48 posts tagged “carrots”
I don't really have time to write a post now but I do have some food porn to share. So let's get down to business immediately.
The first thing is Jamie Oliver's Asparagus, Mint and Lemon Risotto with Fresh Fava Beans. I found the recipe in Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen. I replaced dry white wine with Merlot (no choice), omitted cheese, and added fresh fava beans (a.k.a., broad beans). The risotto had a very nice and creamy Middle Eastern flavor.
The second thing is inevitably a dessert - Hot Fudge Cake (recipe courtesy of Jewish Vegan). Boy, it was such an ooey gooey hot cake! Hot fudge+chocolate pudding+warm chocolate cake. I wasn't so sure when the cake just came out of the oven. I'm never sure when I have to pour a lot of hot water directly over the cake dough.
Now look at it again! After a slice was plated, I poured some of the hot fudge and pudding over cake. It was clearly the best chocolate fudge I've ever had! Everything just melted in my mouth.
The last thing is Choklay's Tibetan Lentil Soup, recipe by "eat me, delicious". I don't need to say anything. The photo shows everything. Oh, just one thing: I didn't know Tibetan's eat lentils too. Did you?
I loved the potato-pea-quinoa soup so much that I had it with some noodles together with some bok choy. It was still really good. Soups with potatoes are just incredible.
I finally tried the famous penne vodka from the excellent Veganomicon (page 193). I used whole-wheat elbows instead of penne and used a little more red pepper flakes. Towards the end of making the sauce, I added some fresh cilantro since we really love cilantro. The penne vodka came out really good. I loved the sauce since it packed a lot of zing. Of course, we can't live without some broccoli in the pasta.
On a final note, I do plan to master my new camera (though I've had it for a few months already) in the next few weeks so that I can take better photos. I bought a whole bunch of vegan frozen food so the following days will be culinarily interesting.
It feels like ages before I blogged again. April went by really fast without me noticing much what was going on in Vox. I hope everyone had a wonderful April. I'm learning to live more in the present, so May will be a little different. I haven't been cooking much at all, but I finally caught up a little yesterday. I made a big pot of soup, potato-pea-quinoa soup. I eyeballed everything so the recipe gives you a lot of room for customization according to your own taste.
Potato-Pea-Quinoa Soup
3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
1 orange (or green) bell pepper, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into consistent 1-inch pieces
4 plum tomatoes, chopped
3/4 cup yellow split peas, rinsed
3/4 cup quinoa, rinsed
8-9 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked for 30 minutes and reserve the soaking water, finely chopped
2 1/2 tsp. tarragon
2 1/2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. sage
1 tsp. oregano
2/3 tsp. parsley
1/2 tsp. rosemary
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 tsp. paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Over medium heat, sauté onions, pepper, carrots and garlic for 8-9 minutes until carrots get a little soft.
2. Add potatoes, tarragon, thyme, sage, oregano, parsley and rosemary. Stir once and cover. Cook for 3-5 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes and 3/4 cup of boiling water. Bring to a boil and lower to simmer. Cook covered for 5 minutes.
4. Add peas, quinoa, and chopped mushrooms and the soaking water. Add 2 bay leaves. Add plenty of water (according to your own preference for the thickness of the soup). Bring to a boil and lower to simmer. Cover. Let the soup simmer for 45 minutes. Stir a few times and check the thickness. Add water or uncover a little to achieve your own desired result.
5. When the soup is done, remove from heat. Add paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Remove bay leaves.
Serve with croutons or over rice. We had our soup with some steamed broccoli and raw walnuts.
I haven't been such a good neighbor. I rarely have time to read blogs or leave comments, which I enjoy doing very much. I've got more than 630 new feeds in my Google reader. I feel like I'm getting busy again. Sometimes I really wonder so hard where all the time has gone. Especially when I continue to read In Search of Lost Time by Proust, I strongly believe I should at least start a quest called "Chasing the Lost Time". But I don't think I have the answer to my own question and I don't have the guts to really chase time.
Well, besides chasing time, I did some cooking. Or rather, I found some photos and had to post them here before forgetting what they were. The first one is Vegan Haggis (recipe by River of Bean Vegan). I didn't have scotch so subbed dark rum. It was quite interesting and satisfying. But we were not really in the mood for it, unfortunately.
Here's how it looked being plated. Well, I know I usually don't spend much time making the plate look nice. All in good time, I guess.
The second is my own 50% Whole Wheat Strawberry Pancakes. The batter is half all-purpose flour (2 cups), half whole wheat flour (2 cups), baking powder (1/2 teaspoon), unsweetened vanilla soy milk (1 1/2 cups) with apple cider vinegar (2 teaspoons), orange juice (3/4 cup), pure maple syrup (3 tablespoons), sugar free strawberry preserves (1 1/2 cups), vanilla extract (1 teaspoon), salt (1/4 teaspoon), olive oil (1/2 teaspoon). You basically sift flours, baking powder, and salt; add vinegar to soy milk to curdle it for 5 minutes; then mix the curdled soy milk with all the other wet ingredients. The last step is to combine the dry and wet ingredients together. The verdict? Great! Very much like spring. It satisfied my strawberry craving.
The last thing is my first attempt at veganizing Buttermilk Spoon Bread. It's a hybrid of polenta, cornbread and a souffle. The original recipe is by courtesy of Nicole of Baking Bites again. The result was rather good but it's definitely a working process. The photo doesn't show the texture well. It was moist, cakey, and pudding-y all at the same time. I'll post the vegan recipe once I think it's perfected to my satisfaction.
What will happen if you keep thinking about one flavor without cooking it for two weeks or longer? You might end up making everything taste like that flavor unknowingly. This is what happened to me. Or rather, this is what I made happen. I kept thinking about soy sauce and Bryanna's savory dinner tofu loaf for more than two weeks. Then I saw the glorious-looking Dill Shiitake Frittata from Isa's test kitchen (yes, Isa is writing a new brunch cookbook!) and attempted to make one. The result is that I made a dill shiitake frittata that looked more like a savory dinner loaf and packed with a lot of flavors. I was almost too ashamed to show the photos here but what the heck, the "frittata" tofu loaf tasted great. A dark frittata or a dinner loaf, what's the difference?
The ingredients are basically similar to the Asparagus and Sun-Dried Tomato Frittata (VwaV) but I used half a tablespoon more soy sauce to resemble Bryanna's savory dinner loaf. Well, a blunder turned into a bliss. Not bad!
Spring is barely here and I'm already thinking about midsummer. This is why I once again cracked open Veganomicon and made the Midsummer Corn Chowder with Basil, Tomato, and Fennel (Veganomicon, page 144). Well, longing for summer is not the real reason. I just got too excited having two innocent fennel bulbs sitting in my fridge. I had two large fennel bulbs like two months ago and simply wasted them in the end. This time my personal pride didn't allow that to happen. If anyone knows some awesome recipes that involve using fennel bulbs besides roasting them, please let me know. I'm dying to make something with fennel bulbs that will freak myself out. Is it actually possible? I know most of us love fennel seeds, but fennel bulbs??
Anyway, the corn chowder was fabulous. The fresh basil, tomato and fennel combo really brought out some unexpected pleasant flavors. Not like a typical corn chowder. Oh, by the way, I added half a cup of quinoa which was a good little addition. It's amazing how creamy a vegan corn chowder can be without using any wheat or soy product.
I've been making soups non-stop so I think it might be time for me to change "so what the heck do we eat?" series into "today's soup" series. It sounds tempting but I love pies and rice too much to completely give up solid vegan food. Anyhow, Bryanna's Golden Vegetable Noodle Soup (from The (Almost) No Fat Cookbook: Everyday Vegetarian Recipes, page 89) almost converted me to a soup Nazi. Just like what Bryanna said about the soup in the book, this soup had the same comforting effect as chicken noodle soup, and only better! The best soup I've made so far. I replaced frozen peas with green split peas and used loads of fresh cilantro together with one teaspoon of dried parsley instead of just fresh parsley. I also used both wholewheat spaghetti and wholewheat elbows. A small pinch of paprika and red pepper flakes added some subtle zing.
I had enough time to make some vegan hot cross buns. I took this recipe and had some amazing result. These not so traditional hot cross buns had a great texture and a subtle spicy and fragrant taste. I simply omitted the egg and used both golden raisins and dried cranberries, which created a beautiful tang in the buns. We loved them!
The Irish Farmhouse Soup (a recipe adapted by Catherine of Albion Cooks) I made yesterday was so good that I couldn't believe I only used salt and pepper as seasoning. A very humble-looking soup, it reminded me of the sweet home and the beautiful summer on a farm. It was nourishing, tasty, strangely comforting and brought back all the good memories and made me look forward to an even better tomorrow.
I made several changes to the original recipe: (1) olive oil was used; (2) onions and garlic replaced leeks; (3) quinoa replaced barley to create a more creamy and fluffy texture; (4) 2 cups of vegetable broth, 2 cups of water, and 1 1/2 cups of unsweetened soy milk were used as the liquid base.
Being on a diet, I'm more inclined to make some nice, creamy and satisfying soups that are low in calories and high in nutrition. I stumbled upon this simple organic Italian soup recipe by Jill of Simple Daily Recipes. Jill's recipe is not vegan but I knew that I couldn't do wrong with an Italian soup. Indeed I was blessed with a super comforting soup that actually made me feel euphoric. Below is my ingredient list for a veganized Italian soup.
3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely diced
3 celery sticks, finely diced
1 large carrot, finely diced
1 large zucchini, diced
1/2 cup uncooked basmati rice
2 cups vegetable stock
1 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 can (15 ounce) chickpeas
1 1/5 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. coriander
1/4 tsp. curry powder
7 stalks asparagus, cut into 2-inch pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
You can simply follow Jill's instructions. But make sure that you throw the asparagus into the soup in the last 10 minutes, and add salt and pepper at the end after removing from heat to taste.
Besides the soup, I finally have some sweet stuff to share. I haven't baked any cakes or cookies for a while. The urge to bake some shortbread came as a total surprise but once I formed this idea in my mind, I couldn't be happier. I've always liked shortbread. And coconut shortbread is simply irresistible. I used the recipe by Nicole of Baking Bites and subbed canola oil as vegan shortening. I think I overbaked the shortbread for a couple of minutes but the result was still more than fine. If you like baking things, you will probably want to check out Nicole's Baking Bites which is full of gorgeous photos and great recipes.
My good luck with Veganomicon continued. I saw French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme on page 141 and immediately took to it as it was very fitting for my goal to lose some weight. I searched my pantry thoroughly but only found a bag of red lentils. How sad! Anyhow, the red lentil soup still turned out very tasty and satisfying.
I'm very glad that I went back to cooking finally. The udon noodles and bread were very good but I needed something more substantial and special. I felt pretty bad for my busy husband too, though he would gladly eat pasta with broccoli and peas/beans every day. A broccoli tofu sandwish would make a good snack for him. After I made the first comeback soup - potato quinoa chowder, he commented, "now that's something that smells really homemade." I was very happy to hear that. I got the recipe from Laura Jesser's "Eden in the Kitchen". Do check out Laura's blog which is full of wonderful photos and great recipes.
The only thing I did differently is to use bok choy instead of cooked kale and I didn't puree half of the soup at all. I love the soft little chunks of potatoes in the chowder.
And I have super good news: I got my first SLR camera! A Canon EOS 40D! I've been messing with the new camera in the last 36 hours as I got so excited. I've been reading the manual and learning about all the buttons and signs like a maniac. I might go take a photography class too. I'm completely psyched. Below is the first food photo I took with the new camera. This happened to be my new favorite bread - sponge bread made with Camp Rémy wheat - at Paul, my favorite bakery and tea-room. With sponge bread and vegan margarine, I'm in heaven!
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