Veggie Recipes, Take Two!

I’m back at it. Eating a couple of vegetarian meals a week. I’m pretty behind on posting recipes as I missed posting my attempts at stuffed tomatoes and cabbage stir-fry before vacation. I’ll come back to those (maybe…they weren’t my faves).

Today I tried a recipe from Speedy Suppers: Simple Meals…30 Minutes or Less. I made a tasty lunch of Artichoke-Feta Pasta.

Ingredients:

• 2 T olive oil
• 6 oz jar of marinated artichokes, drained and quartered
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 6 oz package of crumbled feta cheese
• 8 oz package of rotini pasta, cooked - I used the tri-color rotini
• 1/2 cup of pine nuts, toasted – I substituted walnuts

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add artichokes and saute until lightly softened. Stir in garlic and feta; cook for one minute or until garlic is lightly golden. Add pasta and nuts to artichoke mixture; heat through. Serves 3 to 4.

I really enjoyed this zingy dish. The flavor is great, and the artichokes and nuts gave it a meat-like texture. I can’t say that I miss the taste of meat when I cook veggie, but I do miss the texture. I’m a texture girl. While the walnuts were delightful in this, I think I would actually prefer to substitute toasted pecans. They have a little more flavor, and I like the artichoke/pecan combination. I make a mean artichoke chicken salad that has toasted pecans in it, and I think it would be a great flavor for this pasta.

This one would be great with some crusty bread or a green salad. It can get a little rich, so some greens to cut through are nice.

Dabbling Vegetarian

So I’ve never really thought seriously of going vegetarian. OK, maybe I thought about it–fleetingly–a few times. However, I do love meat. Love love meat. As unexciting as it is, I adore chicken. I could eat chicken every day of my life and never get sick of it. Lamb, delectable. Beef, satisfying to the tips of my toes. Pork? YES!

Recently I began to notice, when I dine at my boyfriend’s parents’ house, meat is not necessarily the star of the show as it is in my house. I’ve never asked, but I tend to think this penchant for vegetables–sometimes entire meals of them–might have something to do with the fact that his parents have always raised vegetables, and oftentimes those of an older generation (my older relatives included) tend to think of meat secondarily because it was less available when they were coming up (vegetables grow faster than cows and take less slaughtering, see). That’s just conjecture. Maybe they just don’t like meat as much as we do.

Anyhow, I was sort of fascinated by this love for vegetables. Meals of tomato sandwiches and plates of beans, corn, peas, potatoes. In light of my trying to be greener and all–buy locally, buy organic, eat better in general. With the push of the EcoJustice Challenge, I’ve vowed to eat organically/locally at least twice and week, and I’m adding vegetarian to that list to satisfy my own sense of responsibility and curiosity. Plus, as I’ve stated here before, it’s sort of difficult to buy local/organic around here for lack of availability. Our garden hasn’t sprouted just yet, but a new produced stand just opened up in town, so I’m definitely going to hit them up this week.

This past week marked my first foray into vegetarian cooking. I dove into allrecipes.com and grouprecipes.com (not to mention my own cookbooks) with gusto, rooting around for the tastiest in vegetarian recipes.

At this juncture I should probably add that I’m not trying to eat vegan. I don’t know if I can do away with dairy at this point. Cheese is dairy. CHEESE! So there is some cheese (a lot of cheese) in these first two recipes I tried. However, for the sake of health and whatnot, I will probably cut out as much cheese as possible when I eat vegetarian in the future.

The first recipe that caught my eye was for “Crabless Cakes.” I found several recipes for crabless cakes, so I combined the two I liked best.

• 2 cups of grated zucchini (squeezed to rid of excess moisture)
• 1/4-1/2 an onion, grated
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of potato flakes (I used the garlic & herb variety)
• 1 tsp of Old Bay seasoning
• 1/2 cup of Italian blend cheese (mozarella and parmesan)
• 1 clove of garlic
• a tidbit of flour

Mix the drained zucchini, onion, garlic, egg, potato flakes, seasonings, and cheese together in a bowl. Mash into cakes and lightly coat in flour. I pan seared mine with a touch of olive oil and margarine, but you could certainly bake these babies at 400 degrees for approximately 12-15 minutes per side.

I have to say, these were DELICIOUS!!! They had the flavor and texture of crab cakes without the crab. They’re yummy with a dollop of sour cream and salsa. I would probably eat these with a green salad and some roasted corn. A great summer supper. In the future I’ll probably leave out the cheese (really couldn’t taste it), and I might go easier on the potato flakes. I wanted to taste the zucchini more and have that texture come through.

The second recipe I tried (and I totally stole this) was from Heather F. She originally posted her recipe for Tortellini with Mushroom Cheese Sauce at her defunct food blog, Rambling Fancy. You can still read it here with a picture!

• 1 pckg (12 oz) frozen or fresh tortellini
• 1 TB butter or margarine
• 1 lb mushroom, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 TB minced fresh basil OR 1/2 tsp dry basil
• 6 oz cream cheese
• 3/4 cup milk
• parsley sprigs for presentation

1. Cook tortellini per package instructions in water salted like the sea
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in wide frying pan over med-high heat
3. Add mushrooms, garlic & basil
4. Cook, stirring often, until all liquid has evaporated and mushrooms are beginning to brown (about 10 minutes)
5. Add cream cheese & milk to mushroom mixture
6. Stir until cheese is completely melted & incorporated smoothly, then bring sauce to a gentle boil
7. Remove from heat, and add tortellini.
8. Mix together gently
9. Serve, garnished with parsley sprigs if desired
10. Serves 4 main-dish or 6 1st course

I modified this recipe just slightly to use what I had on hand. I had a pound of orzo pasta. I substituted roughly 1/2 a pound of the orzo for the tortellini, and the result reminded me very much of one of my favorite things…mushroom risotto! In texture more than taste, really, given the cream cheese in this recipe. It was SO delicious, I can’t even tell you.

I made both of these recipes at once because I find if I cook two vegetarian recipes at a time I can enjoy the meals for a couple of days at lunchtime, which keeps me from having to go to the cafeteria and use more of those damned styrofoam containers. Plus, the boyfriend is quite the carnivore, so I haven’t introduced the idea of vegetarian cooking to him just yet.

I’m not sure if this is a life change in the making, but I certainly am open to the idea of vegetarian eating. It’s like a whole new cooking challenge to find tasty recipes that are better for me and better for the environment. Not to mention, they’re CHEAPER! And I love that (says the girl with all the student loans to pay).

More on vegetarian cooking coming soon. And my thoughts on going greener with food. This week I’d like to try a recipe for stuffed tomatoes (rice, spinach) and something involving artichokes, though I haven’t decided what just yet.

Wish me luck, and be sure to leave your favorite vegetarian recipes if you have them.