unsliced bread

making things at home

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By Kirsten Bourne via Grist

Nice article on what to do with too much fresh herbs, citrus, sour cream, and celery. We usually do o on not wasting food in my house but fresh herbs can sometimes be a challenge. I liked the idea of freezing them in ice cubes. I also liked the idea of freezing fresh pressed citrus juice in ice cubes to save for whenever you're making cocktails. Doing that immediately!

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Linguini and Clams: home cooked Italian meal

This post I can't actually take credit for. My wife made me linguini and clams last week that were fantastic. It's one of her specialties. She has a variety of 'specialties' that she makes, all of which are Italian and wonderful. Ashleigh's family is Italian-American and all are super into food, well specifically Italian food.  We joke that they don't really think they're going out to dinner unless they're eating Italian. 

This dish is really great. Ashleigh makes a sauce by heating olive oil and butter (or vegan butter to keep it dairy free) in a deep pan then adding chopped shallots. Sauté until transluscent, then add minced garlic and sauté one minute longer. Add one cup of white wine (sometimes we use more, it just increases the time it takes to reduce). Simmer wine until reduced by half and add one cup of vegetable broth and season with red pepper flakes and salt (if necessary) and pepper. Let cook for a minute then add the clams, cover them, and cook them until they open, about 5 to 10 minutes depending on the clams.

While the sauce is being made, boil water for the pasta. Add salt and olive oil and when the water boils add the pasta (fresh is best). 

When the pasta is done (fresh pasta takes only a couple of minutes) toss it with fresh, coarsely chopped parsley and olive oil or butter. Then spoon the clams and the broth over the pasta. Serve immediately with wine. 

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Pan fried Beans with Chard and Farro

I always thought farro was pasta. Not sure why. I guess I never really looked it up. Anyway, after seeing a slew of recipes recently with farro, I decided to investigate.  It turns out it's not pasta (although it can be made into pasta)! It's a type of wheat grain. Apparently it's tasty and super good for you. I was a bit skeptical.

I've made wheat and rye berries in the past in an attempt to vary my grain intake, and I was not impressed. It might be that I didn't cook them or season them well,  but I tried to make a warm salad with wheat berries and it was pretty cardboardy which made the chewiness of the grain bad. The berries just didn't taste good. I was afraid my farro experience would yield the same result. 

I'm happy to report that it wasn't like that at all. Farro is really good. It has a mild, nutty flavor. Some describe it as a bit sweet. As farro is an Italian grain, I decided to make an Italian inspired meal. 

  Farro is cooked like a lot of other grains. It's actually like cooking the whole oats that I posted about a couple of weeks ago. You put a cup of farro and two and a half cups of water in a pot and bring it to a boil. When it's boiling, reduce the heat and cover for 20 to 30 minutes until tender. 

While the farro cooks pan-fry cooked white beans (cannellini) in olive oil until they brown and crisp a bit. When doing this, make sure to have the beans in a single layer on the pan. You want them all to lay flat and be touching the pan. Otherwise they won't crisp--which you definitely want. Do these in two batches in necessary. Drain on a dish with a paper towel and set aside. 

Next to the chard. Wash and prep by cutting into large, about inch long, pieces. Heat olive oil in pan on medium-high heat then add the chard. Sautee for a couple of minutes then add 3 cloves of minced garlic. Season with salt and hot pepper flakes. Cook for a minute longer then cover and lower heat. Cook for a bit more until done--maybe 5 more minutes. 

Scoop some farro into a bowl and top with kale and beans. I added a dollop of homemade parsely pesto. Season again at this point if necessary. Done! Easy, kind of simple and healthy dinner. 

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Waste Not: Cool, gross, beautiful photos of rotting food

So I haven't posted in a while. We've been super busy between my work, Ashleigh's finals, and family coming to visit. So much less time to cook and to post. But I do have a few things on the queue that I've been waiting to put up. We also have a fridge full of fresh produce that is waiting to be attacked. Watch out in the next couple of days for some awesome food projects.

In the meantime check out this article on Klaus Pichler's photos of rotting food. The series, titled "one third", is meant to comment on and cause people to reflect on the amount of food we waste. Pichler points out that according to a UN report one third of the world's food goes to waste and most of that amount comes from industrialized nations. Part of what makes the photographs so effective in causing the viewer to think about their consumption and waste is that he includes the place the food was produced, the distance it travelled to him, the item's carbon footprint, and the amount of water it took to make it. So while you're staring at this gross yet beautiful image that at one point may or may not have been in your fridge, you're forced to be aware of a bit of what it took to produce it. Check it out. 

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Six Acres in Vancouver

Ashleigh and I went to Six Acres in Gastown recently. It was our first time at this place, but I've been wanting to try it for a while. It's gastropub with an impressive beer list and it's two blocks from where I work. Perfect after a long day of work! Our experience was pretty good. After much deliberation (I'm awful at making decisions when it comes to  drinks and food, I'm just too picky) I decided to order the Celebrator dopplebock which was fantastic. I like dopplebocks generally, and this one did not disappoint. It's a strong beer but is extremely drinkable. The flavour is well balanced with a good maltiness and a bit of hop spice to dry it out. The flavour feels full but not heavy. This might be my new favourite. 

As for food, we shared the poutine, the veggie sliders, and the cod in parchment. Now I'm going to preface this with the fact that we're new to Vancouver and this is our third poutine experience, but this was by far the best poutine we've had. They use a gravy made with stout beer and real cheese curds. It was completely amazing! If I judged the restaurant on the beer and the poutine alone I would give it a glowing review. However, the veggie sliders were very good but not amazing, and the cod could have been more flavourful. Regardless the experience was good. I meant to take a picture of the food but by then was enjoying my time off and eating the poutine and totally forgot! whoops! Anyway, I plan to go back, so next time. 

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Whole Oat Groat Oatmeal

Oatmeal is my favourite thing to eat in the morning. It's delicious and always makes me feel good. There are so many varieties you can make so it's harder to get bored. I didn't really get into oatmeal until a couple of years ago when I started making it from steel cut oats. The flavour really is strikingly better than just rolled or quick oats. Some people get intimidated at the whole process of cooking oats or think they don't have enough time but it really can be quite easy and fast--you can check out my method below.

Recently I bought whole oat groats to try out. I hadn't really ever consciously seen them in a store before coming to Vancouver, but they seem to be quite pervasive here and a friend told me that she usually uses those for her oatmeal and prefers them. Well, no surprise she was right. The consistency of the groat oatmeal is way more interesting. It seems smoother and yet more textured at the same time. I don't think I'll switch back. The only downfall is that it takes more time to cook. But like steel cut oatmeal, you can make a big batch of it at the beginning of the week and just reheat it throughout. It keeps really well in the fridge. 

Oatmeal:

The night before, add oats (either groats or steel cut) and water at a 1 to 4 ratio to a pot and bring the oats to a boil, then turn the heat off and let them sit overnight. In the morning cook them by bringing them to a boil again and then reducing the heat so that the oats simmer. Simmer until the liquid has been absorbed and the oats are tender to your liking. Add a bit more water or milk of your choice (I prefer almond milk) if the oats start to stick to the bottom of the pan or if it's getting too thick and the oats are not done. The whole process should only take about 20 minutes for steel cut oats and about 30-35 for the groats. The oatmeal doesn't require much supervision. I usually am getting ready to go or doing other things while the oats are cooking. If I have time, when the oats are done I let them sit for 5 to 10 minutes more off the heat so the oatmeal thickens and cools a bit. I like that consistency better but it's not necessary.

Toppings:

You can add in a variety of different fruits and spices. I love tossing in some fresh minced ginger (about a tbsp, or however much you want) before I bring it to a boil again in the morning and then adding in apple pieces, strawberries, bananas, etc. You can add your toppings at the end or cook some of it with the oats. I like adding some apple pieces while the oats are cooking to infuse the dish with more apple flavour. I try to stay away from sugar in the morning, but some honey or brown sugar goes great, as do nuts or flax seeds. Experiment with it. 

I've even made a savory oatmeal with green onion, ginger and soy sauce which sounds weird but is delicious (full disclosure the idea comes from Mark Bittman).

Yesterday I made whole groats with bananas, ginger and cinnamon. Check out the recipe below: 

Banana Ginger Oatmeal

Serves Two

Prep the oat groats the night before as outlined above using 1/2 cup of oats and 2 cups of water. In the morning add a tbsp of minced ginger and then bring the oats to a boil. When boiling, reduce the heat and add 1/2 a banana thinly sliced. Simmer until oats are tender and liquid has disappeared adding more liquid if necessary (see notes above). When the oatmeal is done, take the pot off the heat and let it sit for 10 more minutes. Then add small banana chunks or slices and cinnamon and mix together. Serve warm. 

Notes:

I like the banana addition because it adds natural sweetness as well as flavour. If you want a sweeter dish you can add honey or brown sugar. 

The reason that I add the 1/2 banana at the beginning is to add the sweetness and flavour to the oats themselves. I don't like to add the whole banana at the beginning because it will basically disintegrate into the oatmeal and I like to have some actual banana pieces in my breakfast. Adding half at the beginning and half at the end gives me the best of both worlds. 

Oatmeal travels well in a Mason jar. My breakfast to go:

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Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pancake) or a Version of it...

So this is my last cabbage related post for a while. My cabbage supply finally ran out and I'm on to new vegetable adventures. This is actually the second cabbage dinner I made and what I initially bought cabbage for. A couple of months ago Ashleigh and I went to Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen on Commercial Drive with a friend. This is definitely the best sushi place we've founds far--so go if you're in Vancouver or give me another recommendation! Our friend is a regular and knew what to order. We got a variety of rolls and small plates. I literally wanted to order everything off the menu, but managed to hold off until next time. One of the things he ordered was okonomiyaki which is a savory veggie packed pancake. The texture is kind of similar to a Spanish Frittata, but the taste is different. It's prepared in a skillet and when done topped with Japanese mayo and a variety of ingredients.

The version I made here combined some different recipes. Also I made it vegan. When I was putting it together it seemed like there were too many veggies. I was sure it wouldn't stick together and would be a disaster, but it totally worked, so if it's your first time don't despair! Also the cabbage is the only necessity in terms of the vegetables; you can switch out the leeks if you want. I think adding some minced fresh ginger wouldn't be bad....

Ingredients:

slightly less than 1 cup of all purpose flour

3 tbsp of Chickpea flour whisked with 3 tbsp of water; or 2 flax eggs; or for a non-vegan version you can add 2 eggs

1/4 head of cabbage shredded 

1 leek thinly sliced

1 tsp salt

Toppings:

Vegan mayo (I used the homemade one I keep talking about--see previous post)

You can kind of go crazy with the toppings: a lot of different shredded or sliced vegetables would go well here: green onion, carrot, etc. I used sliced radishes

Assemble!

Mix the flour with salt. Then add in the chickpea flour mixture. Add in cabbage and leek. Toss until all combined. Set aside.

Heat a heavy skillet with a thin layer of olive oil over medium-high heat. When shimmery add the mixture to the pan. It's going to feel a bit messy--it's not quite as wet as a batter so it doesn't hold together well, but don't worry. Press the mixture down so that it's flat and all one width. You want it pretty compressed. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes. It will look like this:

When the underside is browned it's time to flip. Get a plate ready. Quickly put it over the pan and flip the pancake onto the plate. Place back on the heat and add a bit more oil. Carefully, slide the pancake, cooked side up back onto the skillet. 

Cook for 6 to 8 more minutes. When the underside is browned slide the whole thing onto a plate

Add vegan mayo and the radishes and serve warm. Enjoy!

We ate it with roasted Japanese yams...

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Cool concept in Atlanta: The Boxcar Grocery. Making healthy food financially and culturally accessible:

We want the actual lifestyle associated with eating organic food andpreserving one’s health to be an accessible idea in the minds of all people. Right now it’s not. There are entire communities of people — Black and Latino people who look like my friends and I — wherein food-related illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, strokes, and cancer are both expected and acceptable.

The Boxcar Grocer brand is a call, overall, to change these beliefs.

My brother and I grew up listening to hip-hop and watching MTV, so we’re aware of the power of the “lifestyle brand” to shape people’s behavior. “What if we used branding to treat organic sensibilities like an object in a Jay-Z rap?” we wondered. Would that help bridge the cultural gap that keeps people buying and eating unhealthy food? Because culture is a much bigger factor than income.

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Vegan Reuben on Black Bread

I made this Black Bread from 101 Cookbooks and have been eating it with everything lately. Yesterday for lunch I decided to make vegan reubens. I used store bought tempeh, cabbage pickled overnight (one of my uses for the cabbage I bought a week ago), home made vegan cashew cheese, and homemade vegan mayo. It didn't take long to put together but that's because I had all the ingredients pre-made. The vegan mayo is another thing I have been making and eating constantly. It's J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's recipe for vegan mayo using eggplant as a base. It is the best thing you've never had. Check out his explanation on how to make vegan mayo using a variety of bases. 

Black Bread

Vegan Cashew Cheese Spread

Sandwich!

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Caramelized Cabbage Over Japanese Yams

I was perusing the NYTimes Dining and Wine section and came across an article on cabbage by Melissa Clark. I actually like cabbage a lot. It gets a bad rap as a boring vegetable, but done right it can be surprising and delicious. One of cabbage's major assets is its versatility. It can be eaten in a variety of forms: completely raw or pickled; seared, sauteed, braised, etc. And depending on what you, it will have distinct textures and flavors. 

In her article, Clark highlights a problem that I often find with cabbage which is that there's so much of it. We are used to eating a ton of vegetables at home so I always look at a head of cabbage and think "that's enough for dinner and leftovers". When really whatever I'm making only takes about 1/8 to 1/4 of a cabbage (for dinner and leftovers) and I'm stuck with this giant layered hunk of vegetable for the rest of the week that doesn't fit into my meal plans. I never really get it together to come up with a bunch of cabbage meals, and furthermore selling the idea to my wife  that we're eating cabbage all week would be a challenge. As Clark's post pointed out though, cabbage actually keeps really well in the fridge, so you can use a bit for one recipe and then use some a couple of days later for another. And because it is so versatile, it really does fit into extremely distinct meals, so it doesn't have to feel like you're eating cabbage all week. 

So far we've consumed two cabbage dinners that have been delicious and are due for our third in the next couple of days. The first dish I made was a variation on one of Clark's recipes from the article. She made "Pasta With Caramelized Cabbage, Anchovies and Bread Crumbs". I thought 'caramelized cabbage' sounded fantastic and was something I'd never tried before (would it actually be sweet?), and I love anchovies, so I went for it. I wasn't feeling into pasta then and wanted a more complex flavor to match the cabbage mixture. Initially my idea was to serve it over roasted delica squash, but they were all out when I reached the store. Luckily I spotted Japanese yams and picked those up. The sweetness of the yam goes well with the umami, salty flavour of the anchovies. Also yams are packed with more nutrients than pasta, so it was a win!

The dish turned out to be amazing. Caramelized cabbage is delicious. The sweetness is subtle (don't think caramelized onions).The texture is soft with a bit of crunch. I recommend trying it! The anchovy flavour in this dish  is not overwhelming, so if you're not a huge fan of anchovies don't worry, it's purpose here is mostly for the salt and umami. That being said, if you're wary you can add less anchovies (Clark's article recommends just 4 anchovy fillets) or if you want to make the dish vegan you can omit them and add capers instead. See my note below. 

Here is the recipe I made. The cabbage mixture is very slightly adapted from the NY Times article, but the Japanese yam addition is mine. 

TO MAKE VEGAN: omit anchovies and add capers (about 2 Tbsp) and sprinkle nutritional yeast to taste. 

Ingredients:

6-7 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 can anchovy fillets coarsely chopped (can add less or omit--see note above)

1/2 cup coarse bread crumbs ( I used stale homemade bread, but was lazy and did bigger bread pieces--like for migas, but think it would be great with bread crumbs)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper, plus more, to taste

Kosher salt, to taste

2 medium/large Japanese yams, chopped into half inch square pieces

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon red chile flakes

1/2  cabbage shredded

Preheat oven to 400 F. 

1. Mince two garlic cloves. Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the anchovies and cook, mashing with a spatula, until they start to dissolve. Stir in the minced garlic and cook until fragrant (less than a minute). Stir in the bread crumbs and cook until bread is golden brown, about 2 minutes. Place on a dish and season with black pepper.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the yams and cook until soft but not quite done. Drain and dry a bit. Oil a baking sheet with olive oil and arrange the yams in a single layer on the sheet. Brush the top of the yams with olive oil and stick in the oven. Roast until yams have developed a nice brown color. The roasting helps add a bit of crunch to the exterior while the middle remains soft after the boiling. I didn't season these yams because i think they have a lot of flavor on their own and the anchovies add so much salt to the dish that I wanted to balance it out. 

3. While the yams cooks, add a thin layer of olive oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Add the remaining garlic and chile and cook about a minute until fragrant. Stir in the cabbage and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to caramelize, about 10 minutes. Toss in the bread-crumb mixture and heat through. Season with salt and more pepper, if desired. Serve atop the finished yams. 

Finished meal

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Chickpea Coated Fried Chickpeas and Soda Bread

The first time I had these chickpeas was in a salad at Pizzaiolo restaurant in Oakland. They were fantastic: warm, crunchy and rich tasting without being heavy. At first I couldn't figure out what was different about them. Then it hit me: they had been dredged in flour before being fried, and not just any flour, chickpea flour! Chickpea flour is made of ground chickpeas and is used in a variety of different cuisines. At the time I had been making a lot of socca--a flatbread made of chickpea flour, olive oil, water, and salt (I'll do a post on it soon!)--and was getting a little obsessed with this flour. So I was extra excited about this dish and knew I had to try it at home. You might be thinking, 'chickpeas fried in chickpea flour? isn't that overkill?' but you would be wrong. These are amazing. 

They also turned out to be extremely simple to make. Take a 14 oz can of chickpeas, or about the same amount of home cooked chickpeas and dredge them in the mixture below:

1 1/2 cup chickpea/garbanzo flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp smoked paprika (optional)

1/2 tsp cayenne (optional)

Note: really only the flour and the salt are necessary. I added the paprika and cayenne to suit my own taste. You can swap them out for other spices to match whatever you're making or leave them out altogether. The smokiness of the paprika I think happens to work really well with the beans.

Heat up a heavy pan with a thin-ish layer of olive oil and when it's shimmering, shake the beans off a bit and then add then in, in a single layer. Make sure they are not too crowded or they won't brown nicely--you will probably have to do this in two or three batches. After a couple of minutes turn the chickpeas so they get a nice colour all around. Then place them on a plate with a paper towel to drain. Season again with salt and whatever other spice if necessary. Fry up remaining batches and serve immediately. 

I ate these over a kale salad and with a side of brown soda bread I made. 

....and some beer, of course!

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Good piece by Mark Bittman in the NY TImes: 

The most publicized stories about industrial agriculture represent the exceptions that prove the rule: the uncommon torture of animals by perverse individuals in rogue operations. But torture is inherent in the routine treatment of animals as widgets, and the system itself is perverse. What makes “Every Twelve Seconds” different from (for example) a Mercy for Animals exposé is, says Pachirat, “that the day-in and day-out experience produces invisibility. Industrialized agriculture perpetuates concealment at every level of the process, and rather than focusing on the shocking examples we should be focusing on the system itself.”

At that point we might finally acknowledge that raising, killing and eating animals must be done differently. When omnivores recognize that our way of producing and eating meat reduces not only slaughterhouse workers but all of us to a warped state, we’ll be able to bring about the kind of changes that will reduce both meat consumption and our collective guilt.

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Pizza Series, #1: mushroom, roasted garlic, and egg

pizza above: homemade tomato sauce, mushrooms, sunny side up egg cooked on the pizza, topped with hot pepper flakes

Pizza might be my favourite thing to make (and eat!) for a ton of reasons. It's got a dough component which the bread-making side of me totally loves and the variations are endless! You can make it really traditional, Neapolitan Margherita style; you can add a ton of toppings or hardly any at all; it can be totally vegan. It can also be pretty healthy or totally fatty and indulgent. 

What you need is the basics. Good homemade pizza is about good dough, good sauce (if using!), and a pizza stone.

If you don't have a pizza stone and yet are into (or want to be into) making pizza at home, you should really get one. Even a cheap stone makes a pretty big difference. Also it gives home made bread a great crust. Serious Eats did a cool series of reviews of pizza stones here. Get one!!

DOUGH:

For this pizza I used the Peter Reinhart method for pizza dough. 101 cookbooks has a version of the recipe here. I personally use the same method but with 20 oz of flour, 1 tsp of yeast, 0.44 oz of salt, and 14 oz of ice water to start. I use more water while working the dough by hand as the recipe says. I end up with about a 75% hyrdation.  

I like the dough better without olive oil--I use some to coat the dough while it's rising in its container but that's it. And I try to let it rise in the fridge for 3-5 days in the fridge. When I'm ready to make pizza I take it out 2-3 hours before making my pie, and preheat my oven to 550 F  1 1/2 hours before baking. 

SAUCE:

My wife almost always makes amazing tomato sauce for our pizza endeavours using her (Italian) grandmother's recipe. It consists of good quality canned whole, peeled tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, parsley, oregano, hot pepper flakes, black pepper, and salt to taste. She blends the tomatoes a bit before cooking to get a smoother texture

Pizza!

For this pizza I preheated the oven at 550 for 90 minutes and roasted garlic in the oven in the meantime.

Toppings: I pan roasted sliced mushrooms in olive oil and just seasoned them with salt.

Oil: I always brush the dough with olive oil after I stretch it out and right before I put the tomato sauce on, so the sauce doesn't seep into the raw dough. This time I made a chili, garlic oil hours before and used that to brush the stretched out dough. 

Assembly: Chili-garlic oil, sauce, mushrooms. Put it in the oven for about five minutes. Open the oven and carefully add a raw, intact egg--you want it to cook on the pizza. Bake for about 3 more minutes, careful to not overcook the egg. Take the pie out of the oven top with the roasted garlic cloves and sprinkle generously with hot pepper flakes. 

To eat, break the yolk and either spread on the other pieces or you can dip all the slices in the yolk as you eat them. 

Note: You can add cheese if you want, a grana padano would go nicely I think, but I find that the egg yolk totally adds enough creaminess to the pizza and balances the dish well. 

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from Spacing Vancouver. A plan for a local food hub in Vancouver. Sounds great: 

Vancouver’s food hub is being realized in the form of New City Market, an indoor space with a year-round weekly farmers’ market, a chefs’ market, and a commercial kitchen. A farmer will be able to bring her truckload of produce from the Fraser Valley or beyond, sell wholesale to stores and restaurants in the morning and directly to the public later in the day, and then sell any surplus for on-site processing, returning to the farm with an empty truck.

Putting so much under one roof will provide multiple sales avenues for producers, thus reducing waste and saving time. “And at the end of the day, this puts more money in the pockets of BC’s small farmers,” says Tara McDonald, NCM project lead. Loren Taves, who grows a variety of crops on his 40-acre family farm in Abbotsford, agrees. “I think they’ve got the right concept,” he says. “I can grow one crop for Costco as all we do, but we’ve elected to stay selling into the farmers’ markets and doing a variety of different products.” Taves thinks it makes smart business sense to pay attention to what the local market asks for, and to prepare for a future that is less reliant on the global food system. “I think as time goes on, we as a people will start to look at what we have locally at our disposal—and those things need to be developed and nurtured today.” For Taves, that includes facilities like New City Market.

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Cheap Wine #3: Leon de Tarapaca, Sauvignon Blanc

Price: $12.99 at BC Liquor

Notes: I haven't been buying a lot of white wine lately. It's been pretty cold outside so we've been craving red wine or often I'll pair foods with a nice beer instead. Also, I've found that there are fewer options for cheap white wine in bc than there are for red. Whites generally seem to be at least a couple dollars more than reds and since we've been trying to stick to the $10 range we haven't bought some. Having said that, $13 every now and then I think is ok and I'm so glad I tried this wine! It's a really nice sauvignon blanc for it's value. It has a good acidity and brightness. It's flavourful and very dry while still being citrusy. 

Worth it?: Yes! Give it a shot. (I bet it would be It's great paired with lentil stir fry...)

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french green lentils for dinner

A couple of weeks ago I was feeling like I was in a protein rut. I cook a lot of different types of meals and try to alternate our grain/carb and protein sources but I was just feeling bored with all my usual go tos--also there's only so many days in a row that my wife will eat chickpeas without complaining. 

I never really think about using lentils. I like them; I've eaten good lentil dishes, but honestly they're never what I'm craving. Part of the problem is that whenever I see a lentil recipe, it's for soup--another thing I like but with a couple exceptions rarely really crave. Anyway, I do love 101 cookbooks, and as I was perusing the site for some inspiration I realized how many lentil recipes Heidi has. Now many of them are soup, which is probably why I've not really paid attention to them in the past, but in my new found desire for variety, I started reading through them and found this. It's a recipe for lentil stir fry! Perfect! Easy, different(ish) and allowed me to use some vegetables in my fridge.

I pretty much just took the basic idea and made it my own:

Sauce: Heidi makes a mint sauce for this recipe, which looked amazing, but I had some leftover homemade sunflower seed and parsley pesto that needed to be used up so I added that.

Vegetables: I parboiled and roasted fingerling potatoes (you can skip the boiling if you want), and two eggplants cut into half moons. I made a simple balsamic dressing for the eggplant.

Lentils: While the veggies were roasting I cooked the lentils--French green lentils. Next I sautéed chopped onion, then tossed in the cooked lentils. I had some leftover roasted garlic and roasted tomatoes from another meal, so I threw those in.

And done! Assembly: I put potatoes on the plate, topped them with the lentil mixture, threw the eggplant on top and then added dollops of the pesto and dashes of hot sauce. Super good and healthy!

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Tofu Bibimbap

The NY Times recently posted an article on making Bibimbap at home. I looove dolsot bibimbap. It has rice, a ton of vegetables and gochujang which is this fantastic spicy fermented hot pepper paste. Also an egg is often cracked on top of the dish and cooked in with the hot bowl. I love mixing it all together in the stone bowl. I've never made it at home because I don't have the stone pot. I hadn't really thought about making it anyway until reading this article, but while being different (and probably inauthentic) from what you get at a Korean restaurant, this is a great meal! It does require some veggie and tofu prepping, so be prepared, but otherwise it's pretty easy to put together and you won't be sorry you did it.

Bibimbap Recipe: here

Recipe Notes/Changes:

For the veggies, I basically used the same ones in the nytimes recipe except I subbed zucchini for the cucumber because I don't like cucumber. I sliced the zucchini thinly and sauteed it with garlic and just made the carrots by themselves with the oil and vinegar mixture.

My grocery store ran out of shiitake mushrooms, so I used a large portabella,  which I coated with a little olive oil and cooked on a cast iron pan on my stovetop until slightly charred and sweet. Then I sliced the mushroom.

This is vegan except for the egg on top. I like the added gooey texture and buttery taste that the egg imparts, but it's totally not essential and can easily just be omitted. We had it the next day without and it was great!