Kefir and Dijon Mashed Potatoes Slice potatoes into small, regularly sized pieces so that they will cook through evenly at the same time and add to salted boiling water. (Always leave the skin on potatoes.) Add a few peeled cloves of garlic. When the potatoes are
tender, drain and transfer them to a large mixing bowl which contains cubes of butter and bit of kefir. (Pour the pot into a
colander resting atop of a stock pot in order to use the cooking water. Inside the stock pot are the remnants of the ingredients from the other dishes.) If you have a
friend, ask him or her to start mashing the potatoes and garlic cloves while you add the seasonings. If not, then you will have to do it yourself and just stop from time to time and add them then.
Season the potatoes with a few dollops of Dijon mustard,
turmeric, rosemary, sea salt, and fresh black pepper. As the potatoes mash and the seasonings are
incorporated, continue to add kefir to moisten them.
Garnish the potatoes with a small dab of kefir. You do not need to serve
butter with this dish.
Onion and Leek Soup
Roughly chop equal portions of white onion, Peruvian sweet onion, and celery. Include any leaves at the the heart of the celery. In a large soup pot, sauté the white onion in extra virgin olive oil, then add the Peruvian onion, then finally the celery. When the fragrance of the celery rises, add hot vegetable stock. Bring to a boil. Add a drained and rinsed tin of white kidney beans. Season the soup with a bit of butter, salt, fresh black pepper, basil and herbs de Provence. (This is commonly a mixture of basil, fennel seed, lavender, marjoram, rosemary, sage, summer savory and thyme. Authentic herbs de Provence will not contain lavender but it is a nice flavour to have.)
Mixed Pepper Fritata
Seed and remove the spines from green, yellow and red bell peppers and poblano chiles. Slice them into equal sized pieces. Sear the peppers in a mixture of extra virgin olive oil and butter and season with salt and pepper. Loosely beat however many eggs are appropriate. When the peppers are seared, pour the beaten eggs over top. Tip the pan back and forth so that all of the spaces between the peppers are filled and turn the heat down. Season again with salt and pepper, a touch of basil and quite a bit of oregano. When the eggs are almost set, put the pan under a salamander or in a hot oven to finish the surface of the fritata. Loosen the fritata from the pan by passing a spatula under and around its rim and slide out onto a cutting board. (Or you could loosen it and put a cutting board over the pan and flip them both.) Let cool slightly and cut into wedges with a pizza wheel. Fritata are also excellent served at room temperature.
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