Simple Measure

When your person works at a grocery store, there are certain advantages. Free food, mainly.

In my co-op days in Vermont, I was the one stuffing the ol’ messenger bag with day-old bread, salvaged produce and (just barely!) out-dated dairy products. (It’s really just a guideline, not a hard rule, right?)

In one of life’s funny little role reversals, Jared’s doing the grocery thing since we landed in Chicago. A combined 6 years of samples, discontinued merch and the occasional past sell-by gourmet score isn’t bad, huh?

A few weeks ago he showed up with a sack full of seitan that was past it’s sell-by date. Quick— load it into freezer and now we’ve got a perfectly good supply to last us the next couple months.

Yesterday we thawed a box to try an adaptation of this main dish salad recipe from my standby cookbook, Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special. It calls for cold seitan, but I cooked it crispy instead because it felt right for dinnertime.

Crispy Seitan Salad with Avocado
Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special

Seitan is wheat gluten— or what I call “the veggie version of beef.” It marinates well, and I use it in stews, chilis, stirfry and anything that could use a little protein. Find it in the freezer or refrigerated cooler in natural food stores and sections.

1 serrano chile, seeded and chopped

3 Tbs fresh lime juice (you’ll need about 1 and a half limes)

2 Tbs fresh cilantro, chopped

1 8oz package seitan, sliced thin

½ tsp salt

½ cup vegetable oil

2 avocados (grab Hass if you can find them)

2 medium cucumbers, peeled, seeded and cut into crescents

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 Tbs butter

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

6 cups mesclun or mixed salad greens (about ¼ pound)

2 tsp liquid aminos or vegetarian Worcestershire sauce

Pepper Jack cheese, cubed (optional)

Freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat butter over medium in a large skillet until melted, add garlic and sauté, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes or until it turns blond and fragrant. Add seitan, liquid aminos (or Worcestershire), black pepper and sauté, stirring occasionally, until crispy. Takes about 15 minutes or so, but keep your eye on the pan so things don’t go from crispy to burned.

2. While the seitan is cooking, combine the chile, lime juice, cilantro, salt and oil in a food processor or blender and pureé until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

3. Rinse the mesclun well, and dry in a salad spinner. Put in a serving bowl.

4. Halve the avocados, twist in half and remove the pits. Score the flesh with a butter knife and scoop the chunks out into a separate bowl. Add the cukes, red onions, tomatoes and crispy seitan. Pour the dressing over everything and stir until well coated.

5. Plate the salad and top with a healthy scoop of the seitan mixture. Add cubed Pepper Jack and serve.

Serves 4

Happy Easter, folks. No brunch thing for us this year. Jared had to work today, so we decided to do the festive thing last night. It was swell— I tried my hand at homemade bloody mary mix. Spicy and good! (Do: garnish these babies with Rick’s Mean Beans).

It was my favorite kind of party. Casual. Good friends came by. Records were played— sparking some inspired late night dancing (errrr sorry, downstairs neighbors…) And yup, good food was had.

All day I was convinced there wouldn’t be enough to eat. And I was (so) totally wrong. Throw in some celery and olives and bloodies are practically a meal themselves. And between my cooking and contributions from Brock, Megan, Sarah and Corey, there was more than enough delicious stuff to go around.

My goal for the evening: spending as little time at the stove as possible. So everything I made was super light on the prep work. And when you want easy and impressive, puff pastry’s got your back.

For the filling: savory carmelized onions and Manchego cheese to balance the sweetness of fig jam. Wrap it all up in pre-made puff pastry and all you’ve got to do is pop it in the oven and wait for the goldeny goodness.

Cut up into squares, it’s an appetizer. Or serve larger slices with salad, and you’ve got yourself a nice meal.

Fig and Manchego Puff Pastry
Manchego is a cave-aged sheep’s milk cheese from the La Mancha region of Spain. You can find it in any store that has a good selection of international cheeses.

1 package frozen puff pastry

5 oz Manchego

3+ Tbs fig jam

1 medium sweet onion, sliced thin

2 Tbs butter, plus extra for greasing the baking sheet

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Thaw the puff pastry according to package directions.

2. Melt 2 Tbs butter in a medium saucepan. Add the onions and cook over low heat until they’re very soft and beginning to brown, about 20 – 25 minutes.

3. While the onions are cooking, cut the Manchego into thin slices.

4. Grease a baking sheet with butter and carefully unfold the puff pastry on it. Spread the fig jam over one side of the pastry, covering it evenly. I didn’t measure how much I used, but I’m guessing it came to about 3 Tbs. You’re looking for a thick layer. Layer half the Manchego over the jam, then layer the onions on. Top with the remaining cheese.

5. Fold the other half of the pastry on top of the filling. Wet your finger with water and gently pinch down the edges to seal the packet.

6. Put the pastry in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let stand for 30 minutes until fully cool. Slice into small squares and serve.

Serves 10 as an appetizer.

Took my sweet time getting out of bed today. Hours after Jared had braved the dark, rainy morning I finally emerged from the bedroom, doing my best vintage monster shuffle. (You know, dragging the feet, groaning. I blame last night’s airing of The Mummy with Boris Karloff…)

First things first, I grabbed my phone off the kitchen table (because someone might be inviting me to do something really cool at 10:00 AM on a Sunday, right? Sigh.) and discovered this text message waiting:

Hey. I bookmarked a recipe in a mag in the bathroom. Might be a good day for it. Cold and rainy. Winter herbs with bucatini pasta. Let me know and I’ll get ingredients.

Well, well Metzner. The kid just might be on to something. I always say inspiration strikes most brilliant in the bathroom…

I texted him the green light, and when he got home from work we threw this simple and super amazing pasta dish together in just about a half an hour.

Sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley, a little olive oil. Nothing schmancy, but the results are impressive. I got to use a little trick I saw on a cooking show last weekend, too: to get fast, fresh bread crumbs, just throw a couple cups of ripped up baguette into your food processor and give it a whirl.

For some reason I’ve never made my own bread crumbs like this before, but now I don’t think I can go back. A short toast in a buttery, garlicky, olive oil-slicked skillet and you’re rewarded with the tastiest bread crumbs, oh, maybe EVER.

A warning: only make this when you have at least four people on hand. Otherwise you and your dude or lady will not be able to resist finishing every last bite yourselves. Oof!

Winter Herb Pasta with Garlicky Bread Crumbs

From: Gourmet, December 2007

2 Tbs unsalted butter

5 Tbs olive oil, 1 Tbs set aside

3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

1 ½ cups fresh bread crumbs (use a fresh baguette if you can get your hands on one.)

1 lb dry bucatini (it’s like spaghetti, only rounder. Use spaghetti if you can’t find this kind.)

2 tsp fresh sage, chopped

2 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped

2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped

1 cup loosely packed fresh Italian (flat) parsley, chopped

1. Heat a large pot of salted water for the pasta.

2. Heat the butter and 1 Tbs olive oil in a deep pan over medium heat until the butter has melted in fully and the foam has died down. Add the garlic and sauté, stirring, until just golden. Add the bread crumbs and sauté, stirring occasionally, until golden– about 5 – 8 minutes. Put the bread crumbs aside in a bowl, but save the oiled pan for later.

3. When the pot of water is boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente, or about 10 minutes. Save 1 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta.

4. Add the rest of the olive oil to the pan you cooked the bread crumbs in and heat over medium until it starts to shimmer. Add the sage, rosemary and thyme and stir as they cook, for just about 2 minutes.

5. Add the pasta and ½ cp of the reserved cooking water to the pan. Add the parsley and toss well. The pasta should be evenly glistening, not dry, so add extra water if it needs it.

6. Remove the pasta from the heat and serve topped with bread crumbs.

Serves 4.

I don’t have anything against winter, really. But on this gray, mopey Monday I found myself thinking (this is right around when my feet got soaked in ice slush for the THIRD time): February, why you gotta be so rough?

I decided to interpret it as a sign. That tonight was the night to pull out this one recipe – one that always brings back the spring and sunshine. (Well, for about a 30-minute window. But I’ll take it!)

So what makes pea soup such a perfect fix for February?*

It’s warm. And it’s sure cold enough outside.

It’s easy. You didn’t really feel like making a whole production out of dinner tonight, did you? Me neither.

It’s super healthy. Extra vitamins can’t hurt after catching the packed, sniffly train home, right?

It’s pretty. Ahh, that bright, beautiful greenness is better than any full spectrum light bulb!

*This claim has not been approved by a) weather men b) weather-predicting rodents or c) seasonal disorder therapists. Unless Jared counts as that last one…

Fresh Pea Soup
Adapted from Vegetarian

When you give this one a try, make sure you use fresh or frozen peas to get the freshest taste.

2 Tbs butter

2 cups vegetable stock

2 shallots, finely chopped

3 cups fresh or frozen peas

4 Tbs milk or soymilk (you can use heavy whipping cream too, if that’s more your dairy scene.)

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Melt the butter in a deep sauce pan over medium heat and sauté the shallots until they soften, about 3 minutes.

2. Add the veggie stock and peas and stir in a dash of salt and pepper.

3. Simmer for about 12 minutes if you’re using frozen or young fresh peas. Add an extra 5 minutes for large or older peas.

4. Taste a pea to make sure it’s tender. Ladle the peas into a food processor with just enough of the cooking liquid to get a silky but still thick consistency.

5. Return the soup back to the sauce pan and stir in the milk. Gently heat it back up without boiling. Add more salt and pepper to taste

That’s it! Serve with a crusty baguette.

Serves 2

I have so many memories that involve this soup. Kinda hard not to, since it’s the first recipe I dreamed up after trading the woods of Maine for the wilds of Vermont (OK, so by “wilds” I mean “gentle college town with good coffee and a falafel stand”…).

Believe me, back then I had NO idea how to cook. Once I got the hang of this, it was a long long time before I added anything else to the do-it-yourself repetoire.

Let me see…

There are all the times I trudged to Onion River for the simple ingredients (zukes, peppers, tomatoes and Mama Rosie’s). Back when the co-op was a tiny and unpolished store crammed up to the bulk bins with things I didn’t recognize as actual food (errrr, what is this textured soy protein you speak of?).

And when I’d make it for the boys when we all lived in that apartment crammed full of dented cans from Mr. G’s food salvage warehouse, cats we didn’t own, and people who had nothing else to do on a Tuesday night.

Or the time I made it for Meg to liven up that one quiet Valentine’s day.

Oh yeah, and when a pot of it sat simmering on the stove while we dug the car out from a 4 foot snow pile. (Don’t park your car right under the eaves of your apartment building, OK? Especially when you live in Vermont.)

One thing all the memories have in common – it was cold as hell out, every time.

So, I’m pretty sure you need this soup right now. It’ll warm you up, takes less than 30 minutes, and is guaranteed to make all your vegetarian friends glad they know you.

Tomato Ravioli Soup

One 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, diced

1 large green pepper, diced

1 large red pepper, diced

1 medium zucchini, chopped

3 cups water

1 cup vegetable (or chicken) stock

One 6 oz. can tomato paste

One 14 oz. package cheese ravioli

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 tsp oregano

Fresh parmesan

Red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Sauté the garlic and onions until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the peppers and sauté for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the tomatoes, water, veggie stock and tomato paste and stir. (Jared and I have a stockpile of Parmesan rinds in the freezer, throw one in if you got it, or great some fresh Parm in.) Simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes.

3. Add the zucchini, oregano, and raviolis. Bring to a light boil and cook until raviolis are tender. The pasta tends to soak up a lot of the liquid, so just add a little extra water or veggie stock if things start looking a little too thick.

4. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. Let the soup cool for about 10 minutes. It’s hot!

Serves 4 - 6