Mediterranean Bean and Sausage Ragout

Maybe I should make a tag for food that tastes great but doesn't look so good, as this seems to be a common category in vegan cooking.  :-/

Edit 10/20/10: I recently remade this dish (though with chickpeas), and got a slightly better photo:

 

I made this for a dinner party tonight, so there's a chance that someone might read about his/her dinner before getting here!  The restrictions: the dinner would be Italian/Mediterraneanish, and I would make something proteiny.  Et voila.  Delectable comfort food made a bit special with wine and thyme, but mostly, really cheap and simple ingredients.  I started with a recipe from Vegan Planet and omitted the fennel and added tempeh sausage and capers (as I think a more traditional dish would probably have bacon or sausage or something in it as a base).  Pureed potato and white beans make this dish incredibly creamy, and the wine and capers give it a bit of zing in contrast to the other earthy, meaty flavors.  It's delicious!  Don't let the photo fool you.  We're having this with a pasta-vegetable salad and Blueberry Cornmeal Coffee Cake.

Mediterranean Bean and Sausage Ragout

(adapted from Vegan Planet)

Ingredients

2 TB olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 carrots, thinly sliced

1 large potato, peeled and diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 TB tomato paste

2 c vegetable stock

1/2+ c dry white wine

1 tsp dried thyme

2 bay leaves

2 15-oz cans white beans, drained and rinsed

2 TB capers and brine

tempeh sausage (see below)

salt

fresh parsley (optional)

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan or stockpot, heat oil.  Add onion and carrots, cover and cook about 5 min.
2. Add potato and garlic and cook until garlic is fragrant, about 30 sec.
3. Stir in tomato paste, stock, wine, thyme, and bay leaves.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer about 20 min, until vegetables are tender.
4. Add beans and cook 10 more minutes.  Turn off heat and allow to cool a bit.  Remove 1-2 c and puree in a blender.  Place back in pot, and add capers and brine, and tempeh sausage.  You probably will not need to add any salt.  Bring back up to hot and serve, garnishing with fresh parsley if desired.  Serves 4-6.

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Tempeh Sausage

Ingredients

8 oz. tempeh, cubed and/or crumbled
1/4 tsp dried thyme
3/4 tsp dried sage
1 bay leaf, ground
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
fennel seeds (optional)
ground black pepper
1/2 TB tamari
1-2 TB olive oil 

Instructions

Combine ingredients in a bowl.  Spread out on a baking sheet and broil for 5-6 minutes (or until browned), stirring once.

Whole wheat penne and greens in tomato sauce

I don't eat very much pasta, but I really like it. 

This was supposed to be amazing.  Savory Italian flavors, deliciously chewy pasta, fresh basil... what a great way to trick yourself into eating pounds of dark leafy greens!

I mean, I am not sorry that I just made a huge batch.  But it was a little unphenomenal.  I used too much liquid and too much oregano, so that you couldn't taste the basil (which was higher quality).  And, I got impatient and didn't cook the sauce as long as I needed to for the flavors to really come into their own.  So, do these things, and I bet this recipe will be even better.  Be sure to use high-quality canned tomatoes (like John Muir Glen) as they are really a star ingredient here.

Whole wheat penne and greens in tomato sauce

Ingredients

olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes

1 TB red pepper flakes (or less, to taste)

salt to taste

1 bay leaf

splash (or more) red wine (optional)

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp dried oregano (or 1 TB fresh)

chopped fresh basil

chopped chives or scallions

stock or water as necessary (I used a little miso broth)

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2 c whole wheat penne or rotini pasta

water

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1 lb greens (collard, mustard, etc.)

water

salt

Instructions

1. In a large cast iron skillet, heat olive oil.  Saute onion and garlic for several minutes.  Mix in tomatoes, pepper flakes, salt, bay leaf, red wine, sugar, and oregano.  Simmer for 40+ minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. In a pot or saucepan, prepare pasta according to instructions.  In a separate, large stockpot, cook greens in salted water until tender.  Drain pasta and greens and set aside.

3. Stir chopped basil and scallions/chives into the sauce and cook for about 10 more minutes.  Adjust salt and red pepper to taste (keep in mind you'll be diluting the sauce with the pasta and green).

4. Add pasta and greens to the skillet (if it looks like it won't fit, try the stockpot in which you cooked the greens).  Stir to mix thoroughly, and serve hot.  Serves about 5.

Devon Granola, or, Cookiewad Reconstructed

For a while, my friend Devon had a specialty sweet she always made, a sort of coconut-oatmeal macaroon.  But one day she decided she was never going to make them again, and slowly she's been giving the ingredients to me.  Newly-laden with brown rice syrup, as well as more coconut and cocoa than I already had, and devoid of granola, this seemed like the obvious thing to do.  This recipe is an adaptation of my last granola recipe.  I added coconut and cocoa, and I used brown rice syrup instead of sugar or apple juice.  Due to the added bulk of the coconut, I needed to increase the water, and because brown rice syrup isn't incredibly sweet, I increased that as well.  It's still not too sweet, so you might want to consider using more, or adding some additional brown sugar.

It's pretty good.  Future incarnations will experiment with more sweetener, more coconut, and less cocoa.   Also, you have to be careful not to burn it, because you can't see when it's getting browned.

Chocolate Coconut Granola

Ingredients

4 c rolled oats

1/4 cup flax seeds

1/4 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/2 c unsweetened coconut

1/2 c unsweetened cocoa

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/8 c brown rice syrup

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325*.
2. In a large bowl, stir together dry. In a separate bowl, mix together wet. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir until evenly coated. Spread in a thin layer on a large baking sheet.
3. Bake for up to 60 minutes in the preheated oven. Stir every 30 minutes, until lightly toasted and fragrant. Granola will crisp up more when cooled.

THAI EXPLOSION Tea Cookies

I've decided that my health and my wallet have a specific relationship to the visits I make to Trader Joe's: that is, I no longer buy food at TJs; I buy coffee, beer, candy, and processed soythings (ok, tempeh is still a food).  At the farmers market and at my local grocery, I buy things like vegetables, dried beans, nuts, and rice.  That is to say, the things I spend the most money on are some of the least nutritious.

This recipe developed this afternoon because I wanted to make cookies, but had no Earth Balance (because I usually get it at Trader Joe's, and I haven't been in a while).  I was going to make a crazier version of these peanut butter cookies with chili and coconut, but then I realized that someone who's allergic to nuts might want to eat them this evening.  Thus, this recipe.

These cookies taste great: first you taste lime and whole chunks of ginger; then you get a pretty strong kick of cayenne.  The texture, however, isn't my favorite: like the Marbled Pumpkin-Chocolate Cookies, they're rather cakey, almost like an American biscuit (but tiny and interesting).  I think next time they need more oil!  Of course, if these are "tea" cookies, maybe a cakier consistency is okay.  Also, the oddest thing of all is that the outside crust feels exactly like animal crackers in your mouth.

THAI EXPLOSION Tea Cookies

Ingredients

3 c white flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper

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zest of 2 limes

2 TB minced ginger

3/4 c brown rice syrup

1 TB sugar

scant 1/2 c olive oil

1/4 c water

1 tsp vanilla

2 "eggs" (ener-g egg replacer), optional (probably not necessary)

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1/2 c unsweetened coconut

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350*.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In one large bowl, combine dry; in another, combine wet.
3. Add wet to dry and mix only until combined.  Stir in coconut.  Refrigerate if dough is too soft to handle.
4. Form dough into small balls and place on baking sheet, at least 2 in apart.  Smush them gently.  Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown.  Makes about 5 dozen.

Warm Savory Lentil Salad

I'm finally back to cooking,  I think.  What between trying out new burrito places with guests and then eating at the Whole Foods salad bar each night that I spent at a conference in Salt Lake City...  I don't have much in my fridge.

I am amazed that this is so good.  It's just lentils--but I think bay leaves actually are magic.  Anyway, I just read a review of this restaurant and thinking about the similarities between (Americanized) Mexican and Indian food.  At first, I was just going to season the lentils like refried beans, but in the end, I went for more spices.  The combination of bay leaf and lentils is a delicious savory taste, almost like mushrooms.  The only thing that was missing is avocado (which are now coming from California again!).

Warm Savory Lentil Salad over Mixed Greens with Whole Wheat Tortilla

Ingredients

olive oil

white parts of a bunch of scallions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 jalapeno, minced

cumin

coriander

turmeric

cayenne to taste (and depending on your jalapeno)

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2 c stock

1 c lentils, rinsed

1 bay leaf

salt (if needed, depending on stock)

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green scallions, chopped

cilantro, chopped

avocado

lemon or lime juice

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil.  Add scallions, garlic, jalapeno, and spices, and saute until fragrant.  

2. Add stock, lentils, and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 30-40 min, or until lentils are tender but not totally shapeless.  Add salt if needed (some stocks are saltier than others).

3. Serve over greens or grains.  Garnish with chopped scallions (the green part), cilantro, avocado, and lemon/lime. Serves about 3. 

Broiled Veggies

Oh man.  Why haven't I been doing this often and forever?

I am unbelievably busy these days (hence the few and far between, easy posts).  Between the visitors to LA, the school commitments, and my own travel, I've barely been cooking, much less blogging.  Today I decided to prepare for the week / procrastinate by broiling some veggies that I can just throw into salads or sandwiches.  And why haven't I done this before?

I did eggplant, a green bell pepper, and some zucchini.  The flesh of the eggplant and zucchini turned out melt-in-your-mouth, almost buttery, while the eggplant skin was nicely chewy.  The pepper--blistered and succulent--wasn't bad, either.

Broiled Eggplant

Ingredients

eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, portobellos, etc. (about the equivalent of 2 medium eggplants), cut in 1/2-in slices

salt

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

4-6 TB olive oil

Instructions

1) If using eggplant, salt it and let it sit until water comes out of it.
2) Place garlic and olive oil in a largish bowl.  Dip vegetable slices in garlic-oil so that they are covered on both sides.
3) Place vegetable slices on a metal rack that is in a baking sheet (or, place on a grill).  Broil for 8-10 min, total, turning after about 4 minutes.  Watch carefully so that the vegetables don't burn.  Serve warm or at room temperature, over rice, or in a salad, or on a sandwich.  Serves at least 4.

Curious muffins with curiouser variations

 Marbled Coconut Muffins

I do eat other things besides sweets, I promise.  

I couldn't really decide what kind of muffin to make this morning, so this happened.  I was going to experiment with nuts and chocolate chips, but I finished off my stores of both last night.  And then my phone-timer was on silent, so I missed the critical almond moment.  Fresh cranberries were a little weird.  The test muffins without cranberries, however, are tasty!  If you just put the chocolate batter on top, rather than mixing it, you get an interesting chocolate "shell" on top (see below), but I like the mixed look (above) better.

Marbled Coconut Muffins (with fresh cranberries)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 c coconut
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1/4 c cocoa
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1/3 cup oil
1 cup applesauce
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
enough soy milk and/or water to get a good muffin consistency
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fresh cranberries?

walnuts?
chocolate chips?
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slivered almonds

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375*. Oil muffin tins.
2. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients except cocoa. Then, move half of the dry mix to a new bowl. Mix cocoa into only one of the bowls.
3. Add the remaining wet ingredients, dividing them equally between the two bowls. Add enough liquid to each so that you have two bowls of different-colored muffin batter. Add fresh cranberries, nuts, chocolate chips, etc., to one or both bowls.
4. Playfully ladle batter into muffin tins--you could do one color on top of the other, or two globs side-by-side. Use a fork to agitate the batter to create swirls, or leave the batter as is. Muffin tins should be almost full to the top.
5. Bake for 25 minutes, adding (if desired) slivered almonds on top when 5 minutes are remaining.  Makes 12 muffins.