Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Party food, tester style

More brunch testing deliciousness. I made the tempeh puffs this morning, along with another batch of bagels to bring to work. I tried to multi-task (difficult in a kitchen with zero counter space) as best I could, and wound up making the gravy and then taking a shower - forgetting that the bagels were still in the oven. At least one recipe (well, two if you count the gravy) came out right.

Tempeh Sausage Pastry Puffs with Navy Bean Gravy





Creamy Avocado Potato Salad



The first was a store bought puff pastry with a tempeh sausage crumble on top. The salad was a simple guacamole based potato salad. Of course, they had the Isa touch. You have to buy the book.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Do that tuna thang you do so well

I go through phases of omni cravings. For a while it was eggs, and then it was blue cheese. Over the last couple weeks, it’s been tuna. Namely, my mother’s tuna casserole/salad, affectionately known as Tuna Thing. The hot version contained tuna, cream of mushroom soup, peas, egg noodles, and celery. It was also seasoned with curry powder, and all done on the stove. The cold version consisted of tuna, mayo, peas, celery, and dill. I thought I’d start off by trying my hand at a simple tuna hotdish, Minnesota style. I figured the lot of you wouldn’t quite be ready for a curry hotdish, seeing as this is a Down Home kind of blog, so here’s what I made.



First off, despite assertions to the contrary, there is no such thing as eggless egg noodles. Not at all. Stop lying to me. Also, I left the celery out because I never really liked celery much, and it always turns to black mush in the fridge before I get a chance to use it. I chose brown rice pasta, because I like how sticky it gets when cooked, and sauce just hangs right on to it. As for the tuna, I went with TVP with a little soy sauce, Sea Seasoning (nori granules with ginger, but they also have kelp or dulse flakes with garlic), and pickle juice. The flavor was spot on, but the texture wasn’t quite the same. I plan to try this again with something like the Morningstar Farms chick’n strips or Soy Curls. I made the cream of mushroom base from scratch, which took forever, but I also started by making my own stock. If you have a carton of vegetable stock handy (preferably mushroom), go with that. Otherwise, making your own stock is very easy to do.

Down Home Tuna Hotdish
Serves 4-6

1 16 oz.bag brown rice pasta (I used penne, but any small cut will do)
1 cup TVP crumbles, hydrated with hot water
2 tsp soy sauce
3 tbsp pickle juice
Maine Coast Sea Seasoning, to taste (I used about a tablespoon, I swear)
1.5 cups frozen peas
3 tbsp Earth Balance
10 oz (a package) crimini mushrooms, sliced
3 cups hot mushroomy veg stock
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp brown rice miso
1.5 cups unsweetened soy milk
1/2 cup soy creamer
2 tsp dried thyme
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 cup breadcrumbs

Bring a pot of water to a boil, and preheat the oven to 375°.
Cook the pasta according to directions.

Make the soup:

Whisk the flour into the broth. Set aside. Melt the margarine in a large saucepan, and add the mushrooms. Turn the heat to low and cover. Slowly cook the mushrooms until they are dark and tender, stirring occasionally. The mushrooms will sweat out some liquid, and you’ll know they’re done. Stir in the broth/flour mixture and whisk out any clumps. Add the miso, and whisk well. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Stir in soy milk. Season with thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir in soy creamer, and remove from heat.

In a casserole dish, combine the TVP, Sea Seasoning, soy sauce, and pickle juice. Stir in about half the soup, with the peas. Fold in the cooked pasta. Pour over the rest of the soup. Stir, and taste. Adjust as necessary, adding more sea seasoning and pickle juice. Cover casserole, and bake at 375° for 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Turn heat up to 425°. Uncover, and sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top. Return to the oven and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Up close:


With a salad. All those little black things are nori flakes.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Bagels!

Yesterday we had a meeting at work which included breakfast. I enjoyed some OJ, chocolate Silk, and a Silk blueberry yogurt, and a plain Panera bagel. I dug through the box to find it. Of course, I come home to find out that they include DATEM and L-cysteine, which I'd just prefer to avoid because I'm not about to call up Panera HQ and demand the source of said additives.

This just further encouraged me to tackle Isa's bagel recipe that's being tested for the new cookbook. All I have to say is, if you've avoided making your own because they seemed like a lot of work, rest assured: they are NOT! They take a long time, what with the rising and preheating and bringing water to a boil (doesn't it bug when Europeans say "bring to the boil"?), but the rest of it is just fun. Especially putting on fun bagel-shop toppings:

Poppy seed:


Rosemary:


Red onion:


Garlic:


YUM.

In other news, Megan's got high speed now. After a month of severe pennilessness, chest colds, allergies, and just plain laziness, I got on the phone and canceled my dial up internet, AT&T (bastards), and Callwave. I've eliminated a few unnecessary bills, and added on DSL. Look forward to more regular posts.