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.

Another Garden Harvest - July 2010

Another Harvest

Let the Harvest Begin

The First Harvest of 2010 (not including lemons from the Winter):
Radishes of the French Breakfast persuasion:

Biscuits and Gravy

V*gan Biscuits and Gravy

Biscuits and Gravy:
Seitan Sausage (adapted from Vegan Dad):

- 1/2 C refried beans
- 1/2 C vegetable broth

- 1/2 C apple juice
- 2 T tahini
- 3 T soy sauce

- 1/2 tsp ground fenugreek
- 1 tsp garlic powder

- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 1/4 C vital gluten
- 1/3 C nutritional yeast

- 1 T light miso
- 1 tsp each thyme and sage ground in mortar and pestle
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 1 tsp smoked paprika

 

Combine all ingredients except gluten.  Then mix in gluten with spoon. Once well combined form the mixture into 10 portions. Roll them into sausages. Wrap in foil.  Then steam for 25 minutes.  When cool enough to handle chop one cup of sausage.

Biscuits ~ 15:
- 2 C all-purpose flour
- 1 T baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/3 C vegetable shortening
- 1 C milk curdled with 1 T lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425 F. Mix dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until the mixture resembles crumbs.  Mix in curdled milk until the flour is moistened.  Turn dough onto floured surface.  Knead for one minute. Push the down into a circle approximately 3/4 inch thick. Cut dough with a 2 inch biscuit cutter. Place biscuits, slightly separated, onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 15 - 17 minutes or until golden brown.

 

Gravy:

2 1/4 C milk (of your choice) warmed
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
dash of cayenne
2 T flour
2 T butter, margarine, oil

Heat fat until liquid over medium heat.  Add in flour and whisk constantly until the mixture smells nutty.  Whisk in milk until no lumps remain. Add remaining ingredients. Whisk often until gravy reaches a boil. Then add 1 cup chopped sausage. Remove from heat. Serve over biscuits.