Collard Greens and Black Eyed Peas with an Italian Twist

One of the zillion things I love about living in New York is cooking hearty meals on cold nights with the windows opened just a crack.

Well, I'm no longer living in my beloved City, but fortunately here in Tallahassee we do get some cold nights.  I take advantage of them by making soup.  Delicious, hearty soup.  The kind you can eat as a meal.

Last night's soup was a combination of southern food - collard greens and black eyed peas with Italian soup standards - lentils, roasted garlic and a topper of Parmigiano-Reggiano, and, a nice hearty bread.

Ingredients:
4 gloves of garlic, peeled, and left whole
1 small to medium onion, diced or
   Penzy's Air Dried Shallots, which I love
Dried red pepper flakes (pepperoncino) to taste, optional
1/4 teaspoon olive oil
A good sized bunch of fresh organic collard greens
1 1/2 cups of black eyed peas (I used frozen)
3/4 cup dried green lentils
 About 3 quarts of organic vegetable broth
   you might want to consider using unsalted stock so
   you can control the amount of salt you are using
Black Pepper to taste

I use extra garlic to spread on the bread

Parmigiano-Reggiano to taste
And your favorite bread for dunking

Preparation for Roasted Garlic:

Preheat oven to 400, or toaster oven to 350.
Remove 4 good sized cloves from a head of garlic and peel them.
Place on aluminum foil
Add the onions or shallots, some Kosher salt, and pepperoncino.  Sprinkle olive oil over the garlic and other ingredients. .
Loosely wrap them in the aluminum foil and place in the
oven (on a baking sheet) for about 20-25 minutes.
When they're done, they'll be soft when they are
pressed with a fork.  Mash the garlic with a fork so so it can be blended into the soup.


Preparation for the Soup:

Wash the greens well

The stems

While the garlic is roasting clean the collard greens well.  There may be dirt in there.  I fill my sink with cold water and give them a good bath.


The stems on collard greens are thick and I like to get rid of them.
Tear the leaves away from the stems and either use them as a mulch, recycle them as organics or throw them away.
After the stems are removed, tear the leaves into medium size pieces.

The lentils should be cooked for a while first.  Put them in the frying or sauce pan with about 2 cups of broth.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Once it boils uncover and lower to a simmer for about 20 minutes or until all the liquid is gone.

Add everything from the roasted garlic packet, mashing the garlic.  Mix it with the lentils and saute it for a few minutes.  Add the black eyed peas. mix it all together and saute for about 5 minutes.

Add 2 more cups of broth, bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for about 20 minutes.

Add the greens.  It will look like the pan may overflow with greens, but they'll cook down quickly.  Mix it around so everything is combined.  Add more broth if needed.

If you are using a frying pan, put everything into a sauce pan and add about 2 more cups of broth.  Add salt and pepper if needed.
Bring it to a boil, lower to a simmer and add about 2 - 3 more cups of broth.  Let it cook for another 40 minutes or until the greens are soft.

Ladle into bowls, and grate Parmigiano-Reggiano over the soup, to taste.  Take your bread and start dunking!

Beyond Beef Meatloaf - Are we headed to a replicator? I hope so!

OK, OK, OK. It's not meat and it's not perfect and it still needs work.  However, we are headed toward plant based foods to take the place of animal meat someday.  Just like on Star Trek!
"Computer, aged t-bone please" or "Computer, pizza with mozzarella di bufala and pepperoni please". Yes, we have a long way to go for that, and we have enough in the world to fix before we even head on that path, but it is coming.

If you have a favorite brand of plant based meat, substitute it for Beyond Meat.  This is what was available at Whole Foods, so this is what I used.

Ingredients:                                                                           Difficulty Rating: Easy

1 pound Beyond Beef
4 cloves roasted garlic (recipe included)
1 egg - room temperature
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs (use gluten free if needed)
1/4 cup diced onion or 1/8 cup Penzy air dried
shallots (I prefer the shallots)
Kosher salt
Ketchup (I can't remember the last time I had
Ketchup in my house, but hey, it worked)
Frozen roasted corn
less than 1 teaspoon Olive oil

Preparation for Roasted Garlic:

Preheat oven to 400, or toaster oven to 350.
Remove 4 good sized cloves from a head of garlic and peel them.
Place on aluminum foil
Sprinkle olive oil and kosher salt over the garlic.
Loosely wrap them in the aluminum foil and place in the
oven (on a baking sheet) for about 20-25 minutes.
When they're done, they'll be soft when they are
pressed with a fork.  Press them.

Preparation for meat loaf:
Turn oven down to 325
Put the Beyond Beef in a large mixing bowl.
Add the egg and mix it together.
Add the bread crumbs, roasted garlic, shallots (or onions)
Add some  Kosher salt - a teaspoon or to taste.
Mush it together, but don't overdo it.
Place it in a baking dish and form it into a loaf.
Spread ketchup over the top.
Place in oven for about 20 minutes
Spread frozen corn around the Beyond Beef loaf and put back in oven for about 15 minutes.
When the corn is hot, remove from the oven

Let it sit for at least 15 minutes.  Eat it now, or when it cools, refrigerate it and have it later.
Yum!

Hot Buttered Rum

Ingredients:

·       2 cups water

·       1 teaspoon cinnamon

·      Between 1/8 and ¼   cup dark brown sugar depending on how sweet you like it

·       1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

·       A ‘pinch’ of cayenne pepper (optional)

·       4 Tablespoons butter

·       ½ cup dark rum

·       ½ cinnamon stick per cup (optional)

Preparation:

Bring water to a boil in a saucepan

Lower to a simmer

Add brown sugar and stir until dissolved

Add nutmeg and butter

When butter is almost melted add the rum.

Stir a few times and remove from the heat.

Stir until the butter is melted.

Pour into cups and add the cinnamon stick

Masala Chai

Ingredients:
·       2 cups water
·       ¾ cup milk
·       1/3 teaspoon cinnamon
·       1 slice fresh ginger (in a pinch use about 1/3 teaspoon ground ginger)
·       3 cloves 
·       1/3 teaspoon fennel seeds
·       5 green cardamom seeds
·       3 seeds black pepper
·       2 teaspoons black tea (or 2 teabags opened)

• Note:   If you prefer a more standard Masala Chai, add a 3^rd teaspoon of black tea and don’t add the green tea

·       1 teaspoon green mint tea (or 1 teabag opened – (Trader Joe’s makes a really good one)
·       2 teaspoon sugar (or more if you like)

• Note:  If you are making this at night and can’t have the caffeine, substitute herbal chamomile tea for the black tea and herbal mint tea for the green mint tea.  Consider substituting honey for the sugar.  It is still delicious

Preparation:

Bring water to a boil in a saucepan.  While waiting for water to boil:

•  Cut ginger slice in half  
•  Crush cloves, and black pepper with side of knife
•  Crush cardamom with side of knife.  If needed, cut it in half first. 

When water boils add milk and lower heat.

Add ginger

Bring mixture to a simmer and add remaining ingredients except the sugar. Stir well.

Let it simmer for about 1 minute. Then bring it to a full boil letting it rise to top of pot.

Bring it back to a simmer for a about 2 minutes. Add the sugar. Stir well to ensure sugar is dissolved.

Bring it to a full boil again until the mild rises to the top of pot.

Bring it back to a simmer.

Pour it into a teapot and steep for about 4 minutes.

Strain and pour.

Banana Cake with Walnuts and Raisins and Plenty of Spiced Rum Recipe

                

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees                                               Difficulty Rating: Easy

2 mixing bowls – one for electric mixer with a paddle attachment and one to mix dry ingredients

Ingredients for the Cake:

• ·       Baking spray or butter and flour to treat the pan
• ·       4 very ripe large bananas, mushed with a fork (I like to leave some chunks of banana)
• ·       1 cup walnuts coarsely chopped
• ·       ¼ cup raisins (I like to use around ½ cup, so do this to taste)
• ·       Zest of one orange (if the orange is small, use 2)
• ·       2 large eggs
• ·       1/3 cup oil (you may probably want to use a light oil like vegetable oil or canola, I use olive oil a for just about everything)
• ·       ½ cup sour cream
• ·       4 Tablespoons Spiced Rum (this is just under ¼ cup)
• ·       ½ cup tightly packed dark brown sugar
• ·       ½ cup granulated white sugar
• ·       2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
• ·       1 teaspoon baking soda
• ·       1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• ·       ½ teaspoon salt, Kosher (course) salt or Fleur du Sel
• ·       ¼ - ½ teaspoon cinnamon – cinnamon taste varies, use more if you love it, but try to use a good cinnamon. Penzy has a great Vietnamese Cinnamon.

Ingredients for the Glaze:

• ·       1 cup well packed dark brown sugar
• ·       ½ stick of butter cut into pieces
• ·       3 Tablespoons Spiced Rum

Preparation  for the Cake:

• Treat the cake pan either with baking spray, or spread butter lightly around the pan and dredge with flour, shaking out all excess flour.
• Spread the walnuts and raisins evenly in the bottom of the treated pan.

• Zest the orange

• Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt together in the bowl that isn’t part of the electric mixer

• In the bowl of the electric mixture, combine the bananas, granulated white sugar and dark brown sugar on the lowest speed until they are mixed.

 

• Add the oil, eggs, spiced rum, sour cream and orange zest and continue mixing on lowest speed until it is smooth.

• Slowly add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt from the other bowl into the bowl of the electric mixture that is still on the lowest speed.  Mix until combined, but don’t over mix

• Pour into cake pan and tip it until it is even

• Cook for 45 minutes and test it by inserting a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it is done.

• Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes and go around the sides with a knife to ensure that it isn’t sticking to the sides.

• Turn it over onto a cooling rack and the baking pan should come right off.

• Let it cool partially

Preparation  for the Glaze:

• In a small sauce pan over a low to medium flame, mix all ingredients and stir continuously until it thickens.  It won’t get too thick, but it will thicken a bit.

• Poke some narrow holes in the cake to allow the glaze to seep in.

• Pour the glaze over the cake using a tablespoon trying to soak as much of the cake as possible, including the inside of the middle if you have used a Bundt pan. 

Banana Cake with Walnuts, Raisins and Spiced Rum