Potato and Celeriac Puree

Nutritionists often tell us to eat as many different colors as we can. And on a good day, I can probably get three or four onto my plate -- white, green, pink and red. But there are some colors that we almost never get such as my favorite, purple.

That all changed the other night with this delectable puree. Yes, it's another celeriac (white) recipe but this time I mixed the celeriac with purple potatoes. The celeriac blended right in with the potatoes and we wound up with this exquisite meal, served alongside baked eggplant (for the vegetarian) and chicken (for the omnivore). Leftovers we reheated in a 350F oven for 20 minutes and served under buffalo steak (for the omnivore) and portobello mushrooms (for the vegetarian). A great take on a more traditional (and less colorful) meal!

A note about dairy: as many of you know, I have been avoiding dairy (to the best of my cheese-addicted abilities) for almost a year. I recently re-introduced clarified butter (ghee) into my diet and I love it. It brought an especially rich quality to the puree and mixed perfectly with the rice milk. If you're avoiding dairy of all sorts, feel free to substitute coconut oil instead.

This puree ended up a little chunky (which I love -- anything too silky smooth bores me about halfway through). If, however, you prefer a smoother puree, mash the potatoes and celeriac in the food processor instead of by hand. Bon appetit!

Potato and Celeriac Puree

• 1.5 lbs purple potatoes, cubed
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 celeriac, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup rice milk
• 2-4 tablespoons clarified butter
• 1/2 teaspoon French sea salt

Put potatoes into a large pot and cover with cold water (make sure the pot is big enough to fit the celeriac too and that you put in enough water to cover both). Add kosher salt. Bring pot to a boil over high heat, covered, and cook 10 minutes. Add celeriac and boil another 10 minutes. Drain and return to pot.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring rice milk to a boil. Using a potato masher, mash potatoes and celeriac as smoothly as desired (you could also do this in a food processor). Add 1/4 cup milk and stir (and mash) vigorously until absorbed by the vegetables. Add 1/2-1 tablespoon butter and stir (and mash) until absorbed. Continue adding 1/4 cup milk and 1/2-1 tablespoon butter until puree is a cohesive texture and as rich and decadent as you desire. Sprinkle with sea salt and serve.

Links:

• Celery Root and Potato Mash from Bon Appetit
• Puree of Potato and Celeriac with Garlic from Delia Online
• Celeriac Mash from Epicurious.com
• Celeriac Mash from Allrecipes.com
• Celery Root and Potato Puree from For Love of the Table

Mushroom Soup, Pate, Porcini Sandwich

As Fall settles in and I reluctantly admit that the cold weather is here to stay, I crave soups. And no thin vegetable broths for me; I want thick, dense and warming umami-laden stews. But how to make one that's vegetarian (with the possible exception of chicken broth), gluten-free and sugar-free, thereby satisfying all our collective dietary restrictions?

Enter mushrooms; lots and lots of mushrooms. They're chewy, hearty, tasty and the epitome of vegetarian umami. Often sharing the spotlight with barley, I instead made them the star. I strengthened the flavor with homemade chicken broth (although vegetable would do just as well) and Shaoxing wine (you could also use grape juice). The vegetarian partially pureed it with an immersion blender so it was chunky enough that you had to chew, not merely slurp, it.

The soup was rich and filling. One of our guests declared it the best thing I'd ever made and the vegetarian, who normally avoids leftovers like the plague, heated it up for lunch the next day!

In order to make it into a full meal, we also served sandwiches with mushroom jam (made from dried porcini I brought back from Paris last year) and pate (duck liver for the omnivores and faux gras for the vegetarian). It was a delightful introduction to Fall. Bon appetit!

Mushroom Soup, Pate, Porcini Sandwich
adapted from Le Pigeon: Cooking at the Dirty Bird

Porcini Jam

• 1/4 cup dried porcini
• 1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup Shaoxing wine (or grape juice)
• 1/4 cup lucuma powder
• 1 teaspoon blue diamond salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Szechwan peppercorns
• 1 cup water

Mushroom Soup

• 1/4 cup clarified butter (or coconut oil)
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 8 cloves garlic
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt
• 2 1/2 pounds mixed mushrooms (get as exotic assortment as you can find and afford)
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
• 1/4 cup sherry vinegar
• 1 cup rice wine (or grape juice)
• 1 cup Cocobiotic
• 8 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
• 1 Yukon Gold potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup coconut cream
• 1/2 cup pate (faux gras for vegetarians, liver pate of your choice for omnivores)
• 16 slices bread, toasted (use sprouted, gluten-free or whatever's appropriate to your diet)
• 2 tablespoons ghee (or olive oil)
• 1 tablespoon chives, minced

Begin by making the jam. Combine dried porcini, onion, rice wine, lucuma powder, salt and pepper in a saucepan over low heat. Cook for 1 hour, adding water as needed and stirring occasionally, until it achieves a jammy consistency but isn't completely dry and stuck to the pan. Remove from heat and set aside. Puree it or leave it chunky (we did the latter).

Now make the soup: Melt ghee in a pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and salt and saute 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and thyme and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add vinegar, wine and Cocobiotic and cook 2 more minutes. Add broth and potato, lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 2 minutes. Using an immersion blender, roughly blend soup so the base is thickened but there are still chunks of mushroom. (Unless you want to puree it completely smooth, in which case, do.)

Serve alongside pate, jam, bread and additional ghee. Allow your guests to make their own sandwiches. Sprinkle soup with chives as a garnish. Enjoy!

Links:

• Pates aux Cepes from Serious Eats
• Pressure Cooker Porcini Mushroom Pate from hip pressure cooking
• Warm Porcini Mushroom Flan with Wild Mushroom Confit, Truffle Emulsion and Crispy Phyllo Threads from Food Network
• Creamy Chestnut Soup with Porcini Mushrooms and Sauteed Root Vegetables from Food Network
• The Real Mushroom Soup from Jamie Oliver
  
  

Pan-Roasted Asparagus with Lemon and Garlic

Spring has sprung! Today was the first warm, sunny days in months that actually made me want to spend as much time as possible outside, soaking up the magnificent (and all-but forgotten) warm sunshine.

What do you crave in spring? I often think in terms of colors and I crave light green foods, especially asparagus. The first heralds of spring (often appearing in markets, as they did this year, when the month at the top of each calendar page is at odds with the weather outside), they help pull me out of my annual winter doldrums and remind me that this, too, shall pass and there will be wonderful warm days again when I can once more revel in our beautiful terrace, our personal oasis in the upper extremities of Manhattan that almost makes our commutes worthwhile.

But back to asparagus. While most people grew up blanching or boiling them, my family always roasted them in a hot oven until they became slightly caramelized. Delicious! But what about those days when your oven is otherwise occupied or you just don't feel like turning it on? That, my friends, is when you turn to pan-roasting.

I served these four times in the past three weeks: at our monthly cooking adventure, alongside Iranian Shrimp with Turmeric, Saffron, and Lemon Juice and Persian Dill and Lima Bean Rice; at both Passover seders (without the Parmesan cheese) and at an impromptu Game of Thrones gathering we hosted last weekend. And, while the vegetarian doesn't like asparagus, everyone else gobbled them up. They're wonderful warm or at room temperature and equally tasty with and without the parmesan cheese. Bon appetit!

Pan-Roasted Asparagus with Lemon and Garlic

• 1 pound asparagus, tough ends snapped off
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon water
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• 4 shavings Parmesan cheese (I used a vegetable peeler)

Cook asparagus, olive oil, water and garlic in a large lidded pan over high heat, uncovered, for 2 minutes. Toss asparagus (tongs are the best for this), cover, and cook 1 minute. Remove lid, toss again, return lid and cook 5 minutes. Add lemon juice, toss again, season with salt and pepper and shave parmesan on top. Enjoy!

Links:

• Pan-Roasted Asparagus with Lemon and Garlic from American Food
• Pan-Grilled Asparagus, Garlic and Parsley from Elegantly Gluten-Free
• Pan-Fried Asparagus from Allrecipes.com

Crusty Spinach, Feta and Sun-Dried Tomato Bread Rolls

I know what you're thinking. Have I gone off my rocker? What happened to being gluten-free? That, dear readers, is the beauty of these rolls -- they are gluten-free. And sugar-free. But they don't taste it. The vegetarian's been heating them up for after-work snacks and every time I bite into one my first thought is: "I'm cheating; I'm so going to regret this." But of course I'm not. And I don't.

They're also my most successful venture into gluten-free (and yeast) baking to date! How can it contain yeast and still be sugar-free? The sun-dried tomatoes have enough sugar that the yeast feeds off of them without any sugar necessary! And a successful gluten-free free adaptation of a "normal" recipe that I had bookmarked but couldn't imagine being able to try. What recipe, you ask? This one from Sass & Veracity, a blog I happened to stumble upon while on my endless search on how to sneak more cooking greens (like spinach) into our diet.

And these fit the bill perfectly. Have them plain, as a snack, with a plate of Burrata & Tomatoes, an Asparagus Tortilla, Sungold Tomato & Cannellini Bean Dip or Watermelon, Feta and Arugula Salad. And of course a glass of Research Cab. Bon appetit!

Crusty Spinach, Feta and Sun-Dried Tomato Bread Rolls
adapted from Sass & Veracity

• 1 pound spinach
• 1 1/2 tablespoons (two packages) active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2/3 cup feta, crumbled
• 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, julienned
• 3 egg whites
• about 2 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 6 1/2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour, plus additional
• Cornmeal (no more than 1/4 cup)

Pour two inches cold water into a pot and add spinach. Place heat on high and steam 5-10 minutes, until spinach is wilted. Remove and drain. When cool, wrap spinach in a clean dishtowel and ring out excess moisture. Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together yeast, salt, spinach, feta and tomatoes. Place egg whites into a measuring cup and add lukewarm water until you have 3 cups of liquid. Stir into the spinach mixture. Add flour one cup at a time and stir gently with a wooden spoon just until combined. Cover bowl with a clean dishtowel and place in a cold, turned-off oven for 2 hours to rise (this is always the scary part for me!).

After dough has risen (phew!), prepare your baking pan: place a sheet of parchment paper on it and sprinkle with cornmeal. Now divide your dough into ten even-sized pieces. The dough will be a little sticky but easy to work with (at least mine was). If you need to, sprinkle with a little bit of extra flour. Roll (in your hands) into a ball, then place on your prepared baking pan. Repeat nine more times with the rest of the dough. Place in the oven for 30 minutes to rest.

Remove pan from oven and allow to rest an additional 30 minutes. Place a tray (I used a roasting dish) on the bottom rack of the oven and preheat to 450F.

After dough has rested sufficiently, dust the tops of the rolls with flour and snip an X into the top of each with clean kitchen scissors. Slide the baking pan with the dough into the oven, on an upper shelf. Fill up a measuring cup (or two) with VERY hot water -- as hot as your tap can get. Pour this water into the dish at the bottom of the oven. Close the door quickly (you're creating steam to help the rolls cook evenly. Bake 20 minutes. Cool before serving. Enjoy!

Links:

• Crusty Spinach, Feta and Sun-Dried Tomato Bread Rolls from Sass & Veracity
• Sun-Dried Tomato and Feta Rolls from MyRecipes.com

Winter Minestrone

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed some time off. We certainly did! We celebrated for two weeks with friends and family and even got some alone time in (a trip up to Poughkeepsie where we first met and where we discovered a fantastic 50's diner/juice bar). All in all, it was a great month!

The only thing wrong with it, in my opinion, was the weather. Brrr! I am not a fan of cold and so winter is always tough for me (as evidenced by all the braised beans I kept making). It's so hard to be inspired you're cold and there's no exciting produce at the greenmarket. This month, I'll definitely make an effort to bring greens back into our diet but, in the meantime, I want to share this fabulous minestrone with you.

A thick, warming bean soup, chock full of vegetables and even some quinoa pasta, this soup is a meal in itself. It's fantastic sprinkled with crispy pancetta but, if you're serving vegetarians or anyone else who doesn't eat pork, it's just as good without. Serve with garlic bruschetta and Cranberry and Vanilla Bean Mimosas. Bon appetit!

Winter Minestrone
adapted from Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 ounces pancetta, diced (optional)
• 3 yellow onions
• 3 carrots, diced
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 2 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 stalks fresh thyme, leaves only
• 1 26-ounce box, chopped tomatoes
• 6 cups chicken stock (can substitute mushroom stock)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper, freshly ground
• 1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups quinoa pasta (penne), cooked (1 cup dry)
• 8 ounces baby spinach
• 1/2 cup sparkling wine
• 2 tablespoons pesto
• 1 ounce Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Heat olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Add pancetta (if using), reduce heat to medium-low and cook 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crispy. Remove and set aside. Add onions, carrots, celery, squash, garlic and thyme, raise heat to medium (if you lowered it for the pancetta) and cook 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent.

Add tomatoes, chicken stock, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Raise heat and bring to a boil then lower and simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes, until tomatoes are falling apart.

Remove bay leaf and discard. Add beans and pasta and simmer 2 minutes, until beans are heated through. Add spinach and simmer, stirring, another 2 minutes, until spinach has wilted. Stir in wine and pesto. Serve sprinkled with cheese and, if desired, reserved pancetta and additional extra-virgin olive oil. Enjoy!

Links:

• Winter Minestrone from Food Network
• Winter Minestrone Soup from Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free
• Sal Bizzarro's Winter Minestrone from The Colorado College Bulletin
• Slow Cooker Winter Minestrone from Once A Month Mom

Braised Pinto Beans & Shiitake Mushrooms

Back before Hurricane Sandy, I went to Tokyo for a week for work. Luckily, I was able to to have most afternoons (and several evenings) to myself when I could explore that exotic city -- definitely the most foreign place I've ever been to. Never having been somewhere where I couldn't at least read the street signs, it was a totally new experience for me and one I hope to be able to share with the vegetarian at some point in the future!

Of the culinary delights, I of course indulged in fantastic sashimi (it's so hard to eat it back in the States

now!), udon and lots of tea. Not being able to speak the language, I mostly ordered by pointing at various items on a menu so half the time I didn't really know what I was eating: not something that bothered me in the slightest!

My favorite afternoon in the city was spent in the company of Mom's best friend from high school, who happens to live in Tokyo. She took me around kappabashi, "kitchen town", where we wandered in and out of various kitchenware, restaurant depot and dried goods stores. Of the delicacies I brought home, the largest was a package of dried shiitake mushrooms. I could smell them even through the plastic and they sat on our hutch waiting to be used.

The opportunity presented itself last week as I scanned my brain for what to braise my newest batch of beans with. Mushrooms! I exclaimed. I soaked the shiitakes all day and then when it was time to make dinner, I was also rewarded with the soaking liquid which turns into a fantastic stock (I've since used it several times). Serve these over linguine. Leftovers? We had them over spaetzle one day and as part of a mixed green salad the next. I recommend a rioja alongside. Bon appetit!

Braised Pinto Beans & Mushrooms

• 2 tablespoons rapeseed oil with chili (you can substitute olive oil)
• 1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
• 10 yellow onions, finely diced
• 12 cloves garlic, crushed
• 6 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons black pepper, freshly ground
• 1 cup chicken broth (can substitute vegetable broth)
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
• 2 teaspoons oregano, chopped

Soak mushrooms in a bowl of clean cold water for at least 1 hour, ideally 8 or overnight. Drain and slice thinly. Save soaking liquid and use as mushroom broth.

Heat oil and butter together in a pan over medium heat until butter is melted. Add onions, garlic and mushrooms and saute 8 minutes, until onions are soft. Reduce heat to medium-low and add tomato sauce, paprika, beans, salt, pepper, broth and fennel seeds. Cook another 15 minutes, until beans are warm and soft has thickened slightly. Garnish with oregano and serve warm.

Links:

• Braised Beef & Mushrooms from Eating Well
• Black Beans with Mushrooms from VegWeb.com
• Onion Rings & Green Bean Casserole from Jules Speaks Gluten Free Blog
• Grilled Portobello Mushroom Tacos with Mango Black Bean Salsa from Tasty Yummies
• Mushroom Burger from Vegetarian Food
• Slow-Cooker Black Bean-Mushroom Chili from Eating Well

BED: Baked Bluefish (or Tofu)

Several months ago, I read a review in Tasting Table of a cookbook called The Adaptable Feast which was comprised of recipes for omnivore dishes from which you could create vegetarian servings and vegetarian dishes that you could add some meat to and feed a couple of omnivores. While I never ended up buying the book, this idea of adapting one dish for various diets definitely piqued my curiosity.

And so, when I saw bluefish at the farmer's market one Saturday, the vegetarian and I came up with a way to make just one dish out of it but still have two meals. Originally, I was just going to make a separate pan of tofu (and I'm including instructions for that if it interests you) but the vegetarian wasn't in the mood for tofu so instead I baked the bluefish on top of lots of potatoes and onions. Because I used a big pan, the bluefish was only on half of the vegetables and those, along with a Cucumber Millet Bean Salad with Mozzarella and Blackberry and Mozzarella Salad with Rosemary. (NOTE: If you're a strict vegetarian, you'll probably want to cook the vegetables in a separate pan from the fish so as to avoid any fish juices sneaking in.) If you're drinking wine, I recommend a Chardonnay, preferably local. Bon appetit!

Baked Bluefish (or Tofu)

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

• 1 1/4-2 1/2 pounds bluefish fillets, trimmed (and/or extra-firm tofu, pressed and drained)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
• 8 red-skinned potatoes, sliced very thin
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 red onion, minced
• 4 sprigs dill leaf, minced

Preheat oven to 500 F. Pat bluefish (and/or tofu) dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a large bowl, toss potatoes with 1/2 cup melted butter.

Line a baking pan with aluminum foil. Spread out potatoes evenly. Place fish (and/or tofu) on top. Brush with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Sprinkle onions and dill over everything.

Cover with another sheet of aluminum foil and bake 10 minutes, then reduce oven to 400 and bake an additional 20-30. (If only doing tofu, only bake for an additional 10 minutes.) Enjoy!

Edible Links:

• Baked Bluefish from Allrecipes.com
• Baked Tofu from The Kitchn
• Baked Bluefish Fillets with Potatoes, Garlic, and Olive Oil, Genoese Style from Shaw's
• Baked Bluefish: Bluefish "in Cartoccio" from Food Network
• Baked Bluefish from Simply Recipes

Monthly Cooking Adventure: Gateau chocolat blanc et cerise (White Chocolate and Cherry Cake)

If I could only have one food for the rest of my life? That's easy: Pez. Cherry flavored Pez. -- Stand By Me.

Sorry for the extended silence but there have been many changes chez nous. In short ... we moved! Goodbye Lincoln Center and hello Washington Heights! This is a total change of area, apartment, (kitchen!) and commute but, while we now spend a bit longer on our subway rides, the changes are definitely for the best.

So after taking a few days to organize my "perfect" kitchen (using help from various sources), we invited some friends over and turned June's Monthly Cooking Adventure (just a few days late) into a 4th of July Housewarming Party. And how did I break in the new kitchen, you ask? By going off-diet and making a wonderful Gateau chocolat blanc et cerise (White Chocolate and Cherry Cake), Poivrons rouges farcis aux carottes (Red Peppers Stuffed with Carrots) and Corn and Edamame Salad with Mint. (Links are to recipes I adapted.)

**A note about the cake: This was my first time working with white chocolate (and I'm already not much of a baker) so I learned a lot along the way. The biggest issue was that I used too much butter (since white chocolate already has such a high butterfat content) so I ended up pouring off excess oil after the cake was cooked. I've adjusted the ingredient amounts below to reflect what I believe will work but, if you make it, use your best judgment and let us know how it turned out! Also, while my inspirational recipe (from Chocolate & Zucchini) didn't include one, I've added an (optional) crumble topping. This cut the sweetness nicely and also provided a texture contrast. I highly recommend this with vanilla ice cream. Bon appetit!

Gateau chocolat blanc et cerise
inspired by Chocolate & Zucchini

• 1/4 pound unsalted butter (1 stick) + additional to grease pan
• 8 ounces white chocolate
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 4/5 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups cherries, pitted and chopped
• 1/3 cup pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon French sea salt
• 1/3 cup nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachio nuts and/or walnuts), toasted

Start your preparations: Preheat oven to 325 F and butter a 10-inch springform pan.

Microwave white chocolate and butter together for 1 minute, then stir until well-combined.

Add sugar and stir with a wooden spoon. Let rest 5 minutes. Add cream a little at a time, stirring after each addition. Mash cherries, then add to the batter. Sift in flour and salt and stir until just combined.

Pour batter into pan and bake 45 minutes. Turn off oven and leave cake in there to rest for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely, unclasping sides of the pan. Sprinkle top with nuts. Once it's room temperature, transfer to refrigerator and let chill several hours (at least 4). Enjoy!

Edible Inspirations:

• Moelleux chocolat et framboises from Histoire sans faim
• Chocolate-Raspberry Layer Cake from Bon Appetit Magazine
• Raspberry and Chocolate Ganache Cake with White Chocolate Buttercream from Evil Shenanigans
• Mini Black Raspberry & White Chocolate Crepe Cakes from Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free
• Raspberry White Chocolate Chip Ice Cream from Cherry Tea Cakes

Monthly Cooking Adventure: Falafel (Fava Bean Fritters)

"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti." -- The Silence of the Lambs.

Not wanting to skip our Monthly Cooking Adventure this month (and wanting to see what would happen if I "went off" the Body Ecology Diet for an evening), the vegetarian and I picked fava beans as this month's main ingredient and I decided to make Falafel, fava bean fritters. I adapted the recipe from The Book of Jewish Food and, with my seasoning changes, everyone agreed they were the best Falafel we'd ever had ... if I do say so myself.

I actually tweaked the original recipe quite a bit. To counteract the bitter fava beans, I added pungent spring onions, salty sea salt, hot chile peppers, bittersweet cumin, garlic, sour yogurt and walnut oil. I also soaked the beans with a piece of kombu; this makes them easier to digest and I highly recommend it. The fritters are best right out of the oven (along with some hot sauce) so only make as many as you're going to eat. The batter saves well so you can fry up more whenever the inspiration strikes.

For a treat, I recommend them with Vegetable Couscous and Chickpea & Chile Pepper Salad. Bon appetit!

Falafel (Fava Bean Fritters)
adapted from The Book of Jewish Food

• 1 pound dry fava beans (can substitute lima beans if you can't find any favas)
• 4-inch strip kombu
• 1 bunch Italian parsley
• 8 spring onions, bulbs only
• 3 teaspoons sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ancho chile powder
• 4 teaspoons cumin, ground
• 12 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon yogurt
• 12 tablespoons walnut oil, for frying

Place beans and kombu in a large pot and cover with cold water. Let soak 12 hours. Rinse, drain well and pat dry on a clean dishtowel.

Finely chop parsley and onions in a food processor (much easier than doing it by hand). Remove and put aside. Add beans to food processor and blend, pausing to scrape down the bowl, about 15 minutes, until it's a smooth paste about the consistency of chunky peanut butter. Add salt, chile powder, cumin, garlic and yogurt and process another 5-10 minutes until well combined. Return parsley and onions and pulse a few times, just until mixed through. Remove from food processor and set aside to rest for 1 hour.

To fry: The best bet is to do these in batches. Heat about 1 inch of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat until just before it smokes. Take walnut-sized lumps of batter (smaller than you may be used to but, believe me, it works better) and shape them into round flat cakes. Fry as many as you can comfortably fit into the pan (without crowding!). Once the falafels are in, lower heat to low and let fry until golden, about 5 minutes on each side. While they're frying, set up a plate with a layer of paper towels on it. Remove falafels to this plate to drain once they're cooked. Serve with pita bread, salad or whatever you like. Enjoy!

Links to edible inspiration:

• Spicy Broad Bean Fritters with Lemon Minted Yoghurt from Jamie Oliver
• Fava Bean Fritters from Some of My Favorite Italian Dishes ...
• Falafel from Rec.Food.Cuisine.Jewish Newsgroup

Kreplach: Pasta Stuffed with Veggie Burgers (or Lamb)

Last Friday night, Stina, a friend from college, came over for Shabbos dinner and a cooking lesson. What a treat! The vegetarian and I rarely have Friday nights off so our ability to have a real homecooked Jewish meal has been quite reduced recently. Not wanting to make something too complicated (or that had to cook for hours) and also wanting an easy way to make our dinner vegetarian-friendly, I decided to teach her how to make kreplach. 


Kreplach are the Jewish version of ravioli. Often served in chicken soup, you can also have them with gravy as a pasta dish. Because the filling has to be cooked beforehand, they're a fantastic use of leftovers. They're often a "second-day meal," meaning that you use leftovers from a holiday meal to make them. But they're so delicious that you can make up whatever kind of filling you want -- just for them!

And because they're a pasta, they're my entry for Presto Pasta Nights #262, hosted (and created) by Ruth at Once Upon a Feast. Join us!

These kreplach, I must caution you, are anything but traditional. First of all, I make them with wonton wrappers. Easier to find than fresh pasta sheets (and certainly simpler than making your own), these have always been our "family secret" when making kreplach, ravioli or dumplings. They're easy to work with and, more importantly, delicious!

For these kreplach, I made two batches of filling -- one with ground lamb and the other with crumbled California Veggie Burgers (from Dr. Praeger's -- super delicious). Everything else about both fillings stayed the same. Both of these "proteins" have sweet and astringent notes. So in went some pungent pearl onions to balance it out. (Buy these pre-peeled to save time.) Everything got sauteed in neutral canola oil and seasoned with  fleur de sel and pungent, hot black pepper. To bind the filling (and make it easier to work with), I whisked it in the food processor with cream. Round out the meal with a bottle Cotes du Rhone (we had a fantastic biodynamic bottle from that I brought back from Paris three months ago) and, of course, challah. Some apple pie makes a wonderful dessert. Enjoy!

Kreplach (Pasta Stuffed with Lamb or Veggie Burgers)

• 6 pearl onions, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 6 oz ground lamb (or veggie burgers, crumbled)
• 1/2 teaspoon French sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons Italian parsley, finely chopped
• 1 pack wonton wrappers (about 50)
• small bowl water

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it moves in the pan like water. Add onions and cook 5 minutes, until soft. Add lamb (or veggie burgers), salt and pepper and cook, breaking up the meat (or patties) with a wooden spoon, until the meat is cooked through and no longer pink (at least 5 minutes). Let it come to room temperature, then blend to a paste in food processor with heavy cream and parsley.

Transfer to a bowl and make the kreplach. Place 1 teaspoon filling in the middle of a wonton wrapper (don't overstuff!). Lightly run water around the edges of the wonton wrapper (this is best done with your finger). Fold diagonally to make a triangle. Press out excess air and and seal the edges (the water makes them stick). Now make a ring with two opposite corners of the wrapper and press them firmly so they stick together. Let stand 15 minutes.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook kreplach 20 minutes, until they all have floated to the top and the wrappers have turned translucent. Serve in soup or dry, with sauce. Bon appetit!

Inspirational Links:

• Pastitsio from Dairy Free Recipes
• Pasta Shells Stuffed with Lamb, Feta Cheese, and Spinach from What Did You Eat?
• All About Onions from RecipeTips.com

Bruschetta with Escarole, Capers and Mozzarella

I don't like salad. There, I said it. It's not that I don't like greens; to the contrary, I absolutely adore them. Especially when the weather's warm and springlike. But raw greens (or vegetables of any kind, for that matter) are just not my cup of tea. Flash-cooked, yes. But raw? No thank you.

That's not to say I don't like the individual components that make up a salad. I find various kinds of salad greens very tasty, especially escarole, a less bitter form of endive that, at least to my naive eyes, is difficult to distinguish from lettuce. But just bite into a leaf and -- yum yum! It's bitter and refreshing. I love it braised with onion but many people have it as a salad. And, since it's been delightfully warm out I started thinking about how to make a salad I'd like.

This bruschetta is like a deconstructed salad. There's greens, cheese and croutons but, instead of the lettuce being on the bottom, the croutons are. (This also means you can eat it with your hands -- a major plus in my book.)

Trying to see if anyone else had a similar idea, I stumbled upon Kait's recipe for Curly Endive, Prosciutto & Mozzarella on Bruschetta. I started thinking about the prosciutto in her bruschetta. What does prosciutto add? Saltiness. So I added some capers instead, which also brought in some pungent sour notes. Because of the sourness of the capers, I toned down that flavor in the vinaigrette (because every good salad needs a dressing) by adding in some cream. Kosher salt kept the vinaigrette savory and black pepper made it hot and pungent. Enjoy with a Smoky Mushroom Calzone and Chianti. Bon appetit!

Bruschetta with Escarole, Capers and Mozzarella
inspired by I Can Cook That

• 1 loaf French bread, cut into 18 pieces
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 18 leaves escarole, thick stalks separated
• 1 large ball mozzarella, cut into 18 slices
• 3 teaspoons capers, pickled in brine, drained

Red Wine Vinaigrette

• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/8 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, ground
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350F. Arrange bread pieces on a foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake 15 minutes, until crispy.

Meanwhile, make vinaigrette. Whisk together (I do this in a liquids measuring cup) vinegar, cream, honey, salt and pepper. Drizzle in olive oil, whisking after each addition. When bread is done, place an escarole leaf, a slice mozzarella and several capers on top of each slice. Drizzle everything with vinaigrette. Serve at room temperature.

Links to other escarole delicacies:

• Chicken and Escarole Soup with Veal Meatballs from Gianni's North Beach
• Tortellini in Brodo with Escarole from The Secret Ingredient
• Escarole with Spaghetti from Living the Gourmet
• Meatball and Escarole Soup from 400 Calories or Less
• Minestrone with Turkey Meatballs and Escarole from Christie Koester