Chickpea Piccata

This dish is soooo good.  Thank you once again dear Isa.  One of my favorite comfort foods (creamy mashed potato) all fancied up and tasting devine.  My taste buds are very happy right now.  And it is very simple and quick to prepare.  This is definitely going on regular rotation in our house.

You can find the recipe here on the Post Punk Kitchen web site: Chickpea Picatta.
(As per Isa's spelling of Picatta).

I served this with lots of rocket (the recipe called for arugula which I had never heard of but a quick google revealed that it is rocket.)  I made a half serve of Thermomix mashed potato - so creamy!  That's 500gm of potatoes.  I used Vitasoy Calciplus milk and plenty of Nutelex for the potato. 

Dear husband was a bit dubious about the flavor of the capers diffusing through the whole dish so I left them out and then used them to garnish.  This worked really well.  I sprinkled a little of the brine from the capers over mine along with a drizzle of truffle oil.  Heaven!

According to the recipe this should serve 4 but actually dear husband and I managed to polish it off for one meal.  This amount would make a great entree for 4 people, but I can't see it stretching to 4 adult sized mains.  I can't wait to make this next time we have an omnivore over for dinner. 

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with Choc Chips.

I had some left over mashed some pumpkin after making the Chocolate Pumpkin Loaf from the Post Punk Kitchen website (it was delicious by the way but I forgot to photograph it).

So the next day I decided to try these Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies (also from the Post Punk Kitchen).  I made a half batch (as I only had half a cup of mashed pumpkin) but it still made heaps of cookies.  I think you would only want to make a full batch if you planned on sharing them.  As this batch was eaten entirely by Dear Husband and myself, half the amount was definitely enough!

The only changes I made to the recipe were to leave out the flax seeds (I didn't have any), substitute the walnuts for choc chips and to add 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger.  The result was quite yummy but my cookies turned out quite soft and cakey. Like a cross between a cookie and a scone - but quite delicious.  I think they would be great with the walnuts too but I was more in the mood for chocolate than walnuts at the time.  I plan to try them with the flax seeds next time.

Raspberry Truffle Brownies

Dear husband and I have been on a bit of a health kick and so I have been trying out healthy new vegan recipes.  Last week we had a friend come over for dinner.  Perfect opportunity to try out the new brownie recipe on the PPK web site?  Hell yeah!

These brownies are squidgey, moist and very delicious.  Want to try them out for yourself?  Here is the recipe on the PPK site: Raspberry Truffle Brownies.  Well done Isa!  You have made me very happy.

I took most of the batch in to work the next day to avoid dear husband and I totally ruining all our good work losing weight recently.  They didn't last long in the staff room.  I'll take that as a sign that they were appreciated.

The recipe suggests a cooking time of 16-18 minutes.  As I lurve fudgy brownies I took them out of the oven at 16 minutes.  They did look like they could have used a couple of minutes longer.  However, as per Isa's advice, a few hours chilling in the fridge and they were fabulous.  But if you don't want to risk the raspberries making your brownies seem a little "wet" you might want to cook them for the full 18 minutes.

Unfortunately there was a layer of gooey goodness left on the baking paper which I absolutely could not waste.  Am I the only one who scrapes the left overs off the lining?

Now all I need is another excuse to make them!

Chipotle Chilli with Sweet Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts

The great thing about this "new vegan recipe every week" challenge is that it is leading to me try new ingredients and flavor combinations.  This week I had the pleasure of meeting chipotle for the first time. 

This weeks recipe was suggested by my partner in this weekly-new-vegan-recipe venture: Chipotle Chilli with Sweet Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts.  The recipe is on the Post Punk Kitchen web site.  So I can share it with you without having to type out the recipe which, for a lazy blogger like me, made it an even more attractive choice.

No need to feel like the only ignorant one in the room if you don't know what chipotles are.  I had no idea either and so I went ahead and googled/wiki-ed them before reading the recipe.  And then when I returned to the recipe page on the PPK there was all the info I needed.  Apparently they are "this decade’s sundried tomato" and apparently I have been living under a rock.  :)

A chipotle is a smoked jalapeno.  A jalapeno is a medium sized chilli pepper.  A chilli pepper is a..... No wait, you know what that is right?  Dear husband and I really enjoyed the smokey flavor and aroma.

I only made two teensy changes to the recipe.  I used two tins of beans (instead of one) and, as usual, I reduced the salt to suit my un-Americanised taste buds.   Here is a snap of how it turned out.

This is the first time I have been brave enough to follow a recipe that calls for brussel sprouts.  As a kid brussel sprouts were the most poisonous food on earth (closely followed by liquorice and liver - shudder) and were used in childhood oaths between my sibblings and I, eg, "Honest, really, if I am lying I will eat a whole truck load of brussel sprouts and liver!"  I never thought I would grow up to be one of those adults who actually eats brussel sprouts by choice. 

I found chipotles at my local shopping village at Passione Gormet Deli.  They had dried chipotle and chipotle in tins in adobo sauce.  They also had lots of other cool stuff including the creamiest, most yummiest, most delicious ever hummus.  (Note to self - it is high time you started making your own hummus).  The owner (at least I think he as the owner) was very helpful.  I asked if he stocked any vegan cheese or chocolate.  Apparently he did stock it at first but there wasn't enough demand.  I will have to see what I can do about that!

Pinto beans were a little trickier.  For the second time this year I found myself standing in the shop using my iphone to google "x beans are also known as".  I used borlotti beans which seemed to be the closest thing to pinto beans available at my local IGA.  I need to find a shop near my house that sells a wider range of beans.  I went on a wild goose chase today looking for black beans - but more about that in my next blog post.

Anyone have a fantastic hummus recipe they want to share?  I have been looking at lots this week and can't decide which one to try so I would love a recommendation.

Leek and Bean Cassoulet with Biscuits

For my first new vegan recipe for the year I had a flick through Veganomicon by the Post Punk Kitchen crew.  It is such a great book filled with so many delicious sounding recipes that it was hard to chose.  I have book marked lots more recipes for future vegan cooking adventures.

I chose Leek and Bean Cassoulet with Biscuits.  Probably because the name caught my eye.  Cassoulet with biscuits!  ~ Insert giggle ~ Because "biscuits" are sweet cookies in Australia, and who has ever heard of a Cassoulet?  Well, probably you have, but it was a new word to me.  According to Wikipedia (that perfectly reliable and thorough information source) a Cassoulet is a slow cooked bean stew from the South of France containing white haricot beans.

So I guess we can just say I cooked a Bean Stew with Dumplings.

Verdict: satisfying, homely and nutritious.  Not exactly a "knock your socks off" kind of dish but a good base recipe that you could easily modify by changing the veggies/legumes/seasonings to suit your taste buds.  It would also be a great recipe to use up any veggies getting close to their "best before: date that you can find lurking in the bottom of most peoples fridges and veggie boxes.

I was hoping that the recipe would be on the Post Punk Kitchen website so I could just link you to it but no such luck.  However this recipe on the site for Dilly Stew with Rosemary Dumplings is kinda similar. 

I stuck to the recipe pretty closely as it is the first time I have made a Cassoulet with Biscuits (giggle again - yes I am that childish).  The only changes I made were to leave out the salt, add a few extra peas and carrots, and just before putting it in the oven I added another can of beans as it seemed a little light on for beans.  I had only bought one tin of white beans so the second tin were kidney beans - which added a little colour so I was pretty happy with the outcome.

 
The dumplings are very similar to the damper I sometimes make when we have soup.  You can find the recipe here.  I love adding herbs to my damper and I think that adding a little chopped fresh herbs to these dumplings would be great too.

Dear husband and I drizzled some truffle oil on top of our stew.  Mm mm mmmmmm!  Thanks mum for buying it for us!

Below is the recipe for this stew and dumplings with my additions.  It might look a little long but it is really pretty simple to make..  I will definitely be making this recipe again and tweaking it each time.  I think it can be used as a very versatile base from which you can let your creative energies be guided by the whims of your taste buds.

Stew Ingredients
2 potatoes, cut into small pieces, boiled until not quite soft and drained.
3 cups veggie stock
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons oil
2 leeks, thinly sliced (~ 2 cups)
1 small onion, medium diced
2 cups diced carrots
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 heaping tablespoon copped fresh thyme
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup frozen peas
2 cans beans, drained and rinsed (I used white beans and kidney beans, but I think butter beans would be really nice too)

Dumpling Ingredients
¾ cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1½ cups plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup vegan margarine or shortening

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220^oC (425^oF).
2. If you have not already boiled you potatoes do so now.
3. Combine the milk and apple cider vinegar and set aside.
4. Mix the cornstarch into the stock and set aside.
5. If you have an oven proof skillet - use it.  If not use your soup pan.  Saute the leeks, onion and carrots in the oil over a medium heat until soft and just beginning to brown - about 10 minutes.
6. Add the garlic, thyme and pepper and cook for 1 more minute.
7. Add the potatoes, peas and stock mixture.
8. Bring to the boil and then lower the heat and leave gently simmering while you make the dumplings.
9. In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
10. Cut the margarine into the flour and then mix with your fingertips until it resembles bread crumbs.
11. Add the soy milk and mix with a fork until it is just combined.
12. Gently knee the dough about 10 times with floured hands - just do it in the bowl, no need to mess up your kitchen bench any more than you already have.
13. Add the beans to the stew. If you have not used a skillet it is time to transfer your stew to an oven proof casserole dish.
14. Break off chunks of the dumpling mix and form roughly into golf sized balls.  Drop on top of the stew about an inch apart.
15. Bake for 15 minutes until just slightly browned.
16. Use a large serving spoon to ladle into bowls taking care to have the dumpling on top.

Before and after baking.

Day 19 - Red Lentil Cauliflower Curry

Last nights dinner was made from a recipe in Veganomicon.  Such a great recipe book!  So grateful to my friend for leaving her vegan books with me while she is on the other side of the world.

Red Lentil Cauliflower Curry. 

This was not difficult to make.  The only changes I made to the recipe was to leave out the 1.5 teaspoons of salt and add 2 cloves of garlic (we like garlic).  The recipe says "Partially cover and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender but not completely falling apart."  And then you turn the heat off and let it stand for 15 minutes with the lid on.  Unfortunately by that time my cauliflower was starting to fall apart so next time I will be turn the heat off a little earlier.

The recipe is not on the Post Punk Kitchen web site.  Isa and Terry are very generous with putting their recipes on line, but we can't expect them all to be there I guess.  Someone has submitted a version of the recipe here on Spark Recipes if you want to try it.  If you leave out the carrot and use a large parsnip instead you will be pretty close to the Veganomicon recipe.

I love making curries like this that keep so well in the fridge for a few days.  So great to have such a healthy, delicious lunch to take to work the next day!

Mmm for Moussaka

I have been making a very special layered eggplant dish for years from Alison Holst's Meals without Meat.  I have plans to veganize it.  But for now, whenever I have a yearning for a layered eggplant extravaganza I have a go-to recipe that I found in Veganomicon.  I just love saying the name of that book.  Veganomicon.  Nom, nom, nom!

Happily, here is the recipe on the Post Punk Kitchen Website: Eggplant Potato Moussaka with Pine Nut Cream.   So you too can bake this wonderful dish.  Thanks PPK for being so generous with your recipes on line.

This is not one of those throw together for a quick dinner kind of recipe.  It is a little fiddly.  But it is well worth the effort.  And, if there is just two of you in the house, like me and dear husband, then you will have instant dinner for the next night or two.  It reheated pretty well in the microwave.

The Pine Nut Cream really is fantastic!! Although I will be very, very careful with the salt next time.  The recipe calls for "1 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste."  I thought I would start a bit lower and so added ~ 3/4 teaspoon and it was still a bit too salty for us.  But once that salt has hit the food processor there is no undoing it.  So I suggest starting with even less, I think 1/4-1/2 teaspoon will probably do the trick for me next time.  Is that American taste buds like salt more than we Aussies do?  I often find I have to reduce the salt a bit when cooking from an American cook book. If anyone else has made this (or ever gets around to making it) I would like to hear how much salt you added "to taste".

Apparently the extra pine nuts for garnishing are "optional", but personally, I strongly recommend a generous handful of pine nuts on top.  They toast to perfection while the dish bakes. 

Will I make this again?  Definitely!

Banana Bread

Usually I buy lots of the bananas in the hope that some will have time to get good and over-ripe before they get eaten.  The riper (ie blacker) the better.  But bananas have been quite expensive in Perth this year due to the tornado and floods in Queensland, so I have not been buying as many.

Fortunately I still had a few over-ripe bananas in the back of my freezer from last year.  So when the banana bread cravings set in I had a handy stash.

For my first attempt at vegan banana bread I decided on the The Post Punk Kitchen's recipe - and I was not disappointed.    The Post Punk Kitchen - Banana Bread

Surprisingly there is no photo on the website so perhaps Isa could use mine ;)

The banana bread is delightfully moist, with a wonderful texture and a sweet, spicey taste.  It is a little bit too sweet even for my sweet tooth, so next time I will reduce the sugar a bit.

The only changes I made:
- I used regular soy milk instead of the vanilla soy milk in the recipe
- I added 1/3 cup of sultanas and 1/2 cup of walnut pieces.  (My husband loves sultanas and walnuts in banana bread.)
I know that the sultanas would have contributed to the sweetness, but even without the sultanas I would prefer to scale back the white sugar a little.

I have a question:  What effect does the apple cider vinegar have?
I looked at quite a few vegan banana bread recipes before deciding on this one and found that a lot used apple cider vinegar.  Is it something to do with replacing the eggs?

Whatever the role of the cider vinegar - the recipe works!  And I will definitely be making it again.

Chewy Cherry Ripe Cookies

A friend made these for book club a few months ago.  There were so delicious that I asked for the recipe and have been planning to make them for ages.  Apparently I needed the motivating kick of my vegan apprenticeship to finally do so!

I am not really sure what the etiquette/copyright is of publishing recipes, but I guess it is okay if the original source is acknowledged.  Anyway, this is more for my own records and perhaps no-one else will ever read it.

My friend based his offering on “Chewy Chocolate-Raspberry Cookies” on p 234 of Veganomicon by
Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  He morphed the cookies into a cherry ripe version.  Apparently inspired by me telling him that Cherry Ripes have gelatine.  (What!  Cherry Ripes have gelatine!  But why do they have to go ruining something so yummy by including gelatine you may ask?  Beats me!!!)

I stuck pretty closely to my friends version, but upped the cherries a little, and the cherry jam, and downed the sugar.  Result:  YUMMO!  Chocolate craving satisfied!

Ingredients:
16 glacé cherries, chopped into quarters
1/2 cup cherry jam
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon almond essence
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup cocoa
1 & 1/3 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup dessicated coconut

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Combine dry ingredients (excluding the sugar)
3. In a separate bowl combine all the "wet" ingredients and the sugar.
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients, mixing with a wooden spoon as you go.
5. Roll into walnut sized balls and press down with a fork on a lined baking tray.
6. Bake for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool for 10 minute (if you can resist for that long!)