Almond Coffee Nutella

I've felt so free since I discovered that I could make my own nutella at home. It's delicious, it's dairy-free, and it seems healthier. I found the recipe here a few months ago, and have made it several times with much success.
Due to an unfortunate, bleary-eyed miscalculation at Noah's, I ended up with 14 dollars worth of slivered almonds (about 10 dollars more than I needed for the recipe) and have been wondering what to do with them.
Answer: Experimental Almond Nutella.
I followed the recipe pretty closely, substituting slivered almonds for whole hazelnuts. I think the results were pretty amazing.





Some things to remember: smaller nuts or crushed nuts require less baking time. Keep an eye on them or you'll end up picking out the really dark brown (read:black) ones. It's not the end of the world. Second: Different nuts in different stages of their lives have different fat contents. You may have to adjust the amount of oil while blending the nuts.



Third: It takes a long time to liquefy nuts. Longer than you think. Long enough to make you think you're going to wreck your blender and wake the entire neighborhood. Like, 15 minutes almost. They have to get hot, and you will have to constantly scrape down the sides of the machine.
I added a tsp of espresso powder after the mixture was well blended (just had a feeling it would go with the slightly burnt nuts) and a tiny bit of the scrapings from inside a vanilla bean.
This is a winner.

Hibiscus bowl & Vegan Soon Dubu Jiggae

Man. Things sure have been busy. I wanted to take a minute to share a couple of dishes that I've been making lately that I really enjoy.
The First one is a mixture of vegetable salads on quinoa, inspired by a delicious, kick-your-ass bowl I had at hibiscus in Kensington Market.
Some wonderful things about this dish: you can recreate it with all of the little bits of ingredients and dishes you end up with in the fridge. It tastes a bit different every time. And it makes you feel really really good (and full!)
In my bowl, the base is quinoa (cook the quinoa as you would rice, then dress it with orange juice and balsamic vinegar and maybe some mustard. Add in a handful of raisins and a tiny bit of chopped onion or garlic if you like)
At 12:20 is roasted cubed squash (roasted with garlic, olive oil and sea salt)
below that are roasted beets (roasted at the same time as the squash, but for a fair bit longer) dressed in tahini, red wine vinegar and salt.
At 6:00 is the lovely broccoli, steamed and tossed with a smidge of garlic and some balsamic.
At 9:00 is a piece of tofu, previously frozen, baked with soy sauce and cumin.
And rounding the corner at 11 is the lovely cold salad of chick peas, avocado and tomato with a little diced onion, olive oil and vinegar.
All of the dressings/ingredients can be subbed for others. Last week I made a version of this with Kale sauteed with onions and soy...it almost made me cry.The next dish...I'm going to wear out reallly fast. It's called soon dubu chigae, and it's a Korean spicy tofu stew that I first had in Koreatown. I was pretty sure that in the restaurant it was made with meat stock, but I found it delicious anyway and tried to replicate it at home.
First I had to figure out what it was called and then I had to figure out what was in it and how I could vegetarianize it.
Most recipes call for fish, fish stock, beef, and egg, but I find this stew doesn't miss it. It's hearty and super easy/cheap to make.

I adapted the recipe from this one. I think it's pretty solid, with the exception of the spice level and the add-ins.

I like to throw in some kale or broccoli, some tvp crumbles, some firm tofu...everything but the kitchen sink basically. Serve over hot rice.
One problem with this dish. The main ingredient, gochujang, a Korean red pepper paste, has msg in it. I don't know about you, but for me this means possible headaches/muscle aches.
I aim to make my own after I finish the container (which, at this rate shouldn't be long!) otherwise try to find a brand that is msg free.
xoxo

I miss you dearly

My little food blog. Not a whisper from me in three months as I get used to being in Grad School.

So........sorry.

I've been cooking and eating, but much less than usual--well, cooking less, but eating the same amount :)
Also, I learned photo emulsion silkscreening over the x-mas holidays, so I've been busy making shirts.

There are so many things that I'm dying to try! At the top of the list:

Vegan Panna Cotta - I was gifted several vanilla beans from Turkey and hope to use them for this recipe. Also, I'm curious to try cooking with agar-agar.

Ginger Pear Tart - Got a sudden craving for pears recently, and was hoping to have the time to make individual tartlets.

Hope to see you soon,
xo

liz

Caponata

I didn't even know what this was until a couple of days ago. I found myself with a large Ontario eggplant, and thought I might make some ratatouille.
I browsed a few recipes online and kept finding recipes for this dish. It's Italian, but it's not from my grandparent's region, so I've never tried it before. I decided to go for it.
One of the main reasons I picked this recipe instead of ratatouille was that I had a picnic today, and wanted to have something that could be snacked on, didn't require heating or cooling, could be easily carried and was vegan. This recipe was a hit. I got quite a few compliments on it.
There were so many conflicting recipes with different ingredients online that I ended up settling with the recipe in the hardcover copy of the Joy of Cooking on our bookshelf. It had the fewest ingredients and seemed the easiest for me.

Other than the small pain of sweating the eggplant, this recipe is a piece of cake. I served it with Melba toasts and some bread and hummous.

Thin Crust Pizza

I found a new recipe for thin crust pizza dough that didn't require any proofing and rising time.

My old dough recipe, although delicious, usually took about three hours to get ready because of all the different steps. Here's the recipe I took from some internet person.

.25 oz. pkt. active dry yeast
1/4 tsp. granulated sugar
3/4 cup 110 degree water
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt



Dissolve yeast and sugar in water; allow to rest for 8 minutes.
In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt.
Pour yeast mixture over flour mixture and mix well with a heavy spoon.
Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 2 minutes.
Working from the edges to the center, press dough into a 12" circle.
Place dough on a lightly greased pizza pan and stretch dough to edges.
Spread sauce over crust and top with cheese and desired toppings.
Bake in a 500 degree oven for 8-12 minutes, or until edges are golden.

I topped half with paper-thin potato slices, rosemary, sea salt and olive oil. For the other half I made a quick fresh tomato sauce with basil and oregano, and put some havarti on top.

This one's a keeper. Definitely.

Ichigo Daifuku - Japanese Sweet bean and Strawberry ball

I used to eat these almost every day when it was Strawberry season.
I finally got around to trying to make my own...
Step one was making sweet bean paste. I boiled dry white beans with sugar until they were tender, then pureed them with a bit of the water in the food processor.


The next step was to prepare the strawberries.
I washed and trimmed them, and then molded a layer of the cooled bean paste around them, leaving the base exposed.


The next step was combining the rice flour, sugar and water and microwaving it briefly (2 minutes, stir, 1 minute, stir)





Then I divided it into 8 pieces and rolled it (on a floured cutting board) into round discs about the size of a saucer. After they were rolled, I picked up a bean-coated strawberry and wrapped the flattened dough disk around the berry, pinching the dough together at the bottom to close the bundle. Mmmm...


A brief dusting of cornstarch and they're ready to go. I ate 3 (they were ugly and crackly) and brought 5 to work to share.
Next time: Don't let the dough sit for more than a minute or two in the open. A dry skin forms on it and it's tough to get it silky again.
Actually, there might not be a next time...at least not for awhile. This may turn into a yearly strawberry season once-off.

Fresh Pasta - Vegan

I went out for a friend's birthday to Fressen, a great vegan restaurant that serves little vegan plates that you share. Dishes are sort of a mishmash of cultural influences, and one of the dishes we had inspired me to make my own pasta.
It was roughly cut basil fettucine noodles in a cheeseless pesto sauce. It was delicious (if a bit oily) and I vowed to to it myself at home. I love that I now feel confident enough in the kitchen that I will attempt to recreate most recipes that I like from restaurants. At least once.
I have great memories of helping my nonna and my mother make pasta. It was my job to crank the handle on the pasta machine, which would flatten the balls of dough into smooth sheets, and then cut it into noodles. They were soft and delicious, and I would nibble on one or two while they hung on the back of kitchen chairs, drying. I hope to some day make noodles that good.

I also posted this as an instructable.

Ingredients: 1 2/3 cup flour
about 2/3 cup water
1/2-3/4 tsp salt
optional 1 tsp oil
*Optional flavouring (pureed spinach, tomato paste, pureed basil, or just about anything)

-Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. If you would like to add flavouring, adjust the amount of water up or down.

You want a ball that sticks together but is not too wet or dry. Add more flour or water until you get something that holds together without being too wet.

Turn your ball out onto a well-floured cutting board. Knead it for at least 10 minutes.











To knead: push the ball away from you with the heel of your hand. Then gather the sides inwards, flip the ball around and repeat. It should start to become smoother and more pliable.
Add flour as needed to keep the ball from sticking to the board.



When the dough is well-kneaded, cover it in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 10 minutes.

When it's rested, divide it into eighths. Work with one eighth at a time and put the others aside, covered.






Roll out the dough on a floured board. Push the dough outward from the middle, then turn it around, applying more flour to ensure that it's not sticking to the board. Continue to roll out until it's about 2-4 mm thick. At this point you may want to let the sheets dry out for a few minutes to make them easier to cut. Not long, though, or they'll dry out.














Cutting the noodles into rough fettucine shapes by hand isn't terribly difficult. Heavily flour the strip of dough, then lightly roll it up like a jelly roll. Cut strips as thin as you like with a sharp knife, then carefully unroll them.













To store your noodles: dry hanging for a few minutes (on the back of a chair perhaps) then flour and gather into bundles. Freeze or refrigerate, covered.