Category Archives: Vegetables

by | April 30, 2013 · 4:27 am

Karl’s Anniversary Carrot Salad

This week is our 30th anniversary. This weekend Jan mentioned that her favorite salad was carrot. We were at the farmer’s market and she wanted to buy some heirloom carrots for her favorite salad. We thought through how I could possibly not know this after all this time. Jan, apparently, has always loved carrot salad. She buys carrot salad to eat for lunch whenever she has a chance, except when I am with her. If she is at a business dinner and there is carrot salad in the buffet she will take a big scoop, except if I am with her. This, it seems, has been going on behind my back for 35 years.

Karl’s Anniversary Carrot Salad

Karl’s Anniversary Carrot Salad

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by | April 29, 2013 · 3:00 am

Karl’s Kale with Mushrooms

The [trademarked chocolate and peanut butter confection] Challenge. I have recently discovered dark greens. For the last two weeks I have made a collard side dish. Gee, you don’t have to cook dark greens into sludge like our mothers did! Maybe it is time to revisit kale.

To meet this week’s challenge I will have to work in chocolate and peanuts, but for this dish the greens will be the star. A little peanut butter and ground nibs to give the sauce a thickness and base should be enough.

Karl’s Kale with Mushrooms

Karl’s Kale with Mushrooms

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by | April 28, 2013 · 5:15 pm

Karl’s Mission Fig Balsamic Asparagus

Jan and I went to the farmer’s market yesterday and she fell in love with Big Paw’s Mission Fig Balsamic Vinegar.  The question was what to do with it. We had already decided that we were going to have a Deli-dinner (fresh bread, cheese, cold meat, salad etc.) Jan had already gotten some heirloom carrots for carrot salad, so what were we going to do with the new vinegar?

Karl's Fig Balsamic Asparagus

Karl’s Fig Balsamic Asparagus

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by | April 22, 2013 · 3:19 am

Karl’s Abesha Gomen (Ethiopian Collard Greens)

Adapted from Esther’s Ethiopische recepten

Jan is always pushing me to have more green vegetables. Last week’s Cajun collard greens went over very well with my family. When I discovered that collard greens were a standard Ethiopian dish I had to include it in my feast.

Ethiopian Feast

Karl’s Abesha Gomen
Ethiopian Collard Greens
(at 9 and 2)

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by | April 22, 2013 · 3:06 am

Karl’s Timitam Salata (Ethiopian Tomato Salad)

Adapted from Ethiopian Food

A cool salad is the perfect counter point to all of the spicy stews and is the standard complementary dish for an Ethiopian feast. It may not be “Ethiopian,” but this salad cries out for garlic and just a bit of spice.

Ethiopian

Karl’s Timitam Salata
Ethiopian Tomato Salad
(at 1 and 7)

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by | April 17, 2013 · 4:27 am

Karl’s Weekday Thanksgiving with Dried Cranberry Sauce

Jan really loves turkey and she has been running her legs off at work (literally, yesterday she walked 7 miles back and forth across campus, as recorded by her Fitbit). I decided to surprise her tonight with roasted turkey, stuffing and green beans, but I wanted to keep it to a weekday’s level of effort.

Karl's Weekday Thanksgiving

Karl’s Weekday Thanksgiving

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by | April 15, 2013 · 6:20 am

Karl’s Braised Cajun Collard Greens

Adapted from Jolinda Hackett, About.com Guide

For this Sunday’s feast I am making Jambalaya. Jambalaya is really a one pot meal, but it is heavy on the meats and starch. I wanted a green vegetable side dish to balance out my meal.  Jan and I are in complete agreement about okra. It may be one of the classic Cajun/Southern vegetables, but despite our Southern roots (Virginia and Mississippi) we both dislike it. Many of the things calling themselves “Cajun vegetables” on the internet were just regular veggies with some Cajun spice thrown on top. I finally decided on collard greens, another classic Southern vegetable.  I would not, however be cooking it in the Southern fashion, the way our mothers did, boiling it down to a sludge. California-Style, braising until just tender, is my plan, with a little red pepper for color.

Karl’s Braised Cajun Collard Greens

Karl’s Braised Cajun Collard Greens

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by | April 11, 2013 · 7:14 pm

Karl’s Spicy Chive Stem and Giant Bamboo Stir-fry

Tonight’s dinner was jiaozi (gee-aw-za, dumplings). This was a weekday meal so I did not make them myself. Jiapzi making is a major operation. The rolling out of dozens of little bits of dough becomes a social activity for a gathering (it is not really possible to make just a few jiaozi). To the Chinese, it is very similar to Mexicans and Christmas tamales, an activity that brings people together. For an everyday meal the Chinese cook will run down to the corner, where a jiaozi seller has parked their bicycles truck, and pick up enough for their meal.

Karl's Spicy Chive Stem and Giant Bamboo Stir-fry

Karl’s Spicy Chive Stem and Giant Bamboo Stir-fry

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by | April 1, 2013 · 3:45 am

Karl’s Greek Mushrooms

This week is barbecued lamb for Easter and the kids (except Eilene) love mushrooms.   I am frequently trying to find new ways to spice them up.

Za’atar is an herb blend found (in various blends) throughout the Middle East.  Apparently no one agrees on how to spell the translation (there are 9 variations) or which herb go into it (there are 4 possibilities for the primary herb, depending on the region of origin), but everyone knows they love it.

Karl's Greek Mushrooms

Karl’s Greek Mushrooms

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by | April 1, 2013 · 3:34 am

Karl’s Spanakopita Rolls

Spinach seemed like a good vegetable to go with my Greek Easter Feast. I have been wanting to try to make spanakopita, but for several reasons I have hesitated. First of all, Jan generally does not like dishes made with fillo (actually she does, but all the butter used to make it flaky doesn’t like her). Also, the two ways of making this dish gave me problems. Struggling with the thin sheets of buttered fillo to make little triangles seemed too fussy. The second way, as a pie, buries all that buttered fillo under the spinach so that it never gets flaky  What is the point? There has to be another way.

Karl’s Spanakopita Rolls

Karl’s Spanakopita Rolls

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