Search results for 'miso'

Summer Salad Round-Up!

24 May

Summer is about to hit us in full force, and I want us to be prepared for the potlucks, barbecues, picnics, and shenanigans to come. Pretty soon I will transition from roasting all of my veggies to shaving them into ribbons and enjoying them raw, preparing grain-based salads, bouncy pastas, light sautés, and brothy soups. It will simply be too dang hot turn on the oven.

Here are some ideas for no-cook (or very-little cook…) hearty salads to ring in the sunshine and keep us lookin’ nice and cool. Variations and substitutions are encouraged. Have fun and experiment.

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Potato Salad with Pickled Red Onion. Can you say 4th of July party?! This salad is salty, crunchy, acidic, herby, and creamy all-in-one. Heck yes.

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Get your fix of beans with this 3 Bean Summer Salad with Corn, Tomato, Avocado & Lime. Colorful and bright, this salad is great on its own or even used as a taco filling or chip dip.

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Radishes are taking over the farmer’s marktes in NY right now. Snag a bunch, slice them thin, and add them to this Israeli Couscous Salad. You could also try making a variation of this salad with a Miso Dressing.

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This Sweet and Savory Quinoa Salad is an old-time favorite. If it’s too hot to roast cauliflower, feel free to use whatever vegetable is easy to prepare and catches your eye. The dried fruit and Mediterranean spices remind me of summer fun.

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You better get your hands on asparagus NOW, before it goes out of season! Enjoy it in a Farro Salad. I recently made a variation of the potato salad above and added asparagus to it.

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No Cook Summer Fruit Salad. I like to use a mix of fresh fruit and dried fruit, with some fresh herbs and cinnamon to pack a punch. It is hard not to eat the whole bowl in one sitting.

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Soba Bowls with Tea-Poached Salmon

1 May

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I had a great meal last weekend at cocoron in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. cocoron is a soba shop, serving up noodle bowls both hot and cold. I had the warm vege oroshi soba, which was a simple steaming bowl of soba noodles with vegetables: daikon radish, watercress, ginger…perfect with a side of spicy kimchi and cabbage with a miso-sesame dressing.

Slurping up a big bowl of noodles screams comfort, and I am on such a soba kick right now. My one qualm with soba noodles is how sticky they get when I make them at home. They are so starchy and end up mushing together. Now I know that I need to rinse them after draining to take off the excess starch.

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I remember when I first got the Sprouted Kitchen‘s cookbook late last summer, this Soba Bowl with Tea-Poached Salmon caught my eye immediately. It was the first thing I made from the cookbook, and after making it again tonight, I knew I had to share the recipe here.

Tea is a great medium for poaching and making sauces. I know Jackie Newgent is a big fan of using tea in her recipes, and I used it in the Rigatoni Bolognese that I posted about a few weeks back.

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This recipe looks a bit involved, but there are really just 3 parts: roasting broccoli, poaching the salmon, and preparing the sauce. All of this happens simultaneously, so the meal really comes together quite quickly. I think broccoli goes great with this type of dish, but if you prefer to use another seasonal vegetable, maybe asparagus or bok choy or sautéed greens, feel free. If you can’t find soba noodles at your store, you can use spaghetti or rice noodles. And to make the meal vegetarian, simply omit the fish or poach some tofu…

Soba Bowls with Tea-Poached Salmon

adapted from the Sprouted Kitchen Cookbook, serves 4

Sauce:

3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons tahini

2 tablespoons agave nectar

grated zest and juice of 1 lime

3 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce

2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

Broccoli:

1 bunch broccoli or other seasonal vegetable

2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

pinch of salt

Salmon:

3 bags green tea

1 tablespoon peppercorns

1/2 cup mirin or dry white wine

1 pound wild salmon fillet

Putting it all together:

1 (8-9.5-ounce) pack soba noodles

4 green onions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup white or black sesame seeds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Make the sauce: In a small bowl, whisk together the sesame oil, tahini, agave nectar, lime zest and juice, tamari, and grated ginger until smooth. Set aside.

Roast the broccoli: Cut the broccoli into small florets, including some of the stems. Toss the broccoli with the olive oil, garlic, and salt and spread on a baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven.

Poach the salmon: In a saucepan, bring 1 cup water to a gentle simmer. Turn the heat down to low, add the tea bags and peppercorns and steep for 3 minutes, then discard the tea bags. Add the mirin to the poaching liquid. Gentle slide in the salmon, skin side down. Cover, and cook until the salmon is just barely cooked in the middle, 8-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillet. If in doubt, it is better to undercook the salmon a bit rather than overcook it. Remove the salmon to a plate and flake it with a fork. Set aside.

Putting it all together: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the soba noodles according to package instructions or until al dente. Drain the noodles. In a large bowl, toss together the warm noodles, broccoli, dressing, green onions, and sesame seeds. Divide the noodles among bowls and top with a portion of the salmon. Serve.

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Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo

24 Jul

Fettuccine Alfredo. A classic childhood favorite.

Here’s a recipe that can satisfy your craving without weighing you down. Yep, this recipe is vegan, dairy-free, cholesterol-free, saturated fat-free. Now don’t you worry, there is still a heck of a lot of creaminess going on. Cashews=creamy, buttery, rich. Cashews get soaked in water, drained, and blended with aromatic onions and garlic. Unctuous, silky sauce.

The Alfredo sauce really comes together with a few dashes of lemon juice and white miso paste (Chloe says this is optional, but I love white miso and I would not skip it; you can purchase white miso at Whole Foods).

I added some peas and a few halved grape tomatoes to my noodles, and slurped it all up alongside roasted asparagus spears.

I kid you not, this tastes like traditional fettuccine alfredo. Maybe even better since I know how much healthier this version is…

Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo

From Chloe’s Kitchen

serves 4-6

1 pound fettuccine

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup raw cashews or blanched almonds*

2 cups water

2 teaspoons white miso paste

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

optional: chopped Italian parsley, frozen or fresh peas, halved grape tomatoes…

*Soak your cashews or almonds in water overnight to soften. This ensures that the sauce will blend up nice and smooth. Alternatively, you could boil the nuts for 10 minutes and then drain.

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add fettuccine and cook according to the package directions. If you are using frozen peas, drop them (I used about 1/2 cup?) into the water about 2 minutes before the pasta is done cooking. Drain and return to pot.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and let cook until soft. Add garlic and let cook a few more minutes. Remove from heat.

In a blender, combine the onions and garlic, cashews, water, miso paste, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Process on high until very smooth, about 2 minutes.

Toss the hot pasta with the sauce until the noodles are evenly coated. Adjust seasoning to taste. If the sauce gets too thick, add a little water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Garnish with fresh tomato slices and parsley, if using.

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Oatcakes

15 Nov

Oatcakes! Oatcakes! Getchyour oatcakes. Dense and delicious. Sweet with a hint of coconut. Walnut-filled and ready to go. Oatcakes! Oatcakes! Get’em while their hot.

My camera is officially broken. Technology loves to play tricks on me. The camera on my phone will have to suffice for now.

My last few blog posts have been devoted to how I am on a serious Heidi Swanson kick. This woman is amazing. Major girl-crush. And she really makes me miss the Bay Area.

I love the natural ingredients in Swanson’s recipes and her style of rustic, healthy, and nourishing meals and snacks for everyday cooking. I already blogged about making her Miso Curry Delicata Squash and her Baked Oatmeal (dang that Baked Oatmeal is getting around the food blog world). I also made her tempeh with eggplant and her museli.

Today I bring you Swanson’s oatcakes. With coconut butter, walnuts, flax seeds, and tons of rolled oats, these are the perfect breakfast, snack, or dessert. She writes:

“…These nutty, golden oatcakes are filling, slightly moist, and not too sweet. Best of all, they can usually stand up to an entire day tucked into my purse without falling apart…”

Now that is my kind of snack. Homemade (freaking delicious and good-for-you, too), portable, and sturdy. As with almost anything sweet and carby, these are great with coffee, tea, or a tall glass of milk.

Initially I was a tad upset because I used all-purpose instead of whole wheat pastry flour or spelt flour (…was too tired to go back to the store to buy some). Hey, at least I am getting my benefits from the oats, from using coconut butter (cholesterol-free!) to replace some of the butter, and from the walnuts and flax seeds.

I put a few of the oatcakes in the freezer, but left most of them on the counter in an air-tight container because I know they will get gobbled up for breakfasts and snacks this week.

I wonder what I will make next from Heidi’s lovely cookbook?!

Oatcakes

from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Everyday

makes 12 oatcakes

Ingredients:

3 cups/10.5 oz/300 g rolled oats

2 cups/8 oz/225 g spelt flour or whole wheat pastry flour (I used All-Purpose Flour)

1/2 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

2 teaspoons salt (fine-grain sea salt or Kosher salt)

1/4 cup/1.5 oz/45 g flax seeds

3/4 cup/3 oz/85 g chopped walnuts

1/3 cup/2.5 oz/ 70 g extra virgin coconut oil

1/3 cup/3 oz/85 g unsalted butter

3/4 cup/180 ml maple syrup

1/2 cup/2.5 oz/70 g natural cane sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 deg C). Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

Combine the oats, flour, baking powder, salt, flax seeds, and walnuts in a large mixing bowl.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, combine the coconut oil, butter, maple syrup, and sugar and slowly melt together. Stir just until the butter melts and the sugar has dissolved, but do not let the mixture get too hot. You do not want it to cook the eggs on contact in the next step.

Pour the coconut oil mixture over the oat mixture. Stir a bit with a fork, add the eggs, and stir again until everything comes together into a wet dough. Spoon the dough into the muffin cups, nearly filling them.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the edges of each oatcake are deeply golden. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for a couple of minute. Using a small knife or an offset spatula, tip the cakes onto a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe Index

7 Jun

Breakfast

Restaurants, Outings, and Miscellaneous 

Dietetic Internship

Breads

Cakes

Cookies/Bars/Brownies

Ice Cream/Sorbet/Custard

Ice cream condiments/toppings:

Tarts/Pies/Galettes/Crumbles/Crisps


Jewish

Fruit

Drinks

Soups/Stews

Pasta

Grain-Based Salads

Eggs

Meat/Fish/Poultry

 

 

Vegan

Gluten-Free

Dinner Time

Thanksgiving/Fall

The Recipe ReDux

Cranberry Bog Blogger

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