Vegetarian Chili

Let me tell you a cautionary tale about the importance of close reading.  I found a delicious-looking recipe for vegetarian chili in March 2011's issue of Triathlete Magazine (aspirational reading, okay?) and stuck it up on my refrigerator.  When I went to the grocery store, I was overly confident that I remembered the correct ingredient proportions, and this confidence spread over into the actual cooking process.  Long story short, I wound up with 12 servings of vegetarian chili instead of six (suspicions arose when I had to break out the stockpot because the normal-sized pot was too small, but at that point the commitment had been made).

So this is a recipe for a massive amount of veggie chili.  You could make less, but I'm not capable of doing that.  It's good though—leave out the bulgur for your gluten-free friends, put the bulgur in for an extra-nice texture.

Red Potato and Sugar Snap Pea Salad

Why is summer the best time of the year?  Extreme heat, popsicles, outdoor movies, long hours of sunlight, and PICNICS.  Yes, I admit it: I'm a picnic partisan and I think everything tastes better al fresco.  And what's a picnic without potato salad?  This recipe includes a little greenery for a healthsome crunch and an olive oil dressing.  Bonus: Using olive oil instead of mayo as the binding/moisturizing agent prevents the potato salad from going bad in the summer heat.  Nobody likes food poisoning.

 

Onion Rings

For very special occasions when I was growing up (e.g. the Fourth of July), my mom would make what I still consider the most delicious onion rings in the whole world.  They showed up on our table no more than a half-dozen times, but they're the stuff of family legend.  For my dad's birthday dinner, he requested a repeat appearance of these mythical fried onions, so I did my best to recreate my mom's recipe.

Basically, this is a fritter dough rather than the traditional onion-ring coating.  It keeps the onions from drying out and has a little more heft.

In any case, I know that Dani Cooks has been heavy on the baking recently, so here's a recipe that uses a whole different skill set (deep frying) for an all-American classic.

Matzo, Onion, and Mushroom Kugel

Well, Passover is almost over.  But if you're like me, you still have several pounds of matzo (not called "the bread of affliction" for nothing) left over.  You can either feed it to your local wildlife or make it into a much more palatable side dish that goes well with chicken or brisket, or as a starchy centerpiece to a vegetarian meal.

"Kugel" is a Yiddish word referring to a sweet or savory dish, and is basically a baked pudding.  Most of the time, noodles or potatoes form the basis for the recipe, but since this is for Passover, noodles are pretty much out.  This recipe, which has served me well for two years in a row, is a slight modification from one of my favorite cookbooks, Marlena Spieler's Jewish Cooking.

Bahamian Macaroni and Cheese

My sister came home for spring break on Friday night with one request: A home-cooked meal.  Until she went to college, Junior consumed a very limited diet, consisting mainly of cinnamon-raisin bagels.  Since then, she's become a much more adventurous eater.  One of the first more flavorful meals I ever cooked her was Bahamian Macaroni and Cheese, so I decided to make it again for old time's sake.

The original recipe for this delicious pasta dish comes from my high school friend Eva's family.  Eva brought it to a potluck supper and it instantly broadened my macaroni and cheese horizons: Who knew you could put vegetables in mac 'n' cheese?  I've tweaked the recipe a little bit to add some whole wheat pasta and a little more veg, but it's pretty much the same recipe from five years ago.  So: Thanks, Eva!  For my money, your macaroni stands up next to the gourmet versions of Manhattan and it's still one of my (and Junior's) favorite recipes ever.

Spinach-and-Mushroom Baked Penne

Nothing says comfort food to me like a big bowl of pasta, red sauce, and lots and lots of cheese.  At the end of a long day at work, that's what I want to come home to (or find in my Tupperware at lunch, or graze on in the middle of the night, as the case may be).  Can you keep your Sophia Loren figure while indulging in an old-country carbohydrate feast?  I'd say yes.

Please, tell me more.

The key here is whole wheat pasta, a moderate amount of various cheeses, and a heavy load of delicious vegetables—spinach, mushrooms, onions.  Because of all the other flavors and the moistness of the sauce, the whole wheat pasta doesn't overwhelm the dish or make it overly dry.  So make sure not to skimp on the greenery!  As my grandmother would say, "A little bit of veg never hurt anybody."

Roasted Acorn Squash: An Illustrated Guide

Tonight is Halloween, meaning that I've gone the whole of the month without posting a new recipe.  Bad, bad Dani.  But I happy to be able to now share with you one of my all-time favorite foods, the acorn squash!  Catch me on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday in autumn (Union Square Green Market days) and, likely as not, I'm probably packing several pounds of acorn squash in my bag.  What to do with them?  I'm glad you asked!

Step one: Admire the perfection of the squash form.

Autumn Vegetable Kugel

First of all, I'd like to thank the extremely talented Tom Tian for the beautiful new banner.  Everyone should check out his blog for more of his great designs.

It's finally starting to feel like fall, which means that I want to eat only root vegetables (more or less).  I adapted this recipe for carrot, leek, and zucchini kugel from a few different recipes in Marlena Spieler's Jewish Cooking, which is beautifully illustrated and one of my all-time favorite cookbooks.

Vegetarian Fried Rice

One of the best things about living in Brooklyn is the constant availability of cheap, greasy, and delicious Chinese food.  Since I have very little self-control in this area, I've been eating more than my fair share of egg rolls, sesame chicken, and the like.  For better or worse, this leaves me with plenty of leftover rice, which just isn't that good when reheated.  As a semi-broke denizen of the publishing world, the thought of wasting all that (already paid for) food is alarming, so repurposing the rice is crucial.  Here's my answer to that problem, which also stretches one leftover carton of white rice into three or four meals.

You'll need:

1 carton leftover steamed rice (cold)
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 bag frozen vegetables (I used peas and carrots)
1 can water chestnuts, sliced
3 eggs
1/2 cup soy sauce
Black pepper, to taste
Salt, to taste

Heat vegetable oil in a large pan.  Once the oil is warm, add the frozen vegetables, stirring until thawed.  Add water chestnuts and stir-fry for 1–2 minutes.

Meanwhile, crack your eggs into a small bowl and whisk them with a fork, folding in air.  This makes for nice and fluffy scrambled eggs.  Add salt and pepper to the raw eggs.

Scoot your veggies over to one half of the pan, making sure the other, empty half is still well-oiled.  Pour eggs into the empty half and proceed to scramble.  After the eggs are cooked, the veggies and eggs can be mixed, but keep them separated until the risk of salmonella has passed.

Add rice and soy sauce to the mixture, stirring well.  Cook for two to three more minutes, stirring constantly.

Delicious!  It looks even nicer when you put it in a bowl:

Protein, vegetables, and carbs: This is a pretty good all-in-one meal, which is not typically something I'm talented at making.  Plus, Rizi Bizi loves her some scrambled eggs (I put some aside before I added the soy sauce, don't worry), so everyone's happy.

The epitome of a happy, spoiled, well-fed feline sous chef.

Caponata

There are certain recipes that, when I cook them, make me feel like wherever I'm cooking is home.  Caponata, an Italian eggplant dish that my grandmother used to cook all the time, falls into that category.  Though my grandmother was from Northern Italy (Trieste, to be exact), she loved to cook this Sicilian vegetable stew.  I guess she was ahead of the curve on pan-Italian cooking.  Served hot with pan-fried polenta or cold with a crusty piece of bread, caponata is one of my feel-good standbys, so today I'm going to share my grandmother's recipe with you all.  Now, being of the old school, my grandmother wasn't big on writing down recipes or measuring things, so it evolves a little bit every time I make it.  You should feel free to make it your own too.

You'll need:

Black Beans and Rice

So I've been sitting on this recipe for a long while now, but since I started my new job today, I am once again inspired to cook/blog!  While I haven't actually made this since I left Chicago, I'm excited to cook it here and bring the delicious leftovers along with me for lunch.  Because, for me, this dish is all about the leftovers.  The flavors actually get better as they soak together in the fridge, so it's perfect for a week's worth of protein-rich lunches.  I adapted this recipe from the Whole Foods website—my version's a little less fancy, but you've probably figured out by now that I don't like to use tons of ingredients.

Mushrooms and Polenta

Some of my favorite ladies came over for dinner tonight.  It was a hot, sunny day in Chicago, so I wanted to spend most of the day out, not cooking up something over-elaborate.  So, using only things I had in my cupboard, I whipped up a little meal of a mushroom-and-onion saute and herbed polenta.  It was simple, quick, and quite delicious (If I do say so myself).

Here's the final product:

Braised Fennel

Fennel is one of those vegetables that rarely gets used in American cooking, which is a damn shame, since it is so delicious.  My grandmother used to make this dish, one of my go-to comfort foods.  And it is possibly one of the easiest recipes to make ever.  It's also a great way to kill a partially empty bottle of white wine.

You'll need:
1 large fennel bulb
1 tbsp. olive oil
About 1 1/2 cups of white wine
Lots of freshly grated black pepper

Remove the feathery stalks from the fennel bulb and dispose.  Roughly chop the remaining fennel into bite-sized pieces.

Cover the bottom of a small-to-medium saucepan with the olive oil.  Place over medium heat.  Then add the fennel and stir until it begins to make a hissing sound.

Pour in enough white wine to cover the fennel.  The type of white wine doesn't matter so much—I used a cheap Rhone varietal.  Grate in black pepper to taste and stir well.  Bring the wine to a boil.

It should look something like this.

Let simmer for 20–30 minutes, or until the fennel is tender.  Remove from heat.

This dish is delicious as soon as it comes off the stove, but I think it's even better after it marinates in the fridge overnight.  Just wrap it up in a bowl and serve it cold for a simple side dish.

I also made my first béchamel sauce at Erin's house last night (she made an amazing cauliflower dish from Mastering the Art of French Cooking that required it), but that's a story for another day.

Hearty Lentil and Chickpea Soup

There is very little more depressing than a sunless Saturday in Chicago in late February.  In fact, if you asked me what I did today, I would have to think very hard (I finished a collection of Truman Capote essays, but mostly I sat around and thought about what I would do if I had the energy to go outside).

This kind of day.

Around late afternoon, someone on my hallway started cooking something that smelled extremely chicken-y, and not in a good way.  Clearly the answer was to cook my own good-smelling meal to overwhelm the stench.

My mother has been telling me for weeks now that I should eat more lentils.  So I thought I would try to make a chickpea and lentil soup.  After investigating some recipes, they all called for either exotic spices (which I don't have) or a slow-cooker (which I also don't have).  So here's my own riff on a fragrant, vegetarian, and protein-heavy soup for a gloomy day.

You'll need:

1 medium yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 15 oz. cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup lentils
1 28 oz. can tomato puree
2 cups vegetable stock (I used Better than Bouillon, which has the added advantage of having all the salt you could possibly want in a soup)
1/2 cup black olives
Black pepper
Cinnamon

Sauté the chopped onion in a small pan in the olive oil for 3–4 minutes, until it starts to soften.  Then add the minced garlic and chopped carrots, sautéing for an additional 2–3 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Spice with black pepper and cinnamon to taste.

Add everything together in a big pot and put it over medium heat, partially covered.  Bring to a boil, and cook for 30–40 minutes, or until the lentils are cooked.

I put a nice dollop of 2% Greek yogurt on top, but otherwise this soup is vegan-friendly.  I'm estimating 5–6 big bowls of soup from this recipe.  Now I just need to figure out how to store all the rest of this...