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The Impatient Person’s Roasted Garlic

30 Nov

I can trace my garlic obsession back to about sixth grade.  We were having a big wintertime grilling party in celebration of an aunt’s birthday.  One of my uncles sliced up loaves of bread, slathered them with margarine and garlic powder, and popped them on the grill until they were slightly burnt and toasty.  The tastes of flames and garlic mingling was so simply delicious, I could have made a meal out of a loaf of bread.  It may seem silly that something that basic seemed revolutionary to my 11-year-old self, but it was.  And when I found out that the garlic powder had been lingering in our spice cupboard all along and I was missing out on that delicacy, I was floored.   I wasn’t quite the eleven-year-old who knew her way around a Weber, and so instead after that I was microwaving slices of white bread and garlic powder, and feeling like it was a wonderful unsung treat.

These days garlic powder is generally relegated to smooth gravies and quick sauces, but fresh garlic finds its way into nearly every meal.  My favorite way to enjoy garlic is roasted in whole cloves.  When spread onto hot, toasted bread, it makes a simple dinner of salad and bread infinitely more exciting, and when topped onto pizza with artichoke hearts and olives, it takes an easy homemade pie made from kitchen staples from ordinary to amazing.

Hello, whole roasted head of garlic. You're pretty, but I have no time for you.

I’ve done the typical version, in which a person roasts the whole head, first cutting off the tip of the bulb, revealing the tops of the cloves, and then covering the exposed area in oil.  After that the bulb is put into a covered container or wrapped in foil, and then baked for about fifty minutes.  However, there are two problems as I see it with this method.  The first is that 50 minutes is too long for most nights.  I suppose if I was only enjoying roasted garlic on special occasions, this wouldn’t matter much, but since I like them as part of an easy weeknight meal, I prefer it if the garlic takes about the same amount of time as chopping vegetables and preparing salad dressing.  The second problem is that after roasting the heads of garlic whole, a person is supposed to wait about ten minutes to let the cloves cool.  Since eating the whole heads requires squeezing the smooth and buttery clove out of the papery covering, if you dig in too quickly, you’re apt to burn your fingers.  I’ve experienced this the hard way.  It’s like waiting to drink hot cocoa, sometimes it’s hard to be patient, but that lingering burning on the roof of your mouth makes you regret it later.

That’s why I make The Impatient Person’s Roasted Garlic.

Pick two heads of garlic from the coffers.

Separate the cloves.

Remove the papery covering from the cloves.

Drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil.

Bake in a covered container for 30 minutes, stirring once.

Smear garlic onto hot bread.

The Impatient Person’s Roasted Garlic

Serves 2-4

  • 2 heads of garlic
  • Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling

Preheat the oven to 380 degrees.  Break two heads of garlic into cloves.  Smash each clove with the flat side of the knife and remove the papery covering.  If there are any huge cloves, cut them into slightly smaller portions, so that the cloves cook evenly at the same rate.  Put the cloves into a covered container.  (The tiny 8 ounce cocotte  from Le Creuset works perfectly.  If you’re feeling like roasting a whole head instead, it’s also the ideal size.)  Cover the cloves in a light drizzling of extra virgin olive oil, just enough so that the cloves won’t burn and stick where they’re touching the dish.  Let the garlic roast for twenty minutes, remove to stir and check that it isn’t burning, cover and roast for ten minutes more.

Serve the cloves with toasted bread and salad or split pea soup.  Looking to add some more omega 3’s to your diet?  The bread is also good slathered with garlic and then dipped in balsamic vinegar, flax oil, and fresh ground pepper.

Cashew Cheese Stuffed Jalapeño Poppers

13 Nov

I am crazy about all things hot and spicy.  While many people only pull out fiery tongue tinglers for their weekly taco Tuesday, you’ll find me toting these blistering condiments to the table on a day-to-day basis, from breakfast through dinner.  The tofu scramble is better with a dash of hot sauce.  The Thai noodle stir-fry is sassier with sriracha.  Gyoza are best dipped in hot Chinese mustard.  Sandwiches have kick with sliced jalapeno peppers or served with a side of hot pickled asparagus, and of course, saag aloo is divine with the request, “I’d like it hot, please.”  I think the only meal that isn’t improved upon when served with something scorching is dessert, but I’m willing to be convinced otherwise.

That’s why when I saw that this week’s Vegan MoFo-hosted Iron Chef Challenge involved making a recipe using the ingredient breadcrumbs, I knew I needed to bust out a vegan version of an old pregan classic – jalapeno poppers.  Even before I went vegan, it had probably been years since I’d indulged in poppers, but the memory was clear.  There’s the crisp breading with a creamy inside followed by a hit of heat and bite from the pepper.  It’s no wonder that they’re loved throughout diners, sports bars, and anywhere icy cold Mexican beer with lime is served.  Clearly the only thing left to do was to make them vegan-friendly.

Cashew cheese in food processor

Carefully remove seeds from peppers with gloved hands.

Stuff the cheese into each jalapeño cavity.

Then it's time for the breading.

A creamy and salty cashew cheese takes the place of the standard cream cheese, followed by a breading of flour and breadcrumbs, and then baked in the oven. It surprised me how much hotter these fresh poppers are than the frozen ones of yore.  They have a crisp lightness about them and a real no-nonsense sensibility.  They would be an excellent addition to a party appetizer platter or to serve alongside a mild and creamy potato soup.

Cashew-Cheese Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers

Makes 8 – 10 poppers

  • ½ cup raw cashews, soaked 4-12 hours in water
  • 1 Tbsp mellow white miso
  • 2 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp fresh basil, chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
  • 4-5 large jalapenos, sliced in half length-wise and seeded
  • ½ cup rice milk or other non-dairy milk
  • 1 Tbsp cornstarch
  • ½ cup whole-wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
  • ¼ + ½ tsp dried oregano
  • ¼ + ½ tsp dried thyme
  • ¼ + ½ tsp granulated garlic
  • ¼ + ½ tsp granulated onion
  • ½ cup breadcrumbs

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Blend drained raw cashews, miso, 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast, and extra virgin olive oil in food processor.  Stop occasionally to scrape down sides.  Once smooth, add fresh basil and oregano and blend until fully combined.  For slicing and seeding jalapenos, remember to wear gloves.  After they’re sliced and seeded, fill the cavities of each jalapeno pepper half with cashew cheese.  (Don’t worry too much if the cheese plumps over the top of each half.  It will still cook fine without falling out.)

2.  Prepare the breading station.  Combine rice milk and cornstarch in a shallow bowl.  On a separate plate combine flour and ¼ tsp each of dried oregano, dried thyme, granulated onion, and granulated garlic.  On another plate combine breadcrumbs, 1 Tbsp of nutritional yeast, and ½ tsp each of dried oregano, dried thyme, granulated onion, and granulated garlic.

Note:  To bread, bake, and finish the poppers, I give two options.  One is a slightly more virtuous baking and broiling method (3A).  The other version offers a milder appetizer with more breading, but there is some frying at the end (3B).  If you make option 3A, you’ll have leftover flour & breadcrumb mixture.  Just slide them into the freezer in glass containers or baggies for the next time a popper craving hits.

3A.    Dredge a cashew-cheese stuffed jalapeno in the flour mixture, sealing the cashew cheese into the cavity.  Then dip the jalapeno into the milk mixture.  Finally,  coat it in the breadcrumb plate.  Press the crumbs onto the pepper until fully covered.  Set aside and repeat with each pepper until they’re all coated.  Place the peppers on a parchment paper covered baking sheet.  Bake the peppers for 30 minutes.  (Optional) For further browning, after they’ve finished baking move the peppers to a broiling pan and broil them at a medium heat for 2 minutes.  Keep an eye on them to be sure that they brown and don’t burn.  Remove from oven and serve.

-or-

3B.  Dredge a cashew-cheese stuffed jalapeno in the flour mixture, sealing the cashew cheese into the cavity.  Then dip the jalapeno in the milk mixture.  Dip the jalapeno in the flour mixture for a second time.  Then dip the jalapeno in the milk mixture a second time.  Finally, move the jalapeno to the breadcrumb plate and fully coat it with crumbs.  Set aside and repeat with each pepper until they’re all coated.  After all of the peppers are coated, give each of them one final dredging in the flour mixture.  Place the peppers on a parchment paper covered baking sheet.  Bake the peppers for 30 minutes.  When the peppers are almost done, heat a large skillet with a small amount of neutral oil, like canola oil.  After the peppers are finished baking in the oven, move them to the skillet and lightly fry them for 3-4 minutes or until they are browned.  Remove them from the skillet and serve.

Paella-style Barley with Chickpeas

9 Nov

Like they always say, you eat first with the eyes and then with the mouth.  (Hopefully not literally.  That would be painful.)  When food is beautiful or unique or put together in an interesting way, it adds to the anticipation.  It makes it special.  For example, there’s a vegetarian restaurant that I used to frequent in Southern California, where they would bring paella out to you in your own little paella pan.  That act of bringing out a miniature pan to the table, still piping hot, added to the presentation and was arguably the best part of the experience.  It’s like the first time you saw someone getting fajitas at a restaurant, sizzling and smoking from the kitchen door, past envious onlookers, until it arrived at the eager face of the person who had ordered Portobello fajitas.  Everyone loves a bit of spectacle.  The arrival of the tiny paella pan was elegant and cute all at once.

Goodbye, paella rice! Hello, barley!

While I have fond memories of my personal-paella pan evenings, when I make paella at home, there are some aspects that get dropped.  The first, sadly, are the miniature pans.  I’ve been tested, and I’m very miniature pan deficient.  Sadness.  Second, I say no thanks to paella rice itself in favor of a heartier grain, the very robust barley.  Finally, I ignore the usual inclusion of pine nuts for the more unconventional pistachios since they’re less expensive but still entirely tasty.  After the paella pan is gone and the paella rice and the pine nuts as well, is it still really paella?  Probably not, but whatever it’s called, it’s a delightful mix of flavors and textures – briny olives, salty hearts of palm, chickpeas, vegetables, and crunchy pine nuts with saffron-infused barley that has the essence of the original.

(You’ll notice below that I offer up either hearts of palm or artichoke hearts in the ingredient list.  I prefer it with jarred hearts of palm, but if you can only find canned hearts of palm in your area, I’d opt for jarred artichokes instead.  Hearts of palm are so mild in flavor that the tin taste overwhelms in canned versions.)

Paella-style Barley with Chickpeas 

Serves 4

  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup pearled barley, rinsed and sorted
  • 1 pinch saffron threads
  • 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 leek, remove root and dry leafy ends, slice white and light green parts into thin half moons (about one cup)
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 pound Roma tomatoes, chopped into medium-sized pieces (about four large Romas)
  • 3 stalks of jarred hearts of palm, sliced (or 4 jarred artichoke hearts, quartered)
  • ½ red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 cup cooked and drained chickpeas
  • ¼ cup roasted pistachios, chopped
  • ¼ cup green olives, sliced
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Put barley and water in a soup pot and bring to a boil.  Once it has reached a boil, lower the heat to a simmer.  Add a pinch of saffron to the pot and cover with a tight-fitting lid.  Let the barley cook for 40 minutes or until it has soaked all of the water.

(Note:  I always do a 1:2 ratio of pearled barley to water, but I’ve noticed others online do a 1:3 ratio.  My ratio has always worked for me, but if you notice that your barley is running low on water and still tough, add up to a half cup of water. )

When the barley has about twenty minutes left to cook, put a large skillet on the stove at a medium heat.  Once the pan is hot, add oil and coat evenly over the pan.  Sauté leek slices and garlic for 3-4 minutes, until they are translucent.  Add carrots, bell pepper, and tomatoes to the pan.  Fully combine and cover.  Cook the mixture for about ten minutes, until the tomatoes release their juices and the carrot softens.  Add chickpeas, artichokes, and fully cooked barley to the pan and combine.  Once the chickpeas and artichokes have heated through, top with nuts and olives.  Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Easy, Any Day Lentils

19 Oct

I heard something interesting about photo albums once.  The person noted that we always take pictures at the same times and events– birthdays, holidays, trips to the pumpkin patch or apple orchard, boating outings…  We rarely catalog our mundanities – trips to pick up toilet paper, hanging on the couch watching 30 Rock, or logging in hours at work trying to meet that deadline.  If in a thousand years some future humans pored over our Facebook photos and Flickr pages, they would guess our daily lives involved a lot more cake and balloons than they actually do.  (Unless you work at Chuck E. Cheese, and then it’s probably a fairly accurate representation.)

Some of the reasons for this is that it makes more sense to bring out the camera on happy occasions, times we don’t want to forget.  Those occasions that we aren’t looking our best or that we’d rather hide away in the recesses of our mind, don’t get the “smile and say Teese” treatment.  (After all, who wants someone pulling out the camera after they break up with you?  Answer: despite what you might have assumed from reality television, not many.)  The other reason that cameras are MIA on the day-to-day is that there’s a certain amount of legitimacy, even to the camera-shy, to pull out the camera as everyone gathers around for Billy Bob’s going away party or Marty and Pam’s 50th wedding anniversary.   Pull out the camera when the clerk rings you through at the Co-op, and you would be met with some strange looks for sure.

This photo unevenness rings true for food blogging as well.  While one might guess from looking back over years of photographs of dinners and lunches on this blog that they’d have a pretty good idea of what lands on my dinner table.  However, it doesn’t show the whole picture.  Like anyone, I fall into habits and often there are meals that fall into regular rotation.  They’re often not flashy or spectacular.  They taste good, and they’re easy, and sometimes when you’re sitting down to watch Liz Lemon, that’s all you really need.  Besides, there are only so many times a person can post the same kale salad without it looking a bit un-newsworthy.  So while forays into new cookbooks and the latest recipes to hit the internet might make for a more interesting play-by-play, it doesn’t really show what happens everyday.

Something that does pop up several times a month in my household are my Easy, Any Day Lentils.  They’re not the sort of thing you’d need to pull out for company, but they are sweet and salty, filling and tasty.  They make a nice little entrée with greens, roasted broccoli or cauliflower, brown rice or barley, and maybe some toasted bread and roasted garlic. I love lentils for their earthy taste and the fact that unlike beans, they don’t require soaking.  Plus, unlike their buddies, split peas, they don’t take over an hour to cook. These inexpensive pantry staples are done in only thirty minutes with minimal fuss.

Easy, Any Day Lentils

Serves 2-4

  • 1 cup brown lentils, sorted and rinsed
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil or canola oil for sautéing
  • ½ small red onion, diced
  • 1 tsp agave syrup
  • Handful of chopped nuts (Pistachios are my favorite, but any nut will do)
  • Stone-ground mustard, to taste
  • Salt, to taste

In a small pot, bring lentils and water to a boil.  Once boiling, bring the heat to low and cover for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a skillet heat oil on medium heat.  Add onions to the pan and sauté until they are soft and translucent, about ten minutes.  Add agave syrup to onions and fully combine.  Remove the onions from heat until the lentils have finished cooking.  Once the lentils are done, drain them through a sieve.  (I recommend keeping any leftover cooking liquid to use as broth or to deglaze pans.)  Put the lentils back in the pot, add the cooked onions, stone-ground mustard to taste (about a tablespoon is my preference, but it depends on the strength of your mustard and your own preferences), chopped nuts, and salt to taste.

Orange Creamsicle Cocktail

10 Oct

Do you remember that kid in school who always sat in the middle of the rambunctious boys at the lunch table?  After you’d settled in to your meal, you’d hear them start with their pitch.  “Tony, if I give you a dollar will you eat this?”  And then the concoction would be created – a juice box filled with ketchup, mashed potatoes, a few cubes from the canned fruit salad, a squeeze of mustard, a spoonful of gravy, all mixed together and then Tony would do it.  You couldn’t watch, you’d look away and grimace, but afterwards Tony seemed pleased as punch and a dollar richer.  “The food was all going to end up in the same place anyway,” he’d say.  But oh, you knew that wasn’t the point.  It wasn’t meant to go together like that…

Fast forward to a couple of months ago when my husband and I were settling in after a busy and hectic day.  We’d had dinner and were thinking about a cocktail, but the only thing in the house was gin.  No tonic, no limes, no mint.  Alas.  I looked to the fruit bowl and decided my juicer needed a break from juicing celery, carrots, and cucumbers.  A couple of oranges went down the chute, and then my husband said it, “What if we added vanilla soy milk to the gin and juice?  It’d be like a vegan creamsicle.”  Soy milk in a cocktail?  I thought of Tony.  This could go so horribly wrong.

“Let me try yours first,” I said.  The thick soy milk poured into the gin and juice, melting down the inside of the glass, not fully combining with the juice but contrasting it – orange against white.  Then I had a taste, and it was exactly like a creamsicle.  The bite of the citrus against the mellow, creamy vanilla could make this drink go down too, too easy.  Tony never had it this good.

Orange Creamsicle Cocktail

Serves One

  • 1 shot gin
  • ¾ cup freshly squeezed orange juice (about two oranges worth)
  • ¼ cup vanilla soy milk

Mix together in a glass, add ice, and enjoy.

‘Twas the day before MoFo…

29 Sep

Get the plates ready. It's going to be a busy month!

The countdown is on!  October 1st marks the start of Vegan MoFo (Vegan Month of Food).  MoFo is the brainchild of Isa Chandra Moskowitz and the Post Punk Kitchen.  It’s the month when the blogosphere lights up with folks attempting to write as much as they can for a period of thirty-one days about the eating and ethics of living vegan.  Think of it as the NaNoWriMo of the vegan blog world.  (Unless you have no idea what NaNoWriMo is, in which case just think of it as the month when both kitchens and keyboards are on overdrive.)

I took part last year and had a wonderful time.  I found a lot of blogs that I still follow today, and it was a treat to see so many others stopping by my blog and saying hello.  It’s amazing how an internet-based event can create such a palpable feeling of excitement.  As for this year, I have some fun things, including a few giveaways, up my sleeve for the event.  (No wonder they’re looking so misshapen and bulky…)  It should be a good time!

French fries are my secret weapon

15 Sep

Do you ever have times when the most random, unimportant, and trivial things keep you awake at night?  Nights when you lay in bed, restless, fidgeting, thoughts going round and round like the song whose lyrics you can’t quite remember or the name of that old friend from elementary school who moved away to Missouri only after you’d realized you were two kindred spirits destined to always know each other?  It was a random thought like these that kept me tossing and turning after I thought I was tired enough to close my eyes and drift to the land of impossibly wonderful things – never-ending birthdays, taking flight without wings, and Blair Underwood.  The thing keeping me up – when was the last time I’d had french fries at a restaurant.

Listen to the folks.

I know there was a time in my life when I had what I generously refer to as discriminating fry standards.  (I thought the best fries were found at the bottom of a brown paper sack, oily and covered in salt.)  This was evidenced by the fact that wayward, renegade fries looking perfectly fine and whole even after many months playing hide and seek could be found in my car cushions.  But it’s been many years since my car has made its way through a fast food drive-thru.  (My fifteen-year-old self would be mystified if I’d only known since my fondest dream before I was of driving age was that, once granted with a license, I could go through a drive thru any time I pleased.)

It’s not that I have anything against french fries in particular.  It’s just that the restaurants I currently frequent in my town don’t serve them.  After seeing Super Size Me and reading Fast Food Nation, that put an end to my dinner-through-a-window, ketchup-in-packet days.  After going vegetarian and then vegan, I’d rather not support them anyway.  So on this night while I turned on my pillow, trying to imagine when I’d last had french fries in a restaurant, I searched the corners and recesses and unfolded menus in my mind.   (FYI, it was at Father Nature in Pasadena over a year ago.)

Anyhoo, this is not to say that I never eat French fries.  Quite the contrary.  As the title of this post gave away, french fries are actually my secret weapon.  James Bond has a magnetic wristwatch.  Virgin Mary can shape shift onto toast.  And Blair Underwood can make ‘em melt with his million dollar smile.  However, I prefer to blindside them with spud spears.  See, let’s say I’m making a raw kale salad for lunch or lentils with steamed broccoli for dinner.  Some days that sounds perfectly, healthfully, deliciously wholesome.  It sounds like it will get my gears going in the most energizing of ways.  But some days, it makes healthy less than intoxicating.  Sure, I could add a baked potato to the mix.  After all, it has all of that diet food street cred.  But on those days when the ideas of a salad are rather limp, I invite its infinitely more entertaining cousin, fries, to the party.

“But Cadry,” you say, “doesn’t throwing a handful or five of fries in a vat of bubbling oil kind of defeat the exercise of healthy eating?”

And I say, “Thank you for commenting.”  But I also say, “Well, actually I’m speaking of baked fries.”

To that maybe you say, “Ugh.  Baked fries.  I had baked potato chips once and they were a lame and, indeed, hollow shadow of their fried selves.”

And to that I say, “My goodness, you have some very strong opinions about potatoes.  I didn’t expect it to get this involved.”  So now, ladies and gentlemen, let’s just ignore that fierce commenter over there and get on with this…

The key to making excellent baked potato fries is using the right potato, a hearty russet, and unbleached parchment paper.  I’ve tried using other potatoes, but IMO the russet really reigns supreme here.  With parchment paper, just the tiniest amount of oil will do.  A teaspoon of oil or two for a couple of russet potatoes will do fine.  Cut the potatoes into fry shapes or pull out the crinkle cutter that one generally reserves for making old lady fancy radishes at the holidays and make chip-shaped fries.  Lightly coat them in oil with a half teaspoon of paprika.  Put them in the oven set at 420 degrees.  Bake for 20 minutes, flip the fries, and then bake for ten minutes more.  I prefer to serve them with a dash of salt and a squeeze of organic ketchup (because despite what people out to sell high fructose corn syrup say, it has no place mingling with my malt vinegar).

Try it for yourself on one of your less than virtuous days and when your family asks that inevitable question, “What’s for dinner?” You can say with enthusiasm, “Salad!” and then with added emphasis, “And baked french fries!”

To which they’ll say, “Baked?  Aw, I had baked chips once and…”

“Quiet, anonymous.”

Quick dinner ideas: Pita pizza

29 Aug

I can’t tell you how many hits I get on my blog from people searching, “I don’t want to cook.”  I wonder, are they just looking for a place to vent or are they hoping I’ll give them the number for a good Thai place?  (Hello, hungry and tired person.  You’re welcome here.)  With those people in mind, I’m starting a new, irregularly-scheduled series called Quick Dinner Ideas.  Tonight’s Quick Dinner Idea is Pita Pizza, because everyone likes pizza.  Except Ted.  But let’s not talk about him.

For a quick, healthy, and inexpensive weeknight meal, pita pizzas are a simple and satisfying option.  They can be made using leftovers and ends of whatever vegetables are hanging out in the Pyrex.  Squash blossoms, bell peppers, and onions perhaps?  Look to the countertops and pantry for basics like garlic or tomatoes.  (The yellow ones are in season.  Aren’t they pretty?)  When the refrigerator is bare, turn the wheel on the lazy susan cupboard and use favorites that have a long life like jarred artichoke hearts, olives, roasted red peppers, or sauerkraut.  Each person can personalize his or her own pizza.  Add some marinara and you’re good to go.  Best of all, a whole bag of pita bread doesn’t cost much; that’s a lot of pizza!   After the pizza party, remaining pita can be used later for pita pockets or dipping into hummus and baba ganoush.

When the weather is nice, the pita pizzas can go right on the grill.  In just a few minutes the “crust” is hot and crisp.  After it’s toasted, move the pizza to a higher shelf in the grill, away from the flame and cover the lid to heat the rest of the ingredients, or sauté all of the ingredients beforehand in a pan to warm them.

After grilling season has passed, the pita pizzas are a breeze to cook in the oven; set the oven to 400 degrees, put the pizzas on a cookie sheet, and let them bake for 5-7 minutes. 

If you happen to be inviting Ted over, just order Thai.  It’s easier that way.

Guiltless Dessert: Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie

22 Aug

If my blog posts are any indication, it has been a long, hot summer!  Since the beginning of July I’ve posted about almond milk, soy milk, sweet cashew kale shake, michelada, and now, Peanut Butter Cup smoothie.  I’ve got hydration on my mind!  As luck would have it, the temperatures are coming down.  (Nooo, summer!  Don’t go!)  But that doesn’t mean there isn’t every reason to indulge in this smoothie that is completely virtuous but tastes like a dessert.  When I saw Happy Herbivore post this recipe, it seemed too good to be true that simple ingredients of plant-based milk…

Peanut butter…

Frozen bananas…

And cocoa could turn into this…

But believe me when I say it’s true.  I’ve adjusted her recipe a bit to include more liquid (my blender is not of the high-speed variety) and less chocolate (I know.  What’s wrong with me?).  I also recommend using vanilla soy milk; that hint of vanilla really brings the flavor home.  But whichever version you go with, you’re in for a seriously delicious treat.

Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie

Modified version of Happy Herbivore’s recipe

Serves 2

  • 4 bananas, frozen in chunks
  • 2 Tbsp natural peanut butter
  • 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 cup vanilla soy milk

Combine all ingredients in blender until smooth.

This recipe will have you licking your lips! (Unless you're a cat, in which case you'd probably prefer yeast flakes.)

Fried Cashew-Cheese Stuffed Squash Blossoms

11 Aug

Hey, you.  Sitting at your laptop.  Yes, you.  You know that you’ve thought about stuffing and frying delicate squash blossoms.  You’ve seen them at the farmers market in their vibrant hues of yellows, greens, and orange.  But then you’ve stopped, wondering what you’d stuff them with, if they’d fall apart at the seams, if they’d be worth all the trouble.  I know, because I’ve been there.  I was you, oh, but two days ago.  I’d heard friends wax poetic about the beauty of fried squash blossoms, but with no restaurants in the area offering such a thing, let alone a vegan version of the thing, it would mean I’d be in charge of the cashew soaking and processing, blossom dredging and sizzling…

So while I’ve seen squash blossoms at the farmers market, I’ve given a wanton look and then taken my adventurous culinary spirit to the stands selling oyster mushrooms and garlic scapes.  These have been worthy endeavors, sure.  No regrets.  But stuffed squash blossoms…  It’s not often that my husband bandies about “This tastes like something we’d get at Millennium…”  But bandy he did.  And referring to something I’ve made in our little kitchen as rivaling that of that legendary restaurant in the heart of San Fran…  Well, that’s high praise.

So I encourage you, while the squash blossoms are still on offer at the farmers market, before they’re replaced with the season of actual squash to be served with gravy, cranberries, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and all of those fall foods that are lovely, but can we postpone that a bit…  Before the opportunity passes I entreat you to pick up a handful of squash blossoms, fresh herbs, and some raw cashews and almonds.  One bite of the crisp outer breading through the slight give of the blossom and into the rich and decadent cashew cream, and you’ll have that experience that forces you to stop conversation and just sit with the total envelopment of taste satisfaction.

I found this recipe on Vegan for the People’s blog and made a few minor tweaks and adjustments based on my own preferences and what I had on hand.  He had tweaked the recipe from Tami at Vegan Appetite.  One minor note, if you’re like me you might be tempted to omit the miso from the cheese, because organic miso can be pricey.   Get the miso.  It’s completely worth it for the hit of round notes and umami it brings to the blossoms.

Make cashew cheese

Stuff the cheese into cleaned blossoms

Dredge the blossoms in flour, almond milk, and flour again

Fry the blossoms until browned and crisp, turning when necessary

Serve

Fried Cashew-Cheese Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Serves 2-4, depending on your restraint

Cashew cheese:

  • ½ cup raw cashews, soaked in water overnight
  • ¼ cup raw almonds
  • 1 Tbsp white miso
  • 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
  • 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp-1 Tbsp each chopped fresh herbs – sage, basil, and oregano

Breading and blossoms:

  • 8 squash blossoms
  • 1 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
  • 1 Tbsp cornstarch
  • ½ cup all-purpose unbleached flour
  • A pinch each of dried oregano, dried thyme, and dried sage
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • Canola oil, for frying

To make the cheese, drain the cashews and process them with almonds, miso, nutritional yeast flakes, and extra-virgin olive oil in a food processor until completely blended.  Add the chopped fresh sage, basil, and oregano and continue to blend until fully combined.  Put the cheese in the refrigerator while moving on to the blossoms.

Gently open the blossom and remove the pistil.  Check for any bugs inside of the flower and relocate them, if needed.  Gently rinse the blossom and lightly blot with a towel.  Open the blossom and give yourself clearance to make room for the cheese.  (I gently tore a seam down each blossom, and that seemed to work well.  I was able to fill the blossom and then close it using the cheese to create a seal.)  Use a cake decorating funnel bag or cut a corner off of a plastic freezer bag and use that to squeeze the cheese into the blossoms.  Fill each blossom half way to 2/3 full.  (Filling halfway gives more of the flavor focus to the blossom itself.  Filling 2/3 gives most of the focus to the cheese.)  Finally, use a little bit of the filling to close the blossom.

Fill a small bowl with almond milk and cornstarch.  Stir until the cornstarch dissolves.  On a separate plate, combine the flour, oregano, thyme, sage, salt, and pepper.  Before breading the flowers, cover the bottom of a pan with oil, about ¼ inch deep.  Set it to a medium high heat and let it warm.  Dip each flower first into the flour, then briefly into the milk, shake to remove excess, and roll again in the flour.  (Actually rolling the flowers through the flour seemed to set the cheese inside.)  Set aside on a plate while you finish the rest of the flowers.

Put a pinch of flour in the pan, and if bubbles immediately form around it, the oil is hot and ready.  Add the blossoms to the oil.  Let them brown before turning, until each side is crisp and done.  They will cook in about five minutes.  When the blossoms are done, move them to a paper towel or kitchen towel-lined plate to drain excess oil and then serve.

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