Vegan Mofo: Skills III: Vegan Lasagna

S-Y, enjoying the latest Vegan Mofo skill

Hey guys, isn't Vegan Mofo great? I'm loving the chance to find so many cool blogs I never heard of before, all cooking up gorgeous treats on the reg. My blogroll is going to be out of control by the time this month is over.

Any old ways, today I return to my mini-theme, Vegan Skillz. (With a "z", to appeal to the kidz.) That is, the stuff that all old-school vegans know how to do, and everybody else should learn. Today's skill is: Make a kick-ass lasagna.

Vegan Skill 3: Make a Kick-Ass Lasagna!

When asked, 99% of people would agree with the following statement: "Lasagna is my favorite food. It is the thing I like to eat on my birthday." Why? The answer is simple: layers of carbs draped in toothy tomato sauce with your choice of fillings in between. Its like eating several pizzas in every bite. (And who doesn't like that?)

However, when you go vegan you quickly realize that your favorite food is kinda gross. All that ricotta (with eggs in it? Why?) and greasy meat juice soaking it, and not enough sauce and too much mozzerella... it can go very wrong. That is why it is incumbent on you, my little friend, to create your own no-fail lasagna. It should be the ideal thing to bring to potlucks, to pull out of the oven on a rainy day,  to serve to your in-laws when your girlfriend comes out of the closet. (Happy National Coming Out Day, btw!)

So here's my favorite recipe, layers of crunchy baked eggplant with a fruity sauce, but look around the blogosphere for you favorite ideas- some have pinenut-cream stuffed inside, others are layered with spinach or artichoke, still others have faux sausage crumbles inside. Just make sure you have one recipe down, so you can always be sure to have in your repertoire something that pleases all of the people all of the time.
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T's Famous Eggplant-Parma-sagna!

Sauce
-Glug of olive oil
-1 large white onion, diced
-4 cloves garlic, diced
-T. balsamic vinegar
-2 14 oz. cans diced tomatoes
-2 tsp. brown sugar
-1/2 tsp each marjoram and oregano
-crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

The Rest
-2 large eggplants, cut into 1/2" round slices
-1 cup bread crumbs
-olive oil or other oil
-1 package no-bake (eggless) lasagna noodles
-Nutritional Yeast or shredded vegan cheese

1.) First, get your eggplant station set up. Take your eggplant rounds and layer them, sprinkled with salt, in a large colander. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (200 C) and layer two cookie sheets with baking paper. Beside them on work-space, place a bowl or dish filled with bread crumbs, and a small glass with olive oil  and a basting brush.

2.) Next make the sauce. In a pot on the stove, heat some olive oil over medium low. When oil is hot add in onions and a pinch of salt. After 2-3 minutes, add in garlic and cook together until soft and starting to brown. The add in balsamic vinegar to de-glaze. Cook for 1-2 minutes more, then add in rest of ingredients and raise heat to a boil. Cover, and lower to a simmer and let cook while you prepare the eggplants.

3.) Rinse the salt off eggplants and take them over to the bread crumbs. For each slice, pat dry with a kitchen towel, brush with oil, and dip both sides in bread crumbs.  Layer on cookie sheet and when they are all dipped, place both in oven and cook until golden brown and crispy.  While they cook (about 15-20 minutes), turn off heat under sauce, and if desired, blend with an immersion blender. Taste and adjust spices, then set aside for later use.

4.) Now we put it all together! In an oiled casserole dish, layer lasagna noodles, sauce, and baked eggplant rounds. When you get to the last of your eggplant rounds, put a layer of noodles and the rest of the sauce. On top of that, put a sprinkling of nutritional yeast and dried herbs, if desired, OR a layer of shredded vegan cheese. Cover with a tented piece of aluminum foil and cook 45 minutes at 400 degrees, then an additional 10 minutes with the tent off (you can even broil the top if desired.)

Serves 3-4
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Serve with a side salad w/ creamy faux-caesar dressing and a glass of strong red wine. I really just ate this and I'm dying its so good, seriously.  I have got this skill down.

Song of the Day: Bright Eyes- Four Winds

Vegan Mofo: Rosenkohl

What's for dinner in Berlin yard? Roasted rosenkohl (brussels sprouts) with caraway seeds and mashed potatoes with mushrooms, onions and garlic.

Perfect alongside an episode of Breaking Bad on one of the first truly gross, rainy and cold days of Autumn. Now back to that...

Vegan Mofo: Not-Elvis Banana Bread

Frequently, when at a little shop or something, I come across something that is named after Elvis. More often than not, this item contains peanut butter, bananas and chocolate. I even used to order a milkshake in college that had chocolate, coffee, peanut butter and bananas, all called an Elvis milkshake! Guys, this is not biographically accurate!

I have been to Graceland. (I even stayed at the Heartbreak hotel, which may be in the running for the most surreal place in America.) Anyways, what Elvis apparently liked was peanut butter and bananas, grilled in between two slices of bread, with a couple of slices of bacon. (Its even in the Elvis Presley Cookbook.*)  No chocolate. No coffee. Please, let's keep his legacy pure.

And therefore, this quickbread recipe, containing chocolate, peanut butter, and bananas (and no G.D. bacon) will be called "Not-Elvis Banana Bread" in hopes that I can start a trend of titular honesty in baked goods.

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Not Elvis Banana Bread

2 C. all purpose flour
1 T. baking powder
pinch salt
3 over-ripe bananas, mashed
1 and 1/4 C. soymilk
1 T. applecider vinegar
1/4 C. oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 C. smooth peanut butter, melted
1/3 C. chocolate chips
(I omitted sugar from this recipe as I felt the bananas would be sweet enough, but feel free to add in 1/3 C. granulated sugar if you like it sweeter.)

1.) Preheat oven to 375 F. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk and vinegar. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
2.) After milk has thickened, add in bananas, oil, vanilla extract and sugar (if using). Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir together until "just mixed". Gently fold in chocolate chips and peanut butter, just carefully stirring so you can still see swirls of peanut butter.
3.) Pour batter into a loaf pan, or muffin tins if desired, and place in middle rack of oven. A loaf takes about 45 minutes, muffins take somewhat less time, but either way remove when top is golden brown and a toothpick placed into the center comes out clean.

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*And by the by, now I really want to purchase and veganize the Elvis Presley Cookbook, the menus look AWESOME.

Song the Day: Elvis- Heartbreak Hotel

Vegan Mofo: Baking up a storm

There's nothing I like better than spending a weekend morning in the kitchen making baked goods with whatever is left in the cabinets. I would say it feels a bit like playing housewife, especially when S. is in the other room hard at work and I am in the kitchen measuring cups of flour, but its a little pathetic to be "playing" anything at 28, let alone "housewife" when half of my friends are younger than me and married. So, we could say that rather than "playing" I am "being" a house-girlfriend, while simultaneously consciously and consensually reproducing a socially enforced gender role and thus fulfilling my Butler-ian feminist obligations. How 'bout that?

So anyways, the food! I made bagels! I've made them a zillion times before, (and here is a recipe) but this time they were different because I forgot the sugar! So, that was an innovation, of sorts, and they taste a little sour, but not necessarily in a bad way. And like many baked goods, after making them 5 times you can make them with your eyes closed so they aren't really a pain in the ass anymore. Try it, "T's 5X Method" on anything that you don't know how or don't like to do. It really works.

Song Movie of the Day: The Stepford Wives (the original, 70's version)

Vegan Mofo: Ahh, fig season...

A perfect Fall breakfast- soy yogurt, slivered almonds, figs, and a drizzle of agave nectar.

Have a great weekend!

Vegan Mofo: Skills- Cooking beans from scratch

Today's essential vegan skill is cooking beans from scratch- that is, transforming them from their dried state on the bottom shelf of the grocery store aisle into a big pot of saucy deliciousness. Why should you bother to learn this?
 1.) Buying a big bag of dried beans is cheaper than buying as many cans of beans! (And that's saying something, because canned beans are already kind of cheap.)
2.) You have more control over the flavor. Ever noticed all the gross salty water they pack in there?
3.) You get to have cred! Like, look! I took something that could take about ten seconds with a can opener, and stretched it over 2 days!

Ok, maybe I'm not selling this correctly. The truth is, if they had canned black beans in Europe readily available, maybe I would never have learned this "skill." But I still think people should try it once, because it can make a huge difference in the taste, and also, don't you want to know that you COULD make beans from dried if you needed to? If you were shipped off to war somewhere with no canned beans? And besides, you might find out that the taste is so much better that you always want to do it this way. And here's how!

Skill two: Cooking beans from scratch!
1.) Take your beans and spill 'em out somewhere to sort through them. My technique is to pour them about 1/4 a cup at a time onto a kitchen towel on the counter, sort them for rocks and broken pieces, then gather the towel at the top and dump it into my soaking container. (In this way, you can avoid spilling beans all over your kitchen at 11 o'clock at night like I always do.)

2.) Now for the soaking. As I demonstrated yesterday, you just need some kind of big container in which you place you beans and fill it with cold water. The best thing is to do this before you go to bed, stick it in the fridge, then it gets to sit the next day and they should be really ready by the time you want to cook them. (If you are making black beans, why not soak some cashews too and make cashew sour cream?)

3.) Alright now comes the rigorous part. After you beans have soaked as long as you can bear it (10-12 hours is usual for me) then you can start you cooking. Drain the beans in a colander than cover them with a few cups of fresh water in a large pot and bring that baby to a boil. Then reduce to simmer and cover, with a little room for steam to escape. (If you get some white foam at first you can skim it off with a spoon, though it won't hurt you.) How long you let it sit and simmer depends on many things: what quantity of beans you are cooking, how long they soaked, what phase the moon is in, and most of all, whether or not you have dinner guests. But I have found that the most common length of time is between 2 and 2 and 1/2 hours for 1 cup beans. You will have to keep adding more water periodically. (But don't add salt until the end!)

4.) In the meantime, you fry a bunch of stuff to put in them when they are done! (Terry Hope Romero calls this, "sofrito!") This is where your creativity comes in.  Good combos:
-Simplicity: garlic, onions and peppers
-mushrooms, garlic and onions
-potatoes, carrots, onions
-small tempeh pieces, peppers, onions
Last night I fried up some quartered plantains first of all, then setting them aside, used the same hot pan to cook a bunch of onions and garlic. It doesn't matter whether they stay hot because you are just going to add them into your beans.

5.) Now that you've done that, painted your nails, replied to all of your emails, and whatever else you can accomplish is 2 and 1/2 hours, you can check on your beans. When they are perfect, it won't be huge effort to chew one and they will be easily mashable with a fork. At that time, you can add in your "sofrito", as well as some canned or fresh diced tomatoes (1/2 cup per cup of beans is good, but add more for saucier beans), and some cumin. I also add in cayenne pepper at this point, and a pinch of paprika. Beans eat up spices so you need not be stingy, and feel free to be creative. (Like if you are one of those cilantro types.)

6) Let the beans cook another 10-15 minutes with all the new ingredients folded in, or as long as it takes to cook some rice. Taste and adjust salt and spices. Serve with rice and some cashew sour cream, or if you're in the mood, with hot sauce, pickled onions, avocados and mango... whatever you have on hand!

It may not be the most gorgeous dish, but its so delicious.

Q: "But T, this is just for black beans! Is it the same for other kinds of beans?"

A: Kind of! You can use a similar process for other types of beans (except for lentils), but they take different amounts of time and go better with other flavors. Red beans take about 1 and 1/2 hours, and go great with just garlic and onions and a tons of spices (served with coconut rice, yum!) Adzuki beans take less time, chickpeas take more. But once you've experimented with dried beans you will find that the process doesn't vary much and there is a big reward to cooking them this way- namely, the taste.

What do you prefer, canned or dried?

Song of the Day: MGMT- It's working

Vegan Mofo: Essential Vegan Skillz 1- Cashew Cream

Hey Mo-Foers! Now that I'm fairly settled back in Berlin and not moving to any other country's capitol that starts with a B until *at least* November, I can start a little bit with my very first Vegan MoFo "theme"!

Its not like I'm going to stick to this every day, because that's obviously too organized for me, however I thought it would be nice to have a little reoccurring item, namely, "Essential Vegan Skillz." I'm talking about those things that you learned how to do only when you started cooking vegan. The innovations made by the cookbook Gods, and perfected in the kitchen and in blogosphere. The simple tricks that have made everyone's life a little easier, and tastier. My idea is to explain the concept, demonstrate how-to, and then to show a few uses, maybe using other people's recipes as well. And then, hopefully, y'all will add variations and stuff in the comments!


First up: CREAMING CASHEWS for fun and profit

Who knows who first thought of using cashews to make a creamy base for dips, sauces, and sweets, but whoever it was may have been allergic to soy. After all, us vegans had to rely on on silken tofu for all of our cream needs for years, with short interludes of coconut milk... and to be fair, it wasn't such a bad choice. But sometimes you don't want to eat tofu in a soy based sauce washed down with a glass of soymilk. We vegans need variety as much as the next fool. Thus, was born the genius idea of blending cashews.

The basic concept is generally this: take raw, unsalted cashews and place them in a container with plenty of water, overnight. (Or at least for 8 hours, like, while you are away at work. )

Cashews soaking, next to some black beans for tomorrow's "skill"

Blend a lot, and scrape the sides of your container with a spatula.

Next, you blend the plumped up cashews with a bit of liquid and some flavoring if you so desire, using a food processor or a handheld immersion blender.

Finally you have something that looks like this (or more liquid and creamier, if you added more liquid and blended longer.) It has a delicate taste and can be enhanced to suit your sordid needs.

Seen here as a topping for rice and beans- heaven

 Of course, there is my favorite use, as a sour cream substitute. (Both Vegan Brunch and Viva Vegan offer variations on this recipe.) A little bit of cooling vinegar blended in with the cashews, plus a little salt and you've got an excellent topping for spicy soups and beans. Used this way its also good blended with fresh herbs, onions, garlic or cucumbers for dips. The other main way I use it blended with a bit of agave nectar for a creamy compliment to pies, as seen below with peach pie.

In addition you can use it as a creamy base for casseroles and stove-top specialties. For instance, Isa uses cashews as the base for her awesome Mac and 'Shews. Its also the basis for her famous Rad Whip, an amazing whip cream substitute. You can even make cashew cheese as an app to serve your skeptical omni friends. (You use a cheesecloth to make the cheese more thick and creamy...yum!)

Once you have mastered the art of taming the cash(r)ew, there is no stopping what you can accomplish. Well, food-wise at least.

So that was my first "Essential Vegan Skillz" topic, stay tuned for more in the month to come!

Song of the Day: The Smiths- This Charming Man

Vegan MoFo: Chipotle BBQ'd Tofu, Polenta w/ Spinach

On the way back from Serbia to Budapest I sat on the Slowest Train in Europe™​ next to a soccer player from the US who was traveling between games. Aside from being incredibly jealous that this 21 year old made more in 1 year than I have... ever, I enjoyed reminsicing with him over the awesome food available in our respective home towns, DC and LA. The pupusas! The pad thai! The kale! (Well, that part was just me.) And although the convo made my stomach hurt a little for the US, I had a smirk on my face, knowing that soon I would be back in Berlin, where I can re-create many of these dishes, even if there aren't restaurants offering them on every corner.

So of course today I rushed out to buy plantains and black beans, *good* tofu, tahini, miso, and all of these things I missed in Budapest which are easily available in my neighborhood in Kreutzberg. To kick things off with a bang, I made this plain old comfort food meal for me and my reunited (#anditfeelssogood) boyfriend, S. (And if you had pre-made BBQ sauce, then you've got a reallyquick weeknight meal here.)

Its the Chipotle BBQ sauce I've shown here before, except this time I added in an extra chipotle because I was just so happy to have them back. As a result it was wicked spicy, but that was a nice contrast to the creamy polenta. No secret to this, I just added in a few handfuls of raw spinach halfway through the cooking of the polenta. I topped it all with a bit of soy yogurt because it was so spicy. Me and S. gobbled all of the tofu almost instantly, but its ok.... I bought a few extra just cubes out of pure, unadulterated joy and optimism to be back in Berlin.

Song of the Day: Same as yesterday, I love St. Vincent!

Vegan Mofo: Pasta alla Norma

This looks so good, doesn't it?

Well, here's a Vegan Mofo lesson for you my friend... looks, and non-genetically modified eggplants, can be deceiving.

I was recently attempting to make one of my favorite simple old recipes, "Pasta all Norma" which is basically just a chunky tomato sauce with fried eggplant, a good bunch of basil, and chilis. Its easy but great, especially if you are an eggplant-obsessive like myself.

However, on this occassion for whatever reason, for the first time ever I didn't salt the eggplants before cooking them. I was starting to think that this step was just superstitious, and didn't matter because most eggplants have had the bitterness bred out of them after all this time. Unfortunately, this must not be true for garden eggplants. This was so incredibly bitter! I mean, I ate it anyways, but the whole time I had a pissed off look on my face. (That's the bad thing about eating in all the time... you have no one to blame but yourself.)

Regardless, provided you salt your eggplant beforehand, I recomment the recipe linked to above for a quick and sexy dinner, especially with some red wine. I'll make it again soon, but from now on I am listening to all old-wives tales about food.

Song of the day: Kate Nash- Foundations

Vegan Mofo- Moving on...

Uh-oh, looks like I'm already tardy to Vegan Mofo Party! I hope there is still enough pita and hummus to go around!

But don't worry, I have an excellent reason for my lateness... namely, I thought today was October 1st. You see, I have been traveling (very, very slowly) on trains in Eastern Europe and my sense of time seems to have slowed to match. I was in Belgrade, Serbia this week, and it was amazing! I attended a conference on legal invisibility and statelessness in Serbia, stayed at a fancy hotel, and drank too much coffee and wine. (Ugh, don't you hate that mixture of being half-way over caffeinated and halfway buzzed?) As for food, I had an amazing fig salad, some vegetable curry (weird, right?), some kind of baked beans dish, broiled paprika, and more, however, I didn't take pictures. Sorry.. but I was straining the whole time to act unimpressed with the free hotel, free food, famous human rights lawyers.. so taking pictures of my food did not fit in with the image of an talented lawyer who goes to these kinds of conferences all the time that I was trying so desperately (and probably so obviously) to project. But over all, it was a successful visit and I *might* be returning to Belgrade soon for further escapades with legal invisibility... fingers crossed. And hopefully next time, I will venture beyond a hotel courtyard and check out some of the city's many vegetarian options.

And for my last meal in Budapest? I wanted to use up all the leftover produce so my roomate wouldn't hate me in a week. So I had a garlicky, gingery stir fry with bok choy, butternut squash, and these mysterious speckled pink beans I found a few days ago. It was homey and satisfying, and as good a kick-off to Vegan Mofo as any! Now, time to get moving, and prepare mentally for another 14 hour train ride...

song of the day: St. Vincent- Cruel

Butternut Squash and Spinach Curry

Its my last few days in Budapest and everything is crazy-go-nuts!

I'm teaching an LSAT prep class at the Central European University, I'm going to Belgrade, Serbia for a conference on Wednesday through Saturday, and I still have to sell my bike, move and say goodbye to all the nice folks I have met. However, I'm not all that stressed! I think being busy is the secret to happiness and success, and my problem on the whole, as an unemployed person, has rather been too much of the opposite. So I'm taking advantage of this nice busy back-to-school feeling and hoping it can hold over when I arrive back in Berlin.

I'm also trying to take advantage of my last few days in Budapest to admire the awesome fall weather and even awesomer fall produce.

One of the very rad things about Budapest (or at least my neighborhood) is the availability of local produce. Little stands or hole-in-the-wall stores stock whatever fruits and vegetables currently in season in Hungary, plus homemade pickles or other extras like herbs or eggs.

Unlike in Berlin, or DC for that matter, most of the produce comes from within the country and not from, say, Italy or Chile. As a result its not so often that I stumble across avocados, or sweet potatoes. (They are, naturally, available at specialty or big grocery stores.) However, this sort of local eating has its benefits. First, the produce I do get is always perfectly in season and awesome. I can't get cherries now, sure, but in the beginning of the summer there were cherries everywhere and they were incredible- and now we have pears. The second thing is, having limits on what's available to eat makes me try to develop simple ways to enjoy what's available. For example, when there are gorgeous peppers and tomatoes everyone you know you had better cook up some lecso.

Or now, when butternut squash has appeared along with some rare handfuls of spinach, I can tempt myself and my nosy Hungarian neighbors with this awesome and incredibly simple butternut squash curry. Even with my limited travel spice rack I could make it, and for those of you with more advanced curry techniques, just add'em on in. It was super easy and the butternut squash basically melts, making this excellent fall comfort food.


Butternut Squash and Spinach Curry (serves 2)

-1 big onion, diced
-3 garlic cloves, diced
-1 T ginger (about 1/2" peeled and diced small)
-2 T good quality curry powder
-1 medium butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded, and cut into 1" cubes
-3 cups Spinach, washed
-1 16 oz can coconut milk (or lite coconut milk)

1.) In a large saute pan, cook onion with a pinch of salt over medium low heat for 2-3 minutes. Then add in garlic and ginger. Cook until fragrant and soft, then add in butternut squash. Sprinkle with curry powder and cook for 10-15 minutes, until squash pieces are slightly browned on the outside and softer.
2.) Add in coconut milk and raise heat to medium/ medium high. Add in spinach on top, then stir into mixture as it starts to wilt. When coconut milk comes to a boil, lower heat to low and cook for another 5 minutes. Adjust for salt and curry powder and cook a few minutes more if necessary.

Serve over basmati rice, with pumpkin seeds for garnish.
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In addition to all the other craziness, did you guys know that its practically Vegan MoFo? The cut-off date is Wednesday, so if you want to sign up, or have no idea what I'm talking about, head on over to Mofo HQ to get the business.


Song of the Day: Paperdoll- You can't stop it

Corn Soup and Scenes from late summer

I love summer as much as the next Leo, but can anything beat the back-to-school feel of early September? You still have all the best things about summer- sunshine, perfectly ripe veggies and fruit, a tan- but the focus subtly shifts from decadence and laziness to a feeling of getting down to business. I'm not in school anymore, but I still love to re-arrange my closet, sharpen my pencils, and get to work.

But even so, here in Budapest the last few weeks have had all of the pleasures of late summer- perfect bike riding weather, all the amazing peaches, plums, and sweet corn you can eat, and even a quick day trip to Tokaj, Hungary's volcanic wine region. (As you can see from the photos above, its pretty gorgeous, and full of cute dogs.) But now, with the days already getting shorter I'm ready to get on my grind. And for me, that also means actually cooking, instead of, say, rubbing garlic and tomatoes on crusty bread for dinner every night. (Not that this isn't a lovely meal.)

Last night I decided to cook all the leftover bounty into a nice hot soup (that's right Hungarians, none of this cold creamed frout soup bullshit, I'm an American!) with plenty of late summer's greatest hits. Wilted peppers, sweet corn and their cobs, with just tomatoes and potatoes for a little umami and heft. It was deeply satisfying, and actually easy enough that you could probably figure it out yourselves, but I'll give you just a run down of how I made it below and you can adjust it to what's left in your kitchen if you so desire.


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End of Summer Corn Soup
1. Make the stock- remove the kernels of corn from 2-3 cobs of corn and set aside. Fill a stock pot 3/4's full with water, and add in: the leftover cobs, 1 onion cut in half, 2-3 smashed garlic cloves, a buillon cube, salt, and several whole peppercorns (a dried chili wouldn't be out of place either, just be sure to fish it out later). Let it boil down for an hour or so.

2. Next add in a good glop of olive oil and any chopped up veggies and beans that you have laying around- diced red peppers, diced boiling potatoes, peas, cranberry beans, greens, the corn, ect.

Serve with salt and pepper and crusty bread, and baby, you got a soup on!
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Yes, I'm fully intent on squeezing the last bit of summer into my Fall, and also getting every last minute of enjoyment out of Budapest. In a few weeks I will head to Belgrade, Serbia for a conference, and then back to Germany... and who knows where the wind will take me next?


Song of the Day: Squeeze- Tempted