Cooking for my veg-heads

REALCUISINE | Julianne Glatz

I am not a vegetarian and have no plans to become one. But I often make vegetarian meals just because I like the preparations. Even more often, I prepare meals in which the meat acts as a condiment. Thanks to local farmers such as Matt and Debbie Daniels of Bear Creek Farm and Stan Schutte of Triple S Farm, the meat I use is sustainably and humanely produced.

Lately, however, I’ve been cooking vegetarian food exclusively. That’s because I’ve been in Brooklyn for several weeks, helping to take care of my new grandson, Robbie. Part of that help has been preparing meals. And Anne and Ben, Robbie’s parents, are both vegetarian – as is Robbie, for that matter.

It’s been interesting and sometimes challenging (if I could only put a little ham hock in that split pea soup!) I miss having my freezer-full of vegetables and vegetable preparations such as eggplant caponata (relish), tomatillo molé, and roasted tomatoes and garlic that I put up during the summer. The compensation is the fantastic grocery store that’s on the corner – actually in the same building as my kids’ apartment. It’s small, but the selection of produce, grains, legumes, cheeses etc. is huge.

Here are two things I’ve recently made.

The peanut soup was new to me, but good enough that it’ll be part of my standard repertoire. The leek and goat cheese galette is an old favorite; when I made it a few days ago, Anne said, “I think this is the best thing you’ve ever made!”

Contact Julianne Glatz at realcuisine.jg@gmail.com.