Simple Vegetarian

Ligonberry Syrup

Ingredients:

• 8oz frozen ligonberries
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar

Place the ligonberries and the water into a small saucepan. Bring the water to a boil, stirring as it heats. Add the sugar, stirring until it dissolves.

Reduce the heat until it reaches a quiet simmer. Stir it as it simmers until about half the water boils off -- about 25 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the stove and cool it quickly; placing the saucepan in a larger bowl of icewater works well.

Creamy olive meze

Ingredients:

• ~50 large, pitted Kalamata olives
• 2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/3 cup good olive oil

Add the ingredients in order to a food processor, pulsing as you go. Continue the pulse until the maze achieves an almost humus-like texture. Refrigerate and serve with pita bread

Mahammura

Mahammura is a easy Turkish meze. It's a slightly sweet, spicy red pepper and walnut dip that's incredibly delicious.

Ingredients:

• 2 Large Red Bell Peppers
• 1 Cup Walnuts
• 1/3 Cup Bread Crumbs
• 1Tbsp Minced Garlic
• ½ Tsp Sea salt
• 1 Tsp Cumin
• 1/2 Tsp Ceyanne Pepper
• ¼ cup Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp Lemon Jiuce
• 2 TBSP Pomegranate Molassus

Start by roasting and peeling the bell peppers via your favorite technique.

Set the roasted peppers aside to cool. In the meantime, put the rest of the ingredients into your food processor in order, blending them as you go. Add the peppers for last and blend until smooth. Refrigerate for two hours or until chilled.

You're looking for a slightly firm texture. If the mixture seems runny, add additional walnuts. It will set as it cools in the fridge, so you're looking for yoghurt firmness rather than hummus firmness.

Bread Machine Pasta Dough

Ingredients:

• Four large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

 

Start by putting the eggs into the bread machine; make sure that the yolks are broken. Add the salt, flour, and olive-oil. Use the "Pasta" function if your bread machine has one. If not, use the dough function.

Once the "knead" and "rest" cycles are complete (about 20 minutes), remove though dough. Give it a couple of kneads by hand and let it rest for at least an hour before rolling it out.

You can roll it the next day if you wrap it in plastic and store it in the fridge. 

Limoncello Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs Compari, Cherry, or other sweet Tomatoes ("Tomatoes on the Vine")
• 3/4 cup Limoncello liquor
• 1 bunch basil
• 1/2 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes, packed in oil
• 1/2 cup pitted Kalamata Olives
• 1/3 cup Heavy Cream
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Chop the basil finely using a food processor. Mix the basil and Limoncello in a large bowl.

Peel the tomatoes by dipping them briefly in boiling water and removing skins. Add the peeled tomatoes to the bowl.

Once all of the tomatoes are added, give them a gentle mashing with a potato masher. You shouldn't decimate the tomatoes -- do just enough to mix the juices with the liquor & basil. There should be just enough liquid (limoncello/tomatoe juice mixture) to cover the tomatoes.

Cover the bowl and set it in the fridge to soak for an hour or so.

Put the sun dried tomatoes and kalamata olives in a food processor and blend until they form a tapenade. You should have about a half cup of tapenade -- add additional olives and tomatoes until it comes out with the right volume.

Sautee the tapenade in olive oil for about five minutes. Add the tomatoe/limoncello mixture including liquid and reduce on medium-low heat for about 2 hours minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Add heavy cream and heat it to just shy of a boil, stirring constantly.

Serve over pasta -- I find this compliments a cheese Tortelini beautifully. 

 

How to peel tomatoes from dulcedelight on Vimeo.

 

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Gorganzola Gnocchi

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 large white onion
• 28oz can Crushed Tomatoes
• 2 medium red bell pepers
• 1 small can diced green peppers
• 1 can whole kernel corn
• 2 quarts vegetable stock (or equivilent combination of soup starter and water)
• 8-16 oz water
• 1 bag of tortilla strips or chips
• 1-2 cups crumbled queso fresco (optional)

Chop the onion finely and the peppers coarsely. Hold the water in reserve and cook the remaining ingredients in a crock pot and cook on high for eight hours, stirring occasionally.

A significant amount of liquid will boil off during this time. Taste the soup as it cooks; if it starts to get too "tangy" add water to taste.

To serve, fill half of each bowl with tortilla chips then add soup. Garnish with queso fresco to taste.

Vegetarian Mongolian Beef

Serves 3-4 adults

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon mined garlic
• 3/4 cup low-salt soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon vegetarian hoisin sauce
• 1/3 cup finely chopped cilantro
• 2-7 dried thai chili peppers
• 1 package Trader Joe's Beef-Less Strips
• One medium red bell pepper
• One small sweet onion

Mix the soy sauce, hoisin, garlic, and cilantro in a medium mixing bowl. Add the "meat" and dried chili peppers. Thoroughly coat the "meat" and let it soak for 5 minutes while you finish the prep.

As a general rule of thumb, start with two dried chili peppers for "one star" spice levels. Add a large chili pepper for each additional "star" you'd like.  This more or less approximates the spice scale for middle America. If you want authentic spicy, just go nuts with them.

Cut your onion in half. Chop one half finely and the other half coarsely. Chop the bell pepper coarsely.

Sautee the onion and bell pepper for about 5 minutes over medium heat; it should be just long enough for the onion to start to get soft. 

Add the sauce/meat mixture and simmer for about ten minutes or until the smaller bits of onion are mostly dissolved into the sauce.

Serve over rice.

Gorganzola Gnocchi

Feeds 3

Ingredients:

• 6 oz good gorgonzola cheese
• 1/4 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese
• 1 pint heavy cream or half & half
• 1 large leek
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 2 packages gnocchi

Trim the leek so only the white portion remains. Chop it finely.

Heat the olive oil in a chef's pan on medium-low heat. Add the pepper. Once the oil is heated, add the chopped leek and sauté until glassy.

Add the cream/half & half to the oil slowly, mixing thoroughly as you go.

Chop the gorgonzola coarsely. Add it and the parmesan to the sauce slowly, stirring as you go. Continue to heat on medium-low heat, stirring until the cheese is thoroughly melted and mixed in.

Cook gnocchi according to directions on package and serve with sauce.

 

Pesto Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

• 3 Tablespoons Pesto
• 1 Pint Half & Half
• 1/4 cup freshly shredded Paremesan Cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon Black pepper

 

This is a 10-minute sauce that takes about as much time and effort as cooking the pasta.

Put coat the bottom of a medium pan with the pesto and set to medium-low heat. Add black pepper.

Once the pesto starts bubbling a little bit, stir in the half & half. Stir constantly as the sauce heats. Once it starts steaming a little, add the parmesan cheese. Continue stirring and heating until it barely starts to boil. Turn the heat off and give it a couple more stirs as the bubbling subsides and it's done.

Spicy Gluten-free Mac & Cheese

Ingredients:

• 1 - 12oz Bag Gluten-Free Pasta
• 1/4 cup All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour
• 1 - 12oz Can Evaporated Milk
• 10oz Extra-Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded 
• 1/2 medium Yellow Onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground Cayenne Pepper (1/2 if you're sensitive to heat)
• 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 stick Butter
• 1 cup "Pirates Booty" Aged White Cheddar cheese puffs
• 1/4 cup milk (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook the pasta according to package instructions, rinse and set aside.

In a sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat and add black and cayenne pepper; mix thoroughly. Add onion and sauté until the onions start to look glassy.

Slowly stir in the flour using a whisk. Continue mixing until it reaches the consistency of a thin dough. Stir in the evaporatedmilk until the mixture forms a whitesauce. 

Set aside a quarter of the cheese. Slowly mix the cheese into the whitesauce. Whisk it until the cheese is thoroughly melted into the whitesauce. If it starts to get too thick or dough-like, add a little bit of milk.

Combine the cheese sauce and pasta in a medium, covered casserole pan and mix thoroughly. Next, crush the Pirate's Booty and sprinkle over the top of the casserole as bread crumbs. Put the remaining cheese on top of the bread crumbs.

Cover and bake for 35 minutes.

A note on ingredients -- I use bionaturae gluten-free fusilli for the pasta and Bob's Red Mill all-purpose gluten free flour. They tend to cook to the right consistency. If you can't find an exact match for the pasta, make sure you don't get "shell" pasta -- as fun as shells and cheese are with wheat pasta, the gluten-free variety doesn't work well withthis recipe.