Culturally Schizophrenic

I committed last time to share the results of my experimentation in the kitchen, and I’m tickled to announce that things turned out super tasty!

Behold, my Middle Eastern Inspired Taco.

I had some frozen baked falafel, and I made hummus with cilantro, garlic, and “taco” seasoning and wrapped it all up in a whole wheat tortilla. I use these spices in my taco seasoning: chili powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper.

Now, I didn’t have many frozen falafel. Alex admitted that he sometimes takes a ball from the freezer and eats it cold. I don’t know if that’s flattering or not. Anyway, we had more than enough food.

The reason there was so much food was because I made baba ghanoush, too. (When everyone spells things differently, how do you decide what to use? Just pick one and stick with it?)

Lately, I’ve had a hankering for baba ghanoush and decided to go for it when I saw a Food Network chef make it on television. Sometimes, that’s all it takes (thanks, Aarti Party!). I was tempted to buy some ready-made from the grocery store, but it was chock-full of mayo (really, Sabra?).

Instead of making regular baba ghanoush, I riffed from the Horizons cookbook recipe for Mexican baba ghanoush. The recipe included roasted eggplant, cilantro, lime juice, and jalapeno. It actually called for pumpkin seed butter, which sounds really good – but I didn’t buy (or even look for) any. Instead, I used tahini but tossed in some pepitas for good measure.

I’ve been enjoying this in pitas for lunch the past two days, stuffed with more cherry tomatoes, lettuce, and onion. I can tell you for sure I’ll be making more homemade baba ghanoush.

On My Own

I’m not really the most creative cook. I follow recipes, even when I don’t measure precisely, and I have a difficult time imagining how different things will taste together. There are so many obvious combinations that I wouldn’t have thought of unless I saw them somewhere else.

This morning, I saw that Carissa was having a sandwich with almond and cashew butter and strawberries. Not only did this look delicious, but I had the ingredients on hand! I’m normally big on jelly or jam, but if I think that I’d eat peanut butter and banana, or pb and strawberry jam, why not pb and strawberries? It was perfect.

Can you tell that those are delicious ripe red organic strawberry slices? They are. With Trader Joe’s crunchy Valencia peanut butter. Yum. And yes, I like pickles with my peanut butter. Maybe the problem is my palate, not just my imagination.

See, here’s what happens when I open the fridge and try to make a meal with what’s on hand. I make mushroom stuffed mushrooms.

I’ll chalk part of this up to trying to cook on Friday night. I’ve been working really hard lately. And after work, I’ve been exhausted, but I’ve also been trying to do more things around town. All this cuts into my dinner time. (I did try Currito Burritos, though – genius idea! – and one you may be seeing my interpretation of what they do sometime soon.)

Back to Friday. I had ingredients I wanted to use. So I sauteed some cremini mushrooms left over from the stir fry, seasoned them with thyme and salt and pepper, and put them on top of a balsamic-marinated portabella and baked it. Yum, right? Sure, if you like mushrooms!

Have I learned my lesson? If it’s to experiment with some direction, sure. Tonight I’m working on something different, but at least I have a plan. I promise to share the results, good or bad. Hold me to it, okay?

Moffles!

So, I took the advice offered when I talked about the last time I made mochi and made mochi waffles!

I did a little research first, though, and found some pretty awesome Japanese videos about the mochi waffle craze (they call them moffles). There are even specially made moffle makers. Of course, I thought to myself that I could use my regular waffle maker – and it worked well, but I didn’t exactly come up with moffles.

I split the mochi in half to make the strips thinner, and this was surprisingly easy. I had in mind that I’d stuff the mochi waffles as suggested in the video, but it didn’t happen. Guess you need that special moffle maker after all. My waffle maker doesn’t have hinges, so it didn’t close when I stuffed my moffles.

I used the cinnamon-raisin variety and it smelled so very good as it cooked. I paired this with a fall pear. Much of the pear was enjoyed raw, but a few slices did make it into the waffle maker. As you can see, they puffed up much more without the pear slices, but the cooked pear was delicious. The pieces were crisped on the outside and chewy inside, and I enjoyed them with a little syrup.

Even without a moffler, making mochi waffles was pretty easy. My waffle maker has an automatic beep indicating the waffle is ready, but it couldn’t judge the time of the moffles. So you might need to be smarter than your waffler to make moffles. Go ahead, I know you can do it.

Homemade Pasta, Take Four: Ravioli

Like many things, cooking gets easier with practice. Homemade pasta is taking a lot of practice, and when I begin making strides I also increase the difficulty. I’ve finally gotten the homemade fettuccine company-ready, but this time I decided to make ravioli.

I know deep down, though, that the eventual reward when I perfect the tougher feats will be totally worth it. For now, though, this trial was entirely delicious, even though I want to tweak my technique.

As I’ve done before, I used Vegan Dad’s recipe for fresh pasta dough. At this point, if you’ll allow me to flatter myself, the dough making is old hat. In other words, I found a good recipe and it’s not as difficult as I thought it was at first. Hoping for more success from Vegan Dad recipes, I looked into what he had to say about ravioli.

I knew I wanted to make spinach and mushroom ravioli, so I diced some mushrooms and cooked my mushrooms and spinach with lots of garlic, knowing that I wanted my filling mixture to be pretty dry before I started stuffing my pasta.

What I’d change next time, though, will be to roll the dough less thinly. As in, leave it more thick. Vegan Dad has the same Kitchen Aid pasta roller as I do, and he said he rolled his to setting 5 (on a scale with 1 being thickest and 8 being thinnest). If I had a more delicate filling, a thinner pasta might be better. That’s my only change.

I got a little creative. I started layering strips of pasta over the filling, but I ended up just folding it over. And in the end, I just twisted up the ends like precious purses.

But in the end, this didn’t affect the taste. Fresh pasta is one of my favorite treats. I’m not complaining at all about eating my practice batches.

I am happy that none of these little dumpling ravioli lost their contents. I did let them dry for a more than an hour before boiling them, so that might have helped.

I know this is a lot of work, but I enjoy it and I want to master pasta making. Thanks for coming along for my practice runs.

My own end of summer rolls

Summer roll? Spring roll? I’m not about to get into a debate about authenticity, because I think the only authentic thing I can make is banana pudding and I don’t want to. Okay, I want to, but I’m not going to. Yet.

So, the last time I was at Loving Cafe (new review coming soon, I hope) they ran out of summer rolls just before I ordered. As in, they had three left and the people in front of me ordered all three. I saw them flash before my eyes.

But I’ve seen people all over making their own, so I figured I should, too.

How difficult could it be?

I think I can work on my technique, but I started to get the hang of it as I went along.

You may already know, but for all the beginners out there, the wrappers are stiff and you soak them in warm water and they become sticky and pliable.

In these guys, I put:

• broiled tofu slices, marinated in soy sauce and ginger
• rice noodles, tossed with sushi vinegar
• thinly sliced cucumbers
• thinly sliced carrots
• romaine
• shredded basil and mint

And I made a quick sauce of almond butter and hoisin, whisked together with a little water to thin it slightly and some sambal oelek for heat.

Easy enough, and delicious. Who cares if Loving Cafe sold their last three right in front of me? I can do for myself.

Do you try to make things you have in restaurants? Do you have success?

Falafel Feast and Quinoa Tabouli

The other day, I was having a serious craving for tabouli. This traditionally Middle Eastern salad is something I’ve only recently come to enjoy. I think I had a bad first experience with tabouli in a Lebanese restaurant where it was nearly entirely parsley and was just too much to chew.

Falafel feast with dilly tzatziki, hummus, quinoa tabouli, whole wheat pita, and fresh sliced cucumber, carrots, and celery.

Alex and I talked about going to Myra’s for dinner to enjoy some tabouli, but after having seen several bloggers making falafel recently, I decided to try this at home and make my own feast of falafel, hummus, and tabouli.

The first thing I did was to make tzatziki, and I adapted a recipe so much that I am putting my on tzatziki recipe below. This is something I came up with on my own that was good, though. Really good. I used dill, and I’m not sure that’s entirely authentic, but that’s a whole ’nother question about whether I can make any authentic food. Let me tell you, though, I bought a big bunch of fresh dill and I loved the smell. I think I’ll have to try growing dill next year.

I’ve made falafel before, but only from a boxed mix. The reason I tried making it myself again was because I figured I could bake it instead of frying it. I’m not against fried food, but it’s too much trouble for me at home, and it’s probably best it’s a special treat for eating out.

This was my first attempt in making “real” falafel, and I used a recipe I saw recently on Vegan Epicurean. This turned out wonderfully. I used a mix of garbanzo beans and soybeans and for green herbs I used both dill and cilantro, and I did use her suggestion to include raw sesame seeds. I mixed all the ingredients in my teeny-weeny food processor and it wasn’t too terribly difficult. Alex rolled them for me. He wants to make sure he gets credit.

Vegan Tzatziki

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegan mayo, I use Vegenaise
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup fresh dill
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• dash cayenne
• 1/2 cup chopped cucumber
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Method:

Place Vegenaise, garlic, lemon juice, dill, paprika, and cayenne in blender. Blend until smooth. Just before serving, mix in cucumber and parsley.

Tzatziki is usually made with yogurt, and this is one of those things that gets stronger as it ages. I made this in the morning when I realized we would be having falafel, and it was just perfect by suppertime.

I also made hummus in the food processor. Actually, I made that right before I made the falafel and I didn’t worry too much about cleaning it in between.

The final component of this feast was the tabouli. Even though I was craving tabouli and I had bulgur on hand, I decided to veer from the tradition and make mine with quinoa. I used a recipe I found online, and I used red quinoa. Even though I only used one cup of dry quinoa, this made so much tabouli that we will be eating it for days. But hey, that’s what it might take to satisfy this craving.

My biggest mixing bowl, nearly full with quinoa tabouli. I’m adding the tomato a serving at a time, though, to keep it fresh.

Even though all these components were a lot of work, the ingredients went with each other (a few lemons, a bunch of parsley, a bunch of dill, cucumbers all over the place, sesame in the falafel and tahini in the hummus, and so forth). And I’m not going to pretend that this is authentic by any means, but it’s good. Good, good food, and that is the reward for all this work.

Oh my, I feel like I’ve fallen to peer pressure. Again. Do you get cravings just by seeing what someone else is eating?

Seitan Sandwiches

I feel like a real vegan cook now. Forget the quinoa salads, the tofu tacos, the frozen banana soft serve. It’s not the Tofutti cuties, flax eggs, or tempeh bacon. It’s only now that I’ve completed the initiation rite. Yes, folks, I have made homemade seitan that tastes good.

I’ve tried before and failed. I’ve failed so badly that I’m not going to link back. I’ve failed so many times that Alex has just encouraged me to keep purchasing the West Soy boxed stuff from the grocery store rather that put myself through the torture of making it at home. I’ve tried several recipes and it never quite came out right. I knew that the next time I tried, I needed a better recipe. I had my eye on the Post Punk Kitchen.

It’s probably been more than eight months since my last failure, and in the meantime I purchased Veganomicon, so I figured the baked Seitan Cutlets recipe would be just as good, and that’s what I used. I made six delicious seitan cutlets and used three of them for the Vietnamese Seitan Baguette with Savory Broth Dip from the same cookbook. It was heavenly.

The seitan is baked in broth, and then that broth is reserved and flavored with more garlic, ginger, and 5-spice, making a delicious dip along the lines of a the French Dip sandwich. The sandwich is built with seitan, cucumber, red onion, and cilantro.

Yes, that’s a lot of broth!

I can’t believe how much time and wheat gluten I wasted on bad seitan. Maybe I should blame myself instead of the recipes, but I had success. Eventually.

Okay, now that I’m an official member, what can I do next?

Tomatillo Soup

Anybody out there know what to do with tomatillos besides make salsa verde?

I didn’t, so I searched the web. I learned that they’re sometimes called husk tomatoes, and that they are usually sticky under the green husks. I’m glad I read this, because I’ve been having some quality problems with my “Farm Fresh” Delivery. That’s sad, but at least I know when I’ve got a bad apple. I don’t know that I could tell a bad tomatillo unless it was really bad.

I found a recipe for Corn & Tomatillo Soup on the Center for Disease Control website, of all places. Evidently they’re trying to encourage us to eat more fruits and vegetables. To control disease, of course. This should really be called Corn, Green Pea, and Tomatillo Soup, because it gets a lot of its body from green peas. I checked a few other soup recipes, too, and they all seem to be variations of the same thing. Yes, they all include peas.

I pureed the tomatillos, onion, peas, and jalapeno, but I left the corn whole and threw in cilantro at the end. The recipe calls for spinach, but I figured they were just trying to throw in all the green vegetables they could, so I left that out.

This soup was good. I’ll admit I was kind of surprised because I had no idea what to expect. I used corn stock for my broth, so this soup was sweet from the green peas and corn, and the tomatillos have a tart, almost lemony, flavor. This is another good summer soup that tastes really good when it’s slightly warmed, not hot.

Are there foods you’ve never cooked? How do you approach a new ingredient?

Spaghetti Squash and Balsamic-Grilled Vegetables

I don’t participate in a CSA (community supported agriculture), but I do have a bin of produce delivered nearly every week. Much of the selection is local, but from a variety of farms, and it’s either local or organic. Often both, or at least no-spray. I go back and forth on whether I like this better than shopping the farmer's market. I do both.

That’s not really my point. My point is that I was too busy lately to remember to customize my bin. This means instead of selecting what I want to be delivered, I got the standard order. This means I have several items I wouldn’t have chosen for myself: “no-heat” jalapenos, a spaghetti squash, and tomatillos.

Let’s start with the easy one, the spaghetti squash. It turned out pretty good, and yes, it shreds to look like spaghetti noodles. What’s your favorite way to eat this squash, if you’ve had it before? My first try was good, but I’d be willing to experiment if I get one again.

I steamed it, I guess, in the microwave (yes, I used a microwave), and then shredded it and finished it in a skillet with a little olive oil, garlic, and fresh basil. The squash was so mild in flavor (or maybe the microwave zapped out the flavor as well as the nutrients?) that it mostly tasted like the basil. I liked it, though. We both ate a good bit of these squash noodles and have both enjoyed leftovers since this meal.

I had originally planned to roast my squash along with some other vegetables in the oven, but it was just too hot to turn it on. Instead, I grilled green beans, red onion, broccoli, eggplant, and corn. I finally got a tray to make it easier for me to grill the smaller vegetables. Before, I’d used foil. Besides the drawback of being disposable, it didn’t really work that well.

I made a quick marinade of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and garlic. I should have used a blender on this; instead, I have little flecks of garlic falling through the grill. See my effort to place a few pieces atop the eggplant? I saw Rose’s post too late and her interesting photograph down the blender. Next time, next time. Maybe I can also do skewers like she does. I’m also taking notes from Diana with her balsamic roasted vegetables, especially the eggplant. I can’t wait to try her barbecue balsamic roasted eggplant next time.

Alex ate half of one piece of eggplant and saved the rest for me. Sweetheart.

Hot & Cold Lettuce Wraps

Do you like P.F. Chang's? I like having a restaurant to suggest when the occasion arises for group dining and no one has any ideas that will accommodate me. I rediscovered this restaurant chain when I was living in Philadelphia, and (at the time) the only location was way in the ‘burbs. Way, way, out. An hour out. But I made the trek once or twice, usually coupled with a visit to the Brandywine River Museum. (Andrew Wyeth, anyone?)

Here in Cincinnati, I’m pretty close to a P. F. Chang’s store, but I still decided to try their signature lettuce wrap appetizer at home. This wasn’t an exact replica, but it was still tasty!

I started by pressing my tofu, about 1/3 of the block, diced small. I marinated it in soy sauce, fresh grated ginger and garlic, and lime juice. I broiled it. I used the rest of the tofu in a stir fry.

Separately, I cooked chopped onion, mushrooms, and water chestnuts. I cut everything small to be roughly the same size in the wraps. Then I tossed in the broiled tofu so it could soak up some of the mushroom juice.

I made a sauce of hoisin, ginger, pepper paste (Sambal Oelek), rice vinegar, and soy sauce. This was nice and hot!

Serve this mix up scooped generously in iceberg lettuce cups along with some fresh cilantro and bean sprouts, if you have any. I promise if I ever decide to make a cookbook, I’ll be more specific with my measurements – but for now, do everything to taste!

A Brief Break from Eating, and my first Green Monster

I had my impacted wisdom teeth removed on Wednesday, something I probably should have had done five years ago, when a dentist first suggested it and before I was on a high deductible health plan.

I imagined that afterward, I’d be lounging on the couch, watching movies and sipping smoothies. Well, that didn’t happen. Instead, it was all I could do to get a little soymilk down so my pain pills didn’t make me too loopy, and I ate store-bought soup pretty much straight from the tetra boxes it came in. And I slept. And slept, and slept some more.

On the third day, I began feeling better. I still can’t chew, but I was able to make myself some food this morning. Good, because I was hungry!

I decided to be a little adventurous and try a Green Monster, a green smoothie. I know people both online and in real life who love these things, but I’d never tried them. Maybe I was a little scared of the spinach and banana, or maybe I can blame it on not liking to pull out my blender. Anyway, I figured this was a good time to give it a go – and I’m a convert! It’s sweet from the banana and even the baby spinach is sweet. The soymilk and banana give it nice body.

I made the simple “Virgin Green Monster” since this was my first time. I left out the flax because seeds are on my bad list until my gums heal completely. This smoothie was made with baby spinach, a banana, soymilk, and ice. That’s it. It was yummy. I told my mom about it, and she seemed skeptical. I asked Alex to try a sip, and I think he either pretended to sip it or took the tiniest sip in history. More for me, right? So if you’ve been on the fence about trying the green monster, give a try.

Peperonata and Panini

Why peperonata?

I was perusing menus online, trying to decide where we can go for a nice meal out for our anniversary. Maybe I’m just not sophisticated, but I see a lot of unfamiliar words on menus these days I like to figure out what they mean. Maybe you’re smarter than I am, but which of these would you eat: peperonata, chorizo, calabaza, asadero, haloumi, porcini, pappardelle, cotija, chayote, sultanas. You know it’s confusing to review a menu when you’re trying to be careful, but not trying to be un-adventurous.

So the first recipe that comes up when I searched for peperonata is from Epicurious. I was drawn to this because I’d heard a story on The Splendid Table about how people search for recipes and get bad ones, or incomplete ones, or unclear ones, when they search the web, and meanwhile the trustworthy ones were further down the page. Well, I decided to trust Epicurious and not just read about what peperonata is, but rather to make it for myself.

Peperonata is slow cooked bell peppers with onion. It can include garlic, tomatoes, or spices – or not – and is finished with vinegar, either red wine or balsamic.

I got a three pack of bell peppers: orange, red, and yellow, and a sweet onion. I don’t like cooked green peppers. I sliced those not-too-thinly and cooked them in a little oil with a little salt for about an hour in a skillet over very low heat. I had mine in a sandwich. Alex had some in a quesadilla.

I also grilled an eggplant on my grill pan, sliced long ways, and then packed peppers, eggplant, and mozzarella into a sandwich with some extra balsamic and some basil pesto. I pressed the sandwich with a cast iron skillet and it came out with the ridges from the grill pan and was super duper yummy. I have considered getting a panini maker, but I just don’t have room in the kitchen. I don’t think I need one, anyway, when I can do this!

Tofu Tacos, Imitation, and Terrene

You caught me. I didn’t get through all those recaps of places we ate in Saint Louis. I covered my favorite, though, Sweet Art, and I’ve been thinking about how to address Terrene. I’m going to go with imitation as highest flattery.

I went to Terrene on Saturday night, and I chose it ahead of time from great blog reviews and a good website showing their menu with vegetarian choices. This page shows their “small plates” and the two dishes photographed are the two we ordered: tofu tacos and veggie “sausage” flatbread. I’m not going into detail about the restaurant because I don’t think there’s any reason to. I want to show what great variety of vegetarian food is available and some of what I eat and cook – not to get the most posts on Urbanspoon or to encourage anyone to go to certain restaurants.

When I start to write about Terrene, I can’t decide what to say. It was a nice place, and the price reflects that, and when we got there it was dimly lit and noisy with a few babies, and large tables of packs of YPs (is that what we’re calling yuppies these days?). By the time we were finishing our meal, the atmosphere had quieted and a few tables were scattered with diners lingering over drink and dessert, and it was no longer busy with hurried waiters and patrons. Or maybe the wine I had was mellowing my perception. Saint Louis, like my own Midwestern city Cincinnati, seems full of young parents and restaurants that empty by 9 o’clock. The only thing I really want to say about Terrene is that I loved their tofu tacos.

The tacos were made with chipotle-rubbed tofu, shredded lettuce, pico, and pepitas layered in corn tortillas and served with a side of salsa verde. I don’t normally use corn tortillas, but they were delicious, and the pepitas added a wonderful texture to the soft tofu. At the time, I realized this was an exceptional combination, but it’s only been in the few weeks since I’ve been home that I can’t stop thinking about them and wanted to try tofu tacos at home.

I started with my old standby, Trader Joe’s extra-firm organic tofu, and I froze it, thawed it, pressed it, and cubed it. For seasoning, I made a paste of dry seasonings* and a little canola oil , then tossed in the cubed tofu and let it wait in the fridge all afternoon. I simply baked the cubes and was really pleased with the texture and flavor of the tofu.

I served this in corn tortillas along with some sliced grape tomatoes, diced onion, and cilantro for the pico, drizzled on some salsa verde, and substituted pine nuts for the pepitas. (I know. I couldn’t find pepitas after scouring two grocery stores.) On the side? Some mashed pintos, made from dry beans, and mushrooms. And yes, I incorporated a recipe from Vegan Brunch here too – the cashew cream to cool the heat of the spicy tofu, made from cashews, vinegar, and onion. Perfect!

*3 parts paprika; 2 parts each: cumin, onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, and chili powder; 1 part each: thyme and oregano. I keep this on hand as a spice blend.

Patty Wednesday: Sausages

I mentioned before that I want to delve into homemade patties and break away from the individually-packaged, processed, frozen ones. Even if those taste really good.

One of my favorite bloggers, Bianca at Vegan Crunk, posted a video of a cooking demonstration making chorizo from the ever-popular Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. I took down the ingredients from the video, but I’ve also ordered a copy of the cookbook (finally). The sausages were not too difficult to make, and the flavor was really good, but the texture was a little gummy. I may need to improve my cooking method, but first I want to check the recipe.

You start by combining smashed beans, spices, broth, oil, and wheat gluten, then shape them into sausages, wrap them in foil, and steam them.

The mixed-up goo. The paprika, cayenne, kidney beans, and tomato paste make them red. In the background you can see two other ingredients: liquid smoke and nutritional yeast. (I’ve been using my dining table as my new kitchen is severely lacking in counter space.)

I improvised a steamer with a colander and a large pot, so the lid didn’t really fit tightly. I’m not sure if that’s part of the problem, or also that I divided it into four and these guys were huge. Anyway, like I said, they were a bit gummy, so I cooked them some more in a skillet, which actually worked really well to brown and crisp the outsides a little bit.

Served with mashed potatoes, broccoli, and beer.

I’m on the lookout for another patty type recipe to try. I think once I try enough, I’ll see what goes in to making a good one. Any suggestions?

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

No, I’m not drinking green beer. I’m making patties.

Mediterranean Black bean quinoa burgers, served with sweet potato fries and snow peas. Topped with mozzarella.

I’ve been playing with the idea of making homemade veggie burgers or veggie patties for a while. Actually, I tried once in my pre-blogging days, without a recipe and without much success. The veggie burger is one of Alex’s favorites, and I’d love to be able to make them at home rather than buying frozen patties. You can see how often we eat patties from my recent post on mushroom patties and my description of Allyn’s (one of our favorites: I like the beer list, Alex likes the veggie patty they make).

I saw this recipe on The Voracious Vegan and was eager to give it a shot. I pretty much followed the recipe, except I didn’t have chickpea flour so I used brown rice flour, and I cut it in half. It’s made of mushed black beans, cooked quinoa, sun-dried tomatoes, flour, ground flax seed, and liquid smoke. I made two huge patties and one smaller patty. If I do it again, I’d make four smaller patties. Unlike ground beef, they don’t shrink when they cook!

The texture of this recipe was spot-on. They formed into patties really easily and held their form as I cooked them in a skillet. I ate mine without a bun (as pictured) but Alex went for the bun, along with ketchup, mustard, and pickles. I used some Pickapeppa sauce as it seemed a little bland. Black beans and quinoa are both pretty mild flavors, and there weren’t many other flavors until you reached a bite with sun-dried tomato. Note, though, the original recipe has a red onion and basil aoili that probably helps a lot.

I think I’m going to make burgers regularly. I’m already looking for my next recipe!

Homemade Pasta: My first attempt

I almost laughed when I read an article about pasta makers in the 1980s – yes, we had one, but it was probably in the 1990s. My mom loves gadgets, and we’d make our own pasta. I remember those dinners fondly, though, even though whoever wrote that article is poking fun at the home pasta extruder machine. My first adult attempt, however, did not go so well, even though I used a roller.

We were given the ever-popular pasta roller and cutter attachment set for our Kitchen-Aid mixer as a Christmas gift. These seem to be most coveted among the newlywed, registry-hungry, I-don’t-care-because-it’s-a-gift-and-I-need-it crowd. Not that I belong to them, ahem. This was not on our registry. After using it, I agree that a hand-cranked one would provide much better results, be easier to use, and on top of that – cheaper.

I followed the recipe in the manual for the Kitchen-Aid roller, hoping that by abiding by the manufacturer’s instructions, I would be less likely to fail. (I deliberately did not link to the aforementioned article because it’s full of junky ads, but I found it by searching for vegan pasta recipes. In the end, I used semolina and egg as directed. Maybe next time I’ll make her eggless pasta dough.) In addition to the dough not coming out right, the biggest problem was that the roller pulled the thinnest dough through first, leaving the rest to crumble. I think the manual control of a hand-crank would help correct this defect. But then again, I’ve never used one.

Oh, and yes, you heard me say next time. As promised, I will not abandon my failed recipes. The good news is that this time we made enough pasta to have a little serving each. The rest of the dough got too dry and overworked in our experimentation, and I think the dough was too dry and not pliable enough to start with. The pasta we ate was okay, if a bit thick due to inexperience in rolling it thinly enough. We topped the pasta with grated Parmesan and jarred sauce, served with grilled eggplant and mushrooms.

Experimentation Sunday: Soul Sushi

Tonight, I made Soul Sushi from The Ethnic Vegetarian. Sounds good, and this recipe caught my eye early on. The first time I took Alex out for sushi, we went to a place in Philadelphia -- I can't remember where -- and they had all kinds of vegetarian options, including a sweet potato tempura. It was good. Here, the veggie rolls are simple: avocado, "veggie", and tamago (ick). Some places have an asparagus roll. If you know of any better selection around, do let me know!

I don't think I'd make soul sushi again, but we ate it. I didn't dislike it. I do need to practice rolling.

I think I'd be more inclined to try a different roll next time.

Sweet potatoes blended with cilantro and soy sauce; celery and cucumber marinated in rice wine vinegar and sesame oil; nori; sushi rice.

Experimentation Sunday: Sweet Potato Fries and White Barbecue Sauce

This supper worried me a little, or a lot -- in the "we might have to make a frozen pizza if we can't stomach it" kind of way. It's one of those suppers that sounds good in theory, and then at each step got worse and worse. The sweet potato fries were a hit, and Alex says to quote him saying they're the best he's ever had, but next time I'll want to find a better sauce for them.



Ever heard of white barbecue sauce? Evidently it's popular in northern Alabama. I've never had it, but as a fan of mayo I was eager to try it. (I know it's disgusting; it's my guilty pleasure.) Now, you may not want to take my word for it because I can't be absolutely sure that what I made actually is Alabama white. Then again, maybe I just don't care for it. But I consulted several recipes and found that they all had nearly equal parts mayo and vinegar, a little lemon juice, some salt, pepper, sugar, and cayenne. I used cider vinegar and made a small batch. Alex said he enjoyed it, but I'm not sure if he just likes more vinegar tang than I do, or if he was just being nice.

I put the sauce over sweet potato fries, made in the oven. These were a hit! Again I consulted several recipes; I cut a sweet potato into fry-style strips, tossed with a little olive oil, salt, and cumin, and baked at 400F for about half an hour, flipping halfway through.

We also had barbecue-spice rubbed tofu (from a packet) and broccoli.

Experimentation Sunday: Homemade Seitan

I usually have to explain to people what seitan is. I've had it in restaurants, particularly at Horizons, Melt, and even at Ted's Montana Grill, where they serve a seitan veggie "burger" for those who don't want their famous bison. I've bought it from the grocery store (my both my local chains carry it, even though it's a bit cheaper at Whole Foods). I knew it was wheat protein -- it says so on the package-- and I knew it was good, but that's about it.

So to answer the question, I turned to the web. One of the first results, from About.com, is about how to make seitan. Wait -- make seitan? I had to give it a try. I followed these instructions point-by-point. I'm so excited that I haven't eaten any yet; I couldn't wait to share. Alex, however, ate a piece with no flavoring and said it's great.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup vital wheat gluten
• 3/4 cup water or broth
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 6 cups broth for cooking
• 3-4 slices onion (optional)
• 2-3 slices ginger (optional)
  

I was pretty impressed that I found two kinds of wheat gluten in my grocery store. Later, I found out from my mom, that it's a common ingredient (a small amount at a time) in bread dough.

Uncooked seitan. Really, I never would have guessed.

Combine gluten flour and dry spices. Separately mix soy sauce and 3/4 cup broth.

Combine dry and liquid ingredients. You’ll want to use your hands, as the flour will start absorbing the liquid right away.

In my batches, though, the mix was plenty wet. You can see on my cutting board. The recipe on About warns not to use an electric mixer. The gluten has a rubbery, elastic consistency. You can knead it out and it will pull back in. It was really, really easy to mix by hand.

Knead the mix 10-15 times, then let it sit 5 minutes. Knead a few more times and cut into smaller chunks and stretch each piece out.

The recipe says the seitan will expand during cooking, so it’s best to start with thin cutlets. Mine didn’t expand a lot, so I’ll have to experiment with that. Also, don't worry about holes if you thin the seitan too much; indeed, none of the holes were present after cooking!

Add the seitan to broth in a large pot and bring to a slow simmer. They'll sink at first, then they'll float when they're done. Cover pot and cook for an hour or more.

It's done when the pieces firm up and float.

Mine were almost boiling over, even though I used a large stockpot and lots of broth. Next time, if I double the recipe, I might consider turning the burner off earlier (like the no-boil spaghetti) or dividing the seitan in half. There are tips in the the recipe I used about adding spices, onions, soy sauce, or fish and chicken flavoring, but I prefer to flavor my seitan with sauce. Yes, we love our sauce!

Probably should have kept a closer eye on this...

I cooled both my batches on the counter and put one in the fridge and one in the freezer. We'll be marinating and grilling seitan tonight -- I'll be sure to show you how it turns out!

Experimentation Sunday: Hawaiian Pesto and Tofu

I've gained a little confidence in my ability to cook tofu, now, after I've learned the secret of freezing it. For this recipe, I froze and thawed a block of firm tofu, sliced it into thirds, and marinated it all afternoon. I got the recipe from a cookbook Alex gave me for Christmas from one of our favorite restaurants, Horizons, an all-vegan foodie restaurant in Philadelphia. They have two cookbooks with recipes from their restaurant and other tasty, flavorful vegan dishes.

Honestly, when I was first presented with the cookbook I was a little disappointed. First of all, I didn't like the implication of being asked to cook. On top of that, the recipes are really difficult and include ingredients I don't normally have on hand and are sometimes difficult to find. To cook from this book, I've purchased agave syrup, tamari soy sauce, coconut milk, and all kinds of spices. At first this seemed like a major hurdle, but now it's just part of my pantry. I've even made a jar of the Latin spice blend that's in several recipes.

In the cookbook, this recipe is Oven-Roasted Tofu with Hawaiian Pesto. I used a grill pan to grill the tofu. Alex wanted to be sure that I wrote that there were no leftovers to this meal! We ate the tofu and pesto with skillet fried potatoes and steamed broccoli. The only thing I'll do differently in the future is to use less salt in the spice blend; the marinade was almost like a rub and it was very, very salty.



Marinade Ingredients:
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
3 tablespoons Latin spice blend (3 parts paprika; 2 parts: cumin, onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, and chili powder or dried chile; 1 part: thyme and oregano)
1/4 cup canola oil

I mixed this in the same zipper bag that I used to freeze and thaw the tofu. The book recommends at least and hour, if not overnight, for the marinade. I think mine was in this for about 4-5 hours.

Grill the tofu for 4 minutes per side.

Pesto Ingredients:
1/4 cup canola oil
2 cups fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
1/3 cup macadamia nuts
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons fresh ginger
1/4 cup water

Puree all ingredients in a food processor. Use additional nuts for garnish. I really found the chopped nut texture pleasant with the pesto and tofu.

This recipe would certainly have been difficult nine months ago when I didn't know how to cook tofu and didn't have many of these ingredients on hand. However, I am growing my own basil and have many of these ingredients from previous recipes. I still had ginger in the fridge from my Thai soup -- just in time for its three-month holdover. I still had cilantro from my Mango Couscous. In a way, it's nice to re-use these ingredients in new a flavor combination, even if I only spent $.43 on the ginger.