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Spinach and Tomato Roll Call

16 Aug

I love spinach and I love tomatoes.  How many ways can I incorporate these two into a delicious meal?? Let me show you the ways:

 

No Boil-Ahead Pasta – Spinach and Tomato Version

 

Florentine Mac & Cheese with Tomato Salad

Baby Spinach and Potato Pastelón

 

Spinach and Asparagus Casserole

 

Spinach, Tomato and 5 cheese Risotto

Vegetable Noodle Soup

 

Bucatini with Spinach, Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

 

Eggless Frittatas

 

Artichoke and Spinach Casserole

 

Spinach Fettuccini with Marinated Tomatoes

 

This is it… for now.  Hope you enjoy them time and time again.

Potato Festival Update

6 Aug

Back in January I mentioned to you that the United Nations had declared 2008 as the Year of the Potato.  And coming from a potato-growing family in Cuba, I needed to make homage to this eventful year by presenting to you as many potato dishes as possible. 

I eat everything I cook to present to you in the blog… so forgive me for needing some variety in my diet.  But I wanted to give you an update of the potato recipes we have available for you at KarmaFree Cooking…

Herb Roasted Potatoes

 

Mustard Roasted Potatoes

Potato and Fried Eggplant Pastelón

 

 

Sweet Potato Pastelón

 

Stewed Potatoes

 

Creamy Potatoes

 

 

Roasted Potato and Pumpkin Salad

Cracked Potatoes

 

Potato Leek Soup

 

Baby Spinach and Potato Pastelón

 

Corn Tostada Stacks

 

Hummus Pastelón

 

Comme Ci Comme Ca Salade Niçoise

 

Potato Boursin Casserole

 

Vegetable Noodle Soup

Potatoes à la Angie

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French Onion Soup

30 Jul

For our Les Francophones get-together I wanted to make a French Onion Soup…  for 2 reasons: 

  1. I’ve been wanting to try it for a long time now, and
  2. I’ve witnessed how my fellow Francophones ordered Onion Soup in every French restaurant we visited… so I wanted true onion soup lovers to try out my vegetarian version.

I took inspiration from the Barefoot Contessa book from Ina Garten.

 

FRENCH ONION SOUP with GRUYERE CROUTONS

6-7 medium yellow onions, sliced
4 tbs of butter
1 tbs olive oil
1 bay leaf
½ cup sherry vinegar
½ cup white balsamic vinegar
8 cups of Roasted Vegetable Stock
Kosher Salt
Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
1 whole wheat baguette
½ cup grated Gruyere cheese

 

  1. In the largest stock pot you have, sauté the onions, butter, olive oil and bay leaf for 20-30 minutes, until the onions are a nice light brown color.
  3. Deglaze the pot with the sherry and white balsamic vinegars and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.
  4. Add the vegetable stock, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
  5. Remove the bay leaf and check to see if you need to adjust the seasonings.

 

You can make this soup before your guests arrive and it will keep warm for several hours.

Before serving the soup…

  1. Slice the baguette in ½” slices; drizzle with a bit of olive oil.  Sprinkle with some salt and pepper and place a mound of grated gruyere cheese on top.
  2. Place in a 350° F oven until the croutons toast and the cheese melts and creates a nice brown crust.
  3. Serve the crouton dunked in the soup.

 

The veredict???  Les Francophones loved it.  It’s a sure-fire hit!!!  Bien sûr.

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Potatoes à la Angie

22 Jul

My friend Angie does not cook a whole lot… but what she does cook, she does very well.

Every time she invites me over for dinner she prepares her specialty – Potatoes with Butter, Onions and Bacon.  Well, I decided to immortalize her recipe making it a vegetarian version.  These are a super easy way to make a potato side dish or even as a simple, quick lunch with a side salad.  That’s what I had for lunch today…

 

POTATOES À LA ANGIE

3 medium red skinned potatoes, washed and sliced thin using a mandoline
½ onion, sliced thin
2 tbs butter
1-2 slices of veggie bacon, cut into small pieces (optional)
2 tsp adobo

 

  1. Pre-heat oven to 400° F.
  2. I used a mandolin to thinly slice the potatoes…  you can do it with a sharp knife, but I find the mandoline to be extremely consistent and easy to use.  BE CAREFUL, the mandoline’s blade is super sharp and I have been known to almost loose a finger tip to a mandolin (long story that shall not be told while talking about food, but it’s important how sharp these things are…)
  4. We’ll be making a layered potato dish,  so…
  5. In a small buttered casserole dish, place a layer of potatoes.  Sprinkle lightly with adobo.  Dot each potato slice with a bit of butter.  Place a light layer of onions. Repeat the layering process until you’ve finished with all the potato slices.  It yielded me for about 3-4 layers of potatoes. 
  6. When you place the last of the potatoes, sprinkle with the last of the adobo.  Dot again with butter and sprinkle the pieces of veggie bacon on top.
  8. Roast in oven for about 30-40 minutes until potatoes are done.  Check them at about the 30 minute mark, if you feel it needs more time but the top is too crispy, cover it with a piece of foil paper, tying for the paper not to touch the potatoes… to avoid over browning.

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Macarrones (Soy Crumble Macaroni)

19 Jul

In Puerto Rico, when you mention the word macaroni, people do not think about any cheesy version or salad… people have in mind a mixture of pasta and meat sauce.  I decided to make a version using some Soy Picadillo I cooked the day before.

This is easy, super quick and gives you another use for that Soy Picadillo you may have left over in the fridge…

 

MACARRONES

1/3 of a packet of whole wheat or kamut macaroni
1 cup of Soy Picadillo
Kosher salt – to salt the boiling water
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
  1. In a large pot, bring water to a boil.  Salt liberally with kosher salt and add pasta.  Cook until al dente, for about 8-10 minutes.
  2. While the pasta cooks, heat up the picadillo in a small saucepan if it was refrigerated.
  3. Drain the pasta when it’s ready and return to the pot where it cooked.  Add the picadillo and mix together well.  Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese and toss again to fully combine.
  4. Serve immediately with additional Parmesan if you’d like.

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