Colorful Greek-inspired rice-and-beans

Here's a very colorful dish that can feed a crowd.

Long before you will want to eat, bring to a boil

• 2 cups dried brown rice
• 3 cups water
• 1 tsp salt

and simmer covered 20-30 minutes, until the water has been absorber. Remove from heat, and allow to steam covered at least another 30 minutes. The rice will holds its heat for an hour.

Wash and shell

• 1 lb fresh black-eyed peas

to yield a little under a cup. When selecting black-eyed peas, prefer the plump yellow ones for ease of shelling. Beans will pop out once you remove the strings. Bring a pot of water to a boil, and blanch the beans about 2 minutes.

Wash and thinly slice

• 2 small heads of chard, one yellow and one read

Either blanch or steam the chard until it has reduced in volume and turned even brighter colors.

Combine rice, beans, and chard in a large bowl along with

• 4 oz feta (preferably a fresh goat feta, but we used a mix of amazing feta from Farmers' Market and awful crumbled feta from Trader Joe's (pdf))
• 1/2 lb pickled pitted olives, mixing kinds (we had about half kalamata and half provençal, from Cheeseboard)
• salt
• olive oil
• dried or fresh oregano
• lemon juice (or, in our case, the juice of one lime combined with a moscatel vinegar)

Serve warm. Serves three with leftovers as the only dish, or four with a bowl of ice cream to finish.

Falafel

While my boyfriend taught his class, I spent Sunday afternoon sitting outside, reading blogs and newspapers, and shelling 3/4 lb fresh garbanzo beans.

For the pita, I started the dough in the morning. In a large bowl, I mixed 1.5 cup white flour, 3 cup whole wheat "bread" flour (whole wheat flour with 2 Tbsp vital wheat gluten per cup), 1/2 Tbsp salt, 1/2 Tbsp instant yeast, 1 Tbsp honey, 1 cup warm water, and 3 Tbsp olive oil. I mixed the dough by wooden spoon and kneaded it by hand, rolled it into a tight ball, and left it in the bowl covered with saran wrap to rise.

With the dough made and the beans shelled, the rest of dinner came together in less than an hour. I set the baking stone in the oven and preheated 500°F. Then I cut the dough into four pieces, and flattened into pitas. (It turns out that the oven bounce for this dough, after seven hours of proofing, is a lot: the pitas you want are at least eight inches diameter and about a quarter inch thick before cooking. I did not achieve this.) With the oven heated, I transfered the shaped pitas to the stone with the pizza paddle. The pitas need to cook roughly 10 minutes, but I checked them regularly.

I boiled the washed garbanzos at least 30 minutes, with some whole garlic cloves added to flavor the water. (I would put garlic into the falafel, except I'm mildly allergic to garlic.) My boyfriend drained, cooled, and mashed the cooked garbanzos, adding salt, cumin seed that he mashed in the mortar and pestle, and minced parsley. Then he mixed in an egg and some flour. I heated a wok with an inch or so of vegetable oil, and continued to add flour until the dough was workable. Then I rolled the garbanzo mush into balls and fried directly in the oil, removing them to a bowl lined with paper towel when the outside had turned a golden brown.

Meanwhile, my boyfriend prepared a tatziki with plain goat yogurt, sesame seeds, salt, julienned lemon cucumber, diced sweet red pepper, and shredded iceberg or green butter lettuce. We transfered everything to serving bowls, and prepared the individual sandwiches at the table. Delish.

Polenta gnocchi with pesto

We enjoy homemade pasta around here, and there's no pasta easier than gnocchi. Traditionally made at the end of the month before payday — and lending their name to the tax collectors who steal your paycheck — gnocchi (sing. gnoccho) can be made with any leftover mush-of-starch. Mashed potatoes seem to be most popular in the States, but polenta or wheat are also tasty. Combine leftover starch mush with eggs, salt, and enough flour to make into a dough, roll into balls, and boil two minutes until gnocchi float.

To that end, we brought two cups soy milk combined with two cups lightly-salted water to a boil, turned off the heat, and whisked in two cups polenta meal. Covered, this sat for about thirty minutes to cook. The by-then-cool polenta mush we combined with two eggs and a fair amount of flour, ending up with twice as much dough as we wanted. We rolled out all of the dough into gnocchi, deciding to freeze half of it. (This would have worked, too, if we froze them separated by layers of wax paper. As it is, we are currently defrosting a tub of solid polenta, to re-roll into gnocchi on Monday.) We brought salted and well-oiled water to a boil, and cooked the polenta two minutes until the balls floated.

The blender had burnt out, so the pesto we made by hand. We mashed half a cup pine nuts in the mortar and pestle, and also mashed one garlic clove. These we combined with half a cup good olive oil, a tsp salt, a quarter cup grated parmesan, and half a bunch each of spinach and basil, minced. The pesto at hand, we cooked the gnocchi, draining in a colander set in a ceramic serving bowl, emptied the bowl of the hot water, and then combined the pasta and sauce for a dish that in the U.S. if the height of gourmet.

Two salads

Shell two pounds garbanzo beans, boil two minutes, and drain. Toss with one bunch arugula, half a tub crumbled feta, and a tub of oil-cured black olives and almonds. Dress with olive oil, salt, and red wine that's turning to vinegar.

Sauté hazelnuts in walnut or olive oil until pungent. Top and quarter one pint strawberries, and toss with half a pound of spinach and four oz sweet chevre. Dress with oil and a white zinfandel.

Three-bean salad with wild rice

Shelling beans are in season, which is phenomenal. Most people have only a few shelling beans fresh: peas, and perhaps edamame or fava. But all your favorite dried or canned beans were once fresh. At our markets, I've seen cannellini beans, cranberry beans, black-eyed peas, and garbanzos. All are very tasty. Shelling usually converts about a pound of beans into about a cup. Although edible raw, I prefer to boil the beans just a few minutes.

Shell a pound each of cranberry beans, cannellini beans, and garbanzos. Also thinly slice half a pound of clean carrots. Bring enough water to cover the veggies to a boil, and blanch the beans and carrots two minutes. Drain, and toss in a serving bowl with olive oil, salt, and fresh herbs.

We had our salad with wild rice. This delicious grain should be cooked in twice as much salted water until some of the seeds burst open; then the excess liquid should be drained off. Our dinner was the most gourmet rice-and-beans ever.

Mussels

Oysters, mussels, and clams are "an excellent choice because they are farmed in an environmentally responsible way." Prefer local farmed shellfish, because shellfish should be purchased alive and extremely fresh. Ours come from Hog Island, an environmentally-careful shellfish farm in Tomales Bay. They primarily trade in oysters, and at Farmers' Market one can buy fish to take home and also oysters on the half shell to eat right there. Mmmm good.

Expect a pound of mussels and a pound of dried pasta to satisfy two people. Prepare the pasta very light: we had farfale, tossed with sage-butter.

In a large pot, combine two cups vegetable broth, two cups of white cooking wine, a few stocks of green onions, cleaned and diced, half a dozen whole garlic cloves, and a fair amount of salt. Add the mussels, and enough water to cover, and bring gently to a boil.

The mussels are done when the water boils, but there's no harm in letting them sit a little while. The mussels should open up in the water. Do not cook any mussels that are open when dry — those are dead and may make you sick — and similarly discard any mussels that do not open when cooking. With a slotted spoon, remove cooked mussels to a large ceramic bowl, and pour over as much broth as will fit without spilling. Present the mussels in the bowl with broth, and serve at the table with the slotted spoon.

Save the shells for a fish stock, of course, which should be prepared with shellfish (crab, lobster, clam, oyster, etc.) shells, fish bones, and fennel, leeks, and onions. Since I don't really have the space or time to keep different bags of stock scraps, these mussel shells went in the vegetable-broth bag with the beets and carrots and garlic.

Pizza

We made pizza last night for four. This recipe, for two pizzas, serves four with a salad and dessert.

At least an hour before eating, make the dough. Mix

• 1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 1 cup room-temperature water

and let sit. In a food processor or standing mixer with whisk attachment, combine

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 Tbsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar

With machine running, add the yeast water until dough forms into a ball. Divide dough in two, and with floured hands shape into two round balls. Wrap in floured plastic wrap, and let sit an hour to proof.

Slice and combine together

• 1 28-oz can tomatoes, drained (reserve liquid for a later dish)
• some fresh basil
• a pinch each sugar and salt
• (1 clove mashed garlic)

for the sauce.

For topping, sauté in a healthy amount of olive oil to caramelize

• 1 bulb fennel, shaved
• 1 leek, cleaned and sliced

and then add

• a few green onions, diced
• sun-dried sweet red bell pepper, diced
• salt

and divide topping in two. Also cube and divide in half

• 6 oz mozzarella
• 2 oz chevre
• 2 oz teleme.

Preheat oven 500°F, with the baking stone placed on the lowest level. Shape the balls into flat crusts. Coat the pizza peel liberally with corn meal, and transfer crust. Spread with half of the sauce, and bake 500°F for 6 minutes. Remove from the oven, add the cheese, and bake 2-3 minutes. Then add the topping and back another 1-2 minutes. Repeat with the second half of all ingredients.

Polenta with blue cheese and black beans; polenta lasagna; beet cake

Prepare this recipe for polenta squares with gorgonzola black beans, but substitute half the vegetable broth for red cooking wine, and use blue cheese since the grocer had a minimal cheese collection. If you are me, worry that the recipe won't make enough for four people, so double it, and end up with twice as much as you need.

Plate the polenta squares in the kitchen, and top with a simple light tomato sauce: just heat

• 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 large slicing tomato, washed and diced
• fresh parsley, fresh basil, and a little salt.

Since you will have too much polenta, make the leftovers into polenta lasagna. Prepare the fillings, then make layers and cook until casserole is warm throughout:

1. Polenta leftovers should press easily as a bottom layer and a top layer
2. canned diced tomatoes, possibly warmed up, make a great layer by themselves
3. spinach should be washed and sauteed with onions and mushrooms and summer squash — remember that spinach cooks down a lot
4. ricotta cheese can be used as-is, or combined with grated parmesan.

The same night I made the polenta squares, my boyfriend made a "red velvet" beet cake. He followed this recipe, but didn't put in all the sugar, added some cocoa powder, and used three fresh beets (washed, peeled, chopped, boiled, and blended) in place of the canned beets. This, it turns out, is a lot of beet: I liked how vegetal the cake resulted, whereas he did not. For frosting, combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla.

Homemade spinach pasta with smoked fish and peppers

Roughly following this recipe, bring a pot of water to a boil and blanch

• 1 bunch spinach, washed

for a minute or two. Drain, wash in cold water until cool, and mince. Combine spinach in a blender with

• a little under 1/2 cup water
• 3-4 eggs
• 2 Tbsp olive oil.

Combine dry ingredients

• 3.5 cup flour (I used 2.5 cup white flour and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, because that's what I had)
• 1/2 tsp salt

and then knead wet into dry.

Dough really ought to sit out a little before you roll it out. But, anyway, roll out the dough in batches. You'll end up with about 1.5 lbs pasta — once it's rolled out and dried, it can be frozen for later use. As with most flour-based products, the more you let the dough sit, the easier it will be. So you should roll and cut the dough in long thin strips, and let it sit out an hour. Then you'll be able to stretch the dough again. We ended up with thick fettuccine.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, with a fair amount of olive oil added to the water, and cook the pasta just two minutes. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a saucepan and lightly cook

• 1 red bell pepper, washed and diced
• 1/2 lb smoked halibut, diced

with some salt and pepper. Drain the pasta in a colander set in the serving bowl to warm the bowl; after dumping the water, layer the pasta with the heated oil and fish and peppers. Eat immediately.

Fesenjan with tofu

Fesenjan is a traditional Persian dish made with walnuts and pomegranates, usually served with chicken or eggplant, and served over rice. Like the red sauces of Italy, there are as many fesenjan recipes as there are cooks. Fesenjan was one of the first recipes I put in my recipe book, and made a fantastic dinner last night. This recipe serves at least four.

For Persian-style rice, cook long-grain white rice in twice as much salted water uncovered ten minutes, then drain, rinse in cold water, and drain again. In a large saucepan, melt 1 Tbsp butter per cup of (dry) rice, add the rice, and stir to coat. Wrap a lid in a clean cloth and secure with a rubber band; cover saucepan, and steam rice 40-45 minutes on low until bottom is golden and crusty.

Of course, I prefer brown rice, cooked my usual way: bring rice to boil with 1.5-times as much salted water, and simmer covered until water has evaporated/been absorbed (about 20-30 minutes). Then leave covered, but remove from heat, and let the rice steam itself another 20 minutes at least; rice will holds its heat for upwards of an hour.

In any case, the fesenjan:

In a large saucepan or dutch oven, sauté until wilted and translucent

• 1/4 cup oil (mix of olive and walnut)
• 2 onions (we just got half a dozen small red onions in our vegetable box), sliced thin.

Of course, I ended up burning the onions, but not badly. Anyway, add

• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• spices: 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp cardamom, 2 tsp pepper

After a minute or two, add

• 3 cups walnuts, finely processed in a food processor or blender
• 2/3 cup pomegranate concentrate
• 3 cup water or vegetable stock
• 1 large Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1/2-1 pound frozen tofu, cubed
• 3 Tbsp lemon (should be lime) juice.

Bring to boil, reduce to simmer, and cook uncovered until foaming subsides and sauce darkens and thickens, about half an hour.