21 posts tagged “bryanna”
But the recipe I used this time is simplicity itself. I found it on Bryanna's blog and it is Julie Hasson's Yummy Tofu Scramble. I cooked it in 15 minutes and it is yummy without too many additions or spices. Sometimes, keeping it simple is the sure way to make it tasty. This tofu scramble sure beats all the other versions I tried in any restaurant so far (and we have tried many across the country).
August's Daring Bakers' Challenge has been chosen by Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella and Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar. They have chosen the famous Dobos Torta, a Hungarian speciality.
The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.
Equipment
* 2 baking sheets
* 9” (23cm) springform tin and 8” cake tin, for templates
* mixing bowls (1 medium, 1 large)
* a sieve
* a double boiler (a large saucepan plus a large heat-proof mixing bowl which fits snugly over the top of the pan)
* a small saucepan
* a whisk (you could use a balloon whisk for the entire cake, but an electric hand whisk or stand mixer will make life much easier)
* metal offset spatula
* sharp knife
* a 7 1/2” cardboard cake round, or just build cake on the base of a springform tin.
* piping bag and tip, optional
Prep times
* Sponge layers 20 mins prep, 40 mins cooking total if baking each layer individually.
* Buttercream: 20 mins cooking. Cooling time for buttercream: about 1 hour plus 10 minutes after this to beat and divide.
* Caramel layer: 10-15 minutes.
* Assembly of whole cake: 20 minutes
The complete original recipe can be found here. For the sponge cake layers, I used Bryanna's recipe, which involves whipping up Ener-G egg replacers in a stand mixer just like egg white (see the picture below). The key to use this recipe is to be gentle with the batter. You cannot stir or mix too hard or too fast. Using a rubber spetula to carefully fold in the whipped "white egg" is the right way.
This is how the baked vegan sponge cake layer looks like.
The verdict: It was a fun project to work on. Would I make it again? Absolutely yes! The sponge cake layers are really tasty. The chocolate-hazelnut combo cannot be more decadent. The citrus-flavored toffee layer on top rounds out the overall sweetness. Even Hubby loved it and said it was the best cake yet.
For more gorgeous Dobos Tortes, check out the Daring Bakers blogroll.
I was really impressed with Bryanna's recipe for homemade rolled pasta when I was completing last month's Daring Bakers' Challenge. I told myself that I would make it again as stuffed pasta. So I made ravioli with this fresh pasta dough. The pliable dough was really easy to roll out. I used the classic Tofu Ricotta recipe (Veganomicon, page 206) as the filling. These ricotta ravioli turned out really tasty and satisfying.
I cut the remaining dough into fettuccine. Boy, fresh fettuccine is so much better than the dried version! Next time I will make the same dough just for fettuccine.
I also made these Chicago "Red Hot" Poppyseed Buns (recipe by Sandy Smith of At the Baker's Bench). The buns are light yet substantial and the poppyseeds really shine in them. These buns are perfect for a good veggie burger or you can simply slather them with butter or jam.
So kudos to Bryanna!
I don't know where to begin. This is my first Daring Bakers challenge, and this month saw the launch of the new Web site of the Daring Kitchen. That's right! It's not just for Daring Bakers any more. In April the first Daring Cooks challenge will be revealed. In case you are wondering, I did sign up for the Daring Cooks challenge as well. So I'll be a very busy bee in the kitchen from now on. A huge Thank-You to Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice and Lisa of La Mia Cucina for starting these challenges.
Lasagne is a dish that few people can resist. It has certainly transcended the borders. As my first Daring Bakers challenge, I was really excited to try my hands on a savory dish instead of a giant cake that will tempt me for two weeks and increase my waistline further more. As vegans, we have always loved lasagne as a all-time favorite in our family. It's creamy, yummy, doughy, and filling. What more can we really ask for?
Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna (Lasagne Verdi al Forno)
(Serves 8 to 10 as a first course, 6 to 8 as a main dish)
Preparation Time: 15 minutes to assemble and 40 minutes cooking time
10 quarts (9 litres) water
1 recipe Spinach Pasta cut for lasagna
1 recipe Bechamel Sauce
1 recipe Lentil-Mushroom Ragu
6 pieces vegan Mozzarella cheese
The biggest challenge for me this time is to make fresh homemade pasta from scratch. Thank God, Bryanna already solved this problem for us vegans long time ago. I simply used her recipe with 10 oz. fresh spinach (dried as much as possible and really finely chopped). The dough was surprisingly easy to make and extremely pliable. Below is my fresh pasta dough ball after kneading and before resting. I'll definitely try to make some vegan ravioli with the same recipe. Even rolling out the pasta noodles was much easier than I thought. I didn't break any piece, amazingly.
The Bechamel Sauce was comparatively really easy. I simply subbed Earth Balance butter and soy milk. It's a very simple but delicious white sauce.
For the Ragu, I found an excellent vegan Lentil-Mushroom Ragu recipe recommended by other Alternative Daring Bakers. It was really tasty and had a great meaty texture. The original recipe called for puy lentils but I only had red lentils in the cabinet (my mistake). It didn't affect the taste much, and I added some fresh edamame to add a little more toothsome texture.
I must admit that assembling the lasagne turned out to be a little more work than I imagined. Since the fresh pasta cooked really fast (5 seconds) in boiling water - because the noodles were rolled to be really thin (newspaper transparency), I decided to cook each layer of noodles and assemble right away. It was a good thing that I made the sauces before cooking the pasta. All I remember now is that it was layer after layer and layer after layer. I topped the lasagne with six big pieces of vegan mozzarella cheese, which turned out to be a perfect addition to the overall flavors.
I was really blown away by the taste of this lasagne. The fresh pasta was really doughy and had a wonderfully earthy taste from the spinach in the dough. The Ragu and Bechamel Sauces mixed with the spinach pasta created such a symphony of different flavors and the whole dish simply melted in our mouths.
It took me altogether six hours and a half to finish the whole challenge, and the time wasn't mostly inactive waiting time. It was really hard work, which I already knew before joining the Daring Bakers challenge. But it was so worth every minute of work! Now I don't know how I can ever go back to eating dried lasagne noodles. Next time I'll make the sauces one day in advance and make plenty of fresh pasta and freeze some.
Maybe you will be interested in checking out the new Daring Kitchen Web site. You can also be a member if you dare to dream a little. You will certainly have many nice eats and treats, I promise you. :)
I have been cooking but it has become rather hard to keep up posting more often. We always seem to have many things piling up onto the to-do lists. "It's always something" has been such a cliche in our household now. I didn't have time to come up with any new recipe. Nor did I participate in any cooking contest like I planned. I cooked from cookbooks and my recipe collection. Alas! 'Tis life. We ought to be grateful for what we have though. My husband and I have begun our little "self-compliment" group, inspired by LaidOutInLavendar. It is not easy at all. Gosh, I never knew it could this hard to say a few nice things about ourselves without feeling weird or discouraged. But we are trying. It's much easier to compliment each other, but when it comes down to the self-compliment... I guess we just don't know ourselves well enough.
Anyway, here comes the food porn, as usual. The first thing is from VwaV, page 28, "Fronch" Toast. It was great, but next time I will definitely add some cinnamon and nutmet to make it more traditional.
The second thing is Bryanna's Hunan Tofu. I made this before, a long while ago that I can't even remember. This time I didn't even fry the tofu beforehand because I wanted more of a soft and juicy texture. It turned out even better than I remembered. Surely a keeper!
Finally, a recipe from one of my favorite vegan cookbooks, Eat, Drink & Be Vegan - Monkey Minestrone (page 97). I totally adored this soup, but my husband actually preferred my own minestrone. How sweet! I didn't use any corn, but added some potatoes and soy beans. I think the soup was made more earthy and meaty this way. I also added three tablespoons of tomato paste to make the soup thicker.
Since I made enough no-knead dough (from Bryanna's improved recipe) to last for a week, I made a giant crusty bread using up all of the dough in the fridge. The final product was an amazingly meaty loaf full of the umami flavor.
We just went through a vegan pizza making experiment over the weekend. My hubby's aunt and her partner came for a visit. It's their first visit to see the house and they haven't seen my husband for a few years now. We thought it would be nice to have some homemade pizzas ready for them. I made Bryanna's 5-Minute No Knead Bread dough again, and now I can bake a few more focaccie or rolls. We did a few different toppings. My hubby made the Mediterranean topping, Roman zucchini topping and rosemary potato topping. I made Isa's basic tofu basil ricotta as a topping.
The verdict: great pizzas! Hubby's aunts loved them. We loved them. And I'm off to bake a focaccia.
This is what I made using the leftover scrambled tofu. The recipe is based on Bryanna's brilliant vegan strata recipe. I simply blended my scrambled tofu and added two tablespoons of tarragon French wine vinegar. I didn't use lemon juice or wine. The bread goes to the bottom of the casserole dish, then baby spinach, tomato slices and fresh basil, and the blend mix follows. By then I actually ran out of bread (shamefully), so I simply topped the whole casserole with another layer of tomatoes. The outcome: great taste! You'll never think that it can be prepared within 10 minutes. Of course, that's just the preparation time, because the baking takes 35 to 40 minutes. But I watched a movie while the baking took place.
Then my hubby used the leftover autumn soup and a store-bought pizza crust to make us a wonderful vegan pizza. He added a lot of other spices and sauces (which I don't even know) and the pizza turned out to be full of fire and zest.
I haven't done anything special for the 100th post of my food porn and recipe series. So here it is. I did try Bryanna's recipe and make the no-knead yeast bread. I made a pizza and a foccacia with the dough. I still have some of the dough in my fridge that will go to good use. It was a great experience. I can't believe half whole-wheat pizza dough can still be so good, better than the non-whole-wheat dough. The topping was a marinara sauce with two large zucchini. I loaded on lots of herbs. I mean really a lot, which was the key. Great topping and great dough made a great pizza. My husband said it reminded him of an authentic Italian pizza.
I made my first hummus too. I cooked the dried chickpeas myself and shelled all of them for three hours. The hummus was really really good, but unfortunately I didn't snap any photo. I guess I won't be cooking much in the next few days because I really have a lot to do to tie up some loose ends and finish the unfinished business. Until then. God bless!