We’ve had this wretched flu all week, and are only just climbing out from under it, so this was a meal worthy of such a hangover. (My Father is English, and when I was living there spent a memorable weekend in Sheffield- late-night Dalek imitation with trash cans was involved- with friends where we soothed throbbing heads with eggs, beans, chips, toast, mushy peas and pints of tea.) I had the foresight to soak pinto…
Category: Vegetarian or nearly
As a departure from our rich and splendid weekend, I went for something hearty yet clean, trying to make it both healthy and satisfying. So for protein, red lentils made into dal- Milo loves them and they don’t need to be presoaked. Then the roasted kabocha that ended up as the tortelloni filling went in a pot with some canned tomatoes, carrots, onion, seeds and spices, and some water, and simmered to combine all the…
There’s a vegetarian place in Williamsburg called Bliss that we used to go to when we lived in that part of Brooklyn, in large part because it was cheap and featured the “bliss bowl” which consisted of brown rice, beans, greens, tofu or tempeh, and a tahini-miso sauce. Over the years, it has become a more malleable idea in our kitchen, but essentially means the same thing: a perfect meal in a bowl (there’s also…
Last year, we got a pass on December; it was so warm that the daffodils came up and we raked up the willow leaves just before Christmas. This time around, not so much. Snow, sleet, wind, and freakin’ frigid. So tonight, ironically, the freezer yielded the bulk of our dinner. Sweet potato gnocchi dough left from Thanksgiving, mirepoix, and kale were the bulk of it, supplemented by request with cranberry sauce- slightly undersweetened, with cider,…
Last night I made mushroom risotto (a chicken carcass needed brothing) with shiitakes and dried porcini. Today I rolled it in nori, and the chick pea curry (warmed) in tortillas with pickled serranos. Pickled beets on the side. Yum. The pickled things are really doing it for me right now, and I love dispatching leftovers efficiently.
Have you ever wondered why your homemade Indian food never quite achieves the rich, satisfying depth that even the cheapest restaurant delivers all the time? There are two reasons. The first is that if they’re any good, they grind their own spices fresh every day. The second is butter. Clarified, yes, but butter. And cream. In copious quantities. I discovered this shocking- SHOCKING- fact the other night when I absently glugged the last of some…
The anti-Halloween, if you will. Super clean and healthy to compensate for all the sweets. Brown rice, with three complementary preparations on top: seitan braised with onion, radish, carrot, ginger, garlic, and scallion; freshly-dug burdock simmered in water with a pinch of salt; a purée of collards, mustard greens, and sorrel with lime. Milo LOVES burdock, and told me so. This was a nice case of making satisfying food for the family while still keeping…
Faced with a cool day, perfect things in the garden, and some milk left in the jar we got from Juliette, a creamed soup seemed to be the right choice. Tofu provided a nice flavor and textural complement, as well as protein. So the heavenly mirepoix from the garden began a really nice soup that then included potatoes, leeks, and broccoli, then got stick-blended with milk into a thick unstrained purée; I wanted this rustic…
No, not the movie (which we still haven’t seen.) But a combination of old and new- some of the party leftovers (Nina’s ratatouille, all the grilled veggies that didn’t fit in my pie, etc.) added to a heavenly mirepoix of our own onion, fennel, celery, carrot and blessed guanciale after deglazing with a few dregs also remaining in a couple of bottles. A word on this mirepoix: I can honestly say that of the many…
It was quite hot and muggy today, and after a swim in the river Milo and I needed something light yet satisfying. The zucchini are going off again, so I made them into “noodles” with the saladacco and churned a thick, yummy sauce of fresh and dried tomatoes, pine nuts, pesto, and oil in the food processor. With a lovely cold glass of Les Domaniers Puits de Moret Côtes de Provence rosé (the Ott acquisition,…