vegetarian Archives • Page 4 of 4 • Ant & Anise

Arugula salad with pomegranate, feta and walnuts

What a crazy couple of weeks in late December. Like you said, Eve, much of it was happy and festive. But having Mom in hospital for almost a week with pneumonia over the holidays shook me up, maybe more than it should have.

Sitting with her in the hospital around lunchtime on Christmas Day was the worst part. Not because her condition had deteriorated. The antibiotics had started to work and she was getting better, well enough to be leaving the hospital in a few days if her progress continued.

For me it was that although she’d dodge this pneumonia, she won’t ever be herself again. Nothing like she was before Alzheimer’s struck. This isn’t news, of course. She hasn’t been herself for years, to the point that I doubt she knows who any of us are anymore.

I thought back to Christmases when I was growing up, when Mom was such a force. The one who was busy for weeks with shopping, baking, staying up late wrapping presents. She pulled everything together to ensure that we enjoyed Christmas, whether we were ripping open the carefully wrapped presents under the tree or tucking in to a feast of well-loved dishes that we had only once a year.

This Christmas Day, when I sat with her listening to Elvis’ Christmas Album (she always loved Elvis) and trying to get her to eat, I felt extra sad about all we had lost over the past several years.

…

Parsnip hummus

Do you like parsnips?

Ummm…well, I don’t dislike them. But I don’t go out my way to find them either. I guess I appreciate them more than I used to. Does that count as a yes?

When I was growing up parsnips didn’t make their way into too many of our dinners. As in, almost never, at least on the Johnson side. (Eve, can you think of a time?)

No, we stuck to the basic root vegetables: carrots, sometimes rutabaga (which we called turnips, but were really yellow-fleshed rutabaga), and potatoes. Especially potatoes. A never-ending rotation of mashed, boiled, baked, and, for special occasions, scalloped. And then more mashed ones again.

On the Neely side of the family, parsnips turned up only once every few years, around Christmas. At my cousins’ place my aunt Glennys made candied parsnips, with heaps of brown sugar and butter to make them more appealing to everyone, especially the kids. I knew my sweets though, and the candied parsnips didn’t have me fooled. When the parsnips got passed around the table to me I remember taking a token one or two small pieces, just to be polite.

Enter the CSA. This was our second summer enjoying a weekly box of fresh vegetables from Cropthorne Farm in Ladner, and I love it. Well, mostly I do. It’s exciting to see the season unfold week by week and to try veggies I don’t normally buy.

But every season, there’s a few weeks where my culinary creativity sinks to a low ebb. Maybe it goes on summer holiday. At those times, when I open up the weekly box and see something I don’t regularly eat — like kohlrabi or parsnips — I’m apt to shove it to the back of the crisper, thinking what am I ever going to do with that?

That’s exactly how I felt when we got parsnips 3 weeks in a row in the CSA box. I secretly hoped that Bob would discover them in the fridge and roast them all up for a big Sunday night dinner à la Jamie Oliver.

No such luck.

So I took up a challenge for myself: Find some inspiration, somewhere, and make a respectable dish out of the parsnips. Not a boring side dish you’ve seen before (boiled or roasted parsnips), and not a slavishly strange creation you’ll never see again (Heston Blumenthal’s parsnip cereal). More like a simple, slightly offbeat dish that would appeal to almost everyone over 12 years old.

How about parsnip hummus?

Yes, parsnip hummus. An earthy, thick spread of cooked parsnips, tahini, garlic and spices. Some lemon juice and zest for brightness, and a little olive oil and melted butter for a velvety mouthfeel. The texture is like hummus but lighter, a little sweeter and spicier than one made with chickpeas. (And Eve, everyone happily enjoyed more than a token amount at your dinner party. I’ll take that as two thumbs up.)

Parsnip Hummus

This is a fantastic way to use parsnips in an unexpected way. It's a healthy, gluten- and grain-free appetizer that pairs well with raw veggies or crackers. Plus, you can make it a day ahead of time.

Ingredients

1 lb parsnips, peeled and cut into 2-inch thick pieces
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
juice + zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon ground cumin, toasted (*see note)
1 teaspoon ground coriander, toasted (*see note)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, toasted (*see note)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for drizzling (optional)
fresh vegetables, crackers or bread for dipping

Instructions

Place the parsnip pieces in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer over medium-low heat until parsnips are tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and transfer to food processor.
Add lemon zest and juice, spices, and olive oil and blend together until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the processor, add the butter and blend together again. Add salt and pepper to taste. If the texture is thicker than you prefer, add a little more olive oil or lemon juice. If not using right away, cover and refrigerate.
To serve, spoon hummus into a ramekin or onto a plate, drizzle with some olive oil if desired, and surround with slices of fresh vegetables, crackers or bread. Makes about 1-1/2 cups.

Notes

Toasting and grinding your spices helps to boost their flavor: Heat spices in a dry sauté pan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until fragrant. (Keep a very close eye on your pan, as the spices go from fragrant to burnt in no time!) Remove from heat, cool, then grind in a spice grinder. I use an inexpensive coffee grinder which I use exclusively for spices.

The Paleo Diet Challenge: Day 23

Hmmm, on the Paleo Diet Challenge Day 23, how timely: I run across an entertaining article on Scientific American’s website about why the Paleo diet doesn’t make much sense. Now you tell me.

Most of the article is about explaining how the human “gut” works and about the evolution of our digestive tract, which has evolved to eat grains, along with vegetables, fruits, nuts, and meat, and pretty much anything else we toss into it. Judging from the comments so far, he’s touched a nerve from Paleo defenders. Hmmm, I guess I can’t be sure until the challenge is over, but I think I know which camp I’ll end up in, eventually. Hint: it’s not the die-hard Paleo one.

One of the things that I am missing, more than I thought I would, is tortilla chips. Plain, salted, corn tortilla chips, preferably the blue, organic ones from Que Pasa. (Not sure why I like the blue ones so much, but they’re my favorite. Maybe because of the novelty? It’s not like there’s a lot of naturally blue foods out there.)

But since corn tortilla chips are off the menu for the next 8 days, I thought I’d try my hand at oven baked yam chips for a pre-dinner snack. Now, Paleo-friendly nuts are great, and I love them, but they’re not something I’d would want to be dipping in my guacamole.

I’ve done thicker yam fries in the oven before, and they are very, very difficult to get crispy. Almost impossible, really. I blame the high sugar content. But armed with my mandoline to make paper-thin slices, I was confident I’d end up with a crispier result.

Well? They looked very bright and pretty, and tasted great, but even though they were as thin as the mandoline could make, they weren’t nearly as crispy as I had hoped. The burnt ones were the best for crispiness, and got eaten first.

I think I’m officially starting my countdown until the end of the challenge. Crispy tortilla chips are in sight.

More on the Paleo diet challenge:
Why I’m doing it in the first place
My plan for the 30 days

The Paleo Diet Challenge: Day 2

My first thought when I woke up was that I wasn’t very hungry at all. This is unusual. We did eat a little late last night, so maybe that’s part of it.

It could be that I’m just anxious about this challenge too. My breakfast routine has been pretty basic and, now that I write about it, downright boring for the past several months: Peanut butter on multigrain toast. That’s it, along with a coffee. Now that both of those are out of the question, I peeked into the fridge for some inspiration. What could I eat? Unfortunately the fridge was looking a little bare. I decided to go ahead and have my coffee, and flip through those borrowed cookbooks for some inspiration.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the breakfast choice quickly became clear: Eggs. Both books (that is, Make It Paleo and Paleo Comfort Foods) have an abundance of egg recipes, from scrambled to fried to atop beef hash to baked in muffin cups. Eggs in ways I hadn’t thought about, before now. The few ingredients I did have, in the fridge and the herb garden, were enough to turn out a Mediterranean inspired, very Paleo-friendly breakfast. And you know? I liked it. Maybe not as much as peanut butter toast, but it would do just fine.

I turned my attention to the Paleo cookbooks again. Turns out there are some interesting ways to avoid bread, potatoes and all grains. Raw cauliflower, pulsed in a food processor and sauteed with some onions, becomes “rice”. Almond meal subs in for all purpose flour in muffins. And what’s this? Coconut flour. Wow. And here I thought I had to give up all my beloved baked goods. All of a sudden I felt a new energy come over me and I started dreaming about bread. If I can bake, I can definitely make it through the challenge.

Mediterranean Eggs Paleo

Serving Size: 1

Adapted from Make It Paleo by Bill Staley and Hayley Mason

Ingredients

1 tomato, sliced in 1/4 inch thick slices
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar or glaze
2 free range eggs
5 Kalamata olives, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped fine
salt and fresh cracked pepper

Instructions

Preheat the broiler on high. Place the slices of tomato on a baking sheet and drizzle with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil, the balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Broil for 2-3 minutes, or until the tomatoes are heated through.
While the tomatoes are broiling, heat the other 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Break the eggs into the pan and cook until the whites set up. Flip the eggs over and continue cooking until they’re done to your desired likeness. I like my eggs pretty well done.
Place the tomato slices on your plate. Sprinkle the olives over the tomatoes. Stack the 2 fried eggs over the tomatoes and sprinkle the oregano over the plate.

More on the Paleo diet challenge:
Why I’m doing it in the first place
My plan for the 30-day challenge

The Roasted Tomato Revelation

Ah yes, that family barbecue last August, when I thought I was being entirely rational in what I was cooking:

my go-to puff pastry appetizer, from John Bishop and Dennis Green’s cookbook, Simply Bishop’s: Easy Seasonal Recipes
smokies on the barbecue, with baked tomatoes, caramelized onions and a couple of mustard choices on the side
salad
fresh berries and ice cream for dessert

How hard could that be?

And then, as usual, I found myself running behind, all because I’d been diverted by a very big, very inexpensive bag of only slightly soft tomatoes that I found in Granville Island Market that morning.

Since I’d just been looking at the slow-roasted tomatoes recipe in Fine Cooking Magazine, it seemed like Fate had stepped in, and I’d better play my part.

I can’t say I’m sorry, even though, as usual, I had to press you into service in the kitchen.

Roasted tomatoes have been a revelation, and they just keep getting better and more useful as the months go by.

Even on the first night, they showed some sign of what was ahead.
I started out thinking of them as a relish for the smokies, but they looked and smelled so good that they crept into the puff pastry recipe too.

At the time I thought they’d be seasonal, a use for over-ripe tomatoes in August and September.

But it turns out that over-ripe tomatoes show up all year long. In the past, I stopped buying tomatoes in the winter, because they aren’t very good, and I don’t feel like eating them in cold weather.

But now that I roast them, tomatoes in winter are a whole different food. Whenever I see soft ones, deeply discounted, I stock up.

Like you, I’ve stopped using the cup of olive oil, and I love your tip about pressing the liquid out halfway through cooking to redistribute it in the pan.

So now I’m using your roast tomato recipe. Funny how that works.

Here’s the recipe for the puff pastry appetizer, with a few changes from John Bishop’s recipe: baked tomatoes instead of the romas he calls for, and basil pesto instead of olive oil and chopped fresh basil.

Roasted Tomato Tart with Asiago & Red Onions

Ingredients

8 ounces frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 small red onion
8 ounces roasted tomatoes
4 teaspoons basil pesto
1 cup grated Asiago cheese
Olive oil for drizzling
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh basil leaves for garnish, rolled and cut into chiffonade

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out puff pastry to form an eight-inch square, 1/8th of an inch thick.
Cut into four four-inch squares. Prick pastry all over with a fork and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Peel onion and slice as thinly as possible, preferably with a mandolin.
Brush pastry squares with pesto.
Press any extra liquid out of baked tomatoes. Arrange tomatoes in a layer.
Place a layer of onion slices over the baked tomatoes and top with grated Asiago cheese. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a grinding of black pepper.
Place on the prepared baking sheet and bake until pastry is puffed and golden, about 15 minutes.
To serve, place each tart on a warmed plate and garnish with basil threads.

And for ways they’ve moved into my life:

angel hair pasta with caramelized onions, prosciutto, Italian parsley and a sprinkling of goat cheese
cheddar cheese omelette with basil or chiives
with green beans and caramelized onions

By the way, thanks for the tip on refreezing puff pastry. I bought a one-pound package from Whole Foods, and only used half when I last made the Warm tomato and Asiago Tart.

But I rolled it all out, and cut it into squares. I froze the extra on a cookie sheet and then slipped them into a freezer bag.

This is dangerous knowledge – I’ve already whipped up a quick mango puff-pastry tart, just because I had a mango, and with the puff pastry all ready in the freezer I knew it would take no time at all.