Voila, Veganized!

For a while after I went vegan, it was hard for me to watch some cooking shows or read some food magazines anymore because of the amount of meat and dairy usually involved in the recipes. These recipes seemed off-limits in a way.

Then I realized just how freaking easy it is to veganize just about ANYTHING, as I'm sure many others have too. That's why, when I glimpsed the cover of this month's Food & Wine magazine ("American Classics Updated: 50 Best Recipes from the New South"), I had a very good feeling about the next week in my kitchen.

My first veganization? A combo of two recipes. Adapted their classic shrimp n' grits, then nabbed their spice-roasted shrimp and transformed it into spice-fried tempeh. Lordy lordy, do I love me a classic Southern brunch! Check it.

Spice-fried Tempeh with Grits n' Greens
adapted from Food & Wine magazine, serves 2

[Cajun-fried Tempeh]
1/2 pound tempeh
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried minced onions
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1/4 cup safflower oil
s&p

Cut tempeh into strips and boil for 10 minutes in well-salted water. Drain and cool while in a paper or plastic bag, you combine all the spices. Drop the tempeh into the bag and shake vigorously, so that the tempeh gets coated. Let it sit for a few minutes while heating the oil in a frying pan. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side. Meanwhile...

[Grits n' Greens]
2 2/3 cups water
2/3 cup quick-cooking grits
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach
s&p

In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil, then gradually add the grits and a big pinch of salt. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the grits are thick, about 7 minutes. Season with s&p, stir in the nooch and spinach. Top with fried tempeh and serve immediately!

Neither Quiche Nor Pie

I started out craving quiche. In the past, I've tried all-tofu and tofu-cashew mixtures to serve as the egg-y substance of a quiche, but this time, I only had cashews. So I went for it! Just turned out a little bit more like a dense, savory cashew pie instead. It got good reviews from the housemates, though, despite the departure from the dish they were originally expecting. It'a fill ya up, that's for sure. Enjoy al fresco with a crisp glass of white wine. :)

Cashew Quiche-Pie
makes 4 large pieces, 8 smaller

1 frozen vegan pie crust
2 cups raw cashews
2 whole cloves garlic
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 small potatoes, diced
1 whole bag fresh spinach

Pre-bake the pie crust in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes. In the meantime, saute the potatoes in olive oil until browning, then add spinach and wilt. Once the potatoes are almost cooked through, pour the veggies into the pie crust. Blend the cashews, garlic, nutritional yeast, nutmeg and turmeric in a food processor until smooth. Pour into the crust and mix gently with the vegetables before returning to the pre-heated oven for 25 minutes.

Celeb Inspiration: The Barefoot Contessa, Pt. 2

My Mimi was a pro at Ina Garten's spanakopita, or spinach pie. The original recipe calls for eggs, parmesan and feta, but as I am finding to be true with nearly all of Ina's recipes, it was easily veganized, and the result was serenely nostalgic for me. This luscious filling is more than I even hoped for. Best of all, I didn't have enough phyllo to use it all up in the pies, so I just re-purposed it the next night in some vegan dumpling wrappers - BAM, vegan ravioli!



Basically, this filling is a keeper, y'all.

Spanakopita
makes about 14 individual pies

1/4 cup good olive oil
1 large Vidalia onion, chopped
2 10-oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
1 package firm tofu, blended
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
plain dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 1/2 cups raw cashews, blended
3 tablespoons pine nuts
24 sheets frozen phyllo dough, defrosted
1/2 cup Earth Balance, melted
sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan, add the onion, and cook for 7-8 minutes over medium-low heat. Meanwhile, gently squeeze most of the water out of the spinach and place it in a large bowl. When the onion are done, add them to the spinach. Mix in the tofu, nooch, 3 tablespoons bread crumbs, nutmeg, salt, pepper, oregano and basil. Fold in the cashews and pine nuts.

Place 1 sheet of phyllo dough flat on a work surface with the long end in front of you. Brush the dough lightly with Earth Balance and sprinkle it with a teaspoon of bread crumbs. Working quickly, slide another sheet of phyllo dough on top of the first, brush it with butter, and sprinkle lightly with bread crumbs. (Use just enough bread crumbs so the layers of phyllo don't stick together.) Pile 4 layers total on top of each other this way, brushing each with butter and sprinkling with bread crumbs. Cut the sheets of phyllo in half lengthwise. Place 1/3 cup spinach filling on the shorter end and roll the phyllo up diagonally as if folding a flag. Then fold the triangle of phyllo over straight and then diagonally again. Continue folding first diagonally and then straight until you reach the end of the sheet. The filling should be totally enclosed.

Continue assembling phyllo layers and folding the filling until all of the filling is used. Place on a sheet pan, seam sides down. Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with flaked salt, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the phyllo is browned and crisp. Serve hot.

Paninimania

Since Daiya came into my life, the vegan grilled cheese has been taken to a previously unknown level of wonderful. So wonderful, in fact, that if they were a little bit more nutritious than they actually are, I would eat them three times a day. Once will have to do for the time being.

So last night, I decided to apply some pistachio pesto to those beloved pressed sandwiches and practically died and went to heaven. Uhhhh, such a GREAT combo!!! You should make this as soon as is humanly possible.


Delicious sandwich approaching my mouth...

Pesto Grilled Cheese
makes 2 sandwiches

[Pistachio Pesto]
1/3 cup pistachios, shelled
1/2 cup packed fresh basil
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon capers
a pinch of salt
1/3 cup walnut oil

[Grilled Cheese]
4 pieces of sandwich bread (I used GF Millet-Flax bread - it mimics white bread like you wouldn't believe!)
ample Veganaise
abundant Pistachio Pesto
Daiya mozzerella cheeze to your liking
2 tablespoons Earth Balance

Combine all pesto ingredients in a food processor, adding the oil as it blends. Meanwhile, heat the Earth Balance in a skillet over medium-high. Spread two pieces of bread with Veganaise and two pieces with pesto. Sprinkle with lots of cheese, close, and fry until GB on both sides. (I like to mush mine down with a spatula for maximum cheesy-melty-stretchiness.) TAH DAH!

Recurring Francophilia

There's a promising chance that for Spring 2011, I'll be carrying out my studies in Paris. Though my as-yet-undetermined date of departure isn't for another seven months, I think practically every day about what it will be like to live in France/have Europe at my fingertips for four months! David Lebovitz is a culinarily gigantic American ex-pat currently living and blogging in Paris, whose surprisingly numerous vegetarian recipes I have found to be reliably delicious, so whenever I feel like pretending I'm making dinner in a charming apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower, I know who to turn to.

Pictured is my rendition of David's classic French warm lentil salad, which I paired with some cornmeal-encrusted tempeh and roasted haricots verts (fancy French word for green beans, hehe!). The only adjustment I made was to add an extra tablespoon of red wine vinegar. The flavor is light, but the salad is sooo satisfying! Next time, I'll probably be using some variation of Get Sconed's recently blogged breading on the tempeh. Mm mm, bon!

Salad Day

Yesterday, I indulged. As a vegan, it's pretty easy to do so when you want to in Gainesville. Had a very messy chili dawg from Gator Dawgs, then went next door for a brownie sundae at Karma Cream. My lord, I had been away for too long! Vegan whipped cream and hot fudge and Triple Chocolate Threat ice cream...I'm feeling nostalgic already.

So after all that, I wanted something easy and relatively light for dinner at home. A salad certainly fit the bill, at least until I drenched it with the vegan mayo-laced dressing. Still, it was ready in a half hour, and it was deeeelicious!



Tempeh Caesar Salad
serves 4

[Tempeh]
2 pounds tempeh
frying oil
s&p

Boil the tempeh in a pot of water for ten minutes. Drain and transfer to a hot skillet with your oil in it. Sprinkle the upside with salt and pepper and fry for 7-8 minutes before flipping. Fry for another 7-8 on the other side before slicing.

[Vegan Caesar Dressing]
1 ginormous clove elephant garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 cup vegan mayonnaise
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon Bragg's Liquid Aminos

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or powerful blender and blend until smooth. Taste it, see how you like the proportions, play with them if you feel so inclined.

Top each of four piles of mixed greens (or romaine) with a quarter of the sliced tempeh, then overdress with caesar - believe me, if you're into garlicky stuff, you're gonna wanna lick your plate. :)

Soul Food digs Daiya

Consider this my official blogger nod to the new vegan cheeze sensation, Daiya. We don't have a Whole Foods in Gainesville, so the excitement over its being stocked at Whole Foods everywhere came to me a bit belated. But back in South Florida, Mom and I got over to one of the organic mega-stores and picked up some of the mozzarella variety, which we have thus far scattered on a pizza and the pasta seen above. The verdict? I'm so hooked on this stuff. Can't wait to make a grilled cheese.

The marinara we used for the pizza and the pasta was very rustic, and thoroughly homemade, right down to the freshly picked tomatoes from the little garden in my grandma's backyard. If your summer plot is beginning to overflow with tomatoes like ours is, I highly recommend this recipe - it makes a LOT of sauce!



Garden-Style Marinara
3 lbs. very ripe tomatoes
1 whole head of garlic
2 small yellow onions, roughly chopped
1 large purple or green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup fresh basil, firmly packed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
red pepper flakes
olive oil
s&p

Squeeze half of the tomatoes into a large bowl, allowing everything but the skins to fall in. Cut the rest of the tomatoes in half, spread on a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil, s&p. Roast in a 400-degree oven for 40 minutes.

Make a paste with the garlic and onions in a food processor. Transfer to a large pot with chopped bell pepper and a few shakes of olive oil. Saute until the pepper softens, then add both the squeezed and roasted tomatoes, all the herbs and red pepper flakes to your taste. Let the sauce cook down for about an hour on low heat.

Ah, the comfort foods of home...

This visit to my hometown of Lake Worth has already been chock-full of delectable food, from last night's GF grilled vegetable pizzas to the palm cake sandwiches my momma and I wolfed down at Darbster's earlier today.

So what's next? An easily veganized rendition of the Barefoot Contessa's Roasted Tomato Basil Soup and a batch of GF imitation Red Lobster cheesy garlic biscuits!!! My mom had been raving about this soup since she had it at a dinner party over the winter holidays, and these biscuits have been on my list of things to make since my dear friend Morris teased me with a thoroughly non-vegan version he made a couple years ago.



Here's my take on 'em:

Red Lobster Cheese & Garlic Biscuits
makes about 14 biscuits

2 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Biscuit and Baking Mix
1/2 cup cold Earth Balance
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 cup shredded vegan cheddar (I used Follow Your Heart brand)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried parsley

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Blend the baking mix and EB with an electric mixer until, according to the biscuit package directions, "it resembles a course meal." Add the almond milk and blend until combined. Fold in the shredded cheeze, garlic and herbs, then dump the dough onto a lightly GF-floured counter. Knead it a little, then roll out to whatever thickness you like your biscuits to be, as these don't really rise. Cut out biscuits with an upside-down mug and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

I failed to realize they weren't gonna puff up any, so mine may look a little flat, but MY, are they tasty! Plus you can eat four and not even feel puffy yourself. I can personally attest to this. ;)

Will Dunkin do dairy-free?!

After being tipped off by the February VegNewsletter, I decided to enter Double D-Nut's Create Dunkin's Next Donut contest, in hopes that I might someday be able to eat a donut again without going all the way to Portland! Here's my entry:



I call it "Chocolate Extra-vegan-za": chocolate cake donut, chocolate frosting, Oreo crumbles on top. The description to accompany reads: "My parents have been drinking Dunkin Donuts coffee every morning for as long as I can remember. I used to love to tag along on days off from school for the special treat of a fudgy cake donut, but when I became a vegan, I could no longer allow myself to indulge because of the eggs and milk included in the recipe. My dream donut would look and taste just like a chocolate cake donut, only vegan-friendly too!"

If I could just get a dozen of those right now...can you tell I'm craving sugar a lil' bit? Still going strong, though. No sugar since two Mondays ago. You knowwwww.

Anyway, the more vegan entries there are, the more likely it is that one will actually become a reality! Not to mention you can win $12,000. So go make dreams come true, y'all.

Celeb Inspiration: The Barefoot Contessa

Ina Garten, elegantly known otherwise as the Barefoot Contessa, was my Mimi's favorite Food Network chef. I think she liked her best because Ina is more than a cook - she's an entertainer. With all her experience in catering, she really has a way with selecting the right foods for any occasion, and presenting them beautifully.

All three of my grandma's Barefoot Contessa cookbooks are now in my hands. Though almost none of her recipes are vegan, they provide plenty of culinary inspiration anyway. Last night, I felt like using this adorable little fennel bulb freshly pulled from a Gainesville farm that my roommates visited this week. Having seldom worked with fennel before, I looked to Ina for direction. Found her recipe for Potato-Fennel Gratin and decided I haaaaad to veganize it! Here is the VERY successful result...



Potato-Fennel Gratin
serves 5 (she says it serves 10, but we were damn hungry!)

1 small bulb fennel w/ stalks
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon Earth Balance
6 small potatoes, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
2 cups water
1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon salt
Panko bread crumbs for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Ina says to chop off the fennel stalks, but I included them with a sprinkling of the leaves too to make up for only having one bulb instead of two. Anyway, throw the fennel and onion into a skillet with the olive oil and EB, sauteing until soft.

Meanwhile, saute the garlic in a sauce pan with a little more olive oil, just until fragrant. Whisk the flour into the 2 cups water. Add the onion powder, flour-water mixture, nooch, tahini and salt and whisk until thoroughly combined. Allow it to bubble and thicken.

Toss the sliced potatoes with the faux Gruyere, then mix in the fennel-onion saute. Pour it all into a baking dish, top with Panko and throw it in the oven for 1 hour. Allow it to set for around 15 minutes for optimum flavor-melding.

TLC

I am once again trying recover from a cold! Jeez! Obviously haven't been taking great care of my body, if I'm relapsing within a week of getting over the last one. I'm devoting this entire weekend to rest and real recovery. So there, cold.



Of course, the world doesn't stop for a cold. Now that I've taken a lil' break from blogging to stay on top of school things, I'm back because I seriously needed some tender lovin' cookin'. Felt inspired to make a traditional Italian four-course meal (antipasti, first-course pasta, second-course salad, dessert), but I kinda lost some steam as the evening wore on. Turned out to be only three. Oh well! We had some delicious fresh bread dipped in olive oil and Herbes de Provence, then my vegan adaptation of penne alla vodka, and something I'm saving for my next post - homemade strawberry ice cream! Actually, in keeping with the theme, I'll call it "gelato." Harhar. Anyway, here's the pasta recipe. It was yummy!

Penne Alla Vodka
serves 4

1 box whole wheat penne
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup crushed tomatoes
1 1/2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons vodka (it was in short supply, but it worked!)
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup pignolis
1/4 cup agave nectar
s&p

Cook pasta according to directions while you...

Saute the onion and garlic until softened. Add the tomatoes, herbs and vodka and cook on medium-high heat until heated through and soft. Stir in the nooch (nutritional yeast), pignolis (pine nuts), agave and s&p. Pour the sauce into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Pour over da pasta.

Temp Family Dinner

My roommates and I have dinner together practically every night of the week. I love to cook and they love to eat, so any uneven distribution of house-ly work comes out in the (dish)wash! Last night, we were thrilled to have two extra friends dining at Chez Cheetah. We settled on a nice big lasagna.



This thing was so good, I obviously couldn't wait to take a picture before I ate a piece and went back for seconds. For dessert, one friend brought incredibly delicious Liz Lovely cookies, and the other a selection of yummy fruit. Turned out to be a really fun meal, book-ended by stimulating rounds of Chatroulette. (This site will apparently take over your life if you let it. I'm beginning to see that.)

Triple-Layer Lasagna
serves 8

1 package lasagna noodles
3 cups mixed vegetables, chopped
nutritional yeast (for sprinkling on top)

[Red sauce]
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 32-oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
3 tablespoons red wine
1 1/2 tablespoon agave nectar
s&p (to taste)

Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until softened and fragrant. Pour in your tomatoes, then add the spices, wine and agave. Heat through, tasting along the way to adjust seasonings to your own liking.

[Cashew-Pignoli Ricotta]
1 1/2 cups raw cashews
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup soy milk
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon salt

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until fairly smooth.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Boil one package of lasagna noodles according to package directions while you steam the chopped veggies of your choice (we happened to have mushrooms, carrots and leftover beet greens on hand) for around five minutes.

In a 9x13 inch pan, layer like this: sauce, pasta, ricotta, veggies, sauce, pasta, ricotta, veggies, pasta, sauce, and finally, LOTS of nutritional yeast. Bake covered with foil for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and stick it back in the oven for another 15 minutes, until nice and g-b (golden-brown) on top.