Parmesan Roasted Asparagus

It's Spring! After a looong rainy season, California is past the drought and reveling in spring produce. My beloved Berkeley Bowl has been running asparagus specials, and since it's not too hot yet, I decided to roast some with olive oil and parmesan.

Last week, I tried doing the same with green beans. It was also good, but not nearly as special. I got this particular technique from Tyler Florence, with the grated cheese all over the pan forming tiny fricos in between the spears.

Preheat the oven to 400. Wash and pat dry 1 lb asparagus tips (or whole asparagus with the woody part at the bottom cut or broken off). 

Drizzle with 1-2 Tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with just a touch of salt. Grind fresh black pepper over the top. Spread in an even layer on a baking sheet, preferably one with a rim. Don't line with foil because you'll want to be able to scrape up all the melted cheese on the bottom of the pan. Take out a microplane or similar grater and grate some fresh Parmesan generously over the top. It's important to use fresh grated parm here or you'll end up with some odd, unmelted white powder and yellow lumps thanks to the cellulose added to the pre-grated kind.

Did I mention generously? This was a little less than I wanted.

Roast at 400 for 10-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the asparagus. After that, you'll have a lovely pile of roasted asparagus with some bonus frico in between! Scrape it all onto a platter and serve. Using that very fine grater again, grate a little fresh lemon zest over the top.

Recipe card:

Oven-Baked Cassoulet with Instant Pot Assist

A wine bar near me used to have Cassoulet Nights. Since I got my Instant Pot, I'd been thinking I could make a cassoulet in it...but once I found and bought some of the traditional ingredients, I did more research and realized I couldn't. Yes, you could toss all the stuff in there and set it for 40 minutes and have something really delicious, but it wouldn't have the same flavor dimensions of the real deal. However, as there are many steps in the process, the IP helped me with two of them.

Cassoulet is made with different meats in different cities, as it was once an inexpensive dish that used whatever was readily available to people in that area. Once upon a time, duck confit was a necessity for French people trying to make it through a pre-refrigeration winter. Today, it costs a fortune, so although I love it, I opted for the Toulouse garlic sausages (slightly less expensive) and pork shoulder (a lot less expensive). They're hard to find, though, so feel free to use another kind of sausage you like, even chorizo if you like some heat.

It can be put together in a day, but dinner might be pretty late so it's best to break it up over two or three days. The three main steps are: cooking the beans, cooking the pork, and baking the cassoulet.

1) Day 1: cook the beans and season the meat (sorry, canned beans won't work here): 

Sprinkle salt and pepper over 1 to 1 1/2 pounds pork shoulder. (Buy 2 pounds total of meat, either 1 pound each pork shoulder and sausage, or 1.5 pounds pork and 1/2 pound sausage). Wrap back up and put in the fridge.

For the beans, you'll need 1 lb flageolet or navy beans, 3/4 tsp salt, a few sprigs of thyme, a bay leaf, a small shallot, and 1 or 2 garlic cloves. You can wrap up the seasonings in a little cheesecloth, or just plan to fish them out one by one.

If you use the Instant Pot, cover the beans with another inch or so of water. Set the pot on high for 21 minutes for flageolet beans or 20 for navy beans, which are a little smaller but a lot cheaper. Let the pressure release naturally for another 15-20 minutes, then release any remaining pressure with the valve and put the beans and their liquid in something to store them in the fridge overnight.

You can also soak the beans overnight and simmer them for about 45 minutes, or cook them from dried for about 2 hours. 

2) Day 2 (or do Day 1 and keep in fridge): Brown and/or cook the meats

For this step you'll need, in addition to the pork and sausage mentioned above, 4 oz diced pancetta, 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 yellow onion or 3 shallots, 1 small celery stalk, 2 small or 1 medium carrots, and 2 Roma tomatoes. 

Cut the pork shoulder into roughly three inch pieces. Chop the vegetables, not too finely if you're using the Instant Pot. Put the pancetta and oil into the Instant Pot and then push the saute button. Starting from a cold pan allows the fat to render out better. Stir when the bottom bits are nice and brown. Remove the browned pieces and place in a small bowl, then add all but 1 Tbsp(ish) of the fat from the pan to the bowl. The fat will really flavor everything...and I'm using way less than most recipes. A lot of them call for duck fat and/or salt pork. It's just starting to render out here...

...and beautifully brown here. 

Add the sausages in to brown those on two sides. You don't need to cook them through because they'll finish up in the final, lengthy, baking. 

Remove and set aside. Put the shallots, carrots, and celery in the pot and stir with a wooden spoon to move around and scrape up the brown stuff from the bottom. When the vegetables start to soften, add in 1 cup chicken broth (or water, or white wine). Stir a little more, then add the tomatoes and pork. If there's a bone, add that, too. Close the lid and set IP for 25 minutes high pressure. Once it finishes the time, allow another 15-20 minutes for the pressure to release naturally. If you release the pressure right away, the meat will be tough. 

You can let the meat cool, refrigerate it and assemble the next day, or you can get to step three now.

3) Day 2 or 3: Assemble and bake...aka le douleur exquise...the waiting can be HARD!

Pre-heat the oven to 300. Layer half of the beans in a heavy, oven-proof pot. Sprinkle half of the pancetta over them. Remove half the chunks of pork and add to the pot, then some of the vegetables from the pork cooking, then another layer of beans and pork. Layer in the sausages somewhere along the way and pour any remaining pancetta fat and vegetables/liquid from cooking the pork over the top. Add some chicken broth and some water or bean cooking liquid to just cover the beans.

Put in the oven, uncovered, for what will be a total of 4-5 hours. Yup, you'll have to smell it cooking for THAT LONG. You can blame Kenji from Serious Eats, as I took the timing from him. After two hours, there should be a little bit of a crust forming. Tap it and make a hole in it. Add a little more liquid through the hole so you don't re-hydrate the caramelized bits on the top. After that, check again every 30 minutes for 2-3 more hours, adding more liquid if the beans are dry in the middle. The crust will provide some texture so that you don't need bread crumbs, and may even get very dark, which is OK, but I don't think the size of my pan will let that happen.  Serve hot with a little fresh parsley and grated lemon zest...and don't forget the medium red wine!

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Mexican Shredded Beef in the Instant Pot

This week, good quality chuck roast was on sale at my two local markets AND cilantro arrived in my CSA box. It was meant to be that I prepare this old family favorite dish and adapt it for the Instant Pot. Since I can't add heat due to my allergies, I added some more flavor to the basic recipe with beer and tomato paste. I recommend using those even if you do add chile!

Winters used to bring dinners of fried tacos and tostadas in my house, courtesy of recipes learned by my dad's family from their Mexican-American neighbors and others in Phoenix. These days I'm not eating many tortillas, but this is perfect with sides of beans (Vaqueros from Rancho Gordo tonight) and pico de gallo, or over a salad. I was too hungry and sleepy to snap a lot of pics, so please comment or message me on FB with questions.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs beef chuck roast
• salt and pepper
• 2 tsps (ish) avocado or high-oleic safflower oil
• 1 cup Mexican beer or Pilsner (I used Bohemia, but you can use water if you don't do booze)
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 large white onion (white is preferred for Mexican food, but if it's yellow, who's to know)
• 2-3 medium cloves garlic (or one really big one)
• 1 tsp Mexican oregano, or Mediterranean if you can't find Mexican
• 1 tsp cumin
• optional for heat: a couple of teaspoons of your favorite chili powder, a few splashes of hot sauce, or a few chiles tepines--these are what my parents used to bring back from AZ to PA every year for this recipe and for hot sauce 

Directions:

1. Make sure the inner liner pot is in your Instant Pot--you'd be surprised how many people dump stuff in there without it! 
2. Press "saute" on your Instant Pot and add the oil. 
3. While that heats up, season the beef with salt and pepper. You'll probably need to cut it into two pieces because otherwise it'll be too big to fit on the bottom of the pot. 
4. When the IP says, "HOT", add one piece of the beef to the pot and let brown for about 4 minutes, until it's browned and lifts up from the bottom easily. Turn and repeat on the other side, then remove and repeat with the second piece. 
5. Remove beef from pot and add beer and tomato paste, stirring with a wooden spoon to deglaze (scrape up all the yummy brown stuff from the bottom of the pan). Let simmer for a couple of minutes to cook off the alcohol. 
6. Slice the onion and peel the garlic. Arrange them on the bottom of the pot and put the beef back on top. Sprinkle on the oregano, cumin and optional chile. You don't need to add any more liquid since you're cooking it under pressure. The onions and meat will release a lot and there will be plenty of liquid once it's done. 
7. Press "keep warm/cancel" to turn off the saute function. Lock the lid in place and press "manual" or "meat/stew". Increase the time to 60 minutes. 
8. When the 60 minutes are up, let the pressure naturally release rather than opening up the valve. It'll need at least 10-15 minutes. I took a nap and mine went for almost an hour, and it was divine. 
9. Release any remaining pressure and open the pot. Use two forks to "shred" the meat inside the liquid. You might prefer to take out the big chunks and shred them on a cutting board. 
10. Serve as desired in a delicious meal, making sure to include fresh tomatoes and onions! 

Pico de Gallo: 

• Chop 1 pound tomatoes and 1/4 to 1/2 c red onion
• Add 1 finely chopped jalapeno and/or 1/4 to 1/2 cup cilantro leaves if desired
• Sprinkle with 1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt and juice of 1/2 lemon or lime (no bottled stuff, promise me!)
• Let sit for a few minutes and enjoy!

Parsley Parmesan Vinaigrette over Roasted Romanesco

I eat a lot of salads, but I don't often make "dressings", per se. I tend to just do them the Italian/Argentinian way, drizzling a little vinegar or lemon juice and oil over my greens, then sprinkling a little salt on. However, every now and again I get a dressing somewhere that I have to attempt to replicate. This is a reasonable facsimile of the vinaigrette that's served with the Quinoa Salad at Fleur de Sel in SF, my favorite prepared lunch spot. Makes about 1 cup. 

It'd be great over quinoa, greens, or white beans, but I got a couple of Romanescos in my CSA box last week and decided to use it with that. The dressing is quite simple, but you should always taste to see if it's what you personally like. Start with my recommended amounts, let it rest for a few minutes after blending, and then adjust a few of the ingredients and whiz again if it's not quite the right balance for you.

Add to a food processor or blender with the blade in (you can hand-chop and whisk if you prefer):

1 cup packed parsley leaves and tender parts of the stems
2/3 cup grated Parmesan (about 2 oz)
2 tsp prepared mustard
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp granulated garlic (or one small clove of garlic, finely smashed and minced)
(optional, phase 2 for AH) 1 tsp honey
2/3 cup olive oil
1/4 to 1/3 cup white wine vinegar, lemon juice, or a combination

There's enough salt in the cheese that you don't need to add more. Blend on high for about 30 seconds, stop, scrape down sides, and blend again. Let sit for about a minute, then taste test by dipping in part of a lettuce leaf rather than a finger or spoon. Add a little more of whatever you think it needs more of: vinegar for more tang? black pepper for more heat? honey to tone it down? It might be just right. Serve or store in a glass jar or plastic deli cup for about a week.

If you want to roast a Romanesco for it, find one of these beautiful things at the market. It's the love child of a broccoli and a cauliflower, so sometimes it's called "Broccoli Romanesco" and sometimes "Romanesco Cauliflower". To serve 4, you'll need:

1 Romanesco
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
juice of 1/2-1 lemon
1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt

Cut off the bottom so it sits nicely and pre-heat the oven to 375. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and lemon juice.

Put in the oven for 30-45 minutes, turning down the heat after the first 20 minutes if it's starting to brown too quickly. It'll be done when it's kind of browning and wilting on the outside and a fork goes in easily. Cut in quarters to serve.

Roasted Tomato Sauce with Warm Spices

It may seem sacrilegious for someone in Northern California to use fresh tomatoes in winter, but roasting them with garlic and warm spices brings out their flavor and creates a comforting flavor and aroma. A few weeks ago, I was trying to think of a good non-cheese sauce for savory waffles (omit vanilla from basic recipe), and this popped into my mind. My plan for tomorrow will be to bake eggs in it for a pepper-free shakshuka-type dish. It also works with chickpeas, roast chicken...anything fairly neutral. Makes about 6 servings, takes under 2.5 hours total. 

It does take a bit of time to roast the tomatoes: about two hours. But the rest of it is quick and easy. Set the oven to 300 to pre-heat. Wash and core three pounds of Roma tomatoes, being sure to get all those dang supermarket stickers off. Cut each one into six pieces using your paring knife if it's sharp enough, or a serrated knife if it's not. I adore this paring knife, and it's a cheapie! Amazon affiliate link to the Zyliss knife here. 

Put them in a large bowl and toss with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp each coriander and cumin, a tiny pinch of ground cloves, and 1/4 tsp turmeric. If you like, add 1 tsp honey (AH phase 2), but it's not necessary.

Peel and smash some garlic cloves...these are humongous so I'm just using three. If you have little ones, you might want five. Cut them in halves or thirds but no need to mince them. They'll soften up with the tomatoes. Stir them into the bowl of tomatoes.

Cut up three tablespoons of butter into tiny pieces...if you're not into butter you can use olive oil. I'm into butter with tomatoes now that I know that Marcella Hazan's famous tomato sauce uses it. I mean, I'm a big fan of the pink sauces with tomato and cream, so it makes sense. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup (this one is 10" x 15") and spread out the tomatoes across it. Sprinkle the little pieces of butter across the tomatoes.

Place in the 300 degree oven for two hours. You can go longer if you like to add more of a charred flavor, up to three hours. After two, they should smell like heaven and look about like this:

Carefully put the tomatoes into a food processor (or a bowl if you want to use a stick blender). Pulse a few times and taste for seasoning. If needed, add salt and black pepper. Pulse a few more times so it's still a little chunky. Serve right away or refrigerate until tomorrow so the flavors develop even more...it won't last much longer than that 😊

Curry Coconut Lentil Soup (Electric Pressure Cooker)

January has brought many storms to us here in the US and many personal ups and downs for me so far, so it was time for a little something cozy and nourishing. The other day I remembered a deliciously healthy soup I used to make and decided to do it in my Instant Pot Duo (full disclosure: that's an Amazon Affiliates link, so if you use it to buy that or something else, I'll make a buck or two). I'm so glad I thought of it, because it's the perfect January recipe. It's healthy, inexpensive, vegan...all those things that help you recover from the holidays and meet your New Year's goals.

I'm not much of a New Year's resolution type myself because I've always found it better to embark on a new goal when I'm really good and ready. How many years in a row did I resolve to clean my room? But this tastes so good, earthy and spicy and warm, that you'll want to keep making it even after you've given up. It also fits into many diet programs easily, including the Always Hungry? lifestyle in all phases. I entered the ingredients into two different calculators and got two wildly different ratios of macros, so I won't share them with you so as not to confuse you. To make a balanced meal for phase 1, you'd need to add some more protein and healthy fat. Here are the ingredients I use: you can replace all those dried spices with a tablespoon of curry powder or add some cayenne, I just can't eat those myself. Yes, I washed the celery before dicing it. Recipe card at the end.

Dice an onion, mince 1-2 cloves of garlic, and peel and grate about a heaping tablespoon each of fresh ginger and turmeric. You can use a teaspoon each of dried ginger and turmeric if you can't find fresh, but more and more markets are carrying them these days. Get the bright orange turmeric, not the white kind. It's supposed to help fight inflammation, which is a really good thing.

Turn on your electric pressure cooker's saute or brown function and add 1-2 Tbsp avocado oil (or other unflavored oil, olive would even be OK here), the onions, and the ginger and turmeric. Also add a tiny pinch of cloves, 1 tsp each ground cumin and coriander, and 1/2 tsp each salt and black pepper. Add 1/2 tsp or more cayenne if you like heat. You can replace all those spices with 1 Tbsp curry powder if you prefer to keep it simple. Saute onions and spices a few minutes until soft and fragrant. It'll smell really good really fast! In the meantime, chop about a cup each of carrots and celery (2 small or 1 large carrot and 1 medium stalk celery) into pieces about like so.

Add the garlic, celery and carrots to the pot and saute for just another minute. Because I'm using pressure, I don't want them too soft before they get cooked. If you make this on the stove, saute them another couple of minutes before adding the other stuff. Add a 14-oz can each diced tomatoes and coconut milk, 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth, and 1 1/2 cups green or brown lentils. Don't use the fancy Lentils de Puy, because they'll stay too hard. Those are for salads.

You can give it a stir, but you don't really have to. The cooker will make it all come together. Set your pressure cooker to 10 minutes high pressure and lock the lid on. Once it has come to pressure and counted down those ten minutes, let it release pressure naturally for ten more minutes before you release the rest by opening the valve. Taste it for salt and pepper, adding in a little more of whichever it needs. Mine needed more salt because I used low- and no-sodium products.

Enjoy it with a little salad, a few bites of your favorite protein and maybe some chickpea crackers. Let me know if you try it! 

Cantonese Style Poached Whole Chicken

Yes, rotisserie chickens are easy to find and are getting better all the time, but they really can't compete with a home cooked chicken. I've been experimenting with doing whole chickens at home, mostly butterflied and roasted, and researching the best ways to do it. From all the information I've gleaned, all the best recipes have one thing in common: salting the chicken 1-2 days in advance. If I haven't planned ahead, I'll usually go to Trader Joe's and get a Kosher chicken, which has been brined already. Ina Garten doesn't specify that in this recipe, but she waxes poetic about the late Judy Rodgers' version at Zuni Cafe, which even suggests salting it 2-3 days ahead. However, I'd also been in search of the perfect poached Cantonese chicken recipe since I worked up the Magic Ginger Scallion Sauce back in September. It serves about 4-6 people and takes an hour to an hour and a half, not including the day ahead salting.

If you're intrigued but not quite convinced that a chicken without browned skin could taste good, believe me, it took a while for my eyes to adjust as well, However, this is the best technique for moist, tender, flavorful chicken, which makes up for the lack of yummy crispy skin. Every recipe I looked up and every person I talked to had a slightly different technique and timing, so eventually I just went with a combination of the two ladies most recently arrived from Guangdong I'd spoken with, a student of mine and a very sweet cashier at Whole Foods!

Now, I say Cantonese Style because this is not entirely authentically Cantonese: I don't know when it was, let's just say processed, but I'm thinking it wasn't right before I brought it home. Also, the head and feet have been removed, so they wouldn't consider it whole. I still consider it whole enough to say thank you to it for feeding me. But back to it! This is about a 4 lb chicken, the smallest I can usually find.

I keep an eye out for sales, and got this from the butcher counter for just $1.69 a pound. Not organic, but from a good producer. One night ahead, remove the bag of bits from the inside. Save all but the liver to make chicken broth later (I keep a big Ziploc of scraps and stuff in the freezer until I have enough). Pat the chicken dry and sprinkle it with salt, preferably Kosher salt or coarse sea salt. Use about 3/4 tsp per pound of chicken. If I were roasting, I'd use black pepper as well, but not for this. You'll notice I don't say to rinse it. Current thinking seems to be that rinsing just spreads any bad stuff around the kitchen, while boiling or roasting will kill it off anyway. Cover with plastic wrap and pop the chicken in the fridge.  Take it out about an hour before you start.

Put enough water in a stock pot to cover the chicken (you can put it in with the water to test or just add more water to cover if it isn't enough). Add a green onion or two and a one inch piece of ginger. Bring the water to a boil. When it boils, add 2 tsp salt and the chicken. If you need to add more water, please do. I had to add a little here.

Bring the pot back up to a boil--this will take a few minutes because a big cool chicken cools down the water quite a bit. Once it comes back to a rolling boil, turn the heat down to a simmer, put the lid on and set the timer for 10 minutes. After the timer goes off, turn the heat off and set another timer for 30 minutes (this is for a four pound chicken, so put more time for bigger or less for smaller). When it goes off, remove the lid and poke the chicken with a chopstick twice: in the breast and in the thick part of the base of the thigh. If the juices run clear, it's done! If they don't, it needs a little more time. If it's really red, you can bring it back up to a boil for another 5 minutes.

When the chicken is done, set up another large pot or bowl with ice water. Transfer the chicken to the ice water to stop the cooking and cool it down. This dish is served cold or at room temp. Let the chicken cool to room temp, turning it over if you need to. Save the poaching liquid to use as broth in soup, Yes, it's still white. It's OK, it's cooked 😊

Carve up (ideally bone in, but my carving skills are not that great) and serve with the above-mentioned ginger scallion sauce.

For AHers: serve with soybeans or an orange for phase 1, or with brown rice for phase 2. Add a little steamed broccoli or bok choy.
For non-AHers: serve over steamed jasmine rice.