Mushroom and Butter Bean Burgers

More vegetarian 4th of July ideas. Though these probably won't hold up on the grill, I was pleased with how well they held up in the pan. Rather than using breadcrumbs--which do the job of soaking up moisture, but little else--I tried adding dry TVP right to the sauteed vegetables, covering the mixture, and letting the TVP slowed absorb flavor and any excess moisture. It worked well! And meant that no egg was needed to hold things together. Vegan 4th of July idea!

Do you know TVP (textured vegetable protein)? Wikipedia will tell you more than you really need to know. It's an older vegetarian protein. Pre-Morningstar oeuvre. It's great for camping since you store it dry. To cook with it, you need to hydrate it; it will take on the flavor of whatever liquid you add it to. When hydrated and used in soups or stews, it has a chewy texture.

2 cups chopped crimini mushrooms
1/2 bell pepper
1/2 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 small carrot, shredded
olive oil
1/4 cup tvp
1 (14 ounce) can butter beans, drained
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
salt + pepper

In a medium skillet, saute the mushrooms, pepper, onion, garlic, and carrot in a little olive oil until the vegetables shed much of their moisture. Place this mixture into a large mixing bowl, and add the TVP. Stir to combine, cover, and let sit for at least 10 minutes so the TVP can incorporate/hydrate itself.

After ten minutes, mash in the butter beans, stir in the parsley, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Form the mixture into patties and cook on an oiled skillet over medium low heat until both sides are toasted and the burger is warmed through.

Makes 6-8 patties.

Green Green Bean Salad

This week, I'm going to feature some great fourth of July-appropriate recipes. Starting here. A green bean salad with what I wish I wasn't about to refer to as "zip." Zip. It's apt; this is tangy, bright, slightly spicy. Forgive me the marketing-speak and try it out.

1 pound green beans, trimmed and chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
about the same amount (as garlic) of fresh ginger, minced
juice of one large lime
2 scallions, chopped
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon agave nectar
salt and red pepper to taste
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Boil the green beans until just-done. Meanwhile, place the garlic and ginger in the bottom of a large bowl. When the green beans are done, scoop them with a slotted spoon directly into that bowl. The heat from the beans will subtly cook the garlic and ginger.

After a minute or so, toss with the lime juice, scallions, sesame oil, and agave nectar. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and garnish with cilantro just before serving.

Serve warm or cold.

Serves about 4 as a side salad.

Ricotta Corn Cakes

You can eat these corn cakes for any meal. They will help you clear your pantry, clear your odds & ends. These things become important when you realize you need to eat down all the various grains in your pantry before you move to Pennsylvania sometime quite soon, that is, if you can find a home to live in there, which you haven't yet, but your lease is up in Chicago in one month and all those jars of grains are so heavy!

Plus, these are tasty. So, there's that.

1 cup corn meal
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup ricotta
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup corn kernels
1 fresno pepper minced
1/2 medium onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate, smaller bowl, beat together the ricotta, milk, and egg. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, then stir in the vegetables. The batter will be very thick.

Cook these like the pancakes they are, on a greased skillet for a few minutes per side. Serve with salsa, sour cream, or agave nectar. (Or all these things at once, as I have done. That is the most delicious way.)

Maple Almond Granola

I plan to make granola bars with this later this week. But naturally, I've begun eating it already. (And it stands just fine on its own.) Add dried fruit if you like it!

2 cups rolled oats
1 cup raw slivered almonds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
3 tablespoons real maple syrup

Preheat your oven to 300° F.

Stir together the dry ingredients, then pour the oil and syrup over them, stirring all to combine.

Spread the mixture out in a large roasting pan and bake for about 30 minutes. It may not be super crispy by then, but the granola will harden more as it cools.

Banana Walnut Muffins

Yes, those are dinosaur muffin cups. I found them in a cabinet in the cabin in the woods. They seemed appropriate somehow.

This is just a simple banana muffin recipe, dressed up with a Bittman-insprired crumble. Bake these in the morning while your guests are sleeping.

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg
1 cup milk
about 3 ripe bananas

Preheat your oven to 400° F. Grease or line a muffin tin with paper.

Whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Stir all together, then add the banana.

1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons melted butter

Combine all in a food processor and process just until a nice crumble forms.

Stir half of the crumble into the muffin batter. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, and top with remaining crumble.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, 20-25 minutes.

Guest Post: Lemon Ginger Cookies

I'm on semi-vacation today so our pal Maggie is taking over with this terrific, bright ginger cookie recipe. Make these this weekend and bring them to your block party. You'll be king of the neighborhood in no time.


Even though it’s been spring for weeks now, the nearly nonstop rain has made for a lot of indoor time. The spicy ginger in these cookies is perfect for keeping cozy and the lemon is fresh enough so that you don’t feel like you’re eating Christmas.

Still skeptical about ginger cookies in June? Try ‘em sandwich style with strawberry ice cream.

Lemon Ginger Cookies

Adapted from IFA Daily Food Porn, by Kay Stieger

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 4.5 t ground ginger
• 2 t ground cinnamon
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t kosher salt
• 1/4 c unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1/2 c granulated sugar; more for rolling
• 1/4 c unsulphured molasses
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 2 t pure vanilla extract
• 1 lemon

In a smallish mixing bowl, stir together the flour, spices, baking soda, and salt. In a larger bowl stir together the butter and sugars until just mixed and then add the molasses, egg, and vanilla, stirring until fully mixed. Mix in the zest and juice of your lemon. (I’m typically pretty liberal when it comes to following recipes and in this one the amount of lemon you add is especially flexible depending on how much you like citrus.) Add the flour mixture to the wet one and incorporate until fully combined. Cover the dough and throw it in the fridge for an hour.

Shortly before removing the dough from the fridge, preheat your oven to 350, line a couple cookie sheets with parchment paper, and pour some sugar in a bowl. Roll small spoonfuls of dough into balls and then roll them in sugar before placing them on the cookie sheet. Bake for about 11 minutes. Let them cool on a cut-open brown paper bag before constructing an ice cream sandwich and fantasizing about how once it stops raining, it’ll be bathing suit season.

Plantain Fritters with Rhubarb Mojo

So Vince Vaughn is filming "Untitled Cheating Project" on my block right now. Which makes it pretty much impossible to do anything. We had almost no food in the house, but didn't dare go to the grocery store last night and give up our choice blocks-away parking spot. We thought about ordering delivery, but since the road is closed, we worried it wouldn't make it to us. So I looked at the odds and ends I had lying around--plantains, rhubarb, most of an onion, exactly 4 cloves of garlic, half of a lime, and, uh, parsley (pictured, though I recommend cilantro below)--and decided to make this.

This, which turned out to be the best thing I'd ever eaten? One of the best, at least. I mean, my god, I love a fritter. And I've been hoping to try rhubarb in some savory applications. It was awesome here. Mojo (pronounced mo-ho!) is traditionally made with sour orange juice. I definitely did not have sour orange juice. But I knew I could cull a sour "juice" from the rhubarb. And so I did. And it was easy.

4 stalks rhubarb, cut horizontally into 3/4 inch slices
1/8 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
3 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon cumin
salt+pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the rhubarb, sugar, and water. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and cook, covered, until the rhubarb breaks down, about 10 minutes. Strain this mixture, reserving the juice. There should be about 1/3 cup. Discard the rhubarb pulp.

In the same medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cumin and cook for just under 30 seconds, no more! Stir in the rhubarb juice. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chile powder
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup water
a squeeze of lime juice
1 pound just-ripe plantains, finely chopped
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
grapeseed oil for frying

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt, cumin, and chile powder. In a separate, smaller bowl, beat the egg, water, and lime juice. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, then add the plantains, onion, and garlic. Stir all until just combined.

Meanwhile, pour enough oil into a large braising pan until it reaches 1/2 an inch up the side of the pan. Heat this oil over medium-high heat until it pops if you shake a TINY TINY bit of water into it. Drop large spoonfuls of the plantain batter into the oil, smoothing the spoonfuls out with the back of a spoon. Cook until both sides are nicely browned, 3-5 minutes per side. Drain fritters on a cut-open paper bag over a wire rack.

Serve soon with the rhubarb mojo sauce and cilantro garnish.

Makes about 15 fritters.

[Plantain fritter recipe adapted from the corn fritter recipe in Charmaine Solomon's Complete Vegetarian Cookbook]

Strawberry-Rhubarb Galette

At the cabin in the woods, we don't have a food processor. But we do have a slightly rusted and bent pastry blade. We don't have a pie plate, but we have some warped cookie sheets. With those tools, I made this galette. And it was not the gummy mess I worried it would be.

In fact, making pie dough with a pastry blade might actually be easier to do than with a food processor. Or at least easier to control. Since you can see it come together as you work, you can add just the right amount of water and you can be sure the pieces of butter don't get too tiny. These are two things I struggle with when food-processing my pie dough. The speed of the machine does help keep everything cool, but you cede some control to that speed. I'm not romanticizing the pastry blade, I just found I liked it. And of course, we already knew a pie plate wasn't requisite for a delicious pie.

Speaking of delicious: strawberry/rhubarb.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
about 4 tablespoons ice water

2 stalks rhubarb
about 8 large strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the butter to the dry ingredients, then with a pastry blade, begin working the fat into the flour. When the butter is in flour-coated, pea-sized lumps add ice water and continue working everything with the pastry blade until the dough begins to come together. The dough should hold together if you squeeze it in your hand, but still be slightly crumbly.

Turn the mixture out onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Quickly form it into a disk, wrap tightly with the plastic, and refrigerate for at least one hour. If you're short of time, you can freeze this for half an hour, but I find that it's more difficult to work with when I take that route.

Preheat your oven to 375° F.

Slice the rhubarb into 1/2 inch thick slices on the diagonal. Quarter the strawberries. In a mixing bowl, combine the fruit, sugar, and corn starch and let rest for at least 15 minutes.

After the dough has rested, unwrap it on a clean, floured counter. Sprinkle the top of the dough and your rolling pin with flour. Quickly, but carefully, roll out the dough. Give it a quarter turn after each roll. If the dough starts to stick, carefully pick it up (a bench scraper is a great tool for this) and sprinkle more flour beneath it. If it begins to fall apart, get it onto a cookie sheet or similar and into the freezer to firm up for 10 minutes or so.

When the dough is about 12 inches in diameter, carefully place it on an ungreased cookie sheet and pile the strawberry rhubarb mixture in the middle. Fold the edges of the dough over the top of the fruit mixture. If there's some sugary liquid in the bottom of the fruit bowl, paint this onto the dough.

Bake for about 40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

Seitan & Potato Mini Tacos

Everything is better in mini. Or in maxi. Out with medi. Medium, mediocre.

Ok, I suppose there is a place for just-right-sized things. Porridge and the like. But believe me when I tell you that mini tacos are better than, simply, tacos. And these mini tacos are the best ever.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red chili pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
2 small-medium yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1/3ish inch cubes
8 ounces ground beef style seitan, crumbled
salt to taste

In a large skillet over a medium-low flame, heat the oil. Add the peppers, onion, and garlic and saute until the vegetables begin to soften. Stir in the cumin, then the potatoes and seitan. Continue cooking for another 15 or 20 minutes, tossing the vegetables a couple times (but not too many so a nice brown crust has time to form), until the potatoes are cooked through. Season to taste with salt.

Serve in mini versions of leavened flour tortillas (divide the dough from that recipe into about 30 pieces) with thinly sliced radishes, tomatoes, cilantro, hot sauce, and sour cream if you like.

Serves 4ish.

Egg Sandwich with Aioli, Tomato, and Baby Arugula on Toasted Challah

I'm a firm believer in a simple sandwich. Don't muddle your sandwiches! Too many sandwiches are muddled. ≤5 elements is the ideal amount of elements for a sandwich.

These elements:
Zingerman's challah gifted to me earlier this week by Maggie. (Oh hai, Maggie, you just got your own tag!)
aioli
tomato slices, seeded for less wateriness
baby arugula
egg, fried

Cheese and Bread

Blogger was down yesterday so my post never went up! So sorry, pals, because I really wanted to tell you about this cheese. Upon the unwrapping, it was a bit stinky, but the taste was creamily perfect.

I ate it with this spread, my ideal lunch. A meal I, in essence, repeated yesterday with an equally dreamy (and goat!) Little Bloom on the Prarie.

PS. The bread pictured above is the best ciabatta I've ever eaten, made by these guys.

Strawberry Whipped Cream Crepe Cake

Last night, my department threw me a spectacularly lovely going away party. A potluck, I brought this cake.

This cake that I was sure was going to topple on the drive down to my generous colleague's home. Chicago's streets: utterly unaccommodating of driving-with-layer-cake. But, it did not topple! And it was delicious. Also, I saw Mr. T walking downtown on the way to the party. Pretty great night all around.

3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole grain pastry flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cups milk
2/3 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
about a pound of strawberries

Sift together the flours, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Beat together the eggs, milk, water, and vanilla. Combine the dry and wet ingredients. Get out the major lumps, but don't stress over them too much. Let the batter rest for at least an hour, up to six.

Heat a round, nonstick skillet over a medium flame. For each crepe, brush a few drops of grapeseed oil around the pan. Ladle some batter onto the pan, then lift and tilt it, allowing the batter to spread out into a thin disk. When the crepe starts to bubble and the edges begin to peel away from the pan, flip it. Cook for another 15 seconds or so, then remove the crepe and cool it on a wire rack. Repeat this process until all the batter's been used, stacking cooled crepes on a plate and cooling hot ones on the rack as you go. (To make ahead, you can cover these with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, then assemble the next day. That's what I did.) Depending on how big you make the crepes, you'll get something like 20 out of this recipe. The ideal size for the cake it probably about 8 inches in diameter. But mine were more like 10. Don't worry if the crepes are a bit misshapen. And don't worry if you mess some up. Those are the ones you get to eat while you finish assembling the cake.

To make the filling, combine the cream and powdered sugar in a cold mixing bowl and beat at medium speed with cold beaters until soft peaks form. Do not over beat.

Mash about 3/4 of the strawberries. Pick the ugliest or smallest or strangest ones to mash. Slice the others nicely and set aside. Carefully fold the mashed strawberries into the whipped cream.

Arrange your crepes so that the smaller ones will end up on top. Then, start layering. Put a crepe down. Spread it with a layer of the strawberry whipped cream. Crepe. Whipped Cream. Etc. Top with a final layer of whipped cream, then arrange the sliced berries decoratively. Serve soon, before the whipped cream begins to break down.

[Recipe adapted from Joy of Cooking]

Garlic Arugula White Pizza

I've gushed about this pizza. And here, again: this pizza is so so delicious. But don't take my word for it. Make it. You really should make it.

I added some oil back into my dough recipe, finding that it gives the crust a fuller flavor. And have begun to press out, rather than roll out, the dough. It makes such a difference. The crust is crisp but light and chewy inside. If you have trouble pressing out your dough, let it rest for ten minutes (and make sure it's at room temperature if you'd refrigerated it). The gluten will relax and it should be pretty easy to work with.

1 1/8 cups warm water
1 packet active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons olive oil

olive oil
3-5 cloves garlic
fresh mozzarella, roughly chopped
coarse salt
baby arugula

With your pizza stone inside, preheat your oven to its hottest, non-broil setting.

Mix the yeast, sugar, and water. Set aside. Put the flour and salt into a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. With the processor running, add the olive oil, then (once the yeast is dissolved) the water-yeast solution. Continue with the machine running until a ball begins to form. The dough should be fairly wet. Remove the dough and form it into a ball, then dump it into a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, non-drafty place for an hour or so (or overnight).

Knead the dough for about a minute on a clean, floured counter, then divide it in two. (This recipe makes two pizza crusts. Repeat this with the second one or make a different pizza with that one.) Let these two dough balls rest for about 10 minutes, while you prep your other ingredients. Then, gently press the dough out into a large round, turning it as you go and adding flour as needed.

Transfer the dough to a sheet of parchment paper on top of a pizza peel or rimless baking sheet. Brush the dough with olive oil, then sprinkle with garlic. Top with mozzarella and a little bit of coarse salt. With the pizza peel, slide the pizza onto your pizza stone and bake for 10 minutes or until the crust begins to brown and the cheese bubbles. Top with a generous handful of baby arugula before serving.

Strawberries and Ricotta on Toast

I took the day off yesterday while we drove back home in a hailstorm. Sitting out a downpour on the side of the highway = summer? If not that, then these (above) definitely do.

Strawberries are growing again in the Midwest, friends. And so I ate this little snack of them with ricotta on toast to inaugurate the season. Summer = best.