what the hell _does_ a vegan eat anyway?

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Black Pepper Tofu Curry, Sweet Potatoes with Chile Tamarind Sauce

Dinner 1/06

Black Pepper Tofu Curry

Sweet Potatoes with Chile Tamarind Sauce

Basmati Rice

A riff on Maya Kaimal's recipe, subbing cubed and fried tofu for an otherwise vegan recipe.

The sweet potato recipe is a based on this recipe. In this version, we first peeled and cubed the sweet potatoes, then boiled them for 10 minutes and they were finally braised in the sauce. Our son made this dish, which was an excuse to teach him the joys of using a mortar and pestle, rather than use a food processor -- which we don't have anyway. ;)

Both dishes were served on a bed of basmati rice.

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Ramen

Dinner 1/05

Ramen

The base made, as usual, with our shiitake mushroom stock, enhanced with kombu, yellow miso, garlic, ginger and black pepper. Rounding out the bowl was black tea smoked tofu, baby corn, shiitake mushrooms, leeks, miso, carrots, red bell pepper and udon noodles, all topped with scallions.

Monday, January 03, 2011

White Bean Cassoulet

Dinner 1/03

White Bean Cassoulet

File tonight's meal under "Foods we made for Holiday Party XIV, but were unable to eat at the time because it was all gone by the time we got out of the kitchen" ;)

The recipe is here -- the only change was we used the tofu scraps leftover from cutting the rounds for the BBQ Tofu Lollipops -- they were also smoked, pan-fried and finished with tamari.

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Mushroom Quesadilla, Mexican Rice, Chile Rellenos

Dinner 1/02

Mushroom Quesadilla

Mexican Rice

Chile Rellenos

A simple Mexican style meal tonight -- the quesadillas were filled with cheddar Daiya, sauteed button mushrooms, and rajas (thinly sliced and fried poblanos peppers, red bell peppers and red onion seasoned with Mexican Oregano, salt & pepper).

The rice was a flashback to a dish from childhood: a spicy tomato sauce (ancho & chipotle pepper, smoked paprika) mixed with leftover basmati rice.

The chiles rellenos were stuffed with a mix of red onion, garlic, Mexican oregano, salt, pepper, pinto & black beans and cheddar Daiya and then put in the oven for 10 minutes @ 350F to heat everything through while making the quesadillas on the griddle.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Blini & Caviar

Dinner 1/01

Blini & Caviar

How was your New Year Day?

I spent part of mine making blini (from Veganomicon) and seaweed caviar, then drinking (more) cava.

2011 is off to a good start. ;)

Friday, December 31, 2010

Elvis Tofu Lollipops, Braised Collard Greens, Hoppin' John, Seitan Sausages Wrapped in Puff Pastry

Dinner 12/31

Elvis Tofu Lollipops

Braised Collard Greens

Hoppin' John

Seitan Sausages wrapped in Puff Pastry

Here's our New Year's Eve Dinner -- it's a mash-up between our BBQ Tofu Lollipop method (smoked, cut in rounds, mini-forks) and Elvis Fried Tofu recipe.

Again from above, Busby Berkeley style... you almost expect the lollipops to start twirling around in synchronization ;)

Seitan Sausages wrapped in Puff Pastry (served with a "Just Like Honey" + Dijon Mustard dipping sauce).

If we were ever to write a cookbook on vegan entertaining, this might be the cover shot.

edited to add: in response to a thread on the PPK, it would look something like this...

(this is a joke, please don't e-mail me asking about it)

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Tofuyaki

Dinner 12/25

Tofuyaki

The nice thing about vacation time is that we can try out some things we haven't had time for during the course of the year. Tonight, as an experiment, we decide to make "tofuyaki" a play on the traditional Japanese dish takoyaki.

Not having a takoyaki pan handy, we broke out the cast-iron aebleskiver pan and got down to business.

Tofuyaki is basically a tempura batter with smoked diced tofu and green onions placed in the center. Here, the batter is poured into the aebleskiver pan and the tofu and green onions are added.

Then you keep rotating the batter as the bottom section firms up to make a spheroid shape -- or as close as we could get the first time out. ;)

Then it's plated and coated with a ponzu sauce and served with a cool refreshing beverage, in this case -- a Buddha's Hand Cosmopolitan.

As an experiment, it was a (tasty) success -- but there's two or three things we need to work on for the next batch, before we post a recipe...

Friday, December 24, 2010

Pierogies, Braised Leeks, Braised Carrots, Roasted Beet Salad with Pepitas, Eggnog Cookies, Linzer Bars, Korova Cookies

Dinner 12/24

Pierogies (cabbage & onion / potato & mushroom), Braised Leeks & Braised Carrots

Roasted Beet Salad with Pepitas and Champagne

Close-up of Roasted Beet Salad with Pepitas

Braised Carrots

Roasted Golden Beets (450F 45 minutes, wrapped in aluminum foil)

Desserts

Eggnog Cookies

Linzer Bars

Korova (World Peace) Cookies (adapted from Dorie Greenspan)

Table Right

Table Left

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Holiday Party XIV

Holiday Party XIV 12/18

This year more than 45 people made the snowy trek to our annual holiday party, and this is what greeted them at the table...

BBQ Tofu Lollipops

Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary

Tapenade (kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, shallots, red bell pepper, capers, olive oil, parsley, pepper)

Palmiers (two versions: Olive & Sun-dried Tomatoes)

Mini-Burgers

French Lentil Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Orzo Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette

Onion Dip with Crudite Platter / Mushroom Pate with Crackers

Desserts

Chocolate Cupcakes / Blondies / Snickerdoodles

Chocolate Cupcakes

Blondies / Snickerdoodles

Also served, but missing current pictures...

Seitan Bourguignon (from 2007 bottom right)

White Bean Cassoulet (from 2009 bottom right)

Stuffed Mushrooms (from 2006)

Curried Tofu Phyllo Cups (from 2008)

Artichoke Dip (from 2009)

Thursday, November 25, 2010

What The Hell Does A Vegan Eat For Thanksgiving Anyway?

What The Hell Does A Vegan Eat For Thanksgiving Anyway? 2010 Edition

Apple-Smoked Tofu Glazed with Calvados, Maple Syrup and Apple Cider, stuffed with Collard Greens and Apples

Braised Brussels Sprouts

Braised Carrots

Bourbon Cranberries

Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Dessert

Pumpkin Pomegranate Layer Cake

We decided after making the apple-smoked tofu recipe last month that it would also work for Thanksgiving, and it proved to be a great choice -- crispy, juicy and full of flavor. This time around we paired it with our Thanksgiving staples of braised carrots, Brussels sprouts and bourbon cranberries.

We had a half of a kabocha squash in the fridge, so we roasted it (25 minutes st 450F) and combined that with veg stock, apple cider and tamari. Also added were sauteed onion and garlic along with, sage, black pepper and a pinch of salt. All of the ingredients were pureed until velvety smooth.

To finish the soup we added toasted pumpkin seeds, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper, and lightly toasted in a small pan until you can here them starting to pop.

For dessert, Liz made something new -- a pumpkin layer cake with a vanilla and pomegranate liqueur frosting and topped with pomegranate seeds (adapted from "The Boozy Baker" by Lucy Baker). A really nice change of pace.

Of course, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without gratuitous shots of the table. ;)

Left side of the table

Center decorations

Right side of the table

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Deep Dish Pizza with BBQ Tofu

Dinner 11/18

Deep Dish Pizza with BBQ Tofu

We've haven't made a deep-dish pizza in a while. It was epic.

The apple-wood smoked BBQ Tofu and cheddar Daiya only added to the epic-ness.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Dessert Round-Up

Dessert Round-up

You may have noticed these pictures over on the Flickr page, but they haven't ended up here on the blog yet. So here are some recent dessert pictures rolled into one post.

Mocha Mamas with Coffee and Kahlua Icing

From "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar" -- seconds after this picture was taken, half of the rack mysteriously disappeared into another dimension and they were never heard from again. Tragic.

Brandied Pear Cake with Chocolate Chips

The next two are from "The Boozy Baker" by Lucy Baker -- the recipe originally called for white chocolate chips (which none of us are big fans of), but it's a really interesting combo of pears & chocolate that works surprisingly well.

Plum Biercake

Another winner. Don't forget to check if your favorite beer is vegan at barnivore.com.

Apple Spice Cake

The last one is an Apple Spice Cake adapted from Martha Stewart. It was perhaps the quintessential cake to wash down with a big glass of apple cider.

*adapted in most cases using flax seeds as the replacer for eggs, soy/rice milk, etc.