Book Ninety-Three: On Rice

by Rick Rodgers

Lentil and Swiss Chard Stew

I have made a few recipes from this book, and one recipe in particular I have made multiple times - and I was going to make it again for this post!

I had a few extra minutes so I sat and browsed through this book again; as I was flipping through the pages this recipe caught my eye and I thought it sounded tasty, and it would be something new. Boy am I glad I went with this one. It's good - and good for you!

I went to my local market and the Swiss chard looked pitiful - so off I went to Whole Foods (aka whole paycheck - my grandmother always said, "you get what you pay for" - that is always in the back of my mind and oh so true in this instance.) Not only did the chard look absolutely wonderful, but they also had the rainbow chard, which I always think is so beautiful - so that's what I went with.

I had a hard time resisting the urge to add more broth at the end - this is supposed to be a stew, not a soup. Still, next time, I may add just a little more...

The stew had such wonderful flavor. I'm wondering if it was the freshly dried bay leaf I used; I'll have to make this again with a regular store-bought bay leaf to see if there is much of a difference.

Take my word for it - this is good.
 
Success meter (1-3): 3 

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Citrus Collards with Raisins

Recipe from vegetariantimes.com




I have my friend Dorothy to thank for this easy and tasty recipe. She served hers alongside quinoa and baked yams. This would be a great side dish to any meal. Me, I had this all on its own for my dinner.

The recipe calls for collard greens but I had kale that needed to be used up. I'm sure this would be tasty with your favorite greens, being collards, kale, or chard. My raisins also needed to be eaten soon and were not as plump as when they were purchased, so I soaked them in the orange juice called for in the recipe; they were back to their soft, fat little selves.

The ingredients paired beautifully. The slight bitterness of the kale against the sweet raisins and the burst of citrus was delightful. I easily could have eaten more - if there was any.

Success meter (1-3): 3

I also added a bit of orange zest to the recipe.

If using a wok you may want to blanch the kale or whatever green you use, first, then dry it in a salad spinner. As good as this dish was, I would have liked the kale to be a bit more tender than it was.

You can find this wonderful recipe by clicking here.

Book Seventy-Five: Cooking Under Wraps

by Nicole Routhier


                   Molded Rice Salad Provençale

This has potential...

I really wanted to say this was as wonderful as it was beautiful; however the basil and the fishiness of the tuna were the dominate flavors. I always buy canned tuna in water, whereas this called for tuna in oil. I don't know if that makes a big difference in taste. I even left out the anchovies, and I still have an unpleasant aftertaste at the time of this writing. Personally I would use less basil and use tuna packed in water or omit it all together. Maybe add some zucchini or anything else you may have in your refrigerator.

As I was doing a name search on Nicole Routhier, I realized she is the author of The Fruit Cookbook which I have had wonderful results with the recipes from that book. I made one other recipe from this book (Cooking Under Wraps) which I recall was really tasty.

Success meter (1-3): 2

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Rainbow Chard

Had a lot of filling leftover.