I Love You More Than Food

Category: vegan

  • Roasted Green Romanesco with a Cajun Kick

    Roasted Green Romanesco with a Cajun Kick

    1 large head green romanesco (sub cauliflower, but not as beautiful)
    cajun seasoning blend (or make your own with herbs + chili powder etc)
    1/2 C – 1 C water
    olive oil
    salt & pepper

    Heat oven to 400 degrees. Slice romanesco thoughtfully, making some slices thinner and none too thick to be unevenly cooked, also trying to keep them together as much as possible. Place them on a parchment lined jelly roll sheet (lipped) or other baking container with sides and a lot of surface area. Toss in olive oil, salt, pepper, and seasoning generously. Distribute for maximum surface area, and add the water. Roast for 35-45 minutes, until browned on tops and carmelized on bottoms.

  • Spicy Sesame Seared Baby Bok Choy

    Spicy Sesame Seared Baby Bok Choy

    1 lb baby bok choy, sliced in half & washed
    2 T sesame seeds
    1 tsp sesame oil
    1 T olive oil
    2-3 tsp chili flakes

    Heat a large nonstick skillet to medium high heat. Combine the oils and heat through. Add the bok choy. When green part is wilted but firm white part is still crunchy, add the chili flakes. When the white part starts to near translucency, add the sesame seeds and cook for 1-2 minutes. Be sure to move them around a bit as they cook to prevent the greens from wilting.

    You could also chop the greens off, chiffonade them, and slice the stalks of the bok choy, cooking them first and adding the greens at the end.

  • Spicy Cashew Broccoli

    Spicy Cashew Broccoli

    1 head/crown broccoli, cut into even chunks
    2 tsp chili flakes
    2-4 cloves garlic, minced
    2 tsp sesame seeds
    1/3 C raw cashews or cashew peices
    1/2 red bell pepper, diced
    1-2 T olive oil

    Heat the oil in a large sautee pan to medium heat. Add the garlic and allow to soften. Add salt & pepper. Add broccoli & the chili flakes, allow to cook to a brighter green but not fully cook, tossing regularly. Add the bell pepper once broccoli has brightened. When the bell pepper is soft and the broccoli is at its brightest color but still retains some small amount of firmness, add the sesame seeds and cook at medium heat for 1-2 minutes. Add the cashews and serve.

  • Fresh Cranberry Relish

    Fresh Cranberry Relish

    Good on a variety of meats and dishes, this relish gave purpose to the fresh cranberries I received in my produce shipment. This recipe requires a food processor.

    2-3 C fresh washed cranberries
    1 large orange with good skin
    1/4 C candied ginger
    Sugar to taste

    Wash and chop the orange into small segments as if to garnish a drink. Remove any obvious pith (white membrane) without separating the fruit from the peel. Combine in a food processor and chop until reached the consistency of relish.

    Sliver or mince the ginger and mix it in. Add sugar to taste.

    Can be preserved for some time in a sterilized container in the refrigerator.

  • Orange & Garlic Rainbow Chard

    Orange & Garlic Rainbow Chard

    For some time, I’ve been considering a home produce delivery, as the Bay Area has a large selection of vendors for this purpose–from private farms to co-op vendors who source several farms and deliver, there’s a wealth of good, organic produce in these parts. I had put off starting the shipments because I was torn between several vendors, but as an impulse buy a few days ago I signed up with Farm Fresh To You. (Ok, so really, I haddn’t been thinking about the produce deliveries since October and I was reading an article in the Chronicle about Tyler Florence in which he mentions HIS delivery of Farm Fresh To You…) Today, I received my first shipment.

    I was pleased. The box sat in the shade on our stoop and I grabbed it on my way in the door, eager to dig in and see what goodies I had from the sesasonal selection. Almost everything in my box bore the Capay farms seal even though I’d opted to receive mixed produce, not only from their own farm. I received many beautiful things–including the largest and most symmetrical butternut squash that has quite possibly ever existed–but will today talk about the beautiful rainbow chard. I’ve never cooked rainbow chard.

    1 bundle rainbow chard
    1/4 yellow onion
    4 garlic cloves
    zest of 1 orange
    olive oil
    salt & pepper

    Wash your chard and seperate the leaves from the stalks. Remove the very bottom part of the stalks if they’re especially brittle or large, then chop the stalks in 1/2-1 inch peices (smaller at the thick end larger at the thin.)

    Heat a skillet or large pan to high heat and add some olive oil–don’t reach the smoking point.

    Chop your onion finely and add it to the hot oil. Chop your garlic and add it a little later, reducing the heat to medium. Add salt & pepper. Once the onions are colored and translucent or soft but not shriveled (that’s too much), add your chard stalks. Let them soften for 10-15 minutes on medium heat, tossing occasionally. Add the zest of 1/2 the orange. Once softened, chop your chard leaves in 1 1/2-2 inch ribbons and add them to the pan, reducing the heat to medium low. Add the rest of the orange zest.

    Let the mixture soften and reduce and once the leaves are fully cooked but not BROWN, you’re done! Serve it up. I served it with quinoa, which you can find instructions for on this site.

    Wine: You can pair this with a meaty or smoky red, perhaps a Spanish one.

  • Persimmon & Soy Nut Salad

    Persimmon & Soy Nut Salad

    I’ve been making a lot of salads lately in an attempt to incorporate both more greens and more fiber into my evening diet. One way that I trick myself into eating an item I’m generally not too crazy about is by adding what should have been really obvious: fried potatoes. This has been the basis of many a salad lately, often incorporating minced red bell pepper, Brianna’s cheddar-chipotle dressing (the ONLY dressing I have ever used and been satisfied with or tolerant of), hangar steak, etc.

    I prefer to use pre-washed, organic mixed greens because they’re not only versatile but the cost is completely worth the work that’s already been done, and I find in general they’re better or equal quality to what I can find pre-mixed in bulk, and last longer in the right quantities than what I can cut & mix on my own.

    1 large pack “organic girl” pre washed mixed greens
    3 T olive oil
    1 T good balsamic vinegar (I like Bariani, for those of us in central & northern California)
    salt & pepper
    1 medium red potato, peeled & cubed
    1 T butter
    4-6 T soy nuts
    1/4 C raw pistachios
    1 slice dried pineapple, diced small
    1/2 ripe fuyu persimmon, diced

    In a saute pan on high heat, melt the butter. Add the cut potato, topping with plenty of salt & pepper. Toss, and let cook. Toss occasionally, once colored, reduce heat to medium low to cook through.

    Meanwhile, Whisk together briskly the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper. Mix the greens to evenly coat, and add the soy nuts, pistachios, pineapple, and persimmon. Toss. If possible, let the potatoes cool a bit, and then toss them in as well. Serve immediately.

    Wine: A light sauvingnon blanc from just about anywhere would be nice with this. A Chilean Chardonnay would also work.

  • Roasted Vegetable Crostini & Coconut-Macadamia Green Beans

    Roasted Vegetable Crostini & Coconut-Macadamia Green Beans

    Roast Vegetable Ragout
    2 large heirloom tomatoes, preferably green/purple variety or other rich color
    2 large carrots, peeled & trimmed
    1/2 medium onion
    6+ garlic cloves, peeled & trimmed
    1/2 red bell pepper

    Cut all vegetables into chunks; carrots diagonally. Put into baking dish, toss with 1/4-1/3 C olive oil, pleanty of sea salt & cracked pepper. Cook for 45-90min until soft and rich in color. Add 2/3rds mixture to food processor or blender, pulse until coarsely incorporated. Mix with left over whole vegetables. Reserve to place on bread, eat with roast meat, etc.

    Alternatively, roast these vegetables with a london broil steak or other cut to roast; the juice from the meat will enrich the flavor, or add your own beef stock (1/3 cup) before roasting.

    Place on toasted baguette that has been rubbed with a fresh, uncooked garlic clove.

    Coconut Macadamia Green Beans
    3 spring carrots (small with tops on) trimmed, peeled
    1 lb green beans, trimmed
    1/4 cup halved macadamia nuts (roasted & salted)
    1/2 medium size hot pepper, small diced
    2 cloves garlic
    1 handful fresh pea shoots, washed & drained
    3 T unrefined raw coconut oil (looks for lack of better description like large chunks of crack cocaine, with lots of actual coconut pulp left in it)

    Cut green beans into 1-inch segments, cut carrots into 1/8th inch thick segments (or thinner). Mince garlic. Smash macadamia nuts unevenly to have mostly small pieces and some larger ones.

    Heat non stick pan to medium heat, fully. Add coconut oil, let melt a little. It will retain some uneven chunks of coconut, don’t worry about this. Just make sure the heat is not so high it wil burn the coconut, though browning is OK. Add the carrot, hot fresh pepper, and garlic, cook 1-2 minutes until slightly softened/brightened color. Add cracked pepper, and a small amount of salt.  Next add the green beans. Reduce heat after 2-3 minutes to medium low. Let cook until beans slightly softened and much brighter in color. Add macadamia nuts, cook several more minutes, tossing as you go. Add the pea shoots at the end, raw on top.

  • Swiss Chard Spring Rolls with Cashew Cayenne Dipping Sauce

    Swiss Chard Spring Rolls with Cashew Cayenne Dipping Sauce

    One bunch swiss chard
    1 zucchini
    1 carrot
    1 cucumber
    2 green onion
    1 red beet
    2 limes
    good olive oil
    sesame seeds
    cayenne
    salt & pepper

    Wash all vegetables. Toast the sesame seeds and place in grinder. Alternatively, run roughly through mortar & pestal. Reserve.

    Julienne zucchini, carrot, cucumber, red beet. Slice thinly the green onion. Whisk juice of two limes with several T olive oil (1/2 or less amount of lime juice). Whisk in salt & pepper, ground sesames, 1/2 tsp to 1 T cayenne depending on desire for spiciness.

    Marinate for 30 min-3 hr the julienned vegetables in the lime juice mixture.

    Once marinated, place even amounts of vegetables into chard leaves and roll into “spring rolls”. Alternatively julienne chard (you can sub kale if you want) and wrap all into rice paper wrappers like Thai/Vietnamese spring rolls.

    Make dipping sauce:
    1 cup cashews
    1/4 C almond milk (or water)
    2 tsp cayenne
    1/2 tsp salt

    Mix all ingredients in food processor until smooth. Serve with veggie rolls.

  • Garlic Green Beans

    Garlic Green Beans

    Fresh green beans or blue lake green beans (haricot-vert)
    Lots of fresh, firm garlic, peeled & minced
    Great olive oil
    1-2 T butter
    salt & pepper

    Wash & trim the green beans. Cut into smaller, uniform pieces.

    Bring a skillet to medium high heat. Add butter. Once melted and water cooks out, but before browning, add minced garlic. Reduce heat to medium low.

    Once garlic is softened but not dark, turn heat back to medium or medium high, add green beans and a touch of olive oil to wet the pan enough. Add salt & pepper. Cook at this heat until bright green, then reduce heat to medium low until beans are softer but still crisp. Turn heat off, top with more excellent, fruity/light olive oil, and serve.

  • Cauliflower Gazpacho with Peach & Pear

    Cauliflower Gazpacho with Peach & Pear

    1 head cauliflower, cleaned and coursely chopped
    1 carrot, clean and chopped
    1 bosc pear
    1 ripe yellow peach
    1.5 C water/vegetable stock
    1 small heirloom tomato
    1/4 C olive oil
    salt & pepper

    Combine all ingredients in a food processor–it’s best to add a bit at a time in proportion to the liquids for the smoothest consistency. At the end you should have a thick sauce like consistency. If not, add water or more ingredients. Everything is raw.

    Transfer to a saucepan and cook on medium low for 30 minutes. Alternatively, blanch the cauliflower and carrot before chopping or pureeing. It will be a smoother consistency this way, but I enjoy the texture of not cooking it first.

    Be sure not to over salt, or it will taste strange with the fruit’s sweetness.

    Serve warm with olive oil and slices of heirloom tomato, or cold with tropical fruit or tomato.

    This can also be used in place of polenta or mashed potatoes, and I intend to use it with grilled halibut and mango or papaya & avocado salsa tomorrow evening.