Masa Cakes with Kale & Sweet Potato Salad with Over-Easy Egg

This was easy and delicious. I have been experimenting with masa harina to figure out ways to cook with it since I got a huge bag from Harvest Share. I’m not fond of cornbread  so I wanted to go in a different direction. I made the salad first and made more than I needed for the masa cakes.

For the salad, this makes enough for 8 masa cakes, but is also good on grilled cheese and with sandwiches. So I don’t mind.

• 1/2 bunch of kale, cleaned, stripped off the stem, and finely chopped. This is about 3 cups of kale.
• 1/2 TBSP olive oil
• Juice from 1 fresh lemon
• 1 tsp kosher salt.
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced.
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled,  cut into small pieces, and parboiled in salted water.

Mix these first four ingredients together and rub the oil, salt, and lemon into the kale to soften it. Add the sliced onions. Drain the sweet potatoes and add to the kale. Let rest for an hour or more in the fridge.

For the Masa Cakes, this makes four masa cakes.

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1½ tablespoons  butter, sliced
• 1 cup masa harina corn flour
• Dash of Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/3 cup grated cheese (I used pepper jack)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Mix together the masa, salt, sugar, use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter, add milk and stir together until smooth, add the cheese and mix it in.  Divide into 4 balls.

Using a piece of wax paper, but one ball of dough between two layers of wax paper. Press flat to about 1/4 inc. I used a small bowl and pressed down to make the edges smooth, tossing remaining dough back in the bowl to use. This will make 4 masa cakes.

Heat a griddle on medium and put about 1/2 tbsp of olive oil on it. When it’s heated, put two on the griddle to cook, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

When you’re ready to serve, fry an egg over-easy. You could poach them instead.

Assemble by putting a torta cake on your plate. Then put a handful of kale salad on top of the cake. Add the over-easy egg so when you eat it, the egg dresses the salad.

Makes four servings.

 

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Lettuce Salad with Corn Salsa Vinaigrette

I always check the specials when ordering my groceries for home delivery. This last week, Safeway gave away a free large package of precut lettuce salad with carrots and cabbage just for typing in a code during checkout.  Normally, I prefer romaine to iceberg, but I don’t hate iceberg lettuce and free is free. For this salad, I put a handful of salad mix in a bowl after rinsing and squeezing it dry. I don’t know if it’s the plastic bag or the water the salad is prepped in, but there’s an unpleasant flavor to bagged lettuce that improves with a quick rinse.

The salad mix is the bed for this salad and I layered on a few additions. I put about 1 TBSP of black beans I had drained and rinsed. I also added 2 tsp of sliced black olives. I grated 1 oz of pepper jack cheese using a larger grater.

Now it is time for the dressing. Trader Joe’s makes this phenomenal corn & chili salsa without tomatoes. It’s amazing! I thought I could make a decent salad dressing by mixing 1 TBSP of corn salsa with 2 tsp of olive oil and 2 tsp of white vinegar. I added a bit of salt because the salsa is a tad sweet. I dressed the salad and peppered to taste.

This is an easy salad and has a great flavor. The cheese adds a mellow creaminess that contrasts nicely with the sweet heat of the salsa vinaigrette. The beans and corn make it a bit toothsome and the olives add an earthy base.

Broccoli Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

I was getting ready to stuff my portobellos with another ground beef and onions mixture when I caught this spear of broccoli out of the corner of my eye and wondered whether I could stuff the mushrooms with broccoli without making a big mess. I figured the trick would be to cut all the pieces very small so they didn’t overwhelm or break the mushroom caps.

I turned the oven to 400° and let it heat.

First I cleaned two portobello mushrooms, breaking off the stem and scraping the gills. I chopped the unused stems and gills and reserved them in a bowl for another dish. I rubbed a bit of olive oil over the mushrooms and set them in a baking dish cap side down and set them aside while I prepared the stuffing.

I cut two florets of broccoli off my stem and cut them into small pieces, using just the very top pieces. I put the chopped broccoli in a small bowl and heated in the microwave for 30 seconds on medium to precook them just a bit. I drained off the very tiny bit of liquid. This gave me 1/2 cup of chopped broccoli. I then added 1 TBSP of chopped yellow onion and 2 TBSP of chopped red peppers and 2 oz of pepper jack cheese – all cut into 1/4 inch size pieces. I finely chopped 1 TSP of fresh thyme. I mixed everything together and added some salt and pepper. I then spooned the stuffing into the mushroom tops, pressing lightly to pack it all on top.

I put the mushrooms in the oven and let them bake for 20 minutes, until the cheese was melty and delicious.

The flavors are lovely. There’s a bit of heat from the pepper jack cheese and people who prefer a milder flavor could use Monterey Jack. I think this would be a fun Christmas side dish, with its bright red and green.

Simple Turkey Wrap

Fast and easy comfort food you can eat with your hands!

In a small pan, add 1/2 tsp of olive oil and sautee 1 tbsp of chopped onion, add 3 ounces of ground turkey, salt and pepper and a dash of garlic powder and let it brown, breaking it into small pieces as it browns. Add 2 TBSP of green salsa and 1 TBSP of ranch-style dressing and stir. This makes two wraps.

Heat flat, ungreased griddle on medium.

Place half of the mix in the middle of a large flour tortilla, add a handful of chopped romaine lettuce and about an ounce of shredded pepper jack to each tortilla. Squeeze fresh lime juice all over the lettuce and cheese. !/2 of a fresh lime will do both wraps. Roll into packet and repeat for the other tortilla. Place on the griddle and heat until browned on each side.

This has such a tasty blend of creamy and spicy flavors from the ranch-salsa sauce. The lettuce stays firm and adds a pleasant crisp freshness to it.

Chicken & Olive Melt Sandwich with Chop Salad

Today’s lunch was the third meal from the salad fixings I made day before yesterday. I finely chopped 1 celery stalk, 1 Pink Lady Apple, 1/2 cup of pecans, 2 tbsp of yellow onion, a handful of dried cranberries and 1 cup of fresh cilantro. This made three times as much as is needed for one sandwich or salad, so I did not mix it with the chicken or dress it with any salad dressing so I could use it as a base for different options – a far easier solution than cutting up 1/3 of an apple, etc. etc.

I had about 4 oz of the reserved white meat from my chicken soup remaining, so I cut it up and sauteed it in a small pan along with 6 chopped olives and 1.5 ounces of pepper jack cheese. I used about 1/2 tsp of olive oil just to keep it from sticking while it heated, with low heat and watching stirring, it won’t stick. While it cooked, I toasted a ciabatta bun, putting a bit of dijon mustard on the top. When the chicken was heated and the cheese melted, I put it on the bun.

I chopped up three leaves of romaine lettuce, spread the final third of thesalad fixings I had reserved on top and added a bit of raspberry vinaigrette. It makes a yummy vegan salad with plenty of bite.

Tuna Melt & Salad

Use a small can of white albacore tuna in water and drain the water off. I rinse in a colander and squeeze the water out of the tuna before putting it in a bowl. You will want to use a storage bowl for mixing this up because it makes two sandwiches, not one. Add 2 TBSP of diced yellow onion and 8 chopped up olives with pimento (or 2 TBSP of sliced black salad olives if you prefer) and 2 ounces of pepper jack cheese sliced into 1/4 inch bits. Season with some salt, pepper and Old Bay seasoning. Add 2 tsp of mustard and 2 tbsp of mayo and juice of half a lemon. Stir all together and spread on both sides of a ciabatta bun or a Kaiser roll and bake at 350° F for 15 minutes or so – until lightly browned on top.

Put the lid on the remainder for a second meal.

I served with a simple salad of romaine, red grapes, feta, pecans and a bit of oil & vinegar dressing.

Chicken Queso, Braised Red Cabbage & Cucumber Salad

I made the cucumber salad first because I wanted the dill weed to have plenty of time to permeate all of the yogurt and impart its springlike flavor to the entire salad. This is a super simple salad. Slice the cucumbers a thinly as possible. Spread the slices out in a pie plate and salt it. This will get some of the water out of the cucumber so the salad does not get soggy and watery. Transfer to a bowl, add the sliced onion, yogurt and dill. Cover and chill in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

• 1 cucumber sliced thin
• salt
• 3 TBSP thinly sliced onion
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 TBSP dill weed

The Braised Cabbage Slaw is another make-ahead salad that just tastes better and better. Shred the cabbage thinly. Slice up about 1/3 of an onion. Dice one apple and you’re ready to start cooking.  Put olive oil in a skillet and add onions and soften them. Add the cabbage and apples. Let them start to cook and in a bowl, add the apple cider vinegar, sugar, mustard and caraway seed. Mix together. Toss on the cabbage and cover. Cook for about 5 minutes until just tender, but still with some crisp. Enough liquid will come out of the cabbage to give you all the braising liquid you need. I know it will seem that you cannot possibly dress all the cabbage with so little dressing, but cabbage is so rich with liquid that you want to be light with the dressing and let the cabbage juices carry your dressing. The apricot I quartered on the side really loved the caraway vinegar dressing that was left on the plate after I ate the slaw.

• 1/3 head of red cabbage, shredded thinly
• 1/3 of an onion.
• 1 apple
• 1 TBSP of olive oil
• 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp sugar (brown sugar if you have it)
• 2 tsp mustard
• 2 tsp caraway seed

At supper time, I made a chicken queso using chicken reserved from the chicken I stewed for soup. I put some green salsa in a saute pan and used it instead of oil or water to braise the chicken. When the chicken was nearly hot through, I added the cheese. On a griddle I was toasting the tortilla. I put the tortilla on the plate, added the chicken queso and tossed in a few sprigs of cilantro.

• 4 oz stewed chicken
• 1.5 ounces of cheddar and pepper jack cheese. (3/4 ounce of each)
• 2 TBSP green salsa.
• Cilantro