February 9, 2010

The Olympics are coming to Vancouver, and, as I'm going to be working evening shifts the entirity of the Games, I will inevitably have to take a hiatus from Tuesday night dinners. So for my final meal before said hiatus, I felt like I had to go all out with cuisine. This was going to need to expand beyond my tiny closet-kitchen. So I enlisted the help of one of my regular diners, who offered to host (his kitchen is a respectable size!).

For theme, I scoured the internet for holidays, celebrations, etc. I figured the meal would be kind of a good way to kick off what was sure to be two weeks of massive partying during the Olympics. I was in luck, because Tet is February 14, certainly close enough to justify cooking some classic Vietnamese cuisine. And nothing screams Vietnamese like Pho!

I've been meaning to go out for Pho since my aforementioned foodie former-roomate raved about it years ago. Unfortunately, most Pho is made with beef stock, and since I'm quite anti-beef, I hadn't made my way to finding a veggie - or at least chicken-based option. Luckily, I found a recipe for Vegetarian Pho. Lemongrass is also a key componant to Vietnamese cooking, and I found this delicious-sounding Lemongrass Tofu with Mushrooms. Then I figured I needed a spicy tropical salad, so I added a Cucumber Tomato and Pineapple Salad.



The Pho turned out fairly well. The broth, considering the lack of meat, was a very tasty flavour. The noodles I chose, unfortunately, never softened quite right, and ended up fairly doughy. I would make sure next time to use rice noodles. Also, this is definitely a time-consuming venture, and only to be attempted on days when you have more time! The Lemongrass Tofu was, on the otherhand, fairly easy to make and clean up. I think the recipe skimped on the lemongrass flavour, and I would modify it to try and infuse the tofu with that woody-citrus more. The salada was fantastic - very very spicy! In fact, the part that sang in this meal was the pineapple. For a great appetizer, you could just put the dressing on the pineapple and serve it in rings. It was the perfect blend of sweet, tangy and spicy!

It was definitely a treat to finally try Pho, and the motivation is on to find a vegetarian or chicken option, to try someone else's recipe. It was also a treat to cook in a real sized kitchen, and to have assistants for some of the lengthy prep for this meal!

January 5, 2010

A new development: my boyfriend got me a banjo for Christmas, so I will be participating in the band nights I used to just cook for. Thus, unless I happen to not be working on Tuesdays, meals will also be simple, ideally less-than-60-minute concoctions. Onto the original post!

It's the Kick-off Meal for my new blog! And since it's so soon after making New Years Resolutions, I thought I'd start with something quite healthy.

I'm a lurker on Epicurious, and I find their recipes are generally tasty and flavourful, but usually super rich and decadent. So I was really happy the other day when I saw this post about The Great American Detox Diet.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of extreme dieting, and I abhor the idea of the "Master Cleanse". But after the holidays, I can somewhat understand wanting to press the reset button on your body. And Alex Jamieson, Morgan Spurlocks likely-long-suffering wife (I would suffer if I had to put up with him on a regular basis!), focuses on vegan cooking, which always interests me as an eco-vegetarian with a lactose-intolerant boyfriend! So vegan food that doesn't taste like sauteed cardboard is always welcome (p.s., for more non-cardboard vegan recipes, check out this blog, by a friend of mine and long-time vegan).

So tonight I'm cooking a few recipes from Alex's website: her Fall Chili, and her Vegan Cornbread Muffins. Because who says you can't have healthy food and comfort food at the same time! When I was a vegan (an ill-advised year as a teenager, because I am simply not organized enough to keep up with nutrition!), and for years as a vegetarian, I relied on Nalley Vegetarian Chili for a cheap, filling, super quick meal. My old roommate also used to make a super tasty vegetarian chili from a box by [?]. And I've never tried cornbread, although I'm good at quickbreads in general (banana bread is in my arsenal of sweets that impress!). So here's how they turned out:


Overall, I totally plan on making this recipe again. The whole meal took maybe an hour from start to finish, and that's because I was dawdling. I will definitely make the cornbread again, as it was probably the easiest set of muffins short of using a box! I used a minimuffin pan, and cooked them for only 10 minutes, and they turned out perfect. A word to the wise, by flaxseed meal instead of flax seed, because it would probably be easier than trying to crush your own.

As for the chili, it makes a pretty good portion - we comfortably fed 4 people, since the meal with the corn bread is pretty filling. I substituted hot sauce for chili, added paprika, and used cayenne pepper instead of red pepper flakes. Also, I about doubled the amount of cumin, cayenne, and salt. But I always expect to have to double the seasoning if I'm cooking a "health food" recipe!