Vegetarian Wellington

How fancy of me!

I had an event at work at this big fancy hotel. For lunch they served steak and mahi mahi. I wasn't really in the mood for a huge steak at lunch time so I got the vegetarian dish, which happened to be a vegetarian wellington and wow... it was amazing. Their version reminded me too much of a veggie calzone, but I researched recipes on this and came up with one that is pretty darn good. I'm excited to make it again so I can improve it!

I loved the wellington part (I actually bought fresh spinach from the farmers market the first time I made it... It was WAY too strong so the second time I omitted the spinach all together). The sauce part for this recipe wasn't the greatest to me. I followed the recipe to a T, which is very hard for me to do, but I didn't really like it. It was too lemony. I think a plain cream sauce would have been better. The second time I made it, I added squash to the wellington and didn't use cream sauce at all. It was delicious.

Vegetarian Wellington
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• Sheet Frozen Puff Pastry (that's right, I used crescent rolls... not messing with puff pastry)
• 1 large package of frozen spinach (or equivent fresh)
• 1 Red Pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup chopped carrot
• 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
• 3/4 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 egg
• 2 TBS butter
• dash of cyennne pepper to taste
• 1/2 TEAS Garlic Salt
• Pepper to taste
• Optional 1/4 cup roasted chopped hazelnuts
• For Sauce
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup minced shallots
• 3 TBS Fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Thaw puff pastry according to directions or about 20 minutes at room tempurature. Roll sheet out to increase in size by about 1/3. (or roll out crescent rolls, cause they are awesome)

Saute mushrooms in butter over medium heat until lightly cooked and butter absorbed. In medium sized place thawed and throughly drained spinnach. Add chopped peppers, onions, carrot, parsley, mushrooms, egg and seasonings and mix with hands or spoon.

Mound mixture on rectangle of puff pastry and fold long end over then sides and remaining long end to make a rectangle loaf. Make sure mixture is sealed well inside. Place on ungreased cooking sheet, edge sides down.  Make small vent holes in top and back for 25 minutes or until golden brown and heated through.

While baking - Make Sauce.  Combine shallots, wine and lemon juice in saucepan. Reduce over medium-high heat until mixture is reduced by half. Add cream and boil gently about 3 minutes until thickened. Remove and set aside. When ready to serve whisk sauce over medium heat to heat through. Add butter a few pieces at a time and whisk until just melted. Season with salt and pepper to taste

To Serve: Plate small amount of sauce and slice loaf in 1 inch slices and top with roasted hazelnuts. Serve with extra sauce on the side.

Falafel!

Okay so I haven't been cooking very much lately, but I did come across some photos that I had never used so, time to catch up.

I remember this falafel dish being amazing. I've made it twice and I feel like the more I make it, the better it will get. It's sort of like a meat loaf, only using chick peas instead of meat. Kind of different to work with. It just feels so healthy and very very flavorful!

I highly recommend this dish. It's great served with a side salad, and on some baked pita of course (Nick bought Olive Pita... yum!)

Enjoy!!

Falafel

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained

1 onion, chopped

1/2 cup fresh parsley (I used about a Tbs. of dried)

1 TBS. oregano

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 egg

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon salt

1 dash pepper

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup dry bread crumbs

oil for frying (You can either fry or bake... I chose to bake)

1 (6 ounce) container plain yogurt

1/2 cucumber - peeled, seeded, and finely chopped

1 teaspoon dried dill weed

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large bowl mash chickpeas until thick and pasty; don't use a blender, as the consistency will be too thin. In a blender, process onion, parsley and garlic until smooth. Stir into mashed chickpeas.

In a small bowl combine egg, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cayenne, and baking powder. Stir into chickpea mixture along with olive oil. Slowly add bread crumbs until mixture is not sticky but will hold together; add more or less bread crumbs, as needed. Form 8 balls and then flatten into patties.

If you choose to fry, Heat 1 inch of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry patties in hot oil until brown on both sides.

If you choose to bake, Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Heat a little olive oil in a large, oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat. Place the patties in the skillet; cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side.

Transfer skillet to the preheated oven and bake until heated through, about 10 minutes.

In a small bowl combine yogurt, cucumber, dill, salt, and pepper. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Portabella Mushroom Burgers

This was rated a 10 by Nick and a 9.5 by Manda. It was pretty amazing.

We bought humongous Portabella mushrooms from the grocery store. We brushed them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar (and some garlic... garlic powder would work too) and grilled them about 4 minutes on each side. Grilled some onions too to go on top. Wow. What amazing flavors! To top it off, we topped the grilled buns with herbed goat cheese. Wow... again. It was so tasty! Better than any hamburger I've ever made. I definitely recommend trying this!

Portabella Mushroom Burgers
Serves: 4

Ingredients:
4 large Portabella mushrooms
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
1 large red pepper, sliced into rings
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 fresh buns

Herbed Goat Cheese:

about 1/4 cup goat cheese

2 Tablespoons fresh cut basil

2 Tablespoons Olive oil

Directions:
Drizzle garlic, balsamic vinegar and olive oil over mushroom caps.  Place on preheated grill.  After about 3 minutes, flip and grill on the other side.  Meanwhile, grill sliced onions, red peppers and buns on both sides.  You may want to spray some olive oil to prevent sticking. 

To make goat cheese spread, mix together the goat cheese, fresh basil and olive oil until smooth.  

To assemble burgers, spread the goat cheese mixture on the top of a bun.  Place a mushroom cap, onion slice, and red pepper and top with the bun.  

Ghana, Red Red Dish

When I read this recipe it reminded me of a dish that my grandma used to make. It was a salad with iceberg lettuce, mayonnaise, and bananas. Sounds gross right? It's actually pretty delicious. So I thought I'd give this one a try. It's called Red Red Dish (I think) and its from Ghana. They actually use plantains and they probably pick them fresh. I was close though, I bought a pack of bananas from Target today, despite having banana trees right outside of my office.

Anyway... From what I've read and tried to cook, it seems like African cuisine consists of a lot of stews. I have no clue though. This dish was more like a stew. I'm sure if I made it with fresh tomatoes and not canned it would have had a whole different flavor. It was still good. Better than I thought. Funny that I'm explaining this meal and if you haven't clicked on the recipe you're probably thinking, "what? bananas? tomatoes? stew?" Maybe I should figure out another system for these blogs. Oh if only I had time. Anyway... Here goes! Enjoy!

Red Red Dish
Serves: 6

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon expeller-pressed canola oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 (15-ounce) can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 firm bananas, halved lengthwise and cut into chunks

Directions:

Heat oil in a large high-sided skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook about 10 minutes or until golden and tender, stirring frequently. Stir in garlic, ginger and cayenne and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add tomatoes and peas and bring to a simmer. Cook 15 minutes or until peas are tender and flavors blended. Stir in salt.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a separate skillet over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium, add bananas and cook about 5 minutes or until browned on both sides, gently flipping halfway through cooking. Serve alongside black-eyed peas in a shallow bowl.

Butter Mochi

Butter Mochi... a very delicious dessert.

I made this dessert once for work, while living in Hawaii and everyone enjoyed it and surprised the little girl from Minnesota could make such a delicious butter mochi... woot woot for me!  

When we first got to Hawaii, we had no clue what mochi was.  We tried some prepackaged stuff from the grocery store filled with red bean paste and thought "really? this is what all the fuss is about?", but then we discovered butter mochi... which is completely different.... sweet, gooey, crispy and delicious! 

You'll be able to find mochiko flour at your local Asian grocer if you're on the mainland.  You can pretty much find it at any store in Hawaii for about a buck or two. Enjoy!

 

Butter Mochi

Serves: 24

Ingredients: 

1 lb. mochiko flour (glutinous rice flour)

2 1/2 cups white sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup butter, melted

3 cups whole milk

5 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sweetened, flaked coconut (oooo I bet it would be good toasted too!!!)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla and milk. In a separate larger bowl, stir together the rice flour, sugar, and baking powder. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir to blend. Mix in melted butter and coconut. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven. Cool completely, then cut into squares to serve.

Artichoke & Eggplant White Lasagna

mmmmm pasta. Artichoke & Eggplant White Lasagna to be exact. While eating this dish, I told Nick the one and only thing to make this meal better is if I made my own pasta, and I'll do that someday once I get my pasta roller (which I will be registering for!)

This meal was so amazing. Buying really good cheese (not kraft... or anything that comes pre-shredded or in a bag) is the key to this dish. We happened to get an awesome gift card (Thanks Jeannie & Terri!) to Whole Foods for my birthday (and by "we" I meant "I") so we went all out. We bought organic noodles, organic goat cheese, a real Italian cheese, and squishy mozzarella. Yum Yum and Yum.

I highly highly highly recommend making this dish. It's so flavorful and delicious. Enjoy with a glass of white wine (we had Chardonnay... and two glasses, which is why I waited until later to write about it).

Artichoke and Eggplant White Lasagna
Serves: 8

Ingredients:
Olive Oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 medium eggplant cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
9 dried lasagna noodles

Sauce:
1 Tablespoon butter
2 Tablespoons all-purpose organic flour
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup grated grana padano cheese, divided
1/2 cup goat cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 can water-packed artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese, divided

Directions:Lightly fry the eggplant for about 5 minutes or until tender.Cook noodles according directions on package, then drain and set aside.For the sauce, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in milk until combined well. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of the grana padano, goat cheese, salt and pepper, and reserved onions and remove from heat. Stir just until cheese melts, then set sauce aside.Spray an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray and spread 1/4 cup of the sauce on bottom of pan. Top with 2 noodles, then layer with half of the eggplant and artichoke hearts, 1/2 cup sauce, and 1/2 cup mozzarella. Repeat with a second layer and then place the last 2 noodles on top. Spread remaining sauce over noodles and top with remaining mozzarella and grana padano.Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for 5 minutes more. Set lasagna aside to let rest for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, 5 to 6 minutes. Set aside and wipe out skillet.

Coconut Tofu Keema

Indian food is probably one of the hardest cuisines to try for the first time. Normally (well at least in Minneapolis) it comes buffet style. So you go up to the buffet and smell all of these weird smells that you've never smelt before in your life and you see sever metal containers full of slop. It's not the most appealing sight. The first time Nick talked me into going to an Indian restaurant, I ate a lot of rice and bread (naan). I did try some curry and it was really really good. I liked the one with chick peas. I couldn't pronounce (or spell) anything I ate, but I knew chick peas meant it was good.

I wasn't hooked at first, but after trying a few restaurants and eating the packaged slop they sell at Trader Joe's, I started to really like cooking Indian food. The first time I tried cooking it was a disaster. First of all, the ingredients were pretty complex and I didn't know what anything was or where to find it. I kind of steered clear of trying to cook Indian food after that and stuck with going out. Until tonight.

While browsing through online recipes looking for tofu dishes, I stumbled across "Coconut Tofu Keema" and it sounded good. Well the coconut part and the tofu part and I have no idea what Keema is. Let's google it shall we? "Keema is a traditional Indian or Pakistan meat dish, originally the word meant 'minced meat'" Interesting. Moving on. I knew it sounded exotic so I looked at the recipe and had about 90% of the ingredients on hand. I started out skeptical, but it started smelling and looking amazing. After I added the tomato sauce, I thought I ruined it. It turned out so good! I was so amazed that I put together those kinds of flavors! Nick was so impressed he kept saying "I can't believe you can just do something like this on the first try" I give some credit to the recipe, but it was mostly me. hehe. I never measure cause that's just adding another dish to the pile that needs to be cleaned and I always add a little extra.

So for this recipe, I used a can of light coconut milk (cause it was cheaper) and two cans of tomato sauce. I used about 3 times more curry than the recipe calls for. Added a serano pepper to give it a kick (almost too much of a kick though... I'd just use a little cayenne next time) I also added some orange peppers and didn't have red pepper paste so used some crushed red peppers and chili powder. Amazing dish! I recommend it to anyone who loves Indian food. Must serve with naan and basamati rice. Oh for the rice... I learned this trick today too. Rinse the rice 2 or 3 times and soak in cold water for 30 mins. Then rinse again and add 1 1/2 cup water for every 1 cup rice. Put the pot on the stove with the lid on tight. Bring to boil, then turn to low for 12-14 mins. Then take it off the burner and let sit for another 5-10 mins. Do NOT touch the rice until it is done. Don't stir it, don't lift the lid, don't even look at it. It'll turn out amazing!

Coconut Tofu Keema
Serves: 8

Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 medium onion, minced
1 (14 oz) package extra firm tofu, diced
1 (16 oz) can coconut milk
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon red pepper paste
6 cups tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
1 1/2 cup chopped carrot

Directions: 
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garlic, onion, and tofu; cover, and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in coconut milk, cumin, curry powder, ginger, salt, and red pepper paste; bring to a simmer. Stir in tomato sauce, peas, and carrots; simmer, covered, about 30 minutes.