Collard greens (vegetarian)

This is only to remind myself what I've done and liked, not because I think it's some amazing recipe..

1 lb precut collard greens (stems included)
3/4 of a medium onion
~3 cloves of garlic, minced
red pepper flakes (several good shakes, maybe half a teaspoon? more than I'd use for a head of bok choy)
oil
pinch of salt
water

Saute the garlic for  maybe half a minute in the oil on medium heat,then add the red pepper flakes and the onion. Saute for a bit.I did not let the onion brown, mostly because my heat level was off and it was looking like it was going to burn. Add the collard greens, stir to coat with some of the oil. You may have to wait a second for some of it to wilt/compress before adding more,but you should be able to fit a whole pound in a 4.5 quart pot. Keep stirring a bit to coat all leaves with the oil.  Sprinkle a little salt.  Add a few splashes of water so that you can braise rather than continuing to saute.

Turn the heat down to pretty low and cover the pot.  Stir every so often and let it cook for maybe..half an hour? Til the stems are soft enough and mild enough to be pleasant.

Nectarine...thingies

I've been making this for breakfast:

Pizza dough (flour, salt, yeast, a little sugar, olive oil, water) rolled out very very thin (this seems easiest if the dough has actually risen and had the air knocked out of it and sat for a while, even though this recipe doesn't really need the dough to be airy or rise significantly.)

Covered with thinly-sliced nectarines

folded over, scored on top so that you can see the nectarines through little windows in the dough

baked for about 20 minutes at 450 degrees

It's pretty good.

It's easiest if you roll the dough out on parchment paper, and it's important to make sure the edges are sealed--the little windows on top are OK, but you don't want nectarine juice leaking out the sides or  bottom because a) it burns and b) that juice staying on the dough helps make a nice sweet moist dough-y situation.

Today I tried it with a mixture of ricotta cheese, powdered sugar, and almond extract spread on the dough before the nectarines.Also pretty tasty, roughly same amount of cooking needed.

ricotta almond cake

I want to make this some day soon:
http://www.italianfoodforever.com/2014/04/ricotta-almond-cake/

Black Beluga Lentil Salad

(Loosely based on the packaged lentil salad they sell at Peet's.)

1 cup black beluga lentils
4 cups water
1 small shallot, diced
~1 tbs chopped parsley
1 carrot, grated fine
~2 oz feta cheese
half a lemon's worth of juice
red wine vinegar to taste
olive oil to taste/preference
salt to taste
pepper

Put lentils and water in a pot, bring to a faint boil, turn down to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add chopped shallots and cook for 10 more minutes, til cooked but still firm. (You can also just add the shallots after cooking, but raw onion is a bit sharp for me.)
Drain. I did not rinse.

Put into bowl. Add remaining ingredients (Some recipes say to let the lentils cool first but I did this while still warm.) Stir, eat.

Half of this recipe (which feels about like a portion if it's all you're eating) contains ~370 cal 6g fat, 29g protein, 51g carbohydrate and 20g fiber.I did not include olive oil in this so probably slightly more fat.  Going forward I'd be inclined to use more olive oil to make it a bit more balanced/less carbohydrate-dense, though I didn't measure how much olive oil I used, so...

Farinata

This looks amazing:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/235473/how-to-make-farinata/

As soon as I get some garbanzo flour, I'm gonna try it.

• 1 1/2 cups garbanzo flour
• 2 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary (optional)
• 5 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Combine garbanzo flour and water in a bowl; whisk until batter is smooth. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a plate and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours. Skim as much foam as possible from top of batter. Whisk salt, rosemary, and 3 tablespoons olive oil into batter.
2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).
3. Place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over high heat and heat until smoking hot. Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil in skillet and swirl to coat bottom of skillet with oil. Continue to heat until oil shimmers and a wisp of smoke rises from oil.
4. Quickly pour batter into hot oil; carefully transfer skillet to preheated oven.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until cake is browned and crusty, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer immediately to a plate, cut into wedges, and serve hot. Garnish with freshly ground black pepper.

Post-mortem: finally made this! It was too salty--I used a scant 1.5 tsp of the sea salt (seemed to be large-flake) we had. I'd do 3/4 tsp next time. Also - it was easy to let the batter splash up the sides of the pan,which then burned a bit, so I will avoid that next time. Overall I was surprised that it didn't stick to the pan more, or damage/burn onto my old, not super clean cast-iron skillet. I was tempted to take it out early but I'm glad I left it in for a full 27ish minutes. 

Bookmarking because I want to make it:

Peach Frangipane tart

Potato Curry

Putting it here for reference so I don't lose it.
From http://vegrecipes.livejournal.com/1342699.html

4 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
4 teaspoons curry powder
4 teaspoons garam masala
1 inch of ginger, grated
2 teaspoons cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons cayenne pepper maybe start with 1/4 or 1/2 tsp, add more later. 3/4 was too much.
2 teaspoons salt (or to taste)
1 can diced tomatoes (~15oz size)
1 can of coconut milk (~15oz size)
1 can garbanzos, rinsed and drained (~15oz size)
1 can peas (I used 1/2 a package of frozen peas)

Boil potatoes til (just barely) soft. Sautee onions and garlic til soft. Stir in curry powder, garam masala, ginger, cumin, cayenne and salt. Cook for 1 or 2 minutes, stirring. Mix in potatoes, garbanzos, and peas, then stir in the tomatoes and coconut milk. Simmer 5-10 minutes.