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boilingwater2012-02-26 12:46 pm
jjhunter) wrote in boilingwater2012-02-26 12:46 pm
Entry tags:
What to Cook For Dinner? The Vegetable Dilemna
Hey all--
I'm signed up to cook with my friend D- at the Co-op tonight, and I'm not sure what I want to do for our two vegetable dishes. (For starch we're doing wheat rolls, for protein some kind of chili.) To give you some context, we're cooking for 25 - 35, and the cook's assistant will be making a basic salad of some kind. We usually start cooking ~3pm EST (i.e. in about 2 hours as of this post) and serve dinner at 6:30pm.
What we currently have ingredients-wise in the walk-in refrigerator:
Assuming as you should that we've got all the usual kitchen basics (e.g. onions + garlic + various oils) and then some, any suggestions? Both D- and I are good cooks; sometimes we do fancy dishes, sometimes simple, but in general we like to bring out what's uniquely delicious about particular ingredients (as opposed to drowning them in batter or otherwise masking the taste.) My default would be grilling the brussels sprouts with a little veggie oil and sautéing the zucchini, but I'm in the mood to do something different - I just don't know what.
ETA: For those interested, I did do the beet burger recipe several nights later. Here's the aftermath report in a comment thread.
I'm signed up to cook with my friend D- at the Co-op tonight, and I'm not sure what I want to do for our two vegetable dishes. (For starch we're doing wheat rolls, for protein some kind of chili.) To give you some context, we're cooking for 25 - 35, and the cook's assistant will be making a basic salad of some kind. We usually start cooking ~3pm EST (i.e. in about 2 hours as of this post) and serve dinner at 6:30pm.
What we currently have ingredients-wise in the walk-in refrigerator:
- some kind of yellow-hued squash with skin as tough as pumpkin -- maybe spaghetti squash?
- parsnips
- beets
- carrots
- lemons
- grapefruit
- okra - tagged 'use me!'
- zucchini
- celery
- brussels sprouts
- eggplant [we had this last night, so I'd rather not use this as a primary ingredient]
Assuming as you should that we've got all the usual kitchen basics (e.g. onions + garlic + various oils) and then some, any suggestions? Both D- and I are good cooks; sometimes we do fancy dishes, sometimes simple, but in general we like to bring out what's uniquely delicious about particular ingredients (as opposed to drowning them in batter or otherwise masking the taste.) My default would be grilling the brussels sprouts with a little veggie oil and sautéing the zucchini, but I'm in the mood to do something different - I just don't know what.
ETA: For those interested, I did do the beet burger recipe several nights later. Here's the aftermath report in a comment thread.
no subject
How about -- if you do have spaghetti squash on your hands, boiling that whole and then scraping the insides out with a fork to get the spaghetti consistency.
In the mean time, slice the carrots, zucchini, celery and eggplant into small bite-sized pieces and saute with olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Mix in the spaghetti squash when the rest of the veggies are cooked (carrots and celery being harder probably need more cook time and should be done first before adding the softer stuff). Mix altogether and, before serving, sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top (I prefer fresh grated Parmesan myself).
That would be a take-off on the Italian fried spaghetti that I love so much.
Just a suggestion from my caffeine deprived mind... :)
no subject
That sounds pretty darn amazing. Only tricky thing would be that that would count as one dish, not two...maybe I'd do the brussels sprouts as the second one.
no subject
Good luck with your dinner! :)
no subject