Instant Pot Collar Green Sag Paneer

Tomorrow promises to be a beautiful autumn day, so be sure to visit the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market for its last day of its tenth season. The market will be open between 10 am - 2 pm on the corner of Agate and 19th Ave. You'll find plenty of fall fruits and vegetables from Camas Swale Farm.

Camas Swale has abundant collard greens, which are delicious roasted in a low oven. I also like to use them in sag paneer, as opposed to spinach which I find always cook down to a tiny portion that fits into a single dessert bowl. This time I converted my my stovetop recipe for the Instant Pot, which was able to reduce an enormous pile of leaves into a fragrantly spiced puree in a matter of minutes.

Instant Pot Collard Green Sag Paneer

2 bunches collard greens (or kale), washed, stripped from stems, and chopped
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 to 2 fresh hot chili, diced
4 roma tomatoes, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 inch ginger root, diced
2 Tbsp grape seed or canola oil
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
salt to taste
8 ounces paneer cheese, chopped into small cubes
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala

1.Turn the instant pot to sautee. When warm, add the oil, and then the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and fenugreek and let them sizzle for a few seconds until fragrant. Add the chopped onion, garlic, ginger, and chili pepper and cook, stirring for a couple minutes. Then add the chopped tomato and cook down a couple minutes longer until they have collapsed and released their juice. Press cancel.


2. Add the collard greens or kale and a generous pinch of salt and give the contents a stir. The liquid from the tomatoes and rinsed greens should be enough, but if it seems very dry, add a Tbsp or two of water. Seal the lid, and program the instant pot to cook at high pressure for 2 minutes. When the cooking is complete, press cancel and carefully release the pressure. 

3. Stir in the coriander and garam masala. Use an immersion blender to puree the greens into a smooth paste. Taste and season with salt if needed. Stir in the cubed paneer cheese and transfer to a serving bowl.

Kale and Leek Buckwheat Crepes

UPDATE: The Market will be closed this Sunday September 22. Come visit next Sunday September 29 for all your fall produce.

At the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market this Sunday, held between 10 am - 2 pm on the corner of Agate and 19th Ave., you'll find fresh produce from Camas Swale Farm and pastured meat and poultry from Fair Valley Farm and Fog Hollow Farm. 

The brilliant green kale and leeks inspired a quick post-market brunch of buckwheat crepes along side pan seared potatoes, onions, and peppers. If you prepare the batter ahead of time, this meal can come together as quickly as omelettes for a weeknight dinner. 

Kale and Leek Buckwheat Crepes

for the batter
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup buckwheat flour
3 large eggs
2 cups milk
1 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
a pinch of salt

for the filling
1 bunch kale
1 leek
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp tomato paste
salt and pepper
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
several handfuls of grated cheese such as aged cheddar or gruyere.
butter

1. Prepare the batter. Combine the ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth. The batter should have the consistency of thick cream; add a little more milk if needed. It's best to let the batter rest for an hour or so before you use it. You can make it in the morning or even the night before your crepe dinner and if the butter separates out, just give it a quick mix.

2. Prepare the kale and leek filling. Rinse the kale leaves, strip the leaves from the stems, and roughly chop the leaves into 1/2 inch pieces. Cut the green part from the leeks (save for stock), trim off the root end, and slice the white part lengthwise. Rinse the white parts while separating the leaves to remove any dirt. Cut widthwise into 1/2 inch half moons. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and when the heat radiates to two inches above the pan, add the olive oil, the leeks, and a pinch of salt. Saute until glassy. Add the kale, season with salt and pepper, and continue cooking until the kale starts to soften and becomes bright green. Add the tomato paste and saute for a minute while it starts to caramelize. Remove from the heat and add the balsamic vinegar. Taste and season as needed.

3. Make the crepes. Heat a medium sized skillet over medium heat, melt a thin slice of butter and swirl to coat the pan. Pour in the crepe batter slowly while you swirl the pan so that it is just coated with batter. Cook until the batter loses its pale color and develops permanent bubbles. Secure a spatula under the crepe and flip with confidence. As the second side cooks, spoon a thin layer of the kale filling over half of the crepe and sprinkle over a thin layer of cheese. Flip the naked half over the filling half and slide onto a plate. Eat while hot.

Miso Tofu Salad with an Egg on Top

If you get to the Fairmount Farmers Market early this Sunday, you might be lucky enough to pick up some of Fair Valley Farm's pasture raised eggs. 

If you also pick up an bunch of greens, some basil, a cucumber, some baby potatoes, and a handful of these Japanese eggplants from Sweetwater Farm, then you'll have the fixings for a satisfying dinner salad, perfect for these hot days.

I baked sliced eggplant and tofu in a miso marinade in my toaster oven, to avoid heating the kitchen. Over a bed of chopped kale and basil leaves, I layered on the eggplant and tofu with baby potatoes, cucumber spears, and a six-minute egg, and drizzled it all with the sweet and spicy dipping sauce left over from last week's chicken recipe. A delicious farm to table dinner, without generating much heat.

Miso Tofu Salad with an Egg on Top

makes four dinner salads

Miso marinate
1 tablespoon white miso
1/4 cup hot water
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Salad
4 Japanese eggplants, sliced on the diagonal into 1 inch slices
1 block firm tofu, sliced into 8 slabs and pre-frozen or pressed to remove liquid
1 bunch kale or lettuce
~16 basil leaves
1 large or 2 small cucumbers
16 baby potatoes
4 eggs

For the sweet and hot dipping sauce (1/2 recipe):
1/4 cup rice or cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons dried red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon fish sauce

1. Prepare the miso marinade by whisking together all of the ingredients directly in a toaster oven pan or small baking dish. Dip both sides of the eggplant slices and tofu slabs into the marinate and let soak for at least 30 minutes at room temperature or for a day in the refrigerator. Bake at 350 degrees in a toaster oven or stove for 30 to 40 minutes until the eggplants are sift and have started to char and the tofu is dry and firm. Slice the tofu into strips and reserve.

2. Prepare the dipping sauce. In a small saucepan, heat the vinegar to a boil. Add the sugar, stirring until it dissolves, then lower the heat to a simmer for 5 minutes. In the meantime, pound or mash the garlic and salt into a paste in a mortar or on a cutting board with the side of your knife. Stir the red pepper flakes into the sauce. When the vinegar and sugar mixture is done simmering, stir in the garlic paste and fish sauce and let the sauce cool to room temperature. 

3. Prepare the remaining salad ingredients. Boil the baby potatoes until cooked, about 15 minutes, then drain and reserve. For the eggs, set a small pot of water to boil and the carefully lower in each egg with a slotted spoon. Lower the heat and cook for 6 minutes for eggs with yokes that are still a little runny, or up to 10 minutes for firm yokes. Transfer to a bowl with ice water to cool and peel gently. Peel the cucumber if desired and cut into spears. Rinse the kale leaves, remove the stems with your hands or a knife, and chop into small pieces. Rinse the basil leaves, tear into pieces and mix with the kale leaves.

4. Assemble the salads. On four plates, distribute the kale and basil leaves. Layer on eggplant slices, tofu strips, baby potatoes, cucumber spears, and an egg. Drizzle with a little of the dipping sauce and serve with more sauce on the side. Enjoy.

Kale Salad with Roasted Carrots and Chickpeas

Here's a roasted vegetable salad for our off again, on again spring weather. Roast the carrots and chickpeas while it rains, and toss together the salad to enjoy when the sun peaks out. I roasted the carrots and chickpeas in an rich coating of cumin and smoked paprika, and spiked the tahini dressing with a good dose of lemon. The dressed kale will hold up well even if you have to wait a while for the sunshine. 

Kale Salad with Roasted Carrots and Chickpeas

1 bunch kale, ribs removed and leaves cut into 3/4 inch ribbons
2 large carrots, rinsed and sliced on the diagonal
1 cup cooked chickpeas, drained
4 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
salt to taste

dressing
2 tsp tahini
1 tsp white miso paste
1/4 tsp honey
juice of one lemon
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

1. Prepare the roasted toppings. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. On a large rimmed baking sheet, dump the sliced carrots on a large rimmed baking sheet and toss with 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika and a good sprinkle of salt. On a second rimmed baking sheet, toss the drained chickpeas with the remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika and a good sprinkle of salt. Spread out and roast for about 20 minutes, turning the carrots with a spatula occasionally, until they are soft and have started to brown around the edges, and shaking the chickpeas occasionally, until they have browned and crisped. When the roasted toppings are done, set them aside.

2. Prepare the dressing by mixing together all of ingredients until the dressing is emulsified. Taste and add more of any ingredient to adjust the flavor to your likening. 

3. In a large bowl, toss the chopped kale leaves with the dressing until well coated. Gently toss in the roasted toppings. The salad is nice served at once, but it can also stand for a few hours. Enjoy. 

Coconut Kale Chips

A New Year's resolution of mine is to be more adventurous about cooking new foods. Case in point: on a whim, my husband purchased my son a fresh coconut at the market. "How will we open it?" my son asked later that evening, holding it high above his head in the kitchen. "We'll have to look it up on Youtube" my husband answered from the living room. But just then we heard a crash and "oops" and "it's leaking!" Problem solved.

The next question: what to do with all the fresh coconut meat? Much experimentation ensued, with our favorite outcome being these coconut kale chips. We love plain Jane kale chips in our household, but this version makes them even more addictive. I tossed the kale pieces and grated coconut in coconut oil and added a splash of soy sauce for saltiness. They were a fun vehicle for fresh coconut, but I'm sure they would work with unsweetened, dried coconut on a day when one wasn't able to commit to a whole fresh coconut adventure.

Coconut Kale Chips

1 bunch kale
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 cup shredded coconut (fresh or unsweetened dried)
2 tsp soy sauce

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees, and place two rimmed cooking sheets in the warming oven.

2. Rinse the kale leaves, shake dry, remove the stems (I've found that the fastest way to do this is by running my fingers down the stem), and tear into bite sized pieces. Remove all moisture from the kale leaves with some more shaking, or in a salad spinner.

3. Remove the hot pans from the oven and place a Tbsp of coconut oil on each pan, sliding it around to allow it to melt. Then put half the kale and half the coconut on each pan. Drizzle each with a tsp of soy sauce and then toss the leaves on each sheet well to mix and coat with the coconut oil.

4. Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for about 12-15 minutes until the kale leaves have crisped and started to brown and the coconut has toasted. Remove and serve at once or store in an airtight container.

Rice Hot Pot

We've been eating a lot of rice hot pots lately, which are perfect for a drizzly midweek meal. Dolsot bibimbap is one of my favorite dishes to order in Korean restaurants, and I always feel so grateful to the chefs who prepare the selection of delectable toppings that are arranged so beautifully in the sizzling bowl of rice. Then I started playing around with heating up rice on the stovetop in stone bowls we'd bought for soup, and I realized that a rice hot pot can be infinitely flexible and an ingenious way to make the most of midweek leftovers and the bounty of our weekly Good Food Easy CSA share. 

The strategy is to cook up a big pot of brown rice or other grain over the weekend, or if you are really planning ahead, freeze meal-sized portions. Then search your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer and assemble a selection of topping ingredients loosely around the five elements below (realizing of course, that every formula was meant to be broken, and many ingredients fit into more than one category). The bowl above, for example, contained Sweetwater Farm kale, rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, and leftover Fair Valley Farm ham, with a side of kimchi. This is a short order chef type of meal with multiple burners going, but it can come together quickly. First rub a little sesame oil in individual stone bowls or a cast iron skillet, pack down a cup of rice for each serving, and start warming the bowls or skillet over low heat. Then prepare your toppings and pile them into the bowls or skillet as you go, ending with an egg on top.  

Some greens: quickly blanched, steamed, or sautéed, then tossed with a splash of sesame oil, and perhaps some sesame seeds.

Some protein: leftover ham, steak, chicken, quickly sautéed and finished with a splash of soy sauce and rice wine; baked or caramelized tofu; edamame beans; fried or poached egg.

Something umami: mushrooms, such as rehydrated shiitakes, quickly sautéed with a splash of soy.

Fresh and crunchy vegetables: shredded carrot, sliced cucumber, sliced radish.

Pickled vegetables: homemade kimchi, pickled chard stems, fermented green beans, refrigerator pickles. 

Rice Hot Pots

serves four

4 cups cooked brown rice
sesame oil
1 bunch kale (or chard or spinach)
1 cup cubed ham (or other meat or tofu or edamame beans)
canola oil
8 large dried shiitake mushrooms
1-2 carrots shredded (or 1 cucumber cut lengthwise into quarters and thinly sliced)
4 eggs
for garnish: kimchi, pickled vegetables, dried seaweed, sesame seeds, gochujang or sriracha sauce 

1. For 4 cups of cooked rice, use 2 cup dried rice. Rinse in a small mesh sieve, then place in a pot with 3 cups water. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and cook, covered for about 30 minutes, until the water is absorbed. Fluff with a fork. You can cook this ahead of time.

2. Boil 1/2 cup water and pour over the dried shiitake mushrooms to rehydrate them.

3. I prepare a meal for four in two individual stone bowls (for the adults) and a cast iron skillet of toasted rice for the kids, who prefer their toppings separate, which leaves one burner for preparing the toppings. Rub about 1 tsp of sesame oil into each stone bowl or 2 tsp into the cast iron skillet. Start to warm the bowls and skillet over medium low flames. Pack one cup of rice per person into each bowl (two in the skillet). Keep them warming over low heat for about 15 minutes while you prepare the rest of the toppings, and a delicious toasted rice coating will form on the bottom. You should hear the rice sizzling and should smell it toasting. If you are nervous that it is burning, use a spatula to pry underneath and take a peak, and you can always turn it off, but not before you have a good layer of toasted rice.

4. Rinse and chop your greens. You could blanch them quickly in boiling water, steam them in the microwave with a splash of water, or quickly sauté them in another skillet. When they are tender, but not wilted, toss them with a splash of sesame oil and a pinch of salt and layer them into one quadrant of the rice bowls or two opposite quadrants of the skillet. 

5. Cube the meat or tofu. In your working skillet, sauté the cubes over medium high heat in a little canola oil , and when they are hot, add 1 tsp each of soy sauce and rice wine. Cook until these evaporate and then transfer to another quadrant of the rice bowls/skillet.

6. Slice the rehydrated mushroom. In your working skillet, sauté the mushroom slices over medium high heat, allowing the moisture to cook off, add 1 tsp soy sauce, cook down, and then transfer to another quadrant of the rice bowls/skillet.

7. Turn the heat under your working skillet to low and crack in four eggs. While these are frying, prepare the crunchy fresh vegetable toppings and gather your pickled toppings. When the egg are cooked to the desired stage, transfer them to the top of each hot pot or skillet half and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

8. Carefully transfer the hot pots or skillet onto coasters on the table. Have people add desired crunchy fresh and pickled toppings and hot sauce. Enjoy.

Kale Salad with Crispy Fried Shallots and Poached Egg

Food trends can sweep nations, but they can also catch hold on a very local scale, in your own household, like the red lentil soup I couldn't stop making the winter I was pregnant with my son. When my parents visited recently, I exposed them to various uses for the vegetable du jour, kale, which has even been making inroads into Parisian cuisine and has certainly been trending in our household. Reminiscing with my parents reminded my of another household food trend from my youth, following a summer trip to Paris, when my father could not get enough frisee salad with lardons and poached eggs.

Now my parents are mostly vegetarian, and bacon is passé, so I decided to recreate a kale version of Salad Lyonnaise with crispy fried shallots in lieu of lardon. It was quite delicious, and I'm convinced that these shallots, a common condiment in Vietnamese cuisine, will be the next big food trend. At least they will be in our household.

Kale Salad with Crispy Fried Shallots and Poached Egg

serves four for a side or two for a main dish

1 bunch lacinato kale

2 shallots

1/2 cup olive oil

4 Tbsp red wine vinegar

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

4 eggs

1. Rinse the kale leaves, cut out the center stems, and chop into 1 inch ribbons. Dry thoroughly.

2. Prepare the crispy fried shallots. Peel and chop the shallots. Heat a wok or skillet and warm the oil. Add a piece of shallot and if it sizzles, add the rest of the shallots and a generous pinch of salt. Cook the shallot pieces over medium low heat, stirring frequently, until they develop a deep brown color, but without burning. Remove the shallots with a slotted spoon and reserve. To the shallot-scented oil add the vinegar and heat, stirring, for a minute. Now drizzle the hot vinaigrette over the kale and toss to coat. Sample a leaf and add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Heat water in a wide pan for poaching the eggs. When the water is ready, poach four eggs following these instructions (or you can cheat and use these), such that the yokes are still runny (they will serve to further dress the kale leaves in the salad). You can also poach the eggs ahead of time and reheat them gently in a bath of hot water.

4. Assemble the salads by plating the dressed kale, top with a poached egg or two, and sprinkle over the crispy fried shallots. Eat right away.  

White Pesto Pasta with Kale Chips

As a stubborn blanket of snow continues to keep Eugene at a standstill, creative cooking with pantry items is a necessity. This white pesto sauce from Mark Bitmann fits the bill, being prepared from an end piece of stale bread, a dribble of milk, and some nuts. From these humble staples you produce a rich sauce that tastes like an alfredo, without requiring the treacherous trip to the store for a pint of heavy cream. 

  

If you are lucky enough to have some greens in your crisper, by all means add these to your meal for extra color and to ward off scurvy. You could serve the pasta on a bed of raw greens, or toss the greens into the pasta water for a quick blanch at the last minute. 

I used our last bunch of kale to make a batch of the child-friendly chlorophyll vehicle of kale chips, which added a nice crunchy contrast to the creamy pasta. Now that we've polished off the last of our fresh vegetables, I'll be resorting to the bag of peas in the freezer normally reserved for soothing bumps and bruises. Let's hope the ice thaws.

White Pesto Pasta with Kale Chips

adapted from Mark Bitmann's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

pasta
1 thick slice Italian bread, or equivalent amount of any white loaf
1/2 cup milk
1 cup walnut halves
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
2 teaspoons fresh marjoram leaves (optional)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 pound pasta

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Place the bread in a small bowl, cover it with milk, and let it soak.

2. If you like, roast the garlic cloves in a hot skillet until softened, then peel. Combine the nuts, garlic, cheese, and marjoram (if using) in a food processor and, with the machine running, slowly add the oil in a steady stream, adding just enough oil so that the mixture forms a very thick paste. Now add the bread-and-milk mixture and enough water to make a sort of saucy mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Cook the pasta until tender. Drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking water. Toss the pasta with the sauce and, if the mixture appears too thick, thin it with a little of the pasta cooking water or more olive oil. Pass more Parmesan on the side. And if you like, serve with kale chips, recipe below.

kale chips
1 bunch kale
olive oil
salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Rinse the kale leaves and dry well. Cut or tear the leaves from the stem and tear into bite sized pieces. In a big bowl, toss the leaves with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and mix well with you hands, massaging in the oil. Lay out on cookie sheets in a single layer and bake for about 10 or 15 minutes until they are crispy but before they start to get very brown (at which point they become more bitter). Serve at once. You can store them in an airtight container if you have any left, but we never do.

Kale Florentine

Yesterday was a brilliantly sunny fall day, perfect for tromping around Sweetwater Farm on their pumpkin day. We got to see the last of their summer harvest that supplied the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers market all season long, and the preparation for their winter crops that will continue to supply their Good Food Easy CSA. 

We're so thankful for all the Sunday mornings that the Fairmount Market farmers got up early over the summer to set up the market. This morning, we indulged in a leisurely breakfast of eggs florentine, made with local creamed kale on top of Eugene City Bakery English muffins and accompanied by Fair Valley Farm bacon. I hope all the farmers enjoyed a leisurely Sunday morning as well.

Kale Florentine

serves 4

2 bunches kale
2 shallots
2 Tbsp butter
1 cup heavy cream
salt
8 eggs
4 English muffins

1. Set a pot of salted water to boil. Rinse the kale leaves and cut out the hard stems. Chop the leaves coarsely. When the water comes to a boil, blanch the kale leaves for one minute. Then drain and rinse with cold water. Squeeze out the moisture from the leaves and chop finely.

2. Peel and finely chop the shallots. Heat a large, wide skillet with a lid over medium heat. Add the butter and once it has melted and started to foam, add the shallots. Cook the shallots until glassy. Add the chopped kale and a generous pinch of salt and saute for a minute or two. Now add the cream, stir well, bring to a low simmer, and lower the heat. Crack the eggs directly over the creamed kale. Cover and cook for about five minutes, until the achieve your desired degree of hardness. When the eggs are done, remove from the heat.

3. Toast the English muffins. Butter them and top with creamed kale and eggs. Enjoy.

Kale and Pepper Stuffed Pizza

This Sunday at the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market you can look forward to the following offerings from Sweetwater Farm and Fair Valley Farm:

blueberries (for pancakes)
eggplants (make a roast eggplant salad)
red sweet peppers (make stuffed pizza, below)
green, yellow wax, and romano beans (make a bean salad, below)

tomatoes and fennel (delicious on pasta)
new potatoes (make a frittata)

squash blossoms, baby squash, and zucchini

celery and kohlrabi (great in kimchi)

cucumbers and carrots (make some mung bean pancakes)

broccoli and cauliflower (delicious roasted)

cilantro, Italian parsley, and 1 lb bags of basil (make pesto)

fresh spring garlic and Red Long of Tropea onions

kale, chard, collards, and a variety of lettuces

sunflowers and cardoon flowers

dried beans and grains from Camus Country Mill

jams, salsa, and pickles from Sweet Creek Foods

pastured chickens (try spatchocked)

Last Sunday afternoon we decided to go to the Sunday evening concert series in Washburne Park to hear the Eugene Highlanders Pipe Band, because how better to enjoy bagpipes than in an expansive open field. I had a bowl of pizza dough rising, which I repurposed for a loose rendition of Marcella Hazan's Palermo stuffed pizza or sfinciuni. "A coarse version of sfinciuni is indistinguishable from pizza in appearance", writes Hazan scornfully, but a "finer and more fascinating rendition is known as sfinciuni di San Vito, after the nuns of the order who are credited with creating it. It has two thin, round layers of firm dough that enclose a stuffing --called the conza-- which is sealed all around." Long ago the name for this dish permuted in our household to "stuffuchini," which one must admit sounds both impressively Italian and evocative of the final stuffed product, without holding one to the high standards of the San Vito nuns.

I did not adhere to strict doctrine with my conza, but took inspiration from Hazan's broccoli and cheese sfinciuni, using Sweetwater's Tuscan kale sauteed with their beautiful lipstick peppers and Red Long of Tropea onions. For a side salad, I cooked green and yellow beans just until tender and tossed them with yellow tomatoes and fresh tarragon. The pizzas were still warm as we settled down to enjoy our multicultural picnic of stuffichini and bagpipes.

Kale and Pepper Stuffichini

adapted loosely from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Dough
I used 1 recipe of Jim Layhey's no knead pizza dough, which made enough for a couple of large adult stuffed pizzas and two smaller kids' pizza pockets, but here is Hazan's sfinciuni dough

1 teaspoon active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
2 cups flour (you may need more)
Pinch of sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons whole milk

1. Dissolve the yeast in a mixing bowl in 1/4 cup of the water for 10 minutes. Add 1 cup flour and mix thoroughly. Add another 1/4 cup water, sugar, salt, olive oil, and milk. Mix together. Add the remaining 1/4 cup water and the remaining 1 cup of flour. 

2. Knead by hand or in a mixer for 5-10 minutes. Add sprinkles of flour as needed. The dough will be soft but shouldn't be sticky.

3. Place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for 3 hours, until doubled in volume.

Filling

1 bunch kale

1 sweet red pepper

1 sweet red onion

2 cloves garlic

2 Tbsp olive oil, plus 1 more for assembling the pizza

red pepper flakes and salt to taste

1/4 cup white vermouth

2 Tbsp fresh bread crumbs, lightly toasted

~2 ounces mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

cornmeal

1. Cut the kale leaves from the stems and chop into thin strips. Seed and dice the pepper. Peel and dice the onion. Peel and mince the garlic cloves. 

2. Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add the oil and saute the onions and red pepper until the start to caramelize. Add the garlic and cook a minute longer. Add the kale and red pepper flakes and salt and keep cooking until the kale has started to wilt. Add the vermouth and cook until it has evaporated. Remove from heat.

To assemble and bake the Stuffichini

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If using, place a pizza stone in the oven. Divide the dough into two balls (if using Lahey's pizza dough recipe, use about 2/3 for the stuffichini). On a floured surface, roll out one ball of dough into a 10 inch disc. Transfer to a cornmeal covered pizza peel or a cornmeal covered baking sheet.

2. Distribute 1 Tbsp of bread crumbs on the dough and drizzle on one tsp of olive oil. Spread the kale filling over the dough, followed by the mozzarella cheese, followed by another Tbsp of bread crumbs, and a drizzle of 2 more tsp olive oil. Roll out the second second ball of dough to a slightly larger circle. Place it over the stuffing and crimp the edges of the two circles of dough securely together, bringing the edge of the lower one up over that of the top one.

3. Brush the top of the dough with water, and then slide the stuffichini onto the preheated pizza stone, if using, or place the baking sheet in the oven. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the dough is golden and hard.  Let the pizza settle for a few minutes to allow the flavors to come together. Cut into pie-shaped wedges and serve.

Green Bean and Tomato Salad

Handful of green beans

Handful of yellow wax beans

2 medium yellow tomatoes or a dozen cherry tomatoes

1 bunch fresh tarragon

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1 Tbsp sherry vinegar

2 Tbsp olive oil

salt and black pepper to taste.

Trim the beans and blanch in salted boiling water just until tender, about four minutes. Meanwhile, whisk together the vinaigrette of mustard, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Cut the beans lengthwise into thirds and toss in the vinaigrette. Cut the tomatoes into pieces and toss gently into the salad along with the fresh tarragon leaves.