Roasted Root Veggies with Garlic-Lime Sauce, and Double Quinoa Cornbread

Megan's latest entry inspired me to (finally) add these two dishes that I've been meaning to post for a few weeks. Both are from Vegan Soul Kitchen (yay, Bryant Terry!)--I think this might be my favorite cookbook. Yum!

OK, roasted root veggies:
Pick a bunch of your favorites and cut 'em up. (I use approx. 1/2 pound each of carrots, parsnips, turnips, sweet potatoes, two kinds of yams, and sometimes celery root or rutabaga.) Toss them with olive oil and sea salt, and roast in a preheated 450 degree oven for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes for even cooking.

Garlic-lime dipping sauce:
Roast garlic per Megan's instructions and then enjoy squeezing it out of the peel. (This is so incredibly gratifying to me.) Add 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 T. minced cilantro, 1/4 c. freshly squeezed lime juice, 1/4 c. water, and 1/4 t. coarse ground sea salt. Combine in a blender and add to the veggies. Done!

Quinoa-quinoa cornbread:
5 T. corn oil
1/4 c. quinoa
3/4 c. cornmeal
1/2 c. quinoa flour (kind of pricey but worth it!)
1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 c. unflavored rice milk
2 T. apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. agave nectar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease an 8-inch square bread pan. Toast the quinoa over medium heat until the grains start to pop (about 3 minutes); transfer to a large bowl. Add the rest of the dry stuff and whisk to combine. In another bowl, whisk together the liquids and the 5 T. of corn oil. Transfer the bread pan to the oven to preheat until sizzling (about 5 minutes). While the pan is heating up, combine the wet mixture with the dry with a large spoon, and quickly mix just until the dry ingredients are moist. (BT's warning: Do NOT overmix!) Remove the pan from the oven and add the batter. Bake until set in the middle, approx. 15-18 minutes.

Squash Tart and Roasted Veggies

Sunday, a delectable day to sleep in and clean and cook, was perfect to do something with the bits of random veggies from the garden (4 tomatoes, 2 eggplants, 2 squash). I also wanted to try this Squash tart, which involved roasting squash and garlic. So - I roasted it all, and now have these amazing delicious veggies for a sandwich, polenta toppings, or stir-fry, or I don't know what. I just cut the veggies up, olive oiled and salted them, and cooked them in an oven at 350 until they were done. My favorite was actually the squash, which I roasted in pieces for the tart. Also the garlic- omg! You just cut off the top of a garlic clove, drizzle it with olive oil and salt, wrap in foil and bake at 400 for 45 minutes or so. It smells amazing, and then you just squeeze out this amazing garlic puree.

Squash Tart (modified from ReBar - again!) *This is another rich dish...ah the cold weather. The roasted garlic is amazing in there - but again is so rich. I made some kale to eat with it, which helped cleanse the pallet a little!
1 pre-baked whole wheat tart shell (make sure to make the sides high on the crust, mine almost over-flowed)
1 small squash
1 T butter
2 shallots, minced
1/2 t salt
3 eggs
1 c heavy cream
1/2 c. light cream
2 garlic bulbs - roasted and mashed
1 1/2 T minced sage
1/4 t cracked pepper
1 1/4 c. grated smoked cheddar

1. Peel and seed the squash and cut it into 1/8" slices until you have just over 2 cups or so. Toss the squash with enough olive oil to coat and a pinch of salt. Spread the squash on parchment or foil and roast at 375 until tender - 15 minutes or so (if you roast longer you get crispier, more chip like pieces)
2. Heat butter in small pan and saute the shallots (I subbed onion) until golden. Set aside.
3. Lightly whisk the eggs in a small bowl. Add the cream, mashed garlic, pepper, and salt; whisk to combine.
4. To assemble tart: sprinkle cheese over crust, then shallots and sage. Arrange the squash slices in a single layer and pour the custard over the top. Bake for 20-30 minutes (until custard sets and top is lightly browned). Cool thoroughly.

pierogis

these are based on the roasted yam pierogi recipe in the rebar cookbook, i made some minor changes and improvised on a second filling. we ate them with pickled beets, horseradish and sour cream and they were amazing.

filling #1 (roasted yam+gouda):

2lbs yams

2 tbsp butter

3 leeks, mostly whites, chopped

1 tsp salt

1/2lb smoked gouda, grated

1/2 tsp black pepper

-preheat oven to 400. scrub yams and poke with a fork. place on an oiled baking pan, add 1 cup of water to the pan and roast in the oven until very soft and puffy. cool, then peel or mash until smooth.

-while yams are roasting, saute leeks and salt in butter until lightly golden.

-combine leeks, mashed yams, grated cheese and chives. season with salt and pepper. refrigerate until ready to use. can be made ahead of time.

filling #2 (potato+swiss):

2lbs potatoes

1/2 tsp salt

1/2lb swiss cheese, grated

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup minced chives

-boil potatoes until soft, then mash. combine all ingredients. refrigerate until ready to use. can be made ahead of time.

dough:

4 cups flour

3/4 tsp salt

4 egg yolks

1 cup boiling water

2 tbsp vegetable oil

-mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. add remaining ingredients and mix until a smooth dough forms. cover and let rest at room temperature for 30 min.

-divide into quarters and roll out until about 1/8" thick or less. use a glass with a 3" diameter to cut dough into rounds. fill with a good teaspoonful of filling and press edges firmly to seal.

-boil pierogis until they begin to rise to the surface of the water, about 5 minutes. remove with a slotted spoon, drain, and toss with melted butter.

-this recipe makes lots and lots of pierogis, our freezer is filled with pierogis so i can look forward to a winter full of pierogis which makes it worth all the hand rolling and filling and folding that this recipe entails. to freeze, line uncooked pierogi on parchment paper on a baking sheet and freeze until solid. then store in an airtight container.

butternut and spinach risotto

risotto is my go-to dish for fall--when i'm having friends over and know i can finish the bottle of wine i have to open to make it. the recipe is adapted from a cookbook composed entirely of risotto recipes--which i love. i decided to do butternut and spinach cause that's what came in the CSA box this week. next time, i'll steam the squash for a few minutes ahead of time. i had to keep cooking it longer than i should have because the squash was underdone at first, making the rice a little mushier than i would have liked. but tasty, nonetheless.

heat 4 c veg broth on low

saute, in a hunk of butter and some olive oil:
onion finely diced
garlic finely diced-about 2 cloves or so

add 1 1/2 c arborio rice and saute for a couple of minutes. add 1/2 c white wine and stir till liquid cooks off. add a ladle of broth and 2 c squash cut into small cubes. continue to add broth a ladle at a time, letting the liquid cook off before adding more. continuous stirring is also required.

add a few cups of torn spinach when you have about a ladle of broth left. keep stirring, add the last of the broth.

add 1 or so cups of parmesan, salt and pepper to taste and let it rest a couple minutes before serving. serve with more parmesan.

Hell's Kitchen Spicy Black Beans

I'm finally getting back to cooking after a two-week adjustment period to being back in school. I still don't have my schedule down and have been eating a lot of Punch and PB&J. (Although let's be honest: I ate Punch 3 times a week in the summer.) But I digress.

Whenever a visitor is in town, we usually end up at Hell's Kitchen, which is generally pretty delicious but sometimes a bit too buttery/egg-y/creamy for me. (Your jam, Megan!) Anyway, I love their black beans and so borrowed the Hell's Kitchen cookbook from Steve's sister to make up a batch. My favorite food blogger, Heidi Swanson, once wrote that she typically makes a pot of beans every Sunday to eat throughout the week. Pretty sure I'm going to be doing the same thing with these black beans...so. delicious. Good job, Hell's Kitchen!

Spicy Black Beans
Note: I halved the recipe, and in so doing, went out on a limb and experimented with quantities of ingredients! (I never deter from exact measures usually, but was feeling adventurous.) Also, I replaced the butter and chicken broth (noted in recipe); as I was doing this, it reminded me of a time at the Chicago Diner when a friend asked for "real" cheese, to which the waiter replied (huffily), "Everything we serve here is real." Not so for buttery sticks and no chicken base--fake fake fake! But I'm okay with that in this case. Again with the digression.

1 pound dried black beans (2 cups)
6 cups rich chicken broth or water (I used Better Than Bouillon's "No Chicken" base.)
3/4 c. (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces (I used 1 teaspoon of "Buttery Sticks" vegan butter. I actually think the butter could be omitted entirely.)
3/4 c. minced white onion (I used a bit more)
4 tablespoons Honey-Chipotle BBQ Sauce (recipe below)
2 T. dark chili powder
2 T. ground cumin
3 large cloves garlic, minced
2 t. crushed red pepper flakes
2 t. sea salt

Soak the beans for 4 hours or overnight. Place soaked beans into a large pot and add the broth/water, making sure the beans are covered by at least two inches. Add everything except the salt. (I didn't read the recipe carefully enough and salted the hell out of 'em in the beginning. The result = SALTY beans. Too salty. Salt afterward!) Heat to a boil over medium heat (STIR so the beans don't get stuck to the bottom of the pan), and then simmer uncovered (stirring a lot) for 1 to 1.5 hours, checking frequently to see if they need additional water. Beans should be firm but chewable.

Honey-Chipotle BBQ Sauce
(Note: I did this to taste with the measurements--it seems flexible enough. Also, I didn't have Rose's lime juice, so just used a lemon. Totally fine.)
2 T. peanut oil
1/3 c. honey
1 (7-ounce) can chipotle peppers, with adobo sauce
3 T. balsamic vinegar
1/3 c. Rose's lime juice (any citrus/acid is probably fine)
1/4 c. coarsely chopped cilantro
3 T. coarse-ground mustard (I used straight-up Dijon)
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 T. black pepper
1 T. ground cumin
1 T. sea salt

Put everything into a food processor or blender and combine. (I actually shook everything together in a jar, but that only worked because I'd processed the chipotle peppers a few days before.)

Put sauce in a container with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate.

Potato leek soup

When I got my first apartment in college (and hence my first kitchen) I was totally lost, subsisting largely on cereal, rice and chili from a box. After listening to me gripe enough about my severe lack of good, home-cooked food, my grandma nudged me in the direction of my first potato soup ("Really, honey, it's very easy"). I'll never forget how lovingly she walked me step-by-step through what must have seemed so elementary to her (chicken broth, oil, onions, potatoes).



Fast forward 10 (?!) years and potato soup is still a regular fixture in my fall/winter kitchen. And since it's finally been feeling consistently fall-like I decided to give in and make my first pot of potato leek soup this season. Based loosely on Mark Bittman's and Irene Oster's (that's my grandma) recipes.

Some leeks (2-4), cleaned and thinly chopped
Some potatoes (4-6), diced, skins on when possible
Some salt and pepper
Some butter
Some stock
Some cream, if you want
Some garlic, if you want

In a frying pan, brown the leeks and garlic until they're good and flavorful. If you're feeling ambitious, brown the potatoes a bit too. Deglaze the pan and put everything into a soup kettle. Add enough stock to just cover the leeks and potatoes. Salt and pepper as much as you like and boil until the potatoes are tender. I like the soup better blended, and an immersion blender (about $10 on Craigslist) does the trick nicely. Stir in a bit of cream just before serving if you like a richer soup.

Ok, this is the most important part: MAKE EXTRA. The flavors in this soup improve markedly as it sits in your fridge and waits for the inevitable leftover night.

Kale Souffle

I have a lot of kale in the garden right now and am embarking on some new kale recipes. I just learned that kale has lots of calcium, and vitamins A, B, and C. Also it is highest in protein of all the cultivated vegetables. Who knew?! This recipe comes from "From Asparagus to Zucchini" - a cookbook/guide to cooking seasonal produce put out by a bunch of CSAs from the Madison area. I find that the cookbook is a good resource, but the recipes tend to be decidedly Midwestern: lots of pasta, potatoes, and eggs to go with the produce item of choice.

Somehow while paging through I settled on this Kale Souffle. I say somehow because I neglected to read the full recipe before I started...midway through, while realizing my eggs were not at room temp, I started remembering episodes of Julia Child and warnings of fallen souffles. I also found myself whisking egg whites by hand - thank goodness my pal Steve came over kind of last minute or I would still be whisking.

Softened butter to grease baking dish
2T freshly grated Parmesan
4T butter
4T flour
1 2/3c milk, warmed
salt and pepper
pinch cayenne
5 egg yolks
1c cooked and finely chopped kale, at room temp
1c grated gruyere
2T chopped fresh dill (or 2t dried dill)
7 egg whites, at room temp

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Butter bottom and sides of an 8-cup souffle dish or deep, round baking dish; sprinke buttered areas with parmesan.
2. Melt butter in saucepan; stir in flour and cook over low heat several minutes, stirring often. Whisk in milk until thickened; season with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Cool 10-15 minutes. Beat in egg yolks one at a time. Stir in kale, gruyere, and dill.
3. Beat egg whites and pinch of salt in a clean bowl until firm peaks form. Fold a quarter of the whipped egg whites into kale mixture, then gently fold in the rest (don't overmix). Gently spread mixture into prepared pan. Place in oven, reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake until high, golden, and barely set in the center, 35-40 minutes. Serve immediately. Serves 6.