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Award-winning vegetarian chef, Deborah Madison, has released a new cookbook called “Vegetarian Suppers,” which offers more than 100 ideas for satisfying meatless meals.
She was on The Early Show where she shared some of her celebrated recipes and they all sound delicious (especially those risotto croquettes! Yum!).
Spinach Soup with Mushroom Toasts
Soup Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced
- 2 marjoram branches stripped of their leaves, or 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 1 bunch spinach, leaves only, about 12 cups packed
- sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- 3 1/2 cups mushroom stock
- 1 piece of bread, torn into large pieces
- Lemon juice or vinegar to taste
- 1/4 cup cream
More after the jump!
Mushroom Toasts Ingredients
- 4 ounces mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon butter
- half of a large shallot, finely diced
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 1 tablespoon sherry (optional)
- 3 to 4 pieces firm country bread
Directions
Melt the butter in a wide soup pot until foaming and just starting to brown around the edges. Add the onion, garlic and marjoram and stir frequently as you cook over medium-high heat, wilting the onion and browning it just a little so that you get that good “fried” onion smell, about 5 minutes. Add the spinach and sprinkle with a half-teaspoon salt. When it’s wilted down, add the stock. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat so that the liquid just simmers, and cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
Puree the soup until smooth and return it to the pan. Taste for salt; add lemon juice to taste. Stir in half of the cream.
Make the mushroom toasts. Put the mushrooms in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Heat the butter in a medium sized skillet, add the shallot and garlic and cook over medium heat for a minute, then add the mushrooms and raise the heat. Season with a few pinches salt and some pepper then cook, stirring frequently, as the mushrooms release their juices and then start to dry out. Add the sherry and cook several minutes more. Taste for salt. Toast the bread, spread the mushrooms over the top and cut into small pieces. If there are extra mushrooms, add them to the soup.
Serve the soup and dribble the remaining cream into each bowl. Grind some pepper over the top and serve. Pass the mushroom toasts.
Lemony Risotto Croquettes with Slivered Snow Peas, Asparagus, and Leeks
The Rice Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 bunches of scallions, including a few inches of the greens, thinly sliced
- 2 cups risotto rice
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
- Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley or basil
- 1 ball (1/4 pound) fresh mozzarella cheese, diced
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 eggs
- 3 cups bread crumbs
- Olive oil for frying
The Vegetables Ingredients
- 3-tablespoon butter
- 2 fat leeks, white parts only, halved, cut in to 2-inch lengths and finely slivered
- 1 pound asparagus, tough ends snapped off, peeled if thick, then slivered, including the tips
- 2 big handfuls snow peas, slivered
- 2 handfuls edible-pod peas, slivered
- Sea salt
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons minced parsley, basil, or chervil
Directions
Bring 1 quart water to a simmer in a 3-quart pan with a tight-fitting lid. Melt the butter in a 10-inch skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat. When sizzling, add the scallions. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 1 minute; then add the rice, turn to coat it with butter, and cook for a minute or two. Stir in 1/2-teaspoon salt. Add the rice to the simmering water. Cover and cook over low heat for 16 minutes. Remove the lid, and if there’s still water present, cook it off. Stir in the lemon zest, parsley, pepper, and cheeses, and then allow the rice to cool in the pan. Stir in one of the eggs.
Using a 1/3-cup measure, scoop out the rice and shape it to make oval croquettes.
Whisk the remaining eggs in a pie pan. Put the breadcrumbs in another pie pan or plate. Using your left hand, dip each croquette into the egg mixture; then using your right hand, roll it in the crumbs to coat. Set aside on a tray covered with waxed paper until all are made.
When ready to eat, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F if you’re planning to hold them. Generously coat 2 wide skillets with olive oil. When hot, add the croquettes and cook over medium heat, gently turning them to brown them all over, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer them to a plate and set in the oven while you sauté the vegetables.
- Heat half the butter until foaming in a wide sauté pan. Add all the slivered vegetables, sprinkled them with salt, and sauté over high heat for about 1 1/2 minutes. Add the lemon juice and remaining butter, shuffling the pan over the heat so that they combine into a sauce. Add the herbs.
To serve, divide the vegetables among warm plates, then arrange the fritters attractively on top, allowing 3 per serving.
Chiffon (Olive Oil) Cake
A high 10-inch cake, serving 10 to 12
Ingredients
- 5 egg whites, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 egg yolks, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon orange flower water (optional)
- finely grated zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 1/3 cups milk
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Oil or butter and flour a 10-inch spring-form pan or bundt pan.
Beat the whites until they form soft peaks; then gradually add 1/3 cup of the sugar and continue beating until firm peaks are formed. Scrape them into a large bowl and set aside.
In the same mixing bowl –don’t bother to rinse it – beat the yolks with the remaining sugar until thick and light colored. Lower the speed, add the flavorings, salt, then gradually pour in the oil. The batter will be thick, like mayonnaise. Slowly add the milk, then whisk in the flour and baking powder. Reach thoroughly around the bottom of the bowl to make sure everything is well mixed. Fold the in the egg whites.
Bake in the center of the oven for 25 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake 40 minutes more or until a cake tester comes out clean and the cake has begun to pull away from the sides. (It’s better to err on the side of overbaking than underabaking this cake.) Let cool in the pan 10 minutes. Remove the rim or invert, if using a bundt pan, onto a cooling rack. When cool, gently transfer to a cake plate and dust with powdered sugar.
image credit: Amazon.com