Posts Tagged ‘vegetarian recipe’

It’s been chilly again, here in LALAland, so I was inspired to share my family’s favorite comfort food, cabbage and dumplings. Like all old-school family recipes, this is food from The Old Country™, simple peasant food for simple peasant people. What does that mean to you? Peasants, not a well-heeled lot. This means it’s going to be cheap as hell to make. We’re talking, literally, cents per serving. It’s kind of ridiculous how cheap.

 

Don’t let the length of the recipe fool you, this is actually one of the easiest and most basic meals imaginable. Yet, it’s rich, satisfying and, dare I say, sexy food. The interesting thing about this recipe is there really isn’t a recipe, per se. It’s more like a technique that’s been handed down through countless generations of the Hungarian side of the family. It’s virtually unchanged since my Mom made it for me, Nana made it for her, and so on.

 

So, since this meal is pretty much all about the HOW and WHEN, rather than the WHAT, a bit more running off at the keyboard is bound to happen. Even after 30 or so years of making this dish, the directions are still almost exactly how Mom described them to me when I first started cooking. Just think of it as a few dozen generations of Hunkies, talking you through your first time out.

 

Now, let’s make some Meatless Monday dinner!

 

Here’s how it goes down …

 

Potato Dumplings with Brown Butter Cabbage
serves 4 – 6 (depending upon serving size)

dumplings
2 potatoes
2 eggs
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp granulated garlic
2 cups flour
oil

cabbage
1 head cabbage
8 TBSP (1 stick) butter
granulated garlic
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper

 

Step 1: Cabbage
- Remove the core and cut the cabbage into small diced pieces (or shreds, so long as they’re small), making sure to trim down thicker spines.

 

- In a large pot, heat butter on LOW until it is fully melted and just starting to brown.

 

- Add cabbage to cover the bottom of the pot, sprinkle lightly with kosher salt and stir, then add more as it starts to wilt. Keep adding more cabbage (but not salt) until it is all in the pot.

 

- prep along the way: Start a big pot of boiling water. Make sure to leave at least ⅓ of its height open.

 

- Stir the cabbage regularly until it starts to give off water. Then, add a few pinches of granulated garlic and grinds of fresh pepper and mix well. Let stand and cook for about 10-15 minutes at a time, stirring in between until the cabbage is fully wilted. Then stir more frequently (about every 5-10 minutes) until it is completely soft and begins to brown. This whole process should take about 40 minutes or so … trust me, it’s worth it.

 

- You can stop here if you want to, but I don’t recommend it. (You could also not make dumplings and just mix the cabbage with egg noodles … but that would just be wrong on so many levels.) This is a good time to start the dumplings and let the cabbage slowly cook down more until it is sweet, savory, buttery, and too delicious to not let being impatient to eat stop you. Just give it a good stir every few minutes to keep it from burning.

 

Step 2: Dumplings
- Chop up the potatoes and toss them in the food processor. Add everything but the flour before you close it up and start pulsing.

 

- Pulse on low a few times until everything is well broken up, then let it rip at low before raising it to high until you have a smooth, liquidy potato base.

 

- Add a cup of the flour and go through pulse/low/high again to get it blended well. Then, with the processor on low, add the flour slowly through the top spout. When the dough starts to tighten up, you’re probably fine, even if it isn’t the whole additional cup.
** If you like softer, looser dumplings, add flour until the dough is loose, but will stay on a spoon when turned. If you like your dumplings more dense, with a meatier al dente firmness, add all the flour … just watch the processor and help it and scrape if you need to, since it will be a little thick. **

 

- Add a few TBSP of salt to the boiling water (I just pour in until it has a slight salt taste) and a TBSP or two of oil (this helps prevent the starch in the dumplings from frothing and boiling over).

 

- Grab a teaspoon – If you have an iced tea (or parfait) spoon as in the pic, use it. The longer handle will keep your hands further away from the boiling water — and give its bowl a few dunks into the boiling water. Immediately afterward, scoop out a little bit of your dumpling dough. The size of dumplings you like will determine your sweet spot here. I like bigger dumplings, so use ⅔ of a spoonful. If you like them smaller and bite-sized, I’d recommend ½. – Bear in mind, they will expand as they cook. –

 

- Lay the spoon into the water, bowl side down, and give the spoon a tilt forward with a shake or two under the water. The dough will fall off to the bottom of the pot.

 

- Keep repeating the dip in water + scoop of dough + dip/tilt/shake, moving around the pot as you make dumplings. This gives them each time to set before new dough is dropped on them, so they don’t stick together. Just keep doing that until the dough is gone. This is why a big pot is a wonderful thing to have.

 

- Once the dumplings are all in the pot, give them 10 – 15 minutes to cook through. Smaller pieces should be 10, while larger ones should go for 15. (The whole mass of dumplings floating to the top of the pot is a good sign you’re ready.) Pull one out and run under cold water to test it. If it’s ready, dump the pot of dumplings into a big-ass strainer and shake like crazy to drain off all the extra water. It will look gunky and weird, since there will be wet starch on the dumplings. DO NOT RINSE THIS OFF!

 

Step 3: Cabbage + Dumplings = Foodgasm
- Taste your cabbage and do any last-minute seasoning if needed.

 

- Drop the dumplings into the cabbage and mix it all together until the dumplings are heated back up and nicely coated with buttery, cabbage goodness, which you helped along by keeping that starch intact. This shouldn’t take long (thankfully … you’ve waited long enough through all the delicious buttery smells).

 

- Serve it up and ENJOY!

 

** a little note: This is super-hearty very filling peasant food. Do not eat too many, too fast or I assure you, you will never feel so full. I usually serve this in small rice bowls, much to the amusement of guests. Inevitably, someone takes full seconds … this is the person we will all laugh at later. Just sayin’. **

 

Next week, I promise, we’ll segue back to lighter, fresher and most likely vegan Indian. In the meanwhile, hope you enjoy some sexy carb-loading with Nana’s dumplings.

Remembering the days when I had to go back to school, now, I think of them fondly. When I was there? Not so much.

It’s such a hectic, exhausting time, juggling life while readjusting to a new schedule. Time and patience are often in mighty short supply. Gearing back up feels like a Herculean effort, especially in those first few weeks. Weekends are almost a tease, when they’re all too short and followed by a … *feh* … Monday.

Breakfast is normally the first part of the usual routine to get tossed out the window when you have to start getting ready for class, bleary-eyed and a bit pissed off at the world for making your brain have to work SO DAMNED EARLY. It seems too much, at that point, to even muster enthusiasm for pouring cereal and milk in a bowl, much less cook anything.

That burrito place on the way can start looking awfully tempting. Fast, tasty, and affordable is a tough combo to beat. So, counter it with faster, equally tasty, even cheaper, and … ta-da! … healthy, too. Muffins make a nice, kind of (not too) indulgent but quick to-go nosh that wrecks neither diet nor Meatless Monday pledge.

Now, I will tell you straight-up that I don’t bake very often, so tend to write a recipe to suit my tastes. Your mileage, as always, may vary. For example, I like muffins as a breakfast replacement rather than snack, so make mine a bit less light and cupcakey (a more dense dough with higher ratio of flour to moist ingredients) and more chock full of hearty stuff to satisfy me when I’m on the go and can’t stop for a proper sit-down. I am also not an owner of a sweet tooth, so most baking recipes are over-the-top sweet for me. Consquently, when I do a new baked goods recipe, it’s often closer to bread than cake, with more savory molasses and spice balanced with just a slight sweetness. I encourage you to tinker accordingly. Baking is more about science than cooking, but it’s still always open to translation and tweaking.

So, if you want a groovy treat for mornings when you just can’t manage more than grab + bite, try making a batch of tasty muffins to have at hand. Then, you can start the week with delicious noms and still stay Meatless on Monday.

Banana Chocolate Muffins
makes 12

wet bowl
3 spotted or black bananas
2 eggs
4 TBSP melted butter
¼ cup sugar
2 TBSP Molasses
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ground clove

goodies (in the wet bowl)
3 oz dark chocolate – chopped fine
1 cup walnuts – chopped fine

(I didn’t make it to the store, so skipped the nuts this time. The muffins are still good but, I must say, you do miss them when they’re gone.)

dry bowl
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

lube (if you prefer, like me, to skip the paper/foil cups)
butter
flour

Carrot Ginger Muffins
makes 12

wet bowl
4 carrots (see instructions, Step 1)
2 eggs
¾ cup milk
4 TBSP melted butter
¼ cup sugar
2 TBSP Molasses
1 TBSP grated fresh ginger
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ground clove

goodies (in the wet bowl)
½ cup dried cherries (dried cranberry is good, too)
½ cup golden raisins
1 cup walnuts – chopped fine

(I didn’t make it to the store, so skipped the nuts this time. The muffins are still good but, I must say, you do miss them when they’re gone.)

dry bowl
2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

lube (if you prefer, like me, to not use paper/foil cups)
butter
flour

Step 1: Prep and Lube
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- (for banana muffins) Mash the bananas well in a large bowl, then beat in the eggs and add other wet bowl ingredients while mixing well.
- (for carrot muffins) Grate the first 2 carrots. Chop the other two into small pieces, then put in the food processor at low pulse, then high until completely processed. Put all carrots into a large bowl, beat in the eggs and milk, then add other wet bowl ingredients while mixing well.
- In another large bowl, whisk together the dry bowl ingredients. If you don’t have a nifty whisk, a fork is just fine to blend the dry stuff together.
- Use butter wrappers (or buttered wax paper) to rub a light coat of butter in the cups of a muffin tin. Sprinkle in a little flour and tap the side while turning the tin at a tilt until there is a light film of flour around all sides. Turn over a bowl or flexible board and tap vigorously on the bottom to remove excess flour and allow you to reuse the extra flour for the other tin.

Step 2: Bring it all together

- Mix the added goodies into the wet bowl.
- Pour the wet bowl into the dry bowl and mix well. Don’t get too crazy, though, because over-beating could make them a bit too dense when cooked.
- As quickly as possible (you start to lose air bubbles, which make your muffins lighter and nicer to bite into, if the dough is left too long), spoon the dough into the muffin tins and pop into the oven for about 25 minutes. A toothpick stuck in the deepest part of the muffin should come out clean and tops should be lightly browned.

Step 3: Cool and Eat!

- Turn out the tins onto a drying rack (I use the rack insert for a large roasting pan), stand them up and let cool for at least a few minutes until they are not too hot to handle.

- Try to save some for later.

That’s it for this Meatless Monday. Hope y’all are holding up through the back-to-school thing. I’ll be back next week with the most delicious and affordable comfort food meal I’ve ever had.

After a few weeks of carb and dairy heavy meals, not to mention a bit of vacation excess by your author, it felt like a good time to lighten up. Fortunately, we’ll be playing with a fusion of Szechuan and Thai with a touch of Vietnamese so, even without the extra calories, we’ll get plenty of bold flavors and satisfying richness. It’s kind of like having a culinary Asian All-Star team on your plate.

If you’ve cooked in these cuisines, you’ll already know how long and intimidating many recipes can look, though they’re actually quite simple. There are a goodly amount of raw ingredients to prep, more than we’re used to seeing in general. It’s really no big deal … a little prep earlier in the day and a little doing instead of pot-watching later … not so bad, right?

You’ll also see, in the lists, a few exotic ingredients you’re unlikely to find at the the regular old supermarket (unless you live in an overwhelmingly Asian neighborhood). Even if you can find them at the mega-mart, I heartily recommend searching out a specialty ethnic market in your area or, in the case of some non-perishables, buying online for better quality and selection at a better price. You’ll be surprised what a windfall for your food budget a little side-trip to a locally-owned ethnic market can be. As a bonus, you get to stock up on great pantry items to cook your favorite cuisines throughout the month, plus give back to your local economy.

—-

So, this week’s recipe …

I have what can only be called a deep and abiding love for Hot & Sour Soup. So, the idea of making a favorite so far off from what I’m used to felt a bit strange. H&S, as you probably know, is generally made with pork … often with chicken broth … not so appropriate for our Meatless dinner, so tinkering must be done to keep the soul of this satisfying soup and not feel like we’re missing those missing components. In the end, it seemed better to go further afield and tweak away over trying to remain too faithful. What resulted was a soup with the wonderful contrasts of the original plus a few more nuanced levels of flavor, lent by the Thai influence, between the sharp edges. It was definitely a food experiment I’ll be happy to make again, soon (and even happier to have leftovers to eat NOW).

To bring a deep meaty taste to the base broth, I decided on shiitake mushrooms, using both mushrooms in the stock as well as soaking water for additional mushrooms set aside for the finished soup. Rather than keep to Szechuan or even Chinese, ingredients, I looked to Thai cuisine, renowned for savory, full-bodied flavors without the use of meat. Instead of just ginger, garlic, and scallions as aromatics in the broth, I added galangal, lemon grass, cilantro, and shallot for more layered flavor balance. In the soup, fried chili garlic paste, lime, and tamarind provide savory heat, tart acidity, and umami counterpoints to the sharp acidic sweetness of the vinegars, soft twang of the rice wine, and clean heat of the white pepper. I kept the egg drop, since it’s so crucial to the mouth-happy feel of the soup and it’s great added protein, to boot.

To get some veg in, plus turn the tables on the cuisine fusion, I picked spring rolls as a fresh, crunchy foil to the thick, savory soup. In thinking about what tweaks might be tasty to the familiar Thai classic, I brought in a hint of Szechuan, as well as a touch of Vietnamese for good measure. Keeping the fresh, light feel of the original, I used a base of shredded veg, but replaced plain with a lightly marinaded/pickled version similar to that of a Vietnamese banh mi. I kept the fresh Thai basil in there because, well, it’s damned tasty, but added just a hint of mint, too. Then, I match-sticked  some firm tofu and soaked it through the afternoon in a Szechuan-influenced marinade to use in both the spring rolls and soup.

Here’s how it goes …

Thai-inspired Hot and Sour Soup with Banh Mi Spring Rolls
serves 6-8 depending upon portion sizes

Pickled Veg (in the style of Vietnamese banh mi)
⅓ cup sugar
1 TBSP kosher salt
2 cups hot water
2/3 cup white distilled vinegar
½ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup scallion greens only – very thinly sliced
1 cup daikon radish – shredded
1 cup carrot – shredded
1.5 cups bean sprouts
2 cups cabbage – shredded* (note in pre-prep)

Marinaded Tofu Matchsticks
1 pkg firm tofu (19 oz)
reserved tofu packaging water
4 TBSP black vinegar
3 TBSP Chinese rice wine
1.5 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP sesame oil
½ tsp tamarind concentrate
½ cup scallion light and white only – very thinly sliced

Spring Rolls
spring roll wrappers
dipping water
fresh Thai basil
mint
cilantro
lime wedges
* note: If you want a nice dipping sauce, try mixing together equal parts soy sauce and black vinegar with a splash of rice vinegar and sesame oil. Keep a little fried chili garlic paste at the table for diners to add a dash with their chopsticks if desired.

Soup Base
12 dried shiitake mushrooms
3 cups hot water
1 large handful (about 1 cup) shredded dried woodear mushroom
1 cup hot water

6 cups water
(mushroom soaking water)
8 dried shiitake mushrooms
1 6-8” piece konbu seaweed – rinsed
2 pieces lemon grass – smashed and cut into pieces
3-4” piece of ginger – peeled and sliced no thicker than ¼”
6-8 ¼ – ⅓” slices galangal
½ cup cilantro stems (about 1 bunch) – cut into small pieces
4-6 cloves of garlic – peeled and smashed
2 small shallots – peeled and cut into small slices
¾ – 1 cup scallion white and light only – about 1 ½ bunches worth – cut into small pieces
1 TBSP soy sauce

*If we’d have had some available, I would also have added a handful of kaffir lime leaves, crumpled to release their oils.

Soup

Mushroom broth ( base above)
shiitake mushrooms – all – stems removed and cut in julienned strips
woodear mushrooms – if not pre-shredded, cut in julienned strips
6 oz oyster mushrooms – stem ends removed and cut into julienned strips
4 TBSP soy sauce
3 TBSP rice wine
2 TBSP sesame oil
2 tsp tamarind concentrate
1 tsp fried chili garlic paste
1 tsp sugar
⅛ tsp ground white pepper
½ cup water chestnuts – minced
½ cup scallion greens only – thinly sliced
2 handfuls (as desired) bean sprouts
⅓ cup black vinegar
¼ cup rice vinegar
juice of 1 lime
3 TBSP corn starch
3 TBSP water
2 eggs – beaten well

*If I’d have made it to the further-out Chinese market, I’d have also added dried, reconstituted and julienned lily buds.

Pre-prep: (aprox 4-6 hours – or more – ahead)  Marinate vegetables and tofu
- In a large storage container or bowl, measure in sugar and salt then pour hot water over, stirring well until dissolved. Add vinegar and stir. As you prepare each vegetable, place them straight into the pickling mixture until all vegetables are done. Mix well and push gently over the top layer to help the vegetables submerge better. If possible, check once or twice during the 4 (or more) hour soak, mixing well and pushing down again.

*note: Like shredded cabbage in fish tacos, the cabbage in pickled veg doesn’t have enough time for the thicker spine bits to soften. Because of this, I’ll plan a different meal after these which calls for cooked cabbage. This way, I can cut off just the nicer-to-munch-raw tops of the leaves without wasting the other bits.

- Remove tofu pieces from the original container, saving the storage liquid. Slice the tofu, then slice further into small matchstick pieces and set aside. Add all marinade ingredients to the water in the original container and mix well. Place the tofu in a plastic bag and pour the marinade over, then squeeze out the air and store in the fridge. Like the veg, if possible, check on it during the process and flip the bag over.

Step 1: Soup Base
- In a large bowl, pour 3 cups hot water over 12 dried shiitake mushrooms. In another bowl, pour 1 cup of hot water over the woodear mushrooms (black fungus). Let them soak for about a half hour, then squeeze out excess water back into the bowl and set them aside for later.
- In a soup pot, heat all soup base ingredients on HIGH just until the pot comes to a boil. Then, remove from heat and let steep for 15 minutes. Remove konbu and return to a boil, then reduce to SIMMER for 1 hour. (This is an excellent time to slice mushrooms and prep herbs and ingredients for spring rolls … just sayin’ … You’ll also definitely want to put your pickled vegetables in a strainer over a bowl at least an hour before you intend to eat. Drippy veg + spring roll wrappers = big fucking mess.)
- Set shiitakes aside until cool enough to handle and strain the broth. Squeeze out any excess moisture in the mushrooms back into the pot.

Step 2: It’s SOUP!
- In the soup pot, return the base broth and add all the ingredients before the vinegar. Once the
bean sprouts are cooked as you like, add the vinegars and lime juice and stir.
- In a small bowl or cup, mix the corn starch and water very well, until perfectly smooth, and slowly pour in and stir until the soup is thickened.
- Slowly drizzle in the beaten eggs in small threads at the surface of the soup. (If you need to do several rounds to keep big glops of egg from forming, that’s swell!) Give it a moment or two to start to cook, then stir around to make egg threads. Repeat until egg is all incorporated.

Step 3: Serve!
- This is where your clever decision to prep the spring rolls while the base cooked pays off. The grooviest thing about spring rolls is that everyone can make theirs however they like. So just set out nifty ready to stuff ingredients with your wrappers and a water bowl to dunk them in. Then you can ladle out your soup and dig in!

This week, Meatless Monday is all about a big ol’ family dinner. The Boss and I, being on vacation at our secret mountain lair with the rest of the clan, have an extra challenge in putting together our meatless meal. How do we keep our pledge while cooking for a table full of dedicated carnivores?

Answer: Italian!

Italian food is a great go-to for many reasons. First, it’s always delicious and satisfying without needing a trace of meat. Second, it’s a fine budget-stretcher, with lots of inexpensive, basic ingredients. Most importantly, it is a cuisine which, rather than suffering, is even better in huge amounts to feed families (or small armies).

For our Meatless Monday Sunday dinner, we decided on stuffed shells. Of course, those of you who know me have already guessed these will not be the normal plain-cheese gut-bomb shells you may have encountered in the past. Instead, I used a blend of cheeses to make them lighter and less thicky monotonous in the mouth, while keeping the decadent cheese-tastic taste, and kicked up the flavor by adding little extras to bring in more sweet, savory, and umami flavors.

Here’s how it breaks down:

Stuffed Shells
serves at least 8-10 generous dinner portions
Veg:
3 red peppers – seeds and stems removed and cut in large chunks
3 heads garlic – excess paper removed and cloves pierced
1 Vidalia (or sweet) onion – outer layers peeled off, stem end removed, and cut into large chunks
kosher salt – sprinkle to taste
olive oil – drizzle
vegetable broth – just enough to cover the bottom of the pan and prevent burning

Sauce:
1 28oz can whole tomatoes + juice
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 14.5oz can plum tomatoes + juice (You can just use another 28oz can of whole tomatoes, which will give a little more sauce for serving. This is just what we had handy in the pantry.)
1 TBSP dried basil
1 TBSP dried oregano
¼ cup fresh minced parsley
2 bay leaves
¼ cup red wine (Use a deeper red here, like Cab or Shiraz. Sweet/fruity is just not right in this recipe.)
½ tsp sugar (Usually, I would use a dash or two of balsamic vinegar, for a hint of sweet acidity, but we didn’t have any in the pantry. Sugar works just fine in a pinch, though.)
kosher salt – sprinkle to taste
*crushed red pepper – pinch or two if you want spicier sauce

Shells:
2 pkgs jumbo shells (this should give you about 70 shells total)
3lb cottage cheese (I use larger curd with excess whey drained off.)
2lb ricotta cheese
2lb mozzarella cheese (You can use plain old cheap supermarket packaged mozz balls here. Really good cheese would be wasted in such a mixed-bag of cheese and stuff.)
1 TBSP dried basil
1 TBSP dried oregano
½ cup fresh minced parsley
1lb mushrooms – (stems cut or removed* and sliced thin
2TBSP olive oil
kosher salt – sprinkle to taste
sprinkle of dried basil and oregano + minced parsley to taste
*Bonus Cheap Bastard points if you store your unused stems for a later pot of stock.

Step 1: Prep the Veg

Heat oven to 375. Place all the veg into an oven-safe dish, sprinkle with salt and drizzle with olive oil, then pour over just enough broth to give you about 1/2″ at the bottom of the dish. Cover with foil and cook for 1 hour. Then remove foil and cook for another hour until vegetables are soft and fragrant and are a bit brown on top.

Step 2: Make the Sauce
Put all sauce ingredients in a big pot, mix well, and heat at MED until it starts to bubble, then reduce to SIMMER and stir every 20-30 minutes until you are ready to assemble the shells. I always make the sauce early so it has at least 2-3 hours to simmer and bring all the flavors together.

Step 3: Prep the Shells
Prepare the shells according to package directions. It is usually best to make these a little in advance so they have time to cool enough to handle.

Step 4: Mix the Cheese and Enhance the Sauce

Once the vegetables are ready, start by mixing all the cheese ingredients but mushrooms, oil, salt, and sprinkle of herbs in a large bowl. Take out 1 pound of your mozzarella and cut it into little diced bits (if it is lower moisture mozz, you can also grate it), adding it to the cheese mix.

Put your onion into the food processor and pulse to start, then process until it’s a smooth paste. Add half to the simmering sauce and half to the cheese mix. Repeat this process with the peppers. Add 1 head of garlic to the sauce and 2 to the cheese.

Heat the 2 TBSP olive oil in a saute pan and add the mushrooms, then sprinkle with kosher salt and herbs. Stir until the moisture is completely cooked out (or it will make your shells drooly … bleh). Add the mushrooms to the cheese mix and mix very well to incorporate all ingredients.

Step 5: Make the Shells
note: You will probably need a couple/few big ol’ pyrex lasagne dishes for all these shells. Honestly, I always make this much, even when I’m cooking just for the The Boss and I. They are MUCH better after a day or two in the fridge and freeze wonderfully.

Heat the oven to 350

In your pyrex lasagna pans, ladle in enough sauce to give you about a  ¾” layer at the bottom of the pan. (If you have leftover sauce, that’s great. Just keep it handy to heat up when you’re ready to serve.) Grab a shell and, while you use one hand to hold the shell and keep it open, use the other to stuff in a generous spoonful. The shell should be a little overflowing, though not excessively. Keep doing this until all the cheese is used up. You may have a few extra shells, but better to have a few more than not enough, right?

Once your shells are stuffed, cover them lightly with the additional pound of mozzarella. You can either tear up slices of cheese as I’ve done here or, if your mozz is lower moisture, grate it and lay a generous pinch or two on top of each shell.

Bake the shells for about an hour or until the cheese is soft and gooey and the mozz topping is completely melted and has beautiful golden brown patches in it.

Step 6: Rest and Serve
Cheese dishes like stuffed shells and lasagna are greatly improved by resting them after cooking for at least 15 minutes to let the cheese set up better. Otherwise, they can get much too oozy and are a nasty mess to serve and eat. Let your diners have a little while to take in those delicious aromas before the payoff of cheesy goodness on their plates. Their praise and yummy noises will only be that much louder and more passionate.

Next week, sigh, we’ll be back in civilization, so back to the usual non-army-feeding MM fare. Until then, have a great week!

When you’re looking for great meals without meat, there are few better places to look than in what is often referred to as the “rustic” side of a cuisine. For those in the know, that’s peasant food, which is a wonderful thing. These are meals designed to be filling, healthy, and satisfying with a few inexpensive and readily-available ingredients. Good for you and your food budget!

This week, our Meatless Monday meal takes us to Italy for one of its humblest (and most delicious) dishes, pasta and marinara. Usually, I’ll just pick up pasta at the store, make a quick sauce, and call it a day. This week, I decided to get a little extra-homey and try making pasta myself. After over 30 years of cooking, I figured it was about time I tried it and … what do you know? It’s almost comically easy!

As a bonus, the pasta was like nothing I’ve had outside of VERY good Italian restaurants, a nice al dente firmness with just the right yield to the bite. The biggest plus was that, since I was making it myself, I was able to bring in my own flavors to the pasta. Since we’re about to go on vacation, I wanted to use up as much of a huge stock of garlic as possible before we leave. (There are few kitchen sins which bother me as much as food waste.) So, I roasted up a bunch to use in both pasta and sauce, giving it a rich, sweet/savory flavor and aroma.

So, if you have a little extra time, I whole-heartedly recommend giving basic pasta-making a whirl. It’s not only simple to do, but also costs pennies vs the dollars of store-bought. Now that I know how easy it is, I suspect we’ll be having lots more homemade pasta, far more often.

The sauce is also a product of imminent vacation, since we also had red peppers and some red onion left over from a bigger meal I made earlier in the week. And we all know how much red peppers cost, so I hate like hell to let them go to waste. Instead, I used them to beef up and give a sweet foil to tangy tomato marinara.

Here’s how it all breaks down:

serves 4 dinner portions

Roasted Garlic Pasta (Orecchiette)

3 heads roasted garlic

1 egg

1/2 cup reserved garlic broth (or water)

2 cups four (+ 1/2 cup extra added during kneading)

1 tsp salt

Marinara

3 red peppers- seeds removed + cut into chunks

1 red onion – peeled and stem end removed + cut into chunks

2 heads roasted garlic

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried parsley

olive oil – just enough to toss vegetables before roasting

*pinch (to taste) crushed red pepper

*parmesan reggiano – grated on top as optional garnish

Step 1: Prep

Roast your garlic. Roast the pepper and onion pieces, tossed in olive oil, on a sheet at 400º for at least an hour, stirring at 30 minutes. I let mine go longer because I had the time and like more caramelization. If you do this too, just make sure to check and mix at about every 20-30 minutes until they are the color and consistentcy you want.

Step 2: Prep the dough (It’s easier and shorter than it looks … just a few more things to look for than usual)

In a bowl, mix pasta garlic with broth and eggs, whisking to break up the cloves and make the liquid as smooth as possible. In a large bowl, mix flour and salt. Pour the garlic mix into the flour mix and stir well with a fork, scraping sides to bring more flour into the forming dough. Once most flour is incorporated, use your (floured) hands to knead down on the dough and bring all residual flour into the mix. Knead the dough well, pushing down and foward with the heel of your hand to flatten it before folding it back to knead again. At this point, feel the dough.

- Is it a little tacky, sticking to your hands? Add a little flour and work in while kneading. Don’t be in too much of a rush here. Just take about enough flour to fit over the palm of your hand and work it in completely before adding more, if needed. I wound up adding about 1/2 cup of additional flour a small handful at a time while I kneaded. If your garlic is about the same size and egg is larger, you should probably expect to need a little more flour to counter these liquid elements.

- Or is it a little dry and crumbly? Odds are, if your dough is crumbly, the garlic was smaller or the egg … or whatever other minor difference in the alchemy. If your dough isn’t coming together or staying together, it just needs a little more liquid. If you have extra garlic broth, use it, otherwise a little water is great, too. Like extra flour, don’t add too much at a time. Instead, add small increments and work them in before adding more.

You should knead the dough until it is perfectly smooth, which will take at least 5-10 minutes. Your kneading hand is a good gauge. I usually find that, when I’m good and tired of kneading, it’s about the rght time to stop, anyway.

Once your dough is the right consistency and, since you’ve already been kneading it to beautiful, silky-smooth perfection, it’s time to rest it. Break it into 4 smaller balls and set on your board under a bowl for 30 minutes.

Step 3: Prep the sauce

Put your roasted pepper and onion pieces in the food processor with the cloves of roasted garlic, then pulse on low until they’re broken up completely. Then process at the lower setting until smooth, raising to the higher setting for a couple of minutes to get it as smooth as possible. Pour the roasted vegetable mixture into a sauce pot and add the crushed tomatoes, herbs, and crushed red pepper (if you like a bit of spiciness). It’s a thick-ish sauce, so best to not heat it at higher heat if you don’t want it to spit at you. Instead, heat at MEDIUM until it just starts to bubble, then lower to the lowest SIMMER your range can do. Stir every 20-30 minutes until ready to serve.

Step 4: Make the pasta!

I chose to make an orecchiete shape because, I’ll be honest, it’s the easiest shape to make and virtually impossible to screw up. It’s a bit like small, flat dumplings with a slightly curved, cup-like ear shape. If this is your first time making pasta, especially if you, like me, have neither a bunch of pasta-making tools at the ready nor the space to hang a mess of noodles to dry, orecchiette is an ideal choice. The upside is, if you like thick, meaty pastas, this will be perfect for standing up to even your heartiest sauces. And … did I mention it’s virtually impossible to get wrong? Win and win!

first: Make a snake!

Remove one of your little pasta dough balls from its covering and start to roll (with floured hands) out on an unfloured board. Do you remember making “snakes” with Play-Dough? It’s exactly the same thing. Roll the dough between your hands first to get a snake forming, then finish up on the board, rolling back and forth along the length of the strand until it’s about 1/2″ thick (at most).

next: Cut and form

Now that you have a long, thin dough snake, take a knife (non-serated is great) and cut little bits off the end, about 1/4 inch wide. (I found it easier to do all the cutting first, then forming the pasta shapes. Your mileage may vary.) Take each little bit of dough and, with a floured thumb, press down into the middle of the piece, twisting your thumb away from you as you push. This will create a little “ear” of pasta. Don’t sweat it if your shapes look a bit blobby; that’s the lovely part of rustic food, it’s not supposed to be perfect, anyway. Even if it looks funky, it’s going to taste brilliant, none the less. The only thing worth being concerned about is the thickness. If a piece turns out with a big, fat bit, give it a second shaping to give it more consistency so the pasta cooks more uniformly. Otherwise, don’t worry about it. This is a good time, if there are kids around, to give them a chance to play in the kitchen.

As you make shapes, arrange them on a cookie sheet on sheets of wax paper to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Step 5: Rest

I mean this for your pasta shapes, by the way. Start your pot of pasta water (make sure to add enough salt, too). If you are planning to make a salad or vegetable side, now is a great time to do it. Once the pasta is done resting, there are just a few brief minutes of cooking time, so use this time if you need it. After 30 minutes of rest, you can make your pasta.

Step 6: Cook the pasta + bring it all together

Once your pasta is rested and water is boiling, you’re ready to cook! Add the pasta to the pot and let boil for about 4 minutes. (You’ll know the pasta is just about ready when the pieces float to the top.) Drain and set aside while you move some of your marinara sauce to the now-empty pasta pot. Turn heat to MED and, once the sauce begins to bubble, add your pasta, stirring well. If you’d like wetter pasta, add sauce to your desired coverage (reserve the rest to have for extras at table).

Step 7: SERVE!

Serve immediately to praise and adulation. If you have some parmesan-reggiano, grate some on top as a garnish.

Well, that’s the lot for this week’s Meatless Monday meal. I’ll be back next time with a big, meatless family dinner from our secret lair in the mountains. Until then, have a great week!

One of the most common misconceptions of going meatless is that it is less hearty, not quite as satisfying. We all love our comfort food. Of course, vegetarian and vegan food have gotten a fairly bad rap, especially here in the meat-loving States. Ask a random sampling of people what they think of the two Vs and you’ll probably get a lot responses equating veg eating to rabbit food or the like. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt! Wrong.

Check out this meal for poor, delicate vegan waifs …

Looks pretty homey, hearty, and satisfying, right? That’s because it is. Just say the word tostones to anyone from Cuba, Puerto Rico, or the general vicinity and watch their mouths water as a big smile lights up their face. This is island comfort food of the highest order, a family favorite Mamas and Abuelitas cook with love. Think of latkes (potato pancakes), dumplings, or other starch-based dishes and move them to the tropics, and you have tostones.

Of course, like man cannot live on bread alone, you shouldn’t eat just tostones for dinner (though you’ll be really tempted). For your veg, plus protien, make a rich, “meaty” foil for your tostones, a zesty quick chili with black beans. Since you’re skipping meat, all that cooking time usually associated with chili is unneccessary. The time it takes to make your tostones is plenty to bring all the flavors together. If you’d like to slow-cook longer, you certainly can; it’s nice, but an extra touch.

Tostones is just one of countless delicious, satisfying comfort foods for your meatless menu. All home cooking is not created equal; most cuisines have a rich tradition of meatless cooking, thus more meatless comfort foods. That’s one of the best side benefits of going meatless I’ve found, an additional excuse to explore the homier roots of my favorite cuisines. This is where the best and heartiest meatless fare, as well as the most budget-friendly, is always going to be found. It makes sense, of course, since home-cooking (especially of the peasant food kind) is meant to be comforting, and nutritious, yet economical. Check out traditional Mom-food recipes of most cuisines and you’ll find plenty of great ideas for meatless meals.

I’ll be back with another of mine next Meatless Monday!
Until then, have a great week!

recipe serves 4 dinner portions

Tostones

3 plantains (mottled in color for good balance of starchy/sweet)
canola or vegetable oil
water + salt bath (aprox 1/4 cup to a large pyrex bowl)
1 head garlic – minced (do not skimp on this or you will be sad later)

¼ cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic – finely minced
pinch red pepper flakes (if you like it spicy)

salt (to taste)

Vegan Black Bean Quick Chili

olive oil

1 red onion – minced
6 cloves garlic – minced fine
2 fire-roasted red peppers
1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes – diced in their juice
1 can black beans (rinsed if not a no-salt variety)
1 TBSP  pasilla/ancho dried chili – ground fine
1/4 tsp cumin
¼ cup cilantro – minced

Step 1: Prep
Pre-heat oven to WARM … fire-roast peppers (if you can) and mince (reserve pepper water), prepare other ingredients while peppers cool enough to handle

Step 2: Prep the plantains
Mix the salt water bath (salt will dissolve more easily if you use a little warm water first, stir until dissolved, then add cold water) and add minced garlic. The bath should have a strong-ish taste, since the plantains must absorb the flavor. Cut both ends of the plantains and peel, then cut into aprox 1.5-2” slices. (Rinse hands and tools as you go to avoid the starch staining and getting tacky.) As you cut pieces, put them into the water/salt/garlic bath to soak for 20-30 minutes. Mix the extra garlic in olive oil (plus red pepper flake), and set aside until needed.

Step 3: Make the chili
In a pot, heat oil to MED and add onion, stirring until they go translucent. Add garlic, red pepper, tomatoes and mix well, stirring until garlic begins to cook (You will know because you can smell its fragrance). Add all other ingredients, as well as the reserved tomato juice,  and mix well. Once the pot is bubbling lightly, reduce heat to SIMMER and stir regularly until ready to serve.

Step 4: Start the tostones
Heat about 2″ of frying oil in a large pot to MED (You can use a skillet but, if you are a novice deep fryer, you’ll want higher sides for more protection – oil burns are no fun.). Remove plantain slices from the water to dry (a cookie sheet with paper towels works nicely). Wet + Frying = not a great idea. When oil is ready, fry batches of the plantain for about 3-5 minutes, until they are soft and golden, and set aside until all plantain pieces are done.

Step 5: Smash ‘em!
Here’s the fun playing-with-your-food part. Turn your oil up slightly to MED HIGH. Get two large pieces of wax paper (if you don’t have any, a couple of plastic food storage bags will do). Take a piece of plantain and set it between the sheets. Then, using a large spatula, rice paddle, or even the bottom of a large mug (big + mostly flat is the key), smash the plantain piece until it’s a large, rough disc about ⅓ – ¼ “ thick. Fry again until they’re crispy and golden brown, about 3-4 minutes per batch. Remove from oil and set on a draining sheet, brushing lightly with the oil/garlic mix and sprinkling lightly with salt before storing in the warm oven. Repeat the process for each batch until all plantain pieces are done.

Step 6: Serve, eat, and make nomnom noises!

Please pardon the iPhone pics. There wasn’t time to shoot proper food porn of this week’s meal.

In many parts of the world, the idea of going meatless is not a new or novel approach to eating. Being part of affluent (and, let’s admit, indulgent) cultures, it’s easy to forget there are many people for whom a mostly meatless diet is historically the norm. These cultures’ cuisines are a great place to look for delicious, healthy ideas for your Meatless Monday menus, so don’t overlook them.

 

Few cuisines make the most of every ingredient while retaining clean, simple flavors like Japanese. Though many of us may picture standard sushi bar fare when thinking about Japanese food, there is an extensive variety outside raw fish, teriyaki, and tempura in the cuisine. The beauty is, the approach remains the same, simple clean flavors with an economy of common ingredients. Later, we’ll get into Japanese home cooking and pub (izakaya) fare but, for today, we’ll keep it super-simple with vegan miso soup and soba noodles, a great light dish for hot summer nights.

 

Dashi is the master broth of many Japanese recipes, so a great staple for starting to explore Japanese cuisine. Granted, traditional dashi requires katsuobushi (shaved bonito), so we’ll tinker a bit to make it appropriate for Meatless Monday by substituting mushrooms, which will offer their own hearty umami flavor.  The upside: an additional treat (the cooked mushrooms) to add to your meal.

 

Having moved from the melting pot of Southern California to not-so-diverse Florida, I know how difficult it can be to find authentic ingredients outside larger cities. Sometimes, specialty food chains carry a wide assortment of ethnic ingredients, but often at a premium. This is mind, I went a step further and substituted the more common brown crimini mushrooms instead of my favorite shitakes, just to be sure the broth will work using the most affordable and easiest-to-get ingredients. I’m fairly sure konbu, the seaweed base of dashi, should be available at any specialty or gourmet market at an affordable price. Of course, this is a must-have for making dashi, so has no appropriate substitute, anyway. Hopefully, you can get your hands on some, if not in person, then online. (Many authentic dried and non-perishable ingredients are available to order on the interwebs.)

 

Always make sure to check for ethnic markets in your area, too. They may be a little off your beaten path, but are worth the trip to get great ingredients, often at a significantly lower cost. Think of it this way, unless you live near a cultural enclave, your regular grocery store will consider ethnic ingredients as specialty items (and we all know what happens to prices when that happens). An ethnic market will consider those same items pantry staples, ingredients people buy (and they turn over) regularly, so the costs will reflect that shift in perception. If you’re not sure where to find markets, check out some of the great food resources online, like the helpful community at Chowhound.

 

Okay, enough of my yammering … let’s make some Meatless Monday dinner!

Vegan Miso Soup with Soba and Mushrooms

serves 4 dinner portions

6 cups water
2 pieces of konbu (rinsed) – aprox 5×5″ each
ginger – peeled and sliced to 1/4″ (using a piece aprox 2″ wide by 4-6″ long, to taste)
6 scallions – whites and light green parts cut in 1″ long pieces and green ends  sliced thin to garnish
1 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP sesame oil
24 mushrooms – whole with stems trimmed (Use fresh or reconstituted dried shitake mushrooms -plus their steeping water- if available. If not, brown crimini mushrooms will work just fine.)
1 lb package of soba noodles
1/2 to 1 lb firm tofu (depending on desired portion size)
2-4 TBSP light (aka) miso paste (to taste) - You can also use heartier miso pastes, but it is not recommended since their stronger flavors can overpower this lighter, vegan base broth.
wakame seaweed for garnish (if available – may also be labelled “healthy sea vegetable”)

Step 1: The first step to making a Japanese base broth is steeping your konbu and aromatics. Grab a nice, big pot and measure in 6 cups of water (yes, water). Add the konbu, ginger, and white/light scallion.

Step2: Turn your burner to HIGH and let the water come just to the point where it’s about to boil. (You’ll see little bubbles starting to form and a soft rumbling on the surface.) Take the pot off the heat and let steep for about 25 minutes. (The time-frame is longer for this vegan version to infuse more flavor.)

Step 3: While your base is steeping, start up a pot of boiling water for the soba noodles and prep your mushrooms and tofu (as well as any other veg you’d like to add to your soup bowl or sides – see suggestions).

Step 4: Remove the konbu from the pot (For bonus Cheap Bastard points, set it aside to use later, like wrapping around fish or vegetables and steaming). Add your mushrooms, soy, and sesame and heat on HIGH just until the pot starts to boil. Then reduce to SIMMER for 15 minutes.

Step 5: While your mushrooms simmer, cook your soba noodles according to the package instructions. Once done, strain well while rinsing with cold water.

Step 6: Pinch off small amounts of soba noodles and rinse as a small strand, then lay each strand out on your plate in small sections for easy portioning. Set the noodles aside while you finish the soup.

Step 7: Remove the mushrooms from the pot and portion out into small bowls. Then strain the broth (if desired … this will prevent any accidental ginger-eating) and return it to the pot. Bring the broth to a boil and measure out 2-3 TBSP of your miso into a small bowl.

Step 8: Once the broth is bubbling, remove it from the heat and ladle a small amount into the miso bowl. Mix well (a small whisk is ideal for this), then add the miso base back to the broth while stirring well. Taste and repeat mixing miso base

in 1TBSP increments until the soup is flavored as you like.

Step 9: In a soup bowl, add tofu, wakame, and scallion greens and ladle the soup over (to reconstitute the wakame). Serve immediately with the soba and mushrooms.

 

Other groovy suggestions:

Want a more substantial bowl of soup? Add some fresh vegetables before ladling in your soup. Just a few options are: shredded carrots, cabbage, and daikon radish; lightly steamed cabbage; bean sprouts; minced water chestnut; sliced bamboo shoots; chopped spinach; steamed broccoli.

 

Not a fan of tofu but still want to get your protein? Make a delicious miso porridge-like soup by substituting egg for tofu and steamed rice for noodles. This, of course, will render your vegan soup vegetarian, but still meatless. Before you add your miso base, keep the broth boiling and reserve a bit more in case you need to make more miso base. Beat 4 eggs well in a spouted vessel (like a pyrex measuring cup). Pour the beaten egg into the bubbling broth in a thin stream while stirring vigorously to create little ribbons of egg. Let the egg strands cook for a few moments until they set before removing the pot from the heat to add your miso base. If the taste is right for you, add the reserved broth back to the pot; otherwise, use it to mix more  miso base. When serving, instead of noodles on the side, add steamed rice to your soup bowl (along with the wakame and scallion garnishes) and ladle the soup over to make a hearty, porridge-like soup great on cold days for any meal.

 

Braise some baby bok choy in a cup of your base broth (without miso) for a great vegetable side. Add a cup of water plus a little extra of your base ingredients at the start of cooking to have enough broth for braising liquid. Clean the bok choy well and cut into quarters length-wise. Bring the braising liquid to a boil, then add the bok choy and stir until the edges of the leaves just start to wilt. Then, cover and simmer at the lowest heat possible until the thicker portions of the stalk are cooked through (this should probably take about 20-30 minutes). Bring extra flavor to your bok choy by adding a bit of soy, sesame oil, ginger, etc. to the base broth for your braising liquid.

 

Spinach also works great with Japanese flavors and is readily available anywhere. Heat a TBSP each of canola and sesame oil on MED in a large pot. Add a TBSP of minced garlic and 1 tsp grated ginger. (Porcelain ginger graters are readily available at Japanese markets or online and are a HUGE time/energy saver.) Stir well for about a minute. Add spinach by the handful, stirring until the leaves begin to wilt before adding more. Then, add a drizzle each of soy and rice vinegar and mix well until all the spinach is completely wilted and flavors are incorporated. Serve immediately.

 

Pickles are a tasty Japanese staple food. One to three days before your meal, prep your vegetables (slice or shred into small pieces) and let them brine in the fridge in a mix of 2 TBSP kosher salt, ¼ cup sugar, 2 cups hot water, and 1 cup vinegar (or a touch more to taste if you like tart pickles – rice, cider, or plain old white vinegar work well), maybe even a touch of soy if you’d like to add some umami saltiness. If you want to get a little tricky (and spicy), try adding a bit of wasabi or a few Thai red chili peppers to the mix. If the brine doesn’t cover your vegetables, mix another batch more until it does; your vegetables need to be immersed. Mix well a couple times a day. Your pickled vegetables will keep in the fridge for at least a week, so make extras to munch as a healthy, crunchy snack. Some readily-available vegetables that work great for quick, cold pickling are Persian cucumbers (or peeled/seeded regular cukes), radish, daikon radish, shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, cauliflower, green beans, and green tomatoes.

Well, that’s the Meatless Monday lot for this week. Hope your week is a good one! See you next week with more recipes and food porn!