It’s 7 pm. What’s For Dinner?

If we lived somewhere like Spain, 7 pm would roll around, and we would have some tapas and not worry about a meal until, oh, 10. And I would have an out when I haven’t exactly planned dinner, or the day hasn’t gone as planned. Instead, I have quesadillas.

I consider quesadillas among the ultimate convenience foods, not just because they’re fast, but also because they’re a great excuse for using up little bits of leftovers; the hamburger no one ate, the deli meat that’s about to spoil, bits of vegetables, whatever. I made one of my favorite versions with left-over pulled pork mixed with a little barbecue sauce, some chopped apple and smoked gouda cheese. Really, they’re open for experiment. But if you plan to have these, as opposed to throwing them together in a starving panic, make a filling out of strips of roasted poblano peppers mixed with sauteed sliced onions.

No quesadilla of mine will ever, apparently, measure up to the ones that our afterschool babysitter used to make. This recipe, for frying them on the stove, uses her method, though. Depending on what else you’re eating with them, and how hungry you are plan on 1-2 quesadillas per person . I usually serve rice (preferably brown) and a vegetable (something dark and leafy, like broccoli rabe, Swiss chard or kale is nice) as side dishes.

7 O’Clock Quesadillas

Ingredients

Fajita-sized flour tortillas
Shredded cheese. A melty variety, that complements any other fillings you have. I often default to Monterey Jack.
Other fillings if you want
Grapeseed, canola or another relatively flavorless oil
Sour cream, salsa, chopped avocado or guacamole as condiments

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a skillet that’s big enough to fit a tortilla laid flat. When the oil is hot, lay one tortilla flat in the pan (you’ll know the pan is hot enough because the tortilla will sizzle, but it shouldn’t be so hot that the oil pops). Sprinkle about 1/3 cup of cheese on the tortilla, and top with about 1/4 cup of any additional filling on one half of the tortilla. When the cheese has started to melt and the bottom of the tortilla is starting to turn brown and crisp, use a pair of tongs to grab one edge of the tortilla and fold it in half. Remove the folded quesadilla from the pan with the tongs and put it on a paper towel to absorb any excess oil.

Repeat until you have enough quesadillas for everyone. Watch the pan as you go, adding more oil if necessary and lowering the heat if the tortillas start to burn.

Put bowls of sour cream, salsa and chopped avocado or guacamole for people to use as condiments. If you have good tomatoes, and a little more time, you can whip up a batch of fresh salsa instead of opening a jar.

If you want to grill the quesadillas instead, use indirect heat, and make a sandwich out of two tortillas: put one on the grill, quickly top it with your fillings and put a second tortilla on top. When the bottom tortilla starts to get crisp (this happens quickly, so don’t leave it alone), flip it carefully with a spatula and tongs, and lightly crisp the other side. Slice it into wedges before serving.

Good Meals in Small Packages

I have a thing for fillings in dough. Turnovers. Empanadas. Burritos. Cornish pasties (these a traditional lunch of Scandinavian immigrants like my great-grandfather-in law, who mined iron ore in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula). But calzones are my current favorite. As easy to make as pizza, but better: every bite is surrounded by crunchy-chewy crust. Also, unlike individual pizzas, I can fit four calzones in my oven, so if I want Swiss chard and roasted peppers in mine, or some cheese other than mozzarella, well, I don’t have to negotiate with anyone about it (the one in the photo is chard and ricotta). It’s also a good way to use up small quantities of leftover vegetables, meat or cold cuts.

Calzones for Everyone

Make some pizza dough. I like Mark Bittman’s (a version here). One recipe makes enough dough for 4 large or 5 medium calzones. You can mix it up in about 5 minutes in a food processor in the morning and let it rise in the refrigerator all day, and bring it to to room temperature before proceeding. (OK, use store-bought dough if you must. But try making it. You won’t be sorry.)

Preheat your oven to 475 F.

Get the fillings ready. Almost any toppings that you like to put on pizza work inside a calzone. It’s best to use cooked vegetables rather than raw, however, or crust can get soggy. We like carmelized onions, strips of roasted red pepper, greens (such as chard or spinach) sauteed with garlic, broccoli, ham, pepperoni, salami, crumbled sausage. Cut any large pieces into bite-sized chunks. If you cook the vegetables in advance, or if they’re left over from another meal, this step takes no time.

Shred, or crumble, your cheese. You can use any cheese you would like on a pizza, but I like ricotta (although it can be runny when baked), chevre or feta more than the usual mozarella.

Tear off some dough and form into a ball slightly bigger than a fist, and shape it into a circle as you would a pizza.

Place the circle on a lightly floured (and clean) counter, cutting board, or your baking pan and push the dough around to fill any holes or very thin spots.

Mound the cheese and other fillings on the bottom half of the circle, leaving some room at the edges (as you would for a pizza). The cheese and fillings blend together nicely if you mix them together first. Use about 3/4 cup filling, or as much as you can fit and still be able to close up the edges. Stretch the top half over the bottom and press the edges together to seal.

Put the calzone carefully on a baking sheet or pizza pan and continue making the remaining calzones

Place the baking pan with the calzones on a rack in the center of the oven. Bake for 5 minutes, then turn the pan around and bake for another 5-6 minutes, until the crust is golden. (Note: You can also bake these on a pizza stone, if you have one, or on the grill. If you use a pizza stone, preheat it when you start preheating the oven, and sprinkle some cornmeal on the stone before you put the calzones on it to prevent sticking. Use tongs to rotate the calzones on the stone halfway through cooking. In the summer, I make calzones on the gas grill. Set the grill on medium–475-500 degrees. Place the calzones directly on the grill and cook for about 4 minutes, rotate with tongs and cook for another 4-5 minutes, until the crust is golden. But pay close attention the first few times you do this, because not all grills are alike. If the calzones start to burn, they’ll burn quickly.).

Serve topped with tomato sauce (or not) and a green salad.

Corn in My Freezer Equals Chili

Toward the end of October last year, I started to think about how much I’d miss corn on the cob. Nearly every Saturday morning, I’d hover over the ears splayed on a white folding table at the farmer’s market. Usually, they went straight on the grill, wrapped in foil, then rolled on a slab of butter, with a generous shake of salt and pepper.

I didn’t think of hoarding them over the winter until I overheard Darcy, at the farmer’s market, talking with another customer about freezing the cobs: Leave the husk on, she said, pack them into a freezer bag and push the air out. Instead of defrosting them first, remove the husks and drop them directly into a pot of boiling water. And, voila, corn on the cob in January.

My skill at freezing things leaves something to be desired, or else it was in the freezer too long; the corn straight up didn’t taste that great. It works just fine, however, in a vegetarian chili recipe that I’ve been making, and tweaking, for years.

We had it tonight. Not just because it’s quick (one of the kids was in a play; I didn’t get home to make dinner until after 6 pm). Also because it’s time to clear the bits of summer and fall produce out the freezer. In addition to the corn, I still have some basil and mint, a few Habanero peppers, a couple of pounds of cranberries (not sure what I was thinking), half a cup of pesto, as well as some grapefruit I froze before we went away over the holidays because I didn’t want to throw it away. I’ll probably use the basil to enhance a jar of tomato sauce. I can spread the pesto on a sandwich. Some of the cranberries can go into muffins. Habaneros into salsa, or maybe chopped up on pizza. Maybe I can use the mint to flavor tea? Or make a sauce for lamb. Not sure what to do about the grapefruit yet.

Foolproof Veggie Chili (Serves 4-6)
Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites. The original calls for cooking the onions and garlic in 1/2 cup water for 5 mins, instead of using oil, which makes the recipe low-fat. And also does not lard it up at the end with cheese and sour cream. But this is what I like.

1 tbl canola or grapeseed oil
2 large yellow onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbl ground cumin
1 tbl ground coriander
1 cup jarred salsa. The spiciness of the salsa will determine the spiciness of the chili
2 green bell peppers
2 15-oz cans beans, drained and rinsed. I use black, pinto, kidney or a mix of them. Really depends on what’s in the pantry.
1 28 oz can tomatoes, with juice. I’ve used whole plum tomatoes, chopped up, diced tomatoes or crushed. Any of these work, though the texture of the final dish will be different. Crushed tomatoes make it thicker than either the whole, chopped, or the diced tomatoes.
2 cups corn (frozen kernels, or 3-4 ears, shucked)
2 medium zucchini or summer squash. Or one of each. (optional)
1 cup green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces (optional).
salt & pepper to taste
hot sauce, sour cream, chopped onions, shredded cheese (cheddar or Monterey Jack are good), chopped scallions and/or chopped cilantro for toppings

Heat the oil over medium heat. Cook the onions and garlic, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened. Add the cumin and coriander and stir until the onions and garlic are coated, about 1 minute. Add the green bell peppers and salsa. Stir, cover, and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the beans and tomatoes with juices, and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Add the corn and zucchini, summer squash and/or green beans, if using. Simmer, uncovered, for another 10 minutes or so, until the vegetables are tender.

This chili is good served over rice or pasta—especially if you have some left over from another meal. Also, tortilla chips. Leftovers make a great topping for nachos, with some cheese melted on top.

Carrots, Cabbage and Kale

By this point every winter, my cooking whipsaws between attempts to evoke summer or tropical weather (for instance, last week’s beer-battered fish) and comfort foods. Those comfort foods include ingredients such as cabbage, root vegetables and beef that were at the heart of many of the Central and Eastern European-inspired dishes I ate growing up. Yesterday’s forage at the farmers market included carrots and kale, as well as beets and potatoes (the cabbage is left over from last week’s borscht). I also picked up some cherry tomatoes, more scrod, and smelts—which the woman in line ahead of me convinced me to try (just pan fry them, she said). They’re tiny, and remind me (by their looks, anyway) of herring.

Also on today’s agenda: beef stock, and a new batch of yogurt. Our CSA, Chestnut Farms, had beef knuckles for sale, and I bought enough for several pots of stock, though I’m going to do only one today (more about making stock and yogurt at some point soon).

For dinners this week, I’m thinking:

Today: Having fresh scrod again is as good a reason as any to try Crisp Cod with Soy-Ginger Dipping Sauce, which I found in my binder of magazine clippings. Will serve this with rice, and bok choy or maybe chard (but really, bok choy, probably).
Monday: Green chicken enchiladas, with rice, refried black beans and salad. To use up leftover chicken from Friday night. I’ll use jarred salsa verde this time. Can’t take the time to make it from scratch this week.
Tuesday: Spicy chickpea stew. Essentially the recipe for Tunisian Vegetable Stew from The Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home book. I’ll be able to finish up that head of cabbage here.
Wednesday: Our schedule for the day leaves little margin for error, which suggests something in the slow-cooker is our best bet. Chili again, this time with ground beef. And something. Cornbread? Salad? Some veggie side?
Thursday: Another of the Moosewood Collective Books, The Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health has a recipe for Orange-Glazed Tofu on Greens, which will use the kale.
Friday: Meatballs with ground lamb, couscous and, to use the cherry tomatoes, this Shaved Fennel, Roasted Tomato and Pistachio Salad with Yogurt Dressing from TheKitchn.
Saturday: Perhaps pizza

I’m going to make the smelts for lunch today. At some point this week, when I have time, I’ll roast the beets for a salad. Otherwise, they’ll keep, as will the potatoes, for a bit. We’ll probably end up snacking on any carrots that don’t end up in the stock.