Cookbook Challenge – Fluffy Biscuits, Honey Mustard Tempeh with Couscous, Spicy Orange Salad

Biscuits are bad for you, always, right? And if you try to make them healthier, you’ll end up with wheat-colored hockey pucks, and no one wants to eat sporting equipment for breakfast. At least that’s what I thought, until I made these biscuits from Venturesome Vegetarian. While these won’t exactly qualify as health food, by replacing half the white flour with whole wheat and using natural shortening (I used coconut oil), you won’t ruin your quest for healthy eating. Not only that, but by using whole wheat pastry flour, which is almost as light as all-purpose flour, these are indistinguishable from traditional biscuits, artery-clogging shortening and starch bombs that they are.

This week I also tried the Honey Mustard Tempeh with Couscous from the same cookbook. I had completely forgotten that my husband dislikes both tempeh and couscous. Whoopsie! I thought the dish was really tasty, though. I’ll try to incorporate the honey mustard sauce in a different recipe in the future, something that we will both enjoy.

Finally, the Spicy Orange Salad was the perfect summer salad to have with some soup. I was able to get locally grown oranges, even. This one is definitely a keeper.

Fluffy Biscuits

I cut this recipe in half, but feel free to double it back to the original size. I don’t own a biscuit cutter, so I used a heart-shaped cookie cutter.

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all-purpose flour, unbleached, if possible
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons sea salt
1/4 cup coconut oil or natural shortening
3/4 cup unsweetened soy or rice milk
1 teaspoon cider vinegar

Whisk together flours, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Add coconut oil or shortening. If coconut oil is liquid, put bowl in refrigerator to allow it to solidify.

Stir together milk and vinegar and set aside. Preheat oven to 450.

Using a pastry cutter or two knives, combine dry ingredients with shortening until mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Stir in milk until just combined.

Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface and roll or press dough to 1/4 inch thick, or slightly thicker. Sprinkle the top of the dough with more flour if it is too sticky. Cut biscuits from dough without twisting the cutter. Roll remaining dough back into a ball, press out again, and continue cutting biscuits.

Place biscuits onto a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden.

My favorite food is...

When I was a kid in northwest Florida, authentic Mexican food was hard to come by, and something my parents sorely missed after having lived in Austin. There was one little place, however, that fit the bill. Della’s was almost a hole in the wall and in an industrial part of town, but the food was amazing. The family that owned the restaurant was most recently from New Mexico, and they brought in their own New Mexican dried peppers. They made a thin, orange, fiery sauce that was too hot for us as kids, so we ordered our burritos and enchiladas “dry” when we ate there every Thursday night.

When I was nine, I got braces on my teeth. Once a month, I had an appointment with the orthodontist, wherein he’d tighten my braces, leaving my mouth sore. My appointment was at the same time every month, after school. On a Thursday.

Even though my sister and I ordered our food without sauce, they’d run it under the broiler before serving it, and the tortillas would get crunchy. After about the third month of struggling to eat my dry, crunchy burrito with a sore mouth, I asked for sauce. And lots of water. Now I have a blog named after a hot pepper. Go figure.

I bought a big pile of peppers to take the banner photo for this blog, and didn’t want them to go to waste, so I turned them into enchilada sauce. (My son helped me with the photo by tweaking it in Photoshop. Thanks T!) This isn’t exactly like Della’s sauce, but it is fiery and flavorful.

By the way, enchiladas are really easy to make once you have the sauce. I sometimes even buy canned sauce (Hatch is good), make extra vegetables when I’m grilling, and throw a pan or two together after dinner to put in the freezer for busy nights. Here is a basic recipe for enchiladas, followed by the recipe for the sauce I just made.

Enchiladas

12 tortillas, 6-inches in diameter
2 1/2 cups filling
2 cups sauce

Twelve enchiladas will fill a 9 x 13-inch pan, or two 8 x 8-inch ones. Corn tortillas are authentic, but you can use flour. If you’re using corn tortillas, heat some of the sauce and dip each one before rolling up with a scant quarter cup of filling. If using flour tortillas, you can simply spoon some sauce in the bottom of your baking pan or pans, and roll up the dry tortillas with filling. Top with the remainder of the sauce.

Bake at 350 until sauce is bubbly at the edges, about 20 minutes. You can also freeze them before baking.

Makes 6 servings.

Roasted Vegetable Salsa

The best fresh peppers for this are the relatively mild ones like poblanos or anaheims. If you must use some really hot ones, balance them out with bell peppers. One or two kinds of peppers will be fine. I like roma tomatoes best, or you can substitute tomatillas to make salsa verde. Use large dried peppers like anchos, cascabels, or guajillos.

1 pound fresh peppers
2 pounds tomatoes
1 large onion, peeled and cut into big chunks
10 or so cloves of garlic, peeled
2-3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 ounce dried peppers

Preheat oven to 375. Toss whole peppers, tomatoes, onion and garlic cloves with enough oil to coat. Toss with spices. Spread in a single layer on a baking tray and roast for about 40-45 minutes. Vegetables will be quite soft. Let cool enough to handle.

Tear out stems from the dried peppers and remove most of the seeds. Bring one cup of water to a boil. Add peppers, remove from heat, and allow to stand for 30 minutes or longer.

Remove stems and seeds from roasted peppers, and peel away any blackened skin. Puree the roasted vegetables and dried, soaked peppers (including the soaking water) in a food processor. Spoon into a large glass measuring cup and add enough water to make 4 cups.

It’s a Vegan World: Leek and Potato Soup

My dad grew up in the north of England. In 1959, he got a scholarship to the University of Texas and spent the summer traveling. First, he sailed the Queen Mary to New York, and then he got on a tiny plane to Austin. He met and married my mom in Austin, and two years later, they returned to England for part of their honeymoon. Occasionally over the years, my mom, who was a wonderful cook, would tell us that English food was all “cold toast and mushy peas.”

Imagine my dismay, then, to discover that for the first It’s a Vegan World event I planned to participate in, Vaishali decided to feature British food. “But, but, I don’t want cold toast and mushy peas!” I thought. But even while I was thinking that, I knew I wasn’t being fair. British food has come a long way in the last 50 years, and it’s always had delicious food, I have no doubt. Also, one of the reasons I took up blogging and started participating in blog events, was to stretch my culinary horizons and give myself a few challenges. What could be more of a challenge than to cook something tasty from a cuisine I was brought up not to like? And it’s the food of my ancestors, no less.

Reading through many recipes, I came across Leek and Potato Soup again and again. You can’t go wrong with soup at my house, so this looked perfect. This is a very simple recipe. If you use the best-tasting ingredients possible, you’ll be rewarded with delicious soup.

Leek and Potato Soup

1 tablespoon vegan margarine
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 or 3 leeks, cleaned well and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large Russet potato, diced
4 cups chicken-flavor vegetarian broth (I used water and Massel bouillon powder)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (I recommend Tellicherry pepper)
salt to taste
1 cup non-dairy milk or creamer (I used water and Better Than Milk soy milk powder, made double strength)
chives to garnish

Heat margarine and oil together in a medium soup pot. Add leek and garlic and sauté over medium heat until leek is soft, about 10 minutes. Add potato, broth, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook 15 to 20 minutes, until potato is tender. Taste for salt. Using a potato masher, mash potato if desired. Add milk or creamer and heat gently. Garnish with chives.

Serves 4

Cookbook Challenge – Roasted Eggplant and Mushroom Pâté, Corn Crisps, and Miso Marinade

I have a lentil and mushroom pâté recipe that I like, but I’m always on the lookout for another one. Most pâté freezes well, and makes good sandwiches, too. I was really happy with the Roasted Eggplant and Mushroom Pâté from Venturesome Vegetarian. It was relatively easy, and very rich. The primary flavor comes from the cashew nuts and mushrooms. I think I’ll use the leftovers in banh mi.

I had some trouble with the corn crisps. First, I misread the recipe and used regular cornmeal and they were like chewy little cookies. Then I made it again with the proper coarse cornmeal, but the batter was too wet and I had to strain it. Also, if I were to have made the entire recipe the second time, it would have taken 4 or 5 large baking sheets to hold them all – not good if you can only bake one sheet at a time. They were cute and crispy, though.

I bathed some firm tofu in the miso marinade, and threw it on the grill. I was rushing, so I didn’t get a good photograph, but I’ll definitely be making this again. In addition to the usual marinade ingredients, the miso and nori in this give it an great depth of flavor. When it cools down here in Houston enough to enjoy grilling again, I’ll double this, and marinate tofu and big piles of whichever vegetables look best, maybe corn and zucchini and mushrooms.

Roasted Eggplant and Mushroom Pâté

3 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for roasting
1 large eggplant
8 ounces button or cremini mushrooms (I used creminis)
8 ounces tempeh
1 small yellow onion
1 2/3 cup roasted cashews
1/3 cup sweet white miso (I used medium, not sweet white miso)
1/3 cup tahini
1-inch piece of ginger, chopped
1/2 teaspoon allspice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut eggplant in half, and brush the cut sides with oil. Slice the larger mushrooms in half, cut the tempeh into 6 or 8 pieces, peel and cut the onion into a few chunks. Toss the mushrooms, tempeh and onions with a bit of olive oil. Put all the vegetables in a baking pan, eggplant cut sides down. Bake for 45 minutes or until the eggplant is soft and the skin is wrinkled. Scoop eggplant flesh out and discard the skin.

In a food processor, puree eggplant flesh with remaining ingredients. A chunky texture is okay, and you’ll have some visible pieces of cashews. Spoon the mixture into an oiled 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, and bake for 1 hour at 350.

Cool completely before removing pâté from pan. Venturesome Vegetarian suggests serving this chilled, but I liked it fine at room temperature. Also, the book states that this makes 3 cups, but I ended up with almost 5.

Toasted Ravioli

Do you collect more appetizer recipes than you have parties at which to serve them? Make them for your family for dinner! Sometimes all you need is a salad or easy side dish to round them out, just like an entrée. Other appetizers can stand in for a side dish. We have this as an entrée.

Toasted Ravioli

I like to use the oversized, restaurant-style ravioli that you get at warehouse stores like Costco, but any type will do.

18 ounces ravioli
2 cups soft bread crumbs (from 3 slices sandwich bread)
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (or a blend of basil, oregano, thyme or marjoram)
1 cup marinara sauce

Preheat oven to 450.

Cook ravioli according to package instructions and drain. Combine bread crumbs and Italian seasoning in a shallow pan, such as a pie pan. Coat wet ravioli with bread crumbs. If ravioli gets too dry, just rewet with cool water.

Warm marinara sauce in a small saucepan.

Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place ravioli in a single layer. Spray tops with more cooking spray. Bake for 5 minutes or until bread crumbs are toasted.

Serve with small bowls of marinara for dipping.

Serves 3 or 4 for dinner, more as an appetizer.

Tried and tasted - Kalamata Olive, Artichoke and Walnut Spread

Popular wisdom has it that you shouldn’t go grocery shopping while hungry. No one ever said anything about reading food blogs while hungry, though.

Tried and Tasted, created by Zlamushka’s Spicy Kitchen and hosted this month by Ashwini’s Spicy Cuisine, is focused on Asha’s Foodie Hope. I was reading Asha‘s lovely blog, my stomach was rumbling, and then I came across her recipe for Kalamata Olive, Artichoke and Walnut Spread. Realizing I had all the ingredients on hand, I ran into the kitchen and made it right away. Delicious!

Cookbook Challenge - Frozen Fudge Pops

These Frozen Fudge Pops from Versatile Vegetarian were everything I’d hoped they would be, but even richer and more chocolaty. The recipe is similar to a creamy chocolate pie filling, but frozen. Make these!

Frozen Fudge Pops

12-ounce box soft, silken tofu
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 cups non-dairy chocolate chips

Puree tofu in a food processor. Scrape down sides, add cocoa powder and maple syrup, and process again. Melt chocolate chips according to package instructions and add to tofu mixture. Process, scraping down sides of machine as necessary. Spoon the mixture into molds, using a knife to break up any air bubbles. Freeze for 3 hours or longer.

Makes 8 fudge pops.

Note: the only place that seems to sell Popsicle molds is the dollar store.

Watermelon Margaritas from The Parsley Thief

I am drinking this Margarita right now. It is perfect for this hot July 4^th, not too sweet. I’ve made it exactly as Kate did, but my tequila of choice is Sauza Blanco. It’s good enough for a mixed drink, and not too expensive. Happy Independence Day!

This sandwich does not exist.

I have a buddy who claims that this sandwich cannot exist, because it’s made from meatless chicken. Since chicken is meat, and this chicken isn’t, it can’t exist. That’s all there is to it.

It was delicious while it lasted, though.

I don’t cook often with purchased meat substitutes, but sometimes you just need something quick. These sandwiches come together in minutes and everybody in my house loves them. I usually serve these with fruit.

Chick’n and Avocado Sandwiches

To make chipotle mayonnaise, puree a small can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in the blender. Stir about ½ teaspoon of the puree into about ¼ cup of vegan mayonnaise (I like Vegenaise). Taste and add more if you like. Store remaining chipotle pepper puree in a small glass jar in the refrigerator. The puree will keep for a year.

1 8-ounce package meatless chicken strips (I like Morning Star Farm Chick’n Strips.)
2 small Haas avocados, sliced
3 hoagie buns, preferably whole wheat
lettuce leaves
sweet onion slices
chipotle mayonnaise

Heat chick’n strips in a small, non-stick skillet until just heated through. Layer strips on buns, top with avocado slices, and serve with lettuce, onion slices and mayo.

Serves 3.