SereneCooking

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:42:08 GMT

I'm no longer using this journal. Please see serenecooking instead. Thanks!

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Good week, foodwise

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:29:39 GMT

This week's highlights, in food:

Spaghetti and meatball (yes, singular -- these were so big, one was a serving; ground beef was on a great sale, and I froze meatballs, hamburger patties, and some one-pound packages of just the meat. The kid approved.) -- served with spicy green beans the way cute-poet-chick taught me to make them.

Slow-cooked chili with some of the ground beef. The kid, once again, heartily approved of a chili that wasn't vegetarian. Two meat meals in one week -- I don't know, I may be slipping.

Homemade chiles rellenos, which are fussy but SO easy to make. The time-consuming part is seeding the peppers without ripping them apart; everything else is a snap.

Buttermilk pancakes today. (James is having his with eggs. Mine are fine just by themselves.)

Bought the stuff to make eggrolls yesterday, so today, I'm going to clean my abysmally dirty kitchen and then assemble a truckload of eggrolls. I'll cook some and freeze the rest.

Tonight's dinner will probably be farmer's pie (that's vegan shepherd's pie -- I make chickpea gravy, mix it with veggies and sometimes seitan or crumbles or something, top with roasted-garlic mashed potatoes, and bake).

Also, today, I plan to charge up the camera and start taking food pictures again. I miss it.

Food food food. Having lots of good food in the house makes me so happy.

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Cooking this weekend

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:31:49 GMT

Yesterday I made six quiches (using the basic recipe for the one of mine on the rec.food.cooking signature page, but three kinds: caramelized onion and goat cheese; green chili and cheddar; and pesto/mozzarella/parmesan). We tested one of the goat cheese ones (YUM!). The rest were for a party, though two of them were way overdone.

Then I made a big pot of mushroom barley soup (also for the party). For six quarts or so of soup, I used 5.5 POUNDS of mushrooms. The stuff was amazing. I have to duplicate it at home -- three onions, six cloves of garlic, a stick of butter, the mushrooms, (cook all those down first, then add) three ribs of celery, three carrots in coins, salt, pepper, a cup of barley, enough water to fill the pot. Bring to a boil, simmer for an hour.

And I got heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, along with some green and purple fresh basil, for a caprese salad to go with it.

Today, I made spicy cioppino for someotherguy, who has a cold. Used a whole head of garlic, a bunch of black pepper, and a bunch of sriracha -- he said it cleared his sinuses before he even started eating it. It was delicious. Later, we had a nice dinner of mashed potatoes, chickpea gravy, and broccoli.

And just now, I made potato patties out of some of the leftover mashed potatoes, cheese, and a couple eggs.

I am SO happy that I've gotten well enough to spend the weekend cooking. Besides my broken foot, it was utterly happymaking to do this. It was a good weekend, foodwise.

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Cookalong ideas?

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:48:20 GMT

[posted to serene and serenecooking]

On Sunday, November 1st, rec.food.cooking is having a "cookalong". Unlike a "cook-in", where folks get together and have a foodie party, a cookalong is when folks can't get together, but want to cook together anyway. There's usually a theme, and this one's theme is rec.food.cooking -- that is, one is supposed to make recipes either from those posted on r.f.c., or on the "Signature Dishes" page, here: http://recfoodcooking.com/signature.php

I kind of want to choose my dishes from the signature page, because I've been meaning to try more of those recipes anyway. Anyone feel up to looking at the list and helping me decide what to make? You get more voting power if you're going to come over and help us eat the results. :-)

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Yumma

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:07:06 GMT

Tonight's dinner (neither low in fat nor vegan, because if my arteries can't handle an occasional treat, fuck'em):

Grilled havarti and red onion sandwiches on wild rice and onion bread

Campbell's tomato soup (yeah, yeah, I know. It was 30 cents a can after coupons and someotherguy and I really like it with grilled cheese.)

Stuffed summer squash (stuffing was sauteed in butter until it gave up all its moisture, and consisted of a fine dice of onions, garlic, mushrooms, carrots, and the innards of the squash, along with a little salt and seasoned bread crumbs. Oh, my goodness.)

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Pickled eggs and beets

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:43:37 GMT

When I lived with Cute-poet-chick, we went through something like a dozen eggs a year. Not that we disliked them; it just didn't come up all that often. I was vegetarian for a lot of that time, and I've never really craved eggs, and she wasn't into them, either.

My current partners really like eggs, though, so we have them around a lot. They're cheap protein for the diabetic, and they're easy and versatile when we don't feel like cooking.

Lately, on rec.food.cooking, there's been a pickled-eggs thread. One poster posted a picture of the eggs she pickles with beets -- totally pink! -- and it made me want to make some of my own.

What I made

Pickled eggs and beets

Into a half-gallon jar I put the following, in this order:

1 dozen eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
1 red onion, quartered and sliced thinly
Boiled syrup of 1/2 cup sugar, 2 cups vinegar, about a tablespoon of salt, and maybe a half teaspoon each of mustard seed, black peppercorns, and whole coriander
2 large beets, boiled, peeled, quartered, and sliced
enough additional vinegar (maybe 1/2 cup?) to cover it all

Next Monday, we'll taste it all and let you know how it turned out.

Cost per serving

someotherguy eats two eggs per serving, so that's what I'll estimate this at. One dozen eggs = six servings.

Eggs: $2.19
Onion: $.31
Beets: $1.79
Sugar/vinegar/spices: Maybe 50 cents total

Cost per serving: 80 cents

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Chiles rellenos

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 04:27:04 GMT

Bless someotherguy for indulging me today. He took me food shopping, and we got the stuff for me to make chiles rellenos.

In San Diego, where I lived most of my life, making chiles rellenos is like making injera in Oakland, where I live now: you can do it if you want, but most people won't bother, because you can buy them on any street corner.

Today, I bothered. Sadly, I didn't take photos, but oh, my, these were so good. Best I've ever had, and I love the things madly. (They were probably best because (a) we ate them within a few minutes of making them; and (b) they were not drowned in enchilada sauce, so they didn't get soggy.)

I based them on this recipe, omitting the flour, and forgetting the pinch of salt. Used Monterey Jack cheese, and served with a bunch of stuff: shredded chicken in homemade enchilada sauce, rice, avocados, fresh salsa, and sour cream. My, my, my. Very good.

My weekend so far had been chaotic and difficult. I make order in my life by shopping for and preparing food. I feel so much better now.

[posted to serene and serenecooking]

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Menu Monday

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 04:35:25 GMT

This week will be awfully busy, so it's easy food for us:

Monday: Spaghetti and veggies
Tuesday: Baked chicken thighs, roasted potatoes, green salad
Wednesday: Tuna casserole and raw veggies with dip
Thursday: Grilled cheese and soup
Friday: Caprese sandwiches and chopped salad
Saturday: Lamb chops, mint sauce, mashed potatoes, asparagus
Sunday: Veggie "shepherd's pie"

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Plum preserves!

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 04:30:39 GMT

[posted to serene and serenecooking]

12 quarts of whole golden plums = 20 cups of diced/pitted plums

20 cups of plums + 16 cups of sugar + 4 cups of water = 4 batches of plum preserves

4 batches of plum preserves = 24 half-pint jars (plus three or so cups left over) of amber-colored goodness. It's sweet and tangy, and very good.

(I'll try to take pictures of it tomorrow, but after a day spent over a bunch of boiling pots of goo, I just need to crash now.)

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Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:45:30 GMT

Food blog for the anti-fatphobic win

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Menu Monday

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:08:09 GMT

Rough morning, so I'm posting this without commentary:

Monday (today): Beef-and-pattypan-squash sautee over noodles
Tuesday: Tuna casserole
Wednesday: Goat curry (slow-cooker); rice
Thursday: Spaghetti and tomato sauce
Friday: Mussel chowder and bread
Saturday: Potatoes and chickpea gravy
Sunday: Dinner salad (with lots of "stuff" in it)

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Mom-food week

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:52:05 GMT

So here's what we ended up having/buying, foodwise, while mom was here:

( Lots and lots of food under the cut )

So, I ask this of you: Whenever you walk in my front door and I offer to feed you before I even ask how you are, please be gentle with me, because these, my friends, are my roots.

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Mom's visit

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:40:17 GMT

I forgot to mention one of the great things that happened on mom's visit. I made kneidlach soup for her, as I often do, and she had no corrections to make! Now, the significance of this may not be clear to anyone else, but mom knows that I want her to tell me when I've got something "off" in one of her recipes, because I want to get my childhood foods right. This time, she just kept telling me how good it was.

If you've met my mom, you know she's not shy about offering criticism. I think I may have made the perfect kneidlach soup. Too bad I didn't measure when I made the kneidlachs, but I think I have the texture down perfectly by sight, so we'll see how that goes next time.

I did most of the cooking while she was here, and she appeared to love it all. That makes me happy. She ate a LOT by her standards, though I thought it was a moderate amount most of the time. She did make herself sick a couple times, though, and that made me sad. She may have even put on a couple of pounds (which of course prompted her to give up bread on the last day here and go all Atkins on me, but hey, after that, I made her a mushroom omelet that she couldn't stop raving about, so all is well and I really really am not going to try to talk my mother out of her crazy food stuff. It's pretty much engrained by age 69, I'd say).

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Menu Monday

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:46:22 GMT

Near me, there's a store that specializes in foods from the South Pacific. I mainly go there to buy New Zealand lamb, which we prefer, and to look in the aisles for foods I've never tried. During my mom's visit, I made sure to take her to check it out -- she and I share the love of interesting foods, and the thrill of a bargain. (The New Zealand store has lamb for $2.10 a pound. Around here, you really can't beat that.)

We bought:

* Goat chops
* Lamb chops
* Frozen mussels (no shells -- they also had mussels in the shell, but my mom calculated that she got more for her money this way. ;-)
* Cheesy poofs from Fiji whose name I've forgotten (they had a big "O" on the packaging and were shaped like little hoops)
* A Cadbury Crunchie bar from Australia
* Some mixes from India (Idli, Jilebi, and Dosai (which came with a free packet of sambhar mix)
* Coconut milk

I want to make goat curry with some of the goat meat, and I'll certainly cook at least some of the lamb chops simply, with garlic and maybe a little mint salt, but I'm also looking for suggestions for all the meats.

Tonight, we'll heat and eat a bunch of the leftovers from mom's visit, and we need to eat lightly for a while. My mom is a big foodie, and loves to buy (and cook) tons of food, so our pantries are full to bursting. Tomorrow night, we'll have a huge salad, for sure, and then use a light hand with the meat for a while, with the exception of the corned beef I had to put in the fridge to thaw so there would be room for all the lamb and goat. The kid would love it if we ate meat at every meal the way my mom's household does, but someotherguy and I really don't do that well on an all-meat-all-the-time routine.

Sunday (tonight): Leftovers: Ribs, rib roast, mashed potatoes, chicken soup, and whatever else I see in the fridge that needs eating

Monday: HUGE salad

Tuesday: Corned beef and cabbage and potatoes

Wednesday: Indian foods (probably something like curried garbanzos, dosai, coriander-roasted green beans and/or sauteed mustard greens, chutney, and rice, but we'll see. Might make palak paneer if I feel up for it.)

Thursday: Veggie chili and cornbread

Friday: Mussels in garlic butter; rice pilaf; salad

Saturday: TVP-and-chorizo tacos

Sunday: Pasta with veggies; salad

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Cooking (and cleaning) up a storm

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:19:01 GMT

Posted this to Usenet, too:

My mom arrives tonight and I promised her a pot of kneidlach soup when she gets here. Usually, I make the soup in a few stages -- the schmaltz one day, the stock the next, the soup on the third day -- but I had a rough week, so it didn't happen. No worries, I'll just cook my ass off today. :-)

So far, I've mostly rendered the schmaltz, started the stock (from two whole chickens and some scraps), set aside the chicken meat, mixed the matzoh dough, and attempted to keep all this from making my kitchen look like wild animals live in there. Oh, and I baked a loaf of bread, because my mom rarely gets fresh bread, and she's looking forward to it.

I get to hang out with my mommy for four days! I'm very excited. As she gets older and sicker, every time could be the last time, as I know that a lot of you here know, so I'm really treasuring the time we will get to be together.

(She's also bringing a big huge cooler full of meat -- for the last few weeks, every time she's seen some meat on sale, she's bought it and tossed it into the freezer to bring up to me. I think we're gonna need a few weeks of vegan food after this visit to set us right again. ;-)

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Menu Monday

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:04:02 GMT

My mom is coming to visit this week. She's bringing with her a cooler full of meat. That's just how my mom is. For the past few weeks, whenever she sees a really good sale on meat, she's been sticking it in the freezer in anticipation of loading up a cooler to bring it to us. She even borrowed a bigger cooler than she had available, so she could bring us more dead animal parts.

The menu for this week:

Monday: Chicken and rice casserole (made last week; trying to get the freezer cleaned out before mom comes on Wednesday)
Tuesday: Pork and kraut (ditto)
Wednesday: Mom will arrive in the evening. Homemade chicken soup.
Thursday: Whatever mom wants (fallback position is pot roast)
Friday: Whatever mom wants (fallback position is pasta with butter and garlic)
Saturday: Whatever mom wants (fallback position is split pea soup)
Sunday: (mom will be gone) Red beans and rice. We typically need at least a few days of vegetarianism to recover from the meat-heaviness of mom's cooking. :-)

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Lasagne

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:08:03 GMT

Last weekend, stonebender and I got together and had a bulk-cooking day. I made three lasagne and four chicken-and-rice casseroles (one of which I spilled all over my kitchen floor). Seven huge casseroles (with meat) for around $70. Not bad at all. We ate one lasagne that night, I left one there, and I brought one home with me. This one is extra-special because I forgot to put the mozzarella in it. :-)

What I made:

Lasagne

[Note: Instructions are for my mom's version, without forgetting mozzarella; stonebender's mother uses breakfast sausage rather than Italian sausage, so I did that just for fun. It was good, just not exactly like my mom's. :-)]

Ingredients:

Approximately 12 lasagna noodles (a twelve-ounce box of pasta is more than enough for one pan of lasagne; two pounds made enough for three pans with a little left over)
1 pound each ground beef and Italian sausage, crumbled, cooked, and drained
enough of your favorite pasta sauce to just moisten the meat -- don't use too much (I make my mom's sauce from scratch, and I'd say I use around a few cups for one pan of lasagne. Mom's sauce ALWAYS has parmesan added at the end, so you might want to do that)
1 to 1.5 pounds mozzarella, shredded
1 to 1.5 pounds ricotta
1 egg
salt/pepper
1/2 to 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated or shredded

Get all set up:

1) Cook lasagna noodles until they're almost done (I'd estimate 6 or 8 minutes); drain and set aside in a bowl of cool water
2) Mix together meats and sauce
3) Mix ricotta with the egg, some salt, and plenty of pepper

Preheat the oven to 350F. In a 9x13 or so pan, layer the lasagna in this order (when I say "sauce", I mean the meat/sauce mixture). Steps 11-13 are not a typo: mom says it's necessary to do them that way in order to keep the mozzarella from drying out.

1) Enough sauce to cover the bottom of the pan
2) Lasagne noodles, lengthwise in one layer
3) 1/2 of the ricotta
4) 1/3 of the remaining sauce
5) 1/3 of the mozzarella
6) Noodles, sidewise in one layer
7) remaining ricotta
8) The second 1/3 of the sauce
9) The second 1/3 of the mozzarella
10) Noodles, lengthwise in one layer
11) Remaining mozzarella
12) Remaining sauce
13) All the parmesan

Bake at 350F for 60-90 minutes, uncovered. [To make ahead, wrap well and refrigerate up to 2 days or freeze up to 6 months. To reheat from frozen, either thaw overnight or add around one hour to cooking time. Today, I did a slow reheat, since we were off doing laundry before dinner. 2.5 hours at 275F and the last 30 minutes at 350F was perfect, but I found the noodles a little mushy.]

How we liked it:

sogwife: "It was yummy, and it had the right amount of sauce and everything."
someotherguy: "Yeah. By the time lasagne is cold, it should be finger food."
wtfpotatoes: "I like lasagne. This is awesome. I like MEAT in lasagne. This is AWESOME."
serene: I thought it was kick-ass, even though my mouth expected mozzarella. I thought the noodles were a little tiny bit soggy from the slow reheat, but no one else thought so. Not one of us was able to finish the size piece we chose for ourselves. This stuff is VERY filling.

Cost per serving:

Ten large servings (or eight HUGE ones, huger than any sane person could eat).

Total: $1.56 per serving (or $1.95 per HUGE serving)

Noodles: $1
ground beef: $2
sausage: $1.50
sauce: $2.50 (including the parmesan)
mozzarella: $3.50
ricotta: $3
egg: 10 cents
salt/pepper: negligible
parmesan: $2

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Menu Monday

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 03:33:40 GMT

Right now, my house smells like heaven.

I was never one of those vegetarians who hated the smell of meat, though I've never actually been all that fond of its taste, at least not in large doses. But the smell of meat cooking is, I have to admit, a smell I associate with home and good things.

I'm cooking a chuck roast in the pressure cooker, with plenty of garlic, ancho chilis, onions, and some seasoned salt. When it's done cooking, I'll shred it and serve it in corn tortillas with fajita-type veggies (onions, peppers,whatever else presents itself).

The rest of the week looks like this:

Tuesday: Folks get to make themselves sandwiches or heat up leftovers; I'll be at work
Wednesday: TVP sloppy joes on homemade rolls; cole slaw
Thursday: Potatoes and chickpea gravy
Friday: Beans and rice
Saturday: Going to a friend's party; will probably make some kind of tote-able salad for that, but haven't decided yet. Maybe bread? Maybe pie?
Sunday: Will be at stonebender's. Will scrounge in his fridge for food. :-)

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Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:12:59 GMT

Unless you all can find me a better one, this is the cake I'm making for the kid's one-year anniversary here tomorrow. (Shh! It's a secret.) http://mykitch3n.blogspot.com/2009/04/matcha-roll.html

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Coconut curry with potatoes and garbanzos (and yellow rice)

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:04:01 GMT

I am not one of those people for whom food is love. I don't think that people who don't like my cooking are rejecting me. That said, there's something really happymaking about hearing the teenager say, "This is AWESOME" about the food I put on the table.

Today's curry was super-simple. I think it was actually more work to get the photo than to make the food (curry is notoriously hard to get a good shot of). I wasn't sure what I was making for dinner at first, but then lcohen started talking about potato and chickpea curry, and the die was cast.

What I made

Coconut curry with potatoes and garbanzos (and yellow rice)

[Note: This makes 8 generous servings. I made enough rice for 4 servings; the curry leftovers are excellent cold.]

2 tbsp oil (I used olive)
2 small onions, chopped
1 tbsp red curry paste
1 tsp ground coriander
3 carrots, cut however you want them cut
4 cups cooked garbanzo beans (about 2 cans, or cook them yourself)
1 lb tiny red potatoes (or larger ones, cut up)
1 14-oz. can coconut milk
1 tbsp fish sauce (or more to taste)

Sautee onions and curry paste in oil until onions are soft. Add remaining ingredients along with enough water to just cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 20-30 minutes, until potatoes and carrots are cooked. Serve over yellow rice (below). I also served store-bought chutney.

Yellow rice

For 4 servings:

1 cup long-grain white rice
1 teaspoon each oil and turmeric

Sautee rice in oil and turmeric until the rice starts to smell a little toasty. Add 2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to the lowest setting. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes, then remove from the heat and let stand, covered, 5-10 minutes more. Fluff with fork and serve.

Cost per serving (approximate)

The curry: $.59
The rice: $.14
The chutney: $.32 (I used half of a $2.49 jar for the 4 of us)
Total: $1.05 per serving

How we liked it

wtfpotatoes: "This is AWESOME."
sogwife: "The curry was tasty, though I think I was expecting [punk rock chickpea] gravy, so the bite took me by surprise at the first taste."
someotherguy: "It was good. I think I would have liked it better with chunks of dead cow in it, but it was good. It wasn't very spicy."
serene: I loved it. It's basically my perfect curry -- coconut based; Thai flavors (as opposed to Indian or Korean); not too spicy.

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Onion-goat-cheese pie

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:33:01 GMT

I make most of our food from scratch. This usually does not include pie crusts. Pie crusts are easy, don't get me wrong, but sometimes they're on sale 4 for a dollar at the store, and I succumb to their store-bought siren call. This is one of those occasions.

What I made

Onion-goat-cheese Pie

3-4 onions, sliced
2 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
pie crust, store-bought or homemade, for single-crust pie
3 oz goat cheese (I used roasted-garlic flavored cheese, but any cheese will do)
3/4 cup milk
4 eggs
2 tbsp cornmeal

Preheat oven to 425F. Sautee onions in butter/salt/pepper until soft but not brown. Add to pie crust. Blend remaining ingredients together and pour over onions in pie crust. Place on a baking sheet and bake 30-45 minutes, until center is firm and top is golden brown. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Cost per serving

4 generous servings; $1.01 per serving

(Total cost is as follows; I just added it up and divided by 4)

25 cents for the crust
$2.39 for the goat cheese
40 cents for the eggs
78 cents for the onions
11 cents for the butter (we pay $7 for 4 pounds at Costco)
11 cents for the milk ($2.29 a gallon on sale)
negligible cost for spices and cornmeal

How we liked it:

someotherguy: "I liked it. It was lovely."
serene: I would cook the onions longer next time. They don't have quite the richness of taste without any caramelization, but they were good nonetheless, and the pie was very very pretty.

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Menu Monday

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:35:43 GMT

On the weekends, I work on getting the week's menus together, so Mondays will be when you see my week's menus. Exciting, I know, but hey, it saves me money, time, and angst to know ahead of time what's planned for dinners, even if I don't follow the plan 100% of the time.

This week's menus:

Monday (today): Tacos
Tuesday: Udon soup with tofu and veggies
Wednesday: Garbanzo curry and rice
Thursday: Pork and sauerkraut
Friday: Spaghetti and veggies
Saturday: Red beans and rice
Sunday: Lasagne (doing bulk-cooking day at stonebender's place

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A few notes

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:28:48 GMT

1) I've set this blog to allow my access list to add tags, because the client I'm using to post the posts doesn't do tags. Knock yourself out.

2) This blog will now be updated Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Soon to come: pics using my new mini lightbox!

3) No matter how much baba ganouj I make, that's how much baba ganouj I'll eat. Today's batch used two medium Italian eggplants. It's nearly gone. I clearly need to make bigger batches of baba ganouj.

(Today's baba ganouj: 2 eggplants, juice of 2 small limes, 3 cloves garlic, a little salt, 3 tbsp or so of natural peanut butter because I was out of tahini. Yum.)

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German-ish potato salad

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 00:19:46 GMT

In German class in the ninth grade, we had a German-foods potluck. The teacher, Mrs. Knapp (at least I think that was her name), handed out recipes and assigned us each a dish to cook and bring in. I got German potato salad. I had never HAD German potato salad. It was an epiphany! Such a perfect blend of flavors, and I wish I still had that recipe today.

These days, I call any vinegar-based (as opposed to mayo-based) potato salad "German potato salad", even when most people wouldn't really think of it as German potato salad, so keep that in mind if you make this recipe. It's very good, very easy, and VERY cheap, but it's not authentic in any way.

What I made:

German-ish Potato Salad

Dressing ingredients:

1 tsp dried minced onion
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp celery seed
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 tsp mustard powder

2 pounds russet potatoes, boiled, cooled, peeled, and cubed
1 roasted red pepper (I used one from a jar), diced

Place potatoes in a medium bowl. Place dressing ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir for a few seconds, then pour dressing over potatoes and mix well. Add peppers and mix. Chill until cold and serve.

Cost per serving:

4 servings. 20 cents a pound for the potatoes, 17 cents for the pepper (I bought a jar of 6 for 99 cents), and some tiny amount of money for the spices. Total per serving: 15 cents or so.

How we liked it:

someotherguy: "I liked it a lot. I'm not a super-huge fan of German-style potato salad, but it was pretty good."
serene: I would have preferred fresh onions and celery, but I didn't HAVE fresh onions and celery. This was really good for a pantry salad.

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Seitan "bratwurst" (and my generic seitan recipe)

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:54:47 GMT

What I made

We like seitan around here. Okay, all but wtfpotatoes -- she says it's evil. I mean, she eats it, because she's really not picky, but it disappoints her because it's not meat. But it's cheaper than meat, hits a lot of the same spots, texture-wise, and while it's highly refined, it's fairly benign nutritionally, so we have it probably a few times a month. sogwife says she could be vegetarian if there were always seitan available, so when she's going to be joining us for dinner, I know seitan is a good bet.

To make this particular sausage, I used the method from Everyday Dish, and searched the web for recipes for seitan bratwurst in order to decide which seasonings to use. I adjusted for ingredients I have on hand, but this method is SO flexible: change the seasonings about all you want, modify ingredients, etc. I just recommend that you keep the liquid to a little less (in volume) than the total dry ingredients. The "dough" for this should be a cohesive but not over-firm mass -- you can't go wrong if you follow Julie Hasson's instructional video.

Seitan Bratwurst

Dry ingredients:

2 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 cup chickpea flour
2 tbsp dried minced onion
1/2 tsp coarsely ground pepper, preferably freshly ground
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tablespoon ground mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

Wet ingredients:

1 cup cool water
3 whole cloves garlic
2 tbsp soy sauce
12 ounces firm silken tofu

Combine dry ingredients. Blend wet ingredients until smooth. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until completely combined. You can knead it for a minute to make it all come together, but it's not really necessary. Divide into 10 roughly equal pieces (for this batch, I broke off approximately-100-gram pieces) and roll each piece into a sausage shape. Place on a rectangle of foil (or parchment paper) and steam all the sausages for 30 minutes.

Cost Per Serving:

10 servings. Cost per serving isn't very high. The gluten and tofu for the whole batch was in the two-or-so-dollars range, and the price of everything else is negligible. So wild-ass-guess is around $0.30 per sausage? I have begun to compile a list of the prices of all the ingredients I buy, so I will start having much better (Bay Area) price references for you in the future.

How we liked it:

someotherguy: "We should have this again, but you should tweak the recipe. Maybe just fry it. It would taste even more like meat if you could find a way to put some fat in it."
serene: I liked it fine. Not more or less than any steamed seitan sausage I've made before, and it's way more trouble than my usual recipe, which is so simple I have it memorized. The method is the same as above, but here's the ingredient list, adapted somewhat (I think) from Jo Stepaniak's Vegan Vittles version:

Dry ingredients:

1.5 cups gluten
1 tsp. each granulated garlic and granulated onion
.25 cups nutritional yeast

1 cup water (or 1/2 water, 1/2 tomato juice, or some combination to make a cup of liquid)
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp olive oil, optional

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