Pie Post

Just wanted to post a Thanksgiving update, starting with desserts. I brought the pie to our celebration: vegan pumpkin pie, and vegan apple walnut pie. I decided to do 4-inch tarts rather full size pies, because small desserts are just cuter than big ones.

I made simple short crust pastry: 1:1 flour to shortening with a pinch of salt. I used 1.5 cups flour to 3/4 cup Earth Balance, with ~ .5 teaspoon salt...(I'm not sure exactly how much, as I just eye-balled it.) I think the key to good pastry is ensuring that the fat is very cold and remains so throughout the mixing process.



I found recipes online for vegan pumpkin pie with tofu, but that didn't appeal to me, so here's what I used instead:

Vegan Pumpkin Pie Filling
2 cups organic pumpkin puree
1 cup rice milk
1/3 cup turbinado sugar (this is nice, because it retains some of the molasses flavor)
1/4 cup corn starch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon each: nutmeg, allspice, and ginger

Mix all ingredients together in a mixing bowl until well incorporated and smooth. Fill the pastry with the filling and bake in a 425 degree (F) oven for 10 minutes, then turn oven down to 350 and continue baking until the filling is set, approximately 30-40 minutes.

The filling came out smooth, pumpkiny, and nicely spiced...my husband liked it and he usually doesn't eat anything with cinnamon in it....so the flavors were subtle, but well balanced.



As good as the pumpkin pie was, I have to say, that the walnut raisin was my favorite. For this one, I used Bryanna Clark-Grogan's New and Improved Reliabe Vegan Pecan Pie recipe, but used walnuts and raisins instead of pecans. In the recipe, she gives a couple variations for the sweetener; I went with maple syrup option and it came out lovely and mapley. If anyone makes this pie, I definitely recommend going with the maple syrup option.



And one last note that I have to preface with saying: my mom was a stay-at-home mom, excellent cook, and everything we grew up eating was made from scratch...so a spray can of whipping cream would have never come within miles of our house....

But all that aside, my mom (whose not vegan, but was totally cool about eating a 100% vegan Thanksgiving dinner) found a can of vegan rice whip at WholeFoods and bought it to go with the vegan pie. I normally wouldn't buy anything like this, nor would she, but given the circumstances, I had to commend her efforts.



We used this stuff on the pie, and it really wasn't bad, but I was a little scared to read the ingredient list. It's basically rice milk and rice syrup packed in nitrous oxide. It's made in Germany.

Meet Rhonda

Rhonda
"Let there be music, let there be light, but please don't make a turkey your holiday delight!"

(I live at the New York Shelter)

Thanksgiving in the US is nearly upon us, and as every year, I'm growing weary of hearing people talk about "Turkey Day," saying things like "Gobble, Gobble," and just generally going on about their unenlightened food customs. I realize omnis eat meat all year round, but rarely are they so vocal and annoying as this time of year.

Rhonda is the turkey I sponsored this year through Farm Sanctuary's Adopt-a-Turkey Project.

Here's to a Happy ThanksLiving!!!

Isfahani Green Bean and Tomato Braise

Well almost...I used broccoli and aubergine instead because I didn't have any green beans.


Dinner last night included this recipe from Silk Road Cooking, A Vegetarian Journey by Najmieh Batmanglij--the newest addition to my cookbook collection. It's a gorgeous book focused on traditional cuisines found along the historic silk-trading route or "Silk Road," running from Genoa, Italy all the way to Shanghai, China dipping into a multitude of destinations in between. It has beautiful and captivating photos of people and places you might find along the way, as well as a cultural and historical narration.



I don't want to promote Amazon--I rarely buy books from them as I prefer to support my local, independently-owned bookseller (which is where I bought this book)--but if you click on the book title link above you can search inside the book and get an idea what I'm talking about.

I haven't had time to fully peruse this book, much less read it yet, but I still highly recommend it. It is vegetarian--not entirely vegan, but that scarcely matters as vegans are masters of creativity and adaptation, and can easily find a work-around for any non-vegan ingredients.



The recipe is in a section of the book entitled Fruit and Vegetable Braises, which includes other intriguing recipes such as Gilani Jujube, Walnut, and Pomegranate Braise and Persian Eggplant Braise with Unripe Grapes. As you can tell, the book is full of alluring recipes with striking ingredients to satisfy a sense of adventure in the kitchen



The braise was simple, but delicious... I did overcook the broccoli a bit (note to self for next time). According to the book, this dish is popular in Iran and the South of India

I served it with a tabouleh-style salad made with red quinoa (instead of bulghur), spinach, parsely, tomato and red onion; some manzanilla olives; humus; and spinach naan. It was pretty tasty if I do say so myself.

I'm really looking forward to delving further into this cookbook.

Roasted Fennel Soup with Walnuts

I was disappointed by the color of this soup; it turned out a little murky. I think the culprit was the homemade veggie broth I used, which was dark in color. The roasted fennel brings out some sweetness, and adds a light fennel flavor accented by the walnuts and walnut oil.

Ingredients
1 large fennel bulb, ~ 1.5 lbs worth
1 large leek, chopped, ~ 1.5 cups
1 stalk celery, chopped, ~ 1/2 cup
3 garlic cloves
two medium potatoes, chopped ~ 1.5 cups
4 cups veggie broth or water
1 tbsp olive oil or Earth Balance
pinch of red pepper flakes
walnut oil for drizzling
lightly toasted chopped walnuts
salt and pepper to taste
optional: 1 cup non-dairy milk or Mimic Cream (Mimic Cream is just a combination of almond and cashew cream...use homemade if you have time)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, cut the fennel into quarters, drizzle with walnut oil and bake in oven until tender.

Meanwhile, saute the leek, celery, garlic, and pinch of chili flake in 1 tbsp oil until beginning to tender. Toss in potatoes and veggie broth. Bring to simmer and let cook until potatoes are tender. Roughly chop the roasted fennel and add to soup. Puree in blender. Return to pot, stir in non-dairy milk if using, and salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, top with chopped walnuts, drizzle with walnut oil and garnish with fennel sprigs.

Fall Garden Leaf Mulch

I was out raking leaves today, which are an excellent garden resource.

For composters, fallen leaves are a good source of carbon for the pile, and this is the time of year to stockpile.

You can use the leaves in compost now or save them and use them later next spring, when green compost materials are abundant, but carbon-based ones less so.




Leaves also make wonderful mulching material, adding lots of good organic matter to the soil. I like to pass them over with the mower once or twice. This chops them up a bit, so they break down faster.




I rake the chopped leaves and grass cutting directly into my side beds as a mulch for winter.

Another plus of leaf mulch is that it provides protection and food through the winter for spiders, red wigglers, and other beneficial insects.

One word of caution: if you have any perennials, be sure to keep the mulch an inch or two away from the stem; mulching too close could potentially cause rot there.





Another cool thing to do with leaves is a layer mulch. You basically cover your garden beds with little compost piles for the winter by layering carbon materials and green/nitrogen materials on top of the bed and covering it up with burlap sacks.

In spring, you take off the burlap and have ready-made compost to work into the soil. This type of mulching is a combination of mulching and composting, and is known as Interbay mulch. I did this last year, but this year I planted cover crops instead...so unfortunately, no pics of this method at this time.




















Leaves really are a wonderful resource for any organic gardener; I'm collecting leaves in my old potato cage:




















And last but not least: goodbye halloween pumpkins, back to the compost pile you originally came from.

Happy Pumpkins Love Compost!