Vegan Pesto with Pepitas

 I have to say, San Diego is full of hidden gems. It's good to be home for a while.
 
This past weekend, as Ryan was finishing out the 10 day master cleanse, my mom and I found ourselves poking around in the corridors of a restaurant supply store, shopping for rice noodles and fresh coconut at 99 Ranch, the biggest pan-Asian supermarket in San Diego, and eating fluffy uttapam and paper-thin dosa in Little India. While there, we tucked into Bombay Bazaar for some Indian staples, and finished up the day with a stop at a place called "The Fruit Stand". It was a fun day, completely centered around the subject of food. So much for me doing a "cleanse" at this juncture...

The restaurant supply store was fun. There are two on the same block. One is always closed on weekends, but F.S.E., Inc. is open on Saturdays. Most of their products really are for industrial kitchens, but they do carry some fun stuff, including cheap fiestaware and other fun dishes. You'll probably see pictures of some of them with food in them on this blog, at some point. This is one of those hidden gem-poke around and maybe you'll strike gold types of places.

me mum with our loot

If you live in or are visiting San Diego, I highly recommend a visit to the Indian shopping center known as Little India, on Black Mountain Road just off Miramar Road. In Little India, you will find several Indian eateries, a yoga/meditation center, a Hindu temple, a large grocery store, a bank, a travel agent, and a fantastic clothing store/herbal beauty salon that will thread your eyebrows for $9. (I can fully recommend the services.)

While there, we ate lunch at Cafe Madras, an unpretentious eatery that has a South Indian menu of dosa, idli, and uttapams, which are a thick dosa-like pancake that has pieces of cilantro, tomato and onions studded throughout. And just like a restaurant of its ilk in India, each table had stainless steel cups and pitchers of water already set. It was tasty and the dosas were proper. I have had better sambar, but considering that two months ago I didn't even know what sambar was, I'll cut them some slack. For those of you who don't know, sambar is a ubiquitous lentil soup that is always served with dosa, idli, utthapam, and wada, alongside coconut chutney. Usually sambar is highly spiced and very flavorful. There was also an all you can eat buffet that included an endless stream of waiters bringing more dosas and idli as long as the person was eating. Next time! I had the vegetable utthapam and my mom had a masala dosa. I love this simple, classic, traditionally gluten free food. In fact, I think that dosa is one of the greatest things on earth. It is a food with immense potential.

After lunch, eyebrows, and a general stocking up of Indian groceries, we headed over to The Fruit Stand. This is a really cute place that sells mostly local and organic (and pesticide free) produce at very good prices. It is just south of the Costco on Morena. We bought fresh organic basil, and at $1 per bunch, how can I not make pesto? 

This recipe is an old standard of mine. I first learned to make pesto similar to this when I was a teenager working in a café downtown San Diego. We used walnuts instead of expensive pine nuts, and we used parmesan cheese. These days, I replace the parmesan with nutritional yeast, and use whatever nuts I want. I am particularly fond of pepitas, or pumpkin seeds. If you have a food processor, then this recipe is super quick and easy. Simply pinch the leaves off the basil stems, toss everything in the FP, and blend away. You want a textured pureé, not a smooth pureé. This is why the FP is better to use than a blender. I have read that proper, true pesto is best made with a mortar and pestle, but I would be surprised if very many of you were going to that route. This pesto is excellent with on a bagel or toast with fresh tomato slices. It is also great as a pasta sauce or on a pizza. I like to have it on hand all summer for all my pesto needs. Whenever I can get my hands on fresh basil, you know I've got pesto in the fridge.

  

Basil Pesto With Pepitas
(makes about 1 cup)

• 4 cups loosely packed basil leaves (no stems)
• 1/2 cup pepitas or pumpkin seeds (walnuts or pine nuts will work as well)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 3 cloves garlic
• salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
  

Whirl in a food processor until it reaches your desired texture. If it seems too dry, slowly drizzle in more olive oil. If it seems too oily, toss in another handful of nuts (or more basil). Adjust for salt and pepper.

You could also add olives for a tapenade-pesto blend, or sun-dried tomatoes for another flavor alltogether. Sometimes I make it spicy...

Zucchini 'Pasta' with Mushroom-balls

I know you regular readers were expecting an all green recipe (I did say maybe). Sorry, you'll have to wait. And I would hardly classify these mushroom-balls as "cleansing", but this meal is fresh, light and filling. I haven't quite gotten rolling on any official cleanse yet. I'm still working on that one...it might happen. For now, enjoy this lovely and partially cleansing meal.

If you omit the mushroom-balls, (I admit that this name is not-too-appealing, but neither is the word "meat-ball", if you ask me), you've got a very healthful meal that is reminiscent of real pasta with none of the gummy, difficult to digest starches found in conventional pasta. And if you don't omit the mushroom balls, you're in for a real taste treat as they a perfect compliment to this meal. I have made this twice in the last week trying to perfect the mushroom-ball recipe. Each version was delicious, and different from the other.

making the mushroom-balls

As far as I know, the idea for zucchini noodles stems from raw food cuisine. There are multiple ways to turn a vegetable into noodle-y shapes. The easiest way, and one that requires no special tool beyond a vegetable peeler, is to shave fettuccine-like strips from the zucchini until you have a pile of shavings. I like to use a mandoline, which is an amazing slicing and dicing contraption used by Japanese chefs and others in-the-know. If you really want to get proprietary, then you can go for a spiralizer or other doodad specifically designed for making noodles and twirly strips from various vegetables. I have one that makes angel-hair like shreds, but I don't have the kind that makes big, fat twirly udon-like noodles. I want one but am trying to curb my slightly ridiculous collection of single-purpose kitchen toys. If you are patient, you could just julienne the zucchini with your chef's knife and no one would be the wiser.

making the "pasta"

What makes these noodles taste a little better than their raw cousins is a sweating and softening with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper in a wok or other large pan. The idea is not to fully cook them, but to let them drop their raw crunch and flavor ever so slightly. You need no oil for this step and it takes just a few minutes. The difference is palpable, if you ask me. I got pretty burned out on the raw zuchinni pasta after a while but I could eat these on a regular basis. They are tender and juicy and an ideal vehicle for fresh tomato sauce.

Zucchini 'Pasta' with Mushroom-balls

mushroom-balls

• 1/2 onion, chopped coarsley
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 head parsley
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 6 cups crimini mushrooms (or your favorite variety)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup flax meal
• 1 cup lentil, chickpea or other GF flour (I like bean flour for this for nutritional reasons)
• 1 TBS Italian Seasonings (combo of basil, oregano, marjoram, etc)
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• large pinches of salt, black pepper & cayenne pepper
• Oil for sauté or frying (sunflower or grape seed for sauté, grape seed or rice bran oil for deep fry)
  

 In a food processor, combine the onion, garlic, parsley, mushrooms, and nuts until they are chopped finely but not completely pulverized. Transfer into a mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well by hand. It should resemble uncooked...meatloaf or meatballs. If it is still too soft, add more bean flour until you can scoop up a bit and shape it into a ball. The first time I made these there was more flour, and I was able to roll them in my hands into balls before I put them into the pan. The second time, I used a small ice cream scoop to drop the balls directly into the oil. It reminded me of making falafel.

eerily similar to ground meat...thankfully it is not

To cook, either put a small amount of oil in a heavy skillet to brown on each side, or do the naughty thing (like I did) and fill a small saucepan with a couple of inches of frying oil (like rice bran oil) and deep fry the suckers (this is where I veered drastically from any semblance of a cleanse). Both methods work just fine, although (surprise) the deep frying was a little bit tastier. I did not try baking these, but if you do...let me know how it worked out. In my raw food days I would have dehydrated the lot, but I wouldn't have added egg, or lentil flour. What you are looking for is a firmed up ball that is golden brown.
 
If you can somehow have your sauce simmering at the same time as you are frying the mushroom-balls, then you must be a pro. I needed a helper in the kitchen to keep this meal under control.

fresh tomato sauce

• 1/2 onion, chopped finely (the other half)
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 large ripe tomatoes, pulsed in a food processor  or blender until they are chunky but slightly puréed.
• small amount of oil
• 1 tsp each of salt, sugar, red pepper flakes, dried basil, dried oregano, and balsalmic vinegar (or red wine if you've got one open)
• small handfulls of Fresh herbs: basil, parsely, oregano, etc

Sauté the onions and garlic in a small amount of oil. Add the tomatoes, salt, sugar, peppers, basil, dried herbs and vinegar or wine. Allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning. After you remove the sauce from the flame, add the fresh chopped herbs and set aside.

'pasta'

• 4 large, straight zucchini (or 2 per person)
• salt & freshly ground pepper

Using one of the methods previously described, turn your zucchini into noodles.Toss the lot into a wok, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and sweat the crunchy raw qualities out, tossing the noodles about in the pan over a medium heat for about 3 minutes, or to your taste.

sweating the zucchini

plating

Arrange a small amount of  "pasta" on a bowl or plate. Top with a few mushroom-balls and a generous dollop of sauce. I like to sprinkle a combination of nutritional yeast, salt, garlic powder, hemp seeds and herbs (like a vegan-hippy parmesan cheese) over mine. Shaved Parmesan or Asiago is also devine...

Inspired by Pad Thai

I love a good pad thai...but it's something I've never made at home until a few days ago. I had the noodles, but not the usual gamut of veggies that you see in pad thai: bean sprouts, bok choi, peanuts. Nor did I have eggs or the requisite tamarind paste. I did, however, possess red bells, romanesco (you know, the fractal plant), tamarind chutney (from the Indian market), cashews, purple cabbage, and a hankering for pad thai, so I improvised. It was excellent, and here is my recipe, culled from researching other pad thai recipes, especially this one. Ryan, who lived in Thailand, said it was great. No matter what veggies you have lying around, I'd venture that they'd be good in your pad thai, veggie voyager style!

romanesco

 

INSPIRED BY PAD THAI

Noodles

• 1 14 ounce bag of rice noodles, wide, or fettuccine style
• Pot of water

Bring the water to a boil. Turn off the heat and allow the noodles to soak for about 5-6 minutes, until flexible but still chewy. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside. You will finish cooking them in the pan.

Sauce

• 3 TBS tamarind paste, or chutney
• 1/2 cup water
• 7 TBS soy sauce or Tamari
• 2 TBS chili sauce (I used Sriracha) or 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 6 TBS sucanat or brown sugar, or more to taste

In a bowl, combine these ingredients and set aside.

The Rest

• 1 onion, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 TBS ginger, grated
• 1 head romanesco or broccoli, chopped into bite sized pieces
• 1 red bell pepper, julienned
• 4 carrots, julienned
• 1/4 purple cabbage, sliced thin
• 1/4 bunch cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 cup cashews (or peanuts), chopped
• oil & extra water

In a small amount of oil saute the onion until it begins to become translucent. Add the garlic and the ginger and allow it to soften and cook. Add the romanesco (or broccoli) and carrots. A minute or so later, add the cabbage and the red bell pepper as well as the noodles and most of the cashews. Pour 1/3 of the sauce over the noodles and stir. Continue stirring so that the noodles don't stick to the pan but do begin to get sticky. When the liquid has soaked up, add the next third, and again for the final third. Try a piece of noodle and if it is not soft enough yet, begin adding small amounts of water (1/4 cup at a time), continuing the cooking process until the noodles are to your taste.
Plate the gorgeous mess and sprinkle with chopped cashews and cilantro. Serve with a wedge of lime.

I did not add the usual egg to my dish but if you would like to, do so just before you add the noodles: create a small space in the pan, add a little oil. Pour 1 or 2 beaten eggs into the space and allow to cook, stirring occasionally until they are scrambled. Proceed with the noodles. Or, do it like they did at Saffron restaurant, where a single egg is fried so thinly that looks like lace, and drape it over the top of the Pad Thai.
If you have bean sprouts, use them as they are a great classic ingredient. Add them towards the end, or raw, at the end.

Penne Rosé

The unabbreviated title of this dish might be "Vegan, Gluten & Soy Free Penne Rosé with Mushrooms, Cauliflower & Chard". For me, it is the pinnacle of comfort food. I am eating it as I write and it is deeeeelicious.

About two years ago, I deduced that I am allergic to most soy products. Prior to that I had a host of skin and other problems that disappeared when I stopped eating it. Although I occasionally eat dairy, usually in cheese form, Ryan does not and I like to find alternatives that provide us with the creamy goodness that we crave.

Penne refers to the type of pasta used. Rosé is the name for a sauce that is both creamy and tomato based, usually cooked with vodka (this dish is also known as Penne a la Vodka). It can be thrown together fairly quickly, using fresh or canned tomatoes and a handful of other ingredients. Soaked and blended nuts (cashew or pine) provide the creamy aspect. I have made this with both, and although cashews are slightly more available and affordable and work perfectly, the pine nuts add a flavor dimension that is worth the extra effort, especially if you've got them lying around anyhow, like I did.

You really should try this. Would it help if I told you that I had four bowls of it tonight?

Penne Rosé
(Vegan, Gluten & Soy Free Penne Rosé with Mushrooms, Cauliflower & Chard)

1 cup pine nuts or cashews, soaked
1 cup water
2 cans diced tomatoes or 3 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine (or vodka, I used wine)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 TBS dried basil
2 tsp salt
1 TBS garlic powder
1 jabanero pepper (optional)

1 onion, diced
1 can or 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups crimini mushrooms, sliced
4 cups chard, chopped
1 cup cauliflower, chopped

1 package brown rice penne pasta 

Cook the pasta to al dente. Meanwhile, puree the nuts through the garlic powder (and pepper if using) until very smooth. For me, this was about 30 seconds in my Vitamix blender. You'll want to use a blender, not a food processor.

In a sauce pan, saute the onions in a small amount of oil. Add the garlic and sliced mushrooms and continue to cook until the mushrooms are browned. Add the blended nut/tomato mixture along with the tomato, chard and cauliflower. Allow the sauce to simmer for about 15 minutes, or until it thickens and changes in color from pinkish to orangish, and the wine (or vodka) has cooked out. Toss the pasta with enough sauce (you might have leftover sauce) to suit your tastes. Sprinkle with chopped parsley or basil and enjoy.

Creamy Hemp Seed Salad Dressing

I'd like to tell those of you who don't already know, about the wonders of hemp seeds. This super-food has amazing qualities both culinary and health-wise. When consumed raw, hemp seeds are a healthy dose of essential fatty acids, omega-3s, and antioxidants. We like to sprinkle them on salads, omelets, and dips. They can be used to make a quick nut milk in a pinch. But my favorite use, by far, is as a creamy base for salad dressings.

I have been experimenting with various different dairy substitutes for several years. I really like almond milk, as you know. I also find the neutral, fatty properties of soaked and blended cashews to be immensely helpful. Tahini makes a wonderful creamy base but it has its own distinctive flavor. Coconut milk is great, if you want a coconut flavor. For salad dressings, though, nothing holds a candle to the wonderful hemp seed. All you need is a couple of tablespoons (which is a good thing as these  babies are not cheap) blended into your dressing for a creamy concoction that is super, duper good for you. By blending them raw and eating them on a salad, you are making them completely nutritionally available. And they blend up easily into a slightly nutty, super creamy, neutral base to which you can add oil, vinegar or citrus juice, and other ingredients depending on which direction you want to go in.

Today's recipe is for the base of  my go-to 'house' dressing. I don't like bottled dressings, and since its so easy to make at home, I never bother to buy. Sometimes a simple vinaigrette is all we need, other times I require creamy. I have noticed that too much vinegar makes my tongue hurt, so I avoid that too. I like a combination of lemon and orange juice in my dressings.

I never seem to make the same recipe twice, but I will try to get the amounts right here. There is no wrong way to do this and I encourage you to experiment. Sometimes I add honey and mustard. Or I up the orange juice and add a bunch of cilantro or other fresh herbs. Other times I make it with sesame oil, miso, ginger and hot peppers. The sky's the limit here.

Hemp seeds can be bought online, or found in the refrigerator section of your local health food store. You'll need a stand up or immersion blender to get that creamy effect. The base recipe is quite thick, like mayonnaise and you can certainly use it as such. It tastes like garlic aioli. (Omit the OJ if this is what you want.) Add a couple tablespoons of Sriracha hot sauce and you've got spicy mayo.

honey mustard variation, all ready to blend

Creamy Hemp Seed Salad Dressing (base recipe)

2 TBS hemp seeds
1/4 cup lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
1/8 cup fresh orange juice (optional)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic
Salt & black pepper to taste

Using a blender, combine ingredients together. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach desired consistency.

          Variations (add to base recipe before blending)

Cilantro-Lime: 1 bunch cilantro, sub lime juice for the lemon juice (toss a jalapeno in too if that's your bag)

Honey-Mustard: 1 tablespoon each of dijon mustard and honey

Herb-Ranch: one bunch of parsley, 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Asian: sub sesame oil for olive oil, 1 teaspoon miso or soy sauce for salt, and a nob of ginger

Roasted Garlic: if you've got roasted garlic laying around, toss a bunch of that in there. (omit the fresh garlic) It's off the hook.

Basil-Tomato: 1/2 cup fresh basil, and 1/2 fresh tomato

If you make a variation I haven't mentioned, let me know! I love ideas...

Last night we had the honey mustard variety (my favorite) on a delicious salad of shaved fennel, grapefruit segments, avocado slices, and romaine lettuce. It was divine.