farro white beans roasted and green vegetables salad

I just made a huge salad based on this, with a lot of modification, and it's very good.  And it's really huge so I'll be sharing a lot.  I'll eat it for breakfast throughout the week.  

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup farro, cooked
• 2 large carrots cut into matchsticks
• 2 large leeks in1/4" slices 
• crushed red peppers
• olive oil
• small head radicchio, thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper chopped (I used roasted red pepper)
• 1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes (I used sundried tomatoes, maybe 1/4 cup)
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• fresh parsley
• fresh thyme (or dried)
• juice of 1 lemon  
• salt and pepper
  
• 3 cup salad greens (I used erba stella)
• 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese or feta 
• nuts for serving 
  

Cook farro.  Toss carrots and leeks with 1 T oil and some red peppers, roast at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes. 

Into large bowl: radicchio, pepper, tomatoes, beans.  Add roasted vegetable and farro.

Into small bowl: lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, thyme.  Stir into vegetables.  Add greens and cheese. 

I sprinkled with some pistachios, will also be good with chopped almonds or pecans.

apple goat cheese crisp

There is a bakery in New Orleans that makes apple-goat cheese king cake, which I love.  I was speaking of this and a coworker brought me an apple-goat cheese croissant, which was such a lovely gesture.  And then Braeburns were on sale for a good price and I grabbed a backpack full (only slight exaggeration), and I have Costco goat cheese as I wanted it for a recipe and now I have approximately 26 pounds left.

And so I contemplated how I wanted to eat this apple-goat cheese dish, and I read approximately 8,000 recipes.  Nothing clicked.  Truth is, I don't much care for flaky doughs, so filo isn't really for me.  What I really wanted was a kuchen, but I needed something strong to make sure the goat cheese wasn't too overwhelming.  I looked up and thought of a lot of doughs, but nothing was really striking me.  The kuchen problem is that I lived in Germany for a couple of years and ate SUCH great desserts that inspire me but I remember them through 30 years of distortion. 

And then yesterday I went to a talk and the artist served a kuchen with rhubarb and gooseberries, and that sort of satisfied the kuchen, so I realized I wanted something else strong ... like pecans. 

So I came to this recipe, and it's very nice.  The only bummer is that I wish I'd had maple syrup (how do I not?!) and used less sugar (I already cut it, but I think it should be cut more).  Because it is between the apples and the pecan-oat layer, the goat cheese works really well. 

Ingredients

TOPPING

• 3/4 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (recipe calls for 1/2 c)
• 3/4+ cup coarsely chopped pecans (recipe calls for 1/2 c)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted

FILLING

• 5 baking apples such as Granny Smith or Braeburns; I chopped into chunks
• 1/4 or less cup packed light brown sugar (recipe calls for 1/3 c)
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (or some honey)
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces goat cheese cut into small pieces
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 6-8 slices

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Position a rack in the middle of the oven.

TOPPING

• In a small bowl, stir together the oats, brown sugar, pecans, cinnamon, and salt until completely combined.
• Drizzle the melted butter over the mixture and stir until butter is evenly dispersed and all of the oats are moist. Set aside.

FILLING

• In a large bowl, combine the apples, brown sugar, maple syrup, cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt. Stir together until everything is evenly dispersed. There will be a lot of liquid at the bottom-- this is ok. Set aside.
• Heat a 9" cast iron dutch oven over medium-high heat. When skillet is adequately heated, pour apple mixture evenly into it. When apples begin to steam, begin stirring to evenly distribute the brown sugar sauce. It will start to thicken. Cook while stirring until sauce is thick and evenly coats all of the apples, approximately 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, but leave the skillet on the burner.
• Place the butter and goat cheese pieces over the top of the cooked apples, trying your best to evenly distribute them. Top everything with the oat topping
• Cover with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until crisp and brown on top, an additional 20-25 minutes. After that time, turn off the oven and allow crisp to sit in the oven with the door cracked until the sugar stops bubbling and you can safely handle it.

potato canned salmon dish

This is quite tasty!  The reviews on the post said it was bland, but I wonder if that depends upon the quality of the salmon - and what I have is great.  I did also have a heavy hand with the salt and pepper, and I don't know how it will be as leftovers.  But, it's very nice when from oven.

Ingredients

1 14.75-ounce can pink salmon (with bones), drained
2 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup milk
4 ounces soft fresh goat cheese (such as Montrachet)
3 tablespoons (packed) freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I used sharp cheddar)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped green onions (1 bunch)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°F. Oil pan (pie plate or oval baking dish).  Separate salmon into chunks, leaving bones intact (bones are very soft and will blend into potato mixture). Remove black pieces of skin; feed to dog. Set salmon aside.

Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until very tender, about 20 minutes. Drain. Transfer potatoes to large bowl. Mash.  Add milk and cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in eggs. Stir in salmon and green onions. Transfer mixture to prepared dish.

Bake casserole until golden and heated through, about 30-45 minutes.