Frozen Basil Pesto Cubes

It's canning and freezing time here, as summer comes to a close. Today the temperature climbed up to almost 90 F, and we can probably expect the first hard frost in the next couple of weeks. Welcome to North Dakota. I have been canning tomatoes and freezing baggies of chopped collard greens, and would like to make some dried chilies and sun-dried tomatoes if I get around to it. My basil is still growing like wild, so I cut a bunch last week and made frozen pesto cubes. I'll add these basil pesto cubes to soups and pasta sauces over the winter, or thaw them to use anywhere else pesto would be nice.
I kept this simple - lots of basil, a cup or so of walnuts, a few spoonfuls of lemon juice, 2 cloves of garlic, a half cup of decent olive oil, and some salt. Blend it all well, freeze in ice cube trays sprayed lightly with canola oil for easy removal, and store the cubes in aluminum foil or a freezer bag. I'll appreciate this in the middle of winter, though I'm doing my best not to think of that right now.

Peppery Peanut and Tomato Soup

When I got back from Chicago, I had a bunch of really ripe tomatoes in the garden (from just three plants, I've picked over 100 tomatoes so far). I canned a bunch earlier this week, but my vegetable shelf is still overflowing with tomatoes. Enter this tomato and peanut soup. I love how creamy and rich this is, with the tang of a variety of fresh peppers and the unmatched taste of ripe garden tomatoes. I usually use diced tomatoes along with tomato juice or sauce, but here I just made a sauce of ripe tomatoes in the blender.

1 tbsp. canola oil
2 cups quartered fresh tomatoes
1 medium yellow or white onion
1 clove garlic
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 banana pepper, seeded and diced
1 green chili pepper
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup nondairy milk
1 tbsp. flour
1 tsp ground red pepper
1 tbsp. tamari, or 1/2 tsp. salt
ground raw peanuts and diced green chili pepper for garnish

1. In a blender or food processor, blend tomatoes until smooth.

2. Saute the onions, garlic, bell pepper, banana pepper, and green chili until everything is softened and fragrant - about five minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Add flour and stir constantly for about a minute, until the veggies are coated in a light flour paste. Add nondairy milk, along with peanut butter, and stir everything until it is smooth and well mixed.

4. This is optional, but at this point you could let this cool a bit and pulse it a few times in the blender until velvety smooth. If you like a chunkier soup, skip this step. Add the tomatoes and tamari to the onion-pepper mixture, mix well, and bring back up to a simmer. Remove from heat, and garnish with peanuts and chilis. Chives or cilantro would be great too, since the raw chilis can be a little intense - I liked the bite of a little raw chili scattered around.

Gyozas and Muffuletta

I have a couple of food photos from two of my current favorite cookbooks. First up is this plate of gyozas, from Hema Parekh's The Asian Vegan Kitchen. I let this book sit on my kitchen shelf for a while after picking it up, and now I'm using it all the time. It's becoming one of those cookbooks that gets all crinkled and grease-spattered as it does it's time on the counter. My copy of Vegan with a Vengeance looks like puppy Maya used it as a chew toy, but that's what happens to my cookbooks. Anyway, here's the gyozas. I subbed some ingredients based on what I had on hand (iceberg lettuce passes for napa cabbage if you don't pay too close attention). They are great, and I have enjoyed and learned from everything I've made with Asian Vegan.

Second, it's my first try at the roasted eggplant muffuletta sandwich from Veganomicon. The recipe includes spinach, and my version would have benefitted from some greens. The big story with this one is the olive salad relish, which is simply amazing. I think I could live on that stuff. The photo in the book is much prettier, but here's mine. This is one good sammich.

That's all for now. I'm off to Chicago in a couple days, and western Illinois for wedding activities after that. I'll be back next week, and we'll see if I shake down any good vegan food in Chicago.

Rhubarb Cheesecake with lots of Blackberries

I love rhubarb. It grows like a weed all summer long, works in all kinds of desserts and sweets, and just feels like home. No matter where that is. I can't believe it's already September, and the days of fresh rhubarb are coming to a close. Here rhubarb adds it's distinctive tanginess to a sort of non-cheesecake, topped with a thin layer of cooked blackberry syrup and fresh blackberry topping. When the syrup-glaze cools and thickens, it becomes a tasty way of keeping the sliced berries from slipping and sliding around the cheesecake.

Rhubarb Cheesecake

1 vegan graham cracker pie crust

1 8 oz. package vegan cream cheese (Tofutti here)

1/2 of a 14 oz. package silken tofu

2/3 cup rhubarb puree* (made from about 1 1/2 cups fresh rhubarb)

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp. arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)

Blackberry glaze

1/3 cup fresh blackberries (well-thawed frozen berries are fine too)

1 tsp. cornstarch

1 tbsp. sugar

1/4 cup water

1. Prepare the rhubarb puree by simmering chopped rhubarb with just enough water (a half cup or so) to prevent from burning. When the rhubarb is soft, add the sugar, stir to dissolve, and remove from heat. I think it's a good idea to blend this before adding to the cheesecake mixture, but wait a while for it to cool.

2. In a blender or food processor, blend all of the cheesecake ingredients, including the rhubarb puree.

3. In a non-stick pot, bring the cheesecake mixture just to a simmer, stirring frequently. The arrowroot will cause it to noticeably thicken in just a few minutes.

4. Pour in a graham cracker pie crust, and bake at 375 F for about 45 minutes - since oven times vary, check frequently after the first 25 minutes or so and remove once the top just starts to lightly brown. The cheesecake filling may not appear firm, but it will firm up as it cools. Chill for at least 3 hours, preferrably overnight, in the fridge.

5. Prepare the blackberry glaze - bring all ingredients to a simmer in a sauce pan. Use a fork to get the berries all crushed up in the liquid. When the cornstarch and sugar is dissolved and begins to thicken the glaze, remove from heat. You want to use it pretty soon, so it doesn't congeal in the pan.

6. Pour the warm berry glaze over the chilled cheesecake, top with fresh sliced blackberries, and return to the fridge. It will be ready to serve as soon as the topping is well-chilled, in about a half hour.

Red River Dolmas (Stuffed Wild Grape Leaves)

This was my first attempt at making stuffed grape leaves, and the result was a delicious surprise. The leaves are wild and abundant here, and for a stuffing I used brown rice, dried apricots, walnuts, and a few fresh herbs and dried spices. I have been meaning to try my hand at dolmas since I first saw folks picking wild grape leaves along the river downtown a couple of years ago. The wild grape bushes are thriving along the banks of the Red River this summer. Here's a couple of grape leaf pictures, with the muddy Red in the background.

I picked a couple of dozen, with an ample choice of big, tender leaves with no blemishes or spots.

At home, the first step was to give the leaves a quick cleaning rinse, and cut off the stems right at the leaf base. Next, blanch the leaves in boiling water, followed quickly by submersion in ice water to keep them from cooking any more. The blanching makes the leaves pliable for wrapping around the dolma filling. I dipped them in boiling water for just a couple of seconds - they turned almost instantly from a bright green to the more olive green color typical of canned grape leaves.

Meanwhile, it's time to make a stuffing. I tried to come up with something vaguely Eastern European/Mediterranean, and the filling is a fine salad on its own.

Here's a list of the stuffing ingredients:

1 cup cooked brown rice

1/2 cup dried apricot, diced

1/2 cup toasted walnuts, diced

1/2 cup fresh parsley

1/2 cup fresh mint

1/4 cup fresh chives
1 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp. cumin powder

1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper

Now it's time for a big dolma assembly line in the kitchen. Place a single grape leaf with the veins facing up on your work surface. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of filling onto the leaf, about a half inch above the bottom center of the leaf. Fold the leaf bottom up over the filling, and fold in the left and right sides. Holding the sides securely above the filling, roll the rest of the leaf up like a spring roll or a tortilla. This is pretty cool, because the leaf vein at the top of the grape leaf should line up exactly with the base of the stem. The stuffed leaf should hold together well (despite my doubts, every one stayed intact).

Continue the process until you have a pan full of lovely stuffed grape leaves, like this:

Now it's stewing time. I saw this part on a cooking show one time - cover the bottom of a large stew pot with thinly sliced potatoes. This keeps the leaves from burning during the stewing process, as they are shielded by the valiant potato defense. Place the dolmas on top of the potato layer, and add just enough water to cover the dolmas, along with a tablespoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of lemon juice.


Place a heavy plate on top of the dolmas, which will keep them from moving around during the stewing process. Stew for about a half hour over heat just high enough to keep the water simmering. After stewing, allow the liquid to cool a bit before removing the dolmas, which will have swelled up with lemony olive oily tastiness. Don't throw out those potatoes either, which are a tasty by-product. The dolmas will keep for a few days chilled in the fridge, and I think the flavor gets better a day or two later.

Brown Basmati Rice Salad with Grapes and Pistachios

I came back this morning from walking the dog crew on what turned into a hot and windy day, and improvised this salad. I loved it - the tomato, basil, and mint are Fargo-grown, and the other ingredients were in the fridge. The pistachio nuts and rice make this a satisfying meal, but it would be wonderful in a smaller portion next to grilled tofu, eggplant, or other roasted vegetables.

Rice Salad with Grapes and Pistachios
1 cup brown basmati rice (cooked and chilled)
10 or so seedless green grapes, halved or diced
1 Roma tomato, diced
1 1/2 tbsp. capers (these were packed in a balsamic vinegar brine)
1/2 cup pistachios, lightly toasted
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
ground black pepper to taste

1. Mix it all up and enjoy. I had raw pistachios which I toasted for about 10 minutes over low heat in a dry frying pan. I let them cool a bit before adding to the salad.

Cream of Collards Soup

I'm trying to eat as many of my collards as the butterflies hanging around in my garden. They (the collards, not the butterflies) usually find their way into stir-fries or vegetable soups, but this was a good chance to give them a starring role. This soup was adapted from a swiss chard cream soup from my old Peace Corps cookbook, "Buen Provecho."

Cream of Collards Soup
4 cups collard greens, coarsely chopped
1 red potato, boiled or baked
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. all purpose flour
1 1/2 cup soymilk (or any other nondairy milk)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. vegan margarine
salt and pepper to taste

1. In a soup pot, steam the collard greens with about a half cup of water. Steam just until they turn a bright green. Remove and drain, reserving the cooking liquid. Allow the greens to cool a little, then blend with the potato in a blender or food processor.

2. In the same pot (well dried), heat oil and margarine and saute onion and garlic until just beginning to brown. Add flour, and stir constantly as the flour cooks in the oils - just a couple of minutes.

3. Add the soymilk and vegetable broth and bring to a simmer, stirring to blend well with the flour-onion mixture. Add the collards and potato blend. If the soup seems too thick, add the remaining collard cooking liquid, or a little more vegetable broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.