Favorite Vegetable (vegetarian) recipes

One of my favorite side dishes to serve is "vegetable flan".
This time of year, I use butternut squash, but at other times I like asparagus, mushroom,..just about anything you can think of will work.

Butternut Squash Flan
1 pound of cooked butternut squash
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbls olive oil
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon thyme
a small pinch of cinnamon
6 eggs
2 cups heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 300 degrees. In a small saute pan, heat the olive oil, then saute the onion til translucent, add the garlic then cook for one minute and remove from heat. In your food processor, or blender, puree the squash, add the onion, garlic and spices...puree til smooth. Add the eggs, and pulse until mixed then add the cream and do the same. Taste for salt and pepper, add as much as necessary. Spoon the mixture into greased ramekins, or muffin tins (I use the individual foil cupcake pans from the supermarket). Put the filled dishes into a larger roasting pan, add boiling water til it comes 2/3 of the way up the sides of the filled cups. Place in a 300 degree oven, and bake for appx 30-40 minutes, or until the custard has JUST set. Allow to cool slightly before unmolding onto the serving plate.

I cannot provide quantitative side of the recipe, but I like to make to myself such a salad: finely grated carrots with crushed walnuts and crushed garlic added, and this is being mixed with seasoning consisting of 50 percent of sour cream and 50 percent of mayonnaise. Well, I am not prone to gaining extra weight, so calories count is beyond my interests. People that are concerned with this may replace sour cream with thick yoghurt and use low-calories brands of mayonnaise.
Unfortunately, I can afford such a thing only during the weekends, since no toothpaste can eliminate garlic odor the next day...

Sounds good steissd! Thanks!!

If I wanted to make it a bit lighter (which I wouldn't ) I would probably use a blend of "lower fat" mayo and "lower fat" sour cream (not the nonfat crap,..that tastes like hanging your tongue out the window ).

You are welcome, Jerry. This was an urban Russian recipe that I have brought from the country I was born in.

my very favourite veggie recipe (and sometimes favourite all round recipe) is a layered casserole. First, make a good-sized quantity of your favourite recipe of mashed potato - mine includes mashed roasted garlic, fresh cream cheese (not that nasty block style, blechhhhhhh), and either low-fat sour cream or yogurt - then prepare a large bag of fresh spinach, steamed and then mixed with an egg whipped with salt and white pepper - and finally cooked, whipped squash (butternut is best) with ginger, nutmeg and a bit of honey or maple syrup. Get out a casserole dish (or two) - start with a layer of taters, then a layer of squash, then a layer of spinach and repeat. Spread a very thin layer of taters on top, sprinkle on some grated cheddar and bake.

The spinach-egg mixture sets and raises a bit like a faux souffle. The whole thing is very pretty, delicious and even kids love it. I've taken it to quite a few potlucks and there are always requests for more. I made one round of it involving 10 pounds of potatoes for a Passover seder. There were minimal left-overs, and maximum arguments over custody of the left-overs.

Hi ehBeth!!

MMMMM,...sounds great!!!!

hey there, JerryR. good to see you :smile:

littlek created a wonderful sort of potato salad while i was visiting her. i hope she'll come and correct this, if i've missed (or added) something. (i've made it at home, so i know i've got it basically right).

boil up some sweet potatoes. Mix lots of lime juice, roasted chipotles and garlic lightly cooked in olive oil (i think littlek's version might have skipped the garlic in oil). Mix and let set. Hot, tangy, delicious.

I like the recipe, ehBeth. I am at the moment in the land where potato is king, so I will try you recipe soonest.

Kara, I love the recipe - it's open to lots of happy variants - but the basic one is a winner - anything that 10 - 70 year olds ask for when they're inviting you to a potluck has got to be a keeper.

Haha!

Have I got vegie recipes for you! Just about everything I cook is vegitarian.

Risotto
pasta
salads
sushi

you just use your favorite recipes but don't add meat.

ok - so toss a risotto recipe on the plate here!

Herb risotto (risotto is like stew, use what you have, seasonally. This is best in the spring):

Sautee one medium sized onion and a single bay leaf in a lot of olive oil (1/3-1/2 cup).
Add several cloves minced garlic when onion starts to get translucent.
Add ground rosemary (1/2 tsp), thyme, other woody-herbs of your liking.
After a few minutes add one cup aborio rice and stir well to coat with oil. Stir occassionally for 2 or so minutes (the rice will start to sound like glass beads almost).
Add a cup of white wine now if you want to.
(After wine absorbs) add one cup of vegitarian herb broth (hot).
Stir rice until the liquid is absorbed.
Add another cup of hot herb broth.
Stir rice until the liquid is absorbed.
Add the last cup of broth.
Stir as before.... but, add a handful of grated parmesan or romano cheese before the liquid is absorbed and stir well.

Test rice before liquid is fully absorbed, it should be al dente, you don't want all the liquid to absorb in this last step. What you want is for the risotto to spread when you laddle it into a bowl.

I have lots of risotto variations.

ehBeth, I just got an update with the sweet potato recipe. Whoa, that is a keeper. I like sweets but am not imaginagive about cooking them.

thanks for the risotto recipe l'k. i know you're a good cook, so i want to try to replicate that.

LilK, I was taught an important thing about risotto on a food thread, can't recall who the teacher was: Jerry? Vincent? Some wise cook....

I had always added the wine to the sauteed arborio rice just as it was, out of the bottle. My "teacher" said to heat the wine before adding it; otherwise, the cooler wine would seize the rice and harden it. I have followed this advice ever since, with good result.

Hi Kara!

I think it must have been Vincent.
But all liquids added to risotto should be hot.

Good point kara and jerry

Thanks Bethie!

As I may have said, I am a veg but Mr. K. is not. So here we are, as of yesterday, at our cottage in Ireland, and the issue always comes up the first night. We grabbed some food and wine on our way through Galway city and came up to the house, exhausted by the overnight of travel.

Dinner time. I settled on eggs. Scrambled. I was too tired even for the omelet thing. So I sauteed some onion and garlic, chopped some fresh parsley into the egg mix, added lots of herbs and stuff, and made the eggs. I toasted some wonderful Irish bread, and cooked some haricots verts. A wonderful meal, I thought. But he went into the fridge and found some leftover meat that he had brought with him from America and heated it up to have with the meal. Well, that is okay. I opened a bottle of South African cab, which was barely acceptable.

Okay, today, I was still wasted by jet lag, didn't want to shop so I settled on a Caesar-type salad plus a homemade broccoli soup. The soup came out very well, so good that I kept spooning it out of the pot to taste. I added some grated fresh parmy just before serving.

I swirled a bit of cream (Oh, that Irish cream...) into the soup before I served it, and the effect was quite divine. Mr. K. had three bowls and went back looking for more salad,too. Don't tell me that vegetarian food is boring!

Kara,..soup sounds great!! (I love irish cream and butter),..what part of the country do you stay in? My best friend got married in Clifden,..it was a fun trip!!


Spanish Tortilla

5 large potatoes, sliced thin
3 T. butter
1 onion, chopped
4-5 eggs
salt & pepper to taste

Saute the potatoes and onion in the oil until fork tender and translucent,...but not brown. (This is best done in a non-stick frying pan.) Remove to a large bowl. Whip the eggs and then add them to the potato/onion mixture. Return to the frying pan and over medium heat, cook until the eggs are firm and done on the bottom side. Slide the "tortilla" off onto a plate and then invert it into the frying pan to cook the other side. When done, remove to a plate. Slice into wedges and serve while still warm.