Vegan Quickie

I gotta do it - I gotta brag.

I feel like the better you are at cooking, the more you really get to know process, flavor, and nutrition, the harder it is to make something that you think is really over-the-top badass. I mean, I remember, waaaay back, stealing my first few recipes off of Epicurious, successfully making them, and giving myself biiig props. I got all excited. I bought a copyright '63 printing of MtAoFC and felt cool. It's been a long and rad journey since then, and I've become much much much more of a snob.

So when I tried a different idea on cashew cheese a couple days back for a gluten-free, vegan potluck - a cleanse group run by a pal - I wasn't all that excited, I'd done this before, kind of a sad, me too me too recipe (but decent in stuffed shells) thinks I. Well, let me tell you. I put too much lemon in this time. Added a ton of roasted garlic and doubled the nutritional yeast. Forgot it was sitting on the back of the stove, so it fermented a full 18 hours. Baked it to dry it out a bit at the end and GOOD GOD was this cheese sick, stinky, tart, salty, round in flavor, all the things I'd always wanted cashew cheese to be, but had never witnessed.

Put it on a couple of pizzas. And they were really, really good. And I'm not just saying that.

Gives me hope that one day, one dayyyy, I'll be able to transition away from my biggest addiction (sans smoking, that is...): cheese.

Once I figure out exactly what I finally did right this time, I'll share. 'Till then, pizza porn for you. Oh and happy Friday!

Sneaky Monkey Sauce

For the kids, for the picky eaters, for the "eeewww, carrots" kind of people, grown up and child alike - here is the sauce. Put it on a pizza. In a lasag. Over basketti. In ze calzone. Anywhere regular tomato sauce would make an appearance.

Tomatoes are such an acidic (and delicious!) veggie. They have special powers of conversion - seeping into other, more base substances, turning them red, softening them. Disguising them. Making it possible to get "I only eat chicken nuggets!" child (a client's) to unknowingly scarf 2 servings of veggies in one plate of lasagna.

Awesome.

And so, here it is, a personal-cheffing classic - Sneaky Monkey Sauce.

1 28-oz can diced/chopped tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
3 tablespoons garlic
1 small onion, diced
3 cups vegetables of your choice - I used mushrooms, zucchini, broccoli shreds, carrots, and celery, chopped roughly
Basil and oregano, 1 tsp each
2 tablespoons olive oil
Dash red wine
Salt to taste
Dash sugar

First, we're going to mince those veggies to a pulp. Pulsing is the way to go - you want them small and uniform.

At start:

And, finished:

This is actually the first step to my Mushroom Bolognese as well - mincey mc mincerson. Anyways.

Start the sauce as you would normally - heat oil, saute garlic and onion, 3-4 minutes, until onion softens. Add your veggies and turn up the heat - medium-high or so. Stir to coat with oil, cover, and let those suckers go for 3-4 minutes - I like to brown them a bit. Stir. Cover. Repeat.

Deglaze with wine and add all your tomatoes. Fill up your large tomato can half way with water and add that as well. Turn the heat to medium and simmer the sauce 40 or so minutes, until the tomatoes have fallen apart a bit. You'll have to stir pretty regularly, more often that you would normal mater sauce.

Taste for salt, add a little sugar or molasses. If things aren't simmering to indistinguishable-ville as quickly as you'd like, don't be afraid to get the potato masher out and have ats half way through the simmering.

Lookit that thing! Not even a HINT of the veggie power hidden inside. And remember, this sauce doesn't quite have the congealing power regular stewed tomato sauce does - so if you plan on putting this on a pizza, maybe add another 1/2 can of tomato paste, and simmer just a teeny bit longer.

If you love 'em, feed 'em.

A repetitive theme in my life - feeding people I like. They don't even have to be friends. If there's pal potential, I'm bringing a plate of deviled eggs. Or making something ridic with seitan. Or putting the Cocktail Kit in the car.

I think this all started with Food Not Bombs, back in the day - 5 or 6 of us piling into some tiny kitchen, making a huge pot of veggie chili out of donated materials, taking it to a park to feed the Anonymous Hungry. Did we eat more of it than they did? Probably. But still, that desire to feed whoever was around and cool, this is perhaps where it started for me.

So surely, on V day, I had a plan - we were gonna eat something a little more complex than the meh SFLA fare we'd been noshing all weekend (oh nachos with Cheez Whiz, I'm still remembering you with disgust). I wanted some gnocchi, some sharp garlic tang, some tofu. And so we ate all three - Stuffed Tofu Parmesan, Ricotta Gnocchi, and this simple ditty I call Bruschetta Sauce - tomatoes, tons tons tons of garlic, spinach, agua. Vamanos.

Opulence, in food, for moi, often comes down to bounty - how many different vegetables are involved with the dish? The more the better, so says I. And the more disparate the preps, the more fun the consumption becomes.

So there's at least 5, 6 if you count the half-bushel of Parsley involved in this mess. Glorious veggies, will you be my Valentines?

The tofu was a take off on this recipe - the dirty-fi-cation of Soy Cake - only I added lots of parm to the breading mix, and dredged the stuffed cakes in flour, then egg first. I'd used a paring knife to slice pockets, carefully stuffing them with soy sausage, chopped, dried mushrooms, and asiago cheese, after marinating the 'Fu in a teeny bit of smoked salt, water, and sesame oil. You can bake these or fry them - frying is quicker by about 20 minutes, so that's what I did, keeping them warm in the oven while the Gnocchi came together.

This recipe is good, but basic - add herbs, truffle oil, garlic, stinky cheese, whatever you need to pump the flavors a bit. Nutmeg is optional IMHO - such a bright flavor, it pairs oddly with garlic, so I left it out this time. I had a hunk of gradually-hydrating Tomato Powder (even though it's been kept in a sealed ziploc, the stuff is still a Mars-looking red rock at this point) that I grated a bit over each ricotta cloud before plating. Looked cool.

But let's be honest. Mostly, this meal was an excuse to make Garlic Monkey Bread.

Erik's Ma pulls out this King Arthur kit on Saturday and goes to town with a mixer and a bundt pan and out comes the best thing we ate all weekend - Pecan and Brown Sugar Monkey Bread. Awesome, gooey, sugarbomb, butterbomb, memorable. And my little cheese-obsessed brain immediately says, "Ooooooh, I've got to try this with garlic and Parm".

So we did, and it was awesome. Better than your fav garlic rolls. Better than MY fav garlic rolls. Warm, crusty, chewy, messy, good-god-I-could-eat-this-whole-thingy.

(You're probably wondering how I kept my hands off for 10 minutes to take these shots, amirite? Well let me tell you. It tried the very depths of my soul's patience. And I popped it back in the oven for 5 before noshing)

Garlic, Parsley and Parmesan Monkey Bread

1 pkg active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 cups bread flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt

2/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
3 tablespoons freshly minced parsley
Black pepper, tons
Scallions, 4, minced (optional)
10 cloves garlic, crushed, minced

1/4 cup butter (oh ya.)

A bundt pan - mine was 2.8 liters (which I ran out and randomly purchased from this awesome little store), but this recipe is a little flexible - a smaller pan will produce a taller loaf.

Let's do this.

In your stand mixer bowl, pour one cup warm water. Add your yeast and mix. After a minute or two, add your sugar and mix well - let stand 5 minutes.

Add salt, then while mixing, gradually add your flours. Use a scraper to push the mass into the bread hooks and let it run 5-6 minutes, until a firmish dough has formed. Let the dough stand for 15 minutes, then knead another 2-3 minutes, until the dough's "skin" is slightly shiny. Remove to an oiled bowl, cover, and let your dough rise for an hour.

Mix cheese, herbs, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Melt your butter in a small saucepan and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 400f.

Turn out your dough onto a very lightly floured board and cut into 1 1/2 inch squares using a sharp knife. I ended up with about 25 pieces. Roll them in your palm, dip into the butter, then dip into the cheese mix, rubbing the mix around the entire piece. Place in your buttered bundt pan. Continue until your dough has been used up, filling the pan evenly and flatly.

Let the dough rise another 15-20 minutes, until about doubled. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the top of the bread is browning.

Now, I had to carefully use a spoon to separate some of the bread from the pan before turning out - the cheese stuck a teeny bit. Do so if you aren't using non stick. Then grab a large plate, put it over your pan, and flip the whole mess over, tapping the bundt pan to release.

Great googly mooglies, was this good. Dipping sauce (which for us was leftover bruschetta sauce, but standard red would be awesome as well) is essential. Enjoy!

Pizza Eggs and Red Sauce

I make at least one batch of tomato sauce each week - I'm like a little red sauce machine.

I keep it simple and affordable, especially during the winter when fresh tomatoes are a joke - but have been known to peel and seed 10 pounds of 'maters in the summer for the same recipe (and as you can imagine, it's super delish, but time consuming).

I digress.

So, red sauce obviously has a place in a gazillion dishes - lasagna, pizza, pasta and (lentil, soy, reg) meatballs, stuffed shells...

I love making those little stuffed pockets of amazingness. I only do the one layer of sauce, a lot of it at casserole bottom, and float the shells atop it, all covered in cheese, islands of gooey, cheesy awesome. But the thing I'm eating most often with ze Red Sauce lately is pizza eggs. Because breadcrumbs + eggs are a really neat textural trick, and I can't get enough.

So for the Sauce, here we go: (makes 3.5-4 cups)

2 large cans crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 small red onion, diced
1/2 handful fresh or frozen basil leaves, chopped
1 tsp dried Oregano
1/2 cup bitey red wine
10 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
1.5 tsp sugar
1.5 tablespoons sea salt (varies based on what brand of tomato you're using - I use only the no-added-salt variety
2 tablespoons olive oil

Heat the olive oil over medium heat and saute onion and garlic 4 minutes, until onion is translucent. Add wine and boil a bit, to release alcohol - then add remaining ingredients MINUS tomato paste, stir, cover and simmer 40-50 minutes, until tomatoes have liquified, or are close. Stir often.

I keep the paste out of the pot until the end because it thickens the sauce enough to make it cook more slowly - the wetter the liquid around your crushed maters, the quicker they'll turn to mush, which is what we want.

Add your paste and thoroughly mix. Taste for sweet/salt and adjust as needed. For pizza and pizza eggs, you want a thick sauce, but for pasta and lasagna, slightly thinner - so don't be afraid to add a teeny bit of water if you're making the latter.

The eggs are fairly easy - you'll need:

1/2 cup red sauce
1/4 cup breadcrumbs, mixed with 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated mozz
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
1/2-1 tablespoon butter, depending on how well-seasoned your skillet is
2 eggs

In a cast-iron skillet, melt your butter over medium-high heat. Turn your broiler on High.

Crack the eggs into the skillet, letting them collect into palm-sized pools (I do this by tipping the skillet ever so slightly, the wall helps). After the bottoms have turned to white, break the yolks, once, with the edge of your spatula. Spoon sauce over the middles of the eggs, spreading gently, and cover with mozz and parm, leaving a small edge of egg between the sauce, cheese, and pan, so you don't get spill over. Quickly dust with breadcrumbs and stick the skillet under the broiler for 45-60 seconds, until the mozz has melted a bit and just started to brown.

Carefully slide them onto a plate and serve with more garlic powder and red pepper, as needed. Hella awesome breakfast and super quick! If you kept the yolks runny enough, these babies would be heavenly over pasta, methinks.

Minestrone with Parmesan Dumplings

Another belly warmer, this. I'm moving from wonton obsession to dumpling obsession, thanks to a meal at Zum Schneider whilst up in NYC last weekend, and by meal, I mean single bite - that's all it took to get me dumpling crazed.

I've omitted pasta from this soup recipe because of the floating bread balls - but you could forgo dumplingville and stick some elbows, orzos, rotini, anything you'd like in there instead. Or even have both. Oh my.

NOTE: In honor of Ye Olde Top 9, I'm adding a Gluten Free dumpling recipe to this! Find it below the standard dumplings. They're very similar!

Winter Minestrone with Parmesan Dumplings

For the delicious stew: (makes 8-10 single servings)

1 large can chopped/crushed tomatoes
2 small cans tomato paste
2 zucchini, chopped
1 large red onion, chopped
10 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons freshly minced parsley
3 tablespoons freshly minced chives
Tons of black pepper
1 large bunch kale, sliced to ribbons
6-8 baby carrots, chopped 
2 large ribs celery, chopped
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
1/2 cup bitey red wine
2 cans cannelini beans, well drained and rinsed (I dump them into a colander and rinse under the faucet)
1 can garbanzo beans, see above
1 red pepper, chopped
8 ozs mushrooms, chopped
Handful frozen green beans, chopped
1 tablespoon + more sea salt, to taste
10 cups water


For the (regular) dumplings:

1 cup high-gluten flour, like bread flour
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 scant tsp baking soda
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried chives or chervil
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, melted, mixed with 1/2 cup milk or water

I usually make my dumpling mix first, and chill it, giving it time to glue together a bit. So go ahead and mix your dry ingredients in a medium bowl, wet ingredients in another smaller bowl, make a well in the center of your flour mix, and while stirring if possible, add your wets to your dry, mixing until un-lumpy. Cover and set in the fridge.

If you're making GF dumplings: 

1 cup GF all purpose flour
1 scant tsp xantham gum
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 scant tsp baking soda
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried chives or chervil
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, melted, mixed with 1/2 cup milk or water

Follow the directions above and proceed with the directions below. They'll be slightly more dense, but deeeelicious!


In a large soup pot, add your olive oil. Over medium high heat, saute your garlic, onion, peppers, carrots and celery for 5 minutes, until onions are translucent. Add zucchini and mushroom - cook another 3 minutes, until mushrooms begin to soften. Add kale, stir, cook one minute more. Add your wine and turn heat to high for 2 minutes, until it has reduced a bit, then add water, tomatoes, tomato paste, beans including green, herbs, pepper, and salt, stir well, and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook 20 minutes, until all your lovely veggies have softened. (If adding pasta, add 15 minutes into your simmer). Taste. You'll probably need to add a little salt at this point - and maybe a dash of sugar to bring the sweetness of the green beans out - but it's totally up to you.

Now, I'm going to say it - it's almost always best to cook dumplings in the soup you're eating them with. They absorb all the awesome flavors you've been stewing up, and the only trade off is a little cloudiness/ spare floaters in your brew. Some dislike this and would rather cook them separately, in their own little pot of boiling water, and if you'd prefer, go right ahead.


Meanwhile in Julialand, it's time to dump those suckers on top of your stew, so grab your batter from the fridge, get a large, round spoon, moisten one hand, and while the soup is gently simmering, drop one spoonful of batter at a time onto the top of the soup, using your moist finger to push it off of the spoon. Quickly form the rest of the dumplings in this same way and cover your pot. Simmer 8-10 minutes, or until dumplings have just solidified in their middles.


To serve, ladle a chunk of dumpling into the middle of a bowl and spoon soup all around. A little extra grated cheese on top should do the trick. Ah yes, that feels lovely in the belly, doesn't it?


Cheers!
 

Spaghetti Pie, with a dash of snob. And lots of cheese.

The PERFECT dish to clean out your fridgedero with - Pasta Pie. Carbload in joy and happiness, while enjoying a weird Waffle House hashbrown texture (squirmy! awesome!). Instead of the retro Spaghetti Sauce route, I went all Mushroom Alfredo, with some diced, pan fried seitan sausage. Extremely comforting. I probably wouldn't have gotten such bad butterfat sweats if I'd waited another month, but hey.

I've been getting nerdy with tomato powder and various doilies lately. While the above isn't the best example, it's a blast to lacify quiches, pies, anything, really, with naturally-bright-red dust. More on that soon!

Spaghetti Alfredo Pie with Mushrooms

8 oz spaghetti, cooked according to package directions
1 cup milk or cream
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg, beaten.
2/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup mozzarella, grated
1 handful of chopped seitan
1 handful sliced mushrooms

1 9-inch pie plate
Salt and pepper to taste

Chop your cooked pasta into 2-3 inch pieces (or alternately, cut them with scissors while the noodles drain in a colander). Set aside. Preheat your oven to 350f.

Melt your butter in a skillet. Add garlic, seitan and mushrooms, and saute on high heat until seitan begins to brown and mushrooms begin to sweat. Add flour, stir to coat, and cook, tossing, 2 minutes. Add your cream and mix everything together, quickly. Simmer for 3-4 minutes until the sauce is thickened, then add your parmesan. Stir gently to melt. Remove from heat, stir in your beaten egg.

Pour the mixture into an oiled 9-inch pie plate, scatter mozz over the top. Bake, uncovered, until the edges start to brown.

Let that baby sit 5 minutes before slicing. Yeehaw!

50 mile meal - take 7

Why was I craving lasagna during Charlotte's worst heat wave since the dawn of time? Dunno. But I was.

Lasagna's so user friendly. Relatively easy to prepare, buy produce for, reheat, freeze, take to potlucks, etc. Since this is a local lasagna, there are some twists to my standard recipe. I'm going to list the fillings I used, but only provide recipes for the interesting layers.

Arugula Custard
makes enough for one layer of a 6-8 serving lasagna

1/2 pound arugula
2 eggs, scrambled
pepper
1 tsp salt
3 tablespoons milk or cream
1 tablespoon all purpose flour

Wash your 'rugula. Blanch it, rinse under cold water, squeeze some water out, set aside.

In a blender, put cream, flour, salt and pepper, and run until smooth. Add arugula. Pulse until it looks like pesto. Remove to bowl, stir in eggs. Set aside until ready to use.

Goat Cheese Bechamel

If you're using garden fresh 'maters in your lasagna then tomato sauce might seem a tad superfluous. Try this almost-Alfredo style sauce instead. Use a highly flavorful, local goat cheese if you can - check out the beauty below, from OakMoon Creamery:

1 pint cream or milk (if using cream, you'll need to use a tad more goat cheese than is called for here)
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
8oz round of your favorite strongly flavored goat cheese (I removed some of the pepper rind on mine, but not all)
salt to taste
1 small clove garlic, minced
herbs of your choice (chives, freshly minced, used here)

Melt your butter in a saucepan. Add garlic, if using. Grab a whisk. Add your flour and mix to a paste, and stir for 3 minutes, until you start to smell the flour brown. While whisking, pour in your cream. Over medium-high heat, stir the sauce until it thickens, about 5 minutes.

Add your goat cheese and switch to a spoon. Stir until melted and incorporated. Add your herbs, taste, salt as necessary. If you aren't using your bechamel immediately, cover it with cling wrap to avoid a skin.

So! In our super-summery lasagna, the layering went like this, bottom to top (hot tip! when layering lasagna, put your "toughest" veggies on the bottom layers, so when you slice it, the other fillings don't squeeze out all over the friggin' place):

Ladle of bechamel
1 fresh pasta noodle (if you're in Charlotte, go to pasta and provisions NOW and buy some of their organic spelt pasta. It is amazing, and for 6 bucks, you'll have more than you need. No boil lasagna noodles'll work fine here to).
Roasted new potatoes
Ladle of bechamel
Noodle
Roasted summer squash
Ladle of bechamel
Noodle
Roasted red pepper and vidalia onion saute
Ladle of bechamel
Noodle
2 thick sliced fresh tomatoes, peeled, salted, tossed with  1 tablespoon fresh garlic
Ladle of bechamel
Noodle
Arugula custard, recipe above
Noodle
Pour the rest of the bechamel over the top. If you're using no-boil noodles, cover with foil. Bake in a 375f oven for 40-45 minutes, until the top begins to brown. Let rest 10 minutes before digging in.

Sick Delicious Stuffed Tofu

I get a kick out of de-veganizing tofu every once in a while. You know, take it down off its high pedestal for once. Stuff it full of fat and calories, dredge it in carbs, drizzle it with a bunch of oil, that kind of thing.

Of course, this recipe can easily go the way of the puritan - ixnay the cheese and do a soaked cashew puree instead. Top with more sauce than called for below. Dredge those suckers in slightly watered down Nayonnaise and a tad of mustard. Still ill.

Stuffed Tofu Parmigiana

You'll need:

1 block tofu, extra firm, sliced into 6 thick pieces
3 tablespoons ricotta + 1 tablespoon whatever hard cheese you're using to top
4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon fresh herbs - parsley, basil and chives used here
1-2 asparagus spears or green beans, minced
1-2 mushrooms, minced
1 can tomato paste
Grated cheese for topping - I used Asiago (it was on sale)
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup panko
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon each dried parsley, basil, and chives
1 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten, mixed with 1 tablespoon water
Oil for drizzling

Do eeet:

Preheat your oven to 400f. Oil a pizza or roasting pan.

Toss your flours, salt, nutritional yeast, and panko together in a small bowl. Add herbs and mix well.

Saute your fresh veggies (asparagus and mushrooms, in this case) in a little olive oil, until soft. Set aside.

Saute 2 cloves of garlic in a saucepan until fragrant, add tomato paste, fill tomato paste can and add to saute. Stir until well combined. Season with salt and pepper and fresh basil or chives, if desired. Set aside.

In another small bowl, mix your ricotta and grated cheese, veggies, remaining garlic, and herbs. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Using a paring knife, cut a slit about an inch and a half into one narrow side of each slice of tofu, cutting up to within a centimeter of the edge and stopping. You want enough space to put your stuffing without breaking the wall of the pocket.

Using your fingers, carefully push about 1.5 tsp of stuffing into each pocket. Stuff all 6 slices, using the stuffing up (if it's bulging out a bit, no worries).

Dip each stuffed tofu into the egg wash, getting it nice and coated, and toss into the flour bowl. Turn to cover with breading completely, pressing as needed. Place on your oil roasting pan. Finish coating the rest.

Drizzle each piece with a little olive oil and stick in your preheated oven, on the middle rack. Bake for 20 mins, then using a spatula, check for browning on the bottom. If nice and brown, flip, using the spatula to stuff the cheese back into the pocket somewhat. Bake for another 20 mins.

Meanwhile, oil a small baking pan and spoon about 3 tablespoons of sauce over the bottom. When your tofu is nicely browned on both sides, lay them in your casserole, on top of the sauce. Spoon another 2-3 tablespoons sauce over, sprinkle with plenty of cheese, and broil 'till brown. Ooo la la!