PASSOVER VEGAN COOKOFF

We love the opportunity that family get-togethers provide to cook and share lots of different dishes.

This year we’re bringing some vegetables and quinoa for side dishes, as well a main course alternative to brisket—roasted tempeh. Really hoping the tempeh comes out nicely but with a ton of wild mushrooms on top and some mushroom syrup for an extra boost of flavor how bad could it be. For dessert we added a pineapple sorbet infused with star anise and a vegan cheesecake with fresh berries. Phew! Here are some pictures of the whole production . . .

Roasted mushrooms (for tempeh bake)

Roasted tempeh with mushrooms

Carrots, simmered with honey, orange juice, saffron and currants

Baby Peas, simply thawed, tossed with oil and vinegar, red onion and lots of fresh mint

Quinoa, with black olive vinaigrette and toppings

Pineapple sorbet

And the piece de resistance, a Birthday cheesecake-vegan style-for Eric :)

A good time was had by all!!

Roasted Kabocha Squash, w/ Kale, Shiitakes

What is Kabocha squash you may ask? ( I did.) That's what the internet is for! "A relative newcomer to the US squash scene, Kabocha squash (pronounced kuh-boh-cha) is a hard winter squash available from late fall to late spring. Its hard, dull, bumpy dark green shell is marked with pale celery green striations. It's rather heavy for its size (usually 2-3 pounds) and has a stumpy grayish colored stalk. Kabocha squash has a brilliant yellow-orange flesh, like a pumpkin's. Both the texture and flavor of Kabocha squash is similar to a sweet potato: the soft, moist, fluffy flesh is surprisingly sweet and slightly nutty."

And there you have it!

Anyhow.....

Finally got tired of staring at the Kabocha squash from the asian market. A quick look through the cupboards and refrigerator to see what needed to be cleaned out provided enough inspiration for this quick (once the squash was roasted) dinner. It all came together quickly, no pretty presentation here. Kale quickly become my favorite green where it gets tender but doesn’t lose all its texture. And its dirt cheap!

First, I split the squash, scooped out the seeds, cut into chunks and roasted. Looking forward to roasting this squash skin-on as in the past I have (apparently unnecessarily) painstakingly removed the skin. We’ll see.

(Yes, Green Moose pants makes this much easier to do ;) )

In the meantime, I slice my mushrooms and browned them nicely. Towards the end of that process I added some sliced onion. As the onion softened and browned I added some garlic, coriander power, salt, and pepper.

To prepare the kale I cut out the stems and sliced the leaves. Now they’re ready to add to the mushroom mixture. Another blurble of oil and some balsamic vinegar, a quick toss and cover on for a few minutes.

Finally, I tossed in a bit of chopped piquillo peppers for some color and Voile’.

Today marks a very important day in my culinary life......

I have successfully roasted a Butternut Squash all my myself! I just drizzled some maple syrup over it and sprinkled it with some cinnamon and 60 minutes later it was PERFECT!

It is the little things that I accomplish that make me happy :).

Crazy vegan mushroom pizza

Here’s a quick dinner, made that much simpler by grabbing a package of whole wheat pizza dough at the market. We always try to keep a nice variety of mushrooms on hand ‘cause they’re really affordable from the Asian market and work great in soups, stir-fry, or on their own. Tonight we have Maitake (or Hen of the Woods), Oyster, and plain old button mushrooms.

Also in an attempt to create that ever elusive crispy crust we heated our pizza stone under the broiler for a good while, then slid our crust, with toppings, from the back of a sheet pan, very carefully onto the hot stone. This way the bottom cooks very quickly, and so does the top (under the broiler). It worked nicely!

Anyway . . . ingredients were:

Mixed mushrooms, sliced

Garlic, minced

Thyme

Red Pepper flakes

Whole wheat pizza dough

Tofu cream (from the Kind Life cookbook)—tofu, soy/rice milk, lemon juice, umeboshi plum paste.

Leftover Trader Joe's Marinara sauce

Heat up a sauté pan, add olive oil, and when blazing hot (but not yet giving off smoke) add the mushrooms in an even layer. Let the mushrooms brown well without tossing or stirring. When nicely colored, shake them around the pan, and, right before they’re done add some chopped garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook another minute or two and set aside on a plate.

Stretch the pizza dough as thin as you like. We did this on the back of a sheet pan so we could slide it into the oven more easily. Then spread a layer of tofu cream and a couple tablespoons marinara sauce, top with the mushrooms and get into the oven. Its done when the bottom is nicely browned and cooked through (only a few minutes under the broiler).

Eric dri-zizzled his with some truffle oil that’s been in the cabinet forever, I just used olive oil on mine, with more salt and pepper flakes. Other vegetable toppings would work though, like steamed broccoli, caramelized onions, or olives but we kept it simple tonight.

Finished off a bag of salad with some Whole Foods pomegranate vinaigrette. And, as Julia says, er said, “Bon appetit.”

It's a kind life!

Eric and I decided to go Vegan on 1/1/2010 and with the exception of a slip here or there have stayed on course. We have started this blog as a way to post our recipes and pics to share as well as to keep as a record for ourselves.

Of course we will also be posting fun things that this Manas family does! Enjoy!