College Vegetarian Cooking_ Feed Yourself and Your Friends - Megan Carle [47]
Peel the onion and cut into ½-inch pieces. Trim the ends from the celery and cut into ¼-inch-thick slices. Peel the carrot, cut in half lengthwise, and slice ¼ inch thick.
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrot, and cook, stirring frequently, for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are fairly soft. Add the puréed red peppers, tomato paste, crushed red pepper, and water and stir well. Season with salt and pepper and cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Thirty minutes before mealtime, remove the gnocchi and sauce from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature.
Fifteen minutes before mealtime, place the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the gnocchi and cook, stirring occasionally, for 12 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned on two sides.
Meanwhile, place the sauce over low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until hot.
Spoon half of the gnocchi onto each plate and top with the sauce. Sprinkle with the feta cheese and serve immediately.
Cooking 101:
Red and green bell peppers are actually the same plant. Green peppers are picked when the peppers are green (go figure) and red peppers are left on the vine longer until they ripen and turn red. The longer time on the vine results in red peppers being sweeter than the green. Choose smooth, firm peppers with no shriveled or soft spots and avoid the heavy ones. They are loaded with seeds.
Feta, which is a salted Greek cheese, can be mild or sharp, soft or hard. In the supermarket you’ll find it either as a chunk immersed in brine (it spoils quickly after being taken out of the brine) or already crumbled in a package. Buy the latter for this recipe—any leftover is excellent sprinkled over salad.
Onion Stuffed with Quinoa and Mushrooms
Onion Stuffed with Quinoa and Mushrooms
I had never tried quinoa before testing this recipe, and my verdict is that the grain with the funny name is good. The combination of vegetables and quinoa is so delicious that I would be happy with a big bowl of just that. This is even better though, because stuffing it into the onion makes an awesome and impressive dish. –J
Serves 2
¾ cup quinoa
1 vegetable bouillon cube
1 large onion (3½ to 4 inches in diameter)
8 ounces mushrooms
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
2 tablespoons canola oil
Salt and pepper
1 bunch red chard
Up to 6 hours before mealtime, place the quinoa in a stainer and rinse under cold running water for 1 minute. Fill a saucepan with water, add the quinoa and bouillon cube, and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender. Drain in a strainer and set aside.
Peel the onion and cut about 1 inch off the top. Pop out the center of the onion, leaving just the 2 outer layers. (Cut an X in the center few rings of the onion from the top to the bottom and wiggle the knife around to remove the middle of the onion. It doesn’t matter if the center of the onion gets broken up because you are chopping it anyway. Once you have the center out, use your fingers to remove the remaining rings, keeping the 2 outer layers intact.) Chop the inside of the onion into ½-inch pieces. Cut the ends off the mushroom stems, discard, and cut the mushrooms into quarters. Peel the carrot, cut in half lengthwise, then cut into ¼-inch-thick slices. Trim and discard the ends of the celery, cut in half lengthwise, then cut into ¼-inch-thick slices.
Place the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, chopped onion, carrot, and celery and cook, stirring frequently, for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the onion is soft. Stir together the quinoa and mushroom mixture and season with salt and pepper.
Carefully