i’ve been listening to the splendid table a lot lately, which is an awesome weekly radio show about cooking that you can download as a free podcast. in one of the episodes the host, lynne rossetto kasper, very quickly mentions making something like this for dinner that week. she commented on how easily it was and how buttery it tasted without actually having any butter in it.
and that is definitely the case. the veggies are sauteed up in nothing more than some olive oil, garlic and salt, but somehow they emerge with a creamy, buttery, melt-in-your mouth texture. you can make this dish with any root vegetables you’d like. i choose kohlrabi – though not a true root vegetable -because it has a subtle broccoli flavor, a hawaiian variety of purple yam, because it’s the sweetest vegetable i’ve ever tasted, and turnip because i find it neutral compliment to the other two.
the fried sage leaves are something i was trying for the first time, and they turned out awesome! they retain much of their earthy, herb quality while transforming into a light crunchy flake of seasoning that tastes wonderful sprinkled with a bit of salt. they crumble nicely into the creamy terrain of the vegetables.
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this is one of those recipes that happened on accident, based on the limited contents of my fridge. thankfully, the lemon and cilantro’s bright flavors compliment the hardiness of the whole wheat and toasted almonds in all the right ways. at first i thought it might be a sort of pasta salad, served cold and perfect for a picnic or packed lunch. but as i couldn’t resist nibbling on it immediately, i realized it could also be served as a warm pasta dish with dinner.
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when i find a dish that works its way into my routine – popping up on my dinner plate at least once or twice a week – i feel obligated to share it here. partly because it’s a recipe i’ve tested mutliple times and know works, but also because it is usually pretty simple and always satisfying.
while i had previously been pretty bored by broccoli and cauliflower, expecting only to toss them in a puréed soup or stir fry, i had been hearing a lot of buzz about baked, or roasted, broccoli. when i googled the topic i found it pinned with the phrase “best broccoli of your life,” so i made it that night and both my boyfriend and i agreed. light years better than steamed or sautéed broccoli, i’m tempted to say i never want it any other way.
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sunchokes – also known as jerusalem artichokes – are the root vegetable of a plant similar to a sunflower. they look like and are often confused for fresh ginger root, but are more like a potato. they are probably associated with artichokes because of their earthy, subtle artichoke-like flavor and creamy, buttery texture.
i love to roast them in the oven slowly over moderate heat until they are melt in your mouth delicious. almost like juicy little baked potato bites with sweet and savory undertones. especially when they are tossed with the aromas of lightly flowery lavender and pungent garlic.
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greens can be remarkably simple. sure you can chop them up and throw them in nearly any stir fry or soup, but sometimes just a touch of oil and soy sauce is all you need to bring out the natural goodness of those leafy treats.
i have been cooking up these adorable baby bok choys nearly every other day, and it couldn’t be easier. just a few minutes on the stove in a covered frying pan and you’ve got forkfuls a plenty of soft, melt-in-your-mouth, cabbage goodness. enjoy as a side to your favorite dish!
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we got a bit caught up – as is expected of foodies on the most culinary-centric day of the year for some – and didn’t find the time to post this recipe. but luckily, these would be great for christmas too, any time of the year really!
the topic of sweet potatoes vs. yams has come up many times in the comment section and it’s something i should finally address. i get orange-fleshed, brown-skinned tubers from the farmers i work for at the market. they call them yams, so that’s usually how i refer to them, but i’ve been corrected many times, that in fact they are sweet potatoes.
wikipedia says that yams are traditionally white inside, but the orange variety of sweet potatoes are marketed as yams to distinguish them from the white-fleshed sweet potatoes. so perhaps everytime i’ve said yam in the past i should have said sweet potato, but i often still call them yams because that’s what i called them growing up. it doesn’t matter the name, if you get the ones that are orange on the inside it’s hard to go wrong.
this is a new take on the brown sugar and butter heavy version we usually made for thanksgiving, topped of course with marshmallows. instead i coated each piece with a pumpkin pie spiced cookie crust and crunchy bits of pecans, which are just sweet and spicy enough to satisfy a sweet tooth, but just light enough that they won’t send you into sugar coma.
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every recipe on thanksgiving seems to have the same “fuck it” mentality, with loads of butter and salt and carbohydrates. for example, normally i make mashed potatoes like this, but this year i decided to do the complete opposite. i wanted a lighter dish thrown in the mix, for a little bit of balance on a day designated for indulgence.
i started with potatoes, but this time i added celeriac (celery root) which helps to lighten the texture and flavor, as well as cutting the overall amount of carbs. i added in roasted garlic to help create a creamy texture, but mostly to add flavor. then i sent it all through a ricer to get rid of the skins and any chunks. with only a few tablespoons of olive oil and a teaspoon of salt, this may be one of the healthier dishes on the table – which helps you to feel a little less guilty when you slather it in gravy.
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i spent a lot of time playing around with recipes for a turkey substitute. the idea of a tiny seitan loaf stuffed with tasty stuffing and surrounded by roasted vegetables excited me to no end. i thought i would finally find a lovely way to bring the whole vegan thanksgiving dinner together with a main dish, so it felt like more than a bunch of side dishes.
but whether it was too crunchy, too chewy or not flavorful enough, i couldn’t find a way to prepare a fake turkey that i was dying to polish off. it was good, but i wasn’t excited to eat it and therefore not excited to share it here with you all just for the sake of having that main course that everyone’s so crazy about.
who cares about the turkey anyway? i’ve always much preferred stuffing anyhow. it’s tastier, much easier to make and this recipe celebrates the seasonal tastes of cinnamon and apples in a mix of savory and sweet.
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i never much liked the traditional green bean casserole, with it’s soggy canned beans and overly creamy sauce. yet i could never help but mentally group it in the upper echelon of thanksgiving foods. it has somehow always seemed just as essential to the dinner as stuffing and mashed potatoes with gravy, it was just a shame i didn’t enjoy it as much.
but this year, when i started brainstorming what i wanted to cook, i couldn’t help remembering vegan yum yum’s decontructed green bean casserole from last year. which inspired me to reinvent the dish the way i wanted it.
i took advantage of two forms of cooking that have been obsessed with lately – caramelizing and roasting. sure i have to wait the better part of an hour before i can eat, but for the taste of slow cooked food, it’s worth it. and as the whether cools down and daylight hours shrink significantly, i appreciate every extra ounce of warmth that my food can absorb before it hits the plate. this is truly my definition of comfort food.
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i don’t understand why brussel sprouts get such a bad rap. if cooked right they can be just as delicious as any other green veggie, all you need to do is steam them a little to soften them up and then sauté away with your favorite flavors.
to me, lemon is a requirement when cooking brussel sprouts. pepper always goes well with lemon and of course i like to put garlic in just about anything i can. when sautéed, these little sprouts becomes sponges for a flavor that are hard to resist.
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