Thank you to the 1.5m people who have taken the time to visit with us -- you know who you are. ;)
...and now, number 5, the larch a look back at every dish from 2011.
for those of you scoring at home, the music track (991218) is a (modded) Roland CR-8000 clocking an EH Microsynth and Roland SYB-3 pedal through a Maestro Phaser played live to tape.
The tofu (16oz. / extra firm) was smoked (mesquite wood chips, 30 minutes), then marinated for 30 minutes: 1/4 cup beer, 2 tbs. vegan sour cream, 1 tbs. tamari, 1 tsp. minced garlic, a shot of your favorite hot sauce and a pinch each of cumin, sugar & pepper.
From there it was dredged in a mix of 1/4 cup of ground pumpkin seeds, 2 tbs. of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of instant masa (we used Maseca).
It was deep-fried in a wok with canola oil (375°F) for 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown. The tofu was removed from oil and drained, put on a sheet pan with a rack and baked for 10-15 minutes at 350°F -- this finished cooking the inside of the tofu.
While the tofu was baking we made the sauce: 1/2 cup of vegan sour cream, 1 tsp. lime juice, salt & pepper to taste, and 1 tbs. of olive oil blended together in the vita-mix.
The crusted tofu was served hot on a bed of shredded lettuce with avocado & topped with the sauce.
We haven't made sushi in quite a while, so it was a real treat tonight!
We made two types of rolls: carrot, scallion and avocado, as well as deep-fried tempeh and avocado.
The tempeh was cut into 4 long strips and placed in a saute pan filled with water and 1 tbs. of tamari until it reached halfway up the side of the tempeh. It was brought to a boil, reduced to a simmer and a lid placed loosely on top until the water evaporated.
Then the tempeh was removed (carefully) from the saute pan and deep-fried in canola oil -- 375°F for 2-3 minutes. From there it was added to the base of the roll with the avocado and other veggies.
The ramen used our shiitake mushroom stock, enhanced with kombu, yellow miso, garlic, ginger and black pepper. Rounding out the bowl was black tea smoked tofu, shiitake mushrooms, leeks, carrots and udon noodles, all topped with scallions and the braised baby bok choy.
The bok choy was cut in half, seared on both sides, then we added a splash of tamari and water, turned the heat to low and put a lid on to cover for 5-7 minutes. Finished with toasted sesame seeds.
The recipe is from Matthew Kenney's "Everyday Raw Express" -- diced zucchini, avocado, lemon juice, olive oil, basil, chives combined in a ring mold. Served with a spinach side salad (lemon juice/olive oil vinaigrette).
Chiles Rellenos stuffed with Black Beans and Potatoes
Red Quinoa
Avocado
The poblano was placed right on the burner cranked up to medium-high and turned until well blackened. From there they were put in the microwave (instead of a paper bag) for 10 minutes and then peeled and de-seeded. They were stuffed with a mixture of black beans (onion, garlic, Mexican oregano, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, black beans) and potatoes (boiled, cut into cubes, pan fried in olive oil) with Daiya on top. The rellenos were finally place under the broiler for 2-3 minutes until the Daiya melted.
The red quinoa was soaked for 10 minutes, rinsed, then boiled for 12 minutes in salted water, drained and sauteed in a pan with olive oil along with half of an onion, garlic, Mexican oregano, salt, pepper and finished with cilantro.
Tomatillo Enchiladas filled with Hickory-Smoked Tofu
Mushroom Quesadillas
Fundido with Pepitas
A friend of ours was recently out in Sedona, AZ and brought us back a cookbook, and although it was decidedly not vegan, it did serve as a jumping off point for the fundido (diced tomatillos, tomatoes, chiles, onions and garlic, topped with Daiya Mozzarella and toasted pumpkin seeds).
You cook all the ingredients in the cast iron pan, top it with the cheese and put it under the broiler for 2-3 minutes to melt the Daiya and finish with the pepitas -- it's then served family style with chips.
The dang quesadillas featured sauteed mushrooms, onions, poblano rajas and Daiya Cheddar cooked on the griddle. Served with guacamole (not shown)
The main dish was one we've made many times before, Enchiladas. The corn tortillas are fried briefly in hot oil, the dipped in the roasted tomatillo sauce, filled with onion, smoked tofu and Daiya cheddar and rolled up, then baked with the rest of the sauce and Daiya on top.
Honestly, some nights, we don't eat any Daiya. This was not one of those nights. ;)
One of the main things I try to keep in focus when writing here is that it's not always about the recipes or the pretty pictures. After 10 years and 3000 posts(!), it really has been about the journey, the friends we've made, your feedback, and the commitment to finding new ways to cut tofu into funny shapes express vegan food.
Here's some of the more interesting things we made this year -- a mix of favorites and new favorites -- and why they made the list (in no particular order). Click on the links for more pictures, recipes and descriptions without the consent of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
A refinement of the Borg Cube from 2008, which also inspired Thanksgiving dinner (below) -- smoked, cored, deep-fried tofu blocks filled with braised greens. This was scary good.
We like to break out those old-school Time-Life books on Terrines and re-imagine what they could be like 40 years later. The result was elegant and tasty.
Continuing in the comfort food vein -- Farro is an underappreciated grain -- we like to pressure cook it and pair it with smoked, marinated and grilled tofu and nice glass of red wine. Perfect for when the leaves change color.
Another refugee from 2008 was a further refinement of a raw dish idea that involves frozen watermelon and a vacuum-sealer. This got some play on the internets.
Moving on to the deep-fried portion of the list, squash blossoms from our garden are only available for use in a very short window of opportunity. This is our favorite way to use them.
This dish was inspired by a set of limitations -- a small, one bite dish, Mexican ingredients, easy to prep ahead of time, easy to assemble on site. Basically a culinary thought problem that didn't involve trains living from Wichita at 3pm traveling east at 35mph. ;)
Holidays are always an important time for us as we try to strike a balance between the classics (braised carrots, Brussels Sprouts) and inspiration (hello tofu cube!).
The broccoli was seared in canola/sesame oil in a wok on med-high heat until lightly browned. Then we added tamari, turned the heat down to low, slapped a lid on it, and steamed it. The chunks are from the stem (my favorite part), peeled and cubed.
The gyoza were filled with wilted napa cabbage, carrot, ginger and garlic and seared and steamed like the broccoli above.
The satay used the some leftover seitan we had (recipe via Vegan Vittles) that I was able to thread onto a skewer and grill. The sauce was a quick mix of peanut butter, sesame oil, sriracha, tamari and agave. The seitan was briefly marinated, then grilled and basted with the leftover marinade. Yum!
Time to break out the stovetop smoker again, not only for the grilled tofu, but also the arborio rice.
We made a little foil pouch for the 1 cup of rice to sit in as it was smoked, along with the tofu, for 25 minutes. The tofu was then marinated: 2 tbs. olive oil, 2 tbs. tamari, 1 cloves of garlic smashed, 1 tsp. agave, 1 tsp. ketchup and freshly ground black pepper to taste. While the tofu was grilling, it was basted with the remaining marinade.
This is why we made/froze so many Pierogi when we bought those huge maitake mushrooms over the summer -- we knew the holiday season would require these pierogies to be complete, and they did not disappoint. ;)
To start, Liz made a delightfully creamy soup of poached pears and braised celery topped with fried leeks that was paired with a cheddar biscuit (zested Sheese).
To round out the evening, a classic trio of cookies/pastries: the always elegant Clothespin Pastries (puff pastry filled with a buttercream frosting), World Peace Cookies (adapted from Dorie Greenspan) and the two part Nog Cookies (adapted from Tish Boyle).
Here's a close-up of the Clothespin Pastries.
Then we opened presents: I got a huge box of odd cookbooks from my sister-in-law. ;)
Also, here's the mushroom plates without the pierogies on them...
A simple vegan blog about what we eat everyday. This blog came together because once people know we're vegan, the first question we get asked is...What The Hell Does A Vegan Eat Anyway?
1. When an ingredient is listed like [this], it means [this] was the original ingredient in the recipe. 99% of the recipes get adapted in one form or another.
2. When Tofu is referred to, it usually means extra firm tofu, specifically Spring Creek Tofu. If the (softer) tofu in the aseptic box is used, it'll be noted. Boxed tofu mostly gets used in cream sauces.
When Seitan (Wheat Gluten) is referred to, it means Westsoy Seitan -- unless we've made it ourselves.
Assume that we're talking about Rice Milk, (casein-less) Soy Cheese (Daiya, Teese, Sheese and Cheezly) and non bone-char sugar (Florida Crystals, Rapadura, etc).
3. Links to recipes are shown when available, if there's no link, we'll try to cite the book/magazine issue from where it came. If there's no recipe cited, it usually means we made it up...
4. We don't like ersatz food (i.e. tofu molded into the shape of a turkey for Thanksgiving), but we do like Soy Boy Okara "Courage" Burgers. We're contradictory like that sometimes ;)
5. A brief personal history. We were vegetarian for 7 years, and have been vegan for the last 18 years.
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