Indian Fried Rice with Roast Cauliflower and Chickpeas

You can pull together a quick meal if you have brown rice (precooked and frozen), and the cauliflower already roasted. If you haven’t yet tried roasting cauliflower, what are you waiting for?

For this dish, take half a head of cauliflower, broken into smaller pieces, toss it with olive oil, salt, pepper and about 1 tsp tumeric, and then roast it on a baking sheet (or a casserole dish could work as well) at 375 or so for 20 minutes or until toasty brown. You can do this days before you make the fried rice dish and just keep the cauliflower in the fridge until some weeknight when you need dinner quickly. If you can keep from snacking on it until then.

Cook the brown rice as per your favorite method. I like Alton Brown’s Baked Brown Rice method but regular boiling is fine too. You can definitely do this ahead of time, and then pack and freeze the rice in handy portions for easy use later.

Now, once you have your rice and cauliflower prepped, you can pull together this dish very quickly. Which I did like so:

In a hot pan (a big one), melt some ghee (clarified butter; but if you can’t get that you could use coconut oil or some other, neutral oil), add a few fennel seeds and cumin seeds, let them roast for about 30 second, then add the (defrosted) rice, and stir well. Add the cooked cauliflower, and a big can of chickpeas (drained of course), and stir until heated through. Add in something green, like dandelion greens (yum) or maybe chard or spinach. Salt to taste. Serve with yogurt, or maybe some cheese, and naan or some other flat bread, if you have it.

No-Bake Summer Squash Gratin (Sort of)

I meant to post this in August, but since some of us are still experiencing summer heat in September, and the markets still have summer squash (so. much. zucchini!), it seems fitting even now. I’m certainly happy not to be turning my oven on yet.

Squash Gratin For One:

• 2 small to medium zucchini and/or summer squash
• small onion or scallion
• cheddar, grated, about 1/4 cup or more (I say more)
• basil or thyme or parsley (fresh not dried)
• 1 garlic clove, smashed a bit
• breadcrumbs, about 1/4 cup (I based on the amount of squash, so use your judgment)
• Splash of white wine or dry vermouth (the white one)
• butter and olive oil

What to do:

Grate one of the squash and dice the other one. Or grate them both, if you prefer. I liked the difference in shape and texture but it is not mandatory. Just a bit of fun. Thinly slice the onion/scallion.

Simple Summer Salad

Hot weather often leaves me reluctant to do any cooking, stove or no. So a steady fallback is the cucumber. Cucumber salad has so many possible variations , and this one is substantial enough to make a good lunch or dinner.

Cool cucumber salad with chickpeas:

• One or two medium English cucumbers (European style has thinner skin and fewer seeds), or slicing cucumbers
• 15 oz or larger can of chickpeas
• sprigs of fresh parsley (optional) or perhaps mint or chives
• white wine vinegar or rice wine vinegar, or a bit of both
• mirin
• walnut oil
• salt

Peel the cucumber – I like to leave a few thin stripes for visual appeal. Cut cucumber into chunks (this is to match the chickpeas in size, approx). So, I cut it in half, then halve that, then half again and then slice into half-inch slices.

Rinse chickpeas and toss with cucumber slices in a bowl. Add chopped herbs.

Mix the dressing. I like a bit more vinegar, but use the  oil-to-vinegar ratio you prefer. I mixed white wine and rice wines vinegars here and added a splash of mirin, plus salt and a little bit of Spanish smoked pepper. Overall I had about 1/4 cup dressing or so. If you have more cucumbers and chickpeas, make more dressing as needed. Toss dressing and veggies, let stand in fridge for 10 minutes or so. Serve with a good crusty bread or a cheese tortilla aka quesadilla (fresh from the skillet).

Quick Hit: More Pesto Variations

Yes, by now we’re aware that pesto is a great way to use up bushels and bushels of basil – but what if your wallet balks at the price of pine nuts to go along with all that basil? And what if you’re also out of basil, having no garden of your own to be overrun with it? Well, there are other green leafy alternatives, as well as other nuts (actual nuts too). Experiment with what you have.

For example, try cress and cashews, plus walnut oil, garlic, and some chives (optional). Leave the cheese out until you plan to use the pesto (so you can freeze it if you want to), and try Pecorino instead of Parmesan. Great on pasta, or as a potato salad dressing or with peas, or on baguette or…

Or if you don’t have cress, try arugula instead. Maybe with walnuts instead of cashews. Really, the variations go on.

Quick Spring Lunch: Fusilli with Scallions, Peas, and Goat Cheese

Actually, the title says it all. This makes a quick lunch, especially if you have the pasta already cooked. This is barely a recipe, and I didn’t really measure anything, so use your judgment as to the ratio of pasta to scallions, peas, and cheese.

What’s in it:

• 8 – 12 oz pasta (fusilli), cooked (how much really depends on how hungry you are)
• 2 – 4 scallions, chopped
• 1 cup peas (cooked along with the pasta)
• chopped chives – about 1 Tbs (optional)
• fresh goat cheese (at least 1/4 cup, more if you love goat cheese)

Brown scallions in butter and olive oil over medium high, let things get a bit crispy. Add in the cooked fusilli and peas. Stir. If you have them, add some fresh chives too. Serve in a deep plate (pasta bowl), topped with crumbles of fresh goat cheese. Toss a bit so the cheese can meld with the warm pasta. Bask in the Spring feeling (though you could make this dish all through summer and fall, it feels spring-like, and scallions are great in spring).

Classic Broccolini Pasta

This is makes a good dish for the transition from winter to spring.

What you need: a bunch of broccolini (or a stalk or two of broccoli), one or two garlic cloves, some olive and walnut oil, a bit of dry vermouth or white wine (or water), red pepper flakes, and spaghetti.

Method:
Cut the thicker stems of the broccolini into small pieces and boil them along with the pasta. Chop the rest of the broccolini into bite-size pieces. While the pasta cooks, saute the broccolini pieces in about 1 -2 Tbs of olive and/or walnut oil over medium heat.

After 5 minutes or so, add minced garlic, then add a good splash of vermouth, cover the pan and turn the heat down a bit; let things steam. Add red pepper flakes towards the end of cooking, along with a pat of butter to finish (optional). Also optional: adding some chopped walnut or almonds.

Finally, add the drained pasta and stems to the pan, along with a splash of pasta water, stir to combine evenly. Salt and pepper to taste; serve with Pecorino or Spanish cheese or Parmesan.

Quick Hit: Golden Kohlrabi Carrot Fritters

If your winter market is giving you nothing but odd roots and bulbous members of the cabbage family, you might be looking for ideas on what to do with these strange vegetables. Well, here is a seriously great way to work kohlrabi into your menu.

In good German tradition, I’ve steamed and braised kohlrabi, which yields delicious results but gets a bit bland and predictable after many iterations. So, I was looking for a new way to use two aging bulbs. Enter Smitten Kitchen and her cheerleading for FRITTERS and the solution to all your dinner travails. Seriously, fritters are great.

TheKitchn (my go-to site for basic recipes) provided a link to this kohlrabi carrot fritter recipe at http://www.acouplecooks.com/2013/01/kohrabi-fritters-with-avocado/ – I wasn’t going to get fancy with avocado but I did have some leftover Chinese takeout rice on hand. Lo, golden kohlrabi carrot fritters.

I used two eggs, instead of one, plus a bit of flour and what amounted to about 1/4 cup or so of the cold white rice (mixed into the shredded kohlrabi and carrots along with the eggs and flour) to make the fritters, and served them with sambal-oelek mayo. Highly recommended.

 

Comfort Food: Roast Cauliflower

If you’re looking for a simple but comforting meal that can warm you up on cold night, you really can’t go wrong with roasted cauliflower. Apart from breaking down the head into smaller pieces, which can get a bit fiddly what with little florets flying around, roasting cauliflower is one of the easier dinners I can think of. Which is probably why you can find endless variations of it, and it’s been widely noted that cauliflower, when roasted, is nutty and delicious. The interesting thing is what you toss it with, once you’ve reached the desired state of caramelized nutty crisp deliciousness. Pairing roasted cauliflower with tahini sauce is a classic by now (see the Washington Post’s featured recipe, which is where I first encountered the idea), but you might also consider almond oil.

Take one small to medium head of cauliflower (or about half of one if it’s just you), break it down into smaller florets and pieces, coat with about a tablespoon or so of olive oil, and roast at 375  to 400 degrees.

Toss the roasted cauliflower with almond oil (again about a tablespoon or so, to taste), some chopped garlic chives (or chives, or parsley), and a bit of lemon tahini dip such as this one from The Kitchn (a combo of sour cream, tahini, lemon, apple cider vinegar, tamari, garlic – I left off the za’atar spices – that makes for a very good partner to any roasted cauliflower). If you have them, toss in some roasted almond slivers too. I really think it was the almond oil that made this dish such a hit for me.

Quick Hit: Fusilli and Peas (Secret Sauce)

Aka, how to make a quick, velvety pea sauce.

This is very easy, and I didn’t really measure anything. Take some frozen peas (about 1 cup), and gently heat them in a pan with a little pat of butter and a tablespoon or two of water, or chicken or veggie broth. Once the peas are defrosted, blend them with some crumbled feta. I used my stick/immersion blender but you could do this in a food processor too. Taste as you go so you get the right balance of sweet and salty – I think I used about 1/4 cup feta or less. I also added some sriracha to taste.

Use this sauce on fusilli or other ridged pasta (rigatoni or cavatappi perhaps). You can liven it up the next day for lunch by adding a few Sungold tomatoes (the little sweet orange ones), halved or whole, to the pan when you reheat the pasta and pea sauce.

Basic Bread Salad

Looking for a quick dinner and a good way to use up any slightly stale bread you have? The magic word is “Panzanella” – also known as bread salad. You can go basic on this and leave out the scallions and herbs if you don’t have those around. If you don’t have fresh tomatoes, try a bit of tomato sauce. Or leave it out entirely, and use a bit more olive oil.

I used about a quarter of a baguette-type bread loaf (it was a bit larger and softer than the classic French baguette), sliced.