Ohio cooking

I've been in Ohio the past few days, working as a visiting assistant professor at a small, adorable liberal arts college. Since it's one the college's dime, we've done alot of eating out at nice places, but last night, after a large lunch with great students, we were fed up with dining out (ha). You know, restaurant mouth from a little too much salt and too much food.

Since Professor G is a vegetarian, we decided to make vegetarian Indian food, something that I often do on this blog. However, I was lacking my usual set of spices, so we made do with what was available at the local grocery store, mostly spice mixes. Flipping through one of her cookbooks, we choose the veggie biryani, lentils, and a raita recipe. I also saw pretty sprouts (which are woefully out of season but still called my name). I haven't been in a huge grocery store like that since I visited my parents over Christmas.
I also learned that small town video rental stores on a Friday night can be as slow as Brooklyn.

Veggie biryani (adapted from Girl Can't Cook)
1 1/2 c. of basmati rice
4 tables of biryani spices (found in the glass jar in the "ethnic aisle" of a larger grocery store)
1 onion, diced
garlic and ginger, diced
1/2 c. of raisins
1/3 c. of slivered almonds
1 yellow squash, cut into thin coins and sliced in half again (they should look like half-moons)
2 carrots, also cut into 1/2 moons or 1 red pepper, cored and sliced
1/2 head of broccoli chopped
Oil/ghee
Juice of one lemon
3 c. Water

Cook the onions in the ghee/oil until soft, over medium heat. Add the spices and stir, another 2 or 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir until the kernels are well coated. Add the vegetables and water, and stir over high heat until it reaches a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cover for 30-40 minutes or until the rice is cooked and the liquid gone.

Raita (also adapted from Girl Can't Cook)
1 1/4 c. of plain yogurt
1/2 teas salt (or to taste)
1/2 teas of cumin
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 English cucumber, cored and grated
2 Tbs of cilantro
lemon juice


You can skip this step if you don't mind a water Raita (I don't), but if you do, combine the cucumbers, tomatoes and salt in a colander and let the excess water strain out (maybe like 10 minutes). Add the tomato/cumber mixture to a medium sized bowl with the yogurt, cilantro, cumin, and lemon juice. Add more salt to taste.

Roasted brussels sprouts with garlic
Olive oil
salt
3 cloves of garlic chopped
about 20 Brussels sprouts, with the ends trimmed off, cut in 1/2

Preheat the oven to 400. Add the chopped garlic and sprouts in a shallow baking dish, with the cut sides down. Drizzle with oil oil (about 1 1/2 Tbs) and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the tops and bottoms of carmelized (we overcooked ours just a bit but they tasted delicious). Add salt to taste when done.

Quick and easy dal (that I always make and force Blokey to eat)
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlice
1/2" of ginger root, grated (we didn't have that, rural Ohio seems to be missing this ingredient)
2 tomatoes chopped (or 1/2 of a tetra pack of chopped tomatoes)
1/4 c. of plain yogurt
1 1/2 T. of Madras curry spices (in a glass jar from the supermarket)
1/2 teas. red pepper (spice, not the bell variety)
lemon juice
1 c. of dry lentils.
oil

While the rice is cooking, bring 4 c. of water to a boil. Add the 1 c. of lentils and bring to a boil again, and then lower heat to a simmer and cover. They should be done in about 20 minutes. In a medium sauce pan, saute the onions in oil over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and stir, another 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook until they begin to break down into a mush. Add about 1 1/2 Tbsp of the curry spices and stir. Remove from the heat until the lentils are done. Drain, and add to the tomato-spice mix. Cook again over medium heat until the spices and lentils are well incorporated. Add lemon juice, red pepper, and yogurt and stir.
The pictures aren't as appetizing as the food. As G said, it was a bit monochromatic, but the taste was anything but boring. We all ate too much and had to hold our bellies as we watched "Funny People."

vegetarian feasts

Lula doesn't approve of a vegetarian lifestyle, but digs e-commerce

I like cooking, but I don't always use recipes or cookbooks, so many times the ingredients and directions on this blog are approximations.
I was thinking about how I enjoy vegetarian cooking, because I see it as a challenge. I eat meats, but Blokey does not, so cooking vegetarian is about getting a good balance of flavors without resorting to sugar, fat or oversalting the ingredients (also known as the American processed food sucker punch).

The thing about veggie food is you need non-meat, non-uber processed substitutions for the savoriness meat provies. This can be olives, sauteed mushrooms, carmelized onions (carmelization in general is a great flavor booster), a small amount of strong cheese/dairy (stinkier the better, use a microplaner/zester to avoid too much fat), soy sauce, browned bread, and sour flavors (lemon or a good vinegar help to bring out flavors without too much salt). A little heat also helps.

This meal is great because it incorporates a lot of these flavor enhancers and avoids the usual short cuts. The pita is lightly browned, the soup and pate uses faux carmelized onions, vinegar and sour vegetables. I add no sugar, there's not too much fat, little salt, and lots of fiber and greens. I used up some of the ingredients leftover from our winter CSA share: potatoes, leeks, salad greens (from the hothouse), as well as some out of season stuff that I wish we could get locally year round (but I am unwilling to move to a temperate climate to do so). I used buttermilk, which is getting to be a favorite ingredient of mine (it is less than $2 at the store, you guys!), which is healthful because it is cultured, which has a lot of benefits. You can substitute regular milk or plain yogurt (or a mixture of this) if you don't usually have buttermilk on hand. I also made some lentil pate, which I riff off of the one I used to buy the Wedge co-op in Minneapolis (minus the walnuts).

This meal also marks the return of the Kitchen Aid immersion blender, which I mangled my hand in about 2 weeks ago. It is healing relatively nicely.

I used this recipe for the pita, although I added a bit more olive oil this time.

These mofos puffed up nicely

Before cooking, I sauteed 1 1/2 large chopped onions and 4 or so chopped cloves of garlic in 2 Tbs of butter (and added water as necessary) over low-medium heat for about 15 minutes (and continued to stir ocassionally while copping other things).

looks pukey, tastes bitter-lovely

Salad greens and Arugula potato leek Soup (roughly adapted from here)
Ingredients:
about 1/2 of the carmelized onions
about 1/2 of a bag of wild arugla (approx 4 oz.)
handful of salad greens (mine had mustard greens in it)
2/3 c. of buttermilk
2-3 chopped and scrubbed potatoes
2 teas. of olive oil
2 leeks (the white and light green parts- I eat lot of it), well washed and sliced (I slice lengthwise once, and then chop into 1 cm long bits)
salt, pepper and paprika to taste
3 c. of water
handful of chopped parsley, washed (optional)

Method:
1) Sautee the leeks in olive oil over medium heat in a medium saucepan. While this is cooking (about 5 minutes) roughly chop the salad greens. Add potatoes and the quasi carmelized onions.
2) After another 2-3 minutes of sauting the potatoes, add the water and increase the heat to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes (until potato can be pierced with fork, but before it gets mushy)
3) Add the salad greens and argula. Add buttermilk (it will curdle a bit and then turn into crazy delicious fresh cheese. Don't worry, we'll blend out the lumps). Simmer another 10 minutes.
4) Use the immersion blender to make it fairly creamy and get rid of most of the potato lumps. Salt, pepper, and add paprika and parlsey to taste.

lentil-licious

Lentil Pate
Ingredients:
the other half of the onions/garlic mixture
about 1 1/2 c. of dry lentils
bay leaf
5-8 baby bella mushrooms
olive oil
1/4 c. of roughly chopped and washed parsley
1 Tbs. of dried oregano
1-2 Tbs. of olive tapenade
salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste
lemon juice

Method
1. Cook lentils with bay leaf. You can do this as you're starting the process for the soup. They take about 20 minutes. During this time, saute the mushrooms in about 2 teas. of olive oil (and season), and set aside. Drain and remove bay leaf.
2. Put lentils and the onions/garlic, parsley, mushroom, and oregano. Pulse until it is smooth.
3. Season with salt, peppers, and lemon juice. Add the olive tapenade about 1 Tbs. at a time (I only used one). This adds a great oomph to the pate.
4. Serve cold or room temperature. Yummy with pita, crackers, or veggie crudites.

Blokey liked his arugula soup with a wee bit of sheep's milk feta swimming on top