Dinner 3/31

Tofu Marsala over Rhombi Pasta

Braised Brussel Sprouts

Black Bean Soup
(onion, carrot, celery, black beans, red bell pepper, corn, jalapeno, veg stock)

Dinner 3/30

Sali Sigiri
Seitan [Beef] with Cream and Horseradish*

Parsnips with Sour Cream*

Saffron Rice

* from "Cooking the Middle East Way" by Irfan Orga © 1962

Dinner 3/29

Pasta w/ Eggplant and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Steamed Broccoli

Dinner 3/28

Ranch Hand Soup
(via Rick Bayless)

Arroz Verde
(Poblano Rice also via Rick Bayless)

Seared/Steamed Green Beans

Rajas
(poblano and onion strips w/ mexican oregano)

Dessert

Chipotle Cakes
(w/ tomatillo sauce -- via Gourmet -- the New York issue)

* these were absolutely fantastic -- just the right amount of chipotle heat and cooked up like a dream. The substititions of soft tofu for egg and double the flour called for made all the difference. These will be the dessert for the next Cinco de Mayo party...

Dinner 3/27

Cauliflower Soup w/ Pesto

Grilled Asparagus

Roasted Potatoes w/ Rosemary

Muffaletta Bruschetta
(green olive spread)

Dinner 3/26

Cassoulet
(soyrizo, lemon peel, onion, garlic, cannelli beans, veg stock)

Celeriac Ribbon Salad
(via Jamie Oliver)

Lunch 3/26

Pad Thai
(tofu, bean sprouts, red bell pepper, carrot, celery, jalapeno, thai noodles)

again, with spring break upon us -- it's yet another late lunch ;)

Dinner 3/25

Chili Cheese Fries
(recipe via Soul Vegetarian)

* during spring break, the food schedule gets a little more "fluid" -- resulting in a late lunch (Stir-fry w/ snow peas) and a late light dinner, although this chili can hardly be called light ;)

Dinner 3/24

Seitan in Ancho Sauce
(sauteed seitan, braised in a sauce made of ancho chiles, mexican oregano, cumin, cloves, garlic, water, salt and pepper)

Braised Chayote and Tomatoes

Basmati Rice

Dinner 3/22

Tomatillo Soup
(tomatillo, corn, onion, garlic, jalapeno, epazote, veg broth all pureed and strained topped w/ cilantro and toasted pumpkin seeds -- via Jim Peterson's "Splendid Soups")

Wild Mushroom Quesadillas
(sauteed shiitake/oyster mushrooms, onions, shallots, green onions, jalapeno, hearts of palm, nopales and soy cheese)

Avocado Puree
(avocado, lime, shallot, cilantro, salt and pepper)

Tomato Puree
(tomato, onion, garlic, chipotle, salt and pepper)

Both purees are from Ming Tsai's "Blue Ginger" -- originally conceived as shrimp cocktail accompaniment, we used them for the quesadillas...

Dinner 3/21

Eggplant and Zucchini Gratin

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes and Parsnips

Braised Carrots

Braised Leeks

Garlic Bread

Dinner 3/20

Seitan and Cannellini Bean Stew*

*Spent the day in Indiana at AHMW 2004. Ended up eating leftovers. This is a good thing -- because after driving 500 miles round trip in the course of 18 hours, the last thing I wanted to do was cook ;)

Dinner 3/19

Seitan and Cannellini Bean Stew*
(seitan, soyrizo, onion, garlic, paprika, cannellini beans, veg stock)

Basmati Rice

* this has become the perrenial "we need something quick and hearty" go to dish. Easy to prep/make, always satisfying...

Dinner 3/18

Pasta Primavera
(fusilli pasta, zucchini, red bell pepper, parsnips, tomato, garlic, onion and pine nuts)

Italian Bread

Mixed Greens Salad
(w/ fig vinaigrette)

Dinner 3/17

Raw Vegetable Lasgana

Cashew "Cheese" and Raw Crackers

Guacamole

* one good thing about really long days (like today) is that raw leftovers are easy to make for dinner. The crackers gave the dehydrator a workout (and are not for the dentally impared). but were nice with the cashew cheese and guacamole...

Dinner 3/16

Raw Vegetable Lasagna

Cucumber and Tomato Salad

Morel Mushroom and Barley Soup

2/3rds raw tonight: the lasagna is from Charlie and Roxanne and involved "two days of making the ingredients" that was basically making a vegtable terrine. First, I found a terrine mold that was close to the spec, then using my benriner (japanese mandoline) made thinly sliced zucchini as the outside wrapping. Then it was just a matter of filling in two layers of marinated crimini mushrooms, herbed cashew "cheese", marinara sauce (pureed sun-dried, plum and cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil and oregano) corn and onion, and finally spinach leaves. It took a while to assemble it, but it went pretty easily. Cutting it, however, proved to be pretty tricky. even after refrigerating it for 3 hours you had to be fast -- I ended up using an electric knife (like when cutting sushi -- a discovery that has made my life so much easier). And the resulting taste? Thankfully, worth the effort ;)

Dinner 3/15

Chiles Rellenos

(The raw version again, this time using red bell peppers which even after eight hours on the dehydrator retain some moisture)

Potato Day 3/14

Today was known as "Potato Day" -- my son announced this morning that he would like nothing but potatoes for every meal. So, being the dutiful parents we are, we obliged ;)

Breakfast: Home Fries and Tofu Scramble Burritos (a.k.a. Breakfast Burritos w/ hot sauce)

Lunch: Potato Salad (via Jim Peterson's "Vegetables" book -- celery, parsley, oregano, basil, onion, shallot, veganaise, sherry vinegar, salt, pepper and potatoes)

Dinner: Mashed Potatoes

It was at this point he announced that he didn't want potatoes anymore -- and was there something else to eat? He ended up eating half of Liz's cucumber salad in 10 seconds. ;)

Dinner

Breaded Tofu Cutlets w/ Ginger

Sauerkraut w/ Onions

Creamy Horseradish Potatoes

Cucumber Salad

Dinner 3/13

Red Pepper Soup w/ Mango Puree

Morel Mushroom Stacks w/ Fennel Puree plus two vinaigrettes: Basil and Mustard Seed

"Mashed Potatoes" (cauliflower and nut puree) and "Gravy" (miso based sauce)

* the first two are from Charlie Trotter & Roxanne Klein's "Raw", the last from Juliano's "Raw: The Uncook Book". Another all raw foods dinner tonight -- the first two are relatively "easy" recipes from Charlie & Roxanne (i.e. they only took two hours to make, although you did have to soak the mustard seeds for 10-12 hours). The soup was nice and spicy w/ horseradish root -- and small aside here -- the cashier at the store asked a) what was it? and b) what is it for? -- answer -- it's a long story ;) The "gravy" reminded both of us of the gravy I make for colcannon, because both are miso based.

Also, in the pictures, you can see that the morels stacks we made last night are fairly tall and hence more unstable -- about 30 seconds after I shot the photos, one of them fell over -- file that one away under "architecture of food theory 101"

Dinner 3/12

Stir-Fried Seitan w/ Orange, Green Beans and Chiles
(via Tyler Florence's book)

Chinese Flat Noodles

Lotus Root Chips

Dinner 3/11

Chiles Rellenos*

Zucchini w/ Sunflower Pate

* Yet another raw foods dinner (all meals yesterday were raw foods), this time a poblano pepper stuffed with a pumpkin seed mixture (plus onions, cilantro, carrot, jalapeno and oregano) then dehydrated for 8 hours. This was our first "real" test of the dehydrator and it passed with flying colors. The rellenos were almost etherially light and very tasty. We also made one in a red bell pepper and it was fabulous as well. The zucchini were very thinly cut and the pate added on top w/ addition ground cumin seeds. Sorry, no pictures today...

Dinner 3/10

Fiery Lava Soup
(carrot juice, avacado, jalapeno, garlic, mint and cilantro. from Juliano's "Raw - The Uncook Book")

Steamed Artichokes
(w/ lemon)

Bruschetta
(zucchini and tomato)

Lunch 3/10 *

Dolmas w/ Dill Sour Cream Sauce
(stuffed grape leaves w/ parsnips, mint, parsley, pine nuts, celery, currants and onions)

Baby Cucumber Sushi
(w/ "Mac Cream" -- macadamia, cashew, lemon juice, shoyu, garlic and peppercorn puree)

I know -- I haven't done lunch on the blog for a long time now, but as we've been trying out a bunch of raw foods recipes, and I've been working on shooting more pictures, we'll show today's lunch. The Dolmas come from Charlie Trotter & Roxanne Klein, the "mac cream" comes from Juliano's "Raw -- the Uncook Book".

Dinner 3/9

Eggplant Parmesan
(over gemelli pasta)

Mache Salad w/ Tart Cherries
(w/ lemon vinaigrette)

Dinner 3/8

Portobello Mushroom Pave*
(from Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein's "Raw" book I mentioned the other day)

Baby Cucumber Sushi
(baby cucumbers w/ the center hollowed out and stuffed w/ macadamia nuts, jalapeno, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil -- all Liz's work)

Shaved Fennel Salad
(w/ olive oil and lemon vinaigrette)

Corn Soup
(w/ curry oil, also from the "Raw" book)


* so, we had an all raw dinner last night, the Pave took a little more work than usual -- and indeed most recipes in this book are along the lines of A+B+C+D+E+F+G+18 hours (of sprouting, marinating or dehydrating)=Z. The Pave takes overnight to marinate the paper thin slices of portobello mushroom (used my trusty ceramic kyocera blade). The end result looked much like the picture in the book, so I'd consider it a success...

The book itself is a coffee table book along the lines of "French Laundry", but the one advantage is we live about 1.5 hours from Farmer Jones' place (where most of the more esoteric veggies can be found). I don't forsee my diet becoming completely raw, but perhaps a couple of dinners per week (as well as breakfasts and lunches). Hey, I'm already a vegan, how much more weird can going raw be? ;)

If you want to see larger versions of my laughable attempts at "food styling" and "plating" just click on the smaller pictures...

Dinner 3/7

Massaman Curry
(tofu, potatoes, shallots, coconut milk, green curry sauce)

Steamed Broccoli
(w/ soy ginger sauce)

Basmati Rice*

* normally it'd be jasmine, but we're *gasp* out at the moment ;)

Dinner 3/6

Duxelles Stuffed Ravioli
(w/ port reduction sauce)

Glazed Carrots

Green Beans w/ Truffle Oil

* The duxelles were made with shiitake mushrooms and shallots, deglazed w/ maderia. The pasta dough contained some ground herbes de provence and then were run through the pasta roller, ending on setting "5". Then they were hand shaped and cut into triangles and square shapes. The port reduction sauce is just 1 cup of inexpensive ruby port (I've used tawny as well) reduced to a syrup with a little salt and pepper added.

The carrots were braised in water and glazed at the end w/ some maderia. The green beans were blanched, then sauteed w/ shallots and a drop of truffle oil at the end.

Dinner 3/5

Soba Noodle Stir Fry
(w/ sesame oil, tofu, jalapeno, carrots, garlic and ginger)

Edamame

Wine

Coturri Syrah 2001*

Yes, the new shipment has arrived -- woo hoo!

Dinner 3/4

Bruschetta
(zucchini, tomato and garlic)

Roasted Tofu w/ Lemon, Thyme, Olives and Garlic
(via Martha Stewart, April 2002)

Steamed Broccoli

Dinner 3/3

Cap'n Janeway
(rigatoni w/ tomato and cream sauce)

Mixed Greens Salad
(w/ fig vinaigrette)

Italian Bread

Dinner 3/1

Tex-Mex Enchilladas
(Corn tortillas fried in oil about 2 seconds per side, dipped in the cumin, mexican oregano and ancho chile sauce, then stuffed with soy cheese and onion. Makes about 20, place seam side down in a cassarole dish, cover with the rest of the sauce and onions and bake @ 350 for 10 minutes)

Arroz Verde
(Poblano Rice Pilaf)