![Glistening Greens]()
by Yvonne Maffei | Feb 11, 2020 | Cooking Techniques & Kitchen Tips
Kale, Swiss Chard and many other greens are so easy to make and incorporate into your everyday diet, even if they’re just cooked and served on their own with very little added to them. I just feel like as a society we don’t eat enough of these gems and we really should. You may like them more if you cook them in a way that’s more desirable to your taste buds, too.
More times than not, when I’m in a rush I just roughly chop (or sometimes no chopping is done at all), throw them in a pan with a little olive oil, and simmer on low, covered, for a few minutes or until the stems are softened. I add a little sea salt and serve. It’s so quick to make like this and believe it or not, I often make this for breakfast alongside eggs, cheese olives, fresh tomatoes and crusty local bread.
Dark leafy greens are super important to include in our diets, as well. They’re high in fiber as well as vitamins A, C, K and folate. Great stuff. And if you have any leftovers from the first time you make them, add whatever is left into a scrambled egg mixture or top on toast withe some crumbly cheese like feta.
That olive oil on top makes the greens glisten with goodness, as the olive oil is full of antioxidants we need, as well. Just make sure to get the best quality extra virgin olive oil you can find and don’t heat it too much, if at all. In fact, greens like spinach have so much water content that you don’t need to add oil when cooking; it can be added afterwards when serving.
![Sweet & Sour Beef]()
by Yvonne Maffei | Jun 21, 2014 | Beef
I don’t make Asian food that often at home, but I really do love it. I recently had a real craving for sweet and sour something– whether it be seafood, beef or chicken. Many of the recipes I found used ketchup for the sauce (which I’m not a huge fan of when it comes to cooking with it) and other prepared sauces for the ‘sweet and sour’ part. Instead, I tested my own version of a homemade sweet and sour combination that worked really well, particularly with a high quality Halal meat like the Billy Doe Meats.
The ingredients I used are fairly simple and can be found in just about any grocery store international aisle: cane sugar, pineapple vinegar (or any fruity vinegar- apple cider vinegar is particularly good here), tomato sauce, sesame oil or toasted sesame oil (or a combination of the two).
I also used some greens from my garden: kale, spinach, celery and Swiss chard. You can use just one of these, if you like.
If I had to choose just one, it would be kale- it’s thicker than spinach and tends to hold onto the meat a little better, if that’s all the greens you’re using.
But the Swiss chard does add some nice color when using the stems.
I also added carrots- shredded, but also the leftover chunky parts, as nothing is wasted. Garlic, too. Of course.
After everything is chopped, the larger parts plus the onion and garlic get sautéd in the sesame oil. You can use a wok or Dutch oven to do this.
I added ground ginger for added spice because I didn’t have fresh on hand. Either one works and freshly chopped is always preferable- to me, anyway.
Use high heat once those ingredients are in the pot.
Add the beef cubes. These looked fabulous.
And the tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar and corn starch.
Then the greens and shredded carrots, basically the thin stuff.
Now we’re seeing more color, which is always nice when you’re about to eat the dish soon after cooking it. Makes it so much more appealing.
Then you’ll need to cover it, reduce the heat and let the beef cook. The greens will actually add moisture to the meat, making it nice and soft after about 25 minutes. I like to serve it over rice or noodles, but I could it all by itself, too.
[yumprint-recipe id=’19’] ![Creamy Fusilli Pasta with Swiss Chard and Chicken]()
by Yvonne Maffei | Sep 20, 2013 | Dinner, Pasta Dishes, Recipes
I have the most convenient times for food cravings. Right now my kitchen is completely unusable while it’s under construction. The stove is off the gas line, the sink is not even anywhere in the kitchen but resides in the middle of the living room hanging out and waiting for the demolition to be over and the re-building to begin again. All in the name of kitchen renovation.
I’m not sure I ever want to go through this again- but ask me six months from now and I may want to redesign something in the kitchen, or paint a wall a different than is there now…
Back to the food craving part.
Yes, it’s Fall. My favorite season of year. It reminds me of starting school (I loved that), going to farmers markets, and the smell of pies. As my taste buds grew more sophisticated and I learned all about fall produce, which includes leafy greens like kale, spinach and Swiss chard I decided to make what every good Italian woman would do- add them to pasta. Not make smoothies out of them.
I love this recipe so much I’ve actually shared it often. I’ve made it for my family a lot but I’ve also shared it for the Quick Weeknight Meals section of SISTERS magazine earlier this year, and I taught a cooking class at the non-profit organization, the UMMA Center, where class participants loved it so much they actually came back and told me they made it at home using whatever leafy greens they had.
You can make it with or without chicken, but you may also want to add beef or fish, too. Very versatile. That’s the way I like it- don’t limit the variety of possibilities in food. That’s what makes things stressful.
I bread the chicken lightly with all-purpose flour, not bread crumbs, for this dish. Otherwise you’ll have lots of crumbs getting into the pasta and that’s not very appealing. The flour bag- don’t mind it. I fold mine up and put the bags in the freezer to keep them fresher for longer. It works.
Get some really nice Swiss Chard- even the kind that has yellow stems.
Separate the stems from the leaves. The stems take longer to soften up during cooking.
Chop up the stems small, they’ll cook more quickly.
The pasta needs to be prepared ahead of time so that it can be quickly incorporated into the dish when the chicken and Swiss chard are finished cooking.
Sprinkle the pasta with olive oil to prevent it from sticking until you’re ready to add it to the dish. It’ll also help make it easier to fold into the other ingredients during the cooking process.
I use a lot of Swiss chard- about a head for this dish, and it shrinks up so much, you may want to use to. Get in all those vitamins and minerals- Swiss chard and other leafy greens are high in Vitamins K, A, C and magnesium, potassium and iron.
Wow, that’s a mouthful.
![Penne with Swiss Chard and Beet Leaves]()
by Yvonne Maffei | Oct 27, 2011 | American, Dinner, Italian, Pasta Dishes, Recipes, Vegetarian
I didn’t intentionally set out to make pink pasta; it just happened as a result of my love affair with seasonal produce like swiss chard and beets, both of which were plentiful at the farmers market last weekend where I organized a Culinary Tour of the Green City Market here in Chicago.
And then it occured to me that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We are all exposed to the pink ribbons that indicate a fight against this disease, so I found it fitting that my pasta turned out pink as a result of the beet leaf juices that smother the pasta once it’s cooked and added in. One person on our Facebook page even made reference to the fact that her girls would love it because it was girly.
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