Layers of Fun, and Collards

I've got certain tv-watching habits that fill a need. Hoarders? Inspires me to clean. Martha? Keeps me crafty. (Yes, I worship at the Church of Martha.)

And then there's my pal Guy Fieri. You heard me. Guy, the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives dude. With the hair. He provides me with the emotional face-stuffing I no longer participate in. Now I do it virtually. I watch him do my over-eating for me. I hope he feels good about it.

Aside from his total worship of very indulgent comfort food, triple-D dude gets line chefs to fess up their signature recipes. And while I'm sticking with my healthier eating ways (there have been results afterall...but more on that when I'm feeling brave), I've been thinking a lot about how so many of their recipes boil down to a ton of ingredients roasted/cooked and then blended into sauces with layers of flavors.

Which brings me, magically, back to collards. Yep, got more of them from the CSA. And in the past I've had some nice success in keeping them simple. But why not build them into something more, something with layers, both literal and figurative.

With some leftover tortillas, home-made chorizo from the freezer (part of a freezer swap that's mid-stream), and some lovely red peppers, I thought I'd make dinner a mash up: Portuguese Chorizo and Kale soup meets veggie pizza.

Next time, I'll add cheese to hold things together, but this was crunchy, salty and smoky, filling and full of collard-goodness. Guy might have done the "hunch" to fit it all in to one big bite. We used a fork.

Chorizo, Collard and Pepper "Pizza"

1 red pepper

6 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

olive oil

1/2 pound chicken chorizo

6-7 collard leaves

3 tortillas

Heat oven to 420F. Rinse off red pepper and place on baking sheet. Roast for 25 minutes or until the skin is wrinkly and brown in spots. Remove from oven and steam in paper bag. I never have a paper bag so I create a little pocket by folding over parchment paper. In fact, if I'm feeling bold I toast on parchment and then carefully fold it over. (Watch those fingers!) When it is cool enough to touch, peel of skin and scrape away stem and seeds.

Place the red pepper in a mini Cuisinart along with 2 cloves garlic, 2 Tablespoons olive oil, salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar. Blend until very smooth. Add more olive oil if you need to.

On a baking sheet lined with foil (for easy clean up) drizzle a little olive oil. Slide your tortillas in the oil on both sides to be lightly coated. Bake on the sheet for 10 minutes at 320F. You don't want them to burn, but you do want them to get a little stiff. Pull them out and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a medium saute pan, heat some more olive oil and throw in chopped collards. Mince 4 cloves garlic and place on top of collards. Let it wilt and then stir around until collard are softer but still a nice bright color. Remove and set aside.

In the same pan add the chorizo. I had homemade loose chorizo that I made with ground chicken, but any uncooked chorizo would work. Crumble with a fork as it begins to cook. You'll also pick up some bits of collard, which is fine. Cook fully.

Now, time to layer. Spread the red pepper sauce on the tortilla, then the collards, then the chorizo with a little more pepper sauce on top. Into the oven for 10-15 minutes and you've got some big flavors, high fiber and lots of leftovers in one meal.

3 Ingredient Ideas

When I first started cooking, and not just the delicious dishes my mother and grandmother had handed down, but really exploring flavors on my own, it was at a time in my life when I didn't have a lot of cash. So I'd read my various food magazines (this was pretty much before food blogs) or trawl the pages of cookbooks I was working on and I'd think, that would be a delicious meal if only I could afford to buy all those ingredients.

And then I came upon a cookbook author and chef who seemed to speak to my predicament -- the desire to expand my flavor and cooking know-how without buying out the grocery store. Vibrant and complex flavors, as I found in Rozanne Gold's fantastic 1-2-3 volumes, can come from just three ingredients. Now these are not necessarily thrifty ingredients, and some can be quite pricey. But being able to keep it to three ingredients meant being able to cook more than one new dish a week. Eureka!

I'm back to watching my grocery bills, and so I've been thinking a lot about Ms. Gold's approach. Many of her recipes call for ingredients that aren't "processed foods" but do include several elements: anchovies with capers in brine, garlic oil, flavored vinegars and so on. I thought of her when I had Mr. Lemon pick up Ras el Hanout on his adventures to Brooklyn's Sahadi's Grocery. (We call it going to the souk, and it really can be as exotic and exciting.) One ingredient, but so many spices in this delicious Moroccan staple that literally means "top of the [spice] shop."

So here's a dinner with 2 dishes, 6 ingredients (not counting olive oil, salt and pepper), that takes about 25 minutes from start to finish. Easy as 1-2-3. Thrifty as $5.

Pork Chops with Ras El Hanout

1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 pork chops, bone in

Combine the Ras el Hanout and olive oil and spread on all sides of the pork chops. Let sit for 10 minutes while you get the grill ready. Grill until white inside, about 8 minutes a side.

Grilled Collards and Potato

5-6 large collard leaves, rinsed, thick rib removed and torn into large pieces

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablspoons olive oil

4 small potatoes (white or red, but waxy), thinly sliced

Create a "bag" with tin foil, using two sheets. In the bag toss the sliced potatoes, olive oil, garlic, and torn collard greens. Add salt to taste. Cook over direct heat, 20 minutes on the grill.

Tally:

Easy and healthy dinner on the grill

Investing in spices is worth it for this dish

A balanced meal in two steps

On sale pork chops find a new flavor from Morocco

Getaway Grilling

Despite the odd year we've been having (see the no-moneymoon), Mr. Lemon and I are able to take a deep breath and recognize the sweeter stuff in life. Tops on that list: outdoor space. This steamy summer may have us hiding in the AC-cooled apartment during the day, but at nightfall, when the temperature drops, we've been eating dinner on the terrace.

And better yet, we've been making dinner out there, too. We've got a little grill and we're making the most of it. Grilling's a healthy way to get a lot of flavor out of not only lean meats, but those uber-healthy, CSA-supplied dark greens, too. So on a recent hot night, with some on-sale chicken breasts pulled from the freezer and a bag o' greens from the CSA, our little terrace turned into a Caribbean getaway.

Caribbean Spice-Rubbed Chicken

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

6 sprigs fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 chicken breasts (this proportion could also 'rub' up to 4 breasts)

Combine the spices, oil, thyme and garlic in a shallow dish or bowl, and add the washed and dried chicken breast. Rub in the spices, all over. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in refrigerator for half an hour (or more.)

Grill over indirect heat, about 10 minutes each side until done. You could broil this easily, too.

Grilled Collards in a Bag

I saw the adorable Jamie Oliver make his greens this way on his Cooking Channel show, and whether it was his charming accent or his use of lemon, he had me convinced that this was the solution to my CSA-greens overload. And it turns out he is 100% correct. This method can't be beat and the greens are not bitter, have a silky texture and still keep all their healthy nutrients and fiber.

2-3 cups collards/greens/what-have-you, rinsed and trimmed (Take off the really thick part of the stalk)

1/2 lemon

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Salt and ground pepper

Create a bag with tin foil: use two sheets about two feet long each. Place sheets one on top of the other and fold over, then fold two sides, leaving the fourth side open and creating a "bag"

In the bag, place the greens, torn into large pieces, along with the olive oil, the juice of half a lemon, salt and pepper. Seal the fourth side and grill for 20 minutes.

It wasn't the deck of a boat, or a beach bungalow's porch, but sitting out there enjoying our spicy chicken and greens, we felt like we had found our own little tranquil island escape in the big noisy city.

Tally:

Chicken breast w/bone, not the healthiest, but grilling drains some fat away

A flavor-packed way to get our "greens" in without adding porky bits

Grilling takes away a dark green's bitterness in one simple step (no blanching!)

Fast dinner that doesn't heat up the kitchen