Vegan Arroz con Seitan

Okay, I just finished eating this meal (this is another one from Viva Vegan by Terry Hope Romero), and I am pretty into it. I mean it's no Kuba Kuba Arroz con Pollo, but it's still pretty good. I really like Latin American food though, so if that's not really your thing I am not sure you'll like this. But really, who doesn't like rice and veggies. Mmmmmm.

Okay. So first is first, this recipe uses Annatto infused oil. Really easy to make.

1/4 C vegetable oil - you can use canola or peanut

1 Tbsp Annatto seeds

You can get Annatto seeds at Latin American markets. Here in Chicago they aren't hard to find. Throw the seeds and oil together in a pan or pot, turn the heat to medium. Once it comes to a simmer turn it down to low. Let it simmer for about 3 minutes. Strain out the seeds and then let it cool.

Now for the dish. Take two of the loaves of "white seitan" that I outlined in the last case. Cut the seitan into chubby strips about 3 inches long. I personally cut mine a little shorter. I don't really like long strips of food, that's just me. Throw a Tbsp of lime juice, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp olive oil, and about a Tsp of oregano over the seitan. Toss it and let it marinate for about 10-20 minutes. If you have a cast iron pan, throw it on a heated one and pour the marinade on it. Let it cook on either side for about 2-3 minutes. Obviously don't let it burn, and turn it. I would heat the pan medium-high. Personally I am a little timid when it comes to heat because I am a bit of a perfectionist, I hate it when things burn. So you might not get the little bit of crispiness you desire unless you cook it a little longer on each side.

Set the seitan aside, and let's start on the next step.

Ingredients for the dish:

2 Tbsp Annatto infused oil

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

5 large cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 lb Yellow Onion, chopped - about 2 medium onions

1/2 lb Green Pepper, chopped - I used 1 large one

2/3 C of Tomato Sauce

1 C light colored beer (Modelo Especial maybe), or vegetable broth

1 1/2 Tsp dried Oregano

1 Tsp Ground Cumin

1 Bay Leaf

1/4 Tsp salt

1 1/2 C long grain white rice

1 1/4 C Vegetable Broth

1 C frozen Peas

1 Carrot, diced

a pinch of ground Black Pepper

I didn't use this but you can do it if you'd like:

1/2 C sliced Green Olives

1/4 C Capers

1/4 C finely chopped cilantro

Okay, throw in both oils together, turn up the heat to medium. Throw in garlic, let it go for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Throw in the Onions and the Green Pepper (both chopped). Let it go for about 12-15 minutes. You want it pretty soft. Also, make sure you stir it occasionally. Pour in the first C of beer/broth, Tomato Sauce, and toss in the Cumin, Oregano, and Bay Leaf. Let that simmer for 4-5 minutes. Pour in the next bit of broth, throw in the Rice, Salt, Peas, and Carrots. Cover the pot and bring it to a boil. Once it's boiling, reduce the heat to low, push the seitan into the rest of the food. Toss the Olives and Capers on top, and throw the cover on it. Let it go for about 30 minutes, maybe 35.

Remove the pot from the heat and keep the top on it. Let it cool. You're set.

Throw some Pepper and/or Cilantro on it if you'd like.

I really like this dish. I think it would be a little better with the Cilantro, despite my not being a big fan of it. I really love rice dishes like this though. I mean two of my favorites dishes are Paella and Risotto.

Hopefully I will be writing more posts, more often. I would like to try and make more summery/springy dishes what with it being that time of year and all. I have been meaning to make more light dishes but I don't know if I really know how to, ha. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Steamed Seitan, and stuff.

It has been awhile - I feel like I apologize for this every post...so yea.

Anyway, updates on goings-on and then food time. I haven't been busy per se? But many things have been going on that have been distracting me. Two of my friends from home recently got married, and congratulations to them! I have been reading a lot and riding my bike occasionally which has also been distracting me. I went to Denver to see my family over Memorial Day - it was pretty awesome because I got to see my entire immediate family at one time. That doesn't really happen too often. I have been working every day life was stressful here and there and I have been kind of tired whatnot. So, I kind of forgot about writing for a little bit. Whoops.

Okay, food time.

So, I believe I have posted about seitan before and now I have a new recipe from Viva Vegan by Terry Hope Romero. It is steamed seitan and it is easier and faster than boiling it. It just requires a bit of tin foil. I am going to write about the "white seitan" recipe. It is supposed to be mock white meat.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C cold vegetable broth

4 grated cloves of garlic

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 C vital wheat gluten

1/4 C chickpea flour

1/4 C nutritional yeast

1 Tsp dried thyme

1/2 Tsp paprika

1/2 Tsp ground cumin

1 Tsp salt

Mix together broth, grated garlic, and olive oil together. Okay, I have a micrograter but I know not everyone does. I think the best way to do this if you don't have one is either very finely dicing it, or maybe food processing it? I sort of think you want this as a bit of a pasty deal, so a food processor for a couple seconds might be good.

Mix all the dry stuff together. Pour the wet stuff into the dry stuff and mix it with a spatula. Knead the dough 2-3 minutes. Let it rest for 10 minutes and knead again for 30 seconds to stiffen it up a little bit. Then cut it into 4 equal pieces. Knead each loaf for a little bit and form little loaves. Wrap them loosely in tin foil and place them into a basket through which steam can come. For instance, I took a colander, wrapped the sides in tin foil and left the bottom open. I put them in that, put a cover over it, and put it over a boiling pot of water. Point is, you want a sealed basket that can steam it all. Let it steam for 30 minutes. Then you're done. Take them off the heat and leave them in the tin foil too cool off. When they're cool, they're set to be used. Store them in an airtight container.

This is a really good seitan recipe. It is really easy, and I like the texture and flavor more than the stuff in Vegan with a Vengeance or Veganomicon. I strongly suggest everyone get this cookbook. I wrote about how to make this as a preface to another post that will be coming after this one.

Hoopppppe you like it.

Lyfffeeffefaayafefe

I haven't posted recently for a number of reasons. A couple of friends visited from out of town for a couple of days, I finally got a job, and I have been lazy-ish. Mostly I have been kind of busy here and there and when I do remember to type something up, it's late or I feel like I have nothing good to say. This is mostly to update a little bit on what's going on here in Chicago, and I have a food update after this.

Well, first is first, a couple friends of the house came up from Baltimore and Richmond - Jane, Elise, and Gabe. I have only hung out with Jane a couple of times, but she's badass, so it was nice to see her. Elise (also badass) and I met when I went to VCU and have known her for a couple of years now, I think. Gabe was a new one; he turned out to be a pretty cool guy. They came up to see the Thom Yorke show...well, it was his "supergroup" Atoms for Peace. It includes Thom Yorke, Flea, Nigel Godrich (Radiohead producer), Joey Waronker (who has apparently has played with Beck, the Smashing Pumpkins, and R.E.M.), and Mauro Refosco. Since I am poor, I didn't go. Anyway, it was nice seeing some pals from home.

Bigger news - a job. I finally landed a job through a temp agency in the Loop. I work for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. doing data entry stuff. It's pretty intense, I had to get fingerprinted and an F.B.I. background check, I think. It's not super interesting, and I am not allowed to disclose what I do, which I find kind of weird.

In between these things, I have planted a few herbs. I planted Genovese Basil, Rosemary, and Fernleaf Dill. The Basil has already sprouted a few baby plants, in a week or so I need to thin them out. The Rosemary is sprouting very slightly. I haven't seen any tiny Dill plants yet though. Soon I will be planting Kale and some other stuff. It honestly might be slightly late in the game, but oh well. I have also been riding the rollers fairly often. Well, I rode three times last week, and this week since I have been working at about 7 A.M. I only just got to ride today. Anyway, that's pretty much what I have been doing, nothing really all that exciting.

Ratatouille

It has been awhile since I have written on here. I was sort of busy with some interviews and doing nothing, then I got sidetracked by going back to Richmond, VA. It was for Slaughterama (for those of you who don't know what this is, it's a bicycle event...sort of). Anyway, before I left I made this dish, and actually took pictures with my roommates camera. Unfortunately, I think my roommate still has his camera, and he stayed in Virginia a little longer. So, those will have to wait.

Anyway, I made Ratatouille about 2 weeks ago, and it was pretty awesome. The recipe is from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen by Donna Klein. I really like this cookbook because it offers me recipes from a region I know little about in terms of cuisine. Well, I know there are lemons and olives.... Anyway, it was really good, and this recipe had beans in it too? I think that's a little out of the ordinary for Ratatouille. This recipe is chock full of vegetables, I hope you enjoy it.

1 lb. Eggplant

1 lb. Onion

1 medium Green Bell Pepper

1 medium Red Bell Pepper

2 medium Zucchini

1 1/2 lb Tomato

2 cans of 16 oz. white beans (I used Cannellini)

and some pitted Black Olives for garnish, if you like them

4 Garlic cloves

4 tbsp (thereabouts) Olive Oil

1/4 cup dry White Wine

3/4 cup Vegetable Broth

1 tbsp Tomato Paste (I usually just use Ketchup, basically the same thing)

1/2 tsp dried Thyme

1/2 tsp dried Oregano
1/4 tsp of whole, crushed Coriander seeds (I just used a heaping 1/4 tsp of Coriander)
1 large Bay Leaf

salt and pepper to taste

There is the stuff you will be needing, split into first and second half of use. Also, before you begin - it is better to NOT use a non-stick pan. If you only have non-stick pans, that's fine, but if you have a pan that's not non-stick, that's big, use it.

First, cube the Eggplant into about 1 in. cubes. Put the cubes in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Be sure to actually cut 1 in. cubes or slightly larger. I made a mistake and made them too small, then they were really small when they were cooked. Chop the onions, cut the Peppers into about 1 in. cubes, finely chop the Garlic, and 1 in. cubes for the Zucchini as well. The Tomatoes need a little more care. They needed to be peeled, seeded, and chopped. I would not do the whole dropping the Tomatoes in boiling water. I have read that makes them lose flavor. I turned on my gas burner to high, and rotated the Tomato on a fork for about 20-30 seconds. Do not let them burn, just let them get really hot. This will help bring out more flavor and make them easy to peel. Go ahead and seed them (just squeeze the seeds out) and then chop them. Just drain and rinse the Cannellini.

Okay now you've got all those veggies ready, go ahead and on medium, heat 3 tbps of Olive Oil in a large, deep-sided skillet and start sauteeing those onions. After about 3 minutes add the Peppers and Garlic. Stir this mix often because it will burn. After about 2 minutes or so, add the Eggplant bits. Another 2 minutes or so later add a little more oil (if it seems like it's all gone) and add the Zucchini cubes. This will be good for the next step in about 5 minutes.

Add the White Wine and the Vegetable Broth when the veggie mix is cooked. While bringing this to a boil, try and loosen up any brown bits by tossing a little, or scraping with a spatula. Obviously, do not scrape if it's non-stick. Once it's boiling, reduce to medium-high heat, and add the Tomatoes, Tomato Paste, Thyme, Oregano, Coriander, and Bay Leaf. If you happen to have fresh herbs, just triple the dried amount. Cover this, and at a gentle simmer, cook this for 20 minutes. Uncover, add the beans, cook this an additional 10-15 minutes.

Now you're ready to eat. Not including prep time, this dish take about 45 minutes. Not bad for a decent amount of food that tastes delicious. I really enjoyed this dish despite the fact that I rarely use Eggplant. I am trying to get past that, but Eggplant has very little nutritional value. I don't really have anything bad to say about this. It has everything I love.

Well, hopefully someone else will enjoy making this. Oh, hopefully pictures will come soon.

Life on Mars.

So, I went to Life on Mars today. For those of you who either don't know, or don't live in Chicago, Life on Mars is a new vegan takeout place on Armitage. I hate to say it, but my first experience with their food was not the best, but overall I really think it's a place worth checking out. The people working there were great, their chocolate chip cookie was awesome, and the space is cute (could use some seating, but I will get into that).

First, I want to say the good things about Life on Mars. Okay, The cookie I got was awesome, I find that some vegan cookies I get are often kind of dry, this one was nice and chewy and delicious. The people who worked there and prepared my food were really nice and seemed happy to be there. I think this is semi-important. A friendly atmosphere is a big deal, to me at least. Food being hand prepared by people who don't care or are aggravated kind of throws me off. I don't really understand it, food being such an uplifting thing for me. The space is cute, it has a nice open kitchen behind a counter with food displayed. I like seeing what I am getting into, so that was appreciated. The sides all looked scrumptious (the mac and cheese looked particularly good). They also have a bunch of cool sides such as spicy eggplant, and coconut greens (and the menu changes). I am excited to try those out sooner or later. They also make the bread there, so I am told. All these things are big positives. Oh, you can add SWEET POTATO CHIPS (made there I believe).

Okay, here come the parts of which I was not so fond. Well, I got the barbecued rib sandwich on whole wheat bread. The bread was awesome - nice, soft, delicious. The barbecue sauce was really good, sweet but not too sweet, but the ribs themselves were very overcooked. It was almost like biting into wet sticks. I feel bad writing it, because I like the place. I am just going to assume it was an off day. I want to go back and try it out again. Another thing, there's no seating - as it's takeout and all that. For some reason...I can't wrap my head around no seating at a deli sort of place. I mean, Chinese food, I am all over takeout, but a sandwich, hard for me to get over. It is a pretty large space, if they moved the counter back or something there would be ample room for some seats. I understand this is probably expensive and whatnot, but just voicing how I feel.

In terms of price, it's pretty fair. The sandwich was fairly large. The sandwich, cookie, and taxes came out to about $7.00. I think that's a decent price for quality food. I had an overall good experience there, minus the ribs. I think it's worth trying out, and that I just came on an off day. One of my roommates got the ribs as well, and she said one half was good, and the other half was like mine.

Well, I hope I convinced someone to go check it out.

Forays into the World of Teese

Alright, recently I acquired 2 cute Teese logs. Chicago Soydairy is promoting their vegan cheese by putting out coupons for buy one get one free. It is a pretty nice deal. The ones to which I am in proximity are the Cheddar and Mozzarella. I have used both of them and I am a fan. They have a similar texture and flavor to cheese (especially when melted) while still being of their own complete identity. They melt a lot like cheese too, which is what I really appreciate. In terms of cheese substitute these have been thus far the best. I am not sure which ones I have actually had, but the dining hall of my alma mater offered a few choices in cheese substitute - they were not very good. I believe the one I had was american cheese substitute. I was not a fan. I have also had a grilled cheese with substitute, it was particularly unsavory. It was just not melted correctly. Teese on the other hand melts wonderfully. It has a nice texture and flavor when it is melted. Tonight it was used on a pizza.

I used another recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart - Pizza Napoletana. I made a half recipe though since the full one makes 6 balls of dough that are 6 oz a piece. With the half recipe I also cut the dough in 2 for 2 bigger pizzas rather than 3 smaller ones. The full recipe is as follows -

4 1/2 cups of flour or 20.25 oz(I used regular unbleached flour, but you can use bread flour as well)

1 3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp instant yeast

1/4 cup of olive or vegetable oil (this is optional, but I like putting it in there)

1 3/4 cups of cold water

Mix the dry stuff.

Pour in the wet stuff.

Mix well until it's hydrated.

Turn the bowl clockwise and work the dough with a spoon for about 5-7 minutes. Every once in awhile switch up and go counter-clockwise. After this is done, cut it into however many pieces you want, depending on how big you want your pizzas (the crust should be thin). Mist liberally with oil then put in a food grade bag. I just put it in a plastic sandwich bag. Let it sit over night and it's ready to use the next day. It will stay in a refrigerator for about 3 days. In the freezer it will last a couple of months.

Anyway, I also made a thicker marinara sauce (I like a little bit of a thick sauce on my pizza). I heated up my pizza stone for about 45 mintes at 500 degrees. Right before I put it in the oven, I sauced up my pizza, put on some chopped broccoli, onions, and green pepper, pour half a log of shredded mozzarella teese all over it, dropped it on my pizza stone, and baked for 8 minutes. Then it's set to go. One thing that is annoying, you need to put a bunch of semolina down on a flat surface (I have an edgeless cookie sheet that I used), put the dough down, spread it out, and do your thing with toppings. Here comes the annoying part, moving the loaded up pizza to your hot pizza stone (obviously you can leave it on your baking sheet if you want). It is just a pain for it to actually slip off. I eventually got it onto the stone without much problem though. The first time I did this I made a bit of a mess because I didn't put semolina down to allow for the dough to easily slip. I really enjoy pizza because the preparation is very easy. I still have another ball of dough and more teese, so it's probably pizza again for dinner. No complaints.

Southern-ish Meal.

This is a pretty delicious and easy meal. I really like it. I really like the mix of food here. Some of the pieces are mildly expensive, but whatever. If there is something you don't like, just go ahead and put your favorite Southern style food in its place. So I made Corn Meal Encrusted Celeraic, Barbecued Black Beans, and "Carolina Kale".

First is first, I will start with easiest.

So the Barbecued Black Beans are basically the easiest thing on earth to make. Take your favorite Barbecue Sauce that you make. I use a recipe from Veganomicon but you can use any recipe from the back of a molasses jar or anything like that. Heat up your Barbecue sauce in a pot on medium low heat. Once it is fairly hot, throw in some drained and rinsed Black Beans or Black-Eyed Peas. I prefer Black-Eyed Peas for this dish, but I didn't have any. Black Beans it is. Heat up the beans in the sauce, I would say anywhere between 10-20 minutes. I usually do longer do get more flavor in the beans. At least thats the way it seems. Depends on the heat. I like to keep it medium-low. Watch it though. Sometimes it can get really thick and burn.

Second.

I really love kale. As far as greens go, it's probably my favorite. I messed up the ratio in the recipe for mine, but it still came out great. Okay, throw a can of diced tomato in a pan or pot, I like petite diced, throw in a small diced onion (make the dice pretty fine on the onions), throw in a tsp and a half of cumin, and a quarter tsp of red pepper flakes. If you like it hotter, do more. Simmer that stuff for about 5 minutes, covered. Throw the Kale on top, cover, wait until it gets bright green. Then mix the stuff up, and cook for a little bit longer. This kind of depends on how you like your greens. Maybe you like them smooshy, maybe you like them firm. Whichever. Just watch it and mix when you feel it's the way you like it.

Third.

Okay. Peel the Celeraic. Cut 1/4 inch slices. If the slices are big, cut them in half. Boil this in a big pot of water and some salt. When they are soft, anywhere been 9-11 minutes, take them out. Let these guys cool. Okay, mix about half a cup of bread crumbs, half a cup of corn meal. Maybe a little more than that of each depending on how large your Celeraic was. Put about a tsp each of thyme, oregano and salt, and I put in about 2 tsp of pepper. I mean breading is really slack in terms of composition. You'll learn what flavor you like. Anyway, evenly coat the celeraic in flour, then dip in soy milk, then evenly coat in corn meal and bread crumb mixture. Heat up, on medium heat, about 1/8 inch of oil in a skillet. Once it's hot, drop some of those guys in there. On the first side I usually do about 4 minutes, or until golden brown, then on the other side about 2 and a half minute, or until golden brown. Then you're set.

This meal is really easy and delicious. The Celeraic is the expensive part. It's about 4 dollars a pound depending on your grocery store. It's well worth it every once in awhile. It isn't a very heavy meal, and the Celeraic cuts don't really absorb that much oil. Just let them rest for a bit on a paper towel to let some oil drip off. As said before, I love kale. I also love tomatoes and cumin. So really that Kale dish is great. Also, I always love beans.

news.

Well, to be honest, I have not been that busy. At least not so busy that I could not perhaps write a new post on things I have been making. In fact, I have made a couple of good soups recently that I have just been too lazy to type up. I think I will write one tomorrow, but as of right now I will just talk about the things that have been happening recently.

This weekend I went to some party. It was pretty decent, fairly reminiscent of home. A lot of kids who ride bikes. It was semi-nice to feel like I was in Richmond again. At the same time, I left Richmond to see new things.

This weekend I went to brunch at the Green Zebra. I fairly nice vegetarian restaurant. I had the Monte Cristo with camembert, apples, and leeks. It was really good, but fairly heavy. The person with whom I went got the eggs benedict. I did not try any in the attempts to slowly cut out animal products from my diet (if not entirely, primarily). I know, the Monte Cristo of course had eggs on it, but for now I am just trying to cut out eggs in its straight cooked form. I think I would have done the Monte Cristo a little differently in terms of the amount of egg used, at the very least. Also, before the meal, we were served Madeleines, which are delicious little cake/cookie things in the shape of shells. They are very sweet. It came with a sort of maple syrup sort of frosting in a cup? It was delicious. The wait staff was fairly pleasant, and very attentive to our meal. I really liked the ambience; it was fairly modern with a nice clean setting. We also ordered some fries to share between us. We were using a Groupon. A Groupon is a coupon you buy for a certain price that pledges another price toward the bought object or service. For instance, the price paid was 20 dollars, but it pledged 40 dollars to the meal. If you can, I would look these up for your area.

Over all, the Green Zebra was pretty good. I really liked the atmosphere and the food. I just wish there were more vegan options. I don't think a single dish, for the brunch at least, as vegan. Actually, I just read the menu again, everything has either cheese or eggs. Anyway, if you aren't vegan and have money, I suggest this for a nice brunch.

Hopefully soon I will write a new entry on an actual dish I have made. There are a couple I have made on which I would like to write, and a couple dish I would like to make on which I could write.

Pane Siciliano

So, here's another baking recipe. It is from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. Great book, get it if you enjoy baking.

I made this bread yesterday. It is pretty decent; I am not a huge fan of the crumb, I think that is primarily due to the fact that its not quite as chewy as I like it and the holes are kind of small. Then again this can be fixed by kneading longer. At least I'm pretty sure that's how. I read that the holes should be more irregular in size. Otherwise pretty good, and different than what I am used to.

This bread is not vegan in a strict sense. It has a tablespoon of honey in it, but if you're okay with that, then cool.

Instruction:

First is first, start with a pâte fermentée. I outlined this in my entry on Pain de Campagne. So check that out for the starter, pâte fermentée.

The next day when that's ready take it out of the fridge, cut it into about 10 pieces and let it sit out, covered, for an hour. This takes the chill off. Mix 8 oz. Semolina Flour, 8 oz. Bread Flour, 1 and 1/4 of Instant Yeast, 1 and 1/4 tsp of Salt. Once the pâte fermentée is ready go ahead and throw that in the bowl of the dry stuff, and then pour in 2 tbps of Olive Oil, 1 tbps of Honey, and about a 1 and 1/4 cup or so of lukewarm water. Stir this all together until it forms a ball. Okay, if it looks too dry add about a tablespoon at a time of water, until it seems sticky enough. If you haven't ever baked bread, it will be until the bread is kind of tacky, but not necessarily sticky. Don't be afraid about messing up, you can always add a little flour, plus, more will be going into this when you make a bed of flour for kneading.

Okay get ready to knead for about 10 minutes, maybe a little longer. The dough ball should be smooth and tacky, not sticky. Put it in a bowl coated with a little bit of oil (only to ease getting it out later, the recipe doesn't call for it, but if you're not used to trying not to deflate bread, then this might be a good idea). Let it hang out at room temperature for 2 hours, it should about double in size. Take it out of the bowl and cut it into 3 equal pieces. Stretch a piece out to about 2 feet or so and working at each end, roll the ends toward the middle on opposite sides of the stretched out piece. It should work together into a little S shape. Once you have made three, put them on baking sheets that have semolina flour on them, to prevent sticking, and either put them in a big food grade back, or just cover them with saran wrap. I just covered them and they came out fine. The saran wrap kind of smooshed the S look, but oh well. You're supposed to put them in the fridge, but since I have roommates, I have no fridge space for huge pans of bread. I put it in our sun room, and it being winter in Chicago in a room with no insulation, that worked just fine as a fridge.

Okay, it says to proof over night, but it also says you don't have to. If you want a more developed flavor, let them proof over night. If you don't care, don't have fridge space, or for whatever reason, I would let it proof for a couple hours at room temperature, until it about doubles in size.

Then you hearth bake the bread, which is also outlined in the Pain de Campagne post.

It should be nice and brown with a crispy crust.

As said earlier, it's a little different since the content is about half Semolina. I don't know if I have ever had a Semolina bread. It is pretty good though. I would probably make it again.

Chickpea & Quinoa Pilaf

I have made this two times in the past week. It was very good and rather easy.

So first is first, sautee a small yellow onion in a bit of olive oil (2 tbps) for about 6-7 minutes on medium area heat, not too hot though. After this add 2 cloves of minced garlic. Sautee for another 2 minutes. Some people actually do mise en place, which is nice if you're worried about something burning or maybe you're a ridiculously slow chopper/mincer, etc. Mise en place meaning having everything you need for the meal already prepared and in a place that is easily accessible. I like multi-tasking so I just mince garlic during, do whatever is easiest for you. Anyway, while that is sauteeing get ready to throw in 1 tbps of tomato paste (I just use ketchup ha, they're similar enough for me), 1 tbps coriander (the recipe says crushed, but who actually buys whole coriander seeds? I just used ground), 1/2 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp of salt, and about 1/8 of a tsp of black pepper. Throw those in when the garlic has sauteed. Mix it up a bit, it should only be in for a minute or so, then throw in the cup of quinoa. Okay, I didn't only use quinoa because first time I made it I ran out so I cut it with bulghur (bulghur is a whole grain generally made from durum wheat). This time I did the same thing because I liked it so much. I used about 1/4 cup of bulghur and 3/4 cup of quinoa. Once again do whatever you think is best. Sautee this for about 2 minutes. Heating grains brings out starch making them able to form better starchy bonds. At least that's how it works in rice, I imagine it works similarly in quinoa and bulghur. After you sautee that and mix it up a bit, add a can of drained chickpeas and about 2 cups of vegetable broth. Bring this to a boil. Once at a boil lower the heat down pretty low. I put it at a low simmer. And cook for 18-20 minutes, or whenever all the broth is gone.

This takes a little over 30 minutes so its a quick meal. It is also rather easy. The only thing really to worry about is if the heat is too high and the onions or the garlic get burnt. Otherwise it's very straightforward, quick, and good. A good pairing that I used was Lemon Garlic Broccoli. I really like a bit of lemon in a side dish paired with the quinoa.

Well, I think tomorrow I will be posting about the Pane Siciliano I have been working on. I planned to make it today but I misread and found out it has to proof again overnight....sigh.

lulz

It took awhile to do a new post despite the fact that I made the Gumbo was made like a week ago, probably longer. I have been busy doing some stuff. I finally got a job sort of? I have been meeting some new people and going out and doing stuff occasionally.

JOB
I called some Craigslist ad number and it turned out to be canvassing for Grassroots Campaigns. I am canvassing for the ASPCA, which is pretty cool. I pretty much go out and do fund raising for Grassroots Campaigns on behalf of the ASPCA. It's some small office in the Loop with a bunch of people my age. I really enjoy the work, but it is kind of hard. I have one to two more days to make 100 dollars in one day to make staff. If I don't do this, then I get let go. It is pretty difficult to get people to donate money to animals when there is a recession. At the very least I made some money, got out of the house, and met some really cool people.

STUFF
I have, in the mean time, been trying to find other jobs. I have had some interviews with places. I had a call back from a restaurant that turned out to be almost a fast food place. That was a huge let down. Hopefully I will have better luck soon. The weather here has not been as brutal as I expected. It only got less than 20 for like 2 weeks. Then again, in that 2 weeks there was a day where it was -9 degrees with wind chill. That was pretty terrible. For the most part it has stayed above 20, which is fine by me.

That is a basic catch up of what has been going on. Boring - I know.

I need to get some money and go to restaurants and talk about them in posts. Right now I have only really gone to Chicago Diner, Earwax, Sultan's, Handlebar, and a few others. Honestly, I have not been very impressed other than Sultan's. I think my next post will be about why Chicago Diner was not everything I thought it would be. Well, except for the cupcakes and milkshakes. Good Lord those were amazing.

Vegan Gumbo

So, I have been wanting to make a gumbo for awhile so a week ago I did. It was fairly decent. I had a couple of issues with the end result (not due to the recipe but rather with problems in work). Unfortunately, I started late and had something to do later in the evening, so I was rushed. A huge thing for gumbo is time. A whole lot of time. I really enjoy a more involved recipe, and this is it.

First of all, you need to make a Roux. This is a heated mix of Oil and Flour. I do not suggest using olive oil because it has a low smoking point, but if you're careful you can use it. I used regular vegetable oil, but I have read Canola or Peanut Oil are really good for this. Of course you can use butter, but it generally calls for Ghee (clarified butter), which I did not feel like making or buying. There are ways to make Ghee at home, but I won't get into that here. Anyway, you mix about 1 part Oil and 1 part Flour. For the purposes of this recipe, it's a 1/4 cup of each. I actually put a little more Flour in, I would put closer to a 1/3 of a cup. You slowly mix in a little flour at a time over low/medium heat. After it is all mixed, you heat it anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour (this estimate is based on more than one Roux recipe I have read, since it is so variable I would suggest keeping a good eye on it and stopping when you feel it is a dark brown). It needs to be a nice dark brown. Make sure the Oil isn't smoking before you mix and you need to watch this pretty carefully to make sure it does not burn. Stir a bit every couple minutes or so. I did this in the same pot in which I was going to make the soup to facilitate the process.

Once you've made your roux sauté 1 chopped Onion, 1 chopped Bell Pepper, and 1 chopped Celery rib in the Roux and 2 cloves of Garlic. Coat all the chopped ingredients in the roux and sauté until the vegetables are soft. Obviously this varies depending on the stove. Mine takes about 6-8 minutes on medium low heat. Remember, be careful not to burn this stuff, since it's a long process it's annoying to start over. Once you've done this, add a quart (4 cups) of Vegetable Stock. If you aren't vegetarian or vegan just add any stock you prefer. Also add 2 Bay Leaves, 1 tsp Thyme. 1 tsp Black Pepper, a dash of Cayenne for flavor, 1/2 pound of Okra, and half of a 15 oz. can of chopped Tomatoes. I got frozen chopped Okra, but if you can find the actual produce, by all means get it. It needs to be chopped in about 1/2 inch long pieces. Unless you like your gumbo super chunky. I also added seitan, but you can add tempeh or tofu. But you do this later in the cooking process.

Okay, let this all simmer for about 30 minutes. Then throw in the cubed Tempeh, cubed Tofu, or chopped Seitan. Simmer this for another 10-15 minutes. Serve this over some rice, and you're good to go.

When I did it, as mentioned before, I was rushed, so I only let it simmer for about 20, if that. Also, I was rushed on the Roux. So, that wasn't as dark and thick as I wanted it. The end result was still really delicious. If I did this again, I would take more time on the Roux, and I would let the soup simmer for longer. Also, I find that soup is always better the next day, or at least a couple hours later. I am not really sure why. Overall I enjoyed it. I have read that traditional Gumbo does not have Tomatoes in it though, but whatever.

Tomaticán

Tomaticán is a Chilean stew. If you like stews, or any food, that is heavily tomato, this is something you should look into. I really liked it, but the original recipe is pretty simple so I spruced it up. It is 1 whole medium onion, 28 oz. of diced or chopped tomatoes, 1 can of lima beans (drained), and 2 cups of corn. For spices: it's a 1/4 tsp. cayenne and 2 tsp. cumin. I thought two full cups of corn was a little over doing it. So, since it turned out I only had 1 cup of corn anyway, I added 1 cup of peas too. I also thought a carrot would keep with the color and flavor of the stew overall, so I added one chopped carrot too. It is really easy to make.

You sauté the onions, carrots, and cayenne in a pot. Do this until the veggies soften a bit. Add the cumin and lima beans; sauté for a couple more minutes, and stir a couple times. Add the juice from the tomatoes, and let simmer, covered, for about 5 minutes. Stir in the chopped, or diced tomatoes, the corn, and the peas. In the recipe there is cilantro, but I personally hate cilantro, so I left it out. It tastes like soap. But if you like it, add it when you add the tomatoes and it's about a 1/4 cup chopped. Cover the pot, simmer for about 10 minutes, and you're set to go.

The prep time is about 5 minutes, depending on how fast you chop, or if you have fresh tomatoes. And the cooking time I would say is about 20 minutes, so this is a pretty quick meal. I really enjoy it; it's nice and spicy. The recipe I used left out garlic? I looked online for information on the stew and other recipes had garlic and used different beans, so feel free to experiment. Since it's a stew it's pretty versatile in terms of changing up veggies. I know next time I will be using garlic in it, since I love garlic and would use it in everything if I could.

More stews will be coming as winter progresses. What can I say? It's hot and delicious. Come spring I will try and use more seasonal veggies.

Pain de Campagne

So I made a sort of easy rustic bread yesterday called pain de campagne, finishing up a two day process. I have recently found out I really enjoy baking bread, so I am going to try and do it at least once a week. Many of the breads I would make take 2-3 days.

INSTRUCTION:

On day one you make a pâte fermentée. This is a pre-ferment to give the bread more flavor. Other pre-ferments are a biga or a poolish. Poolish is more of a slack dough whereas pâte fermentée and biga are more stiff. The pâte fermentée requires equal parts bread flour and unbleached white flour (8 oz.), 3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp yeast, and 3/4 cups of room temperature water. If you haven't worked with bread before, make sure the water is actually about room temperature or near it. If it is cold water it will make the dough really stiff, and you do not want that. After you sift together the dry ingredients pour in the water and hydrate all the flour, you might need a little more water, that's fine. The recipe says to knead for 6-8 minutes. Kneading works the gluten to form bonds, if you under-knead the bread can crack and if you over-knead the bread can get too chewy. Thanks to youtube I found a pretty good instructional video on how to properly knead bread dough (How to Knead) since I imagine most people don't have a KitchenAid stand up mixer. Not to mention, I prefer to knead by hand.

After you've done this, you put it in a big bowl roll it around in a little oil, put saran wrap over the top and let it sit at room temperature for about an hour. It just need to swell to about 1 1/2 times its original size. Once you've done that, put it in the fridge until you're ready the next day.

I took mine out roughly 24 hours later, but I don't think that really matters. Cold fermenting is really slow anyway. It can stay in the fridge like that for up to 3 days. I think in the future I might do that and see if it tastes any different. Anyway, you take out the pâte fermentée and cut it into 10 pieces and let it sit, covered, for an hour, to take off the chill.

After an hour, pour into a bowl, 8 oz. bread flour, 1.5 oz. whole wheat flour, 3/4 tsp yeast, 3/4 cup of lukewarm water, and the pâte fermentée. Mix these into a course ball, sprinkle the counter with some flour, put the dough on the flour, put a little flour on your hands to prevent it sticking to you, then start kneading 8-10 minutes. It should not be very sticky, but kind of tacky. It should be soft as well. I usually do 10 minutes to be thorough, and I like a chewier bread. Once you've completed this, put it in a bowl, roll it in a little oil, and cover it for about two hours or until it doubles in size.

Once this step is complete (yea, I know it's a lot of steps) you take out the dough, and being very careful not to degas the dough cut it into 3 equal pieces. Bread Baker's Apprentice said to use a dough scraper or a serrated knife, but I used a regular santoku dipped in cold water so it wouldn't stick to the dough. Then you shape the dough, the easiest is a boule (here is another nice video illustrating how to shape a boule courtesy of youtube). Once you've done this, put the boules on some flour or parchment paper, mist them with oil (I just rubbed them with oil by hand, lightly) and cover them with saran wrap. Let them hang out like this for about an hour.

Once they have proofed for about an hour, heat the oven to 500 degrees. We will be preparing the oven for hearth baking. Put a pan in there while it heats up. Once the oven is preheated put a cup of water in the hot pan. Steam is essential for the hearth baking. I use a baking stone, but if you don't have one you can use a baking sheet. Sprinkle the baking sheet with semolina or regular flour and transfer the dough to the sheet. Stick the boules in the oven, close the door, and count to thirty, then mist the inside of the oven with some water. I have a gas oven, I don't know if this makes a difference to where you can mist. Count to thirty and do it again. After the misting, lower the temperature to 450, bake for 10 minutes, turn the sheet 180 degrees, then bake for 10-15 more minutes. The crust should be nice and golden. I would let this cool off for about an hour or so. Bread right out of the oven is such a nice smell.

Thoughts:

I really enjoy this bread. I know the task seems a little daunting at first. I mean, when I first started baking I was slightly annoyed by the idea that it took 2-3 days to bake a couple loaves of bread, but it is worth the wait. The flavor is a lot more developed and complex when you use a pre-ferment, and there is something really satisfying about the idea that you just made something that delicious. It also doesn't seem as long when you find out making a sourdough culture takes about 4 days. I have made a culture, but I sort of forgot about it...let's just say my fridge smelled like bad beer for a couple days.

I personally really enjoy the pain de campagne because I like a hard outer crust. And it is a pretty versatile bread in terms of aesthetics because it is really easy to shape. I made a fendu, and a coronne. A fendu is sort of like a short baguette, or a hoagie roll in a way. A coronne sort of looks like a big donut. There are some more shapes and patterns you can put in the bread, some are easier, some more difficult. I would really enjoy a brotform bowl for shaping and proofing my bread. It adds little lines in the bread and makes it look attractive.

This bread doesn't have big air pockets like ciabatta, it's more like a french bread sort of crumb. You can really taste the wheat come out in the flavor which is a nice change from french bread or ciabatta, or anything like that. I really enjoy this bread particularly because of that. I love wheat bread. A few pictures were taken, hopefully they will be posted soon. I am sorry in advance for looking like a bum in the pictures.

Well, hopefully this post inspired someone to go bake some bread.

Vegan Tunisian Vegetable Stew

Today I was looking in my Moosewood cookbook I got for Christmas from my sister and I came along a stew that I thought sounded pretty good. It is a Tunisian stew that is pretty hearty. I am a really big fan of soups and stews at the moment due it being winter and pretty cold in Chicago (it was 10 degrees today and I am told it is just beginning to get cold).

It doesn't take too long to make and it is rather healthy. The stew is primarily cabbage. I personally really enjoy cabbage, and since it's cheap, stays well in the fridge, and is a readily available item I try and use it fairly often. There is a Korean Cabbage Stew that I particularly enjoy, but that's another post.

Initially, overestimating the amount the cabbage would reduce (three cups of it), and not really thinking about the amount of space the chick peas would take, thought the stew wouldn't be as hearty as I normally enjoy it, and cut some potatoes. This was premature and I ended up eating that separately. The spices were a nice blend - 2 tsp coriander, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp turmeric. While it simmered it was pretty aromatic. The kitchen smelled like cinnamon, it was great. The recipe also takes cayenne, which I have been out of, so I replaced it with some paprika. It added a nice pepper flavor, but none of the kick. Next time I will have to use cayenne. The cinnamon was a nice touch, it mingled nicely with the coriander flavor. The stew is in about 28 oz of diced tomatoes, not drained, which was mostly absorbed by the vegetables. There is also a green pepper cut into thin slices (like the cabbage and onions in it). I am not normally a big fan of green pepper, but with the seasoning and the cabbage, it was a nice addition.

I am a pretty big fan of the recipe and would like to make it again, maybe with fewer chick peas and more potatoes, but then, that is quite a number of vegetables. Maybe I could leave the green pepper out? Then again, I really enjoyed the color and the flavor it added, whereas I am not sure the potatoes would bring much to the table.

I toasted some slivered almonds for the servings, but I forgot to put any on mine. Jessica put some on hers and said it was good - I should have gotten her to expound on that thought. I think the almonds would have brought a lot to the texture, considering everything in it is a rather soft vegetable, or bean.

It is a shame I didn't start my breads pre-ferment yesterday so I could have had a nice fresh baked bread with the stew. Looks like I will have to make another stew tomorrow with my bread.

Details on the bread tomorrow.

Hopefully I can use a roommates camera and get some pictures of the bread.

For starters.

Let me preface future posts with this: I am not a vegetarian. At least, I would not call myself a vegetarian. I abstain from animal products due to a personal issue with industry, production, and ecological sustainability. I do not like the idea of calling myself a vegetarian and then bailing on the commitment. So, I won't.

I do, however, pretty much only cook and bake vegetarian and vegan dishes. Many of my posts will be about food and baking (I particularly enjoy baking, though I don't do it as often). Some of my other posts will be about good things I eat and the places where I eat them. I am a pretty critical person, so often the focus of the posts will be critiquing and trying to record how I enjoyed certain aspects of these dishes.

Some of my other posts will be off topic and ridiculous. It happens.

Sooner or later I will get a camera so I can take pictures if I decide I would like to try and present my food in a fancy way.

Well, hopefully, this will be fun and people might be able to find some entertainment in my ridiculousness.

Enjoy.