Clean Eating

Winter Steak Salad

As much as I love playing in my kitchen, especially on a Sunday, life doesn’t always allow for that. I’m in overdrive today, about to leave on my first of three business day trips over the next 10 days, and I don’t have time for anything that requires much hands-on time (or cleanup, for that matter).

Fortunately, good food doesn’t have to be complicated or take hours. Seasonal ingredients, prepared simply, are quite delicious. Learn the growing seasons, and you’ll automatically steer yourself toward the most flavorful and nutritious produce. Food at its peak in winter includes root vegetables such as sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips; kale and other dark leafy greens; squash (acorn, butternut, and others with thick rinds); and citrus fruits.

I threw this together in 20 minutes with things I had on hand. Adapt it to your own tastes. Kitchen, this isn’t goodbye — it’s just a few days. :)

Winter Steak Salad
2 servings

8-12 oz sirloin steak
Salt and pepper
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
Olive oil
6 cups salad greens
2 Tbs pepitas or 1/4 c pecans
2 Tbs dried cranberries
2 Tbs your favorite vinaigrette dressing

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Season steaks with salt and pepper. Let rest for 10 min. Line a baking sheet with foil. Spread sweet potato cubes on the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, tossing to coat. Roast for 15 minutes or until soft and slightly browned, stirring once for even cooking.

Cook steaks as desired. (I use an indoor grill) Let rest on a cutting board 5 minutes, then slice thinly.

Combine salad greens, sweet potatoes, pepitas, and cranberries. Divide among 2 plates. Top with steak and serve with dressing.

Chicken Soup with Root Vegetables

It’s been nearly a year since I took possibly the biggest step of my life to date: on November 30, 2011, I become a homeowner. It’s only 600 square feet, but I love every inch of it.

Closing night in my new home

This isn’t just my first time as a homeowner: it’s also my first time living solo. The latter has been a bigger adjustment, but a valuable one for self-discovery and personal growth. Living alone has made me a little more organized and tidy (baby steps!), more social, and a better friend. I am less likely to take my down time for granted, and more likely to say yes to an invitation or extend one myself.

The first homecooked meal I ate in my new home was Chicken with Root Vegetable Soup. I hadn’t actually moved in yet, and the only furnishings that had made the trip so far were a card table and chairs, a lamp, and the living room rug, when I suddenly found myself hosting a Christmakah gift exchange with friends.

No matter! I had made this soup for the first time a few weeks before and loved it, and on this windy, chilly day, this sounded perfect. I made the soup ahead of time at my apartment and picked up good bread and cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches. I packed up the food, a favorite bottle of wine and a corkscrew, the Dutch oven, a grill pan, and enough dinnerware for the group. First dinner party in the new home = a smashing success.

The combination of bay leaves, allspice, and root vegetables gives this soup a very fragrant aroma and flavorful broth.

Root vegetables offer a unique, nutritious twist on traditional chicken soup.

This recipe marks my first foray into celery root. Look for a future post about this mysterious vegetable, but suffice to say, it tastes like celery’s milder, buttery cousin, and it’s definitely worth trying.

Note that this soup doesn’t hold well; the sweet potatoes in particular will disintegrate if left too long, or reheated slowly. If you need to make it advance, I suggest making the stock, roasting the vegetables in the oven, and combining the two along with the chicken when ready to serve.

Root vegetables — plentiful and nutritious in winter — include celery root, carrots, parsnips, and sweet potatoes.

This winter soup is best eaten immediately.

Chicken Soup with Root Vegetables

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Makes 6 servings

Stock:
1 roast chicken (approx 3 1/2 lbs)
1 large onion, halved
2 garlic cloves, peeled
3 carrots, cut into chunks
3 celery stalks, cut into chunks
2 Bay leaves
4 large fresh thyme sprigs
4 large fresh Italian parsley sprigs
8 whole allspice
3 or more quarts water (approx.)

Soup:
1 c chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
2 bay leaves
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon sea salt, plus additional to taste
6 cups root vegetables, peeled and cut into 1/3 inch cubes as follows:
1 1/2 c carrots
2 c celery root
1 c parsnips
1 1/2 c sweet potatoes
Freshly ground black pepper

Cut meat off chicken and dice. Set aside. Place carcass and all stock ingredients in a stock pot or a Dutch oven with at least 5-quart capacity. The carcass and vegetables should be completely submerged in water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Simmer 1 1/4 hours. Strain broth; return to pot and boil until reduced to 7 cups. Make ahead: Stock can be made up to two days in advance, and stored covered in the refrigerator. Store meat separately in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Alternatively, the chicken can be roasted and prepped one day in advance; store the carcass in a large zip-locked plastic bag in the refrigerator.

Heat oil in another large pot over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, sliced garlic, and 2 bay leaves; sauté 2 minutes. Add broth and all ingredients except sweet potatoes and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 7 minutes. Add sweet potatoes and continue simmering until vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Add diced chicken; season with more salt and pepper. Heat through.

Ranchero Breakfast Tostadas

Smitten.

That’s the best word I can think of when the fine folks at Bon Appetit asked its readers which recipe it should reveal from Sara Forte’s new cookbook, The Sprouted Kitchen.

Regular readers of Bon Appetit’s blog know the magazine regularly promotes new cookbooks through this hybrid recipe reveal-cookbook giveaway model. I’ve bought more than one cookbook because of this blog feature, and once I even won the giveaway contest myself (thanks, BA!)

At any rate, when I saw the picture of her ranchero breakfast tacos, I was in instant lust. Hearty black beans, velvety avocado, and a golden, runny egg yolk, all presumably with a Mexican flavor kick… where do I sign up for this kind of breakfast on a daily basis?

Less than two weeks after BA’s post, I happened to come across the cookbook while shopping during a girls’ weekend in Nashville. It took persuading for me to pick up a copy.

My first field experiment, of course, was the ranchero breakfast tostadas. They lived up to the hype, and then some.

Sara Forte’s lovely new cookbook, The Sprouted Kitchen

By making the bean mash and shredding the cheese the day before, I had breakfast on the table in under 30 minutes. At first glance, that’s more time than I typically like to spend on breakfast during the week — yes, I’m that girl who rolls out of bed at the last possible moment every day — but half that time is the oven heating, and actual cooking takes less than 15 minutes. That’s absolutely doable and worth the investment.

(Note: don’t try to cut corners and skip browning the tortillas, or throwing them in the oven before it’s finished preheating. You want the tortillas to get nice and crisp so that they’ll crack easily when you slice your fork through them. Trust me: it will taste better and be easier to eat this way.)

Best of all, it’s a healthy and satisfying breakfast. A serving is two tostadas, and I couldn’t clean my plate. It offers enough fiber and protein to ward off the mid-morning munchies (I actually didn’t eat again until lunch 5 hours later!), as well as good fat from the avocados. If you prefer your eggs scrambled or poached, go for it, and adjust the spices to suit your taste.

Is this what love tastes like? At 7am, I think so.

Eggs, beans, avocado and cheese make for a hearty breakfast

October 18 Update: I’m officially in love. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve eaten this in the last 2 1/2 weeks… if I could fry an egg at the office I think I might eat this three meals a day when I can get access to good avocados. It’s that good.

Ranchero Breakfast Tostadas

Adapted from The Sprouted Kitchen: A Tastier Take on Whole Foods, by Sara Forte (Ten Speed Press, 2012)

For every 2 servings:
1 cup cooked black beans, drained (canned or from scratch)
2 Tablespoons tepid water
2-4 Tablespoons sour cream or Greek yogurt
1 green onion, chopped
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, to taste
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Optional: 2 slices cooked bacon, chopped
4 small corn tortillas
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons unsalted butter or coconut oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
1 avocado, peeled and thinly sliced
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
Hot sauce and lime wedges for serving (optional)

Place beans in a small saucepan over low heat. Warm through. Add water and 2 Tablespoons yogurt or sour cream, onions, cumin, salt and pepper. Mash with a potato masher or a large fork until coarsely mashed but not entirely smooth. Stir in bacon, if desired. Taste for salt and pepper, and add the remaining sour cream if you’d like the beans to be creamier. Turn off the heat and keep covered until needed. Make ahead: black bean mash can be prepared up to 2 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. When reheating, add a small amount of water.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Brush the tops of the tortillas with a bit of olive oil and lay on a rimmed baking sheet (it’s fine for them to overlap). Bake until just lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Heat a large frying pan with the butter or oil over medium heat. Working in batches as necessary, gently break the eggs in the pan and cook sunny-side up or to your desired doneness, covering the pan if you like your yolks more cooked through.

Build each tostada: top a tortilla with about 1/4 cup of bean bash, 1 egg, 1-2 Tablespoons cheese, 1/4 of an avocado, and a sprinkle of cilantro. Serve with hot sauce and a wedge of lime.