Easy weeknight meals: Salads, pasta, soup and a fancy surprise

Monday: Go green

Recycle weekend leftovers for a Big Green Salad full of veggies and bits of protein (hard-boiled eggs, leftover chicken, beef or fish, tuna or seafood salad, cold cut strips, any type of cheese). Give your salad crunch with pumpkin or sunflower seeds. Shelled, of course.

Tuesday:  Yes, you can
Scour the pantry for cans of tuna and diced tomatoes and a box of dried penne (or other pasta). Check the fridge for green olives and make Pasta With Tuna, Tomato and Green Olives. While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a saute pan and add some garlic and red pepper flakes. Mix in tuna and diced tomatoes. Add chopped olives and heat through. Mix with drained pasta. Dinner, done.

Wednesday:  Rotisserie chicken
The October Food Network mag, which I have to say I love, has a simple recipe for Spicy Tortilla Chicken Soup. First, shred the meat from the bird and set aside. Puree 2 seeded, soaked ancho peppers (which are dried mild poblanos), 1 peeled onion, 2 tomatoes and 2 garlic cloves. Fry in oil in a large saucepan. Add 6 cups of broth, 4 torn corn tortillas, shredded chicken and 1/2 cup chopped cilantro. Simmer until thick. Season with salt and garnish with crisp tortilla strips, Mexican cheese, cilantro and lime juice.

Thursday: Get messy
Enjoy the last of summer’s fresh corn with a Shrimp and Potato Boil. Bring a big pot of water to boil and add lemon juice, smashed garlic cloves and coarse salt. Sprinkle in Old Bay if you’d like. Toss in small whole red potatoes and cook for about 20 minutes. Add shucked corn in manageable lengths, and about 5 minutes later add the shrimp. Drain and dump in bowl. Serve with bread and butter. Eat outside.

Friday: Fancy night
Pull out the stops tonight and make the fall-centric Wilted Arugula Salad With Sauteed Pork, Pears and Blue Cheese (recipe below). Light the candles and let the family know you love them. Or at least that you love to cook.

Wilted Arugula Salad With Sauteed Pork, Pears and Blue Cheese
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot, finely diced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 ounces baby arugula, washed and spun dry (about 8 loosely packed cups)
1 firm-ripe Bosc pear
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 pound of pork tenderloin, trimmed and sliced 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 pound blue cheese, crumbled (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup dried cherries

In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar and mustard. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup of the oil. Stir in the shallot and thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste. Put the arugula in a large bowl. Core the pear and cut it into matchsticks.

Put the flour in a pie pan or large plate. Season the pork liberally with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour. Set a heavy 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons oil and the butter. When the butter melts and begins to lightly brown, cook the pork (in batches if necessary), flipping after 2 minutes, until it’s just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a large plate. Repeat with the remaining pork.

Discard any fat in the skillet and set over low heat. Add the balsamic-Dijon vinaigrette and cook, stirring to pick up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan, until the sauce is warm, about 1 minute. Pour the vinaigrette back into its bowl and whisk to recombine. Toss the arugula with half of the warm vinaigrette. Arrange the arugula on 4 plates. Top with the pork, pear, blue cheese and dried cherries, and drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette.

Serves 4.

Source: Fine Cooking; photo from Rachael Ray, Food Network

Tonight's easy dinner: Chicken and Artichoke Stew

Save for the two boxes of frozen artichokes hearts I used for Chicken and Artichoke Stew, this was an economical dish. (They were $3.19 each; canned is cheaper.) I had 99-cent-a-pound chicken thighs in the freezer. I simply ripped off the skin and left the bones in and then cooked the chicken along with the carrots. I served the chicken on the bone over rice.

Save this recipe for when the weather gets a little cooler if you don't have time to make now.

This is a delicious one-pot dish that can be made ahead and served the next night. We're having leftovers tonight. Sorry, there's not enough for everyone.

Chicken and Artichoke Stew
3 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat
Coarse salt
Pepper
2 tablespoons butter
2 large onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup flour
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans reduced-sodium chicken broth
6 carrots, cut in 1/2 inch rounds, about 3 cups
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 (14 ounce) cans artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, and halved lengthwise
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
Cooked white rice or buttered noodles

Generously season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a dutch oven over med-high. Brown half the chicken on both sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining butter and chicken. Set aside to cool.

Reduce heat to med. Add 1/4 cup water; scrape bottom of pan with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Add onions; cook until golden, about 5 minute Stir in flour; cook 1 minute more.

Add broth and 1/2 cup water; bring to a boil. Add carrots, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Simmer until carrots are almost tender, about 5 minutes.

Cut chicken into 1/2 inch chunks and return to pot. Cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through and sauce is thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.

5Add artichokes; cook til warmed about 1 minute. Stir in parsley. Serve. Chicken and Artichoke Stew

Serves 8.

Source: Everyday Food

Cold weather cooking: Clam chowder

Okay, so maybe it's not so cold here in west-central Florida, but I do think it's in the 60s. A co-worker just walked in with a stocking cap on. I kid you not. And a coat and scarf.

She needs a big pot of soup for dinner and so do I. This recipe is from the January Bon Appetit. I am going to give it a whirl and I'll let you know if it really takes 40 minutes. I think it might be done in less time. I've got to say from the photo, the bacon looks like the best thing about it!

New England Clam and Corn Chowder With Herbs

6 thick bacon slices, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled, chopped
1 1/4 teaspoons dried thyme
3/4 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
4 cups whole milk
1 8-ounce unpeeled white-skinned potato, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 cans (6 1/2-ounce) chopped clams in juice
1 can (8 3/4-ounce)  corn kernels, drained
Chopped fresh parsley

Cook bacon in large saucepan over medium heat until crisp. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain. Pour out all but 3 tablespoons drippings from pan. Add next 4 ingredients to pan; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Saute until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle flour over; stir 1 to 2 minutes. Gradually add milk to pan, stirring constantly. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium and cook until slightly thickened, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add potato cubes, clams with juice, and drained corn. Bring to boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until potatoes are tender, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Divide soup among bowls, sprinkle with bacon and parsley, and serve.

Serves 4.

Source: Bon Appetit, recipe and photo

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Thanksgiving countdown: Butternut bisque

This dish started out as butternut gnocchi.

My wife is a fan of butternut squash, and I was trying to figure out a way to get butternut on the Thanksgiving menu, and I thought butternut gnocchi sounded like a GREAT idea. So I planned all year to make butternut gnocchi at Thanksgiving that year. I envisioned wonderfully autumnal orange dumplings, and I planned a brown butter sauce with sage and, frankly, as I write this, it sounds good to me again.

But about a month before Thanksgiving, I went to a tasting party at the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, and a chef from Cedar Key was there, and he was serving sauteed scallops with butternut gnocchi. At first I was a little deflated to learn that my idea wasn't original. But then I looked at them. They were hardly orange at all. And there was no butternut flavor. Boy, was I glad that that happened to him and not me. Of course, if I had done it, there would've been about 10 witnesses. This guy was serving 600. He seemed content with it. But I wanted orange.

Anyway, now I only had a couple of weeks to come up with something that had butternut in it. Soup seemed trite, but bisque sounded kind of classy. so here it is:

Butternut Bisque

1 large or 2 small/medium butternut squash (about 4 to 5 pounds total before they're cleaned), peeled, seeded and cut roughly in 1-inch dice
Olive oil
Salt
1 onion, chopped
1 cup carrot, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 box (32 ounces) of vegetable stock
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup heavy cream  (or whole milk, or half and half)
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (optional)

Put diced butternut squash on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt on it. In a 350-degree oven, roast the butternut for about 30 minutes, or until the edges start to brown a little.

While that's roasting, in a large pot saute the onion and carrot about 5 minutes, until the onion is a little soft and translucent. Add the garlic and saute another minute or two. When the butternut comes out of the oven, add to the pot along with the vegetable stock and the ginger and cinnamon. (Feel free to make it your own with the spices; omit ones you don't like, or add others. Some other spices that might work: nutmeg, allspice, clove, cardamom, curry.) Simmer for about an hour. More time won't hurt it, though.

This step is a pain and is optional, but will result in the best texture for the soup: Puree in a blender. You may have to do this in batches, and you need to vent the blender, either by leaving it partially uncovered or popping the middle part of the cap off, if yours does that. When you've pureed the soup, put it through a strainer. (I told you this step was a pain.)

if you don't want to blend and strain, you can just put an immersion (stick) blender in the pot and run it until it's fairly smooth. Or a food processor. Or electric mixer. Or a potato masher. Or skip this step and eat it chunky.

After you puree in whatever manner you choose, and strain it (or not), put it back in the pot on the stove and let it simmer for at least 15 to 20 minutes. Then add the cream and sherry vinegar and stir it in. (If you don't have sherry vinegar, you could use another light-color vinegar, like apple cider, or rice wine. Or just skip it. But I wouldn't use balsamic. It would mess up the color.)

I made this recipe with the intent on keeping it vegetarian, but you could use chicken stock if you prefer. And on Friday, you could chop up some leftover turkey and drop it in the soup to make a meal of it.

Photo: iStockphoto.com

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Quick and hearty soup

I made this soup twice over the weekend, using frozen black-eyed peas and arugula (fresh, not frozen). Lately, I've been nurturing a love affair with the black-eyed pea.

The initial recipe calls for only 2 ounces of ham but the wolverines in my house would have eaten that in the first bite. I upped it to 1/2 pound and could have added more. I also increased the amount of water and the amount of black-eyed peas. As the peas cook, they give up some of their juices and thicken the water. You could even use chicken or veggie broth.

The second time I made it (on Sunday night for school lunches this week), I used a cooked, smoked sausage and sliced it 1/4-inch thick. It added a slightly different flavor but still is quite good. The peppery arugula gives it even more flavor.

It's the sort of recipe that's open to all sort of interpretations. Make it once and you'll see the possibilities.

Black-Eyed Pea Soup With Ham and Greens
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use
8 ounces ham, in 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium onion, chopped
2 1/2 cups cooked, canned or frozen black-eyed peas
5 cups water
2 cups greens (watercress, arugula or spinach) rinsed, trimmed and chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Put 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a deep skillet or casserole on medium-high heat. Add the meat and cook, stirring, for a minute. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens and begins to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the peas and 4 cups of water, and bring to a boil; turn to medium-low heat and simmer, uncovered, until the peas are completely tender (10 minutes for cooked or canned, about 30 minutes for frozen.)
Stir in greens and cook, stirring occasionally, until they wilt. Add more water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper to taste, stir in remaining olive oil, and serve.
Serves 4.
Source: Mark Bittman, "The Minimalist Cooks Dinner."

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Check your pantry; make this soup

The recipe says fresh herbs but you know me ... I reach for the dried instead. This quick bean recipe is almost a pantry item and has endless opportunity for experimentation and substitution. I happened to have some leftover fresh sage from my fruitless attempt to conquer the Build a Better Burger contest. Read about my sad exploits here.

Anyway, I used 1 teaspoon of dried, left, Italian herbs instead of the fresh rosemary, right. You can sub dried for fresh herbs very easily in soups but make sure you reduce the amount by two-thirds. This soup was a big hit at my house and even went to school in a Thermos one day.

It appeared in Bon Appetit in 2006 and there are lots of reader reviews on the magazine's Web site. If you'd like to look at them, click here. I would agree with several readers that the croutons and extra drizzle of olive oil make the soup even better. (I did not send a little container of olive oil to school with the Thermos. That sounds like a way to get beat up in the lunchroom.)

Creamy Bean Soup with Fresh Herbs and Spinach
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups chopped onions (about 2 medium)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
5 cups low-salt chicken broth
2 15- to 16-ounce cans white beans, drained
2 15- to 16-ounce cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
1 6-ounce package baby spinach leaves
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage
Grated Parmesan cheese
Extra-virgin olive oil (optional)

Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté until onions are golden, about 15 minutes. Add rosemary and stir 1 minute. Add all broth and beans. Bring soup to boil; reduce to medium-low and simmer until flavors blend, about 10 minutes.

Working in batches, transfer soup to blender and puree until smooth; return to pot. Mix in spinach and sage; stir until spinach wilts, about 1 minute. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls. Sprinkle each with Parmesan cheese and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, if desired.
Source: Bon Appétit Fast Easy Fresh cookbook.

Dinner after braces

My son is getting braces this morning so besides wondering what that sweet smile is going to look like with a mouth of metal, I'm thinking about what he can eat this weekend. I'm up early cruising all sorts of Internet sites and what I keep seeing is ice cream, ice cream, ice cream. He will be plenty happy about that. Lots of people say that ice-cold anything feels good on sore and aching gums and teeth. Neither his father nor I had braces so we don't have any experience in this area.

A smooth or creamy soup seems like it would offer comfort and sustenance. I'm guessing lots of Campbell's Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup is in our future. But this Golden Pepper Bisque sounds delish for a boy with new braces and for me and you. For everyone else in the house, I'll float some croutons on the top.

I'd welcome any suggestions. Wish us luck!

Golden Pepper Bisque

2 large (about 1 pound total) yellow bell peppers
1 tablespoon salad oil or olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 large (about 1 pound total) thin-skinned potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
2 large (about 1/2 pound total) carrots, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 large stalk celery, ends trimmed, thinly sliced
6 cups regular-strength chicken broth
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Finely shredded Parmesan cheese
Croutons (optional)

Rinse bell peppers. Place in a 9-inch pie or cake pan and broil about 4 inches from heat, turning as needed, until all sides are charred, 12 to 17 minutes. Let cool. Remove and discard stems, seeds and skin; rinse peppers and cut into chunks.

In a 5- to 6-quart pan, combine salad oil and onion. Stir occasionally over medium-high heat until onion is faintly browned, about 10 minutes. Add bell peppers, potatoes, carrots, celery and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until carrots are very soft to bite, 20 to 25 minutes.

In a blender or food processor, smoothly puree vegetable mixture, a portion at a time. (If made ahead, cool, cover and chill up until the next day.) Return to pan. Warm soup, covered, over medium heat; stir often. Ladle into wide soup bowls. Add extra-virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, cheese and croutons to taste.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Per plain serving: 109 calories 3.7g protein, 3.2g fat, 17g carbohydrates, 59mg sodium, 0mg cholesterol

Source: Sunset Magazine

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Wonton soup, made easy

I'm working on a story for next week's food section about using wonton and egg roll wrappers. They are a lot of fun to work with and are quite versatile because they can be baked, fried or simmered, like in this easy Shrimp Wonton Soup.

The trick with the wrappers is to not let them dry out. Keep a damp cloth over the open package while you're working with a single wrapper. Also, it's important to get a good seal on the wrapper so that the yummy insides stay inside. All you need to do is run a wet finger around the edges then press the wrapper together. A beaten egg works well too.

This is a simple shrimp wonton recipe but you could add ground pork to the filling mix, too. The broth can include other veggies ... basically whatever you'd like including peas, pea pods, cabbage or bamboo shoots. This is the kind of soup that tastes really good if you're under the weather. The recipe calls for canned shrimp but you could use fresh peeled, too.

Shrimp Wonton Soup
For wontons:
1 beaten egg
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped water chestnuts
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
2 cans (4.5 ounces each) shrimp, drained and chopped
40 wonton wrappers
For soup:
8 cups chicken broth
2 to 3 cups baby spinach leaves, cut in ribbons
1 cup freshly, sliced mushrooms
Sliced green onions for garnish (optional)

To make filling, combine egg, onion, water chestnuts, soy sauce, ginger root, sugar, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Add chopped shrimp; mix well.

To assemble the wontons, place a rounded teaspoon of the filling in the center of the skin and fold to make a triangle. Moisten the edges with a bit of water to seal. Place on a tray covered with a clean dish towel until ready to use.

In large saucepan, bring 8 cups water to boil. Drop the wontons, one at a time into boiling water. Simmer uncovered about 3 minutes.

While water is coming to a boil, prepare broth in a second saucepan. Bring chicken broth to boil. Add spinach and mushrooms and let cook about 4 to 5 minutes. As wontons are done, transfer them to the soup. Stir in green onions.

Serves 4 to 5.

Source: St. Petersburg Times recipe and photo

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An easy lentil soup

I made this Lentil Stew With Ham and Greens last week to loud applause. I wish I'd doubled the recipe. There was enough left over for the wolverine to take a thermos-ful to school and he even asked for more the next day. Alas, it was gone.

I'm sorry I didn't get a photo of the soup but this one from Cooking Light will give you the general idea. The finished stew is more soupy than the photo shows but that's often the case with magazine photos. To get this photo, the stylist dug deep for all the chunky goodies but didn't include an equal amount of broth. Nevertheless, you get the picture. I bought a ham steak and cut it up, and also used spinach. For some weird reason, I bought a bunch rather than the bagged, cleaned stuff. Anyway, took me a while to get the dirt out but somehow that made me feel good. Like I was really cooking and not just using the scissors!

Give this recipe a try. It's a good one.

Lentil Stew with Ham and Greens
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
5 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 cup dried lentils
1/2 cup chopped carrot
2 bay leaves
3 cups chopped Swiss chard, collard greens, or spinach
1 1/2 cups chopped baking potato
1 cup chopped smoked ham
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2  teaspoon  dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 5 minutes. Add broth, lentils, carrot and bay leaves; bring to a boil. Partially cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Add Swiss chard, potato and ham; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 15 minutes or until potato is tender. Stir in tomatoes, basil, thyme and pepper; simmer 10 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Sprinkle with parsley.

Serves 5  (about 1 1/2 cups each)

Nutritional information per serving: 320 calories, 9gm fat, 20gm protein, 42gm carbohydrates, 15g fiber, 943mg sodium.

Source: Recipe and photo from Cooking Light

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It's a good day for soup

The skies are gloomy over Tampa Bay which means it's a good day for soup. Yeah, it's the Sunshine State but I look at this last gasp of cool as a gift before summer arrives full throttle.

Conventional wisdom says that soups have no place on the Florida table after about May 1, at which time the weather becomes soggy and hot and humid and gross. But with gas prices edging ever upward and groceries following, soup is an economical meal any time of the year. I mean, it's not like we eat cold dinners for six months out of the year.

I make a pot once a week and it lasts a couple nights. It's really such a comfort to have soup in the fridge when you're home late from work and school activities. My other trick is to buy some corn muffins (or makes some) and freeze them when I get home from the store. I pull them out in the morning before I head to work and we've got fresh bread at night.

This is a solid recipe from www.allrecipes.com. It can be made even quicker with a pound of cooked kielbasa or turkey sausage. I like to slice that cooked sausage and brown it anyway to impart more of the flavor into the soup. If I use turkey, then I switch to chicken broth.

Italian Sausage Soup 

1 pound Italian sausage
1 clove garlic, minced
2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
1 cup sliced carrots
1 (14.5 ounce) can great  Northern beans, drained and rinsed
2 small zucchini, cubed
2 cups spinach - packed,  rinsed and torn
1/4 teaspoon ground black  pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a stockpot or Dutch oven, brown sausage with garlic. Stir in broth, tomatoes and carrots, and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes.

Stir in beans with liquid and zucchini. Cover, and simmer another 15 minutes, or until zucchini is tender.

Remove from heat, and add spinach. Replace lid allowing the heat from the soup to cook the spinach leaves. Soup is ready to serve after 5 minutes.

Serves 6.

Source: www.allrecipes.com