Oddly enough, there really aren’t any recipes from Nuts online. I always search for cookbook recipes online before giving in and typing them out myself for my recipe binders. The only results for any of the recipes I selected from Griffith’s book were in Google books, so I’m glad I stumbled across this copy in the library. Otherwise I may not have come across such intriguing recipes as “Savory Cheesecake with Basil & Walnuts”, “Cornmeal & Chestnut Griddle Cakes”, and “Pistachio Corn Cakes”. Those are a few of the highlights, another one of which is the notion of a Hazelnut Sauce which Griffith puts on a pizza with fontina & truffle oil but I’ll be filing on it’s own under sauces to serve with gnocchi, ravioli, or really, just about anything that wants a sauce (I’m thinking about using it as a gravy the next time I make chickpea cutlets).

The recipe called for udon noodles so I put them on my list and carried on. I needed to buy a bamboo steamer for a different recipe, so I did some of my produce shopping at New May Wah (an awesome Asian market on Clement St that stocks tons of fake meat products). Next to the tofu, I spotted the fresh egg noodles.

Obviously, fresh noodles from the Asian market are the answer to delicious garlic noodles or sesame peanut noodles. Not sure why it never occurred to me before. So here’s my adapted version of the Vegetarian Times recipe. I doubled the cabbage and completely changed the cooking instructions (which originally had the hot water from cooking dry udon noodles employed to wilt the cabbage). Dangerously delicious. Note to self - only make these when you have guests to prevent leftovers & weight gain.

Sesame Noodles with Napa Cabbage

serves 4

Ingredients

3 T peanut butter
2 T sesame oil
2 T tamari (soy sauce)
2 T mirin
1 T rice vinegar
1/2 garlic chile sauce
1-2 T peanut oil
12 oz. fresh egg noodles
1 lb. napa cabbage, shredded

Whisk together the peanut butter, sesame oil, tamari, mirin, rice vinegar and garlic chile sauce in a saucepan over medium-low hear.

Heat the peanut oil in a wok over medium. Add the noodles and cabbage and sautee until the cabbage is wilted. Add the sauce & toss to combine.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Consider topping with green onions & chopped cashews.

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All of the vegetables listed above, excluding squash and mushrooms, are nightshades. Once I learned that, I of course started explaining away my pickiness as an allergy to nightshades.

A few years ago I conquered my aversion to squash by cooking it myself in a multitude of ways. Eggplant was next on my list, I liked babaganoush and that was about it; I enjoyed the crispy fried cheesiness of eggplant parmesan, but it always seemed to make me feel sick. Over the last couple of years, my efforts have mostly involved not picking the eggplant off of vegetarian sandwiches, and eating it when it is fed to me or has been left at my house.

This week, for the first time, I intentionally purchased eggplant for a dish I planned to make: Tofu, Almond & Aubergine Cutlets. The recipe calls for the eggplant to be boiled whole, then skinned and pressed to removed all excess moisture. My hands swelled up while pressing out the juices. Allergy confirmed. Maybe now my husband will stop pretending that I’m making it all up.

This morning I woke up to the sound of rain through our single-paned windows and allowed myself a bit of a lazy slow morning. We made fresh squeezed orange juice out of some very overly ripe oranges & I went through my recipe binders removing every eggplant recipe from the “to try” section.

I thought I’d share them all with you before tossing them, as they all sound amazing - if eggplant weren’t poison. I hope you make and enjoy these recipes that I won’t be able to.

Eggplant Pomegranate Relish originally adapted from License to Grill

Grilled Eggplant & Goat Cheese Salad from Giada’s Kitchen

The Eggplant & Artichoke alla Napoletana from Vegan with a Vengeance

South Indian Eggplant Tomato Tamarind Curry from Mental Masala

Sweet Potato Eggplant & Spinach Madras Curry from Serious Eats

Eggplant Pancakes Florentine from The Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Mussaka from The Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Stuffed Eggplant

Tempeh & Japanese Eggplant with Crispy Rice from Herbivoracious

Fried Aubergine in Miso from Nac Mac Vegan

It can be hard to eat vegetables on the road. Not to say that I’m limited to fast food places, no I’m not driving around, but flying. As a *shudder* “foodie” I take the opportunity to eat at highly rated restaurants like Lupa in New York (wow, best tortellini ever by the way) and end up scarfing down the complimentary foccacia and ordering dishes heavy with cheese when all I really need is a nice raw green salad.

The other problem with eating out in general of course is the portions, especially in cities that serve “American” sized portions. At home, I generally eat about a fifth of the amount of food that is served on a typical restaurant entree plate. Eating out in San Francisco, I don’t generally run into this problem as not many restaurants here have such heavy servings, and the ones that do - well, I can always take home leftovers. Not so much when traveling.

So when planning dinner for my first meal at home in weeks I wanted something simple and light. Digging through the “to try” recipes I pulled out Heidi Swanson’s Caramelized Tofu with Brussels Sprouts recipe.

Initially I intended to serve the dish with some purple rice, but after a heavy breakfast of near perfect Huevos Rancheros at the Fire Sign Cafe in Tahoe City (highly recommended, best breakfast we’ve had in Tahoe so far this season), I decided to keep it light and when I saw what 1/2lb of brussels sprouts looks like at the grocer I decided to double the recipe.

My cilantro allergy & aversion to using much sugar in my cooking led to a couple of other modifications. I didn’t find my adapted version very satisfying for dinner and initially tossed the recipe. However, I just had the leftovers cold for lunch and wow, this is a delicious simple dish when the flavors are given a chance to meld.

Maple Tofu & Brussels Sprout Salad

serves 4

14 oz extra-firm tofu, cut into 1″ cubes
3 T peanut oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 c pecans, toasted and chopped
1 T maple syrup
1 T tarragon, chopped
1 lb brussels sprouts, sliced into 1/8″ ribbons
salt

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the tofu and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Add the garlic and the pecans and cook a minute longer.

Lower the heat & stir in the maple syrup. Remove the pan from heat and add the tarragon, then transfer to a medium bowl.

Add the brussels sprouts to the pan, season with salt, and cook, stirring infrequently, until golden crusty bits appear.

Add the brussel sprouts to the tofu mixture and toss to combine. Refrigerate overnight to allow the flavors to meld.

Serve cold.

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Hazan’s vegetable recipes are very simple, more notions of how to cook the vegetable in question than recipes, but sometimes I save recipes just to be reminded to make things. There are lots of simple preparations of various veggies topped with butter, breadcrumbs, parmesan that are often the best way to serve a vegetable, but when you’re like me and have binders full of recipes to try, you often forget the simple basic ways. I bookmarked several of these quick savory vegetable recipes.

Some other notable recipes:

I never save recipes for soups with rice in them, but the Rice & Smothered Cabbage Soup recipe somehow appeals to me.

The recipe for Acquacotta - Tuscan Peasant Soup with Cabbage & Beans looks like a fantastic way to use up the celery sitting in my fridge, I may make this on Monday if I have time (the cooking time is over 3 hours, not active thankfully).

As I mentioned above, since we avoid simple carbs I couldn’t excuse a pasta machine even though though there are many ravioli recipes I would love to make (and rolling pins are my nemesis). Hazan includes a huge chapter on pastas and sauces of course, including how to make various pastas. The one pasta that I bookmarked is actually in the soups section and calls for a food mill - Passatelli Egg & Parmesan Strands in Broth, I’m going to try to make it like spaetzle with my ricer.

Speaking of soup, I’ve never found minestrone to be very interesting, but I am intrigued by Hazan’s recipe for Paniscia which marries risotto with leftover bean & veggie soup. Another rice dish that I’ll try is Boiled Rice with Parmesan, Mozzarella, and Basil - it’s a bit unhealthy with all that cheese but I think I’ll pair with with kale & capers to cut the fat.

It’s amazing to me that I can deal so well with an abundance of squash considering that just three years ago I was convinced it was poison. I have an aversion to nightshades, I managed to get over it with squash, now I aspire to be able to eat eggplant. Back to abundance though, if you’re only feeding two, even a medium butternut squash can be enough for 2-4 different recipes.

I used half of one in this Butternut Squash Galette inspired by Julie’s sweet potato version. I’d been wanting to try Julie’s recipe for quite awhile, but I just recently finally bought myself a cast iron skillet. With the fontina cheese, this is a perfectly rich autumn dish.

Butternut Squash Galette

serves 4-6

2 t plus 1 T olive oil
10oz baby spinach
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T butter, divided
1/2 medium butternut squash, seeded, peeled, and sliced 1/16″ thick
salt & pepper
3/4 c fontina cheese, grated

Preheat the oven to 375F. Heat 2 t olive oil in an oven safe nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the spinach and sautee until beginning to wilt. Add the garlic and continue cooking until spinach is completely wilted. Remove the spinach to a bowl.

Heat 1 T oil & half the butter in the skillet over medium heat. Arrange a layer of squash slices (there will be three layers of squash total) over the entire surface area of the skillet, they should overlap a little as they will shrink when cooked. Season with salt & pepper and cover with the spinach. Top the spinach with another layer of squash, season again with salt & pepper. Top with the grated fontina and the final layer of squash. Press down on the top of the galette to help the layers meld. When the bottom layer of squash starts to turn gold, dollop the top of the galette with the remaining butter & place in the oven.

Bake the galette for 20 minutes, until tender. Run under the broiler for a minute to crisp the top. Cool for at least 10 minutes, serve warm.

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Honey Thyme Gravy

(makes enough for 4 chickpea cutlets)

2 T butter
2 T flour
1 C veggie stock
1 T thyme
1 t honey
1 t lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over moderately low heat. Stir the flour into the butter & cook, stirring often, 5 minutes. Slowly add the veggie stock to the roux while stirring. Bring to a simmer, stirring to avoid lumps. Add the thyme, honey, lemon, salt & pepper. Adjust seasonings to taste. Reduce to desired thickness.

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That first week was spent finishing off the produce my parents had brought up from their garden though. They had left a promiscuous squash - big like a carving pumpkin but with pale green and yellow stripes, that had probably grown past it’s prime. I found it flavourless in a polenta dish, and thought that this soup would be a fantastic way to use the rest up. The richness of the yam & the heat of the curry powder and jalapeno kicked up the flavour, and the Delia Day inspired seed bread served as a perfect complement to the creamy soup. You’ll want to bake the bread ahead of time.

Promiscuous Squash & Peanut Soup

serves 6

1 1/2 lbs squash (any winter variety will do)
1 yam
2 t olive oil
4 onions, sliced
3 c veggie stock
1 jalapeno or other hot pepper, minced
1/4 t curry powder
3 T peanut butter
1 T lemon juice
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425F. Peel the squash & yam and cut into large chucks, toss with olive oil and roast until soft (1 hour plus). While the squash is roasting, caramelize the onions (drizzle a large pan with olive oil, add onions, toss to coat, cook over low heat for at least 30 minutes).

Saute the caramelized onions, roasted squash, yams, minced jalapeno & curry powder in a stockpot. Cover with veggie stock and bring to a simmer. Add the peanut butter, lemon juice, salt & pepper. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth.

Serve with the Polenta Poppyseed Bread and good, unsalted, creamy butter.

Polenta Poppyseed Bread
makes 1 loaf

150g Polenta
175g Spelt flour
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
25g poppy seeds, plus more for topping
25g quick oats
50g toasted walnuts, chopped
1 t sugar
1 egg
275ml heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Combine the dry ingredients.
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and the cream, then stir into the dry mixture until well combined.

Pour into an oiled bread mold and sprinkle with the extra poppy seeds.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, until browned and cooked through. Remove from the oven and turn out of the mold. Return the loaf to the oven, placed upside down directly on the rack to crisp the bottom for 5-10 minutes.

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Ilva found the recipe in a magazine and reduced the proportion of mousse to fruit as the Parmesan flavor is so strong. I too found the Parmesan flavor to be quite strong and rich, so I have doubled the fruit and added some spicy pecans for a textural contrast in my version. This is a delicious unique dessert, perfect for anyone who finds the best dessert to be a nice wedge of cheese.

Parmesan Mousse with Pears & Spicy Pecans

serves 4

100g grated Parmesan
3/4 c cream
2 large pears
2 T sugar
2 T honey
2/3 c red wine
3 T maple syrup
1 T sugar
3/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/8 t cayenne
1 1/2 c pecans

Bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan. Add the Parmesan cheese and stir until it dissolves. Pass the mixture through a strainer and refrigerate for 30 minutes, until set.

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Dice the pear and saute with the sugar and honey for a minute before adding the wine. Let reduce until thick.

While the sauce is reducing, make the spicy pecans. Combine the spices and sugar with the maple syrup and stir to combine. Add the pecans, stirring gently to coat. Transfer to a greased baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Stir the pecans to coat evenly and continue baking until the pecans are golden and the coating bubbles, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a piece of foil and quickly separate the nuts from each other. You will have more than enough nuts for this recipe, save most of them for future use (they’re great on salads).

To assemble, shape the mousse into quenelles and top with the pear sauce and a scattering of the spicy pecans.

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I don’t recall when I first combined kale & capers, but it is certainly a winning combination. The salty brine of the capers and the thick texture of the kale are reminiscent of seaweed. Paired with creamy white beans, this is a delicious, healthy, quick and easy meal that I make again and again. I usually use dry navy beans, this time I tried it with a can of butter beans that had been sitting in the cupboard, and I think it turned out even better than usual with the larger soft beans. I imagine that black-eyed peas would work well too.

Butter Beans with Kale & Capers

serves 2

1 bunch kale, thick stems removed
1 T olive oil
6 cloves chopped garlic
1/3 c capers in brine
salt
1 c cooked Butter Beans
lemon wedges (to plate)

Saute the garlic in the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat until just beginning to brown. Add the kale and salt to taste. When the kale has begun to wilt, add the capers and beans and cook just until heated through.

Serve with lemon wedges.

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This is my submission to: