The Humble Kitchen

I ran across this recipe on the Gourmet website. The only problem with the recipe is it only makes about 22 of these luscious little dumplings. I have doubled the recipe so I can stash some in the freezer for later. My daughter and I sit in front of the TV and set up a dumpling factory. The only real challenge is keeping the cat away, Muenster is her favorite cheese.

For the dumplings:

To serve:

• sour cream
• chives

Melt butter in heavy pan, add onions and a good pinch of salt. Cover and cook over a medium flame for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once onions are softened, uncover and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes. Onions should be soft and nicely browned.

Meanwhile cover the diced potatoes with water and a good amount of salt, and bring to a boil. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain thoroughly and mash. Stir in onions and grated cheese.

Place a rounded teaspoon of the filling in the center of a wonton wrapper. Brush edges with water and fold in half to seal. Make sure to squeeze out any air pockets. Keep going ’till you’ve used up all your wrappers and/or filling.

To cook, heat oil in a non stick saute pan over medium/high heat. Place dumplings on their side in a single layer. Cook for a few minutes until nicely browned. Flip dumplings over, add 1/3 cup water and cover immediately. Cook about 5 minutes until water has evaporated and dumplings are warmed through. If any water is left in the pan, cook uncovered until it had evaporated and the dumplings have browned on the other side.

Serve with sour cream and some snipped chives.

To freeze remaining dumplings, lay out in a single layer on a sheet pan and freeze until hardened, then transfer to a plastic bag. You can cook them the same way you would the fresh dumplings.

-Jennifer

I found this beautiful broccoli rabe at the Berkeley Farmer’s Market yesterday. I can find almost everything I need there and it’s almost all organic and pasture raised. There are delightfully different products there, like banana leaves and I even found Union-picked broccoli and strawberries yesterday. Amazing!

While I was washing it, I wondered if we could eat the stems, you know, like broccoli. In walked the neighbor so I asked him the question. He replied, “dunno,” took some over to his place and started messing with it. What came back was this…

My daughter eating raw broccoli rabe like a banana (sorry about the cat hindquarters and tail, she never moves from that location except to eat)

What my neighbor found was a tough exterior, similar to the very end of the asparagus and broccoli stems, that revealed a softer, totally edible interior. So I peeled and added the stems to the dish as well. It was a very simple dish and quick too. Only olive oil, salt, pepper, two cloves of garlic, the broccoli rabe, a little Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and a few slices of sausages on the side.

Gluten free penne with broccoli rabe

While we were eating dinner, my son asked, “Which is more healthier, broccoli or red bell peppers?” He has been interested in nutritional facts lately, for whatever reason. So we looked it up in Laurel’s Kitchen. We were amazed to learn that 1c of broccoli has 324 mg of potassium and 3880 iu of vitamin A. One red bell pepper, by contrast, has 148 mg of potassium and 3295 iu of vitamin A! Healthy indeed.

~Sarah