VeganMoFo: Hello Salty Goodness!

Before I get to the good stuff, I'd like to take a minute to discuss salt. I decided long ago never to walk in anyone's shadow. That "Greatest Love of All" lyric pretty much sums up my thoughts on salt. Baking aside, I really think people should take control of their salt usage. Basically, most recipes I come up with will always say salt to taste. There are many reasons why but I'll just keep it down to the main three.

1. Ingredients-Say a recipe calls for vegetable broth. Well, the entire spectrum of broths is incredibly different. If a recipe calls for broth and you use bouillon cubes when the author primarily used organic liquid broths, chances are your dish will be super salty in comparison. So most of my recipes will skimp just a little on the salt if they feature another salty element.


2. I'm a rebel, Dottie-Part of me will never really like doing what I'm told. I think half the fun of cooking is adding your own flavor to a recipe. It begins with salt, people. Once you conquer salt, you can definitely conquer the world.

3. Different Strokes-At the end of the day, everybody has different tastes and needs when it comes to salt. Take my brother, for example. This fool will take a pack of Ramen noodles, drain it of water, add the super salty flavor packet and float it in a pool of soy sauce. I've gone dehydrated from typing that.

Anyway. Today, I went for a walk on the wild side and created my first ever risotto recipe. I encourage you to try it with organic liquid vegetable broth. I was very happy with the way it turned out. The pumpkin is a bit subtle, but it adds a super fabulous creaminess to it.


Pumpkin and Porcini Risotto
5 ½ cups vegetable broth
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 oz dried porcini mushrooms
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup shallots, thinly sliced
2-3 small garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ cups Arborio rice
½ tsp salt
2 Tbsp fresh thyme (plus more for garnish)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium sauce pan, bring the vegetable broth and pumpkin to a simmer over medium high heat. Add the porcinis and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down to low. Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add the shallots and cook until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant (around thirty seconds). Next add the rice and make sure to coat it with the olive oil. Cook it for a couple of minutes until it smells toasty. Turn the heat to low. Add the salt and 1 cup of the broth (be sure to leave the porcinis in the broth for as long as possible). Now get to stirring. Stir constantly and add ½ cup of broth/porcini mixture every time the liquid is fully absorbed by the rice. The risotto should be done between 30 and 40 minutes. Add the fresh thyme and salt and pepper to taste.

Well that's it. Another glorious day of VeganMoFo accomplished. Tomorrow marks the end of pumpkin "week." But I still have a bunch of things in store. Muahahahahaha. Ha.

VeganMoFo: The Most Annoying Meal of the Day

There are many perks to veganism...including, but not limited to: awesomeness, awareness of what goes into your food, a cholesterol free diet, knowing that you will be in the only surviving group of zombies after the zombie apocalypse kills off the human food supply and gets kuru, and these waffles:

Pictured above are the absolutely delicious Pumpkin Waffles from Vegan With a Vengeance by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. They are delicious and spicy and my second contribution to Pumpkin Week. If you happen to be the last vegan on the planet who doesn't own this book, do yourself a favor and buy it already! These waffles is the shizzle. I served them with ginger-maple caramel and raw walnuts. And I'm aware it's one in the afternoon and I just ate breakfast twenty minutes ago. That's just how I roll.

Yes, it's true what they say. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day (that totally rhymed!). But for us vegan types it can also be highly annoying. There is no justifiable reason why a place called the International House of Pancakes shouldn't have at least one naturally vegan dish on the menu. It's dedicated to breakfast and there are so many easily adaptable breakfast items. I still can't get past the fact that they fry their hashbrowns in butter. If you ask for dry hashbrowns, they look at you like you are crazy. What kind of cook can't make dry hashbrowns or use olive oil? Apparently, unless you want to eat a bowl of decaying fruit and possibly dry toast, you have to learn to cook yourself breakfast. So here it goes. My top five favorite breakfast type things.

5. Hashbrowns-When I was little, my mom would make breakfast every Sunday. She'd always have hashbrowns with bell peppers, onion and garlic. I'd top it with ketchup. As an adult, I add cumin to my hashbrowns and top it with ketchup and hot sauce (preferably Tapatio).
4. Barnard's Brown Rice Breakfast-This is from How It All Vegan. When I saw the recipe I thought it was vile because I hated mayo as an omni. One day I noticed I had all the ingredients and wanted to give it a try. Brown rice, sausage and tofu on Vegenaise schmeared toast is so frickin good I could cry. Don't forget the Bragg's and ketchup!
3. Breakfast Tacos-Most people don't know what these are. Never trust a Californian when they say they know breakfast tacos. They have breakfast burritos, but Texas has got that taco method locked down. My favorite breakfast tacos are bean and cheeze, potato/tofu/sausage, and tofu and bac'n. And for it to be legitimate, you serve it in a flour tortilla (not a burrito shell).
2. Pancakes-Not just any pancakes. I have to give it up to Vegan With a Vengeance for making my wedding party very happy at the rehearsal brunch. To quote my friend Cros, "These pancakes is hot fire!"
1. Menudo-Green is a relatively new restaurant in San Antonio. It's the only completely vegetarian one. When rumors spread of it's existence a couple of years ago, I thought they were nothing more than urban legends. Several hangovers, bowls of vegan menudo and migas later...I have to give that soup the number one. I've gone there on two hours sleep just so I could get the menudo with my breakfast.

Honorable mentions: tofu scramble for its versatility and the breakfast sammich for its simplicity.

Martin out!

VeganMoFo: Sausage, Potato, and Pumpkin Enchilada Bake

Vegan Mofo is upon us! And the world shall bow to it's knees! I am absolutely giddy today. Not just because this marks the beginning of a wonderful month of vegan food blogginess, but I just came up with one of the most fabulous things I have ever created. Seriously. Sausage, potato and pumpkin baked together in an enchilasagna type orgy of fun. Very good.

It's entirely possible that I'll have my Tex Mex license revoked. These have not one shred of Mexican influence to them...unless you count the tortillas. I actually got the inspiration from La Dolce Vegan. There's a recipe called Punkin Pasta. I wanted to work with pumpkin this week and thought of a way to transform a familiar recipe.

If I could sum up this recipe in a sentence: This is what fall tastes like. Trust.

Okay, so that was two sentences. Sue me.

Now, this recipe can be a bit time consuming if you make your own seitan. However, the rest isn't too much work at all. If you try it, please let me know what you think.

Sausage, Potato, and Pumpkin Enchilada Bake
10 corn tortillas

Filling:
2 cups yukon gold potatoes, diced
¾ cup green bell pepper (about half of a medium sized pepper)
¾ cup yellow onion, coarsely chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
Splash of water
2 cups Italian Seitan Sausage, crumbled (recipe follows or use premade ones)
1 cup Pumpkin Cashew Cream (recipe follows)
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh sage for garnish, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and oil and 8x8 casserole dish. Set aside.

Add olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until they are just beginning to soften. Add the bell pepper and sauté for about 3 minutes. Place the potatoes in the skillet and stir. When the potatoes become translucent add a splash of water to the pan to scrape up the potatoes and onion. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a medium bowl add the seitan sausage, pumpkin cashew cream, and potato mixture. Stir thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Place a thin layer of the pumpkin cashew cream on the bottom of the casserole dish. Add three corn tortillas (halved) to cover the bottom. Spread half the sausage and potato mixture on top. Add another three corn tortillas (also halved). Top with the remaining potato and sausage mixture. Neatly place the remaining four tortillas on top of the casserole and spread the pumpkin cashew cream on top.

Place in the oven until the potatoes are cooked and the pumpkin cashew cream is beginning to brown, about 30-35 minutes. Remove from the oven and garnish with fresh sage.


Italian Seitan Sausage (Adapted from Seitan O Greatness)

Ingredients:
1.5 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tbsp fennel seeds
½ tsp dried sage
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

3/4 cups water
4 Tbsp tomato paste
2 Tbsp tamari
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp liquid smoke

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl mix dry ingredients. Mix the rest of the ingredients (liquid ingredients) in a smaller mixing bowl. Whisk well until mixed.

Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix well, then knead for a minute or two.

Form into a log (6-8" long), wrap tightly in foil, twisting ends. Make sure to leave a little bit of room so the seitan doesn't bust out of the foil. Bake for 90 minutes. When done baking, unwrap and leave out to cool all the way.

Pumpkin Cashew Cream
2 cups raw cashews
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 tsp salt
½ cup water
1 15 oz can pureed pumpkin
½ cup loosely packed sage, coarsely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Chop the cashews in a food processor until they are very small crumbs. Add the garlic, salt, and water and process until smooth. Add the pumpkin and sage and process until well blended, making sure to scrape down the sides of the processor. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I served this with a simple side salad and the Mediterranean Vinaigrette from Veganomicon. That's all for now. So happy eating and a very Happy World Vegetarian Day to you!