Cooking a vegetarian meal

[philosophe]

Easiest good-tasting vegetarian main: Chickpeas with saffron tomato sauce

Dice 1/2 large onion and saute until translucent. Add 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Add a good pinch of saffron threads dissolved in white wine. Add a large can of San Marzano or similar tomatoes. Throw in a small bay leaf and simmer until it looks like sauce. Adjust the amount of saffron as you go. Add 3-4 cups cooked chickpeas and simmer.

This dish is best made one day in advance. Serve with rice or crusty bread. I usually serve sauteed spinach with currants and pine nuts as a side.

Since spring has just arrived, I would also recommend a simple stew of fresh favas, artichoke hearts, leeks, and English peas.

 

[bumper crop]

also, fwiw, vegetable stock can take the place of cream in a risotto and taste good.

 

[CDFS]

Risotto and cream

 

[oDD_LotS]

Stazy: The risotto is a great idea, no doubt, but to be honest, there's nothing wrong with pasta, per se. I hadn't seen your decision to do pasta until after I'd already typed my reply! The pate could be a good thing to make ahead and snack on while you're doing the risotto.

Keep in mind, though, that it will require some attention up to serving, which means that either you'll be away from the table a lot or you could bring your girl in to snack on the pate and talk while you finish up the main. If you'd rather have something that can cook without your involvement, I'd go for something else. If you don't mind getting her in the kitchen to watch you cook (maybe have a glass of wine), then it's a delicious dish and if she's anything like my wife, she might really enjoy the time spent having a little appetizer and watching you work your culinary magic. That exact risotto made my wife a believer in my kitchen abilities and was part of a really great little dinner we had (served as it came off the stove or out of the oven, seated right there in the kitchen so we could smell all the great aromas as things cooked). To sum it up, if you don't mind the involvement, I think it's an incredible dish.

 

[haganah]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/06/dining/06mini.html There are several recipes there. Didn't look at what's in them but I remembered the article so it might help you.

 

[willpower]

You're/she's going to love the Broccoli Soup. Read the Youtube comments. Remember not to pour out the water it is cooked in - That's the secret ingredient. Also -add plenty of Kosher or Sea salt in the cooking process -blend very well, if you don't it won't be uniform. He has a very high powered blender so your at home blender will take longer -add a little bit of water at a time, it goes from nice and thick to watery very quickly, so don't add all the water into the blender at once.

 

[ChicagoRon]

Originally Posted by willpower

You're/she's going to love the Broccoli Soup. Read the Youtube comments. Remember not to pour out the water it is cooked in - That's the secret ingredient.
I believe the TRU cookbook has a curried cauliflower soup that is hella awesome

 

[philosophe]

Cauliflower is ideal for vegan soups. When pureed, it is quite creamy and so eliminates the need for fake dairy products.

 

[gomestar]

Originally Posted by philosophe

Cauliflower is ideal for vegan soups. When pureed, it is quite creamy and so eliminates the need for fake dairy products.

I find that white beans are superb for this as well.

 

[CDFS]

Originally Posted by philosophe

Cauliflower is ideal for vegan soups. When pureed, it is quite creamy and so eliminates the need for fake dairy products.

I find, there's no need for dairy products in all/most vegetable soups. Then, I'm not a fan of cream-soup combinatins, for instance cream mushroom soup.

 

[Stazy]

So this is the menu I've put together....Decided on doing a tofu dish rather than risotto just because it's less time consuming to prepare Mushroom, Walnut and Rosemary Pate Cherry Tomato and Lemon Salad Broccoli Soup Mustard-Crusted Tofu with Kale and Sweet Potato Honeydew Melon in Coconut Milk I did a little test run on the soup this afternoon and this is how it turned out...

 

[ChicagoRon]

Originally Posted by Stazy

So this is the menu I've put together....Decided on doing a tofu dish rather than risotto just because it's less time consuming to prepare Mushroom, Walnut and Rosemary Pate Cherry Tomato and Lemon Salad Broccoli Soup Mustard-Crusted Tofu with Kale and Sweet Potato Honeydew Melon in Coconut Milk I did a little test run on the soup this afternoon and this is how it turned out...
Looks good... let us know how it turns out!

 

[willpower]

Soup looks great!