from scratch

5 December 16, 2023 Dinner

Cauliflower Parmesan Bake

This is plant based comfort food at its best. Stick to your ribs goodness that will warm your belly and nourish your soul on a cold night. Best of all, it comes together very quickly and is almost entirely hands off. It’s basically throw everything in a dish and walk away. What could be better? This meal was so good, my family couldn’t even wait for me to snap a pic before they dove in.

Yield:8 servings

Recipe

For the Cauliflower and Farro

2 pounds cauliflower (about 1 medium cauliflower head), florets and tender stems cut into large bite-sized pieces
1¾ cups semi-pearled or pearled farro (about 12 ounces)
1(40-ounce) jar good-quality marinara sauce
1 2/3 cup water
¼cup olive oil
½cup pitted kalamata or black olives, roughly chopped (optional)
6 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
3 ounces grated Parmesan (about ¾ cup finely grated)
1½teaspoons granulated sugar
1½teaspoons dried oregano
½teaspoon red-pepper flakes, or to taste (optional)
1½teaspoons kosher salt
Black pepper

For the Topping

1 cup panko or homemade breadcrumbs
2 ounces grated Parmesan (about ½ cup finely grated)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced into rounds

Method

Step 1
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a 9-by-13-inch pan, combine the cauliflower, farro, marinara sauce, olive oil, olives (if using), garlic, Parmesan, sugar, oregano, and red-pepper flakes. Season with the salt and a generous amount of black pepper. Pour in 1⅔ cups water and stir everything well to combine. If your 9-by-13 does not have high sides, you might have to mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, then transfer to the pan. Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

Step 2
Uncover the pan, stir, and continue baking uncovered until the farro is tender-chewy and the sauce is thick, about 15 minutes more. (If the farro has already soaked up all the sauce and the pan is looking dry, stir in ½ to ¾ cup water, just to make sure the farro has enough liquid to become tender and saucy.)

Step 3
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, make the topping: Stir together the panko, Parmesan, salt, and olive oil.

Step 4
Turn on the broiler. Evenly cover the top of the farro with the panko topping. Top with the sliced mozzarella. Broil on the top rack, about 6 inches from the heat source, for 2 minutes, rotating the pan once and watching carefully for burning, until the panko topping is deeply browned and the mozzarella has melted.

If your oven, like mine has a very powerful broiler, use the convection fan instead of the broiler. Keep the oven on 425, turn on the fan, and cook until the mozzarella is a bit browned and bubbling, usually about 5 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

This recipe is adapted from Sarah DiGregorio’s Farro and Cauliflower.

30 February 4, 2021 Dinner

Marcella Hazan’s Smothered Cabbage and Rice

It’s been a while since I posted a recipe, and a lot has happened. Global pandemic, I moved, I finished a masters degree that has nothing to do with music (or food), and all the while, I was cooking. Now that I have a bit of time to stick my head above the water, I’ll share some of what has kept me and my family going through the pandemic.

I first learned of this recipe while listening to Marcella Hazan’s excellent autobiography. In it, she describes this dish as the most satisfying possible way to combine simple ingredients into a fantastic meal. I could not agree more. It is also worth noting that this may be one of the most budget friendly ways to feed a family dinner that I know of. A head of cabbage usually goes for less than $1. The entirety of the ingredients could easily come in under $3 and feed a family of 4.

This meal gets its tremendous depth of flavor through long, slow cooking. You essentially caramelize the cabbage until is melts in your mouth and its sweetness combines with that of the onions and the earthy depth of the parmesan. Leave yourself at least 2 hours to make this dish, but know that nearly all of that 2 hours the dish can be left unattended. Do not rush this; it won’t be all that great and you’ll wonder what you did wrong.

Recipe

Time: 2 hours, mostly unattended
Feeds: 4-6

INGREDIENTS

1 head green cabbage, outer leaves discarded
1/2 cup olive oil (don’t skimp)
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp white or red wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper
3 cups vegetable broth or water
2/3 cup white rice (preferably arborio)
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese

METHOD

Quarter and core the cabbage, then finely shred it. You can do this by hand with a knife, or in a food processor. I usually do it in a food processor because it is much quicker.
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large (8 quart or so) Dutch oven or wide pot. Add the onion and cook slowly for 8-10 minutes until the onion is noticeably beginning to darken in color. If it looks like the edges are getting crisp, lower the heat.
Add the garlic to the pot and swirl around for 20 seconds or so.
Add the cabbage, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Turn the cabbage over a few times to coat it in the oil, reduce heat to low and cover. If your stove goes super low, you might want to aim for medium low. You still want this to cook, but not burn.
Cook over low heat, turning occasionally for at least 90 minutes.
Once the cabbage is caramelized, add the broth or water and taste for saltiness. If you used water, or your broth is not very salty, adjust the seasoning. Add the rice to the pot and stir to mix. Cover the pot and cook for 15-20 minutes more, or until the rice is done.
Once the rice is tender, add the butter and cheese, stir to combine and serve. The final consistency should be fairly thick, not soupy. A little bit of broth is fine, but you don’t really want soup in the traditional sense.

2 June 14, 2020 Dairy-Free

Dead Simple Tomato Sauce

For me, pasta sauces fall into two categories, fast sauces, and sauces I never make. This dead simple tomato sauce is the former. You can easily throw it together in a couple of minutes, though it tastes best when it has at least 10 minutes to simmer. It is an incredibly forgiving recipe, so feel free to play around with the proportions if you want something different out of your sauce. This dead simple tomato sauce is of course great on pasta, or use it in my weeknight baked eggplant Parmesan recipe, or on a pizza.

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced (I like yellow, red, or white. Not a Vidalia)
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 28 oz cans whole tomatoes in juice
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Method

Open the cans of whole tomatoes and dump them in a large bowl. Squeeze the tomatoes with your hands to break them up into small bits.
Heat the oil in a large (12” or so) pan with a lid
Sauté the onion for 5-6 minutes until translucent
Add the garlic, stir and cook for 45 seconds or so
Add the tomatoes and basil, salt and pepper to taste and red pepper flakes if you are using them.
Turn heat low enough that the sauce isn’t splattering everywhere, partially cover and simmer for 10 minutes to so, stirring occasionally.

5 June 14, 2020 Dinner

Weeknight Baked Eggplant Parmesan

We have all had tons of time at home over the last few months. For all of us that means more cooking, which is a great thing. For those of us with two working parents and kids in the house, it does not necessarily mean more time to cook. I came up with this dead simple version of baked eggplant parmesan because I was really craving it, but I wanted a faster way. Roasting the eggplant makes everything much easier than individually frying each piece. It also probably makes it lower in fat, but that was not my main goal in making the recipe.

I chose to throw together a quick and simple tomato sauce for this. If you are really crunched for time, feel free to use a good quality jarred sauce. I like Victoria’s and Rao’s, but use whatever you like. Throwing together a red sauce is dead simple, so give it a try.

Feeds 3-4. This recipe is easily doubled
Time 45 minutes, somewhat unattended

Ingredients

1 large eggplant (1.5 – 2 lbs)
1/2 cup olive oil (for brushing)
Salt
1/2 lb fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
1 recipe dead simple tomato sauce
Fresh basil for serving

Method

Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Slice the eggplant crosswise into 1/2 inch thick slices. Arrange the slices on a large baking sheet.
Generously paint the eggplant on one side with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt. A pastry brush works well for this. Flip the eggplant slices and paint and salt the opposite side. This is a great step to let a child do. It’s very simple and not too messy.
Roast the eggplant in the oven for 15 minutes. Flip and roast for 15 minutes longer. The eggplant should be nicely browned. If it is not, leave it in a bit longer. Remove when the eggplant is browned. Leave the oven on.
While the eggplant is in the oven, make the sauce.
Now it is time to assemble the dish. Spread 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of a 9 inch square, or oval baking dish.
Place one layer of eggplant down, trying to cover the entire surface of the dish.
Cover the eggplant with a layer of tomato sauce, then cover with slices of the mozzarella. Repeat until you run out of eggplant. In the dish I used, this worked out to be two layers of eggplant.
Bake the dish, uncovered for 15-20 minutes. The cheese should be melted, maybe slightly browned and the sauce should be bubbling.
Make a chiffonade of the basil and sprinkle it on top of the eggplant. Serve with pasta and the remaining sauce.

Eggplant before baking, brushed with oil

Roasted eggplant — Eggplant after roasting

Baked eggplant Parmesan, right out of the oven

6 January 22, 2019 Dinner

Broccoli Soup with Lemon and Pecorino

Winter has really set in here in New Jersey. At West Point, this is called the gray season, where the sky, roads, grass, and pretty much everything is a shade of gray. It can be a depressing time. Or, you can curl up next to the fire with the kiddos and read some books, or throw some vinyl on the stereo while a pot of this brightly flavored Italian broccoli soup with lemon and pecorino bubbles away merrily on the stove.

If you take a look through the other recipes on the blog, you’ll see that I have fallen head over heels for the tried and true flavor combination of garlic, lemon, and pecorino. (Simple kale salad, spring snap peas with pecorino) It’s a really versatile holy trinity of flavors that you can apply to a lot of things. Deb over at Smitten Kitchen has done this with a bunch of recipes. I thought taking these flavors and making them into a healthy, stick to your ribs, winter soup was just the thing.

This brightly flavored Italian broccoli soup is a nice departure from the umami bombs that we tend to eat so much of in the winter. I’m all for a bowl of ramen, or a really well made French onion soup, but sometimes I need something acidic to wake yourself up. This recipe is very forgiving. You’ll save yourself a bunch of time if you have a decent immersion blender, but you can blend the soup in a regular blender too.

Also, here’s a tip for this recipe, and anything else with broccoli. While the onions are cooking, peel the long stems of your broccoli. This makes it so you can use the entire broccoli instead of throwing away the stems. After peeling, chop the stems off of the broccoli. Cut the toughest bit off of the very end and discard it. Now cut the broccoli stems into 1/3 inch pieces and add to the onions. The stems need a bit more cooking time than the florets.

As I was tinkering with this recipe, I thought I wanted something with quite a lot of garlic, so don’t shy away from the 6 cloves. It’s not too much, really. Also, as I was grating the cheese for this, I was using my new microplane box grater, which was a christmas present from my brother. I’m not usually one to get excited over a box grater, but this thing is amazingly sharp. I accidentally grated much more cheese than I intended to, but just went ahead and used it all. It’s just the thing to balance out the garlic in the soup.

grated pecorino cheese — A bit too much pecorino romano (or is it?)

Recipe

Ingredients

1 large onion, roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch dice
8 cups water or broth
Salt to taste
1 tsp black pepper
2 lbs broccoli cut into florets, stems cut into 1/3 inch pieces and separated
2 cups grated pecorino romano
Zest of one lemon
Juice of one lemon
Crushed red pepper for serving

Method

Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions, and sauté for 4 minutes or so until they start to become translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds. Don’t let the garlic burn. Add the chopped broccoli stems and potatoes, and sauté for 3 – 4 minutes.

Add the broth or water and bring to a boil. While you are waiting for the liquid to boil, add salt to taste. Depending on how salty your broth is, this could be none, or up to 3 teaspoons. Go easy on the salt because you will be adding pecorino cheese at the end which also has quite a bit of salt. Add the fresh ground pepper as well. Once the soup boils, turn to a brisk simmer and let cook for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, check to make sure the potatoes and broccoli stems are cooked through. If they are, add the remaining broccoli, and cook for 5 more minutes. Once the broccoli is cooked, take a large ladle, and remove two or three large scoops of chunks of broccoli and potatoes and set aside. Remove the soup from the heat and blend the remainder of it with your immersion blender. If you don’t have an immersion blender, do this in batches in a regular blender, or just forget about it and have chunky soup.

Once the soup is all blended, add the broccoli and potatoes you removed back in, along with the lemon zest, lemon juice and pecorino cheese. Give everything a stir to make sure everything is incorporated. The soup should still be hot enough to melt the cheese, but if it isn’t, turn the heat to low and bring it up to temperature. Taste the soup and adjust the salt and pepper if you need to.

Serve with crushed red pepper and enjoy!

1 November 3, 2018 Breakfast

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Waffles

Autumn weekend mornings are awesome. I’m not sure what makes them different than a summer weekend, but somehow, the desire to rise and spring out the door into activity isn’t nearly as strong. We tend to linger over coffee, put some Palestrina on the hi-fi, and make something good for breakfast. My girls will often settle into a marathon book reading session, or get involved in some complicated dress up game. These whole wheat pumpkin waffles are the perfect thing on a lazy Sunday morning for so many reasons.

First, they are downright delicious. They are full of fall flavors, and hints of baking spices; your whole house will smell fantastic for the rest of the day. Next, as far as waffles go, these are pretty good for you. They have quite a bit of pumpkin, aka a vegetable, in them, and are 100% whole grain. You can’t go wrong. They are not a low fat food, but you could easily trim the butter quite a bit and still have decent results.

This is an adapted recipe from Eating Well for whole wheat pumpkin waffles that I have been making for some time. It has woven its way into my weekend food repertoire and never left. If you want to make it dairy free, substitute canola oil for the butter, and your non-dairy milk of choice for the buttermilk. Be sure to follow the instructions below on turning regular milk into buttermilk.

If you’re making brunch for a crowd and want something savory to offset these waffles, why not try this fantastic tomato and feta shakshuka?

If you don’t have buttermilk…

If you don’t happen to have buttermilk around, there are a couple of ways to make a perfectly good substitute. You can either set regular milk in a measuring cup and add a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice or cider vinegar. Let that stand while you get the rest of the recipe together and use it just like the buttermilk. There is enough acid in the lemon juice or vinegar to act on the baking soda and make the whole wheat pumpkin waffles fluffier. Or, put a big dollop of yogurt into a measuring cup, then fill to the two cup mark with regular milk. Mix the yogurt in, and you are all set.

On waffle irons

I have this Krups Belgian waffle iron. It’s pretty good, but it’s always annoyed me that there is no temperature control. Fortunately, they corrected that with their latest version. No matter what, don’t skimp on your waffle maker. If you get a decent one, it will last forever and cook beautifully. Cheaper waffle makers cook unevenly and don’t last long.

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Waffles

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INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
4 large eggs
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
1 14oz can canned solid-pack pumpkin
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil for brushing waffle iron (I use Pam or baker’s joy)

METHOD

Sift together flour, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices.
Whisk eggs in a large bowl until blended, then whisk in, buttermilk, brown sugar, pumpkin, and butter until smooth.
Mix in dry ingredients just until smooth.
Brush waffle iron lightly with oil and spoon batter (about 2 cups for four 4-inch Belgian waffles) into waffle iron, spreading quickly. Cook for about 4 minutes in a Belgian waffle maker, maybe less in a normal one.
As you make them, keep the finished waffles warm in a 200 degree oven.
Put some maple syrup on and dig in.
Also, these freeze really well. Just let them cool off and put them in ziplock bags for homemade eggos. Heat them up for a few seconds in the microwave and then bake them in the toaster for a couple of minutes.

Nutrition

Calories

2559 cal

Fat

82 g

Carbs

375 g

Protein

87 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

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11 October 11, 2018 Dairy-Free

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Balsamic

because This recipe for roasted Brussels sprouts with garlic and balsamic vinegar found its way into my life over a decade ago. I’m pretty sure I fist came across it in Mark Bittman’s excellent cookbook, How to Cook Everything. There is even a vegetarian version! This recipe, along with my amazing wife, is responsible for turning me into a serious devotee of the humble Brussels sprout.

My sprout awakening

I remember avoiding Brussels sprouts like the plague growing up, probably because my only exposure to a Brussels sprout was in the school lunch line, where they had been steamed or boiled for a fortnight before serving. They smelled terrible, and looked inedible. I don’t think I ever even tried them because of that. Fast forward to today, and I think I probably have sprouts in my fridge from mid-September through May. Chances are, tif I have Brussels sprouts, they will be made into this roasted Brussels sprouts with garlic and balsamic vinegar because its so easy.

M daughters even love this recipe. That may be because we told them they were called “tiny cabbages,” but whatever the reason, they love them. A little rebranding goes a long way. There has never been a leftover sprout in our house, no matter how many we make.

This recipe is so easy to love. It is incredibly fast to throw together, more or less hands off, and absolutely delicious. All you need is a big, ovenproof skillet, I usually use cast iron, and a couple of simple ingredients. I would stay away from using a nonstick skillet. There has been some bad press about possible chemical off-gassing from the coatings at high temperatures, and I air on the side of caution here. I have used Calphalon aluminum skillets as well with great success.

Kitchen safety

It is really easy to forget to put an oven mitt on your hand after you have taken the skillet out of the oven and it is sitting on the stovetop. Do not forget to do that. We are conditioned that pot handles are safe to grab when they are on the stove because we do it all the time. Nothing will ruin your day faster than grabbing a 400 degree cast iron pot handle with your bare hand.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Balsamic

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INGREDIENTS

2 pounds Brussels sprouts
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

METHOD

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Trim the bottom off of all of the sprouts and slice the sprouts in half. If there are any really. Small ones, you can leave those whole, you just want them all more or less the same size.
Heat a large cast iron or other ovenproof skillet over medium high heat. When hot, put in the olive oil and tilt the pan so the bottom is coated. Add the Brussels sprouts to the pan and arrange them so they are cut side down. Sprinkle a few pinches of salt an a couple of good grinds of black pepper on top and walk away for 7 minutes.
After 7 minutes, add the peeled, whole cloves of garlic to the pan and scrape the sprouts up to toss them around a bit. Put the pan in the oven for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, stir the sprouts, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan. Return the pan to the oven for about 7 more minutes, or until the sprouts are nicely browned, and crispy in some places.
Take the pan out of the oven and immediately pour the balsamic vinegar around the pan. It should sizzle quite a bit. Stir everything around to coat and transfer the sprouts to a serving bowl. You’re done!

https://thedinnerwinner.com/roasted-brussels-sprouts-with-garlic-and-balsamic/