Archive for Vegetable Recipes
November 10, 2009 at 4:24 pm
· Filed under Vegetable Recipes ·Tagged gruyere cheese, homemade scalloped potatoes, scalloped potatoes, scalloped potatoeswith leeks, scalloped red potatoes, swiss cheese
Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
- Ready to go into the oven.
Potatoes are extremely versatile. That being said, you almost can’t go wrong with adding in a potato side dish to an evening meal. I added leeks to my scalloped potatoes because I love their mellow flavor and I like bit of green peaking out of the layers of potatoes. In the past, I’ve used a layer or two of slice zucchini which look beautiful particularly if the zucchini rounds are the same size as the slices of potato. You can experiment by using other varieties of potatoes.
Scalloped Potatoes with Leeks
Ingredients
2 1/2 lbs red potatoes, sliced
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 leeks, white and light green parts, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
pinch of nutmeg
3/4 tsp Kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
3 cups milk (I used 1%)
1 1/4 cups swiss cheese, shredded
Method
Prepared shallow, 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray. In a 4-quart Dutch oven, add potatoes, water just to cover potatoes, and salt. Bring to a boil and and cook for 5 minutes. Drain potatoes and return to Dutch oven to dry out.
In a large saucepan over medium heat, add butter. Once melted, add leeks and garlic. Stir until softened but no color (about 4 to 5 minutes). Stir in flour and next 4 ingredients. Add milk and cook over medium heat until sauce begins to thicken and bubbles gently. Stir in 3/4 cup of shredded cheese. Remove from heat. Pour cheese sauce over potatoes and gently fold until potatoes are coated with cheese sauce. Transfer potatoes to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle remaining cheese.
Bake in 325 oven for 35 minutes until edges are bubbling and cheese has turned golden.
Yield: 12 servings
Kitchen Note: Parmesan cheese may also be added before baking. Or, replace Swiss with Gruyere. These potatoes reheat beautifully the next day in the microwave.
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September 23, 2009 at 9:25 pm
· Filed under Pasta Sauce, Vegetable Recipes ·Tagged marinara sauce, how to make marinara sauce, marinara sauce recipe, how to peel a tomato, tomato sauce with vegetables, easy marinara recipe
There are literally millions of ways to prepare a great tasting tomato sauce. There are those that are passed down from generation to generation, given to a friend, found in a favortite cookbook or made from ingredients had on hand. This sauce falls into the latter category and stems from having an abundance of tomatoes in the garden (they always seem to ripen at once!). Did I forget to mention those that are found on blogs and wonderful sites like epicurious? Give this one a try – you can’t make a mistake. And, if you don’t have an ingredient, it’s a very forgiving recipe.
Fresh Marinara Sauce
Ingredients
6 large, ripe tomatoes
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup carrot, diced
1 bay leaf
splash (or two) of dry, white wine
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Peel and seed tomatoes. Set aside.
In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. When pan is hot, add onion stirring until translucent (about 7-8 minutes). Add garlic and stir constantly for 2 minutes. Garlic should have some color but not brown. Add celery and carrot. Saute for 7 more minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add bay leaf, prepared tomatoes, white wine and season with salt and pepper. Turn up heat to high and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Lower heat and let simmer for 1 hour.
Remove bay leaf. Let sauce cool for 30 minutes. In batches, puree sauce in the bowl of a food processor. Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed. Toss with hot pasta or freeze in a freezer-safe container for up to 1 month.
Yield: 2 1/2 cups
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September 21, 2009 at 8:48 pm
· Filed under Vegetable Recipes ·Tagged adding pistou to soup, fresh basil, how to make pistou, pesto recipe, pistou recipe
To heighten the flavors of the vegetable soup I served at dinner last night, I made a simple pistou. As I had mentioned in yesterday’s post, pistou hails from France and is used to flavor soups, typically a vegetable and bean soup. You’ll also note that traditional pistou is no more than fresh basil, garlic and olive oil, ground down into a paste with a mortar and pestle. It’s robust, but simple. What could be more simple than 3 ingredients?
In my recipe, I added Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese (also found in pesto) and of course, you’ll want to season with salt and pepper. As a time saver, I used my food processor but I applaud those of you that plan to use a mortar and pestle.
Ingredients
1 cup fresh basil, packed
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese, freshly grated
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method:
Combine basil, garlic and cheese in bowl of a food processor. Slowly add oil until paste forms. Adjust oil consistency by adding more if needed. Season with salt and pepper.
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September 20, 2009 at 8:12 pm
· Filed under Calling all kids!, Vegetable Recipes ·Tagged adding pistou to vegetable soup, pistou, pistou recipe, soup with vegetables, vegetable soup, vegetable soup with macaroni, vegetable soup with pistou
You’d think I belonged to a CSA with all of the vegetables I have on the counter and in our vegetable drawers. It’s a Sunday afternoon and I’ve decided a soup is the way to go. I’m adding in a fresh tomato puree (a bumper crop of tomatoes from our garden this year), but I’m using a store-bought chicken stock to save time. Although, I’m a big advocate of making your own stock – it’s rather easy.
To appeal to the kids, I’m boiling up Organic Alphabet Pasta from Trader Joe’s. You can certainly add any pasta from your pantry. It’s a great way to use up those almost-gone bags of pasta, just be sure to add your cooked pasta into each indiviual bowl and then ladle your soup on top. Storing cooked pasta in a soup will lead to your pasta soaking up the broth. More problematic if you have left-overs.
For my hubby and I, I’m preparing a pistou to add into the finished soup (minus the alphabet pasta). A pistou is similar to the Italian pesto, but the pistou hails from France. You’ll notice the absence of nuts in this recipe (such as pine nuts or walnuts, as are sometimes used). Real pistou is made using a mortar and pestle, but time constraints and interruptions to play “super heroes” with my 3 year-old has me using my food processor. You’ll see that I recommend using a good quality Parmagiano-Reggiano (freshly grated) to enhance the finished pistou. You won’t be sorry you paid a few extra dollars for it.
Vegetable Soup Recipe
1 leek, white parts only – finely chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
2 medium red potatoes
2 stalks of celery
2 small carrots
1 small zucchini (or 1/2 of a medium)
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 tbsp water
4 1/2 cups chicken stock (I used low sodium)
2 – 3 ripe tomatoes (or 2 tbsp tomato paste)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Cut potatoes (leaving skin on), celery, carrots and zucchini into 1/4-inch dice. Heat a heavy-bottomed stock pot (Dutch oven) over medium heat. Add the olive oil and water. Add all of the veggies and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until water evaporates. Vegetables should have no color after sauteeeing. Add chicken stock to pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered. Potatoes should be tender, when pierced with a fork.
Add fresh tomato puree and stir. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve.
Add cooked macaroni (if using) to the bottom of individual bowls. Ladel soup on top.
Stir pistou (if using) into individual servings.
Yield: 4 servings
Kitchen Note: Click on the link above to get simple direction on peeling tomatoes. To seed your tomatoes, cut peeled tomatoes in half and squeeze over a bowl in your sink. The seeds should come out easily. Use your food processor to puree the peeled, seeded tomatoes.
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September 9, 2009 at 8:13 pm
· Filed under Vegetable Recipes ·Tagged caramelized onions, carmelize onions in the oven, how to caramelize onions, onion recipes, onions, techniques to caramelize onions
How do I love thee? Oh boy, I just love caramelized onions. I know I’m not alone on this. And, let me say this (just in case you’re not getting the gist already) that they are simply delicious in so many different recipes. Not just for French onion soup or the classic pissaladiere, but delightful in a grilled sandwich (turkey and brie) or on crostini with fig jam and feta or even on a salad. I promise your dinner guests will be quite impressed when they see these as part of the menu.
This is quite easy since there’s no stirring or hovering over your stove top. Just plan to do some house cleaning or catching up on one of those novels on your nightstand since you’ll need about 2 hours (don’ be alarmed).
Ingredients
3 lbs onions, skins removed
3 tbsp unsalted butter
Kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
Method
Pre-heat oven to 350. Slice onions 1/2-inch thick, discarding ends. When oven is ready, place butter into baking pan and place in oven. Let butter melt, but not brown. Remove baking dish, add onion, salt and pepper and baby leaf. Turn to coat in melted butter.
At 30-minute intervals, remove pan and toss onions and redistribute evenly. Bake in oven for 2 hours total. Discard bay leaf and any onions that may have turned dark brown. These are typically those that may have been on the edge of your pan.
Yield: About 1 1/2 cups
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August 30, 2009 at 10:10 pm
· Filed under Vegetable Recipes ·Tagged easy potato side dish, easy roast potatoes, herb roasted potatoes, roasted gemstone potatoes, roasted potatoes
Hi potato fans! There are so many of you out there. Aren’t you glad we’re not counting carbs the way we were in the late 90’s? Here’s a quick-prep side dish using Gemstone Potatoes from Trader Joe’s. The gemstones as they’re called are a mixture of several varieties of potatoes, such as Dutch Yellow, French Fingerling, Yukon Golds and Ruby Golds. You may already have the ingredients ready to go in your kitchen. Of course, this recipe is easily adaptable to use any variety of potato you may like or use a combination of herbs that you have out in your late summer garden.
Herb Roasted Potatoes with Cracked Garlic
Ingredients
1 lb potatoes (any variety will work well)
handful of flat leaf (Italian) parsley, chopped
2 springs fresh rosemary, chopped
2-3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
Combine potatoes, herbs, cracked garlic, olive oil with potatoes in large mixing bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread out potatoes onto baking sheet.
Roast in oven 30-35 minutes. Potatoes should be crispy on the outside and fork-tender.
Yield: 4 servings.
Kitchen Note: Watch the garlic, as smaller cloves will have a tendency to burn. It can be removed before the potatoes finish cooking.
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July 20, 2009 at 3:17 pm
· Filed under Vegetable Recipes ·Tagged dried oregano, fresh oregano, Greek Potatoes, red-skinned potatoes, roast potatoes, roasted potatoes, simple potato side dish, simple side dish, Yukon Gold, Yukon Gold potatoes
Potatoes are always a favorite in our house, particularly with my husband. For years, I’ve roasted potatoes in every possible way and love to make them when he’s at the grill. They’re just easy and when guests are over, I can get them into the oven and then chat with my guests until they’re ready.
Some months back I was entertaining some girlfriends and served these potatoes to accompany grilled chicken and a salad of heirloom tomatoes. They were a hit and again simple to prepare.
I used small red-skinned potatoes in this recipe as you can see from the photo, but you may also want to try Yukon Golds.
Greek Potatoes Recipe
1 1/2 lbs red-skinned potatoes, washed and cubed
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
14 cup homemade chicken stock
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
Method
Pre-heat oven to 400.
Toss potatoes in baking pan with olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Spread evenly in pan.
Roast potatoes for 15 minutes. Add chicken stock, tossing potatoes to evenly coat. Roast for an additional 10 minutes.
Increase temperature to 425. Add lemon juice, tossing potatoes to evenly coat. Roast for an additional 10 minutes. Edges should be golden and potatoes should be cooked through.
Servings: 4
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July 16, 2009 at 10:52 pm
· Filed under Vegetable Recipes ·Tagged cremini mushroom recipe, cremini mushrooms, saueed mushrooms with shallots, sauteed mushrooms, using dry white wine
I love it when you can walk through your local grocer or farmers market and instantly come up with a terrific side dish or an idea for a dinner entree (side dish in this instance). Lately I’ve been using mushrooms in my cooking and developing recipes where certain varieties serve as the main focus. From soups and stews to appetizers and pastas, they are as versatile ingredient as any other. Here, I’ve simply used a few ingredients to make a simple and quick to prepare side dish. You can even freeze it (once it’s cooled completely) and use it at a later date.
Satueed Mushrooms Recipe
1 10-ounce package cremini mushrooms (you can use any variety that you like)
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium shallot, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
5 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
3 tbsp dry white wine
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Heat butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and saute until translucent. Add garlic and saute one minute more. Add mushrooms and parsley stirring constantly. Add wine and reduce until almost all of the liquid is evaporated. Add salt and pepper to taste.
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May 21, 2009 at 1:03 pm
· Filed under Vegetable Recipes ·Tagged green beans, haricots verts, leeks, sauteed leeks, vinaigrette for green beans
I love combining flavors and items from the vegetable drawer that you may not have planned on putting together but somehow come together beautifully and easily. Last night’s green beans with leeks was one of those dishes where I had fresh green beans (that needed to be used immediately), leftover leeks from a vegetable soup made earlier in the week and then some other ingredients to punch up the flavor.
Over the summer I hope use my own green beans from the garden my family and I planted but for now I’ll just have to go with the ones purchased at the grocery store. When selecting beans, many people prefer to smaller, thinner version known as haricots verts. Haricots Verts is French for green bean and generally speaking are a smaller, pencil-thin bean. There are also no strings to remove. They tend to be more expensive in your grocery store. But you could certainly grow your own.
Green Beans with Leeks
Ingredients
1 lb green beans, ends trimmed and cut in half
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 leeks (white and light green parts), cut in half lengthwise then again lengthwise; chop into 1/4-inch thick quarter slices
1 tbsp coarse grain mustard or Dijon mustard
couple of splashes of white wine vinegar
zest of small lemon
Kosher salt and frehly ground black pepper
Method
Bring pot of liberally salted water to a boil. Cook green beans in boiling water approximately 6 minutes. Drain beans and place into ice water bath to stop cooking.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in saute pan over medium heat. Add chopped leaks and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add mustard, vinegar, lemon juice and zest. Blend ingredients. Add green beans to bowl and toss. Add salt and pepper. Taste. Adjust seasonings, if needed.
Yield: 4 servings
Kitchen Note: This dish is fantastic served at room temperature.
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April 2, 2009 at 8:00 pm
· Filed under Vegetable Recipes ·Tagged Apex downtown district, asparagus, farmer's market in Apex, NC, Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese, roasted asparagus
As I was driving through the downtown district in Apex, I saw the sign for the Farmer’s Market that will open here this Saturday, April 4. According to our local weather report we’re supposed to have beautiful weather this weekend which means a local outing with the kids to pick up some farm-fresh vegetables and other homemade treats.
I’m not sure if we’ll see any asparagus this weekend, but I picked some up yesterday and plan to roast it and serve it as part of our dinner this evening. The fresh-grated Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese makes it even better for both the adults and the kids. With asparagus coming into season right now, this is one of the best times to begin using it in your menu planning.
Roasting asparagus is simple to prepare and always yields delicious results.
Ingredients
1 bunch asparagus, washed and trimmed
1 medium shallot, minced
1 tbsp good quality olive oil
3 tbsp freshly grated Parmagiano-Reggiano cheese
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Pre-heat oven to 400.
Toss asparagus with olive oil, shallot and grated cheese on baking sheet (jelly roll pan). Using your hands is the easiest for this step, though messy. Season with salt and pepper. Spread asparagus out on pan and into one layer. Roast in oven for 10 minutes or until asparagus is tender when pierced with a fork and cheese is melted.
Yield: 4 servings
Kitchen Note: Leftover roasted asparagus is especially good on a salad the next day or inside of a cheese omelet (consider gruyere for this).
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