Rosemary and Garlic Red potatoes

This is a great snack!  IT is perfect for when you are trying to get work done and need food, but dont have time.  It takes about 15 min of prep and then cooks for an hour (where you can get work or cleaning the house or go for a jog or get dressed for the party).  It is also a  really great crowd pleaser when you have company over, particularly due to its aromatic nature.  About 20 minutes into baking your house will be filled with the savory aroma of garlic and the botanic deliciousness of rosemary!


Here is what you need (to feed 2-4 as an appetizer)

4 good sized red potatoes
2 Tbs Apple Cider vinegar (white or red will work too)
1 Tbs Salt
3 Cloves minced garlic (about 2 tsp)
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp muddled rosemary  (muddled = a fancy way of saying grind it or smash it a bit)
1/2 Tbs oil

an oven at 400 oF
a nice heavy roasting pan

15 min prep time
45-60 min cook time


simple version: dice potatoes toss with ingredients roast at 400 F for 45 min turning them once after 25 min.

The details: One of the most important things to having a nice batch of roasted potatoes is similar cube size.  If some are too big they wont cook the whole way, if some are too small the will burn.  So take some time and practice cutting cubes that are about the same size.  Mine come out to be about half inch cubes but anywhere in the 1/2 in to 1in size would have been fine.

I rinse the potatoes twice with cold water tossing out the water before I toss them in the spices.  Rinsing will remove some of the starch which will keep them from sticking to the pan as much and help them get a nice golden brown.

Add all of the spices and then the vinegar. I spend 3-5 minutes tossing the potatoes in the vinegar, usually using a spoon to grab the liquid from the bottom and pouring it over the tops followed by a few mixes.

Use about 1/Tbs of oil to coat your roasting pan then lay your potatoes out in there (with as little of the vinegar soak as possible but as much of the spices as possible)

Put them in the over, Set a timer for 25 min.  After 25 min use a spatula to give them a bit of a stir flip and then back into the over for 25 more min.

Out they pop and you got a delicious snack/side dish!  I made an avocado sauce (which is slightly different than guacamole) to have with my potatoes!

Mushroom Gravy and Fries

Once I get on a gravy kick it is hard to stop!  This is a simple meal made from things that I have made dozens of times.  French fries with barbecue sauce, Kale salad with think slice zucchini, snap peas and shredded carrots, brown rice with mushroom gravy.

Southern Comfort

     Nothing quite says comfort food like Biscuits and Gravy. . . unless it is biscuits and gravy with a side of grits and french fries.  While I was hitting the blue ridge mountains I was lucky enough to get in in my friends tiny kitchen and cook a vegan meal southern style.  

     The gravy is my pretty standard mushroom gravy (which I still want to try and make wheat free).  Caramelize some onions in oil (i like coconut oil for this because it does add some flavor so feel free to go with olive or safflower) , toss in diced garlic and sliced mushrooms.  while those are browning you can prepare a rue by whisking hot vegetable stock with white flour. I make my broth with the vegetable paste 'better than bullion' and for gravy I will add some soy sauce, vegan Worcestershire sauce and a dash of braggs.  The amount totally depends on how much gravy you are making but be careful it is pretty easy to make the rue too salty.  You can always fix it by adding more water and flour but too far will start to dilute the taste.  

     The fries are also my regular midnight snack of potatoes cut and tossed in olive oil (no peanut oil in this house but olive oil does wonderful!) and baked at 425 for 30-40 minutes.

     Grits. . . basically polenta which are both corn meal based.  The finer details don't trouble me much because we can get the 'feel' or 'taste' in the cooking process.  starting with the intended product may make it easier but a bit of kitchen trickery and I doubt you could tell which witch is which.  The recipe I followed for this grits (starting with grits) surprised me as it called for a tablespoon of sugar!  The slightly sweet grits were really quite good but I made them again alter in the week and went for a savory gris and like dhtat a bit more.  here is how both go:

3 C water

3 C almond milk (for creamy sweet) or 3 C Vegetable broth (for savory)

6 Tbs Butter ( used earth balance coconut whip so they were soy free)

2 tsp salt

3 Tbs sugar (leave out for savory)

2 Tsp pepper (leave out for creamy sweet)

1/4 C nutritional yeast (leave out for creamy sweet)

1 1/2 C Grits

mix everything together, let the butter melt in then stir in the grits simmer for 5 minutes and you are golden!  

[This recipe comes from a quick google search (http://southernfood.about.com/od/gritsrecipes/r/breakfast-grits.htm) ]

     For the biscuits. . .well you know how I am with baked goods.  There is so much detail to include and precision needed for great baking that I will have to do a biscuit post some other time.  For now Enjoy grits, enjoy gravy and always eat well.

Food for 200

so . . .I did something kinda crazy last week.  I made A LOT of food.  About a month ago Boz asked me to handle food for an upcoming event.  I had a budget of 300 dolalrs and needed to feed 200 people a combination of vegan and non vegan food.  OF course I wanted to go all vegan but I got help to deal with the non-vegan side of things.  While I turned 50 pounds of potatoes into 65 lbs of potato salad and 45 pounds of cabbage into 50 pounds of cole slaw Hani and Marie handled BBQ chicken (eww right, huge thanks for them dealing with it).  Of course I wanted there to be a comparable vegan choice so I went with the classic BBQ jack Fruit. 

Considering how delicious and simple it is to make this dish I am always amazed that people do not know about it.  First question is always "jack fruit?  what is that?"  Well Ill tell you: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit 

or rather  I will let Wiki tell you (please donate).  The cool part is this fruit has been eaten in India for over 6000 years, and it is just like I always say . . .you want a new idea look at the oldest vegetarian group on the planet!  Fortunately we can take this fruit and give it an american twist.  The hard part is often finding a good source of jack Fruit.  For last weeks meal I completely bought out the Asian market here in Davis, which is where you can often find canned jack fruit.  If you go with fresh jack fruit you need to soak it in water over night (or longer) to reduce the sweet/fruity flavor.  Getting from the can is way easier.   

Preparation is pretty much boiling the fruit in flavor water.  I use a combination of vegetable stock, garlic and onions.  The secret for getting the BBQ into it is a touch of liquid smoke . . . and oh man how have I never cooked with liquid smoke before?  You knwo that smell that people associate with barbecued whatever?  well it isnt the meat, it isnt the marinade, it isnt the grill it is the smoke!  liquid smoke adds that woodsy taste that you get in your nostrils and keep craving.  It is also what turns ketchup into barbecue sauce (more or less). 

The cole slaw and potato salad were pretty challenging and in the amount of time I had I didnt manage to take many photos.  Some day soon I might have enough time to actually document what I am doing again. 

Also a big thank you to Brad and Diana who helped plate food for 100 hungry climbers and the dozens of spectators at the Competition.

This is not the burger you are looking for

In the dead of winter you cannot blame me for wanting a taste of summer.  I just wanted to fire up the grill and toss on some portobello's, some marinated zuchinni, a few potatoes and of course corn. . . but it is January, it is cold outside, I am not gonna take the time to set up a grill and most my favorites are out of season.  After rummaging around the kitchen I made a mash of black beans (left over from dinner) and boiled yams, the mix was mostly yams.  That was not all, I grated some carrots in and tossed in some sauteed onions with seasonings (garlic[duh], salt, pepper, paprika and cumin).  I was surprised by how firm the mash was right off the bat!  I didn't have to add ant flour to stiffen it up.  I did use some corn meal on the outside before tossing my patties into a grill and it made it so they held together instead of sticking to the pan.  I put the patty on a baguette with barbecue sauce, dijon mustard, karinata kale, and a fresh sprout mix.  I rounded out my summer daydreams with thick cut fires baked at 400 F with lots of pepper and a dash of salt.  The good news is the days are already getting longer! 

Two Weeks in the Appalachia Hills of NC

So I really do mean to do this on a more regular basis but life does not always slow down enough for me to show off my meals the way I want to.  So after two weeks of INCREDIBLE meals all you get is a quick report on the foods and only the scantest of clues on how to make it.  If I were not leaving tomorrow for another trip I would honestly try to be more detailed in my meal preparation and thought process.  

Two Weeks of Tasty Food

Kale Salad

Kale salad with an avocado lemon vinaigrette with fresh corn, grated beets and carrots.  The body is hefted up with a bit of shredded cabbage and topped with crushed walnuts and a few more slices of avocado

Buffalo Fries

It seemed abnormal to go to the south without having buffalo wings but the next best thing is buffalo fires with home made 'wing' sauce.  I used a lot of extra pepper and pinch of salt and so much garlic that I ahrdly tasted the spicy delicious wing sauce

 Buckwheat Pancakes
I was visiting a wheat free friend but that did not deter us from pancakes with maple syrup.  The amazing thing about the east coast is blueberries grow wild!  the bananas are still imported but a morning walk to harvest blueberries made these things so much more worth it!

Shredded salad and mushroom risotto 

One of the many amazing dinners consisted of carrot/beet/cabbage salad with almonds, raisins and, sesame seeds.  The salad was dressed in balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  The risotto was rich and delicious and could have used more mushrooms but was a nice compliment to the salad.

Indian Dinner
One lovely night we threw a dinner party with Red Dhal soup, turmeric rice (didnt have any saffron so did our best), pumpkin curry and a green salad.

more salad

massaged kale with romaine lettuce.  The tomatoes and peppers came from the small garden on site and the diced almonds came with me from Cali!

 Simple Dinner
Steamed carrots and purple cabbage topped with sauteed potatoes and bell peppers.

Hash brown Breakfast
shred potatoes, shred yams, garlic and onions!  I am always a fan of hash browns but for some reason these were extra good.  Top potatoes with avocado and Chihuly hot sauce and you are always on the right track.

potato stew

I was not thrilled with my first go at buckwheat biscuits but they added a nice body to the stew as they melted in.  The stew was a slow roast with potato carrot cabbage in a tomato base with a lot of garlic and some onion.  

Mexican Dinner
Turns out North Carolina does not offer a lot of Mexican food.  This was the last night as a going away treat to remind my friend what is waiting for her in California.  Salsa fresca Mexican spiced black beans with a side of Spanish rice. Fresh corn and guacamole to make tacos with corn tortillas was like heaven!

Salad once more

On the night I met Debra Frasier, Liz and I shared kale salads.  Shredded carrots, shredded beats, tomatoes from the garden, fresh corn, bell peppers and a lemon vinaigrette.  I ate it and wanted more and more and more!  I dont thing there is anything I like as much as a well made salad!  

I have no idea what I am going to eat for the next two weeks but once I am back we will all know! 

Salads for Dinner

Some days are just not what you want them to be. . . .your mind gets stuck on some idea and you spend a beautiful day inside writing letters you are never going to send. There is only one thing that helps . . . 

COMFORT FOOD

Potato salad, pasta salad a nice green salad to get those vitamins minerals and fiber and then a bean salad for that protein kick that makes tomorrow easier.  Ill tell you right now that this is going to be level less 'recipe' than usual.  I did some experimenting with the potato salad and it was PHENOMENAL.  

So lets turn this mass of veggies---->

<----------- into this mass of tasty!

The pasta salad get nixed in this post, because well it is a day like that but it is pretty simple.  Cooked pasta tossed with peas corn garlic and olive oil.  Salt and pepper to taste. For ratios you want to aim for something that is mostly pasta accentuated with some vegetables. 

 The green salad is also straight forward.  I used a spring mix with raisins, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, diced almonds, some shredded radish and a sprinkling of calendula petals for color!  Calendula (aka marigolds) have edible petals  that dont have much in the way of flavor but add amazing color to salads with a texture that is consistent with the rest of the dish. 

Bean Salad:

   Using a pressure cooker (or enough forethought that you soak the beans beforehand and have enough time to cook them)  prepare enough beans for your meal; I did about 3 cups dry white beans and 1 cup dry kidney beans (it comes out to about 6 cups of cooked beans) 

 I diced in some raw beets to add some color and sweetness and a bunch of long beans cut into one inch segments.  I also shredded carrot and zucchini into the mix.  Not only does this give an additional texture and some bonus vegetation but ti also provides more color which makes your typical bland bean salad seem fun and exciting! 

Seasonings can be as simple as salt and pepper but I strongly urge the use of some summer time herbs like oregano basil and thyme.  We had a bounty of rosemary in the kitchen so I used that as my primary flavor, using paprika to add a bit of spice and color (yes paprika can have spice you just need to get the fresh stuff)

 of course I used fresh grated garlic, yum! 

I tossed the salad with a combination of olive oil and white wine vinegar (though you can use any vinegar you like).  I wan to make up some measurement for how much I used but I honestly have no clue, though you do want about equal parts oil and vinegar!  The goal here is to make the salad moist without drowning it, add in slow amounts alternating olive oil then vinegar (too much olive oil is easier to deal with than too much vinegar) until the beans are evenly coated without there being a pool of 'dressing' in the bottom of the bowl

Potato Salad:

    I have a problem with potato salad. . . I dont like mayonnaise.  I didnt like it when I was an omnivore and i found the vegan versions just as unappealing.  I still used it when I was making some dishes but damn it!  I didnt want to this time.  I used an adaptation of a cream sauce I made for a pasta primavera alfredo.  Again with a bit of forethought I would have soaked the almonds for 30-60 minuted before I made this but i didnt know I was going to do this until i was in the store holding a jar of vegan mayo and cringed.  

I blended 1 cup of almonds with 1 large block of silken tofu (seemed about 2 cups worth) and 1/2 cup olive oil.  knowing that this was going to a potato salad I was not shy about using some vinegar to thin it out (just a couple table spoons) 

I used mustard, a pinch or two of salt and a bit more vinegar for flavoring while a few more splashes of olive oil were there to push the sauce to a more creamy texture.  I was surprised at how quickly  it all came together but in the time it took the potatoes to boil I ended up with my own vegan sauce for potato salad (That I refuse to call mayo because it is nothing like that stuff).

You cook the potatoes . . .just boil them.  I like to used red potatoes boiled in an open pot so I can make sure they dont get over done.  For my house i sued five pounds of potatoes (you might as well too because left over potato salad is GREAT).   

Mix the potatoes with the almond-tofu sauce (lets call it almofu sauce, or someone make up a word for this stuff we need a vocabulary to describe these things that does not relate it to some dairy counterpart) a hearty helping of black pepper and grated garlic ( i must have grated 20 cloves for this meal) and some diced parsley.  I also diced it the celery greens because I like the color and flavor.  I dont grate carrots for this dish, I coarsely chop them with the celery because then everything has a comparable texture.  I also use a few spoon fulls of sweet pickle relish to round out the pallet of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy.  

I feel like I am forgetting something but like I said it was an experiment and I will have to repeat it again and see what changes. . .though i hope nothing because I could have eaten this potato salad for days! (though my brother would not even try it, he has something against pickles in relish form or otherwise).

(the change in coloring of the potato salad is due to lighting only)

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Curry

Somehow we made it to this spring and had some extra squash around and only one thing seemed appropriate,  Pumpkin Curry! Of course I decided to make Garlic Nann to go with it and I tried to do some fried rice but oh man it was failing. . . I managed to save it by transforming it into coconut fried rice, using the extra flavor to help out my texture issue, turned out everyone loved it and it complimented the garlic potatoes well.

             So lets go ahead and turn this:

                                          into this!

Pumpkin Curry:

 I am sure there are a lot of ways to prepare the pumpkin (and roasting will bring out AMAZING flavor) but for time I just cube it and steam it. I remove the skin before hand so I don't have to cool the squash peel it and then reheat, yes it is technically easier to peel it after cooking but it does take an extra step.  Normally I dont steam with herbs but there was enough extra majoram and Basil that I figured why not! I used one butternut one pumpkin and one squash I didn't know the name of. I diced it all and steamed about 5 cups worth (maybe 6) for 15 to 20 min. 

I over-did the steaming a bit (which i don't suggest).  The pumpkin can come out of steam a bit more firm than you would like since it will get cooked during the simmer period.  The end result was something a bit more soupy and not as chunky as I like but WOW it went really well with the Nann and rice.

I used: mustard seed, corainder seed, and fenugreek as my tempering spice (1 tsp each in 2 Tbs oil) heating them in oil until the mustard began to pop a bit before tossing in raw garlic and onion> I dont know why but there was an eggplant in the fridge so I went ahead and diced that and tossed it in the oil to cook down and brown in on a medium high heat.  

I simmer the garlic onions and eggplant in a big pot with the seeds  because I knew the next step was to toss in the pumpkin which I mixed with one can of coconut milk (shake it before you open it so the fatty part mixes in well) with a good head of basil (probably 1/4 to 1/2 C worth of diced basil).  No tomatoes went in but if you have one or two dice them up (just adds a nice body and acidity). The heat gets turned down and the second series of spicing happens! Golden curry powder extra turmeric extra garlic powder then salt an pepper to taste!  No . . .I dont know how much of each but by my estimation a good 1 Tbs of curry a tsp of turmeric and maybe 2 tsp of garlic, it is important to note these extras are to round out the curry powder I get at the food coop and almost all curry powders are different so you will have to go for what you like and maybe include some paprika for spice, cumin (not suggested) for earthiness, ginger or cinnamon for aroma, and so on.  After I had a balance of flavor I liked, I put in a pinch of Asafoetida. . .I dont know who to describe its flavor but it just makes all the flavors pop.  Now you can just let it all simmer on low heat with the occasional stirring to keep it yum! 

 Garlic Potatoes with Greens:

This dish was an add on because I needed something to round out the meal and . . .I love potatoes!  I boiled the potatoes (about 3 lbs cubed) in my extra water (see rice mishap) which was just 2 to 3 cups of stock with some turmeric, pepper and oil.  It only takes 10 min for the potatoes to get soft in boiling water so while that is going I sauteed onions with garlic, mustard seed and cumin seed.  Once the onions were brown I tossed in all the stems from the collards, chard and kale with some random asparagus I found in the fridge, which happened to be just before I threw in my cooked potatoes (just a minute after the stems literally or the stems will go to mush) 

it occurred to me that my pan was not large enough to accommodate all of my greens so I moved it all to a pot, since the essential saute steps were done. Just a bit of water and let it all steam together, giving it a quick stir on occasion.  once the greens were getting down I grated 5 cloves of garlic in and added a Tbs of butter, just like that it is pretty much done! 

Coconut Fried Rice:

So . . .sometimes when you are trying to take pictures of your rice as you brown it before you put in your vegetable stock something silly happens where you forget to measure the amount of stock you are putting in. . . with rice that is very bad! Using a long grain brown the rice to water ration needs to be just below1:2 and somehow I put in 11 cups of stock for my 4 cups of rice. . .I took out as much about 3 cups and used that for the potatoes (which really improved that dish) but Being off in measurements my rice came out a bit more mushy than I usually like. . .I am a fan of firm rice and. . .when you are making fried rice, having your grain on the firm side of cooked is ideal.  This made it hard to get a 'fried' feeling for the rice but we will get to that.  Just a tea spoon of turmeric in the water and your rice will come out awesome colors!  I also used 1 bag of frozen peas, tossed in when the rice was turned to a simmer.  This adds some nice vegetable matter but more importantly fancy color.

Using brown rice the cook time is about 45 minutes on simmer, that is after it is brought to a boil.  keep it covered the whole time with a well fitted lid (or if you put too much water in let the last 10-15 minutes go un-covered).  Right when the rice is almost done use a bit of oil to saute up some onions and carrots. . . or if you forgot to save some carrots steal a bit of your friends carrot,beet,radish salad and saute that.  I only had a bout a 1/2 cup of veggies and ideally for that amount of rice I would have closer to 1.5 cups of veggies to stir fry in.

With the limited vegetables and the consistency of the rice I made a last minute decision! I tossed in about 1 cup of shredded coconut and 3 Tbs of coconut oil. This little trick transforms my yellow rice with a little bit of fried veggies in to COCONUT FRIED RICE! ta~dah! The coconut oil is a key part of getting the flavor to reallt stand out while the shredded coconut does a bit of texture and is really nice sprinkled on top to give away that it is coconut fried rice. 

Garlic Nann:

I rushed it. . . I didnt give the dough enough time to rise but what you see above is 4 cups of flour sifted with 1 tsp salt and 4 tsp baking soda on the right is 2 cups warm water with 1 Tbs sugar and 2tsp yeast ( I think another tsp of yeast would have been good but I already didnt have enough time).whisk in about half the sifted flour always stirring in a smooth clockwise direction.  Once the dough become just slightly stiff and smooth let it sit for 40 minutes (or in this case ten).  Toss in 5-500 cloves of grated garlic ( i used about 10) and add a few green onions for color effect (I didnt do it this time) and begin adding the four again.  stir at the edges making sure you rip through the nice strands of gluten as LITTLE as possible.  once the dough begins to ball you can knead it for 10 minutes on a dry floured surface.  Give it another 40 minutes to rise (or in this case 5 minutes) before cutting ti into little balls that your can easily roll out.  

Turn your griddle (or your cast iron over flame) up to high until the thing si hot then turn it slightly down to medium high and give each side 3-5 minutes.  once it is golden brown and puffy you are ready to east!

Even with the mishaps that were regular in this weeks meal everything came out great! If I didnt keep complaining about the rice people would have thought it was all on purpose! the flavors complimented each other better than I expected where the coconut rice was a nice change up from the garlic potatoes and garlic nann.  the salad (not discussed above) was the perfect color and taste to round out the meal (thanks Ashley)