Fishgirl Speaks

Culinary Experiment Gone Right

Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes

4 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed
1 1/2 cups cashews (plus water, see below)
1 tablespoon chipotle peppers in adobo, pureed
1 stick butter or vegan butter, melted
1 avocado
1/2 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place potatoes on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until soft (a fork can be inserted easily), anywhere from 50 to 75 minutes. Remove the potatoes from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes, or until cool enough to handle. Peel the potatoes, and put them through a ricer over a bowl, or mash them by hand.

While the potatoes are baking, put the cashews in a container and cover with water. Let sit for at least 20 minutes. Drain the cashews, then put in blender and cover with fresh water (you could also soak them directly in the blender). Blend until completely smooth. Add the chipotle, melted butter, avocado, and maple syrup and blend until smooth.

Add blended mixture to sweet potatoes and combine thoroughly. Put in baking dish, and bake at 375 until the tops just start to brown, about 20 minutes. You can also prepare the potatoes the day before and do the second baking the next day. You may want a slightly cooler oven and a longer time to make sure they heat evenly.

 

This recipe was adapted from Bobby Flay's of the same name. I have been serving the original version at Thanksgiving for several years now. Although I am not vegan, I enjoy the challenge and health benefits of vegan cooking and this year thought I'd try a vegan tweak for these beloved spuds. The cashews and avocados provide the fatty, creamy goodness. The chipotle and sweet combo is diVINE. Thank you, Bobby!

Hippie Crispie Treats

Charles and I are on the go most of the time, so a tasty snack with high, net nutrition is fairly essential. "Healthy" rarely makes one's mouth drool, so I was looking for something to find a nice balance between yummy and beneficial - especially for after work, before teaching in the evening. So here's what I came up with:

Hippie Crispie Treats

2 cups brown rice crisps
1/4 cup each:
    vanilla hemp protein
    sesame seeds
    almond meal
1 Tbsp chia seeds
1/2 cup (heaping) unsalted peanut butter
1/4 cup honey

Put all ingredients in bowl in order listed and mix thoroughly. Shape into balls, or press into to-go containers. Makes approximately five 1/2 cup treats with a little left over for sampling.

Notes:
This recipe has just enough gooey goodness to hold it together because I didn't want gooey fingers while on the go. Feel free to up the PB or honey for more stick, if desired.

If you're wondering about the chia, click here for a little info. They're about the size and texture of poppy seeds and add a nice crunch.

I don't pre-mix the dry ingredients because all the little stuff goes to the bottom of the bowl. If you leave them on top, they get a chance to mix with the PB and honey. Also, the PB and honey would mix faster if you gently warm them. Personally, I prefer a little longer mix time over more dishes to wash :-)

Nutritional Info
Serving Size 1/2 Cup

Calories 408
Fat 22g
Sodium 69g
Carbs 37g
    Dietary Fiber 9g
    Sugar 17g
Protein 14g
Calcium 14%
Iron 13%

Feel free to share. Just give me shout out, ok?

Oh, and incidentally, I made this up about the same time I saw this video:

 

So when we refer to this treat, it's usually preceded by "Moouuse. Moouusse."
Treat?

 

Hot Sauce

The man and I are big fans of hot sauce. When we recently ran out, it occurred to me that I should try making some. As a compulsive label reader, I knew that most varieties had very few ingredients. So here's what I came up with:

1 each red bell pepper, red jalapeño pepper, and green jalapeño pepper

Roast the two red peppers. Throw all three of them in a blender with enough apple cider vinegar to get a consistency you like. Store in a jar in the fridge and let the flavors meld for 1 to 2 weeks.

We just hit the two week mark, and that's when the flavors really started to shine. At first taste, it was all hot and no flavor. Now it's quite tasty. I left mine a touch chunky, so it can be deceptive. Looks like salsa, but watch out :-) I might go thinner and smoother next time.

If you've never roasted your own peppers, it's pretty easy. My friend the Reverend Captain Michael Stroschein, former head chef of Kirkwood, bookstore proprietor, and now scuba instructor, showed me this super easy method: On a gas stove - place pepper directly on burner. Burn evenly, then place in paper bag and close up (any covered dish works too). Let sweat for 15 minutes. Run pepper under cold running water, peel off the burned parts, pry open and de-seed at the same time, ripping out the stem. Voilà! I applied the same method to the jalapeño, although it was a bit small for the burner. If you don't have a gas stove, you can use the broiler setting in your oven. Just stay close to keep an eye on them.

Pretty successful for my first hot sauce experiment, and I love the simplicity!

The Chef is In

Good eating habits seem to ebb and flow. These days I'm back on the wagon, which means more cooking. And since we don't cook during the week, that means Sunday is prep day. I went whole hog yesterday (well, tofu hog) to make sure that I didn't run out or get bored and resort to crap food. Here's what I made:

• banana bread energy bars
• spicy chocolate energy bars
• black bean salad (made the beans, honey mustard jalapeno dressing, and assembled two to go)
• lemon sesame crisps (although I need a new name because they're not actually crispy)
• apple granola
• Thai squash soup (first time roasting a whole pumpkin, whee!)
• curried vegetables with dahl

Only two of the recipes were new to me, so it was a relatively smooth cooking day. Doing all the week's cooking in one day is actually kind of fun. If anyone wants to play along, my kitchen is open!

Gorram Pie

If you watch any Sci-Fi, you've noticed the creativity of alternate-reality swearing. Most notably, we have "frak" from Battlestar Galactica, and also assorted Chinese sprinkled into the English spoken by the folks in Firefly/Serenity. Also, included in Firefly is "gorram," a fine substitute for "goddamn." Lately, I have taken to throwing a few gorrams around myself.

Several months ago, I decided to try a banana cream pie out of a raw desserts recipe book I was given. The "cream" part uses flesh from young coconuts as its base. I'm not a huge fan of coconut, but in the spirit of adventure that must come with improving one's diet, I thought I'd give it a whirl. Luckily, the young coconut is mild in flavor, and the pie improves significantly with overnight refrigeration. This one's a keeper! I thought, and couldn't wait to put it out for whatever upcoming gathering seemed most appropriate.

A couple of weeks ago, we had a potluck social thingy at our school. I thought that would be a perfect time to put out a "healthy dessert." Not only is it super tasty, but as instructors, we take our roles as examples to others seriously. Awesome. Super. I had everything I needed except coconuts. I went ahead and made the crust while Charles went to the store.

Several texts and no substitutes later, Charles came home sans coconuts.

For the next two weeks, we kept our eyes peeled for coconuts while the crust waited patiently in the fridge. Gah! Why does nobody have any gorram coconuts! After awhile, Charles just started calling them gorrams.

At long last, we found a big display of gorrams at Whole Foods this past Friday. I busted the three of them open on Sunday to find copious amounts of coconut water, and precious little flesh. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups, and I had maybe half of that. Gorram it! My dear, darling Charles offered to go to the store and pick up two more gorrams. The big one was perfect, and the smaller one was not as young as it claimed to be, with much more, um, "meaty" flesh on the inside. At three bucks a pop, though, it was going to be used. A few hours of chilling later, we had ourselves some delicious frakkin' gorram pie.

Crust
1 cup walnuts
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded dried coconut
1/4 cup whole can sugar
pinch salt
1/4 raisins
4 pitted medjool dates

Place walnuts, coconut, sugar, and salt in a food processor and process until finely ground. Add raisins and dates and process until the mixture begins to stick together. Don't overprocess.

Will store 1 month in refrigerator or 3 months in freezer. Does not need to be thawed before use.

(I omitted the coconut, the raisins, and halved the sugar. Added popped amaranth for a toasty flavor and more dates so that total quantity remains the same.)

Pastry Cream
1 1/2 cups young coconut meat (from 3ish coconuts)
1/3 cup light agave syrup
1/3 cup water
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
pinch turmeric
2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil, melted
1 tablespoon soy lecithin powder (optional)

Place everything except the coconut oil and soy lecithin in a blender and process until very smooth. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides with a spatula. Add the coconut oil and soy lecithin powder and process until smooth.

Banana Cream Pie
Press the crust crumbs into a 9 inch pie pan. Slice 2 bananas onto the pie crust and spread evenly. Pour the pastry cream over the bananas. Let pie chill for at least 2 hours.

(I did not use the soy lecithin, but it is supposed to make it creamier and firmer. My pie doesn't slice pretty, but it still tastes great)

From Jennifer Cornbleet's Raw for Dessert book.

In Which People Leave Random Bottles in My Freezer

Shortly after the big dinner party, I discovered a full bottle of dessert wine in the freezer, its cork pushed out by frozen goodness.

After a recent cupcake tasting party, I found half a bottle of champagne in the freezer where the vodka usually lives.

Do I need some sort of reminder system for this sort of situation?

Stop and smell...

Nevermind the roses, let's stop and taste the food.

Normally, I grab pretty simple (lazy) food. Burritos, popcorn, toast, and fruits and veggies largely in the form of Odwalla. I don't have a lot of cooking know-how or time, for that matter, so I just sort of eat what's available. As you can imagine, it gets pretty dull, and then I don't really want to eat anything but chai and scones. So after a recent caffeine and pastry overdose, and detox, I'm interested in food again. Plus, after the fabulous meals I've had this weekend and the cleaning out and organizing of recipes collected on cards and scraps of paper, I'm ready to be a little more adventurous in the kitchen.

Fabulous meal #1: Had a lovely trip to the DeYoung Museum with my mom for a belated birthday outing. We ate up some fantastic art with our eyes, then had lunch in the cafe. All of their food comes from within a 150 mile radius. We both ordered the asparagus salad (asparagus spears, mixed greens, reduced balsamic dressing) and Yogurt and Green Onion Kettle Chips . I already knew I loved the chips, but the asparagus was so perfect and so fresh, it was a close-your-eyes-and-savor-the-moment kind of eating experience. Yes, ladies and germs, I am speaking of a green vegetable. That and the reduced balsamic was just <insert sound of Homer drooling in the back of his throat>.

Fabulous meal #2: Again, nothing fancy, but a delightful departure from your everyday Caesar and cheese. I went out with a couple of friends for Guiness to a local "dive" bar. I put that in quotes because it doesn't really count when it's in downtown Saratoga. Later, we decided we were hungry and went to The Basin which is just a couple doors up from Saratoga Chocolates. The Basin appeared to be closed, but the manager(?) recognized Cyd and Natasha and let us in. Now, I eat a lot of Caesar salads, so I have much to compare to. As befitted a downtown S'toga restaurant, it was small and expensive, but the taste! Fresh greens, the right amount of parmesan, and a wonderful, balanced dressing that had depth, but was still definitely Caesar. This probably ranks up with the top two Caesars I've ever had. Couldn't tell you what the other one was, but I have to allow some wiggle room. Cyd ordered a 3-cheese plate - also small and expensive. Again, I eat plenty of cheese, but it all tends to be cheddar, cheddar, and more cheddar. I can't remember the names of the cheeses, unfortunately, but I can pick them out on the menu when I go back there. Cyd calls one of them the fungus cheese because of the shape. When it's sliced off the block, it ripples and fans out like a 'shroom on a tree. It was an amazing combination of dry and creamy with a hint of nut. The middle cheese was very subtle and a little dry - just right. The last one was a creamy, wine-flavored cheese that was just this side of being a stinky cheese.

Food story #3: I'm pretty dependant on recipes to cook, so I was very pleased that on Sunday I was able to make veggies burgers without looking at the book and they turned out perfectly. Yay me!

Once Upon a Plate

I'm not exactly a religious person by any stretch, but I love the idea of storytelling through food. Last night marked the beginning of Passover, the celebration of the birth of the Jewish nation and their freedom from slavery under the Pharaoh. Part of this celebration involves a ritual meal called a seder. In college, I had a couple of friends who were not able to be home for Passover, so they hosted a seder at one of their apartments. I think I had been to one or two when I was much younger, so didn't remember much about it. Anyhoo, the college seder was really fun. The different foods symbolize the story of the Jews' exodus from Egypt, and by the way, you're obligated to drink a lot of wine. Granted, it's barely wine and mostly grape juice, but we're talking at least four glasses here. No, it wasn't fun just because of the wine, honest. These were fellow choir geeks, so one of them sang the different parts of the ritual in hebrew in his lovely bass voice. Not to belittle this particular ceremony, but I'd love to come up with "meal stories" that had significance to me and my people, if you will. It's a chance to honor a moment in time and connect with food and people in a way that we rarely do anymore (put your visions of food fights away - not that kind of connecting).