lunch box: asparagus, artichoke and feta bow-ties

contents:

asparagus, artichoke and feta bow-ties
cucumber, beet and carrot salad
blueberries

We had a burst of warm weather over the weekend and all the sunshine inspired me to make a spring themed lunch for myself this week. Then of course the temperature dropped back down, the winter coat was back off the hanger and all I wanted for lunch was soup. I probably should have seen that coming. Luckily the pasta heats up well.

In other news, I keep reading about how frozen fruits and vegetables are actually far more nutritious then the produce at your grocery store. Here is one article that was mentioned on a great vegan blog Dawn recommended to me. Depending on what you're making, frozen vegetables can kind of kill a dish (they do have a weird texture and taste thing going on you have to admit), but there are plenty of times where it makes no difference. Usually I feel lazy for buying frozen vegetables, but I guess I've secretly been taking the healthier option. Seems backwards though, doesn't it? I'm definitely going to start buying frozen fruit instead of the blah tasting stuff that needed to immigrate all the way from Bolivia (or whenever it's still summer right now). Actually I liked snacking on the blueberries while they were still frozen, but they gave me a brain freeze,

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1/2 box whole wheat bot-tie pasta
one large bunch asparagus
one small jar of marinated artichoke hearts
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
lemon juice and pepper to taste

Boil pasta, drain and allow to cool

Snap tough bottoms off asparagus and cut the rest into small bite sized pieces. Steam for 5 minutes or until the asparagus turns bright green. Allow to cool.

Chop artichoke hearts. Don't worry about how much oil they bring with them, it will add to the pasta.

(Side tangent... just saying artichoke hearts cracks me up. It makes me feel like a Disney villain or something. Bring me the hearts of twenty artichokes!! Muah ha ha!!)

In a large mixing bowl combine pasta, asparagus, artichoke hearts and feta (to be honest I probably used a little more then 1 cup, but that seems close). Add lemon juice and salt to taste. As I said earlier the artichoke hearts soak up a lot of olive oil which ends up getting into the pasta, but you can always add a splash more if you think the salad tastes too dry. The marinade they come in the jar with is a pretty delicious addition too.

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I forgot to measure my exact veggie proportions for the salad. Sorry about that. I know I used one cucumber, 3 or 4 grated carrots, and as much pickled beets as seemed proportionate. Slice all of them as thin as possible. Add a large handful of chopped dill and a splash of vinegar.

I think I should add that whenever I cook with beets (even though you'd think I would have other associations by now) I always think of this. You can use it for your cooking music.

cardamom olive oil cookies with pistachio

Don't be too impressed, this is another amazing Bittman recipe and surprisingly simple despite how fancy it sounds. Olive oil replaces butter in the usual cookie formula, but the cookies don't taste overly savory. I guess you can thank ample sugar for that one.

I decided to make these last Saturday (yes this is what I was doing on my Saturday night) because I *thought* I had all the ingredients at home. It wasn't until I had cracked open a few and was looking mystified at the size of my measuring spoon, that I discovered cardamom pods contain very little actual spice. Luckily my friend Kevin was there to convince me not to scratch the whole thing-- and so began the neighborhood quest for cardamom. Did you know cardamom is sort of a rare spice? I did not. After 3 bodegas and two groceries stores we were almost ready to give up, but of course the very last bodega we went to had it sitting in the back by the refrigerators. I'm not going to lie, Kevin and I shouted and high fived in the middle of the store like we'd just won some sort of sports game (possibly frightening the dudes behind us picking out beer). It was worth it though, because the cookies taste amazing. Besides did I really think I could get though a baking project without a small disaster? Impossible.

ingredients:

2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1tb cardamom
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs
2 tbs orange zest
2 tbs orange juice
1/2 cup ground pistachios

I had regular pistachios in their shells, so my first step was to crack a bunch and then wash the nuts under water to remove the salt. Set them aside to dry before you crush them. A plastic bag and heavy object works well if you don't feel like using a food processor.

Preheat the oven to 350

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cardamom

Add olive oil and sugar, blending well

Add eggs and whisk until smooth. Bittman says the batter should be creamy at this point, but that didn't happen for me. Maybe I need stronger arm muscles or something, but the batter was pretty thick and almost doughy until I added the orange juice in the next step. Truthfully I probably added more then 2tb to get the batter to thin out.

Whisk in orange juice and zest. By now the batter should be regular cookie dough consistency (or maybe it was for you before...show off).

Roll into small balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Use the wet bottom of a cup to flatten the cookies a little and stick on the crushed pistachios.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until slightly brown on the bottom

lunch box: palak not paneer

contents:

palak not paneer (tofu instead of cheese)
brown rice
cherry tomatoes
melon


I am going to attempt real palak panner one of these days, but this past Sunday I was not in the mood to try and make cheese for the first time. I looked at a bunch of recipes before settling on a combination version for my lunch. The tofu substitution was recommended on Epicurus and turned out surprisingly well.

ingredients:

1 block tofu
1/2 cup or so of flour
1 16oz bag of frozen spinach
2 garlic cloves chopped
2 small dried red chillies or chili powder to taste
2 tbs ginger powder (or fresh)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 medium onion chopped small
2 tsp garam masala
3/4 cup plain yogurt
vegetable oil

Heat a thin layer of vegetable oil in large frying pan

Cut tofu into 1 inch square chunks. Roll in flour until covered on all sides.

Fry tofu pieces until crispy and golden.

Remove from pan and drain on paper towel

In your food processor or blender, combine cooked spinach, garlic, and chillies. If you're using fresh ginger add it here. Puree until smooth (or close to it). I personally could not bring myself to totally blenderize the spinach to baby food, but it needs to be slightly creamy in order for the recipie to work. There's a compromise texture I think.

Reheat frying pan and add more oil if necessary (you should have a couple tbs worth in the pan).

Fry onions until clear. Add ginger (if powder) and turmeric, stirring well to keep from burning.

Stir in spinach mixture and tofu. Cook for a few minutes before adding garam masala and yogurt.

arancini

Did you like that food cliff-hanger?

Well by now you've probably guessed I was going to use the leftover risotto to make arancini (aka "little oranges" aka "risotto balls"). This recipie is kind of genius. It's like some food mastermind (or evil mad scientist if you're on a diet, I suppose) took a look at risotto and thought, "How can I make this cheesey rice even better. Of course! I'll stuff it with more cheese and deep-fry it!" Anonymous inventor of the arancini, I salute you.

Side tangent: I have an ongoing debate with my friend Denise about whether or not recipes are invented or evolve. Denise does not believe that for instance, one person came up with the sandwich. Nevermind that Earl of Sandwich story, she thinks he just got the credit for what lots of people over the globe were doing for years. The conversation original started over Nutella and whether or not one person (a person I'd like to give a very big hug to) figured out how amazing melted chocolate and hazelnut is together before spreading the word around. She thinks recipes just happen instinctively and therefore the same recipie must happen in lots of kitchens all the time. I do agree with her on things that are very basic, like baking potatoes, and I also think there should be a category for accidents (popcorn!), but I think someone invented arancini. Denise says this makes me a food-creationist.

ingredients:

leftover cold risotto (I had about 2 cups)
2 eggs
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (plus more for the crust)
mozzarella cheese
vegetable oil

Cut about 10 cubes of mozzarella 1in in size

Beat eggs in mixing bowl. Stir in risotto and breadcrumbs. Mix well with your hands.

Roll risotto mixture into balls about the size of a small clementine. Poke cheese cubes into center and roll again until the outside is smooth

Roll risotto balls in a plate or small bowl of breadcrumbs until sides are completely coated

Heat vegetable oil in large frying pan

Fry until golden brown on all sides. Depending on how deep your pan is, you will probably have to roll them around a lot to get the crust to cook evenly.

Drain on paper towel for a few minutes to absorb excess oil. Just try to wait until they cool.

saffron mushroom risotto

I recently came into a large bag of spices from Egypt thanks to my coworker, who got them from a friend and thought I would get more use out of it since I, "make a lot of that vegetarian stuff". I'm not exactly sure what everything is (guesses in comments are welcome, as is coming over to my house and sniffing for yourself). Saffron is something I never buy because it's expensive, so I was excited to try out my usual risotto recipe with a new spice. Since the vegetables get stirred in at the very last few minutes of cooking the dish, its easy to make a couple different versions at once. James had his with green peas, which is why I'm tagging this as 'james approved' when my version has *gasp* mushrooms. I also like to make a version using sweet potatoes and lots of rosemary. Risotto is just cheesy rice, so the possibilities of what you can add are endless. Keep in mind this takes awhile to make, so its not a good rush dinner choice.

1 1/2 cups arborio rice
4 cups vegetable stock
one small onion chopped
2tb butter or olive oil
pinch of saffron (about 1/4 tsp)
mushrooms or other vegetables (for my half portion I used about 5-6 cooking mushrooms and 1 cup of green peas for the other half)
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Heat vegetable stock in saucepan on low heat until simmering.

In a large frying pan or saucepan melt butter (or add olive oil) and cook onion on low heat until clear

Add arborio and saffron stirring so butter coats all the rice. Allow to cook for a few minutes.

Add about 1/2 cup of vegetable stock and stir until the liquid is totally absorbed by the rice. Repeat process until you've used up your vegetable stock and rice is soft but not mushy. I taste it before every new addition of stock just to keep track. If at the very end you run out of stock and the rice is not quite done, you can always use hot water.

This process will take about 20-30 minutes so now is a good time to call you Mom, put on some record you haven't listen to in a long time, or master the art of reading and stirring (not recommended if it's a library book and you are a messy chef).

While rice is busy absorbing you can cook your vegetables in a separate frying pan. I sauteed the mushrooms with a couple cloves of chopped garlic and a little olive oil.

Once rice is finished cooking, stir in your vegetables and cheese. You may want to add some salt or pepper to taste depending on which vegetable stock you buy.

If you end up with leftovers, consider yourself lucky. You'll see why in the next post...

sweet potato and black bean hash

This recipe came from a kind of food version of the telephone game. On nights where I'm eating something horribly green and full of produce James sometimes makes a hash he altered from an Emeril recipie his mom had. After seeing it a few times and being jealous of his meal, I decided to make a vegetarian version subbing black beans for the meat. My other changes include a sweet potato along with the regular baking potato, another pepper, and some extra spices (since the sausage in the original recipie probably adds most of the flavor to the dish, right?). This makes a lot of servings so I've been eating it with hard boiled eggs (in place of the baked) for lunches. Also the leftovers would make a great bottom level to baked eggs or in a breakfast burrito.


ingredients:

1 16 oz can black beans
1 baking potato
1 sweet potato
1 green pepper
1/2 red pepper
1/2 onion
1tb olive oil
2tbs spicy mustard
cayenne pepper, chili powder, and adobe seasoning to taste (about 1/4 tb of each)
2 eggs (per dish)

preheat oven to 450 degrees

In large skillet (non stick or cast iron would be best) fry chopped onions and pepper in oil until peppers are soft

Stir in black beans and spices

Grate both potatoes and drain as much water as possible before adding to the frying mixture. Stir in mustard.

Pat down with your spatula and cook until bottom starts to brown. Flip sections and repeat until potatoes starts to get crispy.

Spoon serving of hash into oven safe bowl. Crack eggs on top and bake until thoroughly cooked.

lunch box: vegan casserole

contents:

vegan casserole with tofu crust
sesame brown rice (with sesame oil and seeds)

Sometimes I see a recipe that is so super-vegetarian that its almost as if someone went inside James' brain, picked out all his most hated things to eat, and figured out how to combine them into one dish. This casserole on Epicurious is just such a gem. I figured since there was no way in hell he was going to partake in this week's lunch food, I might as well go all out and try to substitute the cheese for something vegan. Up until now nutritional yeast has been like some friend of a friend you're always hearing about, but never actual meet in person. It's possible I've eaten it at restaurants and not known, but I've certainly never cooked with it before. It came highly recommended though, so I bought some to use instead of parmesan in this recipe. It's defiantly not cheese, but it is sort of cheese-like in a powdered mac and cheese packet kind of way.

Also I just have to say how much I hate when people write out recipes by weight. I get it. Vegetables are all different sizes. They are individual snowflakes. But, does this author really think I'm in my kitchen with a scale weighing a 1/2 lb of carrots? Just tell me 3-5 carrots and I'll wing it from there.

ingredients:

2 tbs olive oil
2 medium onions
1 medium sized cabbage
1 bunch of kale
4 carrots
1/2 cup water
2 tbs soy sauce (conveniently about the amount that comes in one of those Chinese food take out packages)

1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1/2 package of firm tofu
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 chopped garlic clove

It will be easier if you chop all your vegetables first, since you don't want to over-cook one veggie in the frying pan while you're chopping another. Remove core from cabbage and cut into slices. Peel and cut carrots into thin matchsticks. Remove heavy stems from kale and lightly chop leaves. Slice onions. With all the vegetables, try to keep your slices on the larger size.

In large frying pan cook onion slices in oil until clear

Add kale, cabbage and carrots. You may need to add the cabbage and kale in sections since it takes up a lot of space before it cooks down. Add water and soy sauce. Cook until carrots begin to get soft.

Transfer veggies to large casserole pan.

Preheat oven to 350

In a food processor combine your topping ingredients-- bread crumbs, tofu, nutritional yeast, oil, garlic and spices. I buy seasoned breadcrumbs, so I opted out of adding additional salt, oregano and basil here. Paprika, I couldn't turn down and also added a little cayenne pepper for extra flavor. Blend ingredients thoroughly. The resulting mixture will be very doughy in texture.

I wont lie to you, getting this sticky dough on top of the casserole is a hassle. The best system I worked out was to keep wetting my hands with water and make small pancake shapes to lay on top. Once you have a full layer of dough you can pinch together the sections to make it more even. No matter what, you'll end up with a crumbly looking crust, but I think that's the idea anyway.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until crust browns nicely