Epic Portions

Tag: garlic

  • Spaghetti Squash – An Adventure

    Cooking vegan isn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done.  In fact, it ranks right up there with flossing and unloading the dishwasher.  It just wasn’t an easy thing to start doing.  The thing that helps me is visiting farmers markets and buying fresh produce to cook with.  Ever since I noticed that much of the produce I was purchasing from grocery stores was being imported from Mexico, I have made a huge effort to buy local.  Something about buying kiwis in December just doesn’t seem right to me.

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    Stephanie and I visited the Ypsilanti Farmers’ Market at the Corner Brewery the other night, and I came across something I never had any urge whatsoever to try.  Spaghetti Squash. In fact, I had never even seen a spaghetti squash before.  I’m sure I’ve walked past them in the grocery store on my way to the meat department, but I always had other things on my mind.  Namely, pork.  I just wasn’t sure what to think.  Spaghetti squash?  What the hell is it?  Does it really shred like spaghetti noodles?  Have I ever even had squash before?  Do I like it?   Ok, enough questions..

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    I wasn’t sure what to think about eating a Rugby ball, but I had to give it a shot.  The thing was only a dollar.  How could I lose?  I worked up some courage(which was aided by a pint or two at the brewery) and began my prep.  I figured the only way to cook the thing was to bake it until it got soft.  I had to make sure didn’t my Rugby ball to explode, so I poked holes in it before cooking.  Apparently this was a good idea.  Large vegetables are known to explode in high temperatures.  Is that common knowledge?  I sure didn’t know.

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    About an hour in the oven on 350 degrees, and you get your squash looking like this.  Nice and soft.  No longer any resemblence to a ball used in any kind of a contact sport.  It looked more like Dr. Bunsen Honeydew.  Check it out.

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    I let Dr. Honeydew sit out on the counter for about 10 mins and the juices leaked all over the counter.  That was kind of gross.  Going to have to figure that one out for next time.  I cut the thing in half and what’s inside is crazy.  It’s not like you have to grab a spoon and scrape out big chunks of squash.  It just flows out in strands that look exactly like spaghetti.  To be honest I was a little creeped out.  Why was this vegetable trying to impersonate one of my favorite childhood foods?  I decided to overlook this and give it a chance.  Frankly, I was just curious at this point.

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    I threw some Bove’s Roasted Garlic Marinara on top, sautéed some broccoli in garlic, and made some gigantic homemade garlic bread, and we had ourselves a meal.  Simple, nothing special, but absolutely delicious.  This stuff is legit.  It has the same texture as spaghetti and tastes pretty similar, but has a slightly different flavor.  When I say different flavor here, I mean a delicious different flavor.  I’m getting pretty good at this whole vegan thing.  I don’t prefer it over my usual meat filled dinners, but it’s just nice to share a meal with my lady every now and then.

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    I’m trying to figure out why that garlic bread looks so big….

  • Vegan Cooking…..?????

    Vegan cooking.  The only thing that’s more unfamiliar to me than cooking without the addition of cheese or meat are the rules of soccer.  I’ve always wondered why I would watch soccer when I have football, the same way I’ve wondered why I would cook with vegetables when I have meat.   Recently I’ve taken a shot at a few vegan dinners for Stephanie, my vegan girlfriend, and things have turned out pretty well so far.  I’m someone who has a genuine interest in anything having to do with cooking and food, so trying to cook with ingredients that do not involve my two favorite things in the world (meat and dairy) has actually become a pretty fun challenge for me.  I often spend over an hour at the grocery store visiting every aisle twice, so actually reading through ingredient labels only extends my shopping time.  Great success.

    When I first started attempting to cook vegan, I relied too much on imitation meats and trying to create alternate versions of meat based dishes..  While I give Morningstar and other vegetarian/vegan food companies credit on some of their stuff, the majority of it tastes like complete shit.  It was a little creepy to me how much the vegetarian chicken tenders tasted like actually chicken tenders, and also creepy how much the grilled chicken strips tasted exactly like tofu.    I’ve learned that being creative with ingredients and ideas is the best way to come up with a dish, rather than trying to rely on someone else’s meatless version of meat.

    Let me stress again that I love meat and cheese.  They are like my best friends that happen to be edible.  I was not receptive to the idea of the vegan lifestyle, but like I said before it’s been fun for me.  I still eat my bacon, but I’ve added about 100 new things to the list of foods that enter my stomach.

    My most recent endeavor was Cajun chickpea patties, dairy free mashed potatoes, a little side salad, and homemade garlic bread.  This was the first time I had ever made mashed potatoes without adding some sort of dairy product, so I was a little nervous.  To me, perfect mashed potatoes achieve a perfect balance of chunkiness and creaminess.  That’s why I always like to hand mash my taters.  No fancy mixer in this kitchen.   Also, I tend to just buy garlic bread from the store instead of making it myself.  I’ve never been able to make garlic bread that’s better than store bought, so I have always just stuck with that.  Shocker, every store bought garlic bread contains some form of dairy.  Had to get creative.

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    The chickpea patties don’t look too amazing, but I promise you that they are absolutely delicious.  Chickpeas have always been in my diet, due to my frequent flafel consumption, but I had never cooked with them.  They are very filling, even for a heavy meat eater like myself, and very nutritious.  I can’t believe I just said that.  They contain a very high amount of protein, and almost as much calcium as milk.

    The mashed potatoes turned out incredibly well.  I used a margarine replacement product which oddly tastes better than actual butter.  To make up for the lack of creaminess, I roasted some garlic, smashed it up, and mixed it into the potatoes.  Don’t know how to roast garlic?  Well, heat your oven up to about 475, drizzle oil over a head of garlic, cover in tin foil, and leave in the oven until  soft.  I often roast garlic in my apartment just for the smell.  Actually, I don’t ever do that.  It just sounds nice.  But yeah, the potatoes were delicious with only garlic, salt, and pepper.

    The garlic bread is just a store bought loaf baked at 375 until crispy.  I cut it up, put the pieces in a pan heated up with olive oil for about 30-45 seconds on each side to add a little crispyess, and rubbed with a clove of garlic.  If you’re a fan of garlic like I am, this is a great way to make your own garlic bread with as much garlic flavor as you like.

    If you’re interested in trying these out, he’s my recipe.  I don’t usually eat anything resembling this meal, but if you’re interested in trying something new this is a good way to start.  If you would’ve told me a few months ago that I would be attempting to cook vegan, I would’ve laughed at you.  Buuuut, the ladies will make you do weird things.

    Oh, and for the first time I actually measured everything.

    INGREDIENTS

    Makes 12 small patties, or 4 large ones.

    – 1 tbsp olive oil
    – 1/4 cup diced onion
    – 1/4 cup diced green pepper
    – 1 celery stalk, diced
    – 2 cloves minced garlic
    – 1 280z can chickpeas (drained)
    – 1 tsp thyme
    – 1 tsp paprika
    – 1 tsp cumin
    – cayenne pepper – I used about 2 tsp, but I like things spicy.
    – dash hot sauce – Again, I used more but I like things spicy
    – 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
    – 2 tbsp flour
    – 1 tbsp cornstarch
    – salt and pepper to taste
    – olive oil for cooking

    COOKING

    1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Saute onion, green pepper, garlic and celery until softened/browned. Enjoy the smell of your home.  Remove from heat.
    2. Place the chickpeas in a food processor along with the onion mixture. Pulse until chickpeas are no longer whole, but don’t process them too much. Place chickpeas in a bowl and add spices, hot sauce, and parsley. Mix well. Add flour and cornstarch and mix well. Place in the fridge for 30 mins or so.
    3. Heat oil in a frying pan over med/med-hi heat. Shape chickpea mixture into 12 or 4 patties and fry in batches, about 2-3 mins per side, or until crispy and browned. Flip a few times if they are browning too quickly. If you have trouble forming the patties, add some more cornstarch to hold it all together.
    One thing I should mention is that if you have trouble with the inside being a bit too mushy, cook the patties in the oven on 350 degrees for about 10 minutes before frying.  This will give you guaranteed even cooking all the way through.