Tag: vegetarian

Spicy Potato Salad

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This potato salad makes the perfect foil for grilled meats on a hot summer’s night and only improves in the fridge. It has enough heat to make things interesting, but not so much that the fire department needs to be called.

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Spicy Potato Salad

1 lb. baby red potatoes
2 Tbsp. mayo (we use olive oil-based)
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. capers
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
1/4 onion
2 eggs
2 ribs celery
1 Tbsp. canned chipotle

Wash your potatoes, halve (you want potato chunks that are roughly uniform in size and around the 1/2 inch) and place into a large pot. Add enough water to cover by a few inches and a palm full of salt. Bring to a boil and let boil 8 minutes or until soft but not disintegrating.

While the potatoes are cooking, place your eggs into a small sauce pot and cover with water. Bring up to a boil and let boil 4 minutes. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Peel and slice thin.

Dice the chipotle and add to a large bowl. Add the mayo, vinegar and lemon juice and whisk, streaming in the olive oil as you go, until a dressing is formed. Salt & pepper to taste.

Dice the celery and add to the bowl.

Slice the onion wafer thin and add to the bowl.

Add the capers.

When the potatoes are done, drain and add to the bowl. Stir to combine.

Add the egg and gently fold in.

Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary.

Serves 2 for dinner and 1 for lunch.

Roasted Corn Salad with Avocado Mousse

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This dish makes the perfect accompaniment to any summer grilled entree, from veggie burgers to sausage or steaks. Yum.

Roasted Corn Salad with Avocado Mousse

4 ears corn, shucked
1 red bell pepper
1 avocado, halved and separated from its skin
2 limes, halved
1/4 red onions, diced
1 Tbsp. basil, diced
1 Tbsp. cilantro, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 c. creme fraiche
1 squirt sriracha
Salt & pepper to taste

On a medium-high flame, grill the corn until blistered all over and burned in spots. Don’t worry – slightly burned corn tastes great.

Grill the pepper until the skin has blackened on all sides and is starting to split.

Grill the avocado until well marked.

Grill the limes until well marked and juicy. This is the perfect preparation for limes that have gotten a little hard, as the heat brings the juices right back out.

Remove everything from the grill as it is done and set aside to cool.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the avocado, creme fraiche, juice of 1 lime, 1 squirt sriracha and half the garlic. Process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. If this mixture is thicker than you would like, thin with a little water. I wanted a mousse-like consistency.

When the veggies have cooled enough to handle, peel the pepper and chop. Stand the corn up on its cut-from-the-stalk end and run your knife slowly down the cob to separate the kernels, making sure to get down to the hard cob core. You may want to do this in a big bowl or on a big chopping board – things can get a little messy.

Combine the corn kernels, pepper, the juice of the second lime, basil, cilantro, second half of the garlic, cumin and chili powder in a bowl. Taste. Season accordingly and serve topped with avocado mousse.

Serves 2-4

Pea and Pepper Quinoa with Lemon and Miso

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This quick weeknight meal comes together in a flash. You get a great depth of flavor from the hit of miso and preserved lemon and a light, perfect-for-spring healthy meal.

Pea and Pepper Quinoa with Lemon and Miso

1 cup quinoa
2 c. vegetable stock
1 tsp. preserved lemon, diced
2 c. snap peas, tipped and chopped
1 tsp. white miso
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
S+P to taste

In a medium pot over high heat, bring the quinoa and stock up to a boil. Knock the heat back to a simmer, cover, and cook 20-25 minutes or until the quinoa curlicues open and the grain softens.

Meanwhile, heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil over medium-high heat in a large-ish pan. Add the pepper and sautee, stirring frequently, until the edges start to brown.

Add the peas and continue cooking until they are crisp-tender.

Add the miso and stir until combined.

Add the cooked quinoa and preserved lemons. Toss. Season with salt & pepper to taste.

Serves 2 for dinner + 1 for lunch.

Fire Roasted Tomato & Pepper-y Lentils with Citrus Kick

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I whipped this quick-and-easy lunch up from things I scrounged in the fridge. A half-used can of fire roasted tomatoes, some crazy good fire roasted red pepper spread from Trader Joes, some leftover lentils, citrus salt I made awhile back and some of the gremolata I served at Easter that has been chilling in the back of my fridge.

Fire Roasted Tomato & Pepper-y Lentils with Citrus Kick

1 tsp. olive oil
1/2 cup black lentils, cooked
2 Tbsp. fire roasted tomatoes with green chills
2 Tbsp. fire roasted red pepper paste
2 big pinches citrus salt
handful hazelnut gremolata

In a medium pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the cooked lentils and cook, stirring frequently, until warmed through and starting to sizzle. Add the tomatoes and red pepper paste and stir (and stir, and stir) until thoroughly combined. Let sautee a few minutes until nice and hot. Toss in a big handful of the gremolata and sprinkle with a couple pinches citrus salt.

Serves 1 for lunch.

Lemony Chickpea Mash

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I made this side to go with Cider-Braised Pork Shoulder with Caramelized Onion and Apple Confit and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. The pork was great, don’t get me wrong – soft, sweet, tangy, porky. But the chickpeas, the chickpeas were a revelation. My DH and I are trying to make a conscious effort to decrease the amount of “white” starch we are eating – no more bread, pasta, potatoes or rice noodles at home. Basically, no more of our very favorites and my go-tos for meal planning. Well, I wouldn’t say quite no more, but a limit has been placed on that type of food around these parts. And it’s at turns hard (when all I want to do is make a quick noodle dish) and not very hard at all (I really don’t miss bread).

As such, we are eating more lentils and legumes, more nut butters, a little more “real” meat (apparently bacon and/or eggs doesn’t really count as actual meat), and more straight-up vegetable based meals without the use of starch as a crutch. That’s the hard one. That one has been frickin killing me – I’m the queen of one-bowl dinner salads. Dinner salads and noodle dishes. Luckily, I’ve discovered the joys of cauliflower rice and stumbled upon an offhand mention of chickpea mash.

Think of chickpea mash like a mashed potato. It should be a luscious, decadent feeling puddle – a balm, even. Like mashed potatoes, or even grits. Comfort for the health-conscious (yeah, I know, my recipe uses canned chickpeas – I’m lazy).

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Chickpea mash pictured above with the lovely pork dish mentioned in the head notes and crisped greens with garlic.

Lemony Chickpea Mash

1 can low sodium chickpeas, washed and drained
1 Tbsp. tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
Olive oil
Water to lubricate
Salt & pepper to taste

Add the chickpeas, tahini and lemon juice to the bowl of your food processor. Let spin, using water and a few good glugs of olive oil to get everything moving until you get the texture you want. You’re looking for a thick-ish, velvety spread. Something that isn’t watery, but isn’t a big pile of glop. Kind of like hummus (this would also make a killer hummus-style dip, btw). Taste. Add salt & pepper ’till your heart’s content.

Serves 2 for dinner with a small portion left over for lunch.

Party Dumplings 3 Ways

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These are the closest approximations I can come to for a dumpling spread I made to celebrate a good friend’s graduate school graduation. These suckers all went lighting quick – especially the beef version – and were generally raved about by the crowd. I also made a dipping sauce, and kind of just threw everything that looked Asian-y in the pantry & fridge together and added mayo for thickness (olive oil mayo, fish sauce, soy sauce, key lime juice, chili garlic sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, rice wine, and ketjap manis). I have no idea on the quantities involved. I just squirted, shook, and tasted as I went. Next time I might add yogurt as a base – I had wanted something thick (hence the mayo), but it didn’t really work out like that.

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– I know, the picture is just riveting. I completely spaced on taking a picture either before or during the party. Luckily, for some unknown reason, I snapped a shot of the dumpling assembly line aftermath.

Basil Beef Dumplings

Inspired by the Thai Basil Beef Balls from Health-Bent

1 lb. ground beef (I went lean here)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
2 1/2 Tbsp jarred red pepper spread from Trader Joe’s
2 Tbsp. soy sauce (or coconut aminos for paleo)
1 Tbsp. fish sauce
1 Tbsp. chili garlic sauce
1 tsp. lime juice
1 tsp. rice vinegar
1 tsp. sesame oil
Big pinch sesame seeds
2 green onions, minced
1 handful fresh basil leaves, chopped
Breadcrumbs (leave out if making paleo)
Wonton wrappers (leave out if making paleo)

Mix all ingredients (minus the breadcrumbs and wonton wrappers) together in a bowl. I mix by hand just like I’m making meatballs. Combine well. Add bread crumbs until the mixture becomes less gooey and more like a cohesive meatball. I added by shakes of the container – maybe about a half cup to a cup?

Line your wonton wrappers out assembly-line style. I did 30 at a time, and that worked just fine. Put a small dish of water within reach.

Start filling your wontons by placing a small ball (mini meatball or nickel to quarter-sized) slightly off center on each wrapper. You might want to just start with one and fold it to make sure you have the ball size right.

Dip your finger in the water and dampen 3 corners of the wonton. Fold the dry corner over the meatball, forming a triangle. Pick up and pinch everything together so the air comes out and you have a triangle with a meat lump.

dampen one of the long pointy sides, fold over the triangle and join with the dry long pointy sides. Pinch together. You should now have something resembling a little hat.

If that isn’t working for you, just dampen 3 sides of the wonton and fold over to form a rectangle. It will still be fabulous.

After all your wontons are ready to go, heat a thin layer of canola or other high smoke point oil in your largest frying pan with a lid over medium-high heat. Add the wontons carefully spaced out enough so they aren’t right up against each other and fry until deeply browned (but not burnt) on the bottom.

With your lid held as a splatter shield, add a big splash of water, lower the lid quickly, and steam 5 minutes.

Serve whenever – I put all my wontons on foil overnight in the fridge and pulled them out 3 hours before the party. They were all served room temperature.

Makes about 30-40 dumplings.

These beef dumplings were the first to run out and were wildly popular with the party crowd.

Asian Chicken Dumplings

Inspired by the Asian Pork Meatballs with Dipping Sauce from Health-Bent

1 lb. ground poultry
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp. sesame seeds
2 tsp. to a Tablespoon fish sauce
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 green onions, diced
1 tsp. ginger, minced
1 Tbsp. chili garlic sauce
Handful parsley, chopped
1 tsp. sesame oil
Bread crumbs (leave out if making paleo)
Wontons (leave out if making paleo)

Pretty much follow the same exact directions as those for the Beef Basil Dumplings. I varied the way I folded these dumplings so they wouldn’t get mixed up when serving.

To fold: put your meatball in the center and dampen all the edges. Pick up, make a circle with your thumb and forefinger, and tuck the ball into the hole. Pinch the edges up and together until you have a little purse. Pinch and stick. Again, if that isn’t working for you, go the easy route. People will still be impressed and they will still taste awesome.

Cooking directions are exactly the same, as are the portions.

On to dumpling 3, because I’m not an overachiever and was worried about vegetarians.

Pea Dumplings

This is a riff on Heidi Swanson’s Plump Pea Dumplings on her blog 101 Cookbooks. I make these dumplings every single time we have potsticker night, and my DH said that this is my best batch ever. They were pretty frickin good.

1 bag frozen peas, thawed
1 c. ricotta (I will update if I find a good paleo sub here – I’m thinking some sort of cashew based cream would work nicely for thickness)
Zest & juice of 1 lemon
1/4 to a half tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
Big pinch or 2 citrus salt
1/4 tsp or so white pepper
A glug of extra virgin olive oil
Wontons (leave out if making paleo)

Add all ingredients to a food processor and let go until smooth (or mostly smooth). While the peas are working, toss in a glug or 2 of olive oil if things aren’t moving fast enough. Taste. Adjust seasoning as needed. I ended up adding more salt at the end and maybe a dash more pepper. You want this filling to pop and sing on its own before you stuff it into a dumpling. If you want to eat the whole bowl standing over the sink – screw the party – then you’ve got it right.

I folded these the lazy way. I plopped a teaspoon or so down the middle, dampened 3 sides of the wonton and folded over until I had a rectangle. Some squirted out the edges on each, but that is okay.

Cooking and portions are the same as the rest. I ended up having extra of each type of filling and have been using it in dinner recipes since. Last night was pea risotto with chicken meatballs. Recipe coming soon, that one was good (though the meatballs were slightly out of balance with the peas…).

Spring Pea Risotto

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This dinner comes together in about half an hour – perfect for a fulfilling and rather healthy weekday comfort food dish. I served this risotto with meatballs made from leftover chicken dumpling filling.

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Spring Pea Risotto

1 cup arborio rice
1 cup leftover pea dumpling filling
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 bulb fennel, chopped
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
1 tsp. lemon thyme, chopped

Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the fennel and cook until starting to brown around the edges.

Add the rice, stir well and cook 2-3 minutes.

Add the wine and cook until mostly absorbed.

Add the stock, half a cup at a time, until the rice stops absorbing liquid. Stir frequently. This should take 20-25 minutes.

When the rice is finished, stir in the pea purée and thyme.

Serves 2 for dinner + 1 for lunch.

No Tato Salad

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This is a vegetarian-ish, gluten-free and paleo-friendly version of that perennial Summer favorite – potato salad. I went German with my inspiration, but curry or hot spice versions would be great as well. This really does end up tasting like potato salad. You don’t get the density of potatoes, but if you’re trying to avoid them and Summer just ain’t Summer without some homestyle potato salad (and a big ear of corn and some brats), this salad is for you. It’s also pretty quick to whip up and makes a great side dish for a nice big steak.

No-Tato Salad

1 head cauliflower
2 stalks celery
1/4 to 1/2 c. yellow onion (~ 1/4 of an onion, preferably Vidalia or some other sweet variety)
2 Tbsp. fresh parsley
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. mayo (I use the type made with olive oil – sub with home made to make it paleo)
2 Tbsp. capers (or good old green Spanish olives)
1 Tbsp. dijon mustard (sub with yellow mustard to make it Whole30)
1/4 tsp. celery salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Salt & pepper
Sweet paprika (optional)

Place the eggs in a small pot. Cover with water and put over a burner on high. Bring to a boil, let go 4 minutes and cut the heat. Remove pot to the sink, drain, and fill with cold water.

While your eggs are cooking, chop/snap the cauliflower into small florets. When this is complete, add to a large pan over medium high heat with a splash or 2 of water. Cook until softened – if you want to go a little brown here, have at it. I went for just steamed to taste as close as possible to potatoes, but brown would be nice, too. Remove from the heat when done. Add to a large bowl to cool.

While that is working, dice the celery, onion, capers and parsley. Add to the bowl with the cauliflower.

When the eggs are done, cool, peel and dice. Add to the bowl.

Add the mayo, mustard, celery salt & garlic powder. Combine. Taste & add salt and pepper if needed. Dust with paprika as an optional old school garnish.

Serves 2 for dinner with a nice steak and 1 for lunch beefed up with a little chicken and the gift that keeps on giving: hazelnut gremolata (yes, this is the same gremolata that’s been kicking around the back of my fridge and popping up here and there since Easter).

Corn Salsa Pasta

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This easy weeknight dinner combines all that is good about corn salsa with a nice gluten-free pasta for a no-fuss meal that is high in taste and low in drama.

Corn Salsa Pasta

2 ears corn, de-cobbed
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 pickled jalapeño, diced
3 Tbsp. salsa
3 Tbsp. crema
1/2 package (2 servings) corn pasta
Salt & pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. olive oil

Put a large pot of water on to boil. While your water is boiling, de-cob your corn kernels, chop your bell pepper, slice your onions, dice the jalapeño and gather the rest of your ingredients.

In a large pan over medium heat, bring the olive oil up to temperature. Add the onions and sautee until translucent. Add the corn and pepper and sautee, raising the temperature a bit if needed, until starting to brown around the edges. The goal is for the corn and peppers to get some nice browning (especially the corn), but to not burn the onions. This is a fine line to walk. When the pepper is soft and everything is browned to your liking, it is time to add the pasta. If the pasta is done, add it now. If not, knock the heat down to low to wait for the pasta.

When draining the pasta, reserve 1/2 a cup or so of the starchy water to help make a sauce.

Add the drained pasta to the pan, along with the jalapeño and salsa. Cook over medium heat, stirring to combine. When all is combined, add the crema and enough pasta water to create a sauce. Toss and serve.

Serves 2 for dinner + 1 for lunch.

Orange and Fennel Israeli Couscous

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This makes a nice light weeknight vegetarian meal for two. If you have someone who is sensitive to texture in the house like I do, make sure to slice the fennel into manageable slices before caramelizing. The original recipe called for serving the fennel in wedges and this elicited the ick face from my DH. The original recipe also called for kalamata olives, which would be great, but that’s another DH no-no, so I omitted them. Capers would make a nice substitute for the similarly olive-challenged.

Orange and Fennel Israeli Couscous

Adapted from The Kitchn’s Couscous with Chickpeas, Fennel and Citrus 

1 large bulb fennel

3 Tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. ground coriander

1 can low sodium chickpeas, drained

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Zest and juice of 1 orange

1 big pinch citrus salt (if you have it)

1 big pinch regular kosher salt

1 cup Israeli couscous

Zest the lemon and orange. Set aside. Juice the zested orange into a measuring cup and add water until you have 1 1/2 cups of liquid.

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring 1 Tbsp. olive oil up to temperature. Add the couscous and stir to coat. Let the couscous toast 2 minutes or until it starts to brown just a hair and get the slightest bit nutty. Add the zests, 1 big pinch kosher salt and liquid. Bring to a boil and drop the heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer until the couscous is softened, about 15-20 mins.

Meanwhile, prepare your additions. Trim the fennel and slice, reserving fronds for garnish. Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the fennel and cook until deeply caramelized (but not burnt), stirring occasionally to avoid burning, 8 minutes or so. Add coriander, chickpeas and stir to combine. Sautee until chickpeas start to toast. If they get too dry, add a splash of water. In the last minute or so, add the lemon juice and stir.

To serve, combine all components and toss. Finish off with a big pinch or two of citrus salt and a sprinkle of chopped fennel fronds.

Serves 2 for dinner.