Creamy Fall Vegetable Risotto

Arborio. Arboreal. Something creamy, warm and smoked, for my belly today (and yours?).

What have we there? Broccoli, fennel, mushroom, orange pepper, and onion, surrounded by perfectly al dente little bites of rice. Onion grass from the back yard (aka, foraged chives). And some decadently creamy cashew stock, with smoked black pepper and roasted garlic.

I was concerned the creaminess of the stock would interfere with the rice performing its magic, but no worries. Perfecto. And easy.

Creamy Fall Vegetable Risotto
serves 6 (or 3 hungry me's)

2.5 cups arborio rice
3 tablespoons canola or olive oil

5 cups water
2 tablespoons mushroom stock concentrate, or another strongly flavored vegetable stock
6 cloves roasted garlic
2/3 cup raw cashews
Smoked black peppercorns, to taste
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

2 cups mushrooms, sliced
Small fistful of fresh onion grass, minced
Fresh thyme, 1 1/2 teaspoons
Fresh sage, 3 leaves, minced (optional)
1 small head broccoli, tough stems removed, cut to florets
1 onion, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 small head fennel, sliced to rings

Salt, at the end, only if it needs it.

Roast your mushrooms, fennel, garlic (wrapped in foil, with a tsp of oil) and broccoli in the oven at 430f. Use the same roasting pan, toss them with a little oil, and remove them to a plate as they finish cooking (broccoli at 8 minutes or so, mushrooms at 10, fennel then or at 12, garlic at 18-20).

Throw the first 6 ingredients into your blender and puree until very smooth. Remove to a small saucepan and heat over medium low, keeping it warm.

In a large risotto or saute pan, heat your oil over medium-high heat. Add your onion and pepper, and cook 4 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Lower heat to medium-low.

Add your rice and stir to coat with the oil. Toss for 4-5 minutes, until each granule has a translucent "halo" around its edges. Now it is time to add the stock.

2/3 of a cup at a time, dears - stirring constantly. Cashews contain protein, so beware of rice trying to become one with the bottom of your pan. 20-22 minutes ought to get you through most if not all of your stock and see your rice to near perfection - if you need a little more water at the end, don't hesitate to use it.

Add a little more thyme or sage, if you'd like. Taste for salt.

Go at it while its still warm. Cheers!

Out of Hand Sick Delicious Corn Chowder

You know that saying, Party in the Mouth? Welcome to the corn crammed, summer infused, super creamy awesome division of PITM central.

It's vegan, which makes it even better. And it has delicious cashew puree in it, like (srsly) half the stuff I've made over the last month. I'm really lucky I'm not allergic to that most delicate of tree nut. Who knows, tho - I keep eating 'em at this rate and I might be soon! When I fall in love, I fall hard.

You guys know the drill - you want to creamify a soup without dumping 1k worth of butterfat calories in the pot, you have several options:

Immersion blender - make sure your potato content is high for this technique
1 block silken tofu
Almond/Soy/Rice Milk

Done them all, multiple times in triplicate - and I wanted something new.

Of course, there was a huge pile of cashew puree waiting to become cheeze sitting in the fridge. And so, the creamiest chowder I've ever made vegan-style came about.

Pay close attention to the multiple blender steps for maximum smoothness!

Cream of Corn Chowder
makes 1 medium pot - or 4-6 bowls.

1 bag frozen corn OR 6 ears worth of freshly-boiled corn
4 tbl EarthBalance
1/2 red pepper
1/2 green pepper
1/2 poblano pepper
2 fresh jalapenos, minced
4 small white potatoes, diced medium-small (peels on for vitamin content!!)
1 red onion, chopped
10 cloves garlic, minced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 small calabaza squash or zucchini, triangled (halved, then sliced lengthwise into three triangle-shaped strips, then chopped)
4 small carrots, diced
6 cups vegetable or faux-chicken stock
1 cup cashew butter (or cheese a la this recipe - adding cashew cheese will lend a more sour-cream flavor - regular pureed cashews, just a sweet, nutty note)
1.5 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
Dash agave

To serve:

1 fresh tomato, diced fine
Minced cilantro and scallion
Chipotle hot sauce, to taste


Right. So.

Melt your EB in a large soup pot. Add  your onion, carrot, celery, peppers including jalapeno, and garlic. Saute over medium heat for 5-6 minutes, until onions are translucent.

Add your squash and potatoes. Add your corn now, if using fresh - hold off till the end, if using frozen. Cook 4 minutes or so, until squash has softened just a bit.

Add your stock and a little water if need to just reach the top of your veggies. Add pepper and agave. Cover and simmer 20 minutes, until potatoes are soft at center.

Grab your blender. With a ladle, spoon off as much liquid as possible from the soup. No biggie if you get some veggies in there - you're going to puree some of them next! Add your cashew butter, making sure the total volume in your blender does not exceed your maximum line. Blend for 6-8 minutes, adding a teeny bit of water if needed, until the soup is super super smooth. Pour back into the pot.

Now, ladle more of the soup back into your blender, paying careful attention to getting as many potatoes as possible (leave a few tho, yum!). Puree again until super smooth. Add the puree back to the pot. Taste for salt and adjust as needed.

If you're using frozen corn, add it to the stew now, and heat until cooked through.

Ladle, garnish, and serve! Perfect with toasty french bread and a simple salad with lemon dressing.

Bon Appetite!

Seitan with Coriander Peppercorn Crust

This is totally a "Me Too! Meee Tooooooo!!!" dish.

Veggies get left outta some really delish holiday cooking traditions - Ham at Xmas, Turkey at Thanksgiving, Lamb on Easter, and let's not forget Corned Beef 'n Cabbage on St. Frat-er-Patty's Day. Are there myriad delish, less carnagey things to eat on those hallowed days? Yes. But sometimes, it's killer to slice into a roast - carving knife in hand, two-pronged fork carefully distributing pieces of (in this case) a savory, peppery loaf of wheat protein. Retro in a 70s cookbook kinda way.

For moi, this is also a memory meal - 9 years old, at my girl Heather's house (the same year I learned that trespassing in a tree nursery guarded by a 90 pound Rottweiler is a good way to end up with a hole in the bottom of yer pants), her wiry/red haired Ma pulling tons of cabbage and beef out of their seemingly hot-tub-sized crock pot. Beef was not something we ate much of at my house, so it was a pretty exotic meal, and this year, I decided to try it veg-style.

And thus we have Crock Pot Cabbage and Corned Seitan
serves 4, easily

for the seitan:
Dry mix:
2 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup soy flour
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons veggie beef boullion powder (like dees)
Tons of freshly ground black pepper

Wet mix:
1/2 cup water blended with 10 cloves roasted garlic until the garlic completely dissolves
4 tablespoons earthbalance, melted
2 tablespoons flavorful olive oil
2 tablespoons tamari
1 tablespoon molasses

Crust:
1/4 cup black peppercorns
1/4 cup whole coriander seeds
1/2 cup all purpose flour
Oil - aerosol form preferred, but you can gently brush the roast with a basting brush if you need to.


to accompany:
1 large head green cabbage, cut into 6ths
4 large carrots
4 medium potatoes, pricked all over with a fork


for the crock pot:
1/2 cup dark beer
4 cups water mixed with 4 tablespoons veggie beef boullion or tamari (or more water - depends on the size of your pot. If you increase, stick with the 1 tablespoon tamari or stock to each cup water ratio)
4 sprigs parsley
2 bouquet garni made from 1 tablespoon black peppercorns, 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, 1 tsp celery seeds, and a couple whole cloves each - either wrap them in cheesecloth or use a tea bag

Phew. Looks far more complicated than it is, trust me! Let's go.

Mix your dry seitan ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and blend your wet ingredients together in your blender. As you massage with your left hand, slowly pour the wet into the dry and, using both hands now, knead the seitan until it is uniformly blended and comes together into a loaf.

Put your carrots in the bottom of your pot and sit the seitan on top of them. Add your bouquets, potatoes, parsley and cabbage, nestling them in around the seitan.

Pour your tamari or stock/water mix over everything, and your beer. You want to start with cold water so the seitan has a chance to brine a little bit. Make sure that the top of the loaf is covered.

Check for salt levels - the surrounding broth should have a slightly salty taste. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.

Preheat your oven to 375f.

Pull the seitan out of the pot carefully and let dry just a little bit on a cutting board over the sink. Whiz your peppercorns and coriander in a blender or spice grinder until it's pretty fine, but not powdery. Dust the seitan  with the flour and rub it in just a little, then press your peppercorn/coriander into the crust. Spray lightly with your aerosol oil, put the loaf into a oiled baking pan, and bake for 45 minutes, occasionally spraying it with more oil.

Looks a bit like an asteroid... a delicious asteroid.

Slice thin and serve with the taters, cabbage and carrots. The EarthBalance gives this a slightly more tender, softer texture than using purely oil. Very tasty. Don't be afraid to reduce a bit of the cooking liquid with a little cornstarch for a simple gravy, if you'd like.

Crunchy, savory, lovely. Enjoy my darlings!

Sick Hubby Soup

More soup? More soup.

This is one of the first things I "came up with", not that it's a particularly adventurous recipe, but anyways - probably in January or February, when it got cold and damp in the city and either one or both of us caught something nasty. I've since gotten a tad bored of it, but this is what Erk wants whenever he's sniffly, which he was this past week. With toast and EarthBalance, he goes through quarts of it!

I also used to drop 3 bucks worth of faux-chicken bouillon cubes into an 8-serving pot, which frustrated me, so the recipe below contains my approximation of this brand. Tastes very similar and is much, much cheaper. Yay!

Sick Hubby Soup
makes 8 - 10 servings, or enough to fill a small dutch oven

3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
3 medium stalks of celery, diced
4 scallions, minced, white and green parts
1/2 handful fresh parsley, minced, or 1 tablespoon, dried
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp white pepper
1/2 block extra firm tofu, diced (you could instead stir 2 eggs in during the last 5 minutes of simmering if you'd rather not eat ze soy)
1 1/2 cup small noodles like ABCs, Crushed Fideos, Ditalini
8 cups water
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tsp brown sugar or palm sugar (something with a deep flavor)
2 tablespoons sea salt, or to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup frozen peas

Easy peasy. Heat your oil in a soup pot or dutch oven and saute carrots and celery until carrots soften a bit, about 6 minutes. Add scallions and garlic, cook two minutes more. Add water, salt, garlic, herbs, nutritional yeast, sugar and pepper - simmer 4 minutes until the yeast has completely dissolved and mellowed. Add your tofu and noodles and cook 4-6 minutes if eating immediately, 2 if making ahead (let the noodles finish cooking in the pot on the stove on their own - it's easy to turn them to mush if you aren't careful!). Add the peas at the end.

Serve with toast and orange juice. Good for what ails ya!

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!
 

Wanton Wontons - take two

As awesome as the mini samosas were, I think I like this recipe better.

Mostly because it's a hearty soup and hell if Charlotte hasn't been completely laminated by snow and ice this week - also, because it's relatively healthy and has a full range of vitamins in every bowl - but mostly, because it contains cabbage, and I have the Cabbagewinter gene - when it's cold out, I want to eat copious amounts of it.

But where the samosas were cute - this stew most def is not. Erk commented while finishing his bowl - "Dude, it looks like we're eating tiny brains. Gross."

The man still managed to power through and inhale his rather large serving, so it can't look too bad, eh?

A couple of short comments on prep - because I really want you guys to give this one a whirl, but there were several frustrating moments for me:

Wonton construction: like the samosas, we're going to fold these over corner to corner, but then take the extra step of folding the two corners of the long edge together, making a nurse's hat. This makes these denser, more dumpling-like, instead of floppy-ravioli-ish.

Burp the wontons of air as you construct, or you'll end up with little soup mines that'll explode as the air inside them heats. Yowza.

Make these RIGHT BEFORE cooking them. Wonton wrappers are super sticky. They don't do well on a plate in the fridge overnight.

Cook them all at once in the pot with the soup, stirring gently but constantly to keep them separated. They might clump up a little bit with the cabbage et all, but trust me, if you cook them by themselves in boiling water, they're like little magnets, and find each other, clump up, forming one large mass of dumpling. Delish, but individual pockets of yum are waaay more fun. And easier to serve.

Ok. Hope I didn't scare anyone with that description of cooking fail. There's lots of it in my kitchen ;) Also, you guys know by now there's no real sausage in this recipe - but you could totally use pork to great success if that's how you roll!

Sausage Wontons with Cabbage, Carrot, and Pea Stew

20 wonton wrappers
10 ozs vegetarian sausage, cooked, minced

2 tablespoons butter
1 small head cabbage, peeled of its first layer, then sliced thin
1 medium onion, minced
4 medium carrots, peeled, chopped
Tons of black pepper, at the beginning and end of stewing
Parsley, 1 tblspoon, minced plus 1 tsp reserved
Vegetable broth, 10 cups or:
1/2 cup tamari soy sauce, 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, 1 tablespoon miso mixed with 9 cups water (taste and salt/add more miso if needed) 
1 cup frozen peas


In a large soup pot, melt your butter. Add onion and carrot and cook 10 minutes, cover on, until carrot softens a bit.


Add cabbage, stir, cook 2 minutes. Add broth, parsley, black pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until cabbage is almost tender, about 45 minutes.


Meanwhile! Make your 'Tons. Like I described last time, I like to do this over the sink with a cutting board, wetting my fingers as needed to seal each wonton. So lay a wrapper out on your board and carefully wet around the edges. Pile about a tsp or tsp + 1/2 in the center of each wrapper and fold the corners together to make a triangle, making sure to work any air out as you go. Pick the wonton up and pull the two corners of the wonton's bottom together, pressing the edges together firmly, one on top of the other, to create a lopsided donut shape. Place on a dry plate and repeat until your filling is finished (I made it to 20-22).

Once your cabbage is fork-tender, it's about time to toss in the dumplings. Make sure there's a fair amount of liquid around the carrots and cabbage - add a little more water if needed and taste for salt. Carefully drop the dumplings in, stirring to make room for more, and cook, covered, 3 minutes. Remove from heat, uncover, add peas, and let coo1 5 minutes. 

Ladle 4 dumplings into a bowl and cover with soup. I thoroughly enjoyed mine - I hope it gets your tummy all warm and cozy too. The next day, the dumplings had fallen apart a bit - but this was just fine, as it distributed the chewy pasta and faux-sausage throughout. Yum.

Decadent Broccoli Cheese Chowder

I loved Broccoli and Cheese so much that as a kid, I dressed up as it for Halloween. I'm serious.

Over the years my passion has mellowed a bit, but I'm still the one nibbling at the last couple of florets on Fondue Night and I just about lost it when I found out Gramma had made Broccoli Cheese Casserole (in all its mayonnaise-drenched, condensed soup goodness) for Christmas Dinner. Yeah, I ate some of what I cooked - but at least as much BCC went down the hatch.

Since I cook for a couple of gluten-free women, I wanted to try different thickeners, instead of flour - cornstarch seemed an obvious choice, but maybe I could minimize the starch by using goat cheese and extra potato?

Yes I can, and did, and I gotta say - best B+C Chowder ever made by Moi.

Broccoli Cheese Chowder

1 small head brocolli
2 medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced largishly (my pieces were all about 1/2 inch wide)
1 small onion
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 scallions, minced
Small handful parsley, minced
1 cup milk or cream
2 tablespoons butter
4 ozs fresh goat cheese
A rather large amount of freshly grated black pepper
Salt to taste
6 cups vegetable stock or water and boullion equivalent
3/4 pound sharp cheddar cheese, grated, tossed with 1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
Scallions, shredded cheddar, hot sauce or Jalapeno Oil to garnish (recipe for Jalapeno Oil at page bottom!)

Let's do this.

Melt your butter in a medium stock pot and add onion, celery, carrot, garlic. Over medium high heat, stir veggies every 2 minutes while keeping pot covered until they soften, about 6 minutes. Covering the pot in between stirs helps to steam the veggies, thus quickening their cooking time.

Add your brocc, stir, cover once more and cook 2 minutes, until it has turned bright green. Add stock, potatoes, scallions, parsley, pepper, mustard and lemon juice, and simmer soup for 10-12 minutes, until potatoes are very soft. Remove from heat.

Use an immersion blender to carefully blend your soup to the desired consistency - I went for pretty well-blended with some large chunks for kicks. Return to the heat and add your cream, cheddar, and goat cheese. Stir well and let it all melt and blend. Taste for salt and add, if needed.

Sprinkle any remaining cheddar over the top along with parsley or scallions, and serve. If you want a little heat, try the Jalapeno Oil described below. Nom.

Jalapeno Oil

1 large jalapeno
1/2 cup flavorful olive oil
Parsley, scallions, garlic, whatever herb strikes your fancy

Put it all in a blender and whizzzzzz until everything's emulsified. Strain through cheesecloth or a fine-mesh sieve. Serve.