Savory tart centerpiece of vegetarian meal

Photographs ©2014,  Lori Korleski Richardson

Now that we're back from vacation, it's time to get back to the gym and start eating better.

One way to make sure we get the variety of vegetables that are the key to good health is to have at least one vegetarian meal a week.

Tonight's was a savory chard and onion tart, with a side of carrot salad on a bed of arugula.

I made the tart in a 10-inch spring-form pan for easier serving (it also looks good enough to serve to company that way, especially decorated with nasturtiums from your herbicide-free garden. The cheery salad is a simple and delicious Alice Waters creation that depends in large part on the freshness of the carrots, parsley and lemon, and the quality of the olive oil.

Savory chard and onion tart

Ingredients for crust
1 ¾ cups flour
pinch kosher salt
1 stick (4 ounces) frozen unsalted butter, grated into small curls
Ice water

Instructions for crust
Combine flour and salt in a medium mixing bowl and grate in the frozen butter; mix with two knives or a pastry blender until texture resembles stone-ground cornmeal. Add 4 tablespoons ice water, mixing with a fork, until the dough comes together. You may need to add another tablespoon or two. Handle dough as little as possible, form into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the dough and place in a 10-inch spring-form pan or 9-inch tart pan. The dough sides need to be at least an inch deep. Refrigerate until the filling is ready.

Ingredients for filling
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large finely chopped onion
1 pound chard, stems removed, chopped
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 ounces chèvre or ricotta
¼ cup evaporated milk or cream
½ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
½ teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg (or to taste)
Dash cayenne pepper
3 tablespoons blanched, slivered almonds, lightly toasted

Instructions for filling and assembly
Warm the olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat, then add the onion and cook until it is soft and golden, add the chard, oregano, salt and pepper, and cook 3 to 4 minutes. Allow the mixture to cool as you preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the eggs, cheeses, milk or cream and nutmeg, then add the cooled chard-onion mixture. Pour into the crust, sprinkle with the nuts and bake 45 minutes. Serves 4 as an entree, 8 as a side dish and 16 as an appetizer.

Alice Water's Spring Salad
Serves 2

Ingredients
1/2 pound of carrots, peeled and shredded
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon white sea salt or kosher salt
Juice of one lemon
¼ teaspoon cayenne or paprika
¾ cup good quality olive oil
¼ cup chopped parsley

Instructions
Put the carrots in a mixing bowl. Mash the garlic and the salt into a paste. Mix it with the lemon juice and any spices you are using. Toss with olive oil; add parsley at end. Chill.

Vegetarian avocado soup

Daniel Hoyer's "Mayan Cuisine: Recipes from the Yucatán Region" is a fabulous cookbook, in presentation, depth and photographs by Marty Snortum (the photo to the right is copyrighted by Gibbs Smith). I'm working on a review of this excellent book, but for a taste of it, here's Crema de Aguacate. It can be served hot or cold and I made it last night as a vegetarian dish, just substituting vegetable broth (my favorite is Seitenbacher instant) for the chicken. Make it vegan as well by substituting coconut cream (a can of Thai Kitchen full fat coconut milk, refrigerated then drained of the thin part, will get you about the amount you'll need for this recipe) for the light cream and use all the juice from half a lime.

Crema de Aguacate
Avocado Soup

"Both hot and versions of this soup are found around the Yucatán. This recipe may be used either way. I use the cold version as an appetizer or palate cleanser in a multi-course meal and serve it warm with some crispy bacon crumbles along with some white rice as a light supper or lunch entree."

Tester's note: Serve it quickly, because the small amount of lime juice isn't strong enough to keep the avocados from turning an unappetizing shade of brown for very long. Adapted from "Mayan Cuisine" (Gibbs Smith, $35, 224 pages).

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup tomato, charred then chopped
1 or 2 serrano, yellow hot, New Mexican green or jalapeño chilies or 1/2 chile habanero, well charred and seeded (tested with two jalapeños)
4 cloves garlic, toasted and peeled
2 to 3 Mexican avocado leaves, toasted and ground, or 1/4 teaspoon toasted and ground anise seed (used latter)
3-1/2 cups chicken broth (tested with vegetarian broth)
3 large ripe avocados (Hass preferred)
1/3 cup light cream or half-and-half
1 tablespoon lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Garnish suggestions
Vegan/vegetarian: Chopped cilantro, thinly sliced radishes, tortilla chips, pickled red onion, lime slices, sour cream or Mexian crema
Omnivore: Chicharrones or crumbled bacon

Instructions
Sauté the onion in the oil until soft and just beginning to brown. Add the chopped tomato and fry 2 minutes more.
Add the chilies, garlic, ground avocado leaves or anise seed and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
Peel, pit and coarsely chop the avocados and add to the broth with the cream and lime juice.
Pureée in a blender, adjust for salt and pepper and serve warm with your choice of garnishes, or chill to serve cold later.

Bait and switch veggies

I found a new blog through Twitter the other day, with the come-on line: What "Kitchen Confidential" didn't tell you about your vegetarian entree.

The blog is Almost Vegetarian at http://almostvegetarian.blogspot.com

One thing I've learned at culinary school is that vegetarians are in trouble when it comes to eating out.

Big trouble. As in, way more than I ever thought.

Which means there is only one solution if you want a vegetarian meal.

Is your vegetarian meal really vegetarian?
I've eaten at plenty of restaurants, from fast food to fine dining, and when I look for the vegetarian entree, I assume I am getting a vegetarian meal.

After all, how difficult is it to keep meat and other animal products out of a meal?

Very difficult, it turns out.

Those hidden animal ingredients
From gelatin to rennet, animal byproducts sneak into all sorts of products and dishes, from the cheese plate to the dessert tray.

And, while you and I know about these meat-based ingredients, an awful lot of people do not.

Which means your vegetarian meal, alas, may very well not be.

But it gets worse.

Those pesky tongs
Restaurant kitchens run so fast and so hard that it isn't difficult for a cook to grab a vegetarian entree with the same tongs, for example, that were used to, say, cook a meat-based entree.

It's not like they have a separate station that does nothing but vegetarian foods. They don't have the space. And they certainly don't have the time, personnel, and equipment to have a dedicated vegetarian station.

So what is a vegetarian to do?
My best advices is to eat at a vegetarian restaurant. That way, there is no room for mistakes.

Almost Vegetarian also suggested this site to locate vegetarian restaurants: http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.htm

Chewy on this!

Inspired by a conversation with a vegan last night, I'm making some oatmeal chewies. They aren't quite vegan, however, since I wasn't sure what to sub for the honey. Since there's no egg involved, feel free to lick the spoon - guaranteed to keep you happy for the full 15 minutes until the real thing comes out of the oven. These are the best cookies I've ever made that didn't have butter in them.

Also, I didn't want to waste the energy to cook a half-dozen cookies, so I put the remainder in a tart shell and baked it for the same amount of time next to one of the cookie sheets. Let it cool, push it out, put it on a dessert plate. Put a scoop of ice cream on it and enjoy.

Lori K's oatmeal chewies
Makes 2 1/2 dozen

Ingredients

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup honey
1 small very ripe banana
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups uncooked rolled oats
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
Finely grated peel from 1 orange
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (not powder)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup currents or raisins
1/2 cup cocoa coated almonds, chopped
Instructions
Blend sugar, oil, honey, banana and vanilla until fluffy (I used a food processor, but a blender or mixer would probably work as well). Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix it all well. Make pingpong-size balls and slightly flatten them on an ungreased cookie sheet. (They will not spread much while baking.) Bake for 15 minutes; do not overcook. Remove sheet from oven and flatten cookies with a flat-bottom glass. Cool for a minute or two on the sheet, then remove them to a cooling rack. They will be very chewy warm, and will get more crunchy with a chewy middle when they cool.

Good food for the G20

From The (Manchester, UK) Guardian, Jamie Oliver's menu for the G20 dinner tonight:


Starter
Organic salmon from Shetland, served with samphire and sea kale, a selection of vegetables from Sussex, Surrey and Kent, and Irish soda bread.
or
Goat's cheese starter (vegetarian)

Main course
Slow-roasted shoulder of lamb from the Elwy Valley in north Wales, with Jersey Royal potatoes, wild mushrooms and mint sauce.
or
Lovage and potato dumplings for the main course (vegetarian)

Dessert
Bakewell tart and custard

Bakewell Tart by Jamie Oliver
from Jamie's Dinners
(Hyperion, 2004)
Serves 8

Ingredients
FOR THE SHORT CRUST PASTRY
1 vanilla bean, optional
5 tablespoons butter
1 cup powdered sugar
Small pinch of salt
2 scant cups flour
Zest of 1/2 a lemon
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cold milk or water

FOR THE FRANGIPANE
12 ounces blanched whole almonds
1 cup plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
3 free-range eggs
6 tablespoons good-quality strawberry jam
1 pint crème fraîche

MAKE THE PASTRY
1. Score down the length of the vanilla bean, if using, and remove the seeds by scraping a knife down the inside of each half (keep the pod for making vanilla sugar).
2. Cream together the butter, powdered sugar, and salt and then rub in the flour, vanilla seeds, lemon zest, and egg yolks — you can do all this by hand or in a food processor. When the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs, add the cold milk or water. Pat and gently work the mixture together until you have a ball of dough, then flour it lightly and roll it into a large sausage shape — don't work the pastry too much, otherwise it will become too elastic and chewy, not flaky and short as you want it to be.
3. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge to rest for at least an hour. Remove it from the fridge, slice it up, and line an 11-inch tart mold with the slivers. Push them together, then tidy up the sides by trimming off any excess. Place the tart mold in the freezer for an hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then take the pastry out of the freezer and bake for around 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove from the oven, place to one side, and turn the heat down to 325 degrees.

MAKE THE FRANGIPANE
1. Blitz the whole almonds in a food processor until you have a fine powder and put this into a bowl.
2. Now blitz the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add this to the almonds with the lightly beaten eggs and fold in until completely mixed and smooth. Place in the fridge to firm up slightly.
3. Smear the jam over the bottom of the pastry shell, pour the chilled frangipane mixture on top, and sprinkle with some sliced blanched almonds. Bake the tart for about 40 minutes, or until the almond mixture has become firm and golden on the outside but is still soft in the middle.
4. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes and serve with crème fraîche or custard.

Recipe © 2004 Jamie Oliver. All rights reserved.

Does loving vegetables lead to "Veggie Love"?

You'd think an ad that features women in lingerie caressing nutritious vegetables might appeal to the same demographic that watches football, right? But that wasn't the thinking of the suits at NBC, who PETA says rejected the pro-vegetarian ad - along with the $3 million payment that would have come with it - for airing during the Super Bowl XLIII broadcast, claiming that the ad "depicts a level of sexuality exceeding our standards."

But thanks to Fox affiliate KCBA-TV, which serves the Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz market, viewers in the salad bowl of the nation are seeing what the rest of the nation missed. The 30-second spot has been on KCBA-TV each night this week during TMZ.

According to PETA, the ad features models fondling vegetables to a pounding beat and concludes with the message "Studies Show: Vegetarians Have Better Sex." The scenes are amusing and sensual: A blindfolded woman erupts with delight after spending a little quality time with asparagus; a woman performs a seductive dance with a gourd; and another woman is so smitten that she joins a steaming "orgy" of mixed vegetable soup.

Why would vegetarians make better lovers? For one thing, many vegetarians are slimmer than meat-eaters. Also, heart disease and obesity can make their victims sluggish and fearful that sex can cause a coronary. Cholesterol and saturated fat restrict the flow of blood to all the body's vital organs - not just to the heart.

"Our 'Veggie Love' ad is the perfect way to counter the onslaught of commercials for artery-clogging fried chicken and bacon-laden double cheeseburgers," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "After all, the best thing that you can do for your health, animals, and the planet - not to mention your love life - is to go vegetarian."

And obviously, not think too mightily about objectifying women to suit your message.

For more information, visit PETA.org. To see the ad, click here.