Bok choy with tofu is one of my favorite quick meals of the winter, and few seasoning combinations pack as powerful a punch as soy sauce and garlic.

Bok choy is also known as Chinese cabbage. This succulent cruciferous vegetable thrives during the winter months and is cheap and readily available at almost any market. I like the baby variety because it is easier to adjust the serving size and is simple to cook. If you can’t find baby bok choy you can subsitute regular bok choy and cut it up accordingly.

If you think you do not like tofu, my guess is that you just haven’t had it cooked like it is supposed to be and I urge you to give it another try. Most perceived taste aversions can be overcome with a little effort.

Tofu is not just for vegetarians. I have grown to like it so much that sometimes I get cravings for it. Strange, I know.

One of the wonders of tofu is that it absorbs flavors beautifully, particularly garlic. Moreover, adding garlic to soy sauce is one of the easiest ways to get everyone in the house out of their rooms sniffing the air and asking what heavenly dish you are creating. It smells amazing and tastes even better.

Baby Bok Choy and Tofu

Ingredients:

• 2-4 stalks baby bok choy
• tofu
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• Dark soy sauce to taste

Carefully rinse baby bok choy and cut into quarters, longwise. Once it is cut check between the leaves to be sure no remaining dirt is hiding in the stem. If there is rinse again.

Cut tofu into bite-sized cubes. Heat olive oil in a pan and add bok choy cut sides down. Cook for several minutes, then make room for tofu on the bottom of the pan and add tofu. Cook 2 minutes then stir, making sure to cook both faces of the bok choy and tofu.

Once bok choy begins to wilt and become a little translucent, add garlic to the pan in a single layer. Leave for about 30 seconds, then splash soy sauce liberally into the pan. I like to use a good quality dark tamari soy sauce for this dish. Stir and continue to cook.

Allow soy sauce to reduce until it begins to form a glaze on the bok choy and tofu. Turn ingredients once or twice so all sides get coated. Add more soy sauce if necessary.

Remove from heat when bok choy reaches desired tenderness, about 8-10 minutes. Serve on a bed of brown rice.

Yesterday I mentioned that if you are going to use dried beans for cooking you should pick them over for pebbles before using them. Today I want to show you that I’m not kidding.

For my apartment’s last Soup Night I decided to make a recipe I found in the New York Times. The recipe was for Andean Bean Stew With Winter Squash and Quinoa, and it called for a pound of dried pinto beans. Since I was cooking for 20 people I doubled the recipe and bought a full 2 lbs of dried beans.

That’s a lot of beans, folks.

Because of the huge volume I had to be extra careful when looking for pebbles. To pick through beans I like to lay them out on a large cookie sheet, as shown. You can sort through a smaller amount of beans on a solid-colored plate or even in a clear bag on the counter.

As you can see from the top picture, 2 lbs of beans from the bulk bin at Whole Foods yielded 4 not-so-small pebbles.

Finding these little guys didn’t take more than a minute or two, and I guarantee you my guests appreciated the extra effort.

Let this be your warning. I do not wish to send you into shark-filled waters if you happened to be inclined to go buy dried beans this weekend. The last thing I need is a bunch of angry emails from your dentists!

Lentils are known to harbor pebbles as well, so searching for small rocks is a good habit to cultivate with all dried legumes.

The Soup
On the food front, the recipe turned out absolutely amazing! Since doubling the recipe required two whole winter squash anyway, I chose one large butternut squash and one kabocha squash. Both were delicious, but I was particularly fond of the kabocha (just look at that color!). It was denser, but the texture was creamier and the flavor more sweet and nutty than the butternut.

Peeling the kabocha was no easy task, however. I always just use a vegetable peeler for butternut, but on the kabocha the skin was so tough this was not an option. Instead I boiled it whole for 3 minutes on each side (it floats) and took the skin off with a pairing knife. Alright, I admit I had a boy do the peeling.

Does anyone have an easier way to peel a kabocha?

The Andean stew was very hearty, but our guests were not shy about finishing every last drop. I highly recommend it, particularly for a cold winter weekend.

This picture was taken after the quinoa was added but before it finished cooking.

Don’t forget to bean careful!

A couple weeks ago the New York Times health section featured several recipes using quinoa (keen-wah), a small, round ancient seed from Peru that can be used much like a cereal grain.

• 1 teaspoon(ish) cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon(ish) coriander
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium leek, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups cooked quinoa, (1 c. dry)
• 1 cup cooked chick peas (canned are fine), rinsed
• 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds

Rinse and chop kale and place in steam basket over shallow water. Cover and steam 8-10 minutes. This step is particularly important for dinosaur kale, which can be very tough. If you are using traditional kale, reduce cooking time accordingly. Cook until tender then sprinkle with sea salt.

As I mentioned, salad season is pretty much over and I have embarked on a new era of work lunches. This week I am experimenting with roasted vegetables because they can be cooked in large batches and store very well in the refrigerator. They also reheat nicely in the microwave.

It cracks me up to say this, but my vegetable choices this week were cauliflower, golden beets and Brussels sprouts. If you would have told 8-year old me that this is what I would be having for lunch every day this week I probably would have vomited in horror. By some strange evolution that can probably be blamed on San Francisco elitism, last Saturday this unthinkable combination of vegetables just sounded brilliant.

Kids and adults alike are often united in their hatred of Brussels sprouts. When I was young, Brussels sprouts were at the very top of my gross foods list, just barely inching out slimy spinach and chalky lima beans. Yuck!

It was not until I got to college that I learned spinach is not really slimy. Turns out it is actually a leaf and surprisingly delicious! I didn’t realize I had been eating frozen spinach my entire life. What a relief!

Over time I learned that many foods I never liked were not as bad as I thought. I grew to appreciate fennel, avocado, cilantro and even beets, but I never could develop a taste for Brussels sprouts.

A few years ago when I started getting serious about vegetables and health, I made a decision to conquer my last few food aversions. Eggplant was something I always struggled with, but I learned that a few kitchen tricks could turn it into a delicious meal. This past summer I was finally able to embrace cucumbers.

After all this, overcoming my aversion to Brussels sprouts is my proudest accomplishment.

I have found that for most foods I do not enjoy, ordering them at an expensive San Francisco restaurant is a great place to start. These people can seriously cook. And if anyone can make something taste good, it is the brilliant chefs of San Francisco.

Absinthe Brasserie was where I first tried Brussels sprouts that I didn’t just like, I loved. So warm, savory and delicious, I finally knew what Brussels sprouts could be.

It was this experience that convinced me it was possible to find a way to cook Brussels sprouts so that I like them. I spent all last winter trying different cooking techniques until I finally got it right.

The secrets?

1. Bacon – Is there anything bacon doesn’t make better?
2. Nuts – Walnuts or hazelnuts add a crunchy texture and earthy flavor.
3. Butter – I don’t cook with butter often, but sometimes it is just worth it.
4. Blanching – Cutting the sprouts in half and boiling them for 5 minutes removes their bitter flavor.
5. Fresh herbs – I prefer oregano or marjoram on this dish.
6. Red wine vinegar – Acid is a great counter to bitterness; it serves Brussels sprouts well.

These tricks and variations of them have convinced me and nearly all of my friends that Brussels sprouts are truly an autumn delicacy.

For those of you questioning the health value of bacon and butter, my answer is this: get over it.

Small amounts of saturated fat will not kill you or even make you fat. Besides, if it gets you to eat your Brussels sprouts it is worth it. I feel confident in saying this dish is infinitely more healthy than anything you can get at Subway.

Don’t be scared, give it a try!

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Do you hate Brussels sprouts? Why?

We are all in a hurry sometimes. I happened to be in a hurry tonight. I won’t bore you with the details, but I got held up at work today and had more things to do when I got home than I could really fathom (including writing this post). I needed dinner, I needed it to be healthy (I’m going out twice tomorrow and for dinner Friday–wish me luck) and, most important, I needed it to be quick.