lemon poppyseed cake
September 17, 2011
Breakthrough!!! I’ve found vegan baking a little difficult. It’s been the one transition that’s been harder than the rest. I guess it’s because when you are brought up in a house with a mother, grandmother, aunts, and sisters who are all super-bakers of the egg, butter, and sugar sort, it’s a big shift to coconut oil and xantham gum. But yesterday I was wanting to make a special cake for a special baby shower and opened up Angelica’s Home Kitchen from the Big Apple and found this fantabulous lemon poppyseed cake. And it worked. And it was delicious. And it was full of super foods like poppyseeds and maple syrup. And I ate it last night as dessert. And I ate it this morning as breakfast. And everyone loves it. Crumbs and all. So mark this day, this 17th day of September 2011, as my v:baking breakthrough day and celebrate by pulling out your mixing bowls. Turn on that oven, get out that loaf pan, and bake away.
2 cups pastry flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder
2 tsps baking soda
1/3 cup poppy seeds
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup lemon juice (juice from approx 2 lemons)
1/3 cup water
1 cup apple cider or apple juice
1 2/3 cups maple syrup
2/3 cup olive oil or sunflower oil
2 tsps vanilla extract
4 tbsps lemon zest (zest from approx 2 lemons)
1 cup super fine sugar
Juice from 1 lemon
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly brush 8 x 12 baking pan with oil. Add several tablespoons of flour and shake to coat evenly. Invert pans and knock against the counter to rid them of excess flour.
Whisk the flour, baking power, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds together in a medium-size mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the lemon and apple juices, maple syrup, oil, vanilla, and zest. Using a wooden spoon, stir the wet mixture into the dry to form a batter. Do not overmix. Transfer batter to the baking pan and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 30 minutes before removing.
Meanwhile, mix together the super fine sugar and lemon juice. Once cake is removed from the pan, place on a serving dish and drizzle with the lemon sugar icing.
miso-curry delicata squash with tofu and kale
September 11, 2011
Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks just came out with a printed version of her blog called super natural every day. It’s a beautiful cookbook although I gotta say it involves a lot of cheese and yogurt. There are a few vegan gems in there that are incredibly yummy including this miso-curry delicata squash recipe. I *love* delicata squash and stock up every fall at the farmers’ market since they are often hard to find during the year. They are sweet with a nice robust texture, they cook quickly, and you can eat the skin no problem. This recipe compliments everything good about delicata with tofu, potatoes, kale and a really simple but interesting miso-curry dressing. We served it with quinoa but it’s a totally satisfying meal all on its own.
12 ounces delicata squash (or about 2 small ones)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white miso
1 tbsp red Thai curry paste
8 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into small cubes
4 medium new potatoes, unpeeled, cut into chunks
2 tbsps fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups chopped kale, tough stems removed
1/3 cup pepitas, toasted, or tamari pumpkin seeds
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees with a rack in the middle of the oven.
Cut the delicata squash in half lengthwise and use a spoon to clear out all the seeds. Cut into 1/2 inch thick half-moons.
In a medium bowl, whisk together olive oil, miso, and curry paste. Combine the tofu, potatoes, and squash in a large bowl with 1/3 cup of the miso-curry paste. Use your hands to toss well, then turn the vegetables onto a rimmed baking sheet, and arrange in a single layer.
Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, until everything is tender and browned. Toss once or twice along the way, after things start to brown a bit. Keep a close watch, though; the vegetables can go from browned to burned in a flash.
In the meantime, whisk the lemon juice into the remaining miso-curry paste, then stir in the kale until coated.
Toss the roasted vegetables gently with the kale, pepitas, and cilantro. Serve family style in a large bowl or on a platter.
curly kale salad with pine nuts and green onion
September 10, 2011
This salad is simplicity at its best. Refreshing. Zingy. Hearty. Healthful. A perfect midday meal to keep it light and fresh. The trick with raw kale is you have to let it soften up with the help of a little lemon juice, olive oil, and some TLC. Follow the directions below and you will transform what looks like it’s going to be a tough slog into a gastronomic pleasure.
1 bunch kale
Juice of 1 lemon
4 tbsps olive oil
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
sea salt and pepper
Wash kale under cold water and spin dry. Chop kale finely and put into a mixing bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice and then massage the dressing into the leaves. Sounds weird but it helps tenderize the kale and make it more succulent. Add salt and pepper to taste and let sit for at least 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts and chop up the green onions. When kale has sat for 20 minutes, toss with nuts and onions and serve.
beer battered onion rings
September 2, 2011
How do you spell summer? How do you spell BBQ? How do you spell super delicious vegan treat? It’s right here folks – beer battered onion rings brought to you by Veggie Wedgie. And Joshua thinks I’ve joined a cult! You should have seen his face when he tasted these decadent morsels. That’ll learn him! Granted, they are a bit finicky to make – not hard, just finicky – but totally worth the effort. Next to a veggie burger and green salad … well, and a beer … on summer’s last long weekend and you can’t go wrong.
2-3 onions sliced in circles
2 tbsps flaxseeds
3 tbsps water
1/2 cup beer of your choice
4 tbsps flour
3 tbsps chickpea flour or regular white flour
2 tbsps nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
First grind your flaxseeds as fine as possible (I use a coffee grinder), unless you use flaxmeal. Now place them in a small mixing bowl with the water and leave for 10 minutes or until the water become slimy/sticky (that’s our egg white sub). When flax egg is ready combine with beer and gradually add flour while stirring.
In a separate mixing bowl combine breadcrumbs, nutritional yeast, salt, and paprika. And in another big mixing bowl place white flour or chickpea flour.
Place onion rings in the bowl with the plain flour and toss to cover them.Now one by one dip onion rings in the beer batter, lift out with a fork, and toss them in the breadcrumb mix to cover completely. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Preheat oven at 400 degrees and bake for 30 min or until golden brown and crispy. If you have leftover batter store in the fridge to reuse within a week. Also don’t throw away the parts of the onion you didn’t use! Just store them for later use in something else.
roasted garlic
September 2, 2011
Possibly the easiest recipe in the world. Also one of the tastiest. Simple, pure, healthy, and medicinal. It’s got it all. Clean up a whole bulb of garlic removing just one outside layer of the garlic skin and trimming off any roots that still may be floating around. Chop off the top of the head of garlic to expose the cloves. Place in an ovenproof pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 30 – 40 minutes or until golden brown. Meanwhile toast some toast. Or forget the toast and just use crackers. When the garlic is done, scoop out the soft, smooth, gooey cloves of garlic and spread on your toast. Eat. Repeat. And never look back.
spicy moroccan carrots
August 26, 2011
Never underestimate root vegetables for their taste, colour, nutritional value, and longevity. Take carrots for instance. They are delicious; they come in orange, yellow, purple, red, and white; they last in the fruit cellar for a good long time; and they are said to cleanse the intestines and to be diuretic, remineralizing, antidiarrheal, an overall tonic and antianemic, they purify and revitalize the blood, and you know about the eyesight thing. Having helped my grandmother on the farm steam carrots and smother then in butter thousands of times I thought it was time to branch out. This moroccan salad from Yotam Ottolenghi is sweet, spicy, and lemony, and is a great salad on its own or as a friend to any grain.
2 lbs carrots
1/3 cup olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tsp sugar
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 medium green chiles, finely chopped
1 green onion, finely chopped
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground coriander
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp chopped preserved lemon
sea salt and pepper
2 1/2 cups cilantro
Scrub the carrots and cut them, depending on their size, into cylinders or semicircles; all the pieces should end up roughly about the same size. Place in a large saucepan and steam until carrots are tender but still crunchy.
Heat the oil in a large pan and saute the onion for 12 minutes on medium heat until soft and slightly brown. Add the cooked carrots to the onion, followed by all the remaining ingredients, apart from the cilantro. Remove from the heat. Season liberally with sea salt and pepper, stir well and leave to cool.
Before serving stir in cilantro, taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve in individual bowls with a drizzle of olive oil and garnished with the extra cilantro.
pappa al pomodoro
August 22, 2011
Pappa al pomodoro is a perhaps the mother of all rustic peasant soups. Once considered the soup of the poor in Tuscany, the ingredients are elemental, most would have been found in the garden, and it boasts a good serving of stale bread to make it thick, filling, and satisfying. So why me? Well, the kids are at camp so we have nothing but stale bread in the kitchen, except for a handful of fabulous looking heirloom tomatoes from the farmers’ market that needed to be consumed. I have a little basil in the garden and lots and lots of garlic so it was a no-brainer. And turned out to be a good-brainer because it was so ridiculously delicious we couldn’t stop eating it. Those Tuscans had a thing or two figured out!
1 kg or about 6 large fresh heirloom tomatoes, different shapes, colours, sizes, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
a handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 litre veggie stock
4 slices stale bread, chopped
4 tbsps olive oil
sea salt and pepper
Wash tomatoes and chop them coursely. Peel and mince garlic. Wash and chop basil. Chop bread slices into cubes.
Heat olive oil in a heavy-bottom pot or dutch oven. Saute garlic until it’s fragrant but not brown. Add chopped tomatoes and basil and let simmer for 5 minutes or so. Add vegetable stock and bread, bring to a boil, and then let simmer for 30 minutes. The bread will break down and become one with the tomatoes and stock. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with a good chunk of warm, hearty bread.
PS The authentic version of pappa al pomodoro calls for unsalted, white, Tuscan bread. All we had was a stale olive boule from St. John’s Bakery. Go with what you’ve got and don’t be afraid to improvise.
bieber-bait
August 18, 2011
The other day I was invited to prepare my famous dulse with toast on Talking Up – a new talk show that’s talking it up all the way to Justin Bieber. I honestly never, in my wildest dreams, thought that I’d be writing a blog post that included the combination of the words “dulse” “bieber” and “v:gourmet” but here we are. I suppose stranger things have happened. I’m going with the flow on this one. And Why not? I think I converted the guys on set which proves that you just never know how your life will intersect with others. So here’s to Ruth the Vegan preparing dulse with toast and olive oil on Talking Up. May everyone discover the joys of this ancestral source of life.
veggie pâté
August 9, 2011
This was a hard-fought recipe folks. Not sure why but success on the veggie pâté front eluded me until today. I guess good things come to those that wait or persevere or try try again or something. My sister sent me a recipe from a Renée Frappier, a well-known, very active vegetarian guru and nutritionist in Quebec. The recipe below is a variation of hers as I tend to fiddle with ingredients and ratios. It’s chock-a-block full of good things and the flavours meld beautifully. And it’s spreadable so it’s the perfect thing on crackers, pita crisps, or hearty whole-grain toast. It’s almost as good as the veggie pâté I bought in the little market in Tofino. By the way, if anyone knows the guy that makes that pâté, can you tackle him for me and get the recipe? I’d love to compare and contrast.
1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 potato, peeled and chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 1/4 cups water
4 tbsps tamari
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/2 teaspoon savory
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground dry mustard
Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease an 8×8 inch baking dish. In a food processor, blend all the ingredients until they are almost smooth. Transfer mixture to the baking dish. Bake for 1.5 hours, or until lightly browned.
sweet potato fritters
August 7, 2011
I don’t think I’ve met a sweet potato that I didn’t like and these ones are no exception. The recipe comes from Ottolenghi’s Plenty in which he suggests you serve them with a little yogurt sauce on the side. Could do. I’m sure it would be delicious in a non-vegan kind of way. But they were just as good with a crisp green salad and a little twist of lemon juice. The perfect summer lunch.
2.5 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks (about 5 medium sized sweet potatoes)
2 tsp soy sauce
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
3 tbsp spring onion, chopped
½ tsp fresh chilli, finely chopped (or more, to taste)
oil for frying
Steam the sweet potato until soft, then drain in a colander for an hour. Meanwhile, whisk the sauce ingredients until smooth and set aside. In a mixing bowl, work all the fritter ingredients by hand – it should be sticky, so if it’s a little runny, add some flour. Do not over-mix.
To cook the fritters, heat some oil in a nonstick frying pan on medium heat and cook the fritters in dollops of about 3 tablespoons of the batter. Use the back of the spoon to flatter them out a bit. Fry for about 6 minutes each side. You want them to go really brown – don’t worry if they burn a little, it will just add to the flavour. Sit cooked fritters on paper towel to soak up excess oil. You can keep them warm in the oven while you finish the other fritters.
v:gourmet 
