Plethora of Panini: Vinegar on the High Street

Last night the paninis took an Italian twist. Usually adding
balsamic vinegar as the main flavor punch has me a bit worried
because it tends to make paninis very soggy. But I found a way to
keep the splashing to a minimum.



First saute the your desired veggies-- I did some peppers, onions,
garlic cloves in some Italian seasonings and light olive oil.
Then separately grilled slices of eggplant that I had salted and
rinsed to remove the bitterness. This is where you add the vinegar.
Dry grilling the eggplant burns up the moisture. Eaten straight
after would be dry and probably a little flavorless.

I put them in the pan with the other veggies and added some salt
and a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, which was quickly
absorbed by the thirsty eggplant.



On the bread I spread some veganaise, spicy mustard, a dash of
garlic salt and fresh shredded basil. I would have loved some pesto
though... Then I added some sliced field roast, fresh tomatoes, and
fresh spinach.

I layered it all together and added another little spoonful of
vinegar on to the field roast, which is absorbent as well.
Then we grilled it with a little bit of olive oil and opened
a bottle of Bordeaux. I know it's french, but who is telling?



Writing this I just realized I forgot to add the black olives...
Oh well, don't tell Monkey-man!

Plethora of Panini: Beet on the Brat

One of Monkey-man's Christmas presents was a cast-iron panini press
that I seriously had to hunt down. He's been ogling cast-iron pans
for awhile and next to pizza I am pretty sure sandwiches are his
favorite. Finding it was a hassle. I knew Macy's carried them and after
dealing with countless, stupid employees-- I found one at the Macy's
on Lake. Thank goodness my Monkey-man enjoys the more practical
gifts because this has certainly opened us up to a new series as we're
breaking in the ol' cast-iron.

Cast-Iron takes pampering. You should never wash it with soap, leave it
wet or use metal utensils on it. If you cook things on it that require
cleaning after-- something that sticks-- than clean it with very hot
water and a scrubber. Dry immediately afterward and oil to prevent
rusting. It may seem scary, but if you're cooking something like plain
toast, etc. you just brush it off, re-grease it and leave it. This
will age and season your pan.

I've seen people that cook meat just leave their pans with the fat, crap
and everything. Yeah, gross. Many argue that you should NEVER clean
your cast iron, but I do not agree. I say that you should try to never
use soap on it-- or at least don't use a lot and only when you really
need to. I believe in caring for your dishes properly, but I also
believe in not getting sick from bacteria festering on a pan.

Having said that, cast-iron is great because you can cook on the stove
and then stick it straight into the oven or actually use it as a baking
dish for things like corn bread or roasted vegetables. Our has ridges,
so it wouldn't be entirely ideal for that, but it is a possibility.

On to the food!
Panini, or Panino, is basically an Italian Sandwich. More accurately it
is a bread roll. A stuffed Panino is a roll stuffed with sandwich fixings.
This is derivative of the Italian word for bread: Pane. Often they are
served hot or grilled on ciabatta or focaccia. Americans refer to any
grilled sandwich as a panini, as being grilled is the deciding
characteristic. Whereas any sandwich is called a panini in Italy.

If you don't have a stove press you can use an electric one. Some
waffle makers double as panini presses. You can use a heavy pan and
a brick wrapped in foil. Just allow the brick to heat with the pan
before adding your prepped sandwich. Or you can just set a heavy pan
on top of your sandwich and plan on flipping it.

Part One: Beet on the Brat Panini

Ingredients

Beets or beet pulp (See Below)
2 cloves garlic, minced
vegan cream cheese
mustard
Miso
1/2 Red Onion
Vegan deli slices: ideally field roast, sliced seitain, or something
similar to yves roast slices. I'm sure Tofurky would be good too...
But stay away from the bologna style stuff.
Olive Oil or Earth Balance

When I make Borsht I blend the whole pot and push it through a mesh.
I usually end up with about two cups of beet pulp that I use to fill
dumplings, spread on sandwiches or mix into something else.

I had some left over beet-pulp from our postponed Christmas Dinner
that I still needed to use. You can steam beets and blend them with
a little broth, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Or you can just
steam a beet and slice it very very thin.

Heat your pan and saute the sliced onion until soft and caramelized.

I made two sandwiches here... spreading vegan cream cheese, mustard,
and light miso on one side of the bread and then sprinkled it with
diced, raw garlic.



Oil or grease the other side of the bread.
Arrange the deli slices on the side with the cream cheese.
Spread or arrange the beets on the other side of the sandwich and
top with the cooked onion. Squish the sandwich together and grill
according to the type of pan you are using.

Cut in half and serve!

Pizza Pizzaz Part Seven: Double the Yum

Getting back on track here... Heading into finals week for my
first completed year of grad school, go me! Half way done with
my masters... or there abouts!

Plus these kittens have been a real time vacuum of cuteness.

I have had some posts to share with you, but on top of everything
our internet/phone was out for over a week. In fact they had to
come and entirely replace the telephone pole in front of our
house to get things back online!

But here is one that I've been really wanting to share with you.
The general idea was Monkey-man's, but I whipped it up and
it really surprised us. I don't think I've ever made a pizza
that tasted so much like a digiorno. Now, I don't know if you've
ever had one of these frozen pizzas or if you hate them...



But I want to pin it on the strange anomaly of their crust or
really the crust of any mainstream frozen pizza. The recipe itself
is nothing special, just my go to foundation ratio for pizza
crust. It usually makes two crusts that fit on our stone, but this
time I stacked them on top of each other.

This caused the crusts to be much softer and just short of doughy.
In a really good way!

For future reference my pizza dough consists of ....

1 tsp yeast
1 tbsp raw sugar
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp oil
1 cup warm water
2 1/2- 3 cups flour

I like to switch it up with different flours, sweeteners and oils
or adding things like olives, rosemary, garlic, or a little more
sweetener for a dessert pizza.

Pizza is so easy and quick if you have the crust made ahead of time.
It is insane that more people don't eat it homemade. I cannot
understand those who will spend $20+ on a generic pizza when they
actually cost a fraction of that at home. If you have the dough
ready, you can have your dinner ready in the time it takes to
preheat your oven and out 10 minutes later.

Double Decker Pizza

Start out with your preheated stone or baking sheet.
Lay down the first layer of crust and spread on the tomato sauce and
nutritional yeast.



Then your next layer and toppings... Yes it's that simple.




Unbaked and baked overview... Yes my crusts are wonky shaped.

And my slice! Nom Nom Nom.
It seems like a normal sized pizza, but it goes twice as far,
so we had to seriously watch how much we were eating!

Pizza Pizzaz Part Four: Strawberry Fields Forever

Cooking is easy with minds closed, boring foods are all you see.
It's getting hard to be different, but it all works out.
It really matters much to me...

Let me take you down cuz we're going to Strawberry Fields.
I promise it's real. Not thing to get weird about.
Strawberry Fields Forever.



It still strawberry season here in California and I've been
hitting up the local vendors every week now. We've been having a
lot of strawberry smoothies and I've been adding them to my
cereal for weeks now. I plan to make some preserves too, but need
to find all my jars. But somewhere along the way I figured, why
not pizza?

Why not indeed. We put all sorts of sweet stuff on our pizzas right?
Well, some of us do. Pears, pineapple... ok thats all that really
comes to mind right now, but we need to try more sweet stuff. I'm
not saying throw gummi bears on your pizza, but more naturally
sweet stuff.



That's where this pizza comes in.
Its topped with a delicious red sauce, kale (although, I'd sub out
chard instead), grilled strawberries, pecans, and tofu feta.
Seriously, that is it.



We used the Tofu Feta from Jo Stepaniak's The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook.
It was good. Better baked than raw, but tasted a little too much of
miso when you think about it. I'll try the recipe again without so
much miso, while looking around for better recipes that I can incorporate.



Baked at 450F for about 10-15 minutes we served it topped with
balsamic vinegar-- very important! Come on! Get out there and try
something new for god's sake!

Pizza Pizzaz Part Three: Getting Saucy

I have encountered two spiritual junctures in my life thus far.
The first was when I discovered kitchen witchery and the craft
as a teenager. It strongly affected my creativity, sense of self,
and overall attitude of action.

The second was when I found garlic.
It felt like finding my soul-mate. In my parent's home, garlic is
not allowed. If my Mom smells it she will squirm and squeal and
run to find the huge loud air filter, topped up with tea tree oil.

I remember when I was little and my Mom forced my Dad to agree to
forgo garlic from then on. Since he stopped bringing it home, he
lost the taste for it too. Not entirely. He doesn't hate it, but
its way more powerful tasting.

My first affair with garlic began with the pesto pizza.
The green colour, the penetrating flavour all topped with luscious
tomatoes was too good to be true. Retrospectively, it was way too
much oil to handle. I can't believe how much fat was in those
pizzas I would order at the local joint.

I use a fraction of the oil in my current version of pesto, adding
tomatoes instead. I also use walnuts instead of pine nuts, because
I don't fancy spending $20/lb on them. Nutritional yeast has easily
replaced parmesan hands down-- Way better nutritional value without
the fat and nastiness of cheese.

I still love it topped with a vegan moz cheese and tomatoes. Other
toppings come and go...



I also suggest experimenting with cilantro pesto. Now, I'm not a
huge fan of cilantro and I know it turns alot of people off. Try it
anyway. The cilantro doesn't come through in the same way for some
reason and its dreamy on pizza. Basically, if you haven't experienced
a pesto pizza yet... Do it. Now. Or I'll never forgive you.

Pizza Pizzaz Part Two: Twisting the Tostada

When I was a teen the only way I would get to see a decent concert
was to fly to Honolulu from the Big Island. One time when I was on
Oahu to see The Ataris (when they were cool and before the age of
emo) we all hit up California Pizza Kitchen. It was before the
restaurants were really that big, so it was pretty exciting at the
time.

Ok, I'm done dating myself.

When we were there I got a vegetarian tostada pizza that really
kicked butt, but then was struck with the karma of eating cheese
and got a headache. Years down the road I realize that the majority
of my headaches came from eating cheese. Go figure.

Looking back though, it was a good pizza. And I especially liked
it because of how unusual it was. I love going out and trying things
that haven't dawned on me to make at home.

So, during my pizza making adventures I decided to pick my memories
and try to replicate it. First thing to go was their crappy lettuce.
I will never understand what the appeal of iceburg lettuce is to
people. Oh yeah, its cheap.

Next I used pinto beans instead of black and baked it with the
cheese, whereas they just throw it on cold. I used the chedder daiya,
but Follow My Heart pepperjack would be good too.

First you mash about a cup or more of beans with some garlic, 1 tbsp
chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, and a dash of cayenne. Roll the prepared
crust out nice and thin and spread the bean mash on top. Sprinkle
with cheese.



If you're using a pizza stone like we have here, make sure you
preheat it in the oven first at 500F and then turn it down to
450F when you actually bake your pizza.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the crust starts to brown nicely.
Before baked, prep your toppings.




Think of what you like on your tostadas... We had lettuce, salsa,
and corn tortillas. Then you're going to top it with some ranch
dressing.

Combine a couple tablespoons of veganaise and mustard, thinned out
with a little bit of non-dairy milk. Add garlic powder, onion powder,
a squirt of lemon juice, salt, pepper, and some italian seasonings.



Slice your pizza and top accordingly. Consensus? Awesome.
CPK, kiss mah butt.

Mushy-roomie-rooms

Not sure if I've ever mentioned my distaste for mushrooms, but...
I have a weird sort of gag reflex with them. I think I like them,
but every time I try to eat them the texture and the taste hit
me in such a weird way that I start to gag like I'm gonna puke.

I hated mushrooms a lot when I was a kid. The smell of them
cooking puts me off so much. My parents used to try and sneak
them to me in food by telling me they were olives, which I would
eat by the bucket full. I can taste mushrooms from a mile away,
there is no hiding them from me!

Yet, since I learned to cook and such it has become kind of the
last stand with foods. I got over a lot of things I thought I
did not like. I still get a little put off by too much cilantro,
onions, or celery. I still don't like baby corn.

The thing is I want to like mushrooms.
So I continue to eat them when I feel like pushing it in order to
get over this. Someday I will. I got over my coconut allergy,
which in turn probably saved my life. Maybe someday mushrooms
will do the same. Now the reflex is no bad, just a little gag.

On the other hand, Monkey-man Loves mushy-roomie-rooms.
So for our outing day to Knotts, I made portobello sandwiches.

Grill for about a half hour with a basting mixture of white
wine, red wine vinegar, italian seasoning, braggs, olive oil,
garlic powder, black pepper, and sea salt. (Keep covered)

I added some slices of zucchini and a little water to keep it
from sticking. Also, make sure to spoon some of the basting
liquid into the cup of the mushroom as well.

After cooking I sliced the mushrooms thinner to even distributed
across the bread. We had made whole-wheat bread with millet the
night before, so it was perfect.

To cut down on the mushroom taste, I usually make hummus. It is
my way of easing in to enjoying the flavor without being overwhelmed.
(Ha ha, I can't believe I'm writing about enjoying food and
gagging in the same post, but really I love portobello burgers!!)
Instead of hummus, I made a spicy black bean spread, added
some veganaise and tomatoes to the sandwiches and we were
ready to go.


We had our lunch break in the parking lot and I shared my
crust with these awesome little guys!

Vegan Fettucini Alfredo

The summer I spent living with two of my best friends, our
cheap college fare was extremely bizarre and fatty. Granted
we did eat our fair share of potatoes and the vegetarian ramen,
there were three main things I learned to cook during that time
span. I learned how to make crepes from my neighbor, mochi from a
classmate and alfredo from my roomie.

I wrote before how we used to eat a crap ton of crepe...
But I have no idea why we started making alfredo. It was
originally what me started back on a path to attempting to
reincorporate mushrooms into my diet. Ultimately that was
foiled by my strange gag reflex triggered by them.
However, we used porcini mushrooms nonetheless in hopes that
someday I could stomach them.

Since those days I continued making alfredo, but very rarely or
when I was desperate to make something my mom would eat.

I learned to make it with fresh parmesan and heavy cream and
since been trying to make a vegan version with nutritional
yeast and soymilk.

*Enter 'The Urban Vegan'

I really dig this cookbook. Unlike most of the vegan books that
get churned out, it doesn't contain a lot of asian dishes or
bizarre expensive ingredients. I have a very european palate I
must admit.

So finally I shoveled out the earthbalance and made Balcavage's
Vegan Alfredo. I made a couple adjustments...

First, I added garlic. Sorry, but I don't know what alfredo without
garlic would be like... Oh yeah. Boring.

Second, I cut down on the earthbalance and upped the nutritional
yeast. Theory was to make a roux out of the oil and yeast. Well,
to make a proper roux you need equal portions of the fat and X--
typically flour.

Third, having a proper roux you don't need the kudzu root that is
called for.



Vegan Fettucini Alfredo~ Adapted

Ingredients

3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup earthbalance
1/4 cup heaping nutritional yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup soy milk
black pepper

In a medium pan over medium heat, saute garlic in melting
earthbalance. Once the garlic becomes fragrant, add the
nutritional yeast to form your roux.

Continue to cook for about for a few minutes to cook roux.
Whisk in soymilk a little at a time. Add salt and turn to
low. Allow to simmer until it thickens up.

Toss with fettucini or other desired pasta.
I made about 2/3 of a package for this much sauce and served
it with some dark leafy greens.

To add some extra protein try tossing in some vegan chic like
gardein.

Even without the mushrooms, the memories hit me and I tasted
them anyway. Amusingly enough, Monkey-man said later that if
we hadn't had it with greens he wouldn't have been able to
stomach it either because he kept 'memory-tasting' shrimp.
Go figure! So, yes. This alfredo is so authentic tasting it
will blow your mind!

Unidentified Filled Object: Vegan Ravioli

The idea of making your own pasta does appear to be very daunting.
I'm hear to tell you not to fear, fresh delicious, egg-free pasta
very near. You don't need a pasta roller or a ravioli cutter to
make awesome ravioli. Although, if you have them on hand it would
cut your prep time in half at least.

I find it strange that the majority of pasta you buy is egg-free,
but 98% of pasta recipes you find call for at least two eggs.

I'm now at the stage of experimenting with different flours and
colours with spinach and tomato, but this you will find is a
great place to start with either unbleached all-purpose dough
or semolina flour.

Basic Basic Vegan Pasta Dough

1 cup flour
1/4-1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Slowly incorporate the water into the flour by adding only a 1/4
of a cup at first. Only add a few drops at a time after that
as you go or else you dough will get sticky fast. What you want
is a nice dense brick. It may seem too dry, but just keep working
it before adding more water.

I keep a bowl of water on hand though to seal any cracks that
may occur later.

After mixing everything together, knead for about 5 minutes.
Let rest for 10 minutes and knead and rest again. Its easy to get
frustrated if making the dough by hand, but all that you need to
do is be sure to let your dough rest often. Allowing your dough
to rest will allow the gluten to relax and activate, yielding
a smooth texture.

On a very lightly floured surface begin to roll out your dough.
Whenever it seems like its getting too tough, just let it rest
a moment and try again. I don't know exactly what thickness to
say you should roll it out too, but I would say that of a
regular piece of denim if you were to hold it between your
fingers.

Plop your prepared filling onto the dough and wet the dough
with your fingers around the area so it will seal when the top
layer is pressed down. The filling should be spaced about
and inch apart on half the the rolled-out dough. With a
sharp knife cut off half of the dough and place it over the side
with the filling. Press down and cut out the squares.

For some reason I had a bizarre compulsion to make them round,
so I used a glass to trace the size and ended up sealing
them one at a time.

By the time you're pressing the edges individually, it may start
to dry out. So, you may have to gently wipe it with damp fingers
to continue sealing them or shaping if you are making plain pasta.
Drop the ravioli into boiling water and cook until al dente,
anywhere from 3-7 minutes. They will start to look soft and
slightly more translucent.





Here is my little tester...


Then the whole shabang....


Topped with a cheesy sauce next to a nice salad...


Pumpkin and sage...


Red pepper and tofu ricotta!


You can also save these and freeze before the boiling stage
for later. And you can fill them with practically anything-
I'm already thinking of a four vegan cheese ravioli!

No Posts= High Grades

Yes my friends, I have discovered a relationship with a very high
level of statistical association. Finally squeezed through midterms
and emerged triumphant. Now to just actually start my final projects
and start studying for finals. Ha. I got my midterms returned and
only have three weeks of classes left for the quarter.

I have been cooking quite a bit when I am at home, naturally.
Much of that has been experimental, so no solid recipes unless you
wanna be a tester for the book.

Here are some of the highlights since St. Valentines Day...


Monkey Man's Potato Pierogies



Creamy Fat-Free Basil Pesto


Luscious Vegan Lasagna




Bad lighting, sorry.


Back to making my 'Cutie Quiche', but this time around its all vegan.
At one point I was known for the palooza of quiche I'd make and now
it may happen again.


I love the pie pan that I finally got to use. I actually had not
made any sort of pie since my pie series and my friends had given me
a gorgeous ceramic pie dish that I had not gotten to use yet.

Maybe I'll make them a quiche to say thanks! This one was a whole
wheat crust and stuffed with broccoli and garlic.

All of these were amazing, if I do say so myself and you could taste
absolutely no difference between these and their non-compassionate
counterparts.

I have some great recipes and series coming up soon, so don't fear!

Eggplant for Two

Happy St. Valentine's Day everyone!
Before I run off to have fun with a bunch of LA Vegans
I thought I'd throw a post out there!

I don't eat entirely enough Italian food. Probably because I miss
my little Italian place in Hawaii, Cafe Concerto. And ever since
Matt over at My Veggie Kitchen posted his seitan parmesan I've been
craving eggplant parmasan like there was no tomorrow.

I made some oober chunky tomato sauce with tvp to go on top
and used a vegan bleu cheese to top the eggplant... the brand
name escapes me right now. But they also have a tomato garlic
feta...

I didn't use bread crumbs, mainly because I didn't have
any old bread. But I use wheat germ for my falafel and
like how that comes out alot, so I made a wheat/flour
breading instead. The yeast adds the cheesiness and punched
out with all the seasonings.



Vegan Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients

1 Eggplant, sliced in to 1/2" slices
salt
3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons wheat germ
2 tablespoons flour
1 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons flaxmeal blended with 4 tablespoons water
1 tsp salt
and pepper to taste
olive oil

place sliced eggplant on a cookie sheet and sprinkle
generously with salt. Put another sheet on top, weighted
down with something heavy. Angle your stacking so it will
drain into your sink. The salt will draw out the bitter
liquid in the eggplant. After about 15-30 minutes remove
the eggplant and rise, blotting after.

Blend your flax and pour over the eggplant on the baking
sheet. Let it soak in. After blending the flax it will
become slimy and gooey. This worked as a good sub for
egg. Mix all the dry ingredients in a shallow pan and coat
the eggplant. The juices will start to soak through so
you can keep coating it as you heat your oil.



Grill/Fry on medium-hi until well browned and flip.
Keep in a heated oven until all are done. You may need
more dry coating as you go, depends on how much you make.

I served with al dente pasta and mah chunkah sauce and
it fulfilled all my parmesan desires!!

Savory Turnovers

After sleeping in and missing the Rose Parade,
we were pretty stumped on what else to do on New Years Day.
We lounged most of the day, watching the reruns of
the Rose Parade and the Twilight Zone Marathon.

We dug through stuff on the internet- to no avail.
Considered going to galleries or parks, but scraped that
and went driving for ideas instead. Unfortunately we
got stuck in the residual traffic of the Rose Parade
and made our way back towards home. We hit the vegan
restaurant Loving Hut in Alhambra on our way back for
a lite lunch. (I'll write more about that later!)

Then we hung around and tinkered until it was time to make
dinner. Ok, our lives don't revolve around food that much.
Its just that dinner involved a lot of prep work and it
was going to take awhile to make!

I wanted to make pockets or turnovers with the leftover
phyllo dough I used on my 'turkey' casserole.

So first we made our fillings... A squash and sage for
some and mushroom leek for the rest!

























































I started by making the same sized squares out of the
dough, coating each with melted earth balance.



















First as dollop of cashew cheese... Then the filling...





















It took a couple to get the hang of what exactly I wanted to do.
You can see in how my first one looked like a sad egg roll or a
pillow of some sort...













Bake for 15 minutes at 425-450F
After the first batch went in the oven, I started up a
red sauce. Later blended, it can be used for dipping or
just pouring over. Its a basic Italian, nothing more.












Out they come!

























All Crispy and golden like!





The mushroom and leek, inside and out!








The Squash covered with sauce...


We made these a little larger than party h'dourves, but
smaller than a turnover you'd get at a bakery. These would
be great smaller for parties or gatherings. I'll probably
be making them the next time we throw a party. A little
fattening with all the earthbalance. We had a lot left
over. This used half a package of phyllo, so we could have
made a lot more if we had wished.
Also, you can improv a lot with fillings. I'm already planning
a curried filling myself!

But our New Years was lovely. Its nice to kick back and
go all out on rich foods one in a while, thats why we have
holidays--right? To make foods like this special. I'd be
the size of a house if I ate this everyday. A couple times
a year is just fine for me, thanks. Now back to everyday life.