When I first met R, we were running buddies. After running, we would go to a nearby noodle place called Citrus Club for a quick meal. I ordered chicken noodle soup, and he ordered some sort of tofu coconut noodle soup. One time, I wanted to throw in a meat dish to share. Then he revealed that he is a vegetarian. But he eats seafood and fish occasionally. I was thinking, I would never date you. I don't date vegetarians. I eat them. I eat them with passion. Cows, sheep....they are my food. I'm a true omnivore. For me, dating a vegetarian is like crossing species.
Never say never. When you say to yourself you'll never do this, never do that, at the end, you'll end up finding yourself doing something exactly you thought you would never ever do. Recently I said to him, "Just don't get any worse. One day if you become a vegan, we are done!" I was always proud of myself that I could cook anything. Then I realized, I had a challenge. I never knew how to cook vegetarian food. To me, vegetables were always something on the side of the plate, saute green beans, broiled brussels sprouts, potato gratin, etc. They are like B movie stars, and all of a sudden, I had to put all these B movie stars in a big movie? How do I do that?
After a few mildly disaster vegetarian meals I made, I figured out a couple tricks. Besides getting high quality seasonal vegetables, (because you can never make a bad tomato to taste good) you also need these:
1. Make it look pretty and colourful. Stack them up. Give it some fancy name like, "Roasted Vegetable Napoleon"
2. The sauce! Without any sauce, it looks like a bunch of side dishes get piled up on the dish. Sauce can help to give them the presence.
3. Cream, cheese, and Mushrooms (porcini, morel, either fresh or dried) can do some magic
This is my first successful vegetarian meal I made for R. He asked me if I one day I will become a vegetarian. Heck no! I am a true meatatarian.
Cream of Celery Root Soup (serves 2)
Ingredients:
1 celery root, about 1 pound, peeled, and roughly cut into 1 inch cubes
2 medium leeks, white part only, chopped, about 1 cup
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dill weed
2 tbsp of butter
3 cups of water
1 cup of milk
3 tbsp of heavy cream
1. Saute leeks with butter using medium heat, add paprika, dill weed, or around 8 - 10 minutes without browning it. Add celery root and water. Simmer for 20 - 30 minutes until celery root is very soft, can be pierced with a fork.
2. Use a food processor to puree celery root and leeks in batches. Drizzle poaching liquid into the food processor slowing for thinning. Pour soup into a food mill to get rid of the solid chucks.
3. Return soup back to pot, simmer, and thin with milk. Stir in 3 tbsp of cream before you serve.
Mashed Purple Potatoes with Porcini Mushroom Sauce and Baked Orange Cauliflower with Capers (serves 2)
Ingredients:
Porcini Mushroom Sauce:
1 ounce dried Porcini Mushroom
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cognac
1/4 cup of heavy cream
truffle oil (optional)
Mashed Purple Potatoes:
6 small purple potatoes
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tsp of butter
3/4 cup milk
3 tbsp heavy cream
salt
Baked Orange Cauliflower with Capers:
1.5 cup of orange cauliflower florets
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp capers, rinsed, finely chopped
olive oil
Porcini Mushroom sauce:
1. Soak Porcini mushrooms into 1 cup of water for around 20 minutes, until soft. Use a sieve to drain the soaking liquid into a bowl. Filter out the dirt of the soaking liquid using a coffee filter.
2. Saute shallots using medium heat, for 8-10 minutes, caramelizing it without browning it. Pour mushrooms and thyme in the saute pan with the shallots. Saute for another 2 minutes. Add 2 tbsp of cognac, simmer for 2 minutes. Add mushroom soaking liquid and cream, simmer for around 10 - 12 minutes, until the sauce is reduced that it can coat lightly on the back of the spatula. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle truffle oil before you serve (optional)
Mashed Purple Potatoes:
1. Poach purple potatoes in water for around 20 - 30 minutes, until they are very soft and can be pierced with a fork. Drain poaching liquid, and let potatoes in pot for around 5 minutes to let the liquid in the potatoes evapourate. Peel the skin. Roughly dice potatoes into cubes
2. Mash garlic with a little bit of salt with knife or spoon. Saute garlic with 1 tsp of butter in medium heat for 2-3 minutes, without burning it. Add milk. Simmer for roughly 20 minutes until it is reduced to 1/4 of a cup.
3. Pour milk and garlic liquid into potatoes. Use a potato masher or a fork to mash them. Cover with tin foil to keep warm.
Baked Orange Cauliflower with Capers:
1. Preheat oven at 375%
2. Steam cauliflower florets for 20 minutes, until they are soft
3. Coat cauliflower with capers, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake for 10 minutes on the middle rack of the oven. Put the cauliflower on the top of the rack. Broil it for 5 minutes until slightly brown.
I did the mushroom sauce first, then mashed purple potatoes, then the baked cauliflower. The mashed purple potatoes can be reheated when I put the cauliflower in the oven. Then reheat the mushroom sauce right before the cauliflower and potatoes are out of the oven.
Molten Chocolate Cake
I ran out of idea and used a random recipe from epicurious.com. It worked great.
