Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers

by Moosewood Collective

  1 small red onion

  salt and black pepper

  6 flour tortillas (about 8 inches in diameter)

  3 tablespoons cream cheese, softened

  3 tablespoons jarred pesto or Classic Pesto, or ½ cup chopped fresh basil

  1 large tomato, sliced

  6 ounces sliced mozzarella, smoked mozzarella, provolone, or a combination

  Preheat the oven to 450°. Lightly oil a baking sheet.

  In a bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons of olive oil and the vinegar. Slice the portabellas and red onion and add to the bowl. Stir well to coat evenly with marinade. Spread on the baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until the onions are softened and the mushrooms are juicy, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°.

  To build the sandwiches, lightly brush one side of two tortillas with oil and place them oiled-side down on a clean baking sheet. Spread the top side of the tortillas with cream cheese. Pile roasted portabellas and onions on the cream cheese. Spread pesto on two more tortillas and lay them on top of the onions. Top the pesto-covered tortillas with tomato and cheese slices. Place the last two tortillas on the stacks and brush the tops with oil. Bake until the cheese is melted and the top and bottom tortillas are crisp, about 15 minutes.

  Let the sandwiches cool for a minute or two before cutting into quarters.

  serving & menu ideas

  Although this sandwich is filling enough on its own, Red Bean, Potato & Arugula Soup would be a nice accompaniment. Vanilla ice cream with one of our Two Sweet Sauces would be the perfect dessert.

  spinach cheese burritos

  These burritos, with their creamy spinach filling, are one of the dishes that always elicit customer requests for the recipe when we serve them in the restaurant.

  SERVES 4 TO 6

  HANDS-ON TIME: 25 MINUTES

  BAKING TIME: 20 TO 25 MINUTES

  FILLING

  1 bunch scallions, chopped

  3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced

  1 tablespoon vegetable oil

  10 cups loosely packed fresh baby spinach (about 10 ounces)

  1 teaspoon ground coriander

  generous pinch of nutmeg (optional)

  3 cups lightly packed grated Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (about 10 ounces)

  ⅓ cup cream cheese (3 ounces)

  8 to 10 flour tortillas (7- or 8-inch)

  Blender Tomato Hot Sauce or your favorite salsa

  Preheat the oven to 375°. Oil a 9 × 13-inch baking dish.

  In a large skillet on medium heat, cook the scallions and garlic in the oil for 2 or 3 minutes. Add the spinach and cook until the leaves are wilted and the water has evaporated. Stir in the coriander, nutmeg, cheese, and cream cheese. Remove from the heat.

  To soften the tortillas so they won’t crack when you roll them, lay out the tortillas on a baking sheet (overlapping is fine) and place in the oven for a minute or two.

  To prepare the burritos, place about ½ cup of filling on the lower half of a warm tortilla, fold the bottom up and the sides in to encase the filling, roll it up, and place seam-side down in the prepared baking dish. Repeat with the rest of the filling and tortillas. Brush the tops lightly with oil, cover the dish with foil, and bake until hot, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve topped with Blender Tomato Hot Sauce or salsa.

  INGREDIENT NOTES If you want to use frozen spinach instead of fresh, look for bags with loose clumps of spinach instead of a solid block, and defrost before adding to the filling.

  You can use thinly sliced onions instead of scallions.

  serving & menu ideas

  We usually serve burritos on Yellow Rice or plain brown or white rice. A crisp salad or a crunchy slaw is nice on the side. New England Squash Pie would make the evening divine.

  easy egg rolls

  These egg rolls made with filo dough bake in the oven, so there’s no deep-frying. Crisp and delicious, they are a fine supper. They can be assembled a day ahead, wrapped in plastic, and refrigerated until they go into the oven.

  SERVES 3

  HANDS-ON TIME: 20 MINUTES

  BAKING TIME: 20 MINUTES

  1 tablespoon vegetable oil

  1 tablespoon grated peeled ginger root

  2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

  1 16-ounce package of slaw mix (about 6 cups)

  1 tablespoon soy sauce

  ½ teaspoon salt

  generous pinch of black pepper

  6 sheets of filo pastry

  about ¼ cup vegetable oil

  Duck Sauce

  Preheat the oven to 375°. Lightly oil a baking sheet.

  Warm a wok or large skillet on medium-high heat. Add the oil and when it is hot, add the ginger and garlic and sizzle for just a few seconds. Add the slaw, soy sauce, salt, and pepper and stir-fry for 3 or 4 minutes, until the vegetables are hot, coated with oil, and somewhat wilted but not soft. Remove from the heat.

  Place the stack of filo sheets on a dry surface with the short sides at the top and bottom. Brush the top sheet lightly with oil. About 3 inches from the bottom edge, spread a generous cup of the wilted slaw in a line parallel to the bottom. Pick up 2 sheets at the bottom edge and lift them up and over the filling and roll up. Filo is fragile but forgiving; don’t fret over small rips at the start. Brush the finished roll with oil. Lift it carefully and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat this process to make 2 more rolls. Place the rolls about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. With a sharp knife, slice the rolls into 4-inch pieces. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

  While the egg rolls bake, make the Duck Sauce to serve on the side.

  greek antipasto pita

  This sandwich has been a favorite of Moosewood Restaurant’s customers for more than 30 years. (See photo)

  SERVES 4 TO 6

  TIME: 20 MINUTES

  2 tablespoons olive oil

  1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or cider vinegar

  2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

  1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill (or 1 teaspoon dried dill or oregano)

  1 celery stalk

  1 large tomato

  ½ red bell pepper

  1 cucumber

  ¼ red onion

  8 pitted kalamata olives

  salt and pepper

  4 pita breads

  In a bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, garlic, and dill. As you prepare the vegetables, add them to the bowl: dice the celery, tomato, and bell pepper, seed and dice the cucumber, mince the red onion, chop the olives. Toss well. Add salt and pepper to taste. The filling tastes best if it sits at room temperature for at least 10 minutes. It will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days.

  Cut the pitas in half and toast them lightly. To serve, stuff each pita half with filling.

  variation

  Add about 3 ounces of seasoned seitan, chopped. Look for seasoned seitan in the refrigerator section near the tofu in natural foods stores and many supermarkets.

  serving & menu ideas

  Top with crumbled feta, diced fresh mozzarella, or shredded provolone cheese.

  Shrimp Curry with Snow Peas

  Seafood is a perfect ingredient for quickly prepared simple suppers—and there’s no shortage of possibilities for variety. Some of the most easily prepared suppers for nonvegetarians are built around fish that is lightly seasoned or topped with a basic sauce. Steam, broil, bake, grill, pan-fry, or poach the fish—whichever procedure you prefer—and then top it with:

  Spicy Peanut Sauce

  Creamy Caper Sauce

  Red Pepper Butter Sauce

  Mushroom Sherry Sauce

  Sauce Niçoise

  Brown Butter Sauce

  Classic Pesto

  Herbed Aioli

  Tartar Sauce

  Chipotle Mayonnaise

  Flavored Butter

  Cooking Methods

  BAKING Baking can be done in a very hot oven (400° to 450°) for a short
time, about 10 minutes per inch of thickness, or in a moderate oven (350° to 375°) for a longer time, but always preheat the oven, or the outside of the fish may be overdone before the inside is done. Bake the fish in an oiled pan, perfectly plain or brushed with butter or oil, drizzled with lemon juice, and seasoned.

  BROILING & GRILLING Particularly good for fatty fish; lean fish should be basted with oil or butter. The goal in broiling and grilling is that the surfaces are nicely seared at the same time that the inside is cooked. The timing depends on how hot the broiler or grill is and how far the fish is from the heat. Do not broil cuts much thicker than an inch because the outside may become leathery before the inside is done.

  PAN-FRYING & SAUTÉING Pan-fry fish in a skillet on medium-low heat, in a little butter or oil. Don’t crowd the fish or use a lid because either will cause steam, which prevents browning and crisping. Pan-fry 1 inch-thick fish for about 4 minutes on each side.

  Sauté fish in a skillet on medium-high heat in just enough oil to prevent sticking. Sautéing is very quick—the fish should be in and out of the pan in minutes.

  For either method, fish should be dry when it goes into the pan. Dust the fish with a light coating of flour or cornmeal if you wish. When done, the skin will be crisp and the flesh moist and succulent. Season the fish after it’s cooked.

  POACHING Poach fish on the stovetop in enough water, broth, or wine and water to cover. Bring the liquid to a boil, add the fish, and reduce the heat to very gently simmer the fish for about 10 minutes per inch of thickness, until it loses its transparent look and flakes easily. Remove the fish with a slotted spoon.

  To oven-poach, preheat the oven to 400°, place the fish in an oiled baking pan, add about a cup of liquid, and cover with foil. Cook until done, about 15 minutes for salmon fillets.

  STEAMING Steaming liquid can be flavored with herbs, spices, and vegetables, or herbs and spices can be laid on top of and under the fish. Rub the fish with a light coating of oil and place it on a rack or heatproof plate inside a pot with a tight lid. Or you can steam the fish in a cheesecloth bag suspended in the steam like they do around the Chesapeake Bay. Steam fish for about 4 minutes per ½ inch of thickness.

  Choose the Freshest

  With fish, freshness is all-important—more important, we think, than the kind or cut of the fish. Even when a recipe calls for a particular fish, we’ll substitute whatever fish is freshest at the market that day, and it works out fine.

  Your best bet for consistently good seafood is finding a market with knowledgeable and honest people behind the counter. Talk to them. Ask what they’ll be taking home for dinner. They know the fish and know what’s good. Sometimes the most reasonably priced fish is also the highest quality. (When a species is abundant, fishermen bring in their catches more often and the fish is shipped more quickly, making the price lower and the fish fresher when it gets to your market.) So when you shop for fish, instead of insisting on a particular kind, look for the best choice that day.

  Trust your own judgment, too. Fresh fish has firm, elastic flesh and a clean, pleasant, deep-sea fragrance. Ask to smell the fish you’re thinking about buying, and don’t be shy about refusing it if the odor is disagreeable. Health regulations may forbid waving the fish itself under your nose, but you can get the same information by sniffing a tissue wiped across the fish.

  Wild-Caught & Farm-Raised Issues

  Choosing the best seafood while considering health and environmental issues can be daunting. Both farm-raised and wild-caught fish may contain contaminants, and some of the practices of both fish farming and wild harvesting have damaging environmental effects. Because of concerns about contamination, many fish farmers are looking for better methods, and some current practices, such as the establishment of mussel beds, are actually beneficial to the aquaculture. Ocean fishing practices change, too, often in an effort to protect depleted species. As for which fish to look for or to avoid, we can’t make specific recommendations that we are sure will still be accurate at the time you read this, so our advice is that you keep abreast of the issues in your region so you can come to informed conclusions.

  oven-roasted miso sesame salmon

  This salmon, quickly roasted, is moist and flavorful with its sweet-salty glaze of mirin and miso.

  SERVES 4

  TIME: 20 MINUTES

  4 serving-sized pieces of salmon fillet (about 6 ounces each)

  2 tablespoons light miso

  1½ tablespoons mirin

  1½ teaspoons brown sugar

  2 tablespoons rice vinegar or cider vinegar

  2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

  chopped scallions

  Preheat the oven to 450°. Rinse the salmon and place it skin-side down on an oiled baking sheet. With a sharp knife, make about 4 slashes across each fillet, taking care not to cut all the way through. In a small bowl, combine the miso, mirin, brown sugar, and vinegar.

  Roast the salmon for 5 minutes. Remove it from the oven, spoon the miso-mirin glaze onto the fillets, and return it to the oven until the fish flakes easily with a fork but is still moist, 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Serve sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and scallions.

  INGREDIENT NOTE If you don’t have mirin, increase the brown sugar to 1 tablespoon.

  serving & menu ideas

  Serve on a bed of soba, rice, or wheat noodles or on rice, with Pan-Asian Slaw on the side. Leftovers are good flaked, in a vegetable sauté or on a salad.

  seafood orzo

  Monkfish is perfect for this recipe because it doesn’t fall apart. It has a wonderfully tender and succulent texture similar to lobster, but monkfish is less expensive. This dish is also good with other types of fish and other kinds of seafood, such as scallops, shrimp, or lobster.

  SERVES 4

  TIME: 35 MINUTES

  1 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes

  1 14-ounce can of clam broth

  1 cup dry white wine

  1 teaspoon salt

  3 cups chopped onions

  3 garlic cloves, pressed or minced

  3 tablespoons olive oil

  8 ounces orzo

  ½ pound monkfish

  ½ pound chopped clams or clam strips

  3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

  ¼ teaspoon black pepper

  In a covered saucepan, bring the tomatoes, clam broth, wine, and salt to a simmer.

  Meanwhile, in a soup pot on medium heat, sauté the onions and garlic in the oil for 2 minutes. Add the orzo and cook, stirring constantly, until the orzo turns golden, about 3 minutes. Stir in the hot tomato mixture, cover, and cook on medium-low heat until the orzo is almost al dente, about 10 minutes.

  Meanwhile, cut the monkfish into bite-sized chunks. When the orzo is barely al dente, add the monkfish, clams, basil, and pepper and cook until the fish is cooked all the way through, about 5 minutes.

  serving & menu ideas

  Serve the rest of the bottle of wine with dinner. Add Caesar Salad without the Tofu Croutons and Orange-Almond Polenta Cake and you’ve got a dinner party!

  moroccan spiced fish

  Any firm fish is fine for this intensely flavored and aromatic dish. If you use thick fillets, such as salmon or tuna, and you have the time, coat the fish with the spice mixture and then cover and refrigerate for an hour or two to marinate.

  SERVES 4

  HANDS-ON TIME: 15 MINUTES

  BAKING TIME: 10 TO 15 MINUTES

  3 tablespoons Moroccan Spice Mix

  2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

  2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

  1 tablespoon olive oil

  3 tablespoons lemon juice

  1½ pounds fish fillets

  Preheat the oven to 350°. In a bowl, stir together Moroccan Spice Mix and the garlic, cilantro, olive oil, and lemon juice. Rinse and pat dry the fish fillets, and cut them into chunks. Dredge the pieces of fish in the spice mixture and place them in an oiled baking dish. Spoon any spic
e mixture that’s left over the top of the fish.

  Bake uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes, until the fish is opaque and flaky but still moist.

  serving & menu ideas

  This fish is absolutely delicious in a pita sandwich with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, and lemony mayonnaise, Cilantro Yogurt Sauce, or plain yogurt. It also makes a great fish taco—wrap in tortillas with lettuce or finely sliced cabbage and tomatoes. Or serve it on rice or couscous with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and a salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing. If you have leftovers, make a stew with onions, potatoes, peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes … and extra Moroccan Spice Mix.

  flounder with herbed lemon butter

  This is one of the fastest yet most delectable fish preparations. Flounder is a delicate fish, so you need to use care (a wide spatula helps) when turning it to cook on the second side.

  SERVES 2

  TIME: 15 MINUTES

  12 ounces flounder or sole fillets (4 fillets, each about 3 ounces)

  ¼ teaspoon salt

  ⅛ teaspoon black pepper

  ¼ cup unbleached white flour

  1½ teaspoons olive oil

  2 tablespoons butter

  1 tablespoon lemon juice

  1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, chives, dill, tarragon, or basil

  lemon wedges

  Rinse the fish and pat dry. Mix the salt and pepper with the flour in a shallow dish or a large plate. Press the fish fillets into the flour to lightly coat. Shake off any excess flour.