Wednesday Food Blogging

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!