Tag Archive for ‘vegetarian’ at spacekadet blog

Tag Archive for 'vegetarian'

Vegetable Tagine

Published on October 19, 2008 in food, photos and recipes. 0 Comments

Autumn in London can seem a cold and dreary place, but there is sunshine in the vegetable aisle as some of my favorite vegetables are starting to come into season. Cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and butternut squash are slowly overtaking last month’s peppers and tomatoes, and I am armed with plenty of good reasons to warm up the house with a hot oven. Roasted winter vegetables are one of my favorite things. Winter blues be gone - bring on the comfort food.

Last night, I made my first foray into Morrocan cuisine with a tagine recipe I found on BBC Good Food. A tagine is a type of conical clay pot used in Moroccan cuisine to make slow-cooked stews. This particular stew consists of mixed vegetables, onions and prunes in a chermoula marinade consisting of onion, garlic, ginger, lemon juice and spices.

For lack of a traditional tagine pot, I made do with a Chasseur covered casserole which seemed to do the trick. The chermoula is amazing - I bet it would be a tasty marinade for tofu. The prunes were also a great addition, though other dried fruits like apricots or figs would probably work as well. I love that this tagine can pretty much be made with whatever vegetables are handy. The original recipe called for potatoes and parsnips, but I used cauliflower and butternut squash, in addition to carrots, leeks, and red onion.

I served this with almond and chickpea couscous. As far as “complete meals” go, this one’s pretty solid: beans, grains, and way more than your five-a-day. I bet this is the kind of dish that tastes even better the next day (I will find out tonight when I eat what little tagine is leftover).

Moroccan Tagine in a Chermoula Paste

You can use whatever veggies you have handy for this. If you don’t have prunes, you could also try dried apricots or figs.

Serves 4

For the chermoua paste:
1 red onion, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled
1/2-inch fresh ginger, peeled
juice of half a lemon
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chili powder
handful cilantro

For the tagine:
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, cut into chunks
1/2 butternut squash, cut into chunks
1 green bell pepper, cut into chunks
2 leeks, cut into chunks
1 red onion, cut into chunks
1/2 head of cauliflower, divided into big florets
6 dried prunes
2 springs mint, leaves only, finely chopped

Pre-heat oven to 220 C / 430 F.

To make the chermoula, whizz paste ingredients in a blender.

Combine the olive oil and vegetables in an oven-proof casserole and cook on the stove until lightly browned, about 7 minutes.

Add the chermoula paste to the casserole, along with the prunes. Pour in 400 ml water, cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 45 minutes. Reduce heat to 180 C/ 350 F and cook for another 45 minutes.

Sprinkle with mint. Serve with almond and chickpea couscous (see below).

Almond and Chickpea Couscous

175g couscous
1.5 tsp harissa
(Moroccan chilli paste)
400g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
small handful toasted almonds

Pour 400ml boiling water over the couscous in a bowl, then stir in the harissa with 1/4 tsp salt. Add the chickpeas, then cover and leave for 5 mins. Fluff up with a fork and serve with the tagine, flaked almonds and extra mint.

Crossposted to SmarterFitter.com

Seasonal Food: Kale

Published on October 15, 2008 in food, nutrition and recipes. 0 Comments

I’m one of those rare people who actually enjoy eating their greens, especially when it comes to kale.

Kale is from the Brassica oleracea family, just like cabbage and brussel sprouts. This hearty green vegetable is delicious, versatile, and like all leafy greens, highly nutritious! Kale is very high in vitamins A, C and E, and is also full of sulfer-containg phytonutrients which are thought to lessen the occurrence of a wide variety of cancers, including breast and ovarian cancers.

Me? I love kale for its flavor and texture. There are several varieties of kale, including curly- and plain-leaved, but my favorite is is cavolo nero, also known as “black cabbage” or “Tuscan kale”. I’ve never seen it in US supermarkets but it’s popular here in London.

Last year, my favorite way to prepare kale was simple: lightly steamed with salt and pepper. When served with a bit of brown rice and lentils, you get a complete meal that is somehow comforting in its simplicity.

At least I think so, anyway.

This year, when I got my hands on the first kale crop, Tim asked me a simple question:

“Can you try to make them yummy this time?”

I guess not everyone shares my enjoyment of pure and simple kale.

Very well. I can appreciate a little flavor boost. So I’ve been experimenting…

Stir-fried garlic and kale never fails.
Even better is kale stir-fried with caramelized onion.
For a spicy kick, top steamed or boiled kale mixed with roasted chili and caramelized onion garnish
When all else fails, greenophobes can hide their kale in a big pot of soup or chili.
Kale also makes a great addition to tofu scrambles!
Kale pairs nicely with carrots. What do I mean? Read on…

One pairing I can definitely recommend is kale and carrots. In both stir-fries and salads (yes, kale can be eaten raw!), the sweetness of the carrot is a nice balance to the earthiness of the kale. Here are a couple recipes that take advantage of this combination.

Curly Kale With Carrots, Raisins, Walnuts and Chili

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, sliced into thin rounds
2 carrots, julienned
10 raisins
5 walnuts, crumbled into pieces
4 cups kale, de-stemmed and chopped
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
salt

Heat oil in a large pan. Add carrots, onions, raisins, walnuts and chili and saute until onions are soft.

Add the kale, salt and a couple tablespoons of water. Cover pan with a lid.

Check the kale after a couple of minutes. Add more water and cook longer if necessary.

Raw Kale and Carrot Salad

200g curly kale, chopped
2 tbsp flax oil
juice of 1 lemon
2 carrots, shredded
1 red onion, sliced
salt to taste
cayenne pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for several hours before serving.

Crossposted to SmarterFitter.com

Copyright and Chickpeas

Published on September 30, 2008 in food and recipes. 2 Comments

The other day I posted a roasted ratatouille recipe I adapted from Chocolate & Zucchini. This prompted Tim to ask: “isn’t that copyright infringement”?

Huh. Call me a crap creative, but that thought had not occurred to me. “Naaaah,” I said. I altered the ingredients and directions slightly, plus I gave credit to C&Z. So what’s the problem?

I brushed it off until today when I wanted to post the Mediterranean Chickpea Salad recipe from the New York Times but couldn’t help but feel haunted by the question…

“Am I stealing this recipe?”

The short answer is “no”. Here’s what U.S. copyright law says about recipes:

Mere listings of ingredients as in recipes, formulas, compounds, or prescriptions are not subject to copyright protection. However, when a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection.

So a recipe is not an invention unless it accompanies a fair amount of “literary” prose around it. While that may be true, there’s still the matter of etiquette. The International Association of Culinary Professionals focusses on giving credit where credit is due.

The association advises using the words “adapted from,” “based on” or “inspired by,” depending on how much a recipe has been revised. (”Adapted from” is the phrasing favored by The Washington Post and many other newspaper food sections, which, along with culinary instructors, enjoy “fair use” of someone’s creation for the purpose of teaching, news reporting, scholarship or research.) The only time a recipe should be printed without attribution, the association contends, is when it has been changed so substantially that it no longer resembles its source. [Can a Recipe be Stolen?, The Washington Post]

Before I knew any of this, I was already giving credit to my recipe sources. It just feels like the right thing to do. Blogging is sharing, isn’t it? Were someone to post a recipe that I published, I don’t think I’d mind (though I might be a bit cheesed off if they didn’t credit me!). How do you feel about sharing recipes?

Yeah but what about those chickpeas?

Right. So I made the Mediterranean Chickpea Salad recently posted on the New York Times. It’s good. Real good. From the cumin-spiced dressing to the sweet tomatoes to the crunchy red pepper and savory olives. I like to add cucumber because I simply love the combination of chickpeas, cucumber and tomato. I skipped the yogurt from the original recipe which didn’t take away from its goodness. The feta is essential, however. When the salad is tossed, most of the feta dissolves into the dressing, making it super creamy and delicious.

The salad gets better after a day or two of marinating. And for you working-world folks, this salad is great for packed lunches!

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

Adapted from The New York Times.

Serves 4

- 2 (15-ounce) cans chick peas, drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cucumber, cubed
- 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1 small red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes, diced
- 4 green onions, sliced
- 6 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
- 1 ounce feta cheese, crumbled

To make the dressing:
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds, lightly toasted and crushed or coarsely ground
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Toss together the salad ingredients. Whisk together the lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, cumin seeds, salt, pepper, olive oil. Toss with the chickpeas.

Crossposted to SmarterFitter.com

Seasonal Recipes: Roasted Ratatouille

Published on September 27, 2008 in food and recipes. 0 Comments

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Tis the season of eggplant, zucchini, peppers and tomato. What better way to enjoy them all at once than in a delicious ratatouille!

Ratatouille is traditionally made by cooking all of the vegetables separately. I’m sure the results are fantastic, but who has that many pots? Never mind the time! Screw it - why not chuck all the veggies in the oven with some herbs and olive oil and PRESTO! Easy ratatouille with a blackened bonus. This stuff is good hot or cold and it only gets better with time. You can use leftover ratatouille in sandwiches, as pizza topping, in a salad, with pasta, or on its own. I love it with polenta and a simple green salad. Add a few chickpeas and you’ve got a well-rounded meal on your hands (or in your tummy). Good stuff.

I borrow my technique from the ever-talented Clotilde at Chocolate & Zucchini.

Roasted Ratatouille

This is even better with fresh rosemary and thyme - use 2 sprigs rosemary and 3 sprigs thyme.

- 2 onions, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1 eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 2 green peppers, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 16 cherry tomatoes
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- salt, pepper
- olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

Combine the vegetables, herbs and a liberal dose of salt and pepper in an oven-proof dish. Drizzle with olive oil (about 2 Tbsp) and toss to ensure an even coating.

Cover the dish with foil and bake for 45 minutes. At this point the vegetables should be cooked but not colored, and there should be cooking juices at the bottom of the pan.

Remove the foil and bake for another 30 to 45 minutes, until the cooking juices have evaporated and the vegetables start to blacken.

Serve hot or cold.

Crossposted to SmarterFitter.com

Tempeh Reuben Sandwich

Published on September 20, 2008 in food and recipes. 0 Comments

Purists in the audience will think that a Reuben just isn’t a Reuben without pastrami, swiss cheese, or Thousand Island Dressing. Well you can’t get any of those ingredients in London and, chances are, I wouldn’t eat them anyway. In my eyes, the sauerkraut makes the Reuben, and until yesterday I would have said that rye bread does, too. But my latest sandwich creation proved otherwise.

I only had some leftover chive bread to work with, baked using 101 Cookbook’s cornbread recipe (which tasted little like corn but a lot like chive, hence my terminology). The oniony flavor of the bread turned out to be surprisingly good with the smokey tempeh and saurkraut.

In place of Thousand Island Dressing, I use avocado and tomato. In place of pastrami, I use tempeh, cooked according to Your Vegan Mom’s Smokey Tempeh Slices recipe (found thanks to Veggie Meal Plans). Her recipe calls for less tempeh and no marinating. I doubled the tempeh and marinated it over night, which was delicious, but if you don’t have my kind of food-obsessed foresight, marinating is not necessary according to her original recipe.

You’ll notice from the picture that I also use lettuce leaves for the top slice of bread. This is optional, and not really encouraged. I do it because I’m small and really don’t need two hearty slices of bread (especially when having soup with the meal!). But you normal-sized people should add a second slice to the deck and eat the sandwich like it was intended.

The recipe makes enough tempeh for a few sandwiches and the leftovers are great for quick sandwiches - perfect for packed lunches!

Tempeh Reuben Sandwich

You don’t need to marinate the tempeh over night but it does add to the flavor. Mayo is also quite good in place of the avocado.

2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp liquid smoke
1/4 cup water
1 8 oz. package tempeh, sliced thinly
olive oil
saurkraut
avocado, sliced
tomato, sliced
salt and pepper
lettuce
nice bread

Combine the soy sauce, balsamic, maple syrup, liquid smoke and water in a shallow dish. Add the tempeh slices and marinate for as long as you can be bothered.
Heat a little olive oil in a nonstick pan.
Add the tempeh slices and pour the marinate on top. Simmer until the liquid has reduced. Brown the tempeh on both sides.
While the tempeh is cooking, heat up the saurkraut and toast some bread.
Top the bread with avocado, tomato, salt and pepper, saurkraut, as much tempeh as you can handle, and a little lettuce.
Eat and enjoy!

Crossposted to SmarterFitter.com

Quick Tip: Add beans to pasta for a quick protein kick

Published on September 1, 2008 in food, nutrition, photos and recipes. 0 Comments

We all know that protein is important, especially for active folks trying to put on a little muscle. For vegetarians like me, this is a little tricky - many of the foods we eat don’t contain complete proteins. That is, beans and whole grains may contain lots of amino acids, but on their own, they don’t contain enough of the right amino acids to form a complete protein (you can read more about this in Nutrition by The American Dietetic Association). As a result, I usually try to balance my meals with grains and beans so I’m sure to maximize the protein punch!

Most recently, I’ve been doing this with pasta. There’s no meal like a pasta meal that cries CARB FEST. But you can easily turn pasta into a more well-rounded meal by simply adding a few beans. Pasta is actually high in the amino acids methionine and cysteine, but low in lysine. Legumes such as kidney beans, however, are low in methionine and cysteine, but high in lysine. Put the two together and you get a complete protein. Science!

Adding beans to pasta is as easy as, well, simply adding beans to pasta. Beans compliment most sauces just as well as pasta, but some combinations work better than others. Here are my preferences:

Chickpeas or kidney beans with tomato sauce
White beans or chickpeas with pesto sauce
White beans or broad beans with garlic and olive oil

I’m not even going to touch alfredo (some foods you just shouldn’t mess with).

Here’s the recipe for the meal I had this evening (pictured above - it inspired me to write this post). Pesto linguine with chickpeas and arugula. YUM! I served this with a tomato, cucumber and red onion salad with balsamic vinaigrette. Bliss, I tell you. Pure comfort.

Pesto Linguine With Chickpeas and Arugula

Serves one 5ft tall shortcake

50 grams dry linguine
100 grams cooked chickpeas
2 Tbsp pesto
1 Tbsp parmesan
1 Tbsp toasted pine nuts
1 large handful arugula (aka rocket)

Cook the pasta and heat up the beans. Toss together with the pesto. Pile on a plate and top with arugula, pine nuts and parmesan. Serve with a nice glass of red wine.

Per serving: 455 Calories; 19g Protein; 12g fat; 67g Carbohydrate

Seasonal Recipes: Blackberry Slump

Published on August 31, 2008 in food and recipes. 0 Comments

I don’t usually make desserts, so this season’s blackberry glut has been a challenge for me. I’m not a fan of sugary-sweet “treats”, and blackberries require a fair bit of sugar to bring out their flavor. I’m also suspicious of most dessert recipes, which often taste too sweet for my liking. Is this an American thing? Has our reliance on corn syrup acted as a kind of “sugar heroine”, forcing us to use even more sugar in our recipes to obtain the intended effect? Case in point: I recently made a rhubarb pie from a recipe at allrecipes.com. The recipe came with 4.5 stars and loads of great reviews, but my friends and I in London all agreed with the result: it was so sugary that we couldn’t even taste the rhubarb. Such a shame! I definitely don’t want my blackberries to share the same fate.

That’s when I came across this recipe for Blackberry Slump, what BBC Food calls “an American version of a blackberry cobbler”. I’m not exactly sure what makes this an “American version”, because it isn’t made with the usual flour-based cobbler top. Instead, the pastry is made with polenta, a very coarse corn meal, and toasted hazelnuts, both of which give the cobbler a wonderful texture. Think cornbread soaked up with sweet delicious berry juice.

And what about those berries? Guess what - not too sweet! This recipe uses mainly peaches and their juice to sweeten the blackberries. The fruits compliment each other well without turning into one contiguous mass of fruit mush - both the peaches and the blackberries retained their unique delicious flavors. I cooked these as individual portions in my new little ramekins. They freeze well this way and can be easily reheated in the oven.

The only thing I change from the original recipe is the ratio of cobbler to fruit. The BBC Recipe results in a one-to-one cobbler to fruit ratio. I prefer more fruit, so am providing the recipe here with only half the cobbler topping. Of course, you could always double the fruit instead and have plenty of leftovers for later. =)

The ultimate way to eat this dessert is with vanilla ice cream. Mmm. Vegans in the audience, I’d be curious to know how a vegan cobbler top would work, replacing the butter with oil and the milk with soy milk. Any takers?

Blackberry Slump

The original recipe on BBC Food uses twice as much cobbler topping. I thought this was too much so halved the amount here. Feel free to adjust the proportions of both to suit your tastes!

INGREDIENTS

550g blackberries
411g can peach slices in fruit juice drained and 5 tbsp juice reserved
2 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp lemon juice

FOR THE TOPPING

75g polenta
88g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
13g butter plus extra for greasing
1 tbsp caster sugar
25g hazelnuts skinned, toasted and chopped
100ml milk

Heat oven to 375F/190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Lightly butter a 1.7 litre ovenproof shallow dish. Spread blackberries and drained peach slices in the bottom of the dish. Mix together the caster sugar and cinnamon, then sprinkle over the top and pour over the lemon juice and the reserved juice from the peaches. Bake, uncovered, for 10 mins until the juices begin to run. Remove the dish from the oven and set aside.
To make the topping, sift the polenta, flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt into a bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture is the consistency of breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and toasted nuts and mix well, then stir in the milk to make a soft, sticky dough.
Increase oven temperature to 430F/220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Drop spoonfuls of the dough over the top of the berries, then return to the oven for 15 mins until the topping is golden brown. Serve hot with cream, custard or ice cream.

Crossposted to SmarterFitter.com

Chai Pani Restaurant Review

Published on March 22, 2008 in Freelance Writing, London and food. 0 Comments

Chai Pani

64 Seymour Street
London, W1H 5BW
020 7258 2000
http://www.chaipani.co.uk/

Category: Indian

Travel: Marble Arch
Open Daily 6pm-10.30pm; Mon-Fri 12pm-2.30pm; Sat-Sun 1pm-10.30pm

Devotees of chicken tikka masala will be disappointed by Chai Pani’s menu, which proves that India brings more to the table than fried samosas and korma curries. Chai Pani is the only restaurant in London to serve the vegetarian cuisine of Marwar, a desert region in west India. With dishes like Bhindi Subzi Vg (okra in “a sauce”) and Ker Saangri (a “concoction of desert berries and desert beans”), the vast menu leaves everything to the imagination.

Times like these, it’s usually best to let the kitchen decide, so I ordered a vegan thaali (another tough choice as Chai Pani offers a staggering 16 thaalis, including wheat-free, low GI and ayurvedic). Everything arrived hot and on time, and the waiter was only too happy to decipher the mysterious array of dishes before me. I now know that “dessert berries” look and taste more like shriveled twigs than actual food, and “sauce” is Chai Pani’s code word for “oil”. Fortunately, other dishes were more inspiring. The veganized raita was good enough to eat with a spoon thanks to a liberal dose of salt and chili. The daal was the best I’ve had in London - simple, fresh and very spicy, just begging to be sopped up with Bajra roti, a traditional Rathasthan millet bread. The chilled Ghugri salad of wheat berries, tomatoes and tangy lemon dressing was a refreshing accompaniment. When it came to endings, however, Chai Pani pushed the envelope of simple cooking a little too far, with bowls of jaggery (sugar) passing for dessert. This was a poor lead-in to the bill, which came to nearly £40 a head (including drinks).

Adventurous diners will go giddy over the eclectic offerings of Chai Pani, and the dietarily-challenged will find comfort in their meatless and wheatless offerings. But others will be confused. Chai Pani means well, but they need to come to terms with the palate (and pocketbook) of its western audience.

Dinner for two with drinks and dessert: £66

Easy Tempeh Sloppy Joes

Published on February 24, 2008 in Uncategorized, food, nutrition and recipes. 0 Comments

Tempeh Sloppy Joe (before things got sloppy)

When I made the list of High Protein Vegan Foods, tempeh stood out as most mysterious. I mean, what is it? The dense speckled brick looks more like a diseased internal organ than food. But in fact, tempeh IS food, and a highly nutritious, protein-rich food at that.

Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans. However, unlike tofu, which is made from soy milk, tempeh is made from whole soybeans, fermented through a natural culturing process that binds the beans into a cake. Because tempeh retains the whole bean, it is higher in protein and fiber than tofu.

My easy tempeh recipe is an evolution of my Auntie Jo’s sloppy joes, a quintessential American food for sure, traditionally made with ground beef, onions, tomato sauce, and bbq seasoning, then slopped on a bun and eaten with lots of napkins. You don’t need to make this with tempeh - my mom makes hers with MorningStar Farms soy crumbles. I tend to prefer cooking with unadulterated whole ingredients and the tempeh does a nice job of crumbling into the sauce and soaking in the flavors.

The hardest part about this recipe is finding vegan bbq sauce; many sauces contain Worchestershire sauce (i.e. anchovies), honey, and dubious processed ingredients. The only bottled vegan bbq sauce I’m aware of is Annie’s Naturals BBQ Sauce. Of course, you can always make your own, which would make this recipe less easy, but probably much tastier!

Tempeh Sloppy Joes

serves 4

200g tempeh, roughly crumbled
100g bbq sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 can of stewed tomatoes
A dash or two of liquid smoke
salt to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan
Add the onion, celery and green pepper and sauté until tender
Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes or more (the longer the better, the tempeh will crumble more as it cooks)
Serve on hamburger buns with lettuce, tomato and sliced onion (if desired). Or, for a tidier sandwich, stuff it in a pita, or wrap it in a tortilla!

Per serving: 200 Calories (kcal); 9g Total Fat; 11g Protein; 22g Carbohydrate
Per serving (with whole grain bun): 310 Calories; 12g Total Fat; 15g Protein; 41g Carbohydrates

Approximate total cost of preparation, including buns: £6.30 (£1.60 per serving)

Nutrition information derived from the USDA food database.

Link to all High protein vegan foods
The Flickr photos tagged with “tempeh” are lookin’ mighty tasty
Lots of information at Tempeh.info

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