PERFECT POOL PARTY W/ PALS.........

(or my day impersonating a famous Food Network personality)



Still house sitting, which as you can imagine is pretty rough, laying by the pool and all, making sure it doesn’t get lonely. This menu has all the elements of an Ina Garten Barefoot Contessa episode, sans her fabulous cadre of pastel-sweatered, flower-loving homosexuals (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Oh well, a girl can dream.

After making egg salad last week for my little friend Emel, its been on my mind. Crumbled tofu with some turmeric does a good job masquerading as scrambled eggs so why not egg salad. Alicia Silverstone has a recipe in The Kind Life so we followed that one, right down the the crustless tea sandwich presentation (just in case the Queen pops over).

Tofu Egg Salad Sandwiches a la the Kind Life:

2 packs firm tofu, 2 small onions, 2 celery, 2T soy, 1T oil, 1t turmeric, 1/2t salt, 1t+Vegenaise, wheat bread

Mash the tofu in a bowl (leaving it chunky), add diced onions, celery, soy, salt, turmeric and mix. Stir in Vegenaise and refrigerate.

We cut the crusts off for a refined presentation.

The egg salad was a perfectly reasonable facsimile. The turmeric gave it perfect color while the onion and celery gave it texture and flavor. The more you drain the tofu the more Vegenaise you can appropriately add without getting to "moist" of a final product. No doubt about it, these were a hit, and very, very easy to make.

The next recipe sounded perfect for a hot, sunny day by the pool. Fresh mango summer rolls from VWAV (pg.84), w/Thai Dipping Sauce (pg.85) is the kind of dish that really doesn’t require a recipe, but that sort of thing usually doesn’t get in our way. That way if it ain’t tasty it surely wouldn’t be our fault—blame the book! Its all in the prep work here, very labor intensive. In fact it aggravated a certain someone’s achy back. We truly suffer for art. Anyway start with:

2 mango, peeled and slice into matchsticks

1c. seedless cucumber, matchsticks

½ c cilantro leaves

1 package thin rice noodles

¼ c peanuts, finely chopped

Rice paper wrappers

Thai Dipping Sauce

Boil water, add noodles, remove from heat and let soak about 10 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water and transfer to a bowl.

Fill a bowl with hot tap water and lay out your ingredients.

Then in assembly line fashion, soak a wrapper or two until soft, add some noodles in lower two-thirds of the roll, top with some peanuts, lay out a few mango and cucumber strips, and top with a few cilantro leaves.

Fold in the sides, roll the bottom of the wrapper over the filling.

Repeat until you don’t feel like doing anymore!

Thai Dipping Sauce

¼ c. rice wine vinegar

¼ c. water

1t chili oil

1 garlic, minced

3T roasted peanuts, chopped

1 ½ t sugar

Mix all ingredients together and chill.

The summer rolls were fresh and tasty. We were a bit worried about the dipping sauce due to its appearance (it looked like dirty dishwater with grease floating on the top). It worked with the neutral roll fillings though, providing a pretty tart (and a little heat and sweet). We added a bit of natural peanut butter to try to mimic the creamy consistency of the photo provided in the book. It was not to be, this was no peanut sauce. In any case it tasted good and just for some variety we set out some Sweet Chili Sauce and our VERY SPICY homemade Mango Habanero Hot Sauce for a trifecta of dipping pleasure. Soy sauce probably would have worked well too.

Finally in honor of strawberry season it seemed like the perfect time for a Strawberry-Spinach salad. Nothing too crazy here, just a few ingredients, tossed lightly at the last minute and voila’, Ina eat your heart out.

For the strawberry-spinach salad, we used a carton of baby spinach, a bunch of sliced strawberries, some slivered almonds and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

The dressing was a teaspoon or two of: Dijon mustard, Strawberry-Rhubarb jam and agave nectar whisked with about ¼ c lemon juice, a splash each of sherry vinegar, white wine vinegar and raspberry vinegar, then slowly whisked with about 1c olive oil. Finish with salt and pepper.

Good salad, perhaps greater than the sum of their simple parts. The strawberries were so ripe and juicy (and cheap at the Asian market!) that it only took a little dressing to moisten the salad. The strawberries were sweet, the dressing was tart and the nuts and seeds were crunchy. Too easy. Probably would even just whisk lemon juice, raspberry vinegar and oil next time. The other stuff was good in there but probably not even necessary.

So to wrap up a day at the pool, egg salad is a keeper perhaps with the addition of some fresh herbs. Mango summer rolls are a great idea, no recipe necessary. And Strawberry-Spinach salad is all about the fresh strawberries and, next time, an even simpler dressing.







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COOK THE BOOK: Ginger-Macadamia-Coconut-Carrot Cake (pg.215)

We were looking for a great dessert to do for a Father’s Day BBQ and this one fit the bill. Just look at the ingredients, something for everyone in there. Is it a carrot cake with a little coconut? Is it a coconut cake with carrots and nuts? Whatever you call, it didn’t last long.

The ingredients:

2 1/3 c. A.P. Flour

1T baking powder

1t baking soda

¾ t salt

2t cinnamon

½ t nutmeg, freshly grated

1c. pineapple juice

½ c. canola oil

¾ c sugar

½ c maple syrup

2t vanilla

1c. macadamia nuts, rough chop

¼ c. crystallized ginger, chopped

1c. unsweetened coconut, shredded

2c. carrots, grated

Oven to 350F, lightly grease two 8” cake pans (the recipe calls for springform, but we did just fine without them).

Sift together flour, baking powder and soda, salt and spices.

Separate bowl mix pineapple, oil, sugar, maple and vanilla.

Add dry to wet, combine well (we used a handheld mixer), then fold in nuts, ginger, coconut and carrots.

Divide the batter evenly between the pans, bake 40-45minutes, let cool in pans.

**Frost the first cake, stack the second and frost the top of that one.

Done.

The cake was delicious. Didn’t miss any eggs or dairy products, couldn’t tell really. Eating each slice was a delightfully capricious experience, not knowing if that was a crunchy macadamia nut or a spicy bite of ginger you were about to put in your mouth. So the cake had good spice and sweetness, tons of texture and was a great twist on the usual carrot cake. We served it with Coconut Milk Ice Cream. Perfect.

**Frosting: ¼ c. nonhydrogenated margarine, room temp

¼ c. coconut milk

1t vanilla

2c. confectioners’ sugar

1c. unsweetened coconut

CSA BASKET COOK-A-THON

We’re house sitting for two weeks and, in addition to doing our part to make sure the pool gets enough use in its owners absence,

we also get to pick up a CSA basket. That’s Community Supported Agriculture for those who didn’t know. This week “we” got:

1 bunch of beets

1 bunch swiss chard

Red leaf and green leaf lettuce

Radishes

Leeks

3 zucchini

5 peaches

1 roaster chicken (frozen), 5 fresh griller sausages, 1 dozen eggs, multigrain bread

Well the peaches were a no-brainer. They were delicious out of hand, and we practically ate them all the first day.

As for the swiss chard, we were intrigued by a Rocco DiSpirito recipe from his book Flavor consisting of Swiss Chard w/ Indian Lime Pickle. The lime pickle was purchased a while ago at the Asian market and had been taunting us from its perch in the cupboards ever since. Well lime pickle, your day has come. Lime pickle is an Indian condiment where whole limes are sliced or chopped and mixed with salt, sugar and Indian spices, then jarred for a while to allow the flavors to develop and the limes to soften. Needless to say it packs a load of tangy, salty and sweet flavor, where a little goes quite a long way. The recipe called for two bunches of swiss chard leaves, but as we only had one bunch, we simply used the beet greens that came attached (free of charge) to our bunch of beets.

On to the recipe then:

Blend about 1/8 c. lime pickle with 3T lemon juice, 2T olive oil until smooth (we added a bit of water to make it happen).

Blanch one bunch of swiss chard, leaves only (and the beet greens) for a few minutes, shock in ice water, and squeeze the excess water out

In a skillet heat a bit of olive oil, add 1T shallot until translucent (4-5minutes). Remove from heat, add chard/beet greens, lime pickle puree, 1t lemon zest, s+p, mix vigorously, (pray that it is going to taste good) and serve warm

.

The chard was very good, talk about big flavor. Took some getting used to as it was very tangy and very salty, and a bit sweet. But good, and definitely not boring. The beet greens worked fine here too and it felt good not to waste them.

Next, we tried cooking with the radishes. This took the form of Warm Barley Salad w/Braised Radishes. Pretty exciting stuff as we’ve eaten radishes raw in salads or even pickled our own, Asian style, but have never actually cooked them.

Cook 1c. barley in boiling water until tender (about 25-35 minutes), drain and rinse to cool a bit. Set aside in a large bowl.

Heat a skillet with some olive oil, add 8 radishes, sliced thinly, ¼ c raspberry vinegar, and a little less than 1T agave nectar, simmer on low until radishes are tender and glazed. Add 1T lemon juice to the skillet, then scrape everything into the bowl with the barley, add 1c. diced celery, and a handful of chopped celery leaves. Season, stir, eat.

Wasn't sure what to expect from the braised radishes but was pleasantly surprised. Definitely not my favorite vegetable to eat (raw, or cooked) but it had a bitter, peppery bite and the fruity and tart flavor of the vinegar glaze helped out the nutty but neutral barley. And the cool celery (and leaves) made for a nice warm/cool contrast. Not bad and it would be fun to make again if a bag of radishes lands on our doorstep, though we probably won't go looking for any.

Finally, feeling pretty ambitious (and hungry) we also did Glazed Beets and Carrots, w/ Cumin Dressing over Red and Green Leaf lettuces. This was based upon a recipe calling for baby beets and feta. We figured that by chopping our “adult” beets down to a proper size, the end result would be the same, sans feta of course.

So, medium skillet, 3T olive oil, add 3 beets (peeled and chopped into about 8 pieces), and a handful of baby carrots. Cook covered until beets are crisp-tender (about 5 minutes depending on the size of your beets). Uncover the pan and add 2t agave nectar and 2T white wine vinegar, stirring until vegetables are glazed and tender.

Remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon, then whisk in another 1T white wine vinegar and ½ t cumin, then pour over the vegetables. Let dressed vegetables cool slightly.

Add some torn leaves of green and red leaf lettuce to the vegetables, toss it around, sprinkle on some slivered almonds, and whoop, there it is.

This was fun and delicious as the carrots (and everything else) take on the crimson color of the beets. Everything glazed up perfectly and cooking chopped beets in a pan (no boiling or roasting) was a new trick. Only thing to change for next time was perhaps to get a little more "dressing" out of the whole process. Or maybe use less lettuce. Either way it was tasty and healthy and really what more can you ask for.

So CSA wrap-up . . .

The peaches were delicious and didn’t last long. We also had found 3 leftover, older peaches, so we chopped ‘em, added some minced habanero, a bit of sugar and cooked it into a sweet and spicy jam. Pretty sneaky huh.

We got to cook with radishes, were inspired to try lime pickle, ate lots and lots of greens (swiss chard, beet greens, red and green leaf lettuce), and were able to make a couple of quarts of veggie stock with the leeks and some less than fresh celery and carrots. Darn frugal. It was quite a whirlwind and now all we have are a few leftovers, 3 lonely zucchini, and about 6 days until next weeks basket.

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VEGAN-IZED PENNE w/ ASPARAGUS AND PEAS (w/ a dash of Cook the Book Alfredo sauce pg. 142 )

While it is fun to follow recipes and learn new tricks, we most often get inspiration from trying to create what we feel like eating at that moment, using what is in the cupboard and refrigerator (or growing in the backyard). We just usually don’t transcribe or photograph the results. Well starting from the idea of trying to “vegan-ize” one of our all–time favorite pasta recipes from Food and Wine magazine from a few years ago. The recipe is Penne with Asparagus and Peas and it uses chicken stock (easy to sub out), heavy cream, butter and parmesan cheese.

So the thought was to retain the asparagus and peas of course, pump up the flavor with a very flavorful, homemade veggie stock (w/corn cobs from the freezer), a splash of soy milk, a bunch of basil (needing to be used up in the vegetable bin) and . . . hmm, vegan alfredo perhaps. . . Well, there happens to be a version in Vegan With a Vengeance, using Nutritional Yeast and nuts to get that parmesan cheese richness. Worth a try, and in the end had everything we needed, except the asparagus, on hand.

So started by making VWAV Alfredo Sauce (pg.142):

2t olive oil, saute 1 med.onion, chopped in big chunks ‘til soft, add 4 chopped garlic cloves and saute another 2 minutes or so then add all to the food processor with:

½ c. water, 2t yellow mustard, ½ c. walnuts, 2t soy sauce, 2t chile powder, 1c. nutrional yeast, s+p

Blend until smooth, thinning with more water as needed.

The alfredo sauce comes out a dubious shade of brown (due to soy, nuts and mustard) but tasted flavorful and funky, not totally unlike parmesan cheese (hello, nutritional yeast). Seemed a bit thick to be used as a sauce on its own but looked perfect for our idea of combining it with our veggie broth, asparagus and peas for a sauce.

Also got a vegetable stock going using:

A bunch of corn cobs (scraping a bit to get the corn milk flowing)

Celery

Carrots

Parsley

A dash of powdered veggie broth mix

A few peppercorns

Covered everything with water, brought it to a boil, then simmered 30-45 minutes until it had a pronounced bright veggie flavor from the celery and parsley with definite underlying sweetness of the corn. We kept it warm, waiting to use it in the pasta recipe (and there was about a quart leftover after that too).

So for the pasta sauce:

On med.low heat got about 1lb asparagus (cut into 1” pieces) sautéing with some olive oil. After a few minutes, added a few cloves of chopped garlic. When you can smell the garlic, add about two cups of veggie broth, heat to high and reduce by about ½ .

When reduced by ½ add half a bag of frozen petite peas, around ¼ c. soy milk and reduce some more. Then swirl in about ¼ cup of the Alfredo sauce. The sauce was a bit thin and we wanted it to coat the pasta so we cheated with a bit of cornstarch slurry to thicken it up.

To finish the pasta, add some cooked Penne (we used whole wheat) to the sauce, toss to coat, finish with a bunch of chopped basil and some salt to taste. Damn good pasta, not quite an Alfredo, not quite true to the original Food and Wine recipe, but a real keeper and nice reminder that most of our best meals come from making things up as we go along. And we even wrote this one down so perhaps we can recreate it.

COOK THE BOOK: SOUP-ER TWO-FER

Corn Chowder (pg.57)

Curried Split Pea Soup (pg.69)

Seems like lots of soups and salads lately, huh? We do eat much more than that of course but for the purposes of this blog it has surely emerged as a recent theme. We’ll have to work on that! In any case here we go.

First up Corn Chowder. I know, when you think of chowder you don’t exactly think vegan what with the requisite milk-y base and bacon-y undertones. Obviously that ain’t this soup but the potatoes should help get the texture thick and creamy and a preview of summer corn season is always welcome.

This recipe starts with an onion, red bell pepper, a cup of carrots, and 2 jalapenos sautéed over medium heat. A teaspoon of dried thyme and rosemary (we only had fresh) are added, with salt and pepper. Then 3c. of vegetable broth (we used water), the kernels from 5 ears of corn, 2 russet potatoes, a bay leaf and pinch of cayenne all go into the pot. Cover, boil, then simmer 20 minutes. Uncover for another 10minutes to reduce a bit.

Bay leaf comes out, puree half the chowder and add back. Only ¼ cup soy milk is needed for the milk-y portion of the chowder, a drizzle of maple syrup and the juice of a lime and you’re done. We had fresh basil in the ‘frig and added some of that too (knowing that corn and basil are good friends).

The soup was very good, the corn maintained a nice crunch, it’s sweetness heightened by the maple syrup, then taken in a southwestern direction with lime and jalapeno. The recipe made 6 portions but somehow there were no leftovers. Hmm. Added bonus: We now have a nice collection of corn cobs in the freezer for making corn stock for, god bless, more soups, or perhaps a summery risotto.

Soup #2—Curried Split Pea Soup

We actually made this one a few weeks ago and any memories of it’s preparation are a bit hazy. Anyway, we cooked it, we ate it, we liked it. That’s our story at least, and we’re stickin’ to it.

A little olive oil in a soup pot with an onion to soften. Add 3 garlic, 2T ginger, 2t curry, 1t cumin, ¼ t coriander, ¼ t cardamom, pinch cinnamon, and 2t salt. Saute for a minute or two then add 2q water, stir and add 1lb dried split peas. Boil, then simmer for an hour covered until the peas are tender. To finish a carrot is grated into the soup and some fresh herbs are added (we used parsley).

The soup was good though mild with a faintly exotic aroma (thank you cardamom and cinnamon). As advertised “a nice and simple yet flavorful soup”.

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IT’S THEME WEEK HERE AT THE MFB!

A generous blast of pre-summer heat and the desire to refrain from firing up the oven or burners begat SALAD WEEK. It was also nice to have meal ideas ahead of time, not having to grasp at the last minute, rushing to the market after work to make dinner happen before passing out from starvation.

SALAD WEEK also gave a chance to open a cookbook that hadn’t really been opened in quite some time—Nancy Silverton’s Twist of the Wrist—which emphasizes using canned/jarred ingredients to put together (relatively) elegant dishes in no time at all, and make some homemade dressings that were fun to have leftover in the door of the refrigerator. So without any further ado . . . (cue trumpets) . . . SALAD WEEK.

MONDAY—Vegan Nicoise

A relatively loose interpretation of the French classic featuring butter lettuce, boiled potato, grape tomato, French green beans, black olives and tapenade. Here’s the dressing:

3T sherry vinegar, 2 garlic cloves (grated), 1 shallot (grated), 1/3c. olive oil, s+p

Blend the vinegar and solids, drizzle in the oil w/motor running. S+P to taste.

The salad was great, as the potatoes were separately tossed with tapenade, then everything else was dressed with the vinaigrette. The dressing was good but quite strong with raw garlic and raw shallot. Perhaps blanching each in the future might cut down on the bite (seems like too much work though). Otherwise, get some breathmints. Seriously.

TUESDAY—Zucchini Crudo w/ Hearts of Palm and Artichoke

This was a simple salad consisting of thinly sliced raw zucchini, a jar of hearts of palm (sliced thinly lengthwise), a jar of marinated artichoke hearts, some marinated mushrooms from the supermarket salad bar, parsley, and chopped lettuce as a base.

The dressing was simply olive oil, fresh lemon, shallot, s+p.

The flavors were quite good but the thinly sliced zucchini gets the wet noodle effect going so texturally it is hard to keep choking it down. We chose to add the lettuce to have some crispy crunch but that didn’t really save it. Like I said, it tasted good but I wouldn’t make it again.

WEDNESDAY—Buffalo Chicken Salad

This was a former Manas Family Classic. This version uses Spicy Chik’n patties, romaine lettuce, tomato, cucumber, red onion, and shredded carrot. The dressing was simply vegan ranch and buffalo sauce.

The Chik’n patties got nice and crisp in a pan (I know, we did have to turn on the burners!) and worked perfectly with the cool greens and vegetables. Our vegan version was just as good as the “meaty” classic.

THURSDAY—Belgian Endive w/ almonds, apple and mustard dressing

We have a winner! This was quite good. A simple mixture of endive leaves, roasted almonds (we did ours in the toaster, then tossed them with olive oil and salt), thinly sliced green apple and assorted herbs (tarragon, chive and parsely—all from the backyard!).

The dressing was: ½ c. vegenaise, grated garlic, 3T whole grain mustard and 2t red wine vinegar.

It had a nice spice from the mustard, and it was quite nice to find another use for vegenaise as I am warming to the product very slowly (being a former Hellman’s addict). Bottomline, this salad was quick enough to throw together any night of the week but was so good I would have paid money for it at a restaurant (and only complained a little that it was overpriced!)

FRIDAY—Southwestern Caesar

We’ve made vegan Caesar dressing before, using silken tofu, and it was pretty good. We found a creamy avocado dressing for this one so I suppose calling the salad a Caesar is a loose interpretation. In any case the salad had romaine lettuce, pickled jalapenos, avocado, tomato, scallion and black beans. The dressing was:

1c. cilantro, 1 avocado, 1/3c. lemon juice, 4 garlic, 2 shallot, ½ c. canola, 2T olive oil and s+p.

The dressing came out super creamy (let the blender run quite a while) and delicious. Having learned a lesson from earlier in the week the raw garlic and raw shallot amounts were scaled back some to lessen that raw bite. We found many more uses for the dressing and it was a great resource to have waiting in the refrigerator door.

So after a week of salads it seems a pretty safe bet that we’ll do some more theme weeks. Also we will definitely slide these salads into regular rotation, save the zucchini crudo (that one needs some work). Until next time. . .