Wilted Spinach Salad

Last weekend we took a trip to visit my grandmother, who I haven't seen in a year. We also got to visit with my aunt and cousin, who I haven't seen in almost 4 years, and I met my newest baby cousin Mary Rose for the first time. Saturday night we stayed with Jim's brother and sister-in-law. They sent us home with piles of produce from their garden on Sunday and I made this salad as soon as we got home.

It was a great weekend, capped off by a great meal. 

 

Wilted Spinach Salad

Next time I make this, I plan to add a diced avocado.

8 ounces fresh spinach, washed and torn into bite sized pieces
1/3 cup carrot slices

Place the vegetables in a serving bowl.

dressing

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons minced shallot
1 heaping tablespoon sun dried tomato pieces
1 teaspoon agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper

In a small saucepan, heat all the dressing ingredients and bring to a boil. Immediately pour dressing over the salad vegetables and toss well.

Serves 3.

Herbed Asparagus Soup

The first skinny, tender asparagus of spring hit our supermarket last week. Our favorite way to have it is simply steamed with some thinly sliced garlic and finished either with a squirt of lemon juice and some sea salt, or a few drops of roasted sesame oil and some toasted sesame seeds. When we can't possibly eat another spear of steamed asparagus, I make this soup.

Since asparagus is best when it's super fresh, I'll often cook up the whole pound within a day or so of bringing it home, and what we don't eat right way gets put into the freezer to make the soup later. At the end of the recipe, I'll explain how I do that.

Lately, I've been ramping up the flavor with some herbes de provence, a blend of basil, thyme, fennel and lavender. The lavender adds a lovely floral note to the soup that you could also achieve with some marjoram. I've also made this with a blend of tarragon, thyme and basil. This is loosely based on a soup in Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen. 

I'm sending this over to Souper (Soup Salad & Sammies) Sundays, created and hosted weekly by Deb of Kahakai Kitchen.

Herbed Asparagus Soup

1 lb asparagus
3 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 medium potato red or gold potato, about 6 ounces, 1/4 inch dice
5 green onions, green and white part, sliced
3/4 teaspoon herbs de provence
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice (about 1 teaspoon or to taste)
freshly ground black pepper

Snap off the woody ends from the asparagus spears. Add the spear ends and salt to the water in a medium saucepan. Simmer, covered, for 20-30 minutes. Strain out the spear ends, save the broth, and discard the ends. Add the diced potato and sliced green onions to the broth, cover, and simmer until the potato is tender, about 7 minutes.

Trim the tips from a few of the skinniest spears for garnish, if desired. Slice the rest of the asparagus into 1-inch pieces. Add the asparagus pieces and herbes de provence (or herbs of your choice). Simmer until the asparagus is tender, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer the soup to a food processor and blend, or use an immersion blender, leaving the soup a little chunky. Add lemon juice and black pepper to taste.

Garnish with reserved asparagus spears and serve. Makes about 5 cups/4 servings.  

herbed asparagus soup from leftover asparagus

Start with a pound of asparagus. Snap the woody ends off as above and simmer in 1 cup water, covered, for about 20-30 minutes while you prepare the rest of your meal. Set aside. Cook up the whole pound of asparagus however you like and set aside the the portion of asparagus you don't think you'll eat right away. After dinner, strain the ends from the broth and discard, reserving broth. Purée the reserved asparagus with the broth, leaving it a little bit chunky, and transfer to a container of at least 4 cup capacity. Freeze.

Repeat the above procedure. When you estimate that you've set aside a pound of asparagus (estimating the weight before snapping off the woody ends), and you're ready to make soup, thaw the asparagus purée. Simmer 1 teaspoon salt, 1 medium potato diced to 1/4 inch, and 5 or so sliced green onions in 1 cup water until tender. Purée and add the thawed asparagus and 3/4 teaspoon herbs. Heat gently. Season with lemon juice and pepper.

Potato-Avocado Tofu Omelets

Oh, omelets, how I missed you. Oh, eggs, how I haven't. Sorry, egg lovers, I never got into them. According to family lore, I was anti-egg before I could talk. I still liked omelets, though, but only because of the fillings (and never for breakfast). My favorite filling was made from leftover baked potatoes, diced, fried in some olive oil and seasoned with thyme, coriander, sage and paprika. A little bit of something creamy such as cheese or avocado would take them over the top.

These tofu omelets from Vegan Brunch are made from pureed tofu and chickpea flour. The addition of the chickpea flour and just the right seasonings give these an awesomely rich flavor. Before you make these, you need to know that all chickpea flour is not the same. Some chickpea flour on the market is raw, while some is roasted. Raw chickpea flour tastes woody and astringent, and the raw flavor doesn't completely cook away. Roasted chickpea flour has a warm, nutty taste straight out of the package and adds a rich flavor to everything you make with it. However, the packages don't say which is which. The best way to judge is by the color. In the photo below, the flour on the right is Bob's Red Mill brand, which I picked up at the health food store. It's barely darker than white flour - about the same color as wheat gluten, and tastes raw. On the left is Sadaf brand, which I bought at a specialty grocery. You can see that it's the color of cooked chickpeas. It tastes very roasty. Because these omelets cook quickly, the darker roasted chickpea flour is absolutely necessary here. 

I was really looking forward to cooking these up in a skillet, egg-style, as described in the cookbook. Unfortunately, my first one completely disintentigrated when I tried to flip it over. So I made the remaining three in the oven, which worked much better for me. I made them again and the same thing happened - one blob from the skillet and three pretty omelets from the oven. So, if you decide to make these, you'll have two cooking methods to choose from, but I suggest using the oven!

A tasty, tasty blob.

 Vegan Brunch's secret to making these really egg-like is to use Indian black salt. I was afraid they'd be too realistic so I used regular sea salt. Do check out the cookbook for the black salt version, as well as a lots of alternate filling suggestions.

Finally, the potato filling, my own creation, is worth a special mention, because these are so good and worth making on their own. They're also the perfect side with a breakfast scramble or even a sandwich. 


I am hooking this recipe up with this week's Hearth 'n' Soul blog hop.

Potato-Avocado Tofu Omelets

Herbed Breakfast Potatoes

Before you start, cook the potatoes up to a day before. Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes at 400 F or cook in the microwave for 6-7 minutes.

3 medium Yukon gold or red potatoes, about 1-1/4 pounds
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon coriander seed
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Dice cooked potatoes into 1/2-inch pieces. Heat olive oil to medium hot. Toss the potato cubes in the oil. Once the potatoes are coated in oil, refrain from turning them until they're crispy on one side, as it will just take longer for them to cook. Once they crisp up on one side, toss the potatoes and fry until crispy on a second side. Add the spices and toss the potatoes to coat. Cook for a minute or two until the spices are fragrant. Set aside and keep warm.

Tofu Omelets

1 pound water-pack silken or soft tofu
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chickpea flour
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot
3/4 teaspoon salt (or 1 teaspoon black salt)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
water as needed

To finish: 1 or 2 small Haas avocados, diced

Drain tofu and add to a blender with the garlic and olive oil. If using soft tofu, add 2 tablespoons of water. Purée. Transfer to a bowl and stir in remaining ingredients. The batter should be thicker than pancake batter, but thin enough to spread a bit. If it seems too thick, add water 1 tablespoon at a time. (I used soft tofu and 3 tablespoons of water total.)

Stovetop method: Heat a large non-stick skillet to medium-high. Lightly oil the pan. Add 1/2 cup batter to the middle of the pan and spread into a six-inch circle, not too big. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the top of the omelet is dry. Carefully flip over and cook for a minute or so. Flip back over onto the plate, add the potatoes and diced avocado to one half, and flip the other half on top of the fillings.

Oven method: Preheat oven to 350 F. Brush a large baking pan (preferably a dark one) well with olive oil. Consider lining your pan with aluminum foil before oiling, as it makes getting these from the pan to the plate easier. Drop a 1/2 cup of batter on the baking pan and spread out into a 6-inch circle. Repeat with remaining batter. Bake for about 12 minutes, without turning over, until top is set and bottom is starting to brown.  Transfer omelets to plates, add the potatoes and diced avocado to one half, and flip the other half on top of the fillings.

Makes 4.

Chu Chee Eggplant

This chu chee eggplant, another restaurant recreation, is made of battered eggplant in a red curry sauce. Because I baked the eggplant instead of frying it as the restaurant does, it's not exactly the same, but it's as close as I can get for the moment, and closer than any other chu chee eggplant recipe out there.

We had this with the Masala Rice Noodles and Vegetables, but it was really too much filling food for one meal, and some simple stir-fried broccoli would have been a better choice. This dish is that rich.

This goes out to Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Graziana from Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with Herbs).

Chu Chee Eggplant

1 pound eggplant
1 cup rice flour (I used brown)
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon oil
1 cup water
1 can full-fat coconut milk
1-1/2 tablespoons red curry paste (or 4 tablespoons if using homemade)
2 or 3 kaffir lime leaves, slivered, for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Slice eggplant into 1/3-inch thick rounds.

Whisk together rice flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, sugar, oil and water. Dip each eggplant slice in batter on both sides and place on an well-oiled baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes and turn over the eggplant slices. Bake for another 15 to 20 minutes or until the eggplant is crispy and light brown. 

Stir together curry paste and coconut milk and heat in a small sauce pan. Strain if using homemade curry paste. Dip the cooked eggplant in the curry sauce and serve on a large platter. Drizzle remaining curry sauce over the top and garnish with slivered kaffir lime leaves, if available.

Serves 2-5 depending on menu. Best served immediately.

Buffalo Things!

This is just a quick shoutout to Morgan's Spicy Buffalo "Chicken" Wraps with Ranch from Little House of Veggies. I made them last week and we liked them so much I made them again this week. I never do that - make the same thing two weeks in a row. They're really easy, too. I used my own seitan, and needed a pound (half a recipe) for six wraps, but Morgan provides her own seitan recipe, too. The ranch dressing she makes for these is amazing all by itself.

I made three minor changes: I'm not a dill fan so I replaced half of it with tarragon in the ranch dressing. Also, I bought a milder bottled wing sauce and just slather it right on the seitan strips without making a separate sauce. They come out hotter this way, but there are plenty of cooling veggies to balance out the heat. Finally, speaking of veggies, I slipped a little celery in with the carrots and lettuce.

Make these!

Masala Rice Noodles and Vegetables

Have you figured out now how much I like spicy food? I think everything is better when it's spicy. And although hot red pepper is one of my favorites, I don't think spicy necessarily means hot. It can mean cooking with herbs like basil and thyme or sweet spices like coriander seed and nutmeg. How much better is chocolate with a pinch of cinnamon? Focaccia enhanced with rosemary?

I'm a little suspicious when I see a savory recipe enhanced with nothing but salt and pepper. I understand that some people are nervous about cooking with spices. They didn't grow up eating a lot of spicy food and they're afraid they'll make something inedible. To them, I say: Play with your food! Experiment: if you've heard that nutmeg is good with spinach (it is), but you're afraid you won't like it, set a little aside and try just a pinch of nutmeg. Or start with half the spices and add more to taste.

Whenever you're going to add a spice, smell the contents of your spice jar first. This will tell you how fresh they are, keep you from adding the wrong spice accidentally, and help you figure out which ones you like best. Pick up a couple of jars and smell them together and try to decide if they'd work in the same dish. Thyme and allspice? They work together in my kitchen. Cumin and sage? Why not? You also might discover that there are a few spices you don't like or find overwhelming. That's fine - leave them out or replace them with something similar. I usually replace half the nutmeg in a recipe with allspice and half the dill with tarragon.

My love of spices is probably why I fell in love with this dish the first time I tasted it at a restaurant. It's a fairly basic lo mein recipe, done Indian-style.  To recreate it at home, I started with this lo mein recipe and added garam masala and cayenne pepper. The restaurant version I had uses wheat noodles, but I've been on a rice noodle kick lately, so I used them here. If you decide to make this with wheat noodles, undercook them slightly by cooking them for 2/3 of the time recommended on the package and finish cooking them in the sauce. We had this with a rich eggplant dish on the side, but if you wanted to make these noodles be a one-dish meal, I suggest adding some baked tofu triangles.

I'm sending these spicy noodles over to Presto Pasta Nights, created  by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast. and hosted this week by Beth Anne of The Seventh Level of Boredom. Check Beth Anne's site next Friday for the roundup!

Masala Rice Noodles and Vegetables

6-7 ounces rice noodles (1/2 a package)
3/4 cup vegetable broth
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
3/4 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper*
1 tablespoon canola oil
a few cremini or button mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 stalk of celery, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2-inch piece of ginger, minced
4 ounces (2-1/2 cups) shredded cabbage
sliced green onion tops for garnish

Thirty minutes or more before you plan to stir-fry the vegetables, place the rice noodles in a bowl and cover with hot tap water. Set aside.

Whisk together the vegetable broth, soy sauce, sesame oil, garam masala, and cayenne pepper and set aside.

Heat canola oil in a large skillet or a wok. Sauté mushrooms and bell pepper until tender, about 3 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, and cabbage and continue cooking until cabbage has reduced in volume by about half, about 3 minutes. Drain noodles and add to the skillet. Pour sauce on top. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until sauce is absorbed. 

Serves 3-4.

*One quarter-teaspoon of cayenne pepper makes the noodles medium-hot. Adjust accordingly.

Homemade Garam Masala

Photo by Tylertronic.

I finally used my smart phone for something smart when I was out, and not just for checking Facebook updates. When the grocery store didn't have garam masala, I looked up a recipe for the blend on my phone. As I thought, I had the individual spices at home and just needed to restock peppercorns. 

I didn't have them all as whole spices, though. And, I've been curious for ages how the volume of whole spices compares to ground. It would be nice to be able to substitute one for the other on the fly. So I did an experiment. I found four spices in my cabinet that I had both commercially ground* and whole and I compared the volumes by weight. Here are my results**:

The spices	Volume of whole spices used	Weight of whole spices	Volume of same weight of ground spices
Allspice	3 teaspoons	5 grams	2.5 teaspoons
Black pepper	3 teaspoons	7 grams	2.5 teaspoons
Cloves	3 teaspoons	5 grams	3 teaspoons
Cumin	3 teaspoons	9 grams	3 teaspoons

I was surprised - I thought that ground spices would compact more than they did. But now I know that if I need to use a ground spice in place of whole ones, I can use the same volume or slightly less, depending on how much we like that particular spice around here.

You may have heard that homemade garam masala tastes much better that store-bought. It's true. This blows away the commercial stuff. And I love the ability to tweak the blend to my own taste.

I'm sending this to Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Lynne at Cafe Lynnylu.

Garam Masala

Use whole spices if you have them. If substituting ground, underfill the spoon slightly, unless it's one of your favorite spices, then fill that spoon up. Tweak this to your own tastes: Do you find nutmeg overwhelming? Underfill your spoon slightly. Can't get enough of coriander? Use heaping spoonfuls.

3 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons coriander
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons cardamom (remove the seeds from the pods)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (about 1-1/2 inch)
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

In a dry skillet, toast the whole spices until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Grind to a powder and set aside. Toast previously ground spices until fragrant, about 1 minute. Combine all spices.

Makes about 3 tablespoons.

*I used commercially ground spices because my spice grinder doesn't always do a complete job. 

**I am such a nerd. 

Caramel Rolls (Vegan Schnecken)

When we get the tiniest bit of icy weather here, the whole town shuts down. No one in South Texas knows how to drive in ice or snow, so the kids get to stay home from school and everyone plays. Unfortunately, when we got ice earlier this week, Jim was out of town and had to stay away an extra day because the airlines weren't flying planes in or out either. I wanted the house to smell good when he finally made it in and my first thought was to make cinnamon rolls. I haven't replenished my pantry since Christmas, though, and I didn't have all the ingredients I needed to make icing for them.

I dug around in my cookbooks for a while and found a recipe for Caramel Rolls. In Germany, these are called Schnecken, which means snails. For these, you stir together butter, brown sugar and pecans in the bottom of a baking pan, which makes a caramel topping in the oven. I didn't have brown sugar, either, but then I remembered that commercial brown sugar is simply white sugar plus molasses, so I made my own.

These are decadently sweet; I think I'm vibrating from all the sugar. They aren't healthy, but sometimes you just need something like this. I was expecting the topping to be a sauce, but it's more like pecan praline, which is even better. 

I am hooking this recipe up with this week's Hearth 'n' Soul blog hop.

 

Why, yes, I do use this pan for everything!

Caramel Rolls (Vegan Schnecken)

dough:
2 tablespoons golden flax seed meal
3/4 cup warm water - about 105 F
2 teaspoons yeast, or 1 packet
1/3 cup soy milk powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup Earth Balance margarine, softened or melted
2 to 2-1/2 cups all-purpose or bread flour (I used 2 cups)

topping:
1/2 cup Earth Balance margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar (or 1/2 cup white sugar plus 2 teaspoons molasses)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

filling:
2 tablespoons softened (not melted) Earth Balance margarine
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Beat together on medium high-speed the flax seed meal, water, yeast, soy milk powder, sugar, salt and margarine until the mixture thickens slightly. Replace beaters with dough hooks and add flour. Knead for 5 minutes on low or until the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl. Set aside in an oiled bowl to rise until doubled in size, about an hour.

Melt the 1/2 cup margarine in a 10-inch cake pan (you can do this in the oven) or in a 10-inch skillet with an oven-proof handle. Stir in the 1/2 cup sugar. Top with the pecans.

Spread the dough out into an 8 x 16-inch rectangle. Spread the 2 tablespoons margarine on the dough and top with the cinnamon. Roll the dough from the long side into a log. Cut the log into 1 inch thick slices and place in pan. The rolls will not quite touch one another. Set aside to rise until doubled, about 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F and bake rolls for 35-40 minutes, or until the rolls are brown. Loosen the rolls around the edges with a spatula. Place a plate on top and invert the pan to turn the rolls out onto the plate.

Makes about 16.

Adapted from Great Natural Breads Made Easy.

King Ranch Casserole

Mention comfort food to a Texan, and they'll probably think of King Ranch Chicken. An uber-creamy deconstructed enchilada casserole, it's the kind of dish your mom or grandmother might put together for family on Christmas Eve. It's perfect for a pot luck or other large gathering because you can spoon out as much or as little as you like and it keeps well warmed in the oven for stragglers.

I've been wanting to make a vegan version of this for years. However, classic King Ranch Chicken is made with two kinds of canned "cream of" soup, sour cream and cheese, and I was a bit overwhelmed by the idea of veganizing all those dairy ingredients and still ending up with something tasty and healthy. Then I came across The Homesick Texan's Slightly Fancy-Pants King Ranch Chicken Casserole that she made without canned soup. She got me half way there and the rest is vegan comfort food history.

There's so much going on in this that I imagine you could make all kinds of substitutions: red onion for the white, more fresh peppers for the jarred or vice versa, white sauce for the sour cream (use an extra tablespoon each of flour and olive oil and add a half-cup of non-dairy milk with the broth). You could skip the veggie chicken or seitan and add more beans, even. Next time I make this I'm going to try it without the lime juice as I'm not sure it's necessary.

I'm linking this up with this week's Hearth 'n' Soul blog hop. 

Vegan King Ranch Casserole

1/4 cup olive oil, divided
1 small onion, diced fine, about 1 cup
1 poblano pepper, diced fine
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup Toffuti Better Than Sour Cream
1 10-ounce can Rotel tomatoes with chilies, undrained (see note)
1 cup grated vegan cheese, such as Daiya or Follow Your Heart
juice from 1 lime, about 1-1/2 tablespoons (optional)
2 or 3 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper 
1/2 cup roasted piquino peppers or red bell peppers from a jar, finely diced
8 ounces veggie chicken or seitan, sliced and then shredded with your fingers
3/4 cup small white beans, cooked and drained
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped (optional)
10-12 corn tortillas

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Sauté onion, poblano pepper and mushrooms until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté another minute. Transfer to a bowl.

Add remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil to the pot, then stir in flour and vegetable broth. Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens. Add sour cream, tomatoes, and cheese.  Cook, stirring frequently, until cheese melts. Add lime juice, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper to taste.

Add reserved mushroom mixture. Add remaining ingredients except tortillas.

Heat oven to 350 F. Oil a 9 x 13-inch pan or 2 8 x 8-inch ones. Layer a third of the sauce in pan(s) (about 2 cups), top with half the tortillas, then another third of the sauce, the remaining tortillas and the remaining sauce.

Bake for 30 minutes or until hot in the center and bubbly at the edges. 

Serves 8.

Note: If Rotel tomatoes aren't readily available, stir together a 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes with a 4 ounce can of mild green chilies. Use half of the mixture for this casserole and freeze the rest to use in another batch of this casserole or chili or soup. 

UPDATE 2/10/2011: I put a pan of this in the freezer and it's amazingly even better after it's been frozen and thawed. Just thaw to near room temperature and bake as above - it might take an extra 10 minutes.