Vegan Cabbage Rolls and a Holiday Review

        It seems that the minute I got back in Toronto I haven't stopped. I know what you're thinking: school has just begun, how can you already be swamped? Well let me assure you, it isn't difficult. As much as I always look forward to going back to school, there is something ominous about the first week back. Teachers read out the syllabi, and you feverishly write down everything you have to do in your agenda. Well the first week has come to a close, and I feel that I am already behind, mind you I've been working my butt off. 

     So, for a break, I bring to you my delicious cabbage rolls and a review of my holidays in the Bay. I'll start with the cabbage rolls, which I served at New Year's Day dinner. Vegan cabbage rolls are a great dish to bring to pot lucks because they can easily be made ahead and they please veg-heads and meat-eater alike. After eating a couple servings of these bad boys, one of my cousins told me that she had no idea what was in them — knowing that it couldn't be meat if the Boileau's brought them — but that they were delicious. My mother and I then went on to explain TVP to the whole family (there was just under 30 of us at the dinner table).

     TVP or textured vegetable protein is a soy product used in simulated meat products and as a substitute for ground meat for vegetarians. TVP is made by removing the fat from soy flour, and the byproduct of soybean oil extraction. It comes in small granules in its classic form but can also be bought at health food stores or in the natural food isle as soy chunks. Because TVP is a dry protect, it absorbs the flavour of anything you throw at it, which makes it a very versatile ingredient. 

     Shown above is the results of a double batch, which can be accomplished with one large head of cabbage. This recipe freezes well, so go ahead and double up on all the other ingredients if you want to make enough to last a while and use up the whole cabbage.

Serves: 8-12

Ingredients

• 1 large cabbage, frozen and defrosted
• 2/3 cup dry long or medium grain white rice and 1 1/3 cup water (or 2 cups prepared rice)
• 3/4 cup dry TVP
• 3/4 cup low sodium vegetable broth

Sauce:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/8 tsp red chili flakes, or to taste
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 2 18oz cans of tomatoes 
• 3/4 cup vegetable stock

Filling:

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced roughly 
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 5.5 oz can of tomato paste
• 1/8 cup red wine
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley, or 1 Tbsp dry
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Prepare your rice as per package directions, either in a pot on the stove or in a ice cooker.
2. Hydrate TVP with equal amounts of boiling low-sodium vegetable broth (alternatively, can use half broth, half water). Just pour the broth on top of the TVP in a medium bowl, mix quickly with a fork, then cover with plastic wrap and let steam.
3. Start preparing the sauce by warming a medium sauce pot over medium heat with olive oil. Sauté garlic and herbs until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the wine to the sauce, and let simmer for a couple of minutes to burn off the alcohol before adding the tomatoes and the vegetable stock. Let simmer for 10-15 minutes before removing from heat. The end sauce should be waterier than a typical pasta sauce to keep the cabbage rolls moist in the oven. No one likes dry rolls.
5. In your largest stock pot, or whichever pot fits your cabbage, fill with water until the water covers the cabbage (if possible, you may need to roll your cabbage in the water later if your pot isn't big enough) then remove the cabbage and set aside, bring cabbage-less water to a boil.
6. Start the cabbage roll filling: in a large sauté pan or wok on medium heat, heat up some olive oil, and sauté onions and garlic for 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. 
7. Whisk in the tomato paste, red wine, soy sauce, parsley, coriander and cumin, along with 1/2 cup of the prepared sauce. 
8. Into the base of the filling, fold in the rice and TVP. Mix well and remove from heat.
9. With a paring knife, remove the hard core of the cabbage. place the cabbage in the boiling water and let boil for a couple minutes, or until the leaves start falling off a bit. As the leaves loosen up, remove from the head with a pair of tongues and set aside. Repeat this step until you feel that you have enough leaves, at least 12 but it's better to cook a few extra or leave the water on until all the rolls are rolled.
10. Meanwhile, prepare your 9x13" (or larger) baking dish by ladling in a couple spoonfuls of the sauce, enough so that there is a thin layer of sauce coating the bottom of the pan to prevent the cabbage rolls from sticking.
11. When enough cabbage leaves have been harvested and are cool enough to handle, remove any large veins or hard chunks. (These can be used in a soup of for a vegetable stock.) As you get to the center of the cabbage, more and more of the leaf will be hard, so you may want to overlap a couple of leaves if need be, or adjust the amount of filling accordingly.
12. When you are ready to roll, layout the cabbage leaf with the space where the vein used to be facing you. Overlap the two sides of the leaves so that there is no hole where you are about to spoon on the filling.
13. Spoon on about 1/3-1/2 cup of the filling into the middle of the cabbage leaves, making sure not to overfill the leaves to avoid spillage. Roll the filling up like a burrito: fold in the ends and hold with your outer fingers while you use your thumbs and inner fingers to fold the side closest you over the filling and roll tightly away from you to close. Place the cabbage rolls, seam face down, in the sauced baking dish.
14. Continue to roll your cabbage rolls until all the filling is used up and pack tightly in the baking dish so that your rolls stay together.
15. Poor the remainder of the tomato sauce over your beautiful cabbage rolls.
16. You can now refrigerated your cabbage rolls  for up to 3 days until you are ready to bake them or bake them immediately in a preheated 350°F oven for one (1) hour covered with aluminum foil.
17. Let cool for 20 minutes before serving.

Our Holidays

     I always love going home for the holidays. What's not to love: food, drink, family and sleep? I'm a fan of it all!

Christmas Brunch at the Boileau's

Christmas Dinner with Ryan's Family

Boxing Dinner at the Boileau's

New Year's Eve Games

New Year's Day Dinner 

Toasted Walnut and Beet Salad

     Beets are one of those vegetables that I don't often get to cook at home (mostly because I'm too lazy to clean them) but that I commonly eat when I am visiting my parents'. I've been in North Bay for just over a week and I think that we've had beetroots five times. So needless to say, we all love beets. 

     Beets are a carb-loaded winter vegetable that can be enjoyed boiled or roasted, hot or cold, plain or dressed. This salad isn't too sweet, and has a lot of zing! and crunch, walnuts are great for crunch.This salad can be made with roasted or boiled beets, it's completely up to you. If you are making a big batch of beets, you can also use plain leftover beets to make this salad.

Serves: 4-8

Ingredients

• 6-8 medium beets, stems and ends removed
• 3/4-1 cup (3 oz) walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 Tbsp red or white wine vinegar

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp dijon mustard, coarse or smooth
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Cook beetroot; while cooking you can prepare steps 3 and 5.
• Roasted: wrap in tinfoil and bake at 400°F for about 60 minutes or until tender.
• Boiled: cook beets in boiling water for about 60 minutes.
2. Let the beets cool, then peel and cut into thick slices.
3. Toast walnuts in the oven at 400°F for about 8 minutes on a baking sheet (or in a pan on low heat for 5 minutes).
4. Slice onions and place in a small bowl to marinate for 10 minutes in the 3 Tbsp red or white wine vinegar.
5. To prepare the dressing, whisk together all other ingredients in a small bowl. 
6. When all ingredients are prepared, mixed together the beets, walnuts, onions (you can also add the leftover vinegar), and the dressing. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
7. Serve cool or at room temperature along side your favourite main, I served mine with veggie pot pie. 

Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

     Christmas eve baking anyone? Why not some super moist ginger molasses cookies? 
I baked up a batch of these yesterday, along with a myriad of other goodies, and the house smelled wonderful! These molasses cookies have all the zestfulness they need, with all the chewiness you want. They are made with fresh ginger which really gives them a surprising zing and a real freshness. 

     There's really not much more I can say about these cookies. They're delicious, they stay soft and chewy for days, and I always eat them way too fast. I suggest making a double batch.


Serves: 24 cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

• 1/2 cup margarine
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger, packed + 1 Tbsp water

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda, and spices.
3. In a small mixing bowl, cream together the margarine, sugar, molasses, ginger and water.
4. Slowly incorporate the wet mixture into the dry until you've formed a crumbly mixture.
5. Spoon out packed tablespoon-size portions of cookie dough and roll into balls.
6. Roll the balls in sugar and place on your baking sheet.
7. Bake for 10-15 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack.

Enjoy with a warm beverage next to warm fire (dreaming just a bit).

Baba Ghanoush

     As a vegan people are ALWAYS asking me what exactly I eat. And of course, whenever they ask me I always say the most boring things....pasta (although, I seriously eat a lot of pasta)...pizza....vegetables....and then, as I fail at saying anything inspiring, I might just refer them over to my blog. And then normally I get a response something along the lines of "Oh my gosh! that's vegan?! but it looks so tasty!" At this I usually laugh. Why would I eat something that doesn't taste good? Anyhoo, a couple weeks ago, I was at dinner at my friends' house and they asked what my favourite dip was. My answer: Baba ghanoush.

     Baba ghanoush, as it is most commonly known in the Americas, or mutabbal, is a deliciously rich and creamy dip made of roasted eggplant and garlic, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin and salt. This dip is usually served as an appetizer with pita bread or chips.

     I made some the other night for dinner, and ate about half the batch. I felt guilty for about one second and then remembered that it's pretty much all eggplant.
Might seem like a difficult dip to make, but most of the time you aren't active. So give it a try, I'm sure you'll love it!

Serves: 6-12 (appetizer servings)

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggplants (about 3 pounds)
• 1 head of garlic (trust me, it's not too much)
• 1/3 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
• 2 lemons, juiced or 5 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp olive oil + more for garnish
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• Scant 1/2 tsp table salt, or to taste
• Paprika (original or smoked), to garnish, about 1/4 tsp
• Chopped parsley, to garnish

Preparation

1. As your oven is preheating to 450°F (broiler), cut your eggplants in half lengthwise, sprinkle generously with salt, and let them sit for 20 to 30 minutes. This will reduce the natural bitterness of the eggplant, and although it is not necessary, sometimes you can get a particularly bitter fruit, especially off season, so I find it best to cover all my bases. 
2. After about 25 minutes, you should see water droplets on the surface of your eggplant. Wipe the water off with a pepper towel, and place the eggplant face down on a baking sheet. Place your whole head of garlic next to the eggplant, and bake for 15-30 minutes under the broiler.
3. When the eggplant is ready you should see the flesh pulling away from the skin (it will look wrinkly), and possibly some charring on the skin. The flesh should be soft and caramelized. If it looks light-coloured, pop it back in the oven. As for the garlic,when the oven smells garlicky, and the head of garlic collapses slightly when squeezed with tongues, it's ready to be taken out of the oven. 
4. Place your eggplants in a bowl, and let sit for about 10 minutes or until they are cool enough to handle. A dark liquid will collect at the bottom, taste it, if it is bitter, you may want to remove some of it so that your baba ghanoush is not bitter (although, I have never had this problem).
5. Deflesh you eggplants. My favourite tool for this job is a grapefruit spoon (yes, it has more than one use!), but a fork also works. Just hold your eggplant from the top and scrape the flesh down into the bowl. 
6. Now squeeze the garlic cloves out of their casings and toss into the bowl of eggplant. 
7. To your bowl of eggplant and garlic, add the tahini, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin and salt.
8. Purée with an immersion blender until smooth (or transfer to a food processor). 
9. Let cool in the fridge for at least 10 minutes before garnishing. Garnish with a generous sprinkle of paprika (I particularly like smoked paprika in this dip), a drizzle of olive oil (the good stuff) and a bit of parsley (optional).
10. Serve with pita bread, falafel, dippers or your favourite crackers.

Enjoy friends!

And finally my logo is complete!

Happy December 1st everybody! As promised, I've made a few changes to the blog! 

It has been quite the process, so I included some of my work-in-progress pictures below (possibly so that you can just enjoy my shotty drawings :) ).

After a very long process of researching, doodling, planning, sketching and more, the new logo is finally complete! Check it out above! I want to give a shout out to Ryan and thank him for all his hard work (also happy 7 year anniversary!).

Feel free to tell me what you think about the changes and my new logo.
-K

Maple Sesame Glazed Tofu

It's been pretty cold outside lately, so I suppose it's a plus that I've been cooped up inside studying for my exams. And when not studying, I'll probably be in the kitchen -- either cooking or eating. I whipped up some delicious maple sesame glazed tofu last night to go with our garlic sriracha brussels sprouts (Ryan's favourite preparation). This tofu dish goes perfect with a spicy side of veggies and mashed potatoes or another starch like quinoa or wild rice.

I've made this recipe a couple times with both tempeh and tofu and love it for both preparation. If you want to use tempeh instead of tofu, try and marinate it over night or if tight on time, steam it for 10 minutes (this allows the marinade to seep in faster) and then marinate for one hour). 

     
Serves: 3-5

Ingredients

• 1 Brick firm to extra firm tofu
• 2 Cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes
• 1 1/2 Tbsp sesame seeds
• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil for frying

Preparation

1. Cut tofu into three square slabs, and the cut these in half diagonally to create 6 triangular steaks. Place in a sealable container.
2. Prepare marinade: Mince garlic and mix with all of the other ingredients.
3. Poor marinade on to tofu, seal container, inverse the container a couple times to mix.
4. Let marinate for 20-30 minutes, inverting the container half way through the marination process.
5. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat with 1-2 Tbsp of olive oil.
6. Add the tofu and all of the marinate to the frying pan.
7. Let the marinate reduce until it is about half reduced, at this point flip the tofu.
8. Continue to cook the tofu until the glaze is no longer liquidy. Cook the tofu for a couple more minutes on each side to brown the tofu.
9. Serve with you favourite sides and enjoy!

3-Ingredient Fresh Vegan Pasta

     With school and work being as crazy as ever (or possibly crazier), I haven't had much time lately for experimenting in the kitchen, but I though it was about time I posted my fresh vegan pasta recipe. Making a good pasta is a bit tricky, especially seeing as most recipes call for eggs, but it is possible. I've been working on this pasta recipe on and off for over a year now and I've finally got the recipe near perfect. I say near perfect because changes in weather and humidity will affect the amount of water needed in this recipe. On more humid days, you'll probably need less water and on dry days more. So you really have to feel out what you're doing. But don't be scared, fresh pasta is delicious (especially stuffed with sauteed mushrooms or pesto...or both) and worth the risk! (Also, I'm still working on the new logo over here. Getting close to digitizing it!)

Serves: 3-5

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup semolina flour
• 1/2 to 1/2+1/8 cup warm water

Preparation

1. On a large clean surface or in a large mixing bowl, mix all-purpose and semolina flour.
2. Form a well out of the flour and poor the water into the well.
3. With a fork, slowly incorporate the water and flour, working from the center of the well and moving outwards. If all the water seems to be incorporated, but there is still excess flour, add the up to 1/8 cup more water. Likewise, if it seems a bit wet or sticky add a bit more all-purpose flour.
4. Once all the flour and water is incorporated, knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it forms a smooth ball. Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 10-20 minutes. If you are not planning on cooking all the pasta, you can cut the ball in half, and wrap both halves, keeping the half you are planning to cook at room temperature and place the other half in the fridge. The dough will keep in the fridge for up to 2 to 3 days, but should be brought back to room temperature before working it.
5. When you are ready to form the pasta shapes, you can either roll it out manually on a floured surface or use a pasta roller machine, as per manufacturer’s instructions.
6. If you are stuffing you pasta, make sure to keep the dough covered when not working with it, otherwise let the pasta stand, uncovered for at least 30 minutes after it is formed. This will prevent the pasta from becoming mushy or sticking together while cooking.
7. When ready to cook the pasta, cook in a large pot of salted boiling water for 2-3 minutes or until tender. Strain and coat pasta in sauce or in oil before serving.