Earthy Lentil Cakes Hit the Spot

The weekend of Hurricane Irene was pretty stellar for me in terms of cooking, as I literally cooked my hiney off the entire time, creating dynamic dishes for three days straight.  One of these were vegetarian South Indian lentil cakes, which were a bit of a pain to put together, but in the end were really rewarding.

Made of a mix of dried legumes (in my case lentils), brown rice, peas, cilantro, mint and a big hunk of roasted garlic on top, it was a healthy yet very hearty dish that satisfied our insatiable bellies during time of intense boredom and restlessness.  I loved making the dish, especially since I got to create my own raita, made of low fat yogurt, garlic, cumin, cucumber, fresh herbs and lemon juice.  

The entire combination was deliciously fresh and the raita added something special, raising the sophistication of this dish and at the same time making it feel more authentic.  Even though it takes a little while to prepare, all the effort is absolutely worth it.  In Dan's words, it tasted like a "flavorful falafel cake."  I'll take that compliment, thank you.

Here's the recipe by way of Bon Appetit.  

South Indian Lentil Cakes with Raita 

Beet Cakes - Earthy, Healthy, Bright Dinner

Eating light in the summertime is key for me, and through my recent selections, you can probably tell that I sometimes opt to eat vegetarian.  Not because I don't eat meat - on the contrary, I love it, but sometimes preparing veggies in a new interesting way just does the trick.  

Flipping through my newest Everyday Food mag, I noticed a gorgeously colorful dish, the harvest vegetable pancake, made with beets, carrots, potatoes and chickpeas.  Lots of starches, I know, but the colors just drew me in - plus I absolutely adore beets.  Although I haven't worked with them a lot lately, I wanted to try the recipe out and risked staining my fingers crimson, along with my white kitchen counter tops. Ouch...a hazard waiting to happen.

I'm not going to lie when I say preparation was a PAIN.  Not only did the red beet juice splatter, causing me to religiously wipe the counters every couple of seconds, but the hard texture of the raw beet also resulted in me mangling my middle finger.  How ironic :P  But despite the drama and the annoyance, and the mishap I made when using a regular pan instead of non-stick, they still tasted delicious.  I served them with arugula, lemon juice, olive oil, golden raisins and some feta, and it absolutely hit the spot.  In the most healthy way.  

Beet Cakes - Adapted from an Everyday Food Recipe "Harvest Vegetable Pancake with Greens and Goat Cheese"

Ingredients (serves 4)
3 large beets (1 1/2 lbs) scrubbed and peeled.  Peeling is the tricky part and I'd recommend using a pairing knife instead of a peeler, to avoid injuries
3 medium carrots
1 can (15.5 oz) chickpeas, rinsed and drained, half roughly chopped
1 cup reserved cooked, diced russet potato 
1/2 cup of all purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
Coarse salt & ground pepper
3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
5 oz salad greens (I recommend arugula)
1 tbs fresh lemon juice
2 oz fresh goat cheese, crumbled (1/4 cup). I used feta cheese instead
Handful of golden raisins (my addition)

Directions:
Grate beets and carrots on the large holes of a box grater set in a large bowl (or shred in a food processor).  Stir in chickpeas, potato, flour, and 1 tsp of salt.  Season with pepper.  In a large nonstick straight-sided skillet, heat 1 tbs of oil over medium heat.  Add beet mixture and with a rubber spatula, firmly press evenly into pan.  Cook, undisturbed for 10 minutes.  Remove pan from heat, cover with a serving platter, and carefully invert pancake onto platter.  Slide pancake back into pan and cook until crisp and brown around the edge, 10 - 12 minutes.  Invert pancake onto platter.

My variation, as I hinted above, was instead of making 1 pancake, I shaped the batter into individually sized oval patties, with my hands.  I fried them individually for about 5 minutes on each side, as this was a lot easier than the above, and left less room for error.

In a medium bowl, toss salad greens with 2 tbs of olive oil and lemon juice.  I also added a touch of white truffle oil, and highly suggest you add this ingredient if you have it.  Season with salt and pepper.  To serve, top pancake or little cakes with salad and goat cheese (or feta cheese and golden raisins).

A Penchant for Veggies - Roasted Portobellos and Snap Peas

Still on a healthy kick (aside from when I eat out of course), I decided to make a purely veggie dish.  My goal was to make something earthy and yummy but still sustainable enough to keep me full for a long period of time.  Inspired by Martha's Stewart Everyday Food May issue, I made these gorgeous portobellos, which rested on a soft bed of polenta with parmesan.  I went light on the cheese, to make sure I was maintaining the healthfulness of this dish, which I feel I did.

My favorite part of the meal were the peas, which had a nice salty outside (sort of like edamame but roasted) and the actual peas were slightly soft but still crunchy enough, maintaining their freshness.  It turned out that I had a lot of leftover peas, so I ended up saving them and putting them in a hummus sandwich the next day.  Mmmmm...that was quite enjoyable.

Roasted Portobello Mushrooms with Polenta and Snap Peas

Ingredients (serves 4)

Nonstick cooking spray
2 cups, quick cooking polenta (not prepared)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
4 large portobello mushrooms, stems trimmed to 1/2 inch
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 lb snap peas, trimmed
Grated Parmesan, for serving

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly coat an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.  In a medium pot, bring 10 cups of water to a boil over high.  Slowly add polenta, whisking constantly.  Continue whisking until thickened, about 2 minutes; season with salt and pepper.  Reduce heat to low and simmer, whisking occasionally, until polenta is thick and creamy, about 20 minutes.  Pour half the polenta into baking dish and let cool; cover and refrigerate for other use (you can always fry it the next day).

Meanwhile, place mushrooms, stem side up, on a rimmed baking sheet.  Drizzle each with 1 tbs oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast 9 minutes.  In a small bowl, toss together snap peas and 2 tbs of oil; season with salt and pepper.  Add snap peas to sheet with mushrooms and roast until snap peas are crisp-tender and mushrooms are tender and beginning to release their juices, 8 minutes.

Divide polenta among four plates and top each with a mushroom, some snap peas, and a sprinkling of Parmesan.

Spaghetti Squash Torte - With a Dash of Meat for Good Luck

I'm always looking for new, fun ideas to incorporate veggies into my daily diet. So when I saw that a fellow Foodbuzzer, Trix featured a scrumptious-looking recipe for spaghetti squash tortes with cheese, roasted garlic and fresh herbs, I was intrigued. The simple instructions excited me most, and because I've prepared spaghetti squash before, I was ready to take on another challenge with this fascinating vegetable.

The presentation for this dish is what really got me - it looked so professional, which is surprisingly easy to do with the help of a simple ramekin or an empty and cleaned out tuna can. Although I pretty much followed Trix's recipe to the T, I also added in delicious shredded pork that I had left over from a recent dinner at MexiQ. It worked really well with the starchy squash and gave it more stature and masculinity. Another one of my tweaks involved substituting sharp cheddar cheese for gruyere, simply because the gruyere was too expensive. Cheddar (or any other cheese of your liking) will do just fine.

Enjoy the spaghetti squash recipe and let me know about the tweaks you make.