Brussels sprouts with bacon dressing

This recipe is my second contribution for this week's brassica-themed Fall Fest. As I mentioned in the last post, I had some trouble at first getting excited about brassicas, which are not the most glamorous of vegetables. However, I did have some brussels sprouts in the fridge and used Fall Fest as an opportunity to find something new to do with them.  I ended up making this simple, tasty side dish of braised brussels sprouts tossed with a savory bacon dressing. This recipe might be a good way to try to convert people who don't like brussels sprouts - a little bacon always helps, right?

Brussels sprouts with bacon dressing
Serves 4
Dressing adapted from The Gourmet Cookbook

1 pound brussels sprouts, stems trimmed and sprouts halved
4 slices bacon (1/4 pound), chopped
Olive oil
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup cider vinegar
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat 1 tbs olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add brussels sprouts and cook until sprouts are browned in spots, about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water to skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover skillet. Cook until sprouts are tender, about 7-9 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook bacon in a skillet over moderate heat until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Pour off all but 1 tbs fat from the skillet. Add water and vinegar to skillet and simmer, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Immediately before serving, toss sprouts with dressing and top with bacon. Note: I only used about 2/3 of the dressing for this amount of sprouts. Leftover dressing can be used on other vegetables.

Pasta with cauliflower and walnut pesto

This post is the first of my two entries for this week's Fall Fest, which features brassicas. Brassicas are a category of vegetable that includes cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, and cabbage, to name a few. Even for a vegetable lover such as myself, it's not exactly the most exciting group...I'll admit that it took me a while to get inspired for this one. But after flipping through several cookbooks, I found this cauliflower pasta recipe, which is a keeper, as well as a few other brassica recipes that I'm looking forward to trying.

The pesto in this dish is made with cilantro, parsley, garlic, and walnuts. It's got a really interesting flavor, much more subtle than I expected. I thought it was a great match for the cauliflower and other vegetables. The recipe calls for fresh bell peppers, but they're no longer in season here, so I had to improvise. I'm determined to continue eating as much local produce as possible through the colder months, so I substituted some roasted red peppers (frozen from the summer) and a carrot. We also stirred in some chickpeas for added protein, but I forgot to add them before Andrew took pictures. I really liked the final dish with these additions - it's a satisfying single-bowl meal, and is good served warm or cold.

Kohlrabi/carrot/radish salad

This week's Fall Fest theme is root veggies, and it made me remember a recipe that has been sitting in my drafts for a while. It's a light salad of crunchy, julienned vegetables with a nice Asian-ish dressing. I found the original recipe - a kohlrabi and carrot version - on Orangette. If you haven't tried kohlrabi, this recipe is a good way to start. The taste of kohlrabi is somewhere in the middle of cabbage and broccoli stems, but sweeter. (I don't think kohlrabi is technically a root, but it looks like one, so I figured it fit the theme well enough...). I've also made this salad with radishes in place of the kohlrabi - milder radishes work well, and daikon is especially good. I think any combination of kohlrabi, radishes, and carrots is great here. This salad is really refreshing and is a nice accompaniment to richer dishes. I especially like the flavor the fennel contributes to the dressing.

Kohlrabi/carrot/radish salad
Adapted from this recipe on Orangette

2 medium kohlrabi bulbs
Optional: substitute radishes for some or all of the kohlrabi
1 large carrot
1 tsp. fennel seed
2 tbs. rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. kosher salt, or more to taste
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

Using a sharp knife, peel kohlrabi bulbs. Peel carrots. Use a mandoline (or a sharp knife and a lot of patience) to julienne the kohlrabi, carrots, and radishes (if using) into matchsticks.

In a small dry skillet, toast the fennel seeds over medium heat until they are slightly browned and smell fragrant. Grind coarsely in a spice grinder, or with a mortar and pestle. Whisk together fennel, vinegar, salt, pepper, olive oil, and sesame oil in a small bowl. Add dressing to salad and toss to coat vegetables. Taste and adjust salt if needed.

Pear tarte tatin

 
This week's Fall Fest theme ingredient is pears, and I decided to try making a pear tarte tatin. Tarte tatin consists of fruit (usually apples) caramelized in butter and sugar, then topped with a pastry crust and baked. When done, it is flipped over so that the fruit is on top. It's not as fussy as traditional tarts - since it is baked upside down, you don't have to worry about the crust getting soggy, which means no blind baking (yay!). And the presentation is supposed to be rustic, so you don't have to worry about making it look perfect. That being said, tarte tatin can still be tricky to make, as I discovered with this one.

This was my first time making tarte tatin. I had a couple problems - the recipe said to cook the pears in butter and sugar until the mixture turned a golden caramel color...but it was hard to assess the color with everything cooking in a black cast iron pan. Also, during baking, the caramel oozed over the sides of the pastry and burned a bit, as you might be able to tell from the photos. Maybe I didn't do a good enough job of tucking in the sides of the crust? Maybe I didn't cook the caramel the right amount on the stovetop? I'm not really sure what went wrong. But in any case, it still tasted pretty good! The crust was nice and flaky, and the fruit was sweet and scented with cinnamon.

Recipe notes: I was in a bit of a rush when I made this, so I chilled the dough in the freezer instead of the fridge to speed things up. The recipe called for Bosc pears, but I only had an Asian pear and a Bartlett, so I used those instead. It came out absolutely fine - they were both firm enough to hold their shape during cooking. Also, my pears were huge, so I cut them into quarters or eighths instead of halves.

I know that some of the other Fall Fest participants are more experienced with tarte tatin, so please let me know if you have any tips!

Beet and apple salad

This week's  Fall Fest theme is "fall salads". Andrew wanted something with beets, I wanted something with apples, and we both love arugula, so this recipe was perfect for us. The original recipe actually called for Asian pear, but I substituted a Honeycrisp apple, which was really good. The only thing I would change for next time is to cut the apples into larger pieces - the flavor got kind of lost with the small matchsticks. Looking forward to seeing everyone else's entries!

Brie, apple, and arugula quesadillas

I have been super busy ever since the fall semester started up a few weeks ago. I'm trying to get my thesis research to the point where I can start to see the light at the end of the PhD tunnel, taking a class, doing some community work, and of course, cooking and blogging! Lately it has become very clear that I need to change my usual pattern of cooking fairly elaborate and time-consuming dinners every night. So I've been trying to to get some quick and simple recipes into my repertoire, and also save time by doing some cooking and vegetable prep over the weekend. I'm also trying to keep the freezer stocked with things like soup, meatballs, pesto sauce, etc. that help get dinner on the table fast (I'll be posting some of those recipes in the next few days). What do you do to keep weeknight meals quick but still interesting?

This quesadilla recipe is a perfect example of a quick, tasty meal. I found the recipe in the October 2010 issue of Cooking Light, and decided to make it for this week's Fall Fest, which features apples. (I originally wanted to make apple pie, but didn't get to it over the weekend, and yeah - see above paragraph about not making complicated things on weeknights). I really liked the mustard and apple cider mixture, and thought all the ingredients came together to a make a unique and sophisticated quesadilla.

An aside about apples - don't you love the apples that are at the farmers' markets now? The variety is amazing, and they are all so good. Plus I won't eat an apple unless it is perfectly crisp, and those are kind of hard to find at the supermarket. Fresh apples are definitely one of my favorite things about autumn in New England.

Some notes on the recipe: I had some trouble fitting all the arugula into the quesadilla - maybe it would work better if I let it wilt just a bit before trying to fold the tortilla over. I used a Honeycrisp apple, and I think I'll add more next time - half an apple per quesadilla would be good. Also, we had some whole wheat wraps around, so I used those instead of tortillas - tasted great.

Spinach pasta

 
Summer Fest has officially transitioned into Fall Fest, and this week's theme ingredient is spinach. To be honest, I was feeling kind of uninspired about this one - I just didn't really have any idea what to make. Pretty much the only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to make a dish that didn't require removing the spinach stems...I'm kind of lazy about certain things (I just realized the irony of the last statement in a post about homemade pasta, ha). Anyway, I had some time to kill over the weekend, so I eventually decided to incorporate the spinach into some fresh pasta.

I was underwhelmed by how this pasta turned out - the flavor was good but the texture was too soft. Definitely not the best pasta I've made at home. I have a feeling this was my own fault, and not the recipe's - I used more spinach than called for, and I didn't let the pasta dry out enough before cooking. If any of you are expert pasta makers, please share your tips!

A note on pasta making - I use an Atlas hand-crank pasta machine to roll out the dough. Although it is time-consuming, I do enjoy the methodical process of rolling the dough into thinner and thinner sheets. I actually find it kind of relaxing. Kitchenaid also makes a pasta roller/cutter attachment for their stand mixers if you want to speed things up.