Khichdi

After reading an article about what kids around the world eat for lunch, I was curious to try khichdi, a one-pot Indian comfort food made of lentils, rice, and vegetables. This dish was delicious, comforting, and happily devoured by adults and toddlers alike.

Recipe adapted from here and here. You can use smaller lentils for a creamier consistency or larger lentils (like chana dal) if you want it chewier; I liked a blend of both. Feel free to sub out various veggies depending on what you have on hand—just keep the proportions of rice to lentils to veggies about the same as what's listed here. Everything blends together into creamy, subtly spiced deliciousness.

Ingredients
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 tsp cumin seeds
1.5 tbsp julienned fresh ginger
3 carrots, diced
1/2 cup frozen green peas
1/2 medium to large orange sweet potato, diced
2 cups chopped cauliflower
2 handfuls coarsely chopped greens (spinach, collards, mustard greens)
1 Anaheim chile, chopped
3/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chili powder
1.5 cups mixed lentils (e.g., toor dal, moong dal, red lentils, chana dal), rinsed well and checked through for stones
6 cups water

2 bay leaves

4 whole cloves
2 cardamom pods, crushed
2 tsp salt
1.5 cups white Basmati rice, rinsed well
Chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the butter and olive oil. When the butter melts, add the cumin seeds and ginger and sauté for 30 seconds, then add the veggies. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes.

Add the turmeric and chili powder and stir, then add the lentils and mix well. Pour in the water and stir. Add the remaining spices and salt, then cover and bring to a gentle boil. Turn the heat down and simmer 10 minutes. Add the rice and simmer for another 30-40 minutes or until everything is tender and the desired consistency.

Remove the two bay leaves (you can also try to find the cloves and cardamom pods while you're at it). Serve warm, sprinkled with cilantro.

Serves 4-6.

Orzo with Roasted Peppers, Butter Beans, and Kale

A year or two ago, I watched a friend of mine toss some peppers in the oven to roast, so that she could use them throughout the week. Now, this friend is an excellent cook, a superbly efficient juggler of work and life and food and laughter, and generally full of top notch advice. In other words, one might think I would have taken notes. I should have gone straight home, acquired a large number of bell peppers, and commenced a happy and full life of weekly pepper roasting.

I did not.

What's wrong with me? Nobody knows. But belatedly, I have remedied my ways. I have become a Weekly Pepper Roaster. Or at least, an occasional weekly pepper roaster. Try it. Today. Or in a year. You'll see.

 
Make one for this dish, one for a fancy sandwich, one for a dreamy quesedilla, and one to pay yourself in snack taxes as you cook throughout the week.

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 large bell pepper

1/2 head cauliflower, chopped

1 bunch dino or green kale, diced

3 large cloves garlic, pressed

1 1/4 cups veggie or chicken broth

1 rounded cup whole wheat orzo

1 can butter beans, rinsed and drained

Slosh white wine or broth

Zest of about 3/4 of a Meyer lemon

1/2 cup Parmesan, grated with a microplane

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

To roast the peppers:
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Take a roasting pan, brush just under where the peppers will go with olive oil, then lay the peppers on their side. Roast for 15 minutes, turn 1/4 turn, then roast another 10 minutes on each side (about 45 min total) until the peppers start to slightly deflate. Remove from the oven and set on a plate to cool. Pull out the core, cut them in half, peel, and de-seed. (Can be kept in the fridge in an air-tight container for at least a week...pour the leftover juices over them before refrigerating.)

Meanwhile:
While the peppers are roasting or just after they emerge, toss the chopped cauliflower in a drizzle of olive oil to coat, scatter on another baking pan, and cook in the oven until golden brown, stirring every 4 minutes or so (12-15 minutes total).

For the pepper you're using right now: Slice into strips lengthwise, then cut the strips in half crosswise.

Meanwhile, set a wide sautée pan over medium heat. When hot, add a generous glug of olive oil. Add the kale and toss to coat with the oil, then cover the pan and let cook for 4-5 minutes or so. Sprinkle with salt, stir, and then let cook for another 4-5 minutes. (It's fine if it browns, and it's fine if it doesn't. Don't stress. It will take care of itself.)

Bring the broth to a boil in a small pot for the orzo. When it reaches a boil, add the orzo, turn the heat down to low, and simmer 9 minutes or according to package directions.

Add the garlic and a little olive oil to the kale and sauté, stirring, for a couple minutes until the garlic softens. Add the butter beans and toss lightly. Stir in a glug of wine (or a slosh of broth, if you don't have white wine on hand). Cover for a couple minutes to let simmer. Uncover, stir in the lemon zest and the peppers, and replace the cover. Turn off the heat.

When the orzo is al dente, drain off any excess broth, then toss gently with the kale mixture. Stir in half the parmesan and a liberal dusting of black pepper. Serve warm, topped with the rest of the parmesan and the roasted cauliflower.

Serves 2.

Mostly Plants for Breakfast: Farro with Fruit and Greek Yogurt

You may have noticed that I have a thing about conquering new foods.

First it was kale, I think. Then fish. Cauliflower went from dubiously tolerated to deeply beloved, and brussels sprouts followed suit. At some point, I confessed to a sudden, irreversible, life-altering change in my relationship with tomatoes.

It became a thing. Find a food I think I don't like, and then find a way to prepare it that makes me change my mind. It was true of anything, I declared loudly. There IS no food I don't like, and if I think there is, I just haven't come across the right version yet.

Except yogurt.

 

 

Yogurt, it seemed, was the last holdout. The final frontier. The unbeatable edible. The...you get the idea.

People thought they could solve this one easily for me. Just try Greek yogurt, they said. Make sure it's the such and such brand. Try French style. Try it with strawberries. Try the parsnip yogurt, because seriously, parsnips! (Verdict, on all: Ew.)

Until quite recently, when my mom intervened.* And this is what she suggested.

And the yogurt?

Delightful. Necessary. A perfect complement in both flavor and texture. And most importantly? Vanquished.


Ingredients
1 cup farro, cooked according to package directions
10 oz or so plain Greek yogurt (my favorites, texture-wise, are Fage and Voskos)
Local honey**
1 lemon (preferably Meyer), zested
1/2 - 1 tsp grated ginger
Plentiful fruit (sliced strawberries, blueberries, diced kiwi, sliced kumquats, you name it)

Mix the yogurt with the lemon zest, ginger, and a spoonful or two of honey. Serve in layers: a scoop or two of farro, a scoop of yogurt, a heap of fruit. Eat blissfully. Repeat as needed.


Serves about 4, and saves easily in the fridge, separately, for breakfasts throughout the week (just reheat the farro and serve).

*You may remember my mom as the well-intentioned radish foister.
**Turns out honey is one of the most adulterated food products in the U.S. (along with olive oil), so it's worth splurging a little on a source you trust.

Roasted Broccoli with Gruyere

You know that song, about Romeo and Juliet and broccoli and Gruyère?

You know the one: "Never know how much I love you, never know how much I care, when you put your arms around me, you're like the broccoli to my Gruyère." At least, I'm pretty sure that's how it goes.

Clearly, some pairings are just meant to be. (Don't question it. Just eat.)

Ingredients

2 heads broccoli, tops divided into florets, tender part of stem sliced

1/2 head cauliflower, divided into florets

1 medium red onion, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced

Olive oil

3 oz Gruyère, grated

Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Preheat oven to 425°.

Toss broccoli, cauliflower, and onion with olive oil in a roasting pan (the veggies should be a couple layers deep). Roast for 40 minutes, turning every 15 or so, until tender. Top with Gruyère, then broil 3-4 minutes.

Sprinkle with salt and white pepper, and serve hot.

Serves 2-4. Best the first day, rather than reheated, so why save any for tomorrow?

Conquering the Cauliflower, Phase III: Leftovers

Lunch in less than ten minutes. Or rather, a gourmet, local, whole foods lunch in less than ten minutes. Can't really beat that.

Step 1: Make this recipe, alongside some fish or chicken or whatever over wild rice (if you make about a cup of wild rice, you can use two-thirds of it for a two-person dinner and save the last third for this recipe).

Step 2: Gleefully remove leftovers from fridge the next day, and make this:

Ingredients
About 2 cups leftover roasted cauliflower
Three big handfuls spinach leaves
1 cup leftover cooked wild rice
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sherry vinegar
1 tbsp whole grain mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Throw the spinach into a pot, cover, set over medium heat, and cook until the leaves just start to wilt from the steam (or zap in the microwave for about 30 seconds).

Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper together to form an emulsion. Toss with the wilted spinach till the leaves are evenly coated, then add the wild rice and mix well.

Reheat the cauliflower in the microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes on high or until warm but not scalding. Serve over a bed of the spinach-wild rice mixture.

Serves two for a quick and easy and amazingly delicious lunch.

Conquering the Cauliflower, Phase II: Roasted

Cauliflower 2.0. How does it compare to the previous version? Doubtless only time...and repeated sampling...can tell.

This is getting to be an old hat but...you remember that thing I said I wasn't sure if I really liked last week? Well I love it now. Totally mesmerized. Deliciously addicted. Can't possibly stop eating it ever even in a million years ooh wait look what's that?

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 to 1 1/2 heads cauliflower, divided into florets

1 small to medium red onion, quartered lengthwise and sliced into quarter rings

1 slice whole grain bread, coarsely chopped

2 tsp capers, soaked in water for 1/2 hour and rinsed

Kosher salt

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Drizzle cauliflower and onions with olive oil and toss till lightly coated. Pour into a nonstick baking pan, a couple layers deep, and roast for 45 minutes or until browned and tender, stirring every 15 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, heat a little olive oil in a pan over medium heat. When hot, add the bread and capers and fry, stirring, until golden brown.

When the cauliflower is done, drizzle with just a little more olive oil if it's a bit dry. Sprinkle with salt, add the toasted bread and capers, stir, and serve hot.

Serves 4, or two for dinner (pairs well with sablefish over wild rice) and two for lunch the next day (recipe coming soon to a blog near you).

Conquering the Cauliflower, Phase I: The Iron Skillet

It has long been my dream to conquer the cauliflower. Partly because of the alliteration, and partly because—let's face it—the cauliflower is unexciting. Bland. Boring. Unmemorable.

There's nothing wrong with it...it's just not the sort of vegetable one would rave about. No one has ever been moved to expound upon the cauliflower. No sonnets have been written. No Trojan ramekins delivered. No exclusive cookbooks devoted to the cause. (Okay, probably this last one's not true. But you get the idea.)

Except that then, one day, we ordered some cauliflower at Tuli Bistro, and I realized the error of my ways. Cauliflower, it turned out, was neither bland nor boring. Steamed cauliflower is bland and boring. Boiled cauliflower is bland and boring. Cauliflower done right is momentously, shockingly delicious.

Ingredients
1 head cauliflower (green* or white), divided into smallish florets
Olive oil
1 yellow onion, halved and sliced into thin half rings
2 tbsp golden raisins
1 tbsp pine nuts
1/4-1/3 cup veggie broth
Kosher salt
Freshly ground white pepper
Lemon wedges

Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. When hot, add a generous glug or two of olive oil, and swirl to coat the pan. After a few seconds, add the onion. Saute, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens and begins to smell sweet.

Push the onion to the side of the pan, and add the pine nuts to the other side. Stir until lightly toasted on one side, then combine with the onion and continue cooking until the onion just starts to turn golden here and there. Add the sultanas, stir once, then add the cauliflower and stir to combine. (If you had a large head of cauliflower, you may run out of room...just stick the rest in the fridge for later rather than overflowing the pan.)

Drizzle liberally with more olive oil and pan-fry for 4-5 minutes, stirring from time to time. Add a pinch or two of salt and a slosh of broth (just enough to create some steam -- about 1/8 cup), cover, and turn the heat down to medium-low. Steam for 12-15 minutes, checking and stirring at 3 minute intervals (and adding a little more broth when it starts to dry out again). The goal is for the bottom to turn golden brown (without burning), while the cauliflower cooks through. So, if it starts to brown too much, turn the heat down a little and add a bit more broth. If it's not browning at all, turn the heat up a touch or wait longer before stirring, and don't add more broth yet.

When the cauliflower is nicely browned and tender (a fork should insert easily), turn off the heat. Sprinkle with a salt and white pepper to taste, drizzle very lightly with lemon juice, stir once, and serve. Garnish with lemon wedges on the side.

Serves 3-4.

*Green cauliflower, it turns out, is higher in protein than the white variety. Also it's green. Also cauliflower is a complete protein (who knew?). Also—did I mention?—it is shockingly delicious.

Easy Roasted Veggies

Swimming in a sea of swiftly approaching deadlines? Toss your plants in the oven while you type madly on your computer. I can't think of a vegetable that wouldn't be good roasted, although surely there must be something. Lettuce, I suppose. Please do not roast your salad. But yes on root vegetables, or cauliflower, or practically anything else. Cut them into chunks, toss with olive oil, a pinch of salt, and some freshly ground black pepper, and roast in the oven at 400-425 degrees for 30-45 minutes or until nicely browned and tender, stirring every 10-15 minutes or so.

Play around with spreading them out in a wider pan versus clumping them together several layers deep -- layering keeps them moist, but if they stay too wet, they won't brown as nicely. (My turnips tonight ended up getting wetter than I expected, so halfway through, I spread them out more sparsely in the pan, and they soon turned golden (and purple, due to the purple carrots, which ended up looking kind of neat).

Side note: I notice, upon rereading the preceding paragraph, a distinct lack of grammatical correctness, or at the very least a glaring absence of a second closing parenthesis. This is because my brainpower has been usurped by the aforementioned deadlines. I take no responsibility. None.

Onward, then: Turnips are particularly good with a little pressed garlic thrown in, and I always love huge pans full of roasted root veggies this time of year (turnips, parsnips, carrots, yams, potatoes, fennel bulb, you name it -- mix with olive oil and garlic, then add a bit of chopped parsley just before you serve). Roast cauliflower until tender and sprinkle with a tiny bit of ground cumin and some ñora pepper. Eat. Enjoy. Thumb your nose at the evil deadlines.


P.S. Found it:    )