See?Firstly, some meals from a few weeks ago. I made grilled pizza with some vegan mozzarella that I bought at Whole Foods. I picked up this particular package because it said "It Melts!", all the while grumbling to myself "I'll be the judge of that." So first, the dough was set out to rise and rest, getting to the point that I could stretch it into something resembling a crust. I would love to learn to hand-toss crust, but have never gotten the hang of it, really. Anyway, here's the dough.
Mainly, I include this picture because I was so excited to photograph something in sunlight.
Then, after all the resting and rising and stretching, the dough was unceremoniously tossed onto my cast iron grill.
A warning that only the most inept of bakers (like myself) will need: any holes that develop in stretching are only going to get worse as the crust cooks.
After grilling, the sauce (very simple- can of tomatoes, a pinch of sugar, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, a tiny bit of sriracha for fun) was applied, and then some white onions, and then the vegan mozzarella.
This was tossed in the oven to melt the cheese. I'll admit, I was skeptical. The flavor was really good, but the texture was weird when the cheese was cold. While the results of my vegan experiment were pending, I made some bok choy with a more western bent than I suppose is normal, given that it was the side dish to pizza.
The bok choy was briefly sauteed in olive oil, salt and pepper:
and then tossed in lemon/garlic/earth balance sauce:
...and served alongside grilled pizza covered in melted vegan cheese!!
...and basil chiffonade. I was so impressed with this cheese, it was a wonderful alternative to the real thing. Even my cheese-obsessed roommate was willing to endorse it.
And speaking of my cheese-obsessed roommate, my dad and I took her for a ride out to Mt. Tamalpais on Sunday, March 15th. She had never really ridden on the back of a motorcycle, and had her cherry popped in many ways... including rainfall and witnessing a pretty epic high-side by a guy on a dirt bike where 121 and 128 meet on the way back toward Davis and home. The kid was ok, even with the shaking hands and sudden reluctance to get on his bike!
Here are Mari and I at the dam at Lake Berryessa... one of my favorite places to pause on a ride over 128.
I then rode ahead to take a picture of Mari and Dad as they rode by, but it ended up being really blurry. I was pissed, as it would have been a really cool picture. Here's one of them standing still, overlooking Stinson Beach:
And the last time I rode Fairfax-Bolinas, I didn't notice this at the bridge over Alpine Lake:
It was just so darn cool, I had to stop for a shot.
Fast forward to this past weekend- Saturday dawned at somewhere around 1 pm, and I decided to make red curry to enjoy while we watched the Dark Knight. For vegetables, I had red pepper, onion, carrots and an acorn squash. I also had a sweet potato, and figured I would parcook it in the microwave before tossing it in with the rest of the veggies. I ended up completely cooking it by mistake, and had to come up with another use for it.
First, the curry. These are the vegetables:
And this is the curry as it simmers its way to rich deliciousness:
It's very basic- coconut milk and vegan red curry paste and soy sauce. Brilliant.
With my cooked sweet potato, I decided to make patties using chickpeas to fill them out a bit and some flour and gluten to hold them together. This is what they look like after pan-frying:
And just for you, dear readers, I wrote the recipe!
1 large sweet potato, cooked
2 Tbsp vital wheat gluten
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 can of chickpeas
3 Tbsp white whole wheat flour
1 tsp sriracha sauce (optional if you don't like spicy things!)
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/4 tsp fresh grated ginger
Black pepper to taste
I cooked the sweet potato in the microwave by poking holes and putting it in a bowl with about a half inch of water. I scooped out the flesh, but there's no reason it couldn't be mashed up skin and all for this recipe. Mash the chickpeas with the potato.
Mix all other ingredients into the potato/chickpea mixture to form a dough. It will be quite sticky, not like seitan that gets super elastic.
Heat about 1/4" of oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet. Form the dough into patties just before putting them in the oil and press them out thin with a spatula as soon as they are in the pan. Fry until golden brown on each side and place on a paper towel to drain.
Lunch is served!
Just the curry:
Curry and sweet potato patties:
Thanks for reading, as always.
