Greek Beans, Lebanese Rice and Egyptian Basbousa.

Last night my husband and I had a romantic night out and for dinner, we had Lebanese food which I'm crazy about. Got me in the mood to cook Mediterranean food this weekend.


I made "Gigantes" which are baked lima beans in a tomato and dill sauce. If you hate lima beans, try them this way. They bake up so tender and creamy with a simple and beautiful flavor combination of dill, tomatoes, onions and olive oil. The recipe is from "The Greek Vegetarian". I also made Lebanese rice pilaf. I love the little vermicelli noodles in it. The recipe is from "Tables of Lebanon".


For dessert, Egyptian basbousa! This is a very sweet semolina cake that has been drenched with sugar/orange flower water syrup. I got the recipe here. I used vegan shortening instead of butter, omitted the eggs and replaced with a little almond milk and 1/2 a tsp of cider vinegar. And I substituted soy yogurt for the yogurt.


This dessert is amazing! It's so tender and incredibly moist from the syrup. I think I need to work on the liquid to dry ingredient ratio. My cake fell apart a little because it was so moist. But that did not stop me from enjoying the hell out of it!

Orzo with White Beans and Greens

This is a very simple yet delicious recipe for orzo, a tiny rice shaped pasta. I sauteed a combination of mustard, turnip and collard greens in olive oil with garlic, white beans, grape tomatoes, fresh dill and olives. Then I tossed with cooked orzo, added more olive oil and lemon juice and topped with bread crumbs. Recipe adapted from The Olive and The Caper Cookbook.

Boiled Raisin Cake, Greek Pastitsio, Potato Tacos

I was looking up depression-era recipes and found this awesome boiled raisin cake recipe. During the depression, things like eggs and milk were scarce so homemakers would come up with easy desserts that didn't require any of those things. And in doing so, they made desserts that are inherently vegan, yay!


I loved this cake. It was moist yet still sturdy enough to spread Earth Balance buttery spread all over it. You'll find the recipe here.


Opened up "The Olive and The Caper" cookbook again which is becoming my favorite cookbook. I made the vegetarian pastitsio which is a layered pasta casserole with a layer of tomato sauce, cheese and vegetables in the middle and a saltsa besamel (white sauce) on top. I used Daiya vegan cheese and plain soymilk for the white sauce.


I took this pic right after it came out of the oven. I didn't let it sit for 15 minutes like I was supposed to so when I went to cut out a piece, it collapsed in my plate.


A while later, I served some to my father and this was his plate. Look at that cheesy crust on top that the white sauce made. Yummy!


My husband was going to his buddy's house for football and requested these mini potato tacos. I said "sure" and an hour later, these were ready to go!

A Mediterranean Sunday Lunch.

I was feeling ambitious today and made this beautiful array of foods for my lunch, including dessert. Wish I had a friend over to share it with!


I used my "Olive and The Caper" Greek cookbook to make this luscious eggplant stewed with red wine and basil. It originally called for shallots but I used onions instead. This was so flavorful and you know that anything cooked with red wine is going to be good.


I had a tiny cauliflower that I knew would be a perfect accompaniment to my stew. I roasted it in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper for about 20 minutes to get this beautiful golden charred look.


And from my trusty "Tables of Lebanon" cookbook, I made moujadara (lentils and rice with caramelized onions). I needed some protein to round out the meal so this was a good way to get both a grain and a protein.


My bowl.


And dessert was a basic lemon white cake. So soft and tender!

New Year's Day Lunch.

Spent all morning preparing this fantastic greek spinach pie. I was so eager to eat that I forgot to photograph the whole pie. This recipe is from "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen". I added cremini mushrooms and red bell pepper to the spinach filling which was a nice change.


We ate this with dijon potato salad, chickpeas with yogurt sauce and a Bulgarian relish called Lutenica. Delicious food!

VeganMoFo: Mediterranean Dinner Party Food.

I had a fantastic dinner party last night with a beautiful buffet of food that I FORGOT TO PHOTOGRAPH! I was so mad at myself when I realized after we had eaten. So I present to you the leftovers. In front: heirloom tomato bruschetta, green beans with sundried tomato and olives (Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen recipe), spanakopita (Vegan with a Vengeance recipe) and Greek 'gigantes' lima bean casserole (Greek Vegetarian cookbook recipe). Not pictured: roasted lemony potatoes. They were delicious and were gobbled up so fast.


For dessert I made the baklava from Tables of Lebanon cookbook. Great recipe with perfect results every time.

Soup and Sandwich.

This reminds me of a meal you'd get at a 24 hour coffee shop. My soup is Greek Manestra, a tomato and orzo soup flavored with olive oil, garlic, and oregano. My sandwich is so basic, it's Tofurky slices, a slice of Tofutti american vegan cheese, Vegenaise and lettuce on white bread. Not the most wholesome sandwich but there you go. Everything was very satisfactory, especially the soup. I sprinkled a bit of "parmezano sprinkles" for a bit of cheesy-ness.

Soup recipe from "The Olive and The Caper" cookbook. Not a vegetarian cookbook but it has a wonderful array of veggie mezes, soups and dishes. Highly recommended. And not just for the recipes, there is also a wealth of information about Greek culture and cooking.

Greek Lenten Spinach Pie

I've been on a greek food kick lately. Can't get enough! This is the greek lenten spinach pie from "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen". It's basically spanakopita without the cheese. It is served during lent when animal products are forbidden. I've had non-traditional spanakopita with tofu (Vegan with a Vengeance recipe) which is very rich and filling. This pie is a little on the lighter side yet satisfactory. I think I may use a few sheets less of phyllo as I found it way too much.


My pie had a serious hump top from the phyllo puffing up a lot. It soon deflated a bit when I cut into it. I think I might double the filling next time.


Served with russian salad, a potato salad popular in greek cuisine and lutenica which is a red pepper spread from Bulgaria.


Good stuff.

Almost Manestra

Manestra is a Greek soup with a simple base of tomatoes, olive oil, oregano and orzo pasta. I got the recipe from 'The Olive and The Caper' cookbook. I call it "almost" manestra because I couldn't find orzo anywhere so I had to replace it with anellini pasta. Such simple ingredients but so tasty, warming and full of flavor. The traditional greek way to eat this is with a generous sprinkling of parmesan or kefalotyri cheese on top. I used "parmezano sprinkles" which is a mock parmesan recipe made with almonds, nutritional yeast, salt and miso paste. Worked very well with the soup. I am definitely making this again with orzo in the future.

The recipe is posted at this blog.

Greek Roasted Vegetables & Dijon-Dill Potato Salad

I based this vegetable recipe loosely from a Briam recipe in The Essential Mediterranean Cookbook. It's a greek vegetable casserole with assorted veggies flavoured with olive oil, garlic, oregano and dill. It's supposed to consist mainly of potatoes, tomato and zucchini but I added eggplant, onions, red peppers and carrots. They baked up beautifully.


Served with pita and potato salad. This potato salad is one of my favorites. The dressing is a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, Vegenaise, dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, a pinch of sugar, chopped dill pickles, capers and dill. So tangy and tasty!

A Greek Lunch and Chickpea Blondies!

Ah hello weekend! I had a long week and was so looking forward to a weekend of cooking, reading, dvd watching and relaxing on my patio. So far I've done all of these and Saturday is not over yet! I decided to go Greek for lunch. I pulled out my 'Greek Vegetarian' cookbook and made a couple of delicious dishes.


Gigantes which are oven baked beans with dill and tomatoes. I've made this before and I normally use dried large lima beans from scratch but this time I was lazy and used frozen butter beans. I wished I hadn't because for some reason the beans didn't get as mushy and tender as they usually do when I make this dish. But it wasn't a total loss. The flavor was amazing still!


Plated with whole wheat bread and skordalia, a very creamy garlicky and slightly tangy potato dip. So heavenly!


Served alongside a colorful salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, assorted olives, pepperoncini, pickled turnips and fresh lemon wedges.


So much flavor!


I finally got around to making these beautiful chickpea blondies. Mine are not gluten free. I used spelt flour to make these. Instead of strawberry jam, I used a combo of fig jam and date syrup! Deliciously sweet, tender and chewy.

Greek Gigantes, Lemon-Caper Potato Salad & Baba Ganouj

You don't understand, I crave Mediterranean flavors all the time! Yes, I switch gears and do Thai or Indian and even good old American but when it comes to food that just does it for me, it's this kind of food. I think it's because of the glorious mediterranean climate here in California that gets me in the mood. Today I revisited Greek Gigantes. I made it once before using a recipe I found online. This time I used Diane Kochilas' recipe from "The Greek Vegetarian" cookbook. You're supposed to use authentic greek big beans but large limas do the trick just fine. I also omitted the honey and used a bit of sugar to counterbalance the tartness of the tomatoes. They turned out beautifully creamy and tender and flavored with lots of dill. I also made potato salad with lemon-caper mayo and dill. Also baba ganouj and fresh pita to round out the meal. Husband and I ate together and washed it all down with a cold beer/tomato juice cocktail.

Edited to add a picture of dessert! How could I forget to put this up?

Date cake with vanilla buttercream frosting. All vegan!

Eggplant Chickpea Stew, Russian Salad and Lemon Cake

Munazalit Bathinjan or Eggplant and Chickpea Stew from "Classic Vegetarian Recipes from The Middle East and N. Africa". Origin of this recipe: Lebanon and Syria. It's wonderful both hot and at room temperature and served with pita and/or quinoa.


I made this delicious Russian Salad (from The Olive and The Caper cookbook) a few weekends ago and made it again today. It has potatoes, green beans, carrots, peas, baby lima beans and lemon caper mayo. This time I added lots of fresh dill.


Lemon cake!

Weekend Meze.

It rained last night and the forecast had predicted rain today but it has yet to come. I took advantage of the current blue skies and sun with slight breeze to lunch al fresco once again. I'm really getting used to this! It makes me look forward to the weekend. Come summer, this is will be a regular thing. Can't wait.


Another meze lunch with lots of things to nibble on and again with the mediterranean theme. I just got a new cookbook, "The Greek Vegetarian" and I wanted to use it today. I made from it Eggplant Puree with Walnuts and Fava Bean Stew with Mint. I also made hummus and a greek salad.


Hummus on the left and Eggplant Puree with walnuts (Makedonitiki Melitzanosalata) on the right. The eggplant puree was delicious and garlicky. The walnuts are first ground to a paste and then processed with roasted eggplant pulp.


Fava bean stew with mint (Koukia Stifado me Dyosmo). Delicious and filling tender fava beans with a base of tomatoes, red onions, garlic, mint and dill. I added dill because I'm crazy about it and a lot of greek dishes have fresh dill so it seemed rather fitting.


Greek salad with cucumbers, olives, red onions and "Betta Feta", a tofu based faux feta from The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook. Drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.


First of the jasmine blooms I've seen this year.


Buster eating pita.


Dessert is banana bread that I made with the biggest ripest bananas that I found in our fruit bowl. The cake sunk in the middle a bit because of my impatience. I peeked in the oven way too many times!

It's all Greek to me.

I went to the library a few days ago and checked out a Greek cookbook called "The Olive and The Caper". It's not a vegetarian book but there are so many appealing vegetarian recipes in it that I wanted to try out this weekend. I should say that my interest in Greece and greek cooking has been sparked up again because of a suspense novel that I'm reading that takes place in this magical place. (The book is My Brother Michael by Mary Stewart by the way.)


First up, Eggplant and Yogurt Dip. I swapped greek yogurt for plain unsweetened soy yogurt. It's a beautiful mixture of eggplant pulp, yogurt, garlic, red onions and salty black olives. This was amazing. I'm definitely going to make this for parties.


Next, "Russian" Salad. Green beans, carrots, potatoes, in a lemon-caper mayonnaise (vegan mayo of course!). It's supposed to also have lima beans and peas but I left them out. Very good and creamy.


For the main dish I made Gigantes which are big beans in a tomato based sauce. We're supposed to use authentic greek big beans here but large lima beans are a popular replacement. I didn't really use the recipe from the book but instead adapted this recipe I found online. The beans are baked with diced tomatoes, onions, garlic, celery, dill, oregano and olive oil. I replaced the honey with a bit of sugar and left out the carrots. They baked up beautifully (though a little mushy) but were so tasty both warm and at room temp.


Closeup of the tender buttery beans. The dill flavor shined through just the way I had hoped.


My plate with a side of pita for dipping!


To go with the Mediterranean theme, dessert was orange blossom cake with fig yogurt sauce. I used kittee's basic vanilla cake recipe and subbed a little orange juice and orange blossom for some of the water. For the sauce, I just whisked a few spoonfuls of fig jam into plain soy yogurt.


The cake was moist and sweet with orange blossom notes. The yogurt sauce took it to another level. So many beautiful flavors!