Posts Tagged ‘cheese’

Fennel is one of those odd, underused vegetables in an everyday kitchen. It looks like celery, tastes like black licorice, and changes like a chameleon depending on how it’s cooked. But it’s a wonderfully versatile and healthy thing to work with – you just have to give it some time and love.

Incredibly high in vitamin C and fiber, fennel can be served crunchy raw, boiled, braised, baked, and everything in between. The cool thing is, once you bake it, the flavor can change dramatically from pungent and bitter, to sweet and aromatic. If you’re one of the many out there who dislikes its natural black licorice flavor, blanching and baking it is your road to fennel happiness, which you can follow below.

I saw this side dish of baked fennel with parmesan in the latest issue of Everyday Food, and immediately decided to make it. As I wandered around my grocery store trying to come up with something to serve it with, the idea of fennel = fennel seeds = sausage popped into my head. Since Italian sausage traditionally has fennel seeds in it, why not take a plain or non-Italian chicken sausage and bake it with this yummy fennel side dish to get that flavor profile, but in a much more elegant, muted way? Tender and velvety fennel with the rich and robust sausage, the dish is all-season friendly. Plus, the whole thing comes together in under 45 minutes, using only 2 pans, and could easily be served for a hearty lunch or light dinner.

Words cannot describe how much I love this stuff.

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There’s nothing quite like being home and indulging in all those favorites you only eat once a year. (Well, for one week a year…)

We have quite a few culinary traditions in my family for the holidays, and this is probably the most indulgent of them, next to the insane amount of Usinger’s sausage and cheese we eat in the next 2 weeks. I affectionately call this dip “fat and fat and fat and fat with artichokes and spinach” because that’s honestly what it is. In theory, you could make this healthier by using low fat cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, etc, but really… what’s the point? Just embrace the fat here and dip carrots in it if you want to fool yourself into feeling okay about eating it.

The other great (lazy) thing about this recipe is it’s made in the microwave and comes together in about 15 minutes using things you can keep in your fridge and pantry all the time. We like to have this around to dip tortilla chips and Ritz crackers in, and since it makes so much, you can just keep setting it out whenever someone stops by, reheat it, and then put it back in the fridge until next time.

Fat and fat and fat and fat with artichokes and spinach…

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Fall flavors are back with a vengeance! Well, not so much a vengeance as a delicate “ahem” with this dish. I made this for Valentine’s Day last year when my former roommate Beth and I had a fun single-gals dinner and drinks night. Beth was in town this past weekend and somehow this lasagna got brought up in conversation, and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since (thanks, Beth!). Thankfully the flavors are über-autumnal and since I’m a big fan lately of making a dinner on Sunday I can literally eat all week, this fit the bill perfectly.

This lasagna is deliciously deceiving. You hear lasagna and you think mountains of cheese, meat, pasta, sauce, etc. But this vegetarian version is actually pretty light and delicate (well, as delicate as lasagna can be) and not that bad calorie-wise. Sweet and savory butternut squash puree and basil béchamel is layered with yummy fresh pasta sheets and mozzarella cheese to balance it out. I think it’s best served with a nice bitter salad, like endive or raddichio, dressed simply with good balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

A quick weeknight dinner that caught my attention from “Dinner Tonight” on Serious Eats.  The idea of basically a crustless quiche with Greek yogurt (one of my favorite ingredients), feta, dill… it all sounded good.  Unfortunately, the outcome was a dense, overpowering, rich, and just plain weird dish.  I wanted to call this “feta dill cheesecake” more than anything.  I wouldn’t make this again, but as always, trying something new is what counts.

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Laying out the makings.