Category: Vegetarian

Baked Orzo with Fontina and Peas

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Baked Orzo with Fontina and Peas

This is a great Giada recipe (recipe here). That girls never steers me wrong. Every one of her recipes that I’ve tried has turned out well.

If you use veggie stock, instead of chicken stock, this recipe would be vegetarian, but my vegetarian daughter was out for the evening, so I went the other way and added a cup of chopped ham. Really nice and made it more of an entree than a side dish. The Marsala flavor in this is really yummy and the crusty bread crumbs on top add something special to the warm, cheesy goodness of the inside.

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Cranberry Orange Cornmeal Muffins

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These are a recipe that my mom used to make for me when I was a kiddo.  When I saw all of the beautiful, fresh cranberries in the store this year, while preparing for Thanksgiving, I finally thought to ask her for the recipe.  They are SO good:  crispy and crunchy on the outside and moist and zesty on the inside, with the gorgeous color and tang of the cranberries punctuating throughout.  Yum.

FYI:  Fresh cranberries can easily be frozen for future use (you can even toss them into this batter while still frozen.)  Just rinse them with cold water, discarding any unsightly withered ones, then gently spin them dry in a salad dinner.  Spread them out on a cookie sheet to freeze them.  When they’re individually frozen hard, store them in a tightly sealed ziploc until you need them and you can easily pour out just the amount that you need.

Cranberry Orange Cornmeal Muffins

1 cup flour

1 1/2 cup cornmeal

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup fresh cranberries, washed and patted dry

1 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

2/3 cup buttermilk

2 Tbsp Grand Marnier liqueur or orange juice

1 tsp freshly grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease 12-cup muffin tin or use paper muffin liners.  (Good idea to have a second tin on hand, as I find that the recipe actually makes 15 or 16 muffins.  Also a good idea to grease the top, flat surface of the pan, even if you use liners, as they might stick a little there.)

Whisk together dry ingredient (flour, sugar, cornmeal, salt, soda.)  In a separate bowl (or 4-cup glass measuring pitcher,) whisk together the remaining wet (buttermilk, oil, eggs, liqueur or juice and zest) ingredients, reserving the cranberries to the side.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add the cranberries.  Stir gently until the batter is moistened, but still lumpy.  Measure into muffin cups (an ice cream scoop with release lever works beautifully to ensure consistent size) and make until the tops are golden brown (about 20 minutes.)  Let sit in the pan 5 minutes before removing.

I also made a batch with blueberries, for my son and Hubby, who aren’t cranberry fans.  Silly boys.

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Puy Lentil Galettes

Recipe here.

Yum.  Loved these.  A definite make-again.  I acknowledge that the way my family (especially my daughter and I) feels about lentils may not be the norm, but we love them and can’t get enough.  They are delicious (especially the French du Puy variety) and peppery and filling and wholesome and healthy and hearty.  This is a fantastic recipe to incorporate them.

Awesome Salad (Arugula, Roasted Tomato, Gigante Bean, Sauteed Zucchini and Arugula)

Yum Yum Yum.

This is a concoction inspired by a salad that I had once at the Nordstrom Cafe.

Basically, just layer slow-roasted tomatoes (I made huge batches of these and keep them in ziploc bags in the freezer – they thaw in seconds and are great in salads, pastas, on bruschetta, etc.), sauteed zucchini, and gigante beans (I won’t tell if you substitute canned cannellini beans) on a bed of baby arugula.  Top with slivers of fresh basil and a little balsamic vinaigrette, if you’d like.  Shaved Parmesan (use a potato peeler) or leftover slices of steak would also be fantastic.  Serve with sliced, warm ciabatta bread.  Mmmm…wish I had some of this right now.

Vegetarian without the steak, vegan without the cheese (as shown).  Gluten-free without the bread, or with GF bread.

Creamy Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Creamy Curried Butternut Squash Soup

*squash can be roasted ahead of time, peeled and then refrigerated, until needed

* immersion blender or food processor is necessary for this recipe

one very large butternut squash (about 3 1/2 pounds)

3/4 cup finely chopped white onion

1 tsp. finely minced garlic (2 to 3 small cloves or 1 very large one)

1/2 cup dry white wine (I usually use vermouth)

2 Tbsp olive oil, plus a little more for roasting the squash

6 ounces Yukon Gold potato (three smallish or one very large one)

1 32-ounce box of vegetable broth

1 1/2 to 2 tsp curry powder

1 13.5 ounce can of unsweetened coconut milk

kosher salt and white pepper to taste

fresh cilantro, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds from each half with a large spoon.  Brush all of the cut surfaces very lightly with olive oil.  Place the squash halves (cut side up) on a large baking sheet and cook for about 90 minutes.

While the squash is cooking, peel the potato/es and cut them into 2-inch pieces.  Next, put them in a small saucepan and add enough cold water to cover them, then sprinkle in about 1 tsp. kosher salt.  Bring them to a boil over high heat and cook until they are fork tender.  Drain them and set aside, reserving the cooking water.

When squash is done, let it cool enough to handle and gently remove the skin by pulling it off.  Also cut off any burned or hardened edges.  Some light browning is OK and gives good flavor, so you can leave that, but you just want to remove anything really crunchy or blackened.  Set the squash aside.

In a large stockpot (or French/Dutch oven), heat the remaining olive oil until it starts to just barely shimmer.  Add the onions and saute over medium heat until they are softened and translucent.  Add the garlic and continue to saute for one more minute, stirring constantly.  Carefully (it may sputter) pour in the wine or vermouth, stirring the deglaze the pan.

Add the cooked squash and potato and stir to coat the veggie pieces with the wine/onion mixture.  Stir in 3 cups of the veggie broth and the can of coconut milk.  Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons of the curry powder.  Puree the soup with an immersion blender*, starting at the lowest setting and working up to the medium setting, making sure to puree any lumps.   Taste the soup and add more curry powder, if necessary, and/or more vegetable stock, if necessary, to reach the desired consistency.  If you need even more liquid to reach the right consistency, add the reserved potato cooking water.  Taste the soup again and add kosher salt and white pepper to taste.

* If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can puree the soup, in batches, in a food processor, blender or food mill and then return it to the pot for final seasoning.

Garnish with finely chopped fresh cilantro, if desired.

This is a REALLY delicious soup, but is VERY filling and this recipe makes a LOT.  I haven’t tried to freeze it yet, but I’d bet it would freeze nicely.  If you have a little leftover New Year’s ham, you could sprinkle some diced ham over the top of the soup to make any carnivores at your house happy.  Or maybe a little leftover roasted or grilled chicken, but it’s not necessary.  It’s plenty tasty on its own.

Nota bene:  I used 1 tsp. of Penzey’s sweet curry powder and 1 tsp. Penzey’s hot curry powder in our version of this soup and it was perfect for us.  Not too spicy, but plenty flavorful.  Since curry preference is pretty subjective, feel free to add more or less to suit your own taste…just start out with a little, ’cause you can always add more, but can’t remove it, once it’s in.