I'm Philadelphia magazine's restaurant critic, the co-author of Almost Meatless, a freelance writer, as well as a full time serious eater.
@mookie I used whole milk.
@arwend--No! I have come to believe that soaking the beans is the surest way to ruin a pot of beans.
@plazmaorb--it's true, making the mixture ahead and letting it sit for a time would encourage the flavors to mingle. I didn't include that because I was really going for quick and easy, which Serious Eaters have specifically requested of me in the past. And as for the grated shallot, well, I urge you to give it a try. Shallots are pretty mild and grating them eliminates the possibility that you'll chomp down on a chunk. One of my proudest moments in the process of writing Almost Meatless with Tara was when I suggested adding grated onion to our cauliflower-chicken salad recipe. Tara later said she thought it wouldn't work, that the flavor would be too sharp, but she ended up really liking it. I bet you will too.
CanadianFoodieGirl--I also often make these (and other) recipes without meat and I love my bottle of liquid smoke. It definitely lends great flavor to many meatless dishes. Good thought!
@bakedleech--no, you don't need to soak the quinoa.
I sent one, Maggie! I'm excited to see the project take shape.
Hi, @all, sorry if this part isn't perfectly clear.
Start the bean cooking process by putting the beans (and the water and the chorizo) in a Dutch oven on a stovetop burner over high heat and bring it to a rolling boil.
Once this vigorous boil has been achieved, kill the heat on the burner, lid the beans/water/chorizo and then transfer the pot to your preheated 250 oven.
Bringing them to a boil kick starts the softening/cooking process. Again, I'm really sorry if that wasn't clear. I really want people to try this. As Tara can attest, I really have been dogged by this bean cooking problem for years. I have been obsessed with getting them exactly right. And this is what has done it for me. It's amazing how effective the gradual cool down in the oven is at finishing the beans so they are perfectly tender but not broken or mushy.
So please try--and ask other questions if you have them!
Thanks Robin! And I'm sorry for the typo, Serious Eaters. Thanks for letting us know so that it could be fixed.
Squeezebottle--I think maybe the kale excess relates to high number of CSA participants who write for the site? It's in season right now. I sure have had a lot of it in recent weeks. And I must say that my husband is typically not crazy for kale, but he ate this recipe and the leftovers enthusiastically. Another thing is that kale is so phenomenally nutritious that there's no such thing as to many encouragements to eat it.
prunesaregood: I used whatever variety of potato arrived in my CSA. They had a yukon gold appearance and texture. Hope that helps!
This looks good. If you haven't tried it yet, I suggest bulgur wheat for breakfast. It cooks in less than 10 minutes. I add chopped toasted nuts, maple syrup and splash of buttermilk (or plain milk) to mine. Really healthy and delicious, too!
It's true you can get a very cheap banh mi if you live near a shop. But, if you've seen Food Inc. or read up on the issues of factory farming, you may believe that cheap meat has a steep hidden cost and, therefore, prefer to make your own.
This recipe does have a few steps and takes time (though, really, roasting the pork is very simple and makes for fast future meals), but it's delicious and provides the peace of mind you only get when you know where your ingredients come from.
Greenteacup--good point about the veggie stock. A nice homemade mushroom broth would be earthy and delicious.
This is the exact bulgur that I used:
http://www.bobsredmill.com/product.php?productid=3613&cat=0&page=1
All bulgur is steamed, dried and ground--"whole" bulgur would be a wheat kernel.
GoodStuffNW--I was THIS close to using farro instead! I want to give that a try, too.
Thanks for the inside scoop, Ed, and those Serious Eats staffers who were tweeting last night. Great coverage!
Way to go Ed! I'm astonished by and jealous of your continued weight loss. I also plan routes/whole trips based on what seriously delicious things I can discover along the way.
I would not have gone the turkey sandwich route, probably. If what I'm eating is not seriously delicious I want it to be seriously virtuous. I've been trying to make lunch my pile-o-vegetables meal lately.
I LOVE Famous Fourth Street. Especially the desserts. In fact, my husband and I love the carrot cake so much we had it at our wedding (as you can image, a whole cake is ginormous. One slice feeds four!) instead of a traditional wedding cake. It's the best ever.
Ed, last weekend I read Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata. I highly recommend it. It provides a lot of interesting information and an unusual perspective on what you, me and all of us "should" weigh.
Clarification: it's my take on cassoulet, which in my research proved to be a highly adaptable dish with few specific parameters. I saw recipes including all kinds of things, including kielbasa! Originally, I wanted to include the traditional duck leg confit, but as it turns out, it's a little pricey and a little hard to find--two qualities most people want to avoid. It is indeed a casserole--a cassoulet-inspired casserole. My apologies to cassoulet purists who may have taken offense!
I think about this all the time. I think the official government guidelines are one piece of information that's part of bigger picture. When you consider how different we are, it seems absurd that everyone of the same height should weight roughly the same. What really bothers me, though, about those numbers is that striving to be thinner that your body wants to be can set you up for failure big time. If you can't get down to that weight, you might give up. If you do, and it's too hard to maintain, you might feel like a failure and give up. Right now in my own weight loss/weight management journey I seem to have leveled off at a weight. I'm trying to get comfortable with it because the messages I'm getting from my own body are saying that this is where I belong. That's better information that I'm going to get from any official chart.
I ate 1 million Oh Ryan's Irish Potatoes growing up and I still love them. I had no idea until this year that Irish Potato candies were not well known outside of PA. Today I was down at the decidedly not-Irish Italian Market, but my favorite candy shop there, Anthony's Chocolate House, does carry their own house-made Irish potatoes and they are pretty good.
I don't care how it looks. I'm pretty excited. The Atlantic is one of my only non-food magazine subscriptions and this will give us more good food coverage. Thanks for posting this, Ed!
Right, Adam--my eyes skipped right over those magic words: sharp provolone. This thread is making me hungry.
Joy Manning hasn't written a post yet.
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Editor's note: Philly food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by weekly with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless. [Photograph: Dan Call] Everyone loves a plate of pasta,... More
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Chorizo is magic, pure culinary pixie dust. Just a bit of the stuff can render the humblest of ingredients magnificent. Here, the paprika and pork fat cook slowly into the potatoes and onions, infusing them with a subtle porky spice... More
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Note: Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless. There's Meat Lite, and then there's practically meatless. This... More
Note: Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless. Photograph by sassyradish on Flickr People often ask me... More
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Editor's note: Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless. This is a cross between crispy flatbread and... More
Editor's note: Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless. This satisfying chili is loosely adapted from a... More
Editor's note: Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless. This weekend, right in the middle of sipping... More
Editor's note: Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless. If world history curriculum depended on recipes instead... More
Editor's note: Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless. A burger that goes easy on meat is... More
Editor's note: Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless. I order cassoulet a lot at restaurants, and... More
Editor's note: Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless. Last month, Serious Eats readers piped up to... More
Editor's note: Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless. This salad is inspired by one of my... More
If meat has always been the star of your meal, and vegetables, grains, and starches merely supporting acts, it can be a real challenge to redistribute the roles. But there are many good reasons to switch to an ensemble cast mindset, from environmental health to your own, and Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond are here to help. Almost Meatless is a collection of recipes in which modest quantities of meat—if meat is used at all—enhance, rather than dominate, dishes. Despite its focus on healthy and responsible eating, the book is neither puritan nor militant in tone. If you've followed the authors' Meat Lite column here on Serious Eats, you'll recognize in Almost Meatless their gentle, persuasive voices and eminently... More
Photograph from truth82 on Flickr I've saved Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond's gnocchi with lamb ragu for Friday, because I think it'll make a great weekend project. Properly-made gnocchi are a joy both to roll and to eat, and... More
Cornmeal crêpes are a little heartier than French crêpes, much yellower, and taste distinctly tortilla-like even while retaining the pliant texture of the classic crêpe. More
Photograph from different2une on Flickr Albóndigas are little Spanish or Mexican meatballs. In Spain, they're commonly served fried, in a rich tomato sauce, whereas a Mexican cook is more likely to serve them in a light broth, "Italian wedding" style.... More
As much as I love tuna, I've always dreaded the classic tuna salad, gloopy with mayo or Miracle Whip. Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond's open-face tuna salad sandwich couldn't be more different. Dressed with olive oil and lemon juice,... More
Photograph from Mike Licht on Flickr Eggs-any-style chilaquiles is perhaps the quintessential Almost Meatless recipe, embodying almost everything authors Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond stand for—in the kitchen, at least. It makes the most of eggs as an inexpensive... More
Editor's note: Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by the book coauthored by the two, Almost Meatless, due out in spring.... More
@droostring--I'm so glad you liked it!