Stroganoff (?) + Burger (?)

This stroganoff is one of the best things I've had this month.  I suppose it's not too different from this earlier recipe I made, though I wasn't going off of it as I did this one.  I learned a few things from this dish: first, cooking with wine is so great.  I don't like drinking it, but using a splash in place of tamari or stock allows you to a) add liquid (which can be essential to cooking things the way you want) without adding salt and b) add a completely different flavor which changes the other flavors, blah blah... I know you know these things.  But here it was amazing.  Also, I recently realized that adding flour to thicken dishes need not be so stressful; I have often worried about not whisking quickly enough and getting chunks/dumplings.  But if (just like with cornstarch) you mix the flour with a bit of cold water first and then add it, it's foolproof.  I have no idea why recipes direct you any other way.

I also made stir-fried dandelion greens with this.  Here, too, wine was really helpful, because the greens are so tough that they need to stew a little in extra liquid that cooks off, rather than just quickly fry.  These were cooked with garlic, tamari, white wine, and red pepper flakes. 

Tempeh-Mushroom Stroganoff

Ingredients

olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

pinch salt

lots of mushrooms, sliced

1 block tempeh, cut into small cubes or crumbled

1-1.5 c white wine

1 c stock

fresh rosemary

fresh thyme

dried sage

red pepper flakes

3 TB flour, mixed with 1/2 c water

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan.  Saute onion several minutes, then add garlic and a pinch of salt; cook several minutes more.  Add mushrooms and tempeh and cook until mushrooms have released their liquid, then deglaze with the wine.  Add stock as well.
2. Bring pot to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer.  Add herbs and red pepper flakes.  Cook about 15 minutes, uncovered.  Then add the flour-water mixture.  Simmer until everything thickens.  Serve hot with noodles.  Serves about 4.

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These Harissa Lentil Fritters froze and thawed quite well!

Cranberry-Walnut-OrangeBlossom Bread

Cranberry walnut bread is actually pretty traditional in my family.  Wanting to continue this, I took this recipe for cranberry orange walnut muffins and turned it into a loaf, which only entailed baking it longer--over 50 minutes.  Also, in a half-assed attempt to make it match with other menu items, I added a few tsp of orange blossom water.  I used more white flour than in the muffins.  And finally, I ended up using lemon zest instead of orange out of pure necessity.

This bread was great: not too sweet, and the orange blossom water was very subtle.  However, it dried out very quickly (like a day or two), and I think that using more oil and less applesauce might change this...

Cranberry-Walnut-OrangeBlossom Bread

Ingredients

1 c whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c white flour
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 c turbinado sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp dry ginger
1/2 tsp salt
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1/3 c oil
1 c applesauce (unsweetened)
juice and zest of one medium orange or lemon

1-2 tsp orange blossom water
soymilk or water to desired consistency (about 1 c)
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1 c walnuts
1 c fresh cranberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375*. Oil loaf pan.
2. Combine dry. Add wet, adding liquid to muffin-batter consistency (it should be thick, but just goopy enough that you can pour it with a ladle). Stir in walnuts and cranberries. Fill loaf pan. Bake about 50 min.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Mint, Sumac, and Pistachios

Lacking sunflower seeds, I made this squash recipe from ecurry with pistachios instead.  Wary of sumac, I decreased its role in this dish.

In the end, it's really the quality of the squash that makes or breaks a squash dish.  And it's so hard to tell from the outside.  I liked the flavor combination, but the final product ended up a bit underwhelming.  I think with a different squash, though, it would be great.  If anyone knows how to dowse for good squashes, please let me know.

Roasted Acorn Squash with Mint, Sumac, and Pistachios

(adapted from ecurry)

Ingredients

1 medium acorn or butternut squash or pumpkin (about 1-1.5 lbs) 

2.5 TB olive oil

1 TB honey 

1 TB lemon juice 

1/2 tsp cumin, crushed 

1 tsp sumac 

sea salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

crushed red pepper flakes, to taste

2 tsp dried mint 

1/2 c fresh mint leaves, torn 

1/4 c shelled roasted pistachios

Instructions

1. Carefully cut the squash into half . Scrape off seeds, pulp and strings with a spoon and discard. Slice them in to 1/2 inch thick wedges.Remove the skin if you want, or you may want to leave it in if you find difficult to peel. I usually peel them with a sharp knife before I cook.
2. Combine 2.5 tablespoon olive oil, honey, lemon juice, cumin,, sumac, salt, red and black pepper and dried mint leaves and whisk it.
3. Preheat oven to 375 F. In a baking tray, place the squash wedges, pour the whisked oil and lemon mix and toss well for the wedges to be well coated. Lay wedges on their sides, in a single layer on a baking tray. Roast, and carefully turn halfway through, until golden brown on both sides, about 30 – 40 minutes.  When the squash is done baking and is tender and golden brown, remove carefully from oven and toss the seeds and the chopped fresh mint leaves over the squash, toss the slices carefully to evenly spread the seeds and the mint, and bake at 300 F, for about 5 more minutes. Serve warm, with a sprinkle of red crushed pepper, sumac and more mint if you want.  Serves 3-4 as a side.

Roasted Cauliflower with Dates, Olives, Rosemary, and Red Pepper

As I've noted before, cauliflower gets sadly overlooked.  This recipe from running with tweezers pulls out all the stops in redeeming it, however, and I think it succeeds.

I didn't really change anything; I just upped the olives and reduced the rosemary.  In the end, roasted cauliflower is its own reward.

Roasted Cauliflower with Dates, Olives, Rosemary, and Red Pepper

(from running with tweezers)

Ingredients

1 medium (4-5″ in diameter) head of cauliflower, tough stems/leaves removed & cut into florets

1 TB extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/4 c earth balance

10 Medjool dates, pits removed & roughly chopped

15 green olives, pitted and roughly chopped

1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves removed from the stems then roughly chopped

kosher salt, to taste

red pepper flakes, to tase

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. In a large roasting pan or baking sheet, toss the cauliflower florets with the olive oil and the fresh ground black pepper. Once the oven comes up to temperature, roast the cauliflower for 20-25 minutes (depending on your oven) until tender with some caramelized brown spots. You’re not looking for char – just nice touches of golden brown.
2. About 2 minutes before you’re going to pull the cauliflower from the oven, heat the earthbalance in a large saucepan over medium heat. Allow to start to bubble and brown ever so slightly. Throw in the chopped rosemary, dates and olives and saute until heated through – you don’t want the rosemary to get black, though. Pull the cauliflower from the oven. You can either drizzle the butter/date/olive mixture over the cauliflower in the roasting pan and toss….or you can put the cauliflower in the butter mixture if your saute pan is big enough. Either will work. Taste a tiny floret & season with salt and red pepper accordingly. Serve immediately.  Serves about 4.

Kale Salad with Pomegranate Molasses Dressing and Sesame Seeds

Well, hey, let's start with the least exciting.  We needed something green with all these starchy vegetables, right?  And something that didn't have to go in the oven?  Kale salad to the rescue. 

I steamed some kale (2 bunches), then mixed it with a recipe of pomegranate molasses dressing (now, with a link that works!) and some sesame seeds.

Actually, that's it.

Thanksgiving!

Another Thanksgiving come and gone.  Any holiday that ends with a text being sent which reads, "lol bleeding is stanched" is probably an intense one.

Injuries aside, it was a merry and delicious affair.  The broadly Middle-Eastern menu was supplemented by a pumpkin puree from actual (weird, blue) pumpkins that Dan had, which made the best pie ever!  Christine brought some sesame cookies that the Russian lady in WeHo seemed to think were vegan (though shit very well may have gotten lost in translation), and there was also a healthy amount of wine and beer and dorky party games.

le menu 

dolmades and olives

cranberry walnut orangeblossom bread

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kale salad with pomegranate molasses vinaigrette

fire-roasted eggplant and chickpea stew

roasted potatoes and carrots in apricot-thyme-wine sauce

roasted cauliflower with dates, olives, rosemary, and red pepper

roasted acorn squash with mint, sumac, and pistachios

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sesame cookies

pumpkin pie with cardamom coconut cream (oops, the coconut cream did not happen, but you know, best intentions...)

lavender-mint champagne cocktails (1 c water, 1 c sugar, 2 tsp lavender, 2 tsp dried mint, reduced to a syrup; mixed with dry champagne at a ratio of 1 part syrup to 2 parts champagne)

Fast Macro

I passed my exams!  I am officially masterful!  I can read for fun!  I can... plan Thanksgiving in the next two days?

While studying, I've been making a lot of very simple and fast dishes.  Here are two:

I remade Celeste's awesome mushroom-leek soup, adding edamame this time. However, it tasted bland and sad.  I realized that it's because I used TJ's low-sodium soy sauce, instead of the good tamari I usually keep on hand.  This soup is usually perfect, despite its simplicity, but the tamari you use apparently really makes a difference.

Mushroom Leek Soup with Edamame

(from celeste's vegan goodness)

Ingredients

3 TB olive oil

1 8 oz package white mushrooms, thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
1 large leek, trimmed, cleaned, and thinly sliced into half-moons (about 3 cups)
salt
4 c water
2 TB tamari, or to taste

1 c edamame (optional)

Instructions

1. In a soup pot, heat olive oil at medium-high heat and sautee mushrooms until they begin to sweat, about 3 minutes.
2. Add leeks and a pinch of salt, and sautee until leeks are translucent, about 8-10 minutes.
3. Add 4 cups of water, or just enough to cover vegetables, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
4. Add tamari and edamame and simmer for 5 more minutes. Garnish with scallions, cilantro, or parsley.  Serves 4.

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I never go out of my way to find broccoli rabe, but this week it appeared before me in the grocery store.  The little florets of broccoli, but the bitter leaves of watercress, yum.  I used Meyer lemons instead of regular ones by accident, but given the bitterness of the vegetable, it actually turned out great to have a little sweetness in the mix.

Broccoli Rabe with Garlic, Sesame, and Meyer Lemon 

Ingredients

oil

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 large bunch broccoli rabe, cleaned and trimmed

tamari

juice of 1/2 meyer lemon

sesame seeds

Instructions

Heat oil, saute garlic (3 min), then add broccoli rabe and cook until tender (10 min?).  Add a splash of tamari, stir, then turn off heat.  Add lemon juice and sesame seeds, and serve hot.