The Makeshift Cook

Last weekend, the Brit asked me where we should go to get lunch and I said "somewhere where I can get a crapload of salads." My ideal refrigerator would be filled with combinations of beans and grains, veggies and vinaigrettes, fruits and nuts, olives and salty cheeses, and all I would have to do is scoop a bit of each one out onto a plate for instant meal mania. Unfortunately, sigh, I will only have that ideal fridge if I spend a bunch of money at the Whole Foods deli or make everything myself.



When I'm in the mood to make everything myself, this salad recipe from Anger Burger (which is a great read apart from the food stuff) is just the kind of thing I want to make. Hearty, light, tangy, full of delicious cilantro--and I'll just say right now that if you're cilantro-averse, move along right now; there's nothing for you here.



Sometime I'll make this exactly as the recipe says, but this time I used what I had on hand (which is, after all, what this blog is about). Here are my mods for this time around:

• In the absence of red peppers I used about a cup of grape tomatoes and a big shredded carrot. I realize they are not at all the same thing, but they did add a bit of sweetness and crunch.
  
• And I was scraping the bottom of my olive oil supply, so there's only 2/3 c in the dressing, which is just fine.
  
• I used agave instead of honey, and the dressing is just a bit too sweet for my taste, so I'm guessing I can cut down on the sweetener.
• I finished it with a squeeze of lime.
• And I'm eating it with lettuce, because our CSA started last Wednesday and I now feel intense pressure to eat a lot of greens. I think this particular variety is called "Frizzy Headed Drunken Woman," so I'm happy to eat it.
  

I didn't really learn to cook properly until I stopped eating meat, and I wouldn't have learned to cook very well at all without the Moosewood Cookbook (and its sequels). When I was a newly-minted vegetarian, Mollie Katzen's Gypsy Soup was one of the first recipes I ever tried, and my curried chickpea stew reminds me a lot of her recipe. Or maybe it's just a straight-up ripoff. You can decide. The Gypsy Soup recipe is also one of the only recipes I've ever managed to bollocks up twice in exactly the same way. That recipe calls for paprika; I inadvertently reached for cayenne, and the result was inedibly hot. (You'd think this would be a good argument for labeling your spice jars, but I still buy in bulk and go by smell.) My boyfriend at the time actually bought me two different fancy varieties of paprika after that, as a gently mocking gift--which reminds me, I really ought to buy more smoked paprika. It's delicious.

Anyway, you might call this a "stewp," since it starts out like soup and ends up like stew the longer it sits and absorbs the liquid. It's definitely more delicious the next day. And it is easily veganized, and goes great with nooch.

Curried Chickpea Stew
Olive oil for the pot
1 medium onion, diced
1 big carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
3 fat cloves of garlic, minced
1 fat inch of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 big can of tomatoes
2 potatoes, scrubbed and cubed
1 can chickpeas, or 1.5 cups cooked if you are a good planner
1/3 c quinoa (optional: I had this on hand and like it for the extra protein and texture.)
1-2 T curry powder (this depends on your taste and your curry powder. I added 2 T and it is a bit much.)
1/2 c plain yogurt/soy yogurt (optional, but tasty)
2 good plops of ketchup. You may judge all you want, but ketchup might be the magic secret ingredient here. You could also stir in some tomato paste and maybe a bit of honey or agave, but this does need a little something sweet.
A big handful (really, as much as you like) of dark greens (kale, collards, spinach), chopped

In a big soup pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and saute until onions are translucent. Add garlic and ginger and cook for a minute or two longer.

Dump in tomatoes, chickpeas, potatoes, quinoa, and curry powder, plus an extra cup or two of water (start with one; you can always add more later). When it starts to bubble, reduce the heat and simmer until the carrots and potatoes are tender. Taste the broth and add ketchup and salt to taste. Stir in the greens and cook until wilted. Add yogurt last of all. Taste to adjust the seasonings and serve with crusty bread.

This soup makes excellent leftovers, as evidenced by this picture:

Note the sad office lighting and industrial desk. At least the food is tasty!

I am very inspired by accounts of foraging for food at Riana's blogs, but so far haven't had many opportunities to get my forage on, apart from occasionally sampling whatever weeds I pull up out of the backyard. For a desk jockey like me, the kitchenette at work is the closest I really get to foraging--that's where all the leftovers from catered meetings end up.

Sometimes this works out really well for me, as it did last week when I realized no one was claiming the half dozen grapefruits someone had set out in a basket. It was the Friday before a holiday weekend, and darned if I was going to let this fruit go to waste! So I popped them all in my bike bag, and I drank up every single one of them in smoothie form, green or otherwise.



Grapefruits can be kind of pithy and intimidating, but if you have a decent blender, you can eat all that delicious fiber and barely notice that that's what you're doing.

Basic Grapefruit Smoothie
1 cup water
1 peeled grapefruit with the seeds popped out (I peel over the blender, so none of the juice goes astray)
enough orange-peach-mango juice to sweeten the deal (about half a cup)
ice

Blend and serve. Makes 2.

Advanced Grapefruit Smoothie
1 cup water
1 peeled grapefruit (see above)
1 half a small ripe avocado
1 handful of spinach
1 glob of your favorite liquid sweetener (I used honey, but agave would be preferable)

Blend and serve over ice. Makes 2 smoothies that I would describe as Hard Core (hence the need for sweetener).

I love getting stuff in the mail, but delicious free stuff might be the best mail of all. Yesterday the nice people at POM Wonderful sent me a case of pomegranate juice to try. I was fresh off a very windy bike ride home from work (yesterday was one of those days when the wind is blowing directly at you no matter what direction you're facing) and in need of nutrition and hydration. So even though I'd already had a pile of veg in my morning green smoothie, I made another one.



If you're a green smoothie aficionado (or color theorist), you already know that mixing red fruits with your greens often yields an unappetizing color. This smoothie is no exception, but what's cool is that as the solids separate from the juice, you get layers of color that are quite lovely. And anyway, it tastes good, so if the muddled color offends you, you can close your eyes and enjoy all the same.

Cucumber Pomegranate Green Smoothie
1 cup water
1 cup pomegranate juice
2 handfuls of spinach (about 1 packed cup)
1 half a cucumber, cut into chunks
Ice (optional)

Combine in a blender and mix on high; pour and enjoy. Serves 2.

I have a new stove. Will this make me a better food blogger?

A few weeks ago, I made this Amazing Whole Wheat Pizza Crust and was very pleased with the way it turned out. It's an easy recipe, and the dough is easy to handle--rolls out evenly, stretches without falling apart, etc. I made one batch and we had pizza two nights in a row.


With caramelized onions, braised kale, rehydrated mushrooms, gorgonzola. A bit out of control.

We also had hearty little sweet rolls made out of the same dough one morning. I rolled out the leftover dough into a rectangle, dotted it with butter, and sprinkled on cinnamon, ginger, brown sugar, rehydrated and chopped apricots, and slivered almonds. Then I rolled it up like a rug, sliced into inch-wide pieces, and baked at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Not too sweet, and very easy to grab on the way to your next Saturday morning chore. Seriously, I ate about 10 of them that day. But that also means I did a lot of chores.

My ongoing quest to be a better meal planner and to make as much from scratch as possible involves virtuous things like loading the new freezer with lumps of this pizza dough. I haven't done it yet, but I have high hopes.

Dear little food blog, I have missed you. I have taken many pictures of my food over the last few months, but these pictures have languished on my hard drive with no recipes to anchor them in the world of cooking. But it's spring now and time for a new leaf and all that, and I'm about to go unleash my latest creation on a crowd of assembled family members, so I thought I'd unleash it on you first.

What is a wheatberry, you may ask? A wheatberry is the whole dang kernel of wheat. You cook it like pretty much any whole grain: add water, boil, then simmer until the water is absorbed. Once cooked, it's chewy and nutty and delicious. It is also good for you. I used hard wheatberries, which are higher in protein and gluten, but soft would probably be fine too.



This salad has a mustardy vinaigrette and is studded with pear chunks, walnuts, currants, and celery, and topped with bleu cheese. If you want to keep it vegan, leave the cheese off and the salad is still super tasty. I know, because I tasted it at every stage.

Wheatberry Salad with Pears, Walnuts, and Arugula
1 1/2 cups hard wheatberries
4 1/2 cups water

Combine in a large saucepan, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook until the water is absorbed--about 50 minutes. While that's cooking, assemble the dressing.

2 T flaxseed oil
1/4 c olive oil
2 T maple syrup
2 T mustard
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
a pinch of dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together in a small bowl and set aside. Then prepare:

2 stalks of celery, diced
2 small ripe pears, cubed
2 handfuls of arugula, chopped
1 c walnuts (toast these first if you're fancy), chopped
1/2 c currants
1/2-3/4 c crumbled bleu cheese or gorgonzola

When the wheat is cooked and has cooled a bit, you can add the dressing right away and let the grains absorb the dressing until you're ready to put together the rest of the salad--before mealtime, or the next day, even. I did the grains the day before, and added the currants and dressing before popping it all into the fridge overnight. This helped to rehydrate the currants a bit.



About an hour before serving, mix in all the rest of the ingredients and salt and pepper to taste. Let the whole thing come to room temp and enjoy.

(Update: the salad was duly housed by the whole family.)