Quinoa and pinto bean loaf
I have recently acquired a new cookbook, and so according to my one in, one out policy, one of my old cookbooks has got to go. Scanning the shelf, Ron Pickarski’s book Friendly Foods caught my eye. It’s a vegan cookbook published in 1991, and written by a Franciscan monk. It includes quite a few seitan, tempeh, and tofu recipes, and a whole section on recipes for which the author won a medal in the Culinary Olympics! I used Friendly Foods a few times in college, but (as far as I recall) not since then. It seemed a good choice to pass on. But I couldn’t get rid of it without giving it at least one last chance to wow me. So Derek and I sat down and picked a few recipes to try. The first one I made was this quinoa loaf. It’s mostly quinoa mixed with celery, pinto beans, some other veggies, and seasonings. It sounded a bit strange but I like quinoa a lot and I had just made a pot of pinto beans, so I decided I’d give it a try. Read the rest of this entry »
Chard and leek crustless quiche
Derek chose the chard, celery, and leek tortino recipe from Union Square Cafe, and I bought all the ingredients, but when it came down to it I just couldn’t do it. The recipe had so much cheese, cream, butter, and eggs in it, and last time I made a chard and celery recipe from that cookbook we weren’t so thrilled with it. So I chickened out and used the ricotta to make the savory zucchini cheesecake that I just posted about. I used the chard, leeks, and cream to make a crustless version of this leek and swiss chard tart from Smitten Kitchen, originally from Bon Appetit. Read the rest of this entry »
Savory zucchini dill cheesecake
I bought a ton of ricotta to make a recipe (I no longer remember which one), then changed my mind and needed to do something with all the ricotta. I thought about making lasagna but wanted something a little less time-consuming, and Derek found this recipe for a savory zucchini ricotta cheesecake on 101 cookbooks. Read the rest of this entry »
Spring vegetable pasta
It’s unusual to find a light, vegetable-inspired recipe on the Cook’s Illustrated website, so I was intrigued when I saw their recent recipe for a spring pasta dish with leeks, asparagus, peas, mint, chive, and lemon. The ingredient list sounded delicious, and the technique was interesting as well. They toast the pasta in the oil and then cook it in a small amount of liquid, like risotto. The sauce is made from just vegetable broth, a moderate amount of olive oil, and white wine, and they claim it is “light but lustrous and creamy”. Supposedly the starch from the pasta helps it thicken up. Read the rest of this entry »
The captious vegetarian 