Vegetables - Alan's Cookbook
Vegetables - Alan's Cookbook
Vegetables - Alan's Cookbook
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<strong>Vegetables</strong><br />
a chapter from<br />
Alan’s <strong>Cookbook</strong><br />
Alan G. Yoder
<strong>Vegetables</strong><br />
This section has mostly pure vegetable dishes, as opposed<br />
to other dishes which are combinations of grains and<br />
vegetables. Those appear in the grains section.
Eggplant<br />
Properly made, eggplant is the closest thing in the vegetable<br />
kingdom to butter.<br />
Eggplant<br />
Coarse sea salt<br />
Inexpensive (bulk) olive<br />
oil<br />
Eggplant should be glossy and firm when bought.<br />
Though it can be kept for a few days, it’s really<br />
best to buy it within a day or two of using it.<br />
If you like, peel the eggplant. Slice it into 3/4”<br />
thick slices. Sprinkle some salt in a cereal bowl,<br />
place a slice on it, sprinkle again, place another<br />
piece on top of that, and continue until you’ve<br />
made a tower of all the slices with salt on each<br />
side of every slice. This will sweat the eggplant<br />
and get the excess water out of it.<br />
Let sit for 1/2 hour, draining off water once or<br />
twice. Don’t overdo this; too long and the finished<br />
pieces will be too salty.<br />
Rinse each piece with water, fold in a cloth towel,<br />
and press down hard with the heel of your hand.<br />
One towel should be good for two eggplants.<br />
They’ll look pretty squashed, but fear not, frying<br />
will fix that.<br />
Use 1/8” to 1/4” of oil in a very hot pan, and fry<br />
the slices until golden brown on each side. Drain<br />
onto paper towels. Serve plain or use in<br />
numerous other recipes in this book.<br />
Serves 6<br />
Cooking time: 1 hour<br />
- 73 -
Mashed Potatoes<br />
An American staple<br />
Potatoes<br />
Broth or water<br />
Milk<br />
Butter<br />
Cream<br />
Salt and pepper<br />
Use large mature white potatoes. Baking<br />
potatoes work fine too. But avoid baby red<br />
potatoes--these have been known to turn into<br />
glue when whipped.<br />
There is a great discussion of potato mashing in<br />
The man who ate everything, by Jeffrey Steingarten.<br />
A potato ricer is required for my version of<br />
smooth mashed potatoes. This is so that the<br />
potato starch cells are disturbed as little as<br />
possible, as each passes through the tool only<br />
once. This yields the smoothest results.<br />
If, on the other hand, you like lumpy mashed<br />
potatoes, you can use a whisk or even--gasp--an<br />
electric mixer. Again, the key is to not over whip<br />
the poor darlings.<br />
Serves 1 per large potato<br />
Cooking time: 1/2 hour<br />
Peel the potatoes (or not!) and cut into evenly<br />
sized pieces, say 1/2” by 1”. Cook over high heat<br />
in salted water or broth until tender.<br />
Drain the liquid off. If you used broth, strain it<br />
and save it for later use in another dish.<br />
Press the potatoes through the ricer into a large<br />
bowl. Toss in a couple tablespoons of butter. Add<br />
a dollop of milk and as much cream as your<br />
natural timidity and fear of fat will allow. Grate in<br />
a couple turns of pepper.<br />
Incorporate everything with a large wire whisk. It<br />
should take only a few stirs to get a smooth<br />
consistency. Add milk, or not, as necessary to get<br />
them as runny or stiff as you like them. Salt to<br />
taste and serve.<br />
- 74 -
Mixed <strong>Vegetables</strong><br />
It’s easy to forget the combination of potatoes, carrots and<br />
broccoli because it’s so clichéd. But cliches are generally founded<br />
upon truths, and this combination is delicious by itself, or with<br />
meat or fish as well.<br />
Potatoes<br />
Carrots<br />
Broccoli<br />
Salt and pepper<br />
Use small red potatoes if you can; these are the<br />
best for plain eating. Carrots and broccoli should<br />
be as fresh as you can get them. <strong>Vegetables</strong> that<br />
have been in the fridge for a week tend to taste<br />
like it. Shop accordingly.<br />
Bring a large kettle of water to the boil.<br />
Peel the carrots and cut into bite sized pieces. Cut<br />
the potatoes into similarly sized pieces. I prefer<br />
mine with the skin on.<br />
Put carrots and potatoes into boiling water, lightly<br />
salted, and cover.<br />
Cut the broccoli into attractive small pieces. Add<br />
it to the kettle about 10 minutes after the<br />
potatoes and carrots go in.<br />
Remove the vegetables when all are tender,<br />
which will be well before the broccoli turns grey.<br />
You may want to run cold water over them<br />
briefly, to stop them from continuing to cook in<br />
their own heat. It’s perfectly okay to serve them<br />
at room temperature, but if you prefer you can<br />
rewarm them a bit in the microwave.<br />
Have salt and pepper handy at the table.<br />
Serves 3-4 per lb. veggies<br />
Cooking time: 30 minutes<br />
An alternative—and I think better—way to do<br />
things is to steam the broccoli separately. Plunge<br />
it into cold water to stop the cooking process as<br />
soon as it gets al dente. You can worry less about<br />
the potatoes and carrots this way too, as they are<br />
far more forgiving. Combine them all, then, when<br />
serving.<br />
- 75 -
Glazed carrots<br />
A wonderful side dish that goes with almost everything.<br />
Carrots<br />
Broth<br />
Virgin olive oil<br />
Cane sugar<br />
Parsley<br />
Rum<br />
Optional<br />
Note: The sauce is<br />
optional. These<br />
carrots are also<br />
delicious just<br />
sprinkled with<br />
parsley.<br />
When sugar is necessary in a recipe, I prefer<br />
organic cane sugar, personally. In this recipe<br />
especially, it caramelizes so nicely.<br />
Most any kind of not-too-strong broth will do.<br />
Even water is fine in a pinch.<br />
Peel the carrots and julienne them. To do this, cut<br />
them lengthwise into long strips 1/4” by 1/4” or<br />
so. Then gather them up and cross cut the strips<br />
into 1” pieces.<br />
Boil the carrot pieces gently in the broth until<br />
they’re al dente. Drain, saving the broth.<br />
Put the carrots into a chefs pan with a bit of oil,<br />
and turn up the heat. Add a couple tablespoons of<br />
sugar and mix around well. The goal is to get the<br />
sugar to caramelize a bit, but if that doesn’t<br />
happen, no worries, it will still be delicious. Cook<br />
for 5-10 minutes.<br />
While the carrots are working, reduce the broth in<br />
a small saucepan over high heat until it’s a syrup.<br />
If you like, add a splash of rum. Pour the syrup<br />
over the carrots, sprinkle very generously with<br />
chopped parsley and serve.<br />
Serves 3-4 per lb.<br />
carrots<br />
Cooking time: 40 minutes<br />
- 76 -
Green beans<br />
I serve these more often than any other vegetable. They are<br />
delicious, simple, and a great color contrast to most main courses.<br />
Fresh green beans<br />
Fresh grated salt<br />
Most of the cooking time here is heating up the<br />
kettle of water. I often use hot tap water to<br />
shorten the cycle, on the grounds that the water<br />
heater heats water more efficiently than my<br />
stove anyway.<br />
The key to cooking green beans really perfectly is<br />
what Thomas Keller calls large pot boiling. Use<br />
your largest boiling pot and fill it 2/3 with water.<br />
When it is boiling hard, put in the beans. You’ll<br />
know you have enough water if it doesn’t stop<br />
boiling. If it stops boiling because your pot isn’t<br />
large enough, never mind, you tried.<br />
Cutting the ends off of green beans is a lot easier<br />
if you do it a handful at a time. Grab a loose<br />
handful and tamp it on the counter until all the<br />
ends are against the counter. Lay it down and cut<br />
a quarter inch off with a big knife. Repeat on the<br />
other end. Voila!<br />
Serves 4-6 per pound<br />
Cooking time: 30 minutes<br />
Bring a large kettle of water to boil. De-stem and<br />
get the beans boiling as above. You want to get<br />
them out when they are almost done, six to eight<br />
minutes usually. This is because they keep<br />
cooking in their own heat after you start taking<br />
them off the stove. If they even try to start to<br />
turn color, so they’re not bright green anymore,<br />
haul them off of the heat immediately.<br />
Dump into a strainer and then immediately into a<br />
pan of cold water. This will turn tepid with the<br />
heat from the beans. Drain it off and cover the<br />
beans, which should be now just warm and still<br />
bright green, until it’s time to serve. Wave a salt<br />
grinder at them before serving.<br />
- 77 -
Green beans with oyster mushrooms<br />
Delicious even without the Campbell’s mushroom soup!<br />
Fresh green beans<br />
Oyster mushrooms<br />
Blanched sliced almonds<br />
Oil<br />
Sea salt<br />
Parsley<br />
Optional<br />
If you can’t get oyster mushrooms, thinly sliced<br />
button mushrooms will do nicely.<br />
Cook the green beans as on page 77. Fry the<br />
almond slices in a hot dry pan until smoking but<br />
not burnt. Saute the mushrooms crisply in oil,<br />
and salt heavily. Combine all, add chopped<br />
parsley. Heat in the oven or microwave to serving<br />
temperature if necessary.<br />
Serves 4-6 per lb beans<br />
Cooking time: 30 minutes<br />
- 78 -
Spinach and pears<br />
A pleasant variation on plain steamed spinach<br />
Fresh spinach<br />
Anjou pears<br />
Salt and pepper<br />
Pine nuts<br />
Onions<br />
Optional<br />
Wash the spinach more than you think is<br />
reasonable. I can’t emphasize this enough.<br />
There’s nothing worse than biting down on a few<br />
grains of sand that got away in an otherwise<br />
perfect spinach dish. A big tub of water and a<br />
salad spinner are good allies in the war against<br />
sand.<br />
If the pears are not quite ripe, steam them gently<br />
for a couple minutes after you cut them into<br />
pieces.<br />
Peel, core and cut up the pears into 3/4” pieces.<br />
Place the washed spinach in a hot chefs pan with<br />
a wee bit of water to get things going. It should<br />
begin to reduce quickly and provide its own<br />
water. If you’re making a lot of it, add it in shifts<br />
as the previous lot reduces. When it’s about 2/3<br />
reduced—amazing how much it does reduce!—<br />
add the pear pieces. Season to taste and serve.<br />
Optional<br />
Saute minced onions before adding spinach.<br />
Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan and sprinkle<br />
over.<br />
Serves: 2 per bunch<br />
Cooking time: 15 minutes<br />
- 79 -
Creamed spinach<br />
When I was in grade school we were routinely tortured at<br />
lunchtime with reheated spinach out of a #10 can.<br />
This is the opposite of that.<br />
Fresh spinach<br />
Wondra flour<br />
Cream<br />
Salt and pepper<br />
Be sure and wash the spinach very well, as<br />
explained on the previous page.<br />
Wondra flour is a branded kind of flour that is<br />
ground very fine, and has been treated with who<br />
knows what to keep it from clumping when it’s<br />
put into a warm liquid. So it’s useful for making<br />
gravies without butter or roux.<br />
This recipe is basically a shortcut for cooking<br />
spinach and a very light bechamel (page 26)<br />
separately, and combining them. You can always<br />
do that instead if you prefer.<br />
Cook the spinach as on the previous page. When<br />
it is about done, add cream to the liquid the<br />
spinach has given off until it is more white than<br />
green. When the liquid has come back up to a<br />
simmer, lower the heat and start adding in<br />
Wondra flour and stirring, until the liquid gets<br />
just thick enough so it won’t run all over a plate.<br />
Season to taste with salt and pepper. It will take<br />
a fair bit of salt on account of the flour and<br />
cream.<br />
Serves 2 per bunch<br />
Cooking time: 15 minutes<br />
- 80 -
Vegetable kabobs<br />
Excellent served with rice or pita bread, or as a side to barbequed<br />
meat or kabobs<br />
Eggplant<br />
Tomatoes<br />
Bell peppers<br />
Zucchini<br />
Onions<br />
Tamari (wheat-free soy<br />
sauce)<br />
Olive oil<br />
Garlic paste<br />
Ginger paste<br />
Garlic and ginger paste are available in small jars<br />
in the grocery store.<br />
Tamari can be found in most large groceries<br />
nowadays as well. It has a different flavor from<br />
regular soy sauce. Be sure to get the wheat-free<br />
variety.<br />
Any standard olive oil will do.<br />
Salt the eggplant, let rest and press dry as on<br />
page 73.<br />
Cut the vegetables into roughly 1/2” x 2” x 2”<br />
pieces.<br />
Whisk a small amount of garlic and ginger into<br />
some tamari to get a thick liquid. Add about triple<br />
the oil, whisk together and keep the whisk<br />
handy—it will want to separate.<br />
Put the vegetables onto skewers and brush with<br />
the marinade. Grill over a nice flame, whisking up<br />
and brushing on a bit more marinade if they get<br />
too dry looking. If you run low on marinade, just<br />
add more olive oil, as that always gets used up<br />
first.<br />
Cooking time: 30 minutes<br />
- 81 -
Corn, sweet potato and pecan goulash<br />
An odd-sounding but delicious combo—a derivative of corn<br />
chowder—very comforting on a cold dark night.<br />
Sweet potatoes<br />
Corn<br />
Roasted & salted pecan<br />
pieces<br />
Sea salt<br />
Pepper<br />
Arugula or parsley<br />
leaves<br />
Olive oil<br />
Optional<br />
Fresh sweet corn, boiled 8 minutes, dunked in<br />
cold water, and cut off the cobs immediately is<br />
the best, of course. A good brand of canned or<br />
frozen corn will do.<br />
Corn should slightly dominate this dish, followed<br />
by sweet potato. Be sure to use real sweet<br />
potatoes, not yams. Use as many pecans as will<br />
not overpower the other ingredients.<br />
I prefer a very dark seasoned sea salt, such as<br />
“Sale Toscano”, from Tuscany for this dish.<br />
Wash the sweet potatoes. Bake in a medium oven<br />
(350°) until done, approx. 1 hour. Cut into small<br />
pieces, removing skin if you prefer (I like the skin<br />
myself).<br />
Cook the corn, as above, or according to the<br />
directions on the can or package.<br />
Gently combine the corn and sweet potato pieces.<br />
Add a bit of olive oil if you prefer. Anoint with sea<br />
salt and cracked pepper. Top with pecans and<br />
toss lightly. Garnish generously with arugula<br />
leaves or parsley.<br />
Serves 4 per sweet potato<br />
Cooking time: 75 minutes<br />
- 82 -
Sweet potato mash<br />
A wonderful variation on mashed potatoes.<br />
Sweet potatoes<br />
Fennel root<br />
Celery root<br />
Broth<br />
Salt and pepper<br />
Optional<br />
Nonfat or regular milk<br />
Butter<br />
Cream<br />
Use yellow sweet potatoes, not yams.<br />
Fennel root is also called sweet anise by some<br />
groceries. Celery root (“celeriac”) is larger and<br />
much uglier than fennel root. Either may be<br />
omitted from this recipe if you can’t find it.<br />
I use one celery root, one fennel root, and three<br />
large sweet potatoes for this dish. Either<br />
vegetable or chicken broth will work.<br />
Peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into 1”<br />
pieces. Boil them gently in broth, about 45<br />
minutes.<br />
Peel celery root, cut into pieces and add to the<br />
broth about 15 minutes after the sweet potatoes.<br />
Follow this with quartered anise root. Cook all<br />
until done.<br />
Run the celery root and fennel root through a<br />
food processor to puree their stringiness into<br />
submission. Continue either in or out of the<br />
processor with the sweet potatoes, adding oil<br />
liberally, and broth (or milk) to get the desired<br />
consistency. Salt and pepper to taste.<br />
Butter and cream do nice things to the taste, but<br />
are not required.<br />
Serves 8-10<br />
Cooking time: 1 hour<br />
- 83 -
Yam frites<br />
A fine variation on french fries; not as crispy, but as yummy as<br />
yams can be.<br />
Yams<br />
Oil<br />
Sea salt<br />
Peel the yams if you prefer. Otherwise, wash<br />
them thoroughly. Cut into thick julienne strips<br />
(about 1/2”). Arrange on a cookie sheet and<br />
sprinkle liberally with oil. Bake in a preheated hot<br />
oven (425°) about 20 minutes, or until done.<br />
Sprinkle very lightly with salt and serve.<br />
Serves 2 per yam<br />
Cooking time: 40 minutes<br />
- 84 -
Fried baby potatoes with rosemary<br />
A wonderful side dish with any sort of barbequed meat. The<br />
potatoes become almost liquefied in the center, with lots of savory<br />
crusty goodness around.<br />
Baby red potatoes<br />
Olive oil<br />
Fresh rosemary branch<br />
Salt and pepper<br />
Potatoes up to about 2” in diameter work fine,<br />
but the larger the potatoes the longer the cooking<br />
time. I normally buy the ones that are so small<br />
they bundle them up in 2 pound packages.<br />
I normally use a very large frying pan over an<br />
outdoor gas grill. Smaller pans need to be used<br />
indoors, because you want the fire from the stove<br />
to cover as much of the bottom of the pan as<br />
possible.<br />
Small potatoes may be done in as little as 30<br />
minutes, but I have had medium ones take an<br />
hour.<br />
If you’re in a hurry, cook the potatoes most of the<br />
way through in the microwave to get them<br />
started. Ten minutes in the pan will suffice then.<br />
Wash the potatoes well and cut out any obvious<br />
eyes and flaws. Place in a frying pan with just<br />
enough oil to coat the potatoes. Strip the leaflets<br />
off the rosemary branches by pulling your fingers<br />
down “against the grain” of the leaves, and toss<br />
them with the potatoes.<br />
Fry over a medium hot flame, turning<br />
occasionally. The rosemary will get quite<br />
scorched, and that is okay. When the potatoes<br />
are getting close to done, they will pierce easily<br />
with a fork. Salt them with a salt grinder and<br />
wave a pepper grinder at them too, then cook<br />
another five minutes if they can handle it. They<br />
should be a very dark brown, if not almost black.<br />
Remove from heat and cover until served.<br />
Serves 4 per lb<br />
Cooking time: up to 1 hour<br />
- 85 -
Roasted garlic<br />
A simple way to get lots of garlic mash for use as a spread or in<br />
other dishes<br />
Whole garlic<br />
Water<br />
Preheat the oven to 350° or so. The temperature<br />
isn’t that important, so you can do this in combination<br />
with other things if you need to.<br />
Cut just enough of the root off the garlic bulb(s)<br />
that they will sit upright. Trim enough of the top<br />
off that the end of each and every clove is<br />
exposed.<br />
Put the bulb(s) into a small baking dish, add just<br />
a bit of water, and put in the oven. After about 40<br />
minutes they should be so soft that you can let<br />
them cool and literally squeeze them out.<br />
Cooking time: 1 hour<br />
- 86 -
Roasted peppers<br />
Knowing how to roast a pepper opens up a whole new cuisine—<br />
Spanish cooking. The technique is valuable in Cajun and Mexican<br />
cuisine as well.<br />
Red bell peppers<br />
Olive oil<br />
Optional<br />
Before you roast a pepper, you need to deseed it.<br />
The easiest way to do this is to cut the top of the<br />
pepper off crossways, exactly at a line just below<br />
where the stem meets the pepper. This gets the<br />
stem off, leaves you with a beautiful little pepper<br />
ring to eat as a snack, and reveals the seed pod<br />
inside without disturbing it. Simply grab it out,<br />
and shake out the few remaining seeds. Voila!<br />
There are several ways to roast peppers. One fun<br />
but somewhat finger-scorching method is over a<br />
hot charcoal grill. Another is in the broiler.<br />
Another is over a simple gas flame. However you<br />
do it, the idea is to get the skin of the pepper so<br />
hot that it blackens and partially bubbles off.<br />
You’ll have to turn the peppers frequently with a<br />
tongs to get the unpeeled parts closer to the heat<br />
and the already done parts away.<br />
When they’re properly blistered, the flesh of the<br />
peppers is also partially cooked. Bring them off<br />
the fire, let them cool enough so they can be<br />
handled, then pick off the skin by hand while<br />
rinsing them in tepid water. They’re now ready to<br />
be refrigerated, preserved in olive oil, or used in<br />
chili, canapes or another dish.<br />
Cooking time: 30 minutes<br />
- 87 -
Pimientos de Padrón<br />
The name merely means “peppers from Padrón”. If you can find<br />
them, these are one of the most delightful party treats ever.<br />
Pimientos de Padrón<br />
Olive oil<br />
Sea salt<br />
These peppers are a special variety hailing from<br />
the town of Padrón, Spain. Delightfully mild and<br />
sweet, with a perfect amount of light heat on the<br />
average, it is well to remember that<br />
• they get hotter as the season progresses<br />
• they get hotter as they sit in the fridge<br />
• they get hotter as they get larger<br />
• about 1%, of them are quite hot, just to keep<br />
you on your toes<br />
• all the rest of them are amazing<br />
A pound of peppers will feed a dozen people, and<br />
satisfy about three.<br />
Bring about 1/4” of oil in a large pan to bubbling<br />
heat. Wash the peppers and dry them with a<br />
towel to prevent splatter. Put enough in the pan<br />
each batch that all the peppers in the pan are<br />
level and touch the oil. Cook over high heat,<br />
turning and stirring them, until the peppers are<br />
all singed, with blisters over much of their surface<br />
and a black spot here and there.<br />
Remove from heat with a slotted spoon to a<br />
paper towel, and start the next batch. Sprinkle<br />
the ones just done with a liberal amount of<br />
coarsely grated sea salt.<br />
To eat them, take one by the stem, bite off the<br />
pepper, and discard the stem.<br />
Cooking time: 10 minutes<br />
- 88 -
Creamed jalapeños<br />
Jalapeños have a reputation as a very hot pepper, but this recipe<br />
tames them quite nicely. You end up with a delicious creamy treat<br />
with just the right amount of heat.<br />
Fresh jalapeños<br />
Chicken broth<br />
Oil or butter<br />
Flour<br />
Cream or crème fraiche<br />
Salt and pepper<br />
Optional<br />
Corn tortillas<br />
The average person will eat 3 or more peppers at<br />
a sitting, when made this way.<br />
Wash, destem and deseed the jalapeños. Cut<br />
them into halves or quarters lengthwise. Either<br />
wear rubber gloves to do this, or go now and<br />
scrub your hands really thoroughly with soap<br />
before you get a chance to thoughtlessly swab<br />
jalapeño juice in your eye.<br />
Place the peppers in a soup pan with just enough<br />
broth to cover them. Bring to a simmer and cook<br />
gently for about 15 to 20 minutes, until they’re<br />
no longer bright green.<br />
Make a roux (page 25), about 1 pat of butter’s<br />
worth for every 5 peppers. Strain the broth into<br />
the roux to make a thick sauce. Add cream to<br />
make a nice pepper flavored bechamel (page 26).<br />
Stir in the peppers until they’re nicely coated, and<br />
serve.<br />
A nice accompaniment is tortillas that have been<br />
rolled up and steamed in the oven.<br />
Serves 1 per 4 peppers<br />
Cooking time: 30 minutes<br />
- 89 -
Fried baby artichokes<br />
It’s hard to believe that anything this delicious could actually be suitable<br />
for vegans to eat, but there you have it.<br />
Baby artichokes<br />
Olive oil<br />
Lemon<br />
Sea salt<br />
Baby artichokes are a seasonal treat in California,<br />
especially near Castroville, the self-proclaimed<br />
artichoke capitol of the world. Near the Pacific<br />
coast with its 50 - 60 water, its climate is cool<br />
and foggy most of the time; perfect for<br />
artichokes. Babies are available on and off from<br />
April through June.<br />
Trim the tops off the babies. It helps to have<br />
eaten mature artichokes to understand what I’m<br />
saying here. What you’re trying to do is to get rid<br />
of the part that you’d normally not scrape<br />
anything off of with your teeth, or just eat<br />
outright, and leave on the part that you would.<br />
Artichokes are much more tender when young, so<br />
you can imagine just chewing up and swallowing<br />
on down the portion of the leaf you normally<br />
scrape.<br />
So also trim around the sides to get rid of the<br />
little spiky bits. “Squaring the circle”, in other<br />
words cutting it so it looks like a square viewed<br />
from the top, instead of a circle, actually works<br />
very well.<br />
Fry the babies in hot olive oil. Sprinkle on a small<br />
bit of sea salt, and squeeze lemon juice liberally<br />
over them as they fry.<br />
Serve at once.<br />
Serves 1 per 3-6 chokes<br />
Cooking time: 15 minutes<br />
- 90 -
Steamed artichokes<br />
The classic way of preparing artichokes is wonderfully easy.<br />
Artichokes<br />
Butter<br />
Aioli<br />
Olive oil<br />
Optional<br />
Artichokes are available year round in better<br />
groceries. I find this very charming, in spite of my<br />
admiration for seasonal cooking.<br />
When selecting artichokes, one with a longer<br />
stem is preferred, all else being equal. Also, the<br />
more splayed the outer leaves, the more mature<br />
the choke. This actually isn’t good. You want big<br />
and immature. Really mature chokes are good for<br />
dried flower arrangements. This is a thistle, after<br />
all.<br />
Peel the rough stuff off the stems with a<br />
vegetable peeler. Trim off the dried up stem end.<br />
Slice across the top to get a nice flat surface.<br />
Wash the chokes.<br />
Place chokes in a large pot, top down. Add about<br />
an inch of water. Cover tightly and steam them<br />
until a meat fork stuck into the base of them goes<br />
in easily, about 15-20 minutes. Remove and<br />
serve.<br />
Sucking the leaves is fun, but the best part is the<br />
heart and stem. You can also eat just the leaves,<br />
and reserve the heart and stem for a salad the<br />
next day (e.g. page 53).<br />
Dip each leaf in aioli or melted butter as you eat<br />
it. A great olive oil or good mayonnaise is also<br />
delicious.<br />
Serves 1 per choke<br />
Cooking time: 30 minutes<br />
- 91 -
“Spanish” style hash browns<br />
These hash browns borrow from the spanish tradition, in which potatoes<br />
with paprika are one of many popular tapas.<br />
Potatoes<br />
Leeks<br />
Rice flour<br />
Oil<br />
Lemon<br />
Paprika<br />
Salt and pepper<br />
Use one leek per medium-large potato. I prefer<br />
white potatoes for this dish.<br />
One lemon should be enough for 4-6 potatoes.<br />
Use spanish paprika if you can get it. Hungarian<br />
paprika is too hot, really, but will do in a pinch.<br />
Either olive or peanut oil will yield excellent<br />
results.<br />
I leave the potato skins on but you can peel them<br />
if you prefer.<br />
Shred the potatoes and immediately squeeze<br />
lemon juice over them and toss. Shred or finely<br />
chop the leeks and add them.<br />
Stir in enough rice flour to make the whole mess<br />
quite sticky, but not too ricey. This is a surprisingly<br />
excellent substitute for eggs, which are<br />
normally used as the binder.<br />
Add a good glop of paprika. It’s hard to use too<br />
much. Salt and pepper liberally, and stir.<br />
Take the resulting mess, form it into patties and<br />
fry over high heat in oil until cooked through (test<br />
with a fork). The insides will still be white, the<br />
outsides brown and crispy. Drain on towels and<br />
serve.<br />
Serves 1 per potato<br />
Cooking time: 20 minutes<br />
- 92 -
Butternut squash<br />
This Afghan recipe is a great favorite. For a special treat, try the more<br />
Western version with lox and lavender.<br />
Butternut squash<br />
Chicken or vegetable<br />
broth<br />
Stick cinnamon<br />
Coriander seed<br />
Powdered ginger<br />
Optional<br />
Sour cream or yoghurt<br />
Parsley<br />
Lox<br />
Lavender<br />
Crème fraiche<br />
Getting the skin off of butternut squash is a pain.<br />
Do the best you can. What I do sometimes is cut<br />
it into slices first, and then peel the skin off each<br />
slice.<br />
Buy the squash with the longest neck you can<br />
find, as only the neck is useful for the standalone<br />
version of this dish. You can use the rest of it, cut<br />
up, in another dish though.<br />
You can also use pumpkin in this recipe. “Blue” or<br />
other very hard pumpkin species are preferred.<br />
Cook the pumpkin until it is very soft, but not<br />
falling apart and stringy.<br />
Slice the neck of the squash about 1/2” thick or a<br />
bit more. Place flat in a pan and cover with<br />
chicken broth. Add a stick of cinnamon, a few<br />
coriander seeds, and a dusting of powdered<br />
ginger or a few thin slices of fresh ginger. Simmer<br />
gently until tender, about 20 minutes. Remove<br />
from broth.<br />
Serve as a side dish. Garnish with sour cream or<br />
yoghurt, and a sprig of parsley.<br />
Variation<br />
Use clam juice and water instead of broth and<br />
spices to cook the squash. Finely chop lox and a<br />
few fresh lavender leaves and mix them into<br />
enough creme fraiche to hold them together<br />
easily. Garnish each slice liberally with this<br />
concoction.<br />
Serves 6-8<br />
Cooking time: 30 minutes<br />
- 93 -
Yellow beets with port wine sauce<br />
Golden yellow beets have a milder flavor than red beets, and appeal to<br />
more people. The combination described here goes wonderfully with a<br />
piece of lamb. You can also do this with apples.<br />
Golden beets with tops<br />
Chicken or vegetable<br />
broth<br />
Port wine reduction<br />
Garlic<br />
Oil<br />
Salt<br />
Get the largest beets you can, within reason.<br />
Once the skin is off of small ones, there isn’t<br />
much left.<br />
Use a port wine reduction like the one on<br />
page 28.<br />
Scrub the beets thoroughly. Cut off the tops and<br />
place them, stem down, in a glass of water to<br />
keep them fresh. Cut the root tails off the beets<br />
and discard. Trim the tops flat so they stand up<br />
without rolling.<br />
Place prepared beets in a glass baking dish, add<br />
1/4” of broth, and bake in a 350° oven until<br />
done, about 30 to 40 minutes. Take out and, with<br />
a tongs and fork, peel the skin off of them. You<br />
can run them under cold water first if you want to<br />
use your fingers. Cut them in half crosswise to<br />
reveal the grain.<br />
Coarsely chop the garlic. Cut the stems off the<br />
beet tops and wash them very well. Very, very,<br />
very, did I say very, well, to get all the sand and<br />
dirt out. Saute them quickly in a hot chefs pan<br />
with a bit of oil and the garlic. Liberally sprinkle<br />
them with fresh ground salt or Sale Toscano.<br />
Serve the beets by spooning a bit of reduction on<br />
the plate, then placing a beet half on top. Place<br />
the tops to the side.<br />
Serves 1 per beet<br />
Cooking time: 1 hour<br />
- 94 -
Yellow beets and tomatoes, with rice<br />
Yellow beets and tomatoes go divinely together. This is only one<br />
way—the simplest one—to serve them.<br />
Golden yellow beets<br />
Fresh or canned whole<br />
tomatoes<br />
Wild rice mix<br />
Olive oil<br />
Salt and pepper<br />
Garlic<br />
Onion<br />
Celery<br />
Sugar<br />
Optional<br />
If you are using fresh tomatoes, blanch them<br />
briefly in boiling water and remove the skins,<br />
then cut them in half and bake them with the<br />
beets.<br />
Otherwise bake the beets as on page 94 and<br />
warm the tomatoes from the can in the<br />
microwave.<br />
Prepare the rice according to directions. Serve<br />
the beets and tomatoes on a bed of rice. If you<br />
like, make a nice runny sauce out of the juice<br />
from the canned tomatoes, combined with a<br />
teensy mirepoix of very finely chopped onion,<br />
garlic and celery, and pour that over the rice first.<br />
Salt and pepper the tomato parts to taste—the<br />
beets will be fine as is. If necessary, add sugar, a<br />
pinch at a time, to stabilize the flavors of the<br />
tomato parts.<br />
Serves 1 per beet<br />
Cooking time: 1 hour<br />
- 95 -
Ratatouille<br />
This classic country French dish is often served, and seldom<br />
gotten right. The key is to not overcook anything, and to not let it<br />
sit. Simple, huh?<br />
Eggplant<br />
Whole or canned whole<br />
tomatoes<br />
Bell peppers<br />
Onion<br />
Garlic<br />
Parsley<br />
Thyme<br />
Olive oil<br />
Salt and pepper<br />
Optional<br />
Sausage<br />
Fresh bay leaves<br />
Basil<br />
Do not prepare ratatouille ahead—it should be<br />
prepared in such a way that it is ready when all<br />
your guests are already sitting down.<br />
Most of the quoted 45 minute cooking time is<br />
taken up with salting the eggplant. Things go<br />
very fast once that’s done.<br />
Salt and rinse the eggplant as on page 73. Cut<br />
into generous cubes or strips.<br />
Deseed and cut the bell peppers up into large (1/<br />
2” x 1 1/2”) julienne strips.<br />
Cut the tomatoes into generous size pieces.<br />
Mince and fry the onion, garlic and herbs in olive<br />
oil, gently, until translucent. Set aside.<br />
Fry the eggplant pieces in very hot oil for 5<br />
minutes. Add the pepper pieces. As everything<br />
starts to get just done, add the tomatoes and the<br />
onion/herb mirepoix. You may want to reduce the<br />
heat a bit at this point. Cook until the tomatoes<br />
are just warm, season to taste and serve immediately.<br />
If you want to include sausage, mince the bay<br />
leaf and basil and combine with the sausage. Fry<br />
them separately and serve on top of the<br />
ratatouille.<br />
Serves 6<br />
Cooking time: 45 minutes<br />
- 96 -
Broccoli or cauliflower with brie sauce<br />
Both broccoli and cauliflower are wonderful by themselves, of<br />
course, and who needs a cookbook for those? Well, ummm, maybe<br />
my Mom, bless her heart and may she rest in peace. But at least<br />
she always served them with cheese sauce.<br />
Broccoli<br />
Cauliflower<br />
Brie sauce<br />
Both broccoli and cauliflower are best prepared<br />
steamed. You need one of those collapsible<br />
vegetable steamer doohickeys they sell at<br />
grocery stores, or any fancy modern steamer pot<br />
variation on that theme. Put a half inch of water<br />
in a large saucepan, place the steamer thingy<br />
over it, put the vegetables in that, and you’re<br />
ready to go.<br />
Steam the broccoli and cauliflower as above.<br />
Either can be omitted. Do not overcook them;<br />
both are ready when a fork easily pierces the<br />
stems. This is usually on the order of 10-12<br />
minutes. If they look the least bit overdone,<br />
plunge them in cold water to stop the cooking<br />
process.<br />
Prepare a brie sauce as on page 30. Drizzle over<br />
the vegetables in the serving dish, or serve on<br />
the side, as you like.<br />
Cooking time: 25 minutes<br />
- 97 -
Kale and radish hearts with clam sauce<br />
If you love kale, you’ll adore this.<br />
Kale<br />
Green onions<br />
Radishes<br />
Garlic<br />
Olive oil<br />
Clam broth<br />
Chicken or vegetable<br />
broth<br />
Fresh thyme<br />
Fresh parsley<br />
Butter<br />
Cream<br />
Optional<br />
Fresh fennel<br />
The radish tops go very well in a salad. They wilt<br />
very quickly after being cut off the radishes<br />
though, so be prepared for that.<br />
Wash and cut the radishes into eighths, meaning<br />
first cut them in half, then cut those halves in<br />
half, and finally those halves in half. I do this<br />
more to get them the right size than for show.<br />
Now start the sauce. Put a jar of clam juice and a<br />
can of broth into a saucepan over high heat.<br />
Place the radishes in the broth and boil until<br />
they’re just al dente. Remove the radishes and<br />
set aside. Add the bouquet of parsley and thyme;<br />
a bit of fresh fennel will give it mystery. Fish out<br />
the bouquet when it’s used up, poor thing, and<br />
discard it, but keep reducing the sauce.<br />
Chop the green onions most of the way up the<br />
stalk into 1/4” pieces. Peel and coarsely chop the<br />
garlic. Very coarsely chop the kale (1/2” strips<br />
cut off the bunch sideways works well).<br />
When the broth is reduced so that it coats the<br />
back of a spoon, it’s ready. Whisk in a bit of<br />
butter to give it shine, and a scant amount of<br />
cream. Set aside.<br />
Now mix all the vegetables together, including<br />
the radishes, in a heavy chefs pan and fry in just<br />
enough oil to make it possible to toss them with<br />
your wrist the way fancy chef’s do. This doesn’t<br />
take long, three or four minutes say.<br />
Add the sauce, stir around to incorporate, and<br />
serve.<br />
Serves 4 per bunch kale<br />
Cooking time: 40 minutes<br />
- 98 -