Sesame-Scallion Pancakes with Zucchini-Carrot-Apple Relish

Didi Emmons' recipe for scallion pancakes seems to be a rampant favorite among CSAs.
















Here I substituted whole wheat pastry flour for all purpose and ommitted the dipping sauce in favor of a relish akin to that served with pupusas. However, instead of cabbage, I used zucchini. I also added apple and kept the spicy nature of pupusa relish by topping with Sirancha hot sauce.

Entertaining for a Veggie Planet’s Sesame-Scallion pancakes:

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, plus more if needed
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 tbsp canola oil, plus more as needed
3 scallions, white and green parts, chopped
3 tbsp toasted black or white sesame seeds


Relish:
1 medium zucchini (shredded)
15 young carrots (shredded)
1 apple (shredded)
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 t salt
1 t pepper

Directions:
1) Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 tbsp of the oil in a medium bowl. With a wooden spoon, stir in 3/4 cup boiling water to form a soft dough. (Add additional flour or boiling water if necessary). Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 3 minutes. Cover the dough with its bowl and let stand for 30 minutes.
2) Dust the dough with a bit of flour and roll it into an 8×16 inch rectangle. Brush 1 tbsp of the oil over the surface of the dough and sprinkle it with the scallions and sesame seeds. Starting on one long side, roll up the dough like a jelly roll. Cut the roll into 8 even slices. One at a time, lay a slice of dough on the work surface. Flatten it with a floured hand, then roll it into a 4-inch disk.
3) In a large non-stick skillet, heat the remaining 1 tbsp canola oil over medium-high heat. Working in batches if necessary to avoid crowding the skillet and adding oil as needed, pan-fry the pancakes until crisp and brown, about 1 minute per side. As the pancakes are done, transfer them to a baking sheet and keep them warm in a 250 degree oven while you fry the rest. Serve the pancakes warm with relish and Sirancha hot sauce.

Layered Polenta with Mustard Greens & Sunburst Squash

Keeping it infinitely simple. Since we started the farm share, I have cut down on the amount that I go to the store a lot. I have just been living off the other ingredients in my pantry to round out my meals. I have a variety of grains and beans to work with and so far it has been very easy.

















Ingredients (Serves 4):
3 cups water
2 vegetable bullion cubes
1 cup polenta
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3 T olive oil
1 sunburst squash cut into 4-5 slices
1 T Montreal steak seasoning
2 T olive oil
5 qrts mustard greens
24 oz. jar of pre-prepared pasta sauce

Directions:
1) Bring water to a boil and lower to a simmer
2) Add bullion cubes
3)Slowly stir in polenta so that it does not clump
4) Stir in nutritional yeast
5)Cook for 1-2 minutes and set aside
6) Brush olive oil on squash slices and sprinkle with steak seasoning.
7) Grill squash for 3-5 minutes on each side
8) Wilt the greens in the olive oil for 2-3 minutes
9)Heat the pasta sauce until warm throughout
10) Plate with a layer of mustard greens, polenta, sauce, and top with grilled squash and basil

Neighbor Salad and Joi Choi Curry

Friday we went over to visit friends and share the wealth of veggies from our CSA. I brought I head of lettuce, I head of escarole, 1 head of Joi Choi, and 10 garlic scapes. Our friends had some store bought produce to mix in with the salad. It was good food and good company and all remarkable simple.

Neighbor Salad:

Ingredients:

1/2 head of lettuce

1/2 head of escarole

1/2 cup carrots

1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

1/4 cup candied pecans

1/2 cup chopped garlic scapes

Toss all ingredients together. Add whatever store bought dressing you fancy.

Joi Choi Curry:

Ingredients:

2 T canola oil

1 medium head Joi Choi (chopped and separated into greens and stems)

1 can coconut milk

1 T mild curry p.

1 T hot curry p.

Directions:

1) Saute stems in canola oil for 2-3 minutes

2) Stir in greens

3) Place lid on top and steam for 3-5 minutes

4) Add coconut milk and curry powders

5)Simmer all for another 2-3 minutes or until Joi Choi is tender

6) Serve over brown rice or grain of your choice

Radish Top Soup and Scallion Biscuits

How to make the most of your produce? I am used to cooking with turnip greens and beet tops either wilted or raw, but had never thought of using radish tops before because they seemed prickly and perhaps inedible. Then I came across a recipe for Radish Top Soup on allrecipes.com. Since its very meat/dairy heavy I veganized it. For the biscuits I used a recipe from La Dolce Vegan [p. 271] as the base and made a few modifications such as using spelt flour, oil for margarine, and adding scallions.

Radish Top Soup (Serves 4):

Ingredients:

2 T olive oil

4 shallots (minced)

6 small red potatoes (halved)

4 cups raw radish greens (chopped)

4 water

2 vegetable bullion cubes

1 T cumin

2 t salt

2 t pepper

Directions:

1) Saute shallots in olive oil until transluscent

2) Mix in potatoes and radish greens and pour in water and veg. bullion

3) Add cumin, salt and pepper

4) Bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes

5)Allow to cool slightly

6) Process until smooth and creamy using an immersion blender

Scallion biscuits (Makes 12):

Ingredients:

2 cups spelt flour

2 t baking powder

1 t salt

1/4 cup olive oil

3/4 soymilk

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 cup scallions

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 450 F

2) Mix dry ingredients in large bowl.

3) Stir in the "milk", vinegar, and oil and mix.

4) Fold in scallions

5) On a well oiled cookie sheet, drop 12 spoonfuls of dough, evenly spaced.

6) Bake 15 minutes

Quick and Easy Beans

Quick and Easy Beans:

2 cans pinto beans, rinsed and lightly drained
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 Tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. salt

Mix all of the ingredients and cook until incorporated and warm throughout.

Ymmm. Goodness, all around!!!

Tips: You want a little moisture left in the beans so that all of the dry yeast and spices will mix. Also tasty with a dark beer or two.

Asian Fusion Tower

Sunday's menu choice sauteed spinach and bok choy, wasabi mashed potatoes, spicy peanut burger pattie, spicy mayo dressing and sliced avocado. Serves 4.

For the spinach, bok choy mixture:Place 2 Tsp peanut oil in a wok or large skillet. Over medium heat, add 5 quarts chopped spinach, and 2.5 quarts chopped bok choy. Saute for 3-5 minutes or until spinach is wilted and bok choy is tender. Add 2 Tsp. soy sauce, stir, turn off heat, and cover wok or skillet with lid.

For the wasabi mashed potatoes: Use 2 cups reheated leftover wasabi mashed potatoes from Veganomicon [p. 110 ] with 3 x more wasabi powder.

For the spicy peanut burger: In first bowl, mix 1/3 cup warm water, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 4 tsp. brown sugar, 3 tsp. garlic chile paste, 1 tsp. powdered ginger together and set aside. In a second bowl, measure 1 cup small granule tvp, 1/2 cup chunky peanut butter, 1 package Gimme Lean breakfast sausage. Combine the soy sauce mixture with the tvp, peanut butter, and sausage mixture. Mix well with hands and form 4 fat burger patties. Pan fry on low heat in peanut oil for 3 minutes per side.

For the spicy mayo sauce: Combine 3 Tsp. Vegenaise and 1 Tsp. Sirancha hot sauce and mix well.

For the avocado: 2 avocados, sliced in half, each half then sliced into 5-6 slices.

For the Assembly: Place 1/4 of the spinach bok choy mixture on the center of plate, pile 1/2 cup wasabi mashed potatoes on top, followed by 1 spicy peanut burger patty, 2 tsp. spicy mayo dressing, and 5-6 avocado slices.

Tips: The spicy peanut burger will be quite salty. Depending on how salty you like your meals, you may want to eliminate the soy sauce from the spinach bok choy saute.

Tofu Omlettes with Zucchini and Radishes

This Saturday, Vegan Brunch by Isa Moskowitz arrived in my mailbox from Amazon. I was immediately taken by the tofu omlettes in the Savory section. I've always done a pretty good tofu scramble, but the tofu omlette filled a very obvious void for me and seemed quite inventive and unique. Way to go Isa!

I followed the recipe faithfully [p. 13] down to the Nasoya brand silken tofu and except for the black salt which I couldn't find. I was impressed that even without the sulphuric nature of the black salt the omlettes tasted quite eggy and had a pleasant fluffy texture. Saturday I decided to try the recipe with a few changes. I wanted to see if it was possible to add any ingredients to the omlette mixture the way that you would to with a mainstream omlette.

So, I followed the recipe, but added 1/4 cup of water to the mixture, 1/4 cup chopped scallions, and 1/4 cup grated Vegan Rella. For the filling I settled on 1 large shredded zucchini and 5 shredded radishes, sauteed with 1/4 cup red wine vinegar and 3 Tsp. dried thyme. When I assembled the omlettes, I lined the middle with grated Vegan Rella and added the filling before folding.

The results: Increased flavor and chewier texture to the tofu omlette itself. Drawbacks: The omlette seemed to split more during folding. I suspect due to the increased water. Also, the recipe now made 5 omlettes, not 4, which is only bad is you become inpatient and cook the 4th and 5th omlette as one.

Farm Fresh Weekend

Finally, the weekend is here and time to make menu plans for all of my fresh CSA goodies.

This week I picked up:

5 quarts bok choy
5 quarts spinach
1 quart strawberries
1 pint snap peas
5 radishes
5 turnips
1 head lettuce
10 scallions
8 sprigs mint
8 sprigs garlic chives

Yummy beginnings!

At my CSA last week I picked up 5 quarts of bok choy along with a simple recipe using soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. I decided to follow the advice of the mix and match pairings from the Veganomicon and make wasabi mashed potatoes to accompany.

Yum! I forgot how buttery the stems of bok choy taste. For the mashed potatoes I used twice the amount of soymilk and 3 X the amount of wasabi (because I like it spicy!). It's a solid pairing.