Feeding My Family

(Well, hello there! Long time no blog. I'll be back soon to talk about my plans for this spring and onward...)

So! After several weeks of rain, rain, more rain and a few puddles in our basement (ugh), the sun finally showed up to dry things out and warm us up! Today was beautiful, and at first opportunity I herded the boys outside so that the fresh spring air could work its magic on them and guarantee a good night's sleep. Chasing them around outside made this mama thirsty! And that means it's time for iced tea.

I love iced tea, but until last summer I didn't really know how to make it properly. I know, I know- how hard can it be, right? I don't even like anything fancy- just straight up tea, please, nothing herbal or fruity or super-sugary. I'd order it at a restaurant, unsweetened, then add just a hint of sugar and a squeeze of lemon. Ah...instant refreshment. When I tried making it at home, though, it was either too weak or too bitter and no amount of tinkering could make it drinkable.

After poking around on the web a bit, I combined tips gleaned from a few different sites and came up with this method for making my tea. It has just a touch of sweetness and is fairly strong without being bitter- perfect for pouring over ice. I made a pitcher of iced tea every few days all summer long. And today, I pulled out the pitcher for the first time this year. Ah...

Easy Iced Tea, my way

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Turn off the heat. Stir in 2 teaspoons of granulated sugar. Place 4 Lipton tea bags in the water and allow to brew for 30 minutes. Discard the tea bags and pour the tea into a 2-quart pitcher. Top off with water to the 2-quart line. Refrigerate until well chilled. Serve over ice, with lemon wedges if desired.

Here's the original recipe from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, by Deborah Madison. My notes on how I've personalized the recipe over the years follow.

4 boiling or Yellow Finn potatoes, about 1 pound
Salt
1 to 2 pounds of greens, trimmed and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 large garlic clove, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tomatoes, peeled and diced

Cover the potatoes with cold water, add salt to taste, and bring to a boil. Cook until tender, about 25 minutes. Drain, then peel and coarsely chop. Place a quart of water in a large stockpot or skillet and bring to a boil. Add the greens and a teaspoon of salt, then simmer until tender, 5-20 minutes (the flavor of the greens will mellow with longer cooking). Remove from pan and drain. Return the pan to the heat, add the oil, and heat with the garlic and pepper flakes. When you can smell the garlic, add the greens, potatoes, and tomatoes. Cook over medium heat, breaking up the potatoes and mashing them into the greens to make a kind of rough hash. Taste for salt and serve with olive oil drizzled over the top.

My notes:

• I never bother peeling the potatoes or the tomatoes.
• I don't worry too much about the proportions of potatoes to greens. Most recently I used 1 1/2 lbs of yukon gold potatoes and about a pound of greens because that's what I had. The result was more Potatoes with Greens than Greens with Potatoes, but it's good either way!
• A few generous grinds of fresh black pepper are a nice occasional sub for the crushed red pepper.
• I like to finish the dish with a squeeze of lemon juice and some freshly grated cheese- most often parmesan, but Asiago is quite good too.