I am going to start this off by saying that I have been seduced by this dish. No. ‘Seduced’ is not strong enough a word. More like ‘captured’ by the combination of flavors. The zest of the vinegar, the sweetness of those browned onions, the fragrant allspice. It’s all there. In one tantalizing bite after tantalizing bite.

What also makes this recipe even more amazing are the soy protein patties in the dish. They are from Whole Foods and I have to say that their addictive! They have the best texture, almost fibrous, yet really juicy. For real. I like them so much that I am currently trying some secret scientist experiments in my kitchen to try to create them from scratch. Wish me luck.

Three great spices: 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp allspice and 2 tsps dried oregano.

Mix the spices in a bowl then coat the soy patties.

In 2 tbs of oil (I use olive) sauté the patties until lightly browned, remove from pan and set them aside.

Next cut an onion in half and make 1/4 inch slices. Add to the pan that the soy patties were in and sauté over med-low heat until caramelized. Diagonally slice 2 carrots and add to the pan. Cook for 2 minutes.

I then added some asparagus spears to the pan because, well, it’s Spring and I had them in my fridge. I snapped off the tough ends and also peeled them a bit before I added them to the pan. Sauté for about 4 minutes.

Take 3 peeled garlic cloves and cut them in half. Slice some peppers, whatever kind you like. I used a mix of pepperoncinis and sweet pickled red cherry peppers, but you could use Jalepenos or a Serrano. Whatever you chose, after you slice them add the garlic and peppers to the mix. Cook for a minute.

Next add the liquids. First add a 1/4 cup of cider vinegar.

Then add 1 cup of veggie broth. Mix well and let everything braise for 2 minutes.

You now can add the soy protein patties back into the pan, gently tucking them in between all those veggies and into the sauce. Cover with a lid and continue to cook for another minute.

To serve, I simply set the asparagus off to the side, added a small mound of perfectly cooked rice and then layed out a few of the patties topped off with the veggie mixture. Pour on some of the sauce and dinner is ready.

One more thing about this dish. It’s quick. Really quick. It came together in the time it took to make some rice. It just gets better and better, doesn’t it? What are you waiting for then? Get your Ecsabeche on tonight!

Whenever I make this dish, I go between feeling like I’m cheating , yet happy that it’s so easy to make. The reason, you might ask, is because I use an already pre-made spice paste. I first found these jarred spice mixtures in my local Indian market, so, I thought that if they were selling them they must also use them to make life easier. Besides, I had taken a lesson with a very wonderful Indian cook some years back. She showed me a few made-from-scratch recipes where we ground the spices and toasted them, which was a great deal of fun for me. We cooked the spices in ghee (Indian butter) and so on, but when she opened her pantry I saw the same jars of spice pastes that I saw in the market. She liked them as well, enough said.

One of the great things about this recipe is that my vegan friends can enjoy this dish since I replace the usual paneer cheese cubes with tofu cubes. I always use extra firm tofu and I always make extra since “seconds” are often requested.

Mise en place, kids…that means “everything in it’s place and a place for everything.” Basically have all your ingredients ready to go. It just makes sense.

Lightly fry your tofu cubes in a bit of oil, making sure to brown all sides.

Add a few tablespoons of the spice paste. I use a brand called Pataks that you can purchase in any Indian store and now in major grocery stores in the international foods aisle. They make at least 12 different spice blends from mild to hot and every combo in between.

Add a 3/4 bag of frozen peas and mix well.

Add in the diced tomatoes and sauté for about 5 minutes.

Now add some water to thin out the sauce a bit, about a 1/2 cup.

Then I add some of my home-made soy sour cream to make a thick sauce.

I simmer this for about 15 minutes until it’s thick and bubbly.

You can serve this over some nice basmati rice. I also buy the Indian pickled veggie rinds or sour chutneys that are usually served with the meals in the restaurants as well as assorted sweet chutneys and spicy mint condiments.

The wonderful thing about this vegan version of sour cream is that it’s so versatile. It can be used just like the dairy version, used to thicken sauces, as a base for dips or piled on top your favorite taco. Best of all, there is no fear of it “breaking” as it’s dairy cousin will do in high heat.

Although I usually use a whole block of tofu, when making this you can easily half the recipe if you won’t be using this within a week, but I am so sure you will use this on everything!

The cast of characters are ready to go.

Place tofu in food processor. I always use regular or firm, not soft and not extra firm.

Add the juice of one lemon. You can use lime as well.

Add a tablespoon of agave nectar or sweetener of you choice, such as honey, brown rice syrup or maple syrup.

Add a teaspoon of garlic powder.

Now add a good pinch of salt. Process everything until smooth making sure to scrape down the sides.

While the processor is on, begin to add about a tablespoon of oil. I like to use grapeseed oil, but olive oil would work well. You will notice that the puree will become a bit thicker.

Store this in a airtight container for up to a week.

The Southwest’s Best Breakfast Menu:
Tofu Rancheros w/Black beans & Soy Sausage

So, pretty much every Sunday morning David and I make some version of either a Southwest or Mexican inspired breakfast. This usually always includes beans, salsa, avocado and corn tortillas. What goes in between those things are always different and depends on what’s in the fridge that morning. We seriously love those flavors for our first meal of the day, and with our trip to Mexico growing closer each weekend we keep trying out variations on the theme of Latin Vegetarian.

Mexican food , when you really think about it, doesn’t NEED meat. This cuisine relies on tons of fresh veggies, lean protein packed beans, heart healthy grains and wonderful aromatic herbs and spices. I am not talking about the typical “Am-exico” food you get in most Mexican restaurants here in the states. That stuff is loaded with cheese and rice and that is not what people eat south of the border. They keep it simple, and that is why I love this style of cooking. Someone once told me that Mexican food is one of the fattiest cuisines out there (because of the cheese, most likely) but it doesn’t have to be.

You should try this one morning. You would think that the beans would make it heavy, but believe me, it’s not. It was the perfect meal to give us the energy to run our errands and go on a long mid-day walk. Also, this recipe incorporates a riff on Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s recipe, Scrambled Tofu, from her cook book Vegan With A Vengeance.

First, mix this spice blend. Make extra so that you don’t have to make it every time. I always triple it.
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt

Drain a block of extra firm tofu. Extra firm works the best in keeping it’s shape and doesn’t get mushy.

In a saute pan with 1/2 Tbs olive oil saute’ 1/2 of a diced red onion until soft and caramelized.

Crush 2 cloves of garlic then add to pan with onions.

Dice 8 medium size mushrooms then add the mushrooms to the onions and saute until golden.

Add a heaping Tbs of the spice mixture then crumble the tofu in the pan, making sure to leave big chunks. Stir well.

Squeeze the juice of one lemon and add this to the tofu. Also, add a 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast makes it creamy and thickens it up a bit giving it the texture and feel of scrambled eggs.

Add one shredded carrot to the mix and gently stir in. Turn heat to low to keep warm. Meanwhile, in a sauce pan brown the sausage, add one can of drained and rinsed black beans (or your fave frijole) and cook until the moisture has evaporated.
On a plate lay out 2 corn tortillas and top with a bit of the bean-sausage mixture, the scrambled tofu, some salsa and whatever else you want to finish it off with, like sour cream, guacamole and some seriously hot sauce.

Armed with fuzzy hats and a great breakfast Shirle’ & David get ready to meet the day.

Last Sunday night I was honored to have catered the premiere of Eleni (aka Eleni Binge) Valchos’ documentary, Seeing Through The Fence at the Manbites Dog Theater in downtown Durham.

The premise of the the film was how we all relate to the foods we choose to eat, with a focus on why being Vegan (not eating any animals or animal by-products) is a compassionate and conscientious way of eating.

As Eleni is vegan and most of the people seeing the film were either vegan, vegetarian or maybe looking closer at this lifestyle choice. I catered the event with all vegan treats….and every single morsel was gone by the time the movie began! While the crowd munched on the goodies they were entertained by one of the best bands in town The Wigg Report.

Here are some pics of the process of catering food for this event of 100+ people and some pics of the event itself.

Thanks Eleni for letting me supply the “kind eats.”

The Menu:

Spanikopita Bites

Quinoa & Black Eyed Pea Croquettes

Seitan Skewers (both spicy and thai peanut)

Ginger-Peanut Butter-Sesame Shortbread Cookies

Seitan Skewers plated up and ready to eat.

And Eleni’s Peanut Butter Balls, The Wigg Report & of course the film…were all a HUGE hit with the crowd!

The trailer for the film. Enjoy.

The first day of 2008. Happy New Year!I have not been one to follow superstitious traditions, but today was all about black eyed peas and collard greens! I made two different dishes using the humble black eyed peas.

One was my take on Hoppin’ John, that southern favorite that combines collard greens (for financial luck), brown rice (for health) and black eyed peas (for warding off the evil eye and basic all around luck). David and I had that for lunch and I have to say what a hearty & warm meal. I served it with some garlic bagel crisps which was the perfect choice for this meal… although cornbread could have rocked it a bit harder, but I wasn’t about getting into baking at that point of the day.

The second dish was Quinoa & Black Eyed Pea Croquettes. I tried this recipe out of my Vegan with a Vengeancecookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. These little gems were super easy to make and were DEE-LISH!I did have to fudge with the recipe a bit (I always mess with recipes because, well, that’s how I am). I added garlic powder, onion powder and a bit more Braggs to the mixture…Oh yeah, I also used lime zest instead of lemon zest (because I was out of lemons) and I think these variations made them quite tasty!

The recipe consists of cooked quinoa, mashed black eyed peas, olive oil, braggs, lime zest and savory spices (thyme, basil, paprika…then my additions of garlic and onion powders). The mixture is then rolled into bite sized balls which is then rolled in an outer crust of bread crumbs mixed with a bit more oil.

I placed the balls in mini muffin tins, slightly smushing them down then baked them for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. They were golden brown and crispy on the outside and soft and moist on the inside.I will definitely be serving these up at my next catering gig!…and speaking of my next catering gig, I have been asked to cater the premiere viewing of Seeing Through The Fence, a documentary by Eleni Vlachos about what we think about the foods we eat and the relationship we have to our food, and leaves us considering why we eat animals.If you live in or near North Carolina you might want to reserve a seat as it has almost sold out.And on that note, I leave you with the happiest of new year wishes to you and yours…and I’ll let you know if I get lucky in 2008.

David and I are getting ready for a 2 week trip to Mexico in May 2008…in prep for that trip we are hunkering down and really getting into the culture, language and of course, the FOOD of Mexico!

I received Rick Bayless’ newest cookbook, called Mexican Everyday,for Xmas (Thanks Dawn!!!) and David and I have tried 3 recipes thus far from that book.
Simple and fabulous, easily converted to Vegetarian and not TOO many steps (like his last book.)

The following is a photo journal of what we made last night for our Friday Night Date Night Dinner (something new for us, as David usually gets too flustered at my hap-hazard cooking style,”It says 1 CUP!…YOU DIDN’T MEASURE THAT!”, he says…”Oh, I just EYED it…it looks good!”…) If you want the recipe let me know. IT’s actually pretty simple.

The Menu was:
*Creamy Corn Soup w/ Roasted Poblanos
*Spinach & Mushroom Enchiladas w/ Tomatillo Verde Sauce

We had this meal with a nice bottle of Argentinian wine.
It was a wonderful meal.

Creamy Corn Soup:

Roast Poblano Peppers in oven first, peel and leave in a bowl

Process corn, garlic, arrowroot powder (or corn starch) & soy milk until smooth.

Next strain corn mixture through a sieve… mine is way too small…it’s embarrassing…I need a larger one.

Super Creamy!

Next up…
Spinach & Mushroom Enchiladas w/ Tomatillo Verde Sauce

Place tomatillos, cilantro, serrano pepper, garlic & salt in a food processor.

Now cook for 20 minutes…reduce, reduce, reduce…

Add soy sour cream and let your sauce simmer.

A quick lesson in how to cut an onion…(I though everyone knew how to do this, but David didn’t and wanted me to let everyone else know…

Cut Onion in half (from root end to top end)

Cut off bottoms and tops then peel off outer skin.

Slice, chop, dice, whatever…I had to slice.

Okay, back to our meal….

Next slice up the mushrooms.

Sauté onions and mushrooms and then add the spinach.

Heat the tortillas in the oven…I used corn tortillas.

Dunk the tortillas in the tomatillo sauce and coat well.

Place 3 tortillas on plate and top each with a bit of the sautee’d veggies. Fold over with seam side down.

Top with the sauce spinkle with some soy cheese. Add the chopped roasted poblanos to the soup and plate it up.

Then….Dinner was served!…estaba muy delicioso!

Oh, the joys of Seitan. That wonder “meat” that is so good for you (of course unless you are Gluten Intolerant) that is packed with huge amounts of cholesterol free proteins and loads of iron.

So, the other day my mother in law and I attempted to make homemade Seitan…it was my third time, her first. My first attempt was in college and what I ended up creating made me discouraged and I never tried it again…until a few weeks ago.

I had told my vegan friend, Eleni about my previous failed Seitan experience. She told me that she had a great recipe and that she could give me a lesson. We spent a couple hours in her kitchen to create the Seitan and what came out was moist and firm, but with a bit of sponginess, basically perfect! I actually ended up using it by making shish-kabob ’s as an appetizer for our Kristmas Party…they were a huge hit! (Thanks Eleni!!!)

Now, when I made it with mom in law, it was a disaster….HARD RUBBER would not be a good enough description of the texture of our 4 balls of Seitan…it was almost like when you microwave a piece of bread for 10 minutes and the next thing you know you’ve created a hockey puck of dough…but more rubbery.

So, being the uber-frugal-food-science-nerd-girl I am I thought, “ya know, I bet I could save this Seitan somehow.”

Originally I had seasoned 2 of the balls with traditional sausage spices that I had added to the dry Vital Wheat Gluten. I am a HUGE sausage freak…whether it is pork, chicken or faux (my fave mainstay) I love the flavors of sausage, the spices and the saltiness, and thought how good it would be to be able to make a Seitan Sausage. Well, the flavor was amazing, but like I said, the texture could have pulled out someone’s dental work.

The other 2 balls were plain, but in a blind attempt to salvage them for our dinner I had sliced them into cutlets and then coated them in a Thai Sesame Butter Sauce* and then coated them in Nutritional Yeast Flakes seasoned with garlic and onion powders, then baked them until golden…all in the hopes that the sauce would add some moistness back into them, but no luck. My hubby and his mom and I ate a few pieces but they were so hard to chew that it made that nights dinner experience not so good. I stored the uneaten cutlets in some tupperware and started thinking about their future.

It’s 2 days later and I have decided to make something out of the rubber Seitan that is now taking up space in the fridge. My first thought was, “this stuff needs to be ground”. It makes sense in my mind, because tough cuts of meat are ground down and then made into patties and meatloaves and such, so why not this tough Seitan?…

So, into the Black & Decker food processor for some spinning time they went, but separately. I made two batches, the sausage one and the Thai Sesame one and I have to proudly say, that I have created “Veggie Crumbles”…but BETTER!

The sausage one would be great in a lasagna, tacos or chili and the Thai one actually came out a bit creamy, so I am thinking of adding it to some ground chickpeas and making some Thai inspired patties that I might bake in the oven or lightly fry in some oil in my cast iron skillet. Also, I will def be making some wonton dumplings or raviolis with that batch.

I measured out about a cup and a half of each mixture and sealed it in some freezer bags so that I can quickly defrost to use. I wonder what the freezing process will do to them?…I’ll have to let you know how it works out.

So, when in doubt about when to throw out…think outside of the trashcan and try to save your Seitan.