Covid Cooking
New York, hotspot of the Corona virus pandemic, dense, vibrant, complicated city that I love. Now reduced to a shadow of itself, facing a future we view with trepidation. In the olden days, I rarely did big food shopping, preferring to go out every day or every other day to see what's fresh in the markets, and lacking a car, to just carry home what we'd need for the next few days. Now that we're on lockdown and going to the grocery store is fraught with risk and stress, I'm trying to stretch out my trips to once very 10-14 days. That means finding a local store that delivers, has good quality produce, a wide variety of staples and strict social distancing rules.
Once the food is delivered, it's a good hour of sanitizing products, washing produce and putting everything away. Then comes the ultimate challenge in food preparation and meal planning-- figuring out what needs to be cooked first and saving the more durable items for later in the shopping cycle. Quite honestly, that's the most fun part and allows the most creativity in deciding what to cook when, what can go with what and how to keep the family entertained by what ends up on the table. There's been plenty written about finding those old cans and packages of weird ingredients in the cupboard and deciding if they can enhance some dish or are better off tossed. This factor is also fun and challenging.
Here are some of my recent Lockdown forays, either with my own recipes, or links to recipes I've found foolproof and excellent.
The New York Times recently published an entire section on one-dish meals. I tried a few of them with reasonable success, but mostly was inspired by the whole concept. Here's one I made the other night with butternut squash-- a great vegetable to have on hand since it has a really long shelf life, even if you have no room in the fridge to store it. A windowsill will do. And sausage can be frozen and thawed without loss of flavor or texture. So this dish can be made late in your shopping cycle.
One Pan Sausage and Butternut Squash with Polenta Fries
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 large onion, cut into wedges
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 T. olive oil
4-6 sweet Italian or fennel sausage
few sprigs of a durable herb-- sage is best but oregano, rosemary, thyme will work fine
handful of pecans
Preheat oven to 415F. Toss cubed squash, onion wedges, herb sprigs, nutmeg and pecans in a sheet pan or roasting pan with 1 1/2 T. of the olive oil. Sprinkle generously with fresh ground black pepper. Cut sausages in half. Use remaining olive oil to coat bottom of a skillet over high heat. Brown sausages. Then transfer them to the roasting pan, nesting them on top of the vegetables. Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes or until squash is fork tender and sausage cooked through.
I made a lucky discovery in the back depths of my cupboard of half a package of truffle polenta that I'd brought back from Italy. Eureka! But absent such a lucky find, you can use regular polenta found in the grocery store. If you like the idea of truffle flavor, use some truffle oil in the cooking, or truffle powder mixed in with the polenta, if you can find such a thing.
Using about 2/3 to 1 cup of polenta, prepare in advance according to package instructions. Lightly oil a small square pan approximately 10"x10". Spread the polenta, once it's cooked, in this prepared pan and let it sit about an hour, until it's cool and firm. Cut into strips about 1" x 3". Use a spatula to gently place the polenta strips into a hot frying pan, using the rendered sausage fat and a bit more oil if needed. I use a neutral oil like soy or canola. Cook until crisp on one side, and then gently turn to crisp on the other side. They may fall apart a little, but no matter. It will taste amazing regardless.
Cauliflower and Chickpea dinner with Indian Spices
The Times published two very popular recipes, for a chickpea stew that was all the rage in my Park Slope neighborhood (it became impossible to find coconut milk, one of the key ingredients). The second was for a cauliflower chaat. My recipe below was inspired by both of these, and well, I think it's better. And it's vegan!
1 c. brown basmati or Texmati rice, cooked to package instructions
1 15 oz. can chick peas, rinsed and drained
1/2 c. olive oil, divided
1 onion diced
1 heaping tsp. garam masala
1 heaping tsp. turmeric
1/2-3/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 2-3" piece fresh ginger, minced
1 can coconut milk, full or reduced fat
2/3 cup almonds, toasted and roughly chopped
3-4 scallions, chopped
small bunch fresh mint, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
salt to taste
Put up rice to cook. Brown rice generally cooks for 45 minutes. When it's close to done, begin cooking the other part of the meal.
In a large skillet at medium high heat, pour in half the oil. When it's hot, add the onion, chickpeas, turmeric, masala and cayenne. Cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chickpeas begin to brown and pop. In the meantime, cut up the cauliflower, garlic and ginger.
Transfer chickpea mixture to a bowl and set aside. Add the remainder of the oil to the hot pan, and then add the cauliflower florets. Stir occasionally, allowing cauliflower to brown. When it's about where you want it (maybe 7 or 8 minutes), add the garlic and ginger. Stir to mix in. When everything is beginning to soften and turn golden, add most of the coconut milk. Lower heat and stir until it's all saucy and fragrant. The coconut milk will allow the cauliflower to cook and soften a bit more. Add the juice of one lemon. Once the cauliflower has reached the level of softness you like, add the chickpea mixture, and more coconut milk if you prefer a juicier dish. Turn off the heat and add salt to taste. Stir in the chopped almonds.
Serve next to, or on top of the rice, sprinkling with the scallions and fresh mint to finish.
Bowtie Pasta with Smoked Salmon and Peas
This is another great recipe for late in the shopping cycle. Buy a package of smoked salmon when you shop! It keeps forever in the fridge. So do frozen peas! Good to have on hand.
12 oz. bowtie, or any short pasta
4 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
1/2 container of grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered (or one diced tomato)
juice of one half lemon
2 T. capers
1 oz. vodka
2 T. heavy cream (or substitute creme fraiche, half and half, mascarpone or even cream cheese-- anything that will melt and give the sauce a lightly creamy texture)
2/3 c. frozen peas, thawed
splash of white wine
4 oz. package smoked salmon, diced
Boil up a pot of water and cook pasta according to package directions. In the meantime, heat a medium skillet on medium high heat. Add oil. Then add garlic, onion and red pepper flakes. When they are golden and soft, add tomatoes. After a few minutes, reduce heat and add lemon juice, capers and vodka. When the pasta has one minute to go, add the cream, peas, salmon and a splash of white wine if more liquid is needed. Drain pasta and save about 1/2 cup of cooking water. Add drained pasta to skillet with the sauce. Toss together and add cooking water if more moisture is needed. No parmesan with this one!
Sunday Popovers
Here is a tried and true recipe I've used many times for popovers. They are simple to make in a muffin tin, and use only standard pantry items. A real treat for Sunday breakfast with jam or spreadable honey.
Leftovers
On this plate, you will see a meal I made with all the leftovers I had. I used leftover baked potatoes, cubed and sauteed in olive oil to make homefries. I chopped up a giant leek and made a frittata with leek, frozen spinach and goat cheese. I used the leftover rice from that cauliflower dish to make an arroz con pollo with the rest of the giant leek, a hunk of leftover cooked chicken, and half a red pepper still in the fridge. Everyone was happy.
So it's a challenge to not have the perfect ingredient two blocks away, as we're used to as city dwellers. But it's kind of fun to figure out the schedule for the ingredients you do have, find unsuspecting cans or jars in your pantry, and combine things to keep your meals healthy and interesting. For as long as this lasts, at least the food part can be pleasant and rewarding.