serving & menu ideas
Serve with crackers, bread, or crudités. Make into a sandwich with multigrain bread, tomato slices, and lettuce. Serve alongside Greek Salad topped with Peppercorn Citrus Marinated Feta and include a bowl of Asparagus Avgolemono for a Greek-style feast.
sicilian chickpea spread
At Moosewood Restaurant, we’re always coming up with new bean spreads. Here’s a multipurpose, hummus-like spread, enhanced with rich creamy pine nuts, roasted red peppers, and fresh basil.
YIELDS 2 CUPS
TIME: 15 MINUTES
⅓ cup toasted pine nuts
1 15-ounce can of chickpeas, drained
1 large canned roasted red pepper
1 garlic clove
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
⅓ cup packed fresh basil leaves
¼ teaspoon salt
generous pinch of black pepper
Place all of the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and whirl for 2 or 3 minutes, until light and creamy.
serving & menu ideas
For a quick dinner, toss with hot, just-drained pasta and add chopped tomatoes or steamed vegetables. Make extra spread so that you can serve it later with bread or crackers or with vegetable sticks. This spread also makes a great sandwich with lettuce and tomatoes.
bean & walnut spread
This nutty bean purée is inspired by lobio, a marinated bean salad from the Georgian Republic.
YIELDS 3 CUPS
TIME: 15 MINUTES
1 cup toasted walnuts
1 28-ounce can of red kidney beans (or 2 15-ounce cans), rinsed and drained
2 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed
5 scallions, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
In the bowl of a food processor, grind the nuts until they make a smooth paste. Add the beans, garlic, about half of the scallions, the dill, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper and purée until quite smooth.
Serve at room temperature or chilled, in a bowl or on a bed of greens, topped with the remaining scallions. This purée can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days. It loses a bit of its tang overnight, so add a little more vinegar to taste.
serving & menu ideas
Some of us love Bean & Walnut Spread as part of a composed salad: Serve it on a bed of greens with hard-boiled eggs, Beet Salad, creamy Broccoli Slaw, and rye bread. And it’s a fine sandwich spread, with lettuce and tomatoes, or dressed up with roasted red peppers, hard-boiled eggs, or pickles. It’s an excellent snack or appetizer with crudités and/or crackers or bread.
spicy peanut sauce
A rich and versatile sauce that can be used to make many delightful suppers. Triple the recipe so you’ll have leftovers.
YIELDS ¾ CUP
TIME: 5 MINUTES
⅓ cup peanut butter, smooth or chunky
⅓ cup warm water or apple juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1½ tablespoons cider vinegar
½ teaspoon Chinese chili paste or Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce (optional)
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil (optional)
In a small bowl, whisk or stir all of the ingredients until smooth.
variations
PINEAPPLE PEANUT SAUCE
In a saucepan, bring to a simmer a cup of canned crushed pineapple and stir in the Spicy Peanut Sauce ingredients, omitting the water (yields about 1½ cups).
AFRICAN PEANUT SAUCE
In a saucepan, bring a cup of canned diced tomatoes to a simmer and stir in the Spicy Peanut Sauce ingredients, omitting the water and sesame oil (yields about 1½ cups).
SOUTHEAST ASIAN PEANUT SAUCE
Use coconut milk instead of water.
serving & menu ideas
Here are a few ideas to inspire you:
• Serve baked fish or tofu on rice with steamed vegetables, such as carrots, broccoli, zucchini, sweet potatoes, cabbage, or snow peas, topped with Spicy Peanut Sauce.
• Top a bed of rice with steamed spinach or cabbage, shredded raw carrots, and Spicy Peanut Sauce.
• Drizzle warm Spicy Peanut Sauce on a salad of spinach or spring mix topped with cucumbers, celery, and tomatoes.
• Dress coleslaw with Pineapple Peanut Sauce for an unusual and delicious side dish.
• Stir African Peanut Sauce into white beans, black-eyed peas, or field peas and chopped cooked collards or other greens for a delicious one-pot meal.
• Pour Southeast Asian Peanut Sauce over rice noodles or linguine topped with mung bean sprouts and/or cucumber slices. Great with Easy Baked Tofu.
Cherry Shortbread Crumble
fruit & cheese plates
Perfectly ripe fresh fruit is one the simplest and most enjoyable ways to end a meal. It’s effortless, healthful, and satisfying, especially when paired with cheese, its classic partner. Fresh fruit is best when it’s in season locally. In fact, when strawberries finally appear at the farm stand, they’re usually our first consideration in planning a menu: What would be a good supper to have before we eat the strawberries?
To create a cheese platter to serve alone or with fruit at the end of a meal, select cheeses with a range of tastes from delicate, mild, and buttery, to strong, rich, and nutty, to salty, sharp, and pungent. Choose a balance of textures from soft and voluptuous to hard and crumbly. Traditionally, a cheese course moves from mild cheeses to sharp to rich, but for the simplest presentation, arrange cheeses together on a platter with crackers (try crackers seasoned with pepper or rosemary) or thin slices of baguette. A few walnuts and a glass of port might be welcome also.
Some of our favorite ideas for simple fruit and cheese plates are:
• grapes with Gorgonzola, Brie, or Stilton
• cherries with nutty Gruyère or Emmental
• goat cheese with clementines or fresh or dried apricots, dates, or figs
• feta or ricotta salata with watermelon and cantaloupe
• pears with Roquefort, Taleggio, or Manchego and toasted walnuts or pine nuts
• plump dates with aged Parmigiano-Reggiano or with mascarpone and toasted walnuts or almonds
• a blue cheese surrounded with slices of oranges or Asian pears
• fresh figs or strawberries with thin wedges of Tuscan Pecorino or Pecorino Romano drizzled with honey and olive oil and sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper
• In the fall
