Vegan

I am always on the lookout for simple but interesting side dishes to eat with cold roast meats. A little pile of grilled eggplants, their smoked edges moist with a vibrant green dressing, wakes up yesterday’s cold roast chicken or beef.

Perhaps because of the thickness of its stalks, or the unruly tangle of leaves on the plate, chard always manages to exude a rustic quality. It is not really a vegetable for “fine dining.” Blanched and seasoned with young, mild garlic and a squeeze of lemon, the stems and leaves become a useful side dish for any big-flavored main course. Allowed to cool, they also work with cold roast meats, thickly torn chunks of mozzarella, wedges of warm savory tarts, or coarse-textured “country” pâté. In other words, a distinctly useful thing to have in the fridge.

I tend to use this chutney as a relish, stirring it into the accompanying rice of a main course. It is slightly sweet, as you might expect, but tantalizingly hot and sour too. Scoop it up with a pappadam or a doughy, freckled paratha (I have been known to use a pita bread in times of desperation). On Mondays I sometimes put a spoonful on the side of the plate with cold meats. Palm sugar (also known as jaggery) is used in Indian cooking and is available in Indian markets.

Carrots have been one of my quiet successes. The carrot thinning salad has become a regular weekly addition throughout the summer. Root vegetables no bigger than your little finger have a charm to them that insists you leave them whole. Cooking them, in shallow water so that they steam rather than boil, takes barely a minute or two. I dress them as soon as they are out of the pan, sometimes with a light, lemony dressing, other times with cilantro. To turn this into a main-course salad, add spoonfuls of ricotta or cottage cheese to which you have added pepper and some of the dressing.

There will be quite a bit of this left over for the next day. Lovely reheated with cold ham.

Early January 2008 and I am having my annual tidy up of the pantry. The “lentil shuffle” as I call it, as that is basically what the job entails. Sorting out the pantry always results in my making something bean or lentil oriented. I think it must remind me of just how many I have. What follows is a rather hot bean curry. You could cool its ardor by skipping a chile or two. The greens offer a hit of cool freshness on top of the substantial and deeply spiced beans. A speedier version, suitable for a midweek supper, can be made with canned beans. There is no real reason why you shouldn’t use any dried or canned beans you wish here. Chickpeas will work well too. If I do decide to open a can instead, then I use three 14-ounce (400g) cans.

There is no joy in undercooked asparagus. Neither, curiously, is there much flavor. It must be soft and juicy, otherwise it loses much of its magic. Baking the spears in an aluminum foil parcel in the oven will suit those who don’t like messing around with boiling water and steam, and keeps the asparagus surprisingly succulent.

Okay, I’ll admit it: Although I’m known primarily as a bread guy, I’ve been eating far more crackers than bread lately—probably always have, actually, and it’s a safe bet that I always will. Sure, artisan bread is the sexy sister, but a good cracker is the hardworking Cinderella of baked goods, and I think it’s time to bestow the glass slipper. In fact, I have a feeling that there are many other undeclared cracker freaks out there just waiting for crackers to be validated as a significant player in the exploding American culinary renaissance. A quick look at supermarket shelves shows that the real growth for both crackers and bread is occurring in the whole grain category. Even iconic brands such as Ritz are coming forth with whole grain products. I’ve spent nearly twenty years trying to convince folks to bake bread at home, even tilting at windmills by trying to encourage them to make 100 percent whole grain breads at home, but I’ve encountered far less resistance in urging that same audience to try making their own whole grain crackers. Why the receptivity? It’s probably because crackers are far easier and faster to make than bread (and the dough doesn’t even need to be held overnight in the refrigerator). But I also think there are deeper reasons. Crackers are so versatile, and so easily substituted for chips and other guilt-laden snacks. Whole grain crackers are the perfect, guilt-free snack. Not only do they have a satisfying, toasty flavor, they’re also loaded with dietary fiber, which helps lessen cravings for sweets and reduce mindless eating between meals. When properly made, crackers have a long finish. Eat some now and you’ll still be enjoying the lingering, earthy flavors in 30 minutes. Crackers can be naturally leavened with yeast, like Armenian lavash; be chemically leavened with baking powder or baking soda, like many commercial crackers; or be completely unleavened, like matzo or Triscuits. They’re usually crisp and flaky but don’t have to be. They can be buttery (with real or fake butter), or lean and mean, like saltines and other variations of water crackers. Whole grain crackers, regardless of the leavening method, have one major factor going for them: fiber, lots and lots of fiber. This cracker recipe is easy to make at home, even if you’ve never baked a loaf of bread in your life. It’s a variation of one of the most popular recipes from my previous book, Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads, and is especially fun to make with kids. I’ve adjusted the recipe so that these crackers, which are unlike any crackers you can buy, are even more crisp than the original. I’m ready to start a home-baked cracker revolution to match the bread revolution of the last fifteen years and hope I can enlist you in the cause.

There are a number of ways to make pretzels, but I like this version, especially when the pretzels are served with mustard. The baking method is similar to making bagels, but not quite the same. Traditionally, pretzels are dipped in pans of food-grade lye and water to create the distinctive shiny, dark brown crust, but this kind of lye is difficult to obtain and dangerous to have lying around the house, so I suggest substituting a baking soda solution. However, if you can obtain lye and are comfortable using it, follow the instructions on the package. (To use lye crystals, combine 0.75 ounce or 21 grams of crystals with 2 cups of water and be sure to wear protective gloves and eyewear—you can see why I prefer baking soda!)

There are many ways to make rye bread, and every bread lover has a favorite version. But when push comes to shove, the style that sells the most is soft sandwich rye. This version includes the optional use of cocoa powder, which darkens the bread in the style of pumpernickel. Other optional ingredients, whether caraway, minced dried onion, or nigella seeds (also known as black onion seeds), transform this recipe into various regional favorites. Adding orange oil or extract and anise seeds, for example, turns it into a Swedish-style limpa rye bread. You can use various types of rye flour in this recipe. The version most commonly sold is the “white flour” version of rye, with the bran and germ sifted out. But if you look around, you should be able to find stone-ground, whole grain, or dark rye flour, as well as pumpernickel flour. You could even use rye chops or rye meal, which are more coarsely ground, resembling cracked wheat or steel-cut oats. The trade-off is that whole rye flour is more healthful, while light rye yields a softer, lighter loaf. The choice is yours. The molasses is an important flavor component in this bread, but feel free to reduce the amount or replace it with sorghum syrup or golden sugar syrup. Just don’t use blackstrap molasses, which is too strong; look for a product labeled “old-fashioned,” “fancy,” or “unsulfured.”

As with other sourdough recipes in this book, you have two options with this recipe. For a “purist” version, omit the instant yeast from the final dough. For a mixed method, which will rise more quickly but lack some of the sour flavor, include the instant yeast. The optional oil helps lubricate and soften the bran fiber in whole grain bread. For a variety of other options in making this bread, see page 83, where you’ll find multigrain suggestions, guidelines for making transitional breads with less than 100 percent whole grains, and more.

No bread is as good for us as one made completely from whole grains. The challenge with 100 percent whole grain breads, though, is achieving an open crumb and airy texture. The bran fiber in the whole grain flour, while extremely beneficial in our diet, acts like little razors in the dough, cutting the thin gluten strands. This makes it difficult for the loaf to rise as high as white flour loaves. The antidote is to use a higher percentage of hydration, which counteracts some of the stiffness caused by the bran, softening the fiber and promoting additional oven spring. The dough will seem very soft when it is first mixed but will gradually firm up as it ferments, as the fiber slowly swells as it absorbs the water. As more and more of us make the switch to whole grains, this bread will become a valuable addition to your repertoire. For a variety of options in making this bread, see page 83, where you’ll find multigrain suggestions, guidelines for making transitional breads with less than 100 percent whole grains, and more.

The main difference between the bread and pizza dough is the amount of hydration and the amount of yeast; pizza dough has less water and less yeast than the bread. This formula offers both options, with the amounts of water and yeast for pizza dough appearing after the amounts for bread dough. The sugar and oil are optional, but highly recommended to counteract the bitter tones of the whole wheat flour and to soften the bran

Remember that pizza or focaccia is simply dough with something on it, so feel free to experiment with flavorful toppings. Because focaccia is thicker than pizza it often takes longer to bake, so some toppings are better left off until the final few minutes of baking, especially dry cheeses such as parmesan (focaccia baked in round cake pans perform more like pizzas, so they can be fully topped prior to going into the oven). Some ingredients, like fresh pesto or aioli, are even better when added after the pizza or focaccia has finished baking. Most commercial pizza sauces work fine, but if you enjoy making your own, which is quite easy and highly recommended, remember that canned tomato products do not need to be heated up or cooked since they will be cooked on the pizza or focaccia. Here are my favorite sauce and herb oil recipes.

Remember that pizza or focaccia is simply dough with something on it, so feel free to experiment with flavorful toppings. Because focaccia is thicker than pizza it often takes longer to bake, so some toppings are better left off until the final few minutes of baking, especially dry cheeses such as parmesan (focaccia baked in round cake pans perform more like pizzas, so they can be fully topped prior to going into the oven). Some ingredients, like fresh pesto or aioli, are even better when added after the pizza or focaccia has finished baking. Most commercial pizza sauces work fine, but if you enjoy making your own, which is quite easy and highly recommended, remember that canned tomato products do not need to be heated up or cooked since they will be cooked on the pizza or focaccia. Here are my favorite sauce and herb oil recipes.

In this formula, the amounts of water and yeast for pizza dough appear after the amounts for bread dough. Note that unlike in the 50% whole grain version opposite, the sugar and oil aren’t optional; they’re definitely needed to counteract the bitter tones of the whole wheat flour and to soften the bran. If you’d like to make a multigrain version, see the variation below.