Nopalitos with Tomatoes and Onions

Nopalitos are the edible young paddles of the prickly pear cactus, grown throughout their native Mexico, the southwestern United States, and the Mediterranean (brought back by the conquistadores). The paddles are widely available in Mexican markets in the US, either whole (with spines) or prepared (cleaned, spines removed, chopped). They are tasty cooked, and are used in many traditional Mexican dishes. Here is a quick, easy, and delisioso nopalitos recipe prepared for me by my Mexican friend and caterer Arturo Vargas.

Do you have a favorite nopalitos recipe? Please let us know about it in the comments.

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Nopalitos with Tomatoes and Onions Recipe

• Prep time: 5 minutes
• Cook time: 15 minutes

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INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb nopalitos, nopales prickly pear cactus paddles that have been stripped of spines, cleaned, and chopped
• Olive oil
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 red onion, roughly chopped
• 1 jalapeño pepper, stem and seeds removed, chopped
• 1 medium tomato, roughly chopped
• Salt and pepper

METHOD

 

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pan) in a large sauté pan on medium high heat. Add red onion, garlic, and jalapeño. Cook for a minute, stirring occasionally, then add the nopalitos. Cook for several more minutes. Then add the chopped tomato. Continue to cook until all vegetables are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

New Potatoes with Cheese and Tomatoes

The sauce for these potatoes is very easy to prepare and a wonderful way to cook up some fresh garden tomatoes. The cilantro, cumin, and tomatoes combine to a unique and delicious flavor.

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New Potatoes with Cheese and Tomatoes Recipe

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INGREDIENTS

• 8 to 12 small red-skinned new potatoes
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 med yellow onion, finely chopped
• 4 large green onions, cut in 1-inch lengths
• 2 large fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

METHOD

1 Scrub the potatoes; do not peel. Place the potatoes in a large pan, cover with water and boil, covered, until tender when pierced, about 20 minutes. Drain and place in a serving container. Keep warm.

2 Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add chopped onion and green onions and cook until limp. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Stir in the cream, cilantro, oregano, cumin, and salt and pepper to taste. While stirring, slowly add the cheese and cook until the cheese is melted.

3 If potatoes are not small, cut them in halves or quarters. Spoon the sauce over the potatoes.

Mustard Greens

Have you ever tried mustard greens? Related to kale, cabbage, and collard greens, they are the peppery leafy greens of the mustard plant and are used frequently in Chinese, Japanese, and Indian cooking. I find them less bitter than kale or collard greens, and more peppery, like arugula. Just one taste of a raw leaf and you’ll know it came from a mustard plant. Cooked, they taste a lot like spinach, but with more body. My father recently discovered mustard greens at our local farmers market and they’re his new love. I like them with a dash of dark sesame oil, but you could easily just cook them up with a little garlic and olive oil.

Do you have a favorite way to prepare mustard greens? Please let us know about it in the comments.

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Mustard Greens Recipe

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INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup thinly sliced onions
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 pound mustard greens, washed and torn into large pieces
• 2 to 3 Tbsp chicken broth or vegetable broth (vegetarian option)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dark sesame oil

METHOD

1 In a large sauté pan, sauté onions in olive oil over medium heat until the onions begin to brown and caramelize, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook a minute more, until fragrant.

2 Add the mustard greens and broth and cook until the mustard greens are just barely wilted. Toss with sesame oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Mom’s Summer Squash

My mother is the only person I have ever known who can make summer squash taste this good. Often this time of year gardens are overflowing with zucchini and summer squash. This quick and easy recipe is a great way to use up some of the bounty. Note that summer squash varies in tenderness, sometimes you need to cook them a little longer, sometimes a little less.

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Mom’s Summer Squash Recipe

• Prep time: 5 minutes
• Cook time: 10 minutes

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INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs squash and/or zucchini, sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeds removed, sliced
• 2 smallish tomatoes or one large tomato, peeled and cut into wedges
• 1/2 yellow onion, peeled and sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• Olive oil
• 5 or 6 slices of cheese - jack or cheddar
• Basil, either dry or chopped fresh
• Salt and pepper

METHOD

1 Put onion, garlic, squash, bell pepper into a large saucepan with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Put on high heat and brown the vegetables slightly to develop flavor. As you are browning, sprinkle either dried basil or chopped fresh basil on the vegetables. When vegetables are slightly browned, remove from heat, add the slices of cheese, and cover the pan.

2 In a separate stick-free fry pan, put the tomatoes and cook at medium hi heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want to let the juice from the tomatoes evaporate some. After 5 minutes, add the tomatoes to the rest of the vegetables and stir. Salt and pepper to taste.

Mom’s Pasta Primavera

The word primavera refers to being served with fresh vegetables; it is from the Italian (alla) primavera, or (in the) spring (style). Pasta primavera is almost always a simple-to-prepare dish using the fresh vegetables of the season. In spring you might make it with asparagus and peas, later in the summer with tomatoes and zucchini. Sometimes it uses a cream sauce, sometimes a marinara sauce, and sometimes, just with some olive oil and shaved Parmesan. The following recipe is how my mother likes to prepare Pasta Primavera – whatever vegetables we have on hand with a little marinara sauce.

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Mom’s Pasta Primavera Recipe

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INGREDIENTS

4 cups of mixed vegetables, for example:

• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 2x1/2-inch strips
• 1 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/4-inch slices
• 1/2 small eggplant, sliced into 1/4-inch slices
• 1/2 red onion, sliced into 1/4-inch slices
• 1/2 bell pepper, any color, cut into thin strips

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning or herbes de Provence
• A sprinkling of garlic salt
• 1/4 cup of spaghetti, marinara, or tomato sauce
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 pound pasta (use rice pasta for gluten-free version)
• Grated Parmesan optional

METHOD

 

1 Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (for your pasta).

2 Heat oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the vegetables, stir to coat with oil. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring only occasionally, until vegetables are just cooked. Turn off heat, but let pan stay on the burner.

3 While you are cooking the vegetables, add the dry pasta to the boiling water and follow the cooking instructions for the pasta. You want to time it so that the pasta is done soon after the vegetables.

 

4 Add a 1/4 cup of the spaghetti, marinara, or tomato sauce to the vegetables, along with 1/4 cup of water to thin the sauce. If you are using a prepared spaghetti or marinara sauce, you don't need to add much seasoning, just a 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning or herbes de Provence, a few sprinkles of garlic salt, and salt and pepper to taste. If you are using a plain tomato sauce, you might want to start out cooking the vegetables by cooking a minced clove of garlic first, and then adding the vegetables, and then add a bit more of the seasoning (to taste). Spaghetti and marinara sauce are already seasoned.

5 Once the pasta is ready - cooked but still a bit firm, or al dente - drain the pasta and put it directly into the skillet with the vegetables. Adjust seasoning. Add more sauce if needed. Gently mix in the cherry tomatoes.

Serve with some freshly grated Parmesan, if you like. A little bit of chopped fresh basil would go nicely with this as well.

Mexican Three Bean Salad

Do you love a good three bean salad, you know, the kind with a sweet vinegary dressing? I do. It’s sort of that last minute pantry item type of dish that is quick and wonderfully filling when you are hungry. This Mexican-inspired bean salad is a riff off the standard. It’s not really Mexican per se, but uses typical South-of-the-border ingredients such as crumbly Cotija cheese, black beans and pinto beans, jalapeño peppers, cilantro and a sweet dressing made with sugar and lime juice. All items that we happened to have in our pantry or fridge this week. So good!

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Mexican Three Bean Salad Recipe

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INGREDIENTS

• 1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 pound green beans
• Salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 1-2 jalapenos, seeded, chopped
• 1 large garlic clove, sliced thin
• 1 cup Cotija queso seco cheese, crumbled
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/3 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup sugar

METHOD

1 Cut the ends off the green beans and slice into pieces about an inch long. Fill a medium sized pot halfway with salted water. Bring to a boil. Add the beans to the pot and boil for 5 minutes, or as long as it takes for the beans to get tender. Green beans can be highly variable in how long it takes to cook them to tenderness. More mature beans can take longer, up to 20 minutes.

2 Drain the green beans and put in the bowl with the pinto and black beans. Drizzle the olive oil over everything and toss to combine. Mix in the green onions, jalapeño, garlic, and Cotija cheese.

3 In a separate bowl, mix the lime juice and sugar until the sugar dissolves, then add it to the salad. Coat the beans well and let marinate for at least 1 hour, preferably several hours. Right before you serve, toss in the cilantro. Add more salt to taste if needed.

Mexican Green Bean Salad

One of our favorite ways to eat green beans is with salsa. The tomatoes, onions, chiles, spices, and vinegar perk up the beans in the most wonderful way. This bean salad recipe is sort of a riff on the salsa theme, taking it up a notch with pickled jalapeños, cilantro, cotija cheese, and avocados. It would make a perfect picnic salad for a Mexican themed potluck. If you love Mexican food, I’m willing to bet you’ll love this salad as much as we do.

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Mexican Green Bean Salad Recipe

Make sure to use the freshest green beans you can find. Good green beans should feel firm and should snap in half, not bend, when you try to bend them.

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INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb fresh green beans, strings removed, ends snapped off, cut in half into about 1 1/2 inch length pieces
• 1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp lime juice or white vinegar
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (Mexican oregano if you can get it)
• 3/4 cup packed, chopped cilantro
• 1/3 cup canned, pickled jalapeño chili peppers, sliced
• 1/3 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup crumbled cotija cheese (salty Mexican cheese that resembles feta)
• 1/2 avocado, sliced or cut into inch long pieces
• 1 medium tomato, cut into 8 wedges, or a cup of halved cherry tomatoes

METHOD

1 Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the beans and simmer until just crisp tender, about 5 minutes. Drain the beans and run cold water over them to cool them quickly. Drain completely.

2 Place beans in a large bowl. Gently mix in the the lime juice or vinegar, olive oil, 1/4 cup onion, sliced pickled jalapeños, sea salt, oregano and cilantro. Let sit for half an hour.

3 When ready to serve, gently mix in the chopped red onion and cotija cheese. Serve the avocado slices and tomato wedges on the side or mixed into the salad.

Mashed Potatoes with Brown Butter, Goat Cheese, and Sage

Guest author Garrett and I made these mashed potatoes the other day. So good! ~Elise

The story of my first Thanksgiving away from home is one I tell with pride. Sure, we all have epic disasters in the kitchen and Thanksgiving horror stories to tell, but mine is epic. The dinner was a wreck: the cornbread burned, the turkey was frozen inside, the green bean casserole was served as a soup, the bacon for the stuffing caught fire, I forgot to add sugar to the cranberry sauce, and my roommate exploded a pie in an aluminum pie plate in the microwave. In total we set off the fire alarm three times. Picking over the wreckage we were somehow able to glean enough food for an actual meal but the experience had jarred for us all.

Still, one dish came out perfectly – the mashed potatoes. Not regular mashed potatoes, but loaded with salty goat cheese and mellow bits of sage mashed potaotes. Dreamy and creamy, they were the biggest (and only) hit of the night.

Many years later and I’ve tinkered the recipe with Elise. We took out the cream in lieu of more goat cheese and added brown butter to the mix. The result is the smoothest potatoes you’ve ever had with a nutty, earthy flavor. It’s a dish that can save any Thanksgiving dinner.

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Mashed Potatoes with Brown Butter, Goat Cheese, and Sage Recipe

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INGREDIENTS

• 1.5 lbs. yukon gold potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 3 tablespoons of milk
• 1 teaspoon of chopped fresh sage
• 4 ounces of goat cheese chevre

METHOD

1 Place the potatoes and salt in a pot and fill the pot with cold water until the potatoes are covered. Bring to a boil over high heat, then bring the heat down to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until a fork easily pierces the potatoes. Drain the water from the potatoes.

2 Place the butter in a small saucepan over low heat and brown the butter. The butter will foam for a bit before calming down. When the butter turns to a light amber color watch for it to turn to a nutty brown (this can happen very quickly). Immediately take off heat. Add the chopped sage to the butter (it may cause some foaming). Pour over the potatoes.

3 Add the goat cheese chevre, and milk and mash the potatoes with a potato masher until smooth and all ingredients are well incorporated. Salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.