Bean & Seitan Tamales

I like tamales. Traditional tamales like lard. Tamales without lard are hard to come by and are often too expensive and bland/janky for my tastes. I have made tamales many times before simply substituting corn oil for the lard and the end results were quite tasty. However, I knew they could be better, so this time I decided to use a room-temperature-solid fat to see if it yielded better results. Did it? Abso-tamale-lutely. I digress. I looked for inspiration here and here. But add some flair to accommodate the vegetarian palette.

Masa:
3 1/2 C masa harina
1 tsp each: smoked paprika, ancho chile, garlic and onion powder
1/3 C nutritional yeast flakes (optional)
2 C hot water
2 tsp baking powder
1 C non-hydrogentated vegetable shortening
1 1/2 C vegetable broth
1/4 C vegetable oil

Mix the dry ingredients together. Then begin to mix in shortening and oil. Then add Broth. Add water until the consitency is like a stiff cake batter.


Filling:
1 C refried/smashed beans
1 C seitan chopped (I used the kind I make in a slow cooker)
1/2 C corn kernels
1 bell pepper diced
1 onion diced
2-3 serrano peppers seeded and minced
3 cloves garlic minced
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ancho chile powder
1 tsp cumin
1 bunch cilantro
3/4 C salsa verde
1 tsp smoked paprika

Cook the onions in some oil (2 T) until soft. Then add the garlic and chile and cook for one minute. Add spices and cook for 30 seconds. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Set aside.

Assemble the tamales as Chef Bayless suggests. I usually need to cook mine about 90 minutes. This might because I cram them into my pot and have a makeshift steamer.

More soup!

Yes, my food photos needs some work. Next time?

Thanks to VP for the photo.

Autumn Harvest: Acorn Squash Soup in Whole Wheat Bread Bowl

I recently harvested a bunch of acorn squashes. I made some empanadas with one of them, but have no pictures to share. I then made a batch of acorn squash soup.

Fragrant, Creamy Acorn Squash Soup:
- 3 Acorn squash (halved, seeded baked at 400F for about 35 minutes. Cool slightly and scoop out flesh)
- 3 cored, peeled, chopped ginger gold apples
- 4 peeled, chopped carrots
- 2 onions, chopped
- 4 c vegetable broth
- 1 c apple juice
- 1 1/2 T Garam Masala
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 2 T fresh ginger, grated
- 1/4 tsp ground clove
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 4 seeded, chopped serrano chiles

Place the onions, carrots, chiles and apples in a pot with some oil and cook until soft. Then add the fresh ginger and cook about 1 minute. Add dry spices, cooking and stirring for about 30 seconds. Then add liquid and sqaush. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Then use an immersion blender and puree. Ta-da.

I made a simple whole wheat dough and draped it over steel bowls and baked to make these shells.

Green Tomato Pickles - Taste Test

They taste just like they smell: delicious.

I ate them on a veggie burger and with an acorn squash empanada to test them out.

Green tomato dill pickles

I purchased this pot for making beer. However, it's intended use was for water bath canning. Given that I am unable to keep up my consumption of red tomatoes with their ripening I decided to pickle them before that could happen. It was my first adventure into pickling and canning. Here's to NO botulism! After scouring the internet for quite some time I came up with a recipe and then proceeded to make 12 pints and 6 quarts of pickles. Hopefully they are tasty. I harvested the tomatoes, chiles and celery from my garden. I sliced big tomatoes, halved the medium sized ones and kept the cherry tomatoes whole.

I used a brine that was 2:1 water to vinegar (apple cider). For 3 quarts of liquid I used about a 1/2 1/3 C sea salt and a teaspoon of sugar.

For the pint jars I added:
- 1 clove garlic
- at least 1 serrano chile
- 2 T freshly chopped dill
- 1/4 tsp dill seed
- carrots, celery, cauliflower, onion
- peppercorns, star anise (1/5 of a star), cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, mustard seed, coriander seed, caraway seed, clove, allspice

1/2 inch headspace. I used a 10 minute bath for pints, 15 minutes for quarts

I haven't tried them yet. It was a fun project, real frontiers-men like.

General Tso's Hobo Tofu

Time to make some Americanized Chinese Food I thought.
Course of Action:
1. Search internet for recipes.
2. Process recipes through brain.
3. Create new masterful recipe.
4. Produce: General Tso's Hobo Tofu.

First I flavor inject the tofu with vegetable broth and stuff. Then I cut it up, coated it with cornstarch and fried it. Then I made the hobo sauce: sugar, ketchup, vinegar, bbq sauce, soy sauce, mushroom sauce, ginger, garlic, onions, peppers, sesame oil and cornstarch slurry to thicken. Add some vegetables. Ta-da. I call it hobo because of all the low-brow ingredients.

Fresh Corn, Tomato and Quinoa Salad

I picked up some bicolor sweet corn whilst in Wisconsin and harvested some tomatoes and cucumbers from my garden and made this salad with some red quinoa.




It was well received.