cornmeal cooking

Ah, remember the hearts? (now why can I never seem to keep from smiling at the thought of little cookie cutters?)

I made them to adorn a roasted eggplant & chestnut bisque (with blood orange and mint), but the trick is that I made them spicy!  It's pretty simple to do, and I learned a new method for making polenta thanks to Mark Bittman - instead of boiling the water and then adding the cornmeal, you first whisk the cold water with the grain so there's no lumps at all.  Granted, I've never had huge lump problems with polenta, but I do think this was easier.  It even accommodated my using a hand mixer attachment instead of a real whisk because, uh.... it was closer!  It's SO almost the same thing.

Spicy Ras-el-Hanout Polenta Croutons

1 cup coarse cornmeal

3 cups water

1 tsp salt

2 tsp Ras el Hanout spice

1 tbsp olive oil

- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cornmeal, salt, spices and water completely.  Then, jack up the heat to boil and as soon as it does boil, reduce the heat to a very low bubble and stir every minute or so until the grain is completely cooked through and the porridge is thick.  It'll be about 12-15 minutes.  

- Then, whisk in the oil and spread the polenta on a baking sheet lined with greased plastic wrap and refridgerate for at least 2 hours to firm everything up.

- When it's firm - cut it up!  Cookie cutterized, or into little crouton-cubes, either way.  

- Heat a heavy skillet over medium high heat and coat the bottom in olive oil.  Fry them up, about 5 minutes a side, until they're nicely browned and slightly firm when you poke them.  Top onto salads or soups or just snack on them, they're really nice.

Mmmm, speaking of cornmeal and how utterly delicious it is, I made some mini fluffy cornbreads from the Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas.  I've had this book since I was a little girl, or at least my mother always kept it's dry-bound oft-used pages up on the bookshelf for as long as I can remember.  Granted it's chock full of dairy and eggs, but what is viable for a vegan is really lovely, and the cornbread is no exception.

I replaced the egg with some flaxseed and added chopped thai chili and diced red onions, and they came out just barely sweet and nutty tasting!  This isn't a big-ol sopping up chili with a hunk of hefty corncake kinda cornbread, but light and refined kind of puff of mais-muffin that' got a crisp crust and is pretty low fat too.  Almost alarmingly charming.  ^.^

Liz cookified, plus family feasting (Greek, Brunch)

Hey guys, check it out - ancient cookbook envelopes!  You know the kind of cookbook that has the index with the illustrated alfalfa leaf and the recipes for brown rice pudding with apricot and kale and buckwheat egg-mash?  Yeah, the kind that wouldn't suffer much from being folded into something beautiful and useful, I think.  

I've been really into making envelopes the past day or two, it's pretty easy - just take an envelope you like, unfold it flat, trace the outline onto another paper and glue it up the same way - brilliant!  I'm going to use these for my Etsy orders from now on.  

Hmm, yes, speaking of crafts, I may have mentioned an art show I had a table at last weekend?  It went pretty well for a first time at active capitalism - I made 5$ (after table cost), got some buttons, met great people, and probably most importantly of all - got A LOT of insider information on how to make laser cutters, business cards, japanese sculpture-cards, postcards, felted fabric, etc.  That and............ a custom cookie portrait on a vegan cookie no less!  Yumm-me!  haha.  The woman next to me was also friends with Jae Steele and we went on about Get it Ripe and co-ops for a while and I got to try her awesome spelted blueberry muffins and banana-chocolate breads!

Yum, corn salad!  I have no idea what made this one so special, but it's what I brought for lunch with me to the sale.  I remember it was very acidic, with fresh dill, mayonnaise, perfect tomatoes, a bit of sugar (shhh don't tell), cayenne, cumin maybe?...  whatever, it was creamy and really good when the ubiquitous wasps weren't attracted by the sweet smell of it.  

I also brought these, and I can't even tell you how much of a wasp-attractor they were, but omg were they worth it in every way.  Donuts!  Like I hadn't tasted in years!  The chocolate-y ones I was especially pining for, and Lolo's donuts (via Vegetarian Times) are just the texture and richness I remember.  So fudgey, so so so very good.  The apple ones had about 3 different dimensions of apple in them, too, spicy and perfect for fall!  

It was good to have a box like this to pass around to fellow crafters when the rain started coming down. 

smile and the cashew cucumber dip will smile with you ;)

In other news, my mom and brother came up for a few days last week, and we had a really lovely time, during which it became obvious to me where I learned to sup and savour food like a real hedonist.  My family gets it!  

I'd had some cabbage rolls stuffed with cinnamon-tomato-lemon-millet left over from a previous lunch, so I decided to expand on that Greek-style and with my bro's help it was really fast and easy.  We ended up with the tomato & zucchini tofu fritters from Veganomicon, with the accompanying cashew cucumber dip, as well as some lime-broiled green beans, some artichokes, and olives.  We briefly bemoaned the lack of good thick greek pita to eat with all this, but then remembered there was a bottle of Riesling to be had (a good dry German one, haha) and anyway, that's all *I* needed.

Hi mom!  This is my second favourite park, but my #1 choice for picnics.

In the morning with a sleepy brother!  I couldn't really leave well enough alone when he said he wanted oatmeal.  If he really wanted oatmeal I would have made some afterwards, but I was so geared for brunch.  (I didn't hear any complaints in the end).  Just enough food for three people, it was Isa's basic fluffy pancakes, potato & sausage fry, steamed broccoli with cheesy sauce, and um... because I'm me, a firecracker-hot thai cucumber salad that I ended up just eating myself. I'm probably weird (no, I'm definitely weird), but I think eating a whole thai chili along with breakfast is a pretty good idea.  Kinda like coffee, but more burninating. 

Yummmmmm.  Those pancakes are so perfect.  Need I say more?

Oh, okay, just one more thing.  A quick bottomless apple pie made with the crust from Fran Costigan's More Great Good Desserts.  Amazing!  It's made with frozen oil and it's the flakiest darned thing I've ever managed to top a pie with!  Really easy, too, and stood up to my adaptations (mostly spelt flour, some whiskey added).  Makes me think I might master pies someday.  I'm still no expert, but this one was getting close... the apples were just kissed with 5-spice powder, ooh.  We drizzled it with coconut cream and it was very good.  

My sister, meanwhile, is at Burning Man.  :O

Urban gardening for the extremely lazy...

I found a growing kernel of corn peeking up from the moldy dishcloth that holds my drying rack in place.  A perfectly healthy and strong shoot hiding out just behind the glasses and bowls... I seriously thought I'd just dropped a scallion back there and for a few days I didn't look twice at it.  A scallion!  Even though last time I checked scallions didn't grow straight up and greener every day, 8, 9, 10 inches higher.........  I hope it transplants to a real planter okay.  

Why is mold so awesome to me?  It's so unpredictable and almost never makes me sick.  In the beginning stages it can just indicate pretty accurately how your produce is doing, or your planting soil, or your pita bread, or your... dishcloth.  So alive, and a little bit fuzzy, much like tarantulas!

Maybe it's because looking at a patch of rot makes it easy to imagine the micro universe in a real way.  It's like a magnifying glass on what's really no worse for being visible, all these microbes and cultures and things.  Something vital... something just a little bit gross.  And real!  Pineapples taste best of all when they're starting to ferment and the flesh tickles the tongue with a bit of carbonation.... there wouldn't be mushrooms without fungi.  Kimchee and kombucha and natto and beer!

I'm allergic to penicillin.  

Maybe... the ability to placidly accept the appearance of white fuzz on your food supply will be a deciding factor in determining who survives longest when the world changes forever.  :O

Brunching, making chutney, crispy cookies, and fudge-hearts!

I've been raw for 5 days now!!  I'll save writing about that for the next post, but in the meantime here's a whole bunch of photos from the past few weeks I never got around to posting but are kinda making me hungry right now...

Allright, we've got up there... chili cashew dosas (my favourite recipe so far from Vegan Brunch), with a notably amazing chutney I made from the back of Indian Cookery, ie: this book ------>

Which is basically my favourite indian cookbook ever, even for the chutney chapter alone, which covers pretty much anything you'd want to stew and preserve in a super authentic, full of interesting tidbits kind of way.  Like, that peach chutney I ate with the dosas had paprika, poppy seeds, cloves, green chiles and cashews, oh my!  Totally easy to make, too.

Another perk of making chutney is that you get to re-use little jars and give them away after they've sat for a month on the shelf looking very pretty.  On the right is the peach, and in the middle is a pineapple chutney with about a ton of ginger and garlic in it, yay!

Okay, what else - this was astoundingly good.  It looks kind of grey, I'll admit, but so so so good.  Velvety corn creamy chinese wedding soup, or something like that, with bits of savoury tofu floating in it and fresh peas.  It's Bryanna's recipe, and incidentally my introduction to creamed corn (I'm a fan, it turns out).

Oh, and Singapore green beans from Tropical Vegan Kitchen in the background.  Once that stuff marinates it's addictive!

East Coast Coffeecake for an omni BBQ!  Plus adorable sign. :)

I loved how I could even make this in my dad's kitchen - it's the sign of a perfectly adaptable baked good.  (flour, sugar, oil, check!)

My favourite PB cookies ever, are the Crispy PB Cookies from Extraveganza with the cereal flakes inside.  They crackle like pop rocks and have that perfect dense chew, and are so easy to make.  I usually quarter the recipe and make them into the size of quarters, and have them as little pick me ups throughout the day.

Polenta Rancheros from V.Brunch, with noticeable flecks of toasted coriander that perfume the whole thing, it's really nice, especially when made with fresh tomatoes cause that's all I had.  Surprisingly light for a bean dish!

White bean, mango and rosemary tacos!!!  My surprising invention that worked, plus some leftover Tempeh Wingz made with tofu, cold and chewy out of the fridge.  (That red sauce is illegally finger-licking.... wow.)

Fresh organic vegetable pasta spirals with a sauce made from tomatoes, raisin-sage sausages, capers, zucchini & basil, NOM.

 

Banana Rabanada!!!  Not only is this delicious but no refined sugar, either, so it's perfectly viable to eat for lunch!  Isa was spot on about the syrup & cinnamon-mopping, too.

(Heart-shaped) Fudge-pops from How It All Vegan, since I found my ancient copy in my mom's garage a few months ago and figured I'd give it a whirl again.  These were sooooo good, and almost exactly like fudgesicles, which is no mean feat!

Sausage and eggplant quiche from V.Brunch with a homemade crust I put too much EB in but was still okay.   And I think that's about it for cooked stuff!  Phew, sorry for the cursory writing about it all, too.  Somehow I think the pictures speak loud enough that it's okay I don't remember the details, plus this raw food thing is making me spacey... zomg.  It's great, but I'll be glad to bring it down to maybe 60% raw after the next few days.  Can't wait to show you what that's been like, though! 

Corn-of-the-Sea Chowder

This might be the most delicious soup I've ever made.  I don't even usually like creamy soups, but this one has ocean in every bite, and the tofu bits get all soaked with the richness and get buttery, and the veggies are... in giant chunks!  Which is fun!  I have to thank the Sexy Vegan in huge part for a lot of the tasty tricks involved (nori seaweed!  cashew cream!), but here's my specific take on the method.  So so so so good.

Cashew Cream

1/3 cup cashews

1 cup water

- blend together in a blender until very very smooth and liquid-y creamy

Chowder!

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1 large carrot, in 1/2" pieces

1 large stalk celery, 1/2" pieces

1 medium red potato, chunks

1/4 lb. extra-firm tofu, cut into 1/2" cubes

2 bay leaves

1 tsp dried thyme

fresh black pepper

enough water/broth to cover (4-5 cups?)

1/4 cup white wine

**Cashew Cream

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp margarine

1/2 cup corn niblets

1 sheet nori seaweed

dash of liquid smoke (optional but approximates bacon)

salt to taste

- okay!  Saute the onions over medium heat in a large soup pot until starting to soften, then add the carrot, celery and potato and cook another 5 minutes or so, just til things look golden.  Add the tofu, spices, broth, white wine and cashew cream and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer about 15-20 minutes, or until potatoes are soft and beginning to break down, then add the vinegar, margarine, corn, nori seaweed, smoke flavour (if using), and adjust seasonings to taste.  Eat while hot, sprinkled with bacon bits and with crackers or biscuits on the side.  Magnifique!

For a technicolour moving-pictures version, with drunkennesss and tempeh and fancy mushrooms and robot voices------->

Phun with Phyllo (and a blog makeover)

I imagine most people out there have a ever-growing mental list of recipes to try someday.  I used to bookmark every delicious thing that crossed my path while I read blogs, the collection getting to the hundreds and only barely did I look at it when it came time to actually satisfy hunger.  After a recent browser crash and wipe of everything I'd saved, I decided to keep the ideas in my head, with the reasoning that it's those things that I really wanted to eat anyway!  So right now, that list involves things like homemade bagels, tibetan yak dumplings, mole sauce, and anything ethiopian... and until very recently - anything with phyllo pastry!  I finally tried using it, not without trepidation, in a recipe I've been itching to make since the moment I saw it (and did not forget it) - Jenny Wren's fennel corn phyllo pockets of awesome!  (name-change mine)  

It took me a couple tries to get the hang of it, I will not lie.  But by the end I was folding up neat little dignified triangles with the best of them!  I ate the wonky first ones for lunch today with a tomato compote from the Artful Vegan, and felt pretty durn special, I can say that.  I'm pretty much on vacation for one whole week (wow) before I start summer classes again, so I'm up for any opportunity to get all indulgent in simple things, like tuesday's mid-day meal.  Not that I wouldn't anyway, but I broke out the giant white restaurant plate for this one. 

Hmm... and could not possibly resist making an apple-blackberry tart with local yellow delicious apples and BC golden syrup, nooooo.... not while the phyllo is just sitting there all defrosted and feathery and waiting for my apple-craving fingers to mash it into a crispy sugared square of fantastic with toasted walnuts on the bottom even !  It had to happen.  You know it did.  I'm glad it did.  I would have given my eye-teeth for ice cream or even soy milk alongside of this, but regardless it was light and perfect.  

Oh yeah - does anyone have experience with either/both of The Artful Vegan and Millenium cookbooks?  I'd like to get one, I think, but I'm not sure which!  

homecoming (or, "Spot the Tomato!")

So I'm writing this from the comfy green rocking recliner in my mother's living room, covered in flour and crossing recipes off of the veganomicon index faster than I can decide on the next thing I want to make, and that is to say - life (or at least my pseudo-vacation before school starts full throttle again in september) is good.

I even got to make a pie - a birthday peach and blueberry pie at my mother's request, using the vcon pastry instead of my usual. It's definitely easier to use, like those pie crusts you see on television that people just sort of toss into the pan... but I think next time I'll stick with my madness-inducing-yet-extraordinarily-tender crust I usually use. Because personally I'd rather my pie disintegrate into buttery flakes at the touch of a fork than look pretty and pert, but that's just me.... and I'm just a pie-obsesso who so rarely gets to make them... :p

Mmm... and I'm mentioning here that in an awesome and unplanned way, there is a tomato in just about everything in this post. Which makes sense! It being the season and all. But I'm mentioning it so you can play along and find them. Like in the vcon midsummer corn chowder, which is SOOO good, you have to make it! With rosemary focaccia it was perfect, and there was a big paprika'd mountain of hummus on the table, too.

My old old old old cats say hi! They're still doing their thing where they act like mirrors or parallels of eachother. Haha, cute.

Went out for dinner at Corners on Bank. Not much to say... I mean, it was crazy delicious, but it was just a Boca burger. I guess to people who never ever eat those things it's a special treat, though. And they very happily let me pick my own toppings off of the menu options, so I got chipotle salsa, caramelized onions and guacamole, and the calabrese bun was teeth-sinking yeasty and notably fresh, so really, who's complaining at all?

Okay me, for forgetting to ask for my salad sans dressing. :p

I'm in love with hoecakes now, too. So easy to make and really surprisingly good. I made mine like...

1 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp chopped pickled jalapenos
1/4 cup sauteed onions
pinch of sugar
pepper

Fry them up, eat with salsa, say yum yum yum and think why didn't I make DOUBLE that amount because now I have to give my lunch to my sister who just came in the door with hoecake longing in her eyes. Alas, alas.....

....at least I got the vcon mexican millet all to myself! It wasn't gonna happen like that - I was making it for everybody, but everybody went to bed, and then a forkful of it went in my mouth and any plans to eat anything else went ~poof~ and I had half the pot all for me, and it was so good. I love millet! Especially when it's buttery and nutty and crisp/creamy, and eaten out of a dainty little rice bowl.

And then vcon blintzes, with dill-tahini sauce, applesauce and pickled red cabbage. A lot of work for something that tasted pretty perogi-like, but delicious nonetheless. Especially when all the toppings glooped together to form SUPER GLOOP of the potato-y sauce-y goodness.

Slice of Pie! Look at that structural integrity! ^.^

And lunch today - vcon creamy tomato soup (+ broccoli) with celine's cheezy crackers (YUM!) and vcon mushroom-walnut pate with more lentils and less walnuts because that's what I had.

(in conclusion: I love tomatoes! <------- ze obvious) :D

eats of the week

Just a quick update, a couple photos that have been on the computer for a few days...

In retrospect I think this was turnip, but the mashed rutabaga recipe from Vcon was nonetheless amazing, especially with corn (lime, coconut + corn? yes!)

And I'm really not exaggerating when I say this is my favourite tofu marinade yet - it's a Swell Vegan tester recipe for maple-mustard-chili tofu, and it's awesome. The salad paled in comparison, and the second half of the batch got eaten straight up, with glee, much like a plate of chicken nuggets of yore or something. Total make-again recipe!

And more pizza! I'm pizza-obsessed! J says I'm also crust-bubble obsessed, but he's quite allowed to say that because... I am. This is only my favourite crust-bubble, and there were many, each with a photo... I am a nerd. :D

And J is still staying with us, and my new roommate is a kitchen-goddess in her own right and works at the best vegan restaurant in the city, so we've been collaborating on dinners! Her own component of a brown rice macro bowl was so delicious there wasn't a speck of leftovers to take a photo of the next day (imagine perfectly cooked rice, confetti-bright vegetables and toasted sesames everywhere), but there was a little bit of my curry around for lunch the next day, so here it is. Aloo paratha, gajar salad, lentil sprouts and a really nice katirikka rasavangi (south indian eggplant curry). I think I might explore this south indian thing a bit more, I'm adoring the heat and the coconut.

And woo! Blackberry-lemon verbena sorbet success! I don't have an ice cream maker, so I had to nurse this stuff over the course of a few days, stirring it constantly and waiting for my wonky freezer to make it scoopable (I also had to add a bunch of water to help with the freezing, but I was really happy to do that, it was a little sweet in the beginning). Anyway, I'm totally hooked on this sorbet thing! It's so refreshing, and the herbal bit was transcendant. I'm thinking of trying vegan addict's Black Hole Sorbet next - it looks sooo decadent. yum!

Popcorn Balls & Bloooooo Pancakes

I never ate these as a kid. I'm vaguely aware that versions of these (toxic pink, brittle and oily) exist and probably still roam bake sales and birthday parties to the delight of sweet-toothed urchins everywhere. But I like popcorn, and I like sugar, so I figured they would probably taste good if I took matters into my own hands. I modified the Shmooed Food recipe slightly, and left them plain because I didn't have any dried fruit/nuts around that didn't scream "health food alert!!!", and they were super just the way they were, tossed in a mandarin box and brought to Ze Ladies Crafting Day (and munched happily by all there). Very caramel-y!

Popcorn Balls

12 cups air-popped popcorn (about 1/2 cup unpopped)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup syrup of your choice (brown rice, corn... I used corn b-cause I'm poor)
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
oil (for forming the balls)

1. Pop the corns. Eat some corns to get in the mood. Put 12 cups of the corns into a metal pot/bowl and stick them in a warm oven.

2. Bring the syrup, sugar, water and salt to boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Once it boils, turn down the heat and maintain that boil until the temperature reaches 250-270 degrees (lower for chewy/higher for crispy). A candy thermometre is nice for this, but you can also drop a bit of the sugar into a glass of ice-cold water - if it turns into a firm or hard ball, you're good to go. (this took me about 20 minutes, but I'm a weeny with magmic pots of sugar and I kept the heat low).

3. Once the sugar is at the right temperature, remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Take the corns out of the oven, drizzle the syrup over top and STIR STIR STIR with a wooden spoon to coat every kernel.

4. Oil your hands and form the sticky goodness into as many balls as you like. I got 22.

5. Scrape the extra syrupy popcorn out of the bowl and eat it! mmmm.


.... I also made my mum an impromptu breakfast -- blue pancakes and homefries. They were so blue!! Like, not purple -- BLUE. :O