Uncategorized « DinnerCakes

Second Time’s a Charm – Tempeh Curry Salad

February 23rd, 2010

by Chef Edwin

It’s funny, with there being so many different dishes out there, more than one could ever hope to cook or eat in one lifetime, it’s easy to forget about the ones you’ve tried before. You find an interesting recipe, maybe you make some improvisations, maybe you don’t. Maybe it comes out great, maybe it comes out decent and you have some thoughts for “next time” Then you forget about it, lost forever in the past.

This is one of those dishes. I made a curry dish from Totally Vegetarian and, well, I was not knocked over by it’s awesomeness. It wasn’t bad, but if I was a restaurant, I would not come back to me and order this (if that makes any sense). SO, back to the drawing board. Whole Foods has this awesome curry tempeh dish they have sometimes at their hot bar and apparently if you add mayonnaise it becomes a salad, which blows my mind. I shall be calling club sandwiches salads from now on. I gotta say, I was quite happy with how this came out. It was delicious and the whole wheat couscous I paired it with worked quite well. I encourage you to try this and next time someone tells you to eat healthier, whip this sucker out.

Tempeh Curry Salad
For the curry, I used one teaspoon hot, two teaspoons sweet and for me it was perfect. However, I am quite the spice-wuss.

2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 white onion; chopped
2 garlic cloves; minced
1 teaspoon ginger; minced
1 tablespoon curry; any kind
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/8 cup tamari (soy sauce in a pinch)
1 cup fresh peas (or thawed and drained)
8oz tempeh; chopped into small quarter inch pieces
1/2 cup mayo (I used vegan, but any should work)
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
salt and pepper to taste

Under medium high heat, saute your onion in a large pan with the olive oil until translucent and slightly browned. Reduce the heat to medium and add your garlic, ginger, curry and mustard; stirring to mix well and prevent burning. Once fragrant (1-2 minutes), add your tempeh and tamari. Stir and cook for a few minutes until the tempeh has been heated up and the liquid has either mostly been absorbed or cooked away.

Add your remaining ingredients and stir to mix well. Cook for a few minutes and remove from heat. Serve immediately or cold; both ways are delicious. Enjoy.

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Broiled Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Potatoes, Lightly Herbed & Sprinkled with Cheese

February 22nd, 2010

by Heather (Ghost Baker)

I do, on occasion, try to eat a meatless dinner. Flipping through Giada De Laurentiis’s Giada’s Kitchen: New Italian Favorites always helps to make me feel good about veggies again. Italian cooking has a lot of great vegetables and healthy things about it, but in restaurants the food just seems to get so bogged down with cheeses and oil. Giada unearths the good food under all the excess.

I was drawn to her Broiled Zucchini and Potatoes with Pamesan Crust recipe… but with a few changes, of course!

I traded in the new potatoes for two small to medium sized Russet potatoes. I also added in two yellow squash in addition to the zucchini, and I used a bit of shredded Vermont White Cheddar cheese instead of Parmesan. Instead of buying fresh herbs (which are wonderful, but just not that accessible for a quick weeknight dinner) I used dried. I thought the result was pretty awesome.

Since I had more vegetables than the original recipe, I added in a little more unsalted butter to cook them in. So that I didn’t turn a relatively healthy meal into a butter fiesta, I used 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter + 2 tablespoons of Smart Balance butter. I would also recommend that you cook the veggies in batches in your skillet; I had a giant skillet to use and even with that things were just a little too crowded. The vegetables taste great, with a tiny bit of salt, cheese and butter giving it just enough zip to turn a veggiephobe into a new friend for life.

Broiled Zucchini, Yellow Squash and Potatoes, Lightly Herbed & Sprinkled with Cheese
adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

2 small/medium size Russet potatoes, cleaned and quartered
2 tablespoons unsalted butter + 2 tablespoons Smart Balance butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons rosemary
2 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and then cut into 1 inch pieces
2 small yellow squash, halved lengthwise and then cut into 1 inch pieces
Pinch of kosher salt and black pepper
1/3 cup freshly grated Vermont white cheddar

Boil a medium pot of water on high heat. Add quartered potatoes and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and let cool. Cut into 2 inch pieces when cooled.

Over medium heat, place a medium saute pan with butter, garlic, thyme and rosemary – heat until the butter melts. Meanwhile, lightly salt the cut surfaces of the zucchini, squash and potatoes. Place the cut side down in the melted butter and cook for about 15 minutes when golden brown.

Preheat the broiler and line a baking sheet with foil. Place the browned zucchini and potatoes on the sheet with the cut side facing up. Sprinkle with Vermont cheddar. Broil until cheese melts (about 4 minutes). Serve while hot!

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Natural Veggies for Charlottesville, Blacksburg & Lynchburg!

February 20th, 2010

by Heather (Ghost Baker)

Recently a friend alerted me to a pretty awesome opportunity to get fresh, natural vegetables! The co-op is new to Charlottesville and Blacksburg, but has already been in place in Lynchburg, Va.

For $35.00 a year, you can get 5lbs per week of vegetables of your choice for 24 weeks. They haven’t chosen a pick up location yet in Charlottesville, but it’s coming soon.

I have already sent in my membership form and fee, and I’m really looking forward to this come springtime! Check out their website to see all the great veggies they offer and if it may be up your alley – Sausser Farms.

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Even MORE Rainbow Ideas

February 19th, 2010

by Chef Edwin

In case our Rainbow Week left you wanting for even more crazy rainbow food recipes, take a quick trip to CafeMom for their lineup of rainbow recipes on the interwebs.

I gotta say those pancakes kinda freak me about a bit

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Carrot Zombie!

February 18th, 2010

by Chef Edwin

Hahaha, hilariousness from Bent Objects.

While we’re laughing about the best playing-with-your-food application I’ve ever seen, what’s your favorite parsnip recipe? I’ve done a simple roasted dish with nothing but salt and attempted to make a mashed concoction, much like I did with cauliflower. Neither were bad, just, ‘meh’. How do you like yours?

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Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate

February 16th, 2010

by Heather (Ghost Baker)

What did you enjoy for Valentine’s Day?

My husband and I skipped candy this year and instead chomped on an amazing chocolate bundt cake I baked courtesy of Cookie Madness. However because I can’t leave well enough alone, I drowned the cake in Mrs. Milman’s chocolate frosting recipe from Martha Stewart.

On first bite, I regretted drowning it in frosting because the cake is so excellent and moist that it can really stand alone. But by the second day of cake noshing I grew to appreciate my pile of chocolate in all its decadent glory.

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Steak Alchemy?

February 16th, 2010

by Chef Edwin

Can you make higher quality meat with nothing more than a little salt and time? Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen claims you can. In Steak: How to Turn Cheap “Choice” Steak into Gucci “Prime” Steak, Jaden goes into some great detail on how salt tenderizes and changes the protein in side meat. Very sciency, very cool and something I’ll definitely try.

Photo by Steamy Kitchen

Via xenbu

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Strange (Edible) Worlds

February 15th, 2010

by Chef Edwin

I don’t consider myself to be much of a skilled photographer; usually I just take a butt-load of shots and hope a few come out well enough to share. There are some real geniuses out there pushing the boundaries of normal convention and this one definitely applies. Matthew Albanese creates painstakingly detailed small-scale models to create some beautiful landscape scenes. One of them, Paprika Mars, is made almost entirely from food. Twelve pounds of paprika! Good lord. Very awesome.

Paprika Mars. Made out of 12 pounds paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder and charcoal.

Via Gravity Wins.

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Not Quite Rice Noodles – Spaghetti Squash Stir Fry

February 15th, 2010

by Chef Edwin

The massive snow storm of 2010 appears to have abetted, finally. Forecast predicts a wee bit more snow (argh) but we should returning to normal soon. Have I mentioned that I hate winter? I hate winter. At least there’s squash.

Another adventure with spaghetti squash! At 89 cents a pound it’s rather hard to pass up. I didn’t feel like going pasta style and had a hankering for stir fry. I think broccoli is my favorite vegetable. I kinda just ran with this one not knowing where it’d end up. Overall, pretty happy; though I’d leave out the bean sprouts next time. They just didn’t add anything, and took away a bit. Still, quite proud and I shall do it again!

Spaghetti Squash Stir Fry With Broccoli

1 small spaghetti squash
2 tablespoons peanut oil
1 large onion; quartered and sliced
1 green bell pepper; cut into slices
4 cloves garlic; minced
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1 jalapeno pepper; diced
8 ounces broccoli; cut into small florets

Sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon chinese cooking wine
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar

Pierce the squash several times and cook at 350° for an hour. Once done, let cool and cut in half lengthwise. Mix together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

Cook the onion and green pepper with the peanut oil in a large wok under high heat for several minutes until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic, ginger and jalapeno pepper and cook, constantly stirring until fragrant. Transfer to a bowl, add 1/3 cup of water and the broccoli. Bring to a boil, cover and cook until all the water boils away. Add the remaining ingredients and toss, mixing well, and serve.

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Kitchen Tips – Melting chocolate

February 12th, 2010

by Heather (Ghost Baker)

Creeping up on Valentine’s Day weekend, I’d like to give a little love to chocolate. Melting chocolate can be tricky, but it doesn’t have to be.

photo from last year’s Valentine’s post – Heart-Shaped Blackberry Yellow Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, Blackberry Filling and Fondant Flowers

Basics

Don’t add water when trying to melt chocolate, it can cause it to turn stiff and grainy.

Chop chocolate in to smaller pieces to expedite the melting process.

The less time the chocolate spends over heat, the better. Take your chocolate off the heat early and stir continuously until it’s fully melted.

Stir your chocolate while it’s over heat as well; never leave the room while melting chocolate, or you may return to a clumpy, grainy, scorched mess.

Microwaving

If microwaving chocolate to melt, microwave in a microwave-safe bowl for as little as 5-10 seconds at a time. Remove the bowl carefully, stir and repeat process. Remember to stop microwaving when it’s almost fully melted, and just stir continuously until it’s ready rather than overheat.

Make-shift Double Boiler

Using direct heat on a stove? Why not instead try creating a double boiler effect. Place 2 inches of water in a small pot, bring it to boil and set a slightly larger pot on top of the pot with water. Add the chocolate to this top pot and stir constantly, removing it from the heat source when possible.

In an Emergency

Only as an emergency measure, if the chocolate starts to look a little lumpy and questionable, add a small amount of solid shortening (1 tablespoon solid vegetable shortening for each 6 ounces of chocolate you are melting).

Happy Chocolate Day!
brought to you with help from Hershey’s.

photo from our post, A Labor of Love: Peanut Butter and Chocolate Triple Layer Cake, In Memory of Jeff

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