Attack of the Cruciferae: Roasted Cauliflower

Mmmmm, aborted floral meristems.
I like cauliflower. A great, easy way to make a tasty cauliflower dish is to roast it. Little preparation is needed.

Indian Spiced Roasted Cauliflower:
1 head cauliflower, chopped into your favorite sized portions
1 T vegetable oil
1/2 tsp Madras curry powder
1/2 tsp sambar powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
salt to taste

Combine all ingredients and roast at 400F, 30-40 minutes, until starting to brown.

Seitan Roast via the Pressure Cooker: Recipe Soon

Meaty Seitan Roast

Pizza: Baked at home in 3 minutes

I like pizza.

Quick Cooking Pizza at Home

I am usually dissatisfied with homemade pizza results. The crust usually isn't cooked completely or burns if I wait for the top side to finish.  I knew that if I had a pizza stone things could be different. Pizza stones seem pricey for what they are: a stone.  I knew to make a better pizza I needed heat from above and below, enter cast iron skillet.

Dough (2 - 10 inch pizzas):
1 1/4 C AP Flour
1 C Whole Wheat Flour
2 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1/2 tsp Salt
1 T Oil
1 T Sugar
1 C Water

Sauce:
1 C Tomato Puree
1 T Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning

Toppings:
Cheese, cherry tomatoes and bell peppers.

Process:
Mix warm water (~100F), yeast and sugar together. Lets stand for 5 minutes.  Combine dry ingredients. Add oil to yeast mixture. Add this to dry ingredients. Knead. Set aside covered until doubled in volume.  Deflate, let stand, covered another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile begin to heat a 10 inch cast iron skillet over a high flame and preheat broiler. Split the dough into two.  Shape dough into a 10 inch round.. After 10 minutes of heating, 'drop' the dough into the cast iron pan Immediately sauce and top the pizza.  Place pan under broiler and watch for done-ness 2-3 minutes.  Carefully remove from broiler and pan.

Pizza

Note: I sauced and topped before transferring to cast iron pan once. When I did I had spillage.  It also makes it easier to get a thin crust off my cutting board (no pizza peel for me) without the encumbrance of toppings/sauce.

Bubble and Squeak Meets Ethiopia

I don't eat enough cabbage.  I am usually afraid that I won't be able to eat a whole head before it turns, or I turn on it.  However, one of my favorite recipes for cabbage is bubble and squeak.  It reminds me of Tikil Gomen.  I deciced to use my homemade cold-pressed canola oil based niter kibbeh and berbere for the seasoning.  I also don't have leftovers from (seitan) roast dinners often, so I make it fresh. Also for little more sumtin sumtin I added some chopped homemade, baked tofu.  I cook mine in a 10 in cast-iron skillet.

Recipe:
1 head green cabbage, chopped
1 large onion, sliced
1 lb chopped carrots
4 large russet potatoes, chopped
8 oz chopped baked tofu
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 C niter kibbeh, halved
1 - 2 T berbere

Boil potatoes and carrots separately until just soft. Drain and set aside. Fry onion in half of the niter kibbeh until soft.  Add berbere. Add cabbage and cook for 10 minutes. Add garlic and tofu. Add carrots and potatoes.  Add remaining niter kibeh. Crudely mash.  Try not to turn until browned bits form.  Mix it up occasionally. Cook until the browned sections are too your liking. Adjust salt and pepper as necessary.

Spiced Carrot Dip

I recently have been enjoying a spiced carrot dip.  This is my attempt at recreating something I ate at a farmers market in Monterrey.

Recipe (yields about 2 cups):
1 lb carrots
1 clove garlic
1/2 - 2 tsp sweetener (e.g. sugar, honey, agave) [depends on the sweetness of the carrots]
1 T olive oil
1/2 tsp each cumin, ginger, chile
1/4 tsp each cinnamon, cayenne (or less depending on heat/spice tolerance)
2 - 4 T orange juice (may substitute 1 - 2 T lime or lemon juice)
salt and pepper to taste

Boil carrots with garlic clove until tender.  Remove and add carrots and garlic to food processor, reserve cooking water. Process with other ingredients until smooth. Adjust thickness to desired consistency via cooking water and/or juice additions.

Serve warm or cold with dipping agents (e.g. pita chips, pretzels, pea pods).

First Carrot of the Season

Carrot Time!

Garden Fresh Gazpacho

Gratuitous Gazpacho Close-Up

I made some Gazpacho utilizing the harvest's from my garden.

Gazpacho (serves 6):

1 cucumber: peeled, seeded and chopped
2 poblano chiles: seeded and chopped
1/2 onion: finely chopped
1 clove garlic: minced
2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
2 large tomatoes chopped
2 cups tomato juice
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
1 tsp dry oregano
2 T red wine vinegar
1 tsp hot sauce
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients.  Remove a third of the gazpacho and blend and return, or blend in-situ with immersion blender. Adjust consistency with tomato juice to your liking.  Chill before serving.