Category: vegan

Cauliflower and Tahini Sauce

Yum!   This is so easy – just bake some cauliflower and drizzle a little sauce on top.  So easy, so delicious, so good for you.  What more can you ask for?  There was some leftover sauce, so I used it as a dip for raw broccoli – I think it’s quite a versatile sauce that could be used for a dip or topping for most raw or roasted veggies, and maybe even meats.  Please leave me a comment if you try the sauce out for other uses.

I love roasted cauliflower, and I often roast it without any oil.  Feel free to toss it in a little olive oil if you wish, but it’s amazing without as well.  I’ve roasted cauliflower many times before, but I like this new addition of the sauce from Bonnie Stern’s Friday Night Dinners.  I’ve served it as an appetizer and as a side dish.

What you need:

1 head of cauliflower, broken into florets

a little olive oil (optional)

For the sauce:

1/4 cup tahini

1/2 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

dash of hot sauce

1/4 cup of warm water, or as needed

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F, then throw the cauliflower florets onto a large baking sheet. (toss them in a little olive oil beforehand, if you wish)

2.  Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until browned and soft inside.

3.  Combine the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, salt and hot sauce.  Add the warm water gradually until the sauce is a consistency you like.

Serve the cauliflower with the sauce drizzled on top, or the sauce on the side for dipping.

Korean Soba Noodle Salad

The public library is one of my favourite places to look for new recipes.  I recently signed out Robin Asbell’s Bio Vegan cookbook, and found this recipe.  It’s easy, healthy, filling and tasty.  I love most fruits, but I’m not a big fan of pears.  Asian pears, however, don’t have the same graininess that regular pears have, and when julienned they almost seem like pieces of apple.

Soba noodles are made from buckwheat, which is gluten-free and high in fibre, among many other health benefits that you can read about here.

The salad is served cold, so it made a great leftovers lunch at work the next day.  The pears can turn brown, so if you think you’re not going to eat it all the day you make it, you might want to leave some of the Asian pears out until serving.

What you need:

1/4 cup agave syrup

1 tablespoon sriracha or other hot sauce (or start with a little less and add more to your taste)

1 tablespoon dark miso paste

1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari

1 tablespoon sesame oil

3 tablespoons toasted and ground sesame seeds

200 grams soba noodles, before cooking

1 medium cucumber, seeded and julienned

1 Asian pear, julienned

170 grams extra-firm silken tofu, cut into small cubes

What you do:

1.  Cook the soba noodles according to the directions on the package, drain and rinse with cold water.

2.  Whisk together the agave syrup, hot sauce, tamari, sesame oil, and 2 tablespoons on the sesame seeds.

3.  Combine the sauce with the cooled, well-drained noodles.

4.  Top it off with the cucumber, pear, tofu, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Lentils with Browned Onions and Veggies

One of the reasons this recipe is so delicious is the browned onions, and a little white wine doesn’t hurt!  It can be a vegetarian main, or a side dish to just about anything.  Salmon worked really well as a pairing for this one, but chicken or just a salad would be great too.  I made this a while ago, but I’m going to make it again this week because it’s one of my new favourites.

I found the recipe on this site.  I made a few changes, such as browning the onions rather than cooking until translucent, I used white wine in place of some of the chicken stock, and I didn’t add the agave nectar that the recipe called for.  The blogger says that both salmon and lentils help de-stress and balance moods, and provides omega-3 and magnesium.  I sure felt happy after eating it, maybe just because it tasted so good.

What you need:

2 cups lentils (french if you have them; I didn’t so I just used green lentils)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large sweet onion, chopped

2 leeks, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

4 carrots, sliced

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, or 1/2 teaspoon dried

1 cup homemade chicken stock, or vegetable stock for vegetarians (or 1 & 1/2 if you’re not using the wine)

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

salt and pepper

What you do:

1.  Put the lentils into a bowl and cover them with boiling water.  Let this sit for about 15 minutes while you prepare the onions.

2.  Heat the oil in a large frying pan or a pot, then add the onions.  Let them cook on medium low heat, stirring, until they begin to brown.

3.  Add the leeks, and thyme to the onions, cooking for about 10 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for a few more minutes.

4.  Drain the lentils, then add them to the onion mixture, along with the carrots, celery, soup stock, wine and tomato paste.  Cook, covered, over low heat for about 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender.  Then add the wine vinegar, and you’re all set.

It’s also good served with a dollop of plain yogurt!

Lemony Kale with Onions, Garlic and Pine Nuts

Another quick, easy and delicious way to serve up the super-food kale!  Kale is one of the few things I can harvest from my garden year-round, so it’s always good to find some new ways to cook it up.

What you need:

1-2 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted

olive oil

1/4 of a red onion, sliced

1-2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 bunch kale, roughly chopped

1/2 a lemon

salt, to taste

What you do:

1.  Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan.  Add the sliced onions and cook until they are browned.

2.  Add the garlic, cooking briefly, then add the chopped kale.  Toss the kale with tongs a few times until it is wilted and the onions and garlic are distributed throughout.

3.  Squeeze on a little lemon, a little salt too, and then toss the pine nuts in.

Serve it right away!

Panzanella

 

For this salad I used tomatoes from my garden – they are so flavourful!  A local farmer’s market is another great place to find amazing tomatoes if you don’t have a garden yourself.  I also used the remnants of a crusty loaf from the farmer’s market.  We ate this one at a picnic at English Bay.  Gorgeous, delicious.

What you need:

a few great tomatoes

cucumber

a few slices of stale bread

1 clove garlic

fresh oregano and basil

salt and pepper

olive oil

balsamic or red wine vinegar

What you do:

1.  Cut the tomatoes into chunks, removing a lot of the liquid.  Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and let them sit in a colander to drain.

2.  Chop the cucumber.

3.  Cut the clove of garlic in half and rub the bread slices with it.  Cut the bread into cubes.

4.  Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan and throw in the cubed bread.  Cook, turning from time to time, until the bread is browned and crispy on the outside.

5.  Throw the bread, tomatoes and cucumbers together in a bowl along with the herbs, salt and pepper and a few splashes of olive oil and vinegar, to taste.

6.  Toss it all up and you’re ready to go.  Some recipes say to let it all sit for a while, but I prefer for the bread to retain a bit of its crispiness, so I like to eat it right away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spanish Salad

This isn’t an authentic Spanish recipe; instead I was inspired by the amazing vegetables I found in the markets of Barcelona.  Was it because I was on holiday, or did these veggies truly have more flavour than the ones at home?  I’m not sure, but since they were bursting with flavour, they didn’t need much doctoring up with dressing.  I just drizzled on a little extra-virgin olive oil and cracked some salt on top.  Simple and amazing.

What you need:

a few tomatoes – I used cherry tomatoes

a few mini cucumbers

an avocado

olives with the pits in them

What you do:

1.  Chop the veggies up and put them into a bowl.

2.  Drizzle with the best quality olive oil you have.

3.  Crack on a little salt.

I served mine with some chorizo, flatbread and a glass of red wine.  Buon provecho!

Monserrat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Kick-Slaw

It’s finally summer in Vancouver, for today at least, so that means it’s time to try out new salad recipes.  This one’s got lots of flavour, a great way to up your veggie intake!  Chop it up, pour the dressing on, and stick it in the fridge to munch on with your meals or bring  to a picnic.

I found this recipe in Fast, Fresh and Green by Susie Middleton, and altered it slightly.  The author calls the recipe kick-slaw because the ginger, lime and garlic give it a kick of flavour.  I like the name because coleslaw sounds so boring.  This recipe isn’t boring!

What you need:

1/2 small head of red cabbage

1/2 small head of green cabbage (or just one of either red or green if you prefer)

1 package snow peas, ends cut off, then cut on a sharp diagonal

2 carrots, shredded with a grater, or julienned

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice

2 & 1/2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon peanut or canola oil

a little chopped cilantro

optional: toasted, crushed sesame seeds

What you do:

1.  Mix the veggies together in a large bowl.

2.  Mix the dressing ingredients together in another bowl and add to the veggies, tossing until combined.  Top with the optional sesame seeds

Voila, easy peasy!

Olive Tapenade

This one’s really easy to make, and works great as an appetizer.  Rosemary crackers work really well with it, as does a crusty loaf of bread.

What you need

about a cup of black or green sliced olives

1 tablespoon capers

a drizzle or two of olive oil

a little squeeze of lemon (optional)

pepper

What you do

1.  Throw all the ingredients in a food processor.  Whiz it around for a few seconds so it is chopped up but not too finely.

2.  You can serve right away, but it also keeps for a while.  I prefer serving it at room temperature, so I take it out of the fridge a while before I’m going to serve it.

Rosemary Crackers

I just happened to be making these crackers on Easter weekend, so they are in the shape of little bunnies.  It’s pretty easy to make your own crackers, just mix, roll, cut and bake. I like the idea that I know what is going into my food, so I try to make as much of it from scratch as I can.

I got this recipe from a cook book called 100 Perfect Pairings, and the original recipe used fennel seeds instead of rosemary.  The crackers are brushed with red wine before baking, giving them a pink hue – this is optional, as I didn’t find I could actually taste the wine.  So if you want pink crackers, brush away!

I served mine with olive tapenade and goat cheese, but other sliced cheeses would work well too.

What you need

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus a little more for rolling

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 & 3/4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons red wine (optional)

3/4 teaspoon fleur de sel for sprinkling

What you do

1.  Combine the flours, salt and rosemary in a bowl.  Add the oil and 1/2 cup of water, working it until it combines into a crumbly ball.

2.  Preheat the oven to 450F.

3.  Cut the dough into three pieces and wrap two of them in plastic wrap.  Work with one of the balls, rolling it out on a floured surface until it is about 2mm thick.  Cut the dough into squares, or into any shape you desire.

4.  Lightly brush the dough with wine, then sprinkle with a little fleur de sel.  Move the crackers to a baking sheet.

5.  Bake for 7-10 minutes, watching carefully so they don’t burn.  While they are baking you can roll out the next batch.

6.  Allow the crackers to cool on a wire rack. After they are thoroughly cooled you may store them in an airtight container for about a week.

Broccoli Soup

I wanted to make a nice light, fresh, healthy soup.  This is basically a combination of a flavourful broth, a little potato, onion, garlic, and some broccoli.  The broccoli isn’t cooked for too long, allowing the soup to remain a bright green.  This is pretty quick to whip up, provided you’ve got some stock on hand.  This is great with a little yogurt or cream swirled in before serving, along with a nice crusty bread.

What you need:

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

4-5 garlic cloves, chopped finely

1 head roasted garlic (optional)

2 small white potatoes, chopped

1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

a few heads of broccoli, chopped into florets

salt and pepper

to serve: a dollop of yogurt or a drizzle of cream, also optional

What you do:

1. Heat a large pot to medium and add the olive oil.  When the oil is hot add the onion, cooking for a few minutes, then add the garlic.  Cook for a few minutes more, until the onion is translucent.

2.  Add the roasted garlic, rosemary, potatoes and stock.  Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are soft.

3.  Add the broccoli to the pot and put a lid on it for 4-5 minutes, until the broccoli is cooked but not losing its bright green colour.

4.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup, or put it in the blender.  Serve it while it’s hot!

5.  To serve, top with a dollop of yogurt or a drizzle of cream.