Devil's Footprints Edamame Salad Over Noodles

Exactly 156 years ago, the Devil's Footprints appeared in Devon, England. No, seriously, cloven hoof prints continued for over 100 miles, crossing bodies of water and traversing rooftops and whatnot. SATAN. Or wood mice, or good old mass hysteria. Good thing we don't succumb to that anymore...

This dish I cooked up real quick after helping my roommate with an art installation that needs to be ready for Thursday, when all the wealthy donors come to the new Creative Arts Council building to ooh and ahh. I gotta be at work in half an hour! I maybe went a little overboard with the seasoning — my love of soy sauce and cumin.

makes approx. 2-3 servings

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. frozen edamame, thawed

9 oz. frozen sweet corn, thawed

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 handfuls pea greens

5 grape tomatoes, quartered, forgotten in the fridge by my roommate, who will never notice they're gone

5 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced

1/3 pack rice bran Pad Thai fettuccine

1/4 c. shoyu soy sauce

1/4 c. yeast flakes

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp. turmeric

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put the noodles in a large pot over high heat to get the water boiling. Once boiling, cook for additional 8-10 min.
2. Fry onion in oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once translucent, add  edamame, sweet corn, and pea greens. Cook for several minutes, until the greens start to wilt.
3. Add soy sauce, yeast flakes, and spices. Turn heat up to medium-high and cook for several minutes.
4. Add both kinds of tomatoes, cook for a couple minutes. Combine with noodles.

From Hyun Höchsmann's and Yang Guorong's translation of Zhuangzi, "The Great and Honored Teacher" (123):

Another day Yan Hui saw Confucius again and said, "I have made progress."
"What do you mean?" asked Confucius.
"I sit and forget everything."

National Freedom Macaroni Greens with Baked Kale

President Lincoln signed the Amendment outlawing slavery on February 1, 1865. So now we're in the clear 146 years later, right? Fuck no. Get wise to your privilege, because white supremacy is a bifocal ideology, working through a positive form, oppression, and a negative form, privilege. Hierarchies abound, and liberation is only possible when it's total.

This recipe's based on Isa's Creamy Red Chard Linguine. This is the first time I've cooked with cabbage. Don't know if I did it right, but I was surprised at its sweetness. Forgetting to add lemon juice turned out to be a significant omission. I tried to make kale chips, but I don't know what other people are doing cuz mine turned out nothing like chips. Maybe I shouldn't have layered the pieces? Maybe my pieces were too large? Maybe the kale was too wet?

makes approx. 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 lb. macaroni

1 bunch kale, de-leafed, stalks diced

1 medium red onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cloves garlic, pressed

1/2 cabbage, torn

1 fistful pea greens

1 tsp. thyme

1/2 tsp. sage

1/2 tsp. tarragon

1/2 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. cooking sherry

1/2 c. cashews

1 1/2 c. water

1 Tbsp. tahini

1/4 c. yeast flakes

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Soak the cashews in water for an hour.

2. Preheat oven to 350F.

3. Cook the onion in oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once translucent, add the minced garlic. After a couple minutes, add the pressed garlic, thyme, sage, tarragon, salt, and kale stems.

4. Place kale leaves in pan or on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and salt, bake for 12 min. Turn up heat to 350F and bake another 6 min.

5. Add cabbage leaves and pea greens to pan along with 1/2 c. water. Cover and cook for several minutes.

6. Puree cashews in 1 c. water. Once smooth, blend in tahini, yeast flakes, red pepper (and lemon juice).

7. Cook macaroni (or whatever pasta you have handy).

8. Pour the contents of the blender in the pan, bring to a boil, then simmer for several minutes, until the desired consistency.

9. After pasta is cooked, add to pan and coat. Serve with baked kale.

That's all.

Macaroni and Cheeze and Pea Greens with Baked Sweet Potatoes and Acorn Squash

I know, my spelling of "cheeze" is horrible and offensive, but I feel that it needs an idiosyncratic spelling to make it obvious that no dairy is involved, even though this is a vegan space. I'll use "mylk" if I'm not qualifying "milk," too, but if I'm saying "almond milk" or "cashew milk" then I'll go ahead and use the standard spelling. But "nondairy cheese" is a mouthful, so "cheeze" it is.

I got a big box of pea greens from the farmers market last weekend. The box makes all kinds of promising claims about the wonderful micronutrients in pea greens. Whatever. The mac and cheeze turned out pretty much as I'd hoped, but the sweet potatoes and squash was a bit lacking. If it weren't for the sweetness of the potatoes I might even call it a failure. It's nice to have something simple to go with the tangy cheeze dish, but maybe I could have sprinkled something other than salt and pepper into the oil. ANYWAY... makes approx. 3 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 lb. macaroni
2 sweet potatoes, cubed
1/2 acorn squash, cubed
box of pea greens (2 c.? 3 c.?)
1 c. yeast flakes
1/2 c. vegetable broth
1/2 c. water
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 spoonful mustard
2 spoonfuls tahini
4 tsp. capers
1/4 tsp. salt

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Cube the sweet potatoes and acorn squash half. If you haven't dealt with hard squash before, you'll probably need more time and patience than you anticipate to cut off the rind. The skin? I bet you could find a magical time-efficient method on the internet, though.
3. Coat the bottom of an oven-safe pan with oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then toss the potato and squash cubes until coated. Stick in the oven for 45-40 minutes. If you remember, it's a good idea to check up on it once or twice and toss.
4. Heat oil in a small pan on low-medium heat. Mince the garlic cloves and cook for a minute or so. Add the broth and 2/3 of the pea greens. Let the greens cook down a little bit, then add the yeast flakes and water. Crank the heat to a boil, then lower to a simmer.
5. After the cheeze starts to thicken, go ahead and stir in the seasonings, followed by the mustard and tahini, the capers, and finally the remaining pea greens. I spaced those additions a few minutes apart. You can turn the heat real low and add some more water if the cheeze gets too thick.
6. Bring water to a boil. I heeded the instructions on my package of macaroni, which was a mistake. Never listen to the pasta company! It called for 2.5 quarts of water for 1/2 lb. pasta, which took forever to boil and was totally unnecessary and a waste of water. I'd use like 1 q. (= 4 c.) water next time. I don't make pasta a whole lot.
7. Once the macaroni is al dente and drained, pour the cheeze sauce into the pot and incorporate.

Instant comfort! Okay, not instant, but also not too much work.