There are two kinds of people: those who eat to live, and those who live to eat.
-variously attributed — possibly Ben Franklin?
I am of the latter kind: the day is an arc culminating in dinner — the high point of the day. We eat sumptuously delicious meals — not all the time, but much or most of the time they’re beyond good, and often they are to-die-for scrumptious.
I am an omnivore. So is Mr pixxer. We have a ridiculous array of foods to choose from, especially here in Berkeley. So, we cook and eat dishes that we love. Lovelovelove! Interestingly, I observed that, on the word cloud for my dinner journal, two of the words in maximum type size are Meatless and Vegetarian. In other words, the foods we choose — our favorites — are with high frequency veggie food.
We never — except for the very rare occasions when we’re cooking for a vegetarian guest or relative — intentionally choose a meatless meal. We eat what we love, and a large fraction of the time, there is no meat in it. [I could write a few more diaries with "meat as a minor ingredient,” too — the “oh wait, that’s not a veggie pizza, there's half an anchovy in the tapenade” meals.]
While I honor the intention of looking for ways to eat less meat — climate issues and whether it is ethical to eat animals, for example — the way this is often framed — as a giving up — seems to me to make veggie eating into something like a penance. Like the way the Catholic kids, during my childhood, had to abstain from meat on Fridays. [Cue New Yorker cartoon here, post-Vatican II: Two devils amidst the flames of hell, one asking the other, “What do we do with the people who ate meat on Fridays?”]
And if this picture is one’s idea of "meatless,” then yes, I can see that it would be a “less than” situation!
But I hope that if you are looking for meatless meals — or of you aren’t, but are looking for delicious food — that you will find some of these recipes appealing in themselves, and no penance at all. Warning: I love cheese — these are totally not vegan.
To avoid a serious tl;dr situation while offering several recipes, I've put in a photo and brief description here, with a link offsite to a detailed recipe — the way I make it — for those who are interested in trying out some of these. Some are links to my blogs, but I promise I am not aiming for page views — the blogs are for my personal amusement and use, but open to the world if anyone is interested.
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Polenta with Sauteed Peppers and Greens
You cook soft polenta, adding a bit of grated cheddar. Separately, you saute garlic, strips of red and yellow peppers, and garden greens — say, chard and mustard greens, or spinach and dandelion greens — and serve the veggies over the top of the polenta. I adore this. It's a great fall/winter dish if you can get peppers.
The main photo up at the top of the diary is leftovers from this dish. I immediately spread the extra polenta in a small, oiled baking dish to cool, and then heat slices of it in a frying pan the next day, and microwave or pan-heat the leftover veggies.
Original recipe is from Potager, by Georgeanne Brennan, probably our most-used cookbook. I have writtten up this recipe as we make it, here.
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“Poblano Quiche”
Not really a quiche, sorry - no crust. Place grated Monterey Jack in ramekins, top with diced roasted poblano, then pour an egg/cream/salt/pepper mixture over the top and bake, immersed in a hot water bath. This is so delicious and delicate — a big favorite at the pixxer house. And talk about easy! However...
You need to be able to roast a poblano pepper to do this — we have a range grill, so can do it all year 'round. If people know how to roast peppers without a grill, — does simple oven-roasting work the same way? — perhaps you could add that in the comments.
You can add a veggie or salad on the side, and some great, crusty bread to clean the ramekin with. Recipe is originally from Mexico the Beautiful — edited to serve two here.
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"Porcini Quiche”
This is an original recipe by Mr pixxer — an attempt to copy a dish I had decades ago and was never able to make work at home. Saute porcini mushroom pieces in butter till very soft. Substitute these for the poblanos above. Substitute scamorze (smoked mozzarella) for the Jack.
Caution: this does not work with regular white or brown mushrooms (I tried it) b/c they release liquid when you saute them. Have to be mushrooms that do not release liquid.
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Fettucine with Pea Pods and Mushrooms
Another recipe from Potager by Georgeanne Brennan, and a great spring dinner. Think Chardonnay with it. I offered this to veggie brother and he said I could cook it every day if I wanted to (tempted...). Here is my rendition.
Briefly: saute mushrooms in butter, salting well; steam pea pods 1 minute. Cook fettucine. Mix pea pods, mushrooms, a bit of cream, parmaggiano, butter, and chives, and sprinkle more chives over each serving.
Gotta heat the plates/bowls for this one (easy to do with pasta water late in the cooking process) and mix back in the pasta pan. (Recipe says to mix in a heated bowl, but why mess up a bowl when you have a heated pan? You can even keep it on low.)
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Grilled* polenta with black bean salad and poblano cream. To die for.
That’s exactly how I listed this in my notes for this diary :) This is from Weber's Art of the Grill (p1.56). It’s “intentional vegetarian” in the sense it was in the veggie portion of the cookbook. I cook it b/c it’s… well, to die for! (And not “to die of,” which the Fettucine above may be, being half butter...) Sorry not a better picture of this.
You cook polenta early, including a bit of salt, pepper, butter and cream in the mixture, spread the hot polenta about 1/2” thick on baking sheets small enough to fit into your fridge, and then put them there when the polenta cools. Cover (I use a re-washed plastic veggie bag from the grocery store) and leave for 4 to 24 hours. Cut the sheets into serving pieces and grill.
Meanwhile, to make the salad, mix cooked (or canned?) black beans, onion, carrot, and roasted red pepper, and a vinaigrette of lime juice, olive oil, S&P, cumin. Add cilantro and mix again. Closeup of the salad so you can see how pretty it is!
And Green Chile Sauce, a separate recipe (p. 20) — roasted green chiles (poblanos!), garlic, lime juice, cilantro, salt, sour cream, mayonnaise. My notes remind me that this is also a wonderful salad dressing (think avocado salad), and Mr pixxer wrote that it made a great omelette sauce.
*I'm guessing that, if you don't have a grill, you could pan-toast the polenta, and I know you can buy jars of roasted red peppers. Just don’t tell Weber I said so. Or that I wrote it up, here. And here, actually :)
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Goat cheese with tomatoes and olives
Easiest one of the bunch — if you have a tomato sauce already, that is. This is from p. 21 of Patricia Wells’ At Home in Provence (tough luck, but somebody’s got to live there). Pixxer-son heard PW on NPR and bought me the book, and it quickly became a staple. I strongly recommend this cookbook!
Sprinkle chevre/goat cheese in the bottom of ramekins. Sprinkle rosemary, oregano, and hyssop if you have it (never have had it) on the cheese, top with tomato sauce, the rest of the herbs, and good, not-too-salty black olives. Broil 2-3 minutes. I said it was easy!
A nice salad would go well with this, and of course, a great crusty bread to be sure you get every bit of cheese and sauce out of the ramekin.
Here is my version of the recipe, and another... and here’s Wells Sauce (our name for it).
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“Tomato tart”
This is a recipe from Paul Bertolli, once a chef
at Chez Panisse, then with his own restaurant Oliveto, and now principally a charcutier. The recipe (official name: Warm Tomato, Leek, and Cheese Tart) is from the San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook (p. 133), and I make this multiple times each tomato season. You need good tomatoes, and have to start the dough early b/c it needs to sit and chill. But don’t we all?
Make a butter pastry, wrap in waxed paper (compostable - no reason to use plastic wrap) and let sit in the fridge at least 1 1/2 hours.
Roll out the dough and top with cooked leeks, cheddar, basil, and sliced tomatoes; turn the edges of the dough over prettily, and bake about 50 minutes.
Google Books came up in a search and took me directly to the recipe, but I also found where I wrote it up here, in case that doesn't work.
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So now I’d better find good renditions of the recipes to link… I'll add more if time permits.
If you’d like to contribute a diary to the WFD series, reply to the schedule which I’m sure ninkasi23 will shortly post below.
Meanwhile...
What's for dinner at your house?