Eye for a Recipe

This recipe from Lidia Bastianich is quick, easy and delicious. Cook onion and garlic in oil, add bay leaves, salt and hot pepper flakes, add wine and reduce for a few minutes. Add mussels and scallions and cook for about five minutes. Add parsley and breadcrumbs and serve with crusty bread to soak up the delicious sauce.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Make sure the hot pepper flakes do not contain colour. I used a white wine from Frogpond Farm Organic Winery with a sulfite count below 10 parts per million. Panko breadcrumbs are usually additive free, as is Ace Bakery bread.

Rinse mussels and remove beards; discard any that do not close

Cook garlic and onion

Add wine and reduce

Add mussels and scallions, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes

Mussels Triestina

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons (90 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

6 cloves garlic, crushed and peeled

1 large onion, sliced ½ inch (1.25-cm) thick

3 fresh bay leaves, or 4 dried bay leaves

Kosher salt

¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml) hot pepper flakes

2 cups (500 ml) dry white wine

3 pounds mussels (1.36 kg), soaked, debearded if necessary, and scrubbed clean

1 bunch scallions, chopped

½ cup (125 ml) chopped fresh parsley

2 to 4 tablespoons (30 to 60 ml) dried breadcrumbs

Crusty bread, for serving

Preparation:

In a large Dutch oven, heat 4 tablespoons (60 ml) of the olive oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the garlic and cook until it is sizzling and just golden around the edges, about 2 minutes. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle in the bay leaves and ½ teaspoon (1.25 ml) salt. Push the vegetables aside and make a hot spot in the bottom of the pan. Add the hot pepper flakes to this spot and let them toast for a minute. Pour the white wine into the pot. Bring to a boil, and cook until the wine is reduced by half, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Once the wine has reduced, add the mussels and scallions. Stir, and adjust the heat so the sauce is simmering. Cover, and simmer until the mussels open, about 5 minutes. Most of the mussels should have opened (discard any that have not). Sprinkle with the parsley. Stir in enough breadcrumbs to thicken the bubbling sauce slightly. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil and toss well. Remove the bay leaves. Transfer the mussels to a serving bowl and pour the juices over the top. Serve immediately with crusty bread. Serves 4.

From Lidia Bastianich

This delicious pizza from Evergreen Kitchen combines the traditional flavours of tomato sauce and oregano with red pepper, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, capers and feta cheese. Serve the pizza garnished with arugula, pesto, Parmesan and hot pepper flakes. Cook’s note: I used green olives instead of Kalamata and omitted the pesto.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Make your own pizza dough with flour, salt, water, sugar, yeast and olive oil or check store-bought dough for additives or preservatives. I used Unico pizza sauce, which is additive free. Check the dried oregano and hot pepper flakes for colour and anti-caking agents. I used No Name pizza mozzarella, President’s Choice garlic-stuffed olives, Aurora sun-dried tomatoes, Unico capers, Tre Stelle feta and No Name pine nuts. Genuine Parmesan (look for the name stamped on the rind) is additive free.

Mediterranean pesto pizza

Ingredients:

Pizza

1 lb (454 g) home-made or store-bought pizza dough

1 to 2 tbsp (15-30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

½ cup (125 ml) pizza sauce

½ tsp (2.5 ml) dried oregano

2 cups (500 ml) shredded mozzarella

1 medium shallot, minced (¼ cup/60 ml)

1 small red bell pepper, diced

¼ cup (60 ml) pitted and sliced Kalamata olives

3 tbsp (45 ml) drained and minced sun-dried tomatoes

2 tbsp (30 ml) drained capers

½ cup (125 ml) crumbled feta cheese

Freshly ground black pepper

Garnish

2 cups (500 ml) lightly packed arugula

Pesto, home-made (recipe below) or store-bought

Parmesan cheese

Red pepper flakes

Pesto

2 cups (500 ml) fresh basil, packed

½ cup (125 ml) grated Parmesan cheese

¼ cup (60 ml) pine nuts

¾ cups (180 ml) extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

Preparation:

Pesto

Whirl basil cheese pine nuts and garlic in food processor. Add oil in thin stream while processor is running.

Pizza

Place an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 475 F (240 C). Set aside two large baking sheets.

Cut the pizza dough into two equal portions. Loosely cover one portion of dough with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel to prevent it from drying out. On a lightly floured work surface using your hands or a rolling pin, stretch or roll one portion of dough into an 8-inch (20 cm) circle. Transfer it to one of the baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining piece of dough and transfer it to the second baking sheet.

Lightly brush the olive oil over the stretched dough. Evenly divide and spread the pizza sauce over each pizza leaving a 1-inch (2.5-cm) border around the edge, then sprinkle with the oregano. Over each pizza, spread ½ cup (125 ml) of the mozzarella over the pizza sauce. Sprinkle each pizza evenly with the shallot, bell pepper, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and capers. Sprinkle each pizza with ½ cup (125 ml) of the remaining mozzarella. Divide the feta between the pizzas and season generously with black pepper.

Bake the pizzas, one at a time, until the crust is golden brown on the bottom and the cheese is melted, 10 to 14 minutes. Top with the arugula, drizzle with pesto and sprinkle with Parmesan and red pepper flakes, if using. Makes two 8-inch (20-cm) pizzas.

From Evergreen Kitchen

This one-pot recipe from Food and Drink combines sausages with onion, zucchini, bell pepper, rosemary and lentils. Brown the sausages and set aside. Cook the vegetables and seasonings, add stock and lentils and simmer for a few minutes. Add the sausages to the pan, cover and simmer util the sausages are cooked through. Drizzle with vinegar and garnish with feta and parsley.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

I used Free From hot Italian sausages. Look for lentils without additives or cook 1 cup (250 ml) dried lentils. I used Better Than Bouillon vegetable paste and water for the stock. Allen’s apple cider vinegar is additive free, as is Tre Stella feta cheese.

Brown sausages and set aside

Cook the vegetables and add seasonings

Add stock, lentils and sausages and simmer until meat is cooked through

One-pan sausages and lentils

Ingredients:

1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil

4 mild or hot Italian sausages, about 1 ¼ lbs (565 g) total

1 medium red onion, thinly sliced

1 medium zucchini, cut into ¼ -inch (5-mm) rounds

1 orange pepper, cut into ½ -inch (1-cm) dice

Salt to taste

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1 sprig rosemary

1 can (540 ml) lentils, drained and rinsed

1 cup (250 ml) vegetable broth

½ cup (125 ml) water

2 tsp (10 ml) cider vinegar

½ cup (125 ml) crumbled feta cheese

¼ cup (60 ml) roughly chopped parsley

Preparation:

Heat oil in a large high-sided pan over medium-high heat. Add sausages and cook until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer sausages to a plate.

Reduce heat to medium. Add onion, zucchini and pepper. Season with salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables start turning golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and rosemary. Cook 1 minute. Add lentils, vegetable broth and water. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Top with sausages and any juices. Partially cover and simmer until sausages are cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat. Drizzle with vinegar. Sprinkle with feta and parsley. Serves 2-3.

From Food and Drink

I’m not much of a baker, but this recipe from NYT Cooking, based on the recipe by Jim Lahey, turned out a lovely loaf of bread with minimal effort. Combine flour, yeast, salt and water in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest at warm room temperature for 12 to 18 hours. Place dough on a floured surface and fold it a few times; let rest for 15 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball, cover with a cotton towel and let it rise for two hours. Then place the dough in a pre-heated heavy pot and bake for 45 to 60 minutes. Cook’s note: I used all-purpose flour and let the dough rise for 18 hours in the first step. I used flour instead of cornmeal to dust the dough and baked it in a large enamelled cast iron Dutch oven.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Use unbleached flour.

This loaf was baked in a Dutch oven.

No-knead bread

Ingredients:

3 ⅓ cups (430 g) all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for dusting

Generous ¼ tsp (1.25 ml) instant yeast

2 tsp (10 ml) kosher salt

Cornmeal or wheat bran, as needed

Preparation:

In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1.5 cups (345 g) warm water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees F (21 C).

Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees F (232 degrees C). Put a 6- to 8-quart (6-8 L) heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is OK. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack. Makes one 1.5 lb (680 g) loaf.

From NYT Cooking

This delicious vegetarian soup from NYT Cooking is a perfect quick supper for a chilly spring evening. Sauté vegetables, add spices, rice, beans, dill and water and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Make sure the turmeric and red pepper flakes do not contain colour or anti-caking agents. Unico or Blue Menu canned beans are usually additive-free.

Cook the vegetables until soft

Add rice, beans and water and simmer for about 30 minutes

White bean, rice and dill soup

Ingredients:

¼ cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

2 large carrots, scrubbed and finely chopped

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) and black pepper

½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) ground turmeric

Red-pepper flakes (optional), to taste

1/3 cup (82.5 ml) white jasmine rice, rinsed

2 (15-ounce/443 ml) cans navy beans or cannellini beans, rinsed

1 tablespoon (15 ml) dried dill or ¼ cup (60 ml) chopped fresh dill

Lemon (optional), for serving

Preparation:

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium. Add the garlic, carrots, celery and onion; season with a good pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened, about 10 minutes.

Add the turmeric and red-pepper flakes (if using) and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the rice, stir and cook for 1 minute. Add the beans and dill; season everything well with salt (about 1½ tablespoons/22.5 ml) and black pepper to taste. Stir and cook for 1 minute.

Add 6 cups (1.5 L) of water, stir, partially cover, raise the heat to high and bring to a boil. Cover completely, reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the rice is completely soft and has released its starchy goodness, and the beans are creamy on the inside, about 30 minutes. Taste for seasoning as the soup simmers. Serve with lemon, if you like. Serves 6.

From NYT Cooking