Veggie Spaghetti

 

I have not been in the mood for any fancy food lately.  I've gone minimalist with my cooking.  On Sunday night, I just cook a big pot of quinoa, bake a pan of tofu, and steam a bunch of kale.  Then all week I mix and match these basic ingredients by adding avocados, or red pepper hummus, or wrapping it in a tortilla, etc.  It's been greatly efficient, but not so inspiring for my blog.  But then my friend Supriya reminded me that sometimes people want simple and practical recipes.  Not everyone has the time to make a fruit tart from scratch.  And not everyone wants to go looking for hard-to-find ingredients.  So this weekend I wanted to make an easy and delicious dish.  Pasta, what is easier than that? The great thing about pasta is that you can put anything in it you like.  For this dish, I sliced up some creamy avocados, chopped up some salty olives, steamed some hearty kale and added sweet green pees.  The variety of fresh vegetables gave the dish a depth of flavor.  Also, I love Tinkyada brand gluten free pasta- it really is the best.   This dish took no time to make - maybe 25 minutes.  Ok, ready, spaghetti?

Ingredients

• One package of Tinkyada Brown Rice Spaghetti
• 1 avocado sliced into chunks
• 1/2 bag of frozen green peas
• 1 bunch of kale, washed and chopped finely
• 1 clove of garlic, minced.
• 1 small jar of tomato sauce (The canned Muir Glen tomato sauce is sugar/gluten/dairy free)
• Olive oil, salt, and pepper

Directions

1. Bring a pot of water and a pinch of salt to a boil.
2. Pour the frozen peas into the colander you're going to use to strain the pasta later.  Rinse with some warm water, but then just leave in there until the pasta is done.
3. When pasta is cooked (follow directions on package) strain right over the peas in the colander-and your peas will be perfectly steamed!
4. In the pot you used to cook the pasta, coat the bottom with olive oil and saute the garlic on medium heat for a moment and add the kale.  Saute for about 5 minutes until kale is bright green and soft. 
5. Add the tomato sauce and heat for a few more minutes.  
6. Add the pasta and peas into the pot and stir. 
7. Add salt, pepper, and avocado and enjoy!

Chinese Steamed Fish

Everyone in my family can cook. My sister has a sweet tooth and loves to bake coconut cakes, passion fruit custards, and silky meringues.  My mother owned a catering business for years serving spinach turnovers and grapefruit avocado salads, yet her best dish was always her home-cooked mashed potatoes full of sour cream and hearty potato skins.  My brother loves to host a party, preparing an abundance of dishes including his famous deviled eggs.  My father loves soul food and barbecue, but when he cooks he tends to create refined dishes like steamed mussels in lemongrass broth.  I was a "late cooker," as there were already too many cooks in the kitchen at my house growing up. The first time I ever baked was after I gave up wheat, sugar, and dairy as an adult.  Since then, I have finally made my way into my "family's kitchen" as a chef.  When my father and sister came to visit, our father planned a delicious Chinese feast that we all cooked together.  We steamed snapper with black beans, sauteed watercress and enoki mushrooms, stewed some melon soup, and picked up some roast duck and pork in Chinatown.  Here is the recipe for the snapper and sauteed vegetables.  Look in your local Asian market for these ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1-2 fillets of snapper
• 1 small bunch of scallions, sliced
• 1 large chunk of ginger, minced or grated
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup of salted black beans
• 1 cup of vegetable broth
• 1 bunch of fresh watercress
• 1 bunch of enoki mushrooms
• sesame oil

Directions

1. In a pan, simmer the vegetable broth with the salted black beans, and about half of the scallions, ginger, and garlic.  Heat until beans are soft and the flavors are integrated.
2. In a steamer, steam the fish with the rest of the scallions, ginger and garlic for about 10 minutes until cooked through.
3. In a saute pan, saute the mushrooms in a little sesame oil over medium-high heat.
4. When the mushrooms are almost cooked through add the watercress, and a splash of water or vegetable broth and cook for another minute.
5. To serve, pour the black bean broth over the cooked fish.  Serve with the side of vegetables and some rice.

 

Strange Fruit

 

Limequats, mellow yellow grapefruits, sweet limes, manderinquats, pomelos and more..... Bi Rite Market always has the most beautiful and diverse range of seasonal fruits and vegetables.  I had my first watermelon radish at Bi Rite.  And right now there is a plethora of crazy citrus fruits I've never heard of before.  It's so exciting to bite into a sweet lime (which looks just like a lemon), expecting sour but tasting sweetness.  I've always been attracted to strange fruits/vegetables, especially hybrids, perhaps because of my own hybrid racial identity.  I think diversity is beautiful in all aspects of nature, from humans to plants.   I get kind of disturbed by the homogeneous rows of identical apples or oranges I see at Whole Foods Market, it just seems unnatural.  And they do not taste nearly as flavorful or potent as a locally grown blood orange from Bi Rite.  So go search your local farmer's markets for unique and perfectly imperfect produce.  Or demand some freaky and funky fruits and vegetables at your major grocery store!