Scrambled tofu & carrots, red kale stir fried with caramelized onions, pine nuts, and seasoned with tamari, and watermelon radishes marinated in a raspberry vinaigrette. It all made my day much brighter.

The mix of colours was sooo nice:

This is another good recipe in which to hide some zucchini.  I came back from the market today with a craving for pasta and dying to try out Angela Russo‘s tomato sauce.  I had half of a huge zucchini sitting in the fridge, and the bounty from today’s market. I started out by slicing an entire small garlic head, fresh from the market, and sauteeing it in olive oil. Once it started to golden, I added roughly two cups of grated zucchini, 1 cup grated carrots (1 small yellow carrot, and a small purple carrot), and put a lid on the pan while I chopped some leftover roasted eggplant. After the zucchini & carrot mixture had cooked for about 5 minutes, I added the tomato sauce (abou 2 cups), eggplant, and one can of navy beans. I let it simmer for a few minutes and tried some to judge how much salt & pepper I’d need to add. To my surprise, the sauce was just SO flavourful I didn’t need to add any salt. I added a 1/4 cup chopped basil & flat leaf parsley and served it on pasta. I used gemelli pasta but I bet it would be great with fussili or penne too.

This is what the sauce looked like:

It could be served on top of rice or any other grain or served with bread.

This was very very simple to make and very tasty. I felt creative so I got a cornbread recipe off the internet, replaced a few ingredients, added some veggies, and voilà: Tomato kale conbread

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow cornmeal [I used Bob's Red Mill's wholegrain medium grind cornmeal]

1 cup spelt flour [also Bob's Red Mill's]

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

5 tbsp butter [which I completely forgot; didn't notice the difference so I guess this can be optional]

1 large egg

1 cup buttermilk, or light sour cream, or plain yogurt [I used kefir]

1 small zucchini, grated

2 tbsp sundried tomatoes, chopped

4-5 small tomatoes

4-5 cups kale, washed and coarsely chopped (I let some of the water cling to the leaves so it will steam better)

2 tbsp olive oil

2-5 garlic, chopped (I looove garlic, so used 5)

handful of basil for decorating

Preparation

In a medium bowl, combine cormeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and soda. If using butter, cut the butter into the mixture with two knives or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the chopped sundried tomatoes.

In another bowl, whisk together the egg and kefir until well blended. Add to the cornmeal mixture, and stir in the zucchini. Mix until thoroughly moistened.

Heat a 10-inch cast iron or heavy oven safe skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and stir fry the garlic until it starts to turn golden (careful not to burn it), add kale and cook until wilted (about 2 mins). This is what my curly kale looked like:

While the kale wilts, quarter the tomatoes, put them in a bowl and sprinkle about a tbsp olive oil, salt & black pepper and set it aside.

Once the kale is ready, spoon cornmeal batter evenly over the kale and carefully spread it out. Place the tomato wedges on top:

Bake in 350F for about 30 minutes. Remove form the oven, sprinkle basil and let it sit for a few minutes before serving.

It was delicious! Next time I’ll sprinkle some crumbled goat cheese on top alongside the basil…

This was lunch yesterday. I couldn’t get over how beautiful the colours were, particularly in contrast with the blue bowl.

I worked at home today just so I could make some lunch. Inspired by a recipe from my favourite food magazine, I made this nice chickpea, carrot, and parsley salad. I had some guacamole that I made yesterday and some leftover bbq chicken, which all combined made a very nice filling lunch!

This was adapted from a recipe originally published in Bon Appétit and which I came across in one of my favourite food blogs. The original recipe uses carrots only but since I wanted to make it into a meal in a bowl, I decided to add some quinoa. So this is my version:

Ingredients

* 1 cup plain yogurt
* 2 large green onion, chopped
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint (I probably used closer to 1/4 cup)
* juice of 1 lemon
* 3/4 to 1 teaspoon curry powder (I used closer 2 tsp)
* 4-5 small carrots, peeled, coarsely grated
* 1/4 cup dried currants
* 1 cup quinoa (I used half red and half white quinoa)

Preparation

Cook the quinoa in 2 1/2 cups of water, set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, grate the carrots, mix the first five ingredients, and once the quinoa is cool enough, mix everything in a bowl and add a bit of salt and pepper to taste.

Note: it yields enough salad for 4-6 people

This is what I had last time I was there. Usually I have either the Mezza plate, Yum Yum 1 or 2. This one is a new dish and it’s Fava beans with lemon garlic tehina & tomato sauce, a very Lebanese dish. It was VERY good and exactly what I needed in a rainy, cold day.

The recipe is quite simple:

Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat, add a tablespoon of olive oil and a bit of butter and sautée half a cup of chopped red onions. Once the onions are soft, add a 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika (aka pimentón de la vera), salt & pepper to taste and after frying the spice for a few seconds, add 3/4 cup of chopped cherry tomatoes, and, after a minute or so, 1/4 pound of fresh spinach (something like 4 cups). Once the spinach has wilted, add 1 cup of chicken or vegetable stock and raise the heat the medium-high. Adjust the seasoning after the stock starts boiling and mix in 1 cup of couscous. Blend it in well, close the lid and remove the pot from the heat. After 5 minutes, remove the lid, fluff the couscous and add some fresh herbs if you have (I added about 3 tbsp of chives) and 1/4 cup of pine nuts. It was very yummy and light.