Recipes

Anyone will tell you, you can get me anywhere if you promise free, delicious food. I truly believe in the saying on the menus at Flatbread here in Burlington: Good Food Helps. I thought I'd share some of my favorite recipes here.

 

Smoothie

Ah, yes. My favorite breakfast item, with so many options, you can have a different concoction every morning for the duration of the summer. Unfortunately, it's way too damn cold in Burlington to whip these puppies up in the winter. I'll start with the basics and suggest some items that you can pick and choose to your taste. Of course you will need a blender. I don't specify amounts for most things as you will learn by experience.

Ice (I usually use 6-8 cubes)
2 bananas (You can get away with one)
Yogurt (Something flavored is best, because then you can skip adding sugar, which is a no-no.)
Soy milk (Vanilla is best due to the above-mentioned sugar issue. I suppose regular milk can be used, too.)
Another fruit (A whole peach works well. Frozen berries work better than fresh)

Variants/additions:
Colon blow (I prefer psyllium whole husk.)
Honey
Grated ginger
Peanut butter or Almond milk
Mango, papaya, other exotic fruits (Fresh is OK.)

Put all ingredients in blender. Liquify that shit!

 

Roasted Garlic

I use this A LOT. I barely use raw garlic anymore. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Take a whole head/bulb of garlic. Remove the papery skins on the outside (keeping the thing in tact otherwise). Cut off the tops of the cloves so that you can see the garlic inside the skins. Cut a square of tin foil. Place the prepped garlic in the middle. I usually half-wrap the garlic so that the foil is cradling it (so that I don't make a huge mess in the next step). Drizzle some olive oil over it, squeeze the foil closed around the garlic. Put in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

 

Carmelized Onion, Sweet Potato, and Mustard Quiche

This is a relatively new item on my list of I-can-cook-that. It's basically a pie crust (I used frozen organic wheat crust the first couple of times I made it, but will eventually experiment with homemade crust and put it up here), 4 eggs beaten with 3/4 cup of milk and whatever else your little heart desires. Most recipes on the web call for cheese, too, but I forewent that to make it healthier. Plus, this savory version didn't really need it.

2-3 medium onions, chopped
1 small sweet potato/yam
mustard powder
salt and pepper
some sugar
spicy mustard (the condiment)
1 head/bulb of roasted garlic
4 eggs
3/4 cup of milk (2% milk fat or higher)
frozen crust or fresh

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. (Or you can follow the indications on the pie crust label...as long as the quiche makes it to 165 degrees in the center.)

Cook the onions forever in oil, mustard powder, and sometimes a dash of sugar to carmelize. I don't know the official way to carmelize onions. I just cook them forever, sometimes throwing some sugar in. Don't be afraid to go to town on the mustard powder. Maybe throw some salt in there, too.

Meanwhile, chop up the sweet potato (peel or not, there are lots of nutrients to be had in the skin), and boil in some water until tender.

Beat eggs and milk in bowl. This is where I added the condiment mustard. I used Mr. Mustard, which comes in jar with a sweet label. It's pretty spicy. I would suggest a spicy or otherwise dijon mustard. I suppose honey mustard would work, too, playing on that sweet card.

Once the onions are about there, throw in the sweet potatoes for a bit to homogenize the flavors. Squeeze the roasted cloves to extract the gooey goodness and add that to the frying pan. Once that all seems done, plop it into the pie crust. Pour the wet mix over it. You might have some trial and error here on fitting everything in. You just might have some extra mix. Eat it up! Waste not, want not.

Bake for an hour or so. Just make sure the center makes it to 165 degrees. Make sure you let the thing cool before you start cutting into it. Goes well with a simple mesclun mix with balsamic or fruit salad for a brunch.

 

Sweet Pork and Cinnamon Stuffed Peppers

This one totally came out of the blue based on crap I had in my fridge, plus some ground pork. This experiment was a major success.

2 medium onions
3/4 lb. ground pork (or more if you want 'em meatier, but make sure to balance by backing some other ingredient out or lessening the amount you use)
1 medium sweet potato/yam (cubed and boiled until soft)
1 head/bulb of roasted garlic
1/2 cup rice, prepared
A few cups of frozen peas (I just dumped the fuckers in...no measurement...I live on the edge)
8 smallish peppers or fewer if larger
Cinnamon powder

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Saute the onions until kinda soft, then add the pork and continue to saute until the meat is mostly cooked. Perhaps throw some salt on there. Try not to overcook as you will bake it all, too, making sure they make it to an optimal temp for killing food-borne bacteria. Throw in the cooked sweet potato and the roasted garlic. Dash in some cinnamon. I didn't measure, but it turned out perfectly. Just remember, you can always add more when you taste it, but you can't take away. Eventually throw in the rice. Then the peas, which will cool everything down. Once it's hot again, it's done.

While that stuff is cooking, you can prep the peppers. Cut around the stem, lifting it out and removing the seeds. You don't need to keep the top, I guess. I replaced the tops while the stuff baked, but didn't think it was necessary in retrospect.

Stuff the filling into the peppers and put into an oven-safe baking dish (I used a 9x12 casserole dish). I baked them until my thermometer said the middle of the biggest one was at 160 degrees or so. Starting to really appreciate the thermometer.

It blew my mind how good these were. I also realized after that there could be some many other additions to play on the sweet factor. There could be craisins, raisins, or dried cranberries, dried apricots or apples, carrots, beets, ginger, even nuts and seeds would be good. Mmm, nuts. That sounds amazing. Might try that next time. You could even use a different grain, like cous cous or barley.

 

Fried Eggplant Sandwich

1 Egg
Breadcrumbs
Eggplant slices
Goat cheese
Hummus
Mesclun mix
Bagel or pita bread or bread of sorts (see homemade bread recipe below)

Beat the egg. Put breadcrumbs in a shallow bowl. Dip Eggplant slices in egg, then breadcrumbs. Fry them in oil. Rosemary is good to add in the frying pan. On some form of bread, spread hummus and crumbled goat cheese. Add mesclun mix and hot eggplant slices.

 

"Haystacks" A Kopycinski Family Favorite

A haystack is essentially a taco salad, but flat on a plate with Fritos instead of a taco shell bowl. We got this recipe from church way back in the day. You can riff so much on this recipe. Fritos can be replaced with natural/organic blue chips (which I have been doing lately), you can use avocado, cucumber, corn, better rice, whatever. The sky is the limit. I do recommend at least trying it with baked beans before going to other types of beans. They really make it.

1 bag Fritos corn chips
1 bag prepared Boil-in-Bag White Rice
1 can vegetarian baked beans
1 bag shredded cheese, preferably a "Mexican Blend"
Lots of lettuce
1 diced tomato
1 can olives, chopped
Sour cream
Salsa

Crush Fritos into bits on a plate or in a bowl. Layer rice, beans, cheese (you want the cheese among the hot stuff to melt), lettuce, tomato, olives, and toppings. Try it just as listed first and you will never want to add anything else to it (even though the addition of cucumbers has seriously changed my mind). Perfection.

 

Chili

My favorite meal. You can riff on this one, too, like anything else you cook, but here's my basic recipe. Also good to make those Jiffy corn muffins, but add some diced jalapenos to the mix before baking. Love these one-pot meals.

1 RED onion, diced
1 Green pepper, diced
1 Chili pepper, diced
Garlic, cumin, cayenne, salt, pepper
1 pound ground beef
2 cans dark red kidney beans
1 big can stewed/diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
Diced sundried tomatoes (optional, but really the secret ingredient -- look for them bulk to save money; I chop them in a coffee grinder I use for garlic and spices.)
Recently had a chili with "Liquid Smoke" and highly recommend adding. Maple syrup is good, too.

Put some oil in the bottom of a big soup pot. Add spices, then peppers and onion and saute. Add beef. Before beef is totally done, add beans. Let those get hot, then add the stewed tomatoes. After that gets hot, add tomato paste and sundrued tomatoes and whatever else your little heart desires. Go for the gold by adding sour cream to bowls of chili.

 

Ziti Country Style

Another Kopycinski Family favorite, though my friends in college always laughed at me and called it "Goulash." I still don't know what the F goulash is...this is Ziti Country Style, damn it. This gets BETTER with everyday it spends in the fridge, so if you're into leftovers, make a lot. It's actually kind of like chili but with noodles. Not as gloppy, though.

1 pound of ziti, cooked according to package specifications
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
Salt and pepper and whatever other seasonings you want, maybe Herbes de Provence would be good.
1 pound ground beef
2 cans dark red kidney beans
1 big can of stewed tomatoes

Saute onion and pepper, then add beef and brown. Throw some spices in there. Add cans of kidney beans and most of the juice (water? whatever it is.) in the can. Ditto on tomatoes. Add ziti. Let this stuff sit for a couple of hours. The pasta will absorb all the extra liquid and flavor. It's better once that has taken place, believe me. You might need to salt the shit out of it.

 

Easiest bread recipe EVER -- you don't even need a bread machine.

3 c. of all-purpose or bread flour (I use King Arthur bread flour)
1/4 tsp. instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. + 2 tablespoons of water
More flour for dusting

Mix the first four ingredients together in a glass bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and put somewhere warmish, about 70 degrees for 12-18 hours.

Dust your hands and a sheet of wax paper with flour.  Take the dough and mess with it a bit, forming a ball and the such and continually coating in flour. Leave on wax paper, covered with another towel for two hours total.

An hour and a half into your two hours of rising mentioned above, put the oven on at 450 degrees. You'll be baking this bread in a casserole-type glass dish with a cover. I use a 2 quart, I think. Put that whole thing, top and all, but empty, into the oven as it warms up. I forgot to do this once and my bread stuck to the stupid casserole dish like crazy. After the thirty minutes, pull out the casserole dish. To get the dough into it, just put your hand under the wax paper and turn it over so the dough lands in the casserole dish. Cover and put in the oven for thirty minutes. Uncover and put back in for 15-30 minutes. Voila!! Super easy and delicious bread.

 

"Side Dish" (A heart-cloggingly delicious item I reserve for the holidays.)

Some beets, peeled and diced
Some sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
Some bacon
Some gorgonzola or other deliciously strong cheese
Some chicken broth

Cover the bottom of a 9 x 12 casserole dish with the chopped veggies. Add some chicken broth. Layer bacon on top. Bake for a while, until roots seem soft. I think I bake it around 350 or 400. Take it out and sprinkle lots of gorgonzola on top and put back in the oven until cheese browns. Sounds gross, soooooo good. Oh, and I think I remember that if you chop the bacon into smaller pieces, it is easier to serve and eat.

 

Corn Chowder

I'm starting to realize that most of my recipes aren't particularly good for you.

Four big potatoes
Water or stock to cover them
1 chopped onion
3 cups fresh or frozen corn
A couple tablespoons of flour
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups grated cheese (mild, if possible)
chives, parsley, salt and pepper

Chop the taters and bring to boil in water or stock. In a frying pan, brown onion in butter. Add this to pot. Add corn to pot. Mix flour and heavy cream, trying to attain smooth consistency. Slowly add this to the pot, always stirring. Add cheese, always stirring. Season with last ingredients listed.

 

Cream of Zucchini Soup

Found this one when I was trying to find a new soup to make. Absolutely DELICIOUS, if you like gorgonzola cheese (I suppose you could substitute the cheese).

1 onion, chopped
2 pounds of zucchini, sliced
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
4 oz. gorgonzola
1 1/4 cups light cream
oregano, salt, pepper

Heat some oil and butter in a soup pot and brown onion. Add zucchini and oregano and cook for 10ish minutes. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in the cheese until melted. Blend or process the whole thing until liquified, return to pot. Add cream slowly, always stirring. Add salt, pepper, more oregano, if you want. Holy crap this soup is sooooooo good. Can probably be made with asparagus or broccoli instead of zucchini.

 

Sausage, Kale, and Bean soup

Sausage makes everything better.

Onion
Sausage
Kale
Beans
Salt and pepper
Water

I glanced at a couple recipes similar to this and then just riffed on it. Heat butter or oil in a soup pot and brown onion. Chop up some sausage (chorizo works nicely -- try for something spicy) and throw it in with the onion. Cook for a while. Don't feel like you have to completely cook the sausage at this point because it will cook the whole time. Add a couple cans of kidney beans or white beans and cover the whole thing with water. You don't really need stock because the sausage is so damn flavorful. Prep some kale and throw it in. Add salt and pepper, if desired. Be careful, the sausage is so flavorful, there's not much need for salt and pepper.

 

Spicy Chickpeas

I have this cookbook I got at Borders for $4 called "Best Ever Curry Cookbook," and you know what, it IS the best ever curry cookbook. I'm only gonna put one recipe up here from it. I once had a dinner party featuring several recipes from this cookbook. It was hilarious because everything was so freaking spicy, the air was making people's eyes water. The next day was TOUGH, let's just say.

Coriander, cumin, turmeric, salt, sugar
Flour/water paste (couple tablespoons)
3 cups chickpeas
2 little green chili peppers
2 inch piece of ginger root, crushed
2 tomatoes, chopped

The key to Indian food is spices. A whole dish usually consists of a couple ingredients and a whole host of spices. The other side of it is properly cooking the spices. The proper method is to heat oil in a pan and add spices first, before anything else. They will heat and start to emit an aroma, at which point, you should be primed to throw in the next ingredients (often onion). The point is you release the flavor of the spices, then you throw in a flavor holder to soak it all up. Smart folks. I always say I can whip up a feast with a couple ingredients and a bunch of spices, and I owe it all to this cookbook.

So do that with the spices listed above, plus the flour paste. Add chickpeas, chili peppers, ginger, and tomatoes. Cook for five minutes. DONE!! Hey, this one wasn't so bad for you.

 

Fish Jhalfrazi

I lied. Another one from the curry cookbook. This one is awesome because it's an easy way to jazz up a can of tuna.

1 onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
cumin, coriander, chili powder, salt, garlic cloves (2)
14 oz. of tuna (is that 2 cans? don't know...)
1 green chili, chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
pita bread and sour cream to serve

Do the whole oil and spice thing to the first group of spices listed. Chop the veggies into small, thin strips. One the spices become aromatic, throw all the veggies in. Stir in tuna, chili, and ginger. Ingredients they suggest that I don't use: lemon juice and fresh coriander (aka cilantro). Stuff into pita bread with a dollop of sour cream.

 

Grilled Peanut Butter and Jam Sandwich

Sound gross? You gotta try it first. Ultimate stoner food (though it was concocted with a clear mind).

2 slices of Portugese Sweet Bread
Peanut Butter
Jam (I use Mango/Chili Pepper which we found is way better than berry-based jams and jellies)

Butter bread. Slather spreads. Grill as if it had cheese in it.

 

Black Bean Stew

I call this a "stew" because it came out kind of thick, which I like. I tossed it together a day or two after we experienced our first autum chill in Burlington (naturally, this was September 1 or thereabouts). The chipotle powder and sour cream are CRUCIAL to this recipe. Also note, that black beans are wicked good for you. Use the chipotle powder sparingly as I used way less than I thought I was going to. You can always add more, but overdoing it will ruin a whole pot quickly.

1 bag of dried black beans
1 red onion
1 pound of carrots, peeled and chopped
1 bag of frozen corn kernels
1 jalapeno pepper
Some minced garlic
Salt
Chipotle powder

Prepare the black beans as per the package indications. I started with somewhat al dente beans, which was good because they held their shape while cooking. Once they are prepped, simmer with water just covering them in a stock pot, along with the chopped onion. I let that simmer for about an hour, or until I thought the beans were soft enough. Then I added the carrots, corn, and jalapeno and let that simmer for a while more. When I thought it was done, I added the garlic (two heaping tablespoonfuls of the minced stuff in the jar -- I LOVE garlic, but hate to prepare it), salt and chipotle powder to taste. Throw a dollop of sour cream in when serving. I also made the bread recipe above and made grilled cheese with Cabot's hot habanero cheese. This is a meal you have to start the day before (beans and bread dough), but fed me for about a week. I never got sick of it.

 

Lettuce wraps

These are a great sandwich for the summer because they are so light. Also, it's kinda tough to find good sprouts in the winter, so they are almost confined to summer by default.

Miracle whip
Gorgonzola crumbles
Lettuce
Sprouts

Wrap it all up in a Boghosian Valley lavash wrap.

 

Easy Spinach Dip

This is so easy. It's a good one to bring to a pary, especially if you're in a rush and forgot to put something together.

One bag of frozen spinach
One container of sour cream (16 oz., I think)
One red onion
Cumin, cardamom, tumeric, garlic, salt, pepper

Chop the onion and saute in butter or oil with the spices. Put the spinach in a strainer and defrost with hot water. Squeeze out excess water and put in a food processor. Add sour cream. Add onions and spices from pan. Turn the food processor on. Dip pretzels, veggies, or little pieces of bread.

 

Eggplant Parmesan

This one is very involved. I'm going to break it down by sections.

One eggplant
A couple eggs
Some breadcrumbs

Slice eggplant in 1/4" thick slices. They can be round or oval, whatever, as long as they are thin. Dip in beaten egg, then in breadcrumbs and fry. Use a fork to push down on the edges, if you keep the skin on. The skin can be rigid, so this softens it up and helps it cook. As they are done, put on a piece of brown paper bag or something similar to pull out the oil. Once these are done, put aside.

An onion
Green pepper, red pepper, whatever peppers you want
Garlic
Pine nuts (optional, but really these little items make it special)
Chick peas (ditto on the optional)
Sundried tomatoes, chopped up in a coffee grinder or something similar (again, optional; I have a coffee grinder just for spices and garlic and other little things I hate to chop)
Jar of pasta sauce

Oil up a pan and toss in the onion and pepper. Once those are approaching soft, throw in the pine nuts, chick peas, and whatever other extras you are shooting for. Add the pasta sauce. Add garlic and sundried tomatoes. Put aside.

Ricotta cheese (the bigger container, I think 2 lbs.)
One egg
Salt and pepper

Crack the egg in the ricotta (in a bowl) and add salt and pepper. Mush up and mix up.

Now for the layers. Get a 9x13 pan out. Bottom layer should be the eggplant. Ricotta. Sauce. Eggplant. Ricotta. Eggplant. Sauce. Whatever. Just make sure the bottom is eggplant and the top is eggplant under sauce. Then on top of the top sauce, layer mozzarella. There are two options here: the shredded or the pieces that are like little sheets. I like the little sheets, but the shredded is usually cheaper. That's one thing about this meal (and most Italian meals) -- it's fucking expensive.

 

Roasted Root Soup

This is FABULOUS for being so cheap. I was sent home with an extra butternut squash after Thanksgiving, already had some sweet potatoes in my house, bought a head of garlic for 40 cents and an onion for 75, and BOOM, I had this to-die-for soup with the smoky flavor of roasted vegetables and garlic.

A big ol' butternut squash, cubed (I'm guessing you can use any other type of squash; I bet this would be unbearably delicious with delicata)
A few sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
A red onion
Head of garlic, the whole thing, cloves separated, but STILL in their little skins
Olive oil
Salt
I didn't do this, but some chipotle powder would probably be awesome
Chicken or vegetable stock (I actually bought some, but so often use boullion with the same results, only cheaper)

Put the squash (you know, I kept the skin on, which was obvious even after the blending; there were little bits of tough skin; you might wanna peel; I was just being lazy; not a deal breaker on deliciousness, though), sweet potatoes, onion, and cloves of garlic IN THEIR LITTLE SKINS, into a 9x13 casserole and douse in oil and salt. Roast at 400 or 450 (I can't remember what I did, but either will get you there eventually) until soft and squishy. Try not to overcook too much. I always think flavor is lost in overcooking. In the last few minutes of roasting, heat up some stock on the stove top in a big pot. Remove the veggies from the oven. You'll have to fish around for the garlic cloves. Now that they are all roasted and freaking DELICIOUS, all you have to do is kind of squeeze them like edamame and they will spooge right out. Put all this roasted matter into the stock for just a few minutes. I mean, I didn't even let it boil. Then, I portioned it out into a blender and pureed (I just accidentally typed "purified" instead of "puree." HA). So, so, so, so, so, so delicious. The garlic, I think, is where most of the flavor is. Something about roasting it in its skin. Don't be surprised to see more about roasted garlic in the future.

 

Mushroom and Roasted Garlic Soup

I tend to put too many ingredients or too many spices into things and just ruin them. i kept it simple for this recipe. I roasted my own garlic because it is super duper simple. That's the first thing you will want to do before chopping anything. It took about 45 minutes for my bulb to roast through and through. I prefer stews to brothy soups, but this is fantastic.

1 bulb of garlic, outside skin off, but the rest intact
olive oil
At least 1 lb. of mushrooms (I used crimini because that's pretty much the only mushroom I like)
red onion
leeks
dill (dried spice kind)
mustard powder
stock or water or boullion (I had wished I had a can of veg boullion OR even beef consomme)
salt and pepper
gorgonzola cheese

I used my toaster oven to roast the garlic. Preheat to 400. Chop the top off the garlic bulb so that you can see a little bit of the cloves (you'll lose some of the clove). Put it in a little piece of tin foil (big enough to wrap it). Dribble some olive oil on it, wrap it up in a little ball and throw in the toaster oven.

Chop up the onion and leek and toss into a soup pot with some oil. Once all that seems like it is getting to point of soft, throw in some dill spice. I cut my mushrooms into thirds vertically so I would have huge mush chunks. I tossed those in once I could smell the dill working its magic. Then I dusted some mustard powder in there and let everything cook until I smelled the mustard. THEN I poured in some broth and then plain water until everything was just covered. Bring to a rolling boil then turn down and simmer. Once the garlic is done, squeeze those bitches out of their little hot pockets and drop in WHOLE. I mean, they came apart a little, but the thing is, they have this crazy carmelized sweet flavor, so whole is OK. I actually roasted 2 cloves, but only used one. Then I let it soak in that garlicky goodness for a bit, added some salt and pepper, and VOILA!

As a serving suggestion, I tossed in about a tablespoon of gorgonzola crumbles, which was TO DIE FOR. Further, I thought that if I had had some cream cheese, it would have been delectable to make roasted garlic cream cheese to go with my baguette. I'm just saying.

 

That's it for now. Don't blame me if you get fat eating these things!