broccoli quesadillas with chipotle-peanut sauce.

It's been a while.

Somehow, some way, we are in the middle of July and I feel as if I blinked and missed half of summer already.  But! It's been a really lovely summer thus far.  Weekends spent all over (Upstate! Miami!  Maine! The Beach!) and cooking/assembling/eating whatever looks remarkably in season and impossibly delicious.  I've been doing less "projects" and more winging it which is fun.  It also means dinner isn't always cohesive but rather a sum of parts.  Take last night for example where we ate grilled shisitos (first of the season!), steamed sweet potatoes with tahini butter, and tomato toasts with goat cheese and pesto.  Not your typical dinner but it was easy and delicious and isn't that the whole point of cooking?   

In addition to winging it, I've also found a couple of recipes that I love so much that they've become a part of our weekly rotation schedule.  Good for days where improvising feels like a lot of work.  These broccoli quesadillas have made the cut because they are fantastic.  Crunchy, spicy, cheesy.  Leftovers are delightful at room temperature the next day.  The best part is the peanut sauce which if you have a Vitamix and make it in there results in the most unbelievably creamy sauce you've ever encountered.  Great with chips, excellent drizzled over any number of vegetables, would also be excellent on a roll in a cemita type of sandwich.  

Broccoli Quesadillas with Chipotle-Peanut Sauce 

Recipe tweaked slightly from Food 52

For the Quesadillas

3 tablespoons canola oil, divided, plus more for cooking quesadillas

1 large broccoli crown (or 2 small), about 400 grams or 14 ounces

Roasted peppers if you happen to have some in your fridge

Kosher salt, to taste

1 lime

1 to 1 1/2 cups crumbled cotija, crumbled queso fresco, or shredded Monterey Jack cheese

6 soft corn or flour tortillas (about 6-inches in diameter)

For the Chipotle-Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup peanuts (I like roasted and salted)

2 chipotle chiles in adobo, plus 1 tablespoon adobe sauce (from the can)

3 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 to 3 teaspoons honey, or to taste

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Kosher salt, to taste

For Serving

Sliced avocado

Sour Cream/Yogurt Sauce

More limes!

To shave the broccoli: Trim the crown of any discolored areas and cut into quarters. Use the slicing blade of a food processor (or a sharp knife) to cut the broccoli into 1/4-inch slices. You should have about 4 to 4 1/2 cups. Set aside. (Tip: wipe the bowl of the food processor clean, and use it for Step 2.)

To make the chipotle-peanut sauce: In a food processor or blender, combine peanuts, chipotles, adobe sauce, water, olive oil, vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Process until smooth. Taste a small amount to gauge spiciness, then add honey, to taste, to balance the heat. Taste again, and adjust seasoning and acidity. Add more water (a teaspoon or two at a time) to loosen the sauce, if needed.

To make the filling: In a 12-inch skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat. Add the  the broccoli and peppers; season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the broccoli is crisp-tender, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in 3 tablespoons of the chipotle-peanut sauce, lower the heat, and cook another minute to warm through. Season with salt and a few squeezes of lime juice, to taste.

To make quesadillas: In a large skillet, heat a teaspoon of oil over medium heat, then place the tortillas in the skillet (working in batches to fit). Quickly sprinkle the whole tortilla with cheese, then spread the broccoli mixture (about 1/4 to 1/3 cup) over half the tortilla and fold in half. Flip quesadilla; cook, pressing down a few times, until the cheese is fully melted and the tortilla is nicely toasted on both sides, about 4 to 5 minutes in total. **Alternatively, you can make the quesadillas with two full tortillas, which I sometimes do if my corn tortillas aren’t pliable.

For serving, stir together sour cream and 1/4 cup of the chipotle-peanut sauce (or more or less, to taste). Cut quesadillas into wedges, and serve with sour cream and lime.

pasta with roman broccoli sauce.

Jackson otherwise known as our dog otherwise known as our child is my sous chef.   By sous chef I mean he stands under my feet when I'm cooking for dinner waiting for something to drop.   He is a lover of people food and has a real affinity for crunchy vegetables most notably carrots and broccoli stems.   

We've been on a bit of a broccoli kick as of late and for the most part I give him the broccoli stems since everyone knows that broccoli florets are really the best part of the plant.  But a couple of weeks ago I stumbled across this pasta recipe and now I'm pretty sure I will never share my broccoli stems with Jackson again (kidding!). 

This is pretty much the most amazingly wonderful weeknight pasta recipe you can find.   It's a one pot meal that combines everything you need in a single dish.   Broccoli stems are cooked until they are fork tender.  They get thrown in the blender with lemon zest, olives, garlic, red pepper flakes, butter, and pasta water and blended together to form the most luxurious (yet somehow healthyish) pasta sauce you've ever met.  Toss over pasta and with the broccoli florets and you have a dinner.   

Pasta with Roman Broccoli Sauce
Recipe from Christopher Kimball's Milk Street 

I really, really like this sauce with chickpea pasta.   I'm actually a pretty huge fan of chickpea pasta because of how nutty it is and I think it pairs really well with such a green vegetable sauce.    Also, this tastes like spring and I think everyone could use a taste of spring.   

1 pound broccoli, stems and florets separated   

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 

1½ cups packed baby spinach

2 medium garlic cloves 

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter cut into 4 pieces 

1 tablespoon capers or green olives 

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes 

2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest 

12 ounces rigatoni pasta 

1 ounces Pecorino Romano or Parmesan finely grated plus more to serve 

In a large pot, bring 4 quarts water and 2 tablespoons salt to a boil. Peel the broccoli stems, reserving any leaves, and cut crosswise into ½-inch rounds. Add the stems and leaves to the boiling water and cook until fully tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted, about 20 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables to a blender; reserve ½ cup of the cooking water. Keep the water at a boil.

Cut the broccoli florets into 1- to 1½-inch pieces. Add the florets to the boiling water and cook until crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Using the slotted spoon, transfer to a colander and rinse under cold water until cooled. Again keep the water at a boil.

To the blender, add the garlic, butter, capers, pepper flakes, ¾ teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon of the lemon zest and the reserved broccoli cooking water. Puree until smooth and bright green, about 30 seconds. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Stir the rigatoni into the boiling water and cook until al dente. Reserve ½ cup of the cooking water, then drain. Return pasta to the pot and add the broccoli florets, the broccoli puree, ¼ cup of the reserved cooking water, the remaining 1 tablespoon lemon zest and the cheese. Cook over medium, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens slightly and the pasta is well coated, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

roasted broccoli and sweet potato bowl with miso-tahini dressing.

Each week I'm responsible for a lot of meals.   Ensuring two adults and one dog are fed healthy wholesome meals (with some cookies thrown in for good measure) is essentially a full time job - one that requires a lot of foresight and planning.   I've turned Sunday into a kind-of bum around the house/prepare meals for the week day. Doing so has helped alleviate some of the stress that comes from getting home from work, walking the dog, and pondering the age old question "what the heck are we going to eat for dinner?".

I've come to rely on roasted vegetables as the base for many meals throughout the week.   Combine roasted potatoes and beans and you're halfway to a breakfast taco for dinner.   Extra roasted cauliflower?  Toss it with bulger and a lemon dressing and you've got yourself a substantial salad that brings to life the flavors of the Middle-East.   But of all the roasted veggie dishes I make, my absolute favor is roasted broccoli and sweet potato with miso-tahini dressing.  It's incredibly easy, absurdly flavorful, and best of all, it's a salad that doesn't wilt which means leftovers work the next day for lunch.  How's that for winning?   

Roasted Broccoli and Sweet Potato Bowl with Miso-Tahini Dressing

Recipe adapted from Goop.  Dressing adapted from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Serves 4

Rice is optional though it makes the whole thing more filling.  Any rice will do though I'm partial to sushi rice since I love sticky rice.   Also some sliced avocado up top makes for a very welcome addition.   

For the Bowl

1 cup sushi rice

1 head of broccoli (about 1.25 pounds) cut into 1 inch pieces

1 pound of sweet potatoes, peeled, and diced into half inch cubes

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 tablepsoons olive oil

Sesame seeds for garnish

For the Dressing

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 small garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons white miso 

2 tablespoons tahini 

1 tablespoon honey (I use Mike's Hot Honey)

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon Sriracha

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place rice and cooking liquid in a rice cooker or on the stove. Cook according to package directions.  Set aside.

Coat one large or two smaller trays with a thin slick of olive oil. Layer sweet potatoes on tray(s) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 minutes, until browning underneath. Flip and toss chunks around, then add broccoli to the tray(s), season again with salt and pepper, and roast for another 10 to 20 minutes, until broccoli is lightly charred at edges and sweet potato is fully bronzed and tender. Toss chunks around one more time if it looks like they’re cooking unevenly. 

While vegetables roast, prepare sesame-miso dressing: Combine everything in a blender and run until smooth, scraping down sides once. Taste and adjust ingredients if needed.

Assemble bowls: Scoop some rice/grains into each, then pile on the roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli. Coat lightly with sesame-miso dressing and finish with toasted sesame seed duo. Serve with extra dressing on the side.

broccoli crostini with pecorino.

It was while Tyler and I were shoving toasts topped with roasted broccoli and pecorino into out mouths that I had a lightbulb moment.  Thinking about crostini as a vehicle for getting vegetables from plate to mouth opens up a whole new world of possibilities.  People usually regale vegetables to salads and side-dishes but if you think about them as an integral component to just about anything you eat, you will probably find yourself eating a hell of a lot more vegetables.   

I almost exclusively think about broccoli as a side-dish.  On occasion a component of a creamed soup but never the topping for a crostini.  Nashville changed that for me.  At Rolf and Daughters we ate one hell of a dish that even kids could love (they may not even notice that broccoli is under that layer of cheese) and so I set out to recreate it.  Because there is nothing I love more then vegetables covered in cheese.

This is my ode to that dish.   

Fontina laced bechamel serves as the base for crispy roasted broccoli that is showered in pecorino. It's salty, creamy, deliciousness that would be right at home at your next party (and also serves as an excellent weeknight dinner which is how we ate it).  

Broccoli Crostini with Pecorino

It took me several days to figure out what the base of the crostini would be.  I'm not sure if Rolf and Daughters used a bechamel in their version but it's the only thing that made sense to me and mimicked the creamy base their version had.  I imagine melted fontina would also work but it wouldn't be nearly as creamy.   

Makes 16 crostini  

For the Bechamel 

1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup milk (not skim!)
1/2 cup grated fontina
Salt and black pepper (lots of black pepper) to taste
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes.  

For the Crostini

8 medium slices of hearty bread (sourdough is best) sliced fairly thick
Olive oil for drizzling
2 heads of broccoli, florets cut into bite size pieces (save the stems for soup)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Pecorino for serving
Mike's Hot Honey (optional)

Cook the broocoli. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Put your broccoli florets into a bowl and toss with olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.  Go easy on the salt as the pecorino is salty.  Dump the broccoli onto a baking sheet and roast until crispy about 20-25 minutes.  Remove from the oven and set aside.  Keep oven on.  

Make the béchamel: In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over moderate heat. Stir in the flour until a paste forms. Gradually pour in the milk, whisking until smooth. Bring the béchamel sauce to a simmer over moderately high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened, about 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and cook, whisking often, until no floury taste remains, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the fontina until melted. Season the sauce with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Set aside.  

Assemble the crostini.  Drizzle the toasts on both sides with olive oil.  Place the toasts on a baking sheet and put them in the oven until brown and crispy.  About 4 minutes.  Remove from oven and top with a generous layer of bechamel, 1/8th of the broccoli, a couple of shavings of pecorino, and a drizzle of Mike's Hot Honey if using.   Cut toasts in half and serve immediately.   

broccoli slaw.

Last week, when I was home alone for dinner, I made this for myself.  I served it with a wedge of really good aged cheddar cheese and a couple of crackers and I was happier than a pig in shit. (I had never heard of this phrase until I started dating Tyler and now it’s my favorite saying.)

This recipe may not look like much but somewhere along the way, it results in one of the most gloriously addicting salads ever. It's crunchy and creamy.  It tastes both indulgent and healthy. It can be made ahead and it really never goes soft.  It's practically perfect.  

This will become your fall go-to because it’s so insanely easy and utterly satisfying.  There is nothing wrong with that.  

Broccoli Slaw

Recipe adapted from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

I added tahini to the dressing because I find that it’s a nice way to thicken dressings without using more mayo.  It also imparts a pretty great flavoring to the dish that leaves people perplexed in the best possible way.  You can obviously omit it if you choose.  If you do, you will need to offset with a little more mayo.  

Makes about six cups of slaw.

2 heads of broccoli
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds, toasted (pine nuts also work here)
1/3 cup dried cranberries or raisins

Buttermilk Dressing

1/2 cup buttermilk, well-shaken
1/3 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons tahini
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Trim broccoli and cut it into large chunks. From here, you can either feed it through your food processor’s slicing blade, use a mandoline to cut it into thin slices, or simply had chop it into smaller pieces. I used the stem and the flowerets, but if you have a broccoli stem aversion you can just use the tops. (But using just the tops would be foolish in my humble opinion.)

Toss the sliced broccoli with the almonds, cranberries and red onion in a large bowl. Meanwhile, whisk the dressing ingredients in a smaller one, with a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Pour the dressing over the broccoli (if you’ve skipped the stems, you might not want it all; I otherwise found this to be the perfect amount) and toss it well. Season well with salt and pepper to taste.