And greasy Joan doth keel the pot

[pameladean]

I'm planning one more post on how the revision of the book is coming, and then I will stop babbling at you guys for a while and get back to work.



I didn't do a great deal of cooking over the summer, even though it was much cooler than usual and I could perfectly well have cooked in comfort. But as the fall approached, I did considerably more, and I wanted to record the essentials of it.

Eric and I like to cook on our dates. We are working on a vegan vegetable soup that does not use a tomato-based stock. The first result was interesting but rather difficult to deal with, especially since cookbooks are not joking when they say that tarragon is pervasive. It becomes more so in the leftovers. The second attempt was far better. Both Eric and Raphael liked it better than I did; it still tasted thin to me. We have theories, however. Eric and I also made red-cooked shrimp and a simple stir fry of bell peppers, summer squash, mushrooms, and spinach for everybody in the household, and those were a great success.

On my own, cooking just for Raphael and me, I have made:

Fish chowder, using soy milk instead of cream. I invented this several years ago, and it's amazingly good.

Vegan lasagna, using whole-wheat noodles, an evolving sauce that I make at home because it's cheaper than jarred sauce, soy crumbles, soy mozzarella, and usually spinach and mushrooms, although various other vegetables have been pressed into service as well. The sausage-style soy crumbles cost more than the regular, so I need to remember to buy regular and just add some fennel, sage, and red pepper. I also need a bigger pan. I'm pleased to have finally gotten down a recipe using whole-wheat noodles that does not involve cooking the noodles first.

Black-eyed peas with kale. I've been vaguely dissatisfied with this recipe for some time, though Eric and Raphael like it, but I made it in a cast-iron skillet and caramelized the onions. I'm usually too impatient to do that, but I was making whole-wheat biscuits at the same time, which meant I didn't want the pea dish to be done too early; and also caramelizing the onions without burning them is easier in cast iron. It really transformed the dish.

Seitan stew, or, if seitan is in short supply, seitan and tofu stew. This is basically a standard beef stew recipe with seitan -- onion, garlic, potatoes, carrots, celery, and a rotating set of herbs and spices that always includes black pepper, sage, paprika, and bay leaf. I use brown rice flour to thicken it because, at least for me, it lumps up less than wheat flour. I put broccoli in the last batch, with some trepidation, and it was very good.

Fish paella. Eric and I made this for the household too, with steamed broccoli on the side, and some rolls, I think. This is actually a vegetable paella dish from David's and my Spanish cookbook, modified to use fish instead. The actual fish and seafood ones are too confusing for an ordinary dinner. I have used tilapia, cod, and polluck for the fish. Tilapia works best, but the others are fine.

Thai green curry tofu. The recipe is for shrimp and tofu, but shrimp is pricy. Eric and I made it for a dinner chez minnehaha, and B. remarked that one didn't actually need the shrimp, the sauce was so flavorful.

Penne pasta with tomatoes, spinach, and sheep's-milk feta. The feta is expensive, but I got some on sale recently for less than the cost of soy cheese. This dish is easy and extremely tasty. You just slice a couple of onions and some garlic and fry them gently in olive oil while the water boils for the pasta. Add some crushed red pepper and basil leaves if you like, or whatever other herbs you like in tomato-based dishes. Add a large can of diced tomatoes. When the water boils for the pasta, put the spinach in with the tomatoes and onions. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and add a 7-oz package of sheep's-milk feta, tossing until the cheese is more or less evenly distributed. Add the tomato-spinach mixture, mix thoroughly, try to leave some leftovers. I use whole-wheat pasta, but I guess you don't have to.

I'm sure there's more, but that's what has come to mind for now.

Pamela

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Looking forward to your writing report!

[pameladean]

Soon, I hope -- am trying not to be too whiny. 8-)

P.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

My carrot soup is vegan.

[pameladean]

Have you posted the recipe? I have a vague recollection of it, but I'm not sure.

At the moment I am tending towards large multiple-ingredient dishes that provide protein, vegetables, and starch in one pot, but for fancier dinners, which I do hope to get back to when this book is off my neck, a single-vegetable soup would be very nice. And I do love carrots.

P.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

You saute two chopped onions and some chopped garlic in a little olive oil, and you peel and chop a pound of carrots into that pan. (Parsnips also work, and so do mixed parsnips and carrots.) Add a pint of stock, or water and a slosh of soy sauce if you don't have vegetable stock, and an ounce of rice. Bring to a quiet boil and leave for 20 minutes. Liquidize, season, add parsley and chives.

This produces three meal-size bowls, or six starter size bowls.

There's no protein. I often eat this with grated cheese melting into it, and you could try with soy cheese but I don't know. (I have some lovely goat brie at the moment, it's called chevre des neiges, snow goat!) But it doesn't need cheese, it's very nice the way it is.

[(Anonymous)]

Mmmm, parsnips.

There's a delicious vegan carrot-ginger soup in the Moosewood cookbook that gets some protein from cashews, which also add deliciousness. This (http://www.savoryandsweet.net/2007/06/ginger-carrot-soup-with-cashews.html) is very close to the recipe in our edition.

[eub.livejournal.com]

(Urk, LJ lost my login cookie and now of course I can't edit to fix the HTML.)

[clindau.livejournal.com]

Yum. It all sounds wonderful.

[casacorona.livejournal.com]

The pasta with feta sounds wonderful. I'll try it when I go back to eating carbs.

[pameladean]

It has the benefit of being easy and fairly quick, too.

I think you can get low-carb pasta, but I don't know if it's worth the trouble of opening the box.

P.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

On a random Pamela cooking note, I'd like to mention that I often make a variant of your chickpea potato tomato spinach stew with brown rice. It has always been a huge hit with my family, and I find that sheep's feta goes great on it. Mmmmm. Nom nom nom. It's also excellent with the kind of random greens from my garden that I get in small handfuls here and there, as one does, especially kale.

[pameladean]

I'm really glad you're liking that stew so much. I hadn't thought of putting feta on it, but I can see that it would be very tasty indeed.

I am beginning to think that you can put kale in anything. I just last night substituted it for spinach in the pasta/feta dish, and I have also put it into the fish chowder.

P.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

It really is one of my favorites. I make it often.

I have been using kale in lots of things. My kale has done really well this year, and as per usual, my spinach never made it. So far I haven't found anything it doesn't do well in. I like the texture a lot more, too, as spinach can get mushy so fast.

[pameladean]

Yes, that's one of kale's great features. It's not delicate and you don't have to watch to make sure it doesn't just go to slime. If I ever get rid of this albatross of a novel, I hope to go back to gardening, and kale is definitely on my list. Is it fussy in the garden?

P.

[vom-marlowe.livejournal.com]

Kale is wonderfully hardy. It doesn't mind frost, and it lasts for a long time before bolting. I have some that I grew in spring, and I've just snipped bits off all year long. My favorite kales to grow are lacinato (sometimes called "Dino kale") and red ursa:
http://www.seedsofchange.com/garden_center/product_details.aspx?item_no=s10757
That picture doesn't do it justice. It's incredibly frilly, but the frills are thick. My mom picks it to put in jars as a flower/decoration.

I've also just put it in a pot inside in a window. I adore kale.

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

Do you ever make colcannon? I can give you a recipe - it's potatoes, onions, cabbage, salt and pepper.

[pameladean]

I have made it with cheese added, and I really loved it -- kind of mashed potatoes on steroids -- but it was not popular in the household. I think that if I made it without cheese and fried it in patties, it might catch on more, at least with people who like cabbage.

P.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

We are working on a vegan vegetable soup that does not use a tomato-based stock

Ooh. There are lots of great vegetarian/vegan recipes that are sadly too tomato-heavy for me.

[pameladean]

I love the tomato-based ones, but I wanted some variety, something more brothy that was still sustaining. I will certainly share whatever we come up with. Eric is taking notes and everything.

I think tomato is used because it adds body, both to the broth itself and to the flavor.

P.

[sdn.livejournal.com]

hail seitan!

::ducks::

[pameladean]

No, sorry, I don't eat ducks.

P.

Veg Soup

[biblio-tech.livejournal.com]

I've been searching for the perfect veg. soup without tomatoes as well. Well, since I'm not vegetarian, I haven't searched too hard, but when I do, I also find the results "thin." I put it down to impatience with detail;therefore, I have not tried making a proper potato peel-based broth (ala Vegetarian Epicure), which I imagine would go a long way toward thickening without making it creamy. Cabbage always punches up the flavor, but vegan borscht without tomatoes isn't quite right either. I do find that adding Vegeta to anything brothy helps, I use it at half the recommended dose, but that may still be too salty for you. Do reveal the secret when you find it.

Re: Veg Soup

[pameladean]

I'm more keeping an eye on sodium than avoiding it, but I don't want to go too crazy with it. I don't mind if the broth is physically thin and clear. I want it not to taste thin. Is Vegeta a form of vegemite or marmite, yeast-based?

P.

Re: Veg Soup

[biblio-tech.livejournal.com]

Vegeta is a soup base made of dried vegetables and "seasonings"--no yeast. It's several steps up from bouillon cubes and comes in a handy tin. I get it at Bill's Imported Foods. I've also seen a vegetarian paste soup base, but haven't tried it. (For those who are OK with meat, the beef and chicken soup bases are great--just be sure to get the ones that are not qualified as "chicken/beef-flavored.")

My all-time favorite thin and clear is the Toam Yum soup at Sawatdee. It's chicken with a whole lot of lemon grass and kaffir lime and straw mushrooms. I wonder if you could punch up a veg soup with lemon something--and mushrooms, of course.

Re: Veg Soup

[pameladean]

Thanks for the info. I love Bill's Imported Foods, but it's a bit dangerous. I should probably just go in there with a fixed amount of cash and no credit cards.

We've used mushrooms and lemon juice in our soup, but we may need different proportions. I love the vegetarian version of Toam Yum, but it is not as rich-tasting.

P.

[smartlikeatruck.livejournal.com]

I like to use mushrooms, carrots, onions, and nutritional yeast for veg stock. the mushrooms really give that meaty flavor.

[pameladean]

I've got some nutritional yeast but wasn't quite sure how to apply it.

P.

[smartlikeatruck.livejournal.com]

I use it in EVERYTHING. Great sprinkled on salad, Vegan Mac and cheese, Vegan gravy...

I just add a healthy pinch/serving to whatever I'm cooking, really.

[lcohen]

is your (base) paella recipe online? i would love to learn to make paella but i haven't even figured out where to start ;-) .

[pameladean]

No, but it's really pretty easy.

Ideally, you use a 15-inch paella pan, but a large skillet can work. You may have to cut down on the vegetables, though, if you go that route.

6 t olive oil
two medium onions, diced
a generous amount of garlic, minced
two cups diced tomatoes, fresh or canned, with juice
generous pinch of saffron
three cups vegetable or chicken stock
two cups short-grained white rice

4 to 6 cups vegetables cut in pieces of roughly equal size. I think the original recipe calls for green beans, bell peppers, carrots, and broccoli, but most vegetables will work. The recipe says to parboil them, but I don't. If you do, save a cup of the cooking water.

1/2 cup minced parsley

heat oil in paella pan or large skillet

add onions and garlic; sautee til softened

if you have not parboiled vegetables, add them now and stir fry a bit. They are going to be boiled with the rice for seven minutes, so don't over-soften them

add tomatoes, mix well, cook till juice is reduced a bit

add rice, stir till rice is well coated with tomato mixture

dissolve (insofar as that even works) saffron in broth; add

add reserved vegetable water or just plain tap water

Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, and boil seven minutes, or until much of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is no longer soupy, but there is still liquid here and there

Put into a 325 oven for fifteen minutes

Remove, sprinkle with parsley, cover with foil, let sit fifteen minutes

Decorate with lemon wedges and artichoke hearts, if you feel like it. The lemon wedges are very nice, but you can just serve them on the side, too.

If you want fish paella, sautee a red and a green bell pepper with the onions and garlic, but forget the rest of the vegetables. Then, in a separate pan, briefly sautee 12 to 16 oz. of tilapia, cod, or polluck in olive oil with some cumin and paprika. It doesn't have to be done but it should be breakable into bite-sized pieces (more or less) with the implement of your choice. Add it just before you put the paella in the oven. This will disturb the pleasing smoothness of the top of the rice mixture, but it will settle out again in the oven. You don't want to boil the fish with the rice; it gets soggy.

Serves six to eight, depending on how hungry they are.

Recipe fiddlers should not mess with the proportions of rice and liquid. Also, the paella pan or skillet are of finite capacity. You can use a smaller amount of vegetables, but do not use a larger amount or the entire thing will overflow while boiling. Ask me how I know.

Also, don't cut back on the olive oil, or your rice will stick during the boiling part. It will try to stick anyway. A heat diffuser is a good idea, actually, even if you have to wait longer for the stock to start boiling.

Also, a skillet that looks as if it holds the same amount as a 15-inch paella pan really doesn't.

P.