TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Go Quietly With That Vegetarian Lifestyle

Photo by MICHELLE BAKER

This easy, and pretty darned tasty, experiment will help you maintain your meatless ways.

ADVERTISEMENT

GREG and MICHELLE BAKER

Tribune correspondent

Published: February 24, 2009

We've done the unthinkable. We've gone vegetarian.

Wait. Let's back up for a minute.

Typically, vegetarians are the fishbone shard in the side of every chef's mouth. They are picky people and are very opinionated. Their "lifestyle" is a political movement, and they will tell you all about it whether or not you ask. They are not afraid to tell you — in detail — what they thought of your dish, which was supposed to be made with braised lamb shank and demi glace but used vegetable stock and portabellas to accommodate their lifestyle choice needs.

They want to know why it doesn't have depth.

In a chef's opinion, vegetarians stink. Ask any chef you know and we guarantee they have a story.

Before we get hundreds of e-mails, we know not all vegetarians behave that way. But much like that one kid who pees in the pool and ruins everyone else's fun, the political vegetarians ruin it for the lot.

Restructuring your mindset from focusing on meat-laden meals to vegetarian masterpieces takes a bit of skill and ingenuity. The actual cooking process is fairly simplistic, but being able to think outside of the culinary box is in itself an art form — hence our move to vegetarian. We felt like we had gotten into a rut and needed something to break the monotony.

Greg was a vegetarian at one time, but only because he was a poor culinary student. And since most of us lived off of beans and rice while in college, that doesn't count. He also went vegan for three months after an extremely high cholesterol test (perhaps due to that regrettable episode of mainlining duck fat), but that was more of a matter of survival.

Going vegetarian by choice isn't the easiest thing to do. Restaurants don't offer many veggie-friendly choices. Often it's a choice between a cold salad and a cold salad. There are Vietnamese and Thai places that offer vegetarian options as a matter of course, but how many times can you order Tofu Bun?

Quick to-go food? Forget about it.

Also, your body reacts to the lack of protein, which is why it is so important for vegetarians to ensure that they get complete proteins, such as beans and rice. (A bean and a starch are incomplete proteins, but when combined, they complete each other.)

Another downside: If you use the vegetarian card as a green light for eating any and all sweets, your butt will begin to grow.

Finally, boredom usually sets in, and eventually you fall off the meatless wagon.

So, while we still have the will to stay with this plan, we give you this easy and pretty darned tasty experiment.

MOROCCAN LENTIL AND GRILLED PORTABELLA SALAD

Serves 4

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup olive oil, divided

1 cup dry lentils, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons cumin, divided

2 tablespoons chili powder, divided

Sea or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

4 large portabella caps

Place the onion and garlic in a saucepan with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat and sauté for 2 or 3 minutes, until the onions start to soften a bit. Add the lentils and about 6 cups of water (doesn't have to be exact) and season with salt. Simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes, until the lentils are soft, and then drain the lentils.

In a bowl, combine 1/4 cup olive oil, the red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons cumin, and 1 tablespoon chili powder. Season with salt and pepper and toss this with the lentils.

Coat the portabella caps with the remaining cumin and chili powder and the cinnamon and season with salt and pepper. Heat the remaining olive oil in a sauté pan and add the portabellas, sautéing until soft, about 6 to 8 minutes. Slice the portabellas and place on top of the lentils.

Find more food guidance at the Sherpas' Web sites: www.culinarysherpas.com and www.cooksncompany.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT