Black Bean, Brown Rice & Kale Salsa Bowl

I'm trying out the "no sugar, no flour" lifestyle after two friends have had great weight loss success following this plan.  As you are relying on grains and starchy vegetables for carbs on this plan and there's lots of fresh vegetables and proteins to prepare, you have to commit to a fair amount of food prep (no grabbing a quick bagel!).  This Black Bean, Brown Rice & Kale Salsa Bowl was actually a quick and easy dinner recipe that fit the bill.

I "cheated" by using Trader Joe's frozen organic brown rice, canned black beans, and Casa Sanchez Medium Salsa Roja.  With fresh dinosaur kale, cilantro and some sliced black olives, it was a hearty vegan bowl of goodness that kept me satiated till breakfast.  Using fresh salsa as a base also allows you to add a lot of flavor without having to saute onions and garlic in oil, thus making this a very low fat dish to boot.

Here's the easy recipe...

Black Bean, Brown Rice & Kale Salsa Bowl:

1 bunch kale, stems removed, torn into strips
1/3 cup vegetable stock or water
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
Fresh Salsa ( your favorite), as desired
Sliced black olives
Chopped cilantro

Put the kale strips into a wide saucepan or high-edged skillet and add the vegetable stock or water. Cover and cook, tossing occasionally, until the kale is almost tender.

Combine the remaining ingredients with the kale and heat, stirring thoroughly. Add the fresh cilantro and enjoy!

(4 servings)

Chickpea, Broccoli & Olive Salad

Although I love hummus, chickpeas aren't my favorite legume.  I enjoy their nuttiness, but they seem to  require a strong flavor profile to make them truly appealing.  So for this salad, I sauteed the chickpeas in olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, cumin, sumac and harissa to add plenty of flavor. I added tiny broccoli florettes, but cooked them lightly to make sure they retained their crunch appeal, then added briny sliced black olives.  Fresh lemon juice and a combination of champagne and sherry vinegar added depth and I adjusted the heat with cayenne pepper.

The final steps included feta, pine nuts, chopped cilantro, a little lemon olive oil and S&P to taste.  

The result was a chickpea salad I couldn't stop eating!

Another great option for a high-protein, healthy salad on-the-go!  I got my sumac and harissa from Williams-Sonoma, but if you don't have these spices on hand, don't let that stop you from trying this recipe.  Fresh lemon juice and cayenne will make this dish sing, but don't skip the cumin.

Leek & Potato Salad

While the weather here in Northern California has been oddly inconsistent the last few days, it certainly has a Spring feel. But there's still some wonderful root vegetables at the Farmers' Market, so here's a transitional picnic recipe of Leek & Potato Salad.

This flavorful salad makes the most of delectable root vegetables while avoiding that creamy mayo fat-fest. The leeks are braised in a saucepan, first with butter (or vegan butter), then a little white wine is added to impart depth and flavor. Add some water and allow the leeks to cook until soft with some salt and pepper. Dice some new potatoes and place them in a saucepan with water and salt. Bring to a boil and cook until not quite tender. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process.  Add the potatoes and some capers to the leeks and cook for two minutes.  Whip up a vinaigrette of olive oil, champagne vinegar, dijon mustard and salt and pepper. Add to the potato-leek mixture and allow to marinate for 1 hour. The leek to potato mix should be 50/50.

Enjoy!

Millennium Cooking Class: Easter 2013

Last weekend,  I enjoyed an eggless Easter extravaganza at another delicious and entertaining cooking class at Millennium, San Francisco's most delectable vegan restaurant. Executive Chef extraordinaire Eric Tucker led the Spring-themed culinary celebration, highlighting the season's fabulous Farmers' market offerings.  Some participants were following a gluten-free diet, always a good thing in my opinion, as the recipes frequently involve a fav tasty ingredient of mine, chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour.

Even though in claswe traditionally start off by making dessert first, we'll start this story with salad, more specifically with two Beet & Avocado Salad variations.  Above,  the architectural offering of spiral cut root vegetables over an Indian-spiced guacamole with a quick saute of cumin seeds, curry leaves, and minced garlic.  The dramatic red sauce is a roasted beet vinaigrette, again with Indian spices (cumin seeds, mustard seeds, crushed cardamom pods, turmeric and chile), combined with grapeseed oil and balsamic vinegar.  Thrown by that last combination of ingredients?  You're in good company - I was too! But, you know, Eric knows a thing or two and it was darned tasty!  The other group combined their Indian Beet Vinaigrette with grilled avocado, fennel, and grapefruit (pictured below):

Next we have two versions of edamame gnocchi with mushrooms, the version below used chickpea flower, along with edamame and potatoes, and was served with a side of stinging nettle-pistachio pesto, which was absolutely delicious. Keep in mind, you need to blanche those pesky stinging nettles to get rid of the sting, so use tongs:

The second version used fresh yuba (tofu skin) which may just be the most delicious fried food on the planet. Our group had the happy accident of including the green tea togarashi (side) ingredients (sesame seed, chile flake, nori, green tea and salt) into the edamame, but it all came out well in the end.  A reduced Oolong tea, tamari and chile sauce was spooned on top :

A dengaku (Japanese method of miso-glazed grilled foods) of asparagus, mushrooms and spring onions, served in a lettuce leaf spoke to the Spring season:

English pea pakoras with carrot marmalade were our fried seasonal indulgence:

The plate was rounded out with Kimchi griddle cakes blackened eggplant:

Indian papadom crisps (made with chickpea flour) accented the salad plate:

Dessert is always a vegan-fest at Millennium classes.  This time around we made Strawberry Cashew crust tart with black pepper pastry cream (coconut milk, vanilla bean, agar), and served this with a Thyme Ice Cream (not pictured).  Yum!

Thanks to Eric, Ann, Thomas & newbie Alan and, of course, my fab classmates for making this class another awesome cooking experience. 

Cheers!

Here are links to my posts on my many previous Millennium cooking classes:

*Sept. 2012 Cooking Class
*June 2012 Cooking Class

* July 2011 Class

Chile Class 2011

July 2011 Class

Mushroom Cooking Class January 2011

Sept.2010 Cooking Class

July 2010 Cooking Class

June 2010 Cooking Class

Spring Cooking Class 2010

Chiles Cooking Class 2009

July Cooking Class 2009

June Cooking Class 2009

Spring Cooking Class 2009

Mushroom Cooking Class

Holiday Cooking Class

Fall Harvest 2008

Indian Summer

Southern Comfort Cooking Class

Spring Cooking Class

Fall Harvest Cooking Class

Chiles Class

Tomato Class

Passover Recipes: Matzo Lasagna & Vegetarian Matzo Ball Soup

Looking for tasty Passover dishes? Indulgent Matzo Lasagna is one of my most viewed recipes and you can't go wrong with my vegetarian Matzo Ball Soup:

MATZO LASAGNA

Looking for a tasty recipe for Passover? Check out this recipe for Matzo Lasagna. It's a crowd pleaser!

Like any great lasagna, this recipe includes ricotta cheese, spinach, mozzarella, Parmesan, tomato sauce, garlic and fresh oregano:

But it uses Matzo in place of the pasta sheets:

The trick is to soak the matzo in warm water (or wine), so it's not too dry and crumbly. Otherwise, you could follow any vegetarian lasagna dish and simply substitute soaked matzo for the pasta.

MATZO LASAGNA

9 pieces matzo, softened in warm water or wine

Your favorite marinara sauce

1 pound ricotta cheese, part skim if possible

5 cups of spinach - chopped fine

1 tablespoon oregano

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 cup Parmasean cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese

Put the ricotta in a bowl and mix with the spinach, spices, 1/4 cup of the parmesan and 1/4 c. of the mozzarella.

Cover the bottom of a baking pan with some of the matzo. Cover with some of the sauce. Cover sauce with 1/3 of the cheese mixture.

Put some more matzo on top of the cheese and continue the process until all is used up making sure that top of lasagna is matzo and some sauce.

On the top, spread the remaining mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until cooked through.

Enjoy!

Farmers' Market Matzo Ball Soup:

I box of matzo ball mix (mine required 2 eggs, and some vegetable oil)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 large stalks of green garlic, sliced

1 medium leek, sliced

3 baby potatoes, diced

1-1/2 cups of sliced carrots (I used red, yellow, and orange)

32 fl oz organic vegetable broth (I used Trader Joe's)

I cup water

1 tsp green olive paste

1/3 cup chopped parsley

salt & pepper

Prepare the matzo balls according to the directions. I had to refridgerate mine for 15 minutes. Be sure to make the balls small; they'll swell with cooking.

In a soup pot, heat the vegetable oil and add the green garlic, leek and diced potatoes. Cover and cook over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the carrots and vegetable broth, water, and bring the to a boil. Add the matzo balls and turn to a simmer. Add the green olive paste and half of the chopped parsely. Simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes. Season, and add the rest of the parsley. Serve!

St. Patrick's Day Quiche with Kale, Leeks & Potato

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

As we've been enjoying sunny warm weather here, this year's St. Patrick's Day dish took traditional Irish ingredients and turned them into a light, flavorful quiche.  Kale, leeks, potatoes and Irish Cheddar made a delicious combination with the eggs and crisp pastry crust.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

I boiled some little fingerling potatoes and dino kale separately until just tender. I sliced the cooked potatoes and drained the kale, squeezed as much water out of the cooked kale as I could, then chopped it fine.  A leek was sliced then sauteed in lovely, salty Kerrygold butter, then I added the kale to the leeks as soon as I turned off the heat to dry it out a little more.

I use a quiche custard recipe adapted from The Green's Cookbook by Deborah Madison. I use 2 eggs, plus one egg yolk, which are beaten with enough half-and-half to make a total of 1 1/2 cups of custard.  Add some sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

I used a premade frozen pie crust. I always put it on a baking sheet before I add the custard so it easily makes it to the oven without spilling.  I covered the bottom of the crust with grated Kerrygold Irish cheddar cheese, added 2/3 of the kale/leek mixture over the top and placed some potato slices evenly around the quiche. I then add the egg custard and top it off with the rest of the kale/leeks mixture a few more potato slices and a little more grated cheddar.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until a sharp knife in the center produces no liquid.

Pretty and delicious!

For more St. Patrick's Day recipe, follow the link below.

St. Patrick's Day recipes from previous years

Lentil, Farro, Asparagus & Mushroom Salad

Spring just around the corner, and good-quality and reasonably-priced asparagus making a show in our local stores inspired this delicious, high-protein, vegan salad of lentils, farro, roasted asparagus and portobello mushrooms.

It took quite a few pans to create this healthful dish, but it's still easy to make and worth the washing up.   I cheated by using Trader Joe's pre-cooked lentils (3/4 cup), but you'd never know by tasting it.  I roasted 1 lb cut asparagus in the oven with a tiny amount of TJ's Roasted Walnut oil and sea salt (400 for 20-25 minutes).  The farro was also TJ's 10 minute Farro, which I simmered in water for 10 minutes, left for 5 minutes, then drained and fluffed (2/3 cup cooked). The portobellos (1 1/2 large) were cut into 1 inch pieces and fried with a little olive oil and minced garlic and a dash of balsamic vinegar. I also caramelized a shallot in a little olive oil.  The ingredients were all combined with salt and pepper, a little more roasted walnut oil, some citrus champagne vinegar to add spark, fresh basil and a handful of pine nuts.

It's hard to beat the satisfaction when a dish turns out exactly how you have envisioned it! Super healthy, but this one's all about the taste. Enjoy!