A Road Less Traveled and Kale Barley Gratin

A Road Less Traveled and Kale Barley Gratin

by | Apr 2, 2010 | Fabulous Friday

I find moving to be a rather emotional endeavor. It is not simply wrapping and unwrapping glassware, books and picture frames, it is unearthing things that have been buried for a while. Some of them are painful, like an unexpected photograph of the man who was going to marry me, and didn’t. Others are delightful: a forgotten candy cane, still in its wrapper, pictures from a dear friend in Germany, a scribbled note from someone who loves me. But all of them draw out emotions, both joyous and sad, and I’m officially tuckered out. 🙂

I was perusing Passage Paradis yesterday, delighting in her photographs of a bird market tucked away in Hong Kong, and it got me thinking about “taking the road less traveled” “getting off the beaten track” and other such things. I love to travel so very much, but I’m too broke to go anywhere for a while, so I’ve tried to look at my current surroundings with new eyes, as if I were a tourist in my own neighborhood.

Over the past week I have learned no less than FOUR different ways to get to my chiropractor up in Canada. 🙂 Two are rather dull consisting mostly of highways, gas stations and McDonalds, but the other two? Ohhh, they’re lovely, meandering past vineyards and hobby farms, through treed hillsides and alongside ditches filled with blackberry bushes.

On one particularly stormy day I had a few spare minutes and turned down a side road to a park I’d never noticed before. I found this:

It thrilled me to pieces and I couldn’t stop grinning, so happy with my discovery, so glad I had turned down that obscure road. 🙂

Thus inspired I got back to work and eagerly dug into my bowl of Kale Barley Gratin. Granted, this is not what you’d call a “pretty” dish, but it’s awfully tasty and so good for you. 🙂 Both barley and kale are simmered separately, then, while the barley drains, you puree the kale with a bit of broth. It turns into a vivid green sauce that is quite astonishing. 🙂 Then you mix it in with the barley, a roux seasoned with allspice and nutmeg, a mounded handful of grated Parmesan, and pour it into a baking dish and bake until it’s nicely browned on top. It’s great served hot from the oven, but is just as tasty reheated a few days later, or even eaten cold.

Kale Barley Gratin
(Adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone)

Ingredients:

2/3 cup pearl barley, rinsed
Salt and freshly milled pepper
1 large bunch kale, about 1 1/4 lbs, stems entirely removed
2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour (I used gluten-free)
1 1/2 cups milk or vegetable stock or chicken stock (I like chicken stock)
1/4 tsp allspice (I didn’t have grated, so I added a few whole to the stock while simmering)
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup grated Gruyere or provolone (I used Parmesan)

Directions:

  1. In a saucepan, add barley to 1 quart boiling water with 1/2 tsp salt and simmer, uncovered, until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain.
  2. While it’s cooking, cook the kale in a skillet of boiling salted water until tender, 6-10 minutes. Drain, then puree with 1/4 cup of the cooking water until smooth. 
  3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter in a small saucepan, whisk in flour, then add milk. Cook, stirring constantly over medium heat, until thick. Season with allspice, nutmeg, salt and pepper. 
  4. Combine all ingredients, check seasonings, then pour into buttered baking dish or ramekins.
  5. Bake until lightly browned on top, about 30 minutes.
Splendid Sunshine and Spiced Lentil Soup with Lime and Cinnamon

Splendid Sunshine and Spiced Lentil Soup with Lime and Cinnamon

by | Apr 1, 2010 | Plucky Thursday

I think dandelions are awfully cheerful, particularly when the setting sun makes them glow. This one blazed at me from the roots of a tall cedar outside my window this evening. Isn’t it lovely? 🙂

After days of wild wind, hail, and rain, the sun came out today in all its splendor, brightening landscapes and hearts. Last night I was a whirling dervish of cooking and dish-washing, but tonight I slowed down and rested. I strolled to the creek bank, closing my eyes and breathing deeply as the breezes brought scents of sap and green and flower from the woods. I leaned back against an obliging cedar tree, basking in the warmth of the setting sun.

Then I looked up, marveling at the lacy patterns of tree branches etched against the sky.

All too soon it was time to eat and start working my way through the boxes stacked in my living room. So I poured myself a glass of chilled Aussie white into a Mason jar – I haven’t found my wine glasses yet 🙂 – ate my dinner and got to work.

I’m pleased as punch to have sorted through FOUR boxes and tossed two bags of papers and trash. 🙂 Hooray! It feels so good. 🙂

And now I get to sit down with my tea and write to you dear folks. 🙂 Last week I promised to share the new soup recipe I tried, and today is the day! 🙂 I was in the mood for lentils, so I looked through my cookbooks and found a recipe called “Garlicky Lentil Soup” that sounded good. I was halfway through making it and waiting for the lentils to get soft enough when my eye strayed to the page right next to it and lurched to a halt on “Spiced Lentil Soup.” A quick glance at the ingredient list confirmed that my allegiance was about to sway. 🙂 Thankfully the first few steps were virtually identical, so I hurriedly added in the extra ingredients and was set.

Ohhh, it was GOOD! 🙂 The lentils are simmered with the usual accomplices: garlic, onion, tomato, but then the fun begins with the addition of turmeric, cumin, cardamom and cinnamon. After all that goodness is simmered for a while, you add creamy coconut milk and fresh lime juice and shew, it’s yummy. 🙂



Spiced Lentil Soup with Lime and Cinnamon
(Adapted from Soup: Superb Ways with a Classic Dish)

Ingredients:

2 onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tomatoes, roughly chopped (I used canned, diced tomatoes)
1/2 tsp ground turmeric (I didn’t have any and it tasted great anyways)
1 tsp ground cumin
6 cardamom pods
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 cup red or green lentils, rinsed and drained
3 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 14 oz can coconut milk
1-2 Tbsp lime juice
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Ground cinnamon or cumin seeds to garnish

Directions:

  1. Put onions, garlic, tomatoes, turmeric, cumin, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, lentils and water into a saucepan. Bring to boil, lower heat, cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes or until lentils are soft. 
  2. Remove cardamom pods and cinnamon stick, then puree mixture in a blender or food processor. Return to soup pot.
  3. Reserve a little of the coconut milk for garnish, and add remainder, with lime juice, to saucepan. Reheat soup gently without boiling.
  4. Swirl in reserved coconut milk, garnish with cumin seeds or ground cinnamon and serve piping hot.
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