Tag Archives: meatlessmonday

Savory Squash Pie

12 Monday Mar 2012

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Savory Squash Pie

As the countdown to Pi(e) Day continues, I’ve made a couple of savory pies for dinners. The first is an adaptation of this recipe that I substituted in several places with what I had on hand. Turned out great, and will be a general formula for future savory pies for sure!

Ingredients:

  • 1 9” pie crust
  • 2 acorn squash (or 1 butternut squash) , seeds removed and meat cut into chunks an inch or less
  • 1 onion, diced
  • .25 cups grape seed oil
  • .25 cups dry white wine
  • .25 tsp salt + more to taste
  • .25 tsp fresh ground black pepper + more to taste
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup fresh whole wheat bread crumbs
  • .5 cups walnuts, chopped
  • .5 cups shredded Parmigiano Reggiano

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400° and toss the squash chunks in half of the oil plus the salt and pepper. Roast the squash on a baking sheet for 20-30 minutes until golden. You can simultaneously prebake your pie crust for 10-15 minutes if you like.
  2. In the meantime, sauté the onion over medium heat in the other half of the oil. After 5 minutes, add the white wine and cook it down for another 5 minutes or so.
  3. If you’re making homemade bread crumbs, toast 2 to 3 pieces of bread until they are dry, break them into chunks and toss in a food processor. You can also add the walnuts and cheese as these three together will make the crumb mix.
  4. When everything is done, mix the roasted squash, sautéed onions, lightly beaten egg, and half of the bread crumb mix together in a big bowl.
  5. Scoop filling into the crust, sprinkle remaining bread crumb mix on top, and bake for 30-40 minutes until the crust is golden. Let sit for 10 minutes before slicing.

Make sure to also: wash those squash seeds, toss them in oil, salt and pepper and roast them on a baking sheet for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Yum!!

“Cold” Spaghetti

11 Sunday Mar 2012

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Cold Spaghetti

The pasta itself is warm – it’s the sauce that’s cold. And it’s the perfect dish for spring and summer – fresh and beautiful.

I’ve had, and loved, this recipe for years. It came from my childhood bestie’s family and I’ve been making and adapting it since I was in high school. In other words, it’s easy and never gets boring – because it’s incredibly flexible.

Cold Spaghetti Ingredients

Here’s the basic recipe, followed by some of the ingredients that you can add to customize it:

  • 2 cups diced fresh tomatoes – I recommend roma or cherry
  • .25 cups chopped green onions
  • .25 cups minced parsley
  • 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped – less if you aren’t in love with garlic like we are
  • .25 cups extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tsp dried oregano or mixed Italian herbs
  • 1 tsp kosher or sea salt plus more for pasta
  • 2 tsp fresh ground black pepper plus more for pasta
  • .25 cups shredded Parmigiano Reggiano plus more for garnish

Some additional ingredients – I usually add at least one of these to make the flavor more complex:

  • Olives, diced – I prefer black pearl olives for this as kalamata or green could overwhelm in my opinion
  • Artichoke hearts, chopped
  • Sundried tomatoes, chopped
  • Flavored oil such as basil or garlic
  • Red pepper flakes (start small!)

Stir all ingredients together in a bowl. Taste as you go and adjust to your preferences. Refrigerate for at least two hours so the flavors can marry. Serve over hot spaghetti or angel hair pasta that has been tossed in more oil, salt and pepper. Garnish with additional cheese.

Enjoy!

Creamy Tahini Dressing (vegan)

08 Thursday Mar 2012

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Creamy Tahini Dressing Ingredients

This dressing is similar to the Annie’s Goddess dressing that’s so popular and delicious. It’s creamy enough that you do not miss having feta or goat cheese in a salad. I recommend it on a spinach salad with cucumbers, garbanzo beans and sunflower seeds…or on pretty much anything else, it’s that delicious.

This recipe yields a fairly thick dressing, so if you prefer something thinner you can add more lemon juice or even a little water.

Put the following in a blender until the garlic has been fully incorporated:

  • .5 cups tahini
  • .5 cups extra virgin olive oil
  • Juice from 2 large or 3 small lemons
  • 2 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tsp fresh ground pepper or more to taste

Note: If you don’t have red wine vinegar on hand, I suspect that apple cider vinegar would be a good substitute and contribute a little different but comparable brightness.

Basic Homemade Pie Crust

07 Wednesday Mar 2012

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Basic Homemade Pie Crust

I’m not much of a baker, but with Pi Day in a week I’m occupied with…bad puns, evidently. But also pies!

And while I may still be refining my technique for perfectly flaky crusts, I do have the theory down. The way to a flaky crust is to allow pockets of air to form in the dough while it bakes. This happens when small pieces of butter melt and the 20% of butter that’s actually water forms steam.

So to get flakiness you need chunks of butter, not a dough where the butter is fully incorporated. And two things support this: how much you mix it (or how little, as the case may be) and maintaining a cold temperature so the butter stays hard.

This basic recipe will yield enough for one pie with a top and bottom crust, or two pies with open tops.

Basic Pie Crust Ingredients

Ingredients:

  • 2.5 cups flour
  • 1 cup butter, cubed and chilled
  • 1 tsp salt
  • .5 cups ice water

Instructions:

  1. Mix the flour and salt
  2. Slice in the butter – some people use knives or pastry blenders, some use food processors – the trick is to stop when you have tiny butter balls coated with flour
  3. Add the ice water (not the ice…) 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough holds together when you pinch it
  4. Shape the dough into 2 balls, wrap in plastic and let sit in your refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days
  5. Sprinkle a clean surface with flour and use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a 12” circle

Note: I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1.5 cups unbleached white flour – probably a better choice for the crust of savory pies than for sweet pies.

Balsamic Marinated Beets

29 Wednesday Feb 2012

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Beets

I love beets but I’ve always just oven roasted them (how-to at bottom). That’s super easy and also quite efficient if you’re baking other things at the same time. But it’s not very “special.” So to class it up for some friends who were coming over, I borrowed from this recipe to make marinated beets. And the result is awesome – very flavorful and excellent texture.

Combine the following in a large stock pot and simmer for 30-45 minutes:

  • 6 red beets, peeled
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 4 cups water
  • .5 cups balsamic vinegar
  • .25 cups salt
  • .5 cups sugar

The time difference will depend on the size of your beets – they’re done when you can insert a knife easily to the center.

Also, if you’re cooking golden beets instead of red, you can substitute champagne vinegar to preserve their color.

And here’s a great way to use those beautiful beet greens: in a risotto!

If you want to oven roast your beets instead: Rinse them but leave the skins on and individually wrap in tin foil with a drizzle of grape seed oil. Then pop into the oven for 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees. Skin usually slides off easily when done.

Risotto with Beet Greens

20 Monday Feb 2012

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Risotto with Beet Greens

Risotto is such a treat – plus it’s easy to make and extremely flexible. The one consideration with risotto is that you do need to stir it pretty constantly, so plan to spend 30-40 minutes by the stove (aka, pour yourself a glass of wine and relax). With a basic technique in mind, you can vary the recipe for whatever you have on hand or find fresh at the local farmer’s market. It also satisfies that pasta craving for my gluten-free friends.

I had some beet greens that I needed to use, so that’s what last night’s risotto featured. I balanced the greens with lemon juice for brightness and red pepper flakes for a little kick of flavor.

Ingredients:

  • .25 cups olive oil
  • 2 bay leaves
  • .25 tsp red pepper flakes (up to this amount, adjust down for less heat)
  • .25 tsp ground black pepper
  • .25 tsp thyme (optional)
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • Greens from 3-6 beets – stems removed and chopped, leaves chopped
  • 1 cup Arborio rice
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • Juice from 1 lemon
  • .25 cups pine nuts
  • 4 cups vegetable broth – heated in separate pot on stove ready to ladle in
  • 2 tbsp butter (optional)
  • 1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Instructions:

  1. In a large high-edged pan heat the oil over medium heat and season with the bay leaves, pepper, red pepper (this is when to add the thyme if you use it)
  2. Add the onions and stir until they begin to turn translucent, then stir in the garlic and beet stems
  3. Add Arborio rice and stir in so that it absorbs any oil and cooking juices
  4. Add wine and stir until absorbed
  5. Add pine nuts and lemon juice and stir until absorbed
  6. Add broth one ladle at a time until absorbed – you may not use all 4 cups, judge how much the rice will take and adjust to your liking
  7. Stir in parmesan cheese (and butter if you use)
  8. Fold in beet greens until they wilt down and start to incorporate, but still have good color
  9. Garnish with additional parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, drizzle of olive oil

You can also substitute pearl barley for the Arborio rice, for a high-fiber version!

Gazpacho

17 Friday Feb 2012

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Here’s something wonderfully refreshing. I’ll serve this instead of a salad with Mexican meals. Make it an hour or more ahead of time and refrigerate as gazpacho, like revenge, is a dish best served cold.

Ingredients and Instructions:

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Clockwise from top left:

  • 2 cups Tomato Juice (fresh if you have a juicer!)
  • ½ large Red Onion, chopped
  • ½ cup White Balsamic Wine Vinegar
  • ¼ cup Olive Oil (shown with vinegar)
  • 14 oz Diced Canned Tomatoes
  • 2 tbsp Cumin Powder
  • 1 tsp Chili Powder
  • Salt and Pepper, to taste
  • 3 Cloves Garlic, chopped
  • 2 Red Bell Peppers, chopped
  • 1 Cucumber, chopped

You’ll need to put ingredients in your blender in several batches because of volume. Combine ingredients so that there’s enough liquid in each batch to get a smooth consistency. Mix batches in a large serving bowl.

Olé! 

Vegan Gravy

17 Friday Feb 2012

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This gravy is amazing! I made it for Thanksgiving with my boyfriend’s family. Everybody politely tried some at the beginning of the meal, but this was requested instead of the traditional turkey gravy for second helpings.

I found the recipe from RuthsFoods (she has a video tutorial) when learning how to use chia seeds, my new favorite toy. I should do a whole post on chia seeds, but for this recipe it’s enough to know that they are a thickening agent, absorbing liquid to form tapioca-like balls.

Ingredients and Instructions: 

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Clockwise from green bowl:

  • 1/2 white onion, minced
  • 1/2 cup vegetable broth + 1/2 cup for later to adjust thickness as needed
  • 2 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1-2 tbsp miso
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp powdered thyme (or other seasoning if you prefer)
  • Sprig of rosemary (again, or other as you like)
  • 2 tbsp oil (I’m using grape seed)
  • 3 tbsp nutritional yeast

In a large skillet, saute onions in oil until they turn translucent.

Add the nutritional yeast, salt, pepper and seasonings (thyme and rosemary, or whatever you choose) and stir so that they can absorb all the oil. Let this saute, stirring, for 5 minutes.

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Add the broth and chia seeds and mix well to avoid clumps. I like to mix the chia seeds into the broth before beginning so the have several minutes to plump up. At this point, reduce the heat to low and give the chia seeds time to absorb, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes.

Adjust the thickness with the additional broth. I typically stir in another 1/4 cup or more, slowly so I can gauge. The chia will continue to thicken it, so make it just a little thinner than you really want.

Remove from heat and add the miso, mashing to fully incorporate.

Voila! 

Basic Homemade Seitan

17 Friday Feb 2012

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Seitan (say-tan) is a vegan meat made from vital wheat gluten. This is only the protein part of the wheat berry with everything else removed. It’s also used as an additive while baking to give more volume to bread. A quarter cup, about what you might eat for dinner as seitan, has approximately 23 grams of protein and 10% of your daily iron.

What’s especially fun about seitan is the potential for seasoning. You can add anything you want, and the flavor will be mixed all the way through every bite. You can also make it into any shape, from meatloaf to taco meat.

Ingredients and Instructions: 

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  • 1 to 1.25 cups of vital wheat gluten
  • Liquid is 3/4 cup water or vegetable broth + 2 tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos
  • Seasonings are 3 tbsp nutritional yeast + 3 tbsp spices
  • 6 cups of vegetable broth or seasoned water to cook it in (not pictured)

For spices I’m using 1 tbsp onion powder + 1 tbsp garlic powder + 3/4 tbsp dried thyme + 1/4 tbsp ground black pepper. This gives it a more traditional meat flavor. Other ideas are powdered ginger and garlic for Asian dishes, or cumin and chili powder for Mexican dishes, etc.

Mix the seasonings and 1 cup of wheat gluten together well before adding any liquid, then add the liquid and stir/kneed until everything is incorporated into a dough. Sprinkle additional gluten into the dough as you kneed until it no longer feels too moist. Continue working the dough for a couple minutes to help the protein develop into a meaty texture. Let this sit for ten or more minutes while you prepare and heat the broth to cook it.

The broth can be any liquid that will support the flavors in the seitan. Vegetable broth is perfect. Or water with Braggs and more of the spices that you put in the dough. Some people also add chopped onion and garlic.

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I’m serving my seitan as medallions so I rolled the dough into a log and sliced it into rounds. You can do a whole loaf, or cut off small chunks for stir fry, etc.

Bring the cooking liquid to a boil, reduce to a simmer and add the seitan pieces. Let this simmer gently for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure it doesn’t stick to the bottom. The seitan will float to the top. Remove with tongs and press out excess liquid.

Now prepare as you would with any meat. I seared my medallions with mushrooms. This is also excellent with vegan gravy.

Enjoy!

Creamy Broccolini Soup

17 Friday Feb 2012

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This hearty soup gets its wonderful cheesy flavor from blended sweet potatoes, miso and Bragg Liquid Aminos – a lower-sodium and gluten-free alternative to soy sauce that I highly recommend for every pantry.

Ingredients and Instructions:

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Sauté for 5 minutes:

  • 2 tbsp.  Grape Seed Oil
  • 4 tbsp.  Onion, chopped
  • 2 tbsp.  Garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp.  Ginger Root, minced

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Add and sauté for 5 minutes:

  • 1           Sweet Potato, peeled and chopped
  • 2 cups   Broccolini, chopped (using stems, saving florets for stir fry!)
  • ½ cup    Red Pepper, chopped

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Add and bring to boil for 10 minutes:

  • 1 cup     Water
  • 2 tbsp.   Bragg Liquid Aminos

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Remove from heat and add:

  • 2 tbsp.   Brown Miso
  • 1 cup     Water (mix in miso first for easier incorporation)

Place all in blender and blend until smooth. Serve and enjoy!

Can add for a cheesier flavor:

  • ¼ cup    Nutritional Yeast