Recipes! Vinaigrette and Lentil Soup

Basic Vinaigrette Dressing (stolen from Mark Bittman)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons or more good wine vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large shallot, cut into chunks

1. Combine all ingredients except the shallot in a blender and turn it on; a creamy emulsion will form within 30 seconds. Taste and add vinegar a teaspoon at a time until it tastes balanced to you. (I actually had to add more olive oil - I guess our white wine vinegar was too strong.)
2. Add the shallot and pulse the blender on and off a few times until the shallot is minced. Taste, adjust the seasonings if necessary, and serve.

I added about a 1/4 cup of chopped parsley to the dressing. He also suggested adding basil, dill, rosemary, tarragon, or thyme.

This dressing will keep, refrigerated, for a few days. Just bring it to room temperature and whisk it before serving.

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Lentil Minestrone (from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone)

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra virgin oil to finish
2 cups finely chopped onion
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped parsley
4 chopped garlic cloves
3 diced carrots
1 cup diced celery or celery root
salt and freshly milled pepper
1 cup French green lentils, sorted and rinsed
aromatics - 2 bay leaves, 8 parsley branches, 6 thyme sprigs
9 cups water or basic vegetable stock
mushroom soy sauce to taste
1 bunch greens - mustard, broccoli rabe, chard, or spinach
2 cups cooked small pasta, like shells or orecchiette
thin shavings of parmesan-reggiano

Heat the oil in a wide soup pot with the onion. Saute over high heat, stirring frequently, until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add the tomate paste, parsley, garlic, vegetables, and 2 teaspoons salt and cook 3 minutes more. Add the lentils, aromatics, and water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes. Taste for salt and season with pepper. If it needs more depth, add mushroom soy sauce to taste, staring with 1 tablespoon. Remove the aromatics.

Boil the greens in salted water until they're tender and bright green, then chop them coarsely. Just before serving, add the greens and pasta to the soup and heat through. Serve with EVOO drizzled into each bowl, a generous grind of pepper, and the parmesan.

I heart Deborah Madison. I've loved everything we've tried from her book - she's my hero!

Chickenless Dumplings, Salad, and Fruit

Chickenless Dumplings

This was a Martha Stewart recipe I've been looking at for years and finally decided to modify and try. I think it was one of my best co-op meals to date...hope you enjoyed. I made it again for Chris's birthday and now I'm finally posting because my sister has been asking for the recipe. I can't believe how much like chicken soup this tastes to me - especially the next day. I need to keep batches of this in the freezer since it's all I want when I'm sick...or cold.

1 package Quorn chik'n tenders

4 medium carrots

1 medium onion, thinly sliced into half moons

2 celery stalks, cut into 1/4 in pieces

1 garlic clove, minced

1 bay leaf

1 1/2 c. low-sodium stock

1 tsp coarsely chopped fresh thyme

1/4 c plus 2 tbsp yellow cornmeal

3/4 c all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp finely chopped shallot

1 tbsp freshly grated lemon zest

3/4 c finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 tbsp finely grated pecorino

1 1/2 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 c. low-fat milk

Bring 2 quarts of water, carrots, onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf, stock and 1/8 tsp salt to boil in a medium pot. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together cornmeal, flour, baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, shallot, zest, parsley, and cheese in a medium bowl. Add butter, and blend in with fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk, and stir with a for, until a dough forms.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls; add all at once to simmering broth. Cover; simmer, undisturbed, until the dumplings are cooked through, about 20 minutes.

While dumplings are cooking, cook Quorn in a pan with a little olive oil over medium-high heat. Add salt and pepper. Once Quorn is lightly browned and heated through, add to the broth.