Vine and Dine - Candle Cafe - Seitan Picatta with White Wine and Caper Sauce

Welcome to another edition of Vine and Dine where Phat Freddie and I attempt to pair vegan wines with fabulous vegan recipes from different cook books. This challenge is actually brought to you by the bright mind of Tamasin Noyes from Vegan Appetite. She so kindly invited us to participate along with Liz and Matthew of Cooking the Vegan Books. Vegan Aide of Weekly Vegan Menu and her honey David have joined the ranks. I'm so excited we have so many participating. It's exciting finding more vegan wines to choose from!

This week's adventure in food comes from the Candle Cafe Cookbook by Joy Pierson and Bart Potenza. For those of you who may not know, Candle Cafe is a very famous vegan restaurant in New York. This book gives away some of their famous recipes for the home cook to recreate.

I've had this book for a very long time. I've only made a couple of things from it since I bought it a few years ago and I have to say, I've liked everything I've made so far. The Seitan Piccata with White Wine and Caper Sauce (pg. 119) is no exception. This challenge also included the Sauteed Mixed Greens (pg 147). We decided to forgo the garlic mashed potatoes this time. I was potato-ed out from the last Food Network Friday. I made a huge batch of potatoes and we ate them all last week. I opted to make a simple batch of quinoa with crushed garlic cloves instead.

This was a nice, quick, easy and truly impressive dish. I used my own beefy seitan recipe. I had a couple of thick cutlets in the freezer that I thawed out for the occasion. I sliced them in half lengthwise. I dredged them in the whole wheat flour. I used the left over flour to thicken the sauce rather than using AP. I was excited to be able to use onions and parsley from the garden and lemons from Ty and Ry's tree. For once I read the recipe ahead of time, so the meal was timed well. I started the quinoa before I started the main event. I thought of using the wine Fred picked for the sauce, but then thought better of it. I had a partial bottle of white in the fridge, so I was able to reserve his selection for drinking! I love the combination of the piquant capers, white wine and tart lemon, so I knew this dish would work for me. What I didn't expect was how quick and easy it was to make. I'd make this anytime; for a quick weeknight meal or to impress guests.

I don't know what the heck happened with our greens. They were crazy bitter. I used a combo of purple kale and collard greens. I didn't have the optional bacon bits, so I added just a sprinkle of liquid smoke. The first bite gave me bitter beer face, but they were salvageable with the yummy picatta sauce. I am a huge potato lover, so it was surprising even to me that I chose not to make them tonight. I was so happy I opted for the quinoa. It a perfect complement. It was over 100 here today, so we wanted a bit lighter side dish and this did the trick. We both really like this dish. Two thumbs up.

HERE'S PHAT FREDDY!

Kim's dinner tonight was one of my favorites but my wine selection faltered, I had wanted Kim to meet the guy at Total Wines that helps me the most but he was not on shift. Number two expert stepped up and in less than two minutes lost us when he said the weather in Napa does not affect the vineyards and wines very much.......(What the F*&^ dude) so we helped ourselves. What I did notice, as he tried to help Kim, he was product pushing rather than helping find what we were looking for, wrong move with me buddy!  

Another problem we had was, we spent so much time making sure our wine was vegan I did not make sure it would compliment our meal, shoot!. We did find a "Sterling" Sauvignon Blanc, (2009) which is a very nice summer wine, bright with what they say is honeydew, lemon and lime zest but with our dinner came across as having more of a grapefruit characteristic. Although it didn't work with this dinner, at $11.99 for the bottle, it didn't break the bank either. I think it would be great as a spritzer by the pool, not as a dinner wine.

According to Barnivore, all of Sterling's white wines are vegan, SCORE! I have, over the years, had a few glasses of Sterling because it is reliable and good. This was before I knew what veganism was, so there you go. Kim's dinner had lemon in it and maybe that is why our wine was too bright on the tongue. I am trying to find a correlation of sorts between vegan wine lists on line and what is actually available at the store, all I can say is I am always looking and we'll see.

Naturally Nutty Pepita Sun Seed Butter - Giveaway!!

I know that many people out there would die without their peanut butter fix, but there is something even more awesome out there. A while back I happened upon an incredible nut butter. This isn't your basic peanut, cashew or almond butter, oh no! This one is loaded with lots of omega 3's. I'd like to introduce you to Naturally Nutty Pepita Sun Seed Butter. This tasty treat is a fantastic combination of roasted seeds with a slight hint of cinnamon that I just love. It is outstanding slathered on a piece of bread or toast. It has such great flavor, you don't need anything else with it.

Ingredients: Organic Roasted Pepita Seeds, Organic Flax Seeds, Organic Roasted Sunflower Seeds, Organic Hemp Seeds, Organic Vanilla Powder (Organic Vanilla Bean, Organic Sucrose), Organic Allspice, Organic Cinnamon, Sea Salt. Vegan, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free, Nut Free

The owner, Katie Kearney, of Naturally Nutty, is a vegan mom out of the midwest. She really wanted to produce a healthy product for her family. She has come up with a fantastic line of organic nut butters. Most of the products in the line are vegan. Via e-mail she told me that any future products they develop will be vegan. The website is awesome. The products are clearly labeled for dietary requirements like vegan, gluten free, sugar free, etc. Her products are incredible and I just love supporting a family owned business. Click here to check out Naturally Nutty's other products.

Katie has generously donated a 5 pound container of my favorite Pepita Sun Seed Butter. This is a huge container so you can share with your friends!! Just leave a comment about how you would use this nut butter or your favorite nut butter. The winner will be picked at random on Friday, June 17, 2011 (date extended!). So make sure to post by Thursday night. Please make sure that I can get in touch with you if you are the winner! (This one is for US residents only).

Here is what I dreamed up for the Pepita Sun Seed Butter.

Chocolate Covered Nutty Frozen Bananas

6 Servings

3 large bananas
3/4 cup Pepita Sun Seed Butter
12 oz vegan chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 cup salted pepitas (shelled pumpkins seeds) roughly chopped
Six craft sticks

Peel bananas. Cut bananas in half length-wise. Spread 1/4 cup or so nut butter on one half of the banana. Place other half of the banana on top. Cut in half width-wise. Insert craft stick in the flat end of banana half. Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with other two bananas. Freeze bananas for 2 hours to make sure bananas are frozen all the way through.

Place chocolate chips in top of double boiler. Over low heat, gently heat chips until they are almost melted. Pull of heat to let the last few pieces of chocolate melt, stirring occasionally. Let cool for 5 minutes.

While the chocolate cools, place pepitas on a small flat plate. Take prepared bananas out of freezer. Working quickly, dip the bananas in the chocolate to cover. You can also use a flexible rubber spatula to coat bananas. Before chocolate hardens roll chocolate coated bananas in pepitas. Place back on the parchment lined cookie sheet and place back in the freezer for about an hour. Serve immediately or cover with plastic wrap. Can keep in the freezer for up to two days for best results.

Food Network Friday - Guy Fieri's Chicken and the Bodacious Bulb

Food Network Friday marches on. Check out the wrap up at Vegan Appetite

I am very late posting, but it was a very busy week last week. I didn't have much kitchen time. Tonight I took a crack at Guy Fieri's Chicken and the Bodacious Bulb.

For this recipe I think I used 7 pans! For the stock, I used Bill's Chickn-ish Seasoning, Better than Bouillon Organic Veggie base in 4 cups of water. I decided to roast the celery, carrots, onions and I added mushrooms and whole peppercorns. I put the roasted vegetables in the broth along with the garlic in cheese cloth. I did sub Earth Balance for the garlic oil so that I would have plenty for frying. Somehow I missed the instructions that said to put the garlic in the roux. This misstep made me miss out on some serious extra garlic flavor I'm sure.

For the chicken, I used tempeh. It was steamed first. Then it took a bath in some soy milk. It was coated with a mixture of corn starch and panko crumbs seasoned with granulated garlic, smoked paprika, salt and pepper. Using the garlic oil to fry, the tempeh wound up with a really crispy crunchy crust. The coating was pretty awesome!

I did use the garlic cloves in some very tasty mashed potatoes. Those were made from red new potatoes whipped with the garlic cloves, a touch of Earth Balance, salt pepper and as an added bonus, I added some Bubbies horseradish to give them a little kick. The plate was finished of with some roasted broccoli that was tossed in a bit of the garlic oil, diced organic tomatoes, fresh parsley from the garden and the crispy fried sliced garlic.  I am usually a pretty big fan of tempeh, but for some reason even after steaming, it was a bit bitter. It might be better if it was marinated in something first. I think this might actually be better with marinated tofu. 

This one didn't sing to me. It seemed very heavy and high in calories and the flavor was not as good as I expected (this could be partly because of the garlic exclusion in the gravy, and not the recipe). I'm not sure I'd go for this one again. It could be personal preference, or it could be that I have been eating way too much rich food the past couple of weeks and I'm over salted and burned out on rich stuff. Fred said he drank 6 glasses of water after eating this, so maybe my broth had too much sodium. My fingers are still puffy. But I did love the garlic oil, so that is a win.

21 is Sweet

This month my niece turned 21. It is hard to believe that she was only 7 months old when I moved to Arizona. She has really become a beautiful, caring, compassionate, creative and wonderful woman. Her love of family and friends is amazing. She is one person that is so pleasant and easy to be around. I am so proud of her and how far she has come.  I can hardly wait to see where the next chapter of life takes her.

To celebrate the big 2 - 1. We had a Mustache (the mustaches are vegan hee hee) Cocktail Party. I was in charge of desserts. My sister requested that I make some mini cupcakes with edible glitter on them. I decided to make the basic vanilla cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World. I added a touch of pink champagne to the batter. They were topped with a pink champagne buttercream, said edible glitter and marzipan 21's. To me chocolate is a must at any chick celebration, so I made two versions of truffles: chili chocolate and Kahlua. My recipe is still in progress. I am not totally happy with the texture, but they were rich and chocolate!

Happy Birthday Riley!

Vine and Dine - Voluptuous Vegan - OMG Raviolis!!

OK, so they aren't really called OMG raviolis, but they should be. This was the second V & D that featured Voluptuous Vegan by Myra Kornfeld. This week's Dine part of vine and dine was the Herbed Ravioli with Porcini Pesto and Tofu "Ricotta" (pg. 185) and Basil-Walnut Pesto (pg. 187). I will get to the OMG part, but I have a few other things to cover first. Don't forget to see what my other Vine and Dine buddies had to say about his dish and see what wines they paired with it at Vegan Appetite!

I had two really messed up errors in the kitchen today. First, while I was making biscuits for breakfast I added corn starch instead of baking powder...hello hockey pucks. Seriously, sometimes I think I'm really losing my mind. Have I never been in a kitchen before? Who puts cornstarch in biscuits? I can't even think of an excuse. The crazy mishap ended up being a blessing in disguise. I have been trying to come up with some breakfast items for the cookbook I am hoping will materialize in the near future. I regrouped and came up with a damned good southwestern biscuit that you will see in the future.

Next up, error number two. Well I guess we are going to have to call this challenge numbers two and three. A couple of weeks ago, I went about purging as I try to do every few years. I got a little over zealous and donated my pasta maker to a charity garage sale. Duh!!! This was something in my repertoire I actually do use! I had to hunt another one down for the ravioli. I headed over to Sur la Table aka Empty My Wallet, to see if they had said device. They did, but it was $75.00. Ouch. I fired up my trusty droid and found that Bed, Bath and Beyond had just what I needed for $34.99. I dragged my poor sister to the next store and scored my piece de resistance. With my trusty pasta maker in hand, I headed back to the casa. Here is where things got interesting yet again.

I headed out to the herb garden and the chive patch and rustled up some incredibly herbaceous herbs. (seen below) and got to chopping. It is amazing the volume of fresh herbs it takes to equal 1/3 cup finely minced. All proud of my mad mincing skills, I set about making the pasta dough. In this recipe, silken tofu stand in for the eggs traditionally found in many pasta doughs. I whipped up my tofu mixture and started kneading away as my trusty mama looked on. The dough was quite obviously dry and really not coming together. After a bit of kneading and water adding, I realized something was amiss. I looked over my ingredient list and much to my horror realized I had forgotten to add the olive oil to my tofu mixture. The big bummer about this, is that there was really no recovering the dough that I had trashed and the fresh herbs I had wasted. The herbs, my precious herbs, so sad. Luckily I had more to gather and mince.

The second batch was much improved. I started kneading away, when I thought, hey, there are 4 people watching me work away. I thought, hmmm, maybe I can talk one of them into kneading the dough. My lovely sister was more than willing to get her arm work out for the day. My mom said she could see me grinning as my sister was doing all the hard labor. Hee hee. Memories of childhood when I would promise to make it home to do my chores before Mom got home from work. Jackie would always end up having to pick up the slack and do all of my work.

Actually, it makes me ridiculously happy when my family cooks with me. We had a lot of this going on during Mom's trip. As is often the case in the arid desert climate, I had to add more water to the dough to get it to the right consistency. I had a few challenges getting the dough to roll out in a nice sheet. But after a few trials and tribulations, we finally got some good sheets!

Here is how it all went together.

The tofu ricotta and porcini pesto came together easily. I must admit I was a little concerned with the amount of rosemary in the ricotta recipe. Rosemary is a very potent herb and can overpower if not used with discretion. But I'm happy to say my concerns were for naught.  The fresh herbs stole the show. They were everywhere: in the pasta dough, in the porcini pesto and the Basil-Walnut Pesto. I'm so happy we have our own herb garden, because super fresh herbs are the bomb! I absolutely adored the herbed pasta dough. The miso in the tofu ricotta and the pesto added the perfect amount of saltiness. Pine nuts are crazy expensive, so I used walnuts in porcini pesto. I tasted the ravioli naked before dunking in the pesto. They were incredible. The pesto was just an added treat. There was so much going on, creamy richness, earthy mushroom tones and of course the sunny flavor of all those fresh herbs! Gastronomic bliss.

Myra suggested serving this with her roasted pepper recipe. I am kind of a freak about using organic peppers and no fresh ones were available. So I cheated. I bought some crook neck squash and sauteed them in olive oil with dried oregano, thyme, granulated garlic, salt and pepper (which gave the plate a nice color contrast) and topped it with jarred organic sliced roasted red peppers. To round out the meal we found a really nice local baked multigrain bread. I made a garlic butter with Earth Balance, Carla Kelley's Cheezy Mix, fresh minced garlic and minced parsley (from the garden of course).

Fred, Mom and I were doing a lot of mmmm and ohhhhh-ing over this one. Mom has eaten a lot of vegan dishes a la Kim. She said that this one didn't taste vegan at all. Now mind you, mom doesn't turn her nose up at vegan food, she just wanted to make a point that no one would be able to tell it was vegan. I love her for so many reasons and her open mindedness when it come to trying anything I cook is just one of them. She's been here for two Vine and Dines this month. Sure wish we wasn't heading home as I'd love to do a few more for her!!

HEEEEEERE'S Phat Freddie's Wine Review

An " Andrew Peace" (remember this one) was our vegan red wine tonight (confirmed vegan). A 2009, again seems to be a good year for reds, mixture of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, and the deal maker or breaker, Mataro. This is an Australian (family owned) winery who do make a number of vegan wines, in fact I am finding Australia seems to be more vegan friendly in this arena than most other countries that have produced for a much longer time. As of today, Australia is the fourth leading exporter of wines in the world, so there must a reason or two. I think one of those reasons is innovation, hence our wine tonight. The Mataro grape is an earthy, blackberry driven grape that needs an ample water supply but can take more heat than most. It is higher in taninns and can be high in alcohol content when conditions are right. I think that is why they mixed it with the other three grapes to make it a more interesting, characterized wine. It worked for me. Kim's very organic, herbal dinner was a mid tongue blessing and I reveled in the mild but yet fruit forward blackberryness with pepper chasing a slight tobacco taste that covered the rest of my tongue. Kim and her mother would have rather stayed in their comfort zone with their food, not so much blackberry forwardness, perhaps a touch softer in the tannin area. All three of us agreed it was a very nice wine and would suggest it to friends in any occasion. In fact, I am one of my best friends and I believe I will find a couple of "Peace" wines in our fridge in the near future.


DON'T FORGET TO CHECK BACK FRIDAY FOR MY VEGANIZED VERSION OF THIS GUY FIERI RECIPE FOR FOOD NETWORK FRIDAY! Delay of game. I am behind on my FNF so this will not appear until Monday or so.

Feelin' the Love - On the dinner plate

Whether he will admit it or not, Fred loves to shop. He loves to chat with the employees, the customers...just about anyone who comes across his path. He will spend hours toiling over labels, samples, new ingredients or just plain shooting the breeze. This is one of the reasons I totally love him, but it is also the reason I try not to get hung up on time frames if I need ingredients for something I am hoping to make on a given day. He has gotten into the very helpful habit of asking me if I need something right away before he heads out. This has saved me much time waiting and has saved him from getting that heavy sigh and disappointed look from me. (I have been told more than once that it is stressful to shop for me by both Fred and my sister...when did I become the kitchen nazi/diva?)

The other day I asked Fred if he could pick a few things up a the store for me (4 things to be exact). My mom said he left the house with his list of 4 things and disappeared. Several hours later, Fred reappeared at the house with several full shopping bags. He had purchased quite a variety of fresh produce and no less than 3 different kinds of mustard. As he kept pulling little surprises out of the bags, I couldn't help but smile and think of how many other women wished this was going on in their kitchen with their man. The point of this blathering is that we had a lot of produce that we needed to use before it went bad. Which meant a whole lot of cooking needed to be happening while I was working a long string of 12 hour days. 

I did my best to whip up some simple dishes so that very little would go to waste, but by the 9th day, I was spent. I requested that Fred marinate some asparagus and throw some potatoes in the oven at 530pm so that I could make the rest of the dinner when I got home at 630pm. You might ask why I was making dinner rather than Fred? Fred is usually more than willing to cook occasionally when he is off of work and I am working like a crazy woman. However, Fred suffers from a chronic case of distraction. I am tempted to say ADD, but his is self induced. He always sees things that need to be done or things that interest him and off he goes. Often, when this happens, dinner will not materialize until close to 9pm. When you get up at 430am, this proves to be a bit problematic. I had fully intended on coming home and making the rest of the meal so an early bed time would be mine.

When I walked in the door, my adorable honey, my mom and my sis were all hanging out and there were some non-potato smells coming from the kitchen. I was so thrilled to learn that Fred et al had teamed up to make dinner, so that I could just relax. So NICE!!! Fred not only baked the potatoes and marinated the asparagus, he steamed some wonderful veggies (carrots and onions from our garden were included) and grilled the asparagus. My sister made some beautiful Quinoa Stuffed Peppers she found on Vegetarian Times website. She left the cheese off of a couple so they would be vegan. Mom (even though she is here "on vacation") has been pulling dish duty on a regular basis this week. To say I was grateful would be a horrible understatement. It was such a nice treat and truly awesome. I love my family!!! I hope you all get to feel the love this way soon. It does the soul good!

Stuffed Wild Mushroom Manicotti

This weekend we headed up to the Grand Canyon. If you have never been there, it truly is a wonder of the world. However, the food service outlets are average at best. For the second time at the North Rim, the restaurant greatly disappointed our group. Last year the service was deplorable and the food cold. This year we thought we'd give them another try. We had a 645pm reservation. At 645pm we were told that two tour busses had come in and we wouldn't be seated for at least an hour. Are you kidding me? You have to make reservations far in advance for the dining room. Our group was getting up at 3am to hike. This was completely unacceptable and we will not spend our hard earned money there again.

We opted for the deli which had very few vegan options...not really any on the menu itself, but you could work it out. I ended up eating a lot of fried vegetables and chips. Yuck!! I did finally find a nice salad and a baked potato to hold me over. So you can imagine when I got home I was ready for some real, tasty, vegan fare. I was planning on doing something quick as I was pretty sleep deprived. Then I got this bug to get a bit more creative. I've been wanting to develop my own version of tofu-cashew ricotta for an upcoming Valley Dish appearance...and so I did. I decided to take it for a spin in these delicious stuffed manicotti. I still need to do a little work on the sauce, but you really could use your favorite marinara sauce on these with great success. I used a red-pepper sauce that I am toying with and don't quite have perfected. It was fantastic on this! Below I have posted a different sauce than I used, but this one is already tested and really yummy!

Stuffed Wild Mushroom Manicotti

Makes 10 Manicotti

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 shallot, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ black pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

2 tablespoons red wine

1/4 lb. Oyster Mushrooms, medium dice (about 2 cups)

1 large portobello, fins removed, medium dice (about 2 cups)

1 recipe Tofu-Cashew Ricotta (recipe below)

10 manicotti shells (cook up a few extra to compensate for any ripped pasta)

2 cups of marinara or your favorite red sauce* (or I have posted a recipe below)

Vegan Mozzarella or Vegan Parmesan (optional)

In a 12 inch cast iron pan or skillet heat olive oil over medium heat. Add shallots and saute until just soft, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add black pepper, salt and oregano and combine. Deglaze with red wine. Saute until liquid is almost gone. About 2 minutes. Add diced mushrooms. Saute until they are almost dry, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare manicotti according to package directions. Drain and let cool. 

While the pasta is cooking, prepare Tofu-Cashew Ricotta (recipe below).

In medium bowl combine the cooled mushroom mixture and the Tofu-Cashew Ricotta. Put mixture into a large pastry bag with no tip. Using your best pastry bag skills. Fill each pasta tube with the filling by squeezing mixture in slowly. Place each stuffed tube in a lightly oiled 9 x 13 pan. When all 10 are filled and in the pan, spread sauce over the top. Sprinkle on cheese (if using). Bake covered for 30 minutes, then uncovered for the last 5 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving. 

Tofu-Cashew Ricotta

1/3 cup raw cashews

1 – 14 oz. firm tofu, water squeezed out

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

½ cup loosely packed basil, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon oregano, roughly chopped

2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

¼ black pepper

Place cashews in a small bowl with enough water to cover and come over about 1 inch. Let soak for an hour or longer.

Drain cashews. In large food processor bowl, place cashews and remaining ingredients. Pulse to mix ingredients. Process until smooth (about 5 minutes), scraping sides of processor bowl as necessary. 

Serve this with a simple salad or simple grilled vegetables for a nice filling meal.

* I like a lot of sauce, so if you are like me use 3 cups so you will have some on the side to slather on the pasta.

Roasted Pepper and Garlic Marinara

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 large roasted red bell pepper, peeled, seeded and finely diced

1 head roasted garlic, peeled and chopped fine*

1 28 oz can fire roasted crushed tomatoes

1 15 oz can diced fire roasted tomatoes

1 teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon dried leaf thyme

½ teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon crushed red pepper

Fresh cracked black pepper to taste

In a large sauce pan over medium heat sauté garlic in olive oil until fragrant, 30-45 seconds. Add red pepper and roasted garlic and sauté for another minute or so. Add remaining ingredients. Let simmer on low for about 30 minutes to let the flavors really develop and meld. If you like a smoother sauce, feel free to blend with a stick blender, in a food processor, or blender. This will be even better the next day.

* To roast garlic, peel outer white layers off of garlic head. Cut top of head off to just barely expose cloves. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes depending on the size of the head. It is done when the garlic will feel soft like a sponge. Squeeze each individual clove to get the beautiful garlic "meat" out. A note of caution, make sure you let your garlic cool before attempting to squeeze the garlic out. It is extremely hot when it first comes out of the oven.