I am in the process of decluttering my home, and as you may know from personal experience, it can be a daunting task. It can also lead you into the black hole of wasting time as you stop to look through the old photo albums, read letters from camp or take way too long (three minutes is my limit) to decide if you will use those three white, slightly-stained thermal coffee pots ever!
It took me more than an hour to go through cookbooks. Even though I have culled them annually for the past three years, the shelves are still full. I must have a secret elf on my shelf restocking after I purge. So, this time I decided to put the rarely used vegetarian books on the top shelf, but not before thumbing the pages.
One, in particular, brought back to mind the days of yore when we streaked through campus as if we really weren’t naked (I use “we” in a universal sense) or went straight from the sorority house to a sit-in protesting high prices in the cafeteria. The cookbook is “The Enchanted Broccoli Forest,” by Mollie Katzen. An old friend sent an original copy to me years ago, and I remembered when I learned what tofu is and tried to eat frozen veggie burgers (yuck).
When I had my food shop we regularly made vegetarian patties that could be eaten as either a side or as a sandwich. Usually these were based on beans of some sort: black beans, black-eyed peas or chickpeas. I made a sauce to go with them, and they were awesome good. I took one recipe that gave me the base ingredients and then used it for all, just varying the spices or the sauce.
I spent an afternoon looking through these books and also online and have come up with what I think are tasty options either as an alternative to meat versions or on a salad or as a side dish. (The black-eyed pea cakes recipe come from my Foodworks file; I’m not sure of its origin.)
Peace and love.
BLACK-EYED PEA CAKES
4 (15 1/2-ounce) cans black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
3 red bell peppers, finely chopped
3 tablespoon unsalted butter
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 cups fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro (or not)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 1/2 tablespoon coarse salt
1 1/2 cups yellow cornmeal, plus additional for dusting
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup mayonnaise
CRISPY QUINOA SLIDERS
1 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup freshly grated provolone cheese
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large egg + 1 egg white, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
12 multigrain slider buns or dinner rolls
1/2 cup chipotle mayo for topping
(Source: howsweeteats.com)
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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