15 Minute Vegetarian Stroganoff

Following yet another Sunday of absurd food and alcohol (see Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Muffins) and a conversation with my sister who had just watched Fed Up, I decided it was time to take some action if I had any hopes of hitting my goal of being in the best shape of my life when I turn 30 in less than 9 months (which, given my eating habits during my near constant work travel, is quite the optimistic goal). Step one involves cooking more (and better) for myself (and all you faithful readers who have surely felt like your lives were missing something vital lately), while step two includes finding the time and energy to work out a lot more than I have been. So begins the quest to get back in shape (thanks, stupid ACLs).

Vegetarian Stroganoff
Adapted from Amuse Your Bouche
Servings: 3
Time: 15 minutes

I was almost certain the pan would overflow

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
12 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced thin
1 package Gardein beefless tips
1/4-1/2 cup vegatable stock
1 tbsp smoked paprika
Black pepper to test
Red chili flakes to taste
salt to taste
Vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (Annie's has one)
3 tbsp reduced fat sour cream
Parsley (optional)
Noodles or rice

1. Saute the onion, garlic, mushrooms, and beefless tips in olive oil over medium heat for 5-10 minutes until softened.
2. Stir in the veggie stock, smoked paprika, black pepper, red chili flakes, salt and vegetarian Worcestershire sauce (normal has anchovies in it). Cook for an additional 5 minutes.
3. Mix in the sour cream and parsley when ready to serve. 
4. Scoop on top of rice or noodles and enjoy.
5. Spend more time writing the blog post than cooking the meal.

Properly cooked down goodness.

In order to begin my more frequent cooking quest, I was going to have to find something tasty and fast. This stroganoff seemed like just the ticket. In half the time it takes to watch a sitcom, I had a hearty, healthy meal ready to devour. The dish had a great hint of smokiness from the paprika and a little kick from the red chili flakes, but it had a few areas that needed improvement. I made the mistake of buying the mushrooms pre-sliced, which led to them being a little too thick and taking over a lot of bites. Additionally, the texture of the rice was less than ideal, and the dish would have greatly benefited from some slippery noodles. All-in-all, though, the dish was definitely worth the (lack of) effort and deserves a second test run with the new insight.

Check back tomorrow night as I attempt to hit a streak of three straight days of cooking with aloo gobi.

Recipe Revisited: Sausage & Mushroom Cannelloni

As we ventured into the heart of Houston in search of food on Easter Sunday, we were constantly shutout at closed venue after closed venue (seriously, Chipotle, you can't be that holy). We knew we would have to take matters into our own hands and make a spectacular Easter Family Dinner. We also knew that we were feeling quite lazy (as my sweat pants could attest), so the bachelor staple spaghetti quickly came to the forefront of our discussion. Seeing how it was a special day, I decided we should make a more spectacular pasta with help from one of my first posts, a transformed spinach and mushroom cannelloni.


Cannelloni Noodles
Adapted from All Recipes
Previously Seen in Spinach & Mushroom Cannelloni
Servings: 15 noodles
Time: 20 minutes

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups water
6 eggs
1 tsp salt

1. Whisk the ingredients together in a large bowl until there are no lumps.
2. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into a lightly greased frying pan over medium heat and move in a circular motion to evenly spread.
3. Cook until the top begins to change color and thicken then remove to a plate. They will keep cooking once removed, so wait to stack them on top of one another until the tops are completely done.

These noodles are ridiculously delicious and practically melt in your mouth. Even after making these twice, I can't believe that cooking what is essentially a noodle pancake has such fantastic results. I upped the salt for this go around to bump the flavor a little, and it worked wonderfully. Just make sure that when you cook these, you take them off before they're fully cooked so the backside doesn't get too hard. If cannelloni isn't your thing, these extremely worthwhile noodles could also be utilized for a lasagna.

Mushroom, Zucchini, Sausage & Cheese Filling

Time: 30 minutes

Olive Oil

Butter

Onion, diced

Garlic, minced

Sweet Italian sausage, ground

Salt and Pepper to taste

Red pepper flakes

Mushrooms, sliced

Zucchini, chopped

Jalapeno, chopped and seeded

Garlic Powder

Dried Basil

Oregano

Ricotta cheese

Mozzarella cheese, grated

Pasta sauce (I suggest tomato and basil or vodka sauce) 

Luckily, the ugly filling gets covered up by the shell.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Brown the sweet ground Italian sausage in olive oil with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Set aside.
3. Sauté the onion, garlic, mushroom and zucchini in olive oil with salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried basil and oregano until tender.
4. Mix in the sausage and pasta sauce and cook until the sauce is warmed.
5. Spread a little sauce (try to use mostly sauce and save the meat and veggies for the filling) over the bottom of baking dishes.
6. Mix the sauce (go for mostly the meat and veggies this time) with the cheeses for a two to one ratio of cheese to sauce in a separate bowl.
7. Fill each cannelloni shell with 1-2 tbsp of filling then roll and place roll side down in the baking dish. Pack tightly. Place the filling on the side of the cannelloni that was cooked since it's the uglier side, and vanity is everything.
8. Top with the remaining sauce and mozzarella. Bake for 10 minutes or until the mozzarella is melted and the noodles are warm.

The perfect sauce for pasta.

Kevin's sauce creation was the epitome of Italian goodness. The sweet Italian sausage's powerful flavor (including some fantastic bites of fennel) was brought out even more by the onion, garlic, mushroom and zucchini. Yes, zucchini is in the pasta sauce. I've noticed that green veggies actually go pretty well with your typical tomato sauces, so this is definitely something I want to experiment with in the future. Additionally there was a nice, subtle kick from the red pepper flakes and jalapeno that managed to enhance the flavor without distracting from it.

Naked noodles

Ricotta and mozzarella aren't the most commanding cheeses but they round out the filling brilliantly. The ricotta helps create a nice creamy and somewhat fluffy component, while the mozzarella (especially the cheese on top) helps push this almost toward a lasagna style.  Feel free to vary the ratio of cheese to meat and veggies, but I would definitely err toward the side of cheese for a more traditional approach.

Two giant casserole dishes filled for 3 hungry men.

As amazing as I thought the original spinach and mushroom cannelloni was (and I highly recommend it for a great vegetarian Italian night), this latest iteration absolutely blew Easter dinner away (thanks largely to the fact that I knew exactly how to handle the noodles this time). This was definitely a quick and easy way to turn a standard Italian night into something fresh and exciting that was just absolutely bursting with flavor.

A Very Vegan Christmas: "Oyster" Patties

No good Southern feast would be complete without some oyster patties for appetizers. They truly are our pigs in a blanket. There’s nothing not to love with a wonderfully flaky outer pastry encompassing a fantastic inner oyster filling. You may be asking yourself “How can the vegan Christmas include a dish known as oyster patties?” Well, the simple answer comes thanks to the magic of mushrooms.

The oyster mushroom lives up to its name.

Vegan "Oyster" Patties
Modified from Haydel's Bakery
Servings: 6 overstuffed patties
Time: 35 minutes

Proper "oyster" size

6 large vegan puff pastries (Pepperidge Farm makes good ones)
1 small onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup oyster mushrooms, chopped to oyster size
1 can cream of mushroom soup
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup Daiya cheese
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Salt and Pepper to taste

The puff pastry also reaaaaallllllly lives up to its name.

1. Prepare the puff pastries as directed on the box.
2. Sauté the onions, bell pepper and garlic in oil until they become tender.
3. Add the mushrooms and cook until tender.
4. Stir in the cream of mushroom soup, salt and pepper and bring to a light boil.
5. Mix in the vegan cheese, yeast and bread crumbs and stir until melted. This should yield an almost thick pudding like consistency which can be altered by adding more bread crumbs.
6. Spoon the mixture into the puff pastry shells and bake for another 5-10 minutes at 350.

Cheese and bread crumbs- the perfect toppings for any dish.

Our oyster mushrooms provided the perfect consistency and flavor for our appetizers. Seriously, I wouldn’t have known these weren’t the real deal if I hadn’t help make them. Our warm gooey mushroom based filling was an absolute pleasure to bite into when surrounded by the always magnificent and buttery puff pastry. Typically, these are much smaller, so each bite would have an even greater ratio of puff pastry to filling. Our large version was just as delicious and helped imitate a main course better. It also provided the perfect accompaniment to our milanesa that made this appetizer centered dinner into a complete and utterly satisfying meal. That combined with our fantastic champagne punch (recipe to come in time for your New Year's Eve party) and some Die Hard made for a splendid Christmas Eve.

And then Reginald VelJohnson showed up, and victory was assured.

Sabado Gigante Part 2: Portobello and Gardein Fajitas with Special Salsas

¿Dónde está la biblioteca?

Sadly, man cannot live on cake alone (I'm working on a magic science pill to give you all those other nutrients so you can), so we were forced to make an actual dinner to go with my flan on Saturday. The plan was originally to make some grilled chicken fajitas, but one of our guests was vegetarian, which allowed me to reach back to my cooking roots and prepare a meal worthy of my sister's kitchen. I prepared portobello mushroom (the steak of the veggie world) and gardein (faux chicken) fajitas with the help of Kevin's grillmaster skills. Since last week's Top Chef featured a sauce quick fire challenge, I was dead set on prepping two outstanding salsas to bring out the flavor in the fajitas: a creamy salsa verde and a honey chipotle lime salsa.

Portobello Mushroom and Gardein Fajitas
Servings: About 12-15 fajitas

Grilling portobellos is pretty easy

Time: 20 minutes

4 Portobello Mushroom Caps
4 Gardein chicken patties, defrosted
Butter
Fajita Seasoning
Cayenne or crushed red pepper
Green bell pepper, sliced
Onion, sliced
Garlic, minced
Olive Oil
Cumin
Tortillas
Salsa (recipes follow)

From far away it even looks like steak.

1. Prep the faux meat! This can either take place on a grill or in a frying pan with some olive oil. 
2. Clean the portobello mushrooms and remove the stems. Cut a shallow cross into the tops of the caps to help them absorb flavors. Place about half a tbsp of butter on top of each and grill with the lid closed for about five minutes or until the butter is sufficiently melted. Then flip the mushrooms, add more butter and grill closed for another five minutes or until the mushrooms are tender. Slice and serve.
3. Season the gardein patties with cumin, fajita seasoning and cayenne or red pepper for spice. Grill for about five minutes per side or until grill marks form and the patties are heated throughout. Slcie and serve.
4. Saute the bell pepper and onion in olive oil or butter with some minced garlic until the veggies become soft and fragrant.
5. Warm the tortillas on the grill or in a frying pan then top with your "meat", veggies and salsa and enjoy.

I'm an even bigger fan of gardein now that I've had it grilled.

Luckily, I was able to avoid being arrested in Texas due to serving vegetarian options. Both the portobello mushrooms and gardein patties were packed with incredible flavor from the grill. Even the carnivorous folk devoured them. By themselves, the fajitas were amazing, but my two special salsas really helped them pack a wallop. 

Salsa Verde

2 avocados

10 tomatillos, stems removed

3 cloves garlic

2 jalapenos, stems removed

1 handfull of cilantro

Salt to taste

8 oz sour cream

1 tsp fajita seasoning

The sour cream will mellow it out a lot, so make sure you have enough jalapeno.

1. Cook the jalapeno and tomatillos in boiling water until the tomatillos turn to become a dull brown (about 10 minutes). 
2. Combine the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. 
3. Chill in the fridge for 30-60 minutes and serve.

The salsa verde is perfect for dipping tortilla chips in while you wait for your fajitas. This restaurant standard is delightfully creamy with just the right kick from the jalapenos. The cilantro also plays a key role to make this a salsa to remember. Feel free to vary the amount of sour cream and jalapeno to control consistency and heat. Make sure display some patience and chill it because it's even more amazing cold.

Honey Chipotle Lime Salsa

12 oz.  tomato paste

1 tsp chipotle powder

Juice of one lime

1 tbsp olive oil

1-2 tbsp honey

Salt to taste

Water to desired consistency

Kevin's hand modeling career is really starting to take off.

1. Combine the tomato paste and chipotle powder in a sauce pan over medium-low heat. 
2. Mix in the olive oil, lime juice and honey until smooth. 
3. Add water to thin the salsa and let cook for five minutes.

My honey chipotle lime salsa was the star of the meal. It has just the right Tex-Mex balance of sweet and spicy that forces you to eat an extra fajita or two just so you can enjoy more of it (not that I say that from experience or anything...). Sadly, the recipe didn't produce much since I didn't want to water down the flavors heavily, so it quickly became extinct.

Just another typical night filled with special guests at my apartment.

Fajita night was the most wonderful kind of success: the kind that ends with us all feeling disgusting and unable to move from the couch. I'm just glad we all managed to somehow roll over long enough to finish it all off with my flan.

The Kennair-Kuelbsian Supremacy: Grapefruit Infused Risotto with Pear Slices

The scallops were great, but the gold star went to the risotto.

Now that I've cleverly built up your anticipation for the risotto recipe (read: was busy), it's time to unleash it. This recipe gives you the base for any standard risotto (minus the grapefruit), so you should try to experiment with different infusions and let me know how it goes.

For added comedic effect, squirt in your eye.

Grapefruit Infused Risotto 

Servings: 4
Time: 50 minutes

6 Mushrooms, thinly sliced
Mushroom Broth
Butter
1/4 of an onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 cup arborio rice
Grapefruit (juice and zest)
White wine
1 pear, sliced
Manchego cheese
Mint for garnish

Proper broth technique.

1. First get your mushroom broth heated (note you could also substitute veggie broth). If you don't have mushroom broth, just take some mushrooms and put them in a pot with water and salt or a bouillon cube. Once the broth is warm, keep it hot over low heat.
2. Sauté the garlic, onion and mushrooms in butter over medium-low until soft. 
3. Stir in the rice and cook for another minute.
4. Add about half a cup of white wine, some grapefruit zest (we found that just taking small chunks worked really well instead of actually zesting it), and a little bit of grapefruit juice (about 3 pieces of grapefruit "meat" not entire grapefruits). Stir frequently.
5. Once the white wine is mostly absorbed, spoon in about half a cup to a cup of veggie broth. Keep stirring. You want to let the risotto absorb the wine and broth but never let it dry up.
6. Continue adding in veggie broth and small amounts of wine until the risotto becomes creamy. Just taste it. Once the rice is no longer crunchy, you're good to go. This will probably take 4-5 cups of broth, and you should keep adding it in 1/2 cup increments. Remember to keep stirring.
7. Turn off the heat and stir in the manchego cheese. 
8. Serve and top with pear and mint.

It takes a while, but on the plus side, all the stirring serves as our workout for the day.

At first, I was pretty worried about the prospect of grapefruit in my risotto. I don't even like grapefruit on its own, so the last thing I wanted was it destroying one of the greatest rice dishes. It ended up working surprisingly well. The juice showed up nicely on the back end. Also, our decision to use small chunks of the zest instead of actually zesting it gave the effect of having two (equally awesome) risottos. Half the bites had that extra kick of grapefruit and half didn't, so it kept it interesting. The pear and mint topping was also fantastic. The pears gave a little bit of crispness, and both added a level of refreshment.

To balance the creaminess of the risotto and the scallops, we made a very earthy salad. We just mixed spinach, sliced mushrooms, tomato, pear and walnuts. Thanks to the other dishes, I thought this worked wonderfully without the need for dressing, but feel free to add some vinaigrette.

I definitely don't have too much free time.

My first cooking adventure with Kevin already led to two of my favorite recipes, so really things can only go downhill from here.