A few weeks back, I had a pretty nice supply of fresh spinach. I started looking for some recipes, and this one was quite out of my comfort zone, but I chose it because it could be made ahead and served at room temperature. This is a great recipe to help you fool your husband. It looks like you slaved away all day, but your kitchen is perfectly clean when he gets home because the food was made earlier in the day. I served it with a sandwich and hardly had any dishes to clean after dinner.
1/2 cup shaved Pecorino cheese (original recipe calls for feta)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon dried mint, crushed
1 teaspoon dried dill
Sallt and black pepper to taste
In your largest pan, saute onions on high until beginning to soften. Add zucchini and heat until cooked through and getting soft. Add sugar snap peas to defrost. Stir in rice and seasonings: lemon juice, herbs, and black pepper. Serve warm or place in bowl to serve at room temp. Top with shaved cheese.
I used my "Get Out of the Kitchen Free" card early this week. I just couldn't convince myself to get started cooking. We went to P.F. Chang's, which is special to us as it was the location of our first date. Ironically, we met one of my "heros" Henri Landwirth, the creator of Give Kids the World where we had our second date.
Publix was having a great sale on Birds Eye vegetables the week after we returned home from Paris. The products were 50% off, which is the equivalent of buy one, get one free. I often take advantage of these sales to try and review a new product.
2 oz. De Boles (organic) spaghetti style pasta (only because that is what was opened)
1/4-1/2 cup sugar snap peas
1/8 (or less) teaspoon crushed red pepper
6 Tablespoons Pad Thai Sauce from Moosewood Cooks at Home
Olive oil to cover bottom of a skillet
Boil pasta according to pasta directions. I do not salt the pasta because there is so much salt in the soy sauce. Meanwhile, cover a large skillet with oil. Turn the skillet on medium and add the onions. Microwave broccoli and sugar snap peas 1:30 minutes to defrost. Add carrots and garlic to the onions when they are softened. Add broccoli and peas until warm. Drain pasta and add it to the vegetables. Pour the Moosewood recipe mixture (lime, ketchup, and soy sauce) over the vegetables and pasta. Stir in sauce and two pinches fresh crushed red pepper. Serve hot.
This was a fabulously colored vegan dinner focused on vegetables easily accessible in our local stores. I really enjoyed it, but Paul said that the frozen lime juice I had defrosted to mix with the sugar snap peas. I do caution cooks to follow the recipe closely because the peas did not hold their bright green color.
The recipe for the peas came from foodnetwork.tv called Mint Sugar Snap Peas. I did use frozen peas and would be happier trying the recipe with fresh peas in the future. I used the roasted sweet potato recipe with olive oil, seasoned salt, and fresh rosemary for the red potatoes; and I sliced some very ripe tomatoes.
