Archive for July, 2008
Yeah, I’d never heard of a blueberry grunt, either. Until I became friends with Sandy. Every since we became friends, I couldn’t use the word “blueberry” without her saying “Mmmm, blueberry grunt…” eyes half-closed and smiling. I knew it was one of her favorite desserts, but I couldn’t bring myself to make something called a grunt.
Until, that is, I had four cups freshly picked blueberries.
A grunt is in the cobbler family, and it’s a traditional East Coast maritime dessert. It’s perfect for people who might want something like a pie, but are too lazy make an actual pie. So that means it’s perfect for me!
Blueberry is a popular flavor for grunts, but I imagine you can use pretty much any berry or fruit. They’re a great way to use up bountiful–but fleeting–summer fruit. The most common way to make a grunt is to boil berries with water, sugar, and lemon juice, then add biscuit dough to the top, cover with a tight lid, and steam. It’s a one-pan, stove-top operation. I chose to bake mine because I had these ridiculously cute gratin dishes that I’d been dying to use for a blog post. I’ll give directions for both methods of cooking.
Recipes for grunts are all pretty standard, I adapted and veganized this simple recipe.
Blueberry Grunts
Makes four individual grunts, or one large
Blueberry Filling
Four Cups Fresh Blueberries (or frozen)
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 Tbs Lemon Juice
1/2 Cup Water
1/2 tsp Each Cinnamon and Nutmeg, optional (I left them out)
Simple Biscuits
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3 Tbs Earth Balance Margarine, or veg. shortening
3/4-1 Cup Soymilk
Add all of the ingredients for the blueberry filling into a large skillet. If you’re going to be making one large grunt and steaming the biscuits, make sure this skillet has a tight fitting lid. If you’re going to be baking the grunt, preheat the oven to 400º F.
Boil the berries for 10-15 minutes until the mixture has thickened a little.
Meanwhile, combine all the dry ingredients for the biscuits. Using a pastry cutter or a fork, cut the margarine/shortening into the dry ingredients. If you’re berries aren’t done yet, go ahead and stick the dry mixture in the fridge or freezer to keep the margarine cold until you’re ready for it.
When the berries are ready, add the soymilk to the dry mixture to form a soft biscuit dough. The consistency is pretty forgiving, a slightly too-soft or too-firm dough won’t make a difference in the final product. As long as it holds together, but is soft enough to break apart into clumps, you’re good to go. Don’t over-mix the dough, or the biscuits will be tough. But you knew that!
For one large, steamed grunt:
Break the biscuit dough up into small, bite-sized pieces. Place the pieces on top of the hot, still-cooking berries, spread evenly across the top. Cover the skillet with a tight fitting lid, reduce the heat slightly, and steam for 15 minutes without peeking. The biscuits should be puffed up and cooked all the way through. Serve warm.
For one large baked grunt:
Follow the instructions for a steamed grunt, but place in the oven to bake at 400º F (without a lid) for 20 minutes. You can sand the biscuits sugar before baking if you like! Serve warm.
For individual baked grunts:
Transfer berry mixture to individual ramekins or gratin dishes, filling only half-full. Add biscuit mixture on top. Sand with sugar and place all the grunts on a baking sheet (this will help you take them out of the oven with burning yourself). Bake for 20 minutes, serve warm.
Here’s what my individual grunts looked like before baking:
These are great just as they are, but you can also serve them with some ice cream if you want. I invited Sandy over to try them, and she said that not only were they delicious, but they “taste exactly like a non-vegan grunt.” So if you’re looking for a simple, but elegant dessert to use up summer berries, I highly recommend this one.
I won’t blame you if you call it a cobbler, though.
July 31st, 2008
I hate it when I order a tofu sandwich somewhere, and it pretty much just tastes like (or actually is) blocks of watery, plain tofu stuffed between two pieces of bread. What’s up with that? You might as well be eating a wet, mushy sponge. I love me some tofu, but you got to treat it right, you know?
So I was thinking about tofu, and imagining thin slices of flavorful goodness to stuff into sandwiches. I knew wanted to use miso as the base for the flavor. The first sauce I mixed together used a bit of maple syrup, which seemed like a good idea until I tasted it. Something about the combination of red miso and maple syrup did not sit well with me, so down the drain it went. I moved on to pure, unadulterated sugar, a twist of lemon, a splash of tamari… I was definitely getting close. I scooped in a little bit of nooch (nutritional yeast, aka vegan pixi dust) and liquid smoke and it was finished. It’s a dead-simple marinade, tangy, salty, smokey and rich. I wanted eat it like a soup.
I thought some pan-frying was in order, but when I heated up my cast-iron skillet and proceeded to burn all of the sauce right off the tofu, I decided the oven was a better choice. The oven baked the flavor into the tofu, and 20 minutes was all that was needed since the slices were so thin.
This tofu will keep well, so it’s nice to make a whole block and set it aside for sandwiches, salads, or.. umm… snacking directly out of the fridge.
Smokey Miso Tofu
Makes 18-20 Thin Slices
2 Tbs Red Miso
2 Tbs Lemon Juice
2 Tbs Sugar
2 Tbs Tamari/Soy Sauce
1 Tbs Nutritional Yeast
1/4 tsp Liquid Smoke
1 Tub Extra/Super Firm Tofu, drained and pressed
Preheat the oven to 425º F. Wrap your drained tofu in a few paper towels, then again in a terry cloth bar towel. Press with something heavy - a cast-iron skillet, a plate with some cans on top, etc, for 10-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, mix the marinade together.
Unwrap the tofu and make many thin, width-wise slices with a large knife. I got 18-20 slices out of one block of tofu. They’ll look something like this:
Line up your slices on a baking sheet topped with a non-stick baking mat. Brush both sides of the tofu with the marinade.
Let the slices absorb the marinade for 10 minutes or so, then brush just the tops again. Bake for 20 minutes at 425º F. Remove from oven and let cool on the sheet. The tofu should be darkened around the edges, but not burnt. Use immediately or refrigerate for later use.
I’m a simple girl, so some vegan mayo, baby spinach, and sourdough toast were all I needed to make a delicious sandwich. Whatever your favorite sandwich fixin’s are will go great, most likely. This would tofu would make a nice vegan BLT!
Now that’s a tofu sandwich!
July 25th, 2008
When I lay awake at night, trying to sleep, I try to create recipes in my head. I usually start with a single ingredient and turn it over and over in my mind until something clicks into place. A few days ago I was doing just this, contemplating two eggplants in my fridge. I was thinking about how difficult eggplants can be, and if I could create a recipe that would counteract some of the challenges they present.
Undercooked eggplants usually have a green taste and a tough texture that makes me sad. My favorite way of preparing them involves half a bottle of olive oil, a lot of salt, and a good stint in the oven, but that’s not always practical. When eggplant is good, it’s so damn good, and when it’s not, I personally find it gross. One of my memories from college is my geology professor turning to me and remarking that you can judge the quality of a restaurant by the quality of its eggplant dishes. (Yes, I managed to talk food even with a geology professor.) Whether or not that’s true, it does speak to what might be an essential truth:
Eggplant can be a real pain in the asparagus sometimes!
While laying in bed, it hit me. Eggplant mousse! Now, you’ll notice I’m not calling it “mousse” in the recipe. After talking about the idea with several friends and seeing them wince and make faces at the term “eggplant mousse”, I decided that it wasn’t testing well and I’d have to change the name for the blog. I don’t think eggplant creme is much better, to tell you the truth. Just imagine eggplant, cubed and stir-fried until soft and golden, the blended with cashews and herbs until a rich, creamy, yet light spread forms. It’s tasty! A lot tastier than “eggplant mousse” makes it sound. Trust me?
I was also feeling the need to make something on the approachable side of fancy, and appetizers always fulfill that role for me. Also, tiny food. My ever-present obsession with teeny, tiny, itsy-bitsy food. How tiny? This tiny:
Like, really tiny.
I decided to have the size of the napoleons be determined by the size of the cremini mushroom (baby portobello) caps I was using. Plum tomatoes and an average-sized zucchini baked down to about the same diameter as the mushrooms, just as I had hoped. You can easily make these on a larger scale with full-sized portobello mushrooms, but the tinyness of the napoleons is a real draw for me.
If you roast up more veggies than you need, you’ll have an easier time matching diameters, and you’ll have leftovers for a really tasty grilled veggie sandwich the next day. Did I mention the eggplant stuff makes a great sandwich spread? I’m also thinking about using it as the filling for ravioli. But I digress. To the recipe!
Miniature Napoleons with Eggplant Creme
Makes 12 Miniature Napoleons, with leftover creme
Roasted Vegetables
3-4 Plum Tomatoes, sliced thickly (at least 12 slices, between 1/4″ and 1/2″)
1 Zucchini, sliced thickly (at least 12 slices)
12 Cremini Mushroom Caps, de-stemmed and brushed clean
Tamari or Soy Sauce
Salt
Pepper
Dried Italian Herbs (your choice!)
Spray Oil
Eggplant Creme
2 Eggplants
2/3 Cup Raw, Unsalted Cashews
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Dried Italian Herbs (your choice)
2ish Tbs Oil
Garlic, to taste, if desired
Garnish
Basil
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
A piping bag, like the type used for cake decorating, or a plastic bag
Preheat the oven to 300º F.
Slice the tomatoes and zucchini and place them on baking sheet; I used a baking mat, similar to a silpat, but foil or parchment will work.
Spray with oil to coat (or brush if you don’t have the spray stuff). Sprinkle with salt and pepper and herbs. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the veggies look dehydrated and smaller, like so:
Place the mushrooms on the same baking sheet, upside-down. Fill the centers with a little tamari, no more than 1/2 or 1 tsp (I eyeballed it). They’ll look like this:
Spray them thoroughly with spray-oil and bake for 30 minutes, or until tender, at 300º F. Remove and let cool with the over veggies.
While the vegetables are baking, cut the ends off the eggplants and remove the skin. Cube the eggplants and place them on a large dish on top of three paper towels. (You’ll probably need to do this in batches). Microwave the eggplant on high for about 8 minutes, until the eggplant is soft and the paper towels have absorbed a lot of the moisture. This is a tip I picked up from Cook’s Illustrated that will prevent the eggplant from absorbing so much oil while cooking.
Heat a seasoned wok or a non-stick pan with 2 tbs of olive oil. Add the eggplant and saute for 5-10 minutes over medium-high heat, until very soft and browned. Add the eggplant to the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the salt, cashews, herbs and garlic (if using) and process for several minutes until VERY smooth. Season to taste, if needed, then place the eggplant creme in a piping bag or a plastic baggie with one of the corners cut off.
Assembly
Start with a little dot of eggplant creme on the plate where you want the napoleon to be. This will act as an anchor, or the tastiest glue in the world:
Place a tomato on top of the anchor, and pipe more eggplant creme on the top. Not too much!
Add a slice of zucchini, then another layer of eggplant cream. Top with an upside-down mushroom cap, and place a dab of eggplant creme where the stem was:
For garnish, add a small piece of roasted tomato and a basil-leaf crown. Put a thin layer of olive oil in the bottom of the dish, surrounding the napoleons. Dribble balsamic vinegar into the oil, and you’ll get pretty little contrasting dots. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Tapas party, anyone?
July 17th, 2008
Comments are working again, thanks for your patience!
Hello July!
I’ve been sitting on this tamarind glaze recipe for a while. It needed something summery, something involving a grill, and something you can eat with your hands.
It needed seitan kabobs!
Who doesn’t love a kabob? You can put anything you want on a kabob, and these are no exception. I made my own seitan chunks (based off of Susan’s Seitan Ribz from FFVK) and added some freshly blanched broccoli, but any veggie that floats your boat, tofu, store-bought seitan… if it’s vegan and you can poke it with a stick, it’ll probably work. Because this recipe? It’s all about the sauce.
I LOVE this sauce.
I used to have to drive to a specialty Indian grocer to get tamarind concentrate (I prefer it to the pulp, if you have a choice), but I recently saw it sitting at Whole Foods near the grilling sauces. The brand I use is called Tamicon, and it comes in a little yellow and red tub. It keeps forever. Buy some.
The base of this glaze is the tangy tamarind concentrate and sweet, sweet agave nectar (also available pretty much everywhere nowadays, near the honey). I give it a little depth with tamari, and some spicey notes with cumin and ginger. It’s awesome. And if you have a whisk, or a fork for that matter, you can make it.
Tamarind Seitan Kabobs
Makes 10 Kabobs (3 Pieces of Seitan Per Kabob)
1 Recipe Seitan, below
1 Recipe Tamarind Glaze, below
20 Broccoli Florets, or 20 Veggie Pieces, your choice
Wooden Skewers, with pointy ends
Seitan Cubes
1 Cup Vital Wheat Gluten
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
2 Tbs Nutritional Yeast
2 tsp Bill’s Best Chik’Nish Seasoning, optional
3/4 Cup Water
2 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Tbs Soy Sauce
Vegetable Stock, for simmering
Tamarind Glaze
1 Tbs Tamarind Concentrate
1/4 Cup Agave Nectar
1 Tbs Tamari or Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Molasses
Black Pepper
Begin by making the seitan. In a medium bowl, combine the gluten with the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the wet ingredients and knead for a few minutes. With a large knife, divide the seitan in half, and in half again. Continue to cut each piece in half until you have about 30 bite-sized chunks of seitan.
Place a large skillet (one that has sides) on the stove and fill with 1-2″ of vegetable stock. Bring to a simmer, then add the seitan cubes. The stock should be about level with the seitan, the same amount of liquid you’d use for braising. GENTLY simmer (no boiling allowed!) for 8-10 minutes. When the seitan chunks are done, they should be larger, paler, and springier than when you started. Remove the seitan chunks with a slotted spoon. Set them aside until they’re cool enough to handle.
Save the braising broth to blanch any vegetables you’ll be using on your kabobs.
Blanch any veggies in the leftover broth and drain and set aside. Stir together your tamarind glaze and set aside.
Begin assembling your kabobs. Be careful with smaller pieces of veggies (especially broccoli), as they’ll split and fall off the skewer if they’re not large enough. I like to alternate veggie/seitan/veggie, but it’s your kabob, so make it the way you want!
At this point, you can refrigerate the assembled kabobs for later. Wrap them up and they’ll be ready for grilling whenever you (or your party guests!) are ready for them. Everything can be made a day ahead, even the sauce, so all you’ll need is a few minutes to grill before serving.
Speaking of the grill, here are a few tips:
If you’re grilling outside, soak the skewers in water for a few hours before assembling the kabobs. This will prevent them from, um, catching on fire.
Larger pieces of veggies will stay on the skewers more securely
Like all sweet glazes, be careful or they’ll burn! Add the glaze towards the end of grilling, not right away.
This will work just as well in a grill pan inside.
Once you’re ready to grill, unwrap the kabobs and throw them on. Everything is already cooked, so you don’t need to worry about anything other than 1) heating the kabob up 2) getting some nice grill marks and 3) caramelizing the sauce a little. I failed at getting grill marks, but the kabobs were still pretty.
Grill for a minute or two on each side, then brush the sauce over the kabobs. When the sauce starts to sizzle and bubble, your kabobs are done. Serve immediately with lots of napkins.
July 11th, 2008
It’s officially Summer; I can’t deny it any longer. I’m eating way more than my fair share of tofu sandwiches, and even the heat emanating from the toaster can be too much for me sometimes. If you can find some part of the day to boil noodles (in the cool of the morning, or before bed), you can make them ahead of time and be done with the only cooking required for this dish.
Earlier this year I was reading Coconut and Lime, and where Rachel had the brilliant idea of making a peanut sauce without peanuts. Her stand-in was sesame paste, and she created a fabulous sesame noodle dish that I couldn’t get out of my head. I absolutely had to make a sauce based on sesame paste. My recipe is different than hers (though hers is mighty tasty, so if you don’t care for my version give hers a try), but she was definitely the inspiration for this sauce that has quickly become a staple in my house.
Notes on Tahini and Sesame Paste
I use tahini in this recipe, which is a paste commonly used in the Middle East made from hulled sesame seeds. The seeds can be raw or roasted, and the flavor will vary depending on which one you choose. My favorite tahini is Arrowhead Mills Organic Sesame Tahini, which is unroasted. It’s not too bitter, and it stays smooth and easy to use even after refrigeration. Roasted tahini will also work great in this recipe, but the flavor will be noticeably different
Sesame paste, on the other hand, is an Asian ingredient that turns the whole sesame seed, including the hulls, into a paste. It’s stronger than tahini, so you usually need much less in your recipes, and using too much can cause the dish to be more bitter than you expected. While you can find tahini at any supermarket now (look near the peanut butter), Asian sesame paste still seems religated to specialty markets.
This dish is largely raw, which cuts down on a lot of the work, and prevents your summer kitchen from becoming a sauna. I’ve found that if you cut your veggies small enough and have a great sauce, you’ll be surprised at what you can serve raw. If you like, you can lightly steam the broccoli, but it really is tasty simply cut into tiny florets. If you follow a raw food diet, feel free to substitute the cooked wheat noodles with cucumber or zucchini noodles, or whatever raw noodles make you the happiest. Pretty much anything will work as the base of this dish.
The other benefit this dish is that it keeps really well, so I like to make a big batch to keep in the fridge for lunches, snacks, or meals to go.
Oh! And one more thing! Have you tried Whole Foods’ whole wheat spaghetti yet? It tastes exactly like regular spaghetti, only it’s better for you than the stripped down stuff. If you’re looking to add more whole grains into your diet, this is a super easy–even unnoticeable–way to do it. They are by far the best whole wheat noodles I’ve ever had.
Nearly Raw Tahini Noodles
Serves 4 to 6
1/2 lb Whole Wheat Spaghetti, cooked, rinsed in cold water, drained
2 Carrots, peeled and shredded
1/4 Green Cabbage Head, shredded
1 Stalk Broccoli, florets only, cut very small
A Handful Fresh Mint, chopped, optional (cilantro or basil would be good, too)
Sesame Seeds and More Mint, for garnish
Tahini Sauce
1/4 Cup Tahini, see section above
2 Tbs Low Sodium Tamari, or nama shoyu, or regular soy sauce
3 Tbs Water
1 Tbs Sugar, or raw agave nectar
1 Tbs Rice Vinegar
1 tsp Chili Sauce or 1 Chopped Fresh Chili
1 tsp Dijon or Stone-ground Mustard
1 Pinch Salt, if needed
Lots of Fresh Black Pepper
Cook the noodles and rinse under cold water. Drain and set aside, coating lightly with oil if desired to prevent the noodles from sticking. These can be made well in advance.
Cut your cabbage into quarters, then use a large chef’s knife to remove the core from one of the quarters, as shown at left. Discard the core, and wrap up the other three quarters for later use.
If you have a food processor, use it to shred your carrots and your cabbage. Use the shredder blade that has many holes for the carrots, and the blade that has one single slit for the cabbage. A box grater will work just fine for the carrots and a knife for the cabbage if a food processor is not available.
Chop the broccoli into small florets, creating pieces no bigger than small grapes. Toss all the veggies together and add the pasta. Stir together the sauce, tasting to adjust if needed.
When you’re ready to serve, add the sauce to the noodles and veggies and toss with your hands, coating everything evenly. Add chopped mint at the last moment, if using. Garnish with more mint and sesame seeds.
This will easily keep for a couple days. If you’re a big fan of sauce, you may want to double the recipe. This recipe makes just enough to coat the noodles. Extra sauce will really come in handy after the completed dish has been refrigerated for a bit; I find noodles really soak up sauces so it can be nice to have some extra on hand.
If you’ve tried tahini and disliked it, give it another chance. It’s kind of vile on its own, so balancing flavors is very important with this ingredient. If you want a little tahini flavor but can’t quite use the full 1/4 cup, consider adding some peanut butter in lieu of tahini. Personally, I find this a really refreshing change from the typical peanut sauces, and since it’s so easy to make, why not give it a shot?
July 3rd, 2008
