Monthly Archives: May 2013

May30

Vegan Artichoke Frittata

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Okay, so a vegan frittata seems kind of impossible. Doesn’t it? I mean a frittata is made with eggs. That’s the deal. Well, Chef Chloe Coscarelli is like this little vegan guru. And she has the best eggless frittata recipe in her cookbook, Chloe’s Kitchen.

She makes her’s with zucchini and calls it End-of-Summer Frittata. I got all clever and changed the zucchini to artichokes so it’s more of an end-of-spring/beginning-of-summer frittata. I used fresh artichokes, but you could easily use canned artichoke hearts and bottoms.

Fresh artichokes are a little work, but so awesome. Last summer I spent a few days in Salinas, CA which is just a few miles away from Castroville — the artichoke capital of America. So of course, every meal I had there included fresh artichokes. Heaven!

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May23

Baked Plantains + Chow Chow

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I got the idea for this fun little side dish when I went to my brother’s wedding in Charlotte this past weekend. The very thoughtful bride and groom made sure there was a vegan plate for me at the reception. Wasn’t that super nice? Anyways, the chef came to my table to explain what he had put together. I think he was a little excited and frankly, so was I.

So, he roasted and sauteed a ton of vegetables, including cherry tomatoes, broccolini, fingerling potatoes and plantains. He served it all with an avocado puree and good old fashioned southern chow chow.

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May20

Butter Lettuce With Melon + Lime Dressing

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Must be summer, because I’m craving my favorite warm weather salad. I’ve been making this for years, ever since I got Cooking With Nora by Nora Pouillon.  This little gem of a cookbook is written by my favorite Washington DC chef. And Restaurant Nora brings back so many great memories.

The first time I went there, I was so excited to walk by the sidewalk herb gardens outside the restaurant. And inside, we were seated near Shirley MacLaine. It was one of those, oh-my-god moments…is that who I think it is?

Nora Pouillon, like Alice Waters, has been promoting artfully-prepared locally-sourced fresh ingredients before it was a trendy thing to do. This simple salad brings together one of my all time favorite flavor combinations: melon, mint and lime. You can pair this with any summer meal you make. Would be a great addition to your next cookout, for sure.

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May13

Groovy Grilled Guac + Homemade Chips

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Summertime is around the corner and I’m thrilled to start cranking up the grill. Love to throw a bunch of colorful veggies together in a grill basket. Recently, I had a firm avocado and added it to my mixed grill to see what would happen. Oh. My. So awesome. So I got the idea to grill all of the ingredients for guacamole and see what it would be like.

Well, it’s pretty groovy…and really easy. I even grilled the limes! I tried it two ways: (1) everything chopped up in the grill basket; and (2) the ingredients directly on the grill. Both methods worked well, but I had a slight preference for skipping the grill basket and working with larger pieces directly on the grill.

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May8

Zucchini Pasta + Oyster Mushroom Tomato Sauce

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I first had something like this at a little Italian restaurant in San Anselmo, California last summer. Lucky for me, it was the daily special. And while everyone else was chowing down on pizza and calzones, I was in heaven with my amazing, garlicky zucchini pasta.

So this was the first recipe that I made when I got back from the trip. I got out my trusty Benriner slicer and went to work coming up with the right noodle-like texture. I sliced the zucchini lengthwise to get the longest pasta I could. If you are into raw food, you could eat this as is and be pretty darn happy. I kind of like it briefly sauteed in olive oil with some garlic and sea salt.

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May6

Strawberry Macadamia Pancakes For Momma

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When my 15-year old son, Jonah, was a toddler, I desperately wanted him to like pancakes. I made them every Sunday morning and every Sunday morning he chucked his portion from the tray of his high chair onto the ground. I have video to prove this. Looking back, I sort of don’t blame him, I have a feeling they were kind of crappy pancakes from a mix.

So imagine my delight when I made this recipe for my family this past Sunday and Jonah said they were the best pancakes he’d ever had in his whole life. The greatest early Mother’s Day present I could get. My kid likes pancakes. Yay! He likes my pancakes. Yay!! He likes my VEGAN pancakes. Yay!!!

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May1

Mango Cinnamon Horchata

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With Cinco de Mayo coming up, I thought it would be fun to make a batch of homemade Horchata, a sweetened Mexican rice milk drink. Before moving to Houston, I’m not even sure if I’d even heard of this drink. The first time I tried it was at a farmer’s market on a hot day. It was flavored with strawberries and immediately cooled me off and I fell in love.

Horchata is very light and tastes great served over ice. For my recipe I adapted one from David Lebovitz who got his inspiration from Fany Gerson’s book Paletas. You start by grinding uncooked rice in a blender until it resembles cornmeal and then soak it overnight in water. I’m not usually big on soaking things, I’m more of a spontaneous cook, but this was a fun experiment.

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