The sun poked its orange face out for about 15 minutes the other day as if to remind us here in Seattle that it is, indeed, Spring. The pollinating trees, unfortunately, have already been doing a fine job of reminding many of us, as can be seen in our runny noses and red glazed-over eyes. But that brief little sunny moment (quickly followed by rain – ah, life in Seattle) inspired me to make a dish that brings color to a cloudy day.

Ratatouille.

Ratatouille is a French Provençal dish comprised mainly of tomatoes, but also includes eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, garlic, onions and herbs. It’s not a quick-fix meal, as it needs to stew for at least two hours, but it is well worth the wait.

This is a gorgeous veggie-packed dish that’s excellent as a main course or as a side, and gets even better the next day! We sliced the vegetables thinly on a mandoline, but you can rough chop them for a more rustic version. I prefer to use Japanese eggplant, in lieu of the larger variety, as I find it less acidic. I also find that caramelizing the onions adds a wonderfully sweet flavor to the dish.

See the recipe here:

Possibly Related Posts:

• Moorish Badenjan Dip
• Eating Local in the Northwest
• 10 Fall Dishes We Cant Wait For
• How Does One Suddenly Go Vegan
• 10 Foods to Eat Right Now

We tasted this creamy little delight the other evening at the Rising Stars event and I can’t seem to get it out of my head. It was prepared by McCaw Hall’s restaurant SAVOR, which wasn’t even part of the awards, but to me this dish was a winner.

Asparagus Panna Cotta.

It was served with fresh asparagus ribbons that were lightly dressed with a champagne, shallot and Dijon vinaigrette; an interesting flavorful hollandaise and tapioca maltodextrin powder; then topped with a crisp delicious square of housemade Guanciale bacon.

Mmm, mmm!

Kelly Gaddis, Executive Chef at SAVOR and creator of this divine dish, was kind enough to send me the recipe, which I am sharing with you all. You will love it!

What a lovely thing to serve for a spring brunch. It’s already on my Easter menu.

Click here for the recipe:

A traditional Panna Cotta recipe:

Possibly Related Posts:

• Wine from Scratch: A History Behind The Bottle
• Moorish Badenjan Dip
• Porcini Ravioli With Sage Brown Butter
• Eating Local in the Northwest
• How Does One Suddenly Go Vegan

I was reading my friend Keren’s blog, Frantic Foodie, the other day and she talked about kale chips (which she had read about in Edible Seattle). Kale chips! She inspired me to embark on making my own assortment of veggie chips. The other day it was Golden beet chips and today it was kale.

I’d never thought to roast any green leafy vegetable into a “chip state” – frankly, I didn’t think it could be done – but the result made me giggle with delight. So delicate (too much so to package up) and light they are almost like fine glass ornaments. That is, iff glass were edible. And they didn’t take nearly as long as I thought they would to become crisp.

If you need a mega vitamin boost to your diet or you’re simply looking for an uber-healthy snack, roast up a bunch of kale. I could easily have eaten a whole head myself if I didn’t need to share with Barnaby.

Click here for the Kale Chips recipe.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Moorish Badenjan Dip
• Eating Local in the Northwest
• How Does One Suddenly Go Vegan
• 10 Foods to Eat Right Now
• Ricotta and Herb Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Long ago when we were part of a (very low budget) film crew shooting in Germany and Austria I discovered the pleasures of goulash and goulash soup. The difference between the two being essentially a matter of the liquid proportions. Cheap, hearty, and invariably warming in the depths of a European winter, this is a meal worth sopping up with bread (externally) and of course, beer (internally).

These days we are eating mostly vegetarian so I made this version sans beef. Using an intermediate amount of liquid and with no flour thickener, the result was midway between stew and soup: perfect for serving with rice. The key to authentic taste is the Hungarian paprika; get the real stuff, and avoid the tasteless brick dust sold under many domestic labels.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lg white or yellow onion, chopped
2 leeks, washed, trimmed and chopped, including a bit of the green top
4 ribs celery, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1-2 red or green peppers, seeded, pared and chopped
3-4 med potatoes, peeled and cut into 1″ cubes
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine
1 12 oz can diced tomatoes together with their juice
2 tsp caraway seeds
6-8 tbs sweet Hungarian paprika – or adjust to your taste
3 tbs canola or other mild vegetable oil
4 cups vegetable or other stock, or water
Salt and pepper to taste

optional: 1 cup firm tofu cut into 1/2″ cubes

TECHNIQUE:
In a non stick or other stockpot:

Heat the vegetable oil until hot
Add and sauté the onion, leeks, and celery until soft and the onions are translucent
Stir in the paprika, caraway and garlic, and heat through 1-3 minutes
Add the carrots, green peppers, onions, potatoes, tomatoes and their juice
Add 4 cups stock or water
Bring to the simmer and heat at a low simmer for 45 minutes.
If using tofu add in the final 15 minutes of cooking.
The goulash is ready to eat when the vegetables are tender.
Longer cooking will improve taste: add extra stock or water as needed or leave as is to reduce for a thicker version
Taste and adjust seasoning

Serve with rice or rye bread. Rye croutons would be aces with this dish.

Click here for a printable version of the recipe.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Perfect Scrambled Eggs
• Moorish Badenjan Dip
• Celebrating Chanterelles
• Remedies for Your Butternut Squash Addiction
• Fabulous Flu Fighting Foods

Cooking in a slow cooker (or crockpot, as we used to say in the “old days”) is not only easy and convenient, but it’s wonderfully spectacular to come home with your dinner cooked and ready to eat. And no one got your kitchen all messy. I like to “forget” that it was I who placed all the ingredients in the pot that morning. Instead, I imagine that I have deep pockets and can afford to throw money at a personal chef who prepares healthy, organic meals for us when we’re tired.

Reality check.

Personal chef-prepared or not, your family will enjoy this hearty and delicious, yet light, vegetable chili. I’d call it Vegetarian Chili but we also did a batch with lean ground turkey, which made a tasty version as well. Add fresh chopped parsley or basil on top for a burst of freshness.

Click here for the recipe:

Possibly Related Posts:

• Perfect Scrambled Eggs
• Moorish Badenjan Dip
• Celebrating Chanterelles
• Remedies for Your Butternut Squash Addiction
• Fabulous Flu Fighting Foods

(Another fabulous post from contributor Betsy Dorfman!)

“Eat colors!” is just plain good advice. Most meats, starches and carbs are not colorful; chances are if your plate holds an array of bright colors you are eating vegetables and fruits, always a good thing. We’re talking natural colors here, not jello or frankenfoods. This mélange of vegetables was the preamble to a vegetarian meal served over rice. Our mix included Bermuda onion, green pepper, eggplant, and both orange and yellow carrots, the latter courtesy of Trader Joe’s. I like to julienne the carrots and leave the onion and green pepper strips rather long as they make a nice presentation draped over the rice, and they stay crisper than if chopped fine. The dish would have been more colorful but I held the eggplant too long in the crisper (which we call the rotter) and the purple skin became mottled brown and so was pared away. The eggplant was first precooked in the microwave and was added, as was a can of black beans and two chopped Roma tomatoes, at a later stage.

A recipe for the finished dish follows. The amounts of vegetables are arbitrary, depending upon how many mouths you have to feed. Any other vegetable can be added, to your liking. The quantities below fed three adults with lunch portions left over for the next day.

Eat Colors mélange:

INGREDIENTS
2-3 carrots, peeled and julienned
2 green peppers, pared, seeded, and cut into thin strips
1 large bermuda or other sweet onion (2 if small), peeled and sliced
1 eggplant, cubed and peeled if the skin is tough or bruised
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced or put through a grater
1  12 oz can of black beans, unsalted if possible, drained with liquid preserved
2  roma tomatoes, pared and rough chopped. Peel if skins are thick and/or waxed
1/2 half cup of cashew nuts, chopped fine for topping
2 TB olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tsps Ras-al-hanout seasoning, or to your taste. Tandoori seasoning is also a fine option.
plain nonfat yogurt for topping
3-4 cups cooked white or brown rice

TECHNIQUE
Place the cubed eggplant in a microwave safe dish, mix with the minced garlic cloves, cover tightly and microwave on high until softened but not fully cooked, approximately 5-7 minutes.

Sauté carrots, peppers, and onion in 2 TB olive oil over medium heat until onion is becoming translucent and the carrots are softening but still al dente. The vegetables should not brown.

Add the eggplant and garlic, together with any cooking liquid left in the microwave pan. Add the drained black beans and the chopped tomato and stir to distribute.

Stir the ras-al-hanout into 1/2 of the reserved black bean liquid. When blended, add to pan. Cook 3-6 minutes until heated through. If too thick add remaining bean liquid or other liquid. Taste and add salt and pepper, adjust seasoning as needed.

Serve over or aside rice with a dollop of yogurt and chopped cashew nuts as topping. Also good served with chutney.

Healthy, delicious, and satisfies all the senses!

Possibly Related Posts:

• Moorish Badenjan Dip
• Eating Local in the Northwest
• How Does One Suddenly Go Vegan
• 10 Foods to Eat Right Now
• Ricotta and Herb Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Photo: Laurel Fan

They’re funny looking, but ever so delicious! Jerusalem artichokes, also called sunchokes, look a bit like ginger, but oval, and taste like a cross between a fingerling potato and the heart of an artichoke. Two foods that top my list.

I’ve found roasting to be the simplest preparation, as steaming or boiling can result in a mushy mess. I cut them into quarters, toss them in a bit of olive oil, sprinkle them with a bit of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, and slow roast them until tender. That’s it. They’re so delicately flavorful they don’t need much more than that.

More on Jerusalem Artichokes:

Possibly Related Posts:

• Moorish Badenjan Dip
• Eating Local in the Northwest
• How Does One Suddenly Go Vegan
• 10 Foods to Eat Right Now
• Ricotta and Herb Stuffed Squash Blossoms

My first attempts to cook eggplant years ago revolved around sautéed versions. These typically began modestly enough with a few tablespoons of olive oil but then, inexorably, required more and more oil to be added to prevent burning. By the time the eggplant was soft, the slices or cubes had sucked up vast reserves of oil which they relinquished if reheated (as in eggplant parmigiana) — not pretty, or tasty. The calorie count was inestimable. And often the eggplant had a bitter aftertaste.

To cure the bitterness, various mavens recommended slicing the eggplant into strips or rounds, salting heavily, placing in a colander to drain for an hour or so, then rinsing off, patting dry, and proceeding to the above oil rig stage. This put cooking a simple vegetable into the Sunday afternoon project category. I continued to buy and wrestle with eggplants, but I became deeply suspicious of their resume.

Until the microwave. The microwave “gets” eggplant. You almost can’t go wrong, and just a bit of oil or a small amount of cooking liquid is required. The results are much healthier, the pre-salting stage is eliminated, and the cooking time is reduced to minutes.

Here is one of our all time favorites, using the blessed microwave shortcut for the eggplant:

Pesto ingredients
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1 -2 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, preferably reggiano, grated
2 T pine nuts (optional)
Salt to taste

Technique
Whiz the basil leaves in a blender or food processor until chopped fine
Add the garlic, salt and oil and blend until well incorporated
Pour into a bowl and beat in the parmesan cheese by hand for best texture
Add the pine nuts and stir
NOTE: the entire process can be done in the blender to save time

EGGPLANT with Pesto
Preheat oven to 375
Wash, cut the ends and stem off a medium to large eggplant, slice
lengthwise into pieces of similar width
Place into a microwave and oven safe dish, brush very lightly with pesto
Cover with lid or plastic wrap and microwave on high 3-4 minutes or
until eggplant is softening but not mushy
Drain accumulated liquid from dish
Brush eggplant slices again with pesto, using more than previously and
covering all surfaces
Bake uncovered at 375 to heat through and slightly brown the top,
approximately ten minutes

Possibly Related Posts:

• Moorish Badenjan Dip
• Eating Local in the Northwest
• How Does One Suddenly Go Vegan
• 10 Foods to Eat Right Now
• Ricotta and Herb Stuffed Squash Blossoms

My lemon cucumber plants did absolutely nothing this year. Actually, that’s not entirely true. One plant did manage to produce a scrawny thimble-sized cucumber. And I carefully picked it, washed it, sprinkled it with a little kosher salt, and popped it in my mouth. At least I got a taste.

Lemon cucumbers are an heirloom variety that date bake to the late 1800’s. They are round like lemons and range in color from pale to bright yellow. The paler the shade the more tender the skin, so no peeling is necessary. They also don’t have much of the chemical that makes other cucumbers bitter, thus they’re more delicate and sweet.

Unfortunately, they are difficult to find. Rarely do I see them in supermarkets, but you can find them briefly in farmer’s markets. My grandfather used to grow them in abundance on his ranch in Sonoma, California. My brother and I would stuff ourselves silly with them. And we ate them skin and all as we always picked them young. The best way to eat them was to simply slice them and sprinkle with salt and pepper, or on top of fresh Sonoma French Bread with Grandpa’s heirloom tomatoes.

Do I love them so much because they are so tender and delicious, or because of my memories with Grampa in his beautiful garden?

Yes.

Memories or not, I’m sure you too will fall in love with these gems.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Moorish Badenjan Dip
• Eating Local in the Northwest
• How Does One Suddenly Go Vegan
• 10 Foods to Eat Right Now
• Ricotta and Herb Stuffed Squash Blossoms

I hated beets as a kid. I only liked my grandma’s pickled beets because they were sweet. But as an adult I can’t get enough of them. And what’s easier than tossing a bunch in the oven to roast? Mix them up with a few other root vegetables and you have the perfect healthy meal. Colorful too!

Another oh so tasty dish is this simple crimson soup. It’s wonderful served hot or chilled, and looks beautiful in your bowl.

Roasted Beet Soup
This recipe is delicious with either golden or red beets.

3 Tablespoons butter
9 medium beets (should measure 8 to 9 cups once cut)
4 1/2 cups chopped onions
4 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
6 cups (or more) chicken broth
2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons crème fraîche or sour cream

Roast beets whole with skin on in a 375 degree oven for 1 hour or until tender. Remove from oven and let cool to touch. Cut off the ends and remove the skin. It should come off quite easily. Chop into ½ inch cubes to measure 8-9 cups.

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, ginger, and lemon peel. Saute for about 2-3 minutes, then add the broth and beets; bring to a boil. Remove from heat; let stand 20 minutes.

Puree soup in blender in batches until smooth. Return puree to pot. Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice to soup and thin with more broth, if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Garnish with crème fraîche or sour cream.

Makes 8 servings.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Moorish Badenjan Dip
• Eating Local in the Northwest
• 10 Fall Dishes We Cant Wait For
• How Does One Suddenly Go Vegan
• 10 Foods to Eat Right Now