Chilled peanut noodle salad

Got a road trip planned this holiday weekend? This recipe was designed as road trip food, the premise being that vegetarians often find limited options on the road that meet their dietary criteria.

Let's face it, even those of us who are omnivores can find limited options on the road if your dietary criteria involves tasty, well-prepared food. So we pack a picnic and avail ourselves of one of Minnesota's well-sited and maintained rest areas.

Chilled peanut noodles
Adapted from “Vegetarian Heartland” by Shelly Westerhausen, a vegetarian book that thankfully is just about cooking tasty food that doesn’t happen to have meat in it instead of torturing food into things they were never meant to be. Plus it doesn’t put tofu in everything like some books resort to. Aspirational lifestyle photos.

I used rice noodles in this because that’s what I had available, but the original recipe is aiming for the nuttier texture of the buckwheat or whole wheat noodles.

Ingredients
9 ounces soba, rice noodles or whole wheat spaghetti
1 cup snap or snow peas
1 carrot, cut into matchstick pieces
1 bell pepper, julienned
½ cup creamy peanut butter
⅓ cup water
2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
2 garlic cloves, chopped
Juice of ½ lime
2 teaspoons Sriracha sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon honey
½ teaspoon ground ginger or 1 teaspoons grated fresh
Chopped peanuts for garnish
Chopped cilantro for garnish

Method
Cook noodles until about a minute from al dente. Add peas and cook for one minute more. Drain into a large bowl. Toss with carrot pieces and pepper slices.

In a blender or food processor, combine peanut butter, water, rice vinegar, garlic, lime juice, Srarcha, sesame oil, honey and ginger. Pour pureed mixture over noodles and toss together. Divide into individual serving bowls, cover and chill. Garnish with peanuts and cilantro when ready to serve. If it sets up too much in the refrigerator, just add a tablespoon of water to revive the sauciness.

Rating: Tasty, with nicely balanced flavors and just a mild hint of heat.We did indeed need to add a bit of water to achieve a good sauce consistency, but otherwise it's a self-sufficient picnic lunch. Or lunch at home for that matter. Fast to pull out when you're bouncing between meetings.I would definitely make this one again. Dave wanted the salad contents outlined for him, but said it was Dave-approved.

These containers come with plastic lids, so they make great lunch totes. Just remember a metal fork.

Bran raisin muffins

 We all have our own definition of laziness. This morning mine was being too lazy to put on presentable clothing and walk the four blocks down the hill to the bakery to fetch something suitable for Sunday breakfast, having failed to provide for this eventuality in advance. So instead I grabbed the first likely cookbook I saw off the shelf, turned the index to muffins and decided to try this one on the theory that I had the ingredients on hand and it didn't look like it would take too long. Again, lazy.

Turning Point Breakfast Muffins
From “Cinnamon Mornings,” by Pamela Lanier, a collection of recipes from B&Bs around the country. This one comes from the Turning Point in Great Barrington, Mass. It appears to have still been in existence at the beginning of the pandemic, but Yelp is currently indicating it's closed, although that's not always a reliable source of business status. But their muffins can live on.

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
1½ cup raw bran
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or melted butter
¾ cup raisins
¾ cup milk
¾ cup apple juice
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 egg, beaten
12 walnut halves, or equivalent of walnut pieces

Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line or grease 12 standard-size muffin cups.

Combine flour, bran, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in raisins. In a separate bowl, combine oil, milk, juice, syrup and egg. Stir into flour mixture. Divide mixture among muffin cups; a ¼ cup measuring spoon worked well. Top each muffin with a walnut half or walnut pieces. Bake for 15 minutes or until they test done.

Rating: These are fine. They aren't wowers in the flavor department, so I might add more cinnamon if I make them again. But they were nicely moist despite that bran bomb and made a perfectly adequate breakfast that didn't require me to leave my home and interact with other humans before I was so inclined.So basically, the reason we're not really B&B people.

 

 

Blueberry pear scones

 

Oh, cabin breakfasts. Cottage 1 would not be the same without you.

Blueberry pear scones
Adapted from Relish magazine, I think, although I didn't note which of those free newspaper insert magazines this came from so I can't link to it.

Ingredients
2 cups flour, plus 2 tablespoons, divided
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
Zest of 1 lemon
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter
½ ripe pear, peeled and cut into chunks
½ cup plain yogurt
1 egg
1½ cups blueberries

Method
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and salt. Pulse to combine. Add butter, cut into 6 pieces and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Transfer mixture into a large mixing bowl.

In same bowl of the food processor, combine pear and yogurt until smooth. Add egg and pulse to combine.

Add yogurt mixture to flour mixture in bowl. Stir until combined. Fold in blueberries.

Dust a work surface with some of the 2 tablespoons of flour. Put scone mixture on the board and top with remaining flour mixture. Pat into a circle about 1 inch thick. Divide into 8 wedges and transfer to baking sheet. (Make ahead tip: At this point, you can transfer scones to a freezer container, using waxed paper between the layers. Do not thaw before baking.)

Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown (add 5 minutes if baking from frozen), but check them early. In the cabin I found I only needed 18 minutes to bake them from a frozen state, since the oven ran a bit hot.

Rating: Decent flavor and good texture, despite efforts to make them slightly more healthful by subbing the pear for the usual cream. There's enough butter in these to preserve flavor and texture, so they're slightly less rich than traditional scones, but definitely worth lingering over while watching the frenetic hummingbirds at the feeder outside the picture window at the cabin.

Smoked gouda and sun-dried tomato spread

 

This year's flexible cabin condiment was a cheese spread. This recipe was designed to be a stuffing for celery. It has been rescued from that role and reapplied.

Smoked gouda and dried tomato spread
From “The Berghoff Café Cookbook” from the Chicago restaurant.

Ingredients
⅔ cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 teaspoon finely grated yellow onion
½ teaspoon paprika
1½ cups grated smoked Gouda
⅓ cup finely chopped drained oil-packed dried tomatoes

Method
Combine all ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste as needed.

 

 

Rating: Makes a decent sandwich spread.  If you insist on stuffing celery, this wouldn't be a bad option. Would pair well with beer. Which luckily, is readily available nearby.

 

Asparagus carbonara

 

If the internet is to be believed, the Swedish have traditionally been more into white asparagus than green, but I'll take what we can get during the brief season, and the green is pretty in this recipe.

Asparagus carbonara
Adapted from "Swedish Summer Feasts," by Amanda Schulman and Hannah Widell, a book filled with recipes for summer beach house living in another all-too-brief season, known as summer. The pictures will make you want a Swedish beach house.

Ingredients
14 ounces pasta
10 ounces bacon, chopped fine
1 yellow onion, chopped fine
9 ounces asparagus spears, cut into 1-inch pieces
4 eggs
2/3 cup heavy cream
3 ounces Parmesan, grated, plus more for garnish
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Method
Cook pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain, reserving cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, cook bacon and onion in a large deep pot until bacon is crisp. Add asparagus and cook until just tender. Add pasta to pot.

Mix eggs, cream, Parmesan, garlic and salt and pepper in a bowl. Stir into pasta mixture, adding some of reserved cooking liquid to make desired sauciness. Serve garnished with Parmesan.

Rating: Fine. It's pasta carbonara with asparagus, so if you like them both separately, you'll like them together.

Greek-style quinoa salad

 

I have a co-worker who will chirp in every chance he gets to say how surprised he is that more people haven't been working in the office. Wow, we live in very different bubbles, or different homes. In my world, home trumps the office on nearly everything but work/life separation, and frankly, that wasn't a perfect division even when the bulk of my work was office-based. Home offers comfy clothes, no people loitering by my desk preventing me from working, no commute/commuting costs, I don't get sick, and I can mute and turn off my camera if people are stupid in meetings so I can heave that seismic eye roll and sigh. Plus, I can have onions for lunch and no one cares.

Greek-inspired quinoa salad with lemon-feta dressing

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens, June 2022. The one where they put Harry Styles on the cover and photographed him at someone else’s home.

Ingredients
¾ cup quinoa
1¾ cup water
¼ cup olive oil
Zest and juice of 1 large lemon
⅓ cup crumbled feta
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups baby spinach leaves
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1¼ cups sliced mini peppers (red, yellow, orange or a mix)
1 cup thinly sliced cucumber
½ cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved
¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
Pita chips for serving

Method
Bring quinoa and water to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Spread on a large baking sheet to cool.

Mix olive oil, lemon zest and juice, feta, oregano and salt. Toss half of the dressing with the cooled quinoa. Reserve remaining dressing.

Line 4 plates with spinach leaves. (Alternatively, you can serve this all on one platter and let people dish it up themselves, but it’s a logistical challenge for eaters and immediately destroys the presentation factor.) Top with chickpeas, sliced peppers, cucumber, olives and red onion. Drizzle remaining dressing over the top. Tuck pita chips in alongside on the plate.

Rating: This makes a lovely lunch, pretty to look at and very tasty to eat. Bright flavors, lots of texture variation, very satisfying all around, including those onions. Much of it can be prepped in advance leaving only the final plating, a thing that only really works well at home, where you aren't trying to eat in a cubicle while working through lunch every damn day. And where you don't have to wear shoes.

 

Pan-fried gnocchi with spinach roasted pepper cream sauce; pan-fried gnocchi with burst cherry tomato sauce

I was more suggestible to this recipe for pan-fried gnocchi after the relatively recent revelation of sheet pan gnocchi. Both have the advantage of a one-pan outcome, and both are fast weeknight fixes that draw on your pantry. The one advantage to the skillet method is slightly more flexibility in your sauce. With a sheet pan you need something roasting with the gnocchi to impart some liquid in addition to the oil; here the oil or butter is doing that lubrication work for you.Then you can add whatever topping strikes your fancy. Either way, I wonder why I wasted time cooking gnocchi in a separate pan all those years.

Golden gnocchi with fresh spinach
Adapted from Beth Dooley, as published in the Star Tribune

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter, or a mix
1 pound shelf-stable or refrigerated gnocchi
1 leek, white and light green parts only, washed
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup roasted red peppers, sliced into strips
½ cup cream
2 cups fresh spinach leaves
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan, plus more for garnish
1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves for optional garnish

Method
Heat oil or butter in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Spread gnocchi in a single layer in the bottom of the skillet. Cover and cook until golden on one side and then flip to the other until they pick up a touch of browning. Stir often so they don’t stick. Slice leek in half lengthwise and then into half moons. Add leek and garlic and cook until tender. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste, roasted peppers and cream. Stir in spinach and cook until it wilts. Stir in Parmesan and serve, topped with Parmesan and basil, if desired.

Rating: This works quite well. I've tried it with red onions in place of the leeks, but definitely like it better with what the leeks bring to the party. I had tossed in some roasted peppers for color, and think that's a definite plus, both in terms of color, texture and flavor.

 

 

After trying the recipe above, I started experimenting some more. This one is also among my favorite variations of the basic approach. But it doesn't have to be complicated. Simply tossing the browned gnocchi with a good pesto and some Parmesan works too.

Gnocchi with burst tomato sauce

Ingredients
2 tablespoon butter or olive oil, or a mix
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 pound shelf-stable or refrigerated gnocchi
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons roasted garlic cloves
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves
⅓ cup olive brine or other briny liquid (or 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar)
Parmesan for garnish

Method
Heat oil or butter in a large deep skillet along with crushed red pepper flakes on medium heat. Add gnocchi in a single layer. Cover and cook until browned on one side. Flip over and brown on the other side. Add garlic, tomatoes and rosemary along with a generous pinch of coarse salt. Cover and cut until tomatoes are about to burst. Add brine and cook uncovered until a sauce forms, stirring often to prevent gnocchi from sticking. Serve garnished with Parmesan.

Rating: Very hearty, and bright flavors. 

Note: I pretty much always have some sort of remnant brine on hand, either from olives from the deli or pickles I put up the previous year. But if that's not you, I think a generous splash of red wine vinegar would do as well. Or broth or whatever liquid you have that imparts a deep, savory flavor. And yes, I keep roasted garlic around at hand, sometimes my own effort, but often just from the obliging deli. So basically, take what's plausible in your fridge and toss it in with pan-browned gnocchi and call it supper.