Everyday Dorie: Kale and Onion Frittata
April 9, 2021 at 12:23 am | Posted in breakfast things, cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, other savory, savory things | 5 CommentsTags: eggs, everyday dorie, savory
Back in May, when we were all picking whatever recipe we could easily put together with our limited pandemic pantries and fluctuating focus levels, I made the Western Frittata (or some riff on it). A frittata is one of the best fridge clean-out concepts going– the variations are endless— so I actually make one for breakfast about twice a week. There are always some stray things to use up, and I’m still providing breakfast and coffee service for the home office worker upstairs, so it seems the thing to do. I thought I’d give the Kale and Onion Frittata variation in the book a try, since I had everything for it anyway. For good measure, I also tossed in some royal trumpet mushrooms that were starting to look a little shriveled. This was a good combo, and it’s nice to have a bit of dark green stuff in the morning. A frittata isn’t just for breakfast though…it makes a perfect lunch or light dinner, too. An anything goes, anytime of day dish, it’s incredibly easy and versatile.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Fennel-Orange Shortbread Wedges
April 6, 2021 at 1:43 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, savory things, snacks, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 6 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, savory, shortbread, snacks
These Fennel-Orange Shortbread Wedges are an apéro hour delight. Just a little sweet with a salty zip, they are finely flavored and fragranced with orange zest and cracked fennel seeds. They have that crisp yet tender texture that earns the name “shortbread.” These are really good with olives and a piece of cheese. And a glass of wine…don’t forget that. I made half of the recipe and patted the dough out into a six-inch cake pan for baking.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us anytime!
Everyday Dorie: Mediterranean Shepherd’s Pie
March 26, 2021 at 8:11 pm | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, other savory, savory things | 3 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, pie, savory
My usual Saint Patrick’s Day dinner is a shepard’s pie. Well, this year’s been unusual, so I made it with a twist. This Mediterranean Shepherd’s Pie was like Ireland on vacation. And wouldn’t we all like to go on vacation right about now?
This shepherd’s pie has the standard mashed potato blanket on top, but what’s underneath has some surprises. The filling is a mix of sound meat and sausage (I used the turkey versions of both), much like you’d expect, but it’s unexpectedly flavored with sumac, cumin, za’atar and harissa. While I normally use peas and carrots as the veg in my pies, here I added in spinach and winter squash. This was so satisfying and good and I loved the spices. I just made half a recipe, but I still got four pretty hefty servings out of it. I’d never really though about the flexibility of shepherd’s pie before, but now that I’m wise to it, I’ll make it more than once a year!
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.
Everyday Dorie: Moroccan-Spiced Chickpea and Noodle Soup
February 26, 2021 at 3:42 pm | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, savory things, soups | 7 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, savory, soup
It’s now been almost a year that I’ve been providing daily WFH lunch (with clean-up service) to the other person in this house, and I’m always looking to cook things that will do double duty as dinner one night and lunch the next with minimal extra effort. Bonus points for things that make enough for a couple of lunches, as is the case with this Moroccan-Spiced Chickpea and Noodle Soup. This soup is Dorie’s version of harira, a traditional Moroccan soup with tomatoes, chickpeas, lentils and lots of spices. I’ve seen recipes for versions of harira with and without meat, and versions with and without noodles…this one has both, so it’s very hearty and filling.
The optional meat in this soup comes in the form of meatballs, or really balls of meat, as they’re just straight-up ground meat (I used turkey) rolled into small balls. While they do cook in the simmering soup, the balls can definitely use some s&p or they will be under-seasoned.
Overall, though, this soup is very flavorful. I did reduce the 3.5 tablespoons of ground ginger, which sounded like so much (I didn’t even have that much!), it was possibly a typo. Not sure about that, so I’m interested to see what others did. I left out the saffron entirely because my small supply was already reserved for something else, and this soup has so many other strong, fragrant spices in the mix that I thought I could get away with it. The noodles I cooked in separate pot, because I knew I’d have leftovers and didn’t want them to get bloated while sitting in the soup.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Major Grey’s Roll-Ups
February 2, 2021 at 4:09 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, savory things, snacks, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 7 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, savory, snacks
I know we just did a rugelach cookie last month, but I had a half-finished box of Triscuits left from holiday times, as well as an open jar of chutney in the fridge, that I wanted to get crafty with. So, here we have Major Grey’s Rollups, a savory rugelach-style cookie with a cream cheese and ground Triscuit dough and a mango chutney filling. It sounds like a bizarre thing to turn crackers into cookies, and it kind of is, but this uses the same dough as the Triscuity Bites we made a couple of years ago.
I only made a quarter-recipe of these cookies, which not only means I still have Triscuits left(!), but also that I ran into the same “issue” that I did last month. My rolled out dough circle wasn’t big enough to really form them nicely…I knew that would be the case and I just went with it anyway. I sprinkled my roll-ups with some nigella seeds before popping them into the oven.
The dough is flaky, crisp and buttery, and the finished cookies have that sweet and salty combo that does go well with a cocktail.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us anytime!
Everyday Dorie: Meatballs and Spaghetti
January 22, 2021 at 9:11 pm | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, pasta, savory things, veggies | 7 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, pasta, savory
Meatballs and Spaghetti. Yeah, that’s right. We all know who the star of the show is here. Meatballs, browned, then simmered in a long-cooked tomato sauce, served on a nest of spaghetti…this is classic comfort food, but it’s also a really special dinner. Cooking for just two, I’m usually scaling things way down, but for these, I made the full batch. We got two night’s worth of dinners and a day’s lunch, and I even had a few meatballs left to slice and top a pizza!
I don’t eat beef or pork, so I swapped a mix ground turkey and spicy turkey sausage meat here. I’m used to making meatballs with breadcrumbs or a panade, but instead these meatballs use two surprising “filler” ingredients– walnuts and oats. TBH, I couldn’t detect the oats at all in the finished meatballs, but the little walnut bits were quite nice (although my husband didn’t notice them at all until I pointed them out). The meatballs are first browned in a skillet and then simmered in an easy tomato sauce for up to an hour and a half. I only let mine bubble away for about an hour, since turkey is leaner than read meat, and the sauce was a nice consistency at that point anyway.
The meatballs and sauce were delicious, and it’s always fun to twirl a fork through long spaghetti noodles. I’ll make this again for sure!
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.
Everyday Dorie: Butter-Glazed Turnips
January 8, 2021 at 5:22 pm | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, savory things, veggies | 8 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, savory, vegetables, vegetarian
Turnip time often represents a low point on the “what’s in season” calendar. You rarely hear people talk about how excited they are to have turnips with dinner. This recipe for Butter-Glazed Turnips is an easy way to coax the best out of them. “Everything’s better with butter” is totally true, IMO, and a bit of honey and black pepper finishes a glaze that clings to the turnips and plays up their natural flavors.
I used Japanese Hakurei turnips here. They are so cute and small, and a bit sweet to begin with. Often, I buy them to eat raw in salads (and they usually have pretty green tops to sautée, too). I trimmed their tops and left them whole for this, and they were steamed through pretty quickly. I didn’t go further and caramelize them after they were cooked (although if I’d been using a larger variety that I’d cubed up, I definitely would have)…just rolled them around in the butter-honey glaze, gave them a grind of pepper, and ate them ate as a snack.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see all that the group made this week.
Everyday Dorie: Roasted Acorn Squash Wedges
November 13, 2020 at 7:51 pm | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, savory things, veggies | 6 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, savory, vegetables, vegetarian
I eat a lot of roasted orange stuff in the colder months– squash, sweet potatoes, carrots– and I’m always looking for new things to do with them. These Roasted Acorn Squash Wedges are brushed with a dressing of olive oil, pomegranate molasses, za’atar, lemon juice, cayenne and, of course, salt before they go into the oven. While they roasted, I stirred together the harissa yogurt Dorie suggests serving alongside, and I’m glad I did, because I thought the squash really needed it. I told my dining companion that I thought that this preparation was okay but not great. I thought maybe the squash I bought just wasn’t sweet enough for the tart dressing, but after reading the group’s reviews, I saw that I wasn’t alone. Perhaps I don’t really need to find a new thing to do with acorn squash…the “classic” butter and brown sugar schmear with a hint of salt and spice is just what I like. I think the pomegranate molasses dressing would be a better coating for already-roasted sweet potatoes, or actually even salad greens.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see all that the group made this week.
Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Cheddar-Seed Wafers
November 3, 2020 at 6:31 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, savory things, snacks, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 5 CommentsTags: baking, cookies, savory, snacks
Cheddar Seed Wafers, full of cheese and poppy seeds, have a highbrow Cheez-It thing going on. They’re rolled really thin and they bake up delicate, salty, savory and a bit flaky. These are in the “cocktail cookies” section of the book, and they would certainly be an excellent sidekick for a glass of crisp white wine, but I actually had my extra-large wafer broken up into shards with a roasted veggie dish that was heavy on the tomatoes.
For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll and please join us anytime!
Everyday Dorie: Bean and Tortilla Soup
October 23, 2020 at 9:19 am | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, savory things, soups | 10 CommentsTags: everyday dorie, savory, soup
It’s sweater weather but not yet parka weather, so if you’re you’re looking for a soup that manages to be light and fresh and warm and satisfying all at the same time, then this Bean and Tortilla Soup is for you. As written, this recipe is for a vegetarian soup with a spicy, tomatoey base broth with carrots, bell pepper, onions and whatever beans you want bobbing around in it (I used tinned black beans). Then you can go nuts with the toppings— load it up with whatever you’d like. I went with cherry tomatoes, scallions, tons of cilantro, avocado, crumbled feta and lime juice. Your soup bowl is the perfect landing spot for those lingering bits and pieces of cooked stuff in the fridge, too, even if that stuff is something like chicken, sausage or shrimp. Of course this is tortilla soup, so don’t forget some chips to go with! I sprinkled over those broken bits at the bottom of the bag that are too small to hold salsa or guac but make perfect soup crunchies.
For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.
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