Vegan black bean chili

At Oakland Feather River Camp, vegetarian meals are offered in addition to the regular meat-based meal. The vegetarian meal is served on a separate steam line to avoid confusion. This allows vegetarian diners (and meat eaters who enjoy vegetarian cuisine as well) to select their meal without having to worry about meat products. Any food item placed on the vegetarian line is prepared without meat, poultry or fish.

I often serve the same entrée and side dishes on both meat and vegetarian lines. When chili con carne is menued on the regular menu, for instance, bean chili is placed on the vegetarian serving line. This simplifies production and allows the cooks to make efficient use of their time. While the chili con carne and black bean chili are cooked in separate pots, the beans for both entrees will be cooked in the same pot, then divided between the two applications.

When we have a number of vegans in camp, I instruct the vegetarian cook to prepare as many entrées as possible without animal products. This helps to avoid duplication of effort for the vegetarian and vegan population at camp. To please vegetarian campers, we place grated cheese and sour cream on the vegetarian line.

I began preparing vegan black bean chili for the Argonaut Farm to Fork Café in Coloma, California, in December. It quickly became a favorite of our customers. And I enjoy cooking the chili week after week. This recipe will supplant the one we were using last summer at camp.

Adapted from Chef Helen Lacono's gem of a cookbook, Kaua'i Farmers' Market Soups (self-published in 2013), the chili is a marriage of freshly cooked black beans with a rich puree of onions, poblano chiles, carrots, red bell peppers and garlic. A pot of beans surrounded by a smooth, mildly spiced sauce, makes for a wonderful bowl of comfort food.

VEGAN BLACK BEAN CHILI

Use the black bean chili recipe as a starting point, adding or subtracting ingredients to suit the tastes of your campers. For a chunky chili, skip the puréeing step. Simply cut the vegetables to uniform size, sauté in olive oil and add to the cooked beans.

For a smoky chili, replace the paprika with smoked paprika. Chipotle peppers add a smoky dimension as well. You can also roast the poblano chiles and red bell peppers over an open flame if desired.

For a meat chili, add 3-1/2 to 4 pounds grilled diced Italian sausage or cooked ground turkey to the chili. My favorite is a chicken and apple sausage.

3 pounds black beans
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 pound onion, diced small
8 ounces carrot, diced small
1 pound poblano pepper, diced small
1-1/4 pounds red bell pepper, diced small
1 ounce  garlic, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons paprika
1/4 cup dried oregano
2 tablespoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 cups crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Tamari soy sauce
Vegetable stock

Pick over beans, removing discolored beans and foreign matter. Wash thoroughly. Place beans and salt in 10 to 12-quart stockpot. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cover. Add water as necessary to keep the beans covered. Simmer 1-1/2 hours or until just tender. Drain beans, reserving cooking liquid if used to thin the chili.

Puree onion, carrot, chili pepper, bell pepper and garlic in a blender or food processor. In a heavy skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook puree mixture in olive oil for 10 to 15 minutes. Add chili powder, cumin, paprika, cayenne, oregano and basil to puree mixture. Continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes. Add to beans in stockpot.

Add tomato, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce to chili. Simmer over low heat 20 to 30 minutes to develop flavor. Thin chili to desired consistency with vegetable stock or reserved bean liquid. Adjust seasoning.

Makes 6-1/2 quarts. Portion into 25 (8-ounce) or 20 (10-ounce) servings. If desired, serve over steamed brown rice and garnish with fresh salsa.

Baked frittata for 300 campers

At Oakland Feather River Camp, we prepared potato-pepper frittata five times this summer. The baked omelet, which was on the menu every other week, was prepared two ways -- as frittata 'muffins' for kids camp in June and baked in full-sized hotel pans for the family camps.

We first served baked frittata in early May. Since we were only feeding a dozen staff members at that point, I used the meal to show the cooks how to bake a baked omelet. I also used the opportunity to test a small number of frittata muffins. I'll share more about the muffin recipe later.

The classic recipe for frittata is time consuming when feeding 150 to 300 campers. To prepare in the traditional method, sauté the vegetables in an oven-proof skillet. Add any meat and cook. Then pour whipped eggs (roughly 12 eggs for a 12-inch skillet) in the pan. Over medium heat, stir with a heat resistant spatula, running it along the sides, for two to three minutes. Once the eggs are partially set, top with cheese (if desired) and place in a pre-heated 375-degree oven.

Its versatility is the best thing about a frittata, whether baked for camp or prepared with the classic method. Asparagus, spinach, kale or mushrooms easily work in place of the potatoes. Even though we chose to leave meat out of our frittata, sausage, bacon, prosciutto or ham are ideal meats. Any cheese, especially when pared with the vegetables and meat, top off any frittata. The options are endless once you have the basics down.

On August 1, each pan fed 40 to 45 campers. A week later each pan fed 35 campers. While I usually figure 25 servings per 2-inch hotel pan, the expanded menu helped 'stretch' the frittata. Hot cereal, cold cereal, fresh whole fruit, sliced melons, toast, bagels and cream cheese, peanut butter and jelly, and assorted yogurt (flavored and plain) gave the campers a lot of options for breakfast. Plus the 25 vegans on August 1 were offered an alternative entrée. We didn't have any vegans the next week.

The following images demonstrate how the cooks prepared potato-pepper frittata for 300 campers:

To prepare the frittata, Jesse poured a splash of olive oil in each 12 by 20 by 2-inch hotel pan. A handful of diced onions and red and green bell peppers were tossed into each pan. Jesse then placed around 2 pounds of par-cooked red potatoes in each pan. He lightly tossed the contents of each pans before placing then in the oven.

 After seasoning with kosher salt, coarse ground black pepper and Italian seasoning, Jesse placed the 10 pans in a 325-degree convection oven. The vegetables and potatoes cooked for 10 to 15 minutes. The pans were lined on the table after Jesse removed them from the oven.

Next I poured the contents of 3 cartons of liquid eggs into each pan. Jesse returned each pan in the oven as it was ready. Each carton weighs 2 pounds. Use 5-1/3 dozen medium or 4-1/2 dozen large eggs if liquid eggs aren't available. The mixture was stirred before returning to the oven.

It took 35 to 40 minutes to bake the frittata. Pull it from the oven when the top was just set.

You need to test the frittata in your oven to see how long it will take. Our ovens run hot on top and cooler on the bottom (despite the circulating fan). Potato-pepper frittata was one of our better breakfasts, only rivaled by biscuits and gravy morning and the cinnamon roll breakfast.

Ingredients

Ingredients for the vegetarian cook at Oakland Camp. Do you know what they are?

Ingredients for the vegetarian cook at Oakland Camp. The meat cooks will use them too!

Southwest succotash

Succotash is one of those vegetable combinations that doesn't garner confidence in my ability to inspire the residents at work. Aside from a couple off-handed remarks about Sylvester the Cat (known for countering Daffy's "You're despicable" with "Sufferin' succotash"), most had never heard of the dish.

Until I watched a video of Chef Bob Vaningan preparing succotash for Good Day Alabama last week, the only succotash I had ever cooked was a mixture of corm and lima beans. In the five-minute segment I learned that succotash can be much more. Chef Bob uses a variety of vegetables to boost the flavor of an otherwise mundane vegetable dish.

Chef Bob sautes diced onion and green bell peppers for a minute. He then tosses fresh lima beans and black eye peas into the skillet. After the beans are hot, he adds freshly cut corn and halved grape tomatoes. Once the tomato softens in the skillet, he flavors the succotash with fresh chopped thyme and a splash of olive oil. (Click for Chef Bob's recipe.)

I prepared succotash at two different venues yesterday. As often happens, I bring lessons from a dish that I prepared home with me. I prepared the succotash with frozen lima beans, frozen whole kernel corn and canned pinto beans at work. I used just enough tomatillos and poblano chiles to give the succotash a flavor boost without overpowering the corn and beans.

Since I had originally planned to test the dish at home, I already had the ingredients on hand. Even though the dish at work was good, I enjoyed the home version because I used corn that was freshly cut from the cob. The fresh corn gave the succotash a sweet, succulent quality that I didn't get from the version with frozen vegetables.

SOUTHWEST SUCCOTASH

For best results, cut fresh corn off the cob for this succotash.

2 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced small
2 poblano chile peppers, diced small
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 pounds cooked pinto beans
2 pounds cooked lima beans
1 pound tomatillos, diced
2 pounds whole kernel corn
1 teaspoon cumin
Kosher salt, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Heat oil a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, poblano chiles and garlic and saute several minutes until vegetables begin to soften.

Add pinto beans and lima beans to skillet. Continue cooking, stiring frequently, until beans are heated. Add corn and tomatillos and continue cooking until tomatillos break apart. Add 1 or 2 cups water if needed to keep succotash from drying out.

Season to taste with kosher salt and ground black pepper. Stir lime juice and cilantro in before servings. Served about 25 (1/2-cup) portions.

Working on Southwest succotash

Steven C. Karoly (@SeabeeCook) has shared a Tweet with you:

"SeabeeCook: Workin' on SW succotash at work - saute onion, garlic & poblano, add pintos & limas, finish w corn & tomatillos, season w cumin & lime juice"

--http://twitter.com/SeabeeCook/status/90897262905012224

Steven
Sent from my Samsung Captivate(tm) on AT&T

Southwest green beans for a crowd

Here's a recipe for green beans that one of our residents shared with me last month. I like it because it adds a healthy flavor punch to the green beans.

The resident, an accomplished cook, offered this advise:

"The more crispier the bacon, the better. The longer you cook it, the better"

I agree. The bacon with its rendered fat, tomatoes and chicken base all work together to form a rich sauce for the beans. The jalapeno adds punch to the dish.

SOUTHWEST GREEN BEANS FOR A CROWD

Sysco sells 12 (2-pound) packages of frozen green beans in each case. For a vegetarian dish, saute the onions and tomato in butter or olive oil. Vegetable base can be used in place of the chicken base.

8 ounces bacon, diced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
3-4 jalapeno chilies, minced
5 tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoons chicken base
4 pounds frozen green beans
Black pepper, to taste
1 cup chopped cilantro

Saute bacon in a large saute pan over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon to a folded paper towel. Reserve bacon for later.

Drain all but 3 tablespoons of the bacon fat. Add onion and jalapeno chilies and cook until lightly browned, about 5 to 8 minutes. Add tomatoes and simmer until tomatoes break down render their juices. Add chicken base and pepper and stir.

Add beans. Stir, cover and cook until beans are crisp tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in cilantro and bacon. Adjust seasoning.

Serves 25 (1/2-cup) portions.

Pasta shells with roasted broccoli and walnuts

Pasta salad is currently on the menu at work one time each week. When I started in December, I quickly discovered that the residents had tired of the vinaigrette-based salad.

To offer variety, I often morph the salad into a hot pasta dish every other week. This gives me the opportunity to experiment with a full range of different flavors.

Successful tests will be incorporated into the new menu, which will feature one pasta dish for lunch each week.

Spaghetti puttanesca filled the void twice in the past two weeks. While popular, the sharp bite of the puttanesca isn't universally accepted.

Today's pasta dish came from an article that I clipped in the doctor's office last year. The photograph of the dark green roasted broccoli in a bed of pasta shells caught my attention.

Since I was looking for vegetarian entrees at the time, I clipped the recipe and filed it in my large recipe binder.

As often happens, the recipe sat in the binder for a year. I had intended to use it at Deer Crossing Camp this past summer.

The recipe could've made a good inter-session dish. The crew would've enjoyed the rich blending of broccoli and walnuts roasted in olive oil with garlic.

It's a fair compromise when you feed a significant number of vegetarians, as I did during inter-session at Deer Crossing.

PASTA SHELLS WITH ROASTED BROCCOLI AND WALNUTS

To use frozen broccoli spears, steam until cooked about halfway. Cut the stems off the broccoli. Reserve the stems and cooking liquid for cream of broccoli soup.

Roast as directed. Since the semi-cooked florets will be moist, the roasting process may take a few minutes longer.

2-1/2 pounds pasta shells
6 pounds broccoli, cut into small florets
2 cups walnuts, roughly chopped
1 cup olive oil
8 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
1 cup grated Parmesan

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Reserve 2 cups of the cooking water, drain the pasta and return it to the pot.

Meanwhile, toss the broccoli, walnuts, oil, garlic, 2 teaspoons kosher salt and 1 teaspoon pepper together. Pour onto a sheet pan. Roast in a 400-degree F oven until the broccoli is tender, about 20 minutes.

Toss the pasta with the broccoli mixture, butter and 1 cup of the reserved pasta water. (Add more water if the pasta seems dry.) Sprinkle with the Parmesan before serving.

Serves 24 portions.

Vegetable lasagna with roasted zucchini and mushrooms

I an not a vegetarian, nor do I see myself becoming one. The closest I come most days is with my morning cereal with milk and sugar. Other than an occasional meatless meal, I eat meat every day at lunch and dinner.

(Of course, I'm talking about being an ovo-lacto vegetarian, not vegan.)

A vegetarian meal is one where I simply leave the meat out of the dish that I'm cooking. I don't make any effort to make a special vegetarian dish. Any item without meat, like a slice of cheese pizza or scrambled eggs with hotcakes, qualifies as a vegetarian meal in my mind.

I just made the best lasagna ever last night. While I still relish an aromatic tomato-based lasagna with three or four layers of quality Italian sausage sandwiched between layers of ricotta and mozzarella, roasted diced zucchini and crimmini slices did a very good job of substituting for the sausage.

I will use this recipe this summer at camp. I'll be able to use vegetables on-hand to vary the layered dish each week or two. I should be able to purchase no-boil lasagna noodles from Sysco.

Pre-cooking the vegetables drives out excess water and adds flavor. The biggest flavor boost comes from the caramelization of the natural sugars in the vegetables.

Pair pre-cooking technique to the moisture content of the vegetable. High-moisture vegetables, like eggplant and zucchini, are best sauteed or roasted. Blanch, chop and saute low-moisture vegetables like broccoli or cauliflower.

Vary the vegetables as desired: Substitute 1-pound diced eggplant for mushrooms. For spinach and mushroom lasagna, saute 1 pound sliced crimmini mushrooms with a small amount of onion. Season and remove from skillet. Add 10-ounces (12 cups) chopped spinach leaves to skillet and saute until wilted. Season and combine with mushrooms.

VEGETABLE LASAGNA WITH ROASTED ZUCCHINI AND MUSHROOMS

You need 16 no-boil lasagna sheets (approximately 3-1/2- x 7-in.) for the recipe. It takes 4 sheets to cover the bottom of a 9- x 13-in. baking pan. Depending on the size of the lasagna sheets and the baking pan, their may be some overlap.

1 pound zucchini, diced small
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
15 ounces ricotta cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped parsley
3-1/2 cups tomato sauce
8 ounces no-boil lasagna noodles
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

To roast zucchini and mushrooms, toss vegetables with olive oil and garlic. Spread vegetables in a thin layer on 1 or more greased sheet pans. Season with salt and pepper.

Roast vegetables in a 400-degree F. oven for about 35 minutes, turning occasionally, until golden brown. Yields 3 to 3-1/2 cups roasted vegetables.

Combine ricotta cheese, eggs and parsley until eggs are incorporated in cheese mixture. Season with pepper to taste. Set aside.

To assemble the lasagna, spread 1/2-cup tomato sauce over bottom of 9 x 13-in. baking pan. Lay 4 lasagna sheets so they cover the completely tomato sauce. Spread 2/3-cup ricotta over noodles, 1-cup vegetables evenly over ricotta, 2/3-cup tomato sauce evenly over vegetables and 1-cup mozzarella cheese and 3 tablespoon Parmesan over sauce.

Repeat layering noodles, ricotta mixture, vegetables, tomato sauce and cheeses 2 more times. For the fourth and final layer, lay the final 4 lasagna sheets over the previous layer. Top with remaining 1 cup tomato sauce, 1 cup mozzarella cheese and 2 heaping tablespoons Parmesan.

Cover pan with large sheet aluminum foil greased with cooking spray. Bake covered 40 minutes in 375-degree F oven. Remove foil and continue baking 15 minutes until cheese brown in spots. Remove and let rest 10 minutes. Cut into 8 (2 x 4) or 15 (3 x 5) portions as desired.

Ideas for stuffed zucchini

Zucchini is one of those summer vegetables that multiply like weeds. Plant a couple plants in the garden and you're soon rewarded with bushels of the summer squash.

You harvest much more than you can eat. At first your friends welcome the fruit, but soon run when they see you coming. Most quickly tire of the vegetable unless you know 101 ways to cook it.

I plan to purchase a box of zucchini every week or two this summer for my camp job. Since the kids and staff will only eat so much in salads, I need to work on ideas to use the zucchini. My creamy zucchini basil soup will help use up several pounds and as will zucchini bread.

While I often peruse cookbooks and magazines, I get more ideas while watching Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. It's amazing how your brain can take in an image in a flash and process it into a collection of ideas.

Tonight's idea came as I caught a lead-in to one of the segments on Guy Fieri's weekly show on the Food Network. In a three-second glance, the chef lifted a stuffed zucchini from the baking dish and set it on the plate.

My first though was to cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out the meat on both halves. Almost any filling -- especially vegetarian -- will work. I can either bake the halves or put them back together and bake the zucchini whole.

I figure that I can also hollow the squash out with a long, thin tool and stuff them with a piping bag and plain tip. Here are several stuffing ideas that I came up with while watching the show:

• Softened cream cheese with Parmesan, garlic and hot sauce
• Sauteed spinach, crimini mushroom and bread crumbs
• Sauteed onion, garlic and chopped zucchini pulp folded into seasoned bread crumbs
• Filling for stuffed bell peppers (usually rice)
• Any pizza ingredients (meat or otherwise)

I'm not sure if I'll have to parboil the zucchini yet. It should be a simple dish that can be prepared with a bit of elegance for hungry campers and staff. And, as you can see, stuffed zucchini is easily adapted to a vegetarian entree.

What are your ideas for filling the summer vegetable?

Grilled portobella mushroom caps

Earlier this month I reported on Tyrone's working job interview. He is currently looking for work as a chef in the California Bay Area.

After spending the last year and a half directing kitchen operations on the African Mercy, Tyrone moved to the San Francisco Peninsula, where his wife was recently employed as a nurse.

Tyrone was chef for the 499-foot hospital ship, where he fed a crew from 30 nations. His wife, Stephanie, worked on the ship as an operating room nurse.

His first interview consisted of an all-day demonstration of his culinary skills. The venue -- kitchen and dining room of a Stanford University residence hall -- gave Tyrone a chance to demonstrate his culinary skill to house managers and residents.

Tyrone walked into the "kitchen like I had always been there, checked in vendors and the laundry man, started prepping and cooking after getting oriented with the kitchen." His main test came as he cooked lunch and dinner for the house residents.

Large grilled portobella mushroom caps complimented roasted chuck bottom round on the dinner menu. The less carnivorous residents enjoyed a meaty vegetarian alternative to the red meat entree.

I asked Tyrone how he prepared the portobella caps. I figured his explanation would help me add one more vegetarian dish to my repertory for camp this summer.

"I was prepared to make my own marinade when I spotted some ginger-balsamic vinaigrette in the pantry," explained Tyrone.

After breaking the steams off and cleaning the steak-sized mushroom caps, he submerged them in clean water. "I don't buy that mushrooms soaking up all that water theory," said Tyrone.

A bath in the marinade for two hours imparted flavor from the ginger-balsamic vinaigrette. He stacked the caps upside-down in a large see-through container. The caps "held (the marinade) like saucers," said Tyrone.

Tyrone then baked the portobellas in the oven before giving them a quick sear on the flat-top griddle. The sugars in the marinade carmalized as mushrooms sizzled on the griddle.

A final drizzle with reserved mushroom juices added a last-minute burst of flavor for the portobellas as they waited for hungry diners in the chafing dish.

Chickpea patties revisited

My sister wrote me earlier in the week and requested a chickpea patty recipe for the home. Although I sent her the recipe that day, I wanted to post the recipe so others wouldn't have scale it downward.

CHICKPEA PATTIES

My local supermarket carries 22-ounce packages of garbanzo bean flour. I found Bob's Red Mill brand, along with 20 to 30 other types of flour and whole grains, in the natural grains aisle of the market.

1-1/2 cups chickpea (garbanzo) flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2-1/2 cups water
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

In a 3- to 4-quart saucepan, mix chickpea flour and dry seasonings. Gradually whisk in water until smooth. Cook over medium heat, whisking often, until mixture begins to thicken, 3 to 5 minutes. Switch to a spoon and stir until mixture pulls away from pan bottom and mounds in center of pan, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in green onion and parsley.

Using an oiled #24 disher, quickly scoop mixture onto an oiled sheet pan. Press each dough ball flat with lightly oiled fingers. The patties will have the appearance of a cookie. Store in the refrigerator until needed.

Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Saute patties for 3 to 5 minutes, or until golden. Turn and repeat.

Makes 12 or 13 patties. Serve 2 patties per person. Use as a substitute for chicken on the menu or as a stand alone menu item.

Chickpea patties

There's one reason why I continue to read Sunset magazine. I've found few problems with the recipes it prints. They are well-developed and come to the plate with exceptional taste.

Over the past year, I've found several vegetarian recipes that I can use at camp this summer. They include asparagus and prosciutto strata, baked chili rellenos and pepper-potato fritatta. While I haven't published my renditions of these recipes yet, you can locate my vegetarian recipes by clicking here.

I made the patties for my mother's birthday last week. She enjoys dishes like this, especially when she found out that it can be used as a substitute for chicken in almost any chicken breast or sandwich recipe.

I found that you have to work quickly while the dough is still hot. Otherwise, the dough will crack and break apart as you form it into patties. Two cooks may need to work together when forming large quantities.

I sauteed the patties in a cast iron skillet in a light coating of olive oil. This gave them a golden color and boosted the flavor. The patties have a nice nuttiness about them that complements the cumin and cayenne.

Don't overdo the spices, however. You want the nutty flavor from the garbanzos to predominate.

CHICKPEA PATTIES FOR 25

My local supermarket carries 22-ounce packages of garbanzo bean flour. ). I found Bob's Red Mill brand, along with 20 to 30 other types of flour and whole grains, in the natural grains aisle of the market. Red Mill also markets a 25-pound bag for commercial applications.

28 ounces chickpea (garbanzo) flour (about 5-2/3 cups)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne
10-1/3 cups water
1 cup chopped green onion
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

In a large saucepan, mix chickpea flour and dry seasonings. Gradually whisk in water until smooth. Cook over medium heat, whisking often, until mixture begins to thicken, 3 to 5 minutes. Switch to a spoon and stir until mixture pulls away from pan bottom and mounds in center of pan, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in green onion and parsley.

Using an oiled #24 disher, quickly scoop mixture onto an oiled sheet pan. Press each dough ball flat with lightly oiled fingers. The patties will have the appearance of a cookie. Store in the refrigerator until needed.

Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add enough olive oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. (Or use the lightly oiled griddle.) Saute patties for 3 to 5 minutes, or until golden. Turn and repeat.

Makes 50 patties. Serve 2 patties per person. Use as a substitute for chicken on the menu or as a stand alone menu item.

Dutch oven roasted vegetables

I played a supporting role at the family Thanksgiving feast this year. My brother-in-law Jim roasted the turkey on dad's 22-inch Weber BBQ kettle. The rest of the family -- self included -- supplied the side dishes.

The menu consisted of roasted turkey, great-grandma's German red cabbage, mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, roasted vegetables and cranberry sauce. Three homemade pies (pumpkin, pumpkim with crumb topping and apple) topped the menu.

My contribution was the roasted vegetables and a foccacia round, all cooked in two 14-inch Dutch ovens next to Jim's turkey.

The vegetables caramelize as they cook under the intense in the Dutch oven. They take on a slight sweetness from natural sugars.

You'll enjoy pure comfort food in this dish, especially when it's prepared with a sharp coarse-grain mustard and plenty of roasted garlic.

Use any combination of vegetables will do. You can tailor the recipe to your own tastes. A nice combination of root vegetables (russet potatoes, parsnips, turnips, sweet potatoes and carrots) makes a nice fall and winter accompaniment to an outdoor meal.

DUTCH OVEN ROASTED VEGETABLES

To roast in a home oven: Pre-heat oven to 400-degrees F. Place vegetables in a 13- x 18-inch sheet pan following recipe directions. Cover pan with foil and roast for 35 minutes. Uncover, stir gently and roast for 20 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until vegetables are tender.

2 large stalks broccoli, cut into small florets
1-1/4 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut in half
1 pound carrots, Juliane
2 bell peppers, diced large
1 bunch green onions, cut into 1-inch lengths
12 large cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/3 cup olive oil
1 heaping tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 head cabbage, cut into chunks

In a large bowl, combine broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, bell peppers, garlic and parsley.

In a small bowl, whisk together oil, mustard, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and pepper. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of mixture into a 14-inch Dutch oven. Place cabbage on top of the oil.

Add the remaining oil mixture to vegetables in bowl and toss to coat evenly. Transfer to Dutch oven and place on top of cabbage.

Roast vegetables in a 400-degree oven until vegetables are tender, about 40 to 50 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2-teaspoon salt and transfer to a serving bowl.

Spinach mushroom fettuccine

Although this recipe would satisfy almost any vegetarian, dedicated meat eaters will love it too. Spinach mushroom fettuccine dishes up a satisfying bit of pep. And it’s a refreshing change from a steady diet of beef and chicken.

This quick dinner pasta dish caught my attention for two reasons. First, I need to build my repertoire of vegetarian dishes for camp. By next summer, I plan to add eight to 12 new recipes to my recipe file.

On the home front, spinach mushroom fettuccine comes together quickly. It only takes 20 to 30 minutes from stove to plate.

I doubled the original recipe (page 106, Northern California edition, October 2008 Sunset) to make sure it multiplies easily for the camp kitchen. Although I haven’t tested a larger batch yet, I’m confident you can double or triple the basic recipe. Adjust the size of the skillet or saucepan accordingly.

I made two changes to the Sunset recipe. First, I felt the addition of extra garlic was needed to give the dish a flavor boost. Reduce the garlic to one or two minced cloves if it’s too much garlic.

And I changed the whole wheat pasta to fettuccine, reminiscent of fettuccine Alfredo, which is made with reduced heavy cream and melted butter. Any whole wheat or plain spaghetti or fettuccine will work for this recipe.

Clean and slice the mushrooms as the pasta water comes to a boil. Then mince the garlic and wash the fresh spinach leaves. Turn your attention to the sauce as the pasta cooks. The sauce and pasta should be ready at the same time.

SPINACH MUSHROOM FETTUCCINE

Carefully stir the sauce after you combine the cream cheese and milk. It takes about 10 minutes the soften the cream cheese to the point where it blends with the milk. Stir gently to avoid breaking up the mushrooms.

Save some pasta water and use it to thin the dish as it absorbs the sauce.

1 pound fettuccine pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
4-8 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds sliced mushrooms
12 ounces cream cheese
1 cup milk
4 quarts lightly packed spinach
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup chopped fresh chives
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Boil 1 gallon water in a large stockpot and cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and transfer to a large serving bowl.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and mushrooms and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add cream cheese and milk and heat until boiling, stirring often. Add spinach and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pour sauce over pasta. Sprinkle with chives and serve with Parmesan on the side. Serves 8.

Camp -- Vegetable Quiche

We have had little call to prepare vegetarian meals at the Northern California FC Camp in the past five years. This year, several campers noted they had a vegetarian preference on their application forms.

In response, we prepared several vegetarian alternatives. Admittedly, we didn't offer a vegetarian dish every meal. The call for vegetarian meals isn't that great at this point in our camp's history. If this year is an indication, we may need to pay more attention to this trend in the future.

We found the easiest way to prepare a vegetarian dish is to remove the meat the main entree when it works. On Tuesday evening my second cook prepared two 12x20x2-inch hotel pans of meatless lasagna (she assembled six pans of beef lasagna as well). At the end of the night, approximately 25 percent of the campers ate the vegetarian lasagna.

Friday's breakfast consisted of freshly baked cinnamon rolls, sausage link and a breakfast casserole. I used leftover bacon and an unopened bag of frozen French fries to form the base for a breakfast fritatta.

Since I had already prepared a savory custard mixture for the fritatta, it was easy to saute several quarts of aromatics for a vegetarian quiche. The vegetable quiche was more popular with the staff than the campers. The campers favored the fritatta.

VEGETABLE QUICHE

I raided the salad bar cart for the diced bell peppers and shredded carrots. The broccoli was left from an earlier dinner. Any combination of vegetable should work for this quiche.

Don't heat the custard higher than 185 degrees F. This is the point in which the custard mixture coagulates. If the quiche is heated any higher, the eggs tend to curdle. An over baked custard becomes watery as moisture separated from the toughened protein.

If desired, evenly divide cooled vegetables between four 9-inch patially-baked pie shells. Pour custard mixture into pies and bake as directed. Cut each pie by six.

Filling:
1/3 cup margarine or butter
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups diced bell peppers
1 cup shredded carrots
1 quart steamed broccoli
6 tomatoes, diced

Custard:
12 eggs, beaten
1 pint heavy cream or half-and-half
1 quart milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Saute the vegetables in butter over medium-high heat until soft and most of the liquid has evaporated. Empty vegetables into an oiled 12x20x2-inch hotel pan and cool.

Beat together eggs, cream or half-and-half, milk and seasonings. Pour over cooled vegetables. Place the pan in a 375-degree F oven. Bake until the filling is set, about 20 to 30 minutes. A knife inserted in the center of the quiche will come out clean when it's done. Cut the quiche 4x6 to serve 24 campers.