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January 18, 2012

Fettuccine with Shiitake Mushrooms and Basil

This fresh-tasting whole-wheat pasta recipe utilizes lemon zest, basil, and shiitake mushrooms, which accent each other beautifully. Whole-wheat pastas are higher in fiber than white pastas. They can be found in health-food stores and some large supermarkets.

MP4595

Fettuccine with Shiitake Mushrooms & Basil
from Eating Well, Fall 2004

2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 ounces shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced (1½ cups)
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
2 Tablespoons lemon juice, juice
¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
8 ounces whole-wheat fettuccine, or spaghetti
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, (1 ounce)
½ cup chopped fresh basil, divided

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil for cooking pasta.
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over low heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant but not browned, about 1 minute. Add mushrooms and increase heat to medium-high; cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and lightly browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, cook pasta, stirring occasionally, until just tender, 9 to 11 minutes or according to package directions. Drain, reserving ½ cup cooking liquid.

Add the pasta, the reserved cooking liquid, Parmesan, and ¼ cup basil to the mushrooms in the skillet; toss to coat well. Serve immediately, garnished with remaining basil.

Serves 4.

January 1, 2012

Winter Fruit Salad

Serve dishes with both adult and kid appeal, like this simple and refreshing fruit salad of Asian pears, grapefruit, and pomegranate seeds.
tea-party-fruit-salad-mbd108014_vert
Winter Fruit Salad
recipe and image courtesy of wholeliving.com

3 pink grapefruits, peel and pith removed, cut into segments
1 pomegranate, seeded
2 Asian pears, quartered, cored, cut into thin wedges
1½ tablespoons raw honey
6 to 8 fresh mint leaves
Flaky sea salt

In a medium bowl, toss grapefruit, pomegranate seeds, pears, and honey.

Top with mint and salt.

Serves 4-6.

December 20, 2011

Holiday Subscripton Offer 2011

What’s the perfect gift for… the foodie on your list? The relative or friend who is currently a Mainer in exile, longing for a taste of their home state? The person who has everything? Yourself?

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It’s not too late to order the gift of Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine, a gift that will continue giving all year long with great recipes, local chef profiles, in-depth articles, and stunning photography.

Give the gift of Maine’s original food magazine, and make someone smile this holiday season. We’ll send the recipient a gift letter stating this gift is from you. Subscribe today for yourself or someone special on your holiday list!

Happy Holidays to you and those you love!

Melanie Hyatt & Jim Bazin

November 25, 2011

Pumpkin Lasagna

Trying to please a mixed crowd this year for the holidays? With my gatherings, there are often a couple vegetarians, a vegan or two, and several gourmands. This recipe for Pumpkin Lasagna will suit everyone but the lactose intolerant.

We love this dish because it may be made ahead, frozen or not, and packs a bundle of seasonal flavor. I can even imagine it layered with a savory stuffing, and cutting back on the noodles…if carbs didn’t matter. If you grew pumpkin this year use your freshly cooked sugar pumpkin or a dry squash like buttercup. Canned works well, too. Make sure you grab the plain pumpkin purée and not the pie mix! The flavors of this lasagna remind me of a sage butter dressed butternut ravioli and is so much easier!

Perfect on its own, this dish does play well with others and I can use my still flourishing Swiss chard as an ingredient. What’s better than eating out of the garden?!

Pair with a Pouilly Fuisse or another great white.

IMG_5531
image: lifecurrents.dw2.net Continue reading “Pumpkin Lasagna” »

November 4, 2011

Portland’s Green Elephant: Appetizer Recipe

Green-Elephant-Food-
Portland’s Vegetarian Bistro, Green Elephant, was featured in Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine issue Number 8. Here they share with us a very popular appetizer from their inventive menu.

Continue reading “Portland’s Green Elephant: Appetizer Recipe” »

November 1, 2011

Dinner with a Mystic: Vegetarian Posole Stew

My friend Karl is “unique”, that’s a person who is genuinely “one of a kind”. Two friends and I found ourselves at table last evening with this most interesting man. We were in the midst of a power outage, which no doubt set the stage, with flickering candles everywhere. Remnants of his former life in Morocco were in evidence everywhere: nice Oriental rugs, large hammered brass vessels, smaller brass candlesticks, rustic light fixtures and other useful items.

Karl lives on a couple hundred acres in a hand hewn house in the mid coast area of Maine, set well back from the road, with a horse, a goat, and several chickens. If you listen carefully while outside, you can hear a lively stream tumbling over rocks nearby. It’s quiet inside, nice and toasty, too, thanks to a couple of big wood fired stoves, and the house smells great, like sautéed onions and good earth. Not like my house in a power outage…chilly and with no way to cook. This level of “off the grid” comfort really got me thinking.

Before reaching the front door and all those great smells, a series of large garden plots must be negotiated. Herein is the source of all Karl’s great cooking. He is a vegetarian and grows all manner of leafy greens: all his own potatoes, onions, cole crops, corn, apples, berries, tomatoes, buckwheat, teas, and herbs …and a type of special corn called “yellow dent” corn, also called “field corn” or “flint” corn, made for drying and grinding into masa-like preparations. Very similar to posole in Mexican cooking or hominy here at home. In short, literally everything Karl eats is grown in his “dooryard”, save a trip to the health food store for coffee and dairy now and then.

It’s this corn that I found so interesting and delectable. Getting it to the edible stage takes a couple of days of soaking in wood ash, rinsing, and then several hours of cooking on the wood fired stove top. Eventually it gets ground up with a grain grinder to where it can be fashioned into corn cakes, crepes, or stir fried with onions and tamari soy sauce. Or it may be used whole once it’s cooked and softened, like the hominy we know in a can. It seems that the soaking in the wood ash water, containing potassium hydroxide, releases or frees up the niacin in the corn, making the corn quite nutritious, offering a wide range of B vitamins, lots of vitamin A, and a full complement of minerals. Pickling lime can also be used but if you burn wood anyway, it makes sense to use the ash.

We were treated to two different preparations, a corn crepe and a corn stir fry with onion, both delicious and hearty. This was accompanied by a rocket salad with umeboshi vinaigrette, freshly steamed brussels sprouts, winter squash, and a trio of raw heritage apples for dessert.

There was much discussion of spirituality around the table and I had a moment, in Karl’s calm presence, believing that I was in conversation with Carlos Castaneda or a similar Mexican shaman. It occurred to me that if I did share food with someone like that, this meal might be exactly what I would be served: corn cakes, beans, or vegetables and squash.

I left feeling uber-nourished, light, and healthy…feeling… well… divine.

To honor Karl’s commitment to vegetarianism, here is a new recipe for your arsenal. Most of us will go to the store for a few cans of posole or whole hominy to use in this recipe, and that’s OK. Not everyone can be Karl.
Vegetarian-Posole-Soup

image: idealdietrecipes.com Continue reading “Dinner with a Mystic: Vegetarian Posole Stew” »

October 28, 2011

Mache, a New Leaf

When I first began researching for this post, I was astounded by the wealth of information on mache (Valerianella locusta), sometimes known as Lamb’s Lettuce, corn salad, or field salad in Europe. Evidently, mache is a superfood.

mache-400-1
image: kblog.lunchboxbunch.com Continue reading “Mache, a New Leaf” »

October 16, 2011

Vegan Caramelized Onion and Portobello Mushroom Soup

Caramelizing adds a sweetness to the onions, and the portobellos are a meaty and hearty addition to this vegetable soup.

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image: photo by Brian Leatart Continue reading “Vegan Caramelized Onion and Portobello Mushroom Soup” »

September 5, 2011

Vegetarian Mushroom Nut Loaf with Red Onion Gravy

Mary Lake, teacher, writer, vegetarian blogger, and mom is getting creative in the kitchen once again with a recipe that’s says fall comfort food! Her variation on traditional meatloaf, made with mushrooms, leeks, wild rice, and nuts is delicious and very satisfying!

In Mary’s Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine column, “Creative Vegetarian,” she provides the recipe for her Mushroom Nut Loaf, plus her savory recipe for Red Onion Gravy. If you are looking for a hearty and healthy meal, this is it!

MushroomNutLoaf_(485)Mushroom Nut Loaf with Red Onion Gravy
image © Mary Lake 2011

What is especially great about this vegetarian loaf recipe is that it is easy to prepare and comes together quickly. Mary recommends serving it with potatoes and an assortment of roasted vegetables for a flavorful dinner.

If you haven’t checked out Mary Lake’s archive of creative vegetarian recipes on our blog, take a minute to do so now. You’ll want to make them all! She also has a fantastic archive of vegetarian recipes on her blog, mittenmachen.com

Be sure to get your copy of the new issue of Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine for Mary’s recipes and dozens of others, plus great stories, beautiful images, and lots of Maine foodie fun! Order a subscription for yourself today, and purchase one for the favorite chef in your life!

July 22, 2011

Gazpacho

Gazpacho had its start in the Arab world as a bread-based soup, flavored with garlic, olive oil, vinegar, and salt. Tomatoes and peppers weren’t part of the recipe until explorers brought them back from the New World. Purists will tell you that a “genuine” gazpacho includes tomatoes, garlic, bread, olive oil, salt, and vinegar. But really, the beauty of gazpacho is that you can add or subtract whatever you want. If you want to use a lime instead of a lemon, go right ahead. Parsley instead of basil? Sure thing. Hold the cukes? All right by me. After deciding on the lineup, it’s a matter of a quick whiz in the blender or food processor.

The other question to ask yourself is: Will bread be part of the gazpacho? I’ve included details for a bread variation, as it requires an extra step.

gazpacho-ice
image: blog.fatfreevegan.com Continue reading “Gazpacho” »

July 9, 2011

Corn Kernel Salad

The constant in this dish is the corn kernels (and salt). Everything else is subject to cook’s preferences, mood, and availability of ingredients. Tomato hater? Try ½ cup of blueberries instead. No red onion in the house? Use up the scallions. This is a template meant to be played with.

cornsalad.crop
image: tasytype.blogspot.com

Continue reading “Corn Kernel Salad” »

May 3, 2011

Dill Goat Cheese Spread

This vegetarian friendly recipe has even those who aren’t crazy about goat cheese lined up for more!

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image: realsimple.com

Continue reading “Dill Goat Cheese Spread” »

April 4, 2011

Beans and Rice

In addition to the beloved grilled cheese and soup combo, another perennial favorite at our casa is beans and rice on the fly. In less time than it takes to watch the evening news, you can have supper on the table, and a complete protein at that.

In the spirit of efficiency and on-the-fly improv, I offer a template to work from, with lots of room to play and experiment with flavors and seasonings.
beans-chili-rice-lrgimage: kitchenscoop.com

Continue reading “Beans and Rice” »

April 1, 2011

Risotto with Asparagus and Morels

This fantastic risotto recipe is packed with flavor and nutrition. Great for those out there who suffer from acid reflux.

risotto
image: flickr.com

Continue reading “Risotto with Asparagus and Morels” »

March 8, 2011

Salsify: An Heirloom Vegetable Gets a Make Over

If we were farmers living in the 19th century, we might be headed down to the root cellar right about this time of year to sort through our cabbages and apples to grab a few remaining salsify roots to boil with our pork belly or liven up a meat “pie.” More popular 100 years ago than now and long popular in Europe, this root has begun to make a resurgence into seasonal and heritage menus.

Also known as “Oyster Plant” or “Goat’s Beard” the Salsifies are the genus Tragopogon, flowering plants within the family Asteraceae, and usually considered weeds. The vegetable comes in two colors, the smaller white and stick-like variety and the thicker and longer black root (scorzonera), which has a bark-like brown skin, resembling a brown carrot.

A deep growing and miky tap root with a flavor resembling either artichoke hearts or oysters, this root is available in markets from fall through early spring. Select roots that are smooth and firm. I prefer the larger, darker and meatier roots, which are prepared by scrubbing, peeling, and trimming. Either slice them or leave in chunks to cook, depending on the recipe. Salsify may be steamed, mashed, baked, or roasted and pairs well with other vegetables. I like them boiled with potatoes or grated, seasoned, and made into fritters or in a cream soup. They over cook easily, becoming mushy.

Here is a recipe for pan roasting salsify that I enjoy at home. It serves four to six as a side dish. A great accompaniment to a roast beef.

salsify

image: goinglocal-info.com

Continue reading “Salsify: An Heirloom Vegetable Gets a Make Over” »

March 4, 2011

Edamame Tofu Dip

I almost always have a bag of frozen shelled edamame in my freezer. Here I purée them for a creamy, fresh, protein-packed dip speckled with cilantro.

dip ingredients
image: tastyeasyhealthygreen.com

Continue reading “Edamame Tofu Dip” »

October 17, 2010

Creative Vegetarian

Creative vegetarian Mary Lake knows the secrets to utilizing vegetables, fruits, and grains to a hearty and healthy advantage.

ZucchiniCornCakes_2499Zucchini Corn Cakes. Image © Mary Lake 2010.

With a focus on using local produce in simple ways, Mary’s column “Creative Vegetarian” is always popular. In this issue, she shares her zippy recipe for zucchini corn cakes with a black bean salsa cruda. Truly creative, truly delicious!

Find Mary’s recipe in the new issue of Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine, on sale now!

October 5, 2010

Maine Food & Lifestyle’s New Issue: Number 12!

What’s cooking in Maine? Find out in the new issue of Maine Food & Lifestyle magazine, at a retailer near you this week! Area chefs in restaurants from Ogunquit to Stonington express their versions of “The Essence of Maine” with stories to share and recipes you’ll want to try at home.

Cover_12_485_BlogImage © Jim Bazin, 2010.

A strong focus on the Midcoast with chefs in Thomaston, Rockland, Camden, and Lincolnville who share interesting personal stories and great recipes, this issue is chock full of great taste!

Lots of fantastic features including Café Miranda, Thomaston Café, Curtis Custom Meats, Pig Kahuna, Farmer Kev, Provisions, Cliff House Resort, Bluefish, New Food Business, regular columnists, and more.

On the cover we proudly feature the seasonal colors of Maine Crab Soup by Melody Wolfertz of Rockland’s In Good Company.

For a delectable time, subscribe now!

August 16, 2010

Drowning in Zucchini? Try This Simple Sauté

Every week I head into town to pick up my CSA share, and every week I’m shocked to find an even bigger bag of zucchini than I found the week before. Will this bonanza ever taper off? How will I eat, freeze, and dry it all before it spoils?

I’ve been looking for new and interesting ways to prepare zucchini. Recently I threw together this simple Italian-inspired meal. It’s simple and easy, like summer cooking should be, but using freshly-picked, perfectly-ripe produce provides a burst of flavor and color.

summer vegetable saute

Continue reading “Drowning in Zucchini? Try This Simple Sauté” »

August 2, 2010

Tomatoes Veronese

Charles Wilber, where are you when I need you? For some reason, my tomato plants are struggling to produce fruit and I fear that my green thumb has faded a bit this year. And it sure seems that Mr. Wilber is the man to call if you’ve got tomato problems.

For most of his 80+ years, this gentleman has been honing his gardening skills with particular attention to tomatoes. Now living in Crane Hill, Alabama, he holds a place in The Guinness Book of World Records for harvesting 1,368 pounds of tomatoes from just four plants. (I’ll be lucky this season to harvest ONE pound from four.) He has also coaxed a cherry tomato plant to the lofty height of 27 feet, grown a watermelon that weighed in at 105 pounds, has corn stalks that tower over 17 feet, and has produced an 18 pound cucumber. He’s also published a book entitled How to Grow World Record Tomatoes.

Guess it’s time for me to read that book from cover to cover -  after I buzz down to the farm stand and buy some tomatoes for this delicious side dish.

tomatoesimage: chloesblog.bigmill.com

Continue reading “Tomatoes Veronese” »