Sesame-Crusted Baked Tofu

Like a blank artist's canvas, I love the transformative potential of tofu. You can coat it in any spices, and it takes on that flavor. You can bake it, and the texture changes.

Every tofu recipe I make is a little bit different.

It keeps life interesting.

This tofu dish is just delicious. The tofu soaks in an Asian marinade with a bit of heat. The sesame seeds add a bit of texture and crunch; they're slightly toasted by the time the tofu finishes cooking. The baking (a major change I made to the recipe) keeps the dish even healthier.

Served on a bed of greens, it's the perfect vegan supper.

It's back to the drawing board for me. I've get several more blocks of tofu in the fridge to experiment with!

Chickpea, Freekeh and Roasted Vegetable Salad with Za'atar

The bagel shop down the street introduced me to za'atar. It features prominently in one of their breakfast sandwiches: a whole wheat everything bagel, sliced and toasted, topped with thinly sliced hardboiled eggs, and then drizzled with olive oil and za'atar.

It's the perfect sandwich for mornings when you want to really eat, like those long train rides to museums outside the city or the mornings when you rush off to a workshop and know you won't get a break for hours.

My dad sent me a huge box of za'atar. Delightfully huge. Big enough to fill a large canning jar plus some. It felt like Christmas came early.

The thing is, you generally only use a few tablespoons of za'atar at a time, which means I've got a lot of experimenting to do.

I could use up all the za'atar my dad sent in this salad, just making it again and again every week.

Whatever you call this--salad, hearty main dish, a bowl of perfection--it's just delicious. The za'atar brings a Middle Eastern flavor to the dish, and the lemon juice brightens things up. The roasted tomatoes and caramelized onions add a bit of sweetness, and the eggplant and carrots give you something to look forward to in every bite.

I ate this hot, at room temperature and chilled, and I loved it every way.

This salad does require some significant preparation, but I spaced it out over the course of two days. When I put the chickpeas and freekeh out to soak, I chopped and roasted the vegetables and caramelized the onions. The next day, I simply needed to boil the chickpeas and freekeh and mix everything together. Simple.

Roasted Chickpeas

On the benefits of roasted chickpeas... 

1. They've got a perfect crunch to them, which satisfies my cravings for tortilla chips, pretzels and popcorn. 

2. They're loaded with protein. One cup of chickpeas has about 27 grams of protein in it and half of your daily fiber requirements. 

3. They're so, so cheap. For two dollars, you've got a tasty, nutritious appetizer for your next dinner party. 

4. They're incredibly easy to make. Drain and rinse chickpeas. Spin them quickly in a salad spinner to remove exces moisture. Transfer to a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil. Top generously with Spanish paprika and salt. Stir. Bake. Stir. Bake. Eat. 

5. They'll make almost any salad a bit tastier. Think of them as healthier, tastier croutons. 

6. They'll take on pretty much any flavor you sprinkle over them. My favorite is Spanish paprika.

7. They'll give you an excuse to use your salad spinner for something other than salad. 

8. You'll almost always have the ingredients on hand. 

9. Every recipe you'll find for them is different. Some call for a 300 degree oven, and others require 450. Some roast for 20 minutes, and others roast for over an hour. My favorite settings are below. 

10. They're so, so tasty. 

Simple Kale Salad with Avocado and Chickpeas

Lists of food trends have been showing up everywhere. Of course, not all publications are in agreement. Bon Appetit sees a movement away from brownies to blondies and bread getting so dressed up it gets its own course on menus. The Sterling-Rice Group predicts we'll see more pickling and curing. Mercury News predicts we'll see more vegetables taking center stage, with dishes like cauliflower steaks. Cooking Light predicts sexy vegetables will prevail, a movement away from kale toward lighter, newer greens such as komatsuna.

Threats about the end of the kale trend showed up too often for my liking, with inquires about what the new quinoa, kale and cupcakes would be.

Luckily for me, the Huffington Post is holding onto kale, just encouraging me to use it in lighter preparations.

And this preparation would certainly count as lighter. This kale salad couldn't be simpler. It's lightly dressed with a bit of olive oil and lime juice. Red chili flakes give it a suggestion of heat. The addition of avocado, red onion and chickpeas ensure you get something interesting in each bite.

Make it more of a dinner salad by boosting the protein with more chickpeas, sauteed tempeh or oven-roasted tofu.

Take a big bite, smile, and think about all the new food trends we have to explore this year!

Raw Kale Salad with Apples and Almonds

Last weekend I walked through the farmers' market with my friend Marie. The farmers' market had the last remnants of summer produce, and all the fall produce was already in. We meandered slowly through the stalls, taking it all in.

The apples kept catching my eye. We debated whether to buy them. They'll be there at the market all winter, holding on long after the grapes and leafy greens and heirloom tomatoes are gone. By February, I know I'll be sick of them.

But these were the fresh-picked apples. It had been 10 months since there were crisp, new apples available. They're fantastically different, almost unrecognizable from their counterparts that had graced farmers' market stands all summer.

I bought them (if you hadn't already guessed I was leaning that way). And they were fantastic.

Those apples and a beautiful bundle of kale inspired this salad. I wanted something that would showcase both ingredients. It comes together in minutes, and the individual flavors elevate when combined.

The salad keeps beautifully over night, so it's perfect to make ahead to bring to a early morning brunch (or mid-afternoon book club meeting). 

A Much Cleaner Stove and an Amuse Bouche

Imagine showing up to your new apartment and finding a kitchen stove that looked like this:

You can just imagine my reaction.

Luckily (perhaps), I had a week without cooking gas to determine the best way to clean thoroughly caked-on grime off a stove. It was Pinterest to the rescue! Weeks back, when I was less than optimistic about what my new apartment would look like, I had noticed a "clean stove/dirty stove" pin and saved it to my apartment board.

It was a simple fix, really. I combined baking soda and peroxide to make a paste, put the paste on an abrasive cooking sponge, and scrubbed. Most of the grime came off quickly. Some required a little more elbow grease.

I've never really considered myself a clean person, but I'm desperate to make myself one. I could submit as evidence the list of "must-have supplies" my friend Megan compiled for me, my multiple Target bills for cleaning supplies that I didn't know existed a few weeks ago and the fact that I googled "what cleaning product do you use to mop floors?" while I was at the store today.

I also think I've swept my new floors more times than I swept my old apartment last year, and I've only been here a bit more than week. 

Here's a little amuse bouche that tastes as clean and refreshing as my apartment feels to me: a one-bite summer salad.

It amused our palates at the start of the dinner party I threw a few weeks back with the help of McCormick Gourmet. It's a light summer salad with cubed, skinless cucumber, halved cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced sugar snap peas, a tiny lemon basil leaf, olive oil, salt and just a sprinkling of McCormick Gourmet Collection Tuscan Seasoning Blend.

I served the salad in Chinese soup spoons, of which I now have ten.

It's not fancy, but sometimes it doesn't need to be.

My New Kitchen and a Panzanella Salad

I'm feeling a little delinquent.

Two weeks, no posts, and it's summer vacation after all.

Even worse, and I'm almost embarrassed to confess it, I've barely been in the kitchen. Unlike last summer, where I used the time to try out new recipes and get a head start on some September blog posts, there's been very little activity.

I've got a good excuse though--my new apartment!

My own apartment.

Where I've had no hot water or gas for cooking. For a week.

And no internet. Having no internet makes blogging really hard.

My first cooking project in my kitchen was this super simple panzanella salad, prepared long before my gas was turned on.

It couldn't be easier. It's a bit ridiculous to even post a recipe. But it's light and healthy, and it makes fantastic use of the abundance of produce that's crowding stands at the farmers' market.

Eating my first meal (that wasn't microwaved) in my new apartment felt just like I wanted it to: relaxing. I could take my time in the kitchen. Then, I could linger at the dinner table for just as long as I wanted, podcast on, without feeling a need to rush so I didn't inconvenience anyone. Just perfect.

Note: Kitchen pictures are coming soon, once the kitchen looks a bit cuter! For now, let's just note that there's room for my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer on the counter, my dishes in the cabinets, and my cookbooks!

Dill Pasta Salad with Feta, Olives and Caramelized Onions

There's something beautiful about the passage of time.

When I moved to Brooklyn five years ago, I felt alone, despite living in one of the most crowded cities in the country. Even though two of my dearest friends had also moved to the city, I saw strangers everywhere I went.

Sure, there were people to have a drink with after work. People to meet at the free movies over the summer.

But true friends, those take longer to make. Friends where it doesn't really matter where you are or what you're doing, as long as you're doing it together.

Five years into my time here, I feel surrounded by people I love and confident the time it takes to make friends is always worth the investment.

I feel lucky to have friends who call me when they end up in the emergency room and friends I can call when I'm too sick to leave my apartment.

I spent the past week with two of those friends, tucked away in a little cabin in the woods away from email, Facebook, Hulu and Pinterest.

Without them, I wouldn't know about this incredible pasta salad. We had it at least three times, and I loved it enough to make it again immediately when I returned home. With the fresh dill I picked up from the most delightful farm stand.

The pasta feels remarkably light and fresh. It's covered with chopped dill. The kalamata olives and feta add a nice saltiness, and the caramelized onions contribute just the right bit of sweetness to the dish.

Last night, I served this pasta to two more of those friends. We brought the dinner to a local bar--picnic style--because it was too hot to even think about eating in my poorly ventilated kitchen.

It was delicious.

Fava Beans, Snap Peas and Garlic Scapes with Croutons and an Egg

It's over.

 

Sometime, over the past week, asparagus season in New York came to an end.

Where was I? Making chocolate chip cookies and baking up leftover tortilla casseroles. Letting the leftover strands of asparagus in my fridge go to waste because I just assumed I could get more on Saturday. 

Every winter, I await asparagus season eagerly. I tell myself that as soon as the first stalks of asparagus show up at the farmers' market, I'm going to make the most of it. Raw, shaved asparagus salad. Asparagus on pizza, in pasta and as soup. Even pickled asparagus.

I ran into a friend at the farmers' market, and we vowed that next year, we'd eat asparagus every day, savoring it while it lasted.

Luckily, the farmers' market was far from empty. Since I went to the market with no real plan, I came back with a random assortment of everything that called my name. A quart of fresh strawberries. A bag of sweet cherries. One cucumber. Two zucchini. Fava beans. Garlic scapes. Sugar snap peas. Huge scallions. Eggs. And no plan for what to make.

Mark Bittman to the rescue. His How to Cook Everything Vegetarian book had at least 7 recipes with fava beans, including one with fava beans, bread and hard-boiled eggs.

But I had so many deliciously fresh, just-picked vegetables that I had to dress it up.

I added fava beans (unpeeled--they were just so fresh!), garlic scapes, chopped sugar snap peas, sourdough croutons, a chopped hard-boiled egg, and a sprinkling of chopped scallions.

 

The unpeeled favas were so tender, the season's first. The garlic scapes added a bite to the dish, and they were all the seasoning the dish needed, besides salt and pepper. The egg made it into a proper dinner. 

I had a big bowl for dinner, and then I packaged my leftovers up with a hard-boiled egg (unchopped) for lunch the next day.

Roasted Beet Salad with Hazelnuts

I had some strange eating habits as a kid.

Cereal without milk.

Macaroni without cheese.

Salad without dressing.

Today I still don't drink milk, but I have started to eat cereal with yogurt. I've discovered that macaroni and cheese can be delicious when its homemade.

And I've even come to appreciate that extra touch that dressing can add to salad.

This salad is a perfect example. It needs the dressing to pull it all together, to balance out the bites where there's no beets or hazelnuts. It's a light dressing, and it just barely covers the lettuce and the beets.

While the dressing is delightful, the beets are the real start of this salad. Look for the red and the gold. Not only do they add a beautiful color contrast (if you don't store them together like I did so the colors bleed!) to the salad, I found they tasted different too, with the golden beets being a bit sweeter.

Cannellini Bean and Red Cabbage Salad with a Pesto Dressing

Salad is a newer thing to me, something I've only really gotten to know as an adult.

Don't get me wrong. As a kid, I had vegetables every single night. It was just that when my parents had salad, my brother and I would stubbornly have bowls of chopped veggies. Yes, the same vegetables they had in their salads. Trust me, they tasted really different that way.

And when I would have a bowl of salad, it would always be dressing free. Healthy? Yes. Tasty? Not really.

I really started having salads again when I began going over for dinner for a home-cooked meal each week with two of my dearest friends, both of whom grew up having salad with dinner every night.

We'd have our entree, always fantastic. Then, just when I felt like I had reached my limit, the salad would come out.

Usually it was a BFS, a big fat salad. It would be loaded with greens, veggies and a sprinkling of some kind of cheese. Imagine a salad filled with avocado, hearts of palm, fresh tomatoes and sliced peppers. It was always lightly dressed, with a bit of lemon in the dressing, and always delicious.

Other times, the salad was much more simple. Arugula with a simple dressing and a bit of parmesan. Raw kale with radishes, lightly dressed.

The dinner tradition continues, but I've taken to making my own salads occasionally too. I figure having salad more than once a week might actually be a good thing.

While this isn't the most veggie-heavy salad I've ever had, it's quick and tasty. It came together in under five minutes, and it kept me well fed for lunch at work for most of a week.




Cannellini Bean and Red Cabbage Salad with a Pesto Dressing
recipe adapted from Vegetarian Times

Ingredients
2 19-ounce cans of cannellini beans, well rinsed
4 cups shredded red cabbage
1 cup thinly sliced green onions
3 tablespoons basil pesto
A generous sprinkling of salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Stir well. Let stand at room temperature for at least 15 minutes to allow flavors to come together. Serve at room temperature

Mexican-Inspired Coleslaw

We often sit around at dinner and ponder what cuisine we would choose if we could only eat one nation's cuisine for the rest of our lives.

My go-to response is Mexican (think the general family of foods, not terribly country specific). 

I love pupusas, arepas and enchiladas. I'm a sucker for plantains, both tostones and maduros. 

There are just two things that make me nervous: the overabundance of cheese and fried foods and the the lack of fresh vegetables. 

This coleslaw is one small attempt to rectify that problem and convince myself that fresh vegetables can make their mark in my Mexican cooking. It's loaded with fresh vegetables. I kept mine simple with cabbage, red onions, cilantro, and red and yellow peppers. However, the Rebar recipe called for jicama and carrots chopped up as well. I'm sure it's a delicious combination, but I was trying to simplify my cooking night. 

It was the perfect contrast with the heavier, cooked dishes I served it with. Each bite was fresh and crunchy. I was immediately a fan. 

What about you? One cuisine for the rest of your life. What would you choose? 

French Potato Salad

It is only in the past two years that I learned potato salad is not synonymous with mayonnaise.

Growing up, I detested mayonnaise. I could just handle it in tuna fish salad. I couldn't imagine having it spread across a sandwich.

And I couldn't fathom the fact that my neighbors up the hill coated their pizza with mayonnaise before eating it. Wasn't pizza greasy enough to begin with?

So when I discovered that potato salad could be tossed in a tasty vinaigrette and freshly chopped herbs, I was delighted. My roommate made this salad for a Fourth of July picnic, and after she gave me a taste, I just had to recreate it.

Boiling the potatoes and then steaming them ensured that the potatoes cooked fully without becoming mealy or crumbly. The vinaigrette had a light flavor that was enhanced by the white wine and vegetable broth also coating the potatoes. A quick chop through some fresh herbs brought the whole salad together.

Panzanella from the Garden

Farmers' markets are incredible. I am a huge self-proclaimed fan. I drag myself out of bed as early as I can manage on Saturday mornings and make the short trek to a farmers' market at the top of Prospect Park. I wander slowly through stands, contemplating all the delicious dishes I could make and marveling at the new fruits and vegetables that pop up each week. I take my time picking the perfect piece of produce, and I carry each one home carefully so there's no bruising.

But, despite the allure of the farmers' market, there's something different about going out into the garden and picking, straight off the vine, the ingredients you need for dinner.

I took the official garden tour while visiting my family this past week. I learned how to train strawberry plants to grow where you want them to and how to trim the leaves off basil and parsley so your plants produce a higher yield. I learned that tiny red and green onions do a lot to ward off predators. I learned how to keep a tomato plant growing. I even learned how to dig out and dry fresh garlic so you can enjoy it all winter long.

Mostly during the tour, I was just in awe at all the fresh vegetables surrounding me. We could just pluck a cherry tomato off the vine and nibble on it while we walked. My mind started spinning immediately, contemplating what we could eat.

My parents' garden was the real inspiration for this panzanella. I used what we had handy and fresh, instead of taking a long shopping list to the grocery store. Cucumbers. Tomatoes. Fresh basil. All fresh from the garden. All raw. All flavorful.

This salad will play a pivotal role in my summer eating experience.

Red Onion, Tomato and Mint Salad

Whenever I look at an Ethiopian sampler plate at a restaurant, I'm always initially amazed at the small servings of the dishes the restaurant provides. They look like little quarter-cup dollops on the injera plate. If you order meat dishes, they look even smaller. I immediately start to panic. Will there be enough food for everyone? 

And then, I remember that Ethiopian food fills you up quick. With each bite of food, you're getting legumes and other proteins. You're using injera to pick up each bite, which means you're eating even more.

It's times like this that I start to crave a nice cool salad. In the Ethiopian cooking class I took, instructor Myra Kornfeld provided us with a red onion, tomato and mint salad to break apart the meal. Even though it isn't technically Ethiopian, I'll definitely include it in every Ethiopian dinner I cook from now on. The flavors complement the cooked dishes perfectly, and they provided a perfect crunch that was missing from some of the other dishes.

See the gorgeous pop of color the salad provides on the plate!

I think this dish would also be delightful for a picnic in the park.