To fuck or to cook?

[notcasesensitive]

This is what I came up with for our first foray into a winter soup this year. It is a cross between a vegetarian tortilla and a minestrone (or even a vegetarian chili).

ncs's Vegetarian Tortilla-strone

4 cups vegetable broth (I use 2 of the premade boxes that you can buy in any grocery store)
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1/2 yellow onion
2 cloves fresh garlic
1 large russet potato
1 can whole kernal corn
1 can white beans
1 cup small shell pasta
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
tabasco, salt and pepper to taste

Sautee diced bell pepper, onion and garlic with a touch of oil until soft. Add to crushed tomatoes in food processor and puree untill all pieces are blended. Boil diced potatoes on stove for 10-15 minutes. In a large soup pan, heat vegetable broth, potatoes, oil and vinegar and tomato/pepper mixture. Drain corn and beans and add to soup. Salt, pepper and tabasco to taste (I used a lot of fresh ground pepper, not much salt and probably about a teaspoon of tabasco (spicy!)). Simmer 15-20 minutes. Cook pasta per instructions and add to soup right before serving.

Makes 6 large servings.

Tasty.

[Sparklehorse]

About a year ago, I bought Olive Trees and Honey, a Jewish vegetarian cookbook. It is quickly becoming a favorite since I've made a bunch of different dishes from it and everything is unique and dee-licious.

For example, I've made several different lentil dishes and they have used flavors that work really well with lentils but get off the cumin, garlic, tomato (and sausage if meaty) pairings you usually see in lentil recipes. One, a French recipe, uses turnips.

Yesterday I made some savory pastries called Turkish Turnovers. The cookbook offers a large number of filling options and I chose the spinach for this experiment. It's basically a simple spanikopita filling and it's yummy.

These aren't 10 minute preparations but they aren't high maintenance recipes either.

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Sparklehorse
About a year ago, I bought Olive Trees and Honey, a Jewish vegetarian cookbook. It is quickly becoming a favorite since I've made a bunch of different dishes from it and everything is unique and dee-licious.

For example, I've made several different lentil dishes and they have used flavors that work really well with lentils but get off the cumin, garlic, tomato (and sausage if meaty) pairings you usually see in lentil recipes. One, a French recipe, uses turnips.

Yesterday I made some savory pastries called Turkish Turnovers. The cookbook offers a large number of filling options and I chose the spinach for this experiment. It's basically a simple spanikopita filling and it's yummy.

These aren't 10 minute preparations but they aren't high maintenance recipes either.

What's the lentil/turnip recipe?

[Sparklehorse]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
What's the lentil/turnip recipe?

Here you go:

Alsatian Green Lentil Soup
From Olive Tree and Honey

6 to 8 servings

3 T vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
2 turnips or 1 small rutabaga, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, diced, or 1 small celery root, peeled and diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
8 cups water
2 cups green or brown lentils, picked over, rinsed, and drained
1 T chopped fresh thyme or 1 t dried
1 bay leaf
About 2 t table salt or 1 T kosher salt
Ground black pepper to taste
2-3 T cider or red wine vinegar (optional)

1. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, turnips, and celery and sauté for 10 minutes. Add the garlic and continue sautéing until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the water, lentils, thyme, bay lead, salt, pepper, and, if using, vinegar. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low; and simmer until the lentils are tender, about 50 minutes. Discard the bay leaf. For a thicker soup, purée 3-4 cups of the soup in a blender or food processor and return to the pot. Serve warm.

[ltl/fb]

I have requested my mom's recipe, which I believe she got from my dad's (German-Russian) mom. Will post when it comes.

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
I have requested my mom's recipe, which I believe she got from my dad's (German-Russian) mom. Will post when it comes.

Apparently my mom makes them without using a recipe. Here is what she came up with, with some help from a cookbook or two:

Galupsy/Halupsy (German-Russian Cabbage Rolls)
(Smithsonian Folklife Cookbook, Great Plains section)

1 head green cabbage, cored
water

Filling:
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 c. uncooked white rice
1 large onion, chopped
1 t. salt (she wasn't sure on this measurement)
1/2 t. black pepper (again, estimate)
1-2 t. dried dill weed

Sauce:
1 16-oz. can stewed tomatoes

1. Boil water in large pot and immerse head of cabbage in water. As leaves soften, remove head from pot and remove softened leaves. Return head to pot and repeat until all leaves have been removed. Reserve liquid.
2. To make filling, combine uncooked meat, rice, onion and salt and pepper to taste. Add some of the cooking water to make a just-less-than-soupy mixture.
3. Place a heaping tablespoon of meat mixture on a parboiled leaf of cabbage. Fold in the sides and roll loosely to make a neat package. Loosely rolled package allows for expansion as the rice cooks, so that the rolls don’t become too firm and split.
4. Place rolls in a large casserole or Dutch oven. Sprinkle liberally with dried dill weed. Add some of the cooking water mixture to cover the rolls halfway. Cover and bake at 325º for 2 hours.
5. Uncover and add tomatoes. Cover and bake for another 30 minutes. Uncover and let stand for 15 minutes before serving.



Notes: She saw a recipe that included vinegar in the parboiling water; this would I think preserve the color of the cabbage but might affect the softening of the rice as it cooks. Some recipes also use sour cream or cream/half & half (added with tomatoes) but this was not how my dad's family makes them. Also some recipes use a mixture of pork (piggie!) and beef.

[Sparklehorse]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
Apparently my mom makes them without using a recipe. Here is what she came up with, with some help from a cookbook or two:

Galupsy/Halupsy (German-Russian Cabbage Rolls)
(Smithsonian Folklife Cookbook, Great Plains section)

1 head green cabbage, cored
water

Filling:
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 c. uncooked white rice
1 large onion, chopped
1 t. salt (she wasn't sure on this measurement)
1/2 t. black pepper (again, estimate)
1-2 t. dried dill weed

Sauce:
1 16-oz. can stewed tomatoes

1. Boil water in large pot and immerse head of cabbage in water. As leaves soften, remove head from pot and remove softened leaves. Return head to pot and repeat until all leaves have been removed. Reserve liquid.
2. To make filling, combine uncooked meat, rice, onion and salt and pepper to taste. Add some of the cooking water to make a just-less-than-soupy mixture.
3. Place a heaping tablespoon of meat mixture on a parboiled leaf of cabbage. Fold in the sides and roll loosely to make a neat package. Loosely rolled package allows for expansion as the rice cooks, so that the rolls don’t become too firm and split.
4. Place rolls in a large casserole or Dutch oven. Sprinkle liberally with dried dill weed. Add some of the cooking water mixture to cover the rolls halfway. Cover and bake at 325º for 2 hours.
5. Uncover and add tomatoes. Cover and bake for another 30 minutes. Uncover and let stand for 15 minutes before serving.



Notes: She saw a recipe that included vinegar in the parboiling water; this would I think preserve the color of the cabbage but might affect the softening of the rice as it cooks. Some recipes also use sour cream or cream/half & half (added with tomatoes) but this was not how my dad's family makes them. Also some recipes use a mixture of pork (piggie!) and beef.

Thanks for this!

I think the vinegar probably serves the same function as in GWNC's clever brussel sprouts recipe, which is to kill the bitter flavor in the cabbage.

For some reason, my fantasy stuffed cabbage has raisins, either in the stuffing or the sauce. Do I have some weird stuffed cabbage delusion?

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Sparklehorse
Thanks for this!

I think the vinegar probably serves the same function as in GWNC's clever brussel sprouts recipe, which is to kill the bitter flavor in the cabbage.

For some reason, my fantasy stuffed cabbage has raisins, either in the stuffing or the sauce. Do I have some weird stuffed cabbage delusion?

I've not really experienced a lot of it in actual Polish cuisine prepared by Polish people, but the French sauce Poloniase has raisins and vinegar in it. It's used more often for braising tongue, bubt they also use it occasionally for cabbage rolls.

I think it's an abomination, but a chancun son gout.

[Sparklehorse]

Originally posted by taxwonk
I've not really experienced a lot of it in actual Polish cuisine prepared by Polish people, but the French sauce Poloniase has raisins and vinegar in it. It's used more often for braising tongue, bubt they also use it occasionally for cabbage rolls.

I think it's an abomination, but a chancun son gout.

My thinking may also be because of two other dishes I make fairly frequently. One is a cauliflower gratin which has a tomato sauce with saffron, currants and pine nuts. The other dish, which I just made last week, is an Italian dish (from a Lidia Bastianovich cookbook). It's meatballs made with monkfish (and capers) and the sauce is a similar tomato sauce with the pine nuts and raisins but not the saffron.

What's wrong with a little sweet in your savory dish?

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Sparklehorse
My thinking may also be because of two other dishes I make fairly frequently. One is a cauliflower gratin which has a tomato sauce with saffron, currants and pine nuts. The other dish, which I just made last week, is an Italian dish (from a Lidia Bastianovich cookbook). It's meatballs made with monkfish (and capers) and the sauce is a similar tomato sauce with the pine nuts and raisins but not the saffron.

What's wrong with a little sweet in your savory dish?

I see no problem with putting some raisins in the cabbage rolls. You might want to check out e.g. a stuffed pepper recipe that includes raisins in the stuffing to see if you need to adjust spices/herbs.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Sparklehorse
My thinking may also be because of two other dishes I make fairly frequently. One is a cauliflower gratin which has a tomato sauce with saffron, currants and pine nuts. The other dish, which I just made last week, is an Italian dish (from a Lidia Bastianovich cookbook). It's meatballs made with monkfish (and capers) and the sauce is a similar tomato sauce with the pine nuts and raisins but not the saffron.

What's wrong with a little sweet in your savory dish?

Pine nuts and raisins is very Sicilian. A vestige of the Arab influence.

And I don't object universally to sweet elements in a savory dish. I just think that raising in dishes like cabbage rolls or tongue are gross.

[Paisley]

Originally posted by taxwonk
Pine nuts and raisins is very Sicilian. A vestige of the Arab influence.

And I don't object universally to sweet elements in a savory dish. I just think that raising in dishes like cabbage rolls or tongue are gross.

Just a helpful hint - it's not the raisins that are making the tongue dishes gross.

(My childhood nanny used to mock me, every time I asked what was for dinner, by telling me that it was "la lengua." Oh, how she laughed. Damn bitch.)

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Paisley
Just a helpful hint - it's not the raisins that are making the tongue dishes gross.

(My childhood nanny used to mock me, every time I asked what was for dinner, by telling me that it was "la lengua." Oh, how she laughed. Damn bitch.)

What, you've never had pickled, smoked tongue and corned beef? What are you, some kind of shikse?

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Paisley
My childhood nanny

I can't resist saying this: translation:"I'm rich, bitches."

I kind of want to make a dinner involving sweet potato gnocchi, which seems like it should be a side or would need substantial sides/appetizers. Any suggestions?

ETF translation, and to say, is Corey Haim in Season 5 of 24? WTF?

EATS oh, it's Sean Astin. Equally . . . weird.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
I kind of want to make a dinner involving sweet potato gnocchi, which seems like it should be a side or would need substantial sides/appetizers. Any suggestions?

Make it with a gorgonzola sauce and you won't need to eat again for days.