Lisa's Culinary Atrocities

Multi-seed baguette from Trader Joe’s,  broiled with olive oil and:

top left: black mission fig, walnut and shropshire blue cheese (yellow stilton)

top right: fresh pico de gallo topped with micro greens

middle left: homemade basil/walnut/garlic pesto, made chunky, topped with tomato

middle right: chunky garlic hummus, chive, cucumber

bottom: basil leaf, roasted garlic, olive oil/Herbes de Provence marinated mozzarella

I discovered “The Cravings Place” brand gluten/wheat/nut/egg/dairy free mixes and they are really really wonderful.

Using their “All Purpose Pancake & Waffle mix”, make the waffle batter by adding to the mix coconut oil, baked sweet potato, a little pumpkin spice and soy milk until the desired consistency/flavor.

The tofu I used was pre-seasoned and really quite amazing as far as pre-seasoned tofu goes (I usually prefer to make my own). The brand is “Soy Deli” organic, baked, savory flavor. Slice and warm in the oven. I also like to make tofu ‘croutons’ with this tofu by cubing and baking until crisp on the outside…Yum!!

On the side: lightly steamed Italian kale sprinkled with a lightly salted nutritional yeast, garlic and garam masala.

Add some shaved Asiago and your favorite olive oil…and viola!

This is really very simple and delicious. The olive oil is imperative as to help with the breadiness of the Belgian waffle. The slight sweetness of the waffle paired with the bitter/sweetness of the kale and the savory of the tofu was a realllly lovely combination. Even the tomato garnish paired well!

From yesterday’s pizza dough I made cute little pizzettas in tartlet pans:

Pesto, Tomato & Raclette du haut Livradois*

Spinach, Walnut, Garlic & Marinara

For the pesto, process until desired consistency:

1 bunch fresh basil

3/4 cups pecans (or whatever nut you like)

1/4 tsp. sea salt

5 cloves garlic

3/4 cups Kalamata olive oil

Vegan Pecan Pesto

* Raclette Description:

Produced in both Switzerland and France, Raclette takes its name from the French verb “racler”, meaning “to scrape.” Traditionally, Alpine cheesemakers would lunch upon boiled potatoes and cornichons, covered with melted cheese scraped from a rock near the smoldering fire. Raclette is a semi-soft pressed cheese, made of raw cows’ milk and washed with brine to impart a deep, fruity pungency. True to its name, it melts beautifully and can be scraped atop all manner of root vegetables for a winter supper.

Raclette du haut Livradois is from Livradois, France

I found some pre-made whole wheat pizza dough at Trader Joe’s (swear I don’t work there) and thought, hmmmm…I can do a lot with this!

Thought I’d make a pretzel.  Nope, didn’t work—too stretchy shrinky.  I’ll have to do that one from scratch some other time.

So what I did do, and do well if I may say so, is make little breads.  Since it was pizza dough the breads were dense, but that’s not a bad thing!

I decided to make 2 little loaves:  Black and White Sesame Seed and Rosemary:

I chose rosemary because I had some Pecorino Toscano cheese that I knew would pair well with it, and after consulting with Deano (mentioned in an earlier post, aka the KING of all things wine), I (we) decided to keep the Italian theme by choosing a 2008 Caravaggio Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.

I also made an olive oil concoction with rosemary and black volcanic salt for dipping.  Delicious and oh-so-simple.

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