Stewed Spring Greens

My goal this year is to get better at cooking without recipes, and I think I am making progress. I have been practicing looking at what I have on hand and imagining what dishes I could make from those ingredients. Yesterday, what I had were three different types of greens that probably needed to be eaten. So I decided to slowly stew them and see what happened.

I heated some olive oil over medium in a very large pot, then added diced onion, sliced carrot and sliced celery. I sprinkled everything with salt. I let the vegetables soften while I washed and chopped the greens: spinach, escarole, bok choy (with the stems) and some celery leaves for good measure. I filled the pot with the greens and poured over a small amount of chicken broth. (Add a lot more broth and you’d have a pretty good soup.) I turned the greens with tongs a few times to mix them with the oil and cooked vegetables. Then I reduced the heat to low and covered the pot. I let the greens slowly stew for a good long while, turning them every now and then, until they had wilted nicely. There was just a little liquor left in the pot. I seasoned to taste with more salt and some pepper.

This was a really nice dish that would work with any combination of greens, I’d bet. And the season for greens is almost upon us! I served this with spaghetti with red sauce and a crusty bread.

A Simple Curry with Coconut Milk

This adaptable curry recipe enables you to make curry with whatever you have on hand — as long as you have the core ingredients of coconut milk, canned tomatoes and curry powder, all of which should be pantry staples. You can even vary it from Indian-style curry to Thai-style just by substituting curry paste for curry powder and adding a little fish sauce at the end.

This recipe takes well to all kinds of vegetables, from eggplant to sweet potatoes. Last night I used kale. I usually make curry with diced boneless chicken, but you could substitute pretty much any meat or seafood as well, or omit it altogether; just alter the cooking time accordingly. Serve with rice or noodles for a full meal.

Curry with Coconut Milk

Yields: 4 servings
Time to make: ~30 minutes

• 2 tbsp. peanut or vegetable oil
• 1 onion, sliced thinly
• 2 boneless chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 or more other vegetables as desired, sliced or cubed
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 tsp. curry powder or curry paste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 sm. can diced tomatoes
• 1 tbsp. fish or soy sauce (optional for Thai-style curry)
• rice or noodles to serve
• various garnishes as desired: fresh basil or mint, cashews or other nuts, diced hard-boiled egg, shredded coconut (optional)

Heat the oil over medium. Add the onion and cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken and vegetables, and brown, stirring frequently. Add the curry paste or powder and garlic, and stir-fry 1 minute. Pour in the coconut milk and bring to a bubble. Add the tomatoes and fish or soy sauce, if using. Stir, cover and reduce the heat. Simmer 10 minutes. Garnish as desired. If making an Indian-style curry, I like a selection of hearty garnishes, such as cashews, hard-boiled egg and coconut. For a Thai-style curry, I prefer fresh herbs and perhaps peanuts.

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• Curry Powder (craftzine.com)

Cranberry Scones for Breakfast, Chicken Stew for Dinner

Occasionally, I like to bake, but I don’t like to have large batches of leftovers sitting around tempting me. A while back, I picked up a cookbook called Small-batch Baking, a collection of recipes for 2 or 3 servings of a variety of baked goods. The recipes I’ve tried have been either hit — very successful — or miss — total failure. Since baking is so precise, I suppose it’s not easy to scale down recipes. Making them is sometimes not easy either; how exactly do you measure 2 teaspoons of cold butter?

Yesterday, I felt like doing a little baking, so I made the Orange Cranberry Oatmeal Scone recipe from Small-batch Baking. This recipe was a hit. It produced two large, crumbly, hearty, tender oatmeal scones dotted with dried cranberries. I think the recipes that don’t need to be so precisely measured definitely work better.

I also felt like having a proper dinner, so I made a chicken stew in the slow cooker. First, I browned cubed chicken with some onion on the stovetop. Then, I added that to the slow cooker along with some whole garlic cloves, a bay leaf and thyme. I finished with 1 part sherry vinegar to 2 parts chicken stock, just enough liquid to almost cover the chicken. I cooked it on low for 4 hours and served the chicken with a little of the sauce over linguine. The chicken was fork-tender and nicely flavored.

To go with it, I made some simple but decadent peas with bacon. I boiled frozen peas for about 2 minutes. In the meantime, I sauteed a little chopped bacon in some butter. When the bacon was starting to crisp, I added some diced onion and continued cooking until the bacon was done. Then I reduced the heat to low and stirred in the peas to warm them. I finished with a little lemon juice. Delish!

Indian-style Summer Squash Stew

This growing season has been challenging me to find new ways to serve up summer squash. Sure, it tastes good sauteed or roasted, but there are only so many meals when you can get away with serving squash as a side dish. Sometimes it needs to be part of something more substantial.

Searching for just such a dish, I adapted this recipe to create a tasty stew with strong Indian flavors. Served over rice, it is a meal in itself. Enjoy.

Indian-style Summer Squash Stew

Time to make: ~30 minutes
Yields: 2 servings

What you need:

• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• ½ thinly sliced onion
• 1 tsp. fresh ginger
• 1-2 minced chiles
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tbsp. garam masala
• ¼ tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 summer squash, cut into half moons
• 2 chopped tomatoes
• ¼ lb. boneless chicken, diced
• scallions for garnish
• cooked rice to serve

1. Heat the oil in a dutch oven over medium.
2. Add the onion and sprinkle with salt.
3. Sauté until the onion turns golden brown, about 10 minutes.
4. Add the ginger, chiles, garlic, garam masala and mustard seeds.
5. Stir until the mustard seeds pop and the garlic turns golden, about 1 minute.
6. Add the squash and enough water to moisten, and cook until the squash softens a bit.
7. Add the tomatoes and chicken.
8. Turn the heat to low, cover and simmer about 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.
9. Garnish with scallions and serve over rice.

Sausage & Cabbage Stew

It has finally gotten cold around here — what we consider cold in North Carolina, anyway. When I get home from work on a cold night, all I want is something warming, satisfying and simple. This stew fits the bill. I couldn’t help going back for seconds.

Sausage & Cabbage Stew

Serves: 2
Time to make: ~45 minutes

What you need:

• 1 cup pasta shapes (I used medium shells)
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• ½ onion, chopped
• 2 andouille sausage links, sliced (I used chicken sausage)
• ½ head Savoy cabbage, shredded
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• ½ cup chicken stock
• Parmesan to taste

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the pasta until almost done
2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a dutch oven over medium
3. Saute the onion until very brown and soft, about 15 minutes
4. Add the sausage and brown a few minutes
5. Add the cabbage and garlic, and let the cabbage wilt a bit
6. Add the stock and the pasta
7. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the pasta is fully cooked and the cabbage is tender
8. Garnish with grated Parmesan

Sausage, Beans & Greens Stew

Sausage and beans, beans and greens — both are classic combinations. This simple, one-pot, weeknight supper combines them all. This dish took less than 30 minutes to make and was a big hit at the table.

Sausage, Beans and Greens Stew

Serves: 2
Time to make: ~30 minutes

• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• ½ medium onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 Italian sausage links, sliced
• 1 can of any beans, rinsed and drained, or 1 cup pre-cooked beans
• 1 lb. leafy greens or cabbage, chopped
• ½ cup chicken stock
• grated cheese (optional)

Heat the olive oil over medium-high in a dutch oven. Saute the onion, garlic and sausage until the sausage is browned. Add the beans and greens, tossing to mix and wilt. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and let simmer until the greens are tender, 7-10 minutes. Season to taste and garnish with cheese, if you like.

Notes: I love chicken sausage because it is leaner but still tastes like the real thing — to me, at least. While Italian sausage is called for, you could substitute any sausage flavor of a similar size.

Bonus Recipe: Easy Garlic Bread

I served this with my version of Easy Garlic Bread. Cut an Italian or French loaf into thick slices, but don’t cut all the way through. Slip a pat of butter between each slice and smear with a dab of roasted garlic paste (a handy ingredient that you can find in most grocery stores). Wrap in foil and heat at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. Voila!