Dark Days 2: Ginger-Scallion Fish with Chard and Butternut Squash

A continuing series on weekly meals that use sustainable, organic, local and ethical food during the challenging winter months.

After all of the turkey and other rich food of the past weeks, we were longing for the lightest, simplest yet tastiest supper. David Tanis, who writes a column in the New York Times called “City Kitchen,” had the same reaction and created a lovely meal of cod with sesame oil and ginger accompanied by spinach lightly cooked in garlic and ginger.  With what I have on hand, I thought, sure, I could adapt this (meaning start all over but capture the idea) for the Dark Days Challenge.  This idea was possible because of three revelations in my local cooking sphere.

One, I found out about a local organic farm that produces Hawaiian ginger right here in New Jersey, only a few miles away. The baby ginger was relatively short-lived in the market, but there long enough for me to try it on anything (amazing) and to make ginger-garlic paste, a staple in Indian cuisine. And also Parsi cuisine, as told by Niloufer Ichaporia King in her fascinating book, My Bombay Kitchen. Some of the ginger has been consumed and some stashed in the freezer for darker days.  On a lark, I planted a piece in a pot set in a warm spot in the house.

Two, I grew Asian celery in my own little in-town garden, which uses organic principles. Pascal celery is one of the so-called “dirty dozen” vegetables that have a terrible record of being grown with fertilizers, pesticides etc. While I certainly buy organic celery from time to time, and our CSA grows it (though it’s been a frequent crop failure), I felt I needed a reliable source for the incomparable flavor. Celeriac stalks are also a good choice and a typical go-to for me, but because of our awful growing season, they too have been scarce. The Asian celery has been a great herb, and with the stalks now becoming more prominent, a credible vegetable. I used it in dried celery salt that I stashed away earlier in the season.

Three, our local (3 blocks away) health food store stocks Finger Lakes Butternut Squash Seed Oil from Stonybrook Wholeheartedfoods. This regionally produced oil is astonishing good, was encouraged by the good fools at Cornell, and is produced from non-GMO seeds from a farmer friend. The label doesn’t say it’s organic, but this store sells almost exclusively organic products and from what I can tell, it’s responsibly produced. It’s from Geneva, NY, a little outside my 150-mile radius but not by much. Just like the search for locally grown as well as milled flours, the search for similarly produced oils is in-bounds for me in the Dark Days Challenge.  For purpose of this recipe, it worked perfectly as a nutty substitute for Asian sesame oil, similar in viscosity and but cleaner in taste.  I highly recommend you search it out if you’re from the mid-Atlantic region.

Finally, I should say that the fish I used is a fluke flounder caught by a Jersey shore fisherman. While the fish watchdog Monterey Aquarium classifies fluke flounder as problematic, that’s west coast perspective. Local wisdom, backed by watchdog groups, agrees that the Atlantic fish is being treated responsibly.  

The rest of the ingredients are no-brainers for us: butternut squash from our CSA gently braised in ginger peels and a second version baked in the oven with squash oil; gorgeous garlic from our CSA minced with ginger; organic scallions from a local farm market; chard from my garden.  This was a lovely and refreshing dish that lightened up the dark days, at least for this week.

Baked Fish with Garlic-Ginger Paste and Scallions

¾-1 lb fish filets (fluke flounder or other white fish)

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste (equal amounts of fresh ginger and garlic)

1 tsp butternut squash seed oil (or sesame oil)

1 scallion, white and green parts, minced

1 stalk Asian celery, stalk minced and leaves separated

Smear the garlic-ginger paste and squash seed oil on both sides of the fish and let it marinate for 15-60 minutes in a baking dish.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the celery leaves at the bottom of the baking dish, place the fish on top and sprinkle the minced scallion and celery stalks. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 10 minutes or until the fish is cooked through.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Ginger and Butternut Seed Oil

While the fish is cooking, sprinkle small cubes of organic butternut squash with ginger and butternut squash seed oil and roast in the oven.

Braised Butternut Squash with Ginger

An alternative for roasting is a simple shall braise of squash cubes with the peelings of ginger in the water.

Wilted Green Chard

Wilt green chard leaves (reserve stalks for another use or shallow-boil them) in a small amount of water. Toss with ginger and butternut squash seed oil.

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Dark Days Week 1: Turkey Hash and Parsnip-Pear Soup

Last year’s Dark Day Challenge was so enlightening that I’m excited to do it again. Every week from the end of November through the end of March, a group of people from all over the country is cooking a weekly meal using Sustainable Organic Local Ethical (SOLE) ingredients and blogging about it. Since last year, I have learned so much about who grows what and how within a 50-mile radius of where I live, which is in Central New Jersey. Local, for this challenge, means a 150-mile radius and because of the disastrous growing season here, I may need all that territory, if not occasionally a little more from just barely outside that radius (e.g., for organic vegetable oil, cornmeal and dried beans from NY Finger Lakes if I can’t source them more locally).  We’re lucky to have excellent local meat, poultry, and dairy, all organic and ethically treated. We’re close enough to the ocean to get dayboat fish. We have great vineyards and farms all around us. I also belong to a CSA, now closed for the season, and I have my own small and sustainable in-town garden, which is still producing greens. I am a fanatic canner and jammer so our pantry is well stocked. I may occasionally use a few homemade pantry items that might not qualify for the challenge if I were making them now, Otherwise, my exceptions are the normal ones like oil, vinegar, spices, and salt, though I’m moving closer to home in finding alternatives for those.

The first week of the challenge started right after Thanksgiving and I had more leftover turkey than two people could logically handle (it’s a new definition of eternity… two people and a turkey).  I had made a stock from our organically raised local bird, using organic carrots from our CSA, organic onions from a local market, and Asian celery from my garden. Part way through cooking the stock, I removed the meat that still clung to the carcass and shredded it, supplementing some that had been carved. I decided to make a turkey hash topped with blanched chard from my garden and a poached egg, from a chicken raised at an organic farm just up the road. Last year, I struggled with local organic butter, though I made my own. This year, I’m on to an organic ghee made by a local family, though I’ll eventually make my own. That’s what I used to fry the hash.

 I also used some of the turkey stock for a delicious pear and parsnip soup. The pears were grown at a local orchard that uses sustainable practices, with some crops (apples but probably not the pears) being organic. The soup was garnished with organic shallots sautéed in ghee. The thyme (dried that I preserved from our CSA and fresh from my pot garden) counterbalanced the sweetness beautifully. This is so simple and satisfying that you don’t miss salt, pepper or dairy.

I’m glad so many people are enthusiastic about this year’s Dark Days challenge to eat locally during the most challenging part of the year. I thought it made me a better cook by having to be so thoughtful and considered about my food choices so the exploration continues! 

Turkey Hash

4-5 medium cooked potatoes (red or yellow), peeled

1 medium onion, diced

1/3 greed bell pepper, diced

1 small hot green pepper (I used poblano but jalapeno would be fine)

3 tbsp butter or ghee

1½ c or more shredded or finely diced turnkey, mostly dark meat (about the same amount as potato)

Salt and pepper

Optional: green chard, blanched

Optional: poached egg

Optional: minced parsley

Grate the potatoes on the large-holed side of a box grater.

Melt the butter or ghee in a medium frying pan. Add the onion and peppers and cook over medium-low heat until translucent. Turn the heat up to medium-high and add the potatoes and turkey. Cook the mix, flipping and stirring it to scrape the crispy parts into the center. This takes about 15 minutes. Regulate the heat to avoid burning.

You can serve this as a nest for a poached egg, or shape it into patties.

Serves 3-4

Pear-Parsnip Soup

1 leek, white part only, cleaned and diced

1 tsp ghee or butter

2 or 3 medium parsnips, peeled and diced (2-3 c)

4 small pears, peeled and diced (2 c)

2 c or more homemade chicken stock or vegetable broth (I used light turkey stock)

Pinch of dried or fresh thyme

Optional garnish: 1 shallot, peeled and thinly sliced and dditional ghee or butter for cooking the shallot

Saute the leek in a saucepan and add the parsnip, cooking it lightly before adding the pear, stock and thyme. Cook until the parsnip is tender, Puree the soup. Saute the shallot in butter until crispy and use for garnish along with fresh thyme if you have some.

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Dark Days Week 14: Celeriac and Potato Gratin

With daylight savings time upon us, the dark days don’t seem so dark anymore, except in the food department. We are still diligently working away at our plentiful roots and winter squash, among many other local provisions put away in the mad stash of late fall. This lovely, aromatic combination of thinly sliced celeriac and potato baked in milk and cream can be eaten as a meal or a side dish, and is adaptable to the addition of other ingredients such as sliced onions or bits of ham or bacon. There was a similar recipe published in the New York Times recently but this is my standard way of making this. I heat the potatoes and celeriac in warm milk and cream with a little salt and garlic, and then turn them into the baking dish.  This keeps them from discoloring and also makes them cook more evenly. I used waxy potatoes here and didn’t peel them because I thought their texture would be more compatible with the celeriac than floury potatoes.  Adjust the milk to the consistency of the potatoes.  I used a local cheese that reminds me of Gruyere.

Celeriac and Potato Gratin

2 large red or yellow potatoes

1 small or ½ large knob of celeriac

¾ c milk

¼ c heavy cream

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

1 tsp salt

½ c grated cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter or oil a baking dish. Bring the milk and cream to a simmer on the stove, add the garlic and salt, and turn off the heat. Prepare the potatoes and celeriac by peeling them (or leaving the skin on the potatoes if you want) and slicing them thin, dropping them in the liquid as you go to keep them from discoloring. Bring the liquid to nearly a boil, adding more milk if necessary. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish, neatly arranging the slices on top. Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake for about 40 minutes or until bubbly and brown.

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Dark Days Weeks 9 and 10: A Trio of Winter Salads

With fresh-from-the-garden green salads and Mediterranean vegetables a distant memory of a warmer season, we crave something piquant, refreshing and raw to accompany our meals. I made three salads over the past two weeks, using organic produce stored in my fridge or newly acquired from a farmers’ market. Farmers’ markets have been great this winter. We discovered local maple syrup, and sampled new (to us) cheeses from nearby creameries. We’ve met so many organic farmers and we’re inspired, not to mention well fed.

The first salad combines shredded Brussels sprouts (mine were still on the stalk) with pecorino cheese and cider vinaigrette with maple syrup. The salad was so intense that a 1/3-cup serving seemed very generous. The second uses up a fraction of the way-too-many roots in my refrigerator by shredding carrots, kohlrabi and a couple of types of radishes and dousing them with rice wine vinaigrette tempered by home-canned mint syrup. This was adapted from a recent New York Times recipe.

The third is a classic from my mother: sliced mushrooms and gruyere-type cheese. I recall that she used a mustard vinaigrette and probably added some parsley. I used my own tarragon vinegar. During the summer, I cut back my tarragon plant periodically and plunk entire stalks in white wine vinegar. This produces not only amazing vinegar but also a terrific way of preserving tarragon for other uses (potato salad, cooked cucumbers, roast chicken, etc.)

Slivered Brussels Sprout Salad with Pecorino Cheese

10-12 medium Brussels sprouts

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp cider vinegar

½ tsp maple syrup

Salt and pepper

Pecorino cheese

Remove any bruised or brown outer leaves from the Brussels sprouts. Cut them lengthwise into tiny shreds, removing the core. Combine the oil, vinegar and maple syrup and pour over the Brussels sprouts, mixing gently. Season with salt and pepper to taste and grated some Pecorino cheese on top. Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature.

Carrot, Radish and Kohlrabi Salad adapted from Martha Rose Schulman, NYT

1 carrot

1 kohlrabi (violet)

Radishes (I used one long red one and several round red ones for color but you could use daikon)

Salt

1/3 c rice vinegar

1 c water

1 tbsp mint syrup (homemade)

1 tsp honey

Alternate: 2 tsp sugar

Optional: chopped mint or cilantro

Scrub the vegetables, peeling the carrot if necessary.  Grate on a box grater, preserving as much as possible of the colorful skin of the kohlrabi and radish. Lightly salt the vegetables and set aside to drain for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, bring water, vinegar and honey/mint syrup or sugar to a boil. Set aside to cool.  Squeeze moisture out of vegetables and pour the cooled liquid over them in a bowl, Store in the refrigerator for at least an hour or overnight. Drain and serve. Add optional chopped mint or cilantro.

Mushrooms and Gruyere Salad with Tarragon Vinaigrette

12-15 medium cremini or white button mushrooms

2 slices of Gruyere or similar hard, nutty cheese (to make a 20-24 1/8 x 1/8 x 1 inch batons)

1 tbsp olive oil

1-2 tsp tarragon vinegar

A few leaves of tarragon that was pickled in the vinegar

Pepper

Brush the mushrooms to remove any dirt. Halve them crosswise, and then cut them lengthwise into batons about 1/8 inch thick. Slice the cheese into little batons about the same size or smaller. Mix the olive oil and vinegar, including tarragon leaves if you have them. Mix with the mushrooms and cheese and let sit for about 10 minutes. Add fresh black pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature.

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Dark Days Week 8: Frittata Meets Torta

Endlessly seasonal, the frittata makes a great meal. It is basically an open-faced omelet, eggs mixed with cooked vegetables and sometimes cheese, cooked very slowly in an open pan, then finished under a broiler, or not (since we don’t have one). This is a great asset during the Dark Days.  I made a lovely local organic kale and red pepper frittata a month or so ago, during the early days of the Dark Days Challenge, and this past week made a couple more, using potatoes and onions. I picked those ingredients because they reminded me of the classic Spanish “torta,” a shallow egg and potato dish that is made in a similar fashion.

I’ve had torta as part of a tapas event, and researched how it’s made. Many recipes call for cooking the sliced potatoes in olive oil before adding them to the eggs but I prefer to use steamed or lightly boiled potatoes, leaving the browned onions to add the flavor. I also made my torta in the manner of a frittata, but decreased the proportion of eggs to veggies.

I served one potato and onion combo with grated local carrots and sliced radicchio, and the other with pickled curried asparagus that I canned last spring. Both vegetable accompaniments sparked the richness of the egg and potato mixture.

To make a frittata, combine 3-5 lightly beaten eggs with precooked (and cooled) vegetables and grated cheese, if using.  Heat a pan and add butter to coat. Pour in the egg and vegetable mixture, turn the heat to low and cook slowly for about 15-20 minutes or until set. Place under the broiler to cook the top layer and brown (or cover with a lid at the end).

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Dark Days Week 7: Fish Stew

When I make fish chowder, serious “soup,” I typically start with a strong fish stock sweated down from the bones (or in the case of shellfish, the shells), doused with white wine, tossed with aromatic vegetables, hydrated with water and cooked gently. Our local sustainable-minded fishmonger is generous with his scraps, which he gives us just for the asking. It’s like getting fantastic food for free if you’re willing to put in the effort to extract the flavor and nutrients. This way, I’ve cooked my way through Jasper White’s brilliant book 50 Chowders.  And I typically have some fish and shrimp stock in my freezer.  I can’t rely on its being local, so for the Dark Days, I took a different approach.

This particular soup, more like as stew,  doesn’t require pre-made stock but develops its own broth. It was adapted from a recipe devised by the late Pierre Franey, who once wrote a column in the New York Times called “60-Minute Gourmet,” later documented in a book or two. In today’s sped-up environment, we are typically looking for the 30-minute version. Using local scallops and fluke flounder, local white wine from Alba Vineyards along the Delaware River (Christmas present from a dear friend), water, local organic cream, a few local vegetables (onions, garlic, carrots, leeks and parsley), local seasonings (thyme and dried red pepper from my garden), and canned tomatoes from my pantry, this whips up in no time and creates a very satisfying dish for the dark days.

Mid-Atlantic fluke flounder is sometimes listed as a fish that is not sustainable, according to reports from the Monterey Aquarium a watchdog over the seas. I read an article recently, through the NYT blog but not necessarily written by them, which addressed the Atlantic fluke flounder, saying that our local fisherman know better about this subject than scientists in California.  That seems plausible. I also had local monkfish available, and dayboat cod from nearby Massachusetts, so this soup could be made reasonably locally in several combinations during the winter.

Fish Stew after Pierre Franey’s Soupe de Poisson

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 small-medium leek, split lengthwise, cleaned and chopped

1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped

Optional: ½ green pepper, finely chopped

Olive oil

1 hot red pepper, crumbled (adjust to taste and to strength of pepper)

1 bay leaf

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or ½ tsp dried)

1 c dry white wine

1 c fresh or canned tomatoes

1-2 small potatoes (about ½ lb), peeled, 1/3 – ½ inch dice

1 c water

1 lb white-fleshed, non-oily fish (e.g., cod, fluke flounder, etc.)

½ pt bay scallops or 6 sea scallops quartered

½ c heavy cream

Finely chopped parsley

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Optional: toasted croutons

Saute the onion, leek, carrot and green pepper, if using, in olive oil until the onion is translucent. Add the hot pepper and herbs and stir to combine. Add the wine and tomatoes and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the potatoes, cover the pot and cook until the potatoes are nearly tender, about 7 minutes. Remove the lid, add the water and cook until the potatoes are tender, approximately 5 minutes. Add the fish and scallops and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Do not overcook!  Add the cream and bring to a boil (it should be served piping hot). Add the parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Serve as is or with croutons.

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Dark Days Week 6: Mushroom and Cabbage Lasagna

I find the Dark Days challenge to be no challenge at all when it comes to meat and poultry, and to some degree seafood. I didn’t realize until now how many sources we have within even a dozen miles to get ethically and organically raised poultry, lamb, pork and beef.  Prepared slowly and simply, these have turned out so far to be utterly delicious, needing little embellishment. A great discovery!  And complementary to our excellent local dairies and creameries.  This is transformational for my cooking.

However, while I grew up in a family of avid hunters, fishermen and farmers, my immediate family is not full of enthusiastic meat-eaters.  While some are, others are vegetarian altogether and still others prefer meat as a condiment, as I do. We love our raw and slightly cooked vegetables in salads, and thrive on grains that are simply not local. Therefore, one of my winter challenges is to concoct meals that don’t depend on meat and that feature fresh vegetables. I also have a pint-sized freezer so unlike some lucky folks participating in Dark Days, I don’t have a large stock of seasonally frozen veggies or anything else. I do keep a root cellar and have a refrigerator full of produce that is just now starting to dwindle, plus a pantry full of canned food. While I’m happy to get to prepare meat and blog about it, I also want to prepare dishes that are more typical of our eating habits.

Enter the mushroom and cabbage lasagna. The word lasagna, like terrine, timbale and tagine, originated with the name of a vessel, a pot used for cooking certain foods. Eventually, these designations morphed into the name of the food prepared in the vessels. In the case of lasagna, which originally meant a layering of foods baked together, the term ended up referring to the pasta component of the dish as well as the dish itself.

While I could, as some have in the Dark Days challenge, decide that pasta is considered local if homemade from organic wheat milled nearby despite being sourced farther away (and I may too based on my original declaration and a discovery preparing this meal as you will see), I decided that Napa (or Chinese) cabbage could take the place of the noodles. It offers the right dimensions and texture.  This choice also pleased the carbo-phobes in our midst. I have done something like this before with chard and kale and was re-introduced to the idea by a recent article in the New York Times.  While I tinkered with the recipe (of course), the inspiration was from Elaine Louie’s column “The Temporary Vegetarian.”

I layered parboiled cabbage leaves with thinly sliced potatoes, and a combination of sautéed chopped cabbage, port wine-infused mushrooms and béchamel sauce, and topped the whole dish with a superb local cheese that resembles Gruyere. I thought about using the creamery’s blue cheese but did not want to overwhelm the other flavors. To make the béchamel, I used my own butter (Yay! Finally!), a couple of tablespoons of organic whole wheat flour that was locally milled, and local organic non-fat milk. My butter imparted a richness that would have suggested that I’d added heavy cream. The whole wheat flour, from Daisy Organic Flours, Lancaster, PA, was so nutty that one would have thought I’d grated nutmeg into the mix, as I would have done if using conventional flour. That flour is amazing and I have high hopes for the next experiment with it. I actually used no salt or pepper in my version but added it to the recipe to accommodate others’ taste.

I had acquired a bunch of organic “purple carrots,” also from Lancaster, PA, and grated them. Tossed with a little walnut oil, they made a lovely, flavorful, crunchy salad that was a good counterpoint to what turned out to be very rich lasagna.  This was a delicious, though somewhat non-photogenic (sorry), combination, which proved to me that thoughtfully produced local ingredients are well worth the effort and modest extra cost compared to the results.

Mushroom and Cabbage Lasagna adapted from Elaine Louie, New York Times

Napa cabbage, 1-2 lbs or greater

12 oz mixed mushrooms (I used a combination of cremini, oyster and shitake)

¼ c white port or white wine

2 tsp and 1 tbsp butter (for different uses)

1 tbsp flour

1 c milk, heated

Optional: grated nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

2 medium potatoes, peeled if necessary and thinly sliced

½ c grated cheese

7 x 11 inch baking dish or equivalent

Remove enough large outer leaves from the cabbage to fit into your pan in three layers. (For me, this meant six leaves, trimmed in the vertical dimension.) Chop some of the remaining core to equal 3 cups cabbage.

Saute the chopped cabbage in 1 tsp of butter, turn down the heat and cook, covered, until tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Clean the mushrooms and chop them into ½iinch or smaller pieces. Melt about 1 tsp butter in a wide pan over medium high heat and add the mushrooms. Let them cook undisturbed for a few minutes until they start to brown, turn down the heat, stir them to cook the other side and add the port or wine, cooking until the liquid is absorbed. Set aside.

Make the béchamel.  Melt the remaining 1 tbsp butter in a saucepan over medium heat and add the flour, whisking to combine and cooking until lightly brown. Gradually add the heated milk, and cook over medium to medium-low heat, whisking occasionally, until thick. Set aside to cool.

Combine the mushrooms, cabbage and béchamel and season to taste. Slice the potatoes. (Do this at the last minute to avoid browning.)

Layer the ingredients in the baking pan. (Depending on your pan, you may want to coat it with additional butter.) One third cabbage, one half potatoes, one half mushroom mixture. Repeat and top with remaining cabbage leaves and grated cheese.

Cover the dish with foil and bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake until the potatoes are cooked through, approximately another 20 minutes. Let cool 10-15 minutes before serving.

Makes about 6-8 servings.

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Dark Days Week 5: Sea Scallops with Mushrooms and Leeks on Sweet Potato Crisps

Variety, balance. Colors, textures, flavors. Seasonality, locality, sustainability. This meal had it all, simply by layering. Each component was prepared individually and then layered with the others to produce a simple and yet complex dish that was fresh, clean and flavorful.

Even without going “down the shore” (Jersey parlance), we can purchase fine local seafood caught by day boat fisherman using Barnegat Light as their port. It’s limited during dark days of course, but when available it can be amazingly flavorful. Scallops are almost always available since they are fished commercially, but we can also get skate, bluefish, tuna and sometimes even swordfish. I get concerned about the sustainability of the ocean’s yield, so we tend to limit ourselves to the varieties that are not typically overfished.

Mushrooms abound here, coming from Eastern Pennsylvania every few weeks at farmers’ markets during the winter and at our local organic produce store. I stockpiled local organic leeks and sweet potatoes in the late fall and have been looking for good opportunities to use them, as they are both fragile commodities that won’t last the winter.

The Preparation

The leeks were cleaned after being sliced vertically (helps find the sand) and cooked slowly in a covered pan with a little salt. Oil or butter can be added but are not necessary.

The mushrooms – in this case a combination of shitakes and oyster mushrooms – were placed in a hot pan to which I added a few drabs of olive oil. After the mushrooms started to brown, I turned down the heat so they would exude their juices. I added minced shallot and garlic, a little salt and a sprinkling of winter savory (thyme would also work).

The sweet potato was peeled, thinly sliced, tossed in olive oil, salted, and roasted at 400 degrees, turning once, until browned and slightly crisp (6-10 minutes). I removed it to paper toweling to drain for a minute or two and then to a plate to let crisp.

The scallops were cooked in a semi-hot grill pan brushed with oil until browned on one side, flipped, and finished with a teaspoonful or so of local organic port from the Hopewell Valley Winery.

To assemble, I placed the sweet potato crisps on a plate, spooned on a mixture of the leeks and mushrooms, then the scallops. I topped them with a small spoonful of mushrooms and leeks, and garnished with fresh parsley (nearly the last from my own garden). Once again, the use of fresh local ingredients cooked simply produced a tasty and nutritious meal. Bravo Dark Days.

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Dark Days Week 4: Collard Greens Timbale

This simple and satisfying supper features sturdy collard greens and stems suspended in a savory custard. The custardy mixture was surrounded by bright orange carrots and served with a salad of local escarole and dill. Unlike the long-stewed collard greens common to Southern cooking, this dish cooks collard stems with onions just until tender and then adds the greens, cut into ribbons. Cooked to an al dente consistency, the collards give the custard a lot of body and spunky flavor. Since this contains milk, cream and cheese, I cook the collards and onions in butter, which presented a new Dark Days Challenge: find a local source of organic butter or make my own. I did find a source about 60 miles away, but I am now committed to make my own butter from the excellent organic cream that’s available locally.  Next time.

We eat primarily vegetarian suppers at least half the week, and this is one of our standbys. The collards and carrots came from our CSA. I harvested the collards myself during the final gleaning of the fields and have a few bunches that will last us for nearly another month. I saved the greens from the carrots and used them instead of parsley.  I sometimes have added bits of smoked ham to the custard. You could serve sausage on the side but this is so rich that it isn’t necessary. The carrots and salad actually help cleanse the palate.

Since this timbale takes nearly 1½ hours to assemble and bake (1+ hour of baking and resting time) I usually make the collards in advance. The recipe came from Bert Greene’s cookbook Greene on Greens, which inspires me every time I read it, though I find that his food is too rich for today’s times so I usually simplify it, for example reversing the amount of cream and milk,  cutting the butter by three-quarters, and omitting the bread crumbs.  He suggests that this could also be made with chard.

Timbale of Collard Greens adapted from Bert Greene

1 bunch of collard greens (8+ leaves)

1 small onion, chopped

1 tbsp butter

Salt and pepper

5 eggs

½ c milk

¼ heavy cream

½ c grated Swiss-type cheese (I used a nutty local toma)

Optional: 2/3 c fresh breadcrumbs

Optional: 2-3 tsp chopped fresh dill or a little grated nutmeg

Slice the stems of the collards from the leaves. Chop the stems into ½-inch pieces and the leaves cross-wise into ½-inch ribbons.

Melt the butter in a large pan and add the onions, cooking over medium heat for about 2 minutes or until they begin to look translucent.  Add the collard stems and cook, covered until tender, about 10-15 minutes. (This will vary by the age of the collards. Mine were fresh and cooked in about 8 minutes.) Add the collard greens and continue to cook, covered for about 3-4 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside to cool. (May be made ahead to this point and refrigerated.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and put a kettle of water on to boil. Butter the inside of a 2-quart baking or souflee dish. Set out a roasting pan large enough to hold the baking dish and water to come about halfway up the sides.

Lightly beat the eggs, and add the milk, cream, cheese, optional breadcrumbs and optional herbs/spices. Stir in the cooled collards mixture and pour into the prepared baking dish. Place the dish in the roasting pan and add boiling water to come up 1- 1/2 inches up the side.  (It’s best to do this in the oven.) Bake for 45-60 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the mixture set for about 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings.

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Dark Days Week 3: Chicken Cacciatore with the Last Locals

At the end of the fall growing season, right before the first killer frost (which was late this year), we harvest the last of our peppers and tomatoes and collect some from local farm stands, trying to stretch the season as far as possible. Tomatoes are fully ripened from a nutritional point of view when the color “breaks,” so many recommend harvesting them at that stage no matter the time of year. Set aside, away from the light, for a few days, the full color develops and they don’t get starchy. This technique works perfectly for the last locals. In addition to a couple of medium-sized heirloom tomatoes, I have a bowlful of cherry tomatoes that have been ripening at various rates well into the third week of December when I wrote this.

The same goes with multi-colored organic bell peppers. We’ve been eating the peppers and tomatoes, simply sautéed, on disks of roasted white and sweet potatoes, a SOLE-ful appetizer.

Since we are able to get excellent organic, local and ethically raised chicken and I had a meat-eating crowd coming for a pre-holiday dinner, I decided to make a comforting standby, chicken cacciatore, or “hunter’s style” chicken. I skinned and boned the chicken thighs for this recipe, preferring a dash of olive oil over chicken fat as a rendering medium. However, sometimes I leave the skin and bones intact and use no oil.  I always have homemade turkey or chicken stock (frozen) on hand and for this meal I added the bones to it to simmer before proceeding with the dish. We have numerous local vineyards for the traditional addition of white wine, so I was set.  Typically, the chicken would be floured before sautéing but I leave it out whenever my wheat-free daughter is here. Adding it would also have detracted from the otherwise very local meal.

We served the chicken sauté with mashed rutabagas mixed with a little potato to keep the texture creamy and a garnish of the last of my own parsley snatched from an icy ending in the garden.

Chicken Cacciatore

6 chicken thighs (optionally skinned and de-boned)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 medium onion, sliced vertically into moon-shaped pieces

1–1½ bell peppers, preferably a variety of colors, sliced in small vertical strips

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped

¼ c white wine

1 carrot, peeled and sliced on the diagonal

4 medium plum tomatoes, sliced vertically (I substituted 2 medium heirloom tomatoes and a handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half)

Fresh rosemary or thyme

¼-1/3 c homemade chicken stock

Parsley

Sauté the chicken thighs in a little olive oil until browned, add a little salt and pepper, and remove them to a warm plate while preparing the vegetables. Saute the onion and peppers in the drippings in the pan, scraping up the browned pieces. Add the garlic and stir. As soon as the garlic is aromatic, add the white wine and stir to deglaze the pan and evaporate most of the liquid. Add the chicken thighs back to the pan, spread around the carrots, tomatoes and herbs, and pour the chicken stock over the mixture. Simmer, covered, for about 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Adjust the seasonings and serve garnished with a little fresh parsley. Serves 4.

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