Mango-Lime Sticky Rice (V)

This is one of The Wife's Favorite desserts. She is the dessert maker in our house, but this one is mine...all mine. Um, well I think that some credit goes to Jasmine Thai restaurant on Cooper in Memphis, TN. We get it there all of the time. This is a good fake though, and it is so simple. 

1 cup of jasmine rice

2 cups water

1 lime

1/2 cup sugar

3 mangos (large dice)

pinch of salt

The rice, water, salt, and 1/4 cup of the sugar go into a pot along with the zest from the lime. Cooked covered for 20 minutes. Make a syrup from the juice of the lime and the remaining sugar. Serve diced cold mangos along side the warm sweet rice. Drizzle the whole thing with the syrup. You'll thank me. Just don't try to eat it with chopsticks. It is impossible. Trust me.

Champagne & Mushroom Soup in a Roasted Garlic Broth

We made this soul-warming soup for my mother-in-law's birthday tonight. I had originally suggested french onion, but she said that she is not a fan. I can understand, that is a lot of onions. So I put my thinking cap on and decided that I would use the same technique, but use exotic mushrooms instead of onions. I went to the new Whole Foods Market and picked up cremini, shittake, chanterelle, and hen of the woods mushrooms. They even had a few mushrooms that I have never tasted, but I decided that those were for another day. Gather these ingredients and follow me into the kitchen:

2 small heads of garlic (wrapped in foil and roasted in the oven)

5-6 cups of mixed mushrooms (washed and sliced)

3 tablespoons butter

1 loaf of crusty sourdough bread (cut into rounds)

1/2 onion (roughly chopped)

2 vegetable bullion cubes (no salt added)

2 cups champagne

2 cups water

2 cups of gruyere cheese (shredded)

salt, pepper, and fresh parsley for garnish

The mushrooms, onions, and butter go into a soup pot and cook covered on low for about 45 minutes. The mushrooms will become soft and delicious. Add the champagne and reduce until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add water, bullion, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook on low for another 20 minutes. Ladle into a bowl, place crouton on top and smother in cheese. Place under the broiler until cheese is bubbling and brown. Wait. We would not want you to burn your mouth. ok now eat. For dessert you should make cute little blackberry and raspberry tarts like my wife did. 

Suzanne Burks

I received some overwhelmingly sad news on Sunday. My mother, Suzanne Burks, was killed in a car accident south of Jackson in Hazelhurst, MS. My Dad, who was in the car with her, survived.

She was not much for computers, but she loved to look at my blog. To hear her talk about it you'd think I had my own show on the Food Network. She was proud of each and every thing that I did. I hope each and every one of you has someone in your life like Suzanne.

For those who knew her I need not explain how wonderful she was. For the few who did not know her, all I can say is that she was the most beautiful person in the whole world. "The best ever," as she would say. I could not count the number of lives she touched. She will be missed so much.

There will be a funeral service at Hope Pres (8500 Walnut Grove Rd.) Thursday at 1:00pm. Visitation will start at 11:30. She will be buried at Memorial Park Following the service.

Please keep my family in your prayers,

Justin

Chorizo Stuffed Mini-Bell Peppers

This is the simplest thing ever -- and it is delicious. Sure, it looks fancy, but it takes very little hands-on time in the kitchen. The key is the Field Roast "Mexican Chipotle" sausages. They are so spicy and delicious that you really don't need to add any other spices to the dish. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and gather these simple ingredients:

Olive oil

6 small green bell peppers (tops cut off and seeds removed)

2 Field Roast "Mexican Chipotle" sausages (crumbled)

1/2 white onion (diced)

1/2 can of corn (drained)

1/2 can of black beans (drained)

1 can of fire-roasted tomatoes (diced)

Cilantro, cheese, spring onions for garnish

In a large pan saute the sausage and onion until browned. Add the tomatoes, beans, and corn to the pan, and mix until all ingredients are incorporated. Spoon the mixture into the mini bell peppers and place into a baking dish. Cover and bake 30-45 minutes depending on how soft you like your bell peppers. Garnish with cheese, onion, and cilantro, and then serve with a simple quesadilla and rice. At The Wife's dreamy, Austin-esque request, I put banana slices on top of the rice. I was skeptical to say the least, but it was really good. They take on a very avocado-like quality when served with savory foods. Who knew? Not TCV, that is for sure.

The Wife Eats Austin, TX

I loved visiting Austin, Texas this week. My sister moved there this summer, and I have been meaning to go for a while. Of course I had to try what Austin had to offer vegetarians so that I could give you the full report! After the really brief plane ride (which was less than 2 hours but seemed longer since the loquacious stranger sitting next to me kept asking me how I liked my book and where I went to college and what I was going to do in Texas -- sheesh), we stopped at Curras, the most popular Mexican restaurant in town. We got enchiladas with molé sauce, and get this: bananas were in the rice. At Curras the molé was super dark and smoky with a little bit of sweetness, and it reminded me that I have to get TCV to make this for us soon. Lord knows he has enough dried peppers and know-how to make this happen. And bananas with the rice? Weird, but somehow it's complementary, so we have to try that, too. How fun is it to see my family and share a great meal, just getting to talk and laugh and misbehave with my sassy little niece at the table! That first day alone just made my whole autumn.That night we had to buy a new air mattress after the last one had permanently deflated, it was rumored, due to some mysterious three-year-old using it as a makeshift trampoline. At the only big box store that was open late, we also found mangoes and limes for the sticky rice dish I wanted to make for everyone.

I was on my own on Thursday when my sister had to work for a few hours. She felt terrible dropping me off on South Congress for a day by myself, but I was fine with it because I love an adventure along with having a big chunk of time to meander alone in a strange new city. I jumped out of the car and started my day on her recommendation at Jo's, a little coffee shack which already had lots of people milling around out front. I ordered a huge latté and a cherry orange muffin and sat at a communal table to text everyone else in my family and to read offhandedly. The book Kelly gave me before the trip was so good that I plowed through 150 pages before I knew it and then decided it was time to explore. The South Congress area is a place my 16-year-old self would have loved, and you know, I am not that different  of a self 15 years later, so it was a blast. There was a bizzare-o candy store Hunter would have loved (I passed up the dark chocolate bacon, but just barely), wacky antique markets, vintage everything, and a really nice restaurant called Enoteca Vespaio. I didn't mind eating by myself; I think it's kind of funny to gauge other people's reactions to it. They sat me at the bar and I just looked around and thought about what I would say about the place. It is kind of like a place that caters to people my age, but it would seem really hip to people my parents' age. I ordered the spinach salad with fire-roasted red peppers, radicchio, creamy gorgonzola, mushrooms, and one dense, square crouton that was exactly like, of all things, a cheese straw. I also had the sugar pie butternut squash gnocchi with sage butter and parmigiano-reggiano cheese, which was doing the backstroke in butter. I actually had to tap it on the side of the plate to assauge my conscience. Since my sister and I discovered via her scale that I have lost 15 pounds since she last saw me in early July (yay, running and moderation!), well, I think about these things now, and I used her trick of just eating half of my entreé since it was just okay. I had to get some 35 cent almond-cornmeal cookies on my way out, though. I make every exception for dessert. I looked across the street and saw Hey, Cupcake, the adorable Airstream trailer with a rotating pink cupcake atop it and knew we would have to rendezvous another day.

On my last full day, we decided to cook like crazy. We went to the 'world headquarters' of Whole Foods Market in downtown Austin for lunch and to shop for dinner. Nothing could prepare me for this. There. Were. Escalators. There were so many options for lunch that I just chose some African stew and fried plantains and agua fresca before we headed up to the vast rooftop deck to eat. My sister only shops there once a week, and I understand why. There are so many specialized sections, and the store is buzzing with so many people on sensory overload that it can be exhausting. For TCV, I found blue cornmeal, roasted chili-lime cashews, and freshly ground chocolate peanut butter. My sis got the ingredients for pizza. That afternoon, she made the dough with half unbleached flour / half whole wheat. Her neighbor offered us some french tarragon from her garden (that's how sweet the neighbors are in Travis Heights - the same woman brought us homemade chili the day before), and Linnie taught me how to make a tarragon-parsley pesto. She put that along with sliced peaches and roasted almonds on one pizza and then made a traditional mozzarella, mushroom, and pepperoni one as well. Really good with the Mark West pinot we chose for the occasion. It was in the cards to drop by Hey, Cupcake later that night, and we had the Standard, the Vanilla Dream, and the Michael Jackson. I must say that after having Verité cupcakes in Seattle this summer and Hey, Cupcake ones this week, our own Muddy Bake Shop cupcakes still win my national cupcake challenge for 2008. If you have not been to Muddy's (in the Sanderlin Center way behind Clark Tower), you are doing a disservice to yourself and to the City of Memphis. I am dead serious. Hey, Cupcake's Airstream-and-Christmas-lights atmosphere is picturesque, and I do give them a few points for an adorable experience.

The last day, my mangoes were finally ripe, and so we had the mango-lime sticky rice for breakfast. At my repeated and feverish requests, TCV developed the recipe for me after we tried this dessert at Jasmine, that great Thai restaurant in Midtown. My niece loved the dish, so I have a feeling that she will be asking for it again, too. I hated to leave my girls back in Austin, but we are already planning to reunite back here in town very, very soon.

Goat Cheese and Carrot Stuffed Morel Mushrooms on Radicchio and Basil Pasta

The Wife and I have a piece in the new Edible Memphis called "Beyond the button." In the Story The wife struggles with her curiosity and repulsion of our favorite edible fungus. TCV contributes photos and recipes. Go get it. IN the meantime, make this delicious mushroom pasta.

For the stuffed morels:

8-10 large fresh morel mushrooms

4 oz. goat cheese

1 large carrot (peeled)

pinch of lemon zest

1 small clove of garlic

olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

 

Rinse and dry morels. Boil carrot and garlic clove until soft (about 10 minutes). Combine carrot, goat cheese, and lemon zest in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Transfer mixture to a pastry bag. Pipe goat cheese mixture into the morels and then brush the outside of the mushrooms with olive oil. Season with salt & pepper and place in an oven set to low heat until ready to serve.

 

For the pasta:

6 ounces or capellini pasta (cooked according to package instructions)

2 tablespoons butter

1 large shallot

1 cup white wine

1 head of radicchio (shredded)

1/2 cup of basil (chiffonade)

salt & pepper to taste

 

Cook shallot in butter until translucent. Add white wine and reduce. Toss cooked pasta in the shallot, butter, and wine mixture. If it looks a bit dry, add some pasta water. Portion pasta on to a plate and then sprinkle it with raddichio and basil. Top the pasta with the stuffed mushrooms and a basil leaf.

Tomato & Leek Confit

All right, my vegan friends, plug your ears and cover your eyes, 'cause I'm about to say something you're not gonna like. There is no substitution for real butter. I'm not talking about the fatty, flavorless sticks that you find at most supermarkets. I'm talking about Plugra, a European-style butter that has an intoxicating aroma and a delicate flavor. It has the power to transform the simplest ingredients into mouth-watering masterpieces.

This morning my friend Kelly and I went for a 5.5-mile run around East Memphis, then joined The Wife and Michael for brunch in our backyard. Michael brought bottle of Prosecco that he mixed with a homemade raspberry syrup which turned the bubbly a beautiful shade of magenta. It was so much fun. The weather was beautiful, and our dogs provided plenty of Wrestlemania-style entertainment. For our meal we had thyme & rosemary scented potatoes (thanks, Michael), homemade mushroom-sage sausage, and cheese grits topped with a fried egg and tomato-leek confit...which brings me back to the butter. 

I'm new to this whole confit thing. I was not even sure what it was until I read about it in Gourmet magazine a few months ago. I did not believe you could confit anything without duck fat, but then I discovered you could do it with Plugra. Thus began my adventure. I have been messing around with recipes since my discovery and have found that an unfussy mix of leeks, tomatoes, Plugra, and time simply can not be beat. Do this:

7 campari tomatoes (peeled)

1 leek (thinly sliced and washed)

2 tablespoons of unsalted Plugra

Everything goes into a pan on the stovetop. Simmer while covered on low for an hour. Remove the lid and raise the temperature to medium. Reduce until thickened. Serve over eggs or potatoes or anything you want to become more delicious.

Vegetable & Rice Noodle Soup in a Ginger & Garlic Broth

This hearty noodle soup is a staple in my house. It is as fast as making grilled cheese, but it is packed with good-for-you vegetables. TCV has no problem putting away an entire bowl full of this aromatic soup at lunch or dinner. You will need:

2 cups of water

a handful of rice noodles

2 cloves of garlic

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger

1 rib of celery (sliced on the bias)

1 carrot (halved lengthwise & sliced)

5 small mushrooms (halved & sliced)

chives

cilantro

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

soy sauce or braggs

1 cube of no-salt-added vegetable bullion

3 ounces of seitan

In a pan over high heat, dissolve the bullion into the water, then grate in the ginger and garlic using a microplane. Add a few dashes of braggs and give it a taste. Adjust the seasoning to your liking.  Add the vegetables and the seitan, and then allow to cook for a few minutes until the carrots begin to become tender. At this point add the oil and the noodles. The noodles will generally cook in two to three minutes, but check the package instructions to make sure. Dump the soup into a big bowl and garnish with chopped cilantro and chives. I like to start eating this dish with chop sticks and end by slurping the broth right out of the bowl. Feel free to add any vegetables to this soup that you have lying around. I make it a little different every time.Broccoli, kale, spinach, or edamame would all make terrific additions to this dish. 

Spinach & Goat-Cheese Phyllo Rolls with Balsamic Marinated Tomatoes

This beautiful dish is easy and fast, however the colorful presentation makes it look like you spent hours in the kitchen. The contrast of the crunchy phyllo and the creamy spinach filling are a perfect complement to the tart tomatoes and bright parsley. You can serve this as an appetizer as I did here, or as a main course with a nice greek salad or rosemary-scented potatoes. You will need the following:

4-5 sheets of phyllo dough

3-4 cups loose packed fresh spinach leaves

1/2 cup fresh curly parsley more for garnish

2-3 oz of goat cheese

1 egg

2 cups grape tomatoes (halved)

balsamic vinegar

olive oil

salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Marinate the tomato halves in a mixture of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Place the spinach and parsley into a food processor, and then pulse until finely chopped. Add the egg and pulse a few more times until incorporated. Lay the phyllo dough flat onto an oiled baking sheet and spread the spinach mixture across the top third of the dough. Crumble the cheese evenly over the spinach. Loosely roll the dough into a log. With a sharp knife, slice the log into one-inch sections, and then place upright on the baking sheet. This process is nearly the same as making sushi. Brush the rolls with olive oil, and then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place rolls into the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the dough is golden in color. Transfer spinach rolls to a plate, garnish with tomatoes and chopped parsley.

Smoked Almond & Arugula Pesto with Danish Blue Cheese on Toast

Starving after working on getting my new downtown photo studio ready for a shoot, I stop into the BP on Riverside Drive and scour the racks of junk food for something that looks even remotely edible. I spot a small package of smoked almonds. I had never thought much of smoked almonds, but since I have become newly fascinated with smoky flavors, I decided to give them another try. It was a revelation. Crunchy, smoky, salty -- like BACON. My mind began to wander thinking about all of the things I could create with these little smoky beauties. I'd love to make a pasta carbonara with them, but first I had to try a smoked almond and arugula pesto:

2 1/2 cups loosely packed arugula leaves

1/2 cup smoked almonds

olive oil

Everything goes into a mini-prep and is blended. I like to pulse the machine so that the mixture does not turn to mush.

We kicked off the weekend with a drink and a face full of this delicious pesto served with danish-blue cheese on toast. I think it would also make a great sandwich on thick-sliced bread with some heirloom tomatoes and blue cheese or tossed with a favorite pasta. 

After this, we headed downtown to the recently-reopened Five Spot for dinner. Murphy serves up a delicious vegan pasta primavera for $12 and the house dressing is a lemon-ginger concoction that is not to be missed. There is also plenty of other great stuff for any of your meat-eating companions, so drop by there soon. 

Pineapple "Cheese" Cake from How It All Vegan (V)

I, The Wife, have not made dessert for TCV and me in about two months, but this week, I am back into it with a vengeance. This weekend, it started with chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting (with dutch process cocoa - a must-have at our house) for Michael's b-day. Today it is the vegan "cheesecake" from Tanya and Sarah of How It All Vegan fame. This cookbook is well-loved with pages falling out, notes here and there, and favorite recipes starred. Can you imagine that this really tastes like cheesecake? However, it is not out to kill you like civilian cheesecake; with silken and regular tofu, blended pineapple, and lemon zest as the main ingredients, it might actually benefit your health instead. It makes us fondly remember that year we were vegan and start to think we really should bake this way more often. 

Pineapple "Cheese" Cake 

(adapted from How It All Vegan)

1 pkg. silken tofu

1/2 pkg. medium tofu

lemon zest from one lemon

juice from same lemon

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp. canola oil

2 tbsp. vanilla

dash of salt

1 cup pineapple, finely chopped

Mix all except pineapple in food processor. Pour into mixing bowl. Blend pineapple and then add it to rest of mix. 

Graham Cracker Crust

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 tbsp. oil

2 tbsp. water

dash of salt

Add wet ingredients to dry a bit at a time and stir as you go. Press into bottom of a springfrom pan and pour in cheesecake filling. Bake cake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes until firm. Let cool and refrigerate before serving. 

Fun with Potatoes

Oven-baked cheesy potato logsMini red-potato & horseradish latkes with mexican creamaYam chips with homemade blue cheese dressing

I found these photos of sides and snacks made from potatoes, so I decided to share them with you. You may never look at a boring old potato the same way again. 

Easy Ponzu Stir-Fried Veggies (V)

I needed a quick veggie fix this afternoon. Believe me when I tell you that I had no time to be cooking, but I was able to whip up this batch of veggies and rice in no time at all thanks to my new friend ponzu. Ponzu is a citrus-tinged soy sauce that makes everything it touches delicious. I chopped some carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, purple cabbage, a few small sweet peppers from the farmer's market, and celery, and then added some sweet peas to the mix. I poured 3 tablespoons of sesame oil into a pan and allowed it to get hot. I tossed my veggies in the oil, and then added 2 tablespoons of ponzu. When my veggies were just about done, I threw in a cup or two of cooked rice. I transfered the rice and veggies mix to a plate and toped with chopped spring onions. It is better than take-out and much better for you.

Two Tarts Eat as One

Sorry, I could not resist -- again. It's just too much fun to pun. Well, if that is annoying, then ignore it. What you see is really a leek and king oyster mushroom confit tart with lemon-goat cheese along with an arugula and basil pesto tart with heirloom tomatoes and parmesan cheese. Today was the last day of the Whitton Farms summer CSA, and I got majorly inspired by what was in my bag this week. Thank you, Keith and Jill!

The Wife's tart dough:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup vegetable/canola oil blend

1 cup of ice water

1 generous pinch of sea salt

Throw it all together, stir, and add extra flour to coat and to lessen the stickiness if needed. Roll it on out and let TCV deal with the rest of the prep work himself while you catch up on The Hills, the greatest scripted comedy in television history. 

For the leek and king oyster mushroom confit tart with lemon-goat cheese:

2 leeks (washed and cut into 1/4-inch disks)

2 medium king oyster mushrooms (cut into 1/4-inch disks)

2 tablespoons butter

2 ounces of lemon goat cheese

1/2 cup white wine

Melt butter in a large pot and then add the mushrooms and the leeks. Cover and allow to cook over low heat for about 30 minutes. Remove lid and add wine; allow to reduce. Spread thinly on 12-inch tart crust and crumble goat cheese on top.

For the arugula and basil pesto tart with heirloom tomatoes and parmesan:

2 cups arugula leaves

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/8 cup olive oil

1 thinly sliced heirloom tomato

1/2 cup shaved parmesan

Combine pine nuts, arugula, basil, and olive oil in a mini-prep. Next, spread mixture on 12-inch tart crust. Top prettily with tomatoes and parmesan.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, and then brush with an egg wash. Return pan to oven for 5 minutes. Remove and serve warm. 

Seitan's Hell Fire Hot Wings with Yogurt & Blue Cheese Dressing

I don't usually go for the cutesie names, but seitan's hell fire was too easy to pass up. These wings, made with TCV's homemade seitan recipe, were delicious. The Wife and I nearly wrestled each other over the last wing. I let her win. These things will set you on fire...um in a good way. I used Frank's Red Hot sauce because that is the classic hot wing sauce. Here is how I did it:

2 homemade seitan cutlets (sliced into strips)

10 bamboo skewers

1 cup of flour (for dredging)

1 small bottle of Frank's hot sauce

2 tablespoons of butter

olive oil

Slide the seitan strips onto the bamboo skewers, dredge in flour, and arrange on a nonstick sheet pan. Drizzle wings with olive oil and bake in a 450 degree oven until the edges of the seitan are nice and brown. In a large bowl mix the melted butter and hot sauce. Toss browned wings in the butter/sauce mixture and arrange on a plate. 

For the dressing:

2 ounces of blue cheese

2 ounces of greek yogurt

drizzle of olive oil

Mix ingredients until the desired consistency is achieved. Serve dressing with carrot & celery sticks along side seitan wings and lots of beer.

Circa's Totally Vegetarian Dinner

We attended Chef John Bragg's Totally Vegetarian five-course dinner at Circa this past Wednesday night. Here's the deal: Chef Bragg did not rely on the old tricks. There was no fried tofu and only one faux meat dish on the entire five-course menu. Instead, he delivered flavor and texture combinations that would be a revelation to anyone, meat-eater or not. Out of the eight friends and relatives at our own table, only two were strict vegetarians, but everyone was freaking out about how great the courses were. In addition, each course was paired with an organic wine from Heller Estates. It was so much fun to take a sip of wine, taste the cuisine, and then the wine again to determine whether the wine was supposed to match the flavor of the food or to contrast with its complex flavor. Everyone loved the sweet potato flan, which was served with a traditional green Mexican pumpkin seed sauce. I enjoyed the 'duck' cassoulet, a rich and substantive mix of beans and seitan with a side of crusty bread. The Wife, dessert-fiend that she is, favored the orange-chocolate crepe. Simply put, it was a three-hour culinary extravaganza. You, too, can experience Bragg's vision and largesse on Sunday nights at Circa through the month of September. Call Circa ASAP for details and reservations: 901.522.1488. 

As we all know, springing for fancy dinners out all the time can get pretty expensive. The key words here are 'all the time' -- and this got us thinking. We love Huey's and Mayuri and Brother Juniper's and Saigon Le and Fino's and Tracks, all excellent, low-key, locally-owned, reasonably-priced everyday places to eat, but we try not to overdo it when it comes to going out to eat. Most days, we aim to prepare three meals a day at home. But the restorative powers of a supernice meal presented by an inspired, talented chef? It's well worth the expense every now and then. Think of all you receive for the cost: looking forward to the new experience, relaxing due to the attentive service that ensures everything's taken care of, committing to memory the new flavors and inventive ideas that you can take home to your own kitchen, soaking up the beautiful atmosphere that surrounds you, and enjoying something unique with the much-loved family and friends who join you. So our idea is this: go for it a few times a year. Consider doing this seasonally; save up and make a point to splurge on an over-the-top meal sometime during the spring, summer, fall, or winter. And anticipate how life will stop for a little bit and allow you a few hours  to enjoy something delicious. 

Vegetarian Club Sandwich

For lunch yesterday I made a club sandwich, and I'm not even a member. I don't know how I get away with it. This is a delicious way to eat three kinds of fake meat in one compact meal. Here we have some fake bacon, phony bologna, and tofu turkey enclosed in three (1-2-3) pieces of wheat bread. Slap on some vegan mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, & onion. It was some serious belly-filling goodness. Make one for yourself, and then watch Mitch Hedberg's bit on the club sandwich HERE. Your membership card is in the mail.

Slow & Low BBQ Seitan Sandwiches with Purple Cabbage & Green Onion Slaw (V)

I decided to make my own seitan, and as daunting as it seemed, it was not difficult at all. For those who do not know, seitan is a meat substitute originally developed for Buddhist monks. It's made from vital wheat gluten flour, which comes from the endosperm of the wheat berry, the most protein-laden part of wheat. The process takes a while, but the hands-on time is minimal. Also, you get the satisfaction of making your own meat. It is like hunting -- sort of. I read several recipes before coming up with my own to try. You will need:

2 cups of vital wheat gluten flour

1 1/4 cups of strong stock

more stock for boiling (throw some onion & celery in for more flavor)

1 tablespoon of bbq seasoning

1 tablespoon of sesame oil

salt to taste

In a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, mix dry ingredients, and then add the 1 1/4 cups of stock & oil. Mix for approximately 2 minutes.  Allow mixture to rest for 1o minutes. Cut dough ball into 3 portions. Stretch each portion until each is about 1/4 inch thick. Drop seitan cutlets into boiling stock, cover, and cook for one hour.

They will double in size when they're done. They have a very meaty texture that goes well with just about anything. You can use them in the place of chicken or pork in just about any recipe. 

I used mine to make BBQ because I love it. I gave them a good dry spice rub, brushed them with oil, and placed the cutlets on the grill using low, indirect heat and allowed them to cook for about 30 minutes. Then I basted them with my favorite BBQ sauce every 10 minutes for the next 30 minutes. If your sauce has a lot of sugar in it, turn down the heat even lower. Pull the cutlets off the grill, and allow them to rest for a few minutes before chopping them. 

For the purple cabbage and green onion slaw:

4 cups purple cabbage (shredded)

1/2 cup green onions (chopped)

1/2 cup mayo (I like Spectrum eggless vegan light canola mayo)

salt & pepper

Buy some wheat buns or make THESE  from Vegan Dad's blog. Assemble your sandwich by placing chopped BBQ whet gluten on top of the bottom bun, and then a little extra BBQ sauce, and then about 1/2 cup of slaw. You are now ready to rock. This is a colorful, healthy alternative to pork or beef BBQ.

Paletas: Mango and Raspberry (V)

Inspired by a segment featuring Rick Bayless' daughter Laney this afternoon on Channel 10, The Wife (...who is writing this! Don't you just love third person?) made paletas with a popsicle mold we'd used a couple of times last summer and had forgotten was in the cabinet that stores all miscellaneous kitchen items. Around here, we heart paletas so, so much. When we go to Nashville for a quick vacation, we must go to Las Paletas on South 12th Street multiple times. The hot-chili-chocolate, the tomato-cucumber, the tamarind, the hibiscus flower -- wow. It is the best selection of flavors ever. Hello, popsicle binge!

So here we cobbled together two flavors of our own: mango-lime-banana and raspberry-lemon-peach. The secret ingredient according to Laney is, of all things, club soda added at the end. Here is a basic recipe for you to try now that you can probably find all kinds of molds on sale around town. (We got ours via Amazon and the sticks on a last-minute dash to Michael's craft store tonight.)

Paletas:

2 c fruit, sliced (you can blend berries first and then strain out the seeds if you want)

1/4 c sugar

1 lemon or one lime, juiced

1/2 c club soda

Blend first 3 ingredients in food processor. Add club soda and pulse. Pour into molds, add sticks, and freeze for 3 hours. Let them sit out on the counter for a few to thaw for easier removal. Possibly never buy boxed popsicles again. 

Totally Vegetarian Dinner at Circa This Wednesday, September 3rd

Chef John Bragg will be hosting a five-course wine dinner featuring tasing portions of fine vegetarian dishes on Wednesday, September 3rd at Circa. The dinner will feature red curry-coconut soup (pictured), mock duck cassoulet, spring rolls, sweet potato flan, and crepes for dessert. TCV is very excited. We already have our reservation, and we hope to see all of you there. Remember, you do not have to be a vegetarian to enjoy this meal. This is culinary experience for everyone that is not to be missed.

The Wife and I did a story in The Memphis Flyer on Chef Bragg and what led him to do a totally vegetarian dinner at his restaurant. You can read it HERE.

The September 3rd dinner begins at 6:30 pm and is $55 without wine pairings or $75 with full pours of wine. Please call 522-1488 to make your reservation. Circa is located at 119 S. Main in downtown Memphis.

Please let me know if you are planning on going and TCV will keep an eye out for you. Bloggers, please help get the word out on this truly unique culinary event.

Dragon Fruit, Pear, & Coconut-Milk Ice Cream with Honey-Lime Syrup (V)

I guess this is how it is supposed to work. I blog about the food I make in my kitchen and secretly hope that some one will be inspired enough by what I create to try it in their own kitchen. I also secretly hope that they take my recipes as inspiration rather than as gospel truth. I hope that they will find a way to make what I made better (or at least slightly different) than I did. I believe that flexibility is the key to kitchen happiness, and finding interesting substitutions is the path to culinary creativity.

That said, I made dragon fruit ice cream that I first spotted on Paul Knipple's blog Squirrel Squad Squeaks. Paul got the idea from a blog called Mike's Table who in turn attributes the original recipe to a blog called Coconut & Lime. Are you able to keep up here? Everybody is making it, but everybody is adding their own little twist.

For my take on this cool dessert TCV added a pear to the mix and drizzled a honey-lime syrup over the top for an extra layer of tangy sweetness.

For the pear, dragon fruit, coconut-milk ice cream:

1 pear (peeled and cored)

1 dragon fruit (cut in half, flesh scooped out, skins saved)

3 tablespoons agave syrup

juice from 1/2 lime

1 cup coconut milk (I used light CM 'cause I'm a calorie wuss)

For the Syrup:

Equal parts lime and honey go into a tupperware. Shake.

Everything goes into a food processor, and is blended until just smooth. Do not over blend, because you don't want to crush all of those tiny black seeds that are in the dragon fruit. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker, and turn it on. Read a magazine, walk the dogs, call your mother, do anything to distract yourself for about thirty minutes while this delicious dessert is freezing up. Then scoop the ice cream into the reserved dragon fruit skins and top with the honey-lime syrup. The presentation alone makes this dessert well worth the effort.

Dear reader, please let TCV know if you have made one of my recipes. That would thrill me to pieces.

Portobello Mushroom Steak Au Poivre WIth Creamed Spinach & Smashed New Potatoes

Welcome to Chubby's Steak House. We don't often get to break out the steak knives, but we needed them tonight. This dinner was inspired by the ginormous portobello mushrooms I found at the Winchester Farmer's Market this weekend. The sauce was inspired by a dish I had in NYC at Kate's Joint. They called it "Fake Steak Au Poivre," which is French for pepper steak, I think. The best part of the Kate's dish was the gravy. It was a spicy, peppery, brown gravy with tons of fresh horseradish served on top of sliced mushrooms and fried tofu. I went tofuless for my version and served my take with some fun smashed potatoes, side salad, and creamed spinach.

For the mushroom marinade:

1/2 cup roasted tomatoes

4 cloves of garlic

1 shallot

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Place all ingredients except oil into a food processor and blend until smooth. While the processor is still on, drizzle the olive oil in slowly. You want to leave the food processor on until the marinade emulsifies. You will know when this happens. It will thicken and lighten in color. Coat the mushrooms with the marinade you just made, cover, and stick in the fridge for a few hours.

For the gravy:

1/2 cup horseradish (finely grated)

1/2 small onion (cut into half moons)

2 tablespoons plugra butter

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup vegetable stock

cracked pepper

Over medium heat, melt butter and oil until it stops bubbling. Add the flour, stir constantly, and cook until it turns the color of an old penny. Add the horseradish and onion and cook until translucent. Add pepper. Add stock and allow to thicken. The horseradish will mellow and become sweet as it cooks, much like garlic does.

Now grill those marinated mushrooms on a hot grill until you get some nice grill marks on them. Finish cooking them while covered in a hot oven. Place the mushroom on a plate and spoon about 2 tablespoons of the gravy on top. Get out your steak knives and dig in. Who says vegetarians can't have steak?

Harissa-Marinated Seitan Skewers over Apple-Mint Cous Cous with Toasted Almonds (V)

Ahhh...a day off. I got 6 miles in this morning and spent the rest of the day hanging out with The Wife doing a whole bunch of nothing. It was wonderful. We had lunch at Mayuri, our favorite Indian buffet. The vegetable korma, mushroom marsala, and aloo gobi fry are pretty standard offerings on Mayuri's lunch buffet, and they are surely hard to beat even when ordering off the menu at other Indian joints. The Wife always ends the meal with a  healthy dose of the sweet milk pudding which contains noodles, tapioca, vanilla, and spices. TCV has no room for such frivolities when there are curried vegetables to be eaten. Bellies full and wanderlust in our hearts, we decided to venture into new territory. 

Our friend Michael has been talking up the Winchester Farmer's Market, so we decided to check it out. You, dear reader, have to go. We were greeted at the door by a huge loudspeaker blaring Mexican pop music; additionally, it was lashed to a metal post with chains. The party atmosphere was clear from the get-go. The store itself is damn near as big as a Costco, and full of exotic fruits, vegetables, and strange housewares. We spent the better part of an hour searching the aisles, reading labels, and squinting at foodstuffs we had never seen before in an effort to figure out what it was and if we could use them. The great thing is that wares from many cultures are available all in one place, making for easy Saturday shopping. The pink quinceanera decorations dotting the front wall, the decorated plastic-jug checkout lane lights, a housewares section emblazoned "GLORY AND BEAUTY," box upon box of fluorescent, grinning piggy banks, and the tearstained babies mollified by giant chocolate lollipops in their carts -- all of this stuff to see adds to the raucous experience that is this market. We left with a 5-foot section of sugar cane, eight spiny rambutans, fresh green dates, rice flour, white peppercorns, an aloe vera drink, a scarlet piece of dragon fruit, 3 huge portobello mushrooms, Mexican crema, a pound of pine nuts, and some bamboo skewers. 

Later, we snacked on baby heirloom tomatoes that I mixed with fresh basil from the garden, capers, buffalo mozzarella, olive oil, and white balsamic vinegar and served with toast points. I recall thinking that I was really going to miss all of this freshness when winter finally arrives.

The only thing from the market that made it to the dinner table was the skewers. It was getting late, so TCV decided to do something simple for dinner: harissa marinated seitan skewers over cous cous.

For the marinade:

2 tablespoons harissa

olive oil

juice from 1 lemon

Mix all ingredients. You will just need enough olive oil to dilute the harissa/ lemon juice mixture to a salad dressing-like consistency. 

For the skewers:

1 package "chicken style" seitan

4-6 bamboo skewers

Thread the seitan onto the skewers; brush with the harissa marinade. Throw them on a medium-hot grill until desired doneness is achieved.

For the cous cous:

1 box of Near East roasted garlic and olive oil cous cous.

1 apple (cut into a large dice)

1/4 cup whole almonds (toasted)

1/4 cup mint (chopped)

Cook the cous cous according to package instructions and then fold in the rest of the ingredients. Spoon apple-mint cous cous into the center of a platter, then top with the seitan skewers, a bit more mint, and chives. The whole dish takes about ten minutes from start to finish, which leaves me time to do more important things like figure out what the hell I'm going to do with 5 feet of sugar cane. Any takers?

La Montagne-style Tofu Fajitas

When I was a chubby vegetarian kid, I would beg, plead, or do just about anything to get my parents to take me to La Montagne (formally located at 3550 Park Ave.) It was the kind of place that bigger, more progressive cities had, but it was smack dab in the middle of Memphis, TN. They served oat burgers, spinach fantasy, pesto pasta primavera, nachos, and toasted ravioli--all totally vegetarian. But the reason that I had to go, the reason that I'd do anything to get there, was the tofu fajitas. There were magic. I ate them for lunch or dinner nearly once a week for over 10 years. It was the favorite restaurant of The Wife & me. If you are what you eat, then I'm a tofu fajita. I can still remember Terry razzing me as he did every time I went in there: "You want a menu? Because I already know what you're going to order." He was right. I'd take the menu, look it over, and order the exact same thing I always did: fried tofu, onion, mushrooms, green peppers, lettuce, pico do gallo, a huge-wheat tortilla folded into quarters, and refried beans on the side. The weird thing about the fajitas was the way that they were served. They put the warm tofu mixture over the top of the lettuce. 

All of a sudden, one day La Montagne was gone. The "For Sale" sign in the front garden told the story. It said to me that there would be no more fajitas or oat burgers or smoothies. TCV was sad.

Then one recent Monday night, I ran into Chef John Bragg at a local watering hole. We tipped a few back and talked about food. I told him that he had my eternal respect because he was the chef at my all-time-favorite restaurant La Montagne. This conversation birthed the idea for a story which will appear in the next Memphis Flyer. John cooked amazing vegetarian dishes for us in his kitchen at Circa, The Wife wrote the piece, and TCV took the pics. Most importantly, Chef Bragg gave us, and you dear reader, the recipe for the much-missed  La Montagne tofu fajitas. Read it Wednesday, when the paper comes out or go online for it. And see what's coming up that you will just have to attend this September 5.

Pear, Walnut, & Gorgonzola Salad with Homemade Roasted-Tomato Soup, and Cantaloupe Margaritas

Roasted tomato soup:

4 large tomatoes (cored & quartered)

3 cloves of garlic

olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Place tomatoes & garlic on a roasting pan & drizzle with olive oil. Roast tomatoes & garlic in a 5oo degree oven until you see them start to turn black on the tips. Transfer tomatoes and peeled garlic to a blender cup, and blend on high for a few minutes or until smooth. Strain into a saucepan. Simmer on low until you are ready to eat. Add salt & pepper to taste, and then garnish with greek yogurt.

Cantaloupe margaritas:

1 large cantaloupe

1 lemon

2 stems of lemon verbena

1/2 cup of orange juice

2 tablespoons of agave syrup

tequila (to taste)

cointreau (to taste)

Juice the cantaloupe by blending the flesh, and then straining it. You will likely have to do this in batches if you got a gigantic Whitton Farms cantaloupe as TCV did (thanks Keith & Jill.) Squeeze the lemons into the juice, and then add all other ingredients. 

The salad is pretty self explanatory. 

Sorry there are no stories about grandmas or food origin, but I gotta go. TCV has got to make a living too, and today is a busy, busy day.

Lemon-Zest New Potatoes & Chocolate-Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches

Here are a few quickies for you. TCV knows that sometimes it is harder to figure out what to make as a side-dish or dessert than it is to figure out what you want to make as your main course. So here are two suggestions. Instead of frying or mashing those potatoes do something more interesting and flavorful (not to mention more healthy) with them. Quarter some new potatoes, toss them in a little bit of olive oil, and then place them on a non-stick baking sheet. Roast in a 5oo degree oven until golden. While they are still warm from the oven, toss the potatoes with a handful of chopped parsley and the zest from one lemon. Add salt and pepper to taste. There, now you have yourself a delicious and healthy side of potatoes that will go with just about anything.

My mother-in-law baked me some really moist and chewy peanut butter cookies. Isn't she sweet. So I immediately woofed a few down with a cold glass of milk, and then I decided the save the rest. Later, The Wife and I made some homemade chocolate ice cream, and sandwiched the ice cream between two of the peanut butter cookies. We wrapped the ice cream sandwiches in waxed paper and stuck them in the freezer to get a bit more solid. The next night we had them for dessert, and let me tell you they were fantastic. It tasted like a giant frozen Resse's Peanut Butter Cup.

A few notes:

We are now on Veg Blog Search. It is a search engine that helps the veggie among us find what to make for dinner. Check it out, and root around for a while. You will find some great recipes.

This week Rose Panieri of The Herald News of suburban Chicago gave the The Chubby Vegetarian a mention in a column called Lost & Found. Check it out here: Lost & Found