The answer: a Moroccan-inspired stew, complete with preserved lemons, cumin, cinnamon, and saffron. Saffron always looks pretty…

…but preserved lemons kind of freak me out. They look like an ingredient for a witch’s brew.

If you aren’t familiar with preserved lemons, they’re pickled in lemon juice and salt. They aren’t hard to find in most big grocery stores or specialty shops, and depending on where you live, they shouldn’t cost too much. The jar pictured above cost around $4 at Fairway. You can always substitute fresh lemon juice in the stew, but it won’t have quite the same flavor.

Whether you use legit preserved lemons or lemon juice, when combined with the cinnamon, cumin, ginger, and saffron, they take a jumble of simple vegetables to a new level. Did I also mention that the whole recipe takes under an hour to complete? Yes, my friend. This is a vegetable stew you can make on a weeknight (or a busy weekend). Let’s get to it.

Moroccan Squash Stew
Serves 6-8
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen. Note: The original recipe also called for 2 cups of chickpeas, so feel free to add them in.)

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, small dice
• 4 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound peeled butternut squash, large dice
• 1 pound red potatoes, skin on, large dice
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with juices
• Pinch saffron threads
• Pulp of 1/2 preserved lemon, finely chopped
• 1 cup brined green olives
• Steamed couscous, for serving

Optional garnish:

• Fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
• Toasted slivered almonds
• Plain yogurt

1. Heat butter and olive oil in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed saucepan with a tight fitting lid over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add onion, garlic, cumin, ginger, and cinnamon, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

2. Add squash and potatoes, season with a bit more salt and pepper, and stir to coat with with the oil and spices. Cook until the squash and potatoes start to become tender, about seven minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the broth, tomatoes and their juices, and saffron. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer until the squash and potatoes are completely tender and easily pierced with a fork, about 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, make your couscous according to the box directions.

5. Once the vegetables are tender, remove the stew from heat and stir in the preserved lemon pulp and olives. Serve over couscous and your garnishes of choice.

Soup season is a time to slow down and gather your friends, because really, are you going to eat an entire pot of soup alone? You could freeze it for later, but it’s not as fun. One of my favorite soup memories is a miso and tempura party at my friend Allie’s house in late high school (or was it early college?). We got together in her kitchen one afternoon and chopped up mountains of vegetables, mixed up tempura batter, and took turns tossing carrots and mushrooms into a hot wok. Sarah kept an eye on the oil temperature and cooled the tempura batter with ice cubes while someone prepped a big pot of miso soup on the stove. Teamwork.

I didn’t have any extra sets of hands when I made a quick pot of miso soup last weekend, but I did share it with Ramsey when it was done. Before I share the recipe though, let me fess up to something: I took the lazy route for miso soup. The ambitious make dashi for their miso, which calls for boiling kelp and dried fish flakes to make a rich, salty stock. I, however, am a woman in a small Brooklyn apartment where smells tend to linger days after cooking, so I decided to forgo the fish and just use water and miso. However, if you’re up for making the stock, give it a try and use in place of water in the recipe below.

Miso Soup with Tofu and Soba
(Adapted from everyone’s favorite magazine with a one-letter title, O)

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic , minced
• 1 medium bunch spinach
• 4 medium carrots (about 3/4 pound), peeled and coarsely chopped
• 4 ounces buckwheat (soba) noodles
• 1 cup snow peas
• 1/2 cup miso
• 4 ounces tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 scallions, finely sliced
• 2 1/2 quarts water or dashi broth

1. Heat oil in large heavy pot over medium heat. Add garlic and stir occasionally until fragrant, about one minute. Add carrots and cook for three minutes. Add water or broth.

2. Bring water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer until carrots are tender, about seven minutes. Meanwhile, bring a separate, smaller pot of water to a boil and add soba noodles. Cook for three minutes, then drain and run under cold water. Pour into a bowl and set aside.

3. Add the spinach and peas to the soup, then quickly bring the water to a boil again. Remove 1 cup boiling liquid, and swirl in a bowl with the miso paste. Set aside.

4. Add tofu and cook for about two minutes. Add soba, and whisk the miso into the soup. Serve immediately and top with a sprinkling of scallions.

Truth: Instead of a switchblade, I used a mandolin slicer to cut peeled sweet potatoes for my doomed gratin. It was supposed to be like the quinoa-potato gratin at Juventino, a restaurant down the street from my apartment, but I a) couldn’t get the potatoes sliced thin enough, b) used too much quinoa, and c) didn’t use enough milk and seasonings.

So pretty, but then…

Lesson learned.

I did roast a pretty successful chicken, though. Dorie Greenspan’s method in Around My French Table worked well. In short, put the chicken in a pot or roasting pan, put half of a head of garlic and fresh herbs in the cavity, place the other half of the garlic and more herbs in the pot next to the chicken, add a few tablespoons of olive oil, season, and roast.

Ninety minutes later, the bird is done. (I think I could have cut it down to 75 because of the bird’s weight.)

When the packs of runners tapered off, Ramsey and I walked up to the farmers’ market where we spotted our local dog celebrity, The Lazy Dachshund. I bought kale and apples, Ramsey bought a tub of pickled vegetables, and we were back in the apartment by noon. I was ready to cook.

My menu for the day included my favorite carrot soup for lunch, and then kale, applesauce, and spiced pork chops for dinner.

The carrot soup only called for few ingredients: chopped carrots, onion, rice, chicken stock, butter, oil, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar.

More photos after the jump…

Once the onions were tender, I added the chicken stock, covered the pot, and got to work on the applesauce. Cue apples, spices, a quarter cup of sugar, and cider.

After the apples were mashed and tucked away in the refrigerator, I took a break for a bowl of my finished carrot soup. I pureed it with a hand blender right in the pot (a risky move in the Le Creucet, but I was careful) and topped it with a little parsley.

The rest of the soup was divided among single-serving containers. Some went in the refrigerator for lunches this week while others went in the freezer.

A few hours of reading and internet surfing later, I started on dinner. Two bunches of rinsed kale went in the salad spinner.

(I am very sensitive to onion fumes. Yes, I have a pair of onion goggles. No, I am not ashamed. Yes, I asked Ramsey to take a photo.)

I also roasted a few baby sweet potatoes and learned a valuable lesson. If you always remove the skin on sweet potatoes, roasting six small ones instead of two large ones is just more work. Don’t fall prey to adorable vegetables.

The final meal: kale with sauteed onions, sweet potatoes with a little butter, applesauce, and boneless pork chops with a cumin, chili powder, brown sugar, black pepper, and salt dry rub. The chops were broiled about 5 minutes per side until internal temp was just over 140°.

Root vegetables are budget conscious cooks’ best friends. They’re cheap, store well, and are (usually) full of flavor. Beets are one of my favorite varieties, so when temperatures dipped into the teens last week, I thought it was the perfect time to roast a few. I combined them with roasted sweet potatoes, dried cranberries, and mixed greens to create salads for lunch at work.

If you’ve never roasted beets before, it’s a simple process. Simply wash, roast, and peel. A beet roasting guide with photos and a recipe for a roasted beet salad can be found after the jump.

Roasted Red & Golden Beets

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400º F

2. If your beets come with leaves, cut them off. Scrub as much dirt as possible off of the beets and dry them thoroughly. Slice the tops off if you’d like, but it’s not required at this stage. I removed the tops in the photo below, revealing the red and golden beet flesh.

3. Wrap the beets up in an aluminum foil pocket. Create the pocket by folding a sheet of foil in half and crimping the edges. Don’t crimp the edged too tightly as you’ll want some steam to escape. Place the pocket on a baking sheet that’s also covered in aluminum foil. (If any beet juice escapes from the pocket, it can be difficult to scrub off the sheet later.)

4. Roast the beets for one hour (or until the beets are tender when poked with a fork).

5. Remove the beets from the oven and let them cool for 15-20 minutes.

6. Once they’re cool, peel the beets using a knife (and your hands as needed)  and slice them as desired. Red beets will stain your hands, so make sure to wash them quickly after peeling. Some people put on gloves to avoid staining, but I’ve found dish soap and some scrubbing removes most of the beet juice.

7. If you’d like to use the beets for a salad, dice the beets into half inch cubes. Toss with mixed greens, roasted sweet potatoes (peeedl, diced into half-inch cubes, tossed with a little olive oil, and roasted at 400º for about 30 minutes or until tender), dried cranberries, and a balsamic vinaigrette. A few thin slices of goat cheese would also be a great addition.

My mouth is still not fully healed from my surgery, but this weekend was the first time I branched out beyond pasta and I may have gone a bit overboard. Saturday dinner was barbecue from Fette Sau, Sunday morning brunch was vegetarian eggs Benedict at Brooklyn Label, and Valentine’s Day dinner was a chicken taco by Ramsey at my request. The whole weekend was rounded out with a game of Scrabble and an assortment of Italian pastries from Fortunato Brothers in Williamsburg. Oof.

I felt a recipe from The Moosewood Cookbook was in order for dinner tonight, and I chose Polenta Pie. Photos and a short recap after the jump.

This recipe calls for a simple polenta crust topped with cheese and sauteed vegetables, but I made a grievous rookie mistake. I used a pie plate that was too small and my crust was too thick, lacking crispness near the middle. I also should have made the polenta with 2 cups of vegetable stock instead of the suggested water as it was a little bland. Still, the crust looked nice before I popped it in the oven, lightly brushed with olive oil.

Vegetables for sauteeing and topping.

The finished pie, looking well-browned around the edges, but mushiness was lurking underneath.

Thoughts for next time: more cheese, a dash of red pepper flakes, some vegetable stock, and a bigger pie plate (or less polenta). Despite my mistakes, it was a hearty meal and still tasted good in a pile on my plate.

After a weekend of parties, movies, and a trip to Teddy Roosevelt’s house in Oyster Bay, I spent Monday winding things down and preparing for the week. As I was cleaning items out of the refrigerator in the morning, I discovered that I had a pound of unused carrots on the bottom shelf. I turned to the New York Times’ Recipes for Health, where recipes are broken down by main ingredient and, as the title of the website section suggests, they’re good for you.

A pureed carrot soup looked like a perfect option. I had most of the ingredients on hand, and other than peeling and chopping two pounds of carrots, preparation was simple. You can find the recipe here and some photos from my adventure after the jump.

Make sure to leave ample time for peeling and chopping, or employ the help of a friend or significant other. This soup can be a team effort.

After sauteing my onion and carrots, I added vegetable broth instead of water. I think it added a lot of flavor, but if I were to make it again, I would go low-sodium.

Once the soup simmers for thirty minutes, you’ll be able to see how the addition of the abborio rice helps to thicken the broth. Here’s the soup pre-hand blender.

You can use a hand blender, regular blender, or food mill to puree the soup, but the hand blender comes highly recommended. It’s so easy to use and dishwasher safe (most of the time). It took the soup from from chunky to potage in about fifteen seconds.

To complete my meal, I made an SAT: sprout, avocado, and tomato sandwich. Overall, a healthy, vegetable-filled dinner for one (with plenty of leftover soup for freezing).

December was a month of gluttony. Dozens upon dozens of cookies were laid to waste by my holiday appetite, and honestly, I don’t regret a single peanut butter blossom or cornflake wreath cookie. Food and family are what the season is all about for me, and if I can’t spend a few weeks a year consuming all manner of fattening treats without guilt, what’s the point of Christmas?

The only downside to this indulgence is that my clothes are not quite fitting like they should, and I can’t afford to purchase a new wardrobe if I gain a few more pounds. In response, I decided to get back to healthy meals by following the simple rules set forth by Michael Pollan: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” A roasted vegetable wrap featuring beets, turnips, arugula, hummus, and more seemed like the perfect fit—a recreation of a wrap I had a few weeks before at Angelica Kitchen in the East Village—and it kept well for leftovers throughout the week. 

Roasted Beet Wrap
Makes 4 servings
-4 medium beets
-3 turnips
-1 medium zucchini
-1 cup sprouts
-4 cups arugula
-1 cup hummus
-4 whole wheat wraps
-Dill pickles to taste
-1 tbs. balsamic vinegar
-1 tbs. olive oil
-Salt and pepper to taste
*Turnips and zucchini can be switched out for vegetables of your choice.

1) Preheat oven to 400°.

2) Wash and dry the beets, then loosely wrap them in aluminum foil in groups of three. Place them on a baking sheet covered with foil and roast for 1 hour.

3) During the first half-hour of roasting, wash, peel, and cut the turnips into 1″ cubes. Cut the zucchini into 1″ cubes as well.

4) Toss the turnips and zucchini in a bowl with 1 tbs. olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Once the beets have been roasting for a half-hour, spread the zucchini and turnips on the beet baking sheet and place the back in the oven. Roast for the remaining half-hour or until the vegetables are tender.

5) Once the beets have cooled down a bit, peel them by rubbing the skin off with your fingers (you may want to wear and apron and gloves). Remove the tops of the beets and cut into cubes, then place them in a bowl and toss with balsamic vinegar.

6) Allow the vegetables to cool until they are just a bit warm and start to construct your wrap (the amounts are up to you, but I use the following proportions). Spread 1/4 cup hummus on the wrap, then top with 1 cup of arugula, 1/3 cup roasted vegetables, a sprinkling of sprouts, and 5-6 dill pickle chips. Wrap them up, slice in half, and serve.

After a month of limited cooking, it felt good to make my shopping list, grab my reusable canvas bags like a true Park Sloper, and head out to the market for the ingredients for a mushroom ragu. My first recipe of 2010 is not a complicated one, but it is a satisfying, simple dish that reheats well the next day. It can also be doubled (or tripled) to serve as a layer in a vegetarian lasagna.

Before I get to the recipe though, I want to do a quick follow-up on my New Years resolutions. I admit I have not brought my lunch to work this week and I have not written in my journal since Monday. However, I’ve made dinner four nights and I made an appointment to have my wisdom teeth removed. (Can you hear the joy in my prose?) If you have any suggestions for good post-wisdom tooth removal recipes, I’d love to hear them. Now, on to the recipe.

Mushroom Ragu
Makes 2 sizable servings
-8 oz white or cremini mushrooms (or a mix of both), cut into 8ths
-1 small yellow onion, diced
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 12oz can diced tomatoes (with liquid)
-1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
-2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
-2 tbs. olive oil
-Dash of cinnamon
-Dash of sugar
-Salt and pepper to taste

1) Add oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until tender, stirring often. Add the garlic and saute for another 30 seconds.

2) Add the diced tomatoes, thyme, sugar, cinnamon, and a dash of salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and then add the chicken broth. Simmer for 8-10 minutes over medium heat, or until most of the broth has evaporated and the sauce has thickened. Taste and season as desired.

3) Serve over pasta with a sprinkling of fresh Parmesan.

Can all of the flavors of autumn be captured in one sandwich? I set out to do just that on Sunday, piling as many complementary autumnal items as possible between two slices of bread. Crisp apples, caramelized onions, and butternut squash from the farmers’ market, brie and dijon mustard from the store, and an amazing loaf of bread from the new branch of Almondine Bakery in Park Slope. I mean, come on. Look at this loaf:

The Almondine Bakery in DUMBO makes the best macarons I’ve had in my life, so coming upon the new storefront during a Sunday walk took my already wonderful weekend to a new level. Having the bakery within a few blocks of my apartment is going to be very dangerous. Ten pounds dangerous.

With all of my ingredients in hand, I went to work putting together the sandwich. I started by peeling and then cutting the squash into 1″ thick slices. I tossed them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of nutmeg, and then roasted them on a baking sheet for 20-30 minutes at 400º.

While the squash was roasting, I sliced two yellow onions into thin strips and slowly caramelized them in a skillet with a splash of oil and a dash of salt. The process can take around 30-40 minutes, stirring the onions every few minutes as needed.

Once the onions and squash were done, I sliced the bread and topped it with brie, and then placed it in the toaster oven for a few minutes to melt. Finally, I spread on the mustard on the top slice and layered the ingredients on the bottom slice: squash, apples, and then the onions.

It doesn’t beat a Thanksgiving leftover sandwich, but when it comes to the flavors of mid-autumn, it does the trick.