"Enjoy Every Sandwich" (Veggie Reuben)

2008 brought a number of changes for me. One of those changes has been the way I feel about this blog, which began as a way of sharing my enjoyment of vegetarian food, but has recently come to feel like an obstacle to that enjoyment. I like taking pictures, but it can be tiresome to have to photograph everything before eating it. Finding the time to compose regular posts can be a challenge, and, while I have a pretty diverse eating pattern, sometimes I'd like to eat nothing but quesadillas for a week without worrying about what blog readers might think.

In short, I need to step back, heed the late, great Warren Zevon's advice, and enjoy every sandwich. This blog will continue, but posting will be less frequent: perhaps once a week, perhaps once a month.

Although Warren was not vegetarian, his song titles lend themselves quite naturally to conversations about vegetarian living. For example:

Q: Did your family agree to forgo turkey at Thanksgiving?
A: No, Momma Couldn't Be Persuaded.

Q: How did I goof up such a basic recipe for mac and cheese?
A: Accidentally Like a Martyr.

Q: I thought this green chili was vegetarian, but I just bit into a piece of pork!
A: Don't Let Us Get Sick/Poor Poor Pitiful Me.

Q: What if we add some red pepper flakes to that?
A: Genius.

Warren might have preferred something from the Pioneer Chicken Stand, but I'm starting 2009 with a veggie reuben. In this version, cabbage and onion are sautéed in a blend of canola oil and caraway seed, then stacked, with baked portobello, dressing and Gruyere cheese, between slices of rye bread. Somewhat messy, but worth it.

Best wishes for 2009, and enjoy every sandwich.

Ingredients (for 5 sandwiches)
10 slices rye bread
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon canola oil, divided
1 teaspoon caraway seed
1/2 head cabbage, washed and chopped
1 onion, washed and sliced into thin strips
5 portobello mushrooms, washed, gently dried and stems removed
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
black pepper to taste
5 ounces Gruyere cheese
"Russian" dressing (recipe below)

To Make the Cabbage Mixture:
Heat 1 tablespoon oil and caraway seeds in a large fry pan over medium heat.
Add the cabbage, onions and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Cook, stirring only occasionally, until the cabbage and onions are browned (see photo above).
Remove from heat.

To Make the Baked Portobellos:
Preheat oven to 375 F.
In a medium bowl, blend together 1/4 cup canola oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt and black pepper to taste.
Cut each portobello cap into 5-6 thick strips.
Toss with the oil mixture.
Lay the portobello slices in single layer in a baking dish (the mushrooms will release moisture when cooked, so I recommend a baking dish over a cookie sheet).
Bake 15 minutes.
While the portobellos are baking, place a wire rack on a counter or table, with a cookie sheet underneath.
Remove from oven.
Use a spatula/turner or tongs to remove portobellos from the baking dish and place on the wire rack to drain.

"Russian" Dressing
In a small bowl, combine:

1/3 cup mayonnaise/canola mayo/soy mayo
1 roma tomato, washed and finely chopped
1 scallion, washed and chopped
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon honey
black pepper to taste

To Assemble the Sandwich:

Lay two slices of rye bread on a baking sheet.
Top the first slice of bread with 1/5 of the portobello slices, and the second with 1/5 of the cabbage mixture.
Place thin slices of Gruyere on top of the portobello and the cabbage mixture.
Broil until the cheese is soft and bubbly.
Remove from oven.
Place the portobello slice face up on a plate.
Top with "Russian" dressing.
Place the cabbage mixture slice face down on top of the portobello and dressing.
Enjoy.

Missing: Cooking Light's Inspired Vegetarian

Alright, so I'm a little behind in my reading. But, when I glanced a recent issue of Cooking Light, I noticed that there seemed to be fewer vegetarian recipes than usual. And, I couldn't seemed to find the "Inspired Vegetarian" section of the magazine, highlighting vegetarian recipes from a particular chef, cookbook author or region of the world. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the October issue included only three vegetarian main dish recipes. And, it appears that the magazine has stopped running the Inspired Vegetarian section entirely.

What the heck?!?

I started subscribing to Cooking Light about seven years ago, after picking up a roommate's copy and noticing that, in addition to offering a vegetarian section, veg recipes were integrated throughout the magazine. I liked that the magazine made vegetarian food accessible to everyone, and sent a message that vegetarian cooking was part of a healthy lifestyle. Even better, the recipes worked. And so, for the past seven years, I've been happily reading each issue, and compiling a binder full of favorite vegetarian recipes from the magazine

Going back through my stack of old Cooking Lights, it looks like the change began a couple of months ago, with the omission of the Inspired Vegetarian section in the August issue. I didn't notice at first, in part because I was busy, and in part because the magazine still featured a number of vegetarian options. But, in October, the number of vegetarian meals (by which I mean "main dishes," soups, sandwiches and pastas) dropped significantly. While the October 2007 issue of Cooking Light offered at least eight vegetarian meals, the October 2008 issue offered only three.

I would be less annoyed that Cooking Light dropped its Inspired Vegetarian section if number of vegetarian meals throughout the magazine remained the same. But I can't understand why the magazine would both get rid of its vegetarian section and reduce the number of overall vegetarian recipes. A number of meat eaters that I know eat at least one vegetarian meal each week. It seems especially odd to limit vegetarian recipes at a time when the cost of food is rising, and meatless meals are often less expensive.

Odder still, the March 2008 edition of Inspired Vegetarian (highlighting veg recipes with a Malaysian theme) promised that "future stops on our 2008 global vegetarian cuisine tour will include Spain's Catalonia region, India, Venezuela, Guadalupe, Germany, and Northern California." Clearly, future editions were in the works. Why cut the "tour" short before it was completed? (One unlikely conspiracy theory: retribution for highlighting the food of politically-unpopular Venezuela in the June 2008 issue...)

For now, I'm hoping that October was an anomaly, and that the number of vegetarian meal ideas in future issues will increase. If the trend continues, though, my subscription to Cooking Light will probably end.

Update: Inspired Vegetarian is back in the December 2008 issue of Cooking Light, with a look at Ethiopian recipes.

Ask Before Ordering at Rocky Mountain Diner

Rocky Mountain Diner promises food just like Grandma's. Apparently, "Grandma" used a lot of meat in her cooking. Enchiladas? Stuffed with roast duck. Tacos? Filled with steak. Each sandwich and plate listed on the menu is meat-based (Buffalo Meatloaf, Chicken Fried Steak, Vaquero Cheese Steak...), and even the salads (apart from the house salad and, depending on how you interpret "vegetarian," the caesar salad) have some type of meat component.

The only two dishes on the lunch menu which do not list meat among their ingredients are the chili rellenos and the huevos rancheros. I ordered the chili rellenos during a recent visit. While, in retrospect, the meat-heavy menu should have been a warning, I didn't bother to ask whether the green chili atop the chili rellenos (and huevos rancheros) contains meat. However, a few bites in, it became clear that the green chili does contain meat - giant chunks of pork which seemed to permeate the entire dish.

Although it may be a meat-lover's delight, Rocky Mountain Diner is a difficult place to eat as a vegetarian. It's a shame, because the restaurant appears to use fresh ingredients and to prepare its dishes from scratch. It's been a long time since I've been to a restaurant which didn't include any vegetarian options on its menu - even in meat-intensive south Texas, I was able to order cheese enchiladas or a grilled cheese sandwich. Although it has a great location (in the historic Ghost building downtown) and a nice patio, I will probably not return to the Diner in the future. For vegetarians who do find themselves at the Diner, I recommend telling the server that you don't eat meat, and then asking what items on the menu can be prepared without meat.

Rocky Mountain Diner
800 18th Street
Denver, CO 80202
(303) 293-8383

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From Claire at Culinary Colorado: News that the Asian restaurants and markets at Alameda Square are slated to be replaced by yet another modern shopping mall.