dish, doing a layer of zucchini, and then a sprinkle of the bread crumb mixture, a layer of mozzarella and parmesan cheese, and then another layer of zucchini, and so on, until all ingredients have been used, reserving some cheese for topping. Spread the last of the marinara sauce on top, and then finish with the cheese. Put it back in the oven for 15 minutes without a lid to melt/brown the cheese.

We think in the future we will at least double, if not triple, the recipe because we think this would make really good lunch leftovers too.

Marinara Sauce w/ Meatballs

Make meatballs first in a pan large enough for the sauce.

Meatballs:
2 lbs. ground beef
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
2 eggs
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
dried thyme
salt
pepper
Parmesan cheese

Mix all ingredients together, and heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in the large pan. Shape the mixture into 2" diameter balls, and carefully drop onto the hot oil. Cook until browned on all sides.

Sauce:
1+ onion(s)
2+ cloves garlic
1 14-oz can artichoke quarters (not marinated)
2 zucchinis
2-3 small CSA carrots, 1-1/2 grocery store carrots
a large handful of fresh marjoram
rosemary
fresh thyme
2-3 32-oz cans diced plum tomatoes
salt to taste (more than you think to overcome the sweetness of the tomatoes)
dash of red chili flakes

Dice the onions and mince the garlic. Leave the meatballs in the pan. Add the diced onions and minced garlic to the pan, saute. Dice the zucchini, and chop the artichokes. Save the liquid from the artichoke can. When the onion and garlic have softened, add the vegetables, the artichoke liquid, and the tomatoes. Add the spices, and blend with an immersion blender until the desired consistency is achieved. Add salt until the flavor is good. Simmer while the pasta cooks.

Potatoes and Eggs

How could this have been left out in the initial creation of the Zentner Family cookbook? For the first time in years, I had to call home to get a recipe for a childhood breakfast. Which of course went like this: "well, I don't have a recipe. Just saute onions and potatoes, and fry eggs over them."

Update: I've made this a couple times since, using either red potatoes, or turnips, with regular potatoes mixed in, from our CSA. I saute onions, finely dice the root veggies, and saute those. Mix in seasonings and herbs, and cook until soft. I have have smashed the potatoes as well, but it's not necessary. Crack the eggs over the top, and cook with the lid on until just cooked through so the yolk is still runny (if you like it this way).

Dutch Baby - German Apple Pancake

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat.)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 cup milk (I used soy milk.)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (I used salted butter.)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 
  
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar, divided (I left out the second 1/4cup.)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 large tart apple - peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

1. In a large bowl, blend eggs, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Gradually mix in milk, stirring constantly. Add vanilla, melted butter and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. Let batter stand for 30 minutes or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
3. Melt butter in a 10 inch oven proof skillet, brushing butter up on the sides of the pan. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar, cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. Sprinkle mixture over the butter. Line the pan with apple slices. Sprinkle remaining sugar over apples. Place pan over medium-high heat until the mixture bubbles, then gently pour the batter mixture over the apples. (I sauteed the apples in the mixture, without the remaining sugar, until they started to soften.)
   
4. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and bake for 10 minutes. Slide pancake onto serving platter and cut into wedges.

Sauteed Kale (or other greens)

1 bunch kale (or other greens- mustard, bok choi, etc.)
garlic
butter

Melt butter, saute minced garlic, and saute greens. Eat. Mmmm.

Spaghetti alla Rucola

2 T butter
1 large bunch arugula, washed and cut into bite size pieces
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 lb spaghetti noodles
optional: garlic

Bring a pot of water to boiling for the pasta, and follow the directions for cooking on the package. In the meantime, melt the butter in a saute or saucepan large enough to hold all ingredients. If using garlic, mince, and saute, and then add the arugula, and wilt it (about 5 minutes). Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the heavy cream and the cheese, and simmer over low heat until the sauce thickens. Toss the cooked noodles in, and stir until the noodles have absorbed some of the sauce.