Beefless Stew

You know me, always trying to make a vegetarian version of my favorite meat foods. While this one really doesn't come close to real beef stew, it is a very good vegetarian stew in it's own right. Great for this time of year. Add crusty bread and life is pretty good. My son who is going through a picky phase with vegetables at least ate the carrots and potatoes and peas out of this soup, which I count as a success in my book.

a bit adapted from McDougall's beefless stew
 

Beefless stew

Ingredients

• 1 lb crimini or 2 medium portabella mushrooms, cut into ¾-inch pieces (about 4 cups) 
• 1½ large yellow or white onions, chopped into ¾-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
• 3 medium carrots, sliced lengthwise and cut into ¾-inch pieces (about 2¼ cups)
• 3 ribs celery, cut into ¾-inch pieces (about 1 cup)
• 1½ tablespoon finely chopped garlic (about 6 medium cloves)
• 5 cups water
• 2 pounds white potatoes (2 large), peeled and cut into ¾-inch chunks (about 6 cups)
• ⅓ cup tomato paste (half of a 6-ounce can)
• 1 tablespoon dried Italian herb seasoning (I used Herbs de Provence which is french but was still good)
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary (I didn't have this so left it out, it was fine)
• 1½ cups cooked peas (if frozen, rinse under warm water)
• butter or oil for cooking

Instructions

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter or oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat.  Add the mushrooms and fry until browned on the sides, maybe 15 minutes, stirring every few minutes to try and get as many mushroom sides brown as possible. Transfer cooked mushrooms to another bowl.
2. In the same pan add a little more butter or oil, then fry the onions, carrots, and celery for about 8 minutes, or until mostly translucent.
3. Stir in the mushrooms and garlic, and continue to cook while stirring for 5 minutes more, adding butter or oil if needed.
4. Add the 5 cups of water, potatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, and paprika, and bring to a boil, uncovered. Reduce the heat to medium-low and stir in the rosemary (if using). Cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the carrots and potatoes are very tender.
5. Add the peas and cook for 5 minutes more.
6. Place 2 cups of the stew (broth and vegetables) into a blender, and blend just briefly. Stir the mixture back into the pot to thicken the stew.

Cauliflower puree

I made this recipe for cauliflower steaks with cauliflower puree the other day, and it was okay. The cauliflower steaks are really just a different way of serving roasted cauliflower which, while good, does not quite live up to the "steak" moniker. I might try making it again with a different sauce in the future.

The real winner of that dish was the cauliflower puree. Making it is more of a multi-step process than I usually go through but the final product is worth it in my opinion. I served some (with no salt and pepper) to Kiran and he loved it too! So I find myself making it again a couple weeks later, and want to keep the recipe handy.

Cauliflower puree

• 1 1-pound head of cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 250°F. 

2. Using sharp heavy knife, cut cauliflower into florets. 

3. Combine florets, 1 1/2 cups water, and milk in medium saucepan, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. (no salt and pepper if making for babies!) Bring to boil and cook until cauliflower florets are very tender, about 10 minutes. Strain, reserving cooking liquid. 

4. Spread florets on large rimmed baking sheet, and bake 10 minutes until slightly dry. While florets are baking, you may want to boil down the water/milk mixture a little. Not totally necessary though. 

5. Transfer florets to blender. Add some cooking liquid and puree until smooth, adding more liquid until you reach the consistency you like.

Sweet Potato, Black Bean & Kale Skillet from Goop

I wanted to dislike Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow's online column. The whole idea of a multi-milionaire beautiful movie actress daring to give advice and thoughts to regular people over the interwebs struck me as so downright patronizing. "This is how you lose weight," I expected to read, "Just eat less, it couldn't be easier!" I eagerly dove into the column, looking forward to picking on her "fashion tips" which I was sure would include lots of ultra-expensive designer clothing, or travel suggestions including private planes and the like. After reading her columns for a few years now, for sure there has been some of that, but along the way something else happened.

I started saying "ooh that looks good!" when I was reading the columns more often than not. For what I thought was an out-of-touch celebrity, Gwyneth sure had a lot of good ideas. Despite my best efforts, she was winning me over.

Today she won the war. I saw this recipe for a Sweet potato, black bean, and kale skillet in her latest issue, and this recipe is right up our alley! In fact I have made something similar in the past which we quite enjoyed. I wanted to see if Gwyneth's recipe would be better, and I'll be damned if it wasn't.

Sweet Potato, Black Bean and Kale Skillet

ingredients 

serves 2-4

• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled
• 1 can black beans
• 2 hearty handfuls kale, torn into bite-size pieces (can substitute 1 bunch any greens)
• 1 lime
• olive oil
• pinch of sumac (I substituted seville orange rind for this, you could also substitute lime peel instead)
• pinch of cumin
• sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
• habanero sauce (I added this to make it spicy!)

SERVE WITH:
-- tortillas (corn or wheat)
-- avocado
-- sour cream or plain yogurt
-- minced cilantro (optional)

preparation

1.Cut sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. Lay cut surface flat on a cutting board and slice in half again lengthwise. Then, slice into ¼ inch thick pieces. 

2.Place large sauté pan over medium high heat and drizzle with olive oil. Add sweet potatoes, sumac and cumin to pan and cook for a minute until they begin to brown, stirring throughout to coat (if you wait to add salt and pepper, the potatoes will brown up a little better). Cover after a minute, bring the heat down to medium and let cook for about 5-8 minutes, stirring once or twice, until they’ve softened up.

3.Add black beans. Stir to mix. Add kale, season with salt and pepper, mix and cover. Let cook for 2-3 minutes, uncover and stir. (If it's feeling a bit too dry at this point, drizzle a little more olive oil.) Cook for another minute or so until kale is cooked to your liking.

4.Drizzle with lime and serve with avocado slices, cilantro, warm tortillas and sour cream if desired.

** for baby food, make the vegetable mixture without salt and pepper, puree some for baby, and then salt and pepper the rest for the adults.

simple lentil soup

This time of year it really hits the spot!

From allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

6 cups vegetarian stock, or water 1 pound red lentils 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 large onion, chopped (I added in 1 carrot, chopped)

1 tablespoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 cup chopped cilantro 1/4 - 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (I used 2 small lemons)

Directions:

1.	heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Stir in garlic and onion, and cook until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 10 minutes.
2.	Add stock, lentils, cumin, and cayenne and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes or until lentils are tender.
3.	Carefully puree the soup in a standing blender, or with a stick blender until smooth. Stir in cilantro and lemon juice before serving.
	** for baby food, make soup without salt, pepper, or cayenne, then separate and puree desired amount for baby, add the salt, pepper and cayenne into the adult soup **