Into the STRATA-sphere

So, here's the setting.

It's the night before Easter. Holy Saturday, if you will, and I have no one who is willing to let me cook for them the following day. It was one of those rare weekends where I spent no time with anyone except Matt and then was going to Matt's Mom's house for brunch.

And I never cook brunch...

And I wanted the opportunity to try...

So I decided I would cook for the church luncheon following Easter service...even though no one asked me to and no one even knew I was doing this.

I was so excited when I finally decided to do this because, seriously, I love brunch, but never EVER cook anything of the brunch-like nature. I generally tend towards eating brunch out on the town, so this opportunity was huge.

Unfortunately, the brunch-esque dishes I found myself looking at were less than inspiring. Scrambles? Eh. Pancakes? Not a fan of sweet brunch food.

But then I saw a strata recipe in Veganomicon.

Now, I won't go so far as to say I decided on this recipe because I had a flashback to the scene in "The Family Stone" where Sarah Jessica Parker's character gets her strata spilled all over herself...

Ok, yes I will. That's the only reason I decided to make this.

I had no idea what strata was.

Answers.com told me the following: A strata is a casserole made of layers of bread (usually dipped in milk or eggs to soften,) cheese, and vegetables.

This should be interesting...you know, no eggs or cheese or milk.

So, return to the original scene. There I am, deciding at the last minute to make this dish that I frankly have no idea what it is, and then scurrying to the grocery store.

There just was far too much pressure. What from the last minute-ness and the illustrating my cooking skills to a whole group of people, it just was a recipe for disaster.

So I messed up, ALOT.

Here's what went terribly horribly wrong:
-I couldn't find cremini mushrooms so I think I just used button shrooms.
-Did not have enough spinach
-Did not have enough tofu, and the tofu I had was firm, and was not drained...so I'm not sure what the custard mixture was supposed to look like.
-Did not have lemon juice, so I think I substituted white vinegar
-I used spicy brown mustard that was quite pungent and definitely took over the flavors in the dish. I would half the amount if I used spicy brown mustard again, but mostly I would just advise using yellow mustard.

I almost started crying as this whole thing was baking. And it came out looking a little strange. So I had to try the corner to see if it tasted terrible or not. Hence the following picture:

Interestingly enough, this was a HIT at church! I almost didn't bring it, but people (specifically the vegetarians and the vegans around me) were RAVING!

Only goes to show you that even when you royally screw up a recipe, good things can come from it.

So, here it is, "Mushroom Spinach Strata" from Veganomicon.

Ingredients:

6 slices stale or lightly toasted French bread, cut into 2-inch pieces
1½ cups thinly sliced shallots (5 or 6 shallots)
3 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced thinly (about 3½ cups)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon salt
10 ounces well-washed chopped spinach (about 8 cups)

For the custard:

1 pound soft tofu
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ cup vegetable broth or water
¼ teaspoon salt (if using water or sodium-free broth)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 9 x 13 baking pan with oil or a non-stick spray.

Saute the shallots in 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet for about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute for 7 more minutes, until the mushrooms are tender.

Meanwhile, make the custard: place all the custard ingredients in a blender or food processor, crumbling the tofu as you add it. Puree until completely smooth and set aside until ready to use.

To the pan with the mushrooms and shallots, add the garlic, herbs, pepper, and salt. Saute for another minute, then add a handful of spinach. Let the spinach wilt, then continue adding by handfuls until all the spinach is in the pan and wilted.

Turn off the heat, move the vegetables to the side, and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Toss in the bread pieces and mix to distribute.

To assemble the strata, transfer the bread and vegetable mixture into the baking dish. Pour the tofu custard over everything, and use a spatula to press the custard into the vegetables. You want to get as much custard as you can into the vegetable mixture without actually stirring things up.

Place in the oven for 55 to 60 minutes. Remove, allow to cool for about 10 minutes, then slice and serve.

Enchilaaaaaadas!

I've started cooking more labor intensive meals on Sunday afternoons. This is strange for me because Sundays are generally one of my busier days, and adding the additional stress of cooking a meal I may not have a huge likelihood of success with is tricky.

But I live on the wild side.

I've been looking to the Veganomicon book for the more challenging dishes and this is not to say that the recipes found in that book are all challenging, in fact, I think there are some really simple and delicious meals in there. But what I love about this cookbook is that it has a pretty good array of difficulty levels and time necessary. Have I mentioned that I love this book?

I digress.

Anyways, I chose these Enchiladas because I love enchiladas. And I felt like it. Plain and simple.

There were quite a few mistakes in this one...

Let's start with the sauce, shall we?

-I don't know what green chiles look like. There it is. In the grocery store I spent approxiimately 5 minutes getting more and more flustered as I stood in front of the pepper section. I ended up buying some long light green pepper and a jalapeno. No idea if those substituted well.
-I roasted the peppers with their seeds and did not remove their skins. This was the first time I have EVER roasted...well, anything. And can I tell you, that may be what heaven smells like...roasted peppers.


Now let's move on to the filling.
-I didn't weight the potatoes.
-No kale at the grocery store, so I subbed red swiss chard (why is that ALWAYS in season seemingly?)
-No pepitas, so I used the meat from sunflower seeds. This actually worked out ok, surprisingly.


These turned out pretty great! I would do a few things differently next time: i.e. try and follow the recipe, but also adding a lot more spice. I also would use flour tortillas. Now, I know corn tortillas are more authentic and better for you, but I just don't like them. They are just not my cup of tea...or my tortilla if you will...

So here's the finished product. I didn't take a picture of the insides which were pretty because they had the white potatoes and reddish green of the chard. Maybe next time.

I'm too sick to even copy and paste the recipe, so if you want it, click here.

I'm also pretty convinced someone from Veganomicon is going to yell at me for posting all of their recipes (i.e. like 5). So, click over to this gal's blog if you feel so inclined.

I have to admit that this would have tasted better with cheese.

Oh the horror, I know.

This Quiche is off the LEASH!

Matt came up with the title.

Blame him.

I don't generally like quiches. Never have. Something about making something savory in a pie crust/form makes me uncomfortable. I also tend to not like omelettes or anything that strays too much from the traditional breakfast food...so, yea, this wasn't looking so good in terms of my tastes, but I wanted to challenge myself. And since I've been told by at least 3 people now that it can't REALLY BE a quiche if it doesn't have eggs or cheese, I thought maybe this one had a chance. And I do love asparagus...

So, I went to Veganomicon again (everyone should buy, blah blah blah, if either of the authors are reading this blog and think I should cut back on posting your recipes, please let me know, I just want people to realize that this book is AMAZING!!!), and again, had a huge success.

But here's what I did wrong:
-In terms of the crust, the shortening was really hard. I refrigerated it like the authors said to, but it was basically impossible to cut the shortening up, so different parts of the crust had chunks of shortening while other parts had none.
-I ended up using all the water (1/4 cup and the 2 tablespoons) mostly because the shortening wouldn't cut up. Haha. Cut up.
-In terms of the quiche filling, I couldn't find navy beans at the grocery store (weird, I know), so I used Canary Beans??? Not sure what those are.
-I burned the shallots a little bit...whoops.

Here is the crust (yes that's a rolling pin in the background, yes I know how to use it):

Here's the green asparagus goo (i.e. filling):

Here's the quiche on it's way into the oven (so pretty):

And here it is after being baked (I am SUPER proud of this, can't you tell?):

And finally, a slice:

I think I turned a corner in my cooking skills with this one. Not only was it beautiful, it was tastey. But tastey in that "this marries the flavors well" more than the "I liked it because it has my favorite things and it tastes like something else I like," you know? Like, it was trying something new and the taste was unique. I may be growing my palette...

This coming from Ms. Ketchup 2011.

Anyways, here are the recipes for the crust and the filling. My crust was pretty hard, so I'm not sure how I would remedy that. Maybe I'd try using unexpired shortening...that could help.



Basic Single Pastry Crust:

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup cold non-hydrogenated vegan shortening
1/4 cup cold water, plus 2 tablespoons if needed
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add the shortening by the teaspoon, but you don't need to be precise about this. You just want to add it in small chunks in three batches and then cut it into flour with each addition. Cut the shortening in until the dough is crumbly and pebbly.

2. Combine the vinegar with 1/4 cup of the water. Add the mixture to the dough in three batches, gently mixing it into the dough with a fork, until the dough holds together when pinched. If need be, add up to 2 tablespoons more water.

3. Gather the dough into a ball and knead gently a few times, just until it holds together. Sprinkle a clean work surface with flour, then flatten the ball into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.

4. When ready to roll out the crust, place a large piece of baking parchment on your work surface. Unwrap the dough and place it on the parchment. Sprinkle your rolling pin with flour and roll the dough into a 12-inch circle. It may slip around a bit from the parchment, but that's okay, just work steadily and gently. Your crust is now ready to use.

5. If using as a bottom crust, lift the parchment and flip the crust into the pie plate. Tuck in and trim the edges.


Asparagus Quiche Directions:

1 recipe Basic Single Pastry Crust (recipe follows)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound asparagus, rough ends discarded
2 shallots, skins removed, chopped coarsely
3 cloves garlic
1 cup walnuts
1-1/2 cups cooked navy beans, or 1 (15-ounce) can, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh tarragon, plus 2 tablespoons finely chopped
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Several pinches of freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup plain whole wheat bread crumbs
4 slices beefsteak or Holland tomato, or any really big tomato
1. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cut the tips off four pieces of the asparagus and set aside for garnish. Slice the rest into 1/2-inch lengths.

2. Sauté the asparagus (except for the reserved tips) in a tablespoon of the olive oil for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. While the asparagus is cooking, place the walnuts, the 1/4 cup of tarragon, and the nutmeg, salt, and pepper in a food processor. Pulse into crumbs, so that no whole walnuts are left.

4. Remove the asparagus from the pan and transfer to a shallow bowl to cool a bit. Sauté the shallots in another tablespoon of the olive oil for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for 3 more minutes, being careful not to burn it. Transfer the shallots and garlic to the asparagus and let cool for a few more minutes.

5. When the vegetables have stopped steaming, add them to the food processor. Pulse a few times and scrape down the sides. Add the beans and puree until relatively smooth, although the walnuts will still be grainy. Add the cornstarch (sift first, if very clumpy) and pulse until thoroughly combined. Transfer the mixture to a bowl (use the bowl the veggies were cooling in, to cut down on dish duties), cover, and refrigerate for about 45 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

7. Roll out the pastry dough to fit an 8-inch glass pie plate. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes.

8. Remove the baked crust from the oven. Spoon the asparagus filling into the crust and smooth out evenly. Sprinkle the top with half the bread crumbs and drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Then, place the tomato slices on top of the bread crumbs with an asparagus tip between each tomato. Sprinkle on the remaining bread crumbs, some freshly ground black pepper, a few pinches of salt, and the chopped tarragon. Drizzle again with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.

9. Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Opa! Vegan Moussaka!

I went to Greece last summer for two weeks. Those two weeks were arguably the best two weeks of my life. Matt and I traveled to Athens, then to some of the Greek islands (Naxos and Santorini), and then we went to Delphi. It was so beautiful, but honestly, beyond falling in love with the country for its beauty, I fell in love with the food. Well, not all the food. Just one dish: moussaka. I seriously ate it at EVERY MEAL. I'm pretty sure moussaka is the Greek equivalent to like tuna casserole, but seriously, I could not get enough of this stuff. No it wasn't vegan, it wasn't even vegetarian, but it was so.good.

Here's a picture of a smattering of Greek cuisine (including moussaka on the left):

Upon deciding to give this whole vegan thing a go, I realized that I would need to bid my dear sweet moussaka adieu. It was heart-wrenching to say goodbye to something that brought me so much joy, but alas, I did.

But then, that Veganomicon book came into my life. As I perused the pages, I saw, to my incredible disbelief and surprise a recipe for EGGPLANT-POTATO MOUSSAKA WITH PINE NUT CREAM SAUCE. As tears of joy streamed down my face, I tried to tell myself it wouldn't be the same, couldn't be the same, but hope springs eternal in my kitchen. That's why I keep coming back...

So I gave it a go. And...

IT WAS AMAZING!!!!

Matt said he even liked it more than "real" moussaka.

This was a little more time-consuming than I would like for a normal Tuesday night, but it was so worth it. And I realized that the key to moussaka is all in the tomato sauce and the cinnamon. As the sauce heated, I seriously was taken back to Greece...

Did I mention there was a windchill of -15 in Chicago this morning. Sigh...

So, here's what I did wrong:
-Once again I did not really weigh the vegetables (ok, the weigher thing in the grocery store intimidates me, sue me). I'm pretty sure I did not have enough zucchini.
-I may have used more olive oil than was necessary to coat the vegetables for roasting...which was probably good because I didn't spray the baking sheets prior to roasting.
-I only used 3 shallots...mostly because I thought my eyes were going to start shooting flames. Why are shallots SO much more potent than normal onions?
-I only used a 28 ounce can of tomatoes.
-Matt put in 2 bay leaves...and then didn't take them out. Looking forward to chomping down on that later...
-Didn't have any lemons, so I used some old lemon juice in the fridge and only had enough for 2 tablespoons. Added a little water to make the paste thicken up.
-DEFINITELY do not have white pepper...nor do I know where on earth I would find that.
-Slicing vegetables length-wise is not my forte. The slices were either too thin or way too fat. And I almost lost a finger. Proceed with caution.

Here's the recipe from Veganomicon:

Ingredients:

Vegetable Layer:
1 pound eggplant
1 pound zucchini
1 1/2 lbs. Russet or baking potatoes
1/4 c. olive oil

Sauce:
1/4 c. olive oil
4 large shallots, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 c. vegetable broth or red wine
2 (15-oz) cans crushed tomatoes, with juice
2 t. dried oregano
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1 bay leaf
Salt

Pine Nut Cream
1 lb. soft silken tofu
1/2 c. pine nuts, plus additional for garnish
3 T. lemon juice
1 t. arrowroot powder
1 clove garlc
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/4 t. salt, or to taste
white pepper
1/2 c. dry, fine white bread crumbs

Directions:

PREHEAT THE oven to 400. Lightly oil three baking sheets or shallow pans.

Prepare the vegetables:
Wash the eggplant and zucchini, and trim the stems. Scrub and peel the potatoes. Slice the eggplant, zuchini, and potatoes lengthwise into approximately 1/4-inch-thick slices. Rub the eggpland slices with a little salt and set aside in a colander in the sink for about 15 minutes to drain. Briefly rinse with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.

Place each vegetable on a separate baking sheet. Distribute the 1/4 c. oil among the three sheets and sprinkle the vegetables with salt (except the eggplant, if salted already). Toss to coat the vegetables on each sheet, making sure each piece is completely coated with oil. Drizzle a little extra oil on the eggplant, as it has a slight tendency to stick. Spread out the vegetables on each sheet; some overlapping is okay. Roast the pans of zucchini and eggplant for 15 minutes, or until tender. Roast the potatoes for about 20 to 22 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Allow the vegetables to cool.

While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the tomato sauce:
Combine the remaining 1/4 c. olive oil and minced garlic in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Heat over medium heat and let the garlic sizzle for about 30 seconds, then add the shallots and cook until soft and translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until slightly reduced, another 3 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, oregano, ground cinnamon, and bay leaf. Partially cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 12 to 14 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce should reduce slightly. Turn off the heat, remove the bay leaf, and adjust the salt (if necessary.)

Make the pine nut cream:
In a food processor, blend the pine nuts and lemon juice, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, until a creamy paste forms. Add the tofu, garlic, arrowroot, nutmeg, salt, and white pepper. Blend until creamy and smooth.

Lightly oil a 9x13-inch pan and preheat the oven again to 400, if necessary. Spread 1/4 cup of tomato sauce on the pan, then add successive layers in order of eggplant, potato, sauce, and half the breadcrumbs. Spread all the zucchini on top of this. Top with a final layer each of eggplant, potatoes, sauce, and bread crumbs. Use a rubber spatula to evenly spread the pine nut cream over the entire top layer. Scatter a few pine nuts on top, if desired.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is lightly browned and a few cracks have formed in the topping. Allow to cool 10 minutes before slicing and serving

Give this a go and TELL me it doesn't taste like your Greek grandmother made it for you and forced you to eat the whole pan...

I should have taken a picture that showed all the layers, but I seriously don't know how you people have the patience to do a photo shoot with your food. After all that work, all I can think about is eating it.

Baked Ziti and I didn't miss the cheese AT ALL

Occassionally, Matt likes to usurp my cooking attempts. I know this is nice, but after I spent seriously like...30 minutes looking for Italian Bread Crumbs at Whole Foods to no avail on a Saturday morning (I LOATHE weekend grocery shoppers), I sort of wanted to finish the whole thing. BUT, it was sweet nonetheless. I came back from yoga only to find him deep into the recipe. As I showered, I yelled out to him "you have to tell me what you screw up." And apparently, I'm the only one that screws up recipes at all times. But thankfully, I already screwed up at the grocery store, so our bases are covered.

Here's what I screwed up:
-So, I think I may have an actual defect that doesn't allow me to guestimate height, weight, length, etc., so since I couldn't find a way to measure out 1/2 pound of zucchini at Whole Foods (I know it was there somewhere, I was just getting frazzled), I just bought 3 zucchinis. Is that too much? No idea. We used 2 and it seemed adequate and not overwhelmingly zucchini-y.
-Since I couldn't find those stupid bread crumbs, I grabbed the only thing that resembled bread crumbs at Whole Foods. I stumbled upon some Panko bread crumbs and decided they would have to do. Little did I know those delicious crumbles that cover fried shrimp at Chinese restaurants was noted as a good substitute, so we jazzed them up with some Italian seasoning.
-Matt and I love things to be spicy, so we added about 4 shakes of crushed red pepper, a little hot sauce, and some other stuff that I know Matt snuck in when I wasn't looking. He has an issue when it comes to seasoning...

Verdict: Really good! Simple. Lots of leftovers. Hearty. Didn't miss the cheese one bit!

I got this recipe from Donna Klein’s vegan cookbook "Supermarket Vegan: 225 Meat-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free Recipes for Real People in the Real World." If you are only considering going vegan or aren't committed to buying all sorts of weird oils, grains, substitutes, etc., this book is PERFECT. It has a ton of easy and quick recipes that don't involve crazy shopping lists - everything could be found in a normal grocery store. I love it.

Baked Ziti with Zucchini, Chickpeas, and Olives


Ingredients

•8oz. ziti, rigatoni, or penne pasta
•1/2 pound zucchini, coarsely chopped (2 cups)
•1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas, or 1 15-oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
•1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes, with basil, garlic & oregano, juices included
•1 cup tomato puree
•1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives, divided
•1 tbsp. olive oil
•1 tbsp. tomato paste
•2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
•2 Tbsp. Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
Directions

•Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 11×7-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
•Cook ziti according to package directions for al dente in large pot of boiling salted water. Drain, rinse under cold water, and drain again. Return ziti to pot, and set aside.
•Meanwhile, combine zucchini, chickpeas, tomatoes and juices, tomato puree, 2 Tbsp. olives, tomato paste, and garlic in large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 5 minutes, or until sauce begins to thicken, stirring occasionally. Stir zucchini mixture into ziti, and season with salt and pepper, if desired.
•Transfer ziti mixture to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and remaining 2 tbsp. olives. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until pasta is heated through and breadcrumbs are golden brown.