The recipe is very simple: take 1 lb. ground bison and put it in a bowl. Slosh a good amount of Worcestershire sauce over it, and add a few dollops of harissa*. Mix it all up with your hands until everything is combined. Shape into thick patties, and sear on a hot cast iron skillet, about 3-4 minutes per side, until the outside is crusty and browned but the inside is still rare.

Serve with pita bread, some Greek yogurt stirred up with shredded cucumber, garlic, and mint, and a salad. Mmmm.

*If you don't have harissa, a sprinkling of cumin and a few dollops of tabasco or sriracha hot sauce would probably work well.

This soup would have been extra fabulous with a bit of grated pecorino romano or parmegiano reggiano on top, but we didn't have any.

Since this was an improvised dish, measurements are highly approximate.

The Ingredients

• ~1 tbsp. olive oil


• 4-5 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced


• 3 stalks celery, sliced


• 5 medium carrots, peeled and sliced


• 1/3 cup dry white vermouth


• 2 bay leaves


• a generous palmful of dried sage


• a somewhat less generous palmful of herbes de Provence


• a sprinkling of fennel seed (optional - I love fennel, and tend to use it at the slightest excuse. Mr. Spaceling would be just as happy if I left it out next time.)


• 3 cups chicken broth


• 1 can chick peas, rinsed and drained


• 1 can butter beans, rinsed and drained


• a handful of chopped fresh dill leaves


• 2 large spoonfuls of bottled garlic pesto

1. Saute the shallots, celery, and carrot in olive oil for a few minutes, until they start to soften.
2. Add the vermouth, bay leaves, sage, herbes de Provence, and fennel. Cook, stirring, until most of the vermouth evaporates.
3. Add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Add the beans and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Add the dill and simmer for 5 more minutes.
6. Stir in the pesto. Taste, and add salt, pepper, pesto, or herbs as needed.

Serves about 4.

The Ingredients

• 5 cups chicken broth
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 1 stick celery, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup rice, orzo, or bulgur
• 6 chicken thighs, skin removed
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 3 tbsp. lemon juice, plus more to taste (this was the juice from about 2 and a half small lemons)
• salt and pepper to taste
• a handful of chopped fresh dill for garnish

1. Heat the broth to a gentle simmer in a pot. Add carrot, celery, rice/orzo/bulgur, and chicken thighs. Cook everything gently for about 20 minutes, or until the rice and chicken are cooked.
2. Turn the heat under the pot to low. Remove the chicken thighs to a plate. Let them cool a bit, and take the meat off the bones and shred it. Stir the meat back into the soup.
3. Whisk the eggs in a bowl with the zest and lemon juice. Still whisking, slowly add about half a cup of the broth to the eggs. Add about another cup of broth, and keep whisking.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the soup, and stir well. You can very gently reheat the soup a bit, but don't let it boil, or you'll get bits of cooked egg floating in your soup instead of the smooth egg emulsion.
5. Taste, and add salt, pepper, or more lemon juice as needed. Serve with a bit of chopped dill on top.

Serves 4 to 6.

First, the granola: 18 Rabbits Veritas granola, containing hazelnuts, walnuts, and cacao nibs. The perfect way to realize that desire to eat chocolate for breakfast while still having something sort of healthy.

Second, the cheese: a Spanish blue cheese called Valdeon. It's very intensely "blue" flavored without being excessively stinky or sharp on the tongue. The woman at the cheese counter at Whole Foods described it as a blue cheese that you could just slice up and eat in chunks. I put it in a salad with spinach, black beans, tomatoes, red onion, avocado, lemon juice and olive oil, and it was good.

This recipe involves marinating the fish briefly, then broiling.

The Ingredients

• ~ 2 lb. black cod filets
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbps. lime juice
• 1 tbsp. dry sherry
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Season the fish with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Combine the soy sauce, lime juice, dry sherry, sesame oil, and garlic. Pour over the fish, and marinate for 15 minutes.
3. Broil 6 inches from the heat without turning for about 10 minutes, or until cooked through.

Serves about 4.

So, I was intrigued to come across the claim by Jack Bishop, in his A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen that you can cook polenta with little stirring if you cook it covered, over low heat. I tried it, and it works. And produces a noticeably nicer polenta than the instant or precooked stuff.

The Ingredients

• 1 quart water
• salt
• 1 cup cornmeal (I used Bob's RedMill medium ground. Needless to say, good cornmeal = better polenta)
• 2 tbsp. of butter

1. In a largish saucepan, bring the water to a nice, rolling boil. Turn the heat to low and add the salt.
2. Pour in the cornmeal slowly, whisking constantly. (I actually just stirred rapidly with a wooden spoon. This part is important for not getting lumps. It takes about a minute to get all the cornmeal whisked in.
3. Cover the saucepan. Cook for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened and the cornmeal doesn't taste raw or gritty.
4. Stir in the butter, and season to taste with additional salt.

Serves 4-6 people, depending on how much they like polenta.

This recipe comes from Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World. It comes fairly close to duplicating an eggplant dish that I used to get at a short-lived Afghan restaurant in Berkeley. Served with a cucumber salad and some pita bread, it makes a quite satisfying meal.

The Ingredients

• 2 lb. eggplant, peeled if desired, and cut into ~1 inch cubes
• 2 bell peppers, cored, seeded, and cut into thin strips (I used 1 red and 1 green pepper)
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus an additional tablespoon of olive oil
• At least one tablespoon of minced garlic
• 1 cup plain yogurt (I used lowfat yogurt)
• salt and pepper to taste
• (Optional) fresh chopped parsley, for garnish

1. Put 1/3 cup olive oil and all but 1/2 tsp. of the garlic in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. (I do mean large - I used the 14 inch monster that we usually refer to as "the shield of Achilles" around here. The eggplant reduces in volume quite a bit as it cooks and loses water, but getting it all in the skillet initially is a tight squeeze.)
2. After about 2 minutes, add the peppers and the eggplant. Cook, stirring occasionally, until everything is tender. (About 25 to 30 minutes.) Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. Beat the yogurt until it is smooth, then stir in 1/2 tsp. garlic, 1 tbsp. olive oil, and some salt and pepper.
4. Remove the eggplant and peppers from the pan, pour the sauce over them, and serve hot.

Serves 4.

A really nice thing about this recipe is that if you have all your ingredients prepped, and start heating the skillet at about the same time you start preheating the broiler, it takes almost exactly the same amount of time as it takes to broil steaks to medium-rare and rest them. You can also throw together a very simple green salad at the same time, and you've got a complete dinner in under 30 minutes.

The use of sherry was inspired by my having bought a bottle to make Spanish Daube last weekend, and wondering how sherry would complement other foods. I might do an experiment with different kinds of booze (sherry, brandy, wine, vermouth, etc.) to see how each complements the mushrooms. Mr. Spaceling has valiantly volunteered to taste test.

The Ingredients

• olive oil
• butter
• about 1 tsp. fresh thyme
• 1 clove fresh garlic, minced (I might increase the garlic next time)
• 1 lb. mushrooms, washed, trimmed, and sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices
• a splash of Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup dry (or at least dry-ish) sherry

1. Heat a bit of butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. (Ideally, use a skillet large enough so that you can cook the mushrooms in a single layer.)
2. Add the thyme and garlic, and cook for about 30 seconds, stirring.
3. Add the mushrooms. Let them cook, stirring occasionally, until they are cooked through and tender and have rendered out some of their liquid, about 8-10 minutes.
4. Add a good splash of Worcestershire sauce and the sherry. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has almost boiled away.
5. Taste and season with salt and pepper. For an extra bit of decadence, toss in some extra butter and stir until it melts. Serve as soon as possible.

This served three people quite amply, although I think we'd happily have polished off a second batch of the mushrooms if I'd made one.

The recipe calls for braising the meat for 2 hours. I found that the beef was not quite perfectly tender in the center, so I think I'd go for slightly longer braising, or cut the roast into smaller chunks to help it braise through more.

The Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 3 lbs. bottom round roast, trimmed
• 2 cups thinly vertically sliced yellow onion (or about 1 medium onion)
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced bottled roasted red pepper
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp. salt (I left this out)
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp. Spanish smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper (I also left this out, because my pepper mill has broken.)
• 1/4 tsp. saffron threads
• 1 cup dry sherry (I was a little dubious about the $5.99 bottle of California sherry that I bought at the supermarket, but then I reasoned that no one is going to dump an entire cup of good amontillado into their pot roast. It worked fine. Just don't buy "cooking" sherry.)
• 1/4 tsp. hot pepper sauce (I used Tabasco)
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1.5 cups frozen green peas, thawed
• a handful of chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp. sherry vinegar
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 tbsp. water

1. Coat a large Dutch oven or other pot with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. Add beef to pan, and cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove beef and set aside.
2. Add the onions to the pot and saute until tender, about 4 minutes. Add bell pepper and garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
3. Add the salt, thyme, paprika, fennel seeds, pepper, and saffron. Cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds.
4. Stir in the sherry and the hot pepper sauce, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot to get up all the browned bits. Cook until the liquid is reduced by about half (~4 minutes).
5. Add the beef and broth to the pan and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 2 hours or until beef is tender. (As I noted above, 2 hours wasn't quite enough to get the beef perfectly tender all the way through.)
6. Remove the beef from the pot and slice into thin slices across the grain.
7. Add peas, parsley, and sherry vinegar to the pot and cook 5 minutes.
8. Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and mix thoroughly. Add to the broth and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute.
9. Add the sliced beef back to the pot. Cook for 1 minute or until beef is heated through.

The Ingredients

• 3 slices bacon, cut into thin strips
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 1 yellow pepper, diced
• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into rounds
• 1 cup farro, semipearled (pearled or semipearled barley would probably be a good substitute. You could also probably use wheatberries, but you'd have to simmer the stew longer.)
• 1.5 cups lentils (I used 1/2 cup of French green lentils and 1 cup of brown lentils.)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 tsp. celery seed (I used this because I bought some for an ill-fated recipe I tried last week, and now I'm not sure what to do with it. It seems to add a mild celery flavor, so throwing it into a broth made sense.)
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1.5 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. Hungarian hot paprika (this is optional - I felt like the stew needed just a little kick. You could probably substitute red pepper flakes or a pinch of cayenne.)
• 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes w/juice
• 6 cups of broth or water (I used 1 cup of beef broth, 2 cups of chicken broth, and 3 cups water, because I had opened tetrapaks of broth in the fridge to use up.)
• 1 bay leaf

1. In a large soup pot, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crisp. Pour off any excess fat.
2. Add the onion, peppers, and carrots, and cook, stirring, until the vegetables start to get soft. (About 5 to 7 minutes.)
3. Add the farro, and cook, stirring, for a minute or two.
4. Add the lentils, white wine, and herbs and spices. Cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan to get up any browned bits.
5. Add the tomatoes, broth or water, and the bay leaf. Stir. Bring to a simmer, and simmer until the lentils and farro are tender. (About 25 to 30 minutes.) Taste, adjust seasoning, and serve.

Braising really ought to be done in a proper dutch oven. I only have a biggish soup pot, which is a bit too tall. I improvised by putting a layer of aluminum foil just over the surface of the stew, and then putting the lid on the top of the pot. It seemed to work fine. I certainly had no complaints about how the dish came out.

We folded the beef and peppers into warm tortillas, and then ate the broth with a spoon.

The Ingredients

• 2 1 lb. flank steaks, trimmed (I actually used one 1.75 lb. flank steak, cut into two pieces.)
• 3 cups thinly vertically sliced red onion (I used 1 red onion and 1 white onion. I have no idea why vertical slicing is supposed to be important.)
• 2 cups red bell pepper strips (about 2 peppers)
• 2 cups green bell pepper strips (about 2 peppers)(the green peppers at the market today looked a little iffy, so I used yellow peppers. This was pretty, but the green peppers would have added a little greenish bite.)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 tablespoons thinly sliced pitted green olives
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 6 tbsp. sherry vinegar
• 3 cups fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. Heat a bit of olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the flank steak for about 2 and a half minutes on each side. Set aside on a plate.
2. Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, peppers, and garlic to the pot, and cook, stirring, until tender (about 7 minutes).
3. Stir in the olives and the spices and cook for about 30 seconds.
4. Add the vinegar and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to dissolve any browned bits. Cook for 2 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates.
5. Stir in broth, tomato paste, and bay leaves. Add the steaks and bring to a simmer.
6. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 1.5 hours or until steaks are tender.
7. Remove the steaks from the pan and shred with two forks. Stir the shredded beef and cilantro into the pot. Serve in shallow bowls with warm tortillas on the side.

Ingredients

• ~1 tbsp. peanut oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and cut into thin slivers
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small bunch carrots, chopped
• 4 stalks celery, chopped
• ~ 1 lb. turnips, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 bay leaf
• ~3/4 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• soy sauce and lime juice, to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large pot, and saute the vegetables and aromatics until the onion starts to get soft and everything smells good. (Maybe 5 minutes or so.)
2. Add the five spice powder, the bay leaf, and the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for about 10 minutes.
3. Add the chicken thighs and poach them at a simmer until they are cooked through, perhaps 15 minutes or so.
4. Remove the chicken from the pot and shred it. Put it back in the pot, taste, and add soy sauce and adjust the seasoning to taste.
5. Finish off each serving with a squeeze of lime juice.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. eggplant
• 3/4 lb. zucchini
• olive oil
• ground coriander, cumin, and smoked paprika
• juice of one lemon
• salt and pepper to taste

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cut the zucchini into half-inch thick rounds. (I used small, relatively thin zucchini - if you're using big ones, you might want to cut the rounds into half moons.)
3. Cut the eggplant into pieces roughly the same size as the zucchini rounds.
4. Put the eggplant and zucchini pieces into a roasting pan or baking dish. Sprinkle fairly liberally with salt and drizzle with olive oil. Dust with coriander, cumin, and paprika, tossing to coat.
5. Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes, stirring a couple of times, until the vegetables are tender and just a little bit browned on the edges.
6. Put the vegetables into a bowl, toss with lemon juice and additional olive oil to taste, and season with salt and pepper.

Serves 2. (Next time I'm making a bigger batch.) I served with pita bread, tzatziki sauce, and a gigandes bean salad.

My cousin very sensibly suggested that I try roasting the stuff.

I decided to stack the deck even further by adding some Spanish smoked paprika. The result? Cauliflower cheerfully consumed by Mr. Spaceling. (I decided to try cauliflower first because it is not green and therefore is less scary.)

I didn't measure anything in this recipe, so take the quantities given as highly approximate.

• 1 head cauliflower, cut into bite-sized chunks of approximately equal size.
• ~1 tsp. Spanish smoked paprika (sweet, not hot, though if you wanted to throw in a bit of a hot chile powder, I bet that would be nice.)
• ~1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• olive oil, salt, and pepper

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Toss the cauliflower in a bowl with enough olive oil to lightly coat. Add the spices and salt and pepper to taste, and toss to coat.
3. Roast in a baking pan in the oven until tender and lightly browned, stirring every 10 minutes or so. (My cauliflower took about 25 to 30 minutes).

Roden described one of her favorite recipes for kibbeh, in which ground lamb is mixed with grated onion and grilled. I thought the grated onion sounded like a great touch for adding flavor and moistness. I tried out the idea in some lamb burgers I made last night, and they were great. (I'm also going to try this the next time I make turkey burgers, which are very difficult to keep moist.)

Recipe for lamb burgers follows:

• About 1 lb. ground lamb
• 1/2 medium onion, grated (You could use a food processor, but since it's a fairly small quantity, I just did it by hand with a box grater.)
• small handful Italian parsley, minced
• A few splashes of Worcestershire sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Gently mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until combined.
2. Shape into patties (I made 3 fairly thick patties), and cook in a skillet on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes on the first side and 3 minutes on the second side, or to desired doneness.

I served these with roasted cauliflower (recipe to follow), homemade tzatziki, and store-bought baba ganoush.