Potato Bread with Scallions

I regret that I let yeast doughs intimidate me for so long. Making bread at home is really easy, it makes your apartment smell super. Barring some crucial mishap (and I haven't had one yet, and I doubt you will) you'll have better bread than you'd be eating otherwise and you'll pay less for it.

This is from Vegan Planet by Robin Robertson. The recipe is for potato bread with chives but I used scallions and substituted whole wheat for some of the white flour in the recipe. The onion flavor was subtle, but nice. Oh, and it made a two fat, happy loaves!

Perogies

Yukon gold potato-dill perogies served on a mound of perfectly caramelized onions. These were far and away the best perogies I've ever had, and I've had a quite a few. This recipe is in Vegan Brunch, my newest favoritest cookbook of all time. Tomas made them for me, so I'm not sure exactly how time-intensive they are, but from his exhausted state when I came home to find these cute little guys, I would assume they're a good bit of work. But the recipe make a LOT and they're all you'll want to eat anyway, so I say they're well worth it!

Tempeh-tastic

Homemade tempeh bacon based somewhat on the VWaV recipe: steamed tempeh marinated in maple syrup, tamari, liquid smoke, orange juice, garlic and chile flakes fried in peanut oil. Roasted yukon gold potatoes (just with a little canola and salt,) and some mixed baby greens with maple-mustard dressing (maple syrup, dijon mustard, lemon juice, salt).




If you've never cooked with tempeh before, you should definitely give it a try. Tempeh is a Indonesian-style fermented soy product. It's made with whole soybeans and has more protein an fiber than tofu. You can pick it up at a well-stocked health food store or grocery usually in long cakes. I usually steam it first, to remove some bitterness and to tenderize it. Just a few minutes will do fine. Then throw it in a stir-fry, like this one...




Tempeh stir-fry: Steamed tempeh, steamed kale, broccoli, red bell peppers, sesame oil, peanut oil, scallions, minced fresh garlic, minced fresh ginger, agave, tamari, peanuts, sesame seeds, served over brown rice.

Samosa stuffed baked potato

This might be my favorite recipe from Veganomicon so far. The samosa stuffed baked potatoes are assembled much like traditional twice-baked potatoes, but instead of adding lots of cream, butter and cheese to your mashed potato filling, you add a mix of vegetables and spices traditionally used when making samosas, the Indian appetizer of fried dough with spiced potato and vegetables. The only additions I made were adding a little extra salt and some chile flakes to the mix, and sprinkling the top with paprika for the traditional twice-baked mystique.

Potato-beet gnocchi with garlic collards and tahini-lemon sauce

So I got a ricer for Christmas (thanks Mom!) and honestly the only time I can think of ricers coming up in conversation is when discussing gnocchi. I had tried to make gnocchi a while back and they had not come out so great, but I think I learned a few things about making this tricky pasta from scratch. For one, make sure to thoroughly mix all your flour and seasonings together thoroughly before adding your riced potatoes. Also, I found that my gnocchi cooked best when the water was at a rolling boil. Cooking them in small batches kept the water temperature up too. Ingredients: gnocchi: baked russet potatoes, white flour, white whole wheat flour, beet powder, salt. Greens: collard greens, minced garlic, olive oil, salt. Sauce: tahini, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, tamari, turmeric, water.

More festive foods

I saw a recipe for something like "maple mustard glazed potatoes and green beans" in VWaV while I was planning my x-mas dinner contributions and spending time with the family. I thought it looked pretty yummy, but we ended up going with the standard amandine preparation anyway. I knew I'd make it for myself eventually, but alas, when I returned to my apartment I realized I had left the cookbooks at my parents house. Arg! Anyway, I decided to improvise my own recipe and it was *awesome.* It included: maple syrup, dijon mustard, olive oil, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, black pepper and sea salt. You whisk it up (the mustard makes the whole thing emulsify perfectly). I poured the mixture over some veggies in a casserole dish and baked until tender at 375 degrees. I've already made this again using brussels sprouts and I think the monster butternut squash on my kitchen table awaits a similar fate. Maybe also beets...or sweet potatoes. These are great on their own, but some leftover veggies/sauce + cranberries + pecans + baby spinach = best...salad...evvvver.



New Years Eve food included some store bought taro and red bean steamed dumplings and massive amounts of fried veggies (onion rings, sweet potato fries, whatever else was in the crisper...?) for no especially good reason other than perhaps a latent desire to give all of my otherwise healthy young guests some early coronary events. Anyway, my friend Momo and I created a very effective deep-fried assembly line and the best dish of the night was really his idea: champagne tempura batter! We dipped some baby bella mushrooms and some green beans in it and I have to say, the mushrooms were really the star here. I mean seriously, perfectly puffy, golden, fatty, little mushrooms. Nom. Nom. Nom. Everything was served with an impromptu aioli (roasted red pepper, vegenaise, white beans, garlic, basil, sea salt, pepper).

Champagne tempura:

*1-1 1/3 cups liquid: we used almost all cold champagne, but you can use water too. If you use champagne you'll probably need more liquid.
*1/2 cup AP flour
*1/2 cup rice flour
*2 tbs ener-g egg replacer powder
*pinch salt
*pinch sugar
*pinch red pepper powder

*mix egg replacer with liquid, whisk until frothy, add rest of ingredients.
*dip your veggies (mushrooms strongly suggested,) and roll in panko if desired.
*fry in canola or safflower oil.
*remove veggies from fryer, drain.
*finish with lots of black pepper.

Enjoy! And happy new year!

Stuff a squash not a turkey!

Mom and Jill take Thanksgiving very, very seriously:




Pomegranate champagne punch with rum and mint.












Artichoke stuffed with breadcrumbs, olive oil and garlic.












Roasted butternut squash, onion and apple soup with pecan cilantro pesto.












Roasted sweet and blue potatoes with fried shallots.











Stuffed sweet dumpling squash with wild and basmati rice, apricot, cranberry, pecan and cardamom from Compassionate Cooks.









Stuffed mushrooms from Veganomicon were a big hit.













Veggie platter with glazed baby carrots, roasted brussels sprouts and cippolinis, steamed broccoli and green beans almondine.












A very full plate with all the aforementioned plus vegan mashed potatoes (no omnivore was the wiser...), some freehanded cornbread and soy sausage stuffing and a rosemary drop biscuit from The Joy of Vegan Baking (easy, delicious). Oh and no, I couldn't finish it all, though I tried my best.












Chocolate pumpkin pie from Dreena Burton's Eat Drink and Be Vegan, and apple strudel from The Joy of Vegan Baking. Both were excellent and will be made again soon.

Italian Scallion!

It's red, white and green-- get it? An improv potato soup inspired by my Mom who taught me to cook without recipes.

New potatoes, kale and red scallions from the farmers market with garlic, Earth Balance, soy milk, thyme, rosemary, oregano, black pepper and red chile flake. Lots of leftovers of course, which will be even better when accompanied by some really, really delicious vegan "cheese" crackers.