Potato Peel Broth

Today my friend Dave brought me some delicious chicken noodle soup. He made a roast chicken earlier in the week, and like a responsible cook remembered to boil the carcass to make chicken stock. It's probably more obvious to boil a carcass than it is to boil vegetable scraps, but the same idea lies behind both chicken stock and vegetable stock. Thus I introduce to you another Vegetarian Epicure recipe Potato peel broth or less appetizing, Garbage soup. This broth is a suitable base for any type of soup or sauce and doesn't have the fat that comes with chicken or beef stock.

The most difficult part of making this broth is remembering to keep your potato peels. Any time you make a potato dish, instead of peeling the potatoes with peeler use a pairing knife so you can remove strips a 1/4 inch thick. Either set them aside a few days if you plan on making another potato dish or make the broth immediately. The book notes, if you don't have all of the necessary vegetables to make the broth just boil the potato peels with salt and save it until you have the vegetables to make the broth.

Potato Peel Broth (from The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas)

Ingredients:
Potato peels from 5-7
1 large onion, quartered
2 carrots, peeled and quartered
2 celery stalks
2 cloves garlic
salt and pepper
1 1/2 quarts of water
parsley (optional)

Make sure the potato peels have been washed. Put the water and vegetables into a large pot and simmer over a low flame for 1 1/2 hours until the vegetables are very soft. Add water as it evaporates to keep the vegetables covered. Once the vegetables are tender, there are two options. For a clear broth, strain off the vegetables and set aside for further use. For a soup with a creamier texture, the broth can be pureed and then pressed through a sieve to remove the coarser bits of potato peel. I usually opt for the clear broth because I think the pureed broth is too grainy.

Lentil patties and potato raita

I'm a big proponent of being able to cook a meal at any time with what you have in your kitchen. I think this impulse comes from living with my mother who while a great cook has a deep aversion of going to the grocery store. To be this kind of cook you have to maintain an intelligently stocked pantry. My staples include onions, garlic, carrots, celery, potatoes, and some type of bean, canned and dry. More on quick meals that include minimal grocery shopping later in the broadcast...


Dish #1 Lentil patties
Ingredients
1/2 cup lentils
1 carrot, chopped
1 onion, diced
2 cups water
1 tsp cumin
1tsp curry powder
a touch of chili powder
salt and pepper
1/2 cup unseasoned bread crumbs

Heat olive oil in a medium sauce pan and saute the onions until translucent. Then add the chopped carrot, the lentils, all the spices and 2 cups of water. Bring the mixture to a boil, then turn down the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes until the water is almost gone. Remove from the heat and let cool to the point where you can comfortably handle the mixture. Add the 1/2 cup of bread crumbs and mix until a dough forms. Shape the dough into patties and place on an oiled baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until browned and crispy.

I should say that the redeeming quality of this recipe is that it works with so many ingredients. You can use red onions, any type of beans you might have left over, zucchini, peppers, corn, etc. Any vegetables cooked together can be essentially glued by the bread crumbs and baked or fried to make a delicious patty. My mistake was in adding too many bread crumbs which made my patties dry. Also be sure to leave some liquid in the mixture when you remove it from the heat. I used lentils because they don't have to be soaked so they're an easy and immediate ingredient. They're also cheap, cheap, cheap--always a good thing.


Dish #2
The lentil cakes should be served with some type of yogurt sauce, think tzatziki or just a mildly spiced yogurt. I decided to serve mine with a heartier yogurt based dish, potato raita.

Potato Raita (Adapted from the Vegetarian Epicure)

Ingredients:
3 potatoes
3 stalks of celery chopped
1 tbs butter
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp curry
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cups yogurt

Peel and halve the potatoes and boil until soft. Let them cool then chop them coarsely. In the same pan in which you boiled the potatoes, melt the tablespoon of butter, add the spices and stir until aromatic. Add the celery, let it cook for a minute, then add the yogurt and remove from heat. Blend the yogurt and spices. Pour the the yogurt sauce over the potatoes and mix thoroughly. Chill well before serving.

I have to admit the potato raita was the star of the dinner and the lentil patties were slightly dry and thus a bit disappointing. But that didn't stop this from being an easy and satisfying vegetarian meal.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

As this is my inaugural post, I thought it would be appropriate to use a recipe from my own cook books. The star of my collection is the Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas, which I stole from my mother's extensive collection. (She didn't use it enough.) The book was given to my mother in 1976 by her cousin, possibly the only vegetarian in the family, and she probably only used it a dozen times. The recipe I have chosen to debut is the baked macaroni and cheese. The recipe was recommended to me by my roommate's mother, who when walking by the book shelf in my house saw the Vegetarian Epicure and was shocked to see a copy of it in a 21 year old's house. She swore that is is the best macaroni and cheese ever.

This macaroni and cheese is quite different from the conventional mac and cheese. The Vegetarian Epicure recommends that it be served with a salad dressed with a sharp vinaigrette and good Chianti.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese (adapted from the Vegetarian Epicure)

First step is to prepare the Bèchamel Sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 cup minced onions
3 tbs. butter
4 tbs. flour
2 1/2 cups hot milk
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium sauce pan melt the butter, then add the onions and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until they are translucent. Then add the flour and continue cooking for another few minutes stirring briskly with a spoon while the butter absorbs the flour. Remove the pot from the heat until the butter stops bubbling, and then place back on the medium heat and slowly add the hot milk while stirring with a whisk. The sauce should begin to thicken in a few minutes, but if it is still thin after a few minutes, let the sauce come to a boil and continue whisking. The sauce should have thickened after this point. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation of the baked macaroni:

Ingredients:
1 lb. penne pasta
1 cup shredded Parmesan
3 cups shredded mozzarella
1 cup buttered bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Boil the penne until al dente. Butter a 9x13 inch baking pan. Drain the pasta then place back into the pot. Pour the bèchamel sauce over the pasta and stir until the penne is coated. Then add the cheeses as well and coat the pasta. Pour the pasta into the buttered dish. To prepare the buttered bread crumbs, melt a tablespoon of butter in a small frying pan and add the cup of bread crumbs. Stir the bread crumbs until they have absorbed the butter and fry for about 2 minutes. Top the macaroni and cheese with the bread crumbs. Bake for 20 minutes or until browned.