vegetables – Page 6 – Trust in Kim: an ad-free recipe blog!

Skillet Cornbread

I haven’t made cornbread in almost 20 years. I’m not sure why. Maybe I just had too many dry, boring corn breads back then – who can remember?

Last night I was making soup and I wanted something to go with it, so I found this recipe in the same cookbook as the soup, Share by Adriennede Francesco, and whipped up a batch in my cast-iron frying pan. To tell the truth, it was really the idea of baking something in my frying pan, handed down to me from my Oma, that got me onto this. Fry the onion, bake, and then serve it in the same dish, and it stays hot for a long time. Triple win! Plus it’s got corn kernels in it, so it’s got a nice bite to it.

Serve it up with a little butter – magical!

What you need:

1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 & 1/2 cups cornmeal
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon liquid honey
1 cup canned corn (or frozen, but I prefer canned – the kernels pop in your mouth when you eat them!)
1/4 cup fresh chives or green onions

What you do:

Preheat the oven to 425F.
Heat a 10-inch cast-iron over medium-high heat and add the oil, then the onions. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions are soft.
While the onions are cooking stir the cornmeal, flour, baking power and salt together in a bowl.
Stir the buttermilk, eggs, butter and honey together in another bowl. Pour this onto the dry ingredients and sti until it is just mixed.. Stir in the corn and chives.
Pour the batter into the hot frying pan on top of the onions, which you have previously dispersed evenly over the surface of the pan.
Bake in the centre of the oven for about 30 minutes or until the top its golden brown. My convection oven cooked it very quickly, and I had to rotate the pan half way through baking
Cut into wedges and serve with butter.

Spinach Salad with Glory Bowl Dressing

This is my favourite salad dressing. It is a really simple salad, but so good, and makes me wonder why anyone would buy a salad dressing. This dressing is so perfect on spinach, and it makes a great side to almost anything.

What you need for the dressing:

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

3 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon tahini

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/3 cup vegetable oil (the recipe calls for 1/2 cup canola)

What you need for the salad:

spinach

mushrooms, thinly sliced

What you do:

Combine all the dressing ingredients in a blender, or use a stick blender to combine.
Dress your salad with a few tablespoonfuls of dressing. The remainder of the dressing can be refrigerated for a few weeks.

Homemade French Onion Dip

I try to avoid bringing a veggie platter to a party – not because I don’t love my veggies. I Love my veggies! But I also love to bake, and a party is usually a great excuse for me to bake something. When I recently ended up agreeing to bring a veggie platter to a party, I began looking for something to make it special. Then I came across this recipe . . . This dip is a great low-fat alternative to the usual sour-cream based dip. It is a homemade version of the standard from my childhood, French onion soup mix and sour cream. It’s a bit of work to chop and then caramelize the onions, but the flavour is so worth it.

I found the recipe on crumbblog.

What you need:

1 tbsp olive oil
1&½ cups finely diced red onion
1&½ cups finely diced yellow onion
1&½ cups finely diced sweet onion
1 clove garlic, minced
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
1½ cups plain yogurt (see homemade yogurt recipe here)
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 tsp lemon juice or more to taste
dash of Worcestershire sauce

What you do:

Heat the oil in a large frying pan (my cast-iron one worked great for this) at medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 10 minutes, or until they are just starting to colour.
Reduce heat to medium-low and continue cooking for 20-25 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the onions are golden brown and caramelized. If the onions get too dry at any point add a tablespoon or two of water to avoid burning, and continue cooking). Stir in the garlic, salt and pepper and cook another minute or two. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, then whisk in the yogurt, lemon and Worcestershire until smooth. Stir in the cooled onions, salt and pepper to taste.
Put the dip into a serving bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to two days to allow the flavours to mingle.
Serve with veggies or chips.

Tip: Peel and cut your own carrots for your veggie tray. They will taste so much more like… carrots.

Tomato Soup

(Revised January 2021: This is a great soup recipe, however, my favourite is closer to the actual Burgoo recipe. And it has red wine in it! Click here to find the recipe.)

Burgoo is a great comfort food restaurant in Vancouver. They don’t have a lot of dairy-free options, so I tend to eat the tomato soup – which is the best tomato soup I’ve ever had! I found this tomato soup recipe recently and omitted the milk to make it a dairy-free tomato soup. I think it may be as good as the one I had at Burgoo; it is flavourful, and full of healthy ingredients. It is also really easy to make, and freezes well.

What you need:

1 tablespoon olive oil

about 1 cup diced carrots

about 1/2 cup diced celery

about 2 cups diced zucchini (skin on)

1 large yellow onion, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, rubbed off the stems

2 bay leaves

salt and red pepper flakes to taste

about 4 cups (2 28-ounce cans) crushed Italian tomatoes

4 cups chicken (or vegetable) broth

What you do:

Heat the olive oil in a large pot. Add the carrots, celery, zucchini and onion. Saute for 10-12 minutes, until the onion is very soft and the zucchini has cooked through. Add the garlic and stir for one minute.
Add the thyme, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, tomatoes and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes, until the carrots are very soft.
Remove from the heat, and take the bay leaves out. Blend the soup in a blender or with an immersion blender until smooth. Add salt to taste.

Enjoy it hot! And I can imagine it is awesome with a grilled cheese sandwich, but this theory is yet untested.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Burnt Eggplant and Pomegranate Molasses

Fall is here, so here’s a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe that is delicious and comfort-foody. It isn’t the simplest recipe, as you have to bake the squash, burn the eggplant (doesn’t sound yummy but it is) and make it into a sauce, plus toast some nuts and seeds. But if you love to cook you’ll probably enjoy making and eating this one. The recipe is from Ottolenghi the Cookbook. (Thank you John for this fabulous surprise birthday gift – he saw me oohing and awing over it, and went back and bought it for me.)

I found it wasn’t necessary to add all the oil that the recipe called for, so I cut the oil content from 6 tablespoons to 3. Feel free to add more oil if you wish. The cookbook says to let the squash cool before serving, but I changed the order of the preparation so I could take the squash out of the oven last and serve it hot.

What you need for the squash recipe:

1 large butternut squash

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds

1 tablespoon sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon black or white sesame seeds

1 teaspoon nigella seeds (if you can’t find them it is still so delicious without)

3 tablespoons sliced almonds

1/2 cup basil leaves (I forgot to buy these! but it was good without them too)

salt and pepper

What you need for the burnt eggplant recipe:

1 medium eggplant

2/3 cup Greek yogurt (I used my regular yogurt)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1.5 teaspoons pomegranate molasses

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 clove garlic, crushed

salt and pepper

What you do:

1. Set the oven temperature to 350F. Sprinkle the seeds and nuts on a baking sheet and toast for 8-10 minutes or until slightly browned.

2. To make the sauce begin by placing the eggplant over a flame – on your stove-top if you have gas, on a barbecue if you don’t, and in the oven if you have neither of those. Burn the eggplant for 12-15 minutes, turning with tongs from time to time. The skin should be dry and cracked, and you should smell a smoky aroma. If you do this in the oven it will need a much longer cooking time.

3. Make a long cut through the eggplant and scoop out the flesh, doing your best to avoid the burnt skin. Drain in a colander for 10 minutes, then chop coarsely. (you could get the eggplant into the oven now if you want-see step 5 )

4. Stir together the eggplant, yogurt, oil, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, parsley and garlic. Mix together and add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Raise the oven to 425F. Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Cut into wedges that are about 2cm thick. Arrange the squash on a baking dish preferably with the skin side down and brush with a tablespoon of olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, or until the wedges are tender and slightly browned.

6. Arrange the squash slices on a serving platter and drizzle with a little olive oil. Sprinkle the nuts and seeds on top, then garnish with the basil. Serve with the sauce on the side.

Enjoy!

Roasted Cauliflower with Tomato, Dill and Capers

Here’s a fabulous vegetable recipe that you will love if you enjoy cauliflower. I’ve changed the recipe a little (from Ottolenghi the Cookbook) by roasting the cauliflower instead of steaming and then frying it, as the recipe calls for. I love the flavour you get when you roast cauliflower, and the method in the cookbook was too many steps for me at the time. I was happy with the results, as was my sweetheart who was dining with me. I also used less oil in the dressing: 1/4 up instead of 1/2 a cup. Even 1/4 cup in one vegetable recipe seems like a lot of oil to me. Anyways, another yummy vegetable recipe that I will definitely make again.

What you need:

2 tablespoons capers, drained and chopped coarsely

1 tablespoon French whole-grain mustard

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cauliflower divided into florets

1 tablespoon chopped dill

1 & 2/3 cup baby spinach leaves

about 20 cherry tomatoes, halved

salt and freshly ground pepper

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F. Place the cauliflower florets on a baking pan and roast for 20-30 minutes, or until they are nicely browned. You’ll want to check on them halfway through and give the pan a bit of a toss.

2. To make the dressing mix the capers, mustard, garlic, vinegar, and some salt and pepper. You can do this in a food processor, with an immersion blender as I did, or if you’re feeling energetic you can just use a whisk. Add the olive oil slowly while blending, until the dressing is thick and creamy.

3. Cut the tomatoes in half, and wash and dry the spinach and chop the dill. When the cauliflower is done combine it with the dill, spinach, tomatoes and dressing. Add more salt and pepper if needed.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!

Guacamolata – Avocado Sauce

When I was in the Yucatan earlier this year I found a lot of places serving this runny avocado sauce with their tacos and some other dishes like eggs and fish. It is creamy, yet without any dairy. When I took a cooking class at Altamar Restaurant in Tulum, the chef told me the ingredients for the sauce, which he called guacamolata. Last night I was making several salsas to serve to company, so I gave this one a try. It’s a nice light tasting sauce that doesn’t overpower the rest of the food you are drizzling it on, and a pretty colour too! People who aren’t into spicy foods will appreciate this option. I served it with a spoon in it so that people could drizzle it on the chip they had dipped into the spicier salsa, to take a bit of the power out of the spice.

What you need:

1 ripe avocado (you know it’s ripe when you can press the little stem in easily – it should still be somewhat firm)

2-3 tablespoons chopped onion (I also used some grilled onion)

2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

juice of 1/2 lime

water to make it runny

salt to taste

What you do:

1. Put the avocado, onion, cilantro, lime juice and some salt into a bowl. Add a little water and use an immersion blender to blend it together (or put it all in a blender). Add more water until it is a very smooth and somewhat runny sauce. Taste and add more of whichever ingredient you think it requires. For serving with fish you can add more cilantro.

The sauce retains its green colour even if you don’t use it right away, so you can store it in the fridge for a few days.

Here is a picture of my breakfast at la Bruja on Isla Mujeres, Mexico, with some of this avocado sauce.

Tomato, Corn and Cucumber Salad

Here’s a really simple salad I’ve made a few times this summer, using tomatoes from my garden and cucumbers from a friend’s garden (and corn from the produce store). I just used my favourite homemade vinaigrette, super easy and delicious.

If I use tomatoes and cucumbers out of season I always choose the little ones – cherry tomatoes and those small cucumbers. They have way more flavour. And for winter corn I prefer canned over frozen, and I usually us Peaches and Cream. Still, the summer ones are the best, so I make this a lot while these things are growing nearby and in season.

What you need:

tomatoes

cucumber

sweet onion

corn on the cob

a few green olives

dressing ingredients:

about 1 teaspoon dijon mustard

about 1/4 teaspoon sugar

salt

pepper

white wine vinegar

olive oil

What you do:

1. Boil a pot of water for the corn and let it cook for a couple of minutes. Remove the corn and run it under cold water.

2. To make the dressing, put the mustard in a bowl and add the sugar and some salt and pepper. Add a little vinegar and mix it into the mustard so there are no lumps. Mix in a bit more vinegar, then drizzle in some olive oil while mixing with a fork. After you’ve added a bit, have a taste and see what you need to add more of.

3. Cut the cucumber and tomatoes into bite-sized pieces. Chop the onion and olives. Cut the corn off the cob, and put all the vegetables together in a bowl. Toss it with some dressing and serve it up.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Patty Pan Squash

Aside from wanting to make something delicious for dinner, I created this dish in an attempt to use some of the many squash I had growing in my garden. I found some delicious sweet corn at the produce store, so I knew I wanted to include that too. They turned out great!

What you need:

a few patty pan squash

2 teaspoons coconut oil (or butter or olive oil)

1/2 sweet onion, finely diced

1/2 sweet red or orange pepper, finely diced

2-3 garlic cloves, finely diced

1 teaspoon fresh chopped oregano

1/3 cup bread crumbs

1 cob of corn (or a small can of peaches and cream corn)

1 teaspoon finely chopped dried guajillo chili (or 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes)

salt and pepper

1/3 cup finely shredded parmesan (substitute non-dairy if you need to)

What you do:

1. Boil a large pot of water and then immerse the squash for about 5 minutes to soften them up a little. Remove and let them cool until you can handle them. Cut the tops off, like you would if you were carving a pumpkin. You may also need to shave a little off the bottom so they sit upright. Scoop the insides out with a spoon, throwing away the seedy bits if there are any.

2. Finely dice the onions, then add it to a pan that you have heated to medium with the coconut oil. After about a minute, add the finely diced pepper, and after about 3 minutes add the garlic.

3. When the onions have slightly browned add the chopped oregano and bread crumbs. Add salt and pepper to taste. Take the pan off the heat and add the corn and 1/4 cup of the parmesan, and mix it all together.

4. Fill each of the squash, pressing the filling into it, and place them on a baking tray. Top with the remaining parmesan.

5. Bake for 40 minutes,then insert a sharp knife into the flesh of one squash to make sure it’s cooked through.

Enjoy!

Cucumber and Tomato Salad with Basil and Dijon Vinaigrette

I was lucky enough to be given some home-grown cucumbers, and then I went and picked these tomatoes and some basil from my garden. If you don’t have access to garden-fresh produce you can visit your local farmer’s market, or just try to find some that look tasty in the produce store. I like cherry tomatoes and the smaller cucumbers because they and often the tastiest option from the produce store.

I don’t use measuring tools to make my salad dressing, so the ingredients are ‘a little of this, a little of that’ and then you can taste your own way to a yummy dressing.

What you need:

some tomatoes

some cucumbers

part of a sweet onion

a few sprigs of fresh basil

dijon mustard

a little sugar

salt and freshly ground pepper

apple cider vinegar

olive oil

What you do:

1. Cut the tomatoes and cucumbers into bite-sized pieces. Cut a bit of onion into smaller pieces. Put them all into a bowl.

2. To make the dressing, put a small spoonful of dijon into a bowl or cup. Add a few pinches of sugar and a little salt and pepper. Combine these, then pour in a touch of vinegar and mix it up. Add a few tablespoons more vinegar and mix it, then slowly add some olive oil. When you’ve mixed in a few tablespoons of olive oil, have a taste and see if you need more oil or anything else. It shouldn’t taste too acidic, but you also don’t want it to be too oily.

3. Pour some salad dressing over the veggies and toss them until everything is coated. Chop up a few leaves of basil and garnish the salad with them.

Enjoy!

Share or print this:

Share or print this:

Share or print this:

Share or print this:

Share or print this:

Share or print this:

Share or print this:

Share or print this:

Share or print this:

Share or print this: