Mashed Potatoes with Kale

I know some people have kale fatigue and are sick of hearing about it, but I still enjoy it. So I was very intrigued when I found this Mashed Potato with Kale recipe from Giada De Laurentiis.

I made this dish for the first time for Christmas yesterday and it smells and tastes great! Don't let the kale fool you...I wouldn't call this a healthy dish with all the mascarpone, Parmesan, and butter.

Mascarpone cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano, kale, onions, garlic, unsalted butter

I didn't have enough butter for all of my dishes so I left the butter out when boiling the potatoes (just added butter in the assembly steps). I only had regular chicken stock instead of low-sodium chicken broth, so I cut back the Parmesan to 1/2 c., salt to 1 tsp and black pepper to 1/2 tsp in the assembly steps so the dish wasn't too salty. And it just seems like a lot of salt in the recipe to me, so it's always easier to add salt than take out.

Sweating onions & garlic

Adding cooked kale to mashed potatoes  

The result was creamy mashed potatoes with a twist of texture from the kale. I thought it was still very flavorful even though I cut back on some of the salty ingredients. This recipe makes a LOT and I think you can get more like 8 servings out of it. I took some of the leftovers and divided into big scoops of individual servings, then froze them on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Once frozen, I placed them all into a freezer bag. Updated note: I reheated the servings I wanted in a microwave straight from the freezer and thought they were still pretty good for frozen food.

My Rating (out of 5): 5

Orecchiette with Sausage and Kale Recipe

I was craving this pasta dish after seeing a version of it on TV and searched the web for comparable recipes. There weren't as many recipes that turned up to my surprise and none that really grabbed my interest. I found a similar recipe by Michael Symon and made a couple of changes to make the following version. I really enjoyed how the lemon zest and juice added another dimension of flavor. And the butter gives the dish some silkiness.

Orecchiette with Sausage and Kale

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1 Lb orecchiette pasta, preferably DeCecco
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, separated
• 1 Lb sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (if you like more heat, use 1/2 teaspoon)
• 10 - 16 oz Tuscan kale, washed & chopped with stems (1" wide)
• 2 cups pasta water, separated
• 1 tablespoon Lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons Lemon juice
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Italian parsley, finely chopped

Directions

Bring 5 quarts of water to a boil with 3 tablespoons of kosher salt. Cook the pasta until very al dente, about 8 minutes (or 1 minute less than the package instructions for al dente). Stir occasionally to make sure the orecchiette doesn't stick together. Remove the pasta to a bowl with a slotted spoon and set it aside. Do not rinse the pasta. Reserve 3 cups of pasta water before discarding.

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large Dutch oven or saute pan over medium high heat. Add the sausage, breaking it into pieces with a wooden spoon, and brown until pink is gone, about 5-6 minutes. Add the kale and red pepper flakes and cook down for 2 minutes.

Add 1 cup of the reserved pasta water and simmer for 1 minute. Add the cooked pasta and simmer until pasta is done, about 2 more minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice and zest, cheese, butter, and 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil. Taste and season with additional salt if needed. Plate and sprinkle the parsley on top, then serve.

If you have leftovers, refrigerate the remaining 2 cups of reserved pasta water to use to reheat leftovers the next day. Sprinkle some of the pasta water when reheating, but don't poor too much or the pasta will get soggy. You likely won't use all of the pasta water.

I like to buy pre-chopped kale and Trader Joe's comes in 10 oz. bags. If you buy whole kale leaves in bunches, 3/4 to 1 lb. is fine. You can also use curly kale if Tuscan kale isn't available.

I like to be able to control the spice level so I use sweet Italian sausage and red pepper flakes. However, you could substitute with hot Italian sausage and leave out the red pepper flakes.

Homemade Fritos® Bean Dip

One of my favorite party foods to make is 7-layer dip, and I like to use a recipe that calls for Fritos Bean Dip.  When I lived in suburbs, I never had issues with finding this product at the big grocery stores and made one stop at the store.  Unfortunately, it can be harder to find some big brand products like the Fritos Bean Dip because NYC grocery stores just don't carry everything.  I've probably only made 7-layer dip once since I moved back to the city, and I really wanted to make it for an upcoming party.  Surely there would be at least one store that would carry it, so I was determined to find Fritos Bean Dip, or even another brand, in a national retail store.  I checked Target (who has it online but showed out of stock in all NYC stores), Walgreens, Kmart.  I even checked Food Emporium and Pathmark, which is huge like a suburban grocery store.  When Pathmark didn't have it, I knew I wasn't going to find it in the city.

I already had the rest of the 7-layer dip ingredients, so I set out on Google to find a recipe for homemade Fritos Bean Dip.  The top search results basically had the same recipe with slight differences in measurements.  I used this copycat Frito Lay Bean Dip on Food.com as a guide.

I already had everything in my pantry except refried beans, jalapeños, and onion powder.  Since I'm using the beans in the 7-layer dip, I made some adjustments when making the bean dip and wasn't concerned about any sacrifice to flavor.  If I were having the bean dip alone (but I probably won't), I'd try to follow the recipe exactly.

My adjustments:
- Used no onion powder.  Since I didn't have this at home, I chose not to buy any because I haven't used onion powder on a regular basis.  And, I bought Ortega Refried Beans (Traditional version) which has onion powder, garlic powder, vinegar and other spices.  (Old El Paso was the other brand available at the store and doesn't include some of the spices that Ortega does.)
- 4 oz. can of diced jalapeños in water.  The store only had one large jar of jalapeños in vinegar brine that cost over $3.  I also don't cook with jalapeños often and the jar would go to waste.  So I found a small can of diced jalapeños in water (no sliced options available).  I eyeballed an amount of diced jalapeño that would equal 4-5 slices.  I barely used any of the can and have a lot left over.
- Substituted 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar for the jarred jalapeño brine.  Since I used canned jalapeños in water, I could have added more vinegar to boost flavor.  But I started with small amounts so I can add more vinegar to my taste.  Plus, the Ortega refried beans has vinegar.
- Used 1/4 teaspoon of granulated sugar.  I just prefer to start small and add more to taste so it doesn't become too sweet to me.

This is how it turned out.  Consistency was smooth and spreadable.  Flavor was good with mild heat.  I've only had Fritos Bean Dip when making a 7-layer dip, so I leave it to aficionados to rate how close the copycat recipe comes to the original.

Pinto beans (used in refried beans) are not the most appetizing color so I apologize if it looks unappealing.  (Please don't hate these photos like Martha Stewart's!)

I made the bean dip a day ahead so the flavors can meld before I make the 7-layer dip.  I pressed plastic wrap on the surface of the dip just to prevent any drying or a skin from forming.

My Rating (out of 5): 3

Snap Pea and Cucumber Salad

With a hot summer still going strong, I wanted a new, no-cook dish to get my veggies in.  I also like simple.  I had no particular vegetable in mind and just randomly looked online and this salad spoke to me.

Snap Pea and Cucumber Salad from Giada De Laurentis

This recipe is so easy to make and is super fresh with the sugar snap peas and dill.  The dressing is very simple and flavor really comes from the lemon juice and zest.  It brings out the brightness and fresh flavors of the vegetables rather than overwhelm.  

I've had dill in dishes, but I don't think I've ever cooked with dill before.  So this salad appealed to me as an opportunity to do so.  This recipe uses a good amount of dill with 1/4 cup.  I think dill has a lemony & mild flavor so it wasn't too much.  And most of the dill ends up sticking to the plate rather than making it to your mouth, so you want a lot to taste the dill.  

Persian cucumbers are great because they really don't have any seeds and require less chopping because of their petite size.

I wanted a little more dimension to the salad so I added cubed ricotta salata cheese.  It's similar to feta in texture but has a milder flavor and is not as salty.  I first had this cheese in a salad at an Italian restaurant and really liked finding an alternative to feta.

I never really noticed dill's flavor before, so I'm glad I tried this salad & hope to learn of more ways to use it.

My Rating (out of 5): 3