Vegetarian Caldo Gallego

It's starting to get cold, and I finally made my way to the local Sunday farmer's market. Beautiful beets! Colorful carrots! and ... Kale. I keep hearing about it but wasn't sure what to do with it. Then I thought, Caldo gallego!

With my kosher dairy kitchen, though, the traditional heavy-on-pork recipe wasn't going to work. So I put together a much less disgusting vegetarian version with all the best parts of caldo and none of the pig.

1/2 can already-cooked navy beans

1/2 onion, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2-3 small carrots, cut in medallions
5 cups vegetable broth (not chicken/beef broth)
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
5 big leaves of kale, stems and center ribs discarded and leaves chopped into big strips (in place of grelos)
1/2 tablespoon butter (instead of solid pig fat)

Cook onions in oil in pot over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add broth, salt, pepper, and simmer, uncovered. Add butter. Add carrots and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add beans. Stir in kale and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until kale is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Season soup with salt and pepper.



Eat! Enjoy!

Baked Carrot Almost-Fries

I have yet to master the art of making crispy carrot fries. I'm actually not sure that it can be done-- maybe there's too much moisture inside the carrot to get the kind of crispness you get with Kale chips (or maybe the key is the frying)? But watching RuPaul's Drag U at the gym today inspired me! I decided that when a diva wants her baked carrot almost-fries, she gets her baked carrot almost-fries!

First, get a bunch of super beautiful carrots from a farmer's market, wash well, and cut off the end bits.

Then, try to figure out if any of the carrots could be made to look like an animal or a person. Do you see any in the picture above? RIGHT!  The split carrot was just waiting to be made into a real girl!

Check out this stylish carrot lady

Wasn't that fun? Dry your carrots well and toss them with olive oil and salt. Stick them in a preheated 375ish degree oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Then take them out:

They'll be sweet and salty and as melt-in-your-mouth as carrots can be.

Eat! Enjoy!

Hello!

So here's the deal.

I make food that I like, and then I forget how I've made it. So this blog is kind of a recipe book, kind of a photo album, kind of an easy way to share ideas with friends, and also kind of something to do while I adjust to life in Switzerland. The first few recipes are from my time in DC; after that, I've switched from cups to grams and from ºF to ºC.

Here are some things you should know about me:

1)I try to get as few things dirty as possible.

This is because I try to wash as few things as possible, too.

2)My automatic preference for everything I cook is to make milchig.

I kept a dairy kitchen in DC, and have never really cooked meat, so the idea of making something parve when it could be full of butter and cheese is kind of a foreign concept to me. My husband, however, disagrees, so I'm working on it. But in the meantime, I lean pretty heavily towards dairy.

3)Most of the time I forget to take pictures while I'm working.

Who wants to pick up a nice camera with sticky hands? Not me.



Anyway, read! Enjoy!