OmniVeggie

I returned to the city to find Matthias happy, but in a conglomerated meat and hyper-processed potato stupor. He said to me, 'Hannah, maybe we could have a giant salad for supper.' Having had a lovely weekend at home, filled with delicious food, and even better wine, I wasn't feeling quite as poisoned (plus, before I went to the airport I had a salad for lunch with my mom. Don't get me wrong, I love salad, but they aren't exactly the sort of thing you crave twice a day in the dead of February). So, I suggested sushi and Matthias was thusly rerouted on the road to civilized eating.

Now, please do understand that I am not a bossy girl. I am not a vigilante vegetarian. I have spoken my peace about the animal industry and I generally refrain from climbing repeatedly onto my soapbox (usually people get the speech once and once only). So, you should note that the meals below were ingested by free will and with gustatory delight.

Almost-But-Not-Quite Spring Frittata
yield: 2 servings



Ingredients
4 organic free-range eggs
2 tbsp. milk
2 medium leeks
5-7 asparagus stalks
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped
1/4 cup parmesean cheese, finely grated
salt and pepper to taste

Using the whites of the leeks, split them down the center and rinse thoroughly under cold water, running your fingers through the layers gently to remove all of the sand. Slice thinly. Also, now would be a good time to chop your asparagus into about 1” pieces.

Sauté leeks and garlic in 2 tsp. olive oil (or butter, for a sweeter flavor) for about 5-7 minutes, or until slightly wilted and fragrant.

While your vegetables are cooking down, wisk eggs and milk until slightly frothy. Grease a 10” cake pan with your pat of butter (if we had a tart pan, or a springform, or hell, even a pie pan we would have used it. So, if you are in a kitchen better outfitted than ours, please, by all means, feel free to take advantage of it). You won’t use the whole tablespoon for non-stick purposes, so just tear the leftover piece into little pea-sized bits and distribute them sporadically on the bottom of the pan so that they can soak into the egg/vegetable mixture and make it rich and lovely.

Pour your egg and milk mixture into the pan. Add the asparagus, leeks, garlic, herbs, and cheese. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until the asparagus is bright green and started to brown at the tips and the eggs are sufficiently set.

We had this with some rye toast and jam. Matthias had some pancetta on the side, which he said was a nice complement to the frittata. The vegetable and cheese combinations are numerous and this is a dish we come back to often with various substitutions, but this just felt so green and hopeful to us that night.

Barley, Mushroom, Asparagus Soup
Yield: 4 main, 6 side dish servings

I went for a long walk on Tuesday to clear my head and find some coffee and I was out for just long enough to let the damp cold seep into my bones and for my heart to demand soup for dinner. And so it was.



Ingredients
6 cups homemade vegetable stock (or 3 cups mushroom broth, 3 cups vegetable stock)*
6 button mushrooms, sliced
6 cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 carrots, sliced into thick coins
1 leek, sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. butter
2 tsp. fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2/3 cup organic barley
5-7 asparagus stalks


Bring stock to a simmer. Add mushrooms, carrots and bay leaves, and cover. Cook over medium/low heat for about 20 minutes. Add barley and cover again. While the barley is cooking, sauté the leek and garlic in the butter, set aside while you chop the asparagus into ½” pieces. The barley should take about 25 minutes to cook. Add leek, garlic, thyme, and asparagus about 5 minutes before you are ready to serve, just to heat through. You want the asparagus to be bright green, with a slight crunch and its characteristic fibrousness.
Salt and pepper to taste.

*I made my own stock, but Pacific mushroom broth and Rapunzel vegetable stock cubes would probably be just fine in a pinch.


We had this soup while it was still piping hot, with some warm freshly baked whole wheat honey bread and some steamed broccoli with white wine vinaigrette, and it was the perfect dinner to take some of the chill and dread from my heart and from our hands. It’s the kind of soup that makes you think that something is going to change soon, be it the weather, or something more significant.

Regrettably, I can’t leave you with a soup or an egg song, but I can tell you that we have thyme and lavender sprouts in our window herb garden, a kitty that is happy to have both humans in the same room, a refreshed and more hopeful Hannah, and a detoxified Matthias who is ready to roast some chicken tonight.