Swiss Chard Mini Galettes

 

Little hand pies are such a joy to eat! Better than a burger (less mess!) and usually made of flour and butter, total deliciousness!

Every cuisine around the world has some version. Pasties from Cornwall, Empanadas from Central America, Samosas from India, Scacciatas from Sicily or Galette's from France. I love them all! 

Galettes are super easy, just roll out a filling, place some cooked veggies in it and pop it in the oven to bake the dough and Voila! Heaven in your hand!

Grilled Cabbage Wedges with Gochujang Mayo

 

Somewhere someone declared that cabbage was the vegetable of the moment. I say, what took you so long?!

I was the lunchroom weirdo who ate raw hunks of green cabbage all through high school, but raw cabbage is not something that everyone's tummy can handle. Here it is seared on high heat and then drizzled with gochujang mayo - a gift of the gods!

You want to use green cabbage and not Napa or Savory cabbage, since green cabbage has a dense and compact interior that is best for slicing into wedges to sear. Buy a cabbage that feels heavy for it size, ensuring that dense interior.

Tattie Scones AKA Mashed Potato Cake

Mashed potato anything is always a winner in my book. I have made mashed potato cakes from leftovers just by adding an egg and some flour, but if you don't have leftovers, this recipe is easy and fast.

These tattie scones are great on their own straight out of the pan or add your favorite toppings. Pesto, cream sauce, cauliflower cream, anything you need to use up that goes with potato would suit these lovelies.

I highly recommend making them just to have some in the freezer; popping them into a toaster oven is a quick and highly satisfying snack option!

Celery Root Pastrami Sandwich

More than a year ago I googled "vegan pastrami" and came across Derek Sarno on Youtube. What a revelation! Watch his stuff, learn from it, and adapt it. You won't be sorry.

It has taken me a little time to whittle his technique down to something that works in my kitchen - I don't have a smoker like his Green Egg - but this is something that I am happy with and feel is doable for others.

Needless to say, I LOVE this sandwich, and while it takes a little advance preparation, it is worth it. And since Celery Root aka Celeriac is now in season, now is the time to make and eat this amazing homemade faux meat!

Asian Style Root Slaw

Here we are deep in winter and it is the perfect time to make root vegetable based slaws. My favorite way is this Asian version, super simple and works with any root vegetable. It's great on tacos, and this version is inspired by Korean flavorings.

Grate any of those knobby roots - turnips, celery root, carrot, daikon radish - and add cabbage if you like, some red or green onion, sprinkle on some rice vinegar, a little sesame oil and soy sauce and presto! You have a fantastic slaw that is delicious, and packed with nutrition! All of those roots are high in potassium as well as great sources of fiber, so they fill you up and keep you hydrated. Win win!

Italian Sausage Crumbles - Quick, Easy, Vegan

True story - I fell off the vegetarian wagon over homemade sausage. Yup, visiting friends in Montana more than 20 years ago and they offered homemade, homegrown pork sausage for breakfast and I didn't blink. Forget bacon, sausage and salumi are my downfall.

In my defense, I had been trying to make my own vegetarian sausage for years; I just couldn't stomach faux sausage anymore. And after too many failed attempts, I returned to the real deal. My sisters called me a "Sausa-tarian" to mock me. 

While faux sausage has gotten better - less unpronounceable ingredients - it still is expensive and or includes wheat, which I longer can eat. But Italian sausage is still one of my favorite foods, especially crumbled on pizza. So I created this recipe, and it is a winner!

Quick, easy and even stores well, I try to have it on hand for Friday Night Pizza, and it never lets me down!

Deconstructed Cauliflower Tacos

If you made it past that title, then you are an adventurous eater and probably a fan of cauliflower - two excellent qualities in my book.

Inspired by Smitten Kitchen's Cauliflower Tacos and wanting some potatoes, I made this plate of deliciousness: pan fried potatoes, topped with pan fried cauliflower, and garnished with pickled red onions, cotija cheese, and cilantro. WOW! It was so good, that I had to make it three times in a week before I remembered to wait and get a photo before inhaling it!

Bonus points if you use potatoes that are red or purple on the inside, they just make it so much prettier. Do not skip the easy step of making the quick pickled red onion, it makes all the difference. And if you do it as the first step, they will be ready by the time you assemble your plate.

Tuscan Kale Salad with Miso Lime Dressing

Now that we are fully into Fall weather, even here on the northern California coast, I find myself craving heartier salad greens, specifically Tuscan kale, also known as black kale. 

For me, black kale is tastier and has just that much more juice to its leaves than curly kale and is great for Asian style dressing such as the miso lime soy dressing used here. 

At this time of year, shredding in some root vegetables such as turnips, carrots, or radishes of any sort is always a good choice. Even adding some shredded apple would be fun!

This dressing will taste strong on its own, but I find that it melds well with the shredded veggies which mellow out its sharpness, and its acid really tames the bitterness of the kale.

Broccoli with Blue Cheese and Garlic Bread Crumbs

When it comes to cooked vegetables, broccoli is hands down my favorite. And putting a cheese sauce on it is a no brainer, but this is the first time I thought to try a blue cheese sauce rather than cheddar. It's a keeper!

Most recipes will direct you to oven roast the broccoli, but I find that cooking it in a covered cast iron pan for the first ten minutes will give you that blackened crispy broccoli that you crave, and also steam it at the same time, without having to heat up a whole oven. Then, if you choose to got the extra step and make the simple garlic bread crumbs, you use the pan that the broccoli was pan seared in, and it is a one pan meal!

When you cut your broccoli, make sure to create lots of flat surfaces, keeping the stalks attached. You want to sear those flat surfaces on the hot oiled surface of the pan to achieve that crispy, blackened surface.

This meal was inspired by an old piece of blue cheese languishing in my cheese drawer, so I made homemade blue cheese dressing; feel free to use your favorite store bought.

White Bean and Greens Burger

The longer I cook, the more it takes to impress me, which is probably the reason the posts on this blog have gotten fewer and fewer. With over 800 posts (!!) there is not that much new for me to write about, but I keep trying. So this one was a real shocker for me.

Who would have thought that white beans, garlic and sauteed greens could taste so good?! This burger came together out of a need to use up what was in the fridge, but now I go out of my way to make it. I am still a bit dumbfounded.

Any greens will do - my first go was with steamed radish greens - and whether you make your beans from scratch and add in some cloves of garlic when you cook the beans or use bean from a can, this burger is still great. It might be the chipotle mayo that brings it all together, but whatever the reason, this burger is better than the sum of its parts!

Tofu Chix Salad with Dill and Tarragon Dressing

 

Whenever I want an old fashioned mayonnaise-y like salad, this is my go to recipe. If you keep tofu in the fridge like a pantry staple, this comes together in no time.

Crumbled tofu is tossed with a little bit of olive oil, poultry seasoning, and baked for 15 minutes to absorb the flavors. Then you toss it with an easy mayonnaise dressing and add a few crunchy vegetables, and voila! Craving met!

You really need to use extra or even super firm tofu for this recipe; high protein tofu also works since it is also super dense. If you only have firm tofu, I recommend pressing the tofu to remove more water, but then it is no longer a quick meal.

Vegan Scallops, AKA King Trumpet Mushrooms with Farfalle and Peas in Cream Sauce

 

Vegan cuisine has come so far in the past 20 years, and yet I am still discovering new things, which is what makes it so exciting!

Those "scallops" in the photo are sliced king trumpet mushrooms, and not only do they look like their seafood counterpart, they actually taste like it. How is that possible you may ask? I do not have the answer, but as an omnivore who has eaten sea scallops, I can attest that they do. 

The secret is to buy fresh mushrooms, and soak them for about 20 minutes in warm water, gently squeeze out most of the water, and then pan sear them as you would scallops. The hatch mark cutting on them helps them release liquid and cook into that scallop texture. It is pure genius whoever figured this one out!

Since I happened to have some garlic roasted white bean puree hanging out in the refrigerator, that is what I used as my cream sauce. Feel free to use dairy if you desire.

French Onion Soup

 

French Onion soup is one of those classic soups that I used to think were overrated, until now.

Of course caramelized onions are delicious and when you add a really good mushroom stock to them, they achieve greatness. Dunking a hunk of toast with melted Gruyere cheese on top of it, well that's almost cheating!

I have been making a vegetarian Pho broth inspired by this blog, and since dried shiitake mushrooms are what give the broth its depth, I knew it would be perfect for a vegetarian version of French Onion soup. Yes indeed!

Make sure you use a crusty, rustic bread for your toast since any other less substantial bread will disintegrate too quickly in the hot soup. A range of cheeses will work, anything from Gruyere to Emmentaler to Swiss. I recommend making cheese toast rather than fiddling with putting your bowl of soup under the broiler.

For those who are curious, the glass of wine is Pouilly-Fuisse, and it was a perfect pairing!

Cucumber, Snow Pea, and Lime Salad

How do you counter the winter blahs? When you can't go to a warmer climate, I bring it home with fresh chopped salads like this one: cucumber, snow peas, daikon radish, bell pepper and lime juice. Crisp and refreshing, it reminds you that warm weather will return!

It is a cruel trick of mother nature to make citrus season in the middle of winter, teasing us with the bright zippiness of citrus fruits and juices while we freeze are toes off. Living in California, we have access to great produce from south of the border, so making this salad isn't prohibitively expensive, but possible a bit of splurge. Hey, if it makes you forget the cold outside, I say it's worth it!

If you haven't cooked with daikon radish before, do not be concerned. It is a very mellow radish with lots of health benefits, and its crunchiness really adds to this dish. 

Steamed Garlic Broccoli Pasta

This is a brilliant recipe from Deb Perlman of Smitten Kitchen. Brilliant in its simplicity and its utter contrariness. Who would have thought that STEAMING pasta along with broccoli could produce such a fantastic dish!

The broccoli gets silky soft but not over cooked. The garlic is mellow, almost like it has been roasted. Using water and oil to steam it all together is the stroke of genius! It is my new favorite comfort food, and a one pot meal to boot! Can't beat that!

Broccoli, Wild Rice and Cheese Casserole

Underneath all of that cheesy richness is loads of broccoli and wild rice, nestled in a cheese sauce! Not diet food, for sure, but 100% grade A, comfort food when you are tired of the rain and long for some sunshine!

Here in Northern California, we are not quite underwater - thankfully my house is on a hill - but our winter precipitation level is atmospheric, like the rain we have been receiving. Yup, we no longer are in drought conditions, and hopefully that will help when wildfire season arrives, but for now, let's fight the wet and cold with this delicious dish!

Garlic Broccoli Flatbread

If anyone were to ask me what my favorite food is, Pizza would be my instant reply. But variations on it are also way up there on the list, along with things like broccoli sauteed in loads of garlic with Pecorino Romano cheese grated on top. So it isn't surprising that combining the two is highly appealing to me. Maybe you too!

I often add a thin base of mozzarella so that the flatbread isn't too dry, as is pictured here. Other times sour cream or cream cheese (whipped in a food processor) is another option. I suppose that would technically make this a white pizza. Whatever you call it, I call it delicious!

Tarte de Soleil with Sun-dried Tomato Tapenade

Deep into a Humboldt winter, the sun is a shy one, so try and coax it out with this baked deliciousness! While some of us are happily noticing the lengthening of the days, others get a little preoccupied by the tossing of a pigskin ball and its culmination in a big bowl. Whatever your pleasure, here is a fun and beautiful way to celebrate both of these events.

Puff pastry sandwiches a homemade sun-dried tomato and olive tapenade, baked until golden and then served with a dipping sauce. Perfect when you want to indulge or impress. My inspiration was from Smitten Kitchen, and while I strayed a bit, her suggestions were still pretty spot on. Incidentally, buying puff pastry is the easy way to go, but I did make mine - gluten free! - and my current GF cooking goddess is Nicole Hunn of Gluten Free on a Shoestring, check her out!

Walnut Chickpea Tacos

If you look around the blogosphere, there are plenty of interesting non-meat options for making tacos. Really, you can put just about anything in a corn tortilla and call it a taco! But these from Vegan Richa really intrigued me.

Vegan Richa made quesadillas with them but the idea of walnut chick pea fillings for tacos sounded like a winner. Yes, yes it was! Simple, fast, delicious. Can you beat that? Never! 

If you don't have ancho chili powder, use some sweet paprika and a little cayenne, but not too much unless you really like heat!

Asparagus Fritters with Curried Mayo

 

Have you ever seen an asparagus bed? No, that’s not a trick question, they do grow in “beds” and they are finicky growers, I’ve tried. So when you see local asparagus available, grab it up and thank your neighbor for bringing this delectable spring vegetable into the world, because it isn’t easy to get started. However, once they are going, they will last for years. Kind of a metaphor for being a mom!

Moms take care of us as babies, as toddlers, as teenagers and even as adults. It’s kind of pathetic that we only allocate one day a year to officially thank them, so make it a hearty and heartfelt one!

Asparagus fritters sound fancy but they are really simple and delicious. If curry isn’t your thing, dollop sour cream on top and sprinkle some chives to make it look pretty. Your mom deserves it!