Category Archives: vegetarian

gratineed baked acorn squash

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I love picking up fresh produce at the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings but I have to say there is something that happens this time of year that I don’t love: the produce gets REALLY heavy thus making it difficult to lug around for very long.  Potatoes, pumpkins, beets, and the myriad varieties of squash.  I of course love squash so I don’t so much mind, but I am thinking of investing in one of those granny-esque wheeled basket-numbers to save my back.  But I digress.  Today we are working with one of my favorite kinds of squash.

Acorn squash is thus named because it is shaped like acorns, only a lot bigger and green on the outside with a lovely orange flesh on the inside.  The shell is quite thick on acorn squash so please be careful when cutting them down the middle and keep your digits out of the way of the knife.  Then scoop out the seeds and you are halfway done with the hands-on portion of this recipe.  Place the squash halves (cut-sides facing up) in a baking pan with half a cup of water in the base of the pan, then season the squash halves with salt and pepper.

Next you heat up some heavy cream with torn sage leaves and thin slices of garlic over medium heat until it simmers.  Pour the cream sauce evenly in each of the squash halves (recipe below is for two whole acorn squash or four halves) and bake in 375 oven for 30 to 40 minutes.  In the meantime grate some Gruyère cheese in preparation for the final step.  After the squash has baked for the 30 to 40 minutes remove it from the oven and sprinkle the cheese evenly amongst the halves and bake for an addtional 10 minutes or until the cheese melts.  Then remove from the oven and enjoy.

Gratineed Baked Squash Halves (recipe from Reader’s Digest magazine)

  • 2 acorn squash, halved crosswise, seeds removed
  • Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • 8 fresh sage leaves, torn in half
  • 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • ½ cup grated Gruyère cheese (about 2 ounces)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Place squash halves, cut sides up, in 9-inch baking dish.  Season with salt and pepper.  Pour about ½ cup water into baking dish around squash.

Combine cream with sage and garlic in small saucepan.  Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then pour into squash halves, dividing evenly.

Bake until squash are tender when pierced with tip of sharp knife, 30 to 40 minutes.  Remove from oven; sprinkle with cheese, dividing evenly.  Continue baking until cheese is melted and golden, about 10 minutes.  Serve hot.

penang vegetable curry

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When I was new to Thai food I was a Pad Thai girl all the way.  Pad Thai seems to be the gateway food for many who are new to Thai cuisine, though I eventually did venture away from the noodle dish and experimented with Massaman curry and satay and various peanut-based curries.  Lately I’ve been really into Penang curry.

I’m not so well-versed in Thai food as to be able to tell you what makes Penang curry different from other curries, I just know that I like it and also that a local Asian grocer conveniently carries Penang curry paste.  Score.

I found a recipe for a simple vegetable curry to use as a guide and went from there.  The recipe called for sweet potatoes (love), cauliflower, and chickpeas (which I had cooked up myself from dried beans and stored in my freezer for later use a few months back).

I wanted to add a little more color to the curry so threw some frozen peas into the mix.

A little tip that I sort of feel like a genius for thinking up, though by no means do I think that I am the first one to have this thought: the recipe called for coconut milk and a cup of water so I emptied my can of coconut milk and then filled the can up with water and added that to the pot.  It made broth richer by getting a little more coconut milk in there and also cleaned out the can for recycling at the same time: two birds, one stone.  So simple, and yet I’d never thought to do this before.

The resulting curry tasted pretty much exactly like the Penang curry I often get at a local Thai restaurant so on nights I don’t feel like making the half hour drive for carry-out I can recreate it myself at home.  It would be especially excellent with a little Thai iced tea.

Penang Vegetable Curry (loosely adapted from “Simple Vegetable Curry” from Everyday Food magazine)

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
  • coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons Penang curry paste
  • 13.5 oz. can of unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1 sweet potato (about  3/4 pound), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 small cauliflower, cut into florets
  • 1 can (15.5 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 bag of frozen peas

In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until soft, 3 minutes. Add curry paste and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in coconut milk and 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Add sweet potato and cauliflower and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

Stir chickpeas into curry and increase heat to high. Simmer rapidly until liquid reduces slightly, 2 minutes. Serve curry over rice.

sweet potato fries

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This is going to feel like a cheat post and it kind of is.  There are only two photos and the recipe is one that I have memorized I make it so much.  I’m not sure if there even was a recipe originally, but I suppose those are the best kind.

Much like kale chips I make these when I feel like I want healthy versions of junk food.  Which is often.

I like to peel my sweet potatoes but you could certainly leave the peels on yours if you’re into that.  I toss the peeled sliced sweet potato chunks with olive oil, salt, pepper, and cumin, though you could shake it up and change out the cumin for curry powder and that would be awesome too.  Shake it up a bit.

These fries are healthy because they aren’t actually fried, they’re baked.  Genius.  Sometimes I eat them with honey, sometimes with ketchup, and sometimes plain– just depends on what kind of mood I’m in.  You could even get fancy and whip up an aioli to serve them with.  Go forth and enjoy!

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

  • Sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into desired fry shape (I like to cut them thick like classic steak fries)
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Cumin or curry

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Toss sweet potato fries with a little olive oil until lightly coated.  Sprinkle fries with salt, pepper, and cumin or curry.  Bake for 30 minutes, shaking pan several times to bake fries evenly.  Serve with ketchup or honey, if desired.

curried squash and red lentil soup

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Do you remember a few weeks ago when I told you you’d thank me for sharing a soup recipe?  Well if it wasn’t already, it definitely is soup weather now and I just can’t help myself– I haven’t wanted to make anything but soup lately!  This time it involves butternut squash, red lentils, ginger, and curry.

The ginger adds warmth to the soup and the lentils make it hardy so that it can be the main course and not just a starter.  Butternut squash is just starting to show up at farmer’s markets in these parts so when I saw it a few weeks back I had to pick some up and do something with it.  The soup is already vegetarian but could easily be made vegan with the omission of the butter.  I personally think that cooking the onions in olive oil and butter is luxurious but it would certainly still work without it.

Curried-Squash and Red-Lentil Soup (found at www.epicurious.com)

  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 celery rib, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tablespoons minced peeled ginger
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder (preferably Madras)
  • 1 cup red lentils, picked over and rinsed
  • 2 quarts water
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

Heat oil with butter in a large heavy pot over medium heat until foam subsides, then cook squash, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, ginger, and 1 teaspoon salt, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened and beginning to brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

Stir in curry powder and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring frequently, 2 minutes.

Add lentils and water and simmer, covered, until lentils are tender, 25 to 40 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

just beet it

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I’m ashamed to say that I once shied away from beets.  Their strange texture, earthy smell, and vibrant color used to totally freak me out.  I’m very glad to say I got over that and realized how wonderful they are and now grate them raw into salads and juice them on a regular basis.  A coworker of mine makes the most excellent pickled beets that someday I plan to learn how to replicate.  But today we roast them.

A friend of mine teases me because I like everything roasted.  Almonds, flax seeds, sweet potatoes, garlic.  The list goes on.  So when I found a recipe for roasted beet and potato borscht I was totally intrigued.  Borscht is a beet-based soup and it has been something I have always been curious about but never wanted to try because I wasn’t sure I could eat a whole bowl of soup dedicated to the boldly-colored, earthy-smelling vegetable.  If the beet were first roasted, however, I think it could be a thing of beauty.

The recipe couldn’t be simpler: you peel and chop up some beets and potatoes and throw them in with chopped shallots (I didn’t have any on hand so used a yellow onion which worked out just fine) into a roasting pan, toss with olive oil, salt, and freshly ground black pepper and then add a couple of twigs of thyme and roast them all in the oven for about 45 minutes.

Once the roasting is done, discard the thyme, and add the vegetables to a large pot with 5 cups of chicken broth or water and bring to a simmer.  Then you mash the vegetables with the back of a wooden spoon or potato masher or use an immersion blender and voila.  Add a splash of red wine vinegar and top with sour cream and scallions or parsley if you so desire.  I skipped the toppings and it was delicious.  Roasting is the way forward.

Roasted Beet and Potato Borscht (from Everyday Food magazine, also found at www.marthastewart.com)

  • 2 pounds red beets, scrubbed, peeled, and diced medium
  • 1 pound russet potatoes, peeled and diced medium
  • 2 shallots, coarsely chopped
  • 3 to 5 sprigs thyme
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • Coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 5 cups low-sodium chicken broth or water
  • 1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
  • Sour cream, (optional)
  • Chopped fresh parsley (optional)
  • Thinly sliced scallion greens (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet, toss together beets, potatoes, shallots, thyme, and olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer and roast until beets and potatoes are cooked through, about 45 minutes.

Discard thyme. Add vegetables to a medium pot, along with broth. Bring to a simmer over medium-high. With a potato masher or back of a wooden spoon, mash some vegetables until soup is thick and chunky. (I made quick work of it by using my immersion blender.)  Stir in vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. To serve, top with sour cream, parsley, and scallion greens, if desired.