Vegan Buffalo Mozzarella!!! Vegan Brie!!!!

Got up at 6 this morning to finish the cheeses.  The brie set beautifully and is now aging after being rubbed down with salty hands.

The Buffalo Mozzarella is delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I would have added many more details to the recipe though.  The photo is below and the recipe is in there.  First of all, cheesecloth should be listed as a necessary ingredient since this was harder to do with tea towels.

Second, when lowering the mozzarella into the ice water, it is important to lower the scoop FACE UP and patiently give the mixture time to cool a bit before trying to release it from the scoop.

Next, I made two different sizes - one bocconcini sized and one ice cream scoop sized.  The little ones were easier.  But another must-have was the ice cream scoops with the little circular sweeper thing so that the mixture would release.

Julia never would have omitted these details.  I realize that "magazine style" just doesn't lend itself to as many details, although they would have been really helpful.

Having said that, this is my first time - the product is DELICIOUS!!!! - and the hardest part was the waiting and timing.  (And OMG a lot of dishes!).

Don't attempt these recipes without being near home base for an extended period of time because they are not fast.  But they are very good and I am glad I have ventured here.

I can now add "artisan cheese production" to my resume.

Nine Lines for Cheese, Nine Pages for Bread

Check this video out:  Excellent and cute.  http://makeitpossible.com/take_action/

Veg News posted their Big Cheese Issue this month.  The pages were packed with beautiful "cheese" recipes (all vegan) that I couldn't WAIT to try.  The Veg news recipes for both Brie and Buffalo Mozzarella seemed simple enough.  About nine or ten lines per paragraph, and only three of those per recipe.

It took me about nine days to ensure I had everything in the house I needed, even though there were only about nine ingredients.

Agar Agar is a plant based seaweed coagulant that subs in for the animal bone based gelatin in most cheeses.  Found it on my most recent trip to TO at the gorgeous St. Lawrence Market.

Located plain soy yogurt at the Whole Foods in Oakville on the way home.

Tapioca flour was the last non-pantry item I needed to find... at Bulk Barn around the corner.

I guess the "let sit for 8 - 24 hours" lines just snuck in there.... and this recipe is taking what feels like FOREVER.  But the pride I'm feeling from working through this is indeed a lot of fun.  Patient fun.

In sharp contrast, Julia Child's recipe for bread - yes, flour yeast salt water - BREAD!! - is NINE PAGES.

NINE PAGES of techniques!  And worth every single word.  That woman was masterful in her details.  It is a work of military precision reading and working through those pages!

So,  going 9 lines at a time with about a day and a half in between steps I should have the cheese done in a few months, tops ;)

Bread will be done in a few hours.

I bet, however, that homemade Vegan brie and homemade bread is going to be worth it.

Or at least a NINE out of ten.  Stay tuned.

Monday means Red Beans and Rice for dinner

One of my absolute favourite go-to recipes for a quick, delicious and cheap meal is the classic New Orleans dish, Red Beans and Rice.

Hearty, robust, nutrient dense - great in large batches or small.  Great as leftovers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_beans_and_rice

Flex your creativity and throw in what you like, but the must-haves are:

1.  Peppers (green is traditional) Onions, Celery.  Carmelize them in some oil to develop their flavour.

2.  Thyme, Garlic, Cayenne and "cajun spice" - blends are everywhere and I never run out.  Sprinkle in to taste.

3.  Red Beans - canned are convenient, slow cooked are dirty cheap.

I don't have a conflict about not including andouille or pork in mine any more.  Plenty of great vegetarian sausages out there (fennel seeds will give it a sausag-y flavour) make this a non-issue.

4.  Final veg trick is to add a few dashes of liquid smoke to the batch.  That smoky goodness subs out for the other food that usually adds smoke and fat to the dish.

Top with some chopped green onions, chopped celery leaves, a glob of earth balance and plenty of hot sauce and DIVE IN.

Traditional on Mondays, this might just eliminate years and years worth of asking "what's for dinner?" at the beginning of the week.

Make It Possible

http://makeitpossible.com/

No words are needed for this blog.

No animal products are, either.

(Basil) Salt of the Earth

I read somewhere that the industrial nature of farming means we eat a lot less dirt than we used to.  And that this is a bad thing.  Apparently trace amounts of dirt and soil which used to regularly come with our food  contains lots of minerals which were good for us.  Who knew?  Have you ever heard your older generation acceptingly reassure us that "we'll all eat a bushel of dirt before we die?".

Modern guys turned this into the five second rule.

Once, on a wine tour of all things, I learned that there is a form of regulation which permits a certain amount of insects to be included in wines and juices.  I guess that makes sense - my black widow spider incident convinced me that it is pretty hard to get the critters out of the plants where they live, and it is ESPECIALLY hard to do without damaging insecticides being sprayed on food.  People around the world sometimes consider insects a delicacy - from chocolate coated grasshoppers to ants.  People eat em' on Fear Factor and Survivor too.  They don't hurt you, but it's still kind of gross.

Having said that, I am willing to accept that despite my absolute, vigilant best efforts today, there might very well be a speck or two of dirt and maybe even a spider or two in my latest creations.  I certainly hope not, but I am not afraid of the idea, either.

It is October 27th and my beautiful summer herbs are sprouting their final leaves for the season.  My basil looks tired and cold, my opal basil is withering on the stems and surprisingly my thai basil is holding on the best, sprouting tiny basil flowers which look remarkably like orchids!

My solution to this past-their-prime foliage is to make basil salt.  A sprinkling or two on fresh local tomatoes brings the taste of a fresh caprese salad fast within reach - even without the fresh, tender green basil.

I took the final leaves off my plants, poured some kosher salt into the Magic Bullet and within seconds, I had three beautiful basil salts.  Opal, Thai and Genovese.

Some leaves of mint buzzed up with some sugar has left me with Mint Sugar as well.  Great for tea or fruit.

Time to locate my black widow costume from last year and head off to the two Halloween parties we have been invited to.  Hostess presents will be basil salts:)

Cayenne Kick

Delicious burn.  My lovingly sprouted cayenne pepper plants from the spring have yielded the most luxurious harvests of cayennes in my entire life.  I have been regularly producing batches of cayenne pepper sauce, which is now aging in jars, bottles and containers.

Cayenne pepper sauce has long been a fave of mine, since my University days.  Now, even though the thought of eating a chicken's wing revolts me, I am still very much a fan of "vegetarian wings" and a great homemade hot sauce.

My go-to recipe NEVER yields leftovers.  Here it is:

Karen's Kicked Up Hot Wings Sauce

2-4 tbsp Earth Balance (or you can use butter if that's what you like)

2 tbsp hot sauce

1 tsp smooth dijon mustard

1/4 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp lemon juice

a few grinds of fresh black pepper.

The dijon helps emulsify the sauce to become beautiful, clingy and thick.

One of my fantasies is to be able to order vegetarian "wings" at restaurants.  President's Choice makes a great version or "meatless chicken tenders" that sub in perfectly here.  The protein is a vegetable protein with a hearty, rich flavour.  It would be AMAZING if restaurants could just add these to their purchasing so that  people could get them with a cold beer.

The thing I always hated about "wings" - and most people do, vegan or not - is the reminders that what you were eating had both veins and feathers.  I hated that spindly plucky feather coating, even if it was crispy when deep fried.  The drumettes were usually easier to get a mouthful of chicken but the pieces with two bones often revealed a browning vein or two between the "meat".  Vegan wings remove all that discomfort and (almost) all the saturated fat.  No side order of environmental degradation or suffering either.

I believe that the reason veg wings aren't on menus is that they are probably more expensive than traditional wings.  The mark up on chicken's wings is extraordinary.  BUT, if a restaurant's objective is to make money, hopefully the rest of the tab might make up for the loss leader of a plant-based wing?

I have probably jarred about 4 litres of hot sauce using an extremely simple recipe.  Hot peppers (cayennes are my fave), vinegar, garlic and salt.  That, plus a little time.  The aging process is very good to hot sauce.  It mellows it out, reduces the sharpness and heat-forward taste.  It adds to the flavourful balance.

I have actually filled two small ketchup bottles with my homemade hot sauce.  One for my purse, one for my travel bag - for those meals where no hot sauce is available.  

When I think of those gorgeous pepper seeds, sprouting, popping out their first two leaves to now, I am so proud of my little plants' life cycles!