Spinach and Leek Quiche

This recipe is very loosely based on Bryanna's Vegan Bell Pepper and Mushroom Quiche. Obviously one difference is the vegetables, but I also substituted EnerG egg replacer for the cornstarch and agar, as well as increased the tofu and vegan parmesan and decreased the soymilk. I did try Bryanna's recipe as written, but I found that the blended mixture sat on top of the vegetables and was a little too pudding-like for my taste. I also lowered the temperature to allow the filling time to become dense before the outer surface forms a crust. The changes I made produce a pie that is closer in consistency to the quiches I remember from my pre-vegan days.

ingredients:
1 9" pie shell
1 Tbs olive oil
1 leek, cleaned and sliced thinly
1 lb frozen chopped spinach
2 Tbs EnerG egg Replacer powder
1-1/4 cup soymilk
1 tsp vegetarian chicken bouillon (amount needed to make 1 cup broth)
1 dash of turmeric
1 dash nutmeg
a pinch of salt and pepper
1 cup firm tofu
1/2 cup Galaxy Foods Vegan Soy Parmesan
a dash of paprika

1. Bake the pie shell at the temperature indicated for a no-bake pie filling. Err on the side of undercooked. My pie crusts called for 425 F for 11-16 minutes, so I baked mine at 425 F for 10 mins. Once the shell is baked, cool completely and set the oven to 350 F.

2. Sweat the leeks in the olive oil until translucent (I used a covered cast-iron skillet).

3. Add spinach to the softened leeks and stir uncovered until most of the moisture is gone and the spinach is almost dry. Patience and a med-low heat are needed here.

4. Once the spinach is almost dry, remove from the heat and let the mixture cool while you blend the rest of the ingredients.

5. Add the EnerG powder to a medium-sized bowl, and slowly whisk in the soymilk until it is a smooth but thick liquid. Whisk in the bouillon (pulverize with a fork first if you're using a cube instead of a powder or paste), turmeric, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Use enough turmeric to give the mixture a nice egg-y color.

6. Whir the tofu in a food processor or blender before adding the EnerG-soymilk mixture and blending the entire thing a few seconds until smooth.

7. Stir together the blended mixture, the soy parmesan, and the cooled spinach mixture before filling the cooled pie shell.

8. Smooth the top of the unbaked quiche with a spoon or spatula and lightly sprinkle with paprika before baking in a 350 F preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the filling is firm and has started to crack.

Cornstarch: Good or Evil?

I just finished off my first ever box of cornstarch. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I bought it years ago before I was married. There's a picture of Martin Yan on the back from his Yan Can Cook! days. I have a feeling that he was probably a large part of why I bought it in the first place. I gave up on Cantonese-style stir-fries a long time ago. I've since used it in a few desserts and most recently in experimenting with vegan quiche.

The question is should I buy a new box? There has been a lot of media attention on corn in the past year or two: corn syrup, corn starch, GMO's. Now granted my corn starch is so old it was probably pre-GMO, but it's not exactly health food. There are supposedly healthier starches out there, and then there's the crowd of people eating to live beyond 100 who are eschewing starches and processed foods altogether. I, personally have a dear friend who has a sensitivity to many things, corn starch among them. Am I better off not replacing my box? What should I use instead? Kuzu? Potato? Tapioca? Arrowroot? Rice flour?

Auntie X's No-Knead Bread

Every weekend I make a batch of No-Knead Bread, sometimes I make extra dough and freeze it for later. I really love the flavor and texture that the long, slow rise gives the bread. My recipe is based on the NY Times recipe with a few changes.

ingredients:
1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast (I just eyeball it in the palm of my hand)
1 to 2 teaspoons raw/turbinado sugar (eyeballed)
1 to 2 teaspoons salt (again, I just eyeball it)
1-5/8 cups warm tapwater

1. In a big bowl mix all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until all the flour is wet, don't stress over having everything incorporated because the long rise will cover a multitude of sins.

2. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and let sit on top of the fridge or in some other warm, draft-free place for 12 to 18 hours.

3. About a half hour before you're ready to bake the bread pre-heat the oven as hot as it will go: 500 F if yours will allow, mine tops out at 450 F. Liberally flour your countertop, much more heavily than you would for other breads or cookies... if you see any spots of countertop the dough will stick. Basically the dough is a very wet dough. Dump the dough out onto the floured surface and scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula. Don't try to knead the dough, just fold it into thirds from both directions, flour the top, then cover with the plastic wrap off the bowl, and let rest for 30 minutes.

While your dough is resting, prep your loaf pan. First I take a large piece of aluminum foil, about twice as long as the loaf pan or longer:



Place the loaf pan in the middle of the piece of foil and first fold up the long edges against the outside of the loaf pan:



Then squeeze the ends together at each end of the loaf pan:



Then lift the short end of the foil up against the ends of the loaf pan and crimp to secure:




Now take the loaf pan out of the foil, and presto, you have a perfect mirror image that will keep the steam in, allowing the bread to rise to its maximum height before crusting.



I use Earth Balance or Soy Garden to lightly grease the loaf pan:



Once the dough has rested for 30 minutes, drop it into the loaf pan, it doesn't much matter how un-gracefully you do this, because it pretty much evens out in the oven.



Next, cover the loaf pan with the tinfoil tent and squeeze the edges tightly to the pan for as close a seal as possible:



Next pop the loaf into the pre-heated oven and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, use tongs to remove the aluminum foil and bake another 20 minutes to brown the crust.



The beauty of this recipe is that it is so forgiving.

FFtVSC: Lentil Soup with Kale Ribbons

This is a good solid work night dinner. It is a delicious, nutritious, and uncomplicated recipe. I give it a thumbs up.

Spring-Thyme Linguine for one

We've had a few really warm days, and the nights have stayed above freezing for most of them, so Paul and I decided to take full advantage of this beautiful sunny weather. Yesterday we took a picnic dinner out to the local state forest and hiked a bit. Today while Paul has been at work, I've been raking away the protective winter mulch and death to reveal the new buds of spring. The thyme in the herb garden is doing so well, you'd hardly think that winter had happened. Consequently, this lunch was born.

Ingredients:

1 generous serving of linguine, cooked but still damp with cooking liquid to prevent sticking
1 T olive oil
3 large porcini mushrooms, sliced
6 small spring onions, greens chopped into larger pieces, whites sliced finely
1 clove garlic, minced if you don't own a garlic press (though every garlic-lover should!)
1 small splash of white wine or rice wine vinegar
1-2 T fresh spring thyme, leaves slid off the stem
salt and pepper to taste

For this recipe I used my well-seasoned cast iron skillet.
Add the olive oil and mushrooms to the skillet and toss vigorously over high heat so that all of the liquid escaping the mushrooms evaporates. Stir-fry until the mushrooms have lost most of their water and started to brown, but haven't yet reached the crispy stage.
Reduce heat to med-low and add the green onions, toss until the whites of the onions have softened. Squeeze in garlic clove and continue stiffing for about a minute. Add linguine and white wine and toss. Turn off heat and add fresh thyme, salt and pepper to taste.

Bon Appetite!

FFtVSC: Wild Rice Pilaf with Peas, Lemon Zest, and Tarragon

This Wild Rice Pilaf from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker is unexpectedly one of the best recipes of this cookbook. I'm a relative novice when it comes to tarragon. I remember the first time I tried tarragon it seemed too licorice-y and sweet, and I generally prefer savory flavors. But I'm beginning to learn how it can be used in unexpected ways. I didn't want to run out to buy fresh tarragon, so I used a teaspoon of dried instead of the Tablespoon of fresh that the recipe calls for. I must admit that lemon and tarragon make a lovely pairing, and the two together helped balance out the natural swampiness of the wild rice without masking it's rich nuttiness. I also want to mention that cooking the wild rice in the slow cooker is pure genius. I used my rice cooker last time I made wild rice, and it's so tricky to get it beyond the crunchy stage and into delightful fluffiness. The slow cooker cooks the wild rice slowly enough that it doesn't burn, and the glass lid allows you to easily monitor the cooking progress without releasing all of the wonderful steam.

FFtVSC: South-African Slow-Cooked Bobotie

I had never heard of bobotie before I tried this recipe for the first time, and therefore I had no expectations. I think that this dish is one of the shining stars of Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. With the small caveat that the quality of the bread makes a huge difference. The bread that I like to use for this recipe is 9 grain bread from Baker's Inn because it's so chock full of whole grains and seeds. I also generally add more bread than the recipe calls for so that the bobotie ends up light and fluffy. The combination of the hearty bread cubes, sweet sauteed onion and apricot, and the mildly spicy curry powder makes me think of the holidays. It's like a delicious combination of Tourtiere, bread stuffing, and spicy pumpkin pie. Topped with crunchy sliced almonds, how can you go wrong?

FFtVSC: Pesto-Infused White Bean and Sun-Dried Tomato Stew

I'll admit, I didn't actually cook this one, Paul threw it together in the crockpot while I was at work. Unfortunately it didn't really turn out the way that I had thought it would. From the name of the dish I thought it would have the thick almost caramelized taste of the sun-dried tomatoes, the rich creaminess of the white beans and the sweet kick of the pesto. It didn't. I couldn't really taste the sun-dried tomatoes, nor the pesto, and the beans were lackluster. I'm hoping that this was a result of poor measurement, substandard ingredients, or a less-experienced cook. It's too bad because the concept of a sun-dried tomato and pesto stew was very enticing. I might need to rework it later when I have the time.

Veganomicon: Spicy Tempeh Nori Rolls

I'm back!

These babies made an appearance as Sunday lunch. They were pretty good. I've never had sushi with mayo in it, though I've heard it's very popular here in the States. I added all the hot oil that I had which was much more than the recipe called for, and it still didn't qualify as spicy for me, so either my hot oil wasn't very hot, or the mayo took away too much of the hit. The tempeh filling was a bit like "tuna" salad, and the fillings squished out the sides as I was forming the rolls. I think I would like to see some red pepper strips in this next time for a touch of color and sweetness.

M.I.A.

It's no secret that I haven't posted in a looooong time. Life happens.

My sister is more than halfway through her pregnancy now. We've gone shopping for baby furniture and shopping for maternity clothes, and just plain shopping. For some reason when she and I are together we end up "running a few errands" which ends up as a full day of shopping.

My brother's daughter Charlie had her hip surgery. It was a very long procedure that took a whole day and then a week at Boston Children's Hospital. She's doing well so far, though we had a little infection/pneumonia scare when she was recovering from the surgery. Luckily it wasn't insurmountable. She will be in a very elaborate cast for a while, which means that she can't fit in her car seat, so no visiting Auntie X.

And I got a full-time job for the first time in 2 years. Unfortunately, with 9 hours at work and 3 hours of commute each day, there isn't a lot of time left for cooking and blogging. I'm trying to be more proactive, planning ahead all meals and snacks for the entire week, doing all of my grocery shopping over the weekend, and using the crockpot as much as possible. Unfortunately even the best laid plans get brushed aside sometimes, especially this last week when I put in almost a full day's worth of overtime.

I don't want to give up this blog because I love to cook, but I think I'm going to have to get creative about how a do my blogging. I also have been really disappointed with the performance of my digital camera. The camera is a hand-me-down that I got from my mother-in-law. It was a reasonable camera for taking pictures of the renovation, but since the camera can't focus on anything closer than about 6 feet, it takes pretty unappealing food photos. But I also feel like photos are a very important part of food blogging. We eat first with our eyes, and it was always nicer to have a photograph to give you an idea about what the finished product will look like. Different cooks have different ideas about what "chop" or "thinly" means. Having a picture can give you and idea about what the author intended. So I've decided that one of the first purchases that I'll make with my new found income (once I've paid down some debt) is a new digital camera. I'd like to get the same one that Susan has over at Fat Free Vegan.

Wild Rice and Artichoke Salad

This is the recipe that originally made me realize that I didn't hate wild rice, artichokes, or capers like I thought I did. Wild rice always smelled swampy to me, and my few attempts at artichokes had left me un-enamored. This recipe seems to bring together these ingredients in such a way that lets them really shine. The original recipe was more involved and called for fresh artichokes, but generally that just seems too time consuming. By using canned artichoke hearts in this recipe, all of the ingredients except for the parsley and red onion are shelf stable, so this can be a quick and easy pantry meal.

ingredients:

3/4 cup uncooked wild rice
1/2 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
1 can artichoke hearts
1/2 red onion, very thinly sliced

dressing:
1/4 c veg broth
2 T lemon juice
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 clove garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
several grinds of black pepper
3 T of your good olive oil
2 T capers, minced

finally:
1 generous bunch of fresh parsley, minced

Wash your wild rice by rubbing between your fingers in a bowl of water, strain and rinse in a fine mesh strainer. Cook the wild rice with the 2 bay leaves and 1/2 tsp salt in about 1-3/4 to 2 c water. If there is water leftover after almost all the grains have split and popped, then drain off the rest of the liquid and remove the bay leaves.

While the wild rice is cooking, chop the onion thinly, and quarter the artichoke hearts lengthwise. Once the wild rice is finished cooking put it in a large bowl to cool. I usually add the onion at this point, since the heat of the rice partially cooks them and takes the edge off their bite. If you really like raw onion, feel free to keep them aside until the wild rice is cooled.

Next mix up the dressing. I find the easiest way to do this is to measure the ingredients for the dressing into a small tightly sealing container and shake. Once the dressing is emulsified, you can combine everything. Don't forget to add lots of fresh parsley, as much as you can stand, it really brightens it. I think this salad is best at room temperature because the flavors are dulled too much by cold. It's okay to prep ahead and refrigerate though, just give it a chance to come up to room temperature before serving.

Easy Big Bread

I've been sick for almost a week now, but life carries on, and we were running out of baked goods, so I decided to try out this recipe for bread that's faster than the overnight rise needed for the No Knead Bread recipe. Since the rise time was low for this bread I decided to try to compensate by increasing the gluten. I replaced 3 tablespoons of the flour with vital wheat gluten. Unfortunately I don't think that the kneading time was sufficient to thoroughly activate the gluten. The result is a very light, soft bread with a delicate crumb. It's really best toasted. It's a bit like what our local grocery store bakery sells as peasant bread or portuguese bread. It was a nice change of pace from the No Knead Bread, but I'm not sure that it really qualifies as spectacular. I think the No Knead Bread has a lot of flavor from the slow rise that is easy to overlook, until it's not there as with this bread. This bread is perfectly good toasted around a simple sandwich, but it isn't really the sort of bread that I would sit down and eat a slice of plain, and sometimes that's just what I like to do.

Veganomicon: Chickpea Noodle Soup

*cough*, *cough*, *snif*, *snif*
I've been under the weather for the better part of the week. We've had pizza that I fully intended to blog, but then lost the will to photograph, and Chinese food from the local restaurant that was gloriously greasy, spicy, and comforting. Finally yesterday I decided it was time to nourish myself with something home-cooked.

I decided it was time to try out the highly acclaimed Chickpea Noodle Soup. It was warm and rich and comforting. My first impression was that the noodles soaked up far more of the liquid than I thought they would, to the point where it was almost a very saucy pasta dish rather than a soup. It was very good and highly addictive though. My only quibble is that I couldn't finish the whole pot in one sitting (even my stomach has limitations) and the second day it just wasn't the same. Miso doesn't reheat well and the mushroom flavor seemed to take over the dish. I ended up adding enough seitan cooking broth to thin it out and frozen corn and peas to brighten the flavor. I think I might try this again, but without the mushrooms, and maybe adding something green...

Seitan Pot Pie with Brussels Sprouts and Biscuits

Seitan Pot Pie is one of our favorites. It's usually the first menu suggestion out of Paul's mouth whenever we have seitan in the house. I've even blogged a recipe here before. Tonight's version included brussels sprouts and was made using the Simple Seitan from Veganomicon. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. The broth turned out very flavorful, even without any added salt.

Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
2 med carrots, diced
2 med celery stalks, diced
1 large onion, diced (tonight I used red onion, it lent a nice sweet flavor)
approximately 1 lb seitan, either home-made or store bought
4 cups seitan broth or a light chicken-flavored broth (I like No-Chicken broth by Imagine Foods)
1/2 lb brussels sprouts quartered
2 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced finely
2 bay leaves
1-2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried sage
1/4 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen peas
2-4 tsp corn starch and cold water (we like our potpie soupy, but if you like yours more of a gravy consistency, then add more cornstarch and/or use less broth)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Saute the onion, celery, and carrots in the olive oil until softened. Add the seitan and brussels sprouts and stir to coat everything with oil, saute for another minute or two, it's ok if things start to stick to the bottom a bit because they'll release when you add the broth. Add the garlic, herbs, and broth. Raise the heat to high until the broth boils, add the cornstarch mixed with a small amount of cold water (just enough to dissolve it), and then simmer on low while you prepare your favorite biscuit dough and the oven finishes preheating.

For this, I made the biscuits from the Leek and Bean Cassoulet, making sure to stir and combine everything more thoroughly this time. I used regular all-purpose flour this time and the biscuit dough was much softer and stickier. Instead of working it with my hands I used 2 spoons to form drop biscuits on the top of the potpie.

Just before adding the biscuits, I added the frozen corn and peas to the pot and stirred to combine. Remove the 2 bay leaves. Taste the broth now and make any adjustments for seasoning before you top with the biscuits. Then the entire thing goes into the preheated oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the biscuits are cooked through and slightly browned.

FatFreeVegan: North African Chickpea and Kale Soup

I know I said last time that Paul doesn't like kale, but I had to use up the rest of the bunch that I had bought because it was starting to go wilty. I also had chickpeas and I always have carrots so this soup made a lot of sense. This recipe was our second win for kale!

Veganomicon: Braised Seitan with Brussels, Kale, and Sundried Tomatoes

We love seitan and brussels sprouts. Unfortunately Paul isn't so fond of kale, so I served it over linguini to sweeten the deal. The recipe called for 2 Tbs of oil with a note to add more if necessary and I was pretty much ready to cut way back on the oil because the only sundried tomatoes I could get were the kind packed in oil. But I went with the recipe for the sake of the whole staying-faithful-to-recipes-as-they-are-written experiment, and it didn't turn out oily in the least. The seitan soaked up a lot of the oil, but without seeming greasy. It also left a lot of fond on the bottom of the pan to be deglazed by the broth and wine. Everything was cooked just right, the flavor was spot on. The only problem was that I overcompensated for the saltiness of the seitan and stock based on the the last recipe and didn't add the salt called for in the recipe. I wanted to get this dish plated up before the kale went beyond done, but I should have taken the extra time to really taste and adjust the salt. The result was that the dish wasn't quite seasoned enough.

101 Cookbooks: Split Pea Soup

Don't go by my photo. Go here and salivate.

This is by far and away the best split pea soup I've ever had. The ingredients are so simple that I was tempted to add a few things here and there, but I'm glad I didn't. The fruity olive oil (I used my best olive oil for the finishing touch) and lemon brighten up the dish, and the paprika adds the smokey flavor that you expect in a split pea soup. Yum! This soup wasn't on my original menu plan for the week but I had to work it in as soon as I saw Heidi's photograph.

Veganomicon: Suateed Seitan with Mushrooms and Spinach

I will be the first to admit that this is not the most appetizing photo... But this dish was sooo good. Paul and I both love seitan, and I usually buy the Chicken-Style seitan from White Wave. The first seitan I ever tasted was one that I made myself when I was just a teenager in my mother's kitchen. I think that I had come across a vague description of what seitan was calling it a protein source made from kneading wheat dough and rinsing away the starches in water. I used flour, probably bread flour, made a dough out of it and then proceeded to knead and rinse he dough in the kitchen sink under running water. I don't even think that I used broth to boil it in, just water. But what resulted was as close to the White Wave seitan as I've ever come. Most recipes for home-made seitan use lots of flavor ingredients and vital wheat gluten flour. The result is, shall we say, globular. I think that the process of kneading and then washing out the starches later produces longer chains of gluten which give the seitan a more definite grain pattern rather than the chaotic grain of seitan made with vital wheat gluten flour. Of course this is all just conjecture based on a singular incident when I was very young, and I haven't bothered to test this hypothesis.

The Veganomicon recipe for Simple Seitan produces a seitan that isn't pretty to look at, but the flavor is really quite good. I'm glad that the authors simplified the recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance down to a more reasonable list of ingredients. The Sauteed Seitan with Mushrooms and Spinach was delightful. Paul and I both loved it. I served it with quinoa cooked in the rice cooker using the broth that the seitan was boiled in. Unfortunately I should have tasted the dish before adding the salt that the recipe calls for because the end result was too salty even for Paul who usually salts up anything I cook regardless of how much salt I add while cooking, I've stopped trying to compensate for his love of salt altogether. Having said all that, this dish was so good that we ate it all anyway.

Veganomicon: Spinach Linguine with Basil-Cilantro Pesto and Artichokes

I love basil and I love cilantro, so loving this dish was destined to be. The pesto by itself is tasty. The artichokes accentuate the lemony tang of the recipe and lighten the dish considerably. I think the only thing I would do differently next time is to double the amount of linguine to a full pound since there was more than enough pesto for the half-pound of pasta that the recipe called for.

Brown and Wild Rice with Asparagus and Basic Broiled Tofu

This meal is the sort of meal that makes you feel energized, light and virtuous. I found the wild rice and asparagus recipe on the Fatfree Vegan Kitchen blog when I was searching for a way to combine two ingredients that I happened to have on hand. It is the perfect weekend lunch for this time of year when Winter lingers but the weather warms up just enough to make your soul yearn for Spring. The wild rice and almonds convey the warmth and comfort of Winter while the asparagus hints at the promise of Spring. I was almost tempted to add oil to this dish, either by adding a dab of Soy Garden at the end or by sauteing the asparagus in it instead, but Susan V has never led me astray, so I made the recipe as written, and I'm so glad I did. The result was a nutty and delicate pilaf without any sort of heaviness of greasiness. I'm all for fat when it serves a purpose, but sometimes it's just unnecessary.

The Basic Broiled Tofu from the Veganomicon was a wonderful protein accompaniment. The lemon juice provided the perfect link between the flavor palettes of the two recipes. I was a bit concerned that this recipe wouldn't work out since the tofu that I had was the 99 cent tofu from Trader Joe's rather than extra-firm like the recipe called for, and then when the tofu was broiling and the tofu released its water into the pan I thought for sure that the tofu would end up soggy and fall apart. But with only an additional 3 minutes under the broiler, the tofu firmed up and the liquid evaporated. Without any additional oil, the tofu managed to take on a wonderfully chewy texture on the top while maintaining a smooth creamy interior. WIth such a low fat content, and no sugary sauce, this is one of the healthiest tofu recipes that I've encountered.