Versatile, easy, delicious, and ready in ten minutes. What more could you ask for?

Easy Spicy Broccoli

Add ~2 T. canola oil to a large cast iron skillet, and heat it on medium-high. Don’t use any nonstick cookware for this, you want the broccoli to char.

Meanwhile, chop up a few heads of broccoli, not too small. Toss them in the skillet and stir until the hot oil coats the broccoli. Gather your other ingredients: sesame oil, sesame seeds, and chili-garlic sauce.

Shake some sesame seeds all over the broccoli. Drop a few teaspoonfuls of chili-garlic sauce on the broccoli, more if you like it very spicy. Stir and cook until the broccoli is dry and crispy.

Remove skillet from the heat, and drizzle a little sesame oil over all. Serve immediately.

This is a great fridge-cleaning recipe, and a good way to re-use leftovers. And the addition of some leftover cooked chicken makes it great as a main dish. You could easily substitute tofu or tempeh, or just leave out the protein altogether.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know why you might roast squash with the cut side down instead of the cut side up? I usually roast cut side up, since I like the way the top caramelizes and the butter pools in the middle. I tried roasting cut-side down this time, and it seemed to work just fine. Maybe it has to do with the structural integrity of the skin?

Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
A variation on Straight from the Farm

1 large spaghetti squash
1 T. regular olive oil
1 T. butter
1 medium yellow onion
1 clove garlic
2 T. fresh dill
1 c. cooked broccoli
1 c. cooked chicken
3/4 c. cranberries
1/2 c. veggie broth
Asiago cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line baking sheet with foil and a quick spray of oil. Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and lay cut-side down on baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool enough to easily handle.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add butter and oil and sauté garlic, onions, and dill for 4 to 5 minutes until onions are translucent. Add broccoli and chicken, and heat until warmed. Add cranberries and broth to skillet and cover. Lower heat and simmer about 4-5 minutes, until most of the liquid is gone.

Scoop out the spaghetti squash innards with a spoon, separating strands. Scrape out the shells. Add squash strands to skillet and toss everything together. Return mixture to squash shells. Sprinkle with Asiago cheese, and place under a preheated broiler for 2-3 minutes, until cheese melts and gets toasty.

Serve immediately.

An interesting factoid about Maine shrimp (Pandalus borealis): Apparently, although the species lives across the oceans of the world, the population in the Gulf of Maine does not migrate. Instead, just like the human Mainers, they stay right heah wheah they’ah planted.

I really like Maine shrimp. They are sweet and beautifully tender. A very short boil in the shell, as the Slashfood post author describes, is all that’s necessary. Cocktail sauce is not really needed, since it can overwhelm the delicate flavor of these little bugs, though we did happen to have some on hand.

The cat was interested as well.

I grew up south of the Mason-Dixon line. Not very far, but far enough that split pea soup was on the rotation at home and I developed an almost unnatural love for good savory cornbread. So although I can’t remember eating anything with long-cooking greens at home, somehow it seeped into my blood that collards and kale are good eatin’.

When Farmer Justin offered me a bag of snow-covered kale earlier this week, I wanted to get creative and make some sort of strata, or kale lasagne, or get fancy with the blender and make kale cookies. But what my soul really hankered for during this snowy week was a big pot of beans and greens. Beans are inexpensive, nutritious, and filling. And they just belong cooked up with salt pork (or bacon) and hearty, long-cooking greens. I think Mainers would approve.

This dish takes a while, but you don’t have to pre-soak the beans, and it keeps for a week in the fridge. You could use all olive oil instead of bacon and easily turn this into a vegan meal, if that’s what you’re into.

Beans and Greens
1/2 T. olive oil
2 strips bacon, chopped up
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced

8 oz. dry navy beans
about 4 c. long-cooking greens such as kale or collards, chopped

Put first four ingredients in a large pot over low heat. Keep it there for about half an hour, until the bacon has mostly rendered out its fat, and the onions are translucent. Pour off the extra bacon fat if you want.

Add the beans, and about three or four times as much water as beans. Cover, bring to a boil, then drop the heat back to medium and let it simmer for about 45 minutes.

Add the chopped greens to the pot, and cover. You may have to really stuff them in there. After they’ve started to soften a little bit, stir up the pot so that everything gets mixed together, and put the cover back on. Simmer for another 10-15 minutes, until the beans are soft and the greens are tender.

This makes about four servings, maybe more. Eat up, it’s good for you.

I think of that whenever I make a particularly beautiful vegetable dish. Look how beautiful!

(A side note: did you know that as of fall 2006, Martin Yan still had a television show? Oh, the nostalgia!)

Skillet Hash
This is like the Western cowboy cousin to stir-fry. And it’s a great way to showcase potatoes.

Small potatoes, about two handfuls, cubed
2 carrots, cut into 1″ matchsticks
Broccoli, 1-2 heads
Spicy chicken sausage
Half an onion, chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
Olive oil
Thyme
Soy sauce
Rice vinegar

Use any vegetables you have on hand, but definitely include the potatoes. Other good things in particular, if you have them, are black beans and sweet potatoes.

Heat up some olive oil in a pan over medium-low, and add the onions and garlic. (Be careful not to burn the garlic.) Add the potatoes, stir around a bit, and sprinkle with a little kosher salt. Cover, and let the potatoes steam for about five minutes.

Add the remaining vegetables and sausage, stirring occasionally, until everything is cooked through. Sprinkle with a generous amount of fresh or dried thyme, a small amount of soy sauce, and a small amount of rice vinegar.

Serve it up, and sprinkle with a little Asiago cheese, if you like.