lemon zucchini bread (pictured on a bamboo plate purchased from twin cities green**)

after a bit of a break due to hectic-ness with work and life, i’ve promised myself i’d develop a few more recipes this weekend to test for the zine.  today got me baking, sautéing, and giving one of the older recipes a new twist:

polenta-baked maple-mustard-chili *tempeh* over spicy kale with thai peanut dressing

for a change, i thought i’d try my recently amended marinade on some tempeh instead, coat it in some polenta, and bake it - instead of my usual naked tofu/grill route.  it turned out delicious!  a told me it looked like baked fish sticks (”but not in a gross way”).  i served it over spicy sautéed kale with thai peanut dressing, inspired by a similar coconut-peanut-spinach curry i love to get at true thai (only, i imagine, quicker to make and less fattening).

i also baked some lemon zucchini bread, which has the perfect lemony hint and deliciously moist interior for a summer treat.  i’m bringing it into work tomorrow morning, also, in hopes that they’ll start making it in the bakery (because sadly, our vegan mini bread selection is in quite a depressed state).  here is an inside shot, fantastic alone, though also great with a little earth balance spread on top.

**twin cities green is a local eco-friendly retailer and information center that sells recycled, reclaimed, sustainable, fair-trade, natural and organic furniture, home/kitchen goods, clothing, bath products, books, baby stuff, etc.  even their labels and gift certificates are printed on the backside of used cereal boxes!  they also hold workshops on several topics like diy, bike maintenance, and eco-friendly alternatives.  if you live in the twin cities, i recommend checking them out.

crushed tomatoes, spicy tempeh sausage, fresh spinach, red onions, and basil chiffonade on a spelt-whole wheat crust; with bell’s two hearted ale and a trio of olives.

we tend to order a lot of pizza luce at our apartment (well, when we order pizza, maybe once or twice a month).  and it’s great - we can do half vegan/half vegetarian, it’s garlicky, deliciously smothered in toppings, and local.  but sometimes i want more choices (not to mention saving 18 dollars).  i want to know what all goes into my crust and my toppings.  so, i bought a pizza stone.  it changed my life over two nights.

i searched high and low for a whole grain pizza crust online, but wasn’t left with many options for quick and easy.  so my wait for pizza night lasted through an overnight delayed fermentation after finding a pared down version of peter reinhart’s recipe on 101 cookbooks (a gorgeous site with vegetarian, and several vegan, recipes).  and was it worth it?  oh yes.

i wouldn’t call myself a pizza snob in the sense that i’ve never lived in new york city (wow, have i encountered strong - though deserved - opinions there), nor do i have a very specific definition of what i think constitutes a good pizza.  they come in all shapes, sizes, and tastes.  but i’m certainly not one to settle for a cheeseless vegetarian chain pizza with too much (and a too chewy) crust.  and i, for one, appreciate a crispy thin crust when i have the option, and would generally rather skip the faux cheese (though pizza luce’s rinotta is pretty damn tasty).

garlic-stuffed olives, marinated sicilian olives, and green lucques.

a is playing a few shows out of town this weekend, so i made a pizza for the eve of her departure.  i wasn’t sure how the crust would turn out exactly, and only had some vague ideas of what to top it with to approximate the simplicity of a neopolitan-style pizza.  a friend of mine likes to point out that a lot of poorer people in italy could not afford to put cheese (or meat for that matter) on their pizzas, making it fairly authentic to create a truly vegan pizza.  with the first pizza, however, i opted for some protein on top by making a zestier version of the tempeh sausage crumbles from the millenium cookbook’s puttanesca pizza.  it complemented the tangy crushed tomatoes i used as a sauce as well as the baby spinach and red onions; when i pulled the pizza out of the oven i sprinkled it with a chiffonade of basil:

…and served it with three kinds of olives and a cold bottle of bell’s two hearted ale apiece.  mmm…

so about this crust:  i used a combination of whole spelt flour and whole wheat bread flour to make a whole grain crust, which is hard to find (most have a mix of wheat and white flour).  i mixed enough dough for 8 small crusts and froze most of them, reserving a few in the fridge for the upcoming occasions.  i shaped the dough by hand (without a rolling pin), getting a dangerously thin crust in some areas, but the heat of that magic twelve-dollar stone assured that my crust came out not-soggy, and perfectly baked.  my crust didn’t blister and blacken in spots as neopolitan pizzas tend to, but i have no complaints about the final product.  it was thin and crispy without being either hard or cardboard-like, and had an amazing flavor.

spelt-whole wheat crust with olive oil, tomatoes, grilled zucchini, red onions, salt and pepper, before baking (and before basil).

i got to try out more pizza the following night, when two of my coworkers came over to watch “eyes without a face” (which i recommend if you’re in the mood for a creepy, beautiful french film from the late 50s).  this time i made two kinds: one crust simply brushed with olive oil, then layered with tomatoes, grilled zucchini, red onions, and fresh basil, and the other with crushed tomatoes, tempeh sausage, sicilian olives, marinated mushrooms, red onions, cashew cheese, and fresh rosemary.  this crust recipe is definitely a keeper!  if you can hold off a day in finishing your pizza dough, i highly recommend it.

spinach salad with baked tofu, red bell peppers, sunflower seeds, and papaya poppyseed dressing

my regimen of not taking medication isn’t really working out for me. i feel worse today than i have so far, i think. but i’m trying to eat some healthy foods in the meantime (and sucking on some olga’s herbal pastilles for my throat). above was lunch before work today, and dinner consisted of my attempt to include ramps* in a pasta dish. however, i was having a bit of a battle with the ezekiel sprouted pasta. it states clearly in bold type (twice) not to overcook the pasta, which i didn’t do to my knowledge. however, most of it ended up clumped together and grossly chewy (and not very photogenic), which i suspect is partially just a characteristic of sprouted grain pasta. however, i’m taking a well-advised tip from katie about not showing a picture of this dish just because i made it. the gummy pasta really detracted from the otherwise delicious flavors going on.

what i did in shorthand is: tossed a drained can of chickpeas and a bunch of ramp bulbs and stems in olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and roasted them at 400 until browned. i made the ill-fated pasta while sauteeing cremini mushrooms in a cast iron pan until brown and juicy, then threw in the ramp greens and a large handful of spinach to wilt. i tossed it all together, added a little more salt and pepper, and put a few drops of white truffle oil on my serving (seriously, is there anything truffle oil can’t make extra-wonderful?) along with a chiffonade of fresh basil.

so, for lack of a finished product, here is a picture of the chickpeas and ramps before going into the oven:

*what the heck is a ramp? it’s also known as a wild leek in the midwest, where it’s just come into season. tasting somewhat like a cross between garlic and onions, the roasting really toned down the pungency of this little woodland treasure. (last year i tried them for the first time and i think i let them sit around too long before throwing them into a stir-fry… kissing was not a top priority after that experience!) many places, especially in the south, have huge ramp festivals in the spring! a majority of traditional recipes are also laden with dairy and meat, so i had to go with my own concoction. hooray for wild vegetables

**i have TWO upcoming bread-type experiments fermenting right now that i hope will work out…one for a whole wheat/spelt herbed pizza crust, the other for a traditional swedish all-rye bread. wish me baker’s luck!

i love a good sandwich. as a vegan (and even a vegetarian), it can be pretty tough to find a good sandwich out there in the big, scary world. if you don’t live in a vegan-friendly city, that is. your best bet, really, is to make your own.

lemon pepper hummus, sliced tomato, and fresh basil on the left; fresh avocado and sea salt on the right. both served on a rosemary roll.

i think about food a lot (which you may have noticed). and one thing i have longing, passionate, detailed thoughts about is a good vegan sandwich. it might be a tempeh reuben. it might be a grilled italian tofu and pesto panini. it might be piled high with vegetables, slathered with hummus, and spiced up with a micro-thin layer of dijon. or a mock duck banh mi from hard times, with kimchee and cilantro vegenaise. sometimes i’ll spend the last half of my work shift dreaming up the perfect sandwich for that day. i’ll scribble reminder notes. once i even made a diagram.

for all this talk about loving sandwiches, i hardly ever make them. we’re out of bread, i only have cabbage and kale and carrots as vegetables, i have no suitable spreads, the list goes on. as part of my quest to overcome the minnesota winter, i am dedicating myself to a weekly (at least!) sandwich creation(oh yes! creation).

i’ll talk bread (or wrap), vegetables, protein, spreads, techniques. what did i do? what could i do differently? how did it taste? can i turn it into party food? can i bring it on a picnic?  the usual, pretty much.  just with the desire for springtime injected into it.

the sandwich featured in today’s post is simple, and includes one of my favorite sandwich ingredients: avocado. everytime i go through the produce department, i look at the price of avocados. i pay way too much regardless of the season, because it’s a coop, it’s organic, and i live in minnesota.  but on this particular day (last friday), the avocados were 60 cents cheaper apiece, and i felt 60 cents richer.  it had been a particularly long and hectic shift at work, and i wandered the store in a daze without purpose or direction, except to find things to consume.  i gathered a few tongfuls of bulk fresh basil, found the reddest roma in the bin (for this time of year), and let a container of lemon pepper hummus persuade me.  the result you’ve already seen above.

so what would i have done differently?  first: onion!  i couldn’t find any onions even though i was sure we had some.  thinly sliced red onion would have done me well.  or caramelized onion with a splash of balsamic vinegar.  which brings me to balsamic vinegar.  it could definitely have been incorporated in some way, even if it was just drizzled along with olive oil.  and the bread, though fresh, might have been even better toasted.  this sandwich still kicked some ass.  and i’d definitely bring it to a picnic in the springtime, as a party food.

this is my second stab at a zine-worthy caribbean curry that i’m calling rainbow curry, on account of all the pretty colors.  i liked this one much better, but it still isn’t quite right.  i also kind of over-turmeric’d the dish on accident, which is probably why it’s so shockingly yellow… and also why i had to compensate with some extra coconut milk (to cover up the bitter flavor).  this one has more vegetables, and even banana.  i have this sort of gimme!gimme!-take it away!take it away! relationship with the banana addition.  it was nice to have the sweetness against the spicy and sour flavors, but sometimes it gets a little overpowering.

i also made my own roti.  although quite like chapati in being unyeasted and with very little ingredients, roti have a bit of fat in them, and some baking soda.  i really rather prefer the roti to the chapati, even though there is a bit of extra work involved.  plus, i got to try out my new silicone baking mat which arrived in the mail last week from a’s mom; complete with guidelines and guide-circles for measuring all kinds of doughs.  i made a few extra dishes (more to wash before i leave), but it’s far too fun NOT to eat curry inside a piece of folded bread:

sweet potato cranberry scones with maple caramel glaze

that’s right.  i made scones.  with a caramel glaze.  and they are delicious!  too bad i’ve eaten about 5 of them since yesterday morning.  the story is, i got a free pint of cranberries from work.  then i remembered i had a sweet potato (pardon me, yam… but sweet potato sounds so much better).  then i stumbled across some christian homemakers’ website (scary) and found a recipe for sweet potato scones, i thought it might be nice with cranberries, veganized and combined ideas from some other recipes and voila!

unbaked scones, above.

the plain scone, while moist and delicious, i found a bit tart… what with the cranberries and the small-ish amount of maple syrup i used.  i tried it “buttered” first:

then, thought about a glaze and created the … creation … pictured at the top.  twice bitten:

so, it’s december.  and after the other week’s failed attempt at cheating the baking gods, this time i prayed at their altar with my gram of saffron and my brandy-soaked raisins and my newly discovered yeast measurements.  and it worked!  it worked so well, actually, that my saffron rolls became HUGE and lost some of their definition.  but they are light, faintly sweet, moist, and saffron-licious!

unrisen, and risen once dough…

closeup on one of the lussekatter.

saffron rolls, lucia rolls, or lussekatter: these are traditionally made around christmas in sweden, and particularly for st. lucia’s day (dec 13).  since i missed that boat, i made them today on the last day of my three day weekend.  they are similar in method to the cardamom wreaths i made a few weeks ago, but without filling and snipping… just shaping into these little pagan shapes. although, of course, mine became huge.  i think i may have overkneaded the dough the slightest bit, and that’s why i couldn’t make more defined shapes.  still, they taste awesome and you’ll have no complaints from me.  if only i can figure out a vegan egg wash to make them shine…

originally (and that will probably be my next baking project) i wanted to make some super intense swedish pastries involving marzipan and vanilla cream. sugar overload! but i decided to start small, and lucky i did, because i made a bit of a yeast mistake which a kind swedish poster over at the ppk helped me to figure out. the result - a pretty cardamom-roll-type wreath filled with marzipan - is definitely edible, but not as light and tender as it should be, seeing as i used about half the amount of yeast i should have! (the short story being that all swedish cookbooks call for fresh yeast, and i only have access to dry. in the introduction to the baking section it says to sub 1 pkg dried yeast for 50g fresh yeast, and i assumed our packaged yeast held the same quantities.) at any rate, here is an abbreviated procedural photo essay:

dough rising (with my falling apart 70s swedish cookbook in the background):

dough rolled out and ready for the goodies (EB, sucanat, cardamom, cinnamon, and grated marzipan):

filled, rolled, and snipped, before baking:

my pretty franki, too excited about the baking bread to sit still enough for this picture:

all baked, topped with pearl sugar (or whatever that stuff is called in english):

the recipe, for all those daring (and thanks to susietofumonster for the metric conversions!):

cardamom bread (makes 2 wreaths, 4 braids, or 48 rolls):

dough:
1 tbsp + 2 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 c margarine
2 1/2 c “milk”
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp ground cardamom
6 2/3 c flour

filling:
2-4 tbsp margarine
4-5 tbsp sugar
ground cardamom and cinnamon
marzipan, grated

[there is a 1 hour combined rising time without kneading and filling time, so preheat your oven to 200C/375-400F accordingly]

place yeast in bowl or mixer bowl. melt margarine in a small saucepan and add “milk.” heat to 37C/98F (if you dip your finger into the mixture it shouldn’t feel hot or cold, but just like the temperature of your finger). add to yeast and stir. add salt, sugar, cardamom, and most of the flour (save some for kneading). knead into a pliable dough; it should be soft and not sticky. let rise 30 minutes in bowl, covered with a dishtowel.

place dough on floured worksurface and knead briefly. to make wreath: divide dough into two pieces. roll out into two large rectangles. spread margarine onto dough, then sprinkle sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, and grated marzipan evenly over the entire surface (i used a small handheld grater and peeled back the plastic on the tube of marzipan as needed). roll up the long side of the rectangle as tightly as possible, keeping the seam on the bottom. bring the two ends together to form a circle. using a sharp knife or kitchen shears (shears are easier), cut at small equal intervals most of the way to the bottom of the rolled dough. pinch the tops of each segment and alternate pushing them to left and right. repeat with other half of dough. transfer to greased or parchment-lined baking sheets.

cover with a dishtowel and let rise 30 minutes. [brush with soymilk and sprinkle with pearl sugar if desired.] bake in the lower half of the oven for 15-20 minutes. let cool under dishtowel.

for thanksgiving this year, because of school (a) and work (me), we stayed in town, and walked over to our friend eric’s for dinner. it snowed! fitting, but kind of strange and unexpected to wake up to. i slow-cooked a seitan roast overnight based on a bryanna recipe, then rolled it in crushed walnuts and baked it:

i also made some stuffing with cranberries and apples. eric made a curried ginger and squash soup, and his roommate made garlic mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy. so full we didn’t need dessert! here are some leftovers from the day after, because i forgot to bring my camera to the meal itself… sliced roast and stuffing, with goddess dressing as a replacement for my non-existent gravy:

after all those carbs and richness, we wanted something light for dinner the following night. steamed broccolini, garlic-roasted brussel sprouts (vwav), balsamic-roasted portabella, and wild-and-brown rice. simple, but delicious:

on saturday we reinstated the vegan taco night at dan’s. i made salsa, chili cheeze sauce, cornbread, horchata, and mexican-spiced baked squash, while dan and michael made rice, beans, gimme lean with peppers and onions, and some tasty guacamole. we also made margaritas! then went bowling and to the brass rail (the trashiest gay bar in downtown). here’s the spread, with michael beginning his vegan taco adventure:

and some closeups of what i brought:

the baked squash (with cumin, paprika, epazote, and cayenne):

a cashew-based chili cheeze sauce:

potlucks are my favorite thing to cook for! less hassle, but you still get to be a part of the cooking contribution. tomorrow night i’m hitting up an autumnal potluck and planning to bring pumpkin baked ziti from v*con (or rigatoni in my case)!

this is a multigrain bread loaf that i made using my new bosch mixer(!).  it rose so much and became huge!  pretty light for a bread that has no white flour in it, and was popular all weekend for afternoon toast:

but even more popular than the multigrain bread were the whole wheat bagels… i had never made bagels before, and have always been spoiled by the opportunity to eat real new york bagels driven up to the family i was living with in vermont.  since then, i’ve become a bit of a bagel snob, and would rather do without than have to buy a bag of prepackaged bagels from the grocery stores or one from one of the national chains.  i have to say it was a lot easier than i expected it would be, and went very quickly, though i’m not sure if that was because i was sewing a duvet cover at the same time.  i, for the most part, based them on this recipe, although i subbed out half the flour with whole wheat bread flour.  here they are, shaped and rising:

again, my bosch made the most amazing amazing dough ever!  then they got plopped in boiling water for a bit, sprinkled half with poppy seeds and half with sesame seeds, and baked in the oven.  i didn’t even get to eat a whole one because our weekend guests were the ones who didn’t have to work at 630am, and thus had the time to toast and top it.  (but they told me they liked it very much.)  so i can’t speak to the authenticity personally, but i can tell you they went over very well.  i think i’ll make them again sometime soon.

last night rachel came over and we made sparkle ginger cookies from vwav to eat while watching superstar: the karen carpenter story. yummy!

and today, a’s friend kim came over for brunch. a and i baked some whole wheat rye bread that i rolled out instead of baking in a loaf, so you can slice them in half and have your own little sandwich thing. just the faintest hint of anise and fennel, too:

my grandma used to make rye bread this way all the time, and make little cheese sandwiches for us to eat when we went on a long car trip. i really like rye bread; i don’t think i eat it enough. i wonder if this would be a good bread to have a reuben on. anyway, we made them into sandwiches with chive and scallion cream cheese and cucumbers, spinach, and tomatoes for brunch to eat with soup.

delicious! i am glad we ended up making the whole batch of rye bread (16 rectangles total) even though i was nervous about how much it would make. i’ve already had 3 sandwiches since 1 this afternoon. i used tofutti cream cheese with chopped scallions and chives because it is delicious and fools the omnis:

and for soup i made a broth-based parsnip-apple soup with leeks, shallots, and red potatoes. i threw some white wine in there, and seasoned it with herbamare and white pepper. it was really delicious, but maybe a bit too tangy. that might have been from adding a little too much wine though. i think making it creamy would have balanced it out well, but since we were already having cream cheese spread for our sandwiches it seemed like overkill. parsnips are one of my favorite root vegetables, and it went nicely with the apples, which was a first for me to have in soup. it was a perfect gray day for a warm soup.