A Knife makes a Moroccan Stew

So this brand new knife* gets unpackaged one night during June gloom and thinks, "This is the night to make that Moroccan stew I've been thinking about." He pulls the veggies out of the refrigerator drawers, mentally checking off the items that need to be taken care of. Slightly wilted swiss chard, barely fresh squash, lonely carrots that are scattered among the leaves. Skip the limp fava beans and oldish beets.

The rest of the ingredients are ready to go, so the knife takes the vegetables to task. Wilted stalks get thrown out, leaves are salvaged and chopped with a flare. He makes all the squash equal by cubing them evenly, after quickly lopping their heads and feet off. Peeled carrots are diced in a flash, and an onion prepped with a few sharp slices.

Now that the knife has made quick work of the normally burdensome veggie prep, the stew is basically made - spices coat the veggies, liquids hydrate the lentils, chickpeas fill out the final product. Et voilà, Moroccan stew! A satisfying day's work to inaugurate a knife's promising career.



Moroccan Vegetable Stew
Based on Surfas' Moroccan chili recipe

½ lb green lentils
2 cans garbanzo beans
8 C of water or chicken stock
1 C diced carrots
2 C shredded greens (chard, spinach, or kale will do)
1 C diced squash or zucchini
1 diced onion
1 can diced tomato
1 bunch chopped cilantro
1 T ground ginger
2 T ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper as needed

if you can afford/access these specialty ingredients:
1 pinch saffron threads
½ C diced preserved lemons peel only

In a large soup pot sauté onions, carrots, and seasonings until translucent about 4 to 5 minutes. Add lentils, tomatoes, preserved lemon and chicken stock to cover. Let simmer until lentils are al dente about 20 minutes. Add garbanzo beans, greens, and squash and let simmer for 10 more minutes. Re-season if necessary.

Note: Sausage can be added if desired, and any of the vegetables can be replaced with other vegetables as you see fit. This makes a lot of food!

*a celebration of my lovely new knife - really, you would like it too!

Vegan Sweet Potato Soup

Yeah, soup again. It may be spring officially, but things are still chilly enough in my part of the world that soup sounds good to me (the winter-spring divide in California is very fuzzy). I've made this soup twice in the last month for friends who have been in the hospital because it is a inexpensive meal that I feel like I can feed anyone. It has good flavor from the aromatics and dried herbs, but it is incredibly healthy - all vegetables, with a little bit of olive oil to draw out the onion and garlic. Unlike most soups, it doesn't require any broth/stock, so there is no chicken or beef stock to offend the vegetarian, and there's no vegetable broth to notch up the sodium content. To top it off, it's got a bright orange hue to liven up a cloudy March day. Time to pull out that immersion blender!



Vegan Sweet Potato Soup
From "A Simple Soup" on Chocolate and Zucchini

1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 medium carrot, peeled and sliced
3 medium zucchinis, sliced
dried herb blend, like 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe's (or fresh herbs if you've got some)
salt & pepper

1. Prepare vegetables according to ingredient list.
2. Heat a little olive oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion and garlic over medium heat until limp and translucent.
3. Add sweet potatoes, carrot, herbs, and salt and pepper.
4. Add water to just cover the vegetables (more water will make the soup thinner, less will make the end product thicker). Cover and bring to a boil. Cook covered for 15 minutes once it has reached a boil.
5. Add zucchini and cook for 5-10 minutes longer. Test vegetables with a fork or knife to determine level of tenderness (I prefer more firm zucchini, so 5 minutes is sufficient for me).
6. Taste and adjust seasoning.
7. Mash up the vegetables with a fork or potato masher, or blend with an immersion blender or in a food processor to desired consistency. It gets thicker the more you break up the sweet potatoes.



Make buttermilk biscuits (recipe to be posted later) to serve with the soup, and use the remaining sweet potatoes and buttermilk to make Sweet Potato Pound Cake with Buttermilk Glaze! Oh yeah, and the leftover zucchinis for Zucchini Pancakes. The possibilities are endless.

Zucchini Pancakes

As I gravitate more and more towards a plant-based diet, I find myself remembering ways that my mom used to get vegetables into me as a kid. Zucchini was a much hated item in the kid-world of my family, and apart from its incarnations in zucchini bread and these zucchini pancakes, its appearance created quite a panic at the dinner table. I won't tell you what my brother used to do when forced to eat it - it wasn't pretty!

I have completely gotten over my dislike of plain zucchini, but I still enjoy these pancakes. They remind me a bit of onion and veggie cakes that I've had at Korean and Chinese restaurants, and are a great way to use extra courgettes (as anyone with a summer garden will certainly appreciate). You can probably even make them with ingredients you already have in your kitchen. Enjoy!

Zucchini Pancakes

1 1/2 C zucchini, grated (1-2 small zucchinis)
1/4 C white or whole wheat flour
2 T chopped onion
2 eggs
1/4 C Parmesan cheese
2 T plain nonfat yogurt OR mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and fry on an oiled frying pan or griddle, just as you would make normal pancakes. Make sure to spread the batter thin enough so that they won't take too long to cook (less than a 1/4 inch thick).

Makes six-5 inch pancakes.