Moujadarah Lettuce Wraps

When Bill and I were invited to a plant-based dinner hosted by my friend Sue over at Stirthepotgr.com, I definitely felt challenged to find a recipe that qualified as vegan but was also something Bill could eat. Because, when you’re allergic to wheat, corn, and cow dairy like he is, meat is an ingredient that helps you get through the day.

For some reason I had it in my head to make lettuce wraps–probably because I had never made them before and wanted to try them. There are a lot of great Asian lettuce wrap recipes out there but many of them have meat in them. I also found some with rice and beans, but finally I settled on Lebanese Mjadra – Lentil & Rice Lettuce Cups. When I read through the recipe I realized it was basically the same as Moujadarah with Curry, one of our favorite legume recipes. The one on Food.com simply uses lettuce as a vessel for serving it.

So I followed the recipe on my blog instead, which also includes a garnish of tomatoes, green onions, and parsley.

The legume mixture can easily be made a day ahead. I mixed the caramelized onions right in with the rice and lentils for this appetizer so it’s easier to eat.

Then I stuck it in the fridge overnight.

After heading to the Holland Farmers Market (on opening day!), I found Bibb lettuce from Visser Farms, which I washed and laid out stacked between paper towels in the fridge until I was ready to assemble the wraps.

I took everything out of the fridge a couple hours prior to assembly.

Then I made the tomato garnish and sliced up some lemons to serve with the wraps.

I had to warm the moujadarah slightly in the microwave so it would be soft enough to spoon into the lettuce. Then I packed them closely into a serving dish for the trip to Grand Rapids, where the dinner was held.

They survived the trip and I think they were the right temperature–room temperature, but slightly on the cold side to keep the lettuce crisp.

Bill and I enjoyed the variety of creative plant-based dishes that the guests–about 30 people–brought to the event. We made some new friends and spent a lovely evening at a beautiful location in Grand Rapids!

Red Lentil Falafel

When I made Red Lentils over Rice recently, there were plenty of leftovers. And the lentil mixture had thickened quite a bit in the fridge. So I thought, why not make lentil falafel?

Falafel is actually a fried ball or patty made from chickpeas or fava beans. So what I made isn’t technically falafel, I suppose. But it was a good way to get another round out of the lentils I had made previously.

Here’s how I did it:

1. Form lentil paste from Red Lentils over Rice into one-inch balls.

2. Heat olive oil in a skillet and brown lentil balls on all sides.

3. Drain on paper towel. Serve with white rice.

After sprinkling with sumac, I garnished the dish with oil-cured sun-dried olives.

On the side, I had a salad and crostini with kasseri cheese and a taste of harissa.

What to Do with a Pork Steak?

Before I bought meat in bulk, I had never heard of a pork steak. Either it simply wasn’t in my food vocabulary, or we just didn’t have them in the grocery stores in New Jersey where I grew up.

Once I started buying half a grassfed pig at a time, I learned about all kinds of meat cuts and loved the challenge of figuring out what to do with them. (See Fresh Ham Roast for another exploration in new cuts of meat.)

According to Wikipedia, the pork steak (also known as a blade steak) is cut from the pork shoulder blade (Boston) roast. The steak is flavorful and contains a significant amount of fat, which helps keep it moist while cooking. Because it comes from an active muscle location on the pig, a pork steak is less tender than some other cuts.

Key words: less tender. And with a grassfed pig, it’s important not to overcook a pork steak.

Here’s one way Bill and I like to prepare a pork steak:

Baked Ziti Redux

Even though I already posted a recipe for Baked Ziti back in December, I couldn’t help but post another–even easier–recipe. What’s easier than baked ziti? Baked ziti with a jar of sauce that’s so unique, so delicious, I can’t believe it’s not homemade.

Yet, in a way, it is homemade–made “at home” by G.B. Russo’s–a local gourmet food store in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It’s Russo’s Pinot Grigio Puttanesca Sauce. (On a side note, check out the origin of Puttanesca on Epicurious.com. Generally, it’s considered a Mediterranean sauce but the etymology of “puttanesca” is interesting!)

What’s unique–to me, at least–is the amount of olives in the sauce. All I did was saute some onions, add a few chopped Kalamata olives, pour in the sauce with a little dry red wine, and let it simmer while the pasta cooked. Then I mixed the sauce with the pasta in a lasagna pan.

Finally, I covered it with a Greek sheep’s cheese (for Bill since he can’t have cow dairy products), drizzled it with olive oil, and baked it for 10 minutes covered with foil.

I removed the foil for another ten minutes to brown the top.

It’s so quick and easy–good comfort food on a winter night.

Raspberry Banana Smoothie

Smoothies are one of my favorite breakfast meals, especially on days when I’m trying to cram in exercise before I go to work in the morning. Sometimes, there’s nothing better than drinking down your breakfast.

Normally, I prefer a plain raspberry smoothie but I made this one during my winter detox so I omitted the emulsifier, yoghurt. Since a smoothie needs an emulsifier to hold it all together, I opted for a banana–the next best thing to yoghurt, and a nice addition if you like this combination of fruit.

I generally don’t make raspberry smoothies in winter because you can’t get good local raspberries like I’m used to from the farmers’ market. Because I needed berries for my detox, I opted for frozen raspberries, hoping they came from somewhere in Michigan since the source wasn’t written on the bag. Either fresh or frozen berries work fine in a smoothie.

Raspberry Banana Smoothie

3/4 cups soy milk

1/2 cup raspberries

1 small banana

Splash of orange juice

Optional: 1/2 cup vanilla yoghurt

Optional: 2 T. ground flax seed (more fiber means you won’t get hungry too quickly afterward)

Lemon Chicken Smothered in Onions

When I posted last night’s Detox Menu, I listed Lemon Chicken Smothered in Onions as the main course for dinner. Below is the recipe I conjured up to get my protein (and onion) quota for the day.

Quinoa Tabouli

 

Since Bill can’t eat wheat, I like using quinoa as a substitute in tabouli. This is the recipe I threw together on Sunday as part of my preparation for my detox this coming week. With garbanzo beans, it makes a great lunch!

Curried Roasted Squash Soup

It’s still winter squash season and butternut is one of my favorites. Unlike the Winter Squash Soup I made last month–with its savory sage and thyme–the recipe I followed today calls for a base of curry and ginger, balanced by the sweetness of butternut squash and the pungency of cumin.

I found Curried Roasted Squash Soup in the November issue of Taste for Life magazine, which I picked up for free at Nature’s Market, our local organic grocer. But the recipe is originally from The Roasted Vegetable by Andrea Chesman.

Here’s her recipe:

Roasted Onion and Carrot Soup

It’s soup season in Michigan. Especially when you have lots of root vegetables stored up from the farmers’ market. Because I had a bin full of carrots from Visser Farms and onions from the Boeve Farm, it made sense to make a batch of Roasted Onion and Carrot Soup from Bon Appetit.

I’m surprised this recipe only serves two people. Since we were having guests for dinner, I made one and a half times the recipe–18 ounces of carrots–which ended up being six large ones.

Roast Duck for Turkey Day

I’ll admit, I was slightly intimidated by the idea of roasting a duck after watching the scene in “Julie & Julia” where Julie attempts one of Julia Child’s duck recipes. And, in the days leading up to today, everyone’s been saying, “Boy, ducks have a lot of fat!”, which means—what? A smoky oven? Overcooked, undercooked, or inedible duck? So I planned for lots of side dishes as a back-up. And I made dessert first thing this morning so we could at least count on chocolate cake, if all else fails.