Cream of Broccoli Soup (with NO REAL CREAM)

This is another great recipe from The Plan Cookbook. Adjusted by me based on experience. Can easily be made vegan.

3 tbsp unsalted butter (who are we kidding, use more than that) (or olive oil)

1 large onion

herbs — I use a lot more than indicated — so, to taste: 

1 tbsp dried sage

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp celery seed — I love celery seed so use a lot, but note that it gives the soup a real spicy kick!

dash of sriracha and/or cayenne

2 cups chicken stock, chicken broth, vegetable broth

2 cups water (or use 4 cups broth)

1 (14-oz) can full-fat unsweetened coconut milk

8 cups chipped broccoli (~4 heads)

4 cups chipped zucchini (~2 medium)

1-2 avocado, pitted

In a skillet, melt the butter or heat the oil and sauté the onion, sage, cumin, celery seed until onion is softened.

In a soup pot, combine sautéed onion, broth, water, coconut milk, broccoli, zucchini, and cayenne/sriracha. Bring to a boil and simmer until the veggies are softened, about 30 minutes.

Blend the soup with the avocado for extra creaminess! I've never even thought about adding real cream — the coconut milk and avocado makes for a really lusciously creamy soup.

Zucchini Pancakes

This is a recipe from The Plan Cookbook, but modified by me thru experience. Good for breakfast! And with an egg substitution (and no goat cheese) would be vegan.

4-6 cups shredded zucchini (3-4 medium zucchini or 2 large)
4-6 eggs
1 onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 - 1/2 cup coconut flour (or some other kind of flour, I've used buckwheat)
lots of chopped dill (1/2 cup or so)
olive oil
topping: crumped goat cheese

Blot the zucchini with a paper towel to remove excess moisture.

In a bowl, combine: zucchini, eggs, onion, garlic, coconut flour, dill, 1 tsp olive oil and MIX.

Heat olive oil on skillet. Use 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop out pancakes and flatten on skillet. Cook 5-7 minutes until browned on the bottom and can be easily flipped. Flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Crumple goat cheese on top. Also good with hot sauce.

Chorizo Pisto

Buenas noches!  Donde esta la biblioteca?  Tengo mucho hambre.  Quiero una cena espanola.  Hacemos pisto!  La idea viene del New York Times aqui.

Recipe (I feel like I must have known the Spanish word for "recipe" before, but not anymore so back to English...)

1/2 lb chorizo, removed from casing (optional)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb zucchini or summer squash
1 14 oz can tomatoes
2-3 eggs
salt & pepper
olive oil

Heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Start with the chorizo, breaking it up and getting it a bit brown.  Next add the onions until well tender (about 5 minutes),  then garlic (a minute or so), then zucchini/squash until starting to soften (another 5 minutes).  Add the tomatoes and juice, lower heat to medium low and cook about half an hour, stirring and mashing with a wooden spoon periodically.  Finally, make wells in the stew for the eggs, break one into each, sprinkle with salt & pepper, cover, and cook until the whites are set but yolk still runs (6-8 minutes).

Notes

This is kind of a simplified, meat-ified version of the NYT's recipe.  I was hungry though, and regret nothing!  The chorizo gives it so much flavor, and the rest of the stew is essentially all vegetables so hearty and healthy.

Fried Zucchini Spaghetti

Guess which two of the following three things Gwyneth Paltrow counts among her "favorite things on earth": fried zucchini, spaghetti, and caring for orphans?  According to her cookbook, the answer is fried zucchini and spaghetti - no mention of the poor orphans :(

Recipe

3/4 lb (1 box) spaghetti
2-3 zucchini, thinly sliced
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 c Parmesan cheese, grated
handful basil leaves, roughly torn
olive oil, salt & pepper

Cook the spaghetti.  Meanwhile, toss the zucchini with the flour and some salt and pepper.  Heat a quarter cup of olive oil high, and cook single layers of zucchini, turning until golden brown on both sides.  Meanwhile x2, whisk the cheese with 2 tbsp olive oil, adding about a quarter cup of pasta water to make it creamy.  Toss in the pasta, basil, salt and pepper, and most of the zucchini, saving some slices and extra cheese for the top.

Notes

This was pretty easy!  However, I thought it lacked some protein/meat elements, so why not sizzle up some bacon first and use the grease to fry the zucchini?  Done.  The cheese mixture got a little melty and clumpy, but with a little extra effort I got it mostly mixed in with the pasta.  How's this look, orphans?

Crispy Baked Chickpeas etc.

This post aggregates a few concepts I like, but didn't feel were really substantial enough for their own posts:

Crispy Baked Chickpeas

Drain and rinse a can or two of chickpeas.  Cover in vinegar, bring to a boil, remove from heat and let sit for 20-30 minutes.  Drain, toss with olive oil and some seasonings, and bake about 45 minutes at 400 degrees.  (Original link)

This was the kicker to get me to put this post together.  I'd done baked chickpeas a few ways before; they were good but simple enough I didn't need to save the instructions or publicize it.  Trying to use up the bounty of homegrown apples, though, I sliced up a few (to go with the apple cider vinegar).  The sweet element really added to the flavor (especially since the vinegar can be overpowering).

Eggs Baked in Avocado

Halve your avocados, remove the pit, and scoop out some more space for an egg.  Season with salt, pepper, lime juice, etc.  Crack an egg into each half, and hey, season some more (chili powder, jalapeno, etc.).  Bake at 450 degrees about 10-12 minutes, until the egg white is appropriately set.  (Original link)

Another simple concept.  It's too bad, but you really have to scoop out some extra avocado pulp to make room for the egg.  I did not, so my first ones were a little messy...  Second time around, I made plenty of space for the egg, but neglected the stability factor and lost some of the egg the totally predictable rolling of the avocado halves :(  Still plenty of goodness left, and at least more photogenic:

Marinated Zucchini

Halve some small zucchini lengthwise (or quarter bigger ones).  Heat some olive oil in a skillet, and brown the zucchini a couple minutes on each side.  Whisk together three tbsps olive oil, one tbsp vinegar, and seasonings like garlic, salt & pepper, etc.  Toss with zucchini in a flat container and let marinate at least an hour.  (Original link)

Simple again - see the theme?  Also flexible, since you have plenty of room to add seasonings, apples, etc.  The vinaigrette ratio was also helpful for future reference!

Hummus-Crusted Chicken

We're back after a little bit of a layoff for summer travels and being too hot to cook...  Original recipe here.

Recipe

boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 zucchini, chopped
1 yellow squash, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 lemons
hummus
smoked paprika
olive oil, salt, pepper

Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Toss the veggies with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Put the veggies in a baking dish and the chicken on top.  Cover the chicken with hummus.  Squeeze one lemon over the chicken and veggies, and slice the other and put the slices under the chicken.  Sprinkle the paprika over everything, and pop in the oven at 450 degrees for about half an hour (until done).

Notes

It's interesting that the major flavor here ends up being the lemon in the veggies.  The hummus does add something to the chicken, but maybe slightly underwhelming?

The other advantage of this recipe is that everything goes into one dish.

Final note: The recipe says to cook for 25-30 minutes.  After 40-45, mine was still underdone.  I actually preferred the leftover chicken breast, which I just cooked the hell out of.

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Tenders & Zucchini Chips

Double duty here.  I wanted to try the entree (who wouldn't?), and thought this side would go well.  And yes, that first dish is from Martha Stewart.  Is that really any more embarrassing than Gwyneth Paltrow or Rachael Ray?  Yes, probably :(

The Recipes

chicken tenders
bacon
sage

Put a sage leaf on each chicken tender, then wrap in bacon.  Heat some oil over medium-high and add tenders sage side down.  Cook until the bacon is browned, then flip and do the same on the other side.

1 zucchini, sliced into 1/4" disks
1/4 c bread crumbs
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
1 egg white
1/4 tsp each of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and any other spices you want

Mix the bread crumbs, cheese, and seasoning.  Dip the zucchini slices into the egg and then coating.  Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and cook at 450 degrees, 15 minutes, flipping halfway through - until nicely brown.

Notes

In the case of the bacon-chicken tenders, apparently simplicity does not equate to fool-proofing.  I'd maybe recommend using cheap, thin-sliced bacon, since my Boar's Head seemed to take forever to brown while the chicken was clearly done...  A few near the middle of the skillet came out nicely enough.  The others, though, I just unwrapped and put the bacon back in.  Obviously only the pretty ones made the picture below.

As unexpected as it was, the zucchini chips were really the star here.  I didn't even have parm, but even with a sesame/Asian turn they were delicious.  The zucchini becomes soft, but the crust gives a needed crunch to each bite.  It's more complicated than other veggie chips/sides I've done, but worth it.

Meatloaf!

Tough day at work, redeemed by a solid Knicks win, a hearty carnivorous feast, and the dulcet stylings of the eponymous vocalist:

I was never a big meatloaf fan as a kid (goes for a lot of stuff on here...), but was definitely intrigued by this take on it.  (Have a look if you don't mind really gratuitous profanity.  If you do, no worries; key takeaways below.)  Why go off a recipe when you have license to combine your choice of ground meats and extras?  I'd just preface by saying that meatloaf will be a process of ongoing experimentation.  It's a dish that lends itself to whatever you feel like, have on hand, etc., even after you find formulas that work really well.

OK, to sum up the key meatloaf principles:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Start with your ground meats - I used a mix of chuck and sirloin, really wanted veal, and supposedly even pork or turkey can be solid components.
• Add more ingredients!  They recommend a cup of add-ins per pound of meat.  Most of that should be bread crumbs.  Onions are solid; I want to try other veggies like kale, jalapeno, carrot, etc.
• For chemistry reasons, I assume, add a "glug" or two of milk and a (whisked) egg or two.
• Season (maybe a couple tsps?) - salt and pepper; mustard and thyme (what I used); red/cayenne pepper; garlic and parmesan; the possibilities are not endless, but near to it...
• Get your mitts in there and mix roughly - no need to be a perfectionist.
• Instead of squeezing into a bread pan, lump it into a vague loaf shape and cook in a deep pan or dish so that it's not confined by the sides.  The goal is to get a delicious crust on as much surface area as possible.
• Cook for 60-90 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 160 (I actually used a meat thermometer for the first time).
• Squirt some ketchup on top, and cook another 15 minutes or so.
• Serve on toast and/or with mashed potatoes and veggies, and definitely more ketchup - no way around it, it's the perfect complement to the blob of meat.

That's a lot of steps, but it's not that complicated and turned out very well in my first try (with my signature onion, mustard, and thyme, side of zucchini).  More variations to come!

Baked Breaded Pork Chops

After trying out a number of pork chop recipes, here's the one I've gone back to by far the most.  Breading and baking the chops just seems to be much simpler and harder to mess up than pan-searing it.  Instead of stressing about not over- or undercooking your chops, you have a little bit of fun getting your hands dirty breading it, then just let it sit in the oven some 40 minutes. OK to get specific:

The Recipe

pork chops
butter crackers (1-2 servings per chop)
1 egg
butter
garlic powder, salt and pepper

Beat the egg(s); crush the crackers and sprinkle in the seasonings and anything else you want to mix in.  Dip the chops in egg, then coat with the cracker mixture.  Put in a baking dish with pats of butter - a quarter cup for two chops.  Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes.

Thoughts

I've experimented with different substitutions and additions to the breading - Corn Flakes, pretzels, Goldfish, Parmesan.  But it's hard to top the way the butter crackers absorb the juices and, yes, butter.  If you do want to change it up, I recommend mixing equal parts crushed butter cracker and breading element of choice.

Another advantage of the hands-off baking approach is that, while it's cooking, you have plenty of time to prepare a vegetable or other side, e.g., roasted asparagus, Parmesan zucchini, or sauteed kale.

Pretzel pork with roast asparagus