bunnyfoot

well i thought it was funny...

2008-05-18T14:32:00.000-07:00

things are getting better around here as it seems i now have enough spare time in the day to squander surfing the internet. forget about the laundry, forget about shaving the armpits, forget about zapping the feet with tinactin, forget about the squalling child too - the black hole of the internet beckons. this image is from engrish.com. i suppose i found it poignant because, due to the breeding experiment, i can now appreciate the juxtaposition of dairy and bras with nary a trace of irony. not that i am still a human dairy cow, no, that ended long ago, much to the chagrin of my balloon-boob-luvin' mate, but the memory is still quite fresh.

much to my surprise, the whole breastfeeding experiment has very much changed my relationship with the, um, the mass of fat encased glands known as boobs. not necessarily for the better. some of you may want to stop reading here. if you're still with me, i have two words for you: national geographic. yep. at first, after weaning, i thought that they just seemed oh-so-little because of the comparison to their former bay watch glory. but after much scrutiny i realized that yes, they were different. i figured they'd just kinda shrunk in the wash. "okay" i though to myself, "i can live with that". but no. after more scrutiny, i realized that no amount of wash'n'dry could do that. nope. it was as if they were hung out to dry. not smaller. longer. this might be a little tougher to swallow.

i can now can be found on page 37 of national geographic, august edition 1957. and that's just the upstairs. i'll save the downstairs for another day.

on a cheerier note, the worm no longer stinks like rotten cheese, can self-propel on two hooves, and has a surprisingly sunny and outgoing character. she resembles neither of her alleged parents either in face or disposition. maybe that day in the hospital the gods smiled on me and sent me home with the wrong one. maybe somewhere out there skulks a cranky, cross-eyed, sullen, introverted, black-clad toddler, ruining someone else's life.

and since this is a food blog, here is a token food shot, in honor of asparagus season. paper bag steamed asparagus, compliments of tyler florence. as soon as i heard about it, i knew i had to give it a shot, for the novelty in nothing else. it wasn't until after i'd finished eating all the spears that i bothered wondering where that paper bag had been before it wrapped itself around my food. i envisioned a bum tucking it inside his tatty winter coat along with a few old newspapers to keep out the biting chill of winter before being returned to the store by an eco-warrior for re-use. i imagined it full of tb germs. in general, i imagine a lot of things, most of which are either ridiculous or impossible or both, so pay me no heed. the dish turned out fine. aside from overcooking, it's hard to ruin asparagus.

i'm feeling rather lazy today so if you are interested in trying out this method of questionable cleanliness, head on over to foodtv here.

smoky chickpea soup

2008-01-20T14:36:00.000-08:00

so it's been just over a year since the worm snaked its way into the world, leaving a new, not necessarily improved, internal topography in her wake. i kinda figured that, at one year, there would be a transition back to "normal" life. well, a year has come and gone. and i'm still waiting. somehow i think it may be a long, long wait. but because it's important that we harbor fantasies of what riches the future may bring, my next false hope is that preschool will be the panacea, returning life back to "more normal". having an only slightly below average IQ, i have a sneaking suspicion that this too will prove to be a lie and the only thing that will change is that i will wake up a year from now sporting slightly worse breath and a few more creaks in the old, worn out joints.

so life will never return to the old way. i suppose that's ultimately a good thing. change is better than stagnation. i suppose a more realistic way to look at it is that i've traded up. up from a squalling, helpless, neck-cheese-rot stinking miniature quadriplegic to a teeth baring, screeching, raging monkey. i suppose we could call that progress.

anyway, all this is just a long-winded way of saying that i'm back. since a genie will not pop out of my empty bottle of makers mark as i lovingly caress it's golden belly and with a wave of its hand restore to me "free" time, i guess i'm going to have to grab the bull by it's rocky mountain oysters and demand it. or at least do a little blogging in between man-sized swigs of bourbon.

i picked up this recipe from our local rag. i didn't expect much but had a bunch of leftover homemade chickpeas loitering in the refrigerator and have been on a smoked paprika kick lately, so, i thought, why not? and it was edible. it was, in fact, delicious. super easy, super healthy, smoky, creamy and delicious. what else could i ask for, other than a live-in nanny?

Smoky Chickpea Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 teaspoon saffron (i forgot to use this but it tasted great anyway)
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
5 cups vegetable broth
2 cans (15 ounces each) chickpeas, drained (or, if possible, about 3 cups homemade)
salt, to taste
olive oil

cook carrots, onion and celery in olive oil until soft but not browned. add garlic, saffron, cumin and smoked paprika, and cook for an additional minute, stirring constantly. add broth and chickpeas. adjust seasonings. simmer for about 30 minutes then puree until smooth. this might be pretty served with a fine sprinkling of sweet paprika and a swirl of olive oil.

fat-free microwave granola

2007-09-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

dah-dah-dah-ma-ah-nyah-yahhhhhh!!!! that just about sums it up. these days my conversations and thought processes no longer go beyond the babbling stage. no, it's worse than that. i must confess i now find diaper talk actually interesting and the blob-like progeny kinda cute. yep. that's right, i have a serious case of the dreaded "mommy brain". you've seen it around. that weirdly blank blissed-out look those still unkempt mothers wear in the presence of their young, the precipitous decrease in survival skills (is the middle of the road really the best place to stop and adjust a sock?), the inability to construct a complex, non-repetitive sentence, and most horribly, the belief that the babbling and yelling noises the flesh-nuggets make whilst attempting to master the fine art of speech, even in public, is somehow endearing. please kill me now.

the fat, loud, farting spawn formerly known as worm is now 7 months old. head and limb control coupled with sumo-like curves necessitated a change of moniker. you can call her meatballs. we do. she got so fat that the only vacant spot on her body for the adipose nuggets to settle was the tops of her feet and toes, thus transforming perfectly good anatomical parts into something better suited to lying atop a plate of spaghetti. and did i mention the cellulite? hers, not mine. i didn't know babies could get cellulite.

but enough of this breeder talk, lets continue on to the heart of the matter: fat-free nuclear granola. now let's not kid ourselves, this thing you find hungry shoppers foraging for in the bulk bin aisle of the supermarket, this thing called granola, is often not all that healthy. loaded down with sugar, lots of oil, a boatload of nuts and dried fruit, it barely misses being a type of candy, in my babbling opinion, whole grains notwithstanding. but people think it's a type of health food, and therein lies the fatal error: because you think it's good for you, and because it does taste pretty good, you end up (okay, so i'm talking about myself here) eating way, way more than a single serving. and so began my obsession with making my own, less fatty and less sweet version.

for my my first attempts i used the oven crisping method and swapped out all or most of the oil with water or fruit juice. this produced a granola that was not crispy but rather hard. quite hard. hard is not an adjective i want to use to describe my breakfast cereal. three or four different recipes all yielded the same results. just before throwing in the baby-puke stained towel i nipped round to bryanna clark grogan's blog and what did mine eyes behold but a fat-free granola recipe that used, of all things, the nuker! well, i thought to myself, if the microwave can make perfect, crispy fat-free potato chips, why couldn't it do the same for granola? and as it turns out, it can. and does. this method produces great, crispy, small batch granola with zero added oil. the grains, flavorings, addition of fruit or nuts can all be adjusted to taste. who knew granola could be so much fun? this could even make a good project with a kid. to check out the original recipe, go to bryanna's blog and search for "granola".

oil-free microwave coconut/maple granola
2 cups rolled wholegrain cereal (i like a mixture of oatmeal, spelt barley and kamut flakes)
3/4 cups whole grain flour (i use a mixture of wheat and rye)
1/2 cup wheat, oat or rice bran
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract

put everything into a bowl and mix around with your grubby little fingers. cover the rotating glass carousel of your nuker with waxed paper and spread grains directly on top, taking care to spread evenly (this is for a large microwave, if yours is smaller, cook in multiple batches). cook on hi for 3 minutes. stir and spread out flat again. cook for 3 more minutes and let stand for at least 3 minutes to dry out. depending on the power and size of your microwave these cooking times may need to be adjusted slightly before you find the perfect timing. the first time out, watch it like a hawk cause it can burn really, really fast.

vegan cupcakes take over the world!

2007-07-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

gorgeous, yes?

yesterday i attended my first toddler birthday party, something me and my silver filled mouth would have avoided like the dentist during my pre-breeding days. however, after being marooned at home all day, every day, for the past four plus months with the one-way-street-known-as-baby, the thought of frolicking with those screeching little baboons and their harried, exhausted, anemic mothers, suddenly seemed like fun. that is how far i've fallen. it didn't hurt that the proud papa of the birthday baboon lured me over with promises of a virgin bottle of makers mark. a promise he made good on, i (and my throbbing head) might mention. i suspect that many a parent snuck into the liquor cabinet for a bit of courage to help them through that afternoon.

wailers, screechers, territorial pissers, chest-thumpers, nose-pickers, even a furtive masturbator were present. gazing out at the scene through my amber filled glass of bravado, i could not help but note that we truly do share much in common with our simian brethren. i also could not help but note that perhaps the worst is yet to come. you see, worm and i have entered into a honeymoon phase of sorts. she can hold her own head up, make eye contact, grasp things in her fat little fingers and make hideous pre-speech croakings in the scratchy voice of a wizened old drunken hooker. it doesn't hurt that i've also almost forgotten what life before was like, and that i'm resigned to the fact that i will never, ever, never again get a good, long, uninterrupted nights sleep. so i guess things are good. the neck cheese is being held in check with daily harvestings. and most importantly she can not yet locomote or talk back. ah the salad days.

so for the two-year old baboon's birthday i made cupcakes. 96. all vegan. i thought it a good opportunity to test out some recipes from vegan cupcakes take over the world without being obligated to eat more than a few dozen. pictured here are the banana split and mint chocolate cupcakes. i also made fauxstess cupcakes (with a mocha buttercream frosting in place of the ganache), a raspberry filled vanilla cupcake topped with buttercream frosting and a fresh raspberry (very pretty), and a plain chocolate batch.

everyone liked them. the parents of those with dairy and nut allergies appreciated the un-nutty vegan-ness of it all, the other adults were surprised that vegan could taste good, and the screeching baboons appreciated the mounds of frosting with which they painted their faces, sculpted their hair, and hid in their pockets (remind me to never buy toddler clothes with pockets - it's just asking for trouble).

my favorite was the chocolate mint cupcakes. chocolate and mint go so well together, and the green frosting is fun. however, i must admit that i used the fauxstess cupcake base to which i added mint extract instead of the chocolate cupcake recipe in the book. although the banana split cupcake was pretty, i found the cake itself to be quite dense, almost muffin-like, but this is often an issue with vegan baked goods. i also omitted the chocolate and preserves swirl opting instead for a more classic banana flavor.

if you're vegan and jonesing for cupcakes, i recommend picking up a copy of this book. there are some interesting flavors (chai or margarita cupcakes anyone?), excellent buttercream recipes, and lots of fun decorating ideas. also be on the lookout for isa and terry's next cookbook, veganomicon: the ultimate vegan cookbook.

chocolate mint cupcakes

the cupcake:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons black cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain rice or soymilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

preheat the oven to 350 and line a 12-muffin tin with paper cupcake liners. spray with the liners with canola spray to prevent sticking. sift together the flour, cocoa powders, baking powder, baking soda and salt. in another bowl combine the rice milk, oil, maple syrup, sugar, vinegar and vanilla. beat at medium speed for about two minues. add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat for about another minute to combine. fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full and bake for about 25-30 minutes. remove from oven and allow to fully cool.

mint icing:
1/4 cup non hydrogenated shortening
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon soy creamer or soymilk
1 1/2 teaspoons mint extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 drop green food coloring

cream the shortening for a few minutes until soft. this is easiest using a stand mixer but can be done with a handheld mixer (or a fork) as long as the shortening is at room temperature. add 1 cup of the powdered sugar and a few splashes of the soycreamer. mix to incorporate and continue to alternate until all the powdered sugar is used up and the frosting is at the desired consistency. add vanilla and mint.

ganache (you may want to halve or third this amount, depending on how much you want to use):
3 Tablespoons soycreamer or soymilk
1/3 semisweet chocolate chips

melt chocolate and soycreamer on top of a double boiler or in the microwave until smooth and runny; be careful not to burn or the chocolate will seize up and become bitter.

to assemble:
use a piping bag with a large star tip to frost cupcakes. place a dollop of ganach on top. you could alternately decorate with1/2 a newman mint-o cookie or even a sprig of fresh mint.

lazy man's no knead bread

2007-05-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

a day late and a dollar short, that's the story of my life. having been out of blogging commission for quite some time with the great science experiment and trying to keep alive something that is clearly unfit for survival, i'm a bit behind the curve. well, let's just say a bit more behind the curve than usual. i'm sure most of you have probably already tried, or at least heard of this miraculous "no knead bread". yesterday's news. been there, done that. "who is this rae that is sooo out of it," you might be wondering, and "is she such a fossil that she is still wearing her original eighties wardrobe without an ounce of irony?". ahem, well, firstly, let me just say that irony is in the eye of the beholder. secondly, that there is nothing wrong with those high waisted, pleated jeans, big-shouldered blazers in a riot of neon colors, and rockin'ly large, frizzy, home-frosted hair. which is not to say that is my look per se. that would be way, way too hip for me.

but i digress. the point is that you've probably already tried this recipe. but if you haven't, whatever your excuse for lagging, the time has come. because it is good. and easy. even this lazy atkins-free carb-ovoire with the ten yeast killing digits managed to produce a very decent loaf. all you need is the proper vessel and advance planning.

if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you're probably aware that i am a self-proclaimed atrocious baker. the anti-baker. my hockey pucks come out with pentacles charred into the crust. yet despite it all, i dream of a crisp crust, that homey smell of freshly baked bread wafting through the house, a steaming, airy and spongy slab of carb-o-riffic goodness seducing a pat of earth balance margarine into a velvety silky sheen. and so i try and try and try again to master the mighty loaf. usually with results unfit for even these filthy city pigeons of whom i am so terribly (and according to sf city ordinance, illegally) fond.

anyway, this is a weird recipe. it requires a super long overnight sponge. a dutch oven. and a fork. the dough is so wet that it needs walls to support its vertical rise, which, unless you have the perfect lidded vessel, can result in a ciabatta shaped loaf. but look at the texture of the bread. holey smoke! holes. lots of holes. almost as many holes in that loaf as in (according to the stepmother) my gun-totin' pappy's underwear. now them there's a whole heap o' holes.

so on to the recipe. i've also provided a link to bryanna clark grogan's blog here where you can find step by step pictures of the process and the citation for the original recipe souce.

just in case you were wondering, the hell-worm is growing monstrously huge, of sumo proportions, and developing the lung power of the landlady in kung fu hustle.

no knead bread
3 cups unbleached flour
¼ teaspoon instant yeast, or 1/3 teaspoon regular dry active yeast
2 teaspoons salt
cornmeal for dusting

combine flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl.add 1 ½ cups water and mix until blended. cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 12-18 hours at about 70 degrees (you can do this inside your oven if you have a pilot light, otherwise, just pick the warmest spot in your kitchen-but i just stuck mine on the cold counter for the max amount of time). after 2-18 hours the surface should be dotted with bubbles. place the dough on a floured surface and fold it a few times. cover and let rest for another 15 minutes, then shape into a ball. the dough will be very sticky, use just enough flour to prevent it from sticking to your hands. coat a cotton kitchen towel with cornmeal and place ball seamside down, sprinkling top with more cornmeal. cover with another towel and let rise for 2 hours or until doubled. preheat oven to 450 with a 6-8 quart heavy covered (cast iron, enamel, pyrex or ceramic) lidded pot for 30 minutes. remove hot pot from oven and place dough into pot. cover with lid and bake for 30 minutes. remove lid and continue to bake for 15-30 minutes until browned.

chocolate almond cookies

2007-04-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

these are the dreaded "trucker ass" cookies that have been sustaining me throughout these long days and nights of servitude. the Worm is a harsh master. there is much about this breeding thing they don't mention. and some of the things they do mention are lies, fabrications, and straight up fantasies. to be nice, lets just call them myths. myth 1: babies smell good. no way. at least mine doesn't. she stinks. she smells like pooh and vomit and urine and that gross powdery diaper smell. and she also smells like cheese. breastmilkcheese. drooling like a giant, unkempt shaggy dog the milk dribbles and gushes out the mouth into the fatty neck folds where it turns into cheese. breastmilkneckcheese. and it stinks. myth 2: babies are cute. okay, maybe they get cuter as they get older, but newborns are not cute. misshapen blobs of undifferentiated flesh, to the untrained eye, they look pretty much all alike. and that something is an unholy cross pollination between carl malden and archie bunker. having said that, there does seem to be a hardwired switch in the brain that makes you think yours really is cute. or sweet. or at least not totally repulsive. at least not until the infant acne pops out. yep, infant acne. never heard of it? another little thing they don't tell you. they say 40% of babies get it. needless to say, the Worm is in that silent 40% and is giving us a preview of adolescent delights to come.

okay, before you call child protective services, let me just say that i like my Worm just fine, despite the stink, the lack of sleep, the rotten neck cheese, the high-velocity-face-spraying feces, the inexpicable crying jags, zits and all...

so back to my ass-expanding buddies. these cookies are based on the double chocolate almond explosion cookies from vive le vegan. when cooked properly they have a crisp exterior and an ever so slightly chewy interior delivering a good chocolate flavor without being too sweet. the toasted almonds lend an interesting deviation from the expected. my modifications included increasing the amount and type of almonds (chopped in lieu of slivered), omitting almond extract ('cause i don't have any), and fiddling with the wet/dry ratio. i found that the original recipe was too dry and i had to add a bit of water to make it mixable. in the rendition below i decreased the amount of flour instead of adding additional liquid - it may still seem to be on the dry side but it will work out, i promise. also, if you have any black cocoa on hand, swap out 2 Tablespoons of the regular stuff for the black stuff. it will make them taste a little bit more like oreo cookies.

if you're interested in the unadulterated recipe, or if you're just in the market for a new vegan cookbook, i recommend picking up a copy of vive le vegan. the recipes are simple, kid friendly (if that's of any concern to you) and pretty easy to put together. because many of the recipes look so simple, i was initially skeptical, but those that i've tried have, for the most part, delivered (scalloped potatoes, anyone?). even such simple recipes as tomato lentil pasta sauce, a dish i've been improvising for years, has a depth of flavor that belies it's simplicity. so without further ado, here is my version of the chocolate almond explosion cookies.

chocolate almond cookies
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder (2 T. dutch processed, 2 T. black cocoa, if you have it)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup chopped toasted almonds
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup canola oil

preheat oven to 350 f. sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder. mix in the almonds, chocolate chips, and salt. in another bowl combine the wet ingredients (and sugar) and whisk until well blended. add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir until just combined. the batter will be a bit thick, almost like a loose dough. roll dough out into little balls and flatten onto a parchment lined baking sheet. to help minimize the dough from sticking to your hands, moisten them prior to rolling and pressing. bake for about 11 minutes and cool on a rack. then, as suggested by a commentor to my last post, go out and buy a truck to go along with the ass. or, more likely, to haul it around.

bun out of the oven

2007-03-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

well folks, the satanic worm has finally emerged. after not so patiently hauling the freeloader around in my ever growing trucker gut for more than 42 weeks, eviction papers were served and she was escorted out with the aid of a pitocin drip. as you might be able to discern from the photo (i promise i will not subject you to family vacation slideshows next), she was none to happy to be kicked out. why do all babies look like drunken garden gnomes when they're not looking like evil feed tubes?

so far, this has been the longest four weeks of my life. i am substituting cookies for sleep, which is a good thing for you all since i stumbled upon one of the best vegan chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipes i've come across yet. less of a good thing for my ever expanding trucker ass.

chickpea and tomato soup

2007-01-31T21:38:00.000-08:00

deborah madison, who else?

rich, tangy, sweet, hearty and steaming hot, i love this soup. comfort in a ladle. and if there is anything i'm craving these days, it's comfort. i'm sure that once the screaming diaper machine arrives i will look back upon on these small-bladder-big-gut days with a nostalgic yearning. but the sleep depriver does not seem to be ready yet. it is too busy copping a free-ride and practicing amateur karate moves in the rent-free security of my poor distended entrails, probably sharpening the edges of it's ever expanding cranium into a perfect, four pointed square. this whole freaky science experiment is almost over (or is it just about to begin?), and let me tell you that i've remained myself throughout. no starry-eyed, belly-rubbing cooing. no annoying "miracle" talk. no bouts of sentimental weeping. none of it. no siree. knocked up, undeniably. hormonally demented, thankfully no.

i've not been posting very much because somehow food has just not been as, um, seductive to me as it usually is. energy is being drained from the host to sustain the alien within and, what with the flames of hell leaping up my throat at the mere sight of a bottle of hot sauce, well, eating just doesn't seem to be half the fun it used to be.

but this soup. this is something good. a nutrient and fiber filled meal in a bowl that only tastes better the longer it lingers in the refrigerator. it is just what the doctor ordered. the recipe calls for lentil or ful. i had neither so i omitted them. very tasty anyway.

spicy chickpea and tomato soup
olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon freshly toasted and ground cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
2 carrots, chopped
1 celery rib, diced
1 cup diced winter squash (butternut, etc.)
2 Tablespoons each chopped parsley and cilantro
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
1 15 oz. can chickpeas, drained
1 15 oz. can ful medames or 1 cup cooked lentils
1 cup skinny noodles, cooked in salted water and drained

slowly saute the diced onion and spices in a lightly oiled soup pot (i usually do this bit in a non-sticky frying pan) and cook until softened. add the rest of the vegetables and continue to cook for about 10 minutes. at this point you can transfer the vegetable into a soup pot with the tomatoes (and the juices), chickpeas, ful/lentils and enough water to thin the soup out a bit. depending on whether the tomatoes came in a tomato sauce or thinner juice base, you may need more/less water. because my tomatoes were canned in sauce, i added 4-5 cups water to get it to a consistency to my liking. simmer for at least 20-30 minutes and season with salt and pepper. at the end add in the cooked noodles, parsley/cilantro and adjust seasonings to taste.

vegan cinnamon rolls

2006-12-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

you might notice that these babies look dry. dry as in unglazed, ungooey, unadorned, bare-bottom-nekkid. this is not a mistake, i like 'em that way. i like my cinnamon rolls like my humor, my sunday afternoons, my martinis and my socks...dry. but i know i'm a bit of a freak that way, and if you prefer, nothing could be easier than to whip up a bit of glaze (powdered sugar mixed with a bit of soymilk, or heck, even water if times are lean) and drizzle lightly over the top after baking. if you really dig the tooth enamel melting gnarliness of a sea of somewhat pornographic cinnabon white ooze, you may need to supplement this recipe with an appropriate "topping" recipe.

i whipped up a batch of these soul-soothing rings of spicy goodness to break in an unexpected housewarming gift from the not-so-wicked (but don't tell her that!) stepmother of a kitchen aid stand mixer (in tangerine, no less). the recipe i found somewhere on the internet ( i can't remember where and so cannot credit the original source) but had some problems with the dough. did i mention that my clumsy, non-baking paws tend to de-activate the most vigorous of yeasts? i followed the instructions exactly but the dough was too dry. not dry in a good way, but dry in a bad, overcooked slab of cheap steak way. i ended up adding water until the dough felt "right" and waited for the worst. the result was the miracle of miracles...i experienced a rare baking success. slightly sweet, light and airy, the rolls were perfect. they were so good i made them again the following weekend and the second time around they were not so very light. still with a good flavor they were a bit dense. despite the margarine and white flour they had the mouthfeel of "health food". the only major difference between the two attempts was that i rose the dough overnight in the refrigerator the first time, the second time around i was a bit rushed for time and tried to rush the process by putting it in a slightly warmed oven to rise. it is also possible that, in a tangerine-induced-dough-hook-wielding euphoria, i may have over worked the dough a bit, second-time around. if any of you bakers out there see something out of whack in the recipe, let me know. i live to learn.

and because rain is forecast for the entire weekend, i plan to make these again. this time with a slightly shorter knead time and an overnight rise. a hot cup of tea, a steaming cinnamon roll, rain pelting the windows, furry black cat coiled and purring in lap, what could be better first thing on a saturday morning?

cinnamon rolls
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup soymilk, warmed
2 egg ener g egg replacers (equivalent of 2 eggs)
1/2 cup earthbalance non-hydrogenated margarine, melted (or 1/4 c margarine-1/4 c shortening)
4 cups all purpose flour
1 teasoon salt
cinnamon and brown sugar

dissolve the yeast and sugar in the lukewarm soymilk and let stand until frothy. combine the reconstituted egg replacer, melted margarine and add to yeast mixture. add flour and salt and knead for 5-10 minutes, until the dough gets a smooth and satiny texture. you may need to add a bit of extra water or flour to get the right consistency. the original recipe called for 4 1/2 cups flour but it was way too dry - i had to add quite a bit of extra water (maybe up to 1/2 cup?).

place a damp towel over the bowl and allow to rise until doubled. once doubled, remove from bowl and place on a floured surface. roll or stretch the dough into a 6 x 21 rectangle. lightly brush the surface with melted margarine and sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar mixture. roll the dough into a log shape (starting from the narrower edge) and cut into 12 pieces. lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking pan and arrange the slices cut sides up. let rise again in a warm spot for at least 30 minutes, or cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit in the refrigerator over night. bake at 400 for about 15 minutes. drizzle with glaze if desired.

breasts of tofu

2006-10-30T11:55:00.000-08:00

breast of tofu. a somewhat titillating title. it has a certain ring to it, a certain je ne sais quois, don't you think? breast of tofu. in my mind's eye i spy prosthetic breasts constructed of extra firm pressed tofu; mutated, chernobyl-irradiated blocks of tofu sprouting weird eye stalks and other breasticular bodyparts; ghost images of pale, flaccid, man-tittied men leisurely strolling the boardwalks, amusement parks and carnivals of this great land, licking at chocolate dipped soft ice cream cones. breast of tofu. a tasty dish indeed.

but don't let my over-active imagination scare you off, for this is a bryanna grogan recipe. and, as i'm sure you're all well aware, bryanna is nothing if not consistent in the tastes-good vegan cooking department. ignore the crass visual rambling of my hormone addled brain. i've thought about trying this out for ages but never seemed to get around to it. probably because marination is involved (yes, i know that's not a real word, but i don't care, i like it anyway). this in turn involves planning ahead. planning ahead is not my greatest strength. as you might gather from my present, um, condition.

if you allow the tofu to steep long enough, the marinade really imparts a delicious, chicken-y flavor into the tofu "meat", which can be echoed in the seasoned flour coating if you spice it up accordingly. byranna says that the tofu may be allowed to frolic in these delicious juices for up to two weeks, but after about one mere week my tofu started to dissolve. which was a little too organic for my generally antiseptic refrigerator. perhaps my tofu was already a bit long in the tooth, or not of the extra firm variety, but in any case, a day is sufficient for getting a pretty good flavor injection. you can freeze the leftover marinade for the next time (but you might want to boil it after defrosting, just to kill off any germies that might be lurking about). i served this with mashed potatoes and broccoli rabe satueed in garlic and red pepper flakes. the patties could make a good sandwich too, if there are any leftovers, which has yet to happen in my house.

breast of tofu
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 Tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
2 teaspoons dried sage
1/2 teaspoon each: dried rosemary, dried thyme, onion powder
2 lbs extra firm tofu

place all ingredients except tofu in a plastic container with a tight fitting lid. slice the tofu into 1/4" thick slices and drop into the marinade. the liquid should cover all the slices. let sit in the refrigerator overnight or at least for a few hours (bryanna says this can say in the marinade for up to two weeks as long as you shake it daily). when ready to cook, dredge the slices in seasoned flour (just a bit of flour with salt, pepper, and whatever other seasoning you want). shake off excess flour and either pan fry in a bit of oil until golden on each side, or oven fry at 400 on pan sprayed, dark cookie sheets (the darker metal conducts more heat and makes for a crispier finish) until golden. this should take about 15 minutes on each side.

margarine and toasted white bread

2006-10-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

bunnyfoot has been silent for quite some time now. why, you might wonder? what is to blame for this sloth and inactivity? and has it been coupled with a disregard for personal hygine?

yes. and white bread. i blame it all on white bread. toasted. slathered with earth-balance margarine. creepy, eh? i disappeared in order to protect you all. i did it for your own good. i mean, who really wants to see post after post after post of toasted white bread? granted you can pretty it up by cutting it into cute little shapes. maybe you could even supplement the margarine with a smear of homemade jam, but at the end of the day, it's just a big, bland, fluffy cracker, lacking in culinary, nutritional and asthetic appeal. you should note that my mainstay has not been of the crusty baguette type pictured above, but, oh wonders of wonder, um, the rather infamous wonder bread.

and why has bunnyfoot been gorging on this abomination? no, not poverty. nor has my kitchen burned down. and my teeth didn't fall out either. you see, in a somewhat ironic coincidence, bunnyfoot began working at a family planning agency, and managed to get herself knocked up at the same time. there must've been something in the water cooler...

and so, to make a short story long, for the past many months the, um, the fetus has been wanting to eat toasted white bread. slathered with margarine. and i, the toast munching host, began a new job. then we four (host, fetus, feline and male) moved out of our tiny 1 bedroom apartment into more spacious digs. but to be honest, mostly i've been freaking out, dreaming of cigarettes and booze, and, um, toasting bread.

but now that i'm settled into the job, moved into the new pad and more or less resigned to a cocktail free future (the DTs have almost worn off), you'll be hearing from me more often. and just in case you were worried, fret not, for i shan't become one of those maternally-demented, estrogen-driven cooing machines whipping out strips of sears portrait studio photos, reels of home videos, and streaming u-tube clips of pooh-stained diapers at the slightest provocation. i intend to remain the same cynical, bitter little melon that i've always been.

before i get back to posting about the subject at hand, here is a little scene from a recent trip up to the great, green pacific northwest. a sweet little family nibbling on plums and grapes in my pappy's front yard.

it was real cute until one of the neighbors' kids broke out the pellet gun. ah, the country life....

pasta with raw tomato-basil-garlic sauce

2006-08-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

i don't know about you but i dream of late summer all year round. not because of the long, lazy sun-filled days (we don't get many of those during the fog and windswept chilly days of a typical san francisco "summer"), nor because of school break ('cause i've long since finished my formal book 'larnin' days and am condemned to a meanly doled out two weeks of pooled vacation/sick days off each year), nor because of the much anticipated resumption of all those beloved tv sitcoms, dramas, and reality programs ('cause let's face it, it's mostly just garbage not fit for human consumption after all). no my friends. during the dark chilly mornings of february, as i reluctantly roll my creaky joints out of bed, i dream of.....tomatoes. red. ripe. juicy. sweet. firm. fleshy. succulent. heavenly. tomatoes.

the ironic thing is that i used to HATE tomatoes. those perfect little red globes dangling seductively on perfect green little vines so prettily displayed beneath flourescent lights in the local grocery store. oh the anger and the heartbreak when it is discovered that beneath the artifice lies nothing but a pale, anemic, slimy little heart with no flavor and no remose for the hideous deception. is it any wonder that i despised those treacherous little creatures?

but then, one glorious summer, i discovered the real thing. fresh off the plant. and i couldn't believe it. beneath the not quite perfectly spherical, not quite uniformly red, not quite as cosmetically pleasing exterior was an explosion of sweet, meaty, juicy, sunshine-y flavors. since then i've shunned all out of season tomatoes, relying instead on home-canned goods plucked at their summer freshest. or at least a good brand of store bought.

and so here is a super simple, no cook recipe for a pasta sauce that showcases the vibrant flavors of late summer at their best. beautiful tomatoes, pungent garlic and sweet italian basil combined into a raw sauce that'll give you a suntan just eating it. even if it is acold, foggy and windswept san francisco type of summer.

raw tomato sauce with garlic, basil and olive oil
a pile of the ripest, juiciest, reddest roma* tomatoes you can find
a handful of fresh, sweet italian basil, chopped
a good glug of lusty, fruity extra-virgin olive oil
at least a few cloves of raw garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
a smattering of diced kalamata olives, if you fancy 'em

coarsely chop the roma tomatoes into large chunks, removing seeds and placing in a colander. lightly salt the tomatoes and allow the juices to drain out a bit. after the tomatoes have expelled a bit of their juices, place in a blender or food processor with the minced garlic and chopped basil and pulse a few times until just a bit of texture remains. add a few glugs of olive oil and salt to taste. remove from blender and toss with cooked pasta (angel hair pasta and ravioli work particulary well with this sauce) and kalamata olives (if using).

*use romas if you can find them. they have the lowest water content and will produce a sauce that is less, um, watery with a more concentrated tomato flavor.

brandied cherries

2006-08-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

sorry for the long silence but bunnyfoot has entered the zone. no, not the zone diet, nothing quite that terrible. bunnyfoot has entered the canning zone.

i have a real-love hate relationship with canning. all those hours of long, hot, hard work over boiling water, scaldingly hot glass jars, the messy and tedious skinning of fruit and tomatoes, and the deep-seated suspicion that, despite my most anal precautions, any one of those festive-seeming jars could harbor the dreaded mr. botchulism in it's treacherous little heat-processed heart. but the love. ahhh the love. my heart goes pitter-patter when i hear those lids make that little popping sound as they seal...like a kitchen full of crickets. and on those dark, cold, rainy, winter days when i crack open a jar of summer-fresh, blazingly red, sweet-sweet tomatoes, i can feel the warm sunshine on my face and i actually reminisce fondly of these dog days of canning. and so i can. i can all i can stand. i can all summer long. and when i can i usually want to get out of the kitchen as quickly and as frequently as possible. which means indian takeout and not much bunnyfooting around. so my apologies for the silence, but you see, i couldn't really help it...

having already stashed away a rainbow of jams, i'm rolling up my sleeves in preparation for the dreaded tomato: tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, whole peeled tomatoes, who knows, maybe i'll even put down a few jars of salsa this year...

but this post is dedicated to the first of the summer's canning projects: brandied cherries. i must be honest with you, these did not quite turn out as i'd hoped. firstly, i was too lazy to pit the cherries. secondly, the heating of the fruit combined with the hot water bath made for a rather, um, soft, one might say flaccid, product. however they have tremendous potential as a brandied cherry sauce for vanilla ice cream or as a flavoring for mixed cocktails. would i make them again? hmmm, ask me in the dead of winter....

brandied cherries
6 lbs. dark, sweet cherries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/4 cup brandy

wash and pit the cherries, set aside. bring to a boil the sugar, water and lemon juice, then add fruit and reduce to a simmer, continuing to cook until cherries are hot. remove from heat and add brandy. pack cherries into hot, sterilized jars leaving about 1/2" headspace. ladle hot syrup to fill jars up to about 1/4" of the rim. remove airbubble (i do this by tapping the jar on the counter), clean rim, seal and process in a hot water bath for about 10 minutes. this should make about 6 pints.

low-fat fudge brownies

2006-07-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

this is the last post i'll do from fran costigan's more great good dairy-free desserts for a little while. if this recipe doesn't convince you to put this book on your amazon wish list, then nothing will. these are the ultimate brownies: moist, dense, chocolately and rich with that bad-for-you taste, but with just 3 scant Tablespoons of oil greasing up the works (the rest being replaced by high fiber prune puree) you don't need to feel guilty about having one. or maybe two.

super fudge low fat brownies
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
2 Tablespoons arrowroot
1 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unbleached white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons canola oil
1 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup prune puree***
2 Tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Preheat oven to 350 and oil a 9 x 9 square pan. measure out all dry ingredients (up until the canola oil) and sift into a bowl. using a wire whisk give it sifted ingredients a few taps until everything in combined. in another bowl whisk the wet ingreients (oil through to the vanilla) and whisk until well blended. pour dry into the wet and stir until smooth. add walnuts and chocolate chips. bake at 350 for 17-18 minutes or until the sides have begun to pull away from the pan and the top looks dry. a toothpick inserted into the center should be coated with moist cake but not be gummy. the brownies will firm as they chill. when done, remove from oven and let cool to room temperature. cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator until ready to cut.

***prune puree: place 1 cup pitted prunes into a bowl and cover with 1 cup minus 1 Tablespoon boiling water for 15 - 30 minutes, until the prunes are soft. dump the water and prunes into a blender and puress until completely smooth, adding a bit of extra water if necessary.

vanilla wafer cookies

2006-06-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

here is another one from fran costigan’s more great good dairy-free desserts, these little cookies are similar to animal crackers or arrowroot biscuits but with a strong vanilla kick. the texture is firm and perfect for dipping into a cup of tea or coffee. although the recipe states that the dough may be a bit sticky, i found that mine was firm enough to roll out and cut without chilling…perhaps because i reduced the amount of oil. now all i have to do is find myself some little itty bitty animal shaped cookie cutters...

vanilla wafer cookies
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
3 Tablespoons canola oil (i reduced this to 2 T. and added 1 T. soymilk)
3 Tablespoons maple syrup
2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
sugar for sprinkling, if desired

sift the dry ingredients together and set aside. in another bowl, whisk the oil, maple syrup and vanilla until well blended. pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until a shiny dough forms. the dough should be a little wet. add a few drops of soymilk or water if the consistency is crumbly or too dry. roll the dough out into two disks, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm (a few hours in the refrigerator or less time in the freezer). preheat oven to 350. between two pieces of parchment paper, roll out the dough to about 1/4" thick and, using a cookie cutter, cut into the shapes of your choice. if you are choosing to sprinkle your cookies with sugar, now is the time to do it. on a plate, sprinkle some sugar and press each cut cookie into the sugar before placing on a non-stick cookie sheet. if at any time the dough becomes too soft to work with place it in the freezer until it firms up again. bake for 8-10 minutes.

quinoa, corn and spinach chowder

2006-06-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

in the middle of the night, in the middle of the week, smack in the middle of a bout of insomnia, i…. went shopping. clad only in paint-stained sweats, holy sweater and bunny slippers, i ......went online. i logged onto……amazon……and emptied my wish list……..straight into my shopping cart. and then, with matted hair, wild eyes, bad breath and ratty clothes, i shuffled my once pink now brown little one eyed bunnies down the cyber aisle, and…….checked out.

a few days later i was awoken from a fitful mid afternoon nap to the bing-bonging of my front doorbell. as i peered through the peephole i realized just what i had done……that my hazy recollection of a fantastical midnight shopping spree was not a sleep-deprived delusion and had materialized into a brown-clad, ups-emblazoned, brawny young man at my front gate. gleefully i ripped open the monstrous box, littered the tiny living room floor of my tiny little apartment and……rolled around on a mountain of new books. i snapped the spines, dog eared the pages, and warmly welcomed them home. buried in this cornucopia of fallen trees was deborah madison’s newish book, vegetable soups from deborah madison's kitchen.

since rediscovering vegetarian cooking for everyone I’ve become a big fan of the big DM. she has an interesting and light touch with flavor combinations which, for the most part, work beautifully. i also love soups. soup is my favorite food, hands down (well, maybe one hand down because the other hand will invariably find itself insided a bag of salty chips). i was a little skeptical about this recipe because of the quinoa. i know all the rap about this little grain who could, but somehow it just never floats my boat. regardless of how i cook it and how i season it, there is something, well, boring about it. but i had some quinoa on hand, some fresh white corn, a few butter gold potatoes, and a wrinkled jalapeno pepper that needed to be put out of its misery, and so i gave it a shot. and once again DM surprised me. i love this soup. the quinoa makes this soup hearty without being heavy and the fluffy little grains look so pretty floating around the bowl. the corn adds textural interest as it’s not overly cooked, providing a bit of snap, crunch and sugar sweetness into each mouthful. the only major modifications i made were to omit all dairy and egg products, add some diced carrots for color, and use a vegetable stock (actually knorr vegetarian vegetable bouillon cubes). because i omitted the cheese i added a few squeezes of lemon juice to brighten things up a bit. i've put the egg and dairy options in the recipe, but you don't need it, really!

quinoa, corn and spinach chowder
3/4 cup quinoa, rinsed under running water
7 cups water/stock
2 ears of corn, shucked
1 carrot, diced
2 Tablespoons olive oil (optional)
1+ cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno chile, diced and seeded (leave some seeds if you want it hotter)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
salt and pepper
2 waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4" cubes
1 bunch of spinach
3 scallions, minced
1/3 cup chopped cilantro leaves
lemon juice to taste
1/4 lb. feta cheese, cubed (optional)
1 hard boiled egg, chopped (optional)

simmer the quinoa in 7 cups of water or stock for about 10 minutes. if using water you will probably want to add some cubed stock or bouillon later to give the dish some body. drain and reserve the cooking liquid. while the quinoa is cooking, cut the kernals off two cobs of corn. then using the flat edge of the knife scrape those last little juicy bits off the ear into the bowl with the kernals. if you are using the oil, heat the oil in a 3 quart saucepan and cook the garlic and chile for about 30 seconds, then add the cumin salt and potatoes. add 6 cups of reserved quinoa cooking water, quinoa and simmer for 15 minutes. add corn. turn off heat and stir in spinach, cheese (if using) and scallions. just before serving mix in egg (optional) and cilantro. if you are not using the oil or the dairy ingredients, just place all of the reserved cooking water in a pot (again, if you used water to cook your quinoa you will want to add some bouillon now) with the potatoes and quinoa and simmer 15 minutes. then add corn, spinach and scallions. adjust seasonings with salt, freshly ground black pepper and a few squeezes of lemon juice to taste.

or the non vegan version as it appears in her book, add 1/4 lb. cubed feta cheese and 1 peeled and diced hardboiled egg.

the dreaded loaf

2006-06-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

uh oh, it's the dreaded loaf. that dense and tasteless symbol of seventies ascetic vegetarianism. that barely cohesive mound of mushy lentils and carrots masquerading as meatloaf. scarred by early encounters with these hippie loaves i've pretty much avoided the grain/nut/seed bread-shaped monstrosity, primarily due to an underlying fear that i might spontaneously sprout excessive facial hair, pervasive, plastic-melting b.o. and grow birkenstocks out of the soles of my dead-head tappin' bare feet. however, after some consideration and a thorough waxing, i realized that there is great potential in a loaf. why, one of my all-time favorite dishes, the almighty stuffing, and more recently, the very tasty vegan haggis are nothing more than un-shaped loaf fillings. that is how it dawned on me that loaves don't have to be bland. or mushy. or full of seeds, brambles and bragg's liquid aminos. they can be bursting with flavors and textures. they can be spicy. with nary a gum-stabbing twig in sight.

and so i stumbled up the magical loaf studio over at vegan lunchbox. based on the seventh-day adventists formula for creating loaves, you simply plug in you selections from a variety of items, hit "calculate" and voila, out pops your own personal loaf. no potty humour intended.

that is my little loaf pictured above. isn't it cute? and yes, that is a lentil you see poking its baby-pooh colored head out. despite my earlier slagging of the great and mighty lentil, i did choose to have him star in my loaf, along with damp-doggy smelling buckwheat. i omitted seeds and nuts and threw in some spicy cajun seasoning instead. the result? well, it was a loaf. it held together. it was kinda spicy. it was very earthy (a bit too earthy, actually). slathered with ketchup glaze on the top, it paired very nicely with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.

would i make this particular combination again? um, no. i felt that the buckwheat overpowered the other ingredients. i will, however, return to the loaf studio and try out some other combinations. loaves are fun. loaves can taste good. even if they may grow hair on your chest.

carrot cake

2006-06-07T07:50:00.000-07:00

i have never been much of a fan of carrot cake. the café versions i’ve sampled have been dense, greasy and slathered with enough cream cheese frosting to pop you up a pants size just by fingering it through its scratched and dull plexiglass case. having said this, i love both carrots and spice cakes. from fran costigans more great good dairy-free desserts, this cake fulfills almost all my criteria for a good cake, vegan or otherwise. it is moist without being gummy, rich-tasting without being greasy, sweet without making my teeth tingle, and light in texture. i reduced the oil in the original recipe by half with excellent results. aside from being less oily to the touch, the texture and flavor were identical to a batch made with the full amount. more great good dairy free desserts and it predecessor, great good desserts naturally, focus on the use of less refined ingredients. this carrot cake, for example uses no refined white sugar but is sweetened with real maple syrup, orange juice and raisins. sounds kinda hippy-birkenstock-crunchy but it doesn’t taste that way. so far I’ve tried only one other recipe from this book, vanilla wafer cookies, which uses a combination of arrowroot powder and unbleached white flour and again is sweetened with only a touch of maple syrup. they are reminiscent of a cross between animal crackers and nilla wafers. cut into tiny little shapes (about 1” x 1”) they are perfect for dipping into a cup of tea. and then there is this nocturnal-emission-inducing coconut cloud layer cake that i’m eyeing with a lust of biblical proportions. as for the frosting, i just slapped together a very basic buttercream to fix the two layers together. consisting of non-hydrogenated margarine (earth balance), soymilk, powdered sugar and a few drops of vanilla it’s not very good for you, and to be frank, not all that spectacular tasting so i’m not going to post it. i’m still looking for that fluffy, not too sweet, delicious frosting of my dreams so it anyone out there has one, please share!

24 karrot cake
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup orange juice
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup unbleached white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 cup canola oil (i reduced this amount to 2 Tablespoons)
1 cup +2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup soy or rice milk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
2 cups peeled & grated carrots

preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 8 inch round cake pans or line cup cake tins with paper liner. if using cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper and grease and flour the sides (or use a baking spray). for cupcakes, a quick shot of pan spray inside the liners will help avoid sticking. soak the raisins in the orange juice for about 10 minutes. drain the raisins and reserve the orange juice. if you are in a hurry you can put them in the microwave for 3 minutes or so to encourage rehydration. sift the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. in another larger mixing bowl measure out the oil, maple syrup, soymilk, vinegar, vanilla and orange extracts, plus the orange juice from soaking the raisins. pour dry ingredients into wet and whisk until blended. fold in the carrots and raisins. pour into cake or cupcake tins and bake for 30-35 minutes (cakes) or 20 minutes (cupcakes). cool for 10 minutes and remove from tins.

ceasar salad

2006-06-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

here is a super simple recipe for a vegan ceasar salad dressing. the dressing is bright from the lemon juice, pungent from the garlic, fruity from the olive oil and delivers a good kick complements of the freshly ground black pepper. just a tablespoon of vegannaise gives it just a touch of creaminess without making it cloying or overly heavy. if you're looking for a silken tofu type dressing you've come to the wrong place. although i love tofu in all its various guises, i just cannot get over that chalky taste of asceptically packaged silken tofu. it just seems to power on through even the most agressive of seasonings. except of course chocolate. but then you could probably cover chicken droppings with a nice, thick coating of bittersweet chocolate and i'd find it perfectly acceptable...

ceasar salad dressing
2 cloves garlic
1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon vegannaise
1/3 cup olive oil
dash of vegetarian worcestershire sauce (optional)
a few sprinkles of kelp powder (optional)

put garlic through a press and mash with mustard, salt, pepper, and worcestershire sauce. add vegannaise and olive oil. adjust seasonings to taste and pour over romaine lettuce. top with croutons.

steamed mushroom dumplings

2006-05-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

dumplings, ravioli, potstickers, gyoza, spring rolls, summer rolls, tootsie rolls, i don't care what you call them, i just love little packets stuffed with minced bits of things, but i really don't eat them very often. they're frequently stuffed with mr. tasty pig, or ms. tangy cheese and when they're not, they've often had intimate realtions with a deepfryer leading to a delicious state of being that i appreciate but know better than to indulge in too frequently. sigh, it is a sad but very real state of affairs that the older you get, the less you can get away with in terms of reprecussion-free overindulgence. but there is a silver lining on every cloud, and i eagerly anticipate ascending my throne of cane-waving, male-nurse-bum pinching, triple plaid-wearing, cranky-old-lady-dom.

so i wanted dumplings. i wanted steamed dumplings. and these are what i made. the filling is quite tasty with a lot of rich tasting mushrooms and a good lively kick of ginger. the original recipe (which i can't credit because i've totally altered it and don't remember where i found it anyway) says to put the filling in raw, but i cooked everything down first, except the green onion, ginger and rice wine vinegar. these are about as tasty as meat and msg-free dumplings get, although i will be the first to admit that they do not give mr. swine much competition in the taste department. if memory serves correctly. but they're fun (okay, maybe tedious is more the word) to make and if you're a vegetarian they might be one of the only ways to get yourselves a truly vegetarian potsticker.

mushroom dumplings
3 cups finely shredded cabbage, napa or green
4-5 good sized dried shitake mushrooms (reconstituted = 1/2 cup diced)
1 cup minced fresh button mushrooms
2 Tablespoons finley minced shallots or onion
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ginger, minced
2 Tablespoons green onion, diced
1-2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
24 egg free gyoza wrappers

saute everything except the ginger, green onion and rice wine vinegar until soft. remove from heat and mix in the remaining ingredients. adjust seasoning to taste. set aside to cool. lay out a gyoza wrapper and place one scant teaspoon full in the center. run a damp finger around half the outer edge of the wrapper and fold over, pinching the seams together as snugly around the filling as possible. you can crimp the edges like a fluted pie crust if you like. set aside and continue with the rest of the dumplings. when they are all constructed, bring a pot of water to a boil and place a steamer basket inside. grease or pan spray the insert to prevent sticking and lay the dumplings in one at a time so that they do not overlap. cover and steam for 10 - 15 minutes per batch. serve with ponzu or the dipping sauce of your choice. i usually throw together a sauce made of equal parts rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil and a squirt of sriracha.

weekend cat blogging #50: springtime ode to a bud

2006-05-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

bud. aka "the enforcer". aka "budmeister general". aka "sir".

i would like you all to meet bud. or, alternately, sir. many, many suns ago this bad boy was rescued when he was just small enough to fit into the somewhat mannish and freakishly large palm of my stepmother's hand. sporting an early-spring bud-like manx tail, he was christened "bud".

despite his tiny stature and lack of that most expressive of feline accoutrements, bud quickly became became the alpha dog, general disciplinarian and enforcer of good manners amongst the existing herd of three giant shepherds. throughout the years as more cats have wandered off the remote rural road, freshly abandoned by their "loving" owners, bud's role in the household has expanded to breaking in the new feline recruits. one cross eyed look, false lunge, or flash of an incisor directed toward one of his feline flock and the foolish canine quickly learns just how sharp a cat's claws can be. these days when bud, old man that he has become, is sprawled in the center of the floor, upside down, legs spread, snoring and farting in a mushroom cloud of bad breath, the now ancient and arthritic curs steer a wide berth.

bud
clownish canine courtly
wakes in dreams of sleeping

red bean gumbo

2006-05-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

kidney bean
bathing in fluorescent light
surf and turf twelve-ninety-nine
i dream of sizzler

kidney beans. white mushy paste held together by a tough and flavorless red skin. the kind that gets caught in your teeth and gums making for that oh-so-flattering, banjo-picking, first-cousin-courtin', mash-distillin', blacktoothed-hillbilly look. kidney beans. they make me think of cheap salad bars and tin cans. it's strange that i've always had such contempt for this innocuous little fellow because i love beans. with this one exception i don't think i've ever met a bean that me and my ever-ready jar of beano didn't like.

well imagine my surprise on that fateful day when i bypassed tin can alley and cooked up a batch from the real, dried, organic, kidney-shaped thing. what a revelation! neither starchy nor mushy but with a meltingly tender interior held in a firm yet gentle embrace by this smooth, taut, beautiful expanse of maroon skin. kidney bean, i apologize. it was not your fault that your sensitive nature was not strong enough to stand up against the cold and brutal world of mass production, saline injections and tin entombment.

if you have the opportunity i encourage you to experiment with cooking your own beans at home. with a pressure cooker and the addition of salt in the cooking water, you and your trusty can of beano can also come a little closer to the divine spirit of legume.

onto today's recipe from deborah madison's vegetarian cooking for everyone is red bean gumbo with greens. this is a simple tasting dish that sports a lovely rich and nutty roux base that is just hearty enough to stand up against the somewhat assertive beans and greens. with bell peppers, greens, beans, onions, celery and garlic it has a lot of heart-healthy goodness going for it. this is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day once the flavors have a chance to meld, or as we like to put it in our house, "once it gets a little rotty".

red bean gumbo with greens
2-3 large bunches of assorted greens (mustard, turnip, collards, kale, etc.)
1/3 cup oil
6 Tablespoons flour
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 Tablespoon paprika
2 bay leaves
3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large onions, chopped
2 bell peppers, cut into 1/2" pieces (any color but red is prettiest)
3 stalks of celery, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups cooked red kidney beans
2 quarts stock or reserved greens cooking water or reserved bean cooking water

thoroughly wash the greens in several changes of water to get rid of any sand and dirt and chop horizontally into 1/4" - 1/2" slices. you may remove and discard the really tough parts of the stems but i like to use as much of the plant as i can. bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the greens for about 10 minutes or until they're tender (this will depend on the type and age of your greens). drain and reserve some of the cooking water for later.

and now the roux. in a wide and heavy pot or skillet heat the oil over medium high. whisk in the flour and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture is a dark reddish brown. this is probably gonna take a little while, maybe 10-15 minutes or more. do not skimp on this step as it adds the characteristic, deep, rich, velvety gumbo flavor. if you are trying to avoid oil you can use bryanna grogan's "browned flour" method of thickening which is to brown the flour in a hot, dry non-stick pan and stir over a medium flame until the flour is browned. mix the browned flour with a little water (to avoid clumping) and add to the stock. once boiled this will thicken the sauce and provide a bit of a toasty flavor to the dish. i highly recommend using the oil in this particular dish as it really adds a great flavor. if you want to reduce the oil do so to only 1/4 cup, no less, as the roux will get too thick to properly stir beyond that point. the instructions then say to stir in the seasons and vegetables before adding the 2 quarts of reserved greens cooking water (or reserved bean cooking water) or stock directly into your pot. i usually make my roux in a saucepan and add the water directly into the pan, whisking like crazy to make sure all the clumps come out. then i place the vegetables, seasonings, thinned out roux, beans and greens all together in a pot and simmer for 30 minutes or so.

after 30-40 minutes begin adjusting for seasonings. i usually have to add quite a bit more salt, red pepper, thyme and onion powder to get the flavors up to where i like them. for me this recipe takes a bit of fiddling to get the flavors just so but then again i have a somewhat brutish and lazy palate.

graham crackers

2006-05-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

"cute" shape

crackers. not the trucker-hat-wearing, acid-washed-levis sportin', trailer-dwelling, shotgun toting, mulleted kind, but the other, tastier, much more edible type.

i didn't think people really made crackers. so thin, so crispy, so cute and usually so little, i figured this was a task reserved soley for the miniature and dexterous hands of the keebler elves. with a pair of size fourteen man-hands i was fit only for drop cookies and dumplings.

but then i saw this recipe for graham crackers from nic over at bakingsheet. it didn't sound too terribly difficult and to my knowledge she is a mere mortal. so i gave it a whirl and you know what, they turned out great. i mean, they actually tasted like graham crackers. and the ones that i used a cookie cutter on turned out so very cute. little hearts. little gingerbread man shapes. little bunnyrabbits. the ones i free-handed into the more traditional rectangular shapes were a bit less pleasing to the eye. not quite as uniform...some, inadvertently stretched the boundaries of the definition of a rectangle. rectacylindriconal, more like.

traditional graham cracker recipes require the use of graham flour, a somewhat obscure and difficult item to find. graham flour was invented by sylvester graham a minister and advocate of vegetarianism, temperance, regular bathing (!) and the use of whole grain flours. graham flour differs from whole wheat flour in that the whole grain is not ground up all at once but rather separated out into two components. the endosperm, which is the stuff of white flour is finely ground. the bran and the germ together are coarsely ground. then the two flours are mixed back together resulting in a flour that bakes well and retains a coarse and nutty texture. if you can't find graham flour, just use wheat flour as specified in the recipe. you could sprinkle a little wheat germ in there as well.

traditional shape

graham crackers
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 /2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup earth balance margarine
2 Tablespoons agave nectar (or honey or brown rice syrup)
2 Tablespoons molasses
1/4 cup cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla
cinnamon and sugar mixture for sprinkling on top (optional)

place the flours, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt and cinnamon in a food processor and pulse a few times to blend. cut small cubes of the margarine in with the flour mixture and pulse for about another 30 seconds until the mixture looks like a coarse meal. in another bowl combine the wet ingredients and whisk until combined. pour into the flour-margarine mixture and process until the dough starts to clump. this should take less than a minute. you may need to add a bit more water since i reduced the amount of margarine in the original recipe from 1/2 cup to 1/3 cup (i added about 2 T. more water). remove dough from processor and divide into two balls. roll each ball out between two pieces of waxed paper until it is very thin (1/8") and chill until firm. this is make it easier to handle the dough when you cut the shapes and transfer to a baking sheet. i placed mine in the freezer for about 30 minutes. with a sharp knife cut the crackers into 2" squares and place on a parchment lined (or pan sprayed nonstick) baking sheet. you can also cut out cute shapes and re-roll the scrapes to make more fun shapes (re-rolling didn't appear to have any negative effect on the dough). stab the dough with a fork or toothpick to give it that characteristic graham cracker look. sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture if using and bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. cool and store in an airtight container.

haggis

2006-05-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

"i am haggis, hear me roar..."

haggis: "a scottish dish consisting of a mixture of the minced heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep or calf mixed with suet, onions, oatmeal, and seasonings and boiled in the stomach of the slaughtered animal."

now doesn't that sound good? good like a sharp stick in the eye. i suppose the first question that pops to mind is "why?!! why on earth would you want to veganize what sounds like one of the worst dishes in the world?" why indeed? perhaps a deep-rooted perversity stemming from a too early toilet training related trauma?

but i was intrigued. haggis. what a name! what a face! what a shape! it brings to mind that episode of cook's tour when tony goes to scotland and samples the local haggis. veggies, steel cut oats, herbs, really except for the gory garbage bits, it sounded pretty good. and believe it or not, there are lots of vegan recipes for haggis drifting around out there on the internet. i picked out a likely looking suspect from vegweb and, suffering from a.d.d. and unable to follow directions for more than three lines, i changed a few things. i added garlic, cause i like garlic. i omitted vegetarian "suet" (crisco, margarine, whatever) completely, cause i don't like greasy stuff. i threw in a bit more veggies and some burger crumbles, cause i like them too.

and here is the scary part. i really liked it. a lot.

this haggis is basically a nice whole-grain stuffing-like concoction baked in a casserole dish. the lentils cook down to a nice, creamy, earthy base that really work magic with the woodsy flavor of the mushrooms. the steel cut and rolled oats provide a creamy mouthfeel. the pearl barley perks things up with a slightly chewy and popping textural counterpoint. the burger crumbles (gimme lean sausage was my "crumble" of choice) adds a bit of authenticity. the minced vegetables flavor and color the grains beautifully. the vegemite imparts a really deep down rich and "beefy" note, and the herbs round out the flavor. finally, the lemon, which i added after the cooking (contrary to instructions), really brightened up the dish in a subtle yet crucial way. i imagine the addition of fresh minced parsely after cooking could also bring in a fresh note and some extra prettiness to this homey and homely dish.

the meat eater, after i begged, cajoled, prodded and threatened him with no cookies for a week, finally tasted a tiny bite. "it's surprisingly good", he said. then quickly backtracked once he saw the manical haggis-every-night-for-a-month gleam in my eye, "i mean, it's no treat or anything..." myself, i must disagree. this is a very hearty, tasty and satisfying dish in a rustic, rib-sticking, brutish, peasantish way. i thought it was a treat indeed.

for more information about the infamously mocked and maligned haggis, check out wikipedia. the entry is rife with interesting facts about haggis' history in addition to haggis-related sporting events such as haggis hurling. and don't forget to mark your calendars for burns night (january 25th), an evening to honor scotland's native son and poet, robert burns with a burns supper. from what i gather this is basically an excuse for a bunch of drunken, burns-reciting ne'er do wells, to gather 'round a haggis, make merry and have a "wee-bit-o-dram", as my friend's seventy-something year old scottish aunt used to whisper to us as she pulled out the well-worn flask from the pocket of her tattered housecoat, "ta keep ya' warm".

haggis
1/4 cup red lentils
1/4 cup barley
1/4 cup green or brown lentils
3/4 steelcut oats (eg irish oats or pinhead oats)
1/4 cup oatmeal (not instant)
2 teaspoons marmite or vegemite*
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon each (or more to taste): thyme, rosemary, onion powder and sage
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup fresh minced parsley
1-2 carrots, minced
2 cloves garlic
1 onion, minced
2 cups mushrooms, minced
1/4 (or more!) cup scotch whiskey
1 cup veggie burger crumbles of your choice** (i used gimme lean sausage)
2 cups vegetable stock or water
1/2 lemon, juiced

place lentils, barley and steel cut oats in a saucepan and cover with water by about 1/2 inch. simmer for about 20 minutes, covered, adding more water as necessary to prevent scorching. set aside. mince carrots, onion, mushrooms, parsely and garlic, or coarsely chop and whiz a few times in a food processor. throw the cooked grains, minced vegetables, and everything else into a large bowl and mix thorougly. place in a covered casserole dish and bake for 40-60 minutes at 350. check every 20 minutes or so to add more water if necessary.

* vegemite and marmite are both (contrary to urban legend) totally vegan. it has a very strong and salty flavor and i use it often in soups and stews where i want a beefy flavor. a little goes a long way so add it bit by bit. if you cannot find these products locally you may want to use a stronger, darker vegetable broth (i like better than bouillon) and/or some vegetarian worscestire sauce.

**you can omit or replace with equivalent amount of chopped walnuts

ganmodoki

2006-05-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

ganmodoki are little fritters of mashed tofu mixed with bits of vegetables, formed into balls or patties and fried until golden. a japanese dish ganmodoki are traditionally used in oden and soups. on a non-traditional note, you could form them into largish patties and use as a burger substitute. or you could eat them as is with your grubby little fingers. on that note, they would serve very well in a lunchbox or as a picnic item since they don't really need to be served hot or refrigerated and are virtually mess-free to eat.

in this version of ganmodoki, the fritters are baked and not fried. while this certainly affects the texture (there is really no substitute for a roiling, boiling, angry, hellish vat of fat) in that the fritters are not quite as fluffy and less uniformly golden, i find the baked version to be just as tasty with a satisfyingly chewy texture. you may change or alter the amounts of the filling to suit your own taste.

ganmodoki
2 -3 cups crumbled firm tofu
1/4 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup minced green onion
1/4 cup baby peas
1/4 cup reconstituted minced shitake mushrooms
2 Tablespoons grated ginger
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (optional)
2 Tablespoons reconstituted hijiki seaweed or a pinch of kelp flakes (optional)

crumble the tofu, sqeezing each handful to remove a bit of water. place in bowl with all ingredients and combine. yes, you can mash the whole mess up with your little simian hands. just don't let the guests see.... taste for seasoning. place about a tablespoon into the palm of your hand and form into a ball, then flatten the ball into a thick disc shape (you may alter the size and shape of the ganmodoki depending on how you will use it). place on a lightly oiled DARK baking sheet (the color of the sheet will aid in getting a nice brown skin) and bake at 500 for about eight minutes each side. alternately you may fry the patties in a little bit of oil until golden and crisp on each side.

wacky cupcakes

2006-04-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

i'm really starting to come around regarding the whole vegan baking issue. after not a small number of disasterous attempts at baking egg and dairy free i pretty much threw in the peta embossed towel. what with a butter and egg loving cookie eater in the house cawing and deriding my poor, flat, chewy baked goods, what else could i do? i hated to throw my little spongy mouse pad like cakes into the garbage can, but i hated to eat them even more.

so while i still bake egg (free range, blah blah blah) and dairy (organic, blah blah blah) filled sweets for my not-always-so-sweet, i find that i'm cooking more vegan cookies and cakes that are passing muster. i don't really know what has changed. maybe i'm selecting my recipes more carefully. maybe i've learned that to overbeat a vegan baked good equals instant failure. maybe i've just learned that baking is a science and that you need to actually read the directions and, here is the really hard part, follow them.

and so on a momentary note of vegan victory, this here is a recipe for wacky cake. aka crazy cake. aka make do cake. aka (my favorite moniker) dump cake. the bones of this recipe has been around since the forties when bakers had to "make do" with what they had on hand during the lean wartime years. the recipe can be made into a sheet cake or a round cake, but i like the little cupcakes best. the directions specified to not use dutch processed cocoa but since that was all i had on hand, and i have a very difficult time following directions, i used it anyway. with no ill-effects. the cakes rose beautifully with a light airy crumb, a high peaked crown and a lovely chocolately flavor.

wacky cupcakes
1 1/4 cup white or wholewheat PASTRY flour
1 cup finely ground sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup +3 Tablespoons water
1 T. instant coffee granules (totally optional)
3 Tablespoons oil
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla

sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl (first five items) then whisk to combine. in another bowl place wet ingredients (water, oil, vinegar and vanilla) and whisk vigorously until well combined. BRIEFLY mix the dry and wet ingredients. DO NOT OVERBEAT or your cupcakes will be tough! they will become mouse pads! place cupcake liner in a 12 muffin tin and lightly spray with oil. fill to about 2/3 full and bake about 25 mintues at 350.

filet-o-tofu sandwich

2006-04-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

mc rae's filet-0-tofu sandwich

iridecent skin'd
swimmer of my happy meal
sleeps in whole wheat bun

i've been toying with the idea of a faux filet-o-fish sandwich for some time now and had pretty much decided to try a beer batter coating and deep frying pressed slices of firm tofu as a filet substitute. then i came across a recipe for tofu fish sticks from the vegan lunch box. it immediately appealed to me because there was no deep frying involved. deep frying really bums me out cause it makes such a mess and because at least one of those little high velocity fire-bombs of boiling oil always manage to hit me right in the center of my rather prominent forehead.

the only major alteration i made from the original recipe was to press the tofu (i only had medium, not firm tofu) and to omit the nuts. oh, and i didn't have any soy milk for dreding the tofu in but since it was already pretty moist i figured the topping would adhere without the additional liquid, which it did. i did not have any kelp powder, which i believe is quite pricey, but did have a big bag of kombu taking up real estate in my cupboards. so i threw it into the dry container of my vitamix (i suppose a food processer or blender would also work) and voila, instant kelp powder! this might be a good substitute for you if you can't find the already powdered stuff or if you want to save some money. you can buy strips of thick, leathery kombu seaweed pretty inexpensively in a chinese market...it'll probably run you a little more for the same thing in a japanese market.

and how did it turn out? well, with a little homemade tartar sauce, some sliced dill pickle, onion, lettuce and a toasted whole wheat bun, it tasted pretty damn good. a nice little crunch on the outside of the tofu from the cornmeal, a little sweet and tart from the tartar sauce, and some heat from the onion. but to be honest, the tofu tasted better on its own. the subtle fishy flavor and contrasting textures of the interior vs the exterior of the tofu got a little lost beneath that big, pillowy wheaty bun. don't get me wrong, it tasted great in the sandwich, but the tofu is good enough to stand on its own little kelp constructed fins. with maybe a little dipping sauce on the side.

tofu filet-o-fish
1 lb. package firm tofu, drained
2/3 cup fine cornmeal
2/3 cup almonds (optional)
2 teaspoon sweet paprika
2 teaspoon kelp granules
2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon dill weed
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2/3 cup plain, unsweetened soymilk
1 lemon for garnishing

place all the dry ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until the nuts are very fine. if not using nuts you may omit this step. set dry ingredients aside. cut tofu into even slices just under ½-inch wide, then into fish stick sized slices. if making sandwiches, cut each block of tofu into four horizontal slices. dip into soymilk (or not), then press into the dry mixture. lightly oil or pan spray a baking sheet with olive oil and lay tofu slices. bake at 400 for about 15 minutes each side.

serve on a toasted whole wheat bun with pickles, onions, lettuce and homemade tartar sauce (vegannaise mixed with chopped dill pickle, onion, lemon and maybe a squirt of ketchup). squeeze alittle lemon juice over the top if you're eating them plain.

banana bread (vegan and oil free)

2006-04-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

in my fruit basket the other morning i spied a little pile of yellow and brown speckled bananas looking for all the world like they needed to be sent off to a leper colony lest they infect their citrus and kiwi neighbors with an overdose of fruit-maturing ethelyne gas.

gingerly i peeled the darkest one open over the sink, fully expecting a geyser of fermented banana liqueur to squirt me in the eye. instead, glowing up at me was a lovely ripe bit of flesh, perhaps just a little past its prime with a few age spots and a certain lack of integrity of form, but seducing me with its heady scent of tropical decay. such a one as this, i thought to myself, should be honored not with the trash heap but with the loaf pan.

tip tap tip tap, my fingers typed away until i stumbled upon this recipe somewhere on the net. it may have originated from bryanna clark grogan but i'm not sure. well, wherever it came from, it was the perfect use for the half tub of tofu i had lurking in the dark, cold recesses of my no-vegetable-crisper, broken-down, second-hand refrigerator. and for those whatever-happened-to-baby-jane bananas that were attracting the fruit flies in a frenzied orgiastic orbit.

this is a nice, light banana bread. due to the fact that there is no added fat (aside from that in the tofu and walnuts) the resulting loaf is not that dense, greasy monstrosity you find in coffee shops all across the country. instead the texture is a bit spongy and moist with a light banana flavor and a whisper of nutmeg. made with wholewheat pastry flour and tofu, it's a snack bread you can feel good about snacking on. unless you snack on half the loaf in one afternoon, in which case i guess it no longer qualifies as a snack.

oh, and the vegan-dessert-hating half of this household gave this banana bread two thumbs up with the caveat, "just don't tell anyone there's tofu in it". now that's saying something...

banana bread
8 oz (1 cup) soft tofu, not silken
1/4 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
2 ripe bananas
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 orange, zest only
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

in a blender whir all the wet ingredients together (tofu, water, sugar, bananas, vanilla and orange zest) until very smooth and creamy. in another bowl sift all the dry ingredients together. using a wide rubber spatula fold the wet and dry ingredients together handling the batter as little as possible. pour into one greased and floured loaf pan (about a 9 x 5) and bake for about 40 minutes or until done at 350.

ginger cookies (vegan)

2006-04-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

here is yet another recipe from vegan with a vengance (i promise i'll move on soon!). these are the ultimate ginger cookies with a nice spicy bite from the ginger and a rich molasses body. that they happen to be vegan is just a bonus.

these cookies can be either crispy and wafer-like or crispy on the edges and chewy in the center, depending on how thick or thin you flatten the dough out when forming the cookie. myself, i like a very thin and crispy biscuit (like a gingersnap) so i make them a little smaller and quite flat. they're very good either way. pressing the coarse sugar on the top gives them a pretty, sparkly surface which is not pictured above since i only had the regular stuff and past experience using regular grained sugar for that sparkled look resulted in a sloppy, mottled appearance.

sparkled ginger cookies
4 Tablespoons coarse sugar (turbinado or demerrera or "sanding" sugar)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 Tablespoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup soy milk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

sift dry ingredient (except sugar) into a bowl and set aside. in a large bowl combine wet ingredients, including sugar and whisk or beat on medium until blended. stir in the pre-sifted dry ingredients and mix until well combined. the dough will be quite sticky and you may need to dampen your hands to work with it. roll the dough into little balls (about 1 Tablespoon) and flatten out to your liking... the thinner the cookie the crisper it will be - a slightly thicker cookie will yield a crunch on the edges and a slightly chewy interior. press the coarse sugar onto the tops of the cookies and bake about 10 minutes at 350 on a greased cookie sheet.

heart of darkness: black cocoa "fauxstess" cupcakes

2006-04-13T08:10:00.000-07:00

eat me

why are the snack foods marketed towards kids made of the most artificial, bad-for-you, just-plain-junk ingredients? and why do kids go nuts over the stuff? oh, i know why, it's because these little nuggets of garbage taste good. i can still clearly remember the wave of joy that washed over me each time i found in my lunch bag one of those little packets of impossibly orange colored "cheese" that came with a few crackers and a little red plastic stick for spreading. it never occured to me to wonder why this cheese never needed to be refrigerated, or why it left that kinda waxy coating on my tongue. i just knew i loved that plastic box with the little compartments and the vivid red and orange nestled therein. and how about those little white milk-flavored sugar sticks that came with two different colors of sugar. you'd lick the stick, dip in sugar, suck off sugar and dip again. sugar on sugar action. hardcore.

cheese thingies and lick'em sticks aside, my all-time favorite snack was the veritable hostess cupcake. or the ho-ho. or the twinkie. or the suzy-q. really they were just different sheeps' clothing hiding the same wolf. now, as an "adult" (how did that happen? i don't feel like a grownup!), i have the contradictory emotions of longing and disgust when confronted with my former love, the hostess cupcake. sounds like a bad relationship, yes?

well, it doesn't have to be that bad. not if you whip up a batch of fauxstess cupcakes from the Vegan with a Vengance cookbook. if you're not familiar with this little gem and you are a vegan you should check it out...the recipes are approachable (this by far the most complicated one in the book) and for the most part they consistently deliver on flavor and ease of preparation. i've had good results from most of the recipes, especially the pumpkin muffins and lemon cornmeal waffles.

but back to these "fauxstess cupcakes". i'd been eyeing this recipe for several months but kept putting off taking the plunge because they seemed so horrendously complicated. i mean four different things to make for one little cupcake?!! and then there was that damn black cocoa. what the heck is black cocoa anyway?

having been through the fire of these doubts myself, let me just say, "do not fear the fauxstess". although these guys are undeniably a multi-step project, they are not difficult to make. the cupcake itself is very straightforward. the ganache is just a matter of throwing some stuff together in a bowl and nuking it. the royal icing is basically powdered sugar and water. and the filling, well, you do have to beat the filling for what seems like an eternity. the assembly of the components is just plain fun and could be a good project with the kiddies. or the roommates. or your imaginary friends. all one of them.

the part that gave me the most difficulty was the black cocoa. black cocoa is like it's dutch processed sibling but extra "dutched", meaning it is made significantly more alkaline. this results in a cocoa that has a very dark, almost black color with a mellower, deeper flavor. regular cocoa is sharper in taste, lighter in color and more acidic. some say this extra dutching makes it taste "chalky", which i can see, but it is not an unpleasant taste and it is very slight. it's the same sensation in the chocolate part of an oreo cookie. the hard part was finding the stuff. after fruitless expeditions to five different markets i ended up purchasing some on the internet. you can make these cupcakes without the black cocoa but they will not have that dark brown color and characteristic taste.

if you're not completely scared off yet, carry on brave soliders, and give these a whirl. i promise you, i really promise you, that you'll like them. and if you don't want to deal with all that frosting and margarine and shortening nonsense, just make the cupcakes. they have a gorgeous crown and a light, airy texture. they are good enough to eat all by their lonesome. or maybe you could poke your finger in the center to make a little well, fill it up with rasperry jam, then sprinkle powdered sugar on the top. or not.

naked an unafraid, little cupcake stands in all it's natural glory

the cupcake
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons black cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain rice or soymilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

preheat the oven to 350 and line a 12-muffin tin with paper cupcake liners. spray with the liners with canola spray to prevent sticking. sift together the flour, cocoa powders, baking powder, baking soda and salt. in another bowl combine the rice milk, oil, maple syrup, sugar, vinegar and vanilla. beat at medium speed for about two minues. add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat for about another minute to combine. fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full and bake for about 25-30 minutes. remove from oven and allow to fully cool.

the filling
2 Tablespoons non-hydrogenated margarine
1/4 cup non-hydrogenated shortening
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons superfine (caster) sugar
2 Tablespoons plain, full-fat soymilk powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

in a small bowl beat together the room temperature margarine and shortening until well combined. add the sugar and soymilk powder and beat at high speed for a long time. ten minutes or until the icing is very fluffy. add vanilla extract and a tiny pinch of salt and mix for another minute. set aside.

the ganache
1/3 cup soy or rice milk
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 T. maple syrup

in a small saucepan bring the soymilk to a boil then lower heat to a simmer. add the chocoate and maple syrup and mix. remove from flame and allow residual heat to fully melt the chocolate. stir to combine. or you can place all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and melt on high for a minute or two, checking and stirring the mixture every twenty seconds until done.

the squiggles
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 Tablespoon soymilk powder
1 Tablespoon water

sift the sugar into a bowl and add soymilk powder. add 1 teaspoon of water, then the rest bit by bit until you get a thick consistency, slightly more solid than toothpaste. this stuff has to hold its shape so it should not be drippy in the slightest.

putting it all together
1. poke a hole in the center of each cupcake with your finger, making a little well where the filling will go. place the filling in either a pastry bag, or improvise one by using a ziplock bag with a tiny bit of one edge snipped off. fill the hole until the frosting is level with the top of the cupcake.
2. spread the chocolate ganache over the top of the cupcake, covering the frosting filled hole either by using a cake decorating spatula or dipping the tops of the cupcakes into the bowl of melted ganache. place cupcakes in the fridge for about ten minutes to set.
3. again either using a pastry bag with a little attachment or another ziplock bag with an even tinier bit of the edge snipped off, make the squiggles on the top of the now firm ganache. place in refrigerater again for a few minutes to fully set.

sauteed romaine lettuce with garlic and hot pepper flakes

2006-04-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

cooked lettuce, who would've thunk? it is absolutely delicious. i got the idea from a local burmese restaurant. the sauteed lettuce has a delicate sweetness and a pleasing combination of softness in the leaves and a bit of crunch in the heartier stems.

and it couldn't be easier to prepare. simply slice a head of romaine into about one inch rounds, heat some oil (or not) in a pan, and fry away. add pressed garlic, red pepper flakes and salt to taste. the whole thing takes maybe seven minutes, start to finish. one head of lettuce reduces down to about two cooked servings. or if you're a greens and garlic hog, like myself, one serving.

so if you have some hearty romaine lettuce lurking in the fridge that you need to do something with, give it a whirl. i promise, you'll like it.

weekend cat blogging #44

2006-04-08T21:38:00.000-07:00

red boy says, "haliotosis? who, me?!!"

mixed greens with cumin and paprika

2006-04-03T21:33:00.000-07:00

"yes, i know i'm not so very pretty but you might be able to dress me up a little with a few bits of vibrant diced red pepper or a big pink polka dot bow perched cockily on my, um, well since i have no head, you might place it to the side of the bowl"

i eat a lot of greens, probably several heads each week. usually cooked up in the most boring manner: sauteed with garlic and red pepper. or stewed, until falling apart tender with tomatoes and a few shakes of creole seasoning. i was getting bored with my limited repretoire and while making further explorations of deborah madison's "vegetarian cooking for everyone", yielded yet another interesting but simple recipe: mixed greens seasoned with cumin and paprika.

this is an interesting dish. i would have never thought of pairing cumin and paprika with greens but it works. the spices are robust enough to stand up to the flavorful greens and the cilantro and parsley layers more green flavor into the dish. sometimes i find the flavor of just kale or chard to have the subtlety of, um, a pile-driver. the additional greens somehow diffuses it's assertiveness. i really like this dish but my man is lukewarm toward it. maybe if i sprinkled some bacon on it it might bring him 'round...

mixed greens with cumin and paprika
12 cups mixed greens
4 large garlic cloves
1 cup chopped parsley
1 cup chopped cilantro
1-3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin

if using tougher greens, remove stems from leafy part and layer in a steamer basket, stems first. steam until tender. cut into 1 inch x 1 inch pieces. if using a softer green, such as chard, you can omit the steaming part and cut. put garlic through a garlic press or pound with salt in a mortar and pestle. heat oil in a large skillet and cook paprika and cumin over medium until just fragrant...be careful not to burn the spices or they will become bitter. stir in garlic, green, chopped cilantro and chopped parsley and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. season with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil to serve. if you prefer not to use oil, you can "steam fry" the greens by placing a drizzle of water in the pan before adding greens, spices and parsley/cilantro. being a super-stanky garlic freak i always reserve just a pinch of raw garlic and stir it in after the dish is finished cooking.

nut cookies (vegan and non-vegan)

2006-03-20T08:45:00.000-08:00

walnut-chocolate nut cookie
let me just get it out once and for all: i am not the cookie eater in this den of cookie jars. which is one reason why my cookies are generally not vegan (obvious disclaimer). although i certainly can and do appreciate a good cookie, they are not my snack food of choice. i have salt-tooth, not a sweet-tooth. i'll take a pretzel or a chip or a briney olive over a cookie any day.

but my man likes cookies. not vegan cookies but "real" cookies. the whole he-man nine yard thing, full of eggs and butter (but not too much butter please) and sugar and nuts and chocolate and the like. so once every couple of weeks i make a batch of cookies for the cookie jar. and since i've been on a deborah madison kick lately i thought i'd try out one of her simple cookie recipes (i was much more intrigued by the cardamom cookies but had no powdered sugar on hand). the following recipe is what i settled on since i had all the ingredients, and i'm glad i did. they've become the most requested cookie of late.

walnut-only nut cookie
the resulting cookies are not too sweet with a nice crispy texture. they are rich but not greasy. i split the batch into two and made one with just walnuts and the other with walnuts and chocolate chips. i preferred the simpler flavor and texture of the nut-only version but both are quite delicate and delicious. they would go well with a cup of hot earl-grey tea on a rainy afternoon.

since i liked these cookies and they don't require any loft, i decided to try to veganize them by substituting margarine and non-hydrogenated shortening for the butter and 1 mashed banana for the egg. the vegan version suffered a bit in texture (not quite as delicate) but had a great flavor and an acceptable texture. i'm going to continue working on this recipe as i think it has a lot of unfulfilled potential. the he-man of the house gave them a double thumbs down, but then again, he would....

nut cookies
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 Tablespoon nut oil (optional - if using oil, reduce butter by 1 Tablespoon)
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup finely chopped nuts (walnuts, macadamias, hazelnuts, pecans, your choice)
1/2 ounces finely chopped bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips (optional-i just use chocolate chips)

cream butter, oil and sugar until light. add egg. add vanilla and salt. add flour, then nuts and chocolate (if using). drop dough by teaspoons onto a cookie sheet (the dough will be quite sticky) and flatten out really thin with the palm of your hand. you may need to slightly dampen your hand to prevent sticking. or you can roll the dough into a compact log shape, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for several hours (or days), removing from the freezer and slicing when ready to bake. i don't recommend doing this for the chocolate chip version as the chocolate chunks make it difficult to slice the dough without cracking it. bake in a preheated oven at 375 for 8-10 minutes. allow to cool on rack.

vegan banana nut cookies
1/4 cup earth balance margarine
1/4 cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening (may omit and use all margarine)
1 Tablespoon nut oil (optional - if using oil, reduce margarine or shortening by 1 Tablespoon)
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 banana, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups flour + 2 Tablespoons
1 cup finely chopped nuts (walnuts or macadamias)

cream margarine, shortening, oil and sugar until light. add mashed banana. add vanilla and salt. add flour, then nuts. drop dough by teaspoons onto a cookie sheet (the dough will be quite sticky) and flatten out with the palm of your hand. you may need to slightly dampen your hand to prevent sticking. or you can roll the dough into a compact log shape and freeze for several hours (or days), removing from the freezer and slicing when ready to bake. bake in a preheated oven at 375 for 8-10 minutes. allow to cool on rack. these might be quite good with a little grated, unsweetened coconut in the batter...

wild mushroom noodles

2006-03-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

i love mushrooms. they are so earthy, hearty, dank and soul-satisfying. they lend backbone to otherwise thin vegetarian dishes...the t-bone of the vegetable world. i also love soba noodles with their hummus-y, kinda damp-doggy flavor. together they form a celestial union.

this recipe is from nina simonds book, asian noodles, a beautifully photographed easy to read collection of, yep you guessed it, asian-inspired noodle dishes, both vegetarian and non vegetarian. my guy doesn't like soba noodles, he says they smell like dirty gym shorts, so i prepared his portion using curly noodles. much to my surprise and a little to my annoyance, there was much poaching of the "gym shorts" scented noodles off of my plate. i think i might have growled once or twice. it was that good.

Wild Mushroom Noodles
1 T. oil
12 cloves garlic, smashed with flat end of knife and thinly sliced
8 oz. dried chinese black mushrooms
1/2 lb. fresh shitake
1/2 lb. fresh cremini
3 1/2 + T. sake
1 1/2 cups scallions
1/4 lb. dried soba noodles
3 1/2 T. soy sauce
1/4 c. cilantro

Heat oil and saute sliced garlic for about 15 seconds. Add all the mushrooms and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add sake and cook, covered for about 4 minutes until the mushrooms get really juicy. Remove the lid and simmer until liquid reduces by about 1/4 - 1/2. Add scallions and cilantro, remove from heat and toss with noodles. my modifications included: more sake, more cilantro, more mushrooms and thickened at the end with just a tad of cornstarch dissolved in water.

garlic roasted brussels sprouts

2006-03-08T11:17:00.000-08:00

brussels sprouts. having been a freak from a very early age, it comes as no surprise that i've always loved these diminutive little cabbages, ever since i was just a sprout myself. of course it may have had something to do with the fact that, in my home, they were cooked with a leg of rabbit *shudder* which both terrified and delighted me even then. although so tender and tasty and moist, there was something about the flesh of a rabbit and its thin, narrow bones that reminded me of.....no, not chicken. cat. felines maximus. specifically i imagined it tasted much like our cranky old calico cat would. junior was her name, and she would nest in my long tangled hair every night. and i didn't want to eat her because i loved her. maybe this was the seed of my vegetarianism...

as i got older and more prone to the meatless way, the rabbit part of the brussels-sprouts-equals good-food equation faded away and i was left with just my green, curley-headed little buddies. usually i ate them steamed with maybe a drizzle of soy sauce and garlic. it was only recently that i discovered the miracle of roasting. having been so happy with my formerly minimalist approach to sprouts it never occurred to me to do anything other than steam them. recently however, i've come across roasted brussels sprouts in "traditional american comfort food" type restaurants and cookbooks everywhere. and i'm a convert. the following recipe has been adapted from the vegan with a vengance cookbook. i'm posting the recipe as written here with my modifications in parenthesis. i usually cut back on the oils and fat and i find the result is still very tasty.

roasted brussels sprouts
1 lb. brussels sprouts, washed and halved
1 Tablespoon olive oil (i use pan spray)
3 cloves garlic, chopped (i use more like four or five!)
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt (i add salt to taste)

toss the brussels sprouts with the olive oil and roast in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. remove from oven and add garlic and salt. roast for another five minutes. i modify by generously spraying the roasting pan with pan spray instead of tossing the sprouts in oil and spraying the top once they are in the pan to prevent burning. i also add only half the garlic at the ten minute interval, adding the rest at the end of the baking time raw. yes, raw. this is only for the die-hard garlic fan.

provencal winter squash gratin

2006-03-06T08:20:00.000-08:00

another incredibly simple yet flavorful dish from deborah madison: provencal squash gratin. it's hard to go wrong with sweet winter squashes, in my opinion, and as long as they're thoroughly cooked i'm happy.

despite the fact that it's called a gratin this dish is not covered with either a mantle cheese or tiara of breadcrumbs. it is, however, cooked long and low, resulting in creamy and sweet cubes of squash that dissolve at the touch of the tongue. small cubes of butternut squash are tossed with five (yes, that FIVE) cloves of minced garlic, parsley and a bit of flour, salt and pepper, plus a bit of olive oil if you like (i skip this and give the topping a generous misting of pan spray), then cooked in a low oven for two hours. this slow cooking really brings out the sweetness of the squash and mutes the garlic a bit (although it is still quite assertive).

a perfect side dish for a rainy winter evening.

provencal winter squash gratin
2 1/2 lbs. butternut squash
5 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 cup parsley, minced
salt and pepper
3 Tablespoons flour
olive oil

peel and cut the squash into cubes 1/2 to 1 inch thick. toss with garlic, parsley salt and pepper. toss again with flour. place in a shallow, oiled baking dish and drizzle with a bit of olive oil or pan spray. bake uncovered at 325 for about two hours (until squash is meltingly tender).

simmered napa cabbage with aburrage

2006-03-04T11:56:00.000-08:00

this is an incredibly simple dish that really delivers on flavor. chicken flavor to be specific. and that's not me, the long time non-flesh eater saying this, it's the chicken-sandwich-having man of the house. i, living in a strange, inverted universe, think it tastes kinda like chicken but not really. i mean, i seem to recall chicken having this gamey flavor which is absent in this silky and delicate dish.

four ingredients: sake, konbu dashi, napa cabbage and aburrage (fried tofu puffs). the lynchpin is the konbu dashi. you can make your own by simmering hulking strips of konbu in water and discarding the seaweed, or you can buy the dashi premade. the premade stuff tastes way better and if you've never tried the stuff, it is worth seeking out at least once. i use it for miso soup, all japanese noodle broths and anywhere a bonito stock is called for. the type i use looks like this and can be found in just about any asian grocery store:

i've never bothered to write down a recipe for this since it's so simple and adaptable. the general guidelines are as follows:

in a large pot place about two inches of water and sprinkle in two packets of premade konbu dashi. horizontally cut a nice big head of napa cabbage into two inch slices. place the thicker stem ends in the bottom of the pot with the thinner, upper leaf portions on top. thinly slice one or two aburrage puffs and sprinkle on top. cover and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. add about 1/4 cup sake, stir and simmer a few minutes longer. the cabbage should be silky soft and just holding together. at this point you may add more water and or sake/soy sauce/ or salt to adjust seasoning. i like to make this really quite brothy since the broth is the best part. serve with a bit of rice floating in the middle.

care package: triple coconut macaroons and cherry pistachio bark

2006-03-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

care package. it just sounds so sweet and homey that even i, cyncial old hen that i am, can think of nary a sarcastic cluck. care pacakge. in my mind's eye i see a pert, flouncy-red-gingham-aproned mannequin-like-woman proundly presenting a steaming casserole at the camera. care package. when i look into the mirror i see a shambling, ragged-sweatpants-clad, coffee-gulping ball of chaos spitting out a stream of profanities while clutching a burnt and blistering finger. note to self: must not look in illusion-shattering mirror while baking.

the only thing better than unexpectedly receiving these little packages of home-baked badness in the mail is, in my opinon, making them. i always imagine the recipient(s) intial look of surprise, followed by a cautious nibble, and if all is successful, ear-burning curses as they lie belly up on the couch like gigantic, half-rotten beached whales.

and so here are the contents of my little obesity-inducing box of love sent to my father and his wife out in the cold, rainy wilds of the pacific northwest. my father and his wife who have just moved in the mother-in-law...an eccentric, cantankerous, entertainingly (from afar) manic 90-something-year-old, card-carrying member of the communist party given to random bouts of public singing (exclusively american folk tunes). one might not be surprised that they are going through a difficult period of, um, adjustment. an adjustment that awaits many of us as our parents age and we choose not to pack them off to the old folks' home despite years of loudly proclaiming that "the home" is just where they're headed, should they be foolish enough to become feeble with old age.

and as an added golden-years-shattering bonus, insert an adult child and his girlfriend living in the house "temporarily" (and no, neither the child nor the girlfriend refer to yours truly). plus, as if that weren't quite enough, these extra bipends bring along with them three large dogs and one cat, bringing the total cat/dog count up to eleven. beastly, no? is it any wonder poor old pops drives thirty minutes out to town, parks in the lot of fred meyer and huddles in the driver seat, just to get a little quiet time? poor fella, what with the flu and and all. and while i'll openly admit that the image does make me giggle just a little, i am not completely without compassion, thus my little package of care came into being. of course pops claims he doesn't eat sweets but i know better. how many empty bowls of ice cream have i found hidden beneath the claw foot tub?

so if you know someone who could use a little pick-me-up, why not surprise them with an unexpected package? or maybe a *gasp* hand written letter on a cute card just to say hello. that is if you haven't forgotten how to write without a keyboard...

the following recipe is from the folks at cook's illustrated. shredded unsweetend and sweetened coconut are called for, as is cream of coconut. the sweetened coconut can be found in any grocery store, the unsweetened stuff maybe at a health food type store, and for the cream of coconut i recommend going to an asian grocery. you can find the stuff sometimes in the liquor store since it is used for pina coladas, but it's bloody expensive there. at the asian grocery it runs for under a buck a can. for extra prettiness i dipped the bottoms and tops in melted semisweet chocolate.

triple coconut macaroons
1 cup cream of coconut
2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
4 large egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
3 cups sweetened shredded coconut

preheat oven to 350. line a cookiesheet with parchment paper and lightly mist with pan spray. whisk the cream of coconut, corn syrup, egg whites, vanilla, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. combine the unsweetened and sweetened coconuts in a large bowl and toss together. pour the liquid ingredients into the coconut and stir until evenly moistened. chill for 15 minutes. drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart. with moistened fingertips, form the cookies into loose haystacks. or you can form them into cool little pyramids, taking care the top isn't too pointy or else it will burn a little and you'll have to cover it with some chocolate! bake until light golden brown, about 15 minutes. remove to a wire rack after cooling for a few minutes on the pan. at this point you may dip the bottoms and tops into melted dark chocolate and place on waxed paper until the chocolate has firmed up.

this stuff is so easy to make, so open to variation and so durn tasty. many thanks to anne of anne's food for posting the recipe, which i've tweaked a bit. if you'd like to see it as originally written, go here. i think the next time i make this i might put a thicker layer of dark chocolate on the bottom and press in the nuts and cherries while still soft, then add the white choclate once that layer is cool. it would give a more uniform, less rustic appearance.

to make this vegan just omit the white chocolate. i also made one version with semisweet chocolate, macadamia nuts and coconut (the stepmother loooves coconut).

cherry pistachio bark
1 cup dark chocolate
1 1/2 cups white chocolate
1/4 cup dried cherries, chopped
1/4 cup roasted unsalted pistachios, chopped

melt the dark chocolate and spread out about 1/8 - 1/4 inch thick in a pan and allow to cool completely. you can pop it into the freezer if you're in a hurry. then, melt the white chocolate and add the cherries and pistachios. spread this mixture out over dark chocolate and let cool. turn out of the pan and either cut or break into pieces.

chickpeas with tomatoes and potatoes

2006-02-27T07:10:00.000-08:00

dead simple. dead delicious. this recipe from deborah madison opened my eyes to the wonders of corriander. so much so that i frequently double or triple the amount. i am given to bouts of enthusiastic excess.

this recipe is best if you cook the chickpeas yourself in a little salted water, the broth of which is recycled back into the dish. i usually also omit the oil as the dish is plenty succulent without it.

serve over couscous, either the little grain type or the larger pellet sized israeli type.

chickpeas with potatoes and tomatoes
1/3 cup olive oil
1 large onion
3 waxy potatoes, diced into chickpea-sized cubes
2 carrots, cut into 1/2" rounds
1 small dried red chili (i've used a bit of chipotle chili with good results)
2 large cloves garlic (4 if you're a garlic freak), mashed with 1 teaspoon ground corriander
1 cup peeled and diced tomatoes (canned please if it's not tomato season!)
3 cups chickpeas or 2 15 oz. cans, rinsed
1/2 cup water or chickpea cooking broth
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup chopped parsley

heat oil and cook onion until lightly colored, five to eight minutes. you can omit the oil in this recipe altogether and steam fry the onions in a little water, adding more as needed to prevent burning. add garlic and cook a few minutes more. add tomatoes and cooked chickpeas. season with 1 teaspoon salt and freshly ground pepper. add water or chickpea cooking broth. cover and simmer gently until potatoes are cooked through. season and stir in parsley and cilantro.

homemade amazake

2006-02-21T11:25:00.000-08:00

traditional japanese hot amazake drink with a pinch of fresh grated ginger

amazake is sneaking it's way into the american culinary consciousness. you may have seen little bottles of the stuff lurking in the refrigerated section of your local health food store, all cozied up next to the spirulina and camel dung health drinks. you know what i'm talking about, those little shakes that use amazake as a base along with nuts, fruits and various flavorings. they're thick, creamy, sweet and, of course, expensive.

for the uninitiated, amazake is nothing more than cooked grain (white or brown rice being the most common but other grains can also be used) innoculated with aspergillus oryzae in the form of koji and allowed to ferment for anywhere from 12-24 hours. the aspergillus breaks down the grain's carbohydrates into simple, unrefined sugars. the end result is a thick, sweet porridge with a very distinctive flavor. if it tastes a bit like sake to you, you are not mistaken. this is the first step in making sake (and miso and shoyu and shochu too). ama means sweet, and zake (the z is just a spelling change) stands for sake, for which we need no translation. despite this slight taste resemblance to sake, amazake is not alcoholic.

coco amazake
during the winter months in japan amazake is drunk steaming hot, diluted with water and seasoned with fresh grated ginger. i like my amazake served in this manner, but you could add other seasonings like cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and have a sort of non-egg nog grog. or you could mix with cocoa powder and have a naturally sweetened hot chocolate drink. on the cooler end of the spectrum, you could use it to as a sweetening agent for shakes and smoothies. it is said that amazake has certain leavening powers and can be used in baking.

so, if you're into fermenting and culturing, like i am, or if you like to drink amazake but don't like to pay the big price tag, homemade might be the way to go. the process is really quite simple. first you will need the following items:

koji

koji
rice or other grain
thermometer
incubator
vessel

koji can be found in most japanese markets or online. it is nothing more than rice grains that have already been innoculated with the aspergillus. i buy it pre-prepared in the tubs pictured above. if, however, if you would like to try to make koji at home (which requires rice, the aspergillus spores plus another long fermentation), you can order the spores from gem cultures. i buy my koji premade since it saves so much time.

in the incubator
next comes the most difficult part of the process...jerry-rigging an incubator to suit you needs. for my homemade tempeh i just use my gas oven. the pilot light keeps the tempeh at about the right temperature. amazake however should be incubated at a slightly higher temperature (130 - 140f; 55-60c).

two incubator set-ups have worked for me: 1. the oven method: in my gas oven i place a cheap-y desk lamp with a 60 watt bulb, plug it in and close the door. in my oven this keeps the temperature at around 130 degrees and the amazake is done in approximately 12 hours; 2. the heating pad method: this is how my mom does it, and it takes a little longer but is less hassle. just wrap your rice and koji filled vessel in a towel and wrap inside an electric blanket or heating pad. the temperature setting to keep your blanket on will vary. on high, my little heating pad runs at about 120 degrees and the amazake is done in 22 hours.

now that we have the basics in order, let's get fermentin!

1 cup white rice, brown rice or other grain (millet, etc.), washed and drained
2 3/4 cups water
2 cups koji

1. cook rinsed rice in water at a low simmer for 30 minutes for white rice, 50 minutes for brown rice, or use a rice cooker if you have one. due to the water:grain ratio, the rice should be slightly porridge-like.

2. cool to about 140 degress farenhite (60 degrees celcius) and add koji. i use a thermometer to test the temperature but you can test with your finger - it should be just cool enough that your digit can tolerate the heat and not immediately blister but not so cool that it can linger. maybe like a really hot bath. thoroughly combine the rice and koji and place in a crock, glass jar or pyrex baking dish and cover.

3. incubate at 130 - 140 f (55 - 60 c) for 10-14 hours. if you can't get the incubator hot enough, process for an additional 5 - 10 hours until the rice is very sweet and the grains are very soft.

before incubating and after 22 hours at about 120 farenhite

4. when the rice is meltingly soft and very sweet, place in a covered saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes to stop the fermentation. be very careful not to burn it like i did my first time. after cooking, you may place amazake in a blender and puree until all rice grains are incorporated and the amazake resembles a thick pudding, or leave it as is. this is your base and you can use it thinned out to make the traditional japanese drink, dilute with water, nuts and seasonings to make a shake, or use it in baking as a honey substitute.

pureed amazake, undiluted

for more information on amazke, you can follow these links:
cybermacro has a nice little write up of the amazake making process and also sells koji online
gem cultures the great-grandaddy of all things fermentable, you can buy just about any kind of starter here, from keffir to tempeh to aspergillus to timbuktu.
dom's culture pages. he's a fermenting fool and has some nice write ups about a variety of fermentables.

bagel dogs

2006-02-16T08:52:00.000-08:00

the other day my man and i were walking down the street when we spied, plastered on a bus kiosk, a poster of this gigantic, cylindrical, flesh-colored thing encased in a tan-ish dough-y blanket and dotted with little black and tan specks.

"yum," we whimpered and leered simultaneously, "bagel dog".

so we turned right around and went home. and i made some. using my trusty old bagel recipe. my dogs were fake. his dogs were real. both dogs were good. that's the power of advertising for you.

bagel dough
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 Tablespoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoon yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour

place yeast in warm sugar water and let froth. add flour and salt and knead until smooth and shiny. depending on your type of flour and altitude, you may have to add a little more or less water (i added a little more). let the dough rest at least 20 minutes...poor old dough, after all that stretching and beating it needs to relax a little! then, lightly flour a surface and, depending on the size of your dogs, divide the dough into either four or eight segments. eight for those skinny little faux dogs, four for those elephantine neiman ranch fearless franks. with your hands, roll each segment into a rope shape that is about twice as long as your dog. place the snake on your floured surface and, using a rolling pin, roll width-wise so you get a flat, rectangular shape. place the dog at one end of the rolled dough at a 45 degree angle and coil up to the top of the dog, making sure the dough overlaps a bit to completely cover the dog. repeat with remaining dogs. place on a well greased (or floured) cookie sheet and let rest another 20 minutes. at this point you should bring to boil at least 4 inches of water in a large pot with 1-2 T. sugar. after 20 minutes place the bagel dogs in rapidly boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side. the heat of the water is very important since this is what will make the dough puff up and get chewy. place a lid on the pot once the bagels are in the water to maintain a high temperature. drain and place on well greased, light colored cookie sheet and sprinkle with the toppings of your choice (i like salt, dried garlic bits, sesame seeds and fresh black pepper) or leave them plain. bake at 450 for about 15-20 minutes. serve with ketchup and homemade mustard.

homemade lara type bars

2006-02-13T08:39:00.000-08:00

these things seem to be all the rage right now - they're the latest "nutrition" or "sports" bar but with an un-processed, all-natural, all-raw, "healthy" twist. after checking out the ingredients online it seemed to me that they were nothing more than a new take on that old seventies classic, the dreaded date roll.

out of curiosity i picked one up at trader joes the other day for a buck something and gave it a nibble. i was expecting something overly sweet yet bland. i was disappointed. it was good. too good really. if you read the nutrition information, one bar has about 220 calories, which is a lot of calories and more like a light meal than a snack. but they are handy for when you do need something to eat and there's nothing to be had and you're starting to get that headache that signals the imminent onset of extreme, pms-mimicing grouchiness. i'm keeping one in my car. next time i travel i'll pack a few along. if you're a bike rider or long-distance runner or something like that, they could come in handy. these also could be a good all-natural snack for kids. the recipe that follows is my approximation of the base. add whatever suits your fancy. the quantities are for one bar only, so be sure to multiply to get your desired amount.

homemade lara-type bars
makes 1 bar
1 Tablespoon dates, pureed
3 Tablespoons dry ingredients (nuts, dried fruits, coconut, oats, etc.)

pit dates and whir in a food processor or mash by hand until they're one sticky mass. this will be the base, the "glue" that will hold it all together. to this base, add about 3 Tablespoons of finely diced dried ingredients - the nuts of your choice (almonds, cashews, pecans, hazlenut, etc.), dried fruit, oats, spices, etc. with your hands mix it all together and form into a tight ball. roll this ball into a rope and then pat it flat into a rectangle. tightly wrap in plastic wrap (the wrapping will help the bar hold it's shape as you further mold it) and apply pressure to the top using a flat surface - a cutting board works well. to shape the sides you can take two knives and apply pressure to opposite ends of the bars. refrigerate wrapped. for larger batches shape into a larger square, chill and cut into desired bar shapes with a very sharp knife.

some tasty combinations:
cashew: 1 Tablespoon dates + 3 Tablespoons cashews
almond coconut: 1 Tablespoon dates +2 Tablespoons almonds + 1 Tablespoon unsweetened coconut
almond spice: 1 Tablespoon dates + 3 Tablespoons almonds + 1/4 teaspoon each: cinnamon & nutmeg + 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger.
cranberry coconut: 2 Tablespoons minced dried cranberries, 1 Tablespoon unsweetened coconut

weekend cat blogging #36: cat attack

2006-02-10T15:03:00.000-08:00

he may be an old boy but he still has some chops left in him...

and on a cat-related note, here is a video of some of those crazy things our not always dignified furry friends get up to.

hijiki with carrots

2006-02-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

recently i've been cooking a lot from deborah madison's vegetarian cooking for everyone . i've had this book tucked away on a grimy kitchen shelf ever since it first came out, years ago, at which time i gave it a rather perfunctory once over. the recipes seemed too simple, maybe even bland. i hate bland. so there it sat, unopened, unloved and forgotten until my mountain-man, brush-burning, shorts-wearing-all-year-round, house-building, firewood-chopping dad, whose culinary expertise (when i was a kid) ranged from plain, oven-baked chicken wings served with a side of unpeeled carrot sticks to something called "hungarian goulash", which was neither hungarian nor goulash, but a rather white-trash concoction of macaroni, hamburger and tomato sauce. what was i saying? oh yeah, this cookbook was largely ignored until my dads mentioned a recipe from this tome that he particularly likes. now, if there is one thing dads doesn't like, it's bland. he needs to be internally warmed by spice and garlic induced fires in order to wear those shorts in the dead of winter, i guess. i was skeptical but i glanced at the recipe (called chickpeas with tomatoes and potatoes, how unsexy is that?) and since i had all the ingredients on hand i decided to give it a try. the end result was utterly simple, clean tasting and delicious. it introduced me to one of my new favorite spices, corriander. i should mention that i, of course, increased the garlic and corriander.

since then i've made several recipes from the book and although some dishes have turned out a bit bland for me, the majority have been hits. it's really made me reconsider my "everything but the kitchen sink" approach to cooking.

following is deborah madison's recipe for hijiki seaweed with carrots and ginger. normally when i make this hijiki dish, i make it as my japanese moms taught me, using sugar and mirin, sliced shitake and aburrage (fried tofu puffs)...see what i mean by the kitchen sink? this preparation is simpler, not at all sweet (which is a nice change), and gets a real vibrancy from the sheer quantity of fresh ginger. it goes very well with brown rice cooked with shitake mushrooms and seaweed stock.

hijiki with carrots
2 cups dried hijiki
1-2 Tablespoons dark sesame oil
2 Tablespoons slivered ginger
3 carrots, julienned
soy sauce to taste
salt to taste
sesame seeds to garnish

in a bowl cover the dried hijiki with water and soak for about 15 minutes. drain and place in a saucepan, adding enough water to just cover and 2 Tablespoons soy sauce. simmer for 15 minutes or until soft and drain. heat a large skillet heat the sesame seed oil* and stir fry carrots and ginger for about 2 minutes. add seaweed and cook for an additional five minutes. add 1 Tablespoon soy sauce and remove from heat. adjust salt and soysauce to taste. sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.
*if you're trying to watch your fat intake, you can also "steam fry" dishes using a splash of water instead of oil, adding just enough from time to time to prevent burning. after removing from heat you can add a few drops of sesame seed oil for flavor.

homemade bagels

2006-02-01T07:21:00.000-08:00

i'd never really cared much for bagels. they'd always seemed, oh, uninspired. bready. airy. dull. like lunkering tires of dense wonderbread. oh, i would eat them without complaint once they were toasted crisp like an ibiza-vacationing-technoraving- christina aguillera-wannabe-lookalike-euro-tramp, and slathered with a hearty coating of hummus, tomato and dill pickle(!), but i'd never sought them out.

then one day on a whim i made a batch at home. i was afraid at first. the thought of putting dough into boiling water seemed like a recipe for disaster but, much to my amazement, the little tires puffed up and an exploratory post-boiling, pre-baking cut into one showed that the interior had already mostly cooked. the end product wasn't like any bagel i'd had before. they were dense. they were chewy. they were interesting. i didn't even have to toast them and slather them with toppings!

i'm not from the east coast nor have i spent any significant amount of time there, but i'm told that these are what real ny bagels are like. they're not particularly difficult to make and shaping them is a breeze if you ignore all the bad advice about making a coil and attaching the ends to each other to form a donut (i guarantee it will come apart in the boiling process)...just stick your finger in the middle and dig around until you have a hole to your liking.

Bagels
1 cup warm water
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 ½ teaspoon yeast
1 ½ teaspoon salt
3 cups flour

place yeast in warm and sugar and allow to froth. add flour and salt and knead until smooth and shiny. depending on your type of flour and altitude, you may have to add a little more or less water. let rest at least 20 minutes so the dough can relax. separate into eight equal sized balls and make into bagel shape by punching a hole in the center of each roll with a finger or chopstick and stretching the hole out (with your finger) until it is at least 1 inch in diameter (the hole will get smaller once the bagels puff up). place on a well greased (or floured) cookie sheet and let rest another 20 minutes. at this point you should bring to boil at least 4 inches of water in a large pot with 2 T. sugar. after the 20 minute rest, place the bagels in rapidly boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute on each side. the heat of the water is very important since this is what will make the dough puff up and get chewy. place a lid on the pot once the bagels are in to maintain a high temperature. drain and place on well greased, light colored cookie sheet and sprinkle with the toppings of your choice (i like salt, dried garlic bits, sesame seeds and fresh black pepper) or leave them plain. bake at 450 for about 15-20 minutes, turning over once. for wheat bagels, omit 1 T. sugar and replace with 2-3 T honey. replace all white flour with wheat flour.

vegan lemon-cornmeal waffles

2006-01-27T08:47:00.000-08:00

just in time for the weekend and uh, sugar not high friday i guess. i wasn't planning on tagging this as part of the sugar high event since it does have sugar in it, but all my valient attemps at sugar-free yumminess were utter failures. the sole exception being a coffee cake made with maple syrup that was almost good enough. i think it'll be worth tweaking and posting at a later date. what else? hmmm, i made a batch of homemade amazake, but wasn't sure it'd be appropriate since it's not really a dessert. so i raise the red flag and submit this recipe for everybody's favorite breakfast treat, waffles...

these lemon cornmeal waffles, from the vegan with a vengeance cookbook are good. no, they are more than good, they are fantastic. why? well, i'll tell ya why...because they are light and crispy with a huge lemon punch and a satisfying cornmeal crunch. sounds like a jingle the waffle-y breakfast treat with a huge lemon punch and a satisfying cornmeal crunch. god, i hate alliteration.

the waffles are best if they are allowed to cool for a minute or so before serving. once all the steam escapes they get all nice and crispy. this recipe make a pretty big batch and if, in the unlikely event that there are any leftovers, they freeze and retoast very nicely. if you like these, you might also like vegan pumpkin muffins, from the same cookbook.

vegan lemon-cornmeal waffles
1 1/4 cups plus 2 Tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups cornmeal
1/4 cup light-flavored (canola, corn, etc.) vegetable oil
2 cups soy milk, plain
1/4 cup soy yogurt
2 lemons, zest and juice (please try to use organic lemons since you're using the zest...)
1/4 cup sugar

sift first five ingredients and set aside. place the liquid ingredients and the sugar in another bowl and whisk until well combined. pour wet mixture into dry mixture and mix until just blended. pour into waffle iron and cook.

if you like this recipe you can find more like it at the postpunk kitchen

Tagged with: SHF # 15 + Low Sugar

french-lentil tarragon salad

2006-01-24T07:51:00.000-08:00

lentils get a bad rap. when one thinks about lentils (or at least me, before the great revelation) one might envision shaggy, musty, dirty hippies in soiled white caftans sitting cross-legged and underwear-less, chowing down on a bowl of brown baby-pooh like mush. with one dirty, communal spoon passed among the group. overcooked lentils: bland, texturless, maybe even gassy. what's to love?

well i have had more than my share of these "hare krishna lentils" and when i was just starting out as a vegetarian, i cooked up many a bowl of that brown glop. what can i say, i was just a kid, i didn't know any better...i thought that was what lentils were supposed to do.

and then i discovered the lentil rainbow: red, brown, green and black. shortly thereafter i realized that if you don't overcook your lentils they will not disintegrate (except of course for the red ones, but that's what they're supposed to do, right?). now when i cook things like lentils or mung beans, i soak them first, even though everybody says that you don't have to. this step seems to help them cook more evenly. a few other things i've learned from long experience is that they need to be cooked in salted water (so they are not so very, very bland inside) at barely a simmer. then, once they're drained but still hot, i handle them very carefully because they are more fragile and apt to come apart at this point. once they are chilled you can be more brutish with them.

the following recipe is an approximation of a dish i make fairly often and is just a guideline to be adjusted to your own taste and what you have on hand. i don't find it necessary to add any oil to this dish but it's a matter of preference. a generous splash of olive oil certainly wouldn't hurt...

french lentil tarragon salad
2 cups dried french lentils
1 large carrot, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
4 ribs celery (including inner leaves), diced
3 sprigs tarragon, minced
1/4 cup minced parsley
1-2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/2 - 1 lemon, juiced
1-3 Tablespoons prepared mustard (try this awesome and easy homemade version)
red wine vinegar to taste
salt and pepper to taste

soak the lentils for a few hours before cooking. drain soaking water and put lentils in a pan with enough salted water (should taste like the ocean) to cover. bring to a gentle simmer. begin checking lentils after 10 minutes and remove from heat when just tender. drain and reserve any juices. gently toss the lentils with the garlic and lemon juice. add the minced vegetables and herbs. toss again and season with additional salt, lemon juice and red wine vinegar to taste. make sure to taste this again once it has cooled to room temperature and adjust seasonings one last time. serve with a drizzle of olive oil (optional) and fresh ground black pepper. also optional: boil down leftover cooking juices until most of the water has evaporated and reincorporate into the salad. make sure to compensate for the saltiness of the reduced broth if using.

weekend cat blogging #33: the secret life of cats

2006-01-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

the secret life of cats.

who knows what kind of company they keep when we're not around? yeah, you think they just lie there and sleep in a furry, dejected ball until master and feeder returns home with a bag full of treats and maybe a catnip ball or two. but no. methinks the reality is that our sneaky little friends get on the horn and call up a few buddies from the neighborhood, maybe a few of the female species (or cross-species as they case may be), break out our good scotch, light up some cuban cigars and have a party. hah! now i know why that nasty porn site keeps showing up in my browser history...

and if you have some time to kill, the video link for this weekend is called roof sex. contrary to the title, it is good, clean, animated fun from the folks at eatpes.com who have also done commercials for nike, moveon.org and diesel. check it out, it's hilarious.

vegan pumpkin muffins

2006-01-19T08:54:00.000-08:00

just look at those muffins. they have loft. they have crumb. they have pumpkin and spicy goodness. what they don't have are eggs. and they don't seem to miss those little yellow and white shell-clad nuggets at all.

it is a huge problem (some might say challenge and to them i say "bah-humbug! i am already quite challenged enough, thank you") in egg-free baking to get a good loft and crumb. how many dense and chewy cakes have i (and maybe you too) gnawed away at, pretending that it wasn't that bad, when in fact it was? how many oily vegan cookies have i greased my pompadour with? lots. and in the end i am a "sweegan" because, try as i might, vegan baking just doesn't compare to the real thing. and because there is something just enough removed about consuming animal products (as opposed to the animal themselves) in an infrequently indulged in treat to make it okay for me. militants raise your weapons and don't shoot till you see the whites of my meringue. i freely confess it, i am a hypocrite. i may go to peta hell but at least i'll be having a slice of some delectable dessert on my way down.

but seriously, in an ideal world i would have my own hen house and gladly eat their little eggies knowing that the little cluckers were getting good food not comprised of other animal parts, a big yard to scratch and squabble in, no hormone shots, no clipped beaks, no overcrowding and no hatchet when their spring chickenhood has passed. being a bit of an old hen myself i have a lot of sympathy for those old gals.

in a less than ideal world i would have vegan baking that works.

in this world i have some very good recipes from vegan with a vengeance. if you are a vegan, know a vegan or are vegan curious, i recommend picking up a copy of this book. the recipes don't use too many exotic or fancy-pants ingredients, don't require the use of pricey or obscure kitchen tools and is written in a really straightforward conversational tone. it is very novice-friendly.

these pumpkin muffins have a great, spicy flavor and, as long as the batter is not man-handled (no offense to any ham-fisted, neanderthal-gaited, wooly-chested men out there) they attain a nice crown and a good crumb. if using paper muffin cups you might want to give the cups a quick coating of pan spray to discourage sticking.

for more (free) recipes and reviews of vegan with a vengeance recipes, you can go to the postpunk kitchen forum index.

vegan pumpkin muffins
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons molasses

sift together all the dry ingredients and set aside. in another bowl whisk together the remaining wet ingredients. pour wet mixture into dry and combine with a fork until just mixed. do not over mix or your muffins will suffer in texture. pour batter into muffin cups about 2/3 full and bake for 18 - 20 minutes. these muffins are a little chewy when they are hot so allow to cool completely before eating.

homemade mustard

2006-01-16T08:45:00.000-08:00

mustard. i've never really given much thought to the stuff aside from a rather knee-jerk preference for the dijon style. that bright yellow ballpark stuff just gives me the creeps. unless it's an ultra processed snack food item filled with sugar and hydrogenated fat, no "food" should bear such an ungodly shade of, um, yellow. or is it vermilion?

during a recent conversation with my man's mom the subject of homemade mustard was brought up. which led me to recall a bbq i recently attended where the guest of honor was mr. sausage. delicious, smoky, succulent, tasty, char-grilled, off-limits mr. porky pig, accompanied by a variety of specialty mustards. there was the chunky country-style brownish mustard, the ubiquitous bright yellow bland and scary stuff, a heady dark beer mustard, a honey mustard, hmm, maybe even a chipotle mustard. needless to say i had my fill of mustard sandwiches that afternoon. and you know what, i liked them. they were all pretty good, each with their own unique blend of sweet, hot and pungent flavours.

sparked onto yet another obsessive quest, i poured through my arsenal of cookbooks finding very little information on homemade mustard. then i turned to that oracle of misinformation, the internet, and hit paydirt. i tried several different recipes and this one, borrowed, i mean poached, okay, let's just call it stolen, from emeril (BAM! - don't you just hate that?), struck the right balance of heat, pungency and acidity. i was astounded as i'm not generally a fan of mr. BAM! but this recipe came out really quite delicious. it's my new favorite condiment, as a matter of fact.

some of the other recipes i tried, especially the ones that used all brown mustard seeds were far, far too pungent for my taste. it is claimed that you can reduce the bite of a mustard by nuking it for 20 seconds at a time until it reached the right flavor. my all brown seed mustard could've been nuked until world war III and i don't think it would've lost it's overpowering bite and bitterness. i was concerned that using any amount yellow seeds might make the end result too wimpy, but i was wrong.

so i guess mustard isn't just mustard after all. next time i will try using different liquids (dark beer? camel piss?) and /or adding herbs like tarragon. and, as always, if anyone out there has a good recipe or some ideas, i'm all ears...

homemade mustard
3 Tablespoons yellow mustard seeds
2 1/2 Tablespoons brown mustard seeds
1/3 cup white wine
1/3 cup white wine vinegar*
1 minced shallot (2 Tablespoons)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
pinch of ground allspice

place all ingredients in a covered bowl or a lidded jar and let sit out overnight. the next day dump everything into a blender, coffee grinder or mini food processor and blend until it reaches the desired consistency. adjust seasonings to taste. if the mustard is too pungent, place in a microwave oven at 50% power for twenty seconds. allow to cool and taste. repeat if necessary.
* i added a little extra vinegar to taste

weekend cat blogging #32

2006-01-13T20:00:00.000-08:00

"'the boy'.

that is what those hairless, clumsy, bad-breathed, tottering, two-legged fools call me. when they're not calling me 'bunny', that is. or worse yet (and yes, it does get worse, much worse) 'funny-hunny-bunny'. sigh. it's terribly demeaning really, considering the fact that i am old enough to be either of their fathers and that my IQ is higher than both of those revolting chicken-skinned chimps combined. and you should see the things they make me do for a little piece of chicken. what do they think i am, the bear in a three ringed circus? well, i guess i get the last laugh in the end. after all, they have to scoop up my excrement. and those hairballs? heh, they're not accidental..."

by the way, if y'all have a fast internet connection and a little time on your hands, check out this amazing video of superhuman acrobatic feats.

hoshigaki R.I.P.

2006-01-11T09:10:00.000-08:00

here it is, the result of my great hoshigaki experiment, henceforth to be known as the great hoshigaki debacle. yep, thats them, those darkly menacing figures swaying gently in their own fetid breeze. it all went very well for the first two and a half weeks or so, the fruits merrily drying and wrinkling and looking oh-so-festive hanging out my window. and then it happened. they arrived. the great gushing rot-inducing rains commenced. my little orange-tan nuggets bloated up like mc donald's big mac scarfing teenagers. valiantly i attempted to save them, bringing them inside and singing gently to them each evening to the accompaniment of a handheld hair dryer. to no avail. daily they grew blacker and blacker until they were nothing more than macabre garlands of decay strung along the walls of my hallway. when, after a month more of this, my man demanded that i throw them away, i did not object. they were beginning to stink.

and here is a closeup. coal black and mushy inside. it appears to have sprouted a few good-luck hairs as well...

needless to say i was crushed and delighted at the same time. they turned out so horrendously nasty i couldn't help but giggle. however i was still in need of my hoshigaki fix. i cruised the net and found a place, starr ranch, that sells dried persimmons. this is what i received in the mail. not hoshigaki but rather sliced and air-dried persimmons. very pretty and quite tasty in their own right but not what i was after.

then lo and behold, one fine december day whilst cruising the aisles of the japanese grocery store, what did mine eyes behold but these guys. the real deal. hoshigaki.

sadly enough they weren't very good. they lacked the essence of persimmon flavor i so vividly recalled from my aunt's home dried persimmons. maybe i will try again next year...

shortly thereafter, the sacramento bee came out with another article about the revival of this artisanal process with mail order sources for ordering the real deal. slowfood la has a link to the pdf here if you're interested in learning more about hoshigaki or ordering some yourself.

AWOL

2006-01-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

sorry for the long silence but the holiday season gets me so scattered that all i can manage to do is splay my sorry ol' brittle skeleton on the couch, claw at a nearly empty bonbon box with flour-encrusted fingers and watch old columbo reruns in between cooking up monsterous batches of cookies, caramels, spiced nuts and other goodies intended for friends and neighbors. keyword is intended. reality is something else altogether. shortbread cookie anyone? no, perhaps a nutella filled man-shaped sugar cookie?

aside from afternoon intrigues with that rumpled old glass-eyed tv police detective and his basset hound, i've been doing a little vacationing. can you guess where?

hint 1: yes, it is a place with some real purty sunsets

hint 2: and some water

hint 3: and don't forget the tacos

classic sugar cookies

2005-12-06T08:08:00.000-08:00

i was looking for a new, simple, classic cookie recipe with which to fill my cookie jar when i came across this guy on the martha stewart website. this is a great little drop cookie with a clean, very slight lemon flavor and a nice crispy texture that continues to snap days after coming out of the oven. i made a few minor alterations to the original recipe, adding vanilla and substituting half the butter with non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening (the cookie eater in the house doesn't like things that taste too buttery). if you are a vegan i suspect you could easily swap out margarine and shortening for the butters and use one egg equivalent of the egg replacer of your choice (i usually bake with e-nergy egg replacer).

sugar cookies
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 t. vanilla
1 cup butter (i use 1/2 c. non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening plus 1/2 c. butter)
2 eggs

sift flour, baking soda and salt together and set aside. cream sugar, lemon zest and both sugars until fluffy. add eggs one at a time. add lemon juice. add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. drop onto cookiesheet (i used a heaping Tablespoon per cookie) and press down, giving the cookie a flat surface. sprinkle with coarse sugar and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350. the original recipe says to sprinkle some sugar on the surface of each cookie, then lightly stroke with a wet pastry brush, then sprinkling a little more sugar on top. i don't have a pastry brush so i skipped this step. they still turned out great.

garlicky mung beans

2005-11-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

mung beans. isn't that just an awful name for a food? awfully close to dung beans, if you ask me.

mung beans, mung beans, so green and well-hung dung beans....oops, wrong song. what i meant to say was that you can't judge a book by it's cover, a dunce by it's cap, a puff-daddy by his lame-ass rap. that's what i meant to say. which brings us to mung beans, forever in my mind rhymed with dung beans. do not be fooled by their simplicity and humble nature for they are noble and almighty and tasty too. this is one of my favorite simple dishes, garlicky mung beans. be forewarned that i use a lot of garlic (two fat cloves) in this dish, and i use it raw, though i suppose you could use less...

there is no recipe per se but simply a few guidelines, the first of which is to soak your dung, i mean mung, beans. i always (time allowing) soak my delicate beans and pulses (mungs, lentils, etc.) for at least two, preferably more like four, hours prior to cooking. this allows them a chance to get a little rehydrated and cuts down on the cooking time. less cooking time equals greater probability that i will be paying attention when it comes time to take them off the stove. it also means a gentler simmer that helps avoid the breakdown of the outer seedcoat that results in mush. so in the morning soak your mung beans. in the afternoon put them in a pan with about an inch of water to cover and salt that water until it tastes like the sea. bring to a gentle simmer for about 20 minutes and remove from heat when they're just soft. drain and toss with lemon juice and fresh pressed garlic, adding salt to taste if necessary. you can also add a bit of your favorite oil, if you like, but i find that they don't really need it if you reincorporate just a teeny bit of the bean cooking water back in. handle them carefully while they are hot as they will be fragile and more likely to fall apart. taste again once the beans are cooled as the seasonings may have to be adjusted. serve chilled or at room temperature.

if you haven't tasted mung beans try them, like mikie (of life cereal fame) you just might like them. they are kinda like a cross between a lentil and a pea and have a creamy texture if cooked just right. but they are soooo easy to overcook into a gruel fit only for the most ascetic of vegans, so watch carefully.

hoshigaki (dried persimmons)

2005-11-21T09:51:00.000-08:00

persimmon season is here and madly, truly i'm trying to find a way to preserve my stash of hachiya persimmons (fuyus must, according to the first law of bunnyfoot, be eaten raw). i know about freezer jam, but my freezer is already way too jammed already to accommodate any more jim-jammy-jam. i've scoured the net looking for water-bath hachiya jam recipes but there is a dearth of information out there. which makes me think that maybe no one preserves them for some good reason that eludes me. obachan recently made some fuyu jam but noted that most of its distinctive persimmon-y flavor was lost in the process. being the greedy-guts that i am, i want more persimmon-y goodness, not less!

so i called up my moms, who is probably the ultimate greedy-guts when it comes to persimmons, to ask for some advice. at this moment, moms has, hmmm, maybe sixty pounds of fuyus stockpiled in her garage. her interpretation of disaster provisions.

moms agreed that she hadn't really heard much about persimmon jam but that maybe it was an old-time american tradition that she didn't know about. she then mentioned that in japan they dry the hachiyas. and this brought back a memory from the year i spent living in osaka with a crazy, haiku-writing obachan (my obachan, no relation to aforementioned persimmon-jamming obachan).

early one chilly fall morning i was awoken from my small, coffin-sized bed, by a stealthy creaking out on my front porch. thinking it might be, i don't know, some kind of cute and furry japanese anime cartoon animal or a staggering salaryman too drunk to find his way to his own front porch (robert downey jr. style), i popped my head out to the window to investigate. and there she was, bathed in that golden-orange glow that the insane radiate like a halo, my eccentic ol', headstand practicing, haiku writing obachan. balanced on a rusty three legged stool. hanging garlands of peeled persimmons from the rafters. from inside the house it resembled some crazy seventies-style beaded curtain, sans beads, plus persimmons. i had no idea what she was doing and was pretty skeptical when she informed me that these fruits, after sitting out in the elements, would turn into something not only edible but delicous as well. "oh, they'll just rot and the flies will come," i cynically thought to myself. the weeks passed and i waited for my prophecy to come true. every morning i'd pop my head out the window and assess the rot. and every day they changed. they shriveled. they browned. and then a layer of powdery white stuff covered their surfaces. "a hah!" i thought to myself, "i was right - rotten through and through". at that point obachan dragged out her trusty old three legged stool and ceremoniously unstrung the shriveled little fellers, offering me the first taste. for a second the thought crossed my mind that perhaps this was all a complicated ploy to get rid of the free-loading relative via an innocuous case of persimmon-poisoning, so i politely insisted that she should have the honor of the first bite. and she did. and then i did. and it was good. it was very good. it was, in fact, delicious. pure persimmon through and through. intense. concentrated. perfect.

but that was a long time ago and age, alcohol and recreational drug use have taken it's toll on my spotty memory, making me forget all about dried persimmons until moms mentioned it again. she also reminded me that she'd tried, decades ago, to dry some herself while living in the "silicon valley" and the juicy fruits just rotted on the string. well, san francisco has a different microclimate and maybe, just maybe, there is a chance of success for this great hoshigaki experiment.

should you wish to try this at home be sure to use hachiyas (the bitter ones you can't eat until they're super falling apart soft) that are a nice bright orange but not yet soft. try to find ones that have intact stems in the shape of a T. this is how you will hang them. peel and skin the fruit, leaving the stems and calyx intact. get a piece of thick string and knot several of the fruit onto each string by the T-shaped junction in the stems. make sure the fruit are not touching each other and hang out to dry in a a spot that gets some sun and some wind. they say you should massage the fruit every few days to help evenly distribute the sugars and wrinkles (like kobe beefsteak cow). they should turn brownish and shrivel and finally a thin coating of whitish stuff should cover the surface. hopefully this will sugar (yay!) and not mold (boo-hiss!). they are then ready to eat.

i will update you once my little persimmons have rotted and made themselves host to flies and maggots, which almost inevitably they shall. in the meantime, the la times and the sacramento bee both have interesting articles on this classic japanese food preserving technique.

weekend cat blogging #24

2005-11-20T14:27:00.000-08:00

the king serenely gazes down upon his subjects from atop his carpeted perch.

roasted red pepper, basil, green olive and "sausage" vegan pizza

2005-11-18T20:29:00.000-08:00

how can it be pizza if there ain't no cheese?!! wouldn't that be flat bread? or focaccia? or some other weak-in-the-knees, braces-with-headgear-sportin, narrow-shouldered, clammy palmed, cry-baby flour yeast and water product? heck no, i say, in my best fake oregonian drawl. not only can it still be rightfully called pizza, it can me durn tasty to boot. and if you screw up on your pizza dough it just might chew like aforementioned boot.

here is a lil' feller i baked up the other night. a can of plum tomatoes in sauce (trader joe's .89 cents) simmered down with salt and onion powder, italian seasonings and fresh, raw garlic until thickened. pour over the dough in a uniform layer. saute up some gimme lean sausage flavor, adding extra fennel, garlic and hot pepper - or use the real thing if you are a carnivorous bugger. sprinkle this over the sauce. scatter a whole load of basil over the "sausage" and strips of freshly (they're all over the farmers market here in sf right now) roasted red pepper over the basil. for good measure i topped the pie with sliced green olives and more minced garlic. i'll bet if you sniff real hard you can smell me right from your computer.

the real key is to not skimp on the thick tomato-y sauce-y part. also key is to not use that yeast you've been carting around through four changes of residence and one change of country. you might notice my pie appears to be of the thin crust type, but be not fooled. it was supposed to be of the other, thicker, heartier variety. sadly, it seemed that most of my yeastie buddies were somewhat lethargic and worn out after so many years of travelling. at least that's what i think it was. my cobbler's fingers are crossed that my leatherette touch has not extended all the way to pizza dough!

anyone have a bunnyfoot-proof, i mean fool-proof recipe for the best pizza dough ever? oh, and by the by, i tried some old sourdough pizza crust recipe i picked up from somewhere in the internet-o-sphere that turned out quite horrendous. it was hard, like, oh my god, shoe leather!!! if i'd formed the dough into paddle shapes i could've played a mean game of ping-pong with it. or given out a solid bout of corporal punishment....now that's an idea. so a good sourdough crust recipe too. pretty please?

fat-free microwaved potato chips!

2005-11-17T09:16:00.000-08:00

the ever-prolific nic over at bakingsheet posted about healthy potato chips the other day and i knew i had to try them. you see, i have a serious chip addiction. given the choice of just one food to take with me to a lifetime's exile on a rocky, barren, tivo-less deserted isle it would have to be potato chips. given a choice between giving up my furry feline friend or chips forever the cat would have to go. just kidding, but i really do love my salty crispy snax. they are so satisfying to munch and crunch in anger, in joy, in boredom, even in bed.

so anyway, i got right up from the computer, broke out my tiny, cheap minature japanese mandoline, which looks something like this one but is less deluxe (cheaper), and began shaving off thin-thin-thin ovals from the stout torso of mr. potato. i layed out these dismembered pieces on napkins to dry them off a bit and began digging in my cupboards for a pyrex pie pan. to no avail. "what kind of baker am i that i do not own a pyrex pie pan?", i muttered to myself. then visions of the last three bread-type pastry-type things i tried to make floated into a little thought bubble that was conveniently hovering just above my uncombed head (this was in the a.m., afterall) and i stopped asking that somewhat rhetorical question. so anyway, i whipped out a regular old, microwave safe (maybe) fifty cent ikea dinner plate and lightly sprayed the surface with pan spray. i then carefully layed the thin-thin slices of mr. potato on the plate, making sure they were not touching, then "BAM", as emeril world say, right into the nuker for about three minutes. watch those lil crispy slabs of tubiferous heaven like a chickenhawk in the hen house and remove before they incinerate. they can go from "almost" to "aw shit" really fast. sprinkle liberally with salt and chowdown guilt free. i tried two thicknesses: thin-thin, and just-thin. the thin-thin version tasted like pringles, the just-thin tasted a bit more like baked lays. i am a pringles fan so i'd recommend thin-thin, if you have the proper tool for it.

just as an aside, i've tried this microwave method before with no success. my "chips" were either rubbery, burnt, or rubbery and burnt. i think the slices were too thick and i didn't pat them dry first. so make sure they're thin-thin. the nuking time will vary depending on the thickness of your slices and how many slices are on the plate. thin-thin with about seven slices took three minutes. just-thin with about 12 slices on a plate took about five.

vegan pumpkin pie

2005-11-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

this is a spicy, egg and dairy free pumpkin pie that doesn't use tofu. i generally don't like sweet tofu-based custards unless i'm mixing tofu with very strong flavors (like peanut butter and chocolate - yum) because i can always taste the tofu base... especially if i'm using the aseptic packaged (mori-nu) stuff. so i was really happy to find this recipe by bryanna grogan amidst her collection of free vegan thanksgiving recipes.

the flavor of the custard was excellent...very pumpkin-y and on the spicier side of the thanksgiving spectrum. my tongue is not a subtle one, either in verbal delivery or tastebud sensory reception, so i like my flavors on the stronger side. however, i had some problems with the low-fat wholewheat (low fat?!! wholewheat?!!! danger will robinson! danger!) pastry recipe that was recommended. it came out a little tough. but then again, i do seem to have the anti-pastry touch. maybe i should've been a shoe maker, then all would have fallen into place. also, after an hour in the oven the pie didn't look like it was quite done in the center. i removed it anyway thinking that it would set by the following day, which it did, kinda of but not quite enough. if you look at the picture you can see there is a slight difference in texture and color between the center and outer portions of the pie, particulary in the very center where it's just not quite firm enough. on my second trial i swapped out dough recipes and baked them up in little muffin tins, like pumpkin pie tartlets. i like a higher-crust-to-filling ratio. after about 50 minutes at 350 the smaller tarts had set and the crust was nicely browned and flakey. i think this could work out very well in a larger pie tin, but be sure that your oven is hot enough and you leave it in long enough to cook in the center. and with all recipes, don't try it out for the first time at a big gathering. halve it and give it a trial run first.

bryanna's pumpkin pie filling
2 cups solid pack pumpkin
1 cup full fat soymilk
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 Tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon each: ginger, nutmeg & salt
1/4 teaspoon allspice OR cloves

place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. pour into prepared 9" unbaked pie shell and bake at 350 for about an hour. make the day before serving and let sit overnight to properly set.

oil pastry
2 cups + 2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup oil
3 Tablespoons cold soymilk

sift together flour and salt. in a separate bowl whisk together the oil and soymilk. add wet mixture into dry mixture all at once and stir lightly with a fork. form into a ball and roll out between waxed paper. fit into pie shell. makes one 9" crust.

hearty dilled cabbage-rice soup

2005-11-14T13:33:00.000-08:00

as promised, i am regaling you with pictures and recipes for my famous no-teeth-required vegan gruels in all their brown mushy glory. this one here is a hearty and healthy flavorful winter soup redolent with the frangrance and flavor of dill. the cabbage cooks up meltingly tender and the rice give it a nice full body. i cook most of my soups and all of my beans in a kuhn-rikon pressure cooker, the big-mack-daddy cadillac of pressure cookers. if you like to cook it quick or prepare a lot of beans (so tender!), then i highly recommend picking yourself up one of these babies. directions below are for regular stovetop preparation.

dilled cabbage-rice soup
1 onion, chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
3 large carrots, chopped
5-6 button mushrooms
1 large cabbage, quartered cored and finely sliced
8 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup brown long grain rice
3-4 plum tomatoes, canned OR 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon dried dill (or fresh, if you have it!)
salt and fresh black pepper to taste
3 Tablespoons balsalmic vinegar, to taste

bring stock to a boil and add onions. you may saute the onions in a little olive oil until soft if you like but i usually omit this step. simmer for a few minutes and add rinsed, uncooked rice, and all ingredients except for balsamic vinegar. simmer covered until rice is cooked and cabbage is meltingly tender. add salt, pepper and balsalmic vinegar to taste. as with most soups, the flavor of this dish improves the following day.

weekend cat blogging #23

2005-11-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

red-boy stops being a bird-killing machine just long enough to wish clare well after her unfortunate dog-tries-to-chase-terrified-cat-while-in-the-arms-of-a-human incident. although he does wonder if we do indeed taste just like chicken...

oden

2005-11-11T12:20:00.000-08:00

things have been quiet on the cooking front around here for the past three weeks or so for no good reason except that in my perpetual swing between extremes i've strayed precariously close to the edge. the no good-food-eatin', all-joy-of-life-crushing, tastebud-dyin' edge. the macrobiotic edge. not intentionally mind you, it's just that after a long bout of whipping up things like linzertorte (latest cooks illustrated-yummy!), brownie bite cookies, ice cream, and basket after basket of almost sour enough sourdough bread, well, i just got a little burnt out and felt the call to eat and cook a little closer to the source. no, that does not mean foraging in the bulk snack bins at the local supermarket. i'm referring to whole grains, steamed vegetables, brown rice and a lot of unpalatable looking stews that we fondly refer to as "vegan gruel"...nothing sexy enough to write about.

but then i had a lil' ephiphany that life is not one big hollywood movie and every scene isn't about youth and sex and money and bad plastic surgery. that with the turning of the seasons a steaming bowl of baby-pooh looking, almost predigested gruel may appeal to a few of you out there (no teeth required!). that maybe, in preparation for the holiday eating frenzy, some of you may be trying to cut back a little on the good stuff in order to lessen the tsunami of guilt to come. and do not fear, too near the macrobiotic edge i shall not stray. i hold my over-stimulating spices in too high regard.

so this post is dedicated to what we call "roots" at my house. it's a variation of a japanese hot pot dish called oden which is eaten during the cold months. in japan you can find street vendors with giant caldrons of the stuff steaming away during the winter, along with vendors selling fresh roasted chestnuts and roasted sweet potatoes. i just love all these earthy, hearty winter flavors.

the base of the oden is a konbu dashi or seaweed stock. you can make your own by simmering strips of konbu in water for about 30 minutes, then removing them, or you can do like me and buy little tubes of the stuff. i use this dashi in all my japanese dishes, especially miso soup, it really imparts a strong yet not overpowering flavor. into this stock goes a variety of weird and wonderful roots and vegetables. probably the strangest of which is konnyaku which, in it's traditional brown brick form, i absolutely hate due to its rubbery texture and kinda nasty look. it is made from the root of the konnyaku plant, also known as devil's tongue (why, i don't know), and can be purchased as a brown brick, a white brick, or as little noodles, either white or brown. the noodle shapes are called shirataki. i recommend the white noodles 'cause they're prettier and less reminiscent of a devil's tongue, which may very well be a gnarly brown, gelantinous slab peppered with black dots throughout. when you open the package there is a strong, sea-like smell which can be removed with a few good rinsings. in my oden i like to use: daikon, the long white japanese radish that cooks up quite tender and juicy with a slightly sweet flavor (but unfortunately, to my nose, smells a little like slightly fetid gym socks as it cooks); gobo, otherwise known as burdock root that lends an earthy flavor and fibrous texture; the ever beautiful renkon, or lotus root, with it's intricate flower like pattern and crunchy texture, and potatoes, both sato imo (small taro) and the small waxy ones you can find in the grocery store; carrots; shitake mushrooms; and finally my favorite part, the ganmodoki...you can substitute any type of fried tofu that tickles your fancy. in non vegetarian versions of oden you will usually find a few shelled hard boiled eggs and some form of fishcake. if you have access to an asian market you can find most of these ingredients frozen, sometimes all together in a little baggie.

for other takes on this classic japanese comfort food, go here or here.

oden
1 daikon radish, peeled and cut into chunks
6-7 frozen taro potatoes AND/OR 1-2 regular potatoes peeled and cubed
1 long piece of burdock root, or gobo, peeled and cut into angled chunks
1 can bamboo shoots, cut into chunks (may use frozen)
1 package ganmodoki OR aburage OR smoked tofu
2 carrots, peeled and cut into angled chunks
7-8 sliced pieces of renkon (lotus root) either frozen or fresh
1 package konnyaku (or shirataki)
5-6 shitake mushrooms, fresh or dried/reconstituted
sake
konbu dashi
soysauce

in a large pot bring enough konbu dashi to just cover the ingredients to a boil. layer in the ingredients in order of cooking time, longest to shortest. i usually put raw gobo in first, then daikon, renkon, potatoes then the rest. make sure the broth just covers the ingredients. simmer on very low heat until everthing is tender. at this point i like to adjust seasonings with soy sauce and sake to taste. i like to serve this with steamed white rice and those little pickled onions.

the sour smell of success

2005-10-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

thanks to a comment left by bryanna grogan i finally got a little sour success with the third incarnation of my sourdough starter mr. lucky. the first loaf i cranked out using lucky (who i visualize as the photographer on the love boat - before he showed up in married with children), though pretty-pretty, was terribly, horribly, pathetically, crushingly bland. disappointing in much in the same way i imagine it would be to meet some film star or supermodel for whom you've been secretly pining away, just to be met with shiny, marlble-like eyes and a blindingly white vacant smile that clearly shows nobody is home.

this loaf had a wonderfully springy and chewy interior with a definite note of sour-ness. not quite as sour as i like it but next time i will proof a little longer. the crust however didn't get as crispy and crackly as i'd hoped - it was a little tough and cardboard like. i attribute this to the fact that i threw in 4 1/2 cups of (king arthur) flour into the bread machine before i hit the knead button, and it quickly became apparent that this was way too much. the dough was quite dry and not tacky at all. to remedy this i kept adding water until it was passably tacky. next time i will start with 3 cups and add additional flour bit by bit. also i substituted kosher salt and added half again as much as the recipe called for - it could've used a bit more.

at the end of the day, lucky is a fine, healthy, fermentable lil' feller and i think i'll keep him. i'm now looking for other things to bake using this guy. any ideas?

Bryanna's San Francisco Sourdough Bread

the morning before baking day refresh your starter.

the night before baking day mix together in a large bowl:
2 c. warm water
1 c. fresh, bubbly sourdough starter
2 c. unbleached white flour (*canadian flour is high-gluten; in the us you may want to use unbleached white bread flour)
stir well, cover with a plastic bag, and let sit overnight in a warm place.

the morning of the baking day stir into the bubbly "sponge" or batter:
1 T. salt (do not reduce this)
about 5 c. unbleached white flour (see * note above)
knead the dough for about 10 minutes, adding 1/2 c. more flour if needed. knead by hand or with a heavy-duty mixer with a dough hook. sourdough bread dough is stickier or "tackier" than ordinary bread dough, so be careful not to add too much flour in an attempt to make it drier. if necessary, you can use a little oil on the kneading surface and your hands, rather than flour, during the last half of the kneading process. or, just use very small amounts of flour.

let rise until doubled: place the dough in the rinsed, dried, and oiled bowl, cover or place inside of a large plastic bag, and rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2-4 hours.

knuckle the dough down to gently remove air bubbles, and divide it in half equally. shape the dough into 2 round or oblong loaves and place on cooking-parchment-lined greased cookie sheets. Sprinkled the parchment with cornmeal.

cover and let rise again in a warm place for 1 to 4 hours, until doubled.

preheat oven to 400 degrees F and set a shallow pan of boiling water in the bottom of the oven. Slash the tops of the loaves with a razor blade about 1/2" deep (3 diagonal slashes on an oblong loaf; an x, square, triangle, or crisscross design on a round loaf). Brush or spray the loaves with cold water before putting the loaves in the oven.

bake the loaves for 20 minutes, brushing or spraying the loaves and the sides of the oven (cover glass oven door with a heavy towel when you do this to avoid breaking the glass) with cold water every 5 minutes during this time. this encourages good "oven spring", or rising in the oven, and a nice crust.) turn the loaves around to face the other way and reduce heat to 325 degrees F. bake about 15 minutes more for long loaves or 30 minutes more for round loaves, or until dark golden brown. the crust of sourdough bread is slightly darker and harder than ordinary french bread. remove to racks to cool for 2-3 hours before cutting as the loaves continue to cook during the cooling process.

for variations of this recipe or to see it in it's original format, click here and go to the comments page.

weekend cat blogging

2005-10-15T09:04:00.000-07:00

i've done it. it's all over now. firmly in the crazy cat lady zone, publicly doting on my furry, purring, bird killing feline friends. next thing you know i'll be dressing them up in little frilly gingham dresses and having tea parties. "another spot o tea, mrs. dallworthy?" "why yes dear, that would be lovely..."

as you can see, rambunctious White Kitty is giving poor old Black Kitty a rather creative early morning goosing. and yes, those really are their names. creative, no?

and check out this book if you're into kitty tea party dress up gingham fantasia, feline mug shots, and general bizarre behaviour caught on film a la cops.

sourdough bread: a tragic lovestory

2005-10-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

oh sweet victory. oh ye bitter ashes of defeat. both in the same loaf.

they say you never forget your first, and i do believe it's true. especially when the first we are speaking of is your first sourdough starter. especially when this first ends with an emergency visit from the plumber. especially when this emergency visit ends in a graphic excision of a tennis ball sized lump of a hardened rubber cement type substance. all of this under the rolling, accusing, i told you so, eyes of your partner.

and the second? well, the second can be no less memorable. especially when it sends you hunting around the house for that rotten garbage, lifting up the cat's tail to make sure there's nothing lurking down there, looking suspiciously at your own feet for days on end. little mr. second manically laughing on the kitchen counter. little mr. second bubbling down the toilet (much more accustomed to handling tennis balls of rubber cement type substances, no?). little mr. second wedging himself deep in the u pipe. little mr. second getting speared by the plumber's powerful suction device known as the "snake". more accusational eye rolling.

so it is no wonder that it took a while for me to get up my courage up to try again, to try for mr. third. but i'm a stubborn old ox and secretive to boot. quietly, in the dead of the night whilst my man slept i crept into the kitchen and began the dreaded alchemy all over again. hidden deep behind the stale rye vita crackers mr. third bubbled and festered. i tended to him, my secret passion for three weeks, creeping out of bed every night to mix and stir and sniff and hope. then back into bed to dream. three weeks passed before i deemed him, mr. third, mr. lucky, ready for the grand experiment.

and so i proofed. i proofed overnight. and i sponged. i sponged for six hours. and then i kneaded. actually my bread machine kneaded. then i waited while it rose. it rose for five hours. then i shaped and it rose again, my heart all atremble. then i slept and when i awoke there he was, mr. third time, mr. lucky, mr. sourdough. he was beautiful, big and puffy, shaped just like a baked alaska. my heart was light with giddy joy as i preheated the oven with a little pan of water for that magic crust inducing steam. i was going to do it right, by golly.

and imagine my glee when i pulled this out of the oven. oh my god, i might have shed a little tear. dancing and cavorting about like a drunken stevie nicks on horse tranquilizers impersonator as i snapped picture after picture of mr. lucky. so beautiful. my firstborn.

determined to do it right, i went away. i left lucky alone to cool and prepare himself for the knife. i walked around the block again and again and again as i waited for him to ready himself, a trail of saliva marking my rounds. and oh how he yielded to my serrated knife, showing me a textured airy interior cloaked by a dark, crispy outer shell. oh joy.

and then the ashes. mr. lucky was so beautiful. so well behaved. so goddamn perfect. but he was dull. bland. tasteless. not a bit of sourness. very little flavor. no character at all. just another pretty boy, square jawed, perfect teeth, full head of hair. dumb as a stick.

ready to try your luck? maybe these links will help you. they didn't me.
baking 911 sourdough information
sourdough baking basics
how to make authentic sf sourdough bread

a trio of middle eastern dips: muhammara, baba ganoush , spinach pate

2005-10-03T09:20:00.000-07:00

smoky babaganoush, spinach pate and muhammara

since dining at marouch in la last month i've been craving middle eastern fare. i don't often make these types of dips and pates, being both ingredient and labor intensive, but this craving coupled with a call to make appetizers for an upcoming dinner party moved me beyond my usual complacent self. all three of these recipes are from paula wolfert's cooking of the eastern mediterranean, with some minor changes.

the baba ganoush turned out very well with a nice smoky flavor. i used small italian eggplants and imparted that yummy smokiness by overcooking the eggplants a little. a happy accident. my only complaint is that it turned out a little runnier than i usually like but it could have been remedied by adding a little less water or draining the eggplant a little more thoroughly. i also added a little more lemon juice than called for since i like a little tart bite on my baba.

the spinach pate had a wonderful texture and flavor. the freshly ground corriander and spinach worked together nicely. but then again i could pull spinach right up out of the ground and love it. this pate would also make a great filling for little spanitokopita, miniature calzones or stuffed mushrooms.

and the muhammara. the only other time i've had this dish was at marouch and their version was a little different. first off, it was a much brighter, more vivid shade of red. secondly, the dip was not pureed completely with bits of finely chopped walnuts and breadcrumbs lending a bit more of a mouthfeel. i used a slightly more pomegranete molasses than called for to get a more assertively sweet - tart bite to the dish. i also increased the lemon juice slightly.

following are recipes for all three dishes plus guidelines for making pita chips. i hate stale, floppy pita bread as a dipper.

baba ghanoush
1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 lbs.)
4 Tablespoons tahini
2 cloves garlic
3 T. lemon juice
3 - 4 Tablespoons water
1/2 salt
1 T. olive oil

pierce eggplant and broil until skin is charred and is collapsing. scoop out flesh and place in a collander allowing juices to drain. in a food processor mix the tahini, garlic, and lemon juice until thickened. thin with a bit of water, if necessary. add eggplant, salt and olive oil and blend until smooth. serve garnished with olive oil, parsley and tomatoes. you can also use the smaller japanese or italian eggplant. according to ms. wolfert, you can obtain a smoky flavor while cooking indoors by wrapping the eggplant in two layers of aluminum foil and cooking over a gas burner.

muhamarra
2 1/2 lbs. red bell peppers
1 - 2 small hot chillis, red pepper paste, hungarian hot paprika or cayenne
1 1/2 cups walnuts
1/2 c. wheat crackers, crumbled
1 T. lemon juice
2 T. or more pomegranate molasses
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 t. sugar (optional)
2 T. olive oil

roast the peppers either over a gas burner or in a broiler until black and blistered. place in paper bag for 10 minutes or until charred skin is easily removed. slip off skins, remove seeds, stems and membranes. let drain. in a food processor grind walnuts, crackers, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, cumin, salt and sugar. add red peppers and blend until smooth. add olive oil. add hot pepper to taste. if you prefer a more textured dip puree all ingredients except 3/4 of the walnuts. finely chop and mix in after the other ingredients are blended. garnish with pine nuts and chopped parsley.

spinach pate
1 lb. spinach, washed and drained (may substitute frozen chopped spinach)
1-2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup walnuts
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. corriander seeds, ground
pinch cayenne
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
2-3 T. chopped parsley
4 T. grated onion, rinsed and dried
1-2 T. mild vinegar (rice wine) or lemon juice
black pepper

cook or defrost spinach and squeeze to remove liquid, reserving 2-3 Tablespoons for later use. grind the wanuts, garlic, corriander, salt and cayenne until pasty using a coffee mill, food processor or mortar and pestle. add in 2 T. spinach cooking water. in a large bowl combine spinach, parsley, cilantro, grated onion and walnut paste, adding the vinegar to taste. if you like you may add 1/4 c. chopped roasted red pepper. chill for at least 24 hours for best flavor. garnish with pomegranate seeds.

pita chips
this are a great way to use up stale pita bread. split whole wheat or white flour pita breads into two halves. cut each circle into 12-16 triangles. place in a hot oven or toaster oven (450) on a cookie sheet and remove when just browning. if toasted long enough they will crisp up once cooled. you can also give the pitas bits a light misting of pan spray and sprinkle with seasonings before cooking, but if so, watch the bread carefully as sometimes the herbs may burn.

imbb #19: i can't believe i ate vegan: chocolate ice cream with coconut whipped cream

2005-09-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

here is number two in my imbb#19 entries, vegan chocolate ice cream. if you have any room left after eating your seitan shawarma, please further indulge in blasting away the "vegan food sucks" mythology. the myth that vegans eat nothing but light tan colored food circa 1974. heavy breads. seeds. twigs.

i remember when rice dream came out. i was sooo excited (even though i had no vegan pretensions at that time). and then i was sooo disappointed. that weirdly sweetish flavor and gross, grainy, icy texture. not one spoonful of "vegan" ice cream (hah! i would not be fooled again) went down my gullet for several years after that until i timidly ventured out to maggie mudd here in san francisco and tried one of their incredible coconut based ice creams. man, was that good. so bad. so good. so terribly good. nothing snow-cone-ish about that creamy bad boy wrapped in a (vegan!) waffle cone. if you live in sf, you gotta taste one of their coconut-based scoops.

so i got the itch. the "why can't all vegan ice creams be good - what's wrong with those retards - i could do it better myself" itch. one of those itches that end in humility, defeat and disaster. and then i went out and bought the cuisinart ice cream maker. this little machine has been cranking them out now for about a week, and i have had no luck in discovering the recipe to this creamy, delicious, dairy free scoop. instead i've been producing stuff that would be suitable for skiing. and then i found this guy, this vegan chocolate ice cream recipe off of the postpunk kitchen. however the original is straight from bryanna clark grogan's awesome italian vegan cookbook nonna's italian kitchen. and it is good. it is creamy. it could have been a tad more chocolate-y for me. maybe a littly nutty. perhaps a little cookie. but it was good. creamy. rich. bad. very, very bad. in the best possible way.

the only thing to note about this ice cream is that it may not go beyond a soft-serve stage in your electric ice cream maker. it will need an overnight stay in the freezer to get really hard. it softens quite a bit faster than the commercial stuff once out of the freezer.

Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream
Mixture #1:
3/4 c. water
1/2 c. corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
Optional: 1 1/2 Tbsp. amaretto, Frangelico, Kahlua, or other coffee, chocolate or nut liqueur

Mixture #2:
1 c. water
3/4 c. soymilk, almond milk or rice milk
1/2 c. raw cashew pieces
1/2 c. unbleached sugar or Grade A maple syrup
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. tapioca starch or instant tapioca pulverized into a powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
4 oz. dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips

blend mixture #1 in a blender or food processor until it is very smooth and frothy. it is easier if you first blend the cashews with a smaller amount of the water, adding the rest of the mixture once there is no more graininess. pour into a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan, and stir over medium-high heat until thickened. this mixture should thicken into a pudding-like consistency. Remove from heat and add in the chocolate chips, whisking until the chocolate is melted and fully incorporated. Let cool to room temperature. in the meantime, pour mixture #2 in the blender and process until frothy. add the cooled chocolate mixture and process until everything is combined. Pour into your automatic ice cream maker until it reaches a soft serve consistency. pour into a plastic container and freeze several hours or overnight before serving. Makes 1 quart Per 1/2 cup serving: 253 calories; 3g protein; 9g fat; 40g carbohydrate

coconut whipped cream topping
not really a recipe as i'm still experiementing with this one. basically chill a can of coconut cream overnight. place in a cold metal bowl and whip until light and fluffy. add powdered sugar and vanilla extract to taste. you can make your own vegan powdered sugar by grinding up regular (vegan) sugar in your blender or coffee grinder until light and powdery, adding a bit of cornstarch to keep it seperated. although pretty light and fluffy it wasn't quite perfect, so in the future i might try adding a bit of oil or a stabilizer to the mix. if you can't find cream of coconut (can be found in some stores that carry southeast asian groceries), then chill regular full fat coconut milk in the fridge, scooping out the congealed cream from the top. save the rest of the liquid for other uses.
IMBB19

imbb #19: i can't believe i ate vegan: seitan shawarma

2005-09-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

this posting is in honor of imbb#19 "i can't believe i ate vegan". actually i can believe i ate vegan, being as that is what i eat most of the time. that is when i'm not sneaking slices of pizza or surreptitiously digging my spoon into some poor friend's rapidly diminishing carton of ice cream after a few too many glasses of wine. red wine. always red wine.

i love the idea of this imbb since people seem to have this image of vegans as being pale, anemic, birkenstock shod, armpit hair sporting, mustachiod (only the women), militant, self-righetous, upton sinclair wielding nutcases dancing to their own inner grateful dead soundtrack. or weird purity complex types, but those cases usually go right over the edge and go straight to the raw side. but hey, food is food and can be good, mediocre, bad, even projectile vomit inducing. vegan as well as the other kind. and even though i'm a weak-willed, good-intentioned, non-freaky (really!) mostly vegan i like food. i like food that tastes good. i like food that doesn't have a face and a mother somewhere in meat aisle at safeway. i prefer food that doesn't involve states of perpetual lactation (ouch!) with a trip to same aforementioned safeway aisle once they are are a bit long in the tooth and dried in the teat. being no spring chicken myself i have great sympathy for this inevitable entropy. so sad on so many different levels. especially since i know that things with faces taste good. very good. and who doesn't really, subconsciously, want to return to dairy teat? particulary when it is extruding chocolate ice cream?

and so, back to the subject of this posting, i bring you seitan shawarma...basically a middle eastern burrito. more in the mood for burger and fries? click here.

this shawarma is packed full of good stuff. hot chili sauce, thin slices of marinated seitan, tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, onions and a healthy, oozing dose of a garlicky tahini sauce, wrapped tightly in lavash bread and grilled until crisp and toasty. you can substitute pita bread if you prefer but i think the crispy lavash really makes this dish special. or if seitan isn't your thing, feel free to stick felafel balls in there instead. heck, i'll bet it would probably be good with grilled marinated strips of bessie's left hindquarter, if one were so inclined. but whatever else you do, don't omit the red chili sauce or skimp on the tahini dressing.

you can make your own seitan easily and cheaply if you have a bread machine and a slow cooker, or you can use storebought. tahini and lavash bread can be bought in most stores that stock middle eastern foods. for the red chili paste i use the ubiquitous sriracha, found in friendly chain grocery stores everywhere.

the fixins' from left: tahini-garlic sauce, chili paste, chopped salad, pickled red onions

just look at how juicy and succulent!

seitan shawarma
1 lb. sliced seitan
lavash bread (or pita bread)
tomato, chopped
cucumber, peeled and diced
sliced onions, raw or pickled
parsley, minced
hot sauce, sriracha or any red chili paste

seitan marinade
1/2 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon hot paprika
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch each/ cardamon and allspice
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper

tahini sauce
tahini
1 clove garlic
water
lemon juice
salt to taste

1. prepare seitan marinade ingredients. thinly slice seitan and marinade for about an hour.
2. chop cucumbers and tomatoes, mince parsley and toss together. set aside.
3. place all ingredients for tahini sauce in a food processor or blender. the ratio of water to tahini should be about 1 to 1. blend all ingredients until smooth, adding lemon juice and salt to taste. if the sauce does not pour freely add more water. it should be quite runny.
4. lightly oil a hot non stick frying pan and add seitan. allow to brown slightly. remove from heat.
5. cut lavash into thirds (one third for each shawarma). in a hot skillet slightly warm one slab of lavash for just a few seconds to soften it up.
6. to assemble. lay lavash on a flat surface and layer ingredients like you would for a burrito. depending on the width of your bread it may help to center the filling 1/3 of the way from one edge. spread a thin layer of hot sauce, then layer seitan, tomato and cucumber mix, onion and drizzle tahini sauce. roll up like a burrito (don't forget to tuck one end in so the contents don't fall out when you pick it up!) and place in a hot skillet seam side down for a minute or so, rolling it around until all sides are lightly browned. this helps the seam hold together and lends a delicious crunch to your bread.
IMBB19

luv' parade

2005-09-27T12:04:00.000-07:00

on a completely non-food related note, this was a pretty big weekend here in san francisco. not only did the fog burn away in what appears to be the very late commencement of our indian summer, but we had a bit of german nudie techno luvin street dancing festivities, otherwise known as the love parade, camped out around our stately civic buildings. Plus, we had its antithesis, the folsom street fair in the south of market nether region.

having seen the ultimate spectacle at a folsom street fair a few years back i haven't returned. i mean - don't read this next paragraph if you're squeamish - but once you've seen a half naked leather daddy with a tin bucket tied to his nuts and another guy ferrying over little bottles of evian (!) into aforementioned precariously suspended bucket until all those heavy little bottles mounded up in a terrifyingly low swaying pile, well, once you've seen that you've seen all you should. it was the ultimate folsom street moment for me and right then and there i knew there was no returning. all else would pale in comparison, and anything that wouldn't i want no part of.

dad, is that you?!!

so this year i took in the love parade. i was skeptical since this event was started by the germans and, in its native land, includes a lot of techno music and nudity. german nudity. well, let's just say i was a little afraid. okay, i was very afraid. i had flashbacks of a mid nineties trip to greece and the dozens of eurotrash littered discos belching out bad dance music and overly tanned girls sporting cornrolls and glittery make up a la christina aguilera.

but i was pleasantly surprised. despite being huge both physically and in numbers, and with the usual roving gangs of testosteron-driven walnut creek/sacramento mullet sporting dudes giving each other the high five for no apparent reason, it was a peaceful, well organized, well executed event. it was luvin. it had a good vibe. there was music. there was dancin'. there was also hard liquor for sale for just a few bucks more than the pathetically tiny dixie cups of beers they also had. oh yeah, and did i mention that there was a ton of food stalls. and here is the really impressive part: sufficient porta potties. unbelievable.

stationed around the little square of greenery in the center of the civic center buildings (you know, where the homeless usually camp out) were a freakin' lot of floats and buses and vans with soundsystems blasting out music. i think they were called "pavillions". there was straight up euro disco techno house curry mix music with the requisite terrible sound system; there was a group of breakdancers busting their gravity and ligament defying moves; there were a bunch of set ups with some more standard dance-ish music (standard in a good way, not the j-lo way); and there was my favorite little music spot hosted by the spundae people who were playing by far and way the most interesting music. i guess it's called drum and bass, and there was this red-haired guy that looked just like the littlest partridge making up vocals. a friend later informed me that this type of music was not considered jungle because of these vocals. can anyone explain the difference between jungle, drum and bass, electronica, techno, industrial techno, house, deep house, tofu house chop suey mix...

for those of you at work and wanting to waste a little more time in between sessions of tetris and solitaire, you can take this quiz to find out "what kind of techno are you".

the attendees were surprisingly diverse: the usual assortment of freaks, shy retiring office workers out in their finest s&m gear, normal couples, freaky couples, some families with baby strollers, even a few walker clutching old blue-hairs. and the best part: only two full on nudies who looked like they'd accidentally wandered over from the vollyball nets at the far end of baker beach. was that a beach ball they were clutching?

a motley cru of frustrated office workers...can you spot your secretary here?

and since this is a food blog, let me just say that the food stand selection was excellent. i was moving toward the pupusa stand when i caught the sight below. need i say i immediately lost my appetite, left the event and headed straight home for a wax job?

healthy vegan junk food: homemade veggie burgers and oven baked fries

2005-09-26T09:05:00.000-07:00

yes that flat white disc is a rainbo white hamburger bun picked up from the corner liquor store...

sometimes you just want a burger and fries, even though you know it's bad for you and even though we all saw or read fast food nation and suspect that bits of manuel's arm may be in mixed in with the ground beef, and even though you may be a vegetarian. if you are one of us birkenstock-wearing, patchouli-scented, cornroll-sporting, caftan sewing, stevie-nicks worshipping, arm-pit hair sportin' animal lovers, there may be times that you just don't want a damn boca burger or a greasy crumbly veggie patty or a pile of mashed beans hiding in a bun. or perhaps you're too broke to buy the aforementioned premade. so for all you who are watching your wallet or your cholesterol or your mad cow spongiform intake, here is a good homemade veggie burger. they are firm enough, once cooled, to grill and eat without falling apart and have a pleasantly cohesive and slightly toothsome texture due to the use of vital wheat gluten, the stuff that seitan is made from. praise seitan.

the following recipe is basically a blueprint. if you like a smoky flavor, add some liquid smoke or chipotle; if you prefer a chicken-ish flavored patty, substitute chicken flavored broth for the cooking liquid and add poultry seasonings to the mix. they are pretty versatile. you can even form them into little balls and make fake meatballs out of them. or perhaps form into a star shape to top your christmas tree with. the possibilities are endless. many thanks to bryanna clark grogan, that amazing vegan chef who so generously shares her recipes with us. the recipe looks complicated but it isn't really. don't be afraid. and don't forget to scroll to the bottom of this post for the crispy oven fries secret.

veggie burgers
dry mix:
2/3 c. pure gluten powder
1/3 c. soy or chickpea flour
4 T. oatmeal
1 tsp. dry marjoram
1 tsp. onion powder

wet mix
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. ketchup
1 T. sesame seed oil (optional)
plus enough cold water mixed with the above to make 7/8 c.
1/2 c. textured soy protein granules (tvp) soaked in 1/3 c. boiling water or broth

cooking broth
1 c. hot water
3 T. soy sauce
1/2 T. sesame seed oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed

preheat the oven to 325 degrees. mix the dry ingredients and set aside. combine the wet mix, adding in the reconstituted tvp. in a large bowl combine the wet and dry mixes and blend well. be sure to wait until the reconstituted tvp is completely cooled, otherwise the wheat gluten flour may form strings and become clumpy. form into 4 or 6 hamburger shaped patties and in a lightly oiled 9X13 baking dish. pour cooking broth over the patties and cover with aluminum foil. bake for 15 minutes. carefully flip the patties over and continue baking for another fifteen to twenty minutes. remove from heat. they will firm up once they cool. once cool you can fry, grill or freeze them for later use.

and what is a burger without fries? especially when it's not even really a burger. less than nothing i say! my fries are crispy, golden brown, less bad for you but every bit as delicious as those other deep fried lard ass bad boys. the secret is to parboil them taters before putting them in the oven, cooking at a very high heat, not crowding the pan and using enough olive oil to encourage browning. easy, you'll see.

oven fries
carefully scrub but do not peel 2 russet potatoes. cut in half lengthwise then cut each half into 6 to 8 wedges of equal size. bring a pot of salted water to a simmer and carefully cook the potato wedges until just soft but not mushy. you want them to maintain their shape. pour enough olive oil in a roasting pan to generously coat the bottom and place in a hot oven (475+) until hot. if your oven doesn't get quite hot enough, raise the rack to the higest level. toss parboiled potato wedges in a bit of olive oil and place, flat side down, in the hot roasting pan. cook for 15-20 minutes, turn over and cook for another 10 minutes until golden and crispy on both sides. sprinkle with salt and serve.

black bean tamale torte with red chile sauce and tofu-cilantro cream, aka, tamale pie

2005-09-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

tamale pie. never had it as a kid. the closest i came were those canned tamales, van de kamp brand maybe, over which my brother and i fought tooth and nail for. yes, the "meat" smelled just like the canned food we gave our giant, one-eyed dog, yes the texture was pretty soft and weird, and even to my childish unsophisticated nose, it didn't smell good. what can i say? i liked canned goods. maybe it was some metal deficency or something.

now that i'm a karma-fearing vegetarian the world of canned tamales is forever barred to me. not that i ever had them as an adult, but it's nice to think you could have one if you wanted to. not, of course, that i'd want to... so anyway, in searching for some childhood memories comfort food that my adult brain will allow me to eat, i came across this recipe for black bean and something or other yadda yadda yadda fancy pants torte from the millenium cookbook. sounds like tamale pie to me.

first off, let me warn you that this makes an ungodly amount of torte, pie, whatever you want to call it. i cut the recipe in half and put it in a smaller baking dish and it was still more than enough. secondly, as you can see from the picture, it is ugly. really ugly. third, it is too much work. i want my trailer-inspired food to be easy and fast and uncomplicated. having put all the negative out there, it does taste pretty good. the tofu cilantro cream is nice and makes a good dip. the red chile sauce is tasty too, and probably would go well with enchiladas, over huevos rancheros, over a pile of beans, maybe even drenching a baked potato. my pie turned out a little dry. perhaps i used too large a pan. now i'm in the mood and the market for a good easy healthy tamale pie recipe. anyone have one?

tamale torte with black bean chile and red chile sauce

black bean chili
2 yellow onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon chile powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 bay leaves
4 cups cooked black beans
1 cup tomato puree or tomato sauce
1 cup vegetable stock, or liquid from cooking beans
1 teaspoon sea salt

in a large skillet with a cover, sauté the onions and garlic in the stock over medium-high heat until the liquid evaporates. add the cumin, chile powder, oregano, and bay leaves. stir well to toast the spices before adding the beans, tomato puree, and stock or bean liquid. cover and simmer for 10 minutes, then remove the cover and simmer for 5 minutes. add salt and remove bay leaves.

masa:
4 cups masa harina
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups soy milk
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen

in a large bowl, combine the masa, baking powder, and salt. gradually stir in the soy milk. fold in the corn kernels.

preheat the oven to 350 degrees. lightly oil an 11 x 9 inch baking dish. spread half the masa batter on the bottom. cover with the black bean mixture, then top with the remaining masa batter. cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. remove the foil and bake for 10 minutes. let cool for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. to serve, pour approximately 1/2 cup red chile sauce on a plate and top with a 3-inch square of the torte. add a dollop of cilantro-tofu cream.

red chile sauce:
2 ancho chiles
2 guajillo or ancho chiles
8 cloves garlic
24 ounces crushed tomatoes, canned
2 cups water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon ground cumin powder
2 teaspoons fresh, or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt

in a dry medium saucepan, toast the chiles over high heat, turning them, until they darken, about 3 to 5 minutes. you can also do this over a gas flame or just skip the step altogether. if you burn the peppers your dish will have an unsalvagable bitter taste to it. once peppers are cool, remove stems, seeds and veins. you may also toast the garlic until slightly blackened. combine the chiles, garlic, pureed tomatoes, water, sugar, cumin, oregano, and salt. bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to prevent scorching. remove from the heat and let cool. blend the sauce in a blender or food processor until smooth.

cilantro-tofu cream:
1 bunch cilantro, stemmed
12.3 ounces low-fat silken tofu
1/3 cups fresh lime juice
1/2 cup water

in a blender, combine all the ingredients and blend until completely smooth. set aside.

matcha tokoroten

2005-09-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

my mom has been watching a lot of those japanese health programs lately and, in the endless quest to lose weight (all ten extra pounds of it, if that), has latched onto the latest trend in japan - tokoroten. previous faddish and short-lived drastic dietary regimes have included: drinking huge glasses of ground up carrots before every meal (she hates carrots, can you imagine?!!), eating nothing but thick, pulpy fruit puree for two weeks, rubbing this spot on her stomach exactly ten times a day in order to "clean" the blood, and the list goes on. and on. and on. so this tokorten fad did not alarm me at all. in fact, i was quite happy since i like the stuff myself.

for the un-initiated, tokoroten is a noodle made from seaweed derived gelatin, called kanten. i use powdered agar agar, which may or may not be exactly the same thing. it tastes the same, which is to say that it has absolutely no flavor whatsoever. this is a good thing, as martha stewart might say. it is the ultimate blank canvas. you can make sweet jello-like desserts if you add sugar, fruit or fruit juice, or you can go the sour way and make noodles doused in a soy-vinegar dressing.

i don't follow any particular recipe for either making tokoroten or the deserts, but the general rule i follow is 2 teaspoons to 1 Tablespoon of agar agar powder to 2 cups of water (or fruit juice). for a firmer jelly (or if you are using acidic fruits), use the larger amount of powder. bring the water to a boil, whisk in the agar agar and boil for a minute or two. pour the liquid out into a mold. for noodles, a long narrow flat bottomed plastic container is what i use. for desserts you can use the same mold if you're going to cut the jelly into squares, or for more fun you can use those rubber ice cube trays that come in different shapes. the liquid does not have to be refrigerated in order to set and should be ready in as little as a half an hour. loosen the jelly from the container edges and invert. it should just drop right out. now you'll need the tool. if you don't have the tool, you can lay the jelly out on a cutting board and slice into thin noodle shapes. this is what i do since there is only one tool between me and my moms, and she's not letting it leave her house. then you prepare the sauce. i just use rice wine vinegar and soy sauce (sometimes a little lemon too) mixed together to taste. it should be like a vinegar-y dressing. pour over the noodles and slurp up. if you let it sit in the dressing the flavorless noodles will absorb some of the sauce and be tastier. i like to serve these with a battery of condiments: karashi, green onions, and grated ginger, a few drops of sesame seed oil.

the noodles pictured above were made in the classic way, but as i brought the water to a boil i added some matcha powder. then the agar agar. then i strained out the matcha (you could use regular green tea leaves) as i poured the liquid into the mold. the noodles came out with a beautiful speckled light green color and a delicate tea flavor, which was lost once i drenched them in the soy-vinegar sauce. i'll have to work on an alternate sauce to go with the tea flavored noodles.

so jump on the crazy japanese health program bandwagon and eat a bowl before every meal!

mitsuwa grocery store, san jose

2005-09-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

should you find yourself in the south bay foraging for san jose tofu and want to do a little japanese grocery shopping, i recommend skipping the little store in san jose's japantown and trekking over to the other side of the city (about 10 minutes away by car) for a trip to mitsuwa (formerly yaohan). mitsuwa is much larger, a bit cheaper, and with a really good pottery section where you can get some excellent deals when they have a sale (which usually happens between late october and mid november). in the store there is a little food court where you can buy bento boxes to go or order fresh made items for eating in, plus there is a kinokuniya bookstore next door. did i mention that they sell the much fabled japanese toilet ?

as usual, there are some products and product packaging that only the japanese could invent. during my last trip down those sparkling clean aisles i surreptitiously wielded my oh-so-sly gigantic camera, snapping photos of the multitude of products i am too afraid to purchase. store detective closely in tow.

"DW stands for DIET WEIDER. DIET WEIDER COLLAGEN IN is a LOW CALORIE jelly drink that enables you to fill up anytime you want, without worrying about calories. it also supplies you with 3000 mg. of COLLAGEN".

collagen in a bag with a handy spigot, anyone? and if you're not in the market for collagen, then perhaps some bagged, liquid protein or fiber might interest you...

and i always wondered where bread came from. apparently it comes from the white farm.

hmm, i do wonder what that white substance he seems to putting up to his nose could be? is it legal to purchase at a grocery store?

and what about these oh-so-tasty looking little brown dog turd shaped nuggets? aptly named puke-a sticks.

and speaking of dog turds, apparently snoopy's are good enough to spread on white farm bread and eat as a sandwich!

finally, what could go better with a little couque d'ASSES than some cigarette tongue? sounds like a very bad evening with some filthy skater picked up at your corner dive bar. after last call.

mitsuwa marketplace
675 saratoga avenue
san jose, ca
408 255 6699

san jose tofu

2005-09-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

i've been going to san jose tofu for as long as i can remember, which despite years on drug abuse, i mean experimentation, i mean i never inhaled, reaches pretty far back - a least an hour or two. i was raised in the general vicinity (before there was even an apple ipod), and since moving away to other countries and other counties, i've spent hours journeying back either physically or mentally to this little mecca for chunks of my creamy, curdy, melt in you mouth soybean heaven. you haven't had tofu till you've tried this stuff.

this is a little family run operation located in san jose's rinky-dink japantown. just a little store front with a tiny counter separating the steaming sinks and vats of incubating tofu gnomes from the "dry" section that houses a couple of refrigerators, some veggies and packaged goods. it's a bit of a throwback to be able to watch the tofu guy wading around in his rubbers amidst the wetlands of tofu creation. and when you buy the stuff, the lady just scoops it out of the sink - kinda like waching your lobster get plucked from the tank.

the process of tofu making involves first soaking the soybeans, followed by boiling and straining to remove the pulp from the juice. essentially the same process as making soymilk. this pulp, which is called okara and can be used for other dishes, is then removed. at san jose tofu they put the okara into a plastic garbage can and you can get yourself a bag or two of the stuff to take home. the many uses for okara are pretty surprising: you can use it for breads, veggie burgers, okara "chicken" nuggets, or more traditionally simmered with dashi, veggies and seasonings. if you're interested in the pan-asian history of okara, there's a pretty interesting article here. being a fan of recycling, i get pretty excited about using this tofu by-product.

the soymilk is then slowly mixed with either nigari (natural magnesium chloride) or calcium sulfate until soft curds form. the curds are then poured into a tofu pressing box and pressed until firm. once the desired firmness has been reached, the blocks are then submerged into cold water where they await their lobster-like fate.

prices are 1.70 per block with a slight discount for larger quantities.

this tofu is not like anything you can buy from the grocery store. it is neither silken nor firm but rather light and curd-y. more like a soft pressed fresh cottage cheese. the flavor is clean and light. it is best served cold and with grated ginger, green onion and soy sauce. "please don't put teriyaki sauce on me" mr. tofu says.

if you're in the area, or are just another tofu freak like myself, you need to check this place out. general tip: to keep your tofu fresh (either san jose tofu or your general grocery store garden variety), change its water every day. be a shame to go all the way to san jose for a stinky rotten white log. here is a sfgate article on san jose's japantown with a mention of sj tofu.

san jose tofu
175 jackson street
san jose, ca
408 292 7026
mon - fri 9-6, sat 9-5

childhood food memories meme

2005-08-31T21:18:00.000-07:00

how fun, i've been tagged by cookiecrumb at i'm mad and i eat to participate in a meme dealing with childhood food memories...specifically the top five childhood food memories i miss. or rather missed. which would be all childhood memories since it seems to me that i pretty much missed out on the all those carefree childhood memories. i was expelled from the womb at about the age of seventy and have been doing a pretty good imitation of bette davis in "baby jane" ever since.

blessedly, i do not have any actual autobiographical photographic evidence of said times, but here is a dramatized, made for tv representation of the aforementioned epoch. race, gender and location all changed to protect the identity of the innocent.

so, back to the meme at hand, which is: name the top five childhood food memories i miss:

1. "soft rice". martha stewart re-dubbed this as "japanese risotto". even martha couldn't take the tarnish off of this hardcore asian peasant dish which is really just what the chinese call congee. a very soupy, thick short grain rice porridge (yes, porridge)with miso and cabbage and an egg cracked in and stirred up to thicken the mess at the end. the proportions were probaby about 1/4 c. short grain rice to 2 cup water and 3 T. miso and 1/8 cabbage and 1 egg. i got this every time i was sick, so you might imagine i have a sort of love-hate relationship with the stuff.

2. "hungarian goulash". my fathers specialty. i have no idea where the name came from since i've since learned that the actual hungarian goulash bears absolutely no resemblance to the hamburger, italian sausage, elbow macaroni in a tomato sauce slop that i happily slurped up and still fondly dream of. what can i say except "upstate new york"?

3. "rabbit stew". yikes, i know, i know. poor little bugs bunny. but i can't tell you how darn tender that stewed rabbit leg was. the meat just fell off of the bone, and the veggies that it came with (potatoes, onion, celery, carrot, a bit of tomato - yummy). too bad it turned out to be my pet rabbit oscar to whom i read bedtime stories in his hutch at twilight (and you ask why i became a vegetarian?).

4. dinty moore "beef" stew. honest to god my brother and i used to fight over the stuff. even though we both agreed that it smelled exactly
like the canned horsemeat (kalcan, i recall) dogfood our giant one-eyed german shepard used to eat. this comes in at a dead heat to the canned hormel "tamales", but much ahead of the underwood "deviled meats" line.

5. "meatloaf". i put that in quotations since it was a japanese version of the american classic. for sure there was some groundbeef but as for the rest, well, at least she tried.

and now for the hard part. the rules. did any of you read "the rules" when it came out - that little handbook about how to manipulate a man into that thing that they say us females desire the most - no, not a maid or a big, furry, friendly rotweiler - but rather a mate.... but anyhoo, here are four people i shall forward this meme to:
1. brownbreadicecream
2. simply recipes
3. obachans kitchen balcony and garden
4. asian vegan

and here is the next step, which smells very strongly of a chain letter: it is to remove the blog at #1 from the following list (which is the uppermost link from hence this meme came) and bump every one up one place, adding your blog's name in the #5 spot; link to each of the other blogs for the desired effect,whatever that might be. fingers crossed i get a dollar in the mail sometime soon....or an autographed picture of shaun cassidy...
1. pumpkin pie bungalow
2. once upon a feast
3. belly-timber
4. i'm mad and i eat
5. bunnyfoot

brownie bite cookies and blog day '05

2005-08-31T08:50:00.000-07:00

it has come to my attention that today is blog day 2005. a day in which we bloggers share five new blogs with links to encourage our readers to do a little exploring. so here are five blogs (all of which are new to me since i've only been blogging for a short time now) that i really enjoy checking out. here they are in no particular order: tokyotimes i love this blog written by a dry-witted brit observing the latest trends, news, and cultural dissonances of the japanese life. and back to northern california, i enjoy checking out cookiecrumb at i'm mad and i eat. lots of great photos of local produce and seasonal dishes never fails to get my mouth watering. obachan's kitchen and balcony garden back to japan for an eclectic blog by a self-titled obachan (meaning middle aged lady) - lots of interesting recipes and food ideas that blend east and west in her little kitchen in kotchi japan. brownbreadicecream the title bar reads "singapore vancouver des moines tokyo" and that pretty much says it all about this multi-cultural non-native tokyo dweller. i love stopping by to read up on her lastest musing on life in japan, pictures of edward the dog, and her ever patient salaryman husband. finally, if you haven't been to nordljus you really must stop by. keiko creates the most amazing confections i've seen outside of a pastry cookbook and wields her camera with envy inducing skill. just beautiful. now, back to our regularly scheduled feature:

you all must think i'm a cookie-scarfing maniac living in a garbage can somewhere on sesame street west, judging from all the cookie recipes i post. and -gasp- they are not even close to being vegan - unless somewhere along the way butter and eggs got themselves expelled from metallic, mechanical robotic cows and chickens (scary mid-fifties science fiction type thought). in fact, i've been wondering if i should change my blog description from "mostly vegan" to "cookie and pizza freak". well, i blame my man for this. and more. much, much more. you see, he likes cookies. and he will not even taste the ones without the barnyard ingredients, for which i can hardly blame him since i also despise dry and puffy lowfat cookies almost as much as the oily and greazzzy vegan ones. plus, i don't really like cookies all that much anyway. i'll choose a salty greazzzy bag of chips over a cookie any day.

here is the most recent cookie recipe in my arsenal...adapted from something i found on the allrecipes site. they are very chocolatey without being too sweet. depending on how long you cook them they can be slightly crispy on the outside and soft inside, or if you flatten them out a bit and bake a little longer they can be nice and crispy. everyone i've given these to really like them. heck, i even like them.

brownie bite cookies
1 - 1 1/4 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 cups flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups semi sweet chocolate

cream together butter and sugar. add eggs one at a time, then vanilla. sift the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt) and incorporate into sugar butter mixture. fold in chocolate chips. drop by heaping teapoon fulls onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.
to veganize: replace the eggs with 2 egg equivalents of ener-g egg replacer, or the egg replacer of your choice and replace the butter with margarine or non-hydrogenated shortening (or a mix of the two, which i prefer).

i'm back....

2005-08-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

some of you may have noticed that i've been quiet lately. well, that's because i've been away on vacation somewhere in the beautiful pacific northwest. i decided that the fog and the city life were starting to wear me down like an old bald tire, and decided to spend a week swimming in this river:

and foraging on berries:

and enjoying many beautiful flowers:

and the best part of it all is that i've returned in time to enjoy what i hope is the beginning of our true san francisco summer. no roiling vats of fog pouring over twin peaks in a diabolical onslaught. no roaring winds. no jackets. no knit caps. only the sweet stench of the sewers whispering their summer lullabyes.

sopa azteca

2005-08-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

yes, that bowl is indeed empty. this crude, crumbly, humble pottery is one of my favorite relics from my time in mexico. somehow the ornate talavera pottery with its bright colors and showy designs just didn't turn my crank once i returned to the u.s. not like this stuff. i suppose it's because it's more representative of what i view to be the "real" life of mexico. in other words, my life in a conservative cowboy town high up in the desert: the mercados crammed full of hanging pig carcases, stinky vats of lard fried pork skin, piles of avocados at 15 pesos a kilo, fresh rounds of crumbly cheese with flies buzzing around, stands with old ladies selling freshly squeezed juices, and, oh yeah, how could i forget the "onion boy". he who strutted around in a wife beater and battered cowboy hat, gratuitously heaving sacks of onions over his head just to show off the perfect triangle of his finely sculpted physique. how many unnecessary onions did i buy, let rot, then go back for more?

so.... rough clay pottery plus onions minus onion boy plus summertime plus bumper crops of tomatoes equals what?. isn't it obvious? it equals the sum of all creation: soup. hot, steaming bowls of tomato-based soup to fortify us during the pinche cold and foggy san francisco summer. this is one of my favorite soups and very, very easy to make. be sure not to skimp on the garnishes as they really make the soup shine. speaking of garnishes i also have a great recipe for vegetarian green posole. maybe i'll post it if this damn fog doesn't clear up soon.

Sopa Azteca
4 cups vegetable stock
3 large or 6 small tomatoes, roasted and peeled (either broil or roast over open gas flame)
2 large cloves garlic, peeled
1 small white onion, peeled and chopped
½ - 1 teaspoon chipotle chili (use either canned, chipotles in adobo sauce, or soak dried chili in boiling water for 20 minutes – remove seed and veins unless you like it really hot)
4 epazote leaves (optional – may substitute ½ t. oregano)
1 tablespoon oil, plus enough to fry the tortillas
4 corn tortillas (or 1 cup crumbled store bought tortilla chips)
sliced avocado
cilantro
1 lime, cut quartered
Mexican crema or sour cream
crumbled queso fresco or mild feta cheese

cut the tortillas into Frito-size strips, fry in hot oil until crispy, and drain well, set aside. in a large saucepan, bring the broth to a simmer. meanwhile, place the roasted tomatoes, garlic, onion, chiles, ¼ of the tortilla strips, and epazote in the blender with just enough broth to allow the blades to turn, and puree. if you have the time and the inclination (try it at least once to see if this extra step is "vale la pena" for you - i generally skip it), in a separate saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon oil, add the puree and cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes. add the simmering broth, cook another 15 minutes; add salt to taste.

serve the soup with the fried tortilla strips (or, more likely, store bought chips) in the broth and pass the cheese, avocado, lime, cilantro and crema separately, to be added by each diner. the addition of these garnishes, especially the lime and chips really makes the dish, so don't skimp!

by the way, here is a picture of the dreaded fog - just in case you don't believe me...

infused vinegar

2005-08-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

pretty, no?

this is the latest of my experimentation with infusions: onion-infused vinegar. the red onion gives the vinegar a beautiful pinkish watermelon-ish tint and a nice wallop of onion flavor, minus the bite. and so easy! just dice up some red onion (i whole red onion for one small jar of white vinegar), bring the vinegar to a simmer in a saucepan, add diced onion and pour the contents of the saucepan plus a pinch of salt into a large jar and let sit for a week or two. strain out the onion and store in a tightly sealed jar.

infused vodka

2005-07-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

in readiness for the upcoming san francisco summer (which as we all know comes in the late summer, once the giant fog bank relents a little) my mind has turned to booze. well, to be frank, my mind is always on booze. wine, bourbon, pernod, limoncello, pimms, raki, sake, shoju. i've never met a drink i didn't like, with the possible exception of fernet, which i can choke down for digestive purposes only. oh, and also on my not-to-drink list is something called "mescalito". not to be mistaken for mescal, mescalito is a brand name of an alcohol you can buy in liquor stores in mexico - it is positioned on the shelf between the lowest grade of mescal and the rubbing alcohol, i kid you not. it is basically cane alcohol and while it tastes just fine with some ice and fresca (and is dirt cheap at two bucks a litre), it will cross your eyes after the first four sips.

so, as i was saying, in readiness for the rolling back of the fog, i've been infusing vodka. i got the idea shortly after i shelled out twenty five bucks for some absolute citron. the great thing about brewing your own is that you can make any flavor you want, as strong as you want it, as sweet or unsweet as you like, and you can use the trader joe's nine dollar and ninety nine cent bottle of fake polish vodka (made in austria, i think) and it will taste fantastic.

and it is so easy. just buy a bottle of vodka, select your flavor, remove a little of the spirit from the bottle, shove the zest (for citrus), or the fruit, or the herbs, or the vegetables into the bottle and wait anywhere from one day to a week, shaking it occasionally and tasting. when it's reached the desired intensity level, remove the vodka-preserved stuff to the trash can and strain the liquor from any particulate. that's it. couldn't be easier.

pictured here are, from left to right: lychee, cucumber, lemon and mango. these guys taste soooo good over ice with some sparkling mineral water, and the cucumber makes a most interesting martini. if anyone out there has any ideas for more flavors or mixed drinks using this stuff, please post....

yes, you CAN make your own tempeh!

2005-07-26T21:38:00.000-07:00

the soybean, how many ways i eat thee. as milk on my cereal, in creamy bricks of pressed tofu, dry roasted with salt, fermented as miso and soy sauce, whipped up with peanut butter, chocolate and banana and pressed into a graham cracker crust, incorporated into various sauces and dressings and smoothies, as hotdogs, burgers and even, gasp "cheese", your discarded hulls otherwise known as okara added to breads or formed into patties. but never, ever as natto. that's taking things a little too far for me.

oh yes, did i mention tempeh? this indonesian soyfood is loaded with good stuff and is darn tasty too. you can cook it about a million different ways but the way i like it best is simple. salted and quickly pan-fried. i began making my tempeh several years ago while living in a little town in northern mexico where tempeh was nowhere to be found. soybeans yes. ziplock baggies yes. vinegar yes. on a trip back to the us i ordered the culture and thus began my love hate relationship with homemade tempeh. love the taste and the price. hate the splitting and dehulling. if you're a tempeh fan or just a closet science freak, i highly recommend you try making your own at least once. the taste is just not comparable to store-bought, in my humble, cheap-skate opinion.

the materials:
a large towel
2 1/2 cups dried soybeans
tempeh starter, 1 teaspoon
white vinegar, 2 Tablespoons
2 ziplock sandwich bags
safety pin
dishtowels
cookie sheet
incubator

the beans: use dried, whole soybeans that have been soaked for at least 6 hours to overnight. 2 1/2 cups dried soybeans will yield approximately two ziplock sandwich bags of tempeh. i generally make a double batch of tempeh and freeze for later use.

the starter: you can buy the starter online from any number of sources. i ordered mine through G.E.M. Cultures, located in northern california. you can get enough culture to make 18 lbs. of tempeh for about four dollars. it seems to last indefinitly if stored in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator...i've had mine for about three years now and it still keeps cranking out the tasty fungi.

the incubator: there are several crazy makeshift incubator ideas out there, the most rambshackle of which includes a styrofoam cooler with string of christmas lights blazing inside, lid slightly ajar. i use my gas oven. the pilot light keeps it warm inside and to regulate the temperature i jam a rolled up washcloth in the door, keeping it slightly ajar. in an electric oven i've used a low wattage cheapo desk lamp pluged in with the light source pointing up and away from the tempeh and the wadded up washcloth for temperature regulation. the point is that you want to maintain a temperature of about 30-32 c, about 80 degrees f. it's important to make sure your incubator is not airtight and to make sure you do a trial run in your incubator with just your thermometer first. as the tempeh culture grows it will begin to generate it's own heat and the opening of the oven door may need to be adjusted.

the baggies: stab a bunch of holes into your ziplock sandwich bags with the sterilized safety pin. at least 1 hole every 1/4 inch in a grid pattern.

the procedure:
1. soak the dried soybeans for 6-24 hours.

2. split the soaked soybeans. this is the fun (as in getting stabbed in the eye fun) part. ideally each bean will be split into two halves. some suggest kneading the beans between your two hands to split the beans (never works for me), some suggest using a rolling pin or straight edged glass to apply pressure in a rocking motion over a thin layer of the beans (works okay but it a giant pain and makes a mess), some lucky souls have a grain mill which they set on a loose setting and split the beans when dry, some use a food processor to lightly split the soybeans. i generally use a straight edged glass and do the rocking motion thing until i get bored, then dump the remaining beans a tiny bit at a time into a food processor.

3. cook and dehull the broken soybeans. bring a large pot of water to boil and add the soybeans. as the water boils skim off the hulls that float to the top and discard. simmer for about 20 minutes, removing as much of the skin as possible but not stressing over any laggers.

4. dry the skinless, broken, naked soybeans. this is where the big beach towel that your grandma gave to you comes in. unfurl that sucker and place the drained beans in a thin layer on it. roll it up like a burrito. unroll and place the dry-ish beans into a large mixing bowl. it's important to get these beans pretty dry because too much moisture may cause a batch to go bad.

5. innoculate. once the beans come to slightly less than skin temperature add and thoroughly mix the vinegar. once incorporated, add the starter and again thorougly mix.

6. bag and incubate. pack one half of the tempeh into one prepared ziplock sandwich bag, trying to pat it down as flat as possible and fill out all the corners so you have a solid cake. on your cookie sheet place the dishtowels about 2-3 layers thick. lay the packaged tempeh on top and place in your incubator.

7. watch and wait. this is the really fun part. nothing will happen for the first twelve hours so don't be disappointed. by about hour 15-20 you will begin to see white stuff growing in there. don't panic, this is good. by about hour 24 the cake should have a nice white tightly knit covering of white stuff with some black patches in the edges and around the little holes in the baggies. don't panic. this is also good. the black stuff is just a part of the lifecycle (sporulation) of the culture. although unsightly, i find the flavor better with more of the black stuff...it's a little stronger. minimally the tempeh should tightly bound with white stuff and hold its shape when sliced.

after 24 hours. there are some black spots around the airholes and in the edges. this is good!

the sliced cake should be tightly bound with white stuff and hold its shape well.

8. finishing.when it's done as you like it remove from the incubator. i always steam the cakes for 20 minutes immediately and freeze for later use. the tempeh should have a nice, mushroomy smell. if it's slimy or smells heavily of ammonia then it's probably bad and should be discarded. any color other than white or grey or black is not good.

for more instructions on tempeh making: click here and click here.
for the more information on tempeh (history, etc.), click here.

temaki, the lazy cook's sushi

2005-07-20T21:11:00.000-07:00

i've been on a japanese food kick lately, if you haven't noticed. these mini obsessions seem to come and go in waves. i usually can tell i'm on the tail end of this particular one when i make sushi, which i've never really been crazy about. when i say sushi i'm usually referring to maki, the seaweed wrapped rolls that are stuffed with the usual suspects in the usual combinations in the usual limp seaweed skins. while they're not particularly difficult to roll and slice there is just something so mundane about them. they've never really turned my crank. and then i discovered temaki, or "roll your own" sushi.

and this is how it works: you cook up the "usual suspects" and some unusual ones for the filling, cutting them about the length of a halved seaweed wrapper, season some rice, lay out some condiments, toast the seaweed sheets and, as i mentioned before, cut them in half, and serve. not only is it more fun for everyone to make their own little japanese burritos, getting wacky with crazy, unpalatable combinations for which they have no one to blame but themselves, but it's also fun to watch the, um, unusual shapes that emerge: cigars, snow cones (sometimes), ambulance stretchers, anna nicole smith before the diet, you name it.

in the platter pictured above i have some seasoned shitake mushrooms, blanched carrots, shiso leaf (try this, it is so interesting and good!), avocado, fake meat, daikon sprouts, slivered green onion, seaweed salad, pickled ginger. not pictured but some other things i frequently use are green bean or asparagus tempura, cucumber and seasoned omlette.

and here we have some hamachi and tuna for the flesh eaters.

sorry for the blurry picture. too much sake.

to assemble, lay the halved sheet flat on a plate with the long part horizontal, spoon rice in the 1/3 left part, lay in your fillings and roll in a snow cone shape with bottom edges meeing and top fanning out into a triangle. your first few attempts may result in something more geometrically, um, interesting. and the best part is that you can take your leftover fillings (barring such items as avocado and fish), diced them up and mix with the leftover rice for your next meal. easy, no?

sushi rice seasoning
4 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons +1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt

this makes enough seasoning for about two cups (if using a regular measuring cup, 3 cups if using cup measure that come with your rice cooker) of uncooked, short grain rice. mix the ingredients together and slowly pour over cooked rice. fan the rice with one hand (the help the steam escape) while gently folding the seasoning in with the other. lightly toast seaweed sheets over a stove burner on each side and cut in half with kitchen shears.

ichiban kan!

2005-07-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

aren't i cute? clearly i come from japan where cute is the ultimate fetish. you can't see below my neck but i am wearing a school girl's uniform. it is very short. luckily i have some very scrunchy socks-tsu on my feet that pool around my calves and ankles, thus protecting my modesty whilst at the same time making me look very, very cute. nevermind that it is one hundred and four degrees outside right now. my name is otsu-chan. please take a bite....

ichiban kan, the dollar store of my dreams. i keep on going back, filling my house up with more, hmmm, let's be honest about this, junk. i dread the inevitable day that i move apartments yet again. i will have to go through my closets and cupboards, sifting through this stuff, wasting hours gloating over my useless bargains.

if you don't know about this junkers' haven, it is called ichiban kan, located in the peace plaza building on post street next to the sumitomo bank. it is a .99 cent store, sort of. this doesn't mean that everything costs .99 cents, like at the ".99 cent only" store, not to be mistaken for the ".99 cent and up" store, or god forbid, the "1.00 and up store". no my friends, it simply means that things are cheap.

filled with bargain-priced goodies such as instant miso soup, rice crackers, a dazzling selection of pocky (most recently added: "pocky for men"), house slippers, every imaginable type and size of plastic storage box, cute glasses, bits of japanese pottery, a huge stationary section, this place is paradise for the junk shopper. and the cute hunter as well. there is more cute in here than in both pigtails of aforementioned japanese schoolgirl.

i mean, just look at these onegiri molds. i am useless at making uniform rice balls that hold together, my graceless leaden hands forming instantly crumbling sandstone boulders instead. but look ma, now i can whip them out nice and tightly packed. and cute too.

ichi ban kan
22 peace plaza (western wing of kintetsu mall)
san francisco

jam and cookies

2005-07-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

for the past five years or so i've noticed a steadily growing urge to put a little something up in my larder. please remove mind from gutter. i am speaking of canning. spelled with two of the letter n, not one. it must be related to the ticking of the biological clock, the drying up of the eggs, the autumnal fading of this chickenhood, or maybe just watching too much little house on the prarie as a young girl.

so, as you can see, this year i did it. and am still doing it. in fact, i have become obsessed with it. i've banged out apricot jam, peach jam, apricot peach jam, apricot ginger jam, apricot chutney (do i like chutney? i don't know), dill pickles (they came out mushy due to the hotwater bath processing, yuck), pickled beets (amazingly tasty when a 1/2 of very thin slice of lemon is added to the jar), preserved lemons (an utter failure - none of the jars sealed). and it is fun. kinda. the problem is that i don't really use jam. and i don't like those mushy dills. and chutney? i seem to recall trying it once and hating it.

don't get me wrong, the jams are amazingly delicious - i picked the damn fruit right off the trees at u-pick orchards in brentwood, like the hot sweaty clumsy monkey i am i dangled from thorny tree branches (verboten, by the way) dropping my little nuggets down to the waiting hands of my moms, who promptly hurled them with the delicacy and finesse of a major league pitcher into a waiting bucket twenty feet away.

so loaded with jam i went in search of recipes. the man was clamoring for something sweet and i put two and two together and got, um, cookies. jam thumbprint cookies.

the original recipe calls for all butter but he likes it better with a butter shortning mix. they are pretty, simple to make, not too sweet, soft and kinda shortbread-y but not quite.

jam thumbprint cookies
3/4 cup butter, softened (i use 6 T. butter 6 T. shortening)
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup fruit preserves, any flavor
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)

cream together butter, sugar and egg yolk. add flour in until a dough forms. roll the dough out into 1 inch balls and place onto ungreased cookie sheet. using a finger poke a little well into the center of each cookie and fill with jam. bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown on the bottom. cool on racks. eat.

japanese potato salad

2005-07-07T15:46:00.000-07:00

hope you all had a good fourth of july weekend, or canada day, or regular ol' workday or weekend day, whichever it was. for five days i gorged myself on such delicacies as ruffles potato chips, tortilla chips and guacamole, veggie burgers, "veggie" sandwiches consisting of ruffles, tomato, onion and guacamole and the occasional iceberg lettuce shred, lots of beer and no small amount of desserts. near the end of this five day pure junk (otherwise known as vegetarian trying to fill up at meat-eaters bbq) binge i felt like i was going to blow up just like a fourth of july firework. in point of fact i did, but not quite (although almost) as colorfully, and not in public but rather in the privacy of my own privvy. too much information, no?

so in honor of this very american holiday i offer you a japanese rendition of a classic american favorite. potato salad, japanese-style.

Japanese-style Potato Salad
1 lb. potatoes (about 4 medium-large potatoes)
1 english or japanese cucumber (see directions)
1 T.+ finely sliced green onion, green and white part
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 T. mayo (for vegan use vegannaise or a homemade tofu mayo - for lowfat substitute soymilk or even water though this will affect the texture)
2 t. lemon
Salt and black pepper to taste

boil the unpeeled potatoes. while the potatoes are cooking, prepare the cucumber...if using japanese or hothouse english cucumbers you may peel some of the skin, leaving strips of green, and slice very thinly. if using the larger, more pornographic waxy variety, you'll probably have to peel it, slice it in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and then slice very thinly. place the sliced cucumber into a small bowl, adding about one teaspoon of salt and toss. this is to expel some of the water so as not to make your salad, ugh, watery. thinly slice the green onion and set aside. once the potatoes are soft, remove the skins and mash. i use a potato ricer. if you like some chunks you can mash some of the potatoes and cube the rest. i prefer it smooth, like the back of a hairless man. rinse the salted cucumber with water and squeeze. place the potatoes, cucumber and onion, mayo, lemon juice and mustard in a bowl and mix together. add lemon, salt and pepper to taste, garnishing with more green onion.

eggplant misoyaki

2005-07-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

'tis the season for japanese eggplant. so pretty. so meltingly tender. and served with this sweet-ish miso sauce, so very tasty. this sauce can be served over just about any vegetable. i like it with green beans, asparagus, even tofu, the fried, seared and raw varieties. try it, you'll see what i'm talking about. so without further adieu, here it is, for you good time sentimental happy taste memory.

eggplant misoyaki
5-6 small japanese eggplants
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons mirin
1 Tablespoon sake
1-4 Tablespoons dashi
2 1/2 Tablespoons light miso (smaller amount if using a darker, saltier miso)
sesame seed oil

you can prepare the eggplant in one of two ways: either grilled/broiled or cut into rings and sauteed. if you want to retain the shape of the eggplant, as pictured, cut each eggplant in half, brush with sesame seed oil, and broil or grill until tender. while the eggplant is grilling prepare the sauce.

if you choose not to broil/grill the eggplant simply cut into one inch rings. you may also make this dish using the larger variety (globe) of eggplant but be sure to peel most of the skin off, cut into 1 inch cubes, salt and drain in a colander, rinsing before cooking. this is important unless you (1) like a salt lick, or (2) seeking a high blood pressure related heart attack, or (3) really want to bloat up until you can't button up your pants. heat a frying pan and add 1-2 Tablespoons sesame seed oil. add eggplant and saute until tender, adding a bit of water now and then if necessary. when i am feeling gross and in need of avoiding oil, i "steam fry" my eggplant with small additions of water now and then.

mix the sugar, mirin, sake, miso and dashi (or water) together in a small bowl and add directly to the frying pan. continue cooking until the sauce thickens slightly. remove from heat and serve.

if you've broiled your eggplant, place the sauce ingredients in a small sauce pan and heat until boiling. simmer for just a few minutes until the sauce thickens slightly and carmelizes a bit. remove from heat and pour over prepared eggplants.

garnish with minced green onion for extra prettiness.

another meme

2005-06-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

i've been tagged by obachan to participate in this little cookbook meme. i'm supposed to tell you all a little bit about my cookbook collection and the like. but first the disclaimer: with one or two exceptions, i've never bought a cookbook anywhere other than at a thrift store. which means that most of my culinary guides were deemed garbage by someone else. the notable exceptions would be some of my vegan cookery guides, which, this being san francisco and all, don't very often end up at the goodwill or whathaveyou.

total number of cookbooks i've owned: hmmm, about 35 not including the little booklets.

last cookbook i bought: beard on bread (and i paid only two dollars for it!)

five cookbooks that mean a lot to me: well, none of them mean all that much to me but they all tickle my fancy for one reason or another.

1. cookin' with dr. pepper

by the fine makers of dr. pepper: this little guy i found on the street. inside recipes for such haute cuisine as dr. pepper spareribs and dr. pepper minute steak await the gentle reader.

2. the now and zen epicure

by miyoko nishimoto. this cookbook blows my mind. it's a vegan cookbook written by a japanese woman emulating french dynasty-style (as in the tv show) late eighties cuisine. there's a rockin' glamour shot of the chefesse on the back with full-on perm and wind-machine action. crazy stuff. if you don't believe me, just look at this:

drool over this lovely, um, non-gelatine gelantinous mold of i'm not sure what, but it looks scary in a 1950's sort of way. note that i paid only three dollars for this book and have yet to muster the huevos, the ganas, the....well, let's just say it....the male testosterone producing sacks, to try any of the recipes.

3. nonna's italian kitchen

by bryanna clark grogan: full of delicious vegan italian homestyle recipes by one of my all-time favorite vegan cookbook authors. the recipes never fall short on flavour and she's provides lots of options for those looking to avoid soy or gluten and such things.

4. the ultimate uncheese cookbook

by joanne stepaniak. okay, we're getting kinda' weird here, right? yeah, but as long as you don't really expect these "uncheese" recipes to really replicate the taste and texture of cheese you're gonna be alright. take a deep breath and repeat that, "i'm gonna be alright". the dishes are the ultimate comfort food in a cold and cheeseless world. plus, it's better for you.

5. little foods of the mediterranean

by clifford wright. i love the concept of this book. hundreds and hundreds of little dishes from all around the mediterranean. lots of recipes for everyone.

which five people would you most like to see fill this out in their blog?
i don't know five people who live on my block, much less five people out there in the blogosphere, so here goes:

madeater.blogspot.com
shewhoeats.blogspot.com
asianvegan.blogspot.com
thelazyvegetarian.blogspot.com

agedashi tofu

2005-06-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

this dish is pretty and tasty and a lot easier to make than you might think. it always impresses. somehow hot oil never fails to impress my friends. especially when it's spitting at me like a machine gun and making me do that crazy little crack dance. just kidding, what with the cornstarch coating and the tofu pressing, there is very little molten splats coming your way.

tofu agedashi
1 tub firm tofu
1 cup dashi stock
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon mirin (or sake)
1 Tablespoon potato starch (or cornstarch) mixed with 1 Tablespoon cold water
salt to taste
1-3 teaspoons grated ginger (to taste)
1 Tablespoon thinly sliced green onion
potato or cornstarch for dusting tofu
oil for frying

wrap tofu in papertowels and sandwich between two cutting boards or plates. place a weight on top and let sit for at least 20 minutes to expel some of the water. place konbu dashi, mirin and soy sauce in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. if you like a thicker agedashi stock add the potato/cornstarch mixed with water and stir quickly. this will thicken the sauce. sometimes i add the starch to thicken, sometimes i don't. in the picture above i didn't, so your sauce will look a little cloudier but will stick to the tofu much better. once the tofu has been pressed, pat dry and cut the cube in half. you may also cut into triangles or cubes, as you like it. dredge all sides in cornstarch and fry on each side until golden brown. to serve, place each serving in a seperate bowl and pour heated sauce over the top. garnish with a small blob of grated ginger and thinly sliced green onion. i usually put the ginger in the sauce and garnish just with the green onion.

sweet simmered kabocha squash

2005-06-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

here is a favorite snack of my moms, simmered japanese pumpkin. it can be served at room temperature as a side dish to a japanese meal, or my way, which involves a midnight visit to the fridge, bum scratching, eye rubbing and deeply profound mutterings all in a walking sleep state.

that remindes me of a time when one of my neighbors in an apartment building across the way got up in the middle of the night, flipped on her flourescent overhead lights, and gorged on a pint of ice cream. buck naked. which in turn remindes me of another time in college when one of my neighbors, a big, hairy guy with an uncannily kabocha like gut decided to watch some late night tv. nude. very considerately he drew the shades most of the way down. only the base of his belly and bobbly bits were exposed. the worst part was that he was channel surfing without a remote control. back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, like ducks in a shooting gallery. it was awful.

now that i've ruined your appetite, lets get back to the food. just in case you don't know what a kaboch squash looks like, here it is in it's natural state.

simmered sweet kabocha
2 lbs. kabocha squash, peeled and diced into 1"x1" cubes (approx. 6 cups)
1/2 cup water or dashi
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
pinch of salt

depending on the state of the skin, you can either peel completely or partially peel the green outer skin into strips. remove seeds and cut into 1 inch cubes. place water, sugar, soy and salt in a sauce pan, followed by diced squash. bring to a boil and place lid on pan, turning down heat to a low simmer. depending on the size of the pumpkin cubes you may need to add more water to prevent scorching. cook until done (when a chopstick easily passes through the flesh but still retains it's shape), about 15 minutes. the squash should have a chestnut like texture, not soggy or watery. if there is too much liquid left in the pan, remove the squash and reduce the liquid until slightly thickened and pour over kabocha.

miso soup

2005-06-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

ah my dear friend miso soup. you can be so mediocre. you can be so heavy handed. so fishy. so salty. so overly miso-y. yet deep within your murky depths you have the potential to be more, so very much more than a finger-bowl for the tastebuds.

you are more than miso and water. you are sake. you are wakame. you are negi. carrot and maybe daikon too. but mostly, to me, you are kombu-dashi.

before continuing to the rest of the post, click here for some bizarre news, japanese-style.

this is my secret weapon in my japanese arse, i mean, arsenal. as a vegetarian i eschew the hondashi, the fish based stock that is japanese cuisine. as a hungry realist i close my eyes and look the other was when eating out at japanese restaurants. but when cooking at home i use kombu dashi, which is a vegetarian seaweed stock. it can be made at home and i will later post a recipe for it, but the dried version that can be purchased at japanese and asian groceries is way, way better. the brand i buy come five to a bag each serving is wrapped in a green cylindrical paper. they kinda look like short, fat pixie sticks. just ask for konbu dashi.

the other very important point is the miso. i've found it to be important to use a combination of miso types. i use about one half the red miso paste and one half the lighter, sweeter white miso paste. when trying to get the balance right it is tempting to throw in more miso but beware this can overpower the soup. a few sprinkles of salt will usually bring up the flavors without making the miso flavor too ham-fisted.

miso soup
5 cups konbu dashi (i use 5 c. water plus one tube of dried dashi stock)
3 Tablespoons miso (half red and half white, or all white but you will need to add extra salt)
dried wakame seaweed
1/4 carrot, sliced into thin rounds
optional: daikon
2 Tablespoons sake
1/4 cup tofu, cubed very small
2 scallions, finely chopped (yes! use the green part too)
salt to taste

bring stock to a boil and add sliced carrot. you can also buy these pretty little flower shaped cutters (like cookie cutters but for vegetables) at asian grocery stores and make pretty little shapes. pretty little flower-y shapes. if you like you can also add a little thinly sliced daikon. daikon is that huge, long, snow white radish. in japan the mean boys used to call girls with thick legs "daikon ashi". ashi, as you probably guessed, means leg. not nice.

put the veggies into the stock and simmer for a few minutes. add cubed tofu. add wakame... just a small amount (1 Tablespoon dried - it really expands) and snipped into short sections with a scissors. immediately add sake and miso. i usually take some of the stock water and mix it into the miso so it incorporates more easily into the stock. now, turn off the heat. "they" say you shouldn't boil miso soup. swish everything around and adjust seasonings to taste. you may be tempted to add more miso paste but wait and try just a few sprinkles of salt instead. serve with thinly sliced green onion.

all about me me s

2005-06-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

so i've been seeing these things around, these memes. i picked up this meme theme from becks and posh - it's hosted by deliciousdays.com, which is a pretty site so you should check it out here. and join in the all about me me me fun. sooo answering the general call to reveal a little something about myself as a cooker and an eater and a spastic (though not ill-intentioned) humanoid and to share in this community of other cookers and eaters, spastic or not, here it is. the next post will be back to food.

What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own? making a batch of homemade brownies when i was seven. memorable because my long hair fell into the batter and got caught in the egg beaters which wound their way up to my scalp leaving me with bizarre brownie batter caked hairdo. also memorable because, as i was crying imagining my life as a bald child, my father and brother just laughed and laughed and pointed and laughed. then they asked if there was still enough batter left to make the brownies.

Who had the most influence on your cooking? my moms, of course. she who was learning how to cook classic american (yep, white trash) cuisine, being neither a cook nor an american. think japanese renditions of american classics created by someone who'd never so much as scrambled an egg. scary.

Do you have an old photo as “evidence” of an early exposure to the culinary world and would you like to share it? there is very little photographic evidence of my existence as a child. according to visual records i began to exist at about the age of nineteen. usually with eyes half-lidded and drunkenly dangling a cigarette from a gibbering saliva coated mouth curled into an idiot's grin.

Mageiricophobia - do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat? any meats on any grill. beef jerky anyone? no? i also do chicken jerky, turkey jerky and fish jerky.

What would be your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest letdown? my vitamix and kuhn rikon pressure cooker i dearly, deeply, madly love and use almost daily. between these two gadgets teeth are really superfluous. my biggest letdown has been my soymilk maker. the truth is, i don't really like soymilk. should've thought of that before i bought the damn thing.

Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like - and probably no one else! not weird in australia or england, but i like vegemite spread very thinly on lightly margarined toast. in the olden days, when i worked in a dingy london pub in bayswater, i used to put together the most god-awful yet delicious concoction of vegemite, a slice of cheese, thousand island dressing and a few potato chips between two slices of white bread and toasted in one of those sandwich presses. pure artery clogging badness. do i need to mention that alcohol may have played a part?

What are the three eatables or dishes you simply don’t want to live without? garlic, bread (preferably steamy fresh puffy blistery nan bread, but wonder and bimbo brands also please), and movie theater popcorn with imitation butter flavoring. really third place would've been beer but the question isn't for drinkables. and no, i was not raised in a double wide. it was a triple wide.

Three quickies:
Your favorite ice-cream: sorbets - mango and lychee.
You will probably never eat(again): sigh, my much beloved bacon.
Your own signature dish: seitan cutlets.

wanko no lube sheep desu

2005-06-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

this will be the last crazy "engrish" post, i promise. at least until my next trip to ichiban kan, the 100 yen shop in japantown. it's next to the bank in the eastern wing of the kintestsu mall, if you're wondering.

my cupboards are filled with many cute yet disturbing little cups, saucers, plates and notebooks. just like this one:

this poor fellow has been named "wanko". hmmmm, i wonder just how he got that black eye? he brings me much joy. but not as much joy as this latest acquisition.

please to meet bobbin of the clickety click club. this beauty is a double decker plastic food storage container. yummy. you might note that this is a "lube sheep" item. i'm sure they have a diverse and interesting product line.

all of this has really gotten me into the mood to cook up a mess of japanese food. if you'd like to see more "engrish" (thanks for the link keiko) go here. for little strange news morsels from the mother country (or rather mother's country, as in my poor old moms who i mercilessly tease) go here. check back in a few days for the first post of my series on japanese cooking.

Couque d'Asses, anyone?

2005-06-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

while dodging old asian ladies wielding mountainous carts of spikey vegetables and croaking live toads in an asian supermarket out on clement street a few days ago, i came across this package. it stopped me dead in my tracks. a tiny little old lady who bore an alarming resemblance to my mother speared me with what might have been a jackfruit. five points to the lady in the leopard sweater and ruffled sweatpants. it would've been ten if she'd gotten me with the toad.

now i've come across a lot of weird japanese to english tranlsations, like "for your joyful tasty lifestyle" and "mother and child good feeling water club" but i've never come across a food product with the word asses in it. now i know this is french and since i don't know french i couldn't say if it is a perfectly reasonable concept, in said language. it might be. however, i do know english. just a little bit. and in english i know what an ass is. as for the couque part, well, phonetically speaking it's a complete disaster. wasn't there someone in headquarters who might've said "asses, yes well, i'm not sure we want to put that word on the packaging of a chocolate filled cookie".

and in typical japanese fashion, each cookie is individually wrapped with gold foil emblazoned with the couque d'asses logo. each and every one. hours of snacking entertainment. or as the japanese might say, "warm sentiments for your crunchy good times feelings".

the classic chocolate chip cookie

2005-05-31T10:01:00.000-07:00

and so it's come to pass, another memorial day weekend. aside from being a day to honour our war-dead, isn't it also the unofficial (or official, i don't know) start of the summer. is it time to break out my white shoes and handbag? i am blissfully ignorant of the rules of fashion as can be easily evidenced by my year-round sporting of a pair of really tacky, 100% acrylic, red christmas socks, complete with gold trim. hmm, or maybe it's just bad taste.

but back to talk of memorial day, sort of. in all the years i've lived here in san francisco i've never once had a deck/patio/backyard/doorstoop big enough to set up a grill...not even one of those george foreman electric plug in types (not strictly true... i did once live in a place with a tiny concrete back yard but there was a shed back there in which dwelled a crazy lady, so it was kinda off limits). so every memorial day weekend i wait until the twelfth hour and get on the phone in a deseperate rush to all my friends either lucky or rich enough to have an outdoor space suitable for grilling. and a grill. and i bring along my sad little plastic wrapped frozen veggie burger and watch a freakin' noah's ark of animals board the good ship BBQ. and i always bring along a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies. these guys.

the original source of the recipe (my wicked stepmother) claims that these are "mrs. fields" cookies but i kinda doubt it's the same recipe. i think these are better. they are a classic and everybody always likes them. that is everyone except me 'cause my stankin' feet, acrylic sock shod, tacky arse just isn't crazy about chocolate chip cookies - now give me anything with peanut butter and we can talk.....

chocolate chip cookies
2 cups butter
2 cups white sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons + vanilla
4 cups flour
5 cups oatmeal ground into flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 24 oz. Bag of chocolate chips
3 cups chopped nuts

this makes a lot of cookies. i usually cut the recipe in half, or if i bake the whole batch i usually freeze the extra baked cookies for later. cream together first three ingredients until light and fluffy. add eggs and vanilla. sift together the flours (oat and unbleached white), salt, baking powder and baking soda. add to creamed mixture. stir in chocolate chips and nuts. drop large tablespoons of dough into a non-stick cookie sheet, flattening slightly. bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes, or until done.

farm fresh!

2005-05-25T18:10:00.000-07:00

just look at these beauties! my wicked wicked stepmother picked these up from the harry and david online catalog after easter for a whopping seventy-five percent off, which brought them to something like 1.30 per "egg." why the parenthesis, you ask, well, lemme tell you that these guys are filled solid with the most delicious, velvety smooth, creamy, decadent, toe-curling concoction of, oh my god, hang on to your salivary glands, bestill my heart, hazelnut chocolate. i truly do not think anything gets me going quite like hazelnut chocolate. especially when solid, oblong chunks of the stuff are somehow magically teleported inside of a real eggshell. well, the real eggshell part actually bums me out a little, although they are really cool. to get inside you have to crack the shell and peel.

the moral of the story? check out those specialty food/gift cataloges online for their after holiday clearance stuff. i can't wait till next easter. i mean the week after next easter.

praise seitan

2005-05-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

seitan cutlets

at the end of the day there are two camps of vegetarians, those who fear The Meat Analog (and who can blame them with a handle like that, just imagine if fake boobs were called breast analogs or if dentures were called teeth analogs - it just sounds bad) and those who don't. those who remember that yeah, that porterhouse steaks or kfc chicken thighs or corned beef hash or the supreme being of all meats, The Bacon, well, it tasted pretty damn good. excuse me while i wipe a tear of nostalgia from my eye. and then (drum roll please) there are those vegetarians who claim to not have ever enjoyed the savage carnal delight of using those four sharp little meat shredding teeth we all own on our gentle fellow living creatures, four legged and finned alike. you know who i'm talking about. the prevaricators. the liars. those who fool no one. have i pissed anyone off yet?

the following recipe is for all of you who do not fear satan. for those that praise satan. who want to have a little more satan in their lives. i mean seitan. by the way, this is a rockin' shirt i found on the web. disclaimer: this is not my torso beneath the shirt and i don't work for these guys, but if you fancy this product you can order it here: http://www.herbivoreclothing.com

this particular recipe for seitan is from bryanna clark grogan http://www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com and http://www.vegsource.com/talk/beginner/index.html my personal vegan cooking bad-ass hero-ess. bryanna gives credit for certain modifications to ellen of ellen's kitchen http://www.ellenskitchen.com . this "chicken" seitan is absolutely delicious, neither chewy nor puffy with a neutral but not bland flavor that lends itself well for use in "chicken" cutlets, seitan schwarma, or thinly sliced as sandwich "meat". and the best part is that it is super easy if you have a bread machine and a slow cooker. probably a nightmare if you don't.

the dry mix:
2 and 1/4 cups pure gluten powder
1/2 cup minute tapioca (i usually grind it up a bit so they're not so big)
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons fake chicken broth powder
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder

the wet mix:
2 and 1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup tahini (roasted)
3 Tablespoons soy sauce

the cooking broth:
Mix in a large pot and bring to a boil, then keep at a simmer, covered:
7 cups fake chicken broth
7 cloves garlic, chopped
3 and 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce
3 and 1/2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes

put the wet and dry mix in your bread machine in the order specified by the manufacturer. if kneading or using a dough hook and mixer, place dry then wet ingredients, kneading for about 10 minutes. if using your bread machine just run it through the dough cycle for just the kneading portion. if the kneading portion is short (10 minutes or less), unplug it to reset the mechanism then run it through a second knead. let rest for about 1 hour, covered. you can make your cooking broth at this time and have it ready.

the dough should be shiny and smooth. this is what mine looks like when i take it out of my bread machine.

once out of the bread machine, knead the ball by stretching and patting or rolling into a flat rectangle. fold in half and repeat, doing this 6 times, and folding so that the gluten strands are always going in the same direction. if the dough gets tight and won’t relax, just cover it and go away for about 20 minutes, and it’ll be easier to work with after that. myself, i fold it only a few times 'cause my satan, i mean seitan, is always very stubborn and rigid. form the dough into a piece that will fit into your crock pot, as thin as the width of the pot will allow. you may wet your hands to make the dough easier to handle. you can also cut the roast into two smaller roasts, if you prefer. and if you really fancy, you may do all of this in the nude.

oil or spray the inside of your slow cooker or pot. there should be some room for your roast to expand. pour some of the cooking broth in, place in the roast and cover with remaining broth, which should just cover the dough. cover and simmer on low for 6-8 hours , turning once halfway through. cool in the broth, then refrigerate well-wrapped. you can then slice it to your
preferred thickness and freeze for later use. i also freeze the cooking broth for the next batch of seitan i make.

to make the cutlets pictured at the beginning of the post, simply slice seitan (1/4 to 1/2 inch thick), shake the slices in flour and then dredge in either beaten egg or reconstituted egg replacer. then place the slices in italian seasoned breadcrumbs until well coated. preheat a little oil (1/8-1/4 inch) in a skillet or nonstick frying pan and fry until golden brown on both sides. serve with wedges of lemon. these fried cutlets reheat nice and crispy if placed in a toaster oven and also make delicious sandwiches for lunch the next day.

salsa loca

2005-05-12T17:24:00.000-07:00

one of the things i really miss about living in mexico is the salsa. everywhere i went there were at least two varieties on hand. one or both likely to burn you an extra hole both going in and coming out, if you know what i mean. in mexico salsa seems to be used as a preservative, a condiment and as an antidote to the heavy diet. in the northern high desert where i stayed, it was all cattle and cheese and tortillas, so you see a little hot salsa was definitely needed to keep the works running. one of my favorite least-favorites sights was the giant, boiling, lard-filled vats into which huge strips of pig skin, bigger than a small child, were submerged until they were all golden and crispy and bubbly, just screaming "heart attack". the thick brown smoke that somehow defied gravity and managed to rise up into the air despite it's obvious weight was nothing if not intense. porkfat fried pork fat. wow. anyway, getting back to the subject at hand, people would eat these three foot long pigfried porkrinds with some really, but i mean really hot salsa. for purely digestive purposes i imagine.

back to the good ol' us of a and i really miss my salsas. as i've mentioned before, i'm a huge fan of all condiments - there's nothing easier than opening a jar of salsa or harissa or tapenade or whatever and throwing it into whatever's cooking for dinner to add that little extra something. i'm also a cheapskate when it comes to buying little jars of things (unless it's some expensive cream guaranteed to make me look ten years younger), so i almost always make my own. here is a recipe for one of my favorites. it's completely adaptable to whatever types of dried chiles you have on hand (or can find - even in my local mercados in northern mexico i never found any cascabels for sale) - the only chile i would not omit is the chipotle. there is no getting around the fact that this wonderful smoked jalapeno is irreplaceable. this is also a good recipe for when tomatoes aren't really in season, as it uses only one. for more information on chiles go here http://www.g6csy.net/chile/index.html

salsa loca
2 cascabel chiles (can substitute guajillos)
3 guajillo chiles
1 chile de arbol
1 chipotle chile
1 tomato, broiled
1/4 teaspoon salt, to taste
1/2 c. water
1 clove garlic
2-4 Tablespoons cilantro
white vinegar, to taste

brush or rinse off any debris from the dried chiles and toast lightly on a comal. if you don't have a comal, a cast iron skillet or even a regular old frying pan will do. make sure you do not burn the peppers or the salsa will be bitter. what you're going for is a smoky taste - on a really hot comal a few seconds is all i really need, i usually press the pepper down with a spatula to expose more pepper surface to the metal. you can even skip this step and the salsa will still taste good. remove from heat. remove stems and chop or cumble. remove most (or all) of the seeds for a less hot salsa. broil the tomato either in a toaster oven or under or a broiler or you can even just boil it for a little bit if you don't feel like dealing with the whole broiling bit but the charring and cooking bit adds a very nice toasty flavor. throw everything except vinegar and cilantro into a blender or food processor (oh, if you're a purist feel free to break out your mortar and pestle but i think things taste better without little drops of my sweat in it). pulse until the salsa is smooth but retains some texture - you should be able to see little bits of seeds and stuff intact. add coarsely chopped cilantro and pulse once or twice. season to taste with vingear and additional salt. buen provecho.

happy birthday to me, now go visit my other blog

2005-05-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

so we had another birthday this weekend. that's enough to make you reach for that bottle of don pedro you've been saving for the day you hit rock bottom. yes, i did partake of the rougher pleasures of el senor pedro, but i also had a great birthday that included an odd assortment of bars, restaurants, long walks (okay, just one) and tourist attractions, all with my good buddies, don pedro and the ol' ball and chain. for the story of my day of drunken debauchery with reviews of these hapless establishments we blighted, go to my other blog and read the birthdays, parts I thru IV. you won't be disappointed. trust me.
http://www.sfcityeats.blogspot.com