A change of diet

As a slightly chubby teenager with weight-conscious parents, I was brought on a diet of red meat and salad. The selling argument was that models ate that way and nobody had heard yet of the now sacred five servings of vegetable and fruit a day as opposed to the three servings of meat a week. As barbecue time fast approaches, here are some meatless meal suggestions. The key is to add taste, whether it be a sweet and salt approach in the tomato pie, an herb mixture in the salad vinaigrette or a Tabasco kick in the gazpacho.
Salad is still a great and easy way to eat vegetables. Just wash and slice as thinly as possible a few raw seasonal vegetables. Add a little sauce and you have a healthy meal on the table. Another effortless meal consists in blending vegetables and fruit which contain water, such as tomato, cucumber, zucchini beet, watermelon, pear and add either tomato juice or soy milk to obtain a cold soup. The flavor of this week is gazpacho. I realize I am getting slightly ahead of myself on the seasonal front: tomato plants are just about to be earthed and the tomatoes in the supermarkets are still of the greenhouse variety. But esthetics is primordial in our eating pleasure. As tulips raise their heads, tomatoes look a fashionable fit and I find irresistible the notion of eating a pie that is good for you. A quiche is just another way to eat your vegetables. As new ones sprout and mature, I will explore other methods to transform them into a complete meal.

Tomato and goat cheese pie (Easy, Preparation time: 1 hour, Cheap)
Serves 4 for lunch

Ingredients:
1 salty piecrust recipe (recipe follows)
6 tomatoes on the stem
2 4 oz (113g) small fresh goat cheese packages
Pepper to taste
1 tablespoon sugar
1tablespoon butter
Dusting of flour

Material:
One 11-inch (25 cm) pie mold with a removable bottom
Rolling pin (or clean bottle of wine)
Parchment paper
Rice as recyclable pie weights
Saucepan
1 spoon (normal or grapefruit)
1 fork

Set the oven temperature at 360F (180C).
Butter and flour the mold. Layout the refrigerated piecrust with a rolling pin on a piece of parchment paper and garnish the mold by reverting the paper, piecrust under, onto the mold. Remove the paper and roll the pin on top of the mold to remove the extra piecrust. Patch up any missing area. Prick the piecrust with a fork. Cover the piecrust with parchment paper, fill with rice to the rim to prevent the crust from lifting as it bakes and cook for 10 minutes on a baking sheet. Remove from the oven but leave the heat on. Carefully discard the parchment paper and place the rice back in a box, keeping it for other pies.
Set water in the saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the tomatoes and wait for the water to boil again. Drain immediately in a strainer. When they are cool enough to handle, peel the skin off. Cut them in half and spoon out the seeds and water. Lay a piece of paper towel and place the tomatoes cut half first, on the towel to remove all the moisture.
Layer the goat cheese on top of the cooled piecrust, crumbling it in an even layer with the back of a fork. Garnish with the tomatoes cut-half up. Sprinkle the inside of each tomato with sugar. Bake in the oven for an additional 20 minutes.
Serve warm with a large green salad (recipe follows).

Salty piecrust
(Easy, Preparation time: 5 minutes plus 30 minutes in the fridge, Cheap)

Ingredients:
1 cup (226g) all-purpose flour
1tablespoon salt
1 stick of butter (113 g) diced cold butter
½ cup ice-cold water

Material:
Mixer

Pour all the ingredients except for the iced water into the mixer, pie blade in. Blend, adding water through the top cover, until a ball of dough forms.
Scrape up the ball and place in the fridge for 30 minutes up to two days, or freeze for up to three months.

Salad and pesto vinaigrette (Easy, Preparation time: 30 minutes, Cheap)

Serves 4 with extra pesto vinaigrette

Ingredients:
4 handfuls of mixed greens
2 carrots
Bunch of asparagus
Bunch of radishes
2 zucchini
Edible flowers (viola, calendula, nasturtiums)

Material:
1 peeler
1 salad spinner
1 salad bowl

Wash and spin the greens and the flowers.
Peel the carrots. Wash the asparagus, radishes and zucchini. With the peeler, slice long strips of asparagus, radishes and zucchini. Cut in small pieces the part you cannot peel.
Place the salad, vegetables and flowers in the salad bowl.
Add enough pesto vinaigrette to lightly coat the content of the bowl.

Pesto vinaigrette
Ingredients:
4 cups basil leaves or parsley or mint or dill or a mix of herbs washed and dried
½ cup pine nuts
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves peeled
Salt and pepper to taste

Material:
Food processor or blender

Set the chosen herb or herbs, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese and garlic cloves in the food processor. Pour the olive oil in a stream while pulsing until you obtain a smooth paste.
Keep the rest refrigerated for up to a week.

Summer Gazpacho (Easy, Preparation time: 10 minutes, Cheap)
Serves 4

Ingredients:
2 large ripe tomatoes peeled and quartered
1 cucumber peeled and cut in pieces
1 thin slice of watermelon peeled and cut in pieces
1 small new onion quartered
1 sweet green bell pepper seeded
3 cups tomato juice canned
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
Dash Tabasco sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Material:
Pairing knife and cutting board
Blending

Place the ingredients in the order listed in the blender. Run for 1 minute. Serve in a bowl or a soup plate.
You can also use this same gazpacho recipe to create a taboulé, the Moroccan cold couscous salad. Just add the gazpacho to two cups of couscous. Let the grain swell for an hour. Add a few leaves of mint and slices of tomatoes and cucumber.