JamieOliver.com

I love greens. So often on my mother's stove, there was a pot of homegrown greens from my dad's garden, cooking away. I remember him coming to the door in dirt-caked boots, and handing over enormous bunches for her to wash. It seemed like an endless task, the sink overflowing with them, the countertop piled high. But then they were in the pot, on the back burner, with salt and a drizzle of olive oil, and the aromatic earthiness of the steam fogged the kitchen window.

She kept it simple ... with 7 mouths to feed, this was not the only thing going onto the table for dinner. And I liked it that way. A little slivered garlic. A little olive oil. A ladle of the cooking liquid. Loaves of bread for tearing and dunking.

Mmmm. Back to the greens recipe. This reminds me of my mother's greens in its simplicity. It is a warming winter side dish that is great with roasted chicken or fish, or as a main dish served simply with sauteed or boiled potatoes tossed with a bit of butter and herbs. I'm making myself hungry!

Notes

Escarole: You can substitute kale or swiss chard for the escarole. The escarole I used for this recipe was relatively young, so I'm only dropping it into boiling water for a few minutes. If your greens are bigger and thicker, adjust the boiling and cooking time by adding 4 - 5 minutes more to each.

Radicchio: Radicchio is mildly bitter, if you haven't had it before. You can also use the long radicchio, called Trevisano,  that looks like red belgian endive. The bitterness mellows when radicchio is cooked, especially with the addition of an acid like white wine vinegar or lemon.

Ingredients

2 small heads radicchio;
1 bunch escarole (about 350 grams);
1 shallot, diced;
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced;
1 lemon, juiced (about 1 tbsp), reserve the squeezed lemons;
1 lemon, cut into wedges for serving;
2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling;
salt and freshly ground pepper



Method

Cut the radicchio in half and remove the core by making a slanted cut (like a "V" on either side and pulling it out. Slice into thin wedges.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and add a sprinkling of salt. Tie the endive together at the stalks. Drop the endive into the boiling water and boil for 4 minutes. Pull the bunch out of the water and set in a strainer. Remove the string.

Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and saute the garlic and shallots for about a minute. Add the radicchio. Cook for about 3 minutes, then add the escarole. Season with salt and pepper. Add the reserved lemons that you squeezed before (optional). Cook the greens covered for about 5 minutes, and then remove the cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Discard the lemons. If the escarole stalks have softened, add the lemon juice and stir.

Season again with salt and fresh pepper, to taste. Serve drizzled with a little olive oil and the lemon wedges.

What kind of appetizer do you make when you have almost 40 people for Thanksgiving?

Little ones.  And lots of them. That you can prep waaaay ahead of time.

This was my contribution to the slew of appetizers we served at Thanksgiving. I saw this recipe on 101 Cookbooks and thought it was pretty, different, and relatively simple, with clean flavors. I put the filling on these cute toasts I found at my absolute favorite market, Sweet Pea. I did not make the toasted whole grain rounds that Heidi makes for her recipe for the simple fact that there was not enough oven space at any given time to manage them. You know, Thanksgiving. But I think the premade toasts worked out well and it is one of those shortcuts that I am okay with, given the end result.

A word of advice: these are better made when you are not in the midst of an onslaught of hungry people and grabby fingers, all of whom seem to have accumulated in the kitchen at the same time. They cannot be rushed, and getting the filling on the tiny 1-inch bites of bread was nerve-wracking, and not helped by my shaky hands. That was the first obstacle.

Another was not really having the perfect consistency for my goat cheese. It has to be thick enough to form a nice plop on top, thin enough to pipe, but not too thin or else it might run. For me, trying to pipe the goat cheese proved ludicrous. I managed with a spoon but fought with trying to get the cheese to stick to the top of the apple-zucchini mix and not the other way around, so that the vegetable mixture doesn't come back with you!

All that said, they were very tasty and lovely, and I was quite proud of myself for managing that with about a thousand billion other dishes to take care of at the same time. The apple and zucchini mixture was sweet, a bit tart, and went well with the tangy goat's cheese.

Go make it!

Now you know what to do with all those leftover pumpkins!

There is nothing more lovely and filling on a chilly fall evening than a warm bowl of this pasta. The pumpkin is tender and its sweetness so beautifully accentuated by the earthiness of the thyme. Sage also complements pumpkin; both herbs go equally well, so it depends upon what is growing on your kitchen sill.

This is one of those pastas that I consider "worth it," because I don't eat pasta very often. Not only do I feel bathed in deliciousness, much like feeling the sun on my face ... but by lowering the ratio of pasta to pumpkin, you end up eating less pasta and feeling just as satiated.

Something I always do, whenever a recipe calls for vegetable stock, is to make my own. It requires barely any effort and takes such little time, I don't know why people use those cubes. Use any vegetable scraps: tops of leeks, ends of onions or carrots, celery bits, onion skins, those tough fennel stalks ... anything you've got leftover from what you've used during the week ... and throw them in 4 cups of boiling water. Boil for 20 minutes and strain. That's it! I keep a plastic bag of my leftover odds and ends in my veg drawer.

Pumpkins ... in Germany, I find little hokkaido pumpkins readily available so I use those. As an alternative, you could use sugar pumpkins, or smallish butternut squashes. Here is a nifty website that tells you all about pumpkins (and squashes) and surprisingly (not really. it's my luck), makes no mention of the Hokkaido. (www.allaboutpumpkins.com.) But I assure you, it exists.

Happy Halloween everyone! Even though nobody celebrates it here, and all dancing and music is forbidden after 12 tonight in holiest Bavaria, I can at least have some really good pasta.



Ingredients

1/2 pound rigatoni or other tubular pasta
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium-size onion, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 hokkaido pumpkin or other smallish pumpkin or squash
2 cups vegetable stock
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons fresh thyme; you could also use sage, but use less!
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Freshly grated pecorino or parmesan of your choice



Method

Peel, de-seed, and cut the squash or pumpkin into chunks. Cook the rigatoni in a large pot of boiling salted water, until al dente. While the pasta is cooking, heat the oil in a non-stick pan, add the onion, and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until softened. Stir in the brown sugar and cook until it has dissolved.

Add the pumpkin and the vegetable stock, and reduce the heat so that the sauce is just simmering. When the sauce is thickened, and the pumpkin is soft, add the cinnamon, lemon juice, thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss with the pasta, adding a little bit of the hot pasta water if you need to loosen the sauce a bit.

Serve with a big lump of parmesan in a grater!

I love grilled chicken breast over salad, but it can get quite boring in restaurants in the U.S.

Inevitably, the menu reads "caesar salad with grilled chicken breast"; "oriental" chicken salad with a *yawn* blend of carrot sticks and bean sprouts, and greasy sesame dressing; or some sort of mexican salad in a "crisp" (read: deep-fried, hold your stomach, run for the bathroom) tortilla bowl. And please don't put canned corn on my salad. I beg you.

In Germany, the standard salad with poultry is with "pute streifen" (turkey strips - or as the cute Germans say, turkey stripes) over field salad. Overcooked? Yes. Salty? Yes (read: Maggi, aka MSG). Drowned in a heavy dressing? Bingo. And though chicken breasts are readily available in the supermarket, I do not think I have ever seen them as an entree on a restaurant menu. The only chicken I have seen is "chicken salad cocktail", an overly mayonaissed clump of shredded chicken, which I assume is an attempt to duplicate American chicken salad from the deli.

But come to Mia's place (ok, if I had one) for a chicken salad that is simple and a little different. I can usually find local, organic apple juice in the markets -- in the U.S you can probably squeeze out your own right there, at 2 a.m, and they'll even bag it for you at the check out. But get your avocados ahead of time so they have time to ripen.

This is perfect for a light summer dinner, or even for a trip to the biergarten, if you happen to live in Munich.


Ingredients
2 organic chicken breasts
1/2 cup of natural apple juice
2 big handfuls of arugula (rocket)
1/2 lemon
1 ripe avocado
2 tbsp herby lemon oil (see previous post)
sea salt
white pepper

Method
Brush the chicken breasts with the olive oil, season with sea salt and white pepper, and leave to marinate for about 20 minutes.
Heat a frying pan (mine is cast iron) until very hot, and add the chicken breasts. Brown on one side for about 4-5 minutes, depending upon the size and thickness of the chicken breasts. Turn and brown on the other side for another 4 minutes.

Transfer chicken to a square of tin foil (aluminum foil) and seal tightly. Set the timer for 10 minutes.

With the pan still on the flame, add the half cup of apple juice and deglaze the pan. Reduce for about a minute. Add a pinch of salt. Pour the jus into a small bowl to let cool for a few minutes.
Place arugula (rocket) in two deep bowls. Slice the avocado and distribute among the bowls. Squeeze the lemon over the salads, season with salt, and toss gently.

When the 10 minutes are up, unwrap the chicken and slice diagonally. Place on top of salads. Pour the warm jus over the salads, and sprinkle a little more sea salt and another squeeze of lemon over them (to taste).
Garnish with a few cherry tomatoes -- you could also add a few apple slices.

Serves 2.

Summer means being outdoors and that means spending less time in the kitchen. This is one of the shortcuts that I use to keep things easy but still pack a lot of flavor into all the fresh summer produce available now. Use a few teaspoons of this oil, toss with chunks of zucchini, and roast on high heat for 30 minutes ... and you won't be complaining about all that zucchini you've got in the fridge. You can rub it onto beef or chicken before grilling, drizzle it over steamed greens or broccoli, toss it into your salad ... wherever you want to add flavor. A little bit goes a long way.

Ingredients

2 small lemons
5 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary
2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme

Method

Using a vegetable peeler, take the peel off of the lemons in long strips. Put the strips and the oil into a saucepan and turn the heat on medium-low. Keep an eye on it. When the lemon peel starts to bubble, let it bubble gently for about 15 - 20 seconds and then remove it from the heat. Let it cool for a few minutes. Add the herbs and marinate the mixture for 30 minutes to an hour. You can also put it into a jar and store it for future use (this is what I do!).