Pretty in (Sorta) Pink -- Cranberry Cole Slaw

Have you looked at The Food List Challenge?  Just a fun little game to see how adventurous a food enthusiast you really are.  I thought I was, and I guess I am, if you compare my "stats" to the average joe.  I've eaten 64 out of the 100, but I sure never would have put some of them on my personal food bucket list!

Some of my answers were borderline; for instance, I've eaten rabbit, but not rabbit stew.  Some of the foods I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole!  Crickets? No, thank you.  Frog Legs? Yes.  There's nothing about urchins that attracts me at all, but I would like to try dandelion wine. Fugu sounds far too risky and haggis  just makes me want to gag, with or without a spoon. (I have, happily, sampled sweetbreads, however.  Go figure.)

All this is a roundabout way to talk about this very simple cole slaw, which I doubt would ever make it to anyone else's Top 100 anything list.  It's everyday fare, jazzed up just a tad.  A simple side that could just as easily go along side -- or in -- a sandwich as a hunk of steak.  It's on my Top 100 "everyday food made a little fancy" list.

It's neither overwhelmingly sweet nor tart.  But it has a nice crunch, both from nuts and cabbage.  And the cranberries provide a nice, sweet change of texture in the midst of that crunching.  

Although you can't tell it from the picture, I prefer to cut cabbage into fine, fine slivers for this slaw with a knife, instead of shredding with a box grater, or a food processor.  (That is, until I use my school teaching extra cash to buy a mandoline; and a new camera!)

The dressing for this is vinegar-based making it ideal for a buffet table or an outdoor picnic -- no mayo to spoil!

Cranberry Cole Slaw
adapted from a Recipe from Nancy Nicholson,
via Penzey's Spring 2012 Catalog
6-8 cups shredded cabbage, preferably a mix of red and green
1/2 large red onion, very thinly sliced
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup sliced almonds
Dressing:
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon whole celery seed

In a large bowl, combine the shredded cabbage, onion, cranberries and almonds.  Whisk together the dressing ingredients.  Pour over the cabbage mixture and refrigerate several hours (or overnight) before serving.  Makes 10-12 servings.

Just Crazy Good Brussels Sprouts

I'm really impressed with the PR firm Brussels sprouts hired.   Once upon a time, Brussels sprouts were on the very lowest rung of veggies to celebrate   From little kids to wizened curmudgeons, all noses were turned up against them.   

Now they've earned their rightful place as a star ingredient in the cook's repertoire.  Look at all the places they're sprouting up  - - here and here and here.

I haven't always loved sprouts.  Growing up, all I recall were mushy balls of green stuff that didn't smell too appetizing.  It wasn't until I cooked them fresh did I fall in love with them.  These days (and I'm lucky Mr. Rosemary agrees with me) they show up on our plates at least every other week.  

  

And I often choose to bring them to family gatherings.  I was a little nervous the first time I did, because (of course) I ever heard anyone crave them the way they do Liz's sweet potatoes.   One Easter, I brought a creamy gratin of sprouts and -- much to my surprise -- learned that there were lots of sprouts lovers.  Then again, what's not to love about cheese and cream?

Then last Christmas time, I volunteered to take this sprouts dish to my sister's house.  Once again, rave reviews!  Who's going to argue with that!

I found this recipe from blogger Emily at Five and Spice, whose over-the-top description made me want to run to the store, then the kitchen and whip these babies up.  They are very, very easy and very, very tasty.  Just a little caramelizing from the molasses makes them look like little pieces of mahogany and taste like nutty candy.

I often roast the sprouts, but I think I've been convinced that this is my new preferred way to cook them. Crazy.

Aren't you glad Brussels sprouts have come out of the closet?

Crazy Good Brussels Sprouts

From Five and Spice

1 ½ pounds Brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

Salt

1 ½ tablespoons molasses

In a very large skillet, heat butter and oil over medium high heat until butter is bubbling.  Add sprouts, cut side down.  Leave alone to cook – without any stirring – for several minutes until the cut undersides get a brown crust.  Then, quickly flip them all over.  Sprinkle with salt, add garlic and continue to cook for another couple of minutes. Add the molasses and two tablespoons of water.  Turn heat down to medium and cook stirring frequently to coat all sides.  Cook for a few more minutes or until tender to your taste.

Popeye Powered Green Rice

I'm sure it was just subliminal brainwashing that I love spinach because of watching Popeye cartoons as a kid because it certainly wasn't because of the first way I learned to eat it.  My mother used to serve very well cooked leaf spinach from a frozen block.  It was sprinkled with vinegar and garnished with hard-cooked eggs.  I liked it okay, but that was the only way I knew it.

"It's full of iron," she'd say.  It's good for you."  My first super-food, because Mom said so and because it performed miracles for Popeye. (My mom even managed to find Popeye shaped spinach noodles at the store!)

                                                           
If you think Popeye is just the name for a restaurant chain, let me give you the real lowdown:

Popeye was a skinny, seemingly hapless sailor with a corn cob pipe who was in love with an also skinny girl named Olive Oyl.  The object of his affection was relentlessly pursued by Bluto, a burly bully of a villain.  When put into all kinds of fanciful situations, our hopeless hero becomes magnificent  -- smart, strong and fast -- after downing a can of spinach!  His biceps tripled in size, his chest puffed out and he sped away like a locomotive to save Olive Oyl from some traumatic fate, usually involving the conniving Bluto. Popeye could do anything, overcome any obstacle, all because he was empowered by that spinach.

Since my Popeye days, I've had spinach a hundred or more different ways.  My first spinach salad, a wilted salad with bacon dressing, was a real eye opener. Then there were quiches, and lasagne filling and souffles, frittata, omelets, pizzas.  That's one versatile green!

I wish I could say I had the same love for rice.  Rice has to pretty well dressed up for me.  Naked won't do.  Rice is just a bed for something else.

But when I marry rice and spinach?  Now that's something.  And when you add coconut milk, well that's almost risotto!  Creamy and nutty and speckled with green punches of power!

Spinach and rice sounds prettier in Spanish -- Arroz Verde -- and usually is jazzed up with cilantro and onion, among a few other additions. But I liked my coconut milk addition; I used a light version so still got the richness without too many extra calories.

I thought I was clever by not adding too much moisture to the pan as the rice cooked, thinking that the frozen spinach would add what was needed besides the milk, but it needed a little more moisture and I wrote up the recipe to reflect that.

And if you do decide to make some kind of green rice you just might join me in singing the Popeye refrain:

I'm strong to the finich,

cuz I eats me spinach,

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man!

Green Rice

makes 6 to 8 servings

1 cup basmati rice

1 (14 ounce) can light coconut milk

1/4 cup water

1 10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, or 4-5 scrapes of a nutmeg with a grater

Place rice, coconut milk, water and salt in a pan with the frozen block of spinach.  Bring to a boil.  Break up the spinach with a wooden spoon.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cover until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, about 25 minutes.  Add the nutmeg, stir again, and serve.