Vegetarian

Achiote Roasted Butternut Squash Tacos

May 22, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Who knew butternut squash could be so versatile? As a kid, I remember only having it around Thanksgiving and the holidays. It turns out butternut squash is great on both pizza and tacos. The squash is rubbed with ground annatto/achiote seeds, cumin, oregano, and smoked paprika. Then it’s roasted in the oven until soft. For the toppings, I caramelized an onion with brown sugar and smoked paprika. The tacos were sweet and spicy and so good! I added a tablespoon of the black bean salsa along with some queso fresco for garnish.

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Tofu and Wakame Miso Soup

May 9, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Whenever I go to a Japanese restaurant I usually pick up a bowl of miso soup. I am a fan of soups of all kinds but this is one of my favorites and I’ve always thought about trying it at home. It turns out making miso is easy and the only trouble I ran into was finding a few of the ingredients. Luckily a local asian market carried the miso paste, seaweed and rice noodles. The other ingredients were easy to find at the grocery store. Making the soup was really easy and took less than 30 minutes to prepare. An important part of this recipe is not boiling the broth as it changes the flavor of the diluted miso. The result is a really great soup that is actually quite versatile–you can add tons of things and it would turn out great. Some examples could be cooked/shredded chicken, potatoes, carrots, bok choy, snap peas, spinach, etc.

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Irish Coleslaw

May 5, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

This Irish styled coleslaw is a simple vinaigrette based mixture of cabbage, apples, chives, and carrots. The vinaigrette is composed of rapeseed oil, cider vinegar, grainy Irish mustard and sugar. It’s an easy process of grating the ingredients and tossing them in the vinaigrette. The result is fresh with flavors of sweetness and tartness from the apples and vinegar. I’ve always wanted to try coleslaw without mayo and I really enjoyed it. It’s a lot less heavy than mayonnaise based coleslaw. It worked really nicely as an accompaniment for my Corned Beef on Rye sandwich.

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Cilantro and Lime Salsa

April 24, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

This is a simple and easy condiment that can go on almost any taco, burrito, or tex-mex dish. The salsa is fresh and clean with just a hint of olive oil. It would go great with chips as well.

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Garlic and Balsamic Roasted Brussel Sprouts

April 13, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

I was one of the weird kids who actually liked brussel sprouts (and beets and tofu!) For the majority of kids who grew into adulthood never liking brussel sprouts this recipe might change your mind. It’s a simple preparation of tossing the sprouts in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic. The garlic roasts and becomes from fragrant while the balsamic vinegar caramelizes the brussel sprouts. The outside should be a tiny bit crunchy, not soft. The result is savory and delicious. The recipe would work great with pine nuts, walnuts, or parmesan cheese as well.

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Pumpkin Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Crispy Fried Sage

March 15, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

A classic way to eat gnocchi is with a brown butter and sage sauce. The sauce is really easy to make as it only involves melting some butter in a pan, letting it brown for a few minutes, and then frying fresh sage leaves in the butter. It is a perfect sauce for both pumpkin and sweet potato gnocchi. The next step is to toss the gnocchi in the sauce for a few minutes and the result is a delicious pasta with flavors of pumpkin and sage. I added a little lemon juice at the end to give the pasta a little more flavor.

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Mushroom Ravioli with a Balsamic Butter Sauce and Toasted Walnuts

February 25, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

This mushroom ravioli is really easy to make if you don’t have time to make your own ravioli from scratch. Unfortunately I don’t have the tools (yet) to make my own pasta so hopefully I will be able to enjoy this recipe from scratch eventually. This is actually my boyfriend John’s recipe (he ate a lot of this during his bachelor pad days). He definitely did better than most bachelors with this delicious and easy to make recipe. The balsamic to butter sauce ratio is important as there needs to be enough butter to tame the bitterness of the balsamic vinegar. The sauce should be a medium brown color and not have a lot of bite to it. I let the sauce simmer on very low heat to let the balsamic vinegar caramalize a little while the pasta was cooking. The walnuts and sauce are perfect with the woodsy flavors of the mushrooms. The only thing I wish I did was get a good rind of parmigiano reggiano for this recipe.

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Farfalle with Preserved Lemon and Sun-dried Tomatoes

February 17, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

I have a lot of preserved lemons now that they are ready to use. I thought that a nice pasta dish would taste great with those lemons and this is what I came up with. It came out pretty well and all the flavors tasted good together. The sun-dried tomatoes, lemons, olives, and capers were delicious. I was originally going to use diced tomatoes but when John suggested sun-dried tomatoes I had to try it. I didn’t add any cheese but I think this recipe would be great with a little feta or parmesan on top.

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Tomato Curry Stew with Chickpeas and Potatoes

February 3, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

This stew is a staple recipe for me as it is easy to put together and is healthy and flavorful. When I want something light and healthy this is one of my favorite go to recipes. I use the slow cooker and all it requires is chopping the veggies and throwing everything in the crock pot to cook for about 8 hours. All the veggies get nice and soft and the flavors of the curry marinate until the stew is bursting with good curry flavor. I served it with warm curried rolls and topped with yogurt.
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Moroccan Roasted Sweet Potatoes

January 30, 2012 by The Partial Ingredients

Whenever I make Roasted Moroccan Chicken I roast russet potatoes in some spicy Harissa paste and honey for a side dish. This time I had some nice sweet potatoes in the refrigerator so I thought I would try them with the Moroccan dish instead. I figured the additional sweetness of the potato would balance nicely with the chili paste. It turns out I was right as the balance of the sweet potato and the spicy chilies were a really good combination! I love contrasting flavors in general and this definitely had that going for it. I simply tossed the sweet potato pieces in olive oil and spread the chili paste over the potatoes along with a couple dashes of coriander and cinnamon. I used just a touch of honey to bring out the flavors of the sweet potato. This side dish was the perfect accompaniment for the chicken and a great pop of color on the plate.

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