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By Root 360 0

Chapter 6: Chicken, Fish, and Meat). You can also pile these peppers and onions on any burger (see burger chapter beginning on Chapter 5: Burgers), a Pan-Grilled Boneless Chicken Breast (Chapter 6: Chicken, Fish, and Meat), an open-faced toasted cheese sandwich, an omelet, pasta, pizza, rice…really just about anything. Make a batch and keep it in the refrigerator for up to a week, stored in a resealable plastic bag or a tightly covered container, so you can use it whenever you like.

This recipe is vegan.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium red or yellow onion, thickly sliced

1 large red bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch-wide strips

1 large yellow bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch-wide strips

1 large green bell pepper, cut into ¼-inch-wide strips

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon minced garlic (1 good-sized clove)

1. Place a large (10-to 12-inch) heavy skillet over medium heat. After about a minute, add the olive oil and swirl to coat the pan. Turn the heat to high, and add the onion. Cook for 3 minutes, or until the onion begins to soften.

2. Add the bell peppers, salt, and garlic, and cook for about 1 minute. Then turn the heat down to medium, and continue to cook and stir (tongs work best) for only about 5 minutes longer. The peppers should be barely cooked. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

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GET CREATIVE

For a kick of heat and flavor, add up to 1 teaspoon chili powder, a pinch of red pepper flakes, a pinch of oregano, or ½ teaspoon ground cumin or toasted cumin seeds (see Chapter 1: Soups) along with the onion.

Once the peppers and onions are cooked, stir in a tablespoon or two of fresh lime juice.

For an exotic and very special treat, search the aisles of a gourmet store for toasted pumpkin seed oil (or ask someone to give you a bottle for your birthday). Drizzle this on top, and prepare to swoon.

Top with Peppy Pepitas (Chapter 8: Party Snacks) or plain toasted pumpkin seeds.

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spinach with garlic

Makes 2 to 3 servings

So simple, and so good. This delicious little dish cooks so fast, you can make successive batches and the first batch will still be hot by the time you’re finished with the second. Another reason to make it twice: The first batch might be gone before you get to the second. People walking through your kitchen, armed with forks, know how to make this disappear. You can make this with fresh or frozen (either whole-leaf or chopped) spinach. For this dish, they’re pretty much interchangeable.

This recipe is vegan.

1 pound spinach, fresh (stemming optional) or frozen

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon minced garlic

¼ teaspoon salt

1. If using fresh spinach, place it in a colander and rinse well. Shake to remove most, but not all, of the water clinging to the leaves. If using frozen spinach, thaw it in a colander by running it under room-temperature tap water, and then let it drain well, pressing out most of the excess liquid with the back of a spoon. (It doesn’t have to be bone-dry—just not soupy.)

2. Place a large (10-to 12-inch) heavy skillet over medium-low heat, add the tablespoon of water and the olive oil, and heat for about 30 seconds. Then add the spinach, and cover the pan. Let it cook, covered and undisturbed, for 30 seconds for fresh spinach or 1 minute for frozen. Then uncover, toss with tongs, and turn up the heat to medium-high.

3. Add the garlic and salt, and cook, stirring with the tongs for about a minute longer, or until the spinach is wilted. Lift out the spinach with tongs, leaving behind any extra liquid. Serve right away.

THE SPIN ON SPINACH

The year-round availability of packaged prewashed baby spinach has made it so much simpler to enjoy this great vegetable more easily and more often. I often buy spinach loose, in bulk, rather than packaged, which is usually a less expensive way to go. Look for bulk spinach in the produce departments of many supermarkets and at farmers’ markets. I like to rewash the packaged prewashed spinach, just as I do the bulk-bought kind. It’s a simple procedure if you