Posts filed under 'herbs'
It’s easier than you might think to throw together an elegant, delicious meal without any complicated recipes. I’m even tempted to call this a recipe-less meal, because there are so few ingredients–ingredients you don’t even have to measure. These recipes are safe for “eyeballing” and throwing a little bit of this or that into the mix, even if you’re not the type of person who normally feels comfortable doing that.
This is my favorite type of cooking. Simple, fresh ingredients put together with a minimum of fuss, with results that would please anyone who enjoys their veggies.
Roasted Delicata Squash with Thyme
Roasted squash is nearly impossible to mess up. Your only danger, I think, is undercooking it. Any winter squash will work, but I love delicata squash because they’re pretty, delicious, and not a total pain to cut open.
Halve the squash lengthwise and remove the seeds. Cut each piece in half again. Drizzle the squash with olive oil. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt and sugar. Top with cracked pepper and fresh thyme sprigs. Bake at 425º for 30 minutes. These will hold well in a warm oven if they finish before you are ready to serve them. If they look dry, you can “refresh” them with a little drizzle of olive oil. Plate them with the roasted thyme sprigs and it’ll look fancy!
Lemon Pepper Broccolini
Broccolini is like baby broccoli. It’s sweet and best eaten lightly cooked. It’s a little more elegant than regular broccoli, but regular broccoli will also work here. An alternative but simiar preparation for sauteed balsamic broccolini can be found here.
In a pan, add a tablespoon or so of olive oil with a pinch of sea salt. Add about 1/2 tsp or so of red pepper flakes and a bit of black pepper. (You can click on the photo to enlarge it.)
Place the pan over medium heat and add the broccolini once it’s hot. Use tongs to coat the broccolini in the oil and spices. If your broccolini has slender, tender stems, you can cook it fully this way. If the stems are a little thicker (like these are), you can add a couple tablespoons of water and cover the pan with a lid. This will quick-steam the veggies, but the water will evaporate off so you won’t have to drain them.
Once the broccolini is bright green and tender crisp, squeeze some lemon juice over the stalks and serve.
I also served some simple mashed potatoes and homemade cranberry sauce that I prepared the other day. I think the key to a meal like this is making sure you actually like the vegetables you’re serving, since they’re not going to be smothered and overpowered by some sauce.
October 4th, 2007
I’ve been thinking about creating a tomato cream sauce for a while. Actually, I wanted to make a vodka sauce, but I absolutely cannot stand vodka so we never have any in the house. We do, however, continually have a veritable mountain of tomatoes in the kitchen. Hello, Summer!
I’m beginning to get a huge crush on blender sauces. Toss everything into the blender, whiz it up, heat it up and you’re done. Between the blender sauce and the cappellini (aka angel hair) that cooks in 2-3 minutes, this is a lightning quick meal. It’s fast and tasty, but not exactly healthy. It’s a cream sauce! What do you want from me?!
The sauce makes enough to coat two reasonable portions of pasta. I say “reasonable” because when it comes to pasta, that’s not what I usually make. I tend to go for “ridiculous” which usually ends in my husband and I complaining that are stomachs are going to absolutelyexploderightthisminute for an hour after eating. If you make more than two lunch-sized pasta portions, you might want to make more sauce. However, you don’t want to drown your cappellini. This dish works best when it’s just lightly coated.
Cappellini in Fresh Tomato Cream Sauce
Serves Two
4 Small Tomatoes, quartered (about 2 Cups)
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Italian Herbs of your choice
3 Tbs Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
1 Tbs Earth Balance
1 Tbs Nutritional Yeast
2-4 Cloves Garlic, optional
Heat well-salted water for you pasta.
While heating, whiz your tomatoes around in your blender until it becomes as smooth as it’s going to get. You should now have 1 cup of pink tomato sludge. Add remaining ingredients and blend again until well combined. Add mixture to a skillet over medium heat. Once you start to see it bubble, you’re going to have to stir it fairly constantly so it doesn’t burn. Use one of those fun rubber spatulas for this, I think it does the job best.
The sauce will be a light pink color when you start, but by the time it’s done it’ll be a rich, creamy orange. You basically want to cook it until the tomatoes lose their raw taste, which shouldn’t take too long, about 10 minutes.
Just before the sauce is done, add your pasta (broken in half for easier mixing with the sauce) to the water. Check for doneness after 2 minutes. Strain and add pasta directly to the sauce, right in the skillet there on the stove. Mix well and serve immediately topped with lots of freshly cracked black pepper.
If this dish sits after the sauce is added, it’ll clump up a bit. It’ll still be tasty, but the noodles will stick together. It’s best if you time it so you can serve it immediately. That should be pretty easy to do since the pasta cooks so quickly–just have it be the last part of your meal that you prepare.
August 9th, 2007
It’s really a shame about summer being so hot. All of this wonderful produce available–my refrigerator is bursting at the bolts with our CSA veggies–and no desire to cook! The thought of turning a gas burner on makes me wince, and I’d rather just pretend I don’t own an oven.
We’ve been getting particularly beautiful tomatoes from Red Fire Farm. I have a confession, though. I’m not a huge fan of raw tomatoes. I tend to eat around them. They get picked out of sandwiches halfway through and blatantly ignored in salads. I discovered that cooking them, even just slightly, makes a world of difference.
I LOVE slightly cooked tomatoes! They are the perfect sandwich filler.
And slightly cooked anything is good in this heat. This is a light, summery sandwich I made for lunch. It’s quick, easy, tasty, and takes advantage of the enormous amounts of summer tomatoes and basil we have at our disposal. I’ve spread the sourdough with Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, which is really one of the best vegan cheese products out there.
Tomato Basil Sandwiches
Makes 1 Sammich
2-3 Roma Tomatoes, sliced lengthwise 1/4″ thick
1 Generous Pinch Salt
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1-2 Pinches Dried Italian Herbs
1 Splash Balsamic Vinegar
2 Slices Sourdough
Tofutti Cream Cheese
4-5 Basil Leaves
Black Pepper
Heat a skillet over medium heat with oil and herbs. Once hot, add tomatoes in one layer. Give the pan a little shake and flip the tomatoes about. Add salt. Once they are beginning to soften, but not falling apart, add a splash of balsamic vinegar while shaking the pan. Turn off heat. This process should only take a few minutes.
Spread your bread with tofutti, add chopped basil and pepper. Place tomatoes on top of that. Grill sandwich with a weight on top. If you’re not grilling, simply toast the bread first, then add tofutti and tomatoes. Enjoy! I’m going to go clean out my freezer so I can crawl inside it.
PS - I’m incredibly flattered to have been nominated in the 2007 VegNews Veggie Awards!! If you’re feeling so inclined, pop over and vote for me in the food blog category. Thanks!!
August 3rd, 2007
Every year Stewart and I eagerly await the arrival of baby squash. Picked before maturity, these little guys have a crunch and sweetness that is unparalleled in their adult counterparts. I like them best cooked quickly and simply - I’d hate for any dish to overshadow the delicate taste and texture we look forward too all year long. Here are two ideas for preparing them:
This is a garlic scape pesto with pan-seared balsamic squash. Yes. You read that right. Garlic scape. I ate something that came from the garlic plant! It’s a miracle!
Garlic scapes emerge from hardneck varieties of garlic. They are to the garlic bulb what chives are to the onion bulb. They have a definite garlic flavor, but instead of the harsh, almost acidic aftertaste of the bulb, you get a sweeter, greener flavor. They’re picked every June for two reasons - they’re tasty, and removing them drives more energy into the bulb for a better garlic harvest later.
There are many things you can do with garlic scapes. You can toss them into your tofu scramble, add them in your stir fries, mix them into mashed potatoes… but perhaps everyone’s favorite preparation is pesto. Many recipes call for raw scapes for making pesto, but given my garlic issues, I decided to saute them first to make sure they were as mild as possible before I ate them.
Garlic Scape Pesto
Serves Two
1/2 lb Fresh Garlic Scapes
2 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Large Pinch Salt
Black Pepper
1/3 Cup Pine Nuts (or other nut)
2 Tbs Oil
Lemon Juice, to taste
Chop the scapes into 1 inch long pieces. Add 2 tbs oil to a heated pan and add the scapes. Add salt, pepper, and pine nuts and saute for a few minutes over medium high heat until the scapes begin to soften and the nuts turn golden brown. Add immediately to the work bowl of a food processor and add remaining oil. Blend well until a smooth paste forms. Taste and add more salt or some lemon juice to brighten. This will coat 1/2 lb. of pasta.
Pan-Seared Balsamic Baby Squash
Makes 12 pieces
6 Fresh Summer Squash, 4-5″ long and 1″ in diameter
Olive Oil
1 Pinch Salt
Balsamic Vinegar
Gently wash and halve squash. Heat a small amount of oil, just enough to make your pan shiny, over high heat. When very hot, add squash cut side down. Press on each one to help sear. Sprinkle with salt. After several minutes (do not move squash), the squash should be golden brown on their cut side. When all squash are browned toss a bit to coat in remaining oil and salt in the pan (add a bit if needed). Splash with a small amount of vinegar (1/2 tsp or so, more if you like). It will bubble up and reduce, lightly coating the squash. Serve immediately.
And for good measure, remember that you don’t need a recipe or fancy garlic scapes to make these little squashes shine. Here I tossed similarly cooked squash with into pasta with sundried tomatoes and spinach wilted in a hot pan with some lemon juice. Add whatever italian herbs you have on hand, season with salt and balsamic vinegar, and you have an easy but delightful meal without much fuss.
June 25th, 2007
We’re back from Belize. I took about a hundred bajillion photos, some of which are currently on flickr if you’re interested.
The trip was wonderful, but the food was not! We did just fine, however, with the help of kind waiters and lots of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It’s good to be back in my own kitchen, even when I’m not the one cooking; tonight I had the extra special treat of eating one of my husband’s lovely meals. I really shouldn’t hog the kitchen so much. I always love what he makes!
Here we have his recipe for gobi (cauliflower) matar (peas) masala (spicy). “Gobi matar masala” sounds better than “cauliflower peas spicy”, doesn’t it? You can also add aloo (potatoes) if you want, but it’s darn tasty with gobi as the main vegetable.
Gobi Matar Masala
Serves Three, more if you add potatoes
1 Cauliflower, chopped into bite-sized florets
1 Onion, chopped small
1/2 tsp Ginger Powder
1 tsp Powdered Cumin
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 tsp Coriander
1 tsp Chili Powder
2 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp Turmeric
4 tsp Olive Oil
1 Can Chopped Tomatoes
1/4 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Frozen Peas
Salt to taste
Fresh Cilantro
1 Lemon
Heat the oil in a large pot with a tight fitting lid. Add onion and saute until soft. Add dry spices and cook for 1 minute over medium high. Add cauliflower and tomatoes, toss to coat. Add water and bring to a simmer. Turn down heat to low and cover.
Simmer for 20-30 minutes until cauliflower is tender and liquid has reduced. Add salt to taste. Add peas, allow to defrost. Sprinkle with fresh squeezed lemon juice if desired. Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve with brown rice and/or bread. Roti or naan is nice!
May 3rd, 2007
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