Mexicana

I am visiting my family in Pennsylvania right now. However, yesterday, I put together a rather Mexican-inspired dinner, and, being pretty pleased with the effort, I thought I'd share. I don't make a lot (read: nearly enough) Mexican or Latin food. And I'd actually never made tamales before. However, there was a bag of masa harina tucked back in my parents' pantry that I knew they would never use, so I decided to rescue it. I will admit that I had been intrigued by the idea of making tamales ever since watching Isa and Terry make them. So I decided to use their recipe. They turned out delicious. I enlisted my mother to help me in tamale-husk-packaging, and it was actually kind of enjoyable and relaxing. I also made a simple fresh grape tomato salsa, chili-lime jicama salad (literally: jicama matchsticks + lime juice + chili powder), and Mole-Roasted Cauliflower from Swell vegan cookzine, a copy of which I received recently in the mail. All in all, a satisfying meal. And I'm snacking on leftover jicama slaw even as I type.

Tofu Peaks

Why hello there, Dear Readers. I thought I would take a break from procrastinating doing school work by watching episodes of Twin Peaks and finally post a recipe I promised to share about a year ago. And actually, I have my mom to thank for motivating me to revisit the tender-golden-crunchy loveliness that is Parsley-Walnut Crusted Tofu. About two months ago, she called saying she had found some tofu in the back of the fridge, leftover from when I had stayed with them during winter break. And she specifically remembered enjoying this tofu, and had me e-mail her the recipe. (Allow me to indulge in a moment of excitement at one of my omni parents requesting a tofu recipe: hurrah.) Ever since then, I had been planning on making it and posting the recipe. Last weekend I finally got around to it.

I was not disappointed. Definitely as good as we both remembered it: the bright slightly-bitter freshness of parsley balanced perfectly with the rich nuttiness of ground walnuts. Panko breadcrumbs thrown in for a satisfying crunch. This is a dish worth springing for some of the nicer tofu. The first time I made it, I owed part of its success to my favorite tofu ever, the West Virginia-made Spring Creek brand that I used to buy at the East End Co-op in Pittsburgh. This time, I picked up a package of tofu made by local Connecticut company The Bridge. It's nice stuff. As you can see, I ate it with some braised red cabbage. Okay, time for the recipe--

Parsley-Walnut Crusted Tofu
makes 2-4 servings (you know how it is)


1 lb. (or 14 oz.) extra-firm (or firm) tofu, pressed
1/2 cup ground walnuts*
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup minced flat-leaf parsley
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
dash cayenne pepper
1/2 cup soymilk + 1/2 tsp vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil (to coat baking sheet) + cooking spray


Preheat oven to 425 F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with 1 tbsp olive oil


In a small bowl, whisk the soymilk and vinegar together with a fork. Let side to thicken.

In a shallow dish (a pie pan or sandwich-sized Tupperware container works well for this), mix together the panko, ground walnuts, parsley, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, and cayenne.

Slice up your tofu according. You can do it up all pretty-like with triangles, or just do simple widthwise-sliced rectangles; you get about 6 slices that way (cut across these diagonally and you've got your triangles).


Dip a piece of tofu in soymilk mixture, coat in breadcrumb mixture. Place on baking sheet. Repeat.


When you've got all your tofu breaded (you'll probably have a little leftover breading--lots of creative uses for this), mist the tops with some of the cooking spray (the olive oil variety, if you've got it). Bake for 15 minutes, and then flip. Bake another 15 minutes. And they are done! Best to let rest on the sheet about 5 minutes before eating.

*In case you need a refresher course: walnut halves + a bit of blitzing in the food processor = ground walnuts.


Alright, I'm off to make a second cup of tea and succumb once more to the bizarre addiction that is David Lynch's conception of plotting tycoons, conspiring high school kids, sexual fetish, and murder in a small mill town.

Winter's Leftovers: Slaw

Continuing on the theme of raw(-ish) food--Red Cabbage & Winter Root Slaw. I qualify the "raw" label, because I have no desire whatsoever to follow a strict raw eating style, so I am far from being a stickler about things like mustard. Is spicy brown mustard raw?--I doubt it. But as the weather has been warming up and its no longer dark by 5:30 in the evenings, I've been fancying more fresh vegetables and such. Even though it isn't winter, we (here in New York, unlike you smug California people) still have a ways to wait for things like tomatoes and other nice salad sorts of produce. Anyway, it seemed more fun to make a salad out of vegetables typically neglected for such purposes. Red cabbage, golden beets, and parnips tossed in a Balsamic-Maple-Mustard Dressing turned out pretty delicious. Here's the recipe:

Red Cabbage & Winter Root Slaw

1/2 head red cabbage, shredded
2 golden beets, peeled and grated
1 small parsnip, peeled and grated
1/4-1/2 red onion thinly sliced
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp spicy brown mustard
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tbsp canola oil
dash salt
freshly ground black pepper

Throw all the vegetables together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk together vinegar, mustard, maple syrup, canola oil, and season with salt and pepper. Pour over salad and toss.*

Make about 4 servings as a side.


*The photo at the beginning of the post shows the salad before dressing; the colors get a bit more muddied with you toss everything together with the dressing. It will keep for several days in the fridge this way. Alternately, you could plate and drizzle each serving with the dressing.

Green.

Over the past couple months I've joined the league green smoothie admirers. And a few weeks ago, I achieved--as this photo documents--green smoothie perfection. Typically my smoothies turn out more brown than green; adding frozen berries is usually the culprit here.

However, eschewing the berries in favor of frozen peaches--and adding a dash of spirulina powder at the end--resulted in the beautiful emerald smoothie you see here. It was also, incidentally, pretty nice-tasting as well. Here's what I remember of the formula: 1 frozen banana, 1 date, few cubes frozen mango, few slices frozen peaches, ground flax, handful frozen spinach, water, a liberal dash spirulina powder. I think I also did toss a few frozen berries in there and maybe a drop or to of stevia. Fancy.

P.S. While we're on the subject of green foods, another thing I've been enjoying lately is the infamous raw kale salad: bite-size pieces of raw kale, finely minced garlic (I get it into a paste-like consistency with a little salt), and a drizzle of olive oil--"massaged" into the kale leaves. Please someone come up with an alternate word to describe the preparation!? Is it just me?--massaging kale leaves sounds so creepy. Regardless, the end result is lovely.

Out of hibernation

Hey there. It's...been awhile. I've been in winter hibernation, and largely cooking and eating unphotogenic sorts of food like lentil soup and all sorts of similar bean-soup variants. Besides which, until lately there's hardly been enough daylight for talking pretty photos. Even so, there have been a handful of noteworthy kitchen endeavors that I've managed to photograph, so perhaps I'll do a catch-up post sometime soon.

But for now I hope I can make up for my posting absence by presenting you with--not one--but two delicious ice cream creations. Both are from Lula's Sweet Apothecary, which has become quite possibly my favorite food-related place in the city. From the left, ice cream creation #1 is one of the Flurries: vanilla soft serve, homemade peanut butter cup chunks, and graham crackers swirled together with hot fudge on top. #2 is probably the best sundae I've ever had-- vegan or otherwise--the St. Patrick's Day Sundae special: chocolate stout hand-dipped ice cream, hot fudge, peanuts, and whipped cream (I always for forego the cherry, so it was graced with a few chocolate chips instead to make it pretty).

That's all for now. Thanks to the nice people who follow this blog; I really do appreciate the comments. I promise to keep posting more regularly!

Wherein Pittsburgh meets NYC

A black-and-gold take on the classic black-and-white cookie. Another installment in the I Heart Pgh series.

Oh, yeah--and they WON.

Truffles & Pittsburgh

Saturday I'll be headed back to NYC, and I've been lazing about, knitting, watching TV online, and looking out the window at the snow accumulation here in Pennsylvania.

However, last weekend I boarded the train to Pittsburgh to stay for a couple days with my dear friend B in my old neighborhood Squirrel Hill. Old haunts were visited and new places discovered. It was great getting to see my BFF and my dearly loved Pittsburgh.

As if all that wasn't enough, the day before I left a package arrived in the mail. It was truffles! From Evan, as a thank-you for sending him fancy agave nectars awhile back. They were probably the best truffles I've ever had, and happened to be perfect for sharing with B. while watching BBC's Jane Eyre Friday night with cups of rose tea.

Saturday we strolled around Squill, I got a rare Beatles record for $5 (which made me kind of hate New York a little bit), and a lovely cup of "pannetone" (read: lemon-and-vanilla-scented) tea from Te Cafe. By then our other friend was ready to pick us up in her car for a jaunt to The Strip District.

If you are interested in food and happen to be in Pittsburgh, head to The Strip, especially if it happens to be a Saturday. Besides all the independently-owned food purveyors, The Strip happens to be home to one of the largest Penzey's Spices I've ever been in. (Which I guess isn't saying much, because the only other Penzey's I've been in is the counter inside Grand Central Terminal, and it's about 1/10 of the size of Penzey's in The Strip).

Enticed by what is clearly the best name for a spice blend ever and the snazzy labeling--and then by the list of the actual ingredients (including black and white pepper, coriander, mace and savory among others)--I picked up a container of Penzey's Krakow Nights blend in the smaller 1.7 oz.-sized jar (though sadly it sported a much more modest label).

We also picked up The Cutest Mushrooms Ever, aka white beech mushrooms, at the large asian market, along with some Chinese broccoli, and a flat spongy package of fried tofu.

Equipped with our special ingredients we eventually got to work making a likely contestant for The Best Stir-fry I've Ever Had. I'm now in love with Chinese broccoli, all the other vegetables we threw in were cooked to crunchy stir-fry perfection, and the sauce I made by throwing soy sauce, cornstarch, water, and rice vinegar together ended up being really really delicious with the garlic, ginger, and chili flakes we used for seasoning. Perhaps the key was having one person stirring at all times while Person #2 threw things into the pan. Anyway, this stirfry has a earned a place in my personal culinary mythology.

Here it is, though of course the photo (taken in the haste to consume) does not do it justice. The golden strips are bits of the packaged fried tofu, which I basically chiffonaded, before adding to the dish, as it came in a thin pliable sheet. I can't remember exactly what the label on the package called it, but it was seriously good, so if anyone is familiar with this stuff and can tell me about it, I appreciate the information. We ate it with some jasmine rice made about 4 hours beforehand on our way out the door to the cinema. Apparently this is the perfect way to make rice.

Before catching the train Sunday afternoon, I took one last nostalgic stroll around Squirrel Hill and stopped in for a pot of Pomegranate Rosehip Tea at Te Cafe. I decided then that I should talk this place up. And rightfully so, because they have an extensive selection of looseleaf teas (and tisanes) for reasonable prices (I got 2 oz. of the same pomegranate rosehip for $3), plus a calm atmosphere with plenty of outlets for plugging in your laptop. If I still lived in the 'Burgh, this would be my regular hang-out/study spot for sure. But since I don't live in Pittsburgh anymore, I'll just wax wistful about it.

Hippest Pomegranate Rose with pretty blue teapot at Te Cafe.