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I’ve had the idea for this recipe swimming around in my head for a while. Does that ever happen to anyone else? I think it started after I had a charred broccoli salad a few weeks back. The salad combined smokey broccoli and pickled kohlrabi and it was one of the best flavor combinations I’ve tasted in a long while. The bright tang of the pickled kohlrabi cut right through the deep smokey flavor of the broccoli perfectly. There were other components to the salad, but they were mostly supporting roles in the overall scheme. If you’re in the Houston area, and want to try this awesome salad, you can get it at Coltivare.

Since enjoying the salad, I formulated my own simplified version of it in my head. I knew I wanted to combine roasted broccoli with some quick pickled shallots and toasted nuts. Tasting as I went, I decided to add a sweet component which is where the apple came in. It’s quite simple to throw together and is ready in about the time it takes to roast the broccoli. If you want to make a meal out of it, you can do what I did and serve it over some brown rice (or other grain). The salad can be served warm, at room temperature, or even chilled depending on your preference or what is easiest. If you are a bit weirded out by the pickled shallots, I urge you to give them a try in this application. I think you might find your new favorite salad.

And, on a completely unrelated subject, I thought I would provide some follow up news on a previous post in which I shared that I am no longer continuing the baking business part of Sweet Miscellany and instead pursuing my interests in nutrition. Since that post I was able to find a suitable program and will begin a year long program starting in March! I am excited and nervous but I finally feel like things are falling into place and making sense. Thank you to anyone who has offered support and stuck with me through this journey 🙂

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When someone finds out I eat a vegan diet, the first question is almost always, “what do you eat?”. It is either asked in a genuine, truth-seeking tone, or one of complete shock that implies that surely I cannot survive without meat let alone all other animal products. It’s rather comical but I am always willing to have a discussion about what I eat and especially ready to address the most common concerns about protein sources, etc. etc. If the person who asked the question is willing to stand there long enough, I’m relatively certain I could talk their ear off. In case you have not figured it out already, food is totally my jam!

Since some of you reading this might actually be wondering what I eat on a regular basis, or perhaps are looking for vegan/gluten free meal ideas, I’ve decided to share more of my own everyday meals with you here. Meal planning used to be a bit difficult for me at first before I settled into a comfortable pattern. When I was still eating a mostly vegetarian diet, I came up with a sort of formula for most of my weeknight meals that looked like this:

cooked grains or pasta + tons of seasonal/fresh veggies + nuts, seeds, and/or herbs = dinner

See, it’s pretty simple, right? Or at least it seems simple to me, now. The combinations are endless and ever-changing depending on the season and what produce is available. Every single one of my meals doesn’t necessarily follow this exact formula, but the majority do. Like the one I’m going to share with you here: a simple bowl of creamy polenta paired with a peppery vegetable saute. It makes for a relatively easy dinner and tastes like comfort in a bowl.

I chose to be a bit heavy handed with the fresh cracked pepper in the veggie saute because I wanted to create a nice contrast with the creamy polenta. The saute is made up of lacinato kale, broccolini, mushrooms, garlic, shallot, and walnuts. I love combining mushrooms and walnuts because they provide a sort of unctuous quality to any dish they are in, plus the flavor and texture combo is awesome in my humble opinion. If you can’t find broccolini, sub in some broccoli instead. Or, double up on the kale. You can’t really go wrong 🙂

Polenta Bowls with Peppery Veggie Saute

for the polenta
1 quart vegan veggie stock
2 good pinches herbes de provence or fresh thyme
salt & pepper as needed
1 1/4 cups dried polenta
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional)

Combine the stock and herbes de provence in a stock pot. Bring the stock to a boil, then whisk in the polenta. Lower the heat to a simmer, whisking the polenta constantly for 3 to 5 minutes until it is thick and creamy. Taste and season as needed with salt and pepper. When it is ready, remove it from the heat and stir in the nutritional yeast if using.

for the peppery veggie saute
1 shallot or 1/2 of a small onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
a large handful of walnuts, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp fresh thyme, minced
8 ounces of cremini (baby bella) mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch broccolini, ends trimmed
1 bunch of lacinato (Tuscan) kale, de-ribbed and roughly chopped
salt to taste
a good dose of fresh cracked pepper
scant tbsp olive oil or coconut oil

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until the shallots just start to soften. Season the shallot mixture with a bit of salt and pepper. Add the walnuts and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until they just barely start turning golden. Add the thyme, mushrooms, and broccolini and cook until the broccolini starts to turn bright green. Add the kale last and cook until it just starts to wilt. Taste the veggies, then season with more salt if needed and an ample amount of fresh cracked pepper.

To assemble, place a good bit of the polenta in the bottom of a bowl, then top it with a mound of the veggie saute. Makes 4 servings. Enjoy!