Check out Planet Green's 50 Ways to Never Waste Food Again!
My latest installment of Vegan MoFo recipes comes from Recipezaar's #351925. First of all, I love that the recipe title actually includes the word "gingerey." I think that's adorable. Of the vegan recipes I've tested out this month, this one has been my favorite. It's filling and delicious, and I think it could easily be adapted to suit your personal tastes.
You will need:
- 1 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1/2 medium bell pepper, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 Tbsp minced ginger root
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 2-14 oz cans diced tomatoes, undrained
- 2-15 oz cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 Tbsp minced parsley leaves
Directions:
- Heat oil in a deep skillet over medium heat and add onion and pepper. Cook and stir until they begin to brown (about 10 minutes).
- Add garlic, ginger, and cumin; cook and stir one minute.
- Pour in the vinegar and undrained tomatoes and bring to a boil. Stir in the chickpeas, turn heat down to low, and cover. Simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper, add in the parsley, and serve.
When I make this again (and I will), I want to add some red pepper flakes for a bit of heat. I'd also pay more attention to the amount of ginger I used; I don't think I used a full two tablespoons because I couldn't really taste it. I think this dish would benefit from some grated lemon zest at the end, but I didn't have any lemons. I'd also love to try this over jasmine rice. This one's a keeper!
And one final benefit: Holy frugality! At less than a dollar a serving, you can't do much better than this, kids!
**Update from 12/9/09: I made this again tonight, this time adding in some red pepper flakes and some lemon juice. Both additions were delicious! I served the dish over jasmine rice this time, which we also enjoyed.
I want to try this polenta bar menu idea. Who wants to come over?
Even before I stopped eating meat, side dishes were always my favorite part of holiday meals. Creamy mashed potatoes, sweet glazed carrots, fluffy/crispy stuffing -- who needs a side of carcass?
Starting in November, I'd like to run a new feature called "Side Dish Saturdays." It's up to YOU, dear readers, to contribute the recipes! If you have a favorite autumnal or wintry side dish that you'd like to share, please leave a comment below with your contact info, or send me an email so we can start planning. If your recipe is approved, I'll gladly publish it, along with a description of why it's meaningful to you!
Effie Ophelia is a "upscale intimate bistro" nestled in Gallery Row in downtown Lancaster. According to its site, the restaurant features "ever-changing menus with choices created from seasonal, local ingredients and the freshest produce sources." Has anyone tried it yet?
Remember that Buy Fresh, Buy Local, By Lancaster is being screened at Lancaster's Eastern Market tomorrow at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm. If you can't make it to the market, watch it here.
I just found this mental_floss article about Ghent, a city in Belgium where schools, hospitals, and restaurants serve vegetarian meals once a week to improve the city's health and environment. Awesome!
Quinoa Pilaf with Caramelized Onions and Toasted Pecans (4+ servings)
0 comments Posted by Kate at 8:54 PM
This week's Vegan MoFo recipe comes from Jack Bishop's A Year in the Vegetarian Kitchen, a seasonal cookbook that's slowly growing on me. This was my first foray into cooking with quinoa, a super-nutritious vegetable relative that tastes like a grain and behaves much like couscous. The toughest part was getting my husband to internalize the pronunciation. He would repeat "KEEN-wah" after me like a good little pupil, eat for a few minutes, and then say through a mouthful, "Wait -- conquistador? Kimosabe? Quinceanera?"
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 1 medium bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp grated ginger root
- a dash ground cardamom
- 1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed in a fine strainer
- 3 cups water
- 1/4 cup minced parsley leaves
- salt and pepper
Steps:
- Toast the pecans in a dry skillet over medium heat. Shake the pan occasionally and toast the nuts until they're fragrant and slightly darker (about 4 minutes). Set them aside on a plate.
- Add the oil to the empty skillet, raise the heat to medium-high, and add the onions and bell pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and beginning to brown (about 5 minutes).
- Stir in the cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom and stir-cook for about 30 seconds. Add the quinoa and stir to coat and toast for about a minute.
- Carefully add the water to the pan (you may want to remove the pan from the heat briefly) and bring everything to a boil. Then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer gently until the quinoa is tender and the liquid is absorbed. This should take 15-20 minutes.
- Stir in the parsley and toasted pecans and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
I was fascinated by the texture of the quinoa; it's soft and fluffy but firm and chewy at the same time. It seemed light and airy at first, but I was surprised at how quickly it filled me up! I had trouble finishing the bowl I made myself. Bishop's recipe says it serves 3 or 4 as a main course, but Bryan and I got more like 6 servings from it.
I would make some changes next time, for sure. First of all, my onions and peppers didn't reach a true "caramelized" texture or color. Next time would cook them longer and in more liquid. Also, I'd cut back on the cinnamon. It adds a nice flavor, but a whole teaspoon was too much. It ended up tasting like dessert with peppers and onions in it. Plus, the recipe still needs... something. I can't put my finger on it. The pecans added a satisfying crunch, but it still needed a bit more body. Maybe some pine nuts? Maybe chunks of carrots? I'll have to play around with this one. But still, I was happy with how it turned out, considering it was my first experiment with quinoa. I want to try making quinoa for breakfast sometime!
On a related note, you may remember my stockpot disaster from a few weeks ago. After some research, I discovered that stainless steel is supposed to be the best option for glass-topped electric stoves. I'm going between an Innova, a Paula Deen, and a Calphalon. Any suggestions?
As the air turns crisp and chilly and the leaves begin to turn, check out Epicurious' list of fall vegetarian main courses. First on my list is spiced pumpkin, lentil, and goat cheese salad. Bring. It. ON.
I finally figured out the issue with comments, so they're now enabled. You should be able to post in a pop-up window now.
Although I usually find Martha Stewart pretentious, I have to admit she publishes some pretty amazing recipes. Tonight, in fact, I'm trying out her spicy orecchiette with broccoli, which I'll post here if all goes well. Check out her collection of meatless recipes and try one out for yourself!
I'm ashamed to say I STILL haven't visited Eastern Market, although it's partly because whenever I drive by it, there's no parking in sight. Anyway, October 24's Green Festival might finally give me a no-excuses-accepted reason to check it out.
From 9 am to 2 pm, the market will feature environmentally-friendly arts and crafts vendors, sustainable skills workshops, and even a movie screening and discussion. Some of the workshops look pretty interesting, especially the one about rain barrels. The market will feature its usual food vendors, of course. You can check out information about the event on Facebook, too.
This week's Vegan MoFo tribute is an Asian-inspired recipe based on Amanda's Thai Peanut noodles. It's probably not very "authentic," but who cares? It's delicious, and it's easy to make, and it proves that eating vegan can be both easy and inexpensive. I say hooray for that.
You will need:
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
- 6 oz dried noodles (Make sure they don't contain egg or milk ingredients; I used organic udon noodles)
- 1 cup broccoli florets, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1/4 cup edamame (soybeans) removed from shell
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp grated ginger root
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 small carrot, grated
- 3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
- 3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 4 Tbsp natural peanut butter (I used smooth)
Steps:
- Start a pot of water boiling for the noodles. While you're waiting for the water to boil (I swear I spend half of my culinary life on this step) keep yourself busy by toasting the sesame seeds in a dry skillet until they darken a little and start to stick together. Then remove them from the heat and set aside.
- Cook noodles according to package directions. (I had to simmer the udon noodles for 5-6 minutes.) Add the broccoli and soybeans to the boiling water for the last 3-4 minutes. Drain and rinse the noodles, broccoli, and soybeans. Set aside.
- While those ingredients are cooling, spritz a large saucepan with cooking spray and heat it over medium-high. Cook and stir the garlic for one minute. Add the red pepper flakes, ginger, sugar, and carrot; cook and stir another minute.
- Add the soy sauce, vinegar, and peanut butter to the skillet. (You might need to use a whisk to get the peanut butter nice and liquidy.) When the sauce begins to boil, add in the noodles, broccoli, and soybeans and mix quickly with a pair of tongs. Transfer to a plate and top with toasted sesame seeds to serve.
This recipe came together quickly -- so quickly, in fact, that I almost wasn't ready for it. I think I overcooked the sauce a little bit because it got clumpier than I'd have liked. It still tasted fine, but I wasn't totally happy with the texture. Next time I might reserve a bit of the cooking water from the noodles to thin out the sauce, if necessary. I think I'd also add a dash of dark sesame oil at the end for a better toasty flavor. All in all, I was very happy with this though, and Bryan loved it. I think he would have finished it himself if I hadn't reminded him that we need leftovers for lunch tomorrow! I served it at room temperature, but you can wait until it's cooler or even chill it in the fridge if you prefer. Either way, it's quick and delicious!
October is Vegan Month of Food, or Vegan MoFo, as it's more amusingly called. To celebrate Vegan MoFo, I'll be making at least one vegan meal per week to post here. To start, I made a modified version of Epicurious' Vegetable and Bean Chili, which was not only delicious but especially photogenic.
You will need:
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, diced
- 1/2 fresh jalapeno chile, seeded and diced
- 2 Tbsp canola oil
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 28-oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with juice (I just dumped it all in a bowl and cut up the tomatoes with the edge of a fork)
- 1 zucchini, chopped
- 1/2 cup corn kernels
- 2 15-oz cans of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (just trust me)
- 3 Tbsp chopped cilantro (optional)
Steps:
- Saute onions, pepper, garlic, and jalapeno in oil over medium-high heat in a stockpot or deep, rimmed skillet. Cook until softened, stirring occasionally (about 5 minutes). Add chili powder, cumin, and salt; cook and stir 1 minute.
- Add tomatoes with juice, zucchini, and corn; cover partially and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Sprinkle the cocoa powder over the mixture and add the beans; cook and stir another 5 minutes, uncovered. Stir in the cilantro (if using) and serve.
What I like about this recipe was that it really spotlighted the vegetables' flavors; plus, it's very low in fat. It's not the most exciting chili I've ever had, but that could also be because I wimped out on the spices (I used more like 1/3 of the jalapeno and only 1/2 Tbsp of the chili powder because I didn't want it to be too spicy). Next time I'll use what the recipe calls for, but I wanted to be safe the first time I made it.
I had only a small green bell pepper, so I supplemented it with a few miniature red and yellow bell peppers, which added beautiful color. The zucchini blends well with the other veggies, so don't worry about it turning out slimy (as zucchini sadly can). The cocoa powder adds a unique depth of flavor without making it sweet or particularly chocolatey, even. If you've never cooked savory dishes with cocoa powder, definitely give it a try! It doesn't stand out but simply enhances the other flavors.
Next time I'd probably use only half the tomato juice, as this turned out pretty soupy. I ended up pouring off some of the liquid in the end. I'm just happy this turned out as well as it did, considering the experience did not start off well. Four minutes into sauteeing the veggies, my Le Creuset stockpot started to smoke and sizzle. This stockpot and I haven't gotten along for several months now, and I don't know if it's the fault of the dishwasher or the stove or me. I have a glass-top electric stove, and I'm thinking Le Creuset might not be compatible with that type of stove, but I don't have the original literature to know for sure. It could also be the hard water in our system or the type of dishwasher powder we use. Whatever the reason, I noticed the coating was starting to wear off, and tonight everything stuck to the bottom in a smoky mess. The deep skillet ended up being a better option anyway. I felt awful throwing away a wedding gift, but that pot was beyond repair. Anybody else have bad luck with this type of stockpot?
