Ja Jang Myun

Last night I made Ja Jang Myun aka Korean Noodles with Black Bean Sauce. The closest recipe to what I used that I could find online is from Beyond Kimchee. I use a recipe I printed out, so I'm unsure of the source.
In any case, since we're vegetarian, we forego the meat and do not opt for the oyster sauce. Also, Ebon doesn't like the chunky vegetables as much, so I try to pare those down as well - but I like them so usually there are more than he likes anyway.
I purchase my black bean paste or jajang [I've also seen chun(choon?)jang] and fresh noodles  at the Korean market, either Reliable Market in Union Square or H Mart.
I've initially followed the recipe - frying the bean paste, but I have an issue with the residue it leave in the pan, and then I feel like it burns the potatoes etc. So now, I saute the veggies first, then I fry the black bean paste with the sugar, then add in the soft veggies, then the water and cornstarch mix.
While this is going on, the water is boiling and noodles cooking.
The noodles go in big bowls then the sauce gets spooned on top of that. I've garnished it with some green onions if you want to be fancy. The dish is usually served with pickled radish (daikon?)- the yellow pickles that are fairly sweet.
Yum! Ebon seems to prefer the store-bought version because I put too many veggies in mine. He'll deal!

Lentil, Potato and Chard stew

We have had an abundant CSA share this week, so I'm scrambling to cook everything before it goes bad. Last night I made Lentil, Potato and Chard stew based on THIS recipe I found on epicurious.com
I added and subtracted items as I had things on hand, for me the ingredient list looked more like this:

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 8 garlic scapes, chopped
• 1/2 medium Ailsa Craig onion with green parts, roughly chopped
• 3 cups water with 2 heaping teaspoons of Korean "bullion"
• 1 cup lentils, rinsed, picked over
• 3 "small" red-skinned potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pepper to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 a large bunch of chard, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

I also added a bit of water at the end for the desired consistency. I thought it turned out great and I'm really glad I added the cumin, I think that added the right spice punch. And we got to use up onion, potato and chard from the share. On to Cabbage - so much to use up!

Beet and Arugula Salad with Baked Tempeh

I'm trying to go through the veggies I got in our CSA share before we get the next one. The veggies are all wonderful, but it's a weekly struggle to figure out what to make. Earlier this week, I used the kale in a smoothie. It was the Tuscan kale, and I realized I really prefer that in sautes or in the greens gratin. It is a little too stringy/hearty for smoothies - or I need to remove the ribs/stem.
Anyway, on to tonight's meal. Overall, it took a bit longer than I expected. I decided that we needed a beet and arugula salad with beets from the CSA and arugula from the garden. I popped both red and golden beets in the oven to roast at 450degF before I walked to the garden with Leela on my back and Spartacus on leash. The arugula was going a bit crazy and most if it has started to bolt, to heck with it, I still used it. I also picked one head of lettuce, as it was ready and I knew that Ebon wasn't too keen on an entire salad with arugula - "too bitter" he says.
I got back and the largest beet still wasn't done, so I decided to make candied walnuts. The recipe I found online was pretty easy.
I did some more searching and based my salad recipe loosely on Giada's Beet and Goat Cheese Arugula salad. Of course, I made some changes based on our serving size and what was on hand.
I skipped the shallots and just went with red wine vinegar and olive oil for the dressing, which I only used about half of. I used about 2 cups of lettuce torn and about 2 cups of arugula torn, stems from the leggy almost-bolted leaves removed. I threw in a handful or about 1/4 cup of the candied walnuts and skipped the dried cranberries. I tossed the lettuce mix with the dressing, walnuts and then added the beets, which I peeled and chopped, and the goat cheese (I used an herbed version).
Also while waiting for the beets to finish, I used a fork to poke holes in a block of tempeh and marinated it with soy sauce, sesame oil and vinegar. I stuck it in the oven with the beets for about 20-25 min.

When everything was finally done around 8pm, we all ate with gusto. I thought everything turned out great, but I would definitely try to do a bunch of the steps before hand, so I could just toss things together in the end.

Creamy Pesto Tortellini

I threw together dinner last night in about 30 min.
Store bought cheese tortellini
3 basil cubes (from the garden last year, blended with a bit of water and olive oil then frozen in ice cube trays)
a splash of heavy cream (probably ~1/4 cup)
~1/3 tomato coarsely chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Served with steamed snow peas.

The heavy cream was a nice touch and made the pesto creamy. Leftovers got drier and drier though.