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!

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...

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: Chickpea Cutlet, Brussels Sprouts, and Broccoli Polenta

Tonight's dinner was Chickpea Cutlets from the Veganomicon with Miso Gravy from Vegan with a Vengeance, broccoli Polenta from Veganomicon, and Roasted Brussels Sprouts. We love Brussels sprouts, they are a staple of our holiday meal planning. I also love broccoli, and the broccoli polenta is very good, and wicked simple. I have made the broccoli polenta twice so far, and I must say that the first time I made it using baby broccoli and the Imagine No-Chicken broth and I think it came out far superior than this time when I made it with mature broccoli and generic vegetable broth.

Tonight's dinner was also a little experiment. I made all 4 chickpea cutlets according to the recipe, except that I pan-fried 2 in Paul's grandmother's cast iron skillet, and I baked 2 in the oven, both methods are listed in the book and I wanted to see if it made a substantial difference. The pan-fried cutlets came out darker and crispier on the outside, while the inside of the cutlets remained quite moist and squishy. The baked cutlets were more uniformly brown, cooked through evenly though a bit tougher and required an actual knife to be cut rather than cutting easily with the edge of the fork tines. Overall I greatly preferred the oven baked cutlets over the pan-fried. I liked that they were more evenly cooked through, I liked their resistance to being bitten, and I liked that it was much more fool proof to set the oven to specific temperature, set the timer and do something else without having to keep an eye on them, which clearly the pan-fried cutlets required.

The chickpea cutlets themselves are a brilliant combination of chickpeas and wheat gluten, with all the benefits of the latter without the time commitment of making seitan from scratch. Not that making seitan isn't a worthwhile endeavor, but for a weeknight, this meal comes together quickly and easily. I think the one miss here was that the Miso Gravy was just far too overpowering for the chickpea cutlets. I think it was the wine that I used and perhaps a different white wine would make a more subtle gravy, though I haven't had any problems with using this wine in other recipes, so perhaps it isn't the wine but just a poor pairing of sauce and entree. This was a very Meat & Potatoes kind of meal, which I think Paul definitely enjoyed. I am more of a one-pot-wonder type of girl, but variety is the spice of life!

Veganomicon: Tempeh Shepherdess Pie

I can count on one hand the number of tempeh dishes that I really love, and now this is among them. I get nervous using tempeh. When I was still a young vegetarian living at home with my parents I tried to cook with tempeh. I knew nothing. I thought that tempeh would be like tofu and that I could cook it any old way I liked. Needless to say it wasn't and my first tempeh creation was completely inedible. It wasn't until a few years ago that I tried tempeh again using a Carolina-style BBQ recipe from Veggie Life Magazine. And then more recently, the other tempeh recipe I've tried from Veganomicon was great. The texture of the filling was perfect. The taste was fabulous, though I'll probably boost the thyme next time. The one little problem I had with the recipe was that the potatoes came out a bit crumbly and dry when I first mashed them, so I added a bit more soymilk to them. But with that one exception the dish was a huge success. I might just have fallen in love with tempeh after all!

VwaV: Scrambled Tofu and Herb-Roasted Potatoes

Today is Paul's day off, and the start to our weekend, so to start things off right I wanted to cook a hearty breakfast that's a little fancier and more savory than pumpkin bread. After skimming through some cookbooks I settled on the scrambled tofu and herb-roasted potatoes from vegan with a vengeance. Both are dishes that I make frequently, but instead of winging it as I usually do, I decided to follow the recipes from VwaV so that I could write a review here on my food blog.

The potatoes are divine, and easy to boot. These are definitely worth making for a nice brunch or even dinner. The scrambled tofu was definitely good, but more complicated than the version that I usually make. I was concerned that the paprika might be too strong a flavor for the mildness of the mushrooms, and the amount of cumin seemed like a lot, but it turned out that both were spot on. The lemon was unusual and I think I might use less next time because I think it was a bit overpowering, but that might just be because I was using a particularly juicy lemon. Overall it was still quite good and although I would have liked to see some spinach or other leafy greens, Paul thought it was excellent.

Lexy's Lunch Salad

mess o' spring greens (I like the herb salad mixes)
2 mushrooms, sliced
handful of snowpeas, ends removed and cut into bite-sized pieces
2 mini sweet peppers, sliced into strips
1/2 c chickpeas mashed with a fork

dressing
1 clove garlic pressed, squeezed, or smashed
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
2-3 T balsamic vinegar
1-2 tsp virgin olive oil

I arrange the veggies on the plate, top with the mashed chickpeas, shake the dressing in an empty jar and drizzle.

I love the way that the smashed chickpeas soak up the dressing and don't roll off the fork. If you use a regular salad mix, you can add some chopped parsley and/or basil. I love the way that fresh herbs brighten the flavor of every bite so much more than dried herbs in a premixed dressing. The dijon mustard makes the dressing creamy and a good balsamic vinegar is so sweet you may not even need oil.

Kashi Kedgeree

1 c kashi 7 grain pilaf (dry)
2 c broth
1 c french lentils
2 c water
2 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
10 oz mushrooms
1 bunch purple kale, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
2 T lemon juice
Bragg liquid aminos to taste

Cook the pilaf in the broth acording to package directions. Cook the lentils in water until tender and then drain. Sautee the garlic, onion, and carrot in 2 T olive oil over medium heat until onion is starting to color. Add the mushrooms, cumin, and coriander to the onion, garlic, and carrots, and stir to combine. Add Kale to the other vegetables and cover to steam for a couple of minutes, making sure nothing burns or sticks. Once kale is wilted, add pilaf, lentils, and lemon juice and stir to combine. For an extra kick squeeze a clove of garlic in a garlic press over the pot. Adjust your seasonings with a splash or two of Bragg's.

This recipe was inspired by Devra Gartenstein's Kegeree recipe. I've used the 7 grain pilaf and the french lentils for a little variety. I've also switched the powdered mustard for ground coriander because we were out of mustard and I love the way coriander works with lemon.

Basic Stir-Fry

1 carrot, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 onion, cut into thin moons
12 oz fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 crown broccoli cut into small florets
1-2 cloves garlic minced
1 T freshly ground ginger root
sushi vinegar
toasted sesame oil
hot oil
tamari

The keys to a good stir fry are fresh ingredients, prepping everything before the oil hits the wok, and only adding 1 ingredient at a time.

Heat the wok on high and add a small amount of a high heat tolerant oil like canola or peanut oil. Add the onion, breaking up the moons into strips. stir til coated with oil and starting to wilt. Add carrots and stir to coat with oil and if you like your carrots softer than crunchy, cover the wok with a lid to trap steam for 15-30 seconds. Uncover, stir and add the mushrooms, stir until mushrooms reduce in size and release liquid, then add the broccoli, stir, and cover again for a few seconds. Uncover, stir add garlic, ginger, and sushi vinegar, sesame oil, hot oil, hot oil and tamari to taste.