Pisto Manchego

Pisto Manchego.

I know I have been a bit egg-centric lately. Sorry for that - but at the moment eggs are one of the only protein sources I have in the house.

I really must look into getting a protein powder of some kind.

But back to the recipe of the day - Pisto Manchego. Pisto Manchego is essentially a vegetable stew - usually including tomatoes, eggplant and zucchini with a poached egg on top.

As usual, I didn't have all the ingredients so I just made my own version.

My favorite part of the dish was that the egg came out perfectly cooked.

The whites were well set and the yolk was still just a little bit runny - perfect!

My favorite restaurant, Iberia, used to serve a version of this dish that they called 'Peasant's stew' which I loved but when they closed their second restaurant it never showed up on the menu at the other location - Boo!!((

On the bright side, I now have a nice starter recipe that fills my craving for Peasant's stew :-)
 

Pisto Manchego (Spanish vegetable stew)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup of canned chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup of  cannelli beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup of stale bread chopped into small cubes
1 green onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 cup of chopped yellow bell pepper
1 tsp of olive oil
2 cups of vegetable broth
1 cup of water
one pinch of oregano
1/2 tsp of dried parsley
2 eggs
1 tsp of Siggis plain yogurt
salt and cracked black pepper to taste
a pinch of paprika for garnish

Instructions:

Put the olive oil into a sauce pan on low heat. Add in the green onions and let cook until translucent. Add in the garlic and let cook for another 2 minutes.

Next, add in the tomatoes, beans, bread, vegetable broth, carrot, yellow bell pepper, water and spices. Turn the heat up to medium and when the pot begins to simmer turn the heat back to low, cover and let cook.

When the vegetables are tender and the mixture begins to get thick, make two wells in the pot and carefully crack an egg into each well.  Cover the pot and cook another 5 minutes. This should result in set whites but with a slightly runny yolk. Adjust this final cooking time depending on how you like your eggs cooked.

When the eggs have set up, pull the pan off the heat and carefully scoop out the eggs and set aside. Spoon the vegetable stew into two bowls and stir in 1/2 of a tsp of Siggis plain yogurt into each bowl. Then gently place an egg on top. Sprinkle with a bit of sweet paprika.

Enjoy!

Morning appetite

Vegetable tofu scramble.

My appetite has finally returned since the pups are home safe and sound.

This morning I wanted a big plate of veggies and some fruit but, as you know, I am trying to eat protein on a more consistent basis. Cue the protein:

Locally made tofu.

I chopped two small rainbow carrots, 1/2 a small Yukon gold potato and two stalks of broccoli rabe and threw them into the steamer.

Most tofu scrambles use crumbly tofu and I personally hate that texture in the scramble. The tofu starts to break down and the bits of tofu feel like tiny pebbles. Ugh, not my favorite.

Instead, I sliced of long, fairly thick slices of tofu and put them into a hot pan with some peanut oil. 

A lot of recipes want you to marinate the tofu first but I find this makes it harder to get the tofu nice and crisp. Luckily this tofu had very little water in it so it crisped up very nicely.

I pulled the tofu out of the pan when both sides had browned. I cut it up into small squares and set it aside.

When the vegetables were nice and tender (you may want to pull them out earlier if you want more crunch to the veggies) and they went into the skillet.

Then I added:

1 Tbsp of vegetable broth
1 Tbsp of soy sauce
1/2 tsp of white miso paste mixed with a little water

I covered the skillet and let this cook over low heat for a few minutes. 

The tofu went in at the end and everything was tossed together till well coated with the sauce.

Then I plated the tofu and vegetables and finished it with a drizzle of sesame oil.

The tofu was wonderful. It had a crisp and chewy texture like bacon or sausage. This texture is much more to my taste and it was delicious!

On the side I enjoyed one of my favorite instant espresso drinks.

This instant coffee is great to have on hand for making a quick cup of espresso or to use in recipes if you want a nice non-bitter coffee flavor.

Vegetable tofu scramble, a cup of espresso with soymilk and some juicy, ripe watermelon.

I do have to tell you that crispy tofu is a wonderful thing.

Connor was crying for the watermelon so both dogs enjoyed a nice, juicy chunk of the water filled fruit. 

No surprise there, I suppose, since going a day with limited water (because of the anesthesia) would make anyone lust after a slice of watermelon :-)

Tofu noodle soup

Tofu noodle soup.

Today I was craving a big bowl of noodle soup. But I didn't want a ton of carbohydrates because all I really wanted was protein and vegetables.

Cue the tofu noodles:

I parboiled the noodles (according to package directions) and set them aside.

Next I put 2 cups of vegetable broth in a soup pot to boil and added in one small head of bok choy, one carrot and one green onion (all chopped). 


After everything had boiled for 10 minutes I tossed in the tofu noodles.

Did the tofu noodles taste like noodles? Meh, not so much. They are pretty flavorless. 


But did they make a nice chewy substitute for regular noodles? Most definitely.


And I ate the entire package of tofu noodles which equaled 40 calories, 1g of fat and 2g of protein. Not a bad way to satisfy a craving.