Posts Tagged vegan

Recipe Swap: Chocolate Spice ‘Depression’ Cake

So, I’ve been involved in this recipe swap for awhile now. For those of you who may not know, Christianna at Burwell General Store created this swap a few months back, in order to encourage creativity in the kitchen. Back then, it was just the two of us, but it quickly grew into a large group of foodies from all over the world.

I love the swap for so many reasons: but mostly, I love seeing how one recipe blossoms into so many tasty things (from so many talented people!). Every month, CM emails us a recipe from a darling old cookbook/hymnal – All Day Singin and Dinner on the Ground – and we re-interpret the recipe however we see fit.

For this swap, CM asked us to create our own versions of “Wacky Cake” (Original recipe pictured below).

When I first saw this recipe, I panicked. First off, I’m not much of a baker. Secondly, this cake is made with VINEGAR. Vinegar?! I was stumped. I’d never heard of using vinegar in a cake! I just didn’t see how it could possibly be good. I had no idea what to do.

So, I did the only thing I could do: googled the heck out of “cake made with vinegar”. Thanks to Google, I found out a lot of interesting things about cakes made with vinegar. Namely, I found out that Wacky Cake is an old wartime recipe (it can also be called Depression Cake – a name which I personally prefer). It was originally created out of necessity, when butter, eggs, sugar and other common ingredients were rationed and hard to get. (If you want to know a little bit more about the history of this ‘wacky’ cake, listen to this great NPR piece about one family’s history with this particular cake.)

All that to say, after a little bit of research I was completely inspired by this cake. I loved the idea of a cake being borne out of hardship. It is a true testament to perseverance and ingenuity. When you don’t have eggs or butter – by golly, use vinegar.

In order to keep with the spirit of the original recipe, I decided to limit myself to ingredients that I had on hand. To be honest, I happened to have some pretty stellar ingredients lying around: one blood orange, local raw wildflower honey, and Scharffen Berger cocoa powder. But, the rest of the ingredients were quite simple.

I must say, I was totally surprised at how great this cake turned out. The vinegar worked wonders! The cake was amazingly light and fluffy, yet moist with just the right amount of density. The dark chocolate cocoa powder and fresh ginger gave the cake a flavor somewhat akin to a traditional gingerbread. It wasn’t terribly sweet (which I love) and it paired so nicely with the honey orange compote. Did I mention that it’s vegan?!

Please do check out all the other amazing creations from my fellow recipe swappers. You can find them all on CM’s Recipe swap page!

Chocolate Spice ‘Depression Cake’ with Honey Blood Orange Compote
(Cake recipe adapted from The Perfect Pantry)

1.5 cups white flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown or muscovado sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold water

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugars, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Using a spoon, create an indent (or ‘hole’) in the dry ingredients. Pour remaining ingredients (in the following order) into the indent: vinegar, oil, water. Mix well.

Pour mixture into a greased 8×8 cake pan. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

For the compote:
1 blood orange
1 Tablespoon good quality honey
Dash of nutmeg

Peel and cut blood orange into segments or supremes. Gently mix orange segments with honey and nutmeg. Serve with chocolate spice cake. Enjoy!

Spicy Peanut Noodle Salad.

I absolutely love this recipe.

If left to my own devices, I would probably eat this particular salad multiple times a week. I crave it often (and therefore, I make it often).

There’s not much I can say about the recipe, only that you need to try it for yourself. So I encourage you to do just that! Give this salad a try — I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Happy Friday, everyone. Here’s to the weekend (and delicious peanutty noodle salads!)!

Spicy Peanut Noodle Salad

1 package rice noodles
1 red bell pepper, julienned
2 small carrots, julienned
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly

For the peanut sauce:
3/4 cup all-natural creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons honey (*could substitute brown sugar, but I prefer honey)
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 Tablespoon freshly grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, smashed
The juice of 1 lime
A generous helping of Sriracha hot sauce (to taste & according to your love of spice! Start with a little and add more as needed!)

Garnishes:
Bean Sprouts
Lime Wedges
Chopped Peanuts
Sriracha sauce

Method
Cook rice noodles according to package directions. Once cooked, rinse with cold water and allow to cool. Toss with a bit of sesame oil to ensure that the noodles don’t stick together.

In a small pan, cook red onions with a bit of sesame oil over medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes (until soft). Set aside. (*Note: I cook the onions to reduce their potency and given them a slight caramelized flavor. You could include them in the salad raw, I simply prefer to cook them a bit first).

Blend all peanut sauce ingredients together in a food processor. Taste, and adjust to your liking. If the sauce is too thick, you can add a bit of water to thin.

Toss the noodles, peanut sauce, red peppers, carrots, and red cooked onions together until evenly coated. Garnish with fresh lime wedges, bean sprouts, and chopped peanuts.

*Note: While this salad is good leftover, it is best if eaten immediately!

Lemon Polenta “Fries” with Hazelnut Romesco

There are certain recipes that just speak to me.

These recipes jump off the page and say: “Lindsay! Make me.” And I say, “Well, OK then.”

This was one of those recipes. I was making my usual blog rounds, and noticed that my friend and fellow Portland blogger, Adrien (of Her Hungry Heart), had posted a recipe for Lemon Polenta Fries with Hazelnut Pesto. It all looked and sounded so delicious. Imagine my excitement when I discovered that the recipe could be easily altered to fit within my Lenten diet. Score!

Adrien’s use of hazelnuts in her pesto sauce reminded me that I, too, had a bag of hazelnuts that I’d been wanting to use. But, rather than stick with the pesto sauce, I decided to go in a slightly different direction. I set out to make a hazelnut romesco.

The idea came from a trio of hazelnut recipes written by famed local chef, Naomi Pomeroy (For those unfamiliar, Naomi has a fabulous restaurant in Portland called Beast, she’s been a competitor on Iron Chef America, and is rumored to be a contestant in the next season of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters). A friend had printed out Pomeroy’s hazelnut recipes for me a few months ago, and ever since I’d been wanting to make her hazelnut romesco. For whatever reason, I just hadn’t gotten around to it! So, then, when I saw Adrien’s recipe, the pieces all fell into place. I knew exactly what had to be done: polenta fries with hazelnut romesco.

Now, all I needed was an excuse to make this delicious dinner.

The excuse ended up being a random Thursday night. There was a Blazer game on TV and my friend Mari came over to watch the game. That was all the excuse I needed! Delicious dinner + friends + Blazers = a perfect Thursday night.

Everything turned out splendidly. I made a vegan caesar salad to go along with the meal, which rounded everything out so nicely. The polenta fries were crisp, with just a hint of lemon. The romesco sauce was packed with flavor – it was rich, sweet, smoky, and spicy. (Nich has since declared that he could eat romesco every day. I guess this is one of those recipes that we’ll be making often.) Overall, we had a fantastic night. We ate like kings and the Blazers won. What more can you want? ;)

I will mention that while the meal wasn’t difficult to make, it did take a bit of prep time. You could easily make some of the elements ahead of time (i.e. make the romesco sauce the night before), but overall I felt the meal came together relatively easily.

Lemon Polenta “Fries” with Hazelnut Romesco
(Polenta fries adapted from the lovely Adrien at Her Hungry Heart, Hazelnut romesco adapted from Naomi Pomeroy of Beast.)

For the polenta:
1 cup polenta (aka corn grits)
3 1/4 cups cold water
zest of 1 lemon
Dash of cayennne
Dash of paprika
Salt & pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons butter (or vegan butter substitute, such as Earth Balance)

Lightly great an 8″ square baking dish with olive oil.

Mix cold water & polenta in a small pot. Whisk often, over high heat, until the mixture comes to a boil. Once the mixture has reached a boil, turn the heat down to low and stir the polenta continuously with a wooden spoon. When the polenta starts to pull away from the side of the pan (about 10 minutes), stir in lemon zest and butter/butter substitute. Season with salt, pepper, and a dash of cayenne pepper and paprika.

Pour the polenta into the prepared baking dish, and spread into an even layer. Chill, uncovered, for 45 minutes to an hour (until cool & firm). When set, unmold the polenta and cut into slim sticks. (Note: I cut some of the polenta into rectangles to make grit cakes, and the rest I cut into slim sticks to make ‘fries’. Both Nich and I agree that the fries cooked more evenly and had a better texture.)

Place polenta ‘fries’ on a lightly greased baking sheet and broil until golden brown, about 8-10 minutes. Turn the fries over and broil the other side until golden, about 8 minutes more.

Hazelnut Romesco
(Adapted from Naomi Pomeroy)

**Romesco sauce is a roasted red pepper spread that is usually made with almonds, stale bread, and a variety of spices. This particular version uses hazelnuts, which I think give it a unique and wonderful flavor.

2 red bell peppers
2 dried red Mexican chilies or 1 tsp red chili flakes (Note: original recipe calls for 2 dried ancho chilies, which you then reconstitute and make into an ancho chili paste. I didn’t have ancho chilies and used whatever dried red chilies I had on hand. Personally, I’m of the opinion that you could probably just use red chili flakes and skip making the chili paste altogether.)
3/4 cups roasted hazelnuts (skins removed, preferably)
1.5 tsps smoke paprika
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 large piece of crusty white bread
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tablespoon tomato paste
salt & pepper, to taste

Method:
*If you decided to make/use ancho chili paste as opposed to chili flakes do the followingg: To make paste, add boiling water to 2 dried ancho chili pods. Allow to soak in hot water for 15-20 minutes. Remove pods from water and puree, adding a little extra water to make a paste.

Cut crust off bread and brush with olive oil. Either toast in the oven or in a skillet until golden brown and crisp.

In a food processor, combine hazelnuts, garlic, toasted bread, salt, and spices. Mix until a dry paste forms. Add chili paste, roasted red peppers, tomato paste, vinegar, and olive oil until a smooth paste forms. Add extra olive oil if you would like a thinner consistency. Taste and adjust spices as needed.

*Romesco also works wonderfully as a dip with rustic bread, or as an accompaniment to various proteins, such as pork or chicken. We actually made romesco sandwiches with the leftovers!

Happy Lent: Curried Apple Quinoa Salad

Happy Lent, everyone.

(*Yes, I know Lent started a week ago, I just hadn’t gotten around to writing about it until now!)

For those of you who know me (or those who were reading my blog during this time last year), you may remember that Nich and I participated in the Orthodox tradition of Great Lent.

Meaning: for Lent last year, we gave up meat, dairy and alcohol. At first, I was apprehensive. Really, I was terrified. I vowed to give up the things that I loved for a tradition that was not my own. I just wasn’t sure I could do it.

And yet, here I am, a year later…and I’m jumping headfirst into Great Lent.

Why?

I can’t really explain it. But I loved it. Mostly, I loved that Nich and I went on a journey together. It wasn’t necessarily an easy journey, but it was good one. We learned, we grew, and we did it together. It was a really fantastic experience. So much so, that I’ve been looking forward to Lent ever since.

I will say, I know that Lent isn’t for everyone. This is simply a choice my husband and I have made for ourselves. I’m not asking you to join us on this journey, but I am hoping that you can support us in ours.

Because, let’s be honest….we could all do with a little less meat and dairy in our lives. So, even if you’re not into the religious component of Lent, I think we can all agree that a little abstaining could do us some good. (On this same note, there’s a great Huffington Post article called “Ash Wednesday is For Everyone.” Very interesting read.)

So, I hope that you can bear with me for the next six weeks while I adhere to my Lenten fast. Don’t you worry, the blog isn’t going anywhere. Of course, I’ll still post new and exciting recipes, they just won’t incorporate meat or dairy! If I can get by without eating these things, you can get by without reading about them. I think that’s only fair. ;)

So, here’s to Lent and the wonderful journey that it is. I’m excited for the challenge! And, I hope that you are, too.

(And in case you’re wondering: I miss cheese the most!)

Love,
Lindsay

p.s. The following is a recipe I made up last week, using various ingredients I had around the house. This ‘salad ‘was a wonderful way to transition into my new diet – its bright, flavorful, and filling.

Curried Quinoa and Apple salad

1 Granny smith (or other tart apple), cored & diced
1 cup dry quinoa
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup dried cranberries (raisins would also work well)
4-5 green onions, diced

For the dressing:
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup coconut milk
The juice of 1 lime
1.5 tsps curry powder
Salt & pepper to taste
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 garlic clove, smashed

Cook quinoa according to package instructions (1 cup quinoa to 2 cups water). Once quinoa is fully cooked, set aside to cool.

Toast slivered almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Be careful not to burn. Set almonds aside.

Once the quinoa is cooled, toss with dried cranberries, diced apple, green onions, and toasted almonds.

Whisk all dressing ingredients together (or shake in an airtight container); taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Pour over cooled quinoa mixture. Stir, and add an extra squeeze of lime juice over the top of the salad. Chill before serving (the longer the salad rests, the more the flavors meld together).