Product Review- Cambozola Black Label

Dave: Hey gang! Welcome to our first food review. We don't normally do reviews of ingredients because we like our finished products to stand for themselves but sometimes there is an ingredient or a cooking implement that deserves a post of its own. Today, that product is the Cambozola Black Label Brie by Champignon North America, Inc. This is a triple cream Brie with ribbons of Gorgonzola and it is rich.

Lauren: Full disclosure - we like Brie. Any Brie. A LOT. On occasion, we like to treat ourselves to a brie and butter sandwich (a snack I first made for my high school graduation party because I had seen the Horne brothers share one on Twin Peaks. Yeah...I was a weird kid). This Brie does not need the butter: in fact, if I didn't know it was cheese, I might think it was butter.

I was a bit worried about the Gorgonzola ribbon, as I am not a huge fan of blue cheeses. Fortunately, it didn't overpower the Brie, but provided some nice counterpoints of bite and texture to the creaminess.

Dave: We spread the brie on some very hearty 12 Grain and Seed bread just to cut the richness a bit. I might try the next bit with a small amount of local artisan honey (courtesy of Mr. Jack Schuler of Crabtree Farm.) Today we served the cheese with a side order of chilled hami melon to add some sweetness.

We haven't tried the Cambozola Blue Label (which unlike Johnny Walker is a step down from the Black Label) but we definitely give this cheese a hearty endorsement.

Where to find it: Whole Foods, or at Champignon North America, Inc.'s website.

July 23--Seitan Steaks

Dave: Well, it seemed about time to make our own seitan. Now, don't get me wrong, we still love Upton's Naturals and their fine family of products (www.uptonsnaturals.com). It just seemed that we should take matters into our own hands when it came to things like...steak. Why has no one made a decent vegetarian steak?

Lauren: I 100% agree. Cutlets? Check. Roasts? Check. Nuggets? Wings? Burgers? Check, check and check. Steak? *cue crickets*

Seitan seemed the logical medium for a vegan steak, but I'd always heard how hard it was to make one's seitan (took forever, hard to do, etc.). As it turned out, all it took was an hour and a medium amount of attention.

Dave: Honestly, I'm a bit surprised just house easy it is to make faux meat. This could mean the creation of our own vegan honey roast ham...our own vegan prosciutto, even.

Now, the seitan doesn't have the exact consistency of steak; it's much closer to chicken. The people over at Edward & Sons have made a perfect vegan beef bouillon which gives the seitan an excellent flavor. With the addition of a little Liquid Smoke the whole thing tastes like it was cooked over a nice coal fire.

Lauren: Incidentally, I did need a steak knife to eat it...but in a good way. The consistency was definitely that of seitan (and definitely not that of steak - at least, from what I remember), but I bet it'd hold up to a real grill. Plus, it tasted divine.

Dave: I can't help but admit that the addition of fried onions and mushrooms helped.

Seitan Steaks:

1 Cup Vital Wheat Gluten

3/4 Cup Warm Tap Water

Mix the gluten and water by hand in a large bowl. Knead the dough well, until it is rubbery and easy to shape. Separate the gluten into two steaks and place on a lightly floured surface.

Simmer (not boil!) in broth for 40 minutes or until liquid has evaporated.

Broth:

3 Cups Water

2 Edward & Sons "Not-Beef" Bouillon

1 Tsp Liquid Smoke (Note: If using an outdoor grill, omit Liquid Smoke.)

Boil the water and dissolve the bouillon in it. Add the liquid smoke and reduce to a simmer.

Grilled Steaks:

Grill the steaks on an indoor grill until they turn uniformly brown and grill marks appear.

Steak toppings:

1 Red onion, diced

6 Button Mushrooms, sliced

Cook the onion and mushrooms in the same dish used to boil the seitan. Cook until mushrooms and onion are soft.

Serve with green beans, or veggie of choice.

July 20th--"Pork" Spring Rolls

Dave: Sometimes you start with one meal in mind and end up going another way entirely. Earlier tonight we were talking about making pulled "pork"sandwiches with kale cooked like mustard greens. We ended up making spring rolls. "How did that happen?" you ask. I reply, "I simply don't know.

Lauren: Well, I for one have been craving pan-Asian cuisine for some time now. I liked the idea of pulled pork, but not so much the buns it would have to be served on...what about something lighter, like rice wrappers?

Dave: Not to mention, pulled pork seemed a bit too much like our seitan hot wings and we don't want to get too repetitive. (If there is any interest in seeing our take on pulled pork, let us know in the comments and we can make it happen.)

Lauren: Add to this the fact that we were ravenous and needed something we could make quickly...so, spring rolls it was. To give them a little more nutritional value, we substituted kale for the traditional cabbage. Ours are also baked instead of fried, giving them even more health bonus points.

Dave: All in all, I would say this is a nice light summer dinner that can be whipped up in minutes... except for the fact that the oven needs to be at 425 F to get the right consistency from the rice papers. I really think they should have an "X Prize" for the first team that can make an oven that doesn't heat up the ambient air.

"Pork" Spring Rolls

1 package Upton's Naturals Seitan, Traditional Seitan style

1 cup kale, finely shredded

1/4 cup carrot, finely shredded

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, plus extra to cook with

2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger root (ground ginger works, too)

1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon sriracha chili sauce

1 package spring roll wrappers

Vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Lightly coat a medium saucepan in extra sesame oil. Chop seitan into large chunks and fry over medium heat until evenly brown. Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, mix seitan, kale, green onions, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and chili sauce until all elements are evenly coated.

Place about 1 tablespoon of the seitan mixture in the center of the spring roll wrappers. Roll wrapper around mixture and seal edges. (Note: To get a good seal, mix 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water and use it to moisten the edges before sealing. We mostly made rolls, but tried a couple of wonton shapes for fun - the cornstarch mix really helped the edges stay together.)

Place a layer of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Arrange spring rolls in a single layer and brush with vegetable oil. Bake for 15-20 minutes (turn halfway through baking time for crispier rolls).

July 13th--Egglplant Sandwiches with Vodka Sauce and J.A. Fudge Ice Cream

Dave: Sometimes you make a recipe so many times that you think it's second nature. You take it for granted that you can just "whip it up" with a quarter of your brain engaged while you think about every detail of your trip to Canada tomorrow. Sometimes that's true and sometimes you end up with a disaster on your hands. Tonight it just led to somewhat mixed results.

Lauren: Granted, everything tasted fine; there were just a number of those, "Crap, how on Earth did I forget that?" moments. The eggplant was a little well-done on one side, I forgot to add salt to the vodka sauce, one of the sandwiches completely fell apart on the grill, and the ice cream did not firm up at all in the mixing bowl (maybe because I was mixing fairly warm liquid in blazing-hot kitchen right next to an actively cooking gas stove. We've also been having some problems with the freezer).

Dave: I may be being a bit hard on our dinner. It was certainly more than adequate. This is one of our signature recipes. We made a version of these for the DreamLogic Theatreworks gala we catered a month ago and they were very popular.

Lauren: The bite-size format makes them little bit easier to manage eating-wise, I think, although tonight's sandwich left us with some nice breakfast left-overs.

The ice cream recipe needs a little introduction. My mom can't eat dairy, and for the most part, (I think) she's been able to find adequate alternatives for everything - everything, that is, except Baskin Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge ice cream. While we weren't able to duplicate the fudge ribbon, I think we came pretty close flavor-wise. Mom, come over to our house after we get back from Canada and let us know!

Dave: To be totally honest, the consistency on this batch did leave something to be desired, as it did most of its freezing in the freezer. Unfortunately, the freezer just doesn't work as well as the ice cream maker.

Vodka Sauce

1/4 cup butter (we used Earth Balance)

1 Roma tomato, seeded and diced

2 tablespoons tomato paste

parsley

5 tablespoons silken tofu, pureed

1/4 cup vodka

Salt and pepper to taste

Eggplant Cutlets

1 Large Eggplant, peeled and cut into slices

1 Cup Panko bread crumbs

1 Egg White

1 Tsp water

Mix egg white and water in small bowl. Brush each eggplant slice with egg wash and bread with the panko. Place the cutlets on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Sandwiches filling:

1 Zucchini, diced

Eggplant scraps (not skin) diced

1 Roma tomato, diced

1 Tsp Balsamic vinegar

1/2 Tsp Olive Oil

Cook vegetables in olive oil and add balsamic vinegar. Cover and cook another 5-10 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Sandwich composition:

Place a cutlet on your griddle. Next, put two slices of tomato on the cutlet. Shave Parmesan directly on tomato. Cover tomatoes in vodka sauce. Put filling on top of vodka sauce. Shave Parmesan onto filling. Top with another cutlet and press lightly.

J.A. Fudge Ice Cream

3 cups coconut milk (a little less than 2 cans. Do not skimp on this one - go for the full fat and highest quality of milk available)

4 1/2-5 tablespoons Turbinado sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

(Note: If you stop here and add another 1 teaspoon vanilla extract - and maybe a vanilla bean, if you're feeling really fancy - you can make a rich, creamy vanilla ice cream.)

2/3 cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons espresso powder

1/2 cup cocoa nibs

1/2 cup almonds, chopped

Whisk together coconut milk, sugar, vanilla, cocoa powder, and espresso powder. Let sit in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.

Pour mixture into ice cream maker and mix for 30 minutes. In the last 5 minutes of this time, add cocoa nibs and almonds. Remove to container and place in freezer (ice cream will probably not be totally solid at this point). Freeze for another 2-3 hours until solid.

July 8th--Sweeney's Test Kitchen: Falafel

Lauren: A couple recipes ago, the wonderful Brekke asked if we take requests - and we gladly do! She asked for a successful falafel recipe. We've only ever made falafel from a boxed mix, so we were intrigued by the challenge.

After some research, I found that the number one problem reported when cooking falafel was that the balls of mixture fell apart or - even worse - simply dissolved into the frying oil. That prospect was terrifying. Would we create a delicious mix, only to have it disappear into oil?

Dave: That has happened to us even when we've used the falafel mix from the grocery store. How could we make a mix that would hold up to being fried in oil and wrapped in pita...come to think of it, how do you even make pita?

Lauren: Fortunately for us, pita is a much more straightforward recipe with a considerably higher success rate.

So, ultimately, how did the falafel turn out? Well, as you can see from the pictures, they were more disks than balls, something I think could be remedied by more gradual turning with a smaller slotted spoon (I flipped them quickly from one side to the other with a large plastic slotted spoon). And the pita?

Dave: The pita turned out just great. I went with a blend of whole wheat and all purpose flour and vital wheat gluten to give the pita a nice elasticity and a nutty flavor. I also used a pizza stone to simulate the brick oven in which pita is usually cooked. I also tried not flattening one of the pitas and cooking it on a lower heat to see how it would work as a roll. The roll was yeasty and crusty. Serving a batch of these fresh out of the oven on Thanksgiving would make for a most impressive table.

Lauren: So, without further ado - No-Fail Falafel for Brekke (with bonus pita)!

Falafel:

1 cup dried chickpeas (or 1 can chickpeas)

1 medium white onion, coarsely chopped (should yield about 1 cup)

1 1/2 teaspoons parsley (fresh if possible)

1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons coriander seed

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes or hot chili powder

4 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon baking powder

4-6 tablespoons flour (we used all-purpose, but whole-grain or bulgur would work even better)

Salt and pepper to taste

Vegetable oil for frying (we used safflower oil with a little sesame oil added for taste)

Put chickpeas in a large bowl and add enough water to cover them by at least two inches. Let soak overnight, then drain. (If using canned chickpeas, rinse and drain.)

Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas in a food processor with onion and process until coarsely ground (no whole chickpeas should remain). Add parsely, cumin, coriander, red pepper, garlic, and salt and pepper, then process until blended, but not pureed.

Sprinkle baking powder and 4 Tbsps. of flour into mixture, then pulse. (Use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure that everything is getting mixed together.) The mixture should be slightly sticky and not completely dough-like - if it is too wet, add up to another 2 Tbsps. of flour. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

SIDEBAR: How to know if your mixture will fall apart in the oil!

Chickpea flour is sometimes an ingredient in breading dough in South/Southeast Asian recipes, so your falafel mixture will have some dough-like qualities - it should hold some shape when rolled into a ball, and shouldn't stick to your hands like crazy-glue. However, you are working with rehydrated chickpeas (the flour is made from dry chickpeas), so it won't react exactly like bread dough when you play with it. A good test to see if you have enough flour: try rolling a tablespoon of mixture into a ball. If it can, more or less, consistently stay in a round shape, it's good to go. If it's like playing with diluted Play-Doh, add a little bit of flour to your hands. It's better than adding it to the entire mix in case you go too far the other way.

Pour 3 inches of oil into a pot or wok and heat on medium high to high (if you have a deep frying thermometer, it should be about 375 degrees). Using a tablespoon, form chickpea mixture into a ping pong ball-sized balls. Test one in the oil; if it falls apart, add more flour to the mixture.

SIDEBAR 2: How to keep falafel together while you're cooking it!

Even if it is the right consistency, the balls of mixture can still fall apart in the pan if you are too rough with them. It's kind of like cooking eggs over easy in that the center is softer than the outside, so turn them as if you're trying to build crispy walls around the inside goo.

Fry until crispy on all sides, gently turning every couple minutes. Remove falafel with a slotted spoon and place on a plate covered with paper towels. Serve hot on pita with lettuce and tomatoes.

Pita:

1 1/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1 cup All-Purpose Flour

3/4 cup Vital Wheat Gluten

2 1/4 Teaspoons Yeast (or 1 Package Yeast)

1/2 Cup Warm Water

1 Cup Lukewarm Water

1 Tsp Raw Sugar

1 1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Mix the flour and gluten in a large bowl and add salt. Mix 1/2 cup warm water, yeast and sugar and let sit 10 minutes until foamy.
Pour the yeast water into the flour mixture. Stir the yeast into the flour until fully combined. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead well until the dough is uniformly elastic and smooth. Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover. Let rise 3 hours or until dough has doubled in size.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and work into a "log." Cut the dough log into 10 equal pieces and let sit 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and place a pizza stone in the oven.

Work the dough balls flat one at time and place each on the pizza stone for 10 minutes, turning halfway through. Put the pita on a plate and serve warm.

For rolls, leave the balls intact and preheat the oven to 350. Cook for 35 minutes or until brown and crusty.

Brekke has a fantastic blog full of earth-friendly tips and tricks for a more sustainable lifestyle. Check it out here: http://adeepergreen.com/

July 5th--One Pot Paprikash

Dave: We are pretty tired tonight after a weekend celebrating (and exercising) our freedoms with some of our friends. We were lucky to host some friends from Oxford, MS and we had the chance to meet up with some of my fellow Huskies at the fireworks downtown. As much fun as we had, the last thing we want to do tonight is mess around with a complicated recipe...or dishes.

Lauren: Only problem with that idea - we're also hungry. REALLY hungry. As in make-and-eat-buckets-of-food hungry.

Dave: This weekend involved a lot of eating out (notably the Taste of Chicago, Wow Bao! and the fabulous Panang Thai in the loop), so price range is also a consideration. For this recipe, I focused on keeping everything down to one pot, ingredients that cost less than $20 total (with a guarantee of leftovers for lunch tomorrow) and super-hearty comfort food. Looking to my heritage, I thought that some nice spicy Paprikash would do the trick.

Lauren: When you're hungry, why not cook Hungarian? (cue groans)

Dave: The only challenge is transforming notoriously meat-based Hungarian cuisine into a veg dish. The first issue was how to get the proper consistency in my sour cream sauce without any rendered fat in the dish. I decided to try using Cultural Revolution yogurt because it is so thick and creamy. It helped, but we may go all the way to Greek yogurt next time we try this out.

The other big issue is what to put in the Paprikash. I've done everything from all-mushrooms (cooked in bacon fat so I didn't have to worry about sauce thickening) to all-beef and the sauce has always stood up for itself, so I wasn't worried about balance as much as I was worried about health (we also didn't eat that healthily this weekend). I decided to go with button mushrooms, Yukon gold potatoes (skin on) and red cabbage. I also used a shallot because they were on sale for a good price at Whole Foods and we like how potatoes taste when they are cooked with shallots.

Lauren: Given the temperature outside and the stick-to-your-ribs quality of the dish, we served it up by itself. In the colder months, it would be nice to serve it over some egg noodles or hearty wild rice.

Ingredients:

12 oz Cultural Revolution Plain Yogurt

2 Yukon Gold Potatoes cleaned and cut into batons

16 oz Button Mushrooms cleaned and sliced

1 Head Red Cabbage

1 Shallot

1/2 Cup Earth Balance Margarine in two 1/4 cup portions

3 Tbsp Hot Hungarian Paprika

2 Tbsp Hungarian Paprika

1 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper

1 Tsp Salt

Procedure:

Melt 1/4 cup Earth Balance in sautee pan with lid. Cook potatoes until the start to brown. Add shallot and salt and pepper. Continue cooking until the potatoes are uniformly brown and the shallots are cooked through.

Add mushrooms and cover the pot entirely with cabbage. Place other 1/4 cup of Earth Balance on top of the cabbage and cover the pan. Cook on medium low until cabbage has wilted significantly.

In a separate container (I used the yogurt container to cut down on dishes) mix yogurt and paprika. Add more black pepper and salt if you think that would taste good.

Mix together the ingredients in the pan and let cool for 10 minutes. Add the yogurt sauce and heat slowly to avoid curdling. Serve hot in bowls.