creative cooking

Thinking up new, healthy, creative dinners sometimes poses a challenge. Last night I stood in the pantry door, looked around, went to the refrigerator to see what I already had available. Although the vegetable combination is not unusual for me, I decided to use farro instead of pasta or rice. Farro, a staple in ancient Rome, has been called “the mother of all wheat”. I buy pearled, organic farro. It is chewy, a good source of fiber, and high in protein. I do not follow the directions on the bag. Here is how I cook farro for two servings:

1 cup farro

3 cups water

1 Tsp. Better Than Bouillon

Avocado oil

Cover the bottom of a sauce pan with the oil, pour in the farro. Turn heat on high, constantly stirring, saute the farro in the oil for a couple of minutes, then pour in the water. Add the bouillon and stir thoroughly. Turn the heat down but keep the farro boiling. Do not cover. Stir at regular intervals. Do not let it go dry. It should take about 1/2 hour for the farro to become tender. Test and if needed, add more water. Cook until the water is absorbed and farro is tender.

Last night’s vegetable sauce:

Cover the bottom of a pan with olive oil. Add five cloves garlic, coarsely chopped and one medium sized beet, cut into medium sized pieces. Saute until tender. Add five to six sliced Brussels sprouts. When Brussels sprouts are partially cooked, add one large poblano pepper, coarsely chopped, seeds removed. Saute until pepper is tender but still bright green. Last night I used berbere, an Ethiopian spice, to jazz up the sauce. Sometimes I use basil or other Italian spices. I vary the vegetables, sometimes using sliced carrots, broccoli, kale. Be creative. Use vegetables you like. If you want something non vegetarian, add chopped chicken or cod loins.

Above is a photo of the cooked vegetables ready to serve.

The vegetables served over the farro. If you are not vegan, you can grate asiago or parmesan cheese over the top.

This is post number six as I continue to quarantine. I’ve lost tract of exactly when I last went to the grocery–not for at least three weeks. In an effort to avoid going unnecessarily, I’ve come up with all sorts of creative cooking by looking to see what I can find in the pantry and refrigerator and inventing recipes, using what I already have. Here are three of my inventions.

When I was in Italy last November, I ate pasta with lemon creme sauce in two different restaurants in two different cities. I have managed to duplicate it using bucatini from Italy, lemons, and heavy cream. For two servings, cook about 1/2 pound of pasta. While pasta is cooking, use a potato peeler to peel of strips of rind from one lemon. Chop these strips into smaller pieces. Cut the lemon into quarters. When pasta is al dente, drain. Turn down the heat and melt 1/4 stick butter in the pan, add drained pasta and lemon rind. Take the lemon quarters and squeeze the juice into the pasta, add cream to taste–do not add too much. If you do not have cream–this time I had none in the refrigerator, do not worry. It is yummy without it.

I was out of most salad ingredients so the above salad is chopped cilantro topped with feta cheese, various kinds of olives, and olive oil.

While scrounging around in the freezer compartment, I found half pound of hamburger. I defrosted that and found a can of kidney beans in the pantry. I sautéed the lean hamburger in olive oil, then added the kidney beans. I did not have any tomatoes or tomato sauce so I dumped in a little organic ketchup. After stirring this together, I added berbere, a complex and a little hot spice from Ethiopia. I served this on top of basmati rice from Pakistan–I buy this in ten pound bags at an international grocery.

The salad ingredients were a gift from a friend who had to harvest all his arugula and lettuce because of freezing weather. While both of us were outside, he handed me a bagful of these goodies. I added some red cabbage I already had. Finally, I grated asiago cheese all over the top of everything. Cheese is a favorite food so I always have lots on hand.

The other food I always keep in the freezer is fish, usually salmon and cod loins. For this recipe, I defrosted the salmon and marinated it in teriyaki sauce and chopped up some onions and crystallized ginger. I sautéed the onions in olive oil, then added the salmon and crystallized ginger. When the salmon was almost done, I added some chopped, frozen, poblano peppers (when I knew this stay-at-home order was likely, I bought a lot of poblano peppers and froze them) and arugula. I served the finished dish over basmati rice.

Sometime in the next month or so–no definite date yet–my memoir/cookbook will come out, “You’re Gonna Eat That!? Adventures with Food, Family, and Friends.” It is filled with recipes using ingredients and methods I have learned in travels and growing up with my mom. Many of the recipes are vegetarian and could be vegan with minor adjustments.