Vegetable Sides Day One

Sunday nights are pretty casual at our house.

I call my mum in Montreal before dinner. Then we sit by the fire and eat a simple meal, usually a stew from the slow cooker.

Last night Larry ate brisket he had cooked in the slow cooker (grass-fed organic beef from Rocky Canyon Farms at the Hollywood Farmers Market) and I ate leftovers. I love leftovers. I put wilted greens (made with collards and beet greens) in the bottom of a small casserole and layered barbecue beans over them. I covered the casserole and reheated it in the oven -- excellent.

We had mashed potatoes too -- apparently potatoes are necessary with brisket.

As the side dish, I cooked broccoli and carrots using a technique I learned years ago when I was eating macrobiotic. Put an inch of water in the bottom of a pan, bring it to a boil, then add the vegetables and let them cook, covered, until done. The heavier vegetables go in the bottom and the lightest on top where they will just steam. When they're cooked, you drain off the small amount of water.

I cut the broccoli florets into large pieces. Then I chopped the tough bottom inch off the broccoli stem, and peeled the remainder down to the tender green part. I cut this in half lengthwise and then into 2-3" lengths. I cut the carrots in 1/2" thick rounds.

I brought an inch of water to boil in a deep pan. I added a little salt and then put the broccoli stems and carrots in to cook, covered, for about 5 minutes. When they were tender on the outside but still tough on the inside (I poked with a slender knife to find out), I added the broccoli florets, covered the pan, and cooked until all was tender. I drained off the water and put the vegetables in a bowl to serve.

Years ago when I first fed Larry broccoli, he asked for lemon pepper to season it. I didn't know what lemon pepper was. Now I put a jar on the table, but he says that farmers market broccoli does not require lemon pepper. It tastes really good all by itself.

A week of vegetables

Many vegetarians do not eat enough vegetables. I know that sounds weird, but it's easier to fill up on beans and rice than it is to buy and cook vegetables.

Yet study after study shows the correlation between good health and large vegetable intake.

So I try to serve vegetables as side dishes -- the traditional meal of meat and 2 veg except with a vegetarian entree in place of the meat.

I think variety is important, so I buy as wide a selection of vegetables each week as I can. Shopping at the Hollywood Farmers Market makes this easy.

This week I bought corn on the cob, celeriac, carrots, spaghetti squash, chard, mustard greens, sugar snap peas, potatoes, rutabagas and cauliflower. (This is in addition to the salad fixings.)

We had broccoli, beets, turnips, cabbage, celery and zucchini in the fridge, and a sweet potato in the pantry.

This week, I plan to post daily about our side-dish vegetables.

The rules are: onions and white potatoes don't count. Only one of the two vegetables can be starchy. And I'll aim for a pretty color combination.

Let's see how well I do.

Sweet Potato Fries

Want something orange to serve at dinner on Halloween? I recommend these sweet potato fries. Baked in the oven until they are slightly blackened, they are colorful and just a little sweet.

When I cooked them last week, Larry (not a sweet potato fan) said they were delicious.

Of course, they're also really healthy. Sweet potatoes are rich in beta carotene and other antioxidants. They contain compounds which help reduce the risk of heavy metal residues in the body. And, despite their sweetness, they actually improve blood sugar regulation.

A sweet Halloween treat that tastes good and is good for you - what could be better?


Sweet Potato Fries
2 sweet potatoes
olive oil
salt

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Peel the sweet potatoes and slice them lengthwise in 1/4" pieces. Then cut each piece lengthwise into 1/4" french fry shapes.

Toss them in about a teaspoon of olive oil - easiest to do with your hands. Make sure all the slices have oil on them. Then sprinkle them with a little salt.

Put them on a lightly-oiled rimmed baking sheet, and bake 15 minutes. Flip the fries and cook another 15 minutes.

Sprinkle hot fries with salt if desired.

Serves 2.

Fall Vegetable Stew in Coconut Milk

The harvest markets are abundant with corn, peppers, zucchini and herbs. I combine them with tofu and coconut milk to make this creamy, delectable stew.

If you can't find fresh organic corn, the frozen kind works fine. Vary the hot pepper to suit your taste - the coconut milk mellows out the flavor considerably. This is a slightly Thai-influenced dish, so use Thai basil if you can find it. If not, the more common Italian kind works fine.

Serve the stew over brown rice for wonderful fall comfort food. It's also great as is, served in a bowl as a combination soup / stew.

Fall Vegetable Stew in Coconut Milk
1 tbsp vegetable oil
14-oz firm tofu
2 small zucchini, diced
4 large ears of corn or 2 cups frozen
1 jalapeno pepper
1 heaping tbsp cilantro (optional)
1 bunch scallions
1 heaping tbsp fresh basil
3/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste
1 cup coconut milk
1 tsp soy sauce

Drain the tofu and dice into 3/4 inch cubes. Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise, and then into 1/2 inch half-moons.

Warm the oil over medium-high heat and sauté the tofu and zucchini 10 minutes, sprinkling with 1/4 tsp salt and shaking the pan occasionally, until the tofu is a little browned.

Cut the kernels off the corn cobs, or defrost the frozen corn. Seed the jalapeno and mince it finely with the cilantro and basil. Slice the scallions into 1/2 inch lengths, including the firm greens. Add all to the pen. Pour in coconut milk and rinse out the cup measure with 1/3 cup water and stir into pan. (Freeze or refrigerate the remaining coconut milk in the can for later use.)

Stir in soy sauce, 1/2 tsp salt, and pepper to taste. Cook 5 minutes until the corn is heated through.

Serves 4-5

Orange juice

I was raving to Jorge about his oranges the other day and how much we enjoy the juice with Sunday brunch. I stop at his stand (across from McGrath, next to the dried beans from Lompoc) every week to load up on grapefruits, oranges, and whatever else he has in season: pomelos, tangelos, limes, blood oranges - all flavorful and organic.

Jorge told me he went to a local restaurant where they used to serve fresh orange juice but the other day they gave him the pre-packaged stuff. The waitress insisted it was fresh juice, but then went into the kitchen and discovered the carton. She said Jorge was the only customer who'd tasted the difference.

Well of course he noticed - he's a citrus afficionado.

But I'm not surprised other people don't. Our niece Tracie swore that her Florida Naturals o.j. tasted just like fresh juice, until she tasted Uncle Larry's fresh-squeezed version.

But the manufacturers of mass-produced orange juice work hard to make their denatured juice taste as real as possible.

First they remove the oxygen so the juice will last for up to a year. Because this process removes the flavor as well, they then add packets of orange flavoring to make it taste like juice again.

According to Food Renegade, these flavorings don't appear on the label because technically they are derived from orange essence and orange oil. However, the food scientists take a natural product like orange oil, break it down into its constituent chemicals, and then use just one or two of these chemicals to create the flavor or aroma they want.

"The packs added to juice earmarked for the North American market tend to contain high amounts of ethyl butyrate, a chemical in the fragrance of fresh squeezed orange juice that, juice companies have discovered, Americans favor. Mexicans and Brazilians have a different palate. Flavor packs fabricated for juice geared to these markets therefore highlight different chemicals."

This shouldn't surprise anyone who enjoys a certain brand of o.j. and expects it to always taste the same. Nature is not consistent. Sometimes the juice Larry makes is tarter, sometimes more full-bodied, sometimes very sweet. If you find a food that always tastes the same, suspect some chemical trickery.

Are these chemicals harmful? I don't know. But I do know they're not food.

Grated Beet Salad

I'm reading a lovely cookbook called Everyday Cooking with Organic Produce. It's put out by Melissa's, a distributor of specialty fruits and vegetables. You've probably seen their produce at Whole Foods and higher-end supermarkets.

This is the second cookbook Cathy Thomas has written for them, and it's a gem. Each of the more than 50 types of fruit and vegetables merits a section describing how to store and prepare it, a few quick serving suggestions, and a couple more complete recipes.

I made a quick beet salad for dinner Monday night which Larry said was possibly the best beets he'd ever had. So I had to share the recipe with you.

I served the salad with a Spanish tortilla (potato omelet) and some wilted greens. It was a colorful, healthy and delicious meal.

Grated Beet Salad
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp dijon
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
3 medium beets
1 tbsp minced fresh basil leaves

Whisk together the first 4 ingredients and salt and pepper.

Peel the beets and cut off the tops and bottoms. Slice them to fit the feed tube of your food processor. Use the shredding disk to grate them.

Add the grated beets to the dressing. Toss in the basil and stir to combine.

Serves 3-4

Eggplant and Potato Hotpot

I love eggplant. Larry is less keen. But when I combine it with potatoes and tomatoes, it makes a stew that even he enjoys.

This is a dish of complex flavors from the chickpeas cooked in a tangy broth to the roasted vegetables seasoned with coriander and lime juice. I think it would convert anyone to loving eggplant.

The chickpeas need to be soaked overnight (or all day) on a cool countertop or in the fridge. Most of the gassy qualities will be rinsed away in the soaking water, and the tumeric added to the cooking water will help make the chickpeas very digestible.

I've adapted the recipe from one by Yamuna Devi in her 1992 book Yamuna's Table.

I used a slotted spoon to remove the vegetables from the juice and served them with sides of steamed green beans and corn on the cob - it made a great fall meal.

If you like, you can leave the vegetables in the flavorful juice and serve them with rice or barley to soak up the deliciousness.

Eggplant and Potato Hotpot
1/2 tbsp mustard seeds
1/2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 lb tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup chickpeas, soaked overnight in water and drained
5 cups water
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 1/2 lbs eggplant
1 1/2 lbs potatoes
olive oil
1/2 tbsp ground coriander
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice

Place the mustard seeds in a heavy pan over medium heat. Cover and cook until the seeds start to pop. Add the ginger, tomatoes, drained chickpeas, water, tumeric and cilantro. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the chickpeas are tender.

Meanwhile, roast the vegetables. Preheat the oven to 375°. Cut the eggplant and potatoes into 1" pieces and toss in a small amount of olive oil. Spread onto two lightly-oiled cookie sheets. Sprinkle with ground coriander and bake about 45 minutes until crisp and golden brown.

Sprinkle the lime juice over the hot vegetables, then add them to the chickpeas. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and barely simmer for 10-15 minutes.

With a slotted spoon, remove the vegetables and chickpeas from the broth and place in a serving bowl.

Serves 8

Bad risotto

I have had two bad risottos recently, both in restaurants. One had too much lemon oil added at the end, and the other was missing the finishing touch of truffle oil that would have given it flavor.

Even if the chefs had been skilled in adding their flavored oils, the risottos still would have been one-dimensional. Risotto, like most complex dishes, requires layers of flavor cooked into the food. The rice is first turned in olive oil, butter and wine, then cooked gently in a well-flavored stock. A few vegetables can be added for color and texture. I sometimes grate some parmesan or lemon rind over at the end, but that's an extra layer, not a required flavoring.

Vary the flavors in this simple technique to make Asparagus Risotto or Corn Risotto - two of my favorites.

I think the trouble with both restaurant risottos was the lack of flavor in the vegetable broth. Few restaurant chefs know how to make a good vegetable stock - the essential basis for an excellent vegetarian risotto. Instead they rely on flavoring oils and end up with at best a one-dimensional flavor, at worse something inedible.

The best vegetable stocks are made by roasting the vegetables before boiling them - just as you would roast bones when making a meat stock. Add to this some dried mushrooms, and a little soy sauce to get that umami, and you have a great stock, suitable for the best risottos, soups and stews.

I love this stock from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson, an excellent source for stews and soups that are ready and waiting when you get home from work.

Once the vegetables are roasted, the stock bubbles away without me. When it's done, I store it in 2-cup containers in the freezer, ready to make delicious meals.

The parsnips add another dimension to the stock, and I make many batches during parsnip season. However, it's a good stock even without them.

With a few containers of this great stock in the freezer, you will be ready to make delicious soups and stews to warm your evenings in the winter months ahead.

Roasted Vegetable Stock
1 large onion
2 large carrots
1 large potato
1 large parsnip (optional)
1 stalk celery
3 garlic cloves
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
4 dried shiitake or porcini
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp tamari
7 cups water

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Remove the papery peel from the onion and slice it thickly. Scrub the carrots and potatoes and cut in 1" chunks. Peel the parsnip and cut in 1" chunks. Chop the celery in 1" lengths. Place the garlic cloves, unpeeled, on your cutting board and crush with the side of your big knife.

Place the above vegetables in a lightly oiled baking pan. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until lightly browned, turning once, about 30 minutes total.

Meanwhile, soak the dried mushrooms in 1 cup water until softened. Remove them from the water and check for dirt or grit. Pour the soaking water through a coffee filter, straining out any grit. Reserve mushrooms and soaking water.

Put the roasted vegetables in a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker. Add mushrooms and soaking water, bay leaves, peppercorns, tamari, 1 tsp salt, and water. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Let cool slightly, then strain through a fine mesh sieve into a large bowl. Press the vegetables against the side of the sieve with a wooden spoon to get the most liquid possible. Discard the vegetables. The stock will be a rich golden color. Either use it right away, refrigerate it for a few days, or freeze for longer storage.

Makes about 8 cups.

My Top Five

As Joy’s carnivorous husband, I am often asked how I put up with all that healthy vegetarian food coming out of our kitchen. (It’s my kitchen, too!)

Here are the top five reasons, in no particular order, based on our last 15 years together.

1. Onions (and garlic) sautéing in olive oil. This seems to be step one in a lot of her dishes, and I’m often greeted with this wonderful aroma when walking in the door. My brain knows what it is, but nevertheless my mouth always does a little fist pump and then asks “what’s cooking”, because I know I’ll love it. It’s a no-brainer.

2. Feta Cheese. My momma never feta me this when I was a kid. Now, I find that I love virtually ever dish, hot or cold, that has it. We get it from the Greek stand at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market.

3. Asparagus Risotto. I never knew what risotto was until I was in my thirties, believe it or not. But I sure do now. Having had it in restaurants, I can tell you that Joy’s vegetable stock is the secret to a good risotto.

4. Tomatoes and Basil. Like with the onions, this is a smell that will immediately conjure all the best sensory memories of marinara sauce, pizza, or pasta with pesto. We can pick both from our garden, and I love the smell of the fresh picked herbs as it intertwines with the more subtle tomato scent.

5. Potatoes. To me, this is the perennial comfort food. Joy can make curry or roasted root vegetables or exotic soups, and if I know my old friend Mister Potato is in there, I know I’m going to be happy.

Penne with Spinach and Feta

We worked hard in the garden Sunday, planting the winter vegetable garden, painting the fence, generally enjoying the fall day.

All the fresh air and sunshine gave us healthy appetites, so I whipped up this hearty pasta for dinner.

Boy was it good. The warmth of the chiles, the sweetness of the cherry tomatoes, and the healthy glow from the spinach made it a great ending to a busy day.

Penne with Spinach and Feta
1 bunch spinach
6 oz penne (1/2 packet)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot or 2 spring onions
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 to 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup cherry tomatoes
2 oz feta, diced

Wash the spinach, discarding any big stems. Put it in a large pot with the water still on its leaves. Cover and cook over medium heat until wilted but still green, about 5 minutes. Drain and chop the spinach.

Cook the pasta according to packet directions. Drain.

Warm the olive oil in the same pot, and sauté shallot, garlic, and a sprinkling of red pepper flakes 1-2 minutes to soften a little. Halve the cherry tomatoes and add to the pot along with the pasta and spinach. Stir well and cook about 2 minutes until heated through.

Turn off the heat. Stir in feta and let it sit, covered, 1-2 minutes to soften the cheese.

Serves 3-4

Fresh Peach Coffee Cake

The Breakfast Bread Pudding went down well at brunch. It was tasty and easy enough to eat that it did not distract from the football game.

Our niece likes to drink mimosas while watching Sunday morning football games, so I decided we would need more carbs at half time to soak up the alcohol. (Redskins fans are long-suffering, and I was uncertain how many mimosas would be needed to dull the pain if the game was a blow-out for the bad guys.)

I served this coffee cake warm from the oven with a dollop of whipped cream - yum. It is light-textured yet dense - good with a cup of coffee if mimosas aren't your thing.

It's quick and easy to make. I combined the flour and butter in the food processor and then refrigerated it while we were at the farmers market. When we got home, I stirred in the remaining ingredients and put it in the oven.

I topped it with fresh peaches and blueberries. Plums, nectarines or apples would be good too. There is not enough fruit to make this health food, but I made it with all organic ingredients, no chemicals or trans fats. Just good honest food. And a welcome treat in our lunches for the rest of the week.

Fresh Peach Coffee Cake
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp grated orange peel (from one organic orange)
1/4 cup butter, diced in 1" squares
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 large peaches
1/2 cup blueberries

Streusel topping:
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Peel the peaches, either by using a regular potato peeler if the peaches are firm enough, or by cutting an x in the skin and immersing the peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds, then into a cold water bath until cool enough to handle -- then peel off the skin with your fingers. Cut the peaches in half, remove the pits, and cut the flesh into 1/2-inch thick slices.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and orange peel in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until it resembles cornmeal. Tip mixture into a large bowl. (If you don't want to use a food processor, put the ingredients in a large bowl and cut with a pastry blender or two knives until it reaches cornmeal texture.)

In another bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Stir in milk and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the egg mixture. Stir until just moistened. (Don't do this in the food processor - it will overbeat the batter.)

Spoon batter into a well-greased 7 x 11-inch baking pan. Arrange the fruit on top and press it in lightly.

Make the streusel topping by combining the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl. Use your fingers to work in the butter until well-mixed. Scatter over fruit.

Bake for 50-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes, then cut into squares and serve warm, with a dollop of whipped cream if desired.

Makes 8-12 servings.