Grilled Garden Vegetables

July 15, 2015

When the vegetables in the garden are fresh, they don't need much help to taste delicious. I like to put them on the grill and dress and season them lightly. Most vegetables grill fairly well - as long as they're big enough not to fall through the grate. Here, I'm using bell pepper, long beans and aubergine.

First, I like to coat everything lightly with olive oil and season with salt. It tastes great and keeps things from sticking. Then I like to get a good char on the peppers so that the skin slides off easily. The beans and eggplant need to grill just long enough to become tender - not mushy.

Plate it up fancy! So many vegetable dishes tend to be simply piled on the place. Take a moment to arrange the ingredients to be visually appealing. I like to serve it with fresh tarragon, basil and cherry tomatoes. Then, drizzle a bit of aged balsamic and olive oil for extra flavour. Happy Summer!

Dolmades

June 12, 2015

With grapes on the vine and leaves to spare, it's time to make dolmades! There are several types with different filling. I like a nice savoury eggplant and rice filling to make the perfect doma. Start by roasting an eggplant (aubergine). I like to score it, salt it and drizzle on olive oil. While it's roasting, plunge the grape leaves in boiling water. Continue to cook them until they're tender. Also, prepare a bit of rice to add to the filling. I like to use brown jasmine rice. It imparts a nice texture and a subtle, delightful flavour.

When the eggplant is mushy and browned, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool. When it's cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh and combine it with a bit of rice. I use nearly equal portions of each. Then, mix in a bit of turmeric, onion powder, lemon juice and salt.

Place a spoon of the filling mixture onto a grape leaf and roll it up - kinda like a little burrito. Garnish with dill and drizzle with olive oil.

Vegan Lasagna

September 18, 2014

I'm so busy this week, but I wanted to post this. Vegan Lasagna!

So many vegan lasagnas only use tofu instead of ricotta. It's alright, but it's not great. So, I still used tofu, but the base was grated cauliflower, tamari sauce, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, onion powder and a smidgen of smoky paprika.

I started by preparing the base and then crumbling in the extra-firm tofu. Set it aside while grating the rest of the veg: broccoli, peppers, courgette, carrots and the non-woody stalks of asparagus.

Then add those greeted veggies to a heated pan with olive oil and sauté until tender. This helps reduce the water content and helps build flavour. I was in a rush, so I used canned pasta sauce.

I decided to grill the aubergine instead of grating it. So, just in a hot skillet, I seared it with a bit of olive oil. The spinach also seemed to be too good to chuck through a grater, so I wilted it quickly with olive oil. And salt! Carefully season everything after it's been reduced/seared/sweated.

Sometime when all of this was going on, I boiled the lasagne noodles. You could totally go gluten free, but these are just regular wheat noodles. Either way, be sure not to over cook them. Just soften them - ultra al dente? They'll get more cooking in the oven.

Then, begin building the dish: layer sauce, noodle, spinach and then "ricotta" filling until the dish is almost full. Be sure the top layer is sauce, and that the noodles are fully covered - otherwise they get hard and dry. Then arrange extra veg on the top. I think this makes a nice addition to any lasagna. I topped it with asparagus spears, tomatoes, olives and more grilled eggplant.

Bake for about 30-45 minutes.

I served it with a fresh sprig of basil and a drizzle of aged balsamic and olive oil.

Confit byaldi - Variation on Ratatouille

August 17, 2014

My favourite vegan french dish: Ratatouille! It's also one of my favourite dished because I grow all the vegetables in my garden.

First, slice the squash, zucchini and eggplant. Then, dice and fry in olive oil; the peppers, tomatoes, shallots and onions. Once the onions and peppers are softened, spoon the mixture in a baking dish. I chose to use small oven-safe dishes but really any baking dish will work.

Then, layer the sliced vegetables in an overlapping, alternating pattern. Be sure to cover the entire baking dish. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over the top.

Wrap, or cover, the baking dishes with parchment paper (not wax paper). This keeps the vegetables from drying out in the oven. Bake at 350F for about an hour. Remove from the over, let cool and refrigerate over night.

The next day, remove the parchment and cover the top with tomato sauce. Admittedly, I used tinned tomato paste with fresh sauteed vegetables to make the top sauce. I had only green tomatoes and those don't make an attractive sauce.

Return the sauce covered ratatouille to the oven for ~15 minutes to reheat. Serve while it's still hot. It's amazing on its own, but also goes well with rice and salad.