Connecticut clam chowder. 8/09/22

Before we moved to Northern California, almost thirty years ago, we lived in North Carolina and Massachusetts. Living in different parts of the United States exposed me to regional cuisines. Originally from the Jersey shore where the pizza is the best, to Carolina BBQ, to New England clam chowder and Indian pudding, to California cuisine, all of it is part of my cooking DNA.

When the kids were little we spent a lot of time traveling between Massachusetts and New Jersey to visit Nannie and Beebop. (Our son named my father Beebop because he couldn’t say PopPop. My grandmotherly name morphed into Beeba when the grandkids were born.) On one of our trips we stopped in a now defunct restaurant call The Binnacle. We all ordered the clam chowder. Surprisingly it was not at all like the thick, cream-laden clam chowder of Boston but a lighter more delicate version. This recipe, adapted from one by Gabrielle Hamilton, is my take on the clam chowder that we had at The Binnacle outside of Mystic, Connecticut.

Connecticut clam chowder

Posted in American, Easy, pescatarian, Recipes, Shellfish, soup, Vegetables, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Surf and turf bowl. 8/8/22

We used Sunday night’s leftovers from our all-appetizer family dinner to create our surf and turf bowls. We had leftover bbq ribs meat for our turf and shrimp cocktail shrimp for the surf. Sliced up cucumbers from our veggie platter were part of the dish as well as newly prepared cabbage, avocado, green onions, edamame, and Thai chiles. I made up a new batch of soy ginger vinaigrette and a garnish of cilantro, lime, and Furikake.

Surf and turf bowl ingredients

We all fixed our own bowls according to what we like best. I started with some cauliflower rice and went light on the meat and avocado. John and our daughter started with regular rice and ate everything else. Only leftover from tonight was a small container of dressing!

Tonight’s dinner was basically no-cook, economical, and very tasty!

Posted in American, Asian, Easy, leftovers, Legumes, Methods, Pork, rice, Salad, Shellfish, Vegetables | Tagged | Leave a comment

Weekly Menu. August 8 – 14, 2022

We are starting out this week with a creative use of our leftovers from the Family All-Appetizer Dinner on Sunday. John made shrimp cocktail and lollipop ribs and we have enough left to make an Asian surf and turf bowl. Also on this week’s menu is the beans Marbella that we did not get to last week. We are a little light on the vegetarian entrees this week since John has made two special requests, chicken enchiladas on Thursday and a romantic dinner of seared scallops for just him and me on Saturday night.

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No-cook vegan tofu sesame bowl. 8/6/22

Sesame tofu bowl

This is the ultimate hot summer night dish! I have been making these bowls primarily with salmon and shrimp but decided I wanted a vegan version. The family voted three thumbs up for this marinated extra-firm tofu bowl with cucumbers, avocados, edamame, Thai chiles, and cabbage over rice.

The tofu is marinated in a combination of soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger powder, and garlic powder. The dressing is a similar combination but with minced garlic, ginger, and green onions that I whiz up in my mini food processor. I also add a dash of sweetener.

Since there is no cooking involved with the exception of microwaving some already prepared rice or, in my case, just microwaving some frozen cauliflower rice, the dish is all assembly. On a layer of rice add thinly sliced cucumbers, shredded cabbage, thawed edamame, thinly sliced chiles, and cubed avocado. Add the dressing and a few shakes of Furikake (that’s where the sesame seeds come from.) You can find Furikake in the Asian section of your supermarket or from Amazon.

I am really pleased with this very tasty, plant-based, cost effective, new addition to our dinner rotation.


Posted in Asian, Easy, Hot weather meals, Legumes, Methods, rice, Salad, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Weeknight dinners | Tagged | Leave a comment

Vegan dried split chickpea stew (Chana dal) with kale and cauliflower rice. 8/4/22

Chana Dal. over kale and cauliflower rice

I love this chickpea dish. It is so tasty and satisfying. Usually I can find Chana dal at WalMart but this time I had to buy it from Amazon. It is quick to make in the Instant Pot and with the kale and cauliflower rice you have a power plant packed dish.

Here is the recipe I use –

Chana Dal. Serves 2-4

1 cup Split Chickpeas 

1 tsp Cumin seeds 

2 tsp. Oil

3/4 cup Onion diced

1/2 tbsp Ginger minced

3 cloves Garlic minced

1 can diced tomatoes with jalapeños (Rotel)

2 cups Water or vegetable stock for cooking

1 tbsp Lime juice

Spices

  1 tsp table salt

  1/4 tsp Ground Turmeric

  1/2 tsp Red Chili powder

  1 tsp Coriander powder 

Cilantro

Greens for either adding at the end to the pot or raw underneath 

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Start the instant pot in sauté mode and heat oil in it. Add cumin seeds.

Once the cumin seeds start to change color, add the onions, garlic, ginger and saute for 2 minutes. 

Add tomatoes and spices and stir them well. Rinse the split chickpeas and add along with water for cooking. Stir it all up. Set to pressure cook for 18 minutes and close the lid with vent in sealing position.

After the instant pot beeps, let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes and then release it manually the rest of the way. . Add lime juice and give a good stir. If you are using greens (spinach, kale, etc,) stir them in now, cover the pot, and wait 5 minutes before serving.

Garnish with cilantro and serve over rice or cauliflower rice

Posted in Indian, Instant Pot, Legumes, stew, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian | Tagged | 1 Comment

Vegan fettuccine with mushrooms and zoodles. 8/3/22

Fettuccine with mushrooms and zucchini

Our pasta dinner turned out even better than usual! I think the reason why is that instead of using red pepper flakes I used two minced bird’s eyes chiles and also added a chiffonade of basil. The chiles were not just spicy but had a fruitiness to them and the fresh basil was a nice herbaceous touch. I left the zoodles raw and they warmed through when I added the pasta to the mushrooms, onions, and garlic. I read online that if you cook the zoodles they are liable to become mushy. The sauce you see is just some pasta water mixed with the fond from cooking the mushrooms. A drizzle of good olive oil is all it takes to finish off this dish

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Chilean sea bass, new potatoes, broccoli 8/2/22

Baked Chilean sea bass with steamed potatoes and broccoli

Chilean sea bass was not on the menu today but we were at Costco and they had nicely sized pieces for three people at a reasonable price. It was actually cheaper per pound than the frozen pieces we buy in a bag. We decided to take advantage of it.

John cooked the simply seasoned sea bass in the oven at 400F for about 18 minutes since the pieces were thick. I started steaming the new potatoes shortly before he started the fish and then covered them to keep them warm while I steamed the broccoli. (One pan!)

I added a teaspoon of butter to the cooked broccoli and everything was sprinkled with lemon juice. The lemon and butter on the broccoli was especially good.

This was a simple, yet delicious meal. When you start with good products nothing much else needs to be done.

Posted in American, Easy, Fish, Kitchen tips, Methods, pescatarian, Vegetables | Tagged | 3 Comments

Herb-y salad with shrimp and nuoc cham 8/2/22

salad with herbs, shrimp, and nuoc cham

This herb-y salad is super easy, super tasty, and just what you need on a hot summer night. The salad part is a combo of an arugula/spinach mix (but you could use any greens), cabbage, cucumber, red bell pepper, mint, and basil. We cooked our own shrimp but you could totally use pre-cooked shrimp and not have to turn on your stove at all. The nuoc cham dressing is made with 2 parts lime juice and 1 part fish sauce, a minced clove of garlic, a minced hot chile like Thai or bird’s eye, and then sweetened to your taste. I used half of a pack of Splenda but you could use sugar or whatever.

This recipe was adapted from one on the NYTimes cooking site. Theirs called for a lot of sugar in the dressing and cooked chicken. I think that tofu would also work well in this recipe if you want to keep it vegetarian but you would also need to change the dressing to soy based.

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BFD Asian vegetable stir-fry with scrambled eggs 7/31/22

Asian vegetable stir-fry with scrambled eggs

For this week’s Breakfast For Dinner I return to a favorite of mine, stir-fried vegetables over kale with soft scrambled eggs on top. This is a very satisfying dish. For today’s vegetables I used carrots, mushrooms, carrots, celery, cabbage, and broccoli. I leave the kale raw and it wilts when the hot vegetables are put on top of it. For seasonings I use salt (of course!), rogan josh, ginger, garlic, sriracha, and soy sauce. We always have BFD for Sunday supper unless there is something special going on. It is nice to have an easy, filling dinner.

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Weekly Menu August 1 – 7, 2022

This week I am making two new dishes in an effort to expand my plant-based recipes repertoire. The shrimp and herb salad with nuoc cham is similar to our usual shrimp bowl but with a slightly different sauce. Beans Marbella is based on the old Silver Palate Cookbook’s Chicken Marbella. I hope this weekly menu will inspire you to make more plant-based dinners! They are good for you and good for the planet!

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