Thursday, June 17, 2010

My Secret Love

I love cookbooks.  I'm so weird that I will borrow all sorts and then read them in bed.  I'll get all excited and call out to my bf to look at some food photo or I'll rattle off an ingredient list.  Only recently have I started to try and cook meals of my own inspiration, rather than straight from a cookbook. 

My favorite vegan cookbook, hands down, is Veganomicon.  Practically every recipe I've made from this book is golden.  I've made enough of the recipes that I have a hard time picking one I haven't yet made vs ones I know are brilliant like snobby joes, leek and bean cassoulet, smoky tempeh, BBQ seitan sandwiches, the grain salads....I could go on.

That being said, I've recently made a new recipe out of this book that I thought was brilliant: the seitan picatta. 


This recipe was very good.  I used the seitan recipe from the same book, which I had made a week earlier (I make a couple of batches and freeze). 

The changes I made:
Used whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose.  I also found that I needed to use more oil than it called for.  I added a bit of cornstarch to the gravy to make it more gravy like in thickness.  The gravy seemed to runny to me at the end, so I mixed about a tbsp with 2 tbsp cold water before pouring it in.  I steamed the green beans instead of boiling them.  Steamed veggies have such a great crunch and are a breeze to make.

I served mine over mashed potatoes like they recommended and also included a side of beet greens (leftover from a different recipe, utilizing roasted beets).  My bf decided to just mix everything together, and it was brilliant.  Very thing was so tasty and filling.  I will definitely keep this recipe in mind for holiday meals (Thanksgiving, Xmas, etc.).

I also whipped up a quick panini the other day based on ingredients I had lying around.  It was super tasty, surprisingly so.  I think paninis have become one of my new favorite sandwich.  I don't even have a panini press; I just use my cast iron pan to weigh it down on the skillet.

 

Veggie panini
- Half a medium zucchini, grated
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1-2 tbsp red onion, diced
- 2 slices of whole grain bread (if very soft, you may want to toast it a little)
- half a roasted red pepper, sliced
- 3-4 tbsp hummus (I had some leftover from the recipe in Vegetarian Sandwiches)
- bean sprouts of your choice (I've been growing my own, so mine were fenugreek)
- 4 basil leaves

In a small bit of oil, saute the onion, garlic, and grated zucchini until soft and a little browned.  Once completed, put on the bread slice and top with roasted red pepper, bean sprouts, and basil leaves.  Smear hummus on the other piece of bread and put sandwich together.  

If you have a panini press, use according to factory directions.  If not, in the pan you used to saute the veggies, place your sandwich.  Put the pan on medium heat.  Take a cast iron skillet or other heavy, but clean pan, pot, etc and place on top of the sandwich.  Let it cook for 3 minutes, or until it is browned.  Flip and smoosh again, for another 3 minutes or until that side is brown.  Remove, slice, and enjoy!

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