After last week absence, we're back and better than ever!

Udon with Stir-Fry and Five-Spice Tofu

Recipe courtesy of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

Last week, I had planned on making a giant pot of pasta e fagioli, using the most awesome Bean Cuisine mix as a base.  However, the weather was rather unseasonably warm, and the idea of making a giant pot of bean soup didn't really appeal to me so much.  As the week went on, my desire to cook dropped even more, so no true meatless (although I did eat pizza on Wednesday since it was D&D night, technically meatless, but a bit outside of the theme of eating meatless).

In the meantime, I had picked up the Sunday Dinners at Moosewood cookbook, since I've made a dish or two that have come out well from Moosewood.  Too bad this cookbook had way too many side dishes and appetizers, as opposed to more meatless main dish recipes that I was looking for.  Enter Vegeterian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison, which has literally TONS of main dishes that I am all about.

It took me literally 20 minutes to cook this meal from start to finish.  I sliced the leeks, peppers, shiitakes and tofu all while the water was boiling for the udon.  The sauce was a mixture of vegetable stock, hoisin, soy sauce, tomato paste, garlic, crushed red pepper and lemon zest.  Once the udon was dropped into the water, everything was stir-fried together.  You saw what the dish looked like plated, this is what it looked like when we were done:

Absolutely delicious - between the textures and the flavors, everything was in contrast but yet still in balance.  If I was going to change anything, I'd add even more mushrooms, and I'd cut the tofu into chunks instead of into strips.  Other than that - I may just make this again next week.

Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

Grilled Cheese with Portobello, Red Onion and Tomatoes, Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Recipe courtesy of the Top Chef Cookbook

There's not much I like more in this world than grilled cheese and tomato soup.  I'm a bit particular about it, too - white bread, American cheese, tomato soup made with milk (not with water), and dunking my sandwich in the soup.  Awesome.  Nothing I want more when the weather turns cold.  Stephanie is especially partial to my tomato soup recipe, but I wanted to give this one a try.  Plus, it's a great recipe for a Meatless Monday.

First step was to saute and roast some thinly sliced portobellos, grape tomatoes and red onions with some white wine and balsamic vinegar.

 

Next, I melted some butter with some fresh thyme to get some awesome infused flavor.

Finally, the sandwich assembled on sourdough with some shredded Monterey Jack and provolone, brushed with the infused butter, topped with the roasted vegetables, grilled up in the frying pan.

The red pepper soup is nothing more than a traditional tomato soup base, but with a couple of roasted red peppers and some basil thrown in, then blended.  The verdict - AWESOME!  Then, for dessert:

Grilled cheese, tomato soup, warm and chewy cookies for the win.

What is your favorite cold-weather comfort meal to cook?

One from Michael Mina

Olive Oil-Poached Rack of Lamb

Harissa Ratatouille, Rosemary-Scented Potatoes, Rosemary Gremolata

Recipe courtesy of the Michael Mina Cookbook

My school is off for Columbus Day for the first time ever, I believe, so I took the opportunity to cook up something a little more involved than my usual Sunday fare.  Needless to say, involved doesn't really do this recipe justice, as I ended up using practically all my pots and pans, completely dirtied up my kitchen, and ended up having my entire sink filled to the brim with dirty dishes.  Was it worth it in the end?  Well, keep reading.

I've had poached fish and chicken before, but this recipe intrigued me:  a rack of lamb poached in olive oil, along with traditional aromatics for lamb:  garlic, shallots and rosemary.  I set up one of my bowls over a simmering pot of water, very much the way I'd melt chocolate, but instead dumped in a half a head of garlic, some rosemary sprigs, a halved shallot and 3 cups of olive oil.  I brought it up to heat by bringing the water to a simmer, trying to level my oil temperature at around 135-140...too bad it jumped up to about 160 and I couldn't bring it back down.  Alas, I figured it would drop a bit when I put in my lamb, and it ended up leveling off at around 150, which is a little high a temperature for lamb to be cooked to, but I risked it.  After poaching for 25 minutes in the oil, I pulled the meat out of its bath, then browned it quickly for a minute or 2 on each side in a screaming-hot skillet.

While the lamb was cooking, I made the harissa sauce (roasted red pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes, cumin, coriander, caraway, parsley, olive oil, salt) in the blender and the gremolata (lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, chopped rosemary, olive oil, salt & pepper).  The potatoes were cooked very similar to the lamb, but at a simmer as opposed to a poach, in a bunch of olive oil with some rosemary and shallots.  When they were done, they were fork-tender.

Let me tell you a bit about the ratatouille.  Red and yellow peppers, zucchini and eggplant all diced and sauteed, then set aside.  In the same pot, some onions, garlic and tomato paste, which is then supposed to get mixed into the vegetables.  However, this is where our story turns sour, because I burnt my hands on the pot where I was cooking the onion/garlic/tomato, and dropped the pot, which proceeded to spray tomato ALL OVER my kitchen.  I was PISSED (at myself), and I don't do to well when I'm that mad.  Fortunately, I still had some red onion and my tomato-paste-in-a-toothpaste-tube, and I was able to whip up some more real fast...but I was still really annoyed.  After the ratatouille was made, the harissa got mixed in, and it was time to eat.

How did it taste?  Well, the lamb ended up being perfectly cooked, and was flavorful and rich.  The ratatouille was interesting but enjoyable - Stephanie kept on saying she was surprised by it because the harissa was such an interesting flavor that was unexpected (but not unpleasant) when eating ratatouille.  The potatoes were...well...rosemary-scented and awesome.  I did have a Top Chef moment though, because I totally forgot to spoon the gremolata over the lamb - but Steph didn't even notice so I didn't say anything until afterwords.

The verdict:  DELICIOUS.  Would definitely make it again, and hopefully without the mess ;)

Meatless Tuesday?

Baked Falafel

Lettuce, Tomato, Tahini Sauce

Recipe courtesy of ChowVegan 

My cooking schedule got a bit thrown off this week, so we ended up delaying our Meatless Monday into a Meatless Tuesday-into-Wednesday.  Oh well, no big concern, especially since we had falafel *again* this week.  Don't get me wrong - I am not complaining by any stretch of the imagination.  I would eat falafel every night, I absolutely love the stuff.  However, I think Stephanie might not be too happy (although she is a confirmed falafel freak, she did the happy dance when I told her I was going to make it again this week.)

When I was thinking about making falafel, I wanted to avoid the traditional method of preparing it, which is deep-frying.  Now, I make no bones about my love of all things deep-fried, but I was looking for a baked version for 2 reasons:  eating a deep-fried meal negates the whole point of a Meatless Monday, and I hate deep-frying inside my home.  I perused a number of recipes, and settled on this one - even more non-traditional since it calls for canned beans.  The only change I made to it was I didn't use as much onion, and I jacked up the oven temperature to 450, so they formed a crispy crust.

My only issue is the pita bread - I'm in need of a good Middle Eastern market to get quality pita, since Wegmans brand just isn't up to snuff.  Throw the falafel in a good pita with some shredded lettuce, diced tomato and a heaping spoonful of tahini sauce, and I (and Stephanie) are happy people.

Decadence in a Brownie Pan

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart Cookies

For my friend Brooke's birthday.  She's a sucker for the peanut butter-chocolate combo, so I figured this would be the perfect dessert to bring to a impromptu surprise potluck dinner.  My first tray (this one) came out ever-so-slightly overdone, but that's the problem with using a dark baking tray.  I'm planning on getting all new bakeware sometime soon...shiny and light is better!

Other than that, this was absolutely ridiculous in terms of flavor, and my friends should be prepared for these to make many appearances in the future.

Top Chef Shrimp & Scallop Burgers...

As a pioneer with educational technology in my building, I'm continually telling teachers that it is a good thing to struggle and make mistakes with technology, and that it teaches students an important lesson to see us growing and learning, just as they are.  In that vein, I'm writing this post, and you will hopefully understand my point by the time you get to the bottom of the text.

As part of my Top Chef dinner, I decided to make CJ's Scallop Mousse and Shrimp Burger with Tangerine.  All the ingredients were things that I like:  shrimp, scallops, lime, ginger, sugar, chile pepper, citrus...color me stoked.  The shrimp were halved lengthwise, and the scallops were pureed into a mousse with some pepper flakes, lime juice, and scallions.  Lining one of my Ateco circle cookie cutters with Saran, I layered 6 shrimp halves on the bottom of the ring mold, then spread over some mousse, then topped it again with 6 more shrimp halves.

Here's them wrapped up and ready for the fridge:

A close-up, ready for pan-frying:

Here's a picture of the garnishes, taken by Stephanie (she's rather proud of this photo).  Clockwise from the right is thinly shredded radicchio, thinly shredded spinach, and a sauce made from pickled ginger, pickled ginger juice, lime juice, rice vinegar, scallions and cilantro.  After that sauce came out of the blender, Stephanie started freaking out because of how good everything smelled.  She couldn't wait to eat, and I had to restrain her from just eating the sauce straight from the bowl.

So after the burgers were pan-sauteed, they were placed on a egg twist bun over a slice of tangerine, topped with the radicchio, spinach and sauce.  Looks delicious, right?

Problem:  I didn't like it.  I don't know what it was, but this did absolutely nothing for me, and in fact, I only ate half of it (much to Stephanie's delight, a surprising role reversal with her finishing all the food on my plate).  I don't know if it was the texture of the burger, or the flavor combinations, but everything that I had hoped this dish would be.  Needless to say, I won't be making it again.

I had not planned on writing about this - who wants to write about a dish that they didn't enjoy eating?  Well, Steph pointed out the whole "having people watch you struggle is good" thing to me, and so there you go.  What I want to ask of you, my hidden and silent readers, is this:  tell me about a time that you thought you would absolutely love a recipe and it came out terrible.  I'm curious to hear your stories about this.

(semi)Meatless Monday

Polenta Pie

Recipe courtesy of The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen

Welcome to (semi)Meatless Monday, where poor planning and forgetting tortillas at the supermarket yesterday caused Steph and I to have to take our leftovers (Sichuan-style Orange Chicken) for lunch today.  Alas, we'll be taking this meal tomorrow, so it's a Meatless 24-hours, I suppose.

Being that this is a challenge to myself to learn to try different vegetables, I decided on this recipe since it includes zucchini, which is a veggie that I have not learned to like, although admittedly I have passed on it so often, I don't think I even remember just why I don't like it.  It seemed like a good place to start.

This is a polenta crust that is baked, then set up with a thin layer of mozzarella, some sliced tomato, then a mixture of sauteed onions, red peppers, cremini mushrooms, zucchini, garlic and herbs, then topped with more mozzarella and broiled until nice and melted and toasty.  I made the crust with the Quaker cornmeal I had in my pantry, but I think it'd have come out better if I'd used coarse-ground cornmeal like the recipe suggested.  I'd add more tomato as well.  As for the zucchini, I actually don't think I know what it tasted like, but since I ate two helpings, I must've liked it.

I'd like to mention here that I've gotten really good at seasoning my food, and I take pride in the fact that most things I make don't need an extra dose of salt, but this is the 2nd of Katzen's recipes I've made that are underseasoned.  I think I might just write "+1/4 tsp salt" on the cover in Sharpie.

The final word:  Good, not great.  Might make it again.  I'd like suggestions, though - what kind of fillings would you use in a recipe like this?