Wow. Two months later, we remember - we have a blog. Not that we completely forgot, but boy has it been easy to just stick a frozen pizza in the oven or go out to eat with the family or with friends. But, we now have high motivation to get back on track with the cooking: our grocery bill has notably risen, and let's just say those splurges on honey roasted peanuts or half-priced Christmas candy haven't helped our figures.
So, in celebration of my (Tamar) immune system shutting down for the second time this winter season, we present to you our first recipe of 2010: a hearty vegetable stew, greatly inspired by a good cook and friend of ours. It's simple, cheap, and - with enough spice - helped clear my sinuses for a heavenly 15 minutes.
Hearty Winter Stew (vegan)
1-28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 onion, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 eggplant, peeled if not organic (waxy? Yeah, that's from the chemicals) and diced
1 pint mushrooms, cut into mid-sized chunks
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1.5 tsp dried basil
1.5 tsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf
Generous, but careful, amount of salt and pepper
Some white wine and some olive oil
Heat a large pot over medium heat, and pour two swigs of olive oil around the pan.
Toss in the onion, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, and garlic, ensuring that all are coated with the oil; mix in some salt and pepper.
Let the vegetables cook for about 5-7 minutes over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally.
Add in the spices (cumin, red pepper flakes, basil, oregano) and the liquid smoke and stir.
Pour in a little bit of white wine (we only had a tablespoon or two left in our bottle, so alas, that's what went in), turn the heat to high, and let the alcohol cook off for a minute or so.
Add the can of crushed tomatoes, plus about a can's worth of water, depending on what consistency you're going for.
Season with extra salt and pepper, place the bay leaf on top, and cover and let simmer over medium heat for 1 hour.
We ate this with a side of garlic bread - a mixture of Earth Balance and oregano spread on chiabatta bread, baked in the oven for a few minutes, topped with parmesan cheese, and broiled for an additional minute.
Showing posts with label mushroom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mushroom. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Monday, October 19, 2009
Spicy Tom Ka
We spent a good 15-20 minutes today looking for vegan tom ka soup recipes online. Though we found a handful, they all included expensive ingredients. Then we remembered that we have a food blog - and that part of having a food blog means experimenting and coming up with our own interpretations of food! We knew the main ingredients - coconut milk, lime, cilantro, lemongrass, tofu, and red chili paste. Since we sadly found out our paste was actually not kosher and had fish and shrimp flavoring in it (disgusting), that went straight to the trash and we decided to give cayenne pepper a go.
So, we present to you our version of tom ka soup. It's not authentic - it probably isn't even remotely thai - but we think it's damn good. And really spicy, so be careful!
Spicy Tom Ka Soup (vegan)
2 TBSP oil - we used safflower
1/2 red onion (yellow or shallot would work too; we had red lying around), diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 14 oz can coconut milk - try to use the full fat, it's thicker and the lite stuff will make your soup too watery
2 cans worth of water
1 veggie bouillon cube
3 lemongrass shoots
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 block of firm tofu, cut into small cubes
1/2 medium tomato, chopped
a bunch of mushrooms, sliced
1 or 2 tsp lime zest
Juice from 1/2 a lime
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
In a large pot, saute onion and garlic in oil over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes. Add in the following ingredients: coconut milk, water, veggie bouillon cube, lemongrass, mustard powder, ginger, tumeric, cayenne, soy sauce, sugar, and salt. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, turn heat down to a simmer, cover, and let the flavors blend together for about 20-25 minutes.
While the soup is doing its thing, work on prepping the vegetables and sautee the tofu in a pan until cubes are lightly browned and slightly firmer. Once the 25 minutes for the soup to simmer have passed, add in the tofu, tomato and mushrooms and let cook for another 10 minutes or so. For your final step - add in the lime zest, lime juice, and cilantro and give it a taste to see if you need more salt.
So, we present to you our version of tom ka soup. It's not authentic - it probably isn't even remotely thai - but we think it's damn good. And really spicy, so be careful!
Spicy Tom Ka Soup (vegan)
2 TBSP oil - we used safflower
1/2 red onion (yellow or shallot would work too; we had red lying around), diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 14 oz can coconut milk - try to use the full fat, it's thicker and the lite stuff will make your soup too watery
2 cans worth of water
1 veggie bouillon cube
3 lemongrass shoots
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 block of firm tofu, cut into small cubes
1/2 medium tomato, chopped
a bunch of mushrooms, sliced
1 or 2 tsp lime zest
Juice from 1/2 a lime
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
In a large pot, saute onion and garlic in oil over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes. Add in the following ingredients: coconut milk, water, veggie bouillon cube, lemongrass, mustard powder, ginger, tumeric, cayenne, soy sauce, sugar, and salt. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, turn heat down to a simmer, cover, and let the flavors blend together for about 20-25 minutes.
While the soup is doing its thing, work on prepping the vegetables and sautee the tofu in a pan until cubes are lightly browned and slightly firmer. Once the 25 minutes for the soup to simmer have passed, add in the tofu, tomato and mushrooms and let cook for another 10 minutes or so. For your final step - add in the lime zest, lime juice, and cilantro and give it a taste to see if you need more salt.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Shepherd's Pie
This dish is great for the fall and winter because you can pretty much bake it for as long as you like. It'll make the kitchen all warm and fill you right up!
Ingredients:
4 large Russet or Idaho potatoes (about 3lbs)
1/2cup water or veggie broth
1/2cup tomato sauce w/basil or whatever pasta sauce you have
16oz. frozen mixed veggies (I used a mix of carrots, green beans, peas, and Lima beans)
8oz. mushrooms
2 medium sized onions
1/2cup non-diary non-sweetened milk
1sprig fresh rosemary de-stemmed
1.5tbs vegan margarine (we love Earthbalance)
2tbs salt
2tbs soy sauce
.5tsp liquid smoke
9"x13" baking dish
optional:
2 stalks of chopped celery for the veggie mix
Start by boiling the potatoes until they're tender nice and tender. If you can easily push into the potato the length of the fork tooth, you're probably good. I would say give them a good 35-40min.
While the potatoes are boiling, place water or veggie broth in a pot, bring up the water temperature over medium heat and add chopped onions and mixed frozen veggies (the mixed veggies can be defrosted before hand or thawed right in the pot, don't worry, either way works). After about 7-8min the onions will get soft and the frozen veggies hot, add chopped mushroom and cook an additional 7-8min stirring occasionally.
Once all the veggies have softened, stir in tomato sauce, soy sauce, and liquid smoke then allow to simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.
Take boiled potatoes and mash in non-dairy milk, fennel, salt, and vegan margarine until smooth. Taste and adjust flavors as necessary. Then test to see if the potatoes spread easily, if not, get to mashin' so more. Spread veggies evenly across 9"x13" baking dish and top mixture with mashed potatoes. Bake for 35min-45min until bubbling. Allow cooling for 15min and serve.
Note: My dish was done at 30min but I let it bake for about an hour while waiting for Tamar to get home from a long day. The result: the top came out deliciously crispy and the whole dish was amazing. So take that winter...let it bake!
Ingredients:
4 large Russet or Idaho potatoes (about 3lbs)
1/2cup water or veggie broth
1/2cup tomato sauce w/basil or whatever pasta sauce you have
16oz. frozen mixed veggies (I used a mix of carrots, green beans, peas, and Lima beans)
8oz. mushrooms
2 medium sized onions
1/2cup non-diary non-sweetened milk
1sprig fresh rosemary de-stemmed
1.5tbs vegan margarine (we love Earthbalance)
2tbs salt
2tbs soy sauce
.5tsp liquid smoke
9"x13" baking dish
optional:
2 stalks of chopped celery for the veggie mix
Start by boiling the potatoes until they're tender nice and tender. If you can easily push into the potato the length of the fork tooth, you're probably good. I would say give them a good 35-40min.
While the potatoes are boiling, place water or veggie broth in a pot, bring up the water temperature over medium heat and add chopped onions and mixed frozen veggies (the mixed veggies can be defrosted before hand or thawed right in the pot, don't worry, either way works). After about 7-8min the onions will get soft and the frozen veggies hot, add chopped mushroom and cook an additional 7-8min stirring occasionally.
Once all the veggies have softened, stir in tomato sauce, soy sauce, and liquid smoke then allow to simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.
Take boiled potatoes and mash in non-dairy milk, fennel, salt, and vegan margarine until smooth. Taste and adjust flavors as necessary. Then test to see if the potatoes spread easily, if not, get to mashin' so more. Spread veggies evenly across 9"x13" baking dish and top mixture with mashed potatoes. Bake for 35min-45min until bubbling. Allow cooling for 15min and serve.
Note: My dish was done at 30min but I let it bake for about an hour while waiting for Tamar to get home from a long day. The result: the top came out deliciously crispy and the whole dish was amazing. So take that winter...let it bake!
Friday, September 4, 2009
For the Love of Vegan Cooking
This week reminded us that everyone has their good days and their bad days when it comes to cooking, especially vegan cooking.
On Wednesday, as Greg posted earlier that day, we had our friends Cristina and Dave over for dinner. We had planned a vegan meal consisting of asparagus crepes, mushroom and tofu ricotta crepes, a tomato and peach salad, and an appetizer of homemade french bread and olive tapenade. It all sounded so good and easy to make, especially since the only things that needed to go on the burner were the veggies and the crepes for a few minutes each. By 7:20 - 10 minutes before C & D were set to arrive - our kitchen turned into a food network show, with Tamar scrambling around the kitchen trying to figure out what to make, and Greg silently focusing on quickly chopping vegetables before heading out to the grocery store to buy a frozen pizza or pierogies that we could serve instead of what was turning out to be a disastrous meal.
Somehow, by the time Greg returned from the grocery store, I had 4 plates on the table, each showcasing a crepe stuffed with mushrooms and vegan ricotta, alongside sauteed asparagus with hollandaise sauce. Turns out, like those 20 page papers in college that I used to write the night (or morning) before, I do much better under pressure.
We pulled it off, just barely, but not without a slight nervous breakdown, a few muttered swears, and a deep hatred for vegan cooking. Needless to say, it was comforting to hear that Cristina, who so wonderfully took her first shot at vegan baking and made delicious cupcakes as a result, had a similar experience only a few hours earlier.
Recipe for the tapenade to come later on, perhaps once the white sox vs red sox game is over. Below, I am posting the recipes for things that came out, so the awful crepe recipe that we used is most definitely excluded. I have lost my faith in vegan crepes, but maybe one day when we own proper equipment, we'll give it another go.
Tomato and Peach Salad (vegan)
(Mark Bittman's recipes for 101 simple salads: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/dining/22mlist.html)
2 medium-size tomatoes
2 peaches
1 very small red onion (probably between 1/4-1/2 reg size onion)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 TBS olive oil
1-1.5 TBS lemon juice (we usually used fresh, but had concentrated LJ in the fridge)
a dash or two of red chili pepper flakes
Cut the tomatoes and peaches into similar size wedges. Sliver the red onion, and toss everything in a bowl. Pretty darn simple.
Sauteed Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce (vegan)
We sauteed about a lb of asparagus, stems chopped, in olive oil for 4-5 minutes and then slathered it with a tablespoon of Earth Balance and some salt and pepper. For the sauce, I found a great blog - www.veganyumyum.com; one of the better vegan sauces I have had.
1/2 cup silvered almonds
1/2 cup hot water
2 TBS Earth Balance
2 tsp lemon juice
2 TBS nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp mustard
salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
Mix ingredients in food processor or blender and season to taste.
Sauteed Mushrooms and Tofu Ricotta (vegan)
We used about a 1/2 lb mini portabella mushrooms, sliced into quarters. Sautee the mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil for a few minutes until pan is fairly dried out. Grab a swig or two of white wine and use it to deglaze the pan and give some mushrooms a meaty flavor. Season with salt, pepper, dried herbs, and various powders to your liking!
The tofu ricotta pretty much follows a recipe from Veganomicon, our vegan bible by Isa Moskowitz.
1 lb extra firm tofu
2 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
salt, pepper, tumeric, garlic powder, onion powder, dried herbs, and we like to add a little bit of heat - whether it be red chili pepper flakes, cayenne, or hot sauce.
Crumble tofu (roll up those sleeves and just dig in there with your recently washed hands), add lemon juice and garlic and continue to smush. Once it's seemingly close to ricotta appearance, add olive oil, nutritional yeast, and spices and mix and mash with a fork.
On Wednesday, as Greg posted earlier that day, we had our friends Cristina and Dave over for dinner. We had planned a vegan meal consisting of asparagus crepes, mushroom and tofu ricotta crepes, a tomato and peach salad, and an appetizer of homemade french bread and olive tapenade. It all sounded so good and easy to make, especially since the only things that needed to go on the burner were the veggies and the crepes for a few minutes each. By 7:20 - 10 minutes before C & D were set to arrive - our kitchen turned into a food network show, with Tamar scrambling around the kitchen trying to figure out what to make, and Greg silently focusing on quickly chopping vegetables before heading out to the grocery store to buy a frozen pizza or pierogies that we could serve instead of what was turning out to be a disastrous meal.
Somehow, by the time Greg returned from the grocery store, I had 4 plates on the table, each showcasing a crepe stuffed with mushrooms and vegan ricotta, alongside sauteed asparagus with hollandaise sauce. Turns out, like those 20 page papers in college that I used to write the night (or morning) before, I do much better under pressure.
We pulled it off, just barely, but not without a slight nervous breakdown, a few muttered swears, and a deep hatred for vegan cooking. Needless to say, it was comforting to hear that Cristina, who so wonderfully took her first shot at vegan baking and made delicious cupcakes as a result, had a similar experience only a few hours earlier.
Recipe for the tapenade to come later on, perhaps once the white sox vs red sox game is over. Below, I am posting the recipes for things that came out, so the awful crepe recipe that we used is most definitely excluded. I have lost my faith in vegan crepes, but maybe one day when we own proper equipment, we'll give it another go.
Tomato and Peach Salad (vegan)
(Mark Bittman's recipes for 101 simple salads: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/dining/22mlist.html)
2 medium-size tomatoes
2 peaches
1 very small red onion (probably between 1/4-1/2 reg size onion)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 TBS olive oil
1-1.5 TBS lemon juice (we usually used fresh, but had concentrated LJ in the fridge)
a dash or two of red chili pepper flakes
Cut the tomatoes and peaches into similar size wedges. Sliver the red onion, and toss everything in a bowl. Pretty darn simple.
Sauteed Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce (vegan)
We sauteed about a lb of asparagus, stems chopped, in olive oil for 4-5 minutes and then slathered it with a tablespoon of Earth Balance and some salt and pepper. For the sauce, I found a great blog - www.veganyumyum.com; one of the better vegan sauces I have had.
1/2 cup silvered almonds
1/2 cup hot water
2 TBS Earth Balance
2 tsp lemon juice
2 TBS nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp mustard
salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
Mix ingredients in food processor or blender and season to taste.
Sauteed Mushrooms and Tofu Ricotta (vegan)
We used about a 1/2 lb mini portabella mushrooms, sliced into quarters. Sautee the mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil for a few minutes until pan is fairly dried out. Grab a swig or two of white wine and use it to deglaze the pan and give some mushrooms a meaty flavor. Season with salt, pepper, dried herbs, and various powders to your liking!
The tofu ricotta pretty much follows a recipe from Veganomicon, our vegan bible by Isa Moskowitz.
1 lb extra firm tofu
2 tsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
salt, pepper, tumeric, garlic powder, onion powder, dried herbs, and we like to add a little bit of heat - whether it be red chili pepper flakes, cayenne, or hot sauce.
Crumble tofu (roll up those sleeves and just dig in there with your recently washed hands), add lemon juice and garlic and continue to smush. Once it's seemingly close to ricotta appearance, add olive oil, nutritional yeast, and spices and mix and mash with a fork.
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