Category: Vegan Vegetable Side Dishes

by betsy

Nasu Dengaku: Vegan Miso-Glazed Japanese Eggplant with a Twist

DSCN2012Yield: 4 servings

Our favorite local sushi restaurant (vegan for me!) is Zushi, where Chef Kevin (Asian, despite the name) is not only a master of flavors, but also of exquisite, artful presentation.

We like to choose the Chef’s Tasting Menu and let  him delight and surprise us with whatever he is inspired to make from that day’s freshest ingredients.  He relishes coming up with vegan dishes for me.  One of my favorites is quie traditional: Nasu Dengaku or long, thin Japanese eggplant, split lengthwise and broiled with a sweet miso glaze, as Kevin has a special way even with the tried and true.

My version is a slight twist on tradition, as I add a hint of soy sauce, no mirin (as this rice wine is similar to sake and seems like a duplication of it) and a hint of ginger.  My version is not terribly sweet, though you may add a bit more agave if you choose.

Really quick and easy–no chopping is involved and the glaze is made while the epplant broils–this dish is lovely enough for a dinner party in its elegant simplicity, but fast enough for a snack.

2 Japanese eggplant, stem ends trimmed, halved lengthwise

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons sake

2 tablespoons light miso (available in Asian markets)

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon agave nectar (you may add up to an addition 2 teaspoons for a sweeter glaze

1/2 teaspoon soy sauce (I use a “lite” variety for less sodium)

1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (I use a microplan grater to make quick work of this task)

Garnish: 1 tablespoon sesame seeds + 1 green onion, thinly sliced (I use mostly the green part)

Preheat broiler.  Place eggplant on a baking sheet or in a cast iron skillet (my preference to collect any glaze that runs over the edges of the eggplant.  Make shallow diagonal slits in eggplant about 1-inch apart.  Rub eggplant all over with sesame oil and broil 3 minutes on each side.  While eggplant broils, heat sake in a small cup or bowl for 30 seconds in microwave.  Whisk in miso, agave nectar, soy sauce and ginger until smooth.  Taste and whisk in more agave if desired.  Remove eggplant from oven, spoon 1 tablespoon of glaze atop each half, spreading to cover surface, and return to broiler for 2 minutes.  Remove eggplant to a serving platter and spoon any glaze in the bottom of the skillet over the top.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onion.  Serve immediately or at room temperature.  It is even quite tasty cold!

 

 

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by betsy

Jerusalem Post Features Blooming Platter Cookbook/Recipes in Corn Salad Article by Award Winning Cookbook Author Faye Levy

Jerusalem Post--Corn ArticleWhat an honor and a thrill!

Last Thursday, Faye Levy, author of the award-winning International Vegetable Cookbook, along with Yakir, featured The Blooming Platter Cookbook in their Jerusalem Post article on salads made with summer’s gold: corn!

The Jerusalem Post is Israel’s best-selling English daily and most read English website.  Wow!  Thank you, Faye and Yakir.

An excerpt from their article:

“Small oval tomatoes and a chili-seasoned citrus-cumin dressing flavor the roasted corn and black bean salad made by Betsy DiJulio, author of The Blooming Platter Cookbook. She serves this main-course salad on a bed of baby spinach and tops it with spiced toasted pecans. In another summertime salad, she combines corn with diced tomatoes, blackberries, onion and fresh basil, and dresses the salad with lime juice mixed with pomegranate molasses.

To cook the corn for her salads, DiJulio rubs the husked ears with olive oil, sprinkles them with sea salt and roasts them in a 200°C (400°F) oven until just a few brown spots appear; it takes about 15 minutes.”

 

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by betsy

Vegan Mashed Eggplant (Think Jacques Pepin’s Creamy Mashed Potatoes with a Blooming Platter Twist!)

DSCN1866Have you ever made mashed eggplant, like mashed potatoes?
Oh, my!  I hadn’t–I don’t know if anyone has–but I was watching “Essential Pepin” on the Create channel recently, and his show was devoted to the humble potato.
First up: mashed potatoes.  I thought, “Really?  Who doesn’t know how to make mashed potatoes?”  But there was something about his French accent, his arthritic hands, and his assured grace and facility  in the kitchen that made me think his looked like the best mashed potatoes I’d ever seen.
I had no potatoes, but I had some small white and striated globe eggplants from a local farm that needed used, and I thought,”What if?”  What if, indeed!  You will love this simple take on a favorite family staple.
And, folks, this is NO time to skimp.  This is a decadent dish, so don’t hold back on (vegan) butter and sour cream.  Indulge, would you?
2 pounds eggplant, skin on, cut into pool ball size chunks, placed in a large cast iron skillet, drizzled with oil, and sprinkled with a pinch of salt (it is fine for eggplant to be in about 1 1/2 layers)
3 garlic cloves, drizzled with oil, and wrapped in a small piece of foil
2 tablespoons vegan butter
2 to 4 tablespoons vegan sour cream to taste
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon natural sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano)
A healthy amount of sea salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Place skillet with eggplant along with wrapped garlic in oven and roast for 25 minute or until tender, but eggplant holds its shape.  Remove both from oven and let cool until eggplant is easily handled.  Slip off the skin (compost or discard), and place flesh in a glass or ceramic bowl.  Add remaining ingredients and mash with a hand-held potato masher.  Reheat for a minute in microwave, if necessary, as you want butter to melt slowly as you mash.  Serve immediately or cool, cover, and store in refrigerator until just before serving time.  Reheat, check for seasoning, and serve.
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by betsy

Happy Birthday, Joooolia! Vegan Potato and Beet Salad a la Julia Child

DSCN1837This jewel-toned salad is a real gem!

I admit that the color is a bit shocking, courtesy of some beautiful fresh beets, but it looked right at home on the bountiful buffet at this year’s birthday bash for Julia Child.

For the last 4 years, 10 or so of our foodie friends gather to fete the ‘ole gal on the Saturday evening closest to her birthday, making the 2013 iteration of this favorite pot-luck party on August 10.

My contributions were this salad and my new Vegan Luscious Lavender and Creme de Cacao Ice Cream.  Ooh-la-la!

Guests are asked to bring a French dish (and something tasty to eat too–hahaha), one inspired by Julia Child, or one made according to her actual recipes.  We scarcely do any advance coordination, but the meal is somehow always perfect and so beautifully presented.  The group is made up of one vegan (moi), some vegetarians, and some out-and-out carnivores.  But the food is almost entirely vegetarian/vegan.

Lovely dishes brought by our guests included:

  • Fresh juicy cantaloup slices (with or without prosciutto–sorry!)
  • Broccoli aspic (a recipe from Julia Child)
  • La Salad Hericot Vert (with candied walnuts, arugula and radicchio)
  • Ratatouille
  • Beet (not “beef”!) Bourguignon over Lentils
  • Salmon (sorry again!), courtesy of my husband with my homemade basil Pistou (French pesto)

My Vegan Potato-beet salad, a riff on one of Julia Child’s, was a top favorite among at least two of the guests, though everyone seemed to enjoy it.  Be sure to use a neutral tasting mayonnaise, or it will overpower the other flavors.  I am a fan of Nayonaise for some dishes, but feel it is too strongly vinegary and spiced for this dish.  Vegenaise is a better choice in this case.

4 cups quartered new potatoes (at our local farm market, they are called “creamers”), boiled in salted water, partially covered, until tender, about 20 minutes, and drained

7 beets, peeled and diced (about 2 1/2 cups), cooked until tender, and drained (save juice for another purpose) [I place them in a bowl, cover them with water, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and microwave for 15 minutes, but avoid a steam burn when removing the wrap!)

1 cup haricot vert (green beans), trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces, and simmered just until tender, about 7 minutes, then shocked in cold/iced water, and drained

Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

1/4 cup green herbs, finely chopped (I highly recommend a blend of 2 or more, e.g. basil, chives, tarragon, parsley)

2 cups neutral tasting mayo, prepared or homemade (not too tangy, sweet, etc., I like Vegenaise for this recipe)

Sea salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a large non-reactive (glass or ceramic) bowl, combine all vegetables, drizzle with vinaigrette, toss well, cover, and chill for several hours.  Sprinkle with herbs, fold in mayo, and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Chill until serving time and garnish with sprigs of fresh herbs.

Vinaigrette:

1/4 cup sherry vinegar (in truth, whatever vinegar you have will be great)

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 cup olive oil

Sea salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Garlic powder to taste

In a measuring cup or small bowl, whisk together vinegar and mustard.  Then whisk in olive oil in a slow stream until emulsified.  Season to taste and whisk again.  (Or just combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake well.)

 

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by betsy

Vegan Cheesy Yellow Squash Quesadillas Topped with Grilled Green Tomato and Charred Corn Salsa

DSCN1692Yield: 4 Quesadillas

I am still visiting my family in Mississippi, and was reminded that this is another recipe that I hadn’t shared before I left Virginia.  Reminded because it calls to mind one of my father’s signature sayings.

I have never been a particular fan of yellow squash.  It’s not that I don’t care for it; I just don’t “wake up screaming for it,” as my Papa would say.  But it is beautiful in the farmer’s markets right now–or perhaps in your own back yard!–and I wanted to take advantage of it.

I bought one, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it until I remembered my cheesy Zucchini, Onion and Yellow Squash Gratin dish and the Grilled Green Tomato and Charred Corn Salsa I had already made.  So, I decided to combine the two notions and take my yellow squash in both a southwestern and a cheesy direction (the latter inspired by, but different from, the Gratin).  Boy, am I glad I did, and I hope you will be too!

You won’t believe how creamy, cheesy, tasty and rich this yellow squash filling is!  Tucked into a toasty tortilla and topped with my Grilled Green Tomato and Charred Corn Salsa, it is the epitome of summer feasting, southwestern style!

 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup diced yellow onion

Sea salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2-8 inch yellow squash, trimmed and grated (I use the grater blade of my food processor for this task; it makes the most perfect firm strands)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 cup flour (I used white whole wheat because that is what I keep on hand)

1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk

2 tablespoons light miso (any vegan kind will do, though the darker the flavor, the deeper the flavor)

Freshly cracked black pepper

4-8 inch whole wheat or wheat tortillas (I used Ezekial sprouted grain tortillas, which I loved, but they had so much flavor on their own that I felt they competed just a little)

Topping: Grilled Green Tomato and Charred Corn Salsa (recipe follows)

Garnish: vegan sour cream and lime slices or wedges

Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high.  Add onion and a pinch of sea salt and saute, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes until softened.  Stir in garlic powder and grated squash and continue cooking, stirring frequently, for another 2 to 3 minutes or until squash is crisp-tender.  Stir in nutritional yeast until well combined, followed by flour.  Add soymilk and miso, and cook, stirring frequently, until miso is incorporated, and the mixture is thickened, heated through, and the flour no longer has a raw taste, about 3 minutes.  Season to taste with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.  Remove filling to a bowl, wipe out skillet, and coat generously with non-stick cookng sprary.  Spread half of two tortillas with squash filling, fold tortillas over the filling and toast in skillet for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.  Remove quesadillas to serving plates and repeat with remaining filling and tortillas.  Serve topped with salsa, vegan sour cream, and lime slices or wedges.

 

Grilled Green Tomato and Charred Corn Salsa

Yield: 2 cups (easily doubles)

Normally, I would add diced onion and some chopped cilantro to a salsa like this, but it didn’t seem to need it; in fact, I was afraid both the onion and cilantro would overpower the sweet char of the grilled green tomatoes and corn.

1 large green tomato, cut into 1/3-inch slices

2 ears fresh corn, stripped, and broken in half

Sea salt

12 cherry tomatoes (cut smaller if your tomatoes are larger than cherries)

1 banana pepper (mild) or jalapeno (half or whole, depending on your heat tolerance), stemmed, seeded, and very finely chopped (consider wearing gloves to seed jalapeno and wash hands)

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 to 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Oil a grill pan and heat over medium-high.  Lightly salt tomato slices and lay into pan, grilling for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until nice grill marks develop and tomato slices become crisp-tender.  Remove to a cutting board and allow to cool while you grill corn.  Lightly salt corn and grill about 3 minutes on 4 sides or until lightly charred all over.  Cool.  Dice tomatoes and place in a medium non-reactive bowl.  *Cut corn off cob and add to tomato along with remaining ingredients.  Toss to combine and chill, covered.  Delicious with chips–of course!–or as a topping over quesadillas, beans, a thick soup, etc.

*Note: the easiest way I have found to cut corn off the cob is to place a short sturdy glass or small bowl upside down in a larger bowl.  Working with one half-cob at a time, stand it up on its cut end and run your knife vertically down the cob, allowing the kernels to be captured in the bowl.  Voila!  Or should I say “Ole!”

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by betsy

Ms. Fit Mag Selects Blooming Platter “Zucchini, Onion, and Yellow Squash Gratin” as a “Friday Favorite”

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFor their spring issue, Ms. Fit Mag featured my recipe for Zucchini, Onion, and Yellow Squash Gratin in their article “Friday Favorite: Five Favorite Early Summer Veggies.”

The concept of the article was clever and straight forward: subheadings for five early summer vegetables, each with a photo and three links to recipes using that vegetable from some of their “favorite food bloggers.”

I’m so honored to be included…and you’ll be so happy to have this recipe so you can celebrate what is freshest right NOW at your local farmers markets.

Happy Early Summer!Ms Fit Magazine Header

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by betsy

Vegan Fish-and-Chips (A Cleaned-Up British Classic!)

DSCN1363I don’t mean to brag, but…

If you eschew seafood, yet crave that briny taste of the sea, have I got a “fix” for you!

After one failed attempt to impart that elusive oceanic flavor to a vegetable-based alternative–tofu “fillets” in this case–I put the full weight of my mental capacity to the task at hand.

The result was a truly novel method for infusing the complex flavor and aroma of the sea into humble tofu triangles.  Hint: wrapping them in Nori sheets is one of my secrets.

This and all of the remaining secrets to my successful go at Vegan Fish-and-Chips are yours for the clicking at One Green Planet.

I call my version a “cleaned up British classic” because, after one oily and messy round of beer battering and frying the “fillets,” I created a different method for an ahoy-there-mate breading that is baked, as are my “chips.”  To me, the flavor AND the crunch of both are irresistible.  I hope you agree!

DSCN1371

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by betsy

Vegan Gratin of Carmelized Onion and Fresh Fennel, White Beans, and Kale (Non-vegan Husband-Approved!

Yield: 4 main dish servings or 6-8 side dish servings.

This is rustic, yet healthy, comfort food–just the kind of food I crave in winter.

You can call this delectable melange a side dish or a  main dish but, regardless, just call me when it’s ready!

 

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 medium-large onion, halved and cut into 1/2-inch silvers

1 medium-large fennel bulb, halved, cored, and cut into 1/3-inch slivers

Sea salt to taste

1 tablespoon vegan butter (I use Earth Balance, but you could substitute olive oil)

1/2 to 3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs

1-15.5 ounce can white beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups finely chopped fresh kale (I use the food processor for this task)

1/4 cup minced fresh fennel fronds (I use the food processor for this task too)

Freshly cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray an 9-inch ceramic baking dish with non-stick cooking spray; set aside. Pour one generous tablespoon of olive oil into a large roasting pan.  Add onion, fennel, and a generous pinch of salt, toss well to coat, and roast for about 40 minutes, stirring every 10, until onion and fennel have developed some nice golden color.  (Note: if you don’t want to wait this long, boost the oven temperature to 450 degrees and roast for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring every 10 and watching closely).  While vegetables roast, make breadcrumbs: in a one-quart saucepan or small skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat.  Add crumbs, toss to coat, and continue cooking and stirring until lightly golden brown.  Remove the pan from the heat.  When the onion and fennel have caramelized, remove the pan from the oven and stir in the white beans followed by the kale and fennel fronds.  Stir in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and season to taste with additional sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.  Spoon into the prepared baking dish, sprinkle evenly with crumbs, and bake just until heated through and crumbs are rich golden-brown, about 15 minutes.

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by betsy

Vegan Cous-Cous and Grilled Butternut Squash with Anise, Sage, Sumac & Sesame-Scented Vinaigrette

Yield: 4 servings as a side dish

I have to admit: I am quite proud of myself for the combination of spices in this dish!

I think I could eat foods seasoned with cumin and coriander; turmeric and smoked paprika; or sage and rosemary at every meal and be quite happy.

But I challenged myself to branch out, and this mixture, inspired by za’atar, seemed a fitting direction for the combination of cous-cous and butternut squash.  And it is!  Now it will be all I can do not to season every recipe with “Sass” (Sage, Anise, Sumac, and Sesame)!

Garnish this simple dish any way you choose, but since I used anise in the recipe, I thought that star anise would be a lovely, homespun, organic, yet festive nod to the winter holidays.

 

2 cups cooked cous-cous (To cook: bring 2 cups of salted water to a boil, stir in 1 cup cous-cous, cover, and remove from heat.  Let sit for 5 minutes and then fluff with a fork.)

1/2 pound peeled and seeded butternut squash rings, about 1/3 inch thick, grilled,and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (To grill: rub lightly with olive oil, sprinkle lightly with sea salt, and grill over medium high heat for about 4 minutes on each side or until nice grill marks appear and squash is tender.)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

1/2 teaspoon dry rubbed sage

1 teaspoon anise seeds, ground to a powder in a spice or coffee grinder

1 teaspoon white sesame seeds

*1 teaspoon sumac (available at Middle Eastern and some Indian markets)

Pinch garlic powder

Sea salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Dried red pepper flakes to taste

Garnish: sage sprigs, chopped pistachios, toasted sesame seeds.

Place cooked cous-cous and grilled butternut squash in a serving bowl.  Drizzle vinaigrette over the top and gently fold in until evenly distributed.  Garnish with fresh sage sprigs, chopped pistachios, and/or toasted sesame seeds and serve warm or at room temperature.

*Note: sumac, with its earthy and subtle lemony flavor, is worth searching for.  But if you can’t find it, a small amount of lemon zest could be substituted, though I wouldn’t know how much to suggestion.  Maybe 1/4 teaspoon?

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