Tag Archives: vegan

RECIPE: Honey Roasted Root Vegetables Over Watercress

19 Nov

Have I mentioned how excited I am to have Brooklyn Fare Manhattan right next door?  On my way home from work one day, I stopped by and picked up every root vegetable I could find.

Turnips, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, golden beets (I find them very similar to regular beets, but without the pink fingers!) and some brussels sprouts (which are not a root vegetable, but are still delicious when roasted with root veggies).

It took me over an hour to peel and dice it all, but it was incredibly relaxing.

I then tossed all the pieces with honey, olive oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, thyme, salt, and pepper.  When tossing vegetables with honey, I find that stirring it beats them up a bit much and the honey is hard to distribute. So I take 2 big bowls and keep transferring the mixture from one to the other. Works like a charm!

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I roasted them (on a pan wrapped in foil) at 425 and expected it to take about 40 minutes. But at 20 minutes I started to smell some burning so I took off the foil and set the timer for 10 minutes, hoping to caramelize them without more burning.

But alas… there was a good amount of burning. I think this was because I poured the excess liquid on top of the vegetables, which pooled on the sides and burned… (tip: don’t do that)

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What’s amazing is that none of the vegetables actually burnt. It was just the extra honey around the edges.  The Silpats were a bit browner, but everything cleaned up super easily (tip: soak in water while still warm and immediately scrub. Stuff burned in the oven sticks really badly but cleans up instantly when you catch it quick).

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I then put watercress in a bowl and dressed it lightly with Persian Lime Oil and Coconut Vinegar (I love specialty oils and vinegars, but a simple splash of oil and vinegar with a twist of lime would do the trick!) and a dash of coarse salt (always a good compliment for a peppery green)

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It was absolutely frogging delcious.  The honey brought out the sweetness and deep flavors in all the root vegetables and the slight bitterness of the watercress added a peppery note to cut through the richness.  And it was a totally vegan, somewhat healthy meal!

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A great recipe that is very easy, but a bit time consuming due to the peeling and chopping!

 

RECIPE: Honey Roasted Root Vegetables Over Watercress

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 big carrots
  • 3 small sweet potatoes
  • 1 turnip
  • 1 parsnip
  • 4 small beets
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp thyme
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • 1 cup watercress
  • 2 tsp oil
  • 2 tsp vinegar
  • Pinch of course salt
  • Squirt of lime (or any citrus)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
  2. Peel and chop all vegetables into 1/2 inch pieces
  3. Toss with honey, olive oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, thyme, salt and pepper
  4. Spread vegetables onto baking sheets (with sides) but if there is extra liquid, try not to get it in the pan. (Use as many pans as needed to have vegetables in one layer.)
  5. Cover with foil
  6. Roast for 20-40 minutes until fork tender (but not mushy)
  7. Remove foil and roast for 5-10 additional minutes until honey has glazed and vegetables begin to brown
  8. Place washed watercress into bottom of a bowl and dress with oil and vinegar and toss on pinch of course salt
  9. Spoon roasted vegetables on top of watercress
  10. Can be eaten warm or cold (stores nicely for lunch)
http://nycnomnom.com/2013/11/19/recipe-honey-roasted-root-vegetables-watercress/

 

Westport, CT: Red Hen in the Westport Inn

15 Oct

After a lovely team event near my Westport, CT offices, I went out with my friend to grab a nice dinner before driving back to NYC.  We checked out Yelp and made some calls to see who could take us right away.  The Red Hen in the Westport Inn said they were having a slow night and their ratings were quite good, so we decided to check it out.

Sure enough, they were quite empty. The chef was at the bar and we were one of just two seated tables in the small restaurant off the lobby.  We instantly fell in love with the decorations.  The doors as dividers with this fun farmhouse feel.  Really loved it.

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The chef came over to our table and instantly started chatting us up.  His love for food and excited for this restaurant was palpable.  He talked about how he sources all of his ingredients as locally and sustainably as possible.  He talked about wanting to step everything up a notch and we gave him some ideas of what we wanted to try and told him to have at it.

The first thing we tried was the zucchini fritters.  These were tasty, but I’m not sure if they were right.  The inside of the fritters was more like zucchini dip.  Not raw, per se, but I wasn’t sure if that was really how they were intended or if they were meant to be solid all the way through.   I did like the balsamic reduction on top, however.

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Then we tried the vegan spring rolls. These had a few peppers in it, but I managed to pick around it.  I liked the idea of it and the hoisin sauce was good, but I’m not sure I could recommend it.

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We also tried the sundried tomato and basil sausage. It came with a cilantro dijonaise sauce and the cilantro was a perfect compliment to the taste of the sausage.  But the sausage itself was a bit overcooked and dry. Bummer.

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I saw bacon crusted arctic char on the menu and had to try it.  Turns out, the chef makes a bacon paste-like substance to crust the char.  It came with mashed sweet potatoes and grilled squash.  Everything on this place was very good.  The char was perfectly cooked and the bacon was a great compliment. There was an awesome char on the squash and zucchini and the sweet potatoes were tasty.

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We also decided to try the grilled cheese with a side of brussels sprouts.  The grilled cheese was a special version that had a mixture of cheeses and came with an onion jam.

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And boy was it special.  Everything else we tried at The Red Hen was good but not special, and for the most part not flawless.  But this grilled cheese was awesome.  Exactly what grilled cheese should be (and better).  Nicely browned and toasty bread (but not too much of it) with a hearty, flavorful cheese and the sweetness of the onion jam.  Mm mm mmm this was good!

The brussels sprouts were just okay. I like them roasted and crispy much better.

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Overall, I think the chef’s excitement actually set expectations too high. I know exactly what he’s going for, but the food wasn’t quite there.  There was a lack in depth of flavor in most of the dishes we tried and some executional problems.  But everything was still quite good and that grilled cheese was something special!  I will certainly return and probably order a bit differently next time.  But I still recommend.

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10

nomscale- 06.5

 

Hell’s Kitchen Restaurant

19 Apr

 In Hell’s Kitchen, there is a restaurant called Hell’s Kitchen (not to be confused with HK). It is a Mexican influenced restaurant that happens to have great grilled vegetables to satisfy my cousin’s vegan needs.  He says they are really fantastic veggies.

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I went with Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass with Grilled Chayote, Sweet Plantain Puree, and Salsa Verde (sans peppers).  It was incredibly well cooked and seasoned.  

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Mike chose the Grilled Tiger Shrimp with Sauteéd Vegetables, Sweet Plantain, Gucamole, and Serrano Sauce.  He said it was very enjoyable.

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I was impressed that a place I walked by about a hundred times turned out food this flavorful and fresh.  We all really enjoyed our meal and I look forward to going back, since it’s in the neighborhood.

Total Nom Points: 6.5 out of 10