Another Temporary Vegetarian

For at least a couple of months, The New York Times has been featuring a small food column in the Dining In section called "The Temporary Vegetarian." This column caught my eye for a few reasons.

First, vegetarian in today's day and age can mean many different things. There are different levels of adherence to the no animal rule--some eat eggs, some drink milk, some even eat fish. This means that for novice vegetarians, there is more room to make vegetarianism your own. You can begin by just cutting out hamburgers (or as I'm about to explain, just one hamburger a week) and then progress as you grow healthier and more comfortable with the notion that going meatless does not have to be joyless. The link to the left will bring you to a great article/plethora of recipes by Mark Bittman, food writer for the New York Times. He has done a fair bit of experimenting with temporary vegetarianism--check out his video in my playlist below--and has included among his other cookbooks my new Bible: "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" and has recently written a book called "Food Matters." In light of his forays into the world of temporary vegetarianism, I trust him and his recipes in guiding more omnivores into the light of vegetables.

I have some experience with being a temporary vegetarian. Each minor episode in my short life began for its own reason-and each ended for its own reason. After going through a few of my own forays into the veggie world, I have some advice for fellow omnivores/carnivores: try a meatless Monday! By being temporary vegetarians, basically only on Mondays, regular omnivores can be freed from the notion that a vegetarian diet must be a lifelong, punitive struggle. A Monday without petroleum/meat products gives people a manageable taste of the delicious vegetarian world with the reassurance that tomorrow they can return to their normal eating habits.

The benefits of eating a vegetable-based diet are pretty obvious and the harms associated with eating a meat-based diet are pretty obvious. Yet, for many of us (myself still included) a total abandonment of meat does not seem feasible or very appealing. I know, talk, and write all about vegetables ultimately winning out over meat in terms of health benefits for people, the environment, and animals, but I still do love my meat. So, I am embracing the idea of being a temporary vegetarian: one who eats a minimally meat based diets Tuesday through Sunday but goes full throttle on Mondays enjoying vegetables galore (soon to come from my own patio!).

To aide you on your path to temporary vegetarianism, I am including two recipes of my own creation (with a little bit of inspiration from Mark Bittman) that I have found to be delicious, satisfying, and healthy. Check out the websites/blogs on my favorites list...they are great resources for preparing yourself to have delectable meatless Mondays!

Minted Fava Beans with Ricotta Pasta

This is a classic springtime favorite and as my family will attest to, anytime I see a recipe with peas or fava beans, I feel compelled to make, order, and eat it! This is simple and delicious and can be a great weekday meal or a complement to fish dish for a bigger dinner. You can experiment with the herb and pasta choices and even the cheese--once you've tried the original, it's great to tailor a recipe to you and your family's likes and dislikes.

To serve 4

2 cups fava beans [or peas] (if they're fresh, take them out of their pods and try to remove the outer skin. If the skins are too tough, you can blanch them--put them in boiling water for a minute or two, then remove, rinse under cold water, and remove skins--first, before adding. It seems like a lot of work, and it is a bit tedious, but it is worth it if you can find them fresh. Frozen is an acceptable substitute).
2 and 1 tablespoons olive oil
1 handful mint, finely chopped
1 tablespoon lemon zest (use only the yellow part of the zest, not the white--that will taste bitter)
1 clove garlic, smashed and then roughly chopped
3/4 pound pasta (I like to use whole wheat for its nutritional value but white is fine--even spinach would be delicious. Try penne or tagliatelle or any other fun shape).
1 cup fresh ricotta cheese (in my house, we usually use skim ricotta but it is your choice...the higher the fat content, the richer the dish will be)
to taste salt and pepper

Start by boiling water for the pasta. The traditional thinking in cooking pasta is that it should be cooked in a very large pot with a lot, lot of water and a big handful of salt. But after reading this article in the New York Times recently, my own views of cooking pasta have changed. This article describes how it is possible to cook pasta using much less water and much less energy by starting with cold water, and half the amount. This method takes a bit more attention--you'll need to stir it more frequently--but it yields an equally delicious end result and dramatically reduces the energy/water requirements (hey, small steps can lead to bigger environmental changes!). But, it's your choice of how you'd like to cook your pasta. The NYT system goes as follows: "Set aside a colander placed over a bowl. Place pasta in unwashed skillet (if pasta is very long it may not lie flat on bottom until it begins to soften). Add 2 teaspoons salt and 8 cups cold water. Place over high heat and cook uncovered, stirring frequently to keep pasta submerged, until pasta is almost al dente, 8 to 10 minutes, depending on pasta."

As you cook the pasta, prepare the rest of the dish.

First, shell and blanche the fava beans. Add about 2 tablespoons of oil to a big pan (you'll be adding the pasta to the pan when it's almost done cooking) and let it heat for about 30 seconds before adding the garlic with some salt and pepper (a dish is always better when the seasoning is added to each layer, not just at serving time). Cook on a medium-low heat until it gets soft, but not colored--the garlic should just produce a light smell, you don't want it to be too strong. Add some more olive oil and then add the mint strips and fava beans. The mixture will smell and look fantastic.

Keep an eye on the pasta and stir it pretty frequently so it doesn't stick.

Combine the ricotta, lemon zest, and salt/pepper in the bowl you are going to serve it in. When the pasta seems just about done (al dente), take a ladle of pasta water and mix it into the ricotta cheese, adding more water to your textural preference (the more water the thinner the sauce).

Then, add the drained pasta into the mint/garlic pan and let it cook for an extra minute or two.

Then, stir the pasta mixture into the serving bowl and serve immediately. I think it's pretty to add a bit more lemon zest, mint, or cheese on top as a garnish.


Lentil Dal with Rhubarb, Bulgur, and Kale

Now, I know that this recipe will make some people confused, and others wary. But suspend your disbelief for just a few moments and hear me out. First of all, dal refers to any sort of mixed bean dish and it is a staple in Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Nepali cooking because it provides a dish that is simple and tasty yet full of protein and fiber. Rhubarb is a vegetable most of us know only in desserts. When I saw a beautiful bunch of it at my local fruit stand (it is an early spring fruit), I knew I had to try and make something with it. Bulgur wheat (sometimes spelled bulghur wheat) is a staple in my house that we use to make tabbouleh (an Israeli/Middle Eastern salad that combines wheat with tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, and sometimes even feta cheese) and even eat plain as a subdued side dish. Kale is an extremely nutritious leafy green, and cooked properly, is also extremely delicious. So, here it is. This recipe began in Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" in his section about dals, Bittman writes that chopped rhubarb can be an unusual addition. Armed with lentils and rhubarb, I went for it...then added my own twists to make it a palatable and balanced meal for my family. The recipe may seem a little daunting (and long) but with some planning, it is a simple, homey (and vegan) meal.

To serve 4

1 cup split, dry red lentils (this is what I use, other beans/lentils will work but cooking time will change)
4 stalks rhubarb with strings removed (just like celery, rhubarb has tough strings--after washing it, take a knife and cut the borders off)
1 tablespoon chopped ginger (ginger is available fresh almost anywhere. it's sold in big sections--called hands sometimes)
to taste add cumin, nutmeg, and cinnamon (I added only a small dash of each of these)
to taste add salt and pepper

1 cup coarse bulgur wheat
1 teaspoon olive oil
to taste salt and pepper

1 head kale
2 cloves garlic, sliced (you can use less depending on how garlicky you like it)
1 small white onion, also sliced thinly
1 teaspoon olive oil
to taste salt and pepper

Put the lentils and rhubarb in a large pot. Cover with water an inch over the surface of the lentils/rhubarb (depending on how thick or thin you like the mixture, you may have to add more water--but, a good rule of thumb for cooking lentils is covering them with an additional inch of water). Cook on a low boil for about 5 minutes then return to a simmer for about 30 minutes (If you are not using split lentils this cooking time will be longer) and stir intermittently.
The end result of this will look almost like a thick split pea soup.

While the lentils are cooking (I made mine the night before and let it sit in the fridge, then prepared the other ingredients the next day for a 20 minute lunch), you can prepare the bulgur and kale.

To cook the bulgur, you can either follow the instructions on the package. Generally, coarse bulgur requires two parts liquid to one part grain (so, if making a half-cup of bulgur, use one cup of water or other cooking liquid). Add some salt and olive oil (about one or two teaspoons) to add some richness to the bulgur itself.

As the bulgur is cooking, sautee the kale by first chopping it and then washing it in cold water (kale, and some other leafy greens that are grown in sandy soils, can hold soil in their leaves so it's better to cut them--as you would lettuce--and then rinse well in cold water and drain). Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a medium sized pan. After a minute of heating up, add the onions and then the garlic (so the garlic doesn't burn). Sautee for about two minutes, then add the kale, salt, and pepper. The kale will take about 10 to 15 minutes to cook through. Sautee the mixture on a medium-low heat. Add a bit of water and then cover the pan for short intervals if the kale seems like it is sticking to the pan.

To serve, place the bulgur in the bottom of a deep bowl, then add the lentils, then the kale. If you'd like, a bit of grated parmesan or pecorino cheese adds a delicious salty richness to the dish.

Founding Farmers, no, Framers, no...farmers.

This weekend, my family and I went to Washington DC to see my sister graduate from George Washington University. While there, we sampled some of DC's finest local offerings. Our favorite, and my sister's favorite throughout the year, is DC's first LEED certified restaurant. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a rating the government uses to classify a building as environmentally friendly.

Founding Farmers is an innovative restaurant that is located right near the International Monetary Fund in the heart of our government in DC. Their emphasis is on being "green from the inside out" and they strive to live by that motto. From the burgers to the burners, most everything about the restaurant is green and sustainable. They recycle, serve filtered tap out of glass carafes, and are carbon neutral (all the carbon they emit is offset through partnering with carbonfund.org . The food they serve, for the most part, is sourced from family farmers in the Mid-Atlantic region. Not only does this kind of food help support sustainable, small-scale farming, it also makes for delicious, fresh, and seasonal foods. Their menu changes with what is available but almost always has some classic American favorites like cheeseburgers, fried green tomatoes, and house-made fresh pastas. In earlier blogposts I wrote about livestock as a major contributor to global warming because raising livestock releases huge amounts of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. I also mentioned that some livestock, grown carefully and fed grass diets without antibiotics, are sustainable alternatives to the now omnipresent beef available at most supermarkets. Founding Farmers relies on this kind of sustainable beef and makes the best cheeseburger I've ever had out of the ground-to-order beef from local farms.

Not every ingredient can be bought from small, local farms. This is the reality of eating locally, you can try as hard as you can to rely on locally produced foods and products, but it is just not always feasible. Founding Farmers tries nobly to support local food, environmental awareness, and energy efficiency all while providing diners with delicious food served in a comfortable atmosphere. They achieve this, and live up to one of the Founding Framers's goals: making America an agricultural country that can produce its own food and support its own farmers.

Hilltop Hanover Farm and Environmental Center

Sometimes, the government's actions do not seem to impact our lives in any real way. This is obviously not true, and it is especially untrue when it comes to food.

In 2002, our own Westchester County government decided it was time to put an emphasis on sustainable agriculture and bought Hilltop Hanover Farm and Environmental Center. The farm is a large expanse of land in Yorktown that includes a working farm, multiple teaching gardens, and hiking trails. This is an example of a government acting progressively to improve and protect the quality of our land and food. Officially, their three goals were to preserve Westchester's open space, watershed, and farming culture.

When I visited the farm last Wednesday, I was struck by a few things. First, it looked like a real farm. I know this sounds silly, but I wasn't sure Hilltop would actually look like its non-governmental counterparts. But it does, perhaps because it has actually been a farm for almost 200 years! Second, the only noticeable presence of the government were the 2 hybrid Westchester County government cars parked in the gravel parking lot. Third, the farm was filled with young children--laughing, playing, happy children. The farm works closely with three other organizations: Cornell Cooperative Extension in Westchester (usually called CCE), Something Good in the World (which runs school and summer camp programs at the farm), and the Watershed Agriculture Council (which aims to protect the watershed from which we and NYC receive our water). When I visited, the CCE had brought busloads of elementary school students (mostly from the Bronx) to the farm to learn about the environment and food, and to just be outside and see that their food comes from a real place. The kids seemed to be genuinely delighted as they ran around the farm, helped water the plants, and witness chickens laying eggs.

Jennifer, a staff member at the farm, took me around and gave me a great tour. She explained that the farm is intended to show people watch they can realistically do at their own homes to reduce their environmental impact, support Westchester businesses, and improve the quality of their food. They do this through "teaching gardens," classes and programs, and their farm stand (much of the produce that does not get sold at their on-site farm stand is donated to local food pantries). I especially liked seeing the all-season teaching gardens because they are really helpful in learning what grows best here and how to grow it. I also loved seeing some of the technology they showcase at the farm (like composting toilets--not as gross as you're thinking--and "green roofs" which are flat roofs that add additional space for growing plants, herbs and vegetables). This kind of technology is the technology that will be so important for the future and the farm is showing just how simple it can be to utilize it.

Hilltop Hanover Farm is a great example of what governments can do to help promote healthy lifestyles and healthy use of land.