Veggie - - Page 30

by Miss K

Labels are for Soup Cans

It is a question I’ve had to answer again and again. If it doesn’t come up the first time meeting me (what tipped you off — the obviously thrift store jeans or the decrepit Earth shoes?) I know it still dwells in my new friend’s/coworker’s/grocery store checker’s mind. Maybe they open my fridge for another beer and encounter a meat drawer full of cheese. Perhaps they suspiciously eye my container of leftover tofu pad Thai. Whatever sparks it, I always know it’s lurking below the surface like Jaws, if Jaws ate black beans instead of people. “Are you a vegetarian?”

The answer, strictly speaking, is no. The answer, compared to most Americans, is basically, yes. I first heard the term flexitarian a few years back, and I actually suppressed a gag reflex. Sorry ES, I know they once received a nomination for eater of the year, but I am not ready to unite my eating habits with the soy hemp pomegranate latte crowd. At a recent foodie gala thing, I overheard someone say, “I don’t know what I’m going to eat when I go home because this is my first Thanksgiving as a pescatarian.” Cue aforementioned gag reflex, and accompanying eye roll. I mean, come on, you could practically cut the sanctimony with a fillet knife. Blech.

So, my answer, like most real ones, is, it’s complicated. I like happy meat from happy cows and you likely won’t find any animal parts in my fridge unless my husband has a hankering for sausage on his homemade deep dish pizza. One coworker dubbed all of my leftovers “nut-berry casserole.” But…I believe in hospitality, both giving and receiving, so I will eat (and enjoy) any lovingly prepared food, animal or otherwise. Don’t knock the West Virginia pickled hot dog ‘til you’ve tried it. And if the only place to watch the Illini game is Buffalo Wild Wings, bring on the hot and spicy wing platter.

I don’t think telling you how great vegetarianism is will convert you any more than telling you how often I go to church is going to make you a Christian. But St. Camillus does have a fabulous 10:30 mass if you ever care to join me, and if you come for lunch afterward, I dare you to leave any nut-berry casserole, I mean Gado Gado, on your plate.

Gado Gado (A dish so nice they named it twice)

by gansie

Resist the Jerky at Seattle Farmers’ Markets

If you want to understand a new city don’t go on that dumb duck tour. Instead, find a farmers’ market.

Ask questions of the vendors. Sample local food, it’s better than any other breakfast.

A cheese made in the temperate Pacific Northwest will taste different than a cheese made from cows raised in searing heat. Each state has different rules on selling alcohol, so wine, cider and mead sips can be found at Seattle markets.

You can even find alcohol (although not as much as NyQuil) in the ancient Asian tea, Kombucha.

in Cheese / Fish / Photos / Veggie 2 comments

by BS

Kuri Squash Soup

It’s that time of year when all of us farmers’ market junkies are literally begging the growers to show up with something besides squash and potatoes. Keep heart, folks — another month and we’ll be in the clear. In the meantime, why not make it a winter cooking mission to try using every type of squash they have at the far mar? One in particular I’ve always passed up is the kuri squash — those round, orangey-red ones that look something like a mini-pumpkin with gross, rough edges.

Chef David Bazrigan, who just recently took over the kitchen at San Francisco’s Fifth Floor restaurant, sent over this suprisingly simple recipe for turning those ugly little buggers into a beautiful kuri squash soup. Full recipe — and a bonus photo gallery of Chef Bazrigan’s food — after the jump.

in Featured / Photos / Recipe / Restaurants / Veggie 7 comments

by gansie

A Different Type of Super Bowl Grub

Never afraid to objectify women, PETA’s latest campaign for an animal cruelty-free world certainly plays up the old notion that certain vegetables look just like men’s certain private parts.

In honor of Super Bowl XLV, here is a NSFW preview of the most offense commercial you will (probably not) see Sunday night.

in Veggie 3 comments

by gansie

The Garnish Debate: Call Me a Rebel

As a little kid I remember parsley garnishes mystifying me. Why did curly greens occupy so much space on my plate—and it’s not even Passover?

But the parsley garnish, for garnish sake, no longer visits our tables. Instead, garnishes spring from what’s in the dish, if a dish is garnished at all. Use cilantro in a sauce, use cilantro as a garnish. Use kumquat in a cupcake, use a kumquat slice as garnish.

David Rocco of Cooking Channel‘s Dolce Vita reiterated this fact in a recent episode, refusing to add a leafy green to top a pasta dish since the dish did not contain it. Instead he cracked fresh pepper on top, silently communicating his heavy usage of pepper in the dish.

Rocco’s commandment popped in my head as I decorated a sweet potato and lentil soup with black mustard seeds.

in Rants & Raves / Trends / Veggie 3 comments

by gansie

Eggs and Sweet Potatoes with Cottage Cheese Chipotle Sauce

It’s been happening more this winter. Last Saturday Bennett and I stayed in and watched a high-pitched, giggling Mozart in Amadeus. And this Saturday, after a large group birthday dinner for a friend, we snuck off for our sweats and lumpy couch; I pined for young (handsome and bumbling) Hugh Grant and attacked the acting ability of Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral. And is it just me, but wasn’t it difficult to determine the (link is a spoiler!) gay couple until the very end? I guess that’s 1994 for you.

Because of our tame night, breakfast became more than the usual scrambled eggs and bagels. I decided our first meal should include vegetables, particularly sweet potatoes, after I read this glowing article from the NYT.

Eggs and Sweet Potatoes with Cottage Cheese-Chipotle Sauce

in Breakfast / Eggs / Recipe / Veggie 4 comments

by Miss K

The Unfortunate Fungus Incident

One of my favorite foodie books (an ever-growing category if ever there was) is Hungry Monkey: A Food-loving Father’s Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater by Matthew Amster-Burton. My own 4-month-old monkey is still happily gorging himself day and multiple times each night on breast milk, and is growing steadily rounder as a result. However, as a godmother to two just-turned-four-year-olds, I found myself nodding along with many of the book’s tales.

One moment that remains caught between the teeth of my memory is when the author describes how he spent hours lovingly seasoning and reducing a pot of split-peas and ham in order to disguise some leftovers for yet another post-holiday meal. After he finally perfects the rich green broth, he confidently places it on the table for his family’s presumed enjoyment. His daughter inspects the bowl, smiles sweetly, and says something like, “But daddy, you know that I don’t like soup.” That’s right. Not peas, not ham, not green food. No, she has determined that she cannot stomach an entire category of cuisine, an entire course. Let me just say — I feel you, man.

in Cheese / Personal / Recipe / Veggie 1 comments