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!