culinary flights of fancy

Home Cooking Adventures in Berkeley Heights

Tag Archives: Vegetarian Dishes


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Ratatouille: A Summer Classic

Summer's bounty of produce comes together in a classic French stew.

Summer’s bounty of produce comes together in a classic French stew.

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I have made more than my fair share of ratatouille this year.  In fact, I’ve made the recipe that follows almost weekly as both my wife and I love it.  I also make a ton of it and the good news is that it freezes well so you can bring it out during winter when the weather has turned and you are pining for some of the great produce from the summer months.  I made this dish in culinary school as it is a classic French preparation.  As you can imagine, it can get a little finicky in school as you had to peel and seed all the vegetables.  I usually peel the tomatoes when I cook this at home but I don’t all of the time.  For home cooking purposes, I really think you can get as fancy or as ‘rustic’ as you prefer.  So, if you want to peel and seed everything, that’s great.  If you prefer to skip all of that entirely, go for it.  As I mentioned, I fall in the middle of that, preferring to peel the tomatoes and seed the squash.  Otherwise, I simply chop the veggies to decent bite sized pieces and sauté them until golden.  From there, you simply combine all of the ingredients and allow them to stew for at least 30 minutes up to several hours.  To finish add a mix of fresh herbs and a touch of olive oil and a splash of wine vinegar.  It’s really a quintessential way to use all the fresh tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, and onions we have here in New Jersey in one dish and celebrate the bounty of this season while it lasts…can you believe we are almost to September!?!  Recipe follows after the jump. Continue reading →


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Roasted Pumpkin Stuffed with Quinoa, Kale, Toasted Walnuts, and Garlic

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Okay, okay, I know…I’m really late to the party with this one.  As I mentioned a while ago, I somehow managed to create a huge backlog of recipes and dishes and found that between vacations, holidays, and just the time it takes to mess around with recipe development in the kitchen, I just simply ran out of time to write everything up in a timely manner.  So, the bad news is that unless you purchased a pumpkin a while back and stored it in a cool spot that allows it to still be good and able to be used, you will likely have to adapt this recipe to other winter squashes.  The good news, however, is that there are plenty of great options still available at both farmer’s markets (yep, we have winter farmer’s markets still going…my wife and I really like the one in Ramsey, NJ though it’s a bit of a hike to get there) and grocery stores.  Anyway, feel free to use acorn squash or any other winter squash that can be hollowed out and stuffed.  Obviously the smaller the squash variety, the less time it will take to roast it.  Beyond that the process remains the same.

I haven’t cooked with quinoa a whole lot.  Despite it being very very healthy and now, quite popular, I just never jumped on the bandwagon.  However, I really liked this dish and think the nuttiness of the quinoa grain really added something to the overall flavor of the dish.  You cook the quinoa separately according to package directions, which is pretty easy and goes fairly quickly when compared to other whole grain preparations.  Here, I used a vegetable stock in lieu of water but you can do as you like.  If you prefer chicken stock, that would work well with this as well too.  Otherwise, this recipe is very simple but I think, as the picture conveys, it is a pretty impressive looking vegetable dish that can be enjoyed both simply as a family or for a dinner party.

Oh, one last thing…if you don’t have a pumpkin, next year you can find great roasting pumpkins at Vito’s in Berkeley Heights in mid to late fall.  Just ask them where their roasting pumpkins are and they will gladly show you some good ones. The good news about pumpkins as I alluded to above, they can keep for a number of months without any issues.  Recipe follows after the jump… Continue reading →


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Roasted Pumpkin Risotto with Tuscan Kale and Breadcrumbs

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As everyone starts thinking about pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving next week, you may find yourself with some leftover pumpkin.  Instead of using it to make another dessert, why not try using pumpkin in a savory dish?  I chose risotto but you can certainly adapt this basic recipe and use pasta or any other grain you prefer or have on hand.  If you have a different green on hand, you can certainly substitute it for the kale as well.  I like kale with this dish because it tends to hold its color and texture pretty well over time.  However, any green or herb would work well.

There are a number of different ways to prepare fresh pumpkin.  I chose to roast it, allow it to cool and then scrape out the flesh.  From there I seasoned it simply and pureed it.  As an aside, I use this method for making pumpkin pie as well.

The real challenge with this recipe is coaxing the pumpkin flavor out without overpowering the risotto with a lot of spice thereby losing all the subtle flavors of the pumpkin, kale, and risotto.  I use a homemade vegetable broth and I think that’s a key.  However if you are not inclined to make your own, you can certainly use a canned/boxed broth or simply use water.

This dish makes a filling vegetarian main course for four or a great starter course that would easily serve six.  Recipe follows after the jump… Continue reading →