Chimichurri Potato Salad

• 2 lbs red potatoes
• 1 pint green beans
• 2 cups packed parsley leaves
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 anaheim chile, diced (optionally seeded)
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1/4 cup minced shallot
• salt & pepper to taste

Scrub the potatoes clean (or peel if you must), cut into 3/4 inch chunks, and steam for about 15 minutes or until easily pierced with a sharp knife.

Trim the green beans and break into 1 inch pieces. Blanch the beans for a few minutes. If you’re clever you can re-use the boiling water from steaming the potatoes. When done shock them in some ice water to stop the cooking and then drain.

Add the remaining ingredients to a food processor and pulse several times until the parsley is broken down and the sauce gets a good, saucey consistency. More than salsa, less than pesto.

Pour the sauce over the still-warm potatoes and the beans. Mix. Chill. Devour.

Honey Garlic Chicken

I like my chicken legs cooked long and slow so pretty much all the fat melts and the meat falls away from the bone. This goes great over boiled brown rice.

• 1 T cracked green peppercorns
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1 t salt
• 4 skin-on chicken legs (thigh + drumstick)
• 1 T peanut oil
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari
• 3 T honey
• 8-10 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 8-10 bunching onions or 16-20 pearl onions
• 2 T chopped thai or sweet basil

Spanikopita w/ Assorted Greens

This is a slightly non-traditional spanikopita pie made with assorted greens rather than just spinach.

• 2 lbs greens (any kind you have mixed together – spinach, collard greens, swiss chard)
• 1/2 pound feta cheese, crumbled
• 2 eggs
• several sheets of phyllo dough
• 2 Tbs butter, melted
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg

Oven-Smoked Spareribs

I didn’t really change anything from the original Cook’s Illustrated (January, 2006) recipe. They used Lapsang Souchong tea, which apparently has a very smoky flavor. I didn’t feel like making a special trip to the supermarket, so I ended up using whatever chinese black tea blend I had on hand. In the end, none of us noticed a strong flavor of smoke or tea. It totally didn’t matter because the ribs were awesome regardless.

stuff you need

• pizza stone
• large baking sheet
• raised wire rack (like you’d use to cool cookies or bread)

for the wet rub

• 1/4 cup yellow mustard
• 2 T ketchup
• 1 T chili powder
• 1 T paprika
• 1/4 – 1/2 t cayenne, depending on heat preference
• 1 T salt
• 3 T brown sugar

the rest

• 4 racks of spareribs (about 2 lbs)
• 1/3-1/2 cup loose, black tea, preferably Lapsang Souchong
• 1/2 cup apple juice

Five-Spice Pork Roast

For the rub:

• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp Szechuan peppercorns
• 2 tsp salt

Everything else:

• 1 4 lb pork roast
• 2 T canola oil
• 6 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 5 T brown sugar
• 1/2 cup homemade chicken broth
• 3/4 cup good lager beer
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup

Toast the spice seeds and then grind the spices together somehow (spice grinder, mortar & pestle). Rub all but a tablespoon of the spice blend all over the pork. You can wrap in plastic and let set overnight in the fridge if you like. The original recipe says to tie up the roast to keep it from falling apart, but mine didn’t and I wouldn’t have minded anyway.

Heat the oil in a skillet over med-high. Brown the pork on all sides and then place in the slow cooker crock. Turn heat down to medium, add the garlic to the pan and saute just until fragrant. Add the broth and beer to the pan and stir/scrape to get the yummy browned bits of fond. Pour all this into the slow cooker, set on low and go to your 9-5 job.

Back from work? Excellent. Preheat the oven to 450. Whisk together the soy sauce, ketchup, brown sugar and the rest of the spice mixture. Line a baking sheet with foil. Pull the roast out carefully (I use a big flat skimmer thing) and place it on the foil. Brush the ketchup glaze mixture over the top and pop in the oven for 12-15 minutes. Meanwhile, strain the drippings and skim off as much fat as you can. Mix in the remaining glaze and reduce in a saucepan about half-way.

Moroccan Carrot/Kohlrabi Salad

• 2 medium kohlrabi, peeled and cut into chunks
• 5-6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch sections
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne
• 2 T fresh lemon juice
• 2 T minced parsley
• salt & pepper to taste

Place the carrots and kohlrabi in a saucepan w/ enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and then let them cook for ~10 minutes. You’re looking for not crunchy but still firm here.

Drain the veggies really well. Toss with the olive oil to coat. Then add the spices, the lemon juice and the parsley, in that order, tossing each time. The original recipe said to let stand for an hour, but we were too hungry. I also halved the spice measurements when I did it; our carrots are fresh from the garden and too tasty to drown them in other flavors.

Gazpacho

• 6 lbs ripe tomatoes
• 4 cucumbers
• 4 shallots
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 rounds pita bread
• 2 t salt
• 1/2 t fresh ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup good quality white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup good quality olive oil

Peel, seed and loosely chop the tomatoes and the cucumbers. Preserve as much of the juice from these as you can, discarding the skins, seeds and pulp.

Chop or tear the pita bread into chunks and soak in the reserved juice plus water to cover if necessary

Working in batches if necessary (and unless you have an industrial sized Cuisinart, it will be,) load up a food processor with all the ingredients except the olive oil. Pulse a few times, then leave on for 20-30 seconds to get everything very well blended. With the machine still on, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Note: since it’s all going to get stirred together in the end I don’t worry about perfectly divided batches; for instance, i’ll do all the bread with the first batch and all the olive oil in the last

Pour each batch into a large, non-reactive container and chill for a couple of hours before serving.

There’s several additional things you can do to spruce this up for serving:

• chop up another pita round into bite size pieces, toss with olive oil and toast to make crutons
• finely chop another cucumber and/or tomato and use to top each bowl
• drizzle with more olive oil

Hobo Potatoes w/ Arugula

• 6 all-purpose potatoes, medium-sized
• 4 T olive oil
• salt & pepper (any kind of seasoned salt works well, too)
• 2 cups arugula, loosely chopped

Give the potatoes a good scrubbing but don’t peel. Cut them in half lengthwise and then slice into 1/4 inch thick half-circles. Toss with the olive oil and s & p.

Lay out two sheets of heavy-duty foil, one on top of the other. Spread a little extra olive oil in the middle of the sheet and pile on 1/2 the potatoes. Lay another square sheet of foil on top so that the edges line up. Fold up each side of the square to seal in the pack. Lay the packs directly on the grill over at least medium heat. They’ll need to cook for ~20 minutes. Move/turn them around frequently to make sure everything’s cooking evenly. You should be able to hear the contents inside sizzling.

Put the chopped arugula in a good-sized serving bowl. Pull the packs off the grill and carefully open one side. Check that the potatoes are done. If not just reseal and leave on the grill a little longer (or abort and nuke them in the microwave–but not in the foil!) Assuming the potatoes are done, you should be able to tip the contents of each into the bowl on top of the arugula. Toss the hot potatoes with the arugula and serve.