Mari Vega’s Neighborhood

The big baking dish above the rolls in this photo is filled with this crusty mac 'n' cheese.
 

Crusty Mac ‘n’ cheese

     From Wildwood Barbeque, NYC, Chef Alan Ashkinaze

 

We made this for Thanksgiving dinner this year and it was delicious. It was even better the next evening re-heated in the microwave.

 

1 lb elbow macaroni

½ C unsalted butter (used salted)

4 T all-purpose flour

freshly ground white pepper (used black)

¼ t ground nutmeg

2 C whole milk (I used soy milk)

1.5 cups grated cheeses (we used sharp cheddar, pepper-jack & Monterey jack)

¼ C panko breadcrumbs

 

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook 8 to 10 min. or until al dente. Drain and reserve. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a 9” x 13” baking dish. In large saucepan, melt ¼ c o f the butter over medium heat. Add the flour, nutmeg and black pepper to taste, stirring until it is a paste-like consistency. Pour in milk and stir continually until mixture starts to thicken; slowly stir in cheese 1 C at a time until all cheese is melted. Stir cheese into the macaroni and mix well; scrape into baking dish. Melt remaining butter, add breadcrumbs, season with salt and pepper and stir to blend. Sprinkle on top of macaroni mixture. Bake 24 to30 min or until bubbly and golden brown. Remove. Let stand for 5 to 10 min. and serve.

 

Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

 

1 head of cabbage (get a fairly large one with big leaves)

 4 C cooked rice

Onions

Carrots

Other veggies

Garlic

Olive oil

Brown sugar

Lemon juice

1 large can crushed tomatoes (I used 2 smaller cans of diced which I blended to smooth)

Salt & pepper

Toothpicks

 

This is a multi-part recipe. It’s kind of labor intensive

But worth the effort as you make a lot and have leftovers

Which you can even freeze.

 

The Cabbage: Cut into the core and remove part of it, using a very sharp knife. Put the entire head of cabbage into a very big pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Using tongs and a wooden spoon, peel off the cabbage leaves as they soften. I turn the

cabbage in the water, carefully so as to not get scalded. Put the leaves in a colander if you have one, so they drip dry. Keep doing this until the cabbage is all taken apart. Let the leaves drain. Keep some of the water that you boiled the cabbage in for later.

 

In a skillet, add some olive oil and sauté minced onions, carrots and any other leftover

Veggies you might have or want to use like zucchini and broccoli. You can add pignoli nuts, pecan pieces, raisins, if you like. I added some browned veggie “meat.” Salt and pepper to taste.

 

Mix the cooked veggies, etc. into the prepared rice. Adjust seasonings. You can add red pepper flakes or hot pepper sauce to spice it up.

 

Assemblage: Take a cabbage leaf and lay it on a cutting board or plate. Put some of the rice mixture in the middle and wrap the leaves around it, like folding a little package or

Pillow shape. Secure this with a toothpick or two. Keep doing this until you’ve used up the rice mixture or leaves, which ever comes first.

 

Put some of the smaller cabbage leaves on the bottom of a very large saucepan. Place the rolls in the pot. Pour the crushed tomato over them. Toss in a handful of brown sugar and squeeze the lemon juice onto it all. Cook over a low heat. Add some of the cooking water to make it saucier. Cook covered. It’s done in about an hour or more. 

 

You can transfer some of the rolls to a baking dish and brown slightly before serving. Take care when removing rolls from pan not to break them open.

 

Sauce variation: a bottle of chili sauce mixed with some grape jelly.

 

Roast beets in the oven until soft. I used a 350F oven for maybe 60 min. While roasting, chop up 1/4 to 1/2 cup of pecans (you could use almonds or cashews, too) When beets soft, cut up into the chopped nuts and process, adding a trickle of olive oil until the mixture is smooth. Salt if you want to, but it's tasty without any additional seasonings for me. Serve with crackers or pita bread. This is something that I first tasted at the home of some colleagues, who were from the Republic of Georgia. You can make a boursin cheese spread to serve at the same time. The white and red spreads will look cool together. Come to think of it, you can add a third spread, an olive tapenade. Wow! Won't that look nice on a holiday table? Let me know how you like this.

Tonight I created a dinner that was perfect for a chilly, rainy night. I call it Veggie Melange (French for mixture!)

I used onions, garlic, basil, olive oil, butter, potatoes, frozen vegetables, veggie sausages, diced tomatoes, hot sauce, Spike seasoning.  I'd cooked up some red skinned potatoes in the morning so they were ready to be used. I defrosted the frozen veggies in the microwave but you can do it stove top. I used what I had, broccoli, squash, corn, but any kind will do.

Heat some olive oil in a skillet and brown diced onions until softened then add minced garlic and 1/2 t or more of dried basil. While they are cooking, cut up potatoes into smallish pieces. Add to the onions along with 2 T butter. Season with Spike (or other seasoning mix that you like.) This really makes the mixture rich and good tasting. Mix and continue cooking on medium heat. Cut up the vegetables into small pieces and add to potatoes along with a cup of diced tomatoes with liquid and Texas Pete, or other hot sauce to taste. Continue cooking until all warm and combined looking. While this is going on, cut the sausages into 1/2" rounds. Remove potato mixture from skillet into a big bowl. Cover to keep warm. Add a bit more olive oil into skillet and heat. Brown sausage rounds. Place on top of the potato mixture and serve.

I was reminded of this recipe in a post on French word a day by Kristin Espinasse. My mother used to make this when I was a child and I didn't care for it very much. Now, as an adult, I wish I'd watched closely and copied down the recipe. This recipe is from a cookbook by Joan Nathan, and is close to the one that I remember.

1 large eggplant (about a pound)
1 clove garlic, mashed
3 scallions, diced (mom used regular onions)
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
3 Tablespoons olive oil (I think mom used a simple vegetable oil)
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of dried mint (I don't remember mom using mint, I think she added parsley) Salt to taste and add a dash of cayenne, if you like.

Prick eggplant and roast in oven until extremely soft inside (extremely soft!) Mix the rest of the ingredients in a glass or ceramic bowl (not metal.) Peel the eggplant (hard to do so I just scoop the insides out) and place in a strainer. Press out the liquid. Chop the pulp into chunks and mix with the other ingredients. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Photo of Eggplants by: Mim (me)

While waiting for our JetBlue flight to take off from JFK last July, we had a delicious snack, which I was able to reproduce at home. I'm now seriously addicted to these chickpeas.

Two cans of chickpeas, drained & rinsed.
Olive oil
smoked paprika
sweet paprika
salt
dried parsley flakes

In a big mixing bowl, add about 1 or 2 Tablespoons of olive oil to the chickpeas. Toss with lots of the paprika using more of the smoked than the sweet. Salt to taste. Parsley flakes are just for some green color, which looks nice with the redness of the paprika. Experiment with the amounts to suite your taste. Be sure to use enough salt, which really sweetens the whole thing. Really quite a nice side dish, or tossed in a salad or just as a snack by themselves. Let me know what you think of this recipe and where you think it originated. I'm curious.

Here's the recipe I made the other day, using The Greatest Ever Vegetarian Cookbook, edited by Nicola Graimes.

I made the following changes

because a) I either didn't have the

ingredient or b) didn't like the ingredient (ha ha ha)

 

I used "red beans" in place of the kidney beans.

I did not use any tomato paste. I thought I had some and I didn't.

I did not use ketchup on principle.

I did not use coriander as Chuck thinks it tastes like dirt.

I left out the hot chili powder and used red pepper flakes 

I used some organic red and orange bell peppers because I

like the way they look.

NO cilantro. Chuck thinks it tastes like dirt.

I used basmati rice because I love the way it tastes.

 

It really turned out quite delicious.