Crispy Potatoes and Peppers

The humblest vegetables can turn into amazing meals when prepared with fresh ingredients and a little attention to detail. In this case, it was very humble ingredients—potatoes, peppers, and onions—that turned into a truly delicious and simple meal with a few key additions and a little care in the prep. The key additions in this case are indulgent, true, but a little goes a long way: duck fat and creme agria. The duck fat came from some roasted duck legs that I'd made a while back, and the crema agria is Mexican style sour cream, I get mine from Darigold because it's what's commonly available (and delicious). It's extra smooth, extra tangy, and extra delicious, and while I'm basically required to love sour cream because I'm half Hungarian, this stuff is my absolute favorite, and can stand in equally for both regular sour cream and creme fraiche, for significantly less money than creme fraiche, I might add.

Creamy Winter Root Vegetable Mash with Frizzled Leeks

I love mashed potatoes. Creamy, rich, comforting, starchy goodness, they are at home on my plate any time the weather is under 70 degrees, which is often around here. But man (or woman) cannot live on mashed potatoes alone - we need our veggies, and mashed potatoes are starchy and can be very rich. On the other side of the coin, there are mashed potato haters out there. I know, sometimes I can scarcely believe it myself. Those that say mashed potatoes are bland and boring, like baby food. Even my husband used to say he didn't like mashed potatoes! (Don't worry, I made a convert out of him.)

But what if we could have it all - mashed potatoes that contain other wonderful veggies so they are more nutritious and not such a starch bomb, creaminess without being loaded down with tons of cream and butter, and definitely not boring? To the humble potato I've added celeriac, aka celery root, for nutty flavor, parsnips for earthy sweetness, buttermilk for richness and tang without high fat content, and frizzled leeks for that mild, oniony flavor and great crispy texture. A delicious side dish, perhaps delicious enough to convert even the most stubborn mashed potato hater!

Ginger Fried Rice with an Egg

I have an ongoing love affair with eggs and rice. Ever since I discovered the joy of an over-easy egg with rice and soy sauce, it's been my favorite breakfast, easy lunch, or I'm-too-tired-to-cook meal.

I'd been eyeballing this recipe in the Asian Flavors of Jean-Georges cookbook, especially since I'd had good luck with several of his other recipes. So when I saw Mark Bittman wax poetic about it recently, and he showed me just how easy it really is, I knew it was time to give it a shot.

The ingredients are simple, but this is really tasty fare. The silky, smooth leeks really gives the rice a lovely flavor and subtle texture, and the crispy garlic and ginger really elevates it. Served with a simple salad with a miso vinaigrette, it really hit the spot. My husband loved it so much, he was mostly done by the time I'd finished snapping pics. Next time, I'll use jasmine; I used calrose by force of habit, and realized my mistake only after I'd started cooking it. Oops. It still turned out great, though!

Patatas Bravas - Roasted Potatoes with Spicy Tomato Sauce and Aioli

I'm always on the lookout for new side dishes or light entrees. Sure, local and seasonal veggies, prepared simply with good ingredients, are always delicious, but sometimes I just want something a little different. And while crispy oven-roasted potatoes are always a good idea, sometimes more actually IS better, as is the case with these - patatas bravas, a Spanish potato dish.

Take delicious, crispy, oven roasted potatoes, blanched and then roasted at a high temp with olive oil, salt and pepper to get all golden brown and delicious. Good, right? Then add a slow-simmered tomato sauce, enriched with spicy red pepper and an unexpected but welcome hit of cumin. Mmmm, even better. Now cut the acidity and spiciness with some creamy, garlicky aioli, and you've got the world's best side starch, or an awesome light lunch with some blanched or roasted veggies like haricot vert or zucchini, or with a nice crisp salad.

Rich and Delicious Mocha Bread Pudding

Continuing on the coffee theme, here's a rich bread pudding that pairs one of my absolute favorite flavor combinations - chocolate and coffee. I remember the first time I had bread pudding, it seemed like the oddest thing to me. But when I got it, I fell in love - the bread had been transformed from something simple to something decadent, creamy in the middle and crisp around the edges, all full of chocolate but not too sweet. I was hooked.

Make no bones about it, this isn't for the faint of heart, or those trying to diet. It's full of dairy, eggs, bread, and chocolate. It's rich. And it makes a lot! But it is an awesome dessert, and it's done the way I like, which is just sweet enough, but not too sweet. I suggest a little whipped cream for topping, especially if you spike it with something like a coffee liqueur or bourbon. Or, for extra decadence (and as I have done here), some caramel sauce and coffee ice cream.

Pasta with Zucchini and Chicken Sausage

It's no secret that I'm fond of pasta dishes. While I like to cook more elaborately on the weekends for my hubby and I, and for friends and family, during the week I just want something tasty and relatively fast. Pasta dishes tend to come together easily, don't make a lot of dishes, and make enough for leftovers the next day.

This is one of my favorites. It has just a few ingredients, and is relatively lean if you use a good, lowfat chicken sausage (I like Isernio's, which is local, and very lean but still very tasty). This method also taught me to love pasta without a thick sauce like tomato or cream-based - often, all you need is some good olive oil, some freshly grated cheese, lots of fresh ground pepper, and a little cooking water from the pasta to make a nice noodle dish with a veggie and a little meat. When making this, do not skimp on the oil when cooking the zucchini, it becomes part of the "sauce". Leaving it out will leave you with a dry, sticky noodle.

Onion Soup with Thyme

I really love french onion soup. But I don't like heavy, overly beefy, salty soup, and I really don't like all that cheese on top. It's just too much, and you end up chewing great hunks of rubbery cheese, which I don't find pleasant. However, I made this onion soup and really loved it. Not only did it take less than an hour, it still had the sweetness of the onions and a little richness from the beef broth, but it wasn't heavy. Floated with two thin, crisp baguette slices topped with a little sharp cheese, it was just right.

Beet Greens, the Underappreciated Veggie

Years ago I did a shameful thing. I knew the key to buying good beets was to purchase them with crisp greens intact. So I bought beautiful whole beets from the local farmer's market. I made delicious things with the actual roots, but I threw away the tops. At the same time, I was buying bunches of swiss chard and kale. How foolish I was! Beet greens are delicious and nutritious, with a taste and texture similar to chard. And when you consider that you're actually getting two separate veggies from a single purchase, it's very economical, too.

You can cook beet greens like chard or kale: thoroughly wash, trim the woody core, and slice into 1" strips. You can then sautee them with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, and a bit of broth, with a little red pepper flakes, or do what I did, and throw them in a soup for the last ten minutes of cooking. They go great with cannellini beans, rosemary, and if you like, a little Italian chicken sausage, topped with a grating of hard Italian cheese like Parmigiano Reggiano.

Hungarian-style Chicken Stew with Tomatoes

I know, I know. My first post here involving paprika really shouldn't be a weeknight dish, or even worse, something totally unauthentic. But it is. Some day, I'll post the real deal, just like my grandma made, with nokedli (Hungarian dumplings, basically spaetzle) and full-fat sour cream and the hour long plus cooking time. But when I asked dh what he wanted for his birthday, he said "Chicken Paprikash... like you used to make." Which means Chicken Paprikash before I figured out the real recipe. The wrong recipe that I used that had canned tomatoes and small chopped up pieces of chicken so it would cook quicker, basically a totally botched version. Later, when I asked my grandmother whether it had tomatoes I got a loud "Nnooooooooooo! No tomatoes!!" with a hint of disgust. So Brian tells me to call it something else, and I did, but in my heart it will forever be imposter's Paprikash Csirke.

However, it's tasty, and sort of scratches my chicken paprikash itch on a weeknight, so I won't feel shame or apologize for that.

Bulgur "Risotto" with Spinach and Bacon

Bulgur is one of those things that I should probably eat a lot more of - it's healthy, quick, and very cheap. However, I can't say I've eaten much of it at all, other than the occassional deli-purchased tabbouleh salad.

Now I can't remember what I saw recently that made me perk my interest in bulgur again, but I recalled a recipe I'd seen long ago - Bulgur "risotto" with spinach and bacon. It had about 6 ingredients (bulgur, onion, broth, spinach, bacon, and parmesan), had a cooking time of about 20 minutes with very little prep work, and I figured that it couldn't be that bad with the addition of bacon and parmesan cheese. I just had no idea how good it was going to be! The bulgur gets wonderfully creamy, and no stirring is involved.

I think it would be a good base for other combinations, like crumbled italian chicken sausage and arugula; broiled zucchini and goat cheese; crisped prosciutto and broccoli raab; kale and lamb.