What We Eat: summertime vegetable recipes

By gwen -
This crazy summer is not leaving me much time to cook or try new recipes, and J. and I have been conducting a little experiment to see how long we can go without grocery shopping (which is not actually as bad as it sounds and is resulting in some very creative meals). But an old coworker and friend (Shannon, it's Kristen!) is writing a food blog called "What We Eat" for a Binghamton paper, and it's really fantastic, so I thought I'd post two of her summery vegetarian recipes here. I haven't tried them yet, but I intend to as soon as I understand something about orphan works and copyright law.

This is one of her regular lunches:

Couscous with Chickpeas, Tomatoes, and Edamame

- serves 5 -
Adapted from Cooking Light.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup fresh or frozen shelled edamame (soybeans)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 1/4 cups water, divided
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 (16-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup uncooked couscous
1 cup coarsely chopped green onions (about a bunch)
1 cup crumbled feta cheese

Procedure

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add edamame, red pepper, and garlic; cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in 1/2 cup water, basil, chickpeas, and tomatoes; simmer 15 minutes. Add 1 3/4 cups water and salt; bring to a boil. Gradually stir in couscous. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in onions and feta; toss well.


And this is apparently a spinach recipe that Michelle Obama makes (made?) for the girls:

Cris Comerford's No-Cream Creamed Spinach

Ingredients:
2 pounds baby spinach, washed and cleaned
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 shallots, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:
1. Blanch half a pound of spinach in salted, boiling water. Immediately, “shock” the blanched spinach in a bowl of iced water. Drain and squeeze out the excess water. Puree in a blender. Set aside.

2. In a large skillet, sweat the shallots and garlic until translucent. Add the rest of the spinach leaves. Toss and sauté until wilted. Fold in the spinach puree. Season with salt and pepper.

Comments

Alissa said…
ooh, these both sound right up my alley. Definitely going to try both of these. I love making big bowls of stuff on weekends that I can eat for lunch throughout the week. That first recipe sounds like a variation of other salads I make where I start with a grain and add whatever veggies I have, and some kind of dressing. I don't usually use couscous, though, so I can't wait to try this one. Thanks!
12:37 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dayton's Famous Pine Club Salad Dressing

By -
Well, close enough anyway. The Pine Club is probably Dayton's most famous restaraunt--not that Dayton is some culinary mecca or anything. This dressing is traditionally served on an iceberg lettuce salad with grated carrot (boring). It's a shame, really, since the dressing is so good but that's why it's better to eat it at home on the salad of your choice. I like it over a green salad with blue cheese, apples/pears and toasted walnuts/pecans, it's good with pasta salad and it's also good on Isaac's broccoli salad. Serves approximately 8. 1 C vegetable/canola oil 3/4 C cider vinegar 1/3 C white sugar 1 tsp salt 2 tsp garlic powder 1 scant tsp red pepper flakes You can mix this one of two ways: either pour it all into a mason jar, put on the lid and shake the heck out of it or do it up with your stick blender. I recommend using the stick blender. Either way it's delicious. Refrigerate leftovers and note that it keeps pretty well. I think I had my...
Read more

Pesto Tortellini Salad

By -
Why don't we just re-name the blog "Recipes Kelly Stole from Isaac's" because I seem to have no other recipes amongst my repertoire. Sheesh. Again, this is not really a recipe, but this salad was, and still is, one of the biggest sellers at the restaurant. As with all of Isaac's recipes, I've drastically reduced the quantity from the original (5 lbs. of tortellini, anyone?) 1.5 lbs tri-colored cheese-filled tortellini (or regular white ones, whatever), cooked according to pkg directions and gently rinsed with cold water 1.5 medium-ish tomatoes, diced 1/2 medium-size red onion, diced 1/3 C black olives (do yourself a favor and get some decent olives) 2/3 C or so pesto (I did a mix of basil pesto and arugula pesto) Dump all ingredients into a bowl and stir until everything is well-coated by the pesto. This is tasty when served immediately but the flavor will continue to develop the longer it sits. As usual, I added 2 handfuls of chopped asparagus but wi...
Read more

mango soba update

By gwen -
A small note to those of us trying to eat more veg, as Kelly would say... this soba noodle salad is delicious with slaw replacing some or all of the noodles. I made it with just one little bundle of noodles, a whole bag of broccoli slaw, and half a bag of cabbage/carrot mixture, and it's great -- actually provides a delicious crunch and you don't miss the rest of the noodles. I cooked the chicken in a bit of the marinade, too, and diced it into the salad/noodle/mango mixture for some protein. Yum.
Read more