Alton Brown Rocks!

I claim absolutely no credit for this fabulous broccoli dish, but I saw Julie's broccoli post and I had to share this one. If you haven't seen Good Eats on the Food Network, I highly recommend you check it out. Alton Brown has made me a cooking convert. Plus, he makes it look so easy, and then it actually is, case in point:

Alton Brown's Awesome Broccoli Dish

1 lbs. broccoli cut into bite size pieces (stalks an inch thick)
2 tbs. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/3 c. panko breadcrumbs
1/4 c. sharp cheddar cheese

Pre-heat oven to 425. Combine the pound of cut up broccoli with the olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Set aside. In a 9 x 13 metal cake pan, toast in the oven for 2 min. After exactly 2 minutes, toss the bread crumbs with the broccoli mixture, place it back in the pan and roast for another 8-10 minutes. Transfer to another bowl then add cheese and toss.

Vegetable Stock

I wanted to make vegetable stock, which turned out to be very easy to do, for a couple of reasons. First, I'm trying to cut processed foods out of my diet and to eat locally. I've also been making a lot of soups lately, soups that call for stock of some kind or another, and I wanted to have my own stock on hand to use in these recipes. I did some research, had a friend pick up some vegetables for me at our local store, and ended up with the following:

Vegetable Stock

Ingredients*

3 carrots, scrubbed and coarsely chopped
3 yellow onions, quartered
5 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
1 zucchini, coarsely chopped
1 head broccoli, cut into medium-sized florets
1 head garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
salt to taste

*After looking at several stock recipes, I determined that carrots seemed to be a must, so I made sure to include them. Onions also showed up in most recipes, so they were also guaranteed entrance into my stock extravaganza, along with the garlic. Apart from these three, it seems that vegetable stock can be made from whichever vegetables are in season and available, so I used what we had here.

Preparation

Put all vegetables, garlic, and bay leaf into a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for an hour. Strain broth and discard (more on this in a later post) vegetables. Salt to taste.



It's that easy! As far as storage goes, I put about half of the stock in the refrigerator (to be used fairly soon) and froze the other half using ice-cube trays.

Sesame Spinach and Broccoli

I stumbled upon this recipe after buying ingredients for a broccoli pesto and then realizing I didn't have everything I needed. So with broccoli and spinach in the refrigerator, I did an ingredients search at epicurious.com and came up with this. The original recipe can be found here.

Sesame Spinach and Broccoli



Ingredients *
1 head broccoli, cut into medium-sized florets
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 bunch spinach
2 teaspoons sesame oil
salt to taste

*I didn't actually measure anything, so the amounts above are estimations.

Preparation
Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the broccoli, garlic, and crushed red peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally, until broccoli is crisp but tender. (Cooking time will vary depending on personal preference. I like my broccoli fairly crisp, so I cooked it for about five minutes.) After a couple of minutes, add a tablespoon of water. Once broccoli is cooked to taste, add spinach and cook until wilted, stirring (approximately two minutes). Remove vegetables from heat. Move to a bowl and toss in sesame oil. Salt to taste.

Comments
The original recipe calls for one tablespoon of sesame seeds, which you toast in a dry skillet before cooking the vegetables and later toss into the vegetables along with the sesame oil. The only reason I left the sesame seeds out is because I didn't have them in the kitchen at the time.

Vegan Coleslaw

I've debated for about a week now how to start this blog, so I've just decided to start.

My favorite recipe of the moment is one found in the book "30-Minute Vegan". I always want to eat healthier but some recipes are really time and labor intensive. "30-Minute Vegan" provides great meals in no time and most of them don't contain a single "crazy item" like veganaise. The following recipe can substitute the olive oil with vegainaise, but I think the recipe is phenomenal with one minor addition. Here's the recipe:

Coleslaw with Shaved Fennel

1 c. shaved fennel bulb
2 c. shredded green cabbage
1 1/2 c. shredded red cabbage
3/4 c. grated carrot
1/2 c. minced fresh cilantro
1/4 c. thinly sliced green onion
2 tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 c. olive oil
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
2 tsp. nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp. sea salt, or to taste

My additions:
2 tsp. flax seed meal
pepper to taste

First, cut of any of the stem and herb that may be attached to the fennel bulb, leaving a flat surface exposing the white concentric layers. you may wish to remove the outside layers if they look dirty. You can use a sharp knife to cut very thing shavings of the fennel bulb, or you can use a vegetable peeler.

Mix together the fennel, green cabbage, red cabbage, carrot, cilantro, and green onion in a medium-size mixing bowl. In a measuring cup, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, nutritional yeast, and salt (and my additions) flax seed meal and pepper. Pour the mixture over the vegetables. Mix well and serve, or refrigerate immediately.



A couple of notes: fennel tastes like black licorice. In this recipe, it's much softer after sitting in the fridge all night. I'm not a huge black licorice fan, but when cut small enough to include just a hint every few bites or so. Lately, I've found myself just throwing the ingredients together without measuring them and tasting the dressing to see if I like it. When it gets just right, I throw it on top of the vegetables.

Good luck and let me know how it goes.