Monday Market Haul - 12/29/2014 + Brown Butter Blondies

Full disclosure: This is LAST Monday’s market haul.

After that whirlwind of a Christmas I barely know what month it is. So last Monday Market Haul it is!

Panic shopping quickly turned into panic wrapping and then panic delivering. Between that, the baking, and the making of lasagna -- Christmas day is always a stressful event. And somewhere in there, I turn another year older. Covered in powdered sugar, red sauce, and brown butter, I'm now 27.

I’m a notoriously grumpy Christmas baby, but throughout the years, I’ve cobbled together a fairly amazing group of friends, so now this time of year I am spoiled rotten to the core. Between New York friends, work, home, and then home again, I received no less than 4 cakes. I’m pretty freakin’ lucky. Being a Christmas baby wasn’t so bad this time around.

In an effort to spoil myself, I took to daydreaming about my dream cake, which consequently would not be a cake at all. Don’t get me wrong, put cake in front of me, I will NOT refuse. Never. Not ever. But in a perfect world, cookies would probably top my list with ice cream or really good donuts just trailing behind. 

So to christen my first birthday with my blog running, I decided to make some dreamy brown butter blondies for my special day. Which I had big plans to photograph, but as mentioned, my Christmas day was cray, so all you get is a shitty instagram below. Many thanks to Dash and Bella for the "hella" good recipe. This is of course in addition to the classic pudding bundt cake my mother makes me every year. (See above: spoiled rotten.)

I’m now confident that I know what heaven smells like. And it’s brown butter and brown sugar mixed together. Make these blondies just.for.that.

These are filed directly under the “treat yo’ self” category. There is a dumb amount of butter, sugar, and evil gluten in these and I’m not sorry. They’re essentially half baked cookie dough. They are irrationally good.

Hope everyone had some amazing holidays! And since the season is not quite over, I think it’s more than okay to make these blondies for no good reason. You can find the recipe here. When the resolutions begin on January 1st these might seem gluttonous and extravagant. But right now, they are life affirming in the best way.

I atone my blondie sins with lots of brussels sprouts, squash, and tart honey crisp apples as shown! I finally got around to using all those b.sprouts I’d been bringing home, there will be evidence of that eventually. As soon as I’m done licking brown butter sugar from my fingertips.

Brown Butter Sage Squash and Sausage

Did everyone else already figure out that Christmas is in less than a week?! Because that shit snuck up on me this year. And that is nearly impossible for a Christmas baby, like myself. An actual Christmas baby, as in, down to the day.

So to make up for the fact that I’ve neglected it completely I just went on an amazon clicking SPREE. Because, as proven previously, I am a “responsible” “adult” who leaves more than enough time to get things done and never lets things burn in the oven.

I waited until the day before the secret santa exchange to purchase the gift online and then was super surprised when everything went wrong with the order. No, that will not ship when you need it, no, definitely a week after you need it and no, you can’t cancel your order because you need to be taught lessons in thinking ahead of time. Thanks, life.

Will I learn my lesson? Will I begin my Christmas shopping IMMEDIATELY so that I can have everything wrapped before the actual day arrives? We shall see. I do enjoy the adrenaline rush of finding out NOTHING WILL SHIP WHEN IT’S SUPPOSED TO AND THIS IS OUT OF STOCK AND YOU CAN’T FIND IT IN STORES.

Whew! I love the holidays!!

Lies. I am possibly a Grade A grinch. I am sorry to burst anyone’s holiday bubble. I am a bah humbug, no tree, no decor, no holiday spirit type person. In other words, the worst. But! but! but! Before you leave me and my Christmas hating ways, give me a secret surprise to try and contain for weeks and a rolling pin and cookie cutters and I am your girl! I make up for my Scrooge-likeness with my deep pleasure for gift giving and holiday baking.

I am super excited to try out this recipe from the goddess over at smitten kitchen and I’ve already made and gifted her hot chocolate mix.

In the meantime, I’m plotting what my birthday sweet might be and making super simple meals like the one below while I panic over the upcoming holiday. All I can say is, thank goodness for amazon prime shipping!

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Brown Butter Sage Squash and Sausage

Ingredients:

1 pound sweet italian sausage, squeezed from casing

1 large butternut squash, or two small ones peeled and cut in 1 inch cubes

salt and pepper

4 tablespoons butter

4 to 5 whole sage leaves

Directions:

Brown sausage in a pan over medium heat until no longer pink, approximately 10 minutes. Break up sausage into crumbles as it it cooking.

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

While sausage is browning, prepare a sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper or tinfoil. Spread cubed squash out on pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Once the sausage crumbles are basically cooked through, toss them with squash on the sheet pan. Make sure to get all that good sausage fat on there too and coat the squash cubes with it.

Throw into the oven for approximately 40 minutes, turning over at least once so the squash sides roast equally.

While the sausage and squash is roasting, melt butter and sage down in a small pan over a medium heat. Once it’s melted, watch for it to become a toasty brown and start to smell nutty. Watch it very carefully. Don’t let it go too far or you'll end up with burnt butter, not brown butter.

Remove from heat once brown and nutty. Set aside.

Once squash and sausage is done roasting, pour brown butter sage sauce over the hot squash and sausage. Toss gently to coat and serve.

Monday Market Haul - 12/15/2014

Lacinato kale, spinach, sweet italian sausage, sage, brussels sprouts, butternut squash (not pictured...oops)

Oh man. I had so many plans. So.many.plans. I left real life on Friday legit pumped to be awesome and productive and the best blogger around.

Aaaaannnnnnd then unlike last Saturday where I was the earliest of birds, I got off to the latest of starts. Nearly nothing got done, other than a speedy greenmarket run.

Me looking at brussels sprouts photo cred: Sean Gallagher

I had to rush home to make a cake for a holiday party and I can’t even tell you that my Winter Fruit Salad test was a success because, like a big failure, I didn't bring it! I cracked open the pomegranate on Saturday afternoon and it was rotten inside. And because I am not a good adult, I had not left myself any time at all to get another pomegranate. What would have been great is if I had followed my own suggestion and made it ahead of time and found out then! Responsibility at it’s finest ladies and gents.

I did get ONE thing off my weekend bucket list and that was to get some bone broth at brodo in the lower east side. I tried all three offerings -- the chicken, the hearth, and the beef and they were all inexplicably delicious. I ended up going with the grass-fed beef which was bolstered with the hefty taste of ginger. For a chilly December day it was really warming and the savoriness of it made it stick to your ribs in that comforting way. Seriously, you should get some now.

Sunday was better...maybe? Depends on your definition of better.

Last Wednesday, I started “oil pulling.” Have you heard of it? Google away my friends. You can get these wicked detox headaches when you first start and I think it’s safe to say I had one Sunday morning. I was the slowest of snails doing anything no matter how much coffee I consumed. After dropping an entire sheet pan of butternut squash on the floor I only got one recipe completed and one tested. Calm down. I washed it. But seriously I could not get it together. Both things were AH-MAZE though, and one just needs a smidgen more work before it can get to your lovely screens.

Here’s to hoping I can get my act together next weekend as I am up to my eyeballs in brussels sprouts and plans for them!

Winter Fruit Salad

It’s a shame that fruit salads pretty much go by the wayside the moment it gets colder than 60 degrees outside. I guess it’s just one of those lovely, light, refreshing type things that makes hot summer days that much more bearable. Summer is fruit salad’s time to shine.

However, some of my favorite fruits come into season once the mercury drops below 50 up here. I’ve always had an affinity for tart and puckering fruits and citrus. I was shocked to learn that the majority of people I’ve met in my adult life did not know what a grapefruit spoon was. I was even more floored and slightly disgusted by the people who did know what a grapefruit spoon was but admitted to sprinkling the fruit with sugar first. One might say it defeats the purpose?

After Thanksgiving sins, I really felt like a fresh clean slate and all the newly seasonal fruits were calling my name, this is how this salad was born. Lightly sweet, but at times tart, totally refreshing, and the pomegranate seeds give a nice crunch. The acid from the dressing and the grapefruit also soften the apple slices as the salad sits. I think that the salad looks really pretty with all the slices and segments, but to make for an easier spoonful, giving the apples and grapefruit a cut down in size might make things more bite friendly.

If you wanna be “that person” at the holiday party, by all means, this is perfect. It’s so darn pretty and it would be a nice break from the general heaviness of holiday party eats, if, of course, someone decides to take the chance. You know what I mean by “that” person, right? The person who brings fruit salad to what is essentially a calorie-carb free for all. Those events are usually a “give me all the cookies, cream sauce, and butter you have” type of situation. I can’t guarantee that this beautiful thing won’t be largely ignored among the other goodies on the dessert table. Call it a palate cleanser if you will. Regardless, it’s even better the next day, so it’s a great make ahead dish. Oh! And wouldn’t this be a nice combo in a winter sangria?  

I do plan on bringing this to a holiday shindig this weekend! So I will be that person (I’ll let ya know how it goes!) But by that person, I mean that I will also be bringing a cake that has nearly two sticks of butter and enough sugar in it to kill a small pony. It’s all about balance people.

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Winter Fruit Salad

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon honey

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

4 clementines, peeled and segmented

1 grapefruit, peeled and segmented (Video on segmenting citrus! So helpful!)

1 apple, cored and thinly sliced

1 pomegranate’s worth seeds

In a small bowl whisk together lemon juice and honey.

Add all fruit to a large bowl and pour the lemon-honey dressing over the fruit. Gently mix to combine, careful not to break up the fragile grapefruit segments. Serve cold and if there is time, let it sit before serving to meld and get juicy!

**Note on this since I've made it a few more times since originally posting: there's no real need for the dressing. It does add a layer of flavor for sure, but let's just say you're out of lemons or don't have honey or are watching for added sweeteners -- just leave it out. The grapefruit provides a nice base layer of juice. Also I've been subbing in orange segments for the clementines and I haven't looked back. ---M

Stuffed Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken with Roasted Plums

Do you remember when I teased you all with this on instagram approximately five million days ago?

I think I captioned it something like: “THIS IS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER MADE. EVER.”

Although probably not so shouty on the gram caption. But that’s how I was saying it in my kitchen as I was shooting the photographs and shoving forkfuls of it into my mouth (in the name of taste testing, obviously.)

I think I also promised it would be posted super soon. According to instagram that was...a month and a half ago. Whoops. My bad.

And unfortunately plum season has come and passed. Again...my bad.

But listen, you could leave the plums out and it’s not that they wouldn’t be missed, but it wouldn’t be the worst. You still get a tiny pop of sweetness from the balsamic reduction to play against the saltiness of the prosciutto and feta. You also could hold off on this until we get back to stone fruit season. It might even be worth the wait.

I just can’t help sharing this now because it can be made other ways. Originally I had wanted to do this with fresh figs, which I am sure would have been hella dreamy, but I missed the season for that. Plums seemed like they would work just as well and clearly I was not disappointed. I was ALSO thinking that some grapes would be terribly delicious here as a substitute, which you could do right now. Whatdaya think?

If you try it with grapes, let me know how it is!!

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Stuffed Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken with Roasted Plums

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 cup crumbled feta (I used goat's milk feta, but any will do!)

salt and pepper

4 pieces prosciutto

5 plums, pitted and quartered

few sprigs of thyme

1 cup balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a small sharp knife create a pocket in the middle of each chicken breast. Divide and stuff the feta equally among the four chicken breasts. Season each breast with salt and pepper and then wrap each breast in one piece of prosciutto.

Place chicken pieces in an ovenproof baking dish. Distribute plum slices around the chicken pieces. Scatter a few sprigs of thyme around the dish on top of the chicken.

Roast in oven uncovered for approximately 40 to 45 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked through.

While chicken is roasting, place one cup of balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan. Bring vinegar to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Let vinegar reduce by half, until thick and syrupy. About 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool, and place in airtight container. Will keep, refrigerated, for many weeks.

When chicken is ready to be served, drizzle with the balsamic vinegar reduction.

Monday Market Haul - 12/8/2014

Remember Friday? All that big talk of being super cuddly and lazy and comfy all weekend?

I had full intentions of doing exactly what I said I was going to do --- weather those rainy days in full on sloth status. But then, I popped out of bed Saturday morning at 8:15 like it was nobody’s business. (This never happens on say, the weekdays, when it actually needs to happen.) I peered out the window and saw that --- yes, indeed, it was the shit day predicted. Gloomy, cloudy, threatening to pour --- basically begging me to stay in my sweats with a cup of coffee and a few episodes of Gilmore Girls.

Instead, I found myself pulling on pants and rain boots and heading out the door before it had even struck nine. I got to the farmer’s market so early my normal coffee joint hadn’t even opened yet! Uncaffeinated but determined, I made my rounds and only caught some raindrops the last couple blocks back to my apartment.

I was ridiculously productive the entire rest of the weekend. Did blog things, cleaned, went out for late lunch on Saturday with girlfriends. Where, btw, I had a life affirming burrata app --- there was a brown butter sage sauce that I must.figure.out. Remember when I said burrata should be a way of life? Still rings true. And what do you know? Sunday was damn gorgeous. Met my old roommates for some brunch at the best place in town and had the best eggs benedict I’ve ever had. Can we talk about maple pecan crusted bacon for one second? I mean. I can’t even. I’m plotting the ways to recreate it.

It was nice to be surprised at how exactly opposite my weekend was than what I had thought it was going to be. Somewhere in there the boy and I did manage to finish season 3 and move onto season 4 of The Wire whilst canoodling with the cat. So I didn’t completely turn back on my word.

So the market haul -- obvs, brussels sprouts are a big thing right now. Shaved raw, char roasted, pan fried with bacon --- give me all the sprouts. Shout out also to Rick’s Picks. While I did not have room in my market budget or my market tote this past weekend, I plan to splurge on some spicy pickles and maybe some “smokra” from Rick one of these days. The samples were ah-maze.

pumpkin pie by request of boyfriend, honeycrisp apples, lacinato kale, brussels sprouts, shallots, delicata squash, sweet onions

Escarole Sausage Soup with Cranberry Beans

I’m still mourning the end of my beautiful, lovely, first year of my CSA. My last pickup was about a month ago. Although, somehow, my fridge is still overflowing with vegetables.

I’ve got bundles and bundles of chard, kale, and carrots. Pretty yellow carrots which, I might add, I am having a hard time eating just because they are so pretty. It's a problem of mine, see here.

The escarole and beans in this soup below were from my farm share. I’d never encountered the beans previously. Although, now I have been spotting those pretty pink thangs all over the farmer’s market. If you can’t find the beans or the escarole at the greenmarket, just sub in another leafy green, like kale or chard and some dried or canned cannellini beans

In New York, it is going to be GROSS and rainy this weekend. While I am staunchly pro-sunshine --- cold, rainy, winter weekends do give me a nice excuse to catch up on several episodes of The Wire and get all sorts of cuddly with the boy and the cat, because obviously I am also staunchly pro-snuggling.

A warm bowl of soup really rounds out the picture, don’t you think?

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Escarole Sausage Soup with Cranberry Beans

Ingredients:

1 pound hot italian sausage, squeezed from casing

dash of olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

approx. 2 cups shelled cranberry beans (can substitute dried or canned cannellini beans if desired)

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon paprika

1 bay leaf

1 head escarole, torn into bite sized pieces (can also use any other winter leafy green - they may need more cooking time however.)

shredded parmesan for garnish (if desired)

Directions:

In a large pot over medium heat brown sausage until no longer pink. Scoop sausage onto a plate and set aside. Add a dash of olive oil to the sausage fat and then add the chopped onions. Scrape up the brown bits from the sausage while stirring the onions, coating them in fat. Saute onions until soft and translucent. Add garlic to onions and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the sausage back in, along with beans. Lastly, add in the broth and water. Season with salt, pepper, oregano, paprika, and bay leaf.

Bring soup to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cook until beans are soft and creamy, about 45 minutes. If you substitute canned beans, they will only need about 15 minutes to warm through. Stir in escarole and let wilt into soup, approximately 5 minutes. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Serve with grated parmesan on top, if desired.

Yield: approximately 8 cups

Broccoli Cauli-Rice Chicken Bake

Sometimes in life you just need to eat a big bowl of comfort. Amirite? Or amirite?

Even though it’s warming up a bit this week, the Northeast lately has generally been fucking cold. The boyfriend and I hadn't realized until recently that our crappy old radiator in the living room had been essentially OFF for the past two winters. Oops. So until we came to our senses a few weekends ago, I had been serving us terribly comfy and warming dinners while we plunged into another weekend “Wire” binge-a-thon.

This was one of those meals. I mean, what’s more comforting than what’s essentially a heaping bowl of thickened heavy cream? Listen, there are vegetables and lots of protein in there so it’s decidedly virtuous. Especially more so than a bowl of cheese sauce and noodles. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against macaroni and cheese. I am the damn queen of macaroni and cheese. I am known for my macaroni and cheese. But on a regular old weekday or weekend night, I feel better about digging my frostbitten fingers into lots of vegetables with cheese sauce rather than cheese covered carbs.  

P.s. Don’t let that unassuming yellow hued iPhone photo dissuade you from making this exceptionally cozy dish. It’ll warm you right up.

p.p.s I just added a  "Subscribe" feature on the sidebar to the right! If you'd like to be notified when a new recipe is up, just type in your email address and hit subscribe and you'll get an email each time I post! Also don't forget you can also add me on instagram, facebook, pinterest and twitter! 

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Broccoli Cauli-Rice Chicken Bake

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts with skin and bone (or about 2 cups cooked chicken)

olive oil

salt and pepper

1 head broccoli

1 head cauliflower

1 ½ cups heavy cream

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup shredded parmesan

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese for sprinkling the top

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees

Roast chicken breasts in oven seasoned well with salt and pepper and drizzled in olive oil until cooked through and golden brown. About 40 to 45 minutes. ***(Or just use leftover cooked chicken, about 2 cups OR no need to use chicken at all! I used chicken to bulk this up to a main, you can leave the chicken out and serve as a side!)

Line a sheet tray with parchment paper.

Cut your broccoli into smallish florets and “rice” cauliflower in a food processor or using a box grater until you have approximately 2 cups worth.

Spread half the pan with the riced cauliflower and the other half of the pan with the broccoli, drizzle vegetables with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Throw into the oven with the chicken for about the last 20 minutes of the chicken’s cook time.

While chicken and vegetables are roasting, get cream reducing down in a small sauce pan over a medium to low heat. Season cream with salt, pepper and mustard and stir continuously. Using a whisk is best. Keep cream at a simmer, try to keep it from boiling. It will take about 15 minutes to start to thicken a bit. Once it’s pretty hot and starting to get thick, add in the shredded cheeses. Whisk cheeses into hot cream until they've melted into a creamy thick cheese sauce. Taste for seasoning. Remove from heat.

Remove chicken and vegetables from oven once done. Chicken should be a light golden brown and cooked through. Vegetables should be starting to get caramelized.

Lower oven heat to 350 degrees.

After removing the bones, shred the cooked chicken into bite size pieces and add to ovenproof casserole dish. To the chicken, add roasted broccoli florets and about 2 cups of the riced roasted cauliflower. Give this a good stir to distribute the chicken and veggies evenly. Pour the cheese sauce over the chicken and vegetables and stir again to distribute cheese sauce evenly. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup of shredded cheddar over the top of the casserole.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the top is a delightful golden brown.

Serves 6

(Reheats and freezes well)