Simple antipasti

In Italy, antipasti are meant to whet your appetite. (Granted, when I ate out in Italy, my appetite needs little whetting -- what with all the whiffs of freshly-made pasta and roasted tomato sauce drifting from the kitchen to my table.) Nonetheless, in Italy, antipasti are simply appetizers, mere preludes to the main dish. In my house, they're just part of the meal. After all, roasted vegetables with a splash of quality balsamic vinegar and just the right amount of good olive oil make a perfect accompaniment to whatever's being served. In my humble opinion, they need not precede the main course -- in fact, they do just fine right alongside it. By far the best thing about antipasti is their simplicity. Season, drizzle, and roast, that's all there is to it! These simple steps work wonders for eggplant, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, even sweet potatoes. The trick is to slice thinly, and flip once half-way through the roasting process so that both sides crisp up. If you're sparing with the oil, as I am, best use a pastry brush, which will spread the oil over the entire surface without soaking them all too much. And while cooking spray is fine for the pan, I strongly recommend sticking to real olive oil for the vegetables themselves; olive oil is a strong player in the saturated, concentrated flavor that antipasti develop. I can safely say that this "recipe" has no recipe, but a method, instead: slice whatever vegetables you use about 1/4-1/8 inch thick, as uniformly as possible. Line a roasting pan with a single layer of vegetables. Brush each side with olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper, and add herbs if you like (I favor sage for eggplant, and rosemary with sweet potatoes, onion, and a new addition -- turnips). Bake at around 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until the tops are browned; flip, and bake another 10-15 minutes. Check regularly to avoid burning (which I unfortunately have a tendency to do!). Once the vegetables are out of the oven, transfer to a platter, drizzle with good balsamic vinegar, add salt and pepper to taste, and bring to room temperature before serving.

Carrot Soup

It's already December and I still haven't posted a freezable soup recipe? Can't be. My nose is red and my paws are frosty these days. If only it were possible to have the kettle whistling by the time I walked in the door, so that I could instantly hold a piping hot mug of chai after weathering the cold. Until someone invents that kettle, there's frozen soup. There're few things easier than popping a soup-filled ziploc out of the freezer and nuking your dinner on a cold winter night. Start to finish, it only takes 4 minutes, and the results are just as good, if not better, than freshly made soup. The ingredients have had time to mingle with each other a bit more, so frozen soups often taste flavor-saturated than their fresh siblings. Top the soup with some homemade croutons and you're good to go!

Carrot soup is one of the simplest and lowest-maintenance options for wintertime. Once all the ingredients have landed in the pot, simply cover and hang out by the fire for an hour or two. Then throw it all in the food processor, et voila!

Spiced Carrot Soup serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup minced onion or shallot
• 3 Tbsp. minced peeled fresh ginger
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/8 tsp. cumin
• 2 tsp. salt (if using water; if using chicken stock or broth, no salt is needed)
• 3-4 cups (or more) chicken stock, chicken broth, or water, as needed
• 4 cups sliced peeled carrots (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 1 cup or so orange juice
• pinch brown sugar or a couple tsp. maple syrup, if needed

1. Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion or shallot, ginger, salt, and spices, and sauté until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add carrots, and toss to coat with onion mixture.
3. Add 3 cups liquid, or enough that liquid covers carrots by about 1 inch. Cover and simmer until carrots are tender, about 30 minutes. Add orange juice, and cook a few minutes longer. If needed, add sugar or syrup to sweeten.
4. Transfer in batches to the food processor and puree. Adjust the seasoning if necessary.
5. Transfer pot to fridge and chill; if desired, when soup is just warm, transfer to ziplocs and freeze in 1-serving portions. Be sure to eliminate all air from the bag before closing.

Homemade Croutons

• leftover bread; I used homemade no-knead bread with whole wheat flour and raisins.
• pam or olive oil
• salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Slice bread, and cut slices into 1/2-inch cubes.
3. Lay out cubes in a shallow baking sheet, in a single layer.
4. Spray with pam or drizzle with oil, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
5. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, then turn oven down to 300 and bake another ten minutes, until crisp.
6. Allow to cool completely before storing in bags or jars.

Open-Faced Spanikopita

Several times a week, I get home from work, open the fridge, and sigh. What the hell am I going to make for dinner? There's half a red onion, a package of mushrooms, two slices of bread, leftover kale, one red pepper....yea, I'm not getting very far.

Last week, I had a blip of inspiration between long-ish bouts of cooking drab food, and managed to throw together these open-faced spanikopita with roasted peppers and tomatoes. There was a bit of leftover filo dough in the freezer, but it wasn't wide enough to fold into triangles as I usually do, so I just left them flat and piled the goodies on top. And when you're working with such few ingredients and almost no technique, there's room to play with decorative aspects of the food. I arranged the red peppers in a criss-crossing pattern atop the spinach-kale mixture, and D thought the whole thing looked very fancy-shmancy.

Point is, don't let a fridge full of half-used veggies and scraps get you down. There are lots of easy dishes that make use of leftovers in creative and easy ways. Now if only I could think of a couple more....for now, I'll leave you with this spanikopita, which was truly a hit. For a quickie weeknight dinner, it truly fits the bill.

Open-Faced Spanikopita
makes 2 servings.

• 10 layers of filo dough, about 6"x16"
• olive oil for brushing between the layers (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 red pepper
• 6 cherry or grape tomatoes
• combined 1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh spinach or kale (I used a combo)
• 1 cup cheese -- I used a mix of feta and ricotta, but farmer's cheese would also work
• Parmigiano-Reggiano for grating on top

1. Set out the filo dough and allow to thaw completely before unrolling.
2. Meanwhile, roughly chop spinach and/or kale if fresh; if frozen, thaw and drain completely.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine chopped greens with cheese, and mix thoroughly until well combined. If you prefer a smoother texture, blend in the food processor.
4. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Set one rack on the highest shelf.
5. Put the red pepper and tomatoes on a baking sheet, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil and salt. Roast for about 20 minutes, until the skin of the pepper is charred. Remove from the oven, and put the pepper in a paper bag to steam for 5 minutes. Turn the oven down to 400 degrees.
6. When you remove the pepper from the bag, its skin should be easy to remove. Once the skin is off, slice the pepper into matchsticks (pretty thin slices).
7. Now, slice two 6"x8" rectangles out of the filo dough.
8. Working with one rectangle at a time, take a layer of dough, brush it with olive oil, and place the next layer on top. Repeat with each layer, then with the second rectangle.
9. When all layers are brushed and stacked, scoop 2/3 cup of the spinach-cheese mixture onto the filo stacks.
10. Put the pepper slices and tomatoes onto the spanikopita in a haphazard or decorative (your choice) way. Grate some parmigiano-reggiano cheese on top.
11. Bake for 15 minutes, or until filo dough layers are golden. Be careful -- it's hot!

Vegetarian Chili with Green Beans

Veggie Chili was always a staple in my house growing up. We may not have had meat, but you know I've sung the praises of morningstar farms more than once, and chili brought out the best in MF's "veggie crumbles." Yea yea, it sounds really unappetizing, but trust me, it's amazing. Obviously if you're not restricted by vegetarianism, feel free to add all the BOEUF you desire. Morningstar will come through for the rest of us. As usual, this falls somewhere between method and recipe. My standard veggie chili has garlic, onion, tomatoes, peppers, morningstar, white beans, and spices. This one had all of the above except no white beans -- I only had black beans in the house. I also added a bit of sweet potato, since I had some baked, mashed, and in the fridge. I'd do that again in a flash: the sweet potato added subtle sweetness and earthiness to an otherwise typical Mexican veggie chili. Finally, I threw in some green beans and a bit of spinach at the very end, which made this chili a one-pot meal. Pop it on some whole wheat tortillas, and you've got dinner! Oy, I feel like Rachel Ray...

Veggie Chili with Green Beans serves 2

1 jalapeno pepper 1/2 onion ( I used red, any will do), chopped 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped 1 package morningstar farms veggie crumbles OR 1/2 lb. ground turkey or beef 1 8 oz. can diced tomatoes 1 sweet potato, chopped and baked 1 1/2 cups green beans 1 cup spinach, chopped 1 green pepper 1 tsp. chili powder 1/4 tsp. crushed red chilies 1/2 tsp. cumin 1 tsp. coriander a few springs of fresh cilantro salt and pepper to taste

1. In a heavy-bottomed pan, saute onions, garlic, and jalapeno in 2 Tbsps. olive oil.
2. When onions are fragrant and soft, add veggie crumbles or meat, a bit more oil if needed, and all spices except cilantro, plus salt and pepper to taste. saute until thawed and/or browned.
3. Add tomatoes, and toss to coat everything with their juices.
4. Add sweet potatoes, green beans, and spinach, and continue to cook over medium heat until green beans are soft, about ten minutes.
5. Finish with chopped fresh cilantro; serve with whole wheat tortillas. Enjoy!