betsy and nat

So I got the March issue of Bon Appétit today, and have already made 2 recipes from it — one of them is from Molly Wizenberg’s (best known as Orangette, from her blog) recipe for Flapjacks, which are not pancakes, but rather something like an oatmeal cookie-granola bar.  Only more buttery and delicious.  If you can’t find it online, let me know and I will send you the recipe.  The other one was this random Kale thing that was supposed to be a crostini topping, but I added some mushrooms and made it the base for a fried egg instead — it goes something like this:

Yummy Kale with Mushrooms under a Fried Egg

Put about 3 cups of water on to boil while you stem, wash, and chop up a bunch of kale into bite-sized pieces.  When it boils, throw in the kale.

Start a heavy skillet on low heat with a glug of olive oil.  Slice up about 5 mushrooms quite thin and toss them in.  Here comes the surprising part: chop up 2 anchovy filets and toss them in too!  I know!  Anchovies!  I never would have expected to like them, but you really don’t even know they are there except that the whole dish just tastes richer (Surprise Mark!  I just realized I didn’t tell you!)

Slice up 2-3 cloves of garlic (depending on size and garlic-love) and toss them in the skillet.  Use a slotted spoon to fish the partially cooked kale out of the boiling water (you can turn that burner off now) and put it in the skillet.  Add a pinch of salt and cook for a few minutes until the kale looks almost soggy.  Dish it onto 2 plates and wipe out the skillet.  Fry up 2 eggs, leaving the yolk runny if you like it that way, and place each egg on top of a kale pile.  Break the yolk and let it mingle with the other flavors.  Have a slice of toast with it too if you want.  nom nom nom.

and that was dinner tonight.

another new favorite dinner is:

My new favorite black eyed pea soup

adapted from Savannah Beans and Greens Soup from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites and another soup I had at least 5 years ago at my first vegetarian barbecue and still somehow remember.  Makes about 6 healthy servings.

First, a note on black eyed peas: you might get the canned kind, and that is cool.  I haven’t tried them.  I got the frozen kind.  They are delicious, but not actually cooked.  You will have to cook them for 40-45 minutes before adding them to the soup.  This was a surprise to me at the wrong moment, and I do not want it to be a surprise to you in the same way.

When you start to cook your black eyed peas, cook up some rice too — enough for about 2 cups.

Here we go:

In a soup pot over low heat, soften about 2 cups of chopped onions (I assume one smallish-medium onion is a cup) and 2 chopped or pressed cloves of garlic in a couple tbsp of olive oil.  When the onions get translucent, pour in 3 cups water or vegetable stock and raise the heat to bring to a gentle boil.  Lower heat back to medium.

Stem and clean a nice sized bunch of kale or collard greens, chop or tear them into small bite-sized pieces.

Add the greens to the pot, along with 1 can of diced tomatoes (with juice), 4-5 cups (cooked) black eyed peas, 1 Tbsp white or cider vinegar, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, a pinch of dried thyme, 1/4 tsp allspice, and a few splashes of Tabasco or something else hot like Sriracha.

Simmer for 12 minutes, then add about 8 pods of okra, in 1/4 inch slices.  Cook for another 8 minutes.  If you used stock, you probably won’t need to salt this soup, but if you used water (or maybe your stock isn’t so salty) salt to taste.

Put a scoop of cooked rice in each bowl and ladle the soup over it.  This soup is much better than you would expect these combined ingredients to be.  It gets thicker overnight, so you might want to water it down a little before you eat it again.