Seitan stew with sauerkraut

Things have been kind of Eastern European around here. Last night we had golabki. And tonight we had this stew, which was based on a recipe from Peter Berley's Modern Vegetarian Kitchen: Beer-braised seitan with sauerkraut and onions. (I didn't have enough beer on hand, so the braising broth was about 1/4 beer, and the rest was broth and a little bit of sauerkraut juice. I also added some tomato paste. The seitan was based on Isa's Spicy Pinto Sausages, with different spices (mainly thyme and pepper).)

This recipe finished off two mostly empty jars of sauerkraut, and for good measure I threw in the last of my pickled brussels sprouts (recipe here). Adding the brussels sprouts was a very good idea.

I thought this stew was amazing, but then, I do have a weakness for sauerkraut.

La Vie En Rose

Post dinner party photo.  Candles still lit.  I didn't snap a picture of a single thing I made.  Food was great, company was great... even better, they helped with dishes.  Could I ask for anything more?  

Sweet Potato, Meet the Muffin

So I'm still with the muffin thing.  These I didn't love - they contain evaporated milk - and the tin can alone was enough to throw me.    They taste so rich to me because of that milk.  When I bite into them and think "brioche," I'm inviting all sorts of criticism.  Whatever.  They're rich and bland.  Where's the ginger?  

Dinner is Served

I've been pausing - two or three minutes, really - before throwing together what's in the fridge for dinner.  And with those two or three minutes, I find something FAR better than what I was up to without them.  Last night, case in point.  A fried egg (and then chard simmered in its wake) made brown rice and leftover tofu delicious.  

Fennel and butternut lasagna

Making lasagna is not usually something I do without quite a bit of forethought. But this one came together on the fly, used up leftovers, and was terrific. The basic idea was like that of this butternut lasagna (though unfortunately my rosemary plant has since died, so no wonderful rosemary bechamel this time).

The layers were caramelized fennel, butternut, and leftover lentil loaf. (In the interest of time, I steamed and then sauteed the butternut rather than roasting. It worked out fine.) Caramelized fennel and butternut is a very nice combination.

I just noticed that this photo and the previous post's one have the same colour palette. Note to self: make some more red food, will you? This brown+cream+orange+green thing is getting old.

Loaf

I know that lentil loaves are oh so hippie, but I still like them. I made this one using The Magical Loaf Studio, a tool for devising your own Adventist style dinner loaf. Tonight's was lentil, pecans, breadcrumbs and oatmeal. Along with it we had gravy, mashed potato mixed with broccoli and baby spinach, and butternut pumpkin.

This meal was inspired by a sandwich, namely the sandwich that I am going to make tomorrow with the leftovers. While we didn't have meatloaf that often when I was a kid, since going veg I actually have become rather fond of the cold meatloaf sandwich (with lots of tomato sauce, aka ketchup).

Aloo Methi, and Scrambled Chickpea Flour with Ginger

On the left, Aloo Methi from Tigers and Strawberries. On the right, Scrambled Chickpea Flour with Ginger from 660 Curries. (I added some roasted pumpkin and tomato.)

Pumpkin tortilla soup

I finally got around to making the soup I mentioned in my very first post: pumpkin tortilla soup. I used dried ancho peppers plus a little bit of chipotle, and I added some chickpeas too. It was good. For some reason I'm always surprised by how well pumpkin and tomato go together. (Which reminds me, I must make the Fire Roasted Tomato, Butternut, Curry Coconut soup from B36 Kitchen again. It's delicious.)

No Knead Sourdough

This is a no knead sourdough, based on this one at Chez Pim. I'm pretty happy with it: nice and sour, and pretty to boot. I think my flour mix was like this: 100g WW bread flour, 50g rye, 10g ground flax seed, 5g (?) vital wheat gluten, and the rest (245g?) AP flour. (Oh, and I didn't use the honey.) Its first rise was longer than 12 hours (maybe 15, I can't remember).

Tuesday is the Best Day

These two people grow much of what I eat for the week (or at least the best of it).  I'm recording this now because in the "real" harvest season, I'll be scrounging for produce and standing in the freezer section to lower my core temperature.  (Most vegetables here come tied with burlap twine.  I think I remember rubber bands in the northeast.)

Anyway, for now, Tuesday is tops.  And the women who sell kale and sweet potatoes were back after a week away.  (Whew.)  They called me "baby," and had beautiful Brussels spouts for sale.  A darn good haul.

Birthday = Pink

I can never quite wrap my head around the girly-girl thing.  You say "pedicure," I think "complex labor issue."  But apparently, I'm on a mission to bring pink cakes to the table when someone calls "Birthday!"

In the foreground, ginger cookies with lumps of crystallized ginger and some fresh ginger (minced) in the mix too.  The star is a beet cake with crystallized ginger, pecans, and some local goat cheese stirred with sugar and maple for (center) frosting.  

Both were good, but I need to get an oven thermometer.  My cake was a bit dense in the middle and cooked on the edges.  Grrr.

    

A happy accident

Last night's dinner: steamed kale with caramelized onions, chickpeas and pine nuts, served over pasta. But here's where it gets interesting: the pasta was tossed with the leftover cranberry chutney from the other night. This was a very spur of the moment decision, but it turned out perfectly. I really loved how the slight bitterness of the kale tasted against the tangy sweetness of the chutney.

For dessert we had brownies. I have yet to bake a brownie that I am completely happy with, but these were pretty close. The recipe is from Peter Berley's The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen. (I was out of WW pastry flour, so used WW bread flour instead. I like chewy brownies so I didn't think the extra gluten would be a problem, and it seems I was right.)

659 to go

At the front, Grated Cauliflower Curry (recipe here). Behind that, Brown Lentils in Cashew-Almond Sauce (which tasted a lot better than it looks) (recipe here). At the back, Cranberry Chutney (recipe here). And that's a Gobi Paratha (recipe from Madhur Jaffrey). (The paratha was my favourite thing on the plate: the filling was finely grated cauliflower, sauteed until nice and brown, with ginger, jalapeno, and lots of cilantro.)

The lentil recipe is based on one in a book called 660 Curries. I am really into Indian food these days, so I almost can't imagine a better sounding book title.

As you can see, I continue to be obsessed with cranberries in Indian food. Last week I made a sort of Peshwari naan inspired paratha, with dried cranberries, grated coconut and some spices (definitely cardamom, and maybe some other things). 'Twas good.

Note: I discovered the trick to rolling out filled parathas. Once you enclose the filling, turn the paratha over and stretch and flatten it out a bit with your fingers. Then turn it over so that the pleated side faces up, and roll it out. The filling stays where it's supposed to.