I mentioned in an earlier post that we got several new and exciting cookbooks for Christmas–this meal is one of the first we made using our favorite of the bunch, Bryant Terry’s Vegan Soul Kitchen. It’s full of really wonderful recipes (complete with soul soundtrack suggestions), which we tend to adapt to make them vegetarian, rather than strictly vegan. This is partially because we don’t tend to keep things like rice milk on hand, and partially because we’ve never really gotten over our love of butter.
This particular night, we made our own version of Terry’s cumin-cayenne mashed potatoes, greens with lemon-tahini dressing, and rosemary roasted tofu.
I’ll start with the tofu, since it was the simplest. We cut a package of tofu into large-ish bite size pieces–though, if I were doing this again, I’d recommend going with something a bit larger, since they got pretty crunchy–and gently tossed them in a mixture of olive oil, salt, paprika and rosemary. We then roasted the tofu in a 450 degree oven for about half an hour. When they came out, they were golden brown (thanks, Paprika!), with a nice texture and flavor. Simple, but really good.
We served the tofu over the potatoes, which have quickly become one of my favorite things to make. While I’m boiling the potatoes (I like yellow or red ones for this), I caramelize an entire yellow or Vidalia onion in olive oil mixed with a bit of salt, a couple of tablespoons of cumin and a little cayenne pepper. When the potatoes are done, I mash them together with the onion mixture, plus butter and milk (sorry, Bryant Terry and vegans!), and a bit of black pepper for good measure. The results are seriously amazing. Your potatoes shall be revolutionized.
The greens we made were a combination of kale and spinach, though the recipe called for Swiss chard. We started by sauteeing a sliced shallot in butter, then added the greens (minus the stalks) and cooked them for a few minutes. While this was happening, we made a dressing by mixing tahini with lemon juice, salt, water, minced garlic and balsamic vinegar. We finished the whole thing by tossing the warm greens in the dressing. And when we were done? Well, I really can’t say enough about the virtues of these greens. Look, I know what you’re thinking:
“That woman is crazy if she thinks I’m putting hummus ingredients on my greens.”
Look, I get it. I was skeptical too. In fact, my actual words were, “this is going to taste like we dunked our greens in hummus, and then threw vinegar on them.” But let me tell you: this is not a bad thing. I am not going to sit here and claim that the greens didn’t bear a striking taste resemblance to hummus. Here’s what I will say, though–what if they did? Would that be so bad? Free your mind, people. Let your greens be whoever they want to be. We’ve been letting them be pork-y for years, and lord knows collards don’t taste like fatback in the wild. Imagine a world in which kale can taste like hummus, tofu can be crunchy and satisfying, and mashed potatoes are earthy, spicy and sweet all at once.
Bryant Terry has seen that world. I have glimpsed it. And it is good.
To go with the greens, I made a mushroom and sun-dried tomato risotto, which I thought turned out really well (the photo at right isn’t of my risotto, but of one like it, since my camera was out of commission). To make the risotto, I started by sauteing a bit of onion and garlic in a combination of butter and olive oil. I then added a bunch of sliced crimini mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes, which I had previously soaked in hot water. To that I added the arborio rice, and, little by little, stirred in vegetable stock, wine, salt and pepper until the rice was just al dente. The risotto was a great match for the Collards–though I’m sure we’re over the limit on butter for the week. I’m calling it even, since we avoided the typical Collard Greens cooking medium: lots and lots of pork fat.
The rest of the garden (with the exception of the broccoli, which I’ll come to in a minute) continues to do well. The collard greens in particular seem to be thriving, and we plan to eat some spinach soon. We may also consider picking the collards a bit early, rather than risking their untimely end due to a killing frost…but I’m unsure of whether this would be a good idea. If anyone has experience with cooking/eating young collards, let me know. My hunch is that it would be fine–and perhaps even better than fully developed collards, which are usually so tough that they require quite a lot of cooking.
The broccoli, as I said, aren’t looking so hot. They’re trying, bless their hearts, but until whatever critter in the yard (who apparently likes broccoli as much as I do) stops munching on them, I fear they won’t amount to much. I realize that this is probably something that I, as gardener, should try to take care of…but short of covering the entire garden with chicken wire (which, let’s face it, is not going to happen), I’m not sure what can be done. For a time, I was using Dewey as a living scarecrow, but it’s unclear how well this worked–given her general disinterest in birds, who I believe to be the culprits–and I’m dubious on its future prospects, since Dewey appears to feel the same way I do about being outside when it’s cold and rainy. As always, suggestions are welcome. Especially if they involve minimal effort.
Something is eating my broccoli. I am not pleased! Neither, however, am I sure what it is. This particular shot makes it look like the work of insects, but other pieces–chewed down to nubs–look like they’ve been attacked by any of the millions of birds that are constantly flying around my backyard. I have yet to put anything on them, in part because I’d prefer not to do the pesticide thing, and in part because (as you may recall) this is a minimal-effort-and-money garden project, so I haven’t even looked into possible fixes. At the moment, things aren’t looking so good. At least for the broccoli.
The collards and spinach, on the other hand, are doing very well. In fact, it looks like the spinach (on the right) may be ready for a salad harvest in the next week or so. The collards are still quite small, so I’m not sure how long we have left with them. Hopefully they’ll make it through the cooler weather we’re expecting later this week (highs in the mid-upper 50s and lows in the mid-upper 30s!). I would love love love to make some nice Southern-style greens to bring in the fall!
In other garden-related news, the carrots seem to be moving right along, though it’s difficult to say for certain, since almost all of their growing happens below the surface. We do know that whatever is happening is a long way from being edible though. Today marks 4 weeks since planting, and the carrot growing season supposedly clocks in at around 120 days, so–provided they don’t all die before then–we have at least 3 months left. Much closer is the cilantro, which has done a shocking bit of maturation over the past week. My favorite part of any growing season is at this stage: when the sprouts, like puppies or infants, show signs of becoming what they are. 
In the case of other living things, it might be a new facial expression or a way of moving–something that moves the new life out of the realm of generic youth and gives a sign of its unique personality. I like to think that the Cilantro is right there now, moving from life as a generic sprout to life as a cilantro plant, with its miniature maple-shaped leaves and fantastic smell. I’m so proud of these little ones–they grow up so fast!
Well, the temperature dropped into the mid-low forties this weekend (that’s somewhere around 8 Celsius, for the Canadians in the audience), and I was worried we might lose these little guys. Fortunately, they’re trucking right along, and I’ve now remembered how well my Cilantro did in Nashville’s early spring days (until, that is, the freakish April Fool’s Day snowstorm of ’07). Anyway, as long as things stay above freezing, it seems like these will be ok, so I am hopeful for some fresh Cilantro to be in my life very soon.
