Welcome to the Recipes Page
Very Basic Fall Meal Plan for Soccer Dinner for the Team:
- Main Dish: Baked chicken with root vegetables (beets, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, celeriac, turnip, etc. Very easy to prepare, a roaster chicken ought to take about an hour to bake. Tuck chopped veggies around the sides. Two or three roasters can feed a team. Make leftovers into sandwiches) or, lentil stew (see following recipe)
- Side: Salad (include some raw kale or chard. Dress very simply—lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper)
- Side: Brown Rice (make a big pot)
- Dessert: Fall Fruit (apples, pears, plums, concord grapes, currants, end-of-season raspberries) and/or dark chocolate (70% or so), both optional with whole milk vanilla yogurt, or cheese, with honey instead.
SAVORY LENTILS AND RICE
1 T olive oil
2 medium or one large sweet onion, thinly sliced
3 carrots, diced
1 c brown rice
1 T curry powder
1 t each dry mustard and salt
½ t black pepper
4 c broth
1 c lentils
1 c cilantro, chopped
½ c sour cream, optional, but very tasty. J
- In a Dutch oven heat oil over medium high heat.
- Add onion; cook 6 to 8 minutes or until golden; stir occasionally.
- Add rice, curry powder, mustard, salt and pepper; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Add water (or broth) and lentils; bring to a boil. Add carrots. Cover and reduce heat to low.
- Simmer one hour.
- Remove from heat; stir in cilantro and sour cream.
Beans and Greens Italiano
Serves 3 to 4
This basic recipe offers endless possibilities for combining cooked beans and fresh, chopped greens. Especially good combinations include kale and limas, escarole and cannellinis, mustard greens and adukis, and Swiss chard and navy beans.
I T olive oil (try using the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes)
3 large cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
½ t dried rosemary leaves
¾ pound greens, such as Swiss chard, spinach, or kale, trimmed (thick stems reserved for stock), rinsed, and finely chopped
2 to 4 T bean cooking liquid or water (optional)
11/2 c firm-cooked beans
1/3 c finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes or coarsely chopped, pitted black olives (I used both)
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
- In a large skillet or wok, heat the oil. Sauté the garlic over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until lightly browned, about 1 minute. (Take care as garlic burns easily.) Add the rosemary and let sizzle for 5 seconds.
- Add the greens (along with any rinse water still clinging to the leaves) and cover the pot (you may have to squash the greens under the cover). Cook over medium-high heat until the greens are almost tender, about 2 to 3 minutes for spinach, chard, or beet greens and 5 to 8 minutes for kale or escarole. Stir every few minutes and add a bit of liquid, if needed, for the longer-cooking greens.
- Stir in the beans and sun-dried tomatoes a minute or so before the greens are done.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Variations
- Toss with 3 to 4 cups of cooked, small pasta, such as spirals of elbows. Drizzle on a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Use pan-fried tempeh instead of beans
- Heat any leftovers in vegetable stock for a quick soup
I use dry sun-dried tomatoes (instead of the ones that come packed in oil), simply because they are cheaper, and easier to keep around. Sometimes I use the boiling water in which I reconstitute them as the extra liquid added to longer-cooking greens.
CHICKEN AND SAUERKRAUT
¼ butter (one stick)
2 quarts sauerkraut
1 clove of garlic
1 frying chicken, cut in pieces
3 small, red-skinned potatoes, peeled
sour cream
- Melt the butter over low heat in a very large pot or casserole. Be careful not to let the butter brown,
- Add the sauerkraut with all of its juice
- Add the clove of garlic, mashed. Stir well.
- Add the chicken, cut in pieces, and the potatoes.
- Mix well making sure the sauerkraut covers the chicken and potatoes.
- Cover and cook over low-medium heat for one hour and fifteen minutes, stirring the pot occasionally during cooking.
- Serve with sour cream.
SIMPLE CREAM OF BROCCOLI SOUP
2 T butter
1 russet potato, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
3 cups chopped broccoli, florets and stems
6 cups canned vegetable stock
½ c heavy cream, or whole milk
nutmeg to taste
salt and pepper
- In a large pot, over medium heat, melt butter and cook onion until tender.
- Add potato and toss to coat with butter.
- Add hot stock and bring to a simmer.
- Stir in broccoli and return to a simmer.
- When potato and broccoli are tender, puree with an immersion blender.
- Add cream or milk, warming through.
- Season and serve warm
TOMATO BISQUE
½ c (1/4 #) unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ chopped onion
2 leeks, white part only, chopped
3 T all purpose flour
4 c chicken stock
1 32-oz can crushed Italian plum tomatoes
¼ c chopped fresh parsley
2 T chopped fresh basil (or 1 T dried basil)
¼ c dry white wine
1 c heavy cream
fresh ground black pepper to taste
sour cream
In a large kettle, melt the butter. Add the garlic, onion, and leeks, sautee them until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, and stir for 3 minutes. Gradually whisk in the chicken stock, and then the tomatoes. Continue to whisk until the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.
Stir in the parsley, basil, white wine, and cream. Remove the kettle from the heat, and puree the mixture in a food processor or blender until it is smooth. Transfer the mixture back to the kettle.
Add the pepper. Reheat the soup, and serve each bowl with a dallop of sour cream.
From Chris Sprague’s Newcastle Inn Cookbook
The Newcastle Inn is right on Pemmequid Point, and I’ve stayed there a number of times, with my family as well as on my own, with old BF John…The food is exquisite, and this cookbook is exemplary of Chris’ ability to plan a menu. I often use it as a reference for just that.
Here are my adjustments:
- No leeksà three large onions instead.
- More wine, less cream. Play with ratio, to get desired flavor.
- Use 2, 32-oz cans tomatoes. Blend one in as instructed, then add the other one, unblended for a different texture, and more tomato-y flavor.
