Driven to extraction: dust off your juicer for some quick and easy meals - includes recipes

Vegetarian Times, Feb, 1996 by Barbara Haspel, Tamar Haspel

Too Big for a paperweight. Too unwieldy for a doorstop. You acquired it in a flush of enthusiasm, visions of endless streams of colorful, vitamin-rich, delicious juice dancing in your head. Briefly enthroned on your most convenient counter, it now sulks in a remote corner of your kitchen. Yes, it's your juice extractor; unloved but too expensive to be forgotten. In fact, the only thing that s keeping it out of your attic is big-time guilt. Why, you keep asking yourself, can't you get it together to use that monster appliance that cost so much money?

The answer is that while fresh juice is undoubtedly great-tasting and healthful, it fails to address the bottom line for most of us who cook at home: putting dinner on the table. This one culinary goal supersedes all others. Radish garnishes carved like miniature rosettes? Not a priority. Fruit heaped up in homemade, individual chocolate baskets? Not likely. We just want to feed our families. And it can't be just any old thing. It must be tasty, and nutritious--not to mention low-fat. Who has time for juice? Any time-consuming, mess-making kitchen procedure must help produce dinner. Forget juice.

We'll keep using the J-word, because the alternative can come to seem a little precious ("it essence of celery," indeed!). But essences are what you should be thinking about. Many vegetarian soups and sauces, especially the ones we throw together in haste, suffer from a certain lack of depth and intensity of flavor. The carnivorous model for enriching flavor--rich, cooked-down meat stocks--is no use to us. Reduce a vegetable stock and it's likely to just turn grassy or bitter. So how do you provide that underlying richness in stocks and sauces? The answer is as dose as that dusty top shelf your juicer calls home.

You won't need hours of preparation time; one hour-long session can set you up for an entire week. You won't need careful shopping, as just about any veggie can be juiced to advantage. And you won't need steely resolve--this actually can be fun.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

Here are some rules to live by? You're going to need lots of little jars and labels. It's hard to believe that vegetables that look so different can produce juices that look so similar.

Clean your veggies well (peeling is rarely necessary) and cut them into pieces your juicer can digest. Start your juicing session with the blander items and move to the more flavorful. It's a good idea to have on hand plenty of something bland and wet like zucchini or cucumber to separate vegetables with assertive flavors. For example, if you want your onion juice to be entirely distinct from your carrot juice, you can cleanse your juicer's palate with a couple of zucchini spears and you'll have zucchini juice with just a little carrot in it. This strategy helps you avert the ultimate catastrophe: having to dean the juicer more than once. But if your juicer does overheat or become dogged, just disassemble it to remove the worst of the debris and add it to the pulp you're saving for the stockpot. Let the machine cool for a few minutes, then put it back together and continue.

Most vegetable essences will keep five to seven days in the refrigerator, or longer if you add a few drops of vinegar, which is fine if you plan to use the juice in a recipe for which vinegar's flavor is appropriate. Essences also can be frozen in ice-cube trays and stored in plastic bags. (Again, don't forget to label them.) Skim and strain your juices before storing them if appearances are important to you. We never bother.

The recipes that follow are merely some suggestions to help you get started. The variations are endless. Juice-extractor guilt can be alleviated without psychotherapy.

Celery-Garlic Vinaigrette

Celery juice adds a unique flavor accent to this dressing. If you use salt making the recipe. try celery salt for added flavor. Be patient--it takes a moment or two for the garlic juice to drain from the juicer.

1 to 2 Tbs. olive oil 1 Tbs. red wine vinegar 1 tsp. Dijon or Pommery mustard 2 Tbs. celery juice (one medium stalk) 1 tsp. garlic juice (2 large cloves) Salt (optional) Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients except salt and pepper in a small bowl (or a jar if you plan to have leftovers); stir or shake to blend. Add salt if desired and pepper; stir or shake. Taste and adjust seasonings. Makes 1/4 cup, enough for about 6 cups of salad. PER TABLESPOON: 23 CAL.; 0 PROT.; 2G FAT; 1G CARB.; 0 CHOL.; 24MG SOD.; 0 FIBER. VEGAN

Carrot Couscous with Chickpeas

Add texture and color to this dish with optional ingredients such as steamed broccoli florets, chopped green or red peppers, chopped scallions or chopped cilantro.

1 cup couscous 3/4 cup carrot juice (3 medium carrots) 1/2 cup water 1 cup cooked chickpeas (see glossary) 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place couscous in an oven-proof dish with a tight-fitting lid. Pour juice and water over couscous; stir. Allow mixture to stand uncovered at least 15 minutes. Stir in chickpeas, salt and pepper flakes. Cover dish tightly with foil and lid. Bake 20 minutes. (See note. Makes 2 or 3 main-dish or 4 side-dish servings.