It’s shaping up to be a glorious spring/summer of homemade pizza. This one had asparagus, leeks, spinach, and ricotta.
If you think you don’t like beets (well, also if you do like them, but it will be less life-changing), I recommend this strongly. It’s better the second day.
I created this recipe for dinner tonight, and I think it came out really well! This is the type of meal that makes Bryan look skeptical when I describe it, but he always ends up liking it much more than he thinks he will. The ingredients and preparation are simple, but the flavors and textures work together perfectly. It’s very nutritious and also happens to be vegan!
Quinoa and Roasted Vegetables with Lemon Cumin Dressing
1 head cauliflower
5 carrots
2 large shallots
1 15-oz can chickpeas
1 cup quinoa
1 lemon
olive oil
salt & pepper
smoked paprika
ground cumin
scallions for garnish (optional)
Preheat oven to 400F.
Cut cauliflower into florets and blanch for 3 minutes in salted boiling water, then quickly rinse in cold water or place in an ice bath to stop cooking. (This step is not strictly necessary, but I think it improves the texture of the cauliflower.)
Peel the carrots and cut on the diagonal into long oval slices. Slice the shallots. Toss the carrots, shallots, and cauliflower with olive oil and spread them onto a foil-covered cookie sheet or baking pan in a single layer. Season with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika, and roast for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, cook quinoa according to package instructions (I used a mixture of regular and red quinoa). Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
To make dressing, zest the lemon and then juice it. Mix the juice with the zest, 2 tbsp. olive oil, salt, pepper, and 1/2-1 tsp. cumin.
Combine the quinoa, chickpeas, and roasted vegetables. Toss with the dressing. Garnish with snipped scallions.
“PS Caitlin my long term affair with your macaroni & cheese recipe reached its apex this fall, when I used the text from your blog post as my final assignment for my CELTA certification (we had to bring in an “authentic, level-appropriate text” and design a set of skills tasks around it). A class of 13 pre-intermediate language learners were given it as a reading in a lesson on “Comfort Foods,” before teaching each other how to make comfort foods from their own cultures. I cooked it in a kitchen in Greenpoint and brought it in on the 7 train for them to eat at the end. Adults from Japan, China, Guatemala, Algeria, Martinique, Basque Country, Haiti, and Italy give it full marks.”
Bryan made me the BEST dinner tonight. He cooked sous-vide filet mignon (using a cooler) — the most perfect steak I’ve ever had — along with brussels sprouts braised in Oktoberfest beer and Joël Robuchon’s pommes purée. We paired the meal with a good IPA.
I should’ve taken a picture, but I was too excited to eat! This sous-vide method has obvious limitations, but for our purposes it was just perfect. Try it!
Dessert now — good chocolate and better whiskey.
Grilled Lebanese flatbread from The Minimalist.
This was so fun to make, and delicious served with baba ghannouj and grilled onions, peppers, and zucchini. We did it all indoors with our grill pan, so this doesn’t have to just be a summer bread. As fall begins, I’m thinking of cold-weather dishes it would be good with… like spicy stews!
A lovely recent dinner (photo and kimchi by Bryan). I wrote a quick little article about meals in this style (with no distinct main course): Vegetarian Small Plates.
I have a few other good meals, a dreamy pie, and a craft project or two to share in the near future!
Tonight’s dinner: vegan red beans and rice, grilled watermelon, cold beer.
I can’t get over how beautiful this picture is! And how delicious this dinner was! Also, I made that blurry centerpiece in the background. It’s pretty cute.
I felt like cooking something summery and hands-on tonight. These vegetarian stuffed peppers were fun to make and better to eat! I’ll definitely be making them again.
The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen. Next time I’m going to skip the fennel seeds, but that’s just personal taste. Otherwise they were perfect!
