polenta with pesto

September 12, 2012
by eatafood
comment 1
eggplant / kale / meals / noodles + pasta / zucchini

polenta can be cooked soft so it’s creamy or set into a shape and then cut up. in this recipe i do the latter, then fry the pieces. you can also cut it into thick strips and bake or fry it to make polenta fries. polenta is quick and super easy, the rest of this is time consuming but still easy. anything you’d eat on pasta will be good on polenta though.

 

 

POLENTA

1 c. dry polenta (corn grits)

3 1/2 c. water or broth

black pepper

bring water/broth to a boil, then add grits. stir and then reduce heat. it will spit a lot so be careful, but let it cook until it’s quite thick. lightly oil a dish and transfer the polenta to it. spread evenly and refrigerate until firm, then turn it out onto a plate and cut into whatever shape you want. fry lightly so sides are just crisp.

 

PESTO

2 bunches of basil

1/4 c. walnuts

1/4 c. pumpkin seeds

1/4 c. nutritional yeast

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp chili flakes

zest of 1 lemon, and a big squeeze of juice

olive oil as needed

salt and black pepper

in a food processor blend everything except for oil, then add it slowly in a thin stream while the processor is running. thin to desired consistency. makes a lot, freezes well.

 

THE REST

2 handfuls cherry tomatoes

1 long eggplant

2 vegan sausages (i used apple sage field roast), cut lengthwise and sliced

1 bunch of kale, veined and chopped

1/3 of a yellow zucchini, cut lengthwise and sliced

splash of white wine

cut cherry tomatoes in half as well as the eggplant. score the flesh of the eggplant in a diamond pattern. coat it all with a bit of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. roast on a baking sheet at 375, flipping once until browned.

in a pan heat oil and fry the zucchini slices until browed on both sides. remove from pan. sauté the sausage until it gets some colour, then throw in the kale until it just starts to wilt. deglaze with white wine.

 

ASSEMBLY

put everything on the polenta and eat it.

 

* i also ate polenta with the leftovers from the ravioli filling cooked with a bit of broth just to make it runny.

it looked like this

warm salad with potatoes, mushrooms, summer squash, avocado and sausage

September 7, 2012
by eatafood
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greens / meals / mushrooms / potato / salad / salads / squash / tasty trash

this is the first MEAL meal that i’ve cooked in my new house so i’m pretty pleased with myself.

until now there was a lot of this:

 

this was a weird meal. i didn’t know if it would pan out but the results were tasty results. i wanted a trashy potato thing but also needed vegetables so this was the compromise.

 

 

THE SALAD

2 handfuls arugula

2 handfuls baby spinach

1 carrot sliced as thin as you can

1/2 patty pan squash (those scalloped UFO looking guys), sliced really thin

1/2 avocado, diced

2 big scallions, sliced thin

8 basil leaves, chopped

1 tsp seed mustard

3 tbsp olive oil

zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

mix all the vegetables and greens in a bowl. combine mustard, oil, yeast, lemon and zest to make a dressing for your salad. dress lightly.

POTATOES

10 nugget potatoes

oil

salt and pepper

a generous sprinkling of nutritional yeast

preheat oven to 350. slice your potatoes into medallions and spread out on a baking sheet. drizzle with oil, season and nutritional yeast. bake in a single layer until crisp (flip them halfway), about 15-20 minutes.

MUSHROOM HOT COMPONENT

8 crimini mushrooms, sliced

1 vegan sausage (i used field roast apple sage sausages), halved and sliced

2 green tomatoes, sliced

3 cloves garlic

a sprinkle of daiya cheese

oil

heat oil in a pan and sauté mushrooms with a bit of salt. once they are nicely cooked add the sausages so they start to brown, then the tomatoes and garlic until just softened. sprinkle cheese just so it melts.

ASSEMBLY

put down a generous pile of salad, top with some potato slices, then top with the hot mushroom/sausage/green tomato.

 

MUSHROOM, SAGE, WALNUT, KALE, WHITE BEAN RAVIOLI

August 27, 2012
by eatafood
comments 2
beans / kale / meals / mushrooms / noodles + pasta / nuts

here’s how to make vegan ravioli from scratch!

it takes time…this is not a quick recipe but it’s also not terribly hard. so if you have people sitting around in your kitchen to chat with while you cook, or get some extra hands in, it’s not so bad.

makes a ton, i would freeze half as a reward for your labour. if you don’t want so much just halve everything. it will still be a bunch.

PASTA

2 c. white flour

2 c. semolina flour

1-1 1/2 c. warm water

a glurg of olive oil

pinch of salt

sift dry ingredients together and make a weel in the centre. slowly pour in the water and stir, pulling the flour into the centre of the well. knead on  a floured surface until it’s smooooooth and then let it sit for a while, in a bowl covered with a damp towel.

FILLING

3/4 full paperbag of mushrooms, crimini if you can (or some crimini), sliced

1/2 c. walnuts

1/3 c. kalmata olives

a bunch of basil

10 sage leaves

1/2 bunch of kale, spined and chopped a bit

1/2 c. nutritional yeast

a big glurg balsamic vinegar

a small can canellini beans, drained

BIG pinch of chili flakes

half a head of garlic

lots of black garlic

big pinch of salt

olive oil to moisten if needed

I did this in a food processor, heads up. First sauté the mushrooms until they are nicely browned. then put EVERYTHING in the food processor and pulse until evenly chopped. you might need to stop it and stir around a few times. you can make this ahead of time, also freezes well btw.

if you don’t have a food processor, you can just chop everything as small as you can but it will be time consuming.

ASSEMBLY

generously flour a clean countertop and keep more on hand. deal with the dough in thirds and keep the rest covered while not in use.

roll out your dough nice and thin, making sure it’s even. you want it thin but not so thin it will tear. turn it around and flip it, sprinkling with more flour as needed. if you have a round cookie cutter you could use that, i don’t so i used a jar (these are big raviolis, i used a mason jar). cut out circles in the dough leaving as little room between them as possible.

once you have your circles spoon the filling into the centre of half of them, making sure not to have any of the edges (they won’t seal if they’re greasy or have food in the way). brush the edges all the way around with water and then top them with the other half of your circles, pressing down the edges gently. brush with more water if needed. then use a fork and go around the edges to make sure they’re sealed (and it looks nice). put them aside on a floured board or baking pan*.  gather remaining dough and roll out again. then repeat with your 2 reserved dough balls.

when you’re ready to cook them have a big pot of boiling water ready with a bit of salt. gently put them pasta in and cook for about 5-8 minutes depending how many you put in the water at once. remove with a slotted spoon and continue cooking your remaining raviolis.

to serve i pan fried them with lots of garlic and fresh sage in olive oil with a bit of white wine to deglaze and some nutritional yeast. finish with black pepper. TASTY TIMES.

*if you want to freeze them, let them dry a bit (just so they aren’t sticky) on the pan, then freeze them flat. once frozen you can put them in a container all together to cook later.

ICE CREAM CAKE

August 23, 2012
by eatafood
comments 2
desserts / mango / more / nuts / tasty trash

believe it! strawberry mango almond ice cream cake!

this was my first stab at ice cream cake and i think it turned out pretty well, i wanted to make a birthday cake i’d never made and was guessing my way through it. i will warn you that it does take quite a while to make, but it’s not active time. you just have to wait in between layers for it to freeze all the way, so you have to pop into the kitchen every couple hours for 5 minutes. worth it! i didn’t make the ice cream itself, but i do doctor it a bit (see recipe). if you have a food processor or a strong blender this cake will be a breeze.

ICE CREAM CAKE

1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs

1/4 c. cashews

1/3 c. walnuts

3 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted

1 tsp vanilla

a good drizzle of agave

1/4 c. almond butter

3 tbsp melted margarine

2 pints soy or coconut ice cream (1 vanilla, 1 of your choosing, i used one that was vanilla with marbly caramel)

1 mango, peeled pitted and cut into chunks

almost a whole basket of strawberries, topped and cut in half (roughly 15 small ones?)

1/3 c. sliced almonds, toasted (chopped candied nuts would work really well here)

THE CRUST
in a food processor combine walnuts, cashews, graham crackers, cocoa, vanilla, agave and almond butter. pulse until evenly chopped with some texture remaining. press into the bottom of a springform pan and make sure you have it spread out really evenly. bake at 350 for 15 minutes then cool COMPLETELY in the pan.

*if you dont’ have a food processor just chop the nuts as finely as you can by hand and mix the rest in a bowl.

THE FILLINGS

1- while your crust is cooling, take out your flavour-of-choice ice cream and let it soften up on the counter quite a bit. once your crust is cool and your ice cream is soft, spread it evenly over the crust in a single layer trying to get it as smooth as possible. wipe any excess that might have spread up the sides of the pan. freeze until hard.

2- take half of the vanilla ice cream and blend with an entire mango until smooth and all the fruit is incorporated.

*if you don’t have a food processor, chop up the mango into a big mess as close to a puree as you can get  (mash it after you chop it even) and mix it with VERY WELL SOFTENED ice cream by hand. Once layer 1 is frozen solid, spread this mango layer evenly over top as you did with layer 1 . sprinkle sliced almonds even over the surface and then freeze until hard.

3- with the remaining half of vanilla ice cream, blend it with the strawberries until evenly incorporated. once layer 2 is frozen, spread this strawberry layer over top of and this time take extra care the make the top look smooth and even since this is the top of your cake. freeze it!

Once your whole cake is frozen, run a knife around the edges and release it from the springform pan. i would let it sit out for 10 minutes to soften so it can be served (keep an eye depending how hot it is where you are). DONE DEAL! TASTY TIMES!