Pretzel Logic

Dinner 04/26

Pretzels

Italian Sausages

Crudités

Mustard Horseradish Dipping Sauce



The alternate cover to Steely Dan's 1974 album Pretzel Logic

The reason they're not bigger and with more space to pull apart, is because they also serve a double purpose as pretzel buns for burgers and/or sandwiches the next day. Tonight though, we had these straight out of the oven and dipped them in a mustard and homemade horseradish mixture.



The recipe is from the local mag Akron Life, making the usual substitutes 1:1 (Einkorn Flour, Earth Balance), skipping the egg wash.

Ramen with Fennel Stock and Thai Basil

Dinner 04/24

Ramen with Fennel Stock and Thai Basil



We made the fennel stock (pressure cooked) back in November and froze it.

Fennel Stock

1 fennel bulb (tops only, save bulb for another use)
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp ground fennel seeds (optional)
8 cups of water

In a pressure cooker, add the roughly chopped the fennel tops (and the ground fennel seeds if using) and saute with 1 tsp of olive oil for a few minutes until the tops are wilted. Add 8 cups of water and bring to a boil. Put the lid on and wait until the pressure cooker reaches 15psi (your model may vary) reduce the heat to keep an even pressure and cook for 40 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for few minutes. Strain the stock through a fine sieve. If not using immediately, let come to room temp and refrigerate.

It's not at all salty at this point, but that's what you want... you can always add it when the soup is being seasoned. We usually add a small bit of kombu while the broth is heating up.

The rest of bowl is rounded out with carrots, tofu, mushrooms, Chile Eggplant Sofrito and we steamed/seared some baby bok choy to finish, and topped with Thai Basil.

Ratatouille over Roasted Potatoes

Dinner 04/23

Ratatouille

Roasted Potatoes




Ratatouille

2 tbs. olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. herbes de provence
1 medium eggplant, diced
2 medium zucchini, diced
2 tbs. nutritional yeast
3-4 medium tomatoes, roughly diced
2 tbs. parsley, chopped

In a large saute pan, heat the 1 tbs. olive oil and lightly brown the sliced onions. Add the garlic for the last two minutes, along with the salt, pepper and herbes de provence.

While that's cooking, in a separate large saute pan (or wok), add the additional 1 tbs. of olive oil and the diced eggplant, diced zucchini, and cook until lightly browned.

Combine the eggplant and zucchini with the onions and garlic back into the pan and sprinkle the nutritional yeast over all of the ingredients, stir to incorporate, and cook for a couple of minutes.

Turn the heat down to low, add the diced tomatoes, stir to incorporate. Cook until thickened -- about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The final result should look fairly stew-like. Add the chopped parsley, check for seasoning.

At this point it's ready to eat -- or you can put the ratatouille in an au gratin dish, sprinkle a little extra nutritional yeast on top and bake it at 350F for 15 minutes to firm it all up.

Tonight we added roasted potatoes as a base -- quartered, roasted at 450F for about 40 minutes.

Pulled Portobello Tacos

Dinner 04/18

Pulled Portobello Tacos



If you see someone in a grocery store buying all the portobello stems, that's us.

This is a new technique that we've developed while we were away -- pulled portobello stems as a taco filling. Utilizing the whole mushroom, we marinate, roast, pull/shred and cook with a bbq sauce to finish...



We start by cleaning and trimming the stems, then cutting them in half.



Then we marinate with a combo of molasses, ketchup, salt, pepper, smoked paprika and tamari.




Then we roast them at 400F for 10-12 minutes.



Finally we let them cool for 5 minutes and shred them. The best way is to hold the mushroom stem in your left hand, grab it at the top between your right thumb and index finger, pinch and pull it down into small strips.

BBQ Tofu and Portobello Mushroom Pizza

Dinner 04/17

BBQ Tofu and Portobello Mushroom Pizza



Much like our Flatbread Pizza video from a few years ago, we still like to make a big batch of flatbreads, then top them with whatever we have in the fridge -- this time it was some portobello mushrooms that we pan-fried, then hit with our BBQ Sauce.

Smoked Tofu Goulash with Biscuit Dumplings

Dinner 04/12

Smoked Tofu Goulash with Biscuit Dumplings



A much-love veganized recipe, straight from Food & Wine from March 2013.

We cut the tofu in 8 cutlets, marinate in tamari for a couple of minutes, then toss in the seasoned flour and fry until crispy, cut them into strips and then follow the rest of the recipe as written, substituting vegan versions 1:1 for the rest of the ingredients in the recipe (butter, stock, sour cream) and it's delightful...

Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Strawberries

Dessert 04/09

Lemon Oil Olive Oil Cake with Strawberries



Another rehearsal night, so here's dessert instead -- straight out of Chloe's Vegan Desserts. Topped with strawberries and whipped cream. We just used a regular cake pan, because I didn't feel like digging out our collection of Bundt pans. ;)

* seriously, we have, like 10... because of course we do...

Oyster Mushroom Po' Boy with Roasted Cauliflower

Dinner 04/08

Oyster Mushroom Po' Boy

Roasted Cauliflower



We picked up some gorgeous Oyster Mushrooms Friday so we made Po' Boys with cole slaw and a side of roasted cauliflower and hot sauce. Lots of hot sauce.



We used our usual three-pan method:

Pan 1: Seasoned flour (about 1/2 cup, with salt, pepper, smoked paprika to taste)

Pan 2: Cornstarch Slurry (1 tbs. cornstarch and 3 tbs. water, more if it stars to seize up)

Pan 3: Equal amounts of bread crumbs and cornmeal (about 1/2 cup each), nooch and a little thyme and pepper.

We tossed the mushrooms briefly with a splash of tamari, then into pan 1 until coated, straight into pan 2 until wet, then pan 3 tossed and pressed lightly into the nooks and crannies of the mushrooms to evenly coat.

After that, they were deep-fried in Peanut oil at 365F, until the bubbling has stopped -- about 3-4 minutes.

Served on a flatbread with cole slaw and hot sauce.

Spaghetti with Meatballs, Garlic Bread, Salad with Diced Apples, Roasted Beets and Raisins

Dinner 04/06

Spaghetti with Meatballs

Garlic Bread

Salad with Diced Apples, Roasted Beets and Raisins



Liz made her classic red gravy, er, sauce; used some of the focaccia from the other night to make cheesy garlic bread under the broiler; and on the side, a huge salad with iceberg lettuce, roasted beets, diced apple, raisins and (Daiya) blue cheese dressing.



Since we've been gone, there's a new vegan grocery store that opened in Strongsville, OH called AVE MKT (you may have seen them in VegNews). In addition to a variety of cupcakes and other vegan goodies, they carry the best selection of hard-to-find items that we used to have to get via mail order -- like Match Meats.

For the meatballs, we used Match Meats Ground Beef (bonus! gluten-free!), mixed with day-old Einkorn bread (softened with soy-milk), shredded onion, garlic, ground fennel seed and red pepper flakes. They were shaped into 1 1/2" balls, and pan-fried in olive oil in our flat-bottomed wok, then transferred to the warm sauce. Using the entire package, we ended up with 21 meatballs (a.k.a. tomorrow's lunch).

Leftovers (French Lentils, Braised Carrot, Roast Potatoes, Fried Tofu)

Dinner 04/04

French Lentils

Braised Carrot

Roast Potatoes

Fried Tofu



Eagle-eyed readers will recognize this meal as leftovers from Easter dinner. As I didn't really go into any of the recipes and prep, this is a chance to catch-up.

The French lentils were pressure-cooked -- 1 1/2 cups of lentils and about 2 1/2 cups of veg stock. One little extra thing we do at the beginning is to add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pressure cooker and lightly brown a half of an onion studded with five cloves and a bay leaf. Then we add the rinsed lentils, the veg stock, a splash of tamari and pressure cook for 16 minutes at 7.5 psi (or the first ring on our pressure cooker).

For the Braised Carrots: Peel the carrots, and put them into a sauce pan large enough to hold all of them in a single layer. Add water about half way up the side of the carrots. Add 1 tbs. of soy margarine. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover loosely. Cook until the water completely evaporates and only a little soy margarine is left on the bottom of the pan. Add the carrots and whatever soy margarine is left (you can also add an additional 1 tsp. soy margarine if it looks like it needs a little more)to a gratin dish add salt and pepper to taste, and braise for 15-20 minutes in a 350F oven.

The potatoes were cut into 1-inch chunks, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted at 450F for 30-35 minutes. The oven was turned off, the potatoes were taken out and tossed 1 tbs of soy margarine and put back in the oven until service.

The tofu was first smoked (the more things change...) (with Cherry and Maple wood chips), then pan-fried, cut into strips and pan fried again and finished with tamari.

As for why we were having leftovers, I had band rehearsal and needed to leave early (this will be a reoccurring theme going forward this month).

Chili Salad

Dinner 07/17

Chili Salad

With temps in the low 90s and the heat index topping 100°, a salad begins to look like a really viable choice for dinner. ;)

The chili started with 1/2 cup of TVP, soaked for 15 minutes in veg stock along with smoked paprika and cumin. While that absorbed, we sauteed one diced onion, 3 cloves of garlic until golden, added salt, pepper and a little ancho powder (to taste). Then we added the in soaked TVP and cooked that until it all the liquid had evaporated and started to darken. At this point Liz likes to add 1 tbs. of dark cocoa and 1 tbs. of tamari.

Next we added 32 oz. of cooked kidney beans and 16 oz of Pinto beans (you can use pressure cooked or canned -- canned was a really good option tonight.) Finally we added a 28oz can of whole fire-roasted tomatoes, crushed them with a potato masher and let it simmer on the back of the stove for 40 minutes until thickened. Check for seasoning and serve over a bed of baby romaine or mixed greens, top with your favorite hot sauce, a splash of lime, vegan sour cream and line the bowl with chips.

Zucchini Fritters and Roasted Broccoli with Fusilli

Dinner 10/26

Zucchini Fritters

Roasted Broccoli

Fusilli

Zucchini Fritters

Makes 10-12 patties

1 1/2 cups grated zucchini (use a box grater, about 3 small zucchini)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup breadcrumbs (or flour)
1 tbs. ground flax seed
1/4 cup diced onion (or shallot)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. dried Italian herbs (thyme, parsley, rosemary)
1/4 cup shredded vegan cheese (optional, but holds the shape better as a binder)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, divide into 12 pieces and form into 2"-2 1/2" diameter rounds, flatten and fry in a cast-iron pan with a thin layer of olive oil. cook a good five minutes on medium heat until browned. Flip and repeat until finished.

The fritters can be pretty delicate, so try not to flip them until they're ready.

Served on top of Fusilli topped with marinara sauce, paired with roasted broccoli (450°F / olive oil, salt & pepper / 15 minutes).

Peach Crumble Tart

Dessert 9/19

Peach Crumble Tart

Tonight's dessert is a recipe that we stumbled across from the current issue of Taste of Home, that called for blueberries (which we didn't have) so we adapted the hell out of it. ;)

Peach Crumble Tart

1 1/3 cups Einkorn flour (AP will work too)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup Earh Balance, melted
4 cups fresh peaches, peeled, sliced
1 tablespoon "Just Like Honey"

topping

1/4 cup Einkorn flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons Earth Balance, melted

In a small bowl, mix the flour, sugar and cinnamon; stir in EB just until blended. Press onto the bottom and up the side of the fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

In a large bowl, combine the peaches and honey; toss to coat. In a small bowl, combine the first five topping ingredients; stir in EB.

Spoon peach mixture into crust; sprinkle with topping. Bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes or until topping is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before serving. Yield: 12 servings.

from Taste of Home October/November 2012, p24

Tea-Smoked Tofu and Shiitake Mushrooms with Coconut Curry and Collard Greens, Noodle Cakes, Sake & Miso Glazed Eggplant

Dinner 09/02

Tea-Smoked Tofu

Shiitake Mushrooms

Coconut Curry

Collard Greens

Noodle Cakes

Sake & Miso Glazed Eggplant

Tonight we utilized a combo of recipes that came together as a coherent meal. I'm always surprised when it does ;)

The base started with our usual collard greens/curry combo.

In a wok on med-high heat add 1 tbs. canola oil, 1 tsp. garlic, 1 tsp. ginger. Cook for 30 seconds until aromatic, then add the thinly cut collards greens and turn constantly. Cook for five minutes, until the collards are softened. Add a splash of tamari, turn to coat, cook for one additional minute. Remove from the wok and keep warm.

Next, the curry sauce that the collards are braised in was fortified. In the same wok, add 1 tsp. of canola oil and stir-fry 2 tbs. of shallots and 1 tbs. garlic until fragrant, then add 1/2 can of coconut milk, and whisk in 1 tbs. red curry paste (more or less depending on your personal preference), 1/2 of a lime, juiced, 1 tsp. of agave and a splash of tamari. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes until slightly reduced. Add the collard greens back into wok, turn the heat down to low, put the lid on the wok and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Check for seasoning.

From there we added a layer of noodle cake -- We haven't made them in ages -- we started with Bun (rice) noodles, which were cooked and tossed with sesame oil, then pan-fried using a ring mold to hold their shape -- when the first side was done (about 5 minutes) you can remove the mold and flip the noodles over to finish.

The tea-smoked tofu and shiitake mushrooms we fried in the wok as usual, splashed with tamari to finish and then placed on top of the stack.



The eggplants were cut into 1 1/2" rounds, scored with a crosshatch pattern, brushed with canola oil and seasoned with salt and pepper before being pan-fried on both sides for 3-4 minutes. Then they go in a 375°F oven for 20 minutes until cooked through. finally they were brushed with a reduction of sake/mirin/sugar/miso and glazed under the broiler for about 2 minutes per side. They truly do melt in your mouth.

Tags: tofu, noodles, eggplant, shiitake, mushroom, collard greens, curry, vegan, food, dinner, tofu666

Hominy Soup with Hickory-Smoked Tofu

Dinner 07/24

Hominy Soup with Hickory-Smoked Tofu

The soup started with the broth -- in this case a corn stock that I made earlier in the day in the pressure cooker (much like this version).

We started with a soup pot over med-high heat and added 1 tbs. of olive oil and 1 medium onion diced, 2 medium carrots diced and cooked for 3-4 minutes. Then we added two cloves of garlic, minced and cooked it all for one additional minute.

Next, we added 1 tsp. cumin, 1 tsp. Mexican oregano, 2 tsp. smoked paprika, 2 tsp. smoked salt, 1 tsp. black pepper and cooked it for one additional minute.

It turned out that we had two types of hominy (white and golden) so we stirred in both 15oz cans (drained and rinsed) to the pot. At this point we added six cups of the corn stock, 1 tbs. of tamari, and brought the soup a boil, then reduced it to a simmer and cooked it for 30-40 minutes.

While that was cooking, we made the smoked tofu by dividing it into eight cutlets and smoking them in hickory chips for 25 minutes.

Next, in a wok on med-high heat, we cooked the tofu in 1 tbs. of olive oil until golden brown (about 4=5 minutes per-side). Add a splash of tamari at the end of cooking and cook for 1 additional minute.

We removed the tofu from the wok, let cool for a few minutes, then shredded it into strips.

When the soup was about finished, we checked it for seasoning -- if it still needs a little help, mix 2 tsp. of a dark miso with a little of the broth, and whisk it into the soup -- it adds a nice depth.

Add the soup to a warm bowl and top with the smoked tofu slices and a splash of lime. Serve with hot sauce on the side.

Tags: recipe, tofu, hominy, corn, smoker box, vegan, food, dinner, tofu666

Fritto Misto: Squash Blossoms and Onions

Appetizer 07/19

A dish like Fritto Misto comes down to execution -- the need to work quickly and to eat it while the batter is still crispy and the filling gooey (a technical term).

Also, there's the always understood pressure to "hurry up with the pictures so we can eat!" ;)

Start by having a heavy wok or large pot filled about 1/2 way up the side with canola or peanut oil, heated and ready to go at 375F°.

While the oil is coming up to temp, make the filling for the squash blossoms -- ours changes from time to time, but usually involves some combination of minced shallots, a tiny bit of garlic, vegan cream cheese, whatever vegan cheese you like (this used Daiya Jack), nooch, salt & pepper -- all mashed together.

Next we made the batter, which we've simplified:

1 cup Einkorn (or all-purpose) flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup water (plus extra for adjusting)

Whisk the water into the dry ingredients -- you want the result to be a little thicker than pancake batter, so you may need to add a little extra water -- especially in regard to the squash blossoms to make sure they're sealed up tight.*

The squash blossoms (from our garden, bonus!) were carefully rinsed inside and out, the stamen pinched and removed, patted dry and the filling added. They were dredged (and completely coated) in the batter and carefully placed in the oil. We were able to put about 4 in per batch. You don't want to overcrowd and drop the oil temp too much.

The onion was simply cut into rings, dropped in the batter and then in the oil.

The dipping sauce was simply 1/4 cup of vegenaise mixed with about 1 tsp. of smoked paprika.


*There's nothing sadder than watching a blossom open up in the oil.

Tags: squash blossom, onion, recipe, appetizer, vegan, food, dinner, tofu666

Triple Mushroom Quinoa Burger and Sweet Corn

Dinner 07/07

Triple Mushroom Quinoa Burger

Sweet Corn

An extreme umami moment! ;)

The original recipe with smoked portobello mushrooms was tweaked slightly by cooking the quinoa in shiitake mushroom stock and topping the finished burger with morel mushrooms.

As a change of pace, instead of grilling the sweet corn as we normally would, we decided to boil it for 7 minutes with excellent results.

Tags: shiitake, portobello, morel, umami, mushroom, corn, quinoa, burger, recipe, vegan, food, dinner, tofu666

Three Mushroom Risotto

Dinner 06/30

Three Mushroom Risotto

This creamy risotto combines pan-fried chanterelle and morel mushrooms with a shiitake mushroom stock. Also along for the ride was hickory-smoked grilled tofu and green beans.

Three Mushroom Risotto
(serves 4)

1 tbs. tbs olive oil
1 small shallot minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper

1 cup of arborio rice

1/2 cup white wine
4 1/2 cups of shiitake mushroom broth (or veg stock)

1 tbs. Earth Balance
1/4 nutritional yeast

In a large saute pan over med-high heat add the olive oil and Earth Balance.

To the pan add the minced shallot, garlic, salt & pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Add in the arborio rice and stir to coat until the rice looks chalky, about 2 minutes.

Add the white wine and deglaze the pan until the wine evaporates. Then add about 2 1/2 cups of hot shiitake mushroom stock, stir to combine, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook 7-8 minutes.

Next add, the final 2 cups of hot mushroom stock and cook and additional 7-8 minutes until cooked through and creamy (about 14-16 minutes total).

While the risotto is going, cook the mushrooms.

2 tsp. olive oil

1 cup chanterelle mushrooms, sliced
1 cup morel mushrooms, cut in half lengthwise

2 tsp. tamari

Clean the mushrooms well (especially the morels).

In a medium saute pan over med-high heat add the olive oil until it shimmers, then add the sliced mushrooms and pan-fry until the liquid has released and evaporated, about 6-8 minutes. Add the tamari and stir to coat.

At the end of cooking for the risotto, add the Earth Balance and nutritional yeast. Stir to combine, check for seasoning. Top with the pan-fried mushrooms and optional fried tofu and/or green beans.

Tags: shiitake, morel, chanterelle, mushrooms, risotto, tofu, green beans, recipe, vegan, food, dinner, tofu666

Brown Rice Cheeseburger, Sweet Potato Fries

Dinner 6/10

Brown Rice Cheeseburger

Sweet Potato Fries

We took our usual brown rice burger recipe and finished it off with a couple of slices of the new-ish Daiya Jalapeno Garlic Havarti. We cooked the burgers in a cast-iron pan and put a small lid over the cheese at the end, which, as you can see, melted beautifully.

The sweet potatoes were cut into wedges, tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper and smoked paprika and baked at 425°F for 25 minutes.

Tags: brown rice, recipe, sweet potato, daiya, vegan, food, dinner, tofu666

Chickpea Patties, White BBQ Sauce, Grilled Zucchini

Dinner 06/04

Chickpea Patties

White BBQ Sauce

Grilled Zucchini

The chickpea patties are made like polenta. Here's the recipe from "The Truck Food Cookbook" by John T. Edge. We skipped the rest of the recipe and served them on top of a cabbage slaw with an Alabama style white BBQ dipping sauce and a side of grilled zucchini.



Sadly, the rest of the recipe is cut off -- but you pour the mixture onto a sheet pan that has been lined with a piece of oiled parchment paper and spread it out about covering the whole sheet. Top the mixture with another piece of oiled parchment, press to smooth it out and refrigerate until cooled completely.

Then we portioned the chickpea mixture into triangles and deep-fried them at 350°F for 3-4 minutes until golden brown.


The BBQ sauce was 1 cup of vegenaise, 1/2 tbs. apple cider vinegar, 2 tbs. of agave, 1 tsp. of black pepper, 1 tsp. lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. smoked sea salt, 1/2 tsp. of smoked paprika.

Tags: chickpea, bbq, zucchini, recipe, vegan, food, dinner, tofu666