Spinach Curry with Jersey Royal Potatoes (Saag Aloo)

I used to think potatoes were just potatoes. Actually, back in Singapore where potatoes aren't the staple starch, we only distinguish potatoes into 2 categories: the mushy kind and the waxy kind (i.e. kan-dang). Then I came to London and met King Edward (the potato), Maris Piper, Desiree, Charlotte and too many other members of the potato family.

Now that it's spring, the salad new potatoes are at their prime season, the most coveted of them all being the Jersey Royals. The name speaks for itself. It's a kind of new potato grown only on the rich fertile island of Jersey, and hence, is rich and full of flavour. I think the simplest way to enjoy them is just to wash them, don't peel them because the flavour's (and nutrients') in the skins, boil/steam them, and then just eat them as they are with a dollop of butter.

But just to spice things up a bit, I also made Saag Aloo with the Jersey Royals that I got.

Saag Aloo

Make Saag Recipe Number 1, but add 300g steamed/boiled and drained new potatoes (whole or halved, unpeeled) at step 5 and fry the potatoes with the spices for a few minutes before adding the spinach and cream.

The savoury spinach curry goes really well with the creaminess of the Jersey Royals with that background of spices. Both vegetables are in their prime right now, so I think I'll be making a lot more of this (:

This is part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, It's a Keeper and Tasty Tuesday.

Super Saag! (A Multi-Purpose Indian Spinach Curry)

Spinach is in season and I love it so much, I think I kind of went overboard with the number of bunches I happily put into my grocery bag. To save my bursting little fridge some space, I thought it'd be a good idea to cook them in some sort of pureed soup because spinach cooks down beautifully, but then I suddenly thought of one of my favourite Indian dishes, Palak Paneer!

Saag (or Palak) refers to a pureed spinach curry and it's super handy because you can make proud claims to a list of at least six Indian dishes with just one recipe. Just pour the spinach gravy over ____________(fill in the blank), usually marinated in Indian spices and panfried/roasted a la tandoori, and you get:

1. Paneer --the ever-favourite Palak Paneer.

2. Chicken-- Palak (or Saag) Murgh

3. Mutton-- Saag Gosht

4. Prawns-- Jhinga Saag

5. Chickpeas-- Chana Saag

6. Potatoes-- Saag Aloo

There are two recipes which I've tried and love. One uses tomatoes and cream and tastes just divine, while the other uses yogurt and nothing red and is also delicious (and a brilliant shade of green).

Saag/Palak Recipe No. 1 (adapted from vahchef, I love this enthusiastic Indian chef)

Ingredients

makes about 1 1/2 cup

4 large bunches of spinach leaves

1 onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tbsp minced ginger

1 tomato, chopped

whole garam masala (1 cinnamon stick, 3 cloves, 3 cardamom pods)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tbsp chilli powder (or to taste)

1 tbsp fenugreek leaves (I don't have this so I left it out)

2 green chillies, chopped

1-2 tbsp cream

sea salt

1 tbsp ghee

Method

1. Blanch spinach in boiling water for 1 min, uncovered (vahchef says the whole process should be uncovered to keep the bright green of the spinach). Drain. Refresh. Puree.

Watch this mountain of spinach that's too huge to fit into the photo,

wilt into 1 cup of cooked spinach (spinach being refreshed under cold running water)

2. Over medium high heat, add the ghee. Toast the whole garam masala for a while.

3. Add the onions, with a pinch of salt (this helps it to 'melt' faster). Saute until translucent.

4. Add the ginger, followed by the garlic, turmeric, and finally the chopped tomatoes. Saute until tomatoes turn to mush.

5. Add the ground spices and green chillies, saute for couple more min.

6. Add the spinach puree, season, and cook till the oil separates. Stir in the cream, plus drizzle more to finish!

Saag/Palak Recipe No. 2 (inspired by sanjeev kapoor)

Ingredients

4 large bunches of spinach

1 handful fresh coriander i.e. cilantro (secret ingredient!)

8 cloves of garlic, minced (he loves garlic and so do I)

1 onion, sliced thinly (I chopped instead)

2 green chillies, chopped

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp coriander

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 cup yogurt

sea salt

squeeze of lemon

1 tbsp of ghee

Method

1. Blanch spinach in boiling water for 1 min, uncovered (vahchef says the whole process should be uncovered to keep the bright green of the spinach). Drain. Refresh. Puree with the fresh coriander.

2. Over medium high heat, add the ghee. Toast the cumin seeds.

3. Add the onions (plus pinch of salt), garlic and green chillies, and saute till the onions turn translucent, but aren't browned.

4. Add the ground spices to toast for a while. (He says to add the yogurt before the spices but I tried it and the sauce split after being boiled.)

5. Add the pureed spinach, season bring to boil, before adding the yogurt and simmering gently for 2 more min.

6. Finish off with a squeeze of lemon (His granny says that helps in the digestion of greens, and granny/mummy's always right;) ) and a drizzle of yogurt.

I love both recipes and switch them around depending on the __________ and my mood. This is my favourite way to get spinach into my diet. I'd find it difficult to munch through 4 large bunches of raw spinach, but I can easily finish a bowl of saag. Cooking spinach also reduces the oxalic acids in the fresh greens, making it healthier and more digestible. All that aside, the best thing about saag or palak is, simply, that it's really yum !(:

This is part of Full Plate Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday and Hearth and Soul Blog Hop.

Carrot, Spinach And Rice Stew

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 3/4 cup long-grain rice, basmati
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 pound fresh spinach, thick stems removed, roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic, optional
• 2 tablespoons butter, optional

Instructions

• 6 cups of water in a saucepan with the carrot mixture and turn heat to high. Bring to a boil, then stir in rice and large pinch of salt.
• When the mixture returns to boil, add spinach, then adjust heat so itsimmers gently.
• Cook, stirring occasionally, until rice and carrots are very tenderand a thick stew mix, about 30 minutes takes you to stability.
• Stir in garlic or butter (if you're using either or both) and cook foranother 5 minutes.
• Taste and adjust seasoning and serve or cover and refrigerate for a day before the reheating, add a little more water is required.

Carrot, Spinach And Rice Stew

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 3/4 cup long-grain rice, basmati
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 pound fresh spinach, thick stems removed, roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic, optional
• 2 tablespoons butter, optional

Instructions

• 6 cups of water in a saucepan with the carrot mixture and turn heat to high. Bring to a boil, then stir in rice and large pinch of salt.
• When the mixture returns to boil, add spinach, then adjust heat so itsimmers gently.
• Cook, stirring occasionally, until rice and carrots are very tenderand a thick stew mix, about 30 minutes takes you to stability.
• Stir in garlic or butter (if you're using either or both) and cook foranother 5 minutes.
• Taste and adjust seasoning and serve or cover and refrigerate for a day before the reheating, add a little more water is required.

A Perfectly Poached Egg

Seductive quivering blob asking to be poked.

It's easter this sunday, and I have a dozen fresh local eggs, so this week's going to be an eggs-tremely eggs-citing eggs-perience. Sorry, I couldn't help it hehe.

It'd be a shame not to poach fresh eggs, because fresh eggs really make all the difference between a perfectly formed poached egg and one with the whites running all over the place. Poaching eggs is one scary kitchen task that I took very long to finally dare to do, and being the foodie nerd that I am, researched extensively on. Here's a Guardian article which compares the methods. And after a few delicious (ugly poached eggs are still poached eggs) flops, here's the method I swear by:

Perfectly Poached Eggs

Ingredients

1 fresh free-range egg

a pot of water

a tsp of vinegar

Method

1. Bring the pot of water to a boil, and then reduce to simmer. Add the vinegar.

2. Meanwhile, crack the egg into a shallow bowl (or if you dare, you can just do it straight into the water later, but I'm chicken.)

3. Stir the boiling water vigorously (with a whisk if you like but nah) until you get a whirpool, then gently slip the egg into the centre of this whirlpool.

4. Once the whites form around the egg yolk, take it off the stove and just let it sit in the hot water for a couple of min, or till the whites are set but soft, but the yolk is still raw (tell by sight, not touch!!)

5. Immediately remove with a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen paper and serve (e.g. with wilted spinach and generously buttered sourdough toast) or transfer to a bowl of cold water to stop it cooking then reheat in a pan of simmering water.

Pan Seared Chilli Soy-Marinated Salmon with Sesame Spinach

Finally! A horrible two weeks of deadlines after deadlines is over!

And to treat myself, I decided to slowly marinate a piece of salmon steak in spicy garlicky tamari and sesame oil for a couple of hours instead of my throw-it-all-together meals the past few days. The actual cooking and preparation time is still very short though, and there's nothing extremely unique or wow about this, but it's one of my favourite (comfort) flavour combinations.

Pan Seared Chilli Soy-Marinated Salmon

serves 1

Ingredients

1 piece salmon steak

1 tbsp coconut oil (or ghee or a mix with evoo, to fry)

Marinade

2 tsp soy sauce (naturally fermented and aged, I used tamari)

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 small clove garlic, grated

1 cm piece of ginger, grated

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 tsp unrefined cane sugar or molasses

Method

1. Combine marinade ingredients and cover the salmon with it. Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours. Remove from marinade and bring to room temperature 20 min before cooking.

2. Over medium-high heat, add the oil in a pan and place the salmon into the hot pan. Don't keep poking it, or you won't get a nice sear. Salmon steaks are a bit trickier than the fillets because I can't see the colour change along the sides, but I give it an estimate of about 3 minutes before flipping over and letting it cook for another 2 min.

Sesame Spinach

Ingredients

2 big handfuls of spinach

2 tsp sesame oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped finely

Method

1. Heat the sesame oil in a pan and add the chopped garlic, stirring often till they get browned.

2. Meanwhile, wilt the spinach in boiling water or you can steam it. Refresh in cold water.

3. Toss with the garlic-infused sesame oil.

Sprinkle the toasted garlic all over the spinach and the salmon and serve with rice!

Salty spicy and sweet with the aroma of toasted sesame and garlic --Ah, happy (:

This is part of Hearth and Soul Blog Hop, Slightly Indulgent Tue, Tue Night Supper Club.

Life is too short to Stuff

So I'm feeling a lot better due to a hefty dose of anti-biotics - thanks for asking!  Back to cooking for me and them and tonight's offering was Easy Open-faced Chicken Cordon Bleu - Page 105.  Yet another one with no photo to guide me - boo hiss.  According to Giraffe life is too short to stuff and there isn't much difference between folding and stuffing.  So with that in mind off we go!

I'm not a huge fan of chicken breasts - find them a bit dry - I'm more of a thigh girl, so that probably isn't the best of starts.  You have to bash them out with a rolling pin which is quite theraputic so thats a bonus.  Stress relieved, you then "layer and fold" and shallow fry for 5 mins on each side.  You'd have food poisioning if you only gave them that long - I'd reccomend longer.  Perhaps even searing them in a pan and transferring to the oven to ensure thay are fully cooked through.  Raw chicken = not a good idea.

You are supposed to serve up with a lemon wedge the juices from the pan - but there weren't any (only gooey/crusty cheesey bits) so I opted for stir fried greens & bacon and carrott & butternut squash mash.

It looked odd, tasted good, but I still prefer my juicy thighs so if I were to make it again I'd use the same ingredients and adapt.  Stuff the thighs with the Gruyere cheese and spinach and then wrap in the parma ham to secure before roasting in the oven.  Not Cordon Bleu by any definition, but I think it would work better for me.

Cous Cous Cakes by any other name

So what to make next?  I'm a bit cheesy in many ways so really liked the idea of these cous cous cakes made with Halloumi Cheese.  They are infact Spinach & Halloumi Cakes (with Spiced Tomato and Currant Chutney) - Page 43  I was way too lazy to make the accompanying chutney :-o  A slight error in composing my shopping list meant I only bought a pack of cheese weighing 225g so didn't have the 400g specified for the recipie - doh!  So I did half quantities and it turned out pretty darn good.

Now... the recipie says it will make 8 cakes.  I made half a quantity and got 10 cakes - go figure!  For any fish cakes/burgers etc I always use my trusty Burger Maker from Lakeland - wouldn't be without it. It really squashes the ingreedients up and keeps them in shape so they aren't falling to pieces in the pan.

Girl refused to eat it - but she refuses most things that aren't sweeties.  The rest of us loved them and I had two leftover ones for brekkie!  Now that is cheesy...

Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breast

I don't usually have chicken breasts, because they just cost so much! The legs and drums cost 1/3 the price of breasts, and honestly, they do pack more flavour. But since I recently cut up a whole chicken, I have chicken breasts to work with. The tricky bit about roasting chicken breast is it can end up very dry and bland because it's so lean. So you should try to keep the meat moist and the skin on, or another trick would be to wrap it in something fatty, like this Moroccan Couscous Stuffed Chicken Breast wrapped in Bacon.

Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breast

Ingredients

1 chicken breast, with skin

pinch of salt, black pepper

a bit of parmesan

olive oil, butter

For the stuffing,

2 tbsp homemade cream cheese

2 tbsp grated parmesan

handful of spinach leaves, chopped roughly

2 button or chestnut mushrooms, chopped small

1 tsp garlic powder

pinch of nutmeg

Method

1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees celsius.

1. Saute spinach and mushrooms with a small knob of butter and a pinch of salt, pepper and nutmeg, for abut 1 min (they will get more cooking in the oven later). Drain, because you don't want all the liquid to make the stuffing too runny, but reserve the liquid (don't waste the flavourful butter/juices!).

2. Mix all the stuffing ingredients together.

3. Carefully lift up the skin of the chicken and push the stuffing in between the skin and the breast. The skin will stretch, so you can stuff more than you expect, but don't be too greedy!

4. Place stuffed chicken breast into a greased baking dish, skin side up. Pour the reserved cooking liquid over the breast

5. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle the top with a bit of parmesan, and dot with some butter/olive oil.

5. Put into oven for 45 min, or until the skin is golden and crispy.

6. After removing from oven, let it rest slightly before cutting into it and adding some parsley if you want!

Crispy skin and melty inside always works(: I like it when there's something special hidden in your food, like in stuffed pastas or dumplings.

This is part of Full Plate Thursday and Tuesday Night Supper Club.

Menu 19: Summer Supper

A quiche all creamy and full of spinach, a zucchini salad with the tantalizing flavors of Provence, followed by a Lemon Ice (from the market or check out my March 22, 2011 blog). Seems like a pretty perfect summer supper to me.

Spinach Quiche
I love this quiche and I don’t care whether quiches are in or out of fashion. If you are not up for making a pie crust, buy one. If you are not up for a pie crust of any kind, make this quiche without one. I have a friend who actually prefers it that way.

1 partially baked 8-9 inch pie shell (Recipe below) or purchase one from the supermarket.
Note: If the supermarket one comes unbaked, follow the instructions on the wrapper for partial baking or look to the recipe below.

2 tablespoons butter
½ onion, chopped
4 cups finely chopped spinach or 1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon smoky sweet paprika
1 cup grated cheese, whatever you like or have on hand cheddar, Swiss, Parmesan or a mix
1¼ cups heavy cream, warmed in the microwave
4 eggs, lightly beaten

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet and sauté the onion until tender but not browned.
3. Add the spinach, cover and cook for 5 minutes. If you use fresh, you’ll need to chop again. No need to do that if you use frozen. Add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, paprika, and ½ cup cheese.
4. Pour the warm cream slowly over the eggs while beating. Gradually beat in the spinach mixture. Taste for seasonings. Ladle into the pie shell. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
5. Bake for 30 minutes or until set. It will take longer for larger pies—45 minutes perhaps. Let sit for 15-20 minutes before serving. Serve warm.

Notes:
For a bigger pie shell, increase the cream to 1¾ cups and the eggs to 5.
If you make this quiche ahead of time (the day or the morning before serving), refrigerate and then reheat at 300ºF. for 20-30 minutes to warm it slightly.

6 servings
Adapted from Craig Claiborne’s The New York Times Menu Cookbook

Pie Crust

For an 8 or 9-inch pie plate or tin:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup plus 3 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut roughly into ½-inch pieces
7 tablespoons ice water or more if necessary

1. Combine the flour and salt in the container of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the butter and flour are blended and the mixture looks like cornmeal, about 10 seconds.
2. Add the ice water to the mixture. Pulse until you see the mixture coming together. If it doesn’t after a couple of additional pulses, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does.
3. Dump the contents of the container onto a sheet of plastic wrap and mold it into a ball. Flatten the ballot a disk; bring the plastic up around the dough to cover it completely. Either freeze for 10 minutes or refrigerate for 30 minutes. (You can also refrigerate the dough for a day or two or freeze it almost indefinitely. If frozen, defrost before rolling.)

 4. Sprinkle a smooth countertop or a large board with flour. Unwrap the dough and place it on the work surface; sprinkle the top with a little flour. If the dough is hard, let it rest a few minutes to warm up just a little.
5. Roll with light pressure, from the center out. Continue to roll, adding a small amount of flour as necessary, rotating the dough occasionally, and turning it over once or twice during the process. When the dough is about 1/8-inch thick, place your plate upside down over it to check the size. You want your circle of dough to be about 2-3 inches bigger than the plate it will go into.
6. If the size is correct, move the dough into the pan by folding the dough in half and placing the fold in the middle of the pan. Carefully unfold the dough and press it gently into the outer edge of the plate.
7. Trim (I use scissors) the extra dough about 1 inch above the rim. Fold the dough above the rim in half (to ½ inch) and crimp with your fingers to make a decorative edge. With the scraps, you can fill in any part of the circle that’s missing.
8. Place the plate in the freezer for 10 minutes or the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Partially Baked Pie Crust

1. Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
2. Prick the dough all over with a fork to help prevent the crust from poufing. (You’ll see what I mean when it happens.)
3. Tear off a large piece of aluminum foil. Press the sheet into the dough, especially on the sides. Weight the foil with a pile of dried beans or rice, pie weights, or a tight-fitting oven-proof skillet or saucepan—anything that will sit flat on the surface and hold the dough in place. Sometimes I just do the foil and don’t weight it with anything and it’s just fine.
4. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven; remove the weights and foil. If it has poufed, wait for a few minutes for it to settle and then prick the bottom, once again, with a fork.
5. Bake for another 4-5 minutes or so until the crust is just starting to turn a light brown and the bottom looks set.
6. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.

Adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything: Simple Recipes for Great Food, Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and M.F.K. Fisher’s The Cooking of Provincial France

Green and/or Yellow Zucchini Salad with Feta (also Summer Squash)

1¼ pounds squash of your choosing, roasted (see recipe below)
½ cup drained and chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
OR
½ cup dried sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil), chopped
½ cup pitted and sliced Kalamata or Nicoise olives
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped shallots or green onions
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or more if you’d like
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint or more if you’d like
6 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons raspberry or red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
Salt and pepper to taste
3 ounces crumbled feta cheese

Roasting the squash:
1. Cut into ½ -inch slices.
2. Place on a rimmed baking pan and mix with 2 tablespoons olive oil and some salt and pepper.
3. Roast at 425ºF. for about 30-40 minutes turning them mid-way. They should be nice and brown on both sides. Let cool slightly before continuing with the rest of the salad.

Making the salad:
1. In a medium bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients, except the feta. You can do this while the squash is roasting. Add salt and pepper to your taste.
2. In a serving bowl, layer the cooled squash with the other combined ingredients. Sprinkle the top with feta cheese.
3. Serve at room temperature. If you make it ahead, refrigerate until about an hour before serving.

4 servings
Adapted from John Ash’s From the Earth to the Table

Menu 17: Fast Pasta Dinner

Linguine with Lemon Sauce

4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1½ cups heavy cream
Grated zest from 3 lemons
Lemon juice from 3 lemons
1 pound fresh linguine
OR
9 ounces dried thin spaghetti
3 tablespoons salt for the pasta water
1 teaspoon salt for the sauce or to taste
3 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or other hard cheese, freshly grated at the table

1. Put 6 quarts of water in a large pot and bring it to a boil.
2. While the water is coming to a boil, combine the butter, cream, and lemon juice over low heat in a skillet large enough to hold the pasta later on. As soon as the butter is melted, remove the skillet from the heat, cover, and set aside.
3. When the water is boiling, add 3 tablespoons salt and the pasta, stirring to prevent the pasta from sticking. Cook until tender (fresh pasta won’t take long). Drain, leaving a few drops of water clinging to the pasta so that the sauce will adhere.

4. Transfer the pasta to the skillet, off the heat, and toss to blend. Add the salt, lemon zest, and toss once more. Cover and let rest for 1 to 2 minutes to allow the pasta to absorb the sauce. Transfer to warmed shallow bowls, sprinkle with parsley, and serve immediately. Pass the hunk of cheese with a microplane or a cheese grater for you and your guests to grate as desired.

3-4 servings as a main dish
Adapted from Patricia Wells’ Trattoria


Simple Sautéed Fresh Spinach or Swiss Chard

Spinach for as many as you are serving, about ¼ pound per person, depending on the serving size
OR
Swiss chard, about 1 bunch for 2 servings, stems removed, washed well, cut into ½-inch strips
Olive oil, about 1 tablespoon per serving

1. Place your spinach or chard in a non-aluminum pot big enough to hold your quantity of greens. Add 2 tablespoons of water and up to 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
2. Cover the pan and cook on low heat. The spinach will begin to wilt and give up its water. The chard will have the washing water still clinging to it; it will also begin to wilt but more slowly than the spinach. Stir to turn the uncooked spinach or chard toward the bottom surface of the pan. Keep stirring and cooking until all the spinach is cooked. With the chard, turn the heat to low, cover the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes until tender.
3. Serve immediately. You can also hold it for a short while after cooking. Rewarm gently before serving.
I never find it necessary to add salt because of the high oxalic acid in the spinach.
To add garlic, mince or press several garlic cloves into the spinach or chard at the same time as you add the water and oil.

Makes as much as you desire or your pot will hold
My own devising

Fall Comfort Food

Roasted Butternut Squash and Spinach Salad with Toasted Almond Dressing
Surprising as it may be, salads can be just as comforting as any other fall dish. This one and the next are two prime examples. They would also make great side dishes for your Thanksgiving meal.

1 (2-2½ pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into ¾-inch cubes
Note: I tried it recently with a mix of unpeeled delicata and peeled butternut. I prefer the butternut.
5½ tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup slivered almonds
1½-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼-½ pound fresh spinach, stems discarded
½ cup dried cranberries

1. Put a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 450 F.
2. Toss the squash with 1½ tablespoons oil on a rimmed baking sheet; spread them out in one layer. Season with salt and pepper and roast, stirring once halfway through roasting, until the squash is just tender, pale golden, and just slightly caramelized, about 30 minutes. Cool on the sheet until warm, about 15 minutes.
3. Heat the remaining 4 tablespoons oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately low heat. Add the almonds and cook, stirring constantly until golden, about 3 minutes. Put a fine mesh sieve over at large bowl and pour the almonds into the sieve, catching the oil in the bowl. Let them both cool for about 10 minutes.
4. Whisk the lemon juice into the cooled oil until well combined. Add salt and pepper and taste for the right balance between oil and lemon.
5. Add the squash, spinach, dried cranberries, half the almonds, and gently toss to coat all the ingredients. Check for seasonings and add whatever you think is necessary. Serve the salad sprinkled with the remaining almonds.

Note: If you want to make this ahead, do everything except add the spinach to the salad and store in the fridge. Let the squash warm up a bit before serving. You may need to add a bit more dressing to the spinach if the squash has soaked it all up.

4-6 servings
Adapted from Ruth Reichl’s The Gourmet Cookbook

Prosciutto, Pear, and Parmesan Salad with Lemon and Chervil (or Dill) Vinaigrette
This is a gorgeous combination of flavors. I sometimes serve this salad for dinner without anything else. Last night we had it with the grilled cheese sandwiches below.

4 large handfuls arugula or watercress
2 ripe pears
Juice of 1 lemon
3½ ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
3½ ounces parmesan, sliced with a vegetable peeler
2 tablespoons small chervil sprigs or other fresh herb, like dill, coarsely chopped
Pepper
1 recipe of the Lemon and Chervil (or Dill) Vinaigrette, see recipe below

1. Put the greens in a bowl and pour over half of the dressing. Toss to combine.
Place on four individual salad plates.
2. Leaving the skin on, cut each pear into 8 pieces. Sprinkle them with the lemon juice to prevent discoloration.
3. Tear or cut the prosciutto into bite-size pieces. Scissors work well.
4. Arrange the pears and prosciutto over the greens. Scatter the parmesan and chervil or dill on top.
5. Drizzle the salads with more dressing. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Note: If you want to make this a dinner for 2, reduce the amounts to 1½ pears and 2 ounces of prosciutto.

4 side-salad servings or 2 dinner servings
Adapted from Jane Hann’s Salads: Cooking with Style

Lemon and Chervil (or Dill) Vinaigrette

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon finely chopped chervil or other fresh herbs, like dill
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or pressed
Salt and pepper

1. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Whisk until well blended.

Makes ½ cup
Adapted from Jane Hann’s Salads: Cooking with Style

Grilled Sharp Cheddar Cheese and Cranberry Sandwiches
I almost burned these sandwiches. I pulled them out of the cast iron frying pan just in time.

10 ounces best quality cheddar cheese, thinly sliced
8 slices good quality firm white bread, such as challah
½-¾ cup Cranberry Walnut Relish with Grappa (from last week’s blog)
OR
Your own chilled cranberry sauce
About 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, at room temperature
Note: You can soften the butter in the microwave at 50% power for 1 minute.

1. On a cutting board, set out four slices of bread. Arrange half the cheese over the bread. Spread the relish over the cheese. Top the relish with the remaining cheese and set the remaining slices of bread on top. So it goes bread, cheese, cranberry, cheese, bread.
2. Evenly spread the top of each sandwich with about ½ tablespoon butter. Preheat the griddle or frying pan over medium/low heat. When hot, invert the sandwiches, butter side down, onto the pan. Quickly and evenly spread the tops of the sandwiches with the remaining butter. Cover and cook until the bottom is light golden and crisp, about 2½ minutes. Watch carefully. The sandwiches can burn so quickly.
3. Flip the sandwiches, cover the pan, turn the heat to low and cook until the bottom is golden brown, and the cheese is melting, another 2 to 2½ minutes. Again, watch carefully. Remove from the pan when done.
4. With a serrated knife, cut the sandwiches in half and serve immediately.

4 servings
Adapted from Carrie Brown’s The Jimtown Store Cookbook