Monthly Archives: November 2012
Bread & cheese
We had one of my favorite meals tonight, bread, cheese and salad. For the salad, I made a variation on this escarole salad. The original recipe is wonderful, but tonight I simplified it a lot by using only escarole, Dubiner cheese (instead of Gruyere), croutons and the wonderful, creamy, Mustard Vinaigrette, that the recipe calls for. We also had grilled cheese sandwiches.
Carrot ginger soup
By Nina Max in Vegetarian
What do you do when you have about four dozen gorgeous, local, organic carrots taking up too much room in the fridge? Make Carrot Ginger Soup, of course!
• Carrot Ginger Soup •
Note: this soup is pretty forgiving, you don’t need to count or measure.
Melt a few tablespoons of butter (I used 4) in a heavy bottomed pot. Add chopped onion and peeled, chopped, ginger (I used 1 large onion and a 3 inch piece of ginger). Cook until onion is soft and translucent and and add peeled, chopped carrots (I used about 20 medium carrots). Cook for a few more minutes and pour in enough broth to cover everything plus a little more. Simmer until carrots are soft. Blend with a stick blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Ta da!
Because soup isn’t substantial enough for Shane, he picked up some Tandoori Chicken at a local place. We also had a very long Barbari bread from our corner store.
Turkey burgers & cauliflower gratin
By Nina Max in uncategorized 2 Comments
My cousin Kirst, sent me this recipe for Cauliflower Gratin recently. Kirst didn’t have enough potato and substituted turnip, she also added extra cheese and I did the same. The recipe is a keeper, for sure.
I made turkey burgers with bread crumbs and butter and topped them with mozzarella and prosciutto for Rose and Shane. I should have also made something for myself, but I’m overwhelmed and that makes me flaky.
Lazy Wednesday: pasta with beet greens, anchovies and onions.
Rose wanted pasta with butter and cheese and I decided to cook beet greens with anchovies and onions for myself. The greens were a bit much on their own so I mixed them with pasta. Voila! Delicious.
The recipe below is for just half a pound of pasta, you could easily double. I think this would work beautifully with whole wheat pasta as well.
• Pasta with Beet Greens, Anchovies and Onions •
1 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 lb penne
1/4 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
6 anchovy filets*, chopped
1 small bunch beet greens washed and chopped into 1-2″ strips
a pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon butter
Put water on to boil and salt it well. Sautee onion in olive oil until soft and translucent. Chop anchovy fillets and add to onion, cook for a few minutes until anchovy is disolved. Turn off heat until pasta water is boiled. When you put the pasta on to cook, add greens and red pepper to onions and anchovies and cook over medium heat until wilted but still bright green. Add butter stirring until it melts and remove from heat. Toss greens mixture with drained pasta and serve.
*The better quality (more expensive) anchovies that come in a jar have a notably better flavor. Use them when you can.
Veggie sides
By Nina Max in left overs 1 Comment
While my family ate the leftover turkey chili from last week, I had a (not wholly round) meal of delicious vegetable sides. If you’ve been here recently, you know my new favorite thing to do with broccoli is to roast it. Tonight I did just that and then sprinkled it with parmesan cheese.
I’m very excited about the sweet potatoes tonight. I roasted and then tossed them with fresh thyme, and topped with goat cheese. The recipe is below.
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Goat Cheese & Fresh Thyme •
2lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4″ cubes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 oz chevre
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
Heat oven to 350. Peel and chop potatoes and toss with olive oil and salt. Roast potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet until soft and browned in places, about 30 minutes. Let cool slightly, then toss with fresh thyme leaves. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve topped with crumbled chevre.
Mustard crusted tofu
By Nina Max in uncategorized 1 Comment
I’ve missed posting about dinner, so here we go again*. Tonight I made an almost dairy-free meal (butter excepted), which is highly unusual for me. I made it because Shane has been feeling sick, and seems to think that not eating dairy will help him to feel better.
The Mustard Crusted Tofu was a little bland on it’s own, I thought. But paired with the extra sauce from Salad Turnips with Miso, it was excellent. I skipped the greens in the tofu dish since we were already having turnip greens. Rice pulled everything together.
*It’s clear that the aftermath of Sandy will be with us for a long time. My hope is to continue to help out as best I can, even while my life is more or less back to normal.
Finding a home for our supplies
By Nina Max in uncategorized 1 Comment
We raced back to New York with our Sandy relief supplies, only to find that the truck was already full and not taking anything but diapers and water. I put some feelers out and thanks to our wonderful community, warm coats and toys are now headed to the Rockaways. Later this morning blankets, candles and more toys will be safely on their way to Red Hook. We’re glad to be able to help and so grateful for our wonderful community.
More ways you can help:
Help Displaced Animals: http://gothamist.com/2012/11/02/urgent_adopt_or_foster_these_dogs_a.php#photo-11
Help Red Hook, Brooklyn: https://redhook.recovers.org/
Queens Mamas: http://www.queensmamas.com/queens_mamas/2012/11/hurricane-sandy-volunteer-information.html
Help within the 5 Boroughs: http://www.nyc.gov/html/fund/html/home/home.shtml
Heading home, with supplies
By Nina Max in uncategorized
Sandy
By Nina Max in uncategorized
I’ve been feeling terrible about my posts since Sandy. Each day it seems a little more wrong to be posting about our cozy hot meals, when our neighbors are cold, hungry, dirty and dying. Here at The Steady Table we are doing our part to help those less fortunate in the aftermath of the storm.
The following agencies are among those accepting contributions to assist people affected by Hurricane Sandy:
American Red Cross: www.redcross.org/hurricane-sandy
Brooklyn Recovery Fund: www.brooklynrecoveryfund.org
Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City:www.nyc.gov/html/fund/html/home/home.shtml
Salvation Army: www.salvationarmyusa.org
United Way Sandy Recovery Fund: uwsandyrecovery.org