Last Night's Dinner

Vegan Mofo Day 1: Pasta.

I'm not a super sauce lover on my pasta. Tomato sauce is something we have maybe once a year. We eat curried noodles slightly more often, with a coconut milk and curry sauce, but even then, we're more likely to have curry on rice than pasta. Most recently we had the fennel and tomato 'sauce' from ED&BV on pasta, and that was pretty delicious, but not at all saucy.

So I wanted pasta last night and didn't want real sauce. I took inspiration from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Ginger Bok Choy and Soba Noodles recipe out of Appetite for Reduction. I'm still a little sick from a cold that I started feeling a week ago so ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes are the first things on my mind. I modified it enough that it pretty much isn't even the same recipe anymore, so here you go.

8 oz soba noodles
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, cut in half then sliced thinly (I used a sweet onion because I had it; I can pretty much guarantee a red onion would be good too.)
8 oz mushrooms (I used pre sliced portobellos; use whatever you like. I wanted a more hearty component)
4 cloves garlic, 3 minced/crushed, 1 sliced
2" knob of garlic, prepared however you like (I use a vegetable peeler to peel off super thin slices; sometimes I then cut those into strips, but usually not. If you like it minced or chopped, go ahead!)
red pepper flakes to taste - start with 1/4 tsp, but if you like spicier go with 1/2 tsp
1 head broccoli, cut up into florettes
1/4 c white wine (broth would work if you don't have wine)
2 tbsp tamari

1. Start your water boiling for the noodles. The rest comes together pretty fast so it's important to get this started. Remember to salt the water well.

2. Heat the oil in a pan over medium - high heat. Saute the onions and mushrooms (add a pinch of salt, too) until the onions are translucent but not totally soft, they're good with a bit of crunch. Add the ginger, garlic and red pepper and saute 30 seconds more. Add the pasta to the boiling water.

3. Add the wine and deglaze the pan, then add the broccoli. Pop a lid on the pan and, stirring occasionally, let the broccoli steam in the wine until tender crisp, roughly ten minutes.

4. Check the pasta, and drain and return to the pot when it's done. Remove the lid from the broccoli and add the tamari. Cook off the excess moisture for 2 minutes or so.

5. Taste for salt. Dole out the pasta and then top with the broccoli. Enjoy!

Beginning of Vegan Mofo 2011

Hi! Welcome to Vegan Mofo 2011!

I'm hoping not to crap out early like I did last year. I had wanted to be doing a cookbook challenge simultaneously with Mofo but I don't think that's super realistic right now so I'll just concentrate on doing whatever I can and keeping up with the posting.

I must go make some dinner now... about which I will likely post on the morrow.

Here's to an Amazing Mofo 2011!

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting - VCTOTW

Cookbook Challenge: Week 1

My Week 1 cookbook was Eat, Drink & Be Vegan by Dreena Burton. I actually purchased this for the spring cookbook challenge and did make some stuff out of it, but haven't really cracked it since.

As tomatoes are looking pretty lovely and are from Ontario fields right now, not just the hothouses, I decided to go with Roasted Tomato and Fennel Pasta with Pine Nuts and Capers.

The recipe is super easy, since it pretty much just involves throwing the fennel and tomatoes on a baking sheet and roasting them for a while. You boil your pasta and when it's done you add the roasted vegetables and some capers and fresh basil and chow down! I thought I had pine nuts but apparently I got rid of them in the last round of kitchen clean up so I was missing that element; bet it would have been great with them though. Although I don't really have 'staple' foods per se, I will definitely be making this recipe again. The smell of the roasting vegetables was phenomenal and alone is enticement to make it again!

I made my own balsamic dressing for the salad, an old stand by my mom taught me. It's balsamic, olive oil, a clove of garlic, a spoon full of dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Beat together with a fork until it forms a nice emulsion and voila!

Cookbook Challenge!

A website I frequent regularly has 'Cookbook Challenges.' Everyone votes on which cookbooks to choose, and those books are assigned to a week. The challenges are usually 12 weeks long and each week a thread is started wherein everyone posts which recipes they have made (we try for a minimum of three for the week) from the selected book that week and awesomeness ensues. The idea is to pull out books that you maybe haven't cook from in a while, or to choose recipes that you haven't ever used before.

The last challenge was more of a challenge than most since I had a young baby to tend to and I kind of crapped out part way through, though I did get some of it done but never blogged about. The pictures are still in Ian's black hole of food pictures which may never see the light of day, by the way. The current challenge includes a ton of cookbooks that I do not own and, as I have now once again relegated myself to the realm of poor-studentness, I do not plan on purchasing any time soon.

Therefore, I've decided that I will do my own challenge with the books I do own. The one currently getting the most use is Appetite for Reduction, which, while it's awesome and totally deserving of the spot light, means the rest of my collection is gathering dust on my shelf. Time to do something about that.

Part of the challenge happens to coincide with Vegan Mofo, which this year is the month of October. Last year I vowed I would work on veganizing favorite dishes for MoFo. Since the challenge will take up a good part of my time and 'blogging energies' as it were, I will veganize one dish / week. Plus I've only managed to veganize two dishes ever anyway. This could be a disaster. Wish me luck!

Mish Mash

Sometimes two things sound good to me and I can't decide which I want. Then I make both, even if they don't go together. That's the case with this meal, it's a mish mash of various flavours that don't necessarily go together but who are you to tell me what I can and can't eat together? NO ONE. You're not the boss of me. I'll do what I want.

Both recipes adapted from Food & Drink magazine (free from the LCBO.)

Orzo with Fresh Orange & Olives
Early Summer 2011

I'll start with your basic lesson on segmenting oranges. Use a good knife to slice off the peel & pith from the orange, following the line of the peel so you don't lose too much orange. Once it's devoid of peel, slice the orange into section between the membranes, so all you'll have left is a weird membrane-y thinger that is the skeleton of the orange. For this recipe, do this over a bowl, because you'll want to save the juice. It's a bit of a messy process, but you're left with awesome clean segments.

• 2 large oranges
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 c rice (I prefer Thai Jasmine, but whatever you like will work)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes (I probably used almost 1 tsp; we're spice freaks)
• 3 1/2 c veg broth*
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 c kalamata olives, pitted and sliced, a few reserved for garnish
• 1/4 c snipped chives or thinly sliced green onions

*depends on how much orange juice you have

Do your thing with the oranges. Reserve the juice; pour into a measuring cup. Add enough broth so that you'll have 4 c total liquid.

In a pot over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add rice and fry, stirring, until a little golden, around 7 minutes. Add the pepper flakes and garlic and continue to saute for about a minute.

Add the broth-juice mixture and the salt. Cover and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 - 15 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed and rice is tender. You know, like how you cook rice.

When it's done, stir in the sliced olives, put it in your serving dish, and top with the orange segments and whole olives. Or be lazy like me and stir everything together and serve it from the pot, 'presentation' be damned.

*note: if using Orzo, use only 2.5 c of broth plus the orange juice*

Maple Mustard Mushrooms and Beans
Adapted from Maple Mustard Pork Medallions with Two Potatoes, Spring 2011
I made regular old garlic mashed potatoes instead of the two potatoes this recipe includes; if you don't know how to make mashed potatoes, vegan or not, there's a problem. You should probably exit your kitchen and leave the cooking up to the *real* chefs.

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp Earth Balance
• 1 sweet onion, cut into quarters and then sliced thinly (called for finely chopped, but since the sauce is the main dish and not just a topping, I like a little more texture to it. YMMV of course)
• 8 oz cremini mushrooms, halved
• 1/4 c flour
• 1/4 c mustard - it called for grainy, I used tarragon dijon, just don't use prepared yellow or Keen's hot and you'll be fine.
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 c veg broth
• 1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed sliced green onions for garnish (or chives or parsley; I skipped this part because I am lazy)

Heat the olive oil & Earth Balance over medium heat. Why are there are various settings is beyond me; you may as well just do everything on medium. Anyway. Add your onions & mushrooms. Saute until soft & translucent, as onions are wont to get; mushrooms should release their mosture and cook down a little but not till they're gone. 5 - 7 minutes should do it. Toss in the flour and stir constantly, cooking until it becomes a lightish golden colour, another 5 - 7 minutes or so. Just make sure the flour's cooked, no one wants that gross raw flour flavour and texture in their yummy sauce.
Add the mustard, syrup, vinegar and broth, stirring well to incorporate everything. Let it come to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it's almost at the thickness you want - like gravy. If it gets a little too thick, just stream in a bit more broth.

Toss in your beans and heat through. Serve over mashed potatoes with green onions sprinkled on top.

Butter Chicken - Vegan stylez.

I almost never miss meat. I miss the convenience factor because all fast food is meat centric. Some of my favorite cuisines include Indian and Thai, both of which are pretty easy to take the meat out of, so I'm fortunate that way. One thing I've never seen a veg version of, though, is butter chicken. I always, and I mean ALWAYS, ordered butter chicken from our local Indian haunt (which has sadly closed its doors. Heart breaking). Why can't you just make that sauce and put it on vegetables, darn it?

Oh, wait, you totally can. No one does, but I'm nothing if not a pioneer. Okay, I'm not a pioneer, I'm just a gal craving a comfort food from ages past.

I adapted this from the lovely book 1000 Indian Recipes, by Neelam Batra. For all you veg*ns out there, it also has clearly marked all vegan recipes which is awesome, of which there are many.

There are a couple of different steps involved, but I promise it will be worth it in the end. This first go-round, I decided to straight up sub vegan things for the dairy; next time around I will probably change it up a bit and make the cream sauce from cashews. I'd love to find vegan ghee, and I know it exists, but for the amount I'll use it I don't think it will be worth the search, so I will likely stick with Earth Balance next time as well. I'm actually really confused as to why this is even called Butter Chicken, since the amount of butter is so negligible (2tbsp? Seriously?).

Step 1: Tandoori Tofu

1 lb extra firm tofu, pressed
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Cut your tofu into grillable squares. For me, that's 8 pieces. For you, that might be different. Put it into a container with the salt and the lime juice, shake it all up so it's coated. Marinate it for somewhere around 2 hours. The tofu will suck up most of the lime juice, which is cool. It'll have a yummy zing when you bite into it.

1 tbsp grated ginger
3 cloves crushed garlic
1/3 c soy yogurt
2 tbsp soy creamer
1 tbsp peanut oil
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp turmeric

Mix all these guys together; toss it in the container with the limey tofu and shake it up so everything is coated. For chicken, the book recommends marinating for a minimum of 8 hours. I didn't have that kind of time so mine marinated for around 4 or 5. If you have the fore thought to go longer, by all means do so.

When you're tired of marinating it, preheat your BBQ and toss the pieces on until they have lovely char marks on each side. That's roughly a few minutes / side. You could bake it or broil it if you want, just bake or broil it however you normally do tofu.

Tear or cut it up into bite size pieces to prepare it for the 'butter' sauce!

The "Butter" Part

2 tbsp Earth Balance
1 1" stick cinnamon
2 bay leaves
2 black cardamom pods, crushed
5 - 7 green cardamom pods, crushed
10 cloves
4 cloves garlic, chopped
8 slices of ginger (about the size of a quarter)
1 - 3 green chiles ie serrano (I used 2, and I used red finger peppers because green / serranos were not available. Mine turned out much more spicy than average butter chicken, so beware, especially if you are a spice wuss!)
5 large tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 1/2 c water
1 tsp salt
1/2 to 1 c soy creamer

Melt your Earth Balance over medium heat and saute the cinnamon stick through to the peppers until fragrant and peppers are starting to brown a little, 2 or 3 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, paprika, nutmeg and water. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to med-low, and let simmer 20 - 25 minutes or until reduced to about half.

Let cool. Pass through a food mill or a fine mesh strainer. I used the strainer and mashed everything to heck with the back of a wooden spoon. The mill will result in a thicker consistency at this point, and probably would have avoided my thin sauce problem that I ended up with (fixed by adding a tablespoon of cornstarch mixed with a tablespoon of water, later).

Return to the pan, add salt and your tandoori tofu and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the soy creamer and let cook for another 5 minutes. If your sauce seems thin now is the time to add a little cornstarch mixed with water. You want the sauce to coat the tofu, not run off it.

Extra Fat Flavour

2 tbsp peanut oil
1 - 3 serrano or other chiles, sliced
1" ginger, peeled and cut into matchsticks

Heat the oil, turn it off and toss in the ginger and pepper, swirling. Mix this into your butter sauce when it's all done, to finish.

And in the word of Gordon Ramsay, Vegan Butter Chicken, DONE.

Some light activism for this Friday afternoon

I don't intend this blog to become a thing about food activism. For the most part, I don't really care what other people eat (though I definitely judge what other people feed their kids... but that's a whole 'nother story). I eat what I eat because of my own personal ethical & environmental choices and I expect other people to follow their own ethics and make their own decisions.

I've taken it upon myself to get a little education about food over the past year. I don't mean learning nutritional information. Unless you're a moron it's actually pretty easy to eat a balanced diet. I mean learning about the production of food, how it's grown, where it comes from, how it's slaughtered (if applicable), why the chain of food (note: not the circle of life chain of food) functions the way it does.

One thing has been repeated over and again. Corn is bad. Corn is the debbil. Corn is everywhere and it will kill you. Okay, so maybe it won't kill you. But it IS everywhere and the evils of corn are so pervasive that there isn't a facet of the food production industry that is not somehow involved with corn.

Take, for instance, the beef industry. When you think of a cow, you picture it standing knee deep in a luxurious field of grass, chewing its cud, lowing at its calf, a red bank barn somewhere in the distance, and so on and so forth. Idyllic. And great, cows are made to eat grass. That's what they do. It keeps them healthy and happy.

Guess what cows shouldn't eat? Corn. They can't digest corn properly and tend to get sick and require antibiotics. A cow in the wild would never say to itself "Mmm look at that luscious corn field, fuck this grass y'all."

Guess who's having a massive advertising campaign? Ontario Corn Fed Beef! People, please don't believe the hype. Corn fed beef is ridiculously bad for agriculture, the consumer, the cows, and the environment. Avoid beef altogether if you can't find grain or grass fed.

Why is it bad?
- they have to do a lot of work to make cows eat corn because it's not a natural food for them
- corn fed cows are prone to sickness, so they are injected with antibiotics before slaughter, which are unnecessary in grass fed cattle
- corn crops are almost 100% owned by Monsanto, which is pretty much the world's most evil corporation (genetically modified foods, legal battles with small farmers, and so on)
- corn fed beef is not from your happy outside cow; it's from a giant factory farm which are terrible for the environment

There's so much more. Please check out Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals and the excellent documentary Food, Inc. I've also heard good things about the documentary King Corn. While the books have a bit of a vegetarian lean (Safran Foer is vegetarian) their discussions of the food chain are definitely, shall we say, enlightening.

The take away? Seriously, kids, avoid that corn fed beef. The marketing industry is almost as evil as the corn industry, but don't let their shiny posters fool you. Corn fed bad. Grass fed good.