GF Oat Bread, Chana Masala Burgers, Green Bean Soup, Celeriac & Squash Boulanger

Celeriac & Butternut Boulangère
"Pommes boulangère" is a sort layered braised potato casserole 'takeaway' prepared by local French bakers (boulangère) who would cook it in the cooling ovens after a night of baking.   

This version of the recipe idea comes from The Doctor's Kitchen blog by Dr. Rupy Aujla, an NHS  doctor who became interested in nutritional medicine about ten years ago.

We Americans eat a LOT of celery, but usually ignore Celeriac -- the root of the celery plant, which has a very mild flavor as well.  If you can find celeriac at your local Farmer's Market (as we can) or megamart,  you might want to give this tasty braised veg dish a try.  Very simple and VERY tasty!

2   cups Vegetable Broth (or water plus Vegetable Base
1   Celeriac Root, peeled and sliced into thin half moons
1   Butternut Squash Neck, peeled and sliced into thin half moons (save the rest for a soup)
1   large Red or White Onion, peeled and sliced into half moons
Fresh Tarragon if you can find it; otherwise dried
Salt & Pepper to taste
Red Pepper Flakes to taste

Don't have tarragon?  Any combination of Marjoram, Basil,  Thyme, Coriander and Dill will do just fine.

Layer your baking dish with sideways 'stacks', alternating slices of celeriac, onion and squash. Sprinkle the spices over the top.  Add the broth carefully along the side so as to not disturb the spices too much.

Braise for about 45 minutes at 400F.  I used our Ninja Airfryer/Oven on Air Roast.   

GF Oat Bread
The other day, I bought the wrong kind of oatmeal for Sally's breakfasts, and had to find something to do with lots of oats.  This sounded interesting:

2-1/2 cups Oat Flour (grind it yourself in your FP, from rolled oats, then sift)
2-1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup Plain Skyr or Greek Yogurt
1 Egg
1/4 cup Honey
3/4 cup Milk or Almond Milk

Preheat oven to 350F

It took about 3-1/2 cups of rolled oats to make my 2-1/2 cups of oat flour.  YMMV depending on the size of your rolled oats.  I sifted them through a wire colander.

To your freshly ground and sifted oat flour, add the baking powder, baking soda and salt.   In a separate bowl beat together the oil, yogurt, egg, honey and milk.  The original recipe called for a cup of un-ground rolled oats to be added to wet ingredients, but I did not do that this time (shame on me!).   

Combine wet and dry ingredients until they just come together.  

Spray or grease a 9x5 loaf pan or 8-9" round pan, and pour in the batter.  Bake for 40-45 minutes until you get 190-220 internal temperature, or a tooth pick comes out clean.  

Cool in the pan, on a rack, for at least 20 minutes before removing from the pan and cooling completely.  Breads like this can be kinda crumbly, so it's best to wait to slice them until after completely cooled.

I gotta say this is VERY tasty!  But the loaf only came out 1" thick!!  No rise at all!  

My baking soda and powder are both new.  I can't believe leaving out a cup of un-ground oats would reduce the bulk of the loaf that much, but maybe.  I'll just have to try it again, now, won't I!

Chana Masala Burgers
Wow!  A Forks Over Knives recipe that didn't need serious adjustment!!  This is our new favorite Veggie Burger!!  Mild "Indian" flavor.  The only drawback is the long baking time, if you decide to do this recipe "by the book"  as I did.  Next time I'll pan fry these in a splash of oil for 7-8 minutes per side like I usually do with veggie patties.

2 medium Potatoes (1 pound)
1 medium Onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 can Garbanzos, rinsed and drained
¼ cup Tomato Paste
1–2 Tbsp minced Chili
2 tsp Chana Masala seasoning
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Amchur powder (powdered green mango)
1 tsp Date paste or mashed date
1 tsp grated fresh Ginger
2 cloves Garlic, minced
½ tsp ground Turmeric
Panko to thicken

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Peel, cook and coarsely mash the potatoes. Cool.

Put the onion in a food processor and process until smooth. Boy is that pungent!!   Add the garbanzos and spin again to get a coarse puree. Transfer the bean-onion mixture to a large bowl.

Stir in everything else.  If your mixture is too soupy to make patties, fold in panko until you get a moldable consistency.  I used about 2/3 cup.  

Divide the mixture into 8 portions (about 2/3 cup each), shaping each into a patty. Bake the patties 20 to 25 minutes. Turn patties over and bake 20 to 25 minutes more or until heated through and lightly browned. Cool 10 minutes  until firm.

Hungarian Style Green Bean Soup
Like all good comfort foods, this pan-European soup has few ingredients and is made with love.  To a basic Hungarian Green Bean Soup, I added diced onion and diced cooked potatoes.

1 lb fresh trimmed Green Beans(cut into 1-inch pieces)
1 cup diced Sweet Onion
Salt, to taste
2 cups Potatoes -- peeled, diced 1/2"
2 Tbsp unsalted Butter
2 Tbsp AP Flour
1/4 tsp White Pepper
1/2 tsp Sweet or Hot Hungarian Paprika
1/4 cup Water or Broth
1 cup Sour Cream or plain Yogurt
2 cups additional Water

Place the green beans in a pot, cover with water; add 1 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain the  green beans but Reserve the cooking liquid.

Peel and dice the potatoes and cook them however you want, to fork tender.  I microwaved mine with a splash of water in the bowl.

In your soup pot, make a roux with the butter and flour and cook it to a light amber color. Add pepper, paprika, and 1/4 cup water and stir until smooth.

Temper the sour cream with some of the hot green-bean cooking liquid.

Add the sour cream mixture to the pan along with onion, green beans and the remaining cooking water; whisk the mixture until smooth. Add the additional water as needed.

Simmer until the broth thickens. Serve hot or chilled.

Empanadas, Green Lasagna, Iman Bayildi, Valentine Brownie

 Baked Salmon Florentine Empanadas
Not exactly a Latino filling, but hey! it was what Sally wanted for Valentine's Day Dinner!   The following made about a dozen empanadas.

2   7oz. Salmon Filets
4 oz.  Goat Cheese Crumbles
2 oz Feta Cheese Crumbles
1 box frozen, chopped Spinach
1/4 cup Pine Nuts
2 tsp Smoky Tomato Spice Blend or minced sundried tomatoes
1 package frozen Empanada 'skins'

Poach the salmon -- put the thawed filets in a pot of boiling water, bring back to a boil, turn the heat off, cover and set aside for 15 minutes.  Skin the fish and put the flaked meat in the freezer to chill for a few minutes.  

Thaw the spinach and squeeze it as dry as you can.  Toast the pine nuts.

Put the fish, spinach pine nuts and spice in a bowl, and using a fork break up the spinach and fish into small pieces.  Add the cheese and incorporate it into the mixture.

Bring the skins close to room temperature.  

Place 2-3 Tbsp of filling in the center of a skin, brush the edge with water and fold it up into a half moon.  

Pinch the edges together, lay the empanada down, and seal the edge with a fork.  Poke a fork-worth of holes in the upper surface, and place on a parchment paper covered baking sheet.

Repeat until you run out of skins or filling.   

Brush the tops with beaten egg.  Bake the empanadas at 400F for 20-30 minutes until golden brown, or a little less time if you like your empanadas to have a softer skin.

Serve with your choice of sauces, salsas or whatever you prefer.

Green Lasagna
This is one of those Forks over Knives recipes.  Not bad tasting, but so rich and unctuous!  Needs something sharp to give it some definition. 

As written by FOK, and shown below, the ingredients make only one-half of a 9x9 baking dish – NOT a whole 9x9 lasagna! Enough to serve four as a small main dish with a side salad or some such. Otherwise double up the ingredients and quadruple the amount of herbs and spices.

1/3 cup raw Cashews
6 dried whole wheat lasagna noodles !!! Ha! Ha!
4 Swiss Chard leaves, thick stems removed
8 oz. thin fresh Asparagus spears, trimmed (about 20 spears)
1-1/2 cups frozen Peas
8-oz. pkg. Sliced Cremini mushrooms
1-1/2 cups unsweetened, unflavored Plant-based Milk, such as almond, soy, cashew, or rice
1/3 cup Chickpea Flour
1 Tbsp Lemon juice
1 clove Garlic
½ tsp Black Pepper
¼ tsp Salt
¼ tsp grated Nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

In a small bowl combine the cashews and boiling water to cover. Let stand, covered, 20 minutes; drain. Rinse and drain again. Reserve.

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. While noodles are boiling, use tongs to plunge the chard into the pasta water until wilted. Remove and drain. During the last 2 minutes of cooking pasta, add the asparagus and peas. Drain. Rinse. Separate noodles, asparagus, and peas.

In a skillet cook the mushrooms until browned.

To make the sauce, whisk together the milk and chickpea flour until smooth. Cook and stir just until bubbly, remove from the heat. In a food processor combine the soaked cashews, milk mixture, and the remaining ingredients. Cover, pulse, then puree.

Now it's time to layer. The original instructions call for you to put only two noodles side by side and build your stacks on that – that's what you see in my photos.   That is, only one half of any square 9x9 baking dish that I know of!  As I said, it was enough to feed the two of us and have a lunch leftover for Sally.

Basically layer noodles, sauce, half the mushrooms and the peas. Then noodles, more sauce, the chard and the remaining mushrooms. Lastly more noodles and the last of the sauce. Top with a layer of side-by-side asparagus spears as shown.   My advice?  Cut the asparagus into 1" lengths -- those spears look pretty by they're dang near impossible to cut through when laid up like that!

Bake, covered about 30 minutes until hot – 165F in the middle.

Iman Bayildi
A dish from the old Ottoman Empire.  Originally made with whole roasted eggplants stuffed with onion, garlic, tomatoes, and spices.  The version I learned years go is more of a stew --   with eggplant, lamb, onion, garlic and tomato.  I haven't made the dish since we've "gone pescatarian/vegetarian", so this version includes a sort of a faux-lamb made with Impossibletm Burger, the last half of a 1 pound package that I bought a couple weeks back. 

3 Chinese/Japanese Eggplant, sliced into 1/2" rounds
1/2 large Red Onion, sliced long and thin
8oz heirloom Cherry Tomatoes (about a dozen), halved
4 cloves Garlic, minced
8 oz.  bulk Impossible Burgertm or Boca Crumblestm
2 tsp Cavender's Seasoningtm
1-2 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground Cloves
dash of Salt & Pepper and Sweet Paprika
10-12 Medjool Dates, halved

Brown and crumble the 'meat substitute' with the Cavender's seasoning in a splash of olive oil.  Reserve.  In a good amount of olive oil start cooking the eggplant rounds.  Dust them with some Cavender's and sweet paprika.  

After five minutes or so, toss the eggplant to get the other sides cooking, and add the onion and garlic.  Simmer for another 5-6 minutes, then add the tomatoes, spices and a cup or so of water.    Continue simmering until the eggplant is starting to break down.  Return the faux-meat to the pan, add the dates, and toss to combine. 

Simmer until the liquid is reduced at least by half, then serve. 

This is a really excellent use of a faux meat -- being fairly heavily spiced during cooking, it adds a real flavor element to the dish.  I've said before that Cavender's added to ground pork as it's cooking almost gives you the flavor of gyro meat.  Same thing here.

Raspberry Truffle Brownies
I was going to make a chocolate and something cake for Sally's Valentine's Day dinner.  But she decided she's like to try these instead.  From a FOK recipe that actually works "as is".  

4 oz Semi-sweet Chocolate, drops or chopped bar
½ cup Raspberry Jam
½ cup Cane Sugar
½ cup Unsweetened Applesauce
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
½ tsp Almond Extract
1½ cups Whole Wheat Flour
¼ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
¼ tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp  Baking Soda
¼ tsp Salt
1 cup fresh Raspberries, separated and frozen on a tray at least overnight before using

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
 
Line an 8 x 8 or 9x9 baking dish with parchment paper or use a  nonstick/silicone dish.

Melt the chocolate.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk mix together the jam, sugar, and applesauce. Stir in the vanilla, almond extract, and the melted chocolate. Fold in the frozen raspberries.

Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold carefully (to avoid breaking up the frozen berries) until a stiff dough forms. 

Spread the mixture into the prepared pan. It will be very thick -- very thick! Use wet fingers to spread it out in the pan.

Bake for 16 to 18 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Especially good and fudgy after being refrigerated for a few hours.  Stays remarkably soft, not particularly "brownie-like", even uncovered in the fridge for two days.  

Delicious none the less!

"notChili" & Cornbread, Lentil Rissoles, Indian style Cauli-Potato Casserole, Cremini & Butternut Soup

Vegetable "notChili"
We all know that real chili is nothing more than beans, beef, tomato, onion, spices -- and chilies and other capsaicin peppers in particular.  No corn, no celery, no nada -- except beans, beef,  tomato, onion, and chilies.

That's why this is "notChili".  Beans and onion and tomatoes, peppers and spices -- YES.  Beef, NO.   Instead of beef I used nice big cubes of butternut squash.

There's no real recipe for chili.  Just a list of ingredients and your taste buds.

Since I wasn't making a competition chili, I elected to use up some cans from my pantry -- Roteltm Chili Fixins' for part of the spice. Bushestm Southwestern Pinto Beans,  and Hunt'stm Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes.  To that I added fresh diced tomatoes, red bell peppers, and onions.  Plus cumin, smoked paprika, sweet paprika and taco seasoning to taste -- add a little taste, add a little more, taste again, repeat until it's jussst spicy enough.

Like any real chili, I let the magic mixture simmer low and slow while I made and baked  the cornbread, below.   Served it up in big bowls, garnished with some shredded cheese.  Yuuuummm!  The perfect meal for the long cold spell we've been going through here in usually tropical South Florida.

Cornbread
Gotta have hot cornbread with chili, even notChili!  This is simple.  Even if you're not a baker you can make delicious cornbread.

1 cup Yellow Cornmeal, not corn flour
1 cup AP Flour
2 Tbsp Sugar (I don't care for sweet cornbread but you need a bit of sugar here)
4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Milk or Half & Half if you want it a bit richer
1 large Egg
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

Preheat the oven to 425ºF and coat a 9-inch pie plate, cast iron skillet, or 8x8 casserole dish with non-stick spray (or butter for more flavor).

In a large bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until evenly combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, and oil.

Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir just until everything is moist. Don't over stir, a few lumps are OK.

Pour the batter into the prepared dish and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top and edges are golden brown. 

Slice into wedges and serve:

Lentil-Walnut Rissoles
Another in my continuing exploration of of plant-based patties.  This time featuring the ubiquitous lentil.   These are really, really good.  Sally's second favorite after my Black Bean rissoles.  I like these equally well, especially the texture which is more 'meaty' that the total puree  of my bean burger.

1 cup dry Lentils
1 Egg, beaten
½ cup Walnuts, chopped fine
1 Tbsp Oregano
1 cup rolled Oats  (quick cooking if you have them, just not steel cut or slow cook types)
¼ cup Vegetable broth (or water plus veggie base)
1 cup fine chopped Carrots
1 cup diced Onion
4 cloves Garlic, minced
2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste

Cook the lentils until nearly mushy. I used my rice cooker.

In a sauce pan combine the broth, carrots, onion and garlic. Simmer until the carrots are tender – 5-8 minutes. Add the tomato paste and Worchestershire sauce.

Remove from the heat and fold in all the other ingredients. Mash to combine everything. Let the mixture rest for 10-15 minutes to allow the oats to soak up liquid.

Test the mixture to see if it will make patties or fall apart. You may need to add more oats if things are too wet.

Form into 2/3 cup patties, pat them out to 1/2" or 3/4" thick, and fry in a hot skillet 6-8 minutes per side until nicely browned.  

Makes 7-8 rissoles:

Indian-spiced Cauliflower & Potato Casserole
This one came from Forks Over Knives.  I was a bit leery to use the recipe as is -- FOK has a reputation of messing up some aspect of almost every recipe.  But this one's only fauly is that as written, it makes a ton of casserole.  We easily got 10 servings out of this.  If you don't need that much, cut the recipe in half.  

Very tasty!  This one's a keeper, that's for sure!  The "Indian" spice blend is pleasant, not hot by any stretch, just a tiny bit warm.  

1 cup dry Brown Rice
1 lb. Yukon Gold Potatoes, cut into ¾-inch pieces
4 cups small Cauliflower florets
½ cup thin-sliced Carrot
1 can Chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 can Tomato sauce
1 can Fire-roasted Diced Tomatoes, undrained
½ cup or more Frozen Peas

Spice Blend
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp turmeric
⅛ to ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
⅛ tsp ground cinnamon

In a LARGE pot, bring 10 cups of water to a boil. Add the rice, bring back to a boil and reduce the heat. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the potatoes and simmer an additional 10 minutes.

Add the carrots and peas and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Drain and rinse.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked ingredients plus everything else, including the spice blend. Toss to combine.

Spread the mixture in a 3 quart baking dish and bake, uncovered, for 25-35 minutes at 375F.

Rest for 10 minutes then serve garnished with cilantro or your favorite shredded cheese.

Cremini & Butternut Soup
What?!  Mushrooms and squash together?  Heck yeah!  m Check this out:

1 medium-large Butternut Squash
8 oz Cremini or Portobello Mushrooms (same thing)
4-6 cups Veggie or Mushroom Broth (or water + base)
1 medium Onion, diced
3-4 cloves Garlic. minced
1 tsp each Thyme & Sage  
1/8 tsp fresh grated Nutmeg
1/4 cup Cream of Half & Half
Bistotm Vegetable Gravy mix -- to thicken the soup
Optional -- Parmesan or other cheese to garnish

Cut the squash into the ball and neck.  Peel the neck, coarse grate it and simmer in a cup of broth until mushy (or just nuke it in the microwave for 10 minutes).  Puree in your food processor and reserve.

In your soup kettle, saute the onion and garlic until translucent.    Add the pureed squash  neck, the remaining broth, herbs and spices, and simmer.  

Peel the ball end of the squash, and seed it.  Slice into 1/2" thick rings and chop into 1/2" cubes.  Par cook the cubes until just tender.  Add the cubes to the rest of the soup along with the cream.  Continue barely simmering.  Add a couple tablespoons of the gravy mix to thicken the soup as desired.   Serve with a nice crusty bread.

Portobello Tacos, Zucchini & Tomatoes, Garlic "Cream" Shrimp Over Acorn, Vegan noMeatballs

Two "techniques" and two recipes this week.  Enjoy!

Portobello Tacos
Something I saw or read triggered me into making these for dinner the other night.  Substitute thick meaty slices of spiced mushrooms for the usual animal protein.

I learned a neat trick to not having mushrooms shrivel up and lose all their liquid -- cook them in a hot dry skillet, not low and slow in an oiled pan.  They brown quickly on the outside and stay nice inside.  

Portobello slices -- I used about a dozen thick slices to make tacos for two people.
Tortillas -- I used wheat not corn "street taco" sized rounds.  We each eat 3-4 tacos that size.
Other Taco Fillings -- cheese, diced or sliced onion, salsas, tomato, whatever you like.

Sautéd Zucchini & Cherry Tomatoes
The name pretty much says it.  This is a great thing to do with any summer squash.  Add some garbanzo beans, red onion, and mixed fresh herbs to the pan, to round out the dish.  Some kalamata olives would be nice too, but I didn't have any.   Serve topped with feta or goat cheese crumbles.  Delicious!

Garlic-Parmesan Cream Shrimp Squash
Although Acorn Squash is "savory", I almost never make it that way.  So I thought I'd "break the mold" as it were and try this  recipe.   Really very good!

The original recipe had you making a roux, thinning it out, and then turning it into a cheese sauce.  My version is a LOT faster and less messy!

Acorn Squash, halved on the equator and seeded
1/2 lb or so of Wild-Caught Shrimp
5-6 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 White Onion, diced
1/4 cup Red Bell Pepper, diced
1-2 tsp Sazon Tropicaletm
4-6 Tbsp Bisto Cheese Sauce granules
1/4 cup - shy Parmesan Cheese
1-1/2 cup Water

Roast the squash 30-45 minutes until tender and starting to brown.

Saute the shrimp with the Sazon Tropicale until just tender.  Reserve.  

In the same skillet, saute the onion, garlic and bell pepper until just tender.  Add the water and bring to a boil.  

Add the Bisto crystals and stir until the sauce starts to thicken. 

Stir in the Parmesan cheese.  Add additional water, or simmer to reduce the sauce, to get the desired consistency.    Return the shrimp to the pan to heat through.   

Ladle over the squash bowls and serve.

Fancy Vegan noMeatballs
My adaptation of a Forks Over Knives recipe, and my new favorite noMeatball recipe!  These would make a great 'bring along' dish to a potluck or football party if you were doing that sort of thing these days.  Excellent with just a marinara sauce.  Great as a Meatball Sub sandwich too.  Flavor-full even though there are almost no herbs or spices.  Don't skimp on the garlic though, or leave out the nutritional yeast!

¼ cup Sun-dried Tomatoes (not oil-packed) (5-6 pieces)
1 large Sweet Onion, diced
8 oz Mushrooms, diced
6 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Sage
1 can White Beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup cooked Brown Rice
2 Tbsp Oat Flour or rolled oats
1 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar
¼ cup raw Cashews
2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
~¾ cup Panko Breadcrumbs

In a large skillet, saute the onion, mushrooms, garlic and sage until the onion is translucent. Continue cooking and stir in the beans, rice and other ingredients except the panko. Cool for 10-15 minutes.

Pulse the mixture in your food processor but don't puree it. You want some texture here. Fold in the panko to reduce the moisture content until you can squeeze and roll the mixture into a golf ball sized ball that isn't wet and sticky.

Make about 24 meatballs and bake or airfry them for about 30 minutes at 400F until they are nicely browned. Serve with warm marinara sauce.