Taco Salad: My Comfort Food

When I was in college, my roommate and I would cure our Sunday morning hangovers by going to El Maguey's, a nearby Mexican chain restaurant, for their Sunday specials.  I ordered Taco Salad every time "with beans instead of meat, no sour cream, cheese sauce on the side, and a side plate of extra lettuce."  I'm not picky at all, obviously.

Now that I don't have the waistline or the metabolism that I had in college, I like making a healthier version at home.  I asked for, and received, taco salad baking pans, for my birthday, and they look something like these.  I left those pans in Houston, but when I got back to Boston I realized that the pans are unnecessary.  You can turn a bowl upside down, spray it with a little Pam, put the tortilla over it, and then bake it for 8 to 10 minutes at 375°.

While the shell is baking, I prepare my ingredients, which always include iceberg lettuce and black beans (Bush's black beans are my favorite).  Other ingredients I use, in different combinations, are: avocado; cheese; tomatoes; pico de gallo; cilantro; and sautéed mushrooms, onions, or peppers.

Even though the taco salad bowl makes a very pretty presentation, my favorite part is destroying it and mixing everything up.  It always ends up looking like this:

If I run out of tortillas, or I'm just not in the mood for one, I sometimes make the salad with brown rice instead of the tortilla.  Lettuce and brown rice is actually a delicious combination that I fell in love with at a small cafe in Buenos Aires.  There really are not enough salads out there that have rice in them.

Vegan Spinach-Shiitake Sushi Risotto

Tonight I had planned to make a barley and spinach side dish from a Whole Foods recipe, but found dead worms in the barley that had been sitting in my pantry for who-knows-how-long. I should have figured. Gross.

I had already started sautéing an onion in a big pot, so I threw in some minced garlic and checked out my fridge and pantry to see what I could do with what I'd started. My first thought was risotto, but I didn't have any Arborio rice. I did have sushi rice though- so why not?  I also had the spinach I was planning to use for the barley dish, some vegetable broth, and a bag of frozen, sliced shiitakes. (I found a 10-ounce bag at Whole Foods for $3.39!)  I used these items to make my "risotto", then added in some Daiya "cheese" that I recently discovered at Whole Foods. (By the way, have I mentioned I love Whole Foods?)

The result was fantastic.  The texture was creamy, and there really was not much of a difference between this sushi risotto and more traditional risotto.  In fact, I think I'll probably use sushi rice for risotto from now on.  Using it instead of Arborio rice would keep me from overstocking my pantry (a problem I'm currently battling), and sushi rice is usually easier for me to find at a bargain.

Another awesome thing about this risotto: It's BRIGHT green!  Dad and I should have made this for St. Patrick's Day!

Vegan Spinach-Shiitake Sushi Risotto

• 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 small onion, finely chopped

• 1 cup sushi rice

• 2 cups frozen, sliced shiitake mushrooms

• 1 cup packed spinach

• 1 cup water

• 2-3 cups (?) vegetable broth (I didn't measure and usually don't, I just go by when the risotto is the consistency I want)

• 1/2 cup Daiya dairy-free cheese

In a large saucepan, heat 1 1/2 tbs olive oil over medium heat.  Add the garlic and onion and sauté until the onion is translucent.  Add the sushi rice and toss it in the olive oil.  Add enough vegetable broth to cover the rice and stir occasionally, letting the rice absorb the broth.  Measure the shiitakes, chop up any large slices, and add them to the rice.  Blend the spinach and water, then add it to the rice.  Stir slowly while letting the rice absorb the the spinach-water.  Once that has been absorbed, add more vegetable broth until the rice is cooked and creamy.  Stir in 1/2 cup Daiya "cheese" and chow down!

Spring Greens Risotto (a recommended recipe)

I visited my parents in Kansas City while I was on spring break from law school last week.  My first day at home, I noticed a recipe that my dad had printed off foodnetwork.com sitting on the dining room table.  It turned out to be Ina Garten's recipe for Spring Greens Risotto, a recipe that I had made last summer and LOVED.  My dad had picked it out for us to make for St. Patrick's Day dinner because of all the green veggies.  It was even better than I remembered, and we loved the bright citrus-flavor and creamy texture.  You can get the recipe here, but for your convenience I've also posted it below (with vegetable broth instead of chicken stock).

•  1 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
•  1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
•  3 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 leeks)
•  1 cup chopped fennel
•  1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
•  2/3 cup dry white wine (I believe we used a Torrontes)
•   4 to 5 cups simmering vegetable broth (if you don't want to keep an extra pot simmering, that's okay, it just might take a little longer)
•  1 pound thin asparagus (make sure to trim off any thick, woody bottoms)
•  10 ounces frozen peas, defrosted, or 1 1/2 cups shelled fresh peas
•  1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
•  Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
•  2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
•  1/3 cup mascarpone cheese, preferably Italian
•  1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving if desired (I didn't think it necessary)
•  3 tablespoons minced fresh chives, plus extra for serving

Heat the olive oil and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the leeks and fennel and saute for 5 to 7 minutes, until tender. Add the rice and stir for a minute to coat with the vegetables, oil, and butter. Add the white wine and simmer over low heat, stirring constantly, until most of the wine has been absorbed. Add the vegetable broth, 2 ladles at a time, stirring almost constantly and waiting for the stock to be absorbed before adding more. This process should take 25 to 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cut the asparagus diagonally in 1 1/2-inch lengths and discard the tough ends. Blanch in boiling salted water for 4 to 5 minutes, until al dente. (If you're wary of having several pots going on at once, you can cook the asparagus before you start the arborio rice).  Drain and cool immediately in ice water. (If using fresh peas, blanch them in boiling water for a few minutes until the starchiness is gone.)

When the risotto has been cooking for 15 minutes, drain the asparagus and add it to the risotto with the peas, lemon zest, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Continue cooking and adding stock, stirring almost constantly, until the rice is tender but still firm.

Whisk the lemon juice and mascarpone together in a small bowl. When the risotto is done, turn off the heat and stir in the mascarpone mixture plus the Parmesan cheese and chives. Set aside, off the heat, for a few minutes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve hot with a sprinkling of chives and more Parmesan cheese (optional).

Tofu Kale Bowl

I make this ALL THE TIME. Simple and quick to put together. Sometimes I use more soy sauce and no mirin. Of course, there are plenty of ways to change this dish, but I just keep coming back to making it this way for its simplicity.

Tofu Kale Bowl
Makes 1 serving

• 2 tsp peanut oil, divided
• Half an 8-ounce package extra-firm tofu, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 bunch kale
• 1 serving cooked brown rice
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce or tamari

Pan-fry the tofu with one teaspoon of the peanut oil in a non-stick pan. Once the tofu has a golden crust, add the rest of the peanut oil and the remaining ingredients. When the kale has wilted, the dish is ready to serve.

Study-time Sushi

It's finals time so I don't have much time to try out new recipes, but I think study time is a great time to make sushi. It doesn't take much active time to make it, and I can keep a few rolls in the fridge an pop them out whenever I'm hungry. After taking my second final of three today, I devoured the sushi above- a baked tofu and cucumber roll. Here's my lazy sushi recipe:

Lazy Sushi Rice

4 servings

• 1 cup sushi rice
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar (eyeball it)
• 1 tbsp sugar (eyeball it)

The instructions on my sushi rice package say to rinse the rice until it's clear and soak it for 30 minutes, but I don't bother. I also don't dissolve the sugar in the rice vinegar over heat before adding it to the rice. Hence why I call it "lazy sushi rice".

Instructions

1. Combine the sushi rice and water in a pan, cover it, and bring it to a boil. Once it starts boiling, stir, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cover until the water is absorbed. It shouldn't take longer than 30 minutes.

2. Once it's done pour in the rice vinegar and sugar. Just eyeball it and adjust it to taste.

Sometimes I have this rice with a tofu dish, but most of the time I use a knife to spread 1/4 of the batch on a sheet of nori. My favorite rolls (that I am naming as I write this):

• The Franzenator Roll- baked tofu and cucumber- leave the skin on for more crunch. (Named for one of the ridiculous mnemonic devices I used to study for my exam)
• The Thanksgiving Roll- sweet potato and toasted pecans (goat cheese optional)
• The Mushocado Roll- sauteed mushrooms and avocado (also great with goat cheese)

Below: getting ready to roll a mushocado roll, with a little too much rice (about 1/3 of the batch. Lately I've been limiting myself to one serving (1/4 batch) per roll and leaving an inch at the bottom of the sheet on which to place the filling, and that seems to be a better filling-to-rice ratio.