Kielbasa and Collard Soup

This was adapted from a recipe I found off of Epicurious. It is a recipe from “Gourmet.” The original calls for pancetta and for swiss chard. I wanted a heartier soup so I substituted the pancetta for kielbasa and the swiss chard for collards.

1 lb great northern beans (or 4 cans) soaked over night
1 lb package Kielbasa (I use turkey, but use whatever you want)
1 large onion chopped
1 fennel bulb chopped (just use bulb not stalks or top, however you can set them aside for other use)
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs minced garlic
5 c. chicken broth (or 5 chicken bullion cubes and 5 cups water)
3 c. water
1 (3x2 inch) piece of parm rind (many stores sell just the rind, if you can’t find try 1/2c. of a good grated parm)
3 Turkish bay leaves
6 large collard leaves, cleaned, and chopped thick part of steams removed.

Soak beans overnight (or at least 8 hours), and drain.

Heat olive oil. Add chopped fennel, garlic and onion and cook over medium heat until soft. Add beans, broth, water, bay leaves, and parm and simmer for 45 minutes (or until beans done). Taste flavorings and adjust now. Add collards and cook another 15 minutes. Served

Green Tomato Pasta

Tis that time of year again. Green tomato season! So here is another attempt at using up those green tomatoes. Not bad!
1/2 lb pasta
5 medium green tomatoes chopped
1 small onion diced
¼ lb chopped pancetta (you can get this at Trader Joes!!)
1 c. marinated artichoke heats
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs lemon zest
Salt and pepper to taste
Pinch of red pepper

Sauté tomatoes, onions and pancetta in olive oil for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile boil the pasta. When pasta is almost done, take one ladle full of the water and add it to sauce. Add artichokes and seasoning. Sauté for about 5 minutes or until sauce thickened a bit. Add lemons zest and cook one more minute. Drain pasta, toss immediately and serve.

Almost Heaven

I am not weighing myself for a week at least. The tomatoes were fresh and so were the pork biscuits! And a fresh tomato on the pork tenderloin biscuit…. Forgetaboutit! While I did not make it to Lowells for a hot dog, there was a new restaurant in Hinton that overlooked the New River and had great Barbeque that I thoroughly enjoyed!
I am not an outdoorsman. A cabin on the River is really as rustic as this chick wants to go, but in West Virginia I can see why someone could overcome their fear of all things icky just for the chance to sleep underneath the stars. I never realized how many stars were in the sky really. I often say, that West Virginia is like an America I have read about but never got to grow up in. Some of the sterotypes are a bit true. It is a rural area. However, it is lovely and the people lovely too. As I watch the kids along the river, out until dusk, fishing without a grown up in sight, I think of some Norman Rockwell painting that somehow missed being painted. West Virginia is often, I feel, the greatest gift I will give to my children, not only for the beauty they will get to experience but the contrast it provides to their life here in the city. So if you ever get a chance to visit anywhere in West Virginia, but specifically anywhere along the Greenbrier River in Summers County West Virginia, do not pass up the opportunity.
That said, I made a great, and I mean great pasta recipe while we were up there. I got the idea from Rachel Ray, she calls it California pasta. I don’t think I changed much if anything other than omitting what I didn’t have (orange rind). It is super easy and really summery and fresh.
1 bunch of leeks slices and cleaned
1-1.5 cups artichoke hearts (you can use, canned, marinated or frozen, I used marinated because I had it)
1 pound pasta
Pesto
1 cup flat leaf parsley
½ c Olive oil
½ c parmesan
1tsp lemon rind
1tsp lime rind
1tsp orange rind

To clean leeks slice the white part, separate and put in a bowl of water. Swish around a bit to give it a “bath.” Discard water. Sautee in a bit of oil leeks until wilted add artichoke and sauté to warm through. Meanwhile start pasta. Combine, parsley, parmesan, the zests of the lemon, lime and orange (I did not have orange so I used a bit more lemon. I didn’t measure how much zest either, I just zested one and a half lemon and one lime.) pulse. Add oil and process until smooth. Once pasta done, add leek dish and pesto to pasta and combine. Serve.
I am sure if you look at Rachel’s recipe on line I didn’t follow it to a “T” however, it was close and man it was good.

Feta Artichoke Stuffed Chicken

Ahhh, the stuffed chicken breast, this was to my family what pizza or maybe taco night was to others. It was the in a pinch or I have leftovers but not quite enough for a whole meal, meal. You can really stuff it with anything, cold cuts (hence chicken cordon blue----doesn’t seem so fancy now huh!) try some Chinese leftovers, a little moo-shoo or a little fried rice and some sesame oil. Yummm. Heck I bet, even some leftover chilli topped with some cheddar cheese and sour cream would be Jim Dandy. Season the chicken or it can suck the flavor away from anything you put in there.

1.5-2 lbs bonless skinless chicken breasts filleted open and pounded out
½ C. marinated artichoke chopped up
1 tsp garlic
¼ C. feta
1TBS olive
Salt and pepper


In a pan heat oil. Mix the artichoke, feta and garlic up and spread a fair amount on one side of chicken. Roll and secure with toothpicks or poultry string. Cook until done. This would also be good with the addition of roasted peppers, or olives or both!

Tilapia with Tomato, Feta and Capers

4 filets of Tilapia
½ c feta
14oz diced tomato
1/8 c. caper
3 tbs lemon
1tbs olive oil
¼ onion diced
Salt and pepper filets. Add olive oil to pan and diced onion. Add filets and cook. Remove filets a little early (cook about 2 -3minutes each side over medium heat) keeping onion in the pan/ Drizzle 1TBS lemon over filets and set aside. Add tomato, capers (the caper are variable it depends on how much you like, I love them, so personally add much more, but if you don’t love them or the salt add a little less and keep adding until you are happy with the flavor). Cook until most of water from tomatoes cooks off. Reduce heat. Add filets back to tomato mixture, and put crumbled feta on top. Increase temperature until liquid is bubbling hard. Cover and turn off heat. Let pan sit for 5 minutes. Serve.

Roasted Chicken with Root Vegetables

1 whole chickens innards removed
1 rutabaga cut into medium chucks
2 sweet potatoes cut into medium chucks
4 large carrots cut into medium chucks
1 onion cut into medium chucks
3 cups of dry white (preferably not a Chardonnay)
2 TBS flour
3 chicken bullion
Marjoram
salt
pepper


Preheat oven to 450. Cut up vegetables and layer the bottom of a roasting pan. Sprinkle with the 2 TBS of flour. Pour wine over and add bullion. Sprinkle with about 1 TBS of Marjoram. Roast vegetables for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350. Sprinkle chicken with Salt, pepper and Marjoram. Place chicken breast down in vegetables and broth. Cover and cook until chicken is done (depends on size).

You can use any root vegetable. Parsnips and plain white potatoes would be good as would any winter squash.