The Quigley Family Cookbook

Archive for the ‘vegetarian’ Category

It’s kind of a “garbage” soup, meaning you can put pretty much any vegetable you like in it. The base is potato, onion, and water. Julia Child’s version uses four parts potato to three parts onion, but Mom never used that much onion. I normally use around six big potatoes and one large onion. Mom’s secret, which I always follow, is to also use one small- to medium-sized white turnip. It adds a little sweetness. Don’t use yellow turnips; they’ll turn it treacly. I add a carrot or two for color. But if you want only white soup, you can skip it. If you use any other vegetables, use them in very limited quantity, to keep the basic character of the potage. And don’t use parsnip: I tried once, and it makes it gummy.

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cooking Time: 60-75 minutes
• Servings: 8

Ingredients

Directions

Serving Notes

Serve it with bread and salad, and you have a dinner. Some vegetables (like cauliflower) invite cheese. It keeps fine for a few days.

It’s really all very simple. So go to it and Bonne Chance. Love, giselle.

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cooking Time: 20 minutes
• Servings: 4

Ingredients

Directions

1. Slice the onions in thin slices.
2. Saute (until golden) in butter. When they have une jolie coleur (nice color) (depends what you call “une jolie coleur” of course, but they mean nice and golden, not brown) add the water and a little salt.
3. Let the melange boil for a few minutes.
4. Pour into a “soupiere” or something oven proof. Place the thin slices of dry or toasted bread covered with grated cheese on top of the soup.
5. Put in hot oven until cheese is melted and gratine (golden) — usually a few minutes.

Alternate Method

You may find this way a little easier than the other way. You can make the soup ahead of time as well as the croutons and just heat the soup and pour over the croutons when you are about to eat. Make sure it’s nice and hot.

1. Start out same as above but when onions are golden, stir in a tbsp of flour that you let become golden brown (it means over slow fire).
2. Add 1/2 ltr milk and 1/2 ltr water.
3. Stir well, let boil a few minutes (4 or 5) and pour on fried croutons (you can buy croutons [plain not with garlic or other stuff] and fry them in butter in advance).

This isn’t a recipe but rather a meal idea. Switzerland, where I live, has a fairly restrained indigenous cuisine. The dish most outsiders know is fondue. There is also something called raclette, which involves melting a special kind of cheese and eating that with boiled potatoes and pickled vegetables.

Raclette is actually delicious. But it requires an apparatus to melt and scrape the cheese. That means somebody is stuck doing the melting, and everybody else is sort of waiting. It’s hard to tuck in and eat.

There’s a variation on the theme where you just boil a lot of potatoes (in their jackets), keep them warm in a cloth-lined basket, then set out some cheeses, maybe one pickle or salad-type dish, and a plate of flavorful grapes. You can dress the meal up with wine or dress it down with cider. The simplicity is part of the charm. It’s terrific for entertaining because the food doesn’t get in the way of conversation. You can assemble it in a hurry, and scale it up easily. And there’s hardly anything to clean up.

The potatoes should be medium-sized. I like raclette potatoes (apparently also called nicola potatoes), which have yellow flesh and a lovely taste. The hard part is picking the cheeses. You want a mix that is interesting. At one such meal we were served Brie de Meaux, Tendre Bûche Chavroux (goat cheese), Cambozola (a German cheese with a little bit of blue cheese mixed in), and one or two local Swiss hard cheeses. A few weeks ago, people we were visiting brought out a small round wooden box containing an orange-crusted cheese that was so creamy you had to scoop it out with a spoon. It’s called Vacherin Mont d’Or, and it was sublime. I don’t know if you can get it in the States.

This simple, hearty dish was a favorite of my father’s to prepare. It easy and fast to make, feeds a family, and may be even tastier as a leftover. I’ve never known anyone who hasn’t enjoyed it. The original recipe includes meat, but you can make a vegetarian version that remains filling and flavorful enough to satisfy any meat-lover.

•  Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Baking Time: 30 minutes
• Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 16 oz boxes of elbow macaroni
• 2 lbs hamburger
• 1 lb sliced American cheese
• 2-4  medium cloves garlic (minced)
• 2 28 oz cans whole tomatoes
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 1/4 stick butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Other Necessaries

• Casserole dish approx 10″ x 16″ x 3″
• Cover for dish or aluminum foil

Instructions

1. Boil the noodles, following directions for al dente. When done, place in colander and spray with cool water to halt cooking. Allow to drain and cool.
2. Crumble the hamburger into a heated sauté pan. Cook over medium heat for several minutes until light brown, taking care not to overcook. When done, place cooked meat in a colander to drain off grease.
3. Clean any grease out of the sauté pan and add and heat the olive oil. Add the onion and then a little later the garlic. Sautee until the onion is translucent.
4. Add the hamburger to the onion/garlic mix and cook for an another minute or two, tossing and mixing the ingredients to distribute the flavors. Do not over cook. Remove the pan from the heat.
5. Preheat oven the 350 degrees.
6. In a large stock pot or mixing bowl, add the cooked noodles and the onion/garlic/hamburger mix. Add the salt and pepper.
7. Use a knife or your hands cut or tear the whole tomatoes into dice-sized (or slightly larger) chunks and add to the mix. Or you can just squeeze them in your fists after adding them to the bowl.) Also pour in the juice from the cans. Toss all ingredients with a spoon, mixing well.
8. Butter the bottom and sides of the casserole dish. Add half of the mixture to the dish. Use a spatula or spoon to spread it evenly over the bottom and compress it lightly.
9. Cover the entire surface of the casserole with slices of cheese. Then pour in and distribute the rest of the mix, and cover it with cheese as well.
10. Cover the casserole with a lid or aluminum foil and place in the over. Create a little space between the foil and the casserole so that the cheese doesn’t stick to it when it melts.
11. After 20 minutes, remove the cover, reduce hear to 325, and cook an additional 5 minutes or until top is nicely browned.

Preparation/Cooking Notes

• For best consistency, when boiling the noodles, boil one minute less than the noodles’ al dente instructions call for (the subsequent baking will make up for this). Over-boiling will result in a mushy casserole.
• For best results, allow the noodles to dry completely before mixing with the other ingredients.  You can even cook them a day ahead of time. Doing this will allow the other ingredients to bind with the noodles.
• The casserole can be prepared ahead of time and kept in fridge for baking  later. You may need to extend the oven time a bit in this event.

Recipe Variations

• According to your tastes, you can substitute other ingredients for the hamburger (ground turkey, for example) . For a vegetarian version, diced portabella mushroom works quite well.
• You can try different cheeses, although the mildness of American cheese works quite well here. To add a little tanginess, add a few slices of Swiss or cheddar  while still using a “base” of American cheese.
• Do NOT substitute spaghetti sauce for the whole tomatoes–doing so overwhelms the delicate mix of flavors in the dish.

 Serving Notes

A green salad and a red wine make a great accompaniment to this dish.