Italian Orzo Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

We do a lot of salads similar to this, but Justin was specifically craving an orzo salad.  We thought we'd use the cherry and yellow tomatoes out of our garden, as well as the poblanos Justin grew.  (Poblano taste real similar to green bell peppers, and I figured most people are more familiar with bell pepper, so I put that in the recipe.)  What I really love about this salad, though, is the Lemon Basil Vinaigrette!  I so love making my own salad dressings.

I know I just used Op Ivy a few recipes ago, but we were listening to them in the car whilst running errands this morning, and so all day I've been singing "Bombshell".  Actually, I've just been singing the "Oh yeah!" backup vocals part.  I'm really good at that part.  -jen

ITALIAN ORZO SALAD
Time: 40 minutes (mostly just chopping veggies)
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  6-7 cups

• 1.5 cups dry orzo pasta
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 cups broccoli florets
• 1 cup cucumber, seeded and diced (about 1 medium)* 
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup bell pepper, diced (about 1 small pepper)
• 1/2 cup green onion, diced (2-3 medium onions)
• 1/2 cup carrot, shredded (about 1 medium carrot)
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 cup green olives, rough chopped
• 6 oz mozzarella cheese, small cubed
• 1/2 cup Lemon Basil Vinaigrette (see recipe below)

*  To seed a cucumber:  Cut off both ends.  Cut cucumber lengthwise.  Run a small spoon down the length of the seeds, scooping them out. 

Bring chicken broth to a boil in a large pot.  Stir in orzo and cook 10 minutes, pasta should be al dente.  Drain in a strainer and transfer to a large bowl.  Set aside to cool slightly.  (Good time to cut veggies and make the Lemon Basil Vinaigrette!)

Add all remaining ingredients to cooled orzo and toss.

LEMON BASIL VINAIGRETTE
Time: less than 5 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  about 1/2 cup

• zest of 1 lemon (about 1/2 tbsp)
• juice of 1 lemon (about 3 tablespoons)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 cup basil leaves, packed
• 1 small green onion
• 1 large garlic clove (about 1/2 teaspoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon anchovy paste (optional)
• 1/8 teaspoon sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• pinch of red pepper flake

Add all ingredients into a blender and blend until combined.

Cheesy Cauliflower and Broccoli Casserole

I have another similar recipe on the blog, the Cheesy Cauliflower Bake.  In that one I steamed the cauliflower in large chunks on the stove.  Lately, I've been enjoying "riced" cauliflower with the food processor, then cooked in the microwave, so that's what I did this time.  And broccoli, of course.  Just a few little differences.  We both really liked this recipe though.  Had it tonight with pork medallions and I did up a pan gravy with the drippings.  Delicious!

Have had Hot Water Music's "Wayfarer" in my head.  -jen

CHEESY CAULIFLOWER AND BROCCOLI CASSEROLE
Special Equipment:  Food Processor
Prep Time:  25 minutes
Cook Time:  25-30 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes:  6-8 servings

• 1 large head of cauliflower, roughly chopped
• 1/2 crown of broccoli (2-3 cups, roughly chopped)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 8oz cream cheese, softened
• 3 tbsp Greek yogurt or sour cream (optional)
• 2 cups cheddar or cojack, shredded
• 3 tablespoons green onions, diced (about 3 medium)
• 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
• 2 dashes Sriracha sauce (or other hot sauce)
• salt and pepper to taste (I used my KFCseasoning, a little Mrs. Dash and some white pepper)
• 1 egg, lightly whisked
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, F.  Prepare a 2-quart 8"x8" baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Set aside.

Add cauliflower and broccoli to food processor.  Pulse until vegetables are about the size of rice.  Place in a microwave safe glass bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.  Microwave on high for 10 minutes (bowl will be hot!!)  Let sit for 5 minutes with plastic wrap on.

Return cooked vegetables to the food processor and add butter, cream cheese, and yogurt/sour cream.  Process on high until smooth and creamy.  Return to glass bowl and stir in shredded cheese, green onions, Worcestershire, and Sriracha.  Now is the time to add your salt and pepper while you can still taste it and adjust.  Then stir in the egg.

Transfer to the prepared baking dish, making sure mixture is level.  Sprinkle Parmesan over the top and bake at 400 degrees F for 25-30 minutes.  Top should be golden brown.  Serve immediately.

Cheesy Cauliflower and Broccoli Casserole with pork medallions and gravy

Cream of Vegetable Soup

We've been making soup about once a week.  Throughout the week, we often have roasted vegetables several times and will often make a salad of some sort.  So when we're preparing vegetables, we've taken to saving things like the ends of carrots and onions, the stems of herbs, all of our vegetable "scraps", and storing them in a Ziploc bag in the freezer.  Then Justin makes stock out of them and we make a delicious vegetable soup.  Usually they're broth-based soups, but we felt like going with a cream style this week, packed full of vegetables (and bacon, which is totally optional).  Came out so rich and delicious!  We make large batches at a time so that we have lunches for work.  You can cut the recipe in half if you're not looking for quite so much.

The awesome thing about soups like this, is that you can customize the vegetables to whatever you like.  Don't like mushrooms?  Axe 'em and add cauliflower instead.  Don't like bell peppers?  Axe 'em and add potato instead.  I think most of our soups end up created just using whatever we have leftover in the fridge.  

To go with our soup, for no particular reason except to rock, is The Marked Men doing "All In Your Head".  -jen

CREAM OF VEGETABLE SOUP
Prep Time:  20 minutes (35 if using bacon)
Cook Time:  20 minutes
Difficulty:  Easy
Makes: about 14 cups

• 1 pound bacon, diced (optional), reserve 2 tablespoons of bacon fat
  
• 5 tablespoons butter (6 tbsp if not using bacon fat)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil (4 tbsp if not using bacon fat)
• 2 cups crimini or button mushrooms, diced fine
• 2 cups broccoli florets (about 1 medium crown)
• 1.5 cups yellow onion, diced fine (about 1 medium onion)
• 1.5 cups carrots, diced fine (about 3 medium carrots)
• 1 cup celery, diced fine (about 3 large stalks)
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced fine (about 1/2 medium pepper)
• 1/2 cup poblano pepper, diced fine (about 1 medium poblano)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 2/3 cup flour
• 6 cups chicken broth 
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• salt, to taste (bacon adds a lot of salt on its own, as do most chicken stocks, so taste your soup before adding salt!)

Place diced bacon into a cold stock pot.  Turn heat to medium-high, and cook until crisped, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep from sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Using a slotted spoon, spoon out the crisped bacon and drain over paper towels.  Set aside.  Drain all but 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat from the stock pot.

Add olive oil and butter to stock pot (still over medium-high heat).  Add all vegetables and saute until tender, 10-12 minutes.  Add the rosemary, thyme and marjoram to the vegetables and cook 1 more minute.  Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir until flour absorbs oil and is no longer white.  Cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Whisk in the stock and turn the heat to high.  Whisk continuously until soup begins to thicken a little.  Once it begins to thicken, add heavy cream, white pepper, black pepper and the crisped bacon.  Stir continuously until soup comes to a boil, then remove from heat.  Add salt to taste and serve.

Red Kuri Squash-Leek Soup

We should have carved our traditional pumpkins last night because it was Halloween, but instead, I ended up carving up a Red Kuri squash.  Actually, I didn't carve it up, because I couldn't get my damn knife through the thing!  So I had to wait for Justin to get home from work to cut it for me.  There was intoxication involved and I figured I should give up while I was ahead and still had all my fingers.  Those suckers are thick (the squash, not my fingers... or maybe my fingers too)!

Thoughts on Red Kuri squash: my favourite squash we've tried so far!  I had to taste it after roasting it for the soup, and with just some olive oil, salt and pepper, it had this rich, delicious, buttery flavour.  Not as sweet as some squash is, and I knew it was going to be perfect in soup. 

Exploring different types of squash this fall has been a lot of fun, and this Red Kuri's been sitting on our table, waiting to be used.  Squash-leek soup sounded great, but I didn't really want the thickness of traditional squash soup, I wanted a thinner, brothy soup.  I just happened to have the other veggies in the fridge and they needed to get used up, but they were a really great addition, I liked having something to chew instead of a smooth soup and I would definitely recommend them (though you could easily leave them out if you chose).  If you're looking for a thicker soup, you could very easily just cut the chicken broth back by half (or more, depending on the consistency you're looking for).  The soup was quick and basic, but perfect for the cold, wet night we had.  I wanted it to have just a little heat in it, so I used some white pepper and cayenne pepper, but if you're not into heat, you can leave them out.

I've been on an Against Me! kick for the last two weeks, and I had several of their albums thrown on my playlist on repeat while making this... so it was a no brainer for music!  This is one of mine and Justin's all-time favourites, "What We Worked For".  -jen

RED KURI SQUASH-LEEK SOUP
Prep Time:  1 hr, 15 minutes
Cook Time:  5-10 minutes

Difficulty:  Medium

• 1 Red Kuri squash
• olive oil
• salt & black pepper
• 8-oz crimini mushrooms, diced
• 1 orange bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 cup very small broccoli florets
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3 large leeks, greens removed and whites diced
• 2 quarts chicken stock (or vegetable stock if you prefer)
• 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Quarter the squash and remove seeds and membrane.  Rub enough olive oil over the exposed flesh to coat, and then generously salt and pepper them.  Bake at 425 degrees for one hour.  Set aside.  Remove skin when squash has cooled enough to handle.

In a stock pot, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add mushrooms, bell pepper, broccoli and minced garlic.  Saute until softened, 5-7 minutes.  Remove from pan and set aside.

Heat 2 more tablespoons of olive oil in same stock pot, over medium-high heat.  Add leeks and saute until tender, 10-12 minutes.  Puree leeks, squash and broth together.  (If you have an immersion blender, you can add squash and broth to pot and blend.  If not, remove leeks from pan and place in a blender with the squash and enough broth to puree, then pour back into stock pot with any remaining broth.)  Add the sauteed mushrooms, pepper and broccoli.  Stir in sage, white pepper and cayenne pepper.  Heat to serve.

Thai Chicken Salad

I'd grabbed a Chinese chicken salad at our local co-op the other day for lunch.  Forgetting how much I love Chinese chicken salad, I came home and told Justin we should come up with one that we dig.  So instead of Chinese, we went with Thai!  I don't think we ever get tired of the combination of cilantro, basil, and mint!  I was a little leery of the chipotle in the dressing (begrudgingly inspired by Bobby Flay), but it was really great!  We both ate giant bowls of this and in between mouthfuls, we just kept exclaiming how awesome the salad was (and how awesome we are!)

For music... well, this is how the conversation went.  Me: What do you want to use for music?  J:  I dunno.  Me:  Did we use Screeching Weasel yet?  J:  "What We Hate" is my favourite of theirs.  Me:  I like that one too.

Not very inspiring, but still a great song from a band we love.  -jen

THAI CHICKEN SALAD
Time:  20 minutes prep at most
Difficulty:  If you can use a knife, you can do it, Nicky!
Serves: 6-8 

• 2-3 cups cooked chicken breast, cubed
• 1/2 head Napa cabbage, shredded
• 2 heads Romaine lettuce, shredded
• 4 medium carrots, shredded
• 1 cup broccoli florets
• 4 medium scallions, sliced long and thin
• 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 cup basil, chopped
• 1/4 cup mint, chopped
• 1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter (creamy or chunky, whichever you prefer)
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
• 2 tablespoons minced chipotle pepper
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon fish oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon lime zest
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• salt & pepper to taste
• crunchy chow mein noodles

In a large bowl, mix chicken, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, broccoli, scallions, cilantro, basil, mint and almonds.

In a smaller bowl, whisk vinegar, peanut butter, ginger, chipotle, soy sauce, honey, fish oil, sesame oil, lime zest, and lime juice.  Whisk in vegetable oil until completely blended.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Pour dressing onto salad and toss.  Toss your salad until you can toss it no more.  TOSS IT!!!  Then serve with crunchy chow mein noodles on top (don't mix them in, they'll get soggy).

Tip:  If you think you'll have leftovers, don't mix the dressing with all the greens.  Just pour the dressing on your individual servings, that way your greens don't get soggy in the fridge.

Red Cabbage & Broccoli Coleslaw

I really love red cabbage and its EXTREME CRISP!  (I just wanted to hop on the EXTREME bandwagon.)  So the night after Justin made Ribolita for dinner, I found we had all the fixings for a vegetable coleslaw using the leftover red cabbage!  I whipped out the box grater and went to town!  The slaw came out real tasty - we ate it with some pulled pork, good call there.  Simple, basic recipe - super easy.


When I think of coleslaw, I think of the south.  And so I was trying to think of some southern punk... and instead, my mind popped up with this song.  Not punk, obviously, but I got there by way of punk!  I woke up to Dylan's version on the radio this morning, thought about how I liked Ness' version better, and so somehow Social D wires crossed with southern food and if I ramble any more about how I get from one thought to another, I'm going to sound ridiculous.  Mike Ness - Don't Think Twice.  -jen

RED CABBAGE & BROCCOLI COLESLAW

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 small shallot, diced fine
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/4 teaspoon salt (optional because of the celery salt, add to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 medium red cabbage, shredded
• 1 medium crown broccoli, shredded
• 4 medium carrots, shredded

In a large bowl, combine mayonnaise, Dijon, red wine vinegar, shallot, sugar, Old Bay, celery salt, and black pepper.  Whisk until combined.  Add cabbage, broccoli and carrot and toss until coated.

Tip: Make this the day before you want to eat it because the flavours meld deliciously once it refrigerates over night!

Cream of Asparagus & Broccoli Soup

This is basically a "we're broke and gotta do something with leftovers" soup that came out fantastic!  Very rich, creamy soup and surprisingly, neither the asparagus nor the broccoli are overwhelming.  As Justin just said, it's a stick-to-your-ribs soup.  Now, I actually made this soup with some of Justin's homemade pork broth which gave it this great, smokey, ham or bacon flavour.  However, since I know most people don't have pork broth hanging around in their freezer, I'm going to post the recipe with chicken broth, which is perfectly acceptable.

I'm going to be honest here with the music - I was in a retro mood and listening to my Rosemary Clooney Pandora station (even my garnish got retro!), but this is a rock'n'roll blog and I just can't bring myself to post one of her songs.  So I'm going with a song that came across my ears yesterday that I hadn't heard in years!  T.S.O.L.'s "Black Magic"!  I remember loving this song the first time I heard it and then playing it over, and over, and over, and then over again!   Hard to find a video of this song at all!  -jen

CREAM OF ASPARAGUS & BROCCOLI SOUP
Time: 45-60 minutes total
Serves: 6-8
Difficulty: Easy 

• 1.5 pounds of asparagus
• 1 pound of broccoli
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 10 tablespoons butter
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 2/3 cup flour
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 3 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
• 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on taste)
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Remove woody ends of asparagus and discard; chop the asparagus into 2" pieces.  Chop broccoli into about 2" pieces, including the stems.  Lay out on a baking sheet and drizzle generously with olive oil, then toss to coat all vegetables.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast for 30 minutes.  Set aside.


Meanwhile, heat butter in stock pot over medium-high heat and saute onions until soft and transluscent, 5-10 minutes.  Add minced garlic and cook an additional 3 minutes.  Add flour and stir until combined, cook another 5 minutes.  Whisk in chicken broth and milk until all clumps have disappeared and sauce begins to thicken.  Add roasted asparagus and broccoli, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, tarragon, and cayenne pepper.  Taste soup to see if it needs additional salt and pepper.  Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth.  (If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender or food processor, but do it in batches and be careful because the soup is hot!)  Stir in sherry and serve.