Category: Vegan Appetizers

by betsy

Vegan 5-Ingredient Quesadillas with Garlic Hummus and Cucumber-Blueberry Salsa

DSCN1822

To call this quick-fix meal a recipe is a bit, of an overstatement.  It is, perhaps better described as a “formula,” though that doesn’t sound awfully appetizing.

So, let’s just call it a terribly tasty “idea” that can be adapted in a multitude of ways in your kitchen.

I simply spread half of a sprouted grain tortilla with some homemade in-your-face garlic hummus that a friend of Joe’s sent home with him.  Rich is an unlikely cook by some estimations, but a gifted one just the same; and he shares my appreciation for bold flavors, though he is scarcely vegan!

Next, I folded the tortilla over the filling, grilled it in a non-stick pan, and then folded it over again, topping it with the world’s easiest salsa, a dab of vegan sour cream, and a sprinkling of smoked paprika.

Here’s all you need for 1 fantastic Quesadilla (easily multiplies):

1-8 inch tortilla (I like Ezekial sprouted grain tortillas, available at health food stores and some grocery stores)

1/3 cup garlic hummus, homemade or prepared (or your favorite kind)

1/4 cup Cucumber-Blueberry Salsa (“recipe” follows)

Garnish: 1 tablespoon vegan sour  cream and a sprinkle of smoked paprika

Spread half of tortilla with about 1/3 cup hummus.  Fold tortilla over hummus and grill in a cast iron skillet sprayed with non-stick spray for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown on each side.  Fold over again, place on serving plate, top with Vegan Cucumber-Blueberry Salsa, a dollop of sour cream, and a spoonful of Cucumber-Blueberry Salsa.  Serve immediately.

Vegan Cucumber-Blueberry Salsa

Combine equal parts diced cucumber (I use the pickling variety, but use what you like) and fresh rinsed and dried blueberries.  Toss with sea salt, freshly ground black pepper and garlic powder to taste.  For best flavor, chill several hours or overnight before serving.

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by betsy

Vegan Cheesy Yellow Squash Quesadillas Topped with Grilled Green Tomato and Charred Corn Salsa

DSCN1692Yield: 4 Quesadillas

I am still visiting my family in Mississippi, and was reminded that this is another recipe that I hadn’t shared before I left Virginia.  Reminded because it calls to mind one of my father’s signature sayings.

I have never been a particular fan of yellow squash.  It’s not that I don’t care for it; I just don’t “wake up screaming for it,” as my Papa would say.  But it is beautiful in the farmer’s markets right now–or perhaps in your own back yard!–and I wanted to take advantage of it.

I bought one, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it until I remembered my cheesy Zucchini, Onion and Yellow Squash Gratin dish and the Grilled Green Tomato and Charred Corn Salsa I had already made.  So, I decided to combine the two notions and take my yellow squash in both a southwestern and a cheesy direction (the latter inspired by, but different from, the Gratin).  Boy, am I glad I did, and I hope you will be too!

You won’t believe how creamy, cheesy, tasty and rich this yellow squash filling is!  Tucked into a toasty tortilla and topped with my Grilled Green Tomato and Charred Corn Salsa, it is the epitome of summer feasting, southwestern style!

 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup diced yellow onion

Sea salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2-8 inch yellow squash, trimmed and grated (I use the grater blade of my food processor for this task; it makes the most perfect firm strands)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 cup flour (I used white whole wheat because that is what I keep on hand)

1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk

2 tablespoons light miso (any vegan kind will do, though the darker the flavor, the deeper the flavor)

Freshly cracked black pepper

4-8 inch whole wheat or wheat tortillas (I used Ezekial sprouted grain tortillas, which I loved, but they had so much flavor on their own that I felt they competed just a little)

Topping: Grilled Green Tomato and Charred Corn Salsa (recipe follows)

Garnish: vegan sour cream and lime slices or wedges

Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high.  Add onion and a pinch of sea salt and saute, stirring frequently, about 3 minutes until softened.  Stir in garlic powder and grated squash and continue cooking, stirring frequently, for another 2 to 3 minutes or until squash is crisp-tender.  Stir in nutritional yeast until well combined, followed by flour.  Add soymilk and miso, and cook, stirring frequently, until miso is incorporated, and the mixture is thickened, heated through, and the flour no longer has a raw taste, about 3 minutes.  Season to taste with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.  Remove filling to a bowl, wipe out skillet, and coat generously with non-stick cookng sprary.  Spread half of two tortillas with squash filling, fold tortillas over the filling and toast in skillet for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.  Remove quesadillas to serving plates and repeat with remaining filling and tortillas.  Serve topped with salsa, vegan sour cream, and lime slices or wedges.

 

Grilled Green Tomato and Charred Corn Salsa

Yield: 2 cups (easily doubles)

Normally, I would add diced onion and some chopped cilantro to a salsa like this, but it didn’t seem to need it; in fact, I was afraid both the onion and cilantro would overpower the sweet char of the grilled green tomatoes and corn.

1 large green tomato, cut into 1/3-inch slices

2 ears fresh corn, stripped, and broken in half

Sea salt

12 cherry tomatoes (cut smaller if your tomatoes are larger than cherries)

1 banana pepper (mild) or jalapeno (half or whole, depending on your heat tolerance), stemmed, seeded, and very finely chopped (consider wearing gloves to seed jalapeno and wash hands)

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 to 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Oil a grill pan and heat over medium-high.  Lightly salt tomato slices and lay into pan, grilling for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until nice grill marks develop and tomato slices become crisp-tender.  Remove to a cutting board and allow to cool while you grill corn.  Lightly salt corn and grill about 3 minutes on 4 sides or until lightly charred all over.  Cool.  Dice tomatoes and place in a medium non-reactive bowl.  *Cut corn off cob and add to tomato along with remaining ingredients.  Toss to combine and chill, covered.  Delicious with chips–of course!–or as a topping over quesadillas, beans, a thick soup, etc.

*Note: the easiest way I have found to cut corn off the cob is to place a short sturdy glass or small bowl upside down in a larger bowl.  Working with one half-cob at a time, stand it up on its cut end and run your knife vertically down the cob, allowing the kernels to be captured in the bowl.  Voila!  Or should I say “Ole!”

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by betsy

Vegan Eggplant Stack with White Beans in Beet Greens Pesto and Grilled Zucchini-Rosemary Salsa

DSCN1689I love teaching, but I also love summer when I can treat myself (and sometimes other teacher friends also on summer break) to lunches like this!

Don’t get me wrong: our cafeteria manager goes out of her way to make sure I have nutritious, fresh food to enjoy  every day (usually, hummus with lots of raw veggies, or creamy baked sweet potatoes and cooked greens).  But I’ve never seen anything like my Eggplant Stack in the lunchroom!

Born of ingredients from the farmer’s market, along with some white beans, this recipe is one that is scrumptious as is, but can be adapted a million different ways.  My baked breaded eggplant is the base for your own imagination to take flight.

The trick to uniformly golden brown breaded eggplant slices that require no egg wash and no frying is a light coat of vegan mayo in place of the wash (which also adds great flavor!), and breadcrumbs that are toasted stovetop before  being adhered to the eggplant.  This America’s Test Kitchen trick prevents the eggplant from getting done before the coating gets brown enough.

If you prepare it as pictured, the key to this dish is to have my Beet Green and Roasted Almond Pesto and my Zucchini-Rosemary Salsa (recipe follows) made athead so the dish goes together quickly.  Although, you have a half hour while the eggplant bakes to make the pesto and salsa if need be.

*2-8 inch  eggplants, ends trimmed, sliced into 1/3-inch slices (approximately 8 slices total, 2 to 3 per person)

3 to 4 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise (about 2 teaspoons per slice )

Approximately 2 cups Panko bread crumbs, toasted in a dry skillet for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, or until golden brown, and transferred to a shallow bowl or cake pan

1/2 cup diced yellow or red onion

2-15.5 ounce cans white beans, rinsed and drained

Sea salt

1/4 cup Beet Green Pesto

Approximately 1 cup Zucchni-Rosemary Salsa (recipe follows)

Garnish: basil or rosemary sprigs

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  *Taste a little of the raw eggplant and, if bitter, lightly salt the both sides of the slices and arrange them on a paper towel-lined baking sheet.  Let sit for 30 minutes, then rinse and pat the eggplant dry.  Also rinse and dry the baking sheet, and either line it with Silpat or coat it well with non-stick cookng spray.  Arrange the eggplant slices on the sheet, an inch or so apart.  Spread about 1 teaspoon of vegan mayo on tops of all eggplant slices, and then place each, mayo-side down, in bowl of crumbs, pressing crumbs gently to adhere, and patting on more crumbs if desired.  Place crumb-side down on baking sheet.  Repeat with more mayo and crumb son opposite sides.  Spray tops of eggplant lightly with non-stick spray and bake approximately 30 minutes.  Cover loosely with foil if they start to get too brown.

While eggplant cooks, heat olive oil in large cast iron skillet over medium-high.  Add onion and a pinch of salt, and saute, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes or until softened.  Add beans, stir to combine well, and heat through.  Add Beet Green Pesto, and do the same.  To serve, place two to three eggplant slices on each serving plate, top with 1/4th of the beans, dividing between slices, and then with 1/4th of the Zucchini-Rosemary Salsa.  Delicious served warm or at room temperature.  Garnish with a sprig of basil or, to stay truest to the dish, rosemary.

Grilled Zucchini-Rosemary Salsa 

This quick and breezy Mediterranean-flavored salsa is the embodiment of summer and made entirely from a very few ingredients almost entirely gathered up at my go-to farm stand.

Besides topping the Eggplant Stack, I recommend it over pasta or simply served on crostini as a kind of bruschetta or with pita chips.

2-6 inch zucchini sliced lengthwise into quarters

Sea salt

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary

16 cherry tomatoes, quartered (cut smaller if your tomatoes are larger than cherries)

1/3 cup finely diced yellow or red onion

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Plenty of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Optional: pinch red pepper flakes

Oil a grill pan and heat over medium-high.  Lightly salt zucchini and lay in pan, grilling two to three minutes on each side or until nice grill marks develop and zucchini is crisp-tender.  Cool just until it is easily handled, and then dice.  Combine zucchini and all remaining ingredients in a non-reactive bowl, being sure to add garlic and fresh rosemary to the grilled zucchini while it is still warm, and toss gently to completely combine.  Serve immediately or chill, covered until serving time.

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by betsy

Vegan Beet Green and Roasted Almond Pesto–A Tantalizing Twist on a Summer Standby

DSCN1710If Basil Pesto is a favorite summer standby, you will love this refreshing twist made with beet greens!

But don’t let the word “greens” fool you.  The color ends up quite appealingly dark with reddish undertones very much like an olive paste.  Why?  Here’s your art lesson for the day: a color (like green from the leaves) when combined with its complement  directly opposite on the color wheel (in this case, red from the stems), will produce a neutral.

colour-wheel-complementary-colours

You can, of course, use this zippy pesto tossed with pasta or spooned over polenta.  But it has an assertive pungent, and utterly delicious flavor that lends itself to small bites like bruschetta.  A little stirred into or spooned on top of mashed white beans or chick peas on grilled or toasted ciabatta bread would be divine.  It is also the perfect nosh spooned over hummus, prepared or homemade, and served with pita triangles or chips.

It is also a key ingredient in my Eggplant Stack with White Beans in Beet Green Pesto and Zucchini-Rosemary Salsa.DSCN1689

But that’s just for starters.  I would love to know how YOU enjoy it!

1 bunch beet greens (greens plus about 3 inches of the stems), rinsed and patted dry (I use the greens from a bunch of  7 to 8 beets about 2 to 3 inches in diameter

2 large cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 cup roasted almonds

1/2 cup olive oil

Juice of 1/2 large lemon

1 tablespoon tamarind syrup (sold in Middle Eastern Markets, but if you can’t find it, substitute pomegranate syrup or even maple syrup)

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Cut greens roughly into thirds (I use kitchen shears) and place in food processor with garlic.  Pulse until finely chopped.  Add almonds and continue pulsing until very finely chopped.  Then, with motor running, stream in olive oil, lemon juice and tamarind syrup.  Turn motor off, check for seasoning, and add salt and pepper to taste, pulsing a few more times just to combine.  Store, covered, in the refrigerator.

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by betsy

Vegan Smoked Almond and Spinach Spread (or Pesto)–Great Made with Farm Stand Swiss Chard and Kale Too!

Vegan Spinach and Smoked Almond Spread

Yesterday, at the farm stand, gazing lovingly at the fresh greens grown right on the property, I suddenly remembered that I had never posted this recipe. I made it with spinach, but it would be just as good with Swiss Chard or kale.

Fondly dubbed by one guest as “the green thing” at my friend, Jo Grice Barrows’, potluck appetizer birthday party, this dip was a hit!  And it was by NO means a vegan crowd!

I came home from school on a Friday after a busy week near the end of the academic year, the day of the party, and it started pouring.  I thought to myself, “I REALLY don’t want to get out; I wonder if we have ANYTHING on hand from which I could make an appetizer?”

A scan of the pantry and fridge yielded smoked almonds and fresh baby spinach.  Voila!  Vegan Smoked Almond and Spinach Spread was born.  And its consistency makes it also perfect for a pesto.

This crowd-pleasing appetizer could not go together more more easily or more quickly.  I whipped it up and still had time to walk both dogs their typical mile each once the rain stopped.  When I told my husband I created the spread from what we had in the house, he said with mock incredulity, “You made it out of dog food and Pill Pockets?”  Funny guy.

You will love this spread even if you have LOTS more ingredients on hand.

2 cups smoked almonds

4 cups lightly packed fresh baby spinach

1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise

2 tablespoons water

2 large cloves garlic, halved

2 teaspoons fresh fresh lime  juice (lemon is tasty too)

1 teaspoon Bragg’s Liquid Aminos

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon natural sugar

Optional pinch sea salt

Accompaniments: crackers, toasts, bagel chips, fresh vegetable “dippers,” etc.

Place smoked almonds  in a food processor, and pulse until nuts are finely chopped.  Add spinach, and pulse a few more times until spinach is finely chopped and mixture just begins to hold together like a paste.  Add remaining ingredients and continue pulsing until all ingredients are incorporated and mixture reaches a thick, slightly textured, spreadable consistency.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Refrigerate, covered, until serving time.  Serve in a bowl surrounded by the accompaniments of your choice.  I tucked a little yellow parasol on the side since the weather was warm, but you can garnish however you please.

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by betsy

My Vegan Caramelized Double Onion, Fresh Kale, and White Bean Dip Published on Tofutti Website! (doubles as an enchilada filling)

DSCN1429What is twice as good as Vegan Onion Dip?  Why, Vegan Caramelized DOUBLE Onion Dip of course!

It’s the perfect dip:  deep, rich flavor from the caramelized onion, lots of vitamins and vibrant color from the fresh kale, and plenty of protein and fiber from the white beans.

And holding it all together is the delicious flavor and creamy-firm body of my go-to vegan sour cream: Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream…and it really is.  Better that is.

The good folks at Tofutti liked my dip so much that they have kindly posted it on their website.  Just click HERE for the recipe.  And while you’re there, check out the many other mouthwatering posts.

By the way, if you think this recipe is good as a dip…you should try it as an enchilada filling!

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by betsy

The Blooming Platter All Girls 12th Annual “Christmas, Chanukah, Curry & Cakes 2012”–Vegan Hors d’ouevres and Holiday Swap

12/12/12 marked the eve of the 12 anniversary of my annual “Christmas, Chanukah, Curry & Cakes” party.  That’s a lot of twelves!

Each year, about 20 or more (not 12) of my “peeps” gather at Joe’s and my home on the second Wednesday of December for some holiday cheer.  For ten years, the format was a veg curry dinner–with lots of fun toppings–and gifts for all.  Nobody was complaining…quite the opposite: it was a much-anticipated get-together.

But, last year, I decided to shake things up a bit by hosting the annual fete as a “swap” of new or gently used items no longer needed or wanted.  It was such a hit–we all got so much holiday swapping done!–that I did it again this year and probably for the next ten!  You can read all about last year’s party,  including simple directions for hosting your own swap and the vegan menu with some dishes from The Blooming Platter Cookbook, HERE.

For this year, I changed all but one dish–the Indian Saag Dip–to create the following menu:

*Indian Saag Dip with Rice Crackers

Roasted Pumpkin with Pepita-Sage Pesto

(served with toothpicks)

The Blooming Platter Tofu Egg Salad with Melba Toast Rounds

*Brie with Red Grape Chutney atop “Everything” Crackers

**Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies with Dark Chocolate Drizzle & Sugar Pearls

Organic Cava

*From The Blooming Platter Cookbook (Note: I didn’t wrap the brie in pastry and bake it.  Rather, I spread the chilled “cheese” on a serving platter and topped it with a different chutney than that in my cookbook.  For a similar result, you could substitute red grapes in the recipe in the cookbook recipe.)

**This delicious and simple recipe is not yet posted–sorry!

 

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