Archive | Vegetarian RSS feed for this section

¿Que qué? ¡Quesadillas! (Camp stove friendly)

9 Jun

Finger food supreme

One day I will be an eater of sandwiches.

But for now aside from the odd grilled cheese, I am not a sandwich girl. Just don’t like all the bread, the sliced deli meats, cold salads inside…I just don’t get it. Unless of course it is a pressed Cuban sandwich, con todos los poderes, de Elegguá pa’bajo…you know, like real bread, toasted, mad quantities of stuff, greased up…I can do that. In Miami. Or San Juan de Puerto Rico (ah, Kasalta). Occasionally.

But not being a sandwich person in this American life is to miss out on a lot of convenience and portability. So, I have discovered the quesadilla. Take whatever you’ve got in the fridge, spread it over half of a tortilla toasting in a skillet, sprinkle melty cheese, fold it, flip it, and allí está…a sandwich worth eating. Slice it like a pizza and you can dip it into hot sauce too.

It worked very well on our camping trip. Leftover black beans, some Monterrey Jack and sriracha and go, baby, go. Other things I have stuffed into quesadillas include pollo guisado; cheddar cheese and tomato slices; leftover sliced steak; roasted vegetables; sundried tomato and smoked mozzarella…all awesome and all done in no time, sealed with a kiss of cheese. You can slip avocado in the middle where it won’t get hot to give a lovely creaminess (plus health benefits, I am sure, but who cares?)

Quesadillas (with your choice of stuffing)

1 package of large soft tortillas (flour or corn)

a spritz of cooking oil on a good iron skillet or nonstick

1-2 cups filling (LEFTOVERS! cooked beans, cooked veg, stewed meat, sliced cooked meat)

couple of fistfuls shredded meltable cheese

1-2 Tbs herbs/hot red pepper flakes/salsa – it’s up to you to make the matches

Heat the skillet and the oil to medium. Lay a tortilla on it. Cover half with filling (Not too thick! Maybe 1/4 inch – you don’t want a mess). Sprinkle cheese (especially around the edge to make a seal). Fold the empty tortilla half over. Allow to cook a minute, then flip with fingers if you are daring, or a spatula. Turn a few times until a bit crispy and transfer to a plate. Start again with another tortilla. You can slice into wedges and serve with whatever condiments go with your filling.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Farm and chicken update (and new poll!)

7 Jun

 

 

We headed over to Restoration Farm, our CSA, today to put in a little work and visit the chickens.

Leandro was a champion snap pea picker (he remembered his skills from last year) on this bright sunny day that showed hints of what a sweltering hazy, hot and humid Long Island summer can be.

Many peas didn’t make it to the basket, as they ended up in his mouth. He won’t yet eat the pods, preferring to open them up and eat the tiny peas inside, edamame-style. It’s a start. And at least he knows they grow on vines, not exclusively in the frozen food section! Mommy gets the pods, which are wonderfully crunchy and bright.

The boy was also introduced to the delights of picking strawberries, but won’t get a chance to pick his own quart until our pick-up day, later this week. Whether any berries he picks will actually end up getting home is doubtful. I will have to make sure he doesn’t get out of hand. He can devour a pound of strawberries at a sitting and since they are amongst the most chemical-laden of fruits when conventionally-grown (see http://ewg.org/) and very expensive to buy organic, I hope this is a good year for strawberries in our neighborhood!

We visited the chickens, of course. He still loves Donna’s future egg-layers and their roving chicken coop (now painted a proper barnyard red), but the now five-week-old eating birds, not so much.

“Ew! Stinky!” is all I got out of him today, as he ran away to see what he could spirit out of the berry patch. As we get closer to our first installment of locally pastured chickens, I am starting to think about what irresistible dish to concoct for him….

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Better Scrambled Eggs (another campsite cooking fave)

6 Jun

Rustic and Righteous

I love scrambled eggs anytime (and that includes lunch and dinner), but as a camping breakfast they are especially delicious (and quick and easy).

We managed to find some terrific organic eggs at a supermarket during our week out in Montauk; if you keep your eyes sharp in farm country, there is usually a farmstand that has something fresh and local.

You can tell an egg is very fresh if: 1) it stays completely on the bottom of a pot of water and 2) if the yolk is rounded (not flat) when you crack it open. IMPORTANT: If one end of the egg floats up it is quite edible, but less than fresh. If the whole thing floats, it’s rotten. While camping, eggs that are kept chilled will keep for about five days. And white eggs and brown eggs have no appreciable difference in nutritional value; some breeds lay brown eggs; some lay white. Brown eggs just look more virtuous and granola-y.

Here, the addition of herbs and cheese makes a plain egg breakfast memorable.

Scrambled eggs with herbs and cheese

(figure on 2-3 eggs per person, depending on appetites and whether you have accompanying bread/toast. If cooking more eggs, do not increase the oil and be scanty when you increase the milk)

1/2 Tbs olive oil

6 eggs

1 Tbs milk

1 tsp dried herbs (2 tsp if using fresh) I prefer straight oregano, but have also been charmed by Provencal-type blends. Thyme is lovely, as is parsley.

1/8-1/4 tsp salt (two pinches should do)

1 Tbs grated grana padano or parmigiano reggiano

Whisk (fork is fine) eggs lightly with milk and salt in a bowl. Heat the oil in a skillet until fragrant (a nonstick may need less oil). Pour in the eggs and lower heat. As  the egg mixture solidifies, sprinkle herbs and cheese evenly over. Then, gently drag a spatula over the mixture occasionally as the bottom cooks. Cook to your preference, moist or dry and serve, with bread if you’ve got. Bacon is probably an obvious accompaniment, but on my minimalist camping menu that wasn’t happening. Campers can also serve with prosciutto or a cured sausage and a handful of grape or cherry tomatoes.

Tags: , , , , ,

Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino (adapted for campsite family meals)

5 Jun


Disclaimer: This is in no way an authentic version of the Roman classic dish of spaghetti with garlic, oil and hot red pepper flakes. I have lived in Italy, I have had (and made) the real aglio- olio….and it is sublime in its balance and simplicity. I am not trying to improve on perfection. I am just adapting it to my imperfect life!

My adaptation is also pretty sublime, simple and balanced, but it is definitely not the original. So with apologies to Patrizia and Sandro (whose agonized “No!” when he saw me add cheese to the dish once still reverberates in my head) and any other Roman who happens upon this recipe…here we go!

This is a version that I cooked up in 15 minutes this week at a windy beachside campsite on a propane camp stove for me and my pre-K camper (who has just — thank heavens — made the breakthrough to spicy food). So convenient and successful, I made it twice over the week. I also sometimes add broccoli crowns to the pasta water when there are about four minutes left in the boil

Aglio, olio e peperoncino (adapted for camping)

The classic Roman versión uses spaghetti, but that is currently too messy for my kid. I like a tube-y or curly pasta. For the purposes of our camp kitchen I used three-minute rotini – a pasta that boils up in three minutes. It is decidedly flabby compared to regular pasta, but was adequate for the less fussy camping life. I actually prefer Bionaturae’s organic whole wheat pastas in this dish; they add a nutty flavor that I like very much. This is also a one pot dish (except for the colander) which is great when you haven’t got running water!

Serves two, but is quite easy to double up

½ lb pasta of your choice (preferably spaghetti or something long and lean rather than scoopy. If you choose the broccoli option, penne is a good choice)

(one or two handfuls broccoli florets; optional)

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 to ¼ tsp hot red pepper flakes

1/4 cup grated grana padano or parmigiano reggiano

Boil the pasta according to package instructions, making sure to salt the water well. If using broccoli, add to the pasta water 3-4 minutes before the pasta is fully cooked. Drain and reserve in a separate bowl or the colander. In the same pot that you cooked the pasta, add the olive oil, lowering heat to medium. When the olive oil is loose and fragrant, add the garlic and red pepper flakes (to taste) and stir around until the garlic is golden (not brown). Add the pasta (and broccoli) back to the pot and mix well, adding grated cheese. Serve!

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Black Bean Soup (Criollo Caribbean style – sort of)

29 May

¡Eso!

Black bean soup is the perfect blend of pragmatic and sexy. Black beans may be cheap and robust and there is no shyness to their flavor or definitive color – but they have a nutty subtlety that intrigues and keeps you coming back for more and wanting to try it new ways. They are happy in the company of the spicy as well as the subdued. Try this basic recipe first (it is broken down into easy steps, so it only looks long) and then start ad-libbing and improvising according to your tastes. Black beans are very sociable and get along with all sorts of flavors!

Black Bean Soup (with vegetarian options)

SOFRITO

2 oz salt pork in a single piece, scored – don’t cut through as you will remove it (skip if doing vegetarian soup)

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 cup yellow onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

½ cup cubanelle or green bell pepper, minced (may mix or substitute with red pepper. Cubanelles are the pale green cooking pepper, sometimes called Italian cooking peppers)

6 culantro leaves, minced (if available. If fresh from the garden, 2-3 leaves should be enough. If you can’t find it, skip or add parsley)

1 Tbs cilantro, chopped (plus another Tbs chopped and reserved for garnish)

VEGETABLES

2-3 carrots, peeled and diced (about ½ cup)

2-3 stalks celery, diced (about ½ cup)

2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)

BROTH

1 quart chicken or vegetable broth

1 Tbs oregano (2 Tbs if fresh)

1 tsp cumin powder

BEANS

2 Cups black beans from dried (soaked overnight, water replaced in the morning and simmered for two hours in the afternoon) OR two 15 oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained.

Salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

SOFRITO

Heat 1 Tbs olive oil in a soup pot. Add salt pork and sauté until it has rendered much of the fat. Remove the salt pork and discard. Add remaining tablespoon of olive oil and warm it. One at a time, stirring to coat, add onion, garlic, peppers, culantro (recao), and cilantro. Saute at medium heat, stirring occasionally.

VEGETABLES

When the sofrito elements are translucent and limp, add the vegetables and stir to coat and cook till somewhat tender.

BROTH AND BEANS

Add broth and heat to boiling. If using soaked beans, add at this time with remaining spices and cook for 15-20 minutes, until tender. If using beans from a can, first cook broth and vegetables for 15 minutes, then add beans and cook for another five minutes.

(Optional finishing touches: Some folks, Cubans in particular, like to add a couple of teaspoons of red wine vinegar at the end to finish. You may like to serve with sliced or chopped avocado, dressed with a bit of red onion, squeeze of lime and salt. You can also serve over rice. I like to garnish with finely minced red onion, cilantro, and/or finely chopped hard-boiled egg. Sriracha is my current favorite hot sauce, but any hot pepper based hot sauce will spike this up nicely)

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Tortilla española (Classic Spanish potato and egg frittata)

14 May

For parties, picnics or brunch!

One of my favorite dishes ever, tortilla española, is picnic and party portable, light yet filling, subtle yet hearty and includes just four basic ingredients (plus salt). It also looks beautiful in a sturdy, wholesome farmhouse way. I eat it warm or cold, for breakfast, lunch, dinner or brunch (or a midnight raid on the fridge). It keeps — refrigerated – for a couple of days, but honestly, tortilla española never lasts that long in my house!

Spanish people (from the Iberian peninsula) are quite — and rightly — proud of their culinary traditions. Serving your home-made tortilla to a Spaniard is kind of like serving your spaghetti marinara to an Italian from Italy: there is a good chance you will be damned with faint praise, or met with an unsuccessfully concealed sniff of a European nose that tells you you just don’t get it. But I have served my tortilla to Spaniard after Spaniard and the invariable response has been a request for seconds and a lot of praise, so I think it’s a winner. ¡Olé!

This is a pretty easy dish, but does require some derring-do for the flipping (unless Rosaria turns up with her fancy tortilla flipper one day soon!). I am including a list of equipment here so that you can set yourself up for success without scrambling for stuff. Thanks to Ashley for chopping and for writing down the exact proportions while I measured and stirred.

Equipment

non-stick pan and lid (the pan should be at 9-10 inches across; the cover doesn’t have to be the exact fit. I like an oversized lid myself)

spatula

colander

large mixing bowl

bowl to catch drained oil

large flat plate for filling

Ingredients

1 Cup olive oil (or half olive oil, half neutral vegetable oil)

2 baseball sized onions, peeled and sliced into 1/8 inch rings (rings may be halved)

3 medium potatoes, peeled, halved lengthwise and cut into relatively uniform 1/2 inch slices (Russett or Yukon Gold preferred. New potatoes should not be used)

8-10 fresh eggs (a bigger pan requires 10)

Heat oil until liquid and fragrant and layer potatoes and onions in the oil. Lower heat to medium and cook vegetables until tender (if they start to brown, lower the heat more), turn occasionally.

Open bottle of prosecco or other refreshing white wine and begin drinking (This is Ashley’s contribution to the recipe).

In a large bowl, gently beat eggs. When vegetables are tender, drain into colander, reserving oil. Put drained vegetables in egg mixture and stir to cover, adding 1/4-1/2 tsp salt. Allow to rest for five to ten minutes.

Clean pan and heat a small amount of the reserved oil into pan (non-stick pans should require little more than a rub of oil) at medium-high. Save reserved oil for another dish.

Pour egg mixture into pan and allow to cook at medium high until a crust forms on the art of mixture that is in direct contact with the pan. Cover and lower heat to medium low, shaking occasionally. When mixture is relatively firm CAREFULLY lay plate face down on pan and turn tortilla onto pan (this is where liquid can come out; I do it over the sink). Slide tortilla back into pan, uncooked side down. Continue cooking until it slides easily in pan.

You may flip a few more times to improve shape, then flip onto plate, allow to cool for at least ten minutes, slice pie-style and serve with salad or cut into squares for a buffet or appetizer (stick with toothpicks for hors d’oeuvres).

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

myPod: Edamame (soybeans in pods)

8 May

A beloved bean

Boiling up a bag of edamame is even easier than making ice pops, so you could say this is something of a lame thing to post about, but I’ve really been meaning to share my appreciation for this useful food item for a while now. And today, Mother’s Day, when it happened to save this mom a lot of trouble over dinner, seemed like the right time.

At under $3 per bag of frozen (even organic!) edamames make for a reasonably priced appetizer or T.V. snack for two to four people. Soybeans are full of fiber and anti-oxidants and contain no animal fats (but do contain those all-important omega-3 oils). They are tasty and quick to get on the table, and shelled, can replace lima beans (which I hate) and peas (which I quite like) in many recipes.

But what I really love about them is how companionable they are. They remind me of an leisurely, chatty evening shelling pigeon peas around a hurricane lamp in the mountains of Dominican Republic when I was doing a little humanitarian work. They remind me of dining at an Asian restaurant in San Juan with my dear, departed friend, Frances Borden, in the early days of our friendship.  They are how my son and I might start a meal…popping beans right out of the pod and into our mouths (and laughing when the beans shoot across the room instead), or how we might sit around watching the news with my parents, the pile of full pods getting lower and the pile of empty pods getting higher. Farmer Steve got Leandro to try the fresh garden peas we were picking at our C.S.A. last year, because they look like edamame pods.

So get a bag and keep it in the fridge for the next time you don’t know what to do for dinner and need to buy some time, or you want something more virtuous than chips to accompany your favorite show or a movie night.

Boil up a quart or so of water and add 1 lb. frozen edamame in the pods. When the water returns to the boil, cook for three minutes, drain and serve.

Leftover beans can be added to salads (including rice and pasta salads), stir-fries and soups.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Black Bean Burgers: all the burliness, none of the beef

26 Apr
So much easier than I expected!

I’m pretty pleased with myself, because finally, FINALLY, I soaked beans from dry and was very happy with the results!

I’ve never had that happen before; every other time I have tried, the texture has always been grainy and awful and not worth the trouble. This time, I rinsed a pound of beans (from a store that seems to move a lot of dried beans – one of the problems is that if the beans are old, they will never soften up nicely), soaked them in two quarts water overnight. Changed the water and went to work. After work I simmered them for two hours and holy legumes, Batman, I had 1.5 quarts of beans to play with.

And talk about cheap: a pound of dried beans costs about the same as a 15.5 oz can of them and you choose how much sodium you want with it.

I did my usual black beans and rice and black bean nachos (loads of cheddar/Monterey Jack cheese), but with two cups I made black bean burgers! They were tasty hot out of the oven and tasty (and not messy!) again at a picnic at the zoo the next day at room temperature. You definitely want to dress them up with creamy avocado and/or another creamy condiment-y sauce (try my Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Dipping Sauce https://hotcheapeasy.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/roasted-asparagus-and-sweet-red-pepper-dipping-sauce/) and all the trimmings!

 

Black Bean Burgers

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 stalk celery, minced (about 2 Tbs)

1 onion, peeled and finely minced (about ¾ Cup)

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

2 cups black beans

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 Tbs ground cumin

1 Tbs oregano

½ Cup plain bread crumbs

½ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375°. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and grease lightly.

Warm oil in a large skillet at medium-high until rippling. Add celery and onion and coat, then lower heat to medium and sauté until translucent and tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté another minute.

In a bowl, mash beans into a thick paste (use a fork, potato masher or ricer). Add cooked vegetables, egg, cumin, oregano and breadcrumbs and season with salt (and pepper if desired). Shape into four generous burgers with your hands (don’t mess with it too much) and then place on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes on one side, 10 on the other and then a five on the first side. Serve with thinly sliced red onion, sliced avocado, sliced tomato and Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Dipping Sauce, if desired. https://hotcheapeasy.wordpress.com/2011/04/23/roasted-asparagus-and-sweet-red-pepper-dipping-sauce/

Tags: , , , , , ,

Roasted Asparagus and Sweet Red Pepper Dipping Sauce

23 Apr
Simple and beautiful spring fare

I have been experimenting with my new fancy Breville toaster oven and it’s been a life-changer! I don’t always want to turn the regular oven on for a small dish, so this new tabletop oven has widened my options.

One example is asparagus, coming soon into season and one of my favorite things to eat. It roasts very nicely and quickly with no fuss. I just eat the spears with my fingers right off the plate.
I decided to jazz it up (and in the process use up some sweet roasted red pepper that I had taking up space in the fridge). This took a jiffy and was a bright relish-y sort of taste (note that I used SWEET roasted red pepper). I later whipped some up as a dressing for black bean burgers (recipe to come in the next couple of days).
 

Zesty Dipping Sauce for Roasted Asparagus

3 Tbs mayonnaise

1-2 Tbs plain nonfat yogurt

2 Tbs roasted sweet red pepper, diced fine

Mix all ingredients together. Serve as a dipping sauce or as relish for black bean burgers or other sandwich fillings.

 

Roasted Asparagus

1 lb asparagus (the fat kind preferred), washed and bottoms snapped off (reserve to make broth for another recipe)

1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt or coarse kosher salt for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350°. Rub olive oil over asparagus spears and place on rimmed baking sheet, foil or, ideally, broiler-type rack. Cook for 15 minutes, sprinkle with salt and serve with dipping sauce.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Earth Day: What are you planting?

22 Apr

We are getting into gear for summer bounty by starting some seedlings indoors.

We’ve got beans that Leandro started at a garden show, already big enough to require supports. We’ve started arugula and sweet peas that we hope to put in the ground after the last frost danger (April 30 in our Zone 6B, although I have alwaus thought it was Zone 7!?!) . Next up, we’ll start basil (Leandro loves pesto) and lettuces directly in the ground.

This makes me sound like I know what I am doing, but of course, I don’t. We have only recently had to take down or trim some of the many trees in our yard, so we are hoping that this will result in more sun for veggies…but this is purely experimental.

Our real vegetable source will be our CSA (Restoration Farm) in Old Bethpage where we will pick up organic vegetables each week. We just spent a great day helping out there, splitting dahlia bulbs and breathing fresh air.

I’d love to know what you are doing for Earth Day and whether you will be growing vegetables this year. I know some of my subscribers are fire escape gardeners, while others are real farmers and still others are herb kitchen gardeners like myself. Let’s hear about it! Please comment….

Happy Earth Day!

Natalia and Leandro

Tags: , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →