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"The Design and Plan of Great Vegetarian Menus"

3K views 38 replies 12 participants last post by  gonefishin 
#1 ·
Earlier today I posted an article w/ the same title as this thread. Maybe let's just call this (page 2). Anyway, I'm a fan of vegetarians. I'm a fan of pretty women, I'm a fan of people with deep pockets, I'm a fan of people paying me to prepare and serve them good food. You should see that I'm a fan of a lot of things. These that I've stated all go together well I have found. Well I won't repeat my article post, I'll just continue.

I have maybe four(4) favorite literary devices I use for dish ideas. Two(2) magazines and two(2) web-sites. The mags are on the web too, but I like being able to have them in my hands.







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You can find any type of dish you like. You can modify or tweek them any way you like. My goodness. You have a clean plate. Fill it however you like.
 
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#3 · (Edited)
My vegetarian meals tend to be soups or Chinese/Vietnamese dishes.

I've been doing a lentil vegetable soup with parmesan rind stock that's been well received by friends and family.

Guoi Cuon (Vietnamese rice paper wrap) with rice noodles, basil, mint, mixed greens and nuoc cham is the best way to get my kids to eat salad right now. Admittedly, I prefer them with Char shu or shrimp in them, but not for this thread.

A basic lo mein with noodles, cabbage, green onion, bean sprouts.  I often use more vegetables than traditional to pump the nutrition and variety in the meal. Carrots, peppers, zuchinni and so on are good too.

Various Italian pasta/soups too.
 
#4 · (Edited)
The really good Asian store by me got hit w/ an electrical fire that wiped out the whole shopping complex. For the sweet love of goodness, do things like that really hit you in the convenience department. I had to go to another store that is great for stuff other than regular Asian items. That turned out very painful. Rice paper that didn't stick. Rice paper that was like sheets of rubber. Nori that you could ... well, let's just say it was nasty. Anyway, my point is to find good stores that you can count on, give you a hand when needed and will work w/ you on pricing after you've become a regular customer.

I don't know if I said this before, but it's good advice, trust me. "Don't buy sushi rice from a store full of rich white people."

* OK. I just realized how my last statement could be thought of as an edgy racist remark. NO, I don't mean it that way. My point is simple. Buy good sushi rice from a quality Asian store, not from a waspy Whole Foods. (nttatwwt)
 
#5 ·
One of my hipest Asian dishes is a cole-slaw spring-roll. It starts with my standard c/s mix, to which I add a pear, fennel bulb and snow-peas all blitzed in the food-pro. I throw in a fistful of sesame seeds. My binder is a standard Asian toasted sesame salad dressing (store bought is fine). I roll them up and serve with a sauce. Rice or apple-cider vinegar, peanut-butter, honey, a blast of chili oil, a splash of soy and hoisin sauce. Heat it to a simmer, take off heat and stir.

For non-veggies I just add pieces of whatever meat I have handy. It's a beautiful thing.
 
#6 ·
#7 ·
Oh, Koukouvagia!  There are so many wonderful things to eat without meat which your body and your soul will never feel as deprivation!

Without planning it, without consciously thinking (let's not have meat today), we often have meatless meals. For me, a meal with meat is when i DON'T feel like cooking, season something up and put it in a hot oven or on a hot pan.  Wash some leaves for the side. 

But meat is also pretty expensive here so much as i love it, I don't buy all that much of it. 

But i want you to eat GOOD meatless meals.  So where to begin? 

Pasta, pizza and risotto are fundamentally meatless (the few meat variations are not that common, at least in Italian cuisine).  Pasta with cauliflower, with zucchine (grated or cubed), (recipes that i've posted before) and with peas, same things with rice.  Soups made of lentils or minestrones that are either poured over toasted dry bread rubbed with garlic, or with pasta or rice or barley in them, pasta and ceci (chickpeas) - start with a good soffritto of lots of garlic and onion, celery, carrot, and then add the chickpeas and water (even canned, just cook them some more to get them flavored) - boil the pasta separately - puree half the soup when it's done and then mix them all together - extremely satisfying. 

Escarole soup (just boil escarole with onion and if you like, cut up celery and carrot, with water, salt and pepper until very well cooked.  Serve with boiled rice in it and lots of parmigiano.  You can't believe how satisfying. 

Warm Quinoa salad with peas, string beans, asparagus, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, avocado (all or some of the above) with lots of lemon, and roasted chopped carrot, celery and onion.

Rice salad (or yummy black rice if you can find it) with all of the above.

Stringbeans with chopped crunchy almonds or if you like them, hazelnuts in browned butter with grated shallots in them (nuts and beans make full protein, as do legumes and grains, seeds and grains, grains and nuts, etc, not to mention any of the above and cheese greatly increases the useable protein of each)

Broccoli just barely blanched then tossed with fresh hot pepper, garlic, oil and a little sugar and then grilled. 

Most vegetables like peppers, zucchine, eggplant, roasted with some sort of stuffing of breadcrumbs and garlic and whatever else you like

Slice eggplants and paint with olive oil with a brush, then roast in oven till browned, pour on top a mixture of buttermilk or yoghurt and garlic and mild herbs

boil cauliflower and crush with fork, add egg, a little flour and seasonings galore of your choice (hot pepper, garlic, onion) and more subtly, indian or morrocan or mediterranean whatever herbs, and cook in a little oil in a nonstick pan as sort of soft croquettes. 

Mashed potatoes with milk, cheese and egg, coated in breaqdcrumbs under and over and  baked in the oven

... need i go on? 

And for greens, there are so many kinds.  I got used to buying huge shopping bags full of greens here, and there's usually a nice big dish of them, either plain with lemon and oil, or tossed in the frying pan where you've lightly sauteed crushed garlic and hot pepper and olive oil. 

How can anyone lack for vegetarian recipes.

and note

not a hint of tofu or fake meat of any kind.  bla!!!!!
 
#8 ·
Thanks Siduri, and you know I would never resort to tofu or imitation meat!  I have been missing many many of my vegetable dishes because they interfere with breastfeeding, which I am currently.  I miss my legumes, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, and bell peppers.  I can eat in small quantities but not as much as I'd like to, so sad.

IceMan, as a professional chef do you have any recipes of your own to share?
 
#9 · (Edited)
Thank you for asking. My post #5 was a recipe of my own. My standard basic cole-slaw recipe is simple. 1 bag of "broccoli-slaw", 1 bag of "confetti-slaw", 1 sweet onion blitzed, 1/2 bottle Marrie's Poppy Seed dressing, fresh cracked salt and lots of fresh cracked rainbow peppercorns. I know there's nothing original there, and I use pre-prepped products, but for this I'm not looking to re-invent cole-slaw.

In the real big picture, I don't think I've got much that I would tag "recipe original to me". Are you not interested in any of the recipes that I've posted? I use a printed recipe once, per spec, the first time I make it. If I know specifically that there are changes I would make regardless, then I do that but I like to see how things come out first before I do my own things. I've never really been to concerned having my name on anything on paper. Anything I prepare and serve however has my name on it, and that's what's important to me.

I don't think anyone else on the planet makes the same cannolis as I do. Shoot, I never make them exactly the same twice. My recipe/style is a big mix-up of different recipes/styles I've experienced all over Italy. Should I call that "my own"?

Later today I'll put up some things I do w/ tofu. LOL. Relax. It's not as bad a thing as you all seem to think.

* edit: I really hate it when I look back at a post to find stupid spelling/grammar errors. My goodness does that just tick my off.
 
#12 ·
#15 ·
BDL, are these tofus as they come from the bean or are you talking about tofu made or cooked in some way with seasonings and sauce?  I had even the home made tofu of our korean neighbor, and it was like eating the texture of cheese without the cheese.  Of course, sauces will flavor anything.  And what isn't good fried?  (in Italian they have a word for bulls--t which translates as "fried air" - even air is good if you batter it and fry it.  So are these kinds of ways to make soybeans into a paste that actually tastes good because of the way it's made, or is it the seasoning added to it that gives it flavor? 
 
#16 ·
I'm not fond of tofu either. I find it boring.

However, there is something that's made of soybeans as well and goes by the name of tempeh or timpeh.

I don't think it is widely available but it is delicious. It's sold in blocks, you cut it in pieces and deepfry and then serve with sweet soy (kecap manis) and chili's.

It's normally served as one of the side dishes to an Indonesian rijsttafel

I quite often actually choose it over meat dishes, and that's saying something as I really enjoy meat.....
 
#17 ·
#19 ·
Hello. My point of this post is NOT AT ALL TO BE PREACHY, but just to show that people are all different. I'm gonna show you some Toronto subway ads that made me stop and say "WOW!?!". OK. So that's not really what I said, but you get the point. None of it is unsafe for work or anything. It's all "G" rated. I'm not "pro" or "con" to it. I just accept it, you know, living and letting live.

Cow-Ad.pdf Chicken-Ad.pdf Pig-Ad.pdf

Please realize that some people just roll this way. I sure as sure know that I do. I embrace these people. I look to make them happy. I want them to come back. Now let me tell you, I'm no relation to Mother Theresa. I'm just greedy for hungry vegetarians, who mostly have deep pockets. And hey, cooking great vegetarian aint'e no rocket surgery.
 
#21 ·
Good point BDL. That's the view from where you stand. I respect that. However, it is important to realize that whether they agree with any point that you or I have taken, there are other points of view. Those are heavy duty ads. When I saw them the first time, my hands and face were dripping from a big patty melt. When I typed the post I was eating a sausage/pepperoni pizza. I'm not a vegetarian, I'm just showing a point of view.
 
#22 ·
The ads also reflect a "Western Hemisphere" view that is not an accurate representation of the rest of the world.

In many parts of the Middle East, dogs are considered vermin, much as we look at rats, while other places consider them a food delicacy. The same holds true for cats as well.

TBS, all ads reflect a "biased viewpoint", otherwise they would not be ads /img/vbsmilies/smilies/crazy.gif
 
#23 ·
#24 · (Edited)
Originally Posted by IceMan
Good point BDL. That's the view from where you stand. I respect that. However, it is important to realize that whether they agree with any point that you or I have taken, there are other points of view. Those are heavy duty ads. When I saw them the first time, my hands and face were dripping from a big patty melt. When I typed the post I was eating a sausage/pepperoni pizza. I'm not a vegetarian, I'm just showing a point of view.
Ice,

I'm not saying anything about you. I'm objecting to the way the ads imply the morality of meat eating is something I've never thought about, that I'm somehow unaware that meat comes from real animals with big, brown eyes. Also, the ads are so poorly thought out they don't take into account that all those cute cows and piggies would die from neglect if we all became vegetarians. That's not an indictment of vegetarians, but of the ads only. You found them powerful, I thought they were offensive.

Twenty-something years ago, I attended a special showing of Barnum and Bailey given for handicapped children. PETA were out in force with large placards describing and depicting circus' animals suffering, and haranguing the kids. Other points of view? Well, yes.

Furthermore, my experience with vegetarians of a great number of types, stripes and backgrounds, and reasons for their choice, does not allow me to say that, as a class, they treat animals any better or worse, nor accord them more dignity, than people whose diet includes meat.

I'll have the brisket, hot link and pork rib combo, please.

BDL
 
#25 · (Edited)
LOL BDL, for the knife geek/guru that you are, you sure do spend a lot of effort on political correctness. Do you think Chuck Norris has any PC concern? My references to the "patty melt" and the "pizza" were to show my own carnivourism (if that's even a word). My main interests in vegetarians/vegans are "capitalistic and sexist". Making a buck feeding pretty women. How much more carnivore can I get? LOL still.

I think the ads are great. They do their jobs. They get attention. As ecologically/environmentally biased as I am, I generally have little use for PITA. They get mostly too far off the reservation for me. Greenpeace does that sometimes too. I love going to the circus. Yeah, I know all the bad things that are claimed, but I still go. Porn is bad too right, but I don't turn my head. If the ads got you to read through them, they did their jobs. It's all just another point of view.

Chuck Norris won the WSOP with a Two of Clubs, Nine of Diamonds, Get Out of Jail Free Card, a Green #4 Uno card and a valet ticket from Caesar's.
 
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