Some Asian Inspired tastiness

Here are two asian-inspired meals from this past week. The first is Miso Broccoli and Adzuki Stirfry....I believe thats the original name. Its a recipe from Nava Atlas' The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet. It is basically broccoli, onions, garlic, ginger, adzuki beans, miso, red pepper flakes and veggie broth. Obviously more than 5 ingredients there, but I think I added in the ginger and red pepper flakes. Excuse the dirty stove, things were splattering everywhere.

Next was Sesame Roasted Radishes served with kale, onion, tempeh and shiitakes sauteed with hoisin, braggs, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes.





The radish recipe came from Kalyn's Kitchen blog. though I modified it a bit to be more Eat to Live friendly...I didn't toss the radishes with oil before cooking, just moistened them with water and sprayed the cooking sheet with canola spray. I then tossed then with 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil, 1 tbsp braggs instead of regular soy sauce and I upped the sesame seeds to 2 tbsp. They were so good! Although as a child and a rabid Fraggle fan, I used to eat radishes like candy, as an adult, I'm pretty neutral about them when served raw.

However, roasted they are a totally different creature...they have a pretty gentle flavor, with a touch of sweetness and a texture a bit like a watery potato. Next time, I think I need to roast them a bit longer, since I realized afterwards that the radishes in Kalyn's blog were a lot more roasty-toasty looking. But they were still good! And the bunnies agree, radish leaves are excellent, though they decided to forego the sesame seeds and oil.

I never realized the radishes were so pretty!

Berry-Banana Nectarine Crisp

Berry-Banana Nectarine Crisp (loosely based on the Fresh Fruit Cobbler recipe on fatfreevegan.com, plus about 4 other recipes...)

Filling:
2-3 ripe nectarines
2 cups mixed berries (blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, whatever)
2 small ripe bananas
1/4 cup no-sugar-added whole fruit preserves (I used apricot, but strongly considered cherry)
2 tsp lemon or orange juice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cloves
1 tbsp flour

Topping:
3/4 c rolled oats
1/2 c raw almonds, ground up (can be a bit chunky)
2 tbsp molasses or maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
dash of cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the nectarines and bananas into 1/2-1 inch pieces. Cut the berries into similar sized pieces if necessary (raspberries and blackberries can be kept whole, its prettier). Toss together in a baking dish. Separately, mix the preserves, juice and spices together and then pour over the fruit. Sprinkle with the flour and toss to blend. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the fruit is bubbly.

While the fruit is cooking, blend topping ingredients together (if you use the molasses it will be thick). Reduce the oven temp to 350 degrees and remove the fruit from the oven. Crumble/spread the topping over the fruit mixture. Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Let sit for 10-15 minutes then serve.

I topped it with a drizzle of unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

More Picnic Food

On Saturday, Katie and I spend the first half of the day hiking at Clark Reservation State Park in Jamesville. I packed a quick picnic lunch for us....Orange Marinated Chickpea and Onion Salad and Balsamic-Roasted Zucchini and Mushrooms, and some fresh local strawberries.

Orange-Marinated Chickpea and Onion Salad (Based on a recipe from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein)

2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 med red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/3 c dried cranberries
1/4 c orange juice
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1-2 c halved cherry or grape tomatoes
6-8 c chopped dark lettuce (romaine, red leaf, etc)

Toss together all the ingredients but the tomatoes and lettuce. Let marinate at least a hour but preferably overnight. Right before serving, prepare lettuce and tomatoes, then top with marinated chickpeas.

Balsamic Roasted Zucchini and Mushrooms (or whatever other veggies you want)

2 small zucchini, thinly sliced
20-30 small mushrooms, halved
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp or more fresh cracked black pepper

Prick the zucchini slices all over with a fork. Place the veggies in a large bowl or pan and add the remaining ingredients. Toss to coat and let marinate, blending occassionally, for a few hours to overnight. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes and then broil until right when they begin to darken. Or, if you are a cool person and have a grill, grill them and make them extra tasty. They are good hot, but they are better cold!

Scapes!

Last year, spring and early summer was a hard time for us to make it to the farmer's market on a regular basis, but one of the times we were there, I met my favorite vegetable for the first time; garlic scapes. Crisp and spicy raw, smooth, creamy and almost asparagus-like cooked, garlic scapes are the sprout of the garlic bulb, the flowering stem before it is allowed to straighten and flower. Long and curly, they looked like a heap of green vines all tangled together when I first saw them on the farmer's table. Luckily, he had put out samples, otherwise I wouldn't have considered them or even asked what they were (I'm a sucker for free food...). But one bite and I was hooked. They have a really short growing season, with garlic greens (lik scallions) before and garlic bulbs afterwards, so we were only able to get them once last year. This year, we anxiously awaited their arrival, asking (along with everyone else in syracuse apparently) when the scapes would be ready. The last two weeks, they have been so we've stocked up. We put them in stir frys, soups, and casseroles, as well as raw on salads or just as a quick snack. My favorite way to have them, though, is just steamed and then tossed with garlic and maybe some red pepper flakes. Yum. if you ever get a chance to buy some of these, do it without hesitation. Its worth it.

Channa Masala with Kale

Since eating out is difficult around here...very difficult, especially when one is trying to avoid added oil, when I got a major craving for Indian food the other night, it was either go out and try not to think about the ghee or oil added in copius amounts, or satisfy the craving here at home. Obviously, since I have a cooking blog, I have no issue with fixing stuff up at home. Someone on the Eat2Live yahoo group with impecable timing posted a recipe for Indian Spiced Chickpeas w/ Kale, which had the spices right, but I was looking for something closer to the Channa Masala, or Chhole, which is curried chickpeas with tomato and ginger, that I almost always get when we go out for Indian. Here's what I pulled together:

Channa Masala w/ Kale

1 cup dry chickpeas, cooked, water reserved

3 cloves garlic

1 large onion, chopped

7-8 c kale, coarsely chopped (or more if you want)

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garam masala seasoning (I used Penzys)

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/4 c tomato paste

2 plum tomatoes, chopped

Separate out 1/2 the onion and 1/2 the garlic. Steam-fry until carmelized. Combine 1/3-1/2 c of cooked chickpeas, the tomato paste, 1/2 of each of the spices and 1/2 the cooking water from the chickpeas in a blender and blend until it reaches a smooth consistency. Set aside.

Steam-fry the remaining onion and garlic. Add kale, chickpeas w/ remaining water, and spices. Cover and cook until thekale is bright green. Remove cover and toss to mix the kale, garlic and onion and to distribute the spices. Add the choppedtomatoes and toss again. Add the tomato/chickpea sauce and toss until the kale and chickpeas are well coated. Taste and adjust spices as needed (you may want to make it a lot hotter...this comes out pretty mild and I'm going to spice it up next time). Remove from heat and serve. Serves 2-4.

Nutrition Information (assumes 4 servings):
Amount Per Serving
Calories 259.8, Total Fat 3.3 g, Saturated Fat 0.4 g, Polyunsaturated Fat 1.4 g, Monounsaturated Fat 0.8 g, Sodium 174.9 mg, Potassium 1,064.9 mg, Total Carbohydrate 47.1 g, Dietary Fiber 11.9 g, Sugars 7.2 g, Protein 13.7 g, Vitamin A 263.2 %, Vitamin C 182.7 %, Calcium 19.1 %, Iron 30.0 %

The result is a spicy-sweet sauce coating the yummy chunky chickpeas and tomato and the chewy kale pieces...it came outclose enough to the real thing to completely satisfy my craving. This is definatly something that will be done again and again, as it is also really fast, assuming the chickpeas are precooked or canned.