Archive for the 'vegetarian' Category
Back in December when I was bedridden with a back that capsized on the day of our cookiepalooza, which resulted in Mike bringing up Oreo truffles and shortbread at hour intervals, I started to fantasize about big salads, and would have paid $100 to anyone who delivered a hefty dose of kale.
I started flipping through food sites and blogs, looking for pictures of green things. Guys, I had it bad. I bookmarked this kale and quinoa salad with cranberries and feta, and swore I’d make it the minute I could stand at the kitchen counter again. I didn’t of course, and then it was Christmas, and the new year, and now February. So today, amongst it all, I made it for lunch. No biggie.
The great thing about a quinoa salad – besides its obvious deliciousness and ability to transform hard core leafy greens like kale – is that you can keep it in the fridge and have something great to dip into at any time without any mental effort. For days when your brain is otherwise occupied.
Although you can cook quinoa like rice -in a rice cooker, even- I like to cook it like pasta, in a pot of water, and strain it and return it to the warm pot to steam. Adding a handful of dried cranberries helps plump the fruit while absorbing excess moisture, as does a tea towel draped over the pot to absorb the steam. This guarantees fluffy quinoa.
The recipe – inspired by Dorie Greenspan’s chard stuffing – called for pine nuts, which cost about as much as platinum these days. Although I have a half a small bag in the freezer left over from some recipe or other, I’ve been coming up with substitutes, not wanting to waste the precious bitty things. But it occurred to me it would be an even more colossal waste to have them linger into freezer burned oblivion, only to be tossed out 10 years down the road.
And so I carefully unwrapped and shook out some pine nuts to toast in the toaster oven. I may have counted them, just to be fair. I gingerly set it on “toast” and ran to quick check my email.
Walnuts it is!
This is simply dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon – but it would be fab with a simple balsamic or red wine vinaigrette.
Kale and Quinoa Salad with Cranberries and Feta
Adapted from Beyond the Plate, where it was inspired by Dorie Greenspan’s Chard Stuffing. Quantities of each ingredient are up to you, of course – adjust each according to your taste.
1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup dried cranberries
olive oil, for cooking
1 medium shallot or a small chunk of purple onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small bunch of kale
salt and pepper
pinch dried chili flakes (optional)
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/4 cup pine nuts or 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
a squeeze of lemon (optional)
In a medium pot of boiling salted water, cook the quinoa for 12-14 minutes, until just tender and the germ separates, making a little curly Q. Drain well in a fine sieve, then return to the pot (off the heat, but still warm), add the cranberries, cover with a tea towel and the lid, and set aside to cool.
In a medium skillet set over medium-high heat, heat a drizzle of oil and sauté the shallot or onion for a couple minutes, until soft. Remove the tough ribs from the kale, stack the leaves and thinly slice them. Add to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes until wilted. If you like, add a small splash of water to the pan to create steam, and cover for a few minutes. Season with salt and add a pinch of chili flakes, if you like. If you added water, remove the lid and cook until the moisture has cooked off.
Add the kale to the quinoa, along with the feta and pine nuts or walnuts. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Add a squeeze of lemon, if you like. Toss again and serve immediately. Serves 4.
February 02 2012 | grains and one dish and salads and vegetarian | 15 Comments »
It was -33 today. I can think of no better argument for bringing out the slow cooker.
Wait – there was a better reason. Kelsey and Phoebe and Cara (from Big Girls Small Kitchen – who’s new cookbook I became smitten with in early December when I was bedridden with a wrecked back) asked me to be a part of their slow-cooker love-in. It’s cold, and I love slow cooked food. Why not?
They’re giving away some slow cookers too, if you want to get in on the action. They’re also swapping ideas and links and pins and such, if you’re looking for slow cookin’ inspiration, which if my inbox is any indication, a lot of people are.
I must keep this short – have a story due today, which technically ends at midnight, right?
There are so many possibilities when it comes to slow cookers. So many cool things to make, but I couldn’t see past a bowl of baked beans. These are thick and sweet and tangy and everything baked beans should be, plus the beer. (As Sue puts it – feel free to swap apple juice or stock if there’s no beer in the fridge, or other members of the household protest its use this way.)
Guinness Baked Beans
a few slices of bacon, chopped (optional)
2 onions, finely chopped
2 19 oz (540 mL) cans red kidney beans, drained
2 19 oz (540 mL) cans white kidney or navy beans, drained
3/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup barbecue sauce
1 bottle Guinness, or 1 1/4 cups beef or chicken stock or apple juice
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup Dijon, yellow, or grainy mustard
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. molasses
salt and pepper, to taste
a few shakes of Tabasco sauce (optional)
In a heavy skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove it from the pan, crumble and set aside. Sauté the onion in the bacon drippings (or dump them and replace with a drizzle of oil) for about 5 minutes, until tender and beginning to turn golden.
Transfer the onions to the bowl of a slow cooker and add the beans, ketchup, barbecue sauce, Guinness, brown sugar, mustard, vinegar, molasses, and a hit of salt and pepper. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Stir the bacon back into the beans right before you serve them. Makes lots.
Look who else has come to play!
FN Dish (The Food Network Blog)
Food52
The Family Dinner
Foodily
Punchfork
The Daily Meal
College Candy
Her Campus
College Lifestyles
Life2PointOh
One Bite At A Time
Mrs. Wheelbarrow
Savor the Thyme
Babble
Momtastic
Families in the Loop
NY Family Magazine
One Hungry Mama
CafeMom
Simple Bites
Gluten is my Bitch
Cookin’ Canuck
Food for my Family
Eclectic Recipes
Family Fresh Cooking
Talk Nerdy to Me
The Kids Cook Monday
Early Twenties
January 16 2012 | beans and slow cooker and vegetarian | 16 Comments »
We interrupt our regular dinner announcement to bring you these deliciously salty, spicy, munchable roasted chickpeas, which ruined our appetites for dinner anyway. I tweeted out a picture of these this afternoon, as I prepared to have four kids descend on my kitchen to taste test bean recipes for an upcoming Parents Canada spread. The immediate twitter flurry of recipe requests that ensued suggested that perhaps some of you may be interested in knowing how to roast a chickpea.
It should be a standard formula in any kitchen, I think. Especially after watching how kids devour them. If you’re looking for something salty and snackable, these beat chips all the way to the curb. Protein, fibre, they’ve got it all-and good taste, to boot. I’ll refrain from any reference to safe snacking.
Roasting chickpeas is like roasting anything else: the drier they are going in, the crispier they’ll be coming out. Open a large (19 oz.) can (or two), rinse and drain them well, and spread them out on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with canola or olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and any other seasonings you like – cumin and paprika (sweet or smoked) are good, or curry powder, or any spice mix you fancy. Roll them around to coat them more or less, and rast them at 400°F for 20-30 minutes, giving them a poke around once or twice, until golden and sizzling and crispy. They do tend to get paper towely after a couple hours, so serve them right away. Divine.
January 08 2012 | appetizers and beans and vegetarian | 11 Comments »
Aside from the idea that this is a fresh and spanking-clean new year (really, what’s different between this Tuesday and last, besides a new calendar on my wall?), mostly in January I want to eat more cleanly, with more of the veggies I’ve so woefully neglected for the past month or two. Since around Halloween, really, and then there were those almost two weeks spent in Jasper, where there was salad, but mostly morning pastries and buffets and martinis and chocolate and cheese. And then it was winter and Christmastime, and wait.. I’m not coming up with a valid excuse here, am I?
And today, back at my desk and forced to answer phone calls and emails, and open that stack of mail from the bank and Revenue Canada (which they always seem to send on Fridays or right before Christmas, or on the Friday right before Christmas), I feel like I should also be eating my broccoli.
And so I took it as an opportunity to try a recipe I’ve been meaning to give a go – and served it in shallow dishes I unearthed from the basement (in an attempt to declutter) that were a wedding gift in 1994 and I’ve maybe used once. I’m going to use them now. 1994!! The New Year is supposed to be all about newness and possibility, but every year it winds up being a bit like a mini midlife crisis.
In a good way, of course. I’m happy to be here, to be ringing in 2012 with those I love, even though technically I was in the bathroom at midnight. The collective lull of the holidays allows enough of a breather to take a look at life and which steps to take (or not) next. What I want to spend my time and money and energies on. To talk myself out of starting too many new things, or to be too fearful of same. And to be thankful that we get the luxury of choice.
Would it be too much to ask for a longer lull, so I can start the new year being able to see my desktop? And although I still wonder why eating broccoli should be so much more virtuous than eating shortbread, at least it makes life seem more tacklable when you feel less Jabba-the-Hutt-ish.
If you time it right, the rice will cook in exactly the same amount of time as the broccoli and shrimp take to roast. If you go ahead and toss the lemon wedges onto the pan too they’ll get all roasted and squishy, and you’ll be able to squeeze far more of the juice and soft pulp over your shrimp and broccoli, if you like that sort of thing. Be warned roasted lemon wedges have more give than a raw one; Mike doused the front of his AC/DC T-shirt in lemon guts.
Spicy Roasted Shrimp & Broccoli
Adapted from The New York Times and The Wednesday Chef by way of Everybody Likes Sandwiches – this recipe gets around.
2 large heads of broccoli
3-4 Tbsp. canola or olive oil
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. chili flakes
salt & freshly ground black pepper
10-20 large raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 lemon, zested and then cut into wedges
Preheat oven to 425F.
Toss the broccoli with about 2 tablespoons of oil, the cumin, coriander, 1/4 teaspoon of the chili flakes, and half the salt and pepper. In a small bowl, toss the shrimp with the remaining chili flakes, salt and pepper, olive oil and the lemon zest. Cut the lemon lengthwise into quarters.
Spread the broccoli out on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet, add the lemon wedges if you like, and roast for 10 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook for 8-10 minutes more – just until the shrimp are opaque. Serve over rice, with a squeeze of lemon. Serves 2.
January 03 2012 | one dish and seafood and vegetarian | 28 Comments »
Sorry if you’re suffering from squash overload. It is everywhere, sometimes overflowing their bins, but even the ugly, unidentifiable gourds really are so great for you, and worthy of our attention. Perhaps if I repackaged it on a pizza? with bacon and caramelized onions? Yes? Sold?
There really isn’t much of a recipe here, I’m afraid. Dice some squash – whatever kind you have – a small one or half a large one – toss in a drizzle of olive or canola oil and roast on a rimmed baking sheet at 400F for 20-30 minutes, stirring once or twice, until golden. Cook a few slices of bacon, set them aside and cook a thinly sliced onion in the drippings until it turns golden. Crumble the bacon.
Spread the roasted squash, caramelized onions and crumbled bacon over rolled-out pizza dough and scatter with mozzarella, Gouda, crumbled goat cheese or whatever cheese you like. Bake at 450F for 15-20 minutes, until bubbly and golden. Ta-da! The soft, sweet squash goes so well with the salty, smoky bacon. And melty cheese really does make anything better.
Basic Pizza Dough
1 cup lukewarm water
1 pkg. (or 2 tsp.) active dry yeast
1 tsp. sugar or honey
2 1/2 – 3 cups flour – all purpose, whole wheat, or any combination of the two (I usually use about 2 3/4 cups)
1 tsp. salt
a drizzle (1 tsp. – 1 Tbsp.) olive or canola oil
In a large bowl, stir together the water, yeast and sugar; set aside for 5 minutes, until it’s foamy. (If it doesn’t get foamy, either your water was too hot and killed the yeast or it was inactive to begin with – toss it and buy fresh yeast or try again!)
Add 2 1/2 cups of the flour, salt and oil and stir until the dough comes together. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for about 8 minutes, until it’s smooth and elastic, adding a little more flour if the dough is too sticky.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl and turn to coat all over. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place for half an hour to an hour, until doubled in bulk. If you want you can let it rise more slowly in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours.
Roll the dough out into one or two pizzas. Spread the pizza dough with tomato sauce or paste, sprinkle with desired toppings and bake on a preheated pizza stone or cookie sheet at 450F for 15-20 minutes, until bubbly and golden.
Makes enough dough for 2 – 9” pizzas, or one big rectangular one.
November 09 2011 | vegetarian | 15 Comments »
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