Green Soup, Immersion Blenders, More Boston Organics, and Justin Bieber

First, Justin Bieber, who makes young girls apparently all Beatles-like riotous.



Really? Seriously? Do you get it? Cause I don't. And I actually LIKE pop music. I dunno, maybe I'm too old to understand. I did really like Joey Mac back in the day, so evs.

OK, matter at hand, GREEN SOUP!

Here is my picture of GREEN SOUP. Yes, I drank half of it before photographing, but I just couldn't help it. Soooo good.



This post is a kind of cousin to my last post, which involved a chowder recipe made from vegetables out of the Boston Organics Box. This weeks box contained asparagus, zucchini, and a basil plant. I still had broccoli(yuck) left from my last box and some onions, so I had all of the ingredients available to make Ellie's mom's famed GREEN SOUP that she served them in Mexico. I have been cautioned not to eat too much of this in one week because there apparently is so much chlorophyll in it that too much can affect your liver negatively. I cannot confirm this. Also, if I have to say - "How much is too much?" It's really good, I needed to be cautioned.

So ok, ingredients:

• 2 small onions or 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• a large handful of asparagus, maybe 12-15 spears, with the tough ends broken off (reserve this for veggie stock later), cut into 2 inch pieces
• 2 cups of roughly chopped broccoli florets (you can keep the florets whole, just make sure they're off the stalk. Reserve the stalks for stock.)
• 2 small zucchinis, diced or sliced
• 1 large handful of swiss chard, about 2 cups, no need to chop
• salt
• pepper
• water as needed
• garlic powder, optional
• half a cup of fresh basil leaves, optional

NOTE: No need to precut veggies. Each step allows for time for you to chop the next vegetable before it goes into the pot.

Warm olive oil on low heat in a large pot. Add onions and salt and pepper, I added about a half a teaspoon of each. Stir and let it work itself out for a while. Crush the garlic cloves to remove skin, reserve skins for stock. Add the garlic to pot, no need to chop, mince, etc. Once onions are translucent, add asparagus to pot and stir. Cook for about 3 minutes and then add water to pot to just cover the vegetables. Turn heat up high and cover. Let boil for 4-5 minutes while preparing broccoli florets. Add to the pot and add more water to just cover the vegetables. Add another pinch of salt and pepper to the pot. Cover and let boil for 4-5 minutes while preparing zucchini. Add zuccini and enough water to just cover vegetables. Pinch of salt and pepper and let boil while you prepare the swiss chard and basil or any fresh herb. You can use a comparable amount of fresh parsley or nothing at all.

This soup should be simple! Once you add the chard and herbs, cover the pot and let boil for about 5 more minutes. You can add more water if it's looking low, but you want to make sure the level of water is always just covering the veggies. Once the 5 minutes are up, uncover and test your veggies. Stick a fork in the asparagus pieces, the asparagus should completely yield to the fork. All the veggies should be completely tender at this point. If not, let it boil for a little while longer. Now for the exciting part. Grab that amazing immersion blender that you gifted yourself prompted by self love...No? Ok, grab the immersion blender you stole from your ex-boyfriend. Evs. Just get yourself an immersion blender. Whatever it takes. Trust me. It will change your life. Like when Boston Organics sends you every root vegetable known to man all autumn and if you eat another fricken turnip mash you will die or kill someone but then you were saved by the immersion blender and now you can make turnip and chive soup, or potato leek soup, or curried sweet potato soup, or anything else wonderful like that because you have an immersion blender and you make your own veggie stock so you always have some on hand and is anyone else's life like this?

Ok, maybe not. So enough of a rant. You can use a regular old blender, but um beware. Wait for the liquid to cool so the blender won't explode and the top of your blender won't pop off and the hot liquid will squirt everywhere and burn you - this has happened to me and to others, please be careful. So when the soup is all blended, taste it. You will need to add salt and pepper and maybe even a few really good shakes of garlic powder like I did. Up to you...I like things with a little kick. Your soup will be creamy without any dairy products at all. It will be delicious and healthy - except for the chlorophyll thing, but I don't know. Internet research suggested that chlorophyll cures everything from cancer to bad breath. Here's a link about this that I cannot confirm the validity of and that Mad Tasty has no affiliation to.

But anyway, back to GREEN SOUP. GREEN! TASTY! SOUP!

You will thank me later.

Until next time,
A

grilled zucchini spears

So this is a quick and easy post. Zucchini spears are pretty fantasty (ha, a typo, but one that I sort of like; I'll leave it there). Also, fantastic. In any case, slice your zucchini in half long-ways twice, so each spear is one quarter of a squash. You can use summer squash for this as well, but they aren't shaped as uniformly as zucchini so its mostly a visual thing.

Then you should come up with a marinade. Kristy and myself were in someone else's kitchen, so what we came up with was basically salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar & catalina salad dressing. Marinade in a big ziploc bag for an hour or two (we sucked the air out of the bag for a semi-vacuum seal, that may help), and then throw on the grill until you get a nice set of grill marks per the photos and you're good to go. I ate mine with a veggie burger and the others had theirs with grilled chicken.

holiday blunders

or, "unintentional zucchini casserole"

At our pre-thanksgiving celebration, I attempted to recreate my zucchini au gratin from last year, albeit in larger quantity and with the addition of canned tomatoes on top instead of purely decorative slices of a fresh tomato. 


However, I managed to overdo the milk and garlic, so it never quite obtained that lovely gratin texture.  I wasn't pleased, until later I heard folks asking about "Who made that zucchini casserole?  It's so good."  Then I realized I should just not tell anyone it was supposed to be a gratin.


Moral of the story?  My kitchen mistakes are better than danielle's.  Also, if find out that your holiay meal isn't going as planned, maybe just keep your mouth shut and no one will notice. 


Happy holidays.

linguine with mushrooms

So for this meal I started off with some intriguing spinach and chive linguine courtesy of Trader Joe's.  I'm sure you could make it with regular linguine, but I'd amp up the seasonings to account for that.


ingredients

• pack of linguine
• chopped baby bella mushrooms
• a zuchinni
• fresh baby spinach
• crushed garlic
• olive oil
• crushed chili flakes
• salt/pepper
• grated sharp white cheddar to top
  

  

  

  

Above you'll see the pre- and post-cooked goodness of the veggies.  The whole mess looked less appealing when dumped on top of the pasta and covered in cheese, but I can assure you it was delicious.  I won't give instruction on this, basically chop, simmer/boil and serve.  If it seems too dry, add more olive oil.  

Carrot Cake Alternatives

Since today is National Carrot Cake Day, you might expect us to post a classic recipe of the vegetable-infused baked good. But here at mad tasty (and Shake and Bake HQ), we don't succumb to the expected. So while the crumbly sweetness of carrot cake is all well and good, we want to introduce a few alternatives with which to celebrate the day. Who knows, maybe these will have their own holidays soon!

Hummingbird cake is apparently a Southern recipe and makes are one of our all-time favorites cupcakes, perfect if you're looking for a chocolate-free dessert. We've seen a bunch of recipes (Martha even has one, video included) and each is just a bit different. Some add coconut (which we think is a good addition to any cake), some call for pecans or walnuts (though we opted for toasted almonds), and the recipe is so simple that you can probably just wing it. We went with the one from Cupcake Bakeshop today, since it uses oil instead of butter and because we miss this blog being active.


Hummingbird Cupcakes
makes 24 cupcakes

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1-1/2 tsp vanilla
1 8oz can crushed pineapple, with liquid
2 mashed bananas (the browner the better, though ours are lacking in ripeness)
1 cup slivered almonds, toasted


1. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt with a whisk in a good sized bowl.
2. Beat eggs.
3. Add oil and vanilla to beaten eggs and mix until somewhat combined.
4. Add egg/oil/vanilla mixture to flour/sugar/baking soda/cinnamon/salt mixture.
5. Mix together pineapple, bananas, pecans until combined.
6. Add to the rest of ingredients and stir to combine.

Bake at 350 degrees for ~25 minutes until golden and a cake tester comes out clean. Top with cream cheese frosting (recipe below).




The almonds add an interesting little crunch though, to be honest, we think these were better last time when we made them with pecans - especially if you toast those babies for a few seconds before tossing them in your batter. Toasting isn't necessary, but it really makes the nutty flavor pop, and is helpful in adding more flavor to your cookies. But we digress...


Cream Cheese Frosting (for 12 cupcakes, but it's much easier to double and use for two dozen)

4 tablespoons softened butter
4 oz softened cream cheese
2 cups confectioners sugar (note: for a frosting that's not as sweet, you can stick with 2 cups sugar even if you double the recipe)
½ tsp vanilla

In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add 2 cups confectioners sugar and 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. Beat until light and fluffy.


We like this recipe for cream cheese frosting because it uses less cream cheese and butter to make the same amount of frosting. Maybe it's a scientific miracle, but we think if you combine almost any amount cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla you'll get a passable frosting.

For those who really want veggies in their sweets, consider Zucchini cupcakes. We don't know where this recipe came from, but not to worry - it's tried and true.

Zucchini cupcakes (yields 12)

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 zucchini (grated/shredded)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 and line cupcake pan with paper or foil liners. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix in nuts.

In another bowl, combine zucchini, oil, eggs, and vaninlla. Add to flour mixture and mix until combined. Divide batter evenly among cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. Cool and add cream cheese frosting (frosted cupcakes are best eaten within one day, but honestly, why would you wait?).

zucchini au gratin

Zucchini au Gratin

For this meal I've adapted my other gratin potatoes for a lovely green and yellow zucchini/squash dish.  I made it for our pre-thanks meal, and then recreated it a week later when I knew that I'd be able to eat more of it myself.  I'd recommend it whenever you accidentally buy too many zucchini.  (Corgettes-lovers meet zucchini, same difference .... are we all on the same page now?)

ingredients

• 2 zucchini
• 1 summer squash
  
• 1 cup of milk
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• rosemary
• 3 cloves of garlic
• a saffron-esque orange seasoning to taste
• some sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 tomato
• a bit of parmesan cheese
  

So slice the squashes up.  I like the slicer on my cheese grater, but be prepared to guard your knuckles.  I layed the zucchini and summer squash.  To be honest, the second time I made it (like the photo above) I only used one zucchini instead of both, but it was a bad choice because the zucchini shrink a bit as they cook, so the second time around it was a bit less substantial. ....so use both and press them into the casserole dish if you have to.  In the middle of the layers I put in some of the garlic.

When I was done, I mixed up the rest of the garlic with the milk, seasoning and salt/pepper like so:

The seasoning there really is the secret ingredient ... its just that much more satisfying with that yummy orange colour.  Saffron for cheapskates, yo.  Anyway, pour that onto the sliced squash.  It'll all bubble up and be yummy, so don't stress about covering everything perfectly.  Then you want to put the cheese onto the top.  (For the pre-thanks version, I sliced a vine tomato into six slices to garnish and put a good amount of parmesan cheese on top of each slice.)

This is the key bit:  Cover with aluminum foil.  Put in oven at 425 degrees fahrenheit for 20 mins.  Use your timers folks ... when the 20 mins is done, remove the foil.  20 more minutes.  Then cut up the butter and put on the top.  20 more minutes and you're done.

kitchen katastrophe: the cucumber

my friend had just received a promotion at work and to congratulate her, i invited her over for a home cooked meal. we were students doing internships, rather poor, and living in paris in small apartments with little to no kitchen. i had just started reading recipes online at work while i was bored and found one that i thought would be easy enough for me to make: chicken in a red sauce and a nice side salad.

lisa and i were new friends - we didn't know each other THAT well and this would have been her first time seeing my apartment. it was a small studio - 17m squared. she sat on the couch while i baked and watched me - 2 feet away in the kitchen. she laughed when i put on rubber gloves to handle the chicken. i think she thought i was being funny, but at the time, chicken really grossed me out. i have since mostly gotten over the disgust of raw meat, but sometimes it comes back and i still keep a pair of rubber gloves on hand.

we had a nice conversation and while the chicken cooked i began preparing the side salad. i had a beautiful cucumber from the store that i held up in one hand with the knife in the other. "would you like some cucumber on your salad?" i asked, quite pleased with myself."suuuure..." she replies hesitantly. she was irish and i assumed her hesitancy was because they didn't put cucumbers on salads in ireland. i continue chatting as i am cutting and placing the slices of delicious veggie on the small salad plates i had. she stares at me and finally says, "but, you know that's a zucchini, right?"
i looked at the half-cut cucumber in my hand and realized it DID look a little funny. i didn't want my new friend to discover my ineptitude with all things culinary, so i said, "of course, i knew that." i had NO IDEA. she wasn't fooled. we decide to add it to the chicken to make our own sort of ratatouille.

the morale of this kitchen katastrophe is three-fold:

1. bring a dictionary to the store in a foreign country
2. cookbooks are invaluable - keep one on hand for last-minute reference
3. pretend you know what you're doing no matter what!

RISOTTO CHALLENGE: Entry Three

Darn Good Baked Chicken
and Zucchini Risotto

Adobo Baked Chicken
Ingredients:

• 1 chicken
• 2 table spoons Adobo all purpose seasoning
• black pepper
• garlic powder
• 1 large onion
• 3-5 medium potatoes
• 1-2 cups chopped carrots (bite sized)
  
• 1/3 cup EVOO

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 deg
   
2. Remove the giblets and rinse chicken and set aside (cool water or vinegar for extra clean chicken)
3. Chop 1/2 of the onion into bite sized pieces
4. Dice 1/2 of the remaining onion
5. Separate the layers of the last chunk of onion (remember to breathe out of your mouth if your eyes start to tear)
6. Peal and chop potatoes until bite sized pieces
7. In small bowl mix EVOO, Adobo, garlic powder and a generious amount of pepper together
8. Place potatoes, carrots and bite size onion pieces in the bottom of your baking dish and sprinkle with Adobo and pepper
9. Take chicken in your hands and try and seperate the skin from the flesh with your fingers without taring it
10. Stab the chicken all over with a knife (allows your flavor mix to get deep into the chicken
11. Using a basting brush lather the chicken all over with your flavor mix.
12. Pour remaing mix under the skin and inside the chicken
13. Stuff chicken with the peeled onion layers and place breast side up in the baking dish
    
14. Sprinkle diced onion and dried parsley all over chicken
15. Cover with foil and place in the oven for 45 minutes undisturbed
16. After 45 mins remove foil and baste chicken and potatoes three to four times over a 25 minute period
17. Chicken should be done but make sure to poke the meatiest part of the chicken with a knife and check that the juices run clear
    

Notes:

• Chicken should look well seasoned if it doesnt shake some more pepper and adobo on the chicken before placing in the oven.
• Save cooked chicken carcass to make a tasty broth for chicken noodle soups
  

Zesty Zucchini Risotto
Ingredients:

• 2 cups Arborio Rice
  
• 5 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 2 cups white German wine
• 3 tablespoon butter (separated 1Tbs & 1Tbs)
  
• 1 table spoon EVOO
• 1 table spoon chili powder
  
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium zucchini or half bag frozen zucchini
• 1/4 red pepper finely chopped (for color)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 6-10 tablespoons grated parmesan
• pepper

Directions:

1. sautee onions and chili powder in the EVOO and 1Tbs of butter in large heavy pan over medium heat
   
2. bring stock to boil in medium saucepan
   
3. add zucchini to stock when it reaches a boil and lower to lowest heat
4. when onions are tender add rice
5. once rice starts to speckle with white spots add 1 cup of the white wine (at this point start stirring every minute or so)
6. when wine is absorbed add last cup of wine
7. start ladling the hot stock into the pan every time liquid looks absorbed. continue doing this until you are 3/4ths done with the stock. (make sure to strain zucchini from ladle)
8. taste risotto and when mostly tender add one last ladle of stock, zucchini, red pepper and mix together *do not just pour the rest of the stock in with the zucchini
9. add cheese and butter and mix thoroughly
   
10. plate and serve

Commentary:

I didn't get into baking a whole chicken until a few years ago. It can be intimidating at times, but the key is patience and keeping the skin on as much of the bird as possible (keeps it moist). I tried using a rosemary recipe I found online the first time and wasn't a fan of it. I tried again and this time used my Adobo seasoning and I was hooked. Adobo is the all around perfect seasoning for everything. It takes the hassle out of mixing seasonings yourself and tastes good too. You can use any type of this seasoning in this recipe and it will still taste darn good. Just make sure you season every inch of the bird...do not add any extra salt! As for the risotto it turned out waay better then my first try. My only variation to the recipe above would be to sautée the zucchini with a load of chili powder and garlic and add it to the risotto in the very last step. It would add a bit of pop to each bite of the risotto. It does not taste bland by any means, following the recipe above, its just that the flavor of the zucchini gets lost in the risotto. I hope you all enjoy and let me know how it works out for you.