Croque Madame – France’s version of fast food :)

click the pic for the recipe

This is basically a fancy grilled cheese (and ham) sandwich with a fried (or poached) egg on top then smothered in a rich white sauce called bechamel.  I added ham to my carnivore friend’s sandwich and left off the bechamel sauce (since he has a weird thing about sauces)….still delicious though.  Recipes vary slightly as you could use various cheeses or cook your eggs various ways….Vegetarians could use their usual ham substitute or try another meat substitute….I left it off all together on my sandwich.  The recipe I originally used called for Dijon mustard, which I love and was very good.  Other recipes call for mayo (which might appeal to more people)….Paul Deen even has a recipe.  Check it out:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/croque-madame-recipe/index.html

Preserving the Harvest: Garlic

confit of garlic

So I didn’t really harvest this garlic…unless you count picking up a bulk bag of it at Costco….I think we’ve all lost our minds at Costco (or other similar stores) at some point…you know, leaving with giant bags of “what was I thinking?” that would take a free standing freezing unit to hold everything and you only have a small refrigerator freezer….giant bags of lettuce, most of it ending up in the compost later because, lets face it, I don’t eat that much salad….giant boxes of olive oil and cereal that seem to last forever and you start to dry heave at the sight of Special K boxes…

I use a lot of garlic in recipes…but not enough, I discovered, to warrant a 5 pound bag.  Luckily garlic last a long time, but not really long enough when you have so much.  If you’re overwhelmed with a harvest of garlic there are many options for preserving it so that it last longer or can be used in more dishes.  You might roast it and make roasted garlic butter or make a garlic paste.  I chose to make a confit of garlic (cause it sounded fancy and it used the most garlic heads of the recipes I had–plus it was the easiest).

You’ll need:

5 garlic heads (not cloves…HEADS)

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 small dried red chili or 8 whole peppercorns (I used peppercorns)

1 1/2 cups olive oil (of which I have gallons)

Step One: Divide and conquer. Separate all the garlic cloves and peel them.

Step Two: Low and slow we go. Put the peeled garlic and all of the remaining ingredients into a small saucepan.  Set over low heat for 1 hour.

Step Three: Transfer. Remove from heat and let cool.  Transfer to a sterilized jar and cover tightly.  Store in refrigerator.

Can use the cloves and oil on pasta dishes, potatoes, veggies, or spread on toast.  Use the oil for cooking or in salad dressings and marinades.

Love Pretzels …

click the pic to go to the recipe

DON’T buy pretzels at the mall….Make your family this batch of carbo love…it’s a very simple recipe.  Keep it in mind for next Valentine’s Day maybe….however, DO use the parchment paper or a silpat for baking (as the recipe dictates)…I thought I could just do without on one baking sheet and they got a little…well…black on the bottom.  I made the dough following the instructions for using a food processor (again) and added the cheddar cheese “variation” ….but there are several variations listed (or plain is still very yummy)….

Nutty Vegan Burgers

If you’ve given up hamburgers or beef for Lent, now would be the perfect time for you to try these totally vegan nut burgers.  They passed the test with my very picky meat eating friend and he even requested the recipe.  So, Craig, here you go.  Enjoy.

You’ll need:

1 cup cooked brown lentils, drained

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup finely minced onion

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chopped unsalted dry roasted cashews (Trader Joe’s has a nice sized package and very affordable)

2 tablespoons almond butter (I prefer salted)

2/3 cup dry bread crumbs (can use plain or seasoned depending on your taste)

1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley (I’ve also used cilantro instead, or just leave out the herbs if it’s not your thing)

1/2 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Step One: Cook the lentils. If you can find canned lentils, I suppose you could use those as long as you rinse them and drain them well.  I, however, have yet to see the all elusive canned lentil but I do keep a supply of dried on hand.  So, if you’re working with dried, measure out 1/2 cup of lentils.  Rinse them and discard any stones you might find.  Then put the lentils in a pot and cover with about two or three cups of water.  Bring to a boil.  Turn the heat down a bit and mildly boil for 20 minutes (but check around the 15 minute mark because they might be done).   Once the lentils are done, drain them well and then put them aside.

Step Two: Go nuts! Re-inintroduce yourself to that big shiny gadget that you keep buried in the cabinets –the food processor.  IF your nuts are not chopped already, put them in the food processor and pulse them a few times until they are chopped.  If they’re already chopped, just add them to the food processor.  Also add the lentils.  Let it sit there patiently waiting for the other ingredients.

Step Three: Sautee. Heat the tablespoon of oil (i’d use the pot I cooked the lentils in).  Add the minced onion.  Sautee about 5 minutes.  You could also add some garlic in the final 30 seconds if you’d like. Put the onions in the food processor with the lentils and nuts.

Step Four: Blend. Now add all of the remaining ingredients to the food processor and process until well blended.

add a tablespoon or two of water if the mixture seems too dry or crumbly while processing

Step Five: Shape. Shape the mixture into patties.  Depending on how large you want them, you’ll get anywhere from six to eight burgers.

Step Six: Bake. Put the patties on a non stick baking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  I’d recommend flipping the burgers midway to get even brownness on both sides.  IF you are a fan of fried foods, you can fry these burgers instead of baking.  Fry about five minutes per side.

Vegan Green Tea Cupcakes

click on the pic to go to one of the many recipes posted on the www for these green tea cupcakes

***note: when Heather and I baked these beauties, we used regular light yogurt–vanilla– instead of soy (because I couldn’t find it the day I needed it), we used pre sweetened matcha powder because that’s what we “found,”  and we substituted 1/4 of the flour with rice flour as the book suggested…turned out great…very nice crumb.  But of course, wasn’t vegan anymore because of our yogurt substitution.

Pecan Mudslide Cookies (as made famous by J. Torres)

This past weekend I was visited by two ghost…ok…not ghost…friends really…very good friends, who I never see enough of and enjoy thoroughly … We shopped, rocked out on Rock Band, watched Zombies get slaughtered, ridiculed the worst movie ever made (The Room), and baked….well, Heather and I baked…our husbands devoured.

We baked vegan green tea cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and a most delicious dark chocolaty batch of pecan mudslide cookies (which Heather generously labored over chopping what seemed like two tons of chocolate into chunks). I think these are my favorite cookies of all time.

Here’s a pic of the cookie.  Tomorrow I’ll post the green tea cupcakes.

click the pic to go to the recipe

“Chicken” Pot Pie

picture taken before I baked it. Was too eager to eat it to get one after...

This is one of my favorite vegetarian meals. I find making my own crust actually does improve the overall taste but I’ve used the Pilsbury premade kind and it’s not bad…The recipe this is based on, called for seitan. I tried it that way and it was delicious…BUT, it was even BETTER if you can get a Quorn Turkey Roast and cut it into cubes. Taste just like chicken

What you’ll need for the filling:

1 large potato (I prefer Yukon gold), peeled and diced

1 large carrot, chopped

1 parsnip, peeled and chopped

1 1/4 cups veggie stock

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablepsoon cornstarch (dissolved in 2 tablespoons of water)

1 tablespoon olive oil 1 medium sized yellow onion, chopped

12 ounces seitan, coursley chopped (or one whole Quorn Turkey Roast)

1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed (optional)

Crust:

Either buy a premade pie crust that you can roll out OR make your own. You can use any pie crust recipe you like (herb flavored ones might be nice) …and it’s very simple to do in a food processor. The recipe I use calls for 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/3 cup corn oil, and 2 tablespoons ice water. Pulse the flour and salt together. Add the oil and process until crumbly. Then slowly add the water until the mixture forms a ball. Put it on a lightly floured surface and roll it out larger than the dish you are using. You’ll place this crust over the mixture and crimp the edges.

PREHEAT the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 2 quart casserole dish (or larger depending on how you add to the recipe)

Step One: Filling. There are several quick and easy parts to making the filling using one pot. Part 1: veggies. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the potato, carrot, and parnsip and cook until tender (probably around 10 minutes). Drain, rinse, and set aside. Part 2: Onions. Assuming that your veggies are now sitting aside in a strainer, take the pot you used to boil the veggies (why dirty another pot?) and add the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions. Cover. Cook about 5 minutes or until soft (though it might also be interesting to try cooking them until they are very carmalized). Put the onions in the lightly oiled 2 quart casserole dish. Part 3: “meat.” Using the same pot again, reheat it (add a little more oil if it needs it) and add the seitan or Quorn turkey roast. Season with some salt and pepper to taste (or get creative and add other spices as well), cook and stir for about 5 minutes to brown the “meat.” Transfer this to the casserole dish.

Step Two: Add. Put the peas, corn, and carrot/potato mixture into the casserole dish.

Step Three: Sauce. Use the same pot you used for boiling the veggies, cooking the onion, and cooking the seitan. This time, put the veggie stock and soy sauce in. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Simmer and continue stirring until this thickens into a gravy, 2-3 minutes. Pour over the filling in the casserole dish. IF you aren’t strict about vegetarianism and you wanna quick side step, just get a jar (or powdered mix) of brown gravy–or mushroom gravy– and use that instead of making this basic brown sauce. But for those of you vegetarians out there, this is a wonderful sauce to use, instead of gravy, on rice, Tofurkey, potatoes….you name it.

Step Four: Crust. Roll out your crust (either store bought or homemade) until it is slightly larger than the 2 quart casserole dish. Place it over the dish and crimp the edges.

Step Five: Bake. Bake until the filling is hot and bubbly and the crust is browned, about 45 minutes. Let it rest 5 minutes before serving so it doesn’t burn your lips off.

In theory it serves 6. In reality it serves four if you like a big bowl. And I do.