Queezle_Sister's Reviews
11 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 11Sort by: Title 
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Mollie Katzen's Vegetable Heaven: Over 200 Recipes for Uncommon Soups, Tasty Bites, Side Dishes, and Too Many Desserts
By Mollie Katzen
Hyperion - 1997
Balsamic Drizzle : page 172
This recipe is Balsamic reduction, nothing more. But if you don't know how to make it, this will tell you. Yum.
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An unlikely combination that tastes amazing together!
Sweet onions are sauteed, a lot of greens tossed in (I used kale, beet greens, and a bit of swiss chard), and then sour cherries. I used frozen sour cherries purchased from a local farm. The bite that included all three tastes were amazing.
Note that my opinion does not represent the entire family. Thirteen daughter did not like this at all.
Mollie Katzen likes this dish so much, she included the recipe in "Vegetable Dishes I cannot Live Without", and I am placing this review in both cookbooks.
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Cherry Upside-Down Gingerbread : page 180
Preparation is like for an upside-down cake, with brown sugar, butter, cherries and nuts on the bottom of the pan, with a cake baked on top. However, I cannot imagine inverting an 11 X 13 inch pan!
The cake was very flavorful, with grated ginger root and a host of the usual spice cake spices. Another 1/3 C candied ginger ensured the cake had a kick. There was very little sweetener in the cake, and so getting a bite that included the spicy cake with the sour cherry/brown sugar was a wonderful contrast.
It I make again, I will grate the ginger with a finer grater. The cake is rather stiff - I put in into the pan in spoonfulls, and didn't spread it (as this would disturb the cherry layer). It was a touch dry, but I ran out of butter and skimped 2T, so the dryness was probably my fault.
It was a good use for sour cherries, which I need to use up (get out of my freezer) before summer is here again!
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Chickpea and Sweet Potato Koftas : page 79
Nice flavor - ginger and toasted cumin seeds - enrobed in a matrix of chick pea and sweet potato. These went together easily, and the well seasoned patties contrasted nicely with the sweet whole peas.
The instructions suggest that the mashed vegetables might be stiff - but lacked instruction on the firmness we were looking for. Mine ended up like mashed potatoes. I added an extra 2T flour, and probably should have added more. Couldn't form patties with my hands, so just spread them in the frying pan. They cooked up nicely, no sticking to the pan.
We served these with a dollop of plain yogurt, and everybody enjoyed them.
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Chickpea Soup with Golden Spices : page 34
An easy and delicious soup, perfect for a cool winter day. I prepared chickpeas in my pressure cooker (always better than canned), and it took about another hour to sautée onions, garlic, carrots, etc. The soup is spiced with cumin, mustard, cayenne, and a bit of saffron. This gave it a delightful golden color (hence the name). I did add the optional tahini, and the optional drizzle of sesame oil at serving. As with most soups, this was even better the next day.
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Lots of vegetables in a tasty egg matrix - easy, nutritious, and delicious.
This recipe helps to use up all that swiss chard - the fresh rosemary gave it a great flavor. I usually put cheese on top of a frittata, but this recipe has goat cheese mixed in. It worked really well - so lots of bites had good goat gooiness.
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This was pretty - I used red bell peppers - and I love white beans for their creamy texture. I used only a small amount of Jalapeno pepper - it added flavor but not too much heat. And for the olives, I used Kalamata. The flavor was good - but not great. It might be improved with some feta cheese, or some additional spices.
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Delicious baked pasta dish - and pretty easy to make. Don't omit the "Balsamic Drizzle".
A few cooking notes: The initial oven roasting of the onions called for 5 minutes at 375, but it didn't seem long enough. I roasted the onions for 15 minutes before I added the asparagus - to have somewhat crunchy asparagus and soft onions. The top layer seemed somewhat dry - you don't add much liquid. I was worried when I was serving it, but it tasted fine.
The recipe calls for bread crumbs on top. I used panko. The crumbs were supposed to be brown between 10 and 15 minutes, but after 15 minutes, they were still really quite white.
Bites that included the balsamic, pasta, and vegetables were so amazing.
Recipe claims this can be prepared in 30 minutes, with 10 minutes of work. It took me 45 minutes plus additional baking time (so 60 minutes total).
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Roasted Asparagus or Mushrooms : page 98
This simple set of instructions was flawless for some nice narrow spring asparagus. Can't vouch for its applicability to mushrooms, though.
The asparagus is rolled through a small drizzle of olive oil This method was great - it prevented there being too much oil. The timing was perfect, too - crunchy in the middle still, be slightly cooked. Kids and adults alike wolfed it down.
For thicker spears, you might need another couple minutes.
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Roasted Carrots : page 98
Simple roasting of carrots is outlined here. I followed the instructions except that I also added cumin. My carrots took more like 40 minutes (instead of the suggested 30). I love roasted carrots!
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Roasted Onions : page 96
I prepared roasted Vidallia onions, and generally followed the instructions here. The exception is that I did peel them - couldn't imagine roasting with the skin - but maybe its a good idea. My onions took about 25 minutes at the suggested 375˚F.
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