Southwestern Veggie Skillet

I love eating a huge breakfast from a cast-iron skillet. It reminds me of the Short Stop, a funky little train-car diner where we used to get all kinds of fattening, greasy and terrible-for-you foods when we were kids. Many of these foods were served directly in their own iron skillet, so you didn't miss out on a bit of that saturated fat. My version is actually quite good for you (although it's a little higher in fat than something I would eat on a daily basis, it's the good fat, so I suggest you loosen up, particularly if it's Sunday morning), especially when served with a side of Irish steel cut oats cooked with maple syrup, blueberries and strawberries. If I had a cute little diner of my own, I would cook this delicious skillet of breakfasty, potato-ey goodness while back-talking sassily to my customers, chewing gum and wearing a fabulous beehive hairdo with a pencil stuck in it and a paper hat, like Chrissie Hynde in the Brass in Pocket video. But you can feel free to just wear your pajamas.

3-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

10 oz. fingerling potatoes, sliced into rounds

1 large onion, halved and sliced

6 oz. button mushrooms, thickly sliced

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 medium zucchini, seeded and diced

2 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts divided

1 cup diced tomato

1 avocado, diced

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
hot sauce

Heat your cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, and add potatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes, then add onions, mushrooms and smoked paprika, season with salt and freshly ground pepper, and cook 5 minutes more. Stir frequently, but not too frequently. You want everything to brown.

When it's all getting nice and brown and delicious-smelling, toss in your zucchini, the white parts of the scallions, and the tomatoes. Cook until the zucchini begins to turn golden brown, about 4 more minutes.

Remove from heat, and top with sliced avocado, green parts of the scallions and cilantro. Serve with lots of hot sauce.

Note: You can certainly fancy this simple recipe up in many ways. If you have a nice chile lying around, say a poblano or a jalapeno or whatever, chop that up and add it with the mushrooms and onion. If you wanted to throw some of that nice, melty tapioca cheese on top and run it under the broiler for a minute before adding the avocado, green onions and cilantro, I won't argue with you. Tofu sour cream and/or whatever kind of salsa you have lying around, like maybe some black bean salsa, would be nice. But sometimes simplicity is the thing, and you really don't need any of this stuff. And finally, if you are like my friend Danya, and you eat like a bad-ass paleo cave woman, then you can replace the fingerlings with some diced, blanched sweetpotato.

April, and soup.

Is April the cruelest month? I can never remember. It seemed so this year, though, with never-ending grey skies and rain, the unexpected and untimely death of a dear old friend, Gram’s continued slow decline, and a work schedule that just doesn’t quit.

Of course, this all shall pass, and wonderful things are on the horizon. The sun even came out for an hour today, and plans are in the works for a vegan dinner to benefit Community Green (last year’s was an amazing experience, so save the date for June 27th), as well as summertime cooking demonstrations at the New York Botanical Garden.

Of course, the most thrilling news this spring was the publication of The Best of Vegan Cooking. I was honored to be invited to contribute to this book, and am so pleased that the proceeds benefit Friends of Animals. My heartfelt thanks to Priscilla Feral and Lee Hall for involving me in this project, and inspiring me to be a better chef and a better human being. Read an interview with Priscilla about the book here.

Now, let’s talk about what I’ve been cooking. Pressed for time and, quite honestly, feeling a bit down, the watchword in our kitchen at home has been comfort, and I’ve tried to make do with as few ingredients as possible. Although it is officially spring, winter foods are still in abundance, and none of the local markets have opened yet. Soup dominates my home menus year round, and soup it has been, on a near-daily basis. Here are two.

A definite favorite has been sweetpotato and kale soup, inspired by several sweetpotatoes that sat forlornly next to Rebecca’s high chair in my sister’s kitchen until I forced her to make this yummy and fortifying concoction.

I am also making lots of roasted tomato and chile soup, born of necessity and made from whatever I had in the pantry. It’s a little spicy, a lot delicious, and easily made by anyone. Yes, anyone. Recipes follow.

Sweetpotato and Kale soup:
Peel and dice two large sweetpotatoes (yes, it really is one word. Look it up.). Chop a large bunch of kale and a few cloves of garlic (I like two or three, you might like as many as six or seven. It’s your choice.). Open a can of cannelini beans and a box of organic vegetable stock (4 cups if you’re using fresh).
Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a large sauce pan. Sauté garlic briefly, then add kale and a pinch of salt. Cook kale over medium heat for two or three minutes, then add vegetable stock, sweetpotatoes, and about a teaspoon of Italian seasoning. Simmer until sweetpotatoes are tender. Drain and rinse beans, add to soup and heat through. Season with salt, pepper, and a little hot sauce and fresh lemon juice. Serve with hot bread. Eaten from a big bowl, on the couch in your pajamas or at the kitchen table, it is nourishment for body and soul.

Roasted Tomato and Chile soup:
I love Muir Glen tomatoes, especially once I have run out of my homegrown, canned tomatoes (this happened in February, so Muir Glen is really getting my business this year). The Fire Roasted variety add great flavor to soups and chili.
Go get yourself a big can (28 oz.) of Fire Roasted Tomatoes, and a little can of diced green chiles (a pantry staple, surely you have some!). Chop a large yellow onion and a clove of garlic. You will also need 4 cups of vegetable stock.
Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Sauté onions with a little salt until soft but not browned, about 5-8 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for one minute more. Add chiles, tomatoes and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer for half an hour. Taste and adjust with freshly ground pepper, lemon juice, hot sauce and a little agave nectar if you feel it needs sweetness. Serve hot in a great big mug. If you want to get crazy, garnish with sliced scallions, chopped avocado, or tortilla chips.

Here’s hoping that May will bring flowers (and fewer showers!), hope, happiness and good food to all.

Roasted Cauliflower with Walnuts

Let me first say, yum! You need to eat this!

Many vegetarians don't get enough Omega-3 fatty acids, and tend to rely on pre-packaged convenience foods when strapped for time and ideas on a weeknight. And I don't know many people, veg or otherwise, who eat what I would consider to be an adequate amount of fiber. Add the cancer-fighting benefits of cruciferous vegetables, and you have a nutritional powerhouse on your plate.

This simple dish is good for your heart, perfect for those following an anti-inflammatory diet, and easy to throw together for a weeknight dinner. It's also very savory, filling, and just plain delicious. I served it with lentil stew (from the freezer) and brown rice, for a "30 minute meal" without all the fat, hot dogs and stupid catch-phrases.

This will serve four as a side dish if you have a reasonable appetite. The two of us ate all of it, and after dinner, I scurried back into the kitchen to scrape what was left from the sheet pan onto a spoon.

1 small head cauliflower, cored and roughly chopped into florets
1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Toss all ingredients on a large sheet pan, and roast for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cauliflower begins to brown and is cooked the way you like it. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Linguine with Mushrooms

I guess I should preface this by saying that one could make this dish much more decadent, if that were necessary. Feel free to squander all of your dried porcini, truffle oil or whatever else you have lying about if you must. But there are times when it's not in the cards to spend $25 or two hours on a plate of pasta with mushrooms. Sometimes you just need dinner, now.

I think many people labor under the delusion that everything a chef makes is going to be luxe, full of expensive ingredients and hours of work. I, for one, don't believe that gluttony makes me a good citizen of this planet, and so on most days, we eat very simply, but very well. Next time you are pressed for time and beaten down by the universe, try this quick and easy dinner. Served with a salad (I love arugula, which, believe it or not, we found a winter crop of in the back of the garden last week!) and a glass of red wine, or eaten directly from the pan while standing over the stove, it is delicous, cheap and comforting - three things I think we could all use right about now.

Gather the following:

1/2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in:
1 cup very hot vegetable stock (water will do as well)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
10 oz. baby bella or white button mushrooms
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced or run through a garlic press
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
salt and pepper

1 lb. linguine, cooked al dente

While your dried mushrooms are soaking, slice the fresh mushrooms, chop your parsley, and put a large pot of water on to boil for your pasta. Have ready a large saute pan that will accommodate your mushrooms as well as all of the pasta.

Heat the saute pan over medium-high to high heat (it really depends on your stove), then begin adding the fresh mushrooms, a handful at a time. This is the one part of the recipe that you want to take your time with - if you add all of the mushrooms at once, they will steam rather than saute, and you will not develop any flavor. Add a little extra olive oil if you need to. Once the mushrooms are becoming nice and brown and sizzly, add the garlic and saute for another minute or two. Drain your porcini mushrooms, reserving the liquid, and chop. Add them to the pan, too. Deglaze with 1/4 cup dry white wine, and cook until the liquid evaporates. Add the reserved stock that you soaked the mushrooms in, as well as the parsley, and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Reduce the heat to low.

By now, your pasta water should be boiling. Salt it generously, and cook your pasta until done, but a litte firm to the bite. Reserve about 1/2 cup of cooking liquid from the pasta. Now drain the pasta, turn your saute pan heat to high, and add all at once to the mushroom mixture. Toss well for about a minute. If it looks dry, add a little of the pasta water and toss again. Remove from heat and toss with a little more olive oil and freshly ground pepper.

If you do the cheese thing, here's where you'll want to add a little freshly grated Parmigiano. If you do the vegan thing, add some fresh bread crumbs tossed with olive oil and toasted in a 400 degree oven. If you're fancying it up for a dinner party, increase the amount of dried porcini to a full ounce, drizzle a few drops of truffle oil over the finished product, make a batch of fresh fettucine instead of using dried pasta, or seek out some fresh wild mushrooms.

New Year's Eve...Black-Eyed Pea Soup

This recipe, born of "leftovers" and necessity last New Year's Day, will be published in the upcoming Friends of Animals cookbook. Everyone loves it. Eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is a Southern tradition believed to bring good luck throughout the year.

This savory, slightly spicy soup is incredibly nutritious, and will please even a die-hard meat eater (just ask Aunt Ronnie, who loves it so much she very nearly slapped the hell out of me while extolling its virtues!). I like to make ours with tomatoes and hot sauce that I've canned over the summer, for a little local flavor during the garden-less winter months.

May 2009 bring you luck, great happiness and delicious things to eat!

Black-Eyed Pea and Winter Greens Soup
8 oz. black-eyed peas
Bouquet garni:
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs fresh thyme
½ teaspoon whole peppercorns
2 quarts light vegetable stock
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 cups leeks, thinly sliced, white and light green parts only
1 cup carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 cup celery, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 cup roasted, peeled and chopped red, orange or yellow bell pepper
3 cloves garlic, peeled, finely chopped; divided
½ teaspoon each:
chili powder
smoked paprika
marjoram leaves
oregano
cajun seasoning
¼ cup dry white wine
2 cups peeled, diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon hot sauce, or to taste
4 cups greens, a mix of collards, chard, beet greens, well-washed and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Soak black-eyed peas in fresh, cold water to cover for eight hours, or use the “quick soak” method: bring beans and water to cover to a boil, cook 10 minutes, remove from heat and soak for one hour. Drain and rinse beans.

Place beans in a large stockpot with bouquet garni and vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer; cook for 45 minutes, or until beans are almost tender. Salt lightly after 30 minutes. (Note: beans cook with many variables, including how long you soaked them and how long they've been stored - taste to know if they are done.)

Meanwhile, heat 1½ tablespoons olive oil in a medium sauté pan. Add leeks, carrots, celery, peppers and 2 cloves garlic. Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add spices; cook an additional 5 minutes. Season with a little salt and pepper. Deglaze pan with white wine and set aside.

When beans are nearly cooked, add vegetable mixture, tomatoes and hot sauce to stock pot, along with enough water to cover bean and vegetable mixture. Season with a little salt. Continue to simmer as you prepare the greens.

Wipe sauté pan clean, and heat remaining 1½ tablespoons olive oil. Add remaining clove of garlic, and sauté lightly for about 1 minute – do not allow garlic to brown! Add greens all at once with another pinch of salt, and cook over medium-high heat until greens are softened and release liquid. Using tongs, remove greens and add to soup. Discard liquid in pan.

Simmer soup for an additional 15 minutes, or until all ingredients are cooked through. Add lemon juice and parsley. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary – salt, pepper, hot sauce, or a little more lemon juice.

This soup tastes best when it has rested overnight in your refrigerator, doubles or triples easily to feed a crowd, and freezes wonderfully…Enjoy!

Serves 6
Recipe courtesy of Trish Sebben-Krupka, 2008