yumcoast

a seafood feast

2012-02-13T06:16:00.000-08:00

our dinner last night was pretty strange, it was a seafood feast...of sorts. i suppose it all started to take shape last month when we were in asheville for a little weekend getaway. we were browsing through (what we thought was a cute independent health food store but ended up being) whole foods and saw frozen vegan calamari*.

um. wait. whaaaaaaaaaaat??? we didn't buy it but when we got back kris saw it at sevananda and bought a box because, whaaaaaaaaaaaat!? i mean, we had to see what it was all about. so that's been sitting in our freezer for a couple of weeks.

then another strange seafood thing happened. i got the latest bon appetit and saw a recipe for "poor man's" shrimp cocktail which is really just cauliflower that you do some stuff to and then it turns into shrimp cocktail. i was intrigued and had to try it out. and kris remembered we had that calamari and so our vegan seafood feast was born.

now i never did like seafood or shellfish or anything of the sort but i wasn't too worried that our cauliflower and ~~calamari~~ asain mountain yams would elicit the same reaction from me. they didn't. but they were tasty in their own way! the cauliflower was just like nicely seasoned, lemony cauliflower. the calamari didn't have a lot of taste on it's own, it was really just like fried chewiness. what brought this whole meal to seafood land was kris's cocktail sauce. he thought cocktail sauce was just ketchup and worchestire sauce. i had no clue. turns out it's ketchup and horseradish but he worked some magic and mixed up a yummy cocktail sauce worchestire sauce and all. so that's the story of our vegan seafood feast. we rounded it out with some chard, not chard pretending to be salmon or anything nuts like that, just good ol' sauteed chard**.

if you wanna get in on the cauliflower, here's the recipe. it couldn't be easier. and if you close your eyes and think of shrimp cocktail you just might just fool yourself for a quickquick second. also note that this recipe is 2 heads of cauliflower so you might want to cut it in half.

ingredients:

1 cup dry crab boil seasoning (i used old bay)
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 yellow onions, quartered
6 garlic cloves
3 lemons, halved crosswise
2 1-pound heads of cauliflower, cored, trimmed into 2" florets
cocktail sauce

combine crab boil, salt, onions, garlic, and 6 quarts water in a large pot. squeeze juice from lemons into pot and add lemon halves. set pot over high heat and bring liquid to a boil. cook for 10 minutes to let flavors meld. using a slotted spoon, remove onions, garlic, and lemons from broth; discard. return liquid to a rolling boil.
add cauliflower; turn off heat, cover pot tightly, and let stand until cauliflower is crisp-tender, 5–10 minutes. drain; spread out cauliflower on a rimmed baking sheet and let cool completely.
arrange room-temperature or chilled cauliflower on a platter with cocktail sauce for dipping.

-d

*check that link...their website is pretty awesome.

**kris read that chard is a mood booster so i think everyone should add a bit more chard to their diet.

fun with a new grain...amaranth!

2012-01-25T17:49:00.000-08:00

first of all, am i the only one who thinks amberlamps everytime i hear amaranth? probably. that's ok, moving on...

i've noticed that amaranth is popping up all over the place lately, i guess it's the new quinoa. high in protein and amino acids and all kinds of good things. when i saw a big container of it at the farmer's market for $2.51 i figured it was time to give it a go. and then a few weeks after buying it when i decided it was time to really give it a go....as in actually cook it...i couldn't recall where exactly "everywhere" was that i had read about/seen amaranth recipes. so i decided to just use it like good ol' quinoa and make an amaranth bowl. i looked to the internet for cooking instructions and hoped for the best. i mean...it really couldn't go that wrong but having never eaten/cooked/seen cooked amaranth i really didn't know what i was going for when i kept checking it in the pot every few minutes. in the end it came out kind of like polenta but with a bit more texture, like polenta and (surprise!) quinoa. i thought it kinda sorta looked like caviar which made me kinda sorta want to do some sort of vegan caviar something or other (but that's as far as i got with that thought).

so how do you cook amaranth? well the internet told me to combine a cup with 2 1/2 cups water and a pinch of salt in a pot, bring it to a boil then cover and simmer for 20-25 minutes. so i did. and it worked. and when it looks like polenta it's probably done but taste just to make sure and add more water if you need to keep cooking it longer.

kris grilled some eggplant and i made our new favorite greens (tahini chard from vegan soul kitchen) and we plopped them on top of a scoop of amaranth and sprinkled some toasted almonds on it and it was fantastic! one thing i especially liked is that i feel like the amaranth had a bit of a toasty flavor to it, kind of like quinoa does when you toast it before you cook it, except that i didn't toast this before i cooked it. same delicious result without the step that i always forget with quinoa. woohoo!

-d

chocolate cinnamon bundt cake with mocha icing

2011-12-21T17:50:00.000-08:00

this past weekend my mom had her hanukkah party (yes, we had our hanukkah party before hanukkah started and yes we also lit all the candles in the menorah...that's how we roll) and she asked if i wanted to bring dessert. of course! my thought process:

make something that can feed about 10 people (and not cookies cause i made cookies for gifts)

got any kitchen toys that i have yet to use? yes i do! hi there new bundt pan!

make something blog-able (see? i do still think you you poor neglected blog baby)

so i went to my homemade magazine-clipping cookbook and came up with this: chocolate cinnamon bundt cake with mocha icing drizzle. ummm yes please! i made it vegan (obviously) and added applesauce for half of the oil and ended up with a really fantastic cake. it's super moist with a little bit of a chewy crust, kind of like a brownie cake and that is a very good thing! and it has some flavor depth from the cinnamon and espresso to take a little further than just plain old good chocolate cake.

i'm so out of blogging practice that i baked this cake and then totally flaked on taking a pertty picture of it, and because there is no photographic evidence i really don't even have to tell you about the, um, less then perfect removal of cake from pan. despite the brand new nonstick pan and the light coat of oil it was not a seamless flip. in fact, the whole top of the cake decided it was perfectly happy in the pan, thank you. i think this could be due to not letting it cool long enough before flipping (the recipe says 10 minutes...i will advise 20). so i pulled out the top bits, smooshed them back onto the bottom half, tried to tell myself it looked fine, knew it really showed it's smooshed-togetherness and then realized i could just flip it over and make the bottom the top, or the top the top (all this flipping and inverting has me confused!) and no one would be the wiser.

chocolate-cinnamon bundt cake with mocha icing
(probably from bon appetit...)
ingredients:
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 teaspoons instant espresso powder, divided
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar, divided
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 6 tablespoons water
1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup vegan margarine

preheat oven to 350, brush a 12-15 cup nonstick bundt pan with oil.

whisk 1 cup boiling water, cocoa powder, and 2 teaspoons espresso powder.

whisk 2 cups flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl.

using a mixer, beat 2 cups brown sugar with the vegetable oil, applesauce and vanilla in a large bowl to blend. add cornstarch mixture and blend until smooth. beat in half of the flour mixture then the cocoa mixture and then the remaining flour mixture until blended. fold in 1 cup of chocolate chips and pour batter into the bundt pan.

bake about 50 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. cool for 20 minutes in the pan then invert onto a cooling rack and cool 15 minutes longer.

meanwhile stir remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons espresso powder and 2 tablespoons water in a small saucepan over medium heat until the sugar melts. remove from heat and add the margarine and 1/4 cup chocolate chips and stir until melted. drizzle the icing over the cake and let cool then serve!

i didn't use all of the icing....the rest is going on top of ice cream. yum!

happy holidays everyone!

-d

thanksgiving preview

2011-11-22T06:15:00.000-08:00

no, this picture of alfonzo has nothing to do with thanksgiving but i don't have pictures of my thanksgiving food yet and a pictureless post is no fun so i give you alfonzo gazing at the chattahoochee. and it's fall. it works. on we go!

reasons why i am super crazy excited about thanksgiving this year:
1. for the first time in, oh probably 10 years, I DON'T HAVE TO TRAVEL
2. we were able to shop on sunday instead of having to go the day before thanksgiving (though it didn't seem any less crazy)
3. i get to start cooking...today!

thanksgiving has always been my favorite. a holiday all about spending time with family and friends, cooking a ton an eating? yes please! we always spend thanksgiving in atlanta so this year seems extra special now that we live here. we get to skip the whole travel part and get straight to the good stuff. we went to the farmers market on sunday and loaded up and today i begin my three day cooking extravaganza. i'm psyched.

we're having my dad over for brunch in the morning and then in the evening we'll head over to my mom's house for dinner. obviously i had to go overboard and decided to make 654651 different things. here's what i'm cooking:
for breakfast:
bagels
scones
coconut bacon
maaaaaybe white bean/tempeh sausage patties
and diddy will bring fruit cause i guess we need something besides bread products

for dinner:
kris will make amazing hummus (cause that's what he does) for appetizer time
quinoa fritters for appetizer time
these green beans
this cauliflower
rye pumpernickle stuffing
a mushroom/lentil/walnut thing
biscuits
and pumpkin pie

phew! and of course there will be the usuals like mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce but mama's taking care of those things.

i wrote out a cooking plan for myself and today's agenda is...
1. make bagels (rising as i type. i make so many bagels these days i could do this with my eyes closed)
2. assemble the stuffing (to bake on thursday)
3. make aioli for the fritters
4. make the pumpkin pie to allow for plenty of setting time
5. make the scone dough and freeze it for baking on thursday morning

wednesday is more prep and then thursday is baking and last minute things.

easy peasy.

so that's my thanksgiving plan. what's cooking for you guys?

-d

ferry building tofu sandwich

2011-10-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

first off, why are sandwiches so hard to photograph? hmph.

anyway! what you see above is my most favorite sandwich. perhaps i've mentioned it before but it doesn't hurt to discuss again. in san francisco i would often (as often as i could) walk to the ferry building for lunch for this sandwich from frog hollow farm. and it felt like a special treat every time. what you have is braised tofu and baby gem lettuce sandwiched between two slices of acme bread - one spread with mashed avocado and the other with frog hollow's peach chutney giving this baby the perfect balance of sweet and savory. it was also a perfectly sized sandwich which i appreciate. the $8 price certainly doesn't make this suitable for daily consumption but it's worth every penny. naturally, my last lunch in san francisco was this sandwich...as well as a bit of scream sorbet (don't even get me started...just look it up and find it if you can) since it was farmer's market day and i was saying farewell. on that last trip i also picked up a jar of the peach chutney to carry across the country so i could recreate the amazingness upon arrival. well that day finally came and i must say i was not disappointed! i could close my eyes an imagine i was sitting by the bay feasting on the real deal.

frog hollow farm braised tofu sandwich...ATL style!
ok, so it's a sandwich not a science. roughly, here's whatcha gotta do. get your hands on some peach chutney (frog hollow if you can). marinate some tofu slabs in a mixture of soy sauce, cider vinegar, olive oil and crushed garlic. let it sit for as long as you like then pan fry it. mash up an avocado. get some good looking lettuce. smack it all together and enjoy. oh you will enjoy.

a side note, we bought a stalk of brussels sprouts to grill for a side. this is fitting because i often longed to buy one of these stalks while i was at the farmers market on my sandwich outing but i never bought one. i don't know...i guess i had reservations about being the girl on the train at rush hour with a gigantic stalk of brussels sprouts. glad we finally got one though, it was pretty fun snapping them all off. plus it's pretty.

-d

sometimes we are really fancy...

2011-09-18T14:13:00.000-07:00

last week kris and i celebrated out two year wedding anniversary with a fancy pants dinner at woodfire grill. top chef fans may know that woodfire is kevin's (from season 6) restaurant. i know he's super bacon dude but please recall he also won the natalie portman vegan challenge. when i called to make a reservation i mentioned that we are vegetarian and vegan and they said thanks for the notice, no problem! and is it a special occasion? well since you asked....

i was blown away by food and dining experience. we opted for the vegetarian and vegan 5 course tasting menu and our waitress was so sweet she took notes on all of our dishes, typed out our customized menus and mailed them to us. we ordered a bottle of wine that the sommalier suggested - Gamay Joulienas - it had something to do with beaujolais and it was incredible. it tasted like strawberries in the best way. then we started in with our 5 courses plus and amuse and taste of a shot of soup. it was all delicious but i think my favorite was my second course which was a super flavorful pumpkin mushroom dish. you can see the descriptions on the picture of my menu (or maybe you can't...), the only thing is it has the regular dessert (kris said it was yummy yummy!) my dessert was strawberry rhubarb sorbet with cocoa nibs and sun dried cherries (i think).

as if you can't tell i was really impressed with my vegan creations from woodfire. they are by no means a vegetarian/vegan restaurant and i really feel like they put some thought and love into our dishes and didn't just throw some random vegetables together and call it a day. i remember reading one vegan food writer say that the best vegan meal he ever ate was at the french laundry and i kind of felt like this was our french laundry experience (unless we one day get really really fancy and make it there...). great atmosphere and delicious vegan food where you might not expect it.

we're still working on finding our go-to spots here in atlanta but i think it's safe to say that we have found our special occasion spot. thanks, woodfire!

-d

chickpea remoulade patties

2011-08-31T18:00:00.001-07:00

i got to make dinner last night! due to my funky work hours this doesn't happen often so i get pretty excited when i get to let loose in the kitchen and concoct a weeknight meal.

but backing up a bit, this dinner actually began on take shape on sunday when we made these tempeh crabcakes. perhaps we're just light remoulade-ers but we had a lot left over. so here's what you need to do. first make the tempeh crabcakes (because they are amazing) and then the next night dredge some tofu slabs in the remoulade then in bread crumbs then pan fry for super simple weeknight deliciousness. and then after that use up the rest with this with this easy peasy little recipe. all it takes is some mashing and mixing and patty forming and you're in business. i baked them (but you could certainly fry them as well if you want a bit more crunch) and then served them atop a pile of garlicky, smokey sauteed kale (you could also go the sandwich route). i love the tangy-ness from the remoulade and it's so flavorful that it pretty much takes care of all the seasoning you need (to be honest i just threw in the paprika because it felt like cheating to not add anything else to season. plus i like paprika) and the chickpea/polenta combo gives these a hearty but not heavy texture.

chickpea remoulade patties
ingredients:
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup cooked polenta
3/4 cup remoulade
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons(ish) chopped chives*
1/2 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper to taste

first, heat your oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment.

mash the chickpeas in a large bowl then add the cooked polenta and mash/mix it all together (hands accomplish this quickly and easily if you feel like getting messy). add the remoulade and mix and then add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well incorporated.

form your mixture into 8 patties and brush both sides with olive oil. bake for 15 minutes, or until browned. flip and cook another 15 minutes until the other side is browned. serve and enjoy!

*our first garden harvest of the year! i like to think they were better than the ones at the grocery store.

-d

broccoli, olive and cashew ricotta bruschetta

2011-08-17T13:49:00.000-07:00

i tend to accumulate stacks and stacks of cooking magazines. i save them for years with the reasoning that they are filled with yummy recipes and ideas that i want to try out. that is true, they are. but the truth is i never ever go back and find those recipes that grabbed my attention when i first flipped through the issue. nope, if i don't make it within a month or two it gets lost in magazine archive land. well here's where the one not-horrible part about moving comes in. whenever we move kris convinces me that moving these piles of magazines is a waste of space (and a waste of my precious arm muscles). not ready to totally get rid of them all, i go through each issue and cut out the recipes i want to save and put them together in a binder. i actually love doing this because it gets me all excited again and in the end i have a refreshed memory of forgotten recipes as well as nice neat collection of only things that sound good to me and i don't have to flip through pages of yuck. plus it makes me feel crafty. hooray!

all of this brings us to this lovely bruschetta from way back in october 2010. we had them for dinner and loved them. they make me want to have a cocktail party so i can make them again for a crowd. they were nearly perfect - crunchy bread, creamy ricotta, garlicky greens and salty olives. delicious! only thing i would change (especially for a party) is the part where it says to sprinkle minced garlic on the toasted bread before adding the rest of the stuff. i lovelove garlic but it was a wee bit strong. next time i will just skip that part or, even better, roast a head of garlic and spread a clove on each piece of bread. that would be fantastic i think! for the ricotta i made cashew ricotta from veganomicon (the recipe is floating around the internets...).

bruschetta with kalamata olives, braised greens and cashew ricotta
(from bon appetit, october 2010)
ingredients:
10 ounces broccoli rabe, coarsely chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 garlic cloves, minced (plus some roasted as i mentioned above, if you want to)
crushed red pepper, to taste
12 baguette slices (or more...i made 12 and had stuff left over)
about 1 cup cashew ricotta
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
25 kalamata olives, pitted and halved

cook broccoli rabe in boiling salted water until tender, 5 to 6 minutes. drain well. heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. add garlic and stir for a minute. add broccoli rabe and red pepper flakes (to taste), sprinkle with salt. cook two more minutes and cool.

preheat oven to 375. place baguette slices on rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil. bake until golden, about 10 minutes. flip then bake until golden again, about 10 more minutes. spread baked bread with roasted garlic if you have it.

sprinkle bread lightly with salt. spread ricotta then top with broccoli rabe, a sprinkle or oregano and a few olives.

-d

peach and pecan upside down cake

2011-07-25T18:12:00.000-07:00

nope i'm not dead, the yumcoast isn't dead, we've just been busy.

upon arriving in atlanta just a few weeks ago kris and i have had lots of family/friend hang out time, we've unpacked, slowly acquired furniture and and we also got this little guy, alfonzo! he's been a bit of a distraction. just look at him!

but now that the kitchen* is fully unpacked i'm ready to get back to business. i've missed cooking a lot and i've missed yumcoasting a lot. i've got weird work hours now which means kris is making most of our week night meals (what a sweetie) so i'll be taking advantage of the weekends (and any work at home days i can get!) to cook up a storm for weekend meals and weeknight prep.

sunday night we had our first dinner guests. since my mom and stuart played such a huge part in us getting this house we wanted to have them over pronto to thank them the best way we know how...with delicious food. i made this cake for dessert, with the peaches and pecans it was a fitting first sweet to make in our new home state. the cake is almost banana bread-ish (yum!) which paired really nicely with the crunchy pecans and sweet (white) peaches.

also, please forgive the photos. our new place isn't nearly as bright as our last. plus having a puppy running around while trying to photograph a piece of cake on a low table makes things interesting.

peach and pecan upside down cake
(veganized from bon appetit, august 2009)
ingredients for peach and pecan topping:
1/4 cup margarine
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
pecan halves (about 40)
2 medium peaches, peeled, halved, pitted and cut into wedges
ingredients for cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup pecans
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 6 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup almond milk

peach and pecan topping:
melt margarine in medium saucepan over medium heat. add brown sugar; whisk until sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. pour mixture into 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides; spread evenly over bottom of pan (layer will be thin). arrange pecan halves, side by side with round sides down, in circle around outer edge of pan bottom. arrange peach wedges, slightly overlapping, inside circle of pecans, covering pan bottom. set aside while making cake batter.

cake:
position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. combine first 6 ingredients in processor. blend until nuts are finely ground. beat sugar and margarine in large bowl until pale in color, about 4 minutes. whisk cornstarch mixture and vanilla in small bowl until well blended and add to margarine mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until well blended after each addition. add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with milk in 2 additions, beating just until blended after each addition. drop batter by large spoonfuls atop pecans and peaches in pan; spread evenly and gently with spatula.

bake cake until golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. transfer cake to rack; cool in pan 25 to 30 minutes (do not cool longer or peach layer may stick to pan). run small knife around sides of cake to loosen. place serving platter atop cake pan. using oven mitts, firmly hold cake pan and platter together and invert cake onto platter. let cake rest 1 minute, then very slowly lift off pan. if necessary, rearrange any peach wedges or pecans that may have become dislodged (my peaches came out perfectly! my pecans? not so much...). let cool to room temperature.

*oh you mean the kitchen that is bigger than our old living room? where two people can cook at the same time and have guests hang out? mmhmm.

-d

fried rice and the weeks ahead...

2011-06-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

last weekend kris and i were super productive and got a bunch of stuff packed up....including nearly everything in the kitchen. between the slim pickin's in our cabinets and our busy busy last weeks in san francisco i don't think i'm going to be doing much cooking. i haven't been posting much lately (as you can tell...) and sadly i think it's going to be pretty quiet from my end until we unpack all of our kitchen goodies on the other end. the good news is that i'm sure by that time i will be itching to start cranking stuff out!

but! in all of our packing we did not have a box big enough for the wok so we used it sunday night, along with the bag of sushi rice in the fridge, to whip up some fried rice (see, this isn't a total cop out post). we went to the japanese grocery store for ingredients and i found these tofu strips that i was really excited to try.

i thought they would do double duty as 1. tofu, and 2. a textural substitute for the eggs that are usually in fried rice. and guess what, i was right!

we also got some shishito peppers which added a nice flavor but not a lot of heat.

then it was just lots of garlic, onion and ginger in the wok, then the peppers, tofu then rice and seasoned with sesame oil, soy sauce, chili flakes, dried thai basil and blanched broccoli and snow peas tossed in at the end. oh and garnished with peanuts. delish!

-d

quinoa fritters

2011-05-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

these are amazing. so amazing that i want to eat them every day. and easy enough that i probably could. if you watch top chef masters you might recognize these as half of mary sue's winning dish from the fast food challenge a couple of weeks ago. after watching eight? ten? seasons of top chef this is the first time i've ever made one of the recipes. sure, i've seen things on the show that i've thought about making before but then i go look at the recipe and it's too many steps/too many funky ingredients/too not do at home-y (i'm looking at you hector's tofu ceviche). but this was different! so simple there was no excuse not to make them.

i changed the recipe a bit to make it vegan and they turned out so well i have a hard time believing that the original version is any better. seriously. the first thing that makes these awesome is a little step that i alway mean to do when making quinoa but always forget...toasting it! yep, toss the quinoa around in a dry pan over high heat for a few minutes until it smells toasty and then cook as usual, it brings out a fantastic nuttiness in the quinoa that you don't want to miss out on.

the second thing that makes these awesome is that, despite being fried they are not greasy at all. we all know about quinoa's super health properties but i'm wondering if it also has an oil repelling quality because seriously, it's like they soaked up none of the cooking oil.

and the third thing that makes these awesome is crunchy on the outside soft and moist on the inside. perfection.

mary sue served hers with some kind of mayo something or other, i made a batch of aleppo aioli to accompany mine. mary sue served these as a side with quesadilla's, i went with the yuca tortillas from veganomicon. i did not want this dinner to end.

quinoa fritters
ingredients:
2/3 cup quinoa
1 1/3 cups water
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
black pepper, to taste
4 green onions, finely chopped
1/2 bunch italian parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons water
spoonful of tahini
oil for frying

place a dry pan over high heat. add quinoa and toast for about 5 minutes, shaking and stirring constantly to prevent scorching. transfer to a pot and add water. bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook, covered, until water is absorbed, about 10 minutes. set aside to cool.in a large bowl, combine cooked quinoa, flour, nutritional yeast, and salt. add onions, parsley, tahini and cornstarch mixture. stir thoroughly with a spoon until the mixture holds together.

heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. form the quinoa mixture into fritters and add to the oil. fry until the bottoms are golden and brown. turn and fry the second side until golden. drain on paper towels and serve warm.

-d

balsamic basil glazed tempeh

2011-05-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

last night's dinner was inspired by the need to make a dent in all those things in our cabinets. as i mentioned before, we're moving! to atlanta! in 7 weeks (not that i'm keeping track or anything)! and while i always try to be mindful of ingredients we already have and using them rather than buying bottles of new things it has now come to the point where it's more than that...it's no longer a little thought i keep in the back of my head, it's a challenge! and though i think it might be physically impossible to use up all of the oils and vinegars and beans and grains and god knows what else in the time we have left i'm going to do the best i can!

this moving business also means that we've been keeping very busy lately. gotta take advantage of our last weeks living out west which means lots of going out and weekend trips. and then there's the work that comes with moving plus regular work and certain nights require an easy, no fuss dinner. often on those nights i turn to my most favorite tempeh recipe, orange glazed tempeh from 101cookbooks. but this night i went a different route, with a different orange glazed tempeh in order to get that bottle of balsamic 1/4 cup closer to empty. and do something with the dried thai basil that has been neglected for so long. i found a recipe online a tweaked it a bit and decided to have an orange glazed tempeh showdown of sorts! so who won? the perfection that is 101cookbooks, duh. but that was to be expected, i mean, there's nothing to do to that recipe that would make it any better.

i would even say that the recipe i made is a different thing altogether. the balsamic and basil overpowered the orange so much that i wouldn't exactly call it orange glazed. it's balsamic basil tempeh, y'all!* and if it were to compete in that category i think it could be a contender. so, here i give you not-orange-glazed tempeh.

balsamic basil glazed tempeh
ingredients:
juice from 2 oranges (about 3/4 cup)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon soy sauce
2 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
1/2 tablespoon dried thai basil

1 pack tempeh, sliced

place all ingredients (except tempeh) in a pan and heat. when it starts to boil add the tempeh slices and cook until the liquid has turned into a nice glaze, flipping the tempeh periodically.

*see, there are many ways in which to prepare my return to my southern roots.

-d

roasted artichokes with aleppo aioli

2011-04-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

despite living in san francisco for nearly four years now and despite everyone telling us that it's beautiful and wonderful and a must visit and despite the fact that it's perfect weekend-getaway distance kris and i only just went to big sur for the first time this past weekend. maybe the push was that we only have two more months here before our move (to atlanta...yep) or maybe it's that we are, for the first time ever, car owners (super weird) but i'm so glad we made it down there. everyone, you were right, big sur is pretty great. we hiked, we cooked over a campfire, drank wine from a box and relaxed along the bank of the big sur river. it was lovely.

when you drive between san francisco and big sur you get to drive through artichoke land! no, i don't recall exactly what town it's in but you will know you're there when you start passing all of the artichoke fields and produce stands. make sure you stop!

in the past i've always hated cooking artichokes...getting to the heart just seems like so much work for not a lot food. but at 10 for $1 i was willing to give it another shot. plus i told myself that baby artichokes are less intimidating. and also i've been dying to recreate the roasted artichokes with aleppo aioli that we had at pause awhile back. thus, we picked out 20 adorable artichoke babies.

and ya know what? it really wasn't so bad! those baby artichokes are a lot less work than the big guys! and i'd say that by the time i got to number 8 i was on a roll and cruising through those puppies. though i certainly wouldn't think i have any useful insight on the matter...if you're looking for a quick, "proper" way to get to the heart of a 'choke i'm sure there are countless internet people who can help you out way better than me. i'm here to tell you about the aleppo aioli! it's cashew based, has five ingredients, is delicious and it's pink. could you ask for more?

aleppo aioli
ingredients:
1 cup cashews, soaked in water for about an hour*
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water (or enough to reach desired consistency)
1 1/2 tablespoons aleppo pepper flakes
pinch of salt to taste

couldn't be easier, place all of your ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend away until nice and creamy and combined. i would recommend adding the pepper gradually to reach your desired spicyness. same with the water, you might need a little more or less.

smear on a plate and plop artichokes on top.

you'll probably have some aioli leftbover to do something else with too. today i spread it on tempeh, coated it with panko and pan fried for some of the crispiest tempeh nuggets i've ever made. highly recommended.

*if you don't have time to soak the cashews no biggie, it just makes them blend up a little easier and a little creamier.

-d

yeasted coffee cake

2011-04-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

when i saw this picture of a yeasted coffee cake on friday i pretty much knew immediately what my sunday baking project would be. i've made, and loved, traditional coffee cakes but never thought to go the yeasted route. thank you vegansaurus for posting that picture because i can say for certain that this is a treat i will turn to again and again. imagine a coffee cake filling swirled within a light sweet bread dough...it's like if coffee cake and cinnamon rolls had a baby. the best part is that there are no super long rise times so you can easily make and eat this in a day, the dough is easy to work with and when it's baking it will make your entire home smell delicious (at least if your entire home is a teeny lil apartment). it's best the day of or day after baking but even after that you can heat it up a bit and it's still quite delicious. i loved the nutty date filling that i made but i also look forward to trying out some variations. you could make a glaze to drizzle over the top as well but i think it's pretty much perfect as is.

yeasted coffee cake
(makes one ring cake)
ingredients for the dough:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon yeast
1/3 cup almond milk, with a splash of apple cider vinegar to curdle
1 ounce water (any temperature)
1/4 cup margarine, room temperature
1 container (6 ounces) plain soy yogurt

ingredients for the filling:
1 tablespoon margarine
2 cups pecans, chopped
5 dates, chopped
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

first, make your dough. combine 3/4 cup of the flour with the sugar, salt and yeast.
in a saucepan, combine almond milk, water and margarine and heat until warm and the margarine is just melted.

on low speed, add the milk/margarine mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until well blended. increase speed to medium and add the yogurt and 1/2 cup more of flour and beat for 2 minutes. stir in enough of the remaining 3/4 cup of flour (or more if needed) so dough holds together. knead for 8-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.

place in a lightly greased bowl, turning to coat. cover with plastic and let rise for about an hour, until doubled in size.

meanwhile, make your filling by mixing all the ingredients (except the margarine) together.

once your dough has risen roll it out into a rectangle that is about 9x17 (that is the very precise measurement i came up with by comparing my rectangle to my baking sheet). cut off small bits of 1 tablespoons of margarine and spread them around on the dough then sprinkle with your filling evenly covering the dough, leaving a small border around the edges.

starting at the long edge carefully roll your dough into a log and pinch the seam closed. then shape it into a ring and pinch that seam closed. using scissors or a nice sharp knife cut slits all around the ring. place on a parchment/silpat lined baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. let rise for another hour.

when your dough is almost done rising heat your oven to 350. brush the top of the loaf with almond milk and bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown.

-d

wild mushroom ragout

2011-04-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

sometimes recipes come from unlikely places. like birthday cards. little did my dad know when he sent this that it was really two gifts in one...the fabulous gift inside as well as a hidden treat in this delicious recipe on the inside cover. this is way more delicious than what you would expect to find inside a card that looks like it was made in the '70s (though the back credits tell me that it is in fact from 1995). no matter! i whipped this up for a week night meal serving it on crusty bread (as the picture shows) and accompanied by a simple salad. i changed the directions a bit as my mushrooms seemed to be unusually slow to release liquid and didn't seem to have that much to release anyway. the point is that with a few less steps i still got a wonderfully buttery, thick glaze covering the mushrooms. oh also, they suggest 1 pound of oyster mushrooms and an additional pound of mixed mushrooms. well oysters are expensive so i say do as i did and mix the two pounds however you want, it's still going to be delicious.

between the two of us this was a lot of food and we had lots of mushrooms left over. we used them the next day as part of a yummy quinoa bowl.

ragout of wild mushrooms
ingredients:
2 pounds mixed mushrooms (oyster, shiitake, chanterells, portobello, crimini...whatever you want!)
4 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons shallots
1 1 /2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

clean the mushrooms and cut into chunks.

in a heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat, melt the margarine. add the shallots and saute until translucent, 3 or 4 minutes. reduce the heat to low and add the mushrooms. cook, stirring often, until they begin to release their juices and create the beginning of a broth (5 to 10 minutes). raise the heat to medium and sprinkle the flour, salt and pepper over the mushrooms, then stir to evenly coat. add the wine and stir 3 to 4 minutes. by now the mushrooms will have reduced in volume by about one half. keep stirring until you have a nice thick brothy glaze covering all the mushrooms. sprinkle with parsley and serve over crusty bread.

-d

olive oil rosemary cake with glace apricots

2011-03-24T19:58:00.000-07:00

birthday time for me means lots of edible gifts. mamoo seems to know the best spots for ordering everything so i was really excited when a box arrived full of dried fruit...i knew it would be good stuff. true to her word the dates make your eyes roll back in your head (that's a good thing, guys!), the figs taste like fig newton filling and the glace apricots are maybe a bit sweet to gobble on their own but absolutely perfect to incorporate as part of another dish. in this case, cake!

since the apricots bring a lot of sweetness on their own i wanted to make sure the cake wasn't too sweet which got me thinking about an olive oil cake. then i was thinking about what herbs might be yummy in the mix and rosemary came to mind, i love love love the combination in apple rosemary scones so why not with apricots, right? right!

i found a basic recipe online and tweaked from there. as we all know tweaking baking recipes is much more difficult than tweaking cooking recipes and the resulting cake was a bit denser than i had in mind but i loved the flavor. go into this thinking not of a light and airy desserty cake but rather more of a dessert cakey bread and i think you will be pleased with what you get. rather than cutting up the apricots and hiding them in the batter i wanted them to be the focus so i plopped them right on top of the batter before baking. when the cake came out of the oven they were a bit gooey and ooooooooooh yummy.

olive oil rosemary cake with glace apricots
ingredients:
3 cups flour
3 tablespoons fresh, minced rosemary
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup olive oil
1 1/4 cups almond milk
glace apricots to top

preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a cake pan - i used and 8-inch (i think) springform.

mix together the dry ingredients. add olive oil and milk and mix until the ingredients are all wet.* the batter will be very thick, don't fret just go with it.

pour batter into your prepared pan and top with glace apricots.

bake 50-55 minutes or until done.

*after i did this i realized it felt backwards for a cake. doing this again i would mix together the wet ingredients then gradually add the dry ones. either way, take your pick.

-d

chocolate covered pretzels

2011-03-22T20:07:00.000-07:00

long ago in our boston days, kris and i loved the chocolate covered pretzels from the faneuil hall food court. they were a special treat and any time we found ourselves in the area those pretzels made up for having to deal with the annoying crowds of tourists. we still pick up a chocolate covered pretzel here and there but kris has been asking me to make them forever and i...just never did. until recently. and now i feel like such a meanie for not doing this sooner because, duh!, it's the easiest treat to make ever. and it makes my kris so happy.

all you need is a box of pretzels (i recommend fat ones. i used snyder's brand), a bag of chocolate chips (semi-sweet here) and something to thin the chocolate out a bit (i used a bit of margarine and some splashes of almond milk). melt the chocolate chips over a double boiler and add margarine/milk to thin as needed. when you have a nice dip-able consistency start dunking! place chocolatey pretzels on a baking sheet and put in the fridge for a few hours until the chocolate is nice and hardened. you might have more chocolate than pretzels and that's ok! just peek around your fridge/pantry for items in need of chocolate coating. i found dried apricots.

-d

picture time!

2011-03-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

these are two dinners that i made recently. no recipes in this post as they were both random, throw-em-together kind of dishes but both were really tasty and maybe they'll inspire your own dinner creations.

first was a noodle bowl. soba noodles in a miso broth with lots of toppings! shiitakes, tofu, slices of gigantic green onions, nori and black sesame seeds. not only was this warming and filling but we got to use our supercute noodle bowls. double success!

this next one was cooked up on st. patrick's day. i didn't go out but instead stayed home and made a dinner heavy on the green ingredients. i tossed some brown rice with pesto then topped it with roasted parsnips, blanched broccoli and avocado (i'll take any excuse to add avocado to a meal).

-d

coconut balls

2011-03-16T10:32:00.000-07:00

for book club our most recent read was super sad true love story by gary shteyngart. now i don't know about other book clubs but ours is as much about the food that everyone brings as much as it is about the books we read. for each book we choose a food relevant theme and since one theme in this book was trying to live forever it only seemed appropriate that we all bring our most healthy creations. i feel that dessert is always important so i set upon making a healthy sweet. i remembered getting an email from the vegnews recipe club awhile back for these dried fruit coconut balls and figured now would be a perfect time* to give them a shot. sometimes when i get home from work i have trouble getting a dish together in time for book club but these are super quick and easy. everyone seemed to enjoy them and two comments i remember are that they 1. taste like christmas and 2. taste like a lara bar...but better (of course). so that gives you a little idea of what you're getting.

i stuck to the recipe except that i used dried cranberries instead of raisins because i don't like raisins much and while i'm sure they're fine all mixed up with the others in here the store didn't have any in the bulk bins and i surely was not about to buy a big bag of those suckers. speaking of the bulk bins, if you buy all of this stuff in bulk it's pretty cheap to get all the ingredients.

coconut balls
ingredients:
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup raw walnuts
3/4 cup dates, pitted
3/4 cup dried apricots
3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 tablespoons orange juice
zest of 1 orange
shredded coconut, for coating

in a food processor, pulverize cranberries, walnuts, dates and apricots for 1 to 2 minutes until finely chopped (or mere seconds if you have a brand new food processor!!!) add coconut, orange juice and zest. process for an additional 1 to 2 minutes or until mixture comes together to form a ball.

place some coconut on a plate. dampen hands with water, form mixture into one inch balls and roll in shredded coconut.

eat away!

i've been storing the leftovers in the fridge and they're pretty tasty cold as well. and they firm up a bit too if you keep them in there.

-d

*not only because they fit the theme but also because kris got me a big food processor(!) for my birthday and i am in love (with it and also with him).

pasta with chickpeas and charred tomatoes

2011-03-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

or as i like to call it, hummus pasta. it's been awhile since i've made a recipe from bon appetit and this dish was a nice welcome back. when i glanced at the recipe i thought it looked like a perfect weeknight meal, as easy as normal old spaghetti but something different from our go-to red sauce. upon eating the first bite i thought, "why didn't i think to use hummus as pasta sauce before? it's genius!" i will definitely be making this again...it's got smokiness from the paprika, juicy bursts from the charred tomatoes, saltiness from the olives, fresh herbiness from the cilantro plus whole chickpeas for an extra dose of garbanzo goodness. i also think this would be a fun recipe to play around with. as i type kris is in the kitchen whipping up a batch of his amazing sun dried tomato hummus....i think that would be fantastic in here, maybe with basil instead of cilantro for a more "traditional" italian pasta.

pasta with chickpeas and charred tomatoes
(from bon appetit, february 2011)
ingredients:
8 ounces pasta
1/2 cup hummus (they say plain but i think playing with flavors would only make things better)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 box grape tomatoes
1 15 oz. can chickpeas, drained
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 cup halved pitted kalamata olives
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

cook pasta according to package instructions until tender but still firm to bite. drain, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid. whisk hummus into liquid.

meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. add tomatoes; sprinkle with salt and pepper. cook until blackened in spots, shaking skillet occasionally, about 8 minutes. mix in chickpeas, garlic and smoked paprika. crush some of the tomatoes to release juices. add pasta and enough hummus mixture to coat. mix in olives and cilantro, season with salt and pepper.

-d

as a side note, i am so happy that we sprang forward today. no more poorly lit dinner pictures, hooray!

rye bread: a near disaster

2011-03-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

sometime fails turn into gigantic successes and it's oh so delightful when they do.

sunday i made rye bread, planning to use it for tempeh reubans for dinner. actually, to back up a bit, i started the bread at about midnight on saturday night so it could rise overnight easy bread style. smart, right? earlier in the evening we spent some time getting to know the menu at smuggler's cove. then we went to get dinner and had some wine. then we went to a show where i started to get very tired. then we walked home and that's when i whipped up the bread dough. still smart? not so sure. either my yeast has gone bad or my measurements were very very off because when this bread came out of the oven it felt like it had a brick inside.

needless to say we bought a loaf of bread for our sandwiches, but we pondered what to do with the rye brick. not sure it was even worthy of turning into croutons, kris and i decided to have a taste and decide it's fate. holy goodness! dense, yes...but also bursting with absolutely delicious rye flavor! it deserved to be more than croutons, more than breadcrumbs, and luckily i have a smart husband who came up with the idea to use it as a base for "eggs" florentine, or benedict...whatever the one with spinach is.

we used a couple of components from vegan brunch - hollandaise sauce and then the omelet recipe for the egg. we heated up the bread and as it got soaked with the hollandaise it was just perfect. this was one super delicious dinner!

-d

'moo's wild rice

2011-02-16T19:40:00.000-08:00

a couple of months ago, for hanukkah, my mamoo sent me a kris a bag of moose lake wild rice. we were super excited because, duh!, wild rice is good stuff!!! last night we decided to bust it open with this lovely little concoction. it's a simple assembly of (our star of the evening) wild rice, roasted vegetables and tempeh all drizzled with a tasty little sauce. it's one of those simply yummy things that you can take in many directions to use up whatever you have that needs using. i love those kinds of dinners.

back over christmas (yes, this is turning into a belated holiday post apparently) we took a trip to jungle jim's in cincinnati which is a gigantic supermarket with an overwhelmingly large international section. since we were flying home we tried to limit ourselves to purchases that were small, light, cheap and not of the liquid or gel variety. spices fit the bill nicely so this sauce took advantage of (annoying ingredient alert!) lemongrass powder. if you don't have any i'm sure using fresh would be even better.

mamoo's wild rice concoction
ingredients, what to do and such:
first cook your wild rice according to package instructions.

toss brussels sprouts, cauliflower and a handful of whole peeled garlic cloves with a little oil and salt and pepper. roast at 350 until nice and...roasty.

while the vegetables are roasting pan fry tempeh chunks in a bit of oil. when they start to brown add some balsamic vinaigrette (because that's what's almost done in the fridge) and cook a few minutes longer.

now for the sauce! whisk all of these things together:
juice of one orange (about 1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon mirin
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemongrass powder
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
chili flakes to taste

to assemble, put the rice in a bowl and drizzle with sauce. top with tempeh and vegetables and drizzle with more sauce. you're done!

-d

on another note, kris and i leaving for a long weekend in kauai tomorrow! i hope to return with lots of foodish things to share.

Chocolate Tart

2011-02-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I hosted a little impromptu dinner party with a friend. The inspiration was Julia Child – one of our shared idols – and so something French was in order. The plan was a quiet evening, making a very “French Chef” dinner, followed by a viewing of Julie/Julia. We settled on coq au vin – a true classic, and perfect for winter entertaining. I searched around for something decadent yet simple for dessert, and found the following recipe. It comes from Alice Waters, and was really a breeze to make. I was a bit suspicious of the Pâte Sucrée at first; it mixed up like a cookie dough – creaming the butter and sugar together, then adding wet and dry ingredients. And it was very sticky.

But I went with it, and in the end was rewarded with a short, buttery crust – the perfect foil for a rich, creamy ganache filling. (Make sure to splurge on a good chocolate here). The tart takes a bit of time to set up, so make it before your guests arrive, and they can oooh and ahhh over it while you’re making dinner. And it’s perfect for times when dinner for two turns into dinner for seven, because just a little slice is enough!

We ended up serving it with whipped cream (with a hint of rum mixed in) and it was the perfect end (or beginning) to a night of good times with good friends.

Sweet Tart Dough

from Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened

¹/₃ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg yolk

1 ¼ cups all purpose unbleached flour

Beat together the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the salt, vanilla, and egg yolk, and mix until combined. Finally, add in the flour, mixing well, stirring and folding until there are no dry patches. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight until firm. (Note: I chilled the dough for about 1 hour, and it rolled out nicely).

Chocolate Tart

from Alice Waters, The Art of Simple Food

1 disk of Sweet Tart Dough

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll the dough into a 12-inch circle. Lightly prick the dough with a fork. Line a 9-inch tart pan with the dough, lightly pressing the dough into the pan. Roll the rolling pin over the top of the tart pan to remove any excess dough. Patch any cracks with excess dough. Let the tart rest for at least 10 minutes in the freezer. Prebake the tart shell for 15 minutes, until light golden brown. Check the pastry halfway through the cooking, and pat down any bubbles that may have formed. Let cool and unmold.

For the ganache, put the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. Heat the cream until just boiling, pour over the chocolate, and let sit for 30 seconds. Stir until the chocolate is melted, and the chocolate is smooth and glossy. Pour into the tart shell while the ganache is still quite warm and liquid, gently tapping and jiggling the shell to even out the filling. Let sit at room temperature for at least an hour to set.

(Note: use any leftover dough to make little jam thumbprint cookies. They bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes, and make a nice little snack!)

Enjoy!

~ e

Curried Lentil Dip

2011-02-07T14:16:00.000-08:00

While searching for something meat-free to take to a Super Bowl party, I came across this recipe. Food52 is one of my new go-to sites for interesting recipes, and this one was no exception. This dip is simple and yet complex, with the warmth and richness of cinnamon and curry mixed with the humble lentil. Because I happened to be out of veggie stock, I threw in some sliced carrots and slivered leeks with the onion and garlic for added flavor. The carrot also provided nice little pops of color in the finished dip. I also used parsley in place of cilantro, and the dip was still delicious!

This recipe makes quite a lot of dip – 5 people put a decent dent in it, but there are still plenty of leftovers. You could also serve as an entrée when served over rice.

Curried Lentil Dip

Adapted from Food52.com

Serves 6 to 8

1 can of coconut milk

1 ½ cup dried red lentils (rinsed)

1 onion, large, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced

2 small leeks, rinsed and sliced

saltthinly

1 tablespoon dried fresh ginger

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon each ground cumin, turmeric, cumin, and black pepper

2 teaspoons garam masala (or other – I used Muchi) curry powder

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2-3 Bay Leaves

3 tablespoons parsley (fresh), chopped

Place can of coconut milk in freezer 20 minutes before starting to cook. Open can and remove solidified coconut butter from the top to use in sautéing. Reserve the rest of the coconut milk.

In a sieve rinse lentils and drain.

In a 2-quart heavy saucepan cook onion, garlic, and a couple pinches of salt in 2 tablespoons coconut milk fat over moderate heat, stirring, until golden.

Add ginger and cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Add lentils, coconut milk, 3 cups water and gently boil, uncovered, until lentils fall apart, about 20 minutes.

While lentils are cooking, take a small heavy skillet and heat the olive oil over moderate heat until hot but not smoking and cook cumin, stirring, until a shade darker, about 30 seconds.

Add curry powder and other remaining spices and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 15 to 30 seconds. Stir hot spice oil into lentils.

Let curry stand, covered, 5 minutes to allow flavors to develop. Stir in cilantro and add salt to taste.

Serve with either Sweet Potato Chips or over rice as a side dish.

Enjoy!

~ e

breakfast quinoa

2011-02-06T14:59:00.000-08:00

kris and i have bagels for breakfast every weekend and it's a little routine that i love. but this weekend kris is in boston and since i know he'll be coming back with the good stuff i decided to take a saturday off from bagels to try out something that's been on my list...breakfast quinoa! just like oatmeal you can dress this up to your tastes but here's what i did.

breakfast quinoa
ingredients:
1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup water
blueberries
toasted almonds
cinnamon
maple syrup

first toast the quinoa in a dry pan for a few minutes, this gives it a nice toasty, nutty flavor. cook the quinoa in the water and milk covered at a low simmer* for about 15 minutes or until the quinoa is tender and most of the milk is absorbed. remove from heat and add blueberries, syrup, cinnamon and almonds and a splash more milk if desired. eat it!

theoretically this should serve two but since i'm here all by my lonesome i ate it all. this made for a very filling breakfast and i did not really get hungry again until dinner time. that was no fun...i like lunch!

so the verdict? while this is yummy and a nice way to switch things up i went ahead and got bagel fixin's for sunday morning. what can i say? i'm a creature of habit i suppose.

-d

flaxseed falafel

2011-01-26T17:41:00.000-08:00

as i have mentioned before i love trying out new falafel recipes. kris found one on sfgate awhile ago and we finally got around to trying it this weekend. the recipe is packed with flax (both ground and whole seeds) which i suppose gives it an extra nutritional boost, since flax is suposedly so good for you and stuff, as well as a slightly different flavor and texture. other than that it was mostly the usual falafel-y suspects: chickpeas, parsley, lemon juice and some yummy spices including cayenne which gave these just a perfect amount of heat.

what really set these apart from my other falafel making experiences was that i did something i don't like to do. i fried them. i'm always torn between the superior crunch that frying gives and the healthiness/easiness of baking. well i went with frying this time for two reasons 1. the recipe only calls for a shallow fry not deep frying so it was really frying for wimps and 2. we finally got our hands on a bottle of rice bran oil that we read an article about and is supposed to be the best for frying and is "healthy" too blahblahblah.

i loved these! while the shallow frying made a nice crunchy top and bottom the middle stayed a little squishy which then made for great, not dried out leftovers after a night in the fridge. and because i can't make a falafel dinner but must make a falafel feast i also made flatbread, tahini, slaw and the tzatziki recipe that was with the falafel recipe. phew! here's the recipe with vegan substitutions.

flaxseed falafel
(from sfgate.com)
for the tzatziki:
1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced into 1/2 -inch cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup low-fat plain soygurt
1 cup vegan sour cream
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (or add dried to taste)
for the falafel:
2 cans garbanzos, drained, liquid reserved
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt + more to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 cup bread crumbs
3 tablespoons whole flaxseed
1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons olive oil, or rice bran oil if you've got it

to prepare the tzatziki: mix diced cucumber with salt, place in a colander set over a bowl; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. Rinse off the salt, drain well and dry cucumber on several thicknesses of paper towels. in a bowl, combine cucumber with yogurt, sour cream, sugar, garlic and dill. cover and chill at least 30 minutes and up to four hours.

to prepare the falafel: place garbanzos, garlic and 2 tablespoons reserved garbanzo liquid in a processor and pulse about 5 times, until coarsely chopped. add ground flax seed, parsley, lemon juice, salt, coriander and pepper and pulse just until mixture is combined. It should retain some texture. divide into 16 portions and shape into patties about 1 inch in diameter. combine bread crumbs and whole flax seed in a shallow dish.

in another shallow dish, combine cornstarch and water. dip each patty in the cornstarch mixture, then lightly dredge in crumb mixture. set on a rack over a baking sheet to dry for half an hour. heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add oil. brown falafel well on both sides, turning once.

-d

Karls' Sausage

2011-01-21T13:57:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve, just before cooking up quite the feast, Lynne, Han, A. and I headed up to Saugus to visit Karl's Sausage. A Boston-area institution since 1958, Karl's offers a wide array of tradition German meats, house-cured bacon, and imported goods. They have a German mustard (like the stein pictured above), German gummi snacks, German cookies, German breads . . . you get the idea. It is a mecca for German food lovers. In addition to picking up bacon for New Year's brunch, and a cured meat that I can't remember the name of (but it was smoky and delicious) we also snagged a few links of bauernwurst and weisswurst. We cooked both up a few days later - the weisswurst is boiled, and the casing is removed before eating. We split the bauernwurst, the grilled it in a cast iron grill pan. The weisswurst was really mild and soft, while the bauernwurst was a heartier, meatier sausage. Both were perfect, paired with a white beer, and best enjoyed on a cold winter day!

tuscan white bean soup

2011-01-20T13:20:00.000-08:00

robin, author of vegan fire and spice, was kind enough to send me a list of some of her favorites from the book. one of the recipes on the list was one that kris and i had bookmarked to make so that's where we began and i must say tuscan white bean soup, you were delicious!!! this is exactly the soup you crave on a chilly winter day - it's fresh and hearty and comes together in a snap. and did i mention really yummy? you've got onion, carrots and celery in a tomato broth with a perfect hint of spice and a generous sprinkle of fresh basil. add to that some white beans and you're looking at a complete meal in a bowl. we took the suggestion to add a bit of pasta to the mix for an even bigger soup! though i must say i think we went a little heavy on the pasta because our leftovers for dinner tonight were more of a pasta dish....but that's ok cause with the overnight transformation it's like we weren't really eating leftovers.

i feel like i've found my groove with this book now and look forward to more recipes for the rest of the month.

-d

chocolate granola

2011-01-20T11:14:00.001-08:00

I made this yesterday, and you should make it too! While we try to avoid re-blogging things here on yumcoast, some recipes are just too good not to share. And this is one of them. Not too sweet, pretty healthy, perfect on its own, or with milk, this granola is a revelation.

I have been making my own granola for some time now - and sometimes, even granola bars! - and this one is a little different. I found it a little bit drier than other granola recipes, and it didn't form very large clumps. I used a 60% Cacao Ghirardelli bar, and left the pieces pretty chunky. I also had no problem finding the millet puffs and rice puffs - I picked mine up at Harvest Coop in Cambridge, but they are also sold at Whole Foods. And just like La Tartine Gourmande, I cannot stop snacking on it! So go ahead, get baking!

Oh, and did I mention it's gluten free?

Seasonal Breeze

2011-01-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

We made this punch for the holidays, but it is really a perfect winter punch. The natural sweetness of the juices perfectly offset the bitterness of the Campari. And so easy to make! The recipe comes from FEAST by Nigella Lawson. Here is how you make it:

1 750ml bottle of Campari
3 cups of blood orange juice (we used freshly squeezed orange and it was amazing)
3 cups cranberry juice

The juices should be chilled. Combine all three in a large punch bowl (or glass pitcher) and float slices of regular or blood orange, along with a handful of cranberries. And enjoy!

~ e

crispin apple cider

2011-01-16T17:33:00.000-08:00

i'm a beer wimp. in general, i don't like hoppy beer, i don't like dark beer, i don't like bitter beer. i don't like that drinking a beer makes me feel really, really full. occasionally i will enjoy a light mexican beer or a wheat beer but i'm not exaggerating when i say it will usually take me at least an hour to finish off a pint or even a normal sized bottle. sometimes i get lucky and a bar will have a sour belgian beer that 1. doesn't taste beer-y and 2. comes in a tiny little glass (win win!) but my go to wimpy beer alternative is cider and by this time i consider myself pretty well versed in the cider options out there. my first cider love was woodchuck but i've since moved on to strongbow which is nice, dry and refreshing. magners takes second place for an available everywhere option but i find it gets too sweet after the first one. sam smith organic cider is really yummy but hard to find and ace, well, if i see you at a bar i have told myself to suck it up and just order a real beer because you just taste weird.

all that said i love trying out new ciders. after a super tough week at work i got home on friday and kris surprised me with a bottle of crispin cider. i've never seen this stuff before but the bottle looked fancy, it's big, it's organic and it's made with maple syrup. i was intrigued and excited and i've gotta say it's absolutely delicious, sweeter than strongbow but not at all syrupy sweet. i have it in a big frosty mug sitting next to me right now and i suspect i will still be drinking it when i'm done making our sushi dinner later tonight. i think it will be a lovely pairing as i'm still working on the whole enjoying sake thing. i don't expect to be lucky enough to find crispin in a bar but i will definitely buy a few more bottles from the store for a weekend afternoon treat.

-d

a taste of louisville

2011-01-16T14:09:00.000-08:00

For most people, Kentucky conjures thoughts of the Derby, bluegrass, bourbon ... But what I have found over the past year or so is that Kentucky, particularly the Louisville-area, is home to some truly wonderful food. While my visits are not entirely food-related the local food scene is a delicious bonus every time I visit. This week, we have been working through a long list of must-try restaurants, as well as revisiting old favorites. A little recap of the week so far:

Heine Brothers Coffee is a daily treat, and luckily one of their outposts is right around the corner, on Bardstown Road! A local roaster, Heine Brothers produces some of the best coffee I have ever had, most of it fair trade and organic. They have also partnered with several local businesses to for Breaking New Grounds, which composts coffee grounds and other food waste!

For all of the steak lovers out their, Palermo Viejo offers reasonably priced, perfectly seasoned Argentine-style steaks and sides. We tried their filet and strip steak - both on the rare side of medium - with parsley and garlic fries.

Cumberland Brews produces small batch craft beers on-site in their Bardstown Road brewery/pub. The beer is amazing, and the food is pretty tasty too. While I am not usually a fan of wings, their Jamaican Jerk wings are the perfect combination of sweet and zesty, juicy and crispy.

The Mayan Cafe, in the up-and-coming East Market Street neighborhood known as NuLu, offers dishes inspired by the traditional cuisine of the Yucatan. We tried the tamale - soft corn in a banana leaf, filled with tender steak and topped with mole; their seasonal salad, with roasted pears, crisp bacon, French feta, crunchy pepitas, and topped with a tangy pomegranate vinaigrette; traditional cochinita pibil - meltingly tender roast pork, topped with a sour and spicy achiote sauce, and served with the most amazing lima beans I have ever had (and I don't like lima beans!). The only disappointment of the evening was the Mayan Mocha. We were hoping for a spicy, cinnamon-scented mocha, but instead found something closer to hot cocoa. And it wasn't even very warm.

We discovered The Blind Pig in December, thanks to Yelp. Our first visit was so tasty that A. and I had to go back. So, back we went! Located in Butchertown, a fairly desolate, industrial nieghborhood, the Blind Pig has drawn many accolades in its first year of business, including garnering a review in the New York Times. The gastropub draws a diverse crowd, from twenty-somethings to well-heeled Louisvillians, all to try their house cured meats and enjoy the warm-ambience. Everything I have tried at the Blind Pig has been amazing, but my favorite menu item is their cassoulet - perfect, juicy duck confit, housemade garlic sausage, white beans. Basically the perfect cold-weather meal. Oh, and they also feature a small selection of creative cocktails, including the Bacon Manhattan, made with bacon-infused rye. A nice little twist on tradition.

And, finally, two new places we discovered this week - the Louisville Beer Store and the Holy Grale. Both owned by a young Louisville couple, each offers an in-depth selection of hard to find brews. The Beer Store also sells glassware, hosts regular events, including their T.A.S.T.E. Sundays and talks by industry experts. They have also paired with neighboring resto 732 Social to offer snack plates on weekend nights. The Holy Grale - opened in December 2010 in a former church - offers a rotating selection of taps, including offerings from Birra del Borgo, Goose Island, and a bottle selection. They also produce an array of tasty bar snacks in their open kitchen, like their pretzel bread with beer cheese (pictured above), kimchi tacos, and cones of delicious, Belgian-style frites, with a choice of dipping sauces (we went with the curry ketchup, which A. described as "Epic.").

For my last night in town, we are headed to Seviche for a little Latin cuisine. Yum!

~ e

coconut quinoa

2011-01-15T16:10:00.001-08:00

alright vegan fire and spice, time to give you another try. this time we decided to try out the indonesian coconut rice for an easy weeknight dinner, but we made it coconut quinoa instead cause we weren't feeling rice-y. this dish was bursting with flavor i certainly can't fault it there. it had garlic, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, pepper flakes, mustard powder, cloves...phew! so yes. flavorful indeed. and they recommend serving it with vegetables so we mixed in some zucchini and mushrooms. in the end this was a pretty good dish but my gripe is that the whole time i was eating it i just kept thinking that the coconut should have been toasted before adding it into the mix. it's just one tiny step and i think it really would have stepped the whole thing up a notch with a deeper, toastier flavor as well as a little crunch. the suggested peanut garnish probably would have been a good move too...it just felt like something was missing.

we're now half way through the month and i've only made two recipes from the book...yikes! time to step it up and find something awesome in here.

stuffed jalapenos

2011-01-11T12:56:00.000-08:00

my mom sent kris some fun jalapeno cooking tools for hanukkah so we decided to make stuffed jalapenos. the corer made digging out the seeds quick and easy and then we had this fancy rack to hold them up while they roasted in the oven. the rack is meant to go on a grill but it worked out just as well in the oven, and i added some liquid smoke to the filling to get a little of that smokey goodness. they would have been awesome except that the jalapenos we got were suuuuper spicy. it made for painful enjoyment. i will give this creation another shot though, next time i will just pray to the jalapeno gods for milder peppers, please. for the stuffing i made a tempeh/ricotta mixture that doubled as a yummy sandwich spread the following day. here's the recipe-ish (i forgot to write down what i did, oops).

ricotta tempeh stuffed jalapeno peppers
ingredients:
cashew ricotta,except leave out the basil and add red pepper flakes* to taste instead
1 package tempeh
cumin
coriander
hot sauce
liquid smoke
salt and pepper
olive oil
medium - large sized jalapeno peppers, cored

heat a glug of oil in a skillet and crumble the tempeh stirring occasionally until it starts to brown. add cumin, coriander, hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste as well as a few drops of liquid smoke. cook until heated through.

move the tempeh mixture into a bowl and add 3 or 4 big spoonfuls of cashew ricotta, mix it all up and and adjust seasoning if needed.

place your cored peppers in the rack (if you've got one) and fill 'em up. put their tops back on a cook at 350 for 30ish minutes until the peppers are soft.

eat and enjoy. hopefully.

*my mom also sent a bag of aleppo pepper flakes and they're delicious. a tangy sort of spicy. i highly recommend seeking some out.

-d

january - vegan fire & spice

2011-01-09T14:59:00.000-08:00

it's a new month and that means time to focus on a new cookbook. i have mixed feelings about the book i'm delving into for january because the results of past recipes from it have been, well, meh. but it's a new year, a time to set aside hard feelings and start fresh, and i want to give this book a fair chance to redeem itself to my tummy. so here we go vegan fire & spice....let's see what you've got!

one of the issues i've had with this book in the past is that i make a recipe expecting one thing and it comes out as something different. maybe the secret is to make things that i have no preconceived notions of. or maybe the trick is that i have to make everything twice. once as written and then i figure out what i would change and make it again and it comes out much better. the latter is what i did with the first recipe this month - spicy spanish potatoes, or patatas bravas for those of us that frequent tapas restaurants.

the main problem the first go around was that they said to cut to potatoes into thin slices, which i did, ignoring my gut that was screaming "this is not how patatas bravas are done!" they turned too mushy and turned out as more of a tasty potato clump thing. this time i cut the potatoes in bite sized chunks that look like the ones you get in a restaurant. the amount of sauce in the recipe for 1 1/2 pounds of potatoes got me nowhere and i had to triple it. i might have had a little more than 1 1/2 pounds but i certainly didn't have 4 1/2 pounds. so anyway, the bottom line to this ranty post is that, while these were tasty, the recipe needs a good amount of tweaks to pass for patatas bravas. here's how i would write it:

patatas bravas
ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds russet or yukon gold potatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 teaspoons tomato paste
3 tablespoons water

cut potatoes into bit sized chunks. heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. add the potatoes in a single layer and cook, turning occasionally until tender and slightly crispy on the outside. season with the salt, pepper, cayenne and paprika.

meanwhile mix together the vinegar, tomato paste and water in a small bowl. when the potatoes are cooked remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and toss with the sauce.

-d

swiss chard frittata

2010-12-31T13:50:00.001-08:00

between christmas travel and going out for new years eve tonight i found time last night to squeeze in one last vegan brunch dinner before december ends. oh and i also made a double batch of bagels (the recipe in vegan brunch is my chosen bagel recipe) to stick in the freezer. but back to dinner, a swiss chard fritatta! the base is tofu and seasoning mashed up and then you mix in chard, i used red chard as suggested because it's pretty but really i imagine any green will do, press it into a pie pan, bake it and, ta da!, pair it with a salad and you have a perfect light and tasty dinner. unfortunately the top was the pretty side and when i flipped it onto the plate it became less photogenic. oh well. it was delicious! and i had a slice for lunch today and the leftovers are just as good.

i really enjoyed focusing on one cookbook this month but i still feel like there are so many recipes in here that i'm dying to make. i think everyone should have this book, vegan or not the recipes are just plain delicious and that's what matters. here's a handy link so you can buy it.

and on that note, happy new year everybody! here's to a delicious 2011.

-d

speculoos: a novel

2010-12-22T09:12:00.000-08:00

our time in europe a few months ago was fabulous but there was one very sad incident that i didn't mention before...

one of my goals for the trip was to get some speculoos! speculoos was a mysterious thing to me. a spread that i had read much about but never tasted and never found in the states. when we landed in amsterdam and were waiting at the airport/train station i passed the time by exploring the little grocery store (obviously) and was delighted to see speculoos. it was so easy! i would pick some up on our way out of the country. i think that deep down i knew this wouldn't fly with airport security and sure enough, minutes after i purchased it, they confiscated my 'loos. i asked the nice security lady if i could have it back for just a second. she obliged, i opened it, dipped my pinky in and fell in love....and then sadly handed it over.

if you're not familiar, speculoos is a sweet spread that tastes like graham crackers. or delta biscoff cookies. it is delicious! and we're in luck because you can now buy it on amazon, which is exactly what kris did for me (what a sweetie). all plans of savoring this precious jar and making it last were squashed when i saw that the expiration date was quickly approaching, though i'm doubtful that this stuff actually expires. in any case, here is how to use a jar of speculoos in a month:

first: test out the claim that this is a "sandwich spread" by making a speculoos and jelly sandwich. yummy....but this stuff is better suited for dessert in my opionion.

second: speculoos brownies! make your favorite brownie recipe and spread that batter in a pan. heat the speculoos over low heat until it is runny and pour over brownies. try to make pretty designs if you feel like it. bake. eat.

third: speculoos and graham cracker ice cream. add crushed graham crackers to your ice cream during the last few minutes of freezing. heat your speculoos as you did for the brownies and let it cool. when transferring your ice cream into the container drizzle speculoos all through it. this is especially awesome because when the speculoos freezes it gets hard and becomes like speculoos chips in the ice cream!

fourth: think that a scraped jar means you're done? nope! use the jar for overnight oats! add one part oats, two parts milk of choice and any other seasoning/additions you want. let it sit overnight in the fridge and in morning oatmeal is made! eat and and enjoy little hints of speculoos.

-d

pierogi

2010-12-18T09:12:00.002-08:00

i've made these pierogi before but i was excited to make them again this month before our vegan brunch bonanza ends. these take some time but the delicious pierogi payoff is well worth it. it's especially perfect if you have a dreary saturday or sunday on your hands and just want to hang out in the kitchen.

you can either eat these right after boiling or boil and then pan fry. when they were freshly made we did not pan fry but with the leftovers the next day we did to put a little more life into them after a night in the fridge. you can't go wrong either way.

here's a note i forgot to mention in my last post about these guys - the book gives two filling options (potato onion and mushroom sauerkraut) and either one will be enough to fill all of the pierogi. if you want to make both fillings (like me) you can just halve both recipes, but if you don't do that (like me) you will have lots of filling left. here's what to do: mix 'em both together and fry 'em up in little patties. and if you don't want to dedicate hours to making these may i recommend just skipping right to this "leftover plan"?

-d

coconut bacon

2010-12-12T09:21:00.000-08:00

i don't normally repost recipes that i make from other blogs but i must share this one because if you have not heard about the magic of coconut bacon you are really missing out! sure, tempeh bacon is good stuff but this! this is amazing. the flavor is similar but it has a crunch that i have never been able to get from tempeh bacon. and sometimes maybe you just want to lay off the soy and switch things up a bit. well coconut bacon to the rescue!

the blog i found this on is called good good things. i made mine much the same way as she did - soy sauce, liquid smoke, maple syrup (and i added apple cider vinegar) in a bowl to taste. you can search for a recipe if you want but this isn't a science and i think it would be pretty hard to mess up. into that mixture add a bunch of large, unsweetened flaked coconut (i found mine at the bulk store in my neighborhood). toss it around to cover all of the coconut and let it sit for a bit while the oven heats up to 350. spread it out on a baking sheet, good good things recommends 10 minutes then stir it around and keep a close eye, checking and stirring every minute. good advice. when it's done take it out and let it cool for a minute and it should be nice and crisp crisp crisp. it does retain a slight coconut flavor and that is not a bad thing. trust me.

first we made blt's (obviously) and they were yummy. but this morning was when the amazingness happened. vegan jackson crooks for breakfast. for those not in the know a jackson crook is a bagel sandwich from bagel rising in boston. i have never had one myself but kris loved them back in the day and many argue that they are the best bagel sandwich there is. so that's what you see pictured at the top of this post: bagel (garlic here), coconut bacon, red onion and tomato. i cheated and went open faced. kris made a proper one sandwich style.

-d

pumpkin pancakes

2010-12-11T15:05:00.000-08:00

friday night's breakfast dinner wasn't quite as exciting since we've been cooking so much from vegan brunch this month, but it's still a fun way to end the work week. last night we kept it simple with pumpkin pancakes and a side of fruit (which included the best kiwi of my life that we got at the farmer's market last week. will definitely look for more of them tomorrow). i love all things pumpkin and it almost makes you feel like you can justify eating pancakes for dinner (if you feel the need to justify such things) because, after all, pumpkin is good for you. this is a great pancake recipe - it's easy (as pancakes should be) and results in fluffy pancakes that taste like fall. what more could you ask for?

-d

coleslaw potato salad with cumin seeds

2010-12-09T18:17:00.000-08:00

we did it again. while browsing our sunday farmer's market we just couldn't resist. so we made slaw, we made cabbage peanut noodles but when we got the third day we were stuck. well thanks to our self imposed month of vegan brunch i knew just where to look! and once again this book did not disappoint. it was a toss up between curry scrambled tofu with cabbage and caraway and this salad we have here. ultimately this one won because we had just had tofu the night before. ahh easy decisions i love you. it really is brilliant to put coleslaw and potato salad together and i really enjoyed the little twist that the cumin seeds lended. also this is a creamy potato salad that calls for veganaise but i used a homemade mayo-ish creation that did not gross me out! hooray!

latkes

2010-12-05T13:57:00.000-08:00

happy hanukkah! it really snuck up on me this year. i mean, it was just thanksgiving and i'm already supposed to be ready for another holiday? well i'm not. sorry hanukkah. sorry everybody who won't be getting a gift for a few more weeks. but there is one thing i'm ready for....latkes! it really is a shame when the eight nights pass without a single latke and i wasn't going to let that happen this year. in fact, i would place latke eating as a higher priority hanukkah necessity than a proper menorah.*

so for the second time in a week the cast iron skillet** came out, the vegetable oil poured out in glugs and deep frying was under way! no question, latkes are always worth the frying hassle.

when i was growing up my mom made latkes using the recipe in the vegetarian epicure and this is the recipe i use as a guideline now. though here's a little latke secret - most recipes use eggs in them but they're really not necessary and you don't even have to replace them with anything, just pretend that whole part about adding eggs doesn't even exist. the rough recipe as i make it is below, this is just a guide and you may have to add more or less matzo meal depending on how good you are at squeezing the liquid out of your potatoes.

latkes
makes about 15-20 small-ish latkes
ingredients:
2 1/2 cups grated raw potatoes (about 3 baking potatoes)
4 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons matzo meal
black pepper to taste
oil for frying

first you've got to grate your potatoes

(oh please please please can i buy a big food processor with a grating attachment?) squeeze out as much water as you can. then measure (you'll probably have more than 2 1/2 cups so just add a little more of everything else cause that's much smarter than wasting potato). chop up your onion and add it to the shredded potatoes in a large bowl. add the matzo meal, salt and pepper to taste. mix it all up and try forming a patty to make sure it holds together. add more matzo meal if needed.

heat up your oil. when it gets to around 350 (i got this "meat" thermometer from foodbuzz and was pretty excited to be able to track the oil temperature. if you don't have one just test the oil with a bit of potato and when it bubbles it's ready) it's time to stop taking pictures and start frying! cook for a few minutes on each side until nicely browned and crispy. drain on a paper bag or paper towels.

we topped these with applesauce and vegan brunch cashew sour cream (staying on theme here!). and since fried potatoes are not a complete meal we also had some broccoli topped with vegan brunch hollandaise sauce. this was a delicious dinner! i want to eat it again right now.

*though i did look for candles for my menorah. really.
**these recent frying episodes have made me fall in love with my cast iron skillet. i'm convinced that this little pan is the best frying vessel there is. the oil heats up quickly and stays hot and i find it's much easier to clean up afterwards than when i've tried frying in any other pan.

-d

december, the month of vegan brunch

2010-12-02T19:28:00.000-08:00

in order to work through the gobs of cookbooks hanging around the apartment (too many of which go unused) kris and i decided to start a one cookbook per month experiment. it doesn't mean that we will cook solely recipes from that book and nothing else but it does mean that when we're thinking "hmmm what to make tonight?" that is the book we will turn to for a full month. so basically it's that cookbook or concoctions or staples in our rotation. yes the rules are a bit loosely defined at the moment (and i'm fully expecting to cheat) but i'm looking forward to exploring some new recipes.

so for december we're going to focus on vegan brunch (a lately not ignored at all cookbook....does this defeat the purpose? perhaps. but will it still be fun and delcious? absolutely! and that's what matters). i won't be posting recipes from this book but i will show some pretty pictures and maybe you will go out and buy the book which you should cause i can already tell you that this one well worth it.

to kick off our brunchy month we made beer battered tofu and garlic roasted potatoes. SUPER SUCCESS! the tofu was perfect. i am usually hesitant to fry things at home because i feel like the results are not worth the mess, the oil and the smell that lingers in the apartment for hours. but this one is so worth it! the batter was perfect and fried up to a nice light pillowey casing. i will definitely use this batter for future frying adventures. and garlic roasted potatoes? enough said.

and i promise i will try to make some yumcoast worthy creations this month so as not to completely leave you recipe deprived in december.

-d

sweet potato biscuits

2010-11-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

clearly i love biscuits. never one to resist testing out a new twist on my beloved bread product i was excited to do a test run of these guys just in time for thanksgiving. i am happy to say that they passed the test and come thursday i will be whipping up another batch (or two). the main reason i wanted to test these before the big day is because the recipe calls for gluten-free flour. i wasn't sure if there was a reason for it or just so that the biscuits are gluten-free. so i decided to test run with regular all purpose flour...nothing against gluten free but if i don't have to buy special flour i don't want to. good news gluten lovers, these turned out great! they are delicious on their own with just a hint of sweetness. however, keeping with our friday night breakfast theme we used these to make sausage egg* biscuits.

i made minor changes to make these vegan and also i would say that the nuts are optional. if you have them, sure, toss them in but i don't think i'd miss them if they weren't there. i plan to leave them out on thanksgiving. if you want to see the original recipe it's here, below is my version (and with instructions for us non-microwave, non-(large) food processor having folks). oh also, the original recipe claims 16 biscuits from this recipe...those would be 16 small biscuits, i got 10 using my 3 inch biscuit cutter.

happy thanksgiving everyone!

sweet potato biscuits

(from bon appetit, november 2010)

ingedients:

1 large red-skinned sweet potato (yam; about 1 1/4 pounds), pierced with fork

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour plus additional

2/3 cup yellow cornmeal

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled margarine, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup almond milk mixed with 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar to curdle

1/4 cup maple syrup (i ran out and used 1/2 maple 1/2 agave)

1/2 cup pecans, toasted , chopped (optional)

preheat oven to 425°F. line baking sheet with parchment.

first you need to bake your potato. when the oven is hot put the potato in until cooked all the way through (about an hour depending on the size of your potato). when it's done take it out and cut it in half and scoop out 1 cup of the flesh. mash it well and let cool

in a large bowl, mix together the flour, cornmeal and baking powder. cut in the margarine until you have a coarse meal. add the potato, milk mixture and syrup and mix until combined (i would recommend using your hands for that bit) add nuts (if using) and mix again.

sprinkle dough with flour. pat dough so that it's about and inch thick and cut into biscuits. transfer to baking sheet. bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 15 minutes.

*SO amazingly yummy. we used tempeh sausage crumbles from vegan with a vengence and omelet rounds from vegan brunch.

-d

tempeh taco lettuce wraps

2010-11-13T14:23:00.000-08:00

i was on the train home the other day trying to think of what to make for dinner. the first thing i thought was "tacos!" because i could eat them every day. but i knew that if i went home and kris asked what i want to make and i said "tacos!" he would say "of course you do..." and i don't want to be that predictable. so to keep some mystery about myself and also get my taco fix i went for a slight twist with taco lettuce wraps. in the past my lettuce wraps have consisted of mostly asian inspired innards so this was a nice twist on them too. you could make any taco-y fillings you like but i went with tempeh, potatoes, carmelized red onions and avocado. this was the first time in a long time that i made tacos and didn't end up feeling stuffed so hooray for lettuce! here's how it went (all seasonings are to taste).

tempeh taco lettuce wraps
for the potatoes:
cut potatoes into small, bite sized pieces. place in a baking dish and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and chili powder. cook at 375 until tender (20 minutes?). these were a success on their own because kris said they "look so professional! like diner potatoes!" and we all know that diner potatoes are among the best potatoes.

for the tempeh:
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 serrano chili, finely chopped
1 package tempeh
hot sauce
cumin
coriander
dried oregano
salt and pepper
olive oil

heat oil in a pan and add the chopped tomatoes (seeds, juice and all) and serrano. crumble the tempeh into the pan as well. add hot sauce and spices to taste and cook it all up until the tomatoes break down and the tempeh is heated through and coated with all the spices.

to assemble place a bit of tempeh and potatoes in a butter lettuce leaf, top with onions and chopped avocado. enjoy!

-d

indian chickpea stew

2010-11-11T17:51:00.000-08:00

whenever kris is out of town, instead of smartly cooking for one, i do the total opposite and cook for 8*. it happens every time. during his most recent weekend trip my vat on the stove contained indian chickpea stew from the cafe flora cookbook. the stew is exactly what you would imagine hearty chickpeas and vegetables in a spicy tomato broth**. it's comfort food that comes together (relatively) quickly and easily and you can freeze the leftovers and reheat when you're feeling lazy.

i made a few tiny adjustments to the recipe: instead of 1 pound of potatoes i did half a pound and a zuccini. i also only added 1 teaspoon of salt instead of 2 and didn't feel like i needed to add any more later. you might want to but better to check it out first than have chickpea salty stew. oh and it also says to use a 3-quart or larger saucepan....go for larger, my 3-quart was full to the brim which made stirring in the greens difficult. and speaking of greens i added way more than 3 cups. maybe that's why the pot was so full......hmmmm. anyway, below is the recipes as it is in the book.

the cookbook recommends serving this with a side of green beans, asparagus or snow peas. i served it over rice.

indian chickpea stew
(from cafe flora cookbook)
ingredients:
15 oz. can canned chickpeas
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon brown mustard seeds
1 tablespoon whole cumin seeds
1 large onion, thinly sliced in crescents
1 (2 to 3 inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1 jalapeno chili, finely diced
28 oz. can diced tomatoes in juice
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups water
1 pound small red potatoes
3 cups roughly chopped greens (i used kale)
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

heat the oil in a saucepan, add the mustard and cumin seeds and saute over medium heat until fragrant and the mustard seeds start to pop.

add the onion and saute until soft and translucent, about 10 minutes. then add the ginger and jalapeno and saute for 2 minutes more.

stir in the tomatoes and their juice, turmeric, salt and water. bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

while the sauce simmers, drop the potatoes into a small pot of boiling water to cover. cook them, covered, until they are barely tender, about 20 minutes. drain the potatoes and cut them in half. you cook the potatoes separately so they don't fall apart in the stew.

add the chickpeas, potatoes and greens to the tomato mixture. simmer, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are hot, 3 to 5 minutes. if you find the stew is getting thicker than you like, add more water to keep it saucy. just before serving, add the herbs, and season to taste with salt.

*the recipe claims 4-6 servings but seriously. i had one dinner. two lunches. and two full tupperwares in the freezer. i'll give you 6-8 but i'm still leaning towards 8.
**i notice that this picture does not look saucy at all but trust me, sauce is there.

-d

noochy pepita crusted tofu

2010-11-06T08:07:00.000-07:00

this was a tofu concoction that turned out to be quite successful. these pan fried slabs of 'fu taste nice and light and make a great meal with a veggie side (like, say, roasted asparagus!). the pepita coating not only tastes great but it's a bit more filling (nuts and seeds are sneaky like that) than plain old breadcrumbs.

a bonus of this meal is that we realized trader joe's "high protein" tofu is the best tofu there is. it's super firm and absolutely perfect for frying up like this or in a stir fry or anywhere where you would want firm tofu. plus, like everything at trader joe's, it's cheap.

pepita crusted tofu
ingredients:
pepitas, roasted
smoked paprika
salt
pepper
tofu
unsweetened almond milk
nutritional yeast (you know, nooch)

this is a no measuring, wing-it kind of recipe. here's what you're gonna do:

put a bunch of pepitas in a food processor with smoked paprika, salt and pepper (don't be shy with the spices, i wish i'd added more than i did). grind it up until you have pepita crumbs. place this in a shallow bowl.

in another shallow bowl, mix together the almond milk and a bunch of nooch so that you have a thick, kind of gloppy product.

dredge the tofu slabs first in the milk/nooch and then in the pepitas.

heat a lightly oiled pan over medium high and add the tofu. cook until browned on each side.

-d

fall pasta

2010-11-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

this pasta involves butternut squash and also sage so i'm dubbing it fall pasta. it doesn't look like fall around here and doesn't really feel like fall so i've got to get my autumn fix where i can, thanks for pulling through squash.

so besides squash and sage this pasta also includes shallots and spinach. i roasted both the squash and the shallots to bring out their sweetness and then countered that with salt, pepper and a squeeze of fresh lemon. when the ingredients are this delicious they don't need a lot of dressing up. here's what i did....

fall pasta
ingredients:
pasta (we used tri-colored rotini)
1 butternut squash, cut into 1/2 inch-ish cubes*
several shallots, halved or quartered (i only had 3 small ones but i wish i had more)
1 bunch spinach, chopped
handful of fresh sage, finely chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper, to taste

cook the pasta according to package instructions, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking water.

toss the squash pieces and shallots with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 350 for about 20 minutes, until the squash is soft.

once the pasta is cooked drain and add the spinach, sage and the 1/2 cup cooking water. toss until the spinach is wilted. add the roasted squash and shallots and toss. add the lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste.

*you will want to use your biggest, sharpest knife for this. and while you are cutting up your squash with your big sharp knife you will constantly say "man! i LOVE this knife!"...or maybe that's just me.

-d

flakey biscuits

2010-10-29T17:26:00.000-07:00

kris and i started doing friday night breakfast for dinner (ok so this is only the second time, but there are many more to come!) and tonight was biscuits and gravy. oh biscuits how i love them. they're flakey, they're buttery and they're so easy you can whip them up to accompany a week day meal. everyone should have a simple biscuit recipe on hand, this is mine. it's a super simple recipe that you could easily dress up by adding herbs and spices should you wish. oh and if you're curious, we made the mushroom gravy from vegan brunch. yum.

flakey biscuits
ingredients:
1 1/2 cup nondairy milk (i've used soy and almond and both worked great)
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
4 cups flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup cold margarine
1/2 cup cold shortening

preheat oven to 375. in a small bowl mix together milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle.

in a large bowl mix flour, salt, baking power and baking soda. add the margarine and shortening in small clumps and cut into to flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

make a well in center and add milk. use your hands to mix the dry ingredients into the wet (it's more fun with your hands) the dough should be sticky (add more milk/flour if needed). turn onto a well floured surface and fold dough into itself a few times. roll out to 1 1/2 inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter/cookie cutter/drinking glass/what have you.

place on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush the tops with milk.

bake 12-14 minutes until golden.

bonus! if you don't want to eat all of these at once you will be happy to know that they freeze, pre-baked, really well. you'll just have to add a few minutes to the cooking time and you can have fresh biscuits all week!

-d

padron peppers

2010-10-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite nibbles that has started showing up on more and more bar menus lately is shishito peppers, gently pan fried and tossed with salt. it's a light little munch that packs a lot of flavor. the other day while cruising through the farmers market i saw a stand with a basket overflowing with little green peppers. i know they weren't shishito but i thought they looked like they'd do the trick for making a home recreation. i'm not entirely sure what kind of pepper i bought but i predict padron and i'm sticking to it...i'm even so confidently calling this entry "padron peppers." so there ya go. now obviously i wouldn't go so far as to demand that you track down the same mystery peppers that i did but what you are going for is a small pepper (one bite is awesome, two bites tops) that is on the milder side with just a bit of kick when you eat the seeds.

this is a really simple snack, appetizer, whatever you want, to whip up. all you do is heat a bit of olive oil in a pan, throw in some salt and cook the peppers until they begin so soften and blister; just a few minutes. i let mine go a bit too long but they were still yummy. toss with a little more salt if needed and eat warm.

-d

eating and drinking ourselves through europe

2010-10-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

kris and i recently* returned from a 10 day european vacation where we ate tons of falafel, drank a lot of beer and filled in the other parts with various delicious nibbles and drinks. i started writing this post and quickly realized that, at the rate i was going, it was going to be very long and very rambly and nobody wants that.

so in attempt number two i give you the highlights, as short and sweet as i can.

our first stop, brussels, was all about frites and beer.

we went to the cantillon brewery, if you like sour beer buy this stuff if you get the chance

it's really easy to do day trips from brussels. we went to cologne one day and tested out a couple of pretzels. the real winner was the walnut bread though.

after a few more days exploring brussels and day trips to ghent and lille we took off for amsterdam. kris and i love falafel and were on a mission to find the best that amsterdam had to offer. after 5 falafels in 4 days (with one day off) it came to a toss up between maoz and sonny. both places had fantastic toppings bars so that you could load up your falafel to your liking.

and certainly you didn't expect us to go through an entire trip without seeking out bagels. bagels & beans in amsterdam is surprisingly delicious!

a few more yummy things to leave you with:

*ok so it's been over a month. i've been a bit slow getting this post together.

-d

monster cabbage

2010-09-21T18:07:00.001-07:00

who can resist a 6 pound cabbage at the grocery store? apparently not me and kris. this cabbage is so big it wouldn't fit in the drawer of the fridge. we had to do some rearranging.

it's bigger than your head!

basketball anyone?

now we wouldn't buy* this thing without a plan (that would just be silly). so what's in store for this beast of a cabbage?
today - slaw to accompany tacos
tomorrow - the best cabbage salad ever
thursday - hot and cold sesame noodles

will it be enough to finish the cabbage? we shall seeeeeeee......

*and speaking of the buying....we had a pleasant surprise when we looked at our receipt and noticed that the cashier guy thought it was a head of lettuce....and only charged us $1.99. what a bargain!

-d

sweet potato quesadillas

2010-09-13T20:53:00.001-07:00

kris and i recently got back from a really fun jam packed trip to europe. i have tons of photos that i need to get online and one (or two) big travel/food posts to write. but since we have been go-go-going nonstop since we got back home a week ago the thought of doing that right now is a bit daunting. so, while that project is in the works i give you sweet potato quesadillas to hold you over in the meantime.

but make no mistake, this is no gotta-post-something-and-this-will-have-to-do recipe. these are awesome! they are a snap to make, can be tweaked in so many ways and i believe will be a hit even with those who normally go for the cheesy quesadillas. it all started when i bought sweet potatoes for a side dish one night, chopped 'em up and roasted them with garlic, salt and pepper, and finished it off with a squeeze of lime and cilantro (chopped, don't squeeze it, silly). it was so yummy and kris had the great idea to turn it into a quesadilla filling (a little twist on the yuca tortillas from veganomicon if that means anything to you). we topped ours with tomatoes, hot sauce and avocado but the possiblities are endless. next time i want to make cashew sour cream to dollop on top. and maybe a little cabbage slaw.

sweet potato quesadillas

ingredients:

sweet potatoes, sliced into 1/2 inch-ish rounds

garlic, roughly chopped*

olive oil

salt and pepper

juice of 1 lime

handful cilantro, chopped

your favorite tortillas**

super simple here....toss the sliced sweet potatoes and garlic with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 375 until the potatoes are tender. transfer to a bowl and mash until no big potato chunks are left. add lime juice and cilantro to taste along with more salt and pepper if needed.

when your potato mixture is absolutely delicious, heat a pan on the stove and add a tortilla. let it heat up a bit then dollop the potatoes onto the tortilla spreading the filling to the edges, and top with another tortilla. when the bottom tortilla is browned flip the whole thing over and brown the other side. remove, top with toppings and enjoy!

*you want to leave the pieces of garlic fairly large so that they roast and crisp up but don't burn

**we found really yummy chipotle flavored ones

-d

sf street food festival

2010-08-23T19:11:00.001-07:00

this past weekend was the san francisco street food festival. kris and i headed over to the four blocks crammed with food trucks and restaurant stands to have ourselves a nibble-y grazing lunch.

we got down there pretty early and it was already getting packed with some crazy long lines. there were tons of food options but when you cut that down to only the vegetarian ones and then even more to vegan options, our choices were pretty much made for us. which is fine by me cause i would have felt overwhelmed otherwise....and probably would not have been able to walk home from being so full (and yes, we still have to wear coats in august...unless you're super tough like that red shirt dude).

our first stop was aziza which also happens to be one of our favorite restaurants. we got a little cup of spicy roasted chickpeas (yum!) and a super refreshing mint lime (i think) soda (which was really more like tea). off to a good start!

next we ran into a whole foods make-your-own trail mix table. we stuffed our little bags with banana chips, almonds, pumpkin seeds and cashews. didn't eat them yet though....they're coming with us on the long plane ride to europe later this week (thanks whole foods!).

the next stop was the highlight for me. several months ago erin sent me an article about a falafel truck called liba in the bay area. besides having supposedly amazing falafel they also have a toppings bar. sadly, i never made the trip to try one. but on saturday there they were! and no line....what's wrong with people?! anyway, the falafels were, in fact, amazing. i might go so far as to say they are the best in san francisco. they even come close to the falafel at l'as du falafel in paris which is incredible. perfectly crunchy on the outside and nice and light on the inside...mmmm. our only regret is that we only go the taster and not the sandwich.

the good news is that they are now downtown some days so we will definitely get these for lunch and soon!

our last stop was tacos.

i really should have written about (and probably eaten) this before the falafel because it is a tough act to follow. i've seen this truck around but never stopped before. it wasn't amazing but it was definitely tasty. the green salsa was actually super yummy!

and that concluded our street food tasting. it was a lot of fun and i look forward to going back next year.....and getting liba falafel asap!

-d

tagine cooking

2010-08-12T18:33:00.000-07:00

my mom sent kris a tagine for his birthday which means, really, she sent us a tagine. we have several tagines hanging around, like these cuties for salt and pepper...

or these for bracelets

but i'm so happy to finally have one for cooking!

after going through the seasoning process of soaking (in which we learned it's extremely difficult to form a water tight seal over our kitchen sink drain) and then baking the empty tagine this beauty was ready to cook us some dinner!

we made this on a sunday night because, i'm not sure why, i thought it was going to take a long time to cook. but with about 5 minutes of chopping prep and 30 minutes-ish of cooking this would make an awesome weeknight dinner! we usually have farmer's market veggie medley dinners on tuesday but i predict a chunk of those dinners are going to end up in the tagine now. tagine tuesdays! i like it.

i looked at recipes as guidelines but didn't really end up following any of them exactly. what i took away from my brief research is that tagine cooking is pretty forgiving and if you fill it up with things that you like you're going to end up with an end result that you love. one thing i'll remember for next time is to add a bit more seasoning than i think it'll need. oh and one more thing, if i was doing this combination again (or any where one vegetable is likely to cook much faster than another) i would add the potatoes and then maybe halfway through add the zucchini because the poor zucs were a little too cooked i think....still yummy....but not perfect. i must say though, for a first attempt at tagine cooking this turned out great! here's what we put in ours:

moroccan tagine

ingredients:

2 cups water

potatoes, chopped

zucchini, chopped
tomato, chopped
onion, chopped

green olives, pitted

dried apricots, chopped

toasted almonds

cous cous

moroccan spice mix*

place the water in the tagine and sprinkle some spices on top (i'd say i put 1-2 tablespoons) chop up the potatoes, zucchini, tomato, onion, olives and apricots and place in the tagine. sprinkle some more spice mixture on top. here it is all ready to go....

put the lid on and cook on medium low heat for about 30 minutes until potatoes are tender and the water in the bottom has thickened and turned a bit saucey. serve over cous cous and top with toasted almond slivers. like this!

*i know, having this already on hand this made it almost too easy. if you don't have a premade moroccan spice mix here's what's in it: cumin, coriander, parsley, chili, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, sugar, salt and pepper and orange oil. so basically throw in a little of nearly every spice you have.

-d

happy international beer day!

2010-08-05T20:16:00.001-07:00

yum.

-d

tofu salad

2010-07-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

that's tofu salad as in egg salad. i have yet to purchase a tofu salad that i love. i don't try premade ones very often because 1. they are most often drenched in fake mayo and - real or fake - i really dislike mayo* and 2. celery? meh.

so i decided to make my own tofu salad that would solve these problems and oh my goodness did i ever succeed! seriously, this turned out better than i hoped. i love it. i ate it open faced on toast with a salad for dinner, then had it again for lunch. the longer you can let it sit the more the flavors will come out and the more deliciousness will come out but you can also eat it immediately after you finish stirring it all together (as i did) and it's quite a treat then as well.

i solved the mayo problem by using tahini sauce instead. i like the crunch that celery gives but wanted to get it from something that i enjoy....something like chopped cabbage! throw in a bunch of other stuff and you have tofu salad that is similar to egg salad only not gross. win!

tofu salad
ingredients:
1 lb. firm tofu
1 cup chopped green olives
1/4 red onion, chopped
chopped cabbage, roughly 1/4 of a small head
1/2 cup tahini sauce (roughly 1/4 cup tahini thinned with water)
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon turmeric
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon black salt**
salt and pepper to taste

crumble the tofu into a bowl and add the olives, onion and cabbage. mix together the tahini and water and then whisk in all of the other ingredients. pour over the tofu mixture and mix well. taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.

*perhaps it stems from a time of enjoying mayo sandwiches as a child? it makes me shudder just thinking about it now.

**there a few different kinds of black salt out there. the one you want here is indian black salt and you'll know it's the right kind cause it smells like eggs. if you can't find it this will still be yummy without, just increase the other flavors. i have a gigantic bag of the stuff and if i could share with you i certainly would. if you do use it, i went a little on the light side cause i didn't want an overwhelming egg-y flavor, more of a subtle backdrop, but if you do you'll want to increase it by quite a bit.

-d

coconut green beans

2010-07-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

this is a recipe that i ripped out of a magazine oh i'd say....nine months ago (at least) and promptly stuck on the fridge. i've been dying to make it since the minute i saw it (well....obviously not if it's taken me this long) but whenever i thought of it i was always missing one ingredient. most recently that ingredient was mustard seeds which i actually remembered to buy this past weekend. then while strolling the farmers market yesterday i saw green beans and it was on!

i'm a big fan of simply prepared green beans - steamed until just tender and tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper and maybe some sauteed garlic - but man, if you're looking to dress them up this recipe is the way to go. they are crisp, mustard-y, a bit spicy and have the most delicious toasted flavors from both the coconut and the cashews. kris and i gobbled them down and they are definitely going in the rotation.

coconut green beans
(a padma lakshmi recipe)
ingredients:
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 tablespoons cashew pieces
4 whole dried red chilies
1 1/2 lbs. green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
salt, to taste

heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet. add the mustard seeds. when the seeds start to pop, add the cashews and chilies.

once the cashews are toasted, add green beans and stir. cover and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. add coconut and salt.

cook another 8-10 minutes (mine only took about 5 minutes) while stirring. when green beans are cooked through but still crisp, remove from heat and serve.

TCT soba bowl

2010-07-15T19:47:00.001-07:00

this, like so many of my dishes, was created as a cleaning out the fridge dinner. my main ingredients to work with were tempeh, cabbage and tiny tomatoes which made me think it's almost at TLT....but since there's cabbage instead of L i'll call it a TCT soba bowl (yeah, i put it all on top of soba).

so, that's one T for marinated tempeh, C for cabbage slaw and the last T for teeny tiny tomatoes...maybe it should be called TC(TT)T. oh and also toasted pecans because...why not? yum! i really really loved this (for dinner and again for lunch today). the slaw was very simple with a hearty dose of lime juice giving the whole dish a nice tart kick. the tempeh and noodles got a bit of heat from hot sauce, and tomatoes, well, they're amazing right now and can do no wrong. plus some crunchy toasted pecan bits? delicious! i feel like i so rarely recreate these fridge cleaning dinners that i make but this is one that i would really love to make again.

here's how it went down (i apologize for the lack of measurements but you're a smart bunch, you can make it to your taste):
TCT soba bowl
ingredients:
for the marinade:
soy sauce
hot sauce
olive oil
cumin
coriander
crushed garlic cloves

mix together all the ingredients in a shallow dish. cut the tempeh into strips and marinate for as long as you've got (mine were probably in there for about 20 minutes).

while the tempeh is doing its thing make a super simple cabbage slaw:
i thinly sliced about half of a small head of cabbage and tossed with the juice of 2 limes, olive oil, (big) salt and pepper.

halve or quarter (depending on their size) a handful of tiny tomatoes and set aside.

back to the tempeh. cook with a little olive oil and an little marinade added to the pan until browned on both sides. remove from pan and cut into bite sized pieces.

cook the soba according to package instructions. mine cooked for six minutes (and i found that starting soba and the tempeh cooking at the same time worked out well).

when the noodles are done cooking drain and toss with some of the remaining marinade.

assemble bowls with soba on the bottom topped with cabbage slaw and tempeh and tomatoes.

add some chopped toasted pecans on top. enjoy!

-d

soft tofu ceviche tacos

2010-07-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

we recently brought back our good friend soft tofu for a super easy, fast and - most importantly - delicious no-cook taco filling. rather than cooking the tofu we opted for a ceviche-ish approach of marinating it in a limey mixture before eating.

as i was eating these tacos i just kept thinking how refreshing they were. sounds weird i know...even i, with my extreme love of tacos, don't normally find them to be refreshing...but with the marinated soft tofu these were citrusy, cool and smooth and that my friends makes for one refreshing taco.

you could certainly eat these as soft tacos but i liked the crunch from the crispy shell paired with the filling. top with your favorite taco toppings - we did lettuce, avocado and tomato which was simple and delicious. you can adjust the marinade to your liking (which you will have to do since i didn't measure) but, roughly, here's how it went:

soft tofu taco filling
(for one pound of soft tofu)
ingredients:
juice of 8 limes
a few glugs of olive oil
several dashes of hot sauce
3 garlic cloves, minced
coriander
cumin
salt
pepper

combine all ingredients in a bowl large enough to hold your tofu. taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking.

drain your tofu and pat it dry. scoop spoonfuls of tofu into the marinade and gently toss so that all the tofu is covered. let sit for as long as you want...i did this first and just let it stand while i prepared the rest of the taco ingredients.

-d

key lime pie ice cream sammiches

2010-06-28T18:15:00.001-07:00

just because i live in a climate where 75 degrees is considered sweltering doesn't mean i'm immune to the it's-june-and-that-means-frozen-summer-treats mindset. i recently read that ciao bella is releasing several new frozen desserts this summer....one being a key lime ice cream sandwich. well, key lime pie has been one of my absolute favorites for as long as i can remember and when i read the ciao bella news i thought "i must make this. now!" this treat might win fastest turn around time from my brain to my belly. and the best part about them is that they exceeded my highest expectations.

the ice cream is creamy, tart and smooth just as key lime pie filling should be, and it really does taste like pie. and the graham crackers are, well, like graham cracker crust! i made my own graham crackers* which i would highly recommend because you can bake them slightly less so that they are a little soft rather than crispy crispy crackers.

key lime pie ice cream sammiches
ice cream ingredients:
1 14 ounce can coconut milk (not lite)
3/4 (scant) cup sugar
1/2 cup soy milk (plus a little)
1/2 cup key lime juice (i used nellie and joe's double strength**)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

measure your coconut milk and top off with enough soy milk to get an even two cups. pour into a bowl and add the sugar. whisk until the sugar is dissolved. stir in the remaining 1/2 cup soy milk, key lime juice and vanilla extract. taste and add more lime juice if needed.

pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the maker's instructions (mine took about 30 minutes). pour onto a baking sheet lined with parchment and smooth out so that it's about an inch thick. freeze until firm.

to assemble:
i used a biscuit cutter to make nice uniform graham cracker circles. as i mentioned above, i cooked them so that they were still a little soft. once the ice cream is firm use a slightly smaller cookie cutter to cut through the ice cream. place onto a graham cracker, top with another and press together slightly. wrap individual sammiches in wax paper and freeze until you're ready to eat them.

*need a graham cracker recipe? there's a great one in vegan cookies invade your cookie jar that is both tasty and fast (no chilling time). this is the one i used with one little change - i used agave syrup instead of molasses for a lighter flavor. there's also a yummy one over at smitten kitchen that i've made with delicious results.

**my bottle claimed to be double strength. don't know if it really is but if yours appears to be normal strength you might need to use a bit more. if you can't find key lime juice regular lime juice should work just fine.

-d

strawberry granita

2010-06-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

What to do when it's a thousand degrees outside and there are strawberries in the fridge? Why not make some granita! I did a quick Google search, and came up with the following recipe. It is super easy, deliciously refreshing, and so much easier than making ice cream. It has all the freshness of perfectly ripe strawberries, in an icy-cold refreshing dessert!

fresh strawberry granita
Bon Appetit, May 2005

1 cup hot water
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 cups sliced hulled strawberries (1 pound whole berries) plus additional berries for garnish

Stir first 3 ingredients in small bowl until sugar dissolves. Blend 3 cups strawberries in processor until smooth. Add sugar syrup and blend until combined.

Pour mixture into 13x9x2-inch nonstick metal baking pan. Freeze until icy around edges, about 25 minutes. Using fork, stir icy portions into middle of pan. Freeze until mixture is frozen, stirring edges into center every 20 to 30 minutes, about 1 1/2 hours. Using fork, scrape granita into flaky crystals. Cover tightly and freeze. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep frozen.) Scrape granita into bowls. Garnish with berries and serve.

wedding pies!

2010-06-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial Day weekend, Darcy and I undertook the great pie making endeavor. A few months ago, our friends Jane and Craig asked us to make the dessert - pies! - for their impending nuptials. D and I said yes, and the wheels started turning. Oh, the ideas we had for pies! Mango, coconut, various other tropical flavors, to mesh with the Indian food that would be served at dinner. In the end, it came down to seasonal flavors and colors, the fresh bounty of late spring. After a tasting a few weeks ago, the bride and groom settled on four flavors:

strawberry rhubarb, with a hint of orange zest. I cannot tell you how amazing this smelled as the berries and rhubarb macerated in the orange zest-sugar combination; blackberry apricot, with a splash of cassis (a berry liquer) and walnut streusel topping.

Our friend Jill said the topping "smelled like Christmas" with a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove; vegan chocolate, oh so creamy, with a graham cracker crumb crust and a splash of whiskey. Oh, and it's a no-bake pie; and, finally, my personal favorite - a truly luscious lemon curd, from Alice Waters, topped with blueberries and citrus zest. These disappeared at the wedding!

We had loads of help from our friends - Mo, Jill, Chris. Andy was our clean-up help, dutifully washing dishes - which were plentiful! In the end, we successfully made about 130 mini pies, and one large Strawberry Rhubarb pie. All were beautifully displayed on a pie tower constructed by the groom.

Below are some of the recipes we used, plus loads of pictures of the whole process.

Congrats, Jane and Craig! Thank you for giving us the honor of baking for your wedding. Xoxoxo.

vegan chocolate whiskey pie
ingredients:
for the crust:
3 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 18 graham crackers)
1/2 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

place the graham cracker crumbs in a mixing bowl. drizzle with the oil and mix until moistened. add the soy milk and vanilla and mix with your fingers, the crumbs should hold together if pinched. press into pie tins. (note: your graham cracker/oil ratio may vary. vegan graham crackers can be hard to find so if you make your own you'll probably use less oil, add gradually).

for the filling:
12 oz. dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup whiskey (jamesons is delicious)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 lb. silken tofu, room temperature

melt the chocolate with the whiskey over medium heat, when melted and smooth stir in the syrup and vanilla. remove from heat. blend the tofu in a food processor or blender until smooth. add the chocolate mixture and combine.

you'll be able to get about a dozen little (4 inch-ish) pies out of this.

country pie pastry
used for the fruit and lemon curd pies
(makes enough for 30 4-inch pies)
ingredients:

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 to 1/2 cup ice water

In a food processor, add the flour, salt, sugar, butter and shortening. Pulse for 30 seconds until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add ice water, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough just holds together.

Divide dough in thirds and shape into flat rounds. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour.

49 cent dinner

2010-06-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

yep...that's right, this dinner only cost 49 cents. plus we had two lunches leftover so i'd say it's a bargain. all i bought was a head of lettuce for this big money side salad.

the rest was leftovers we needed to use plus some staples. i love cooking this way, opening up the fridge and using whatever is on it's last legs. it makes me feel like i'm on the tv show chopped (that's the one where they get the basket of mystery ingredients, right?). well my basket contained onion, blanched broccoli, tomato, shallot, two little baby red potatoes and green bell pepper. add to that a couple staples like tofu and brown basmati rice and you have yourself a delicious rice bowl entree and side salad.

the tomato and green pepper went into the salad.

i mixed up a little red miso paste and water to stir into the cooked rice for more flavor.
the tofu got dredged in a cajun spice mixture that i made a long time ago for something (it's paprika, cayenne, salt and......other things) and pan fried.
the blanched broccoli just got a little time in the pan to heat through.
i thinly sliced the potatoes and pan fried them as well until browned and a little crispy.
all of this topped the rice and was finished off with a crispy carmelized onion/shallot mixture.

and i must say it was the best tasting 49 cent dinner i've ever had.

-d

sour mix

2010-06-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

i'm not sure why we suddenly decided that we need to make our own sour mix. i can't remember the last time i bought the stuff and i wasn't really having a hankering for a sour alcoholic beverage of any sort, but when kris first mentioned the idea i was all over it. maybe it's because using fresh fruit and homemade syrups and mixes is the thing in bars now. or maybe it's just because i always love when i realize i can make something that is so far superior to it's store bought version (haHA i win!). either way this stuff is like a whole different concoction. with none of the thick, tooth cringey sweetness of store bought this sour mix is like the most awesome lemonade mix waiting to meet his alcoholic buddy. in our case that alcohol was jameson's* and though the whole whiskey sour thing never sounded particularly tasty to me this one was divine.

when we searched online for a recipe i was shocked (and appalled!) at the number that used corn syrup. i mean, what's the point? might at well save yourself a lot of squeezing and just buy a bottle. then i found a super simple one here and, while this whole idea is very basic and might not seem especially noteworthy, it makes a mean drink. and everyone deserves to know that the best sour beverage of your life (i predict this would make the most refreshing margarita ever) is just a few lemons (and limes and simple syrup) away.

sour mix
2 parts lemon juice
2 parts simple syrup
1 part lime juice

mix 'em all together and drink up!

*and why did we just happen to have a nearly full bottle of jameson's hanging around? that would be leftover from the chocolate whiskey pies which you will hear more about later in an upcoming post that will be overflowing with pie-y goodness!

-d

king trumpet mushrooms

2010-05-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

last weekend kris and i made a trip to rainbow grocery....we don't go too often so when we do it feels like a special treat and we splurge. which is really easy to do in a store with a mind bogglingly large bulk section, vegan treats out the wazoo and a produce section brimming with things i just can't find at our neighborhood stores. things like king trumpet mushrooms*! i've ordered these shrooms out before but this was my first time cooking with them at home and already i am in love. they're just so big and meaty and sturdy and they lend themselves so well to pan frying. they're pretty much begging you to slice 'em up and fry 'em. mmmmmmm. i winged it here and i must say this dish was a huge success....kris and i gobbled them down.

pan fried king trumpet mushrooms
ingredients:
2 large king trumpet mushrooms (more if you got 'em!)
2 scallions, thinly sliced
sesame seeds
for the sauce:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 inch ginger, grated

slice the mushrooms into 1/2ish inch slices. heat a thin layer of oil and cook mushrooms a few minutes on each side until lightly browned.

meanwhile whisk together all sauce ingredients.

when mushrooms are cooked arrange them on a plate and pour sauce on top. sprinkle with scallions and sesame seeds and enjoy!

*and fiddleheads which i also cooked for the first time. i thought they were quite tasty but i really didn't do anything much beyond steaming them. however, aren't they cute???

-d

ginger miso dressing

2010-05-02T15:43:00.000-07:00

i love anything ginger and miso and this dressing is no exception. while it won't make your salad stunningly gorgeous to look at (or photograph) it will make it stunningly delicious to eat...and one of these things is more important than the other.

the recipe comes from the cafe flora cookbook, which came to my attention after my jill went to seattle and told me about all the fabulous things she ate at cafe flora. while i have yet to make a visit myself i did acquire the cookbook and this salad is the first thing i made.

the salad here is mixed greens, grapefruit, avocado, daikon and garlicky sweet shiitake mushrooms. it was fantastic. we had a lot of dressing leftover which we used to make anther gigantic dinner salad the next day and then used the remainder to toss into a quinoa bowl (so yes, you will have lots of dressing but you will have no shortage of uses for it. you might even want to drink it it's so yummy). oh and it's only got a handful of ingredients and is super simple to make.

ginger miso dressing
(from cafe flora cookbook)
ingredients:
2 tablespoons light miso
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 water

combine the miso, vinegar, ginger, and garlic in a blender. with blender running, drizzle in the vegetable oil. add 1/4 cup water to thin the mixture, and blend until smooth.

-d

roasted fingerling potatoes with saffron breadcrumbs

2010-04-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

i certainly don't need to convince you that roasted potatoes are a fantastic food - crunchy and creamy and all around delicious they don't really need much gussying up. but when you want to get fancy with them what better way than to add some crunchy goodness laced with saffron to the mix? long ago erin and i found mystery saffron in our cabinet and for awhile there i think we saffron-ed just about everything. i mean, free saffron! that's as exciting as finding money in your pocket! sadly i think that was the last time i used the stuff cause those little threads are expensive.* but on sunday i broke down using the "we're making a fun sunday dinner" as the excuse...and i'm glad i did cause the potatoes were awesome and now i get to make other fun saffron things. this recipe comes from the same article as the soft tofu recipe and was equally delicious. i think i maybe went a little light on the saffron ("a pinch" is so imprecise) but they were still great.....we were scooping up the last of the crunchy breadcrumbs.

roasted fingerling potatoes with saffron breadcrumbs
ingredients:
1 tablespoon ghee (or substitute olive oil, unsalted butter, or a combination of the two)
1 pound fingerling potatoes
kosher salt, to taste
fresh black pepper, to taste
half a slice of stale bread or english muffin (makes about 1/2 cup crumbs)
pinch of saffron threads

preheat the oven to 375°. Heat olive oil in a cast iron pan that will hold all the potatoes without excessive crowding. When the oil is very hot, add the potatoes, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until browning barely starts.

meanwhile, make the breadcrumbs. tear up half a slice of stale bread (english muffins work surprisingly well) and place the pieces in a coffee grinder, along with the saffron threads. process until well mixed, shaking the grinder a bit as you go.

add the breadcrumbs to the potatoes, stir well, and cook for about 2 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs begin to brown.

transfer pan to oven, and roast for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. adjust for salt, and serve hot.

*thankfully the author gives this little note which can make us all feel better, "high-quality saffron can be ungodly expensive, but this dish does just fine with the less expensive versions."

-d

soft tofu with ginger and peppers

2010-04-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

oh, soft tofu where have you been all my life? why did i dismiss you as the useless texture; not as dinner worthy as extra-firm and lesser than silken for baking? shame on me. the introduction into dinner was actually made a couple of weeks ago when kris brainstormed a sort of grilled cheese style sandwich with soft tofu standing in for the cheese (squishy, very near melty, and absolutely delicious). then last week kris (so i guess he's the one to thank for this epiphany) found this article on sfgate (the article is really interesting and inspiring...i, too, can't wait to seek out various ethnic grocery stores and buy all kinds of unfamiliar ingredients to play with. it also made me want to spend silly amounts of money on salt). we decided to try out a couple of the recipes, one of them being a sort of soft tofu bowl. our ethnic shopping adventure hasn't come soon enough so we made some substitutions (which i've noted in the recipe) but the dish was amazing. when i was assembling it i felt like i was making an ice cream sundae with the soft scoop of tofu and various toppings. it got us thinking that you could really take this idea in any direction....and i think we'll start our experimenting soon. this is perfect as a component of a weekday dinner as it comes together super fast. let me know if you try out different toppings or have any yummy suggestions!

very soft tofu with young ginger and sweet peppers
ingredients:
1 teaspoon unsalted butter (margarine)
1 teaspoon fruity extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup thinly sliced mini sweet peppers (about 3 each), preferably a mixture of red, yellow, and orange (we didn't have sweet peppers so we used an anaheim and red bell)
2 tablespoons young ginger, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks (we just used regular ginger)
1 teaspoon orange marmalade
2 cups soft tofu, drained slightly in a sieve
Tangerine salt, or any high-quality salt (used regular, slightly fancy, salt
Fresh black pepper to taste
Drizzle of your best olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped chives

heat the margarine and oil in a small skillet over medium heat, then add the peppers and ginger. Mix well and continue to cook for about 5 minutes, or until the mixture starts to brown slightly. add the marmalade, mix well, and turn off the heat.

drain any liquid from the tofu, then spoon 1/2 cup of tofu into four small bowls. Dust with salt and pepper. drizzle with good olive oil. top with the pepper-ginger mixture and the chives.

eat and be amazed!

-d

buddha bowl

2010-04-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

this yummy rice bowl comes from refresh, a cookbook from a vegetarian restaurant in toronto that looks quite fantastic. it's a gorgeous book filled with bright photos that will make you want to make every single recipe. we decided to break it in for a simple weeknight dinner.

the dish is made up of marinated tofu, cucumber, tomato, cilanto and bean sprouts (assuming yours don't smell funky like ours and actually make it into the bowl) piled atop brown basmati rice and drizzled, or drenched, in peanut sauce. speaking of the peanut sauce i bet there is one part of the recipe that's going to make you look twice, say "what!?!?" well yes, there is in fact one and a half CUPS of peanut butter in there. that's nearly a whole jar. needless to say if you make the whole recipe you will have a ton of sauce so cut it in half if you wish. however, it will keep in the fridge for a week and may i suggest using the extra to make lettuce wraps? i loved the flavor of the sauce, it was really lemony which gave it a lighter, i'm-not-eating-an-entire-jar-of-peanut-butter feel and complimented the peanut butter very nicely.

one thing i liked about this recipe is that all the vegetables and the tofu are raw so the only thing to cook is the rice. to make this whole creation here's what you do.

first, start your rice and mix up this marinade. cut up a block of tofu into bite sized pieces and let them marinate for an hour.

tofu marinade
ingredients:
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup tamari/soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tablespoons sunflower oil (i used canola)

next make your peanut sauce. whisk everything together in a bowl then heat over low heat until warm. we used less water than the 2 cups listed so add a cup to start and then thin it out to your desired consistency.

peanut sauce
ingredients:
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, peeled and minced
1 1/2 cups natural smooth peanut butter
3/4 cup lemon juice
5 tablespoons tamari/soy sauce
2 tablespoons paprika
2 cups vegetable stock or water
cayenne pepper to taste

when everything is ready scoop some rice into a bowl and top with tofu. cover in peanut sauce and top with cilantro, sliced cucumber and a tomato (half moon shapes are nice), bean sprouts and a lemon wedge.

-d

edamame asparagus salad

2010-04-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

this idea may or may not have come to me from the pages of glamour magazine. yeah so what, i thought it was fantastic! plus kris and i added a lil something to it so i'm taking the credit from here on. you could call it a salad or maybe just a cold vegetable side dish but either way i found that it was a delicious, fresh tasting, quick and easy alternative to the regular side salad i make a nice way to use now in-season asparagus. i usually broil asparagus but when it's this fresh i feel that just slightly cooking it and leaving a crunch does it more justice. also, as you'll see below, my beloved pea shoots are back! though this time in baby form. i think it would be equally delicious with watercress or arugula tossed in instead.

edamame and asparagus salad
ingredients:
1 cup asparagus, cut into bite sized pieces
1 cup shelled edamame
handful baby pea shoots
small handful fresh mint, finely chopped
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

bring a pot of water to a boil. add frozen edamame, after a minute add asparagus pieces and cook for three minutes more until edamame and asparagus are cooked but still have a bite. drain and run under cold water. toss in a bowl with pea shoots, mint, a glug of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. ta dah!

pea shoots

2010-03-26T17:37:00.000-07:00

the first (and only other) time i ate pea shoots was (maybe a year ago?) at burma superstar. there, they saute them with garlic and white wine and they are amazing. i didn't see these greens anyplace else after that but i definitely did not forget about them. then, this week, as i was paying for scallions and carrots at the tuesday ferry building farmers market i looked down and what did i see? big bunches of leafy green pea shoots with their funny little curly sprigs, the perfect final component to a farmer's market dinner feast!

to prepare them i used burma superstar's dish as a starting point and added a few things here and there and ended up with a big bowl of fresh, bright green deliciousness. pea shoots are just a little bit bitter and were wonderful with a touch of sweetness from the sake i used to cook them. i don't recall seeing pea shoots at the grocery store but if you happen upon them someplace do buy them....you won't be sorry and i bet they'll be welcome in your greens rotation.

sauteed pea shoots

ingredients:

1 large bunch pea shoots, roughly chopped

1 cup (ish) shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 scallions, thinly chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

olive oil

sweet sake

salt to taste

heat olive oil in a pan and cook garlic, scallions and mushrooms over medium heat until scallions and mushrooms begin to soften. add the pea shoots and a splash of sake. cook until the shoots are just wilted and bright green. add salt to taste.

thaw phyllo...fast!

2010-03-21T10:05:00.000-07:00

my birthday recently passed which means i have a nice new crop of cookbooks to play with. last night kris and i were excitedly making the baked samosas from yellow rose recipes. all was going well, the filling was almost done cooking when, yikes!!! i realized i never took the phyllo out of the freezer to thaw. an internet search for fast thawing tips proved shockingly unhelpful. but that's when an idea popped into my head and i must say i think it's pretty brilliant. so, next time you need to thaw some phyllo in a flash here's what to do:

place the unopened phyllo package in a ziplock bag and make sure it's sealed nice and tight.* place the bag is a baking dish and fill it up with hothothot water. refresh the water every now and then to keep it hot, turn the phyllo a few times and you should be good to go in 30 minutes or less!

*i didn't use a ziplock bag but would highly recommend it, apparently my package had a little hole somewhere. and if you thought regular phyllo dough was finicky just try working around soggy spots.

-d

falafel

2010-03-12T11:37:00.000-08:00

everytime i see a new falafel recipe i am compelled to try it. maybe it's just because i love falafel or maybe it's because i have yet to find the one, my go-to, never fail falafel recipe. i think i'm still looking. while this recipe certainly made a good falafel i can't say that next time i happen across a falafel recipe i won't have to try it immediately.

when i was blending everything up in the food processor it seemed extra dry to me....but that worked itself out and actually formed into balls very nicely with no threat of crumbling apart. the recipe called for frying which is best when someone else, say sunrise deli, is doing the work but at home i prefer to bake my falafel. the instructions said to roll the balls in flour before cooking, i rolled them in a flour/sesame seed mixture then brushed them lightly with olive oil. next time i'd skip the flour if i'm not frying them but keep the sesame seeds cause they're yummy and add an extra little crunch.

falafel
(changed ever so slightly from bon appetit, march 2010)
ingredients:
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup chopped onion
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/4 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (packed) chopped fresh italian parsley
sesame seeds for coating

preheat oven to 350 and lightly oil a baking sheet.

puree canned chickpeas, chopped onion, flour, garlic pepper spice blend, ground cumin, baking powder, and salt in processor until coarse puree forms. add chopped italian parsley; process just to blend. roll level tablespoonfuls garbanzo bean mixture into balls; flatten balls slightly. coat each side in sesame seeds and brush lightly with oil. bake about 13 minutes on each side or until browned a crispy.

-d

baked quinoa

2010-03-05T17:02:00.000-08:00

i stole the idea of baked quinoa from kate. i had never thought of cooking it this way before and after talking about it with her i was excited to give it a try. i used kate's method as a general guideline and then started winging it and i think it turned out quite well! however mine took twice as long to cook as hers did (an hour rather than 30 minutes) so, while it was tasty, i couldn't help thinking that i could have made this normal quinoa-bowl style in a third of the time. still! a fun experiment and a great solution if you're in the mood to just throw a bunch of stuff together and forget about it for awhile while you go about your business.

for vegetables i used red onion, scallions and rainbow chard and then bulked it up with maple-mustard marinated tempeh and sprinkled almonds on top for crunch. the flavor was good but i felt that it was missing something. kris suggested that indian spices might be a nice addition and i completely agree so that might be a fun avenue to explore.

baked quinoa
ingredients
for tempeh marinade:
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
quinoa ingredients:
8 ounces tempeh, cubed
3 scallions, finely chopped
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 bunch rainbow chard, finely chopped
1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1 cup quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste

preheat your oven to 350. mix together the marinade ingredients in a baking dish (i used a 1.5 quart oval dish) and let tempeh marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

heat a splash of oil in a pan and saute the onion and scallions until softened, add the chard and cook until just wilted. add the broth to the pan and when it boils add the quinoa a stir. season with salt and pepper. pour into the baking dish with the tempeh and marinade and mix to combine. cover with foil and cook for about an hour or until the liquid is absorbed and the quinoa is soft. sprinkle toasted almonds on top and serve!

-d

mexico mexico mexico!

2010-03-02T17:06:00.000-08:00

kris and i just returned from a wonderfully relaxing and very delicious trip to hot, sunny puerto vallarta.

after a long day of traveling (well, ok, the flight wasn't long...but the customs line was!) the complimentary bottle of champagne in our room really hit the spot. enjoyed from our balcony overlooking the ocean, now we were on vacation!

and that was only the beginning of the many oceanside beverages enjoyed over the next four days.

we enjoyed one of the best tapas meals we've had in a long time at a place called barcelona tapas. the tables were all on an open balcony and we were lucky to get one right on the edge overlooking the city. we all know that you can't have tapas without a little sangria. or in our case a lot of sangria.

note to any couples who may find themselves dining here and pondering the whole pitcher vs. half pitcher order conundrum, go for the half. despite our most dedicated efforts we just. couldn't. finish. the whole pitcher.

of course, we ate while on our trip too, it wasn't all sangria, margaritas and pacifico. in fact i think i am going through guacamole withdrawal.

lots of yummy salsa too. i don't know what it was, but this salsa was amazing. better than any salsa ever. the chips were fantastic as well.

as vegetarians, we mostly relied on vegetable fajitas for our "real food," i feel like i became a bit of a connoisseur. the same place with the amazing salsa won my vote for favorite fajitas as well. maybe it was just because i put the salsa in the fajita, but the broccoli and cauliflower didn't hurt either.

however there was one place that allowed us to break away from fajitas and stuff our bellies full of all kinds of goodness. a tiny hole in the wall hidden along this rubble strewn street.

what's that we see?

ahhhhhh, our tiny little vegetarian oasis. this place was awesome! for $7.50 you get a vegetarian (vegan really) buffet where you can eat to your heart's content without a second thought as to what may be lurking in the food. we first went for dinner where they had the most delicious falafel, frijoles with two kinds of rice, pesto pasta, salad bar, bread pudding and bunches of other things that i am forgetting. we went back a second time for breakfast the morning that we left and filled up on pancakes, scrambled tortillas, scrambled tofu, potatoes, green stew with seitan, more frijoles and fresh fruit. we're certainly not lacking vegan food in san francisco but i'm going to miss this place.

-d

pretzel dogs

2010-02-19T12:34:00.001-08:00

pretzel dogs. how much more do i really need to say? i started out with a freshly made vegan italian sausages (from the recipe in vegan brunch) and wrapped it up in pretzely goodness. after a quick boil and 13 minutes in the oven these puppies were perfectly golden brown, soft and chewy. when they went into the oven i was a little concerned that they wouldn't turn out like a pretzel but rather as an oversized pig-in-a-blanket, but nope! these were pretzel dogs all the way!

serve with dipping the sauces of your choice, i alternated between horseradish ketchup and grainy mustard.

the recipe below will make enough dough for 8 dogs and can easily be halved. my rising time was at least 30 minutes longer than the recipe says but i was also a little short on yeast, i don't think these two factors are unrelated.

pretzel dogs
ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/4 teaspoons (or one packet) yeast
4 1/2 cups flour
4 tablespoons margarine, melted
water and baking soda, for boiling

combine water, sugar and salt in a bowl and sprinkle yeast on top. allow to sit for about 5 minutes, until foamy.

add flour and melted margarine and mix until combined. knead (by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook) about 7 minutes until a smooth dough forms. place in an oiled bowl to rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.

preheat oven to 450. and lightly grease a baking sheet. bring a pot of water with a hefty pour of baking soda mixed in to a boil. while you're waiting for the water you can wrap your dogs!

cut the dough into 4 pieces and roll each out into a long rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. cut each rectangle in half so you have 8 long strips of dough. starting at one end of the dog, wrap the dough tightly around, covering the whole doggie.

boil each pretzel dough for 30 seconds, place on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with coarse salt. bake for 12-14 minutes, until golden brown.

-d

dark and white chocolate cherry cookies

2010-02-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

In less than 6 months of dating, Andy and I have managed to cover Christmas, Valentine's Day, and, as of tomorrow, both of our birthdays. And while I'm not really into the whole Hallmark holiday aspect of V-day, I do appreciate the notion of expressing your feelings to the one you love. That, and I went to see Valentine's Day, the new Gary Marshall film, the week before and melted into a puddle of mush. I succumbed to the fervor. And I made these cookies. Half went to Andy, and half went to my brother and sister-in-law (because the recipe makes so many!).

I really like these cookies, and thought to make them for Valentine's because my mom used to send them to me for Valentine's Day when I was in college. Though rather decadent, the tang of the cherries offsets the rich, sweetness of the chocolate. The cookie base, isn't all that different from the standard Toll House recipe. And I imagine, if you really wanted to, you could probably throw some chopped pecans in there. In case four cups of chocolate isn't quite enough for you.

White and Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies

The InnKeeper’s Kitchen at the Dilworthtown Inn

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

12 oz. butter

2 eggs

2 heaping cups all-purpose flour

2 cups white chocolate (chips or bar, chopped)

2 cups dark chocolate (chips or bar, chopped)

1 cup dried cherries, soaked in warm water

¼ tsp. baking powder

Pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugars and mix until incorporated.
Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, mixing well.
Combine the salt, baking powder and flour. Slowly add to the batter mixing until about half the flour is incorporated.
Drain the cherries. Add the chocolates and cherries to the batter.
Scoop about a tablespoon sized ball onto parchment paper lined sheet pans, keeping about 1 inch between each ball of cookie. When you have filled the tray, lightly press down on the dough to flatten out.
Place in oven and bake for about 7 minutes. Rotate pan around and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or until the cookies become golden brown on the edges.
Cool completely on racks before packing.
Makes 30-40 cookies (or more like 60!).

Enjoy!

- e

crack salad

2010-02-12T11:18:00.000-08:00

kris made this salad for me on valentine's day many years ago. i'm sure it has some sort of name that actually tells you a little about the salad but we just started calling it crack salad. it's so delicious i just want to drink the dressing, i could eat this sweet oniony amazingness every day. perhaps because we had to cut ourselves off we hadn't made this in a really long time. however i cooked a special dinner a couple of nights ago in honor of our old anniversary (just cause we have a new one now doesn't mean the old one goes away....now we just have more excuses to celebrate!) and thought it was a perfect time to bring back the crack. if you are looking to woo someone with a homemade valentine's dinner this is the perfect start to the meal. or if you just happen to be cooking dinner anytime, this is the perfect start to the meal. just do yourself a favor and make this salad soon.

oh yeah, you maybe want to put the dressing on something. toss together baby spinach, strawberries, toasted walnuts and hearts of palm (though sometimes we do avocado instead) and toss with generous spoonfuls of dressing. the recipe below makes a ton of dressing and can be halved.

crack dressing
ingredients:
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 small red onion, grated
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika

combine vinegar, sugar, lemon juice and salt over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves. remove from heat and let cool. whisk in oil, onion, poppy seeds, dry mustard and paprika.

-d

bbq black bean burgers

2010-02-06T14:47:00.000-08:00

i've had the idea for these burgers kicking around in my head for quite some time now and a few days ago i decided it was finally time to get it out of my head and onto a plate. the wonderful thing about making your own beany burgers is you can really take the flavor in any direction by switching out different beans or spices or liquids. i decided to go with a smokey bbq burger. i tend to enjoy bean burgers and veggie burgers that incorporate a grain as well so for a little more nutrition and a little more oomph i mixed in some quinoa. i got seven hefty burgers out of this recipe but i think if you plan in the beginning you could get eight good sized patties.

now since you've made your own burgers why not take an extra minute to whip up some buns and really make your dinner fabulous? i used this recipe from one frugal foodie and found them to be super quick and simple to make and got wonderful results (i replaced the egg with a cornstarch egg and cut the sugar down to two tablespoons).

we had these for dinner twice and froze the remaining burgers and buns. we haven't tried reheating them yet but i love knowing that these guys are only minutes away next time a burger craving strikes.

bbq black bean burgers
ingredients:
1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup onion, very finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons bbq sauce
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 teaspoons cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne (or to taste)
1 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

mash the beans in a medium sized bowl until no whole ones are left. add the rest of the ingredients and mix together really well, i recommend using your hands. form the mixture into patties and cook in a lightly oiled pan for 2-3 minutes per side until lightly browned. serve on a fresh bun loaded with toppings!

-d

farro salad with butternut squash,cranberries and spinach

2010-02-05T06:15:00.000-08:00

Last week, I bought a bag of farro to make this recipe – which I love. Having extra farro on hand, I started to think of other salad ideas, since it makes for a tasty, healthy lunch. I had spinach left over from something else, and decided to add in roasted butternut squash, some dried cranberries, and a nice balsamic dressing with a hint of thyme. I considered adding feta or a crumbled blue cheese, but decided that the salad really did not need it, as there was already a lot of great flavor – the sweetness of the roasted squash paired with the tang of the cranberries was especially nice. I have provided rough measurements below, but you can really adjust this to your personal taste! The best part – everything comes together in less than half an hour, and makes enough for a couple of lunches.

Farro with Butternut Squash, Spinach, and Cranberries

1 butternut squash, peeled and sliced into ¼ inch slices

Roast at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove, let cool, and roughly chop about half the squash. Reserve the rest for another use (like butternut squash risotto).

Cook ¾ cup of farro in 1 ½ cups water for about 25 minutes, until farro is cooked and the water has been absorbed.

Whisk together about 3 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, seasoning with salt, pepper, and fresh thyme leaves. Add in 1/8 cup dried cranberries. Let cranberries soak for 5-10 minutes.

Add in cooked farro, roasted squash, fresh spinach – a handful or two – and mix to combine. Serve immediately, or refrigerate.

Enjoy!

- e

teriyaki mushroom lettuce wraps

2010-02-03T12:17:00.001-08:00

these were probably the messiest lettuce wraps we've ever made, but they were so delicious! i found a teriyaki recipe online to use as a guide and tweak to my liking. i didn't write down what i did but i think the recipe below comes pretty close. after cooking it i thought it was a little salty so i added another splash of juice and a splash of water, so taste and adjust to your liking...the recipe should get you pretty close to thick, sticky teriyaki yumminess. for our filling i sauteed:

2 mildly hot red chili peppers
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1.5 pounds mushrooms (mix of white button and shiitake)
1 zucchini

then added the sauce to the pan and cooked a minute more. i think this sauce would also make a great marinade.

teriyaki sauce
ingredients:
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons ginger, peeled and minced
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
2 tablespoons cornstarch

combine all ingredients except cornstarch in a bowl and whisk together. transfer to a small pot over medium heat. add the cornstarch and stir constantly until desired thickness is reached. if you thicken too much, just add a splash of water.

-d

garlic miso soba bowl

2010-02-02T15:19:00.000-08:00

i was just looking through old posts while getting ready to write about last night's soba bowl and it is clear that i like soba. a lot. these delicious bowls of noodley goodness get way more attention than my equally beloved quinoa bowl creations, hmm.

after being in vacation diet mode in boston last weekend i was eager to get back into the kitchen on monday and get back into my dinner planning/cooking groove. we have a lot of miso in the fridge so i decided to make a sauce out of it and toss with some soba noodles that i saw peeking out from behind the bag of flour. from there i just went to the store and picked up what looked tasty.

garlic miso soba
ingredients:
for sauce:
2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons water
1/2 tablespoon mirin
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon red miso
2 1/2 teaspoons vegetarian oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 bunches baby bok choy, stalks and leaves thinly sliced
1 bunch enoki mushrooms, chopped into 2 inch(ish) pieces
1 small red pepper, thinly sliced
6 ounces extra firm tofu, cut into slabs
2 tablespoons sherry (or mirin or sake)
1 tablespoons soy sauce
handful toasted slivered almonds

soba noodles, cooked according to package instructions.

saute garlic in 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil until fragrant and lightly browned. transfer to a small bowl and whisk together with the rest of the sauce ingredients. set aside.

after cooking the garlic, use the same pan to pan fry your tofu slabs a few minutes on each side until lightly browned and springy. remove from heat and once cool cut into small cubes. set aside.

add a little oil to a pan and saute the bok choy and enoki for a few minutes until they begin to soften. mix together the soy sauce and sherry and add to the pan. cook a few more minutes and remove from heat.

toss the cooked soba with the garlic miso sauce. divide into bowls and top with bok choy mixture, tofu, raw pepper and toasted almonds.

-d

mashed turnips with pears

2010-01-15T16:01:00.001-08:00

i know that the picture really is not doing this dish any favors but don't let that deter you! this is a really tasty alternative to mashed potatoes. the addition of the pear balances out some of the bitterness of the turnips and results in a delightfully light side for your dinner. we had some left over for lunch and kris gave me the great idea to make them into patties and fry them up as little turnip pancakes, which is exactly what i did. i maybe even liked them better this way. all i did was add a spoonful of flour and dollop them into a lightly greased pan to brown for a few minutes on each side. they were a little delicate but yummy nonetheless on top of a bed of baby spinach. you could just skip the whole eat-as-mash step and go right to the pancakes. your call. but do make this you won't be sorry.

mashed turnips with pears
(from vegan italiano)
ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds small turnips*, peeled and quartered
4 large cloves garlic, peeled
1 ripe pear peeled, cored, and chopped (you can substitute an apple if you want)
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
black pepper to taste

place the turnips and garlic cloves in a steamer, cover and steam over medium heat until the turnips are fork tender, about 15 minutes.

drain and transfer the turnips and garlic to a food processor or blender. add the pear, oil, salt and pepper; process until smooth but still slightly chunky. serve or proceed to make pancakes.

*i couldn't find small turnips so i used two big ones (equaling 1 1/2 pounds) no biggie. just cut them into small pieces.

-d

roasted potato salad

2010-01-13T14:48:00.000-08:00

the other night we had bbq tempeh for dinner and i wanted to make potato salad to go with it but a cozier version of potato salad, one that makes me think less of summer and is more comforting against the colder temperatures at the moment. roasting vegetables always makes them feel more homey to me so i built this one around with roasted fingerling potatoes and a tangy dressing heaped with roasted garlic. simple and delicious!

roasted potato salad
ingredients:
3 1/2 cups chopped fingerling potatoes
1 head roasted garlic, cloves mashed
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

heat oven to 375. chop potatoes into bite sized pieces and place in a baking dish, toss with a splash of olive oil to coat and roast for about 45 minutes, tossing occasionally, until soft.

to make the dressing, mix together mashed garlic, mustard, onion and vinegar. slowly whisk in olive oil. add salt and pepper to taste.

toss potatoes with dressing. add parsley, toss again and add more salt and pepper if needed. serve warm or at room temperature.

-d

homemade pasta

2010-01-11T14:02:00.000-08:00

don't you love when you finally do something that you've been wanting to do for a really long time? and isn't even better when that something is super fun, yummy, and turns out just as well as you had hoped? well that was me yesterday when i finally made my own pasta!

yes, this is something that i have been wanting to do and i got the little extra push i needed on christmas when i opened the pasta roller/cutter attachments for our kitchenaid. and in a funny coincidence (one that is certainly better than that summer when we both coincidentally blew out car tires and got hit by oversized vehicles) wouldn't ya know erin got a pasta roller for christmas too! so i think you can expect lots of pasta posts here at the yumcoast. making pasta from scratch is really simple and you can definitely do it with just a rolling pin....but a pasta roller does make it much easier. here is the recipe that i used:

fresh pasta
(from the artful vegan)
ingredients:
2 cups semolina flour, plus more as needed
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more as needed
1/2 cup water

in a mixing bowl hand sift the flour with the salt. add the water and knead to form a stiff dough, 1 to 2 minutes.
lay the dough on a floured surface and roll it flat using a rolling pin. fold and roll the dough many times adding flour as needed to prevent sticking. if using a pasta roller, gradually decrease the thickness of the dough to the desired final thickness.
to cook, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add a splash of olive oil. boil until al dente (my fettuccini took about 2 minutes). makes about 1 pound of pasta.

i was a little concerned about my dough at first because it was very tough and crumbly. just rolling it out enough to put in the the pasta roller took a lot of muscle and i don't think i could have done the whole process by hand. but by the magic of the kitchenaid everything worked out.

the last picture shows the difference between a sheet rolled at the thickest setting and another sheet that went through just one setting thinner. it amazed me how much longer they got with the slightest adjustment. once they were all at the desired thickness it was time to switch to the fettuccini cutter! this part was really fun. here is kris in action....

and last but not least, the noodles in dinner form.

these were so much better than dried noodles from a box! they were soft and light but sturdy enough that they didn't fall apart when i used tongs to toss everything together. i can't wait to experiment with mixing herbs and spices into the dough, using the spaghetti cutter, making lasagna, ravioli.....there is lots of pasta to come!

-d

quinoa risotto with mushrooms and thyme

2010-01-08T12:51:00.001-08:00

i enjoy risotto but i never make it at home anymore because i just get too impatient. stirring and stirring and stirring.....no thanks, i'll just make something else. this recipe in bon appetit intrigued me because you get a risotto-like result with way less work. i also like that it is made with quinoa instead of rice because, as i'm sure we all know by now, quinoa is a "super grain" (even though it's not a grain) packed with protein and essential amino acids, and thus makes this dish much healthier than a traditional risotto. this version is full of mushrooms, flavorful and creamy and i would definitely make it again but i look forward to experimenting with different ingredients and flavors as the seasons change. so if you're lazy and wanting some risotto, this is for you!

quinoa risotto with mushrooms and thyme
(from bon appetit, january 2010)
ingredients:
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 garlic clove, pressed
8 ounces crimini mushrooms, sliced
6 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, sliced
3 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, divided
1 cup dry white wine

bring 2 cups salted water to boil in medium saucepan. add quinoa, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until tender and water is absorbed, about 13 minutes.

meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. add onion and sauté until onion begins to brown, 5 minutes. add garlic; stir 30 seconds. add mushrooms and thyme. saute until mushrooms are tender, 6 minutes. add wine; stir until wine is reduced and liquid is syrupy, 2 minutes.

mix quinoa into mushroom mixture; season with salt and pepper.

-d

saag

2010-01-05T15:48:00.000-08:00

our indian dinner wasn't only samosas and pakoras, we needed a vegetable in there too. one of our favorite indian dishes is saag aloo so we decided to test out the saag (minus aloo) from, yep, vegan fire and spice. as with the other recipes, this tasted good but not like the saag we love to order for take out. we do think it's a good one to keep in mind though for a side dish as it was easy to make and very flavorful.

also, no matter how many times i cook spinach i'm always amazed at how much spinach i put in

and how much spinach comes out two minutes later

saag
(from vegan fire and spice)
ingredients:
1 pound fresh spinach, stemmed
2 tablespoons canola oil (i used olive)
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons curry powder or garam masala (i used garam masala)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 cup finely chopped tomatoes
salt

steam the spinach over boiling water until wilted, 2 minutes. finely chop the spinach and set aside.

heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. add the garlic, ginger, garam masala, and cayenne and cook for 1 minute. add the tomatoes and salt to taste and cook for 5 minutes. stir in the reserved spinach and simmer until the mixture is hot and the flavors are well blended, about 10 minutes.

-d

a pakora and samosa attempt, and tamarind to the rescue!

2010-01-04T12:29:00.001-08:00

pakoras and samosas are two of our favorite indian treats so when kris showed me the recipes on pages 142 and 143 of vegan fire and spice i was eager to try my hand at them at home. well yesterday was the day and after much work and anticipation the results were....meh. don't get me wrong, they did taste good they just didn't taste like the pakoras and samosas that we love. the pakoras reminded me of a cauliflower latke and the samosas were enormous and too doughy....like calzones.

i think there were a few factors that lead to the un-indian like results boiling down to poor instructions. i know that pakoras are made with chickpea flour so i should have taken a hint that my results might not be up to snuff when the recipe called for all-purpose flour. i made the switch to chickpea flour but when the recipe said "add enough water to make a batter" i was a bit stumped. thick batter? thin batter? well if you decide to make them, stay on the thick side.

with the samosas the filling was good but the dough portion of the recipe was what steered me wrong. the instructions say to roll the dough into four pieces but makes no mention of how thick to roll it out. well let me tell you that it can be rolled out quite thin and really a single recipe could easily make eight normal sized samosas i think. as i said, mine resembled calzones. oops.

the third problem? some foods just need to be deep fried. while i appreciate not being instructed to deep fry at home, i think doing so would have resulted in a finished product closer to what i was hoping for. both were shallow fried until golden and the samosas were then transferred to the oven to finish cooking.

however there was one part of this samosa/pakora experiment that turned out exactly as i wanted....the tamarind dipping sauce! simple to make yes, but instead of taking the easy way out with tamarind concentrate i decided it was time to try out the block of dried tamarind we've had for....well....quite some time now.

so as a small consolation for not being able to share an amazing pakora or samosa recipe i give you a yummy tamarind sauce!

tamarind dipping sauce
ingredients:
dried tamarind
water
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne

begin by reconstituting the dried tamarind. cut off a hunk and break it up a bit into smaller pieces. place in a bowl and cover with hot water. let sit until softened, about 15 minutes. once softened drain and place tamarind in a food processor and blend until smooth (there might be some big seeds that you need to remove).

measure 3 tablespoons of tamarind and combine in a saucepan with 1/2 cup water, sugar, ginger and cayenne and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until thickened and syrupy, about 10 minutes. cool before serving.

-d

curried no-meat balls

2009-12-31T13:30:00.000-08:00

for chrismukkah i got several new cookbooks to add to the collection, one of them is vegan fire and spice by robin robertson. it's a collection of spicy vegan recipes from around the world and i wasted no time breaking it in. first up? the chickpea based curried no-meat balls from india cooked in a yogurty tomato sauce. the book suggested serving them over basmati rice, which i'm sure would be really good and would soak up the sauce well, but we had a rice-y dinner the night before so i served them over smokey sauteed rainbow chard. i really liked the flavors (and that's what really matters) and would make them again but i did have a few issues with the recipe. the balls were very fragile and difficult to brown without crumbling. i found it was easier to brown them in a non-stick pan with the thinnest coating of oil rather than using more oil as the recipe instructed. i did use a potato masher instead of a ricer to mash the chickpeas....maybe that's why. i would also recommend chopping the ingredients for the balls as finely as possible. anyway! here's the recipe, with some notes.

curried no-meat balls
(from vegan fire and spice)
ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cooked or 1 (15.5 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 small yellow onion very finely chopped, divided
1/4 cup finely chopped peanuts
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon fresh cilantro or 1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
salt
olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (i used 2 cardamom pods and removed them before serving)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
14.5 ounces crushed tomatoes
1 cup vegan yogurt (i used one 6 ounce container. i couldn't find plain so i used vanilla and it was fine)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

place the chickpeas in a bowl and blot dry. use a potato ricer (or masher) to mash the chickpeas. add half of the chopped onion, the peanuts, ginger, cilantro, 1 teaspoon of the curry powder, 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne and salt to taste. mix well, then shape into 1-inch balls. heat just enough oil to thinly coat a non stick pan and brown the balls on all sides. remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

heat another glug of oil on the same skillet. add the remaining onion and brown lightly. add the garlic, cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, coriander, the remaining 1 teaspoon of curry powder, the remaining 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne and salt to taste. cook, stirring for 2 minutes, then stir in the tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes, to blend the flavors. remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the yogurt. carefully add the balls to the sauce, and warm over low heat without boiling. serve garnished with parsley.

-d

stuffed shells

2009-12-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

the original plan for this dinner was manicotti but, upon noticing that every (visible) noodle in every box was broken, i switched my focus to the lovely, intact jumbo shells. same dinner, different look.

there's not so much of a recipe here because, really, stuffed shells is pretty self explanatory. start by cooking the shells* and making a batch of your favorite pasta sauce. drain the shells. pour a thin layer of sauce in the bottom of a baking dish or oven safe pan. stuff your shells with the mixture of your choice. what did i do? i made a batch of cashew ricotta from veganomicon and mixed in one package of thawed frozen spinach. place stuffed shells in baking dish and pour the rest of your sauce on top. cover and bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until it is sufficiently heated all the way through.

like i said it's not genius or new, but it is super delicious and comfy and a good idea to keep in mind when you want to put a little twist on your normal old spaghetti and red sauce.

*that box of shells is deceiving! or maybe i just have poor dried-pasta-in-a-box to cooked-pasta-as-dinner skills, but as i asked myself....do i cook the whole box? i thought yeah! sure! why not!? we want to have leftovers for lunch. and indeed we do. for about a week.

-d