Animal Writings

Done with talking about beans? What was I thinking?

• Chili! Kidney beans and pinto beans are classic, but black beans work great, and look around and you'll find recipes for chili that use every kind of legume imaginable. In the DC area or Raleigh, NC, try Hard Times Cafe's vegetarian chili, which is delicious and made with peanuts.


• Black beans, pinto beans, refried beans—all these work great in tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and quesadillas. Try the vegetarian fajitas at Chipotle with black beans. Or try local burrito-type shops that make decent veg stuff — or ask if they do. In the DC area, for example, try the spinach burrito with black beans at Burrito Brothers. Hearty, tasty, and filling!


• Class project! I was looking for an easy, tasty red beans and rice recipe that we could all enjoy. Here's what I found. It's from 1995. Is this like the oldest thing on the Internet? Anyway, it says you can use either use Cajun seasoning or a combination of chili powder, cumin, a bay leaf and oregano. You can find Cajun spice blends in most medium or larger grocery stores. But I'm going to guesstimate that I'll use about 3/4 tablespoon of chili powder, 3/4 tablespoon of cumin, and 3/4 teaspoon of oregano. Black pepper is also one of the ingredients. I figure, about ten shakes or a half a dozen cranks, then taste it and go from there. If you're in the DC area, come on over and dig in—just give me some warning so I have enough!

Next: Meat substitutes—the heart of the series.

To be continued...

Labels: black beans, chili beans, cooking, diet, legumes, red beans

I had two questions and a brief comment that I tacked on to the end of the interview. Without any further ado...

Gary: Any favorite or little-known-but-fantastic-and-easy tips for using spices and ready-made sauces that you want to share?

Dino: The microwave, of course! Whenever I'm in a severe rush, I'm never embarrassed to use the microwave. Heck, sometimes I use it even when I'm not in a hurry. There's nothing wrong with setting a pot of rice to cook in the rice cooker, chopping up a bunch of root vegetables (yams, potatoes, what have you), tossing them with some oil, and your spice blend (Mrs. Dash, curry powder, garam masala, whatever), and letting it rip in the microwave for a while.

As for sauces, I tend to save those for occasions when a large pot of soup or stew is coming up flat for some reason. Suppose you've just made a fairly large vegetable stew. At the end, you taste for seasoning, and you notice that it's all well cooked and such, but it's severely lacking in flavours. This is when you start experimenting (quickly) with your ready made sauces. Grab a few small bowls, and ladle a bit of stew into them. Line up your sauces, and try each bowl with a different one. Once you've found the combination you like, start pitching it into the pot! It will taste fine soon enough!

The reason I use sauces in this manner, is because they've already been processed in such a way that the flavours are already well developed. Spice blends, on the other hand, are in a sort of suspended animation, and are waiting to release their stuff. This is why I suggest the dry cooking in the microwave: the fast cooking speed is hot enough to pull out the flavour of the spices quickly.

Don't be afraid of substituting a different sauce for a different purpose. For example, if all this time, you've only had sweet potatoes with cinnamon, sugar, and a dash of nutmeg, why not give them a shot of barbecue sauce, and see where the adventure takes you? If you've only used soy sauce (or tamari) in stir fry dishes, why not try them over steamed vegetables? Start thinking outside of the box. These ready made sauces are meant specifically to work with a wide range of foods. Chances are, you'll hit on something new that you like.

Gary: Any words of encouragement for people who, for one reason or another—lack of experience, bad luck in the past, intimidated by TV chefs, whatever—still may lack the confidence to try out things in the kitchen?

Dino: Don't look at the intimidating ones, but think of the most popular ones. Julia Child. Martin Yan (Yan Can Cook!). Graham Kerr. Rachel Ray. What did all these people have in common? For one thing, their shows are filmed live. You could see when they made mistakes, and have accidents. For another thing, they stressed that you try to have a knowledge of what you're doing, rather than have a strict adherence to specific amounts and rules. I don't think I've ever seen Julia Child measure food in her show. She just knew what it looked like in the dish, because she knew that it's not going to make a huge difference if she got a little more or a little less in the pan. She can always adjust later, as needed. Look at Rachel Ray. She doesn't pull out measuring spoons; she tells you to "eyeball" it.

The reason that these TV cooks are popular is because they're showing you how to prepare food in the way that most people do in their own homes. Even though they're all following recipes, they still don't bother being all that retentive about it, because that's how you learn.

I remember being in the kitchen with my mother. The two of us would be keeping up a steady stream of chatter while working on the food. Sometimes, we'd make a fairly big mistake ("oops! I forgot to chop the onions, mom." "Well, leave it out then."), and in the end, it wasn't that huge a deal. One such time was this Friday night that we were rushing to get dinner ready. We had more people than we thought we would, and were rushing, because they were set to arrive soon.

Usually, in a proper daal, you have to chop up some onions, some garlic, some tomato, cilantro, curry leaves, and set up a series of five or six spices. Everything needs to be there to give an authentic feeling. That evening, we hadn't the time to bother with all that.

Instead, in her panic, my mother toasted some cumin seeds in hot oil, and added the lot of the cooked beans when she heard them pop. She didn't even bother adding salt. Similarly on my side, I didn't have time to make my cabbage, which involves onions, carrots, cabbage, and two or three spices, along with curry leaves. Instead, I just did the grated cabbage, grated carrot, some chopped onions, lemon juice, and some curry leaves raw, and tossed it all together. This is all because the two of us didn't do anything in advance. Before leaving the kitchen, we set the rice cooker to get going, and ran to greet the guests.

It was as if the food was high gourmet. Everyone had third helpings, and was raving about the food!

There were other times when the mistakes would give us either over salted (meaning, you have to double the quantity of food, and add a bit of lemon), over cooked (add water, call it a soup), undercooked (sprinkle on just enough water to dampen, microwave until cooked through), or bland (liberally add in any sort of chili sauce you can handle; Cholula is the best, because it has heat and lots of spices), or burned (gently pour out just exactly what's not burned, and don't scrape the bottom; soak the pot in water and soap; reseason the salvaged part to your liking, using some sort of BBQ sauce or such, which goes well with a smoky taste, then call it Cajun). These things happen to everyone, because that's the nature of the beast. The important thing is to avoid panicking, and work with it.

I can't remember how many times I'd mix up the sugar for the salt, and sprinkle some in, and get very odd looks from my mother at the dinner table. We'd salvage it by adding some sour (tamarind, lemon, lime, what have you), and a bit of extra heat (cayenne, black pepper, ground chilly), and the actual salt itself. There's a reason that in my own home now, I refuse to use anything else but Turbinado sugar, and Kosher salt! Can't confuse those two, right?

Here's a couple of ways to avoid disaster:

1. Until you're highly adept in the kitchen, don't let the dial go on anything higher than medium to start. That is, when you heat up oil, or pop spices, or do anything else that involves a naked pan + whatever you're adding, start at medium heat. This way, you'll understand how the pot reacts to the amount of oil you have in there.

I generally start at medium when I'm in an unfamiliar kitchen for the same reason: I don't know how their cookware and stoves do things until I've gotten the hang of it. Sometimes, if the pots are very thin, and the stove is very hot, I'll mentally re-calibrate the dial.
Medium is the new high, and so on.

2. Once your stove is above low heat, don't leave the room. I'm seriously not joking on this one. The reason is that the boiling point of water is 100° C [212° F]. Since water resists change in temperature very well, you can more or less count on the food in the pot staying at this temperature for the most part. However, once water has left, there is no compelling reason for the pot to remain at 100°. Instead, you'll see the temperature climb extremely rapidly, to the burning point. Soon, your smoke detector is screaming, and your family is coughing. Just stay put.

If the phone rings, or doorbell rings, and your stove is on high, turn the heat off, and handle those other things. It's better to come back to it, and pick up where you left off, rather than leave things a smoking mess. If you are an experienced cook, and are simmering a large pot of food over the lowest heat setting (such as when cooking beans, or making a chili), feel free to cover the lid of the pot, and set a timer for about 30 minutes or so. I use the timer in my microwave (press timer, set the amount of time you need it to time, then press timer again). I can then sit down with a book, or surf the Internet for a while. I won't watch TV, because the sound of the TV will drown out the sound of the timer.

When my timer goes off, I'll check on the food, and keep cooking, or set the timer for a bit longer, and relax.

The point is that you don't have to babysit the kitchen the entire time you're cooking, if it's a long, slow-cooking food, but when you're in a hurry, be there to pay attention to what's going on.

3. Use the built in timer for your oven. With the oven, we often forget that it's there, because it's enclosed, and doesn't really make itself known too much. Instead of risking that, just read the manual of your stove, and figure out how to set the timer. If you have lost your manual, type into Google [or GoodSearch] "how to set oven timer for ________" with the brand name of your oven. Something is bound to show up!

4. Clearly label, in BIG letters, your spices. A simple piece of white paper, taped onto the jar, will do the trick. Why? Because sometimes, you can't find your glasses. Sometimes, you're in a rush, and don't look too closely at the white powdered spice (which is baking soda, not powder, or sugar, not salt), and you sprinkle some in, thinking that you'll be fine. The food comes out, and everyone looks confused.

5. Try to keep your spices and sauces in roughly the same place every time. Don't let people take it out of that spot, if you can help it.

If you use ketchup in everything, it'll be a good idea to have it in the same spot in your fridge every time you need it, so that you don't have to go searching for it. Similarly, with your other spices, if you keep them in easy reach, you'll remember to use them, and you'll know where to find them. I don't let people take my salt or pepper out of the kitchen. Instead, I measure out enough for that meal, and keep it in a separate container on the table. This way, I won't have to go searching for my salt box the next time I need it. It'll be right there, where it's always sitting.

6. Before flipping on the stove, try to have most of everything waiting for you. That is, if the recipe calls for crushed garlic, a bag of green peas, some Mrs. Dash, and some oil, try to have those things all in one spot, relatively close by. In fact, open the bag of peas, crush the garlic, and have the jar of Mrs. Dash open before flipping on the stove. You'll thank yourself later when you're not fumbling around.

These guidelines should give you an insurance policy against mess-ups in the future. It won't prevent them completely, but it'll certainly help avoid major disasters. Trust me when I say that even the most experienced chefs have disasters. We just make it work for us.

Gary: Finally, not a question, but thanks so much for imparting all this information and enthusiasm for healthy, natural, delicious, peaceful foods. Much appreciated, and I hope we can do it again sometime.

Dino: For sure! This was pretty much what I'm very much suited to, right? Glad you enjoyed it as much as I did.

---

Next: Final wrapup...

Labels: cooking, Dino, sauces, spices

Posted by: Gary / 10:10 PM (1) comments  

One of the things I like about talking to Dino is that I'll ask him what he thinks of a spice and he'll come up with a recipe on the spot. So in that last interview section about tips on using spices, we got a chili recipe and some quick vegetable- based recipes that sound delicious thrown in at no extra cost.

I like that he distinguished, at least in certain cases, the difference in taste between fresh and dried herbs and spices. Certainly the dried form is most convenient, but for a real splash of flavor, sometimes you really want to go for the fresh. It's usually simple enough to chop up a handful of dill or parsley, for instance.

Onion powder...well, I do use it regularly for one thing. But now I'm too embarrassed to say what. :) However, a viable alternative to onion powder may be those frozen diced onions that we talked about earlier in the series. Dump them in a pan with a little oil, or in any sauce that's going to cook for more than a few minutes, and you've pretty much got your fresh onion taste.

I actually like Szechuan sauce, but I'm not sure I'll ever be able to eat it again. :) Actually, I'm more likely to throw on some bottled peanut sauce these days (and crushed peanuts) when making a quick stir-fry.

I'm glad he included sesame seeds. Such a great topping. I like to sprinkle them over salads. More on that later.

And — do note the advantageous property of cumin that Dino pointed out.

We did add in one more small segment to the interview. So that's next. After that, a relatively quick look at whole grains. Then it's onto legumes. You don't want to miss it.

Labels: cooking, Dino, sauces, spices

There is a ton of information in this next installment of the interview...enjoy!

Gary: The next (and next to last) set of questions has to do with spices that most U.S. households are likely to have accumulated over the years, for one reason or another, even if no one does much cooking. I want to ask you if you have any simple ideas for using these spices. Again, just to limit the scope, I'd like to focus on vegetables primarily and fruits and grains secondarily, but if there is a "you must know about this" tip you'd like to share that doesn't fit into those categories, don't hold back!

OK, here goes...

Cayenne pepper or similar

Dino: Ever seen that lovely film called Chocolat? If not, go rent it now. The next time you make a cup of hot chocolate or coffee, throw in just a pinch of cayenne. You'll never be able to go back to the sickeningly sweet stuff that passes for good hot chocolate nowadays.

Barring that, there is no chilli recipe that would do without at least a pinch of cayenne. You need it for the fiery Southeast Asian cuisines of Thailand. In fact, to be honest, I find that cayenne is just a lovely addition to any sweet-and-sour combo, to offset the sweet. Say for instance, you're starting off with a mess of stir-fry vegetables, right? Suppose you start with some screaming hot peanut oil in a skillet, and add carrots, onions, peppers, bamboo shoots (from the tin; who has time to bother with fresh!?) [I cut my own bamboo and slice it into shoots, but I digress —Gary (*)], scallions, sprouts, cabbage, and whatever other vegetable stirs (haha) your imagination. Suppose you add a healthy splash of tamari, or soy sauce. Suppose then, to offset the salty taste, you add in a healthy splash of orange juice. Then, to offset the sweetness, you add a very generous splash of lemon juice. When all is said and done, you're talking basic, yummy, and vibrantly coloured food. However, there are those of us who like a bit of adventure when we're eating stuff that we've probably had before.

Enter the cayenne.

Just a light sprinkle of cayenne, along with some crushed peanuts, will transport your stodgy stir-fry from back-alley fast food into an orgy of flavour. If you can possibly imagine a fiery edge to the next batch of stir-fry you pick up from your local Chinese fast food place (which typically runs on the sweeter and saltier side), you're sure to do like my mother does, and carry a batch of hot chili powder with you anywhere you go.

Gary: Chili powder

Dino: There is the spice blend that contains (amongst other spices): cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, coriander, some tiny trace of ground chili, and other spices. This is usually what I think of when I hear "chili Powder". It's the stuff you use when making ... well ... a chili! Starting with about a kilo of onions, a kilo of carrots, and 1/2 kilo of bell peppers, and a head of garlic is the perfect beginning to a good, strong chili. In the largest pot you have, heat up a few tablespoons of oil. You might need up to 1/4 of a cup of oil. Use a neutral flavoured oil, like canola, peanut, or safflower oil.

When the oil is hot, add the onions, carrots, peppers, and garlic. Drop down the flame to as medium, and allow the vegetable combination to cook for as long as it takes to get medium brown. You want the onions, garlic, and peppers chopped into a rough chop, and the garlic to be whole (for a milder garlic flavour), or minced (for a stronger garlic flavour). When the whole lot is the colour you desire, pitch in about 1 1/2 kilos of tinned, diced tomatoes, and a good handful of Chili powder. Turn up the heat to as high as it will go, and allow most of the water from the tomato tin to evaporate. Once you're down to about 1/4 of the original liquid from the tin, add a healthy slurp of tequila or dark rum. This step is optional. Add in about 3 kilos of cooked beans (as in, they weigh three kilos when you're done cooking them; start with about 1 1/2 kilos of dry beans to get to this level, or use tinned; both are equally fine). You can use all of one bean, like pinto, black, kidney, or pink beans, or combine them in any way you deem fit. You can omit the liquid from the tin, or add it in. It depends on your preference for how thick you like your chili.

Let the whole mess come to a full, rolling boil, and let it cook for about 10 more minutes. Add one ounce or so of unsweetened chocolate, or an ounce of cocoa powder (unsweetened). Let the whole lot cook for about 10 more minutes, and eat!

Barring that, chili powder is wonderful when sprinkled onto yams, yucca, sweet potatoes, squash, eggplant, chickpeas, potatoes, or any other hearty vegetable that you fancy. To prepare, simply mix 1 tablespoon of chili powder with 1 tablespoon of oil. Toss about 1 pound of your vegetable (or chickpeas, if you're feeling adventurous!) in the spice and oil mixture. Throw it in the microwave for about 10 - 15 minutes, or in the oven at 350° F for about 30 - 45 minutes. If it's a tough veggie, let it cook longer. You now have a quick and delicious entree to dump onto bread, rice, or pasta, or eat by itself.

Gary: Cinnamon

Dino: The reason that apples and cinnamon are a cliche is because the two of them work so well together. Barring that, the next time you make the chili recipe I mentioned, feel free to pitch in a teaspoon or so of cinnamon with the chili powder. Also, any time you do sweet potatoes with maple syrup, you have to add a healthy dose of cinnamon for the taste to come out clearly. My morning oatmeal would be incomplete without cinnamon, as would my coffee, and hot chocolate.

Gary: Garlic powder

Dino: I tend to reserve garlic powder for when I want to punch up a jarred pasta sauce. I'll throw some olive oil into a skillet, throw in the jarred pasta sauce, throw in a few shakes of garlic powder, and let the mess come together in about five minutes. When it's done, I'll dump in the fresh pasta, and the taste is just as if I've been slaving over a hot stove. Additionally, whenever I am sauteeing onions for a recipe, and the recipe doesn't call for garlic, I'll throw some garlic powder into the sautee, to punch up the overall taste. Ditto this on whenever I make a coconut cream sauce. I'll start with the traditional roux (1 TB of oil, 1 TB of flour, heat over low heat until light blond, then pitch in 1 cup of coconut milk, then add a pinch of nutmeg and garlic powder), and do my magic when the sauce forms.

Gary: Onion powder

Dino: Ew. Wait, people actually BUY this stuff? Ew. Just. Ew. The flavour is far inferior to garlic powder, and onions are cheap and readily available enough that this travesty of the spice world should really go crawl into some corner and die.

Gary: Oregano

Dino: Remember the pasta sauce example? Same here. Throw in some oregano to punch it up. Same with the chili powder example, where I mention adding 1 TB chili powder to 1 TB oil? Try throwing in oregano with those veggies. Also, any chile recipe will be complemented extremely well by oregano. Simply add it with the onions and garlic and peppers. Any recipe that calls for tomatoes will do well with oregano. Any recipe with root vegetables, but not a lot else will do well with oregano. The next time you make corn chowder, try some oregano in it; your tongue will thank you. Any bean recipe will love oregano. Crumble the dry leaves in your palm before you add it to your pot, so that you release the maximum flavour.

Gary: Parsley

Dino: Any time I have a sautee going, with onions, garlic, and/or other aromatics (carrots, peppers, etc), I add lots and lots of dried parsley if I have it. Just like oregano, crumble it in your palm before adding it in. Come to think of it, pretty darn near any savoury dish does well with a healthy (and I do mean healthy!) dose of dry parsley. I find that I need about a handful or so for the impact to come through in a pot of food meant for 4 - 6 people.

Gary: Not quite as ubiquitous, but still very common:

Basil

Dino: Always use wherever there are tomatoes present. Use generously in Thai food, or any other recipe which calls for hot ingredients, or creamy ingredients (like coconut or coconut milk).

Gary: Bay leaf

Dino: Never let a soup happen without some bay leaf in it. Ever. Bear in mind, however, that bay leaves are not digestible, and need to be removed before you serve the food. Also remember that bay leaves take some serious time to impart their flavours, so use it mainly in long-cooking curries, or soups, rather than quickie foods. Will do extremely well in my chili recipe, if you add it with the sauteeing aromatics.

Gary: Cumin

Dino: Always use cumin in chili, to punch up the "Mexican" flavour. Use with refried beans to give it flavour; often the stuff in the tin or from the restaurant is fairly boring. Use generously with any root vegetable. Use with any Indian dish.

If you have cumin seeds, you are especially lucky. The next time you make a savoury dish, start like the Indians do. In a large pot, heat up a tablespoon or so of oil. Sprinkle in 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds. Wait about 30 seconds or so, and your house will fill with the mouth-watering smell of cumin. The seeds will begin to jump and pop. Add about 2 cups of uncooked, long grain rice (or any other vegetable you feel like cooking). Drop down the heat to medium heat, and gently cook the grains of rice (or vegetable) until you smell a nutty aroma (or until the veggie is browned). Add in about 4 cups of water. Increase the heat to high heat, and allow the water to come to a full, rolling boil. Let the water boil for about two or three minutes. Slam on a tight-fitting lid (or aluminum foil, if you don't have the lid), and decrease the heat to as low as it will go. Set a timer for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, turn off the heat, and remove the pot from the heat. Allow the rice (or vegetable) to rest for about 10 minutes. Uncover the pot, and dig in! It's fabulous. This same technique can be used to make split pea soup. Just add about 3 cups per cup of water, and skip the browning step.

Cumin has anti-gas properties, which is why Indians use the spice so generously whenever they make cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli), or beans.

Gary: Dill

Dino: To be honest, dill is one of those few herbs that I rarely use when it's dried, because the fresh and dried version are so different, that I tend to avoid the dried. When you have the fresh, it's perfect in salad, and other raw applications. Throw some onto sliced cucumbers, with a dash of lemon, for the best summer treat ever. Combine it with hummus for an unusual flavour combo. Have it with tomatoes, parsley, and lemon, and you'll never want cooked tomato again!

Dry dill, on the other hand, is a lot more sober, and subdued. I'd use it in any application where dry parsley is appropriate.

Gary: BBQ sauce

Dino: Use for dipping French cut fries, or slices of baked potato or baked sweet potato. Slather onto mature plantain, and bake in the oven for a smoky, sweet treat. Rub onto slices of eggplant, and grill. Use as a marinade for portabello mushrooms, and grill.

Gary: Soy sauce

Dino: Use in place of salt in recipes calling for salt. Switch to Tamari, if you're gluten free. Switch to low sodium, and see if you can really tell that much of a difference (why eat the extra salt if you don't have to!). Combine with various fruit juices, citrus, and/or spices to create your own marinades for various vegetables. When making tomato sauce, use a capful of soy sauce to counteract the tinny flavour of tinned tomato. When making a vegetable stock, add a few shakes to give the stock a much deeper, richer colour. Use for dipping of steamed vegetables.

Gary: Szechuan sauce or similar

Dino: It reminds me too much of snot to take it seriously. ::shudder::

Gary: Tabasco sauce or similar

Dino: Sriracha, Tabasco, and other fiery sauces should be on hand for those who like a bit of a kick with their food. Any time you do sweet-and-sour applications, have a touch of heat to offset the cloying sweetness that is so typical of the sweet and sour craze. Always have hot sauce on hand to combine with ketchup (and, in my house, freshly minced raw garlic) for a fabulous dipping sauce for French cut fries, and tater tots. (Yes, tater tots and other fried foods aren't healthy, but if you're having them, you might as well enjoy them, right!?) Add a fiery kick to your chili by adding a bit of hot sauce at the table, before you dig in to eat. If you're like my husband, you'll like to have it on pretty close to everything.

[Dino added a couple more common, useful spices to the list...]

Coriander powder:

For those who dislike, or are allergic to cumin, coriander powder is an ideal substitute. It's got the same smoky aroma, but a much more subtle flavour.

Sesame Seeds:

I would never let my kitchen exist without sesame seeds. I add them to hot oil before adding my aromatics (when I sautee aromatics). I add them to hot oil along with cumin seeds to release the flavour of both spices into the oil, before cooking vegetables. If I'm making (cooked) garbanzo beans, I always add a good dose of sesame seeds, paprika, and olive oil, before pitching the lot into the oven for 15 minutes (at 350° F). I could never dream of a soup, stew, or bean dish without some bit of sesame seeds. Because they're high in iron, I don't even feel guilty about the negligible extra fat they add.

Next: Some commentary on all this...plus we added one more small segment.

Labels: chili, cooking, Dino, sauces, spices, vegetables

In the previous segment of the interview, Dino talked about the differences between various types of cooking oils and offered some basic criteria on how to select and use them. I got to thinking...oil really is its own subculture of cooking. So many meals start with, or otherwise involve oil—either heated or room temperature. Understand which oil to use, how much to use, and how much to heat it, and you're well on your way to becoming a cooking expert.

I also appreciated his "start small and gradually increase the amount" recommendation on trying unfamiliar spices.

To continue with the interview...

Gary: For these next questions, I'm thinking about spices and sauces that are easy to find.

First, I'm interested in spices or spice blends and/or off-the-shelf sauces that can be used to produce the flavors below. For simplicity's sake—and to fit in with our recent theme of vegetables—let's concentrate on vegetable dishes, maybe together with rice or other grains, or on a sandwich.

Dino: When there are times that you want to have a certain ethnic cuisine, but you can't be arsed to delve into the seedy underbelly of weird ingredients or expensive/time consuming stuff, you will need to guesstimate the experience of such cuisines.

[Gary's comment: You won't get the full experience of an ethnic cuisine if you don't use all the ingredients and spices that are typical of the cuisine, but even if you approximate the taste with spices and sauces you're likely to have at home, I suspect that will be a satisfactory compromise if you don't cook much and don't want to invest in too many ingredients (at least not yet...) but would like to whip up a decent variety of global flavors.]

Gary: Suppose I want a Mexican feel?

Dino: Mexican food is so difficult to classify, because there are so many regional variations, based on distance from the sea, the USA, and mixture of cultures in that particular place. However, there are some baseline foods that really feel Mexican, when you incorporate them into your regular food. For example, if you ever buy a wheat tortilla again (to have a Mexican feel), I will personally come to your door, and smack you with said tortillas. ALWAYS buy 100% corn tortillas.

Wheat didn't show up in Mexico until long after the Conquistador oppressors showed up. Until that point, the native Mexicans made tortillas from corn. Get. Corn. Tortillas.

Instead of lemon juice, use lime juice. Use lots of garlic, onions, tomatoes, and cilantro. Use cumin.

For example, say you want to have a quickie bean burrito.

Open up a tin of black beans. Drain them, and rinse them off lightly.
Pitch them into the bowl of a food processor. Add some olive oil, lime juice, and cumin powder. Pulse until everything is ground down to a paste. Chop up an onion, mince a clove of garlic, mince up a chili (be it poblano, jalapeno, or whatever heat you can take in terms of chili). Dump the onion, garlic, and chili into a bowl. Add a generous squeeze of lime juice. Dice up a roma tomato, and pitch that into the bowl as well. Mince up a bunch of cilantro (use parsley if you hate cilantro), and throw that into the bowl as well. Top off the concoction with some ground black pepper, a touch of salt, and about 8 oz of tinned corn (drained, of course). Quickly toast up a corn tortilla. Spread the ground black beans onto the tortilla. Top it with your salad of tomatoes and corn. Fold it in half, and enjoy!

Gary: What about Thai?

Dino: To someone from Thailand, there is no such thing as too hot or too garlicky. Get used to using lots and lots of heat and garlic. Say you want a quick curry. In a skillet, heat up some oil. Add a diced onion. Saute the onion until it's soft. Pitch in as much minced garlic as you can handle. Add some chopped up green beans, some minced ginger, and a healthy dose chopped tomato. When the vegetables are cooked, throw in a few tablespoons of coconut milk. Add a generous squeeze of lemon juice, some chopped chili peppers, and a whole tonne of chopped cilantro. Serve the curry over rice.

Gary: Down-home or soul food?

Dino: Soul food is concerned with taking cheap ingredients, and making them taste really great. To make some quick collard greens, all you need is a bit of oil, lots of garlic, and some Old Bay seasoning. Chop your collard greens roughly. In the bottom of an enormous pot, heat some oil. Add the greens. Stir the greens around in the hot fat, so that every green is coated in a bit of the fat. When everything is coated, add a generous dose of Old Bay seasoning. Stir the greens around some more to combine them with the seasoning. Add in just enough water so that the first inch or so of the pot is filled. Add the garlic. Cover the lid of the pot, and drop down the heat to as low as it'll go. Let the greens steam for about five to ten minutes. Remove the lid, and stir everything around again.

Serve with corn on the cob, a green salad, and some rice. Soul food need not be artery-clogging!

Gary: Barbecue / smoky

Dino: Since I've never eaten it before, I'm out of my depth. What worked for me, is to rub on some coconut oil on some portabello caps, sprinkle on some chili powder, and grill them. Friends have raved about it.

Gary: Second...I'm interested in any favorite spices and sauces you have for the following vegetables. Let's say I'm quickly cooking up some frozen vegetables (nuking, steaming, pan-frying, etc.) as a side dish...It's a busy weeknight and I don't have any time to make anything elaborate...but I want to add a little something from the spice rack or cabinet.

Asparagus?

Dino: I hate asparagus.

Gary: Broccoli?

Dino: Garlic powder, a touch of nutmeg, and coconut milk. Combine the spices and coconut milk. Toss broccoli florets in spice and coconut milk blend. Nuke on high for like 10 minutes.

Gary: Peas?

Dino: A tonne of parsley, basil, oregano, and dill (all fresh, please). Add some lemon juice, some olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

Gary: Green Beans? (One suggestion from me: A bit of Hoisin sauce. It works great.)

Dino: Saute in olive oil. Add slivered almonds. Pitch in some white wine. Cook until liquid evaporates.

Gary: Dino—Thanks for all this awesome information! I hear you on Mexican food. It's like asking how to make music sound Mexican. Are we talking mariachi, tejano, ranchera, or norteno? I'm also with you on corn tortillas. But not asparagus. :) Thanks also for introducing the versatility of coconut milk into the discussion.

Next: The conclusion of the interview...

Labels: chili, cooking, Dino, oil, sauces, spices

The previous exchange raised some questions in my mind, plus I wanted to delve a litle further into how a beginner would experiment, cautiously, with spices. Without any further ado...

Gary: What kind of oil should I use?

Dino: The midnight oil, damnit! After using some of these techniques, you'll find yourself cooking less, and eating more. This is a good thing.

Seriously though. It depends on what you're doing. Say for example, you're adding garlic, onions, peppers, celery, carrots, or any combination (or any one of those) to cold oil, heating said oil and aromatics in a pan, and then adding other ingredients, you can use any cooking fat. What am I talking about? Frankly, fats have this wonderful way of only doing one thing rather well. For example, olive oil is really good at tasting buttery, and lending such a depth of flavour to whatever you eat. However, it's really bad at getting super duper hot. Try to set your stove on high with olive oil in the skillet, and you'll soon have a face full of smoke, and really nasty smelling living grounds. Instead, with olive oil, you add aromatics (garlic, onions, carrots, celery, etc.) to the cold oil, and set the pot on the heat. The aromatics have water, which prevents the oil from rising too much above the 212°F, which is the boiling point of water.

Mind you, this isn't a license to set the stuff on the stove and forget about it, but rather a nice insurance policy.

However, there are times when you want to really scorch the bottoms of your vegetables, and get some serious colour going. In these cases, you use an oil that can handle very high heats. Examples are canola, peanut, vegetable, and safflower oil. With these oils, you can set a pot on the stove, crank the heat up to high, add the oil, and add the aromatics, or whatever else to the pot at your (relative) leisure. You still need to act quickly, as you've got about a minute before your kitchen turns into a smoky mess, but the oil will resist the temptation to stay at the neat and pat 212°F. Instead, it will aggressively inch towards 500°F!

The point is that you want to suit the oil to your cooking situation.

HOWEVER! Don't feel afraid of starting canola, peanut, safflower, etc. oil off cold, with aromatics thrown in. Starting with cold oil, and cold aromatics, and allowing the two to come to temperature together, is a time-honoured method of withdrawing the maximum of flavour from the aromatics. Also, when you're baking or have everything ready, and you do the spice blend method, you really don't need to worry about which oil you use.

Let me handle the first scenario first. Suppose you are feeling infinitely lazy, and need to have a shower before dinner is served. You're smelling quite ribald, and feeling the need for the cleansing waters to relax. Get into your kitchen, and hack up some root vegetables to about the same sized chunks. In a small bowl, combine a couple of tablespoons of oil with your favourite spice blend, and a bit of salt and pepper. Make a loose paste of this. In a large roasting pan, combine the spice-oil mixture with the chopped vegetables. Toss the veggies with the spices and oil to combine everything evenly. Set the oven to 350, the timer to 35 minutes, and get on with your shower. By the time you get back, you'll have the kitchen smelling heavenly, and a large mess of vegetables, waiting to be served over salad greens, or in between two slices of bread. In this case, the oil doesn't matter, because you're mainly using it to be a vector for the spices, and the fact that the oven is slowly roasting your vegetables will keep the oil from burning. Frankly, the controlled temperatures are ideal for any oil.

The second scenario is if you have a quick hand, and everything waiting. Set your large stock pot onto the stove. Crank the heat up to high. Drizzle in whatever oil you choose. Wait about 20 seconds for the oil to heat. Immediately pitch in your aromatics. Because you've got everything waiting, you don't have to worry about the oil getting too hot too quickly. Otherwise, if you aren't that quick in the kitchen, follow the advice I originally gave.

Gary: What is sriracha, and can I find it in Nebraska?

Dino: It's one of those delicious fire sauces from Southeast Asia. If you can't find it in Nebraska, never be ashamed of substituting Tabasco, or whatever other hot sauce you fancy. If you don't fancy hot sauce, cheat, and add a touch of black pepper (as much as you can take!) to some ketchup, and call it a night. Nobody has to know.

Gary: How do I know if I've added enough spice? How do I prevent adding too much?

Dino: Eyeballing it works for me. If I'm looking at a piece of vegetable in the pot, and each piece has enough spice that about half of it is visible through the veil of spices, I'm good to go. If you've added too much, cheat, and pitch in some cooked pasta, potatoes, rice, or whatever other frozen vegetables you have lying around. To prevent adding too much in the first place, measure out just enough of whatever spice you're adding into the palm of your hand first. If it takes up more than a dime-sized round, you're probably going to end up with too much ... stuff in your food. Err on the side of not enough.
Worst comes to it, you can always sautee some more onions and garlic in oil, add additional spices to that pot, and mix it in with the rest of the food. Nobody has to know, and you've avoided the problems of having raw-tasting dried herbs.

Gary: If I add more than one spice, do I cut back on the amounts of each one?

Dino: Here's a rule that works for me. When I'm working with an unfamiliar spice, I'll first start with 1/2 teaspoon, and add the rest of the "normal" seasonings. For example, whenever I make a pasta sauce, I add: 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning, 2 tablespoons of Mrs. Dash, and 5 cloves of garlic. However, I saw a recipe that used fennel seeds. I'm not sure how it'll work out in the end. Because I'm a bit nervous about a spice like fennel seeds, I'll even cut it back to 1/4 teaspoon, rather than 1/2 teaspoon. Chances are that it'll be so subtle that I won't even notice it (as I tend to make about a 6 lb tin's worth of diced tomatoes of sauce every time I bother to make sauce). If that slight hint is pleasant, I'll try to up the ante the next time. Eventually, I'll find an amount that's close enough to the new recipe to suit my tastes. Sometimes, I end up adding more. Most of the time, I add less than what others like. The point is that because I introduced it gently, I never jarred myself into dislike.

Gary: Adding OJ and lemonade is a nice touch! Do any other kinds of juice work? Pineapple? Apricot? Fruit punch?

Dino: YES! Yes! Not so much.

Pineapple juice is very easy to incorporate into different foods, because it's got a distinctly tropical feel.

Apricot juice tastes of Tradition, and Pomp. It's quite a sophisticated taste.

Fruit Punch, however, tastes of...red. I'm serious. What other flavour can you attribute to Fruit Punch? It's lovely with a hefty shot of vodka, and a splash of lime juice, but otherwise, it's best left to church picnics, with women who wear tragic parodies of fashions they saw in Better Homes and Gardens.

Frankly, I love Better Homes and Gardens, Fruit Punch, Vodka, and Apple Pie, too. However, I do feel that all of those things should be enjoyed in places where they will make the most impact.


Next: Some brief commentary on this round of Dino's information-packed replies.

Also: Later in the series, I actually plan on mentioning Better Homes and Gardens. You'll see...

Labels: cooking, Dino, juice, oil, spices, vegetables

Gary: Okay, here’s the scenario: I’m an average Joe or Jane. I’m busy and don’t cook. Dinner for me, if it’s not take-out, is something frozen or a sandwich, with maybe a salad and a vegetable to round it out. Cooking’s not my thing, I’ll never be a cook (although never say "never"), but I’m in a rut. I’m making a few baby steps, like buying varieties of frozen or steam-in-the-bag vegetables beyond my usual five—such as asparagus, cauliflower, and collard greens. I may not be a chef, but I figure I can shake a spice jar or pour sauce out of a bottle. Before we get into details, are there any very general guidelines for which spices and/or bottled sauces to use when? Where do I start? What should I buy? Is it totally individual, or are there certain combinations of spices and sauces and vegetables that work for most people most of the time...maybe I can start there…

Dino: Mrs. Dash is my wife. Seriously. OK, maybe I am married to a man. BUT! We're not going to let that get in the way of my flavour profiles! Frankly, the only spice blend I've ever been seriously impressed by in terms of overall flavour, and overall versatility, is Mrs. Dash.

Suppose you have a bag of frozen veggies, and you want to seriously add some depth of flavour to it. Start with a small amount of oil in the bottom of a skillet, and heat it up over high heat. Don't even bother thawing out the frozen veg in the microwave. There's honestly no point. When the oil is hot, pitch in as much of the frozen vegetables as you like. LIBERALLY sprinkle on the Mrs. Dash. It doesn't even matter which blend you use! That's how good her stuff is.

No, seriously. I speak from feeding meat-eaters. Every time I'd use a heavy hand with the Mrs. Dash, everyone would RAVE about the food, and come back for FIFTH helpings!

Continue cooking the vegetables for as long as it takes for the ice to be gone, and for the vegetables to be cooked through. If you're in the mood, rub a clove of garlic on a slice of toasted bread, and use that as your starch to accompany your quickie meal.

If you're more of a saucy type, Lee Kum Kee Vegetarian Stir Fry Sauce is an excellent place to start. Start with the hot oil, the frozen veg, and the not bothering to thaw, like you would with the Mrs. Dash. I wonder if Mrs. Dash and Mr. Lee ever talked to each other. It seems to me like the two of them DOMINATE the quickie flavouring department, don't they? I digress.

Slather on about a teaspoon or so of the Vegetarian Stir Fry Sauce into your cooking vegetables. After you've added that sauce, you have a million different combinations to expand the flavour of what you're cooking. If you want a more salty flavour, pitch in a bit of soy sauce. If you want a combo of sweet and salty, pitch in some orange juice. If you want sweet, salty, and hot, do a combo of soy sauce, OJ, and some sriracha or hot sauce of your choice. If you want a sour twang, substitute a bit of lemonade (from the bottle) instead of OJ. I won't tell anyone that you buy lemonade in the carton. Quite frankly, if it ends up netting you a yummy meal, it's nobody's business what you did to get there, right?

That being said, don't feel like you have to follow hard and fast rules with these two Gods of the flavouring arena. Instead, feel free to mix and match the combinations in different ways, until you find something. Worst comes to it, you can always feed the disasters to the dog, and order takeaway.


Next: Oil, juice, and general guidelines for quantities and combos.

Labels: cooking, Dino, spices

I'm very pleased to feature an interview with my friend Dino—accomplished chef, author of Alternative Vegan, animal advocate, acclaimed raconteur, and generous person who loves to cook humongous (and delicious) multi-course meals for people.

Why Alternative Vegan? Well, I'm going to get to that toward the end of the series for non-coooking meat-eaters, because it will fit in best there. But I can tell you that the book focuses heavily on produce, which suggests two things:

• The recipes are generally super-healthy.


• The ingredients are relatively cheap.

One of the things Dino tries to convey to people is that you can vastly expand your meal possibilities and taste sensations by experimenting in the kitchen. As he'll point out, there is some leeway for error, and even mistakes can sometimes turn into glorious creations.

Now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with following recipes to the letter. There's some safety in that, and once you are comfortable with a few cooking skills, your chance of success with most recipes is quite high. I also know that on a weekday night, after a tough day of working, or taking care of kids, or studying for tests, you might not want to dream up a new dish. Fair enough—I'm no different. But there is a broad continuum between coming up with a complicated original creation and nuking a frozen dinner. The first step away from "painting by the numbers" may be picking out some spices or bottled sauces—not because they're in a recipe, but just because you think they might produce a nice flavor—and adding them to whatever you're making. I figure that's within anyone's grasp, and that's where I started off with my interview questions.

My plan at the beginning of the day was to post the first part of the interview tonight, but I got so caught up with things that I ran out of time...so, tomorrow for sure!

Labels: cooking, Dino

The Non-Cook's Intro to Cooking Vegetables From A to Y

Asparagus

Baby Bok Choy

Beets

Beets (Encore Performance)

Broccoli

Carrots

Cauliflower

Cauliflower (Continued)

Collard Greens

Green Beans

Kale

Parsnips

Peas

Spinach

Squash

Spaghetti Squash

Sweet Potatoes / Yams

Next: Lots of stuff!

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, diet, vegetables

Sweet Potatoes (Or Yams)
For our purposes, sweet potatoes and yams are the same thing. They're also the last vegetable in this part of the series. And they're mighty tasty. And nutritious.

The easiest way to cook sweet potatoes is to nuke them. Scrub the potatoes, poke them several times with a fork, place them on the microwave rack wrapped in paper towels, cook for a few minutes, depending on your microwave. You want the potatoes steaming hot and nice and tender.

Take out the potatoes, and top with Earth Balance. Smush it in there a little. Don't overdo it—tempting as it is.

You can also top the potatoes with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, or allspice. Here's a nice variation: Add some pineapple rings during the last 30-60 seconds of cooking. Yum! Super super-simple, ultra-tasty, *packed* with nutrition, goes with anything. There's no reason not to have a sweet potato or two or three this week.


Sweet Potato Fries—Three Ways!
I downsized this recipe to two servings. One large or two medium sweet potatoes will do the trick. I peeled the potatoes because I don't care for sweet potato skin, but in doing so I missed out on some valuable nutrients in the skin, so—your call.

Hey—don't forget to preheat the oven to 400°F.

The thinner you slice the sweet potatoes, the quicker they'll cook; that's the tradeoff. I cut mine into average-sized french fry pieces.

A lot of the reviwers of this recipe recommended shortening the microvwave pre-cook time and lengthening the oven cook time, so I went with that. I nuked the sweet potato pieces for 3 minutes. Then the fun begins.

I spread the fries-to-be (even though I was baking, not frying) on a baking sheet and drizzled some olive oil on them. Then I roughly divided the fries into three groups. For the first group, I added the spices as prescribed in the recipe. For the second group and third groups I added spice blends recommended by two respective reviewers. The idea was to try all three variations of seasonings.

On group 2, I added salt, pepper, paprika, and chilli powder. For group 3, I sprinkled on garlic powder, onion powder, and parsley. Both of these were reviewer's suggestions.

After 45 minutes, the potatoes were ready. They were crisp on the outside and mushy in the middle. Which seems to be how sweet potato wedges bake.

The verdict? All three groups tasted great, and we had no trouble polishing them all off. My favorite was group 2. I liked the hint of hotness. My wife liked group 1 and 3. There you have it.

This ends our vegetable-by-vegetable section. Next, I'll post a quick index to each of the vegetable posts in this section. Then, it's onto whole grains, with a few diversions to mix it up.

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, food, sweet potatoes, vegetables, yams

Squash (Slight Return)
We could easily spend a month on squash; there are so many varieties—and I encourage you to try lots of them. But I wanted to move things along, and get to other sections of this series.

Nonetheless, I really should mention spaghetti squash. It's so unique.

Here's how you cook it. (Microwaving is by far the quickest way.)

As useful as that linked page is, it doesn't go far enough. The excitement begins after you've cooked it.

Scrape out all the innards (sans seeds) with a fork. The entire fleshy part of the squash turns into strings. You eat them! Get them all out, and onto your plate or a serving bowl, until you reach the rind. Then --- use any topping you would use for spaghetti. Ragu, a fancy sauce from the gourmet store, diced tomatoes with a mix of Italian herbs, whatever.

Spaghetti squash is great dish for a second date, or for getting the kids involved. Just two examples. It's definitely the funnest type of squash. You can use it as a main dish. It's a great, extra-healthy alternative to spaghetti once in a while. Give it a try!

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, diet, spaghetti squash, vegetables

Squash
There are so many different kinds of squash. Yellow squash and zucchini are the easiest to work with, so let's start there.


Grilled Yellow Squash
This is your basic squash dish. It won't rock your world, but it's a nice side dish for just about anything. It's great on the grill, but you can use a frying pan, like I did. You can also cut this recipe in half or more, as well as cut back on the oil somewhat, especially if you're using a non-stick pan.

There's really not much to it. You can cut the squash horizontally, or a slightly on a slant. I heated the oil and threw in the minced garlic. Then I plopped in the squash slices, slid them around a little, and flipped them so both sides were coated with oil and garlic. From then on, I cooked them over medium heat—about 5 minutes on the first side, and about 3 minutes on the second side. I sprinkled a very small amount of salt and pepper on the whole thing just before serving.

As you might expect, squash is super-healthy. Really, if you can incorporate these vegetables into your diet, you'll be doing your body a great favor. Make them tasty and you're way ahead of the game.

Note: I'll be at the United Poultry Concerns conference tomorrow through Sunday. I'll see you all again Monday. Have a great Friday and weekend.

...I meant Tuesday :) The UPC conference was great. My head is filled with stimulating ideas, I talked with impassioned and knowledgeable animal advocates, and I got to meet the wonderful rescued chickens, turkeys, ducks, and peacocks at the UPC sanctuary. Time permitting, I'll share some thoughts from the conference shortly down the road. But first, back to food...


Grilled Summer Squash and Zucchini
Let's continue with easy grilling, kicking it up a tiny notch. Except for the squash, you might have all the ingredients on hand already. For the mustard, I think you can use any good-quality or fancy mustard. Details tonight!

Well, I liked this a little better than the previous dish, because, to me, the sauce made it more interesting. I used two yellow squash, so I multiplied everything else in the recipe by one-third. I used a skillet inside instead of a grill outside—but everything tastes better on a grill.

There's hardly any chopping with this recipe, since you cut the squash lengthwise down the middle. I cut each of the long slices in half, too; I just thought the pieces should be smaller.

Preparation is a snap, and so is cooking. I cooked the coated squash sections over medium heat, in a lightly oiled pan. Each piece of squash had sort of three sides; I flipped them to the right after about three minutes, and then about every two minutes thereafter, so each surface would get cooked evenly.

The sauce was simple. Proportionally, I used a little more mustard than called for; I like the taste of mustard in sauces and marinades.

Eventually, the squash was browned on all sides, and ready to eat. I poured some sauce over the squash, and then sprinkled some dried thyme, as suggested by one reviewer.

Again, this is probably not going to wow you, or convert a squash-hater, but it's a tasty and satisfying side dish that goes with just about anything.


Basic Boiled Butternut Squash
We could go on and on with yellow squash (and zucchini). It's so easy to find and easy to cook. Quick recipes for yellow squash abound on the Internet.

But let's move on to butternut squash. Butternut squash has a nice, rich, pumpkiny taste, and appearance. It may look imposing to cut up, but really it's pretty easy.

This first recipe is simple, but, to be honest, if you eschew cooking, it works best if you can find already cut-up squash. Luckily, more and more grocery stores are selling pre-cut squash pieces.


1. Boil a quart of water in a large pan.


2. Boil the squash (one squash's worth of pieces) for about 15-20 minutes, until tender.


3. Drain.


4. In the same pot (or a serving bowl) add about 2.5 tablespoons of Earth Balance and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar to the squash. Then add 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Mash the squash mixture until there are no more lumps. You don't have to get the squash to a puree state.


5. Serve. The squash should be sweet and creamy, but not too much of either.

This is another very tasty dish that goes with a huge variety of meals.


Basic Baked Butternut Squash
That last dish made a lot of squash, and we've been out a lot, hence the delay before getting to the next dish. Baking squash is easy, even if you never cook. Don't be intimidated by the relative monstrosity of some butternut squash specimens. Cutting them up for baking is way easier than you think; it takes a minute or so and requires no strength or skill.

Well, you do need one thing: a sharp, decent-sized knife. Carefully and unhurriedly cut lengthwise through the entire squash. Don't worry; you don't have to make the cut right in the center; it's ok if you end up with two unequal-sized halves.

Then scrape out the seeds, which are congregated in the fat end of the squash. I use a spoon and roughly scrape out the seeds and as many of the strings as I can get. I don't mind a few here and there. If I had one of those special grapefruit spoons, with the teeth on the end, that probably work even better.

You can bake the squash in a pre-heated 400° oven for 40 minutes or so. Or you can nuke it in the microwave for about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the squash and the power of your microwave.

Test the squash for doneness by poking the part you'll eat with a fork. It should be tender. I'd much rather overcook it than undercook it.

If the two halves of the squash are uneven in size, the smaller half will be done first. If you want, you can take it out when it's done and cook the larger half until it's ready.

I like to mash the squash up a little with a fork—your call.

Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on the squash. Maybe 1/8 teaspoon of each (distributed between the two halves). This is approximate; adjust to your taste. Then sprinkle about a tablespoon of brown sugar on each half. Then slather about a tablespoon of Earth Balance (or equivalent) on each half. Finally, add a thin coating of cinnamon, maybe 1/8 teaspoon per half.

Now you're ready for a super tasty and satisfying side dish. This really hits on the spot on a chilly autumn night—but it's good all year round.

Next: the final entrant in our vegetable sweepstakes. Plus special bonus sections.

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, diet, squash, vegetables

Spinach
Spinach these days is widely available as pre-washed, ready to eat baby spinach, so it's one vegetable that you can use fresh nearly as easily as frozen.

I know this part of the series is about cooking vegetables, but I'm going to backtrack just a bit and offer a tasty and almost-too-easy spinach salad.


Spring Strawberry Spinach Salad
You can't miss with this combination. And the timing could not be more perfect.

I will say -- I found this recipe on a Disney site, and it was tagged as vegan. I was afraid if you had "Disney" and "vegan" on the same page there would be some sort of explosion, but no, everything worked out fine.

There's really nothing to it. You can use a blender for the dressing, but you don't need to; I didn't. Just make sure you stir vigorously so the dry and wet ingredients thoroughly mix together.

The finished product is very colorful and enticing. The strawberries are the kicker. A great way to start off a meal.


Foolproof, Works-Every-Time, Money-Back Guarantee Way to Cook Spinach—In Five Minutes!
What you'll need:


• One bag of spinach


• A lemon, or lemon juice


• Freshly-ground pepper


• A large pot


• Something for stirring, like a wooden spoon


• A colander or strainer

Here's what you do:


• If you're using a lemon, cut off the top and make a few vertical cuts that are about half the height of the lemon. I recommend trying this recipe with real lemon juice at least once; you'll taste the difference.


• Even though the spinach is probably pre-washed, dump it into a colander and give it a quick rinse. Let a little water drip off, but that's it. Basically, keep the spinach wet.


• Transfer the spinach into a large pot. Turn the heat to medium.


• Start stirring. You want to make sure that the spinach leaves get cooked evenly.


• After a couple of minutes or so, most of the leaves will be wilted. You want to stop cooking when the leaves are just wilted, not beyond that. The leaves should still be bright green. Sometimes when the spinach is almost done, I'll turn the heat to low, for more control.


• Liberally squirt the lemon juice onto the spinach.


• Sprinkle several grinds of pepper over the spinach.


• Put a heaping serving on your plate. Yum! Enjoy this succulent, flavor-packed, and SUPER-healthy dish.


Cameroonian Fried Spinach

This looks good. After perusing the reviews, I think I'll use actual garlic, not garlic powder

You should be able to find shiitake mushrooms in most (though not all) grocery stores. In any metropolitan area, region with a decent Asian population, or college town, they should be easy to find. If you don't fin them with the fresh mushrooms, check the "international" section of the store to see if you can find them in dried form (in which case you reconstitute with water).

(Later that night...) This is very good. I recommend it! The chopping part was easy. The mushrooms were quartered (and de-stemmed) and the onions were "roughly chopped." No problem.

I slightly wimped and cooked the onion/mushroom mixture at medium-plus heat.

I used frozen spinach instead of fresh, so instead of waiting until the onions and mushrooms were halfway done, I put the spinach in a little before that. I guessed what they meant by done, for the onions, was tender and translucent. That takes about five minutes on my stove, so I put the spinach in after about two and a half minutes. I added the equivalent of about two cloves of garlic.

I tasted the dish when it was almost ready. It wasn't bad...yet it needed something. Which leads to our "Special Section."


* Special Section *
I wasn't sure what to add to the spinach. I didn't want to mess it up by introducing horribly clashing flavors or by overwhelming the dish with a new, dominating ingredient.

I thought it could use just a bit of saltiness. But instead of salt, I decided to go with soy sauce. Soy sauce goes with a wide range of sauteed foods; I knew from past experience that it tended to blend well with greens. I like its combination of sweetness, tartness, and saltiness.

So I added a few drops of soy sauce to one corner of the spinach, and tasted it. Not bad. but still the dish wasn't quite there. Maybe it needed a touch of hotness, I thought. I had an old jar of cayenne—not real strong cayenne for whatever reason. I shook a few flakes onto one spot of the spinach, and gave it a taste. Pretty much right on the money.

I applied the soy sauce and cayenne to the dish as a whole and let the flavors blend for a minute on low heat. I served it up and it hit the spot.

Adding a spice or sauce not because it's on a recipe but based on your own discerning or feel sort of marks the transition between following directions and making the dish your own, customized per your preferences, style, creativity, and even moods. Knowing how to improvise when cooking opens up a world of almost unlimited flavors and textures at your fingertips.

But how do you start? If you've hardly ever cooked, how would you know whether to add lemon pepper, lemongrass, or lemon juice to your boiled potatoes? Can you add hot sauce to green beans? Garlic to tomato soup? When do you add basil to something? How does the addition of cumin affect a dish? Should you add two or more spices? Does that work better?

My friend Dino, author of Alternative Vegan, is a devotee of experimenting with culinary ingredients and finding your own style. I'm going to ask him if he wouldn't mind being interviewed for a post entitled "How do I figure out which spice to use?", which will present rudimentary tips on using seasonings to make food more interesting and to your liking. Stay tuned...


Five Minute Vegan Creamed Spinach
This wasn't real creamy, but it was delicious.

The first thing you want to do with this recipe is cut it in half. Two bags of frozen spinach? No way.

I used a bag (actually half a bag) of onion soup mix; that worked fine. I couldn't find onion mushroom soup mix.

I had about half a bag of frozen spinach, plus some fresh spinach. So I added the frozen stuff first, and after it was unfrozen—which took about a minute and a half—I poured in the fresh.

The recipe could not have been easier. And it came in at close to 5 minutes. My wife and niece loved it. Come to think of it, I could have made the full recipe and we would have gobbled it up. Highly recommended.

Next: Squash!

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, diet, spinach, vegetables

Peas
We're talking frozen peas, of course. You can add peas to almost anything. Toss them into salads (after you've defrosted them or nuked them for about three minutes and cooled them), drop them into soups, mix them into stir-fries, plop some in the pasta water about halfway through, and dump them into rice that's cooking about 5 minutes before the rice is ready.

Sure, you can have peas on their own. They're good with onion powder and a little salt and pepper, and they're wonderful with mint. But since peas are such a great mixer, let's look at various types of dishes in which peas play a substantial role. We'll start with a rice dish—rice and peas are a classic combination.


Holiday Peas and Rice
Speaking of rice, here's a very tasty and non-taxing rice and peas combo. I like basmati rice, and light brown basmati rice even better, but any rice that cooks in about 20 minutes will do—it's all good. By "rubbed sage" I guess they mean rub the leaves with your fingers to bring out the flavor. But I used dried sage anyway; about a guarter of a teaspoon. Instead of chicken broth I used vegetable broth. You can also find veggie chicken broth in most large grocery stores. Imagine Foods makes a good one. Amy's I think makes one, too. You'd have to be a borg to be able to detect the difference in the final dish. If this is your first time buying pimientos, they're usually by the olives.

The recipe is uncomplicated. It uses a well-known method of first sauteéing the rice and herbs in oil, then boiling the rice. Remember, with rice:


• Use a tight cover once everything's come to a boil and you turn down the heat and simmer.


• Set the timer. Try not to peek.


• But you can peek once or twice after 15 minutes, to see if you need more water or have too much water (in which case you can turn up the heat a little and cook uncovered).

I was able to add the peas after about 18 minutes of simmering, and I didn't need to cook them quite for 10 minutes.

The final product is a hearty and pleasant-to-look-at side dish. The red pimientos, green peas, and golden rice give the dish a festive look. But it's really an "any day" recipe. While rice is cooking is a perfect time to whip up a green salad. Enjoy!


Minty Peas and Onions
Another festive-looking dish (check out the photo in the link.) Peas and onions go great together.

The first thing you probably want to do, unless you're cooking for a large group, us cut the recipe in half. Maybe more, if you're only cooking for one or two people.

Cutting an onion into wedges is easier than dicing. Here's how I did it:

1. Cut off the ends of the onion as usual.


2. Cut the onion in half, width-wise, as usual.


3. Peel the onion as usual. The skin should practically fall off after steps 1 and 2.


4. Place one onion half, wider side down, on the cutting board. Cut it in half, from north to south. Then cut it in half, from east to west. The onion half should still be holding together, but be cut into four quadrants. Then make two more cuts, so that each of the quadrants is cut in half.
   
5. Do the same to the other onion half. Done.

For red bell pepper, you could buy a jar of roasted peppers. Or, you could use up the rest of the pimiento from the previous recipe. Just trying to save you time and work.

Instead of fresh mint, which would have worked great, I used dried mint—about a quarter tablespoon.

The cooking part is almost effortless; you can just coast from here on out.

The finished dish looks very nice, and the mint gives it a fresh, pleasing flavor. This would be a welcome addition to any meal, and it takes less than 15 minutes. Plus it's healthy. Enjoy!


Peas Amandine
Tired of peas yet? Come on.

Three pea recipes from the same site—a three-peat! Peas and almonds: sounds good, but I don't know what to expect.

Yum—a very tasty combination. Cut the recipe in half unless you're cooking for a large group. The toasted almonds and sauteed mushrooms and onions really make for a nice combo. I just nuked the peas. I had some frozen chopped onions in left over, so I used those; they worked great. Earth Balance did superbly as our "butter."

By now, you should be an old pro at these quick veggie side dish recipes. The basics of chopping, sauteing, steaming, and so forth, are really easy, and, fortunately, there's some margin of error. Not that you can be too lackadaisical. But for very little effort, you can fill up your plate with super-healthy foods, and with just a little bit of dressing them up and variety in their preparation, you can make vegetables a very welcome part of the meal—not a chore, but something you'll enjoy! To repeat from a past post: When we get rid of the saturated fat, accumulated toxins, and cruelty of meat, we want to replace it with nature's goodness; health- and spirit-building foods, not crap. Even though it's ok to totally junk out every now and then in small doses.

Next up: Let's see...I'm going to come back to potatoes later, because they make up a huge category that deserves a section of its own. Potatoes are really healthy, by the way, especially if you keep the skin on—a ton of vitamin C and potassium, among other things. But for now, let's turn to one of my all-time favorite vegetables—spinach.

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, diet, peas, vegetables

Parsnips
Parsnips are the forgotten step-siblings of carrots. Maybe because of their pale pallor. But they're quite tasty and—you guessed it—healthy.

In cooking, parsnips are often part of a roasted vegetable ensemble. We'll get to that later, when we do some multi-vegetable extravaganzas. In the meantime, I want to present some easy non-roasting options for partaking in parsnips.


I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Fried Parsnips
Granted, this isn't the healthiest way to have parsnips, but it sure is good. Here's the tasty recipe.

I veered from the plan somewhat. I cut the recipe by a third, so I used 4 parsnips instead of 6. I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour (I guess it's not "all purpose," then), for a little extra fiber and health. For "butter," I used Smart Balance Light. Actually, I did a 50-50 mix of non-butter and olive oil.

I peeled and cut the parsnips as specified. Then I cut the strips in half the other way to make them shorter. I kind of ad-libbed during the next part. I melted some Smart Balance Light/oil in the pan, threw the parsnips in, and tossed them long enough to be well-coated. Then I transferred them to a Tupperware bowl and sprinkled in the flour and seasoning salt (Mrs. Dash to the rescue), put the top on, and shook vigorously. The I put everything back in the pan and fried away.

Man, they were good. They were like veggie French fries. Off the beaten path—but easy.


Lemon Crumbed Parsnips
I decided to put the link to the recipe in the sub-title. This recipe has parsnips and parsley—a perfect match.

This was good, too. If you can find whole wheat bread crumbs, I recommend using them. I used the same pan for the bread crumbs and "butter" / parsnip mixture. I dumped the toasted bread crumbs onto a plate until it was time to add them back into the pan. These also reminded me a little of French Fries, but with the parsley and bread crumbs they were a little too "French" for French fries.

One thing about parsnips: If the fat end of the parsnip is really fat, the core might be too tough; just cut around it and discard the bottom end of the core.

Two parsnip recipes is probably enough for a series aimed at non-cooks.

Next: a really bad pun as we give peas a chance.

To be continued...

Labels: cooking, diet, parsnips, vegetables

Kale
Kale is a such a great vegetable, you can't afford not to eat it. It packs a wallop of vitamin C, and also has decent amounts of calcium and other nutrients. It's similar to collard greens, but cooks more quickly, and has a hearty taste all its own.


Steamed Kale
Our first recipe is very basic, suitable for a weeknight, and this is it.

Once again, we're going with a minute of chopping to save up to 15 minutes off the cooking time. I cut off the stems, because the recipe forbade me to use them, and then I tried the "stack and roll" technique that I learned back in collards. Kale, because it's so curly, doesn't stack as neatly as collards, but you can still manage it. I cut across, then cut perpendicularly, then flailed a bit j