Meatless Monday Archives - Page 3 of 10

Spring in Rome and an Orange & Fennel Salad

March 21, 2016 by aplough 2 Comments

A recent trip to Italy has inspired me to cover my table in seasonal fruits and vegetables. Leaving a snow-covered Helsinki behind, we arrived in Rome to sunny-cloudy skies, early buds just emerging on trees, low levels of tourists (a huge win!) and pleasant temperatures that required only a light jacket and scarf for warmth while touring this beautiful city.

Rome is one giant museum, and best seen by walking around, so we were glad we’d packed great walking shoes. Everywhere you look, there are bits and pieces of ancient Rome, with layers brought in by all the subsequent generations, each looking to make their mark on the city they call(ed) home, while literally and figuratively building on the work and lives of the city’s previous residents. We visited the major sites: the Colesseum, Forum, Pantheon, Vatican, St. Peter’s Basilica. We stepped inside multiple churches to enjoy the intricate architecture, artwork, and in some delightfully surprising cases, groups of locals singing and enjoying their daily lives.

We wandered down winding side streets leading to courtyards and plazas and parks in the back streets of Rome.

We took selfies and panorama shots, alongside other tourists from around the world, in front of the fountain by the Spanish steps; from the rooftop of Castle d’Angelo, in front of ruins in the Jewish Ghetto, in the midst of headless statues inside the Forum. We sat overlooking the Tiber river, watching the world go by, enjoying the unscheduled days and the warmth of the Spring sunshine.

And we ate. We dined on the usual suspects of pizza and pasta…

…and the more surprising and enjoyable offerings on the menu: arugula salad topped with fennel and orange; local goat cheese and toasted hazelnuts on dark greens; zucchini, sundried tomato and pecorino souffle; Roman-style artichokes – Carciofi alla Romana; and became completely addicted to Brutti ma Buoni – the “ugly but delicious” cookies made from toasted hazelnuts – a completely irresistible chewy-crunchy (we went back to the same bakery 3 times).

We enjoyed gelato from Gelateria del Teatro – more than once. We consumed many, many oranges and blood oranges – too many to count.

We drank cappuccinos literally all over the city, soon discovering our favorite places for the first cup of the morning, the second cup an hour or so later, the place to go after lunch, the mid-afternoon pick-me-up. When in Rome… We drank coffee as the locals did: standing up at the coffee bar, knocking back a freshly pulled espresso shot, or sitting at the outside tables, enjoying a cappuccino while watching the world go by.

Here’s what we discovered while walking and eating our way through Rome for four days:

The local pasta and pizzas are great, but eat these daily and you’ll soon be craving vegetables – the pasta dishes tend to be very simple, for example the cacio e pepe made with cheese, butter or olive oil and black pepper over pasta – a delicious dish, but one screaming to be served with a side of vegetables or a salad. One trick is to ask for two plates and share the pasta dish, and then order several of the vegetables or salads along with it. Trust me, your gut, waistline and energy levels will thank you for this.

The most interesting dishes were found in from the list of appetizers, side dishes or salads. It is here that the local chefs are most adventurous, and where some of the best food in Rome. Sometimes, we ordered only side dishes – and these turned out to be our best meals.

Local markets let you see what’s in season. During our visit in early March, the markets were loaded with wild asparagus, broccoli rabe, and artichokes. So whenever we came across these items on the menu, we ordered up! Wise choice – they were always fresh and delicious. The broccoli rabe at Pizzeria del Francesco was steamed and then dressed with garlic toasted in olive oil and a generous douse of black pepper – a perfect predecessor to the crisp pecorino, wild asparagus white pizza, topped with a fresh egg and baked in the wood-fired oven.

When looking for good food, here are a few rules:
- Don’t rely only on the guide books – their recommendations will likely lead you to places overcrowded with tourists and dishes that are less than stellar. Instead ask a local in their late 20’s thru early 50’s where they eat. They are likely to give you the address of the trendier new restaurants cooking up Italian food with a modern twist.
- If the menus are in English only, skip it.
- If you’re looking for food after visiting a tourist attraction, follow the “rule of 3” shared with us by tour guide Chad: turn your back on the tourist site; walk 3 blocks in any direction and the food will be 3 times better and 3 times cheaper. It’s true.
- Don’t look for dinner before 7:00 PM. Expect to pay extra for bread, water, plus a service fee.
- You want a restaurant in which (most) of the guests are speaking Italian. If not, keep walking.
- The best food is found on the side streets in smallish restaurants.
- Use the local WiFi to check out “restaurants near here” on Google maps. You’ll get up-to-date comments from people like you about restaurants in the vicinity. We had really good luck with this, and found one of our favorite restaurants, dar sor Olimpio al Drago in Trastevere this way.
- Be adventurous. Try foods you’ve never heard of. Share dishes so you can enjoy more new flavors without stuffing yourself.

Pecorino, Zucchini & Sundried Tomato Souffle; Eggplant Involtini; Carciofi alla Romana; Tiramisu

To get you started, here are three of our favorite food stops from the trip:

dar sor Olimpio al Drago, Piazza del Drago 2 in Trastevere – Impeccable service in a charming restaurant, and where we found one of my favorite dishes of the trip: a souffle of pecorino cheese, zucchini and sundried tomato. Everything on the menu was excellent. Unusually for us – we ate here twice!
Gelateria del Teatro, Via dei Coronari, 65 – This is one place where the guide books get it right – truly the best gelato in Rome with authentic gelato flavors masterfully made in-house. Your only regret will be limited capacity as you’ll want to try every single flavor.
Baylon Cafe, Via di San Francesco a Ripa 152 in Trastevere – fresh juices and the best cappuccinos in the city. Also serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Well-loved by the locals and has a wonderful staff and decor that made me smile. This place really felt like “home”.

In case it may be a while before you visit the Eternal City, here’s a refreshing Spring salad inspired by our trip. This simple combination makes the best of a few ingredients, so look for the best quality of each that you can find. This will be on our Easter table, reminding us of those delightful days in Rome, and promising that Spring is nearly here – even in Helsinki.

Orange, Fennel and Carrot Salad

1 head of Lollo Rosso lettuce, or dark greens of choice
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced lengthwise, reserving 8 whole slices from the center.
1 orange, peel and outer pith cut away, cut into fourths and then into slices, reserving a few slices
1 carrot, peeled and cut into thin, short strips
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon high-quality balsamic vinegar

Wash the dark greens and spin dry. If large, cut into bite-sized pieces. Place the greens in a large bowl. Add the fennel and orange except for reserved slices, and the carrot pieces. Add salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar. Toss well to coat vegetables with the dressing.

Divide the vegetable mixture between 2 plates for a main course and 4 plates for a side dish. Garnish with reserved fennel and orange slices. Serve immediately.

Serves 2 as a main course and 4 as a side dish.

Have you been to Rome? Share your favorite food stops and tips in the comments below! Dreaming of Rome? What would you love to see or eat there?

Smoky Eggplant Ragù and thoughts on 2016 goals

January 6, 2016 by aplough Leave a Comment

It’s a funny thing, the start of the New Year. There’s something about seeing the calendar shift forward by one number – 2015 to 2016 – that causes many of us to pause and take stock of our lives. What did we accomplish over the last 12 months? Where? With whom? Are we satisfied? What’s next? I’ve had several friends ask if I’ve made New Year’s resolutions for 2016 and you know – I haven’t.

But I have set goals for myself – goals I can track and measure. Resolutions are not goals, I feel, because so often they are vague: “drink less coffee”; “lose weight”; “exercise more”; “make more money”; “travel”; “get up earlier”; “reduce sugar intake”. But these don’t really give a way to know if you’ve succeeded – or not.

Goals are stronger and more specific (or should in order to be effective). They are measurable. They have a time frame attached. I’m starting to sound like an ad for SMART goals which are defined as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound. I agree with most of that – except the “realistic” part. What does that mean, really? Realistic for whom? Compared to what/when? Sometimes I think that in an aim to be realistic, we restrict ourselves to accomplishing what we already are certain we are capable of. It’s setting the bar too low.

What if, this time, you set a goal for yourself that you honestly aren’t sure you can do? It needs to be something that you really truly want to make happen. Make your goal bigger than you are right now. Make it a little crazy. Force yourself to push – a lot – in order to get there. And stop listening to the voices – in your head or from people in your life – that say you can’t, or that you should play smaller, safer.

Maybe you’ve completed a half-marathon and you aim for a Olympic triathlon. Or you’ve done that triathlon, so it’s Half Ironman this time. To do this, you’ll need a good training plan – maybe even professional help.

Or maybe you’ve thought about “losing a few pounds” – what if, instead, you, decide to go sugar-free for 30 days, and you track your weight at the beginning and then every 7 days. (or go all-in like my friend Kaisa, and go sugar-free for 365 days!) Buddy up with a friend – and check in regularly for accountability and support. For most of us, quitting sugar is hard – we don’t even always know how much we are consuming, so making the commitment means we need to pay more attention.

Maybe you’ve dreamed for years about owning your own business but you’ve had trouble seeing how you’ll ever make enough cash to quit your day job. Make a goal of landing 2 clients by June 2016 (or why not March 2016?). Make it a hard-line goal – it’ll force you to make a plan to get there.

Maybe you, like me, have a blog and want to make it better, more consistent, attract more readers. Make a commitment to blog every day for 30 days. Hold yourself to it. If you miss a day, you start back again at day 1. Or, ask a friend to hold you accountable: if you miss a day, not only do you start back at day 1; you also owe that friend $100 – or an amount that is sufficiently painful that you’d hate to hand it over – but they’d be delighted to get. It’ll motivate you when you’re tempted to put off the work.

Because here’s the deal. Time is one currency you can never earn back. The clock ticks forward whether we are scrolling Facebook or writing a novel; whether we oversleep in the morning or get up for 60 minutes of yoga before work; whether we ask for the sale or hide at our desks to perfect our pitch just one more time. Whether we start right now, or tell ourselves “not yet”. It’s unlikely you’ll ever feel like you have too much time on your hands and not enough things to do – I felt bored once back in Junior High School, but since then…mostly it’s trying to figure out how to fit everything in and making decisions on what’s really important – for me. It may be similar for you.

Make this the year that you step forward into that great life you want, but pushing yourself to be bigger and better than you fully know you can be. You’ll surprise yourself. You’ll make progress. You may even inspire a few people. You’ll definitely inspire yourself to continue to improve, and what could be better than that?

There’s one major difference between the people who become what they want to be and those who don’t: Discipline. The greatest natural gifts in the world don’t help. Massive amounts of money of invested cash don’t either. It’s getting up every morning with a plan and deciding you’re going to make it happen.

Oh – and that “time” thing? We all have 168 hours – every single week. You, me, President Obama, Elon Musk, Angelika Merkel (to name a few people who seem to cover more ground in a week than most I know). You have more time than you think. How are you going to use it to get to where you want to go?

Let me know in the comments below!

While you chew on those thoughts, let’s get some good food going that will help fuel through whatever goals you set for yourself. This is a simple dish to make, packed with flavor, and full of plant-based nutrients. It’s feel-good comfort food that you can feel good about eating. The smooth softness of the eggplant pairs well with the sweet-sour acid notes of the roasted tomatoes and the smokiness of the smoked ground paprika. Get ready to add this one to your menu again and again, all Winter long.

Smoky Eggplant Ragù

Step 1: First start by roasting the tomatoes:

2 containers of small plum tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
olive oil
salt & pepper
dried oregano

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F. Wash the tomatoes and slice them in half. Lay them cut side up on a parchment-lined baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and oregano. Roast for 30 minutes, or until soft and slightly blackened around the edges.

Step 2: Make the sauce & pasta & assemble

olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 eggplant, top and bottom sliced off and cut into 1/2″ / 1 cm cubes
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
oven roasted tomatoes, from Step 1
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon fresh or frozen minced parsley
300-400 g dried, whole grain pappardelle pasta (I like spelt; but whole wheat is good too)
Pecorino cheese to serve; optional

In a large frying pan, pour in 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onion and cook until soft and translucent: 5-8 minutes. Add the garlic and the chili powder, stir to combine, and cook for one minute more. Add the eggplant and stir well to combine. Add 1/2 cup water and place a lid on the pan. Allow the mixture to cook for 7 minutes.

Remove lid, add smoked paprika, oven roasted tomatoes, salt, pepper and parsley. Stir well to combine, and then stir occasionally for an additional 5 minutes. Taste; adjust quantities of salt, pepper and chili powder to your preferences.

Bring 6 cups/1.5 liters of water to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and the pasta. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package. When the pasta is ready, reserve one cup of the liquid and drain. (Note: I usually drain the pasta into a bowl so that I can use the pasta water for soups – it gives a really nice silky texture).

Add the drained pasta and 1/2 cup pasta water to the pan with the sauce. Stir well to combine. If your pasta is too dry, or if you’d like a little more sauce, add the remaining 1/2 cup of pasta water.

Serve with grated pecorino cheese.

Serves 4

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Rosemary Hasselback Potatoes

September 24, 2015 by aplough 4 Comments

If you want to impress your dinner guests (or just yourself) without slaving all afternoon in the kitchen, consider adding these handsome potatoes to your dinner menu.

Hasselback potatoes aren’t a new concept, but they are a good one. Basically, you take any good baking potato, slice it thinly across the top, stopping just before you cut through the potato, about 1/4″ / 2 cm from the bottom. You sprinkle on a little salt, a little pepper, a few herbs, and drizzle olive oil, and let the oven do the rest of the work for you. As the potatoes bake, the spaces between the slices expands and the the potato begins to fan out just a little. Bake for the length of time you would a standard baked potato, and then finish under the broiler so the top gets nice and crispy and golden. These could actually be the star of your dinner, if you wish – serving them with traditional baked potato toppings, with a smoked salmon dip; a little kicked-up ketchup, or, of course, alongside a roast chicken…or less traditionally, next to a roasted celeriac. They are really good.

They also reheat really well, so although this recipe makes four, you can easily increase that quantity and then reheat them in the oven the next day to maintain the crispness, or make them a day ahead and reheat them to serve.

Potatoes often get a bad rap in nutrition world, but they are actually a great option, particularly if they are served with the skin on, as they are in this recipe. Too often, they are slathered with butter in cream or deep fried within an inch of their life making them something that’s a far cry from healthy food.

Cooked properly, however, potatoes are a delicious, healthy whole food. They have:

low-calorie: roughly 160 calories per potato (approximately 1 cup)
a very good source of vitamin B6 (for building cells; cardiovascular protection; brain cell and nervous system activity; and for breaking down glycogen – aiding in athletic performance)
a good source of dietary fiber, potassium, copper, vitamin C, manganese, phosphorus, niacin and pantothenic acid
phytonutrients with antioxident capacity, e.g. carotenoids and flavonoids
potential to help lower blood pressure (because of presence of kukoamines)

Source: whfoods.com

Eat up! Potatoes are good for your health.

Notes:

most of the potato’s fiber is in the skin, so make sure you consume the entire potato
it’s worth repeating: french fries and potatoes chips are not real food: they are in fact really bad for your health. If you want to enjoy the health benefits of potatoes, eat them baked, roasted, boiled, lightly pan fried, or steamed, but avoid the processed foods that will only make you sick.
Any good baking potato can be used for this recipe, including sweet potatoes!

Rosemary Hasselback Potatoes

4 large baking potatoes
1 large sprig rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped (about 2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sea salt
olive oil

Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F.

Wash and scrub your potatoes to remove all dirt from the skin. Lay a potato on its side, and make thin cuts from one end to the other, cutting down into the potato almost to the bottom, but being careful not to cut all the way through. Place the potato on the baking tray and repeat with remaining potatoes.

Combine the rosemary and sea salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle a half teaspoon of the mixture over each potato, using your fingers to push it into the cuts a little. Drizzle a thin layer of olive oil over each potato. Place the potatoes into a hot oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the potatoes from oven, and using a basting brush, dip into the oil in the bottom of the pan and brush it over the tops of the potatoes. Return the pan to the oven, increase the heat to 215°C/425°F and continue to bake another 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown, tender in the center and crispy on top.

Serves 4.