Recipe: New Year’s Resolution Stew

In an effort to eat healthy in 2011, we made this delicious recipe from Epicurious.  There are a lot of pieces to put together, but in the end, it’s a simple, delicious, healthful soup.

Udon  with Mushroom Broth, Cabbage and Yams

Broth:

• 10 cups vegetable broth ( I combined veggie stock I made a few months ago and some organic boxed veggie broth)
• 3 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms, rinsed
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced peeled fresh ginger
• 2 lemongrass stalks, outer dark layers removed, all but bottom 4 inches cut off and discarded (we have some growing in our yard that we used)
• 2 6-inch strips dried kombu (we didn’t use this and didn’t miss it)
• 2 teaspoons tamari soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon unseasoned rice vinegar

Garnishes:

• 2 cups 1/2-inch cubes peeled yams (red-skinned sweet potatoes)
• 5 ounces snow peas, trimmed
• 4 cups 1/2-inch-wide crosswise slices cored Napa cabbage
• 5 ounces slender carrots (preferably assorted colors), peeled, thinly sliced on diagonal
• 10 ounces Japanese-style udon noodles or soba noodles (I used green tea soba noodles)
• 1 cup sliced green onions
• 1/4 cup matchstick-size strips peeled fresh ginger
• 4 to 6 ounces semi-firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (optional)
• Sambal oelek (we used sriracha)
• Tamari soy sauce

For broth:
Bring broth and 3 cups water to simmer in large pot over medium heat. Add cilantro, mushrooms, sliced ginger, and lemongrass. Cover; simmer until mushrooms are tender, about 30 minutes. Rinse kombu; add to broth. Simmer 1 minute. Using tongs, remove kombu and mushrooms; discard kombu. Transfer mushrooms to work surface; cut off stems and discard. Cut each mushroom into 3 to 4 strips. Strain broth through fine-mesh strainer into another large pot; discard solids in strainer. Add tamari and rice vinegar to broth. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill mushrooms. Cool, cover, and chill broth.

For garnishes:
Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Cook yams until just tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Using skimmer, transfer to medium bowl. Cook snow peas, cabbage, and carrots separately until crisp-tender (snow peas, 30 seconds; cabbage, 1 1/2 minutes; carrots, 2 minutes). Using skimmer, transfer vegetables to separate bowls. Reserve cooking liquid. DO AHEAD: Vegetables can be cooked 2 hours ahead. Let vegetables and liquid stand at room temperature.

Bring cooking liquid to boil. Sprinkle with salt. Add noodles; cook until tender but still firm to bite, stirring often. Drain; rinse.

Meanwhile, bring vegetable broth to simmer. Add green onions and ginger strips. Season with salt and pepper.

Using tongs, divide noodles among bowls. Divide mushrooms, yams, snow peas, cabbage, and carrots among bowls, each in separate mound. Divide tofu, if using, among bowls. Ladle broth over and serve, passing sambal oelek and tamari separately.

Recipe: Shredded Root Vegetable Ragout

Deborah Madison does it again.  Somehow she combined two of my favorite ingredients (tarragon, sour cream) into a wonderful wintery dish that’s perfect for the end of a long holiday weekend (plus, it used many of our CSA veggies).  This would be good for a potluck, since you can make much of this in advance.  If you do not have a food processor with a grater attachment, run out and get one now!  This recipe can easily be made with an old box grater, but a food processor really cuts down prep time and the amount of bloody knuckles you may suffer.  Adapted from Vegetarian Suppers.

“wild rice pancake”

• 2 cups cooked wild rice or long-grain brown rice (I used a wild rice mix)
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 cup milk
• 3 T oil or melted butter
• 3/4 c whole wheat pastry flour (or AP flour)
• 2 t baking powder
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 1 T tarragon, chopped
• 1 T parsley, chopped

“the ragout”

• 2 T olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 red onion, diced
• 2 T tarragon, chopped
• 1 large beet, peeled & grated (we got some candy cane beets)
• 1 large carrot (or 3 small ones), peeled & grated
• 1 large parsnip, peeled & grated
• 4 c thinly sliced red cabbage
• 1 tart apple, peeled & grated
• 1 T tomato paste
• 1/2 cup vinegar (I did half balsamic, and half red wine b/c that’s all I had)
• 1/2 c toasted walnuts chopped (from a Christmas gift!)
• 5 oz goat cheese
• Sour cream for serving

Oil a 9×12 inch gratin dish, or a couple smaller ones.

Chop have of the rice finely and leave the rest whole.  Mix the egg yolks with the milk and oil, then whisk in the flour, baking powder, 1/2 t salt and rice.  Stir in the scallions and herbs and some pepper.

Heat oil in wile skillet with the bay leaves over med-high.  Add onion and tarragon, then beet, carrot, parsnip and cabbage.  Season with 1 t salt and cook until cabbage is tender (stirring frequently).  Halfway through the cooking, add the apple and 1/2 cup water.

Once the veggies are tender, stir in the tomato paste and vinegar.  toss well, season with pepper and turn off the heat.  Add more water if it looks too dry.  Stir in the nuts and then transfer to the baking dish(es).  Place aside.  Preheat oven to 375.

When ready to bake, crumble goat cheese into the veggies and toss.  Whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff and fold into the rice batter.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Enjoy with sour cream and a nice white wine.

This recipe would also be good just as shredded root veggies, sauteed, and served with rice, etc.  Had not really thought of grating root veggies before like this, but it’s so easy and delicious!

Recipe: Bok Choy, Tofu and Quinoa

Thanks to LAist for the shout out!  I hope the newbies find something inspiring here.

Simple yet flavorful dinner tonight.  Bok choy and cabbage quickly stirfried and served with baked tofu (sauteed in oil) and quinoa (made with veggie broth instead of water).

Ingredients for bok choy & cabbage

• 5 or 6 baby bok choy, quartered and sliced thinly
• a few leaves of cabbage, leftover from the cabbage lasagna, thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 t sesame seeds, toasted
• 1/2 t sesame oil

Get a large pan really hot and quickly stir fry garlic, add bok choy and cabbage and stir fry for about 4 or 5 minutes, until softened, but not overcooked.  Stir in the sesame seeds and oil and serve.

Ingredients

Recipe: Cabbage Lasagna and Green Garlic Mashers

I’ve never been a huge cabbage fan and you may have noticed that I hadn’t posted a recipe using that oxheart cabbage we got for Valentine’s Day.  Well, the March issue of Vegetarian Times arrived in our mailbox last week and included a feature about cabbage with various recipes.  Below is my take on their “Cabbage Casserole with Leeks, Ricotta and Pine Nuts.”  I didn’t really read through the recipe before I started making it, and thought that it would make a nice topping for mashed potatoes (or mashers), but it turned out that the recipe was more like a lasagna with cabbage filling in for pasta.  The mashers made a great side dish for this hearty, yet healthy meal.

Ingredients for the Cabbage Lasagna

• 12 large leaves of oxheart cabbage (or savoy)
• 2 baby red onions, sliced (or 3 small leeks)
• 1 baby garlic, sliced
• 1/2 cup veggie broth
• 3 slices lemon
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 15-ounce can chopped tomatoes – we had fire roasted tomatoes with peppers, which made the dish spicy
• 3T chopped parsley
• 8 oz ricotta
• 3T toasted pine nuts

Blanch the cabbage leaves in a large pot of boiling salted water about 5 minutes or until softened.  Drain, pat dry and set aside.  Heat some oil in a skillet over medium high eat and add the baby red onions, baby garlic, and broth.  Place lemon slices on top and bring to a simmer.  Drop the heat to low and cook for 25 minutes.  Drain the liquid in a colander, remove the lemon and put aside.  Preheat the oven to 350.  Heat some more oil in the skillet, add the garlic and cook for about a minute before adding the tomatoes.  Cook for about 10 minutes or until most of the liquid is evaporated.  Stir in the parsley.

To assemble.  Oil a baking dish and the lay down a layer of 3 or 4 cabbage leaves.  Top with 1/3 of the tomatoes, 1/3 of the ricotta, 1/3 of the pine nuts and 1/3 of the onion mixture.  Repeat 3 times and top everything with a last layer of cabbage.  Bake for about 30 minutes.

Ingredients for the Mashers

• 3 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into large chunks
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup veggie broth
• 1 bulb of green garlic, chopped (including green parts)
• sour cream (to taste)
• pats of butter

Combine milk, broth and green garlic in a pan and bring to a simmer, turn off and let milk infuse.  While the cabbage is baking, put potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold water and bring to a boil.  Simmer until potatoes are cooked, 15-25 minutes.  Once soft, drain and return to the pot.  Let sit 30 seconds or so to allow the water to evaporate.  Pour the infused milk into the potatoes (making sure to get all the green garlic) and mash with a potato masher.  Add a few spoonfuls of sour cream to taste and mix in.  Add S&P to taste.  Serve with a pat of butter on top.