Posts tagged culinaryexploits
Posts tagged culinaryexploits
I made my mom a vegan orange chocolate cake for her birthday and it was sooo delicious! Thank you, epicurious.com.
Om nom nom, Justin made chilaquiles for dinner one night when we were low on groceries. YUM.
(Too Brandied) Brandy + Figs in Salty Caramel Ice Cream, courtesy of Jeni’s recipe
The excessive amount of brandy made this a little runny; once it had been in the back of the freezer for a few days and frozen out, MUCH better!
For Christmas, my parents bought me a Cuisinart ice cream maker and Jeni’s book of recipes. This was in no small part because I made it clear that I really hoped somebody would get me this combination; the ice cream maker is the one that Jeni mentions using for kitchen-testing all her concoctions. The best part of my ice cream maker is that it has two separate canisters, making it easier to plan out multiple batches. The canisters have to be in the freezer for at least 24 hours before spinning out the goods, which then must be frozen for another 4 hours, generally. Making the ice cream takes 1.5-2 hours and all add-ins must be made and cooled prior to putting together your base.
The first two ice creams I made were Black Coffee with Chocolate Freckles and Maple Ice Cream with Buttery Salted Almonds. I expected the coffee to be my fave, but the maple was out of this world in texture and richness. Don’t get me wrong, both are delicious, but I couldn’t believe that the maple had actually come out of my own kitchen.
If you’re interested in starting up an ice-cream making hobby, I highly encourage Jeni’s book. She explains the science behind the process and breaks the recipes down into simple, heartfelt treats. It’s also nice that she lists all her supplies and sources; Justin and I ran around looking for cheesecloth and a sieve (luckily) before we had milk and cream boiling on the stove thanks to her guidance in steeping hot ingredients such as coffee grounds.
If you follow from Cbus, let me know if you’d like an ice-cream tasting. All the tags you can see sticking out of the book are J & family members’ picks I asked for so I could create for special occasions.
Justin and I made an Italian Mushroom and Green Bean Pappardelle Soup with Gremolata to celebrate the new Cuisinart food processor we received for Christmas. Our cooking has been entirely revolutionized. With the amount of vegetables we eat, I was learn that our food processor can slice in addition to the chopping business. The recipe we used to make this soup can be found here: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/11828 and it would be vegan, easier, and cheaper to not add the mascarpone. (Although I was happy to have leftover mascarpone, which served as an excuse to make some delicious Italian white mac and cheese the following weekend).
Soup Day
We got our last CSA delivery of the year today and it was HUGE, so we used all the turnip/beet greens, odds and ends of celery, carrots, leeks, etc. to throw together 3 batches of homemade veggie stock. We made a basic stock, Mexican stock, and ambiguously-Asian stock. Stocks were inspired by Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.
Feeling ambitious after that successful pad thai, I decided to try a new twist on a recipe I had tried to adapt to my vegetarian tastes last year: French Onion Soup. The last time around, I used the wrong type of sherry and did not let the onions caramelize before adding the rest of the ingredients. This time around, I used an actual recipe from one of my new favorite vegetarian blogs, which you can find here: http://www.fresh365online.com/recipes/2009/12/13/3-onion-soup.html
I bought a pack of these tiny little one-to-two inch diameter rolls from Trader Joe’s and sliced them in half, then broiled them with Swiss cheese on top. The one thing we didn’t have around the house was green onion, but I didn’t even miss it. Justin and I both agreed that this was a very successful French onion soup adaptation.
Vegetarian Pad Thai
We have been toying with the idea of at-home pad thai for a long time, but it always felt too daunting of a task. After multiple taste tests around town and a compilation of our favorite aspects from a variety of vegetarian recipe sites, this is what we came up with. And it was pretty damn delicious:
Sauce: Combine 1/2 c lime juice (fresh limes preferred) with 4 T brown sugar, 4 T soy sauce, 4 t Thai Chili Paste and 1 T water. What we missed: ADD TAMARIND - either in sauce or pulp form (which needs strained). This is the only component we wish we would’ve had.
Skillet Round 1: Mince 1 large shallot and 4-5 garlic cloves. Saute, then add 4 beaten eggs. Scramble. Add 1 package of drained and cubed tofu. Stir fry all together and reduce heat while you get your noodles & veg ready.
Noodles: Prepare 1 package of pad thai/vermicilli/wide rice noodles according to the package. We bought Pad Thai noodles from Whole Foods and just soaked them in hot water for 10 minutes. Once noodles are prepared and drained, add your egg/tofu mixture to the noodles in their pot and put on low heat.
Skillet Round 2: Saute 1-2 carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks. Add 2 t minced fresh ginger and 1 package mung bean sprouts.
Finale: Add all the Round 2 Skillet/Wok veg to your protein/noodle medley. Top off with a few radishes diced fairly small, 1 bunch of chopped green onion, half a bunch of cilantro leaves, 2/3 c ground up peanut (or Kroger “Nut Topping,” which is half peanut, half pecan), and your delicious sauce.
Pour yourself a nice light beer, cozy up to a cute S.O., and enjoy.
Made these little nuggets when my dad’s side of the family came over. Recipe can be found here: http://letsdishrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/10/pumpkin-cookies-with-carmel-frosting.html
