Kale Braised with Carmelized Onions and Rutabagas

One thing I've learned about cooking is that you can never have too many carmelized onions! They are so very delicious that sometimes I eat them as a vegetable. I should have gone food shopping yesterday, but didn't want to brave the Saturday crowds, so I had a look in the fridge to see what I could put together. I had a lovely bunch of curly kale and a medium-sized rutabaga as well as a few onions, so this dish was born. Its really a riff on Italian minestra, which is garlicky greens and beans, and southern-style turnip greens with turnips. Whatever it is, it certainly is delicious - so delicious that I ate half of it in one sitting. Luckily, its pretty healthy, so no problem. The rest was packaged up for work lunches this coming week.

Kale Braised with Carmelized Onions and Rutabagas
2 Tbs butter or margerine
4 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 onions halved and sliced very thin
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium rutabaga, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 Tbs smoked paprika
1 Tbs garlic salt/Adobo seasoning
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 bunch curly kale
2 Tbs water

In a large pot with a tight fitting lid, melt half the butter and 1 Tbs of oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute, stirring often, for about 10 minutes until starting to carmelize and brown. Add the remaining oil, minced garlic, rutabaga, paprika, salt and pepper, stir well so that everything is coated with oil and spices. Turn heat down to medium, cover tightly, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring twice, until rutabagas are just barely tender. Add water to keep from sticking if necessary - this should not be necessary if your pot is nonstick. Uncover, add the kale and stir well. Cover again and let steam for about 4 - 5 minutes, until kale is wilted. Stir well and adjust for salt and pepper.

The onions continued to carmelize as the other veggies were cooking and ended up sweet and almost sticky, as did the rutabagas, which also were beginning to carmelize. This would be yummy with a spritz of lemon juice, or even balsamic vinegar to cut the buttery richness of the oil. I used Earth Balance spread rather than butter, since that's what I had in the house (Lent is upon us, you know), and it was yummy. I think this would be a fabulous base for a pasta salad - just stir in about a half pound of pasta, cooked al dente.

Again, I have no photo, and I apologize. I've unpacked the camera, but haven't found the charger yet, so photos will have to wait. Suffice it to say that this was a very pretty dish, with the small orange cubes peeking out from the dark green of the kale. In the meantime, I'll continue posting vegan recipes with photos from the archives of my omni cooking blog.

In the Orthodox Church, the Rite of Forgiveness at vespers this Sunday afternoon is the official beginning of the fast, of Great Lent. Every person in the parish, from the youngest to the oldest, will line up and ask forgiveness of each other for what they have done and what they have failed to do during the past year. There is always much hugging and many tears as hurts are forgiven. It never fails to move me, and humble me as well. So, in the spirit of Forgiveness Sunday, dear brothers and sisters, I ask you to forgive me for my sins and offenses, for what I have done and what I have failed to do, for how I have consistently missed the mark and fallen short of Christ's example.

Tuscan White Bean Soup

Sometimes you just want a nice soup with some garlic bread for dinner, don't you? I love soup - I could eat it every day. I had a few yellow crookneck squash sitting in my fridge, and I wanted soup, so I decided to make a white bean soup with them. Everything is cooked al dente, so that each spoonful bursts in your mouth with flavor. I just love this soup. Its even better with some vegan parmesan sprinkled over the top.




Tuscan White Bean Soup

2 C cooked or canned white beans (try cannelini beans - they are yummy!)
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
1 Tbs minced garlic
3 Tbs extra virgin olive oil to saute
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 med zucchini or yellow squash, chopped
8 oz fresh mushrooms or 2 oz dried mushrooms, soaked
1 15 oz can of veggie broth
4 C water
2 tsp Herbes de Provence
1 bay leaf
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes in juice
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 1/2 C soup pasta, pre-cooked al dente

In 5 quart dutch oven, saute onions and garlic in the olive oil until translucent. Add the celery and zucchini and saute till toasty. Season with salt and pepper and Herbes de Provence. Add mushrooms and saute till they have released their liquid, or, add dried mushrooms and reserve soaking liquid. Add the beans, tomatoes with their juice, bay leaf, and the veggie broth. Measure the mushroom soaking liquid and add water to make 4 cups. Simmer lightly for 20 minutes for flavors to develop. Taste for salt, pepper and seasoning.

You may cover and refrigerate at this point. To serve, bring to a simmer and drop in about 1 1/2 cups of pre-cooked soup pasta and heat through. Taste for seasonings. Serve with a splash of lemon juice, a sprinkle of vegan parmesan cheese and garlic toast.

Notes: This is a very forgiving soup - you can use pretty much any combination of vegetables that you have, as long as you cook them al dente and you use a white bean, such as cannellini, great northern, or even navy beans. I think small green limas would be nice also, as well as borlotti or cranberry beans.

For dessert, we had broiled pears with amaretto-apple dip. I'll post that shortly.

Time: 40 minutes in total

Serves about 8

Hash Brown Scramble

This morning we were pretty hungry and wanted something really stick-to-your ribs good. After having a quick look in the fridge and pantry, I decided on some kind of hash browns. My mom always made homemade hash browns and I always do too, especially since they take just a couple of minutes to prep and taste so delicious!

Hash Brown Scramble

2 med sized russet potatoes, peeled, in 1/2 inch dice
2 small onions, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
olive oil
1 12-oz box of extra firm MoriNu tofu, drained and crumbled
pinch tumeric
1/4 C chopped parsley
1 tsp Herbes to Provence
salt and pepper to taste OR use seasoning salt and herb mixtures of your choice

In a large fry pan, saute the potatoes in about 1 Tbs of oil for a couple of minutes while you chop the onions. When the onions are ready, toss them in, along with the minced garlic. Season with seasoning salt and pepper. Saute the onions for about five minutes until they are about halfway cooked (a sharp knife point will just pierce a potato cube, but still meet some resistance). Add in other veggies, if you are using them (see note below). Saute some more, adding another tablespoon of oil if necessary, or adding a bit of liquid like broth or water to keep everything from sticking. You want the potato and onion to be fully cooked and golden brown, but still retain its shape. A few minutes before the potatoes are perfect, add in the crumbled tofu, and stir well. Taste - you will probably need to add some more salt and pepper, and this is the time to add some herbs as well, like parsley and Herbes de Provence. Stir until the tofu and potatoes are dry - just a minute or two.

We made pita sandwiches out of this with some of the spicy black bean dip I made earlier in the week. This was a delicious combo which tasted very buttery, which is odd because there were no dairy products used at all. But it sure was yummy!

Notes: I wanted to make the tofu look slightly yellow, more like scrambled eggs, and I used way too much tumeric, as you can see from the photo. Next time, I might just use a pinch of tumeric mixed into the crumbled tofu before I add it to the potatoes, or I might just leave it au naturel. You can add lots of other veggies to this, like chopped celery or peppers. Occasionally my mom would add really good oil cured olives to hash browns, maybe about a dozen, which she pitted and chopped and believe me, there is NOTHING that tastes better than potatoes with olives! Some halved cherry tomatoes would also work well, as would some chopped zucchini or other summer type squash. I happen to be in love with three salty spice mixes: Soul Seasoning, Tony Chachere's and Cavender's Greek Seasoning - you may have your favorites, so use the flavors that YOU like. Instead of salt and pepper, I used about a tsp of Tony Chachere's.

This would be delicious with curry powder and peas!

Try this with cumin and chili powder, and then rolling it up in a tortilla with some salsa!

A note about frozen hash browns: Try dicing your own potatoes instead of spending a lot of money on these. It really doesn't take much more time, maybe about five minutes or so, and not only will you save a lot of money, but you will have superior nutrition and save all the added salt and sugar that are in most processed potato products. This is one case when the convenience food is not more convenient, IMHO.

Time from potato bin to mouth: 25 minutes