Black bean and seitan tostadas

February 12, 2011 at 2:23 pm (B plus (3.5 stars, like a lot), Beans, breakfast, Derek's faves, Mexican & S. American, Peter Berley, Quick weeknight recipe, Salads, Seitan)

I brought back a big stack of very fresh corn tortillas from Austin.  The first thing I did with them was throw together some bean and cheese tortillas one morning.  But something was wrong–neither Derek nor I liked them that much.  So I decided to try Peter Berley’s Fresh Food Fast recipe for black bean tostadas with seitan.   The black bean mixture turned out much better than my improvised version. Read the rest of this entry »

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Provençal garlic and herb broth

February 12, 2011 at 1:37 pm (B plus (3.5 stars, like a lot), French, Necessarily nonvegan, Peter Berley, soup, Spring recipes, Winter recipes)

This recipe makes up the second half of winter menu number five from Peter Berley’s Fresh Food Fast.   Last January in Segovia, Spain I had a bowl of garlic soup that was quite satisfying.  It was a rich garlic broth with olive oil and little tiny tendrils of egg.  I was hoping that this provençal garlic and herb broth would be similar.  Berley’s head notes say this pungent broth (made from plenty of garlic and herbs) is a traditional hangover cure in southern France and Spain.  He seems to imply that it doesn’t normally have egg in it, because he says “to make it more substantial I enrich it with egg and serve it over croutons with grated parmesan cheese.”  I think it’s funny that he added more cheese to a menu that was already swimming in smoked mozzarella (from the bean salad).  But, nonetheless, I followed his instructions to a T. Read the rest of this entry »

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Warm white bean salad with sun-dried tomatoes and smoked mozzarella

February 12, 2011 at 1:07 pm (Beans, Beans and greens, Dark leafy greens, Fall recipes, Necessarily nonvegan, Peter Berley, Salads, unrated, Winter recipes)

Derek chose this recipe from the winter section of Peter Berley’s Fresh Food Fast.  I had a white bean and smoked cheese dish years ago at a friend’s place in Chicago.  It was excellent.  I was hoping that this dish would bring some of the same flavors together.  The technique is pretty simple.  You saute up carrots, celery, onions, garlic, rosemary, and red pepper flakes, then add a little water and let the vegetables steam briefly.  Then the white beans, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella, and red wine vinegar are stirred in.  Finally you toss the whole thing with arugula and chopped parsley. Read the rest of this entry »

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