Tofu & veggie stirfry in orange sauce

Yes, I'm still on my Asian food kick. And so you can imagine my delight at coming upon the "noodlemania" feature in the most recent issue of Vegetarian Times (April/May 2011), which offers recipes for 5 Asian noodle dishes to "rev up weeknight meals." It's like this magazine always knows what I'm craving.

I took one look at the main dish - a bowl of broccoli, browned cubes of tofu, and flat noodles - and decided I needed it. But instead of going with their Thai-inspired coconut sauce, I opted for an orange sauce I saw over at vegalicious. I'm always intrigued when sauces incorporate fruit; maybe because it's slightly out of my comfort zone, both in taste preference and culinary know-how. But when it's done right, it's a nice change from the familiar, and this orange sauce looked basic enough to not mess up.

Roasted Cauliflower with Cherry Vinaigrette

When I think of cauliflower, I picture their hard white florets on a customary Crudité platter, right alongside the dehydrated carrot sticks and stringy celery. To me, cauliflower was always broccoli's slighted cousin, bearing resemblance in shape but falling short of its taste, nutritional benefits, and appearance. And while I empathize with my pale pigmented brethren, I can't help but think a uniformly white vegetable is just a bit suspect.

Yet recent experiences have made me reconsider. I've grown addicted to the roasted cauliflower sandwich at Num Pang Sandwich Shop, a tiny, bustling establishment just south of Union Square that defies cauliflower's natural state by roasting it into a creamy mash. It's paired with Chinese & Thai eggplant spread and served, like all of the sandwiches, on freshly baked semolina baguettes from Parisi Bakery with pickled carrots, cilantro, cucumbers, and homemade chile-mayo. Oh lord, I need one of those sandwiches now. 

Simple Veggie Stir fry

I've been on a big Asian food kick lately; I'll have to recount some of my adventures in crispy spring rolls, Vietnamese sandwiches, and savory noodle dishes in another post. But, much as I love treating my palate to restaurant-prepared dishes, what I'd really love is to be able to make my dish last long enough to pick it apart; to identify ingredients and spices and ponder how I might prepare the meal in my own kitchen. While I don't believe I possess the necessary devotion or skill to recreate these meals, I'd like to be able to whip up a version that satisfies me just the same.

So I decided to start with the one of the very few Asian dish in my repertoire: a vegetable stir fry. Now, my typical "stir fry" dish involves a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, soy sauce, crushed garlic, and white rice; so it wouldn't take much to step up my game.  But, after a little experimentation and research, I found that a few subtle changes can make all the difference.

Weeknight Dinners

Dinner on weeknights continues to be a challenge. I typically collapse into our apartment around 7:30 or 8 to a sink full of dishes, a fridge with ingredients that never seem to go together, and a voracious appetite. i.e. danger


In this past, this has often resulted in something like three spoonfuls of peanut butter, some pita chips with Turkish salad, an apple, and ice cream--consumed over a span of three hours--for dinner. And while this random snack combination may be deemed a "meal" in the caloric sense, it simply doesn't satiate like a home-cooked meal.


So Gus and I have decided to sit down and eat together every night (or as often as possible), whether we're making dinner or eating a can of soup. I know I've said this before, but we're really sticking to it this time! Perhaps now that we're 2-year-old New Yorkers we've come to truly value the wonderful simplicity and the importance of sitting down together and talking and eating without any distractions.


So tonight, I made a very simple meal from Epicurious: Spanish White Beans with Spinach. I love this recipe because it's quick, healthy, filling, and only requires 7 ingredients--most of which are inexpensive and/or pantry staples:

• 1 large onion
• 1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
• 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
• 2 (19-ounces cans) cannellini beans
• 2 (10-ounces) bags spinach

I was pretty excited about the sweet smoked paprika, a.k.a. Pimenton de la Vera, Dulce. I picked some up at Kalutsyans (which deserves its own post) and it definitely lives up to its sexy-sounding name. Deep and red and sweet and smoky, the spice house tells us it's essential for authentic Spanish cooking: "Popular for dishes such as gratin of leafy greens and crispy potatoes, fish dishes, spinach and chickpea stew or bean dishes. A great way to add a smokey flavor with no heat."


So I was a little disappointed when the flavor didn't come through much in the dish. Next time I'll try adding some more. (Especially now that I have an entire bottle to go through.) Otherwise, I stuck to the recipe and served it with Chapati (Indian flatbread, homemade, from Kalutsyans). The dish was a little brothy for this type of accompaniment, but the tastes went well together. It would also be good served over basmati rice or couscous. Definitely going to tuck this one away for future rushed dinner nights.