Shakshuka

I like breakfast but don’t usually get the opportunity to eat the kind I would like (unless I am on vacation). I mean not only delicious food that takes more than 40 seconds to put together but also more time to sit and enjoy the meal, the surroundings and hopefully good company. Or maybe read a newspaper, enjoy the scenery.

Stuff like that.

So what I do is make breakfast for dinner, when there’s more time to relax and actually enjoy what I’m eating. When I can sit down at the table and use real dishes, not stand at the sink scooping yogurt from a plastic container.

And when I say breakfast for dinner I don’t mean cheerios and milk or a doughnut and coffee or frozen waffles.

I mean something like shakshuka. Peppers and eggs. An Israeli specialty made with sauteed tomatoes, onions and lots of red hot chili pepper. After this “salsa” cooks and softens you break eggs on top, cover the pan a little longer until the eggs are steamed done. I like this dish sprinkled with salt and zatar (a Middle Eastern spice blend). I love when the egg yolks are still runny and the rich, dark yellow liquid oozes into those hot vegetables.

Perfection. Rich and hot. Feisty. Filling.

Perfection. For breakfast, lunch, brunch or dinner.

Shakshuka

1/4 cup olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped

2 small habanero or other chili peppers, deseeded and minced

1 large garlic clove, minced

6–8 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon minced fresh basil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

8 large eggs

3/4 teaspoon zatar

Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and habanero peppers. Cook for 4–5 minutes or until softened slightly. 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 vegetables are very soft and saucelike. Crack the eggs into a small bowl one at a time then transfer each one next to the other over the vegetables. Cover the pan and cook for 4–5 minutes or until the eggs are set but yolks are still slightly runny. Sprinkle with zatar. Serve each person 2 eggs and some of the vegetables.

Makes 4 servings.

Braised String Beans with Tomatoes

When my husband Ed asks for seconds on a vegetable side dish I know I’ve got a good recipe.

The other evening I cooked this string bean and tomato dish. We are so used to eating crispy, tender-but-still-firm vegetables that this dish, with its softer side, was a surprise wonder. Not that the vegetables are soft and mushy like people used to make them (I have a cookbook from the 1930s that instructed the reader to cook string beans for 45 minutes!). But they are not crunchy either.

I served this with chicken, but it could be a good part of a vegetarian meal or a meatless Monday meal. It would go well with mashed potatoes and roasted cauliflower or cooked egg noodles, polenta, mushroom ragout and such. It would also be a good accompaniment to scrambled eggs.

String Beans with Tomatoes

1 pound green string beans

1/4 cup olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 medium tomatoes, or 4 plum tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

salt to taste

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Rinse the string beans, cut the ends off and cut the beans into 1-1/2 to 2-inch pieces. Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and green beans and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook briefly. Cover the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the beans are almost tender. Add the tomatoes, parsley, salt and sugar and stir the ingredients to mix them evenly. Sprinkle with the cayenne pepper. Cover and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Sprinkle with the lemon juice. Makes 4 servings

Vegetable Pot Pie

This is the time of year when lots of people go on diets or at least make resolutions to lose weight. It’s a January, post-holiday-binge thing. Some people are successful at it and some aren’t. Some go on crazy fad diets and some take themselves to nutritionists or weight-loss specialists.

I’m no expert about any of this. But I do know that Ed and I occasionally discuss whether either or both of us has to shed a couple of pounds and then we think about how we can do that and still stay happy and well fed.

We are carnivores who appreciate a meat-filled dinner. But recently I have been doing some meatless mondays because we both agreed that it might be one way to cut calories and fat and help us stay healthy and at the right bulk.

I know it can be tough for lifelong carnivores who, like us, grew up on a meat-starch-vegetable way of eating to think that a vegetarian meal can be filling and delicious. I’ve heard so many knee-jerk reactions against the suggestion, kind of like the reactions when the subject is gun control or voter ID requirements.

Okay. People should eat what they like. For food, any food, to be welcome, whether you’re on a diet or not, it has to taste good and look good. And vegetarian meals may not be for everyone. But all I can say is that Ed and I have eaten some wonderful meatless dinners recently. A few years ago I would never have guessed that when I served Vegetable Pot Pie for dinner that Ed would tell me to make it again, soon.

He gobbled this whole dinner up as enthusiastically as he has when I served braised Short Ribs and Moroccan Spiced Roasted Chicken Breasts.

This dish will be a go-to from now on.

Vegetable Pot Pie

2 medium all-purpose potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces 

3 carrots, sliced 1/2-inch thick

1 cup cut up cauliflower florets

1 cup cut up broccoli florets

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 cup frozen peas

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 

2 heaping tablespoons flour

1-1/2 cups vegetable stock

1 sheet puff pastry 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook for 3 minutes. Add the carrots and cook for 3 minutes. Add the cauliflower and broccoli and cook for 2 minutes. Drain the vegetables and set them aside together. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and peas, sprinkle with parsley, thyme, salt and pepper and mix the ingredients to distribute them evenly. Sprinkle the flour over the ingredients and mix gently. Cook for 2 minutes. Pour in the stock and mix the ingredients. Bring the liquid to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes or until the liquid is slightly thickened. Spoon the ingredients into a 6-cup casserole dish (or use individual ovenproof dishes). Roll the puff pastry sheet to fit the top of the casserole. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and puffed. Makes 4 servings

Beet, Quinoa and Vegetable Burgers

Don’t those patties look like regular, ready-to-cook burgers? The ones in the top photo?

But they’re not. In fact, they are veggie burgers and the vegetable mixture includes chopped beets, which makes them red, like raw beef.

I am a meat eater for sure. So is Ed. But sometimes we want something lighter for dinner. So occasionally we will have a vegetarian meal. Usually it’s eggs or a salad or some kind of pasta dish. But I love root vegetables and thought I would figure out how to make a burger looking dish, like this one.

I also cooked the mixture as meatloaf (glazed the top with a mixture of some Balsamic vinegar and vegetable oil). That was quite tasty too, though I prefer the burgers. We are big sandwich eaters at our house.

Beet, Quinoa and Vegetable Burgers

• 1 small sweet potato 
• 1/2 cup raw quinoa
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 cup cooked white beans
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 small beet, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger
• 1 packed cup chard leaves, chopped
• 1/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs
• 1 large egg
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• all-purpose flour
• vegetable oil for frying
• 12-16 slices multigrain bread (or use burger buns)
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Roast the sweet potato until tender (or microwave it). Scoop the flesh into a bowl. While the potato is cooking, place the quinoa and water together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover the pan, turn the heat to low and cook for about 12-14 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed. Add the quinoa to the bowl with the sweet potato. Mash the beans and add to the bowl. Heat the 3 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the onion, beet, carrots, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring often, for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add the chard and mix it in. Remove the pan from the heat, let cool slightly and add to the bowl. Toss ingredients to distribute them evenly. Add the bread crumbs, egg and salt and pepper to taste. Shape the mixture into 6 or 8 patties. Coat the patties with some flour. Heat about 1/8-inch vegetable oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Fry the burgers for 2-3 minutes per side or until hot and crispy. Toast the bread if desired. Mix the mayonnaise and mustard. Spread equal amounts of the mustard-mayo on half the bread slices. Top with a burger, then the remaining bread.

Makes 6-8 servings