I’ve been making very simple foods for the past week, mostly
because my days of recipe testing and writing have been very full, often
extending till 11 p.m. when I collapse into bed. That kind of work schedule
doesn’t permit elaborate cooking.
By late afternoon, the kitchen can look like
something exploded. After tidying up, my husband and I usually take a daily
walk to buy groceries for dinner. Some days, that’s the only time I leave my
house so I relish the chance to stretch my legs and breathe extra fresh air. It’s
also an opportunity to ponder dinner.
Local farmers grow some spectacularly tasty broccoli and
broccolini, which are sold at weekly farmer’s markets as well as independent
grocery stores. My default preparations are to briefly boil broccoli in lots of
salted water (steaming tends to unevenly cook the vegetable), stir-fry broccoli
with a little meat, or employ it in Chinese-style noodle soups. Here are a couple of past recipes on VWK that involve broccoli:
I’ve had pumpkin
dumplings in Monterey Park and Beijing, their pretty tangerine-colored filling of
grated winter (hard) squash were unpleasantly bland and sometimes undercooked. It’s
an Asian dumpling that I’ve let simmer on the back burner for a while and didn’t
tackle till this week, when faced with leftover roasted kabocha squash. My
husband Rory said, “Let’s make Italian raviolis with the kabocha.”
I responded
with this dumpling filled with roasted squash, earthy shiitake and parsnip, and upbeat
celery. The seasonings involve fried shallot, lots of ginger and enough garlic
for pungent depth. I wanted the ingredients to support and elevate the natural sweetness of the kabocha. I’d planned on adding soy sauce but in the end, there was so
much great flavor from the vegetables that the only seasoning I added was salt.
In other words, gluten-free dumpling eaters, this
filling is for you too! No need to get the wheat-free tamari out. See the link at the end of this post for gluten-free dumpling dough options.
I love the classic
northern Indian dish of peas and cheese but I seldom order it at a restaurant.
I can’t eat a lot of fresh dairy and frankly, it is often lackluster,
especially at inexpensive lunch buffets where there’s more sauce than sweet
peas and rich fried cheese.
My solution
is to make it at home with soy paneer (tofu). The little fried cubes of tofu
soak up the spicy sweet sauce very well. This week, I discovered a frozen bag
of San Marzano tomato puree from last summer and a partially used bag of frozen peas. Those finds made for the perfect excuse to prepare a batch of matar (mutter) soy paneer.
We had it for lunch with another frozen
discovery – papery thin Middle Eastern flatbread. (Yes, I'm trying to clean out the freezer's 2012 inventory.) Wheat tortillas reheated over
an open flame would have been my other choice; it’s a decent shortcut for
chapati.
