Simple herbed labneh: Middle Eastern yogurt cheese

If you like to use yogurt for all kinds of different sweet and savory uses -- curries, marinades, soup garnishes, and smoothies are my usual suspects -- you likely have a big tub of plain, unadulterated yogurt in your refrigerator. Well, now you can add one more use to that list: labneh.

Labneh is a very simple concoction: yogurt drained well and transformed into a spreadable cheese. It's very similar to Greek yogurt, depending on how long you let it drain. While labneh is occasionally stocked in Middle Eastern specialty markets, it's frequently easier -- as well as more versatile -- to just buy ordinary yogurt and make it yourself. If you happen to make your own yogurt to begin with, that's even better.

Labneh adds a delightful tang and a thick, creamy texture to any number of dishes while simultaneously removing the need for a separate container of Greek yogurt. What's not to love?

What can you do with labneh? I tend to go very simple and eat it spread on bread or crackers, but you can apply it nearly anywhere you'd normally use either Greek yogurt or sour cream. Mix labneh with mashed avocado to make a super-rich and delicious dip. Spread some in a burrito along with a generous helping of salsa. Garnish a bowl of spicy dal. Use it to make tzatziki and eat it with juicy meatballs or lentil kibbeh. Serve it with a platter of hummus and vegetables, add a drizzle of olive oil and some pita bread, and go to town.

The main piece of equipment you'll need to make labneh is a fine strainer. I use a very fine-mesh nylon strainer set over a measuring cup to make my labneh. You can also use a slightly more open-mesh strainer lined with a double layer of cheesecloth or a coffee filter. Aim for something that will allow liquids, but not solids, to escape.

Basic labneh

full-fat plain yogurt
a fine-mesh strainer
a bowl or cup to set your strainer over

Set your strainer over your draining vessel, making sure that there's a good inch or two of space between their two bottoms. Fill the strainer with yogurt.

Leave your yogurt in the refrigerator overnight, or for at least 12 hours. 24 hours is an ideal draining time. As the yogurt drains, it will reduce in volume by approximately 1/3 to 1/2.

Remove your finished labneh to a container of your choice. Store in the refrigerator until needed. Use your accumulated whey to make bread.

Herbed labneh

1 cup finished labneh
green herbs of your choice
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper

Mix your finished labneh with as much chopped herbs as you like. I used dill and parsley for this rendition; pretty much any green herb you like should work well. Smash and finely mince a clove of garlic and add it to the mix. Season with a bit of salt and pepper and stir together.

If you like, you can make your labneh into balls. Pick up spoonfuls of labneh, drop them into a bowl of chopped herbs, and gently roll to coat in the herbs. I tend not to bother with this, because I'm just going to spread my finished labneh anyway.

Leave your herbed labneh in the refrigerator for at least a couple hours before serving, to give the flavors a chance to develop.

I ate my labneh on toast with a handful of pickled peppers, and threw some dilly beans on the side for extra pickle action.

Have you ever strained yogurt at home? What's your favorite way to use it?

Spicy tuna salad with chard stem pickle, cabbage, and cilantro

A few days ago, I made a batch of Marisa's chard stem pickles. Now -- as usual when trying out a new kind of pickle -- the question is how to use them.

I started off with this experiment in tuna salad. After all, dill pickles or gherkins are a pretty standard ingredient in classic tuna salad. So why not give it a try with a different variation? I like to eliminate the usual mayo and go for a more oil-and-vinegar-oriented salad, which meant that these tangy, slightly sweet pickles were a perfect match.

To complement the rice wine vinegar in the pickle brine, I added hot mustard and cilantro. Together with the tuna and vegetables, this made a nicely spicy, herbal, and complex tuna salad.

Now I want to do another tuna salad experiment with my refrigerator pickled beets. Of course, in that case, everything will be BRIGHT FUCHSIA. But that's okay. Who doesn't like bright pink food?

On that note, because they're just too gorgeous, this is what the chard stems looked like just before I brined them up. So intense.

Spicy tuna salad with chard stem pickle, cabbage, and cilantro
Makes enough for 3 open-faced sandwiches or 2 substantial closed sandwiches.

1 cup shredded cabbage
1 medium carrot
1-2 scallions
2-3 tbsp chard stem pickles
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1-2 tsps hot Chinese mustard
1 tbsp grapeseed oil or other oil of choice
1 5-oz can tuna
salt, pepper

Shred your cabbage and deposit it into a mixing bowl. Sprinkle with a few shakes of salt and mix with your hands, squeezing gently, to soften the cabbage a little.

Prep and finely chop your carrot, scallions, pickles, and cilantro. Add them to your bowl, along with the mustard, the oil, the drained contents of your can of tuna, and salt and pepper to taste. You may also wish to add in a little of the pickle brine for some extra vinegar kick.

Mix everything together well, taste and correct seasonings, and you're done. Super easy.

I had my spicy tuna salad in a couple of open-faced sandwiches on toasted sourdough, with a small green salad on the side. It was fantastic. Needless to say, this is definitely going on the list of things to make when the fridge is full of pickles (i.e. always).

Do you have a fridge full of homemade pickles? How are you eating them this month?

Bagel panzanella

I've been wanting to make bagel panzanella for several months. Now that the best summer tomatoes are here, it is time. Oh man, is it time.

You almost certainly know my love of bagels. Bagels are wonderful. Bagels are delicious. Bagels are the best breakfast on a holiday morning. You can put anything on a bagel. And while I usually discuss my love of bagels through a series of various cream cheese schmears, I thought it was time to mix it up in a more bready way, so I could shoehorn even more bagels into my diet. What recipe combines a delicious bread product and many tasty vegetables? Panzanella. And so bagel panzanella was born.

Probably the most important component of panzanella is the bread. It's supposed to be dry, so it can soak up all the vegetable juices and vinaigrette readily, yet not turn into a pile of soggy mush. So preparing the bread is critical. It also needs to be done a good 12 hours in advance, unless your bagel is already quite stale. You can get away with toasting your bread pieces gently in a low oven, but the texture is going to be a little different.

I chose an everything bagel, for optimal all-bagel flavor content. Cherry tomatoes came out of the garden; cucumber, red onion, and basil came from the CSA box. Actually, the basil could have come out of the garden too, since there's plenty of it out there. But it didn't.

To make this even more substantial (and bagely), you could serve big scoops of it over some tangy salad greens -- arugula would be my pick -- and scatter some chunks of cream cheese or goat cheese rolled in sesame and poppy seeds over the top to serve. For that matter, if you wanted to take the whole thing in a sweeter direction, you could go for a blueberry bagel, an assortment of halved berries, and fresh mint, give it a squeeze of lemon juice, and serve it all over a bed of spinach, with optional goat cheese. Panzanella!

Bagel panzanella
serves 2

1 savory bagel to make 2-3 cups cubed bread
2 cups chopped tomato (14 cherry tomatoes in my case)
1 1/2 cups chopped cucumber
3/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/2 bunch or up to 1 cup chiffonaded fresh basil
1/4 cup or more red wine vinaigrette

Cut your bagel into bite-sized pieces. I'd recommend going a bit on the small side, to create optimal bites with cucumber and tomato later.

Put your bagel pieces on a rack and let them dry out overnight. If your bagel is already a day old (mine was fresh from the bagel shop), I'd guess you only need 4-6 hours.

The next day, it's time to make your salad. Chop up your tomato and cucumber into bite-sized pieces; thinly sliver your red onion; chiffonade your basil. Combine your bagel pieces, tomato, cucumber, red onion, basil, and vinaigrette. Mix everything together well. Let sit on the counter (no tomatoes in the fridge) for at least a half hour, and up to four hours.

Taste, correct seasoning, and serve with the delights of your choice.

Red wine vinaigrette

1 clove garlic, crushed and minced
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
12 good grinds of pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

Put all the ingredients into a small jar. Lid the jar and shake well to emulsify. Voila! Red wine vinaigrette.

You'll have some vinaigrette left over, so put the jar into the fridge and use it on any salads you may be eating in the next week or so. Let the dressing come to room temperature before using.

It's so dramatic-looking with the black cherry tomatoes.

We had our bagel panzanella with slices of Spanish tortilla, but it would be pretty happy alongside a whole lot of different main dishes. Eat it for breakfast, with some scrambled eggs. Eat it for lunch, with a cup of Tuscan white bean soup. Eat it for dinner, with a burger of your choice, or maybe a seared steak if that's how you roll.

How are you eating your bagels lately?

Momofuku-style pickled torpedo beet, radish, and tokyo turnip

We've had the Momofuku cookbook for awhile, and I've never cooked anything from it until now. But I've been wanting to try these pickles for a few weeks, ever since I read a blog post that talked about how the beets in this recipe (or method, really) aren't cooked.

I've always made (and eaten) western-style beet pickles, so I've always boiled my beets. But shredded or julienned raw beets are excellent in a salad setting, or even as garnish for a hot soup or rich piece of meat, so I was officially intrigued. And we certainly had plenty of beets lying around. The CSA farm seems to have a had a bumper crop this year, and they've been coming practically every week. So many beets: golden, torpedo, and plain old red globes.

When I checked out the supply in our crisper, I found not only three beautiful red torpedo beets, but also three ordinary red radishes and a single solitary tokyo turnip. (Of course, later I found two more buried under a head of cabbage, so...yeah.) I decided to pickle them all together for a few reasons. First, beets and turnips are a usual match in Middle Eastern pickles; if you've had a falafel sandwich with pink pickled turnip, you've experienced this. Radishes are similar to turnips in texture, but also provide a pungent kick. Besides, all of these vegetables needed eating.

I considered adding some ginger to my pickles, because that's always super interesting. See: fennel pickle with lemon and ginger, which is SO GOOD and you should go make some right now. Actually, I need to go make some, because I have all the ingredients lying around, crying for me to use them. Anyway. I knew about that; I also recently read about Nami's pickled sushi ginger, which I need to try as soon as I can find some young ginger. But since I hadn't tried this particular pickle method before, I thought it might be a good idea to just go for the master brine recipe before I started fooling around quite so much. The fooling around will very likely happen later, though. Oh yes.

Momofuku-style pickled torpedo beet, radish, and tokyo turnip
Adapted from the Momofuku cookbook

brine:
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup rice vinegar
6 tbsp (3/8 cup) sugar
2 1/2 tsp kosher or pickling salt

veg:
3 torpedo beets
3 radishes
1+ tokyo turnip
or adjust vegetable proportions to fill your jars.

equipment:
2 pints or 1 quart mason jar with plastic storage lids
chopstick or spatula
optional canning funnel

For the brine, combine all the ingredients in a nonreactive pan or bowl. I used water that I boiled in the teapot and let cool down a bit, instead of the book's hot tap water. Stir until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved.

For the veg: wash, trim, and peel your beets. Wash and trim your radishes and turnips. Halve all your veg and slice into very thin half-moons.

Pack your vegetables into mason jars. Pour the brine over the veg to cover, filling up to 1/2 inch from the top of the jar. Use a chopstick or spatula to remove any bubbles. Cap your jars and put them in the refrigerator to cure overnight.

Store in the refrigerator and eat at your leisure. These guys should last at least a month, and probably quite a while longer. I usually keep refrigerator pickles for a good three months or so.

What are you pickling this summer?

Summer garden tuna salad

The CSA box demands that we eat as many vegetables as humanly possible all summer long. This is simultaneously great and a problem.

Salads are the obvious solution, but an all-veg salad is usually not a sufficient lunch. Unless you want to make another entire dish, some sort of protein is necessary. I chose eggs -- we still have abundant CSA eggs -- and tuna, and decided to wake up the flavors with sriracha sauce, garlic, and fresh basil, scallion, and parsley. For some extra textural interest, I used a mix of cooked and raw vegetables. Altogether, this worked out super well.

If you aren't a tuna person, you can always leave it out and up the hard-boiled eggs to two, or sub in the cooked and drained beans of your choice. I'd probably go for white beans first, but any kind you like that maintains reasonable structural integrity should be fine. If you want to use other fish, maybe try fork-mashed sardines or a smoked fish of your choice. And of course, you can make this completely vegan by switching out both tuna and egg for beans. It's all good.

Some lime or lemon zest wouldn't be unwelcome, either.

Summer garden tuna salad
makes 2 meal-sized servings

1 egg
1 cup broccoli florets in bite-size pieces
1 cup green beans in bite-size pieces
3/4 cup shredded/julienned cucumber
3/4 cup shredded/julienned zucchini (I used gold bar squash)
1 clove garlic, minced and pulverized thoroughly
1-2 scallions or a large handful of their greens, finely chopped
large handful basil leaves, finely chopped
large handful parsley, finely chopped
1 5-oz can tuna, drained
1+ tbsp olive oil
several good squirts sriracha or other hot pepper sauce to taste
salt, pepper
any other veg you think sounds good in this circumstance
salad greens to serve

Put your raw egg in a small pot of water and set it on to boil. Cook for 9 minutes at a simmer. Scoop the egg out of the water and put it in an ice bath.

While your water is still hot, add your broccoli and green beans. Bring the pot back to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, or until the vegetables are done to your liking. Drain, shock briefly in cold water, and drain again.

While you're waiting for the egg and cooked veg to cool enough to use, cut up your cucumber, zucchini, garlic, scallions, basil, and parsley. Add them to a mixing bowl along with your tuna, olive oil, sriracha, salt, and pepper.

When the egg is cool, peel and dice it. Add your egg, broccoli, and beans to the bowl. Mix thoroughly. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve on a bed of salad greens of your choice, with an extra drizzle of olive oil and a little more salt and pepper.

A spoonful or two of leftover salad, combined with mozzarella cheese and another dash of sriracha, makes a good quick quesadilla filling. The cucumber makes it a little drippy, but it's still delicious.

How are you eating your fresh summer vegetables?

Radish and dill compound butter

Radishes, butter, and salt are one of the most classic food combinations out there.

Usually I've seen instructions to swipe whole radishes through cold butter and dip them into sea salt. This is all well and good if you want a huge mouthful of radish, but it can get a little spicy for me. So instead I thought I'd make a quick compound butter and spread the resulting tasty mess on slices of sourdough baguette. Then I added some fresh dill, because we had a big bunch and it's delicious with crispy radish. Perfect!

This is one of those recipes you can adjust to suit your tastes. Do you like lots of crunch and spice? Add more radish. Do you want all the dill? Add more dill. You're going to be spreading this on bread anyway -- a fairly neutral palette -- so I recommend going for large amounts and strong flavors.

If you want to chill your butter before using -- maybe so you can let a slice of it melt on top of a piece of poached salmon later -- you can shape it into a cylinder by wrapping it in plastic wrap, rolling it to an even thickness with the palm of your hand, and twisting the plastic together at each end. Then just stick the packet in your refrigerator for future application.

And if you want to make this into a schmear instead of a compound butter, you can switch out the butter for cream cheese. This is definitely on my short list of things to make before the dill is all gone.

Radish and dill compound butter

2-3 radishes (3 tbsp grated)
1 1/2 tbsp fresh dill
4 tbsp softened butter
salt and pepper to taste

Shred your radishes on a box grater or microplane. Finely chop your dill.

Mix the shredded radish, dill, and butter together thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper, taste, and adjust.

Spread on the bread of your choice and eat. Otherwise, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for future use.

John and I may have polished off our entire batch, as well as an entire baguette, and called it lunch. Cold rosé is optional.

What are you spreading on bread lately?

Super simple strawberry cake

We've been getting 2 pints of strawberries per week from our CSA. This, of course, is pretty fantastic. Strawberries with dinner! Strawberries with breakfast! Strawberries at the slightest provocation!

But there's always that point at which the yet uneaten berries start to wilt a bit. Maybe one pint is gone, and the other is completely untouched (strange, but it does occasionally happen). And then it's Tuesday night and you know that Thursday will bring another two pints.

At this point you have a couple options. You can freeze your berries for smoothies, which is always a good plan. You can mash your berries into the world's smallest batch of jam, to be eaten immediately on toast spread with ricotta or cream cheese and topped with basil and black pepper (which I have not done, but which definitely needs to happen ASAP). Or you can bake with them.

Since the weather was cool enough for us to turn on the oven, we went with option 3. I found a minimal cake recipe that would let the berries take center stage, and I went to work.

This cake is not only really easy and quick to make, but also deceptive, hiding chunks of strawberry beneath its surface. The berries start out on top of the batter and sink down over the course of baking, becoming delightful surprises. So good.

Super simple strawberry cake
adapted from Always With Butter.

6 tbsp softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups flour
1 pint strawberries

I bake pretty much everything by the 1-bowl method, and this was no different.

In a large mixing bowl, cream your butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and milk and mix to combine well. Add the baking powder, salt, and cinnamon, and mix to combine again. Add the flour in three half-cup increments, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

Pour the batter into a well-buttered and floured 8-inch cake pan.

Wash and slice your strawberries. Push the berries far down into the surface of the batter, making a pattern or not as you prefer. As you can see, I prefer not to. They'll mostly be covered in the end anyway.

Bake at 350F for 35-40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Try not to put your tester directly into a molten berry.

Serve plain, with whipped cream, or with a sprinkling of powdered sugar. Very lovely for breakfast or with a cup of afternoon tea. Or, you know, whenever.

And if you are a fan of peanut butter, this is excellent with a big spoonful spread on top. Peanut butter and jelly cake for all!

What fruit-filled concoctions are you baking this summer?

Samosa soup

We've been eating a lot of pinto beans lately. This is a thing that happens when you buy a 5-lb bag of said pinto beans and cook huge batches of them in your pressure cooker on a regular basis, both of which I absolutely do.

Refried beans are already on the table two or three times a week at our house, whether they're made from pintos or black beans. I also recently made a double batch of Good Good Things' bbq pinto bean burgers (along with a vegetarianized batch of Joy of Cooking bbq sauce to put in them). We now have a lovely stock of 11 burgers stashed away in the freezer for future consumption. But I still had quite a few beans in their broth hanging around waiting to be eaten afterward.

We'd more or less exhausted the classics, so I wanted to make something different. Soup is always good. Why not mix up a basic bean soup with the spices usually used in making samosas?

I looked up a couple of samosa recipes and went to town.

This soup is lovely and warming, with a hint of heat that can be increased as much as you like. The garam masala makes it a bit sweet, especially when eaten plain. Add a handful of crackers (or naan, if you're feeling semi-industrious) and a few salad greens, and you have a complete and very satisfying meal. The leftovers freeze very well.

Serves 4.

Samosa soup

oil of choice
1 large yellow onion
2 carrots
1-2 stalks celery
1-2 boiling potatoes
1 jalapeno or serrano
2 cups cooked pinto beans (in 2 cups of their broth if homemade, drained if not)
2 cups veg broth (+2 more cups if using canned beans)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground coriander seed
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp amchoor powder (or sub lemon juice)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or to taste
1 tsp garam masala
immersion blender or other pureeing device
plain yogurt/sub of your choice and cilantro to garnish

Warm a couple slugs of oil over medium heat in a large soup pot while you chop up your onion, carrots, and celery. When the oil is hot, add the chopped vegetables to the pan along with a shake of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes, or until the onion is beginning to turn translucent.

While you're waiting, chop up your potatoes and chile. Then add them to the pot, stir, and continue to cook for another five minutes.

Next, add your pinto beans and broth to the pot. Add all the spices except garam masala (and lemon juice, if you're using it). Bring the pot to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about ten to fifteen minutes, or until your potatoes are entirely cooked through. This may take a bit longer if your potato pieces are on the large side.

Take your pot off the heat and puree your soup using an immersion blender. Taste and correct the seasonings. Then return the soup to the heat and cook it down until it reaches your desired texture.

When you're happy with your soup, turn off the heat and stir in your garam masala (and lemon juice). Serve plain, with chopped cilantro, or top with plain yogurt. Voila!

If you want more vegetables, you can saute some peas in olive oil with a little salt and put a big scoop of them over the top of your bowl of finished soup. Or put a handful of spinach or mesclun leaves in the bottom of each bowl before serving. Or have an actual salad on the side! It's all good.

What's your favorite thing to cook with pinto beans?

Chickpea, heart of palm, & roasted red pepper salad

One thing you do when you're going out of town -- especially if an abundant CSA box is on the way -- is to eat down as much of the food in your kitchen as you can.

Salad was definitely on the list, because we had romaine already, and we're going to get an influx of even more greens before we leave. So I went through the cabinets and pulled out everything I thought would make a great full-meal salad. That meant chickpeas, hearts of palm, and jarred roasted red pepper. Together, they make an excellent, highly flavored, and multitextural salad. Over plenty of crispy greens, this mix made a very satisfying lunch.

This salad is very reminiscent of one of my favorite restaurant salads ever: the heart of palm salad at Osteria in Palo Alto, CA. I'm super excited to have made something similar at home. And if any of you want good Italian food -- especially salads -- in Palo Alto, this is where you should go, hands down. Even their basic green salad is astoundingly good.

This recipe will make three meal-sized servings or 4-6 smaller servings. It's therefore pretty great to make on Sunday and bring to work for several days during the week, as long as you keep the salad greens separate from the marinated veg mixture.

Chickpea, heart of palm, & roasted red pepper salad

1 15-oz can or 2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 14-15-oz can hearts of palm
3-4 roasted red bell peppers
several big handfuls of chopped parsley
1 tbsp champagne vinegar
1 clove crushed garlic
4+ tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
up to 1 head romaine or other salad greens

If you need to roast your peppers, do that first. You can either roast them directly over the gas flame or halve them and stick them under the broiler. In either case, you want to blacken and blister the peppers on all sides. Then put them in a bag or sealable container for about ten minutes; this will trap the steam inside and loosen the skins. Then you can just brush the skin away with your fingers. Voila! Roasted red peppers!

Drain and rinse your chickpeas and deposit them in a large mixing bowl. Drain and rinse your hearts of palm, cut them into bite-sized pieces, and add them to the bowl. My hearts of palm were supposedly salad-cut, but they were still pretty large, so I cut them down a bit more. Chop your roasted and skinned peppers into similar bite-sized pieces and add them to the bowl. Add a couple big handfuls of chopped parsley, and the base of your salad is ready.

To make the dressing, mix together a tablespoon of champagne vinegar and a clove of crushed garlic, along with some salt and pepper. Whisk in about 4 tablespoons of good olive oil. Taste and adjust the seasonings to your liking. Then pour your dressing over your salad and stir well to coat and mix. You can sub about 5 tbsp of the vinaigrette of your choice if you prefer.

It's a good idea to let this salad rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving, so the flavors have a chance to mix together nicely. I absolutely did not do this, however.

When you're ready to serve, wash, dry, and chop your salad greens into appropriate pieces. Spread a few handfuls of leaves over each plate. Top with a generous amount of your chickpea mixture. Sprinkle a little more pepper on top and go to town.

What are some of your favorite salads?

Scrambled eggs with tarragon, parsley, potato, and onion

Wait, it's the holiday weekend? It's practically summer! What happened?

A lot of things happened. My ankle is still sprained, which means I've been hobbling around instead of standing up in the kitchen. I've been taking programming and computer history classes, which require a lot of brain and leave me wanting to sit around reading trashy novels in my spare time. And we're semi-suddenly going to London at the end of this week, due to someone having a required work trip. This gives us an excellent opportunity to kill two birds with one stone and take some vacation time. I intend to drink lots of coffee, eat British Indian food, and go to all the museums.

SO. That's my life right now. Anyway. Let's talk about food.

The other day I had some leftover potatoes and onions to use up, along with a bunch of fresh tarragon, so I made these delightful eggs.

Nigel Slater says that eggs and tarragon work well together, and I am happy to report that this is indeed the case. I'm especially happy because I don't really know what else to do with a package of tarragon. I think some further experimentation may be in order. But in the meantime, eggs work.

Scrambled eggs with tarragon, parsley, potato, and onion

butter
1/2 small onion
1 small cooked potato
2 eggs
leaves of 2 sprigs fresh tarragon
leaves of 2-3 sprigs fresh parsley
salt & pepper
toast to serve

Melt a pat of butter in an appropriate egg pan. Dice your onion, add it to the pan, and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until it starts to soften. (If you're using leftover cooked onion, you can just heat it up with the potato.)

Dice your potato and add that to the pan. Stir and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until hot through.

Crack your eggs into a small bowl. Chop your herbs and add them to the eggs, along with a good sprinkling of salt and pepper. Mix well with a fork.

If you want toast, now is the time to put it on.

Turn the heat down under your pan and add your egg mixture. Cook, stirring frequently with a spatula, until scrambled to your liking. I like to scramble on low heat; the residual heat in the pan will still keep things going fairly quickly.

Serve your finished eggs with nicely buttered toast. Have some coffee. Yay!

What do you make with tarragon? Seriously, I need some suggestions.

Also, did I mention that our first CSA box of the season is coming right before we fly across the world? There may be some hasty cooking and freezing happening.

Strawberry banana chia smoothie

Strawberry banana: perhaps not the most creative smoothie combination of all time. But hey! It's still tasty and easy, and it's certainly strawberry season right now. Why not?

Besides, the chia seeds make up for it.

I've been experimenting with chia seeds for a few months. They're excellent as a simple oatmeal topping or made into a pudding such as Gena's basic chia pudding. But I think my favorite way to eat chia seeds is to soak them and use them to thicken smoothies.

It's easy to adjust the amounts of seeds and liquid to make a thicker or thinner smoothie. This time, since I was using the classic smoothie thickener, banana, I kept the amount of chia seeds fairly low -- 1 tbsp of seeds for 1/2 cup total of milk and yogurt. It would definitely be possible to double the amount of seeds, eliminate the banana, and add in a bunch of different fruits and vegetables, though. Experiment and see what you like!

I strongly prefer smoothies made with fresh banana to those made with frozen. However! If you happen to have a freezer full of smoothie-destined bananas, you could absolutely use them here. You may need to add some extra liquid or switch out the yogurt for milk to adjust for your desired texture, but otherwise, you should be good to go.

If you make this in a regular-mouth mason jar, you can screw it onto a standard blender base and blend in the jar itself. Fewer dishes = yes please. This also means you can always put a lid on your jar and save the leftovers for later. Super easy.

Strawberry banana chia smoothie

1/4 cup milk or non-dairy milk of choice
1 tbsp chia seeds
1/4 cup plain yogurt or non-dairy sub of choice (or more milk)
4-5 strawberries, chunked
1 fresh banana, sliced
1 tsp flaxseed meal, optional

At least two hours before you want your smoothie, mix your milk and chia seeds together in your jar of choice. Refrigerate. Stir to mix twice at rough 10-minute intervals. This will keep your seeds from sticking together in one big lump at the bottom of your jar. Then just leave the jar in the fridge for 2 hours or more. I leave mine overnight.

In the morning, your chia seeds will be ready to go. Add your yogurt, strawberries, banana, and flaxseed meal to the jar (or put everything in a standard blender). Blend until fully pureed.

Drink it! Breakfast!

Do you eat chia seeds? What's your favorite thing to make with them?

PS: I have a sprained ankle. WHY. (It's because the moles dug a hole right in front of the back door. Jerks.)

Winter squash polenta with chipotle pinto beans

I've been thinking about the combination of squash and beans for a few weeks now. Black beans and sweet potato are a natural match in things like enchiladas and black bean-broccoli stuffed sweet potatoes, so why not try a variation with winter squash?

This is just a basic soft polenta with a big whack of delicious, vibrant winter squash puree added in. I still had some previously roasted CSA squash puree in the freezer, so this was the perfect way to finish it up. Of course, there are still two squash on our counter. Those need to get eaten soon too!

Polenta does take a bit of time to make, but it's such a delicious result that I think it's well worth it. The overall result is smooth and comforting, with a subtle sweetness (not to mention a BRIGHT ORANGENESS) from the squash and a hint of contrasting black pepper. And the combination with spicy beans? Yes. The experiment worked.

Wilted dark greens with garlic would be an excellent addition if you want more vegetables. Cilantro would be a great garnish here too.

Winter squash polenta

3 tbsp butter or olive oil
1/2 medium yellow onion
3 cups veg broth, water, or a mix
1 cup polenta and 1 cup water, combined
~2 cups winter squash puree
salt and pepper to taste

Melt your butter or oil in a 3-quart or bigger pan on medium heat while you dice your onion finely. Add the onion to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes, or until nice and fragrant and translucent.

Add your water or broth and bring the pan to the boil. I used 2 cups of vegetable stock and 1 of plain water, which worked perfectly.

If you haven't mixed up your raw polenta and water, now is the time to do so. Give it a few good stirs to break up any lumps. Then gradually add your polenta and water mix to the pot, stirring each addition in well.

When all your polenta has been added, it's time to settle in for the long haul. Reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring frequently, for about 25 minutes. Many polenta recipes will have you stir for the entire cooking time, but I don't think this is necessary, especially if you are also cooking some tasty pinto beans at the same time. Just keep an eye on your polenta and stir it frequently.

Your polenta will be cooked when it's thick and is pulling away from the sides of the pan as you cook. Taste it to make sure. Then add your squash puree, season well with salt and pepper to taste (start with 1/2 tsp of each), stir it all up, and cook for another five minutes, or until hot through and tasty.

Chipotle pinto beans

butter or oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
cumin, oregano, salt to taste
~2 cups cooked pinto beans
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely minced
adobo sauce to taste
green onion to garnish

This is more or less a non-mashed version of basic refried beans. Saute onion and garlic in oil or butter until softened. Season with cumin, oregano, and salt. Add pinto beans and a bit of their broth (if homemade) and cook, stirring, for five or ten minutes, until everything is hot through and the beans are at your preferred degree of dryness. Correct seasonings and take the pan off the heat. Finally, stir in your chipotles, plus a couple spoonfuls of the adobo sauce to taste. (Chop the rest of the can of chipotles in adobo and freeze in an ice cube tray for future applications.)

Serve your beans over a big scoop of polenta and garnish with chopped green onion. Oh man, it's so good.

I spread the leftover polenta evenly into a casserole dish, pressed some parchment paper over the top, and left it to solidify a bit overnight. The next morning, I fried up a couple of squares in a little butter, then topped them with a fried egg. Plain romaine on the side.

This was an excellent plan and I highly recommend that you try it, either with neat squares of polenta or a couple of rough handfuls shaped into patties. Runny egg yolk with crispy polenta is definitely worth a few minutes of effort.

How are you eating the last of your winter storage vegetables?

Sugar snap pea and chive schmear

There were sugar snap peas at the farmer's market! Yay!

I had to make the most of them by eating a few raw. They were very nice that way, either by themselves or dipped into hummus. But it was clear that they would be even nicer mixed into some cream cheese and spread on pieces of hot toast.

I left my peas raw, because SPRING, but this would also work with steamed or blanched peas. Do what works for you.

Also, if you happen to be into the classic pea and fresh mint combination, you might want to give that a try instead of the chives. Double trouble!

Sugar snap pea and chive schmear

~10 raw sugar snap peas
~8 chives
3-4 tbsp cream cheese/tofu cream cheese
salt & pepper to taste
a spoonful of optional milk/yogurt to thin

Break the stem of each pea and pull down to strip off the string that goes down the side of the pod. Discard the waste. Chop your peas and chives into fine slices.

Add all the ingredients to a medium bowl and mix thoroughly with a fork. This will take a bit of effort, since cream cheese can be pretty thick and unmashable. A splash of milk or plain yogurt will help thin it down if necessary.

Spread on the toasted bagel or other bread product of your choice. I used wheat bread, because there were no bagels currently in the house, and it was good.

How are you eating your fresh spring peas?

Rösti with sweet potato

We've talked about rösti a few times before. This Swiss concoction is essentially a big pan-fried shredded potato cake, not unlike hash browns. We like to eat it for big weekend brunches, with plenty of coffee and possibly an egg or two. It's easy, impressive, delicious, and cheap. What's not to love?

This weekend I decided to switch it up and try adding sweet potato to rösti. Since sweet potatoes are significantly harder and less fluffy than the standard white boiling potato -- not to mention sweeter -- I decided against a 1:1 switch. Instead, I used about 1/3 sweet potatoes and 2/3 mixed yukon gold and red. This turned out to be a good ratio: we got some nice sweet potato flavor and color, but preserved the general texture of a classic rösti.

Now, of course, we are thinking about more things to shred and add to rösti. Carrot? Zucchini? Beets could be really excellent if you wanted to top your rösti with a classic sour cream and smoked salmon combination. Fennel might be interesting there as well. And a mixed-veg rösti would certainly be a good way to use up broccoli stems and the odd heads of kohlrabi that come in our CSA box. I'm definitely going to keep this in mind for next fall.

Rösti with sweet potato

6-8 medium boiling potatoes
1 sweet potato
4-6 green onions
salt, pepper
oil or butter to cook (not olive oil -- the smoke point is too low.)

Start out by peeling your potatoes and sweet potato. Shred them with a box grater or food processor, using the largest size shred.

Squeeze the liquid out of your potatoes. We just take big handfuls and squeeze them out over the sink before depositing them into a mixing bowl. You can also use a dish towel or paper towel if you prefer. This step is critical to ensure that your rösti cooks well, so don't skip it!

Slice up your green onions and add them to the bowl. Add a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Mix everything together.

Heat a 10-inch frying pan or skillet of your choice over medium-high to high heat. I think a well-seasoned cast iron pan is your best bet here, followed by nonstick. When your pan is hot, add a generous tablespoon of oil, butter, or a mix of the two. Swirl the pan to coat well.

Add your potato mixture to the pan, pressing with a spatula to get it reasonably even. Cook for 8-10 minutes, or until lovely and golden brown on the first side, adjusting the heat down a bit if necessary. You'll be able to see the color coming up around the edges. The potatoes should also come free of the pan in one big solid cake when shaken back and forth a few times.

Next, flip your rösti. To do this, you'll need some intact oven mitts and a wooden (or otherwise unmeltable) cutting board big enough to cover your pan. Wearing the oven mitts, put the cutting board on top of the pan. Grab the pan and board at opposite sides and flip the entire contraption over onto your counter. Remove the pan to the stove, add a bit more oil if needed, and slide the flipped rösti back into the pan, uncooked side down. You did it!

Cook another 8-10 minutes, or until the second side is just as beautiful as the first. Slide the finished rösti onto your cutting board, cut it into wedges, and serve.

Just about anything that sounds good with potato should be good with rösti. I had mine with plain yogurt and pickled peppers. John had his with ketchup. If you are a proponent of fried eggs with runny yolks, this is an excellent place to apply them.

How do you like to eat your brunch-hour potatoes?

Chicken in wine with onions and herbs

John went to Vancouver this past weekend for a conference. I stayed here. You know what that means: I got to cook and eat whatever I wanted! Which I could totally do when he is here, and often do. Actually, HE frequently cooks me whatever I want when he's here too. So basically what I'm saying is that I had the exact same thing I would probably have had were he here, except that I was a little more excited about making it myself. Hey, that works for me. Food is exciting; the sense of "ZOMG I CAN HAVE ANYTHING" makes it more exciting, even if it isn't technically true.

Anyway. I made myself a nice pan of chicken and onions in wine, and it was excellent.

I got this recipe years ago from...someone on the internet. Who? That's a good question. The print date on the bottom of the page is February 13, 2003, which means I've been making this for a good twelve years. Let's just say that if you came to a dinner party at our house when John was in grad school and I was just out, you probably ate this chicken and a red pepper stuffed with risotto and baked. Also something green of which I have no recollection. Yes.

This is an especially nice dish to have in your back pocket because it is delicious and low-effort. It's very easily scalable to any amount of chicken. The ingredients are cheap, especially if you use dry vermouth instead of expensive white wine and break down your own chicken instead of buying skinless, boneless chicken breasts. And once the pan is in the oven, you get to anticipate future deliciousness as the smell of onions simmering in wine wafts through your house. A win all around.

Chicken in wine with onions and herbs

yellow or white onion
thyme, marjoram, paprika, salt, pepper
chicken pieces of your choosing (I used two deboned chicken thighs)
chopped fresh parsley
butter or olive oil
white wine, dry vermouth, or other cooking alcohol of your choice

Start by preheating your oven to 450F.

Slice up enough onions to make a good half-inch thick layer in a casserole dish big enough to hold all your chicken. I used an entire medium yellow onion, which was more than enough for my two puny chicken thighs. Half would have been fine, but I like onion, so I went for it.

Sprinkle a generous dusting of thyme, marjoram (or sub oregano), paprika, salt, and pepper over your onions. We were out of paprika, so I used some hot New Mexico chile flake instead.

Put your chicken pieces on top of the onion and season with a little more salt and paprika. Cover with a good handful of chopped fresh parsley.

Add your oil or butter and wine to the pan. You want the liquid to be about half an inch deep, or just cresting the layer of onions. I used about 1/2 cup of olive oil and 3/4 cup of dry vermouth, and dotted some extra butter over the top for good measure. If you're cooking more chicken, increase accordingly.

Bake your pan of chicken and onions at 450F for 30 minutes, basting with the pan liquid once or twice. Then turn the temperature down to 325F and continue baking for another 30 minutes, or until your chicken is completely cooked and your onions are golden and braised and lovely.

Serve your completed chicken and onions, plus a spoonful or two of pan juices, over a spoonful of rice, a scoop of mashed potatoes (recommended), or another starch of your choice. Cauliflower rice/etc. should also be just fine here. I actually ate my chicken and onions by themselves, since I was feeling too lazy to make mashed potatoes. That worked too.

A salad or other green vegetable is a must on the side. That way you can drag pieces of lettuce through the delightful onion and wine juices. So good.

Leftovers are super easy to use, because the overall dish is so simple. Just cut up your chicken and onions and put them in anything you want. I made a plateful of scrambled eggs with chicken, onions, some leftover brown rice, and a handful of parsley, and it was excellent. Adding chopped chicken and onion to quesadillas or burritos is also an excellent plan.

What do you cook when you have nothing to consider but your own personal tastes?

$1.85 at the farmer's market

If you're careful, $1.85 at our farmer's market can get you this. Three zucchini, six pea pods, one tiny carrot, and an armful of assorted peppers from the $.65/lb sort-outs bin: $1.20. A small bag of broccolini, no price sign to be found: $.65.

What will I do with all of these?

Most of the peppers will get washed, trimmed judiciously (there's a reason they were in the sort-outs bin), and put into a quick brine to pickle. The few in good enough shape to keep for a few days will go into all kinds of things: quesadillas, salads, scrambled eggs, tomato sauce.

The zucchini will probably get sauteed with olive oil and garlic and thrown over some pasta, maybe with a handful of toasted breadcrumbs on top.

I could eat the peas raw with some hummus, slice them at an angle and throw them into a green salad, or cook them with the zucchini for pasta purposes.

The broccolini will likely get a simple saute, either with butter and garlic or a good squirt of sriracha sauce and some chopped almonds. To be eaten next to a piece of fish or some spicy seared tofu.

The carrot will get eaten one way or another.

What kind of vegetables are popping up at your farmer's market this spring?

Oatmeal with flax, yogurt, jam, and chia seed

Okay! Things have clearly been busy at our house. Everything we eat lately seems to be something I've written about before. Pasta fagioli, salads with nice homemade dressing, enchiladas, quesadillas: yes, yes, yes and yes. (Although now I am noticing just how old these posts are and thinking about writing them up again anyway.)

These are our house standards, and we love them. It's really nice to have a variety of autopilot dishes under your belt, so during those weeks when you have to commute an hour and twenty minutes (one way) to a conference that starts at 8 am, you can still eat actual food.

I got home Friday night post-conference at roughly 7:45, and John seared me a piece of fish with lemon and parsley, chopped up some romaine for salad, and poured me a glass of wine. It was an excellent plan. Later I fell asleep with my glasses on and laptop open.

This morning I had oatmeal. Want to see some oatmeal?

Oatmeal with flax, yogurt, jam, and chia seed

rolled oats
flaxseed meal
water
salt
yogurt, jam, and chia seed to top

Put as many oats as you want to eat into a small pot, along with a teaspoon or two of flaxseed meal and a generous several shakes of salt. Cover with water to about one finger's width above the oats. Cook over medium-high to high heat for five minutes, or until the oats are done to your preferred consistency, stirring occasionally. A longer boil will mean thicker oatmeal.

Put your finished oatmeal in a bowl and top with yogurt, jam (mine was apricot), and chia seed, or switch it up and add whatever you like.

What are some of your favorite things to eat over and over, frequently when you're too busy to think of new things to make?

Soft pumpkin cookies

It's still winter, and there are still plenty of winter squash from the last few CSA boxes hanging around on our kitchen counter. So last weekend I roasted a pie pumpkin and a butternut squash, mashed up the flesh, and made a big batch of cookies. What better way to eat as much squash as possible?

These cookies are super soft and fluffy, to the point that they almost seem like little bite-sized pieces of pumpkin bread. Of course, they don't bake as long as a pumpkin bread, and they don't need to be cut like a pumpkin bread, and they're generally more cookielike as a rule, but otherwise, the taste and texture is pretty spot-on. So: pumpkin bread in cookie form.

Note that it is 100% possible to make these cookies with no mixer. I just used a big bowl and a wooden spoon, and everything worked out perfectly.

Soft pumpkin cookies
based on Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup pumpkin or winter squash puree
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tbsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp ginger
3/8 tsp cloves
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour

Preheat your oven to 375F. Melt your butter, either in the microwave or in an oven-safe dish in the actual oven.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your sugar, pumpkin, butter, and vanilla. Add the eggs and beat well.

Mix together your spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the wet mixture and stir to combine.

Add the flour gradually, in 1-cup increments, stirring well after each addition. If you would like to add chunks of delightful things to your cookies, you can fold in 1 cup chocolate chips, dried cranberries, or chopped nuts. We prefer totally plain cookies, however.

Use two spoons to drop 1-tbsp pieces of dough 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until set on top (14 min for me). Let cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes approximately 30 cookies.

Since they're so soft and moist, these guys are a bit more perishable than standard cookies. I recommend eating them within about three or four days. Fortunately they're delicious enough that this won't really pose much of a problem.

If you happen to be in the cream cheese frosting camp -- or even just the spreads-cream-cheese-on-things camp -- these are an excellent candidate. But they're also really good by themselves, with a cup of coffee or tea.

How are you eating your winter squash post-holidays?

How to cook beans from scratch & classic refried beans

Beans! They're the perfect food: cheap, delicious, versatile, easy, abundant, suitable for both vegetarian and vegan diets, and healthy. There is literally nothing not to love. So let's talk about how to cook a pan of dried beans from scratch and create a lovely pot of deliciousness.

How to cook beans from scratch

Dried beans should generally be soaked overnight. It's possible to do a quick soak using hot water, but that may require a longer cooking time later. I prefer the overnight soak.

Measure out the amount of beans you plan to cook, keeping in mind that they'll swell to twice their size after soaking and cooking. For this demonstration, I used a 1-lb bag of pinto beans.

Sort your beans before soaking them. Just pour a handful of dry beans onto a plate or other surface and quickly look through them. If you see any chunks of dirt, rocks, or beans that look really past their prime, pick them out and throw them away. Repeat this until you've looked through all the beans. It may seem ridiculous to look through all your beans, but it is 100% possible to find rocks! Get them out of there and avoid cracking a tooth, okay?

Put your sorted beans into a mixing bowl and cover them with twice their depth in tap water. Cover loosely and leave on the counter overnight, or for at least six hours. The beans will absorb the water and get bigger.

When you're ready to cook, pour out the soaking water and replace it with new water, covering your beans by at least an inch. Pour the whole shebang into a large saucepan with a lid. Add a bay leaf (optional, but nice) and bring the pot to a boil.

Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer gently for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until your beans are tender. Your beans are done if their skins split when you blow on them. The taste test is also reliable.

Now you are the proud owner of a pan of lovely cooked beans in their own broth. What will you do with them?

I decided to make classic refried beans with my beans, and to freeze the leftover bean broth for future soup purposes. If you want, you can also freeze your beans in their broth. It works beautifully.

Classic refried beans

olive oil or butter
onion
jalapeño or other hot pepper
salt, red pepper flake or dried chile of choice, cumin, oregano
cooked pinto beans
bean broth or water

In a wide skillet or saute pan, warm your oil or butter on medium heat. (For ultra-classic refried beans, I hear lard is the fat of choice.) Add a diced onion or two and saute until softened. Finely mince your jalapeño and add it to the pan. You can use as many jalapeños as you desire, depending on your spice tolerance.

Season with salt, red pepper flake, cumin, and oregano to taste. You'll want to be a little heavy-handed with all the spices because the beans are otherwise a big bland neutral palette.

When your onions and jalapeños are both softened, add your beans and enough broth or water to make everything a bit sloshy. Reserve a little liquid to add if needed. Cook your beans together with your onions and jalapenos, stirring frequently.

After everything is hot through, start crushing your beans with the back of a large spoon or with a potato masher. Mix and mash until your beans are the texture you desire; add more liquid if necessary. Taste and correct the seasonings, and you are done.

Classic refried beans are good in tacos, burritos, enchiladas, tostadas, or quesadillas, among other things. I used mine to make 16 bean and rice burritos (flour tortillas, beans, rice, salsa, scallion, cheese), which I put in the freezer for future dinner endeavours. The rest got eaten in quesadilla form almost immediately. So good.

What would you make with a big pan of freshly cooked beans?

Chicken and vegetables veloute

After a roof leak, a furnace replacement, a refrigerator breakdown, an influx of mold, and many bouts of sneezing, all within the past six weeks, I was more than ready to eat some serious comfort food last weekend.

We went to the store and got some basic ingredients: chicken, celery, carrots, onions. We put them all in a pot. We cooked them. We made a simple sauce. We mixed it all together and threw in some noodles. And then I ate an entire bowlful and trundled off blissfully to bed.

If you are currently buried in snow, you will definitely want some too.

This chicken and vegetable dish could not be easier, and yet it is the kind of food that completely satisfies. It's grandma cuisine: no-fuss, country-style, hearty, easy, tasty food, made of plentifully available ingredients, and offered in abundance. And yet you can absolutely make this for a big Sunday dinner and impress everyone at the table.

We adapted this from a Jacques Pepin & Julia Child recipe for chicken pot pie, which in itself is clearly a totally classic basic. Instead of making a pastry crust, we decided to toss the whole shebang with egg noodles, for a super-comforting and simple feast.

If you want to make an entire chicken, go for it. If there were any meat-eaters besides me in the house, we would have. Just double all the veg (or even triple them, for extra everything) and get going. Any leftover chicken, vegetables, and broth can be refrigerated and transformed into chicken soup (or sandwiches, or risotto, or an amazing variety of other things) the next day.

Chicken and vegetables veloute
Adapted from Comfort Food. Serves 4.

1/2 chicken (at least half bone-in dark meat)
1/2 head celery
2 carrots
1-2 leeks
2 medium yellow onions
salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaf
2 cups dry white wine or dry vermouth
plenty of water
10-12 button mushrooms
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
egg noodles or rice to serve
parsley to garnish

Put your chicken into a large pot -- 5.5 quarts or more. We used a bone-in leg and thigh piece, skin on, and a separate breast. This was more than ample to make four servings. If you're doubling the recipe and cooking a whole chicken, leave it whole.

Wash and trim your vegetables. Cut the head of celery in half vertically. Scrub or peel the carrots. Split the leeks and rinse them well under running water. Tie the celery, carrots, and leeks into a bundle with a loop or two of butcher's twine. This will make it easy to remove them later.

Peel your onions and cut them into eighths. The mushrooms can wait a few minutes.

Put all your vegetables into the pot with the chicken. Season the pot with salt, pepper, a good palmful of thyme, and a bay leaf or two. Add the wine or vermouth.

Now fill the pot with enough water to just cover all the contents. Make sure the chicken is submerged -- weigh it down under some of the vegetables if necessary.

Bring your pot to a boil, cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. While you're waiting, wash your mushrooms. You can cut them in half or leave them whole.

Next, add your mushrooms to the pan. Bring everything to a boil again, cover, and reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting. Leave the pot to simmer very gently for 45 minutes to an hour, or until your chicken is completely cooked through.

At this point you will have a lovely pot of chicken broth full of nicely poached delights. Taste the broth and correct the seasonings. Remove all the meat and veg from the pot and slice them into bite-sized pieces. (If you don't want to bother with the rest of the recipe, you can simply add the pieces back to the broth and serve it as soup right now.)

Make the veloute. In a separate pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk vigorously to create a roux. Let the roux cook for a minute or two, whisking occasionally. Then begin adding your poaching broth to the roux, whisking it in ladle by ladle. We used about 6 cups total, but you may want to use a bit more or less broth, depending on the amount and thickness of sauce you desire. Butter + flour + broth = sauce veloute.

Mix your chicken and vegetables into the sauce, taste and correct the seasonings one last time, and you are done.

Serve over egg noodles, rice, mashed potato, or your choice of other grain, and garnish with a handful of chopped parsley.

You can also get fancy (sort of fancy, anyway) by topping a casserole dish of chicken, veg, and sauce with a pastry crust or a recipe's worth of drop biscuit batter, and baking the whole thing until lovely and brown. Or just ladle everything into individual bowls and butter a pile of toast for dipping. It's all good.

Are you relying on huge vats of hot, simple food to beat the storm? What comfort food are you eating this week?