Waste Not Want Not: Mashed Potato Burgers

This is about leftovers. Then I promise I’m finished with Thanksgiving. From the time that I was a kid, an eldest child with a brood of siblings, I became known as queen of the leftovers. My own kids have the same attitude. It’s a game. They think I’m disguising old food and I think I’m transforming it.  The score it probably tied.

After Thanksgiving weekend this year, we had very few of the normal leftovers, just the diehards: turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes. In years past, I’ve had enough roasted roots and greens to make bread pudding, and enough Brussels sprouts and potatoes to make a version of bubble and squeak. Oh, I could (and did) make turkey hash. But what about just plain lactose-free mashed potatoes? Really?

I combined the mashers with lots of chopped scallions (gleaned from our final CSA harvest) and parsley, and added a beaten egg, salt and pepper. I formed them into patties, dipped them in beaten egg and then in panko (crispy Japanese bread crumbs), and sautéed them in vegetable oil until crisp. Garnished with more scallions, they were delicious, especially for leftovers.  We all knew, but we didn’t care.

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Moroccan Feast: Baked Fish with Chermoula, Peppers and Potatoes

Chermoula is the magic sauce of Morocco. With its combination of herbs and spices, it offers robust flavor and an alluring complexity to dishes featuring chicken or fish or, on the vegetable side, potatoes, peppers and eggplants. Like Indian mint-cilantro chutney, Italian basil pesto and gremolata, and Argentine chimichurri, among numerous international examples, it’s a mash-up of herbs and other ingredients.

The chermoula that I made for this feast uses only cilantro, but I’ve made it with a combination of cilantro and parsley. It also contains smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, toasted cumin seed, garlic, and ginger, all ground to a paste and thinned with lemon juice, champagne vinegar and olive oil.  A jar of this will keep for a long time in the refrigerator but it’s so good that it’s typically used up quickly.

The other significant ingredient in Moroccan food is preserved lemon, which is made by marinating lemon quarters in salt and lemon juice for a couple of weeks. Drat, I recently discarded what was left of my last batch and hadn’t started a new one. However, I remembered that Mark Bittman of the New York Times had devised a quick pickle that could substitute, so I tried it, with great success. He combined diced lemon peel and flesh with salt and sugar and let them marinate for several hours. The result wasn’t as pungent as the real thing, but the crunchy lemon peel added the same twang.

As for the meal, I’ve wanted to make this since March when I read Gail Monaghan’s Wall Street Journal column during a business trip. While the Wall Street Journal is not normally considered a bastion of culinary advice, Monaghan is a good cook and a good writer and her column is consistently informative. She recounts many visits to Morocco, and in the highlights of one, a baked fish made by her host’s splendid cook. 

It’s a bit of a project, but not complicated or difficult. It took me a half hour in the morning and a little over an hour in the evening, including baking time.  In the morning (or the day before), make the chermoula and slather it all over the fish, letting the fish marinate for at least 4 hours or overnight. (Note that if you marinate the fish for more than four hours, you should pull it out of the refrigerator an hour before cooking to bring it close to room temperature.)  Also, make the lemon pickle if you don’t have preserved lemons on hand.

A few weeks ago, I made a homey potato dish layered with zucchini and peppers and remarked that I sometimes bake fish on top. This dish uses a similar method, but rather than cook everything together, sliced potatoes are baked in 450 degrees until crisp before the rest of the ingredients are added. Topped with the fish and then sautéed peppers, onions and garlic seasoned with preserved lemons, salted capers and olives, the dish is baked until the fish is cooked. 

I had a whole sea bass weighing 1½ pounds, but you could use a much larger fish if you’re feeding a crowd. You could also use fish steaks or filets.  In my case, I gauged the pan and the amount of potatoes on the dimensions of the fish, so this made a lot more vegetables than necessary. No worry since the leftovers are delicious. They make a satisfying meal crisped in a pan and topped with a poached egg and a drizzle of chermoula. 

In fact, this could easily be a vegetarian dish if you leave out the fish. Ha.

Baked Fish with Chermoula, Peppers and Potatoes adapted from Gail Monaghan, WSJ

1 fish (1-2 lb whole gutted and cleaned sea bass, branzino, red snapper, or steaks or filets of the same)

1/2 c chermoula (see below)

1½ – 2 lb potatoes, peeled and sliced 3/8 inch thick (Yukon gold and/or white)

1 medium-large sweet onion, halved vertically and sliced into ¼-inch half-moons

1 green pepper, cored and sliced into ¼ inch strips

1 red or orange pepper, cored and sliced into ¼ inch strips

6 tbsp olive oil, divided

2 small dried hot red peppers or 1 tsp red pepper flakes

6-8 ripe plum tomatoes or 1½ c canned whole tomatoes, chopped, juice drained

½ c pitted green olives, cut in 2-3 pieces

¼ c salted capers, rinsed

1 preserved lemon, chopped or 3 tbsp quick lemon pickle (see below)

Cilantro leaves

At least four hours (up to a day) before you want to serve the dish, place the fish in a glass pan large enough to hold it in one layer. Coat the fish thoroughly with chermoula, including the inside if using a whole fish. Cover and refrigerate, turning it once during the marinating process. Remove the fish from the refrigerator and let it return to room temperature, about an hour before you’re going to prepare it if it has been marinating for longer than four hours.

Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the sliced potatoes in 3 tbsp of the olive oil and place them in a heavy roasting pan large enough to hold the fish in one layer. (I used an enameled cast iron roasting pan.)  Cook the potatoes, turning once, until crisp and lightly browned, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large sauté pan, heat the remaining 3 tbsp of olive oil and add the onions and fresh peppers. Saute over medium-high heat to wilt them, about 10 minutes. Add the hot peppers and tomatoes and cook them until soft and well combined with the onion-pepper mixture. Add the olives, capers, and preserved lemon or lemon pickle, stirring and cooking for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Place the fish, with the chermoula that clings to it, on top of the crisped tomatoes. Top with the pepper-onion-tomato mixture and pour on any chermoula remaining in the marinating pan.

Bake until the fish is tender, about 25 minutes for a 1½-2 lb fish, and longer for a larger fish. Let the dish cool for 10 minutes or so before serving. It is best served warm rather than hot.

Disassemble the dish, and relayer it onto a serving platter, sprinkling the top with fresh cilantro. If serving a whole fish that has not been boned, slice it carefully along the spine, head to tail to release the filet on one side of the fish. The backbone should be taken out in one piece, but if stubborn, turn the fish over and over and slit the other side of the bone.

Serves 4.

Chermoula adapted from Gail Monaghan, WSJ

This makes chermoula that has the consistency of salad dressing. If you want it to be more paste-like, omit the water.

2 c packed cilantro leaves, rinsed and dried if sandy

5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1 ¼-inc piece fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp sweet paprika

½ – ¾ tsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp whole cumin seed, dry toasted in a pan over low heat and cooled

1/3 c white wine or Champagne vinegar

1/3 c fresh lemon juice

1/3 c olive oil

1/3 c water

Salt to taste

Process all ingredients except the salt in a food processor until smooth. Adjust for salt. Makes about 1½ c. This can be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Quick Lemon Pickle, adapted from Mark Bittman, NYT

1 organic lemon, preferably unwaxed

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

If the lemon is waxed, plunge it into boiling water for 20 seconds. Remove and scrub the skin to diminish the wax. Make sure it’s thoroughly dry before proceeding. Chop the lemon, peel and flesh, into 3/8 – ½-inch pieces and combine with the sugar and salt. Let sit at room temperature to cure for 3-4 hours before using. It improves as it sits and is even better the next day.

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Potato, Zucchini and Pepper Tian

That’s just a fancy name for scalloped potatoes. Except that these really are special. I didn’t know what to call this. “Casserole” would send my husband over the edge, thinking of the concoctions his mother fed him as a child.

What I like about this is how the addition of salt and olive oil between layers, and baking covered with foil, turns a layering of simple vegetables into an almost unctuous (in a good sense) mélange.  Like much of my cooking, this is more method than a recipe, and the ingredients are not precise.  Simply layer thinly sliced potatoes and zucchini, sprinkle with a little olive oil and salt, and add a scattering of sliced red peppers and fresh thyme leaves. Repeat the layers, arranging the potatoes and zucchini neatly, and sprinkle with more salt, thyme leaves and olive oil. Cover tightly with foil, and bake in an oven heated to 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Tomatoes can be substituted for the peppers, sliced onion can be added, fish can be baked on top after the potatoes are partially cooked, and you can vary the herbs.

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Chard and Potato Curry

By mid-August, my kitchen is in a state of perpetual triage. Menu planning is on defense. What I cook everyday has more to do with using whatever’s getting too ripe, too overgrown, or taking too much room in the refrigerator. Take beans for example. My garden overflows with wax beans, purple romanos, green string beans, red noodle yard long beans. Bushes and runners, all of which need constant picking so that the plants don’t stop. Or the endless cherry tomatoes. Or the infamous zucchini and eggplant.

And then there are chard and potatoes. I am growing gorgeous yellow-stalked chard in my garden, which, like in French potagers is used for its color, a standout like a gorgeous flower. But the chard in question came from our CSA. As did the potatoes. Both are bumper crops this year and have been distributed in tremendous quantities (think about how to use 6 pounds of potatoes a week even stretched over a couple of months).  I normally cook the greens shortly after I come home from the farm, just because those billowy bags of greens overwhelm the refrigerator and hide what else it might contain. 

It’s also that time of year when the weather has shifted from hot and humid to a hint of crisp air, when night temperatures are lower and the skies are clear.  The earthiness of this chard and potato curry makes it a great dish for a transitional season, though it is equally as effective made with sweet potatoes in late fall.  I did not peel the potatoes, which made it a sturdier and earthier dish, but that’s a matter of personal preference. We liked the depth of flavor, which improved the next day (so you can make this ahead of time, except for the final addition of yogurt and cilantro). Now what am I going to do next week with another pound of chard and another few pounds of new potatoes?

Chard and Potato Curry adapted from an online recipe by River Cottage

I lb green chard

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion, halved crosswise and sliced vertically into half moons

1 large clove garlic, chopped

½ jalapeno pepper, diced

¾-inch piece of fresh ginger, diced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garam masala

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp yellow or brown mustard seed

¼ tsp ground turmeric

3 pods cardamom, crushed

8 small new potatoes, quartered

Water

¼ c full-fat yogurt

1 plum tomato, chopped (or 1 tbsp puree)

A handful of cilantro leaves

Salt and pepper

Optional: handful of toasted peanuts or almonds

Wash and drain the chard. Cut the stems away from the leaves and slice them crosswise, Cut or tear the chard leaves. Set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil over medium heat in a large wide pan that has a lid. Add the onion and cook until just becoming translucent.

Meanwhile, using a mortar and pestle, grind the garlic, pepper, ginger and salt to a paste. Add it to the onions.  Cook for about a minute, until aromatic. Add the spices and cook for a minute until well combined.

Add the chard stems and the potatoes and stir to coat them well in the aromatics, cooking them for about 5 minutes, Add water nearly to cover and cook, covered, until the potatoes are nearly tender, 5-8 minutes. Add the chard leaves and wilt them down.

Combine the yogurt and tomato, and add a little liquid from the pan to warm it up. Turn the heat to low on the vegetables and add the yogurt mixture. (Adding it without warming could cause it to curdle, and would turning up the heat at this point.)

Add the cilantro leaves, and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

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Seasonal Potato Salad for your 4th of July Barbecue

Happy Fourth of July!   Here’s a fine, seasonal potato salad that combines fresh-dug potatoes, fresh baby zucchini, snow peas, and herbs. This is a beautiful and tasty salad that transports well to any summer picnic or barbecue. It can withstand the heat, unlike traditional potato salads made with mayonnaise. And it can incorporate other ingredients like green beans and tomatoes later in the season, or beets and cucumbers now.  I would use only three ingredients plus the herbs unless you’re making a giant chopped salad.

Since I prepare each vegetable separately, I cook them in succession in the same pot, a steamer insert into a deep saucepan of boiling water. This saves on cleanup, and water.  I normally would boil potatoes whole and chill them before making potato salad. However, the new red potatoes were so fresh that I cubed and steamed them. When tender but not mushy, the potatoes were placed in a serving bowl and sprinkled with salt and white wine vinegar while warm (I used my flavorful homemade chive vinegar). By the way those little red potatoes that are sometimes called new potatoes are not necessarily new, but rather small, just like those awful bagged mini carrots that aren’t baby carrots but older carrots cut and tumbled to look new because of their size. 

The cubes of zucchini were also steamed, then salted and sprinkled with olive oil. The peas were simply plunged into boiling water.  Finally, the vegetables were tossed together with a little more vinegar and olive oil and sprinkled with fresh herbs. 

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Potatoes with Spring Vegetables and Green Garlic

Mid-spring is the perfect time for a delicious medley of lightly cooked and raw spring vegetables tossed with warm potatoes. The combination of fresh tastes and textures with the base of potatoes makes this yet another transitional season dish. I’ve been discovering how well the seasons reunite full-circle as the fall’s potatoes or fat leeks over-wintered in the ground combine with spring’s fresh shoots and roots and pods and herbs. 

Here I combined tender Indian heirloom yellow snow peas and green garlic, with its curly scape, from my garden, French breakfast radishes from our CSA, and creamy yellow potatoes from the farmer’s market, purchased from people who are good at winter storage. Green garlic and radishes are pretty available at farmers’ markets now, so they’re not hard to come by. I haven’t seen new potatoes yet, but definitely will get some when available, as they seem almost a different vegetable from the storage variety. 

Green garlic is garlic that is harvested before the bulbs fully form, and is edible top to bottom. I’m pulling some from my garden rather than let the plants develop full bulbs since they need to be thinned out. Here, I diced the slightly bulging bulb and sliced the stems, greens, and scape, and lightly sauteed them in olive oil, less than a minute. I steamed potato slices until just tender (they continue to cook while cooling), removed them to a bowl and sprinkled them with white wine vinegar and a little salt, adding the garlic. I plunged the snow peas in boiling water (the water from the steamed potatoes) for 2-3 seconds and drained them, and I left the little radishes raw, slicing them into thin rounds. All of the vegetables were tossed with a tiny bit of olive oil, a pinch of salt, a few leaves of fresh tarragon and some pea shoots just before serving. 

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Dark Days 7: Love a Duck Part 2, Duck Breasts, Cooking with Duck Fat, and More Cherries

A continuing series on weekly meals that use sustainable, organic, local and ethical food during the challenging winter months. For more information, go here to the DDC section of Not Dabbling in Normal’s website: Dark Days Challenge.

The dark days can be delicious. The duck breasts that I had left from my duck carving and confit adventure of a few days ago (last week’s dark days challenge) made a terrific weeknight dinner that came together quickly. I coated the duck breasts with an herb rub that I made last summer from sage, rosemary and garlic from my garden and let them sit while my oven warmed up to 400 degrees. I sautéed the breasts skin side down for a few minutes to release the fat and flipped them to sear the meat side just slightly. Into the hot oven for 5 minutes, set aside for another 5 minutes to let the juices collect, and then carved, the meat was medium rare and just perfect. 

I used my recently rendered duck fat to sauté cold boiled and cubed local organic Green Mountain potatoes into crisp morsels. (FYI this is the best method since if you cook them from a raw state, they will demand and absorb too much oil.)

 Having rescued the last of the season’s chard from my garden before the constant freeze set in last week, I blanched it and doused it with last summer’s excellent cherry vinegar and some butternut squash seed oil. Finally, the plate was garnished with some sautéed sage leaves and cherries that I picked and pickled last summer. I promise I’ll let you in on my pantry’s stash of cherry concoctions. They’re amazing and unfailingly cheer up the dark days.

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Dark Days 5: Sea Bass Stuffed with Tarragon-Braised Leeks

A continuing series on weekly meals that use sustainable, organic, local and ethical food during the challenging winter months. For more information, go here to the DDC section of Not Dabbling in Normal’s website: Dark Days Challenge

What a catch! When my husband came back from the shore with a couple of just-caught fish, I decided once again to make fish the centerpiece of my weekly meal for the Dark Days challenge to eat locally. One of the fish was a small, whole sea bass, which we filleted for this meal, reserving the head and frame for fish stock that will become the basis of a future chowder. Even though we can purchase great fish from faraway places, I am enjoying the discovery of what we can get from more local sources. The filets were small, so I folded them end to end around braised local sustainably raised leeks (which I luckily stockpiled before Thanksgiving). Tied with twine, the little bundles cooked gently on top of the stove in no time flat. 

 Braised leeks are very versatile and offer a clean and complementary taste that did not overwhelm the delicate fish. I added a couple of leftover fennel fronds and the leaves of a small sprig of tarragon from my garden that I preserved in vinegar last summer. The vinegar that had infused the leaves offered a special spark to the leeks.  I served the fish on top of mashed local organic potatoes with chard that added so much moisture and flavor that I didn’t need any cream or other seasonings.

Braised Leeks

After slicing the white and light green section of the leeks vertically and washing them to remove any sand, slice them crosswise into half-moons. Heat a small amount of butter or oil or a combination (I used my new favorite butternut squash seed oil) in a pan over low heat. Add the leeks and stir to coat and slightly tenderize them. Add a little water (or chicken stock if you’re serving the leeks with a chicken dish) and cook, covered, over low heat until they are very tender but still holding their shape. Season to taste with salt, pepper and/or herbs.

Sea Bass Filets Stuffed with Leeks

To serve two, take two small bass filets and place them skin-side down on a plate.  Spoon 2-3 tbsp of braised leeks on one end, fold the other end over and tie with kitchen twine. (If using a larger filet, one will suffice. Just quarter it into pieces that can stack on top of each other.)   Heat a little butter or oil or a combination of the two in a skillet over medium heat. Place the filets in the pan and cook for a few minutes, until the lower portion of the fish starts to turn opaque. Carefully turn the fish and cook until both sides of the filet are cooked through.

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Dark Days 3: Vegetarian “Shepherd’s Pie”

A continuing series on weekly meals that use sustainable, organic, local and ethical food during the challenging winter months. See more here: http://notdabblinginnormal.wordpress.com/dark-days-challenge/

Now that title’s an oxymoron for you. Shepherd’s Pie is so called because it was originally made with meat from the herd — lamb or mutton to be exact — minced and topped with mashed potatoes. That would be a natural and easily accomplished dark days meal. The filling for this vegetarian version (preserving nothing but the potatoes) was a delicious combination of organic cabbage from our CSA, shredded Brussels sprouts and tarragon from my garden, and organic leeks and local mushrooms from the farmers’ market. Comfort food for one of the first really cold days we’ve had.  I served it with a salad of local organic mizuna and arugula from my garden.

 I think cabbage and mushrooms have a natural affinity, and I combine them lots of ways, from Chinese moo shu to this. Normally I would have used only cabbage in this pie. However, with an impending deep freeze, I sent the rescue squad into my garden to harvest big stalks of Brussels sprouts and then had to figure out what to do with them. This is one of the semi-failed crops of our local growing year and I’m lucky to have any at all. Normally, our CSA and farmers markets feature sturdy stalks ringed with plump green spheres, but not this year. The best we got were stunted, and ranged from the size of grapes to the size of peas, with those at the base blossoming.  

 So I shredded the largest ones to sauté with the cabbage, oven-roasted the pea-sized ones to sprinkle on top or the finished pie, and steamed the crown of the plant as a green vegetable side dish. The sprouts may not have looked like much but they were delicious.  I also rescued some pitiful looking but aromatic and tasty tarragon to flavor the mix, a great counterpoint

Still on the search for locally produced oil, I came across organic sunflower oil from western New York State, again slightly outside my zone but reasonably within range. It has a really short shelf life and is best kept refrigerated after opening. It was quite neutral in flavor and has a low smoke point, so I combined it with my local organic ghee for sautéing the veggies.

The potato topping was made with organic Green Mountain potatoes from a local farm, local cheese from another farm, and local organic cream that comes in picturesque glass bottles and sold at our grocery store. I do find that there’s a lot of running around to gather local ingredients. I can always buy fully organic products within walking distance but my emphasis has also been on what I can find from sustainable and ethical local sources. So far so good. Besides, I love visiting the farms and enjoying the countryside, a welcome escape from in-town living.

Vegetarian “Shepherd’s Pie”

4 medium brown mushrooms, chopped coarsely

1 leek, white and light green parts, split lengthwise, washed well and sliced (about ¾ c)

2 tsp ghee and 2 tsp vegetable oil (or all butter or all olive oil), separated into two portions

½ very small cabbage, or ¼ medium cabbage, shredded (yielding about 1½ cups)

Brussels sprouts, separated into individual leaves or chopped

1 large sprig tarragon, leaves removed

Salt and pepper

4 medium potatoes, peeled

2-3 tbsp or more milk or cream, warmed

3 tbsp grated hard cheese

Garnish: roasted baby Brussels sprouts, steamed tender tops of a Brussels sprouts stalk

Sauté the mushrooms over medium high heat in half of the ghee and oil. Set aside, and clean out the pan. Saute the leeks in the remaining ghee and oil very slowly over low heat until wilted. Raise the heat to medium and add the cabbage and Brussels sprouts.  Saute until the vegetables are crisp-tender, and slightly browned at the edges. Season with salt and pepper to taste, add the mushrooms and tarragon and turn into a pie plate or baking dish.

Meanwhile, cover the potatoes with cold water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, cooking until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart. Drain them, add the warmed milk or cream and mash them. Season with salt to taste.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spread the potatoes on top of the vegetables. There should be a layer of about ½-inch thick. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are lightly browned on top. (Run them under a broiler at the end if you want.)  Let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Serves 4 generously.

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Braised Chard Stems and Potatoes

I have the good fortune of having my in-town garden full of chard following a season of heartbreaking local crop failures due to an exceptionally wet summer, a hurricane and flood, and a freak October snowfall. Yikes.

I love being able to step out into my garden, which has followed organic principles for years, and harvest a bouquet of green chard for dinner.  I think it’s as picturesque as a bunch of flowers. The chard in my garden is tall so I have abundance of stems. They have the consistency of young celery stalks and are mild in flavor, but what to do with them? Sometimes I shallow boil them and serve them with the chard leaves. Here, I cut them into small sticks, combined them with similarly cut potatoes and added enough homemade chicken (or turkey) stock to about ¾ full.  They were braised in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes were cooked through. I added a few chard leaves to the top to wilt down. Chard leaves, torn or cut into ribbons, have been replacing parsley as my go-to garnish. I even served them for Thanksgiving over the top of oven-roasted root vegetables. If you wanted to add a few slivers of smoky ham to the potato and chard stem braise, you could make a whole meal of this. 

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