Archive | October, 2011

Butternut Squash Enchiladas

29 Oct

A couple weeks ago PCC tweeted this recipe from the Detroit Free Press for “Enchiladas Calabaza.”

Here’s my tweaked and veganized version of it, which turned out great. It made a lot (the original recipe calls for WAY more squash than you’ll need. I’ve scaled it down here, but you’ll still have enough for lots of servings). Feed a crowd or freeze individual portions for quick lunches and dinners later. I used canned sauce but made the tortillas from scratch. The recipe could easily be gluten- and soy-free with the right sauce.

Makes: about 22 small enchiladas

Filling

3-4 pounds butternut or favorite winter squash
3-4 tablespoons canola oil, divided
2 cups diced onions
1 cup sliced green onions
2 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons coriander
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon salt

Cashew Cream
(I have always hated cream cheese, so this is the sub I used rather than a more direct vegan replacement for the cream cheese. If you like it, feel free to use 8 oz. of your favorite brand of vegan cream cheese instead.)

1 cup raw cashew pieces
1 cup cold water
1 tsp. cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt, or more to taste

22 corn tortillas (4 to 5 inches in diameter)

14 oz. can red enchilada sauce (Be sure to check ingredients, as not all commercial sauces are vegetarian. This amount made for minimally saucy enchiladas, which I liked because it let the flavor of the filling really come through. If you want them saucier, you might want as much as double this.)

Equivalent of one package Daiya cheese (we used a combination of cheddar and pepperjack flavors.)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. To make the filling: Peel and seed the squash. Cut squash flesh into 1-inch pieces and spread the pieces out on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 to 2 tablespoons oil and toss to coat.

Bake about 30-45 minutes, until cooked through. Remove from oven (leave oven on) and transfer squash to a large bowl. Mash up the squash a bit, then set aside.


Roasted squash cubes, ready to go. In the background, purple cauliflower for a side and chopped green onion for filling and garnish.

While the squash is roasting, blend the cashew cream ingredients together into a smooth, thick cream. You can save a bit of loud blending time by doing a quick grind first for 30 seconds or so, then letting the tiny cashew pieces soak in the liquid until the squash is nearly ready before blending the rest of the way to a silky consistency.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and sauté the diced onions. When soft and nearly transparent, add the spices and sauté for 5 more minutes.


Onions and spices, smelling fantastic.

Remove from the heat and stir in the mashed squash, green onions (reserve a few for garnish), and cashew cream.


Filling is a just few stirs away from being ready to go.

Pour a thin layer of sauce in a large, shallow baking pan (a lasagna pan works well). Freshly made tortillas will be ready to go, but if using store-bought ones, steam or microwave them to soften so they don’t split when you roll them. Place about 1/4 cup (more if using larger tortillas) of squash filling in the center of the tortilla. Roll up and place seam side down in a lightly oiled baking dish.

Pour sauce evenly over enchiladas. Bake 30 minutes, until just starting to brown on the edges. Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake ten more minutes, until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and serve.

We went a little crazy with the sides, but they were all great! From the left, there’s purple-cabbage slaw with sriracha-Vegenaise dressing and orange slices, garlicky black beans spiked with Flameboy XXX hot sauce (which has a nice smoky note in it) and topped with counter-ripened tomato (amazingly juicy and flavorful!) from a neighbor’s yard, and roasted cauliflower with chipotle-flavor Yumm! sauce. Both sauces are made by Oregon companies and highly recommended if you can get them!

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Dining Vegan in Portland: Portobello’s new brunch, and getting down to Brass Tacks

29 Oct

My recent whirlwind 24-hour trip to Portland with Jud left precious little time to do all the eating we wanted to do, but in addition to lots of snacking, we managed to hit two restaurants that were new to me and a third that I’ve enjoyed before.

Jud and I rolled into town just in time to pick up my sister and her boyfriend to get lunch at Brass Tacks, which I’d actually learned about by cruising the Merc Perks site to see what vegan delights I was missing out on down south.


Storefront of Brass Tacks, a casual sandwich shop with tasty vegan options

Brass Tacks has only been open a matter of months, so even my vegan, food-loving sister hadn’t made it there yet. It’s within an easy walk of the vegan strip of Alberta if you want to hit one and then the other. The menu includes both meat and vegan options, very clearly laid out:

You can also build your own sandwich by marking up those handy menu cards, which I find much more pleasant than staring at a wall menu and trying to articulate what I do and don’t want.

Conveniently, there were four of us and four menu items, so we divided, conquered, and shared. Each sandwich comes with a generous pile of potato chips; you can order sides like their house-made garlic pickles.


The “Salome,” with spicy, sun-dried tomato vegan salami on a French roll.


The “Captain Nemo” meatball sub, the favorite in our group.

We all liked all four vegan combinations, but the meatball sub came out on top. The house-made meatballs are moist, tender, flavorful and also hold together well, which I’ve found to be a rare convergence of virtues in vegan meatballs. Then again, with Portland’s plethora of vegan meatball sub offerings, maybe there are more good ones to be had. But the one at Brass Tacks is really very good, and I’d love to have one all to myself.

We enjoyed the other three sandwiches (second favorite seemed to be the Velveeta Underground, with a nice, smoky cheez sauce) and the casual, bright space with friendly staff. Earning more props, the restaurant does not offer a garbage can, instead providing places for recycling, compost and reusables. The sandwiches seemed a tad small for their price of $7.99 each, though given our eating plans we were glad not to be stuffed when we left. If you want to fill up you’ll probably want to add a side (all soups, salads and condiments are vegan).

In order to hit as many places as we could, we visited some bakeries (see Alberta post plus one yet to come about the Cravin’ Raven) and took a very nice walk in Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge before tackling dinner. My original goal of trying Natural Selection was foiled by my not making reservations early enough, and Portobello was also warning us of a multi-hour wait, so we went instead to an old favorite: Van Hanh on Division and 82nd.

Van Hanh isn’t exactly known for stellar service. Some reviewers on Yelp report good results from investing a little effort to push past the language barrier and reserved demeanor of the main server, a Buddhist nun who has worked there for a long time. Others on Yelp, however, echo the experiences my sister and I have typically had, of slow and rather terse service. No matter: we go back without hesitation because the food’s excellent, the prices are very reasonable, and speaking for myself, I don’t need to be best friends with a server anyway. For what it’s worth, this time we had a different server, who was friendly though did bring one wrong dish based on mis-hearing what we’d ordered. It was promptly replaced with the right one, with no fuss.

Of the whole menu, the thing you want to make sure you order at Van Hanh is the lemongrass tofu sticks.


Tofu and thin, clear noodles wrapped around stalks of lemongrass. Sounds and looks a little odd; tastes fantastic! Tender, moist and flavorful.

We also got the Green Beans Combo (green beans with a mixture of all of their mock meats and tofu, in a delicious sauce), the Broccoli Combo (same thing with a different vegetable, and different spices in the sauce), and the Curry Vegetables Combo (shown below, with a light yellow curry sauce infused with fresh lemongrass flavor). I would enthusiastically recommend every one of those dishes. The vegetables are cooked just right, and their mock meats and tofu are all quite good.


Curry Vegetables Combo at Van Hanh

The next morning we hit Portobello right when they opened to make sure we got into their second week of offering brunch (they accept reservations for dinner, but not for brunch). Unexpectedly, we hit some hiccups in service there, too. Although the line of people who had showed up before they opened only filled about half the restaurant, we had to wait for seating because, oddly, there weren’t enough menus to go around. There was complimentary coffee available to sip while we waited, but all of us would have much preferred water to be available, which was not offered. This proved to be a theme for our meal, as our four-top table received only a little half-liter carafe of water to split, even though there were larger bottles sitting on nearby two-top tables. Our request to the server to keep the water coming met with limited success as well.

All of that said, we were all overwhelmingly happy with the brunch. Here’s what we got:


Roasted sweet potato, rootbeer, rum waffle with soy-free earth balance, Kraken rum & maple syrup macerated orchard fruits


Jud never misses a chance to try a Bloody Mary. This one used heirloom tomatoes that appeared to have been juiced raw (thus the unusual color, and a nice, fresh flavor), but the spicing was underwhelming. The mimosa I had was delicous, though!


Foreground: Spicy squash homefries with summer squash, roasted corn, and hot pepper homefries, cilantro-pistachio pesto & smoked paprika cashew crema; Middle: Farmer Mel’s autumnal green salad, a mix of brassicas, purslane, and calendula with vinaigrette; Background: Ota tofu frittata, an Italian-style baked vegan vegetable omelet with tomato sauce


Savory cornmeal waffle with spicy red beans, cashew ricotta, red onion agrodolce, roasted corn, and tomato sauce

The savory waffle was what I ordered, and as much as I really enjoyed all of the other things on the table, I must say that this was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. The variety and balance of textures and flavors was truly impressive, and each ingredient was prepared in such a way to maximize its flavor contribution to the dish. If this is on the menu when you go (since Portobello uses fresh, locally sourced ingredients, they do change their offerings frequently), I urge you to make sure someone at your table orders it. Both the savory waffle and the spicy squash homefries were gluten free.

As you can see, the presentation of the dishes is gorgeous, and the space is very pleasant as well, with plenty of reclaimed wood, high ceilings, and a wall of windows in the front to maximize natural light. I’m glad we got in while people were still discovering the brunch since I’m sure this will soon draw the long lines that afflict nearly every Portland brunch venue. Still, I’ll go back even if I have to take a book for the wait.

Portland’s Vegan Street of Dreams: Alberta

14 Oct

Last weekend Jud and I visited my sister and her boyfriend (both vegan) for some serious vegan food tourism in Portland. Even though I get down there a couple times a year and try to hit new places each time, Portland’s got so darn much going on in the vegan realm that I’d gotten behind. Trying to catch up, we hit well over a dozen businesses in a visit that was barely over 24 hours, and bought home so many treats that I’ve had to keep eating this week just to get through them all. The things I do for you!

Of course, we had a blast and discovered all kinds of wonderful things, which I will share with you in a series of posts. For starters, I’ll take you to a mile-long stretch of NE Alberta Street, which is so chock-full of vegan and vegan-friendly businesses that you could spend a long weekend there and not hit them all, assuming you’re eating like a sane person and not a manic blogger on a short timetable. And probably even then.

Want to patronize only veg*n businesses? No problem:

Dovetail Bakery
Dovetail is a cute, cozy little shop with lots of tempting choices in the case. Their scones are buttery, flaky without being dry, and not too sweet. Their cookies are large and soft, with just a bit of crispness. The Molasses-Ginger cookie was my favorite, though the sweet-salty cookie Jud tried, and the Double Dutch chocolate cookie I also got were plenty good as well. There’s a bit of sidewalk seating if the weather’s nice and tables inside if it’s not. Dovetail also wholesales extensively throughout Portland, so watch for their cakes at places like New Seasons.


A case full of vegan cookies, scones, muffins and more at Dovetail


Blackberry jam scone with vanilla glaze


Large, delicious cookies: Double Dutch on top, and still-warm Molasses-Ginger underneath


A Dovetail cake in the bakery case at New Seasons (this was in the Sellwood neighborhood of SE Portland). I was so sad I didn’t have room to try a piece of this!

Natural Selection
I learned the hard way that you should not take for granted seating at Natural Selection on a weekend. Even trying a few days in advance for a Saturday reservation, I was out of luck. So I can’t tell you much about this place except that I’m still dying to go there. The menu consists of two groups of four courses each, which you may mix and match. Everything is vegetarian. One group is all vegan; the other is mostly not, but tends to be gluten free. The space is elegant and tucked right between Vita Cafe and Dovetail Bakery. You can see pictures of the restaurant and some of their incredibly tempting food here. Next time, next time!

Sip Juice Cart
I’m still wishing I’d gotten a juice here, but alas, I did not. This cart, tucked into a lot on the south side of the street, sells juices, milkshakes, all manner of smoothies, and a lone granola bowl if you’re determined to chew something. Everything is vegan, and if I had tried something from their menu, I would have had a hard time picking just one.

Back to Eden Bakery
I’m starting to feel that a trip to Portland isn’t complete without a visit to Back to Eden. The space is bright, airy, comfortable and full of interesting (and delicious) things to look at.


A room full of treats at Back to Eden, where everything’s vegan.

In addition to soft serve, scooped ice cream from Luna and Larry’s, locally made truffles, cookbooks and a few dry goods, there is this spectacular case full of things you will want:


Savory and sweet on offer at Back to Eden. The Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (far left) were damn near perfection, and the Chocolate Rosemary Sea Salt Tart (far right), odd as it may sound, is also amazing.


See that empty spot in the case above? We got the last Boston Creme Pie. Rich and delicious, with balanced vanilla and chocolate flavors.

I also picked up a lip balm here from Crazy Rumors, which was one of my favorites of the seven vegan lip balms I recently tried.

The Bye and Bye
The Bye and Bye apparently believes in minimalism for its website, so I’m sorry I didn’t grab a photo of their menu. Fortunately, the Stumptown Vegans did a nice write-up a few years ago, with descriptions of much of their food and some good photos. It’s been more than a year since I was there, but I thoroughly enjoyed the food I had then and would gladly go back for a meal, a drink or both.

Vegan options at omni places

If you’re not wedded to going only to veg*n businesses, you’ll find even more places to enjoy on Alberta since it seems nearly everyone there caters to vegans, even if not exclusively. Here are just some of the places I spotted:

Vita Cafe
Vita Cafe is so vegan-friendly I often forget that they also serve meat. But with an extensive menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner, you could eat many, many meals here and never have the same thing twice. I’ve especially enjoyed the Thai Corn Cakes, the Fishwich and the Vegan Club Sandwich. They also have a large case of mouthwatering cakes right up front, many of which are vegan.

Suzette
Suzette is, as you might guess, a creperie, with a few vegan options. I haven’t been there, but the offerings for both sweet and savory crepes sound great. Suzette also serves wine, beer, hard cider and assorted hot and cold nonalcoholic beverages.

El Nutri-Taco Truck
A taco truck with the entire hood painted brightly with the word “Vegan” tends to catch my eye. And so it did on the south side of Alberta, near 19th Ave. NE. Sure enough, this omnivorous taco truck has an extensive vegan menu. If you’re looking for something quick, inexpensive and filling, this might just be the answer.

Baked!

What’s this? Made to order mac and cheese with an option to veganize? Sure enough, at Baked!

Not to be outdone, the Grilled Cheese Grill just down the street, a converted school bus selling more grilled cheese than you can shake a stick at, also offers an option to veganize their sandwiches.

Looking for something other than a restaurant or food cart?

You might stop in at the Alberta Co-op Grocery or shop for vegan shoes at Pie Footwear, which carries a nice selection of men’s and women’s shoes and clearly labels those that are vegan. There are also plenty of little boutiques to browse through as you wander. Or if a mile isn’t enough walking to work off all the food you eat, you could head a couple blocks north to Alberta Park, which has lots of trees and an off-leash dog area.

In short, if you just have a limited time in Portland I’d strongly recommend focusing on Alberta. For a super short visit, you’ll probably want to hit the four-business vegan mini-mall in Southeast, but for a pleasant area to stroll and explore and enjoy a wide range of eating, drinking and shopping, I don’t know of anywhere on the planet you can go for more places that cater to vegans.

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The lip-balm low-down

10 Oct

Don’t you hate carefully seeking out a vegan lip balm–and paying good money for it–only to discover that it sucks? I certainly do, and because I care for you, dear readers, I’m going to try to help you avoid this fate and instead shop confidently for your next lip-care needs.


Which one to choose? Read on!

Here’s the scoop on seven vegan lip balms I’ve purchased recently in Washington and Oregon. Did I miss your favorite? Please let me know in the comments!

Crazy Rumors Fresh Squeezed, Pink Grapefruit flavor (Based in Kennesaw, GA; Purchased in Portland at Back to Eden Bakery. Click for a Store Locator, or order direct online.) I love the texture and flavor of this lip balm. It goes on smooth even at room temp but avoids the oily feel that is tricky to avoid without using beeswax. The flavor is a delicious, authentic-tasting grapefruit flavor with just enough sweetness. Crazy Rumors makes a remarkable assortment of flavors and also has a line of tinted balms if you want some color. All of their balms are vegan.

Eco Lips Bee Free, Lemon-Lime flavor (Based in Cedar Rapids, IA; Purchased in Seattle at Whole Foods Market, Westlake. It was actually the only vegan lip balm carried in the store, among many containing beeswax). Click for a Store Locator, or order direct online.) The website says “We’re serious about the lemon-lime factor in this vegan lip balm.” They are not kidding. It is intense, which is a bummer for me because I rarely like lemon-lime flavor, and this was no exception. It tastes like cleaning products to me. But If you tend to like that flavor/scent, you’d probably love this, and the texture was also very good. This one “bee free” flavor is the only vegan product in their line.

Hurraw!, Chai Spice flavor (Based in Whitefish, MT; Purchased in Portland at Food Fight! Grocery. Click for a Store Locator, or order direct online.) There are a few notable things about Hurraw! One is that they use an oval, rather than a round tube. I love this because it prevents the tube from rolling around, which immediately nominated it for keeping on my nightstand, from which I’ve knocked many, many tubes of lip balm. It would also sit a little flatter in your pocket or purse, if that mattered. The other is that the company seems unusually dedicated to sourcing their products (including using almost entirely raw ingredients, for those who appreciate such things) and being thoughtful with packaging waste. Once again, there’s some excellent texture on this balm–possibly the best of the lot. I find the chai spice flavor just a tad sweet, but it is an extremely faithful rendering of that flavor–when I’m wearing the balm I feel like I’m smelling a fresh cup of chai in front of me. Hurraw! does make a balm with SPF 15 sun protection, which I’ve found in only one other vegan product (see below), as well as some tinted balms. I will definitely try their Sun balm next time I need one with SPF.

Lavera Sun15 (no flavor given) (Based in Germany; Purchased in Seattle at Madison Market. According to their website, it looks like this product may have been discontinued). I grabbed this because it was the only vegan lip balm I’d seen with any sun screen in it. The flavor is a mild vanilla one. The texture is ok, though a little dry/waxy/sticky, and the titanium dioxide has a noticeable whitening effect on your lips. Not ideal, but probably not too big a deal if you’re out skiing or on the water. Maybe not what you’d want to wear around daily, but if this product isn’t for sale much longer, that might not matter either.

The Merry Hempsters Vegan Hemp Balm, Natural flavor (Based in Eugene, OR; Purchased in Seattle at Madison Market. Click for a Store Locator, or order direct online.) The Merry Hempsters have been making vegan lip balm in Eugene for many years, and it’s a good product. I do find it a bit on the oily side, which is most noticeable when it’s been in your pocket. With all the other flavors I’d bought I decided to go unflavored with this one, but in the past I’ve bought and enjoyed their flavored products. It has the shortest ingredient list of the products I tried, with only six ingredients, and it is also the least expensive (listed on their website for $2.99, but I paid just $2.49 at Madison Market). Note that this company also sells a very similar-looking line of non-vegan lip balms, so be sure to read the label closely.

Moxie Organix, Lemon-Lavender and Coconut flavors (Based in Walla Walla, WA; Purchased in Walla Walla. Click for retail locations, or order direct online.) I am completely hooked on the lemon-lavender flavor of this stuff. The coconut is good also, but I love the uniqueness of the lemon-lavender and the interesting blend of fruit with floral flavors. I find the texture of this one just slightly oily as well, comparable to the Merry Hempsters, but not so much that it’s a problem. The company is all vegan, and also produces wonderful lotions and other body-care products.

T.M.B. (That’s my balm!), Cinnamon-Ginger-Mint flavor (Distributed from San Marcos, CA; Purchased in Seattle at Madison Market.) This one’s a bit of a mystery. I can’t find any trace of the product or brand online, and the distributor mentioned on the label, Valana Minerals, makes no mention of anything like this on their website. But that’s ok, because it’s a lousy product, and you should not buy it. The flavor sounds great, doesn’t it? Well, only after removing the crumbling end of the stick could I begin to taste even a hint of any of those things. Mostly, it tastes faintly of stale oils, and of little else. This is especially odd since the tube was not just sealed with a sticker like most of them, but was entirely shrink-wrapped as well. Further, the texture is dry, waxy, and a little gritty going on. It’s a little softer when it warms up, but then it goes from waxy to sticky. Adding insult to injury, this was also the most expensive one I bought, at $4.99 a tube. Oh well. At least you know better now.

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Sutra: When local foods get put to their highest use

7 Oct

When Sutra opened in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood in 2008, it was clear I needed to get myself there to check it out. Creative, gourmet, vegan food with a strong emphasis on local ingredients, sourced directly from farmers and foragers? Could there be a restaurant more suited to lure me in?


This week’s menu at Sutra, packed with fresh, seasonal delights.

I finally got myself there and immediately and unsurprisingly fell in love. The gushing colleague referenced in the lede of this Seattle Times review? That would be me.

At $35 a pop (which quickly turns into $55 with a glass of wine, tax and tip, or more if you go for the excellently chosen wine pairing menu, which splits just fine with your date) it’s not somewhere I can afford to go as often as I’d like, but still, I’ve been there about a half-dozen times and jump at any suggestion to go. It’s just that good, and it’s a chance to truly savor food and its origins that few restaurants can match.

Last night another coworker and I joined a roomful of other people who had waited until the last day to use their Groupon deals for the place, and we got treated, once again, to an extraordinary journey of food.

We sat at the bar, which offered a great view as each course of wonderful food was plated for the full house of 30 diners.


Course one: Habanero-Cinnamon-Cinderella Pumpkin Soup with an Arugula-Shaved Baby Fennel-Honey Crisp Apple-Arame Salad served with a Lemongrass-Miso dressing and Toasted Sesame Seeds

The salad was crisp, juicy, tart/sweet/salty. The arame seaweed had been rehydrated in a house-made ponzu sauce and was savory without being overpowering, as seaweed sometimes can. As one of the cooks explained, the soup got spicier overnight, so they added a drizzle of coconut milk to help cool it down. Alternating bites of soup and salad yielded a wonderful balance of heat and cool, refreshing flavor.


Course two: Lobster Mushroom-Parsley Root-Saffron-Hempseed Broth Gratin with a French Green Lentil-Grilled Eggplant-Nigella Dahl finished with Parsnip Chips.

This beautifully plated course had more muted flavors, but plenty of complexity and a nice variation in textures. I actually don’t like the flavor of saffron, which took a slight edge off this dish for me, but the preparation and presentation were excellent. The flower garnish added a surprising and perfectly suited burst of flavor, slightly orangey and pleasantly bitter. It should also be said that in my book, one can never go wrong with a mound of parsnip chips.


Course three: North Indian-Northwest Cauliflower-Beet-Fermented Cashew Cream Curry served with Toasted Fennel Seed-Basmati Rice. Sauteed Tatsoi and a Pluot-Clove-Urfa Biber Chutney finished with a Plum Wine-Black Lemon Gastrique.

The curry and the tatsoi were delicious, but I thought the most interesting part of this course was the chutney, with nice color and plenty of fresh-fruit flavor sparkling with moments of intensity from the coarsely ground spices.


Plating dessert. The flans were a little reluctant to leave their molds, but the warm sipping chocolate slid right into those cups.


Course four: Wild Blackberry-Cardamom-Coconut Flan served with Madagascar (Theo’s) Sipping Chocolate and Cacao Nib Brittle.

Dessert knocked our socks off. The intense-but-smooth blackberry flavor (not to mention color) of the flan, and the rich, velvety drinking chocolate were served in just the right amounts to pair perfectly with each other. And while the brittle tasted to us a little burnt, I discovered that eating it brought out much more of the coconut flavor in the flan, transforming it into a different experience.

One of the things I love about Sutra is how much they maximize the flavor and texture of each ingredient, never resorting to bland, starchy fillers the way so many restaurants do. The tiny pillar of rice in the third course was the only element in the whole meal that I would describe as neutral; everything else was flavor balanced against flavor, in just the right quantities and preparation to highlight the best things about each component. Overwhelmingly, I would consider the food to be whole food, with very limited reliance on refined products, yet the coarse textures and simplified flavors that I often associate with whole-foods diets are nowhere to be found. This is elegant, refined food, which happens to be minimally altered from the way it came out of the ground.

Beautiful, wonderful, and worth every penny.

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Chipotle-Peach Barbecue Sauce

7 Oct

Last summer, just as I maxed out my patience and storage space for canning, I threw together some produce I had for dinner into a chunky peach barbecue sauce, baked onto tempeh. It was so good I vowed to make and preserve a regular batch this season, and last week I did just that. The recipe below shows what I put in. Adjust to your taste–and what you have on hand–but this should point you in the right direction.


Ingredients mostly ready to go. Because I was making the recipe up as I went, not everything here made it in, and the agave nectar isn’t pictured. But you get the idea.

Chipotle-Peach Barbecue Sauce

1-2 Tbsp. oil, optional
2-1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (one large onion)
1/4 cup chopped garlic (I used four huge cloves of my favorite garlic.)
1 Tbsp. cumin, whole
1 Tbsp. yellow mustard seed, whole
1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, whole
1 tsp. smoked paprika (use more to sub for chipotle if you want smoky flavor without heat)
1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
3 canned chipotles in adobo sauce, adjusted to taste (I’m a spice wuss, so I seeded my peppers and wound up with roughly a 2.5- or 3-star sauce on a scale to 5.)
2 tsp. celery salt
5 lbs. peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped Roma tomatoes (using canned tomatoes would save a lot of time and often a bit of money, unless of course you grow your own tomatoes or have access to others for free or cheap)
2 lbs. peaches, (be sure to get freestone ones, or you’ll go nuts getting the pits out) peeled and chopped
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup or more roasted sweet peppers, any color, seeded and chopped (I used these from a jar)
3/4 cup agave nectar
3 Tbsp. molasses

Heat the oil over medium-low heat in a large, nonreactive pot (I used my 7-quart enameled Dutch oven). Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, translucent, and just starting to color. Meanwhile, grind the whole spices finely in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle. When the onions are ready, add the garlic and spices (including the powdered ones and the whole chipotles) to the pot. Cook another 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, to bring out the flavor in the spices. If you skip the oil and saute the onion and garlic in water instead, dry-toast the spices in a small pan before grinding and adding to the recipe to maximize their flavor.


Onions, garlic and spices. My kitchen smelled so good at this point!


Skinned yellow peaches, ready for pitting and chopping.


I decided to go for it and use only fresh Romas from Alvarez Farm, skipping the fire-roasted canned tomatoes I’d gotten as a back-up. Skinning and seeding tomatoes takes a fair bit of commotion and time. You can do whatever you’d prefer.

Add the tomatoes, peaches, roasted sweet peppers, vinegar, molasses and most of the agave nectar. Hold back maybe 1/4 cup in case you want your sauce less sweet than mine.


Getting saucy. Everything’s in; it’s time to cook, cook and cook some more.

Now is when you realize, if you’re me, that you should have started this process sooner. Or taken shortcuts. Or done this project on a Saturday. All that delicious juice from the tomatoes and peaches needs to be cooked down so the sauce is nice and thick. Keeping the heat relatively low to avoid scorching the bottom, and stirring now and then, cook for a couple hours, until most of the liquid is cooked down. At some point you need to blend the mixture (unless you want chunky sauce, which is tasty also), and it’s best to do this as late in the process as possible to keep the spattering to a minimum. If you have a spatter guard, you should use it with this recipe. If you don’t, this recipe will inspire you to buy one, and meanwhile you want to wear an oven mitt and long sleeves when stirring the pot.

When you think the sauce is about as thick as you want it (probably in 2-3 hours), purée it with an immersion blender or by pouring batches into an upright blender, being careful to vent the top of the blender jar to allow steam to escape when you run it. Once blended, check and adjust seasonings, and check the consistency. If needed, cook a bit more to achieve a nice, thick sauce that holds its shape at least a bit when you stir it.


If it hadn’t already been so far past bedtime, I would have cooked this a bit longer and blended it a bit smoother before processing.

While the sauce is cooking down, prepare your canning jars. This batch made just over 12 half-pints. Sterilize the jars, and heat the lids in a pan of water. Also bring your canner of water to a boil near the end of the cooking. When the sauce is ready, fill the jars, leaving 1/4″ headspace.


Almost ready to process.

Clean rims and threads, add lids, and screw on rings finger-tight. Process 20 minutes; once cooled, check for good seals and remove rings for storage.


A dozen jars of spicy, tangy, sweet goodness, ready for grilling or for gifts.

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Jodee’s Raw Desserts: Delicious decadence in Greenlake

2 Oct

I learned about Jodee’s Raw Desserts, as with so many good things around Seattle, from a blog post on Vegan Score.

Annika nailed her write-up and also paid more attention to things other than the samples I was swooning over, so I’ll leave you in her capable hands for the details. I will simply add that the four different pies I tasted yesterday (three were only tastes, I swear!) were all phenomenal, and I’ll give you some more pictures to look at to encourage you to go try these delights for yourself.


All those options made for some tough decisions. Overall, my favorite was the tiramisu (top right).


Chocolate-cherry pie: Deep and rich chocolate and cherry flavors, with juicy pieces of cherry studding the creaminess. The fork somehow makes this slice look tiny. Trust me, with this kind of richness it was plenty of dessert.


Pecan praline pie: Super rich and somehow even buttery-tasting, not to mention gorgeous. I enjoyed bites of this, but I think a whole piece might have been a bit too sweet for me.

The fourth pie I tasted was the “Autumn pie” (bottom center of the case above), which included pumpkin and pumpkin-pie seasonings, and was delicious. Next time I’m going after that key lime.

If you’re in Capitol Hill, you can also get Jodee’s desserts at Cafe Kanape or at Central Co-op’s Madison Market, and if you’re a member of Vegetarians of Washington, your membership card will get you a 15% discount in the Greenlake location.

Autumn White Lasagna

2 Oct

What with all the autumnal weather and winter squashes on sale, it seems high time for lots of warm, filling, comforting food. I said “acorn squash”; Jud said “lasagna?” and we were off.


Served with Jud’s signature roasted-beet salad with fresh dill.

The lasagna turned out great, and it’s a recipe that would be easy to make soy free and/or commercial-cheez free, if needed or preferred.

Autumn White Lasagna
Makes a 9″x13″ pan, easily serving six

12 lasagna noodles, precooked (I wouldn’t recommend the no-boil ones for this recipe since the dish might turn out dry. Bonus if you can find whole-wheat noodles)
1 medium head cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. oil
pinch of salt
2-1/2 lbs. winter squash, peeled and roasted until very tender (cutting in pieces first will speed up this process and help avoid excess moisture in the finished product, but if you have precooked squash or want to just throw the thing whole into the oven to peel and seed once cooked, go for it.)
1 lb. chopped frozen spinach, thawed
1/3 cup Earth Balance or oil
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh garlic
1/2 cup flour
3 cups unsweetened soy or other milk (important to use unsweetened here, since the other ingredients are already fairly sweet)
dash nutmeg
salt to taste
1 tsp. dried whole thyme (or rubbed sage, or a mixture of two)
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1-2 tsp. garlic salt
2 Tbsp. lemon juice or white wine vinegar
1 package Daiya mozzarella

Preheat oven to 400. Combine cauliflower, onion and oil and pinch of salt in a shallow pan and roast until tender and starting to brown. We roasted the squash at the same time. Stir once or twice during cooking. When done, reduce oven temp to 350.

While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the béchamel sauce. In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat, sauté the garlic in the margarine or oil 1-2 minutes, not allowing the garlic to color. Add the flour and stir well, cooking mixture while stirring until the color deepens slightly to a light golden brown. Quickly whisk in the soy milk and continue whisking to smooth out any lumps while the sauce thickens. Add the nutmeg and a dash of salt, then check seasoning. Cook until sauce is the consistency of heavy cream.

When the squash is ready, mash it coarsely together with the spinach, thyme, pepper, garlic salt and lemon juice or vinegar. Check seasonings and adjust as needed.

To assemble, pour a couple tablespoons of béchamel into the bottom of the pan and spread thinly to coat. Lay down a layer of noodles (three fit perfectly for us, but trim noodles as needed to fit), then carefully spread on 1/3 of the squash mixture followed with 1/3 of the cauliflower and onions.

Top with 1/4 of the sauce, drizzled on as evenly as you can. Lightly sprinkle with 1/4 of the mozzarella.

Repeat with two more layers of noodles, vegetables, sauce and cheese. Top with a final layer of noodles, thinly coated with sauce and sprinkled with the remaining cheese.

Bake 45 minutes at 350, or until bubbling around all the edges and just starting to brown on top. A glass baking pan will make it easier to see when it’s done.


Rich, velvety, vegetable-filled lasagna.

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