Archives for June 2012

Meatless Monday: Garlic Scapes and Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

June 4, 2012 · by ·

I love this time of year. Wandering around – there is so much more color to be found at the vegetable market. While wandering HMart, I was excited to see bundles of garlic scapes. In the past, I have chopped them up and added them to stir fries, sauteed veggies, and salads. I decided to make a pesto out of it this time. I thought that it would go well with some sun dried tomatoes I had that needed to be used up. This pesto comes together fast with the help of a food processor.

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Garlic Scapes and Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
Ingredients:

1 small bunch of garlic scapes (about 6 or 7)
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
1/2 cup parsley or basil
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
3/4 olive oil
kosher salt
ground pepper

Cut up the scapes in to manageable pieces and place in the bowl of your food processor.

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Add in the sun dried tomatoes, basil, lemon juice and pine nuts.

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Pulse a few times.

Add in the parmesan cheese.

With the food processor at a low-medium speed, pour in the olive oil.

Taste a bit.

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Add in some salt and pepper to taste.

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For dinner tonight, I served the pesto with some white beans and broccoli over pasta. Delightful dinner.

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Filed Under: dairy, Dinner, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , ,

Mushroom and Tofu Stir Fry in Black Bean Sauce

June 4, 2012 · by ·

What do you do when everyone is hungry and it’s 7:30 pm? We had been grazing throughout the day, so hunger and the whole dinner concept dawned on us much later than a typical day. The big kid was begging for Chinese food. Of course, she was hoping for the take-out variety. The hubster suggested a stir fry. I kindly suggested he pick and chop the veggies – to which he turned down. Harumph.

Dinner still had to be made. I tossed some rice and water in a pot and peeked in the fridge. We had just been to the Korean market, so were flush with tofu and veggies. I had some chopped scallions and ginger left over from the scallion pancakes. Stir fry would work. I always have a variety of asian sauces around. I hoard them when I find them acceptable to eat. I picked up some yummy looking five-spice tofu when at HMart. I love when I find random kosher things there. I get giddy.  This five spice tofu comes already pressed and ready to serve. 
Dinner was ready in around 10 minutes. Ten points for me!



Mushroom and Tofu Stir Fry in Black Bean Sauce
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. vegetable oiil
1 tsp. sesame oil
3 scallions, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1.4 tbsp. ginger, chopped
1/2 pound of pressed tofu (five spice, or other marinated tofu) cubed
1 container cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 cup sugar snap peas
1.5-2 tbsp. black bean sauce
3 tsp. black soy sauce
1/2 cup vegetable broth mixed with 2 tsp. corn starch
Heat up the vegetable oil in a wok or large deep saute pan.
Add in the sesame oil when hot. Stir in the garlic and ginger. Let it get a bit fragrant and toss in half of the scallions.
Stir in the tofu, snap peas and the mushrooms. Cook for a few minutes. Maybe five.
Add in the last three ingredients. If you can’t find a kosher black bean sauce, you could substitute with some miso paste. As I mentioned before, I tend to hoard obscure kosher products when I find them – or I figure out how to make  them myself.

Add in the remaining chopped scallions and plate it up with some white rice.
Enjoy!
On a side note, anyone want to go in with me on a large quantity of  kosher fermented black beans? Big plans, folks, big plans….

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Filed Under: asian, Dinner, easy, rice, tofu, Vegan, vegetables, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Scallion Pancakes

June 3, 2012 · by ·

I have a guilty pleasure. I am not a huge fan of the Chinese take-out places, but whenever I go – I have to get one thing. Scallion pancakes. I shared an order with the family just the other night. But lately. every time we pick up these little greasy triangles from our local dive, I am left feeling a bit cheated. By the time it gets to our table, it is often lukewarm and chewy or soggy. Because it’s usually late on a Thursday night, it never tastes like it’s fresh or like someone cared how it tasted. I also thought about the price tag. It’s flour, water, scallions and oil people. It shouldn’t cost $5 for what amounts to two pancakes!

I have been wanting to make my own for a while. It’s really easy – a similar process to making paratha or malawach. It’s pretty quick and definitely worth your while.

Scallion Pancakes
Ingredients:

2 3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1 cup very hot water
kosher salt
a bunch of scallions – about 5
vegetable oil

Pour the sifted flour in to a large bowl.

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Pour the hot water in to the flour while stirring.

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Mix with a wooden spoon until you have some semblance of a dough.

Sprinkle your hands with flour and knead the dough until the dough is smooth and elastic.

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Cover the dough with a damp towel and let sit for 30 minutes.

While the dough is resting, you can wash and chop your scallions.

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Cut the dough in to 4 equal pieces.

Lightly brush oil on to a rolling board.

Roll out one of the pieces of dough. It should be very thin. Roll it out in to a rectangle.

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Brush the dough with some vegetable oil.

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Sprinkle the dough with some kosher salt and some of the chopped scallions.

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Roll up the dough in to a long snake.

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Cut the dough snake in half.

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Coil the dough snake in to a round snail.

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Roll out the snail in to a pancake.

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Fry the pancake in a small amount of oil. Lightly brown on both sides.

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Drain and slice in to wedges. Repeat the process with the other balls of dough or you can chill in the fridge and use later. You could also process up until the raw scallion pancake stage and freeze for later use.

Serve with a soy ginger dipping sauce (soy sauce, chopped/mashed ginger, chopped garlic and some rice vinegar). Enjoy!

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Filed Under: asian, munchies, snack, Vegan, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , ,
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