I do all my own stunts

Happy New Year

Have any resolutions?

Wheat Berry Salad

My resolution, as usual, is to eat healthier.  Not necessarily to eat less overall - less sugar, or less carbs, or fewer Mighty O Donuts.  I've actually resolved to eat more.  More of the good stuff:  fiber, protein, calcium, iron, vitamin C, essential fatty acids.  

Here's what I'm going for:  6 servings of whole grains, 4 servings of veg, 4 servings of fruit, 4 servings of dairy alternatives, and 3 servings of protein (tofu, tempeh, legumes, nuts, seeds).  That's a lot of food.  I've found that in order to get all 21 servings in it is necessary to get creative and find foods that double up, like quinoa, a whole grain that is also high in protein, or calcium-fortified orange juice.  

This Wheat Berry Salad came my way from my friend, Dana, who is beautiful and successful and always seems to be brilliantly balancing about 100 million responsibilities, even her nutrition.  She has always eaten very healthily, even in college; when the rest of us subsisted on Top Ramen and pb&j, Dana always seemed to be munching on a salad or a bowl of yogurt mixed with Special K.  I'm sure she shared a few pizzas with us, or bagels with cream cheese, but I've always admired her for what appeared to be a very healthy, balanced diet.  

So, Dana passed this recipe on to me which is originally from Ellie Krieger of the Food Network.  Not only is it delicious and simple to make, it is packed full of nutrients.  It makes you feel good.  

Wheat Berry Salad

Serves 6

1 1/2 cups hard wheat berries

3/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

1/2 cup tart dried cherries, chopped

1 scallion, white and green parts, chopped

1/2 cup chopped parsley

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, combine the wheat berries and enough water to come 2 inches over them.  Bring to a boil and cook uncovered for 1 hour, or until tender.  Drain and let cool.  In a large bowl, combine the wheat berries with all the other ingredients.  

Dinner Tonight

Spicy Peanut Wrap

Over the summer, Brian and I made a little day trip to Lopez Island in the San Juans.  We had an advenure!  We rode our bikes around the island all day making a few pit stops here and there.  We paused at the farmer's/artisan market for a bit and had lunch at the incredible Vortex Juice Bar & Cafe.  Their mostly vegetarian menu is made up of entirely fresh, simple and local ingredients.   You can taste the love they put into each order.  

Brian and I shared a smoothie and after much deliberation, I decided on the Peanut Pepper Wrap.  Isn't it the best feeling when you taste something and you just know that you made the perfect menu choice?  This wrap was so scrumptious and hearty.  Ideal fuel for a long bike ride.  In fact, it was so divine, I've been obsessing over it ever since.  

I finally attempted to recreate it.  This peanut sauce recipe comes from epicurean.com and the rest is totally ad-libbed.  

Spicy Peanut Wrap

Serves 2

5 oz chunky peanut butter

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 cup water

3 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp hot chili oil, to taste

2 large whole wheat tortillas

1 cup cooked brown rice

1/2 cup fresh herbs - cilantro, basil & mint

1/4 cup grated carrots

1/4 cup bean sprouts 

1/4 cup thinly sliced, seeded cucumber

Combine first 8 ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.  Divide the rest of the ingredients among the 2 tortillas and spoon the spicy peanut sauce over the top.  Fold in the ends of the tortilla and roll.  Grill in a panini maker for about 5 minutes.  

Note:  Any raw vegetables will work with this.  Use what ever you have on hand or what you think will taste good.  

Also:  You can skip the panini maker step if you don't have one, but you might want to try putting it on a grill or in a skillet (grilled cheese sandwich-style) because the heat softens up the tortilla and really makes the wrap come together.  

I did it. It's done.

Dinner Tonight

Peach Barbecue Tempeh and Miso-glazed Eggplant

It's true friends.  I can rest on my laurels for the rest of the year because with this meal I accomplished not one, but two feats of culinary awesomeness.  First, I have discovered and perfected the most categorically phenomenal technique for preparing tempeh.  Secondly, after extolling the virtues of eggplant for years, I finally found a recipe that has convinced my husband of its deliciousness.  

Tempeh, a fermented soybean cake from Indonesia, is a vegan staple.  Especially in our house where any mention of tofu is met with hurling noises and simulated vomiting on the part of the devastatingly handsome (but crude sense of humor possessing) Brian.  Its flavor is kind of nutty and the texture is more substantial than tofu.  We like it.  

It has taken a while, but I finally figured out the best way to prepare tempeh.  I got the idea from Deborah Madison, my idol, in her Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.  The great thing about tempeh is that it sucks up a marinade like nobody's business.  The bad thing about tempeh is that you have to steam it before you marinate it to get it to do so.  I learned from Deborah's genius that you can steam the tempeh in the marinade, combining two steps into one!  Eureka!  It works and it makes the most tender and delectable tempeh.  My preferred manner of preparation is to steam/marinate a couple blocks of tempeh an then put them on a grill to heat them through and get some attractive grill marks on them.  

I'll explain how to do it using this recipe for Peach Barbecue Sauce I adapted from Sunset Magazine.  

Peach Barbecue Tempeh

Serves 2

3/4 cup onion, chopped

1 tbsp canola oil

1 garlic clove, chopped

1/2 cup tomato sauce

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp packed light brown sugar

1 tsp adobo sauce from a can of chipotle chiles

1/4 tsp each dry mustard, ground allspice, and salt

1/2 cup chopped fresh or frozen peaches

1 8 oz package tempeh, cut in half lengthwise

Combine all ingredients except the peaches and tempeh in a food processor or blender and puree.  Place tempeh in a small skillet with a lid.  Pour the barbecue sauce over the tempeh and add the peaches on top.  Cover and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.  Heat up your grill, remove tempeh from skillet reserving the sauce.  Grill for about 3 minutes per side, until grill marks form.  Serve, smothered in peach barbecue sauce.  

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The second feat of culinary perfection involves eggplant, a finicky vegetable that is difficult to prepare correctly and nearly impossible to love.  I've had eggplant hits and misses in my experience, but my infatuation continues and it's recipes like this one that remind me why.  

This recipe, using Japanese eggplant, is also from Sunset Magazine.  I didn't change a thing; it is perfect the way it is.  Trust me, even die hard eggplant haters will be converted with this recipe.  Plus, it's simple to make and very, very quick.  

Miso-glazed Eggplant

Serves 2

1.5 tbsp vegetable oil

2-3 Japanese eggplant, cut in half lengthwise and flesh scored 1/4 inch deep

2 tbsp yellow or red miso paste

1 tbsp packed light brown sugar

1 tbsp sake or white wine

1/4 tsp red chile flakes

2 tbsp cilantro leaves, chopped

1/2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Preheat the broiler with a rack 4 inches from heat.  Heat oil in an ovenproof frying pan over high heat.  Add eggplant, flesh side down, and cook until it starts to brown and soften, about 4 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine miso, sugar, sake and red chile flakes.  Turn eggplant flesh side up and brush mixture over it.  Broil eggplant in the pan until the glaze starts to brown, about 3 minutes.  Sprinkle with cilantro and sesame seeds.  

Dinner Tonight

Lemony Risotto Croquettes

with slivered snow peas, asparagus, leeks and chanterelles

Make this recipe.  It's a 'home run' (Brian's words).  

It was my birthday earlier this week and I was generously presented with an elegant, country french cookbook-stand by the adorable Brian, an item I had been coveting for ages.  I picked out one of my most colorful and beloved cookbooks, Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen to display on the fancy new stand.  The book happened to fall open to p.88, Lemony Risotto Croquettes, with its immense glossy photograph of golden brown croquettes, bright greens and lemony slivered leeks.  It looked and sounded so delicious, having that recipe on display made me hungry every time I passed it.  

Having learned from past disasters, I just don't do things like fritters, croquettes or latkes anymore.  Too many times I've spent all afternoon forming these cakes, patties or balls only to have them fall apart in the frying pan or stick so vehemently that the violence required to wrench them from the pan leaves only a sad, amorphous lump of mush peppered with the few crispy bits lucky enough to survive the carnage.  

But having obsessed over this recipe all week long, I just couldn't resist giving it a try.  And I am so thrilled to say, IT WORKED!  The risotto croquettes are shallow fried in olive oil.  They are crispy and golden and hold their shape beautifully.  I thought croquettes this gorgeous were only to be executed in a professional restaurant kitchen, or by the truly amazing, but irritatingly perfect, Martha Stewart.  

Deborah Madison is a goddess.  I should never have doubted her.  

Deborah's original recipe, which can be found in Vegetarian Suppers and also right here, is not vegan.  I made some slight changes, namely substitutes for the butter, eggs and cheese, and it turned out to be fabulous.  

It being the season for those exotic, golden flowers, I additionally incorporated chanterelle mushrooms into the sauteed slivered vegetables.  I don't know if it is something Deborah would necessarily approve of, but I am absolutely bewitched by the aromatic, fleshy, magical chanterelles.  Again, I couldn't resist.  

Lemony Risotto Croquettes
with slivered snow peas, asparagus, leeks and chanterelles

Serves 2 generously

1 tbsp olive oil

1 bunch scallions, finely chopped

1 cup Arborio rice

salt and pepper

zest from 1 lemon

1 tbsp basil or parsley, chopped

6 oz silken tofu, chopped

1/2 cup soy milk

1 1/2 cup bread crumbs

more olive oil for frying

2 tbsp butter substitute

1 large handfull chanterelle mushrooms, roughly chopped

1 fat leek, white parts only, slivered

1/2 lb asparagus, slivered if necessary

1 handfull snow peas, slivered

salt

juice from 1/2 a lemon

1 tsp basil, parsley or chervil, minced

Bring 2 cups of water to a simmer in a medium pot with a tight fitting lid.  Heat olive oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat.  Add the scallions and cook for about a minute.  Add the rice and turn to coat with oil for a minute or two.  Stir in about 1/2 tsp salt.  Add the rice to the simmering water.  Cover and cook over low heat for 16 minutes.  Uncover and check to see if water is still present.  If so, cook it off.  Stir in lemon zest, basil, fresh ground pepper and silken tofu.  Salt generously and stir until tofu has broken down and incorporated fully into the rice mixture.  Allow it to cool in the pan.

Put the soy milk in a shallow dish and the bread crumbs in another shallow dish.  Using a 1/3 cup measure, scoop out the rice and shape it to make an oval croquette.  Dip each croquette into the soy milk, then gently roll in the bread crumbs.  Set aside on a tray.  (These can be refrigerated hours ahead of time, then returned to room temperature before frying).

When ready to eat, generously coat a wide skillet with olive oil.  When hot, add the croquettes and cook over medium heat, gently turning them to brown all over.  

As this is going on, heat 1 tbsp of the butter substitute in a saute pan over medium-high heat.  Add the chanterelles and saute for about 5 minutes.  Add all the slivered vegetables, sprinkle with salt, and saute for a minute or two.  Add the lemon juice and remaining butter substitute until they are combined in a sauce.  Add the herbs.  

Divide the vegetables among 2 plates and arrange the fritters attractively on top.  

Note:  If you want to double or triple the recipe, you can fry the croquettes in batches and keep them warm in a 300 degree oven until all elements have been completed.  

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Make this recipe.  I'm serious, it's a winner.  In fact, if you're ever a dinner guest at my house, odds are we will eat it.  This one's going into heavy rotation here at Chez Briana and Brian.  

Dinner Tonight

Entirely inauthentic, but healthy, Vegetable Lo Mein

I may have been over-served last weekend.  OK, I may have over-served myself but let's not get bogged down in the details.  Having dismissed my long-established 2 glass of wine maximum in the spirit of festivity and frivolity and hey-everybody-it's-a-3-day-weekend, it wasn't long before I found myself in the all too familiar state of regretting it.  Ouch.  

Coincidentally (I don't know how we got on the topic really) Brian and I found ourselves engaged in a hearty discussion of vast significance and world-wide immediacy and relevance.  What is the best hangover food?  

It wasn't a lengthy conversation because, of course, this is an easy one.  No debate necessary, the best hangover sustenance is Asian food.  Asian noodles specifically.  Yakisoba, Yakiudon, Chow Mein, Lo Mein, Pad Thai, Rahd Nah, Pho, Vermicelli.  Anything, I don't care.  As long as it's spicy, noodley, stir-fried and drowning in sauce.

  

Well now that we have that settled, let's get on with the point of this post.  This Dinner Tonight is not that kind of a recipe.  I don't cook hangover food.  That's what takeout is for people.  This recipe is a snazzy version of Vegetable Lo Mein, and while being entirely inauthentic, it is pretty darn healthy.  Loads of yummy veg, whole wheat noodles and a light sesame sauce.  If you're so inclined, add a bit of Sriracha to the final product.  You won't be disappointed.   

Good for you and delicious, what?  

 

Good For You Vegetable Lo Mein

Serves 2 + leftovers

1/2 lb whole wheat spaghetti

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 medium onion, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbsp finely chopped ginger

1 large carrot, sliced

about 10 small mushrooms, sliced

1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced

1/2 head broccoli, separated into florets

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp mirin

2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1/4 cup sliced canned water chestnuts, drained

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Add noodles and cook for 8-10 minutes until al dente.  Drain.  

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a wok over medium heat.  Add onion, garlic and ginger and saute for about 5 minutes.  Add the carrots and mushrooms, saute for about 3 minutes. Add zucchini and broccoli and saute for another 5 minutes or so until vegetables are tender.  Stir in the soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil and water chestnuts and cook for about 1 minute.  Turn heat down to low and add the noodles to the wok.  Toss for about 2 minutes until liquid is absorbed and everything is heated through.  

Yummy.