vegetarian – Page 9 – Gastography

Roasted Pumpkin Miso Pasta

September 5, 2020August 13, 2020RecipesLeave a Comment

This lower-than-it-could be in carbs dish started life as the baby of a Japanese curry recipe and a ramen recipe and snowballed into a straight-up yummy pasta dish. I’m super bummed I only made enough to serve two; this was fantastic.

gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian, vegan

Roasted Pumpkin Miso Pasta

About a cup chopped pumpkin or butternut squash

2 tsp. white miso paste

Veggie or chicken stock

1/2 tsp. red chili flakes

Olive oil

1 Tbsp. + sesame oil

Curry powder

1 inch peeled fresh ginger, minced

2 scallions, minced

Sesame seeds

Soft egg (optional)

Togarishi (optional)

Kontjac noodles or sushi rice or ramen or udon or zoodles – all would be awesome, though I’ve only tried wide kontjac and rice

Preheat your oven to 200C/375F. Peel and chop the pumpkin into smallish pieces. Add to a prepared baking sheet, lash with oil, and sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper and curry powder. Toss. Bake about 40 minutes or until browned in spots and soft.

Let cool for a beat, and then add to a blender with the miso, red chili flakes, 2 tsp. oil, 1 Tbsp. curry powder, 1 Tbsp. sesame oil, and 1/2 a cup of stock. Blitz, adding more stock if needed to get smooth. I used about a cup in this stage.

In a saucepan or tall-ish sided skillet, add the minced ginger and the white + light green parts of the scallions with 2 tsp. garlic oil. Sauté until the onion is beginning to soften.

Add the blitzed pumpkin and another half cup or so of stock. Let simmer down to the consistency of a thick soup.

Add your drained and rinsed kontjac or whatever curry vehicle you’re feeling, toss, and let simmer a few minutes to combine.

Serve with an optional soft egg, the green parts of the scallions, a little drizzle of sesame oil, a sprinkle of sesame seeds, and some togarishi if you want another hit of spice.

Serves 2 but can easily be scaled up

Sausage Mix

August 22, 2020August 13, 2020RecipesLeave a Comment

I miss Italian sausage. Or any sausage, really, that isn’t merguez, sojuk or a loose mix for kebabs.

The only sausage other than those I’ve seen where I live are chicken or beef hot dogs, and occasionally some smoked turkey or beef kielbasa. Delicious, but not exactly what I’m after. I’ve also seen Beyond Burger brats a couple times, but haven’t for months and I’m tired of waiting.

I used to make sausage back in my Charcuteapalooza days and loved it. This isn’t that, and maybe someday I’ll have the access and equipment to make legit sausages again, but this is a step in at least having those flavors in my life again.

I used my mix two ways: sprinkled liberally over ground chicken in a hash type situation, and sprinkled over potatoes with a little sun dried tomato oil before roasting. Both were delicious.

gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian, vegan

Sausage Mix

1 tsp. each of the following dried spices:

Oregano

Basil

Paprika (I used sweet but smoked would also be delicious)

Black pepper

Onion powder

Dill

Rosemary

Celery seed (or celery salt)

2 tsp. each of these:

Garlic powder

Salt

Cayenne pepper

If you have fennel, this mix will lean more Italian sausage – add 2 teaspoons to the mix. I did not, so I added half the amount of dill. Caraway would also be nice in the 1 tsp. quantity, as would thyme or sage.

Makes about enough for 1 lb. of meat + 1 tray of potatoes

Potato Salad with Damn Good Dressing

August 1, 2020July 23, 2020Recipes4 Comments

This dressing, which was based on an everything dressing posted by one of the blogs I’ve been following long enough to be on its mailing list but whose name escapes me as I’m sitting down to type this up (maybe First Mess?) is fantastic and I could see it being equally as good on vegetarian as meat dishes (I served my salad with some simple seared salmon and it was delicious), and even great on salads. I would also stir this into some nice rice or orzo for a little quick saucy flavor boost. Yum.

gluten-free, paleo, pescatarian, vegetarian, could be made vegan, FODMAP friendly

Potato Salad with Damn Good Dressing

Salad

1/2 kg new potatoes (or other small variety that doesn’t turn to mush when boiled)

4 – 6 hard boiled eggs

2 big hands arugula

Dressing

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup water

2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

2 Tbsp. soy sauce or coconut aminos

1/5 tsp. flax seeds

1 tsp. sturdy brown mustard

2 tsp. lemon juice

3/4 cup neutral oil

1 big hand parsley

1/2 bunch chives

1.5 tsp. anchovy paste (you could swap for miso – what you’re after is umami)

Boil your potatoes 10 minutes or until fork-tender. Drain and quarter. Add to a large bowl.

Hard boil your eggs. Peel, quarter and add to the bowl.

Add the arugula.

In your blender or food processor, combine all dressing ingredients. Hit with some salt and pepper. Whiz until the herbs are chopped and the dressing is combined. Taste. Add more salt/pepper/lemon juice as necessary.

Pour about a cup over the still-warm potatoes. Toss to combine and let sit until you’re ready to serve.

I served my first round of this salad room temperature with nicely seared salmon. Subsequent servings have been heated in the microwave with a little dressing added and they’ve also been great. It’s even decent cold and I’m not a fan of cold cold potato salad.

Serves 4? 5? Depends what you’re doing with it. I got 2 dinners + 2 lunches out of it. And I have about 3/4 of a cup of dressing leftover for the rest of the week.

Kale & Squash One-Skillet Meal

July 25, 2020July 23, 2020RecipesLeave a Comment

This dish feels like a return to my OG ‘everything in skillet; every dinner with a leafy green’ ways. And it was (almost) glorious. A note of caution: watch your salt levels. I wanted my finished dish a bit on the salty side and ended up veering into bad territory. Oops. Stock, as luck has it, still gets saltier as you cook it down – funny how those constant truths never change.

gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian & vegan as written, FODMAP friendly

Kale & Squash One-Skillet Meal

1 bunch chard, kale or other leafy green

2 cups chopped butternut or other squash variety (I had a big slice off of some sort of pumpkiny thing and it worked well)

Stock (I had FODMAP-friendly chicken stock; vegetable would also work well

Half a jar (1/3 cup when chopped) sun dried tomatoes

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

Zest of 1 lemon

Neutral oil

Salt & pepper

De-seed, peel and chop the squash. Wash and chop the chard. Chop the sun dried tomatoes. Zest the lemon.

Add a few good glugs of neutral oil to your largest skillet over medium-high heat. Add the squash and shallow fry until just beginning to soften or until your veggie begins to stick, if you’re like me and decided to give your new cast iron pan it’s inaugural run with something that could have easily failed. Add glugs of stock every time the pumpkin is dry, cooking and stirring frequently until 3/4 of the way cooked through.

Add the chopped chard stems and another glug stock, letting simmer until the stems are tender.

Add the chopped chard tops, lemon zest, chopped sun dried tomatoes and another glug or two of stock and let simmer until the stock has cooked down.

Now, I foolishly added salt & pepper with every addition and mine was way too salty. I’d say add salt & pepper with the squash and then taste at the end to see if you need more.

Despite the saltiness, this dish made a great base for additions and I ended up dressing it different ways for a few days. I added leftover fried potatoes the next day after breakfast. I added some leftover fried up turkey ham and served it with eggs for lunch. Leftover chicken thigh made a good second dinner addition, and I had originally intended on adding sausage to the mix but couldn’t find my beloved Beyond Burger bratwurst (aka the only sausage I can find where I live that isn’t merguez or some sort of Middle Eastern spiced beef varietal).

Serves 4 – 6 depending on how much squash you put in and what you add later – I stretched mine to 6 servings with additions

Tuscan “Chicken”

July 18, 2020July 4, 2020RecipesLeave a Comment

I was craving a creamy, luxurious meatless chicken pasta, and I think this fits the bill.

vegetarian, vegan

Tuscan “Chicken”

Extra firm tofu

1/4 cup soy sauce or tamari

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 tsp. poultry-ish seasoning (I used the kelp seasoning from Bragg’s)

Salt & pepper

1/3 cup or so flour

Spritz oil

1 cup raw cashews

1 + 3/4 cup veggie broth, divided

2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

6 cloves garlic

1 cup sun dried tomatoes

3 cups fresh baby spinach

Bow tie or other pasta

Add the cashews to a saucepan with water; simmer 15 minutes or until soft. Alternately, soak them overnight in water to soften – but I never remember to do this.

While the cashews are doing their thing, make the “chicken”.

Slice the tofu into batons or chunks, cover with paper towels, press to release as much water as possible.

Lay out a dredging station with 1 dish full of soy sauce and 1 of panko mixed with the poultry seasoning, salt, pepper and flour.

Dip the tofu in the soy sauce, coat in the breading, and lay on a prepared baking sheet in a single layer. Spritz with some oil if desired. Bake at 400F/220C for around 25 minutes or until browned and crispy.

While the “chicken” is chicken-ing, make the sauce by blending the (mostly drained) cashews, broth (starting with 1 cup and drizzling in more as needed), nutritional yeast, garlic, and a little salt and pepper.

When done, add to a large pan with the sun dried tomatoes (chopped). Add the spinach and stir gently to wilt. Add a little more stock if you’ve got it or water if you don’t if the sauce thickens too much. Taste for salt and add more if necessary.

Serve with pasta or rice.

Serves 4 for dinner

Hibachi Bowls

June 20, 2020June 1, 2020RecipesLeave a Comment

Not *quite* the same as hibachi out, but still satisfying. And the sauce is kind of addicting – I’ve had it twice in as many days and plan to slather a Beyond Burger with it next burger night 🙂

gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan

Hibachi Bowls

Sauce:

Heaping Tablespoon tahini

2 Tbsp. spicy mustard

2 cloves garlic, grated

4 Tbsp. coconut aminos

1 inch ginger, grated

2 – 3 Tbsp. water

Sesame Tofu:

1 block extra firm tofu

1-2 Tbsp. sesame seeds

2 Tbsp. sesame oil

1 Tbsp. coconut aminos

1 Tbsp. corn starch

Sesame Ginger Snow Peas:

2 cloves garlic, grated

1 inch ginger, grated

1 Tbsp. sesame oil

1 package snow peas

1 Tbsp. coconut aminos

Black pepper

To Serve:

Rice

Pickled ginger, chopped

Sesame seeds

Scallions, chopped

Preheat your oven to 375F/220C. Cut the tofu into 1/2 inch thick slices, cover with a paper towel and press to get the water out. Cut the slices into cubes and toss with the rest of the tofu ingredients.

Spread out in a single layer on a prepared baking sheet.

Bake 25 minutes or until crispy and browned.

While the tofu is working, stir-fry the snow peas until browned in spots.

Whisk the sauce ingredients together, adding more water if you want the mixture more runny.

Serve with the rice, chopped ginger, sesame seeds and scallions.

Serves 4

Stir-fried Beets

June 6, 2020June 1, 2020Recipes2 Comments

This recipe is based on a loose description posted on Instagram about a month ago. No idea which ‘grammer I caged the idea from, but I suspect it was someone either Indian or Middle Eastern, given the direction this dish took. Or, I could have just had Zaatar and mustard oil on hand 🙂

Either way, this is a good little side – would be nice with some tangy goat cheese if you do dairy, and also goes nicely with the Vaguely Persian Crispy Rice I posted awhile back.

gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, paleo

Stir-Fried Beets

1 – 2 roasted and peeled beets, grated (about 1 cup)

2 Tbsp. roughly chopped garlic

1 tsp. yellow mustard seeds

1 tsp. black mustard seeds

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1 Tbsp. ghee or your favorite fat

Zaatar for dusting

1 Tbsp. mustard oil

1/2 tsp. cayenne or red pepper flakes

Heat the oil and ghee over medium-high heat. Add the mustard seeds & oregano and cook, stirring, until fragrant and just beginning to pop. Add the garlic and stir to combine.

Add the beets and flatten to cover the bottom of the pan. Hit with salt and pepper. Let crisp up a bit before stirring – or, let form a cake on the bottom of the pan and flip in wedges (or altogether if you’ve got that kind of skill).

Let brown on the other side, too.

Dust with Zaatar before serving.

Serves 2 – 3 as a light side

Sesame Coconut Rice Bowl

May 30, 2020May 2, 2020RecipesLeave a Comment

This dish turned out miles better than I feared it would. I was hella worried that by using coconut milk as the sole liquid to cook my rice I was going to blow up my rice cooker.

I’m glad those fears were unjustified, because this rice is bomb. So bomb, I made more just so I could serve it with another ‘stepping out on a limb’ dish I’m hoping will be good enough to share with you guys in a few days (spoiler: it involves beets and stir-frying).

This rice makes a great base for simple broccolini like I’ve served here, a nice light green curry, some simple salmon, or even – strangely – some soft-scrambled eggs (or as soft as I can get them, which is not Julia Child level soft).

gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan

Sesame Coconut Rice Bowl

1 cup rice (I used a Basmati/wild combination)

1 14 ounce can coconut milk

1 Tbsp. sesame oil (+more)

2 tsp. your favorite chicken bouillon (mine happens to be vegan and it’s fantastic – Ida’s is the brand and I believe it’s out of South Africa)

Zest of 1 lemon

1 Tbsp. tahini

Red chili flakes

Toasted sesame seeds

1/2 yellow onion, chopped

1 bunch broccolini, chopped

2 tsp. neutral oil

2 tsp. ground turmeric

Set your rice, coconut milk, sesame oil and chicken bouillon in your rice cooker. Add a generous sprinkle salt and cook however you cook rice.

While the rice is going, stir-fry the broccolini and onion in the oil until browned (if you add the stalks in first and get those going until just starting to look cooked you’ll have less chance of burning the flowery bits). Whack with salt and pepper. Add the turmeric and toss. Throw in a few Tablespoons water and let cook until the water evaporates and the broccolini is done to your liking. We like browned in spots but still crisp-tender.

Stir in the tahini and lemon zest.

To serve, add 1/3 of the rice to a bowl and top with 1/3 of the broccolini. Add a drizzle of sesame oil, sprinkle of red pepper flakes, and sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Serves 3 as a light meal or side

Dilled Curry Potatoes

May 16, 2020May 2, 2020RecipesLeave a Comment

This sounds like a weird combination, but it works really well. Bonus: this side dish makes a great little flavor punch for pretty much any main component. I served mine with next week’s Indian Spiced Burgers the first night and leftovers with plain chicken in the next day’s lunch and both were flavorful and delicious.

gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian, vegan

Dilled Curry Potatoes

500g baby potatoes

Neutral oil

1 Tbsp. curry powder (your favorite mix will do, and some fresh curry leaves would also be great here)

1 small green chili pepper

1 Tbsp. ground turmeric

1 tsp. red chili powder (I used cayenne)

4 – 5 cloves fresh garlic (3 Tbsp. when minced)

2 Tbsp. fresh dill (or more if you have more – I would have actually liked a little extra)

Salt & pepper

Fill your largest high-sided sauté pan with water to 3/4 of the way up the sides, nestle the potatoes in, add a bunch of salt and bring to a shallow boil for 10 minutes or until soft. Drain carefully and cut into halves.

While the potatoes are cooking: mince the garlic, chop the chili pepper, assemble the dried spices, and chop the dill. Set the dill aside.

Add enough oil to your pan to cover the bottom, and heat over high/medium-high until the oil starts to shimmer. Add the potatoes, liberally salt and pepper, and give a good stir for a couple minutes until they start to color.

Add the spices and garlic and stir-fry until the potatoes are as browned as you want them to be and the garlic goes nice and crispy.

Transfer to a large bowl and toss with the dill to complete.

Serves 3 – 4

Hummus Pasta with Green Beans

April 25, 2020April 13, 2020Recipes2 Comments

This dish started with a craving for the taste of charred vegetables, lemon and the fattiness of hummus. Weird, I know, but it turned out really well and I’ll definitely be making this again the next time I have a tub of hummus chillin’ in the back of the fridge that’s in danger of going slimy.

gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan

Hummus Pasta with Burnt Green Beans

1.5 cups pasta (I used a gluten-free rice/quinoa mix pasta)

1/4 cup reserved pasta water

1/4 cup hummus

1 lemon

1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley

4 cloves garlic in paper

250g green beans

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Salt & pepper

A few spritzes oil

Preheat your oven to 220C/375F and prep a baking sheet with foil or a silicone liner.

Chop the green beans into bite-sized pieces and toss with a few spritzes oil + salt & pepper. Spread on the sheet in a single layer.

Chuck the garlic cloves (still in their paper) and the lemon (halved, cut side up) on the baking sheet and bake around 25 minutes, or until the green beans have started to burn in spots.

While the beans are working, cook the pasta according to directions. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid. Return to the warm pot.

Add the green beans when done. De-paper the garlic and squish if the cloves are squishable and chop if they’re crispy. Add to the pot. Squeeze the lemon into the mix (I used a chip clip to do so because the lemon was still really hot and my tongs were in the dishwasher). Add the nutritional yeast and hummus and toss, using the reserved pasta water to thin the mixture out if it looks too dry.

Season with salt & pepper.

To serve, spritz with a pump or two of oil to add a little more moisture.

Serves 2 for dinner

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: