Category Archives: Vegetarian Dishes

Lighten Up, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegan Dishes, Vegetarian Dishes

Couve (Brazilian-Style Collard Greens)

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If ever there was a dish that served as a celebration of my heritage, it’d be collard greens.  Marrying the southern roots of my paternal family from Durham, North Carolina, and my south-of-the-equator family on my mother’s side from Belem, Brazil, I get my love of collards fair and square.  In my house growing up, we oft ate the Brazilian national dish, feijoada completa.  This stew of various meats and black beans had to have a specific list of accompaniments in order for it to be correct – one of these primary components was collard greens.  While Mom and I were usually in charge of the black beans and rice, Dad was always in charge of the greens.  He had a special method of sauteeing the collards until tender, with his secret blend of onion, garlic, olive oil and ground pepper.  The whole process usually involved him breaking into an impromptu blues song about “greasy greens” that I’m sure he made up on the spot.  Never a dull moment in the house where I grew up.

Couve (Brazilian-Style Collard Greens) © Spice or Die

My version of the greens is closer to the traditional Brazilian preparation the first day that I eat them, but as leftovers, they are so much like my Dad’s version.  It’s wild – almost as if both sides of my heritage come out in the recipe in some way or another.  A lot of recipes have you simply slice ans sauté the greens, but this is a mistake.  You absolutely must blanch and shock them first – this cleans any grit from the greens and takes away a lot of the bitterness.  Right is right.  Also, by blanching the greens, you’ll reduce the cooking time for the sauteeing portion of the cooking.  Also, if you have a friend with impeccable knife skills, get them to chiffonade (thinly slice) these greens for you.  I get my friend Kate to do it when she is over, because the greens are wispy and perfect when she does it.  There’s something to be said for a skillful chop, and kids, she’s got it.

Although these are typically served with black beans and rice in Brazil, they are equally delicious with fresh fish, grilled chicken or steak.  Work them into your repertoire of side dishes for some serious garlicky goodness.  And speaking of garlic, if you use that prechopped garlic garbage in this recipe (or any of my recipes for that matter), just pick up your pan of greens and throw them in the garbage.  Fresh garlic is key, and if you don’t believe me, I want to punch you in the stomach.  Not really, but seriously, use fresh garlic.  Happy eating!

Couve (Brazilian-Style Collard Greens)

2 large bunches of collard greens
5 fat cloves of fresh garlic, minced
1/4 c. of olive oil
1/4 tsp. of salt
1/8 tsp. of black pepper

Put a large pot of heavily salted water on to boil.

Begin by rinsing the greens.  Place each green on a cutting board and cut out the middle, woody stem.  Stack the leaves and continue to prep the greens.  When you’ve got about 5-7 leaves prepped,  roll the leaves into a fat cigar and thinly slice as finely as you can, forming skinny strands like confetti.  Put the collard confetti in a bowl and continue to cut.

When the greens are cut and the water is boiling, dump the greens into the water and push them down so that they wilt and turn bright green.  You’ll only want them in the hot water for a minute or two.  Working quickly, drain the greens and then shock them by running cold water over them.  If you don’t shock them with the cold water, they will continue to cook and become to soft.  Drain greens well and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil until shimmering.  Add the collards, garlic, salt and pepper and toss in the olive oil.  Do not overcook – you basically want to coat the greens in the garlicky oil and then take them off the heat.  Your garlic will still be sharp and fragrant, and your collards bright green.  Serve immediately.

Lighten Up, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegan Dishes, Vegetarian Dishes

Greek-Style Oven Baked String Beans

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We always think of braising meats to bring out lovely, slow-cooked flavors, but what about veggies?  Just as vegetables are delicious barely cooked and raw, so too do they gain character from slow cooking.  Think of the beauty of caramelized onions, roasted eggplant or smoky greens.  This recipe takes advantage of the ability of fresh string beans to absorb savory, saucy goodness when slowly braised in the oven.  The Greeks often cook their green beans in tomato sauce until tender – this recipe is a spicy variation on that tradition.

Greek-Style Oven Braised String Beans © Spice or Die

These green beans are great because there’s no work in making them – just throw them in the oven and let them do their thing.  I like to make them with Pastitsio as a spicy side dish.  You can start these green beans in the oven and then prep your pastitsio.  By the time you put the pastitsio in the oven, both dishes will finish at the same time.

Greek-Style Oven Baked String Beans

1 lb. of fresh green beans, snipped of stems
3 small potatoes, sliced into thin half moons
4 cl. of garlic
1/2 onion, diced
1 c. of tomato sauce
1/3 c. of vegetable oil
1 c. of vegetable stock (can substitute chicken stock)
1 tsp. of oregano
1/4 tsp. of crushed red pepper
juice of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 375°.  Place all ingredients into a dutch oven or oven-safe pot with a lid.  Stir.  Bake covered for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the veggies are tender and sauce is bubbly.

Baked Goods, Breakfast and Brunch, Cheese Dishes, Egg Dishes, Main Courses, Recipes, Vegetarian Dishes

Green and Gold Quiche (Quiche Florentine with Mushrooms)

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I tend to hold on to recipes that have a “more the merrier” quality – this is certainly one of them.  If mushroom quiche is delicioso, and Quiche Florentine is equally lovely, what happens when you put the two together.  This recipe is based on one of my favorite omlettes, Elephant and Castle’s Green and Gold.  It combines gently cooked eggs with spinach and sharp white cheddar – I let my eggs cook delicately in the oven and add mushrooms for a little more veggie action.  It’s so delicious and so very easy, and you don’t have to stand over a pan to cook it.

All cheddars aren’t created equal, and in this recipe, you want as sharp as you can get it.  Sharp cheeses are good in that you can use less cheese to impart flavor, saving you calories in the process.  I use a good artisinal cheddar, but in a pinch, you could grab some Cracker Barrel Vermont Sharp White Cheddar and go from there. Continue reading Green and Gold Quiche (Quiche Florentine with Mushrooms) →

Recipes, Salads, Sauces and Condiments, Vegetarian Dishes

Buttermilk Poppy Seed Dressing

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I think that some of the best culinary moments are ones in which your tastebuds get a full dose of action – sweet, salty, savory, even bitter.  When all combined, it’s some absolute majesty.  This dressing is no exception – the allure of the tangy buttermilk combined with the sweet and tart cider vinegar is absolutely unbeatable.  And the poppy seeds give the whole mixture lovely color and added pizzaz.

Buttermilk Poppyseed Dressing © Spice or Die

If you aren’t in the habit of making your own salad dressing, you should definitely start.  Your salads will taste fresher and brighter, and it won’t cost you anything.  Most homemade salad dressings include staples that you already have in your pantry.  You’ll be saving yourself pennies, chemicals, and in many cases calories, by doing it yourself.

I use this dressing in place of warm bacon dressing on the classic Spinach Salad – a combination of baby spinach, red onion and hard boiled eggs.  However, it’s also delicious on arugula and other bitter greens that are livened up by a bit of sweetness.  Be creative and tuck this dressing recipe into your rolodex for something new and special.

 

Recipe for

Spinach Salad with Buttermilk Poppy Seed Dressing

Ingredients
1 tbs. of cider vinegar
1/4 c. of buttermilk
1/2 tsp. of salt
1/4 tsp. of black pepper
1/4 c. of vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. of poppy seeds

Combine all of the ingredients in a jar or plastic tupperware with a tight lid.  Shake and pour over salad of your choice.  Serve.

Easy to Prepare, Pasta Dishes, Recipes, Salads, Vegetarian Dishes

Greek Pasta Salad

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You Feta Believe It!

I’ve always been iffy about potlucks – while you get a lot of really excellent homemade treats from fellow cheffies, you always run the risk of tasting something god awful (or more likely, something that’s passable that you know that you could make better).  As such, I’m always juiced for recipes that are killers at parties – I won’t be subjecting others to questionable dishes, and if all is bad, I can just make a meal out of a little more of what I’ve brought.  It’s also a good trick for those with dietary restrictions – if you can’t trust others to feed you properly, bring food that will fit the bill.

Greek Pasta Salad © Spice or Die

I like this pasta salad because it’s made from simple ingredients that most people love, and the flavors are bright and tasty.  Nothing strange here – just crisp veggies and curly pasta sopping up lemony vinaigrette.  The whole mess gets an added treat from crumbles of feta and salty olives.  It’s so friggin’ simple, you’ll want to have some on hand in the fridge for an easy side dish on days when it’s too hot to turn on the oven. Continue reading Greek Pasta Salad →

Easy to Prepare, Lighten Up, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegan Dishes, Vegetarian Dishes

Simple Roasted Asparagus

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I’m constantly on the search for easy, inspiring side dishes.  When you are making use of fresh, locally sourced ingredients, it’s easy to avoid reaching for the bag of frozen corn as a quick accompaniment to your main course.  That being said, I get extremely lazy sometimes.  To the point where I don’t even want to boil a pot of water for anything or anyone.  When I get a case of the doldrums and asparagus is in season, this is my answer to the big question of “What the hell am I going to eat with this?”

Roasted Asparagus © Spice or Die

For you folks that don’t dig asparagus (like my hubby and sis for starters), you can use this exact same preparation to cook string beans and haricots verts.  And also cherry tomatoes on the vine.  All of which are gorgeous and couldn’t be simpler.  There you go – 3 options for those days that you couldn’t possibly peel yourself off the couch to make anything involved.

Simple Roasted Asparagus

1 lb. of asparagus
1/4 c. of olive oil
2 pinches of kosher salt
1 pinch of black pepper

Preheat oven to 450°.  Snap ends off asparagus spears (and save for stock for Cream of Asparagus Soup).  Toss asparagus in olive oil, salt and pepper and spread out evenly over a flat baking sheet.  Bake in the oven until crisp and tender (I know, an oxymoron) – about 10 minutes for thin asparagus (cigarette size) and 17 minutes for thick asparagus (cigar-sized).

Variations

If you want to brighten things up for the summertime, mix 2 tbs. of lemon zest and two tbs. of chopped parsley to make a gremolata.  Top asparagus with the mixture and serve.

Baked Goods, Breakfast and Brunch, Egg Dishes, Main Courses, Recipes, Vegetarian Dishes

Savory Breakfast Strata

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I’m a bacon and eggs girl all the way, and I believe in the savory goodness of a breakfast served 24 hours a day.  And given my proclivities to resurrecting leftovers with simple ingredients lying around, a strata is a glorious combination of toasted bread and eggy custard, studded with your favorite toppings.  Bacon, mushrooms, spinach, chard, cheese, tomatoes, peppers, you name it – if you can put it in an omlette, you can most likely include it in a strada.

Savory Mushroom Strada  © Spice or Die

I love this recipe for brunch guests for a couple of reasons.  It’s a great make ahead recipe that requires little to no babysitting.  Assemble leisurely and pop into the oven an hour before you want to eat.  Drink mimosas until it’s time.  Another thing I love is that this recipe rarely involves a trip to the grocery store – if you save your old bread when it gets too hard to eat, and just pluck some choice toppings from the fridge, you are in business.  Worst case scenario, you have to go to the store for eggs and cream.  Lastly, and most importantly, when this comes out of the oven, it looks incredibly impressive for being absolutely no work.  The best kind of recipe there is.

If you are watching your waistline, you can absolutely make this recipe with egg beaters in lieu of eggs and fat-free evaporated milk instead of the cream.  It is not as luxe, but it tastes damn good for having little to no fat.  You’ll just need to figure out what you want to do about the 2 c. of cheese and 1 c. of filling – if you use full fat cheese and say, bacon, don’t assume that it’s full fat.  Canadian bacon, good veggies, and a bit of sharp cheese (you need less because the taste is stronger) are good alternatives.  I don’t even want to talk about fat-free cheese – why waste the calories on tasteless drivel.  Lemme tell you how I really feel (ha!)

Ok, breakfast time!

Savory Breakfast Strata

3 c. of old bread, cubed (or fresh bread, cubed and toasted with a bit of olive oil)
4 eggs
1 1/4 c. of cream
1/8 tsp. of salt
1/8 tsp. of nutmeg
1/8 tsp. of white pepper
1/8 tsp. of black pepper
2 c. of grated cheese (sharp cheddar, swiss, provolone, mozzarella, fontina, etc. – definitely blend types)
1 c. of cooked meat and/or veggies (chopped bacon, ham or prosciutto, spinach, swiss chard, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, caramelized onions, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease a medium sized casserole or small ramekins with cooking spray or butter (I used some el cheapo parchement rounds from Sur La Table for the version in the photo above).  Sprinkle 1/2 c. of the cheese on the bottom of the ramekins or casserole.  Place on a cookie sheet and set aside.

In a large bowl, toss the bread cubes with the one cup of your choice of meat and veggies, and 1 c. of the cheese.  Dump into the casserole dish or split amongst the ramekins.  Using the same bowl, beat the eggs, cream, nutmeg, salt, black pepper and white pepper.  Pour the custard over the bread, pushing down on the cubes to make sure that they are all saturated with the liquid.  Let sit for about 5 minutes and then gently push the cubes down a second time.  Top with the remaining 1/2 c. of cheese and then put the pan in the oven.  Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the center is no longer jiggly and the strata has puffed up like a soufflé.

Serve hot, or wait a bit and eat at room temperature.

Appetizers and Small Plates, Easy to Prepare, Lighten Up, Recipes, Vegan Dishes, Vegetarian Dishes

Tomato Bruschetta

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I’m hoping that by posting this recipe, I’ll be making my sister Lexi really, really, really inspired to start making this for herself.  It’s her favorite – probably in the top five things that I make that she loves the most.  And accomplished chef and baker she may be, she always cons me into making it for her.  Maybe it’s like how I feel about a good grilled cheese – I can make it for myself, but it tastes so much better when someone else makes one for me.  Come to think of it, Lexi makes my favorite grilled cheese of all time – Tilamook cheddar, feta cheese and a tomato on slices from a pullman loaf.  Maybe we were meant to be sisters.

Tomato Bruschetta © Spice or Die

There are very few ingredients in this bruschetta, so you have to use the best ingredients possible.  Fresh ripe tomatoes, leafy basil and fruity olive oil make all the difference.  This topper is killer on toasted ciabatta, baguette rounds brushed with olive oil and baked, or even focaccia.  If carbs aren’t your thing, try it atop chicken paillard (or a simply grilled chicken cutlet) and a handful of arugula.  It’s a bistro meal without a ton of calories.  You can also toss this bruschetta with boiled, cooled potatoes and blanched string beans for my absolute favorite salad of all time (similar to my Potatoes Vinaigrette).

Tomato Bruschetta © Spice or Die

This bruschetta doubles and triples easily – make enough for friends, but not enough for leftovers.  It’s best eaten the same day before the tomatoes become soggy and too acidic.  It’s a carpe diem kind of recipe, so tuck in post haste.

Tomato Bruschetta

2 c. of chopped tomatoes
1 shallot, finely diced
3/4 tsp. of salt
1/4 tsp. of black pepper
5 tbs. of olive oil
2 tbs. of red wine vinegar
7 leaves of fresh basil, stacked, rolled and thinly sliced
toasted bread or crostini

Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, shallot and basil to a bowl.  Toss with olive oil and vinegar.  Taste for seasoning.  Top crusty slices of bread with a few tablespoons of bruschetta and serve with sprigs of basil for garnish.  Or put out the bread and bruschetta and let people assemble for themselves.  For non-vegans, you can serve bruschetta topped with slices of buffala mozzarella as an added treat.

Cheese Dishes, Low Brow Treats, Main Courses, Pasta Dishes, Recipes, Vegetarian Dishes

Classic Mac and Cheese

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Melt My Heart

Classic mac and cheese has to be in the pantheon of ultimate comfort foods.  Of the folks that deign to make their own from scratch, they each seem to have their own secret recipe that is tailored to their unique tastes.  Mine is a perfect reflection of my love of spice and texture – I give the sauce heat with a slew of different piquant ingredients, and add crunch with a lovely dose of panko (japanese bread crumbs).  It’s some majesty.

Classic Mac and Cheese © Spice or Die

There are two schools of homemade mac and cheese recipes – one where the sauce is made from a cooked bechamel, and the other which is made from an uncooked custard of eggs and cream that form a sauce upon baking.  I’m in the bechamel school – it’s how I learned to make it from my mom, and we all know that mama is always right.  If you’ve never made a bechamel before, it’s an incredibly simple and versatile sauce that you’ll be happy to have in your culinary repertoire.  I make my bechamel extra savory with a secret ingredient – grated onion.  The bits of onion, cut with a box grater on the fine setting, manage to melt into the sauce, imparting flavor without you tasting distinct bits of onion.  Secret ingredients should be just that – a secret.

This mac and cheese is interesting as leftovers – the sauce turns into a solid custard, which is deliciously guilty when eaten cold.  It’s incredibly easy to cut into squares, which is why I can image Paula Deen (who just so happens to be in the egg custard school of mac and cheese) has fun breading and deep frying chunks of leftover mac and cheese.  I personally don’t do this, but I won’t look at you funny if you decide to give it a try.  Comfort food should do what you will it to, and if you want to deep fry, there’s no time better than the present.

For my darling vegan friends, I have perfected the most luscious version of this recipe with absolutely no dairy.  I’ll post it as soon as I make a batch and snap some pics.

Classic Mac and Cheese

1 lb. of elbow macaroni
4 tbs. of butter
4 tbs. of flour
1/4 c. of grated onion, juices and all
4 c. of milk
2 tsp. of salt
1/8 tsp. of paprika
1/4 tsp. of black pepper
1/8 tsp. of white pepper
2 tsp. of worchestershire sauce
2 tsp. of deli mustard
pinch of cayenne pepper
4 c. of extra sharp cheddar, shredded
2 c. of colby jack, shredded
1/2 c. of panko bread crumbs (or plain bread crumbs)
1/4 tsp. of paprika
1/4 tsp. of black pepper
2 tbs. of grated parmasean

Preheat oven to 400°.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Cook pasta until al dente and drain.

While pasta is boiling, make your sauce.  In a large sized pot, melt your butter on medium-low heat.  Whisk the flour into the butter to form a smooth paste.  Add the grated onion and stir.  Slowly add the milk in a steady stream, whisking the whole time to prevent lumps.  Add the salt, paprika, black pepper, white pepper, worchestershire sauce, mustard and cayenne.  Turn up heat and continue whisking until sauce thickens.  Turn off the heat and add the 4 c. of cheese and whisk until melted.

Dump macaroni into the pot with the sauce and stir.  Pour out macaroni and sauce into a buttered dish.  In a small bowl, mix the 2 cups of colby jack, panko, paprika, black pepper and parmasean.  Top the macaroni with the cheese mixture.  Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until the top is bubbly and golden.  Let sit for 4-5 minutes and then serve.

Easy to Prepare, Recipes, Salads, Vegetarian Dishes

Mixed Greens with Clementines and Pecans

Oh My Darlin’, Oh My Darlin’

I love this salad because it screams Springtime even though it’s made with ingredients that are delicious in the winter.  When you are feeling that your menus are lugubrious with heavy stews and dull, overcooked madness, you should give this a try.  From the crunch of pecans, tartness of juicy clementines, and a light rice wine vinegar dressing to wake it all up, you will swear that winter is long gone and warmer days are on the way.

Mixed Greens with Clementines and Pecans © Spice or Die

Use the greens that look the freshest at the market when you go shopping – I like frisee and arugula together, because the bitterness is well-contrasted with the sweet bits of clementine.  You can, though, use anything that you see that should be on your plate – mesclun, red leaf, radicchio and butter lettuce all work as well.

Mixed Greens with Clementines and Pecans

6 c. of arugula, loosely packed
2 c. of frisee, loosely packed
2 clementines, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1/3 c. of chopped pecans
1/3 c. of crumbled ricotta salata

4 tbs. of olive oil
2 tbs. of rice wine vinegar
1 tbs. of dried tarragon
1/4 tsp. of salt
1/4 tsp. of black pepper
1 tbs. of shallots, finely chopped

Add greens, clementines, pecans and ricotta salata to a bowl.  In a jar (or a plastic chinese soup container, like I use), shake together the oil, vinegar, tarragon, salt, pepper and shallots.  Pour the dressing on the sides of the salad bowl (so as to not oversaturate the greens) and toss.  Serve salad to people longing for a little sunshine.