Vegetarian Foodie

Kumquat Salsa

The lovely Miss Roon Brown (awesome photographer) came to visit along with her adorable children. As if that wasn't gift enough, she brought a bag of kumquats she had picked from a tree in her yard.... lucky, lucky us. 

Kumquat Salsa from Simply Recipes

• 2 cups chopped cleaned and thinly sliced kumquats
• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Dash of cayenne pepper
• Pinch of kosher salt

I also added the juice of a lime. Mix!

Lentil Meatballs and Lemon Basil Pesto

I saw this recipe recently on Sprouted Kitchen: Lentil Meatballs. These little balls of goodness are easy to make and quite delicious. They were a tad dry and the lemon basil dressing assists. I also think they could be amazing in a red sauce a la spaghetti and meatballs. 

I love the crunchy bits on the baked meatballs and the fennel is divine.

I also love a dish with very little cleanup.

Microwave Popcorn and Duct Tape Shoes

Um.... I feel a bit behind the times here about popcorn. Up until a month ago we have been buying microwavable popcorn. Recently, I read about simply putting corn kernels in a brown paper bag and microwaving that. 

Voila.....

Really?! That easy...

Additionally, my good friend's family chose not to exchange gifts this holiday season but rather partake in a creative project together (Right?! Just love this idea). They sat round a table that offered about 20 rolls of duct tape and the challenge was to make a gift out of duct tape. the results were amazing... including this pair of sandals:

Fried Zucchini

Zucchini strips, egg batter, Panko bread crumbs with parmesan and a salt pinch, fry, eat.

That easy and that good.

Dip in marinara.... ranch dressing.... or eat stand alone.

Grilled Onion and Rosemary Foccacia Bread

Remember this fantastic bread recipe? Well, morph that bread into a rectangle once you remove the dough from the refrigerator, add grilled onions, fresh rosemary and bake for 40 minutes.

Delicious served warm. (The above photo is pre-baked... we rushed out to a picnic once the bread was done and I didn't have a chance to photo...)

Mushroom and Swiss Cheese Quiche

Quick, get a photo before it disappears! That good.... thanks Mollie Katzen of Moosewood!

Crust

1/4 cup (half a stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup flour, can be part whole wheat
Dash salt
3 tbsp. buttermilk

Use the processor to prepare the crust: dump flour, salt, and butter chunks in the processor. Give the gadget a whirl. Dribble in cold, cold liquid starting with lesser amount and adding until the dough sticks together. Whirr between additions.

Take dough out of processor. On a nicely floured tea towel roll out the dough until it is slightly larger than the pan. It should be about 1/8" to 3/16" thick. Transfer to pan and turn edges under, pressing against wavy sides of pan and cutting dough where necessary so that the edges are not too thick.

After preparing the crust, there are three more steps before baking the quiche at 375°F.

Quiche

• 1 tsp butter
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion
• 1/4 lb mushrooms, sliced or minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• black pepper
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard (If you don't have this in your pantry a squirt of regular mustard will work fine)
• a pinch of thyme
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 1/2 cups grated Swiss cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375° 
2. Melt the butter in a small pan.  Add onions, and saute over medium heat for a few minutes.  Once the onions are soft, add the mushrooms, salt, pepper, thyme and mustard.  Saute for another 5 minutes and remove from heat.
3. Whisk together the eggs, milk and flour.  Beat well.
4. Press your pie crust into a pie pan or a springform tart pan.  Spread the grated cheese over the bottom of the unbaked crust.  A little tip from me...get sliced Swiss from the deli and then just cut it with a knife into "shreds" to save time shredding.  Pour the mushroom onion mixture on top of the cheese.  Pour your egg mixture on top of all that.  Top with paprika if you wish.  I decided to add some thin tomato slices to the top for color.
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes (until the eggs get solid in the center of the quiche.  Serve at any temperature for any meal of the day.

Fondue

What fun.... Fondue recipes are plenty and there are some great sites out there: Here and  Here for starters.

We enjoyed a chocolate fondue, a vegan mushroom fondue as well as a cheese fondue recipe we found in Sunset Magazine.

And if you don't have a fondue set...you should. You are in luck because Ebay offers some delightful sets a la 70's....

 

 

Butternut Squash, Mushroom and Gruyere Cheese Pastry

This recipe is certainly worthy of your coming New Years cocktail party! Gorgeous, but isn't anything with puff pastry?

Butternut Squash, Mushroom and Gruyere Cheese Pastry from Food and Wine

• One 1 1/2 pound butternut squash cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt and Pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Shallot sliced
• 1 pound assorted mushrooms
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg ground
• 14 ounces puff pastry
• 1/4 creme fraiche
• 1/4 pound gruyere cheese
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme

Oven to 375 F, squash on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Bake for 25 minutes.

Increase heat to 400 F

In a skillet, melt butter, add remaining oil and add shallot, cook until soft. Add mushrooms, season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Remove from heat after 7 minutes. Add squash.

line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out puff pastry and pierce with a fork ll through the middle. bake for 20 minutes (my pastry puffed up and I gently pressed it to allow air to escape through fork piercings)

Add creme fraich, cheese and thyme to the squash mixture. Spread over puff pastry and bake for 15 minutes.

 

Potato Latkes

It all started out so well.... the potatoes were peeled and soaked in water and grated. The batter was made. There are sooo many potato latke recipes  and I had read them all and decided on a simple one with flour not matza. Because I was to make 66 of them (for 3rd graders) I left a large part of the onion out.

I fretted about the batter turning black between making batter and allowing it to sit over night. There was no other way because the latkes needed to be ready in the morning. I heard if you put the batter in glass, presoak potatoes...all should be fine.

I refrigerated the batter.

And then after about an hour... uh oh.

Panic set in and I thought I would go ahead and fry half of them now and freeze them. I would experiment and then encourage heaps of applesauce and sour cream as garnish.

So I fried and froze. The next morning the remaining batter looked HIDEOUS! I scraped the top off and fried.

And they were a hit.... kids came back for seconds and thirds. Latkes are not my cup of tea personally...they are too fried. However, if I must make them again I would probably scream.

Apple Crostada with Cheddar Cheese Crust

 

This recipe is a lovely fall dinner with a salad, dessert, appetizer, breakfast with hot coffee..... everyone in my home loves this and requests it.

Apple Crostada with Cheddar Cheese Crust (I think from a recent Martha Stewart...)

CRUST

• 2 1/2 Cups Flr
• Salt
• 2 Sticks cold unsalted butter cut up and chilled
• 1/4 Cup ice water
• 1 Cup shredded white cheddar cheese

Pulse Flr and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse until mix resembles a coarse meal. Add ice water and pulse once again until mix begins to lump together. Add cheese. Pulse to mix.

Shape into two disks, wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes minimum -overnight is ok too.

Personal note: I almost always stop the pulsing, dump the mix onto the counter and mix it with my hands into a coarse meal..... just saying.

Crostada Filling

• 2 Tart apples sliced
• 1/2 Cup Granulated sugar
• 2 Tblspoons Flr
• 2 Tblspoons Flr
• 1/4 Teaspoon cinnamon

Take the crust from the refrigerator and roll it out onto a floured surface. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet. Refrigerate once again for 20 minutes.

Thye filling: Toss apple slices with sugar, flr, lemon juice and cinnamon.

Oven to 375 F

Spread filling in center of rolled out dough. Fold edges over and sprinkle with sugar.. bake 1 hour and 20 minutes-until crust is golden brown!