Le Veggie

Egg Noodle Soup

2009-07-25T12:10:00.001-07:00

My opinion on this soup should be taken with a grain of salt, as it's been years since I've eaten any meat, but I really think it resembled chicken noodle soup. I'm probably completely wrong about this, of course, but it has the same comforting salty flavor that chicken noodle soup brings to the table.
The best recommendation I can reliably give is that it has just a few ingredients and comes together really fast and is really delicious. Plus, you can toss pretty much any vegetable you have rolling around in your veggie drawer if you don't approve of my selections.

salt
1/2 lb dried egg noodles
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 T ketchup
freshly ground pepper
8oz firm tofu cut into small cubes
1/2 lb snap peas
1/2 cup sliced scallions
1 T chopped chili pepper (or some hot pepper flakes_

Boil some salted water and cook the egg noodles. Drain and cool off with some cold water and set aside. Bring six cups of water to a boil and add soy sauce and ketchup. Add salt if needed and lots of pepper. Keep the broth bubbling and toss in the tofu, snap peas and chili pepper and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Take your bowls and put some noodles in each and pour broth with veggies and tofu other them. Sprinkle scallions on top.

Miso Soup with Sweet Potato Dumplings

2009-07-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

I truly love sweet potatoes. I don't think I've ever made a recipe with sweet potatoes that ended up being dumped down the garbage disposal (although many other recipes have, belieeeeeve me.)
This recipe is really fragrant and light and was exactly what my pregnant butt needed after a long day. Plus, it has lots of healthy crap in it.
My only caveat--I made this by baking a sweet potato and then peeling and mushing it up, and I don't know about you, but whenever I do this I find the sweet potato mush to be sort of stringy, which I do not enjoy. So instead I'll recommend making this with canned sweet potato or mush that has been put in a food processor, so to avoid stringiness.

1 lb sweet potato mush
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 cups snap peas
1 cup edamame, shelled
12 wonton wrappers
3 T white miso paste
2 scallions, thinly sliced

Heat oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add garlic and shallot and cook about 1-2 minutes. Add pepper flakes, salt and pepper and sweet potato. Set aside.
Dump snap peas, edamame into a pot with 2 cups water. Bring to a boil.
While water is coming to boil, plop 1T scoops of sweet potato stuff into each wonton and wet and seal to make little dumplings. (I just brought all four edges together, but feel free to get all fancy-pants and make pretty ones if you're so inclined) Once water is boiling, place wontons on top of veggies and cook until wontons are clear--about 3 minutes. Drain. Dump into four bowls.
Add four cups of water to pot and bring to a boil. Whisk in miso paste until dissolved.
Pour over veggies and wontons and top with scallions.

Salt and pepper to taste

Delectable Apple Cake

2009-06-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

This cake smells so friggen good when it's cooking, you won't even believe your nose. Lately I've been craving something fruity, and this was my first attempt at satiating that need. It's actually not what my belly was looking for specifically, but it made me smile a lot nonetheless.
The blurry cake you see before you has a nice, light texture and nice chunks of not-overcooked apples in it. The best part, in my opinion, is the crunch of the sugar on top.
I'm going to keep baking until I find what it is that I crave, after I finish off this whole cake by myself of course....

2 cups cubed granny smith apple
2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 T baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 T large granule sugar

Preheat oven 400 degrees
Butter and flour 9 inch pan of some sort (I used a springform.)
Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar and salt in a bowl.
Whisk together buttermilk and eggs, then add butter and vanilla.
Pour wet into dry and stir very lightly.
Fold in apples.
Spread into the pan and sprinkle sugar over the top.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until just cooked through.

(I drizzled this one with maple syrup when I served it, but I bet some whipped cream on top would be really tasty, too)
Serves about 12

Summer Tortellinis

2009-05-25T16:32:00.001-07:00

Ahh, summer. All I wanted to do for Memorial Day was go out to the picnic area next to my apartment and have a nice summery outdoor meal with my super-hubbie--and what has to happen? I'll tell you: The police pulled a dead body out the the water next to my apartment yesterday. Apparently Northampton is littered with dead people (a lovely fact that missed our attention when we moved from Holyoke to a "nicer area") and my new home is no exception.
So, alas, I'm petrified of going out there now---as I'm constantly in fear of tripping over a decomposing hand sticking out of the grass, so our summer meal was moved indoors.
At any rate, this is my offering.....a really nice taste of summer. It is one of Tim's favorite recipes and I love it because it comes together in a snap. The tomatoes and corn are sweet and summery and a nice contrast to the salty cheesy tortellinis. I highly recommend eating this indoors and far away from dead people if at all possible.

1 lb cheese tortellini
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 cups corn
1/2 stick butter
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup chopped basil

Cook torts al dente, then drain--reserving 1 cup pasta water.
Cook garlic, corn, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper in butter over med-high heat for about 4-5 minutes. Add tomatoes and cook 2 minutes. Add torts and heat up, adding some pasta water if it's a little dry. Sprinkle in basil and gobble, shifty-eyed, while scanning your yard for bloated extremities poking out from the earth.

Mint and Pea Ravioli

2009-05-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

Although I am fancy in many ways, I do not own the fanciest kitchen gadget of them all. A pasta machine-roller-thingie. One of these days I'll give in and join the ranks of the super-fancy kitchen types, but the pasta attachment for my kitchen-aid is about five million bucks and I'm just too damned cheap these days. Plus, there are store-bought wontons to fill the gap for us less-fancy folks. These pseudo-raviolis from Bon Appetit are delicious and really easy to make. The mint flavor is a nice surprise and mixes nicely with the butter and parmesan. If you need any more proof that they're awesome, Tim was shoving three of them into his mouth at a time. Any food that Tim will risk choking over is always worth the effort.

2 2/3 cups frozen peas
1/3 cup grated parmesan
2 tsp chopped mint
1 package wonton wrappers
3/4 stick melted butter

Boil peas in salted water for about 3 minutes. Drain and cool. Add to a food processor (or any mashing device) and puree. Stir in cheese and mint and some salt and pepper.
Put a tsp of filling onto a wonton, wet the edges and cover with another wonton. Squeeze out any extra air, or they will explode like some of mine did and you'll be pissed.
Once you have enough (I stopped at about 30) cook some of the raviolis in boiling salted water for about 2-3 minutes (try not to put too many at a time, they'll stick) and put on a plate. Sprinkle with melted butter, extra parmesan and some black pepper. Enjoy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars

2009-04-14T19:04:00.000-07:00

This happens to be a favorite dessert recipe of mine. It's one of those recipes that you make and immediately devour, get pissed that you don't have any left and then make again.
What's really exciting about this recipe is how perfect it is as a jumping off point. I think any damned fruit you come across would taste great in here---except maybe bananas---unless you're one of those banana-freaks.

1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour
1 cup cold butter
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
zest & juice of 1 lemon, separated
3 cups sliced strawberries
1 cup chopped rhubarb
1/2 cup sugar
4 T cornstarch

Preheat oven to 375.
Butter a 9x13 baking dish.
Whisk together flour, baking powder and 1 cup sugar. Add salt and lemon zest. Cut in butter to make crumbly dough. Add egg. Press 1/2 into bottom of pan.
Stir together remaining sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in strawberries and rhubarb. Pour evenly over crust.
Crumble remaining dough over top.
Bake about 45 minutes or until browned lightly.

Makes 36 bars (But you'll eat all of them)

Curried Cauliflour Soup Explosion

2009-04-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be honest here: There is a reason that there is no delectable food photo above this text.
The reason: This delicious soup seriously looks like baby diahria. It would be impossible to make this soup look good in a photo. Believe me, I tried. I tried everything.
Helluva way to sell a recipe, right?
Well, it's the truth, damnitalltohell, and despite this fact--it's some seriously tasty and wonderful soup. It's truly delicious and wonderfully flavorful and almost surprising in it's tangy spiciness. I was skeptical, too. Apple in a cauliflower soup???
Yes, it's in there and you will thank the good people at Vegetarian Times magazine for creating this recipe as I did if you take the risk and make this shit.
'Cause it's really fricken good.

2 Tbs olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup apple chunks (minus peel and core)
1 Tbs curry powder
1 tsp minced garlic
6 cups chopped cauliflower (1 large head)
4 cups veggie broth (they say low sodium, but I say "screw that and pass the salt, please--fricken hippies")
1 tsp honey (or agave nectar for a vegan version)
1 tsp rice wine vinegar

Heat oil in a large pot over med-high heat. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring. Stir in apple, curry powder and garlic about a minute. Add cauliflower and veggie broth and bring to a simmer. Cover and reduce heat to med-low and simmer for 20 minutes. Leave covered and cool for 20 minutes, then blend until smooth. (I used an immersion blender, but any mushing/chopping device will do the job) Stir in honey and rice wine vinegar. Season with salt.

Serves 6 (or 2 really hungry sumbitches)

Vanilla Risotto with Butternut Squash

2009-03-22T17:21:00.001-07:00

Ohhhh, yes. This dish is so comforting, so soothing and so toe-curlingly creamy that those who you serve it to will become your love slaves forever. My only caveat might involve the vanilla, only because I felt like it was a little lost behind the strong salty taste of the parmesan, but Tim said he tasted it and enjoyed the flav' so who am I to argue? One might also try roasting the squash instead of cooking it in the broth, thus bringing out the flavor more.

5 cups vegetable broth
1 large vanilla bean
3 cups cubed butternut squash
4 T butter
3/4 cup finely chopped white onion or 1 shallot
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/2 tsp salt
chives for garnish

Heat broth over medium heat and add squash. Keep this simmering over low while cooking. Add sliced open and scraped vanilla bean. Reduce to low-ish.
In another pan, melt two T butter over medium heat and add onion and cook about 3 minutes. Add rice and stir for a minute or so. Add wine and allow to absorb--about 3 minutes. Add broth 1/2 cup at a time until absorbed-stirring constantly, two minutes each until all broth is used and rice is cooked through, but not overcooked and mushy. Should take about 20 minutes.
Turn off heat and add parm, salt, remaining butter and cooked squash. Sprinkle with chives.

Brownies that will thrill you. (sang in the voice of Marvin Gaye)

2009-03-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

I decided to make these when my awesome sister and my wonderfully weird and terrifically mischievous nephews came over this morning. Aiden and I made pretend soup together on the kitchen floor and used pretend ingredients that we had in our pockets. I don't remember all of the ingredients, but I know the recipe included pineapples, mustard, cheese, cheeseburgers, and ice cream and the result was somehow brownies. The best brownies in the world, mind you.
These brownies do not have the impressively bizarre ingredients that the pretend ones did (Aiden, you little sneaky elf, your imagination is so fun)
but I think they make up for it it by being really fricken tasty.

6 oz bittersweet chocolate
8 T butter
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 T cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp coffee
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Melt together and combine butter and chocolate and stir until smooth. Set aside to come to room temp. In another bowl, mix eggs, sugar, cocoa, vanilla, coffee and salt. Add choc/butter mix and combine until fully mixed. Carefully fold in flour. Bake in an ungreased metal 9x9 dish for 25-30 minutes or until crackly on top and a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Pappardelle with green beans and lemon parmesan sauce

2009-03-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

Oh creamy pasta of my dreams. This recipe is awesome. The sauce is so wonderfully complex, with an undercurrent of lemon and that soothing creamy parmesan flavor that never lets us down. The original recipe calls for baby zucchini to be invited to the party, but zucchini is no friend of mine so I skipped it. I think the green beans are all the friends we need at this shindig.

1 8 oz package egg pasta, preferably pappardelle but whatever you can find
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 of a medium white onion, thinly sliced
8 oz green beans, cut in 1/2
2 tsp lemon zest
1 1/4 cup parmesan
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 T lemon juice

Cook pasta until just tender. When it's almost done, add green beans to cook for about a minute. Before draining, reserve 2 cups pasta liquid.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a big saute pan over medium heat and add onions and some salt and pepper. Cook for 8 minutes. Add lemon zest and cooked green beans and toss 1 minute.
Scrape contents of skillet over pasta. Add parmesan, cream, lemon juice and 1 cup cooking liquid. Place over medium heat and toss until sauce comes together, adding more pasta water if needed. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Potato Soup with Dill

2009-03-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

This recipe is an old friend, always delicious and always easy to throw together. I love potato soup, but sometimes I get sick to death of the thick, cheezy, vein-clogging kind. That's when this bowl of tastiness comes along and wraps me in it's soothing potato-ie arms and tells me "Shhhhhh, just slirp."

2 carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 leek, white & light green parts only, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 lb russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 stick butter (once again, not exactly a diet recipe, just jog in place for a minute while chopping veggies to prep for the calories)
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup milk (or 1/2 & 1/2 if no one's looking)
2 T chopped dill

Cook veggies in butter over medium high heat in a soup pot of some sort for about 15 minutes. Add broth, 1 1/2 tsp salt and pepper to taste and bring to a simmer. Simmer, covered, about 10 minutes. Use a potato masher to smooch some of the veggies up, or add 1/2 of soup to a blender. Add milk, and heat back up. Stir in dill. If you have a bottle of fancy expensive olive oil collecting dust in your pantry, give 'er a drizzle as I did. You won't regret it. Eat and slirp.

If you prefer a thicker soup: when you are cooking the veggies in the butter, sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of flour over the butter coated veggies and continue as planned.

A Skillet-Quiche with Cheddar and Broccoli

2009-02-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

I wish this picture was scratch-and-sniff. Because you'd scratch and you'd sniff and you'd get your fanny to a supermarket for the ingredients faster than shit through a goose (yes, I'm using goose crap as a way to sell a recipe.) This is one of my old stand-by's for a week night dinner. It's super-easy to make, scrumptious and surprisingly fills you up without that heavy feeling. I shred up a couple of potatoes fresh for my crust, but a bag of frozen shredded potatoes works great, too. I'd also recommend trying out different veggies--this one was going to have asparagus until I discovered the icky noodliness of my green friends and decided to skip them.

6 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 tsp salt
10 oz broccoli spears or whatever veggie you want to invite to the party
1 cup grated cheddar
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large shallot, chopped
1 lb shredded taters

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Whisk together eggs, milk and pepper. Add cheddar and 3 Tablespoons Parm. Set aside. Heat oil in skillet or any oven-proof pan over med-high heat. Saute shallots for about 3 minutes. Add taters and salt and cook 3 minutes. Spread the potatoes out to make a bottom crust and cook undisturbed for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add veggies over potatoes. Pour egg mixture over and sprinkle with remaining Parm. Bake for 25 minutes or until the edges are puffed and set and the middle is wobbly. Turn on broiler and toast the top until it's set and puffed and browned slightly. Let that bad boy cool for a couple of minutes and then dig in.

Vegetarian Parmesan Cheese, baby.

2009-02-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

I don't know if anyone else in the world has this problem, but for a long time I was on a hunt for a half-decent Parmesan that didn't contain animal stomach materials (sorry, I try not to get militant about my veggie ways but this one grosses me out a tad.) It was all very sad because I love Parm and the recipes that it takes part in, but I have this strange-old-lady-like discomfort with buying edible products online so I was having trouble. The cheese elves at Whole Foods were very nice about attempting to help in my quest, but did not deliver the goods when push came to shove. Then, Trader Joe's came along and provided their store-brand Parmesan containing microbial rennet and I saw the fricken light. It made me truly happy for about four minutes and I hope the same can happen to another vegetarian Parmesan-lover out there.

The End.

A truly splendid German Pancake

2009-02-01T15:29:00.000-08:00

I truly love this recipe. It is easy as crap, has ingredients that you typically have hanging around the kitchen and is really simple to throw together on a Sunday morning for breakfast. The batter fluffs and puffs up while baking and the texture is really wonderful. I make mine in a cast-iron skillet but you can use a regular non-stick pan if you are skillet-less. If the pan has a plastic handle, just wrap the plastic part in some tin foil and you're good to go. Tim and I really love it with real maple syrup (that's right, Rinks, only the Vermont shit for us) but I bet a drizzle of lemon juice would be nice as well.

3 Tablespoons butter
6 eggs
1 cup flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 425.
Mix eggs, flour, milk, salt, sugar and vanilla in a bowl with whatever tool you prefer until all lumps are goners. Heat your pan over medium heat and melt the butter until it's melted and foamy. Dump in the batter. Remove from the heat and put it in the oven. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the edges are all puffed up and slightly browned. It should look like this:
Pretty awesome, no? Sadly, those lovely edges will shrink but the sweet flavor will not.

Now slice that baby up and enjoy with maple syrup, jam, lemon juice or whatever tickles your fancy.

The love between broccoli and orecchiette

2009-01-26T16:31:00.000-08:00

What the crap was I thinking posting a tofu recipe as my first blogobite?! Now THIS is a recipe to start a fricken blog with. It is creamy and broccoli-ish and unexpectedly spicy and really wonderful to mash around in your mouth. It's also a wonderful way to get someone who doesn't really love broccoli to give my favorite itty-bitty tree vegetable a try.

Orecchiette with Broccoli and Parm

5 tsp minced garlic
1/3 cup olive oil (I know, it's a lot--but this isn't fricken Jenny Craig.com)
2 (10-oz) packages frozen chopped broccoli
1 cup water
1/4-1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes
1/3 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 lb dried orecchiette (or whatever smallish pasta you have)

Cook garlic in olive oil in a big pot with a lid over medium heat for about a minute. Add broccoli, water, pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and cook, covered, stirring occasionally until most of the water is absorbed and the broccoli looks slightly browned and kind of mushy. That should take about 12-15 minutes.
Now if you're a fancy-pants and got the orecchiette like I did you should cook them in nice salty boiling water while your broccoli is cooking and they should get done right about the same time. If you aren't a fancy-pants just make sure your pasta is al dente. Take a cup and reserve some of the pasta water and drain the rest.
Stir the parm into the broccoli and smoosh it around and then add the pasta. If it's kind of dry and sticky add some of the pasta water. If not, put it on a plate and do some masticating.

By the way, this recipe makes a load of pasta. As in, about enough for five people--so consider yourself warned. And if you can't find the boxes of chopped broccoli, which I couldn't, just use frozen florets and chop them up once they get soft. I used scissors and it was really fun.

Give tofu a chance.

2009-01-25T21:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes food that is delicious is kind of ugly. This dish is ugly. I am posting it because it tastes fricken awesome, so make it and eat it and you will love ugly food, too. It's spicy and crunchy and helps you forgive tofu for being gross sometimes. The crumbled tofu has a meat-ish texture (extra points if you freeze and thaw it before you make this--helping with additional firmness) and the water chestnuts are a lovely crunchy addition.

Spicy Crunchy Tofu Lettuce Wraps

2 tsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 T minced fresh ginger
1 T minced lemongrass
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb chunk extra firm tofu, crumbled into small chunks
1 8-oz can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
5 T soy sauce
5 T hoisin sauce
1 to 2 tsp hot sauce (whatever type tickles your fancy)
16 leaves iceburg lettuce
2 green onions, sliced

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium to high heat. Add the onion, ginger, lemongrass and garlic and cook for 7-10 minutes until onions are starting to brown.

Add crumbled tofu and water chestnuts and mash it all up with your spatula or a whisk or something very smoosh-worthy. Cook this mess for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mix together soy sauce, hoisin sauce and chili sauce. Dump that mix right into the tofu mixture. Mix until thoroughly coated. Transfer to serving bowl.

Grab a lettuce leaf and fill that baby with that ugly tofu deliciousness and sprinkle some of those lovely sliced green onions and give her a drizzle of extra hot sauce on top and promptly send me diamonds as a thank you for opening your eyes to this hideously delectable recipe.