Category Archives: Vegetarian

Seafood, Vegetarian

Shrimp with Chard and Ginger

June 3, 2021 robiulo Leave a comment

Shrimp with Chard and Ginger

Here’s another one adapted from Melissa Clark (my favorite chef) in the New York Times.

Ingredients:

1 lb. large shrimp
½ tsp. kosher salt for seasoning shrimp
1 bunch chard, washed (about ½ lb.)
Olive oil for frying
3 minced garlic cloves
1 thinly sliced hot chili (optional)
1 medium shallot chopped
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger root
2 tsps. Brown sugar
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tsps. white wine or sherry vinegar

Blot the shrimp dry and season with salt. Cut the stems off of the chard up to where the leaves begin. Roll a hand full of chard leaves like a cigar and cut it into ¼ inch strips.

Add some olive oil to a large skillet and on medium hear lightly brown the shrimp on each side. Remove the shrimp to a dish, add some more oil and add the garlic, chili (if you’re using), shallot and ginger. Sauté for about 3 minutes and then add the sugar and season with salt and black pepper.

Put the greens in the skillet with ¼ cup of water. Mix to coat them with the liquid in the pan. Cover and steam for a few minutes so the greens wilt. Return the shrimp to heat them, drizzle with the vinegar and serve.

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Pasta, Vegetarian

Pasta with Fried Lemons

May 27, 2021 robiulo Leave a comment

Pasta with Fried Lemons

This is adapted from a Melissa Clark recipe in the New York Times. No garlic or onion – the lemon acts as an aromatic for this simple sauce.

Ingredients:

1 lb. linguini
3 lemons
3 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and black pepper
A pinch of sugar
3 tbsp. butter
Red pepper flakes to taste
½ cup chopped parsley
2/3 cup of grated Parmigiano cheese

Start a large pot of salted water for the pasta.

Finely zest one of the lemons and set aside. Cut the tops and bottoms off the remaining two lemons and stand on end. Cut them into four quarters and thinly slice each quarter into triangles. Blanch the lemon slices for two minutes in a small pot of boiling water. Set them aside on paper towels and blot dry.

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the dry lemon slices. Add salt, black pepper and a pinch of sugar. Cook for a few minutes until the edges brown and remove them.

Add the butter, lemon zest, red pepper and a half cup of pasta water to the pan. Mix in the drained pasta and coat with the sauce. Turn off the heat and stir in the parsley, lemon wedges and cheese. Serve with additional cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.

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Sides, Vegetarian

Grilled Broccoli

May 7, 2021 robiulo Leave a comment

Grilled Broccoli

I got this grilled broccoli recipe from Julia and Bridget on America’s Test Kitchen. They came up with it for an outdoor grill, but it works just as well indoors. We live in an apartment building in Manhattan so no outdoor grill for us but a grill pan over two burners on a gas stove does the job.

Ingredients:

2 heads broccoli
Salt & black pepper to taste
¾ cup olive oil
2 cloves finely minced garlic
1 lemon cut in half

Pre-heat the over to 375^o.

Wash the broccoli and trim its stems. Put it in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with minced garlic, juice of ½ lemon and olive oil. Toss the broccoli until it’s thoroughly coated.

Place the broccoli on a large sheet of aluminum foil, fold the sides up and add a ½ cup of water. Completely wrap the broccoli in the foil and tightly seal the edges. Reseal it in another piece of foil.

Place it in the oven for 30 minutes.

Place the ½ lemon cut side down on the grill alongside the broccoli on a grill and cook until the broccoli begins to sear.

Place it in a serving dish and squeeze the grilled lemon half over it and serve.

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Lunch/Snacks, Sides, Vegetarian

Basilicata Frittata

April 9, 2021 robiulo Leave a comment

Basilicata Frittata

I had some leftover fresh horse radish from the Basilicata Style Pasta, so I used it for a frittata.

Ingredients:

About 12 oz./2 cups of potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed
8 eggs
3 oz. grated Parmigiana cheese
3 oz. grated fresh horseradish or more to taste
¼ cup chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Enough olive oil for frying

Beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the cheese, horse radish, parsley, and seasoning. Mix in the mashed potatoes and blend until you have a fairly smooth mixture. Don’t worry about a few little lumps. If you made the mashed potatoes fresh, make sure they cool off before you mix them so they don’t cook the eggs.

Heat the oil in an oven proof 10 inch pan, pour in the egg mixture and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Once the eggs begin to set, place the pan under your broiler for another 5 minutes to cook and brown the top of the frittata.

Slice and serve either hot or at room temperature.

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Pasta, Vegetarian

Basilicata Style Pasta

April 2, 2021 robiulo Leave a comment

Basilicata Style Pasta

If you’ve been following my blog you’ll know that I encourage you to not limit yourself to using just grated Parmigiana or Loccatelli type cheese on your pasta. For this recipe it’s grated fresh horse radish. The use of ground walnuts and breadcrumbs in the sauce and a good sprinkle of grated horse radish is typical of Basilicata, where my paternal grandparents are from. Fresh horse radish is common in Basilicata but not so much in New York expect around Passover. It’s the bitter herb in the Seder meal that represents the bitterness of slavery.

Ingredients:

¼ cup olive oil
1 finely chopped onion
Salt, black pepper & red pepper to taste
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 28oz. can of crushed tomatoes
½ cup finely chopped walnuts
½ cup toasted breadcrumbs
1 lb. short pasta – fusilli, gameli, rotini, cavatappi,
Fresh horse radish

Start a pot of salted water for the pasta and lay out your ingredients.

Heat the oil in a large pot and cook the onions on medium low. Add one tablespoon of tomato paste, salt, black, and red pepper. Cook low and slow until the onions are soft and translucent – don’t brown. The onions add a little sweetness to the sauce which is a nice counterpoint to the horse radish.

Add the tomatoes and simmer for 30 minutes. Taste to check for seasoning. If you want a meat sauce, now is the time to add some nicely browned sausage or braciole.

Cook the pasta until almost done, drain it and add it to the sauce where it will finish cooking. Add a few tablespoons of the pasta water if the sauce is too dry. Pour in the walnuts and breadcrumbs, stir to thoroughly combine and serve. This is still a very good sauce even if you don’t have fresh horse radish.

Cut about an inch of the end of the horse radish and remove some of the bark with a potato peeler. Pass the horse radish and a grater at the table and top each dish with a good amount of horse radish. Sometimes when the horseradish hits the hot steamy pasta it can make your eyes tear. Don’t let it bother you.

Cover the cut end of the horse radish with some foil and refrigerate.

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Seafood, Vegetarian

Barramundi

March 10, 2021 robiulo Leave a comment

Barramundi

Barramundi is a flakey white fish with a thin easily editable skin. It’s a new-to-the-market type of sea bass from the South Pacific and our imports come mainly from Australia.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. butter
1 minced clove of garlic
Salt & black pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp. olive oil
Barramundi fillet

Melt the butter in a small pan on medium heat. Add the garlic, salt and pepper. Sauté for a few minutes and then add the lemon juice. Stir, remove from heat and set aside. (This combination of ingredients works for lots of different types of fish. )

Blot the fillet dry with a paper towel and sprinkle with salt and black pepper.

Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat. Cook the filet skin side down for 3 minutes to crisp the skin.. Turn it over and cook the other side for 2 minutes.

Place the fish in a serving dish, pour the sauce over it and serve.

Shrimp Étouffée

February 26, 2021 robiulo Leave a comment

Shrimp Étouffée

Different families have different Étouffée recipes. I got this one from a friend with a Louisiana connection. Ideally, it would have been made with crawfish but they’re not so easy to get on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Shrimp is a good substitute.

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons butter
2 cups Cajun trinity
3 minced garlic cloves
2 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock
1 tbsp. Panola or Tobassco hot sauce or to taste
2 tbsp. Cajun spice mix
Salt and black pepper
1 lb. shrimp, cleaned and shelled
2 scallions, green part chopped

Heat the butter in a large pan and add the trinity. Cook until it’s softens and then add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the flour, mix and cook for a few minutes then add the tomato paste. Stir and cook for a minute.

Stir in the stock and 1 cup of water. Cook on medium until reduced by half. Now add the hot sauce, bay leaf, Cajun spice mix, salt, and black pepper. Raise heat and continue cooking until the sauce thickens.

Add the shrimp, reduce heat, and stir and coat with the sauce. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the shrimp turn pink. Sprinkle the scallions on top and serve with rice.

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Pasta, Vegetarian

Sautéed Tomato Sauce

February 16, 2021 robiulo 2 Comments

Sautéed Tomato Sauce

When most people think of tomato sauce they think ‘simmering.’ For this recipe you start by sautéing the tomatoes. This gives them a rich hearty flavor and it’s ready to eat in about a half an hour.

Ingredients:

½ cup olive oil divided
Salt, black, and red pepper
10 – 12 plum tomatoes
2 minced garlic cloves
¼ cup chopped basil
¼ cup chopped parsley
1 lb. short pasta (ziti, penne, rotelle, etc.)

Start a pot of salted water for the pasta.

Heat ¼ cup of the oil in a large frying pan and season it with salt, black and red pepper. Cut the stem end off the tomatoes, cut them in half lengthwise and place then cut side down in the pan. Cook on medium-high heat until they begin to soften and color. Depending on their ripeness and thickness they might take 8 – 12 minutes.

Season the top side and then turn them and cook for another 8 – 12 minutes. Start cooking the pasta in the boiling water.

The tomatoes should be soft now so add the minced garlic, basil, and parsley and the remaining ¼ cup of oil.

Add some of the pasta water to the sauce, blend and deglaze the pan. A ½ cup might be enough but add more if needed to get a saucy consistency.

When the pasta is almost al dente add it to the sauce and mix to finish cooking. Serve with grated Parmigiana.

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Seafood, Vegetarian

Seafood Sauce

January 1, 2021 robiulo Leave a comment

Seafood Sauce

For this one I used clams, mussels, shrimp and lobster tails. Add what you like, crabs, scallops, octopus, fish filets, etc. It’s important to steam the clams and mussels separate from the sauce. One sandy clam or mussel can ruin a whole pot of sauce.

Ingredients:

¼ cup olive oil
Salt, black and red pepper to taste
3 minced garlic cloves
½ tsp. oregano
2 – 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes
12 little neck clams
18 mussels
1 doz. shrimp cleaned and shelled
2 lobster tails cut into 2 inch pieces
1 lb. linguine

Start a pot of salted water for the linguine.

Lightly sauté the garlic in oil in a pot large enough to hold the sauce and shellfish. Add salt, red, and black pepper to taste and the oregano. Add the crushed tomatoes and bring to a simmer.

The clams and mussels need to be steamed in a separate pot in case any are sandy. Heat one & a half cups of water and add the shellfish. (Clams and mussels take different amounts of time so it’s easier to do them separately.) Cover the pot and let it steam 8 to 12 minutes (until they open). Discard any shellfish that didn’t open. Add the shellfish to the tomatoes sauce and carefully pour the remaining broth into the sauce leaving any sand behind.

Start to cook the linguine and at the same time add the lobster and shrimp to the sauce. When the pasta is done the sauce will be too. Put the pasta, and shellfish sauce in a serving platter and serve. Please, it’s seafood so no cheese on this sauce.

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Sides, Vegetarian

Caesar Salad

November 27, 2020 robiulo 2 Comments

Caesar Salad

This is a traditional Caesar Salad recipe. It contains raw eggs and anchovies. Caesar Salad was invented in Mexico by Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant who lived in San Diego but operated a restaurant in Tijuana where he could serve alcohol during Prohibition.

Ingredients:

½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup day old Italian bread, crust trimmed, and cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt & black pepper
1 clove garlic, halved
2 large eggs
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
4 minced anchovies (or more)
2 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 large head romaine lettuce, washed, dried and torn into pieces
½ cup grated Parmesan

Put 2 tablespoons of the oil in a pan large enough to hold the bread in a single layer and turn heat to medium-high. When it’s hot, add the bread, salt and pepper. Toss and brown lightly. Remove and set aside.

Rub the inside of a salad bowl with the garlic clove and discard it.

Beat the eggs and pour into the salad bowl. Slowly add the lemon juice and 6 tablespoons oil, constantly beating. Stir in anchovies and Worcestershire.

Taste for seasoning. Keep in mind that the anchovies and cheese are salty but add lots of pepper. Toss to coat the lettuce. Add the Parmesan and croutons, toss again and serve.

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Shrimp with Chard and Ginger

Here’s another one adapted from Melissa Clark (my favorite chef) in the New York Times.

Ingredients:

Blot the shrimp dry and season with salt. Cut the stems off of the chard up to where the leaves begin. Roll a hand full of chard leaves like a cigar and cut it into ¼ inch strips.

Add some olive oil to a large skillet and on medium hear lightly brown the shrimp on each side. Remove the shrimp to a dish, add some more oil and add the garlic, chili (if you’re using), shallot and ginger. Sauté for about 3 minutes and then add the sugar and season with salt and black pepper.

Put the greens in the skillet with ¼ cup of water. Mix to coat them with the liquid in the pan. Cover and steam for a few minutes so the greens wilt. Return the shrimp to heat them, drizzle with the vinegar and serve.

Pasta with Fried Lemons

This is adapted from a Melissa Clark recipe in the New York Times. No garlic or onion – the lemon acts as an aromatic for this simple sauce.

Ingredients:

Start a large pot of salted water for the pasta.

Heat the oil in a large pan and add the dry lemon slices. Add salt, black pepper and a pinch of sugar. Cook for a few minutes until the edges brown and remove them.

Add the butter, lemon zest, red pepper and a half cup of pasta water to the pan. Mix in the drained pasta and coat with the sauce. Turn off the heat and stir in the parsley, lemon wedges and cheese. Serve with additional cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.

Grilled Broccoli

I got this grilled broccoli recipe from Julia and Bridget on America’s Test Kitchen. They came up with it for an outdoor grill, but it works just as well indoors. We live in an apartment building in Manhattan so no outdoor grill for us but a grill pan over two burners on a gas stove does the job.

Ingredients:

Pre-heat the over to 375o.

Wash the broccoli and trim its stems. Put it in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with minced garlic, juice of ½ lemon and olive oil. Toss the broccoli until it’s thoroughly coated.

Place the broccoli on a large sheet of aluminum foil, fold the sides up and add a ½ cup of water. Completely wrap the broccoli in the foil and tightly seal the edges. Reseal it in another piece of foil.

Place it in the oven for 30 minutes.

Place the ½ lemon cut side down on the grill alongside the broccoli on a grill and cook until the broccoli begins to sear.

Place it in a serving dish and squeeze the grilled lemon half over it and serve.

Basilicata Frittata

I had some leftover fresh horse radish from the Basilicata Style Pasta, so I used it for a frittata.

Ingredients:

Heat the oil in an oven proof 10 inch pan, pour in the egg mixture and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Once the eggs begin to set, place the pan under your broiler for another 5 minutes to cook and brown the top of the frittata.

Slice and serve either hot or at room temperature.

Basilicata Style Pasta

Ingredients:

Start a pot of salted water for the pasta and lay out your ingredients.

Add the tomatoes and simmer for 30 minutes. Taste to check for seasoning. If you want a meat sauce, now is the time to add some nicely browned sausage or braciole.

Barramundi

Barramundi is a flakey white fish with a thin easily editable skin. It’s a new-to-the-market type of sea bass from the South Pacific and our imports come mainly from Australia.

Ingredients:

Melt the butter in a small pan on medium heat. Add the garlic, salt and pepper. Sauté for a few minutes and then add the lemon juice. Stir, remove from heat and set aside. (This combination of ingredients works for lots of different types of fish. )

Blot the fillet dry with a paper towel and sprinkle with salt and black pepper.

Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium-high heat. Cook the filet skin side down for 3 minutes to crisp the skin.. Turn it over and cook the other side for 2 minutes.

Place the fish in a serving dish, pour the sauce over it and serve.

Shrimp Étouffée

Different families have different Étouffée recipes. I got this one from a friend with a Louisiana connection. Ideally, it would have been made with crawfish but they’re not so easy to get on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Shrimp is a good substitute.

Ingredients:

Heat the butter in a large pan and add the trinity. Cook until it’s softens and then add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the flour, mix and cook for a few minutes then add the tomato paste. Stir and cook for a minute.

Stir in the stock and 1 cup of water. Cook on medium until reduced by half. Now add the hot sauce, bay leaf, Cajun spice mix, salt, and black pepper. Raise heat and continue cooking until the sauce thickens.

Add the shrimp, reduce heat, and stir and coat with the sauce. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the shrimp turn pink. Sprinkle the scallions on top and serve with rice.

Sautéed Tomato Sauce

When most people think of tomato sauce they think ‘simmering.’ For this recipe you start by sautéing the tomatoes. This gives them a rich hearty flavor and it’s ready to eat in about a half an hour.

Ingredients:

Start a pot of salted water for the pasta.

Season the top side and then turn them and cook for another 8 – 12 minutes. Start cooking the pasta in the boiling water.

The tomatoes should be soft now so add the minced garlic, basil, and parsley and the remaining ¼ cup of oil.

Add some of the pasta water to the sauce, blend and deglaze the pan. A ½ cup might be enough but add more if needed to get a saucy consistency.

When the pasta is almost al dente add it to the sauce and mix to finish cooking. Serve with grated Parmigiana.

Seafood Sauce

For this one I used clams, mussels, shrimp and lobster tails. Add what you like, crabs, scallops, octopus, fish filets, etc. It’s important to steam the clams and mussels separate from the sauce. One sandy clam or mussel can ruin a whole pot of sauce.

Ingredients:

Start a pot of salted water for the linguine.

Lightly sauté the garlic in oil in a pot large enough to hold the sauce and shellfish. Add salt, red, and black pepper to taste and the oregano. Add the crushed tomatoes and bring to a simmer.

Start to cook the linguine and at the same time add the lobster and shrimp to the sauce. When the pasta is done the sauce will be too. Put the pasta, and shellfish sauce in a serving platter and serve. Please, it’s seafood so no cheese on this sauce.

Caesar Salad

This is a traditional Caesar Salad recipe. It contains raw eggs and anchovies. Caesar Salad was invented in Mexico by Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant who lived in San Diego but operated a restaurant in Tijuana where he could serve alcohol during Prohibition.

Ingredients:

Reveries and Recipes

Pre-heat the over to 375^o.