MoFo chopped! challenge

Roasted Butternut Squash in Popcorn Crepes with Rosemary Apricot Sauce

My dear husband has swept up the confetti and I have composed myself, but are YOU ready? It is Weekly Vegan Menu's first Chopped!/Vegan MoFo Challenge!

Yours truly follows the MoFo blog religiously and was amazed at the incredible option dangled before me. The golden carrot of opportunity. 

The Chopped!/Vegan Challenge. 

Yes, like most devoted fans of Chopped!, not only have I thought 'eww..gross' at many rounds of the basket, but have boasted that I-can-do-better. Ms. Isa heard these boasts of ours and has given us the chance to put the basket where our stoves are.

I am sure there are some readers unfamiliar with this process. Here is a succinct rundown of the Food TV show:

4 chefs

4 ingredients

20-45 minutes

1 dish using all of the ingredients in the basket

3 rounds of baskets

3 judges to decide the winner

In our only round of the MoFo challenge, BRUNCH, we were given in our virtual baskets:

butternut squash

popcorn

Rosemary

apricot preserve 

There are over 800 bloggers in MoFo VI.

 This is MY story:

As soon as I read the ingredients, I knew, for better or worse, what I would make. But more importantly, I knew I would actually be making it, not just have daydreams about entering. 

I realized, as anyone reading the ingredients list, that popcorn was the challenge. As much as a raked my brain for different variations of the popcorn itself, alas, popcorn can only appear in a few forms: popcorn kernels (con: can cause emergency tooth surgery), popcorn popped (con: too average), popcorn ground (flour) (con: too messy), popcorn liquefied? Maybe not the last one. I was sure I was the only clever cleaver to go with popcorn flour!

 [Yeah,... probably not :] 

I decided to use my un-original idea of popcorn flour to make Crepes.

Crepes made with popcorn. Popcorn Crepes.

 I popped my fresh kernels, as any self-respecting Chopped Contestant would, ground it into flour, 

(Now I know where the packing material's name comes from - believe me, it isn't the popcorn; it is the airiness it achieves when you open the blender top. I thought glitter was bad! I'm sure I will be cleaning up popcorn debris until next year.) 

and used it as part of the crepe batter. Surprise! It worked! Not only did the popcorn add popcorn flavor (thanks in part to the 'double' cooking of the popcorn), but it did not mess up the crepe itself. 

Popcorn. Check.

Butternut squash is scary enough to send any and all of my kids scrambling for cover; they are not fans of winter squash. I haven't been, either, truth be told. That is, until I learned to roast. See this post for roasting techniques. 

Roasting is a medium-heat cooking where the natural sweetness and flavor of the cooked ingredient is drawn out. That is exactly what I did with the butternut squash. I added Rosemary to the squash to echo the Rosemary in the sauce. It also adds a lovely earth-quality to the sweetness of the squash and the richness of the black beans. Although black beans are not in the basket, the challenge is a BRUNCH one, and a great protein source (in addition to the other wonderful plant proteins) is beans. Black beans also pair extremely well with winter squash because they complement each other.

Butternut Squash. Check.

Apricot preserve had  a few different options in my thread of cooking. It could glaze the squash or become a sauce. I decided on making it into a sauce because adding the sweetness of the preserve to the sweetness of the squash was just begging for a double whammy, and not in a good way. 

However, if I made the preserve into a sauce and cooked it with some apple cider vinegar long enough that the acidic quality of the vinegar was gone, but the delightful tartness remained, then the sweetness of the preserve would be balanced. I used the Rosemary, for the second time, in the sauce. The earthy quality of the herb fared well with the preserve. Doubling up the Rosemary in the sauce and the squash preparation connects the elements of the dish. I was careful to not overwhelm the palate with Rosemary, but to not let it get lost among the other flavors.

Rosemary. Check.

Apricot Preserve. Check.

To sum it up, I kept it simple, not overdoing the dish with too many other ingredients. 

The crepes have a definite popcorn flavor, but not overwhelmingly so. They pair well with the sweetness of the squash with its hint of spiciness and Rosemary. The sauce adds another dimension of sweetness and tartness, again with Rosemary hinting at the edge of the bite. The dish is contrasting enough while complementing all the basket ingredients. It is a complete dish with no one note taking center stage. It is also seasoned well, for those judges wondering. Salt and fresh ground pepper were appropriately used.

 A simple symphony for the palate.

Who is the winner? And who will be chopped?

Tune into MoFo  on October 16!

My recipe is below the pictures.

Roasted Butternut Squash in Popcorn Crepes with Rosemary Apricot Sauce Recipe

noodle curry

I'm not exactly sure what my son was thinking when we were making the menu. He said he'd like to see Noodle Curry on the menu. I don't think I've ever made it and I didn't know exactly what he wanted, but I wrote it down and decided I 'd come up with something when the time came. 

This is what I ended up making:

 I baked some tofu (after a 30 minute press) in tamari and oil - pretty simple, nothing extravagant. Since I was firing up the oven, I also tossed some kabocha squash with a little oil and baked that as well. I used rice noodles and cooked an assortment of vegetables I had on hand. In fact, most of the veggies were frozen from a stir-fry mix - broccoli, chestnuts, green beans. I also added fresh celery and bell pepper. 

For the curry part, I made a sauce using red curry paste (there are also commercial brands that are vegan), tamarind (for the tartness - use lemon juice as an alternative), and coconut milk. I tossed all the ingredients - tofu, vegetables, noodles, sauce and squash - together and cooked them for a few minutes at the end to meld the flavors. If you skip the squash add a little more sugar to the sauce since the squash added a delicious sweetness. This is a fantastic way to use winter squash.

This was delicious and not all that complicated to make. A few steps: (1) Baking the tofu and squash. (2) Soaking the noodles. (3) Cooking the vegetables and (4) making the sauce. That's about it. And worth it. The pot of food disappeared in no time.

Cost Breakdown

noodles: $1

coconut milk: $1

vegetables and fruits: $5

curry and tamarind: $.50

tofu and spices: $3

Total to make 5 servings:

$10.50

Noodle Curry Recipe

mojo tofu - "viva vegan!"

Continental

Deciding to make something from Viva Vegan! for our Continental Night, I made Terry Hope Romero's Red Beans with Dominican-Style Sazon, Yuca with Cuban-Lime-Mojo Sauce and Zesty Ornage Mojo-Baked Tofu. 

I didn't have any yuca, but since it is a starch almost like a combination of potato-and-yam, I used the last of my winter squash from my CSA - kabocha squash and acorn squash. The Mojo Sauce I am not sure should be called a sauce because it is a lot of oil with onions and a few tablespoons of lime juice. It was very good, but, no surprise, quite oily, so we used it very sparingly drizzled over the cooked squash.

One might think that Latin food is closely related to Mexican and Tex-Mex fare, but they couldn't be more different from each other than Chinese and Indian foods. Latin dishes use a lot of citrus and for those palates to whom this is something new, it will be a very unusual flavor profile. Not bad in any way, but very unexpected - as David is coming to find. He is not a citrus enthusiast and last night's meal gave his palate a workout. However, if anyone who has this lack of love-affair with citrus can really enjoy these dishes, you know the food is excellent. 

I found everything a bit tangy but delicious. The Baked Tofu was superb and very easy to make. Just press, cut and bake. Add marinade and bake some more. It's texture was nice and chewy and the flavors were wonderful. 

There is so much to explore in this cookbook, and even though I had a week of Viva Vegan! in April of last year, I've barely scratched the surface - looking forward to more.

Cost Breakdown:

beans: $4

peppers, onion, garlic: $2.50

cilantro, parsley, celery: $1

spices, seasonings: $.25

orange, lime, vinegar: $3

tamari, tofu: $4.25

olive oil: $1

squash: $3

Total to make 6 servings:

$19.00

  

polenta with braised squash and porcini

I was intensely craving creamy polenta and porcini mushrooms. I came up with this dish, Polenta with Braised Squash and Porcini, which incorporated both and butternut squash.

Polenta can be cooked so it has a crispy surface (after it has been cooked and cooled), or it can have a very creamy consistency, which is what I was going for here. This is intensely creamy and not at all thick - I used 5 cups of almond milk to 1 cup of polenta.

The squash is braised with porcini mushrooms and a little truffle oil. Truffle oil has a very distinct flavor so use it according to your taste, although using it is totally optional. What is not optional is to make sure your porcini is completely clean of grit after rehydration. There is not much less appealing than having a mouth full of dirt.

This turned out to be a surprisingly delicious meal. 

Cost Breakdown

butternut squash: $2

polenta: $.75

porcini: $2

onion, garlic, spices: $1

truffle oil: $.50

vegan milk: $2

Total to make 5 servings:

$8.25

Polenta with Braised Squash and Porcini Recipe

vegetable stew with herb dumplings

Meatless Monday

I've decided to jump on the Meatless Monday bandwagon! Even though this is a vegan blog, I want it to be easier for all people to have access to simple and quick veg food without any of the 'quirky' vegan pantry items - such as nutritional yeast, agar, etc. Just easy, accessible veg recipes, that also happen to taste great.

With my new theme in mind, tonight's meal of Vegetable Stew with Dumplings is just that - quick, easy and accessible. This is a very flexible recipe that uses whatever vegetables you have on hand, including onions, celery and carrots, but can certainly (and should) include seasonal vegetables such as winter squash and root veggies.

The dumpling part is also easy since you can use a pre-made Bisquick-type of mix, or just make your own, using the recipe I have provided.

The adobo sauce (which comes out of the canned chipotle in adobo) is in every grocery store since the chipotle craze hit the culinary world a few years ago. The sauce gives you a little kick - not as much as adding a whole chipotle would - but also gives it a wonderful smoky flavor, which is also accented by the use of smoked paprika (if available) as well.

(Thanks for all your smokey ideas, Tami! American Vegan Kitchen has opened my eyes to using both chipotles and smoked paprika. Love it!)

No need to be vegetarian, vegan or even a cook for this one.

Cost Breakdown

onion, celery, carrot, garlic: $1

vegetables: $4

(I used parsnip, celery root, butternut squash, turnip)

legumes: $1

(I used peas)

chipotle in adobo sauce: $.25

spices, herbs: $1

flour, coconut oil, nondairy milk: $2

Total to make 5 servings:

$9.25

Vegetable Stew with Dumplings Recipe

thai winter curry

Asian Night

Curries are a simple and easy way to get dinner on the table fast. That is, as long as you have a curry paste. There are as many different kinds of curry pastes as there are people who make them. And just as many levels of heat to each paste. You can make your own paste easily enough - although it is a little time consuming. When you do make a curry paste there are a few things to keep in mind:

(1)

You want to get your paste as smooth as possible. A food processor works well as long as you process the paste long enough. A blender is better.

(2)

Make a lot for three reasons: (a) Your machine will work better (meaning it will actually move the food around and will be able to process the ingredients) if you have enough stuff in there. If you have a few tablespoons of stuff in the machine, you are making it very difficult on yourself and the appliance. (b) You don't want to go through making it again any time soon; it is time consuming.  (c) The extra paste doesn't take up that much room in your freezer, especially if you divide it into serving amounts and tuck them in here and there.

Thai curry pastes usually have these ingredients in common:

chilies (the amount and type will determine the level of heat in your paste), lemongrass, kaffir leaves, onion, vinegar, garlic, ginger (or galangal), coriander seeds

Optional ingredients range from:

cumin seeds, cilantro, peanuts, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.

For my Thai Winter Curry, I used a basic red curry paste (The color depends on the chilies you use. If you use fresh green chilies you will have green chili paste.) I have an assortment of winter veggies in my curry: onion, cabbage, cauliflower, butternut squash, tofu, spinach and, of course, the coconut milk. To cut the fat I also used vegetable broth, but make sure you don't make curry soup instead by not using enough coconut milk.

Since I had the curry paste in the freezer, dinner was ready in under 30 minutes.

Cost Breakdown

onion: $.75

cabbage, cauliflower: $3

butternut squash: $2

tofu: $2

paste, tamari, lime, sugar: $1.25

spinach, pepper: $3

rice: $1

Total to make 6 servings:

$13.00

Thai Winter Curry Recipe

Basic Red Curry Paste Recipe

butternut squash and quinoa

Has everyone been inundated with winter squash in their CSA, yet? I have. There is only so much squash soup one can enjoy, and there are only so many kinds of squash soup that are enjoyable. At least for my family.

What to do? I felt like the Sorting Hat when it was trying to decide what house to put Harry in.

To add difficulty to hardship, cookbooks don't exactly burst with winter squash recipes.

Here is my take on my Squash of the Week. Incorporating kale, another cold-weather produce item, I roasted the squash and then mashed it up with a little plant milk. Whipping it into a thick puree, I simply seasoned it with a little salt and pepper.

I topped that with steamed kale, sauteed with a little minced garlic and crushed red pepper. For the protein punch, I cooked some quinoa (1 c quinoa, 2 c water, cook 20 minutes) with a little smoked paprika and salt and pepper. I also pan-seared some tofu slices, just simply seasoning them again with salt and pepper, but this is totally optional since the quinoa is a complete protein. Lastly, since butternut squash is sweet, I accented the sweetness with some caramelized onions.

The squash bakes, the quinoa cooks and the onions caramelize in about the same time, 20 minutes, so this is a quick meal. The last thing to do is steam or pan-sear the kale and the tofu, if using it.

Cost Breakdown:

quinoa: $1

kale: $2

tofu: $2

squash: $2

garlic, spices, onion: $1

Total to make 4 servings:

$8.00

greens (MoFo 10)

Greens is a renowned San Francisco fixture, on the bayside in Fort Mason. It is a vegetarian restaurant that has been patronized since 1979. Although it is vegetarian, vegans can find something to eat, albeit not as easily as their more frequent customers.

The restaurant boasts Chef Annie Sommerville, who daily chooses her menu based on the local offerings. The food is fresh, vibrant, local and delicious. It is time some of those wonderful dishes were veganized.

My first choice is a squash soup. I had given up on making any sort of squash soup, but since my CSA brought me squash and it has been almost a year since I've thrown in my squash towel, I figured I could give it another try; especially using a recipe from Greens. The soup is Kabocha Squash and Chestnut Soup. Outstanding. Finally a squash soup we liked. Maybe the secret was in the chestnuts or the stock the squash was cooked in or just because it was a kobacha squash...regardless, a winner.

Tarts and Filo pastries are a signature of Greens so I made their Red Onion, Goat Cheese and Walnut Tart. Goat cheese I had none of, but I did need to simulate the tartness, sharpness, and creaminess that it affords. I used a combination of Better Than Sour Cream and B.T. Cream Cheese with a splash of lemon juice. Nice crunch from the nuts, sweetness from the onions and creaminess from the nondairy sour cream and cream cheese. The tart dough was easy to make and turned out crispy and light.

I decided to make another dessert, since they use eggs and dairy. Another signature item on the menu is the Ginger Cake. The original recipe is a pound cake and calls for 6 eggs. I replaced the eggs with well whipped ener-G egg replacer and increased the bake time by about a half hour - it needed it. I also made poached cherries using dried cherries in a simple syrup that was decadent with the cake. 

My hubby worked almost next door to Greens in San Fran and while difficult to find something vegan right off the menu, what we did have was delicious. It was great to have now some of the dishes we couldn't have then.

And now for the cookbook, Sinfully Vegan, winner. I removed me from the count and the few who did not want to be entered in the contest for a total of 10 entrees. According to random.org, the comment from Tender Branson is the winner. 

Thanks everyone for participating. Another contest on Friday or Saturday. 

Cost Breakdown:

soup:

squash, chestnuts: $6

stock, herbs: $1.50

Total to make 7 servings;

$7.50

tarts:

dough: $1.50

onion, nuts, spices: $2.50

Better Than sour cream and cream cheese: $3

Total to make 8 tarts:

  $7.00

cake:

Earth Balance: $2.50

flour, baking powder: $1.50

sugar: $2

cherries, vanilla, lemon: $3

Total to make 8 servings:

$9.00

Squash and Chestnut Soup

Tart

Ginger Cake

Winter Squash and Chestnut Soup Recipe

Dough for Tarts Recipe