I’ve got a house full of dippers/grazers and after the success of Fatima’s Salad, I thought a hummus-centered dinner might fit the bill and I am happy to report that 3 out of 4 kiddos (including Marco) were on board.
Allow me to introduce classic hummus meets beta-carotene, in the form of sweet potatoes. The end result is a lovely orange-hued chickpea dip with just the right touch of Middle Eastern spices like cumin and ground coriander. In addition to great nutrition (rhyme intended), the sweet potatoes add a subtle sweetness and a creamy texture.
The recipe comes together quickly. As the sweet potatoes cook, you assemble the rest of the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. The hot sweet potatoes are pureed with the other ingredients, bringing all of the flavors together. YUM!
You can dip all sorts of things in hummus. Pita chips are a win-win. Frito Scoops are pretty darn tasty and celery sticks, carrots, blanched green beans and grape tomatoes also work nicely. Add a piece of feta, olives and some almonds to the table and you’ve got yourself a lovely mezze dinner!
This recipe is not only kid-approved, it is also kid-friendly in the sense that children can help prepare the hummus and assemble the items for dipping. I strongly recommend letting a a 5 year-old loose in the sink with a colander and a bag full of sugar snap peas.
Kid-Approved Sweet Potato Hummus Makes about 3 cups
Use as a dip for pita chips and crudite or as a spread for sandwiches and wraps. Don’t shy away from the very small amount of hot sauce. In this recipe, hot sauce acts as a flavor-enhancer rather than a vehicle for delivering heat.
1 lb. sweet potatoes (1 large or 2 small), peeled and cut into small chunks
1 (15-oz.) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chopped red onion or shallot
1/4 cup tahini
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced, about 1 tsp.
1 – 2 tsp. hot sauce, such as Frank’s Red Hot
1 1/4 tsp. kosher salt, more to taste
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. smoked paprika or ground chipotle
1/8 tsp. ground coriander
2 – 3 Tbsp. warm water
Add the sweet potato chunks to a small saucepan of lightly salted water over high heat. Boil for 12-14 minutes, until tender and drain.
While the sweet potatoes cook, add all the remaining ingredients, except for the water, to a food processor.
Add the drained sweet potatoes and process until smooth. Add 2 Tbsp. water and check consistency. Add last Tbsp. of water, if desired for a thinner hummus. Hummus can be served warm or refrigerated until needed.
During my vegan detox, one thing that I missed was ice cream. I come from a long line of ice cream lovers and knew that I would have to come up with a plan to fill the ice cream void.
Canned coconut milk is a luxurious ingredient, it adds an unmistakable richness to Thai and Indian currries and I am happy to report that coconut milk can be used very successfully as an "ice cream" base.
You could certainly make a straight coconut sorbet but my detox required no sugar so I opted for a version that used ripe bananas as a sweetener and almond butter for added texture and flavor. A little touch of vanilla extract and a small amount of agave pulled the recipe together.
Adjust the recipe to suit your preferences, add a bit more agave, almond butter or a touch of almond extract. Top your dish with some toasted almonds, shredded coconut or chocolate shavings.
This "ice cream" is certainly a healthier option to traditional ice cream which is loaded with butter fat and sugar. And here’s the good news: It is wholly satisfying (see pic below, if you don’t believe me).
I make homemade ice cream in my Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. It worked especially well with this vegan version because as it froze the ice cream it incorporated air, in effect lightening the finished product.
Banana Almond Vegan Ice Cream
1 (13.5) oz. can coconut milk (full fat is better than light in this recipe)
2 ripe bananas, sliced
2 – 4 Tbsp. almond butter (to taste)
1- 2 Tbsp. agave (to taste)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch kosher salt
Add all of the ingredients to a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Refrigerate the mixture overnight.
Give the mixture a good stir until it is smooth and pour it into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer instructions.
Serve immediately or transfer ice cream to a freezer-safe container and freeze until it’s time for dessert. When serving this ice cream straight from the freezer, allow it to warm up for 10 minutes so that it softens up a bit making it easier to serve and eat.
Traditionally made with pork and chicken, posole made with the right ingredients can also be delicious vegetarian. In Mexico, this dish is consumed like menudo, to help quell the effects of a hangover. I just love the buttery, crunchy texture of hominy.
Two "secret" ingredients for me were my vegetable stock (see the post on Soup Swap for the recipe)and the new (but hard to find) fire roasted tomato with chipotles from Muir Glenn. I’ve been a huge fan of the fire roasted with green chilies for a while, and those are in this recipe too. The fire roasting flavor of the tomatoes helps to add the needed depth to this hearty "stoup". A few classic Mexican cooking techniques are also essential.
I
Vegetarian Posole
¼ cup olive oil 2 Ancho chilies, top stem removed 2 large onions, diced 2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped finely 2 Tbsp. whole coriander seed, crushed 1 Tbsp. whole cumin seed crushed 4 cans Muir Glen Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Green Chilies Or 2 of Fire Roasted Tomatoes with Chipotle Chilies and 2 with Green Chilies, your choice 4 cans of hominy (2 yellow and 2 white), rinsed and drained 4 Quarts homemade vegetable stock (I added an ancho chilie and guillio chilie to this batch), hot
Procedure:
Heat a large heavy bottomed pan on the medium heat. Add the olive oil, the whole ancho chilies, onions and garlic. Add the ground spices and stir until they are fragrant. Allow to cook for 10 minutes. Now add the hominy and stir well. Add the tomatoes of your choice.
Remove the ancho chili and place in a blender with some of the hot stock, just enough to cover. You can add the garlic to this as well. Puree until smooth. Add the hot vegetable stock to the posole and then stir in the chili puree.
Allow to cook for 30 minutes over low heat stir every so often. You may now season with salt and pepper to your heart’s content. If you want to make it thicker and have a more potent masa punch, place whole corn tortilla in with the posole and let it soften for 5 minutes. Now remove it with some of the broth and puree it with your immersion blender as you did for the chilies. Add back into the posole and stir well.
Serve garnished with freshly chopped avocados, cilantro, fresh lime and slices of radish.
Big News: Kitty Broihier and I delivered the Gluten-Free Slow Cooking book last Tuesday. It is being published by Sterling and will be on the shelves in November (just in time for the holidays). YAY!
Hmmm? What shall I do next? How about go vegan? For 21 days…
Well, I have been toying with doing some sort of detox or clease since last spring when we posted Five Questions with Michelle Pfennighaus. The concept of giving your body and all its systems a reboot held real appeal for me but trying to do it while writing a cookbook seemed much too daunting. With the deadline met, I was out of excuses.
I did a little research and came across this post on Former Chef and so it was official; I would embrace 21 days of whole-foods based, gluten-free, vegan eating. Pulling some more cleanse info from Kathy Freston’s appearance on Oprah, I decided sugar, caffeine and alcohol were also out.
The next plan of action: Enlist friends to join in my vegan journey. Six of us have signed on to varying degrees. Flavorista Julie D. has named our detox the "Vegan Festival" because festival sounds much more fun than cleanse or detox. I was able to get two of Kathy Freston’s books from the library. Michelle’s website has been inspirational and useful, many of the recipes on her blog can be used for our Vegan Festival.
Of course, I’ll be posting recipes as I go, I’ve got some big plans for coconut milk-based ice cream and of course there will be some serious beans going on (like Fagioli all’Uccelletto – White Beans with Sage & Tomatoes). I started my detox with some, super flavorful miso soup.
Easy Miso Soup
If I was more versed in miso, I might have gone with lighter miso paste, but this one worked just fine, Flavorista Monica told me so.
6 cups water
2 carrots, finely chopped or cut with a julienne slicer
1 (6-inch) pieces wakame, rehydrated & finely chopped
or 2 tablespoons pre-shredded wakame, rehydrated
1 tablespoon wheat-free tamari (such as San-J)
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt, more to taste
1 teaspoon siracha chili sauce, more to taste
1/4 cup miso (mine was made with brown rice miso thus the dark color)
1/2 lb. firm tofu, cut into small cubes
6 scallions, thinly sliced
Bring the water to a simmer in a small soup pot and add the carrots. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir in the tamari, vinegar, salt and siracha. In a small bowl, use 1 cup of broth to dissolve the miso and return it to the pot. Add the tofu and scallions, simmer for a minute or so and enjoy.
For a great miso primer written on Just Hungry, click here.
For more info on Michelle’s program, Reinvent Yourself 21 Day detox, click here.
This year, I participated in a fledgling soup swap here in Boulder, CO. Our host, Julie, has a friend in New York who has been participating in National Soup Swap for a while and had 197 quarts of soup at her house during this year’s swap. That’s a lot of soup!
While we didn’t have quite that much our choices were wonderful and they were all unique. There was Harira (a personal favorite, recipe forthcoming), Greek Chicken Soup with Orzo and Lemon, Spanish Bean, Carrot Ginger (made creamy with tofu), Boulder’s famous Kitchen Cafe’s Tomato Soup, Adirondack Smoked Bacon, Potato and Cheddar, Dahl, Flanken, White Bean Turkey Chili (which was featured on Epicurious) - just to mention a few…
The best thing is you make 6 quarts of one soup, which quite frankly you never want to see again, and come home with a quart of 6 different soups! Brillant! Much to my surprise there were many soups that featured meat (this is Boulder after all).
As per my modus operendi, I couldn’t make a choice, made 3 soups but had to settle on one and decided to go with a vegan mushroom barley which was actually teeming with barley and mushroom flavor. It came out more as a stoup (soup/stew) which would make it suitable for Meatless Monday. Can’t wait for next year!
Teeming Vegan Mushroom Barley Makes 6 Quarts
1 1/2 cups pearl barley, soaked overnight in 4 cups of water
For caramelized onions – You can try Kimberly’s method for the onions, but dice the onions. Otherwise, dice 6 medium to large onions. Heat a large enamled coated cast iron pot (like Le Creuset) and pour in enough oil to coat the bottom well. Once the oil is warm, add the onions, give a good stir then cover and cook for 40 minutes. Check on them periodically and stir them around. Now’s a good time to start the vegetable stock. Both of these can be done a day ahead.
Vegetable Stock – this recipe is based on Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (one of the best vegetarian cookbooks out there). One surprise ingredient is nutritional yeast which adds a wonderful element of umami. I also added a large piece of Kombu seaweed, but this is optional. One quick note: while I am sure the desire to use stock in a box is strong, I really encourage you all to make fresh vegetable stock. It just tastes better.
olive oil
4 carrots, roughly chopped
4 celery stalks, roughly chopped
2 onions, with skin chopped in quarters
8 cloves of garlic
4 thyme sprigs or 1 tsp. dried leaf
1 bay leaf, Turkish preferred
1 Tbsp. black peppercorns
4 tsp. sea salt or kosher salt
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1 large piece of kombu
4 qts. water
Heat some oil in a large pot. Add the carrots, onion and celery to get them brown. You can also do this step in the oven on a cookie sheet at about 425 degrees until they just turn brown.
Add the aromatics, yeast, kombu and then the water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes. Strain and continue.
Teeming Mushroom Barley Soup -continued
caramelized onions (instructions above)
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 oz. dried porcini mushrooms, re-hydrated and chopped, reserve the water
1 Tbsp. freshly chopped marjoram (or rosemary, your choice)
2 cups diced celery
2 cups diced celery root
4 large carrots, diced
1/2 cup olive oil (for the mushrooms)
2 pints cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 cup dry or sweet vermouth, again your choice
5 cloves garlic, chopped very fine
Freshly grated Pecorino cheese for garmish
Once the onions are all soft, add the tomato paste and really work it into the onions. Add the marjoram and stir again. Now add the celery, celery root and carrots. Stir well. Add the re-hydrated porcini and the water.
In another pan, heat the olive oil and cook the mushrooms, in batches if necessary. Add the vermouth and allow it to cook off. Once the mushrooms are cooked, add them to the pot. Now add the drained barley and strained stock. Bring to a boil, lower heat and cook for 25 minutes. Add the garlic and adjust the seasonings. If the barley absorbs too much liquid, add a bit more to your liking. My soup was fairly thick.
For serving, place into large bowls and be generous with the grated pecorino. Freeze the rest and give it away!
It’s actually a grand idea. Make 6 quarts of your favorite soup and freeze it in clearly labeled, 1-quart size containers. Make a plan for a soup swap with six friends and take home 6 different soups!
Here are a few of our soups you can use to organize a soup swap in your neighborhood.
These cheese crisps couldn’t be easier to make and are perfect for noshing. I highly recommend that you grate the Parmesan as opposed to purchasing the already grated variety. Parchment paper is also a necessity.
I served these alongside my curried apples. You can make some with almonds and some without for a little variety. They last for about 3 days in an air tight container, depending on the humidity where you live.
For 16 crisps
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sliced almonds
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
As pictured, make small slightly compact piles of grated cheese and then place some of the almonds on top. place in the oven and bake for 6 to 7 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
These are also delicious with soups and salads. Enjoy!
My most finicky eater has discovered "the only way to eat spinach." Luckily I love it too. Apparently there is a very good one at Costco in the freezer section. It could use a little more feta for me so I will not abandon making it from scratch.
One my favorite Greek cookbooks, Periyali has one of the best recipes I have ever tried. My other "go to" for Greek is How to Cook a Lamb has one too but I decided not to make it from this book though as it calls for bechemel sauce, which I like but somehow doesn’t appeal to me in this particular dish.
It takes time to make spinach pie as you are working with phyllo sheets. The good news is that spanikopita freezes well. We are having a cocktail party in a few weeks so I made a few mini spanikopitas for that and froze them.While not traditional, I added some of my slow roasted Early Girl tomatoes the mini spinach pies for the cocktail party.
The secret ingredient in the Periyali recipe is large curd cottage cheese, drained. I have also added a little lemon zest and sometimes I add plumped currents. Even though spanikopita is time consuming, if you make over a weekend you can freeze several and always have a Meatless Monday meal waiting in your freezer. The key is that you do not want your mixture to be too wet. If it is it will make the phyllo soggy.
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium sized onion, diced
1 medium sized leek, sliced thinly and cleaned
1 large container of baby spinach (I use my oven roasting method) You can use frozen but it’s not as green and the spinach is so much wetter which means it takes longer to dry it out as you have to squeeze it with your hands.
2 Tbsp. freshly chopped dill (optional) Sometimes I use the Capital Hill Seasonings blend from Savory Spice instead.
1 tsp. salt
2 Eggs
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 pint large curd cottage cheese, drained
1 Tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp. dry bread crumbs, Panko works great
Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and leeks and cook over medium heat until lightly browned. Stir in the spinach. Add the remaining olive oil, dill, salt and pepper. Place mixture on to a cookie sheet and spread out and allow to cool. Once cool to the touch place in a bowl and add the mixed eggs, cheeses and bread crumbs.
Now you can make the spanikopita as a lasgane style dish which is much faster and easier if you are feeding a crowd. However it’s harder to freeze. The other option is to make smaller pies which are much easier to store in the freezer and nice to have on hand.
The key to working with phyllo is to move quickly.I like to use a mixture of olive oil and butter for brushing on the sheets.
My kids like to brush the sheets. Once there are 4 layers of phyllo that are not saturated, but nicely brushed with the butter and oil, cut 4 rectangles with a sharp knife. Place a nice large spoon full of the filling the center and the lower end nearest you and make sure to have a nice 1/2 inch boarder on the left and right sides. Now all you have to do is roll the dough up like you would a burrito. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and continue with the rest of the phyllo sheets. Plae them in the refrigerator for a half hour before baking or freezing.
To Bake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the spanikopitas for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. I like to cut mine on the diagonal to serve them. These would go beautifully with Kimberly’s chickpea soup.
This oh so easy soup has been in our meatless repertoire for more than two years. In the summer, I pair it with Greek salad. During the cold of winter, some grilled pita bread is in order. Originally published in the 2008 May/June issue of Hannaford’s fresh magazine, this recipe was reccomended by my editor as a recipe that her family loved.
I adore the simplicity and utter frugality of this recipe. Sometimes, I substitute fresh rosemary for the sage and baby spinach for the arugula. I have served it over leftover roasted potatoes and at other times over steamed brown rice. Feel free to spice it up with some crushed red pepper. The possibilities are truly endless. Do not skip the olive oil garnish!
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. minced garlic
3 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh sage
1 (30-oz.) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
4 cups water
1 tsp. kosher salt, more to taste
2 cups baby arugula
3 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
more extra-virgin olive oil for garnish
freshly ground black pepper
fresh lemon wedges
In a pot, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Saute onions until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sage and saute, stirring until aromatic, about 3 minutes. Add chickpeas, water and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, gather arugula leaves into a tight bunch and slice thinly. Set aside. Add lemon juice to soup. With a handheld immersion blender, partially blend soup, leaving some chunks and whole chickpeas. Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish each bowl with 1/2 cup of arugula, drizzle with olive oil and offer black pepper. Serve immediately, with a plate of lemon wedges on the side.
No, it is not a Dr. Seuss story. These colorful veggies might be available in your produce section or farmer’s market. When participating in Meatless Monday, sometimes you need a little inspiration. A gentle push outside your veggie comfort zone might just provide it.
Red celery is the newest of the non-traditional vegetables but has been twenty years in the making. Duda Farm Fresh Foods has been cross breeding reddish celery from Eastern Europe with conventional celery. For now it is only available in certain markets (Northwest, Southwest and West Coast). We think Martha Stewart is going to go crazy for this garnet hued crudite.
Blue Potatoes? These indigo dandies can be prepared just as any other potato but work especially well in salads and gratins. If you are concerned that a serving bowl of blue potatoes might not be a hit. Take it easy and mix blue potatoes in with other varieties like red bliss and Yukon golds.
Orange cauliflower was discovered in Canadian over 30 years ago and it packs more of a beta-carotene punch than traditional white cauliflower. Flavor-wise, the two taste the same. Look for it at the grocery store and try it roasted or blended into a soup.
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