Fiesta Rice Salad - it's so nowtro!

Rice salads - the collection of aged, yellowing 4-H lady's club spiral bound cookbooks I have are full of "salads" made of starch and bean. And jello. And pudding. Good god.

But I'm on a mission with a couple of tots I know, a client's sweeties - to get them to eat more raw veggies - and as you know, it works best when disguised. Since these ladies are even more obsessed with the Mexican flavor set than I am, I figured, why not surround them greens with yellow rice and beans? Maybe they won't even notice the vitamins and fiber going down.

Fiesta Rice Salad
serves 6

3 cups goldenrod rice (aka yellow brown rice) (homemade is best! Check this technique and sub brown rice for oats - chill the rice for 15 minutes in the freezer after making)
1 large or two small cans black beans, drained
1 calabaza squash, diced
1 cup mushrooms, diced
1 carrot, diced small
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
12 -1 4 green beans, chopped
1 handful cilantro, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1 avocado, very firm, chopped
1 tomato, chopped

marinade:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
dash sugar
dash cumin

dressing:
Juice of 2 limes
1 tablespoon olive oil
Dash cumin
4 cloves garlic, minced
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon sugar or maple syrup
Freshly ground black pepper

Easy peasy.

Marinate your mushrooms, zucchini, carrots and green beans in the marinade for 20-30 minutes. Drain and discard marinade.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and add dressing. Toss very well, cover, and chill for at least an hour. Like curry, this dish is best served the next day, as the flavors meld and soak each other up.

Complete meal in a bowl - shred some romaine or spinach, dollop of salad, hot sauce, perfect. Although maybe not for baby tongues - leave off the 'sauce for the little 'uns!

So you say chocolate is your favorite?

Are you sure? Super sure? 100% on that?

A couple of days ago was my cuz's birthday, and while she's a devout fan of all things choco (and waaay across the country for me, which proved disastrous for my intestines, wait for it) I decided to make her a cake.

You know how I'm obsessed with taking foods that are normally presented in a portable manner and cakifying them. Well maybe not quite obsessed yet but I'm getting close. This one was killer - iced with hot sauce and hummus, delicious and messy.

And since I'm ALL ABOUT a day old, been in the fridge for a bit falafel, all squishy, mushy, flavors blended, you know this thang was right up my alley.

Ok so maybe it's not for everyone - as Erk reminded me. Meaning, I had enough falafel cake for a party of 10 to get through all by myself.

I ate falafel for 2 out of three meals daily for 3 days. It was not a wise choice. My belly's still a little pissed. Was it the copious amounts of salt? Legume overload? Just...density fail? Who knows, dear readers - but I advise against creating this monster unless you have brave pals around to help you consume it.

Those hot pink bits? Pickled turnips. Get yee some from yee local middle-eastern grocer - they're amazing.

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!

Vegan Ranch Deja Vu

Ranch dressing sans the mayo, the buttermilk, the sour cream, the moooo. It's been done before. It'll be done again. And since meals when the kitchen's in boxes come mainly from the fridge, I'll be eating it alot over the next few weeks.

Last time we went down this long Southern-bound path, it was with our pal Tofu. Tofu is good. Tofu is light. But if you want something a tad more decadent, you might want to try this cashew-based puree instead. You should try it regardless - it's seriously delish.

Cashew Ranch Dressin'

makes 2 cups. Dip the radish, the lettuce, the carrot, your finger, et all in it.

1.5 cup raw cashew pieces + 1/2 cup of cashew soaking water
Juice of 1 lemon
4-5 tablespoons pickle juice
4 cloves garlic, minced
Miso, small pinch
Ground mustard, pinch
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (optional)
Handful each : fresh parsley, dill, scallion
Tons of freshly ground black pepper


Throw the first 6 ingredients in the blender, except for the water - just add 1/4 cup at first. Whizz away for a long while - the longer, the smoother the dressing, and thus mine went for 6-7 minutes - adding water as needed to keep the motor running sufficiently to smooth the puree out. You'll probably need most of the 1/2 cup to acheive this.

Add your yeast (if using) minced herbs, and black pepper, and pulse to just mix.

Chill for an hour or so before serving, to let the flavors mellow and blend.

AWESOME on a tomato/greens/mustard sammich. Yeah, I eat that alllll the time. Simple and tart.  Best when tomatoes are just coming in - as they are now. Say hello to bulbous, beautiful heirlooms, my darlings! They're coming!

I'm such a salad nerd I spent some bucks on vintage Scandi-design salad plates that come preprinted with salad.

*chomp*

Gettin' Jiggy Like That

I dunno if I've told you guys this, but I bought a house. It is awesome. It was built in 1952. It has lots of brick as well as asbestos. A kitchen window. A fireplace. It has a shed in the back yard, covered in ivy, that I will make paintings in.

I've been sanding floors, staining things, painting all the weird beige-colored walls white. I found sawdust in my underwear yesterday. I'm not kidding.

So basically, I'm qualifying my week of silence - los siento, mi hombres y mujeres. My brain is frying from all the nesting instinct hormone its producing. Do forgive.

Buuuuut anyway - I'd love to get you lovelies to check out this pile of awesome, vegan delish over at my pal Ensley's blog - The Preppy Vegan - where I'll be doing a post a week of simpler (but still delish) meals while she's doing her Teach for America thang.

Vegan Migas are my new obsession. Come and see how many toppings you can fit on there before you can't see the tortillas any more. It's fewer than ya think!

For the Love of Injera

You know the stuff - floppy, covered in moon-scape mini-craters, tart, pancakey, delish. Awesomely and coincedentally - gluten-free!

You can get it fresh in Crown Town in piles of 8. 8 is a LOT of injera to get through, if it's only the two of you. We do our best.

I'm working on my Ethiop cooking skills - done the basics a few times now, and I think I'm improving. I don't feel any pressing need since we have some seriously awesome joints in town that are super veg friendly, but still, I tinker.

The only thing missing here are the tarty, stinky collards you find in a standard veggie combo. Because I still can't get Erk to dig on them greens. Sigh.

I also cheated and added braised tempeh to the regular Yetakelt W'et recipe I've made a number of times for a client - it was deeeelish and substantial. Being Indonesian in origin, I dunno if tempeh's made it over to Africa, so this is a non-traditional alteration. But hey, all in the name of sick deliciousness so it's aiiight.

Yetakelt W'et aka Ethiopian Vegetable Stew with Braised Tempeh

1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cake tempeh, cubed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium carrot, chunked
1 handful green beans
2 red potatoes, diced
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 large red onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 tablespoon berbere spices (Cedarland carries a 7 spice mix I like, consult your local Middle Eastern grocery store for this delicious stuff or buy it here)
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 large tomato, chopped
1/4 cup tomato paste
1.5 - 2 cups vegetable stock or water
salt to taste
minced parsley and scallion, 2 tablespoons each

I start by roasting all my veggies. You can braise your tempeh simultaneously.

Heat oven to 450f. Toss all your veggies, sans tomato, with the olive oil, some salt, and 2 cloves worth of your garlic. Spread on a pizza or baking pan, put a rack at oven bottom, and stick those suckers in there for 15 minutes or so, tossing every 5. Add a little water after the first and second tosses, to steam the taters a bit.

Toss your tempeh with a little sesame or coconut oil, some salt or bragg's, black pepper and 1 clove of the garlic. Feeling fiesty? Dust with berbere.

Set the tempeh in a baking dish in a single layer, add enough water (or veggie stock, if you've got some laying around) to just barely cover the tempeh, and stick it in the oven with the veggies. You want to give it at least 15 minutes to steam/braise, to get rid of the bitter taste tempeh often has. Ideally, all your liquid'll be gone - but it isn't necessary.

So, onto the stewing. Heat your coco oil in a deep pot and add onion and garlic. Saute 2 minutes. Add berbere and paprika, toss and toast a bit. Add your tomatoes and paste - stir and cook 4-5 minutes, until the fresh maters have softened. Now just scrape the entire baking pan of veggies into your pot, and add a cup of stock. Add your tempeh. You want a thick stew, but some sauce to sop with that amazing injera - add stock until the consistancy is reached.

Stir in your salt, parsley and scallion.

Deeeelish. Try this recipe for lentils - and a simple salad of tomato, cuke, lettuce, garlic, parsley and lemon - and feast like a king.

My first attempt at Buticha was kinda fail.

Too heavy handed with the berbere, not a long enough chilling time, the texture was weird. Flavor, too salty, too spicy (YUP I said it).

What am I talking about? This scrambled-egg like dish (sometimes referred to as "fasting eggs" ha!) I always scarf tons of when it's out on buffet. Made with chickpea or fava flour, some chili, mysterious mysterious, usually it's let sit overnight to solidify and then "scrambled" to a light, fluffy texture in the morning.

There was no fluffy in my buticha. I will not be discouraged! I will try again!

Cheers, dears :)

Plate of raw, Mexi goodness

Lordy lordy, it has been insanely, scorchingly, ozone-ladenly hot in CLT for about a week now.

Blech.

There will be no ovens turned on. There will be no burners and frying pans. There will be the raucous sound of blenders blending and food processors processing, the fake-warming in a barely-toasty oven, however.

I've been reading about and toying with the idea of eating more raw stuff lately, inspired by my natural instinct to gravitate towards the raw section of any salad bar - I don't go for the predressed stuff, it's always everything, jicama, beets, brocolli, cabbage, celery, zucchini, whatever's on there and fresh, get ye on my plate. Now. Results in a teetering tower almost every time, and some well-mannered Biddy's always giving me the "you're a pig" eye. Whatever, girl.

So I found this recipe for cauliflower rice - and it sounded texturally rad, but I didn't like the idear of fresh tomatoes - so I changed it up a bit. Maybe you like.

Raw Mexican Rice
serves 4

1 medium head cauliflower, leaves and stem removed
4 cloves garlic, minced
11/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground ancho chili 
1 tablespoon cold-pressed olive oil
Dash Coco Aminos or Himalayan Sea Salt
Dash sea salt
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes in oil, minced 
Safflower threads, a pinch
2 tablespoons each finely minced cilantro and scallions 


Easy peasy. In tow batches, process your cauliflower with the "s" blade until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Remove to a large bowl.


Toss remaining ingredients and let marinate on the counter for 30 mins - 1 hour, to let flavors blend.

There's a lot going on up there, so let me tell ya how I put ours together.


From bottom to top:


Lettuce, chopped
1 cup cauli rice
1 cup marinated veggies (zucchini, mushroom, asparagus, some coco aminos, some garlic, some lime juice, little raw agave)
minced tomato
Cashew Sour Cream (below)
Avocado-Lime puree (basically guacamole without the 'maters)
Raw Hot Sauce (also below)
and more minced cilantro. 


Filling and super yum, I felt all KINDS of energized after eating this.

Cashew sour cream is simple - I cultured mine, since I already had a batch of cashew cheese going - 


1 cup cashews, soaked for 6-8 hours
2 cloves garlic
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Water
Himalayan Sea Salt (this stuff is awesome, and pink, to boot! Beware, tho - a lot of raw foodists consider pure salts un-raw, but as for me, I gotta have it)


In a blender, puree all your ingredients for a few minutes until smooth. You'll probably add anywhere between 1/2 cup and 1 full cup of water to get a creamy, pourable texture.

You guys KNOW I had to have me some hot sauce.

Raw Hot Sauce


1-11/2 jalapeno (sniff your peppers - you'll get a bit of a burn in the nostril if your jalapenos are hot hot hot, in which case you'll only need one)
1/4 cup water
Dash cold-pressed olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
Juice of 1/2 lime
2-3 springs cilantro
Dash Coco Aminos or awesomepinksalt


Blend away. Make sure you warsh your paws afterwards - this stuff is potent.

Enjoy darlings!

Sushi Napolean, for kicks

I'm not an accomplished sushi roller - avocado squishes out on me, the middles of my rolls have gaps and so, whoops, there goes the cuke. I'll get better at it, methinks. But I wanted to try something different.

This stratified sushi works with most anything - roasted veggies, greens, whole cloves of roasted garlic, cream cheese, fresh stuffs like cukes, blanched asparagus, avocado. Remember to keep your toughest veggies at the bottom, however, so the slicing of the rest of the layers doesn't flatten your avocado/soft fillings.

Kind of birthday-cakey. Awesome.

EDIT - my lovely pal Nick let me in on a little secret this morning - this is technically Oshizushi, and they even have equipment you can buy to make slicing your "cake" less gut-wrenching. So if anyone out there's wondering what to get me for my birthday....

It's asparagus season over in these here parts, so I went with your standard ACA + C - Asparagus, Cucumber, Avocado and Carrot. Feel free to change stuffs up, however.

Sushi Napolean

1.5 cups sushi rice, washed
2.5 cups water

1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar

4 sheets nori

15-20 think asparagus spears
1/3 cuke
1 whole avocado
Shredded carrots, small handful

Dipping ideas:

Avocado/Wasabi Sauce
Teriyaki Sauce
Sriracha/Nayo Sauce
Sesame Seeds
etcetcetc

Let's do this.

Cook your sushi rice for 20 minutes on medium low until all the water is absorbed (or use your awesome rice cooker, either way). Let steam 5 minutes, remove to bowl, and stick that sucker in the freezer for 15 while you assemble your fillings.

Slice your cukes thin, 1/8 inch or so, salt lightly, and set aside.

Scoop your avocado and slice thin, about the same as the cukes, salt lightly, and set aside.

Set some water to boil and blanch your asparagus for 3-4 minutes, until bright green and a little softened. Chill in icewater. Remove woody ends and set aside.

Take your rice out and toss with your vinegar and sugar. I rarely heat my vinegar and dissolve my sugar in it first - I'm so scandalous. If you'd prefer, feel free.

Lay out a sheet of nori and press about 2/3 cup rice into the nori, leaving a 2 cm border around the rice. Press your thinly sliced cuke into the rice (or whatever thick, hard veggie you're using).

This works best if you have two sushi rolling mats, but if not, grab a plate, lay out another sheet of nori, and repeat the rice spreading step above. Turn over and press the riced nori onto the cukes, aligning the nori.

Gently press another 2/3 cup rice onto the 2nd layer of nori. You'll feel things squish around a bit underneath - just be gentle and don't worry too much about making it perfectly even. Lay your asparagus out in a flat layer. Press your carrots in and around them. On your other mat or plate, rice another sheet of nori with another 2/3 cup rice, then turn it over and press it onto the asparagus and carrot layer.

Another 2/3 cup of rice, gently pressed onto the nori, then add your avocado in an even layer. Once more, rice the last sheet of nori with 2/3 cup rice on the other rolling mat, turn it over, and lay it over the avocado layer.

Cover with a sheet of wax paper and a wide, heavy plate. Press the sushi for 10-15 minutes, using extra weight, if ya need:

(That, my friends, is a gallon-sized bottle of Frank's Hot Sauce. No, I'm not joking.)

Here comes the tricky part.

Sharpen your chef's knife. Trust me - this sucker is tough to slice.

Remove the weights and plate, careful - you might need to be gentle when removing the wax paper.

Wet your knife. Leave your water running a little tiny bit and grab a piece of paper towel.

Trim the edges of your napolean so that the border of plain nori you left on each sheet is gone, and the edges are clean.

Run water over your knife and clean the sushi remnants off with the paper towel.

Slice the napolean 4 times the wide way, drawing the knife through the cake and pushing gently down with eat cut. Wet and clean your knife after every cut. Make sure you feel your bamboo mat at the bottom at the end of each cut. Tough stuff, I know, getting through that last layer of nori can be tricky!

Slice 3 times the shorter way. Toothpick the pieces before moving them - you don't want to leave anything behind.

Really good as is, or dipped in sauce, soy, teriyaki, wasabi, et all. The sharper your knife, the smaller the squares can be - but don't go any bigger than I've described or there's no way you're fitting that sucker in your mouth.

I really dug on the geometry of this little dish. All lines, color, cross sections.

Enjoy!

Strung out on Strawberries

I've been having a blast hanging with some rad local-to-CLT foodbloggers over the past month. For lots of reasons.

One, it's a myriad of walks - teachers, photographers, personal chefs, fitness-minded-ers, food writers,  well...maybe we're not all THAT different, but diverse enough that the conversation's pretty awesome. I like to pick brains, and everyone's been AOK with that.

Two, I have no pals, save a couple, that do their own bloggy thang, so I can make nerdy, trite blogger jokes about basements and pajamas and get at LEAST an annoyed eye-roll.

Three, the potlucks we've had so far have been AMAZING, because everyone knows what they're doing in the kitchen x infiniti. And even more awesomely - they're cool with the couple of us that don't eats the meats, and have been schleping vegan and near vegan nosh to the park so that we can all partake.

 
And since I know that several of the CLTFBs are pretty into bacon and bar-b-que, it's pretty sweet of 'em. At this particular shindig, there were 7 of us and neon-nikon Crosby.

Strawberry Salsa. Hulllll-ooooo. This simple, fresh treatment was my fav of the day (and there were some serious contenders, believe you me). Brought to my mouth via Allison aka WishUponAChef. So good - lime, cilantro, jalapenos and sweet, sweet strawberries. Fantastic.

Check this mother out:

Yes. That's a sicknasty, huge, strawberry cream pie. And yes, I eschewed my summer veganism and had a messy, awesome slice. Thanks Julie!

VEGAN ARTICHOKE DIP ALERT - this was a close second to my stoked tongue. Cheezy, gooey, awesome. Maybe if you're stupendously sweet to Ensley, she'll share the recipe. Maybe she already has! We're talking about doing some super awesome guest posting this summer. Stay tuned, daaahlings.

And then of course Mr. Mathis (sounds like a spy name, amirite?) brought something awesome - sweet potato salad. Hulllll-oooo again, delicious.

(and seriously, I ate the weight of my arm in fresh cherries, thanks to Crosby) 

Friggin awesome fignewtonbrownies - yup -

(Katie, you're a goddess)

And let's not forget the lovely Diana, rockin' some cous cous tabbouleh. Yes. I ate lots.

So why all the 'berries, you ask? A couple of Sundays back was National Strawberry Picking Day - and to commemorate that Holy Day by staining our hands and straining our backs (I know I sound like a cranky old lady here, which I secretly am) we all converged on Miller Farm just over the state line in SC. Place was a bit picked over, but who cares.

6 years? 7? since I last PYO threwdown on some berries. Tomatoes are more my jam, and they're on their way in now. I'll be back.

Still, we got a friggin' gallon of the little, misshapen, tumorous, leftover suckers:

(alright not ALL of them were tumorous, there were a few primo specimens that we'd pick, get all excited over, and show off to each other)

Here's awesomefignewtonbrownie Katie with her haul:

And Julie, rockin' the smaller box and some shade:

Random sky panorama, was a lovely day:

There was no way those little red orbuses were going to last until I cookeried them on Saturday, so I saved a few for fresh noshing and froze the rest. Sunday morning rolls around and I, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, strawberry crazed, went to town on the gallon or so frosty in the freezer. Two things happened:

Strawberry Balsamic Sorbet. Simple, tart, a little watery, but interesting. I basically followed this recipe and tripled the balsamic - next time, I might just double it, as the tartness was almost overwhelming.

More excitingly - check this tart out. She's a looker.

The idea was to do a caprese tart, only with 'berries rather than 'maters. It was pretty awesome. Maybe even very.

Topped with balsamic reduction and some arugula, the feeling was that you we're noshing on your old pals mozz, tomato, basil, garlic, vinegar, greens - and then the strawberry would pop through and surprise!

Neat.


Strawberry Caprese Tart

sliced, serves 6-8

1 batch garlic-basil pastry for crust (I used this recipe to a T, gotta love Ezra!)
8 ozs fresh mozz, sliced thin
8 fresh or 12 frozen strawberries, sliced thin
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
Large handful fresh arugula

Easy peasy. Set your vinegar assimering in a non-reactive saucepan while you make your pastry - 10 minutes on medium heat should get it nice and syrupy.

Make your pastry - Mr. Poundcake did his in the food processor (GASP) so I did too. Doing it by hand will yield a flakier crust - it's up to you.

Butter a tart pan and roll out your (chilled! an hour! trust me!) dough thin - 1/8 inch or thereabouts. Carefully lift the dough onto the pan, press down, and let the pan cut the edge nicely (mine is sharp enough to do this, and reminds me of that fact every time my fingers get too fiesty with pastry-edge-pressing).

Lay your sliced mozz over your pastry, then your sliced strawberries. The correct term is scattering, I'm told.  Bake for about 30 minutes in a 375f oven, until your cheese is a little browned.

Cool your tart for about 20 minutes before attempting to remove it from your pan. Run a butter knife, gently, around any problem spots, and invert over a large, flat plate. Should loosen easily.

Drizzle that sucker with balsamic and plop a big ol' handful of fresh arugula in the center, and serve.

See you next year, Strawberry Mania! See you next month, HUGE PIG AWWWWWR.

oink.