Socca Beet and Onion Casserole

Whoa has It been a while since I have posted a recipe. Not that I haven’t wanted to or that I haven’t been making food, I just have been busy A.F. And truthfully I am as busy as ever but I happen to have my phone next to me when I was making this little casserole dish thing that I have made a few times now and I think it well worth a share.

What is it you ask? It is a creamy but dense chickpea base covered in tender roasted beets and onions with a lemon tahini drizzle. It is simple to make, super delicious, and can be tweaked in a million different ways to your liking.

Is it a fantastic dish to serve at say a Thanksgiving? Well yes, yes it is. You can serve it as a side or even make it bigger and have it as a sort of main dish. It’s a good protein that is naturally gluten and grain free, vegan, and blah blah blah. What really matters here though is that it is damn tasty and also bonus, it is so siimple to make and can even be prepared a day in advance so no stress. We will take all the wins here.

-C

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Socca Beet and Onion Casserole

makes a 8x8 casserole

• 1 cup chickpea flour

• 2 cups boiling water

• 1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste

• ground black pepper

• 2 teaspoons cumin (feel free to omit or use a different spice.Thyme or rosemary are equally delicious )

• 2 medium beets

• 1 large onion

• a lemon

• 1-2 tablespoons tahini

• teaspoon or so olive oil.

Note. This dish is excellent made and eaten right away but also gets even better (in my opinion) cooled and reheated. Also you can change up the veggie situation and use whatever ones you like.

Place chickpea flour in a bowl and slowly whisk in boil water with a fork so that there are no lumps. Mix in cumin and a teaspoon of salt and a pepper. Scoop batter into a lightly oiled 8X8 casserole dish (you can use a round cake tin or a cast iron skillet as well) and set aside to rest for a few.

Preheat oven to 400.

Grab beets and onion and slice in about 1/8 thick slices. Layer slices on top of chickpea mixture, making it look pretty if you feel like it. Once the veggies are layered, lightly drizzle the top with a teaspoon olive oil and sprinkle with a good pinch of salt and pepper.

When the oven is preheated, covered the baking dish and place in oven,. Bake covered for 1/2 hour then remove covering and bake for another 20-30 minutes or until the beets are nice and tender and a tester poked into the center of the dish comes out clean. Remove from oven,

Once it’s out of the oven grab a little bowl and add the juice of the lemon to the tahini and mix. Season with salt to you liking.

Now serve. Drizzle the top with the tahini mixture and cut yourself a big old piece. Yes drizzle extra tahini on top. Sure squeeze on more lemon. You do you.

Store leftovers in fridge. Reheat in hot oven for 10 minutes..It gets crispy!

Green pea and Watermelon Radish Salad

We are getting closer and closer to spring (2 weeks!) and with spring comes color, in the form of all things, food included. (I am so ready for all the greens!!!!)

Speaking of color. Have you ever cut open a watermelon radish? It is pure joy. You have this creamy white and slightly green bulb, nothing much out of the ordinary but when you slice it open the inside is the brightest purplish pink. So freaking pretty! But better then pretty, watermelon radishes taste so freaking good! And then we have peas. They are just the best bright green and creamy little gems which pair perfectly prefect with the radish.

Bright purple radish and green peas tossed together with some onion and tahini. Yes and yes. On freaking tasty as all heck salad. A true spring delight!

Now to the pretty as all heck salad!

The stuff. A large watermelon radish, frozen and thawed green peas, red onion, tahini, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and aa small handful of cilantro.

First thing is to dice up radish. Cut into cubes about twice the size of a pea.

Place diced rashes on a lined baking sheet and pop into a hot oven.

In the mean time cut up the onion nice an thin.

Place cut onion into a big bowl, add a sprinkle of salt, and add in the vinegar. Toss around and let sit for 5 minutes or so then add in the tahini and toss around until creamy.

Slightly roasted radishes. You can roast them more but I find a good 20 minutes so they are slightly tender and haven’t lost have much color to e the best.

Toss the peas onto the hot sheet pan with the radishes and let them sit for a fe minutes just slightly warm up.

Then dump the peas and radishes into the bowl with the tahini onions. Sprinkle with pepper and toss around.

Look at that. Gorgeous right? And if you have and want, toss some fresh cilantro or parsley onto top because why not.

No stop starting at the how pretty it is and you know, eat it.

-C

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Green pea and Watermelon Radish Salad

serve 2-4 as a side

• 2 cups green peas (fresh or frozen andthawed)

• 1 large (softball sized) watermelon radish

• 1 small red onion

• 3 tablespoons tahini

• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

• salt and pwpper

• handful of fresh cilantro or parsley (optional)

Preheat oven to 425.

Grab radish and cut into small cubes about twice the size of a pea. Place on a lined baking sheet and pop into hot oven.

While radishes are roasting, grab onion and slice as thin as you can Place sliced onion along with the vinegar into a big bowl and toss around with a pinch of salt. Let sit for a few minutes then add in the tahini. Toss around until creamy.

After about 20 minutes pull the radishes form oven They should be slightly tender. Dump peas onto baking sheet with radishes and let them warm up for a few minutes.

Dump the peas and radishes into the bowl with the tahini onions. Add black pepper and another small pinch of salt. Toss around until evenly coasted. Top with sm ripped up fresh herbs (if using).

Eat.

Store any leftovers (there will be none) in an airtight container for 4-5 days.

Blueberry Orange and Pistachio Cabbage Salad

Ever since the mr got a gigantic bag of pistachios from my Dad for Christmas he has been eating them almost every night and not once has he asked if I wanted some. And I know he has been trying to hide them in the pantry on me, (obviously he has failed since it is MY pantry) so I took some when he was not home. Does that make me an asshole? Maybe a little but I share ALL of my food with him so he can give up a couple small handfuls of nuts.

Anyway I made salad with my stolen pistachios. A big cabbage salad with orange and blueberries because they pair amazingly with pistachios and plus I want to eat all the citrus right now. The blueberries, well they go so well in a savory situation and I wanted them in there too. (Plus the the color from the berries makes the salad so pretty!) So I made the salad and it was delicious. I ate some but you know what? I ended up sharing my stolen pistachio salad with the mr. And he liked it too, especially the pistachios. And he didn’t ask if I took then from him so I took that as a invitation to take more… Thats what it means right?

Now to the blueberry orange and pistachio cabbage salad!

The stuff. Cabbage, frozen blueberries, a big navel orange, pistachios, an onion, salt and pepper, red wine vinegar, maple syrup, and red pepper flakes.

Start by adding the blueberries to a pot with the maple and a little water. Place on medium heat and cook until blueberries pop to the touch and the liquid has reduced to ta thin syrup like consistency.

While blueberries are doing that, grab cabbage and shred as thin as you like. Also grab onion and slice a thin as you can. Place both into a big bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper and red wine vinegar.

Take orange and cut in half. Remove peel and pith from one half and cut into small segments.

Once the blueberries are cooked, dump the cabbage and onion mixture into warm pot. Squeeze the juice of remaining half orange and toss around until everything is evenly coated.

Dump it all back into the bowl and add the orange pieces and pistachios.

Toss around, add in a pinch of red pepper flakes and eat away.

-C

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Blueberry Orange and Pistachio Cabbage Salad

• 4 cups shredded cabbage (about 1/2 a head)

• 1 small onion

• 1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

• 1/2 - 1 cup water

• 2 teaspoons maple syrup

• 1 orange

• 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar

• 1/2 cup pistachios

• salt and pepper

• red pepper flakes (optional)

Start by placing blueberries into a medium pot with 1/2 cup of water and maple. Place on medium heat and cook for about 8-10 minutes or until the blueberries pop to the touch and the liquid has reduced to a thin syrup. Remove from heat.

Grab cabbage and shred or cut into thin pieces. Also grab onion and cut into thin rings. Place into a bowl, add in a good pinch of salt and pepper and the vinegar and toss around. You can do this while the blueberries are cooking,

Now take the tossed cabbage and onion and dump into the pot of warm blueberries. Toss around unit everything is nice and purple and dump it all right back into the big bowl.

Cut orange in half and add the juice of one half. Take the other half and remove the peel and pith and cut remaining orange into small pieces.

Add orange and pistachios to the salad and toss. Season with more salt and pepper if needed and add a pinch or so of red pepper flakes.

Eat.

Can be serves warm or cool and left overs only taste better. Store in fridge in fridge for up to 5 days.

Ginger Mustard Roasted Turnips

The turnips in my garden are doing me right and have gotten all nice and big and beautiful and just did a really good job growing this year. I (my stomach) am really appreciating it. So is the mr. He is a huge turnip fan too!

Now if you are not a turnip fan, well first off, why the heck not? But also have you even ever tried them? I have found that sometimes people say they don’t like something when in fact they have never tried it. Don’t be like that. Try the dang turnip. They are awesome. For those who don’t know, they taste basically like a big radish. Kind of spicy and crispy when raw, sweet and tender when roasted. These particular ones are roasted and tossed in a gingery mustard sauce and then roasted a little more so they are sweet and spicy and mustardy and just so good. I made a batch to share with the mr for dinner but I actually just ended up eating all of them to my face. Yup, and not shame there. I just cut up a couple of raw ones for the mr and threw them on his dinner plate. He did’t really notice. Ha!

Now to the turnips!

The stuff. Turnips, dijon mustard, ground ginger, balsamic vinegar, pepper. and a splash of water.

Dice up the turnips into small cubes. I never peel a turnip but if you get yours from a store and they cover it in wax, well you might want to.

Place cut up turnips on a baking sheet. You can also drizzle the turnips with a little oil here if you want. (I prefer to roast without oil and use a baking mat.)

And place them into a hot hot oven to roast.

While turnips are getting hot, mix up the ginger mustard sauce. Place mustard, ginger, balsamic vinegar and a splash of water into a bowl and mix it all together.

Once turnips are fork tender (about 1/2 hour) remove pan, gather all the turnips into a pile, and drizzle on most of the sauce. Toss around until evenly coated then re-spread them around and pop them back into oven for another 12- minutes or so or unit golden brown and nice and roasted.

Once they are roasted to your liking, remove from oven ,drizzle oin remaining sauce, add lots of cracked black pepper and some fresh parsley if you got it. And that is it.

Eat your turnips.

-C

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Ginger Mustard Roasted Turnips

seves 2-3 as a side

• 4 medium sized turnips

• 4 hefty tablespoons dijon mustard

• 1 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

• 2 teaspoon water

• black pepper

• oil (optional)

Preheat oven to 425

Prepare turnips. Wash them really well and then dice into small cubes and pace them on a baking sheet. You can toss them in a little oil if you want (I do not roast them in oil), then pop them into hot oven.

While turnips are roasting, grab a small bowl and mix up the ginger, mustard, and balsamic vinegar. Add about 2 teaspoons of water to thin it out a little bit.

After about 25-30 minutes the turnips should be fork tender and starting to brown a bit. Remove pan from oven and carefully gather the turnips into a pile on the baking sheet. Drizzle about 3/4 of the mustard sauce on turnips and toss around (carefully). Once all the turnips are coated, sprinkle with black pepper and re-spread them on the baking sheet and pop the back into the oven to bake for another 15ish minutes or until they are a nice golden brown.

Once roasted to your liking, remove from oven, drizzle on remaining sauce, and then eat.

Broccoli Pesto

I have been eating a shit ton of broccoli the past couple of weeks and I am not even close to made about it. How could I be when broccoli is probably my favorite ( at least in the top 3) vegetable. It is broccoli season and eating broccoli is what we are doing.

Now Pesto. You probably think of basil when hear the word but in this pesto there is no basil, just the broccoli. Blanched just enough so it is not raw, blend up with walnuts (because I just don’t like pine nuts enough to spend $25 a pound and walnuts are far better), along with lemon juice, nutritional yeast for that cheesey flavor, and a little olive oil. Well friends, it is just about the pest freaking pesto I have ever had. Even the mr was super into it.

So if you like broccoli you will love love love this pesto and so you should definitely make it and then eat it. I used half of it for the mr’s pasta dinner, and them well, I ate the other half, dipping carrots and pieces of broccoli into it HA.

Now to the pesto.

The stuff. Broccoli, toasted walnuts, national yeast, a couple cloves garlic,, juice of a lemon, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper.

Cut or break apart broccoli into small florets.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and dump in the broccoli. Cook for about a minutes.

Transfer the broccoli wit ha slotted spoon to a big bowl if ice water to shock from cooking anymore and to stay ice and green.

While the water is still boiling, toss the garlic into it for a minute then remove. This just removes some of the rawness of the garlic. You can skip it if you want. Once it cools off a little, remove skin and chop into small chunks.

Now make it all into pesto. Grab food processor and add in the garlic and walnuts. Pulse until crumbly. Add I the broccoli (stained from water), the juice of the lemon, the national yeast, a spinch of salt and pepper, and the red pepper flakes. Press start. While it’s going, stream in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Stop the processor , scrap down sides, then pulse of start it up again until you a good pesto consistency.

And that is it. The best broccoli pesto.

-C

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Broccoli Pesto

Makes about 2 cups. Good for pound of pasta

• 2 1/2 cups broccoli florets (like 3 crowns)

• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 2 cloves garlic

• juice if a lemon

• 2=4 tablespoons olive oil

• salt and pepper

• teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Start placing a large pot of water in the stove and bring it to a boil. Also get a large bowl of cooled water and place it in the freezer.

While water is boiling, break apart the broccoli florets into small pieces. Once water is boiling, place the broccoli into water and let cook for about 1 minute. Grab bowl of water from freezer. After the minute transfer the broccoli to the bowl of ice water with a slotted spoon. Toss the around. And while the water is still boiling, toss the whole cloves of garlic in for about a minute. This helps mellow out the rawness. Remove with slotted spoon.

Grab food processor. Add in the walnuts and the garlic (skin removed and cut into small chunks) and pulse until crumbly. Stain broccoli from water then add to processor along with the juice of the lemon, the nutritional yeast, a pinch of salt and pepper, and the red pepper flakes. Pulse for a minute, scrap down the sides, turn to on and stream in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Stop if needed to scrap down side. Keep processing until pesto is lightly crumby, but smooth consistency. Taste for salt. Add more if needed.

Scoop from processor into a jar with a lid

Eat however you eat pesto. Lasts for about a week in fridge.