gingerbread cookies
December 20, 2012
This recipe is from the fabulous food blog FOOD 52. I’m re-posting it in its entirety, including their photo (full disclosure) because a) it looks super yummy and b) my life is crazy busy this week and, alas, it’s going to be a race to the finish to make it to Christmas morning. We all need short-cuts once in awhile. And I’ll add a c) which is that I’m happy to promote, share, and support other creative people in their endeavours to bring you healthy, happy, delicious recipes to enrich your life. I’m dreaming of making these with my kiddies over the holidays after a long winter’s nap. What could be better than that?
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour (plus extra for rolling)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup demerara sugar, coconut sugar, or evaporated cane juice
1/4 cup almond milk, soy milk, or rice milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.
Sift dry ingredients together into a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the oil, molasses, sugar, milk, and vanilla extract. Mix wet ingredients into dry, using a whisk, an electric hand mixer, or your hands, till uniform. Flatten the dough into a disk and refrigerate, wrapped in saran, for 30 minutes (or overnight).
Dust a clean surface with flour. Roll the dough out till it’s a scant 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes. Bake cookies for 8 minutes, or until the edges are just browning. Let cool before serving.
basmati and wild rice with chickpeas, currants, and herbs
December 9, 2012
I’m not sure why the title of this recipe doesn’t include crispy onions because they are the star attraction. The recipe is from Ottolenghi’s new cookbook that he co-authored with Sami Tamimi called Jerusalem – a must-have for any kitchen or coffee table for it’s inspiring recipes, cultural narrative, and sub-text of love, understanding, and global peace. The authors note it as a sephari-inspired dish that can stand as its own centrepiece or accompany other things like chicken or fish if you eat them. Me? I’ll take it straight up with a double dose of onions which I had to protect under armed guard to keep the marauding hordes away. They are just too tasty to resist.
1/3 cup wild rice
2 cups basmati rice
2 tbsps olive oil
2 tsp cumin seeds
1½ tsp curry powder
2 cups cooked chickpeas cooked and drained\
3/4 cup sunflower oil
1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
½ tbsp plain flour
2/3 cups currants
2 tbsps chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped coriander
1 tbsp chopped dill
sea salt and black pepper
Cook the wild rice in a small saucepan until cooked but still quite firm. Drain and set aside.
Cook the basmati rice. Remove from the heat, lift off the lid, cover the pot with a tea towel, then put the lid on top and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the chickpeas. Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan. Add the cumin and curry powder, and after a couple of seconds add the chickpeas and a quarter-teaspoon of salt; act fast, or the spices may burn. Stir for a minute or two, just to heat the chickpeas, then transfer to a large mixing bowl.
Wipe the pan clean, add the sunflower oil and place on a high heat. Once the oil is hot, mix the onion and flour with your hands. Take some of the mix and carefully place in the oil. Fry for two or three minutes, until golden-brown, transfer to kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt. Repeat in batches until all the onion is fried.
Finally, add both types of rice to the chickpea bowl, along with the currants, herbs and fried onion. Stir and season to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.
chocolate peanut butter timbales
December 2, 2012
There’s a lot of stuff going down in our little abode … teenage angst and sadness and coming to terms with life and love and things like that. What’s a mom to do? Not a whole lot you can do really. I once read a book by a well-known family therapist that said the best thing a parent can do is make sure the door is always open and there are chocolate chip cookies awaiting. So, that’s what I’m doing – making chocolate peanut butter timbales laced with icing sugar and gold flakes filled with love and understanding and unconditional support.
4 ounces bittersweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk
2/3 cup Kahlua or other coffee liqueur
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/3 organic cocoa powder
1/2 sea salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put the chocolate in a medium sized mixing bowl. In a small saucepan, heat soy milk until it just begins to steam and almost comes to a boil. Pour the soymilk over the chocolate, then add the Kahlua, peanut butter, and vanilla. Let stand for 1 minute, then stir until the mixture is smooth and the chocolate is entirely melted.
Sift the flour, powdered sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt together into a large bowl. Add the chocolate mixture and stir gently until just combined. Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag without a tip or a resealable plastic bag with one corner snipped off.
Pipe the batter into timbale moulds, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for 15 minutes, until the tops are firm but the inside is still slightly soft (test with a skewer or toothpick, it should come out a bit messy and gooey). Transfer the moulds to a wire rack and let cool for about 5 minutes, then invert the moulds and let the timbales cool completely, about 15 minutes. Dust the timbales with powdered sugar and, if you really want to whoop it up, some gold flakes. Serve with soy ice cream.
This recipe is a slightly amended take on Joseph Shuldiner’s Chocolate Tahini Timbales from his new cookbook, Pure Vegan.
wild rice with butternut squash and apples
November 25, 2012
Everyone has stuff in their fridge that overstays its welcome, food that hides in the back corners and somehow avoids going out on the town, heading over to the table for dinner. I’m sure each of us have our own list from beets to zucchini. This fall, for whatever reason, for me it’s been apples and squash. They just never seem to jump out at me begging to be cooked or eaten. Until today when I fired up the skillet and made this very seasonal, exceptionally tasty, totally nutritious warm wild rice salad. While I was hoovering it back, it made me think that it’s quite timely too as it would be a lovely addition to the holiday table.
1 1/2 cups of mixed wild rice
3 cups water
sea salt
2 tbsps olive oil
1 medium onion
1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced
3 granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 cup veggie broth
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
sea salt and pepper
Mix rice with water and a pinch of sea salt. Cook until done according to the instructions and set aside.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Heat olive oil in a heavy oven-proof skillet. Add onions and cook until just tender. Add diced butternut squash, diced apples, and fresh thyme. Saute for about 10 minutes until they start to soften. Add veggie stock, cooked rice, chopped walnuts, and sea salt and pepper to taste. Place in the oven and bake at 425 for about 20 minutes until the squash is soft and tender.
Serve on its own as a nice warm salad lunch or as a side to brighten up any meal.
jamaican veggie patties
November 10, 2012
This is a bit of a long story … but the other day Sammy put in an order for Jamaican Meat Patties because he had them at a friend’s house and liked them. In soliciting suggestions for where to buy them in Toronto my friend, Pamela, challenged me to making my own Jamaican veggie patties. Of course I had to accept the challenge. So today I went out to get some ingredients and on my way back I bumped into my new buddies, Sam and Gordon, who are doing work on the house across the street. We struck up a conversation, I told them what I was up to, and they asked to be my official taste testers. Sam is from St. Vincent and Gordon is from Jamaica and I got 100% thumbs up from both of them which I take as a big endorsement. Sam even said he wasn’t dipping in the hot sauce because he only does that when the flavours aren’t good enough. Score.
For the filling:
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp cayenne
coarse sea salt
2 larges cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup finely diced carrots
1/4 cup finely diced yellow potatoes
1/2 cup fresh green peas (or frozen)
1/2 cup sweet fresh corn (or frozen)
1/2 cup shredded kale
1 tbsp minced fresh thyme
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp freshly ground white pepper
For the pastry:
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour + 1/4 cup for rolling out the pastry
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsps turmeric
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
3/4 cup chilled coconut oil
2 tsps apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons ice water
For the filling: In a medium-size saute pan over medium-low heat, combine the coconut oil, the onion, cinnamon, allspice, cumin, red pepper flakes, cayenne, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Saute, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are caramelized. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk, carrots, and potatoes, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the carrots and potatoes are tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the green peas, corn, cabbage, thyme, and lemon juice, cover, and cook for 3 minutes more. Season with additional salt and the white pepper (or to taste) and set aside to allow the flavors to marry.
For the pastry: Combine 1 1/2 cups of the white flour with the pastry flour, turmeric, and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Set the remaining 1/4 cup white flour aside. Add the coconut butter to the flour mixture and rub with your fingertip until the mixture resembles fine sand, about 10 minutes.
Combine the vinegar and water and mix well. Then, without overworking the dough, add the vinegar mixture by the tablespoon, while stirring, just until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and begins to coalesce. Squeeze into a tight ball, flatten, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350F and remove the dough from the refrigerator.
With the reserved flour, lightly dust a clean surface, roll out the dough until it is about 1/8 inch thick. Cut six 6-inch circles from the dough (you can use a bowl). Spoon 2 heaping tablespoons of the filling onto the center of one side of each circle, leaving about a 1/8-inch border. Fold the other half over to make a half-moon, press to seal, and make ridges around the edge using a fork.
Transfer the patties to a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Serve immediately with some hot sauce.
Adapted from Bryant Terry’s Vegan Soul Kitchen via 101 Cookbooks
jeweled yam and mushroom wontons
November 3, 2012
I was reorganizing the kitchen the other day and found a few small size format cookbooks that had gotten lost at the back of a shelf. One was 200 Veggie Feasts by Louise Pickford that my son gave me for Christmas 2 or 3 years ago. It’s a little gem I have to say, and is the inspiration behind these jeweled yam and mushroom wontons. Pickford’s were a little simpler – no onion or yams. But I decided to amp them up a bit and throw in a little extra heft. Just make sure when you are buying your wonton skins you look at the ingredients label to see if they have egg if you want to go the full vegan route (Twin Marquis is a brand that makes both vegan and non-vegan wonton skins). And of course with the basics in hand you can make different shapes, different filings, for different dishes from soups to little appetizers.
For the wontons
2 tbsps olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
8 oz mushrooms, finely chopped
1/2 jeweled yam, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
16 vegan wonton skins
For the chili dressing
1 tsp dried red pepper flakes
2/3 cup veggie stock
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsps maple syrup
Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet. Add the onions and cook until they start to turn translucent. Add mushrooms and yams and cook over medium heat until they become soft. Add garlic and ginger and cook for a few minutes more until garlic becomes fragrant. Add soy sauce and cook, stirring, for another minute or two. Remove from the heat. Allow to cool.
Meanwhile, make the dressing. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat over a low heat, stirring until hot but not boiling. Keep warm.
Put a teaspoon of the mushroom mixture in the centre of each wonton skin. Brush a little water around the filling and fold the wontons in half diagonally, pressing the edges together to seal.
Bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to a rolling boil, add the wontons, and cook for 2 – 3 minutes until they rise to the surface. Remove gently with a slotted spoon and transfer to warmed serving bowls. Drizzle liberally with the chili dressing and serve immediately.
smokey corn chowder
October 13, 2012
A couple of weeks ago I gave you the recipe for smokey lentil tomato soup. Today I give you the recipe for smokey corn chowder. As the days get shorter, the nights grow longer, the air gets crispier, and the leaves start to fall I believe you really can’t have enough smokey soup in your life. I owe thanks to my dear friend Emily for this recipe who made it for the super G man’s 1st birthday. That’s her awesome little Gideon who is so cute it hurts. I made one slight change with inspiration from Naomi Duguid who posted a recipe from her new cookbook Burma for Silky Shan Soup in the Globe and Mail. How happy was I to learn the simple secret of water and chickpea flour to create a thick, smooth, pale yellow soup often served in Burma for breakfast? So happy! It was the perfect base for this thick, smooth, smokey, Canadian corn chowder. Long live friends and inter-cultural inspiration.
3/4 cup chickpea flour
2 tsps sea salt
5 cups water
3 tbsps olive oil
1 large onion, diced
4 medium sized carrots, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
5 small potatoes, diced
2 tsps sage
2 tsps thyme
2 tsps smoked paprika
2 bay leaves
2 cobs corn, cooked and nibs cut off the cob, or 1 can corn kernals
1 tbsp dijon
juice 1/2 lemon
sea salt and pepper
Combine the chickpea flour and sea salt in a medium bowl and add 1 cup of the water. Whisk well to blend and to get rid of any lumps. Set aside. Bring the remaining 4 cups water to a boil in a heavy pot, then lower the heat to medium-high. Whisk the chickpea mixture one more time, then, using a wooden spoon, stir continuously as you slowly add it to the boiling water. Lower the heat and continue to cook, stirring constantly to make sure it doesn’t burn or stick to the bottom of the pot. After about 4 or 5 minutes the mixture will be smooth and silky with a sheen to it, and thickened. Add a bit more water, as necessary, if it’s too thick. Turn off the heat and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottom pot. Add the onions and sauté until they start to soften. Add the carrots, celery, bell pepper, and potatoes. Sauté until the vegetables begin to soften. Add sage, thyme, smoked paprika, and bay leaves. Cook until the spices become fragrant. Add chickpea mixture and stir so everything becomes nicely blended.
Add corn and dijon. Turn down the heat and let the soup simmer until all the vegetables are cooked and the flavours have begun to meld. Before serving remove the bay leaves, add the lemon juice and sea salt and pepper to taste.
thanksgiving stuffing with sage and walnuts
October 8, 2012
Today is Thanksgiving Day and I’m making this stuffing in honour of all that I’m thankful for. Thankful? Let me count the ways: fall’s bounty; the healing power of herbs; collective flavours that are oh so much more than their individual parts; being stuffed with food grown by friends, shared with friends, and eaten in friendship; for Marci Babineau who was the originator of this recipe in yesterday’s Globe and Mail; and for the fine art of veganization that turns all good recipes into a showcase for a vegetable-based diet. For all of this, and more, I’m truly grateful.
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large onions, cut into chunks
1/2 bunch sage leaves, stems picked off and minced
1 1/2 large apples, cut into chunks
1/2 bunch kale, torn into large pieces
1/3 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 loaf bread, cut or torn into chunks (I used Ace Bakery Cranberry Walnut loaf)
1/2 cup veggie stock
sea salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add onion and cook for about 8 minutes or until the onion is soft. Add apple chunks, sage, kale, and walnuts and cook for about 2 minutes. Stir in apple cider vinegar and remove from heat.
Put bread chunks in a large bowl and stir in onion mixture. Add sea salt and pepper to taste. Spoon stuffing into a baking dish and pour stock over it. Bake until the top is browned (about 20 minutes).
smokey lentil tomato soup
October 3, 2012
I’ve been sick. Ugh. But nothing a little soup can’t cure. I think soup is the elixir of the gods and can heal anything that ails you. This one fits the bill particularly with its smokey, earthy flavour, and its nutrition-packed rice and lentil combo (which together gives you a complete protein). Not to mention all the local, organic tomatoes we have about the house that are crying out to be put into something nourishing and satisfying and soulful. Pick me! Pick me! Well, tomatoes, you’re on and in you go with bean stock and carrots, onions and garlic. Who can resist?
4 tbsps olive oil
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 medium carrots, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1.5 tsps smoked paprika
2 litres stewed tomatoes, or 15 medium tomatoes, chopped
4 cups bean stock
1/2 cup green lentils
1/2 cup rice
2 bay leaves
sea salt and pepper
Heat olive oil in a large stock pot. Add onions and sauté until they are soft. Add garlic and sauté another minute or two until it becomes fragrant. Add carrots and sauté until they begin to sweat, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add spices and stir until they coat everything and start to release their lovely aroma, but be careful not to burn them.
Once the vegetables and spices have started to meld nicely, add the tomatoes, stock, lentils, rice, and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat and let simmer until the tomatoes have reduced and the rice and lentils are cooked. Once you’ve let everything simmer away for 30 – 45 minutes, remove the bay leaves and add sea salt and pepper to taste. Purée the soup in a blender or food processor until you have a smooth consistency. Adjust seasoning. Serve piping hot.
happy v:gourmet-baking-breakthrough anniversary
September 17, 2012
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.
v:gourmet 