february 14 weekly menu | winter table

Farm Fresh

beets, cabbage, carrots, celeriac, kale, leeks, micro greens, mushrooms, potatoes, squash

What’s for Dinner?

Friday – a very veggie love-fest

leek, mushroom, and prosciutto pizza (Martha Stewart)
red velvet cupcakes with orange buttercream (Diane Morgan, Roots)

Saturday – meat & potatoes

celery root and potato mash (Bon Appetit)
grilled rib-eyes (Oprah)
micro green salad

Sunday  – birthday boy choice

artichokes with melted butter (Simply Recipes)
mushrooms sauteed with garlic butter (Big Oven)
linguine with shrimp, garlic, & lemon (Cook’s Illustrated)

beaverton bakery cinema cake (Beaverton Bakery)

Monday – a presidential favorite

turkey chili with kale (theKitchn)
jalapeno cheddar cornbread (Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa at Home)

Tuesday – one rad root

celeriac and lentils (Yotam Ottolenghi, Plenty)
roast chicken
baguette

Wednesday – taste of eastern europe

quick pickled carrots (Food and Wine)
sweet and sour red cabbage (Simply Recipes)
beer-braised brats

Thursday – kale butter?!?  

italian sandwiches with kale butter (Ashley Gartland, Dishing Up Oregon)
potato chips

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Friday – a very veggie love-fest

leek, mushroom, and prosciutto pizza (Martha Stewart)
red velvet cupcakes with orange buttercream (Diane Morgan, Roots)

Valentine’s Day is a family affair around here. We’ve all eaten 100 conversation hearts (and other unmentionables) by dinner time, but still look forward to celebrating the day about love, hearts, sweets, and all things red and pink! Friday Pizza Night goes heart-shaped! Let this prior post be your inspiration and step-by-step instructional to pizza made in your own kitchen. After rolling out the dough, roughly give it a bit of a heart shape – no need to be too exact. The Martha recipe is included only as a guide for the leek and mushroom preparation. I would double the quantities, knowing that I’m making at least two pizzas. Experiment with the cheeses -mozzarella, fontina, parmesan, chevre – they all sound amazing. You can have all of the toppings ready in an assembly line for do-it-youself fun! For dessert, I’m going to give these festive, brilliantly hued cupcakes a shot. Forget the food coloring; these get their deep magenta shade from pureed beets! Follow Diane’s simple guide for roasting beets, then toss them in a food processor. Her buttercream looks amazing, infused with pure orange oil. But if time gets tight, frosting from the can wouldn’t be the worst thing. Finish with Valentine’s sprinkles!

Saturday – meat & potatoes

celery root and potato mash (Bon Appetit)
grilled rib-eyes (Oprah)
micro greens salad

Want to add a special richness and unexpected flavor to your mashed potatoes? Combine them with celeriac, and your dish suddenly becomes a little nutty, sweet, and has a delicate celery flavor. The natural dinner match is a juicy steak. This grilled rib-eye recipe allows me to whip up a sort of wet rub that comes together in less than five minutes, slather the steaks in it, and not give the “main course” another thought. I love my cast iron grill pan for this, beautifully emulating the BBQ, and those grill marks we all know and love. (Paninis, steaks, whatever!) I’m going to mix my micro greens with a simple balsamic vinaigrette, and serve alongside (on top?) of the grilled steak.  A sprinkling of Rogue River Blue anyone?

Sunday – birthday boy choice

artichokes with melted butter (Simply Recipes)
mushrooms sauteed with garlic butter (Big Oven)
linguine with shrimp, garlic, & lemon (Cook’s Illustrated)

I just couldn’t put off the steamed artichokes any longer. My little boy has been asking for these for months…not sure if he really loves the artichoke itself, or just using the leaf as a spoon to permissibly inhale butter. Either way, he’s the birthday boy, and the choice is all his. Even if I do have to go out and buy the artichokes, ignoring my bulging crisper drawers. At least I’ll put my mushrooms to good use. Funny how kids hate mushrooms. Until they’re sautéd  in lots of garlic and butter. His other request: shrimp with pasta. I’m going to my Cook’s Illustrated 30-Minute Recipe book for this, which is similar to what I’ve posted here; you could replace the clam juice with chicken broth and maybe increase a bit. And just my luck…large, wild shrimp are on special this week at New Seasons! If I weren’t cooking according to strict birthday wishes, I’d for sure be sautéing my chopped kale right after the shrimp, and combining it all together in the end. For dessert, we’re indulging in a decadent Beaverton Bakery cake. We spent an embarrassing amount of time at the computer, hovering over the cute little cake pictures, dreamily imagining the frosting, filling, and cake flavors to come up with the perfect combo. Eleven birthday candles instead of one this time, and I’m pretty sure he’ll use a fork. But you never know.

Monday –  a presidential favorite

turkey chili with kale (theKitchn)
jalapeno cheddar cornbread (Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa at Home)

On this day that we honor our American presidents, I thought it fitting to read a little about what some of Barack Obama’s favorite foods are. Broccoli, he declared recently at a White House Michelle Obama anti-obesity event. His plate is always packed with local, seasonal, organic veggies, most straight from the White House garden. OK, but really, what does he like for a meal? I learned that he loves take-out from Italian Fiesta Pizzeria when he’s in Chicago, and one of his favorite meals to enjoy at home is chili. In addition to loving to eat chili, this is also his go-to meal to prepare for others. Given that winter has not yet left us, chili still fits the bill in my house for a go-to warm and comforting meal. This turkey chili with kale looks simple enough, and is packed with good stuff! I’ll use a leek or two in instead of the onion, and in place of corn, toss in diced, par-baked winter squash. Ina’s cornbread recipe really is just the perfect accompaniment for chili. Of course, from the package works too. Now this is a meal I’m just sure the President would approve of!

Tuesday – one rad root

celeriac and lentils (Yotam Ottolenghi, Plenty)
roast chicken
baguette

Do not be afraid of the celeriac! It’s crazy-looking to say the least, but once you chop the tops off, and take the hairy, gnarly outside off the bulb, it’s a rather innocuous looking veggie. I just cut the top and bottom off the bulb, set it on a flat end on a cutting board, and with a small, sharp knife, peel in big strips from top to bottom. I usually end up jumping on it’s rich, elegant side, in creamy soups and gratins. This recipe from famed chef Yotam Ottolenghi uses celeriac, chopped in large pieces and just boiled briefly, in this mix of celery root and lentils (I’ll just use regular brown). For those of us still using the American-style of measuring:  I’ll use about 1/4 cup hazelnuts (just browning them briefly and removing them from one of the other pans I’ll use), one cup of lentils, and 3 cups of water. The warm lentils soak up the simple vinaigrette. I’ll add some of my pre-roasted sweet peppers, along with the celeriac, in the final mixing of this hearty main course. Serve alongside slices of made-by-someone-else roast chicken (a weeknight specialty of mine!) and a crusty baguette.

Wednesday – taste of eastern europe

quick pickled carrots (Food and Wine)
sweet and sour red cabbage (Simply Recipes)
beer-braised brats

On the heels of an entire week’s worth of Russian specialties (honoring the opening of the Sochi Olympic games), I think one mid-week eastern European dinner will be just the thing to keep the idea & celebrating alive. Russians love their pickled veggies, and carrots are a perfect pickling candidate. Especially with this 30 minute quick method – pickle while you whip up the cabbage. This traditional sweet & sour red cabbage is a tasty but simple combination of butter (could use partial olive oil), sugar, and balsamic vinegar. For some golden, beer-infused brats, cook the sausages with a beer in a cast iron skillet. Steam until cooked through, remove any liquid that might be left, and then cook until nicely browned. If you serve them up in a bun, be sure to include a sampling of mustards, as well as a pile of tasty micro greens!

Thursday – kale butter?!?  

italian sandwiches with kale butter (Ashley Gartland, Dishing Up Oregon)
potato chips

I have declared any recipe with the word “butter” in the title worth investigating. And kale butter?!? Right up my alley! We love sandwich & chip night. Casual, quick, and everyone can tweak it how they like it. This recipe, inspired by local farmers & their CSA members, cooks kale and onion (could be leeks…) until they are literally the consistency of butter. Pile that on your favorite bakery bread, add a good dose of cheese, and bake until warm and melty. It’s an easy meal to have a selection of farm fresh goodies to garnish as desired – fresh herbs, sauteed mushrooms, micro greens now, and in the height of summer, slices of just-picked tomatoes! Plus olives, always olives at our house. Add the bowl (bag) of Kettle Chips – everyone’s happy!

“What the Kale?!?”

Don’t panic and get out the compost bin if all of the sudden you have a giant veggie delivery coming your way, and you still have a fridge full.  Here are a few suggestions for preserving the bounty!  (Soups and stews freeze wonderfully in those gallon zip lock freezer bags.)

• cream of celery root soup (The Food Network)
• carnival squash bisque (A Blithe Palate)
• savory beet soup (Cooking Light)