Meltdown!

I got a bit carried away with our "experiment" this weekend ...

As I posted yesterday, we had a delicious, nutritious breakfast, and a yummy lunch ...




We made pita pockets filled with the Caesar dressing we made earlier in the week, veggie burgers, romaine, avocado, cucumbers and heirloom tomatoes.

and then I got overenthusiastic:

I made zucchini bread using pumpkin puree in place of eggs - I've been reading up on different egg replacers - and it was OK, but stodgy, I'll probably throw it away. I'm glad I didn't make two loaves as I'd originally planned! I also made banana muffins using pumpkin puree - critical mistake! They were harder than bricks! Good thing I'd poured the batter into cupcake papers otherwise I probably would have had to throw away our muffin tin!!

In attempt to redeem myself (and my spirits), I then made pizza - whole wheat crust, homemade vegan pesto with basil from our garden, heirloom tomatoes, capers, garlic and vegan "mozzerella". We enjoy the non-vegan version of this pizza a great deal on most weekends ... but this version was INEDIBLE!! It was SO disgusting, SO incredibly gooey and drippy, that we had to scrape the toppings off and eat plain crust with pesto!! I mean, it was like hot mayonaise! YACK!

The brand of "cheese", by the way, was Vegan Gourmet - but (in my opinion) it should be called Vomit Gourmet. Am I allowed to say that?? While at the store today I bought a different brand - Veganrella - David's willing to taste on behalf of us both. Unless he's convincing, I won't go near it - I've been badly scarred!

Moving on to more pleasant topics, I must share the vegan pesto recipe we made - delish. I don't know that we'll ever make pesto with parmesan again! It's from http://vegetarian.about.com/od/morerecipes/r/Veganpestorec.htm

VEGAN PESTO

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups fresh basil
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup pine nuts (almonds or walnuts may be substituted)
5 cloves garlic
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper


METHOD
Combine all ingredients in a food processor until nuts are ground. Pesto should still have texture and not be completely smooth. Add more salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

One variation is to add 1/2 cup rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes.

For a lower fat version replace half the oil with soy milk (we'll try this next time).

Not wanting to experiment tonight, we decided to go with one of our tried and true recipes. It's called Chorizo and Mushroom Fideua and it's from Bon Appétit, May 1992, but I found it on epicurious.com which is a phenomenal website. On epicurious.com you can search recipes or you can type in a single ingredient and it'll pull up every recipe in the database that contains the ingredient!! Liza B turned me on to it a couple of years ago when we were growing serrano chiles and couldn't use them fast enough!

I found this recipe by looking for chorizo after noticing that Trader Joe's carries soyrizo! This recipe is so good, so hearty. I passed it along to a coworker, Carolyn A, who has Mexican roots - after eating this recipe, she's swearing off the real stuff and sticking to soyrizo! She's says that it tastes incredibly authentic, but way less calorific!

BTW, our version isn't truly a fideua - it can only be called a fideua if you use fideo noodles, which are like short pieces of angel hair. The first time we made this recipe we used pennette after reading several reviews on epicurious.com (they have reviews too! brill!) recommending using a stronger pasta. Now we toss in whatever's laying around - giant shells, bowties, etc.

The other thing to note is that you need not have a paella pan - we just use a big ole soup pot.

OK ...

CHORIZO & MUSHROOM FIDEUA

INGREDIENTS


2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 pound onions, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 pound mushrooms, quartered (we use more, and cut them in half)
2 teaspoons paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped (we use a 14.5 oz can)
1 large green bell pepper, diced
3 cups canned low-salt veggie broth
1/2 cup dry white wine (we used non-alcoholic of course)
5 ounces soyrizo or other veggie sausage (eg kielbasa), cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds (soyrizo is more "minced")
3/4 pound fideo or whatever's clever


METHOD

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Heat olive oil in heavy deep paella pan skillet over medium-high heat.

Add onions and garlic and cook until tender, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes.

Add mushrooms and sauté 4 minutes.

Add paprika and cayenne and stir just until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add tomatoes and green pepper and sauté 2 minutes.

Add veggie broth, wine, chorizo. Bring mixture to simmer.

Break pasta in half and add to pan.

Cook until pasta is tender, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.

Set pan in oven and bake until all liquid is absorbed and pasta is crusty, about 25 minutes.



As Jose Andres of Made in Spain would say, "Such a satisfying meal made from such humble ingredients!".

PS. If you don't know Made in Spain, you've got to watch it - so good! Thanks Dan and Linds for introducing us to it, life wouldn't be the same without Jose Andres!