Characteristic: vegan
Dry Red Curry Broccoli with Toasted Peanuts
Quick, delicious, adaptable. Use cauliflower or sweet potatoes or winter squash or even just potatoes and onions. Add what I call "cheesy" toast--any bread toasted, buttered and topped with cheese of choice and broiled until bubbly--and call it dinner.
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Simple Red Lentil Dal
This takes 20 minutes (at the most) to make and is richly flavored. It's delicious just with rice or with Sautéed Chard with Ginger, Jalapeño and Sausages or with stewed meats or other vegetables or grains. It is superb the next day and freezes well so by all means double the recipe. You can also stir leafy greens such as spinach, turnip, beet or mustard greens into the lentils a few minutes before they're done.
[caption id="attachment_20344" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Here I've served it with sauteed leeks and bell peppers seasoned with mustard seeds.[/caption]... Read more »
Spinach Curry with Coconut (Tofu or Chicken)
Start the rice the minute you walk in the door and sit down to eat 20 minutes later if using white rice or 35 if brown. And the leftovers are excellent. You could also substitute other greens like turnip or beet greens though spinach is particularly good here.
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Grilled (Broiled) Napa Cabbage and Scallions with Miso Sauce
If you have a grill, fire it up for this one or just use your broiler. Both work well and will enable you to get this beautiful plate of food on the table quickly. Serve over rice and make a little extra sauce and top with a fried egg and you have a meal. Substitute savoy or regular green cabbage if you'd like but slice the wedges a little thinner if you do. And have a steak knife ready at the table to cut up those pretty wedges or eat them with your hands and make a mess and have fun.
Miso varies in pungency and strength and typically the darker the miso the stronger the flavor, so use a bit less if you only have red miso on hand. The sauce will be quite strong but the cabbage is very plain so the combination is lovely.
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Baked Kale with Tahini Dressing
5-10 minutes in a hot oven and kale turns crispy and chewy, a nice alternative to raw kale salads. Toss in something crunchy, like radishes here, or use carrots or snap peas or salad turnips, some toasted seeds or nuts and a tahini dressing and you have a hefty salad.
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Turmeric Roasted Spring Vegetables with Chickpeas
Roasting, or actually broiling in this case, is a great strategy for enhancing some vegetables. In spring I might find myself with random bits, a handful of radishes, a couple of salad turnips, a few spring onions, as was the case here. These aren't vegetables we necessarily think of as roastable/broilable but the quick broiling gives these tender vegetables a nice browning without turning them to mush. Adapt with what you have on hand, spices you like and mix and match your way to lunch/dinner.
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Spiced, Roasted Cauliflower with Mint
Roasting cauliflower with nothing but salt and oil is delicious. Add a little spice mixture and dress with fresh mint, after roasting, and you have even more flavor and contrast. Use cilantro and/or parsley if you don't have mint, or a combination of all three.
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Quinoa with Peanut Sauce, Vegetables and Herbs
This is a delicious, fresh dish and it’s a good template. Use whatever vegetables and herbs you have/like. You will likely have sauce left over which is good with cold noodles, leftover rice or chicken, roasted vegetables, etc.
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Spiced Pea Shoots and Potatoes
My mother used to make creamed peas and potatoes in the spring with lots of dill. I always loved this dish and it was the inspiration for this entirely differently flavored dish of pea shoots, potatoes, cumin, garam masala and touch of cayenne.
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Spring Asparagus and Spinach Soup
This soup is superb with a good homemade chicken stock as well as with vegetable stock/bouillon or just water. The former is richer and silky but the other two are deliciously bright and just a bit lighter. The version above is made with chicken stock and included a handful or two of macaroni. You can omit the noodles or substitute a few diced salad turnips or new potatoes for added heft.
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Creamy, Spiced Peas, Turnips and Cabbage
--Inspired by Quick & Easy Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey
The complex flavors in this simple curry dish belie the speed with which it comes together. It is a good template as many different vegetables can be used and you can add meats or seafood as you like. I use whatever combination of vegetables I have on hand.
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Mashed Leeks and Potatoes with Capers and Parsley
A light mash of leeks and potatoes gets topped with plenty of pan-fried capers and parsley.... Read more »
Purple Sprouting Broccoli with Garlic
This the perfect thing to do with the first of the season purple sprouting broccoli. Tender, fragrant with garlic and addictive.... Read more »
Rutabaga with Mustard Seed and Turmeric
This quick dish is delicious, not just with rutabagas, but a mixture of turnips, kohlrabi, and rutabaga, or any one of these. Top it with cilantro and some yogurt and you have a very satisfying side dish.
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Kale Salad with Garlicky Beets and Sunflower Seeds
Grated raw beets marinated in a garlicky vinaigrette are a fantastic addition to green salads, grain or bean salads or as a sandwich filling with goat cheese, to name just a few possibilities.
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Black Radish, Carrot, Collard Green and Apple Salad with Toasted Walnuts
I love this combination of disparate flavors. Toast the walnuts a bit longer than you might typically--the hint of char is delicious here.
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Radicchio, Roasted Onion and Parsley Salad
Strong, slightly bitter radicchio (or any chicory), sweet roasted onions, parsley and crunchy hazelnuts make for a lively winter salad.... Read more »
Chickpeas, Tomatoes, Potatoes and Pasta
During my time in Italy, I ate versions of this simple, flavorful dish all over the country. It's often made it with maltagliati which means badly cut pasta, the bits and pieces of odd-shaped pasta that are left over from the commercial pasta making process. They are sold in bags, just like regular pasta. Now I use whatever I have on hand.
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Roasted Onions and/or Shallots
If you get a winter CSA you might find yourself with lots of onions and shallots. They are of course useful to start stews, sauces, soups and in salad dressings or turned into jams. They are also particularly wonderful, simply roasted with a few thyme sprigs until caramelized around the edges and sweet and tender in the center. I use these flavorful nuggets in salads, as a condiment for roast meats or pureed with other vegetables in a soup or as a snack with bread, cheese and pickles.
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Roasted Beets and Onions with Greens
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