Liza's Quick Wonton Raviolis

Kids love 'em!

Liza invented these. About 13 years ago, my mom showed us how to make potstickers. When Liza and I first started living together, we'd wow our friends with big platters of potstickers and homemade ponzu dipping sauce. We haven't made those for years, but we have realized that frozen wonton wrappers are a great secret weapon to have up your sleeve.

So, Liza took the wonton secret and combined it with a bit of her Italian sensibilities and her vegetarian requirement. If you want to go vegan, you could probably swap out the feta for 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast.

If you press the tofu ahead of time, this is a quickie.


Stuff
- Wonton wrappers
- Marina sauce
- Filling:

• 1 lb of tofu. Pressed for a couple hours. Then crumbled.
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta
• 1 box frozen chopped spinach. Thawed, drained.
• 1 glove garlic, minced
• 2 TBS olive oil
• juice from half a lemon
• S&P to taste

Method

1. Combine all the ingredients for the filling and mix gently.
2. Put a little gob in the center of a wonton wrapper and wrap it up. Wet the edges of the wrapper a bit to help it stick.
3. Don't do the submersion boil thing with these guys, as they'll probably not survive. Instead, put a bit of canola oil in a hot non-stick pan. Put a few raviolis in there, but don't crowd them, as they like to stick together once they get wet.
4. Have a lid for the pan at the ready, because this next part is a bit shocking the first time.

5. Pour about a cup of water into the pan and then immediately cover it with the lid. I like to use boiling water, but that amplifies the cracking, steaming, noisy explosion of oily watery activity. In any case, the water should just cover the bottom of the pan. The lid shouldn't be tight-fitting -- lots of steam should escape. You're steaming these suckers.
6. Leave the lid on (so steam escapes) for about a minute, then take it off. The water should be cooking off now. If it takes more than 30 seconds or so, pour off the water. Then flip the raviolis.
7. If you need to add a touch more oil, then do it. Saute until brown.

8. Serve with warm marinara and cheese.

Liza's Wild Rice Squash

Liza has made this a couple times this winter. It rules. Maddie loves it, which makes it a winner every time.

It's a Liza invention. Substitute olive oil for the butter and it's an easy vegan dish.

Stuff:

• 1 large acorn squash, halved
• 2 TB butter
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 2 cups chopped mushroom
• 1 1/2 cup cooked wild rice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce

Method:

1. Put squash cut side down on baking sheet and bake in a 375 oven for about 45-50 minutes. Liza actually puts her squash in a little toaster oven at 400 for about an hour.
2. In a frying pan on medium-high heat, melt butter and then saute celery, onions, carrots until just soft.
3. Add mushrooms, cook until mushrooms sweat and begin to brown.
4. Add rice and soy. Stir it up to warm through. S&P to taste.
5. Serve with the squash which has been quartered, and with a good winter-hoppy ale.

Leek Potato Soup

This is an old Liza chestnut. It's standard by Leek Potato Soup standards. Liza whips out some version of this soup on a pretty regular basis. I like to eat it with Brother Bru Bru's African Hot Sauce and crusty bread.


Liza got this recipe from Eliot's Extraordinary Cookbook. But she's made it so many times that it's sort of become her own.


Stuff

• 2 leeks, cut lengthwise, cleaned, and chopped.
• 2 TB butter
• 4 potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk

Method

1. Saute leeks with butter over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes.
2. Add 3 cups water and bring to a boil.
3. Add potatoes and salt and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Mash with potato masher.
5. Add milk, season with pepper and more salt to taste.
6. Serve.

You can vegan-ize this recipe by swapping out the butter with olive oil and the milk with soy milk. No one will ever know.

You can also add left over salmon or frozen corn or other interesting things too, ya know.