Champagne Risotto

I'm going to stress the importance of using good booze in your cooking. When I was a little fledgling cook I tried my hand at Penne alla Vodka. It was gonna be AWESOME! I made a fatal mistake: I used cheap vodka and when I say cheap vodka I don't mean Absolute. Oh no, I mean, damn near moonshine, pretty sure this company uses discarded Listerine bottles, kinda vodka. What I got was Penne alla Paint Thinner. If you can't afford a nice champagne, feel free to sub a nice prosecco or white wine. It doesn't need to be top shelf by any means but something nice.

Serves 2
25 minutes

1 stick Celery, diced
2 Leeks, white parts chopped
6 Tbsp Vegan butter, split in two parts
1 tsp Olive oil
1 1/2 cup Champagne
3 cups Veggie stock (possibly more)
1 1/3 cup Arborio rice
1/3 cup Nutrition yeast
Pepper

1. In a pot add 1 cup champagne with all of the veggie stock. Bring to and keep at a low simmer.
2. Chop up your veggies. Melt half your butter with the oil in a saucepan, add veggies and cook till soft.
3. Add your rice to your veggie saucepan, stir to coat in butter. Turn up heat a touch and add your remaining 1/2 cup champagne. Stir continuously. Turn heat down to original heat and add in ladles of stock/champagne combo. Let one ladle be absorbed before you add the next. Stirring all the while. Continue for about 20 minutes.
4. At this point your rice should be cooked through, there's only one way to find out. If it is and you have stock left over, forget about it. If it's not heat up some more veggie stock and continue the process.
5. When rice is cooked through and the excess moisture is absorbed remove from heat. Stir in remaining butter, nutritional yeast and pepper.

I served this with a simple green salad tossed in a raspberry vinaigrette and let me tell you it was a mah-velous combination.

Original recipe from Nigella Lawson : Feast

Kerala Spiced Peas

If you live in San Francisco you know about Mission Chinese Food. If you live in New York, one just opened there, be sure to check it out. If you are unable to access a Mission Chinese Food, I'm sorry. The good news is, this recipe reminds me A LOT of one of their dishes on the SF menu. Enjoy.

Serves 6
15 minutes

2 Tbsp Vegan butter
2 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp Ground coriander
1/2 tsp Ground cardamom
2 Serrano peppers (or 1 Thai chili), minched
1 Yellow onion, sliced
1 Pound bag frozen petite peas (they're sweeter than regular peas)
2 Tbsp ginger, minced
3-4 Garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp Salt
Juice of 1/2 lemon

1. Heat butter in a saute pan. When butter is hot add cumin and mustard seeds for 1-2 minutes.
2. Add coriander, cardamom, peppers and onion. Cook for about 5 minutes.
3. Add peas, ginger, garlic and salt. Heat peas through. Add lemon juice, stir and serve.

Somewhere Danny Bowien is turning up his nose at me.

Original recipe from The Kitchn

Vegan Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie

2 months ago
Me: Are you sure you don't want two pie pans? That way I can make you two pumpkin pies at once?
Boyfriend: No, one will be fine.
Yesterday
Boyfriend: You should make two pumpkin pies.
Boyfriend fail.

This recipe is not a quick one but there is plenty of time for clean up and/or working on other recipes. Multitasking is what will make this world a woman's.

Serves 1 to 8 (Depending on the amount of pumpkin pie love per person)
3 hours +3 hours in fridge

Crust
1/2 cup Vegan butter
2-4 Tbsp Water + ice
1 1/4 cups All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour
     + extra for rolling
1 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Sugar

Filling
1/4 cup Maple syrup
3 Tbsp Cornstarch
2 1/4 cups Canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
1/2 cup Brown sugar
1/4 cup Almond milk
1 Tbsp Vegan butter, melted
2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ginger, ground
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
Pinch Cloves, ground

Icing
1/2 cup Vegan cream cheese
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
3 Tbsp Powdered sugar

1. Crust: Cut butter into pieces and freeze for 15-30 minutes. Place some ice in your water. Meantime mix your dry ingredients in a food processor. Add butter to processor and pulse till mixture is crumbly. Add 1 tablespoon of water at a time till dough clumps together. Do not add too much water, dough should mold to hands when you squeeze it. Remove dough from processor and form into disk, wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge for at least one hour.
2. Filling: Mix maple syrup and cornstarch together. In a larger bowl mix all of the filling ingredients together and set aside.
3. Crust: Take dough out of fridge and allow to warm for 5 minutes. Lay wax paper out and dust with flour, place dough disk on top, dust disk with flour and lay another piece of wax paper on top. Roll to 12 inches wide. Carefully transfer to pie pan*  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pie crust in freezer for 30 minutes.
4. Icing: Beat cream cheese till smooth, mix in vanilla extract then add powdered sugar. Set aside in fridge.
5. Crust: Remove from freezer and bake for 20 minutes or until crust is golden. Pull crust out and allow to cool. Fill with pumpkin filling, top with cut outs and cook for 45 minutes. Remove from oven, cover crust edges with tin foil and return to oven for another 15 minutes. Allow to cool for one hour then place in fridge for three hours (this is a must). Decorate with icing and serve!

* Make sure there are no children within ear shot as there is a lot of cursing at this point. I often find myself simply molding the crust into the pan wondering: what was the point of rolling this out? If you have any tips on this, please feel free to share (aka HELP ME!)

Original filling recipe from Oh She Glows
Original crust recipe from Simple Gluten-Free

Mango Dal

Mangoes were on sale at the market this week so I picked a few up. If you've never cut open a mango before it can be kinda tricky. Here is a perfect little tutorial. I don't know if I'd hold it in my hand though. I mean I would,... because I did,... and I cut my hand.

Serves 4
40 minutes

1 cup Yellow lentil
4 cups Water
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Ground turmeric
1 Tbsp Olive oil
2 tsp Cumin
1 Medium yellow onion, diced
4 Garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp Fresh ginger, minced
2 tsp Ground coriander
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
2 Mangoes, cubed

This goes well over rice if you wanted to cook some up.

1. Combine lentil, water, 1 teaspoon salt and turmeric in a sauce pan. Bring to boil then reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes.
2. Cube mangoes and set aside. Heat oil in a medium pot/pan. Add cumin 30 seconds before your onion, saute onion for about 5 minutes. Add in everything else EXCEPT your cubed mangoes. Saute for another minute.
3. Add onion mixture and mangoes to your lentils. Cook for 15 more minutes or so, stirring from time to time. Most of the water should be absorbed and lentils falling apart.
4. Chomp down on it!

Original recipe from Eating Well

Pumpkin Wontons

My friend Candace is a nerd about food and together we have magical food nerd conversations. She requested a pumpkin recipe and I thought this would be perfect because she's Asian! Don't worry, this wont offend her, she knows she's Asian. Be sure to check out her blog Cui Bites, it's about enjoying the good things in life: food.

This is a perfect example of taking a non-vegan, gluten laced recipe and making it work pour moi. Also, this would be a great recipe to make if you have left over pumpkin pie filling after Turkey Day.

Makes 18 wontons
1 1/2 hours

Filling
1/2 cup Pumpkin puree
3 Tbsp Vegan cream cheese, room temperature
3 Tbsp Powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1 Tbsp Lemon juice
Pinch Clove, ground
Pinch Salt

Wontons
2 cups King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour (found at Whole Foods)
      + extra for kneading
1 tsp Xanthan gum
3 Ener-G Eggs prepared
      + 1 extra for wonton sealing
3/4 cup water
      + more if needed
Vegetable oil

Dipping Sauce
1/2 cup 100% Real maple syrup
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
If you don't like the idea of this dipping sauce make a cinnamon sugar mixture to dust the wontons with.

1. Mix all your filling ingredients and set aside. In a separate bowl add flour and xanthan gum together, mix. Mix in eggs then mix in water a few tablespoons at a time until dough molds to hand when you squeeze it.
2. Break dough into two equal balls, dust counter and first ball with flour and knead dough. Add flour as needed until dough is no longer sticky. Repeat with second ball. 
3. Roll out balls one at a time, continuously sprinkling with flour (You don't want your balls sticking to the counter) until they are 1/8 inch thick. Cut dough (A pizza cutter rocks for this) into 4-5 inch squares.
4. Mix your extra Ener-G egg and brush the edges of the wrapper with some of the mixture. Add about a tablespoon of filling, fold in half and press edges together (I can never get them lined up perfectly so I cut them to make them so). Repeat until all your wontons are assembled.
5. Put a big soup pot (or cast iron) on medium heat and fill with about an inch of vegetable oil. Heat to about 350 degrees (if you don't have a thermometer, imagine what it's like when you put your hand in a 350 degree oven, then hold your hand over the oil, yeah, freakin hot). While the oil is heating mix your dipping sauce (or dusting) ingredients together and set aside.
6. Put a few wontons in at a time, don't crowd the pot. Be sure to scoop out any vagrant pieces between batches. Cook on each side for 1 minute then place on paper towels. If you're using the cinnamon sugar dusting, now is the perfect time to sprinkle it on your wontons.
7. All done!

Original recipe from A Cozy Kitchen

Hot Pot

I got knocked off my feet by a killer cold this week and spent the last four days in bed, getting up only to do the most minimal of human functions, one of which is eating. My boyfriend, bless his heart, made me as many bowls of soup as I wanted. Unfortunately, they all came from cans. Nothing will motivate you more to get better and back in the kitchen than four days of canned soup. First thing I made, soup. Duh.

Serves 4
45 minutes

4 cups Vegetable broth
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 Tbsp Sesame oil
1 Red onion, diced
1 Red bell pepper, diced
3 Garlic cloves
2 Tbsp Lemongrass, minced
1 Tbsp Ginger, minced
1/2 tsp Red chili pepper flakes (more, depending on how congested you are)
2 Star anise
1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp Tamari sauce (soy sauce if you're okay with Gluten)
1 Tomato, chopped
1/2 oz Fresh shiitake mushrooms, chopped
Salt and Pepper
15 oz can Coconut milk
1/2 Lime, juiced

Optional: cooked rice, bok choy, broccoli, cauliflower, cashews, basil, cilantro, snow peas, water chestnuts, really just about anything you have left over in your frigidaire. Remember to add them in at the appropriate time. I hope I didn't jinx you by saying that.

1. Put a big soup pot on medium-high heat with your sesame oil in the bottom. Saute your onion and pepper with a pinch of salt for a few minutes. Add garlic, lemon grass, ginger and chili flakes.
2. Take a cup of your veggie broth and mix in cornstarch to dissolve than add to saute, along with the remaining veggie broth. Add star anise, cinnamon, tamari, black pepper and simmer for about 10 minutes.
3. Add in shittake and tomatoes, countiue to simmer for another 20 minutes. Add coconut milk, lime, heat and serve.

Sometimes I'd be making a shopping list for a new recipes and come across something I had never seen/used/heard of before. I would methodically search produce shelves for labels and look for what I had imagined the said vegetable would look like (i.e. Leek: I bet it looks like a beet, yeah, totally a beet-esque vegetable) When I wised up a bit I'd print pictures to take with me.

Shiitake mushrooms, lemongrass (the riding crop lookin thing) and bok choy. 

I hope I saved you some research.

Original recipe from The PPK

Persimmon, Pomegranate and Mint Salad

Pomegranate has got to be the most beautiful fruit ever. But I am like a mother with many children and I say that to just about every fruit/veggie that makes it's way to my chopping board. Seriously though, every time I open it I feel like a gemologist who's cracked an undiscovered cave of rubies. That's how exciting shit gets in my kitchen.

Serves 4
20 minutes

4 Fuyu Persimmon, peeled and sliced
1/2 Pomegranate, deseeded
1/4 cup Mint, chopped
2 Tbsp Agave
1 Tbsp Meyer lemon juice
Pinch Cinnamon

1. If you are not serving right away, wait to add pomegranate as it will stain your persimmon. Combine fruit and mint.
2. In separate bowl mix agave, lemon juice and cinnamon.
3. Mix it all together. I suggest getting a high five from everyone that eats this (they'll agree you deserve it)

My Asshole Diet

Raw Cashew Dreamcake

It's ma birfday! I considered just picking up a VGF cake some where because my original attitude was; It's my birthday why should I make my own cake and then I remembered I'm Type A. I actually hate baking; some one asked me today if I ever completely ruin something and have to trash it in it's entirety. Of course I do, you don't actually think I know what I'm doing, do you? Anyway, the things I usually ruin are baked goods, they are the red wine stain on my wedding dress. I guess this would be an exception as it is not actually baked.

This was my first raw cake so I followed the recipe to a T. I'll spare myself retyping the recipe and send you straight to a favorite site of mine My New Roots for the original.
My Asshole Diet 

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Chard, White Beans and Cherries

Our three days of San Francisco Summer are over and before I had a minute to crave Fall, it was here. Now that it is, all I've wanted is squash. I turned up this recipe with a google search and added some lovin' touches. It's super good and stuffed anything seems fancy. I might add some quinoa in on my next go around.

Serves 2
40 minutes

1 Acorn squash, halved
Olive oil
1/2 Yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup Veggie Broth (more if needed) 
2 Garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp Dried Rosemary
1 Tbsp Dried Thyme
1 Tbsp tomato paste
4 cups Chard, Chopped
1/4 cup Dried cherries (I'm sure craisins or raisins would be great too) 
1/2 15oz can White beans, rinsed
1/4 cup Kalamata olives, chopped
Salt and Pepper
1/4 cup Gluten-Free bread crumbs
1/4 cup Nutritional Yeast
1/4 tsp salt

1. Pre-heat your broiler. Slice off the bottom of each squash half so it lays flat. Cover inside of squash with a little bit of olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Put on a plate and pull some plastic wrap over the top, microwave for about 12 minutes or till tender.
2. Start choppin' your veggies. Heat up a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet and add onions for a minute or two. Add broth, garlic, tomato paste, chard, cherries, salt, pepper and herbs for another 5 minutes. Add olives and beans; stir and pull off the stove.
3. Combine bread crumbs, nutritional yeast, salt and a tablespoon of olive oil. Stuff acorns, sprinkle bread crumbs on top put em on a cookie sheet. Broil till bread crumbs are toasty.

Original recipe from Delish
My Asshole Diet