What do you do when your spinach bolts?

A while back Cynthia posted this about our cold frame. Well, the weather is changing here in Northern Virginia and the cold weather greens are very near the end of their cycle. In fact, the Red Cardinal spinach was on its way to bolting and we needed to do something with it before it sent all its energy to seed production. The spindly red stalks still had plenty of tender green leaves on them -- we just needed to come up with the a good way to use them.  (Many thanks to the mighty Margaret Roach of the uber garden blog A Way to Garden for suggesting Red Cardinal spinach.  It's easy to grow, beautiful, and doesn't turn bitter when bolting.)   

So, where does a creative cook go for Meatless Monday inspiration, when the cook actually has a little time to ponder such on a Monday? In Cyn's case it is often to one of her favorite cookbooks devoted to vegetables, the aptly titled Vegetables, by Charlie Trotter. What she found was a recipe that included, polenta, greens, and portobello mushrooms as the main components. It also contained pomegranate seeds and a pomegranate vinaigrette made from the fruit's juice. Since pomegranates are not in season here, it got Cynthia thinking about how she might modify the recipe both to our tastes and to use what was seasonably available to us. In the end, the recipe she created was certainly inspired by Chef Trotter but is, in fact, her own.

Ingredients (the polenta) 

• 2 cups water
• 12 oz can of 2% evaporated milk
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tso Better than Bouillion No Chicken base (can sub water)
• 1 cup polenta
• 1/2 cup whole kernel corn, frozen works better than canned
• handful (to your taste) of cheese, grated (we used sharp cheddar)
• chopped chives to taste (optional)

Preparation (the polenta)

• Add water, evaporated milk and bay leaf to a sauce pan and bring to a boil
• Whisk in polenta, cook for 10 minutes stirring regularly
• Add corn, cook until polenta is done (taste it!)
• Add cheese and chives
• Turn out mixture onto a plastic wrap lined 1/4 sheet pan and shake to level, smooth with spatula if necessary
• Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour  
• When fully chilled, cut circles from the polenta sheet
• Fry on each side in a light coat of butter until golden brown, med high heat

Ingredients (the vinaigrette)

• 1/2 cup POM Wonderful juice
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• ~1/4 c Extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Preparation (the vinaigrette)

• Combine POM juice and vinegar in a sauce pan and reduce on high heat to 1/3 original volume
• Whisk in about 1/4 c olive oil a little at a time to emulsify, salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients (the greens)

• 4 good handfuls of spinach leaves (you can certainly use other greens if you like), Chef Trotter uses mizuna and tatsoi
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp butter
• salt

Preparation (the greens)

• Add water to a saute pan and bring to a boil
• Add butter and spinach
• Reduce heat to medium high
• Stir constantly for 1-2 minutes (this will depend on how wilted you like the greens)
• Salt to taste

Ingredients (the portobellos)

• 2 large portobello mushrooms, gills removed and washed clean
• 1 ttbsp butter
• salt
• pepper
• 1/4 cup-ish port wine (sub any tasty wine or omit this step)

Preparation (the portobellos)

• Cut potobellos into 1/4 - 1/3 inch strips
• Season with salt and pepper
• Butter grill pan and heat with medium high heat
• Grill about 1 minute on each side
• Deglaze pan with port wine

Ingredients (something a little extra)

• 3 shallots quarterd
• salt/pepper
• EVOO

Preparation (the shallots)

• Toss ingredients together in shallow roasting pan
• Roast at 350 degrees until wilted, tender and slightly golden, about 15 minutes

Assembly (the final dish)

• Plate greens first
• Layer on polenta cakes
• Top with portobellos 
• Drizzle vinaigrette around greens
• Add shallots as garnish (Cyn also hit the dish with chive and thyme blossoms)
• Serve hot

Just as a frame of reference, here is the picture from Charlie Trotter's cookbook.  Clearly we were much hungrier!

2008 was a very good year....

...for tomatoes in Newburgh, NY. That's where we lived then and where we grew, roasted and canned tomato sauce. We actually did that every year but there was something magical about the quart mason jars full of that 2008 vintage. Last night, as part of Meatless Monday dinner, we opened the last one.  Nearly 4 year old tomato sauce you say? Isn't that, um, dangerous? Not at all if the jars are initially prepared correctly, the canning process is carried out properly and the seal remains intact. It was both exciting and a little sad to crack open that seal, but the finished meal made it all worth it. Cynthia's original recipe was a perfect use for that special vintage.

Herbed Crepes with Ricotta, Spinach and Chard Filling

Ingredients (crepes)

• 1 cup AP flour
• 1 cup + 2-4 tbsp liquid of your choice, could be stock, milk, beer, water or any combination thereof - I used 1 cup Better than Bouillon No Chicken and 3 tablespoons of Duck Rabbit Milk Stout beer
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tbsp unsalted quality butter melted and cooled or same amount EVOO
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/3 cup minced herbs, I used a combination of chervil, chives, rosemary, dill and basil

Ingredients (filling)

• 4 big handfuls spinach and swiss chard
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• olive oil
• salt
• crushed red pepper
• 8 oz. ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmigiano, romano or grana padano cheese
• 1 egg
• generous grating of nutmeg
• black pepper

 Ingredients (finished dish)

• tomato sauce -- ours is from garden grown plum tomatoes, roasted with whole garlic and olive oil -- to this we added a pinch of sugar, 2 oz. red wine, a pinch of salt and a few stems of basil, crushed (later this summer I'll write a whole post about our roasting/canning process)

• grated parmigiano
• peas (fresh or frozen/thawed)

Preparation (crepes)

In your favorite blender blitz everything but herbs for 5 seconds on high speed.  Add finely chopped herbs and let sit for 1 hour.  Batter should be about as thick as heavy cream, add a little more liquid if too thick, otherwise you'll have pancakes and not crepes.

To make crepes, heat at least an 8" skillet over medium high heat.  If it's a regular surface (not non-stick) be sure to melt a little butter in the pan to insure easy crepe release, using a pastry brush to evenly distribute over the cooking area.  Add 1/4 cup of stirred batter to pan for each crepe, swirling the pan to evenly distribute batter.  Cook for about a minute on the first side, use spatula to loosen edges and using your fingers, two hands please, flip crepe to other side for another 30 seconds or so.  Perfect circles aren't necessary as you'll be filling and rolling, which hides a plethora of mistakes.

Preparation (filling)

• saute spinach, chard and garlic in olive oil on medium heat until fully wilted, adding salt and crushed red pepper to taste
• remove from heat and allow to cool
• combine ricotta, grated cheese, egg, and cooled greens in a bowl and combine thoroughly
• add nutmeg and pepper to taste

Preparation (finished dish)

• fill each crepe with two generous tablespoons of the blended filling, placing it in a line along the lower third of the crepe 
• begin rolling the crepe then fold the edges of the crepe in and continuing to roll until you have enclosed the filling completely
• layer the bottom of an oven safe dish with tomato sauce
• lay stuffed crepe in dish
• cover with additional tomato sauce
• dust with grated cheese

Three stages -- pre-sauce, sauced and "cheesed"

• cook in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes
• remove from oven and add sprinkling of peas
• serve hot

The finished dish is reminiscent of a good cannelloni but the crepes are much more tender than a typical pasta. The mouth feel is almost silky and the cheese and greens become the stars. 

We will miss the 2008 tomato sauce. There is some 2010 in the pantry -- a good but not great year -- our first here in Virginia. With have some high hope for 2012 based on some soil amendments we've made this spring. Is it almost August yet?