March 22nd, 2016
As though writing a cookbook and trying to stay on top of a second grader’s homework and extracurriculars is not enough, we’re planning a long overdue and major kitchen renovation this summer. When I say long overdue, I am not exaggerating one bit, as we haven’t put a hammer or paintbrush to the kitchen in the thirteen years of living in this house. Something has always topped it on the priority list, which, I know, sounds crazy considering what I do.
Our kitchen is nicely sized and sunny, but has many questionable and outdated details from the 90s along with badly aging countertops, the layout needs improvement, and there is a low hanging ceiling in an otherwise high ceilinged house. There’s lots of unearthed potential, and we are finally coming around to letting it free. To me, this is extremely exciting – the kitchen is my office, the place where the family eats, and also happens to be the central hangout spot in the house.
Somehow, we’ve managed to put ourselves onto a very tight schedule – the book manuscript is due June 30th, and the kitchen is being knocked down July 1st, the next day!
For now, I’m planning and gathering ideas, scouting Craigslist and Pinterest, and picking up old pieces of driftwood off the beach – who knows when I’ll need them.
Hot soup has always been my ultimate comfort food, and I know I will be needing lots of it in the months to come. Vietnamese pho is king when it comes to soups that warm you from the core, and I’ve been experimenting with vegetarian pho recipes during the past couple of weeks. The main component of any pho, but especially vegetarian pho, is the broth. This pho broth is first and foremost based on toasted spices – star anise, cinnamon, coriander, cardamom, peppercorn, and clove – each bringing its individual character to the flavor profile. I’m not normally the biggest fan of cinnamon in savory dishes, but in this broth it balances with tamari, brown rice vinegar and chili to create a fragrant and deeply nourishing broth.
I bought a few too many sweet potatoes from my favorite local farm and they made it into the pho in place of rice noodles, truly hitting the spot. This soup is all I want to eat right now. It’s warming, spicy and substantial, but also loaded with springy, crunchy vegetables and tons of herbs – the perfect balance, if you ask me.
Ciao Italian readers! Our book The Vibrant Table is now available in Italian, and you can order it here.
Vegetarian Spring Pho with Sweet Potato Noodles and Heirloom Beans
Note: I noticed that making the broth the night before lends the best flavor, so if you have time, let the aromatics sit in the broth for a night.
2 star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorn
5 whole cloves
3 cardamom pods – green shells removed
1 medium onion – sliced into 8 wedges
3 garlic cloves – crushed with a knife
1-inch piece ginger, sliced and crushed with a knife
1/2 lb shiitake – hard stems removed, caps sliced
6 cups purified water
3 1/2 tablespoons tamari
1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon sriracha
1 1/2 cup cooked beans (I used these beautiful ones)
2 medium sweet potatoes – spiralized (I use this spiralizer)
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 small or 1/2 large broccoli head – cut into florets
2 baby bok choy or 1 regular bok choy – sliced
handful mung bean sprouts
juice of 1 lime, plus more for serving
handful each cilantro, basil and mint leaves
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1. Warm dried spices in a medium soup pot over medium heat, stir around until toasted and fragrant, for about 2-3 minutes. Add onion, garlic and ginger and toast for another couple of minutes, until fragrant and onion begins to get some colour. Carefully add water (it may splatter) and shiitake stems, followed by tamari, brown rice vinegar and sriracha. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to simmer and cook, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let infuse further for at least 30 minutes or as long as you have time (overnight is best). Strain, discard solids.
2. Warm the coconut oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat, add broccoli and bok choy and saute for about 3-4 minutes, until they turn bright green in color. Set aside. This step can be eliminated and you can add broccoli and bok choy directly to the broth, along with the sweet potato noodles or later, together with mung bean sprouts, if you want to keep the greens extra crunchy.
3. In the meantime, bring the broth back to a boil, add cooked beans, sweet potato noodles and sliced shiitake caps. Adjust the heat to a simmer and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on the type of spiralizer used. Mine makes very thin threads, so 3 minutes is enough time, while other spiralizers produce much thicker noodles, which need longer cooking time. Add sauteed broccoli and bok choy to the broth, followed by mung bean sprouts.
4. Remove pho from heat, add lime juice, herbs and sesame seeds. Serve warm with more lime juice and/or fresh herbs.
Tags: beans, bok choy, broccoli, mushrooms, pho, shiitake, soup, sweet potato, vegan
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December 15th, 2014
Before we share our holiday dessert for the year, here is a dish that I’ve been hooked on lately. It will make for a light and nourishing lunch or dinner between those big celebratory meals.
Spaghetti squash has been in high demand in my kitchen this fall, I love it for its versatility and convenience. It never ceases to amaze me how a little yellow squash produces delicious natural ‘noodles’ after some time in the oven.
Something magical happens when coconut milk mixes with the spice of ginger and chili, citrus, lemongrass and tamari into a creamy sauce. Mung beans, and later spaghetti squash absorb the flavors of the sauce, while broccoli and carrots provide a freshness and crunch. The garnish of toasted sesame seeds and herbs adds a bold finishing touch.
I recently rediscovered mung beans and have been experimenting with them in the kitchen (I even managed to make this fettuccine, stay tuned). For this recipe, you can either cook or sprout the mung beans, I’m a fan of the latter. Sprouting them is very simple: cover with filtered water overnight, then drain and keep in the same bowl, covered with a damp kitchen towel for about two days, until satisfied with the size of your sprouts. Rinse every 8 hours. For this dish, one day of sprouting is plenty.
And if you are looking for a light seasonal dessert for your holiday table, grab the recipe for Earl Grey Poached Pears and Hazelnut Panna Cotta from our cookbook over at Chalkboard Magazine.
Lemongrass Mung Beans over Spaghetti Squash
for the spaghetti squash
1 medium spaghetti squash
coconut oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
for the lemongrass mung beans
(inspiration credit)
1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 stalks lemongrass – bruised with the back of a chef’s knife and chopped finely
1 tablespoon grated ginger root
2 cups sprouted or cooked mung beans
2 teaspoons sriracha
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons brown rice vinegar
sea salt
2 cups broccoli florets
2 large carrots – julienned
3/4 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons tamari
toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup chopped green onions
basil or cilantro leaves
to cook spaghetti squash
Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Rub the flesh with coconut oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place onto a rimmed baking sheet, cut side down. Bake for 30 minutes or longer, until soft throughout. Let cool.
to make lemongrass mung beans
Warm up coconut oil and 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add lemongrass, ginger, mung beans, sriracha, lime juice, rice vinegar and a pinch of salt. Saute for 4-5 minutes. Add broccoli, carrots, coconut milk, remaining 1 tablespoon of sesame oil and soy sauce. Stir over the heat for another 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
to assemble
Scoop out the spaghetti squash and distribute between bowls. Spoon lemongrass beans and veggies over the squash. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds, green onion and basil/cilantro leaves.
Tags: broccoli, carrots, lemongrass, mung beans, spaghetti squash, squash, vegan
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November 7th, 2013
Welcome to the new golubkakichen.com! We are so excited for this very overdue transformation and hope you like the site as much as we do. The blog was designed by Hannah of Little Light Creative and the logo is the work of Erin Ellis. We are ever grateful to these two talented ladies for making our visions and dreams become reality.
I’ve been all about soups these days and have tried out every single soup recipe from this book in the last couple of weeks. To be fair, I’m all about soup all the time – to me it’s the ultimate comfort food, as easy and satisfying as can be. As much as I love smooth, creamy ones, I often crave a chunky texture in my soups, thinking back to the ones I ate for lunch every day of my childhood. To most Russians, soup is a mandatory part of lunch – it’s served first, followed by a main, second course. My mother never had a shortage of soup ideas, and things like borsht, green borsht, solyanka, mushroom soup, and sturgeon uha were on the lunch table on any given day.
This soup is an interesting step away from the classic autumn squash soup – brilliant pink in colour, with plenty of textures and flavours to warm the soul and nourish the body. I adapted the recipe from Salatshop, a Russian wellness blog written by Olya Malysheva out of Moscow. Olya’s style is endlessly optimistic and she is great at coming up with vegetarian recipes that require no fuss. Her site and its popularity makes the Russian in me very proud – it’s great to see such an increasing interest in sites like Salatshop in the country of meat and potatoes. If you speak Russian, you should definitely pay it a visit.
Pink Soup with Roasted Onions and Broccoli
2-3 small to medium beets – peeled and cubed
2 garlic cloves – minced
sea salt
2 small to medium red onions – peeled and quartered or cut into eighths, depending on size
grape seed oil
1 head of broccoli – cut into bite-sized florets
2 cans Thai coconut milk
pinch of chili powder or a dash of cayenne
1/2 lemon – juiced
1-2 ripe but firm avocados
freshly ground black pepper
arugula leaves for garnish
1. Add beets to a medium-sized saucepan along with the garlic and a pinch of salt and barely cover with water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer until beets are tender.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F (180 C). Place onions on an oiled baking sheet, lightly brush with oil and roast until golden, for about 20 minutes.
3. While waiting for the beets and onions to cook, bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil and blanch the broccoli for 3 minutes. Immediately transfer into an ice-water bath to stop the cooking.
4. When the beets are tender, add in coconut milk and a pinch of salt, bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Add in the broccoli, stir to heat it through and then remove from the heat. Squeeze lemon juice over the soup and adjust salt if needed.
5. Cube the avocado. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with roasted onion wedges, avocado cubes and arugula leaves. Serve with sourdough and/or sprouted bread avocado toasts. Enjoy!
Tags: avocado, beets, broccoli, onion, soup
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