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COOKING IN BEND - UPDATED with PESTO and ROMESCO

Since retirement, I’ve had a lot more time to do things that have always interested me. I was always able to make time for canning and freezing things – applesauce was always the big one, and the whole family got involved in cutting up the year’s apples, and once they were cooked, in processing them through the “SQUEEZO” STRAINER, and BOY! am I ever glad I got mine in 1972….maybe Craig’s List, or your local thrift stores, or even garage sales, are better places to look for yours. Or, go with a KNOCK-OFF, and save some money that way. Of course, you don’t HAVE to get this type of strainer - I made 60 quarts of applesauce last fall without mine.

Anyhow, this post is just to show some of the stuff I’ve been cooking – and I guess I’ll include a link to the recipes each time…. So, first:
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Since Gail grew up vegetarian, and I didn’t, I’ve a lingering delight in meat (that she does not share)…. Actually, as I analyze it, an awful lot of my enjoyment is due to the nostalgia generated by the smells and tastes. My Dad loved to barbecue in the back yard, and to go to nice restaurants and eat STEAK, or PRIME RIB. We did these things quite a lot, and some of my favorite memories are lamb SHISH KEBAB on the grill under the walnut trees, and eating steak rubbed with garlic at Southworth’s Inn north of Ukiah on my birthday - just me and Dad - when the rest of the family was out of town. When we became vegetarian about the time I turned 15, all that stopped…and since it was a big part of what Dad did with the family – he rarely came camping with us, wasn’t interested in sports, and had no real hobbies…we lost a big part of being with our father. So, now…when I smell this pot roast, and eat the tender meat along with the potatoes and carrots in the juice, I have a wonderful warm feeling of “home” that a fresh green salad doesn’t quite provide…not that I don’t eat a lot of salad - but it just doesn’t “do” the same things for me!!

This particular recipe is THE PIONEER WOMAN’S POT ROAST, although I added potatoes to the pot, because it SO MUCH EASIER than doing mashed ones, and with pot roast, I don’t mind….I also use fewer onions because my intestines prefer it that way, but you suit yourself. It’s Yummy

Because I live in the same house as a vegetarian, and because she cooked cheerfully for our family for years and years despite her overwhelming preference for cleaning up (and she did most of that, too), I also try to hunt up delicious recipes involving vegetables….here’s a recent one:
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This is a garbanzo stew, aka CROCKPOT GINGERED CHICKPEAS & SPICY TOMATO STEW. It’s really very tasty, and that fulfills one of my two major criteria for recipes – the other is it has to be easy, and this definitely is. The only problem I have with the stew is the high garbanzo content – garbanzos are legumes, which to my intestines are like onions, about which enough said. I’m planning to make this stew recipe with hominy (plus a bit of whole-kernel corn) and see how that turns out…I’ve also thought of using FILBERTS (or hazelnuts, if you prefer)…I’m not sure how that would taste, but if I try it, I’ll report.

By the way, if you actually spend some time on The Pioneer Woman’s website (or LAURA’S, for that matter), and notice the difference in quality between HER pictures of food and mine….do me a favor and just keep it to yourself, OK? Thank you.

Laura recently bought a head of cabbage at the store, and then her COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTUREbox showed up with another, so she gave me the first one. What do you do with cabbage besides boil it, and then hope someone eats the awful stuff? Mom used to do it in milk and caraway seeds, and I have fond memories of that – in fact, I think I’ll go hunt for a recipe right now…..no luck in the short run (it’s probably in Gourmet), but I didn’t make that anyhow….here’s one of the two dishes:
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This is called ETHIOPIAN CABBAGE DISH (yes, that’s what it’s called, even though my photograph looks more like “Ethiopian potato dish”), and it’s really quite good…although it lacked a little something. So I bought some of the chicken-apple sausages that the nice lady at COSTCO had given me a sample of a couple of weeks ago (TRADER JOE’S has something similar), and put a bit of that in – mmmmmmm….that gave it a nice savory note that it was lacking before. Lovely.

The other dish is CABBAGE AND TOMATOES:
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And what can I say….you read the recipe and think “Meh!”, but it’s really quite wonderful. At least, we like it around here….be sure to note the “SLOW COOKER” part…..

It’s not all straight vegetables, though….here’s the THAI COCONUT CURRY SOUP I made last week…
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This is really hard to get a decent photo of – not even counting the reflections and so on…but here the chicken chunks and peppers show a little bit. It’s best (I think) over rice…don’t be expecting the traditional TOM KHA GHAI, though…it’s something quite good, but not the same thing.

And an easier substitute for regular lasagna is this BOW-TIE LASAGNA:
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I like to make LASAGNA – we have a family recipe that is a combination of several collected over the years, and it doesn’t use any cheese – but it’s time consuming, and this one is quick. I used ground turkey in place of the beef, and it’s quite good. I also sprinkle some ground chipotle pepper on it before reheating – many of my recipes get divided and frozen in 1-pint or quart containers to be retrieved later for a meal or two.

Now here is a substitute for fried chicken that’s really (really) good. CRISPY YOGURT CHICKEN from our friend The Pioneer Woman:
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The photo isn’t wonderful (you knew that already), but the chicken IS…when it was hot out of the oven, Gail even said it tasted fine. I reheat it in the microwave, and it’s still good…but nothing like fresh and hot from the broiler!!

Finally, here’s the kind of “cooking” that’s my favorite…last fall, I watched the price on ACORN SQUASH gradually drop – buying one every now and then and enjoying them immensely. Finally, FRED MEYER was selling them at $1.00 each, and I went through the bin and picked out the biggest ones I could find…10 of them, if I remember right. I cut them in half and removed the seeds (these were roasted with a bit of salt and garlic powder later – and we like them almost as much as the actual squash!), then baked the squash halves and ran the flesh through the FOLEY FOOD MILL, stirring the entire bowl-ful up until it was all mixed and then freezing it in quart containers, to bring out and reheat all winter long….
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Nothing whatever was added to this squash…and it’s so sweet and good it’s like dessert. I LOVE getting this out of the freezer every now and then, and it pains me that we’ve finished the last quart. Maybe this December we’ll buy 15 squashes!!

UPDATED
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That is a singularly unappetizing looking dish, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that it’s delicious…..ROMESCO is a great substitute for HUMMUS, if you don’t want the chickpeas, or if you just want a change…..I made mine with hazelnuts, and the best price in Bend is at Trader Joe’s!! You can also use almonds, but I haven’t tried that - I’ve been out on the Web looking for the recipe I’m using, but haven’t been able to find it again - however, there are LOTS OF ROMESCO RECIPES out there, and you can surely find one that suits you….remember - choose ones that aren’t too much work, and you’re more likely to make them again….and you can always write for MY recipe, if you don’t find anything you like out there.

When we lived in Angwin, California and had a big garden, I used to make James Beard’s “Diet Pesto” every summer. I’d go out in the morning before it got hot and cut a couple of shopping bags full of sweet basil and bring them in for everyone to sit around and “pick” the leaves….
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This morning, I went out and cut the basil from MY BACKYARD GARDEN....when I’d finished, I had four cups of leaves….
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This required 6 Tablespoons of olive oil (you can use melted butter, but I never have done so, and can’t say how it would turn out), 8 cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, and 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice…all of which went into the food processor, followed by the leaves…
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Once all was well-processed, I spooned the pesto an ice cube tray (I have a bunch of these, because we used to make a LOT of pesto every summer)
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and put it into the freezer. Once the cubes are solid, it’s easy to pop them out and keep them in a plastic freezer bag, getting out one or two (or more) for pasta, or to add to tomato sauce, or for whatever else you need basil for…the taste is divine, and they keep forever - well, not around here of course, because we eat them too quickly!

Today I made RED CURRY COCONUT NOODLES
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and they’re quite good….if you really like curry, these won’t be strong enough, but you can adjust for that. The photo (I know, I know…..) isn’t what it OUGHT to look like, because after I’d taken the picture and frozen the extra for later, I opened the refrigerator to put these away, and there on the shelf was the bag of broccoli slaw I bought especially for this recipe!! Yikes!! I’m sure this has nothing to do with getting old….. Ah well, when I heat the noodles, I’ll stir in the slaw - it will be fine.

It will be interesting to see how it turns out the next time….mine look NOTHING like the photo at the Tasty Kitchen site, and “slurping” these noodles isn’t in the cards, despite what the recipe says. I’m not sure what happened - I even put in about half again as much broth as called for, and expected it to be a little more soupy….but it’s not at all. Tastes good, though.

Watch for my post on making BEEF JERKY....coming soon!

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