Robin Robertson

After a week of unseasonably warm temperatures, the cold weather is back and along with it, my desire for a comforting stew. I wanted to use my last remaining butternut squash that I picked months earlier from my now-frozen vegetable garden. A richly flavored African stew sounded like a good match. I adapted this stew from the recipe for North African Pumpkin Stew in Vegan Fire and Spice. In straying from the recipe, I enriched the sauce with a bit of peanut butter, added a lonely sweet potato that was languishing in the fridge, and topped it with some steamed baby spinach, because we love our greens and also because spinach goes so well with the flavors in this stew. Served over brown rice, the result was a delicious one-dish meal that tasted even better when we had it for lunch the next day.

Butternut Tribute Stew
This yummy stew was a fitting tribute to my last garden-grown squash from the fall. The recipe was adapted from Vegan Fire & Spice. If you don’t like heat, just omit the chiles.

2 tablespoons cold-pressed canola oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 small, fresh hot chiles, seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 small winter squash, seeded, peeled, and cut into bite-sized cubes
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar, or a natural sweetener
2 cups water or vegetable broth
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (15.5-ounce) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
Cooked brown rice or couscous, to serve
4 cups fresh baby spinach, steamed

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, cover, and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic, chiles, ginger, cinnamon, cumin, and allspice, and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. Add the squash and sweet potato and toss until evenly coated with the spices. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, water, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Add the beans, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes. A few minutes before serving time, remove about 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid and place it in a small bowl. Add the peanut butter and stir to combine, then stir the peanut butter mixture back into the stew. To serve, spoon some rice into the bottom of shallow serving bowls. Top with the stew and place a small mound of steamed spinach on top.
Serves 4

I’ve had several people ask me if the recipes in my book Quick-Fix Vegetarian are vegan, and I’m happy to say “Yes! the fast-and-easy recipes in Quick-Fix Vegetarian are vegan. I’m sorry for any confusion and I hope lacto-ovo-vegetarians and omnivores, too, will discover how delicious (and quick) these recipes are. I’ve been very pleased with the great compliments Quick-Fix Vegetarian has received. Here are a few:

Thankfully, Robin Robertson understands that recipes don’t need to be complicated, voluminous, or inaccessible to be delicious….The simplicity of these 150 recipes is what makes them perfect.
–VegNews Magazine

If you think being vegetarian is boring, then read this book! It’s full of mouth-watering recipes that are quick and easy to prepare, making it a perfect introduction to vegetarian living.
–TheVegetarianChannel.com

People who rarely cook but wish they could put more time into homemade meals will find Quick-Fix Vegetarian a genuine treasure.
— Vegparadise.com

Most people live a hectic lifestyle these days, and any quick-and-easy vegetarian cookbook is greatly appreciated.
–Vegetarian Journal

I must be a romantic at heart, but there’s something about Valentines Day that makes me want to prepare what some may consider an over-the-top theme dinner. Each year I try to outdo myself, setting parameters such as all the food has to be red, or all the food has to be heart-shaped. One year I tried for both, and it was a bit extreme, even for me.

This year, I’m going with a “heart” theme, too – everything I serve has to have “heart” in either it’s name or shape. I’m posting the menu now. I’ll post photos of the results on February 14th:

Valentine’s Menu
Here’s My Heart Salad
(artichoke hearts, romaine hearts, hearts of palm and heart-shaped red beets)
Heart-Shaped Wellingtons
(sauteed seitan and portobello cap cut in heart shape and layered between heart-shaped puff pastry and baked)
Roasted Heart-Shaped Potatoes and Red Bell Peppers
Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake topped with Chocolate Cherry Truffles
(I’ll shape the truffles like little hearts)

Let me know what you think of my menu or share one of your own.

There’s nothing more comforting than a steaming bowl of hot soup when the weather’s cold. I especially love a good hearty soup that can be a meal in itself, like this escarole soup with cannellini beans. It’s one of my favorites, probably because it’s an old family recipe that I’ve enjoyed since childhood, but also because it’s easy, delicious, and versatile. You can substitute any dark leafy green for the escarole, such as chard or spinach (or some of each) or use a different bean to replace the cannellinis (chickpeas or kidney beans are great in this.) I usually put in a carrot or two, but I didn’t this time. You can add more garlic if you like, too. The amount of salt you will need depends on if you use water or vegetable broth and how strong the vegetable broth is, so be sure to taste to check the seasonings — you’ll probably need at least 1 teaspoon of salt, maybe more. For the pasta, I used small elbows this time, but any small-shaped “soup pasta” works great. If you have cooked leftover pasta, you can just add that instead, when ready to serve, or eliminate the pasta altogether in favor of some cooked rice or other grain.

Escarole Soup
My mother learned to make this soup from my grandmother who came from the Abruzzi region of Italy. I carry on the tradition at my house. The mellow cannellini beans provide the perfect balance to the flavorful broth and peppery greens. This recipe is from my newest book, Vegan Fire & Spice: 200 Sultry and Savory Global Recipes.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
6 cups water or vegetable broth
1 head escarole, chopped
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
3 cups cooked or 2 (15.5-ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons minced parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup small, dry pasta

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the hot red pepper flakes and the water and bring to a boil. Add the escarole, bay leaves, and marjoram, and simmer 20 minutes. Add the beans, parsley, and salt and pepper, to taste. Add the pasta and cook until tender, about 7 minutes. Remove the bay leaves before serving.
Serves 4

One of the questions I’m asked most frequently is how to make vegetables more interesting, especially when there are resistant family members. Here are a few of my favorite tips:

• Try different cooking methods. If you’re used to steaming asparagus, for example, try roasting it instead. Simply arrange trimmed asparagus spears on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast at 425 degrees until tender and just starting to brown, about 8 minutes (depending on the thickness of the asparagus).
• Liven up veggies, salads (and grain and noodle dishes, too!) by topping them with chopped toasted nuts or seeds to add flavor, crunch, and protein. Experiment new dressings, sauces, and condiments to perk up your meals.
• Use fresh herbs to make everyday dishes extraordinary.

I’ll share more tips on another post. In the meantime, do you have any favorite tips or success stories that you’d like to share?