Vegetarian Foodie

Grandpa Salad

This (pictured) is what we call 'Grandpa salad' around here. Grandpa salad is packed with onions, peppers, tomatoes and basil. It is a fresh summer salad that is served up often here and has a history. The story about grandpa salad is told to the kids by the grown ups again and again around the dinner table -year after year. 

Note: (Micheal is my kid's non-biological grandpa) It goes a little something like this:

Micheal's grandpa was from Italy and sported a very very thick Italian accent. He loved to garden and grew the ingredients to 'Grandpa Salad' every year in his garden. 

One day, Micheal (when he was about 17) took his friends round to grandpa's house for salad. Micheal and his friends sat around the table and began to eat the salad all the while breaking off chunks of the crusty bread and dipping it in olive oil.

Grandpa motioned for Micheal to meet him in the kitchen. In the kitchen, Grandpa had a perplexed look on his face and said, "Why your friend, the egg man, no eat his tomatoes?" (Micheal's grandpa could never remember anyone's name but always their job title-in this case, the egg delivery boy)

Micheal replied, "I don't know grandpa, maybe he does not like tomatoes."

Grandpa put his head in his hand, shook his head and his expression grew even more distressed. "Oh no, no..... no. Micheal, donta ever trusta nobahdi no like the tomato."

Good advice. Can you imagine us laughing round the table and raising our wine glasses to Grandpa?

I love how the kids say often, "Grandpa, Grandpa! Tell the story about about your Grandpa and the tomatoes."

Leek Pie

This recipe is from HomeMade... see to the left. It is my newest Cook book and it is great...

• Arrange your thawed puff pastry in a stack and cut out the middle... Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenh
• Sautee leeks (cut green stems off) in white wine, thyme, butter pat and salt and pepper for 20 minutes
• Pat leeks dry and place in center of puff pastry and top with goat cheese
• Egg wash puff with a beaten egg white

 

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.

Empanadas

Occasionally our taco Tuesday night morphs into a South of our border nite..... for a little variation. A favorite is empanadas... stuffed with cheese, peppercini and Spanish olives.

I have never fried my empanadas but rather I bake them and they are stunning yummy.

Here is the recipe for the dough- fill them with whatever you fancy! Dough recipe thanks to Moosewood

• 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons melted butter

To make dough, mix water, vinegar and salt in large bowl. Add flour and butter. Mix well and work dough with hands until well combined. Roll each piece into a circle. Place 1/2 cup filling on each piece of dough, leaving 1/2" border. Fold dough over, seal edges with water, and crimp with fork.

Bake them at 350 degrees until lightly golden. 

Ratatouille for His Birthday

The above photo is not of ratatouille.... I know, the cake looks like it stayed out too late the night before and had too much to drink. It was a messy but delicious birthday cake I made for the husband. I used the recipe 4-3-2-1 from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. While I love that cookbook madly, I must say I far prefer this cake recipe as a go to. The chocolate sauce was somewhat of a cake fashion disaster on the white cake but making chocolate shavings with a vegetable peeler was fun and acted as a last minute lipstick for the cake. 

The birthday menu was: Roasted Almond with herbs (thyme and salt), a simple rocket salad with shaved parmesan, red wine vinegar and olive oil, fresh bread, sliced cheeses and Ratatouille. Ratatouille... is not the most beautiful food but I must say that I adore it (as do all that live in this house I live in). I really think there is nothing like a simple meal with fresh ingredients...

Ratatouille by Moosewood

3 Tb olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chopped onion
1 bay leaf
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed

Glugs of red wine (I say 4-5)

1/2 C Tomato Juice
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tsp fresh: Basil, marjoram, oregano, rosemary
2 zucchini, cubed
2 bell peppers sliced or cubed
2 Tomatoes
Fresh parsley

Heat olive oil in a deep pan. Add garlic, onion and bay leaf and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Add eggplant, wine, tomato juice, salt and herbs. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes until eggplant is soft.

Add zucchini, bell peppers, black pepper, and tomatoes. Cover and simmer for about 10 more minutes, or until zucchini and bell peppers are tender.

Vegetable Stroganoff

Vegetable Stroganoff from Moosewood

3 c sour cream
1.5 c yogurt
3 Tbs dry, red wine
1 c chopped onion
1/2 lb chopped mushrooms
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dill weed
soy sauce  (glug)
paprika
black pepper

2 Tbs butter

Sauté onions and mushrooms in butter until onions are soft. Combine all ingredients in the top of a double boiler and heat gently about 30 minutes.

While the sauce simmers, steam 6 cups chopped, fresh vegetables. Highly recommended: broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery, peppers, cabbage, zucchini, cherry tomatoes

Assemble over cooked noodles.....

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.

Blue Cheese and Chive Souffle

• 2 Tablespoons Butter (Plus enough to butter ramekins)
• 1/2 Cup Paresan Cheese
• 3 Tablespoons Flour
• 1 Cup Milk
• Pinch Salt
• Pich Cayenne
• 2 Oz Blue Cheese
• 5 Large eggs separated
• 2 Tablespoons of snipped Chives

1. Oven to 375 F, butter ramekins and sprinkle with parmesan cheese
2. In a saucepan, melt butter, add flr and cook for 1 minute. Whisk constantly. Add milk, salt and cayenne and cook untiol thick and bubbly.
3. Scrape above mix into a larger bowl, mix in blue cheese and remaining Parmesan. Whisk in egg yolks and chives.
4. In another bowl, use an electric mixer and beat whites until stiff peaks form. Fold in with yolk/cheese mix.
5. Pour mix into ramekins and place ramekins on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until puffed and golden brown.

I want to include this link (below) that shows a photo of egg whites beaten to the degree of peaks... Honestly, I didn't beat the whites this much and as a result, shortly after the photo my souffle started to collapse.  Still, the souffles were delicious.

Egg Whites Beaten until Peaks Form

Cream Biscuits

 

from the Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters

Preheat the oven to 400F. Stir together in a large bowl:
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
4 tsp sugar (optional)
2 tsp baking powder
add:
6 tbls cold butter cut into small pieces
Cut the butter into the flour with your fingers or a pastry blender until they are the size of small peas.

Measure:
¾ cups heavy cream

Remove 1 tablespoon and set aside. Lightly stir in the remainder of the cream with a fork until the mixture just comes together. Without overworking it, lightly knead the dough a couple of times in the bowl, turn it out onto a lightly floured board, and roll out about ¾ inch thick. Cut into eight 1 ½ inch circles or squares. Reroll the scraps if necessary.

Place the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and lightly brush the tops with the reserved tablespoon of cream. Bake for 17 minutes or until cooked through and golden.

Butternut Squash Lasagne

A recent discovery of the food blog Sassy Radish has me thrilled. The butternut squash lasagne is divine.... in fact, I am making it again for guests this evening.

In fact, it is there that I saw my Buche de Noel recipe for Christmas day...right?! drop dead gorgeous cake!

Also on the radar:

Flatbread

Home made Magic Shell

and these looked so delicious: Cheesecake Bars

Happy cooking and planning as the holiday week end approaches!