Simple Fried Rice

I could make an entire meal out of plain, steamed white rice. In fact, I have, on days when Ed is out of town and I don’t feel like cooking and I’m bored with eggs and there aren’t any leftovers to make into a sandwich or a salad.

But mostly I cook rice (not just white, but also brown, red and black varieties) as a side dish and sometimes I use it as a base ingredient for something grand, like Paella. Or even as a starting point for a dessert, like rice pudding.

Then again, I think one of the best and easiest ways I use rice is as a vegetarian dish, mixed with cooked veggies, nuts and so on. I’ll serve that dish by itself or with other vegetarian dishes, when I want to go meatless.

One of my favorites is the extremely versatile Fried Rice. I made this dish last night using leftover cooked rice and stir-fried it with fried egg, scallions and peas — on other occasions I have added all sorts of other vegetables, like broccoli or cooked carrots and even canned items such as water chestnuts.

Of course you can add leftover meat too. Whatever’s in your fridge. So simple, so quick. Dinner is done in a flash.

Simple Fried Rice

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs, beaten
3 scallions, chopped
3 cups cooked cold or room temperature rice
1 cup thawed frozen peas
salt to taste

Heat 2 teaspoons of the vegetable oil in a wok or stirfry pan (or a saute pan) over medium heat. Add the eggs and fry them for a minute or so or until the bottom looks set. Flip the eggs and fry briefly on the other side until cooked. Dish out to a cutting board and cut into pieces. Set aside. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in the pan. Add the scallions and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the rice and peas and cook, stirring to distribute the ingredients, for about 2 minutes or until hot. Add the egg pieces and stir to distribute them. Season to taste with salt. Serve hot. Make 2 dinner servings, 4 side dish servings

Baked Ziti and Cheese

I’m always surprised when I hear people say that vegetarian food isn’t filling or satisfying. I guess if your image of a meatless meal is a plate of steamed zucchini, carrots and broccoli, well then, you would indeed probably be hungry after that in an hour or so.

But how about those sumptuous dishes, some of them even our favorite, so-called comfort foods? Like Macaroni and Cheese or Chili?

Baked Ziti (or Penne) with Cheese is among my favorite no-meat dinners. Add a salad and we’re done. Or, if I am feeling ambitious, we’ll start with Minestrone Soup.

Baked Ziti and Cheese

1 pound dried ziti or penne
15-16 ounces ricotta cheese
2 to 2-1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano (or a mixture of the two)
2 large eggs
3 cups Marinara sauce
pinch or two of crushed red pepper, optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil a 9-inch x 13-inch baking dish. Cook the pasta in boiling water for 8-10 minutes or until al dente. Drain the pasta and place it in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese and the eggs. Mix thoroughly, add to the pasta and toss the ingredients. Add the Marinara sauce and a pinch or two of crushed red pepper, if desired, and toss again until the color is even. Place the mixture in the oiled baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining cup (or 1-1/2 cups) of mozzarella cheese on top. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake for about 25 minutes or until hot, bubbly and lightly browned. Makes 6-8 servings

Corn fritters

Do you ever daydream about foods you haven’t had in a long time?

Like the fried chicken you used to eat but you don’t now because it’s too fattening, too fatty and too messy to make?

Or Mac n’ Cheese the way your Grandma made it, but it doesn’t taste the same since she’s gone?

Or the original Bonomo’s Turkish Taffy that doesn’t taste anything like it used to so you don’t bother?

One of the foods I think about more than occasionally is my Mom’s Corn Fritters. Crispy outside, soft and puffy within, and loaded with corn. Great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. With a little real maple syrup.

It’s an indulgence, to be sure, so I don’t make them too often. But I just had to have some yesterday. I had been thinking about them, mostly because I had some corn left over from a few extra cobs I cooked over the weekend.

So I made some. I changed one important ingredient though. I switched from dairy milk to coconut milk. UNSWEETENED refrigerator case coconut milk (not canned).

The fritters were vaguely sweeter, but every bit as wonderful, delicate, crispy-edged and perfect. I think Mom would approve.

CORN FRITTERS

2 tablespoons margarine or butter

1 large egg

1 cup coconut milk (or use regular, whole milk)

2 cups cooked corn kernels (about 4 ears of corn)

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1-1/4 teaspoons salt (or to taste)

margarine/butter/vegetable oil for frying

maple syrup, optional

Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. In a bowl, beat the egg and coconut milk together. Stir in the cooled melted butter and the corn kernels. In a second bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt; add this to the corn mixture and stir ingredients gently to blend them together. Heat enough margarine, butter and/or vegetable oil in a saute pan over medium heat. When the fat has melted and looks foamy (or the vegetable oil is hot), drop the corn batter by the 1/4-cupful. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the bottom has browned. Flip the pancakes and cook for another 2 minutes or until the second side is brown. Serve with maple syrup if desired.

Makes 6-8 servings

Shakshouka - Peppers n' Eggs for Meatless Monday

Just because there’s a Meatless Monday doesn’t mean your only alternative at dinner is a plateful of boring steamed vegetables.

The idea of eating “meatless” for an entire day started in World War 1 and continued through the Second World War as an effort to ration meat to make it available to the troops. Anyone growing up just after WW11 has heard about the ration stamps; my Mom always talked about how difficult it was to get meat back then. But she was a creative and good cook so she’d make macaroni and cheese, spaghetti and tomato sauce, potato omelets and other wonderful dinners when she couldn’t buy meat.

She continued those meals occasionally even through the 1950s and 60s. No one complained. When food tastes good you don’t complain whether there’s meat in it or not. In fact, you don’t miss the meat.

Today we’ve latched onto the Meatless Monday idea as a health matter. Americans typically eat too much meat so giving it up for a day could make us healthier.

Still, for people who love to eat well, the best reason to cook any dish is because it tastes delicious. Try this meatless recipe for Peppers and Eggs. It’s from my book, Hip Kosher. It’s a quickie version of Shakshouka, an Israeli dish that has stewed tomatoes and peppers and then you cook an egg right on top of the vegetables, in the same pan. This dish is spicy, filling and easy to cook. Add a piece of pita or chunk of bread and you’re done with dinner. It could be preceded by cold soup or with a salad.

The recipe calls for zatar as a final seasoning; zatar is a Middle Eastern spice mixture. You can make Shakshouka without it, but zatar is so tasty, why not get a jar and use it for vinaigrette dressing or on top of chicken and so on and so on?

Peppers and Eggs

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped

2 small habanero or other chili peppers, deseeded and chopped

1 large clove garlic, chopped

6-8 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

8 large eggs

3/4 teaspoon zatar

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion and peppers. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and cook briefly. Add the tomatoes, basil and lemon juice, stir, cover the pan, turn the heat to low and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the vegetables are very soft and sauce-like. Crack the eggs into a bowl one at a time (to make sure they are okay), then transfer each one to the pan over the vegetables. Cover the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the eggs are set but are still slightly runny. Sprinkle with zatar. Serve each person 2 eggs with some of the vegetables. Makes 4 servings

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