As a Canadian, I only have a foreigner’s opinion of President Obama’s policies but from where I stand, he seems like a pretty cool guy. He recently tweeted his Spotify playlist for summer jams and I think I like him even more. And who doesn’t find these amazingly funny? 

While some may disagree, I admire a lot of the work he has done with the issues of gender equality and same sex marriage equality. I hope that the future President will uphold these policies and continue to move forward for human rights. But what to make him for dinner? I wanted to create something a little more elegant than my typical meal or my current obsession with bowls (exhibit a, b, and c). I Googled the President’s Dinners of the past for inspiration for the recipe. The main course of these lavish dinners usually consisted of beef with potatoes so I went with Portobello Steaks and Cauliflower Mash. I like mushroom steaks with a sauce and decided to make a parsley basil pesto; it is fresh, quick, and tastes fancier than it is. 

I think the First Lady would approve of this vegetable-filled meal for the President.

15 posts down, 15 more to go! See you tomorrow for Day 16: Late Summer Favourites! Missed Day 14? Check it out here.

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Portobello Steaks + Cauliflower Mash w/ Parsley Basil Pesto

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

This recipe is a little fancier than my usual fare but it is a great dish to make when people come over. It serves 3 large servings with lots of sauce. This recipe is gluten free, grain free, and nut free.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: vegan, gluten free

Serves: 3

Ingredients

• For the Parsley Basil Pesto:
• 1 cup parsley leaves
• ½ cup basil leaves
• 2 small garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• Pinch of red chili flakes
• 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 
  
• For the Portobello Steaks:
• 6 portobello mushrooms, destemmed and gills scraped off gently with the spoon
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil + 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, mixed together
• ¼ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 
  
• For the Cauliflower Mash:
• 1 large head cauliflower, main core removed and cut into bite-sized pieces.
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter, softened
• 3-4 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• Cracked black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. While the oven preheats, make the pesto. Add the parsley, basil, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and chili flakes to the bowl of a food processor. While the food processor is running, slowly add the oil in a steady stream until combined. Transfer to a glass container and set aside until you are ready to serve. Clean out the food processor bowl.
3. Set the mushrooms on the baking sheet and rub the mushrooms in the oil + lemon juice mixture. Sprinkle with salt and cook for 30 minutes, turning halfway through the cooking time.
4. Meanwhile, set a steamer basket in a large pot with a few inches of water at the bottom. Over medium-high heat, cook the cauliflower in the basket until very tender and can be easily poked with a fork (not a knife).
5. Once the cauliflower is fully cooked, add half of the mixture to the food processor with 1 tablespoon of softened butter,1 tablespoon nutritional yeast, 2 tablespoons of milk, and ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt. Process until it resembles mashed potatoes. Transfer to a bowl and repeat with the other half. Pepper the mash as you like.
6. Pile the mashed cauliflower onto the plate, add 2-3 of the mushrooms, and top with sauce. Serve and enjoy!

3.3.3077

The post Day 15 Vegan MoFo: Portobello Steaks + Cauliflower Mash w/ Parsley Basil Pesto appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

The diners started with “Grandma’s Buttermilk Dinner Rolls with Coconut Olive Butter,” which sounds quaint and simple but these rolls were buttery and fluffy with black sesame seeds and a mix of black and flake white salt. Nothing like my grandma’s dinner rolls aka dinner bricks. Crepeau also made her own butter for this dish and from what I remember about butter, hers is better by a long shot.

The second course I looked forward to the most since as a Canadian gal, I have never had a true hush puppy. The diners received three jalapeno-dotted hush puppies on a grey slate tile and served with a bright green goddess dressing. The hush puppies were golden and crispy on the outside and revealed a tender doughy inside that had the right amount of freshness and spice from the jalapenos. The green goddess sauce was a perfect balance of cilantro, acid and spice. My plate was scraped clean.

The third course looked almost too pretty to eat and Crepeau’s artistic eye really came out in the plating of this dish. Savoury and perfectly seasoned miso braised yellow squash atop of a bed of grilled corn succotash and dotted with meaty Christmas Lima, creamy Scarlett runner beans and juicy cherry tomatoes. The dish was topped with crispy popped sorghum grains, red micro-greens and a sweet citrusy edible flower. At this point, I wish I had brought my stretchy pants. Conversation amongst the diners became less frequent as everyone was too consumed by their plate.

The fourth course, a smoked and very crispy tofu reminded me of smoky ham from taste to texture. Another diner, who is not a vegan, commented on the dish and asked if it was really tofu. To me, that is one of the best compliments a vegan chef can get. The texture was meaty, juicy and could fool any carnivore without fail. The dish was accompanied with glazed carrots and turnip over creamy Southern-style grits and drizzled with a sweet sorghum syrup glaze. The piece I really loved about this dish was the salty crisp mustard green leaf fanned out in between the roasted vegetables since frankly, I never thought I would ever like this type of green. Crepeau’s methods have won me over.

Dessert is probably my favourite part of most fancy dinners and Crepeau is just as good a baker as she is a cook. In my experience, it is usually one or the other but it just shows the amount of talent this chef has. The buttery pecan tart was served with a warm roasted Texas peach and a vanilla bourbon ice cream that had a bourbon caramel sauce drizzled on top. I like when food reminds me of an experience or brings back a memory and this dish made me think of Christmas time with my grandma. My grandmother made this “adults-only” bourbon sauce that was served on the dessert table after Christmas dinner. Since she had a heavy hand with the bourbon to make this sauce, the children of the family were not allowed to have any. Naturally, telling a child that they can’t have dessert only makes getting it all the more enticing so we did whatever we could to dip our fingers in the sauce. One year, I managed to get my spoon in the dish, licked it and ran from the table to avoid the adults. This dish reminded me of this memory even when I thought I would never again have bourbon caramel after going vegan. A big thanks to the chef.

Crepeau ended the meal perfectly with the dessert and I saved half of the tart for breakfast the next day. Christy and I left feeling very full and I left a little bit jealous of Christy who is a friend of the chef and lives close by. The experience was great as I had never been to a supper club dinner before. The food trucks in Austin are good but if you want a proper dinner with multiple courses, warm atmosphere and exceptional food, I highly recommend Roots to Leaves Supper Club. You will not get this kind of food in a restaurant for this price ($40 for a 5 course dinner). If you are in Austin, definitely check out Roots to Leaves Supper Club, it usually runs once a month with different menus. Check out her Facebook page for more details, menus and dates! I wanted to adapt a dish from my experience of the Roots to Leaves Supper Club with a dish that surprised me the most: the Miso Braised Yellow Squash. Normally I am not crazy about zucchini besides zoodles but this dish was tender, perfectly seasoned and miso butter has become a new favourite. Special thanks to Chef Crepeau for preparing this memorable dinner and Christy Morgan for inviting me.

Roasted Zucchini & Tomatoes w/ Miso Butter + Roots to Leaves Supper Club

 

Save Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

This dish is light, fresh and naturally gluten free. Feel free to add some beans or lentils if you wish to up the protein in this meal.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Serves: 2-4

Ingredients

• For the Miso Butter:
• 2 tablespoons white miso
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter
• 1 teaspoon organic cane sugar
• 1 green onion, finely sliced
• For the Squash:
• 2 yellow or green zucchinis
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• For the plate:
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• Fat pinch of fine grain sea salt
• ⅓ cup chiffonade basil leaves
• 2 cups warm cooked quinoa (I cooked red quinoa in vegetable stock)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Cut the zucchinis in half lengthwise and with the tip of a sharp knife, cut slits diagonally across the exposed flesh of the zucchini. Do not cut all the way through! This is to ensure the miso butter doesn’t just slide off the zucchini. Rub zucchini with olive oil and bake cut side down for 12-14 minutes, depending on the size of the zucchini. If you zucchinis are on the skinnier side, bake for less time. Meanwhile, cut the cherry tomatoes in half, toss with olive oil and spread onto the other prepared pan. Gently flip zucchini so it is cut side up now exposing the crosshatch cuts.
3. Whisk together the butter, miso, sugar and green onion together in a small bowl and brush half of the miso butter onto the zucchinis. Return the zucchini to the oven along with the cherry tomatoes and bake for 12-15 minutes, turning the tomatoes halfway through.
4. Toss the warm quinoa with the remaining miso butter and the basil, add in the tomatoes and divide amongst serving dishes and top with the roasted zucchini. Serve.

3.3.3077

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This is for my mother, who taught me to love who I am and what I do,

Reading is my favourite thing to do beyond cooking, writing or photographing since books have been a wondrous habit of mine since I was young. My mom, a real champ about my book addiction, would stop at garage sales to look for new books for me, would fill out my order card for the book fair at school every year with at least three new books and we were frequent card users at our local library. She was a single parent for the majority of my life, worked two jobs to feed and clothe my sister and I but she never complained or questioned my need for books. Whenever we were at a family gathering and my social anxiety was at an all time high, she never pushed me to “go play with the other kids” since she knew I was most comfortable under a tree in the backyard reading a book. I had a bad habit of hiding in odd places to avoid my younger sister or cousins so I could read in peace. One of my favourite places to do this was the linen closet in the hallway. I would climb up the shelves, tuck myself in between the sheets or towels, turn on a battery-operated push light that my mom taped to the wall and read my book in a little space all to myself. It really freaked my mom out to see a small child’s head amongst the linen whenever she opened the closet. Her reactions were always very funny to me.

When I was eleven, I started reading the Harry Potter series and absolutely fell in love with the magical world, as I am sure all of us who read it did. Money was very tight during this time of my life but my mom, bless her heart, still bought me the newest Harry Potter books when they came out. She told me that there were worse things to spend money on than her daughter’s books and kept encouraging me to read. She hugged me when I sobbed over a character’s death and never once suggested that, “it wasn’t real,” even though I was sixteen when the seventh book came out. She knew that I was emotionally invested in the story and my feelings about it were very real to me. I will always appreciate her compassion. The Harry Potter series is still on my bookshelf, 17 years later, and I have refused to lend them out since they are my most special collection, thanks to my mom.

My sister and I played dress up quite often since we grew up with tinfoil covered rabbit-ear antennas and a VHS player that occasionally ate our beloved Disney tapes, we were left to entertain ourselves for the most part. For Halloween one year, I was Belle from Beauty and the Beast and I loved that bright golden dress with the matching gloves. I definitely pretended I was Belle and would hang out in the yard wearing that dress and reading a book. My mom never said anything about me wearing a Halloween costume in July but simply reminded me to bring out a blanket so I wouldn’t mess up my dress. 

My mother has helped me become a life-long reader and introduced me to my ultimate passion in life. She encouraged me to be myself, that odd book-reading kid who hides in the linen closest to catch up on her R.L. Stine and stood up for me whenever a family member questioned my desire of isolation. Sure, I was a weird kid that got really excited when I saw my mother carrying old dusty books in a grocery bag but she was more than happy to feed my addiction.

A special thanks to my mom for encouraging me to do the things that make me the happiest and allowing me to be myself, despite what others might think. Happy Mother’s Day to you.

Love, Jessica

This recipe is adapted from At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well

*This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a *teeny* commission if you make a purchase using this link.

The post Mother’s Day Special: Roasted Tomato & Herb Quiche appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

Five new posts a week? While working full time? And in school? Have I gone mad? Not yet but it is safe to say after this month I just might but before the crazies set in, I am really pumped about the challenge! If this is your first time to my site, welcome! I’m glad VeganMoFo has brought you here and I can’t wait to see everyone else’s sites and contributions to this month-long experience.

 So now for the first recipe and it is a good one….

I am excited that is one is my first because it is a household favourite and a carnivore pleaser: the crisp corn meal dusted crust, the rich garlicky cream sauce and topped with cherry tomatoes, arugula and fresh herbs, what is not to love about it? The fact that the dough is made in the food processor and doesn’t take all day to rise is just an added bonus. You do however need a thermometer to take the temperature of the water: too hot will kill the yeast, too cold the yeast won’t activate. Yeast is a finicky thing, like the Goldilocks of ingredients it needs to be just right.

 There are a few steps to this recipe to make the dough and the sauce but here is an action plan I have formulated over the many times I have made this dish:

Step 1: Put a small pot (with a tight fitting lid) of water on to boil

Step 2: Make the dough and cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap

Step 3: When the water is boiling, add the cashews, take off the heat and cover with the lid. This is the quick soak method to make the cashews soft and blendable.

Step 4: Pan roast the garlic and prep the thyme

Step 5: Set oven rack on lowest slot and preheat oven

Step 6: Prep the dough for the pan and let it rest

Step 7: Make the sauce while the dough is resting

Step 8: Bake the dough and chop the basil and tomatoes

Step 9: Take dough out of the oven and top

Step 10: Cut into eight pieces and serve!

When you break down a recipe into a game plan, it makes it a lot less daunting and I like lists, it is satisfying to check off each step as you go. I did my recipe/instructions layout a little differently (photos in the steps) and listed off ingredients based on their step, so be sure to read it all through to ensure you aren’t missed anything.

I personally like this dish topped with my chosen ingredients but you can top it with anything you like: caramelized onions, capers, olives, spinach etc. but don’t skip the cream sauce. It is so delicious and easy to make. Mark and I scrapped every last bit of this sauce from the bowl of the processor with the crusts of the dough. Change the toppings all you like but keep the sauce!

 I hope this recipe shows you how easy dough can be made at home with a little patience and planning. Happy VeganMoFo!

Action Plan

Step 1: Boil water (enough to cover the cashews) in a small pot with a tight fitting lid

Step 2: Make the dough, adapted from America’s Test Kitchen: Cook’s Illustrated Pissaladière 

 Dough Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat bread flour
• 1 cup white bread flour
• 1 teaspoon instant or rapid rise yeast
• ¾ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil + more to oil the bowl and fingers
• 1 cup of water, warmed to 110 degrees Fahrenheit
•  2 tablespoons corn meal (for step 6, set aside until this step)

Pulse the dry ingredients 5 times in the bowl of the food processor fitted with the S-blade. With the food processor running, slowly add the oil, then the water; process until a ball forms, about 20 seconds.

Take the dough out to a lightly floured counter and smooth into a ball. Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough into the bowl.

Cover the bowl tightly with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour (it will double size).

Clean out the bowl of the food processor since you will be using it for the sauce.

 Step 3: Quick soak the cashews

• 1 cup raw cashews

 Add cashews to the boiling water, take off heat, cover with a tight fitting lid and set aside for at least 1 hour while the dough rises.

 Step 4: Pan roasted the garlic and prep the thyme

•  2 large garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme

Peel the cloves leaving on a single layer of the papery skin. Heat a small skillet over medium heat and add the whole cloves onto the dry pan. Flip when the garlic paper has become brown and spotty. Remove garlic from the pan when the garlic skin is brown on both sides and the clove feels soft. When cool enough to handle peel the skin off the garlic and chop.

While the garlic is cooling prep the thyme and chop finely.

Step 5: Set an oven rack to the lowest slot setting and preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

My oven takes a little time to get to the high of a temperature and you want it to be HOT in there so your dough crisps up on the bottom.

Step 6: Prep the dough for the pan and let it rest

Transfer the now expanded dough from the oiled bowl to a lightly floured counter top. With floured hands, form the dough into a large ball. Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, take out a large heavy-duty broiler pan and cut a slice of parchment paper large enough to slightly hang over the pan. Sprinkle the sheet with the cornmeal.

After the dough has rest, oil your fingers and palms. Hold the dough up and gently stretch it out to but making sure the dough doesn’t tear (if it does, just pinch it back together once it is on the pan). Transfer stretched dough to the cornmeal-dusted pan and knead the dough all around the pan so it is uniform thickness. I always think about my cat when she wants to find a comfy spot, just kneading and dimpling the dough with your fingertips and palms. Once the dough is roughly the same thickness all around, poke the dough all around with a fork so it doesn’t puff up. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes in the pan.

 Step 7: Make the sauce while the dough is resting

 Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce

•  1 cup raw cashews, quick soaked (check!)
• 2 large garlic cloves, pan roasted and chopped (check!)
• ½ teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme (check!)
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• ¼ cup water

Drain the cashews and add all ingredients to the now-clean bowl of the food processor. Blend for 5 minutes, scraping down the mix as needed. A high-powered blender could also get this job done but the sauce is really thick and very difficult to remove for the blender. The food processor takes a little bit longer but it is worth the wait to make sure you get all the sauce out.

 Step 8: Bake the dough and chop the basil and tomatoes

• pint of cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup lightly packed basil

 In the now very hot oven, place pan on the bottom rack and bake for 13-15 minutes. While the dough is baking, chop the basil and tomatoes.

 Step 9: Take the dough out of the oven and top

Transfer the flatbread to a cutting board and remove parchment. This is the fun part: putting on your toppings.

Step 10: Cut into eight pieces and serve!

I cut the flatbread across and then down the middle. Time to eat! Everyone’s favourite step. 

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