After 25 years of carrying a burden of veggie guilt, this week’s recipe, Baby Bok Choy, Sugar Snaps, and Garlic en Papillote, provided the opportunity to set things right. Having grown up in Iowa, I enjoyed the bounty of our family garden in the summer but winter vegetables were compliments of Bird’s Eye, the Jolly Green Giant and Del Monte.
Vegetables, seasoned and tossed in olive oil, sitting in their tinfoil home, ready to be wrapped.
Unfortunately, I never jumped on the veggie bandwagon. Throughout many years of entertaining, welcoming friends to the table, the vegetables I served were always an afterthought. That changed when I inadvertently invited Susan, who was a Vegetarian, to break bread at Chez Hirsch. Please understand 25 years ago there were very few vegetarians living in America’s heartland. Michael and I had been married 2 years. In the spirit of full disclosure, Susan and her husband, Steve, were his Des Moines friends who had become mine. Until four days before the above-mentioned dinner party, I didn’t know Susan’s dietary preferences.
Wrap the veggies loosely in their packets, leaving a small opening for steam.
After learning that tidbit from I-don’t remember-who, my downward spiral into tizzy-dom was instant. Everything on my entire menu possessed the taint of no-no’s. Later that day, when I ran into her at the drug store, I said, with a smile, “You know, Susan, you’re a real pain in the neck.”
To her credit she laughed. “Don’t worry about it, Mary, I’ll bring something. I’ll be fine.”
And, she did. And, she was.
Yes, Readers, I still cringe at that memory. Whether said with a smile or a snarl, it was an unkind remark on several levels. Susan and Steve continued to be dearest of friends and eventually also moved to Aspen. I couldn’t have muddled through the past ten years without them. But I am still groveling and asking forgiveness over something Susan hardly remembers.
Now that I’ve laid myself bare to the world, I feel better. Whew. Case closed.
Ready to serve, in packets, to your guests.
Admittedly, I’ve learn the most from Life’s missteps. Quite soon after that dinner party, I smartened up and vegetables became a food group in my kitchen. My education started with Mollie Katzen’s The Moosewood Cookbook: Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant, followed quickly by Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: Fast and Easy Recipes for Any Day. In 1997 I met Deborah Madison. Her cookbook, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, weighed 4-pounds. There was more knowledge to-the-ounce crammed into that book than I can ever learn.
Today there are a plethora of notable vegetarian cookbooks by cooks such as Madhur Jaffrey, Patricia Wells, Martha Rose Shulman, Mark Bittman, Heidi Swanson, Paula Wolfert and Yotam Ottolenghi. Mainstream cooks like Alice Waters, Louisa Shafia, Thomas Keller, Deb Perelman and our own Dorie Greenspan do wondrously delicious things with vegetables.
My Caprese Salad, with fresh ingredients from the Cambria farmers market.
Caprese Salad by Chef Sean, the brother of my FFWD colleague, Teresa McCarthy
At French Fridays we’ve already featured more than 20 of the 25-or-so vegetable recipes featured in Around my French Table. As I recall, most received a thumbs up. That’s exactly how I feel about this week’s very delicious medley of Baby Bok Choy, Sugar Snaps and Garlic en Papillote. There was no baby bok choy in Cambria’s farmer market so I substituted broccoli rabe. To clean out my fridge before leaving California, I tossed in asparagus and cherry tomatoes. Although En papillote means food cooked in a paper wrapper, Dorie suggests tin foil for this veggie packet.
Farmers Market Fresh
I’ve just pointed out the genius of Dorie and her cookbooks. She gives you a recipe and technique which she has tweaked, expecting you, the home cook, to do the same. After 3 years of French Fridays, watching my Dorista colleagues cleverly put their own variations to hers, I’m trying to move from my by-the-book inclinations. Not going all crazy, just scooting out on that limb in my think-it-over-carefully sort of way.
Her technique, of course, was steaming. Her secret tweak, along with olive oil, was the seasoning. Mint. Orange zest. Salt and pepper. Added also, lotsa baby white onions. Mmmmmm, it was good. Easy to throw together. Served next to a delicious Caprese salad, inspired by colleague Teresa McCarthy’s brother, I had a meal. Leftovers became the inside of next day’s frittata.
The same picture as above manipulated by the Waterlogue App on my iPhone. (Thanks, Tricia)
French Fridays with Dorie is an international cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table. The recipe for this veggie packet is here. To see my colleagues’ bounty this week, check out our FFWD site. For those of you celebrating Easter, have a wonderful week-end with your family and friends.
When cooking at home I usually just make it up as I go. So with FFwD I try to stick to the recipe because then I’m learning Dorie’s combos and this was case in point. Left to my own devices I would not have added mint to this because I don’t usually have it around. So I went to buy it this week and so glad I did as it was my key takeaway and I’ll certainly do this again. I have decided that its just easier to not make friends with vegetarians. This advice comes too late for you, however, so I will offer that up to young adults who are interested in cooking and home entertaining.
OK, and now you are onto Waterlogue. Love it. Here is my secret. Use pictures of people’s babies and pets and then upload them to Shutterfly to make greeting cards for their birthday’s and such. They go crazy. I suppose for you, since you have vegetarian friends, you can take pictures of carrots and Waterlogue them for greeting cards.
LOL…darn those Des Moines vegetarians!! And your use of the word “tin foil” reminded me of my childhood home in the 70’s…aluminum foil was not yet the chosen term. Time to check out Waterlogue (with all my free time ;)).
PS Glad you’ve reversed your stand on veggies.
I enjoyed your blog post. A great stroll down memory lane. Yotam Ottolenghi cookbooks almost make me want to become a vegetarian. His recipes are so beautiful.
These veggie packets were delicious. The Moosewood Cookbooks are some of my favorites. Have a great weekend Mary.
Glad your Vegetable Literacy has improved….I am shocked at your comment to Susan back in the day, but I commend you for your confession to your public. Love the veggies.
As usual, your post makes me smile. Your combo looks wonderful, and I especially like that you used what you could find, at the market or in your fridge. So much better than the Jolly Green Giant. I have many of the vegetarian cookbooks you mentioned. We eat lots of vegetarian meals. That Deborah Madison tome is one of my favorites. I’m definitely going to cave and get Waterlogue. I’ve been tempted since Christy Majors showed it off a few months ago. It might be time. Have a wonderful weekend!
Oh my, love your post! Its a great way to serve steamed vegs!
Your post made me smile. I have also struggled to cobble together dinner menus for friends who are vegetarian, lactose intolerant, allergic to nuts, and various religious dietary restrictions. It’s not always easy, especially if you find out at the last minute! But Dorie is helping us to be a better host for all kinds of guests.
I hope you have an wonderful Easter weekend.
Glad you have now made peace with veges. I did long ago too, after not eating them as a kid. Happy Easter Mary!
I didn’t think vegetarians were legal in the heart of beef country? Surely, there is some local ordinance about that 🙂
I am glad you are working through your veggie guilt.
Happy Easter. XO
Love your post – ah, the things we keep with us for years! I love your combination of ingredients – I would have liked some more flavor to add, but there’s always next time. Oh, and I love waterlogue too – I ended up with one of my photos transformed as my new site heading! (oh, and Trevor, great idea about the cards…)
Happy Easter!
Your veggies look great!
I was a vegetarian for most of my adult life… occasionally having fish and chicken but I never learned how to make interesting dishes with vegetables. Vegetarianism was about healthy not taste back then.. that’s why I’m so excited to learn more about preparing vegetables with River Cottage’s cookbook.
Dear Mary, what a fun read – I always tell my husband that I wish my writing style was better but it is not always easy to kepp up with so many languages but I do lve learning and i do love languages, so, I will just continue reading your blog, maybe II will leran a thing of ´´r two from you…yeah, right…
But back to the basics – I agree that this was a fun technique, cooking vegetables in these little packages keeps flavor and vitamins intact – and your steamed veggies plus that wonderful caprese salad look amazing. I did serve some small lamb chops on the side but they were not the least bit photogenic, so they did not make it into the post.
I would like to take the opportunity to wish you a very happy Easter weekend! – Frohe Ostern!
You completely hit the nail on the head with “the genius of Dorie and her cookbooks. She gives you a recipe and technique which she has tweaked, expecting you, the home cook, to do the same”. This is why I love Dorie’s book 🙂 And watching what we all do each week with the recipes!
I loved reading your post Mary! And I am happy you liked this recipe…one more testimonial about how good this very simple recipe is!
Lovely post Mary! Did you know, that Patricia Wells stated in an article for the Huff Post that when she was selected as a food writer for the NY Times, her editor told her….”You don’t have to eat meat, just say you do,” but I like to say I’m the only person who gave up vegetarianism for their career.” I love that line!
I never got around to making this although I love veggies. I plan on a make up this week. I had my hands full trying to keep up with my three grandchildren! This week things return to normal!
What do you think of the green veal stew? I’ll only be making enough for me, I know Bill won’t even give it a try…it’s the green thing!
I know what you mean. Montana winters also did not leave a bevy of fresh produce to experiment with, and I remember all our veggies coming from a can or freezer growing up. We are really fortunate in California to have so many wonderful year round options!