Gnocci with Winter Squash and Seared Radicchio

I enjoyed the flavors of this and they are perfect for a warm wintery night.

I might have cooked the squash too long so make sure you check it along the way. Mine was a bit on the soft side for me. I think next time I make this recipe I will try roasting the squash instead because I love the flavor and texture of roasted squash and I think those crisp edges would provide a good balance to the already soft gnocchi.

Gnocci with Winter Squash and Seared Radicchio

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash (with a long neck, if possible – about 3 pounds)

¼ cup olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 head radicchio, sliced into wide ribbons

2 garlic cloves

a big handful of parsley leaves

12 or more large sage leaves or 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary (I used rosemary because I always have a ton in the garden but my sage is dead… not dormant, mind you, dead! Need to plant more this year.)

1 tablespoon butter if making the sauce

¾ to 1 pound potato gnocchi, cheese ravioli, or mushroom tortellini

freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and/or crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

Directions

1.      Cut off the neck of the squash, divide into two or three easily managed sections, and slice off the skin. Cut it into slabs, then dice it into ½-inch cubes (Don’t worry about irregular shapes). Reserved the bottom for another occasion. Toss with a little olive oil and sea salt and then steam over three cups of simmering water until tender, about 20 minutes. Reserve the water.
2.      Heat 2 tablespoons of the remaining oil in a wide skillet; add the radicchio, season with salt, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until wilted, tender, and no longer red, about 8 minutes. When the squash is done, add it to the pan. Chop the garlic, parsley, and sage (or rosemary) together. Add most of it to the radicchio and squash and reserve the rest.
3.      If you have time to make the sauce, put the strings and seeds from the squash in a pan with 2 cups of the water that was used to steam the squash, a few pinches of salt, and any leftover bits of parsley, garlic, squash, and sage (or rosemary). Simmer, partially covered for 20 minutes, then strain. Whisk in a tablespoon of butter and you have a beautiful, thin orange sauce to spoon around the pasta.
4.      Salt a skillet or saucepan of water, bring to a boil, add the gnocchi, and simmer until done. Add them to the pan with a little of the cooking water. Taste for salt, season with pepper. And add the remaining herbs and garlic. Serve the remaining oil drizzled over the top, plain, or with cheese.

Another thought is to roast the entire squash and make a sort of pureed sauce with added shallots, garlic, coarse salt, a tablespoon of maple syrup, and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes (if you want a bit of heat) to serve over the rest of the dish (you could use any kind of stock of water to thin it out to the right consistency).

Source: Vegetarian Suppers by Deborah Madison

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

Note: This batter can also be made into muffins (just bake them in muffin trays at 350 for 23 to 28 minutes).

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (3 3/4 ounces) packed light or dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) mashed ripe banana (about 3 medium-to-large bananas)
1/4 cup (3 ounces) honey
2 large eggs
2 cups (8 ounces) whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Light grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan
2. Beat together the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the banana, honey, and eggs, beating until smooth. Add the flour and chocolate chips stirring until smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and let it rest at room temperature, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
3. Bake the bread for 50 minutes. Lay a piece of foil gently across the top after the initial 50 minutes, and bake until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 10 to 15 minutes more. Remove the bread from the oven, and allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning it out of the pan onto a rack to cool completely.

Source: King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking

Red Lentil and Color Vegetable Soup

Red Lentil and Color Vegetable Soup

2 to 4 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely diced
1 long celery rib, diced
1 cup of diced carrots (or cut into rounds)
1 cup finely diced winter squash or zucchini
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup diced fresh or canned tomatoes with their juice
1 cup red lentils, rinsed well
juice of 1 lime, or to taste
4 scallions, sliced
3 tablespoons minced cilantro

1. Melt half the butter (or oil) in a wide soup pot or large saucepan. Add the onion and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, while you dice the celery, carrots, and squash. Add them to the onion, sprinkle on 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, the turmeric, and the cumin, and cook for 5 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes, lentils, and 5 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the lentils have softened, 20 to 30 minutes. Taste for salt and add several grinds of pepper. Season with lime juice, sprinkle with scallions and cilantro.

Serving options: serve with toasted pita triangles, you could also sprinkle some diced zucchini, winter squash, or bell pepper over the top along with the green onions and place a bit of warmed rice in the center of the bowl for added texture.

From Vegetable Soups by Deborah Madison.

Black Bean Soup

Black Bean Soup with Cumin and Cilantro

Source: Adapted from Vegetarian Soups by Deborah Madison

Makes: 2 Quarts

Ingredients

• 2 cups dried black beans (or 3 cans of black beans)
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• 1 small carrot, finely diced
• 3 celery ribs, finely diced
• 1 green bell pepper, finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 1/3 bunch of cilantro chopped
• Optional garnishes: 1/2 cup of sour cream, juice of 1/2 a lime, more chopped cilantro, avocado, chopped tomato, diced red onion

Directions

1. If using canned beans skip to step 2. If using dried beans, rinse the beans and put them in a pressure cooker with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 10 cups of water. Bring the pressure to high, then maintain it for 30 minutes. Release the pressure or let it fall naturally.
2. Heat oil in a medium saucepan. Add the onions, carrots, celery, green pepper, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until the onion has softened. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and add the cumin, paprika bay leaves, and cayenne. Lower the heat and cook for 10 minutes longer, stirring occasionally and taking care not to let the spices burn. Add 1 cup of water and the cilantro and continue to cook until the onion is soft, about 8 minutes.
3. Strain the beans and add them to the onion mixture and cook over low heat, covered, for 20 minutes. Taste for salt. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup or you can leave it unprocessed if you prefer.
4. To garnish: Mix the sour cream, lime juice, and 3 tablespoons of chopped cilantro and season with a pinch of salt. Serve a spoonful in each bowl of soup and add some avocado that has been diced up. You can add some chopped tomato or red onion as well.

Flourless Chocolate Mini-Muffins

The photos of these cute little brownie bites are what first caught my eye. You should go check out Dayna's photos as hers came out way better than mine.... in being that hers actually CAME OUT of the pan. I will definitely be making these again and am going to need to be more heavy-handed with the pan greasing so thatwe don't have to eat them from the pan while standing at the counter with spoon in hand.

You thought I was kidding, didn't you?

So when I saw Mike going to town on these I waited until he ate a few more and then told him that they had black beans and tofu. I think he didn't know WHAT to think. I wasn't trying to hide anything. REALLY! He just went to town with a spoon and didn't ask. I know I COULD HAVE kept it all hidden but I'm NO GOOD AT ALL at keeping secrets from him so I had to let him know. We were both pleasantly surprised that it didn't taste beany! Beany would have been bad. But these were chocolately and I never would have guessed the contents if I hadn't made it myself.

If you are going to make these at home, fill up the muffin tins all the way. I filled some up to the top and left some at the height I would have left it for regular mini-muffins which accounts for some of them being much more sunken in than others. No matter. It all tastes the same and this was a good trial run!

Flourless Chocolate Mini-Muffins (vegan)

Seen on FoodandPhotography who adapted it from Bittersweet who adapted it from Epicurious

Ingredients

• 1 - 19oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 package silken, firm tofu, drained (425g)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon finely ground coffee (I didn't have any in the house and so substituted 1 1/2 teaspoons ground espresso powder)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and stirred smooth
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. In a food processor, combine the beans and tofu until well combined.
2. Scrape the sides, then add the vanilla, coffee, baking powder, soda, salt, sugar and cocoa powder.
3. Scrape down sides and add the melted chocolate, mixing well to combine.
4. Spray or line miniature muffin tins with mini-liners and add the batter to the pan filling to the top. With a moistened, clean finger, pat down the batter evenly.
5. Bake for approximately 25 -30 minutes, cool almost completely before turning out to a cooling rack to finish.

Serve as is or with either powdered sugar sprinkled on top or a berry sauce (strawberry or raspberry would go beautifully with it).

Indian Chickpeas and Spinach

I planned on making Chana Masala this week because I was really craving it and I was able to visit my local Indian market to procure some mango powder (amchur powder in Indian markets) which I didn't have in my well-stocked pantry. But on ill-fated trip to the grocery store while waiting for Ryan's prescriptions to be filled on Monday I picked up a bag of spinach. That would normally be no problem at all. I love spinach. But as I went to unpack my groceries and put them away I realized that the bag o' spinach that I just picked up was nearing it's EXPIRATION! Say it ain't so!! (And I also had a spinach arugula blend already IN the fridge, also nearing extinction.)

So I quickly changed course and decided to satisfy my urge for some chickpeas Indian-style with my need to use up some spinach. And FAST!

I decided to make a Palak Paneer sauce (sans the paneer) and added some canned chickpeas that I had on hand. It made for a very tasty lunch. And QUICK too!!

Indian Chickpeas and Spinach
(adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer)

Serve 4 to 6.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 1 Tbsp ginger paste (recipe below) OR 4 lengthwise slices fresh ginger (each 2 inches long, 1 inch wide, and 1/8 inch thick)
• 2 Tbsp neutral vegetable oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 dried red Thai or cayenne chiles, stems removed
• 3/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric (I might try leaving this out next time)
• 1 tomato, cored, and chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds fresh spinach leaves, rinsed (or baby spinach as I used... you could also substitute 2 10-oz packages frozen spinach, thawed, but not drained)
• 1/2 cup thick yogurt (I used the Greek kind that's so prevalent these days in the dairy or natural section)
• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Directions

1. Combine the onion and ginger in a food processor, and pulse until minced.
2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle in the cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and chiles. Cook until they sizzle, turn reddish brown, and smell pungent, about 15 seconds. Immediately add the onion-ginger blend and stir-fry until the onion is lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Stir in the coriander, salt, cayenne, and turmeric, and cook without burning them, about 10 to 15 seconds. Add the tomato and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until it softens but is still chunky, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the spinach, in batches if it won't all fit, until it's wilted, 4 to 6 minutes. Once the spinach has wilted, the water it releases will deglaze the pan. If you are using baby spinach you might find that the water that releases is not enough. Feel free to add water to the pan by the tablespoon until you have enough to deglaze the onion and spices mixture at the bottom of the pan.
5. Remove the skillet from heat. Add the spinach mixture to the food processor along with the yogurt and process until smooth. Transfer mixture to a bowl and mix in the chickpeas. Serve with some Indian bread (rotis, naan, etc.) or basmati rice.

(The above cubes are actually garlic paste as I did the same things with about 100 cloves of garlic and 1 cup of water and stuck them in the freezer... I use a lot of garlic around here.)

Ginger Paste

(adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer)

makes about 1 1/4 cups

Ingredients

• 8 ounces peeled, coarsely chopped ginger

Directions

1. Pour 1/2 cup water into a blender jar and then add the ginger. Puree, scraping down the sides of the blender jar as needed, until it forms a smooth, light brown paste. Store the paste in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. You can also freeze into smaller portions and keep on hand in the freezer for up to 1 month. Freeze them in 1-tablespoon portions in an ice cube tray. When they are frozen, pop them out, and put in a labeled freezer bag and use them when needed.

This was a tasty and satisfying meal and it makes me want to cook more recipes from this book. I have a copy that I've been test-driving from the library and it looks as I will try to renew it so that I can try additional ones in the upcoming weeks for me to eat lunch from over multiple days. Taking out the 3 chapters that rely heavily on meat, chicken, seafood, etc. still leaves close to 600 pages of recipes to try including whole chapters on Spice Blends and Pastes, Appetizer Curries, Paneer Curries, Lentil Curries, Vegetable Curries, Contemporary Curries, and Curry Cohorts (which has recipes for all sorts of bread, relishes, and more.)

To listen to the author of 660 Curries check out his interview on my favorite food podcast, The Splendid Table here (scroll to the bottom for the link to download the audio).

Of course, after making and eating this I want to make a more traditional Chana Saag but the Chana Masala had to come first. After all, I have no more spinach in the house.

Invory Lentil Pancakes and Mixed Vegetable Kootu

I haven't been this excited to post about something in a looong time. I just had to email Nancie a teaser picture and promised that I'd post the details tonight.

Let me introduce you to Ivory Lentil Pancakes with Mixed Vegetable Kootu. I bought the March issue of Vegetarian Times specifically because my mouth started watering when seeing the photos of these while I was browsing at Wegmans way back when. I had NO idea how they would taste - AT ALL because I had never had these before at the time (since then I've had the pancakes at the Indian restaurant that I mentioned above). It did not disapoint. Though if you don't like cilantro then you might want to skip this the Mixed Vegetable Kootu (or if you don't like spicy food). I thought it was AMAZING but Mike didn't like it (I thought he would love the sauce though it's vegetables so I knew THAT part would be a problem) and the only thing we could think of that would have caused him to not like it is the fresh cilantro - it uses 1 cup tightly packed. He happened to LOVE the pancakes which I thought would be iffy for him. Shows how much I know!!

I made this for dinner last night and I thought it was DELICIOUS and can't wait to heat it up for lunch tomorrow!! I felt out of my element a bit maybe because Indian food is not my everyday or maybe because I was interrupted about 16 times throughout the process (which was doubly hard because of it NOT being my everyday stuff) so things took me double the time that it might have taken had I attempted this in solitude. It's hard to tell. But it's one I would love to eat again and highly recommend trying.













Ivory Lentil Pancakes
(from Vegetarian Times, Mar 2009)
Note: Known as oothapams, these light, savory pancakes are served in place of bread in South India. They require a little planning, because the rice and lentils need to be soaked overnight, and the batter needs at least six hours to ferment. Urad dal, or ivory lentils, can be found in Indian markets and natural food stores.

Lisa's note: This made waaaaaay more than 8 pancakes for me. I ended up refrigerating about half of the batter after I had already made 9 pancakes. Not sure why I ended up with so much (I used a 1/2 cup each time.. sometimes more for each pancake). But I can't say that I'm complaining about having extra batter. I'll be making these babies again as soon as I run out just to snack on!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups white basmati rice or long-grain white rice, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup urad dal (ivory lentils) or red lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
• 1 small red onion, minced (3/4 tp 1 cup depending on preference)
• 3 jalapeño chiles, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped (I used 2 but will use 3 next time for sure)
• 6 sun gold tomatoes, chopped (the original recipe doesn't include tomatoes but the Indian restaurant I go to DOES and so does the recipe for this in 660 Curries - and I love the addition for color as well as flavor - so I sent Jessi out to the garden and asked her to pick whatever was ripe and this is what she brought me.... you can use any kind though about 1/4 cups worth)
  
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• Melted coconut oil or ghee for greasing skillet

Directions
1. Combine rice and urad dal in large glass or stainless steel bowl. Cover with 3 inches of water, and soak overnight. Drain. Transfer to blender or food processor, and purée with salt and 1 cup water until smooth. Transfer to bowl, cover with towel, and let stand six to 12 hours at room temperature, or until batter is fermented and slightly bubbly on surface. Stir in yogurt, baking soda, and 1/2 cup water.

2. Preheat oven to 200°F. Place baking sheet on center rack. Combine peas, red onion, chiles, and cilantro in bowl.

3. Lightly grease medium nonstick skillet with coconut oil or ghee. Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Pour 1/2 cup batter onto skillet. (Do not spread batter out thinly.) Drizzle 1/2 tsp. oil or ghee around edge of pancake to prevent it from sticking.

4. Sprinkle 3 Tbs. pea mixture over pancake. Cook 3 minutes, or until bottom is golden. Flip carefully, and cook other side 1 minute more, or until golden. Place pancake on baking sheet vegetable-side up, and keep warm in oven. Repeat with remaining lentil and pea mixture until you have 8 pancakes. Serve warm.






Mixed Vegetable Kootu
(adapted from Vegetarian Times, Mar 2009)

Note: This hearty veggie dish would be the centerpiece of a festive South Indian meal. If you can’t find fresh or frozen coconut, soak dried coconut in hot water for 15 minutes, then drain.

Ingredients

• ½ cup fresh or frozen grated unsweetened coconut (I could only find dry unsweeted so I followed the head note and soaked it in water then drained it)
  
• 1 cup firmly packed cilantro leaves
• ½ cup low-fat coconut milk
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 serrano chile, stemmed and seeded
• 1 Tbs. ground coriander
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 2 medium carrots, cut into ¼-inch diagonal slices (1¼ cups)
• 1/2 - 1 red bell pepper
  
• ½ head broccoli, cut into florets (2 cups)
• ¼ lb. green beans (1 cup)
• 2 Tbs. coconut oil ( I used 1 Tbs.)
  
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 8 curry leaves, optional (I didn't have these so I left it out)
  

Directions
1. Purée cilantro leaves, coconut, coconut milk, garlic, serrano chile, coriander, and cayenne pepper in food processor until mixture forms a smooth paste. Set aside. (This can be made ahead of time.)

2. Place carrots and broccoli in large skillet, and cover with 1 cup water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and cook 2 minutes. Add red peppers, cover skillet, and simmer 2 minutes. Add green beans, cover, and cook 2 minutes more, or until vegetables are just tender. Stir in cilantro-and-coconut paste, and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Cover, and keep warm.

3. Meanwhile, heat oil in small skillet over medium-high heat. Add mustard seeds, and cover. Cook 30 seconds, or until sizzling subsides, then stir in curry leaves, if using. Stir mustard seeds and curry leaves into vegetables. Serve hot or at room temperature.