In preparation for the week, I decided to cook legumes yesterday (sunday) and boy, did it ever pay off. I got a bag of dry beans from my CSA this past week that included various kinds of beans and I had some chickpeas sitting around that I had been meaning to cook for a while. I soaked both (separately, of course!) on saturday night and cooked them on sunday with just a bay leaf and some kombu. This morning the chickpeas added substance to a quick couscous salad seasoned with lots of parsley, almonds, lemon juice and olive oil, which I took to work for lunch. The other beans became the basis for this wonderful bean soup with spelt noodles and kale. I seasoned it with Indian spices such as garam masala, coriander, cumin, paprika… salt & pepper to taste. It was so yummy that I had to have a second bowl and now I can’t move…

For this week’s meatless monday, I made a quick weeknight pasta dish. I had a box of brown rice rottini lying about. Alas, there’s no tomato sauce. But who needs tomato sauce with some nice Tuscan kale and some mushrooms lying around? So I sliced the mushrooms, cooked in olive oil. When they were almost ready I added some garlic, seasoned with salt and pepper and the garlic was cooked I removed the mushroom mix from the pan and reserved. I then softened some shallots on the same pan, added a handful of chopped walnuts, some capers, and a bunch of thinly sliced kale. I added a 1/4 cup of water (you could use wine or stock), closed the lid to steam the kale and cooked for a couple of minutes. Once the kale was wilted, I adjusted the seasoning and tossed it all with the cooked rottini. Yum!

Simple lentils

• 1 cup of puy lentils (green lentils will do as well)
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• 1-2 tsp lemon dill salt (or simply sea salt with some dried herbs)
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 cups of water

Hear two tbsp of olive oil in a saucepan; fry onions and chopped celery and add salt. When onions are soft, add tomato paste and fry for another minute. Add rinsed lentils, mix well to combine and pour in the water. Bring to a boil, turn hear down and simmer until the lentil are cooked, about 20-30 mins depending on the variety of lentils.

Rolled oats cooked with thai eggplant, cerely, kale, and topped with fresh tomatoes and olive oil

Recipe below the fold

Ingredients

5-7 sundried tomatoes, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 large shallot, chopped

1 bunch kale (I used purple kale)

1 cup corn niblets

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 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup butter, chopped

1 large egg

Preparation

Soak the chopped sundried tomatoes in a bowl of hot water.

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

In another bowl, whisk together the egg and kefir until well blended. Add to the cornmeal mixture. 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 shallots until soft, add garlic and cook for another minute. Incorporate the sundried tomatoes (drained from the water) and corn niblets and mix in. Add chopped kale and cook until wilted (about 2 mins), adding salt to taste.

Fold the kale mixture into the cornmeal and return it into the cast iron skillet and bake at 350 F for 25-30 mins. Let it rest for 10 mins and serve immediately.

Ingredients

• 2/3 of package of Orzo
• 2 shallots, sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 bunch kale (I used red kale), washed and chopped
• handful or more of dried mushrooms, reconstituted and chopped
• 4-5 sundried tomatoes, reconstituted and chopped. Reserve the tomato water.
• 2 tbsp capers, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, optional
• olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

1. Prepare the orzo according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, caramelize the onions in skillet with olive oil or butter over medium-low heat. Separate the onions when ready. Add another tbsp olive oil and the garlic. Once the garlic starts to brown, add the tomatoes, mushrooms, and oregano. Cook for a few minutes, add the capers, and then mix in the kale, a handful at a time until it is all wilted. Use the water you reserved from reconstituting the tomatoes to add some moisture and steam Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix in the caramelized onions.

3. When the orzo is ready, drain, and stir it in the kale mixture. Add the parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

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:

I wanted something light, yet seasonal. I had some kale in the fridge and a delicata squash sitting on my counter for the past 10 days. Browsing my new favourite book, I came across a recipe for pan-roasted millet with pumpkin seeds. Browsing one of my favourite magazines, I came across this recipe for delicata squash. Adding the kale and mixing all these different recipes a bit resulted in the above dish – the corn taste of the delicata squash accentuated by lemon and caramelized onions.

You’ll need:

• 1 cup millet
• 2 cups water (or 1 cup water and 1 cup vegetable stock)
• pinch of sea salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil, a bit more for cast iron pan
• 1 delicata squash, peeled, cut in half, seeded, and sliced
• 1/2 tsp ume plum vinegar
• 1/4 cup pine nuts (or pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds)
• 1/2 bunch kale, rinsed and coarsely chopped
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 lemon

Directions

Rinse and drain millet. Place in a casserole dish or medium pot over medium heat and dy-roast until water is absorbed and millet starts to give off a nutty aroma. Add water (or water & stock), salt, cover, reduce heat and simmer until all liquid is absorbed (about 25 mins). Set aside to cool slightly then fluff with fork, drizzle with olive oil and vinegar and toss.

Set a steaming basket over a medium pot and begin steaming.

While millet cooks, heat a cast iron pan over medium heat. Add a tbsp of olive oil and arrange half the delicata squash without crowding the pan. Pan-fry for a couple of minutes and turn the squash. Once both sides are browned, add squash to steamer to finish cooking (the original Fine Cooking recipe calls for roasting the squash in the oven but that would have taken too long for my purposes). While first bath of squash finish cooking in the steamer, pan-fry the second half. I sliced the squash thinly and it took only a few minutes in the steamer for it to finish cooking. I set the squash aside on a plate.

Heat a bit more olive oil in the cast iron pan and add the red onions. Set the heat to medium low and fry the onions until they begin to caramelize, about 10 mins. Add the garlic and once fragrant, add the pine nuts and fry for a minute or so. Mix in the chopped kale. Mix in with the onions and garlic and drizzle a bit of water. Once the kale has wilted, add the juice of one lemon, mix in the delicata squash, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Mix in with the cooked millet.

Ingredients

1/2 cup black lentils

1 1/2 cup of water

3 small kale leaves, centre removed

3 sundried tomatoes

1 small lemon

1 tsp lemon peel

1 garlic

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp ground cumin

salt & pepper

Directions

1. Cook the lentils in water until done (about 20 mins)

2. Meanwhile chop the sundried tomatoes and the kale leaves and set aside

3. mix the lemon, olive oil, cumin, salt & pepper in a small bowl

4. Once the lentils are cooked, mix while still hot with the kale & tomatoes, add dressing and combine well. Eat either warm of cooled. I liked it warm.