Potluck Stars, Cooks and Casseroles

Marcy with her  Mac and Cheese Style Cauliflower. Recipe  link below.

Growing up in Minnesota, potlucks erupted in the Lutheran church basement a couple times a year, and as I recall:

• They were called "covered-dishes" and/or "hot dishes."
• A lot of the dishes included corn.
• Jell-O with miniature marshmallows was a given.
• Sometimes the Jell-O included sliced celery or grated carrots, health food.
• Women (always women bringing those covered dishes) prided themselves on casserole cozies, little blankies to keep their dishes warm.
• Spam was not prohibited. 
• Coleslaw was sweet. Exceedingly sweet.
• Cakes were made from box mixes.

The potluck idea, sadly,  didn't transfer to my parents' social life, but it has somehow become a significant part of mine. Our rural Southern Oregon potlucks bear little resemblance to the church potlucks of yore.

• First, they are parties, an excuse for friends to eat and drink and rant. Dance, play ping pong, bocce ball, watch the Ducks on TV. Talk. Cry. Philosophize.
• Bringing something good to eat tis he price of admission.
• Guests with the time and inclination knock out dishes that are Sunset-magazine worthy, even with made-up recipes. There's always at least one drool-inducing, rave producing creation on the buffet table.
• Fine wines have been known to appear. And then quickly disappear.

We partied around potluck food last weekend. Gail, the hostess, sent an email to let us know what she was making and asked guests to weigh in with their culinary plan so we all didn't bring dessert. A relatively small group, here's how the accidental menu shook out:

THE POTLUCK MENU

 with notes, kudos, jabs, and a recipe or two

Smoked pork roast with BBQ sauce, fantastic. But you need a Traeger (smoker) grill to follow this recipe.  Also, Gail ALWAYS tweaks. "I smoked two fresh picnic roasts all day before the party. Cut them up and just reheated in the crock pot with a bottle of what ever bbq sauce we had on hand."  

Gail's spectacular smokey baked beans.

Hot and smokey baked beans. STAR of the show! Best baked beans ever. Of   course, Gail added her own touches such as using more bacon, cooking the beans hours longer than the recipe specified, but at 250 degrees, AND adding the pork roast bones to the pot. Wow. She also started with dried beans and soaked them overnight. Recipe here.

Morel-and-truffle gratinee, appetizer This sounded like a great idea but Gail was the first to say it was disappointing. The mushrooms were from the local woods, too. Emeril doesn't usually produce a clunker, but this one? Clunk.

Gail also made the benches around
the bocce ball court. 

Dr, Mike and his mushroom soup.

Mike's Mushroom Soup. He most often contributes something mushroom, always tasty, because he's the mushroom king, founder and chief scientist at Mycorrhizal Applications, Inc, an international company based in Grants Pass, OR. His is a fascinating and inspirational story and I could literally write a book about this guy. Here's what he says about his soup and the shrooms.

What's in it: Wild rice, chicken stock  chicken, carrots, celery, spinach,

garlic, yellow feet chanterelles,  belly buttons,  hedgehogs, maiitakes, and oyster mushrooms with shiitake powder to thicken. Many of these mushrooms grow in nearby woods and are sold at the local farmer's market. Plus Mike, and many other friends, are avid and successful mushroom hunters.

Why mushrooms? Mike writes: "Shrooms have a lot of micronutrients and about a dozen complex polysaccharides that stimulate your body's ability to fight rogue cellsand pathogens."

How does he know? Aside from the fact that he's a Ph.D mycologist, Mike was diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer more than five years ago, practically a death sentence. He underwent all the surgeries, radiation, and chemo of traditional medicine plus accupuncture.  But he also treated himself, and continues to do so, with a a variety of mushrooms plus antioxidant foods including an enormous amount of dried strawberries. He eats or drinks something every three hours to keep the rogue cells at bay, plus he keeps himself physically, mentally, and emotionally fit. 

Fruit and cheese plate

Eileen , Mike's wife and business partner, brought the ubiquitous cheese and fruit plate, but this one was top notch: gourmet cheeses, super sweet crisp apple, and a pressed date/fig/nut thing. It all  disappeared quickly.

Ok. So there's always the person who didn't have time to cook, but going to Safeway? No problem! Dave, usually a fine kitchen performer, brought those fine white  buns. And don't give him any crap about it.

Mac and Cheese.Style Cauliflower.  Super! Marcy included some broccoli, and the bread crumbs were gluten-free. 

Fancy Chocolate Chip Cookies with Fresh Strawberries, a wonderful and simple dessert. But beautiful Susan was too shy to be photographed.

Springtime kale, asparagus, avocado, and cabbage salad with sweet and tart sesame dressing. 

Guess who made this? Yes. Guilty. I can't stop it with the kale! And mixing it with avocado and asparagus proved to be pretty dang good. Since this is an original recipe, I need to link to my blog. But first I have the write the damn thing!

And, a couple hours later, the recipe!

Spring Salad - Asparagus, Avocado, Kale and Cabbage

It doesn't seem right to mix kale, asparagus, cabbage and avocado in the same raw salad. Throw in a bunch of dried cranberries and some chopped garlic chives and it could be an embarrassment.

But! I had all those things, including the kale, asparagus and garlic chives growing in the garden, a potluck to go to and not a lot of time. Plus I know my friends. They'll drink plenty of wine and it won't much matter.

It turns out the combo got some generous comments and I thought it was quite tasty, thank you very much. I will  make this salad again soon and put it on my ongoing spring menu when the asparagus spears are piercing the garden soil and avocados from the south are on sale in the markets.

Asparagus, Avocado, Kale and Cabbage Salad with Sweet and Tart Sesame Dressing
Serves 10

Ingredients
1 pound or more of asparagus, tough parts of stalks discarded
1 large avocado, cut into  chunks
1/3 medium-sized red cabbage, thinly sliced and chopped
1/4 medium sized green cabbage, thinly sliced and chopped
1 bunch of kale, any variety, rinsed, dried and chopped into small pieces
 handful of dried cranberries
 handful of roasted pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts or other nuts
 a bunch of garlic chives, if you can get those sweet tasty grass-like stalks, or  regular chives, or sliced green onions
 1/4 to 1/2 lime or lemon to drizzle over avocado
 Dressing (recipe below)

Directions
Slice the tops off the asparagus spears on the diagonal and set aside. Cut the remaining stalks into smaller pieces.
Slice and chop the cabbages, chop the kale.
Halve the avocado, remove the pit, slice the flesh while still in the skin, then cut across the slices to get the size chunks you desire. Scoop avocado out with a spoon and drizzle with juice of lemon or lime. Set aside.
Slice into bits the chives, onions or whatever you're using,

To assemble the salad, mix the cabbages and kale in a large shallow bowl. Put a few tablespoons of dressing on the cabbages and kale. Mix well and let marinate for up to 30 minutes.

Arrange the asparagus heads in a radial pattern from the center. Put the rest of the cut-up asparagus around the inside edges of the bowl.  Arrange the avocado pieces between the asparagus spears. Sprinkle cranberries, seeds or nuts on top, and finish with chopped chives, onions, or whatever. Drizzle with more salad dressing and serve.

Sweet and Tart Sesame Dressing
4-6 cloves garlic
1/2 cup olive oil or avocado oil, or a combo
1/3 cup toasted sesame oil. (gotta be toasted)
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup Worcesteshire sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar, or half lemon juice, half rice vinegar
1 - 2 TBSP Dijon mustard
2 -3 TBSP pure maple syrup. Sugar or honey may be substituted, but taste before adding the third tablespoon.

Use a food processor to chop the garlic, then add everything else and process til oil and other liquids are mixed. Taste and adjust seasonings.

NOTE: This is way more than needed for one salad. It stores in the refrigerator for several weeks and is good on any salad or as a marinade for roasting veggies. Or just cut the recipe in half.

Despite the fact that our asparagus patch produces so much that we actually get tired of eating it, I've neglected to post other asparagus recipes. Next spring I'll rectify that; I feel a post about spicy pickled asparagus coming on. And maybe that asparagus and gruyere quiche.

In the meantime, if you're looking for asparagus recipes, here's a fabulous collection plus a definitive guide to everything you ever wanted to know about this delicious vegetable posted on a useful site called Quick Easy Cook.


For now, I'm good for a load of tasty recipes on using kale.

More kale recipes on Ordinary Life

Kale chips!
Asian Mexican Fusion Kale Salad
Creamed kale with dried tomatoes
Kale and Yoga Eggs Fritatta
Killer Kale Salad with Sesame Dressing
Savory Eggs, Kale, Prosciuitto Breakfast
Kick Butt Kale Soup
Key to a Happy Marriage (includes kale!)
Spring Smoothie
Quinoa Kale Salad
The potluck party that inspired this recipe.

Time Apart—Key to a Happy Marriage (that plus roasted cauliflower, asparagus and eggs at 9 p.m.)

Roasted cauliflower, asparagus, kale and eggs topped with a little finishing salt. Yum! But at 9 p.m.? Not PK's favorite time for dinner. But....he was away.

PK was out of town recently and I failed to mention to him how ecstatic I was to have a whole week to myself. I love the guy. Been married going on 40 years. I would be diminished without him. But damn, I sure do enjoy it when he vacates. He feels the same when I take off.  Such is the mature modern marriage. Flight or fight? Maybe.

PK and me in 1996. This photo was taken by son Chris Korbulic,
then age 10,who has since become a pro.

My mother never understood this as she and my father took few vacations without one another, and every get away was family-related. I can't remember how many Sundays we drove the 40 miles to grandma Ella's home in Jackson, Minnesota. My parents took few vacations, period. Those were different times, post-Depression era when most women didn't dare venture forth on their own and didn't have the resources anyway. Plus a women on her own would have been unseemly and bold. Not the identity sought by my mother.

I think they would have enjoyed their times apart as much as PK and I do. One of my best gifts was what he gave me for Christmas the year I was pregnant at age 40 (surprise!) with our second child. It was a mock-up of an airline ticket to "anywhere in the world."

Knowing our bank account wouldn't accommodate my wilder dreams, and that traveling far afield when seven months pregnant might be foolhardy, I opted for a week on the Yucatan Peninsula in company of my sister, Monette Johnson. We had a hilarious time, one I will never forget. One of the more convulsive-laughter-producing lines in a Mexican budget hotel: Don't look too closely at your pillow. Thank you, PK.

Enough on that. PK was gone. I meandered without a meal plan through the days and nights, dining on huge garden salads and a vat of homemade chile. After five days, the chile no longer appealed (PK finished it off when he returned) and around 8 p.m. one night, stomach rumbling, I began clicking through what I had on hand.

Cauliflower. Asparagus and kale in the garden. Lemons, garlic, olive oil, eggs. Parmesan cheese. A little cooked bacon. What else could I possibly need? What ensued was a simple yet elegant meal that I knew I would repeat. And I have, except we eat closer to 7 p.m. than  9 p.m. And I've added much more, ta da! Bacon!

I LOVE roasted veggies, and cauliflower is especially deluxe. It shrinks, browns, and becomes nutty sweet. Asparagus too, is superb roasted. Roast whatever veggies you have on hand, but don't skimp on olive oil or lemon.

Roasted Asparagus, Cauliflower, Kale and Eggs

Ingredients
This recipe would feed two people. I loved having the leftovers.

Cauliflower, about half of a medium head sliced or divided into florets. Make the pieces more or less the same size.

Half a pound of fresh asparagus, trimmed
Fresh kale, half pound or less, trimmed and torn

2-3 T fresh lemon juice (or more)
2 cloves garlic, mashed
2-3 T olive oil (at least)
salt and pepper to taste - try finishing salt at the end!
1/4 cup crumbled bacon
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
2-4 eggs

Preparation 

Preheat the oven to 450. Line a large roasting pan with parchment paper. This will save annoying scrubbing later. Use foil if you're out of parchment.
Clean and trim the veggies into similar-sized pieces. Toss the cauliflower with half the olive oil and lemon juice. When the oven reaches 450, roast the cauliflower for 10 minutes. In the meantime, toss the asparagus with oil, lemon and mashed or finely diced garlic. Sprinkle in some salt and pepper. Add to the cauliflower and return to the oven for 10 more minutes.

Toss the torn kale with olive oil and lemon juice to coat. Add to the cauliflower and asparagus, which by now should be browning. Yes, this is a meal that requires attention for a half hour or more. Drink wine to help pass the time. It isn't complicated, but cauliflower takes longer to roast than asparagus, asparagus takes longer than kale. And so on.

Roast for another 10 minutes. The kale roasts quickly, so you may need to stir. When it looks like the photo above, kale wilted but not crispy, remove from oven, shove veggies to the sides, and crack in two or more eggs and lightly salt and pepper. Sprinkle on a little grated Parmesan and crumbled bacon, if using, and return to the oven. Check back in a few minutes.

Those eggs don't look done, but with another minute in a 450 degree oven, they will be. As soon as the eggs form a whitish film, they're perfect—way past runny and a tad shy of well done. This combo is delicious, seasoned with lemon, garlic, olive oil and, perhaps, crumbled bacon. A little chipotle or dill sauce never hurts, nor does "finishing salt." By the way, the first yoke broke upon pan entry, so I broke the other one, too. Repeats of this recipe include eggs with unbroken yolks roasted until a thin whitish film formed on top. 

The eggs got a little too done, but still tasted great! The red stuff on top is chipotle "finishing salt,"  one of several flavored coarse natural salts made in Southern Oregon. They're great and you can 

order them online at Salinity Salts.

Two of my favorite flavors of finishing salts. 

Savory Kale, Eggs, Prosciutto—Breakfast!

Eggs, proscuitto, kale, and serrano sauce on a corn tortilla. Yummm.

For  breakfast, most of my life, I ate oatmeal with skim milk, jam on so-called whole wheat toast, an occasional egg, or more likely, Cheerios, Wheaties, Bran Flakes, Corn Flakes and other extruded industrial  processed grain crap. I was on auto pilot.
In those long-ago days, Sunday mornings and special occasions demanded blueberry pancakes, French toast, bread-infested breakfast casseroles and the like. I slowly gained weight, of course, and at one unlovely point, contemplated size 16 jeans. That was shortly before launching into yet another low-fat diet in my yo-yo weight gain/loss life.

Then, about 10 years ago, low-carb became my mantra and breakfast became more problematic. I haven't eaten industrial cereal since 2003, and also gave up bread, for the most part. Without bread, or cereals, including oatmeal, one must be resourceful and forward-thinking, which I often don't feel like being at the crack of 9 a.m. (Retirement! Yeah!)

Now I have another little breakfast problem. I have been advised by a healthcare practitioner to banish dairy. The reason why "no dairy" and how a person is to deal with such deprivation, is fodder (ha ha) for another post, but the short answer is bone spurs.

On a recent morning, unable to enjoy my typical delicious yogurt-based breakfast with berries and low-carb granola,  I went on a hunting expedition in the Amana. Shoving around mouldering bits of this and that, I uncovered prosciutto with an expired pull date, a bunch of kale, and a little feta.

Note: Feta, a brined cheese made from sheep or goat milk, is allowed in seasoning-type amounts by some who promote a dairyless diet. I have grabbed on to this small pleasure until further notice. 

I also unearthed some corn tortillas, which are my major carb splurge, as well a jar of homemade serrano sauce and wonderful organic eggs produced by my wonderful yoga teacher's winsome hens.  She sells the eggs cheep cheep because she says the hens have a high entertainment value. It is good to have an entertained-by-hens yoga teacher.

The breakfast that transpired was beyond satisfactory and has been repeated numerous times. You don't need to be a carb avoider or a dairy swearer-off-er or a nutcase to relish this breakfast entree, which could also pass for lunch or dinner. It is delish and nutrish no matter your condish. 

Ingredients
one serving
2 eggs
2 slices of prosciutto, fat removed
Big handful of tender kale or spinach, torn
Feta or other cheese to taste
Serrano sauce. Sriracha chili sauce is a good substitute.
Corn or flour tortilla, small or medium sized
Olive oil for frying
Salt, pepper to taste

Directions - 10 minutes, start to finish

1. Fry the eggs in a little olive oil. Break the yolks. The eggs pictured are from the yoga teacher's hens, those happy and entertaining little bug and grass eaters who produce incredibly orange yolks. Turn the eggs, unless you prefer runny. Remove from the frying pan and set aside. 

2. Saute the kale or spinach and set aside with the eggs. 

3. Place the tortilla in the hot pan, and melt whatever cheese you prefer in whatever quantity makes your socks roll up and down. I currently avoid most cheese, but at the time  I was uninformed about the hazards of  dairy, and I used a little grated Swiss and some crumbled feta. If you don't want cheese, warm the tortilla in the pan anyway.

4. Place prosciutto on the tortilla to heat, then add the cooked kale or spinach.

5. Arrange the fried eggs on top of everything and spread with serrano chili sauce, if you're lucky enough to have it, or use sriracha chili sauce. I like the tart, hot, tangy taste of both serrano and sriracha, but you could use a milder sauce to give it a little zip.

6. Fold that sucker in half and eat it with your hands. You will be glad you did!