Thanks to FARM for not only publishing my vegan White Bean and Kale Stew recipe from The Blooming Platter Cookbook, but for also including nutritional information, Gimme Lean product information, and an article on the fast food-obesity connection. Just click HERE to access the newsletter, including recipe.
Hedge your bets for good fortune–and certainly good health–in 2012 by eating your black eyed peas the Blooming Platter way throughout the month of January and beyond.
Follow this link to my recipe for Vegan Black Eyed Pea Cakes with Sundried Tomato Tartar Sauce from The Blooming Platter (Vegan) Cookbook on One Green Planet.
Thanks OGP and Happy New Year all year!
Has it turned chilly where you are? If so, I thought you might appreciate a sneak preview of a nutritious and delicious winter soup that my omnivorous husband asks for by name. If so, just click on the soup name below.
This beautiful “White Bean and Kale Stew” hails from The Blooming Platter Cookbook and was featured this week as the Veg Kitchen’s “Recipe of the Week.” (Thanks, Nava Atlas!) Not the ubiquitous white bean and kale stew that we all know and love, my recipe is extra special with the addition of fennel and vegan sausage.
Fragrant with that faintly anise scent so appealing and particular to fennel, and “kicked-up” with the addition of winter spices, this stew is like aromatherapy in a bowl. And it’s very quick to make.
Our family started a tradition of making a special soup on Christmas Day because none of us wanted to repeat the (healthy) excesses of Thanksgiving less than a month before. Plus we had come not to relish opening presents and then leaping up to hit the kitchen for hours of work–pleasant enough, but work all the same. Our soup tradition takes any residual stress out of the day and has been enjoyed for several years. If you have the same inclinations, this soup would make a lovely choice.
Please, everyone, have yourselves a wonderful holiday. And stay-tuned for my extra special post for New Year’s Eve. It may be the simplest, quickest and most beautiful “recipe”–if you can call it that–that I’ve posted in Blooming Platter history!
And, quickly, if you are in need of a last minute gift, I would like to suggest running out to your local bookseller and snagging a copy of The Blooming Platter Cookbook: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes. (You can purchase it for 25% off its regular retail price through December 31!) If you already have purchased one for yourself or others, my sincere thanks! People’s generous support of TBPC has been extraordinary.
With Hanukkah and other winter holidays just around the corner, I was thrilled that One Green Planet (OGP) published my latkes recipe from The Blooming Platter Cookbook (TBPC) to which I added a couple of tasty toppings to make them more of a tapas-style meal.
Consider them dressed up for the season!
Find the recipe and a little about their inspiration here.
Thanks OGP for making our holidays and our world just a little greener!
To purchase TBPC, just click on the title in RED above.
My fresh take on beans-and-greens presents lentils and kale as a hardy, yet light, salad that is equally good served warm or at room temperature, and makes the perfect bed for a piece of grilled tofu drizzled with a delectable sauce. This dish is a powerhouse of vitamins and protein, simple enough for any day, but lovely enough for special occasions.
Here I serve it on its own with a shimmering slice of lemon and a sprig of fresh rosemary from our garden.
4 cups rough chopped and firmly packed kale, thick stems removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 of a medium red onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
Sea salt
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 pound steamed lentils (I buy the Trader Joe’s brand which is actually 17.6 ounces)
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Optional: juice of 1/2 of a medium lemon
Finely chop kale in a food processor and set aside. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high until shimmering. Add onion and a pinch of salt, and saute lightly, stirring frequently, just for a couple of minutes. Add garlic and saute, stirring, for only about 30 seconds. Add kale and cook, stirring frequently, about 4 minutes or until kale is tender but still bright green. Add remaining ingredients and heat through. Adjust seasoning if necessary with salt and pepper and, if you want added brightness, stir in the lemon juice. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Yesterday, I promised a dish from The Blooming Platter Cookbook that would be delicious served with my Vegan Caraway-Havarti Cheese Spread on Melba toast that I posted yesterday.
So here it is! It is my pleasure to share this simple but special recipe inspired by a salad I enjoyed at a tiny bistro in Paris on my husband’s and my twentieth wedding anniversary trip two summers ago. That salad contained no Tempeh Bacon, nor does the recipe in the cookbook. But I love the addition, which I just created, so I’m thrilled to share it with you here.
Note that the recipe calls for starting with dried lentils, but I often just buy a 17.6 ounce package of Trader Joe’s steamed lentils, sold in their produce section, and use the whole package.
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
2 1/4 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups green lentils, picked over, rinsed, and drained
3 tablespoons olive oil (or 2 tablespoons olive oil + 1 tablespoon walnut oil)
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large apple (any variety)
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1 tablespoon snipped chives
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Optional: Quick Vegan Tempeh Bacon (recipe follows)
1. In a 2-quart covered saucepan over medium-high heat, bring water and bay leaves to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Stir in lentils and gently simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes. Check at 10 minute intervals, as lentils are easy to overcook; they should be firm enough to hold their shape when tossed with the other ingredients. Add more hot water if necessary to prevent sticking or scorching. (Skip these steps if using pre-steamed lentils.)
2. While the lentils cook, make the vinaigrette. In a large serving bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk until well blended and slightly emulsified. Set aside.
3. Halve the apple lengthwise, scoop out the core with a melon baller or spoon, arrange each half cut side down on a work surface, and cut into 1/8-inch thick slices. Then stack several slices together on their sides and cut them into 1/8-inch matchsticks. Add to the bowl with the dressing as you cut them, and stir gently to coat in order to prevent discoloration. Stir in the onion and chives.
4. When the lentils are cooked, drain, rinse with cool water to stop the cooking, and drain well. Remove the bay leaf. (Obviously, skip this rinsing and draining step if using the pre-steamed lentils.) Stir the lentils into the dressing mixture. Season with salt and pepper, and add the lemon juice, 1 tablespoon at a time, to taste. Toss gently to combine. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed. Cover and chill the salad several hours before serving to allow flavors to marry.
If including the Temp Bacon, add just before serving.
Quick Vegan Tempeh Bacon:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1-8 ounce package tempeh (I use Trader Joe’s brand), sliced cross-wise into about 20 slices 1/4-inch thick
1/4 cup soy sauce (I use a light variety)
2 tablespoons Liquid Smoke
2 tablespoons natural sugar
Sea salt
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add tempeh slices to the pan and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of Liquid Smoke, 1 tablespoon of natural sugar, and a pinch of salt. Saute, without disturbing for 2-3 minutes or until caramelized, but not burned. Flip slices and repeat with remaining ingredients. Turn off heat. Flip slices one more time and allow them to sit for a minute or two just to absorb a little more of the flavors. Remove them from heat and serve immediately. (The pan drippings are really yummy. If I’m using, say, chopped onion in a recipe with compatible flavors, I like to add the onion to the skillet and stir them around to absorb some of the drippings which are too good to go to waste!)
Serving suggestion: If you would like to serve the salad over grilled apple slices as in the photograph, cut 1/4-inch thick apple slices and grill them in an oiled grill pan over medium-high heat for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until tender, but not mushy, and nice grill marks appear.
I’m a MoFo Virgin. Hold on…get your mind out of the butter, I mean gutter. Well, same thing. Anyway, it’s just that today is the first day of “Vegan MoFo 2011,” that’s “Vegan Month of Food” for any neophytes out there, and it is my very first time to participate.
Click the link to visit the official Vegan MoFo Headquarters where you can learn more and subscribe to the feed…and we do mean feed!
Simply put, Vegan MoFo is a month-long celebration of vegan cooking and eating. Around the globe, vegan bloggers will be posting as much and as often as they can about vegan food. And you can be privy to it all by subscribing. You can also search Vegan MoFo online, as many bloggers, like me, use that category or tag.
Many thanks to vegan guru and cookbook author, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, and her Post Punk Kitchen for launching and maintaining Vegan MoFo. Isa and her team make it so easy to participate, even providing the cool banner (above) at no charge and with just a click to download–no copying of code into the bowels of one’s blog program–whew!
And now let the feast begin, quickly before the last of summer’s zucchini had withered up…
Yield: 4 servings (you will have leftover beans and cashew cream, but you won’t mind a bit!)
Plan to start making the Cashew Cream the day before you want to use it, as the cashews need to soak overnight.
Paprika-Lime Cashew Cream
3 cups raw cashews, divided in half (I buy Trader Joe’s reasonably affordable organic cashews)
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
Pinch of garlic powder
Sea salt to taste
Pinch of white pepper (black is fine; it just shows up more)
Zest of 1 small lime + juice of half of the lime
First make basic cashew cream: Place 1 1/2 cups of cashews covered with water in an airtight container and let soak, refrigerated, overnight. The next day, rinse and drain the cashews in a colander, and place into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add remaining cashews and process until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary. The processing will take several minutes. Remove a generous cup of the cream to a small bowl. Transfer the remaining cream into an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator for another use. (Adding a little sugar, vanilla and lime zest makes a lovely cream topping for sweet dishes.) To the cup of cream in the bowl, whisk in the remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Begin making beans early in the day, as they will need to soak;
1 pound bag of Anasazi beans (pinto beans or something similar would also work great)
10 cups of water, divided into 6 and 4
1 tablespoon of salt + more to taste
2 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup vegan beer or nonalcoholic beer (not all brands are vegan)
1/2 cup diced tomatoes (canned or fresh)
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder (you can use any chili powder you like, but I am especially fond of the characteristics of chipotle powder)
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 of a medium yellow onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 zucchini
Pinch of sea salt
1 medium tomato, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 cup of Smoked Paprika-Lime Cashew Cream (recipe above)
Optional garnish: vegan sour cream, cilantro sprigs or chopped cilantro, and/or roasted pumpkin seeds
Bring beans and 6 cups of water to boil over medium-high heat in a covered 4-quart saucepan. Reduce heat and gently boil for 30 minutes. Turn off heat and let beans sit for about 6 hours. Add remaining 4 cups of water, tablespoon of salt, bay leaves, and garlic, and gently boil uncovered for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until most of the water is evaporated. During the last half hour, add the beer, the 1/2 cup of diced tomatoes, and the cumin, oregano, and chipotle chili powder. Adjust heat as necessary. The bean mixture should be quite soft and creamy, but the beans should still hold their shape. Check for seasoning and adjust to suit your taste.
Meanwhile, heat the tablespoon of olive oil to shimmering in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, zucchini, and salt and saute, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until softened and beginning to develop some color. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in 2 cups of the bean mixture plus the diced fresh tomato. Cover and refrigerate remaining bean mixture for another use.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil 4 gratin dishes and divide bean mixture evenly among them. Drizzle-dollop one-quarter of the Smoked Paprika-Lime Cashew Cream over each serving. Place the dishes on a baking sheet for easy transport, slide the sheet into the oven, and bake for 20 minutes. Serve hot dolloped with vegan sour cream and sprinkled with cilantro and or roasted pumpkin seeds if desired.
For more than 150 additional mouthwatering recipes to celebrate all year long, I invite you to check out The Blooming Platter Cookbook: A Harvest of Seasonal Vegan Recipes.
An unforgettable dipping sauce for the warm homemade bread at Marrakesh Palace in D.C. inspired this olive pesto, and the pesto inspired the rest of the dish.
I was introduced to the pesto, which has no name that I know of, with my wonderful friend Allison when we visited D.C. in August. We stayed at the Hotel Palomar in Dupont Circle which happened to be just two doors down from Marrakesh. On my evening walk, it caught my eye and the posted menu was seductive, so we strolled down for a late dinner at around 9. (How very cosmopolitan of us.)
We sat on the tiny patio on a perfect night eating when we weren’t talking and talking when we weren’t eating (waking up hoarse the next morning!). Our lovely meal consisted of the bread and pesto dipping sauce, a flavorful Moroccan/Lebanese white bean dish called Loubia, and vegetable soup with glasses of Ksara.
Though I don’t claim that any part of my dish is authentic, it is delicious. As far as the pesto, our server told us what was in it, and I made up the proportions. I can’t remember, though, if onion was one of the ingredients, but fearing raw onion might overwhelm the other flavors, I didn’t include it.
While I could eat my weight of bread dunked in the pesto–and I think I did–tonight for dinner, I wanted something more nutritionally balanced that I could call a meal. Chickpeas sounded perfect, so I scooped up a can at the grocery store on my way home from school. I knew that I had an onion, garlic, and a red bell pepper that would be pretty and delicious with the them. But, much to my delight, I also had an eggplant that I had bought at a farm market during this last gasp of summer. (Note that, for some reason, I’ve become averse to eggplant skin, as I’ve found it unappetizing in a couple of dishes recently. So, for this dish, I removed the skin; but if you like it, leave it on.)
One of the most appealing aspects of this dish, both the chickpeas and the pesto–besides the flavor–is all of the fun ways it can be served: as a crostini toppings, as a pita bread or other pizza topping, as a pita sandwich filling, or over a bed of sauteed greens or couscous. And that’s just for starters. But the filling and pesto also pairs beautifully in my Taco Morocco! I’d love to know how you serve it.
Marrakesh Olive Pesto
2 cups pitted green olives
1/2 of a medium tomato, cut into chunks
1 stalk celery, cut into chunks
1 small carrot, peeled and cut into chunks
2 large cloves of garlic
1/4 cup flavorful extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Place all ingredients except olive oil and salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until very finely chopped and pulpy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the olive oil, salt and pepper and pulse a few more times until well combine and a bit smoother. Adjust seasoning if necessary. Transfer to a serving bowl or airtight storage container. If not using immediately, store, covered, in the refrigerator.
Moroccan Chickpeas and Eggplant
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 of a medium yellow onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
sea salt
2 cups 1/2-inch eggplant cubes (I peel the eggplant first)
1/2 cup fresh tomato puree
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1/4 cup water or dry red or white wine (the flavor will be different, but still delicious)
1-15.5 ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses (available at Middle Eastern or Mediterranean markets)
1 tablespoon agave nectar
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pinch of red pepper flakes or to taste
Zest of 1/2 of a small lemon (about 1 teaspoon)
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley (or 1 teaspoon dried)
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil to shimmering in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and a pinch of salt and saute, stirring frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes or until softened and some golden color starts to develop. Add the eggplant and remaining tablespoon of oil an saute, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until the eggplant is softened and taking on some color. Add the tomato puree, garlic and bell pepper and cook another5 minutes. Add water or wine and remaining ingredients, except lemon zest and parsley, and heat through, stirring continually, until the water cooks down and the mixture becomes very thick, which happens quite quickly. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Stir in the lemon zest and parsley and remove from the heat. Serve warm topped with Marrakesh Olive Pesto as is or on grilled bread as a crostini, as a pizza topping or pita sandwich filling, or over a bed of sauteed greens or fluffy couscous.
My Vegan Moroccan Chickpeas and Eggplant with Marrakesh Olive Pesto makes a beautiful taco filling.
To save time, you can use prepared taco shells, but I like to make them the way my mam-ma taught me:. They’re a little oilier, but oh-so-flavorful and softly crisp rather than shatteringly so:
Line a plate or platter with paper towel or a brown paper bag. If making more than a couple, preheat oven to the lowest setting. Heat a thin layer of canola oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Hold a corn tortilla in a U-shape with the lowest part touching the bottom of the skillet. I allow about an inch of width to rest on the bottom so that there is a nice space in which to spoon the filling.
Being careful not to burn yourself–you can use tongs if you prefer–hold the taco shell in this position for 0r so seconds until brown and crispy. Then lay it on it’s side and fry the first side another 30 or so seconds until golden brown. Gently flip it and repeat. While each side is frying, I like to use tongs or a spatula to hold the top flap away from the bottom one so that they don’t stick together. Drain on the lined plate and keep warm in the oven. Yes, this takes more time, but it’s so worth it!
Stuff each shell with some of the Chickpea and Eggplant Filling followed by the Olive Pesto. If you have cilantro, tuck a little of it inside for delicious flavor and color contrast. To serve, lay each taco on a serving plate, dollop with some vegan sour cream, and garnish with whatever you like, say, more cilantro, almonds, olives, or even a tiny tomato wedge.
