Baby Rosemary Baked Potatoes

Servings: 12
Preparation Time: 10 minutes plus baking

12 to 18 small red potatoes, about 3-inches in diameter

¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons course salt
1 bunch fresh rosemary

Butter
Sour cream
Fresh chives

Heat the oven to 375 degrees

Rub each potato with olive oil and sprinkle generously with coarse salt.

Place the potatoes into a large, shallow baking dish.

Place rosemary springs on top of and around the potatoes.

Roast until just soft, about 30 minutes. Remove rosemary sprigs before serving.

Swiss Chard is the cold weather crop of the season—enjoy it at as no-hassle dish before Thanksgiving’s got you running in high gear

Who doesn’t love veggies, too pretty (well…almost!) to eat? That’s Swiss chard for you—with its big leafy greens and ruby red stems, it looks right at home in a decorative copper pot—but that would be a crime! Thanks to Vitamins C, E & K, Swiss chard promotes lung health and is, perhaps, the best tasting member of the cruciferous veggie family—at least IMHO!

Some people call it Swiss, just to differentiate it from the French spinach; its other varieties are Rhubarb chard (green leaves, red stalks), Ruby chard (both red leaves and stalks) and Rainbow chard, which features a bouquet of all the varieties in stems of yellow, orange, pink and red. I know, I know…isn’t this so pretty, just to talk about, let alone eat??!

Swiss chard makes your cooking POP! (Effort not included)
For this chef, all varieties of chard, once they’re cooked, taste remarkably similar. Other foodies recommend using every part of the chard—stems and all—in your cooking. First, you’ll want to soak the big chard leaves in a sink full of water to get the dirt off, pat them dry with a kitchen towel, and gently separate the leaves from the stems. Blanch the leaves in a pot of salted boiling water for just 2 minutes before you sautee them. Set the stems aside, and chop them into 1-inch pieces; these should be sauteed before the leaves because they take a little longer to cook. I’ve found that chard is a beautiful and simple side dish for fish or pork (famous chefs advise not to “mess the chard too much—just use a little shallot, garlic, splash of white wine and whisper of butter…”)

Why it’s the Reason for the Season
This early November, Swiss Chard is extra large and billowy, so I’ve decided to declare it my cold weather crop of the season—in other words something fun to mess with right before Thanksgiving! Since chard is resilient to frost and available all year round—looking particularly hearty in produce aisles right now—I’m encouraging my fellow foodies to notice it, and purchase it, along with other winter root veggies lookin’ gorgeous right now—think ruby red beets.

But you know me—while I applaud the simplicity of Swiss chard, I also refuse to leave my foodie fans without a more elaborate way to enjoy this veggie of the month. My PEPPERED PORK PINWHEELS Stuffed with Swiss Chard, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Mozzarella features 2 pounds worth of fibrous, vitamin and calcium loaded chard, and has been a Morgan family favorite for a long time. The filling is moist, full of goodness, and the pinwheels are GORGEOUS on the plate. Serve this dish with smashed potatoes and get used to the wonderful, albeit broken record sound of your kids asking for it again and again.

My other dish, in which you could say Swiss chard definitely “plays a roll” is my BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND SWISH CHARD ROLL-UPS with Sun-Dried Tomato Basil Sauce; everyone’s going to love coming to the table for this one, since it is, essentially, lasagna with butternut squash, a half pound of swiss chard and an open invitation to use béchamel (translation: creamy, buttery white) sauce if you’re feeling decadent.

With New Year’s resolutions still a couple of months away, I say why not? Besides, in these dishes, with the beauty, simplicity and nutritive powers of Swiss chard to balance things out—you’ve got the perfect excuse to get cooking!

Butternut Squash and Swiss Chard Roll-ups with Sundried Tomato Basil Sauce

Makes 4 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

For the sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
2 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
6 medium plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise (about 1 pound)
1 cup minced oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup homemade chicken stock or low sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground pepper

For the lasagna:
8 lasagna noodles
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and diced into 1-inch squares (about 2 cups)
1 medium yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup homemade chicken stock or low sodium chicken broth
1/2 pound Swiss chard, washed, dried, stems removed, leaves torn (about 2 cups)
4 ounces Gruyere cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)
½ cup reduced fat ricotta cheese
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus 2 tablespoons for topping
1 large egg, beaten

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, wine and 1 cup chicken broth and reduce the heat. Simmer the sauce for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper. Use a hand held blender (or food processor) to emulsify the sauce. Keep warm.

Cook the noodles in salted, boiling water until just al dente. Drain and place on a baking sheet that has been coated with vegetable oil spray.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a deep skillet over medium high heat. Add the squash and onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in ¼ cup chicken broth and Swiss chard . Season with salt and pepper. Cook until the chard is wilted and the squash is soft, about 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and cool slightly. Stir in the Gruyere cheese, ricotta, 1/3 cup Parmesan and egg.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour 1 ladle of the sauce into a baking dish. Lay out 1 lasagna noodle on your work surface. Spread 2 tablespoons of the filling over top. Roll up the noodle and place, seam side down into the baking dish. Repeat with all of the noodles and all of the filling. Spoon the remaining sauce over the top. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese. Bake the roll-ups until the top is golden and the sauce is bubbling.

Peppered Pork Pinwheels stuffed with Swiss Chard, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Mozzarella

Makes 6 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 35 to 45 minutes

For the filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large red onion, peeled and thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
2 pounds Swiss chard, washed, dried, stems removed, leaves torn (about 8 cups)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 ounces reduced fat, grated Mozzarella cheese (about 1/2 cup)
1 cup minced oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained

For the pork:
2 (12 to 14-ounce) pork tenderloins, tri-flied
2 tablespoons Dijon style mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil

Place one tenderloin onto a cutting board with the thick end facing away from you. Place your free hand on top to steady. Starting at the thick end and working horizontally, use a sharp knife to cut a slit about ¾ of the way through the bottom third of the meat, from right to left. Do not cut all the way through, leave attached. Open the tenderloin. Cut a slit from the center of the meat, from right to left again, ¾ of the way through toward the thick half. Do not cut all the way through. Open up the flap. You will have 1 large piece of meat. Repeat with the second tenderloin. Invert the second tenderloin, so that the thin end is placed next to the thick end, and overlaps slightly. Cover with plastic wrap. Use a meat mallet to pound the meat to an even thickness of about 1/2-inch. The two overlapping tri-flied tenderloins will yield a rectangular piece of meat about 10-inches by 12-inches. Place the cutting board, with the tenderloin covered with plastic, into the refrigerator to chill for at least 15 minutes.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add half of the Swiss chard. Cook until wilted, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the remaining Swiss chard and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper. Cool to room temperature.

Remove the tenderloin from the refrigerator. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the meat. Cover with the Swiss chard mixture. Top with sun dried-tomatoes. Carefully roll up the tenderloin around the filling. Secure with toothpicks.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush with mustard, and coat generously with pepper. Place 1 more tablespoon olive oil in the skillet over medium high heat. Brown the pork tenderloin roll, beginning seam side down, on all sides until golden, about 5 minutes total. Place the pork roll into a baking dish. Bake until the meat is still moist and the juices are clear, about 35 to 45 minutes.

To serve, remove the toothpicks from the roll. Cut into 1 ½-inch slices.

Mushrooms are in Tasty Abundance Right Now! Cook with Them this Holiday Season and Watch Your Dinner Guests Fall in Love…

If you look under “M” in any of my cookbooks, you’ll note that mushrooms, nature’s hidden treasures, occupy quite a bit of space. I love them because they lend earthy flavors with subtle, smoky undertones and meaty textures to everything they’re in. The health benefits of mushrooms are compelling enough that this October, for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, some cultivators are packaging their mushrooms in pink cartons. When I prepare some of my favorite recipes in which shitake, portabello or baby bellas star, I have to admit I’m not thinking of what their medicinal mushroom healing powers may be; I’m just delighted with how many parties and dinners they’ve taken me through with such great style!

De ja Mushroom
I’ve used pounds of mushrooms over the years to make warm mushroom salads with maple lime dressing, mushroom scallion pancakes with sherry creamed chicken—not to mention an Old Fashioned Mushroom Soup, laid out in this year’s Open House Halloween party plan. Anyway you slice ‘em, mushrooms lend a toe curling, savory elegance to all sorts of wild rice and risotto dishes; and where would omeletes and pizzas be without them? It turns out Cooking Light is on exactly the same page as me in cooking, preparation and storage tips for mushrooms, so you can have a quick brush up course before ripping into your next carton of fantastic fungi.

If any of my California Readers Make it to this Festival, please post on my Facebook wall! We foodies are hungry for photos and details!
This time of year, a foodie can get excited about mushrooms—especially in certain parts of the country, where the crisp cool air and autumn rainstorms cause them to grow in succulent abundance. The pun makers out there are saying “let the fun(gi) begin”, advertising big events for mushroom season, like Mendocino County’s annual 10-day Wine & Mushroom Festival (this year from Friday, November 5th through Monday, November 15th).

For those of my readers who don’t know where Mendocino is, picture the gorgeous wine country in northern California, where mushrooms a lot of us have never heard of still manage to captivate the taste buds. I’m talking Candy Cap Mushrooms, with their intense maple-syrup flavor, and award winning harvests of chanterelles, porcinis, morels and hedgehogs. Oh my! The list includes the familiar, like shiitake, cremini, portobello, oyster, wood ear and white. When you make a day of browsing Chinese markets—not a half bad idea if you make it to the Golden State—you will find enoki, porcini, beech, and more asian mushrooms than there are mushroom spores—do your part as a foodie and take notes while you shop!

Getting into the Gravy: what I’m doing with my next batch of mushrooms
Now that I’ve sufficiently covered how great mushrooms are, it’s time to get to the gravy of this article; my favorite accent to so many favorite entrees, mushrooms aren’t just low in calories, sodium-free, fat-free and cholesterol-free—but pretty much the best darn staple of flavor you can put into gravy for the perfect holiday centerpiece: Standing Rib Roast with Red Wine Mushroom Gravy. Both traditional and classy, this entrée is ideal for a holiday dinner party and calls for 2 pounds of button mushrooms—better known as “white mushrooms”, which steal credit as the most actively consumed variety around the world each year. Funny how they’re called “button” since they’re much bigger than the buttons you sew back on shirts—they remind me more of knobs. However, you choose to describe them, sautéing the mushrooms in the roasts’ pan drippings is what makes them the very definition of divine—and that’s before you take it to the next level, by adding a full cup of the richest, darkest red wine in your house.

Between where we are now and the waiting New Year, there are plenty of reasons to invite the family over for a special dinner. You might say, just after Halloween and right before Thanksgiving Day that the possibilities are mushrooming!

Standing Rib Roast with Red Wine Mushroom Gravy

Servings: 10 to 12 (2 to 3 servings per pound)
Preparation Time: 30 minutes, plus roasting

7 to 8 pound rib roast with 4 to 5 ribs trimmed
¼ cup Dijon mustard
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 pounds button mushrooms, sliced
(about 4 cups)
1 cup red wine
3 cups beef stock
¼ cup all-purpose flour, mixed with 1 cup cold water

Preheat over to 475 degrees (hottest setting)

Combine the mustard, parsley and sugar in a small bowl. Brush the mixture over the entire roast. Season with salt and pepper.

Place the roast fat side up, on a rack, in a roasting pan. Place the roasting pan into the preheated oven. Immediately reduce the heat to 350 degrees, and roast for 18 minutes per pound or until the thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the roast reaches 140 degrees for rare, to 170 degrees for well done.

Remove the roast from the oven and let stand for 15 minutes before carving.

Sautee the mushrooms in the pan drippings over medium high heat. Remove with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Add the red wine to the pan. Simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add the beef stock and simmer for 5 minutes more. Add the flour mixture to the pan, a small amount at a time. Cook until the sauce thickens to gravy consistency. Add the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper.

Fortify someone you love with a slow cooker favorite, Hunter Style Chicken Stew

Paging through recipes of how chicken soup is served up across the globe, I was inspired to treat my growing family to this chef’s version of a classic. We are all over-the-moon (and pretty exhausted!) after welcoming my second grandson into the world. Enjoy him…and hang in there! Please know that some of the best comfort food I know is coming your way; this delightful dish travels well…spoiler alert!

It takes a village to feed a friend—that’s why there’s takethemameal.com
I talk a lot about “Freezer Pleasers”–dishes we can all roll up our sleeves and easily tote over to the busy young parents raising our grandkids, but there are other pack-and-go crowd pleasers that encourage Nanas and Extreme Party-Planners alike to get on board with the Slow Food Movement by preparing more fresh healthy food, MORE OFTEN; then make sure we all sit down and really taste it.

Recently, I found a wonderful resource called takethemameal.com that lets you participate in meal creation via an online sign-up sheet; this way everyone gets involved with the understanding that you don’t have to be a Food Network Star to help nourish and fortify a loved one; you just do what you can do. Click around on their site for more details.

My “Meals on Wheels” Recipe
I plan on “penciling in”, for my wonderful daughter-in-law and new Mom, Hunter Style Chicken Stew—perfect for those days when you are: “In for the night and ready for the long-haul!” What better way to fortify the troops than with a perfect, full-bodied chicken soup just like grandma used to make—and in this case is still making! I’m getting out my slow cooker—a brand and model that can practically perform magic (see my Favorite Things) and using it to introduce my first hard core “comfort food” of the season. The main thing to get excited about in this recipe?? You basically get to set the slow cooker on medium high for the day and walk away!

Why is it the perfect time for this stew?
As of October 1st, flu season was in full swing. With vulnerable loved ones in our lives, it’s a good idea to get flu shots and build our immunity with good, fresh food. Research done by the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha ran a study on chicken soup, and found evidence to support the folklore about its positive influence on upper respiratory colds!

Global Twists on Chicken Soup
Chinese chicken soup is made from old hens and seasoned with ginger, spring onions and star anise.
Colombian chicken soup is made with sweet corn, several types of potatoes, avacados and native herbs; in Mexico it’s got whole chicken pieces instead of chopped or shredded chicken, and large cuts of vegetables, plus cabbage leaves.
Bulgarian chicken soup is made with lemon juice and vingar.
French chicken soup includes bay leaves, fresh thyme, dry white wine and loads of garlic.
German chicken soup is all about semolina dumplings and pickling spices.
In Greece, chicken soup is made with lemon and eggs, and served with small bits of pasta.
In Israel chicken soup is considered the traditional dish of the Jewish kitchen; chicken fat is used in the broth and it’s sesaoned with parsley, fresh dill and thyme.
Portugal and Brazil are on my page, by adding rice to their chicken soup
--and—
Jorj’s chicken soup produces a bouquet of aromas that brings every last soldier to the dinner table, expecting a regal occasion, yet happily departing to the family room, soup mug in hand! Grab your afghans everybody—it’s time to bundle up!