I absolutely love the texture of this creamy orzo with roasted vegetables. It’s got just enough cheese to produce that perfect soft, gooey mouthfeel of mac and cheese but it has enough vegetables to keep the flavor smokey and not just slip you in to a full on carb coma after eating it. It comes together in just a few minutes and there’s no second pan of sauce to wash so it makes a good weeknight meal.
Category: vegetarian
Recipe: Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup
This soup has a wonderful simplicity to it. Sometimes coconut in soup can be really cloyingly sweet of overwhelming but in this soup its nicely balanced with the soft flavor of rice and the heartiness of mushroom. Since this takes only a few minutes to come together it’s perfect for when you don’t feel well or on a cold night where you just want a warm dinner right away.
Recipe: Mushroom Ragu
This is one of those recipes that doesn’t seem like much but it takes mushrooms from a bland, boring food to the perfect topping for almost anything. I used this ragu smothered over the tops of popovers but it’d be great on polenta, over rice, and even as a pasta sauce.
Recipe: Vegetarian Scotch Eggs
When I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it. While the recipe is technically quite close to a scotch egg what it actually resembles much more closely is falafel stuffed with a boiled egg. The scotch eggs do not really end up tasting anything like your meaty scotch eggs but it is a great twist on falafel. Make sure you spice your chickpea mixture well as the flavor seems to get a little lost after frying.
Recipe: Potato Gratin
I made a turnip gratin previously but I wasn’t in love with it but I think I’ve cracked the code this time. This potato gratin is so good it’s hard to stop eating! Layering the cheese and milk mixture is the most important part but also don’t cheap out and use poor quality cheese because the minimal nature of the ingredients means that basically there’s no where for flavors to hide.
Recipe: Scallion Pancakes
These are like naan on steroids. They’re very unassuming but they were super quick to make and absolutely delicious. I didn’t do a great job at pan frying but they still were crispy and crunchy and completely satisfying. I made the dough the night before and then fried them up in the morning so that’s an option if you’re a little low on time or you like to last minute cook in the morning.
Recipe: Homemade Ravioli (Cheese, Pea, and Mint)
I’ve had “make ravioli” on my to do list for about 8 years and I finally did it and guess what: it was great! It probably would have been a lot easier with a pasta sheeter but doing the whole process by hand was actually not hard or that time consuming. It’s the type of recipe that you struggle with the first time but I feel like you’d get exceptionally better after 3-4 times. This is a recipe you can use to impress EVERYONE but also it was just very fresh tasting, cheap, delicious, and worth a try.
Recipe: Potato and Spinach Knish
These are a total hit, I would absolutely suggest that if you would like to eat bread and potatoes at the same time that you do it in knish form. The dough for these is VERY forgiving and the filling is hearty and homey at the same time so these would be great next to a bowl of soup or a salad to make a full meal.
Recipe: Refried Beans
A basic staple of cooking re-fried beans. I hemmed and hawed if I wanted to post this recipe because it’s so basic and also because I used to buy re-fried bean (gasp!) instead of making them but since moving to Estonia that is no longer an option so now I make my own. They’re super easy to make and delicious so if you don’t have access to canned ones, give it a go.
Recipe: Pub Pretzels
Unlike my other pretzel recipes for softer type pretzels, these come out with the hard tack shell of the outside and the just soft inside like you’d see in a pub. They’re perfect for dipping, game night, or serving as a fun side with a thick soup.