Portobello Caps, White Asparagus and Quinoa Salad - MoFo Post 6

Remember when I used to manage a veg*n restaurant? From time to time I will help them out with catering or waiting tables when they are short-staffed on weekends. I love everyone there, it's 3 blocks from my place, the food is bomb and I just generally enjoy being there, when it doesn't involve me being the boss! Today I spent my afternoon catering a wedding with them on a Spirit of Boston Cruise on Boston Harbor. I was scared shitless going into it, not because of the job but because I get seasick. I popped some Valerian Root and made sure I had an empty stomach going into it, just to be safe. I didn't get seasick and actually had an awesome time. Luckily it was buffet style so once we set up and left the dock we had a lot of downtime while the ceremony and cocktails were going on upstairs. Because I live here I don't generally do anything considered touristy but it was so nice to be able to see Boston from the water, I just wish I had thought to bring my Nikon. I did get a few crappy pics on my phone though...

Once I realized I wasn't going to get seasick, claustrophobic or just be generally anxious I started getting really hungry. I was able to snack on some bread and scarf down a bowl of amazing vegan Italian Wedding Soup before we had to start serving. After the festivities, while we were cleaning up, I was able to get another small bowl of soup, half a veggie burger and a tiny piece of vegan Black Forest Cake.

I was done and home by 5 and found myself very hungry again. I don't generally do much on Saturdays except lay around with the bf and/or the pups all day being lazy so being out and about (read: not lazy) about, like a normal person, had me feeling hungry again. I was also feeling exhausted so dinner had to be something that required minimal energy. All I wanted was pajamas, wine and bed. (I currently have all 3 as I write this)

A few days ago I decided this Saturday nights dinner was definitely going to include portobello caps as the main part of whatever meal I ended up with. I also decided, once my bf confirmed we had quinoa, that I would make our favorite quinoa salad so now all I needed was to settle on a side vegetable.

As I was wandering around the market I happened upon some white asparagus. I have never cooked or eaten white asparagus before so I decided to buy it, just for funsies. Also, to be perfectly honest, the tops sort of looked like a penis which made me want to buy it more (food porn anyone?) After all was said and done, I will likely not cook white asparagus again.  Not that it wasn't tasty, because it was, but it required a little more effort than green asparagus and definitely more effort than I wanted to put into a vegetable this evening. I bought it thinking it would be the same as green, toss it in the steamer, sprinkle with some salt and lemon juice and voila, delicious veggies but nope. While I was sitting outside of the market waiting for my cab I decided to google the difference and see if I needed to prepare it any differently ( I should've done this while I was in the market, but whateves). Apparently white asparagus needs to be peeled and is more fragile to handle than it's counterpart. I definitely did not have the patience to peel them by hand so I busted out the potato peeler and like an idiot I was holding the stalks in my hand like a potato peeling them, forgetting their fragility and ended up snapping quite a few. Everything I found said to boil them but I wasn't sure how I felt about that, I hate boiling vegetables, I prefer sauteing, broiling or steaming them. I boiled them anyways, gently.

For the shrooms, I marinated them in Bragg's Liquid Aminos, rice vinegar, vegan worcestershire sauce, olive oil and chopped garlic. I didn't use any measurements, just mixed and added things until it made my taste buds happy. It had the perfect balance of sweet, salty and tang. After I had a glass of wine, they sat for a bit, I threw them in a frying pan with the marinade so it could cook down a bit.

It was pretty quick to pull together once I got the friggen asparagus prepped and turned out the be exactly what I needed after a long afternoon on a boat.

Cookbook Challenge Week 4. VwaV - Seitan Portobello Stroganoff

I really can't believe it's already Week 4. Halfway through no less! I have been slacking the past week or so, for Week 3 I only made 2 recipes out of the 3 I had planned. But this week is all about Vegan with a Vengeance. This is the first vegan cookbook I owned, my mom gave it to me for Christmas 2 years ago while I was still a vegetarian. As much as I love all of my vegan cookbooks, especially Veganomicon, this one will always be my favorite. I've made some pretty badass dishes from it that I know I will keep going back to because they are just that good.

For the Cookbook Challenge I decided to step out of my comfort zone of tried and true recipes and try some new stuff(except the seitan, I've made that before.) Technically I made 3 recipes from the book on Sunday but 2 went together for a meal and the other was just dessert so I am still planning on making at least one more good meal and maybe another dessert by weeks end.

I decided to make Seitan Portobello Stroganoff with homemade seitan, homemade pasta and Coconut Heaven Cupcakes. I definitely had my work cut out for me. I spent the entire day in the kitchen!

Let's start with the pasta...

I haven't busted out my pasta machine in a few years so I figured no better time than now to dust it off and crank out some sheets of fresh fettuccine to go with the Stroganoff. I forgot how easy it actually is and now that I've been reminded I can see more fresh pasta in my cooking future. Probably only on weekends though, it is easy but a little time consuming. The results are so much more worth your time than the $1 you spend on a package of dried shit at the grocery store. It cooks almost instantly, it has a fresh taste and you can customize the dough however you want by adding different flours, seasonings, oils or even pureed greens. I kept it simple for this recipe just in case my pasta making skills had disappeared. Luckily they are still here! I am really looking forward to trying out some different flavor and flour combinations to create the perfect pasta but in the meantime I will give you the recipe I used.

Fresh Vegan Pasta

1 2/3 cup flour - I used AP
2/3 cup water
1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn garlic powder
1 tblspn truffle oil (or olive oil if thats what you have)

On the counter or in your mixing bowl(I took the lazy Kitchenaid route) Dump the flour, salt and garlic powder into a little mountain.

Using your finger make a well in the middle, like a volcano.

Pour the water and oil into the well and using a wooden spoon or your dough hook mix until it comes together to form a dough.

Dump onto floured surface and using your hands(don't forget to flour them too!) knead for about 5 minutes, adding more flour if the dough is too sticky.

Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes, I cover it in saran wrap for this step.

Once rested divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Taking the first section using your hands roughly make the dough into a rectangle shape and start running through your pasta machine on the thickest setting 2-3 times.

Repeat with every setting going down to thin out the dough. Dust with flour as needed.

At this point the pasta sheet should be very long. I cut it in half or thirds(depending on the length I would like my noodles to be) and then run each shorter sheet through the pasta cutter.

Put on a drying rack, hang on a broom or door for at least 30 minutes before cooking. If you are going to store them, dry them out for longer and seal in a bag with as much air removed as possible. You can also freeze the noodles prior to cooking.

When ready to cook, bring water to a boil and submerge noodles. Once the water comes back to a boil and the noodles float to the top, they are done. This will vary from 30 seconds to 3 minutes depending on thickness and freshness of the pasta.

Now onto the Seitan Portobello Stroganoff. If you are a PPKer reading this, than I know I am not the only one who is chuckling at the word "stroganoff.' I've never had any type of stroganoff before this one(are there different kinds?) so I didn't know what to expect, except deliciousness of course! I got what I expected, and more. It looks like something a mean old cafeteria lady who reeks of cigarettes would plop onto your plate in school, or maybe even prison. Don't let the looks fool you into thinking it will be as unappetizing as it looks. This dish is packing some serious flavor on so many levels. It is so hearty and savory with a nice little kick at the end from the dijon mustard. I promise you, make this recipe and you will love it.

Last but definitely not least, let's talk about the Coconut Heaven Cupcakes. Using the word 'heaven' in the title is no joke. These cupcakes really are like dying and going to heaven(if you believe in that sort of thing). If you are a cupcake lover and especially a coconut lover, these babies are for you! Coconut cupcake with coconut frosting, hell yes. There is something about shredded coconut that gets me every time, I just can't say no. I only shared these cupcakes with a few people but heard only awesome things that these are going to become a standard cupcake for me. I have recently started using vanilla bean paste in place of vanilla extract in my baked goods and have noticed  huge difference in flavor. The biggest difference though was in these cupcakes, the vanilla and coconut flavors were totally balanced so neither one was too overpowering. Although it is much more expensive, the level of flavor it adds is worth the extra money for the paste. All those little black specks you see in the frosting in the picture below isn't a screw up, or pepper or any other weird shit, it's actually the vanilla!