Sister Winter

And so the end to my first year of blogging approaches. Soul Food has definitely served its purpose for me personally, which was primarily to motivate me to cook more, to develop my personal cooking style, to challenge myself in the kitchen...mission accomplished! Maybe you found something tasty to eat in the meantime? Well, here's a final roundup of my major inspiration for the coming change of season. Happy holidays!



Clockwise from top right: A bottle of Veuve Clicquot Rosé, my absolute favorite champagne (and champagne is my favorite altogether); David Lebovitz's orange marmalade, which I'll be whipping up for a holiday gift this year; Black Swan, an increeeedible film; a sharp look from Chanel's Pre-Fall 2011 collection; a beautiful Peppermint Crush cake from Sugar Skull; Ella Fitzgerald's Swinging Christmas - classic; The Flavor Thesaurus by Niki Segnit, a fascinating book explaining what flavors pair best in food; a gingerbread snowflake cookie from Martha Stewart; my planner for 2011, by Jill Bliss, from here; and the original Four Freshmen's breakout record, which my charming brother had signed by the latest incarnation of the group when we caught their show this weekend. I will love those boys forever!

Celeb Inspiration: Marie Antoinette

So my birthday was this weekend, right? And it happened to be a birthday significant in the States for the reason that when one reaches the age of 21, one is allowed to purchase alcohol legally. For this reason, I attempted to put together the most outrageous and decadent party that I possibly in order that I might dance, drink champagne and eat cake all the live-long day/night. Since any excuse to channel Marie Antoinette/Sofia Coppola's representation of her is quite enough for me.


My ensemble was assembled from various sources, encompassing things old, new, borrowed, and blue, pulled together with a few accenting pops of pink and a fabulous pair of fake eyelashes. The decor and food were of course conceived around the general theme of decadence, hence the abundance of flowers, bubbly and sweets.


You may or may not be able to identify in the picture above (from left to right) my moderately successful attempt at recreating Vegan Yum Yum's petits fours, the chocolate-chocolate chip cookies from Veganomicon courtesy of my boyfriend, a bowl of ever-delicious and surprisingly vegan Jordan almonds, the tree of chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting, and my personal bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne popped alongside the perfect birthday goblet that my mom magically discovered for me in time for this occasion. Ever-so appropriately, it reads "Let them eat cake!"

On a cold night, what do you crave? SOUP!

And that's a lot of what I've been eating the past coupla days. In an attempt to cleanse myself of bad bacteria, I'm taking a break from sugar. This hearty Provençal soup, paired with a movie on the couch with the roomies, adequately distracted me from any dessert cravings. Success!



Yellow Split Pea Soup
serves 6

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 carrot, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 bay leaf
2 cups dried yellow split peas, rinsed
5 cups water
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 1/2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence
1 teaspoon sea salt
4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Saute the mirepoix with the bay leaf in olive oil until slightly softened. Add split peas, water and almond milk, then sprinkle with salt and Herbes de Provence. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the potatoes and continue to simmer until potatoes can be pierced with a fork. Taste and adjust your seasonings.

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.

Everything is better roasted.

This is the conclusion I have reached regarding vegetables of all kinds; the test subjects tonight were beets and brussel sprouts. I have the house to myself this evening and it is mighty cold in here, so I opted for a quick prep and a roasty toasty finish that I could relish before crawling under my electric blanket for some hardcore reading and sleeping. (I would hibernate wrapped up in this thing if I could.)

Anyway, this dish hit the spot! I'm off to immerse myself in Assata, which I highly recommend, by the way.



Roasted Beets and Brussel Sprouts with a Mustard Glaze
serves 3 (unless eaten as a side - then 5!)

16-18 brussel sprouts, halved
3 beets, peeled and roughly chopped
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 orange's juice
2 teaspoons agave nectar
olive oil
s&p
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss sprouts and beets in a large bowl with all ingredients except walnuts. Spread everything on a baking sheet, brussel sprouts cut side down. Place in the oven for 15 minutes. In the last 5, pull out the sheet and sprinkle on the walnuts.

Wintery Vittles

I can't wait to beat this cough and sniffles so I can ride my bike everywhere again. All these pictures of stylish European women riding through the snow make me jealous. But while confined to the house between classes, I can think of nothing but my next meal. This I will choose to view as something utterly wonderful.

At the farmers' market this week, we picked up some beautiful beets and turnips, along with a variety of other veggies that should be popping up here sooner or later. As soon as I laid eyes on those tasty little root veggies, I knew they were destined for an oven-roasting.

Pictured below is one of my favorite dishes in the whole wide world of eating. So simple, but bursting with roasty-toasty flavor. I first made it with my mom, and spent the whole meal foodgasming. There are a couple variations on the vegetables that I have included for your own experimentation. Paired with French bread and aioli, it exceeds all expectations.



Root Vegetable Tartine with Garlic Aioli
serves 4

[Vegetables]
3 medium beets
2 large turnips (or 4-5 fingerling potatoes)
2 medium sweet potatoes (or 4 medium carrots)
1 medium sweet onion
olive oil
fresh thyme (or rosemary)
s&p

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Roughly chop all the veggies, then toss them onto a baking sheet. Coat with olive oil, ample thyme or rosemary (whichever you have available), and s&p to your liking. Roast for 40 minutes.

[Aioli]
5 cloves garlic, peeled
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
4 tablespoons vegan cream cheese

In a Magic Bullet, blender or food processor, blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Slather a slice of bread with aioli and pile on the veggies.

Just so you know, there's a slight chance of snow flurries in Gainesville tomorrow. WHAT?! Yep. Snow in Florida. Ain't that nice?

Cold and cold

Gainesville is around 30 degrees outside (darn cold for Florida!) and I am a snivelling mess of congestion. Gotta work on getting better quick, before school really starts to go nuts. To this end, I threw together an ever-so-comforting lentil soup.

At the heart of this soup is a mirepoix, the fancy French term for onions, carrots and celery chopped and sauteed in oil or butter - a fantastic place for any savory dish to begin. Recipe courtesy of Mom, bien sûr, so in lieu of a picture, here's a video tutorial from my momma and her friend, Dee. These industrious ladies launched a Youtube cooking show to prove they could make truly delicious vegan food that even their omnivorous husbands could enjoy.



Tender Lovin' Lentils
serves 4

olive oil
1 medium onion
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 bag green lentils
32 oz. vegetable broth
1 bunch parsley
1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
s&p

Heat a large pot on medium-high. Give it one or two turns of olive oil, then add onion. Saute until onions are soft. Add the lentils, coat them with oil, then toast for a couple minutes. Add the celery and carrots and continue to saute. Pour in the vegetable broth, and toss in the parsley and tomatoes.

Crank the heat to high. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

[EDIT] This is how cold it is here:

Photo courtesy of Hard Work