Roasted

Billowing smoke is almost never a good sign.
"Dammit Ian, what have I told you about watching things under the broiler??" Joy hurriedly flew into the kitchen to grab the now burning cauliflower from inside the oven. She couldn't quite remember what it was that she forgot, was it the towel, was it the heat itself? As the nearly 500 degree pan began sizzling against her skin, Joy had to make a decision. Was it time to drop the tray of veggies and panic or hold on long enough to throw it in the sink? Turning her head in a fraction of a second, she saw with a rising anger that the sink was indeed full of dishes.
"AAHHH!! WHAT THE HELL?!"

Ian tried to stay still. An angry girl pouting on the floor surrounded by burned vegetables with a hand now sporting second degree burns is not usually a precursor to peaceful interactions. She threw a blackened chunk at the dog in protest as he began snacking on the periphery. The dog was undeterred, snacking instead on the improvised projectile. Joy wouldn't make up her mind what kind of face she would make as she began to look up at her frightened boyfriend.
"Are you going to help?" she asked, looking up at him with a look of contempt. "Get some Neosporin or something... get out of this damn kitchen!" she pointed away with a now burnt finger.

Relieved to be released or at least dismissed from ground zero, Ian made his way to the bathroom cupboard. He was grumpily thinking to himself, 'She expects me to be a line cook or something, can't I just make mistakes sometimes?' With a little bit of courage, Ian gathered the burn remedy materials and made his way back to the kitchen. The dog was just about done with cleaning up the floor and Joy was already seasoning some more sliced and chopped veggies to be put under the broiler. The look of grim determination on her face while mixing the foods was tinted with a definite shade of gentle earnestness, like it always is when cooking.

Some people find peace and serenity in exercise, others in Beethoven, Joy found it in food. No matter how distracted and angry she could get, inevitably chasing the dragon of perfection in cuisine brought all her focus and intellectual stability in check. When she checked the flavor of the roasting spices, it was almost like she could internally dip her hands into a bowl of flavors and play with them like a child plays with Legos. Building flavor over flavor until she forms just the right shape... something was missing. Like a big window in a building, spiciness would add the right warmth and depth to the flavor profile, Joy added a tablespoon of crushed red pepper to the mixture and tossed it all onto a roasting pan.

Roasted Cauliflower

3 c. raw cauliflower cut into chunks no bigger than a walnut
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. crushed red pepper, more if you like
1 tsp. garlic powder

1. Preheat broiler to 500 F
2. Toss all ingredients into a bowl, toss until thoroughly mixed
3. Place the mixture in an even layer on a roasting pan, any size will do as long as there is enough space for everything to fit in one even layer
4. Roast until only very very lightly charred on top, about 10 minutes

Everton, VA

"But is there enough room?" Ian asked, as they devoured the salad rolls. It was their last spring at University, and he worried where they were possibly going to hold the graduation party his and Joy's parents so dearly wanted. She from the arts school, he from business, they both played music and found each other during a kickball game in front of the music building several Octobers ago. It was only a slight wonder among their friends, Joy was their collective vision of beauty, Ian less so. But he had a fabulous air of serenity and command; the girls would say to each other when he couldn't hear that Ian could charm the horns off of the devil himself if he wanted. Each one privately hoped it would be them, while every man not so quietly hoped to be able to charm Joy.

"No..." Joy nervously toyed with the gentle white of the carefully boiled egg on her plate. "It'll have to be your place." She shrugged, "I guess there's no real reason not to." Pleased with the apparent end of the discussion, Joy grabbed several more slices of carrot, dried cranberries, almonds and seared tuna. Delicately she placed each element into the large pliable leaf before folding in a dainty touch of creamy dressing. Staring into nowhere in particular, she chewed and sighed. She had stopped wondering about Ian's now old choice to not eat meat, and instead now tried to take that much more pleasure in the carnivorous treats that money and time permitted. Ian, of course, added that much more cranberry and dressing to the rolls that he consumed like krill towards the belly of a whale.

The sun was setting over the identical student apartments, and the flowers in front of apartment #180 wilted ever so slightly from thirst. In a similar way, with his stomach again full and his beautiful girlfriend by his side, Ian managed to worry about his future. How can you celebrate graduation without a job, he wondered. His parents had always told him to keep his pleasures on the side and study something decent and industrial. 'Even if you're happy, you've got to pay the bills,' they told him. Now he understood their worry. With fewer and fewer jobs available after the economic crash, it didn't seem to help that he understood the economic mechanics of it. After discussing their very last finals schedules with each other, Ian and Joy set about preparing for the worst.

Spring Salad Rolls

1 head rollable bibb lettuce, picked and washed
1 cleaned carrot, cut into 1/8in. by 1/8in. sticks
1/2 c. dried and sweetened cranberries
3-4 medium-hard boiled eggs (softly boiled for 8.5-9.5 minutes)
1/2 lb. fresh tuna loin (really fresh and good quality - do NOT take anything remotely questionable)
2 tbsp. honey
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
Sesame seeds
3 cloves garlic, sliced paper thin
1 lemon
1/2 c. mayonnaise
salt
pepper

Soy-marinated tuna

• This soy-based tuna marinade is great for use in stir fries or marinating any meat, also good for mixing with sesame oil and a tiny bit of rice wine vinegar for an asian-inspired vinagrette.
  
• Mix together the soy sauce, ginger and 1 1/2 cloves of garlic, then toss around the tuna. It only needs about 1-2 hours to marinate sufficiently.
  
• Heat a non-stick pan to medium-high heat, and take your tuna out of the marinade to dry off with paper towels. Sprinkle the tuna all over with sesame seeds, then place into the hot pan. Allow to sear on each side until it appears nearly blackened, repeat until the entire piece is covered with a delicious dark sear. It will be basically completely raw on the inside. You want this, it is delicious. Once you have allowed it to rest for 3 minutes, slice thin.

The rolls

• These rolls are particularly great in the spring when the farmer's markets return, and you can buy some remaining root vegetables and lots of fresh greens
• Mix together the mayo with the remaining 1 1/2 cloves of garlic and juice of one lemon. Season to taste with a good 1/2 tsp of salt and several grinds of somewhat course black pepper. This is a delicious refreshing dressing to be used on any kind of salad.
  
• Cut the eggs into quarters lengthwise, then arrange the ingredients to your diet style and taste preference on a base of two layered salad leaves, then roll and munch.
  

An Introduction

When my sister told us she wanted to become a vegetarian, it was a surprise to the whole family. When I started dating my girlfriend, I had a fair warning. Either way, as a serious foodie, I am daily presented with the problem of simultaneously satisfying my own omnivorous ways and those of my veggie-vore loved ones.

Omnivorous people, big and small, are generally pleased by a meal centered around a major dish, and that dish is often the meat. Without that major dish, a meal can seem incomplete or unsatisfying unless each of the sides is done with remarkable precision and incredible taste. In the same way, it can be very disappointing to go out to a nice restaurant and have the chef serve Bethany a plate obviously covered in a selection of sides. I would wager that most of the time a vegetarian will not be offered any major dish by a non-vegetarian, and that’s a shame. Regardless of whether or not I want to eat the same way, I love my vegetarians and I want to make sure they enjoy their meals every bit as much as I do.

My kitchen is a multivorous kitchen, which just means that I try to cook meals that are satisfying to omnivores and herbivores alike. I find that when cooking meat and feeding my vegetarian, there are two general ways to create a meal: to either cook the meat as a totally separate and distinct dish, or to cook a common base to the meal and cut it in half at some point to add meat to one part. These categories can also be further refined. For the separate distinct dishes, you can have the meat as a side to the common vegetarian major dish (bacon on the side of pancakes), or there can be the more labor intensive two distinct major dishes (roast turkey and seared marinated tofu). For the common base approach, the first sub-method is preparing something that could be served on its own and adding meat or not (sandwiches). The second option is to prepare a dish part-way and finish the dish separately as vegetarian and not (two chilis).



With these ideas in mind, let's explore the Multivorous Kitchen and show some love for our veggie companions!