Homespun Pot Pie

I should really be all over this theme. Everything I cook qualifies, but this is one of Manny's favorite meals ever--especially in the winter. By the way, our low was -7 degrees F last night with wind chills from 10 to 20 below 0!

This is from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics (thanks wirrek!). It takes a lot of ingredients and a little time, but it's worth it!

Vegetables
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 cups coarsely chopped onions
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried marjoram
4-5 cups sliced or halved mushrooms
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 cups peeled and chopped sweet potatoes (1/2 in cubes)
2 cups chopped potatoes
2 cups peeled and chopped parsnips (optional-I leave them out)
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 cups water or stock
3 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup cold water
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt

Biscuit topping
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
6 Tbsp melted butter
1 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt
1 tsp fresh or dried dill

Preheat oven to 400 deg F. Lightly oil a 9x13 in casserole dish.

Warm oil in a large pot. Add onions and garlic, cover and cook over medium heat for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt, thyme, marjoram, mushrooms, and mustard. Cook until the mushrooms start to release their juices (about 5 min).

Add sweet potatoes, white potatoes, parsnips (if using), black pepper, and water or stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until vegetables are just tender. Stir the dissolved cornmeal mixture into the simmering vegetables, stirring constantly. When the liquid starts to thicken, mix in the peas, corn, soy sauce and salt. Pour the vegetables into the casserole dish and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter and buttermilk or yogurt. Combine the wet with the dry ingredients with as few strokes as possible (dough will be very soft and wet). Drop the biscuit batter over the vegetables in the casserole dish. Sprinkle the dill over the biscuits.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of a biscuit comes out clean.

Red-Lentil Chickpea Burgers

I found this one on a top recipe list for 2007. It was pretty good. It has a middle eastern taste to it...almost like falafel, but the peanut sauce is all curry. Again, this recipe has several little steps. They aren't hard, but take some planning and time. I couldn't get my burgers to stick together, so I added an egg. Oops, maybe they were suppose to be vegan! I am not sure if I would make them again...I did like them, but Mark and James were another story. Yes, that's right, even my "I'll try anything once baby" wouldn't touch them. It could be that I served them with sweet potato fries and that is really all he wanted. That boy loves sweet potatoes! I think if I called them something else, I could sell them better...maybe red lentil falafel? Burgers just brings a certain picture to mind and this ain't it!

Red Lentil-Chickpea Burgers
The Healthy Hedonist
Serves 6

3/4 cup red lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 3/4 cups water
Salt
One 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for sautéing
1/2 cup minced shallots
3/4 pound carrots, cut into small dice (1 cup)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 cup peas, fresh or frozen
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
6 whole wheat pita breads
Shredded romaine lettuce
Chopped fresh tomatoes
Spicy Peanut Sauce (recipe follows)

Combine the lentils and the water in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil. Add 1 tsp salt, reduce the heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are tender, about 20 minutes. The lentils should lose their individual shape and cook into one mass. Cook them as dry as possible as they can go without sticking. Stir the cooked lentils with a spoon to break them up, and pour them into a medium bowl. Stir in the chickpeas.

Warm the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots, carrots, and 1/4 tsp salt, and cook until the carrots are tender, about 3 minutes. Add the cumin, coriander, and peas, and cook until the peas are tender, 2 minutes. Stir the vegetables into the lentils along with the parsley, lemon juice, and cayenne. Stir in the bread crumbs. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes, or until it is cool enought to handle.

Using your hands, form the lentils into 6 tight patties and place them on a plate. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until very firm, at least 30 minutes.

Sauté the burgers: Warm a Tbsp of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the burgers (these burgers are a bit delicate so do not crowd the pan). Sauté until golden, about 2 minutes. Turn the burgers over and sauté on the other side until golden, 2 minutes. Serve each burger in a pital with Spicy Peanut Sauce, topped with shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes.


Spicy Peanut Sauce
Makes 3/4 cup

1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp chopped fresh ginger
1/3 cup water
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp thinly sliced scallions or chives

Combine everything except the scallions in a blender and blend until smooth. Stir in the scallions. Store covered and refrigerated

Roasted Red Pepper Lasagna

I printed out this recipe for red pepper lasagna like a year ago, and only got around to making it for this challenge. Basically, I love anything with roasted red pepper! This recipe has a lot of little steps, but none of them take a long time. I even roasted my own peppers and haven't done that in years (um, did you know you can buy them in jars?). The red peppers go into a tomato sauce that I was worried would be too heavy on the tomatoes, but the red pepper flavor really came through. I loved the how the bechamel sauce made this dish taste really rich. I might have to make one for all my lasagnas/zitis. A downfall is that it is a pretty light meal...light meaning, not very filling. Really, there really isn't a whole lot going on here, no heavy cheese filling or meat sauce that you find in a lot of baked pastas. I am still hungry, but it might be just my current phase of pregnancy. However, this dish was good enough that all I am thining of is having another piece! If I make this again, I would probably add some spinach for extra nutritional value.

Mushroom-Veggie Sloppy Sandwiches

Pseudo sloppy joes I guess. They were really tasty, but for some reason I keep getting drawn to all the vegetarian meals with beans, veggies, cumin and chili powder. They all taste basically the same...like a good bean dip. This recipe rules because of the MUSHROOMS!! So delic, I think I will just make a sandwich with the portobellos next time:)

Rachel Ray 365: No Repeats Pg 280

4 portobello mushrooms
2 limes
4 tbsp vegetable oil
5 garlic cloves, chopped
3 tbsp chili powder(I used WAY less)
1 medium yellow onion chopped
1 large red bell pepper chopped
1 large jalapeno chopped
1 small zucchini or squash chopped
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp hot pepper sauce
1 c beer
1 can tomatoes crushed
1 can dark red kidney beans rinsed
1 cup spicy vegetarian refried beans
1/4 c cilantro shopped
4 english muffins
1 avocado sliced
spicy shredded Monterrey Jack cheese

Preheat oven to 450. Place PBmushrooms on a rimmed cookie sheet and season with oil, salt, pepper, juice of 1 lime, some garlic and chili powder. Roast 12 min gill side up.
In a large soup pan saute onions, peppers, jalapenos, zucchini and remaining garlic. Add cumin, remaining chili powder, pepper sauce, and salt until soft and browned. De glaze pan with beer and add tomatoes and beans. Thicken by adding refried beans. Simmer 10+ minutes and finish with cilantro. Toast english muffins. Slice avocado and squeeze remaining lime on slices.

Place 1 roasted mushroom on the bottom half of muffin. Place a large helping of chili on top of mushroom, followed by cheese and avocado. Finish with muffin top. Don't try and eat with your hands:)

Pepperonata

I kind of forgot about this dish as a vegetarian dish. It's one of my standard side dishes when I want something easy and tasty. All the veggies can be roughly chopped into chunky pieces. A great vitamin C packed side dish.

1 onion, roughly chopped (or I often use 1 leek white part only halved and finely sliced)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 eggplant, quartered and chopped
3 tomatoes, chopped (or use canned)
1 clove garlic, smashed
4 T. olive oil (roughly)
handful of fresh basil leaves

In a saucepan, heat a couple tablespoons of oil on med heat. Saute leeks until fragrant and soft, don't brown. Add remaining oil, peppers, tomatoes and eggplant. Cover and cook slowly for 20-30 min. The tomatoes should break down and peppers and eggplant should be soft. Season with salt and pepper. Near the end of the cooking time add your basil leaves.

ny-O-kEE

Ok, can anyone guess by the title what I'm featuring in this post?

Don't cheat by looking at the pictures.

Have you guessed yet?

No? Ok, I'll help you out.

Yes, it's Italian Gnocchi and the title is the correct phonetic pronunciation. So, impress the waiter at your favorite Italian place next time and pronounce it like a pro!

When I saw that the challenge was vegetarian this month, I immediately thought I would challenge myself to make homemade potato gnocchi, which I have never done. I immediately consulted my man, JO (Jamie Oliver), for a recipe. Please, don't tell the Italians in my life that I consulted an Englishman for a Gnocchi recipe! I'm telling you ... his recipes are infallible! So here it is, JO's recipe for the lightest potato gnocchi ever!

6 medium potatoes (baking type potatoes that are floury, not new potatoes)
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg yolk
1-2 handfuls plain flour (or if you can find it Italian flour, tipo 00)
semolina flour (or potato flour)

Preheat oven to 220C/425F. Rub your potatoes with olive oil and prick them all over with a fork and lay them in a roasting tray. Put in the preheated oven and bake for an hour until the potatoes are fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Allow them to cool for a few minutes and then, while they are still warm cut them in half and carefully scoop out the potato flesh. Put the potato flesh through a potato ricer/mill or we pressed them through a sieve (although it took a long time). When you have a really smooth mashed potato mixture, place them in a bowl and add salt (about 1-1.5 t.) and pepper (a good pinch) to taste, the egg yolk, and enough of the flour to bind your mixture - you probably won't need all of it. Mix together and knead with your hands until you have a dry doughy consistency. Add a little water if it is too dry or a little more flour if it is too wet.

Once you have your dough, divide it into 3 pieces and roll each piece out on a floured surface into long tubes the thickness of a sausage. Cut each tube into 1" pieces. Place them on a bed of semolina flour (or we used potato flour) on a tray and put in the fridge for 10-20 min. to set.



We tossed our gnocchi with a wild mushroom sauce:
150g/5.5 oz mixed wild mushrooms, cleaned and torn into rough pieces (we used oyster mushrooms)
1/2 of a fresh red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a small knob of butter
a ladle of vegetable stock or water
parmesan, for grating

Heat a splash of olive oil in a saute pan. Add your mushrooms and toss for 2-3 min., then add the chopped chili, garlic, salt and pepper, and butter. When the garlic is slightly golden, add your stock or water and continue to cook on a med. heat for 5 min.

Meanwhile, cook your gnocchi in a large pot of boiling salted water for 4 minutes or until they begin to float. Once cooked they are very delicate, I fish them out of the water with a slotted spoon. Add them to the mushroom mixture, toss gently, and serve with plenty of grated parmesan.


As requested, a couple of other vegetarian ideas for serving gnocchi:

Potato Gnocchi with a Gorgonzola dolce sauce:
Heat a saute pan on low heat. Add 2 T. gorgonzola dolce, 3 T. butter and 6 T. heavy cream with a pinch of black pepper. Mix together using the back of a wooden spoon until you have a smooth melted cheese sauce. Cook your gnocchi and toss them in the gorgonzola sauce. Serve with plenty of parmesan and a sprinkle of marjoram leaves. I am not sure what the difference is between gorgonzola and gorgonzola dolce other than the latter must be a bit sweeter but I'm sure either would work fine. I don't like gorgonzola but the picture in the cookbook makes me wish I did.

Herby Gnocchi with Butter Sauce:
Finely chop a small bunch of arugula leaves. Make your basic gnocchi dough, adding the finely chopped arugula to the doughy mixture before you start kneading. This will give your gnocchi a greenish tint. Cook them as normal and toss in melted butter with a sprinkle of salt/pepper and, of course, serve with parmesan.

OK I'm cheating

I posted this on my own blog because I'm doing vegetarian.

This is so good I just had leftovers for breakfast. And I'm having it for lunch. It's also simple. The only pain in the butt part is peeling the squash.

This would make an excellent side dish for the holidays. I loved the way the tangy cranberries offset the sweetness of the squash.

Bittman offers a richer variation where you replace the stockwith 1 cup of warmed cream with 1/2 cup of vegetable stock.





Autumn Millet Bake
How To Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus oil for the dish
3/4 cup millet
1 medium butternut or other winter squash or 1 small pumpkin, peeled seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup fresh cranberries
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon minced sage leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
1 cup vegetable stock or water, warmed*
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds or coarsely chopped hazelnuts

Preheat the oven to 375F and grease a 2-quart casserole, a large gratin dish, or a 9x13-inch baking dish with olive oil.

Put 2 tablespoons of the oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the millet and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant and golden, about 3 minutes (don't overdo it). Spread in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.

Scatter the squash or pumpkin cubes and the cranberries on top of the millet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and the sage and drizzle with syrup. Carefully pour the warmed stock over all. Cover tightly with foil and bake without disturbing, for 45 minutes.

Carefully uncover and turn the oven to 400F. As discreetly as possible, sneak a taste and adjust the seasoning. If it looks too dry, add a spoonful or two of water or stock. (This is key! The millet should be close to being cooked through at this point, if not you need to add liquid and keep it moist and cooking). Sprinkle the pumpkin seeds on top, and return the dish to the oven. Bake until the mixture bubbles and the top is browned ( and the millet is cooked through), another 10 minutes or so. Serve piping hot or at room temperature.

Serves 4 to 6.