Something a little different: Mulligatawny Soup

17. May 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Appetizer, cooking, Dinner, food, recipes, Savory · Tags: ,

While going through my grandpa’s recipe collection, I came across a recipe for a sort of Mulligatawny. At least, that’s what the recipe called it although I’m fairly certain it’s not very authentic.

In case you don’t know, a Mulligatawny is a a curry-flavoured soup of Anglo-Indian origin (as per Wikipedia).

There are many variations on the recipe for mulligatawny. In the West, the soup typically has a yellow colour and contains chicken or other meat, and it is often thickened with rice.

This recipe said to add both chicken and rice, but since I knew it was something Nate wouldn’t want to eat anyway, due to the spices, I eliminated both and kept it light for me.

This is definitely a shortcut way to make this soup, but it was way tastier than I was expecting! The apple adds a nice sweetness and the hot sauce plus spices give it a real kick and make it full of flavor.

While this soup isn’t hearty enough to be a full meal, it would make a delicious first course. It’s always nice to change it up a bit in the kitchen, so if you’re in the mood for something different, give this a try! I garnished mine with a dallop of sour cream and it was perfect :)

Quick Mulligatawny Soup

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Serves 6-8

2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 package (10 oz) frozen mixed veggies, thawed
2 Tbsp flour
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce, or more to taste
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 quart water
1 can (10.5 oz) condensed low fat cream of chicken soup (or chicken with rice soup, if you want rice)
1 cup chopped apple
optional- 1 cup diced cooked chicken

Melt butter over med-high heat in a large soup pot.

Add onion and mixed veggies, saute just until onion is tender.

Stir in flour, curry powder, salt, hot pepper sauce and cloves. Add water, soup, apple (and chicken if using).

Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 20 min or until slightly thickened. Serve with additional pepper sauce if desired.

Leftovers are the Mother of Invention: Rosemary Buttermilk Tea Cake

12. May 2012 · 16 comments · Categories: Baking, Bread, Brunch, Cake, cooking, food, recipes · Tags: , , , ,

Rosemary Buttermilk Tea Cake

I hate wasting food.

Before I met Nate I would try to serve myself small portions of food, but with my eyes being bigger than my stomach, there would always still be too much for me on the plate. Since I hated wasting food, I would force myself to eat the last few mouthfuls rather than wasting it. (Don’t ask me how I developed this behavior since my mom never enforced the “clean plate” rule!)

Luckily Nate’s active lifestyle gives him an endless appetite. Now, rather than forcing myself to eat something, I just put it on his plate :) This solves the problem of having little bits of meal leftover, but it still doesn’t solve the problem of leftover ingredients.

Obviously if a recipe calls for buttermilk, or fresh rosemary, you will have copious amounts left. I had both ingredients sitting in my fridge (courtesy of some baked buttermilk rosemary chicken) for over a week because I refused to get rid of them.

I knew those two ingredients happened to be a perfect combo for something sweet and so I finally got myself to mix them together into a lovely cake.

This cake is light (in texture, not in calories), not overly sweet, and perfect for brunch with a cup of tea! The rosemary flavor is strong, but I love it that way. If you’re not as big a fan of rosemary, feel free to cut back.

I couldn’t stop myself from eating this. It’s so buttery, soft and flavorful.  I honestly don’t know what a tea cake is, but this is what I’d imagine :) The perfect thing to go with your Mother’s Day brunch!

And with your leftover buttermilk and rosemary, you can perhaps invent something even better!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!!!

Rosemary Buttermilk Tea Cake

Rosemary Buttermilk Tea Cake

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Serves 8

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp lemon juice
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped (you can use less if you’re not a huge rosemary fan)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 10″ pan with cooking spray. (*Note, I think you could use a 9″ but I’m not sure if it would be too much batter, but give it a try! The cake doesn’t rise very much. You could easily use a 9″ springform because it has higher sides, but it would need to cook slightly longer.)

Cream together the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemon  juice, zest, and rosemary and continue beating until batter is smooth and combined.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in another bowl and add alternately with the buttermilk to the butter and sugar mixture.

Beat until smooth, then pour batter into your greased pan, smoothing out the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake cake for 40 minutes until edges are golden and begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let cool and serve room temperature or slightly warm.

You could make a glaze for this cake if you wanted by mixing some milk with powdered sugar, but I thought it was sweet enough as is, especially to be served with brunch.

*Note, if you must make this the day before and refrigerate, make sure it comes to room temp or warm it up before serving. It’s not the right texture when cold (although weirdo Nate likes it better cold and dry).

Remembering Grandpa, and His Favorite Foods.

09. May 2012 · 22 comments · Categories: Baking, cooking, Dinner, food, life, recipes, Savory, vegetarian · Tags: , , ,

Vegetable Lasagna

Since my grandpa passed away a couple months ago, my mom and aunt decided to help my grandmother go through her house to clean it up. Both my grandma and grandpa love(ed) to save things…I unfortunately inherited this packrat tendency.

This cleanup was necessary both because their house contains all sorts of crap, but also because my grandma will be downsizing to an apartment.

Vegetable Lasagna

During the cleanup my mom found and bequeathed to me a collection of recipes my grandfather had saved.

The ironic thing is that my grandfather didn’t cook (though he loved to watch the Food Network), and my grandmother also doesn’t cook…which makes you wonder what exactly he was saving these recipes for.

I think I also inherited his recipe clipping addiction.

Vegetable Lasagna

When my mom mentioned giving me this collection, my grandmother got upset, saying that maybe she would make some of these recipes now…even though she hadn’t made any of them for the last 50 years.

A lot of his recipe clippings came from newspapers and the back of food cartons, and some were hand written ones scribbled while watching cooking shows on tv.

Vegetable Lasagna

The recipes were super organized. He had different envelopes on each of which he wrote a category: Dessert, Salad/Vegetables, Side Dishes, Meat and Poultry, etc. There must have been 10 different categories.

Going through each category I was able to learn a little something about my grandpa- his favorite foods. There were about 20 recipes for the practically the same dish in each category, though the sources varied.

Apparently his favorite dessert was apple crisp/pie, he loved any type of chili, and in the pasta category, he preferred Lasagna.

Vegetable Lasagna

The recipe in this post came about from adapting one of “his” recipes. I think it must have come from the back of some lasagna noodle box, and I have to say that it turned out delicious! I’ll be sharing more of his recipes in the coming weeks.

When my mother gave me my grandpa’s recipe clippings, I knew exactly what I had to do- finally cook the dishes my grandpa had been saving for someone to make.

I guess maybe he was saving it for me :)

Vegetable Lasagna

Hearty Vegetable Lasagna

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Serves 8-10

1 lb lasagna noodles, not the “no boil” ones
1 lb sliced mushrooms
1 bunch broccolini, chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2- 26oz jars pasta sauce
1.5 tsp dried italian seasoning
15 oz Ricotta cheese
16 oz (4 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook pasta 8 min or until just tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. Spread noodles onto a sheet pan coated with cooking spray so noodles don’t stick together.

While pasta is cooking, heat a large saucepan over med-hi heat. Heat oil and add onion. (**You could easily add ground beef here and skip the broccolini if you wanted it to be non-vegetarian). Cook onion 2 minutes then add mushrooms, broccolini and garlic and cook until tender.

Stir in 4 cups (1 1/3 jars) pasta sauce and italian seasoning. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.

Mix ricotta, 2 cups mozzarella and eggs.

Spread 1 cup remaining sauce in greased 9×13 casserole dish.

Layer 5 noodles on top of sauce, slightly overlapping noodles to fit. Spread 2 cups of the veggie sauce over the noodles. Dollop with 1/2 of the ricotta mixture, spreading evenly in pan. Sprinkly with 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese.

Repeat above step, layering noodles, veggie sauce, ricotta, parmesan.

Top with 5 more noodles and top with rest of sauce.

Sprinkle with 2 cups mozzarella cheese. Bake uncovered 40 minutes or until bubbly. Put a sheet pan covered with foil underneath to catch any drips.

Let stand 15 minutes. Refrigerate leftovers.

*Note: I found this recipe much better the next day. Some of the sauce gets absorbed into the noodles and it’s not watery.

#PastaLove- Aunt Rita’s Noodle Pudding

05. May 2012 · 42 comments · Categories: Baking, Brunch, cooking, Dinner, food, recipes, Side dishes · Tags: , , ,

This is one of my family’s most important and delicious recipes. For us, it originated with and has thus been named after my Aunt Rita, although I’m not sure where she got it from originally,  But what’s important is that once she found it, she saved it!

noodle kugel

This isn’t a traditional noodle kugel recipe. For one thing, it has no fruit in it, and the noodles are angel hair rather than thick egg noodles.

In addition, it has the addition of three forms of dairy products (four if you count the butter). The consistency comes out like a hybrid of a kugel and a cheesecake and it is topped with THE MOST buttery, delicious graham cracker crumb topping.

noodle kugel

You don’t even need to save it for Jewish holiday dinners, although that’s when we usually make it.

I know it’s not much to look at, but people I’m telling you, I could seriously eat this for every meal for the rest of my life and I would never get sick of it, although my thighs might protest- it’s more like a dessert than a meal from the calorie perspective.

noodle kugel

*Note that if you make it, yours will be slightly thicker than mine…I halved the recipe and made it in an 8×8 pan which is a little too large for half a recipe.

Recipe is at the bottom of the post!

In case you couldn’t figure it out, May is #pastalove month!

Please join in on the #pastalove fun by linking up any pasta recipe from the month of May 2012. Don’t forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #pastalove event! The twitter hashtag is #pastalove :) . 

I’m hosting along with these other fine folks:

Astig Vegan, Badger Girl Learns to Cook, BigFatBaker, Bon à croquer, Cake Duchess, Hobby And More, Mis Pensamientos, No One Likes Crumbley Cookies, Oh Cake, Rico sin Azúcar, Simply Reem, Soni’s Food for Thought, Teaspoon of Spice, That Skinny Chick Can Bake!!!, The Spicy RD, The Wimpy Vegetarian, Vegetarian Mamma, You Made That?, Vegan Yack Attack

Please link up your recipe below :)

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Aunt Rita’s Noodle Pudding

From Aunt Rita

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Serves 12

1/2 lb. fine egg noodles, cooked and drained (I usually use regular angel hair pasta)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup sugar
8 oz. cottage cheese
4 oz. cream cheese, room temp
8 oz. sour cream
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt

Topping:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp sugar
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine noodles, butter, sugar, cheeses, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt. Mix well.

Pour into buttered 9×13 baking dish.

Mix together the crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Sprinkle evenly over the noodle mixture.

Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour, until golden on top.

Remove from oven and let set 15 minutes at room temp before cutting into squares.

Serve hot or at room temperature.

Roasted Corn, Shrimp, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Quesadilla with Red Pepper Jelly and Salsa Verde

30. April 2012 · 18 comments · Categories: cooking, Dinner, food, recipes, Savory · Tags: , , ,

I have the most romantic fiancé ever…

Shrimp Quesadilla

The other day at work, Nate and I were talking on gchat and he asked me what I was making for dinner:

me: why don’t you get a pizza for dinner

Nate: im just not sure i want pizza

me: well how do you know you’d be in the mood for whatever i made for dinner?

Nate: i can’t make these decisions anymore
thats why i’m getting married
so i don’t have to
my food thinking days are over

Shrimp Quesadilla

If that’s not a reason to get married (to someone you had a “good” date with), I don’t know what is.

Since Nate never has any idea what he wants for dinner, I have to come up with these things myself.

I knew I wanted to use my new panini press, one of my bridal gifts!! I immediately thought of quesadillas and tried to figure out what else was in my fridge.

Shrimp Quesadilla

I had that goat cheese I’ve been meaning to use, plus some Trader Joes Red Pepper Jelly that I haven’t tried yet (courtesy of Nate’s mom). For some reason I knew I wanted roasted corn too, and then I threw in mushrooms to add some more veggies and sauteed shrimp for protein.

Before I knew it, a delicious quesadilla was born.

Shrimp Quesadilla

Since Nate doesn’t mind making me come up with dinner ideas and cooking every day, I didn’t mind hiding some chopped up shrimp, his most hated of foods, into this tasty meal :)

Had it not been for a small piece of shrimp falling out of these very messy quesadillas, Nate never would have known.

And you know what? He saw it fall out and kept eating. They were THAT GOOD people!

Roasted Corn, Shrimp, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Quesadilla with Red Pepper Jelly and Salsa Verde

Recipe by Me

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makes 4 quesadillas

*Note: amounts are not exact, as it really depends what you like

4 tortillas
15ish small shrimp
3 ears corn, kernels cut off (about 1 cup kernels I think?)
Olive oil
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
Cilantro
3-4 oz. crumbled goat cheese
Salsa verde (any jarred version is fine, or you could make your own)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Red Pepper Jelly

Toss corn kernels with some oil, spread on a foil-line baking sheet, and sprinkle with pepper.

Broil corn kernels, keeping an eye on them, until lightly browned. Set aside.

Put about a teaspoon of oil in a grill pan or skillet and heat over medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring until they begin to soften. Add a tablespoon of salsa, stir, and push to one side of the pan.

Toss shrimp with olive oil, cilantro, salt and pepper. Add shrimp to the empty half of the pan containing the mushrooms.

Flip shrimp over when the bottom side turns pink, and continue cooking another minute or two until entire shrimp is pink.

Remove shrimp from pan and cut each into quarters.

Remove mushrooms from heat and set aside.

Put 1 tortilla down. Spread half with about 1 Tbsp red pepper Jelly. Sprinkle 3-4 shrimp (9-12 chopped pieces) evenly over the jelly. Top with 1 Tbsp mushrooms and about 3-4 Tbsp corn. Sprinkle with an ounce of goat cheese, cilantro and 1 Tbsp salsa verde. (Amounts are all approximate and can vary based on your taste)

Fold tortilla over the filling and cook in a panini press for a few minutes or until crispy on outside and cheese is melted.

Cut in half and enjoy!

Decisions, decisions…and a Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake

26. April 2012 · 13 comments · Categories: Baking, Cake, Dessert, food, recipes · Tags: , , ,

I’m the most indecisive person you’ve ever met. My family and Nate can certainly vouch for that.

Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake

I rarely buy things for myself, so when I do you can imagine how long I spend deciding exactly what item I want. I will literally stand in a department store with a blue shirt and a red shirt in each hand, looking back and forth for a good 30 minutes to figure out which one I really want.

I’m not exaggerating.

At restaurants I will agonize over what to order because everything sounds so good and I know I can only get one thing. I usually make the waiter go to everyone else and take my order last just so I have that extra 1 minute to finalize my choice.

It’s like making decisions paralyzes me.

How do you choose what to have??! Well with this recipe you don’t have to. There’s a super dense chocolate layer for the chocoholic in all of us, and then there’s the tangy cheesecake marbeled throughout for those of us cheesecake lovers!

This is not for the faint of heart. If you like serious chocolate desserts than this is for you. Nate could barely finish his slice…although it could be because it was a large slice and we had just had a giant mac and cheese dinner. Man, I wish I had his metabolism…

Marbled Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake

slightly adapted from Baker Street

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makes one 9″ round cake

For the vanilla batter:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

For the chocolate batter:
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 stick (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbs. dark rum or espresso
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 Tbsp flour
Pinch table salt
Cocoa powder for dusting

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Lightly grease a 9 inch round cake pan and /or line the bottom with parchment.

Make the vanilla batter:
In a medium bowl, beat the softened cream cheese with an electric mixer until smooth.

Add the sugar and continue beating until well blended and no lumps remain. Add the egg and vanilla and beat just until blended. Set aside.

Make the chocolate batter:
In a medium bowl, melt the chocolate and butter in a large metal bowl over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave.

Whisk until smooth and set aside to cool slightly. With a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs, sugar, rum or espresso, vanilla, and salt on medium high until the mixture is pale and thick, 3 to 4 min.

With the mixer on low, gradually pour in the chocolate mixture and continue beating until well blended.

Spread about half of the chocolate batter in the bottom of the pan. Alternately add large scoopfuls of each of the remaining batters to the cake pan.

Using a knife or the tip of a rubber spatula or a toothpick gently swirl the two batters together so they’re mixed but not completely blended.

Tap the pan against the countertop several times to settle the batters.

Bake until a pick inserted about 2 inches from the edge comes out gooey but not liquid, 40 to 42 min.; don’t over bake.

The top will be puffed and slightly cracked, especially around the edges. It will sink down as it cools. Let cool on a rack until just slightly warm, about 1-1/2 hours. Let cool completely. Cover and refrigerate until very cold, at least 4 hours or overnight, or freeze.

Remove cake from fridge one hour before serving. Loosen the cake from the pan by holding the pan almost perpendicular to the counter; tap the pan on the counter while rotating it clockwise. Invert onto a large flat plate or board. Remove the pan and carefully peel off the parchment. Sift some cocoa powder over the cake (this will make it easier to remove the slices when serving).

Let sit until cake warms to room temperature before serving. (or eat it cold if you like that!)

Invert again onto a similar plate so that the top side is up.

Bridal shower #1…

23. April 2012 · 14 comments · Categories: life, Uncategorized · Tags: ,

Sorry I’ve been MIA on the blog lately. I’ve just been so busy travelling back and forth and just catching up on stuff when I’m actually home. Between the Boston marathon last weekend and a bridal shower this weekend in Florida, my free time has been lacking.

FL bridal shower

Proudly wearing my "Bride 2 Be" sash

Anyway, since I haven’t gotten a food post together I thought I’d entertain you with some pictures. This weekend I headed down to Florida to attend a bridal shower my mom’s friends threw for me. It was super nice of them to do this! I’ll be having another shower in NJ in a few months for my friends and family up north.

FL bridal shower cup

They played a game where I had to guess Nate’s answers to some questions they had secretly asked him a month ago :)

FL bridal shower ribbon hat

Me wearing the ribbon "hat" made by fashioning all gift ribbons into a hat...or in this case making a hat out of a purse I got as part of a present.

My personal favorite: When did Amy know she wanted to marry you?

Nate’s answer: 1 year into the relationship.

Uh…Nate proposed about 1 year and a couple weeks into the relationship. He sure did cut it close!

He also rated our first date on a bad/good/great scale as “good.” Thanks a lot, Nate! He claims it’s because of the food, and not because of the company.

That combined with a few other answers he gave make him very close to sharing the couch with L.C. tonight ;)

Hope you’ve enjoyed seeing what’s been keeping me busy…I promise I’ll be back soon with a yummy Fudgey cheesecake concoction before the next busy weekend (this time with our wedding food-tasting!) begins…

Roasted Dijon Potatoes and Sausage, plus a race recap

18. April 2012 · 22 comments · Categories: cooking, Dinner, food, recipes, Savory · Tags: , , ,

Well, the marathon didn’t go exactly as planned. Monday in Boston ended up being even hotter than predicted and it reached 90 degrees, with very little humidity.

The weather was so hot that the marathon organization did something the’ve never done before: they offered a deferment to the 2013 Boston Marathon for participants who decide not to race.

In addition, they highly recommended that only those who qualified for the marathon should race, i.e. not the charity organization runners because they’re usually not as highly trained. They also stressed that people pay very careful attention to their bodies and stop the second they felt any signs of heat exhaustion or dehydration.

And finally, they kept the finish systems open an additional hour on race day to allow people to run extra slowly so they didn’t hurt themselves.

Basically the only point in running was really to say you ran a marathon (which Nate had no need to do), because no one, not even the elite athletes, could get a personal record on this race.

In the end, Nate decided not to defer. the combination of the fact that Nate had a full fan club (my parents flew in, his aunt took the train down, his mom and I came along) and the fact that he actually worked with a trainer for this race compared to just training on his own for the others made him really not want to wait til next year.

He hydrated a ton but got to mile 8 and just felt like crap so he stopped. A ton of other runners dropped out midway too, including last year’s male winner. The winner this year was a full 10 minutes slower than last years time, so you can imagine what the situation must have been like.

I think for Nate it was a physical plus a mental exhaustion.  It had been a stressful choice just to decide to actually run, but he just didn’t want to hurt himself and ruin every race after because of an injury or bad memories of running.

Nate was definitely bummed by the whole thing and we all felt really bad for him.  I was worrying so much about him before he even left for the race. When I stopped getting text updates about his progress in the race I was silently freaking out. I was SO glad when he had gotten back to the hotel and was able to call me!

I definitely think it was the wisest decision he could have made and I’m so glad he didn’t hurt himself.

We got back yesterday and were all a little drained. I really didn’t want to cook up some extravagant dinner, so I made this really easy meal I saw over on Confessions of a Chocoholic.

I also didn’t feel like dragging out the camera, so I experimented with taking pictures on my new iphone app Camera+. What do you guys think of how the pics came out? Not bad for a camera phone I think.

Roasted Dijon Sausage and Potatoes

I very slightly adapted the recipe and made some buttered Pastina to go along with it. Yum!

 

Dijon Roasted Potatoes and Sausage

Very slightly adapted from Confessions of a Chocoholic

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Serves 6-8

36 oz. chicken sausage (the fully-cooked kind), cut in quarters
2.5 lbs small red potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup whole grain Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp water
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 sprigs rosemary, chopped
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Whisk mustard, olive oil, lemon juice, water, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper in large bowl to blend.

Add potatoes, tossing to coat. Place potatoes in a large baking sheet lined with foil, leaving excess mustard mixture behind in the bowl. Roast for about 45 minutes or longer, turning potatoes midway, until the potatoes are crusty outside and tender inside.

While the potatoes are cooking, toss the sausage into the remaining mustard mix. Spread evenly on a separate baking sheet lined with foil. Place inside the oven about 20 minutes after the potatoes, and roast for 25 minutes. (i.e. the potatoes and sausage should finish cooking at the same time.

Take out both baking sheets from oven and toss potatoes and sausages together. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Carbo-loading for the Boston Marathon!- Pasta with Chickpeas and Arugula.

10. April 2012 · 25 comments · Categories: cooking, Dinner, food, life, recipes, Savory, vegetarian · Tags: , , , ,

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, Nate will be running the Boston Marathon this coming Monday! I’m so so proud of him. I can’t even run a mile, no less a marathon that you actually have to qualify for.

I highly doubt you need to carbo-load for a full week leading up to any marathon race (since I’m sure most of it gets digested the day after you eat it), but Nate requested that this week be “pasta week,” so that’s what I gave him!

What a cruel joke that the week of Passover (i.e. THE WEEK I CAN’T EAT PASTA) coincided with Nate’s pasta week.

I found this recipe on one of my favorite sites, SeriousEats.com. I find their recipes extremely reliable, and delicious!

I wanted something a little different than our standard rotation of pasta with sausage and red sauce, pesto, or broccoli and garlic. It also continues with my vegetarian theme. Next time I’m going to try soaking dried chickpeas if I have the forethought, rather than using the canned variety.

We’re heading up to Boston on Friday for a relaxing, site-seeing weekend leading up to the actual race.

When Nate gets his best time ever (knock on wood!!!), I will definitely attribute it to this meal that I made him eat all week long, since I only know how to cook enough for an army. Luckily the boy likes leftovers as much as me.

On a side note, please cross your fingers that the weather forecast showing 75 degrees for the race on Monday is totally wrong!

I copied this recipe directly from Serious Eats, so head over there for the recipe! But in case you wanna know what’s in it without having to click on a link, here are the ingredients:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt, plus more for the pasta water
black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup olive oil
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 pound fresh mozzarella, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 pound pasta shells
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups chopped arugula

Meat Lovers Vegetarian Tamale Casserole

05. April 2012 · 21 comments · Categories: cooking, Dinner, food, recipes, Savory, vegetarian · Tags: , , ,

I’m not a vegetarian by any means. In fact, there are days when I’m absolutely craving a good piece of steak, and a rare one at that!

But Nate doesn’t eat beef (he doesn’t like the taste), and there are only so many ways to cook a piece of chicken or turkey. Not to mention I DETEST touching raw poultry. I’m totally paranoid about Salmonella and it takes me forever to cut it up and dispose of the infected knife/cutting board and then thoroughly cleanse every surface it might have touched.

So sometimes it’s easier, and spices things up, to just go vegetarian for a meal. I’ve been using a lot of beans lately because they’re just so simple to use (especially when you get them precooked in a can). Not to mention vegetarian sources of protein are much lower in fat than animal sources.

I had seen a recipe for Tamale pie that just had me totally craving something similar, and that’s when it hit me to sub Tempeh for the beef. Now in this case I more than made up for the fat I was saving by adding the cheese and cornbread topping, but that’s neither here nor there ;)

You can crumble it up to get it into similarly sized pieces as ground beef. I’m telling you, a man meat-lover will not even know that it has no meat!

This wasn’t a super spicy version and I think next time I’d add even more mexican spices (or maybe just use a packet of taco seasoning instead of the chili powder/cumin/salt!), but it was still mighty tasty.

I dare you to make this “meaty” meal and see how many people notice there’s no meat involved!

P.S. Please don’t judge this recipe by the photos. I had a hungry man on my hands when this came out of the oven and had to rush.

“Meat Lovers” Vegetarian Tamale Casserole

Print this recipe!

Serves 6-8

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, cut in half and then into thin slices
2 ribs of celery, diced
2- 8 oz. packages of Tempeh, crumbled
1 Tbsp chili powder (*alternatively use taco seasoning instead of chili powder, cumin, and salt)
1 tsp cumin
1- 19 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
1- 8.75oz can corn, drained
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp tabasco (or more to taste)
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1- 10 oz. can enchilada sauce
2 cups tomato sauce
s+p to taste
1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream for garnish (optional)

Topping ingredients:
1- 8.5 oz. cornbread mix (such as Jiffy)
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
1- 4.25 oz can diced green chiles
1- 8.75 oz can corn, drained

Preheat oven to 375.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over med-hi heat. Cook a few minutes until onions have started to soften. Add celery, Tempeh. Cook until Tempeh begins to brown, 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add spices and stir well. Stir in beans and next 6 ingredients. Cook until warmed through. Salt and pepper to taste.

Remove mixture from heat and spread into a 9×13 pan. Sprinkle cheese evenly on top.

Mix cornbread mix, milk and egg until smooth. Stir in chiles and corn. Put drops of cornbread mixture even over Tempeh mixture and then spread into a thin layer.

Bake casserole for 40 minutes or until top begins to turn golden around the edges.

Cool 5 minutes before serving.

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