A side dish for shrimp quesadillas, or other dishes for that matter!

Warm spinach, pepper, and onion salad.

I promised you I'd give you a couple pointers for a side dish to serve with your easy shrimp quesadillas, so here it is! I purposefully made the quesadillas without traditional fillings like veggies, onions, or pico de gallo so I could focus the side dishes on these items instead. That way, you and your potential dinner guests can truly use them on the side, or you have the option of putting them inside your quesadilla for more flavor in every bite.

First, a spinach salad that comines fresh spinach with more traditional sides for Mexican dishes like peppers and onions. This dish is easy and quick like the quesadillas, so this entire meal can be ready in about 25 minutes.

I sliced up green, red, and yellow peppers and a red onion and put them in a large sautee pan and drizzled it with olive oil, letting it simmer for about 6 or 7 minutes, until everything was getting a little brown. I then added a bunch of spinach and a bit more olive oil. (You need a lot of spinach to make it a big presence in a side dish, as sauteeing it wilts it down significantly.) I added garlic salt and a little cayenne to add some kick, and let it simmer all together, mixing every now and again until it reached the right level of brown.

If the salad finishes cooking before your quesadillas, cover it until they're done so that you can serve a warm, filling, and flavorful salad: perfect for this transition time between winter and spring! And if you have leftovers, mix them into eggs for a fantastic scramble in the a.m.  Twice is just as nice.

Dinner with Geoff: duck, sprouts, & potatoes like you've never had 'em before

I recently went to a fabulous dinner at my friend Geoff’s place.  He always blazes tasty new trails with recipes that take work and a little risk.  He also had a cool, Southern way of serving the food – he often serves drinks in Mason jars and leaves the food in their original pots to serve in a homey, comfortable, but cool way.  For this dinner, he made duck, Yukon gold and sweet potato gratin with Gruyere, and Brussels sprouts.  Finish it off with some of his homemade spiced bourbon, and you’ve got a quite a meal.  Details below!

The duck recipe can be found here:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Duck-Confit-102313  

Geoff says to ensure the duck is young, as the meat gets tough with age.  He recommends that you only use the leg & thigh sections, because the breast and wings tend to be a bit too lean.  He says it worked better for him going higher on the heat, around 250 or 275 degrees.

Potatoes:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Scalloped-Yukon-Gold-and-Sweet-Potato-Gratin-with-Fresh-Herbs-350455 

Geoff notes that when cooking the potatoes, it is better to leave them covered longer, say 45 min, and then 15 uncovered to brown.  He particularly loves how the yams and Gruyere go so well together, creating a creamy and hearty taste.

For the sprouts, Geoff halved and placed the sprouts in a pan with just the littlest bit of water to steam them.  He then added a few cloves of garlic and a couple TBS of butter to sauté the sprouts a bit once the water steams off.  If you have time, he says, he likes to soak the sprouts in salted water, which seems to help them retain their green color after cooking.  Great idea!

As for wine, Geoff always says that even though you’d traditionally serve a white, he likes to serve it with red wine due to the slightly gamy flavor of the duck.

Baked Sweet Potatoes with honey, sea salt, and sage

Sa-weet.

Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite dishes because there is so much crammed in to one little tuber. It's packed with vitamins, a gorgeous color, and a wonderful hearty flavor that can be prepared in so many ways.  The saucy sweet potato is versatile: it can be mashed, sliced and baked (as above), or easily cooked in the microwave.  It's even showing up in baking flours these days.  Sweet potato pancakes? Yes, please. And, to make matters easier in preparation, sweet potatoes are fabulous with the skin on (to me, this is one of its best offerings to the taste buds), and the skin is where a lot of the vitamins work their magic.

The above dish is 8 medium sweet potatoes. While you're waiting for the oven to heat up (425 degrees), wash the potatoes thoroughly and wipe off with a dish towel to remove excess dirt (this WILL affect the flavor, trust me.)  Slice the SPs into halves or thick slivers, as above.  Spray a baking sheet with olive oil spray, then place the SPs on the tray, orange sides up.

Throw whatever spices and oils you want on top.  This recipe is sprinkled with olive oil, cinnamon, citrus, sea salt, and honey on top for it to bake into the SPs.  The citrus salt on top gave it a tangy flavor that went well with the sage.

Cook for about 25 minutes - check at 20, you may cook them for up to 30 minutes.  When you take them out, top them with sage leaves - or, any other spice or herb you'd prefer.  The SPs are best when served hot, but they do make great leftovers or can even be mashed later or enjoyed with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream.

Asparagus with Shallots and Garlic

Shallots & Garlic make all the difference.

An easy, go-to side dish is asparagus. Asparagus is surprisingly versatile: it comes in different sizes (lengths and thickness) and colors (white and green) - and it can be grilled, sauteed, baked, or creamed for soups.  Its leftovers do well re-heated, or, chopped into smaller pieces as salad toppings or to mix into stews, add to a casserole, etc.

Two magical flavor-packed morsels make asparagus a knock-out side dish, not just a good one: shallots and garlic.  And it should be said that shallots and garlic are like peanut butter and jelly - they are 100% reliably tasty, and they always make everything better.  Shallots and garlic pack punches of flavor that are always available, easy to handle in the kitchen, and cheap at the grocery store.

A couple rules of the road about preparing garlic: the more you cut into the garlic, the more oils are released, which gives you great flavor.  Make sure to cut the garlic length-wise first, and try to get as thin with the slices as possible. (Obviously this requires a quality knife that you're comfortable handling.)
Check out this great video on the how-tos.

The above asparagus dish also included olive oil, a dash of balsamic, one spoonful of Dijon mustard, malt vinegar sea salt, and a little pepper.  Let asparagus simmer, turning throughout, for a total of 10-12 minutes, depending on the tenderness you want. Serve hot or cold!

Romanesco: Kinda Creepy, Kinda Beautiful, Seriously Delish

Broccoli and cauliflower's strange cousin, romanesco.

A new seasonal surprise has started sneaking into area farmer's markets: romanesco. Its spiky, puzzle-like appearance shouldn't frighten you away.  For such a complex outer show, it really has an unsurprising flavor - you'll taste its likeness to its cruciferous cousins - somewhere between broccoli and cauliflower.  

Its strange structure has to do with the way the bud replicates in copies of itself, producing fractals, or self-similar patterns, in the way it blossoms.  It's one of those miracles of nature: the patterns create a logarithmic style.  But don't let the mathematics ruin your appetite.  It has a satisfying nutty flavor and the texture is fantastic when cooked -it's not as intimidating as it looks raw.  Something to keep in mind when preparing romanesco is to not overcook it. Much like broccoli and cauliflower, it can get soggy and fall apart if overdone, which then also forces its unique shape and texture to fade.

Romanesco can be served raw as crudité with a creamy dressing or hummus for dipping, or it can be baked or steamed, in any of the same style you'd prepare broccoli.

Here's a recipe if you're feeling brave for an autumnal crop with lots of character.

Boil a quart of water, adding fresh or powdered garlic, olive oil, and salt.  (While you're waiting, break the romanesco head into smaller parts.)  

When the water comes to a boil, turn heat to medium and add romanesco.

Cover for 7-10 minutes, checking for texture change in the romanesco. You want some tenderness, but also for the texture to remain.

Strain the water and serve the romanesco.

For a tasty boost, toss on some asiago cheese, butter, or add crispy bacon.

All Hail: KALE

I thought I didn't like kale because I had only tried sautéing it with olive oil. It turned out soggy and weird, and not tasting so great.  Unthwarted, I was determined to like the long, green, thick, leafy wonder.  Kale comes in red, purple, and green and in varieties like "curly" and "dino."  Plus, it has great nutritional value.  It has anti-inflammatory properties and is high in beta-carotene, lutein, vitamins K and C, and a fair amount of calcium.  What's not to like?

Kale is full of color and nutrients, too!

Baked and crispy

I then discovered kale chips while walking the aisle of Whole Foods.  Crispy, salty chips that also count as a serving of vegetables?  Yes, please.  I was not as excited about paying 8 bucks for a small container of chips, so I decided to experiment and make my own.  For my first trial, I picked up a beautiful stalk of green kale at the weekly Saturday morning Falls Church farmer's market. Since then, I've also tested the recipe with red and dino kale from the grocery store, and both turned out delicious. Red is my favorite.   

Kale is a hearty leafy green - it is a type of cabbage and in the same veggie family as cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts. It can be hard to eat raw unless shredded down to a smaller size or changed by heat. All the more reason to pop it in the oven to make a crunchy treat.

Before you start preparing the leaves to be baked, pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Then, get to peeling the leaves. Pull the leaves off the stalk, wash them, and dry them off with a kitchen towel or a salad spinner.  (The first go 'round, washing seemed like it took forever.  Now that I've done it many times, it's quick and easy.)  I have learned over time that it’s essential to get the kale very dry before baking it. Otherwise, it stays soggy even when baked.

After drying, break the leaves up into smaller pieces. Spread the leaves out onto a baking sheet.  Sprinkle them with olive oil, or you can use an olive oil spray.  Toss on some sea salt (the big crystals gives them a nice salty crunch), powdered garlic, and cracked pepper.  Spice it up by adding different accents like cayenne pepper, flavored salt, rosemary, and other herbs.  You can even toss a sliced tomato on top and let that bake with the greens. Put it in the oven for 16-20 minutes, depending on how crispy you want it.

After taking it out of the oven, you can break it up more to make chips or leave it in its current size as a side dish. It makes an amazing side to any kind of meat or vegetarian protein and adds a fantastic texture to any meal. If you decide to make chips, store them in a bag or container. Before packaging, make sure the kale chips cool to maintain their crispiness. The leftovers can be great the next day as a reheated side or a cold salad. The texture changes a bit, but it's still delicious.