Category: Vegetables + Salads

Vegetable stock? Even the biggest carnivore would want a simple soup without meat.

Ingredients:
leeks, greens only, roughly chopped
carrot, peeled and chopped
celery stalk, chopped
parsley branches
bay leaf
salt and olive oil

1. Sauté leeks in a stock pot with hot olive oil. Add and lightly brown the rest of the ingredients. Add enough water and bring to a boil.
2. Simmer under low fire for a couple of hours until stock is reduced to about half. Strain into containers. Let cool before freezing to store for future use.

Related post/s:
Asparagus Soup

I love Everyday Food because they have simple recipes like this pastry snack using the frozen kind. I’m sure Martha would prefer that you make your own pastry shell from scratch and pick raspberries from your own garden, but frozen pastry and raspberries in a jar work, too.

Ingredients:
1 box or 6 pieces of frozen puff pastry shells, thawed
raspberry jam
white sugar

1. Preheat oven at 400º. Spread jam on shells and sprinkle with white sugar on top. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake until pastries are puffed and golden, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with a little more sugar. Let cool and serve.

Related post/s:
Everyday Food at Amazon.com

Vichyssoise, pronounced as vee-shee-swaz, is a fancy term for a thick creamy potato soup flavored with leeks, usually served cold.

Ingredients:
3 medium-sized leeks, roughly chopped and thoroughly washed minus the hard green leaves
1 clove garlic, minced
4 small Yukon gold potatoes, peeled; 2 cut into smaller chunks and the other julienned
3 medium-sized carrots, peeled; 2 sliced and 1 julienned
2 1/2 cups of chicken stock
2 cups of whole milk
3 tbsps of fresh chives
olive oil, salt and pepper

1. Heat a stockpot and add olive oil. Cook leeks and garlic until leeks are wilted, about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the potato chunks and carrot slices to the pot along with the stock, salt, pepper and 2 cups of water. Cover partially and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and cook vegetables until tender, about 20 minutes.
3. Remove from heat. Stir in milk and purée in blender until smooth. Cool.
4. Cook julienned potatoes and carrots in a separate pot of boiling water until tender, about 3 minutes. Drain and transfer to an ice bath to stop the cooking. Drain and add to puréed soup for garnish. Top with chives.

Related post/s:
Lettuce soup
Good ol’ chicken stock

A very nutritious and green salad that children may hate.

Ingredients:
2 pounds of fresh green beans, ends snapped
1 small box of frozen lima beans
2 tbsps fresh tarragon, finely chopped, plus more for garnish
1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cup of white wine vinegar
3 tbsps Dijon mustard
1 shallot, finely chopped
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Cook all the beans in boiling salted water, about 5 minutes. Transfer to an ice bath to stop the cooking.
2. Make vinaigrette. In a medium bowl, combine vinegar, mustard and shallots. Add salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in olive oil until vinaigrette is creamy. Whisk in tarragon and parsley. Toss beans in a large bowl until well coated with vinaigrette. Garnish with remaining tarragon and parsley.

Related post/s:
So you have too much Dijon mustard?

This is one of my mother’s favorite side dishes adapted from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food.

Ingredients:
1 block of extra-firm tofu, drained, cut into 16 equal pieces
half a package of peeled baby carrots
4 scallions, sliced thinly, lengthwise
2 tbsps vegetable oil
3 tbsps soy sauce
2 tbsps rice vinegar
2 tbsps sesame oil
salt

1. In a large bowl, whisk together vegetable oil, soy sauce and salt. Add carrots and toss. Using a slotted spoon, transfer carrots on a baking sheet. Add tofu to the same marinade turning gently to coat. Transfer to baking sheet as well. Save marinade.
2. Broil carrots and tofu, turning tofu and removing carrots after 15 minutes. Cook the tofu for 15 more.
3. Add cooked carrots and tofu in the leftover marinade and toss gently with scallions, sesame oil and vinegar.

Related post/s:
Everyday Food at Amazon.com