hungarian seitan paprikas - throwback thursday foods

When I read Cadry's post, 11 Ways to Know You're a Food Blogger, it struck me that, one, not only am I food blogger [busted] but that there are so many of us around the blogoshpere. Although Cadry didn't limit her list of obvious tip-offs to just vegan food bloggers, there happens to be many of those, as well. Again, caught red-handed.

And, two, that these self-professed food bloggers happen to be excellent at their photography and blog content. I'm sure many of us have our favorites and religiously visit the sites at least weekly. Just noticing my personal food blog, it is quite apparent that my photography and recipe writing skills have dramatically improved over the years.

That is not to pat myself on the back; I'm just pointing out that from where I began, many lessons have been learned. In other words, I may have gotten better, but that is only because I had such a long way to go!

I am sure many of us can look back on our first few blog posts and laugh - yes, I took that photo! and I wrote that?!?

As I was assembling last week's menu (using my Menu Template), my son asked me to make Paprikas, a Hungarian paprika and sour cream stew. I recalled having made it just a few years ago (yes, that is exactly what I told him! "We just had that a few years ago.") and it hit me that, hey!, I can improve on said recipe, but if not the recipe, that photo can only get better.

And then Cadry's post came creeping back on my mind. Why, yes, I do, indeed, have more cloth napkins, plates and mason jars than any sane person would. I even have an equal number of plates and bowls reserved only for photos as there are in my cupboard reserved for daily meals.

I can't really write a blog post about something I've already done! Can I? Yes! I can if I improve it and call it Throwback Thursday -- only this TBT is about food posts!

Here is my first installment of Throwback Thursday - Food Blogger Style:

Remaking this dish, I enhanced the recipe, and therefore the flavor and retook the photo. If you'd like to check out the original attempt, you are welcome to gaze upon the curiosity that was Paprikas 1.0

Paprikas happens to be a variation on the Hungarian Goulash and if you omit the sour cream, you would have a great Seitan Goulash, but if you include it, voila!, it's transformed into a completely different dish.

Serve the Paprikas with pasta, rice or thick slices of bread to soak up the sauce. I made my stew using my SteaK Seitan recipe, but any good seitan recipe will be wonderful.

I also added some kale sprouts on top of my serving to boost nutrition and because I love a little bit of green with my rich stews. However, minced parsley is just as welcoming.

I'm sure we all have our fair share of Throwback Thursday Foods lurking in the back of our food blogs; I know I have plenty enough to keep this theme going for many, many moons to come.

 HUNGARIAN SETIAN PAPRIKAS PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

Hungarian Seitan Paprikas

Serves 4

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 teaspoons toasted sesame seed oil, divided

1 large onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

¼ cup unbleached all-purpose white flour

1 large Hungarian wax or bell pepper, diced

1 large ripe tomato, diced

1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika

2 cups vegetable broth

1 pound seitan cutlets (about 4)

¾ cups vegan sour cream

2 teaspoons nutritional yeast

1. Heat the olive oil and 2 teaspoons of sesame oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and stir and cook until the onion is golden, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.

2. Stir in the flour and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the flour smells toasted, about 3 more minutes.

3. Add the bell pepper and tomato. Stir and cook until the pepper softens, about 3 minutes. Stir in the paprika and the broth. Stir well to combine. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce to a medium simmer, and cook until thickened, about 10 minutes.

4. Toss the seitan slices with the remaining teaspoon of sesame oil. Heat a grill pan over medium heat. Cook the seitan until grill marks appear, about 2 minutes per side. Remove to a work surface and coarsely chop the seitan. Add the seitan to the sauce and cook to heat through. Remove the pot from heat.

5. Stir in the sour cream and nutritional yeast, season to taste and serve over cooked rice, cooked pasta or with crusty bread.

© 2014 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

I am linking to these recipe parties: Healthy Vegan Fridays, What I Ate Wednesday and Virtual Vegan Linky Potluck. 

 

bok choy and chickpeas over ginger polenta bowl

Lunch at our house these days leaves little time for cooking, but the meals continue to be needed. Couple the demand for food, about thirty minutes to cook and seasonal produce and you have the making of bowl meals.

This time I wanted to use beautiful baby bok choy that had been delivered a few days before and when I think of bok choy, I immediately think of Asian food.

I decided to saute my bok choy and serve it with chickpeas that had been sauteed with a little sesame seed oil. As soon as the chickpeas hit the pan, I knew that these beans were the bridge to making creamy polenta, studded with slices of ginger and chili flakes.

I made a simple sauce using tamari and vegetable broth and lunch was ready quickly.

While creamy polenta might not be the first thing someone thinks of as a foil for Asian food, it was really delicious. Since my hubby is away this week, I was secretly a little glad that I got to eat more than my fair share. It was a little surprising how wonderful spicy, garlic and ginger creamy polenta can be!

BOK CHOY AND CHICKPEAS OVER SPICY GINGER-SCENTED POLENTA BOWL 

PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

Bok Choy over Spicy Ginger-Scented Polenta and Chickpeas Bowl   

Serves 4

2 tablespoons neutral oil, divided

10 garlic cloves, minced, divided

1 to 2 teaspoons red chili flakes

3 ½ to 4 cups unsweetened plain vegan milk

1 (1-inch) piece ginger, (half sliced thin and the other half finely grated), divided

½ teaspoon sea salt

1 cup polenta or medium-grind cornmeal

1 (15.5-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed, drained and patted dry

3 teaspoons toasted sesame seed oil, divided

10 ounces baby bok choy, halved through the stem

6 tablespoons vegetable broth

2 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari

1. Heat 1 tablespoon neutral oil over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Stir in 6 minced garlic cloves and the chili flakes and cook until the garlic is golden, about 1 minute. Stir in 3 ½ cups milk, the sliced ginger and salt. Bring the milk to a simmer and using a whisk, slowly add the polenta while whisking the milk. Bring the milk back to a simmer, lower the heat until the polenta barely bubbles. Cook until the polenta is tender, stirring frequently, about 25 minutes. When the polenta is cooked, stir in additional milk, up to ½ cup, to achieve a creamy consistency. Remove and discard the garlic slices, if desired.

2. While the polenta is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil and the chickpeas. Season the chickpeas with a little salt and cook until the chickpeas are golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Remove from the skillet and set aside.

3. Add 1 tablespoon neutral oil and 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil to the still hot skillet. Add the halved boy choy, cut side down, and cook until lightly charred and crisp-tender, about 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from the skillet and set aside.

4. Heat the remaining teaspoon of sesame seed oil in the still hot skillet. Reduce the skillet heat to medium and stir in the grated ginger and the remaining garlic. Cook until the garlic is golden. Carefully add the vegetable broth and tamari. Stir and cook until the sauce reduces by one-quarter.

5. To serve, divide the polenta into 4 bowls, top each bowl with an equal amount of bok choy, chickpeas and sauce. Serve immediately.

© 2014 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

I'd like to give a shout-out to GiGi over at Veganville. She was one of my irreplaceable testers for Everyday Vegan Eats. GiGi is right this very minute running a contest to giveaway a copy of EVE to one lucky US or Canada resident. If you don't have it, yet, here is an opportunity to win it. 

WIN A COPY AT VIGANVILLE!

She is sharing the recipe for the Seafood variation of Marinated Tofu from Everyday Vegan Eats. With the marinated tofu you can make such recipes as this No-Fish Filet Sandwich:

Some of you may not know that GiGi runs the very divine vegan bakery on etsy: Veganville Bakery. 

My son just celebrated his 19th birthday last month and I ordered a few boxes of GiGi's voopee pies for his special day. I asked GiGi not to have it delivered until his birthday because, well, they might not last long enough to make it to his birthday! 

Let me tell you that we are not short on sweets at our house, so it wasn't that my kids were hankering for sugar, but they inhaled these beauties! Veganville was nominated by VegNews for the best online bakery, and it is no surprise. 

We procured two boxes: Assorted Gift Box and Assorted Chocolate Love Box. And not a single voopee pie was left. 

Thank you, GiGi! We all LOVED the voopee pies!

I am linking to these recipe parties: Healthy Vegan Fridays. and What I Ate Wednesday. 

 

spinach pesto with fava beans and potatoes bowl

I've recently been on this kick of making food in a bowl. Robin Robertson has a whole chapter on bowl dishes in her new cookbook More Quick-Fix Vegan, and I know that a lot of people enjoy eating a great meal with all the components in one big bowl.

I designed this bowl of food around my produce box, hence it is seasonal and, as an added bonus, I got to use some unique ingredients that somehow always seems to find its way into my box.

Last week I received fennel, more new potatoes and fresh fava beans. Fava beans are incredibly delicious, if you ever have the opportunity to find them fresh. However, they are truly a labor of love, as the beans need to be shelled, quickly blanched and then peeled of their tough outer skin. Once the beans are blanched, the tough outer skin can be easy pierced and the delectable beans popped out of their skin.

Fava beans are buttery and creamy and I fell completely in love with them with the very first bite.

The potatoes are roasted with the fennel, which adds a wonderful light anise flavor and the ingredients are then tossed with an easy-to-make nontraditional pesto.

Squeeze some fresh lemon juice on top of each serving to cut through the richness of the potatoes and fava beans and enjoy! I served ours with some toasted French bread.

SPINACH PESTO WITH FAVA BEANS AND POTATOES PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

Spinach Pesto with Fava Beans and Potatoes Bowl   

Serves 4

6 garlic cloves, minced and divided

5 tablespoons vegetable broth, divided

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper

2 pounds small new potatoes, halved

2 small fennel bulbs, cored and thinly sliced

2 pounds fresh fava beans, shelled (about 2 cups)

3 cups fresh baby spinach

1 ounce fresh basil leaves

1 teaspoon neutral oil

Lemon wedges, garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 450-degrees F. Combine 4 minced garlic cloves, 3 tablespoons vegetable broth, 2 tablespoons olive oil  and salt and black pepper, to taste, in a small personal blender. Blend until smooth.

2. Mix the potatoes, fennel slices and garlic-mixture in a medium bowl. Transfer the potatoes to a baking sheet. Bake until tender and golden, about 30 minutes.

3. Bring a medium pot of salted water to boil over medium heat. Add the shelled fava beans and cook for 3 minutes. Immediately transfer the cooked beans to a large bowl of ice water to cool. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beans to a separate bowl. Add the spinach to the boiling water and cook for 1 minute.Transfer to the bowl of ice water to cool. Drain the spinach and squeeze out excess moisture. Transfer the spinach to a food processor and set aside.

4. Peel the blanched fava beans. Each bean is encased in a tough outer-skin that needs to be removed.

5. Add the basil, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 tablespoons vegetable broth and salt and black pepper to the food processor with the spinach. Process until smooth as possible and set the pesto aside.

6. Heat 1 teaspoon of oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the peeled fava beans and saute until golden, about 3 minutes. Add the roasted potatoes and pesto. Mix well to combine and cook to reheat the potatoes and pesto, about 3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve the potatoes and beans with lemon wedges.

© 2014 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.