Meatless Mondays with La Bella Figura

 
I took a little hiatus last week from posting. It was just such a busy week with finishing up business, having friends from out of town vising, and getting ready for Thanksgiving. I hope this light and tasty recipe will make up for it. In my opinion, it is the perfect light meal after days of eating heavy leftovers.

My husband, who is an avid newspaper reader, found this recipe in the Chicago Tribune a few years back. Let me just say while my husband is definitely a Renaissance man (cleans, does laundry, volunteers, and helps grocery shop), he's not what you'd call comfortable in the kitchen. Once he tried to make me spaghetti, and he put whole coriander seeds in it the sauce along with a variety of other spices he just kind of plucked from the kitchen cabinet. It made for an interesting, if albeit crunchy, spaghetti experience. He's since been on a quest to find recipes he can cook and that will appease my picky tastebuds. This recipe was a big hit the first time he made it, and it has been in rotation ever since.

The featured star in this recipe along with a healthy dose of lemon juice and lemon zest is arugula. The wonderful peppery arugula is a great source of antioxidant vitamins A and C, folic acid, calcium, and magnesium. Ancient Romans used it as an aphrodisiac in spice blends. Lemon are rich in vitamin C, which not only helps to clear acne and leaves your skin glowing, but also helps stop bad breath and aids in digestion. Is there anything that little wonder fruit can't do?

So when my husband volunteered to cook, I happily mentioned that there was arugula in the fridge just begging to be put in his rice salad. About 40 minutes later he's proud of his dish and I'm eating a delicious vegan dinner that I didn't even have to cook.

Rice, Corn, and Cilantro Salad

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp Olive Oil

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 1/4cups water

1 1/2 basmati rice rinsed and drained

1/2 cups chopped green onions (the original recipe only called 1/4c.)

2 cups fresh or 1 bag frozen sweet corn kernels
3 handfuls of arugula, stems removed

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Whisk together the 1/2 cup olive oil, lemon juice, 1/4 tsp of salt and black pepper to taste in a bowl and set aside.

Heat the water to boil in a saucepan. Add rice and 1/2 tsp of salt to boiling water; reduce heat to low. Cover and cook until water is absorbed and rice is tender (do not stir), about 20 minutes. remove from heat. Let stand 5 minues and fluff with fork. (see note)

Heat remaining 1 tbsp of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add green onions and cook stirring about 30 seconds. Add corn and chickpeas and cook, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Add remaing salt and pepper to taste, adjust seasoning to your liking. 

Mix rice and corn mixture together in a large bowl and stir in the live oil and lemon vinaigrette. Add the arugula, cilantro, and lemon zest : gently toss. Taste for seasoning, adjust and serve warm.

Note: We don't always follow the rice to water ratio as described above. We use a little less water and our cooking time is 17 to 18 minutes. This seems to be the magic formula at our house for perfectly cooked rice.

 Happy Eating,

Karen

Meatless Mondays with La Bella Figura

When the weather gets cold, most people get a craving for their favorite comfort food : macaroni and cheese, stews, pot pies, fried chicken, and all other sorts of other dishes mom used to make. Unlike most people, when I want something comforting it's all about Indian food. To me there's nothing more satisfying or comforting than chickpeas and potatoes simmered in rich tomato broths or vegetables bathed in a light cream sauce with deep rich flavors.

With the winter approaching, I thought I'd share one of my go-to Indian recipes for those chilly nights ahead when you need something soothing. This dish is also really easy to put together. Chickpeas are a great source of manganese, an antioxidant that is fundamental in the energy-producing mitochondria found inside most cells. Lots of recipes call for you to core and seed your tomatoes, but I suggest leaving the seeds in; tomato seeds are really high in lycopene (it's found in the rest of your tomato as well but heat breaks down the tomato flesh and destroys much of the lycopene). Lycopene not only promotes brain and immune functions, but it also improves the texture of your skin and supplies free-radical scavengers that help stop the signs of aging. For this reason, we use tomato seed oil in our under eye serum Decouverte. Serve this vegan dish over basmati rice and naan on the side, and you've got yourself one satisfying meals!

Gobi Chole/ Spiced Cauliflower with Chickpeas

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 small head of cauliflower, cut into florets

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and julienned

2 small vine ripened or plum tomatoes, chopped

1 cup frozen peas

1tbsp tomato paste

3/4 tsp chili powder

1tsp coriander seeds, toasted and crushed to a powder in your mortar and pestle * (see note)

1/2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted and crushed to a powder in your mortar and pestle*  (see note)

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 1/2 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp chopped cilantro leaves

1 green onion finely sliced

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 tsp (or more) salt to taste

1 cup water

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the ginger and the onions and saute, stirring, until onions soften. Add the dry spice powders and saute for a minute; add the tomatoes.Cook until tomatoes soften and start to break apart, about 5-6 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and water. Gently fold in the cauliflower and chickpeas. Add the salt, cover and reduce heat to medium low, cook for 10 minutes. Add the peas and cook for another 5-6 minutes or until cauliflower is cooked through. If you'd like to sauce to be a bit thicker, remove lid and cook until sauce is preferred consistency.

* if your pressed for time or don't have a mortar and pestle, you can just use coriander and cumin powder.

Adapted from a recipe I found at the wonderful food blog Malabar Spices.

Hope you enjoy!

                           En Bonne Sante,
                                 Karen

Meatless Mondays with La Bella Figura

Awhile back I received an email from Tasting Table that was a letter from Mario Batali  about a movement called Meatless Monday's. It was the first I'd heard about Meatless Mondays and as a vegetarian I was thrilled to see it endorsed from someone as famous and carnivorous as Batali.

I'm not one of those vegetarians that are hyper sensitive about meat, would I love it if the whole world went veggie? Of course, but as much as I really care about the plight of animals I also recognize that eating habits are a deeply personal and cultural thing. I'm overjoyed that so many people are embracing this movement. It's great that people are recognizing that you can eat satisfying veggie meals and that reducing your meat intake by one day makes a HUGE difference not only for your body but also for our planet.

I thought it would be fun to share some of our  favorite meatless recipes with you each week. Sometimes our recipes will be vegan and sometimes just plain old vegetarian.

This week is all about getting dinner on the table quick! Here at La Bella Figura we are very busy gals and sometimes dinner needs to get on the table fast.

Cannellini Hummus Pita Sandwich

 This recipe is strictly no cooking and only requires a food processor. The best part of this recipe is that you can tweak it to your hearts desire. Swap the raw garlic for 2 -3 cloves of roasted garlic, add Tabasco, or  spices such as cumin or sumac. If you have the time to grill thinly sliced eggplant that works great in here as well. The sky's the limit!

For the Hummus: 

1 garlic clove chopped

2 cups of cannellini beans soaked and cooked according to package 

   or 1 can cannellini beans drained and rinsed

1-2 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice (fresh really does make all the difference)

2-3 tbsp olive oil or culinary Argan oil

1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you want the heat)

1/8 tsp paprika

1/3 cup loosely packed fresh parsley

salt to taste

For the Sandwich:

1 and 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves 

1/2 zucchini or a cucumber thinly sliced

thinly sliced red onions (as many as you like)

thinly sliced tomatoes

4 pita breads (whole wheat or white)

Add all hummus ingredients except the parsley to the food processor, process for about 2 minutes until smooth. Add the parsley and pulse to chop. Add salt and mix.

Spread hummus on inside of pita breads, top with zucchini, spinach, tomatoes and onions.

Serve with carrots, sweet potato fries, or chips.

Hope you enjoy this fast and easy recipe! Stay tuned for next week's Meatless Monday recipe.

                                                             En bonne santé,

                                                                                                 Karen 

 

*Note: To ensure this recipe is vegan, check the ingredients in your pita bread. While most pita's are made with just flour and water some companies will use egg.