If you let the leeks and cauliflower cook long and slow, the combination is heavenly when paired with cheese and eggs. Serve alone or with a green salad for lunch or a late night dinner.
Continue readingPosts Tagged → Vegetables
Barely Scrambled Eggs with Indian Spices and Spinach for Two
These eggs can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner, alone or with a fruit salad. Of course, you can even supplement with home fries or toast.
Continue readingBeef and Asparagus Sandwich with Saga Blue Cheese
adapted from Paul Gregory’s Roulade of Beef and Asparagus
Continue readingWhite Bean and Vegetable Salad
As long as you have canned white beans on hand, this great summer salad literally takes 5 minutes to prepare. You can “beef’ it up with leftover grilled chicken, steak or tuna or chunks of baked ham.
Continue readingCauliflower with Curry and Basil
Although there is no cream in this soup, you’d never guess it based on its consistency or taste. In fact, I intended to put cream in it, but after it was blended, it seemed unnecessary. Served with a salad, this makes a quick, great light dinner.
Continue readingFrittata
Here’s another great morning dish that can be prepped the night before and cooked in the morning, or even cooked the night before and served at room temperature A frittata is basically a crustless quiche with endless variations; you can choose any combination of vegetables, cheese, and herbs that appeals to you. If you’re watching your carbs, you can leave out the bread.
Continue readingScrambled Eggs with Indian Spices and Spinach
This is one of my favorite brunch items, but it’s also sublime for dinner. The first time I served it for dinner, my children turned their noses up, but after they tasted it, they promptly begged me to make it again, right then and there (which I did), so they could have more.
Continue readingChicken Fajitas
Great for informal dinner group, or for teens or kids, this recipe allows everyone to have a slightly different meal. You could also substitute an equal amount of thinly sliced flank steak.
Continue readingSauteed Rice with Spinach and Feta Cheese
This is terrific with Roasted Chicken with Artichokes, Lemon, and Onions, stuffed into bell peppers, or as stuffing in a whole chicken.
For even more flavor, just prior to serving, add grated lemon zest,
Curried Rice-Stuffed Peppers
This is a wonderful side or luncheon dish. The rice can also stand alone. Ben, my 10-year-old son, and Michael, my 21-year-old nephew, both love this dish.
Continue readingSpicy Roasted Potatoes with Cilantro, Peppers, and Scallions
Strong flavors make this new twist on roasted potatoes more flavorful, if not quite as versatile – and frankly, hard to stop eating. It’s good with simpler dishes like hamburger, grilled steak, and chicken. Try it instead of hash browns or home fries with eggs.
Continue readingPan-Roasted Asparagus
This is my favorite way to cook asparagus, and it can be served with almost anything. Leftovers can be used in salads and omelets.
Continue readingRoasted Broccoli with Garlic and Ginger
Even die-hard broccoli haters will be persuaded to try tis spicy variation.
Continue readingSpinach with Garlic and Pine Nuts
This dish works well with either fish or chicken. Make more than you think you’ll need; it’s also good atop pasta and stuffed into an omelet.
Continue readingCream of Broccoli
Lauren doesn’t even like broccoli, but she begs me to make this soup. If you want to make the soup richer, add 1 cup grated cheddar cheese when you are pureeing it.
Continue readingCarrot Soup with Orange
A perfect starter for dinner. Apple cider or apple juice can be substituted for the orange juice.
Continue readingGrilled Asparagus
Serves 6.
Continue readingRoasted Ratatouille
Ratatouille is a great dish for experimentation. Although the usual method is to sauté the vegetables, I find that roasting them nets an even richer result.
Continue readingSeared Greens
Serves 6.
Continue readingPan-Steamed Spinach
When dishes are served on a bed of spinach, they are called Florentine because when Catherine de Medici left her home in Florence in the 1500s to marry the king of France, she brought along her own cooks to prepare spinach, her favorite vegetable. Lacking a wealth of recipe ideas and needing some versatility, they often served the spinach underneath whatever they were making. Nevertheless, this is a great way to serve spinach.
Continue readingChilled Corn Soup with Tomatoes, Red Peppers, and Cilantro
Made from the last summer corn and best summer tomatoes, this soup should be made with only the freshest ingredients. Don’t be tempted to substitute canned or frozen; it won’t be the same.
Continue readingPasta Alfredo with Broccoli Rabe
This is a quick and easy pasta dish that takes no longer to make than the time it takes to boil the spaghetti. It is a perfect introduction for those who haven’t tried broccoli rabe, but if you know you don’t like it, substitute spinach.
Continue readingBrussels Sprouts Leaves with Brown Butter
Although these require more work than simply tossing Brussels sprouts into a pot of steaming water, their taste is nothing less than magnificent. Additionally, I guarantee that if you don not say what they are, even the most ardent Brussels sprout detractor will be impressed.
Continue readingPan-Broiled Zucchini
I have a particular fondness for zucchini cooked this way.
Continue readingOrzo and Broccoli Rabe
If you haven’t tried broccoli rabe (also known as Italian broccoli or broccoli di rape), this is a good introduction. The bitterness (which I love) overwhelms some people, but is somewhat lessened by the taste of the creamy orzo I can’t convince my husband to eat even this mild rendition, so I often eat it as an entrée when he goes out of town. It is especially good with shaved Parmesan cheese.
Continue readingSauteed Cherry Tomatoes
I am a huge fan of cooked tomatoes. This method takes so little time but yields a great-tasting result.
Continue readingOven-Baked Corn
If you’ve only had steamed or boiled corn on the cob, you’re in for a real treat. Roasting, which is my favorite method, yields a corn that is drier yet both sweeter and crunchier than steaming. I had never really eaten it until my husband, Mark, surprised me by making dinner. I rarely eat it any other way now.
Continue readingRoasted Bell Peppers
Roasted Bell Peppers can be substituted for fresh bell peppers in any recipe. They’re great to have around anyway, as a tasty addition to sandwiches and omelets. You can’t even compare them to those you can buy in jars – it’s like the difference between fresh and frozen orange juice.
Bell peppers, any color
1. Preheat the broiler or oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place the peppers directly under the broiler or in the oven and cook until blackened on all sides
3. Place the peppers in a heavy plastic or paper bag, close, and let sweat for about 10 minutes. Remove from the back, remove the burned skin, then stem and seed the peppers. Slice as desired and use immediately, or store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.
From Party Dips! 50 Zippy, Zesty, Spicy, Savory, Tasty, Tempting Dips (The Harvard Common Press, 2004)