cOcoNuTZ

ricotta gnocchi with porcini sauce

2009-05-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

I made these gnocchi for the very first Daring Cooks challenge, which was based on a recipe for ricotta gnocchi from The Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rodgers.

I followed the recipe for the gnocchi for the most part, modifying as necessary to make these dairy- and egg-free. I used the recipe for tofu ricotta from Veganomicon, and added gluten flour as suggested by Shelly, leader of the Alternative Daring Cooks. I added 2 cloves of pressed garlic and some fresh minced thyme to the ricotta and let the flavors mingle overnight in the fridge. The following day, I added a pinch of nutmeg and the zest from 1/2 an organic lemon, along with 1 tbsp melted earth balance and 2 egg replacers (Bob's Red Mill). I beat this mixture for a few minutes, and then formed the paste in to little dumplings, coated them in flour, and plopped them into boiling water for a few minutes. My gnocchi held together really well throughout the preparation and boiling. After boiling, I sauteed the gnocchi with some golden shallots, porcini and white mushrooms, and that's when a few of the gnocchi crumbled apart. I simmered everything briefly in a sauce of porcini soaking liquid and white wine, just until most of the liquid had simmered off, and I finished it with some chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon juice. Even though many of the gnocchi fell apart, this dish tasted delicious anyway! According to my omni boyfriend, these were a little "fluffier" and less dense than store-bought gnocchi.

I don't think I would go to all the trouble to make this again, but after reading a little bit about gnocchi in preparation for this challenge, I'm at least curious to try making the potato variety.

Also, the fabulous boletes that I used in this dish were carefully picked and dried by my loving boyfriend this past January while he was in northern California. *swoon*

Cherry Blossom Cheesecake

2009-04-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

Ah, delicious spring. My favorite season, you lift my spirits, fill my lungs with fresh and fragrant air, you urge me to spend more time outdoors...and what do I do? I go and join The Daring Kitchen, and spend my time laboring in the kitchen to produce this:

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

This was my first Daring Bakers challenge, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! When I first signed up, I was worried about having to adhere to the specific rules about following the provided recipe exactly, but for this challenge we were encouraged to improvised and make the finished product our own. I modified the instructions to make this cheesecake vegan, as well as gluten-free. I started with an almond-oat crust made with coconut oil, and topped it with a Tofutti cream cheese-MimicCreme-Almond butter-silken tofu filling sweetened with succanat. I tried infusing the MimicCreme with jasmine green tea before adding it to the mixture, but floral flavor I was looking for did not really come through. So, I spiked the mixture with a few drops of rose blossom water and it turned out to be just the right amount of flowery-ness. I baked my cheesecakes in single-serving sized ramekins, and then topped them with a maple-sweetened cherry sauce.

If you're interested, almonds, cherries, and rose all happen to belong to the same botanical family, Rosaceae. Perhaps that's why they taste so delicious together?

Comfort tea

2009-04-20T21:13:00.001-07:00

The weather in Minneapolis has turned temporarily chilly for a few days, so I thought I'd share a simple recipe for herbal tea that I like to sip when I want to warm up. It's inspired by a delicious tea served at the nearby Aveda Institute where I sometimes go for bargain haircuts.

Comfort tea

Makes 2 cups

2 rounded teaspoons dried peppermint
2 rounded teaspoons licorice
Pinch dried basil
Pinch fennel seeds, lightly crushed with your fingers

Steep ~5 minutes with freshly boiled, filtered water.

first berries of the season!

2009-04-19T18:03:00.001-07:00

Yay! I just bought my first strawberries and blackberries of the year. Yeah, seasonally, Minnesota is quite a bit behind the rest of the country (and alas, these berries aren't local) but I am excited nonetheless. I enjoyed both berries in a simple parfait of sorts with crumbled gingersnaps and dollops of cashew-yogurt creme (recipe by Dreena Burton, found here).

I recently invested in one of these super-high powered blenders and have been giddily experimenting with it for the past couple of days. One experiment was to make my own cashew butter! I must have been too excited to correctly follow the recommendations of the manufacturer for making nut butters...I used raw cashews instead of the suggested roasted nuts, and my nut "butter," while smooth, was more like a rather dry, uncohesive, chunky mass of completely pulverized cashews. Still delicious, but nowhere near the creamy, spreadable and pourable nut butters I'm used too from the bulk bins at the co-op. Perhaps roasted nuts are more oily and capable of blending into creamy deliciousness? I'll have to keep experimenting.

Anyway, I mention all this because I was able to salvage some of my blended cashews by using them in the above spread. So tasty! I've been slathering it on crackers and dipping fruits into it.

Another treat that I made recently were some yummy mochi! I followed the excellent recipe posted by the wonderfully talented VeganYumYum. I added a teaspoon of dried mugwort to the batter for green color and mugwort-y flavor.

I also sped things up a bit by using a package of sweetened red bean paste from the asian market.

doo doo! gonna put it on you!

The mochi were super easy to make, and tasted just like the daifuku I buy from my most favorite of all local asian markets.

experimentation with fermentation

2008-08-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

So my boyfriend and I, both being scientists, have dabbled a bit with fermenting various foods and beverages. Lately, we've been doing a fair amount of fermenting of the alcoholic variety:

alcohol is in the carboy on the left, bottling supplies are on the right
(no, I do not receive funding from or work for N0rthern Brewer!)

This brewing has been going on for about a year now, and we've made several different beers and cysers, all with very pleasing results. The beverage above is some apple-passionfruit-mango juice that was fermented with a massive yeast cake leftover from a previous brewing batch. It's simply juice concentrate + water + sugar + yeast + yeast nutrient. I'm not sure how this will turn out taste-wise (will the fruit flavors be at all apparent?), but it will certainly have a fairly high alcohol content. We didn't measure the starting or final specific gravity of our brew, so I won't be able to calculate the alcohol content of this batch, but usually cyser ranges from 7-12% alcohol. My limited experience with previous batches of home-brewed cyser tells me that this can be very potent stuff! Anyway, I'm planning to bottle it soon, and then let it bottle ferment (to build up some fizzy-bubbly, hehehe) and condition (age) for a bit longer to hopefully improve the flavor.

Aside from beer-brewing, 'bur and I tried making our own amasake, and it was amazing! Very simple, very sweet, and incredibly delicious. I bought koji (brown rice inoculated with Aspergillus oryzae spores) here, and I think we followed the instructions here. I actually don't remember what directions we followed, but amasake making is pretty straight forward and probably difficult to f-up. I still have some koji leftover, and am going to make another batch of amasake soon!

The other stuff pictured above in the mug is some kombucha that 'bur made. He got a mother culture from another booch enthusiast/friend, and used it to inoculate a black tea/sugar mix. I love booch, but it is prohibitively expensive to buy from the co-op all the time, so I was especially excited that he started making this. He actually doesn't like drinking booch as much (it's very acidic, and probably not all that great for teeth) but he gets a real kick out of making the stuff, so it's a pretty good situation! This particular batch yielded something like 5 gallons of booch, so he was giving the stuff away like crazy to other friends. One thing about it, though, is that it was extremely concentrated and there is no way I could ever drink the stuff straight! (It makes me wince worse than if I bit straight into a lime.) So, I've taken to diluting it with water and concentrated fruit syrup (right now I have some blackberry syrup from this wonderful grocery store). Stay tuned for more adventures in fermentation!

vegetable frenzy!

2008-08-02T10:21:00.000-07:00

Check out all these veggies I scored at the farmer's market this morning!

...tomatoes, kohlrabi, dino kale, parsley, green onions, leeks, zucchini, basil, cilantro, jalapenos, bell pepper, and fresh garlic! All that for under $14! I had my eye out for Thai basil because I've really been craving a good Thai coconut curry, but unfortunately didn't spot any until AFTER I already purchased the 'regular' basil. Oh well, I'm sure it will still be fabulous.

After all that veggie shopping, it was time for breakfast!! I've really been wanting to try the plantain omelet in Vegan World Fusion for a while now, and finally found the time to make it today (yay for weekends!):

This was way incredibly tasty. I pretty much followed the recipe as written (online here) which incorporated some scallions, cilantro and fresh garlic from the bounty pictured above. I halved the recipe, and it still made two very generously sized omelets (although, aside from their thickness, these seem more crepe-like to me). The cashew cheeze sauce was actually startlingly cheesy-tasting to me (although it has been quite a while since I've tasted any dairy cheese...). I still have some extra sauce left over to experiment with! I think these omelets could accommodate a different assortment of veggies, as well as sauce. In fact, when I was in Berkeley a few weeks ago, I went to Herbivore and had a chickpea crepe filled with roasted veggies and basil pesto--I think a filling like that could easily work with this plantain omelet. This required a fair amount of time to prepare, though (maybe an hour?), so I'll definitely save it for weekends or days when I have more time to prep a meal.

What a great start to the weekend! Now I'm off for a bike ride...

hints of Mexico

2008-07-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

so, my boyfriend just returned from a week lounging on the Yucatan peninsula. Before he left, I hinted that he should bring back something food-related for me to sample...and here's one thing he came back with:

from what I can tell, these are seasoning pastes used to make sauces or marinades. I experimented with the one on the bottom, and just mixed a couple teaspoons with water and came up with a smoky, black sauce that I drizzled over some pinto beans, veggies, and rice:

I think I'll keep experimenting with this one--the sauce was kinda gritty, and so incredibly black that I've never seen anything quite like it that was actually edible. I'm not sure why this is...maybe the chilis used to make the paste are roasted? I suppose that could account for the slightly smoky flavor...

joie de vivre

2008-07-20T20:39:00.000-07:00

...ok, well maybe not exactly, but i do love fresh berries. and that's exactly what i've been tossing in my breakfast smoothies for the past couple of days. today, i had blackberries, blended with a frozen banana, a handful of spinach, almond milk, and some lime juice:

i haven't been feeling too well for the past few days, and so i made a restorative batch of miso soup for lunch. i'm talking kombu dashi, delicate cubes of soft tofu, thinly sliced radishes and leek, wakame, and ribbons of fresh bok choy all swirling around in my bowl. just what i needed!

i also made sweet and simple sea vegetable from the candle cafe cookbook:

this is one of my favorite ways to prepare hijiki. true to its name, this is one simple dish to prepare. it's basically just a saute of hijiki, carrots, celery and leek, garnished with toasted sunflower seeds. every time i make this, i think it's not turning out to be how i expected and sort of set myself up to be disappointed, but each time i'm enchanted by the nutty flavor (there's some toasted sesame oil in there) and delicate crunch of the vegetables. all in all, i'm feeling much, much better. i've also been reading dan buettner's book about the blue zones, and recently finished the chapter about the centenarians in okinawa. for the most part this is quite a dull read (in some places poorly written and difficult to follow), but i do think that he has managed to distill some pretty simple and important messages about cultivating a healthy lifestyle. anyway, he writes that it's not uncommon for okinawans to have miso soup for breakfast, and they often use whatever fresh veggies they can harvest directly from their gardens (which they can grow year-round!! can you imagine??). i do have some leftover broth and soup fixin's, so i may try sipping a little of this brew for breakfast tomorrow! i don't know that i could keep it up, though. i have a little bit of a sweet tooth when it comes to breakfast...

turnips, revisited

2008-07-18T20:15:00.000-07:00

remember these?

yeah, they're the turnips from the other day. i had such high hopes for these. but, alas...the turnip, celery, apricot, and ginger slaw (from schneider's veg a to z) that i made with 'em tasted as crazy as it sounds (maybe crazier).

hello. i am crazy slaw.

tonight i also made the tofu dill salad from VWaV. i saw it posted on someone's blog, with rave reviews, but...eh, again, my tastebuds were not happy with the result. i even chopped off a good portion of my dill plant to make this (see turnip pic). i really think the problem was with the vegan mayo that i used. you see, when shopping i fell into the trap of purchasing the mayo that was on sale (nasoya) rather than springing for the ol' tried-and-true (vegenaise). unfortunately, nayonaise just doesn't have quite the 'right' texture for me (it's rather runny and gelatinous), and tastes kinda soy-y. apparently, i'm not the only one who dislikes nayonaise. after comparing ingredients, nayonaise uses soymilk (first ingredient, no less) while vegenaise uses soy protein (with oil as the first ingredient).

anyway, i have been in somewhat of a culinary rut for the last few days. i've been fortunate to have some really, really tasty and fresh veggies from the farmer's market to work with, but somehow my end results have been very underwhelming (with the exception of the turnip greens from wed. night). for instance:

this simple concoction of penne with beets, beet greens, and pecans (with oil, vinegar and garlic dressing) definitely had potential, but the taste was flat and uninspired.

i also tried stir-frying these mystery greens:

can someone please tell me what these are??

while stir-fries are relatively straight-forward and something i like to make quite often, the one i made with these greens somehow turned out to be quite pungent and overly salty, and, like the turnip greens, the final product was a nondescript brownish-green mass (i'm sure you thank me for not posting a photo).

oh, and the greens--again, from the farmer's market. a couple of the Hmong vendors had these for sale, but when i inquired about them i was met with shrugged shoulders (the English name for them was not known). one vendor called them "Chinese lettuce". after looking around a little, i wonder if they could be gai lan (Chinese kale)? no matter...i'll definitely try them again, as the greens themselves were quite delicious, if it weren't for my not-so-delicious preparation of them.

western spaghetti

2008-07-18T19:17:00.000-07:00

mmmm....Rubik's cubes...

a much neglected vegetable

2008-07-16T19:32:00.000-07:00

greetings.

how shall i begin? i give you turnip greens.

turnips (with greens attached) were all over the place at the farmer's market this afternoon. although i've often enjoyed turnip pickles from the nearby international grocery, i've never actually prepared anything with turnips (or their greens) before. therefore, it was with great excitement that i consulted my current favorite reference for all things veg, Elizabeth Schneider's brilliant "Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini" for ideas of how to utilize these beauties.

i decided to use the greens first, and save the roots for later. elizabeth notes that the turnips dehydrate quickly and turn bitter with age, so i wrapped them carefully and tucked them away in the fridge for tomorrow (perhaps they'll "turn up" in turnip, celery, apricot and ginger slaw, hehe). she also suggests that the bitterness that results from overwintering is perhaps one of the reasons why this root veggie is not so popular in the u.s. hmmm.

turnips belong to the brassica family of vegetables, which also includes things like broccoli and kale and mustard greens. unfortunately, turnip leaves are quite fuzzy and have a strong bitterness and are not really suitable for raw eatage. so i used them to prepare curried turnip greens with coconut. this was pretty simple, and didn't heat up the kitchen too much. like other cooked greens, one bunch didn't amount to much in the end...maybe enough for 2-3 people as a side dish. i supplemented the meal with some quinoa, and this salad with zucchini and peas (also booming at the market today!):

hello. see delicious turnip blob hiding behind quinoa mound? (apologies for the blurtastic photos)

the turnip preparation basically involved quickly blanching the greens, and then simmering them in broth with some garlic, turmeric and curry powder (i like to use homemade curry powder for the best flavor--my most favorite blend so far is found in peter berley's "modern vegetarian kitchen"). once most of the liquid had simmered away, i added a slurry of coconut milk and cornstarch, and heated slightly to thicken. i topped it all off with some toasted coconut shreds, minced cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. yum!

i didn't use the entire can of coconut milk for the greens. but, no worries here--i've been eyeing this recipe for matcha ice cream which will conveniently use up the remaining coconut milk. come to think of it, i also have some leftover toasted coconut, so i think i'll toss that in in place of the almonds!