Vegetarian for a week

[Fat Guy]

Thai food tonight at our favorite place: Sookk on Broadway between 102nd and 103rd Streets. I had spicy Yaowarat noodles with mixed vegetables. I was a little envious of my son's pad see ew with chicken, but my dish was excellent.

[Dejah]

Chapch'ae makes a good vegetarian dish. I made it for the first time last night. Had mine without any protein, but hubby got quick stir-fried shrimp with his. It was very satisfying, with a real contrast of textures: the slippery sweet potato noodles, crunchy vegetables, soft egg, and shirataki muchrooms.

[heidih]

If you are regulars at the Thai place perhaps they would sub a firm tofu, egg, or something they might even suggest for the meat in the pad see ew. For me the main attraction of the dish is the chewy charred noodles with the caramelized sweet soy.

[DanM]

I see you are relying heavily on tofu as a meat alternative. Have you thought about trying tempeh or saitan during your vegetarian week?

Dan

[Fat Guy]

The tofu pictured in the salad photos is not for me. My son and wife like it in theirs, but I make mine without. I'm just not that into tofu. I suppose were I going vegan I'd look more carefully into soy protein permutations, but since I have milk, cheese and eggs available to me I haven't had much incentive to go down that path.

[Fat Guy]

If you are regulars at the Thai place perhaps they would sub a firm tofu, egg, or something they might even suggest for the meat in the pad see ew. For me the main attraction of the dish is the chewy charred noodles with the caramelized sweet soy.

My son insisted on chicken, however most noodle dishes at the restaurant are listed on the menu with a choice of proteins, so for example with pad see ew for $9 you can have it with chicken, tofu, vegetarian mock duck, mock salmon, or mixed vegetables; for $10 shrimp or beef, and for $13 mixed seafood or actual duck.

[Fat Guy]

Today's CSA haul:

cucumbers

summer squash

lettuce

dino kale

onions

oregano

green cabbage

beets

[Fat Guy]

Today was another unremarkable eating day: yogurt, fruit, various snack crisps, bread, cheese, and assorted sweet items (a brownie, a blondie, a cookie, some candy). Tomorrow night I have a special meal planned, though. Stay tuned.

[Jenni]

Oooo, cavolo nero, my favourite! Let's see if you like this kale better.

[djyee100]

Dino kale, or lacinato kale, is very bitter. I suggest that you blanche it before putting it into anything. I blanche dino kale, then saute it with olive oil, garlic and salt. When treated properly, dino kale has a big, deep, "green" flavor--my favorite kale, too.

The beets can go into a roasted beet salad with vinaigrette. I like sherry vinaigrette. This beet salad is one of the simplest preparations I know of for beets, and one of the best. A recipe from Alice Waters:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21203669/ns/today-food/t/marinated-beet-salad/

[Jenni]

^^

Is it really that bitter? I never blanche and find it has a wonderful taste.

[SobaAddict70]

^^

Is it really that bitter? I never blanche and find it has a wonderful taste.

I'm mystified as well. It's not bitter to my palate at all, and this is someone who grew up eating bitter gourd and bitter melon.

[Jenni]

^^

Is it really that bitter? I never blanche and find it has a wonderful taste.

I'm mystified as well. It's not bitter to my palate at all, and this is someone who grew up eating bitter gourd and bitter melon.

Same here...so perhaps that's why we don't find it bitter!

Incidentally, I always thought bitter melon and bitter gourd were too different names for the same thing. Granted there are different kinds of bitter melon/gourd (most noticably to my mind the not-very-bitter Chinese one and the very bitter Indian one) but basically most people use these names interchangeably.

[Kouign Aman]

I've done ok w kale two ways, in both cases, the kale is steamed to softness before starting. If its really hot weather, you could try doing the steaming ala microwave.

Steamed kale, sauteed in olive oil w garlic, squeeze lemon or vinegar to taste, salt ditto. Its more savory than sauteed spinach which always tastes sweet to me.

Steamed kale chopped fine and added to fried rice before the seasonings are; the kale becomes quite neutral.

I suspect kale would be good as one of the herbs in green rice, but havent tried it.

You were asking about salad ideas some months back. Just had a delicious one that was romaine, LOTS of cilantro and mint leaves (ratios ~ 1:1:1) and a lemon dressing.

breakfast is fruit and something grain-based most of the time.

lunch usually isnt, but was kofta yesterday, w little green lentils dal.

Dinners this week:

quesadillas w avocado and tomato

spaghetti w marina sauce, salad, broccoli, garlic bread

pasta alfredo, spinach

spanakopita (trader joes. not the best, but do-able)

Tonight is tbd.

[djyee100]

^^

Is it really that bitter? I never blanche and find it has a wonderful taste.

I'm mystified as well. It's not bitter to my palate at all, and this is someone who grew up eating bitter gourd and bitter melon.

Same here...so perhaps that's why we don't find it bitter!

Incidentally, I always thought bitter melon and bitter gourd were too different names for the same thing. Granted there are different kinds of bitter melon/gourd (most noticably to my mind the not-very-bitter Chinese one and the very bitter Indian one) but basically most people use these names interchangeably.

Maybe my CSA specializes in an especially bitter subtype of dino kale. The first time I cooked it, I didn't blanche it, and it was so bitter I threw out the batch. My CSA does pride itself on growing unusual vegetables.

FG can try his dino kale straight and let us know where he sits on the "bitterness scale."

[heidih]

Something I noticed with friends whose teen and young adult children elect to be vegetarian is that they somehow forget about vegetables. One young lady was subsisting on Subway veggie sandwiches (soft white bread, a slice of cheese and a sprinkle or raw salad add-ins), as well as the Morningstar Farms type of fake meats like buffalo wings and burgers. Snacks were often crackers and cheese. Sweets were heavily represented. When she was shocked to discover that her always slim body seemed to have betrayed her, she joined Weight Watchers and discovered that she needed to ditch the processed foods to a large extent and embrace fresh fruits and vegetables. She looks and feels great now. I smile when I see her go off to work and school with a ginormous "food bag". She preps enough food to keep her fueled as she goes about her busy life. She has actually gone vegan now and it has been a learning experience for her. She did go through that bloat and gassiness that sometimes occurs when one adds lots of fiber, but that passed....

As to your CSA Steven, particularly in the heat - I am a huge fan of the raw kale salads such as this one from Melissa Clark which specifies the Cavalo Nero. I recently enjoyed raw beet salad for the first time as I described in this post.

[Will]

Incidentally, I always thought bitter melon and bitter gourd were too different names for the same thing. Granted there are different kinds of bitter melon/gourd (most noticably to my mind the not-very-bitter Chinese one and the very bitter Indian one) but basically most people use these names interchangeably.

I think it's because 瓜 describes both what we'd think of as "melons" and what we'd think of as gourds / squash in English. "bitter gourd" is probably a somewhat better translation, since we tend to associate "melons" with sweet fruits.

Edited July 14, 2011 by Will (log)

[Jenni]

^^

Actually I think it is not technically a gourd so perhaps melon is a better word!

My point actually was that I was surprised to see someone talk about them as if bitter melon and bitter gourd were two separate things.

[Will]

Actually I think it is not technically a gourd so perhaps melon is a better word!

What are you basing your definition of "gourd" on?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gourd says "A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_melon says "Momordica charantia, called bitter melon or bitter gourd in English, is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae"

So I think it is a gourd, according to that definition.

I was also a little baffled by that earlier statement, especially since growing up eating bitter melon would definitely make kale, by comparison, very not bitter. Different folks have different degrees of tolerance for bitter and astringent tastes, both because of habit / exposure, and due to their taste buds (the whole non-taster / taster / super-taster thing).

Interestingly, a Chinese friend the other day was saying that a lot of what bothers people unused to kugua is not just the bitterness but that it's very gān (甘), which isn't a taste we really have... It's roughly translated as "sweet", but in my experience, that doesn't describe it perfectly; I guess you could say it's a menthol-y and cooling sensation that turns to a kind of sweetness. According to this friend, ginseng is very 'gan', as does bitter gourd (kugua).

http://listeningtoleaves.blogspot.com/2011/01/what-is-hui-gan.html

Edited July 14, 2011 by Will (log)

[SobaAddict70]

It's the vegetable we use for pakbet. I've always called it by either term interchangeably.

[Jenni]

Actually I think it is not technically a gourd so perhaps melon is a better word!

What are you basing your definition of "gourd" on?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gourd says "A gourd is a plant of the family Cucurbitaceae." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_melon says "Momordica charantia, called bitter melon or bitter gourd in English, is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae"

So I think it is a gourd, according to that definition.

Ok, did not realise that. I'm sure someone told me it was not actually a gourd once...maybe they actually told me it is not really a melon! I did only say "I think"!

I was also a little baffled by that earlier statement, especially since growing up eating bitter melon would definitely make kale, by comparison, very not bitter.

Agreed, that is what I said in my reply to sobaaddict70.

It's the vegetable we use for pakbet. I've always called it by either term interchangeably.

That's what I thought. You just confused me eariler when you said:

this is someone who grew up eating bitter gourd and bitter melon.

But clearly we are agreeing furiously!

[Fat Guy]

Tonight I had dinner at Adour, the Alain Ducasse restaurant in the St. Regis Hotel, where they offer a vegetarian tasting menu. If you want to see vegetarian cooking at its apex, this is the place to check that out. This is a cell-phone snapshot of one of our dishes:

It's eggplant stuffed with locally made ricotta, topped with a stylized bayaldi made with peppers, and sauced with something along the lines of a sauce grenoblois. It was amazing.

I should disclose a couple of things that chef Didier Elena did, though. First, he wouldn't let us pay. Second, he was able to live with my no-meat request but really wanted us to try some fish items -- so I broke the diet again and am going to have to reboot.

Another fantastic vegetarian dish we tried, and I apologize for the lousy cell-phone photos:

That's the "white vegetable carpaccio," with summer truffles and black-truffle sauce.

Of course desserts tend to be vegetarian...

I'll give a more complete report on this meal on the relevant NY forum topic, maybe tomorrow. I'm stuffed and need to go to sleep.

[Fat Guy]

Today for lunch I had a Subway "veggie delight" sub. It was actually pretty tasty. Although the ingredients at Subway are at the low end of the quality spectrum, the sheer variety of vegetables and the baked-on-premises breads make for a good sandwich.

For dinner I made salads (and a vegetable plate for PJ), the rice cooker made brown rice, and I reheated some of the white bean soup from the other day. It was pretty good. I ate enough of it to feel stuffed.

[Fat Guy]

Thai vegetarian lunch combo today at the Rice Pot in New Haven, CT

[DanM]

Thai vegetarian lunch combo today at the Rice Pot in New Haven, CT

Rice Pot is good, but next time you are in New Haven, check out Miya's Sushi. The food is very good and they have a very extensive vegetarian sushi menu. The guy who runs the place is making a name for himself for advocating sustainable fishing practices. I'm in New Haven, so if you want dining company, just let me know.