The Dinner Winner

Meatless food for all!

dinner

4 Dinner

Cauliflower Parmesan Bake


This is plant based comfort food at its best. Stick to your ribs goodness that will warm your belly and nourish your soul on a cold night. Best of all, it comes together very quickly and is almost entirely hands off. It’s basically throw everything in a dish and walk away. What could be better? This meal was so good, my family couldn’t even wait for me to snap a pic before they dove in.

Yield:8 servings

Recipe

For the Cauliflower and Farro

  • 2 pounds cauliflower (about 1 medium cauliflower head), florets and tender stems cut into large bite-sized pieces
  • 1¾ cups semi-pearled or pearled farro (about 12 ounces)
  • 1(40-ounce) jar good-quality marinara sauce
  • 1 2/3 cup water
  • ¼cup olive oil
  • ½cup pitted kalamata or black olives, roughly chopped (optional)
  • 6 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
  • 3 ounces grated Parmesan (about ¾ cup finely grated)
  • 1½teaspoons granulated sugar
  • 1½teaspoons dried oregano
  • ½teaspoon red-pepper flakes, or to taste (optional)
  • 1½teaspoons kosher salt
  • Black pepper

For the Topping

  • 1 cup panko or homemade breadcrumbs
  • 2 ounces grated Parmesan (about ½ cup finely grated)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced into rounds

Method

Step 1
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a 9-by-13-inch pan, combine the cauliflower, farro, marinara sauce, olive oil, olives (if using), garlic, Parmesan, sugar, oregano, and red-pepper flakes. Season with the salt and a generous amount of black pepper. Pour in 1⅔ cups water and stir everything well to combine. If your 9-by-13 does not have high sides, you might have to mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, then transfer to the pan. Cover the pan tightly with foil and bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

Step 2
Uncover the pan, stir, and continue baking uncovered until the farro is tender-chewy and the sauce is thick, about 15 minutes more. (If the farro has already soaked up all the sauce and the pan is looking dry, stir in ½ to ¾ cup water, just to make sure the farro has enough liquid to become tender and saucy.)

Step 3
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, make the topping: Stir together the panko, Parmesan, salt, and olive oil.

Step 4
Turn on the broiler. Evenly cover the top of the farro with the panko topping. Top with the sliced mozzarella. Broil on the top rack, about 6 inches from the heat source, for 2 minutes, rotating the pan once and watching carefully for burning, until the panko topping is deeply browned and the mozzarella has melted.

If your oven, like mine has a very powerful broiler, use the convection fan instead of the broiler. Keep the oven on 425, turn on the fan, and cook until the mozzarella is a bit browned and bubbling, usually about 5 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

This recipe is adapted from Sarah DiGregorio’s Farro and Cauliflower.

3 Dinner

Six Minute Broccoli

Six Minute Broccoli
Six minute broccoli, ready to eat.

It has been far too long since I have posted to this blog. I started the dinner winner when I ostensibly had some time on my hands, while on paternity leave for a few weeks. My newborn son Charlie was sleeping most of the day, and my girls were in school. It seemed like a great idea. Fast forward 20 months and Charlie is now running around like a madman, and I’m not only back at work, but decided to pursue another master’s degree, this one in strategic design from Parsons. So, needless to say, this blog has been quite neglected. 

This does not mean that I have not been cooking all the time. I have found a new stable of recipes that I can whip up quickly, with children running around my legs, hanging on to my ankles, and asking for cutting board scraps while I cook. These are all recipes that my kids like, and that I like. The first is Six Minute Broccoli, adapted from Madame S.T. Ting Wong’s Long Life Chinese Cookbook, which has been out of print for some time. If you ever see one in a second hand book store, grab it. It is fantastic. You can also usually find it on Amazon. This recipe makes a fantastic simple meal when paired with the simplest grilled (or broiled) tofu, and some rice.  

Six Minute Broccoli

Six Minute Broccoli Recipe

1 1/2 lbs broccoli 
3 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

  1. Prepare the broccoli. If the broccoli has a long stem, remove it and set it aside. Now cut the broccoli heads into bite size florets. 
  2. For the stem, if you intend to use it, (and why wouldn’t you), cut off and discard the thickest part. Next, peel the stem with a vegetable peeler. Cut the stem into bite size pieces, a bit smaller than the florets, so they cook at the same rate.
  3. Heat the oil in a wok, or large skillet over high heat. 
  4. Dump in the broccoli and stir-fry it for 1 minute.
  5. Add sugar, salt, and water. Cover the pan and cook for 3 minutes.
  6. Remove the cover, stir fry the broccoli for 1-2 minutes more, until it looks done to you. Don’t over think this. 
  7. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. 
Six Minute Broccoli
Six Minute Broccoli

4 Dinner

Broccoli Soup with Lemon and Pecorino

Italian Broccoli Soup with Lemon and Pecorino Cheese
Broccoli Soup with Lemon and Pecorino Cheese

Winter has really set in here in New Jersey. At West Point, this is called the gray season, where the sky, roads, grass, and pretty much everything is a shade of gray. It can be a depressing time. Or, you can curl up next to the fire with the kiddos and read some books, or throw some vinyl on the stereo while a pot of this brightly flavored Italian broccoli soup with lemon and pecorino bubbles away merrily on the stove.

If you take a look through the other recipes on the blog, you’ll see that I have fallen head over heels for the tried and true flavor combination of garlic, lemon, and pecorino. (Simple kale salad, spring snap peas with pecorino) It’s a really versatile holy trinity of flavors that you can apply to a lot of things. Deb over at Smitten Kitchen has done this with a bunch of recipes. I thought taking these flavors and making them into a healthy, stick to your ribs, winter soup was just the thing.

This brightly flavored Italian broccoli soup is a nice departure from the umami bombs that we tend to eat so much of in the winter. I’m all for a bowl of ramen, or a really well made French onion soup, but sometimes I need something acidic to wake yourself up. This recipe is very forgiving. You’ll save yourself a bunch of time if you have a decent immersion blender, but you can blend the soup in a regular blender too.

Also, here’s a tip for this recipe, and anything else with broccoli. While the onions are cooking, peel the long stems of your broccoli. This makes it so you can use the entire broccoli instead of throwing away the stems. After peeling, chop the stems off of the broccoli. Cut the toughest bit off of the very end and discard it. Now cut the broccoli stems into 1/3 inch pieces and add to the onions. The stems need a bit more cooking time than the florets.

six cloves of minced garlic
six cloves of minced garlic

As I was tinkering with this recipe, I thought I wanted something with quite a lot of garlic, so don’t shy away from the 6 cloves. It’s not too much, really. Also, as I was grating the cheese for this, I was using my new microplane box grater, which was a christmas present from my brother. I’m not usually one to get excited over a box grater, but this thing is amazingly sharp. I accidentally grated much more cheese than I intended to, but just went ahead and used it all. It’s just the thing to balance out the garlic in the soup.

grated pecorino cheese
A bit too much pecorino romano (or is it?)

Recipe

Ingredients

1 large onion, roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch dice
8 cups water or broth
Salt to taste
1 tsp black pepper
2 lbs broccoli cut into florets, stems cut into 1/3 inch pieces and separated
2 cups grated pecorino romano
Zest of one lemon
Juice of one lemon
Crushed red pepper for serving

Method

Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions, and sauté for 4 minutes or so until they start to become translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds. Don’t let the garlic burn. Add the chopped broccoli stems and potatoes, and sauté for 3 – 4 minutes.

Add the broth or water and bring to a boil. While you are waiting for the liquid to boil, add salt to taste. Depending on how salty your broth is, this could be none, or up to 3 teaspoons. Go easy on the salt because you will be adding pecorino cheese at the end which also has quite a bit of salt. Add the fresh ground pepper as well. Once the soup boils, turn to a brisk simmer and let cook for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, check to make sure the potatoes and broccoli stems are cooked through. If they are, add the remaining broccoli, and cook for 5 more minutes. Once the broccoli is cooked, take a large ladle, and remove two or three large scoops of chunks of broccoli and potatoes and set aside. Remove the soup from the heat and blend the remainder of it with your immersion blender. If you don’t have an immersion blender, do this in batches in a regular blender, or just forget about it and have chunky soup.

Once the soup is all blended, add the broccoli and potatoes you removed back in, along with the lemon zest, lemon juice and pecorino cheese. Give everything a stir to make sure everything is incorporated. The soup should still be hot enough to melt the cheese, but if it isn’t, turn the heat to low and bring it up to temperature. Taste the soup and adjust the salt and pepper if you need to.

Serve with crushed red pepper and enjoy!

4 Dinner

Cucumber Soup with Avocado and Mint

Cucumber SoupToday was one of those miserable late summer days that was so absurdly hot and humid, there was no way I could possibly turn on the stove. I spent my morning working outside, dripping sweat, contemplating what cool refreshing dinner I would make. After much deliberation, I settled on this cucumber soup with yogurt, avocado, and herbs. It required no cooking whatsoever, and I had everything I needed to make it at home.

The biggest problem was that I was totally making the recipe up as I go along. I’ve been reading Samin Nosrat’s excellent cookbook, “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” which lays out some pretty clear and rock solid principles for winging it in the kitchen. Since it was a million degrees outside, I decided to forget about the heat part, but made sure there was enough salt, fat, and acid in the cucumber soup.

I also wanted this to be a meal for my family, so a bowl of watery cucumber soup wasn’t going to fit the bill; the soup needed some body. I wanted to make this redolent of tzatziki sauce without being a dip you eat with a spoon, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I decided to throw in an avocado to make the soup a bit more rich and velvety. Add some mint, dill, and lemon to make the flavors bright, and some feta cheese and olive oil to deepen the flavor a bit. I added a shallot because I was out of garlic (shame!), but it came out great, so I’ll stick to that in the recipe.

On blenders

The best part of this whole recipe is that you all you need to make it is a decent blender. Until about a year ago, I had an old hand me down blender that I thought worked just fine. When it died, I replaced it with a Blendtec and couldn’t be happier. I regularly make huge vats of smoothie to feed an entire family and the thing has proven to be bombproof. I think the motor is 3 horsepower, which seems to be plenty for anything I’ve ever needed to blend.

Make it a meal

If you want to make another dish to make this a meal, why not try pasta with dandelion greens, or a grilled pizza?

 

Cucumber Soup with Avocado and Mint
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INGREDIENTS

  • 2 English Cucumbers
  • 1 Avocado
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup fresh dill
  • 1/4 cup fresh mint
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small shallot
  • 3.5 oz feta cheese
  • salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

  1. Roughly chop the cucumbers and seed and peel the avocado. Separate the mint and dill leaves from the stems.
  2. Add all ingredients to the blender jar.
  3. Blend until smooth. If the soup looks too thick, add a but more water 1/4 cup at a time.
  4. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust the seasoning. Depending on how salty your feta cheese is, you may need no salt, or up to 1.5 teaspoons.
  5. Chill for at least three hours if you are the kind of person that plans ahead. If not, just eat it right away.
7.8.1.2
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https://thedinnerwinner.com/cucumber-soup-with-avocado-and-mint/

Nutrition

Calories

1119 cal

Fat

93 g

Carbs

56 g

Protein

27 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

18 Breakfast

Tomato, Egg, and Feta Shakshuka

Tomato Shakshuka with Feta and Egg

I first had this dish, or at least a version of it at Bustan in NYC. It was savory, delicious, and amazing in every way. After eating it, I discovered this entire corner of the culinary kingdom that I knew nothing about. Tomato, egg and feta shakshuka is middle eastern comfort food, and you can find it anywhere around the Mediterranean, from Israel to North Africa.

Often I crave something truly satisfying, delicious and savory, but don’t want to spend hours toiling in the kitchen. This dish is absolutely the thing to make. I have made it for skeptical company who thought I was feeding them some sort of strange frittita, or for house guests who had never heard of this apex of savory eggy goodness. Everyone devours it. The dish does take a bit of time, but very little involvement. You can make it in one pan, and serve it out of the same pan. It can be breakfast, lunch, or dinwner, and you can make it anywhere from rocket hot to totally mild, as I do for my kids, and the dish does not suffer.  Serve it with warm pita bread or a crusty baguette to make it a meal.

EQUIPMENT

A 12” ovenproof skillet, not non-stick. I use a calphalon skillet. Cast iron is great too.

This recipe is adapted from Melissa Clark and The NY Times.

Tomato, Egg, and Feta Shakshuka

Serves 4 to 6

15 minPrep Time

45 minCook Time

1 hrTotal Time

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INGREDIENTS

  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
  • 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon sweet paprika (pimenton) (optional if you like it mild)
  • ½ teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika, or to taste
  • 1 (28-ounce) can whole plum tomatoes with juices, coarsely chopped
  • ¾ teaspoon salt, more as needed
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper, more as needed
  • 5 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about 1 1/4 cups)
  • 6 large eggs
  • Chopped cilantro, for serving
  • Harissa, for serving

METHOD

  1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion and bell pepper. Cook gently until very soft, about 20 minutes. Add garlic and cook until tender, 1 to 2 minutes; stir in cumin, paprika and pimenton, and cook 1 minute. Pour in tomatoes and season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; simmer until tomatoes have thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbled feta.
  3. Make six little indententations in the tomato mixture for the eggs so they stay put.
  4. Gently crack eggs into skillet over tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer skillet to oven and bake until eggs are just set, 8 to 11 minutes. If the yolks seem set how you like them, but the whites are still runny, pull the pan from the oven and cover with a pot lid for a minute or so. The residual heat will set the whites. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with harissa.

Tags

Diet
vegetarian
pescetarian
Allergy
gluten free
soy free
wheat free
peanut free
seafood free
treenut free
sesame free
mustard free

7.8.1.2
5

https://thedinnerwinner.com/tomato-egg-and-feta-shakshuka/

Nutrition

Calories

1102 cal

Fat

73 g

Carbs

14 g

Protein

51 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

0 Dairy-Free

Grilled Asparagus with Garlic

Quick … you have 15 minutes, some asparagus, garlic, and lemon and you need some veggies … what do you do? Make this dish! This recipe is hands down, one of the fastest, easiest, and most delicious things you can do with the king of spring, asparagus. You can use this preparation to add into dozens of other recipes as well, making this not only a standalone side dish, but a building block of lots of other great food. A great option is this couscous with grilled asparagus. The whole thing will take 30 minutes, including grilling the asparagus.

Asparagus pro tip: Thin, thick, it doesn’t really matter, just make sure that the asparagus ends were submerged in water when you bought them. The thin stalks cook much faster, so adjust cooking times accordingly. Personally, if you are going to be chopping them to use in another dish, I think the fat stalks stand up better.

If you don’t have a grill, or just don’t feel like using it, you can easily do this in the broiler. Just make transfer everything to a large, rimmed baking sheet. Preheat the broiler on high, cook for 2-3 minutes, then shake the pan and roll the asparagus over and cook for 2-3 more minutes.

 

Grilled Asparagus with Garlic
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INGREDIENTS

  • 1 large bunch of asparagus, 1 to 1.5 lbs
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

METHOD

  1. Preheat the grill to medium. (You can also do this in the broiler. See the introduction above for the method).
  2. Snap the stiff, fibrous ends off of the asparagus stalks. Wash the asparagus.
  3. Transfer the asparagus to a flat bottomed baking dish long enough to let everything lay flat. The asparagus does not have to be in one layer.
  4. Mush the garlic through a garlic press directly onto the asparagus in the dish. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.
  5. When the grill is ready, lie the asparagus in one layer on the grill. Cook for about two minutes and try and roll everything to the other side. You’ll probably have a piece or two fall through the grate. No worries, really. After about 4 minutes total cooking time, put the asparagus on a serving plate and you’re all done. If you have really thin stalks, the entire cooking time can be cut in half.
7.8.1.2
3

https://thedinnerwinner.com/grilled-asparagus-with-garlic/

Nutrition

Calories

458 cal

Fat

41 g

Carbs

20 g

Protein

10 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

1 Dinner

Zucchini Parmesan Fritters

Zucchini Parmesan Fritters. Serve with lemony yogurt sauce.

Warm weather has finally rolled in. While it’s not quite the height of the growing season when your friends with gardens are all doing their best to unload their zucchini on you at every possible moment, you can find some good ones in the grocery stores now. These fritters are absolutely delicious, and can pretty much make a meal all by themselves, or with a simple green salad, maybe a crusty piece of bread if you like. And, since they are in pancake form, my kids love them. I have no clue what it is about things that resemble pancakes, but they devour them every time. If you’re planning on leftovers, double the recipe.

Serves 4 as a main, 6 as a side

Zucchini Parmesan Fritters
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INGREDIENTS

  • 1 lb. zucchini (about 2 large)
  • 1/2 white onion, finely diced
  • 3 large eggs, beaten
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • kosher salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
  • 3/4 cup flour (I used white whole wheat)
  • 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • zest of 1/2 lemon
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • salt to taste

METHOD

  1. On the large holes of a box grater, grate zucchini. Using a cheesecloth or clean dishtowel, squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
  2. In a large bowl, combine shredded zucchini with onion, eggs, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Mix in Parmesan and flour and stir until fully incorporated.
  3. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat olive oil. For each fritter, scoop ¼ cup batter into skillet and cook until golden, 2-3 minutes per side.
  4. While the fritters are cooking, combine yogurt, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt. Mix to combine.
  5. Serve with yogurt sauce
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https://thedinnerwinner.com/zucchini-parmesan-fritters/