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Grilled Eggplant Rollatini With Ricotta and Fava Bean Filling {Vegan}

Written on July 19, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

Last Wednesday was my father’s birthday so I took it upon myself to make dinner for my family. Of course, since I was the one cooking I subjected everyone to the hippy vegan rabbit food I usually eat. Thankfully my family is willing to try anything, especially if it’s Italian, so I tried a vegan/vegifull version of an Italian favorite: Stuffed Italian shells.

Not only were these delicious and a hit, they were also a lot healthier than I even intended for them to be. The grilled eggplant, replacing breaded and fried eggplant, adds a smoky, charred flavor to the sauce. And the beans in the tofu filling give a good meaty texture contrast. It’s not something I’d throw together on a weeknight, but even so it couldn’t have been much easier to assemble and bake.

Grilled Eggplant Rollatini With Ricotta and Fava Bean Filling

Ingredients(Makes 4 servings):

1 large eggplant, sliced lengthwise 3/4 centimeter thick
3/4 cup tofu ricotta
1 cup fava beans
2 cups marinara sauce
3/4 cup vegan mozzarella shreds(I used Daiya)
Fresh basil for garnish
Oil for greasing

Toss the eggplant slices in oil and grill over high heat until soft and pliable. Remove after grilling both sides and let cool slightly before handling.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix the fava beans and ricotta and scoop a couple tablespoons of the filling into the middle of each eggplant slice. Roll up the eggplant and put them end-side down into a baking pan packed together.

Cover the eggplants in marinara sauce and then a layer of cheese.

Bake until the cheese is melted and bubbly—about 15 minutes.

Finish with fresh herbs and serve hot.

July 14th 038

This is Italian comfort food at its finest. The melted cheese was like the frosting on the cake. We easily demolished the pan. You could of course use regular cheese and make this a delicious vegetarian dish, too. Whatever you use, just don’t skimp on it.

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Tofu “Ricotta” Cheese

Written on July 14, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

For whatever reason, I’ve never loved cheese. If I did, I probably would have gotten my fingers caught in more mouse traps as a child. So giving up cheese along with dairy was never hard, but last Summer I tried this Whole Foods recipe for a vegan “ricotta” and really loved it. The herby, seasoned flavor far exceeded any “real” cheese I’d ever tried. For whatever reason I forgot about it for a year and just decided to make it again this week with a few tweaks.

Making your own cheese substitute has advantages and disadvantages compared to store brands. Since it’s tofu-based, this recipe is higher in protein than most fake cheeses. And the addition of fresh herbs and seasoning creates an unparalleled flavor. Since it doesn’t have a bunch of funky ingredients and stabilizers, it won’t melt like other fake cheese. But is that really such a bad trade off?

Tofu “Ricotta” Cheese(adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients:

1 block extra firm tofu
2 Tablespoons tahini
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon fresh chopped basil
1/2 teaspoon salt + more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Combine all of the ingredients together in a large bowl. Using a fork, press into the tofu block breaking it up into smaller clumps and mixing it with the other ingredients. Continue this until the ingredients are homogenous and the consistency resembles ricotta cheese. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

I haven’t found many uses for this so far besides eating it straight from the bowl, but I’m sure with time I’ll find others. Unless I eat it all straight from the bowl, which is a likely scenario, too.

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London: Desserts Edition

Written on June 17, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Miscellaneous, Restaurant Review

Whereas the food in London wasn’t so great, at the end of the day there was always something sweet and delicious offered up, from meringues the size of my head to vegan, gluten-free banoffee trifles from Manna.

This wasn’t the best dessert I had(that’s a little lower down) but it was definitely the prettiest. Layers of gluten-free chocolate cake, caramel sauce, soy pudding, and banana slices. I felt compelled to order this after another restaurant had banoffee pie on their dessert menu that same day and everyone in my party had to ask me what that was. It was also dessert on one of the flights; who knew it was that popular? The chocolate cake in the trifle was delicious, rich, and moist. The pudding, although it had good flavor, also had a strong soy aftertaste. If I tried to recreate this vegan I’d probably use something neutral in flavor for the custard base like cashews.

One thing that was everywhere in England was fudge. It must be the national dessert, because you could get it on any street corner. This brand apparently won awards so I just had to try it, and a chocolate fudge by the same manufacturers. The chocolate fudge wasn’t very chocolaty—I prefer my microwave chocolate fudge—, but the manuka honey fudge was excellent. It had a strong amber flavor to it that made it taste like a soft, butter toffee.

The best dessert I had was from a vegetarian restaurant called saf located at the Kensington Whole Foods. We didn’t eat at the actual restaurant but I grabbed a raw pudding cup from their to-go section. It wasn’t very pretty, but what it lacked in looks it made up for I flavor.

Mmm, doesn’t that look appealing, especially when you know that spirulina and moss are what make that bright green color? As off-putting as it was, I just had to lick the sides of the container clean. It was that good. I will definitely try to make something like this at home, perhaps without the moss.

Even though it wasn’t English, I’d give honorable mention to the chocolate covered vanilla-infused ganache from La Maison Du Chocolat. This came from the confections room at Harrods, which was quite literally a room full of gourmet chocolate stands. I was in heaven. It was hard to choose just one thing but I think I made the right choice with this; the inside was impressively soft and a nice contrast to the chocolate shell. I wanted to stay in that room all day.

Isn’t dessert grand?

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Plant-Based Diet: An Update

Written on May 14, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Running

We’ll get to that in a minute.

Back in April I posted about a plant-based diet to get back into shape after a rough 4 months or so.

And then I fell off the wagon that weekend. I had some excellent chicken dishes at the Elephant Walk and later the best raw dessert from Wildflour Bakery and other stuff I don’t really remember. But I didn’t want to stop trying then so I put on my big boy pants and made a salad.

Lots of them, actually. A typical meal has become vegetables, roasted or sautéed, with some beans or a few eggs. If I cooked an egg any way other than frying it I’m sure that’d be healthier but fried is perfection. Who can argue with that?

Oh an I drink a lot of these, too, “for my health”. They just taste so good.

Anyone, if you asked me I wouldn’t say I feel or look any different. Everyone says “Start a plant-based diet and you’ll suddenly have so much energy.” I’ve never been a bounce-off-the-wall person before and I’m still not.

But then something funny happened this week. Tuesday I casually ran 10 miles in just under 1 hour 24 minutes. That same course took me over 5 minutes longer a month before. Then, 2 days later, I ran it again in 1 hour 25 minutes, like I do this every day. I don’t. Or I didn’t, but now I do? And I’ve been increasing the weights I lift, too, so I must be doing something right.

That’s not to say I eat perfectly by any means. I eat chocolate all too often. I have honey by the spoonful when I’m bored or stressed. And I eat giant slices of vegan/gluten-free pound cake from Wildflour when I’m done with exams. It’s vegan so there must be plants in there somewhere. But progress is progress, and this is an update, not an end.

And now I’m off to run. I hope I don’t run too fast and taste cake. Or maybe I do.

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Cannellini Salad With Artichokes and Sundried Tomatoes

Written on April 1, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

Some days you just need a salad, especially when that day starts out with a cake hangover. This is a retake on a salad I had at Pizza Paradiso the night before my marathon. The flavors were so simple and fresh that I knew it wouldn’t be hard to recreate. To make it vegan I used nutritional yeast in the parmesan dressing and it came out just as tangy. Now how many more of these will I have to eat to balance out the cake?

Cannellini Salad With Artichokes and Sundried Tomatoes

Ingredients(Makes 2 entrees or 4 salad portions):

2 cups mixed greens
1 can cannellini beans
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes packed in olive oil
8 artichoke hearts, halved
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons white vinegar
1 Tablespoon parmesan or nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

To make the dressing, combine the olive oil, vinegar, parmesan, salt, and black pepper and whisk until emulsified.

In a large bowl, toss the mixed greens with the dressing.

Add in the sundried tomatoes, beans, and artichokes and mix until combined. Top with additional parmesan and/or crushed red pepper flakes.

I loved all of the flavors in this. The dressing had the perfect kick from vinegar and brininess from the nutritional yeast. And the red pepper flakes gave it a spicy touch. But my favorite part was probably the sundried tomatoes; I always forget how much better those are than regular tomatoes.

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Cupcake Tour of DC

Written on March 28, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Restaurant Review

When you’re a foodie, the best part of visiting a new city isn’t the historical monuments or the shopping centers. It’s the food—more specifically, the cupcakes.

My partners in crime, Holly and Madeline share this same sentiment. After over a year of ~~stalking~~ reading there blogs I was ecstatic to finally meet both of them. On Friday after finding each other at the race expo we down to Georgetown to Georgetown Cupcakes.

If you aren’t aware of the gem of a reality show that is DC Cupcakes you really should be. The TLC show focuses on two sisters who opened up a cupcake bakery and… well, that’s the entire premise. But I promise it’s funny. The storefront offered some amazing sounding flavors. I was most surprised when I saw they had a gluten-free lava fudge cupcake for me!

This might have been the best cupcake I have ever eaten: a chocolate cupcake with a vanilla cream cheese frosting and a fudge sauce filling. The filling was delicious and entirely unexpected. And the cupcake part didn’t taste starchy at all which can be a problem with gluten-free baked goods. But the best part was the frosting; Madeline and I both agreed that we would have bought a tub of the frosting if they sold that.

On Sunday the three of us headed to Sticky Fingers Bakery for breakfast. The owner of the bakery won season 1 of Cupcake Wars on Food Network(another show that I admit is awful and yet 100% addicting). Sticky Fingers is an all vegan café with plenty of gluten-free options, too.

I ordered the gluten-free pancake plate which came with maple syrup, tofu scramble, and vegan grits.

Simply put, the pancakes were amazing. They were thin but the taste and texture were dead on. They even soaked up the maple syrup perfectly. I have no idea how they made these without eggs or gluten but I want the recipe.

The vegan grits came with Daiya cheese. I’m still not even sure what grits are or how these were made. They were filling and tasted OK but could have used a pinch more of salt.

Sticky Fingers was definitely a winner in my book.

On the way out we all grabbed some cupcakes. I meant to save it for the bus ride to the airport but ended up eating it at 11am. Hey, I did run a marathon the day before.

I got the gluten-free chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting. The cupcake itself was excellent and reminded me a lot of Georgetown Cupcake’s gluten-free cupcake. The frosting, however, was a little boring and just tasted generically sweet. I enjoyed Georgetown Cupcake’s cupcake more but if I were vegan I would not at all mind settling for Sticky Fingers. My only wish would be that cupcake stores make more interesting gluten-free flavors than chocolate(I swear I ordered it both times not because I’m a chocoholic but because that’s all there was).

I have to say thanks to my hungry companions, Holly and Madeline, for the awesome time! The only question left is what city should we hit up next?

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse

Written on March 18, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Chocolate + Peanut butter

Milk + Cookies

Ross + Rachel

Everyone knows these things just go together, right? Right. I’d been wanting to make a mousse with tofu since I saw a chocolate one on Jenna’s blog. When I saw a peanut butter version in this month’s Food Network magazine, I knew it was a sign.

These were shockingly easy to make and as delicious to eat as you’d imagine. Now, I’m not going to lie: These do have a slight soy flavor to them, so if you have one of those picky eaters who points out any and every funny flavor, it’s not for them. But overall I loved them and didn’t mind the taste at all. The only question was what to put on top?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse

Ingredients(Makes 4 servings):

1 pack of silken tofu
6 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
3oz bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, separated

To make the chocolate layer, start by melting the chocolate in a microwave or over a double boiler. When the chocolate is hot, stir in 1/4 cup of powdered sugar and 1/2 of the silken tofu. Continue stirring until the mousse is smooth and uniform.

To make the peanut butter layer, take the other half of the tofu and mix it with the peanut butter and remaining sugar. Continue mixing until there are no lumps.

To assemble, scoop a later of chocolate mousse in the bottom of a parfait glass. Do this for 4 glasses and evenly portion them out. Make sure the top of the layer is flat.

Next, scoop on the peanut butter mousse over the chocolate layer. Again, take care to portion them evenly and flatten out the top.

Then you just have to choose your garnish, like chocolate chips:

Or whipped non-dairy cream:

Or fudge sauce, peanuts, peanut butter chips—whatever your heart desires! Serve these at room temperature for the best flavor but store in the refrigerator if there’s any leftover(there won’t be any leftover).

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Cannellini Beans With Kale And Walnuts

Written on March 14, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

I’ve been trying to eat very healthily to prepare for my marathon in a few weeks; I’d like to think that that could make up for a full season of laziness and daily desserts. And so I’ve been eating lots of beans, vegetables, and nuts. This dish has all of that. It’s a flavorful mix that’s perfect for a hearty vegan entrée or a side dish to some fish. I use walnuts in place of pine nuts for some added omega-3’s(also, if you’ve ever shopped for pine nuts you might notice that they cost more per pound than some precious metals). Beans, beans, the magical fruit; the more you eat… let’s just say you should be eating them.

Cannellini Beans With Kale And Walnuts

Ingredients(Makes 4-6 side servings or 2-3 entrees):

4 cups chopped kale
2 cans cannellini beans, drained of water
2 Tablespoons olive oil plus more for finishing
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Heat a large pan with 2 Tablespoons of olive oil over a burner set to medium.

Add in the kale and sauté until it has reduced to about half of its volume.

Mix in the 2 cans of beans and leave on the heat until they’re warmed.

Turn off the heat. Add in the walnuts, lemon juice, salt, and pepper and stir the contents of the pan until fully mixed. Serve hot and drizzle on top some of the good extra virgin olive oil(the kind you would serve Ina Garten).

This is my idea of hearty Italian comfort food. The only thing that might make it better would be sautéing some garlic into the oil in the beginning, but my breath really doesn’t need any more garlic.

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Mama Pea’s Cookie Dough Dip

Written on February 18, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Highlights

What’s better than cookie dough? Cookie dough you can eat as a dip. When Jessica first posted her recipe, I think we all swooned. I didn’t dare ever make it with soy-based dairy substitutes, since I’m sure they wouldn’t have done her original recipe justice. Luckily, Mama Pea was inspired by my peanut butter dessert hummus to make a raw version of Jessica’s recipe(are you following?). I knew I had to bring things full circle and try Mama Pea’s creation; she’s never steered me wrong in the past.

I put all of the ingredients in a food processor(using water instead of almond milk) and let ‘er rip.

Once it was smooth, I stirred in chocolate chips and cinnamon(not in the original recipe but I thought it would add a nice touch).

Ya’ll, go and make this right now. It came out so smooth and richly satisfying. I might like the dough part to be a bit sweeter but even so that didn’t stop me from eating half of it.

And then this happened:

And all was right with the world.

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Coconut-Crusted Tempeh

Written on February 4, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

Tempeh is one of those foods I never thought I’d be eating just two years ago. Just the thought of fermented soy isn’t exactly appetizing. Thoughts aside, it’s nutritionally great and easy to prepare and eat. You don’t even have to cook it, but this recipe adds some sweet and saltiness to it. The coconut coating reminds me of coconut shrimp. And it couldn’t be easier to make.

Coconut-Crusted Tempeh

Ingredients(For 2 servings):

1 block of tempeh
1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
2 tablespoons agave nectar
a pinch of salt

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Cube a block of tempeh into bite-sized pieces and combine in a bowl with the coconut, salt, and agave nectar.

Toss the tempeh to coat it in coconut. Next, line a baking pan and lay out the tempeh in a single layer.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the coconut begins to toast.

The flavor is really nutty and a little sweet. The texture doesn’t really change from raw tempeh which is good because it has a “meaty” bite to it. It goes good on its own or with a salad.

And don’t forget today’s the last day to enter the giveaway!

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