What's Cooking? Iron Chef Sesame

It's pretty incredible, but October is three-quarters of the way complete. That also means another Vegan Month of Food is nearing an end. Last weekend was really fun with vegan Chopped, so I thought I would this weekend's Iron Chef MoFo! It's pretty simple - use the two key ingredients in the creation of a new recipe. So what's on the burner this week? Potatoes (sweet potatoes included) and Sesame!

This is very indicative of the turn of the seasons. We're moving into potato time. Spuds are this amazing diverse group of starchy tuber vegetable - critically important to the food security of populations around the world (but the Andean region in particular). Propagated through runners, you can literally plant a sprouting potato in a large pile of fertile soil and have a mound of potatoes in a matter of months (ok, perhaps a bit more complicated).

In fact, there is an entire research center devoted to potatoes! First domesticated 8,000 years ago, approximately 3,000 varieties of potatoes exist. This genetic diversity has significance even for modern-day crises - from the great Irish potato famine (this links to a great explanation of the dangers of monoculture) in the 19th century to the present massive loss of potato diversity. All that said, what did I actually make? While potatoes originated in South America, this challenge draws in the Far East.

 

Sweet Sesame Shepherd's Pie

1 small sweet potato

1 tbs tahini

1 tsp agave

1/2 tsp miso paste

3 mushrooms, chopped

1/3 cup diced green beans

1/2 cup beet greens, shredded

1/2 tbs toasted sesame oil

Couple shakes garlic powder

2 tbs soy sauce

Enough boiling water to cover soy curls

2/3 cup dry soy curls (from Butler)

Toasted sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

1. Soak soy curls in soy sauce and boiling water. Meanwhile, heat up sesame oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Start to cook green beans and mushrooms.

2. After ten minutes of soaking, pour the entire mix into the pan and continue to cook. 

3. Meanwhile, microwave your baby sweet potato (pierce a few times by a fork) for 3-4 minutes, until soft. Peel and then mash with said fork along with tahini (which is sesame paste!), agave, and miso. Set aside.

4. Add garlic powder and greens to the pan. Cook down the greens and then pour into a small casserole dish. Top with sweet potato mash and broil for five minutes or so. Serve!

What's Cooking? MoFo Chopped!

Sunday evening is not my usual blog posting time. But this week's Chopped/Vegan Brunch Round was too tempting to pass up (and tomorrow is the deadline and Blog Action Day). This game is fun. We're given a meal and four ingredients, and then set free to design a dish. Judged on perceived taste and presentation (drat, I wish I had some natural light for my photo), the dish may also include other ingredients. Ok, drum roll please...the secret ingredients are: butternut squash, popcorn, rosemary, and apricot jam!

So here goes, Complete Brunch, gluten-free vegan style (serves two).

Making brunch for dinner means terrible indoor lighting

 Poppin' Johnny Cakes

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/3 cup lite coconut milk

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/3 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp rosemary, fresh, chopped finely

1 tbs apricot jam (or the wonderful apricot rosemary jam the farmer I work for sells)

2 tsp olive oil

2 tsp lemon juice

1/3 cup air-popped corn

1. In a food processor,  combine all ingredients except lemon juice and popcorn. Taste to ensure desired sweetness has been achieved.

2. Add juice and corn, and pulse five or so times.

3. Heat a little oil or non-dairy spread in a skillet over medium-high heat. Spoon batter into four circles in the pan. Cook until edges look set, then flip and press. Continue to cook until other side browns. Remove from skillet and plate, maybe top with some more jam (rosemary infused or otherwise).

Butternut Hash

1/2 medium butternut squash, grated

1 cup beet greens or chard, chopped

1/4 onion, diced

Salt to taste

1. Heat some olive oil in a skillet. Add onions and cook until starting to become translucent.

2. Add butternut squash and continue to cook for another 10-15 minutes with a lid covering to keep in moisture. 

3. Throw in greens and cook until wilted and squash is soft. Salt to taste and plate.

Tofu Scramblers

1/4 onion chopped

6 oz firm tofu

5 baby bella mushrooms

1 tbs white wine (optional)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bell pepper, diced

1 tsp turmeric

1 tbs nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp oregano

Salt to taste

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet on medium high. Cook onions until starting to become translucent, then add mushrooms, garlic, (and wine). Cook another five minutes or so.

2. Meanwhile, mash tofu, turmeric, thyme, oregano, nootch, and salt in a bowl. Add to the skillet along with peppers. Fry up until liquid has evaporated

What's Cooking? A Pi(e) Party!

Perhaps a couple of weeks late, I hosted a post-Pi Day pie party this weekend. There was sweet potato pie, brownie pie, and my chocolate mousse pie; the was pizza pie, chili cornbread pie (gluten free!), and even a raw Mediterranean pesto torta! And of course any good pie party must have a quiche. According to Wikipedia, pies are defined by their crusts. A filled pie has only a bottom crust, a top-crust pie is also known as a cobbler, and the two-crust pie fully encapsulates the filling. And while the crusts can be your typical pastry or something more like mashed potatoes (shepherd's) or graham cracker crumbs (chocolate creme), they really are just conduits for amazing fillings.


Now the quiche is by rights and egg and cream custard in a standard pie shell. Below you will find that vegans can enjoy a delicious quiche, also. Ironically, quiche comes from the German word for cake, kuchen. Yet there has been a longstanding rivalry between cake aficionados and pie lovers (me being the latter). Luckily, a very scientific analysis was brought to my attention by one of the party guests. The conclusions support my earlier statements that the filling is key and that pies dominate cakes any day. 

Garlicky Mushroom Spinach Quiche
Crust
1 box ritz-like crackers (I used TJ's multi-grain)
2 tbs olive oil
Water until consistency

1. Grind crackers to crumbs in a food processor. Pulse with oil, and then add water in tablespoons intervals until the crumbs begin to stick together.
2. Press into a standard pie pan.

Filling
16 oz firm tofu
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 lb mushrooms, chopped
1 cup spinach
1-2 tbs red wine (optional)
1 tbs garlic powder
Olive oil for pan
Salt to taste


1. In a pan, sautee mushrooms until tender, adding spinach, garlic, and wine towards end.
2. Run tofu and nootch through the food processor until smooth. Stir on veggies and salt. 
3. Bake at 350F for 35-45 minutes until it begins to brown. Allow to cool and set.

More yum at Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays!

What's Cooking? A Thanksgiving for Two!

 
I hope that everyone who celebrated had a lovely Thanksgiving. Mine was quiet and relaxing, with just my aunt and her cats! We whipped up a delightful, healthy vegan meal (even though she is not). Personally, I don't understand why Thanksgiving needs to be a 'gorge-fest', so creating a meal that celebrates the spirit of the holiday but is not overwhelming and extravagant is much more my style. So what did we make?

On the menu:

Roasted beet and sweet potato salad with toasted pecans and dried cherries (optional)
Steamed artichokes
Roasted acorn squash wedges with thyme

Quinoa with mushrooms and caramelized onions

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
8 oz mushrooms, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs Italian herbs
1 tsp garlic salt or powder
Olive oil for the pan
salt to taste
1/4 cup pinenuts

1. Bring water to boil in a medium saucepan. Simmer with the quinoa for 30 minutes or so until the grains are cooked-through.
2. In a skillet, sautee the onions in the oil until translucent. Add mushrooms (not an ACD-friendly food, but I fell off the bandwagon this weekend...) and garlic. Cook until mushrooms are soft. Season to taste and you can add the pinenuts at this time.
3. Mix vegetables with quinoa. Serve with roasted squash and the artichokes.

Check out Wellness Weekend for some other tasty holiday eats.

A Dinner on the Brink of Destruction

About two weeks ago, I regaled you with the story of the Vanishing of the Bees. As if to prove this was an issue that merited my attention, another article came across my radar in March's issue of National Geographic Magazine. Through its usual array of breathtaking images, the magazine reminds us that recent declines and threats to pollinators (including bees, birds, bats, and small mammals) rock the foundation of many of our fruit and nut crops. Last time I wrote about possible causes for colony collapse disorder (CCD), particularly systematic pesticides, parasites, or a combination, but apparently the debate goes on.

Pollination 101

We're not going to dwell on the blame game of what is killing off the bees. Instead, I thought we could explore the magic that is pollination (in a very unscientific way). Plants produce pollen, contain half of a genetic makeup (essentially the equivalent to sperm). Because our leafy friends a rooted to the ground, they can't reproduce as animals. So, they rely on elements like wind or critters like insects and birds to transfer pollen from one flower to another. A pollen grain will then fertilize the ovary of its new host flower, which over time develops a seed (fetal plant?) and a fleshy exterior. This juicy fruit is your apple, peach, or plum and the seed is your almond, walnut, or cashew.

Some plants are generalist, while others seem to have been carefully designed to perfectly match a specific moth, etc. Now note, not every flower becomes a fruit; some flowers are only that, but they do need to pollen to produce seeds. Almonds, grown throughout California, are one of those crops mentioned in the article that are pollinated exclusively by honey bees. However, there are many other plant-based food items that rely on pollinators to produce fruits. Zucchini and squashes, tomatoes, and asparagus fall under this category.

The Meal

Well, I made a very precarious dish (in terms of pollinators, at least) this evening. For this month's SOS Kitchen Challenge, I barely squeaked by. Asparagus only surfaced about a week ago at the farmers market in DC, so haven't had too much time to play with it. And since I have been eating raw this week, it was not on the time of my veggie list. Then tonight, I decided to make a colorful meal of...

Zucchini Linguini Primavera alla Asparagi

1 zucchini, julienned or spiralized

1 tomato, diced

1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped

1/4 cup asparagus tops

1 tbs olive oil

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

Salt to taste

1. Toss all ingredients together and let "marinate" for about 30 minutes. Once again, it's that easy. Consume!

Hopefully, my fresh veggie (and fruit) "pasta" doesn't represent a dying breed. The NGM article wasn't too uplifting, ending on a note of imminent doom and loss (goodbye chocolate). But Claire Kremen, researcher at UC Berkeley, offers up some solutions. Many of these require a shift in our approach to agriculture - limiting pesticides, diversifying crops and surrounding vegetation, and cultivating more bee/wildlife-friendly habitat. Not another technological bandaid, staving off the larger collapse of a system, but a restructuring of the system as a whole. Now, that's something worth cultivating.

A Very Vegan Seder

The spread

Ok, seder is a misnomer. I basically made a bunch of raw vegan food and invited people over to eat and chat. Two days into my raw diet and I am loving it. Fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds. It's marvelous! Because this is something new for me (and it was about time to have a party), I decided to have a raw seder for Passover. In reality, that meant me spending too much time in the kitchen in hopes of providing a scrumptious meal for all those attending.

I pored over Ani Phyo's awesome raw "cook" books, planned out an ambitious menu, and got chopping and blending. What came out of the affair was a dinner menu that looked something like this:

Cabbage slaw with orange-cashew dressing

Cucumber salad with raw "Greek" dressing

Mushroom-walnut pate on romaine leaves

Zucchini spaghetti with pesto

Spinach salad with all the fix'ns

The pate was quite a hit. While it has an unappealing gray tinge to it, the dip was actually quite delicious! Nice raw appetizer...

Mushroom-Walnut Pate

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup quartered or halved crimini/baby bella mushrooms (depending on size)

1/2-1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbs lemon juice (optional)

Water as needed

1. Blend everything a food processor. That's it. You're done. Easy, no?

The main meal was followed by an array of desserts. Obviously this is the most important part of the meal! My roomie holds a plate with the spread below:

Fruit salad

Raw carrot cake with cashew frosting

Baby apple pies (recipe will be up tomorrow)

Leftover flourless chocolate cake I made for my boss' birthday (very unvegan, unraw)

I'm sleeping, kids, so I'm going to bed. But I will post a short update and recipe tomorrow.

A Spicy Quickie

Wow, having a job, even one that is part-time, eats up time like Cookie Monster (used to) eat cookies! Well, it's probably a good thing for my blog that the one thing I want to do when I get home is cook. Posting is another matter, hence this here last minute one.

I decided I wanted back in as a Bread Baking Buddy, so this month I took on Tunisian Spicy Bread! Dinner Sunday night consisted of Thai Curry Lentil filled pastry - make dough first!

Dough:

6 g active dry yeast

290 g semolina flour

4-6 g salt (to taste)

11 ml olive oil, plus extra for brushing

125 ml warm water

1 tbs tapioca starch

1. Mix flour, yeast, starch, and salt. Add liquids and combine. Knead for 10 minutes or until getting difficult to knead.

2. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.

3. Separate into two balls. Let rest while you make the filling.

Filling:

1/2 cup cooked brown lentils

2 tbs Thai red curry paste

1/2 onion

1/2 red pepper

8-10 mushrooms

splash of marsala wine

oil for the pan

salt to taste

A few sprinkles of garlic powder

1. Saute onion in skillet using a mild-flavored oil, until translucent.

2. Add diced red pepper, sliced mushrooms, and marsala. When mushrooms are soft, add curry paste, garlic and salt to taste.

3. Mix in lentils (well-cooked) right before filling.

4. Roll out dough to less than 1/4" thickness. Cut circles and fill with lentil mix (a couple tablespoons for 4" diameter). Seal with a little water and fork print. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

5. Bake at 400F for 12-15 minutes until starting to brown. Eat warm with some mango chutney!

Ok kids, that's all I got in me. Next up, DB on Thursday...better get making those cream puffs!

My Fling with Spring

Weather is a funny thing in the Pacific Northwest; I never know whether to expect sunshine in January or snow in March. So, while the vernal equinox has officially passed and new buds should now be in endless supply, spring fruits and veggies are not yet available. In fact, that mild (and at times quite warm) winter has transformed to a chilly spring. Amid those little April showers, I still feel like curling up in front of a warm fire and sipping some tea.

Well then, what does one do when confronted with a pie challenge themed “Spring”? Washington does not provide the early spring bounty so readily available in sunnier (and also heavily irrigated) California. And since I don’t want to turn my beloved Evergreen State into something it’s not, I embraced the transition of the seasons.

Two pies emerged from the abyss of desserts from which I pull my inspiration. At the farmer’s market a couple of weeks ago, I picked up the first of this season’s rhubarb! I still can hardly contain my excitement around this fruit I only first encountered a year ago. And although I obtained strawberry plants at the market, my pie had to make due without. The pear served as my local link to the fall and winter and melded nicely with the silky rhubarb.

Pear – Rhubarb Pie (vegan)

Crust:

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup ground brazil nuts

½ cup oat flour

¼ cup cold water (more if necessary)

½ cup oil (vegetable or nut)

1. Food process the oats. Add the nuts and run it until it reaches a fine meal.

2. Combine the oat/nut meal with the flour. Add the wet ingredients.

3. Mix all together with a wooden spoon until just combined and finish it off by hand.

4. Refrigerating isn’t really necessary, so just flour a surface and roll out to fit your pie pan (with a bit extra for the lattices).

Filling:

2 large pears

3 large stalks of rhubarb

½ - 1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tbs corn starch (or tapioca starch)

1. Chop up the pears and rhubarb. Toss with sugar, starch, and cinnamon.

2. Fill the bottom crust. Use the leftover crust dough to lattice the pie.

3. Bake at 350F for 30-45 minutes, until the filling starts to bubble.

With my dessert set to go, my main course pie still eluded me. Oh, how good those fiddlehead ferns looked. Oh, if only the asparagus didn’t come from Mexico. Oh, if only I knew the dandelion greens growing in my lawn were edible! Instead, I snipped some of the chives that started to perk up as the weather warmed. Added to my fall/winter staples – onions and mushrooms – these little herbs make a nice quiche.

Caramelized Mushroom, Onion, and Chive Quiche (vegan, gluten-free)

Crust:

3 medium potatoes, grated

¼ cup garbanzo flour

1 tbs tapioca starch

1 tbs salt (or to taste)

1. Combine all the ingredients. Press into a greased pie pan. Bake for 15 minutes at 350F.

Filling:

12 oz firm tofu

½ large onion

½ cup sliced mushrooms

2 tbs chopped chives

1-2 cloves roasted garlic

½ tbs olive oil

2 tbs white wine

Salt to taste

Nutritional yeast (optional)

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add onions and cook until starting to turn translucent.

2. Food process tofu until coarse. Add half the onions and give it another whiz.

3. Continue to sauté the rest of the onions and add the mushrooms. Douse them in the white wine and continue to cook until the mushrooms are soft and beginning to brown.

4. Combine all the ingredients. Taste, and make sure it is to your liking. Fill your potato crust. Pop it back into the 350F oven for 20-30 minutes until set.

And if there was any doubt that pies rule, check out this article on Jezebel: Pies vs. Cake!

Hippie-chic and Yogic-decadence

I am a notoriously cheap date. I don't care much for fancy restaurants, I am a small person who eats in moderation, and I can't drink more than a half a glass of wine without feeling tipsy. But last night I splurged (well, my mother did), and dined finely at Sutra in Seattle. This all vegan, mostly local and seasonal, pre-fixe menu changes on a weekly base, providing a new and eclectic assortment of flavors for what appeared to be a very loyal customer base. On this crisp January eve, my mother and I headed over to the one Wednesday seating at 7 pm.

The meal began with a gong toll and an offering of thanks. I felt like I was in my morning yoga session ... or the studio next door operated by Sutra's owner. Our first course warmed my chilled bones and played to my sweet tooth - winter squash + apples + candied seeds = happiness.

First Course: Kaffir Lime, Butternut Squash Soup with a Honey Crisp-Olympic Asian Pear-Daikon-Pea Chute Salad with a Miso Ginger Dressing and Candied Sunflower Seeds

Small baby-bean-like white lentils with a deliciously smokey taste captured my attention in the second course. But, the black trumpet and hedgehog mushrooms I had salivated over (not literally) at the farmer's market, stole the show with their subtle balsamic sweetness.

Second Course: Roasted Yellow Beet, House Smoked White Lentil Cake served with Balsamic Infused Trumpet and Hedgehog Mushrooms finished with Tarragon Truffle Oil

Unfortunately, the meal took a downward turn after this scrumptious dish. The greens were over-salted, the garlic and cashew cream tasted reminiscent of soap, and the gnocchi just didn't do it for me. I liked the roasted carrots, though.

Third Course: Yukon Gold, Black Sesame Seed Gnocchis with Steamed Rainbow Chard, Roasted Garlic and Tri-Colored Carrots finished with a Leek-Marjoram-Cashew Cream Sauce

Dessert was also underwhelming, but better than the main course. "Where's the chocolate?" best describes this mousse pie. While the crust was fantastic and the blackberry sauce tickled my palate, the avocado cream pie lacked the decadent chocolate flavor that I often dream about. I am no stranger to chocolate avocado pie, and this one just didn't live up to my high standards. Next time, Sutra, just give me the Theo Chocolate bar!

Fourth Course: Theo’s Chocolate Avocado Ice Cream Torte with a Pistachio Date Crust finished with Wild Foraged Blackberry-Vanilla Bean Sauce

Overall, it was a tasty evening with my favorite ethical bent. Was it worth $33 + tax + tip person? Probably not. Would I go back if the menu looked particularly tasty? Probably yes. I mean, their hearts are in the right place and they have a backyard garden!