Greens and Pea Manicotti

Use your favorite greens to make Greens and Pea Manicotti, a lovely savory vegetarian main course of crepes filled with peas, goat cheese, ricotta and, of course, greens, covered in a fragrant tomato sauce.

When my elder daughter came home from university the first summer after her freshman year, she surprised me with the news that she had become a vegetarian. But I guess I really wasn't that surprised since I knew that her new best friends were mostly vegetarian and that sort of thing rubs off on a person.

When her little sister followed in her footsteps, not just to the same school, but into vegetarianism, no surprise at all there. Frankly, I think it's a great thing - I'm not ready to go there yet, but I fully supported their choice. Neither of them is completely vegetarian these days, but we do eat more meatless meals because I discovered during those years that there are many delightful recipes without it.

Several years ago, while I was researching recipes on the internet, I came across what sounded like a rich, satisfying vegetarian dish and I couldn't wait to give it a try. I had to make a few changes because of what I had available but it was very tasty and I've made it again since.

It would be perfect for a Meatless Monday dinner or a Lenten meal for those who fast from meat, whether all month or just on Fridays. If you are looking for more meatless casserole recipes, make sure to scroll down and check out the link list from my Sunday Supper friends.

Greens and Pea Manicotti

My greens and pea manicotti is adapted from this recipe here. I love her writing. She's funny and she has great recipes so go check her out. Here's my favorite post!

Ingredients
For the filling:
3 oz or 85g goat cheese
4 1/2 oz or 125g fresh ricotta or small curd cottage cheese
5 oz or 140g raw greens of your choice (spinach, kale, silver beets, etc.)
6 oz or 180g frozen peas, thawed
1 large clove garlic
1 whole egg
Zest of one lemon
Black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 oz or 225g freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 cup or 60ml whipping cream
Sea salt
Black pepper

For assembly:
1 1/2 cups or 240ml tomato sauce – store bought will work if you have a favorite or make this sauce, from my eggplant parmigiana recipe. It freezes very nicely so the extra will come in handy for future meals.
10 6-inch or 12cm crêpes (recipe here)
1 oz or 55g freshly grated Parmesan

Method
Clean your greens thoroughly and remove any thick stems. Rinse them at least three times.

These are silver beet greens but I've also made this with kale.

Yes, I know the package might say pre-washed. It’s lying to you. Just like when I told my mother I had vacuumed but I really just ran the vacuum cleaner around to make the lines on the shag carpet without turning it on. (Fact: The vacuum cleaner is much easier to move when it’s not sucking.)

Steam the greens for several minutes with the lid on.

Remove and cool by immersing in some cool water. Spin them dry in a salad spinner or a dry tea towel. If they still feel too wet, give them a squeeze with your two hands.

Using a fork, break your goat cheese and ricotta up into small crumbles. Chop your clove of garlic.

Add the greens, peas and garlic to your food processor and pulse. If you hear a clank, clank, clank at this point, realize that your peas are still frozen.

Pour the whole mess into a microwaveable bowl and thaw properly this time. Jeez. Okay, try again. You are looking for a rough mixture that still has lumps and bumps.

Now add the lemon zest and Parmesan to your other cheeses.

In a bowl big enough for thorough stirring, add the cheese mixture to the greens and pea mixture. Sprinkle on your salt and pepper. Give it a good stir. Taste it and add more salt, if necessary.

Now add the egg and stir again.

Add the cream and stir again. Your filling is ready and just needs to hang out for a while in the refrigerator to allow the flavors to develop.

Time to get on with the tomato sauce and the crêpes. By the time you have those two done, the filling should be ready to use. Follow these two recipes here and here. Make double the crêpe recipe and you can easily half the tomato sauce. Or make the full batch and freeze some. Go ahead, get on with them. We’ll wait here.

Just twiddling while we wait.

Okay, so, when you are ready to fill your crêpes and bake, preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Spray a little Pam in your baking dish or drizzle in a little olive oil and rub it around. Cover the bottom of your pan with about a 1/2 cup or 120ml of your tomato sauce.

Put about a 1/4 cup or 60ml of filling on the top crêpe and spread it along the middle. Fold one side over and then the other side.

Lay it in the pan, ends side down. Continue filling the crêpes until all the filling is gone. Extra crêpes can be wrapped in cling film and frozen.

Top the manicotti with another cup or 240ml of tomato sauce and then a good sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until the sauce and cheese are bubbling. Serve with a side green salad or vegetable of our choice.

Enjoy!

Meatless Meals for Lent

• Asparagus, Goat Cheese, and Fresh Herb Bread Pudding by Wholistic Woman
• Baked Eggplant Parmesan Casserole by Jersey Girl Cooks
• Baked Mushroom Fettuccine by Delaware Girl Eats
• Cheesy Mushroom Marsala Pasta Casserole by Hot Eats and Cool Reads
• Greens and Pea Manicotti by Food Lust People Love
• Leek and Swiss Chard Gratin by Caroline’s Cooking
• Mushroom Breakfast Casserole by Brunch-n-Bites
• Raisin Bread Cheddar Strata by Pies and Plots
• Ricotta Pasta Frittata by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
• Roasted Vegetable Lasagna by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Tex Mex Vegetarian Bake Freestyle Recipe by Positively Stacey
• Spaghetti Squash Parmesan Casserole by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Spinach Ravioli Bake by Our Good Life
• Spinach Ricotta Pasta Bake by The Bitter Side of Sweet
• Tuna Noodle Casserole from Scratch by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Vegetarian Baked Pasta with Spinach and Gruyère by Cooking Chat
• Vegetarian Enchiladas Recipe with Chickpea Curry by Sunday Supper Movement
• Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie by Simple and Savory
• Veggie & Quinoa Baked Stuffed Peppers by Hardly A Goddess

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Browned Butter Dark Chocolate Marshmallow Muffins #FoodieExtravaganza

Browned butter is the star ingredient in this sweet muffin but the brown sugar, dark chocolate and marshmallows add just the right amount of bitter and sweet.

The first time I ever heard the words browned butter, I was in college.  My younger sister was dating a young man whose mother was born and raised in Germany. I don’t remember whether it was a special occasion or just a random meal, but afterwards my mother raved about the fresh green beans his mother had cooked with browned butter.  They were apparently to die for.

Now, my mother is given to food superlatives so I took that accolade with a little grain of sea salt and forgot all about it. Or would have if she hadn't mentioned it several more times over the decades.

Fast forward more than 30 years and browned butter is all over the place.  In savory dishes and sweet. One of my favorite bloggers, Kayle, The Cooking Actress, has recipe after recipe devoted to this wonderful ingredient. I have been dutifully bookmarking and drooling over them but had yet to take plunge. I discovered, with this muffin, that browned butter is indeed fabulous in baked goods, to die for even, and I am thinking green beans for dinner tonight, à la Mrs. Bosarge.  Why did I wait so long? Are you still waiting? Dive right in!

Fair warning:  Do NOT taste the batter.  It's possible that you will not bother to bake muffins and your family will find you sitting in the kitchen, possessively hugging the mixing bowl and clutching a spoon, preheated oven abandoned.  And then *queue dramatic music*:  You will have to share.

Ingredients
1/2 cup or 115g unsalted butter, browned then cooled – Instructions here.
1/4 cup or 60g granulated sugar
1/2 cup or 100g dark brown sugar
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
3/4 cup or 180ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 1/3 oz or 180g dark chocolate  (or equivalent amount of good quality dark chocolate chips)
1 cup or 50g mini marshmallows

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by greasing lightly or lining with muffin papers.

Brown your butter, if you haven’t done so already.  Kayle has great instructions right here, so I refer you to her site.  Just follow this link:  How to brown butter.  

Chop the dark chocolate into little chunks and set aside a small handful for topping the muffins before baking.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, salt, two sugars and baking powder.

Whisk the cooled browned butter, eggs, vanilla extract and milk in a smaller mixing bowl.  If your milk and eggs are quite cold, the butter will probably try to solidify again.  Just keep whisking and it will break into little bitty pieces and get rather fluffy.  This is not a big deal.

Browned butter is liquid gold.  Except brown.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ones and stir a couple of times.

Add in the dark chocolate and marshmallows and fold to combine.

Divide the batter between the muffin cups and top with the reserved chocolate bits.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes in the pan then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

This recipe was muffin-fied from this fabulous cookie recipe from The Cooking Actress. 

Check out all the other lovely chocolate recipes my Foodie Extravaganza group is sharing today! Many thanks to our host, Ellen from Family Around the Table.

Brigadeiros by Caroline’s Cooking

Browned Butter Dark Chocolate Marshmallow Muffins by Food Lust People Love

Chocolate Dream Whoopie Pies by Jolene’s Recipe Journal

Chocolate Nonpareil Drops by Family Around the Table

Chocolate Tart with a Shortbread Crust by Karen’s Kitchen Stories

Double Chocolate Chip Banana Bread by Hardly A Goddess

Easy Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes by Our Good Life

German Chocolate Cake Macarons by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures

Healthy Chocolate Truffles by Simple and Savory

Homemade Chocolate Praline Easter Eggs by Sneha’s Recipe

Homemade White Chocolate with Strawberries and Rose Petals by Tara’s Multicultural Table

Sachertorte by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Salted Juniper-Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Slow-Cooker Sweet Potato Chocolate Mole Soup by Faith, Hope, Love and Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

Foodie Extravaganza celebrates obscure food holidays or shares recipes with the same ingredient or theme every month.

Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook group Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you!

If you're a reader looking for delicious recipes, check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board!

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Fresh Fish Soup

This fresh fish soup recipe makes a nutritious pot of deliciousness, perfect for a chilly winter night, but equally enjoyable on a summer evening because it is so light and flavorful. Best of all, it’s very easy to make.

As much as I love creamy soups, we tend to eat them mostly when it's cold outside. I love clear broth soups more because I can enjoy those all year long. In the summer, they cool you off in the same way that drinking a cup of hot tea does. You start to perspire a little bit, and a slight breeze cools you right off. And if you make soup like I make soup, there's going to be a little chili pepper added as well which has the same effect.

But in the winter time, the hot broth (with chili too, of course) warms you up from the inside out.

Fresh Fish Soup

This fresh fish soup recipe is inspired by one I saw either online or in a magazine but for the life of me, I can’t seem to find it again to give the creator credit.

Ingredients
5 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into chunks
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 red chili peppers
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced
1 large ripe summer tomato, sliced
4 1/4 cups or 1 L homemade fish stock
1.1 lbs or 500g firm fish steaks, with bones (I used Kingfish but you can substitute any firm fish.)

For garnish:
green onion tops, chopped

Method
Layer the potatoes at the bottom of the pot. Split the chili peppers with a sharp knife. Tuck the crushed garlic, peppers and carrots in and around the potatoes. Add the sliced onions on top.

Top with the sliced tomato. Season with fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Pour in the fish stock.  Bring the pot to the boil, then turn it down to simmer and cover with a tight-fitting lid.

Season the fish steaks with sea salt and black pepper and set aside while the stock simmers for 30-40 minutes.

Add the fish steaks to the pot and cover again.

Simmer until the fish is cooked through.

Taste the soup and add more salt, if needed.

Serve in a shallow bowl with a sprinkling of chives or parsley, with crusty bread for dipping.

Enjoy!

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Slow Cooker Confit Pork Belly

Using a slow cooker makes it simple to cook pork belly that is succulent and tender. Finishing it off in the oven ensures that crunchy crackling we all fight over.

A couple of years ago, my mom and I were traveling together in France so we made a quick stopover in Jersey, one of the islands in the English Channel. At a pub lunch one day, I ordered the confit pork belly and we both swooned. I knew it was just a matter of time before I’d recreate that dish.

The first time I made it, I also added a bunch of peeled garlic cloves to the slow cooker about three quarters of the way through the cooking time and served them, all soft and mellow, alongside the pork. I also left the skin tender since I was trying to duplicate the dish we'd enjoyed at the pub. Divine!

The second time, I left out the garlic and served the confit pork belly with a spicy chutney I’d made from nectarines, kumquats and habanero peppers. And, I added the oven step to make the crackling crunchy. This became our favorite.

The spicy sweet and sharp chutney is the perfect accompaniment to the melt-in-your-mouth pork.

Slow Cooker Confit Pork Belly

Confit is a method of slow cooking meat in its own fat but in this recipe, I use canola oil instead of lard. The oil can be strained through a clean cloth and stored in the refrigerator in a sterilized jar, to be used to make this dish a second time.

Ingredients
1 lb 10 oz or 750g pork belly, skin on
Canola oil to cover (about 3-4 cups or 720-960ml)
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method
If your butcher has not already done this, score the skin of the pork belly with a sharp knife. Rub it liberally with the salt on both sides. Set it in the refrigerator uncovered for a couple of hours or overnight.

Transfer the pork belly skin side up to your slow cooker and pour in enough canola oil to just cover it.

Set it to cook on low for four hours. Turn the pork belly over and cook for an additional two hours. Since the pork belly chuffs up while cooking, it won't be covered with oil any more.

Remove the pork belly from the slow cooker and place it on an ovenproof baking pan. Use the broil (US) or grill (UK) function in your oven to cook the skin till crunchy. Keep a close eye on it so that it doesn’t burn. This doesn't take long.

Sprinkle on a little more salt and a few good grinds of black pepper. Slice the confit pork belly to serve. I also recommend accompanying it with something sweet and spicy, like my nectarine kumquat habanero chutney.

Enjoy!

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