aloo ka raita spice box style

Here's a side dish from The Spice Box Vegetarian Indian Cookbook by Manju Shivraj Singh, which despite being published over three decades ago and being currently out of print, still gets great reviews on Amazon.  This particular recipe offers a spicier twist on potato salad.

Potato and Yogurt Salad (Aloo Ka Raita)

2 cups yogurt
3 potatoes, boiled, peeled, chopped
1 teaspoon powdered cumin
salt to taste
1 fresh green chili, seeded and chopped
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
a few mint leaves, chopped

Beat the yogurt with a fork.  Add all the ingredients except the mint.  Refrigerate and serve, garnished with mint leaves.  

As the book's back cover notes, the front cover shows an Indian spice box, or masala dibba.  The box is essentially a can with seven smaller cans inside, generally made of stainless steel, aluminum, or plastic.  The six small outer tins on the cover of The Spice Box are filled with tumeric, chilies, coriander, cumin, mustard seeds and fenugreek, with a garam masala blend in the center.  Having such a spice box at the ready makes Indian cooking (and dining) much easier and enjoyable.

summer bean salad

Summer's not over yet and, thusly, here's a great recipe for Summer Bean Salad from a little booklet put out by Progresso Foods called Today's Italian Touch.  Since it was published in 1992, it could also be called Yesterday's Italian Touch -- the recipe is a classic, however, with a nice, healthy contrast of flavors.

Summer Bean Salad

1/2 cup Progresso Olive Oil
1/4 cup Progresso Red Wine Vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cans (11 ounces each) mandarin orange segments, drained
1 can (19 ounces) Progresso Chick Peas, drained
1 can (19 ounces) Progresso Red Kidney Beans, drained
1/2 medium red onion, cut into matchstick strips
1 green pepper, cut into matchstick strips
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Lettuce leaves

1.  For dressing, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, sugar and black pepper.

2.  In large bowl, combine oranges, chick peas, kidney beans, onion, green pepper and parsley.

3.  Pour dressing over salad; toss gently

4.  Serve on lettuce leaves.

Makes approximately 7 servings

You can also substitute a bit of the mandarin orange juice for the sugar in the dressing, or a pinch of cumin for the black pepper.

a teacup's worth of risotto

This delightful little recipe for Risotto à la Milanese is from the London Vegetarian Society's circa 1891 cookbook:

Take a teacupful of rice, wash it thoroughly and dry it.  Chop up a small onion and put it in the bottom of a small stew-pan and fry the onion to a high-brown colour.  Now add the dry rice, and stir this up with the onion and butter till the rice also is fried of a nice light-brown colour.  Now add two breakfastcupfuls of stock or water and a pinch of powdered saffron, about sufficient to cover a threepenny-piece; let the rice boil for ten or eleven minutes, move the saucepan to the side of the fire and let is stand for twenty minutes or half an hour till it has absorbed all the stock or water.  Now mix in a couple of tablespoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese.  Flavour with a little pepper and salt, and serve the whole very hot.

anna olson's butternut squash and cheddar cheese souffles

Canadian chef Anna Olson is one of my favorite TV food personalities, currently hosting Bake with Anna Olson on Food Network Canada, but also showing up in reruns of Fresh with Anna Olson on the ION Life channel.  She always seems so calm and easygoing while she's making wonderful recipes yet she's clearly passionate about food and how it brings people together.  Here's Anna whipping up some individual butternut squash and cheddar cheese soufflés, which seem quite ideal for this time of year.

the quest for russian vegetable pie

Way back in the late 20th century, I was at a dinner party where a dish called Russian Vegetable Pie was served.  It was zero degrees out so it felt like Siberia, and we had the pie with beet salad and iced glasses of vodka. Great meal!  I loved the pie and got the recipe, but then I lost it.  So I tried to recreate the pie myself, with varying degrees of success.  The recipes I found online were close, but seemed to be either overladen with potatoes or missing something integral (it was the cream cheese).  Then I was looking at a cookbook called The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas at a thrift store, and I opened it right up to a recipe for Russian Vegetable Pie.  And it was suddenly like I heard balalaika music...because there was the elusive combo of ingredients to make the elusive Russian Vegetable Pie.

The Vegetarian Epicure also offers a really nice collection of other recipes, like Gazpacho Salad, Potatoes Gruyere en Casserole, Minestrone Alla Milanese, Iced Cucumber Soup (with cream and chervil), and Ginger Cheesecake.  As well as a range of homemade breads and recipes for sauces and vinaigrettes.  The publication date on my copy is 1972 (though the book has been reprinted), with this paragraph from the original introduction:  

In these strange 1970's, ominous and dramatic new reasons are compelling people to reexamine their eating habits.  More and more foods are being "processed," becoming the products of factories rather than farms.  Chemical nonfood "additives" alter the look of foods and prevent visible spoilage, but the nutritive value of treated foods is hugely diminished...[c]attle and poultry are treated with silbesterol (a sex hormone) to promote growth--and profit--resulting in unknown danger to human consumers, including the possibility of various types of cancer.

Much has changed since then, but much has stayed the same.  Above all, Anna advocates that good food "is a celebration of life, and it seems absurd...that in celebrating life we should take life."  If you'd like to see Anna's more recent work, click here for The Vegetarian Epicure II, published in 2014.  All that said, this is her simple but delicious Russian Vegetable Pie:

Pastry

1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
4 oz softened cream cheese
3 tbs butter

Filling

1 small head cabbage (about 3 cups shredded)
1/2 lb mushrooms
1 yellow onion
to taste:  basil, marjoram, tarragon, salt and fresh ground pepper
3 tbs butter
4 oz softened cream cheese
4 to 5 hard cooked eggs
dill

Make a pastry by sifting together the dry ingredients, cutting in the butter, and working it together with the cream cheese.  Roll out 2/3 of the pasty and line a 9 inch pie dish.  Roll out the remaining pastry and make a circle large enough to cover the dish.  Put it away to chill.

Shred a small head of cabbage coarsely.  Wash the mushrooms and slice them.  Peel and chop the onion.

In a large skillet, melt about 2 tablespoons butter.  Add the onion and cabbage, and saute for several minutes, stirring constantly.  Add at least 1/8 teaspoon each of marjoram, tarragon, and basil (all crushed), and some salt and fresh-ground pepper.  Stirring often, allow the mixture to cook until the cabbage is wilted and the onions soft. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add another tablespoon of butter to the pan and saute the mushrooms lightly for about 5 to 6 minutes, stirring constantly.

Spread the softened cream cheese on the bottom of the pie shell. Slice the eggs and arrange the slices in a layer over the cheese. Sprinkle them with a little chopped dill, then cover them with the cabbage. Make a final layer of the sauteed mushrooms and cover with the circle of pastry.  

Press the pastry together tightly at the edges, and flute them. With a sharp knife, cut a few short slashes through the top crust.

Bake in a 400-degree oven for 15 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 350 degrees and continue baking for another 20 to 25 minutes, or until the crust is light brown.

Serves 4 to 6.

beet it

French chef Jacques Pépin is a living legend, with decades of cooking excellence to his credit, a long-running PBS series and numerous acclaimed cookbooks.  And now he has an exclusive collection at Sur La Table, including this colorful, whimsical, hand-crafted and hand-painted Beet Bowl and accompanying serving plate.  Very much love them both, and speaking of beets, I also love Chef Pépin's recipe for chilled Vegetarian Borscht (click for link) which might be served up nicely at this time of year.

Photo from Sur La Table

I

cooking japanese style

Cooking Japanese Style is another little booklet from The International Recipe Series published in 1979 (Cooking French Style already had a recipe featured on here), with this excerpt from the intro:

Amid the misty mountains of Japan the plexiglass and steel of futuristic architecture complete with bamboo and paper of a more gentle and mysterious past...[r]ice is the basis for almost every meal.  Vegetables are cooked very little.  This way they retain their food value and flavor.  Seasonings play an important part in all dishes.  Soy sauce is used constantly.  Food is served in small delicate portions arranged to please the eye as much as the taste.

I love that first sentence but I'm wondering if they meant compete with instead of complete.  This is the booklet's sweetly tangy Mustard Pickled Eggplant -- the original recipe calls for half a teaspoon of MSG, but I just use half to a full teaspoon of ginger instead.  

Mustard Pickled Eggplant (from Cooking Japanese Style, The International Recipe Series)

1 medium eggplant

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon dry mustard (you can also use 1 generous tablespoon of actual wet mustard if you prefer)

3 tablespoons sweet sake

1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger or 1 teaspoon finely minced ginger 

Wash unpeeled eggplant and slice in 1/8 inch slices.  Soak in salted water for 1 hour.  Drain and arrange in a glass or china bowl.  Combine mustard with enough water to make a paste (if using dry powder).  Add to remaining ingredients and blend thoroughly.  Pour over eggplant.  Chill for 2 hours and serve.

the heart of the plate

Mollie Katzen is definitely a recognized name in the realm of vegetarian cuisine, with her Moosewood Cookbook (first published in the 70s, followed by anniversary re-editions) high up on the list of vegetarian cookbook classics.  So many Moosewood recipes have been loved for decades by both vegetarians and meat-eaters, but then we come to Katzen's 2013's The Heart of the Plate: Vegetarian Recipes for a New Generation.  I'm a Moosewood Cookbook fan for sure, but The Heart of the Plate intrigues me because it seems to take some of the key Moosewood ideas to a different level. Plate's recipes come across as a bit more sophisticated, or as Katzen writes, reflective of her years of experience as a vegetarian chef, with a lightening of ingredients and/or intriguing variations on classic themes.  There's "a stronger sense of aesthetic economy" and less dependence on eggs and cheese, which, as Katzen also notes, allows quite a few of The Heart of the Plate's recipes to be vegan-adapted.

Among Katzen's creative offerings are Mushroom Popover Pie, Hazelnut-Wilted Frisée Salad with Sliced Pear, Ruby Gazpacho (blending watermelon, strawberries, tomatoes, pickled onions and ginger), Scattered Sushi-Style Rice Salad, Chocolate Cream Pie with Vegan Whipped Cream and Cranapple Walnut Cake.  Lemony Caramelized Onion Mac and Gorgonzola sounds just about exciting (yes, exciting is the word) as the Spinach-Mushroom Mac and Cheese, with the latter's heady notes of white cheddar, spinach, mushrooms, beer, Dijon mustard and walnuts.  There are also lasagna recipes for all seasons -- literally (Indian Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring).  And nicely colorful, elegant photos and illustrations, which it should be pointed out are by the author herself.  The recipes are not all standardly easy to prepare or in the category of quick and easy vegetarian food, but if you enjoy the process of cooking while exploring new vegetarian/fruit combinations and concepts, The Heart of the Plate will offer plenty of fun challenges and fine meals.

classic italian cooking for the vegetarian gourmet

Classic Italian Cooking for The Vegetarian Gourmet (Beverly Cox with Dale Whitesell) was published in 1984 and is indeed a classic full of great Italian meatless recipes from antipasti to pasta to pizza, risotto, egg dishes, breads, salads and sweets.  The pasta and sauces offerings range from the more creamy dishes of the northern parts of Italy to the spicier and/or sometimes (but not always) simpler cuisine of the south.  The pizza recipes also tend to be regional.  Pizza alla Siracusana, for example, includes olives, eggplant, red peppers, tomatoes and zucchini, all representative of the noted "influences of Greek cooking" found in Sicily.  Pizza Veneziana, on the other hand, has asiago baked into the crust with a fennel and tomato topping.

My mom bought this cookbook years ago and I happily appropriated it, and you truly could just make a point of using only this collection of recipes for a whole month and the variety would be delicious.  You'd also learn quite a bit about the diversity of Italian cooking and never miss the taste of chicken, beef, pork or fish.  Just some sample offerings beyond pizza and pasta are Caponata (or eggplant caviar as we call it), Rice-Stuffed Tomatoes, Tuscan Bean Soup, Grilled Vegetable Polenta, Fontina Salad with Creamy Mustard Dressing, and Olive Oil & Herb Bread,   Then for dessert are Almond Macaroons, Pears Stuffed with Gorgonzola and Hazelnuts, Cheesecake, Biscotti and Sambuca Sherbet, plus many more. There's a glossary of Italian cheeses as well and a basic overview into what to have on hand for a well-stocked Italian kitchen.  And here's a fairly easy but memorable recipe for Green Beans with Mint:

2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons minced fresh mint
2 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil, preferably extra virgin
2 pounds green beans
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Crush garlic and mint in a mortar or finely chop them together.  When you have a fine paste, add to the tomatoes, stir in the olive oil, and reserve.  Trim the ends from the beans and cook in several quarts of salted boiling water, or steam over salted boiling water, for 3 to 4 minutes until just tender yet still firm.  Drain the beans and toss them with the mint sauce.  Season with salt and pepper and serve. (Serves 6).

vegetarian cooking: a commonsense guide

First post!  Vegetarian Cooking:  A Commonsense Guide is a wonderful and obviously vegetarian recipe collection with plenty of great photos as well.  This is an Aussie publication (Bay Books) from 2008 and I believe it's out of print, but being Australian there are going to be words like rocket instead of arugula, fibre instead of fiber and of course courgette as an alternate version of zucchini.  The metric conversions are already done, though, so you won't need to worry about any of that.  Recipes include Fruit Salad with Lemongrass Syrup, Tunisian Eggplant Salad, Roasted Mushrooms with Tarragon and Lemon Creme Fraiche, as well as vegetarian classics like Insalata Caprese, Minestrone, Veggie Burgers, Focaccia, Tabouleh and even roll your own Udon Noodle Sushi.  For sweet tooth cravings, there are recipes for biscotti, cakes, biscuits, tatins, brownies, puddings and the exotically delicious Banana Fritters in Coconut Batter.  This is one of my absolute favorite cookbooks even though it got in the way of an overturned half-cup of olive oil years ago and now gives off kind of a funky smell.  It has a small but enthusiastic following on Amazon and is available in used condition there at very low prices (and my not too good photo is surprisingly better than the one on Amazon).  And since it is out of print, I'll offer a sample of the contents in this tasty and summery Corn Spoonbread:

3 cobs sweet corn
1 cup creme fraiche (or 1/2 cup whipping cream + 1/2 cup sour cream)
1/4 cup self-rising flour
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons butter
sea salt 
black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Slice kernels off corn cobs and place in a large bowl.  Add the creme/cream, egg, flour, cayenne pepper and half the parmesan.  Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and mix together well.

Spoon mixture into a greased, shallow 7 inch baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining parmesan over the top; dot with the butter and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until firm and golden. Serve hot, straight from the dish.