Category Archives: Vegan

Grilled Polenta with Blistered Snow Peas & Bok Choy

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This is the recipe I wrote for the Sunday meal at Rancho La Puerta during my week as visiting chef. Originally, I’d planned on serving the polenta with slender spears of broccolini, but we had a giant box of snow peas and beautiful bok choy fresh from the garden, so Chef Eddy and I changed it up a bit. I love searing squares of this polenta in some hot olive oil—or charring it on the grill as I do here—and serving it with just about anything: An egg and some greens in the morning, a mushroom ragu or tomato sauce at night. It’s super versatile and a great thing to have in the fridge for easy meals throughout the week.

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The Blender Girl’s Cauliflower Soup

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This vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free cauliflower soup from Tess Masters’ cookbook The Blender Girl (Ten Speed Press) gets its luscious, creamy texture from soaked nuts. Masters is a big fan of soaking nuts, seeds, dried fruits and grains to improve the texture (for nuts, seeds and dried fruit) and reduce cooking time (for grains). Soaking the nuts is also easier on your blender and ensures they break down to a creamy consistency. Masters uses a high-powered Vitamix blender, which pulverizes the soup to a silky-smooth consistency. If you’re using a less high-powered blender or food processor and want a perfectly smooth texture, strain the soup through a fine-mesh sieve after blending. You can also take a cue from Masters and stir a protein-rich cooked grain, such as quinoa or millet, into the finished soup to give it extra nutritional punch. However you garnish it, this cauliflower soup is even tastier the next day. (Want your own copy of The Blender Girl? We’re giving away one copy to one lucky reader. Click here to enter.)

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White Beans with Rosemary, Lemon and Bay

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This is one of my favorite basic recipes. I use these white beans in salads with tuna, in pasta, and often as a main dish … they’re almost to good to serve as a side! A couple of notes: 1) use any kind of white bean you want for this–just be aware you may need to adjust the cooking time depending on type of bean; 2) these freeze really well, so bag up whatever you don’t eat right away to have on hand; and 3) you can use all water or any combination of water and whatever kind of broth you might have on hand–vegetable, chicken, mushroom, whatever–adding broth adds flavor.

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Spiced Lentil and Chickpea Salad

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Lentils and chickpeas are a match made in heaven, at least in my book. I was picturing this lentil and chickpea salad with a spicy dressing and pickled onions–a riff on a recipe I’d made last fall for Christopher’s birthday–and was inspired by the tahini dressing I found in [this version from Smitten Kitchen. I love this served beside a butter lettuce salad tossed with Go-To Vinaigrette and topped with crumbled goat cheese!

 

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Sauteed Sweet Potato with Shallots, Chile & Lime

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I made this sweet potato side dish for a class I taught in Guatemala to a dozen youth group kids. They were skeptical (to say the least) about the chile powder, at first, but embraced it wholeheartedly after I dubbed them “food adventurers.”

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Kale Salad with Toasted Coconut Chips

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I’ve been wanting to do a kale salad for a long time, and this is the one I wanted to make. Rubbing breaks down the cells and softens the kale, yet leaves all of its meaty taste.

kale-salad

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 teaspoon tamari sauce
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon honey, liquified
2 tablespoons minced scallions
4 packed cups Tuscan kale (also called dinosaur or black kale), zipped, cleaned and torn into bite-sized pieces
1 cup julienned radicchio
1 cup cilantro leaves
coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 avocado, cubed
1 cup toasted, unsweetened coconut chips

Shake together the oil, lime juice, tamari sauce, cider vinegar, honey and scallions in a tight-sealing jar.

Place the kale in a large bowl and rub a handful at a time between your palms as if you were warming your hands together. You’ll feel the kale “soften” after 15 seconds or so. Then grab another bunch and do the same thing until you’ve rubbed all of the kale.

Toss the kale, radicchio, cilantro a generous pinch of salt and pepper together in the bowl and pour dressing over top. Toss well to thoroughly coat and top with avocado and coconut chips.

Serves 2

 

Nourishing No-Knead Bread

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Making this bread recipe, adapted from cookbook author and cooking teacher Penni Wisner, is one of the best things I do all week. From mixing the ingredients to flipping the finished loaf out of the pan, the whole process is satisfying. And with this no-knead technique, time and the yeast do most of the work for you. I like dusting the dough with cornmeal for a nice crunch, though you can use sesame seeds, poppy seeds, rolled oats or simply flour. I highly recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh the flour — it’s easier, really, and you’ll get more consistent results.

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Tomato Salad with Green Beans, Corn and Bulgur

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This tomato salad is the perfect fresh-from-the-garden all-purpose summer side dish for the season. It’s bursting with green beans, tomatoes, corn and cucumbers, with toothsome bulgur adding just a touch of heft (and healthy whole grain) while soaking up the tangy dressing.

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Fregola Salad with White Beans and Arugula

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Fregola is an Italian rolled pasta similar to Israeli couscous, and it’s wonderfully toothsome in this summer salad. Think of it as a new twist on old-school pasta salad. If you can’t find fregola (or wanted to go gluten free), millet would be a great substitute. Top with a few chunks of good quality tuna packed in olive oil (unless you want to keep it vegan) and you’ve got a nice, hearty, nourishing meal.

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Carrots with Coconut, Lime and Cashews

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Deborah Madison’s Vegetable Literacy came in the mail yesterday and I had about 40 recipes tagged within the first 40 minutes. This dish featuring carrots was one of them. I’ve been on the lookout for seasonal vegetable recipes that take a different direction than I might, while keeping everything short and simple for busy nights. This one from Deborah Madison hit that spot perfectly. I’ve embellished a bit to make it into vegan main dish, but you could pull back to the basic carrots, coconut oil and lime and serve it as a side dish. Either way, I cannot recommend  heartily enough.

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