Beans and Rice

There are surely a gazillion recipes for beans and rice on line, but that won't stop me from posting yet another one. I made this last week with Adzuki beans that I cooked myself using my pressure cooker, and found that the finished product was so much more delicious than making the same recipe with the more classic red kidney beans.

1. About 1 to 1.5 cups cooked adzuki beans, drained (canned is fine, I am sure)
   
2. 2 garlic cloves, minced
3. 1 small onion, minced
4. 1 dried whole red chili, crushed
5. About 1 tbsp each ground cumin and ginger
6. About 1 tsp each ground coriander and tumeric
7. Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste
8. 1.5 cups cooked white rice

In a cast iron skillet, sautee the garlic and onion in a generous amount of olive oil over very low heat until translucent. Add the spices and stir until onions and garlic are coated. Add the beans and cook for a while to marry the flavors, adding water a little bit at a time as necessary to keep the beans from sticking to the pan. Add the cooked rice and blend well.

Serve hot garnished with fresh chopped cilantro and a dollop of creme fraiche.

Enjoy!

Gingered carrot and soba noodle soup

This dish is tasty and nutritious, and simple to make and enjoy on a cold winter's evening. The only thing the average person might not have in her kitchen to make this is the soba noodles. I wouldn't recommend substituting regular pasta in their place, so it's worth a trip to the store to get some.
For two:

4 -5 medium carrots, peeled and julianed (i.e. cut into thin batonettes)
1 medium onion, sliced
Fresh ginger, grated (about 2 tbsp)
3 - 4 cloves of garlic, minced
Vegetable stock (or water)
Soy sauce
2 bunches of soba noodles

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the soba noodles and cook for half the time the package recommends, about 5 minutes.

Heat some oil (olive or almond) in a heavy iron skillet. Sautee the onions over low heat for a few minutes, than add the garlic, carrots and ginger. Stir to coat with the oil and cook for a few minutes. Cover with just enough vegetable stock, bring to a boil and lower the heat to simmer until the carrot is just tender, maybe 5 minutes or so. Add the soy sauce and the soba noodles and heat for a few minutes.

Divide the noodles and vegetables evenly into two large bowls, and pour the broth into the bowls. Serve with chop sticks and Chinese spoons.

Cauliflower in rosemary tomato sauce

This is a new twist on an old favorite of my mother's, what she calls "Sauce tomate", essentially her canned tomatoes heated and ladled over her homemade bread, buttered and toasted in a cast-iron skillet. Though my rendition requires a few more ingredients, it is just as simple to make, and if I have to say so myself, so much tastier!

1 leek or small onion, sliced
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 head of cauliflower, separated
1 can of tomatoes
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, minced
day-old baguette, cut into thin pieces (see below)
creme fraiche (optional)


Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a cast-iron skillet. Sautee the leek or onion over low heat until translucent. Add the garlic, stir to coat and cook for a few more minutes. Layer the skillet with the cauliflower and pour the tomatoes over the top, breaking up any big pieces. Sprinkle the rosemary over the top and salt generously. Bring the tomatoes to a boil, then cover and simmer on low heat until the cauliflower is as tender as you like it.

When ready to serve, lay out the baguette pieces on a plate like so:


Then ladle the cauliflower and tomato sauce over the bread. Add a dolop of creme fraiche over the top and serve hot. The bread will soak up the sauce and melt in your mouth. Enjoy!

Trout spread 2

Josh and I had some more fresh trout the other night, caught from Porter Pond by our friend, Bill, and his son, Joe. This spread, made from the leftovers, made a nice before-dinner treat. This recipe is based on about 3/4 cup of leftover, roasted trout. Mince the trout and add some minced garlic, salt and minced parlsey. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of liquid aminos (or soy sauce) and about two teaspoons of plain yogurt. Mix well and serve with crackers.

Warm eggplant and tomato salad

This salad, with it's meaty eggplant slices and chick peas, makes a great main dish. Serve with a green salad and bread for a full, healthy meal. For two people:

• Half a medium eggplant, peeled and sliced into thin strips


• Half a yellow pepper, sliced into strips


• 1 small onion, thinly sliced


• 1 large garlic clove, crushed


• 2 medium tomotoes, cut into wedges


• 1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed


• turmeric, cumin & cayenne pepper


• small handful of fresh parsley, minced

Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook on low heat until translucent. Add the spices to taste as well as the eggplant and stir to coat with the oil and spices. Cook on medium heat until the eggplant becomes just soft, then add the yellow pepper and the chick peas and cook for a few minutes (or longer if you don't like your pepper too crunchy). Add the tomato and cook for a few more minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the parsley. Serve warm, garnished with black greek olives if you happen to have some.

Saffran potatoes

I'm not the biggest fan of potatoes, but it's what I've been getting in abundance in my winter CSA, so it's what I've had to work with lately. For this easy, quick and delicious recipe, I used baby potatoes.
Peel, wash and cut the potatoes in half. Boil in salted water until just soft, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside. Mince half a small onion, a couple cloves of garlic, and one small sweet red pepper. In a non-stick pan, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil. Sautee the onion and garlic over low heat until translucent. Add the pepper and cook for a few minutes. Add the potatoes, a teaspoon or so of American saffran, salt and pepper to taste. Raise the heat to medium and fry the potatoes for five to ten minutes, or longer if you want more crispy potatoes.

Serve over a bed of green salad dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Meat-eater salad

There's no meat in this salad, but it does have potatoes, every traditional meat-eater's perfect side dish. The lettuce is there for the fun and the color of it, but since it marries so well with the potatoes and the warm oil from their frying, no meat-eater will be able to resist, no matter what his or her take is on the leafy green stuff.

For two servings, peel and boil about 5 or 6 small to medium potatoes in salted water for about 10 minutes. Drain, allow to cool for a while, then cube. Heat about 4 or 5 tablespoons olive oil in a non-stick skillet. Add the potatoes and sautee until the potatoes brown a bit, maybe 5 minutes or so.

Mince a garlic clove and add to a large bowl with salt to taste and mix well. When the potatoes are done, pour the oil from the skillet into the bowl and stir again. Allow to cool for a while and then add the potatoes and a handful of fresh minced parsley. Stir to coat the potatoes with the oil and parsley, the add fresh lettuce and mix again. Serve the salad lukewarm as a side dish. It's delicious!

Squash, spinach and gorgonzola pizza

This simple pizza has the most flavorful, full-bodied taste. It's quick to make if you happen to have left over roasted squash in your fridge. All it takes is dough (I made Bittman's recipe in my food processor) spread thinly on a pan which you then drizzle with olive oil and cover with roasted squash cut into small pieces, thawed and drained frozen spinach, gorgonzola cheese. Bake at 450 degrees until the crust is golden brown. Enjoy with a nice cold beer!

Carrot salad

This little side-dish of shredded carrots loaded with garlic and onion will give your immune system a boost, not to mention keep the vampires away! Scroll down to see a second recipe made with the leftovers of this salad.

In a large bowl, add 2 or 3 large garlic cloves and half a small onion, both minced. Add a generous teaspoon of salt and mix. Add 3 generous tablespoons or so of olive oil and stir. Peel and shred about 5 or 6 large carrots. Add to the dressing, stir to coat, and then add a few heaping teaspoons of hemp seed if you have any. Serve at room temperature with a slice of lemon.

Sautee a can of drained, rinsed chick peas in a tablespoon or so of olive oil until browned. Mince a large handful of fresh parsley. Stir the chick peas and parsley in a large bowl with about a cup and a half of leftover carrot salad described above. Serve a side dish. (For the curious out there, the dish behind this one in the picture is creamy rainbow chard, which is simply one chopped leek sauteed in olive oil with chopped chard to which I added salt and creme fresh when the chards were nicely wilted. It's very yummy, too.)

Hemp seed and parmesan dressing

I really enjoy the subtle, nutty flavor and the unique texture of raw hemp seed. Try it in this simple dressing for green salad and you may be converted as well!

Pour a generous tablespoon or two of olive oil into a large salad bowl. Add a few teaspoons of raw hemp seed and 3 to 4 tablespoons freshly shredded parmesan cheese. Salt to taste and stir. Add washed, cut-up fresh lettuce to the bowl and mix. Serve the salad garnished with lemon.

Soupe épicée à l'indienne

When I set out to make dinner last night, my intentions were to make a chinese style, clear-brothed vegetable soup, but when I discovered I still had a bit of fresh ginger left, it morphed mid-stream into this hot indian-style soup inspired by the spice concoction I picked up recently from a woman friend from India. The following recipe feeds two to four people, depending on if you serve it as the meal or an entree.

Mince one small onion and 3 large garlic cloves. Peel a small piece of ginger and mince. You should have at least a heaping tablespoon's worth. Sautee in olive oil until tender and translucent over low heat. While the onions, garlic and ginger are cooking, add a teaspoon of ground turmeric and about a half a teaspoon or more of coriander. Stir to coat and continue cooking.

Meanwhile, bring to a boil about 8 cups of water or vegetable broth or a combination of the two. Wash and cut up about 10 mushrooms and a good handful of green beans. Chop up 4 scallions.

When the water and/or broth is boiling, add the mushrooms and green beans. Drop to simmer and let cook for about 10 minutes or so. Add the scallions and continue to cook until the vegetables are just tender, about 10 more minutes.

In the meanwhile, put the onion, garlic and ginger mix into a blender with a little of the soup's broth and puree until smooth. Add this to the soup while the vegetables are still cooking.

Serve piping hot in deep bowls.

Curried onion pizza pie

To make this simple, filling dish, all you need is pizza dough (I followed Bittman's recipe, using whole wheat flour), one large onion, curry powder, ground coriander, frozen peas and a little creme fraiche.

Thinly slice the onion and sautee in olive oil over very low heat until translucent and very soft. While the onion is cooking, add salt to taste and a teaspoon or so of curry and a bit of coriander. Near the end of their cooking, add the frozen peas and a couple dollops of creme fraiche. Stir and allow to cook for a few more minutes.

Roll out a small ball of pizza dough to the desired thinness. Spoon a generous amount of the curried onion mix on the center of the dough. Pinch up the sides and bake in a 400 degree oven until the crust is golden brown. Time will vary depending on the thickness of the crust.

Serve hot with a green salad on the side. Enjoy!

Lentil and cilantro soup

It's winter, so soups are in order. This one was inspired by a simple lentil and cilantro soup that came with a meal Josh and I enjoyed last winter break in Montreal at an afghani restaurant called Kyber Pass. I've added carrots because their taste just marries well with lentils and I also added onion and garlic.

Pick over 1/2 cup of green lentils and add them to a pot with 5 cups of vegetable broth or cold water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer until the lentils are soft, about 4o minutes. Don't salt the broth or water; doing so will prevent the lentils from softening.

Meanwhile, peel 4 carrots and cut them into very small pieces. Mince half a medium onion and three cloves of garlic. Wash and mince about half a cup of fresh cilantro. Sautee the carrots, onions and garlic with in a generous amount of olive oil over low heat until the carrots are just soft, about 10 minutes. While this cooks, add about a teaspoon of cumin and salt and pepper to taste. At the very end of cooking, add the cilantro, stir and cook a few more minutes.

When the lentils are done, add the carrot, onion, garlic and cilantro mix. Add more water if you want a more liquidy soup, and adjust the salt if necessary.

Makes two generous portions or four first course servings.

Purity Soup

If you have vegetable stock already made, or if you choose to use store-bought stock, this soup is really easy and very quick to make (30 minutes max). There is no set recipe as far as the vegetables are concerned; pretty much whatever you have in your fridge works well. For onions, stick to small green onions or chives.

While the stock is heating over high heat, peel and cut a variety of vegetables, keeping the scraps to make more stock for later soups. When the stock is boiling, add the vegetables. Allow the water to come back to a boil, reduce to a good simmer and cook for five minutes. It is important not to overcook in order to keep the vegetables will be firm and flavorful.

Serve hot over cooked soba noodles or rice for a wonderfully light yet surprisingly filling winter evening meal.

KAPS (Kick-ass pasta sauce)

Since the eggplants and tomatoes were abundant at Paisley's Farm Stand this fall, and I was tired of making ratatouille, I experimented one night and came up with this delectable accompaniment for pasta. This sauce, when allowed to sit overnight, gathers in flavor and serves as a lovely side dish with rice and roasted vegetables, so make plenty!

1 large eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 large onion, chopped
About 5 cups fresh, chopped tomatoes
1 large summer squash, shredded
1 large garlic clove, minced
basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme (fresh is best, but dried is okay) and salt to taste

Sautee the onion over low heat in a generous amount of olive oil. After a few minutes, add the eggplant and stir to coat with oil. Cook for a few minutes, then add the summer squash and the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer until everything is reduced to mush, at least 30 to 40 minutes.

Serve over hot pasta and top with grated parmesan cheese, or store over night and eat the next day as a rich side dish. It's excellent both ways.

Green Machine Soup

This is the easiest, no-nonsense soup you will ever make. What's more, it tastes good!

Roughly chop up the edible part of one large leek, and peel and crush a few cloves of garlic. Wash and trim the stems of a large bunch of swiss chard (about enough to overfill a large collander) and chop roughly.

In a large pot, melt two generous tablespoons of coconut oil (olive oil is fine). Sautee the onion over medium low heat until translucent. Add the garlic and the greens and stir to cover with the oil. Sautee for a few minutes, then add some water. Don't cover the greens with water, as they will wilt, so a few inches is fine. You can always add more if necessary later.

Bring the water to a boil and cook the greens until they are completely wilted and soggy.

Spoon some of the greens into the container of a food processor with some of the liquid. Process until completely smooth. Repeat until all the greens and liquid have been processed.

Serve hot with a sprig of parsley and some fresh bread.

French toast stuffed with cottage cheese

If you live near a farm where homemade cottage cheese is sold, I recommend it for this recipe. The commercial cottage cheeses tend to be watery (not to mention that they're packed with a few too many sketchy ingredients) so they wouldn't work well here. The cheese I used here, as well as the wheat bread, comes from Nezinscott Farm in Turner, Maine.

In a flat-bottomed bowl, mix three eggs with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk (rice or soy is fine) and salt to taste. Spread about 1/4 cup of cottage cheese on a slice of wheat bread, trying to stay away from the edges. Cover with another slice of bread and pat down. Place the cottage cheese sandwich in the egg-milk mixture, letting each side soak to the degree of sogginess you like. Be careful when turning the sandwich over, especially if it is soaked. Fry in butter on a heavy skillet until brown on both sides. Serve hot with more butter and applesauce and whatever fruit you like. Cinnamon is always good as well.

Curried tofu and mixed vegetable salad

This salad is both warm and cold, soft and crunchy, and bursting with flavor. It makes a great main dish when served with another salad and hearty wheat bread. Followed up with a nice cheese and then a couple squares of dark chocolate, the meal seen here is perfectly balanced and purely healthy and satisfying. All of the fresh ingredients seen in the picture come from either my mom's garden, Nezinscott farm in Turner, Maine, or Josh and my own's garden. Vive l'automne for healthy eating!

Cube half a block of firm tofu and half a large summer squash. Heat a generous amount of olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add the tofu and summer squash with about 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric, a teaspoon of curry and salt and pepper to taste. Sautee over medium-low heat until just browned and set aside.

In a large salad bowl, mix a large garlic clove, minced, with about a teaspoon of salt. Add a generous tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice (or vinegar if you don't have a lemon). Mix well, and then add two generous tablespoons of olive oil.

Peel and chop two large carrots into thin rounds. Half peel, quarter and chop a cucumber. Thinly slice a very small onion (about 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup).

Strain and rinse half a can of red kidney beans.

Add all the ingredients to the salad bowl and stir to cover with the dressing. Add a generous handful each of fresh chopped parsley and basil and mix again.

Red lentil mush

This is a simple, warm side-dish to add protein to any vegetarian meal or color to a meat and potatoes dinner.
For two to three people, add about 3/4 red lentils and 1 1/2 cups cold water in a pan with a generous teaspoon of turmeric and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the lentils have turned to mush (about 30 minutes). Before serving, finely chop a good handful of fresh basil leaves and stir into the lentils and adjust salt if necessary. Sprinkle with chopped fresh chives and serve with a slice of lemon.

Mixed veggie and chick pea salad

Some of the recent litterature I have read has made me aware that eating a strictly raw vegetable and fruit diet works miracles, like bringing terminal cancer victims back from the brink and visibly shrinking the unsightly look of cellulite. Now that's food for thought, but I can't say that I would be willing to convert to this kind of diet as a lifestyle because I simply like cooked vegetables a bit too much. Nonetheless, I am experimenting lately with mixing cooked and raw vegetables in salads. This one, which includes vegetables and herbs from my garden and the local farm stand at Paisley's farm, was particularly yummy! The portions given here served two people.

Slice 3 small fairy eggplants and sautee them over low-medium heat in a generous amount of olive oil. Add a half a can of drained and rinsed chick peas. Cook until the eggplant and the chickpeas are browned. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a medium-sized salad bowl, mince a few cloves of garlic and mix with a generous amount of salt. Add 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar and stir. Add two tablespoons olive oil and stir again.

Thinly slice half a small red onion and cube a few red tomatoes. Half-peel a few cucumbers, cut in half and cut into half moons.

Add all the veggies, the eggplant and the chickpeas to the salad bow. Top with a generous handful each of fresh chopped mint and parsley. Stir until everything is covered with the dressing and serve.