Our friends and veggie lovers Jeanne and Nathan visited for dinner a few weeks back, and for the occasion we decided to whip up an all vegetarian menu in their honor. When thinking veggie, I always first turn to my cookbook Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi, the brilliant London based chef. We've posted a few other Ottolenghi dishes here (and here) in the past to rave reviews, and in fact, I must say that whenever I come across blog posts of his recipes the response is universal, it seems the whole world loves his creative take on vegetarian cooking.
Entrees
Mustard Roasted Pork with Carrot and Wheat Berry Salad
This recipe is a slight adaptation of one I recently found in Bon Appetit Magazine. Their recipe called for making the salad with farro, but as I had a rather large bin of wheat berries, I used them as a substitute. The original also called for using raw red onion and parsley in the salad, but in deference to my wife's sensitive stomach I nixed the onion, and for personal preference used cilantro instead of the parsley. We served the salad warm along side the pork roast, then had it again cold as left-overs later in the week, and we loved it both ways. This is definitely a grain salad that would serve you well over the course of the week if you made a big batch with a roast for Sunday dinner. It is a gift that keeps on giving.
Kefta Tagine with Herbs, Spices and Lemon
I probably spend more time than your average Joe planning out my meals. This is for two reasons, really. First, as a Dad I want to expose my kids to as many flavors of the world as I can before they're off on their own, so that hopefully they'll continue to search out "real", healthy and ethnically diverse foods when they leave home. Second, as a food blogger I want to offer you, our readers, a wide range of new recipes to try out on your own guinea pigs families. Sometimes I throw meals on my calendar just as a place holder so that I don't forget about a great recipe, and want to be reminded of it so that I don't forget to cook it one day. When I'm in that mode, I often toss meals on my calendar 4-6 weeks in advance of actually cooking them. It can get a little crazy.
Broccoli and Tarragon Quiche
Fine Cooking Magazine recently ran a "Create Your Own Recipe" feature for how to make quiche. As they've done with braises and stir-fries, they focus on the basic elements of a dish, then suggest all sorts of ways to inject your own creativity to come up with an original taste. We took their basic crust and custard recipes and added veggies and cheese to our liking. The result….quite delicious.
St. Louis Ribs with Maple BBQ Sauce
Muppet came back from her February school vacation a young woman possessed. She had spent the week with her Dad and his new family skiing at Stratton Mountain in Vermont. By all accounts they had a grand old time on the slopes, but to be honest I hardly heard about the skiing from our budding gourmand. All she could do was rave about the "Bear Claws" she ate at a joint called "Grizzlys Bar and Restaurant" at the base of the mountain.
Of course, my first thought ran to the pastry of the same name as I was sure she had noshed a few as a mid-morning snack on the trails. I was wrong. Instead, she was referring to a plate of ribs that she said were the best she's ever eaten, thick and meaty and slathered with a maple syrup BBQ sauce.
Did I mention she was possessed?
Coq Au Vin
Ahhhh – Coq Au Vin, is there any dish more French than this one?
Well….yes, there are plenty of other foods that scream France, like Beef Bourguignon, Tartiflette, Confit de Canard, and Cassoulet, but when it comes to everyday fare few match the simplicity, deliciousness and charm of Coq Au Vin.
Meatless Monday – Almond Soba Noodles with Edamame
Yeah, I know it's Tuesday already and that this is a "Meatless Monday" post, but time slipped away from me yesterday and I never got it finished in time….Je suis désolé. I could have saved it for next week to actually post on Monday, but this dish was so good I couldn't wait to share it with you all.
As is the case with many vegetarian dishes, this treat is equally delicious, hot, room temperature, or cold from the fridge. This dish satisfied in many ways, from the exotic flavor of its nut sauce, to its meatless pedigree and use of soba noodles which are made with buckwheat flour and perfect for my gluten-sensitive wife.
Cheese Fondue with Veggies and Toast
I remember with great fondness the fondue meals of my youth. Sometimes it was the traditional melted gruyere with wine into which we dipped cubes of bread, sometimes the more dangerous hot oil into which we slipped cubes of beef, chicken, or shrimp to cook and then dredge through an assortment of savory sauces. Whatever the type, I remember fondue night being a lot of fun and a total departure from our normal meal time routine.
I didn't experience fondue again until I lived in France when the boys and I would enjoy it while on our ski getaways to the alps. There were a number of great restaurants at Courchevel that specialized in fondues, as it is a nearly perfect après ski meal. As my boys are all cheese-hounds, they loved the meals as much as I did and they became an important part of our ski trip tradition as long as we lived there.
Chicken Tagine with Olives and Lemons
This dish, which I pinched from Saveur's November 2012 issue of 100 Greatest Dishes, is one of the tastiest we've made in a while, beautiful straight from the oven and even better as leftovers! As I am always a big proponent of cooking with an eye to having leftovers for a second meal, this dish is a natural to cook up on a weekend and then enjoy again a few nights later as an easy re-heated dish on a busy work night.
Roasted Garlic, Fontina and Chicken Risotto
I bought a big bag of great looking garlic at my market not long ago and worked my way through most of it one or two cloves at a time in the normal course of cooking. As it was starting to take on the feel of a permanent resident of my fridge, I decided that I needed to come up with a recipe that would allow me to use up the few remaining heads in one fell swoop. Enter this dish, which puts two heads of sweet, roasted garlic to excellent use. We roasted the two remaining heads as well, and used them to spread on slices of grilled rustic bread, and to perfume some EVOO for dipping oil.
