My Secret Weapon

When it comes to making dinner, my one, indespensible tool is the Google searchbar at the top of my web browser. Don't get me wrong, I love my cookbooks (if I buy too many more, the microwave will have to move to the laundry room); but sometimes those cookbook indexes (or is it indicies?) don't have exactly what I'm looking for. When that happens, I just type in whatever produce I have that's been sitting in the fridge for more than a week, whatever spice or flavor I'm in the mood for and randomly choose from the lists Google provides. This recipe roulette has yet to let me down in cooking or baking. I've found excellent vegan recipes for Pear-Cardamom Muffins and Banana-Chocolate Chip Cookies this way as well as some I've de-milked and un-egged with varying success.

Cooking by keyword ("CbK," acronym patent pending) is also extremely useful for me since I have a bad habit of buying delicious ingredients simply to have them on hand or because they are on sale. This is a by-product from growing up in and around homes with multiple refrigerators and/or freezers and "fruit bins." Did anyone else have a fruit bin? This is not to be confused with a pantry. In my lexicon, pantries are closets or very large cupboards full of food located in the kitchen proper. A fruit bin is a larger closet - in some cases walk-in or room-sized - located most often in the basement. In addition to the difference in size and location, pantries are used to store food used on a daily basis. Fruit bins were for stockpiling and the storing of odd incidentals. "Mom! Are we out of oatmeal?" "Check the pantry honey!" "Mom! Do we have any cocktail olives?" "Check the fruit bin dear!" You get the idea.

Having lived the five previous years in a house with a fruit bin in the basement, a gourmet-sized fridge and a pantry in the kitchen, and two regular-sized fridges and a deep freezer in the garage, I often forget that my little apartment has but one small fridge, one small freezer, and barely enough shelf space for my pots and pans let alone all the food. I'm currently using casserole dishes as bookends on the shelves in my living room.

Anyhoos, last night's dinner keywords were "snap peas" and "capers." I can't even remember why I bought either of those things. I think the peas were for an ambitious vietnamese hot pot recipe that I later discovered I lacked the ambition to attempt. As for the capers, my roommate insists they elevate grilled cheese sandwiches to new heights. As for me, I just want to live in the kind of apartment where there are always capers on hand. Capers are a classy kind of condiment.

So, Google gave me several caper/pea options but I veganized the following recipe (which originally called for salmon and plain or greek yogurt):

1 tbs (or more) olive oil

4 shallots, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

4-5 white mushrooms, sliced thin

an overflowing 1/4 cup of capers (no brine)

2 big handfulls of snap peas

6 oz of plain soy yogurt (leave it sit out on the counter while you are prepping everything else so it's not fridge-cold when you go to use it)

1 box of not-long pasta (I used penne, but spirals or wagon wheels would have been good too)

While the water for the pasta is boiling, saute the shallots and peppers until they start to soften. Toss in the mushrooms and the capers and saute for another few minutes. Stir in the peas and cook until they are just starting to turn bright green (don't over cook the peas or they get slimy) then remove from heat and cover while the pasta cooks.

**Side Note: In my tiny kitchen, there is a tiny stove. And on this tiny stove there is only one full sized burner. Trying to boil a full pot of water on one of the little burners takes several hours. Thus I have to start the pot boiling on a small burner while I use the large one to saute. Then, like a culinary contortionist I move the pot of semi-boiling water to the larger burner to finish boiling while holding the hot frying pan until the small burner cools down enough for me to set it down. I have parboiled my feet on more than one occasion. End Note**

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box. Drain well and put back in the pot (or get one of those cool pasta pots that has the sieve for a lid like I have). Stir in the yogurt until all the pasta is coated. Stir in the shallot/pea mixture and serve immediately.

I am usually a little wary about cooking with soy milk or yogurt in what is supposed to be a savory dish. Soy milk has a sweet aftertaste not really suitable for gravies and cream soups. The yogurt I used, "Whole Soy & Co.," was a very nice surprise. I'm sure it tastes nothing like plain milk-based yogurt (it's been over a decade since I had any dairy products) but it was great. This dinner got rave reviews from my roommate and there weren't any left overs...that's successful roulette in my book.