188: Spicy Tomato and Cruciferous Veggies

This is a glorious, delicious mess. But maybe I should back up a little.

A few weeks ago (or, you know, last week), I made a dish I wasn't too satisfied with- smothered cauliflower and poached eggs. The dish was bland and made me a little sad. So when given the opportunity this week, I decided to do it my way: The wrong way, but faster! No, sorry, thinking of something else. Savory, spicy, and just generally delicious.

Ingredients:

1 small head of cauliflower

1 small head/bunch of broccoli

~ salt, pepper, olive oil

1/2 onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 poblano peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped

2 tomatoes, diced

~ Tbs cilantro

Eggs as needed

I used both broccoli and cauliflower this time, as I didn't have much of either and figured they'd get along well. These were tossed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, then roasted in a 425 degree oven (according to the oven, I'm not so sure it was that hot) for about 15 minutes, just to get a little char on them. I'd probably take them a little farther next time. Or broil em a bit for fun.

Meanwhile I chopped up my onion, tomato, garlic, etc. Cooked the onion in a pot with a little olive oil and salt until translucent, added my garlic, stirring until fragrant, then the peppers, tomato and cilantro.

Cooked that for a little while, until the tomatoes were starting to break down, or at least let go of some of their liquid, then tossed in the broccoli and cauliflower and simmered until they were soft.

Adjust your seasonings as you like, I considered adding a little basil or vinegar or something, but was getting tired and hungry. I didn't mind it without.

Topped the above with two very over easy eggs. This is a very different dish from the one last week, but honestly, as much as I'd read the original recipe, I really just wanted this all along. Very happy I just up and made it. I'll eventually tomato and egg all the things.

Delivery 19

Dill - 1 bunch

Beets - 2 pounds

Diakon Radish - 1
Cheriette Radishes - 1 bunch

Cauliflower - 1 head

Red Leaf Lettuce - 1 head (standard switch for more radishes)

Green Lettuce - 1 head

Napa Cabbage - 1 head

Bok Choy - 1 head

Leeks - 1 bunch

Broccoli Florets -1 bunch

Ancho Peppers - 4

Hot Peppers - take if you like

[no pic]

Cauliflower

Still love this roundup, though I'm tempted to try and fix my smothered cauliflower dish.

Napa Cabbage

With daikon I'm well on my way to more kimchi, but no. Loving this cabbage roundup from Bittman (picks: hot & sour, egg & tomato, caesar). Really feeling soup lately.

Leeks 

Still have my leeks from last week- I just went ahead and cleaned and chopped everything up without a definite plan in mind. Less excuses to dawdle. Here's a soup with cauliflower and cashews. Or that confit. Or fritters, again, though a different recipe.
 

Dill

There is some smoked salmon in my freezer that would be good with this- I'd go super simple though. Beyond that (as I still have tons of potatoes from the past few weeks): a potato salad with dill, roasted potatoes, or roasted radishes. Dill bread. Potato dill bread. And another.

Radishes

See other ingredients. Lazy this week. I'm not sure who doesn't like radishes, but for some reason they're always on the swap table. Not complaining, beats red lettuce any day.

Green Lettuce

A salad, natch. Not sure what kind, though could easily be a just greens with dressing kind of thing.

Beets

You have no idea how happy I am to see beets. I'd gladly take two pounds of these every week. Part of me was sad there were none on the swap table, but as it gets colder these will be more prevalent, so here's hoping. These guys are already roasted, earmarked for a repeat of sorts.

Daikon

This daikon is as big as my forearm. No kidding. Some will be pickled. Here are more recipes for that. I like this soup, even if it's more about the mushrooms than the daikon. Here's a simpler one.

Poblano Peppers

Not that I have a plan for it, but I'm tempted to make a sauce. Also maybe a pizza. Also also I picked up more hot peppers but forgot to add them to this pic.

Broccoli

Roasted with cauliflower and garlic. Spicy saute. These feel firmer than the last batch for whatever reason. Not a lot though.

Bok Choy

Cole slaw with radishes and daikon. Or a saute. I've gotten over my inherent meh-ness about this veggie, as I've made some fun things with it so far, but it's pretty hard to store in my greens-hatin' fridge.

168: Chicken Chili Verde

So maybe this isn't the prettiest dish, but damn is it tasty. I triangulated between a few recipes, and due to the nature of my tomatillos, I don't have anything easily official if you feel like playing along at home. Chili is something that I always wing. It's very forgiving.

Ingredients

4 chicken thighs

1 onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

2 poblanos, roasted, skinned seeded and diced

1 jalapeno/serrano, roasted skinned seeded and diced

~ tomatillo puree/liquid*

~ chicken broth

1.5 tsp (guessing) cumin

~ salt, pepper, olive oil

1 Tbs cilantro, chopped

Juice of 1 lime

* recipe to post later that needed tomatillo juice. I had pureed 20 tomatillos, strained through a fine sieve/cheese cloth. This used about half that pulp and then maybe a 1/4 cup of juice

Brown your chicken thighs in a dutch oven all over, rendering out some fat. Remove the thighs from the pan, set aside, and put your onions in with the brown goodness on the bottom of the pot. Saute for a bit, until the onions start to brown, then add your garlic and stir until fragrant. Add the poblanos and the hot pepper, then the tomatillo pulp/juice, broth, and cumin. Taste it, adjust some seasonings to your liking (more hot pepper or cumin, etc). Put the chicken back in and simmer, covered, until cooked through. I don't tend to time it.

Remove the chicken again, add the lime juice and some of the cilantro. Let it simmer and thicken uncovered. Shred your chicken, add it back to the pot, and continue to simmer until you reach your desired consistency. Taste and adjust your seasonings again.

I probably added to much tomatillo pulp, but just barely. It's a nice sweet/heat with a slight tartness, but overwhelmingly savory. Is that a confusing enough description? Here's a shorter one: nom.

Delivery 17

Red Leaf Lettuce-2 heads Still having nightmares about the lettuce from the beginning of the season, so I switched out for more tomatillos

Mizuna-1 bunch

Mustard Greens-1 bunch

Radish-1 bunch

Potatoes-2 pounds

Cabbage-1 head

Tomatillos-10

Thyme-1 bunch

Rainbow Carrots-1 bunch

Hot Peppers - Habanero - take if you like

Ancho Peppers- 2

Sweet Peppers-2

Mustard Greens

The salad I made last week was just what I needed, so I'd like to do another raw preparation. Here are a few options.

Potatoes

A mix of red and white potatoes...and I still have some potatoes from last week that haven't found a recipe home. My time has been crazy limited lately, so I have a feeling that most things will probably be roasted/boiled. One of the mustard green recipes uses them. Here are some leftover recipes from other weeks: potato cake (with parsley), pancake, roasted (with cabbage), smashed (with cabbage).

Peppers

Rainbow of peppers! Bell, what they say is ancho (ancho is a dried poblano), cubanelle and habenero. Here's a frittata (bonus for potato). I may just roast them all and mix them with some kind of dressing.

Rainbow Carrots

Rainbow of carrots, too! I'm interested to see if the different colors taste different. Simple raw and roasted preparations are in order.

Cabbage

So...I still have that cabbage from two weeks ago. It's looking not-so-great. Can we just agree that I'll get to this when I get to this? But my perennial salad suggestion will hopefully not be the new pepper jelly (i.e. a recipe that I keep mentioning but never actually do)- it sounds lovely, but the "salt then let it sit for a few hours" gives me pause. When am I home for a few hours and then not on my way to bed?

It's a natural pairing with potatoes- here are some options: Ethiopian, Bolivian, more fried cakes, a few Indian preparations.

Broccoli

Makeshift "head" of broccoli...not sure it's worth making something dedicated out of this. I'm always in need of something simple (and healthy) to eat after interning on weekend, may just snack on these raw.

Tomatillos

These were smelling a bit musty, so as soon as I got home I washed and pureed. Will pick up some cheesecloth on the way home to strain out the juice for a tart. Or if not a tart, at least the curd portion of that tart. Any leftovers & pulp will probably be frozen/used in some kind of meat braise.

Thyme

Roasting herbage. Or biscuits, or popovers.

Radishes

Cherrette and one breakfast. Simple toast, salad (bonus for carrots), sandwich with herb butter, slaw with broccoli and carrot (technically daikon but I'd try it with regular).

Mizuna

Oh heeyyy Mizuna, long time no see. This post mentions an easy prep with potatoes, here's an insanely easy salad (hot garlic dressing), and here's a post on serious eats about it.