Sunday, July 24, 2005

Salad dressing, served on spring mix from Monterey Market, along with candied almonds:
1/2 shallot, minced
Dollop of Dijon mustard
"White balsamic" vinegar
Toasted hazelnut oil (La Tourangelle--it won a hall of fame award from the Chronicle)
Olive oil
Sea salt
Black pepper
Lemon thyme
French tarragon

Put all ingredients into a jar and shake the hell out of it.

Tomato cobbler:
Take tons of tomatoes (I think I had about ten medium-sized tomatoes from the yard)--chop into large pieces and fill the bottom of a large casserole dish. Mix in a couple of tablespoons of flour, salt, sugar, and pepper, a dash of mirin, and 1 1/2 shallots, chopped.

Mix up some cobbler batter:
5 Tbsp butter, chopped into pieces
1 1/3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp fresh oregano leaves
1 tsp fresh sage leaves
1 tsp fresh rosemary leaves
5 oz. sharp white cheddar
Mix as you would for pie crust.
Gently mix in 1/2 cup soy milk, then drop flattened balls of dough on top of the tomato mixture. Lightly brush the top with additional soy milk.

Bake at 375 degrees for about an hour.

Polenta
Standard recipe (3 cups soy milk, 1 cup polenta, salt, pepper, 1 broth cube) with 1/2 package frozen corn kernels stirred in.

Blackcurrant-rhubarb-apple pie
1 pint blackcurrants, stemmed
1 stem rhubarb, cut into one-inch pieces
1 Pink Lady apple, peeled and sliced
Mix together with sugar and about 3 tsp cornstarch and then pour into a pie crust with a lattice top. (1 1/4 cups flour, 1 stick butter, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, water) Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes, then 350 degrees for another 30 minutes or so.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Tomato sauce with spaghetti: very simple, basic recipe.
Saute chopped onion until brown. Stir in some chopped garlic too.
Seed and quarter tomatoes and throw them in.
Pour in a dash of sake.
Add chopped fresh basil and rosemary.
Salt and pepper.

Good stuff.

Monday, July 11, 2005

I made a lovely tomato tart last night, but accidentally burned it. The tomatoes (9 Early Girl tomatoes from my backyard plants) were totally amazing, some of the sweetest, most flavorful tomatoes I've ever eaten in my life, and still warm from the sun.

I used half the pie crust recipe from Joy Of Cooking (1 1/4 cups flour, 1 stick butter cut into pieces, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/3 cup ice water) along with some chopped rosemary and a few tablespoons of grated parmesan. Into this I layered snipped leaves of fresh basil; the sliced, seeded tomatoes; pieces of almond cheese, mozzarella-style; parmesan, salt, and pepper. I decorated the whole thing with basil leaves on top, and baked it at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes (it ended up burning when I turned the heat up to broil to brown the cheese, then stepped away for a minute).

Problems with it: too much pepper, too much liquid--perhaps a layer of polenta poured into the bottom would work next time; the inside of the crust never got brown--stayed kind of white and mushy--so perhaps a blind-bake of the crust would be in order next time.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Here's Rahul's posting about our 4th of July recipe:

http://www.blackpitchpress.com/chaos/2005/07/delicious-vegetarian-bbq-recipe.php

Delicious Vegetarian BBQ Recipe


My Fourth of July vegetarian barbecue meat turned out to be a big hit, even amongst the meat eaters. Frankly, I'm a little surprised. I thought it was very good myself, but I haven't had meat in a long time, and my roommate (a non-veg) was telling me that if you had eaten meat recently, you'd be able to pick out fake meat really easier. Well, I think he changed his tune a bit with this latest concoction... which, come to think of it, didn't really require any special recipes on my part-- just Bill's Best (a fake meat made from soy and gluten) and Berkeley's finest-- Everett and Jones BBQ sauce.


Recipe:

Mix 3 parts Bill's Best "Chik" with 3 parts Bill's Best "Beaf." Add 2 parts water. Mix thoroughly, kneading the ball for 15-20 seconds. Form into a meatloaf shaped log. Slice the log into narrow, rectangular filets, about 0.35 to 0.5 inches in width (make sure it is somewhat narrow, because the filets need to be thin to cook to a meat-like consistency). Boil the filets for 10-15 minutes in lightly salted water.

Heat cast iron skillet on med-high to high (depending on your range-- ours seems a little weak and needed to be set to high). Set it to a point where the filets can cook and caramelize but not burn. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in the skillet. After oil is hot, place filets on skillet, making sure that all pieces have one surface directly on the iron. Cook for a bit, checking every now and then to make sure nothing is burning. When filets are browned on one side and somewhat dry, flip them over and cook similarly on other side (it should take 5-10 minutes to cook one side-- if it cooks faster than that, the heat is on too high).

After both sides are cooked, remove filets from skillet and place in mixing bowl. Pour Everett & Jones (or other delicious BBQ sauce) liberally on filets and stir them until surfaces are evenly coated.

Toss filets back into skillet for 20-30 seconds, adding a very small quantity of water to prevent the BBQ sauce from burning. Allow steam to reheat filets. Remove from skillet and place back in mixing bowl. Add sauce from skillet to mixing bowl and also add more BBQ sauce to mixing bowl. Stir thoroughly. Can be placed on toasted hamburger buns or eaten straight from bowl.

Tastes great with beer.

Bill's Best: http://www.billsbest.net/
This recipe from CL sounds good:

thai spinach wrap recipe < claymonkey > 07/02 09:49:06

Some one asked for the sauce for this - they had it at Suboy Suboy. This recipe is from Nancie McDermott's "Real Vegetarian Thai" cookbook (Mmmm love the spring rolls!!!) - everything that I've made from it is absolutely fantastic.

It's called miang kum - miang means "leaf" and kum means "a small mouthfull".

Sauce:
1/2 cup toasted coconut
3 Tbs. peeled, coarsely chopped ginger
2 Tbs. coarsely chopped shallots
1 Tbs. Asian bean sauce
3/4 cup veg. stock
1 cup palm or brown sugar
1/4 cup tamarind liquid (I've substituted pineapple juice in the past)
1 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. salt

Treats:
1/2 cup toasted coconut
1/2 cup cut-up peeled ginger (1/4 inch chunks)
1/2 cup cut-up limes, including peel (1/4 inch chunks)
1/2 cup cut-up shallots or red onions (1/4 inch chunks)
2 Tbs thinly sliced fresh green chiles (thai bird, serrano, or jalapeno)
1/2 cup salted, dry-roasted peanuts (cashews work too!!)
1/2 cup salted sunflower seeds (I've never used)
large spinach leaves or some lettuce with cupped leaves (like boston, etc..)

To make the sauce, in a mini processor or blender, combine coconut, ginger, shallots, and Asian bean sauce and grind to a fairly smooth paste. Add a little of the stock as needed.

In a saucepan, combine coconut-ginger paste, veg. stock, sugar, tamarind, soy sauce, and salt. Stir well, bring to rolling boil over med heat, stirring often. Boil for 2 min. stirring and adjusting heat so it doesn't boil over. Reduce heat to maintain a gentle boil and simmer, stirring and scraping down sides, now and then, until the saue is dark brown, thickened to a medium syrup - about 10 minutes. Cool sauce to room temp. Can be kept in refrigerator for 3 or 4 days.

When the sauce reaches room temp. it should be a little thcker than real maple syrup and thinner than honey.

To serve, arange all ingrediants except spinach/lettuce in separate heaps on a platter or in small bowls. Separate the leaves and arrange on platter nearby. Place sauce in small deep bowl with a small serving spoon.

To eat, take a leaf, add small amounts of each treat, and top with a dollop of sauce. Fold into a small packet and pop in mouth. Best in one bite.

Yum, Yum!!! These are so good. Suboy suboy uses those little dried shrimp also.