Green Salad
TurkeySeitan Chickpea patties
Pineapple cranberry sauce
Mushroom Gravy
Brown Rice
Reheated Bread
Amazing Butternut Squash with Almonds
Chard
Okay Pumpkin Vegan Brownies
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
15 Sept 09: Pork, pork, pork
Kinda a repeat. Not bad. Poor Emily peeled a lot of garlic, though.
Pork Loin with Orange Juice and Garlic
(covered, as hot as the oven goes, for the whole shift. Surprisingly well cooked)
Seitan with Same
(didn't take as well to the treatment. Had to rescue by chopping and stir frying at 6:50. Yea awesome assistants doing all the clean-up and set-up while I salvaged this!)
Roasted Cauliflower Soup
Bland. We didn't have veggie broth, and I forgot the paprika.
Sauteed Cauliflower Greens
A triumph of non-wastefulness. Sasha honestly almost labeled these incorrectly as "chard" even though she'd had a hand in cooking them. Served with pine nuts; should have had raisins, but we were out.
Chickpeas Romesco from the mighty Veganomicon
Times Ten. All Sasha's doing. Perfect.
Spanish Rice from the mighty Veganomicon
3 qts long grain Brown Rice, 4.5 quarts water, onions, lots of garlic, a little turmeric
Spinach Salad with Garden Cucumbers, Craisins, Blue Cheese, and Pear Dressing
A perfect use for the overripe pears: six of them went in the food processor with some apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and a tiny bit of olive oil. You never would have guessed that they were probably a day short of inedibly rotten; this was actually my favorite part of the meal.
Millenium Cafe's Chocolate Almond Midnight
with all nuts swapped out for peanuts. And Strawberries instead of Raspberries. My second favorite thing.
Pork Loin with Orange Juice and Garlic
(covered, as hot as the oven goes, for the whole shift. Surprisingly well cooked)
Seitan with Same
(didn't take as well to the treatment. Had to rescue by chopping and stir frying at 6:50. Yea awesome assistants doing all the clean-up and set-up while I salvaged this!)
Roasted Cauliflower Soup
Bland. We didn't have veggie broth, and I forgot the paprika.
Sauteed Cauliflower Greens
A triumph of non-wastefulness. Sasha honestly almost labeled these incorrectly as "chard" even though she'd had a hand in cooking them. Served with pine nuts; should have had raisins, but we were out.
Chickpeas Romesco from the mighty Veganomicon
Times Ten. All Sasha's doing. Perfect.
Spanish Rice from the mighty Veganomicon
3 qts long grain Brown Rice, 4.5 quarts water, onions, lots of garlic, a little turmeric
Spinach Salad with Garden Cucumbers, Craisins, Blue Cheese, and Pear Dressing
A perfect use for the overripe pears: six of them went in the food processor with some apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and a tiny bit of olive oil. You never would have guessed that they were probably a day short of inedibly rotten; this was actually my favorite part of the meal.
Millenium Cafe's Chocolate Almond Midnight
with all nuts swapped out for peanuts. And Strawberries instead of Raspberries. My second favorite thing.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
8 Sept 09: Menu for a transitional season
And by transitional, I mean changing of the guard and not the trees. We've all been iron cheffing this semester while the new kitchen manager has been away. A little stressful, but also fun. I'm pretty proud of what I managed to throw together tonight.
Baked Tilapia
Still don't have the quantity down. Last week, one box of fish was not enough. This week, I made two and less than half was eaten in the first round. I'm going to take this as a positive comment on the rest of the meal. Just salt, pepper, cumin, parsley, and lemon slices, because we had sauces. Thirty minutes in a really hot oven was not quite enough time.
Chickpea Carrot Burgers
Vegetarian Planet baked falafel burgers, executed by Sasha. Multiplied by 8, which was _way_ too much. But super yummy. Left to one person, this is quite a hussle. They need to bake at least forty minutes.
Green Salad
Overall, pretty weak (greens from Friday's produce delivery, carrots leftover from the burgers). But the poppy seed dressing from Chef Jamie's Healthy Kitchen was very good. Roughly equal parts plain soy yogurt and red wine vinegar, plus poppy seeds, s&p, a little sugar, and a big dollup of mustard. Vegan, low fat, and creamy! Yay! Plus feta and nuts.
Tomato Salad
How can tomato salad be bad? This one was great. Nice Romas, chopped pretty small, mixed with green onions and a balsamic dressing by Sasha.
Butternut Squash Soup
Standard. Not the best, because I didn't have the patience last night to wait up for the squash to cook as long as I would have liked. Apparently, this is not where I should be cutting corners.
Dressed Up Rice
Leftover rice with carmelized onioions, French lentils, and baked summer squash. Monday's cooks keep making too much rice, but they are *so* much better at it than I am, so I just reheat theirs in the oven, fixing it up a bit if I have time. Yay leftover rice!
Cucumbers and Mint in House-made yogurt
Lemon Tahini Garlic Sauce
Banana Pudding Brownies
from the Veganomicon. Times 4. Just right.
Baked Tilapia
Still don't have the quantity down. Last week, one box of fish was not enough. This week, I made two and less than half was eaten in the first round. I'm going to take this as a positive comment on the rest of the meal. Just salt, pepper, cumin, parsley, and lemon slices, because we had sauces. Thirty minutes in a really hot oven was not quite enough time.
Chickpea Carrot Burgers
Vegetarian Planet baked falafel burgers, executed by Sasha. Multiplied by 8, which was _way_ too much. But super yummy. Left to one person, this is quite a hussle. They need to bake at least forty minutes.
Green Salad
Overall, pretty weak (greens from Friday's produce delivery, carrots leftover from the burgers). But the poppy seed dressing from Chef Jamie's Healthy Kitchen was very good. Roughly equal parts plain soy yogurt and red wine vinegar, plus poppy seeds, s&p, a little sugar, and a big dollup of mustard. Vegan, low fat, and creamy! Yay! Plus feta and nuts.
Tomato Salad
How can tomato salad be bad? This one was great. Nice Romas, chopped pretty small, mixed with green onions and a balsamic dressing by Sasha.
Butternut Squash Soup
Standard. Not the best, because I didn't have the patience last night to wait up for the squash to cook as long as I would have liked. Apparently, this is not where I should be cutting corners.
Dressed Up Rice
Leftover rice with carmelized onioions, French lentils, and baked summer squash. Monday's cooks keep making too much rice, but they are *so* much better at it than I am, so I just reheat theirs in the oven, fixing it up a bit if I have time. Yay leftover rice!
Cucumbers and Mint in House-made yogurt
Lemon Tahini Garlic Sauce
Banana Pudding Brownies
from the Veganomicon. Times 4. Just right.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Heeeere, fishy fishy fishy!
brown rice
Long grain. Perfect. I should ask Margit for the proportions before she leaves!
steamed broccoli
underdone, but not severely
minestrone
Me worrying about vegan protein. I gave Kevin two quarts of beans, a can of tomatoes, and two hours. He made some really good soup, with lots of veggies and roasted garlic. Turns out, we didn't really need it, and it didn't get eaten at dinner because there was so much other stuff.
sauteed spinach
Completely extraneous. I thought that the tofu needed it and was wrong.
salt and pepper five spice tofu
Tofu in the wok with even parts salt, pepper, ginger, and sugar, and slightly less five spice powder. This was very easy and reasonably good, but not as good as last week's baked tofu.
mahi mahi en papillote
Gorgeous huge sides of fish, not quite thawed when I took them out. We baked them on a cookie sheet at 500 degrees for an hour, with many thin rounds of lemon and a little bit of olive oil. Aluminum foil over the whole sheet, not fish-by-fish. Just barely done on time. This was naturally wonderful food that I managed to not screw up in any way. The bits that didn't fit on the primary sheet got thrown in another oven with the excess bacon for the tart. These were especially good, in part because we didn't put them out, so you had to discover them.
saffron and red pepper aioli
I didn't even try this. I gave the recipe to Margit, and I'm pretty sure it came out perfectly, but it wasn't what I expected and the fish looked so good on its own...
apple potato and fennel tart with blood sausage and bacon (deux porcs a deux pommes!)
Store bought puff pastry, covered in yogurt mixed with a ton of minced red onion and a little sour cream. Then oven crisped bacon. Then thinly sliced fennel. Then boiled and chopped potatoes, and pan fried apples. Baked at about 400 degrees for an hour and topped with blood sausage. This would have been better if 1) I had been more consistent about seasoning each layer, instead of counting on it coming out in the end, 2) There had been more apples, 3) I had fried the apples for the meat tart in bacon fat, instead of frying all the apples together and using olive oil to keep them veggie, and 4) There had been a final drizzling of the yogurt mixture on top. Also I should have rotated the pans halfway through the cooking time. NB. 4 boxes of puff pastry are exactly enough for 2 of our big sheets.
strawberry pie with homemade orange flower marshmallows
All Margit, ahead of time. From Paris Sweets. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, and tastier than it looked. (I've made this before myself; my marshmallows were nicer, but her crust would destroy mine, and her pastry cream was better by a hair. And the marshmallows are just dressing, so she wins on this one, by a lot.)
Long grain. Perfect. I should ask Margit for the proportions before she leaves!
steamed broccoli
underdone, but not severely
minestrone
Me worrying about vegan protein. I gave Kevin two quarts of beans, a can of tomatoes, and two hours. He made some really good soup, with lots of veggies and roasted garlic. Turns out, we didn't really need it, and it didn't get eaten at dinner because there was so much other stuff.
sauteed spinach
Completely extraneous. I thought that the tofu needed it and was wrong.
salt and pepper five spice tofu
Tofu in the wok with even parts salt, pepper, ginger, and sugar, and slightly less five spice powder. This was very easy and reasonably good, but not as good as last week's baked tofu.
mahi mahi en papillote
Gorgeous huge sides of fish, not quite thawed when I took them out. We baked them on a cookie sheet at 500 degrees for an hour, with many thin rounds of lemon and a little bit of olive oil. Aluminum foil over the whole sheet, not fish-by-fish. Just barely done on time. This was naturally wonderful food that I managed to not screw up in any way. The bits that didn't fit on the primary sheet got thrown in another oven with the excess bacon for the tart. These were especially good, in part because we didn't put them out, so you had to discover them.
saffron and red pepper aioli
I didn't even try this. I gave the recipe to Margit, and I'm pretty sure it came out perfectly, but it wasn't what I expected and the fish looked so good on its own...
apple potato and fennel tart with blood sausage and bacon (deux porcs a deux pommes!)
Store bought puff pastry, covered in yogurt mixed with a ton of minced red onion and a little sour cream. Then oven crisped bacon. Then thinly sliced fennel. Then boiled and chopped potatoes, and pan fried apples. Baked at about 400 degrees for an hour and topped with blood sausage. This would have been better if 1) I had been more consistent about seasoning each layer, instead of counting on it coming out in the end, 2) There had been more apples, 3) I had fried the apples for the meat tart in bacon fat, instead of frying all the apples together and using olive oil to keep them veggie, and 4) There had been a final drizzling of the yogurt mixture on top. Also I should have rotated the pans halfway through the cooking time. NB. 4 boxes of puff pastry are exactly enough for 2 of our big sheets.
strawberry pie with homemade orange flower marshmallows
All Margit, ahead of time. From Paris Sweets. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, and tastier than it looked. (I've made this before myself; my marshmallows were nicer, but her crust would destroy mine, and her pastry cream was better by a hair. And the marshmallows are just dressing, so she wins on this one, by a lot.)
Friday, April 24, 2009
A bit of catch-up
French Menu #2
Pounti Auvergnant (Clotilde's Edible Adventures, page 97)
Tons of leftovers. I liked this, but the house did not. Do not make again!
Vegan Cassoulet with biscuits (Veganomicon page 172)
Not nearly as good as when I made a small test batch on my own. I'd do this again, but I'd make sure the beans were really well cooked, and that there were plenty of vegetables to go around, especially the leeks. The flavors are mild enough that this can't carry extra beans the way that some soups can. Also, the biscuits took much longer to cook than expected and were good-not-great. Probably not worth doing next time. Maybe on the side?
Beautiful Salad
Beautiful
Amazing Yogurt Almond Cake with Mangoes and Strawberries
Next time, do Clotilde's yogurt cake, or the almond cake from Vegetarian Planet. The Dorrie Greenspan French yogurt cake is a lot more work for very little extra yumminess. The mango puree from Clotilde's Edible Adventures, however, was extraordinary. I believe that Rebecca cut down (cut out?) the sugar, and pureed all the mango instead of half.
Asparagus with yogurt sauce
Asparagus: always good. Yogurt Sauce: usually good. Today, not so much.
Post-Special Dinner "light" menu
(after Judie's in Amherst, in response to Margit's Flying Biscuit meal)
Popovers from the Bread Bible
excellent day of, too buttery as leftovers.
Apple Butter
More of a chunky, heavily spiced apple sauce. But very, very good. Worked with everything, not just popovers.
asparagus
Chez Panisse Vegetables "asparagus with crispy ginger." The asparagus ended up a little under cooked, and there wasn't quite enough ginger for the whole preparation to be worthwhile. We would have been better off roasting or grilling it.
Sweet Potato Fries
Kevin Chan. Perfect. Matchstick thin, and cooked on a preheated pan with almost no oil. Too much food, but perfect.
Cold Curried Chicken
Wok fried chicken slices, cooled and mixed with yogurt + curry powder + dried ginger + honey. Better than Judie's
Ginger Tofu
From Vegetarian Cooking for everyone. Like coming home to an old friend, but better, because I love the bulk tofu so much.
Lettuce and Cucumbers
To put the protein on. I heart cucumbers.
Banana-Coconut-Cranberry Chutney and Roasted Peanuts
Cranberries cooked in a very small amount of fresh orange juice until they burst. Enough raisins to soak up the juice. Some toasted coconut, and as many fresh banana slices as I had the patience to provide. And Roasted Peanuts.
Quinoa and chickpeas with lemon and tahini
From 101cookbooks. Good, healthy, not amazing. Not much got eaten night of, but the leftovers seem to have just barely disappeared over the week.
Soupe de Chou-Fleur, Curcuma et Noisette
Actually, almonds, because noisettes coutent trop chers. And this was for the best. The soup turned out to be a waste of my time and the house's almonds. I thought that it was excellent, but I can only eat so much, and apparently no one in the house shares my love of cauliflowers and turmeric. Maybe a third of it made it all the way through the week. This was not helped by the fact that it was labeled simply "tree nuts" in the fridge, though. Once I relabeled it "Vegan Cauliflower Soup with North African Spices and Almonds," it did start going.
Pounti Auvergnant (Clotilde's Edible Adventures, page 97)
Tons of leftovers. I liked this, but the house did not. Do not make again!
Vegan Cassoulet with biscuits (Veganomicon page 172)
Not nearly as good as when I made a small test batch on my own. I'd do this again, but I'd make sure the beans were really well cooked, and that there were plenty of vegetables to go around, especially the leeks. The flavors are mild enough that this can't carry extra beans the way that some soups can. Also, the biscuits took much longer to cook than expected and were good-not-great. Probably not worth doing next time. Maybe on the side?
Beautiful Salad
Beautiful
Amazing Yogurt Almond Cake with Mangoes and Strawberries
Next time, do Clotilde's yogurt cake, or the almond cake from Vegetarian Planet. The Dorrie Greenspan French yogurt cake is a lot more work for very little extra yumminess. The mango puree from Clotilde's Edible Adventures, however, was extraordinary. I believe that Rebecca cut down (cut out?) the sugar, and pureed all the mango instead of half.
Asparagus with yogurt sauce
Asparagus: always good. Yogurt Sauce: usually good. Today, not so much.
Post-Special Dinner "light" menu
(after Judie's in Amherst, in response to Margit's Flying Biscuit meal)
Popovers from the Bread Bible
excellent day of, too buttery as leftovers.
Apple Butter
More of a chunky, heavily spiced apple sauce. But very, very good. Worked with everything, not just popovers.
asparagus
Chez Panisse Vegetables "asparagus with crispy ginger." The asparagus ended up a little under cooked, and there wasn't quite enough ginger for the whole preparation to be worthwhile. We would have been better off roasting or grilling it.
Sweet Potato Fries
Kevin Chan. Perfect. Matchstick thin, and cooked on a preheated pan with almost no oil. Too much food, but perfect.
Cold Curried Chicken
Wok fried chicken slices, cooled and mixed with yogurt + curry powder + dried ginger + honey. Better than Judie's
Ginger Tofu
From Vegetarian Cooking for everyone. Like coming home to an old friend, but better, because I love the bulk tofu so much.
Lettuce and Cucumbers
To put the protein on. I heart cucumbers.
Banana-Coconut-Cranberry Chutney and Roasted Peanuts
Cranberries cooked in a very small amount of fresh orange juice until they burst. Enough raisins to soak up the juice. Some toasted coconut, and as many fresh banana slices as I had the patience to provide. And Roasted Peanuts.
Quinoa and chickpeas with lemon and tahini
From 101cookbooks. Good, healthy, not amazing. Not much got eaten night of, but the leftovers seem to have just barely disappeared over the week.
Soupe de Chou-Fleur, Curcuma et Noisette
Actually, almonds, because noisettes coutent trop chers. And this was for the best. The soup turned out to be a waste of my time and the house's almonds. I thought that it was excellent, but I can only eat so much, and apparently no one in the house shares my love of cauliflowers and turmeric. Maybe a third of it made it all the way through the week. This was not helped by the fact that it was labeled simply "tree nuts" in the fridge, though. Once I relabeled it "Vegan Cauliflower Soup with North African Spices and Almonds," it did start going.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
St. Pat's
Spinach, Garden Lettuce, and Apples with Lemon-Honey Dressing
This dressing was amazing. Unfortunately, I don't remember how I made it, except that it had lemon juice and honey in it.
Colcannon (vegan and not)
Burnt. My fault.
Soda Bread (non vegan, with raisins)
I think that my favorite soda bread would be a hybrid. Yes on both whole wheat and butter. Yes also to raisins. Light on the sugar. This was the white flour, high sugar, butter, and raisins version from the Bread Bible. If I had to go to one extreme, I'd pick this one. But a little more bran and a little less sweet would be perfect.
Vegan Irish Baby with Turnip and Beets in an Asian Glaze
The baby was chewy and delicious. The Asian glaze was also delicious, but a little out of place.
Beef and Guinness Stew
Tragic waste of cow. This is one of my favorite recipes, but in the rush of the cooking shift, the stew got cooked at too high a temperature, and the meat was horrible and chewy. Next time, don't plan a beef stew unless it can start early! (Note: Margit did exactly this a couple of weeks later, and the result was an amazing falling apart almost rendang-like beef and beer and carrot dish. With roasted cauliflower.)
Lentils with Mustard Dressing
Standard. Good. I'd be happy if we always had this in the fridge.
Guinness Cake (vegan and not)
Margit, ahead of time. The recipe did not scale well to the large pans, and the vegan version didn't hold together too well. But it all tasted great. Especially the crumbly vegan disaster.
This dressing was amazing. Unfortunately, I don't remember how I made it, except that it had lemon juice and honey in it.
Colcannon (vegan and not)
Burnt. My fault.
Soda Bread (non vegan, with raisins)
I think that my favorite soda bread would be a hybrid. Yes on both whole wheat and butter. Yes also to raisins. Light on the sugar. This was the white flour, high sugar, butter, and raisins version from the Bread Bible. If I had to go to one extreme, I'd pick this one. But a little more bran and a little less sweet would be perfect.
Vegan Irish Baby with Turnip and Beets in an Asian Glaze
The baby was chewy and delicious. The Asian glaze was also delicious, but a little out of place.
Beef and Guinness Stew
Tragic waste of cow. This is one of my favorite recipes, but in the rush of the cooking shift, the stew got cooked at too high a temperature, and the meat was horrible and chewy. Next time, don't plan a beef stew unless it can start early! (Note: Margit did exactly this a couple of weeks later, and the result was an amazing falling apart almost rendang-like beef and beer and carrot dish. With roasted cauliflower.)
Lentils with Mustard Dressing
Standard. Good. I'd be happy if we always had this in the fridge.
Guinness Cake (vegan and not)
Margit, ahead of time. The recipe did not scale well to the large pans, and the vegan version didn't hold together too well. But it all tasted great. Especially the crumbly vegan disaster.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
More than I could chew
10 march 2009 (Purim)
After three weeks of assisting and excited about the holiday, I was a little over ambitious this week. In particular, this menu suggested three night-before tasks. Any one of them would have been manageable, but all together they added about four extra hours onto the shift, and ate up all of Monday evening.
Challah
Dairy Free from the Bread Bible, times four, with an extra egg or two (oops). I made the dough the evening before. It was very wet, and I was a little concerned that it would be difficult to form the next day, but the night spent in the fridge did wonders for it. Margit made four gorgeous braids, and they all got demolished.
Salad with Preserved Lemon Dressing
Either the preserved lemons weren't ready, or I should have been more careful about just using the peel, but the dressing was awful. I spent way too much time trying to save it. In the end, it was alright but not great, so I threw together a batch of the Krug family's dressing and served both on the side.
Sasouf (Bulgur and Chickpeas with Herbs and Lemon)
This was really nice. Easy to make, and the leftovers went quickly.
Butternut Squash Soup
Roasting the squash the night before made this soup really easy day-of. But processing all the squash myself the night before was an enormous pain. The soup was very simple and came out well. Onions softened in earth balance, pre-baked squash, and vegan broth simmered together for most of the shift. I pureed it with the immersion blender, and then added just a tiny bit of coconut milk and salt and pepper before serving it. This was a first attempt at copying Lauren's recipe. I think that hers had bay and rosemary.
Roast Lamb with Gravy
Alistair took care of this. I can't remember what my plan was for the lamb, but he didn't like it. I wasn't attached to it, so I let him take over.
Chicken, Olives, Onions, and Raisins in White Wine
Roast Eggplant Slices
Yogurt Sauce
My favorite. House yogurt, pomegranate molasses, tahini, and garlic. It was perfect, but no one seems to love this as much as I do. There was a ton left over. I used myself as an extra condiment with almost every meal for the next week.
Roasted Red Peppers and Onions
Hamantaschen
I made the dough for this the night before as well, and let Margit actually form the cookies. We had poppy seed and jam fillings; no chocolate, as we ran out of time. I would definitely make these again.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/mighty-appetite/2008/03/the_hamantaschen_project.html
After three weeks of assisting and excited about the holiday, I was a little over ambitious this week. In particular, this menu suggested three night-before tasks. Any one of them would have been manageable, but all together they added about four extra hours onto the shift, and ate up all of Monday evening.
Challah
Dairy Free from the Bread Bible, times four, with an extra egg or two (oops). I made the dough the evening before. It was very wet, and I was a little concerned that it would be difficult to form the next day, but the night spent in the fridge did wonders for it. Margit made four gorgeous braids, and they all got demolished.
Salad with Preserved Lemon Dressing
Either the preserved lemons weren't ready, or I should have been more careful about just using the peel, but the dressing was awful. I spent way too much time trying to save it. In the end, it was alright but not great, so I threw together a batch of the Krug family's dressing and served both on the side.
Sasouf (Bulgur and Chickpeas with Herbs and Lemon)
This was really nice. Easy to make, and the leftovers went quickly.
Butternut Squash Soup
Roasting the squash the night before made this soup really easy day-of. But processing all the squash myself the night before was an enormous pain. The soup was very simple and came out well. Onions softened in earth balance, pre-baked squash, and vegan broth simmered together for most of the shift. I pureed it with the immersion blender, and then added just a tiny bit of coconut milk and salt and pepper before serving it. This was a first attempt at copying Lauren's recipe. I think that hers had bay and rosemary.
Roast Lamb with Gravy
Alistair took care of this. I can't remember what my plan was for the lamb, but he didn't like it. I wasn't attached to it, so I let him take over.
Chicken, Olives, Onions, and Raisins in White Wine
Roast Eggplant Slices
Yogurt Sauce
My favorite. House yogurt, pomegranate molasses, tahini, and garlic. It was perfect, but no one seems to love this as much as I do. There was a ton left over. I used myself as an extra condiment with almost every meal for the next week.
Roasted Red Peppers and Onions
Hamantaschen
I made the dough for this the night before as well, and let Margit actually form the cookies. We had poppy seed and jam fillings; no chocolate, as we ran out of time. I would definitely make these again.
http://voices.washingtonpost.
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