"Moosewood Cookbook" by Mollie Katzen - Chilean Squash - Food for a very belated Earth Day observance!

Date I made this recipe:  May 7, 2017 – belated Earth Day celebration (April 22, 2017)

Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen (Compiled, Edited, Illustrated and Hand-Lettered by Mollie Katzen)

Published by Ten Speed Press

ISBN: 0-913668-68-0; © 1977

Purchased at BCPA Annual Sale (Bloomington Crime Prevention Association)

Recipe:  Chilean Squash – p. 97

Sigh.  There are times when I think I am prepared and ready to go to cook something on a day of significance like Earth Day, only to have it unravel on me at the last minute.  And so in this household we celebrated Earth Day on May 7 and then of course it took me a while to write up this blog, and if I don't get in gear, we'll be staring down the barrel of Memorial Day!

Part of the problem is that when it came to what cookbook and what recipe to use, I was torn between not one, not two, not three, but four Mollie Katzen "vegetarian" cookbooks.  For a while there, I was determined to cook from three of them (the 4^th is on a different shelf and is presently AWOL) but happily came to my senses and thought better of that idea.  So then I was back to selecting one and that took me forever and so here we are.  In conclusion your honor....

I don't know about you, but I consider Mollie Katzen to be the mother of vegetarian cooking.  I remember when she published her first book – Moosewood Cookbook - the book I cooked from today, as it was widely celebrated by vegetarians who, at the time, were very much in the culinary minority.  Today, so many people are vegetarians or even vegans that you can't go two feet without finding a vegetarian cookbook or restaurant.  Not so in 1977.

Frankly, I have to admit that vegetarian cookbooks (including Mollie's) scare me because well, a) I'm a meat-eater, b) I tend to raise an eyebrow at classic vegetarian ingredients like tofu (worse, tofurkey—what is that even?), bee pollen, or wheat germ – all ingredients I won't use, and c) most modern vegetarian cookbooks want me to then stock and use said ingredients, some of which are pricey.  I'm willing to go a little bit out of my comfort zone, so long as I don't invest $50 in ingredients that are barely used after purchase.

Happily, Mollie's method was and is to use natural ingredients such as fruits and vegetables.  She also uses real dairy like eggs and cheese for which I am grateful.  In fact, today's recipe was a good mix of vegetables, eggs and cheese, AND it was tasty!  (I'm sorry, I refuse to eat "sawdust" in the form of substitutes.)  In other words, she celebrates the "fruits" of the earth which is what Earth Day and vegetarian cooking are all about.

The recipes in this book are all from her famed Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, NY.  Interestingly, Google says that this is a "natural foods" restaurant and that is true although that phrase was used early on by restaurants serving primarily vegetarian foods.

Mollie went on to write  twelve cookbooks, three others of which are in my collection: The Enchanted Broccoli Forest; Mollie Katzen's Still Life with Menu Cookbook, and Get Cooking which I shall save for next year.  Well, providing I can figure out where I put the Get Cooking cookbook.  All I will say is that it's got to be here somewhere but where among my 2,368 cookbooks is the question!  (BTW, I once spent over 2 years looking for a book that was smack dab in front of me but pushed back on the shelf so far that I missed it every single time.  Argh!)

As an aside, local restaurant The Good Earth, also advertises itself as a "natural foods" restaurant.  Interesting.  Back in their early years, you never, ever would have found any meat on the menu because that would be a sacrilege.   The menu was all  as all nuts and berries and fruit and veggies, period.  And to my great dismay, back when I started dining there (over 30 years ago), they wouldn't even serve coffee, never mind the decaf coffee I always drink.  Their beverage recommendation was and is their fruity tea which they package up and sell by the boatloads. I know people swoon over that tea but honestly, I cannot stand the smell of it. 

Another local restaurant that changed its menu approach is Spoonriver, owned by Chef Brenda Langton.  Langton's first restaurant, Cafe Kardamena was really the first of its kind (vegetarian) in the area.  Cafe Kardamena eventually morphed into Cafe Brenda which also stayed true to its vegetarian roots before morphing further into Spoonriver.  Although Spoonriver leans still toward a vegetarian diet, it also added locally-sourced meats to the menu and for that I am forever grateful. 

And so hooray, hooray, we are no longer held to "eating a pine tree" (Remember Euell Gibbons?) and I no longer turn tail and run at the thought of eating at a vegetarian restaurant.  That said, I will not eat tofu and there is absolutely no reason on this earth why tofurkey should exist, much less be eaten!

Even back in 1977, Mollie's approach to her restaurant menu and to vegetarian cooking was to keep it simple but well-rounded.  Recipe categories and recipe selections include:

Hot Soups

• Cream of Asparagus
• Brazilian Black Bean
• Lentil
• Minestrone
• Split Pea

Chilled Soups

• Buttermilk Beet Borscht
• Gazpacho
• Vichyssoise

Salads

• Carrot-Yogurt
• Cole Slaw
• Green Leafy
• Marinated Vegetables
• Tabouli (because of course!)

Sauces, Sandwiches, & Spreads

• Guacamole
• Humus
• Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches
• Pepper & Onion Shortcake (the "shortcake" here is really cornbread)

Entrees (this is a long list!)

• Broccoli, Mushroom, Noodle Casserole
• Stuffed Cabbage
• Cauliflower (4 recipes)
• Eggplant (7 recipes)
• Ratatouille
• Zucchini (5 recipes)

Desserts

• Apple-Cheddar Strudel
• Cheesecakes (4 recipes)
• Lemon-Honey Mousse
• Pumpkin Pie

Some recipes I considered before settling on the Chilean Squash recipe were "Best Split Pea Soup," "Cauliflower Cheese Soup," and "Vegetable Stroganoff."  All sounded yummy but for some reason the squash recipe grabbed me.

This recipe is pretty much a piece of cake once you get all your ingredients assembled and you cook your squash.  I liked it because the spices weren't overpowering and it contained a good mix of healthy foods.  I'd definitely make it again with just a few variations as noted below.

  

Okay then, so this concludes a very belated homage to Earth Day 2017.  If we are kind to Mother Earth, she will be kind to us, and so please do your part to recycle, to support local farms, and to reduce your carbon footprint as much as you can.

Chilean Squash – Makes 4-6 servings – 1 ½ hours to prepare

4 cups cooked squash or pumpkin, mashed or pureed

1 cup chopped onion

1 ½ cups chopped mixed red and green peppers

2-3 large cloves crushed garlic

1 teaspoon ground cumin

4 beaten eggs

2 cups corn (fresh or frozen)

½ teaspoon chili powder

1 cup grated cheddar

½ teaspoon ground coriander

Dash of cayenne (more to taste)

Dash of black pepper

1 tsp salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Ann's Note: The easiest way to cook the squash is to steam it for 8 minutes.  The easiest way to deal with the squash is to purchase it, fresh or frozen, already peeled and cubed.  I did not do this.  I wanted to save money and so I cut up the squash myself and what a mess.  It also takes a lot of arm strength to cut through it.  Next time, I'm going to just spend the extra couple of bucks and buy it all set and ready to roll.  I've been trying also, to figure out a way to make the squash (or pumpkin) a little more creamy for this dish.  Steamed, plain squash is boring and bland and was a bit too thick for the dish.  Maybe a little butter?

Sauté onion, garlic, and spices in olive oil until onions and garlic are translucent.  Add peppers and salt.  Cover and cook 5-8 minutes.

Add sauté to mashed squash, along with the corn and beaten eggs.  Mix well.  Taste to correct seasonings.  Ann's Note:  How about we don't taste raw eggs?!  I would have and should have, tasted the mixture sans eggs to correct the seasonings. 

Spread into a buttered 2-quart casserole, and top with cheese.

Bake in a 350 oven for 20 minutes, covered, 15 minutes, uncovered.

Ann's Note:  Let the dish cool before serving as the melted cheese is like napalm!

"Linda's Kitchen" by Linda McCartney - Chinese Egg Fried Rice - for Earth Day!

Date I made this recipe – April 26, 2015 – Belated Earth Day Celebration

Linda's Kitchen – Simple and Inspiring Recipes for Meatless Meals by Linda McCartney

Published by:  Little, Brown and Company

ISBN: 0-8212-2393-3; © 1995

Purchased at Arc's Value Village Thrift Store

Recipe:  Chinese Egg Fried Rice – p. 94

In last week's blog, I told you that the title and cover of the cookbook – Len Deighton's Action Cookbook inspired me to use that book.  This week, it was a song that inspired me; luckily, I also had a "matching" cookbook.

So on or around Earth Day this year, my favorite local radio station, 89.3 The Current, played Paul McCartney and Wing's song Junior's Farm.  Yes, after the Beatles broke up, Sir Paul, his wife Linda McCartney, and assorted other musicians formed the band, Wings.

So "Junior's Farm" led me to think about Sir Paul which led me to think of Linda McCartney which led me to think about her great success as a vegetarian cookbook author (and vegetarian product line creator) which led me to think about how vegetables are an important part of Earth Day which led me to think that this would be the perfect cookbook for the day.  The end.

Now I could just launch into a discussion about the cookbook itself but let's talk first about Linda McCartney, nee Linda Eastman.  I had always, always heard that she was related to the Eastman's as in Eastman Kodak (the photo film manufacturers) but according to Wikipedia, this is not true.  What?  Well burst a bubble why don't you, Wiki?  Still, Linda was an accomplished photographer and published several photos of famous rock and roll stars, including her husband.  In fact, she met Sir Paul while on a photography assignment in London. 

After the Beatles broke up (some fans never forgave Linda or John Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono for that debacle), Sir Paul started the band, Wings, and made Linda part of the group.  We won't go into the controversy (or, as the Brits say "con-TRO-ver-see") over that move except to summarize:  it didn't go over well.  Still, Paul McCartney and Wings was responsible for the following hits:  Live and Let Die; My Love; Band On the Run; Helen Wheels; and, of course, Junior's Farm.  So there you go.

According to Wikipedia, Linda became a vegetarian as far back as 1975 and by 1990, published her first vegetarian cookbook.  The book I used, Linda's Kitchen, was published in 1995.  That same year, Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer and passed away in 1998 at age 56. 

All of the recipes in this cookbook sounded and looked good although I drew the line at using "vegetarian mince" (meat substitute) or meatless sausages recipes.  I suppose I could have just left that item out but it just seemed easier to find something that was totally meatless.  And because Whole Foods had a special on fresh asparagus, I also added that to the other vegetables she called for.  I love asparagus.

You should know that Linda calls for margarine as a substitute for butter in a lot of recipes, especially desserts, and I get why she would do that, but folks, margarine has been proven to be awful for the body.  So if you decide to try out some of the desserts, see if butter will work just as well—unless, of course, you are truly vegan in which case, never mind!

As to my Chinese Egg Fried Rice, the only seasonings Linda uses are paprika (which I found puzzling) and soy sauce.  Although I used soy sauce sparingly, I did use it as you will need it to add a little punch to the dish.  But talk about feeling healthy!  This recipe calls for green onions, yellow bell pepper, carrots and snow peas and then I added asparagus.  I'm sure you can add more vegetables to this if you choose.

Another tweak I made to the recipe was to use a mixture of dark sesame oil and vegetable oil to stir fry the vegetables.  I love dark sesame oil and I think it enhanced the vegetables but that is just my opinion.  Linda recommends that you can serve this with her sweet and sour sauce on page 153 but I didn't want to goop up my rice with that type of sauce so I passed (but have included it just in case you want to go for broke).

So that's my Earth Day/Paul McCartney/Linda McCartney/Wings/Junior's Farm story.  Enjoy!

Chinese Egg Fried Rice – for 6 (with Sweet and Sour Sauce – optional)

Fried rice:

1 tbsp dark sesame oil

2 free-range eggs, beaten

1 tbsp vegetable oil

4 green onions, finely sliced

1yellow bell pepper, seeded and finely diced

1 medium carrots, cut in fine matchsticks

1 cup sliced canned water chestnuts (Ann's Note:  If I made this dish again, I would skip this.  Sure, they add crunch but they have no flavor.  None. Try celery instead.)

¼ pound snow peas, sliced diagonally

1-inch piece fresh gingerroot, peeled and grated

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 1/3 cups long-grain rice, cooked

Soy sauce

paprika

Sweet and sour sauce (optional and also untried) (makes 1 ¼ cups)

2/3 cup pineapple juice

3 tbsp olive oil

¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 tbsp soy sauce or more to taste

1-inch pieced fresh gingerroot, peeled and finely grated

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

1 heaping tbsp cornstarch

Freshly ground black pepper

To make the Chinese Egg Fried Rice, heat the sesame oil in a skillet and pour in the beaten eggs.  Stir a little until they set like a thin omelette, then flip over to cook the other side lightly.  Turn onto a wire rack and cool.  Cut in thin strips.

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok until very hot.  Stir-fry all the vegetables with the ginger and garlic for 3 minutes, then turn the heat down and cook until they are tender but still slightly crisp, about 3 minutes longer.  Stir in the rice, mixing well, and season to taste with soy sauce and paprika.  Finally, fold in the egg strips and it is ready to serve.  Delicious with the sweet and sour sauce on page 153.

To make the sweet and sour sauce, combine the pineapple juice, oil, sugar, soy sauce, gingerroot, garlic, and 2 tbsp of the lemon juice in a saucepan.  Heat until the sugar dissolves.  Mix the cornstarch with the remaining lemon juice, add to the pan, and stir until the sauce is smooth and thick.  Season with pepper.  Simmer very gently about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

"Babe's Country Cookbook - 80 Completely Meat-Free Recipes" - Crisp Pizza with Fontina, Gorgonzola, and Sage (for an "un-Easter" Easter

Date I made this recipe:  Sunday, March 31, 2013 (Easter Sunday)

Babe’s Country Cookbook (from the movie, Babe) – 80 Completely Meat-Free Recipes! by Dewey Gram

Published by:  GT Publishing

ISBN:  1-57719-354-7

Recipe:  Crisp Pizza with Fontina, Gorgonzola, and Sage – p. 120-121

So Easter was upon us and for most people that means two things:  lamb or ham.  I could take or leave (mostly leave) lamb but do enjoy ham – but only a serving or two and not the 10 pounds of leftovers that need to be utilized in everything from (green) eggs with ham to scalloped potatoes.  Enough, I say, enough!

I was already thinking how to avoid this noid when I uncovered yet another of my friend, Carol “Tall” Voight’s, cookbooks – Babe’s Country Cookbook – 80 Completely Meat-Free Recipes!  Even if you haven’t seen the adorable movie, Babe, the photo of Babe on the front cover is enough to dissuade anybody from making ham.  Plus there’s something just a bit “naughty” about going against convention and avoiding ham all together.  Its so “un-Easter” that it almost makes sense.

It didn’t take me and Andy very long to find our “un-Easter” Easter dinner in the form of this phenomenal pizza and I do mean PHENOMENAL.  This is seriously one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had and that is counting the ones I ate on a trip to Italy.  And it for sure beats the heck out of the frozen variety and honestly, for a few more bucks, skip that frozen cardboard concoction and impress your friends with the real deal.

Thanks to modern farming techniques, finding ripe tomatoes at this time of year was not the challenge it used to be and when it came to purchasing the dough, cheese and olives, I knew just where to go:  Broder’s Cucina Italiana in South Minneapolis where I used to work.

And so fresh from a three-hour Saturday breakfast with a friend (and I must confess, we both had bacon), I motored over to Broder’s and got my Italian food grove on.  I purchased the Fontina and then opted for a slice of fresh Mountain Gorgonzola instead of the crumbed variety.  Instead of crumbling the cheese on top of the pizza, just slice a thin piece of the cheese and put that on top.  And instead of pitted black olives, the type usually found in the canned condiment aisle of the grocery store, I went with Kalamata (Greek) olives.  I think this olive added a bit more taste and interest than the black, canned variety.  (Note:  Broder’s has black olives but they were mixed in olive oil and cracked red pepper flakes and I didn’t want that extra spice.)  And no visit there is complete without fresh pizza dough in just the size I needed – 12 inches. 

After that excursion where I talked to my old boss, Wendy (Hello again, Wendy!), I went up the street to Lunds where I purchased everything else I needed except I forgot to get a red bell pepper.  Shoot.  Fast forward to Easter Sunday:  Andy and I were doing things around the house and then decided to go to the store to get said pepper but we weren’t paying attention to the time and pulled in moments after the stores closed (two of them, Cub and Rainbow, are a block apart).  No worries though, as Andy came up with the brilliant idea that we could just stop at one of the Asian grocery stores nearby (As a rule, Buddhists do not celebrate Easter) and sure enough, the place was open and it was packed.  I walked away with four red peppers for $2.00 and would use one for the recipe and the others for snacking.  Score!!

All that needed to be done to complete the deal was puree the tomatoes, put them through a strainer and then simmer them along with the onions, garlic, peppers and olives until reduced, add the Fontina cheese and the sage and you are done.  Then prep your pizza dough, put the sauce on top, dot with fresh basil leaves and the gorgonzola cheese and you have a winning pizza pie. 

Now, besides the cheese, you might need to make a few other tweaks:  cook the saucer longer than indicated (about 30 minutes total); cook the pizza for longer than indicated (about 15 minutes total) and oil the bottom of your pizza pan as ours stuck to the pan and made it a challenge to remove the pizza slices intact. 

As to the non-ham Easter theme, seriously folks, every time I look at that cute picture of that pig on the book’s cover, I am so glad we went in another direction, especially since this pizza was so damned good.  Both Carol and Babe would have been thrilled with our “un-Easter” Easter!

Crisp Pizza with Fontina, Gorgonzola, and Sage (with a tomato sauce filled with onions, red bell pepper, olives and garlic – molto bene!) – makes a 12 inch pizza

10 ripe tomatoes (about 3 ¼ pounds) (Ann’s Note:  try to use smaller tomatoes as the flavor is usually better; large tomatoes can get “grainy.”)

¼ onion

½ red bell pepper

8 black olives, pitted (Ann’s Note:  I substituted Kalamata (Greek) olives)

5 cloves garlic

6 tablespoons olive oil

¾ cup (about 4 ounces) diced Italian Fontina, or Danish is good too

1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage

½ teaspoon salt, or to taste

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste

1 fresh large ready-to-use pizza bread-crust (about 12 inches) or your favorite pizza dough

½ cup (bout 2 ounces)

Preheat your oven to 325. 

Core all but two of the tomatoes, cut them into pieces, and puree them in a blender or food processor.  Force the puree through a strainer into a bowl, and reserve.  Peel, seed and dice the last two tomatoes.  Or, if you really need to get dinner on the table in a hurry, just dice the two tomatoes – skip the peeling and seeding.  Reserve this separately from the puree.

Finely dice the onion and red bell pepper.  Finely chop the olives and garlic.  In a roomy skillet, heat 5 (of 6) tablespoons of the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and bell pepper, and sauté for a couple of minutes.  Just as they begin to brown, add the pureed tomatoes, chopped olives, and garlic.  Simmer over medium-high heat until the sauce begins to thicken, about 15 minutes. (Ann’s Note:  at 15 minutes, this mixture was still too watery so I went another 15 and it was perfect.)  Add the two diced tomatoes.  Simmer briefly.  Remove from the heat, and stir in the diced Fontina and fresh sage.  Season with the salt and pepper.

Brush the pizza crust with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to prevent it from becoming soggy.  (Ann’s Note:  Oil the bottom of the pan to make sure your crust doesn’t stick.)  Depending on how crisp you like your crust, pre-bake it in the oven for 5 minutes.  Spread the crust with about half the sauce.  You’ll have some sauce left over – refrigerate to use as a pasta sauce or for making another pizza.  (Ann’s Note:  I used this on pasta and that was a bad idea as it needed just a hint of sugar to make it an acceptable pasta sauce.  But it makes a fabulous pizza sauce so go ahead, make another!)  Sprinkle the pizza with the crumbled (or sliced) Gorgonzola and the torn basil.

Bake is the 325 oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese is all melty and the sauce is hot. (Ann’s Note:  I baked my pizza for 15 minutes and it was perfect; 5 minutes nets you a soggy pizza crust.)  Cut and serve right out of the oven.