Carbonnades a la Flamande, Roasted Potatoes, Braised Carrots, Zucchini and Pepper Tart

Dinner 04/14

Carbonnades a la Flamande

Roasted Potatoes

Braised Carrots

Zucchini and Pepper Tart

Bringing one back from the old days -- our riff on Julia Child's recipe made with alder-smoked tofu this time around, served with roasted potatoes and braised carrots.


Along for the ride on the side was a zucchini and bell pepper tart. We added a bechamel sauce (2 tbs. Einkorn flour, 2 tbs. Earth Balance, make a roux, whisk in 2 cups rice milk until thickened, add a 1/4 cup of nooch and a pinch of salt and pepper, finally 1/2 cup of Daiya Mozzarella) and then popped in the oven.


... and here it is coming out.


Also, these multi-colored carrots were beautiful and tasty.

Portobello Burger with Spinach, Onions and Roasted Red Bell Pepper

Dinner 04/07

Portobello Burger with Spinach, Onions and Roasted Red Bell Pepper

Grilled portobello with wilted spinach, caramelized onions and roasted red bell pepper on a homemade bun with a little vegenaise and a tiny bit of hot sauce... perfection.

Deep-Fried Tempeh Sushi with Carrot and Avocado

Dinner 04/06

Deep-Fried Tempeh Sushi with Carrot and Avocado

There's a reason why we often make this sushi roll. ;)

The tempeh is cut into four long strips, braised in a pan that has enough water to come up halfway on the side of the tempeh with the addition of a splash of sake (feel free to use mirin) and splash of tamari. The pan is brought to a boil, reduced to a hard simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 20 minutes.

Then the tempeh is carefully removed from the pan and drained. The next step is to deep-fry the tempeh in peanut/canola oil at 375° for about 1 minute, turning often, until nice and golden brown on the outside. Remove (carefully, it's still fragile) and drain on a wire rack.


After the tempeh cools you can add it to your sushi roll -- we like to add carrot and avocado and cut on the bias for a nice presentation. Here's a similar shot when we made this back in January 2012.

A "New" Cast Iron Pan

Appetizer 04/05

Socca

We're making Socca again in a "new" cast-iron pan. Well, actually more of a skillet I suppose, and "new" to us -- it was probably made in the 1930s...

...but, hey the Socca turned out really well! ;)

Easter 2013 Hickory-Smoked Tofu stuffed with Collard Greens, topped with Oyster Mushroom Gravy, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Braised Carrots, Grilled Asparagus and English Pea Soup

Easter 2013 03/31

Hickory-Smoked Tofu stuffed with Collard Greens topped with Oyster Mushroom Gravy

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Braised Carrots

Grilled Asparagus

Ciabatta with Radishes and Roasted Garlic

English Pea Soup

A photo essay...



A close-up of the main plate: Hickory-Smoked Tofu stuffed with Collard Greens, topped with Oyster Mushroom Gravy, Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Braised Carrots and Grilled Asparagus



Breaking out the Bakelite silverware for the English Pea Soup (adapted from Jean-Georges Vongerichten)


Braised Carrots (as usual)


Liz made Ciabatta, served along with Radishes and Roasted Garlic


The calm before the storm... the tofu is smoked, the peas shucked, the veg stock strained and the aromatics stand ready.


Close-up of the shucked peas.

A fine family meal, if we do say so ourselves...

Eggplant Parmesan, Risotto Stuffed Cubanelle Peppers

Dinner 03/29

Eggplant Parmesan

Risotto Stuffed Cubanelle Peppers

The base eggplant parm recipe hasn't changed, nor has the base risotto recipe (stuffed in a roasted cubanelle pepper with a basil lime sauce from this recipe).

Those two recipes are about as close to a "sure thing" as we make. ;)

Stromboli

Dinner 03/26

Stromboli

Well, this was made during spring break, so while we remember eating the stromboli, we have no recollection of making it. ;)


The first one looks like shredded kale and roasted red bell pepper...


...with Daiya Mozzarella using our usual pizza dough, rolled a little thinner than usual.


Apparently, there was a second one made with mushroom, onion and Daiya Cheddar by the look of the picture at the top.


It was cooked lower and slower than pizza, probably something like 400° for 20-25 minutes. I do remember we had bought a huge batch of red bell peppers, which would explain the dipping sauce.

Leftovers

Lunch 03/25

Leftovers

Simply because they're leftovers doesn't mean they can't look nice ;)

Clockwise from top: Pasta w/Red Sauce, Pasta with Garlic Cream Sauce and Tomato Bread Croutons on Radicchio, Hickory-Smoked Tofu with Beer Gravy, Pasta with Red Bell Pepper Sauce and Kalamata Olives on a bed of Mixed Greens.

(whew!)

TLT Sandwich

Lunch 03/23

TLT Sandwich

We were fooling around with the bread machine at lunch today, putting fresh tomato in the bread dough giving it a lovely reddish hue and wonderful garden flavor. So we decided to make a springtime TLT sandwich (hickory-smoked tofu, lettuce and tomato).

Homemade Pasta with Shiitake Mushrooms and Fava Beans

Dinner 3/22

Homemade Pasta with Shiitake Mushrooms and Fava Beans

We broke out the Pasta recipe (here and here) with the addition of crispy shiitake mushrooms and the always labor-intensive fava beans -- but that's why we have children -- their sole job is to shuck the fava beans. ;)

St. Patrick's Day 2013: Colcannon, Beer Gravy, Soda Farls and "Cock of the North"

Dinner St. Patrick's Day 2013

Cock of the North
(Apple Wood Smoked Tofu Stew, Flambéed w/Irish Whiskey)

Colcannon

Beer Gravy

Soda Farls

For the 11th straight year, we made this recipe, a hearty and filling stew that is combined with Colcannon (Mashed Potatoes, Cabbage and Kale) and Beer Gravy (using Green's Gluten-Free Dubbel Dark Ale this year). As we did last year, we used Apple Wood Smoked Tofu in place of the seitan.

The Soda Farls (recipe) turned on their edge evoke a cliff face with a serene lake of gravy below.

Grilled Tea-Smoked Tofu with Coconut-Caramel Sauce and Citrus Salad

Dinner 03/08

Grilled Tea-Smoked Tofu with Coconut-Caramel Sauce and Citrus Salad

Back to Food & Wine for Veganizing 101, Part 2: riffing on this Jean-Georges Vongerichten recipe -- needing only to sub out tea-smoked tofu and tamari for the fish sauce. Everything else worked out the same as in the original recipe.

The coconut caramel sauce was outstanding, a balance of piquant and sweet that really elevated the grilled tofu and citrus.

Goulash with Biscuit Dumplings

Dinner 03/04

Goulash with Biscuit Dumplings

Tonight's meal was an example of Veganizing 101: take a goulash recipe from Food & Wine, go straight down the checklist and substitute out for all of the animal products. Hickory-Smoked Tofu, Earth Balance, Veg stock, Vegan Sour Creme... check, check, check and check. About the only change we made was to portion the tofu into eight cutlets, marinate with 1 tbs. of tamari and pepper, then dust with flour and pan-fry as in the original. Then we took the tofu and cut it into strips. The rest was simply following instructions and timing which worked out exactly the same as the original. We like that.

This was extremely good. Like "Hello Nurse!" </Yakko Warner> good.

Asparagus, Mushroom & Lemon Risotto with Carrot-Parsnip Tarts

Dinner 03/03

Asparagus, Mushroom & Lemon Risotto

Carrot-Parsnip Tarts

Straddling that line between winter and spring, the creamy risotto (base recipe here) was lovely.

We used shiitake mushrooms tonight along with lemon zest and the juice of half of the lemon to finish it at the end of cooking.


We're always looking for new ways to use parsnips, so when we came across this recipe in Edible Cleveland, (original recipe here) that also uses a little five-spice powder, it seemed like a good idea to try it out -- we subbed for Earth Balance, soy cream and Liz made a quick pie dough. The final verdict was that while interesting, it's not something we're likely to make again.

Happy Pancakes

Dinner 03/02

Happy Pancakes

We veganized the rest of this recipe from Food & Wine, but we left the batter for the pancakes as is (1 3/4 cups rice flour mixed with 2 cups of water, 1/4 tsp. turmeric & 1 scallion, thinly sliced).

For the filling we used tea-smoked tofu, shallots, shiitake mushrooms and bean sprouts.

To cut down on the production time, we cranked all four of our stove burners and used four woks (we have seven total... we can stop collecting them at any time, honest). Then it's as simple as making a crepe -- spread out the cooked tofu, shallots & mushrooms on the bottom of the pan and pour the batter over the top. When it's almost cooked through drop the (salted) bean sprouts on top and gently fold the pancake over and then slide it out onto a waiting plate.

The dipping sauce was awesome and seasoned with molten lava (who does that?), we simply subbed tamari for the ubiquitous fish sauce.

These are definitely going into the rotation!

Big Bowl Of Yum Part V: The Yum Strikes Back

Dinner 02/26

A Big Bowl Of Yum Part V

The fifth bowl in a continuing series of dinners inspired by the question "How can we make a dinner out of the things that need to be used in the refrigerator, like NOW?" ;)

Tonight's contestants include: barley, cauliflower (tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper, roasted at 450°F for 15 minutes), leftover boiled potatoes from breakfast, collard greens (shredded, pan-fried with olive oil, salt, pepper and smoked paprika) onions, carrots and garlic.

Previously: Bowl I, Bowl II, Bowl III, Bowl IV

Fig, Date, Walnut and Blue Sheese wrapped in Cucumber

Appetizer 02/16

Fig, Date, Walnut and Blue Sheese wrapped in Cucumber

I've had this idea kicking around in my green notebook (where I keep my food ideas) for more than a year now, but as our precious supply of Blue Sheese has reached the end (as it is not distributed in the US at the moment), it was time to act.

The basic idea was to make a fondue of sorts -- melt the microplaned blue cheese along with minced dates, figs and walnuts and pour it into a 2oz ramekin (lined with plastic wrap), let it chill in the fridge. Then unmold, and wrap with a piece of cucumber (cut on a the benriner) that had been brushed with a gin and black pepper mixture.

Of course, that alone would have been fine, but of course, I had to go a put it on a stick. ;)


In the end, it was extremely flavorful, but really benefited from having a martini (garnished with some of the leftover cucumber) to cut through the richness of the app...

Paella with Braised Fennel, Sherry-Glazed Mushrooms, Pecan-Smoked Tofu and Red Bell Peppers

Dinner 02/15

Paella with Braised Fennel, Sherry-Glazed Mushrooms, Pecan-Smoked Tofu and Red Bell Peppers

Our usual Paella recipe paired with Pecan-Smoked Tofu, Sherry-Glazed Mushrooms, Red Bell Pepper and Braised Fennel.

Heart Shaped Sugar Cookies

Dessert 02/14

Heart Shaped Sugar Cookies

nomnomnomnom.

Hickory-Smoked Tofu with Mustard Cream Sauce and Wilted Spinach, Red Beans and Rice

Dinner 02/12

Hickory-Smoked Tofu with Mustard Cream Sauce and Wilted Spinach

Red Beans & Rice

We've made this recipe a bunch of times before and with good reason, it's delicious. This time around we skipped the corn cakes and make a quick red beans and rice as the base. Also we hickory-smoked the tofu.

Pot Pie

Dinner 02/11

Pot Pie

Liz used mini-cookie cutters for the cute crust decorations.


Here's all of the variations on the sheet pan before they went into the oven.




The recipe is more or less the same as the one from Candle Cafe cookbook adapted to whatever you have on hand at the time. Tonight hiding underneath the crust was smoked tofu, carrot, onion, celery, garlic, mushrooms, green beans and potatoes along with a sauce of white wine, veg stock, tamari, cornstarch slurry, salt and pepper.

Ramen with Ho Fun Noodles and Maitake Mushrooms

Dinner 02/04

Ramen with Ho Fun Noodles and Maitake Mushrooms

We had some leftover Ho Fun Noodles from the other day, plus some Maitake mushrooms that needed to be used, so we decided to make ramen with our usual shiitake mushroom broth along with tea-smoked tofu.

The noodle thing has quickly become a house favorite.

Red Tofu with Ho Fun Noodles and Scallion Pancakes

Dinner 02/02

Red Tofu

Ho Fun Noodles

Scallion Pancakes

Hmmm... blocks of tofu in a pressure cooker? Sure, why not!

We caught an episode of Simply Ming where he was cooking with his parents and decided to adapt the recipe and technique and apply it to tofu.



The city of... Tofuville! </powerpuff girls>
Why yes, I do have dreams like Inception where the buildings are made of tofu.

We started by smoking the blocks of tofu with Oolong tea for 30 minutes.


Then we seared the tofu on all sides in the wok to give it a little color and splashed it with 1 tbs. of tamari at the end of cooking.


While that was going, we made a batch of Ho Fun noodles (just like this video recipe shows) using our bag of rice flour.


We started the pressure cooker out with 1 tsp. of canola oil, 1 bunch of scallions cut into 1" pieces, 3 cloves of minced garlic and 1 tbs. of minced ginger.


Next we loaded it up with the seared tofu, 1 bottle of wine, 5 oz. (wheat-free, reduced sodium) tamari, 1 cup of brown sugar, 2 cinnamon sticks, 4 star anise and 1 Thai bird chili and about 1 1/2 cups of our home made shiitake mushroom broth.

We brought the pressure cooker up to the second ring (15psi) and cooked all of it for 30 minutes.


We removed the tofu blocks, strained the liquid into a saute pan and thickened it by adding a slurry of 1 tbs. of cornstarch and 1 tbs. of cold water mixed together and whisked into the sauce.


We cut the chilled Ho Fun noodles into strips and added them to the wok along with about a cup of the sauce to heat through. The noodles were placed in the bottom of the bowl, topped with the tofu as well as a little additional sauce poured over both the tofu and scallion pancakes...


... which were made while the pressure cooker was going -- it was our usual recipe, cut into sixths for plating.

The flavor of the sauce was outstanding, and the smaller blocks of tofu worked better for flavor penetration -- but I can already see two or three ways to expand/refine the dish and that's always a good sign. ;)