The Smiling Onion

Vegetarian and Gluten-free Cooking

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Giant Veggie Turnover (Grain-Free and Kosher for Passover!)

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I swear that the photos do not do this recipe justice. It wasn’t very photogenic (or needed a better photographer) but it looked strikingly beautiful in real life. So much so that I kept grabbing my phone and taking more pictures of it even after I was technically “done” with the shoot. But there’s much more to this recipe than good looks.

If you are a vegetarian (like me), Passover can be a bit tough. Potato kugels are usually the center piece and then come lots and lots of sides. Not that there is anything wrong with that – I love sides – but sometimes you want something a bit more forward at the center of your seder.

Enter this giant veggie turnover. It’s stuffed to the brim with potatoes, kale, and cabbage seasoned with lots of paprika and dill. The turnover crust is satisfyingly savory, sweet, and bready with a knish-like quality that will surprise you. There’s plenty of extra filling to pile on top or style individual plates with, and it’s super fun to cut off slices for all your guests. And – to add some extra Passover flair – a horseradish-lemon dressing gets drizzled on top.

When I tasted it, I was pretty ecstatic. Who knew plantains could taste so Jewish? And the filling – yum! And the horseradish…oh, man. This was going to be a seder to remember.

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St. Paddy’s Day Cabbage with Caraway and Thyme

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The first word used to describe cabbage isn’t generally “decadent,” but when it’s caramelized in butter with leeks, caraway seeds, and thyme,  I’d say decadent is a pretty apt description. It’s maybe not quite as decadent as last year’s St. Paddy’s Day recipe, which fell in the realm of sweets and desserts (Irish whiskey banana bread!), but – as a side dish, it’s pretty damn delicious. And Irish to boot!

Green cabbage is traditional for St. Paddy’s Day, and butter, caraway, and thyme are often used in Irish cuisine. I don’t know if it’s traditional or not, but I happen to like this with a little pinch of ground mustard thrown in for a slight kick. (I actually thought about serving this with a mustard cream but decided the cabbage was so good on its own I didn’t want to overwhelm it with a sauce.)

Serve this cabbage alongside whatever your St. Paddy’s day meal pièce de résistance happens to be. Or, if you are looking to create a vegetarian pièce de résistance, try using this cabbage as a stuffing for baked potatoes and serve them with the mustard cream I almost made (combine mustard, sour cream, and minced fresh parsley). Options abound! (Oh, and you might as well make the aforementioned whiskey banana bread for dessert!)

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Vegan Winter Bowl with Creamy Garlic Sauce

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One thing that really irritates me about places that specialize in vegan fare – especially the fancier places – is a seeming lack of attention to basic culinary principles like flavor and creativity. Often, the fact that the dish is “vegan” or “healthy” or contains a trendy ingredient (kale, quinoa, etc.) seems to be its sole reason for appearing on the menu and being served (at a ridiculous price point) to customers. I don’t know – maybe I’m just not visiting the right places. But I’m always left confused as to why these lackluster dishes are being served to paying customers, and saddened that the potential to put out something exceptional was missed.

Because, don’t get me wrong: there is absolutely nothing wrong with the concept of a vegan bowl, and there’s a reason why it’s trending: the potential for an exceptional creation is very much there. More than any other dish, a bowl provides the opportunity to put together components that are delicious on their own and use these parts to create a veritable symphony of flavors, textures, and colors. Plus, you get to add a sauce!

Take this vegan winter bowl, for example. We’ve got a flavorful, sweet & salty sesame cabbage, some deep & meaty oyster mushrooms, and a splash of bright quick-pickled daikon all tossed together with quinoa and a creamy garlic sauce that will leave you scraping the blender to get every last drop! So why are so many places missing the boat? I’m not sure. But when it comes to bowls, I prefer to make them myself and I recommend that you do too!

Bonus: You can make any or all of the components ahead of time and make your bowl when you are ready to enjoy, or you can even assemble the bowls within tupperware containers for ready-made, transportable lunches. 

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Savory Waffles with Caramelized Cabbage

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It took me a while to get on the waffle train. Give me a hefty stack of pancakes any day but I never got the fuss about waffles…weren’t they just like breadier pancakes, except NOT fried in butter? What was the point?

Once I got a waffle maker of my own, however, I didn’t just get on the train – I may have taken a turn in the driver’s seat! I think I made a different type of waffle every day for the first week – cornmeal, raspberry-chocolate chip … if you can think it, I probably made it. What makes them so satisfying? It’s hard to say. My waffle maker makes ginormous waffles – like seriously colossal – which definitely helps: sitting down to a gorgeous piece of bready goodness that takes up your whole plate certainly makes for a dramatic meal. Unlike pancakes, waffles also have this fantastic crispy-on-the-outside (if I let them cook a tiny bit past the “ready” light on my machine) soft-and-fluffy-on-the-inside thing going on. And one of the best things about waffles, in my humble opinion, is that you don’t have to stand by the stove frying them OR worry about making them come out the same size and shape. With a waffle, everything goes right into your handy dandy waffle maker, and they are guaranteed to come out beautifully cooked and perfectly shaped every time.

I was so waffle-happy, in fact, that I decided to create a savory waffle that wouldn’t be confined to just breakfast. Don’t get me wrong: these waffles do make a fantastic breakfast, but they are equally lovely for lunch, dinner, afternoon snack, late-night snack, you name it. They will dress up each and every occasion to put food in your mouth, period. The mix of teff, sorghum, and millet flours gives them a hefty dose of protein and whole-grain goodness as well as a wonderful flavor that I’ve spiked with thyme, herbes de provence, and parmesan: think pizza goldfish but swap out the mass production and junk food aspects with artisan bakeries and a dose of elegance and you’ll be halfway there. (I know that’s weird but you’ll see what I’m talking about when you make them!)

You can top these beauties with any number of delicious toppings, but my favorite is the caramelized cabbage in this recipe (which you should really make even if you have no intention of making waffles – it is seriously the best way to eat cabbage!) along with a poached egg. The cabbage is oh-so-buttery and sweet, delicately spiced with dill, paprika, and just a touch of allspice. And when you cut into the whole ensemble, that egg yolk will run all over your waffle and form the perfect sauce.
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Summer Buckwheat Noodle Salad

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I guess I maybe shouldn’t have complained about the lack of hot weather in my last post. Because now we’ve got it…bad. I know it’s not officially summer yet (and the weather is actually pretty nice when you’re lucky enough to get outside) but it’s so hot inside my apartment that the familiar summer sluggishness has definitely set in for me. I don’t feel like eating much, and when I do, it better be light and refreshing if I’m expected to eat more than a mouthful or two!

Hence this salad. The only part that requires the stove at all is boiling water for the buckwheat noodles. Easy peasy. It’s nice and light – more of a side than an entree – but if you wanted to make it more substantial, you could easily add some fried tofu and/or egg. Buckwheat noodles are tossed with fresh cabbage, carrots, scallion, and cilantro, doused in a light Asian-inspired vinaigrette, and topped with some roasted peanuts and crispy ginger. Sounds pretty good, right? It is!

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Spaetzle (With Caraway-Dill Cabbage and Onions!)

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Twelve long years ago, I met spaetzle for the first time. We were in the Czech Republic, and it was summer. I was 16 – spaetzle was….well…considerably older, but age didn’t matter to us. During our first encounter that summer in the Czech Republic, I fell madly in love.

I remember it like it was yesterday: I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt; spaetzle was cloaked in a sweet sauce of butter and poppy seeds. Neither of us heard the clink of fork on plate as we met for the first time. I remember the moment as tender, with a slight bite (just the right amount.) I remember the rush as my teeth sank into pillowy goodness. And I remember the butter.

That summer was amazing, and we both swore we would not be strangers to each other when it came to an end. But touching down on American soil once more, I was distracted. Years of pizza, tacos, and take-out Thai came and went, my beloved spaetzle momentarily forgotten. During one of those years, I swore off floury food all together: no gluten, no spaetzle! It looked like our love affair might be over for good.

But I’m happy to report that, twelve years after we first met, I’ve rekindled my relationship with spaetzle. Our first meeting on American soil was remarkably similar to our first meeting in the Czech Republic: my new spaetzle is just as tender, just as pillowy, and just as buttery as the one I remember from twelve years ago. But with one major difference: no gluten. Which made our encounter all the more exciting.

If you’ve never heard of spaetzle and just made it through that whole love story without googling it or giving up – you are super awesome!  In case that did happen, let me brief you: spaetzle is a traditional German dish that is somewhere between a dumpling and a noodle. It is normally oddly shaped and can be served in both sweet and savory preparations, with all manner of delicious things.

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Triple-C Slaw

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For all you Sesame Street fans out there (best children’s show ever!), this post is brought to you by the letter C. Why? Because Cabbage, Carrots, and Coconut happen to make the perfect slaw.  And it’s pleasantly Crunchy. Add in some Cilantro, and you could even call this Quadruple-C Slaw. Cilantro begins with a soft  C, while Cabbage, Carrots, and Coconut all begin with hard  C‘s. But what about the raisins? They don’t belong here! Try as you might, you won’t find a soft  C or a hard  C anywhere in that seven-letter word. Ah, but the addition of raisins to this slaw will Caress your palate and leave you feeling quite Content.  So you see, the word raisins gives us two more beautiful C words!

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