Avocado and Tempeh Multigrain Salad

I didn't have much expectation for this recipe. I even told Adrian "it's a very simple dinner" when he came home. Hence the pleasant surprise. Adrian thought he could eat this often (by the way I'm making it again tonight upon his consent). It's a plateful of crunch and creaminess thrown together with an intricate taste that vows to please your gastronomical sense.

I added grains to this salad to make it a complete one-bowl dish. I chose to use black quinoa and amaranth seeds. Although I have read about the nutritious benefits of amaranth but its culinary use was new to me. If you are mystically inclined and want to know why this "never-fading flower" was once banished by the Spanish, or what Aztecs did to harness supernatural power from this plant, click here.

Unlike the more commonly available white and sweet quinoa, black quinoa (although this looks more like a mix of black and red to me) is fruity in taste. I have always liked the way it looks when cooked: with a little white, spiral tail. The grain itself is soft and delicate and the tail is crunchy, which creates an interesting texture combination when eating the grain. You can go here to find out why quinoa is called "mother grain".

In case you haven't heard, I love tempeh. so, how can I not throw in some tempeh to this dish knowing that it is sitting and waiting for me in the refrigerator? I was cooking with organic black bean tempeh before. This time it's traditional tempeh made with whole soy beans. I was a little dismayed when Adrian said he didn't think the organic black bean tempeh was great. This non-organic soy beans tempeh, on the other hand, got his approval. I have to admit, this is better than the black bean tempeh. Oh well, guess I can spend less from now: this non-organic tempeh is 3 times cheaper than the organic tempeh.

I like diversity. It shows in my diet. Although there's only two of us at home, I almost always cook at least two dishes (plus a dessert), with more than a handful of vegetables. No wonder I have problem organizing the refrigerator! I digress.

Making a one-bowl dish is atypical of me. I felt uneasy having just one dish to serve. Therefore, I thought I'd throw in some black beans and wheat berry that I reserved from before. Still uncomfortable, I decided to make a cake. I only felt right and comforted once Adrian proclaimed he wanted to learn to cook this.

Multigrain:

• 1/2 cup organic black quinoa, washed and drained
  
• 1/2 cup organic amaranth seeds
• Cooked, frozen black beans
• Cooked, frozen wheat berry

1. Bring quinoa and amaranth seeds and 2 cups of water to boil. Turn the heat to lowest. Add a generous pinch of sea salt. Let it simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. If there's excess water, you may drain the water away.
2. Take enough of cooked grains that you need to serve. Stir in black beans and wheat berry to mix. Set aside.

Peanut Butter Dressing:

• 1/4 cup organic chunky peanut butter
• 1 glove garlic, smashed and chopped
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  
• sea salt to taste

1. Mix all the ingredients together. Add some hot water to thin out the dressing if necessary.
2. Stir 1/2 the dressing to toss with multigrains. Reserve the rest.

To Assemble Salad:

• !/2 cup Balsamic vinegar
• Tempeh, cubed
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and cubed
• cherry tomatoes, halved
  
• Feta cheese, crumbled
• White sesame seeds, toasted
  
• Sunflower seeds, toasted
• Parsley, stem removed

1. Bring balsamic vinegar to a gentle simmer. Remove from heat when reduced to half the volume. Set aside to cool.
2. Fry tempeh on both sides till golden brown.
3. Place tomatoes, avocado and tempeh on top of cooked multigrains. Drizzle with peanut butter dressing. Top with feta cheese, white sesame seeds and sunflower seeds. Add balsamic reduction and decorate with parsley leaves to serve.
   

Black Bean Burger and Homemade Hamburger Bun

This is super easy to put together once you have the ingredients ready. I was half way into making the patties when George popped up at our door. The good thing about cooking vegetarians is you can increase the serving size, easily, just by throwing in more vegetables.

Hamburger Bun:

We bought a packet of organic black beans the other day but didn't cook it because Adrian said it would take 5 hours to cook, which I will tell you in moment is not true. Anyway I found a black bean burger recipe that sounds good, and decided that's what I would do with the black beans. Then we were watching How to Cook Your Life. In the movie, Zen priest and chef Edward Espe Brown teaches people to be attentive in everyday dealings with the most mundane things and also open our eyes to one of the most beautiful occupations: cooking. Especially baking. The way Edward kneads and rolls the dough seems effortless, and inspiring. I asked Adrian "you think it's hard to make hamburger bun?" I quickly dropped the movie and went to consult Google. Didn't seem too difficult. It was then that I decided to make hamburger buns for the black bean burger, instead of the day-old french bread in the refrigerator. So pardon me I didn't watch the whole movie but I had work to do.

I went through a roller coaster of emotion with this. First I thought it went really well as I was kneading the dough - it felt very right. Then I was dismayed by the size - too small to make a decent hamburger. I also thought the bread was a bit to the hard side, but Adrian thought it was good. I was still skeptical and unsatisfied.

As it turned out, although the buns were too small to fit the black bean burger patty, both Adrian and George approved. George called them the Kaiwaii Mickey Mouse Ears Hamburger Bun (too long to make a copyright of it). He actually singled them out to be "especially the buns. I really like them). Guess who's taking home the extra bun.

(make 4 small buns)

• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1/3 teaspoon sugar
• 1/3 tablespoon dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm whole milk
• 1 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 Tablespoon butter, melted
• pinch teaspoons salt
• 1 cups all-purpose flour + a tablespoon or two of organic rye flour
  
• 1 egg white
• 1 teaspoon water
• white sesame seeds
  

1. Dissolve sugar in water. Stir in yeast to proof. Let it sit for 10 minutes until foamy.
   
2. Whisk together flour, salt, sugar, milk and melter butter. Add proofed yeast. Process with a electric mixer attached with kneader hooks. Blend until the dough is semi-sticky and holds around the hook. Add flour, a little bit at a time, if necessary.
3. Roll it out onto a floured surface. Knead for 7 - 8 minutes. Cover with damped towel for 10 minutes.
4. Grease a large boil with butter. Gently knead the dough for 30 seconds with hands. Place in the greased bowl and cover with damped towel for 60 - 80 minutes. Let rise in a warm place. The dough will double in size.
5. Punch down the dough. Divide it into 4 balls and place on a greased baking sheet. Cover with towel and let sit in a warm place for 30 - 40 minutes.
6. Preheat oven at 150C. Whisk together water and egg white. Carefully brush the top and sides of dough with egg mixture. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes, until golden brown.
   

Black Bean Burger:

I had made some pretty good burger before but this one is more intricate because of the mixing with different vegetables; it looked vibrant and pretty on the plate. However the patty didn't hold up very well. Not enough bread crumbs?

I soaked the beans for a day before I cooked them. It took less than 2 hours to have them all cooked. With the fresh corns, I just boil them in hot water until they turned into bright yellow.

(make 3 patties)

• 11/2 cup cooked black beans
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 gloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 big red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup cooked corn kernels
• 1 orange chili pepper,chopped
  
• 1 - 2 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 - 2 teaspoon American-style chili powder
• 3 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• Organic Rye flour
• Pure Coconut oil to fry
  

1. In a large bowl, mash the black beans. Throw in cooked corn kernels. Set aside.
2. Saute onions and garlic with a generous pinch of salt. Add red bell pepper and orange chili pepper. Stir in spices except parsley.
3. Stir the vegetable mixture into the black beans and corn mix. Add parsley and bread crumbs. Divide and shape the mixture into 3 patties. Store in the freezer for 10 minutes.
4. Remove patties from freezer. Coat them with flour.
5. Heat up a pan of coconut oil to boiling but not smokey. Turn the heat to medium. Fry the patties, about 3 minutes on each side.
   

To serve:

• Mango and Avocado Salsa
• Spinach leaves, chiffonade

Place spinach leaves on individual serving plates. Top with mango and avocado salsa and black bean burger. Serve buns on the side with a slate of butter.

Camembert and Cranberry Stuffed Eggplant with Pesto

I am going to Singapore from tomorrow for 8 days. Past couple of days have been a struggle between clearing what's left in the fridge and buying what I'd like to cook with. Eventually I did a pretty good job having just a bunch of parsley and basil left. With such combination, one naturally thinks of Pesto. I would just like to emphasize the beauty of chopping instead of processing: you get these bits and bites of nuts and the ingredients that you don't get with the homogeneous paste from processor. It's a lot of patient and work especially so in a hot kitchen - you may want to make it a point to whoever you make it for. I have no doubt Adrian is well aware of the effort I put in to this pesto.

Here is something I made long before that I have always wanted to redo. It's a very intricate combination of flavors from the tartness of dried cranberry, creamy Camembert, savory pesto served with the ambiguous mushroom. Unfortunately despite all these varieties of mushroom they are showcasing during the Nine Emperor Festival, I couldn't find the wide, flat mushroom that I needed for this recipe. So what was I going to do? I bought eggplant. I knew I have made it my mission to challenge Adrian's taste bud but this time it was unintentional.

Instead of using dried cranberry, I used Homemade Cranberry Sauce made from dried cranberry. If you don't have the time for a proper pesto, go to the original recipe and follow its use of rocket leaves.

We liked the play of different elements in this recipe. Although I think mushroom is still the better choice than eggplant. I may do it again with mushroom when I come back if Adrian decides not to do anything with the extra pesto for the next 8 days.

Updated: I came home from Singapore and guess what? The extra pesto was left intact in the far corner of the refrigerator. No surprise there. Hence I decided to repeat this recipe with Portabella mushroom. You can use any flat mushroom. Remember to pick the big ones because mushroom shrinks in size when cooked. The method is basically the same:

• Fry mushroom (stalk removed) in a ovenproof pan until golden brown all over.
• Arrange mushroom with the bottom side up in the pan. Pile cheese and cranberry on the mushroom. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and basil leaves.
• Bake until cheese has melted.
• Serve with pesto.

I made this into a main dish by serving it along with a Cheesy Cheddar Corn Polenta. The real essence develops when the foods are slightly cooled and it is much better with mushroom than with eggplant. Two hours after the dinner, while I was preparing Sticky Date Pudding and Adrian slouching on the coach slaying yet another alien on X-Box, he said "dinner was really good". And guess who I made it for?

Ingredients:
(makes 2 servings)
For the Pesto:

• A few bunches of parley and basil
• 3/4 C Parmesan, grated
• 3 gloves garlic
• A handful of raw pine nuts (or walnuts/ pecans)
• Extra virgin Olive oil
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Sea salt

1. Start chopping the some of leaves. Add some Parmesan, garlic and nuts as you chop. Add more of the leaves, Parmesan, nuts and garlic as you continue to chop and chop and chop.... until they become more or less homogenized.
2. You'll need approximately 1 Cup of pesto for this recipe. If there's extra, press them into a cake in a jar, cover with extra virgin olive oil and keep refrigerated for future use.
   
3. To the 1 cup pesto, mix in 2 tablespoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoon olive oil and pinch of salt. Taste and adjust with more oil, lemon juice, and salt as needed.

For the Eggplant:

• 1 eggplant, sliced lengthwise
• Olive oil
• sea salt
• 1 Cup Homemade cranberry sauce (or dried cranberry)
• 125g Camembert, cubed
  

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Rub eggplant halves with oil and salt. Let roast for about 30 minutes, until the cut sides are browned.
2. Remove cooked eggplant from the oven. Top it with cranberry sauce and cubed Camembert. Return to the oven and let bake for another 20 minutes, until Camembert melts.

To serve:
Place eggplant halves onto individual serving plates. Drizzle pesto over and serve warm.

Red Lentil Soup with Lemon and Caramelized Onions

I chose this lentil soup recipe for three reasons:

1. There's a box of frozen cooked red lentils that I was yet to use.
2. I'm leaving to Singapore in two days and there a big bunch of fresh parsley yelling at me.
   
3. Adrian likes caramelized onions.

So I adapted the recipe for the cooked red lentils. You can click here if you are using uncooked red lentils. Both of us like sourly taste hence the lemony touch suits us just fine. As predicted, Adrian was very impressed with the caramelized onions. I believe his words were "I can eat a whole bowl of just this". Why didn't he say it before? I could have just fried up the onions and be done with.

Ingredients:
Serves 2

• 1 cup cooked red lentils
• 2 cup water
  
• 1 tablespoon miso paste
  
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• sea salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 C parsley, chopped

• 1 small onion, sliced thin
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1 teaspoon natural cane sugar
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• sea salt and pepper
  

1. To caramelize the onions, melt the butter over moderate heat. Throw in the onion and cook until beginning to brown. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar evenly over onions and continue to cook until caramelized. Stir in lemon juice, salt and pepper.
2. In a saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of butter. Stir in turmeric, cayenne, salt and pepper, and cook for 1 minute. Add cooked lentils, stirring to coat.
   
3. Combine with miso soup and bring to a boil. Turn off heat, and stir in chopped parsley and lemon juice. Ladle into bowls and serve with caramelized onions.

Cream Cheese dip with Tomato and Basil

Apart from challenging Adrian's aversion of certain foods (beet root, eggplant, scones), I enjoy finding ways to getting rid of ingredients (such as zucchini) before they turn bad. That's also one of the factors running a kitchen in a household of two. As a result, I often find myself searching for recipes based on what I no longer want to see in the refrigerator. One of my favorites is turning ingredients into preserves or jam (strawberry, raspberry). Sometimes freezing foods prepared ahead helps too.

This time, I foresee no dinner at home for the next 5 days. What have I got? Let's see: wilting basil, browning parsley and ripe tomatoes. I was going to make tomato jam (which takes 1 1/2 hour of constant stirring) and, again, basil-parsley pesto. Then I came across a dip that would use all of the above, plus cream cheese. A tempting combination that save time.

You may substitute cream cheese with cottage cheese. What to do with it? I intend to serve it over toasted sourdough muffin with mashed hard-boiled egg for breakfast sandwich (did I tell you Adrian's lack of faith for egg sandwich?) or as dip/ spread on bruchetta for appetizer.

On toasted sourdough muffin with sun dried tomatoes and sunny-side-up.

As omelet filling.

Scrambled egg

Ingredients:

(Makes about 1 1/4 cups)

• 125gram cream cheese, softened at room temperature
• 2 ripe Roma tomatoes, finely chopped
• 2 TB real mayonnaise
• salt and pepper to taste
• lots of basil and parsley, chopped
• 2 TB fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 2 TB Parmesan cheese, grated

1. Stir and blend all the ingredients with a fork.
2. Taste, season and adjust with salt, pepper and lemon juice.
3. Chill lightly and serve as a dip, spread or with bruschetta.
   

Savory Tomato and Pesto Pie

This recipe caught my attention with this line "....this may look like a pie, ...., but it is really not a pie. So those of you who are afraid of pies can keep on reading." Maybe you haven't noticed but I have been dodging recipes that call for pie crust. What I like about this recipe is it has the consistency of biscuit dough but is not made from biscuits.

This dough is easy to work with and the pie is quick and easy to make. In fact, it gives me (a delusional) confidence to making pizza crust. What I'm saying is, this is by no means difficult culinary endeavor - you can make this pie. Yes, you. And it will most likely make whomever you feed it to immediately smile with delight and love you even more than they already do. As it did for me :)

Ingredients:

For the pesto

Go here for a traditional Italian basil pesto. You may also use arugula or spinach instead of basil. In my case, I put together what greens I managed to dig out from the fridge: basil, parsley and broccoli. It's true you can pesto many of the greens.

Makes about 1-1/2 cups (you'll need 1 cup)

1/2 cup roasted whole almonds
5 large cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
4 cups of mixed chopped basil, parsley and broccoli
1/2 cup finely grated pecorino romano cheese
3 small tomatoes, quartered
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. Process the almonds and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the mixed greens, pecorino romano, tomatoes, and salt and process until thoroughly combined.
2. With the food processor running, drizzle in the olive oil through the chute. Add more salt to taste if necessary and more olive oil if desired. This pesto will keep several days in the fridge, or you can freeze it.
   

Heat the oven to 190C.

For The Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
1 cup finely grated pecorino romano
3/4 cup milk

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix in the butter using your fingers until the largest pieces are pea-size. Stir in the pecorino romano. Pour in the milk and use a fork to gently form a soft dough. Do not overmix. Divide the dough in two pieces, making one slightly larger than the other.
2. On a generously floured surface, use a rolling pin to gently roll out the larger piece of dough into a circle about 12 inches across, rolling from the center outward. Sprinkle dough with flour if sticky. Gently fold the dough in half and transfer into a 9-inch pie pan. If the dough tears, simply press it back together with your fingers. Roll out the remaining piece of dough into a slightly smaller circle and set aside.
   

Assembling The Pie:

1 cup pesto, divided
2 large plum tomatoes, sliced lengthwise into 4 or 5 slices each
8 ounces mozzarella, grated
1/2 cup finely grated pecorino romano

1. Using a spoon, spread 1/2 cup of pesto over the bottom layer of dough in the pie pan. Layer about half of the tomatoes over the pesto. Cover the tomatoes with about 2/3 of the mozzarella. Layer on the rest of the tomatoes. Carefully spread the remaining 1/2 cup of pesto over the tomatoes. Cover with the remaining mozzarella and the pecorino romano.
2. Roll out the second piece of dough, and carefully place it over the pie. Fold the edge of the bottom piece over the top piece and press together to seal. Use your fingers to make a crimped design around the edge. If any dough falls apart, simply press it back together with your fingers.
3. Cut four slits in the top of the pie for steam to escape. Bake at 190C in the center of the oven until the crust is golden brown, about 40 minutes.
4. Let cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before serving. Crust edges may be sampled much sooner. (As with nearly any fruit pie, if you cut into it while it is still warm, some juice will seep out. If you plan to store any leftover pie right in the pan, simply drain off the juice so the bottom crust doesn't become soggy.) Or cool pie completely, cover, and refrigerate.
   

Breakfast Salad that could be put on dinner table, too

The original recipe calls for cubed cucumber, diced red bell pepper, and halved cherry tomatoes tossed together in olive oil vinaigrette dressing. I decided to use whatever there was in the refrigerator instead: diced green bell pepper, cubed beef tomatoes, parsley, chopped green beans, and frozen corn kernels.
Instead of serving over shredded lettuces, I served it over arugula leaves, sun dried tomatoes and topped with pine nuts. I over cooked the egg - instead of soft boiled (that would give a beautifully oozing yellow yolk), I got hard boiled eggs. Sprinkle with some crumbled goat cheese and you are ready to serve.
It's a delicious way to bring more vegetables to breakfast table. I bet it could just as well be served on dinner table, too.