Roasted Squash with Sunflower Seed Dressing over Wild Rice

I need to have a good breakfast before I make this dish because I need all the power in my arms to hack away the skin off the squash. I use an 8 inch Wusthoff knife to slice away the the thick layer of skin that is protecting the sweetest moist orange flesh that is the star of this dish.

It is Fall and I love autumn produce. This giant dish is a seasonal favorite of mine. How do I describe this dish to you... there is so much going on here and it is one the best recipes out there for squash, thanks to Heidi Swanson's 101 cookbook vegetarian website. I have been following her vegetarian blog for sometime and am quite impressed with some of the dishes she has created. This is one of them.

This wild rice dish with roasted squash features two of my seasonal favorites; squash and tiny red onions.  Topped with a sunflower cilantro dressing and you have a healthy hearty and incredibly complex dish.  So many exciting flavors... sweet, salty, nutty, crunchy all in one that just creates a POW in your mouth and stomach.

Now you may not be able to tell from the picture, but the wild rice is under the squash. I did not want to mix it to much because I did not want to break apart the soft roasted squash. I also used Sweet Dumpling Squash which looks like a miniature pumpkin with a hint of orange skin. You can use any squash you have for this dish.

Serves 4

              Ingredients

3 cups Sweet Dumpling Squash (or other winter squash), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
extra-virgin olive oi
fine grain sea salt

12 tiny red onions or shallots, peeled (OR 3 medium red onions peeled and quartered)

2 cups cooked wild rice* 

              Dressing 

1/3 cup sunflower seeds

1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Toss the squash in a generous splash of olive oil along with a couple pinches of salt, and layer onto a baking sheet. At the same time, toss the onions with a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and layer onto a separate baking sheet. Roast both for about 45 minutes, or until squash is brown and caramelized. The same goes for the onions, they should be deeply colored, caramelized, and soft throughout by the time they are done roasting. You'll need to flip both the squash and onion pieces once or twice along the way - so it's not just one side that is browning. This could take about 40 minutes. You should keep an eye on the onions because they will roast faster then the squash.
3. In the meantime, make the dressing. With a food processor puree the sunflower seeds, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and sugar until creamy. You may need to add a few tablespoons of warm water to thin the dressing a bit. Stir in the cilantro, saving just a bit to garnish the final plate later. Taste and adjust seasonings (or flavors) to your liking.
4. In a large bowl, toss the wild rice with a large dollop of the dressing. Add the onions, gently toss just once or twice. Scoop the rice and onions out onto a platter and top with the roasted squash (Gently toss to disperse the squash a bit). Finish with another drizzle of dressing and any remaining chopped cilantro.

* To cook wild rice: Rinse 1 1/2 cups wild rice. In a medium sauce pan bring the rice and 4 1/2 cups salted water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cook for 40 minutes or until rice is tender and splitting open, stirring occasionally. You'll have enough for this recipe and some leftover.

Curried Celery Soup (Vegan, Gluten Free)

How annoying is it when you are cooking up a dish from a recipe that calls for one or two celery stalks and you are still left with a bunch of celery?  How many times has celery just sat in your fridge begging to be used to no avail?? A celery here... a celery there.... still it just does not get used up and this is because, most of the time celery is used as a root in a recipe and does not really enhance the flavor to the dish.

Finally a soup that uses 1 1/2 pounds of celery!! That's right.... now you get to use up that glut sitting in the fridge for an Indian spiced soup that will beckon you to make this soup over and over again.

While I agree that celery may not have a lot of taste, when combined with potatoes, onions and curry, celery morphs into an exotic blend that is perfect for a winter warmup.


Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 teaspoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, washed and sliced
1 1/2 pounds celery, chopped
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 potatoes, washed, peeled and diced
3 3/4 cups vegetable stock
1 bouquet garni (parsley, thyme and bay leaf tied together)
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, leek and celery. Cover and cook gently for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the curry powder and cook for 2 minutes more, stirring the vegetables occasionally.
3. Add the potatoes, stock and bouquet garni and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
4. Remove and discard the bouquet garni and set the soup aside to cool lightly.
5. Use a hand blender and process in pot until smooth.
6. Add the fresh parsley, season to taste and ladle into soup bowls. Garnish with some celery leaves.

Vegetarian Mustard Collard Greens (Vegan, Gluten Free)

A staple vegetable in Southern cuisine that is typically cooked with smoked ham or salted meats. Somehow the South took this thick leafy vegetable that is rich in vitamin C and turned it into a fatty meat vegetable side dish.


So when I received this thick slightly bitter green vegetable, I wandered what to do with it other than saute it in olive oil and garlic (which is usually what I do when I can't be bothered to be creative with a vegetable... it's the easiest thing to prepare and always comes out right).


This time I thought, I want to recreate this Southern staple into a Northeastern Vegan dish while retaining that smoked flavor with some cider vinegar and onions which mimics the smokiness that so many Southerners are used to.


The end result was a deep chipotle flavored green side dish resembling the Southern staple in flavor, somewhat, only healthier and I think just as distinctive. I served this with grilled veggie burgers and some sauteed red peppers for added sweetness.



Serves 6-8


Ingredients

• 1 lb collard greens ( or 1/2 collards, 1/2 kale)
• 1 onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup prepared salsa or 1 chopped tomatoes
• 2 -4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• Salt to taste
• hot sauce, to taste
  

Directions

1. Wash greens in a colander.
2. Chop into bite-sized pieces and remove hard stems.
3. Saute onions and garlic, making sure not to burn. Once onions are clear, throw in all remaining ingredients into a large pot, cover and reduce heat.
4. Greens are done when they have shrunk down and are cooked through, usually about 20 minutes, but you can let it simmer much longer.
5. Serve with its liquid.

Sweet and Sour Veggieballs (Gluten Free)

This past Rosh Hashana I was inspired to make sweet and sour meatballs, probably due to the fact that every where I turned to in the kosher supermarkets was advertised a catered meal with sweet and sour meatballs. I never see them advertised at other times of the year, just at holidays. Somehow Sweet and Sour meatballs has become a staple in Ashkenasi families, "Just like Bubeh made them!" Not my Bubeh, since I am a Sephardi Jew, but certainly like my husbands' whose grandparents were from Lithuania. I suppose it draws some nostalgia to the old country for some... however for me, since my husband and I are vegetarians I decided to contemporize (not sure of that's a real word, but you get my drift) the classic dish with veggie balls.

When I think of meatballs, I think of tomato sauce and bay leaf. Basil. Pasta. Italian. But the liking for a subtle blend of sour and sweet is an Ashkenazic taste that displays itself in other traditional recipes: beet borsht, brisket cooked with dried fruit, honey and vinegar, and of course that perennial Jewish favorite, Chinese food.


So I made them. These veggieballs are made from mushrooms, have no gluten in them and by far is one of the healthiest mock meat out there. All the ingredients are recognizable and pronounceable. You can find them in the refrigerated section on you can request for your supermarket to carry it here.

The meatbals turned out very good indeed, firm but tender, savory/sweet. A nice little mouthfull to keep everyone interested and no one could believe that it was not MEAT. I was so excited that I was able to prepare a dish for my meat eating crowd and show them that a life without meat is absolutely doable and better for us all. With the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday approaching, where cranberries are traditionally eaten, this dish fits right in once again for a festive meal. Look how quick and easy it is to prepare. Serve on a large platter with a side of sweet potatoes or noodles.



Ingredients

3 cups tomato sauce
1 (15 ounce) can of cranberry sauce
2 onion soup bouillon (vegan)
1 cup sour kraut
2 packages Veggieballs from Franklin Farms

Directions

1. Combine tomato sauce and cranberry sauce in a large stockpot over medium high heat.
2. Once simmering add the soup bouillon and break apart with a spoon to blend with the sauce. When bouillon has emulsified into sauce, add sour kraut and bring to simmer.
3. Add veggie balls, lower heat and simmer covered for 15-20 minutes or until heated throughout.

Baked Spaghetti Squash with Parmesan (Gluten Free)

Does anyone remember a commercial that Ronzoni had over 25 years ago of Italian woman carefully selecting spaghetti strands from trees? That commercial left such an impression on me when I was a child that I actually thought spaghetti grows on trees! Stop laughing at my naivete.... you thought so too, no?

Apparently that commercial was a spook that the BBC played in 1952 on April Fools Day about the spaghetti crops in Switzerland.


The program feature a family from Ticino in Switzerland carrying out their annual spaghetti harvest. It showed women carefully plucking strands of spaghetti from a tree and laying them in the sun to dry.

Although some viewers did not find this program too amusing as it was intended to be, others were so intrigued they wanted to find out where they could purchase their very own spaghetti bush. So, I was not alone in this. I too wanted to know how to buy a spaghetti bush.

Well, as it turns out... we really don't have spaghetti bushes, but we do have Spaghetti Squash. It is an oblong seed-bearing variety of winter squash. The fruit can range either from ivory to yellow or orange in color or green with white streaks. Its center contains many large seeds. Its flesh is bright yellow, and orange or white for the latter variety. When raw, the flesh is solid and similar to other raw squash; when cooked, the flesh falls away into strands like spaghetti. The taste is quite bland and like spaghetti needs a really good sauce to enhance the flavor.

This main dish is like eating a spaghetti con pesto, minus the carbs. The strands are delicately tossed with herbs and then topped with parmesan cheese.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 medium spaghetti squash

1 stick vegan butter

3 tablespoons mixed herbs, such as parsley, chives and oregano (chopped)

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 shallot, chopped

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Salt and ground pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Place the halves cut side down, in a roasting pan. Pour a little water around them and bake for 40 minutes or until tender. Do not allow to burn- cover with foil if necessary.
2. Meanwhile, put the butter, herbs, garlic, shallot and lemon juice in a food processor and proces until smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper.
3. When the squash is tender, scrape out any seeds, and place a thin slice from the base of each half so that it can sit level.
4. Using a fork, pull out a few of the spaghetti like strands in the center to make room for filling. A a dollop of herb butter, then sprinkle with a little grate cheese. Serve the remaining herbed butter separately adding more as you pull more strands.

Vegetarian Chili (Vegan, Gluten Free)

Originally known as chili con carne which is taken from the Spanish, meaning "peppers with meat." Traditional versions are made, minimally, from chili peppers, garlic, onions, and cumin, along with chopped or ground beef. Beans and tomatoes have become frequent additions to this classic Tex- Mex dish. In fact, Chili con carne is the official dish of the U.S. state of Texas due to bordering Mexico which has influenced the Southwest significantly in regards to cuisine.

Tomatoes were not part of the original recipe and not everyone uses it in their dish, but since I have received over 20 pounds of tomatoes in the last month.... why not?? Plus my version is a stovetop vegetarian chili with a medley of assorted vegetables. I adapted this recipe and tweaked it several times until it has come out just perfect with the blend of just the right amount of spice, sweetness and the balance of vegetables to beans.

So Break out your soup pot and fix up a batch of this delicious, spicy vegetarian chili today. It's ready in no time, and packed with vegetables, beans - and flavor. This chili is SO easy to make and you can empty out the fridge with the glutton of veggies on the verge of turning. A colorful, satisfying bowl of chili that packs plenty of flavor — even for the most dedicated meat eaters will be satisfied due to the high protein from the beans. This yields a lot which is great because chili tastes even better when refrigerated overnight to seal in the flavor. Serve with corn bread, tacos or or over your favorite rice. Serve into a large platter, garnish with cilantro and adorn with sliced avocados.


Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 medium onion, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
• 6 carrots, peeled and cubed
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 green bell peppers, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 6 tomatoes, coarsely chopped or 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, for garnish
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Serves 6

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion, and season with bay leaves, cumin, oregano, salt and coriander. Cook and stir until onion is tender, then mix in the sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, and garlic. When vegetables are heated through, reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 5 minutes.
2. Mix the tomatoes into the pot with sugar and stir in the black beans.  Add the water, and bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes.

Jamie Oliver's Tomato Salad

Tomatoes are proliferating the farmer's markets and particularly my CSA these last few weeks. I have received over 20 pounds of tomatoes in the last month. No Joke.


In my weekly CSA, there has been a regular sort of three different tomatoes:

The Roma tomatoes are a meaty, egg- or pear-shaped tomato that has few seeds and is a good canning and sauce tomato. I did not use those for this salad, but just made a tomato sauce and stored it in the fridge for later use. The orange tomatoes, similar looking to cherry tomatoes taste like starburst candy that just explodes with natural sweetness in your mouth. The Beefsteak tomatoes are the largest from the variety, hence the name. Typically used in sandwiches because of their large slices. Since I am not a sandwich eater, I used the beefsteak tomatoes for this salad.


Now this is an incredible tomato salad but there are two things to remember if you want to wow your guests with something so simple. The first is that you should try to get a mixture of different, tasty, local (if possible) tomatoes in all different shapes, sizes and colors. Second, the flavor is brought out by salting the tomatoes, so don't skip this bit. Some people get worried about putting this much salt on their food, but the bulk of it will drip off, leaving you with really beautiful, intensely flavored tomatoes.

If you can get hold of some dried flowering oregano then do, as it has the most heavenly flavor. Feel free to use the dried stuff that you get in a little container, but it can taste a bit like sawdust when compared to the fruity, fragrant flavor you get from the flowering variety. Oregano is also great to grow in the garden. This salad is from Jamie Oliver's recipe, called "The Mothership Tomato Salad"

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 pounds mixed ripe tomatoes, different shapes and colors

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

A good pinch dried oregano

Red wine or balsamic vinegar

Extra-virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, peeled and grated

1 fresh red chile, seeded and chopped

1. Depending on the size of your tomatoes, slice some in half, some into quarters and others into uneven chunks. Straightaway this will give you the beginnings of a tomato salad that's really brave and exciting to look at and eat. Put the tomatoes into a colander and season with a good pinch of sea salt. 
2. Give them a toss, season again and give a couple more tosses. The salt won't be drawn into the tomatoes; instead it will draw any excess moisture out, concentrating all the lovely flavors. Leave the tomatoes in the colander on top of a bowl to stand for around 15 minutes, then discard any juice that has come out of them.
3. Transfer the tomatoes to a large bowl and sprinkle over the oregano. Make a dressing using 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil, the garlic and the chile. Drizzle the tomatoes with enough dressing to coat everything nicely.
4. This is a fantastic tomato salad, which is totally delicious to eat on its own. It's also great served with some balls of mozzarella or some nice, grilled ciabatta bread.

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Storage Facts: Tomatoes should never be refrigerated until they:

• have been cooked

• have been cut or put into a raw dish like a salsa

• are fully ripe and would spoil if left further at room temperature

Place tomatoes stem end up, and don't put them on a sunny windowsill to hasten ripening. Instead, put tomatoes in a sealed paper bag with or without ethylene-producing fruit such as bananas. Ripe tomatoes will hold at room temperature for two or three days. Ripe tomatoes you've refrigerated to keep from spoiling will taste better if you bring them to room temperature before eating.