Inexplicably delicious and blissfully simple.  It can’t get any better than that.  Oh, wait: my kids were fighting over bites from my bowl the next day.

This is a great basic recipe -perfect on it’s own, but it is also great for improvising if you’re into that.  You could go very Latino with this dish, adding cilantro stems or epazote to the beans while they cook, frying chopped tomato with the onions for the tiganissi, or topping the dish with avocado.  Or you could use black-eyed peas and chard and flavor it with lemon (skip the honey), as in my original inspiration for this dish (Cypriot Black-eyed Peas and Swiss Chard from World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey.)  The basic formula is cooked beans and greens with a splash of something sour, topped with fried onions and garlic in oil.

black beans and kale with tiganissi

Tiganissi is a type of garnish I’ve found in recipes from Cyprus, in which onions and other vegetables are quickly fried in plenty of oil and poured over a dish, resulting in unbelievable amounts of flavor.

for the beans and kale:
1 1/4 cup black beans, uncooked
1 bunch kale, stems removed, leaves chopped into small pieces
salt, to taste
1/4 cup lime juice, or to taste
small spoonful honey (or agave for vegans)

for the tiganissi:
1/4 cup olive oil
pinch of red pepper flakes or 1 jalapeno, minced
1 medium onion, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced

cooked rice, to serve

Put the beans in a large heavy pot, cover with several inches of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the beans are almost cooked through, about 2 hours, but start checking sooner.  Add the kale and salt, to taste. Simmer until both the beans and kale are tender. Add the lime juice and honey to taste, as well as more salt if needed.

Heat the oil for the tiganissi in a medium frying pan over fairly high heat. Add the red pepper flakes or jalapeno, and stir for about 5 seconds. Add the onion and garlic. The temperature of the oil is important. You want the onions to turn brown around the edges. If the temperature is too cool, the onions will caramelize evenly, which is not what you want for this dish. The cooking should not take very long. Pour the tiganissi over the beans, and serve mixed with rice.

I don’t know if I’m the only parent who routinely forgets to save food for the kids.  Around here it happens at least once a week: I get carried away enjoying my food and *expletive* it’s gone and the kids are still hungry.  After managing to cook a meal for the family, while keeping 2 eyes on the kids, I have to come up with something else.

Well, I like making my own gnocchi, but the evening inevitably ends with me staring in the fridge wishing I hadn’t been so selfish.  Doubling the recipe isn’t really an option, because of the labor involved in cooking them.  Perhaps I just haven’t gotten a good system down, but it doesn’t really make a difference at this point.

So I tried packaged gnocchi, and I’m not ashamed to say I like it.  And I can easily cook enough for the whole family with a little leftover.  This is one of those meals that I look forward to making because cooking goes so fast, it’s the perfect balance of light and filling, and bursts with flavor.

gnocchi with broccoli, tomato, olives, capers & pine nuts
serves 4

1/3 cup olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons, divided
1 3/4 lb. ripe tomatoes, chopped
generous 1/4 cup green olives, chopped
2 spoonfuls capers
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/4 cup pine nuts
1 3/4 lb. broccoli, broken into bit sized pieces, stem peeled and chopped as well
2 lbs. packaged potato gnocchi
big handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Heat 1/3 cup of the oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat.  Drain the excess juice from the tomaotes, if any, and reserve. Add the tomatoes to the pan and fry until tasty.  This may be as quick as 1 minute if the tomatoes are ripe and in season.  Add the capers, olives and reserved tomato juice.  Heat through.  Remove from the heat and cover.

In a small frying pan, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil over very low heat.  Add the pine nuts and garlic, and fry very gently until first the garlic is cooked through, then the pine nuts and garlic turn golden.  Remove from heat and reserve.

In a large pot of salted boiling water,  cook the broccoli until crisp-tender.  Remove with a slotted spoon or spider whisk.  Add the gnocchi to the same water and cook according to package directions, about two minutes or until they float to the top.  Drain.

Toss together the gnocchi, broccoli, tomato mixture, pine nut mixture and parsley and serve.

When I saw a recipe for “Snobby Joes” in Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero, I rolled my eyes.  I don’t like Sloppy Joes, and I don’t like imitation anything.  But then I read the clever intro about Snobby Joes feeling superior for not eating meat, and when I saw they were based on lentils, they got me.  The best part is that I actually like them far more than any meat version I’ve tried.

But I’m a little  embarrassed to be talking to you about Sloppy Joes.  And I’ll be honest: if I hadn’t just come back from vacation, I probably would have waited to find a more impressive recipe to post.  But I think you are getting the good end of the deal.  This recipe hits the spot and comes together fast for a weeknight meal.

I did change up the spices a little here.  I didn’t mean to, but the first time I tried this I was out of chile powder, and used a mole-inspired spice blend with ancho.  The results were delicious.  The traditional flavor of Sloppy Joes came through, but the cocoa powder added some depth and the spices gave it some intrigue.

vegan Sloppy Joes (a.k.a. Snobby Joes)
adapted from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

2 cups dried lentils
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
2 green peppers, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons ancho chile powder
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons  cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
2 teaspoons salt
15-16 oz. can tomato sauce
6 oz. can tomato paste
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
8-12 rolls, to serve

In a medium-large pot, cover the lentils with approximately 8 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until lentils are just soft, about 20 minutes.  Drain, and return to the pot.

In the meantime, heat the oil in a frying pan and add the onion and green pepper.  Cook over medium heat until softened, about 7 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook one minute more.

Add the vegetables to the lentils and stir in the spices, sugar, cocoa powder, tomato sauce and tomato paste.  Cook over low heat for about 10 minutes, until the mixture starts to meld.  Stir in the maple syrup and mustard, cover and let rest off the heat for 10 minutes more.

Serve on toasted rolls.

I take bean dishes for granted. To me, they are the go-to meal-foundations that boneless skinless chicken breast recipes used to be, before I came to my senses. When I don’t know what to cook, I put on a pot of beans, like I used to defrost a chicken breast or two. Beans take a little more planning if you cook them fresh, but there’s no nasty raw meat mess to carefully clean up, and they taste better. Sure, the chicken breast might have a chance if it weren’t stripped of the dignity of skin and bones, but as-is, it’s beans every time for me. Plus the beans cook unattended with plenty of time to figure out what to put with them. And a tip: you don’t have to soak them before cooking. You might end up with a few broken beans, but who cares?*

My bean routine is as follows:
-measure out about 1/2 cup of dried beans per person (main dish portion)
-cover with about 3 times as much water, (less if they have been soaked)
-bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, let cook on low for 2-4 hours
-salt ONLY when they are almost cooked through (salt toughens the skins and prohibits the water from softening the beans during cooking.)
-check every hour, as convenient, to make sure the water is covering the beans, and stir

The creative part is adding aromatics to the beans while they are simmering. This time I added dried New Mexican style chiles, (a good substitute for the sweet Spanish Nora chile), plenty of unpeeled garlic, and a few sprigs of herbs. A couple of onions got caramelized, some eggplants braised until silky smooth in just enough tomato sauce, and some no-knead bread was popped in the oven.  Chickpeas on their own have an amazing pot liquor, but the chiles made for a deeply flavored dish that I couldn’t get enough of.  I just about cried when Romeo offered the leftovers to his dad.

If you are having trouble getting excited about chickpeas or pintos, check out Rancho Gordo’s heirloom beans.  Steve Sando’s enthusiasm is contagious. (And adding “heirloom” to any ingredient makes it sexier, not to mention “Indian woman.”)

*Cannellini (not to be confused with navy) beans are the exception -they fall apart- so soak them first for salads.  Other applications should be fine.

Spanish-style chickpeas and eggplant with caramelized onions

2 cups dried chickpeas
7 cloves garlic, unpeeled
3 sprigs parsley, plus more for garnish
3 New Mexican dried chiles
10 sprigs thyme
2 onions, sliced
2 large eggplants
14 oz. can whole plum tomatoes or 6 fresh plum tomatoes, chopped
olive oil, about 1/3 cup, separated
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Put the beans in a heavy pot and cover with plenty of water (about 6 cups.) Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Add garlic, parsley, chiles, and thyme. Cover and let cook for 3-4 hours, but check after two. (The time can vary depending on the age of the beans.)

Caramelize the onions: heat a frying pan over a medium-low burner. Thinly coat the bottom with olive oil and add the onions. Cook slowly until the onions first become very soft, and then pick up a reddish-brown color. Set aside.

Peel (if you like) and chop the eggplant into slightly large bite-size pieces. Cook in a generous amount of oil with a sprinkle of salt. When the edges soften and the flesh is glossy, add the tomatoes and juice. Cover and simmer for 1 hour or until very soft.

When the beans are approaching tender, add salt to taste -don’t be shy. Let cook about 15 minutes more, then remove the garlic, parsley, chiles and thyme stems. Squeeze the garlic out of the skins and scrape the flesh of the chiles, return both back to the pot.
Add the beans to eggplant mixture, check for seasoning and let simmer 15 more minutes. Top with caramelized onions and flecks of fresh parsley leaves.

Once or twice, not so long ago we had an empty refrigerator and an empty wallet and I made this dish with carrot top greens.  It satisfied.  Carrot tops! And you know, times are tough.  This recipe is very forgiving.  Try them here if you need to.    Otherwise choose a thick-leafed green like kale, kohlrabi leaves, chard, beet tops, or collards and be thankful.

This very simple pasta relies on contrasting textures and a couple of bold flavors to give you a lot for your effort and dollar.  It’s has lightly creamy pasta, with a garlicky breadcrumb topping.  If you’ve ever been wary of leafy greens, this is the place to start.  The texture is outstanding -crisp on the edges, tender in the middle.

You might not have a jar of preserved lemons sitting around, but this recipe itself is reason enough to prepare one.  And if you do so,  I’ll give you a few more reasons in a month or so when they are cured and ready to use.   Until then, substitute the juice of 1 fresh lemon. Chopped fresh whole lemons won’t work.

pasta with preserved lemons, fried greens and breadcrumbs

serves 3-4

1 large bunch of greens or equivalent mixed greens, such as kale, chard, kohlrabi leaves, collards, beetroot tops
1/2 cup of olive oil, or more as needed
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
8 oz. cream cheese or mascarpone
1/4 preserved lemon, chopped
1 lb. pasta

Julienne the greens a little fatter than normal.  Heat the oil in a frying pan over fairly high heat.  Add the greens in batches and cook until tender and crispy.  Remove from the pan.  Add or pour out the olive oil if necessary to result in about 2 tablespoons of oil in the pan.  Turn down the heat to medium-low and cook the garlic and red pepper flakes until the garlic starts to soften.  Add the breadcrumbs and cook stirring until the oil is absorbed and the breadcrumbs turn golden brown.  Set aside.

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water that has been generously salted.  While the pasta is cooking, whisk the cream cheese until smooth and softened (if you have a stand mixer, use that).  When the pasta is almost done cooking, add a little pasta water to the cream cheese and continue whisking and adding pasta water until thinned to a sauce consistency.  Stir in the preserved lemon.

When the pasta has cooked, drain and return to the pan.  Toss thoroughly with the cream cheese mixture until evenly coated.  Top with the bread crumbs and greens and toss gently.  Serve immediately.

While I was in Ghana at 16 years of age, I was served many sandwiches filled with an African brand of Spam. Luckily(?) for those three weeks, I had packed 5 BOXES of breakfast bars in my suitcase.

During the last week, my traveling companions and I convinced our hosts to prepare a traditional Ghanaian meal. Ten years later, I was pregnant and craving something like corn, but sour. After a couple of days I realized I wanted that traditional meal in Africa: fish and kenkey (fermented white corn) served on a banana leaf with tomatoes and onions. Thinking I was out of luck, I let my craving go. But then a couple of weeks ago, I visited Baobab African Grocery in Indianapolis, where I found the fermented corn flour to make Kenkey, along with fonio.

Making kenkey from the pre-fermented flour couldn’t be easier. This was the quickest and most satisfying meal I’ve made in a long time. That said, it has a certain exotic taste that may take a few bites to get used to. And the kenkey really must be served with the fish, tomatoes and onion, dipping it in the juices as you go. Oh my, please dig in. This is comfort food at it’s most comforting.

Ghanain kenkey with fish, tomatoes, onion and lime
Serves 3-4

kenkey
2 cups kenkey flour
5 1/2 cups water
several pinches of salt

Mix ingredients together in a bowl and wisk until smooth. Pour in a saucpan and cook over medium-high heat. The kenkey will need to thicken considerablly, to the consistency of very thick mashed potatoes. You’ll need to stir it constantly toward the end. This takes about 15 minutes, but look more at the progress than the clock. It may seem inconcievable at this point that you could form them into balls. Don’t worry. Add more salt to taste and turn off the heat. Prepare the fish. When the kenkey has cooled a little, form into rounds a little bigger than golf balls, using wet hands if necessary.

fish
1 lb. tilapia fillets or other white fish
flour to coat fish (for GF use chickpea flour)
salt and pepper
oil
2 onions, sliced, not too thinly
2 tomatoes, chopped
2-3 limes

Heat the oil in a cast iron pan over fairly high heat- the thinner the fillets, the higher the heat. You want the exterior to brown by the time the fish is cooked through. Rinse and pat the fish dry. Season the flour with salt and pepper, and dredge the fish in the flour mixture. Fry the fish in batches until golden brown and still very tender. The fish is done just before it flakes, not after.
When the last piece of fish in done, remove from the pan. Add more oil and/or turn down the head to medium high if neccesary. Add the onions. When they have wilted, add the tomatoes and cook until the onions are still a bit crunchy, but translucent and the tomatoes are juicy. Add the fish back to the pan to re-warm and squeeze the juice of one lime over the whole dish. Cut the other lime(s) into wedges and use to garnish. Serve the fish with the kenkey, using the kenkey to sop up the juices.

I just bought Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry, and it has tofu recipes in it.  I should have known by the “vegan” in the title, but I optimistically hoped it might be more centered on beans, which seemed like the more traditional choice.

I don’t love tofu, but O does.  He eats it strait out of the package, which is fine for a toddler.  But I had almost given up on it.  Then yesterday I took a leap of faith and made Blackened Tofu Slabs with Succotash Salsa.   Romeo declared it the best tofu he’s ever eaten.

It think one of the reasons we don’t always like plant based food is that we are busy and spend all of our energy on the meat- the main dish.  But with tofu, it’s about planning ahead, not laboring.  You can’t just plop a pound of extra firm tofu on the grill and expect it to be appetizing.  (You wouldn’t be able to do this with meat either, except that when most meat is processed, it is injected with a brine or broth which contains salt and other seasonings.)

Even extra firm tofu has too much moisture in it for an application like this.  Bryant Terry recommends freezing and thawing it, and then pressing the extra water out by wrapping it in paper towels and weighing it down.  I’ve also had good results by salting (or drizzling soy sauce) and baking slowly before using it in a recipe.

This made for a beautiful, tasty and satisfying meal without too much effort.