Lava Cake....

I used to make these really splendid little molten chocolate cakes...back when I was a non-vegan... (when was that, when I was....normal?? ;) so honestly, I still think of them with glistening eyes, remembering their chocolatey goodness pouring out of a perfectly baked little chocolate cake....ahh. heavenly.

SO. I was fantastically suprised to find a recipe for pretty much the same dish in my cookbook!

Chocolate Cake with Truffle Molten Center and Gluhwein-stewed Berries with Spiced Wine

And they really weren't that complicated! ;) The berries were simmered with red wine and various spices, then thickened with a little cornstarch, and placed under the cake for plating. For making the 'truffles' - I melted some vegan chocolate, mixed it up, and shaped it into little balls, and froze them. When the batter was ready, I just pressed them into the centers, and after they were finished baking, they had all melted in. It was really fantabulous.

I believe my next recipe shall be Warm Venezuelan Chocolate Cake with Merlot-Infused Cherries, Lemon Bergamot, and Chocolate Gelato.

::faints::


toodlepip!
J

Sweet and salty.
Two very different tastes when you eat them alone...but try combining them! Kind of like sea salt on top of truffles...peanut butter with strawberries....delish : ) Like how we always put salt in sweet baked goods - the salt contrasts with the sugar and brings out flavor.
Yesterday I made sweet potato fries, tossing them in olive oil with a bunch of freshly ground spices and S&P. They were so good. When the potatoes carmelized cooking...they melted into their spices creating this mix of salty and sweet...tremendous.
So. back to the blog. I have been, er, rather busy lately, so have just had time to update. A few days ago I made 3 recipes out of my cookbook -
Beet Salad with Red Beet Reduction, Walnut Chutney, Arugula, and Horseradish
Homemade Garlic Tortillas with Tofu Scrambled Eggs, Roasted Seven-Tomato Salsa, and Fresh Guacamole
Lemon Cheesecake with Mixed Berries

They're not all this convoluted - hopefully.
The beet salad was, well ...complicated, if you didn't already figure that out by the title. It was just a very big mess of beet juice everywhere and bowls and bowls and BOWLS! I've never used so many dishes in my life. I loved making the breakfast burrito things - they were really super, only I put too much turmeric in the eggs, so they were kind of electric-yellow. : P I'd post some pictures but currently the camera is hiding.

Oh, and by the way? The only ketchup I eat now is from NYC. It has AGAVE NECTAR in it.

Happy eats!

~Jen

Maiden voyage...

"If I were to be reincarnated as a vegetable, I would like to be a fava bean, hiding inside that little stem, living inside a velvet room!

-Todd English





When I first opened a cookbook titled 'Great Chefs Cook Vegan', I was struck with how gourmet is was, the pasta and limp, olive-colored vegetables that most people associate with vegan cooking had disappeared! It had pictures of artfully arranged plates with food that looked so delicious you wanted to eat it right off the pages...
My Dad had given this cookbook to us (with the hope of reinventing our cookbook cupboard - HA!), after we had mostly gone vegan in our family (always a few slip-ups here and there though... :) While I was perusing the pages, it struck me of how fun it would be to cook through it in a couple months. -not trying to copy Julie&Julia at ALL : D It would definitely broaden my perspective on cooking...and give me some ideas. I wanted to be able to finish cooking through it by summer, so I decided my deadline - end of May.

The cookbook is divided into several segments, with a chef heading each one, and giving a 3- or 4-course vegan meal. I decided I could skip through it randomly, cooking whatever looked good that day, instead of going in order.

So. I have 98 recipes, 144 days. Here we go....







~Jennie