Farro Salad with Canned Wild Alaskan Salmon, Tomatoes, Basil, and Spinach

 
If you haven't made a farro salad, now's your time.   Push back rice and set aside pasta; cook a bit of farro (FAHR-roe)--a luscious European-Near East whole grain-- today.  A chewy (if not over-cooked) grain something a bit like a cross between barley and wheat berries, it is often described as somewhat nutty in flavor.   Despite all indications, you needn't soak farro overnight like dried beans.  Bring it to a boil, using l cup of dried farro for 2 1/2 cups of water and, lowering the heat (and covering) a la rice, cook away 25-30 minutes until this hearty, wholesome grain is al dente.  (I like to include a bit of salt, pepper, and a pinch of crushed red pepper to the water.)  If, when the farro is done, there's still water left, drain it like pasta.

Meatball Frittata

Except for soup, pasta, or salad, there's nearly nothing you can cook that is as versatile as the not-so-humble frittata, which is nothing more than an open-faced omelet.   Just about whatever you've got leftover in your frig, including spaghetti you brought home from the Italian restaurant (and definitely the toppings from that box of cold pizza), can be worked into a frittata and turned into a meal that might feed you a couple times or more.  Will you be happy?  I think so.

Canned Salmon Salad or Simple Pictures are Best

While I'm not hard-pressed for grocery money ... right now.. at this moment...I have been.  I spent years feeding six of us and, before that, had fifteen bucks a week to feed two hungry adults.  Really.  I know from cheap eats and, btw, canned salmon salad is cheap eats.

Lately, I find I'm just heart-sick over the cost of groceries.  And I only have to feed two people and two dogs.  Everyone I know complains about it.  One friend recently described a woman speaking on NPR about wanting to eat healthily--to eat vegetables.  Her words were something like this:

California BLT Salad

 
Shopping for one is fun at Chico's or Talbot's.  Even if you don't buy anything.
Shopping for one is not always quite so much fun at Kowalski's or Cub Foods. 

While I am not a great fan of boneless chicken breasts, they do hold a special place in my heart when I'm shopping and cooking just for me. As do salads of any ilk.  For this California BLT salad,  The Solo Cook can run into the store, buy a couple of boneless breasts, a ripe avocado (hopefully), a few Kalamata olives at the olive bar, and just about skip on home to make this salad.  Granted, you must have a few staples on hand waiting in your kitchen, and those would include tiny tomatoes, red onion,  bacon, a bit of gratable cheese, and salad greens.  Keep some bacon in the freezer frozen into 1-2 piece packages.  And, for greens:   a big container of spinach lasts a long while, makes a great salad, and is perfect for omelets, vegetables sides, and sandwich greens.

Veggie Pizza without the Pizza

Vegetables are maybe the thing about which most people are picky. Good pun, huh?  And if you're wondering why, it's because each little green or orange or yellow thing on the plate recalls some horror of a kitchen table nightmare ("My mother forced me to eat green beans at Thanksgiving.) or a tasteless memory of "the only vegetable my father cooked my whole life and he cooked it to death."  Thank God we've all grown up and gotten over all those things, right?  Oh.

But don't think you must choose between broccoli, green beans, and squash simply because you're the only one at the stove.  Choose several.  Cook them all together.  You then needn't worry about spoilage and you have a lip-smacking side (or main) to boot.  To boot now has a different meaning, doesn't it?

This particular melange of veg tastes, to me, like veggie pizza without the crust.  You can add a few shreds of mozzerella or shards of Parmesan if you like, but it doesn't need it.  And, as always in my house (and maybe yours), leftover this makes an omelet filling about which you've always dreamed:

I added a few leaves of spinach.

Vegetable Sauté (that tastes like Veggie Pizza)

• 1T olive oil

  • 1/2 tsp Herbes de Provence*

    • 1/4 t ea kosher salt and ground mixed peppercorns

• 2 small zucchini, sliced

• 8 oz sliced button mushrooms

• 1/2 red bell pepper, diced

• 1/2 small onion, sliced as thinly as possible

  • 2 cloves garlic, minced

• Pinch of crushed red pepper

• 8 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

• 2T chopped fresh parsley

• 2T minced, pitted kalamata olives

  • Optional:  2T grated mozzerella or Parmesan cheese

*can sub a mix of dried basil, oregano, crushed rosemary, etc

1.  In a medium-large skillet, heat the oil, salt and pepper and herbes de Provence over medium-high heat for a minute or so.
2.  Add zucchini, mushrooms, bell pepper, and onion.   Cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes; add garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes until vegetables are all softened.  Dust with crushed red pepper.
3.  Stir in cut cherry tomatoes.
4.  Plate and garnish with parsley, olives,  and cheese if you choose.  

Serves 1 as a main dish or 2 as a side dish

Have fun cooking and taking care of yourself,
Alyce

Tabbouleh--No Cooking Summer Meal

 One of my very favorite summer meals (or sides) is tabbouleh, which is a middle-eastern salad made with bulgur wheat (dried wheat that you must reconstitute with liquid).  It's a cool, light dish made with little effort, though the wheat must sit in water or lemon juice (perhaps other things) for an hour or so to plump up and be edible.  One of the joys is there's no cooking.  The needed water can be heated (some people don't even heat it) in the  microwave and that's quite a boon on really hot days when even turning on one burner sounds like punishment.  We  had 102 the other day in St. Paul and I refused to do anything but shred some salmon into a salad.  We would have gone out, but the old restaurants around us probably weren't any cooler.

A little research makes it appear that Lebanese tabbouleh contains more herbs than wheat and if you're interested in that version, check out David Lebovitz' recipe here.   While you're at it, cruise around David's lovely blog and come out wanting to read it regularly.  He also has a few books that are favorites of mine....  THE PERFECT SCOOP  and THE SWEET LIFE IN PARIS are two.  READY FOR DESSERT is the newest, I think...but go to Amazon and check out the fun list.  If I have to make ice cream, I look no further than THE PERFECT SCOOP and neither should you.

If you're ready to try my version, read below.  Mine is a combination of recipes (particularly Ina Garten's from THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA PARTIES --PAGE 113--  and the recipe on the back of Bob's Red Mill Bulgur Wheat). Change it up to suit you; why not?    This is all about vegan, vegetarian, healthy, filling, inexpensive (yes, you need fresh herbs no matter what) and...yummy.  Note:  I store my bulgur wheat in the freezer. Oh, and you can make tabbouleh tacos ( I do this; I don't know if anyone else does--read my article on examiner.com) or you can also listen to "The Tabbouleh Song" on youtube.  I think tabbouleh goes a long way... I'm thinking of tabbouleh stuffed green peppers or leaves of cabbage next.

Tabbouleh my Way

 1 c bulgur wheat (comes bulk in some stores  or in a 1-2# package by Bob's Red Mill or others.)
1/2 c fresh lemon juice
1 c boiling water
2 t kosher salt
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

Mix all of the above ingredients together well and let sit 45 minutes-1 hour.

 Meantime, chop

1 c fresh parsley
1/2 c fresh mint
1 c tomatoes
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded (peel with potato peeler, slice the whole thing in half lengthwise and, to remove
   the seeds, take a spoon and scrape it down the middle of each long half.)  If you use English (or hothouse) 
    cucumbers, you needn't peel them.  American cukes are often waxed and the skin is difficult to digest.)

Mix together with softened bulgur wheat mixture  and stir in

1/4 cup best quality you can afford extra virgin olive oil.

Taste and adjust seasonings.  Need more salt?  Try 1/4 t more.  Dull?  Add a few grinds more of black pepper or a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes or even a drop or two of hot sauce.  Just lacks something?  Think acid and squeeze a little more lemon juice into the mixture.  Let the ingredients have fun with one another for a bit and taste again.

Let sit 30-60 minutes before eating if you can wait.

Note:  If you're not going to eat all of this, only put tomatoes into today's portion.  Refrigerate the leftovers and add the rest of the tomatoes tomorrow when you'll eat the rest.

Gluten free?  Try quinoa or wild rice in place of bulgur wheat.

Lovely with grilled  (or just cut up and/or heated) pita bread and a bit of hummus and/or feta.

Have fun cooking and taking care of yourself,
Alyce

Cherry Tomato Chicken Pasta with Basil

With rotini.

As cooks, we sometimes wake up with something special on our minds.
Something that just keeps going round and round and, until we make that dish, we just can't do anything.
No one should get in our way then.  No how.
Then we go to the grocery store.
Are way-laid by a point of entrance display of, say, raspberries.  Or avocados.  Or, in this case,
CHERRY TOMATOES.
I had every intention of making a Splendid Table newsletter dish called something like "Sicilian Chicken."
Until I saw cherry tomatoes

10 PINTS FOR $10

And my world went spinning until I could figure out and make  (a large detour from Sicilian Chicken)

Cherry Tomato Chicken Pasta with Basil
  Serves 4 or 2 very hungry people.  Can divide in half to cook only 2 portions

Here with linguine.

• 3 pints cherry tomatoes*  (Can use 6-8 Roma tomatoes, chopped, too)
• 2 tablespoons plus 2t olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus a little extra for chicken
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper, ditto
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 small red onion, sliced
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms* (optional)
• Pinch of crushed red pepper*
• 1/4 cup white wine or chicken broth
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, chopped* (optional)
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped very finely*
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts*
• 3/4 pound whole wheat linguine or other pasta
• 10-12 fresh basil leaves (or 1-2T dried)*
• 4 tablespoons gruyere or Parmesan cheese, grated, optional*

*To purchase if not in pantry.

1. Put a 10qt pot of salted and peppered water (2/3 full) for linguine to boil.  Add a few leaves of fresh basil if you have them.  Lower heat a little and leave water ready for pasta as you make the sauce
2. In a deep, 12 or 14" saute pan (skillet/fry pan) or a good-sized (3qt+)saucepan,  heat 2T olive oil over heat and add tomatoes, salt and pepper.  Cook 10 minutes until tomatoes begin to pop, stirring often.  Add garlic, onion, mushrooms, dried red pepper, wine, olives and rosemary.   Continue to cook for another 10 minutes as tomatoes begin to fall apart.  Stir regularly.
3. Heat another saute or grill pan and add 2t olive oil. (See Solo Cook's Note below.)  Salt and pepper chicken breasts and grill very briefly, about 1 minute on each side.  Lower heat under tomato sauce and add the chicken to the  sauce.  Cover and cook at a low simmer for about 12 minutes.
4. Bring pasta water back to a rolling boil and add linguine.   Let covered chicken in sauce sit 10  minutes.   Test pasta for doneness (there should be a little resistance to your teeth)  and pour out into colander in sink.
5.  Divide the pasta into four pasta bowls and top each with a piece of chicken and a good serving of the tomato sauce.
6. Garnish with torn fresh basil leaves, if using, and a dusting of fresh ground pepper.  Sprinkle with cheese, if desired.

Options:  Add some finely chopped zucchini to the tomatoes.

Solo Cook's Notes:  If you don't have the required pans, cook the chicken first and set aside, covered, to keep warm until the sauce is done in the large saute (skillet).  Then add the chicken.

Wine:  We liked a not-so-rough chianti with this dish.  Don't buy the bottom of the barrel, literally.  Go up one notch to a chianti classico for a tish more smoothness in your mouth and in your stomach.

Note:  additional photos added 11/7/12

Have fun cooking and taking care of yourself,
Alyce
Note:  Originally posted at http://www.moretimeatthetable.blogspot.com on May 2, 2010