Fast things with tofu

I've gone through a cooking slump the last few weeks: It's been disgustingly hot, and I'm very busy getting ready for the new school year to start and for exams.  I have finally started cooking again, but first, here are a few really fast things I've thrown together in lieu of trying new legitimate recipes.

From the game of "which leftovers go together?"  Fried tofu with Panang Curry Paste, cilantro, and avocado, with brown rice.

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Superfast, kindofpadthai: sauteed tofu; then added garlic, ginger, and carrots; then added cabbage and tamari; then added cooked rice noodles and a mixture of peanut butter, garlic-chili paste, and water.  Topped with cilantro.

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In other news, my mom has mailed me all the books I had left at her house and never took with me to LA.  It's quite the selection of reading material!

Grilled Eggplant and Mango Noodle Salad with a Sweet Chili Dressing

It looks as though the heatwave here has finally passed.  Last weekend it was over 100 in my part of town, when it's barely topped 85 all summer.   The desire to cook and to eat both take a hit when it's so hot, but this salad from taste space looked so interesting, refreshing, delicious, and just pretty, I knew I had to try it.  But my neighborhood supermarket, although it has phenomenal produce, bulk goods, and strange imported pickled things, is not the best place to buy tofu.  Nor have they had asparagus for months.  By substituting chickpeas for tofu (inspired by yet another asparagus-fruit recipe), green beans for asparagus, and regular noodles for spiralized zucchini, we were able to make this awesome salad without making a more involved grocery run.

I chose to make this noodle salad and a chilled carrot soup because they were cold and refreshing.  I didn't think about how much heat I'd have to use to create said refreshingness!  Although in the original version Janet grilled the veggies outside, I don't have that option, and roasting in the oven really heated up my apartment.

The finished product, though, was delicious: chewy, salty eggplant and green beans; buttery tangy mango; crisp onions; aromatic basil and cilantro; and zingy vinegar and chili.  The overall product was ever so slightly too vinegary for my tastes, but I also didn't use quite enough noodles.  Anyway, I will definitely make a salad like this again--it would be easy to improvise some fun variations.

Grilled Eggplant and Mango Noodle Salad with a Sweet Chili Dressing

(adapted from taste space)

Instructions

1/6-1/4 c rice vinegar

1 TB agave or honey (omitted, partly because I had pre-seasoned rice vinegar)

1/4 tsp salt (omitted, partly because I had pre-seasoned rice vinegar)

1 clove garlic, pressed or minced

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil

zest and juice from 1 lime

1 1/2 c chickpeas

1 TB soy sauce

1 TB toasted sesame oil

3/4 lb Asian eggplant (around 2), sliced lengthwise into 1.5-cm strips

3/4 lb green beans, trimmed

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced or diced, soaked in water for at least 10 minutes, then drained

1 large or 2 small mangoes, cubed

large bunch basil, chopped

small bunch cilantro, chopped

8 oz soba noodles, cooked

Instructions

1. Combine the rice vinegar, agave, salt, garlic, chili flakes, toasted sesame oil, lime zest and juice. Stir and set aside.
2. Marinate your chickpeas with the soy sauce and toasted sesame oil for 5 minutes or so.
3. If you had big eggplants, definitely salt your eggplant for 30 minutes or so. The smaller Asian ones don’t need it. If salting, after salting, rinse off the salt and drain off excess water. Drizzle with a bit of oil and spread out on an oiled baking sheet.  Toss the green beans with a bit of oil, salt and pepper and spread them out on a second baking sheet.
4. Roast both the eggplant and the green beans in the oven at 375.  For me the eggplant took longer: about 30 minutes, flipping midway, and broiling at the very end.  Remove the eggplant when soft and slightly golden; remove the beans when bright green and starting to blister.  Chop the eggplant into chunks when slightly cooled.
5. To assemble the salad, toss together the noodles, chickpeas, grilled eggplant and green beans, onion, mango, basil, cilantro and the dressing.  Serves 4-6.

Ravioli Adventure

As I was in the middle of this, I texted a friend, "Fuck this shit.  I'm calling Chef Boyardee."  But then... the feeling of accomplishment and the deliciousness that followed were actually pretty great.

And anyway, this is a dish of components.  You can make the filling and the sauce well in advance; hell. you can even freeze and thaw them multiple times, as I did with this ground cauliflower-walnut meat.  The timing actually worked out really well: first, I made the filling; then, while the filling was cooling, I made the pasta dough; while the dough was sitting, I started the sauce; while the sauce was simmering, I started rolling out the pasta, then cutting it into shapes and making the raviolis; while one bunch of raviolis were simmering on the stove, I was putting together the next bunch.

So the sauce was pretty basic: olive oil, onion, garlic, salt, canned tomatoes with chilies, basil, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, cayenne, sugar.  What follows is 1) the filling and 2) the pasta dough/method.

For the filling, I started with the savory ground cauliflower-walnut slop that I posted about months ago.  This turned out amazing inside of the ravioli, because the walnuts maintained their crunch, giving the filling more texture than most versions (vegan or otherwise) would.  However, I think you could easily also do this with plain ol' TVP or crumbled tempeh.  In any case, it's not pretty, but a) it's going inside of a ravioli, so who cares? and b) ground beef is a whole lot nastier.

Meaty Ravioli Filling

Ingredients

olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1-1.5 c something meaty (I used savory ground cauliflower-walnut slop but you could also use plain TVP or crumbled tempeh)

1/2 c red wine

2 TB tomato paste

allspice, to taste

oregano, to taste

cayenne, to taste

nutritional yeast, to taste

salt, to taste

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, heat olive oil.  Saute onions 5-10 min, then add garlic and a pinch of salt.  Saute a few more minutes, then add "meat."  Saute a few more minutes until browned.
2. Deglaze pan with the wine.  Then also add tomato paste and remaining ingredients.  Reduce heat and cook 5-10 more minutes--at least long enough for the alcohol smell to subside.

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And now for the pasta!  I had to look around a bit for a recipe that used neither eggs nor semolina flour, but what I found worked like a dream (though I had to add a LOT more flour to balance out the water that the recipe called for).  Moreover, the chickpea flour in it adds fiber and protein.  I'm not exactly sure what the chickpea flour does for the consistency of the pasta, but this recipe seemed just right, despite the fact that I'd read that skipping the semolina flour would make your pasta mushier.

I've mapped out the timing for this process up above; the main thing is to give yourself more time than you think you need.

Homemade Ravioli

(adapted from vegan-food.net)

Instructions

1 2/3 c unbleached white flour (plus a lot more for kneading/flouring)

1/2 c chickpea flour

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 c water

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1 batch ravioli filling (see above)

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, chickpea flour, and salt.  Mix with a fork, then drizzle in water and mix well. 
2. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead 5-10 minutes until dough is firm and dry.  Place dough in a sealed ziploc bag for 10 minutes.
3. Open bag and cut dough into 8 separate pieces.  Leave the pieces you aren't using in the bag.
4. Roll out each piece on floured surface until quite thin.  Leave on a drying rack or hanging on a chair back to dry out for 5-10 min.
5. Start boiling a shallow pot of slightly salted water.
6. Return to each rolled out piece and, using a floured cookie cutter, cut the dough into pieces.  Then, scoop a heaping teaspoon onto every other piece (adjust this depending on the size of your cutout).
7. Slightly wet the edges of every other piece of dough, then assemble the ravioli, sealing the edges with the tines of a fork.
8. Put the completed ravioli into the boiling water (make sure it isn't boiling so hard that the ravioli are going to fall apart), only a few at a time.  Cook for 3-4 minutes and then remove.  Serve hot with sauce, or refridgerate or freeze for later.  Makes about 30 3x3-in raviolis.

Italian-Inspired Rotelle with Sausage, Spinach, and Sundried Tomatoes

One evening I got home and needed to eat quickly before going to a concert.  I threw this pasta dish together.  It was balanced, filling, and fast, and the flavors went together excellently.

It was also, however, a huge gluten bomb in the stomach.  I've already written about how these Field Roast sausages are delicious, minimally processed, and yet strangely difficult to digest.  Since I bought them, I intend on using them!  Perhaps in smaller amounts.

Italian-Inspired Rotelle with Sausage, Spinach, and Sundried Tomatoes

Ingredients

2 servings of pasta, cooked as directed (I used whole wheat rotelle)

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oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 sausage (I used Field Roast Italian), sliced

lots of spinach

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juice and zest of 1 lemon

3 sundried tomatoes (from a jar), chopped

oil from tomatoes

red pepper flakes

salt, if needed

Instructions

1. Cook pasta according to directions.

2. In a frying pan, heat oil, then saute garlic a few minutes.  Add sausage and cook until browned, then add spinach and cook briefly.

3. Toss pasta with saute mixture and remaining ingredients.  Add lemon and salt to taste.  Serves 2.

Spicy Noodles with Basil

Intrigued by a recipe that uses ketchup (as well as other premade sauces I didn't have), I made this noodle dish.  Basil, citrus, cucumber, and ginger freshened up the heavier flavors of sugar, peanut butter, and ketchup.  I found myself wishing for a greater variety and overall amount of veggies, but otherwise this was interesting and satisfying, and I think it could withstand a ton of tweaking based on your tastes and what you have lying around.  I also think rice stick noodles might be better, given that the flavors--insofar as they were anything--seemed more Thai than Japanese.

Spicy Noodles with Basil

(adapted from get sconed)

Ingredients

1 package tempeh, cut into pieces

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2-3 servings noodles (I used soba, but rice noodles might be better)

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2 TB tamari

1 TB wocerstershire

3 TB water

2 TB peanut butter

1 tsp ketchup

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp garlic chili paste

sesame oil

turmeric

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5 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 in piece ginger, minced

1-2 chilies, minced

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carrots, sliced

other vegetables

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juice of one lime

1 small cuke, peeled, diced, and divided

scallions, chopped and divided

basil, chopped and divided

Instructions

1. Steam tempeh, and then save water. Combine marinade/sauce ingredients (tamari through turmeric).
2. Marinate tempeh and cook noodles as directed.
3. In a frying pan or a wok, fry garlic, ginger, and chilies.
4. Pick the tempeh out of the marinade (reserving marinade), add said tempeh into the frying pan along with carrots and other veggies.
5. When tempeh is browned and veggies are slightly cooked, stir in noodles, leftover sauce/marinade, lime juice, and some each of cucumber, scallions, and basil.  Serve warm and top with additional cucumber, scallions, and basil.  Serves about 3.

Mac N Cheese N Nazis

This recipe is pretty famous.  I've heard about VegNews's Mac N Cheese for so long, and when I saw it again on epicurean vegan, I decided to finally give it a try.  I was pleased by the idea of a cheesy sauce that doesn't use anything "weird" like vegan cheese or silken tofu... but I was a bit underwhelmed by this recipe: it seemed rather bland and not very cheesy-tasting at all.  But given how popular it is, I'm definitely going to try it again some time, especially since I have a few ideas as to why it wasn't that exciting.  First of all, I was pretty sloppy with the measurements, and I think that using too much potato diluted the seasonings, especially salt.  Perhaps most egregiously, I forgot to add the 1/3 c earth balance to the sauce, which would have given it a much silkier, creamier texture.  And then finally, I did use brown rice pasta, which has a bit of a different texture--slightly firmer and gummier--though I think that actually might be nicer for a baked macaroni dish.

Other than the pasta and the dumb mistakes, I didn't change much about this recipe, but I have rearranged the ingredients and the directions in an order that seems more intuitive to me.

Mac N Cheese

(from vegnews via epicurean vegan)

Ingredients

1 c red potatoes, peeled and chopped

1/4 c carrot, chopped

1/3 c onion, chopped

2 TB shallots, chopped

1 c water

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8-oz elbow macaroni (or similar--I used Trader Joe's brown rice penne pasta)

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4 slices of bread, torn into large pieces

2 TB earth balance

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1/4 c cashews

2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic, minced

1/4 tsp Dijon mustard

1 TB lemon juice

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne

1/4 tsp paprika

1/3 c earth balance 

1/4 c nutritional yeast (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350. 
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the potatoes, carrots, onions, and shallots with the water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover for 15 minutes.
3. Cook the pasta according to package instructions.
4. Place the bread pieces in a food processor with the 2 tablespoons of Earth Balance and process until well crumbly and well combined.
5. Meanwhile, in a blender or food processor, combine the cashews, salt, garlic, remaining margarine, Dijon, lemon juice, pepper, cayenne, and nutritional yeast, if using. I recommend grinding the cashews up first before adding the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth.
6. Add the vegetable/water mixture to the cashew mixture and blend it until smooth. You’ll end up with a creamy cheesy sauce.
7. In a large bowl, combine the sauce and pasta until well coated. Pour it into a 9×12 baking pan.  I actually made a half batch in an 8x8 pan.
8. Top with the breadcrumbs and sprinkle with paprika.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Serves 4-8.

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I've also been going on some amazing hikes (with amazing people!) recently, and I'm going to take this opportunity to spam your googlereaders with a few photos from the most epic of these hikes.  This is a hike that starts in Will Rogers State Park and goes into Topanga to a valley where American Nazi sympathizers had a secret compound in the 1930s and 40s.  It was also briefly an artists' compound in the early 60s.  There are tons of ruins... and rattlesnakes.

Fava Bean Magic!

My friends Clare and Ingrid visited me from Colorado last week.  We had so much fun!!

One of the first things we did in LA was walk to the (rather endangered?!) Hollywood Farmers Market.  There we got many edible things, including fava beans, zucchini, broccoli, mint, and strawberries (which are ridiculously good and cheap all of a sudden here!).  None of us had ever made fresh fava beans, though I'd had this lukewarm experience with dried favas in the fava bean and mint salad with green beans (aka mojito beans).  This time around, we separated out the favas and the mojitos, to great effect, I think.

Like in green curry noodle soup, everything is green in this meal!!  We made a pasta sauce out of the favas, then added sauteed zucchini to it.  We had a side of steamed broccoli, and Clare whipped up the fresh mint into the best mojitos I've ever had.

Fresh favas have a slightly funky taste to them, almost like cheese.  We found recipes for sauces that called for nutritional yeast, but I'm glad we didn't add any--this sauce was so simple and absolutely perfect.

To prepare the favas, you pretty much have to treat them like almonds in need of blanching--you steam/blanch them, and then, while their guard is down, you squeeze them out of their second skins.

Fava Bean Sauce

Whole Wheat Rotelle in Fava Bean Sauce with Sauteed Zucchini

Magic Fava Bean Pasta Sauce

Ingredients

3 servings pasta

3 c fava beans, shelled

1 tsp miso paste, dissolved in (1 c?) water

garlic powder to taste

oil

1/2 onion, chopped

vegetables! chopped

salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Cook the pasta, then drain.
2. Blanch or steam shelled favas.  Remove their second skins.
3. Puree the now-doubly-naked favas with miso broth and garlic powder.  Adjust these things to taste and texture.
4. Heat oil in a large frying pan.  Saute onion and veggies until al dente.  Add the sauce and the pasta and mix well.  Add salt, pepper, or miso paste to taste, and serve hot.  Serves about 3.

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Meanwhile, Clare used some more of our farmers market spoils to craft some ridiculously good mojitos--or since they were made with gin, "Major Baileys."  The recipe: mint, sugar, and lemon juice, pureed, then gin and club soda added, and for some, pureed fresh strawberries. 

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Finally, a blast from, er, a while ago: I realized that dukkah makes a pretty awesome friend to pasta.  I mixed it with olive oil, garlic powder, and lemon juice, and tossed some pasta in it.

Green Curry Noodle Soup

How many green things are in this soup?

• serrano peppers
• scallions
• limes
• squash
• mustard greens
• collard greens
• turnip greens
• spinach
• cilantro
• mint
• basil
• (note to self: next time, garnish with diced avocado and make the lime-cilantro-avocado trifecta complete!)

Yes, friends, this is a very green soup.  It is also ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.

Fragrant, tangy, savory, interesting, filling, a complete meal, yet light-tasting... this goes in the soup hall of fame.

It's also a very flexible recipe.  You make the broth, adjust it to your taste, then strain it and add whatever you want.  This time, I omitted the lemongrass and the corn, reduced the chilies, subbed onion for shallot and mixed greens for spinach.  Then I added squash, heart of palm, and cooked soba noodles.  You know... you're not going to mess it up.

I also made some changes in the method: I toasted and ground the spices before adding them to the cooking oil, and I sauteed the tofu, squash, and heart of palm separately before adding them to the soup.

Green Curry Noodle Soup

(adapted from 101 cookbooks)

Ingredients

1 TB coriander seeds

1 1/2 tsp whole cumin seeds

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2 TB olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

4 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped

2+ small serrano chile peppers, thinly sliced

a 1 1/2-inch piece of ginger, peeled then grated

8 green onions, trimmed, thinly sliced

1/8 tsp turmeric powder

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1/4 c lime juice and a bit of zest

6-7 c vegetable broth

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1 block tofu, cut into tiny cubes

3-4 long pieces heart of palm, cut into little bits

squash (I used 3 small Mexican squash but you could also use 1-2 zucchini), cut into half-moon slices

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4 handfuls of chopped greens (I used the Trader Joe's bagged variety of mustard greens, collards, etc)

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1-2 servings soba noodles, cooked

a small handful of each of the following: fresh mint, fresh cilantro, fresh basil, chopped

lime juice, salt, and cayenne to taste
optional diced avocado as a garnish

Instructions

1. Lightly toast cumin and coriander.  Grind.
2. In a large pot, heat olive oil, then add toasted spices.  Cook 30 seconds, then add onion, garlic, chilies, ginger, scallions, and turmeric.  Cook over medium high heat 5+ minutes.
3. Add lime juice, zest, and broth.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 5+ minutes.
4. In a frying pan, lightly saute tofu, heart of palm, and squash.  I first browned the tofu on its own before adding the other veggies, which I left still crisp.
5. Strain broth and discard onion etc.  Return broth to pot and bring back to a simmer.  Add saute mixture and chopped greens.  Simmer about 5 minutes (til squash is tender but not mush), then add cooked noodles and herbs.  Adjust flavors to taste and serve.  Perhaps garnish with avocado.  Serves about 6.

Lemony Pasta with Roasted Asparagus and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

People who say there are no seasons in LA are stupid (don't get me started on the people who say there's "no public transportation" in LA!).  Signs of spring are everywhere, from the blooming purple trees on Virgil avenue (no, they're not jacarandas yet)--which followed the magnolias on campus--to the languid restlessness of my new students ("Why are we weigh'd upon with heaviness, / And utterly consumed with sharp distress, / While all things else have rest from weariness?"), to... the ubiquity of asparagus!

Yes, no matter how mild your climate, it seems that asparagus = springtime.  In this past week, not only did I start to see California asparagus at the grocery store, but I also saw one post on asparagus recipes over at the Native Foods blog, and another one at Diet, Dessert, and Dogs.

This recipe is easy and tasty!  The sun-dried tomatoes add sweetness and chewiness to balance out the lemon and the crispy asparagus.  Chickpeas mean it's basically a one-dish meal.

Lemony Pasta with Roasted Asparagus and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients

2 servings whole wheat rotelle pasta

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1 bunch asparagus, woody ends snapped off

olive oil

salt

2 cloves garlic, pressed

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4 sun-dried tomatoes, drained and sliced in strips

1 c chickpeas

salt

red pepper flakes

lemon

Ingredients

1. Cook pasta.  Drain and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 450*.  Place asparagus in a roasting pan; drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and garlic.  Roast for about 10 minutes, stirring once, until vegetables are slightly tender.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.
3. Cut asparagus into bite-sized pieces.  Toss pasta, asparagus, sun-dried tomatoes, and chickpeas.  Add salt and red pepper flakes, and serve with lemon wedges or sprinkle with lemon juice.
Serves about 3.

Pasta with Fennel Pesto and Roasted Veggies

After making that brussels sprouts dish with mushrooms and fennel and the vegan bouillabaisse, I still had some fennel in my fridge.  I just assumed it was going to go to waste--especially the fronds--and then I saw this recipe on holy cow.  You can really make pesto out of anything, can't you?

I reduced the nutritional yeast and the oil, used walnuts instead of pumpkin seeds, and added some lemon juice.  I don't know that I'll make it again--my food processor couldn't really overcome the fennel's stringiness--but it was an interesting variation on an old standard.  Besides the hint of licorice, this pesto is pretty mild, and the balsamic-roasted carrots, fennel, and onion have a nicely sweet flavor.

Pasta with Fennel Pesto and Roasted Veggies

(adapted from holy cow)

Ingredients

1/2 pound whole-wheat pasta (I found that the pesto recipe didn't make nearly enough for this much pasta)

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For the roasted vegetables:

1 fennel bulb (cut out the leaves and set aside for the pesto)

2 carrots

1 onion

1 TB balsamic vinegar

1 tsp olive oil

salt to taste

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

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For the pesto:

fronds reserved from the fennel bulb, chopped into smaller pieces

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 TB nutritional yeast (optional, but great both nutritionally and for that cheesy flavor)
1/4 cup lightly toasted walnuts

2-3 TB extra virgin olive oil

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 tsp ground black pepper

salt to taste

Instructions

1. Dice all the vegetables into 1-inch chunks and place in a baking dish.  Add vinegar, oil, salt and pepper.  Roast the vegetables in a 400-degree oven, stirring a couple of times during cooking, until they are fork-tender and coated with a balsamic glaze. This took me about 35 minutes.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions and drain.
3. Place all the pesto ingredients in a food processor (except the olive oil) and process until coarsely powdered. With the motor running, pour in the olive oil until you have an even paste.
4. Place the pasta, roasted veggies and the pesto in a bowl.  Mix well and serve immediately.  Pesto (the limiting reagent here) serves about 3.

Piccata!!

Awkward confession: for all the number of times I have uttered the word "piccata!" in my life, I had never actually eaten it until this past weekend.  This is the kind of thing where if you don't know, you probably don't need to... but certainly, it was partly in honor of Beavis and Butthead's imminent return to television that I decided to finally try making some piccata.

Quite different from a lot of eye-talian food we eat in the US, piccata is made with a sauce of lemon, white wine, and capers (yes, I'm still trying to use that damn bottle of wine).  In this particular recipe from LA's Augusta Vegan Bakery, the puckery tartness of the lemon, capers, and wine are balanced out by chewy-crispy mushrooms and by tofu that has been lightly battered and fried.

Wikipedia informs me that whereas "In the United States it is usually served with a starch, such as pasta, polenta, or rice . . . in Italy this is almost never done as veal piccata is a "secondo" (entree) and would be served after the pasta (or other starch) course."  Oh well.  I also drink cappuccinos after 10 am (and made with soy milk, no less!).

Although it's a bit complicated, what's nice about this recipe is that the "meat" isn't really the main thing; you could totally substitute any number of things in place of tofu: chickpeas, tempeh, seitan (but no thanks), fish, chicken.  What's important is the combination of temperatures, tastes, and textures.

I didn't change too much here.  I thought cornstarch might work better than Ener-G egg replacer, so I did that.  Also, Jon's doesn't carry shiitake mushrooms, and the 4 blocks to the Asian markets seemed particularly far, so I used cremini instead.  Actually, it was a little funny how both of the recipes I made for this dinner (the other of which is a mushroom, lentil, and tomato salad) used cremini mushrooms, but they were cut and cooked in different ways, so it didn't seem too redundant.

If--no, when--I make this again, I'll aim for a less sour sauce.  My dinner guest said she liked it just fine, but I thought that the sauce was too lemony, especially when paired with arugula, which is itself pretty bitter.  The more I cook, the more I realize that every dish or every meal is just about balance between yin and yang textures, flavors, colors, and sometimes temperatures.

But really, this seems like a dish that you should do according to your taste and your whims, not following a recipe, and perhaps sampling generously from the wine as you go along.  Next time.

Tofu Picatta with Mushrooms

(from Augusta Vegan Bakery)

Ingredients

for the tofu:

2 TB canola oil

1 block extra firm tofu, sliced and pressed

1/2 c water with 1/2 TB cornstarch dissolved in it

1/2 c flour

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for the mushrooms:

2 TB Earth Balance 

3 c shiitake mushrooms, sliced (I used cremini out of necessity)

1 TB dry white wine

1 TB lemon juice

pinch salt

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for the sauce:

1/2 c dry white wine (or more)

1/2 c vegetable broth (or more)

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 c lemon juice (or less)

2 tsp capers

1 TB Earth Balance

1 TB flour

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several cups pasta, cooked

2-3 c arugula

3 TB parsley, chopped

Instructions

1. You will need two mediumish frying pans, plus a pot for the pasta.  I used a saucier pan for the tofu/sauce instead of a normal fry pan.
2. Heat oil in a frying pan.  Dip tofu slabs in cornstarch liquid, then dredge in flour, and then fry for a few minutes on each side until lightly browned.  Remove from pan and put in oven to keep warm.
3. Deglaze the same pan with the wine and stock.  Reduce heat to low and simmer about 5 minutes.
4. In the second frying pan, melt the earth balance, then fry the mushrooms over medium heat until soft (about 5+ minutes).  Add the wine, lemon juice, and salt, and cook until the liquid is gone.  Then reduce heat to low and continue cooking until mushrooms are chewy and slightly crispy.
5. Meanwhile, finish the sauce.  Add the salt, lemon juice, and capers, then reduce heat to low.  Whisk in the earth balance, then carefully whisk in the flour.  Keep cooking on low until everything is done; thin with water if desired.
6. Adjust seasonings, then serve.  Put things on the plate in this order: greens, pasta, tofu, sauce, mushrooms, parsley.  Serves about 4. 

Ad hoc stirfry with cucumbers, cilantro, and rice noodles

Last night I came home hungry to a near-empty fridge.  I decided to just put everything that might be reasonably put into a stirfry, into a stirfry.  This included, among other things, alfalfa sprouts, jalapenos, cilantro and a persian cucumber.  The cilantro and the cucumber were really great--and both the cucumber and the noodles added textures that my go-to stirfry usually doesn't have--but the sprouts really just melted down into little unfriendly clumps, refusing to interact with the other vegetables.

Ad hoc stirfry with cucumbers, cilantro, and rice noodles

First: canola, sliced scallions, sliced or minced jalapenos, (garlic would have been nice here)
Second: cubed tofu, sliced carrots
Third: sprouts, chopped cilantro, sliced cucumbers, tamari, pinch sugar, cooked rice noodles, (sesame seeds or gomasio would have been nice here)

Pho

It's sort of been a day of frustrated plans.  Of course the day I'd planned to go to the zoo with Amanda and then take someone else to a biergarten would be the one rainy day in weeks.  But more than with my own frivolity being thwarted, my thoughts are with my brother, who today made the decision to leave Cairo, where he's been living and studying Arabic.  Although I cannot WAIT to hear that he's made it out of the country (his apartment is within a mile of some of the most intense protesting), I know it's got to be disappointing, having moved out of his apartment in the US, sold his car, paid for his tuition and living expenses in Egypt, etc., to be coming back to the US, at least temporarily.  (edit 1/31: Now he's considering staying...)

If rainy weather is good for anything, it's for soup.  I will avoid the seemingly inevitable puns that LA restaurants seem to require, and simply say that I made pho.  Pho the first time ever (oops).

Also, I got to go to the Natural History Museum instead, and then the sun came out and I got to go to the biergarten after all. 

Pho (pre-condiment), with sesame kale in the background

Apparently, some of the appeal of pho, which is a bit lost when you're cooking for one, is that there are all these condiments-- you can kind of make it whatever you want!  Pictured below: mint, cilantro, epazote (still masquerading as basil), lime, tamari, chili-garlic paste, jalapenos.

The broth is really unique-- cinnamon, cardamom, and fennel/anise add new dimensions.  I was worried about my broth being flavorful enough, especially skipping the dried mushrooms, so I also used a little stock paste.

And the finished product looks really pretty.

 

Pho

(from Cake Maker to the Stars)

 Ingredients

1 onion, peeled and quartered

2" piece ginger, thickly sliced

4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

12 c water (I subbed in a bit of stock)

4 pods cardamon, crushed or 1/4 tsp ground

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

5 whole star anise pods (I used 2 tsp fennel seed instead)

6 whole cloves

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt, plus more to taste

    2 carrots, coarsely chopped

large handful dried shiitake mushrooms, optional (I skipped this)

1 1/2-2 cups fresh shiitake or portobello mushrooms, sliced (I used cremini)

protein--about 1/3 cup per bowl, bite sized (I used firm tofu, fried)

2-3 cups fresh mung bean sprouts (I omitted this)

bunch fresh basil (I substituted epazote)

bunch fresh mint

1 jalapeno, thinly sliced

small bunch fresh cilantro

2 limes, cut in half and quartered

hoisin sauce, optional (omitted)

sriracha or red chili paste

tamari

*

13 oz package rice noodles

Instructions

1. Place the onion, garlic and ginger on a cookie sheet and broil under direct heat until lightly charred.

2. In a large pot, bring the water to a boil over high heat. Add the charred ingredients, the spices, sugar, salt, carrots and dried mushrooms, if using. Cover the pot and let the broth cook over medium high heat(rolling boil) for 30-45 minutes.
3. While the broth is cooking, prepare the noodles as directed on your package, rinse 'em well with cold water and set aside.
4. Prepare the herbs by giving 'em a good bath and drying them well. The fun part of eating pho is each diner gets to assemble and season their own bowls. So, you can pile "the accessories" onto one platter to be shared by the table, or arrange 'em into individual bowls for each person. Make neat but separate piles of the sprouts, basil, mint, cilantro and limes. Leave the leaves on the herbs, and let folks rip them off into their own bowls at the table.
5. Strain the broth to remove all solids, rinse out the pot and return the broth. Bring back to a soft boil and add the fresh mushrooms. Cook until the mushrooms are soft, about 5 minutes, then remove from heat. Season to taste lightly with salt.

6. To serve: divide the noodles evenly between 4 deep bowls. Top with your protein choice, then fill up with broth. Let each person season their bowls to taste with freshly torn herbs, sprouts, lime juice, jalapenos, wheat-free tamari, Sriracha and hoisin sauce.  Serves at least 4.

Squash and Mushroom Pasta with Citrus

And.. I'm back!  I may have missed the entire MLA convention last weekend because I was too busy eating ice cream for breakfast, checking out dive bars with a hot girl, and going to the park, but I'm at least back to my old habits of cooking.  This is one of three dishes I made Thursday night.  I liked the idea of making a creamy sauce out of vegetables, and the addition of citrus seemed like an interesting twist.

My squash was too little, and part of it was rotten and had to be thrown out [ :(  ], so I threw in some carrots as well.  Because I was using fresh roasted vegetables instead of softer frozen ones, I pureed the sauce ingredients before transferring them to the pan.  I also used rotelle instead of farfalle, and way less of it than the original recipe called for.  Finally, I halved the amount of nutritional yeast.  If you ask me, a little bit goes a long way.

The combination of squash and mushroom with citrus was lovely and satisfying, but I felt that the sauce was a little too dry or mealy feeling.  Next time I will either add some ground cashews or more olive oil to the sauce to make it richer.  The sliced almonds are a really great touch; they add needed variety to the textures of the dish.

Squash and Mushroom Pasta with Citrus

(adapted from happy healthy life)

Ingredients

4+ cups cooked pasta (about 8 oz. dry)

*

Squash Sauce:

2 c butternut squash (and/or carrot) cubes, roasted

1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed

1 tsp garlic powder

1 TB maple syrup

2 TB olive oil (or more)

dash of salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 TB nutritional yeast

juice of 1 orange

1 tsp orange zest

*

Chickpea Mixture:

1 TB olive oil

1/2 small white onion, diced

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1+ c cremini mushrooms, sliced 

1 can chickpeas, drained

1 TB lemon juice

1 c sliced almonds (roasted, unsalted) 

Instructions

1. Cook pasta according to instructions.
2. After the squash/carrots are roasted and cooled, puree all the sauce ingredients in a blender, then transfer to a pan.
3. In a second skillet, heat olive oil, then saute onion until clear.  Add cinnamon, mushrooms, and chickpeas, and cook about 10 minutes.  Then add lemon juice and almonds and turn off heat.
4. When pasta is finished, heat squash sauce over low heat, then add pasta and toss well.  Then add mushroom mixture as well.  Serve hot.  Serves 4-6.