Green Onion Soup

This is another great favourite in our house. Very easy to make, doesn't require many ingredients, and absolutely delicious. It may seem like an odd sort of soup (mostly onion) but it is worth making it - over and over, in our case.

Ingredients:

2 Tbs oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 bunches green onion, chopped
5-7 potatoes, peeled and cut into medium-sized cubes
5 c vegetable broth
2 c milk
salt and pepper, to taste

1)  Put oil in a pan and add onions. Saute 2-3 minutes.
2)  Cover and cook over low heat 10 more minutes.
3)  Add potatoes and broth. Bring to boil, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
4)  Place soup in blender and process until smooth and creamy.
5)  Put back into pan, add milk, salt and pepper to taste and reheat, but do not boil.  Serve as is, or with croutons, salad or freshly baked bread.

Bean and Rice Enchiladas

This is surely one of our most favourite and requested foods. Even for meat lovers, this is a vegetarian dish that satisfies (or so I have been told). Relatively quick and easy to put together, and absolutely delicious. You can make it as spicy as you like, if you're into spicy, by using red chili powder and a hot enchilada sauce. We use the mild sauce, with our little boy in mind. Joel spices it up with some habanero sauce on the side (which I am proud to say he made himself).  I normally use Basmati rice which is our favourite and always in stock. As for the beans, either black beans or pinto beans work great, whichever you prefer or have in your pantry.  I have tried corn tortillas a few times, but I have found that they break right away and are impossible to roll. Anyway, here is the recipe - you will definitely enjoy it, if you make it!

Ingredients:

2 Tbs oil
1 green pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (15 oz) can beans
1 (14.5 oz) can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp red chili powder (optional)
salt
2 c cooked rice
8-10 flour tortillas
1 c grated cheddar cheese
1 (15 oz) enchilada sauce 
another 1/2 c grated cheddar cheese

1)  Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C) and grease a baking pan (9x13").
2)  Saute onion, garlic and green pepper in the oil in a large skillet, about 7 minutes.
3)  Stir in beans, tomatoes, cumin powder, red chili powder, if using, and salt to taste. Bring to boil and then simmer for about 5 minutes.
4)  Add the cooked rice and heat through another 3-5 minutes.
5)  Spoon out about a rounded 1/2 c of rice and beans filling into the center of each tortilla and top with some of the grated cheddar cheese. Fold the sides up over the filling and then roll up. Place in baking pan seam down and at the end pour enchilada sauce over them.
6)  Bake uncovered for 25 minutes.
7)  Take out of oven, sprinkle with remaining 1/2 c cheese and then bake another 3-4 minutes.
8)  Serve topped with a bit of sour cream (or plain yogurt), salsa, black olives, hot sauce, a small salad, or whatever you prefer :)
 

Eggplant Parmesan

Here's another Jamie-inspired recipe. I very much dislike the common fried-in-breadcrumbs eggplant parmesans that I have tried either in restaurants or home made. If you are interested in something simpler and not so 'fried', I have just the thing for you. While this is baking, it will fill your kitchen with a wonderful smell, the precursor of an equally wonderful-tasting dish! If anyone tries it, please leave a comment about how it turned out. Tenku! (That's 'thank you' in Rohanese, by the way ;)

Ingredients:

3 eggplants, cut into 1/2-inch (or 1 cm) thick slices
2 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 tsp dried oregano
2 small or 1 large can(s) chopped tomatoes or 2 lb fresh tomatoes
salt and pepper, to taste
1 Tbs vinegar
1 c grated Parmesan
1/2 c grated Mozzarella
breadcrumbs (optional)

1)  Place eggplant slices on a hot griddle pan, grill or just a normal (non-stick) frying pan until charred, then turn on the other side (you may need to do this in batches). Set slices aside.
2)  Preheat oven to 375F (190C).
3)  Pour olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Add onion, garlic and oregano and cook for about 10 minutes, until onion is soft.
4)  Add tomatoes, stir and simmer covered for 15-20 minutes. If using fresh tomatoes, blanch them and break them up before adding.
5)  Season with salt, pepper and vinegar and cook another 5 minutes.
6)  In a baking dish, layer a little of the tomato sauce, then a little Parmesan, then eggplants. Repeat, finishing with tomato sauce and a mix of Parmesan and Mozzarella on top. If using breadcrumbs, sprinkle over cheese.
7)  Bake in oven for about 30 minutes, until golden.

(btw - that's my son trying to steal the bread while I'm not looking, busy with taking a picture)

Pasta Peperonata

I often find myself browsing Jamie Oliver's recipe website. The recipes are usually no-fuss, hearty and delicious. This one I had made a note of about 2 years ago or so, but just never came round to actually making it. I did not follow the recipe entirely; for the original, please click here. I will post the version that I made.

I have to say it was different than anything I had made before, there was a sweetness to the sauce which I did not care for very much and I attribute to the yellow and red peppers (I generally enjoy sweetness for dessert). However, once the sauce was mixed in with the pasta, and the parmigiano added, it became very interestingly tasty, delicious.  I used spaghetti but I think you could use any other pasta you wanted/had on hand. Since I did not have balsamic vinegar, I used whatever I had and it still worked; next time I will try to remember and get the balsamic and see what difference it makes. Anyway, Joel said that this dish should become a repeat  in our kitchen repertoire!

Ingredients:

1 large red pepper, sliced
1 large yellow pepper, sliced
extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper
1 large red onion, thinly chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
2 Tbs chopped parsley leaves
2 Tbs rice wine vinegar
2/3 c grated Parmesan
1/4 c heavy whipping cream
1 lb spaghetti

1)  Place peppers, a bit of oil and a little salt & pepper in a frying pan over medium heat. Keep lid on pan 15-20 minutes, until peppers are softened.
2)  Add onion and cook another 20 minutes.
3)  Add garlic and stir in well 1-2 minutes.
4)  Add vinegar and stir.
5)  Add cream and about half of the Parmesan, stir, taste and add salt and pepper, if needed. Let simmer until pasta is done. (If however you notice that the sauce is becoming dry, can turn off heat)
6)  Cook pasta in salted water.
7)  Once done, reserve about 1 c of the coking water, drain pasta.
8)  Place pasta and the sauce in a bowl and mix together nicely. Add a little of pasta water and some olive oil. Mix again.
9)  Lastly, add the parsley and serve topped with remaining Parmesan.

Cheese, Onion and Bread Suffle

Who doesn't get stuck with stale bread? We do quite often, as the bread we buy from Allegro Bakery (highly recommended!) is huge; consequently we don't always get to finish it by week's end, and who wants to eat stale bread? Well, definitely not my husband! We usually make French toast with it, but this time I wanted something different. We also had a bunch of dairy-free milk (accidentally picked up from the store) which no one liked.

This recipe was a great accidental find (the original recipe can be found here). I made slight changes to it, and both my boys devoured it. Great way to get rid of all that stale bread and unwanted milk. I served it with some very simple but delicious Romanian-style green beans with garlic, but I think it would go wonderfully (possibly better) accompanied by a fresh veggie salad. I apologise for the state of the pictured souffle, but I was really hungry and forgot to take a pic before I took a bite out of it!

Ingredients:

2 Tbs butter
10-12 slices of bread (crusts removed) torn into smallish pieces
2 c hot milk
1 onion, finely chopped
4 eggs, separated
about 1 1/2 c grated cheese (I used cheddar, that's what I had in the fridge)
1 tsp salt
1 pinch of nutmeg (optional)

1)  Preheat oven to 400F. Butter a pie baking pan.
2)  Place bread in a shallow bowl or pan and pour hot milk over it. Set aside for the bread to soak up the milk.
3)  Melt butter in a pan and saute the onion until tender, about 15 min.
4)  Mash the bread with a wooden spoon and add to it the sauteed onions. Mix well.
5)  In a bowl, whisk egg yolks, cheese, salt and nutmeg. Pour this over the bread and mix to incorporate well.
6)  Beat egg whites until stiff, then fold them into the bread and cheese mixture gently, a couple of spoonfuls at a time.
7)  Pour into baking pan and bake for about 45-50 minutes, until nice and golden-brown.

It's All about Food

So, we have decided to make and eat primarily vegetarian food and, with very few exceptions (such as when having company or going out), we have succeeded. Various people have expressed their interest in good vegetarian recipes that we may have/discover, thus this blog. Additionally, it will be a great way for me to keep track of our favourite dishes.

I named the blog Our Tiny Kitchen because our apartment kitchen IS tiny. Resembles a short gully that leads nowhere. It really is a one-person kitchen, and that person is usually moi!  But yummy stuff can come out of our tiny kitchen and the most deserving will be shared.

So, here it is! I will try to post pictures to go along with the recipes and, for whoever might be interested in trying out some of these recipes, bon appetit!