Dinner With Robert

Last night I had my friend Robert over for dinner. All photos are his work. Except the one of him, I stole his camera and took that. Things I learned: my stovetop needs a good cleaning, my camera sucks (I kind of already knew that), having someone else take photos is really awesome, and the apron my momma made me is really unflattering. This post is liable to be crazy photo heavy, because he got a bunch of great shots. Thanks Robert!




The original plan was to make a batch of dumplings, and serve them on top of greens and baby broccoli. But the filling I made has massive amounts of cilantro, which Robert cannot stand. Whoops. A quick scan of the fridge, and an alternate plan. I kept the greens and baby broccoli, but threw them on top of rice, and added a fried egg and little chunks of pancetta on top. Yum. I love meals that come out of a single bowl, and eggs, and bacon. This didn't suck, and comes together really easily.



Dessert was a little bit of a surprise. Robert and I have often discussed his love of rhubarb in the past. When I re-organized my freezer a few weeks ago, I discovered a bag of rhubarb I froze the last time it was in season. A surprise rhubarb dessert was in order. I make crisp topping in huge batches, and keep it in the freezer. It's nice to be able to throw together a fruit dessert easily at a moment's notice. I kept this one really simple, just tossing the rhubarb with honey to sweeten, but I think a squeeze of lemon juice might have improved things.



Overall, this was a nice quick weeknight dinner, and I think we might have a good "cooking for photographs" thing developing. Winners, all around.


Thanks again to Robert for the photos in this post!

Spicy Greens topped with a Fried Egg and Bacon

3 cloves garlic
2 cups mixed greens (I use what my CSA sends as mixed stir fry greens. It seems to be a mix of kale, chard, collard greens, bok choy and spinach. Any of these greens by themselves would be fine. Measured by loosely smooshing them into a measuring cup.)
1 1/2 cups baby broccoli (Same loose smoosh measuring method. If you're going to eat this with a fork, cut the broccoli down to manageable pieces. If you're a chopsticks fan, leaving them whole is fine.)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (Increase this if you like spicy foods. I am a wuss about spicy foods.)
Olive oil

3 pieces pancetta (I had pancetta from The Fatted Calf in my fridge. Substitute bacon or whatever other awesome cured pork you have on hand.)
2 eggs

1 cup rice, cooked according to package directions (I like brown rice.)



Coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil, heat to medium. Throw in the garlic and red pepper, and cook until the garlic is starting to turn color. Add the baby broccoli and cook until the color is changes to a bright green. Add the greens and salt and pepper to taste, and cook until they turn green. If you're using a mix of greens, the spinach will brown before the kale is done. This is fine, and, in fact, delicious.

Meanwhile, cut your pancetta into little sticks, and fry them up. Then fry your eggs in the manner of your choosing (over easy for me!) in the rendered fat from the pancetta. Yum.

To serve, rice in the bottom of the bowl, topped with greens, then the egg and the pancetta as a garnish.



Rhubarb Crisp

For the crisp topping (Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. This makes WAY more than you will use. Freeze the rest; it works just fine straight out of the freezer.):

2 sticks unsalted butter, cold
1 1/2 cups flour (I use 1 c white flour and .5 c whole wheat.)
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cups nuts (I use whatever I've got lying around. This time 1/2 c pecans and 1/4 c slivered almonds.)
Dash salt

Cut the butter into small pieces, and combine all the ingredients in a food processor. It should be chunky.



For the rhubarb filling:

2 cups rhubarb, chopped (Mine was frozen, yours doesn't have to be.)
1/3 cup honey

Toss the two together. If your rhubarb is frozen, the honey will get all clumpy and weird. Don't worry, it'll bake out just fine.

Dump the rhubarb filling into a small baking dish*, and smooth it out into an even layer. Add enough crisp topping to make an even layer. I like the topping layer to be about 3/4 of an inch thick, but you can go thicker or thinner, as your preference dictates. Bake at 350 until the filling is bubbling and the top is crispy and brown. I totally forgot to time this step. I'm going to guess about half an hour, but really, it's done when it's done.



*Living my myself, and cooking for one most of the time, I have a good sized collection of small to tiny casserole dishes. You can scale this filling recipe up or down to fit in the dish you're going to make it in.