I’m drawn to cooking vegetarian dishes because working with fresh vegetable and legumes makes me so happy. I love the vibrant colour. I love the different texture. I love to coax the flavour from these ingredients with appropriate preparation technique. The more I delve into cooking, the more I enjoy eating vegetarian dishes. I am not averse to eating animal products. Given the right context, they can elevate a dish to something extraordinary and I definitely count myself a fan of good food!
There’s already been much praise heaped upon Yotam Ottolenghi’s two cookbooks. Both make regular appearances in my kitchen. I am most impressed by the unexpected ways he makes ordinary vegetable dishes taste so incredibly delicious. Take roasted root vegetable for example. Of course everyone already knows that roasting concentrates the sweetness of root vegetable. But Ottolenghi’s Roasted Parsnip & Sweet Potatoes with Caper Vinaigrette is memorable with its layers upon layers of flavour. He first posted the recipe in The New Vegetarian column at Guardian and that earlier version is a close approximation of the version published in Plenty, which is the one I followed. Spears of parsnips and sweet potatoes were roasted along with red onion, garlic, rosemary, and thyme. As they roasted, my kitchen was filled with appetizing aroma promising tasty meal. In the last minutes of cooking, halved grape tomatoes were scattered on top of the vegetable and roasted just until softened. While that was happening, I made an easy vinaigrette of capers, lemon juice, lemon zest, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, and olive oil. The mix of salty, tart, and sweet is hallmark of any good vinaigrette and this simple version did not disappoint. As soon as the vegetable came out of the oven, they were dressed with the caper vinaigrette immediately for maximum absorption of flavour. Sprinkling of black and tan toasted sesame seeds provides the finishing touch.
I have never been a huge fan of parsnips but this roasted vegetable medley convinced me otherwise. The sweetness from roasting alone is nice but when there’s a cornucopia of vegetable dressed in bold vinaigrette, the flavour intrigues my taste buds beyond believe. This is the kind of dish that is so satisfying all by itself that I don’t even think of it as vegan until I tally up the ingredient list. Whether as a side dish or part of a buffet, this handsome dish commands attention in the most pleasing way.
As an endurance athlete, maintaining a vegetarian diet requires me to be very conscientious about micro- and macro- nutrition intake. That is the main reason why I have not yet exclude animal products from my diet although meat rarely shows up at my dinner table nowadays. I have learned to listen to my body over the years. There are days when I suddenly develop a strong craving for steak or juicy burger and that is a pretty good indication for a deficiency in iron and protein. Those are messages I cannot ignore because iron is key to oxygen delivery and protein helps my body to recover.
The last of winter root vegetable is still available in the market and hothouse tomato is available year-round. The rest are merely pantry staples.If you still need another reason to make this, I can tell you it is very easy on the wallet!
