Simply Recipes: Vegetarian

Pasta with Butternut Parmesan Sauce

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:34:59 -0800

One of the best things about fall is the abundance of pumpkins and hardy winter squash. Ever wonder why winter squash is called "winter" squash when it first makes its appearance in the fall? Perhaps because if stored in a cool place, they'll last several months, well into winter. Anyway, butternut squash is the queen of winter squashes. The taste is so good, and so consistent, that from what I understand, most "canned pumpkin" that we use to make pumpkin pie is actually made with a variety of pumpkin more akin to butternut squash than to the pumpkins we use for jack-o-lanterns. (See Canned pumpkin is it really pumpkin?)

The ever fabulous Garrett came over recently with a pint of roasted butternut squash pur�e and a mission to create a pasta sauce with it. We often find butternut squash inside of ravioli, why not on the outside? It just needed to be thinned a bit with cream, made savory with Parmesan, and brightened with some acid (from lemon juice) and parsley. The result was absolutely delicious; I ate the leftover sauce with a spoon straight out the fridge for days. The way we made it was chunky, with a little crunch from the shallots, but if you wanted it smooth, you could easily pur�e it some more or pass it through a food mill.

Continue reading "Pasta with Butternut Parmesan Sauce" �

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:29:19 -0800

From the recipe archive, for Halloween pumpkin carving.

Fall has arrived and with it, the pumpkin season. There are always plenty of pumpkins to carve up around Halloween time and a great way to make use of the pumpkin seeds is eat them, salted and toasted. Our preference is with the shells on - if they are toasted properly they are wonderfully crunchy and easy to eat. It helps if you are going to eat them with the shells on that you use seeds from sugar pumpkins, somewhat smaller than the mega-sized carving pumpkins (not really pumpkins but large squash). The trick? Boil the seeds in salted water first, and then toast them in the oven.

Continue reading "Toasted Pumpkin Seeds" �

Apple Walnut Gorgonzola Rustic Tart

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:33:25 -0800

Every fall we are blessed with a bounty of apples and walnuts. I grew up in what used to be a walnut orchard. At one time our home had 5 huge trees, covering both front and back yards, and yielding 500 pounds of walnuts a year (which sounds great unless you are the teenager chain-ganged into spending your afternoons and weekends raking mountains of dank leaves and stooping to pick those hundreds of pounds of nuts.) The trees are old now. We've lost 2 of the 5 trees (commercial orchard trees don't last forever and these were planted at least 50 years ago), and the remaining trees are just sputtering. It's only a matter of time before they're gone too. So we enjoy the bounty while we have it (and leave a bunch for the crows and squirrels.) This tart is a riff on an apple walnut turnover I made this summer. Same idea, an outstanding combination by the way, just this time with maple syrup instead of honey, and in a dead-easy-to-assemble rustic tart form. It's savory, and a little sweet. I ate a big slice for lunch; my father had his for dessert. Would be great for a brunch too.

Continue reading "Apple Walnut Gorgonzola Rustic Tart" �

Spicy Vegetarian Chili

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:24:36 -0800

Those of you who have been reading Simply Recipes for a while probably sense (rightly) that my father is a committed carnivore. Thus you may appreciate that dad, spending an afternoon making this vegetarian chili with vegetables that he had bought at the farmers market that morning, would only put so much care into a meat-free chili, his dinner, if that chili were darn good. This vegetable chili is that good. It's excellent. Spicy, flavorful, delicious. Of course my mother did have to convince dad that no, we didn't need steak in addition to the chili, the beans were full of protein. And no, neither did we need potatoes. We served the chili with French bread.

Continue reading "Spicy Vegetarian Chili" �

Baby Bok Choy with Yellow Bell Peppers

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:16:11 -0800

There are certain routines in our family for which I am unendingly grateful. One is that at the dinner table there is always a green vegetable of some sort. I may not have loved some veggies as a child, but as an adult, I crave them. If not for the fact that the other members of my family love their greens too, I could easily eat an entire serving bowl of pretty much any of the veggies that regularly grace our table. This baby bok choy dish by my mother, case in point. I think I ate most of the bowl, and then begged her to make it again the next day so I could get some good photos. (Baby bok choy, baby bok choy, try saying that 3 times fast!) Wonderfully simple, with bok choy, peppers, and green onions fresh from the farmers market, this stir-fry doesn't even need added salt, there is enough naturally in the bok choy itself.

Continue reading "Baby Bok Choy with Yellow Bell Peppers" �

Veggie Tacos

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:19:34 -0800

Why I didn't think of this earlier in the summer, when the zucchini beast was putting out two zukes a day, I don't know. But here it is, a veggie taco that combines the best of summer produce, that you can pull together in about 20 minutes or less. I've made these for lunch for the last 3 days straight with summer squash, green chiles, tomatoes, and jalape�os from our garden. You can improvise with the vegetables, a little fresh corn would work great added in, or some cooked beans as well. We have fresh chiles, so I included them, you could always just add some salsa or jalape�o pickles to taste. The key to the overall taste is the addition at the end of cotija cheese, a Mexican cheese that is salty and crumbly, much like Greek feta. Remember, unless you have just made your tortillas fresh from scratch, packaged corn tortillas need to be heated and softened first, before being used for tacos.

Continue reading "Veggie Tacos" �

Tomato Pie

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 10:27:35 -0800

One of the great things about going on vacation is I get to hang out with my friends, and sometimes meet their friends, who sometimes have OMG-this-is-so-GOOD dishes that they bring over. This tomato pie recipe is a result of one of these encounters. The first time I heard of it ("tomato pie", hmm, oooookaaaay) my brain suffered a little cognitive dissonance (never heard those two words, tomato and pie, joined at the hip like that before). Seconds after taking a bite however, I was begging for the recipe. Many thanks to Diane Connolly (aka Lady Di) who graciously wrote it out on some post-it notes for me at the dinner table. It is the first thing I cooked when I got back home. Think pizza meets cheesy bread and they make-out in a pie crust. The recipe lends itself to estimates. Handfuls of this, handfuls of that. I measured, but you could eyeball it and it would still work out. Feel free to change the cheeses around, play with the spices. I made a homemade pie crust, but for this recipe a good quality prepared crust would work fine.

Continue reading "Tomato Pie" �

Eggplant and Red Pepper Terrine

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:23:47 -0800

Another one from the recipe archives, first posted in 2004. Even though my father doesn't like eggplant in general, he loves this terrine from Jacques Pepin and we've made it several times. Once he even insisted in making it during winter, so instead of serving it cold, we baked it and served the whole thing hot, worked great. This eggplant terrine is a perfect dish for summer entertainment - layers of roasted eggplant, Mozzarella cheese, red pepper and parsley, chilled in a terrine form, and covered with a gazpacho-like sauce.

Continue reading "Eggplant and Red Pepper Terrine" �

Cucumber Salad

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 23:33:02 -0800

About this time of year we start having cucumber salads almost every night with dinner. The cucumbers are growing a bit out of control in the garden, climbing up the tomato cages and all over the zinnias that line the raised beds. Every other day I bring in a handful, peel them and chop them up for a simple salad consisting of nothing more than the cucumbers, some rice vinegar, either dill or basil, and salt and pepper. You don't even really need the herbs; cucumbers are crunchy and cool with just some vinegar, salt and pepper. But added dill or chopped fresh basil will elevate this simple cucumber salad to something just a bit more interesting. I like adding a mix of regular basil and Thai basil (the one that tastes somewhat licorice-y).

Continue reading "Cucumber Salad" �

Zucchini Breakfast Casserole

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:41:55 -0800

In my garden, there lives The Beast, a 5 foot tall zucchini plant that puts out 2 full-sized zucchinis a day. Even with all the great zucchini recipes we have, it's hard for three people to consume 14 zucchini a week. (There's also a pattypan squash plant.) So around this time of year I'm always looking for ways to use up my overflowing vegetable drawer of zucchini. This is an easy-to-make strata-like breakfast casserole with grated zucchini, tomatoes, basil, ricotta, and Parmesan. (The tomatoes and basil are growing like mad now too.) Actually I'm not sure what to call it. Breakfast casserole seems to fit because of the eggs, though we ate this for lunch. You could also call it a strata. It's like a frittata but it's baked, not made on the stovetop (though I'm sure you could make a frittata out of it). The inspiration for it comes from a "cuajado", or a baked frittata popular in Sephardic cooking. This isn't a cuajado, but the flavors are there, and they're terrific together.

Continue reading "Zucchini Breakfast Casserole" �

Spicy, Citrusy Black Beans

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:34:53 -0800

I do believe these are the best black beans I've ever eaten in my life. My friend Suzanne has been teaching me some of her favorite recipes this summer (lucky me!), and this spicy black bean recipe is one she couldn't wait to share. Suzanne usually makes a big batch for her family (husband and three hungry teenagers included) with enough for some leftovers during the week. The beans have layers of chili flavor, balanced with zesty orange, lime, and cilantro. They are spicy, but you can control the level to your taste, depending on which and how much chili to include.

Continue reading "Spicy, Citrusy Black Beans" �

Quinoa Pilaf

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:58:55 -0800

Have you ever cooked with quinoa? It's a South American grain-like seed that one prepares in a fashion similar to rice, simmered in water until the liquid is all absorbed. I first started cooking with quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wa) when I lived in San Francisco years ago. It has this wonderful nutty flavor, that actually doesn't need much added to it; I used to make a quick batch, pour on some flax seed oil, sprinkle with a little salt, and gobble it up. If you have never tried it, I encourage you to track some down. It's inexpensive, easy to make, tastes great, and is surprisingly high in protein. For those of us who are sensitive to the gluten in wheat or barley, it's entirely gluten-free. You can find it at Trader Joe's or at Whole Foods.

The following is a quinoa pilaf recipe based on one given to me by my friend Steve. The first time I made it I thought I would improve upon it by using chicken stock in place of the water. Bad idea. The pilaf ended up tasting like chicken stock, not quinoa. All of the lovely nuttiness of the quinoa was drowned out by the chicken flavor. This time I stayed with water, and instead added fresh herbs from our garden, and a just-picked lemon cucumber. I served it cold, more like a pilaf salad, though it would work warm too.

Do you have a favorite quinoa recipe? If so, I would love to hear about it.

Continue reading "Quinoa Pilaf" �

Apple Walnut Gorgonzola Turnovers

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:51:51 -0800

Yes yes I know it's June and it's not apple season here yet, but we make cooked apples every year and freeze them, we grow our own walnuts and thyme, and this was just plain good, so there. Remarkably it is the middle of June in Sacramento and we haven't had a day over 90 degrees in weeks, in fact, it's barely been getting up to the 80s. So, the oven is still in use. Ever have one ingredient that you have left over from something so you devise an entire recipe around it? I had some gorgonzola cheese begging to be eaten, some puff pastry in the freezer, and my mother's book club potluck event at our house coming up. Apples and walnuts we always have on hand. Apples, walnuts, gorgonzola, thyme, and honey make up the filling of these mini-turnovers and let me tell you, this is a great combination. Put the filling on a pizza, keep the apples fresh and make a gorgonzola version of Waldorf salad, or place it on a flour tortilla and roll it up and eat it as a wrap, whatever you do these ingredients belong together. Big hit at the book club too, nary a turnover was left.

Continue reading "Apple Walnut Gorgonzola Turnovers" �

Quick and Easy White Bean Salad

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:20:38 -0800

My mother is a genius. She throws together the most simple of ingredients, and they are so good that I have to get up in the middle of a meal to write everything down, for in her words, "if you like it, ask me now what I did because in an hour I won't remember." What I love about this white bean salad creation of hers is that it is so dead easy, and it's good protein too. It would make an excellent picnic salad because you can make it a day ahead; the extra time just gives the flavors more time to sink into the beans. It can also be put together at the last minute with basic pantry items. If you have fresh herbs available, you can use those, if not, dry herbs de provence work well too.

Continue reading "Quick and Easy White Bean Salad" �

Noodles with Mushrooms and Lemon Ginger Dressing

Sun, 24 May 2009 12:15:32 -0800

Please welcome guest author Jaden Hair of the ever-so-Steamy Kitchen. Jaden and I have been visiting Seattle recently, take a look at the interesting scenery we encountered there. ~Elise

Because I'm the resident foodie here in my neighborhood, I'm usually the one hosting dinner parties. And that's totally fine by me because of all the recipe development and testing that I have to do every week. I'd rather feed my friends than to see all the food go to waste. But sometimes, the recipe development goes awry and the dish just fails. Yes, so bad it would ruin my rep as the kitchen superstar. In those moments, I whip out my never-fail-save-my-dinner-party dish. Of course, I hide all evidence of the earlier recipe disaster in the trash.

So, what's that dish? Well, honestly it's not even MY recipe, it's part of a recipe from Heidi's 101 Cookbooks blog called Otsu. I've committed to memory the lemon-ginger dressing that's in the Otsu dish and use it for everything - tossed with warm noodles, drizzled on roasted cauliflower, as a salad dressing and even to top grilled fish. Yes, it's that good.

Continue reading "Noodles with Mushrooms and Lemon Ginger Dressing" �