vegetarian Archives - hello kelinda

May 2, 2017

Pan-Blistered Shishito Peppers

The first time I ever had charred shishito peppers was at Umi Sake House in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood, and it blew my mind. A friend had ordered it to share, and when it arrived, I definitely looked at the small pile of peppers with a great deal of skepticism.

Peppers? As an appetizer? Wouldn’t that, you know, hurt to eat? But you guys, it… well, it does hurt. Sometimes. I wouldn’t lie to you. This is a place of honesty and trust, after all. But mostly, the peppers are an insanely addictive combination of sweet and bitter, with just a small dose of heat. Except for sometimes, like I mentioned, when it is a large dose of heat. But they always seem to be the minority, and in any case I think it just heightens the experience when you have no idea if you’ll come across a “surprise pepper” that lays on the napalm inside your mouth. Does that not sound great to you?

No? Just me?

Fine.

AmyK

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September 12, 2016

Zucchini Patties

I don’t fry things very often because for whatever reason I am completely inept at it. But once in a while, I’ll come across a recipe for something fried that sounds so appealing that I’ll shove aside my fry-aversion and just go for it. These zucchini patties — zucchini fritters, really — called for me to do just that.

These are like potato latkes, but made with zucchini and onion instead. How could I resist? Potato latkes? Delicious. Zucchini? Also delicious. This is an obvious win.

AmyK

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July 26, 2016

Pan-roasted Corn with Mushrooms (and whatever else you want to throw in it)

I am into corn in a big way. I eat little Del Monte cans of whole kernel sweet corn straight from the tin with a spoon. If I weren’t so keenly aware that it’d be very weird, I would even offer it to guests as a dessert. (“Annnnd to cleanse your palate, a can of corn with a spoon in it! Wait, where are you going?”)

Luckily, there are more socially acceptable ways of feeding your guests (and yourself) corn instead of just eating it from a can like some kind of animal that has access to a can opener.

What better time to partake in corn than in the summer, when sweet corn is at its golden peak and ahem, really, really cheap?
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AmyK

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July 5, 2016

Poached Turnips

Turnips. No one gets excited about them. Whenever someone says they’re bringing turnips to the company potluck, no one shouts “AWESOME!”, and approximately zero spontaneous rounds of high-fives break out. Turnips just don’t elicit the kind of yearning that vegetables like potatoes do. Turnips don’t even grace pre-packaged vegetable platters like carrots and celery, nor are they used as ornamental garnishes in fancy salads like radishes. Poor turnips.

But why? Why is it neglected and so often overlooked? Turnips, after all, are packed with vitamins, are entirely edible from bulb to leafy greens, and may I say, they’re even a little bit sexy.

So shapely, oh myyyyy.

But most importantly, they are tasty. That is, as long as you stick with wee, tender little bebbeh turnips.
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AmyK

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May 31, 2016

Rice Salad with Fava Beans and Pistachios

I don’t know why, but I get Bon Appetit in my mail every month. I’m guessing it must have been some kind of promotion when I spent too much money at Williams-Sonoma, but it’s also possible that I subscribed late at night whilst tipsy, like how I woke up once after a night out to find that I had drunkenly signed up for Amazon Prime. I mean, out of all the things one could do while inebriated and on the internet, these things are certainly not the worst.

Also, it is very clear that I lead an incredibly exciting life. Be jealous.

Most of the time, none of the recipes in BA really interest me because I’m not cooking for 4+ people or willing to spend time and money on special harissa ground by nuns or whatever. But I came across a recipe for a wild rice salad in the summer 2014 issue, and it cried out: “Hey! Make me!”

AmyK

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May 26, 2016

Roasted Spring Onions

This isn’t so much a recipe as it is just basic instructions. But aren’t those the best “recipes”? When something is so easy to do that you can just rely on your own intuition to make something delicious? Even when your intuition sometimes leads to disastrous results, like when it was all “You should totally ask that guy out!” when in reality, no, you should have never asked that guy out, never.

Anyway.

I love spring onions. The first time I ever had them was at a friend’s lake house where her boyfriend threw some onto the grill and served them up wonderfully charred but otherwise unadorned. I still think about those from time to time (you also have fond food memories, don’t lie to yourself) — who knew that little onion bulbs could make such a big impression?

One of the vendors at the farmer’s market last weekend had a beautiful basket of spring onions, so of course I brought some home. I don’t have a grill, but figured roasting them along with some leftover carrots and potatoes would be just as good. And it is. Read more

AmyK

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January 26, 2015

Roasted and Charred Broccoli with Peanuts

Do you guys subscribe to food magazines? Or pick any up from the grocery store check-out? Do people even read things on paper anymore? I somehow found myself with a subscription to Bon Appetit, though I don’t remember signing up for it. I can’t complain — I much prefer getting that in the mail each month as opposed to my light bill or those AOL subscription CDs if this were 1999.

But even though I get Bon Appetit in the mail and usually pick up Saveur and Lucky Peach each month, I have a habit of bookmarking recipes and then forgetting about them. Whoops. So to remedy that problem, I figured I’d share at least one recipe from them each month as a way to actually use them. Hooray!

AmyK

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January 22, 2015

Dry-Fried Spicy Long Beans

I’m back! It turns out that I’m like a cat; I need to lie out and charge in a sunbeam if I’m expected to do anything at all for the remainder of the day. And well, the sun skidattles from the sky by 4pm this time of the year here, so I haven’t been doing much cooking for the past few months. Yikes. But now that it’s somewhat bright when I leave the office — even if it instantly becomes pitch black by the time I reach my front door — I can feel the desire to throw down in the kitchen returning to the frozen cockles of my heart. Hooray!

This weekend’s dinner gathering hosted by my friends Sara and Adrian was the perfect push to fire up the stove again. And what better on a cold Sunday night than something green and spicy?

AmyK

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September 10, 2014

Broccoli and Pecorino Pasta

This past weekend was blazingly hot, like the departing summer sun was leaning in to give Seattle a big ol’ hug before it inevitably ignores us for the fall and winter. As a result, the ambient temperature of my apartment reached levels that were previously only recorded inside of active volcanoes.

And that’s where I ran into this little dilemma — the last thing I wanted to do was turn on my stove, but the only thing in the world I wanted to eat was pasta. That’s how my mind works, folks, like the time I decided to walk in a blizzard because I wanted ice cream. Sigh. Simmering a nice red sauce on the stove was out of the question, but what can be done instead? This can be done instead.

I found this recipe on Epicurious years ago, and it’s something I find myself making over and over again. It’s so simple and easy, and best of all, requires minimal stove time. Just long enough to boil whatever pasta suits your fancy plus a minute more for the broccoli to get all nice and soft, et voilà — dinner is served.

AmyK

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July 18, 2014

Salt & Pepper Tofu

I know plenty of people who find tofu terrifying. It’s this weird, beige, jiggly block of something that smells vaguely like stale water — what are you supposed to do with it? I’ll tell you what you’re not supposed to do: eat it plain, straight from the packaging. I know a few traumatized folks who have done just that, the fools. They’re now convinced that tofu is a culinary abomination, but dear reader, this does not have to be your fate.

So what are you supposed to do? I propose that you fry it. And then dust it in a delectable concoction of salt, peppers, and ginger powder so you end up with a tasty, fluffy nugget of goodness. It will make a tofu believer out of you and it will take less than 30 minutes to put together.

But why tofu at all, instead of chicken or pork, or anything else? Because tofu is an excellent vehicle for showcasing rather subtle flavors instead of overpowering them with its own tofu-ness, is super fast to cook, is vegetarian-friendly in case you’re ever going meatless, and the texture just sings with this particular dish — slightly crisp on the outside, and pillowy on the inside. Oh yes.

AmyK

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