Vegetable soup

French cafeteria food

As a child in France, I used to get this soup at least once a week in the school cantine as the appetizer for winter lunches. I loved it, and so did everyone else. How much better than just plain carrot sticks or boiled carrots! (For another yummy carrot recipe, try candied carrots.)

How to make this vegetable soup:

In a large saucepan, heat 1/8 cup of olive oil over medium heat. Take two leeks and cut off the roots and the dark green parts, and compost them. Slice the white part the long way, and then cut crossways in half-inch rings. Put the rings into the saucepan and saute them until they get soft. (Or you can just use (or just regular yellow onions.)

Meanwhile, peel five carrots and three potatoes and cut them into pieces. Add them to the pot. Saute for about five minutes, stirring often.

Now add 3 cups of water and/or leftover miso soup (or chicken soup, if you don’t care about it being vegetarian). Add 1 teaspoon of thyme leaves, and simmer the soup until the carrots and potatoes are soft, about 25 minutes. Turn off the heat. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup.

Reheat the soup but don’t boil it. Season with plenty of salt and pepper (keep tasting). Serve with bread or crackers.

Vegetarian or vegan

Just naturally vegan! Enjoy!

Can I keep this for later?

Sure. This vegetable soup will keep in the fridge for about four or five days and still be good, though you might have to add some water if it gets too thick. Have it for lunch all week!

Latkes with vegetables

Why use vegetables instead of potatoes?

These have a lot more flavor than just potato latkes, and they’re less fattening too. My kids like vegetable latkes so much that I make them even when it’s not Hanukkah. I also often make them for company, when the company involves a lot of allergies and food restrictions, because nobody’s allergic to vegetables, and the only other thing in these is eggs and a tiny amount of flour. If there’s a gluten issue, you can easily substitute gluten-free rice flour for the wheat flour.

How to make vegetable latkes:

In a food processor, grate two carrots, two peeled turnips, and half an onion. You may need to work in batches. Dump all the shredded vegetables into a medium-sized mixing bowl and add 3 tablespoons of chopped parsley, three eggs, three tablespoons of flour, and salt and pepper to taste.

You can fry these latkes in a large frying pan in olive oil, which is more in the spirit of the holiday and I think better too, but it takes longer. Or, you can liberally grease a cookie sheet with olive oil and bake the latkes on that in a 425 F oven. Either way, keep the latkes small – about 2 inches in diameter – or they will break apart. You’ll need to turn them to cook both sides; they need about two minutes on each side in the frying pan, and about five minutes on each side in the oven.

Serve with Greek yogurt on the side, and applesauce.

Vegetarian or vegan?

This is vegetarian, but it’s not vegan, because you need eggs to hold the latkes together.

Can I keep leftover latkes for later?

Yes, these are pretty good reheated the next day, but they’re better fresh. You can’t freeze them. You can, however, freeze the grated vegetables and eggs uncooked, and then just thaw them and bake them to get latkes. Good to know if you have company coming and you don’t want to be running noisy food processors.

Unstuffed cabbage

Need something quick and hot?

My grandmother’s stuffed cabbage is great if you were going to be home all day and want to spend a lot of that time cooking and watching a pot slowly simmer your stuffed cabbage into yummy goodness. But if you want something that tastes pretty much the same but you can make it after you get home from work, this is unstuffed cabbage – stuffed cabbage deconstructed so you can make it in just a few minutes.

How to make unstuffed cabbage:

Start by making rice. Put 1 1/2 cups of rice in a small saucepan with 3 cups of water. Cover and heat over high heat until the water boils; then lower the heat to medium-low and wait until the rice has absorbed all the water.

While the rice is cooking, start the cabbage. Chop 1/2 a cabbage (taking out the hard core), a green pepper, and an onion. In a medium-size frying pan, heat 1/4 cup of olive oil and saute the onion. When the onion begins to soften, add the cabbage and green pepper. As they cook, slice up three or four mushrooms and add those. When the cabbage is getting soft, add a pint of homemade tomato sauce or a can of whole tomatoes. Squish the whole tomatoes. Flavor with 1/2 teaspoon of sour salt (if you have it), or the juice of half a lemon. Serve over the rice, with candied carrots or grated carrots or beet slaw on the side.

Vegetarian or vegan

Just naturally vegan! Enjoy! You can make this a meat recipe by adding 1/4 pound of lamb to the chopped onions at the beginning of the recipe.

Can I keep this for later?

Sure. Put the leftovers in a tupperware in the refrigerator, and the flavors will blend and it will be even better than it was at first. You can reheat it for about four or five days. You might need to add a little salt after reheating to bring out the flavors.

Twice baked potatoes

Cooking for Occupy Portland

Last fall when I was cooking for Occupy Portland, we needed to make dinner for about a thousand people a night (no kidding!) with whatever jumble of ingredients people happened to have donated. One winner was these twice baked potatoes – they’re cheap, they’re easy to make, and they’re easy to eat with just a fork, or with your hands once they cool off a bit.

Potatoes are really good for you, but the more cheese you put in these, the fattier they’ll be 🙂

How to make twice baked potatoes:

About an hour and a half before dinner, set the oven to 400F, wash the potatoes, poke holes in each potato with a fork, and put the potatoes in the oven. You’ll need about two medium size baking potatoes for each person. Let the potatoes bake for an hour.

When the hour is up, take the potatoes out of the oven but leave the oven on. Cut up a bunch of broccoli, put it in a bowl, cover the bowl with a plate, and microwave for three minutes. Using oven mitts to hold the hot potatoes, cut each one in half and scoop out the insides into a bowl. Lay the empty skins on a cookie sheet.

Mix the potato insides with (for ten potatoes) 1 cup of whole milk Greek yogurt, 1 cup grated Gruyere cheese, chopped rosemary (which I just cut from the bushes in front of my house), the broccoli, and salt to taste.

Don’t have broccoli? You could also use chopped onions, or cabbage.)

Scoop the potato mixture back into the empty shells, sprinkle a little bit more grated cheese on top, and bake for another ten minutes in the oven. Serve hot with sauteed spinach.

Vegetarian or vegan

Just naturally vegetarian! Enjoy! To make this vegan, leave out the yogurt and cheese, and add some smooth tofu or vegan cheese instead. Try eating them with salsa or guacamole, or both!

Can I keep this for later?

Yes, they’ll be just as good after a couple of days in the refrigerator, if you keep them in a plastic bag or tupperware. Bring the leftovers to work for lunch!

Turnips au gratin

Why turnips and not potatoes?

You could make this with potatoes, but turnips have much more flavor. And turnips have fewer calories, too.

How to make turnips gratin:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Slice two large turnips very thin (about 1/8 inch thick). In a saucepan over medium heat, melt 1/4 stick of butter and add two tablespoons of flour. Mix and cook for about half a minute, stirring. Slowly add a cup of whole milk, stirring, until the milk thickens and becomes a white sauce. Add 1 cup of grated Gruyere cheese, and stir until it melts. Add salt and pepper to taste (but be careful: there’s already salt in the turnips and the cheese).

Grease a 9×9 inch baking pan or casserole dish with butter or olive oil, and put a layer of turnips in the bottom. Pour some of the sauce over the turnips, and keep layering turnips and sauce until the pan is full. End with a layer of sauce. Bake for an hour or until soft and brown on top. Serve with a green salad, or with sauteed broccoli or spinach.

Vegetarian or vegan?

This is vegetarian, but it’s not vegan.

Can I keep leftover turnips gratin for later?

Yes, it’s even better reheated for a couple of days as leftovers.

Trout with spinach

How to eat whole trout

Once on a group tour of Sicily, we were at a lovely taverna and each of us got a whole trout for lunch. At the other tables, people just tore into their trouts, mixing the bones with the flesh and ending up unable to eat any of it. Very sad. I was happy that I knew how to eat a whole fish, and showed my tablemates how to cut the skin off the top, eat the top half, and then flip the fish over and eat the bottom half. We all had a lovely lunch.

How to make Trout with Spinach:

Preheat the oven to 400 F. If you want fries with that, start by slicing up four large potatoes into fries. Pour 1/8 cup of olive oil on a baking sheet and use salad tongs to toss the fries in the oil and coat them in oil. Sprinkle salt or spices (thyme? pepper?) on the fries an put them in the oven to bake.

Now put the trout or trouts in a roasting pan with a little olive oil under it to help keep it from sticking. Open up the slit along its side and pour in a little white wine and some chopped fresh dill. Broil or bake for about ten minutes, or until the flesh is opaque rather than transparent (it’s fine for it to be rather pinkish).

While the fries and trout are baking, take out a medium-size frying pan and pour in 1/8 cup of olive oil. Heat the oil over medium heat. When it’s pretty hot, add half a bunch of spinach, maybe a quart, and again use the salad tongs to turn the spinach until it wilts. Add another quart or so of spinach gradually as there gets to be room for it in the pan. When the spinach is all a little wilted, turn off the heat and add the juice of half a lemon. Toss with the salad tongs. By now, the fries and the trout are probably ready; the fries are done when they’re soft all the way through. Serve hot, with more lemon slices to squeeze on the trout.

Will trout and spinach keep?

You can reheat any leftover fries for lunch the next day, but they’ll be soggier. The trout is also good cold for lunch with mayonnaise on a sandwich or just as a cold salad without the bread. Sauteed spinach is best eaten fresh.

Tomato Tarte Tatin

Not Apple Tarte Tatin?

A Tarte Tatin is usually made with apples, but this is a savory version, perfect for a summer dinner. Most of it can be made ahead, before your guests arrive, but a Tarte Tatin is baked upside-down, with the crust on top, and then you have to flip it in an exciting and dangerous moment just before serving. Amaze your company with your skill!

How to make Tomato Tarte Tatin:

(This takes about two hours, but the last half-hour is just baking.)

Take a pound of the best cherry tomatoes you can find and cut each of them in half. Heat 1/8 cup of olive oil over medium heat in a medium-size oven-proof frying pan. Add 1 chopped onion, and cook slowly, stirring often, until the onions are caramelized (brown), about 15-20 minutes. Add two tablespoons of water and cook the water off, scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Pour the onions into a bowl and wash and dry the frying pan.

Put 1/4 cup of sugar and 3 tablespoons of water in the clean frying pan. Cook the sugar-water over medium heat, swirling the pan gently (but *do not stir*) until the sugar melts and turns amber brown, about 5-10 minutes. It will seem like it is never going to turn brown, but then it suddenly does.

When the sugar browns, add 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar and swirl gently to mix. Scatter the tomatoes on top of the caramelized sugar (do not mix), then scatter the caramelized onions on top of the tomatoes. Add 1 teaspoon of chopped thyme leaves from your garden, and salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat the oven to 425 F while you make phyllo dough. Lay one layer of phyllo dough on top of the tomatoes, tucking in the edges. Brush generously with olive oil and put on another layer of phyllo dough. Continue for four or five layers. Make several long gashes in the dough to let steam out while your tart is baking, and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the tart from the oven and let stand for five minutes to cool. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the tart. Put a large plate over the frying pan, hold the plate and the frying pan tightly together using oven mitts, take a deep breath, and flip the whole thing over. (It’s not a bad idea to have long sleeves on, just in case.) Lift off the frying pan, and you should have a lovely tomato tart on your plate.

Note: be careful! The tart is hot! Though usually I don’t get burned during the actual flipping, but earlier, right after I take the frying pan out of the oven, when I forget that the handle is hot. So be careful of that, too.

Vegetarian or vegan?

Naturally vegan, and a great fancy main dish for company!

How long will Tomato Tarte Tatin keep?

Tomato Tarte Tatin will be good the next day, but after a while it may get soggy and unappetizing. To serve to company, you want to serve it immediately after flipping it.

Tomato soup

We had it at school…

I let my kid get school lunch – just once! – and he came home raving about this great new meal he’d had at school, tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. So I said I would make him tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches at home, and he was delighted. Of course I couldn’t resist messing with the soup, so my tomato soup has pesto in it, which I suppose the school tomato soup probably didn’t. Still, the kids like it, and they love the grilled cheese sandwiches.

What about the chemicals in canned tomatoes?

You really should make your own tomato sauce in the summertime and freeze or can it for the winter. We do, but this year we badly underestimated how much we would need, and we ran out in early January. So we’ve gotten two cases of boxed tomato sauce – no cans, no chemicals, nothing but tomatoes – and we’re using that.

Is this really healthy?

Yeah, this is pretty healthy. It’s tomatoes, basil, hazelnuts, olive oil, and a little cheese. You could make it healthier by leaving out the cheese.

How to make tomato soup:

Open a box of the Pomi strained tomatoes, or get out a tupperware of frozen tomato sauce from your freezer. Pour two cups of tomato sauce into a saucepan and add two cups of water. Also add about 1/4 cup of pesto, hopefully also from your freezer. Simmer the soup until it is hot and the pesto is all melted, stirring once in a while. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot with grilled cheese sandwiches or, to make it healthier, with thyme bread.

Vegetarian or vegan

Just naturally vegetarian! Enjoy! To make it vegan, use vegan pesto (which is just regular pesto without the cheese added). And serve with thyme bread instead of grilled cheese sandwiches.

Can I keep this for later?

Sure. This tomato soup will keep in the fridge for about four or five days and still be good. Have it for lunch all week!

Tofu fried rice

Tofu Fried Rice for all Seasons:

In the summer, I make this stir-fry with bell peppers, as in the recipe below. But in the fall and winter, I use shredded cabbage instead, and it’s even more popular.

How to make Tofu Fried Rice:

Start by putting on the rice: in a small saucepan, put 1 1/2 cups of rice and 3 cups of water. Stir, cover, and heat over high heat until it boils; then turn the heat down to medium-low and let it simmer until the rice has absorbed all the water and the rice is soft.

While the rice is cooking, chop an onion, two bell peppers, and three cloves of garlic. Also grate some fresh ginger root. I use a microplane to grate the ginger. Then pour some olive oil (or vegetable oil) in a large wok or large frying pan. Heat the oil over medium heat and add the onions and peppers. Stir with a wooden spoon until the onions and peppers begin to soften. Then add the garlic and ginger, and cook. Meanwhile, cut a package of firm tofu into bite-size pieces. When you begin to smell the garlic and ginger well, add the tofu and stir and cook a minute more. Add 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of soy sauce, and a cup of cashews and keep stirring.

When the rice is done, add it to the stirfry and stir the whole thing for a couple more minutes. Serve hot, with chopsticks.

Vegetarian or vegan?

Naturally vegan. If you don’t care whether it’s vegan, try stir-frying shrimp or chicken instead of the tofu sometimes.

How long will stir-fry keep?

It’s very good reheated for lunch in the next day or two; after that you should get rid of it.

Thai lettuce wraps

Why lettuce?

When you just have too much lettuce in your garden, or you want a low-carb meal, or you want the fun of everyone assembling their own dinner at the table – actually, there are a lot of reasons to enjoy Thai Lettuce Wraps!

How to make Thai Lettuce Wraps:

Make rice: in a small saucepan, put one cup of rice and two cups of water. Cook over high heat until the water boils, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the rice has soaked up all the water and the rice is soft.

Make peanut sauce: in a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup of peanut butter with 1/4 cup of soy sauce and two tablespoons of rice wine vinegar. Warm up the mixture a little in the microwave (about 20 seconds) and that will make it easier to stir and more fun in the lettuce wraps.

Set out a platter with a lot of nice lettuce leaves, not too small.

But the real point is all the little toppings:

Serve the rice in a bowl, and the warm peanut sauce in another bowl, with tiny bowls of crushed roasted peanuts, shredded cilantro, grated carrot, chopped onion, fresh bean sprouts, tofu cut into little sticks, and hot sauce. If you’re not vegetarian, add a bowl of tiny pink shrimp. If you want, you can fry the tofu in a little oil to make it more exciting.

Let each person at the table take their own lettuce leaves and wrap up whichever of these things they like in their leaf, and eat it with their fingers.

Vegetarian or Vegan?

Leave out the tiny shrimp, and it’s all vegan.

Will lettuce wraps keep?

You can keep most of the fillings around, and then pick some more fresh lettuce leaves the next day.