Ramen with Fennel Stock and Thai Basil

Dinner 04/24

Ramen with Fennel Stock and Thai Basil



We made the fennel stock (pressure cooked) back in November and froze it.

Fennel Stock

1 fennel bulb (tops only, save bulb for another use)
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp ground fennel seeds (optional)
8 cups of water

In a pressure cooker, add the roughly chopped the fennel tops (and the ground fennel seeds if using) and saute with 1 tsp of olive oil for a few minutes until the tops are wilted. Add 8 cups of water and bring to a boil. Put the lid on and wait until the pressure cooker reaches 15psi (your model may vary) reduce the heat to keep an even pressure and cook for 40 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for few minutes. Strain the stock through a fine sieve. If not using immediately, let come to room temp and refrigerate.

It's not at all salty at this point, but that's what you want... you can always add it when the soup is being seasoned. We usually add a small bit of kombu while the broth is heating up.

The rest of bowl is rounded out with carrots, tofu, mushrooms, Chile Eggplant Sofrito and we steamed/seared some baby bok choy to finish, and topped with Thai Basil.

Ratatouille over Roasted Potatoes

Dinner 04/23

Ratatouille

Roasted Potatoes




Ratatouille

2 tbs. olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. herbes de provence
1 medium eggplant, diced
2 medium zucchini, diced
2 tbs. nutritional yeast
3-4 medium tomatoes, roughly diced
2 tbs. parsley, chopped

In a large saute pan, heat the 1 tbs. olive oil and lightly brown the sliced onions. Add the garlic for the last two minutes, along with the salt, pepper and herbes de provence.

While that's cooking, in a separate large saute pan (or wok), add the additional 1 tbs. of olive oil and the diced eggplant, diced zucchini, and cook until lightly browned.

Combine the eggplant and zucchini with the onions and garlic back into the pan and sprinkle the nutritional yeast over all of the ingredients, stir to incorporate, and cook for a couple of minutes.

Turn the heat down to low, add the diced tomatoes, stir to incorporate. Cook until thickened -- about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. The final result should look fairly stew-like. Add the chopped parsley, check for seasoning.

At this point it's ready to eat -- or you can put the ratatouille in an au gratin dish, sprinkle a little extra nutritional yeast on top and bake it at 350F for 15 minutes to firm it all up.

Tonight we added roasted potatoes as a base -- quartered, roasted at 450F for about 40 minutes.

Flatbread with Morel Mushrooms, Grilled Ramps and Roasted Broccoli

Dinner 04/21

Flatbread with Morel Mushrooms, Grilled Ramps and Roasted Broccoli



What happens when Liz makes too much dough (like last night's pizza?) Flatbreads of course... or fancy pizza. ;)



Topped with Morel mushrooms, grilled ramps and roasted broccoli and a soy cream cheese, garlic and shallot base.

Stuffed Crust Pizza

Dinner 04/20

Stuffed Crust Pizza



Liz utilized the deep-dish pan in case the Daiya mozzarella decided to ooze out*. Topped with tofu sausage (cherry/oak smoked tofu crumbled, fried in olive oil with ground fennel seed, red pepper flakes, smoked paprika, smoked salt and pepper), olives, mushrooms, red onions and more Daiya.


* (Ron Howard Voice): It didn't.

Tea-Smoked Tofu Tacos with Pineapple and Tomato Salsa

Dinner 04/19

Tea-Smoked Tofu Tacos

Pineapple and Tomato Salsa



Tacos again -- or as our daughter would remark -- "you say that like it's a bad thing."



There's a Mexican restaurant called Barrio's that we like to hit up for lunch when we go out grocery shopping. One of their many vegan options is a pineapple salsa that we love -- so we re-created it for tonight's meal. Diced pineapple, smoked paprika, smoked salt, pepper, agave, red onion, jalapeno, diced tomato all mixed together which adds a nice counterpart to the crispy fried tofu (also available at Barrio's).

Pulled Portobello Tacos

Dinner 04/18

Pulled Portobello Tacos



If you see someone in a grocery store buying all the portobello stems, that's us.

This is a new technique that we've developed while we were away -- pulled portobello stems as a taco filling. Utilizing the whole mushroom, we marinate, roast, pull/shred and cook with a bbq sauce to finish...



We start by cleaning and trimming the stems, then cutting them in half.



Then we marinate with a combo of molasses, ketchup, salt, pepper, smoked paprika and tamari.




Then we roast them at 400F for 10-12 minutes.



Finally we let them cool for 5 minutes and shred them. The best way is to hold the mushroom stem in your left hand, grab it at the top between your right thumb and index finger, pinch and pull it down into small strips.

BBQ Tofu and Portobello Mushroom Pizza

Dinner 04/17

BBQ Tofu and Portobello Mushroom Pizza



Much like our Flatbread Pizza video from a few years ago, we still like to make a big batch of flatbreads, then top them with whatever we have in the fridge -- this time it was some portobello mushrooms that we pan-fried, then hit with our BBQ Sauce.

Penne with Arugula and Sausages

Dinner 04/16

Penne with Arugula and Sausages



Liz picked up these cute mid-century modern bowls last week so we used them for tonight's meal -- brown rice penne, wilted arugula and Tofurky Italian sausages topped with a little pasta water and nooch in the pan for seasoning...

Happy Pancakes with Edamame

Dinner 04/15

Happy Pancakes

Edamame



As I was taking these pictures -- the tornado sirens went off, briefly interrupting dinner. The way this "spring" has been going, that seems par for the course...



The recipe is from Food & Wine, using smoked tofu strips, carrots, scallions, Enoki mushrooms and bean sprouts, subbing tamari for the fish sauce.



Here they are in the flat-bottomed wok, cooking away -- the bean sprouts were added at the end of cooking and the pancakes were ever-so-gently folded in half.

Strawberry Crepes with Chocolate Sauce and Powdered Sugar

Breakfast 04/14

Strawberry Crepes with Chocolate Sauce and Powdered Sugar





Sometimes, just a picture will do...

Pizza Puffs, Roasted Cauliflower and Kale Salad

Dinner 04/13

Pizza Puffs

Roasted Cauliflower

Kale Salad



Although we're not actively testing cookbooks these days, we still like to pick up the new vegan cookbooks from our library and give them a spin -- tonight's meal came via the Main Street Vegan Academy Cookbook by Victoria Moran and JL Fields.





The Kale salad is from Christopher Kimball, we subbed agave for the honey, but otherwise it's made we want to eat kale salads again, so that's nice ;)

Smoked Tofu Goulash with Biscuit Dumplings

Dinner 04/12

Smoked Tofu Goulash with Biscuit Dumplings



A much-love veganized recipe, straight from Food & Wine from March 2013.

We cut the tofu in 8 cutlets, marinate in tamari for a couple of minutes, then toss in the seasoned flour and fry until crispy, cut them into strips and then follow the rest of the recipe as written, substituting vegan versions 1:1 for the rest of the ingredients in the recipe (butter, stock, sour cream) and it's delightful...

Farfalle Pasta with Roasted Broccoli, Spinach, Tomato, Zucchini and Lemon Zest, 15 Bean Soup

Dinner 04/11

Farfalle Pasta with Roasted Broccoli, Spinach, Tomato, Zucchini and Lemon Zest

15 Bean Soup



A quick spring-like (because, of course, it snowed today) pasta bowl with things that needed to be used in the fridge. There's a bit of white wine, veg broth and soy sour cream for the sauce to round out the sauteed onion, garlic and zucchini. The roasted broccoli, tomatoes and spinach were added at the end to heat through and mixed with the lemon zest and parsley.



We also defrosted a 15 bean soup that Liz made late last year, vacuum sealed (we still do that for bulk items like pierogies, ravioli and hatch chiles) and frozen -- because we were also joined by our son and daughter-in-law* who came over for dinner.

* oh yeah, we haven't done the blog in a while... they got married this year. ;)

Dang Quesadilla

Dinner 04/10

Dang Quesadilla




You know we couldn't come back and not have a Dang Quesadilla. ;)



Two tortillas stuffed with pan-fried mushrooms, sauteed red onion & garlic, Daiya mozzarella then pan-fried until crisp and topped with soy sour cream, salsa and guacamole.

Lemon Olive Oil Cake with Strawberries

Dessert 04/09

Lemon Oil Olive Oil Cake with Strawberries



Another rehearsal night, so here's dessert instead -- straight out of Chloe's Vegan Desserts. Topped with strawberries and whipped cream. We just used a regular cake pan, because I didn't feel like digging out our collection of Bundt pans. ;)

* seriously, we have, like 10... because of course we do...

Oyster Mushroom Po' Boy with Roasted Cauliflower

Dinner 04/08

Oyster Mushroom Po' Boy

Roasted Cauliflower



We picked up some gorgeous Oyster Mushrooms Friday so we made Po' Boys with cole slaw and a side of roasted cauliflower and hot sauce. Lots of hot sauce.



We used our usual three-pan method:

Pan 1: Seasoned flour (about 1/2 cup, with salt, pepper, smoked paprika to taste)

Pan 2: Cornstarch Slurry (1 tbs. cornstarch and 3 tbs. water, more if it stars to seize up)

Pan 3: Equal amounts of bread crumbs and cornmeal (about 1/2 cup each), nooch and a little thyme and pepper.

We tossed the mushrooms briefly with a splash of tamari, then into pan 1 until coated, straight into pan 2 until wet, then pan 3 tossed and pressed lightly into the nooks and crannies of the mushrooms to evenly coat.

After that, they were deep-fried in Peanut oil at 365F, until the bubbling has stopped -- about 3-4 minutes.

Served on a flatbread with cole slaw and hot sauce.

Broccoli with Orange Sauce

Dinner 04/07

Broccoli with Orange Sauce



The broccoli was stir-fried. For the orange sauce: start with 1 tbs. of sunflower oil in a wok, quickly stir-fry 2 cloves of minced garlic, about a 1/2" of microplaned ginger, 1 small diced jalapeno, 1 tsp. five-spice powder and 1 tsp. Szechuan peppercorn (about 45 seconds). Whisk in the juice of 2 oranges (about 1/2 cup), microplane the zest from the oranges, add a splash of water, 1 tbs. rice wine vinegar, 3 tbs. brown sugar and bring to a boil. In a separate bowl, whisk 1 tbs. cornstarch with 2 tbs. of water, then whisk it into the sauce. Add a splash of tamari to taste. Eat already!

Spaghetti with Meatballs, Garlic Bread, Salad with Diced Apples, Roasted Beets and Raisins

Dinner 04/06

Spaghetti with Meatballs

Garlic Bread

Salad with Diced Apples, Roasted Beets and Raisins



Liz made her classic red gravy, er, sauce; used some of the focaccia from the other night to make cheesy garlic bread under the broiler; and on the side, a huge salad with iceberg lettuce, roasted beets, diced apple, raisins and (Daiya) blue cheese dressing.



Since we've been gone, there's a new vegan grocery store that opened in Strongsville, OH called AVE MKT (you may have seen them in VegNews). In addition to a variety of cupcakes and other vegan goodies, they carry the best selection of hard-to-find items that we used to have to get via mail order -- like Match Meats.

For the meatballs, we used Match Meats Ground Beef (bonus! gluten-free!), mixed with day-old Einkorn bread (softened with soy-milk), shredded onion, garlic, ground fennel seed and red pepper flakes. They were shaped into 1 1/2" balls, and pan-fried in olive oil in our flat-bottomed wok, then transferred to the warm sauce. Using the entire package, we ended up with 21 meatballs (a.k.a. tomorrow's lunch).

Banh Mi with Roasted Broccoli

Dinner 04/05

Banh Mi

Roasted Broccoli



Revisiting an old favorite tonight, Banh Mi -- a.k.a. "Vietnamese Seitan Baguette with Savory Broth Dip" straight outta Veganomicon (we tested this recipe 10+ years ago*? Yikes!)

Obviously, we used (Cherry) Smoked tofu in place of the seitan and focaccia in place of the baguette (because those are the things we had on hand), but it's awesome anyway, anyhow, anywhere. Trumpet Mushrooms, Red Onion, Cucumbers, Vegan Mayo, and a five-spice powder infused mushroom broth round it out.


* Want to feel old? Our daughter was four when we started the blog. She's now 20.

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Leftovers (French Lentils, Braised Carrot, Roast Potatoes, Fried Tofu)

Dinner 04/04

French Lentils

Braised Carrot

Roast Potatoes

Fried Tofu



Eagle-eyed readers will recognize this meal as leftovers from Easter dinner. As I didn't really go into any of the recipes and prep, this is a chance to catch-up.

The French lentils were pressure-cooked -- 1 1/2 cups of lentils and about 2 1/2 cups of veg stock. One little extra thing we do at the beginning is to add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pressure cooker and lightly brown a half of an onion studded with five cloves and a bay leaf. Then we add the rinsed lentils, the veg stock, a splash of tamari and pressure cook for 16 minutes at 7.5 psi (or the first ring on our pressure cooker).

For the Braised Carrots: Peel the carrots, and put them into a sauce pan large enough to hold all of them in a single layer. Add water about half way up the side of the carrots. Add 1 tbs. of soy margarine. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover loosely. Cook until the water completely evaporates and only a little soy margarine is left on the bottom of the pan. Add the carrots and whatever soy margarine is left (you can also add an additional 1 tsp. soy margarine if it looks like it needs a little more)to a gratin dish add salt and pepper to taste, and braise for 15-20 minutes in a 350F oven.

The potatoes were cut into 1-inch chunks, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted at 450F for 30-35 minutes. The oven was turned off, the potatoes were taken out and tossed 1 tbs of soy margarine and put back in the oven until service.

The tofu was first smoked (the more things change...) (with Cherry and Maple wood chips), then pan-fried, cut into strips and pan fried again and finished with tamari.

As for why we were having leftovers, I had band rehearsal and needed to leave early (this will be a reoccurring theme going forward this month).

Tofu Ras el hanout, Braised Cabbage, Fried Chickpeas, Sopa de Ajo and Shishito Peppers

Dinner 04/03

Tofu Ras el hanout

Braised Cabbage

Fried Chickpeas



Big chunky smoked tofu cubes coated (with cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, salt & pepper) marinated for 30 minutes, then pan-fried until crispy. The cabbage was slow-cooked with onions and garlic, smoked paprika, salt and pepper, with a splash of sherry near the end. The chickpeas were simply wok-fried in olive oil, seasoned with salt, pepper, smoked paprika and finished with a splash of tamari.



Sopa de Ajo

Shishito Peppers

For a starter, we whipped up a batch of Sopa de Ajo -- olive oil, garlic, day-old bread, paprika, wine, salt & pepper, veg stock) paired with Shishito Peppers (de-seeded, wok-fried on high heat until blistered, removed, then hit with salt and a squeeze of lemon juice).

Ye Olde Stir-Fry 2018 Version

Dinner 04/02

Ye Olde Stir-Fry 2018 Version

(Steamed Rice, Seared/Steamed Brussels Sprouts and Shiitake Mushrooms with Hoisin Sauce, Tea-Smoked Tofu, Carrots, Steamed/Seared Bok Choy Shredded Yuba, Wilted Spinach with Sesame Seeds topped with Cucumber, Scallion and Kimchi)



Much like Heraclitus said "You can never eat the same stir-fry twice"* -- every one is slightly different and tonight's was no exception. We rely on the "what needs to be used in the fridge" scale which gave us Seared/Steamed Brussels Sprouts as the leading veggie (paired with shiitake mushrooms and a hoisin sauce)...



Topping it all off is Liz's (by now) standard homemade Kimchi.



* I'm paraphrasing here.

Easter 2018

Easter 2018 04/01

Crepes (filled with French Lentils, Grilled Asparagus, Button Mushrooms, Cherry & Maple Smoked Tofu)

Braised Carrots

Roasted Potatoes



English Pea Soup



Dessert

Baklava



This is not an April Fools post, but the first day of a (scheduled 30 day) Pop Up Blog

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