Serious Eats: Recipes - Meat Lite

Meat Lite: Pork and Mustard-Cream Cabbage

2010-03-02T16:30:00Z

Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless. —The Mgmt.

[Photograph: Joy Manning]

Most people think that if you're serving a chop of any kind, one per person is the rule. It's certainly customary, but in most cases that 8- to 20-ounce monster is a multiple of the portion you should probably be eating. Chops don't usually lend themselves to a meat-lite supper, but with an ample serving of a hearty vegetable side, you won't wonder where the other half of your dinner went. In this case, sharing really is caring.

About the author: Joy Manning is the restaurant critic at Philadelphia Magazine. She blogs at Oyster Evangelist.

Ingredients

serves serves 2

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 slice bacon, chopped
1 medium onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 medium apple, cored and shredded on a box grater
1/2 medium head green cabbage, shredded
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1 bone-in pork loin chop, seasoned liberally with salt and pepper

Procedures

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Over medium heat, fry the bacon in the oil until the fat has rendered and the bacon has started to crisp. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion has begun to soften, 5 to 8 minutes.
Add the apple, cabbage, and salt, and continue cooking until the cabbage has wilted, about another 5 minutes. Add the cream and mustard and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and then simmer over very low heat while you make the pork chop.
Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Brown the pork chop 2 to 4 minutes per side, until the exterior is a deep golden brown. Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook another 5 to 8 minutes, until the pork has reached an internal temperature of 150*F.
Let the pork chop rest before slicing it against the grain. Divide in half, and serve it on top of a generous mountain of cabbage.

Meat Lite: Sweet Potato and Chicken Enchiladas with Chile Sauce

2010-02-23T16:30:00Z

[Photograph: Tara Mataraza Desmond]

These enchiladas, like lots of traditional Mexican dishes, are an excellent example of how nonmeat ingredients can come together for a very substantial dish. The minimal addition of meat adds texture and flavor but isn't the crux of the recipe. In this case, half a pound of chicken (for four people) poached in chile broth is a supporting player to the sweet-potato-and-onion filling. The spicy, rich homemade chile sauce is the perfect pairing for the sweet filling of savory corn tortillas. Chicken can be excluded altogether or replaced by nonmeat ingredients like black beans, sautéed mushrooms or tofu.

The filling and the chile sauce can be made a day or two ahead for quick assembly of the enchiladas. You may want to double the chile sauce recipe (this recipe yields about 1 cup) and keep it on hand for other dishes, such as burritos or tacos. It will keep refrigerated for a few weeks.

About the author: Tara Mataraza Desmond writes about, cooks, and eats food for a living. She blogs about food and life through words and pictures at Crumbs On My Keyboard.

Ingredients

serves serves 4

3 dried guajillo chiles, stems and seeds removed
3 dried ancho chiles, stems and seeds removed
4 cups water
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
6 cloves garlic, divided
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and grated with a box grater or the shredder plate of a food processor
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 2 small)
12 corn tortillas
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
Sour cream

Procedures

Heat a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the chiles and toast them about 2 minutes on each side, just until they are fragrant and beginning to darken (do this in batches if you can't fit all six at once). Set the sauté pan aside.
Put the water in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Add the toasted chiles, half of the sliced onions, and 3 cloves of garlic cut in half. Partially cover the pot, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
While the chiles simmer, add the vegetable oil to the sauté pan over medium heat. Add the remaining sliced onion and the grated sweet potato. Sauté for about 10 minutes until the onions and potatoes are very soft. Mince the remaining cloves of garlic and add to the onions and potatoes, stirring for about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside. If a crust formed on the bottom of the sauté pan while the potatoes cooked, deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of the chile liquid.
After the chiles have simmered for 30 minutes, transfer them, along with the onions and garlic, to a blender or food processor along with 1/2 cup of the liquid (reserve the rest in the pot). Puree until very smooth and then push the puree through a mesh strainer into a small bowl. Discard any solids that remain in the strainer. Stir in the cider vinegar and the salt and then set the chile sauce aside.
Return the pot and the remaining liquid to medium-low heat and bring to a bare simmer. Add the chicken, cover the pot and poach the chicken for 15-20 minutes, until cooked through. Remove the chicken from the liquid to cool slightly and then shred it with a fork. Stir the shredded chicken into the potatoes and onions and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Assemble the enchiladas. Lightly oil the bottom of a medium baking dish. Divide a few tablespoons of the chicken mixture among the 12 corn tortillas and roll them up into cigar-shapes about 1-inch in diameter. Arrange them, seam-side down, close together in the baking dish. Spread the chile sauce on top of the enchiladas and then top with the grated cheese. Cover the dish with foil and bake for about 30 minutes.
Top the hot enchiladas with the green onions and cilantro and serve with sour cream on the side.

Meat Lite: Mac & Cheese with Chicken and Broccoli

2010-02-16T16:15:00Z

[Photograph: Joy Manning]

This recipe sprang from some leftovers that I had on hand during a recent blizzard that buried us here in Philadelphia as well as an intense craving I had for starchy, cheesy comfort food. This homey casserole really delivers on a cold day and additions of lean chicken and vitamin-packed broccoli lend just enough nutrition to keep any guilt at bay. I used whole wheat pasta, which worked well and contributed some great nutty flavor, but any small shape of your choice will do.

About the author: Joy Manning is the restaurant critic at Philadelphia Magazine. She blogs at Oyster Evangelist.

Ingredients

serves serves 6

2 broccoli crowns (6 ounces), broken down into florets and chopped
6 ounces of a short, curved pasta shape, like elbows
3 tablespoons butter, plus more for preparing the baking dish
1 shallot, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
3 tablespoons of flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1 cup (3 ounces) grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
2 cups shredded chicken, from a home roasted or rotisserie bird
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Procedures

Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and set aside. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and par-cook the broccoli for three minutes. Plunge into an ice bath, and reserve.
Preheat the oven to 400°F; bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Cook the pasta for 75 percent as long as the package instructions describe, then drain and reserve the pasta. (The pasta will finish cooking as the casserole bakes.)
While the pasta is cooking, make the cheese sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When the butter is melted, add the shallot, salt, and cayenne, and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Add the flour, and cook another minute. Slowly pour in the milk, whisking constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for another few minutes, until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Off the heat, stir in the cheddar and mascarpone, whisking until smooth.
Toss the pasta and sauce to combine, and stir in the broccoli and chicken. Pour everything into the prepared baking dish, and top with the bread crumbs and grated Parmesan or Romano cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the top is lightly golden brown.

Smoked Turkey and Bean Nachos

2010-02-02T17:15:00Z

[Photograph: Tara Mataraza Desmond]

Friends and I were snickering at a well-known cooking show personality and her game day menu episode that ran recently as a prelude to this weekend's Super Bowl. It was complete with detailed instructions for accessorizing tailgate tables and coordinating cocktails. For those of us a little more tuned in to the priorities of football watch parties, we're contributing this Meat Lite recipe to the slew of good ideas offered by Serious Eats this week.

I know you're thinking people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones: Meat Lite or vegetarian recipes have about as much a place at a Super Bowl party as tablecloths, matching plates, and color-coordinated food. But these nachos hold their own against platters of Buffalo wings and football-shape salami, and they scoff at tortilla chips smothered in cheeselike substances that call themselves "queso."

The distinguishing flavor comes from smoked turkey (the recipe calls for a wing, but use whatever size is most appropriate for your crowd), which simmers in your favorite salsa along with black beans. You can build a nacho plate with the resulting sauce as you typically would (pile of chips, heaping spoonfuls of toppings, and a blanket of melted cheese) or you can put the sauce in a big bowl and melt cheese on top, serving the tortilla chips and sour cream on the side (this prevents soggy chips and gives the players the power to control sauce distribution of each bite).

Either way, keep a napkin on hand. It doesn't have to match the uniform colors of your favorite team.

About the author: Tara Mataraza Desmond writes about, cooks, and eats food for a living. She blogs about food and life through words and pictures at Crumbs On My Keyboard.

Ingredients

serves 4 to 6

1 cup jarred salsa
1 cup water
1 smoked turkey wing (about 12 ounces)
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (or 1 15-ounce can)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 bag tortilla chips
2 tablespoons chopped chives
Sour cream

Procedures

Combine the salsa, water, turkey wing and beans in a wide, shallow saucepot over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 1 hour.
Remove the turkey wing and let it cool slightly. Pull the meat from the skin and bone and chop or shred it. Return the meat to the salsa mixture and discard the skin and bones.
Transfer the mixture to an ovenproof bowl and top with cheese. Set the bowl under the broiler (or in a preheated 400° F oven) to melt the cheese on top.
Serve the smoked turkey and bean mixture with the tortilla chips for scooping and sour cream and chives on the side.

Meat Lite: Pinto and Pork Tacos

2010-01-26T16:40:00Z

[Photograph: Joy Manning]

Almost every week when I do my grocery shopping at Whole Foods, I marvel at how little I spent. I guess that's because I'm constantly hearing people complain about the prices at "Whole Paycheck," as it is dubbed. I believe the secret to my savings is recipes like this. I start with a big, inexpensive cut of meat and stretch it out over six or seven meals by combining the meat with legumes, veggies, and whole grains. Here, I tell you not just how to pull off a delicious taco night but how to stash the leftovers. I store the pork and beans separately to keep my options open for encore meals. I might turn the pintos into refried beans or toss the pork with homemade barbecue sauce for a sandwich.

About the author: Joy Manning is the restaurant critic at Philadelphia Magazine. She blogs at Oyster Evangelist.

Ingredients

serves makes 8 tacos

3 pounds boneless pork butt, cut into 10 or 12 pieces
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 cup dried pinto beans
3 cups water
8 corn tortillas, store bought or homemade
Lime wedges (for serving; optional)
Chopped red onion (for serving; optional)
Cilantro leaves (for serving; optional)
Minced jalapeño (for serving; optional)
Guacamole (for serving; optional)

Procedures

Preheat the oven to 250°F. Season the pork pieces with the salt, cumin, cayenne, and pepper. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the pork pieces, about 3 minutes a side. Remove the browned pork; set aside.
Add the pinto beans and water to the Dutch oven; bring to a boil. Boil beans vigorously for about a minute, then kill the heat and add the pork pieces back to the pan. Put a lid on the Dutch oven; transfer it to the oven. Braise until the pork and beans are both very tender, about 2 1/2 hours. Let cool before removing and shredding the pork and straining out the beans. The liquid can be discarded or frozen for a future soup base.
Depending on your pork, you will have about 28 ounces (about 7 cups) pulled pork. You will have about 3 cups of cooked beans; stash 2 cups of beans in a container and freeze. Store 6 cups of the pork in 2-cup containers and freeze, reserving 1 cup of pork and 1 cup of beans for the tacos.
Combine the pork and pinto beans for your taco filling, and serve with warmed tortillas, lime wedges, chopped red onion, cilantro leaves, minced jalapeño, guacamole, and anything else you like on your tacos.

Meat Lite: Soppressata Pasta Fagioli

2010-01-19T23:30:00Z

[Photograph: Tara Mataraza Desmond]

Pasta fagioli is a traditional Italian peasant dish that was cheap to make because it was usually meatless. Inexpensive ingredients of beans and pasta thicken the soup into a hearty meal. There are countless versions of the recipe and nearly as many ways to pronounce fagioli (beans), depending on the Italian dialect emphasized (fajool, fazul, fazoo, fajeeoli). Plenty of iterations of the recipe call on a bit of pancetta, bacon, or sausage to add depth of flavor and texture. A quarter pound of soppressata (about 1 link) serves that purpose in this Meat Lite variation.

The desired consistency of pasta fagioli is as much of a personal preference. I like mine thick and scoopable, like a cross between a stew and a pasta dish. If you prefer a soupier result, double the stock or broth called for below and consider cooking the pasta separately before adding it to the pot. The uncooked pasta naturally absorbs liquid and releases starches into the soup as it cooks (plus the pasta continues to cook, absorb and soften as it sits in the liquid, so if you are opposed to anything more than al dente, keep the pasta separate from the rest until serving).

If you prefer a vegetarian pasta fagioli, skip the soppressata and start by sweating the onions in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Use vegetable broth instead of meat stock.

This recipe is a one-pot wonder, making it perfect for a low-maintenance dinner and easy on cleanup. Make a big pot because true to its peasant roots, it's cheap and it freezes nicely, too. Add a few splashes of water when reheating to thin out the soup a little.

About the author: Tara Mataraza Desmond writes about, cooks, and eats food for a living. She blogs about food and life through words and pictures at Crumbs On My Keyboard.

Ingredients

serves serves 4 to 6

4 ounces soppressata, diced small
1 small onion, diced small
4 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 28-ounce can of crushed or diced tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock or vegetable broth
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
4 cups cooked white beans
8 ounces small tubular pasta like ditalini or elbow macaroni
Coarse salt and freshly grated black pepper
Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano for serving

Procedures

Set a Dutch oven or large, wide saucepot over medium-high heat. Add the sopressata and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, just to brown slightly and to render some fat. Add the onions and drop the heat to medium. Sweat the onions with the soppressata for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and sweat an additional 1 to 2 minutes.
Stir in the tomatoes, stock, oregano, basil and beans. Bring to a low simmer and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the pasta, cover and cook for about 5 minutes or until the pasta is tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Ladle the pasta fagioli into warm bowls, top with Parmigiano-Reggiano and serve with bread for sopping up the leftover sauce.

Meat Lite: Portobello and Herbed Ricotta Sandwiches

2010-01-12T16:20:00Z

[Photograph: Joy Manning]

This easy sandwich gets so much meaty flavor and texture from a layer of seared portabellos, it hardly needs the prosciutto. Feel free to omit it. This makes the sandwich a terrific option for meals when vegetarians and non-veggies dine together, because the pork product is entirely optional. The flavorful herbed ricotta mixture is what makes it fancy enough for company. Serve it with roasted vegetables or a bowl of vegetable soup to make it a complete meal.

About the author: Joy Manning is the restaurant critic at Philadelphia Magazine. She blogs at Oyster Evangelist.

Ingredients

serves serves 4

6 ounces ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon grated shallot
2 tablespoons minced parsley
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 large portabello mushrooms, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 tablespoon olive oil
8 slices multi-grain bread, toasted
2 ounces (8 very thin slices) best quality prosciutto

Procedures

In a small bowl, whisk together the ricotta, shallot, parsley, lemon zest, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and the red pepper flakes until well combined. Set aside.
Preheat a large, cast iron skillet over medium-high heat for at least three minutes. Using a brush, lightly film the mushrooms with oil on both sides and season with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Arrange a single layer of mushroom slices in the heated pan, leaving plenty of room between slices. Cook, undisturbed, for 5 minutes on the first side, then flip, and cook for an additional 3 minutes on the other side. Do this in two batches if necessary.
When all the mushrooms have been cooked, spread 1/4 of the ricotta mixture on 4 slices of the toast. Top with 1/4 of the mushroom slices, 2 slices of prosciutto, and the remaining 4 slices of toast. Serve immediately.

Resolution: Eat Less Meat

2010-01-05T20:45:00Z

[Photographs: Tara Mataraza Desmond]

What's Your New Year's Food Resolution? »
Do You Have a Food Project for 2010?

Joy and I have been around here for a while as authors of the Meat Lite column, offering recipes that go easy on the meat, inspired by the ones we created for our book, Almost Meatless. Cooking and eating this way is second nature for us. Neither of us thinks of it as a diet but rather as a completely delicious and satisfying philosophy on eating meat consciously. We love meat-lite meals for the variety they bring to our tables.

The top of the year is a perfect time to get on the bandwagon with us. There's a lot of noise in January about committing to losing weight, getting healthy, saving money, doing good, but most of us confess to losing steam by February. If any or all of the above are included on your list of 2010 resolutions, rest assured knowing that adopting a Meat Lite approach to eating covers all the bases. But you'll be having too much fun discovering new ingredients, and you'll be too full to feel like changing the way you live with food has been any effort or sacrifice at all.

An Almost Meatless or Meat Lite philosophy will save you money. Meat is expensive, so if you cut back on how much you use, you'll notice a marked decline in your grocery and dining budget. Better quality meat, like beef or pork sourced from a local, small farm that follows sustainable practices, costs more than supermarket meat from factory farms. Recipes like the ones we develop for Meat Lite call for small quantities of better quality meat, sparing your wallet but promoting the benefits of purchasing and eating good food.

A diet centered on plants and grains is healthier for people and the planet. Minimizing the meat we eat has been proven to maximize wellness in the forms of weight loss, heart disease decline, diabetes elimination and countless other ailment eradications. We're not talking about vegetarianism here; we're simply promoting less meat. Plus, if we collectively cut back on the amount of meat we consume, we can contribute to a major reduction of carbon emissions that are the byproducts of meat production.

When Joy and I wrote our book, we took plenty from the pages of cookbooks of world cuisine. Other countries are better at cooking just a bit of meat for texture, flavor and nutrients along with plenty of non-meat ingredients. It's not about abstinence or trickery (we don't use a lot of faux-meat products), it's about technique and good food.

Some Meat Lite favorites you may have missed or forgotten about are linked to below. Here's to an appetizing (and healthy, slim, prosperous, environmentally sound) 2010.

Rich Comfort Foods

Butternut Squash and Sausage Bake
Smoked Turkey Soup
Lamb Chili

Cooking with What's In Season

Spaghetti with Roasted Cauliflower and Bacon Herbed Breadcrumbs
Summer Vegetable and Sausage Stew over Polenta

Discovering Whole Grains

Quinoa Pilaf with Sweet Potatoes, Kale and Bacon

Mastering (and Inventing) Technique

Black Beans and Rice My Way
Cemita Strata

Using Eggs as the Perfect Food They Are

Eggs Any Style Shaksouka
Smoky Kedgeree with or without Fish

Celebrating the World's Flavors in Less meat Meals

Eggplant Lamb Lavash Wraps
Stuffed Savoy Cabbage
Mushroom Sausage Red Gravy
Pork, Pear and Mushroom Ragu
tir Fried Bok Choy with Soba Noodles

About the author: Tara Mataraza Desmond writes about, cooks, and eats food for a living. She blogs about food and life through words and pictures at Crumbs On My Keyboard.

Meat Lite: Nutty Pasta

2009-12-29T16:30:00Z

[Photograph: Joy Manning]

This dish has been a weeknight staple in my house for years. I vary the recipe often, sometimes adding a handful of steamed broccoli florets or substituting butter for the olive oil. I occasionally swap in a semolina pasta for the whole wheat. I never considered making it Meat Lite, though, until I suddenly realized how similar it is to something my husband's grandmother makes every year as part of her Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes. With the anchovies' big hit of umami and salty depth of flavor, this is the best version of my nutty pasta I've made yet.

About the author: Joy Manning is the restaurant critic at Philadelphia Magazine. She blogs at Oyster Evangelist.

Ingredients

serves serves 4 to 6

1 pound whole wheat pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
2 anchovy fillets, chopped
1/3 cup pine nuts, ground in a food processor
1/3 cup walnuts, ground in a food processor
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, minced

Procedures

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, and then add the pasta and cook according to package directions.
While the past cooks, heat the olive oil in a high-sided frying pan large enough to accommodate all the pasta over medium heat. Add the anchovy, nuts, red pepper flakes, and garlic, stirring often and breaking up the anchovies with a wooden spoon. (They will eventually dissolve into the oil.) When the nuts smell toasty, after about 5 minutes, kill the heat and set the pan aside.
Drain the pasta, reserving about 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking liquid. Return the pan with the nut sauce to medium heat, and add the cooked pasta to the sauce. Toss to combine, adding the reserved cooking liquid until the pasta is moist and coated. Stir in the lemon zest and parsley, toss to combine, and serve at once.

Meat Lite: Rancheros Hash Stacks

2009-12-22T16:30:00Z

[Photograph: Tara Mataraza Desmond]

If you're hosting a post-holiday or New Year brunch, consider adding these to the menu for versatility and ease. You can make the sauce and toast the tortillas a day or two ahead of time. Just simmer the sauce to reheat and keep the crisp tortillas packed in an airtight container. Prepare eggs to order, which is quick to do if you have a double-burner griddle for frying or an extra-wide high-sided sauté pan for batch poaching. Set the fixings out on the table and let guests assemble their own stacks.

If vegetarians are included, cook the chorizo in a separate pan, proceed with the rest of the sauce, sans meat, and then add half of the sauce to the chorizo to simmer. Consider adding a whole chipotle chile to the vegetarian version to add the smoky kick the chorizo lends (discard the chipotle before serving, lest a guest mistakenly eat it and suffer the painful consequences).

The recipe doubles easily for a bigger crowd. Serve the stacks with simple roasted potatoes (or try Joy Manning's Oven Roasted Potato Wedges with Bacon Grease) and mixed greens.

About the author: Tara Mataraza Desmond writes about, cooks, and eats food for a living. She blogs about food and life through words and pictures at Crumbs On My Keyboard.

Ingredients

serves serves 4

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 pound fresh chorizo (about 1 link)
1 small onion, diced small
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes
1/4 to 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (or your favorite variety)
1 teaspoons ground cumin
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 corn tortillas
4 eggs, any style
4 scallions, sliced thin
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, lightly chopped
4 ounces grated cheddar cheese
Sour cream

Procedures

Lightly coat the bottom of a large sauté pan with the vegetable oil and set over medium-high heat. When the pan is very hot, squeeze the chorizo out of its casing and add the sausage to the pan in small pieces. Let the meat brown for about 5 minutes, breaking the pieces up into tiny bits with a wooden spoon as it cooks.
Add the onion and garlic, reduce heat to medium and sauté for 7-10 minutes, until the onions are soft.
Stir in the tomatoes, water, beans and cumin. Bring to a simmer, cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 20-30 minutes to let the flavors come together. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper.
Bake the tortillas in a 350° F oven for about 10 minutes until crisp. Alternatively, fry the tortillas: add about 1 cup of vegetable oil to a high-sided sauté pan over medium-high heat. When bubbles spurt rapidly around the handle end of a wooden spoon set in the oil, the oil is ready for frying. Lower the tortillas one at a time into the hot oil, frying about 1 minute per side. Transfer each tortilla to a paper-towel lined plate and sprinkle with salt.
Make the eggs to order. Any style works well with these stacks. Poached or sunny side egg yolks enrich the sauce when poked and drizzled into the rest of the dish.
When the eggs are ready, assemble the stacks. Put 1 baked tortilla on a plate and top with about 1/2 cup of the hot sauce and a sprinkle of cheese. Add another crisp tortilla, top with 1/2 cup more sauce, and another sprinkle of cheese. Top with an egg, scallions, cilantro and sour cream.

Meat Lite: Creamy Celery Root Soup (with or Without Chicken)

2009-12-16T02:30:00Z

[Photograph: Joy Manning]

This simple soup comes together with a minimum of fuss, partly because it's based on so few ingredients. Though the list is short and simple, the final bowl of soup delivers unexpectedly complex flavors thanks to celery root's way of lending a starchy, potato-like quality as well as an aromatic element. Leeks, too, behave like onions, but with subtlety, panache, and fresh flavor thanks to the light green part of the plant. The chicken contributes a meaty substance, for sure, but it is easily omitted for a fine vegetarian bowl of cold-weather comfort.

About the author: Joy Manning is the restaurant critic at Philadelphia Magazine. She blogs at Oyster Evangelist.

Ingredients

serves makes 6 cups

1 tablespoon butter
2 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 celery root, peeled and diced
1 medium leek, white and light green parts only, quartered and sliced
5 cups chicken, turkey, or vegetable stock (homemade is best)
2 tablespoons minced fresh tarragon
1/4 cup heavy cream

Procedures

Melt the butter over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven, season the chicken thighs with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper, add to the pot and cook about five minutes per side, until the skin is brown. Remove and discard the skins, and transfer to a plate, and reserve. Do not drain the chicken fat from the pot.
Add the celery root to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add the sliced leeks and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook another 10 minutes. Add the stock and the reserved chicken thighs, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cook, covered, for about 30 minutes.
Pull the chicken pieces from the soup, and use two forks to pull the meat from the bones. Shred the meat and then chop the shreds into bite-size pieces. Return the chicken meat to the soup and add the tarragon and the cream. Taste, adding additional salt and pepper if desired, and ladle into bowls. Serve with sliced baguette and softened butter.

Meat Lite: Spaghetti with Roasted Cauliflower with Bacon Herbed Breadcrumbs

2009-12-08T16:15:00Z

[Photograph: Tara Mataraza Desmond]

If you swear you hate cauliflower, you're probably wrong. I know, it seems out of line for me to accuse you of not knowing your own palate, but I'd be willing to bet that were a scientific study done on taste for cauliflower, it would reveal that the majority of people who "hate" it would actually like it—if it were prepared differently.

Most people have been subject to boiled cauliflower, which turns into an overcooked mush made doubly unpleasant by the trademark sulphurous stink of the cruciferous family of veggies. Roasting cauliflower deepens the flavors, caramelizes the florets and maintains texture.

In this recipe, roasted cauliflower gets tangled up in spaghetti, spiked with a few bits of bacon, and further jazzed with crunchy, garlicky panko breadcrumbs. The sauce shows the difference a good, homemade stock can have on a dish. Since this is the season for roasting giant pieces of meat, put the remnants to good use (turkey, chicken, duck, ham) in a pot that yields rich, viscous stock. The liquid gold becomes a sturdy backdrop to soups and sauces. Big batches can be frozen in smaller servings for use in the months ahead. Vegetable broth can certainly be used, but will lack the body of liquids fortified with collagen and gelatin from meat and bones.

Cauliflower color and types vary from the most-recognized white to the uniquely spikey green Romanesco. The orange and purple varieties, which I used here, are said to be higher in vitamin content than their white cousins. Preparation methods are consistent regardless of the variety.

I recently made dinner for friends and took the risk of serving roasted cauliflower. All three would have aligned with the anti-cauliflower camp before. All three had seconds and asked for the recipe. Aren't taste turnarounds the best?

Ingredients

serves serves 4

1 head cauliflower
3 to 4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced in half
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
4 slices thick cut bacon
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 to 3 sprigs fresh oregano, leaves plucked (stems discarded), finely chopped
1/2 cup packed parsley leaves, finely chopped
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 to 4 cups rich stock, preferably homemade (chicken, turkey, duck or ham)
1 pound spaghetti
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Procedures

Preheat oven arranged with two rack to 400° F. Wash the cauliflower, trim the leaves, and slice in half lengthwise, through the core. Cut out the tough stem core section and then split the cauliflower into florets. Put the florets in a baking dish with the garlic and coat everything with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Transfer to the top rack in the oven and roast for about 45 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender and browning.
Lay the bacon strips a few inches apart on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Set in the oven on the lower rack for about 15 minutes or until crispy. Remove from the oven and transfer the bacon slices to a paper towel to soak up excess grease.
While the cauliflower roasts, toast the breadcrumbs in a dry sauté pan over medium-high heat, just until golden. Remove them to a plate and set aside. Add the butter to the sauté pan and melt. Stir in the garlic and sauté for about 1 minute, taking care not to burn it.
Pour the melted butter and garlic over the toasted breadcrumbs in a medium mixing bowl and stir in the herbs. Crumble the bacon into the breadcrumbs. Stir well to combine everything. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
When the cauliflower is done remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly. Chop the roasted florets into small pieces.
Heat the stock to a simmer in a wide, high-sided sauté pan over medium-high heat. Drop the pasta in a pot of boiling salted water and cook until just underdone. Drain the pasta and then add it to the simmering stock. Simmer for another 3 minutes. Stir in the cauliflower, the olive oil and the butter.
Divide the pasta amongst individual bowls or serve on a platter. Sprinkle the bacon breadcrumbs on top and serve with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Tara Mataraza Desmond writes about, cooks, and eats food for a living. She blogs about food and life through words and pictures at Crumbs On My Keyboard.

Meat Lite: Quinoa Pilaf with Sweet Potatoes, Kale, and Bacon

2009-12-01T16:30:00Z

[Photograph: Joy Manning]

After a very meaty and indulgent Thanksgiving, I ended the weekend feeling the need for some healthier fare. I now have a week full of meatless and almost-meatless meals planned, and this easy pilaf kicked things off last night. Full of fiber and antioxidants, this is one-bowl meal you can feel virtuous about eating. The bacon contributes smoky flavor and a nice textural contrast, but you could leave it out if you wanted to make this a vegetarian dish. (In that case, skip the bacon step and instead sauté the onions in 1 tablespoon of olive oil.)

About the author: Joy Manning is the restaurant critic at Philadelphia Magazine. She blogs at Oyster Evangelist.

Ingredients

serves serves 4

2 to 4 slices of bacon, diced
1/4 large onion, cut in half and sliced thin
1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1 medium sweet potato (about 10 ounces), cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 small bunch kale (about 8 ounces), chopped coarsely
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 scallions, green parts only, sliced thin, for garnish

Procedures

Preheat the oven to 475°F.
In a medium saucepan with a tight fitting lid, cook the bacon over medium heat until the bacon is crisp and the fat is rendered, about 10 minutes. Reserve the bacon bits.
Drop the onions into the hot bacon fat and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften, about 5 minutes. Add the quinoa and toss until coated with the fat and the grains are slightly toasted, about 2 minutes more. Add the water and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, bring to a boil, stir once, cover, reduce to low and let cook undisturbed until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes.
While the quinoa is cooking, toss the sweet potatoes and kale with the olive oil and salt and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake until the potatoes and kale begin to brown in places and the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
When the quinoa is cooked, stir in the potatoes, kale, and bacon. Top with fresh scallion slices and reserved bacon bits.

Meat Lite: Pumpkin Pancetta Soup

2009-11-24T15:45:00Z

[Photograph: Tara Mataraza Desmond]

Even though I've had this Pumpkin Pancetta Soup on my Thanksgiving menu for weeks, and I'm only just getting to it now in the midst of the Great Pumpkin Shortage panic of 2009, I remain undaunted thanks to my tablescape. Oh, that's right, folks, I said tablescape.

Sometime back in October, on one of those gleaming fall Sundays when I was wandering aimlessly through a farmers market, getting suckered into buying every seasonal ingredient just because of the way the sun was bouncing off an autumn leaf or something, I picked up a few sugar pie pumpkins. The quaint little ones with the precious name that turn you into a domestic goddess or god just by setting them on the table as holiday décor.

They've been there ever since, looking adorable, until this morning when I drove my chef's knife right through the core to split them apart and send them to the roaster.

It's true that if I were making a sweet pie, I'd duke in out in the grocery store, à la the Cabbage Patch Kid craze of the 1980s, for the last can of purée. Since that pie filling gets all sorts of spices and sugars, I'm less concerned with the integrity of the pumpkin flavor coming through and thrilled to crack open a can of an already-cooked and smooshed version. In the case of this soup, though, it's all about the pumpkin itself, and I find that roasting the squash from scratch brings out the most flavor.

The meat in this Meat Lite recipe comes in the form of crispy pancetta and stock. The pancetta (cured salty bacon, sans the smoked flavor we're used to stateside), which adorns the soup when it's ladled into bowls or cups, is a perfect flavor and texture contrast for the sweet smooth backdrop. I prefer good chicken or turkey stock here, but vegetable stock will work deliciously, too.

Those little sugar pie pumpkins look just as pretty in a bowl on the table as the star of this soup as they did on their tablescape runway last month. And I emerge from the supermarket unscathed.

About the author: Tara Mataraza Desmond writes about, cooks, and eats food for a living. She blogs about food and life through words and pictures at Crumbs On My Keyboard.

Pumpkin Pancetta Soup

- serves 4-8 (appetizer or entrée size servings) -

Ingredients

6 ounces thinly sliced pancetta
Two 2 1/2 to 3 pound sugar pie pumpkins
1 large sweet onion, peeled and cut into large chunks
4 cloves garlic, peeled
8 sage leaves
1 cup water
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 quart stock (chicken, turkey or vegetable)
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 cup whole milk
Sour cream or crème fraiche, optional

Procedures

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Lay the pancetta in one layer on the bottom of a large roasting pan. Transfer the pancetta to the oven and bake until crispy, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. Reserve the roasting pan.
Cut the pumpkins in half and scrape out the seeds and fibers. Spread the seeds on a baking sheet covered with a silicone mat or parchment paper, and discard the fibers. Arrange the four pumpkin halves in the large roasting pan. Add the onion chunks in the spaces between the pumpkin and inside the pumpkin core. Put the garlic cloves and sage leaves inside each pumpkin core. Pour the water into the pan around the pumpkins. Season the pumpkins liberally with salt and pepper. Cover the pan tightly with the roasting pan lid or foil and transfer to the oven. Roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the pumpkin and onions are very tender.
While the pumpkin cooks, add the seeds to another rack in the oven and roast them for 15-20 minutes or until they are crisp and just starting to brown. Set them aside to cool completely.
Once the vegetables are tender, let them cool slightly. Scrape the pumpkin pulp away from its shell and add it to a food processor. Process until very smooth. Scrape the puree into a large pot or Dutch oven. Put the onions, garlic, 2 of the sage leaves, and any liquid from the roasting pan in the processor next and process until very smooth. Add the onion purée to the pot with the pumpkin purée, or push it through a mesh strainer into the pumpkin. This is optional, but straining the onion puree makes for an ultra-smooth soup.
Add the stock and the cider vinegar to the purée in the pot and simmer for about 30 minutes. Reduce the heat and add the milk. Simmer an additional 10 minutes (do not boil) and then add salt and pepper to taste.
While the soup simmers, re-crisp the pancetta in a hot oven or a convection toaster for about 5 minutes.
Ladle the soup into mugs or bowls, top with pancetta (whole or crumbled) and a sprinkling of the toasted seeds. Add a dollop of sour cream or crème fraiche if you like.

Meat Lite: Spaghetti with Squash-Sausage-Sage Sauce

2009-11-17T16:30:00Z

[Photograph: Joy Manning]

A lot of people think it's hard to make fresh pasta, but it isn't such a big deal, especially if you aren't attempting to roll out super-thin sheets for ravioli. Most machines come with a spaghetti attachment that makes it easy to have fresh pasta on the fly. If you aren't into it, feel free to use a pound of dry instead. Any shape will do. For an excellent meatless meal, simply swap the chicken stock for veggie, omit the sausage, and sauté the shallots in olive oil.

About the author: Joy Manning is the restaurant critic at Philadelphia Magazine. She blogs at whatiweightoday.com.

Ingredients

For the spaghetti
400 grams (about 2 1/2 cups) all purpose flour
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons olive oil
For the sauce
1 small butternut squash, seeds removed
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 to 6 ounces Italian sausage (hot or sweet is up to you), removed from casings and crumbled
1/2 cup diced shallot
1 teaspoon minced sage leaves
1 1/4 cup chicken stock, divided
2 ounces grated parmesan or Romano cheese, plus more for passing at the table
1/2 to 1 cup pasta cooking liquid

Procedures

To make the pasta, mix the flour, eggs, and olive oil in a food processor until a dough ball begins to form. Transfer the dough to a clean work surface, and knead by hand until it is elastic and satiny, about 5 to 10 minutes. Wrap in plastic, and let rest while you make the sauce.
To make the sauce, preheat the oven to 350°F. Drizzle the olive oil over the squash and season with the salt. Roast, cut side down, for 30 minutes or until browned at the edges and completely tender.
While the squash roasts, sauté the sausage over medium-low heat until the fat has rendered and the sausage is brown, about 10 minutes. Add the shallots and sage leaves; sauté until the shallots are softened and starting to brown, about 10 minutes. Deglaze the pan with about 1/4 cup of the stock. Scrape the roasted squash from its skin and add it to a blender with the remaining stock and puree. Add the purée to the sausage, shallot, and sage mixture.
Divide the pasta dough into 8 pieces. Using a pasta machine, roll out each piece of pasta dough into progressively thinner sheets until it reaches a medium thinness—on my machine it's setting 4 on a scale of 1 to 6. Use the spaghetti attachment to form the noodles. Toss with flour, and set aside while you bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil.
Boil the spaghetti for about 6 minutes; taste to check for doneness. Add to the squash sauce; toss to coat. Add the cheese and enough pasta cooking liquid to make the sauce your preferred consistency. Taste, and add additional salt and pepper if you like. Serve in bowls, passing extra cheese at the table if desired.

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