Ah, the cruelty of early spring, when the skies are gray and the produce selection is still scarce. The season has left me in a decided creativity slump in the cooking department. So it was high time that I broke out the recipe dice from my friend Mignon, who cleverly managed to combine my love of food and nerdy games into a single Christmas gift. Here’s the concept: you roll fourteen dice, each with cute little pictures of ingredients on each side. You’re allowed to re-roll a certain number of them, but you’re supposed to try to use all the ingredients in a single meal.
Okay, let’s get this out of the way: I cheated. But only a little, I swear! I took out the meat die, which is legitimate for vegetarian play, I think. I also had just made a huge batch of cauliflower soup just a day or two before and staring at the cauliflower heads in the supermarket made me vaguely depressed, so I threw that one out, too, though under different circumstances, I think it could easily be added to the mélange recipe below. I would like to point out, however, that I used the other twelve dice, even though I rolled nopales on my re-roll, the equivalent of pulling a Q in Scrabble, and went to four grocery stores before I found them. Here are the ingredients I had to work with: artichokes, Brussels sprouts, cheese, cous-cous, garlic, lemon, mushrooms, nopales, onion, peas, rosemary and tomatoes.
The dice definitely got me to think outside the box. And I’ll probably make both of the recipes again (though probably not in the same meal). In case you’re having your own kitchen slump, here are the two recipes I came up with:
Easy Cactus Salad
1 small red onion, finely diced- 1 ½ cups of jarred nopales, chopped
- 1 ½ cups of tomatoes, chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
- 1 lime, juiced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Sea salt and cumin to taste
Combine all ingredients and chill thoroughly. Serve on a bed of lettuce.
Lemon-Herb Vegetable Mélange
5 cloves garlic, sliced- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cups vegetable broth (or white wine)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- Black pepper to taste
- 1 large red-skinned potato, diced
- 12 Brussels sprouts
- 1 can cannellini beans
- 8 oz. mushrooms
- 1 small jar of marinated artichokes
- 1 lemon, juiced
- A handful or two of frozen baby peas
- Parmesan cheese
- 1 cup whole wheat cous-cous, prepared according to package
Sauté the garlic in the olive oil in a large saucepan. When garlic is tender, add vegetable broth, herbs and pepper, and adjust to taste. Bring to a simmer. Prepare and add vegetables in this order: potatoes, sprouts, beans, mushrooms, artichokes. When vegetables are tender, add lemon juice and peas. Serve on a bed of cous-cous and top with grated Parmesan cheese.