Cauliflower Tofu Curry with Sugar Snap Peas

Bits:

1 tsp cumin seeds
Seeds from about 6 cardamom pods (or 1 – 1 1/2 tsp whole cardamom seeds if your using the kind that come already de-podded in a spice bottle and had a “best by” date from about a year ago so they’ve lost some of their flavor… I won’t judge you if you don’t judge me)
1 large yellow/white/sweet onion, halved and sliced
1-2 serrano peppers or 1/2 tsp chili powder or 1 tsp Berbere seasoning (my preference)
2 cloves of garlic, minced (or garlic scapes if you can get them, which are low FODMAP!)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
2 1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ras al hanout spice mix (I use Frontier Co-op, but use your favorite if you have one)
1 head of cauliflower (about 2 lbs with stalk and leaves, about 1.75 lbs without)
21-28 oz firm or extra-firm tofu, cut into ~1″ cubes, depending on how much tofu you like.
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups total of lite coconut milk and/or milk alternative (e.g. soy milk)
2 med-large zucchinis (I’ve also used green bell peppers here, which I can recommend as a substitute if you prefer)
1 lb. sugar snap peas (use frozen peas to make up for however many fresh peas you don’t have)
To serve: cubed roasted potatoes (or rice, chapati, naan, or grain of choice)
Optional garnish: Greek yogurt (non-fat works great), Dal Mix

Algorithm

Put a large frying / sauté pan or wide stock pot on medium heat.
Add the cumin and cardamom seeds a couple of minutes until the cumin seeds get a shade darker and they start to smell fragrant. Add the chopped onion and sauté until golden, 5-10 minutes.
Add the garlic, peppers if you’re using them, and spices to the pan. Stir and let cook about 1 minute until they just start to smell fragrant.
Add the cauliflower and tofu to the pan, and stir to mix with the onion and spices. Add the 1/2 cup water and the coconut milk; stir to combine. Put the lid on the pan and let simmer for 5 minutes, until the cauliflower has softened slightly.
Meanwhile bring a small sauce pot of water to a boil. Add any frozen peas you’re using, let them come back to a boil and boil for about a minute. Add sugar snap peas, let them come back to a boil, and boil for 2 minutes. Take off the heat and strain from the water. Set aside
Add in the zucchini (and/or green bell peppers) and stir. Let simmer for a couple minutes until the cauliflower is softened and cooked to your liking (shouldn’t take too long).
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the peas.
Serve with grain or starch of choice. Optionally, pass around Greek yogurt and Dal Mix to top each dish.

Everyday Red Lentil Dal

Vegan && Very Low Fat && Oil-Free && Grain-Free

I called this “Everyday” dal not because it’s mundane; actually the opposite, I love it so much I am excited to eat it almost every day. Like most dals I’ve ever met, it’s filling, satisfying, and (perhaps strangely?) soothing. It feels almost like a cheat to call it a recipe and make a post about it because it’s so simple and essential, it feels a little like making a recipe post about corn flakes in milk.

One thing I love about this recipe is that it’s extremely adaptable. It’s hard to make it taste bad if you are just adding ingredients you like, or omitting ones you don’t. This is the combination of my favorites, but I also frequently change things depending on what spices strike my fancy at the time, or what green vegetables have been sitting neglected in my fridge longest.

This recipe also has the benefit that the cooking part has enough hands-off downtime between adding ingredients, that you can prep while you cook, which I think saves time and energy. Making a big batch, as written, usually takes me 30 minutes or less from start to finish (including cleaning up my mess while it finishes simmering on the stove), so I feel like that’s pretty time and energy efficient, especially for so many servings.

The other great part about this dal (there are so many great parts!) is all the options for toppings. I try to make and keep a jar of picked carrots and hot peppers handy at all times to eat with my dal (I’ll make a separate recipe post for that; they are good on lots of other dishes too)! I also love adding a soft/medium boiled egg. Depending on the day, I may add a handful of cubed roasted potato or sweet potato. And DO NOT get me started on Dal Mix from Indianlife, that stuff is crack. It’s pretty low-ish fat, and grain free (yay!), so I enjoy small portions on *many* dishes, most especially this dal.

Dal is really hard to photograph. Also I am not a food stylist. But, trust me, this dal tastes way more amazing than any photo could convey.

Everyday Red Lentil Dal

Makes about 13-14 cups (about 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 quarts) — *freezes and reheats very well*

Depending how hungry you are and what else you’re eating at the time, one serving is one to two cups.

Hardware:

Deep bowl or mixing bowl that’s easy to pour from
Sieve for straining water from the lentils
Stock pot with at least 5.5 quarts capacity
Wooden spoon

Bits:

3 1/4 cups red lentils
1 (human) thumb of fresh ginger
2 serrano peppers
2-3 tsp salt (start with 2 tsp and add salt at the end to taste)
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
2 tsp coriander powder
optional: 1/2 tsp ground fenugreek seeds
optional: 20 fresh or frozen curry leaves, chopped into small bits
optional: 1/2 tsp Berbere Ethiopian spice mix (for added spice)
4-5 large roma tomatoes
1-2 bunches of lacinato kale (or collard greens)

To serve: pickled carrots and peppers, pickled okra, boiled egg, hot sauce, cubed roasted sweet potato, Indianlife Dal Mix

Algorithm:

Wash the lentils (do not skip this step or your dal will taste gross!): Measure out the lentils into a mixing bowl that’s easy to pour from. Fill the bowl with cold water, swishing the lentils around with a spoon or your clean fingers. Skim the foam off the top, and then pour into a large sieve to drain the water. Dump the lentils back into the bowl and repeat until the water running through the sieve is clear, usually after 4 or 5 changes of water. This method is more effective and wastes less water than just putting the lentils in a sieve and running tap water over them.
Put the lentils in a large stock pot. Add 10 cups water and turn the heat onto high. When the water gets near a boil, skim off the foam that bubble up; don’t worry about getting it all, but try to get most of it. Once water comes fully to a boil, reduce heat to medium, enough to maintain a gentle simmer.
While you’re waiting for the water to come to foam and boil, mince the fresh ginger and serranos. If you’re using them, chop up the curry leaves.
After the water boils, add minced ginger, serranos, salt, spices, and chopped fresh/frozen curry leaves if you’re using them. Give everything a good couple of stirs.
Dice the tomatoes. When they are all diced, add them to the pot. Stir again to make sure the lentils are cooking evenly and nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Slice the kale leaves off the stems, and chop into 1- to 2-inch squares/strips. When they are all chopped, add them to the pot. Stir to incorporate the kale, and again make sure the lentils aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Leave the dal to simmer uncovered for at least 5 minutes, until the kale is cooked and soft. Add water if the dal to achieve your desired consistency. Optionally, let the dal simmer up to 10 minutes more to let the flavors meld further, stirring occasionally. (This is a good time to clean up any mess remaining in the kitchen).
Take off the dal off the burner. Optionally, add more salt to taste.
Enjoy as is, or garnished with pickled veggies, egg, Dal Mix, or any toppings you like!

Red Lentil Rasam with Tamarind Roasted Red Cabbage

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Hot weather be damned, this is one recipe that I will cook and eat happily all year, regardless of the temperature outside (or in the kitchen).

This is one of those magical simple recipes that somehow makes more than the sum of its parts. Amazingly, the best part is really the roasted cabbage with tamarind. It’s just two simple ingredients (plus water), and somehow it completely steals the show! (And that’s hard to do when lentils are the other half of the show!) I think cabbage prepared any other way has now been ruined for me.

Now that I’ve totally talked it up, there’s probably no way it will live up to your expectations. But still, go make this right now, and I don’t think you’ll be sad with the result.

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Red Lentil Rasam with Tamarind Roasted Red Cabbage

Adapted from Meera Sodha’s recipe in The Guardian

Makes about 6 cups of rasam + 1 roasted cabbage; serves 4

Bits:

1 small head red cabbage (about 1 1/2 lbs / 700g)
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
10 – 15 fresh curry leaves
5 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1 ¼ tsp ground cumin
1 ¼ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground black pepper
3/4 tsp rasam powder (if needed, substitute 1/2 tsp curry powder + 1 tsp lemon juice)
400g canned/boxed chopped tomatoes
1 ¼ cups (250g) split red lentils, washed in several changes of water until the water runs clear
2 cups vegetarian stock
2 ½ cups water
1 ½ tsp salt
2 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp tamarind paste, divided (I like Aunt Patty’s Organic Tamarind Paste)

Algorithm

Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Slice the cabbage into quarters from top to bottom (or into sixths or eighths if you’re using a much bigger cabbage. Sprinkle lightly with water (or a couple drops of olive oil if you can handle it in your diet). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and put the cabbage wedges on the sheet, and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until they’re looking roasty and the stem is soft and cooked.
While the cabbage is roasting, make the rasam. In a large stock pot over medium heat, add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the garlic to the pot and stir for about a minute or two until the garlic starts to turn golden. Add the spices (cumin through rasam powder) and stir for 30 seconds until the spices become fragrant.
Pour the canned tomatoes, lentils, stock and water into the stock pot, and stir to combine. Bring rasam to a simmer, partially cover, and let simmer about 20-30 minutes until the lentils have fallen apart completely. Stir occasionally, particularly toward the end of cooking time to ensure the lentils don’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
When the cabbage has cooked for 30 minutes, mix 2 Tbsp tamarind paste with 2 Tbsp of water. Drizzle the tamarind-water mixture over the cabbage wedges generously, and bake for a further 10 minutes.
When the rasam is cooked, add salt and remaining 1 Tbsp tamarind paste to the pot. Stir to combine, taste, and add any extra seasoning as desired. Simmer for another minute or two for the flavors to meld. The texture of the final product should be between a soup and a dal.
To serve, ladle rasam into separate bowls. Cut each wedge of cabbage into 4 or so slices, and place slices on top of rasam. Serve with cauliflower rice, or chickpea flour flatbread if desired.

Leftovers can be stored in the fridge in air tight containers for at least a week!

Fresh Mint & Snap Pea Pasta/Chickpea Bowl

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Grain-free && Very low fat && Vegan option && 30 minutes or less

I know I already posted this dish with a rough algorithm for the recipe on Instagram, but I seriously CANNOT stop eating this dish! (Why do mint and peas go so well together?!? Apparently the British already had this figured out, but it’s news to me!) I was hesitant to post yet another pasta recipe, but my continuing love for this one is too great to contain. So, I figured it’s time to get serious about it, write down exactly the recipe I’ve settled on (instead of just winging it every time as I had been), and share it with the world.

23C09841-B3E2-4833-99AA-4225C3166877 — The Insta pic that got this whole thing started.

As I said on Instagram, I saw a recipe in The Irish Times by Nigel Slater from his new book Green Feast (Dear Seattle Public Library, Please add this book to your collection so I can check it out. Sincerely, Robot Recipes) for a pea, paparadelle and parmesan dish. The recipe was super simple, and screaming to be made, but with several twists to make it more robot friendly, and give it a little more zip. The result is a great seasonal recipe; I don’t know about you but my garden is currently in danger of being overwhelmed with fresh mint, and to my delight every other stall at my local farmer’s market has plump, crisp sugar snap peas that taste amazingly sweet even raw. It’s also super fast to throw together for lunch or dinner (or perhaps a pre-dinner snack!).

If you don’t have grain-free pasta on hand, this recipe also works well with canned chickpeas substituted instead. If you don’t have fresh sugar snap peas, just use extra frozen peas.

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Fresh Mint & Snap Pea Pasta / Chickpea Bowl

Serves 4 (makes about 2.5 cups mint pea sauce)

Ready in 30 minutes or less

Bits:

8 oz. box of grain-free pasta (I used Tolerant Red Lentil Rotini in the Instagram pic, and Tolerant Green Lentil Penne in the other two pics); or substitute two 14oz. cans garbanzo beans, rinsed
4 1/3 cups (1 lb. + 1 cup) frozen peas
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth (such as Imagine Organic Vegetarian No-Chicken Broth)
2 – 3 cups sugar snap peas, stemmy ends cut off, and chopped in half if desired for more bite-sized pieces.
1/4 cup (7g) chopped fresh mint leaves; plus extra mint leaves for garnish
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3/4 tsp salt
Black pepper (or lemon pepper) to taste
Optional for non-vegans: 1 cup low-fat/non-fat cottage cheese

Algorithm:

Cook grain-free pasta according to package instructions. If you use a similar chickpea and/or lentil based pasta like the one I used, after boiling, strain out the cooking water from the pan, and fill the pan (with the pasta still in it) back up with cold tap water. Rinse and strain out the cold tap water. This not only to stop the cooking when it’s done, but also will remove extra starch and prevent the pasta from sticking together.
In a small saucepan, combine the frozen peas and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, and boil for 2 minutes. Strain out the peas, reserving 3/4 cups of the broth. Set peas and broth aside.
If using fresh sugar snap peas: Using either the same small saucepan or a second one, fill half full with water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the fresh sugar snap peas and boil for 2 to 3 minutes, until soft, but not mushy. Strain out the water and refresh with cool water to stop the peas from cooking further.
In a blender (bonus if you have a high-speed blender!) combine the reserved 3/4 cup broth, 3 1/3 cups (equivalent of 1 lb bag) of the peas boiled from frozen, 1/4 cup (7g) chopped fresh mint leaves, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Blend until smooth.
Divide pasta, reserved peas (from frozen), and the sugar snap peas (if using) among four deep bowls. Add 1/4 of the mint pea sauce to each. Garnish with chopped fresh mint leaves and extra pepper (or lemon pepper) as desired. I love to top my bowl with about 1/4 cup low-fat cottage cheese as well. Serve and enjoy!

Spring Pea, Asparagus, and Beluga Lentil Bowl with Mint-Pea Yogurt Dressing

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Grain-free && Fat-free && Vegan Option && 30 minutes or less

I’m really getting into spring produce now that spring is in full swing! This bowl is a perfect edible way to celebrate the season. It’s actually a mix of a couple different very spring recipes I came across recently, adapted to what I had in my fridge at the time. It definitely isn’t the most photogenic dish, which made me hesitate for a second about posting it, but it was so delicious, I thought it would be a big shame not to share.

The mint-pea yogurt dressing is a slight adaptation from Hetty McKinnon’s new book “Family“, which is a gorgeous treasure trove of creative and delicious recipes, most of which can be made in under an hour; suitable for a weeknight dinner. I adore Hetty’s first book “Community“, which earned her the reputation in my mind of being the “other” Ottolenghi (plus she’s vegetarian!). Her books are worth seeking out.

Spring Pea, Asparagus, and Beluga Lentil Bowl with Mint-Pea Yogurt Dressing

30 minutes or less

Serves 4

Bits:

4 medium yukon gold potatoes (or any good roasting potato, or 1 lb cauliflower)
Sprinkle of olive oil for roasting (optional)
1 cup beluga lentils (or sub Puy / French lentils)
1 cup vegetable broth
1 lb asparagus, woody stems removed and chopped into 1½” batons
2 cups fresh or frozen peas
4 cups arugula
Salt and black pepper
Fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped, for garnish
Fresh chives, finely chopped, for garnish

For the Mint-Pea Yogurt Dressing:

1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
1/4 cup packed (10 g) fresh mint leaves
1 cup (250 g) non-fat Greek yogurt (sub vegan yogurt to make the dish vegan)
1 tsp honey (sub maple syrup to make the dish vegan)
1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
black pepper, or to taste

Algorithm:

Roast the potatoes: Preheat the oven to 425ºF (220ºC). Fill a medium sauce pan half way with water and set to a boil on the stove. Rinse and chop the potatoes into 1″ cubes. When the water is boiling, add the cubed potatoes, bring back to a boil, and boil for 1 minute. Drain the water and spread potatoes on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Toss potatoes with a couple drops of olive oil and a generous dusting of salt. Roast for 25 minutes until potatoes just start to brown.
Boil the lentils: In a small sauce pan, add the lentils, 1 cup of vegetable broth and 1 cup of water. Bring the contents to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover with a lid, and let simmer 15 to 20 minutes, until the lentils are tender but not mushy. Drain any remaining liquid.
Boil the asparagus: Fill a medium sauce pan (rinse and re-use the pan used to boil the potatoes) half way with water, and bring to a boil. Add the chopped asparagus and bring back to a boil. Boil the asparagus for 2 minutes. Strain out asparagus with a slotted spoon and set in a colander or sieve to drain and cool.
Boil the peas: Bring the water used to cook the asparagus back up to a boil. Add the peas for both the main dish and for the dressing (2 ½ cups total), cover, and reduce heat to medium. Boil fresh peas for 2 minutes, or frozen peas for 4 to 6 minutes, until warm through. Strain out the water and set aside.
Make the mint-pea yogurt dressing: Combine ½ cup of the cooked peas and the remaining dressing ingredients in a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth. Taste and add more salt and pepper as desired.
Put it all together: Combine the roasted potatoes, lentils, asparagus, the remainder of the cooked peas, and the arugula in a large serving bowl, or portioned out into smaller dinner bowls, and toss to combine. Drizzle generously with the mint-pea yogurt dressing, and sprinkle with chopped fresh mint leaves and chives. Enjoy!

Note: The dish without the dressing will last a lot longer in the fridge than if you combine it with the dressing and chopped fresh mint and then store it. If you anticipate the possibility of leftovers, have people add dressing and the chopped fresh mint and chives to their individual servings just before eating. Store the salad and the dressing separately in air-tight containers in the fridge, where they will keep for a week. Chopped fresh herbs may or may not last as long, depending on their freshness, so store any extra by themselves.

Spring Pea, Bean, & Kraut Soup

Vegan && Non-fat && Grain-Free && 30 Minutes or Less

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I’ve made this soup every spring for the past several years (maybe even going on 10 years now…). It’s feels like the perfect bridge between warm comforting winter soups, and bright fresh spring produce. Plus, it’s really fast to throw together, especially if you’re starting with dried beans that you’ve soaked and cooked ahead, or if you want to make things super speedy with canned beans instead.

I’m just food-obsessed enough (and rely on beans as a super essential source of protein in my diet enough) that I am probably more diligent than most people about soaking and cooking dried beans on a regular basis. But really, if you can remember to do a couple pretty much hands-off steps ahead of time, it’s easy to have cooked beans on hand whenever you need them. And, who am I kidding, I have a hard time remembering too, so I write myself notes when I’m meal planning. I literally wrote myself a note last night for this morning to remind myself to put some dried cannellini beans in a quart mason jar (about 1/3 full) and fill it with water to soak this morning before work. Then when I got home, the jar of soaking beans sitting out on the counter reminded me to dump it all in a pan and start them boiling first thing before anything else. Once my coat and shoes were off, cats were fed (kitty dinnertime is a production at my house, but that’s a story that’ll have to wait for another day), and I started getting the rest of the ingredients out of the fridge, the beans were only a few minutes away from being cooked through.

This soup is adapted from a recipe by Peter Berley, in his excellent book “Flexitarian Table,” and Peter Berley also gets credit for the bean-cooking tip that I am about to impart to you now. Of course step one is to soak the beans first for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours at room temperature; if you start them soaking but don’t end up having time to cook them by 24 hours, just pop them into the fridge, still in their soaking water. They’ll wait there patiently for at least a few days until you get around to cooking them. The secret tip comes in at step two: pour the beans and their soaking water into a medium sauce pan and set to a boil; boil until they foam, skim off as much of the foam as you can, then strain out the beans, dump the soaking water, and rinse the beans and the pan completely. Then the final step is to put the beans back in the pan and add fresh water to cover the beans by about an inch. Getting rid of the foam and boiling them in fresh water in a clean pot makes the beans a bit easier to digest… even non-cyborgs need help digesting beans sometimes. My own secret bean-cooking tip is to use half broth and half water to boil the beans in the last step; this gives them a little extra flavor and makes them good enough to eat on their own. If you’re me, you’ll sneak more than a few while the rest of dinner is cooking, as a rule.

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I took a couple extra minutes to round out the meal. For my partner, who has no dietary restrictions, I made basically a fancy, but super speedy, grilled cheese sandwich, using a thick slice of sharp cheddar, sliced cherry tomatoes, chopped fresh chives, and a light smear of some grainy dijon mustard. (My grilled cheese secret tip is to start things cooking with some butter in the frying pan with the heat on medium high, and as soon as the bread crisps up, finish the sandwich in the oven at about 400F for a few minutes so the cheese melts and the rest of the filling warms through without burning the bread).

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For myself I made a egg-white scramble (eggs are great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner), into which I threw some chopped arugula, sliced cherry tomatoes, a bunch of chopped fresh chives, and salt and pepper of course, which I then served up with some reheated leftover roasted potatoes (and let’s not forget the hot sauce!).

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All of these were really quick and easy to make, and made for an all-around fresh and filling dinner.

Spring Pea, Leek, & Kraut Soup

Start to finish in 30 minutes or less

Serves 4 as a main course

Bits:

2 to 3 large leeks, white and tender green parts only, cleaned and thinly sliced (about 2 to 3 cups)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint, plus extra for garnish
1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
1/4 tsp ground pepper, or to taste
2 cups fresh or frozen peas
1 1/2 cups cooked/canned cannellini beans (or other white beans, if you don’t have cannellini on hand)
2 cups vegetable broth (I like Organic Imagine Vegetarian No-Chicken Broth)
2 cups water
3/4 cups drained sauerkraut + 1/2 cup drained sauerkraut (or kimchi) for garnish

Algorithm:

Add the leeks to a large saucepan or medium stockpot, and dry-fry over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes, until the leeks get soft and start to turn golden. (Add a tablespoon of water if the leeks start getting too dry and want to stick to the bottom of the pot).
Add the chopped fresh mint, salt, and pepper to the pot. Give it a stir and cook for another minute.
Add the peas, beans, vegetable stock, and water to the pot and bring to a simmer. If using fresh peas, simmer the soup for about 6 minutes until the peas are tender; if using frozen peas, simmer for about 4 minutes until peas and beans are hot throughout.
Add 3/4 cups of the sauerkraut and simmer for another 2 minutes. Take the pot off the heat and add more salt and/or pepper to taste.
Ladle the soup into serving bowls. Garnish with additional fresh mint and extra sauerkraut (or use kimchi instead of the extra kraut for a little extra spice and tang!). Slurp and enjoy.

Not Mac ‘n’ Not Cheese

Grain-free && Very Low Fat && Easily Veganized

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This simple mac ‘n’ cheese recipe is made without traditional macaroni and without cheese, but still tastes cheesy and satisfying like the old classic! The “mac” is replaced with pasta made from chickpea and/or lentil flour, which I’m seeing around more and more these days (such as this and this). You may have to be careful if you can’t tolerate grains though, because I’ve seen some chickpea and lentil pastas that also have rice flour in the ingredients. The cheese-free cheesy taste comes from a combination of nutritional yeast and spices, which won’t be any surprise to vegans.

The addition of fresh chopped tomatoes and some basil or arugula puts this dish over the top for me. If you can’t tolerate tomatoes in your diet for whatever reason, I feel your pain; I had to give them and other acidic foods (and coffee!!) up for about six years until after I got my gastric pacemaker a couple years ago. Fortunately, this recipe is nearly as great, in my opinion (maybe better, in your opinion) with another vegetable mixed in. My go-to substitute for tomatoes in any recipe always used to be roasted red peppers, which I think would work perfectly well here. Really you can mix in anything you want; any combination of fresh herbs, cooked broccoli florets, cubed roasted sweet potato, or roasted fennel would be quite tasty. Or don’t mix anything in, and keep it classic (and more kid-friendly)!

Finally, I make this recipe with some skim milk to keep the final recipe nearly non-fat, but if you are vegan and can handle fat, you can easily substitute the alternative milk of your choice to veganize it.

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Not Mac ‘n’ Not Cheese

Serves 3 hungry adults as a main course

Bits:

Optional veggie mix-ins (pick one, or none):

1 pint halved cherry or plum tomatoes + handful roughly chopped basil leaves
2 large roasted red peppers, chopped + handful arugula
½ lb roasted or steamed broccoli florets
1 lb roasted sliced fennel + small handful roughly chopped fresh parsley
1 ¼ lb cubed roasted sweet potato or butternut squash + small handful roughly chopped fresh sage

For the pasta:

8 oz box of chickpea or lentil grain-free pasta

For the sauce:

Dry:

¼ cup chickpea flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp garlic powder
Large pinch of chipotle chili powder (more or less depending on spiciness preference)
½ tsp chili powder
½ tsp dried thyme
½ tsp smoked paprika
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Wet:

1 ¼ cup milk of choice (skim cow milk to keep the dish nearly non-fat, or alternative plant-based milk to make vegan)
¼ cup water
½ tsp of Dijon mustard
1 ½ Tbsp tamari
optional if you can eat fat: 1 Tbsp olive oil

Algorithm:

If adding a vegetable/herb mix-in, prep that first. Roasted vegetables can be roasting while you make the pasta and sauce. If using fresh sage, either dry-fry it or fry it in a little bit of oil to crisp it up.
Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
Combine dry ingredients for the sauce in a small mixing bowl and set aside.
Combine wet ingredients for the sauce in a small sauce pan, and turn the heat on medium-low. Stir continuously until almost simmering. If you let it boil, cow milk might split, so take care.
Remove pan from heat and slowly pour a little bit of the pan liquids into the dry ingredients, and stir to form a paste. Gradually continue to add a little more at a time of the pan liquids into the dry ingredients, stirring as continuously as you can, until the mixture in the mixing bowl is smooth and runny. Add the mixing bowl contents back into the sauce pan. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Stir continuously, until the mixture has thickened to a cheese-sauce-like consistency; this should only take a few minutes.
Divide pasta between serving bowls, and pour equal amounts of sauce on each. Add vegetable and herb mix-ins to each bowl, and gently stir until vegetables and herbs are distributed evenly. Devour while still warm.

Fennel, Kale, and Chickpea Skillet with Citrus Baked Polenta

Vegan && Grain-free && Very low fat

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This is a harmonious mish-mash of two great recipes I came across recently, along with some changes of my own, of course. My partner always tells me to make a new recipe as written the first time, and then make whatever changes I want the next time around; it makes sense to experience the recipe as intended and go from there. Out loud I usually respond with a “Yeahhhhh, you’re right”, but then quietly I make my changes anyway. I have no regrets. I won’t judge if you want to take your own spin on any of my recipes the first time you make them either.

No regrets!

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Oven-Baked Creamy Polenta (my go-to polenta recipe!), and the Kitchn’s Couscous with Chickpeas, Fennel and Citrus

35 Minutes

4 Servings

Bits:

– Polenta

3/4 cup medium grind polenta
zest and juice (~1/4 cup) of 1 navel orange
zest and 1 Tbsp juice of 1 lemon
2 3/4 cups water
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1-2 Tbsp milk of choice, depending on preferred consistency

– Skillet

1 large fennel bulb, fronds removed and reserved
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp rasam powder, or curry powder
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1 small bunch kale
3 cups chickpeas, canned or cooked from dried
1 Tbsp lemon juice, plus more to taste
Small handful of parsley leaves, roughly chopped

Algorithm:

First make the polenta. Preheat the oven to 425F. In big flat baking dish (mine is 10″x10″) with a lid, combine all the polenta ingredients except for the milk. Give everything a quick stir, and put in the oven with the lid on. Bake 15 minutes, stir, and bake 15 more minutes. At the end of the 30 minutes stir in the milk, using more or less depending on the consistency you like.
While the polenta is baking, make the skillet.
- Quarter the fennel bulb from top to bottom, and cut out the dense core from the bottom. Slice cross-wise into ~1/2-inch slices. Place into a large (10-12″) non-stick skillet and dry-fry for 7 to 9 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it starts to turn a caramel-y golden color; add a tablespoon at a time of water as needed if it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the ground coriander, rasam powder (or curry powder if you don’t have a good rasam), and salt. Stir and cook for about a minute until fragrant.
- Slice the kale greens off of the central stems, and slice cross-wise into 1-inch strips. Add these to the skillet; stir and cook about 3-4 minutes until they start to wilt.
- Add the chickpeas to the skillet and cook a couple minutes until warmed through. Take a taste and add more spices as desired.
- Add the lemon juice to the skillet, give everything a final couple stirs to mix through, and remove from heat.
Spoon cooked polenta onto serving plates or into bowls and top with the skillet mixture. Generously garnish with chopped parsley leaves (normally I’d say parsley is an optional garnish, but it really adds something to the finished dish here!).