Roasted Cauliflower Steaks (with Indian spices)

Blogging Marathon# 58: Week 4/ Day 2
Theme: Bookmarked Dishes 
Dish: Roasted Cauliflower Steaks with Indian Spices 

For the second day of bookmarked recipes, I have a very simple and tasty roasted cauliflower steak recipe. My husband recently had it at a restaurant and he really liked it, so I set about making it at home. I followed this recipe from The Kitchn.

Before I get to the recipe, I have to show you the cauliflower I bought. It was one gigantic sized one, I've never seen this big cauliflower ever in my life. The Indian grocery store had a ton of these humongous ones for just $3.00 each. I immediately picked one up, not really thinking of what to make but this roasted cauliflower steak was the best use for half of it.

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Homemade Roasted Pumpkin Puree Recipe

I wanted to post this homemade roasted pumpkin puree recipe for a while now. I ended up with 5 small pumpkins in the house and after using them for decoration and moving them from room to room (thinking that if I don't see them, they will vanish magically), I finally decided to get off my bottom to make something before they go bad.

This basic pumpkin puree recipe is from 'The Pumpkin Spice Handbook' (my photo is published in this book). The pumpkins I had probably weighed about 3~4 lbs, so I roasted 2 pumpkins in 2 batches.

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Slow Roasted Tomatoes (Preserving Summer Bounty)

Buffet on Table: Bloggers Choice

Day 26: Preserving Summer Bounty - Slow Roasted Tomatoes

It has been a great month of non stop blogging with our mega marathon, Buffet on Table. All good things have to come to end and today is the last day for the marathon :-( 

Today I have slow roasted potatoes recipe to preserve your summer tomato bounty. I only 3 tomato plants (cherry, roma and regular), but I've been getting quite a lot of tomatoes that needed to used up. 

Now I can imagine how much this bounty would be for people with lot of tomato plants -- they must be bombarded with tons of tomatoes. If you are one of them, then please share how you preserve your tomatoes in the comments below. Thank you.

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Quinoa and Roasted Vegetables with Chimichurri Sauce

After making the chimichurri sauce, I was wondering how to use it. In Argentina, it is served with grilled meat. After searching a little bit, here are more uses for it in vegetarian dishes - ideas from here:

• As a sandwich spread by mixing with mayo.
• As pasta sauce -- just toss with hot pasta.
• Stir in scrambled eggs.
• Stir into mashed potatoes.
• Use as dressing for chopped veggie salad.

Here's how I used the chimichurri sauce. I served it with some roasted vegetables and quinoa. Recipe idea is from Vegetarian Times magazine. Original recipe had roasted sweet potatoes, but I used grilled veggies instead.

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Roasted Cauliflower & Rice Bowl

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Healthy Family Dinners

Dish: Roasted Cauliflower with Ras el Hanout & Rice Bowl

My theme for he first week of this month's blogging marathon is 'Healthy Family Dinners'. Ever since I signed up for this theme, I have been thinking what 'healthy' actually means. It has become such a subjective matter. what I think as healthy may not be really that healthy.
For example, recently I read somewhere that broccoli has to be eaten as fresh as possible and if it is stored in the refrigerator, it loses its nutrients. So if I cook something with broccoli after about 4~5 days from buying, does that mean it's not healthy or nutritious anymore? The more articles I read on this, the more confused and clueless I keep getting. So, I've decided not to worry about it too much -- I try to cook with fresh ingredients and keep processed foods to the minimum.

So for the next 3 days, I'm going to post 'healthy' dinners that taste good and are enjoyed by the whole family. Roasted cauliflower is my newest favorite and with all the amazing health benefits it has, cauliflower is sure a superfood. Roasting makes it so much more delicious and in this recipe, cauliflower is roasted with tahini and a Moroccan spice powder called Ras el Hanout. It is a very flavorful dish and I served it with some brown rice and veggies.

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Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 3/ Day 1

Theme: Different Pasta Sauces

Dish: Roasted Cauliflower Sauce

My theme for this week's Blogging marathon is 'Different Pasta Sauces'. Like most kids, my kids love pasta and I make it at least once a week. I'm always looking for new pasta sauces, so this week I've tried 3 new pasta sauces that I enjoyed quite a bit and have been added to my weekly repetition already.
First up is this creamy and yummy roasted cauliflower pasta. Couple of years ago, cauliflower was the hottest veggie in town (just like kale) and chefs and food bloggers have cooked and posted many many interesting recipes. This roasted cauliflower pasta sauce is inspired from some of those recipes.

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Roasted Vegetable Wrap

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: American Sandwiches

Dish: Roasted Vegetable Sandwich Wrap

For the last day of this week's 'American Sandwiches' theme, I have a quick and easy Roasted Veggie Sandwich wrap. Wraps are less messy and very convenient to pack for lunches. Absolutely anything can go into a wrap, like these sandwich wraps I made for a picnic.

Today's wrap has roasted veggies in it with a healthy smear of mashed bean spread. Any vegetable can be roasted and used here. To expedite the roasting part, broiler is used. But if you want to roast them the slow, methodical way, then roast the veggies in a preheated 450°F for 20~30 minutes. Veggies can be grilled on a stove top or outdoor grill. The mashed bean spread can be easily replaced with some homemade or store bought hummus.

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Vegetarian Three Bean Stew with Roasted Potatoes

This winter doesn't seem to end any time soon. The temps have been hovering below freezing and it feels like a deep freezer when we step outside. I am sick of wearing all the layers and I feel bad for the kids who have to lug around their heavy book bag in addition to 3~4 layers of clothing. My son said he felt like a brick with all the layers. The weather man said it's going to be red hot over the weekend -- predicted temps are in lower 40's and he thinks that it is going to feel hot like summer.
Anyway our woes with winter will probably continue for a few more weeks. In the mean time, I made this hearty vegetarian 3 bean stew to warm me up. I tasted this dish at Medieval Times last year and it has stuck with me ever since.

Medieval Times is a place where you step back into Medieval times with epic battles, jousting tournaments along with a royal dinner. We have a location very close to our house and we had a chance to visit it last spring. My son had a great time there. I wasn't much into the battle but I enjoyed my vegetarian feast for sure.

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Roasted Green Bean Bundles (Thanksgiving Side dish)

Continuing with the Thanksgiving recipes, here's an interesting roasted green beans recipe. Traditionally green bean casserole is made for Thanksgiving or during the holiday season, but I'm not a big fan of creamy mushrooms, so this individual bundles of seasoned, roasted green beans sounded like a perfect alternate.

This dish needs a little bit of prep work. Beans need to be blanched, drained and tossed with dressing. Then they are formed into bundles and roasted. So the best thing to do is to blanch and keep the beans ready the day before and then they can tossed with dressing and roasted just before the dinner starts.

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Mango & Roasted corn Salsa

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Mango Mania
Dish: Mango & Roasted Corn Salsa

We are starting our second week of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Mango Mania'. We get mangoes here in the states all through the year, even though the quality of the off-season mangoes is questionable. I don't buy ripe mangoes from regular grocery store unless it looks really really good. I like the ripe mangoes we get at the Indian store and last year we totally enjoyed the mango season. I'm so looking forward to summer for some juicy, ripe mangoes.

I made this mango salad/ salsa couple of months back when I had couple of ripe mangoes and fresh corn in the fridge. There is hardly any recipe here, it is more of a guideline. It is very easily customizable too. Add some cooked black beans or any other beans to add some protein and make it more filling. I served it along with some avocado rice for a simple dinner.

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Delhi -- Aloo Chaat recipe (Baked version)

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 6
State: Delhi
Dish: (Un)fried Aloo Chaat Delhi style

Delhi is the Capital of India and is situated in Northern part of India. It is a Union territory and second largest populous city in the world. I have visited Delhi 3~4 times as a kid, but don't remember what we ate there. One of my aunts used to live in Delhi and we used to have more homemade meals and never really explored the street food in Delhi.

Cuisine: Delhi is a city with a very vast history. It has been continuously inhabited since the 6th century BC. Through, most of the history, it served as the capital of various kingdoms and empires. It was the capital for centuries under Mughal rule and the Mughals influenced the cuisine of Delhi to a large extent. Food culture in Delhi is a mixture of North Indian food, Mughlai cuisines, Punjabi food and mouth watering street food.
Street Food is extremely popular in Delhi and a trend of dinig at local dhabas is popular among the residents. The Gali Paranthe Wali is a street in Chandni Chowk particularly for food eateries since the 1870s. Almost the entire street is occupied by fast food stalls or street vendors.
Specialties: Aloo Chaat, Dahi Vada, Kachori, Chole Bature, Jalebi etc.,

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Farro Salad with Roasted Vegetables

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Revisiting Recipes
Dish: Farro Salad with Roasted Vegetables

We are starting the final week of blogging marathon# 38 today and I chose a relatively simple theme. I am going to be revisiting some of my old posts and updating them with new pictures. 

Today I am updating my hearty and healthy Farro salad with roasted vegetables post. I don't know what I was thinking when I was taking those pictures, I used my used pizza stone with stains on them which wasn't the best of backgrounds to use. So here is a simple salad with some updated pictures. 

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Roasted Veggies w/ Rice & Chipotle Sauce

I love roasted vegetables. Roasting the vegetables makes them smokey and taste absolutely delicious. With the chilly weather hanging around, it is the best time to start the oven and warm the whole house. I use roasted vegetables in salads (like in this couscous salad and farro salad) and in sandwiches (like in here and here).

When I roast veggies, I make sure to make some extra so I can use them in more than one dish. This way you save energy and time, also the leftovers are great to just snack on. I saw this recipe in Vegetarian times magazine and it was just perfect because I had roasted veggies in the fridge that needed to be used up. This is a great dish to pack for lunch.

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Farro Salad with Roasted Vegetables

After posting sugary desserts for the past 4 days, I thought it was time for something healthy and definitely savory. Also May happens to be the 'National Month of Salad', so what's better than a healthy salad to kick start this month. I didn't know that there was such a thing as salad month, but I guess it's never too late to know about good things, right??

Today's salad is made with "Farro", an ancient grain believed to have sustained the Roman legions. I have heard about and have seen a number of bloggers cooking with it, so I bought some from Whole Foods recently. Since the weather is still a little chilly, I roasted some veggies in the oven and mixed them with cooked farro for a simple, filling and healthy salad.

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Vegetarian Wholewheat Calzones

Today we begin the 2nd week of Blogging Marathon, my theme for this week is "Stuffed Breads". To make the theme challenging Valli wants us to make very specific stuffed breads: Stuffed Yeast bread, Stuffed Roti/ Paratha & Stuffed Naan/ Kulcha. 

So for the "Stuffed Yeast Bread", I made a "Calzone". Calzone is nothing but a folded pizza, all the gooey and yummy goodness of pizza in a portable turnover form. After tasting her first calzone ever, my mom commented that this is better than pizza because your fingers are clean when eating and there are less chances of toppings falling off. I have to agree with that. Calzones are easier to carry and cleaner to eat.

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Roasted Vegetable Sandwich with Homemade Cheesy Burger Buns

As I was thinking about the theme for this week, "Cooking with Appliance", one appliance I use a lot after my blender is my oven. Here in the US, ovens are standard in every house, even rental apartments come with a standard size oven. For today's recipes I've used the stand mixer and the oven to make a complete meal.

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Roasted Veggie Sandwich

Here's another great picnic food that is colorful, filling and extremely easy to make. Sandwiches are perfect picnic food as they don't require the use of any cutlery and most don't have to be refrigerated. This is a pressed sandwich that can be made at least 4 hours or even the night before the picnic, giving you time to get other things ready for the picnic.

The choice of veggies used in the sandwich is endless, any roasted, grilled or blanched veggie can be used in the filling. I used eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and roasted peppers, but mushrooms, blanched asparagus or green beans etc. taste awesome too. I saw a recipe in Vegetarian Times that had boiled eggs, so feel free add some protein to your sandwich but make sure that you have a good cooler to keep the sandwich chilled.

Any crusty bread like french baguette or ciabatta can be used. Pressing the sandwich lets the crusty bread soak up the juices from the roasted vegetable juices and the make them super delicious by the time you get to the picnic.

Ingredients:

Crusty bread - 1 loaf (12" long)

Eggplant - 1 small, cut into ¼" slices

Zucchini - 1 medium, cut into ¼" slices

Yellow Squash - 1 medium, cut into ¼" slices

Roasted Peppers - 3-4, drained (Or roast 1 large red pepper chopped along with the other veggies)

Cheese - 4-5 slices (I used vegetable jack cheese, but mozzarella/ pepper jack or monterey jack can also be used)

Salt & Pepper - to taste

Balsamic Vinegar - 2tsp

Olive oil - 2tsp

For the pesto:

Basil leaves - 2 cups packed

Pine nuts - 3tbsp, lightly roasted

Garlic - 2 cloves, crushed

Extra virgin olive oil - 3tbsp (or more to make a smooth paste)

Salt & Pepper - to taste

Method:

• Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and place the chopped veggies. Spray with cooking spray and season the veggies with salt & pepper. Roast for 18-20 minutes or until browned around the edges and they turn tender.
• Place all the ingredients for the pesto in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Keep aside.
• Cut the bread in half and hollow inside to make room for the vegetables.
• Spread both sides with the pesto, arrange the vegetables on the pesto and pour the balsamic vinegar and olive oil on the veggies.
• Place the cheese slices on the veggies. Close the sandwich and wrap tightly with a plastic wrap.
• Put the sandwich on a plate and put some weight on it and refrigerate for at least 4 hour or up to 12 hours.

Enjoy with some baked chips for a delicious picnic meal.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners have cooked up for Day 2 of BM# 6.

Update 6.30.11: Sending these wraps over to Valli's Sandwich Mela.

Veg Noodles

It's already the 4th day of our Blogging Marathon. I'm enjoying myself doing this everyday and I'm sure my son's happy too since I'm asking him what he wants to eat, so I can make him something and post it on the blog too (since the theme I've chosen for the marathon is "kid-friendly" dishes).

For today's lunch, I steered him toward noodles since I wanted to make some myself. I asked him "Do you want some noodles for lunch today??", he cheered and said "Noodles, Noodles!!", so there we have Veggie Noodles for lunch.

My 3 year old likes to slurp on noodles, he starts to slurp and blow with his mouth even before putting the spoon in his mouth. I make him "Maggi" noodles occasionally and really like the new "Atta noodles" that Maggi came up with. The seasoning sachets have dehydrated veggies and one pack makes for a quick meal for my little one.

I had some roasted vegetables in the fridge that I used in this dish which made making the noodles a snap, everything got done in about than 10 minutes (not including the time to boil water for noodles). If you don't have roasted veggies, simply sauté the veggies of your choice until crisp tender and proceed with the recipe.

Ingredients:

Hakka Noodles - 1 pkg

Red Onion - 1 small, thinly sliced

Cabbage - 1 cup, thinly sliced (quarter of a medium sized cabbage head)

Roasted vegetables - 1 cup (I roasted Zucchini, Japanese eggplant & red pepper in a 425°F oven for 30-35 minutes with some salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar)

Soy sauce - 2tsp

Sriracha sauce (red chili sauce) - 1tsp (or per taste)

Ginger - 1" piece, finely grated (I use a microplane to grate it really fine)

Garlic - 2 cloves, minced

Salt - to taste

Method:

• Cook noodles according to package directions; drain well and spread on a plate. Mix in some oil to prevent sticking and set aside.
• Heat 2tsp peanut oil on medium-high flame in a large wok; add ginger and garlic and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
• Next add onion & cabbage and stir-fry until the veggies are crisp tender, about 3-4 minutes.
• Add the roasted veggies, sauté for another minute.
• Add soy sauce, chili sauce, salt and the cooked noodles. Stir-fry for another minute or until the noodles are heated through. Serve hot.

Don't forget to check out what the other Marathoners are cooking up in their kitchens.

Azeema, Bhagi, Champa, Sowmya, Gayathri Anand, Gayathri Kumar, Harini, Jay, Kamalika, Mina, Meena, Padma, PJ, Priya Mahadevan, PriyaSuresh, PriyaVaasu, Rujuta, Saraswathi, Savitha, Shanavi, Smitha, Srivalli, Suma,Usha,Veena.