Vegtastic!

Stop eating your pinko commie hippie sprouts and chia seeds — it’s time for something all-American: Veganomicon’s chickpea cutlets topped with Blissful Bites‘ mushroom gravy, brussels sprouts sauteed with shallots and fancy mushrooms, and garlic mashed purple potatoes.

All-American with a hippie vegan twist, I suppose.

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This meal tastes like what your grandma would have eaten, were she vegan. Maybe your grandma was/is vegan. Maybe I’m making judgements.

In full transparency, this post is a copycat of homage to what a couple of other vegan food bloggers have already done: Dawn of Vegan Moxie paired Veganomicon’s chickpea cutlets with brussels sprouts and mashed (sweet) potatoes (virtual kick in the pants to try recipe taken!), and Marti, aka “Tofu Mom,” is doing a mofo of gravy.

The chickpea cutlets and mushroom gravy are brothers from different mothers: hearty, savory and rich, though also pretty healthy. I baked my cutlets for extra health points, and I didn’t notice the lack of fried after smothering them in sauce. They were chewy and dense, in the greatest way possible.

And the gravy. If I suddenly became part of that fringe subculture that entire episodes of popular crime shows are based upon, where skinny people feed chubby people gravy to fulfill sexual gratifications until someone ends up mysteriously murdered (I watched a lot of CSI a few years back), this is the gravy I would demand someone lick off me (or lick off someone), though because there’s hardly any oil in this, they’d need to lick a lot of gravy to really fatten up.

If you haven’t already, you should go over and visit Dawn and Marti’s blogs. Since I have nothing further to say on the subjects of chickpea cutlets, brussels sprouts and gravy that they haven’t already, here is a picture of some dahlias from yesterday’s farmers market.

So much happy.

Bow Down to Washington,
Bow Down to Washington.
Mighty are the men who wear the Purple and the Gold,
Joyfully we welcome them within the Victor’s fold.
We will carve our name in the Hall of Fame,
To preserve the memory of our Devotion.

College football season is upon us. My one coworker has promised to wear his Oregon ducks T-shirt every Friday, while my dad is excited that the inclusion of Colorado in the Pac 12 opens up new opportunities for sibling rivalry.

For undergrad, I attended a division III school voted by its own alumni as the 6th worst football program in the nation.

Therefore, I’ve adopted Washington as my NCAA preference. I got my master’s there, David has his BA from there, and four of my aunts and uncles and one cousin also hold at least one UW degree.

I could personally care less about football, though I like it when my team wins — it’s a fantastic way to arbitrarily feel good about one’s life decisions.

Nothing says “Husky pride*” more than a dish made from Washington-grown produce, especially when said produce happens to match school colors: purple majestic potatoes and butternut squash turned into gnocchi.

Gnocchi are a little tricky. You want to make sure that you have exactly the right measurements and tools or yours will turn out soft and uneven — sort of like mine did. Lumpy mashed potatoes are usually the best (how else can you tell that they’re homemade?), but mashed potatoes for gnocchi need to be perfectly smooth — most recipes call for a ricer or vegetable mill for this.

I used Food.com’s vegan potato gnocchi (with just salt and garlic powder for flavor) and sort of winged the butternut squash version: 2 lbs squash, steamed and mashed, mixed with 2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg. It was a little soft and sticky still, so next time I’ll follow a real recipe or add more flour.

Regardless, my gnocchi were still very tasty sauteed in chopped shallots, sage and Earth Balance.

Go huskies!

*This color combination will also work for LSU, the Minnesota Vikings, the L.A. Lakers, or any other purple and gold team. Or a unicorn-themed birthday party or something.

I’ve been making these enchiladas frequently, almost to the point where I’m sick of them — but not quite.

A long time ago, when I first went vegetarian, a friend’s mom served enchiladas filled with eggplant and almonds, and the brilliance of this combination made quite an impression upon me.

This version is super simple, and utilizes seasonal produce — the only ingredients that you can’t get at a Western Washington farmers market this time of the year are tempeh, tortillas, lime, Daiya, cilantro and spices. That actually is a good chunk of the recipe, but… whatever.

Almonds give the enchilada innards some needed crunch, and the tomatillo/lime/cilantro combination adds a lovely freshness, perfect for chilly autumn days when all one wants is just one more taste of summer.

I recommend making the sauce the night before, since it’s best to dip your tortillas in a bit of the stuff before adding filling, and you don’t want to scald your hands. Seriously, I always forget this step and then play hot potato. Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch…

If you’re looking for another tasty enchilada recipe, Vegenista made squash enchiladas with tomatillo sauce for VeganMoFo, and they look positively divine — an intriguing use for butternut squash!

These measurements are very rough — you’ll probably have some filling left over, and you’ll probably want to eat it out of a bowl sprinkled with extra Daiya while the actual enchiladas are cooking.

Eggplant, potato, tempeh and almond green enchiladas

Ingredients:

sauce:

• 1 lb tomatillos, outer skins removed
• 1 hot pepper, spiciness of your choosing, stem removed
• 1 small onion, roughly chopped
• 4 small cloves of garlic or 2 big ones
• 2 cups water
• juice of 1 lime
• half a bunch of cilantro

filling:

• 1 small European eggplant or half of one large European eggplant, skinned and diced into small (3/4″) cubes
• 3/4 lb potatoes (2 small), peeled, cooked and diced (I just microwave them in hot water for 5 minutes)
• 8 oz. tempeh, diced
• oil, for sauteing
• 1 tsp ground chili powder
• 1/4 tsp ground cayenne
• 1/4 tsp ground chipotle powder
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• salt, to taste
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds

Other stuff:

• 6 (6″) corn tortillas
• 1/2 cup shredded vegan mozzarella cheese (or more, to taste)

Instructions:

1. In a small pot, bring tomatillos, onion, garlic and pepper to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Gently scoop tomatillos, onion, garlic and pepper into a blender (or let them cool, refrigerate overnight, and do this the following day). Add lime juice and cilantro and blend.
3. In a frying pan, add 1 tbs or more of oil and saute eggplant with salt, to taste, until soft. Add potato, tempeh, and spices. Cook until tempeh is heated, then set aside to cool a bit.
4. Microwave tortillas, covered in a damp paper towel, for 30 seconds to soften.
5. Pour a bit of sauce into a 9″ x 9″ pan. Pour a bit more sauce onto a large plate and moisten both sides of tortilla with sauce. Fill with eggplant mixture, and sprinkle with almonds before wrapping and placing in the pan. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
6. Pour remaining sauce over enchiladas, and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until sauce bubbles and cheese melts — about 20 minutes.

The lentil shepherd’s pie served in my college dining hall was one of the first dishes to convince me that this whole no meat thing wouldn’t be so bad.

Something about finding the biggest freakin’ potato ever at the farmers market over the weekend, sitting comically in the bin with all of these teeny tiny little potatoes, inspired me to recreate it after all these years. (Maybe because I just made magic bars, another college treat?)

Said potato weighed nearly 2 pounds, enough to top an entire batch of shepherd’s pie.

I drew inspiration from a bunch of recipes to create the perfect one, the version that most resembles my memories:

• Appetite for reduction’s upside down shepherd’s pie
• Lentil Shepherd’s Pie with Sweet Potato Mash
• Raspberry World’s lentil shepherd’s pie

These recipes all look super tasty on their own merit, but when you have an idea in your head about what something should taste like, you disregard everything else to replicate your vision.

And heck, even with no meat AND no dairy, lentil shepherd’s pie is still a darn tasty dish — comfort food at its finest, vegan or not.

Vegan Lentil Shepherd’s Pie

makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup dry lentils
• 1 cup onion
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots, defrosted
• 3/4 cup corn
• 1 tbs parsley
• 1 tsp sage
• 1/4 tsp ground thyme
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs vegan Worcestershire sauce
• 1 2/3 lb potatoes, skinned and chopped
• 2 tbs soy milk
• 1 tbs Earth Balance
• 1/4 tps salt

Instructions:

1. Boil lentils for approximately 25 minutes; drain.
2. While lentils are boiling, boil potatoes for approximately 20-25 minutes or until soft.
3. Saute onion in 1 tbs or so oil until browned. Add corn, peas/carrots, spices, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Stir in lentils and let cook for a couple more minutes.
4. In a separate bowl, mash potatoes with soy milk, Earth Balance and salt.
5. Pour lentil mixture into a greased 9″ x 9″ pan. Top with mashed potatoes.
6. Broil for 5 minutes or until potatoes brown. Serve.

Ethiopian food is my favorite right now. It’s a naturally vegan-friendly cuisine, and I love scooping up spicy vegetable stews with bits of sour bread and lifting them straight to my mouth, no utensils needed.

Because the ingredients are simple staples, like lentils, cabbage, potatoes, onions and spices, you can make a full Ethiopian meal on a rather tight budget without sacrificing taste.

And, despite the small grocery bill, the presentation is impressive. I mean, how many Americans just whip up an Ethiopian dinner? You and I, that’s who.

But it really only works if you have injera. Injera is the flat, spongy, fermented bread that Ethiopians traditionally use as both starch and fork. You can make your own, but you can also spend $6 for 10 large pieces at, say, the convenience store next to Blue Nile on 12th Ave.

Also, I’d feel terrible if I posted a something on Ethiopian food without mentioning that there are many in that country who go without. There’s still a famine in East Africa, so donate if you can spare a few bucks and already haven’t. It won’t solve the crisis, but it will help.

Atakilt wat

I fell in love with this dish the first time I tasted it at Pan Africa. Perhaps it’s my potato- and cabbage-loving Czech heritage, or perhaps it’s because I spend an ungodly amount of time in potato- and cabbage-loving Russia in college (3 months, which doesn’t seem like a lot but is a long-ass time on frozen Russian soil), but I am fond of any combination of cabbage, onion and root vegetables.

What strikes me is how different atakilt wat tastes from anything Eastern European or Irish (another potato- and cabbage-loving culture), though the ingredients vary only slightly, with turmeric and tomato paste being the key differentials — it’s sort of like how supposedly humans are only a few genes away from flies, or how the Russian word for ‘family’ and the word for ’sperm’ are separated only by one very subtle, non-existent-in-English letter (semya vs. sem’ya), which must have been pretty funny for the guy who corrected my Russian 101 papers.

Iwaruna.com has a good recipe; being more of a potato fan than carrot, I changed the original 1:1 ratio to be 1 pound potato and 1/2 pound carrot, and found this to be a happy balance.

Mesir Wat

Lentils are a cheap protein source, and boil down to a creamy mush. You puree everything that adds flavor to this dish (onion, ginger, garlic and ground red pepper) so that there’s no chunkiness, and the end result just sort of melts in your mouth (while also setting it on fire).

I used Michael at Herbivoracious’ mesir wat recipe, which I halved. However, while I halved  the lentils and onion, I forgot to halve the spices. It was spicy, but definitely not too spicy, so I’d probably make the same mistake again.

Bamya Alich’a

Okra is a love-it-or-hate-it vegetable. Some folks (like my friend Tanya, who isn’t the slightest bit finicky otherwise) can’t stand the sliminess, saying it too closely resembles certain bodily excretions.

I personally adore okra, and enjoy the brief window when it appears at the farmer’s market.

GreenAR by the Day’s bamya alich’a is a tasty way to prepare okra. I skipped the ground cardamom (having none in stock) and used one white onion instead of 1 1/2 cup red onion, and the result was quite pleasing. Mesir wat is quite soft, and the cooked veggies in atakilt wat also don’t provide the teeth with much resistance, so the okra in bamya alich’a add a complimentary crunchiness.

Do you have a favorite Ethiopian dish?

I’ve looked at the menu of just about every restaurant in Portland to prepare for my visit this week.

(“But you’re only there for two days, outside of Vida Vegan Con,” you might say.)

(“True,” I might reply, “but I want to make the most of it.”)

(“But it’s only 3 hours away from Seattle,” you might add, “You can always go back.”)

(“STFU and let me be excited, okay?” I might growl in response.)

My research led me to the Farm Cafe, which has a recipe for their world famous Farmhouse veggie burger on their website. It’s made with eggplant, and I freakin’ love properly-cooked eggplant. (Improperly cooked eggplant, on the other hand, is one of the foulest vegetables known to humankind.)

Only problem: the Farm Cafe’s version is not vegan.

Never fear — the veganizer is here! (umm, okay — this one wasn’t actually that hard to veganize.)

There isn’t much protein in the Farm Cafe’s veggie burger, but the tasty level is off the charts. The base is the aforementioned eggplant, which sautes down to a silky puree bound by bread crumbs and Daiya, flavored with scallions and herbs. (The original called for parsley, but I abhor parsley, so I substituted thyme and oregano from my balcony garden.)

After coming across Orowheat mini sandwich thins at QFC (which appear to be vegan, but someone please tell me if one of the many chemicals in them makes them not so), which are just about the cutest lil’ pieces of bread ever (chemicals aside), I made my burgers into sliders, but you could make them full-fledged veggie burgers on full-sized buns just as easily.

Veganized and de-parsley’d Farmhouse veggie burger (original recipe)

• 2 whole eggplant, peeled and diced into 1-inch pieces
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 Tbs minced herbs (I used thyme and oregano, but you could use parsley)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar Daiya
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• ¾ tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp minced garlic (or a clove)
• ¼ tsp salt
• 3 Tbs olive oil

1. Sauté eggplant over low heat until grey and very soft — it should be falling apart. Because I don’t like raw garlic, I added it to the final few minutes of the cooking just to cook a bit, though the original recipe does not say to do so.
2. Mix together eggplant and all the rest of the ingredients, except oil, and let rest for at ½ hour in refrigerator (I let mine sit overnight).
3. Form into patties — the recipe says 4, but I think you could make 6 full-sized patties, with many more sliders.
4. Heat olive oil until very hot in a frying pan, then fry the burgers.

The Farm cafe recommends serving the burgers with caramelized onions, spicy brown mustard, roasted red peppers and salad mix, which sounds like a good combo, but, you know, add whatever you want.

David loves Mexican food, probably more than he loves the fact that he is nearly done with college after deciding to complete up his degree nearly 4 years ago.

He is so close to finishing it all up that he participated in UW graduation exercises last week and this past Saturday (though will take summer school).

After the interminable Husky Stadium ceremony (and by the way, Kathleen Sebelius, WE are the “real Washington”), his parents took us out to dinner at Galerias, a schwanky Mexican restaurant on Capitol Hill. I like to say that it serves what upscale folks in Mexico City would eat on a night out, but I really have no basis for that statement, having never been to Mexico nor its eponymous City.

Galerias is simply nice Mexican food served in a colorful, elegant, light-filled space. Plus, the kitchen includes slices of baguette in their chip basket, which makes it seem über-fancy. You should eat there.

Galerias’ vegan selection is also pretty solid. Not extensive, but solid. I ordered vegetable enchiladas, which were filled with a mix of tasty veggies, the only variety I could really distinguish being carrots.

However, the highlight was a little side salad made from cactus (¡nopales!), kidney beans, sliced radish, red onion and cilantro, and I determined that I would replicate it later that weekend.

Which I did.

I also threw together some enchiladas from veggies I bought (mostly) at the farmer’s market: roasted baby carrots and potato, sauteed mushrooms, and collard greens (the collards were a bit bitter, so next time I’d use kale or chard or something), wrapped in corn tortillas, smothered in homemade (but simple) sauce and cheddar Daiya.

Recipes below, if you want to try them.

Enchiladas

Easy Enchilada Sauce (adapted from a recipe at Food.com):

• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• cayenne pepper, to taste
• 3 cups water
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce

1. The directions say to add the dry ingredients into a bowl, pour in about 1/2 cup of water, and mix to form a fine paste, then transfer to a sauce pan and add the remaining water and tomato sauce. I sort of mixed it all together, and it was a little lumpy at first and then all smoothed out.
2. Simmer until sauce thickens — about 10 minutes.

Filling (you really could use anything you like):

• one bunch collard or other type of greens, stem removed and chopped
• small handful chopped cilantro
• 1/4 lb or so sliced mushrooms
• 1/4 red onion, diced
• 1 bunch baby carrots, chopped
• 1 small yellow potato, diced finely

1. Place potatoes and carrots on a pan sprayed with olive oil and spray them with olive oil. Sprinkle some salt over them and roast at 400 degrees or so until done, about 15-20 minutes.
2. Saute the mushrooms and onions in a little olive oil and set aside.
3. Saute the chopped greens and chopped cilantro until greens are wilted.

Other stuff:

• 6-8 corn tortillas
• Daiya Cheddar (1/3 bag?)

1. Microwave 6-8 corn tortillas covered with a damp paper towel for 30 seconds to soften them.
2. Add a bit of sauce to an 8 x 8″ glass plate.
3. Dunk a tortilla in sauce, and fill with filling. You could include cheese at this point, but I didn’t. Wrap up and place in pan. Repeat until pan is full.
4. Cover tortillas with the rest of the sauce, and cover in Daiya to your preferred level of cheesiness. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce bubbles.

Cactus Salad

• 1 jar cactus
• 1 can kidney beans
• 1 bunch radishes, sliced thinly
• a handful fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/4 red onion, finely diced
• a few dashes lime juice. Real lime juice, not that fake plastic bottle stuff.
• a few dashes tabasco sauce

1. Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Yup. Easy.

If you make both recipes according to my very loose directions, you will have both half an onion and some fresh cilantro left over. I made a nice salsa out of 1/2 the leftover onion (e.g., 1/4 of an onion), diced, and some of the cilantro, chopped, added to a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes with some cayenne pepper and lime juice. Excellent with Daiyachos.

If you’re looking for a hearty, soy-less, protein-packed vegan dish that will stand up to a robust red wine or rich beer, I think you’ll find this dish to be a pleasant addition to your dinner menu.

Serve with polenta topped with crock pot spaghetti sauce and sauteed greens. Or, you know, whatever.

White bean ragout
serves 4

• 6 oz mushrooms, quartered
• 1 leek, sliced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 15-oz can white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• a splash or two of wine (which I didn’t add but wish I had)
• ≈2 TBS tomato paste
• salt, pepper and ground thyme to taste
• olive oil

1. Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add mushrooms, carrots and leeks and saute until fragrant. Add salt, pepper and thyme, and saute a few minutes more.
2. Stir in vegetable broth, tomato paste and beans.
3. Cook until beans are heated through and vegetables are soft, ≈15-20 minutes.

I’m not Irish at all, and I’ve never been to Ireland, but I used to live in Boston.

It seems like everyone in Boston is of Irish heritage. It’s actually more like 25+%, according to Wikipedia (don’t forget the Italians), but it really feels like the whole town is Irish. You’ve seen The Departed, right? That was 2006-2008 for me, minus the gangster part. And the Mark Wahlberg part.

Mmm… Mark Wahlberg.

Anyhow, I’m pretty sure there are more Irish bars per capita in Boston than in Ireland. Wherever you go in the city, shamrocks abound, drunk girls butcher Celtic punk songs, green never goes out of style (the Red Sox even sell a green version of their Jersey– the freakin’ Red Sox), and St. Patrick’s day is a definite cause for celebration– a city-wide sh*t show.

Someone told me they had met a woman who had moved from Dublin to Boston only to head West soon after because the Beantown experience too closely mirrored that of her homeland– she didn’t come to America to hang out with a bunch of Micks.

As far as I can tell, Seattle doesn’t have quite the yen for dyed beer as my former city of residence, but who doesn’t love the opportunity to eat potatoes and get trashed drink whiskey?

I present to you an attempt to make a delicious Irish-inspired St. Patty’s vegan dish: baked Colcannon croquettes. Baked because I don’t have a deep fryer. Colcannon because I like mashed potatoes. Croquettes because they seem to be popping up in my life a lot lately (“What’s a croquette again?” -David)

I made 4 croquettes before realizing that the Daiya cheese would make them awesome– hypothesis confirmed.

The breadcrumbs could use a little seasoning, so next time I’ll mix some salt and pepper or something into them, but all in all this turned out pretty tasty.

Baked Colcannon Croquettes

• 2 large russet potatoes, peeled and boiled
• 2 kale leaves, stems removed and finely chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup soy milk, plus more as needed
• 1/2 onion, sauteed.
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 3/4 cup Daiya mozzarella
• egg replacer for 2 eggs, made up according to package directions.
• panko bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Saute the onion; set aside.
3. Steam (or microwave) the kale; set aside.
4. Mash peeled and boiled potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper, and soy milk. Add soy milk as needed to get a creamy yet stiff consistency.
5. Add sauteed onion, steamed kale, and Daiya to the mashed potatoes.
6. Make kiwi-sized balls out of the potato mixture, dip in egg replacer, and roll in panko, flattening slightly into disks.
7. Place disks on a cookie sheet sprayed with olive oil and bake for 30 minutes or until breadcrumbs brown.
8. Serve with veganaise, ketchup… I dunno what sort of condiments real Irish people use.

New Orleans has a food culture like no other in America– or so John Besh and mass media’s post-Katrina portrayals of this town want us to believe.

But I believe it.

The French Mississippi Company founded the place in 1718. The Treaty of Paris gave New Orleans to the Spanish in 1763, and the US got it in 1803 thanks to the Louisiana Purchase.

An influx of French, American, Creole, Irish, German and African peoples and several centuries of practice have shaped the city’s cuisine into what it is today: a wealth of little donuts, spicy pork products, seafood dishes and po’boy sandwiches.

Being from California, and a vegan, I really have no idea what this all means.

But since Fat Tuesday is this Tuesday, I figured I’d just throw everything I know about Southern and Creole cooking into one pot.

I bring you: Bastardized Vegan Gumbo.

It may not be authentic, but it’s pretty tasty. Pair with an Abita Purple Haze or two.

Bastardized Vegan Gumbo
serves 6

• 2 TBS oil*
• 2 TBS white wine*
• 1/4 cup flour*
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 3 celery stalks, diced
• 1 28-ounce can tomatoes
• 1 16-oz can kidney beans
• 1 bunch collard greens
• 1 12-oz package frozen okra
• 1/2 package (2 sausages) Field Roast Italian Sausage, sliced
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 TBS Sriracha sauce
• 1 TBS vegan Worcestershire sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp group thyme
• 1 TBS cornstarch
• rice, for serving

1. Make a sort-of roux out of the oil, wine and flour in a large pot; remove from pan.
2. Saute onions, garlic, celery, and carrots until starting to soften.
3. Add tomatoes and simmer a little longer.
4. Remaining ingredients, except for cornstarch, including roux.
5. Simmer 30 minutes or until collards have turned a dark, brownish, Southern-style green.
6. Remove 1/2 cup or so of the broth; mix in cornstach. Return to pot and simmer 10 minutes longer.
7. Serve over rice.

*1/4 cup of oil and flour and no wine would be good, but I’m not that big on oil. I don’t think what I made was really how a roux is supposed to be, but it seemed to work.