Green beans with sautéed mushrooms
adapted from The Joy of Cooking
Steam until tender, 10 to 15 minutes, 1 pound green beans, trimmed. Meanwhile, heat in a large nonstick skillet olive oil. Add mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced, and minced onion. Cook over medium heat until mushrooms are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add steamed beans to skillet along with salt & pepper to taste. Toss mixture well to heat beans through, then serve.
Mustard greens with chickpeas & curry
adapted from The Joy of Cooking
Heat butter or oil in a large skillet. Add one large onion, chopped, minced garlic (if on hand), and ½ teaspoon ground cumin.
Cook, stirring, over medium heat until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in 1 large bunch mustard greens, washed, trimmed, and chopped. Cook until wilted, about 5 minutes.
Stir in curry powder, ginger, coriander or other spice to taste. Add ¼ cup stock or water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add cooked chickpeas (15 oz can or equivalent) and one or two diced tomatoes. Cook, stirring often, until the greens are tender, about 10 minutes. Salt & pepper to taste. Serve over rice.
Potato leek soup
I’m making this soup for dinner as I write the newsletter (Monday evening) … it’s one of our fall stand-bys, because it is so easy, delicious, & perfect for a stormy evening meal.
To prep your leeks, peel down any remaining mushy outer layers (we’ve peeled them down quite well, so if you don’t find any, then you can simply leave them as is). After washing and trimming off the roots and leaves, chop stalk once lengthwise and them chop into small half-rings. In a soup pot, sauté the leeks in butter or oil (butter is best!) until tender and beginning to disintegrate.
Add chopped potatoes (peeled or scrubbed) and just enough water or stock to cover the vegetables. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer until potatoes are tender. At this point, we use an immersion blender to lightly puree the soup. (We like to leave some chunks for texture.) We’ve also eaten it without the blending and enjoyed it just the same.
To add further creaminess, we melt chunks of white cheddar cheese into the soup just before serving. Heavy cream also works. Salt & pepper to taste. Serve with dense bread in a wide bowl.
