White Beans with Roasted Pepper and Tomatillos

This summer has been keeping me quite busy. I've spent nights and days at my friend's camp, gone to the beach, seen a play in the park, gone out a lot, and taken my dog for countless off leash walks on the Eastern Prom. The weather has been wonderfully hot, so I've been eating a lot of fresh vegetables and hummus. This weekend was more mild, so I took the time this afternoon to make a couple things that required the oven. The recipe below is loosely based on Puerto Rican stewed beans my sister-in-law makes and includes tomatillos, that I wanted to try cooking with again. I was happy with the results.

White Beans with Roasted Pepper and Tomatillos

4 medium tomatillos, husked and washed
1 red bell pepper, washed
2 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, peeled and chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp oregano
adobo to taste
2 cans white beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cans water
1 tsp chicken bouillon
2 tomatoes, cored and chopped
1/4 c chopped cilantro

Set your oven to broil.
Put tomatillos in a cast iron pan and put under the broiler.
Place the pepper under the broiler, turning as the skin blackens.
Once tomatillos are soft and charred on the top, remove from the oven. Place the tomatillos on a plate and scrape out the very burnt juice, but not all of it. Let the tomatillos cool and then chop.
Once the pepper is blackened on all sides, remove from oven and put in a bath of cold water. Once cool, peel, remove the seeds, and then chop.
With the cast iron pan on a burner set to medium, add the olive oil.
Once the olive oil is hot, add the shallots and cook until soft and starting to brown, scraping the browned bits off the bottom of the pan.
Add the cumin seeds, oregano, and adobo and cook until fragrant.
Add beans, water, chicken bouillon, tomatoes, chopped bell pepper and chopped tomatillos.
Bring to a boil and the reduce to a simmer.
Cook, stirring frequently, for about 30 minutes or until the water boils down and becomes thick.
Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro.
Serve hot.

Salad with Thai Peanut Dressing

This recipe is credited to my mother, who upon finding herself headed to a Midwest barbecue (read: lots of unhealthy food), wanted to make a vegetable heavy dish that she could nibble on without worry. My younger brother also gets a shout out because he was the one that introduced us to Thai pizza, which is delicious. My mother took the sauce and used it as a dressing over a mix of vegetables. What is below is a rough estimate of what I put in my own version tonight. (At some point I will invest in a camera so that I can share images of these dishes with you).

Salad with Thai Peanut Dressing

3 chicken quarters
1/2 head red cabbage, sliced thin
1 tsp salt
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced into thin 2 inch strips
2 small broccoli stems, sliced into thin 2 inch strips
1 1/2 cups 1-inch pieces snow peas
2 c bean sprouts
5 carrots, julienned
4 green onions, green parts only sliced thin
1/4 c peanut butter (I used smooth, natural)
2 tbsp hoisin sauce, heaping
2 tbsp teriyaki sauce, heaping
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp minced onion
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 large clove garlic, minced
4 tbsp water
chopped peanuts for garnish

Place chicken quarters in a pot and cover with water.
Put over high heat and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a low boil and let cook until cooked through.
While chicken is boiling, place red cabbage in a large bowl and sprinkle with salt.
Toss to coat and let sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Chop remaining ingredients and place in a large serving bowl.
In a small sauce pan, mix together peanut butter, hoisin sauce, teriyaki sauce, maple syrup, red pepper flakes, onion, ginger, garlic, and water.
Put dressing over medium heat and bring to a simmer.
Let dressing simmer for a few minutes, then remove from heat.
Once chicken is done, remove from heat, drain, and let cool before handling.
Place cabbage in a salad spinner and cover with water.
Stir cabbage around to remove salt, then drain and spin dry.
Add cabbage to large serving bowl.
Once chicken is cool enough to handle, remove skin and remove meat from bones.
Chop meat into small pieces and add to serving bowl.
Pour dressing over the top and toss until everything is coated.
You can serve at this point or chill it before serving.
When serving, sprinkle top with chopped peanuts.

Asparagus-Kohlrabi Fry

Here is another foray into my obsession with dill. The recipe was a combination of cravings (bacon, dill and capers) and what I had in my house (asparagus, garlic ramps, and kohlrabi). This is one of those dishes that was completely random and ended up a huge success. The combination of ingredients may not be common, but let me tell you that it goes very well together.

Asparagus-Kohlrabi Fry

1 tbsp olive oil
15 3 inch strips of thick cut, peppered bacon
1 c garlic ramps cut into 1 inch pieces
1 kohlrabi, peeled, cut into quarters lengthwise and then sliced thin
1 large bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-3 inch pieces
1 tbsp dill
2 tbsp capers
salt and pepper to taste

Spread olive oil in the bottom of a cold cast iron pan. Add the bacon and then turn the heat to medium to medium-low.
Cook until the bacon is crispy, turning frequently. Remove the bacon from the pan.
Add the garlic ramps and cook until fragrant.
Add the kohlrabi and cook, stirring occasionally, until kohlrabi is soft and starts to brown.
Add the asparagus and dill and cook until the asparagus is almost done.
Add the capers, cooked bacon, salt and pepper and cook for another minute.
Remove from heat and serve hot.

Dilled Kale

I've recently been experimenting with dill, most likely because I love Hungarian Mushroom Soup and dill dip. Actually, the inspiration for the recipe below probably came from the hot Hungarian sausage I was using; you know, word association. I also figured if dill tastes good as a dip for vegetables, then it will probably taste good with cooked kale. And it was good. It added a subtle flavor to the dish and I think rounded it out nicely.

Dilled Kale

1 tbsp olive oil
1 hot Hungarian sausage link (about 1/3 lb)
1 c chopped onion
1 tbsp dill
2 tsp Hungarian paprika

1 large bunch kale, washed and sliced into 1 inch strips

1 tomato, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a cast iron pan over medium-high heat.
Add the sausage and cook until starting to brown.
Add the onion and cook until starting to brown.
Add the dill and paprika and cook until fragrant.
Add the kale and cook until soft, but not mushy. You may need to cover the pan for a little bit to get the kale to start wilting so that you can turn them. I use a tongs to turn.
Add tomato, salt and pepper and cook until tomato is warm.
Remove from heat and serve hot.