Crispy Zucchini Havarti Purses with a Rustic Roma Tomato Sauce

Once upon a time, I worked at a little family owned joint in Illinois. The owner was this crazy, spastic guy from New York. His cooking skills weren't always the best, but every once in a while, he would come up with some really unique and successful ideas. One of the ideas he came up with was a unique way to make cheese sticks. He took rectangular chunks of mozzarella cheese, wrapped them in full sized wonton wrappers and threw those bad boys in the fryer. They were pretty amazing; creamy and gooey on the inside and super crispy on the outside. That was my inspiration for this creation. I opted to use mini wrappers, just to make myself feel less guilty, plus they are darn cute that way.

I've been hearing and seeing all sorts of yummy things about Daiya Havarti wedges. Happily I was able to find it at Whole Foods, Sprouts and Green New American Vegetarian. Admittedly, I'm not the biggest user of the faux cheeses, but have been pretty pleased in the past with Daiya's products in some of my dishes. I'm going to tell you right off, this might be my favorite flavor from Daiya Foods yet. I love the super creamy texture. The jalapenos give just a hint of zing that makes your mouth go, hmmmm dats good. It really melts well too! It's a little bit salty, so keep that in mind when you create your own dishes. You won't need to add much salt to them.

Below is the very simple recipe for these tasty little morsels with a complete pictorial below the recipe.

Crispy Zucchini Havarti Purses with a Rustic Roma Tomato Sauce

Makes 25 purses

25 mini wonton wrappers
1 cup shredded zucchini, un-peeled
1/2 wedge of Daiya Jalapeno Garlic Havarti
water for sealing purses
1 quart canola oil for frying
1 recipe Rustic Roma Tomato Sauce (recipe below)

Heat oil in 10 inch iron skillet or stainless steel pan (do not us a non-stick pan) to 350 degrees. Make sure oil is up to the proper temperature before adding purses.

Dampen a kitchen towel to cover the wonton wrappers with while you are preparing. This will prevent them from drying out. Working quickly with 5 wrappers at a time. Lay the wrappers out on your work surface. Place 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons shredded zucchini in the center of each wonton wrapper. Then place 1/2 teaspoon havarti on top.

Put a bit of water in a small bowl. Using your finger, slightly wet all sides of the wonton wrapper.

Take two opposite corners and press them together. 

Take the two remaining corners and fold them into the center.

Gently pinch the straight edges together to complete forming the purses.

Here is what they should look like before they go for a swim in the oil.

Gently place the purses flat side down in the oil without crowding the pan. I recommend cooking only 5 at a time for that perfect golden color and crunchy texture. Fry for 2-3 minutes until the bottom sides are golden brown. Gently and carefully turn the purses over and cook for 2-3 more minutes until the other side is golden brown. Drain on paper towels. 

These are molten hot when they come out of the oil, so wait at least 5 minutes before eating them or you will think I am evil! Serve with warm Rustic Roma Tomato Sauce (recipe below).

While gardens in many parts of the country are producing beautiful and plentiful harvests, our gardens here in AZ struggle with the intense heat. Our garden has all but pooped out. We have a few leeks and tiny jalapenos and that is about it. However, some of my friends are having better luck. Once again, my friend Scott brought me some goodies from his garden. This time he brought more zucchini and some awesome Roma tomatoes. The Romas were ripening very quickly. They were a bit too soft to eat straight up or even in a salad, so I decided to make a simple yet tasty rustic tomato sauce.

Check out those pretty tomatoes.

Rustic Roma Tomato Sauce

Makes 2 1/2 cups

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic minced

1 small red onion, diced small (about 1/2 scant cup)

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon dry red wine

2 pounds organic Roma tomatoes cut lengthwise into 6 wedges

1/4 cup vegetable stock

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, saute garlic and onions until onions are just starting to soften, about 5 minutes. Add oregano, basil, salt and black pepper. Saute for about 1 minute until herbs get fragrant. Add red wine and saute until liquid is absorbed, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and vegetable stock. Reduce heat to low and simmer for one hour. Sauce can be served immediately, but it is even better reheated! 

I couldn't help myself, I had to pay homage to Beady-eyed Bob, the crazy New Yorker. After we pigged out on the purses, I made a couple of mini cheeze sticks using just the Daiya. I rolled them egg roll style. Oh crazy rich awesomeness. I'm in love. Check out the melty awesomeness.

National Heat Wave = NO OVEN!

I know that many parts of the country are experiencing a crazy heat wave this week. Arizonans are more used to it than others, but still. It might be a dry heat, but 113 is flipping HOT no matter how you slice it. This time of the year I don't like to add even one bit of heat to the house, but we do have to eat.

Fred and I are both trying to shed many unwanted pounds that have been hanging around for the past couple of years. His eating plan is pretty restrictive (that's an understatement) and not vegan friendly. I am doing my very best to support his efforts by shopping and making the veggie portion of his stuff. We've been eating lots of yummy tender asparagus, green beans, salads, etc. It is not super exciting stuff and certainly not blog material as it is a lot of the same stuff. This is why I have been again neglecting the poor blog.

Yesterday my good friend Scott mentioned that he had a crazy amount of zucchini he needed to find a home for. So today we met him for some coffee and great conversation. He not only brought some fantastic zucchini, he also brought some succulent roma tomatoes, yummy carrots, banana peppers and a leek. I have some plans for the zucchini, some of which will not fit into our diet plan. I'm going to (oh the horror) turn on the oven and bake some zucchini bread while Fred is out of the house.

Today I took advantage of Scott's tomatoes and carrots. I stopped at Whole Foods to pick up some organic kale. Man was I psyched to find big, beautiful bunches of green kale on sale for only $1.50. I had some Trader Joe's savory tofu in my fridge and some sweet onions from my garden. Armed with all kinds of yummy COLD ingredients, I went about whipping up a perfect summer lunch. This simple, quick, easy, filling and delicious salad is perfect for eating healthy on the fly and keeping the kitchen cool.

Massaged Kale Salad with Baked Savory Tofu


Makes 2 Big Salads

1 large bunch green kale, about 8 cups, washed and torn into bite sized pieces
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (can sub your favorite vinegar)
4 roma tomatoes, diced
1 large or 2 small carrots, sliced thin
1/2 small sweet white onion, thinly sliced
1-7 oz. package Trader Joe's Organic Baked Tofu (Savory Flavor)...feel free to sub any pre-cooked flavored tofu, diced
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Place kale into a large non-reactive bowl. Toss with olive oil and vinegar. Gently massage mixture until the kale get slightly softened. Toss in tomatoes, sliced carrots, white onion and tofu. Sprinkle with garlic salt. Pepper to taste. Toss and serve immediately.

Beluga Lentil Bruschetta

Today is the official first day of summer. In the Phoenix area we start summer much earlier. It has been super hot here for weeks now. This time of the year the oven is avoided at all costs. I love cold foods from June to September, I swear. 

The other day, Fred mentioned that the pantry overfloweth. He thought I should think about using some of the dried treasures on the shelves. Quite some time ago I bought some Beluga lentils for a recipe. I only used half the bag, so there they were. Cute tiny little protein packed lentils. They are sometimes called vegan caviar. They cook up very quickly and are very mildly flavored. They stay pretty firm, which makes them perfect for cold dishes.

The garden is starting to struggle in the 110+ degree weather. Luckily we had one last gasp of yellow pear tomatoes and a giant zucchini, which I happily diced up for this yummy take on bruschetta. 

Beluga Lentil Bruschetta

Makes 12-20 pieces depending on the size of bread.

1/2 cup Beluga lentils, rinsed

1 1/4 cup water

1/3 cup yellow tomatoes, diced

1/2 cup grilled zucchini, diced small

1/2 cup roasted peppers, diced small

1 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced

1 tablespoon fresh basil, minced

1 teaspoon capers, roughly chopped

2 tablespoon sweet onions, minced

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley

Note: all herbs are measured after mincing/chopping.

In a non reactive bowl, mix all ingredients. Let marinate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. 

French baguette approx 1/2 inch slices. 

Olive oil to brush bread slices.

Lightly brush both sides of each slice of bread. Place in one layer on a cookie sheet. Either bake in a 350 oven or on the grill for about 4 minutes per side until bread is nicely browned.

Using a spoon top each slice of bread with lentil mixture. Serve immediately.

The lentil mixture also makes a great salad all on its own if you are trying to cut out the carbs. It's gluten free too!!!

Freddie Skettie

One of Fred's favorite things to brew up in the kitchen is spaghetti sauce. He never makes it the same twice and rarely if ever writes down the recipe. This time was no exception.

I do know that he put in tomato sauce, tomato paste, garlic, onions, fresh tomatoes from our friend Robert's garden, a huge amount of fresh herbs from our herb garden. In a spicy twist he added some vegan chorizo.

While I have absolutely no idea what proportions went into it, I do know that is was full of rich tomato flavor. The sauce was so hearty from the chorizo, I was filled up with just a small serving. Just look at all that goodness!!!

I encourage all of you to play around in your own kitchens. Part of the thing I find most joyful about cooking is just throwing in a little of this and a little of that and coming up with something new and delicious. I'm glad Fred agrees on occasion!

Kale Three Ways

What do you do with an over abundance of kale?

I just can't do it yet. I just can't leave my old blogging home. Part of it is nostalgia and my gratitute for you guys! The other part is that I really don't have a good command of the new website and quite frankly it looks boring. So I will stay here a little longer. I hope you stay with me!

Kale is the new beef right? Well I thought I'd totally kale out. This is my kind of Trio! I had three different types of kale, so I thought I'd try three different cooking methods.

Salad

Lacinto Kale (recipe still in the works). This salad shows great promise, but I wasn't totally happy with the dressing flavor combo, so I will keep working on this and post it another time.

Saute

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

3 teaspoons olive oil separated

1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 bunch Red Russian Kale, de-stemmed and ripped into bite sized pieces

2 teaspoon Braggs or low sodium soy or tamari

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

In an 8 or 10 inch non stick pan or iron skillet over medium low heat add 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Add onions and sprinkle with brown sugar. Cook for about 20 minutes until onions are beautifully caramelized. Set aside in a small bowl. In the same skillet add remaining oil and kale. Saute kale for 5-7 minutes tossing frequently until the volume decreases by about 1/2. Add Braggs or low sodium soy and lemon juice. Add caramalized onions back to the pan. Saute for about 5 more minutes, until kale is soft but not mushy. Salt and pepper to taste.

Chips

1 large bunch curly green kale
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons Penzey's Northwoods seasoning or use your favorite low salt seasoning
1 scant tablespoon olive oil

Heat oven to 350.

Wash kale. De-stem and dry leaves. Rip into good sized pieces as they will shrink down quite a bit when baking. In a very large bowl place kale. Drizzle with olive oil and stir until well coated. Toss in nutritional yeast and Penzey's Northwoods Seasoning. Toss well making sure to get seasoning on all of the leaves.

On two cookie sheets, spread the seasoned kale leaves in a single layer. This is important or they will not crisp. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn leaves over and cook for 10 more minutes. It is a good idea to check the kale at about 7 minutes. They can crisp and burn quickly. The baking time can vary depending on the moisture content of the leaves.

Pull out of the oven. Let cool for 10 minutes or longer if you wish. Eat immediately. They will keep in an airtight container for about a day...if they last that long!

We're Moving...the Blog

It seems I never have time to sit down at the computer these days. I sorely miss the hours to peruse the internets and other vegan food blogs. I am working on slowly converting this blog over to my new digs at http://www.unconventionalevents.com/. I still need time to figure out the cpanel and other goodies. I am hoping I can figure out how to migrate my posts from here to that site.

UnConventional Events LLC is a little venture my friend and I are starting. We have a few dreams of what it will end up being down the road. For now, we are offering a limited number of cooking demonstrations and classes (vegan of course). We will also do the occasional catering gig when time permits. It is our hope to bring some yummy fare to our farmers' markets this fall. We both work full time, so we are starting slow and letting it morph into it's own fabulous being.

The website itself is still under construction, but the blog is up and running. I hope you will bookmark the new blog site and keep following. CLICK HERE to see the first post with pics on the new blog!! See you there!

The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen Dinner Night

Vine and Dine was canceled for this month. I had already found a couple of interesting vegan wines, so we decided to do our own Vine and Dine night. I am a multi-tasker, so along with vining, I pulled out another of my cook books that hasn't seen the light of my kitchen in what seems like years.

A long time ago, I checked out Donna Klein's The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen from my local library. I don't remember what I made out of it at that time. But I do know that I spilled stuff on the book and ended up having to buy the library a new copy. So my copy had the library labels including the Dewey decimal code on it.

I have to say that this book collects a lot of dust. This is not a reflection of the quality of the recipes, because what I have made has been pretty good. I have been reflecting a lot on why some books get more use than others. What makes me pick up a cook book? What makes me want to make something out of it? What inspires me? These musings have become a more serious matter to me these days. I am getting close to having the number of recipes I feel good about for my own book. Now I need to figure out what will make readers want to really use my book when it is published.

Historically I have not been a reader of cook book introductions. I usually dig right in to the table of contents, recipes and of course the gorgeous pictures. Pictures really make a cook book jump out at me. I think this may be the reason this book gets neglected. For all of its rustic and solid recipes, it is just plain boring to look at. There is not one picture inside the cover. What is inside the cover is some very simple and healthy Mediterranean fare.

I made two dishes for our dinner the other night:

Gratin of Macaroni, Tomatoes, Basil and Olives (pg. 111) and Cauliflower with Capers in Herbed Vinaigrette (pg. 144). Fred is a big lover of pasta/tomato dishes of many types. That's why I chose the first dish. My good friend and fellow gardener, Robert, gave me this big beautiful head of cauliflower. See the pretty hint of purple in the florets?

For the gratin I used quinoa pasta, not so much for the gluten free aspect, but more because it is what was in my pantry. The bread crumbs took care of the gluten. Actually if you use GF breadcrumbs this could be a very nice addition to the GF kitchen. This dish is a case of the whole is better than the parts. It has very simple ingredients that come together in a very homey satisfying dish. The saltiness of the kalamata olives works nicely with the creaminess of the elbow macaroni and the beans. Tomato anything makes us happy usually, and they were a great addition to this dish. The basil pull it all together with it's fresh summery flavor. The breadcrumb gratin never really seemed to get that firm golden brown I love in a gratin. But perhaps I didn't let it cook long enough. The recipe made a lot. We will probably get 3 meals out of it for the two of us. 

We served it with the Cauliflower with Capers in Herbed Vinaigrette. I puffy heart this dish. It is loaded with fresh basil, parsley, chives and capers. The white wine vinegar pulls it all together. I let it sit for about an hour. Oh man was the flavor incredible. It was quite delish the next day as a cold dish as well. If you want a refreshing way to use up some cauliflower, I highly recommend this recipe.

My adorable el Fredo getting his Vine on.

We chose the Duckpond Chardonnay for our Vine tonight. Duckpond is one of Fred's favorite vegan wine makers. This particular selection has a lot of tropical fruit notes; pineapple, mango etc. It would be a nice selection for a caribbean or latin dish that has a bit of heat to it. Sadly, it was a mismatch for this meal. The mellow and more delicate spices in the food made the wine taste almost sweet and not in a good way. I think a Pinot Grigio, Pinot Gris or a nice dry Sauvinon Blanc would have been a better match in this case.