Lentils with Tomatoes and Gorgonzola

The other day, I mentioned the box of San Marzano tomatoes I brought home. Most of them ended up peeled, chopped, and bagged for the freezer. But, a few of them were set aside for oven roasting, and is there a sweeter, more lovely tomato flavor than what you get from slow roasting? Store-bought, sun-dried tomatoes are intensely tomato-flavored and that's perfectly nice too, but with oven roasting, you can stop the process at any point to retain a little moisture for a semi-dried effect. The result is a cross between the chewy, completely dried variety and juicy, fresh tomatoes. This dish is from Plenty which has become my go-to source for dishes with great flavor and no meat. In the book, Castelluccio lentils are suggested, and the new bulk section at our Whole Foods offers a plethora of dried bean varieties but no Castelluccios. Instead, I found black, beluga lentils which are a cute, little size and nice, dark color and worked just as well for this. Another good option would be Puy lentils.

Slow roasting tomatoes in a 250 degree F oven will take an hour and a half to two hours depending on the size of the tomatoes and the moisture content. The tomatoes were cut in half, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and sprinkled with thyme leaves and salt. Just keep checking in on them after about an hour and fifteen minutes until they've reached the semi-dried state you prefer. I roasted the tomatoes a couple of days in advance and stored them in a container in the refrigerator with the oil and vinegar scraped into the container with them. When I was ready to complete the dish, red onion was thinly sliced and left in a bowl with red wine vinegar and salt while everything else was prepped. The black beluga lentils were cooked in plain water for about fifteen to twenty minutes until just tender. They were drained and added to the red onion slices. Olive oil, minced garlic, and black pepper were added, and that was left until the lentils were cool. The original recipe calls for chervil, chives, and dill, but I used garlic chives from my garden and flat-leaf parsley. The chopped herbs were added to the cooled lentils and everything was tossed to combine. The roasted tomatoes along with chunks of Gorgonzola were added to the lentils as the dish was plated, and I served it on a bed of arugula leaves.

With the bite of Gorgonzola and the fabulousness I've already mentioned of oven-roasted tomatoes, this is no shy, vegetarian dish. Simple, earthy lentils carried both well, and the herbs added fresh flavors. My only regret here is that I didn't buy several more pounds of San Marzanos and another freezer for storing them.

Mushroom and Lentil Pot Pies with Gouda Biscuit Topping

With a gouda cheese-filled, cornmeal biscuit topping and an earthy mushroom and lentil filling, I couldn’t pass up this pot pie. These were in the November issue of Bon Appetit, and there’s something irresistible about individual pot pies. You get to break into the crust, watch the steam escape, and then dig into your own little bowl of comfort food. I liked that these came with just a top crust which stayed nicely crisp while sealing off the bowls. And, the biscuit dough couldn’t have been easier to make. With the cornmeal in it, it was very easily handled, and it was simply divided into four pieces that were patted into rounds to cover the filling. The vegetarian filling here was hearty and full-flavored with the use of dried mushrooms, fresh mushrooms, potatoes, and lentils. The varied textures and rich and satisfying flavors made this recipe one for the permanent file.

Although there a few steps to putting these together, those steps can be done a little at a time. For instance, you could cook the lentils two days in advance, then you could finish preparing the filling the next day, store it in the refrigerator already portioned into bowls, and top it with the biscuit dough the day after that. Once you have cooked lentils, you move on to re-hydrating dried porcini, and you should measure the water that’s used to re-hydrate them because it’s added to the filling mixture later. To start the filling, fresh, sliced mushrooms were sauteed in olive oil with carrots, sage, and thyme. Garlic was added followed by flour. After a roux was formed with the flour, the porcini soaking liquid was stirred into the mixture. The soaked and chopped porcini were added with potato chunks, some soy sauce, and a little tomato paste. All of that simmered until the potatoes were tender. The filling was divided among four oven-proof bowls. As I mentioned, the biscuit topping was very easy to make. Flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt were combined, and butter was worked into the mixture. Buttermilk brought the dough together, and then I added some shredded aged gouda into the dough. The dough was cut into four pieces, and each piece was simply patted into a circle to fit into each bowl. Last, the remaining shredded cheese was sprinkled on top of each pot pie. They baked for about 30 minutes.

Mushrooms and lentils may not be pretty food, but the flavor with dried porcini and the boosts from soy sauce and tomato paste made up for the homely look. And, the flakey biscuit layer rich with aged gouda was a delicious cloak for the filling. In fact, that top biscuit layer got me thinking that pot pies should make occasional summer appearances because a filling of sweet corn and zucchini would be great under it too.

Sformato di Cavolfiore

When I saw this recipe in La Cucina Italiana, I was intrigued because a sformata was something new and different to me. It’s a baked, savory custard, but it’s not terribly rich. It’s mostly pureed, cooked cauliflower with bechamel sauce and parmigiano cheese. In the magazine, the sformato was baked in a pretty, wide tube pan the likes of which I do not own, so I used a bundt pan. Really, it could have been baked in any sort of pan, and it wasn’t entirely necessary that it be unmolded, but I was hoping for a nice view of the browned outer surface. The browning was due to a coating of breadcrumbs that was sprinkled onto a thick layer of butter in the pan before pouring in the custard. Considering that I was so eager to see this well-browned surface, you would think that I would have let it set the appropriate amount of time before trying to remove it from the pan. No, I rushed it out of hunger, and my sformata was a little wobbly because of it. As it sat, it firmed up, and next time I’ll have more patience, but the good news is that it very easily plopped right out of the pan. Presentation aside, the reason I’m going on so much about this dish is because the taste was fantastic. The creamy texture of the custard with the parmigiano flavor running throughout was delicious with a bit of crunch from the breadcrumbs.

To begin, a head of cauliflower was quartered and cooked, covered, in a pan with an inch of water for about 20 minutes. It was drained, and each quarter was placed in a towel, and the towel was twisted to remove excess water. The dried cauliflower was pureed in a food processor. A simple bechamel sauce was made, and I melted the parmigiano into the sauce. The sauce was cooled a bit before being added to the cauliflower puree along with two eggs. Once the sauce, eggs, and cauliflower were combined, the resulting custard was poured into a generously buttered and breadcrumbed bundt pan, and it baked for 40 minutes. I should have let it rest for an additional 20 minutes, but I got antsy after about 10 minutes and turned it out onto a platter. The shape held up ok, but I realized that it firmed up a bit more after sitting another 10 minutes or so.

The texture was light and almost fluffy with a sliver of crust on the outside. The cauliflower was mild allowing the flavor of the parmigiano to take the lead. This keeper of a dish even held up well to re-heating the next day. I was delighted with the result, and it’s always fun when something looks far more complicated than it is.

Mushroom Socca Stacks

Chickpea flour flatbreads with cheddar, slow-roasted tomatoes, and herby sauteed mushrooms had me thinking about this dish since October. It appeared in that issue of Vegetarian Times, and I have to tell you about my subscription. This is one subscription that I don’t receive in the mail. I subscribe to an online version that arrives in my email inbox. I flip through the pages on-screen, and they look exactly the same as the printed version. I can print pages if I want or go back to the issue at any time. I’m definitely a fan of having physical magazines and books to read, and I don’t think I’ll ever entirely switch to e-reading, but having a subscription here and there in electronic form is a good environmental option. So, when I saw this ‘page,’ it immediately became part of my to-try list.

This is very easy to prepare, but you need to plan ahead for roasting the tomatoes. Since fresh, ripe tomatoes aren’t a February crop, I opted for canned, whole tomatoes instead. They worked great. Just cut the tomatoes in half and place them on a baking sheet. Sprinkle them with chopped thyme, rosemary, oregano, and garlic. Then, drizzle them with olive oil and season with salt and pepper, and roast them at 300 F for two hours. Once roasted and full of concentrated flavor, half of the tomatoes were pureed to form a sauce, and the other half were reserved for garnishing. The socca were made by whisking together chickpea flour and salt and pepper, and then lukewarm water and oil were added. That was left to sit while finely diced onion was sauteed with thyme. The mushrooms were added to the onion, and then some dry white wine was splashed into the pan. That was left to cook until the wine evaporated. The socca mixture was poured into a loaf pan, and it was baked for about 10 minutes. Grated cheddar was sprinkled on the socca, and it was returned to the oven just to melt the cheese. The socca wasn’t as firm as I expected, so I may bake it a little longer next time.

The stacks were formed with a base of tomato sauce topped with sauteed mushrooms, then one piece of socca, and all the layers were repeated with whole roasted tomatoes scattered here and there. This was hearty and rich-tasting, and those tomatoes were bursts of incredible flavor. A little more crispness from the socca would have been nice, but it was still delicious just as it was.

Braised Root Vegetables with du Puy Lentils and Red Wine Sauce

"This dish is for when you want to fuss a bit" is how Deborah Madison begins her intro to the recipe. True. It’s also for when you want incredible, lingering aromas in your kitchen and a richly flavored sauce. I would also say this is a mind-changing meal for anyone who thinks vegetables are boring. I read Local Flavors last summer and made use of some local bounty with a few recipes from the book. I also tucked this recipe into the back of my mind for when winter arrived. The stew is made with parsnips, carrots, mushrooms, and herbs, and it’s served with lentils and potato puree. I just happened to have some du Puy lentils sent to me by my favorite Parisian cowgirl and a little package of dried porcini from our nearby Italian market, and the time had come for a slow-braised meal. So, yes, there was some fussing and use of several pots and pans and lots of chopping, but it was all very simple and very worth it.

You begin with the sauce which contained a lot of the same ingredients as the braised vegetables. You can use the trimmings from the mushrooms and parsnips which will be braised in the next step. Those trimmings were combined with onion, carrot, celery, garlic, thyme, a bay leaf, and some rosemary and were cooked in a large pot until the vegetables browned. Meanwhile, dried porcini were rehydrated in warm water. After the vegetables browned, tomato paste, flour, red wine, and the porcini and the soaking liquid were added. That was left to simmer for 45 minutes, it was then strained and further simmered to reduce a bit, some soy sauce was added, and butter was whisked into the sauce. See, that was easy, but just a little fussy, right? When you smell the sauce simmering, though, and I have to pause on that memory for a moment, you won’t mind. Next, it was on to the braised vegetables. Carrots, shallots, and parsnips were browned in a wide skillet. Mushrooms, a bay leaf, thyme, and minced rosemary were added. Some of the sauce was poured over the vegetables, and they were simmered for 25 minutes. At the same time, the lentils were cooked in water and drained, and then butter and some sauce were added. One more step would have been preparing potato or rutabaga and potato puree, but I got lucky here. I had some leftover mashed potatoes in the freezer which made quick work of that part of the dish. Certainly, this could be prepared over the course of a couple of days. You could prep all the vegetables and start with the sauce one day, and then wait to braise the stew vegetables and cook the lentils the next day.

The potato puree was mounded in a wide, shallow bowl. Some lentils were placed next to it, and the vegetables nestled all around in the red wine sauce. I would argue this dish was the boeuf bourguignon of the vegetarian world. The sauce’s flavors were layered and complex. The braised vegetables and lentils were steeped in those flavors, and the potato puree rounded out this ideal, winter comfort food. Next time I decide I want to 'fuss a bit,' I’ll at least double the quantity of sauce so I can stock my freezer for a lazy day.

Tuscan Squash Pie

In my last post, I mentioned the Cooking Away my CSA group. The information shared by this group will reveal what’s offered in different areas at different points in the season, and it’s great for getting ideas about how to use the vegetables we receive. When I receive a lot of one vegetable and need ideas, I reach for Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian. I go straight to the index, look up whatever that vegetable is, and find several options influenced by different cooking styles from around the world. Here in Austin, it’s already that zucchini time of year. I’ve received zucchini and yellow squash in my last couple of CSA pick-ups, and last week, there was also a big, pretty pattypan squash. I find pattypans are a little firmer or maybe thicker-skinned than other summer squashes, but I tend to use them as I do zucchini. So, when I looked up zucchini in the World Vegetarian index, I found Tuscan zucchini pie and decided it would be just as good with pattypan squash.

In making this pie, I went rogue with a few of the details. Obviously, I made a substitution for the main ingredient. I also added some red bell pepper because I had some that needed to be used, and I thought it would look as nice as it would taste. And, even though the ingredients were supposed to have been split between two eight-inch pans, I piled them all into one 12-inch tart pan. A custard was made from eggs, flour, milk, and water. To that, minced garlic, sliced scallions, salt, pepper, and nutmeg were added. In the introduction to the recipe, there’s a suggestion about adding some grated parmigiano reggiano if you’d like. Of course, I’d like, so I most certainly added the cheese. The sliced squash and bell pepper were arranged in the tart pan in two layers, and the custard was poured over top. I reserved a little grated parmigiano to sprinkle on top, and then drizzled on olive oil before baking.

To serve, a second drizzle of olive oil was suggested for each piece, but I used leftover basil oil instead. Although this is a custard pie, it’s not heavy at all and the vegetables are the main attraction here. The custard served to just barely bind the sliced squash into a cohesive whole. The scallions and garlic added great flavor, and in my opinion, the parmigiano should have been included in the recipe rather than mentioned as an option. This was a nice dinner with salad and garlic toast on the side, but it would work well for brunch too. The amount of custard could be easily scaled up, and several other vegetable combinations come to mind that might be used here. It’s essentially a crust-less quiche, but with these particular vegetables, and just a few tablespoons of grated cheese, it was a perfectly light, summery meal.

Snowcap Beans with Stewed Tomatoes and Oregano Pesto

Sometimes it’s fun to start with an ingredient and then figure out what to do with it (rather than starting with a recipe and gathering the ingredients). Last week I was looking through the dried bean and rice options at the grocery store to see what was available. I found some pretty, two-toned snowcap beans and was compelled to bring them home. I had no particular plan for their use and set about choosing a way to serve them. A little searching brought me to the Rancho Gordo article in the November issue of Food and Wine which included a recipe for giant lima beans with stewed tomatoes and oregano pesto. I hoped that it would work well enough with snowcaps instead of giant limas and gave it a whirl.

I must have been caught up in the actual preparation of this dish because I completely forgot to grab the camera and get a shot of the beans in dried form or after the initial cooking. Good job. You can see what they look like here. They’re nice looking, light brown beans with a snowy white side. They retained their colors after the initial cooking, but once they baked in the stewed tomatoes, the colors were muddied. I wasn’t able to find any other information about them like where they originated, so they’re a slightly mysterious type of bean. They’re bigger than pintos but not as big as giant limas. Their taste is mild like cannellinis, but they seemed firmer in texture. They were delicious in this dish, but next time I’ll use them in a way that preserves their colors.

So, how was this made? Well, there’s a good amount of cooking time required, and splitting the tasks between two days is a good idea. On day one, I cooked the soaked beans and simmered the stewed tomatoes. Onion and garlic were cooked in a saucepan until softened, and then canned whole tomatoes and chopped, fresh oregano were added. This was left to simmer for an hour. Also on day one, I made the pesto which included olive oil, oregano, parsley, and garlic. On day two, the beans and stewed tomatoes were combined and baked for 45 minutes. This is the point at which I strayed from the instructions. Feta cheese was supposed to have been added on top of the beans while they baked. I was feeling like I wanted little, cold cheese sprinkles rather than warm, melty blobs, so I waited until the beans were plated to add cheese. Course breadcrumbs were toasted in olive oil and used as a topping with the pesto.

I enjoyed this as a vegetarian main course with grilled bread with sauteed shitakes on the side. Kurt chose to make it a side dish with a steak. The breadcrumbs added nice crunch, the pesto brightened it all up with its herby, garliciness, the feta sprinkles were creamy and rich, and the long-cooked beans were tender and full-flavored. It takes some planning and patience, but once all the components come together, you’ll have a delicious dish that can be a main course or a side that is definitely worth it.

Shredded Root Vegetable Pancakes

Clearly December was a good month for food magazines, because I’ve been cooking all kinds of things from them. From Eating Well, I made the roasted fall vegetables in a cheddar crust and quite enjoyed it for dinner one night. Unfortunately, Kurt was less than thrilled with the meal, found it a bit dry, and asked what I’d done with the steak he would have preferred. I would have overruled his opinion and posted the roasted vegetable tart if only I had continued to like it the next day. When I re-heated a piece for lunch, I had to admit, he might be right. It was a little dry and failed to impress. However, the storm of vegetables didn’t stop there. I also made the shredded root vegetable pancakes from Eating Well, and these received high marks all around. I made the pancakes with red and yellow beets, and for those who believe beets are not to their liking, I implore you to try them this way.

It’s pretty much a latke only made with your choice of root vegetables instead of potatoes. The interesting thing about shredding beets is that there is much less liquid than there is when shredding potatoes. They don’t have to be drained or squeezed or anything. The mixture included horseradish which is absolutely perfect with beets. I skipped the bacon, but that would add some savory appeal if you’re so inclined. I didn’t even top these with sour cream; they just received pinches of chopped dill and sea salt. I haven’t checked the records yet, but I believe this was the shortest amount of time in which five medium beets have ever been consumed. The crunchiness and earthy, sweet flavors punched up by the horseradish and dill got a thumbs-up from Kurt, and he didn't even lament the lack of meat.