When the kitchen and I become one…
Posted by Celine on March 22, 2008
what I’ve done the last few days:
- the community that my friend Kristi is maintaining [and invited me to maintain too] is getting to be quite busy these days: so why don’t you come on over and check out what vegans eat on a normal day? even better, join in on the fun and let us know what you like to munch on too. [fyi, I am chose on LiveJournal but barely ever update my personal journal anymore.]
- raw brownies: absolutely stunning. move over, Larabars and other raw bars. this stuff is seriously addictive. although I might add a touch less dates next time, as mine were moister than what I’m guessing the genius-behind-the-recipe’s were.
- what’s cooking now? this, but evidently without meat in it, I used 1 big chopped seitan sausage instead. you could totally use vegan beef-flavored strips, like the ones that can be found at Trader Joe’s.
grabbing a big pot, I started cooking a whole big onion in 2 T of olive oil, along with about 4 garlic cloves that were roasted yesterday for the tapenade. I added the chopped seitan (let it brown a little), then threw in the whole prunes, canned tomatoes w/juice, wine, vinegar, prune juice, herbs and let it all simmered for 25 minutes, and then without a lid until the juices evaporated a bit and the whole thickened up a little. this’ll be served with potatoes…mashed? roasted? plain? we’ll see. needless to say it smells crazy good in here right now.
(I have plans for what’s left of the prune juice…more on that later.)
- roasted asparagus tapenade, from the latest Vegetarian Times issue. I’ve tried finding the recipe online, but I can’t seem to locate it. so here it is, from memory.
Roasted Asparagus Tapenade, from Vegetarian Times
1 pound green asparagus
1/4 cup raw pine nuts
1 small head garlic [but I only used 4 HUGE ones, and it was garlicky enough for me]
2 T extra virgin olive oil
zest and juice of 1 lemon
sea salt
freshly ground white pepper
preheat oven to 375F.
prepare your asparagus, place them in a baking dish. cover with olive oil and salt [to taste], toss to cover.
cut the top of your garlic head, cover uniformly with 1 t of oil, tightly wrap in foil. place in baking dish next to asparagus.
place baking dish in oven for 20 minutes [for asparagi] and 40 minutes in all [for garlic], tossing the asparagi once during cooking time to ensure uniform roasting. remove asparagi after allotted time, leave garlic in.
roast pine nuts in a small pan on medium heat, moving them constantly to not let them burn. remove from heat once they are golden brown.
place asparagi, pine nuts, garlic, 1 T of juice, salt and pepper to taste in food processor. process until smooth. enjoy on delicious fresh bread!
- whole wheat germ bread. I posted a similar recipe before, but this one was made entirely with whole wheat, by hand, and came out perfect. so I’m posting it again, ha!
Whole Wheat Germ Bread
for a 1 1/2 pound loaf or 12 slices…
1 1/4 cup pure water [heated to lukewarm]
2 T soft margarine
3 cups white whole wheat flour [add 4 t vital wheat gluten to one of the measuring cups, top with flour. remember to lightly spoon flour, not scoop it.] sidenote: you will need more flour to obtain proper texture, and for kneading!
3 T raw wheat germ
2 T soy milk powder
2 T sugar in the raw
1 1/2 t sea salt
2 t bread machine yeast or instant yeast
in your stand mixer bowl, if you have one [use hands otherwise!], throw all ingredients and start kneading with the dough hook, for a few minutes.
place dough on clean, lightly floured surface and keep on kneading by hand until the dough is smooth, pliable, and not too sticky. be sure to add flour in if it sticks to the surface, but don’t go overboard since you don’t want it too become too dry either! this should take about 5 minutes. I think I added about 1/2-3/4 more cups in all.
place dough in a large, lightly oil-coated bowl and swirl it around to cover with oil so that it doesn’t dry up. cover with lid or plastic wrap, let rise in a warm, draft-free area for 90 minutes.
prepare an 8-inch loaf pan with non stick cooking spray. punch dough down with your knuckles, place it on a clean surface and lightly knead it a couple of times. shape into loaf, place into pan. cover with plastic wrap and let rise again in same warm place for another hour.
20 minutes [or so] prior to baking, preheat your oven to 375F. your bread is ready when it rises about 1-2 inches above pan. remove plastic wrap and bake for 30-35 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer reads a temperature of 195F-200F.
remove from pan and let cool [completely] on a rack before slicing.
March 22, 2008 at 5:30 pm
[...] Whole Wheat Germ Bread Coconut Cream Bread (Green Pea) Hummus Bread Molasses Spelt Bread Rolls Salsa Bread Rolls Maple-Oatmeal Sandwich Bread Tahini Bread No Marg, No Sugar Whole Wheat Bread Whole Wheat Bread Sauerkraut Rye Bread Baguette Oatmeal Bundle O’Carbs Dark Rye Whole Wheat Bread Kamut Bread Peanut Butter Bagels Pumpkin Bagels Pesto Bread and Spelt Pesto Bread Agave Bran Bread Oatmeal Beer Bread Beer Ballons Shake Your Bun-Bun Whole Wheat Oatmeal Bread Italian Herbs Bread Whole Wheat Rye Bread Currant Oatmeal Bread Peanut Butter Bread Granola Bread Potato Walnut Bread Half and Half Germy Bread Pumpkin Whole Wheat Bread Quick Rise Potato Bread Beer Bread (no yeast) [...]
March 22, 2008 at 8:49 pm
So many yummy foods! I like the look of those raw brownies, I bet they’re great.
The community looks cool. I created a LJ a looong time ago but never really used it, maybe I should start doing that!
March 22, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Glad you loved the brownies. Aren’t they absolutely delicious???
March 22, 2008 at 11:58 pm
you’ve been busy in the kitchen, eh? i’ve love to try making some raw brownies! since i saw the photo on your flickr, i just wanted to know how you created this goodness. thank you for the recipe!
March 23, 2008 at 1:52 am
At your insistence, I just joined the community! I never update my lj, I just use it to read my blog feed thing but maybe this will inspire me to.
I’ve been meaning to try a raw dessert, these brownies sound like the way to go! I also have a bunch of asparagus in the fridge, perhaps it will become that delcious looking tapenade!
March 23, 2008 at 2:03 pm
I might have to join that LJ community- I never knew you were an admin for it! I peek at it all the time, but never took the plunge to join. (can you tell I’m a pretty slow LJ user in general??)
March 23, 2008 at 3:49 pm
it’s fairly recent that Kristi offered to have me an admin too, so don’t beat yourself up for not noticing miss B. and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a “slow LJ user”, quite the contrary actually. join us!
Ash: I’m so happy you joined! I hope you’ll post some day, but no pressure.
March 23, 2008 at 5:57 pm
joined! I still don’t know how to post anything in LJ yet though, so my “just voyeurism” days will continue…
March 23, 2008 at 7:42 pm
yay, Bazu!! voyeurism’s all good. if you ever need help figuring LJ stuff out, holler at me. ça fait (trop) longtemps que j’use mes fonds de culottes sur les bancs de ce site. ;)
March 24, 2008 at 1:29 pm
I’m wondering how the bread turned out? I’ve been semi-obsessed with making a 100% whole wheat bread the past few weeks. My goal is the ultimate whole wheat dark chocolate bread. I’ve alreayd made a first attempt and it was pretty good, but I’d like to experiment a bit more.
The wheat germ sounds like a great addition for a nice nutty flavor. I read somewhere that with whole wheat flour you should add 1T gluten for each cup of flour to help it rise. I used whole wheat pastry flour because I had so much of it but it is a lower gluten flour so I certainly used a full tablespoon for each cup. But in your experience, 4t for 3 or more cups of flour is sufficient? What’s the consistency of the bread? Like an airy french roll or a fairly dense loaf overall?
- The Peanut Butter Boy
March 24, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Nick: the bread turned out mighty tasty! I hope you get to have the bread of your dreams soon. :)
I’ve always had luck adding only 4 t per loaf of bread, so I haven’t followed the idea of 1 T gluten per cup of flour.
this bread’s rather dense, by the way, not airy like a french roll. have you try the no-knead bread recipe yet? the jim lahey or some such name? it’s definitely the best if you want airy.
March 25, 2008 at 1:36 am
This picture is gorgeous, Celine! It looks like it belongs in Bon Appetite!
March 26, 2008 at 6:33 am
yum yum yum. perfect picture, perfect food. come be my personal chef, c, will you? i can’t pay much, but promise to be mighty appreciative. ;)
March 30, 2008 at 12:47 pm
[...] needs yet another chocolate cupcake recipe, right? well you see, I had to buy prune juice for another recipe, and just like the coconut cream from the other week, I now have to “get rid of it” any [...]