Day 109 - Maple-Mustard Dressing, Spicy Tempeh and Broccoli Rabe with Rotelle, and Chewy Chocolate-Raspberry Cookies

Seth is back, braving the vegan wilds. And coincidentally, the main event is tempeh again.

Spicy Tempeh and Broccoli Rabe with Rotelle

By and large, this is a great recipe. Great interplay of flavors, textures, a little on the dry side, but if that doesn't bother you, you should be happy here. I just have a couple of quibbles.

First of all, typo alert. In the instructions for the tempeh steaming liquid, the vinegar is omitted, so don't forget to add that 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar to the tempeh liquid.

Secondly, I+T seem to think that broccoli rabe is the same thing as broccolini, and I disagree. The vegetable I've seen sold as broccolini has a broccoli rabe appearance but unlike broccoli rabe, it is very mild tasting, like American broccoli. 

Seth commented that this dish was very familiar-tasting to him, reminding him of the sausagey version. That bodes well for the SFO score....

SFO: 7
Even though this rang a happy sausage bell for Seth, I'm still downgrading a bit, because I think dyed-in-the-wool meat eaters will still balk at the tempeh substitution.


Maple-Mustard Dressing

In my opinion, this dressing carries an overly heavy maple wallop (not unlike that crazy pesto), but at least this is edible. And paired with the right salad fixin's, it satisfies. But don't kid yourself. This dressing is sa-weeeeet. Not something I see myself repeating, FYI.

SFO: 10
 

Chewy Chocolate-Raspberry Cookies

This is a dense little cookie! As I+T say in the recipe, there's no spreading when baking, so whatever shape you create when you put them in the oven, that's what you'll be taking out of the oven.

The flavor is good. Good. Not great, but good. And strangely, the raspberry participation is all but obliterated by that loudmouth, chocolate. We had to fight hard to find any berry presence. 

SFO: 10

Day 108 - Red Lentil-Cauliflower Curry

Red Lentil-Cauliflower Curry

This is a really terrific recipe! I love the layering of flavors, typical of an Indian-style stew like this. The happy surprise for me was the parsnip presence, which gives a subtle, sweet undertaste to the dish, and I loved the interplay between the mushy lentil background and the cauliflower foreground. Also, any dish that has lime juice, cilantro, and curry is going to be a winner in my book.


Michael liked it too! Here it is, served as suggested, with basmati rice and steamed chard. 

SFO: 9

(As much as we both loved this dish, we agreed that for a hardcore omnivore, it would probably occur as a side dish and not a main event.)

Day 104 - Almond-Anise Biscotti

Almond-Anise Biscotti 

I was going to a party and I thought, what can I bring from the book? And since this group was celebrating a trip we had taken to Italy, this was an easy pick!

As with every recipe in this book where there's an option to substitute whole wheat pastry flour for white, I opted for a half and half mix. My guess is that using all whole wheat flour would really skew the results, but could I get away with a recognizable biscotti with a 50/50 blend?

Survey says: yes! 

The one factor that is really off in the recipe is the baking time for part II. (And maybe part I could have been extended too.)

I did the first bake for the suggested 28 minutes, and the dough was still somewhat soft, even after the cooling period. Hence, my slices were not easy and/or perfect. But workable.

Then, for the second bake, after 12-15 minutes, they were nowhere near ready. Some pieces went for almost twice that long. I definitely recommend turning them for even crispness and keeping an eye on them, since as they near doneness, they can tip over into overdone relatively quickly.

The whole wheat flour makes these a little drier and crumblier than an all-white batch, but these are qualities you'd expect in a biscotti, so they're not unwelcome. The flavor is great, and as long as you cook them long enough, so is the texture.

SFO: 10

Day 101 - The Persian

The Persian

The Persian features the Pistachio Rose Water Cookies filled with Rose Water flavored Vanilla Ice Cream and rolled in chopped pistachios.

No one has tasted this, not even me, so I can't attest to the flavor of this one, but it's certainly easy enough to assemble, and it's a pretty sandwich, with all those chopped pistachios....

I'm waiting to serve this one to Alysha, the rose water queen, since this has rose water in both the cookies and the ice cream.

But I'm going to hazard a guess, based on all the other ice cream sandwiches and say that this one gets....

SFO: 10

Day 100 - BBQ Black-Eyed Pea-Collard Rolls, Vanilla-Yogurt Pound Cake, Vanilla Ice Cream, and The Classic

BBQ Black-Eyed Pea-Collard Rolls

Now, who'da thunk that you could use collard green leaves to roll things up just like you use cabbage, lettuce and grape leaves? I always assumed collard would be too tough, too assertive-tasting, but the truth is, these leaves are perfect for stuffing! I+T have you boil them covered for six minutes, and once cooled and drained, they are wonderful, huge, pliable (though somewhat delicate) foundations for a roll.

This recipe uses yesterdays Backyard BBQ Sauce as the binder for a filling that also includes black-eyed peas, mushrooms, and chopped collard greens.

Following the directions exactly yielded me twelve beautiful rolls, which tasted great with the chive-y mashed potatoes I made.

My ex-neighbor and friend, Darcy, loved the BBQ sauce and the rolls (and brought me those amazing lilies you see in the background)!

SFO: 8

(As much as we loved these, I think they might be a little scary for your average omnivore. It's a lot of green up front, and then nothing too familiar inside. Maybe for a Southern omnivore, I'd up this to a 9.)


Vanilla-Yogurt Pound Cake

My second try at Veganomicon pound cake!

The first one, with rosewater flavoring, was relatively successful, although there was that lump of undercooked batter at the bottom...

This one also had an undercooked lump, although a much smaller one. I admit, I kept that sucker in the oven until the skewer came out absolutely clean, but I guess I could have left it in another few minutes.

My guess is that this is a result of what I consider to be an unusual instruction in the recipe: "beat with electric beaters for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, until a very thick batter forms. Don't overmix."

I have to say, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes in my book is already way overmixed. Typically in a recipe like this, the instruction would be to mix just until combined, which in my experience is maybe 30 seconds. Next time I make this, I'm going to try that....

That said, it's a pretty loaf, and a tasty one.

SFO: 10


Vanilla Ice Cream

Back to the ice creams...

I still haven't been able to achieve a great texture since the peanut butter ice cream, but this certainly gets the job done. Flavor is fine, and as a filling for an ice cream sandwich, the texture issues slide by unnoticed.

SFO:7
(People are tough on off-texture ice creams...)


The Classic 

What could be bad? Wheat-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies filled with Vanilla Ice Cream and rolled in chocolate shavings!

Actually, I was a little concerned that these delicate, not-quite-crispy, not-quite-chewy cookies might not be able to withstand being the bread for an ice cream sandwich, but they performed quite well! In fact, they were unusually light and made for a dainty frozen dessert. I really liked this one!

SFO: 10
(I realize I gave this ice cream a 7 for texture issues, but in this context, they don't bother me.)

Day 99 - Backyard BBQ Sauce

Backyard BBQ Sauce

I love making things like this, sauces that usually come in jars but when you make them from scratch, they obliterate the memory of the jarred versions.

I'm not sure about this one, though....

It's easy enough to make. And I cooked mine for a good long time. I pureed it for a nice, even consistency. But the flavor was... um... weird.

I think I'm going to blame the liquid smoke. It's a hefty amount to add, 2 teaspoons. That stuff is strong. And it gave the sauce a fake, otherworldly kind of taste, at least to me. (Note: when I served it to my friend Darcy - see tomorrow - she did not have the same reaction.)

Also, the tomato presence seemed overwhelming, so at the end of the process when I was invited to "adjust the flavors," I did add a little more sugar and vinegar. But just a little.

Note to those sensitive to heat: that teaspoon of red pepper flakes packs a wallop. It doesn't kick it into the realm of the inedible, but at that level, this is not a mild BBQ sauce. If you just want a background heat, I'd consider reducing that measurement by a half.

SFO: 10

Day 98 - Spinach-Noodle Kugel

Spinach-Noodle Kugel

This is how unobservant a Jew I am. I didn't even think to make this kugel recipe until my friend Daniel asked me if there were any Passover-related recipes in Veganomicon. Didn't even occur to me to look! Well, he asked just in time for me to run out and get a box of matzoh so I could make this on the second night of Passover. Right after I got home from that movie screening. (FYI, I performed in a concert on the first night of Passover - I warned you I'm unobservant!)

Before

I've never used rombi pasta before. It's so cute. It's like mini lasagna noodles, torn in random pieces. It'd be sweet to make a mini lasagna with them. But for now, it's all about kugel.

I didn't grow up with savory kugel. Well, maybe there were a few potato kugels, but the noodle kugels were always sweet, with cottage cheese and raisins. Mmmm. Still, I was very interested to see how this would taste....

Survey says: meh.

I think it's all that matzoh. Matzoh is amazingly unflavorful. It's OK as a vehicle for butter, but so is tire rubber. And the tofu just doesn't do what eggs would have done to bind this casserole. This whole dish seems to have a blank space where flavor is supposed to be. 

Some extra salt helped, but....

After

Wait, stop everything!!

Typo alert! I'm rereading the recipe as I'm writing this, and I've just discovered I've made a giant mistake. As have I&T. There's onion in this recipe! But it's hidden/invisible! First of all, it's incorrectly indented in the list of ingredients, so it's really easy to miss. And it's nowhere to be seen in the instructions. I'm sure if I&T meant there to be onion in this, they would tell us to sauté it, but there's no mention of sauteeing, or of onions at all, in the recipe. But now this makes perfect sense - onions would certainly leave a blank space where flavor was meant to be. 

Argh! Typos!!!

SFO: 5
(in this version without onions, it's not really safe for anyone...)