A Good Dish

making food simpler

Don’t Think You Have A Vegetable To Make For Dinner? Just Roast Carrots!

Roasted carrots
Involution bowl by Gwendolyn Yoppolo

When this time of year rolls around, I am just about out of ideas when it comes to vegetables. I try to serve 2-3 portions of veggies per meal (one might be salad) but by early spring, I falter. I’ve made all the cabbage and cauliflower and beets I can stand and my vegetable drawer is looking pretty sad. Then I remember carrots and I am up and running.

Multicolored carrots can be a fun change

Roasting carrots became a habit back when I first learned to roast a chicken. You just put them in the pan under and around the bird and they soak up all the flavor of the drippings. You can choose traditional orange carrots or select mixed for a range of color. But carrots are delicious roasted on their own with just a bit of oil and a sprinkling of herbs. Use the traditional herbs like thyme and rosemary or try a variation zhuzhed up with cumin and cayenne for a change. 

Carrots ready to roast
Cumin/cayenne on left
Thyme/rosemary on right

Even simple carrots with just oil and salt and pepper taste good roasted. Za’atar, curry powder, cardamom and coriander are all possible substitutions. And if you really like them sweet, add a touch of sugar, honey or maple syrup with the oil. Use what you like and they will taste good to you. A hot oven does all the work—it is almost too easy to even call this a recipe. If you put them in the oven a little over a half an hour before you want to serve your meal, the carrots will be caramelized and yummy when you are ready to eat. 

Multicolored roasted carrots
Porcelain bowl by Gwendolyn Yoppolo

ROAST CARROTS

  • 1-2 lbs carrots, washed and scrubbed (If organic, you don’t need to peel unless really funky)
  • 1-2 TBs olive oil
  • 1 tsp thyme leaves
  • 1 tsp rosemary, chopped
  • (Alternately 1/2-1 tsp cumin and a tiny pinch of cayenne in place of herbs)
  • Sprinkle salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.

Cut carrots into 3” pieces and then halve each piece vertically. If thick, cut into quarters vertically to get carrot sticks.

Toss carrots with oils and then herbs and salt and pepper.

Place in a single layer on a rimmed sheet pan (I use parchment paper to make cleanup easier but I think they actually brown better without the paper).

Bake 30-45 minutes, turning once, until softened and browned.

Serves 4 or leftovers keep in the fridge for 2 days.

              *                    *                  *                    *                   *         

I can’t say enough good things about Gwendolyn Yoppolo’s work. The glazes are not only rich and complex but so well researched that they are completely stable. I never worry about crazing or staining. And did I say beautiful and wonderful to use? I am a huge fan.

Involution bowl with crystalline glaze
by Gwendolyn Yoppolo
Harbinger of Spring

When You (Or Others)Are Stressed And In Need Of Clarity and Comfort, Try Cooking

Kitchari, tortilla, cornbread, baked beans (clockwise)
Melissa Weiss, Jen Allen, Wendy Goldsmith, Paul Eshelman

One of the things I love about cooking, beyond the edible results, is the ability the process has to get me out of my head. Like making art or exercise or a good conversation, preparing food takes planning, mental concentration and some physical exertion. So when I am worrying about an ailing parent or ill siblings or a struggling friend, I cook. I look through recipes, make lists, procure ingredients, measure, chop, grate and mix in order to prepare something for my family or friends to eat. The process requires focus to do well, thereby getting me off the worry wheel. 

Curried cabbage with cashews
Porcelain bowl by Jim Makins
Simple roasted potatoes
Bowl by Michael Connelly

Cooking not only relieves mental stress but gives me the satisfaction of a job well done while providing nourishment and, hopefully, pleasure to those I love. Soup is my go-to but sometimes a salad is needed, especially when people have been too busy to cook healthfully for themselves. The bean soup mix I posted a couple of months ago is a good example of a gift for someone with limited time and ability. But if someone is ill or mourning, bringing a prepared pot of soup or a big roast veggie platter or a long lasting salad, like carrot or fennel, is a better gift. When a new baby is born, I love to prepare a complete dinner (rice and beans, a batch of pesto, soup and cornbread, or roast chicken) because who can think about cooking with a newborn?

Miso soup
Lidded Jar by Gay Smith
Black beans and rice
Square bowl by Joe Pintz

Sometimes I make a frittata/tortilla when I feel frazzled and don’t know what else to cook. The chopping of the vegetables is soothing and the resulting meal is satisfying, not too heavy and can provide leftovers. Other comfort food favorites are kitchari, a simple pasta with peas or greens, curried cabbage with cashews, miso soup and lava bread. They are all easy, soothing and tasty, the winning triumvirate of stress cooking. And when even simple cooking is too much, there is always avocado toast!

Avocado toast on lava bread
Plate by Aysha Peltz

This Celery Salad With Pomegranate Vinaigrette Will Add Crunch, Tang and Variety To Your Winter Salad Rotation

Celery salad with pomegranate vinaigrette
Porcelain bowl by Bryan Hopkins

I try to get some kind of salad on the table at least once a day. While I can happily eat a green salad daily through the warmer months, I don’t always feel like lettuce during winter. Perhaps because lettuces tend to be cooling or because the boxed and bagged supermarket options, or their packaging, don’t always seem appealing, I stick mainly with my favorite carrot, beet, cabbage and fennel salads with arugula making an occasional appearance through the coldest months. Celery as a main ingredient is a fresh addition to the winter salad rotation.

Celery/celery root salad
Porcelain bowl by Bryan Hopkins

Celery remoulade is the classic French preparation of celeriac (aka celery root) as salad but it always has too much mayo to even consider serving it to my mayonnaise-averse family. But julienned celery root adds texture and flavor when combined with sliced celery stalks and really comes alive with a pomegranate molasses (just evaporated pomegranate juice – if you see other ingredients, look for a different brand) vinaigrette. I found the recipe in Cook’s Illustrated and altered it to satisfy myself by eliminating the honey, shallots and frisée, adding a green apple, and making the cheese optional. Choose any nut you like and adjust the proportions to suit yourself. If you don’t have fresh or frozen pomegranate available (I think this year’s window on fresh has closed), use a smaller amount of dried cranberries or cherries – they will be a similar tart/sweet taste that you need here. And if, for some reason, you don’t want to buy pomegranate molasses, you could boil down some pomegranate juice to thicken it and use that – it is essentially the same thing.

Celery root at the supermarket
Pomegranate molasses should be 100% Pomegranate juice

The original recipe calls for shaved Pecorino and that is tasty but if you don’t want to use cheese, and we usually don’t, just leave it out. If you still want more protein involved, add a can of rinsed white beans. This is a really easy, crunchy, flavorful salad with a tangy vinaigrette that offers a welcome change of flavor and texture in mid-winter. It also keeps well for a day in the fridge so you can prepare it once and eat twice.

Celery salad with Pecorino cheese
Porcelain bowl by Bryan Hopkins

CELERY SALAD

Combine in a large bowl:

  • 1 bunch celery, with leaves, sliced thinly (2-3 cups)
  • 1 cup celery root, peeled and julienned
  • 1 tart apple, like Granny Smith, diced
  • 1/2 cup pomegranate arils or dried cranberries, cherries, etc)
  • 1/4 cup shelled pistachios or walnuts
  • A big handful of arugula – optional
  • Shaved Pecorino, Parmesan or Ricotta Salata – optional

In another bowl, whisk:

  • 1 TBs pomegranate molasses
  • 1 TBs lemon juice
  • 1 TBs wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard – optional
  • 2 TBs olive oil
  • Pinch each of salt and pepper

Pour vinaigrette over celery mixture, toss and serve.

*   *   *

Bryan Hopkins makes both functional and sculptural vessels in porcelain but I would venture that even when physically utilitarian, all of his work is sculptural. Hopkins plays with texture, volume, line, rhythm, pattern and space in order to create works that pull us in, wanting to know more, wanting to touch and turn the pieces in order to understand them. His work is constantly evolving, perhaps a result of his continual experimentation, and always tactilely inviting. Hopkins is a teacher in Buffalo but also teaches via video posts on Instagram, sharing ideas, explaining techniques, promoting less well-known potters and encouraging others, the best kind of teacher. Find his work at hopkinspottery.com where he also shares a terrific pretzel recipe!

Porcelain mug by Bryan Hopkins
Photo courtesy of the artist
Pierced egg cups by Bryan Hopkins
Photo courtesy of the artist
Tumbler set by Bryan Hopkins
Photo courtesy of the artist

A Surprisingly Tasty, Nutritious and Versatile Protein Source – Barbecued (Baked) Tempeh

Baked bbq tempeh sandwich (TLT)
Porcelain plate by Jim Makins

January is a month of good intentions, especially with food. I keep hearing stories on the radio about how more and more people are trying to eat more plant-based foods like beans, tofu and tempeh. Tempeh is one of those “health” foods I thought I was supposed to eat but often had a hard time choking down. I never liked the taste but managed to eat it occasionally fried crispy or disguised in some way just because I thought it was good for me. The only way I could happily consume it was in a burrito made with sweet and sour barbecue sauce at a New York City Californian Mexican place we loved (RIP Burritoville). Fortunately, I found and played with a recipe from The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen, reducing the oil and sodium and upping the spices so it comes close to that barbecue flavor in my memory; I now actually enjoy eating the tempeh prepared this way. We’ve been making Reuben-style sandwiches with it on dense whole grain rye bread but since the taste reminds me of those delicious saucy tempeh burritos, I also like using it in wraps with salad or leftover greens or sautéed vegetables plus avocado.

Sliced raw tempeh ready for sauce

Tempeh is a block of fermented soybean, traditionally from Indonesia. It is quite nutritious for a soy protein because it contains the whole soybean, unlike tofu, and due to fermentation, is more digestible than most beans. The health value of soy is constantly being debated but even among soy products, tempeh comes out on top because it is both whole and fermented.

Sauced tempeh ready to bake
Baked bbq tempeh
(It might not be pretty but it is delicious)

You can make crunchy little croutons by frying cubes of tempeh that are fun in salad or use fried tofu in nori rolls but marinating tempeh in barbecue sauce is by far the tastiest preparation I know. The leftovers (it keeps up to 5-6 days refrigerated) are a quick meal when served over rice or added to a salad. I try to make it before my husband travels because a bbq tempeh sandwich can stay fresh unrefrigerated for hours and still taste good. This bbq tempeh recipe is  easy but if you have a barbecue sauce you love, use it instead of this one. Just follow my baking instructions. Barbecued tempeh is an economical, nutritious and good tasting vegan protein to spice up your meals.

Bbq tempeh over rice
Porcelain bowl by Jim Makins

BARBECUED TEMPEH

Preheat oven to 350F.

1 lb (2 8oz packages) tempeh (try to buy organic soy products)

Cut each block of tempeh in half and then slice through horizontally so you have 4 thin slabs from each block, total of 8.

Whisk together:

  • 1/2 cup cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce or tamari
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 3 TBs date or maple syrup
  • 2 tsps Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 tsps ground cumin
  • 1 tsp chipotle chili powder
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika (if you want spicy, omit this and use 2 tsps chipotle chili powder)
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper

Pour half of the marinade in a baking dish or baking sheet just large enough to hold the tempeh in a single layer. Place the slices of tempeh in the dish and pour the rest of the marinade on top. Cover the dish tightly with foil lined with parchment paper (or use a cover if you have one).

Bake 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 10-15 minutes more, until all the marinade is absorbed.

Cool and refrigerate up to one week well wrapped or covered.

Baked bbq tempeh over rice
Porcelain Bowl by Jim Makins

Bake My Favorite Easy Cornbread and Make People (and Yourself) Happy!

Yellow stoneground cornmeal cornbread
Blue and white bowl by Wendy Goldsmith

Cornbread is one of those comfort foods that is simple to make and almost everyone loves. The sunny color is perfect for brightening these short days and long nights! I have tried many versions over the years since I made my first one from a boxed Jiffy mix as a teenager. People have strong feelings about the right way to make cornbread. Some say sweet while others insist on no sweetener. Some use half flour half cornmeal while others are cornmeal-only purists. Finely ground corn flour, as Edna Lewis preferred, vs. coarse corn grits or polenta. Add corn kernels, cheese or green chilies? I think all can be delicious (have you ever had bad cornbread?) as long as the ingredients, particularly the cornmeal, are fresh. 

Stoneground white and yellow cornmeal
from Gray’s Grist Mill

Freshly milled cornmeal can be found across the country. On the east coast there is Maine Grains, Farmer Flour, Anson Mills and Marsh Hen Mill, among many others. Our local place, Gray’s Grist Mill, stone grinds flint corn, both white and yellow, and does mail order. Use white or yellow (or blue or red if you can find it), finely or coarsely ground – just make sure it is fresh. And whatever you don’t use, store in the freezer until you bake again.

Cornbread bakes up especially well
in cast iron pans

I make my cornbread without flour because because, after all, it is corn bread and not cake. If you want it lighter and cake-like, use half cornmeal and half flour. There are endless recipes, many collected in Crescent Dragonwagon’s The CornBread Gospels, in which she lays out Northern vs. Southern cornbread plus the sweet vs. unsweetened debate. Sometimes I add some date or maple sugar and other times I don’t sweeten at all. I like to use whole or buttermilk but any kind of milk, even plant milks, work. (If using buttermilk, substituting a little baking soda for some of the baking powder will prevent sourness).You can even use half milk and half cream, if you want it richer. I can’t bring myself to use lard but people do. I find the butter adds plenty of flavor and crispness. Add oregano, thyme, diced chilis, dried cranberries, cherries or diced apricots, corn kernels or diced cheese if you want to vary the taste. For a really sweet treat, slather the top with honey or maple butter as soon as the hot pan comes out of the oven. Cornbread makes a great gift, either baked by you (and given in a pan or towel meant as part of the gift) or given as a kit, all the dry ingredients in a jar accompanied with a recipe.

White cornmeal cornbread
Oval plate by Wendy Goldsmith
Cornbread slice with butter and honey
Red plate by Wendy Goldsmith

Cornbread keeps a couple of days and can be frozen but it is definitely at its best hot out of the oven. You can serve it plain or topped with butter while still warm. It is a great accompaniment to bean dishes, chilis, stews and salads, makes delicious Thanksgiving stuffing and can stand alone as an easy breakfast when warmed or toasted, perhaps  with a spreadable soft cheese (I am thinking baked farmer, ricotta or cream cheese) and jam. And cornbread makes a great ham or turkey sandwich, spread with mustard, cranberry sauce or pepper jelly and topped with fresh greens. And although you can make cornbread in any baking pan, a cast iron skillet is best for holding heat. You want the pan hot to make the batter sizzle when it comes in contact with the bubbling melted butter to achieve a crunchy crust. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water. 

Yellow cornbread pieces
White and blue bowl by Wendy Goldsmith

CORNBREAD 

Preheat your oven to 400F and place an 9” cast iron skillet in the oven to heat.

Place dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine:

  • 2 1/2 cups stone ground yellow or white cornmeal
  • 1 1/2 tsps baking powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1-2 TBs maple, date or white sugar, optional
  • Beat together in a separate bowl:
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups milk or buttermilk (if buttermilk, use 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1 tsp baking powder)

With a potholder, carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven, set in a safe place and add 2-3 TBs butter.

While the butter is melting, whisk the wet ingredients into the dry.

When the butter is starting to brown and bubbling (don’t let it burn and don’t burn yourself)), pour about half of it in the batter, mix in and pour the batter into the hot skillet (it should sizzle) and then place the skillet in your preheated oven.

Bake 25-30 minutes, until starting to brown and coming away from the sides.

Either invert the cornbread to serve crunchy side up or slice into wedges or squares and serve right away. Makes 8 generous wedges.

Blue and white bird bowl (about 12″ wide)
by Wendy Goldsmith
Verso of white and blue bowl
by Wendy Goldsmith

Wendy Goldsmith makes charming, appealing handbuilt pots that are a pleasure to use. Her whimsical, nature-based paintings, primarily of birds but also fish, flowers and trees, with decorative patterning make me smile when I use them. Lightweight with compacted, rounded edges and glossy glazes on a porcelaneous stoneware, they hold up to repeated usage. You can find her on her website and on Instagram.

Red bird plate
by Wendy Goldsmith
Vase detail – Wendy Goldsmith
Photo courtesy of the artist
Bird flask set by Wendy Goldsmith
Photo courtesy of the artist