Potatoes and greens

This is a dish from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I came home tonight craving something simple and comforting, only to be greeted by one of those large plastic containers of "spring greens" which was only one day past its best before date, but was frankly looking a little more than that, not off, but just enough over its peak of freshness that I didn't want to eat it as a salad (and anyway, I keep buying this stuff because it's so pretty and healthy but I don't really like green salad that much, especially after work).

So, this is the basic thing, which I am typing from memory in my own words, with a few changes I made to the method as well:

Potatoes and greens
adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
Serves 2 hungry people as a main dish or 4 as a side dish

4 medium potatoes (any kind)
1 lb greens, roughly chopped (I used this package of spring greens plus some kale)
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 medium cloves of garlic, slivered
salt
more extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling

Peel, chop, and steam the potatoes until tender. Meanwhile, put a little salted water in a skillet and cook the greens (in batches if necessary) until tender, lift out of the water, and set aside. Pour off the pot liquor to use in stock.

In the same skillet, heat the olive oil and add the pepper flakes and garlic. When the garlic is fragrant, add the greens, then pour the steamed potatoes on over top. Add sea salt to taste, and cook until everything is heated, smashing the potatoes up a bit with a fork to make a rough hash. Serve with a little more extra-virgin olive oil drizzled on (do use extra-virgin, if you have it; you can really taste it in a simple dish like this).

I also wanted to see what the "chicken" style seitan I've been so enamoured with lately would taste like fried in a little canola oil. Here you see it. I ate it, and can confirm that it was much better than it looks, although IMO it doesn't look that bad! The seitan is very moist, and the crunchiness of stir-frying added a little something nice. It was a simple meal, but I enjoyed it very much.

Migas

I learned about this dish from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (but by some anomaly it doesn't appear in the index so you have to search through the "egg" section for it). Deborah Madison says she seeks this dish out every time she is in Texas, but I say: why wait? No doubt there is some authentic ingredient only Texas can supply, but I've been to Texas…oh…never, and am not likely ever to go, so I'll make do with what's available.

Basically, this is scrambled tofu with crumbled tortilla chips added. The tortilla chips incorporate themselves into the mix in a way that is quite amazing (and amazingly delicious!). They add substance, but in the final thing you wouldn't know they were even there. Just about everything else is variable. I usually start with a vegetable stirfry, then add fresh or firm tofu (or a mixture). Ingredients for the vegetable stir fry could be any or all of:

onions
leeks
garlic
green, red, or yellow peppers
jalapeno peppers
carrots
mushrooms
savoy cabbage
diced cooked potatoes
tomatoes

You get the idea. Cook a mixture of these things over medium heat until they're starting to tenderize, then add crumbled tofu and some kind of tomato mixture (I used some diced canned tomatoes). You want the pan to have some liquid before you add the tortilla chips. I like this hot, so I also would add some red pepper flakes, a little sea salt, some black pepper.

When everything is heated through, add the crumbled tortilla chips and mix in well.

You don't need to mix for long before they've absorbed most of the available liquid. Then you can stir in or sprinkle on your toppings, which could be such things as:

chipotle chile powder
cilantro
parsley
grated vegan cheese
sliced green onions
more jalapenos
almonzano

How good this is! And how quick and easy!

Seitan reuben

For this, I used the recipe from Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet, but I must say that this sandwich could taste like anything depending on what you use for (1) seitan; (2) cheese; and (3) bread.

There's a little sauce, which is 2 tbsp Veganaise + 1 tbsp sweet relish. The recipe also called for mixing some ketchup in, but (1) I don't have any ketchup and anyway I don't like it; and (2) holy God, the thing tasted so fantastic with just the Veganaise and sweet relish I didn't want to wreck it by adding anything else.

For seitan I used some thin-cut slices of the "chicken" type seitan I raved about a while back, and for cheese some homemade cashew cheese which I believe is more or less the "gooda" cheese from the Uncheese Cookbook without the nutritional yeast. I really like nutritional yeast—it's my favourite topping for popcorn, for instance—but it does something uncomfortable to cashew cheese, in my opinion. That said, my cashew cheese had a pretty good texture but was very bland—in fact, it tasted a lot like what may still be called "farmer's" or "jack" cheese, so basically a little more like nothing than raw tofu.

The really big deal was that I got to use my new panini press, which was a birthday present from back in September, but since Japanese cooking doesn't involve paninis, I wasn't really in a position to play with it until now. I love the way the press cooks sandwiches, but there has to be a way to make great vegan paninis without nearly everything in them imitating some kind of animal product. I will be giving some thought to this in the next little while, but if anyone reading this has any ideas, please pass them along!

Poppyseed pappardelle

Oh, yum. The Rebar Modernfoodcookbook is wonderful. Please go out and buy it and then you can make this recipe, which isn't online except as it is mentioned in one griping amazon.ca review whose criticisms I just don't get. This is a really good recipe--onions, mushrooms, garlic, sweet red pepper, seitan, sautéed in a Merlot reduction, dill and parsley added, and served with wide noodles mixed with Earth Balance (okay, I veganized it) and poppyseeds, and dressed with a dollop of tofu sour cream from Robin Robertson's Vegan Planet. I used a mix of white, brown, crimini, portabella, oyster, and enoki mushrooms. Heaven!

Tragically, I could not find the recipe online to share with you, but Susan V at FatFree Vegan Kitchen has a similar tofu sour cream recipe, which I can (my version is slightly adapted):

Tofu sour cream:

6 ounces fresh or silken tofu
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tbsp cashew butter or tahini or canola oil
1/4 tsp salt (optional)
1/4 tsp sugar (optional)

Blend all the ingredients for the tofu sour cream until completely smooth, and set aside in the refrigerator until needed.

It isn't sour cream, and doesn't taste exactly like sour cream, but over time I've come to really relish it for exactly what it is…

Frankly, I'm not quite sure what pappardelle are, but I gather they are some kind of wide egg noodle. I used a mixture of white and whole wheat lasagne noodles, crumbled up, cooked, and mixed while hot with more Earth Balance and some poppy seeds.

Served with a little of the leftover Thai 3 cabbage slaw from yesterday: did it go well with the pasta? Why yes, it certainly did! But then, cabbage never goes amiss in the fall or winter, according to me.

Thai 3 cabbage slaw with spicy red curry vinaigrette

This is the Thai 3 cabbage slaw from the Rebar Modern Food Cookbook. It was easy to make and very spicy and tasty and, of course, always paramount here at the Airy Way, colorful. I veganized it very slightly, added roasted almonds and sesame seeds for substance, and brought it to a family dinner tonight. It went over pretty well, for salad.

Here's the whole meal (that I ate), which starred not only the coleslaw—recipe found here among other places, so I share it with you below—but a delicious mix of spiced roasted root vegetables made by my sister Diane:

But enough about the food. Tasty as they were, both Diane's efforts and mine were trumped by our brother Douglas, who saved our mother's life by the administration of a Heimlich maneuver at a critical instant. This was the most exciting family dinner ever! Quite apart from the quick-thinking, cool-headed, skillful, and indeed heroic actions of Douglas, which Diane and I will no doubt be living down for a long, long time, while I was shredding cabbage and roasting nuts this afternoon, it never crossed my mind that I would be so grateful at the end of the evening simply to still have both parents alive and well.

Thai 3 cabbage slaw with spicy red curry vinaigrette
from the Rebar Modern Food Cookbook

Serves 6-8

Salad:
1/2 small head sui choy (or napa cabbage)
1/2 small head green cabbage
1/2 small head purple cabbage
2 carrots
2 peppers, red and yellow
1 small red onion
1/2 bunch cilantro or Thai basil (or cilantro)
2-3 scallions
Roasted peanuts and fresh lime wedges for garnish

Core and finely shred the cabbages. Peel carrots, thinly slice diagonal coins and then julienne each coin into thin, long matchsticks. Finely julienne the red onion and the sweet peppers. Mince scallions on the bias. Stem cilantro and roughly chop the leaves.

Toss together all of the vegetables with enough dressing to coat. Garnish with roasted peanuts and serve fresh lime wedges on the side.

Dressing (yields 2 1/3 cups):
1/4 cup chopped shallots
2 tbsp chopped ginger
1 serrano chile, seeded
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
3/4 tsp Thai red curry paste (Thai Kitchen brand)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 cup peanut oil
1/4 tsp salt

Pulse shallots, ginger, garlic and chiles in the bowl of a food processor. Add the next seven ingredients and blend until smooth. Season to taste, but note that the chile heat will continue to develop as it sits.

Red curry (gaeng daeng)

Coconut curry is one of those dishes that give the impression of being a lot harder to make than they really are. It's a really pretty meal, full of warm, fragrant, complex flavours, that comes together in about 15 minutes. This recipe is based on one in Chat Mingkwan's Buddha's Table. The author rather charmingly remarks in his introduction that "This dish is the most often cooked curry in the Thai household…[red curry paste] pairs well with nearly all ingredients, especially any vegetables that grow near the house or those that have been left in the refrigerator." In northern Canada in mid-November there aren't many vegetables growing anywhere nearby, but there had been some left in my refrigerator…. Buddha's Table gives instructions on how to make your own red curry paste; however, I used Thai Kitchen brand because I was in a rush and anyway didn't have the proper ingredients (lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, etc.) on hand.

The secret to this dish is, surprisingly, broth powder, which is also what makes this recipe different from some of the other vegetarian coconut curry recipes I've seen, which get a lot of their salty flavour from soy sauce. Soy sauce tastes great, but it spoils the lovely red-and-white colour of the curry and turns it a muddy and not very appetizing pink.

I followed Chat Mingkwan's recommendation and used yuba for the protein element, but tofu of any kind, either fresh or lightly fried, is also great in this dish. If you're going to fry tofu, do that first, remove the fried tofu cubes from the pot, and keep them aside until the sauce and vegetables are nearly ready. Fresh tofu gets added right at the end. Yuba, however, needs to be in there almost from the beginning, so if you're using it, before you do anything else you need to put the yuba sticks into warm water to soak; they'll need about 20-30 minutes.

Gaeng daeng (Thai red curry)
adapted from Buddha's Table
serves 2

1 tbsp peanut oil
2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
1 1/2 cups reconstituted yuba, chopped into bite-sized pieces, or fresh or lightly fried tofu cubes
1 cup chopped bamboo shoots
1/2 chopped sweet red pepper
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 can (approximately 1 1/2 cups) coconut milk
2 tbsp brown sugar
zest and juice of 1/2 lime
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder, or 1/2 cube (or to taste; I used a little more)
1 cup broccoli florets
a few small sweet pepper cubes and/or sliced green onions and/or chopped peanuts for garnish

Heat the peanut oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the curry paste and cook 3-5 minutes, until fragrant. Add the yuba, bamboo shoots, red pepper, and cauliflower, and stir to mix well with the curry paste.

Add the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Stir in the soy sauce, sugar, and vegetable bouillon powder. Reduce heat and simmer for 7-10 minutes, or until the vegetables are just tender. Add the broccoli florets, lime juice, and lime zest (and the tofu, if using) and cook until heated through. Taste for salt and adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve immediately over rice or noodles.

What else have I been doing while I wasn't blogging? Well, I have been cooking, but kind of non-blog-worthy meals, either because they weren't all that photogenic (when I get a good image of the chile-chocolate mole from Veganomicon, I'll let you know), or I'd made them before (vegetable stew), or I haven't had time to post the recipe (yet).

One thing I did make that deserves a mention, if not a picture, was the Iraqi beet stew with meatballs from Lazy Smurf's Guide to Life. Go check it out; the images are gorgeous, the recipe's great, and the dish is very spicy, which is not something I would normally associate with beets. I let my beet sauce reduce too much so I didn't get that amazing-pool-of-purple effect. I also was lazier than the Lazy Smurf and didn't wrap my meatballs individually in tinfoil; instead, I rolled the dough into sausages, steamed them, and sliced them thick. This recipe makes a lot, and unless you're serving a big crowd or really, really like beets, you might want to take that under advisement.

Botanical balls with chili chocolate mole and confetti coleslaw

I came home from work craving salad, and more specifically coleslaw. This substantial and delicious slaw was made with shredded white and red cabbage, julienned carrots and beets, a few chopped green onions, cilantro, and leftover sweet ginger lime dressing, sprinkled with sesame seeds. Some of this meal, like the Rebar botanical burgers (now balls) I've blogged before. These were from the freezer. Near the end of their baking period, I added a few pieces of broccoli tossed with olive oil and some of Mark's Chick'n almond bake from the other night. Even the flatbread was some whole wheat bread dough I had made over the weekend that didn't rise properly, I'm not sure why, so rather than risk loaf failure I just stored it as dough in a container, and tonight mixed some of it up with some chopped green onion, rolled it out and fried it. Oh, and the sauce for the botanical balls is the chili chocolate mole from Veganomicon, which I put together on Sunday and which you'll be hearing more about later.

So this was kind of a Frankenstein-type meal which came together in a few minutes out of stuff I had here and there, but it was still so so good, and felt very fancy indeed for a Monday night!