Day 6 - Corn and Edamame-Sesame Salad, Roasted Portobellos, and Lower-Fat Deep Chocolate Bundt Cake

Christmas Eve with the Saines! What a treat to spend the afternoon and evening in Westchester with my dear college friend and entertainment industry mogul, Emily! First, we sneaked away to see an afternoon showing of This Is 40 (four thumbs up!). Then she brought me to Fairway Pelham (deluxe!) where we shopped for dinner. Even though the Saines are decidedly un-vegan, they were very gracious about letting me insert my vegan agenda into their dinner (as long as there was one non-vegan dish too). They are the perfect people to weigh in on SFO ratings! In attendance: Emily, husband Andy, and sons Max and Dashiell.

Corn and Edamame-Sesame Salad

I'm starting to realize that I&T are very good at quick and easy dishes that are surprisingly delicious and satisfying. This is a prime example. Six ingredients total, give some frozen vegetables a quick boil, toast some sesame seeds, throw it all together, chill, and serve. Yum! Frankly, I'm a sucker for toasted sesame oil, no matter what it's on, but this combo really does taste great. And everybody ate it! (Except for Dashiell, who had already eaten. That's him pictured with Emily.)

SFO: 10


Roasted Portobellos (Take One)

I think I'm going to have to do this one over again. We think there might have been something amiss with the temperature calibration of their oven, because these didn't cook in the way I suspect they will when I try them again. Edible? Absolutely. But the texture was weird, spongy, they didn't seem quite done. I'm going to hold off on an SFO until Take Two. Incidentally, we all ate them happily. (That's Emily again, with Dashiell on the left and Max on the right.)

Note: there is no cooking time listed for this recipe in the book, which I'm guessing it's an oversight/misprint. For the record, I would call it 65 minutes.


Lower-Fat Deep Chocolate Bundt Cake

My second foray in the vegan baking realm, and a major success! Again, I&T offer flour options, so I did my usual half all-purpose, half whole-wheat-pastry blend. And instead of using my mixer, I decided to do this one by hand, just to see how it would go. The answer is, very smoothly! It's essentially a one-bowl cake. Other than the pot you dirty to heat the coffee and the cocoa, it all happens in one big bowl. And, of course, a Bundt pan.

I looked at this recipe side by side with the Cook's Illustrated Light Chocolate Bundt Cake recipe to see how they compared. CI's recipe has more sugar, more cocoa powder (and chocolate, which I&T eschew), and more fat (more oil, plus two eggs). I&T use more flour (and they add some cornstarch), more water (in the form of coffee), and applesauce to compensate for the missing fat.  
Once again, they nailed it! This cake really works! Everyone was very impressed with the texture and the flavor. There is nothing to distinguish this cake from the naughty, full-animal-fat version. I have to confess, I did think there might have been an off smell to it, and a little bit of an aftertaste, but I was the only one. Still, small complaints for a cake that is so thoroughly satisfying. (That's Andy with the cake.)

SFO: an easy 10

Day 3 - Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions and Spiced Pita Crisps, Sautéed Spinach and Tomatoes, Peanut-Ginger-Sesame Cookies, Peanut Butter Ice Cream, and Open Sesame Ice Cream Sandwiches

Knowing I was going to have a couple of new veggie friends, Uli and Joe, over for dinner tonight, I thought I'd try out one or two recipes on them. But then I realized that I had miscounted the total recipes in the book. I originally thought there were 309, but today I caught my mistake, which revealed the true total as 333. Yikes! That means I'll have to average almost one a day this year! So I decided to go to town and knock out six recipes in one day, buying myself some time off further on down the line....


Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions and Spiced Pita Crisps

The good: 

• This dish can be served at room temperature, so it has good make-ahead potential, something I look for in a dinner party recipe, so I'm not spending the whole party at the stove.

• The rice and lentils component of this dish is very straight-forward and labor-light: boil water, add rice and spices, cover and simmer for 15m, add lentils, cover and simmer for 45m, let sit for 10m, fluff, fold in onions, done. 

• The spices are really fragrant and yummy.

The bad:

• The caramelization of the onions took waaaaaay longer than suggested. I&T say it's a 20-30 minute job at 400°. But hand to heart, it took me one hour and 30 minutes to go from 

this

  
to this.

• How do I say this delicately? This is not a cute dish, not even a little. All those pretty li'l red lentils lose their color, and what you end up with is a clumpy beige-a-palooza.

• There is not a grain of salt in this recipe, which strikes me as strange. I tasted it after adding the onions, and I couldn't bring myself to serve it without at least a little bit of salt, so I gave it a quick sprinkle. But honestly, I don't think I've ever seen a savory recipe with NO salt in it! (I love salt.) 

• At room temperature, the consistency is not terribly inviting. It's neither wet nor dry, neither creamy nor fluffy, nor smooth and mash-like. Let's just say, it's a unique animal....

That said, the spice combo delivers, and the onions taste amazing, which almost compensates for the lack of salt in the dish. Personally, I think a generous adding of salt would really elevate it, but that's just saltaholic me.

Visually, a little bit of color would have gone a long way here. I can't remember if it was Joe or Uli, but someone suggested green peas. Not a bad idea...

SFO: 2
(Most non-vegans will think there's no "there" there. Plus, the appearance doesn't help.)  


Spiced Pita Crisps

This is a fun way to bring some sparkle to the average pita. I tried both the garam masala version and the garlic powder, cumin, cayenne, and salt version. I think my theory about salt holds up, as the latter flavor was universally preferred. My guess is that if I'd salted the garam masala version, the two flavors would have been neck and neck.

SFO: 10
 

Sautéed Spinach and Tomatoes

I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like this one, because I'm generally not a fan of tomatoes and ginger together. But I have to confess, this is a super recipe. Lots of bold flavor in a really attractive, easy to make package. 

This is the kind of dish you make just before serving, so I had prepped ahead all the ingredients (diced tomatoes, chopped onion, grated ginger, minced garlic), and at cooking time, it came together in a flash, literally in about five minutes! I used baby spinach from one of those 16 ounce containers, which I'm mentioning because even though it's way more than six cups, you should go ahead and throw the whole thing in there. I used about 3/4 of the container, but you know spinach. It wilts down to nothing, and another 33% wouldn't have upset the proportions of the dish, in fact, it would have been perfect.

For the record, I did not have peanut oil on hand, so I used grapeseed. I know I&T don't pick their oils randomly, so I can only assume it would have been even more delicious with peanut oil, but it tasted wonderful with grapeseed.

I will definitely make this again...

SFO: 10
(Neither Joe nor Uli believe in perfect 10s, but they loved this, so they gave it a 9.8. I'm rounding it up, so there.)  
 

Peanut-Ginger-Sesame Cookies

This was my first vegan baking experience! No butter? No eggs? Can it possibly work?? Yes it can!!!

I&T suggest any one or combination of three kinds of flour, so I opted for half all-purpose and half whole-wheat pastry, and I was very happy the results. In fact, I was completely unaware of a whole wheat presence.

I&T describe this cookie as "shortbreadlike." I don't necessarily agree with that... the candied ginger is such a strong textural presence, so the dominant experience is chewiness, versus a shortbreadlike crumb. Speaking of which, finely dicing five ounces of candied ginger is a more complicated job than it sounds (sticky knife!) so I suggest planning some time for that.

It's interesting, I've become accustomed to following recipes by Martha and Cooks Illustrated, which are very detailed, even fussy and exacting sometimes. I&T are so laid back. In fact, at least once in each recipe, you'll probably find a multiple choice option (i.e. swap in any flour/herb/vegetable you want) and an overall, very relaxed way of putting it together. I thought I would be frustrated by this, but instead I'm finding it very liberating and fun. And creative! I'm getting to help write the recipe!

In addition to the design-your-own-flour option, this recipe also encourages you to choose your own sesame seed color or combo. I opted for segregation. All black cookies and all white cookies. (Don't worry, I integrate later....)

You also get to choose the consistency of the cookies based on how long you leave them in the oven, 10-11m for chewy, 14m for firm and crunchier. I went for right in the middle, because I knew I was going to be using these for ice cream sandwiches, and I wanted them to have equal parts give and structure. Success!

I should mention, I made this recipe using the electric mixer with the paddle attachment. I creamed the shortening on high, then added the first set of ingredients and beat on high again, then switched it to low and added the flour and ginger. What a breeze! Also, instead of greasing the baking sheets, I covered them with parchment, which works just as well.

This is a really interesting cookie, very sweet, with a complicated blend of flavors that TOTALLY work together. I'm a believer!

SFO: 10
(absolutely no whiff of vegan here)   


Peanut Butter Ice Cream

So easy! Dump a bunch of ingredients in the blender, mix, and voilà, ice cream batter. No custard, no tempering, no straining, no ice bath. I'm going to like doing these ice creams!

Meanwhile, I'm wondering if I got the coconut milk thing right. I&T said to put a can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight, then carefully open it and scoop 1/2 cup of coconut "cream" off the top. I definitely scooped 1/2 cup off the top, but I was expecting the "cream" to be the most solid part, like cream is to milk. But when I emptied the rest of the can of coconut milk (to freeze, just like I&T told me to do... I'm such a teacher's pet), what was left in the can was the denser, more solid part of the coconut milk. Did I do this wrong? Anyone?

Flavorwise, the ice cream is spot on. Like the cookie, very sweet, but appropriately so. And the texture is totally convincing, quite dairy-like. I&T, how did you figure all this stuff out?? I'm so impressed...


SFO: 10


Open Sesame Ice Cream Sandwiches

The Open Sesame is one of I&T's custom ice cream sandwich creations, bringing together both of today's sweet treats into one hyper-dessert.

I've never tried to make an ice cream sandwich before, and what I learned is there's basically one minute when the ice cream is firm enough to be pressed in between two cookies and not so melty that it starts disintegrating. This is when I was glad I had gone for a more structured cookie. When I was pressing down on the hard-ish ice cream, it was nice to not have to worry about the cookie crumbling from over- or under-cooking.

I was supposed to roll the edges of these sandwiches in toasted sesame seeds, like a tire across the plate, but since I hadn't been precise about mushing the ice cream beyond the edge of the cookies, I had to figure out another option, i.e. manually sprinkling the seeds on the exposed ice cream. As you can see it worked out OK. Also, here's where I integrated the black and white seeds.

Uli (pictured here) and Joe were very excited about this dessert! When I described it earlier in the evening, Joe was sure he was going to hate it, but in fact, he couldn't have loved it more. For me, the combination of sweet cookie with sweet ice cream was a little overwhelming because I'm not a sweet freak, but I'm sure I'm in the minority here. 

What was notable was how beautifully both the ice cream and the cookies behaved in sandwich form, defrosting together at a perfect rate and staying glued together perfectly. Texturally, this just really, really worked. Well done, I&T!

SFO: 10