Vidalia onions stuffed with rice and lentil pilaf

I love vidalia onions. As a child, I thought they were the standard type of onion because they were everywhere. I realized how special they truly are when I moved to Michigan and could only find them at certain times of the year. And now is that time (and they're even on sale!). I've had a recipe for stuffed vidalias from FatFree Vegan Kitchen bookmarked for months, and this seemed like the perfect time to try it out. Plus, I just discovered that FatFree Vegan Kitchen is this month's blog for Tried and Tasted, a blogging event to explore and re-create recipes from other food blogs. This month's host of Tried and Tasted is Holy Cow!, and I'm excited that I discovered this event at just the right time!

Vidalia onions stuffed with rice and lentil pilaf (adapted slightly from FatFree Vegan Kitchen)

2 large vidalia onions

1 Tbsp olive oil, divided

salt and pepper

6 Tbsp brown rice

1 Tbsp tomato paste

1 1/4 cup water

1/4 cup brown lentils

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

small pinch of ground cloves

pinch of salt

1/4 cup raisins

2 Tbsp pine nuts

Peel onions and cut off the very bottom so that they have a flat surface to stand on. Then cut off about 1/2" of the top of each onion and save. Place onions in oiled baking dish, rub with 1/2 Tbsp olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 400 until onions are soft and begin to caramelize on the outside (45-60 min).

Prepare the pilaf while the onions are cooking. First, chop up the onion tops. Heat remaining 1/2 Tbsp oil in a saucepan over medium heat and saute onion until tender. Then add rice and tomato paste and cook for a minute. Stir in water, lentils, and spices, and bring to a boil. Then cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 min.

When onions are soft, take them out of the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Take all but the outer 3 layers of each onion out. Cut off the very bottom of each middle section and return it to the outer layers (to create a bottom). Chop up the remaining middle sections and stir that into the pilaf along with the raisins and pine nuts. Press pilaf into each onion and put remaining pilaf around the onions in the baking dish. Sprinkle each onion with 1 Tbsp water, cover dish with foil, and bake at 350 for 20 min. Serves 2.

I loved these. Roasted vidalias are great on their own, but it was fun to stuff them. Somehow stuffing vegetables magically makes the veggie and the stuffing taste better. The pilaf was delicious, and had a great blend of Middle Eastern flavors. The only change that I would make is with the raisins. I used very large ones, so many bites were raisin-less. Next time I'll either use smaller ones or add more. But other than this minor problem (that was my fault), this recipe is perfect.

While looking through the massive archives at FatFree Vegan Kitchen, I found myself wanting to make just about everything. "Wait, you're not a vegan," you might say. You're correct, but you might be surprised to find out what I discovered about my recipes. Over the past 3 months, I've posted 53 recipes. Of these, 21 (40%) are vegan and another 19 (36%) are vegetarian. And some of the vegetarian dishes could easily be made vegan by substituting agave nectar for honey. I'm honestly shocked that this number is so high, but it explains why I like so many of FFVK's recipes!

Kookoo sabzi (Persian herb frittata)

**This is not a gluten-free recipe and was posted before I eliminated gluten from my diet. To make this gluten-free, substitute a gluten-free flour.**

Friday happened to be Nowruz, the Persian new year. Probably the only reason that I know that is because my friend, B, happens to be Persian and a basketball addict, and would often miss watching the opening round of March Madness games because of the big new year's celebration. I don't know a whole lot about Persian food, but when I had Kookoo while I was visiting B this winter, I fell in love (even when eating it left over and cold!). So, I knew that I had to make some to celebrate the new year (even though I was a few days late).

Kookoo sabzi (Persian herb frittata) (adapted from FarsiEats)

1 tsp currants

2 eggs

1/4 tsp whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp walnuts, chopped

1/4 tsp salt

freshly ground pepper

1 Tbsp olive oil, divided

1/2 green onion, chopped

1/2 cup parsley, chopped

1/4 tsp dried coriander

1/4 tsp dried dill weed

Soak currants in cold water for 15 min, then drain. Vigorously whisk together eggs, currants, flour, walnuts, salt, pepper, and 1/2 Tbsp olive oil. Add green onion, parsley, coriander, and dill, and mix gently. Add remaining oil to small oven-safe skillet (or baking dish), swirl to coat bottom, and then add egg mixture. Cover pan with foil and bake at 300 for 20 min. Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 min, or until frittata is set and top is brown. Serves 1-2.

Wow. I don't have any Persian in me, but I managed to pull this one off. The parsley flavor definitely shines through and, while I sometimes find parsley overwhelming, it works perfectly in this dish. I think that part of the reason I like it so much is because it's cooked. Parsley that's sprinkled on as a garnish often gets stuck in my throat, and I end up choking on whatever I'm eating. But, I think that the softening that occurs when it's cooked releases the flavor and prevents the gagging that would otherwise occur. In fact, the parsley was so delicious in this dish that I'm going to submit it to Weekend Herb Blogging, an event that is hosted by Anna from Anna's Cool Finds this week.

The currants and walnuts also give this dish a very nice contrast between savory and sweet. I often make omelets or frittatas, but I never think to put sweet things in them. It's amazing how delicious it is! You know, dried fruit is quite common in Persian food, so I really need to experiment more with this cuisine. B did offer to let me move in with her if I agreed to be her full-time cook, and perhaps I should consider that more seriously :)

recent concoctions

I finally got around to making my spaghetti squash on Monday.  I was originally going to do each half a different way, but I ended up putting spaghetti sauce (with tons of mushrooms, onions, and garlic) over the whole thing.  It's such a good substitute for traditional spaghetti, but I also can't wait to try it other ways.  I'll definitely be buying a few at the market this weekend.

Today I made more baked salmon, and I wanted a side dish that incorporated mushrooms and feta because I had some of both that needed to be used.  After searching around for a while, I found a recipe for Spinach and Couscous with feta.  I didn't follow the recipe exactly - I used a little less broth (and it was plenty), a little more spinach, and fewer mushrooms.  It's very good, but I'm glad I like oregano because it definitely doesn't hide.  It doesn't quite match up to the kale dish, but that's tough competition.

This weekend's adventures

Even though the weather was nice this weekend, I still managed to do quite a bit of cooking.  On Saturday I cooked a lot of the veggies that I got at the farmers' market and also made a lentil salad.  I was trying to recreate something that I have had several times before, and I came pretty close.  I cooked lentils and let them cool a little bit, then added red onion, red bell pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, pepper, and feta.  Then I put it in the fridge to have on Sunday (it's good when it's still warm/room temp, but I think it's even better cold).  I highly recommend it, and it's incredibly easy!

Yesterday I experimented with crackers.  I love crackers, but now that I'm trying to avoid all of the preservatives and numerous variations of corn and soybean products added to everything, they're off of my shopping list.  I found several easy recipes, and decided to try one out.  This one came out of the King Arthur Whole Grain book that I got from the library, but I also found it at Kitchen Link.  I made half of a batch in case it was a disaster, and I reduced the sugar quite a bit.  I wasn't able to roll the dough out quite as thin as they describe, and it definitely did not resemble a square (more like weird abstract art), but that's ok.  They turned out great, especially the ones that I let get extra brown and crispy.  I never would have thought of putting paprika and vanilla together, but it definitely works (and tastes very similar to wheat thins!).  I'm looking forward to making a bigger batch soon!

I've also made a few desserts recently that I forgot to mention before.  Last week I made oatmeal raisin cookies sweetened with apple juice concentrate (and raisins, of course).  They don't have the typical cookie texture and are more gummy/chewy, but they taste really good.  I'm not sure that the consistency would work well with other cookie types, but it goes along nicely with the oatmeal.  I've also been making individual servings of fruit crisps from time to time.  The peaches at the farmers' market have been amazing lately, so some nights I'll slice one, add some lemon juice and cinnamon, sprinkle some oats on top, and bake it for a while.  It's SO good, and easy enough that I can make it fresh every time I want it.  I'm very sad that peach season is winding down, but I guess I'll have to try it with other fruits.

Cooking with Mom

Even though Mom and I did quite a lot while she was here this weekend, we also managed to make a few things.  We went to Traverse City on Friday and spent the night, which meant that I missed my usual farmer's market trip on Saturday morning.  So, we decided to visit the one in Traverse City to make up for it.  It was HUGE, and even though I didn't intend to buy anything, we went home with some veggies (squash and zucchini, spinach, and corn) and some white-fleshed peaches.  We also tasted some jalapeno cilantro hummus, which prompted us to make some when we returned home.  We used this recipe but with much less oil (and a little bit of water).  It's very good (in fact, I was just enjoying some with my veggies), and has quite a kick due to the jalapenos and the enormous garlic cloves we used.  I bet it would be even better with dried chickpeas (unfortunately we didn't have enough time for them to soak).  It's a nice change from traditional hummus.

We also made some sourdough pretzels... mostly because I needed to use some of the sourdough starter that Jess gave me.  I let the bread machine make the dough, and I ended up adding a lot more water than the recipe called for because it was looking very dry.  Apparently I went a little bit overboard and we ended up with very sticky dough.  We had quite an adventure trying to roll it out and form pretzel shapes.  We were unable to achieve the traditional pretzel shape, but they still taste very good.  I added sesame seeds on top (instead of salt) for a new and different twist.

I also made Mom a loaf of herb bread by adding thyme and rosemary to the first recipe I used (and keeping the sunflower seeds).  It smelled good, and I can't wait to find out how it tastes...

Falafel and tzatziki

The theme of tonight's Sunday dinner was "bring what you make best", but I was a rebel and wanted to try something new.  I've been craving falafel ever since I had some in Amsterdam, so tonight was finally the night to make some.  I made a baked version that I found on Kalyn's Kitchen (a great website that I just discovered), and for once I followed the recipe exactly (but tripled it).  It's not the same as fried falafel, but it also isn't as heavy and I thought it was good.  It was a little bit dry, but I don't know that it would have held together before baking with more moisture, so I think it'll have to stay that way.  I'm not sure how it will stand up to reheating, but I'll find out in the next few days...

Instead of the tahini sauce that Kalyn recommends, I made some tzatziki sauce.  I started with this recipe, but made quite a few changes.  I only made a half recipe, drained the yogurt for about 45 min, added about 1/2 cup of red onion, and used dried dill weed.  I didn't measure most of the ingredients and added them until I was satisfied.  I also stirred them by hand instead of using the food processor because I like the chunky consistency.  After a couple of hours in the refrigerator, the flavors went together really well.  It was gone really quickly (apparently I should have made a whole batch), and at one point I saw Jess eating a spoonful of it by itself.