A Hungry Bear

summer vegetables with chili garlic sauce and deep-fried tofu

I know this post is a pretty big departure from the normal meat and potatoes (or meat and pasta) focus of my usual recipes. For whatever reason, maybe some residual effect of seeing Food Inc, I’ve just felt a little more conscious of our meat consumption lately. Nothing extreme, just realizing that I could eat a veg meal once a day and it’s not going to kill me (or weaken my muscles - ahem, power-squatting boyfriend!). And when that a meat-free meal comes along that presents crispy deep-fried goodness with a sweet and spicy sauce - AND a way to use up some of our weekly vegetable share - I just have to share it with you. A was skeptical at first, until he saw the protein content on the label, then he confessed to liking it.

I found this delicious recipe from the Book of Yum blog, and adapted it to include some stir-fried vegetables.

Ingredients: peanut or canola oil for frying, 1 package firm or extra-firm tofu, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch (plus more for dusting), 1/2 an onion, handful of fresh white or crimini mushrooms, 1 summer squash, 2-3 small eggplants, handful of string beans, 1.5 cups chicken stock (to make this truly veg you’d have to use veg stock of course!), 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, 2 teaspoons chili sauce, 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, 1 tablespoon soy, 1 teaspoon maple syrup, pickled ginger and sesame seeds to serve.

You should have heard the groan from A when I brought this out of the fridge. You would have thought I was trying to poison him. (more…)

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tuscan spare ribs

Our neighborhood Whole Foods carries a small selection of local pork. If they don’t have a certain cut of meat, I’ll find a way to adapt a pork recipe that I want to try. But recently, I had the opposite experience, going to WF and seeing a cut of meat I knew I just had to cook: spare ribs. I have heard that spare ribs are tougher and thicker than baby back ribs (a quick google search confirmed that here), but to someone who likes to cook, finding a way to make spare ribs tender and juicy is a fun challenge.

I found a great recipe on Food & Wine’s website that ended up working perfectly with the spare ribs I brought home that day. This was probably the simplest of any type of rib recipe I’ve made too - only a few minutes of hands-on time. You could definitely make this with baby back ribs if you can’t find (or don’t want to try) spare ribs.

Ingredients: 3 pounds pork spare ribs, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1.5 tablespoons kosher salt, 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary, 1 teaspoon minced fresh sage, 1 teaspoon minced thyme, 1 tablespoonsdried fennel seeds, 1 teaspoons fresh cracked pepper, 1 teaspoons paprika, 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper, 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice, 2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar. (more…)

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