Simply Recipes: Vegetarian

Edamame Dip

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Jan 082012

Edamame (eh-dah-MAH-may) are nothing more than fresh soy beans. Typically cooked in heavily salted water, they are usually found in the shell served at Japanese restaurants. Having first encountered them in bars when I lived in Japan, I've always thought of them as the Japanese version of a beer nut—they're salty and go great with beer. They've recently become more popular in the states and you can usually easily find them frozen, both shelled and shell-on. They are rather tasty beans, so I thought we would make a simple bean dip with them. So good! This dip includes cilantro, lime juice, yogurt, and a whole avocado. Also just a little bit of Tabasco and dark sesame oil for some sparkle.

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Quinoa con Queso

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Oct 252011

One of my favorite foods is quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah), a grain-like seed native of South America. It's a lot like couscous, but nuttier in flavor, and smoother on the tongue. It's also high in protein and completely gluten-free. You can make a pilaf with it, or use it for stuffing, or just eat it plain. I recently stumbled upon a recipe for quinoa with queso fresco in this book, and then found many other variations online. As I played around and experimented with this recipe I had two revelations. The first is that quinoa tastes great with milk poured over it. The second is quinoa tastes great with cheese (queso).

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Broccoli Rabe with Pasta and Sun Dried Tomatoes

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Oct 212011

Have you ever had broccoli rabe (pronounced "rahb" or "rah-bee" depending on where you are from)? I have sort of a love hate relationship with it. It looks like broccoli, but it doesn't taste like it. Broccoli rabe can sometimes be so bitter, even with blanching, there's no amount of vinegar or bacon that can save it. But bitterness heightens flavors (hence the purpose of parsley). Your tongue can distinguish 4 basic tastes—sour, bitter, sweet, and salty—so if you combine the somewhat bitter rabe with strong tastes from the other groups, the result can be like happy fireworks in your mouth. Rabe combined with sun-dried tomatoes is a deli classic, the tomatoes offering a sweet intense counter-note to the rabe. Still, it's not for everyone, so be warned. This recipes tosses lightly sautéed broccoli rabe with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and penne pasta. So good! We devoured it.

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Green Apple Curry

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Oct 202011

Years ago I visited the Caribbean island of Trinidad and was struck not only by the music of steel drums filling the air everywhere, but also by a street food called "roti", which is sort of like an east Indian version of a burrito. A curry pocket of sorts.

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Spanish Roasted Potatoes with Tomato Sauce

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Sep 262011

Called papas bravas or patatas bravas in Spain, this dish is essentially potatoes cooked in a spicy sauce and served as an appetizer, or tapas. Variations abound in both the cooking method—the potatoes are fried, boiled or roasted—and the sauce, which usually has hot chiles, tomato and vinegar. The name of the recipe roughly translates into "fierce" or "angry" potatoes. But these potatoes are as spicy or "fierce" as you make them. We've made ours with some tomato sauce, quite a bit of Tabasco, and some smoked paprika. The potatoes absorb a lot of heat, so they're not as hot as you would think, given the amount of hot sauce. You can easily reduce the heat to taste. The smoked paprika called for in the recipe really helps these potatoes shine, but sometimes it can be hard to find. McCormick makes smoked paprika, so you may be able to find it at your local supermarket. If not, just substitute regular paprika (sweet).

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Mushroom Sugo

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Sep 162011

My dad is the kind of dad who will notice we aren't doing something to his standards and then just take over. (Insert growly voice.) "The recipe says mince, not finely chop, but mince. This isn't minced." I'm happy to report that my father is now in charge of mincing around here. (Was this all part of cunning plan on my side? I'll never tell.)

What we were making that precipitated the great mincing event this week was one of our absolutely favorite sauces for pasta or polenta, a Genoese mushroom sugo or mushroom sauce. The recipe comes from Darrell Corti of the Sacramento gourmet grocery Corti Bros. The recipe is Darrell's grandmother's and appeared in Saveur in 2001.

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Caponata, Eggplant Relish

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Jul 302011

Revised and updated, from the recipe archive. Original recipe posted in 2005. ~Elise

Tucked away in funky Bernal Heights, my old neighborhood in San Francisco, used to lie an Italian trattoria which served exceptional Italian food. The restaurant is long gone, but I still remember fondly the eggplant caponata condiment they served with bread sticks that accompanied every meal. I have no idea if this is even close to the same recipe that the restaurant used, but it is certainly in the right direction.

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Provencal New Potatoes

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Jul 252011

You know Prince Charming? The tall, dark, handsome guy who comes riding up on a white horse to whisk you away to a fantasy life at some medieval castle? Well, my tall, dark, handsome guy doesn't have a horse or a castle; he's French and he loves to cook. (Now that's a prince!) He cooks intuitively, without recipes, so when he makes something that turns out especially good, I beg him to make it again, so I can capture the recipe. Recently he made the most wonderful batch of tiny new potatoes, roasted with onions, tomatoes, garlic, olives, and olive oil, and seasoned with herbes de Provence. We've remade it a couple of times since just because it's so so good. The little potatoes are like savory potato candies, with caramelized bits of onions and tomatoes.

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Sichuan Eggplant

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Jul 062011

Are eggplants showing up in your local markets yet? They are here, and guest author Garrett has tossed together a classic Chinese dish using long and tender asian eggplants from the farmers market. Enjoy! ~Elise

The actual name for this dish in Sichuan cuisine oddly translates to "Fish-Fragrant" Eggplant. Confusing, as this dish has no fish anywhere in it. You see, in Sichuan cuisine there are 23 complex flavors. These range from red-oil flavor, hot and sour flavor, lychee flavor, to strange flavor, and many others. Fish-Fragrant is one of the most celebrated.

Fish-Fragrant is a combination of salty, sweet, sour, and spicy tastes that come from ginger, garlic, scallions and fermented or pickled chilies. It is so named because these flavors are often used to enhance fish. Often times in earlier Chinese history, if home cooks were unable to procure fresh fish for meals, they had to make do with older fish that might have had too intense of a fishy taste. The ingredients and tastes that make up the fish-fragrant flavor are all strong and could cover the odors of seafood that wasn't the most fresh.

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Cherry Tomato Orzo Salad

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Jul 012011

I am not the most talented of gardeners. I over-water, under-water, over-fertilize, under-mulch. I plant little plants behind big plants, blocking out their sun. I then transplant my poorly placed plants to what I'm hoping will be a better location and almost kill them in the process. No, if a plant survives with me in charge it's because it's one heckova sturdy plant, or just has a strong will to live. I have been getting better at this over the years, but it still surprises me how difficult growing tomatoes can be, with the singular exception of the glorious sungold tomato. Do you know about the sungold? It's a cherry tomato, or the size and shape of a cherry tomato, but brightly orange colored when ripe.

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Grilled Onion Salad

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Jun 292011

A grilled onion salad. Why not? Grilled onions can be just as good chilled as hot, especially when you let them marinate in an herb dressing. The grilling produces all sorts of caramelized goodness in the onions, taming their bite and bringing out their natural sweetness. An herby dressing acts like a marinade, further softening the onions, and infusing them with flavor. The best thing? The salad lasts for days, and actually improves with age, as the dressing soaks into the onions. So, it's a great party make-ahead salad.

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Korean Spicy Cold Noodles

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Jun 272011

Recently returned from a year teaching English in Korea, my friend Kerissa Barron has been introducing me to some of her favorite dishes, including this one, a spicy cold noodle salad, with lots of toppings. It's known as bibim guksu in Korean, and if you've ever had bibimbap, it's a lot like that, but chilled, and with thinly sliced raw vegetables and a hard cooked egg. The sauce that holds it all together is sweet and spicy and made with red chili paste, rice vinegar, sugar, and sesame. So good! I recommend making extra sauce and just keeping some around to dress up leftovers. The meal comes together quickly, the most time needed to cut up the vegetables.

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Vietnamese Daikon and Carrot Pickles

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Jun 142011

You know when you learn how to make something new, and it's so good, and so easy to make, that you think back with regret to all the years you've lived without knowing how to do this thing? That's how I feel about these Vietnamese daikon and carrot refrigerator pickles, also known as "do chua". The pickles are traditionally served on Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches. They're a little like bread and butter pickles, though crispier, not as sweet, and with a slight radish taste from the daikon. If you are unfamiliar with daikon radishes, they are very large, long (over a foot), white, mild radishes. Pickled daikon, sliced crosswise, are often served with your food at Japanese restaurants.

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Grilled English Peas

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Jun 112011

Are you familiar with edamame, the salty soybeans often served at Japanese restaurants? I became addicted to them when I lived in Japan years ago; they're the Japanese version of bar nuts, almost always served at bars there, with beer. You eat them by putting the pod in your mouth, closing your teeth, and pulling out the pod which releases the salty beans to eat. (Trader Joe's carries them, by the way.) This recipe is sort of like an English pea version of edamame, that you grill. Okay, yeah it's a stretch, but you eat them like edamame. You take fresh English peas, toss them with olive oil and salt, and then grill them until they are lightly charred on the outside and steamy soft on the inside. Then when you eat them, you scrape up some of that smokey, charred, salty flavor, while the peas pop into your mouth. If you want to add to this symphony of flavors, you can sprinkle some balsamic and chopped mint on the peas before eating.

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Caramelized Fennel and Onions

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May 252011

Fennel lovers, onion lovers, unite! And then take a shower in grated Parmesan, lemon zest, and chopped parsley. I'd like to say this is quick and easy, but it's not quick. It's long and easy, the sort of thing you can just put on the stove and give a stir every once in a while, as you cook the rest of the meal. The onions and fennel are only lightly caramelized. You could cook them longer if you wanted, or sprinkle some sugar on them to bring out more of the caramelization. But just cooking them down and lightly browning them, and then tossing them with everything else, works for me. Wonderful flavors. Would be terrific alongside grilled fish or chicken.

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Asparagus Artichoke Salad

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May 062011

Although for the most part we can get asparagus all year long, I usually only get them in the spring, when they are in season. How can you resist, when you see hundreds of them in the produce section, saluting you like bundled, upright green soldiers? "Hello m'am. Please cook me." So, we buy asparagus, and more asparagus. Here is a recipe for what to do with our long green friends, when you're tired of everything else. (Thank you Whole Foods deli section for the idea.) Grill them or roast them (grilling will taste better if you can do it), and toss them in a simple salad with marinated artichoke hearts, shallots, and grape tomatoes. Carry on...

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Grilled Asparagus

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May 052011

Mmm. Asparagus. You can steam them, boil them, roast them, but I don't think anything beats the flavor of asparagus that are simply grilled. The smoky flavor, the char marks. Tender, but still with a little crunch. Seriously good. I could (and have) eat them like French fries. Yum.

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Spring Minestrone Soup

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May 022011

Welcome spring with this savory soup from Hank. ~Elise

Minestrone is one of my favorite soups, and it is infinitely malleable with the seasons. This version celebrates springtime, when fresh, new vegetables begin to show up at the market. I know to make this soup whenever I can get asparagus, artichokes and peas all at the same time. These vegetables form the backbone to the soup.

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