Author Archives: Tasha

[54] Greek-Style Cooked Greens

Cover of How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, by Mark Bittman

For the record, we had this as a side dish to the “beer-glazed beans.”:http://metacookbook.com/archives/101-51-Beer-Glazed-Black-Beans-with-Bacon-and-Tomatoes!.html It’s just that it took me awhile to remember what the side dish/recipe was.

In addition, we very much did not have the 1 – 2 lbs of greens the recipe called for. However, I was not about to let THAT stop me. I’ve been struggling for most of our CSA to figure out how to properly store turnip greens for eating, and I’d found this recipe one week when I thought I had managed it. I was wrong that week, but it meant this was up my sleeve when I did finally get it right.

I really have never had collards or turnip greens or anything like that before this CSA.… Continue reading →

[53] Port-Braised Cipollini Onions

Cover of Simply Organic, by Jesse Ziff Cool

Bill is actually the person who introduced me to this UFO-shaped onion. We were shopping at “Green City Market”:http://www.chicagogreencitymarket.org/ this past winter, and saw some at the “Nichols Family Farm”:http://www.nicholsfarm.com/ booth. Bill was incredibly enthusiastic about cooking some of these guys up. So, many months later, it’s only appropriate that we make a delicious recipe based on these for his birthday.

I will say that the one of the guys at the booth, upon selling me these onions, made a bit of a snerking laugh and said, “Enjoy peeling those.” He’s right. Cipollinis are delicious, but a total pain to peel.

h2. Ingredients

1 c ruby port
1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 c vegetable or chicken broth (We used chicken, since we have gobs of it in the freezer.)… Continue reading →

Not my day in the kitchen.

Today’s been a long day, you guys. My kitchen’s a mess. Which, on the one hand, is good because it means I’ve been DOING THINGS! On the other hand, though, it means a lot of cleaning.

Thus, I’m glad to soon be leaving the kitchen to go play games with Bill and some of his co-workers. Not that I don’t enjoy cooking, but today I’ve dropped things, spilled things, forgotten ingredients and so forth. It’s not been an easy day in my kitchen.

However, all that said, I did want to send out a “hello”. A quick list of some recipes you’ll be seeing posts about soon: banana bread, turnip greens, chocolate cake, potato and bean gratin, brussels sprouts with bacon, port-braised onions and stuffed mushrooms (the last two you already knew about, but still haven’t seen).… Continue reading →

[52] “Mom’s” Pumpkin Bread

Have you ever had “that recipe”? You know the one. The one you make for any potluck, any occasion and gets just rave reviews? The one that you’re very proud of and know you make excellently? The one where you never volunteer the recipe? This is that recipe for me.

A couple of you already have this recipe, but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to some hesitation about sharing this recipe at large. I don’t like the idea of losing the specialness of “that recipe” once everyone can make it. I have heard that happens to some people. But, really, why not share it? And for those who are wondering, yes, it’s in a cookbook I own, so it’s sort of accessible. Sort of, because…

There’s no cookbook link for this recipe, as it’s one of those fund-raising cookbooks (like the Pie Town pie cookbook).… Continue reading →

[51] Beer-Glazed Black Beans with Bacon (and Tomatoes!)

How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman

Oh man, oh man! I’m so far behind on getting recipes up, and I’m not quite sure how that happened. Still, it’s an exciting time for me. We knocked out seven recipes last week (including this one and the previous post), and are on target to knock out another seven or eight this week. And that’s including having punked out and had pizza last night, our attending a game night Thursday, and our being off to a birthday celebration Saturday.

Woo! Of course, that means I better get a crackin’ on posting these old recipes, eh? Well, here’s the starter.

My hint for this recipe is to _be careful with your chili/chile powder._

h2. Ingredients

4 – 8 oz bacon, cut into cubes or small pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp minced garlic (I just used about 3 big cloves.)… Continue reading →