Miso. Butter. Is. Amazing. I don’t know why the combo never occurred to me, but when I scrolled past the mere mention somewhere out there on the Internets, I was intrigued.
I’m glad I followed that particular tangent, because I would happily slather this stuff on pretty much anything (including toast).
gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan if you swap for vegan butter
Pictured here with sweet potato fries, which is also a good call
Miso Butter Bowl
miso butter:
3 Tbsp. your favorite butter, softened
2 Tbsp. white miso
A big hand full of minced scallion whites
Mush the above into a compound butter.
bowl:
1 zucchini, chopped
1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
1/2 onion, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Your favorite seasoning (I used Tony’s Cajun)
toppers:
Roast chickpeas (to make: drain and rinse a can of chickpeas, spread out in a single layer on a prepared sheet and bake at 400F for 20-30 mins or until your desired level of crisp and brownness has been reached. Toss with a Tablespoon of oil and a liberal amount of your favorite seasoning – I used more of that Tony’s)
The greens from your scallions
Sesame seeds
This would also be great with a good cashew cheese, but I did not have any on hand
To assemble, sauté the zucchini, corn, onion and garlic in a teaspoon of oil until your desired level of brownness has been reached. Season with salt, pepper and your seasoning. Add the miso butter and let go another minute or two.
Add the veggies into a bowl, and top with your extras.
I’ve been having a mini love-affair with miso this week – stay tuned for more umami bomb recipes coming in the next few weeks – and this delicious little dinner salad does that love justice.
I can see using the leftovers of this dressing mixed with quinoa, or in a pumpkin-heavy dish. Also as a drizzle for chicken.
gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan
Miso Vinaigrette Salad
Dressing:
1 heaping Tbsp. white miso
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 Tbsp. neutral oil
2 Tbsp. sushi vinegar
2 Tbsp. lime juice
2 tsp. honey
Pinch cayenne
Salt & pepper
Salad:
1 large zucchini, chopped
1 large bok choy, washed and sliced thin
1 package baby spinach
2 tsp. sesame oil
Soy sauce
1 scallion, thinly sliced
Sesame seeds
Big hand pepitas (toasted cashews would also be great)
Protein of choice: I used simply sautéed tofu
Optional topper: crispy chickpeas
Chop the zucchini and bok choy (whites) and set to sautee over medium-high with the sesame oil.
Let cook until crisp-tender.
Add a generous sprinkle of soy sauce.
Add the spinach and bok choy greens and toss until the spinach is barely wilted. Set aside. Drain if wet.
To make the dressing, whisk or shake all ingredients together.
To assemble the salad, add the toppers and toss with a couple Tablespoons dressing.
This week, I was really attracted to the Buddha bowl pics scattered throughout my Pinterest feed and didn’t want to make 9,000 ingredients – so I worked to combine a list (albeit a large list) of simple ingredients in a variety of ways to make the best of a simple mixture of quinoa + rice.
My week 100% could have been more cost-effective, but it gave me a good dose of the ingredients combining kind of Chopped Kitchen kind of life I’ve been missing.
Quinoa & Rice Base
3/4 c. quinoa (rinse if you’re not lazy like me)
3/4 c. sushi rice (rinse if you aren’t lazy like me)
2 Tbsp. mushroom-based umami powder
1 Tbsp. vinegar (I usually use rice vinegar but only had black vinegar on hand)
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
Big sprinkle salt
3c. water
Combine all and set your rice cooker to cook. Alternately, sushi rice & quinoa both take about 25 minutes to cook on the stove.
Now for the mix-ins to transform this simple added-protein base into a few different dishes.
Day 1: Sesame Crusted Salmon Bowl
Sesame crusted salmon (take 1 salmon steak, skin and de-bone. Pat dry. Brush with a little soy sauce and sprinkle liberally with sesame seeds. Press the sesame seeds into the fish to adhere. Shallow fry over medium-high in a pan until cooked to your desired doneness. Drain on paper towels until ready to use.)
Quinoa + sushi rice base (see recipe above)
Avocado, sliced or cubed
Lemon sesame pickled cucumbers , diced
Pickled ginger, minced
Nori
Roasted butternut squash (Mix 1 Tbsp. soy sauce, 1 Tbsp. sesame oil, 1/2 tsp. date molasses & 1/2 tsp. white miso into a sauce – drizzle over a halved and seeded butternut squash and bake @ 400F for 25 mins or until soft and browned)
Sauce
1 Tbsp. peanut butter (tahini would also be great)
1 tsp. white miso
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. Bulldog sauce (or Worcestershire)
2 tsp. black vinegar (or sushi vinegar)
1 Tbsp. water
1 tsp. your favorite hot sauce (I used a habanero mix)
To make your bowl, assemble about half a cup of the quinoa mix and later the desired amount of the rest of the ingredients. Drizzle sauce over top and sprinkle with thinly sliced nori. Dust with more sesame if desired.
Day 2: Spicy Fiesta(ish) Bowl
1/2 c. frozen corn
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/4 red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Sauté the above in olive oil; season with salt, pepper & Tony’s Creole seasoning or your favorite spicy mix
Bowl Base
1/2 c. quinoa
1 hand full cilantro, chopped
1 Tbsp. water
1 Tbsp. lime juice
Add the water to the quinoa and zap to warm. Stir in the cilantro and lime juice.
Sauce
2 Tbsp. your favorite plain yogurt (mine is a plain coconut milk)
2 tsp. – 1 Tbsp. your favorite hot sauce (mine is a habanero garlic mix)
Stir to combine.
Toppers
Avocado
Butternut squash leftover from the first bowl
To make your bowl, assemble about half a cup of the quinoa mix and later the desired amount of the rest of the ingredients. Drizzle sauce over top and top with avocado & squash.
Day 3: Spiced Chickpea Veggie Bowl
1.5 c. chopped kale
1/2 small red onion, diced
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 lg. zucchini, diced
1 Tbsp. oil
Salt & pepper
Sauce
1/4 c. yogurt
1 Tbsp. almond butter
1 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. sumac
2 tsp. lemon juice
Leftover Bowl Components
Butternut squash
Quinoa rice mix
Topper
Avocado
Roasted chickpeas (I usually buy mine and have an Indian spiced variety that’s amazing)
To make your bowl, assemble about half a cup of the quinoa mix and later the desired amount of the rest of the ingredients. Drizzle sauce over top and add avocado & chickpeas.
This green sauce makes a fantastic all-around dressing to keep on hand as a meat seasoning, salad dressing, dip, and little add-in to something like a nice grain bowl for a flavor punch.
A note on spice: I used 1 Tbsp. Fiery Fool hot sauce. This stuff is hot, and it made my sauce nice and spicy. I lean toward spice so I would totally suggest going in that direction. If you do not, a de-seeded jalapeño would be fine.
gluten-free, paleo, pescatarian
Great Green Sauce Salad
Sauce
10 cloves garlic
4 scallions (reserve 2 + 2 of the dark green parts for the salad body)
1/4 c. cilantro
1 Tbsp. your favorite pretty dang hot hot sauce (see head note)
1 Tbsp. vinegar (I used black vinegar)
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 Tbsp. sweetener (I used brown sugar)
1/3 c. olive oil
Salad
10 radishes, sliced into thin moons
3 – 4 small cucumbers, sliced into thin moons
2 scallions (whole), sliced thin + 2 green parts of scallions, also sliced thin
1/2 c. snap peas, sliced thin on the bias
1 jalapeño
5 – 10 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
Optional: Chicken that’s been marinated and sauteed in some sauce
Topper: Finishing salt & fresh cracked black pepper
To make the dressing, blitz all the sauce ingredients, incorporating the oil in a steady stream to make an emulsification. Set aside.
Assemble the salad by tossing all salad ingredients together. Add 1/4 – 1/2 cup of the sauce to dress and top with some finishing salt & freshly cracked black pepper before serving.
Serves 2 for dinner beefed up with a protein (I had mine with leftover chicken, but steak bites, salmon or tofu chunks would also be great)
I don’t know about you, but it’s boiling hot where I live – aaaaand I ate so much on my vacation to the States that pretty much all I want is a crisp, refreshing salad. With no lettuce, because it’s not my favorite way to do salad.
This recipe is a riff on a Vietnamese version I read in a magazine on the plane – if I remember correctly, that version had less in the way of heat and less in the way of vinegar. I had leftovers of this salad for days (yay, a salad that gets even better as it ages) and liked the days I remembered to add a little extra lime juice kick the most.
gluten-free (check your labels), paleo, pescatarian, low carb
Tomato Salad Goes To Asia
1/4 c. sugar (I used brown)
1/4 c. fish sauce
1/4 c. lime juice + more for serving
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
Big pinch red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds (optional)
Generous bit freshly cracked pepper
500g cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 fennel bulb, sliced into thin moons
3 small or 1 large cucumber, sliced into thin moons
1 long pepper (your fav variety – I used something red akin to a Cubanele)
2 c. mixed herbs (I used cilantro, mint & dill)
Toppers: Roasted, salted peanuts, French fried onions, green onion slices, finishing salt, extra squeeze lime juice, extra cracks black pepper
Combine all ingredients listed before the tomatoes in a jar and shake until we’ll combined and the sugar has dissolved.
Chuck the rest of the non-topper ingredients in a large bowl. Toss with the dressing.
Serve with your desired toppers and enjoy for a few meals.
Preheat your oven to 375F/200C. Halve your zucchini and semi-scoop the middles out. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle heavily with salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet cut side down.
Bake about 20 minutes or until browning and cooked through.
Meanwhile, make your bruschetta topping. Dice the tomato, mince the onion and garlic tear or chop the basil, chop the picked thyme. Add to a bowl with a couple good glugs of oil, a generous amount of salt & pepper, 1 tsp. your favorite vinegar, and a generous drizzle of balsamic glaze.
Let sit while your zucchini bakes.
To assemble, fill each zucchini like a boat and serve.
To bump this out to be a more substantial meal, add some chopped leftover shrimp like I did, or add some pearl couscous cooked in stock to the bruschetta mix.
This is a great riff on a classic Middle Eastern sauce (kinda like the ME version of chimichurri) with a nice, light salad.
This sauce can also be used as a meat marinade, as a topper for crispy potatoes, as a sauce in a sandwich, mixed with zucchini, avocado & peas in pasta, and as a mix-in for rice. I’m sure there are 999999 other ways to use it, but I ran out before I could try more. Which I will. I suspect this would be bomb with a Kewpie mayo egg salad sandwich.
I think next time I make this sauce, I’ll use a mortar & pestle instead of a blender – my favorite version from a local restaurant has a thicker mince and even punchier garlic.
gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, paleo, low-carb
Cucumber Salad with Zhoug Sauce
Zhoug
6 cloves garlic
3 jalapeños (or a mix of jalapeños and other peppers – seed if you need to)
1 cup flat leaf parsley
1 cup cilantro
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
Pinch cayenne
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
Pinch sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. lime juice
1/2 c. olive oil
Blend to combine in your food processor or blender until your desired consistency is reached.
Salad
2-3 small cucumbers or 1 large English cucumber, sliced thinly or diced
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. fresh dill, chopped
1 small red onion, sliced wafer thin
Generous amount flake salt & black pepper
1/2 c. zhoug sauce
Combine and let sit 1/2 an hour or more to let the flavors meld.
Serves a few as a simple side with a protein. Would also make a fantastic bbq side in place of a Southern-style cucumber salad.
I know, *another* hash. Can you get any more basic?
Nope. Nope you can’t. This girl loves breakfast, and hates eating dinner off of a plate at home. I also had an inexplicably strong desire for shredded zucchini, so hash it was.
I’m glad I listened to my weirdo craving – this was dang good. I’ll be making it again because this base is super versatile.
Some topping options:
Like I served it with leftover crumbled sausage, cherry tomatoes & Choula
Taco meat, guacamole and salsa
Chorizo or breakfast sausage & a fried egg
Turkey bacon & a fried egg (had this for breakfast the next day and it was 💯
Marinara & shredded protein of your choice with red pepper flakes
Salmon burger or crab cake with lemon aioli and capers
Let me know if you make any of these other options, tag me on Instagram @gastography – I’d love to see how they turned out!
On to the actual recipe.
gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian, vegan
Ignore my poor little abused Ikea bowl. She’s got problems.
Veg-Forward Hash Bowl Base
4 small waxy potatoes (about 2 cups shredded)
1 small red onion, shredded
1 large zucchini, shredded
2 cloves garlic, grated
1/2 cup sautéed minced red pepper & onion
Salt & pepper
Neutral oil
Shred the veggies and add in a pile to a clean tea towel. When all the veggies are in, twist as hard as you can to release as much water as possible. You want your mixture pretty dry so it picks up a bit of color rather than just steaming – if you’re me. You do you, though.
Heat a Tablespoon or so of your favorite fat over medium high heat. Add the squeezed veggies and stir to break up.
Hit with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Stir again.
Let sauté until browned to your liking. Add the pepper & onion mix. Stir to combine.
This process took me about 12 minutes to hit my desired level of brownness (stirring pretty frequently to avoid all-out burning) and for my potatoes to be cooked through.
You could also use frozen hashed browns here and that may take a different cooking time.
Taste for seasoning and hit with more salt, pepper or garlic powder if needed. Smoked paprika would also be nice here – cumin would be good, too. I made mine plain so I had maximum topping options.
Ooh, this is a sneaky good one. I had *hoped* it would turn out well, but don’t have the best track record when I’m winging a coconut-based curry.
I’m happy to report that bland track record has been rectified – this dish is zippy, tangy, and still manages to give that ‘hug in a bowl’ feeling of a good coconut broth. Plus: it’s paleo, which is even better feeling for my particular body – and I didn’t miss the rice one bit.
gluten-free, paleo
Eggplant Curry With Meatballs
First, make the curry so it can simmer while the meatballs cook.
2 small potatoes (white and kinda waxy – you want something that won’t fall to mush after a good simmer)
1/2 cup good broth (I used a homemade combo chicken & ham bone broth)
Heaping Tablespoon of your favorite curry powder
Small chop the potatoes and eggplant. Add to a large pan over medium heat with a couple teaspoons neutral oil. Hit with a little salt and pepper.
Sauté a couple minutes while you gather the rest of your ingredients.
Add the stock, bring up to a simmer and let cook a couple more minutes.
Add the tamarind and chili pastes. Stir well to combine.
Add the coconut milk. Stir to combine.
Add the curry powder. Stir to combine. Bring up to a simmer, kick the heat back and let barely burble 20 minutes or until the potatoes are well cooked and the eggplant is super soft. Taste. Add a little more salt and pepper if necessary.
While the curry is working, make the meatballs.
Preheat the oven to 375F/200C. Prepare a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, combine:
1 lb. ground chicken
1/4 red onion, grated
1/4 red onion, minced
1/4 cup cilantro, minced
1 Tbsp. baking soda mixed in 1 Tbsp. water to form a slurry
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 inch ginger, grated
1 Tbsp. your favorite curry powder
Salt & pepper
Form your meat mixture into ping pong sized balls and arrange on the sheet.
Bake 15 minutes while the curry works.
To serve, a squeeze of lime is nice on top but isn’t necessary.
Gastography 