Herbed Lentils & Cucumbers

May isn’t just a great month for flowers, it’s a great month for graduation parties and weddings and holiday weekend grilling. And no matter which bash you’re hitting up, you’d probably like to take a dish along with you. But what can you take that will taste great, be fresh and satisfying at the same time, and be able to go without refrigeration for a few hours?

Lentils: they’re hearty, inexpensive, and cook in 20 minutes. Cucumbers: even after cut, they retain their refreshing crunch for hours. Bell peppers: not only are they crunchy, they’re sweet and add a splash of color. Then just throw in a herbs, some lemon juice, and some extra-virgin olive oil. Done! A dish that’s sure to impress despite being ridiculously easy to make. (Note: you could substitute cooked chickpeas for the lentils and/or include different-colored peppers if you like.)

Herbed Lentils & Cucumbers

2 cups cooked lentils (which is about 1 3/4 cups raw)
1 red bell pepper, seeds and stem removed, flesh minced
1/2 English cucumber (the really long kind) OR 1 garden cucumber, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
1 T. dried parsley OR 1 tsp. minced fresh parsley
1 1/2 tsp. dried mint OR 1/2 tsp. minced fresh mint
Drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt & freshly cracked pepper

Toss lentils, pepper, cucumber, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Add herbs and a drizzle of oil and toss well to coat. Sprinkle with salt and taste to see if you’d like more salt (or herbs, for that matter). Garnish with a few grinds of cracked pepper. If you used an organic lemon and you’re a major lemon fan like me, you might want to add some grated lemon zest, too.

Enjoy!

Moroccan Salsa

From ras-el-hanout to harissa to preserved lemons, Moroccan cuisine features some of the most stunning flavors on the planet. Sadly, there’s no Moroccan restaurant in my neck of the woods, but it’s easy to include some signature North African inspiration when you’re in your own kitchen. To make this batch of salsa, I blended sautéed peppers and onions with harissa, sweet paprika, and cilantro to make a chunky tomato-based salsa that’s a fusion of Mexican and Moroccan ingredients.

Since I am an unabashed wimp when it comes to hot sauces, I only added a tiny spoonful of harissa to my salsa. If you embrace all things hot and spicy, by all means add however much harissa suits your taste buds. (Harissa is a fiery-hot paste made of hot chiles complemented by a hint of garlic, coriander, and various spices.) You can find harissa in the “ethnic foods section” at well-stocked mainstream grocery stores or in stores specializing in North African goods. Or you can use your favorite hot-chili sauce in its place.

Once you’ve whipped up your as-hot-as-you-want-it salsa, you can serve it with chips or veggies for dipping, you can use it to season soup and chili, or you can use it as a marinade for chicken, beef, or seafood. I like to ladle some of the salsa over sheep’s-milk feta cheese and eat it straight out of the bowl. It also makes a darned refreshing (and somewhat zingy) chilled gazpacho. Or toss it with cooked pasta for an easy last-minute meal.

Moroccan Salsa

1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
28 oz. canned diced tomatoes (or the equivalent of fresh chopped tomatoes)
1 heaping tsp. sweet paprika
Dab (or more) of harissa OR your favorite chili sauce
Bunch of fresh cilantro, rinsed well, damaged leaves removed, stems chopped off at the base

Sautée onions and pepper in a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes or until onion is soft and nearly translucent. Stir in garlic, reduce heat to medium-low, and continue to cook for another 3 minutes or until garlic is just starting to turn golden brown. Add the tomatoes, paprika, and harissa and stir well. Simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to marry.

Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Pour into food processor and add cilantro. Blend until you have a chunky-but-still-well-blended salsa. If you like, add a few dashes of sea salt to taste. You can also add more harissa if you want more tingle on the tongue. Leftover salsa can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.

Enjoy!

Twice-Baked Potatoes

The next time you bake potatoes, you might want to toss a few extra spuds in the oven, because you can do a lot with the leftovers.  And you don’t have to slather your taters with canned mushroom soup to make them flavorful, either — you can combine the mashed innards with a quick vegetable sautée instead, then re-bake the entire potato and enjoy it inside and out.  (I think the twice-baked skin is the best part!)  Another way to use the leftover baked potato would be to cut it into cubes and then fold it into omelets…or cut it into long strips, then brush them with spiced melted butter or extra-virgin olive oil and make your own oven fries.  (I would spice the butter with a hint of cayenne or chili powder.)  And if you have more filling than skins, you can enjoy the filling all on its own as a quick breakfast, the way I’ve done below.

Twice-Baked Potatoes

Pre-baked potatoes*
Onions, diced
Bell peppers, diced
Garlic, minced
White beans, drained
Dried Italian herbs such as rosemary, thyme, or basil
Sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350F. Scoop out the potato innards from the skins and place in a large mixing bowl.

In a large pan, sautée the onions and peppers in a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until onions are translucent. Add garlic, reduce heat to medium-low, and sautée for another 2-3 minutes or until garlic is soft and fragrant (but not brown and burnt!). Stir in beans and a sprinkling of herbs and salt. (I like a lot of herbs, but you might prefer a pinch. Simply season and taste, season and taste, and stop adding herbs and salt when you’ve hit your personal sweet spot.)

Stir onion mixture into the potato innards, then stuff the mixture into the skins. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the tops are barely golden brown. If you’d like, you could stir some cheese into the mixture before stuffing the skins. Hard, aged cheeses like Cheddar, Parmesan, or Manchego would be ideal. Frankly, I think Feta would be divine, too!

Leftover potatoes can be reheated the next day. Leftover stuffing can be reheated, too, or added to another dish.

Enjoy!

* To bake your potatoes the first time around, scrub them well, pierce them several times with a fork (to keep them from exploding when heated), and place them directly on the center oven rack.  Bake average-sized potatoes at 400F for an hour.  Small potatoes may only take 40 minutes; extra-large potatoes may need more than an hour to get tender.   Your best bet is to poke a fork into them before taking them out of the oven — if the fork meets much resistance, keep baking the potatoes for another 10 minutes before test-poking them again.

Leftover Stuffing Breakfast

Roasted Vegetable Salad with Corn, Snap Peas, Red Pepper & Sweet Potatoes

As much as I adore fresh, raw ingredients in my salads, sometimes I think roasting veggies makes them taste even better.  There’s something about that slow-cooked, vaguely-carmelized flavor that makes a roasted salad explode on my tongue in an ever-so-smooth kind of way.  And such salads are ridiculously easy to make — the veggies themselves are so pronounced and satisfying that you don’t even need to add dressing.  Just remove them from the oven, let cool slightly, and toss together.  The only thing you might want to add is a sharp, piquant cheese like sheep’s-milk Feta or a soft goat cheese.  Trust me, your dinner guests will think this is the best salad they’ve ever had!

Roasted Vegetable Salad

You can use any kind of vegetable you’d like — with the glaring exception of delicate greens, vegetables roast well.  Just be sure to put them in separate pans so that you can remove them as they’re done (different vegetables and different shapes have different cooking times).  I often use several pie pans since I can fit five or six 9″ ones into the oven at once.  Something long and slender, for example (green beans, green onions, or asparagus) is going to cook more quickly than something more dense and starchy (potatoes, turnips, or parsnips).  Separating veggies individually or by type will make it much easier for you to cook them to the doneness that you like best.

Get the oven heating to about 350 degrees F, then clean and slice veggies in whatever way you’d like.  Some — like cherry tomatoes or small- to medium-sized Brussels sprouts — you may wish to leave whole.  Kernels of corn roast beautifully (fresh or frozen); so do peas and carrots and onions and almost anything else you can think of.

Place your veggies into their separate pans or trays.  Toss with  melted butter (or coconut oil), sea salt, and freshly-cracked pepper.  Turn each piece to make sure it’s coated in oil and spices.

Bake for about 30 minutes before checking in on your veggies.  At this point, very slender cuts may be done; starchier or thicker-cut veggies may only be halfway there (or less).  It’s best to open the oven, pull out a rack, and stir the veggies with a wooden spoon so that you can get a really good look at them and determine how done they are.  In my experience, corn, snap peas, peppers, and onions take about the same amount of time, but again, that depends on how you cut the latter two.  After that 30-minute mark, keep checking your veggies every 15 minutes to gauge their progress.  Note that after you’ve done this once or twice, you’ll have a much better idea of how long things will take.

When veggies are done to your satisfaction, simply remove from oven, toss together, and serve.  You may want to add some Feta or goat cheese directly to the mix or let each diner add her own.

Enjoy!

Mexican Salad with Sprouts

It may not be the typical “Mexican flag” dish (one primarily consisting of tomatoes, white onions, jalapeños), but this sprout salad has a distinctly Mexican flair.  I stumbled upon the idea when I realized that my windowsill sunflower sprouts were the perfect size for lunch…and that I just happened to have some extra black beans on hand.  The resulting salad was an intriguing blend of crisp freshness and full-bodied Mexican flavors.  You could use many different kinds of sprouts to add a new dimension to your salads:  broccoli sprouts, bean sprouts, barley sprouts, whichever you like best.  I just happen to prefer the more-substantial texture and taste of sunflower sprouts.

To make the base, dice red pepper, tomatoes, and green onions.  Drain black beans.  Wedge them onto the plate in strips and scatter fresh sunflower sprouts on top.

To make the dressing, simply mix flaxseed oil (or extra virgin olive oil) with a bit of red wine vinegar and/or lemon/lime juice in a small bowl.  Add a dash of chili powder and stir until blended.  Pour over vegetables.

¡Buen provecho!

Avocado & Red Pepper Sandwich

Velvety, creamy, mashable (yet slice-and-diceable)…and a color that would make the Grinch envious.  Who can resist avocadoes?  Not me!  I make guacamole with them, I serve strips of avocado in wraps and atop salads, alongside fish and strewn atop chili.  You just can’t beat ripe avocadoes for the warmth and richness they bring to almost any dish.

This variation began when I decided I wanted to make an open-faced pita sandwich and top it with avocado.  It didn’t take long for me to decide that what I really wanted was the avocado, so why not make it the star rather than a supporting actor?  To make this luscious-yet-light “sandwich,” I mashed half an avocado with half of a minced red pepper, a minced green onion, a squirt of lemon juice, and a pinch of sea salt.  The smoothness of the avocado was a perfect foil for the crunch of the red pepper.  If you like your lunch spicy, just add a bit of cayenne or crushed red pepper flakes.

Enjoy!

1 zucchini, sliced into rounds
at least 1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 red bell pepper, sliced into long strips
1 medium onion, chopped
2 T. sesame oil (not the roasted variety–that has a VERY strong flavor and should only be added to dishes right before serving)
2 cloves garlic, minced

1 T. honey
2 T. soy sauce
1-2 T. rice wine vinegar, depending on your taste
1/2 tsp. ginger (or 1/2″ of minced, fresh gingerroot)
a pinch of crushed red pepper or cayenne

roasted sesame oil (optional)

Sauté first five ingredients for about five minutes (until onion is translucent), then add garlic. Add remaining ingredients and taste–depending on how sweet or sour you want it, you may want to increase the amount of honey or vinegar. Add a few drops of the roasted sesame oil right before serving if you want to enhance the flavor of the sesame (see note above).

Enjoy!