Lunch - February 21, 2010

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Sage from Immer's Everyday Dining with Wine. I didn't have any sage. Still an excellent dish. I serve these to everyone.

Fusilli with Green Lentils, Root Vegetables, and Parsley Caper Puree from Bishop's Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. I used 12 oz of pasta instead of the pound and still think this was too pasta heavy.
The lemon and parsley give a nice brightness in the winter. I used multi colored carrots for this dish. I probably wouldn't bother with the pasta again except that it looks like it is one of those handy recipes where the ingredients are always on hand.

We started this meal with Yukon Gold Potato & Cauliflower Soup with Truffle Oil from Immer's Everyday Dining with Wine. I forgot to snap a picture. I reserved and used a cup of the cooking water to thin the soup and it was still a too thick. I used the food processor instead of a blender which may have effected the outcome. It was good even if it resembled mashed potatoes. I will make it again. Thanks to Betty and Mark for the truffle oil.

We were going to go to lunch with my parents but as I was behind on my cooking due to illness earlier in the week I wanted to use up some vegetables and so subjected my parents to trying new recipes.

Dinner - January 29, 2010

From my meal plan for the week we have Black Bean Tostadas with Cherry Tomato Salsa from Berley's Fresh Food Fast. We have liked this recipe for years and have served it to guests.

This night I tried reducing the lime juice in the salsa to half and doubling the black beans in the black bean and seitan mixture. I rounded the measures on the spices to compensate for the extra beans. I used a potato masher to smash some of the beans while they were cooking. I put about half of the seeds and core from the jalapeno in the salsa and that was plenty hot for me.

I think these adjustments are improvements. Next time I think I will try and make a little more salsa to balance the increase in the bean mixture.

I made up all ten of the tortillas in the package into tostadas. Two is probably a meal but I think someone ate four.

Dinner - January 17, 2010

This is a variation on Immer's Linguine with Walnuts, Arugula, and Olives. Here we have broccoli rabe in place of the arugula. I blanched the chopped rabe in the pasta water before I cooked the pasta. I also used 50% whole wheat spaghetti in place of the linguine and left out the cheese.

Checking my notes it says that I used two bunches of broccoli rabe and chopped them into 2 inch pieces. I blanched them for 1 minute and then sauteed.

We loved this dish. These are strong flavors so I would be reluctant to serve it to most guests but I think those that really love food will appreciate it.

Dinner - September 8, 2009

I tried the Three Sisters' Stew with Okra and Leeks from Berley's Fresh Food Fast again. This time I backed off on the jalapeno to about a half of a large one. I also made my own pinto beans.

The result was a stew where the spice just added to the flavor of the dish. I could have gone for a little more spice. Since the pepper is the first thing in the pot it is hard to gauge.

Matt rounded out the meal for us this time with some corn chips.

I made the recipe from gathering the ingredients to ready to serve in under an hour. It is a nice one pot meal where you can chop the veggies as you go.

Dinner - August 29, 2009

Some summer classics again.
Gazpacho. My previous post with the basil croutons can be found here. The recipe can be found at http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Shrimp-Gazpacho-with-Basil-Croutons-12647. This one lacks the croutons and the shrimp. I have been out of red wine vinegar all summer so I have been using sherry vinegar.

"Green Beans and Potatoes with Pesto". The recipe is from Jack Bishop's The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook. I used half yellow wax beans. You can find a previous post here.

The tomatoes and green beans are from my dad's garden. The rest of the ingredients (except for the olive oil and vinegar) are from the Hyde Park Farmers' Market.

Dinner - August 5, 2009

Here is one of my favorites again. This is from Berley's The Flexitarian Table. The recipe is called "Quinoa Salad with Green Beans, Corn, and Tomatoes." You can see it with a post of the full meal here.

I finally spotted some red quinoa at Bigg's this week. I will have to try this again.

I am giving it a week night rating for preparation but please see the caveats in previous post noted above.

Dinner - August 4, 2009

This is gazpacho with basil croutons. This was made from a recipe you can find on epicurious.com called Shrimp Gazpacho with Basil Croutons. I left out the shrimp and I used an excellent mild sour dough bread for the croutons.

You do not need to chop all the veggies up like the recipe says. The half that go in the food processor can just be chunked. This saves a lot of time but if you are going to make the croutons this might be hard to pull off after work and get everything to cool. I make it for weeknights but I have my system down.

Matt first made this gazpacho over 10 years ago and it is the standard for us.

Lunch - July 16, 2009

This lunch was left over from the meal I made the night before. It really holds up well as leftovers.

This is a favorite recipe of mine form Immer's Everyday Dining with Wine. The recipe is called "Linguine with Walnuts, Olives, and Arugula." You can find a variation I posted about previously here.

I gave this a preparation rating of 3 before but I think it is getting close to a 4 or 5 for me with some practice and triple washed baby arugula. I am leaving it at 3 since it does take two pans.

I leave out the cheese and use whole wheat pasta.

Dinner - September 3, 2009

I found my high rating of this recipe from two years ago and thought I had better try it again. You can find the old post here.

I believe the recipe still deserves high praise. This time I had the okra. My only substitution was 2 tbsp of olive oil for the butter. I guess we also left off the sour cream garnish.

This turned out quite spicy. The jalapeno I had was quite large.

This recipe is called "Three Sisters Stew with Okra and Leeks" and can be found in Berley's Fresh Food Fast. Berley pairs it with a corn cake that had too much butter and cheese for me to try.

With the beans this stew can be the whole meal but the spice and volume one needs to eat make it a bit challenging. Next time I may try a little bread or cornbread with this to make it an easier meal to eat.

Matt said we should eat this every week. It is the season for this recipe so I may try.

This was quick to make. There is chopping but not very fine and it can all be done as the recipe progresses.

Dinner - July 7, 2009

This was a meal we shared with my sister and our friend Chuck. It is from Peter Berley's The Flexitarian Table. It is Summer Menu 5: Tofu with Lemon, Soy, White Wine, and Butter Sauce; Striped Bass with Lemon, White Wine, and Butter Sauce; Quinoa Salad with Green Beans, Corn, and Tomatoes.

The tofu and quinoa were excellent. The fish was limited by the quality of the fish. We have made this fish with good fish in the past and it was excellent too.

We don't make this tofu a regular dish because of the butter but pull it out for company. The quinoa is a summer regular here. The quinoa is also a good dish for sharing at picnics.

The pumpkin seeds are listed as optional on the quinoa but I think they should not be skipped. I have never found red quinoa and have always used regular. I used half yellow wax beans. I also used to two 12 oz blocks of tofu instead of the pound that is called for and was glad to have the extra tofu. I believe I slightly upped the sauce.

The meal as a whole needs to be saved for weekends. The quinoa can be a meal or lunch itself and I would say you could pull that off for a weeknight. The thing that makes it hard for a weeknight meal is the cooling time on the quinoa and the coordination of the separate cooking for the ingredients. I have a bit of practice now and would not hesitate to make it for a weeknight.

For taste I will give it a 5 as we have gone back to this one for guests and even had our caterer for our wedding do a version of the tofu.

Dinner - July 6, 2009

Sometimes even in the summer you need an easy meal from the pantry. This may be familiar and is from the recipe "Smokin' Drunken Chili" in Myra Kornfeld's The Healthy Hedonist. I posted about this back in June. You can find the previous post here.

I again made this without the beer and with the avocado chopped and stirred into the pot. I also make this in the dutch oven as a one pot meal. This time I served it with corn chips from the store.

I have in my notes that I can make a double recipe in just under an hour so I am going to give this a 3 for a preparation rating as a good week night meal. I feel kind of funny giving something as humble as chili a 5 rating on taste but I would serve this to any meat eaters so I guess it earned it.

Dinner - June 30, 2009

It is July 14th as I write this post, but I can still taste this meal. I really enjoyed this meal and would be proud to serve it to any guests who will eat olives.

For a first course we had microgreens on top of tomato slices. I dressed the microgreens in a simple olive oil and balsamic dressing. I used the fancy balsamic vinegar that Jan shared with me. This vinegar is so good that Jan and I are known for drinking it.

For the meal we had a whole wheat pasta dish with a side of yellow wax beans. The pasta recipe is from Immer's Everyday Dining with Wine and is called Linguine with Walnuts, Olives, and Arugula. We were out of linguine and had to go with penne. I would recommend sticking with the linguine and I would also recommend using a whole wheat or partial whole wheat pasta. I left out the cheese and I can't imagine it being any better with it.

This pasta dish reminded me why I cook from recipes from cookbook writers that I like. The food is greater than its parts.

The beans were prepared in boiling water as outlined in Bishop's Vegetables Every Day.

Cold Soup for Hot Weather

This week I went to an indoor produce market for most of my vegetables on Monday night called Pipkins. I had been up to Findlay Market on Saturday but it was too hot to do all my shopping. The meal we made last night was enough to tell me that Pipkins has some excellent vegetables.

We started the meal with Chilled Tomato Soup with Shallots, Cucumbers, and Corn from Berley's Fresh Food Fast (page 100). I actually used all the ingredients as listed since there was no oil and grains to try and weed out. In the herb options we went with all basil. I didn't peel the cucumber since we were using a thin skinned style.

As far as the procedure went we found that the tomatoes were too much to do in the food processor in one round. This we discovered after trying one round and getting tomato liquid all over the counter. We also found that a mesh strainer just held everything. We quickly reached for the food mill with good results. (The next time I did just try the food mill and found that you still needed some puree action prior. I was making a half recipe the second time so it fit in the blender then back through the food mill to remove the seeds.)

The results are a very tasty gazpacho like soup. The base showed off some excellent in season tomatoes and each bite was a pleasing mix of corn and basil. You really shouldn't make this soup any other time of year. I would say taste is a five and ease is a three.

We finished out the meal with some straight ahead bok choy. Started with Bishop's recipe for Braised Bok Choy with Plenty of Garlic from Vegetables Every Day (page 35). I only had 1.5 pounds from two small head so reduced the recipe accordingly. Also left out the oil and used water in place of the broth. We were quite happy to eat the bok choy but I won't be serving this simple preparation to guests. This particular batch of bok choy was low on greens. I will say taste two and prep three.

It took an hour and 25 minutes from start to table. This included some time in the middle to look up a bok choy recipe, clean up the kitchen, and enjoy some beer. We ate all the soup and all of the bok choy.