Forked Chicago

Broiled Tofu and Beets with Lemon-dill Yogurt Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:37:00 +0000

A friend of mine is on an extreme elimination diet and is seemingly eating nothing but beets, greens, brown rice, and quinoa. OK, it's not quite that extreme, but almost. Two words: no salt. But he has inspired me to finally cook beets. I've eaten beets plenty, but usually on a salad, where someone else had to deal with the pink hands. Seeing Martha Stewart prepare beets while wearing latex gloves scared me off. But I finally dove in, and it wasn't bad. The mess rinses off no problem. And beets are delicious, especially with this yogurt sauce. The sauce was maybe a touch too sweet, so next time I'll reduce, or maybe leave out, the maple syrup (and maybe increase the lemon). But all in all a winning combination. And the sauce was great with the kale too.

Broiled Tofu and Beets with Lemon-dill Yogurt Sauce

1 lb. extra-firm tofu, sliced into eight pieces
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 bunch small beets, cut into even chunks
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp maple syrup

Press tofu for at least ten minutes to remove excess moisture. Whisk together olive oil and soy sauce and dip tofu pieces in the mixture. Drizzle olive oil and maple syrup over beets, season with salt and pepper, and toss. Place tofu and beets on foil-lined baking sheet and place in broiler. I set my broiler and high and cooked for nearly twenty minutes, tossing the beets every once in a while and turning tofu halfway through. But keep on eye on it, as broilers can vary a lot.

Lemon-dill Yogurt Sauce

1/2 cup plain soy yogurt (I used Silk)
2 Tbsp chopped dill
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
1-2 Tbsp chopped shallot
1 tsp maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl. Serve with tofu and beets.

Teese Baked Mac and Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 02:08:00 +0000

I've been experimenting with a decent mac & cheese using Teese vegan cheese for a while now, and I think this is the closest I've come to deliciousness yet. As usual, there are still things I think I'd tweak, but overall it seemed to be a success. The interior was gooey but not runny, and the large bread crumbs on top added a nice crunch. Curiously, the Teese I sprinkled on top (below the breadcrumbs) didn't melt much in the oven, but every last bit that was stirred into the macaroni and sauce melted wonderfully, so next time it's all going inside, which should make it even moister. This batch turned out a bit on the spicy side, which was nice, as I'm still working my way through an especially potent batch of cayenne pepper, but if you don't have super cayenne, you want to add more.

Teese Baked Mac & Cheese

1 Tbsp Earth Balance
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup water
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp sweet paprika
a few grinds of black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp prepared yellow mustard
1 1/2 cups Teese vegan mozzarella cheese, shredded
1-2 slices whole wheat bread, toasted and crumbled into pieces
1/2 pound macaroni

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook macaroni until it is almost al dente but still slightly undercooked. Melt Earth Balance in small saucepan and add 1 Tbsp flour. Cook until it gets bubbly, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Whisk in remaining flour, water, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, turmeric, paprika, pepper, and cayenne, and cook, whisking often, until the sauce thickens but is still runny enough to drip off of the whisk. Mix in mustard. Add sauce and Teese to cooked macaroni in a casserole dish (I used an 8 x 6 1/2 inch Pyrex dish) and mix until well combined. Top with breadcrumbs and cook for about twenty minutes, with a couple of minutes under the broiler if you want the breadcrumbs extra crunchy.

Lemon-Pine-Nut Scones with Vegan Lemon Curd

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:43:00 +0000

The way I see it, vegan scones usually have one of two problems: 1) They're so dry you fear losing a tooth every time you bite into them, or 2) they're too moist and fluffy, resembling flat muffins more than scones. I always used to use a recipe from Everyday Food magazine, which was touted as lower fat and didn't use any eggs. But these always fell on the too-fluffy side, although if I put enough cranberries or blueberries in them I didn't so much care. But this time I wanted nice, semi-dry, flaky scones. This lemon-pine-nut version isn't quite there, they were a little too floury and fluffy, but with some tweaking I think they'll get there. And they don't have two sticks of butter like so many of the recipes I consulted.

Lemon-Pine-Nut Scones

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling on top
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
6 Tbsp margarine
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup soy milk, plus more for brushing tops of scones
1/4 cup pine nuts

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk together flours, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Cut in margarine with a pastry cutter until it is in small sandy pieces. Mix in lemon juice and soy milk, turn out onto clean work surface, and pat into a round about 1-1 1/2 inches high. Use a bench scraper or other semi-sharp straight edge to cut dough into eight triangles. Brush each scone with soy milk and sprinkle with sugar (I use the vegan sugar carried at Whole Foods, which is nice and coarse and makes for a crunchy top, much like sanding sugar; finer-grained sugar will create more of a crust on top). Transfer to a baking sheet lined with Silpat or parchment and bake for 15 to 17 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool (the scones will be a bit tender when they're warm but will get crunchier as they cool).

Oh, and about that lemon curd. It is forking incredible. I used a recipe from Bryanna Clark Grogan, which I've been eying forever. I should've made it the night before so it could have time to cool and thicken, but it was still delicious as a sort of sauce on the scones. But once it did cool, it was so thick and gelatinous. It's the lemon curd I've dreamt about ever since the Chicago Diner so cruelly decided to make their wonderful lemon coconut cake special-order only. Maybe soon I'll make a lemon-curd pie, which would satisfy my urge to eat the stuff with a spoon but wouldn't feel so pathetic.

Coconut-Cherry Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:21:00 +0000

This is officially the first baked-good recipe that I have developed 100% on my own, with no inspiration or measurements or anything from another source. And I expected to have to make a few trials, tweak it a bit here and there, but the first time was pretty perfect. Beginner's luck I guess. The muffins came out light and airy, moist but not soggy, and the flavors were wonderful together. The dried Rainier cherries came from Trader Joe's, one of those things that look good on the shelf so you buy them, thinking . . . some day. But now that my tiny little pantry cupboard is so full that things fall out of it when I open the door, it's time to use up those some day items. But I'm sure these would work fine with any dried fruit. Maybe that dried mango I bought for some day.

Coconut-Cherry Muffins

Makes about 7 muffins

1/2 cup dried Rainier cherries, soaked in hot water until plump
3/4 cup light coconut milk
1 Tbsp ground flax seed
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp canola oil
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Shaved coconut

Mix together coconut milk and flax seed and set aside until gooey, then add canola oil, sugar, and vanilla and mix well. Whisk together flours, salt, and baking powder, then add wet ingredients and cherries to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Fill lined muffin tin almost to the top and crumble shaved coconut on top of batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes.

Dan's Birthday Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:02:00 +0000

Last week was my lovely husband Dan's birthday. But since we had just returned from our Seattle/Portland vacation (where we ate roughly 80,000 calories, I'm estimating) two days before, there wasn't much time to plan much of a celebration. On the cab ride home from the airport (at 11:30 on a Tuesday. ugh), Dan declared that he wanted cheesy mac and garlic bread for a birthday dinner. Now, due to those roughly 80,000 calories, I wasn't too stoked on this idea, as what he wanted was one of the first recipes I mastered when I was in college. I have no idea where the original recipe came from, as I think I received a stained print-out from someone along the way. It was incredibly creamy and velvety and delicious but called for loads and loads of both oil and margarine. Add super greasy garlic bread to that, and my vacation-stuffed stomach wasn't thrilled. So I decided it was finally time to de-fat (at least partially) the recipe and see how it turned out. It still needs some tweaking (I think the tempeh needs to be grated for a more "sausage" like texture, and it could maybe be a bit moister), but overall it was a (much-healthier) success. And it gets even better the next day. The tempeh sausage crumbles are straight from Vegan with a Vengeance (minus the spices I had unexpectedly run out of), but the rest is straight from my head.

Tempeh Cheesy Mac

1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cup water
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp turmeric
3 Tbsp margarine
paprika
1 1/2 cups macaroni, slightly undercooked
1 recipe tempeh sausage crumbles

Mix nutritional yeast, flour, water, soy sauce, garlice powder, and turmeric together in a small saucepan and heat over medium until thickened. Melt in margarine. In an 8x8 casserole dish, mix together sauce, macaroni, and tempeh and sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

And to totally mess up the "healthiness" of the cheesy mac, Dan made his "world famous" garlic bread. Whenever he cooks something, he calls it world famous, even (or maybe especially) when it's the first time he's ever made it. I think the only time I've disputed this title was when he found a cucumber in the fridge, thought it was a zucchini (not sure how one makes that mistake), and put it in chili! Then again, maybe that is world famous, just not in a good way.

And dessert. Strawberry shortcake, with biscuits from Martha, with WAY less sugar on the berries, and whipped Soyatoo. Oh my God, Soyatoo is the best thing ever. Seriously. I whipped it up with half a vanilla bean and a few spoonfuls of sugar, and it reminded me of being a kid and eating spoonful and spoonful of Cool-Whip straight out of the package. I loved that stuff. But knowing that it's 99% chemicals, 1% whey freaks me out now. So thank you, Soyatoo, for actually resembling whipped cream (or whipped-cream-like product) without being icky. The whole thing was incredible, and such an improvement over those weird little sponge cakes at the grocery store.

Almond Crusted Tofu

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Sun, 25 May 2008 00:52:00 +0000

The moment I saw the pistachio crusted tofu on Fat Free Vegan, I immediately wanted it. But of course when I went to Whole Foods that night, they were all out of shelled pistachios. So almond crusted tofu it was! Sure, it's not as pretty as the original, being so beige and all, but it's still crunchy and delicious. And I learned that the combination of Veganaise, German mustard, maple syrup, and soy sauce actually tastes good. So all in all a success, and a good way to use up the ridiculous amount of almonds lingering in my freezer, hiding behind leftover chickpea cutlets and half-used flours.

Mexican Pizza, or: What Happens When I Have to Shop at Jewel

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Tue, 20 May 2008 02:54:00 +0000

Dan and I were on our way home from work and I had nothing planned for dinner. Completely out of character, we decided to go to Jewel. I'll admit that I have an aversion to normal (i.e., not Whole Foods) grocery stores--something about the two aisles containing nothing but chips and soda--but I'm really against Jewel. It always smells funny. It probably comes from years of living in Wicker Park, home to Junkyard Jewel, which is a truly disgusting place. Plus, the lines are always super long. But at the Jewel I ended up, on a search for something to use as a pizza crust. I knew there wouldn't likely be anything actually pizza-crust-like to be had, but I thought I'd at least find pita bread. Nope. No pita bread in the whole store. After walking up and down the "natural foods" aisle (gee, that's a lot of cereal and soy milk) six or seven times, I spied some refried black beans (thank you, Amy), and the Mexican pizza was born. Another search turned up some flour tortillas with fewer than twenty ingredients--as well as a pile of super moldy tortillas. Yum. After an incredibly long wait in line, it was home to assemble the suckers. And you might look at this creation and say, "That looks like a tostada." Yes, it does look like a tostada, but we wanted pizza, so it's pizza. Refried black beans between two flour tortillas, topped with melted Teese, olives, red and yellow peppers, avocado, mango, and a lot of Cholula and baked until crispy and melty. Sure, it didn't quite satisfy the pizza craving, but it was still pretty incredible. How can anything topped with avocado and mango be anything less?

Cook's Illustrated Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:26:00 +0000

Last weekend I got the new issue of Cook's Illustrated in the mail. The few issues I've received so far haven't much excited me; lots of tips on searing roasts and other useless things, plus a lot of stuff I already know. But this latest issue was actually pretty good. So good in fact, that I made two of the recipes soon after reading through them for the first time. The first was lemon artichoke hummus. I've made hummus countless times, and I've always loved it that way it was, which was somewhat on the chunky side. But this turned out super smooth, like restaurant hummus, only with tons more flavor. The complexities were lost when I put it on a sandwich the next day, but it was the perfect dipping hummus, especially with baked pita chips.

The next day I made spring vegetable risotto, which was also fantastic. (Unfortunately the pictures didn't turn out as well.) It had leeks, peas, asparagus, and lemon juice and was topped with gremolata with parsley, mint, and lemon zest, which added so much flavor to the dish. This may be my favorite risotto, but I think I just love risotto in general. Something about all that stirring makes it seem very special.

Chocolate-dipped Hazelnut Biscotti

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:21:00 +0000

Friday was my co-worker Chris's last day, and since I was losing my vegan ally, I made biscotti. I used the recipe from Veganomicon quite a few times already, but this was a new combination (I still think the orange chocolate chip is my favorite, especially with a cup of Earl Grey tea). I used the basic recipe, subbed hazelnuts for almonds, and omitted the anise (I despise anything that tastes like licorice, and a lot of things taste like licorice. Yuck). I've tried the chocolate hazelnut biscotti recipe in the past, but they turned out too soft, so cocoa powder doesn't seem to mix with biscotti too well. I never think the cookies are going to get crispy enough when they're still warm; they always seem rather soft and gooey. But they work every time, turning out perfectly crisp. When these were baked and cooled, I melted chocolate chips with a bit of soy milk and one end of the biscotti in it. I had to put them in refrigerator for the chocolate to set, and the cold biscotti in a wamr cup of coffee was a great combination. And they were a hit at the office. Score one for veganism!

Before baking

After first baking

After second baking

Teese Vegan Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:39:00 +0000

I've been lucky enough to be a guinea pig for Teese Vegan Cheese, and I think I've probably blown through at least five pounds already. Of course, I've had help eating it, but I have been more full of cheese lately than even in my life. It's super melty (just look at that cheese toast above!), doesn't mold in the refrigerator after two days like some other vegan cheeses (in fact, I've had some in the fridge for weeks now that's still good), and tastes great (even though my cheese memories are about thirteen years old now, it tastes like what I think cheese should taste like). But the best part? It holds all the toppings on a pizza! The one thing that has always irritated me about vegan pizza is when you bite in and half the toppings slide off onto your plate (maybe my love of way too much sauce has a little bit to do with that too). So far pizza has been my main Teese use, but I'm still working on a gooey mac & cheese that I'll post about soon.

The first Teese pizzas

I made the pizza-dough recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, which is basically the same as every other pizza-dough recipe I consulted but with extra sugar and olive oil. The crust was perfect, and the pizzas were delicious, with peppers, mushrooms, and olives.

The weeknight Teese pizza

We picked up some dough from Whole Foods, which they keep in the refrigerator. This isn't so great for when you want pizza NOW, as the dough is impossible to stretch. Plus, it turned out too chewy for my liking, but Dan loved it. Still tasty though. Peppers, mushrooms, onions, olives, and store-bought veggie pepperoni (which I usually pick off).

Pizza party

When in the possession of large quantities of melty cheese, it's definitely time for a pizza party. I made the VwaV dough again, only this time I made it too early and let it rise for over an hour too long, which made the dough too soft and resulted in holes (there were also some oven sticking disasters, which are best never mentioned again). For one batch of dough, I replaced half of the flour with whole wheat pastry flour and added some agave nectar, and that batch turned out wonderfully, light and crispy and wheaty. The first pizza was my favorite: blanched red-skinned potatoes, roasted garlice, roasted asparagus, rosemary, and Teese. The combination was spectacular. I wish I'd made three more of the same.

This one was sort of hodgepodge (and not the prettiest pizza in its class). VwaV pizza sauce (DO NOT use canned tomatoes with added salt. It so super, super salty, and I even halved the salt called for), roasted garlic, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, olives, Teese.

This one has my homemade seitan pepperoni (adapted form the seitan o' greatness recipe), which turned out pretty awesome. Everyone was snacking on it while we waited for the pizzas to bake.

Baked Seitan Pepperoni

1 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 cup water
4 Tbsp tomato paste
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, grated

Combine wet ingredients in one bowl and dry another, then add wet to dry and knead for a few minutes until elastic and somewhat tight. Divide into two logs and wrap tightly in foil (be careful not to rip the foil, but try to get the logs as tight as possible). Bake for 90 minutes at 350.

The pesto pizza seemed to be the hit of the night. Homemade pesto, roasted garlice, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, Teese. Tomato sauce is so over done. Pesto!

Leftover pizza

We had tons left over from the pizza party, so Dan and I had pizza again a few nights later. I used Whole Foods dough again, but after it warmed up a bit it was (slightly) easier to work with. But I think the non-stretchiness worked well, because this was the absolute anti-minimalist pizza. It turned out thicker than deep dish, with the bottom of the dough nice and crispy and the inside super doughy. We piled everything on here. Pesto, roasted garlice, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, mushrooms olives, seitan pepperoni. It was pretty incredible.

Two of My Favorite Quick Meals

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 03:18:00 +0000

Sometimes I get jealous when I hear people say that everything they know about cooking they learned from their mother. I sure didn't. Everything I know about cooking--and pretty much everything else--I learned from Martha Stewart. It infuriates me to watch her current show, because she just kisses minor celebrity ass while throwing a few things in a pot, and it's impossible to actually learn anything. But once upon a time Martha took me from Minute Rice to risotto. And half of the recipes I turn to again and again come from Martha, one of my favorites being soy-glazed tofu and carrots. It's simple, it's sweet and salty and crunchy and mushy, and it always makes my husband, Dan, happy. Sometimes I add other vegetables (like the asparagus here) or serve it over rice, but most of the time the tofu and carrots are enough to totally satisfy. If only I could keep the broiler from turning the cookie sheets all burnt and nasty.

The open-faced seitan sandwiches from Table for Two by Joanne Stepaniak is another winner. I must make this once a week. It takes maybe twenty minutes and is super comforting, especially when it's cold outside. And the saltiness goes perfectly with mashed sweet potatoes (which I love so much, I've been known to eat nothing but for dinner when I'm home alone).

And because the tofu and carrots pics turned out so well, here are a couple more.

Vegan Madeleines

noreply@blogger.com (Kara) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:36:00 +0000

I've been thinking about starting this blog--and taking a lot of pictures--for a long time, so it may seem a little odd that my first post is something that didn't turn out as well as I would have liked it to. But failure is often a big part of vegan cooking. So this is a learning a post. I tried to veganize something I never even tried in a non-vegan state, which is odd, and although the results weren't as pretty as those perfect little packages at the Starbucks counter, they were tasty. And who can resist those tiny little flecks of vanilla seeds?

Vegan Vanilla Bean Madeleines--first trial

2 Tbsp ground flax seed
6 Tbsp water
6 Tbsp margarine, melted
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean

Preheat oven to 400. Blend flax seed and water in blender until gelatinous. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt, then flax mixture, margarine, and vanilla and mix until combined. Grease madeleine pan and fill each mold 3/4 full. Bake for ten minutes.

I used a mini madeleine pan, because mini=cute, so maybe a larger pan would have resulted in a less crispy cookie. And if you fill the molds too much, the cookies get a strange rim around the edge. This batch came out a little oily and cupcake-like, with an odd, faint taste of popcorn, probably from the spray oil. Next time I'll definitely take the time to melt some extra marge. But the edges did come out nicely crispy. And despite the popcorny-ness, they were tasty.