Refreshing Cucumber Salad

Case and I were both quite please with this tart/sweet salad.  We don't typically care for raw onions, but if you soak them in the marinade before hand for an hour or so, they mellow quite nicely. It tasted refreshing and was quick to make as well. It's an excellent alkaline appetizer which allowed us to better digest the main course.

Cucumber Salad
Serves 2 as small appetizer
Adapted from Plenty (Super cool vegetarian cookbook by a non-vegetarian author [the best kind!])

Dressing
3 Tb. rice wine
2 tsp. sugar
2 Tb. Olive oil
2 Tb. Sesame oil
1 tsp. ginger

1/2 onion, very thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, very thinly sliced

Dukkah, to garnish (I ran out of sesame seeds)

Soak cucumbers and onion in dressing for an hour, then serve. The original recipe calls for crushed ginger and garlic, as well as cilantro, which I did not have. However, we were quite happy with my simplified (read: faster) version.

Accidental Cherry Jello

Awesomest accident ever! I will feel so silly if everyone knows this but me. Apparently, if you blend cherries, strain it, put it in a cup you will get jello in under five minutes. I kid you not. No added ingredients, just blended, pitted, fresh cherries. Is there something I am missing here? This might not be a big deal. I mean really, why not just eat the pitted cherries instead of going through the extra work of blending it? But if you are like me and you just had your wisdom teeth removed and chewing anything causes excessive pain (because you are pretty sure one of your surgical sites has dry socket), then this is freakin awesome. Having also just had my braces removed, this is an excellent treat if you want something soft. Lastly, it's also fun to eat! So yeah, get some cherries. Toss them in your blender. Strain, pour and wait five minutes. It doesn't even need to go in the fridge. Woohoo!

My bowl of pitted cherries

Magic!

Cool Tomato Buttermilk Soup

It's been awhile since I've made something I did not like. I blog about it because this flavor profile may be to someone else's liking.

I had to blend this soup with a different vegetable soup I made to eat it. :( That said, I made two versions of this and one of them was just the tomato confit blended with vegetable broth and that was much more enjoyable. However, if you like the tangy taste of buttermilk I highly suggest this soup. I think the dairy was just a bit much for me. My new favorite vegetarian cookbook is herbivoracious by Michael Natkin. I have over a dozen bookmarks in it right now of recipes I want to try. He offers a lot of extra helpful tips throughout the book and has excellent pictures. My dislike of this particular recipe is not a reflection of his book at all. It's just a reflection of the fact that I apparently don't like buttermilk and didn't know this until now. Or I made it wrong.  Either way...

(I linked his general site as this recipe is only available in the cookbook)


Cool Tomato Buttermilk Soup
Adapted from herbivoracious

1/2 cup tomato confit (save extra for garnish)
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup veggie broth

fresh chives

To make tomato confit I halved cherry tomatoes and cooked them at 300 for about 2 hours. The book say's to peel the skin and remove the seeds, which I did not do. I'm wondering how the affects the taste...

After the confit has cooled, blend the ingredients together and pour into a bowl. I used a mixture of raw tomatoes and confit tomatoes for the garnish along with lots of chives.

Before

After

Lentil Tomato Soup

I am not much for soups, but I have to say this one pot cooking is working for me. Truly, it is the garnish that makes a dish. It takes all the intense flavors and ingredients - you know the ones that have been cooking in that big pot, every spoonful tastes the same - and it adds that panache. Green onions are great for doing this. They are fresh, easy to clean and chop. They look good over anything, making it look a little extra fancy. Fresh basil and cilantro are always excellent too. Seriously - don't leave them out!

Lentil Tomato Soup

1 Anaheim pepper

1 Poblano pepper

1 medium sweet onion

2 Tb. Ghee

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp turmeric 

1 c. lentils - mixed colors

4ish c. water

1/2 can broth

1/2 c. crushed tomatoes

Olive Oil/Sriracha/Butter for sauce topping

Green Onion/Cilantro Garnish

Melt Ghee, Butter or EVOO. Add onion and peppers. Soften/Carmelize. Add spices. Add Lentils, mix, add water and bring to boil - lower heat and simmer until lentils are almost cooked. Blend 1/4 - 1/2 mixture for desired thickness of soup. Add broth and crushed tomatoes. Cook until lentils are done. Serve and top with green onion and cilantro.