Stir-fry Sauce

One of the things I do to make a quick stir-fry even quicker is to keep a jar of stir-fry sauce in the refrigerator. You could buy a jar, but why? When you’re ready for dinner, heat up some vegetable oil, sauté your vegetables (this week you could use bok choy, beet greens, thinly sliced beets, onions, garlic and/or squash) and when it’s just about done, add just enough of this sauce to coat everything lightly. The cornstarch will thicken quickly and your stir-fry is done. I love that I don’t have to haul out the ginger and the garlic and the soy sauce and whatever every time I want to make a quick meal. This sauce will keep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. Vary the proportions to suit the taste of your household.

Roasted Beets, Cabbage and Whole Grain Salad

So after reviewing the box, I’m ready to make a salad, but not with the lettuce. How about something with cooked grains, the Chinese cabbage, and roasted beets? You can use any grain you like here – rice, bulgur, farro, millet, couscous, whatever you have on hand. The cabbage is nice for salad because every bit of that leaf is tender.

Vegetable Mafé

Finally I offer this recipe for an African-inspired stew. It was wonderful, even better the next day as most stews are. I still have a few hot peppers which are basically just drying out in the refrigerator, so I used them in place of the serranos this recipe calls for. The cabbage was the quarter head still in the vegetable crisper. No butternut squash still in your pantry? Just add more rutabagas or sweet potatoes. And maybe you’re one of those brilliant souls who took Suzanne’s suggestion and canned your own tomatoes this summer when they were in such abundance. The perfect accompaniment? MB cornbread or corn muffins.

Adapted from a recipe in “The Cornbread Gospels” by Crescent Dragonwagon (Workman, $14.95).