Spring ahead with this pasta

By Helen Klein

Bringing the flavors and fragrances of spring into the kitchen while it’s still winter proper takes a bit of culinary magic. Even out-of-season vegetables can taste delicious, though, if they are cooked with care and a degree of calculation.

In this pasta dish, for instance, the pepper and onion are cooked over moderate heat for long enough to caramelize their sugars, adding sweetness to slowly cooked tomatoes that, otherwise, would be unremarkable.

A generous handful of chopped fresh basil and parsley provides additional grace notes, as does the sliced garlic, evoking the warm breezes of the Mediterranean, even in February.

This dish is quick to make, and easy to alter to suit your tastes or what is in your pantry. Switch the herbs around if you like, substituting fresh oregano or dill for the basil. Vegetables can also bow in and out, with zucchini standing in for the yellow squash. Or, try asparagus or fresh green beans. Just make sure there’s an array of colors, which makes the finished dish look as good as it tastes.

Spring pasta

Serves four

Ingredients

1 tbl. olive oil

1/4 purple onion, coarsely diced

1 colored pepper, cored and coarsely diced

1 yellow squash, cut into 1/4-inch-thick half moons

2-3 plum tomatoes, coarsely diced

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

2-3 tbl. extra virgin olive oil

8 oz. wagon wheel pasta, cooked till al dente and drained

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat olive oil in large non-stick frying pan.

Add onion and a little salt and sauté over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, till limp. Add colored pepper and continue cooking until pepper has softened. Add garlic, and continue sautéing another two to three minutes. Add squash, and continue sautéing until it has started to soften and turn translucent.

Add tomatoes, and cook until they are softened and their juices have rendered (about five to 10 minutes). Add basil and continue cooking another two to three minutes, stirring as needed.

Toss pasta with vegetable mixture in frying pan and cook to heat through. Remove from heat, and toss again with parsley and extra virgin olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

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Get to the root of it all with this slaw

By Helen Klein

It’s in the frigid depths of winter that root vegetables can really come into their own.

When the kitchen becomes a refuge against howling winds, and summer produce — freshly picked tomatoes or crunchy cucumbers — is but a distant memory, cabbage, radishes and carrots shine. They are crisp and flavorful, and, when served cold in a salad, provide a balance to the warm, soft, spicy foods which fit the bill when the mercury dips.

I developed this slaw, for instance, as a counterpoint to curried butternut squash that I had mashed and fried up in spring roll skins. The cilantro and poppy seeds were chosen to provide a vaguely Eastern flavor, though the dish would have gone equally well with tacos, as a side dish for a quick lunch sandwich, or stuffed into a piece of pita bread on top of chunks of grilled chicken.

Like pretty much everything I make, the recipe lends itself to variation, as long as you keep in mind the general principle of contrasting flavors. Raw turnip could stand in for the radish. All red or green cabbage could be used (though you would lose the gorgeous color contrast). Instead of carrots, you could throw in a handful of raisins for sweetness.

Confetti Slaw

Serves six as a side dish

Ingredients

1/4 green cabbage

1/4 red cabbage

4-inch length daikon radish, peeled

2 carrots, peeled

1/4 sweet onion

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1 tsp. poppy seeds

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

Shred cabbage, radish, carrots and onion. Set aside.

In small bowl, combine lemon juice, mayonnaise, garlic, cilantro, poppy seeds and salt and pepper. Add to vegetable mixture and stir thoroughly to combine.

Chill for at least 1 hour.

Adjust flavorings and serve.

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This meal is simply stew-pendous

By Helen Klein

I have a few basic rules for weekday night food.

The first is that it should taste good (well, this goes for any night of the week). I also favor food that’s easy to prepare, would yield leftovers for at least another night, or can be easily reinvented for another meal, is nutritious and has a sensible number of calories.

That may sound like a hefty list of requirements, but it is fairly easy to achieve. Just take this chicken and chickpea stew. All you have to do is slice some vegetables, chop a couple of cloves of garlic, chunk the chicken, do a quick sauté, then open a couple of cans, tip some vermouth into the pot, and braise everything over low heat.

Thanks to the addition of saffron, garlic, oregano and basil, the finished dish is both fragrant and savory, and, because of the white vermouth, the meat is tender and infused with the flavors of the Mediterranean. The calorie count is kept under control by the judicious use of olive oil — trust me, only a couple of tablespoons is sufficient to sauté the vegetables and the chicken.

Mediterranean Chicken Stew

Serves four

Ingredients

2 tbl. olive oil

1 lb. chicken breast cutlets, skin removed, and cut into 1-inch chunks

1 medium onion, preferably sweet (Vidalia, Maui or Walla Walla), thinly sliced

1 red or orange pepper, cored and sliced into thin strips

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large can diced tomatoes, with juices

1 tsp. Spanish saffron

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 cup white (dry) vermouth

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

Heat oil in large sauté pan. When oil is hot, add chicken, and sauté, turning as pieces are cooked on one side, till chicken is lightly browned on all sides.

Add onion and pepper slices to pan and continue to sauté, salting  and adding a splash of water, if necessary, to prevent vegetables and chicken from burning.

When onion has begun to turn golden and translucent, add garlic and continue sautéing another minute or two.

Add tomatoes and juices, saffron, oregano, vermouth and chickpeas. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and cover. Braise for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding a little water if the pan seems too dry.

Taste, and continue cooking another five or 10 minutes if necessary. Add basil, salt and pepper, and cook another five minutes.

Serve on a bed of egg noodles.

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'Tis the season for soup

By Helen Klein

When the weather is as cold as this, there’s no such thing as too much soup.

The next candidate for the stockpot in my house was a butternut squash, whose flame-colored flesh became sensationally sweet when roasted. Spiked with some ginger, cinnamon and ground coriander, and smoothed with a teaspoonful of honey, the squash had a vaguely Mideastern flavor that both soothed and satisfied.

This seductive soup was easy to make, too, its creamy texture achieved through a few whirls of the food processor.

And, if you don’t have a butternut squash, there are other options. Acorn squash would work well for this recipe, as would a couple of sweet potatoes.

Add some warm bread (freshly made baking powder biscuits are de rigueur in my home), and you’ve got the makings of a light lunch or dinner that’s perfect after a session of shoveling or sledding.

Butternut Squash Soup 

Serves four

Ingredients

1 small butternut squash, halved and seeded

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 slice fresh ginger, about the size of a quarter, peeled and chopped

1 tsp. ground coriander

2 tsp. honey

1 cup vegetable stock

1/2-1 cup water

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

Lightly oil cut side of squash and roast at 450 for approximately one hour, till fork-tender.

Peel squash and cut into chunks. Purée in food processor or blender till smooth. Add cinnamon, ginger, coriander, honey and stock and whirl to blend. Add water, slowly, till creamy but still thick. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Reheat if necessary over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

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Warm up this winter with this flexible veggie dish

By Helen Klein

I’ve never been a big soup eater, but when the frigid weather descended on Brooklyn earlier this month, I craved a bowl of something warm and cozy. For me, that means a thick base studded with vegetables — lots of good stuff to take the chill away.

Of course, I also craved immediate gratification, so I didn’t want a pot of something that had to simmer for hours to develop its flavor. And a casual riff on one of my go-to recipes, corn chowder, fit the bill perfectly.

To decide what vegetables to include, I simply raided my crisper and found broccoli and pepper, though the former could easily be substituted by cauliflower or acorn squash if that’s what you have. No pepper? No problem. Try a carrot cut into small pieces instead.

If you substitute, do try to use a variety of different colored produce, both because the finished dish looks prettier that way, and because it increases the nutritional diversity of the soup. And if you don’t have or like beans, those can be easily eliminated, but they do add heft, making the soup more of a main dish.

Broccoli and bean chowder

Serves six

Ingredients

3 tbl. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 head broccoli, stems chopped, florets cut small

2 large or 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks

1 15-oz. can cream-style corn

1/2 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup milk

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat 2 tbl. olive oil in soup pot. When hot, add onion and pepper and sauté over medium-high heat, salting to release liquids inside the vegetables, and stirring frequently till golden and onion is translucent. Add chopped broccoli stems and continue sautéing, adding a little water to the pan if necessary, till broccoli is crisp-tender. Add potato chunks, and water to cover, and boil for 20 minutes, till potatoes are tender.

In the meantime, in a separate small frying pan, heat remaining olive oil, and quickly fry broccoli florets till they are bright green (frying them separately helps maintain their texture and individual flavor).

Add corn, beans and milk and heat to just below boiling.  Stir in broccoli florets. Add freshly ground pepper and salt to taste.

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A restaurant favorite - at home

By Helen Klein

The other evening, I had an especially amazing pasta dish -- freshly made tortelli topped with little cubes of butternut squash in a sauce of butter and truffle oil -- when I shared dinner with a friend at Williamsburg’s Il Passatore.

Since I couldn’t stop thinking about it, I decided to try and recreate it, sort of -- a challenge since I didn’t have most of the main ingredients.

But, that didn’t stop me. Since I didn’t have any stuffed pasta, and I wasn’t about to make any, I turned to a package of gnocchi on my pantry shelf that was just waiting for its moment in the sun. And, needless to say, I didn’t have any truffle oil.

I also didn’t have butternut squash, but I did have a bright orange farm-fresh acorn squash, and fresh garlic, and a bristling bunch of basil, green and gorgeous.

So, last night, I turned my oven on high and began roasting the squash and the garlic, contemplating the latter as the base for a creamy sauce to bathe and embrace the gnocchi.

What I ended up with was a sauce that salutes pesto, with back notes of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, but replaces the strident notes of raw garlic with the soft sweetness of roasted garlic. A handful of chopped walnuts tossed with the gnocchi, sauce and squash chunks reinforced the resemblance to pesto, while also contributing a pleasing crunch to the finished dish, which was satisfying without being cloying, and warming on a windy evening.

Spinach Gnocchi with squash

Serves four as a light main dish

Ingredients

17 oz. package of spinach gnocchi

3-5 tbl. extra virgin olive oil

1 head garlic

1/2 acorn squash, seeds and strings removed, and brushed lightly with olive oil

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions

Wrap garlic in small piece of aluminum foil. Roast garlic and squash in preheated 450 oven, till garlic is soft and pops right out of its skin, about half an hour, and till squash is tender when pierced with a knife, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Squeeze garlic from skins when it’s cool enough to handle and purée in a food processor with 1/4 tsp. of salt, grated Parmesan and 1/4 cup chopped basil, adding enough olive oil to make a creamy sauce. Set aside.

Cut squash into 1/4-inch wide strips, peeling the skin from each and cutting into small chunks. Set aside.

Cook gnocchi in salted water according to package directions. When gnocchi is tender, drain and toss with sauce, squash chunks, nuts and reserved basil leaves, adding salt and pepper to taste.

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Warm up with these veggies

By Helen Klein

It may be cold outside, but vegetables that thrive in chilly weather enjoy a star turn in this warming Asian-inspired noodle dish that brings together some of my favorite flavors.

For this dish, I tossed together a bevy of veggies awaiting their summons in the crisper — broccoli, bok choy, cauliflower, carrots and peppers — and upped the flavor quotient with onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, a dash of sesame oil and a sprinkling of chopped cilantro.

Most of the work was cutting up the vegetables. I set a wok with a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil up to heat after I’d sliced the onions and carrots, then tossed each vegetable in as I finished cutting it. By the time I’d finished slicing and sautéing, the noodles — which are soaked in hot water — were fully softened. Then, it was a matter of rinsing the noodles with cold water to stop them from getting gummy and sticking together, tossing the noodles with the vegetables, and blending both with the waiting sauces.

Like so many of my recipes, this one is easy to alter. If you don’t like or don’t have one or more of the vegetables, simply substitute something in its place — just make sure to start with the harder ones first, since they take longer to cook.

The amount of sauce can also be varied. Taste the dish as you go along, and add more hoisin or soy sauce as you want. You can also put a bottle of hot sauce, such as the recently hip sriracha, on the table, so diners can fan the flavor flames if they so desire.

Asian Noodle And Vegetable Sauté

Serves 4-6 as a light main dish, 8 as a side dish

Ingredients

10 oz. package cellophane noodles

2-3 tbl. peanut oil

1 medium onion, halved and sliced

1 cup baby carrots, sliced into coins

1 orange or red pepper, halved, cored and sliced

1 green pepper, halved, cored and sliced

1/4 head bok choy, sliced into ribbons

1 fist-size chunk of cauliflower, cut into small florets

1 fist-size chunk of broccoli, cut into small florets

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 quarter-sized slice of fresh ginger, cut into slivers

1 tbl. soy sauce

2-3 tbl. hoisin sauce, or more to taste

1/4 tsp. sesame oil

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions

In a large saucepan, heat water, adding noodles before the water has begun to boil. Once boiling starts, turn off heat and soak for five minutes. Check texture of noodles, draining and rinsing with cold water if they are soft and pliable. Set aside.

In a large non-stick wok, heat peanut oil. When oil is hot, add onion slices and sauté till golden and translucent.

Add carrots and continue to sauté. When carrots have begun to soften, add pepper slices and bok choy ribbons and continue sautéing. When peppers have begun to soften, add cauliflower, broccoli, garlic and ginger, and continue sautéing. When broccoli and cauliflower are crisp-tender, add drained noodles and toss. Add soy sauce and hoisin sauce, adjusting flavor as necessary. Continue to cook, tossing to blend flavors.

Before serving, add sesame oil and cilantro (off the heat), tossing one more time.

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Check out this squash

By Helen Klein

You can’t go wrong with November’s savory foodstuffs.

Squash, apples, pears, sweet potatoes, and nuts: toss a bunch of them together in a pot or pan and good things are likely to emerge.

That’s exactly what I did one recent afternoon. My crisper was overflowing with seasonal bounty, a judicious selection that came together in a sweet yet savory side dish that starred golden squash, tart apples and buttery sweet pears, spiked with onion, nutmeg, cinnamon, a shot of lemon juice and maple syrup. The final touch? A sprinkling of pecans, whose crunch provided welcome contrast to the softened produce, even as their flavor echoed the sweet nuttiness of the maple syrup.

Winter squash melange

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 Tbl. olive oil

1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced

1 3/4-1 1/2 lbs. winter squash, peeled, seeded and cubed

2 small Granny Smith apples, cored and cubed

1 just-ripe pear, cored and cubed

1/4 cup maple syrup

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup shelled pecans, coarsely chopped

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat oil in large non-stick frying pan. When oil is hot, add onion, sprinkle with salt, and sauté, stirring occasionally over medium heat till onion is soft and golden-colored. 

Add squash, and continue to sauté, tossing from time to time. When the squash has begun to soften, add the apple and pear chunks and continue sautéing, stirring occasionally and adding a splash of water as necessary.

When squash, apples and pears are partially cooked, add maple syrup, lemon juice and spices, and stir well. Continue to cook until liquid in the pan is reduced and squash is tender, adding a little water as necessary to prevent burning. When dish is nearly done, add pecan pieces, and stir to combine.

Taste and adjust seasonings, adding salt and pepper as necessary.

Serve when squash is tender.

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That Marcia sure makes a mean pot roast

By Helen Klein

I’m a veggie gal, but my husband is a true meat-and-potatoes guy, whose idea of comfort food contains beef — and lots of it.

No surprise, then, that one of his favorite meals is pot roast.

Now, I’ve spent years avoiding the stuff. When I was a kid, my mother had to make me a separate dish (chicken fricassee, usually — look forward to that recipe in a future column) because I steadfastly refused to put even a single piece of pot roast in my mouth.

I had to rethink my objections, however, when my husband made it clear, years ago, that he wanted to be indulged, at least on occasion, and that he didn’t want any fancy Frenchified or Italianized stuff.

No, he wanted his mother’s pot roast, whose sauce comes from ketchup — one of my least favorite substances — long cooked until it really doesn’t resemble the glop in the bottle.

Marriage is all about compromise, right?

I certainly have compromised. I have streamlined my mother-in-law’s recipe, and clarified some of its instructions, but, basically, when the urge to eat pot roast comes upon him, I cook it just like mamma used to make it.

After hours of cooking, the meat is meltingly tender, and the sauce, studded with chunks of potato and carrot, is sweet and unctuous.

And, amazingly, I like it ... at least once in a while, though I can’t help wondering whether it would taste better with a cup or so of burgundy tipped in to spike the stewing mixture, or with some mushrooms added along with the potatoes and carrots, or with a couple of tablespoons of brandy to enrich it.

But, needless to say, I have never suggested any of my ideas. Nor have I tried them. I wouldn’t dare.

So, here, then, is Marcia’s Pot Roast, in all its meaty glory.

MARCIA’S POT ROAST

Serves 8

Ingredients

2 lbs. beef brisket

1 medium onion, chopped

3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped

1-2 stalks of celery, trimmed and chopped

1 cup beef stock

2 Tbl. sweet Hungarian paprika, or more, to taste

1 cup ketchup, combined with stock and added water, if necessary, to cover meat mixture

4-6 all-purpose potatoes, peeled and chunked

1/2 lb. baby carrots

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

In large nonstick pot (stockpot or sauté pan), brown brisket on both sides in its own fat, adding a little oil (or some cooking spray) as necessary.

Once meat is browned, add chopped vegetables, beef stock, paprika, ketchup and salt and pepper.

Cook, covered, over medium heat for 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.

After 1.5 hours, remove meat and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices. Return meat to pot and add chunked vegetables.

Cook at least another hour, covered, over medium heat, till meat is tender and infused with flavor.

Adjust salt and pepper, and serve.

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Get rid of those vegetables with this dish

By Helen Klein

Rich with tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini and onion, and spiked with the heady flavor and fragrance of basil and garlic, ratatouille is the quintessential summer dish.

It’s also the perfect solution for using up an abundance of produce in a season when it’s incredibly easy to be seduced into buying way more than you need, or when membership in a CSA — my far from pitiful plight — means a steady stream of ripe vegetables just looking to be devoured.

A huge pan of my version of the Provençal classic is simple to make, and provides a flavorful bed for simple fried chicken cutlets.

And, it’s the gift that keeps on giving. The leftovers can fill omelets, star in a quick quiche, or become a tasty topping for pasta, so one evening of sautéing and stewing pays big culinary dividends.

Ratatouille

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant, sliced

1 medium onion, peeled and sliced

1 colored pepper, cored and sliced

1 medium-large zucchini or yellow summer squash, sliced, or a combination of the two

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 Tbl. olive oil

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes

1 Tbl. herbes de Provence

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

Salt eggplant, and set aside on a plate to drain.

Heat oil in large sauté pan or wok over high heat. When oil is hot, add onion, salt lightly, and sauté till golden, turning down flame as necessary. The onion should render its juices and turn limp, but not burn.

Add pepper and continue sautéing till pepper is crisp-tender. Add squash and garlic. Continue sautéing till just tender.

Rinse eggplant slices and add to pan, continuing to cook till eggplant has wilted.

Add tomatoes, with their juices, herbes de Provence, pepper and half the basil and cook over medium heat till liquid is reduced.

Add remaining basil, adjust flavors and serve.

Quick Breaded Chicken Cutlets

Ingredients

1 lb. chicken cutlets, thinly sliced

1 egg, beaten with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1/2 cup bread crumbs, mixed with 1 Tbl, dried parsley and 1 tsp. dried oregano

Olive oil for frying

1 lemon, sliced

Directions

Pound cutlets with a mallet. Dip in egg, then in bread crumb mixture.

Heat oil to amply cover bottom of pan in large frying pan. When oil is hot, begin adding chicken cutlets, allowing room around them.

Sauté two-three minutes, till bottom is golden, then flip, and continue sautéing till second side is golden. Remove from oil, and drain on paper towels.

Continue sautéing, turning heat down and adding oil as necessary, till all cutlets are golden on both sides.

Serve on top of ratatouille, with slices of lemon.

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