Archive for April, 2008

Lentils Tartare - a Hezbollah Tofu contribution

April 28, 2008 at 10:56 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , ,

This is a veganized recipe from Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook.  If you have seen Hezbollah Tofu yet, go check it out.  This was a fun challenge.

Hey look!  My camera actually focused on something properly!  The food photography gods must have been smiling upon me.  I ate my tartare with millet toast triangles and a salad of wilted dandelion greens, alfalfa sprouts, grape tomatoes and mustard dressing.

lentils tartare

Lentils Tartare

1/2 lb (about 1 1/4 cups) lentils (see note)
2 1/2 cups water
2 Tbs Dijon mustard
2 tsp ketchup
1 tsp miso
1 tsp vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp tabasco sauce
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup canola oil
1 ounce Cognac (see note)
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 ounces capers, rinsed
2 ounces cornichons (gherkins), finely chopped
4 sprigs of flat parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp toasted nori flakes, large pieces torn smaller
1/2 tsp kosher salt

1. Place lentils and water in a pot. Bring to a boil, and boil for 2 minutes. Turn down the heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender and water is absorbed. Let stand for at least 10 minutes, then place in refrigerator to cool. Let cool completely.
2. Meanwhile, place the mustard, ketchup, miso, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco sauce and black pepper in a large bowl and whisk until well mixed. Slowly whisk in the oil, then add the Cognac and mix again. Fold in the onion, capers, cornichons, parsley, nori flakes and salt.
3. Add the lentils to the mustard mixture and mix well using a spoon or your hands, breaking up any clumps. Spoon the mixture onto chilled plates and form into disks using a ring mold. Serve with toasted bread points.

Serves 6.

Notes:
- You can use any type of lentil, depending on your desired results. I used red in an attempt at beef-like color, and they end up being pretty well mashed. Black, green or even brown lentils will hold their shape better and have a firmer bite. If using those, you may need to add more water and increase cooking time.
- Hennessey, Remy Martin, and Martell brand Cognacs are suitable for vegans, probably along with other brands.
- The original recipe calls for an entire onion, so if you like raw oniony goodness, go for it. I think the half onion is a nice ratio.
- This would probably work nicely as a firm dip with thick crackers or veggie crudite. And unlike it’s original steak counterpoint, it will hold well in the fridge for leftovers.

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Sunday Grilling

April 28, 2008 at 10:01 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , , ,

Bf and I invited some people over yesterday, grilled, and watched a ridiculous amount of sports on tv.  We tried to do something special with the corn - bf half shucked it, I drizzled on a chili lime mixture (lime juice, chili powder, cholula seasoning, salt & sugar), then we zipped the husks back up.  Most of it came off while grilling, but the corn was really delicious in a subtly different way than normal, so I like to think we had something to do with it.  The grill marks were very nice, at least.

grilled corn

I prepped the potatoes - I cut them pretty small and made the layer thin to try to get them to crisp up.  It didn’t work, but they tasted good.  Still trying to figure out how to acheive crispy browned grilled potatoes without adding too much extra oil.

grilled potatoes

Bf marinated some mushrooms, and he seems to have the same issue with marinades that I do.  They tasted okay, but not great.  We’ll figure it out eventually.

grilled mushrooms

Here’s my plate, with baked beans.

grilled dinner

I had leftovers for lunch, and went to the grocery store after work.

groceries

The greens in the bags are dandelion greens, scallions and parsley, and from the bulk section is red lentils, sesame sticks and walnuts.  I’m most excited to try the pumpkin chips and the Annie’s Woodstock Dressing.

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Pantry Braised Red Cabbage

April 22, 2008 at 9:59 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , ,

Since I still don’t have a job, I’m trying to eat everything out of my fridge before I buy anymore groceries.  I had a bunch of red cabbage left from making salads, and for some reason I was determined to braise it.  Mind you, I’ve never braised anything before, but in my head this was the only way I was going to prepare this cabbage.  I looked at some recipes online, all of which looked good, but all of which included items I didn’t have around, like onions or apples.  So I decided to make my own recipe with what I had on hand.  This smells really good while cooking, and the flavor is surprisingly complex for the small number of ingredients involved.

braised red cabbage

 

Pantry Braised Red Cabbage

1 Tbs Earth Balance
Half a head of red cabbage
2/3 cup apple juice
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 Tbs agave nectar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp onion powder

1. Quarter and core cabbage, then slice crosswise into strips.
2. Melt Earth Balance in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Add cabbage and saute about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cabbage starts to wilt.
3. Add remaining ingredients (apple juice through onion powder). Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove cover and continue to simmer 10 more minutes, until cabbage is tender and liquid is mostly evaporated.

Serves 3-4.

Cooked this way the cabbage still has some bite to it, it’s not completely cooked through.  If you want it really soft you could simmer for longer before removing the lid.

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Grillin’ Leftovers

April 22, 2008 at 9:25 am · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , ,

BF and I like to grill on Sundays, and sometimes Saturdays and Fridays.  It’s a nice relaxing way to cook up some food and get outside, especially right before the week starts again.  More often than not, I’ll go with veggie burgers or dogs that can plop right on the grill with no prep, especially if everyone else is having burgers or dogs and I don’t want to feel left out.  Last Sunday we went to the store and bought food for both lunch and dinner, so I had quick veggie burgers for lunch and wanted to do something a little more involved for dinner.  And by involved I mean marinated.  I’ve not become a marinade expert yet, especially because most of the time I prepare them at bf’s house and their pantry is stocked quite differently than mine.  For our portobellos I used balsamic, soy sauce, olive oil and Coke.  It was sitting there on the counter so I went crazy and threw it in instead of sugar.  The mushrooms turned out good, but not great.  My marinades always taste a little flat.  Have any go-to marinade combinations that always work?

Here is the meal, as reheated the next night.

grilled tempeh

The potatoes were roasted.  BF likes to do everything on the grill when we grill, but potatoes take a lot of time and space, so in the name of practicality I insisted on roasting them.  I marinated the tempeh in a spicy sauce loosely based on the DEOTS tempeh wingz - 2 parts ketchup, 1 part hot sauce, 1 part mustard and a splash of olive oil.  It tasted good but the tempeh was dry in the middle, I probably should’ve sliced it in half horizontally for thinner pieces.  I probably also should’ve not cut the pieces so small, so bf didn’t have to be so vigilant about not dropping them through the grates!  He did an excellent job, and even tried a bite of tempeh.

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Searching for the Perfect Pancake

April 19, 2008 at 2:17 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged ,

I have an idea in my mind of what I consider to be the perfect pancake.  It’s probably close to everyone else’s.  Fluffy and light yet substantial.  And I actually like mine a little undercooked in the middle.  I have yet to create this perfect pancake, but that’s okay ’cause I’ve got plenty of time to keep trying.  For a long while I used a whole wheat pancake mix and added applesauce and milk, and that sufficed but got me no closer to my pancake goal.  So this morning I tried the pancake recipe from VWAV.

Here’s an unintentional heart-shaped pancake.

pancake

These pancakes turned out more crepe-like for me, and I used the lesser amount of liquid.  They didn’t really puff up either.  I don’t think it’s a bad recipe, but for me it didn’t exactly work.  I’m going to try it again with a bit more flour for a thicker batter.  I topped my stack with blueberry syrup and a dollop of vanilla soy yogurt for good measure.

pancakes

And here’s my plate about 90 seconds later.

pancakes

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Soft Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

April 18, 2008 at 4:59 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged ,

First, since I showed you the wedding present I “made” last weekend, I wanted to show you how I wrapped it up, because I think it’s pretty.  I made a card to go inside the real card wishing them a good time on their Vegas honeymoon, and telling them to look inside the box because I’m afraid they’ll see that they’re wine glasses and not look inside and see the extra-specialness.  I know, I’m overthinking it.

wedding present

I wasn’t planning to go so cutesy with it, but once the glue stick was uncapped all restraint went out the door.

I bought too many oats a while back and have been meaning to use them, so I made these Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from The Village Vegan.  I haven’t shot the obligatory cookie tower photo yet, so here it is.  I can’t decide whether I like the one with flash or without better.  What do you think?

oatmeal raisin cookies

oatmeal raisin cookies

I made a couple adjustments/replacements to the recipe:  I used half quinoa flour, half whole wheat pastry, subbed canola oil for the margarine, used mostly brown sugar only because I was almost out of white, and mashed half a banana for the egg.  I can definitely taste the banana though, so if you’re not down for that use a flax egg or Ener-G or something.  It’ll work either way.  The cookies are good!  Make them.  I’ve heard the recipe from VCON is good too.

eta:  These get omni approval, both from the former roommate who made fun of veganism almost every day we lived together (in a good-natured way), and the bf who said “oatmeal raisin isn’t my cookie of choice, but these are good”.

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Whole Wheat Oatmeal Molasses Bread for a BLT

April 17, 2008 at 3:10 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , ,

The plan was to make oatmeal bread today, the real way, albeit with the use of my bread machine.  If I had started it when I woke up it would’ve been ready in time for lunch.  But I forgot.  Luckily for me, while looking through my recipe files I found a non-yeasted quick bread style oatmeal molasses bread that seemed well suited for my purpose.  I halved it for one loaf, veganized it and changed some ingredients to ones I preferred, and it turned out really well.  The flavor is especially good and hearty, the inside is soft and moist, and the crust is, well, crusty.  I can’t wait to have it as toast tomorrow morning.

oatmeal molasses bread

I think next time I’ll try baking it in a loaf pan for a less wonky shape.  Also, an “egg wash” or some water might help the oats stick to the top.

Whole Wheat Oatmeal Molasses Bread

1 Tbs lemon juice
1 scant cup non-dairy milk
1/4 cup regular oats
1 Tbs oil
2 Tbs molasses
1 Tbs agave nectar
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 Tbs yellow cornmeal
1/2 Tbs regular oats

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or grease a loaf pan.
2. Pour the lemon juice into a cup measure then fill the rest of the cup with the milk. Let stand to curdle.
3. Combine the next 4 ingredients (oats through agave nectar) in a small bowl. Add the milk mixture and stir.
4. Combine flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Make a well in center of mixture.
5. Add milk mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Let rest 1-2 minutes.
6. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. The dough will be tacky. With floured hands, knead for 1 minute adding extra flour as needed. Dust the baking sheet or loaf pan with cornmeal. Shape the dough into a loaf and place on sheet or in pan. Make 3 diagonal slits across top of the loaf with a sharp knife. Sprinkle oats on top of loaf and gently press them down.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Reduce temperature to 375 and bake an additional 15 minutes or until bottom of loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Let stand 15 minutes before slicing.

Yields: 1 loaf.

While the bread was cooling and the Fakin’ Bacon was cooking, I made a slaw.  I wanted a fat-free dressing since I was going to put Vegennaise on my sandwich, and it ended up being a spicy mustard cumin lime dressing.  Since my flavors were heading south of the border, I added some pickled jalapenos that were sitting in the fridge.  Joanna from Yellow Rose Recipes turned me on to pickled jalapenos, and now I heart them.

slaw

I wanted to put sliced avocado on my BLT, but the avocado I bought three days ago still isn’t ripe.  It was delicious anyhow.  The bread was so flavorful it almost overshadowed the fillings!

blt

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Hot Dog Salad

April 16, 2008 at 2:16 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , ,

I first ate a hot dog salad many years ago when I was in between apartments.  I was staying with a friend and eating very limited groceries.  I made a salad and wanted to add some protein and all I really had was half a pack of leftover veggie dogs.  So I sliced one up, added Annie’s Goddess Dressing, and by jove it was really good!  It feels white-trashy, but also healthy, and thereby doubly okay with me.  I’ve never tried a different dressing, because the Goddess goes so well with the hot dog that I’m afraid to stray.

hot dog salad

I only buy dogs occasionally when we have a bbq and I want to fit in and be junky.  This is one of my two favorite ways to use the leftovers, the other being beany weenies.

Dessert was an oatmeal chocolate chip nut cookie from a local bakery that my awesome coworker Lauren brought for me yesterday as a parting gift.

oatmeal cookie

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Corn Chowder

April 15, 2008 at 9:25 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , , ,

I was a little broke last week, and didn’t go to the grocery store for a while.  So I made a trip today and stocked back up on both fresh food and some pantry staples.

groceries

The plastic tub on the left is organic raisins, and the bags on the right are from the bulk bins - nutritional yeast, flax seeds, almonds and pistachios.  I spent more than I wanted to, but this plus what’s in the fridge should last me quite a while.  And the only real splurge is the Tings.  I can’t pass a bag of Tings without buying them, so it’s kind of a good thing that the store rarely stocks them.

I used some of these groceries plus some of the veggie stock I made Sunday to make VWAV Corn Chowder.  It’s really good.  There is a corn chowder recipe in VCON too, but I went with what I saw as the “classic”.  I was worried that the rosemary would be too strong, but everything blended really nicely.  The recipe says it’s even better the next day, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

corn chowder

I love that this is so healthy.  Only a tablespoon of oil in the whole thing.  I ate it with Lightlife Fakin’ Bacon strips.

corn chowder

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Creative Sunday

April 14, 2008 at 10:48 pm · Filed under Food, vegan ·Tagged , , ,

Yesterday I awoke feeling particularly creative.  Creativity for me isn’t really coming up with new ideas or methods that haven’t yet been explored.  It’s much more of the literal translation, meaning I create things, even things that have been made before many times by many people.  I’ll start with the project that actually did entail a bit of thinking outside the box.

Some friends are getting married this weekend, and they had wine glasses on the registry.  I like gifts off registry lists because that way I know the recipient will definitely enjoy the present, but I also like to make it a bit more personalized, so it’s not just “here are the wine glasses from Target in the box they came in”.  I was perusing crafty wedding gift ideas on the internets, and came accross etched glass.  I’ve known there was a product that would create an etched look on glass before, but it’s not really my look.  However, the engaged couple sent out really nicely designed invitations, and it occurred to me that it would be really neat to etch the logo from the invitation onto the glasses.  I was hesitant, as this process would involve me being relatively artistic…I actually considered using the hoakie pre-made wedding stencils from the craft store, but non-hoakiness prevailed, and I purchased a blank stencil and an exacto knife.  All said and done, I am extremely pleased with the result, and hope the happy couple will be as well.  I also hope they don’t read this before Saturday.

etched glasses

On to the food.  I’ve seen a couple blogs that have saved veggie scraps to make broth at the end of the week, so I gave it a go.  Here’s the collection:

veggie stock

Half an onion WAY past its prime, half a serrano pepper, a shallot, a potato skin, and carrot stumps.  I also added kale stems, peppercorns, garlic and bay leaves.

Before…

veggie stock

and after, cooling…

veggie stock

You can see the color here.  I tasted it, but as I didn’t salt it I can’t really tell if it’s good.  It’s gotta be at least better than water.

veggie stock

I’m either going to use it tomorrow or freeze it for later.  I’m leaning towards using it, as my freezer is pretty full as is.

I used the kale that I pulled off the stems to try out the kale chips that the whole internet is raving about.  I used this recipe, and I liked them.  You really can’t imagine what they’re going to taste like until you make ‘em.  And they kept well in a baggie until today, although they were a bit chewier after sitting.  Still highly edible.  Next time I want to try them with a flavored seasoning, like bbq or spicy.  Can’t say I like them more than plain steamed greens (yet), but who knows how much they’ll grow on me.

kale chipe

On an unrelated note, I told my mom that I bought a melamine monkey plate, and she told me in an unapproving manner that they were meant for children.  And I was like “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t have it too!”.  It was $1.99.  The real question is, how could I NOT buy it?

monkey plate

Here’s the monkey hosting my Sunday lunch.

monkey plate

No report on food from today.  I grabbed a falafel hummus pita on the way home from work so that we could get on campus as quickly as possible to get in line to see the Myth Busters speak.  They’re adorable.  And crazy.

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