Vegan Mayonnaise & Deviled Eggs

Correction: Veganaise. Yummy not-so-gross mayo sans raw eggs. Curious? I was too. I thought Mayo required the use of eggs to get the fluffy texture. Not so, it is the whipped oils plus the soymilk that give it the fluff. We had been spending a small fortune on Veganaise, the brand, when lo and behold there was a recipe for a vegan mayonnaise on the back of the soymilk container. The container of Edensoy Soy and Rice Blend to be specific. The recipe was so simple that I had to see if it compared to our beloved veganaise. Surprisingly it does. Though I think we could have skipped the addition of mustard and instead opted for a mustard powder. I of course took the leniency of adapting the recipe from the box of soymilk and the one I followed is below.

Vegan Mayonnaise

1/2 cup Olive Oil

1/2 cup Grapeseed Oil

1/2 cup Soymilk

1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Mustard

2 Tablespoons Agave Nectar

Freshly ground Black Pepper

Salt to taste

Recipe makes about a pint.

Though it may also be equally as gross to imagine consuming that much oil, it's not like you're doing it in one sitting. Whip the oils together with the soymilk until creamy, then slowly stir in the vinegar. It will appear to solidify but this is an illusion. Stir in the remaining ingredients and taste. MMMmmm Delicious.

Now you must make something with the vegan mayonnaise right? Well, here's another recipe to satiate that desire.

Deviled Eggs

1/2 dozen eggs

1/4 cup vegan mayo

1 tbsp mustard

dash hot sauce

1/4 tsp salt

Ethiopian spice blend (mostly paprika and cayenne toasted)

Halved green olives

Hard boil the eggs, peel, slice in half, remove yolks, mash with a fork or some other mashing implement, mix and mash with the mayo, mustard, hot sauce and salt. Spoon into the egg halves, sprinkle with the spices and press a half of a green olive on top. Enjoy.

Stay tuned for a post on homemade veggie burgers!

Helpful Hint Numero Uno

Ay yi yi! Only one post in February so far?? Wow. You can really tell when I go back to school. One day, I'll be out of school. And maybe also on that day I will have more time to blog about veggies...maybe. Well in response to my inability to blog consistently about what I'm cooking or interesting books I'm reading, I'm starting a section of helpful hints around your kitchen & beyond. Things I have learned that everyone should know..........................

Helpful Hint #1:

When you buy cheese from the supermarket or wherever, take it out of the cellophane wrap it comes in and re-wrap it in a plastic bag or plastic wrap. It will last much longer without molding.

The above hint is for harder cheeses like cheddar. Follow this link for other helpful hints on cheese storage:

http://www.laurawerlin.com/storingcheese.html

She even takes it one step further by suggesting parchment or wax paper between the cheese and plastic wrap. Probably a great suggestion considering how toxic plastic can be.

Tortilla de Patatas

Or Spanish omelet made with potatoes for those of you unfamiliar with the delicacy. Very simple and very satisfying.

I first had a tortilla de patatas in Spain (of course, what did you expect? I'm cultured.) Rachel, my friend from college, lived in Spain for five years after we graduated. I did no such thing, maybe it's her that's cultured and not me. Anyways, her roommate Karina, was shocked that I had never heard of, much less eaten, the common breakfast food of Spain. Convinced I needed to try it, we set about making one. Hers, though delicious, was a little greasy. Probably because it was the first time she had ever made one. I made sure to avert this problem by recalling her error. I think you should use the same judgement when adding the oil for the potatoes.

The Recipe

1 large potato

3 tbsp. olive oil

1/2-1 large onion (I used yellow & 1/2)

9 eggs*

1/4 cup cream

1 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper

The rest of the ingredients are not required, I was using my leftovers up...you can add anything. It's an omelet. Experiment.

1 large portabello mushroom, sliced

1/2 cup provolone cheese, cubed

*My eggs come from my chickens who just started laying so they are probably a bit smaller than the ones you would find in the store. Start with about 6-7 whipped with cream, pour in at the appropriate time and if it isn't enough to cover, pull from heat, whip a few more and fill in the gaps.

Start by slicing the potatoes thinly, not grated but sliced. I usually half the potato, then halve it the other way and then slice. Saute with sliced onions over a medium flame until the potatoes are soft enough to eat. You are not making hash browns so do not brown.

Whip eggs, cream, salt and pepper.

You want layers with a tortilla de patata, the patatas y cebollas (potatoes and onions) will form the bottom layer so keep this in mind. When the potatoes are done, spread the mushroom and cheese evenly on top to form the next layer. Then pour in the eggs. They will trickle down and create the omelet, no need to coach them.

Cook over a medium-low flame until the top of the omelet is set. Flip onto a wide plate. (You may need to use your spatula around the edge to loosen it. If you use a non-stick pan you should have no problems, however, if you use something else you might. Do your best to get it out whole). The bottom will be browned. This creates a nice chewy texture that unlike normal omelets is desired. Invert and place in pan to cook the other side. With the omelet mostly set you won't have to cook it for very long. This is just to make it almost brown on this side too and to ensure it is completely cooked.

Re-invert onto the same plate. Slice like a pie and enjoy! Serves 4-6.

Entertaining Part Deux, continued...

Ay, yi yi. I thought I was over blogging malfunctions. Sigh. Apparently not. I apologize for the possibly mistaken post of just a title (it won't let me see my blog so who's to know..) and I also apologize for the font. I try to stick to one type but under "edit", as opposed to "compose", you can't change your font. Silly computers and silly computer programmers. Why can't you predict what I want and need? Anyways, enough of my tangent. Wait no, one more apology--I forgot to photograph the event. Woopsie.

The Menu

first course: mixed green salad with a lemon poppy seed agave mustard dressing

second course: french onion soup with asiago and toasted french bread

third course: steamed artichokes with a garlic lemon butter sauce

fourth course: marinated portabello steaks with provolone

fifth course: pumpkin mousse

There was a bit of shuffling about trying to entertain guests whilst cooking but as long as you are committed to making an evening of it there is nothing wrong with slow food. It gives one time to digest, make room and get hungry again. In fact, there is probably something wrong with fast food, but I digress.

Everything was simple to prepare so there really wasn't a whole lot of kitchen time. Really you are just making sure the onions don't burn as they caramelize, making sure not to over steam or under steam the artichokes, and creating fantastic concoctions of dressings and marinades--the rest practically cooks itself.

The Dressing:

It's not so much what's in the salad sometimes but what it wears. My salad was just mixed greens, red leaf lettuce, grated carrot, black apples (a new type, not old), and feta.

2 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tsp poppy seeds

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

3 tsp agave

juice of 1/2 lemon

water to thin

The Marinade

Again, always a hit and always similar to previous recipes but yet different. Let's see if I can remember it.

braggs

olive oil

red wine

lemon juice

agave

cock sauce

basil

chives

parsley

water

I really have no clue what the proportions were or if I am missing something. I usually just pour it all in a bowl, mix it around and douse whatever needs to be marinated generously--the recipe is always slightly different. Be bold, experiment. Empowerment is guesswork with confidence. But no, if I had to guess proportions I would say in descending order: 3 tbsp, 3 tbsp, 3 tbsp, 1/2 lemon, 1 tbsp, 2 tsp, dash, dash, dash, 3 tbsp. Place the mushrooms in the pan you will cook them in, gill side up, pour on top, and let them absorb the marinade. When you are ready to cook them (about 20 minutes before serving) turn them gill side down and cook over a medium flame. When the mushrooms just begin to wrinkle on top they are ready.

Do not buy mushrooms from two different stores. This I sadly discovered to my chagrin. The fresher the mushroom the longer the cooking time. Oh well. Watch for the wrinkles, but not too many because you want a consistency that is at once soft, delicate and sliceable but yet not soggy or overcooked. There is a difference.

Recipe for French Onion Soup in another earlier post, and I won't be going over the Artichokes here...next time.

Pumpkin Mousse

http://frenchfood.about.com/od/desserts/r/pumpkinmousse.htm

I got this from another site (shock!!). Address listed above. I followed it almost accurately, but surprisingly it was the only recipe I could find that was vegetarian (shock!!). But really they all call for gelatin, and we know what that is. Uh huh, ground up horses hooves (gross!!). Never eating jello again right?

I also used my homegrown frozen pumpkin. Because it was homegrown, and because I never put it through a blender or food processor it was a little stringy for my taste.

I have never made mousse before (shock!!), but thought that it would be easy. Maybe I whipped the cream a bit too fiercely but it was too airy for the mousse you get in the restaurants. Do you think they're using gelatin? Another thing for further investigation.

Until then I'll leave you with the mousse recipe I followed:

1.5 cups cooked pumpkin

1 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup turbinado

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

cook over a medium flame for 5 minutes. cool.

add 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

whip 2 cups whipping cream, to stiff peaks

fold the two mixes together, chill for at least an hour. Serve cool.

Entertaining Part 2

Again tonight we will be entertaining some guests. I'm thinking a meal of courses...an app., a salad, a soup, a main course and a dessert. Does that make five courses? Regardless, I'm not going to try to stick to what's in my fridge because there's nothing in my fridge. As of now all I know is my friend Tara likes red wine, chocolate mousse, steak (clearly not in this establishment) and sweet potato fries. Not much to go on but I will do my best.

Vegetable Oil(s)

I don't really know a lot about vegetable oil and was beginning to become suspicious. If you're reading this, you must have had some of the same paranoia: What is it? Is it edible? Is it safe? So I did some research for us, the paranoid food consumers, label investigators, and overly conscious foodies. Where? Wiki of course. Ok I started there and much of the page was incomprehensible sciency stuff so I read other webpages about vegetable oil and have condensed it here for those of you, like me, who are needing to know what's really up with the ambiguously named vegetable oil.

First of all, check out the label, become a detective. Check ingredients and check out how the oil is processed. Sometimes the label will be just as ambiguous as the name of "vegetable oil" revealing nothing of any use--a blend perhaps, or the clever use of commas and "or". However, sometimes they'll just come right out and tell you it's soybean or some other such oil that doesn't have the same ring of health as "vegetable". I also shall warn you to never buy the cheap stuff. I used it for years in baking but now I know better. That stuff is extracted using a petroleum derivatives, hexane, and some fishy chemical process. Stick to the processing that has been used for centuries, pressing the seeds until the oil comes out.

And that hydrogenated stuff? Another big no-no. Never touch. Lard is probably healthier than that. Though of course I am not advocating for lard. I once was forced by a boss of the local B&B I was working at to use lard in her "traditional family recipe" for biscochitos. I gagged almost the entire time and tried using gloves, to no avail. I touched it. Slimy and disgusting. Never do that either. Back to hydrogenated oils: you can't digest them, they'll make you fat, and there is another ridiculously complicated processing that goes on in production that includes atoms (hydrogen clearly), chemicals and very high heat making this clearly very unnatural and something to be scared of.

There is a reason to be suspicious. In my opinion, cough up the extra few dollars and get yourself a quality oil. Some oils are better for high heat, like coconut, palm and butter. (One day I will do a whole entry extolling the wonders of butter but for now, you must simply forget everything you've ever heard about it being unhealthy and just trust me. Food of the Gods.) Some oils you should never really heat at all like flax oil (see below). Everyone's favorite, EVOO (or extra virgin olive oil for those of you not in the foodie acronym know, elite class) should really only be used at medium heat. If it starts popping at you, it's too high.

Then there's the debate of saturated versus unsaturated. Some saturated fat is probably good for you. I mean, butter and coconut oil is saturated *gasp*. You can't possibly tell me that coconuts are bad for you. It's kindof like when these pharmacy students gave a presentation in our health theory class about the horrors of natural remedies, like grapefruits? Give me a break. People are just scared of getting fat, and no wonder with the obesity epidemic. Then there's also the "polyunsaturated" versus the "monounsaturated". Apparently both will lower your cholesterol, so you probably shouldn't worry about the nuances of specifics. And then there's HDL versus LDL cholesterol, and then I'm just confused. I think the real trick here is to go with what seems the most natural and least processed.

Another important oil related topic is omega 6s versus omega 3s. Most experts (I should ask for their credentials or maybe read their studies because it is a bit fishy) say we need 3s and 6s in equal proportion. Apparently omega 3s are not found in the oils we consume when cooking or baking which are omega 6. Omega 3s are mostly found in fish, but the catch? One would have to consume four pounds of fish daily to consume 3s and 6s in the same proportion. And unless you're a pescaterian (which I am not) that would be really hard to do. The only solution: flax oil. Flax oil is a vegetarian source of omega 3 fatty acids but it tastes slightly revolting and you can't cook with it as it turns rancid. When I was consuming it on a regular basis my skin was literally sparkling. The oil would seemingly seep out of my pores and catch the light--never had better skin in fact. Then my stepmother told me that some famous actress used flax oil to gain weight for some movie and that was it. I couldn't consume it with the same health enthusiast vigor. I now take capsules and notice no real effects on the skin. It's really just a nod to doing the right thing, I don't think one flax oil pill in the morning could possibly do much. (I was consuming about 2 tablespoons a day).

The skinny? Do: pick natural products (no crisco for instance), make sure the processing is also natural (pressed for instance), consume all types of oils, choose reputable brands, read labels and spend the extra buck for a quality product that won't clog your arteries. Don't: consume hydrogenated oils, vegetable oils, lard, four pounds of fish a day (because that's gross), or worry so much about getting fat from oil consumption (as long as it's quality and you're cooking it correctly you have nothing to worry about).

Politics & Policy

Follow this link for a witty and informative year-end piece on food and the inherent impact getting it to our tables by Ari LeVaux, a Placitas, NM resident.

http://www.hcn.org/wotr/2010-the-year-of-food-politics