I love versatile recipes. This simple chickpea mash can be made into an elegant hors d’oeuvre or eaten plain with a spoon in your pajamas. I must confess, the latter is usually how I eat this dish, but I didn’t think you wanted to see a picture of me in my pajamas on my couch eating mashed chickpeas. So you get to see the fancy version.
While it looks fancy, it’s dead easy. Mash the chickpeas with yummy stuff (recipe below), place a small amount on a cracker, add a slice of a fun veggie, something leafy, and voila! Party food!
I got these breathtaking radishes (I never thought I’d describe a radish as breathtaking. Ever.) from my CSA. They called them “storage radishes.” I don’t know about you, but something called “storage radishes” doesn’t exactly excite me. Imagine my surprise when I sliced one open and was greeted by a shocking pink center. Storage radishes? That’s really the best they could do? What about “Super Awesome Party Radishes” or “Ridiculously Fun Magic Radishes”?
When I sliced them I thought that they looked like watermelon, and sure enough, a google search for “watermelon radish” yielded photos that look very much like these. Watermelon radish is a much better name. In terms of taste, they’re mild and crispy, and a teeny bit sweet. Personally think that makes the perfect as a garnish, since they won’t overwhelm any other flavors in your dish.
There are a few different ways I eat this chickpea salad.
As Hors d’Oeuvres, shown. As a simple dip with crackers or veggies. On open faced-sandwiches. Or–my husband’s favorite–chickpea melts: spread the chickpea salad on slices of bread. Top with your favorite vegan cheese, and bake at 350º F for 10 minutes. Broil to finish, serve immediately.
I use a prepared vegan mayonnaise in this recipe. There are a few different brands out there, but for this I recommend Vegenaise. Nayonaise is a little thinner and has more tang, and while I like it on sandwiches, it’s not the best match for the chickpea salad. I hear Trader Joe’s has an accidently vegan mayo (I think they just bill it as Low Fat, but it happens to be vegan), but I haven’t tried it yet so I can’t recommended it.
Feel free to be creative with your toppings. Carrots, chives, sesame seeds, paprika.. whatever. Think about color, texture, and flavor. There are a million different (and easy) ways to make party food look fun without over-complicating things. But if you can find watermelon radishes, I highly recommend them. They look like regular white, round radishes, but the long root has a pink tinge. Here’s a photo of a whole watermelon radish.
Chickpea Salad
1 15oz can Chickpeas, rinsed well
3-4 Tbs Vegenaise (vegan mayo)
2 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
1 tsp Mustard
1 Tbs Nutritional Yeast
1/2 tsp Paprika (sweet, hot, or smoked)
1/2 tsp Salt
Fresh Craked Black Pepper
Mash all the ingredients to form a chunky spread. Refrigerate or serve immediately.
Yesterday, I made a trifle recipe for the cookbook. I used these adorable miniature trifle glasses (ahem, Target), and I was really pleased with the results. Then I tried to eat one. Now I certainly have a sweet tooth, but I got about half-way through that this puppy before I had to give up.
I wasn’t sure what to do about the proportion sizes for the cookbook recipe. Should I just make regular, large trifles? I’m too big of a fan of individual desserts to go that route. Then I started wondering who even owns trifle dishes, let alone miniature ones. What could I serve them in instead? What do people generally already own?
Since I was bloated from the “miniature” trifle, I started to think small. Really small. Shotglass small.
Ahhh. There. Much better! But why stop at shot glasses? Why not make an assortment of cocktail glass trifles? Not only does it look fun to have a bunch of mismatched glasses full of dessert, but this way your guests (should you be making this for a cocktail party, which I highly recommend!) can choose the size dessert they’re in the mood for. Just want a taste? Have a trifle shot! In for something more substantial? How about a trifle martini?
A friend of mine is having a going away party tonight. She got a great job in NYC, and they want her there immediately! Good news for her, but bad news for us here in Boston!
The party is also a Knit Night, so I thought I’d bring some appropriately decorated cupcakes. This was my first time working with marzipan, and what fun it is! Like, four hours of fun.
Speaking of the party, I gotta go! Forgive my lack of words; I hope I can make up for it with the ridiculous amount of photos!
On February 25th, 2008 I was on the Martha Stewart Show showing Martha how to make these. Here’s the clip!
I was invited to a Cinco de Mayo party where the main drink served was mojitos. Who says we can’t have a Cuban drink on a Mexican holiday? I’ll drink a mojito to celebrate any holiday! And I’ll certainly never turn down a mojito cupcake.
I modified the golden vanilla cupcake recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and I was super pleased with the results. I infused the soymilk with spearmint and lime juice, added rum and lime zest to the batter, and the frosting is flavored with dark rum instead of vanilla extract. The result is a totally delicious grown-up cupcake. I would have used fresh mint leaves had they been available, but thankfully the dried ones work just fine. Do try to find spearmint as opposed to peppermint, fresh or dry, as that’s the proper mint for your mojito (be it beverage or cupcake!).
Omit:
Apple Cider Vinegar
All Extracts
Add:
Zest of 1 Organic Lime
2 tsp Dried Spearmint
2 Tbs Lime Juice (about 1 lime’s worth)
2 tsp Dark Rum
Prepare “vanilla” cupcakes as the directions state, with the following changes:
Grate the zest of 1 lime into the dry ingredients. Heat the soymilk in a small sauce pan with the dried mint. Bring to a boil, then turn off heat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Pour soymilk through a strainer back into your liquid cup measure. Top off with more cold soymilk if it no longer measures 1 full cup, as some soymilk may have evaporated while the mint was steeping. Add lime juice and rum to this mixture. Proceed with regular directions.
For the rum buttercream frosting, omit the vanilla extract from the fluffy vanilla buttercream and use 2 tsp dark rum and 1 Tbs lime juice instead. I use the entire box of powdered sugar and a splash of soymilk to get the consistency I like. Garnish with mint leaves if availble, lime wedges, and granulaed sugar. Feel free to squeeze your lime segment over your frosting before you eat!
Keep in mind that garnishes such as lime wedges and mint leaves won’t look good if they sit for too long on top of your cupcakes before being served. Save decoration for the last minute if you’re using these garnishes.
Tomorrow is the second PPK potluck, and this time the theme is orange - flavor or color. I decided to make mini samosas with mango chutney. If a little chutney is good, certainly a lot of chutney is better. I’ve been reading up on home canning recently and decided a high-acid food like mango chutney would be a great introduction to preserving food.
I now have 8 half-pint jars of homemade chutney ready to go, but I fear the samosas will need to be prepared by my husband Stewart. When canning, you should really use the proper equipment. Jar lifters are indispensable. I decided that tongs and a oven mit would be just fine until I got a jar lifter. Oh, how wrong I was! The jar slipped from the tongs and splashed boiling water inside my heat-proof water-proof mit, burning me thoroughly. If you’re going to try home canning, please spend the $5 for a jar lifter. Please.
Despite the whole painful injury thing, home canning is fun. I’ll post a full write up on it once I’m able to complete the process with properly fuctioning limbs. The photo to the left shows my chutney processing in a boiling water bath, which does double duty killing any unwatned bacteria and forming a vacuum seal. Tomorrow I’ll be able to check to make sure my seals are tight, but until then they sit undisturbed in the kitchen.
This chutney, as long as the seals test okay, will keep for at least a year. How exciting! I can’t wait to try more home caning (after my hand heals, of course.)
Tomorrow night I’ll have a full update on the Boston Orange themed potluck, pictures and all. I hear there will be cake and pies galore, root beer floats and even orange pizza. I’m very excited. If my hand is up to it, I might even make some donuts.
I got these breathtaking radishes (I never thought I’d describe a radish as breathtaking. Ever.) from my CSA. They called them “storage radishes.” I don’t know about you, but something called “storage radishes” doesn’t exactly excite me. Imagine my surprise when I sliced one open and was greeted by a shocking pink center. Storage radishes? That’s really the best they could do? What about “Super Awesome Party Radishes” or “Ridiculously Fun Magic Radishes”?
Chickpea Salad
