Something not to do whilst in your first trimester

Being dairy-free, you come to a point of dabbling in being vegan.  I've always said that I dearly love bacon far too much to ever become any sort of vegetarian (mmm bacon), and I'm totally with Anthony Bourdain in the notion that many a beautiful vegetable has died a horrible death in the hands of a vegetarian with poor cooking skills.

That being said, my parents went vegan a few months ago and it's got me to thinking.  I can never not eat meat; not only will I never 100% give up bacon, my husband is an inveterate meat eater (don't tell him that I cook less meat for him than he thinks).  But the truth is is that I feel better eating vegan meals.  So for 2 meals a day, I'm totally happy living like that.  I might have the occasional egg, but really I could live like this. 

So in my THINKING, I did a dumb thing by going to the library and checking out Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet. 

Now, it's not a bad book.  There's some good information in there and some compelling arguments for going vegan.  It's not hugely judgmental or accusatory like a lot of vegan material can be.  It gives you some good facts and lets you decide.  This I like.  Now, the recipes aren't terribly inspiring to me, but most "healthy" cookbooks shouldn't be your resource for learning good cooking technique. 

So why was it dumb for me to pick up this cookbook?  Because, being in my first trimester, very very little food tastes, smells, or sounds good to me.  But, like with my son, the very mention of a vegetable makes me more nauseous than I can handle.  So reading a book about eating more vegetables and whole grains is not really what I need.  I'm taking steps to eating somewhere beyond survival mode at the encouragement of my midwife, but really, throw a piece of broccoli my way, and I'll promptly throw it back.

Spinach Puttanesca

No picture today.  We ate this way too fast.  Usually once a week, the motivation to cook is really low on my end for one reason or another.  This leaves me in a bit of a pickle.  I like eating tasty food, and that finding tasty take-out that's dairy free is pretty limited and unimaginative and expensive.  Days like this, I'm grateful for things like pasta.  Even when I'm feeling mentally my worst I can pop together something delicious and satisfying and more or less healthy too.  Such was the case last night. 

This puttanesca is pretty standard, minus the fish sauce.  I don't always have anchovies on hand, but I always have fish sauce which is made from an anchovy relative, so I figured it was a good sub.  The spinach and sausage I added because I had the spinach and sausage sounded good.  And it's taking me longer to write this out than to make it.  :)

Spinach Puttanesca--feeds 2 (plus noodles to entertain an 8 month old)

3 T olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, grated on a microplane
1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes
1 bunch of spinach, washed, and tough stems removed
1 can stewed or whole tomatoes whizzed in a food processor until good and chopped
1 T capers
10 kalamata olives
1 generous T fish sauce
6 oz. linguine
2 links of turkey Italian sausage

Bring 6 qts water to a boil.  Add a good handful of salt to the water as it comes to a boil.  Pop in the pasta and the sausage and stir occasionally for the 6 or so minutes it will take to cook the pasta.  While the pasta and the sausage are cooking, heat a 4 qt pot over medium heat.  Add the oil when it's good and hot, then the garlic and peppers.  Cook for about a minute, until you smell the garlic.  Add the spinach and cook until it's wilted, which should take about another minute or maybe two.  Add everything else and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer while the pasta and sausage are finishing.  Drain the pasta and add to the sauce.  While the pasta is absorbing the sauce, cut the sausages on the bias.  Divide between bowls and put the sausage on top.

I'm a convert

I've been slow to embrace the idea of beans and rice.  This is a puzzle to me because I love beans, and rice, while not being my favorite grain isn't too shabby in my book either.  I really have no idea whatsoever why I've never bothered to try this but a couple of times.  But this recipe intrigued me.  It's in Gourmet's new [and swan song of a] cookbook as well as April 2007's issue.  The idea is black beans spiked with soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, and sherry (I used apple cider vinegar because I lacked sherry), long grain rice, and roasted cubes of sweet potatoes, all topped with toasted pumpkin seeds.

It all sounds like a lot of preparations, but I made the whole smattering in under 30 minutes, what with my use of canned beans (I know how easy it is to cook beans, but canned is just how I live...my one true convenience item).  I'm totally amazed by how such unlikely ingredients like balsamic vinegar and soy sauce would transform black beans into a totally delicious concoction.  The roasted sweet potatoes are a treat; my son loved downed 3 huge cubes (a triumph for a baby who's not super excited about solids yet), and the pumpkin seeds add a nice bit of texture to round everything out.  Maybe I'll eat beans and rice more often. :)

Butternut Squash Stew with Black Beans

This definitely has a nice little Indian vibe going what with the curry, cinnamon, and cumin.  More than that, it's tremendously filling and otherwise delicious (says I as I eat some).  I sure wish soup photographed better...I feel like they all look the same, but they're not!  The original recipe (from Bon Appetit) is with chicken which is super tasty, but lacking chicken, I threw in a can of black beans.  A note on the butternut squash...seriously--be careful when you crack it open.  You need a really sharp knife to get through that skin.  If you're lacking such a knife (shoot, I have one and cutting these things scare me), peel it first--it'll be easier to cut through).

Winter Squash stew with Indian Spices (adapted from Bon Appetit)
Olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
1 1/2 tsp each of ground cumin and curry powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced into 3/4" chunks
1 big Russet or Yukon Gold potato, peeled and diced in 3/4" chunks (you can leave the peel on if you want an earthier flavor and provided that you're using a non-scary organic potato)
3 roma tomatoes diced in 3/4" chunks
2 cups of chicken stock
salt
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
Leafy green herbs of your choice (today I used a combo of parsley, spearmint, and cilantro--really anything is fine though)

Heat a 4 qt pot over medium heat.  Add enough oil to slightly film the bottom and add the onion and garlic.  Saute until the onion is translucent.  Add the spices and stir.  Allow the spices to toast for about a minute.  Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.  While the liquid is heating, taste for salt.  You'll want the liquid to be just a little saltier than you think prudent as the squash and the potato will absorb some.  When the liquid is at a boil, reduce the heat to medium low and cook until the potatoes and the squash are tender--probably 15-20 minutes.  Add the beans and heat through.  Your lunch sure was fast to make today!

Feel Better Soup

The past couple of days Nathan and I have been trying to get a wee sinus infection out of our systems.  I love having chicken soup around for when we do get sick, but I get tired of plain chicken noodle soup.  A couple of weeks ago on a whim, I decided to give the Greek variation a go.  What I discovered was a soup that was creamy, rich, deeply satisfying, and makes you feel better almost instantly--sick or not. 

Avgolemeno--Greek Chicken and Rice Soup

3 T olive oil
3 carrots, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 green onions, chopped
2 bay leaves
6 T rice
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup chopped leftover chicken
3 eggs
6 T of fresh lemon juice (a little more or less is fine)
fresh dill and/or parsley--as much as you like
salt and pepper

Heat a 8 qt pot over medium heat.  Add the oil and saute the carrots, celery, onions, and bay leaves, stirring occasionally until softened--about 10 minutes.  Add the rice and stir until the rice is coated with the oil from the pot.  Add the stock.  Bring the stock to a boil and reduce to medium low heat until the rice is al dente--15 to 20 minutes.  Add the chicken towards the end of cooking.  Meanwhile, break up the eggs in a glass measuring cup and whisk in the lemon juice until combined.  When the rice is cooked to your liking, ladle out about 1 cup of stock and incorporate it quickly into the egg mixture to warm it up.  Pour the egg mixture back into the pot and continue heating until the eggs just begin to thicken.  This will only take a minute or two.  The soup will be glassy and creamy looking.  Do NOT let it come to a boil or you'll end up with custard (this is true if you reheat the leftovers later too).  Roughly chop the herbs and throw them on top as the soup finishes, stirring to incorporate.  Season with salt and pepper.

White Bean Dip--so much more exciting than it sounds

What with my husband finishing the dissertation and all, I hate to admit how little cooking has been going on.  So yesterday was a wonderful break and return to things.  The art teacher that I've worked with sells jewelry on the side, and I hosted a party for her which gave me a good excuse to do a little cooking.

I'll post the pumpkin flan that I did (I need to picture it before I eat it all), but for now, here's the white bean dip I improvised which ended up being totally yummy.  The key to this was the Meyer lemon, which I didn't realize was a Meyer lemon until I got it home as I was just plowing through Whole Foods as fast as I could.  They have such an unusual flavor...kind of like an orange, kind of like a lemon, and kind of their own thing too.  Ah, but the smell--like a bucket full of flowers, those Meyer lemons.  Maybe I should shop when my blood sugar is low more often. 

White Bean Dip

1 shallot, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
as much of your favorite chile powder as you like and according to hotness--ancho would be good, I used aji amarillo which isn't super hot, so I used about 1 tsp
3 T olive oil
1 can cannellini beans
juice from 1/2 Meyer lemon or 1 T orange juice and 1 T lemon juice
2 big handfuls cilantro chopped finely
salt and pepper

Heat a little bit of the olive oil in a small pan.  Saute the shallot and the garlic until the shallot is translucent.  Add the chile powder and continue to cook for one minute.  Remove the mixture to a small bowl.  Drain and rinse the beans and put half of them in a small food processor with the lemon juice, the rest of the olive oil and whizz away until they're nice and creamy and totally smooth.  You might need to add a wee bit of water to facilitate this.  Scrape the beans into the bowl.  Add the rest of the beans and mash them coarsely with a wooden spoon.  Add the cilantro and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with rice crackers

Red Lentil Soup

I got all geeky about writing about my theories of making soup that I forgot to put up a recipe for the one that was making me wax poetic in the first place.

Red Lentil Soup--originally inspired by a Mollie Katzen book--(would that I could remember which one)

1 large onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped roughly
1 T ground cumin
1 T sweet paprika
1 T chile powder or as much cayenne as you can stomach--for me that would be about 1/2 tsp
1 can stewed tomatoes with juice, rough chopped or broken up with your hands
1 cup red lentils, rinsed
4 cups of water
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pot (8 qts gives you a lot of good wiggle room) over medium heat.  In a smaller pot, heat up the water over high heat (if it comes to a boil before the veg is done, just put it on low to keep it warm).  Film the bottom of the large pot thinly with olive oil.  Add the onion, carrot, and celery.  Using a fork, a mortar & pestle, or a small food processor, smash the garlic into the spices...you will probably have to add a little water to make this easier--1 T should do the trick.  Saute the veg for about 10 minutes, at which point the carrots and the celery should be fairly tender...they won't get much more tender, so if, after 10 minutes, you feel like they are not as tender as you would like, continue to saute them to your liking.  Then add the garlic/spice paste.  Saute this for 1-2 minutes until you can smell everything and the paste has darkened in color slightly.  Add the tomatoes and scrape the bottom of the pot to deglaze everything.  Add the lentils and finally the water.  Bring everything to a boil, reduce to low to simmer and cook until the lentils are tender but still have a little bit of bite to them: this should take 30-45 minutes.  When things are done, add salt and pepper until it tastes delicious (you could do this before, but salt can make legumes tough if you add it while they are cooking...lentils aren't as sensitive as bigger beans like black beans, for instance, but I wait to add salt just to be on the safe side).

For garnish/a little herby brightness, I threw on some fresh oregano, parsley, and cilantro, that somehow, through the miracle of a plug-in appliance I have not managed to kill with my black thumbs.