Wednesday Food Blogging

Food News you can believe in

Now that the political season is over, it's time to re-focus on food news here at WFB.

What I've been saying for two years now: It's not food miles! (via)

We can't afford factory farms: The effect of factory farms on the environment.

That burger you're eating? Mostly corn.

We need more research on cancer-fighting beer.

The NY Times tells us to counter food shortages with potatoes. Lovely idea.

More news from the NY Times, this time not-so-lovely: Europe relaxes rules on sale of ugly vegetables. Good; maybe now I can find kohlrabi.

Among Prevention's 14 Surprising Signs You'll Live Longer are: You eat purple food, you avoid diet soda, you're a tea lover, and you don't like burgers. You should also walk a lot.

You probably also shouldn't eat a lot of these: Trader Joe's Lumpy Bumpy Bars. They look like the roads around here after a good rain.

But we can't forget about politics completely, can we? Here's what they're eating at the G20 summit. "Quinoa risotto"? Is that anything like "Bush's intelligence"?

And speaking of intelligence, here's Matthew Yglesias on The United States of Arugula. Because if Republicans are afraid of arugula, how can they govern our country?

That's all I've got. Give it another week to sink in.

Dark and White Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Hazelnuts

Gooey, rich, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate chunks embedded in batter.

I had to row for 25 minutes on the rowing machine today in order to afford one of these yummy cookies. But it was worth it. With large dark chocolate chunks, white chocolate nuggets, and flavorful hazelnuts embedded inside the batter, these cookies are like a little chunk of heaven.

I adapted the recipe from a British recipe, which used weight instead of volume measurements, and I used an egg substitute. The article recommended leaving the batter in the refrigerator overnight, or even longer, so I patiently waited a whole day to bake them. I tried really hard to forget about them, though a nibble of the batter gave me a taste of what was in store.

Letting the batter sit means the flavors—the chocolates, the hazelnuts—infuse throughout the cookies. While you could bake them after 2 hours, try to wait longer. Next time I'll wait two days, which make these a perfect make-ahead cookie.

So if you're coming to visit, give me a couple of days notice. And a few hours at the gym.

For easy directions, keep reading.

Thanksgiving: What's a vegan to do?

Before you decide what to eat on Thanksgiving, give some thought to the birds that, fortunately, won't make it to anyone's dinner table this Thanksgiving. And then give them some cash. Turkey feed ain't chicken feed, you know.

For $25 you can adopt a turkey from Farm Sanctuary. The birds stay there—don't worry, you don't even need a back yard, just a credit card. You can even choose which turkey you'd like to adopt. They're all adorable, though, so it's a hard decision!

Next, try a turkey substitute. Here's my pre-Thanksgiving post from last year. It has several links to vegan non-turkey recipes suitable for Thanksgiving. And here's another meatless loaf that just came across my wire, from the Meatout Mondays email list I subscribe to.

You can also check out Gentle Thanksgiving for more. That mushroom gravy may very well make its way to my Thanksgiving table this year.

(By the way, we usually celebrate Thanksgiving, even though it's not a holiday in Britain. Most Americans here celebrate on the Saturday after, since they don't get the day off work.)

Don't let cruelty mar a day that's especially for giving thanks. It's really easy, and delicious, to avoid eating turkeys these days.

Rootmaster: Vegan eats in East London

The charmingly decorated Rootmaster restaurant in London

Yesterday, I met fellow American food blogger Bazu in London. She's currently living in Canterbury and learning how to pronounce "Canter-bry" and "straw-bry" and "aluminium". (I had to help her out a bit with "innovative", a word that is useful if you're looking for good vegan food.)

Of course, as professional food bloggers, the first order of business was finding food. I had scoped out a vegetarian restaurant, one that had been reviewed in the New York Times. New Yorkers know their vegan food, much more than Londoners, who are just beginning to have a choice when it comes to vegan eateries.

Rootmaster is located off Brick Lane, in an old Routemaster bus. That's right, the entire restaurant fits in a bus. The dining area is up top; the kitchen prep area below. The bus is located in a carpark, and if the weather is cooperative, you can eat outside at one of the tables.

The weather was not cooperative, so we circled up the steps to eat. I had to duck a bit, since I was wearing my vegan boots, but Bazu had no trouble. Tall people should be warned, however—our tall, veganly elegant server had to tilt her head slightly as she served the diners that accumulated while we were there. Apparently, Rootmaster is becoming a popular place in East London for vegan food, despite competition from the nearby curry houses that smelled wonderful as we walked along Brick Lane.

And actually, I wasn't aware until I asked that everything on the menu was vegan, not just vegetarian. I didn't see a vegan claim on their website, but maybe I just didn't look hard enough. But 100% vegan it is, including the three desserts on the menu.

This in itself was the best part. The food was good, too. I ordered chickpea fritters, which came with a nice salad. Bazu got the mezze platter, and we shared. The fritters were good, but we both thought they'd have benefited with a sauce or something to jazz them up. Maybe tahini sauce, or a relish—something innovative. Her platter included the greenest olives we'd ever seen. Neon green, glow-in-the-dark olives, the size of small missiles. But they tasted like ordinary olives.

Chickpea Fritters in the foreground; Mezze Platter, with bus-baked bread, having its photo taken by Bazu.

Before the food arrived, we both got out our cameras. She has a special "soy camera" which was once dunked in soy milk, but still works. (Soy milk can only improve matters, I say.) We talked about taking photos of food in restaurants—no flash. We also noticed we weren't the only ones with cameras. People kept walking up to the Routemaster, shooting photos from the carpark. We felt sort of special.

We decided to skip dessert, even though the options looked interesting—Dessert Gyoza especially sounded—yes—innovative.

Our second order of business was visiting the National Gallery, where we adored the Christ Child and tried to sneak photos of paintings. We also talked a lot about the election, and about the Bush years that will soon be nothing but an unpleasant memory. On the Tube, I gave my Obama button to a Londoner who seemed particularly concerned about the election. He fastened it proudly to his chest as he walked out of the carriage.

I left London thinking I really should get into the city more. And now that London is more vegan friendly, there's no reason not to.

Rootmaster is located in Ely's Yard off Brick Lane. From Aldgate East tube station, go down Whitechapel to Osbourn and turn left. Walk several blocks to Truman Brewery, go past some funky shops, and in the carpark you'll see a red bus. 

It's worth a visit to the east side of London, if you don't normally go. Because how often do you get to eat good food in a bus?

Tofu with Green Beans, Mushrooms and Black Bean Garlic Sauce

Easy stir-fry for vegans on the go.

This is how I go about cooking a meal: I open the fridge. Something jumps out at me (not literally, silly!). I decide to cook it.

I open the cabinet. Look for a grain—rice, noodles, polenta, quinoa, etc. I decide which will go with the first thing.

I open the vegetable bin. Look to see what is oldest, and decide if that will go with the first two decisions I've made.

In this case, it was tofu, lo mein noodles, and mushrooms and green beans.

While all that was cooking, I grabbed a jar of black bean garlic sauce and added that to the finished product.

Altogether, it took about 20 minutes, from the time I first opened the fridge door to the time I put it on the table. Maybe 25, tops.

See how easy it is to be a vegan?

For easy directions, click below.

Vegetarian dining in Toulouse: comme ci, comme ça

The salad and dessert bar at La Faim des Haricots

If you've ever been to France, you know how difficult it is to find vegetarian food, much less vegan. Your best bet is to find a veggie restaurant, and hope there's something vegan on the menu.

There are, as far as I can tell, two vegetarian restaurants in downtown Toulouse. I went to both of them, one of them twice, for lunch and dinner. While neither was particularly bad, I wish vegetarian restaurants offered more variety, especially in veggie-unfriendly countries like France. Because if this is your first impression of vegetarian food, you won't be too inclined to become vegetaria, much less vegan.

One odd thing about vegetarian dining in Toulouse: Both restaurants offered a buffet-style meal, with a salad bar and in one case, a selection of hot foods as well. Don't expect to load your plates up, American-style, again and again. It is France, after all, where the women are slim and the men pretty slim too.

First the good news: Saveurs Bio offered a varied and interesting buffet, with a selection of hot items, and also a salad and dessert buffet. You could also order from the regular menu. But beware: Saveurs Bio isn't 100% vegetarian. There were 3 or 4 non-veg dishes, but in France, having more than one vegetarian choice is quite an accomplishment, so I won't insist on a purity test when, frankly, I was lucky to have anything vegan to eat at all. The food was good—we arrived about the time they opened, so the dishes was fresh and hot. The atmosphere was upscale, but we had the misfortune of sitting near a room where young children were screaming. Unusual in France, home of well-behaved children, and annoying to diners hoping for a quiet meal. But the food and the wine and the service made up for that. The cost of the meal was around 45 euros for two people, including dessert and a bottle of wine. Not bad at all, considering we left very full and satisfied.

Saveurs Bio is located near Place Wilson, in a rather upscale part of town. Open all the usual hours.

 

Saveurs Bio restaurant, in Toulouse

Now the not-so-good-news: When a restaurant window is covered with awards, you expect good things. And with a mention in my trusty Rough Guide to France, I expected La Faim des Haricots to be a real treat. I set out for lunch there my first day in Toulouse, and finally found it in the warren of twisty streets and alleys near Place du Capitole. The service was friendly, and I was soon invited to help myself to the salad bar. I liked this part: There were several salads, many of them vegan, and each capable of being a distinct chunk of an entire meal. Quinoa, rice, couscous, and filling grains are a welcome sign. There was a curried courgette salad that was particularly good and—not a minor thing—innovative.

I also wanted to try the plat du jour, a vegetable stew with cauliflower, carrots, and green beans served (by me) over rice. There were also several quiches nearby, but I didn't pay much attention to those. The stew was vegan, and nicely spiced, but nothing too special. It did fill me up for an afternoon tramping around Toulouse.

The next night I took my husband back to La Faim des Haricots, hoping there would be more variety in the evening. The menu offered a vegetable curry as the sole hot dish (other than the quiches, or tartes—not sure if there's any difference). But the "curry" turned out to be the same vegetable stew I'd had for lunch the previous day. I'm not even sure they made a new batch—by now it was lukewarm, and the vegetables mushy.

My impression of La Faim des Haricots took a nosedive, and I wondered if any of those restaurant reviewers who'd offered them the awards on the window had bothered to try the restaurant the next day. I understand they've only been open for evening meals—le soir—a few months. Perhaps they need to rethink the effort that requires. Or maybe we just caught them on a bad night.

Here's my real gripe, though: When it comes to vegetarian restaurants, we vegans are pretty much a captive audience. If we want to eat a hot meal when we travel in Europe, especially France, we have to find a veggie restaurant, or hope for a veg-friendly Asian or other ethnic restaurant. Eating warmed-up stew, euphemistically renamed "curry", may be the best we can get outside of Paris. That's a shame. France is known for its fine cuisine. They should offer vegans the same dining standards, especially in modern, young, university-centred towns like Toulouse.

Fortunately, Toulouse has much more to offer than dining. I was perfectly content to march up and down its narrow streets, looking for delights of a more eccliastical nature—St Sernin Basilica, Cathédrale Saint-Étienne, and Couvent des Jacobins. Many monks were vegetarian, after all—hopefully they had better food on offer than today's Toulouse provides.

Gardens of Andorra

Apparently the tiny European nation of Andorra is doing its best to be self-sufficient. On our recent visit there, we saw several vegetable gardens:

We saw this garden in Ordino, Andorra.

And this one, with that artichoke just begging to be snatched, in Canillo.

These lovely potatoes were in our hotel garage.

Maybe there's a logical explanation for why life expectancy in Andorra is over 85 years for women, and almost as long for men—one of the longest anywhere, in fact.

Smoky Black Bean and Corn Soup

Black Bean Soup, the perfect low-maintenance meal

On Sunday afternoons I like to putter around in the kitchen, slowing cooking a pot of beans or soup or some other simmering dish. But Sunday afternoons are also my only glimpse into the American cable media market: From 4-6 p.m. we get a window into CNN's Late Edition. While I'd probably ignore it if I were in the US, it's better than nothing, especially during election season. (Like Final Four for basketball fans, or the World Cup for Europeans.)

Unfortunately, our lone TV is miles away from the kitchen. So as much as possible, I've been cooking things that don't need my attention on Sunday. Or skipping cooking altogether. (Notice the lack of recipes here on WFB?)

When I soaked the black beans on Saturday night, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with them, but in the end I went for something that needed little attention. I chopped the vegetables before the show came on at 4, and then tossed them into the pot during commercial breaks, stirring and checking the water levels at the same time.

By 6, we were starving for bowls of soup (I also made some homemade tortillas during the times the Republicans were bloviating) so we sat down and discussed the State of the Race over warm bowls of Black Bean and Corn Soup.

If you'd like a low-maintenance meal, click below for instructions. If you need to vote, head over to Voteforchange.com and learn how.

Grilled Vegetables with Mashed White Beans

Getting tired of pasta, polenta, and potatoes as an accompaniment to your veg? Want something less carby?

Try mashed beans. With the consistency of mashed potatoes or polenta, and the heartiness of legumes, this dish of mashed white beans makes an unexpected yet satisfying side for grilled veggies.

It's really easy, too, with canned beans (any type of white beans will do, especially small haricot beans or Great Northern or Navy beans) and a cube of vegetable stock. The vegetables grilled quickly in my grill oven, but if the weather's nice enough for a barbecue, you could try that too. I didn't have any courgette (zucchini) but any combination of Mediterranean vegetables will work. You could add a couple of tomatoes too if you have some good fresh ones.

Altogether, it took less than an hour, from opening the cans and slicing the vegetables, to serving it on the table. Not bad for an evening's work.

For instructions, see below.

Vegetable Pakoras

Vegetable Pakoras line up to take their turn on stage, alongside tamarind chutney.

It may come as a surprise to many people, but to make a batter for frying, you don't need eggs. Indian cuisine, while not always vegan, usually doesn't include eggs. Even without eggs, this batter for pakoras clings to the grated vegetables like white on rice.

I'm telling you, eggs are overrated.

You can find gram flour at any Asian food store, or at many well-stocked supermarkets. The spices are also widely available—if you cannot find garam masala, just leave it out, or make your own with a mixture of cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

I served this with a chickpea dish—recipe coming up later for that! Altogether, the two dishes, plus basmati rice, were ready in about an hour. Not bad for a day when I hiked 5 miles and didn't feel like going to a lot of effort over dinner.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, gram flour is high in protein and gluten-free.

Food News comes in pairs

The End of Food? That's the title of a new book by Paul Roberts that I haven't read, but here's an excerpt from an interview with him: (via)

Why don’t you believe that local food systems are going to answer the global food demand?

There’s a limit to how much land area we have to devote to local food production. Land is really expensive when it’s close to cities. And local farms are often smaller, and small farms, as wonderful as they are for some things, don’t have the efficiencies that larger ones have for their economies of scale. So it’s sort of tough to imagine [them] feeding large populations.

He also says this:

Do you have any tips for things we can we do in the U.S. to lessen our impact on the food supply?

If you want to go meatless one or two times a week, or just reduce the amount of meat you eat, or go completely vegetarian in a thoughtful way, then that would be great. Understanding where your food comes from and seeing where you can make local decisions [when] it makes sense, but also understanding that not all local food is equal in terms of its impacts and its benefits. But both of those sort of bespeak a greater understanding of food.

If your preschooler is on the Chocolate Diet, you should read this: 6 Food Mistakes Parents Make. 

If you're searching for a presidential candidate or maybe some fruit, my friend made this comment about McCain:

Reasons not to buy this fruity pair:
He is past his sell by date and she was prematurely plucked from the vine.

Speaking of strange pairs: Oreo Banana Split Creme. One word: Why?

Spelt Risotto with Mushrooms and Smoked Garlic

Not your mama's ricey risotto.

I know; I've posted about a dozen recipes for risotto here. And once you learn to make risotto, you can make it with virtually anything—including spelt instead of arborio rice.

Spelt is an ancient grain, known as "farro" in Italy and "Dinkel" in Germany. It's similar to barley, though smaller and "less slimey" according to my husband. It's more nutritious than rice, particularly white rice, which is what the risotto rices are. And it's higher in protein than wheat, though it doesn't seem to bother gluten-sensitive people the way wheat does.

That alone is enough reason to use it as a substitute for rice. How about the taste? With spelt, your risotto (and I wonder if that's the proper name to call this spelt dish) won't be as refined. Earthier, crunchier, heartier—it's a more substantial bite than delicate risotto. That means you'll want to pair it with earthier vegetables: mushrooms with smoked garlic, winter squash, or perhaps a sturdy green like kale. I could also see adding some vegan sausage, for those not opposed to meat substitutes.

Dont worry about overcooking spelt risotto—remember how you have to serve rice risotto immediately or it gets gummy? But it does take longer to cook—the grains absorb more liquid, too, so have plenty of stock on hand. I like it a little bit soupier than regular risotto, and served mine in a broad bowl.

I've still got the rest of the package of spelt—about two cups were in my package, so I'll be experimenting more with spelt in the future.

Slow Food News Day

Slow Food for Thought by Eric Schlosser, on the social movement of slow food.

You can fool some of the people some of the time...what do we really know about what we eat anyway?

That's right; it's another article on Meat Production and World Hunger:

Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, DC, states it succinctly: “People go hungry because much of arable land is used to grow feed grain for animals rather than people.” He offers as one example the Ethiopian famine of 1984, which was fueled by the meat industry. “While people starved, Ethiopia was growing linseed cake, cottonseed cake and rapeseed meal for European livestock,” he says. “Millions of acres of land in the developing world are used for this purpose. Tragically, 80 percent of the world’s hungry children live in countries with food surpluses which are fed to animals for consumption by the affluent.”

Dining with Dionysus, about a cooking school in Greece: "Even bad stuffed grape leaves are good, but these were better than any I’d had, for the vivid and cooling flavors."

A solution to the food crisis:  A kitchen garden in every home.

An interview with the author of Stuffed and Starved, Raj Patel.

Another reason to fear factory farms: Superbugs.

Six guilt-free reasons to love carbs. You mean I needed a reason?

Forget carbs; eat broccoli. Especially if you have diabetic heart damage.

Next time I'm in France, I'm going here.

Are there bovine growth hormones in your fish? 

Not to frighten you, but check out this: green tea Kit Kats.

Quinoa and Corn on a Bed of Greens

The farm shop bounty, reclassified as dinner.

A friend and I visited Royal Windsor Farm Shop on Thursday, part of the estate of Windsor Castle. I went a little nuts when I saw the produce—I really can't resist the sight of so many lovely orbs, leaves, and roots.

I brought more home than I needed, so I had to figure out a dish that used up my bounty.

With no real direction in mind, I shucked the corn, chopped a shallot, and added a pepper. Then I started some quinoa, after rejecting several other grain options. When the corn was done, I poured it into a bowl and sautéd a bunch of swiss chard, at which point the dish sort of came together on my plate.

In this case, necessity became the mother of a rather nice dinner.

Here's how:

Eggplant and Roasted Pepper Rollatini

On top of spaghetti...all covered with Eggplant Rollatini.

This is a dish I've never tried before. But I love eggplant—aubergine, to those in the know. And I love hot bakey things, otherwise known as casseroles.

Fortunately, I live in a climate that allows me to pop things in the oven in the middle of summer without worrying about wasting air conditioning—what air conditioning?

This dish takes a good while to prepare, but much of it is wait time—waiting for the eggplant to sweat, waiting for the peppers to roast, waiting for the casserole to bake...it does take some time to fry the eggplant slices, though. I experimented with baking half of them in the oven, but it made them too stiff to roll. Maybe a shorter bake, just long enough to make the eggplant pliable, might work.

Further instructions follow. 

Pea, Courgette and Mint Soup

Soup in the summer? Why not?

I'm not much for cold soup, but I can see the advantages, at least in some climates. After having dental work done, I was in the mood for something soupy, but not heavy. The fresh peas in my fridge, and the pots of mint growing in my windowsill, hinted at an answer.

Courgettes, known in North America as zucchini, are plentiful this time of year, too, and add only a few minutes to the prep time. I served this soup lukewarm—I couldn't quite bring myself to cool it down with ice, but if you suffer less of an aversion to cold food than I do, add a few ice cubes after adding the yogurt, to cool the soup faster. Remove them after a few minutes.

This would be a nice starter for a fancier meal, if you're so inclined.

And if you've got a summer bounty of peas and zucchini, be sure to� try Courgette and Spring Pea Lasagna. Meanwhile, click below for directions for summer pea soup.

Food News, Weekend Edition

Mark Bittman from the NY Times visits Campo de Fiori in Rome. If you can get through the first few horrific minutes, where he examines all the varieties of fresh tomatoes* available there, it's a pretty interesting video. I wrote about Campo de Fiori here, but I don't remember seeing so many tomatoes.

What to eat: Curcumin.

What else to eat: Peanuts.

What not to eat: Pretzels.

Don't feed the ducks. 

Don't tease me like this.

Don't give me this: Bacon Salt makes everything taste like bacon. (If you sprinkle it on your tomato, will you have 2/3s of a BLT?)

Cake wrecks, a blog about cakes that never should have been. 

*I do not like fresh tomatoes. Or anything that can be described as "flesh".

Indian Cauliflower and Peas

Indian food doesn't have to be fussy.

If I'm in the mood for Indian food but don't want to fuss with a recipe and measuring ingredients (or looking up the phone number of the local Indian restaurant), I usually opt for a simple curry with a couple of vegetables: cauliflower, okra, aubergine (eggplant), potatoes, peas—all are used in Indian vegetarian cooking. This time it was cauliflower and fresh peas, which work beautifully together. I had mushrooms, so I added that, though this dish would be fine without them.

I had some fresh naan, and frozed samosas—both are easy to find here; those of you in the U.S. may have to hunt for an Indian specialty store to enjoy the convenience of store-bought naan. Or make your own.

Open a jar of chutney and you're done, in less time than it would take to order out. And since this cooks all in one pot (except for the rice) there's not much washing up either. 

For easy-peasy directions, plus some hints on ingredients, see below.

Sunday Food News

How do French women stay so slim when they eat cocoa puffs for breakfast?

Will someone please explain why all the cereals in France have chocolate in them? There was even chocolate muesli. (Yes, we were the stupid Americans taking photos of cereal at Auchan.)

If you haven't been over to Fat Free Vegan lately, Susan posted some great resources: Her veg blog search now has its own url, so it's easy to bookmark and use whenever you need a recipe for, say, cauliflower.

And also, Erik Marcus has a series of podcasts on transitioning to veganism. (For those of you in France, note that chocolate is vegan.)

Speaking of cauliflower, Cookiecrumb made cauliflower steak the other day. Yes, I said steak. I suspect the next cauliflower who rambles over my way will meet its end that way.

What to eat: peanuts.

Guess who got a solar oven? Sadly, such a contraption would never work over here. A wind powered oven, maybe.

One bad apple really can spoil the whole bunch. Girl.

Organic on a budget. Some good advice there.

Fired up? Ready to bake! That's right, there's a bake-off for Barack Obama's birthday. Send your photos here.

Potatoes and Green Beans with Pesto Sauce

 

Lookee here! There's something else you can do with potatoes and green beans!

I am particularly fond of potatoes and green beans. But I've made this yummy salad so many times I could almost taste it in my sleep—indeed, when I trimmed the green beans and began boiling the small salad potatoes, for a moment I caught the scent of Dijon and dill—its key ingredients.

But this time I was using pesto, a jar of vegan pesto I've had sitting in my cupboard. The end result was still herby, though, and a more substantial side dish than either potatoes or green beans on their own.

With jarred pesto, this is incredibly easy to make. I won't even bother with a recipe. I simply boiled potatoes (I always plop the larger ones in first, then add the smaller ones to ensure even cooking) and then added the green beans to the same (salted) water after removing the potatoes.

My beans were short, so I didn't bother slicing them in half, but shorter pieces make for a better presentation.

Meanwhile I toasted some walnuts, and mixed three or so tablespoons of pesto with soy cream (I buy mine in France; lucky me!). I used about 3/4 cup of soy cream, though I think soy milk may work just as well.

Then I tossed sliced potatoes, green beans, the walnuts, and the pesto mixture together. I barely had time to photo it—when Daughter Number Two and her dad returned from the gym, they gobbled it all up.

My favorite part of this dish? It's so easy to make, and looks, and tastes, like you tried really hard.

Cucumber and Poppy Seed Salad

The other day, I made this delicious curry dish, and wanted a little something cool to serve with it. This recipe for Cucumber and Poppy Seed Salad was just the trick. Though it's not a Thai dish, it reminded me of the Thai cucumber salad I love, but that takes a while to prepare.

Of course I used English cucumbers. That's the only kind that grow here. You might use your plain old American cukes if you have them, or whatever is growing in your garden. (My garden is currently serving geraniums, dahlias, and fuschias. I don't recommend them for dinner.)

This dish takes about 15 minutes to prepare. Here's how:

Dijon Roasted Potatoes

Dijon mustard and potatoes. Made for each other.

So I was peering into my cupboards the other day, looking for something to cook, and I noticed several jars of Dijon mustard. We’d bought a cute Wine-goblet shaped jar in Cherbourg. Other choices included a Scooby Doo -themed juice glass, but being adults, we chose the wine glass. The mustard came in handy, as every night I mixed up a salad dressing using other jars I bought: Olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I also brought home some French potatoes, a thin-skinned white potato I hadn’t got around to cooking while in Normandy.

Suddenly the idea of mustard and potatoes was irresistible.

I mixed up some mustard, olive oil, rosemary, and salt, coated the potato wedges, and a half hour later had some yummy baked potato wedges.

Here’s more:

Food News, exotic produce edition

When they weren't talking about fixing world hunger, G8 leaders were feasting on an 18-course dinner, and a six-course lunch. Read the menu and see what sort of tidbits those lucky ducks enjoyed. Then try to imagine George Bush's face as he dug into  "Water Lily Bulb and Summer Savoury".

The article The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating for some reason doesn't include water lily bulbs.

Don't eat rock hard pears. At least not immediately. And, could "water lily bulb" be a fancy name for rock hard pears?

So now I can't brag about being mad-cow free: "Even vegetarians may not be safe from mad-cow prions." Perhaps fertilizer-free water lily bulbs aren't such a bad thing for our leaders to be munching on.

I'm always looking for new tips for making pizza, since ordering out isn't a great option for vegans. Here's "10 paths to painless pizza-making."

Harold Pollack, prompted by Tim Russert's death, says we must take better care of ourselves.

Eating the world's priciest burger doesn't qualify as taking better care of ourselves, by the way. It does qualify as the most expensive heart-attack-on-a-plate you'll ever have.

Finally, bookmark this for future reference. You'll need it at your summer barbecue when someone mocks you for being vegan. (Also, remind them that water lily bulbs are good enough for George Bush.) 57 Health Benefits of Going Vegan.

Paella

Paella—can't you smell the piquant spiciness?

A friend passed along this recipe for paella, which she found in a newspaper. I didn't have all the ingredients, but, wanting to use up what was in my fridge, I decided to improvise. Fortunately paella is a forgiving dish—almost anything goes.

The recipe called for Calasparra rice, which is grown in Spain and is similar to arborio rice. But I had something Tesco calls paella rice. Maybe it's the same thing—only Tesco knows.

Paella, unlike risotto, doesn't need to be stirred constantly. That means while the rice is cooking, you can prepare the rest of the meal. In this case, I served it with a spinach salad and some hummus and bread. If you have any vegetarian tapas, that would be a nice way to keep with the Spanish theme.

The best thing about this paella? The way the kitchen still smelled divine, hours later. The spices, the saffron, the lemon—I wouldn't mind a visit to Spain, if it smells like this!

Spinach and Tofu Strudel

Christmas in June?

With all my phyllo (filo) dough experimentation, it's beginning to feel like it's holiday season instead of June. This dish, as well as the Tofu-Mushroom Phyllo Parcels I posted last week, would make excellent vegan holiday dishes. These strudels could be made ahead and heated up (around 30 minutes in a hot oven) for a busy day meal. I'd crumble some phyllo sheets over the top during the second bake, since they have a tendency to fall off as the roll is handled. 

We served this with a plate of fried eggplant—or aubergine, depending where you are. The deliciousness was almost too much, for an ordinary Saturday in June.

Directions below.