Lisa's Culinary Atrocities

     I’m not necessarily the biggest feta fan but…OH!  Found this as a taster at Fred Meyer’s.  Oh oh oh.  …oh.  OH.  (….need to smoke a cigarette now).

Pork Belly Burger… Not vegan. Painfully tasty. — at Dechutes Brewery and Public House.

     I found a new treat at Trader Joe’s—Chicken-less Pulled Chicken in Barbecue Sauce.  For the love of God, though not a perfect substitute, this vegan/meatless product is very good… so, let’s make a pot-pie with it:

     I was really excited to make this…and I think it looks good…but it was kinda yucky.  I followed a recipe found online and…blech.  The culprit was the sauce. SO, I will go ahead and post the pretty picture because I know a lot of you don’t read this anyway. :)

Oh, but the crust was perfect.  Yay Trader Joe’s.

     I got an extraordinarily thoughtful Christmas gift from someone very dear to me: a Breville Pie Maker.  Oh goodness…I am beside myself with excitement; a whole new arena of possibility!  And I Looove pie!  Almost as much as waffles.  Maybe more.  Wait, did I say that?

So what will I be doing this long weekend?  Well, making lots of little pies.  First mini pie lab: Tofu, broccoli and cheddar quiche.

There was a little bit of a learning curve, but I figured it all out by the second try.  I used Trader Joe’s pie crust (which is amazing), mixed up my ingredients (below), gently placed the dough in the preheated maker and plopped in the filling.  Within about 10 minutes it was ready.

Now, glorious pie apparatus aside, this recipe is tasty.  Really…  I even bet tofu fraidy cats would like this.  Although tofu lends to different texture, I didn’t miss the egg, but that could be because eggs have been grossing me out lately.  That’s a different story. The mustard in the filling really made it for me.  That and Trader Joe’s South African Smoke (paprika, sea salt, garlic and basil) which I am totally crazy about. I am proud of my recipe!

So, I am on my way to Mini Pie 2012.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Dan.

Tofu Broccoli and Cheddar Mini Quiche

Ingredients

• 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust dough
• 1 pound broccoli
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 10 green onions, chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 pound firm tofu
• 1/4-1/2 cup soy milk
• 1/4 teaspoon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Trader Joe’s South African Smoke (paprika, sea salt, garlic and basil)
• 4 tablespoons sharp white cheddar

Directions

Preheat pie maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

Cut 4 rounds of lightly floured room temperature dough with large round cutter.

Steam broccoli and set aside.  Lightly saute green onion and garlic in olive oil over medium high heat.  Add steamed broccoli and cook 2 minutes.

For the filling, combine tofu, mustard, salt and seasoning blend in a food processor.  Add soy milk a little at a time while blending to make sure the filling remains more on the thick side.  Fold in cheese.

Carefully but quickly place dough round into heated pie maker.  Spoon filling into wells, top with cheese and cook until crust is browned, about 10 minutes.

     Hanukkah begins at sunset, this Tuesday, December 20th.  Bring on the latkes and dreidel!

Last year I had the supreme privilege of celebrating Hanukkah with an incredibly lovely group of people.  The experience was moving in many regards, and the warm feelings of family and tradition still resonate in my mind.  Out of the many memories, one of the most delicious ones was Elyn’s latkes.  I am telling you, they were some of the best food I’ve experienced.  So, this post is in appreciation of Elyn, not only as an excellent cook, mother, and creative dynamo, but as a deeply loving, kind and spiritual person.  My latkes will never be yours, Elyn (um…especially considering I purchased them frozen from Trader Joe’s), but would you waffle yours?  ;)

Please check out her work.

Much love to the entire Shindler-Moldow family…

     There’s nothing like chili on a chilly day.  It can certainly be worth the time and effort in preparing, but when done in a pressure cooker, it’s incredibly simple and flavorful, and ready to warm the tummy in a ridiculously short amount of time. 

Being someone who prefers to cook her own beans, it adds a whopping 2 minutes to the process, plus the act of pressure cooking infuses the flavors into the beans.  I could open the cans in that amount of time and it wouldn’t taste nearly as good!  Simply “pre-soak” the dried beans in the pressure cooker by bringing to pressure for 2 minutes, remove from heat and drain the water, then get on with it.

*note:  If you should be one of those people who experiences…um…wind…when eating beans, add a piece of kombu seaweed to the beans when cooking as it has gas-reducing properties and allows you to digest them properly.  You should be able to find this in most ‘health food’ stores. Hooray.

Oh, and what the frico is Frico?  It’s the fancy term for Parmesan crisps, I’m told. Using a Nordic Ware Waffled Pancake pan, let it heat on the stove to nearly medium high, put a mound of shredded Parmesan in each imprint, let it melt, and when the cheese starts to bubble, remove from the heat, allow to cool, and use a bamboo stick to lift of the crisp.

Putting a spoonful of chili onto a Parmesan crisp and taking a bite is a nice happy-mouth-experience as it adds a crisp element, as well as a sharp bite against the spicy/acidity of the chili.  Try it.  Or not.  Whatever.

Lisa’s Pressure Cooker Chili

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry kidney beans
• 1 cup dry black beans
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 5+ garlic cloves
• 1 pound cherry tomatoes
• 1 pound baby carrots
• 1 6 oz. can of tomato paste
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 Tablespoons chipotle powder
• 32 fluid ounces (1 quart) vegetable broth

Directions:

“Pre-soak” the beans in pressure cooker by bringing to pressure for 2 minutes, remove from heat and drain water.  Rinse beans, add all other ingredients, and pressure cook for 20 minutes.

Top with favorite cheese, if desired.  Shown above: Creamy Toscano soaked in Syrah.

I swear, that’s it!

Serves: Lisa for a week.

P.S. Someone needs to invent a cast-iron pressure cooker…talk about flavor.

     I cannot believe it took me this long to finally waffle a grilled cheese sandwich, but today was the day: Buttered Demi Miche, Dalmati Fig Spread, oven caramelized onions and Tintern Welsch Cheddar with chives and shallots.

The Demi Miche is dense, rustic and a bit sour.  The Tintern Welsch Cheddar with chives and shallots (found at Trader Joe’s) is semi-firm like Feta, sharp yet aromatic, and very rich.  Cast iron oven-caramelized onions add a sweet tang, yet have that certain deep caramel flavor that only comes from cast iron.  The Dalmati Fig Spread is…figgy and sweet, so I only used enough to taste the fig without over-doing the sweet.  Overall, the balance of these flavors was a fantastic combination. This waffle lab has given me oodles of ideas!

Oh, and I am happy. :)

I really didn’t think I would have the inclination to craft a post this week, certainly not because of a lack of photographs, but just because…whatever.  However!  I had leftover Thanksgiving garlic mashed potatoes that just didn’t taste good cold so I decided to waffle it (them?).  Yeah.  And it was good.  Like better-than-potato-cake good.  Crispy, covered in dill and olive oil.  Lip smacky…even better than they were originally.  Yo.

Puddin…

I might need one of these.