THE CHINA STUDY QUICK & EASY COOKBOOK (24 page)
Read THE CHINA STUDY QUICK & EASY COOKBOOK Online
Authors: Del Sroufe
My mom is a great made-from-scratch cook, but my dad had to learn how to cook after my parents divorced in 1967, so many of Dad’s early dinners came out of a box. Scalloped potatoes was one of those dishes. This version of one of my favorite comfort foods does not come from a box, but is almost as easy as any boxed version—and much healthier.
3 pounds Yukon gold or red skin potatoes, scrubbed and thinly sliced
2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
sea salt and black pepper to taste
1 recipe Saffron Cream (
p. 65
)
1.
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2.
Add the potatoes to a pot with water to cover and cook over medium heat for 5–6 minutes, until the potatoes are just tender. Do not overcook them since they will finish cooking in the oven.
3.
While the potatoes cook, sauté the onions over medium heat until they are lightly browned and tender, about 10 minutes.
4.
Add half of the potatoes to a 9 × 13 baking dish. Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper to taste.
5.
Pour half of the Saffron Cream over the potatoes. Top with the remaining potatoes, season with sea salt and black pepper again, and spread the rest of the Saffron Cream over the potatoes.
6.
Sprinkle the cooked onions over the sauce. Bake for 25 minutes, until bubbly.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS 
Think of this dish as an east-meets-west kind of romance. The popular, quick-cooking quinoa from South America meets the classic Mediterranean spice saffron. The two pair nicely in this easy-to-prepare dish, but you could also use cooked brown rice. It’s just that quinoa cooks faster. Saffron is the world’s most expensive spice, so you might save this dish for a special occasion. Everyone will think you spent all day on it, but I won’t tell if you don’t.
2 cups water
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
sea salt and black pepper to taste
1 recipe Saffron Cream (
p. 65
)
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen peas
1 large zucchini, diced
1.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2.
Bring the water to a boil and add the quinoa. Reduce the heat to medium, and cook, covered, for 15 minutes, until the quinoa is tender and all the water is absorbed. Season with sea salt and black pepper.
3.
Add the cooked quinoa to an 8 × 8 square baking dish with the remaining ingredients. Bake for 20 minutes, until bubbly.
Tomato, Corn, and Fresh Basil Soup
Sweet Potato and Red Pepper Soup
MAKES 6 SERVINGS 
I am not usually a fan of cooked carrots unless they are part of a rich thick stew or pureed with ginger as in this recipe.
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
5–6 cups vegetable stock
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger or ¾ teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 bay leaf
2 10-ounce bags frozen carrots
1 teaspoon sea salt
black pepper to taste
chopped chives for garnish (optional)
1.
Combine the onion, celery, 5 cups of the vegetable stock, ginger, garlic, and bay leaf in a large soup pot over medium-high heat and cook for 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
2.
Add the frozen carrots and cook for 5 minutes.
3.
Season with sea salt and black pepper and cook for another 5 minutes.
4.
Remove the bay leaf from the pot, and puree the soup directly in the pot using an immersion blender or in batches with a blender.
5.
Add the remaining cup of vegetable stock if the soup is too thick. Taste to add more salt if needed.
6.
Serve garnished with the chopped chives.
TIP
If you want to use fresh carrots instead of frozen, you will need about 4 large carrots, peeled and thinly sliced, and cooked with the onion and celery.
MAKES 4 SERVINGS