Vegetarian Lasagne

A lot of veggie lasagne recipes call for zucchini and eggplant as the meat substitute, which is fine if you like zucchini…or eggplant, but neither of us are keen on either.  (This is a real annoyance when dining out, as most chefs will use both in what few vegetarian options they offer on a menu).  Perhaps I should have mentioned that the irony of writing a blog mostly about food is that we’re ridiculously picky eaters?

Anyway, this is an eggplant-free, zucchini-free, vegetarian version of the LoonySpoon’s recipe a friend sent me a while back when I was making lasagne for friends who were expecting their first child (recipe can be found here).  I’ve doubled the recipe here since they freeze well and make great gifts.  It’s always good to have lasagne on hand for those nights you just don’t feel like cooking. 

Ingredients:

Sauce:
10 sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed)
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 cups diced onions
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 cups chopped mushrooms
1 pkg extra firm tofu, diced or chopped in a food processor
1 jar (700 mL) tomato sauce (we use the Classico Spinach and Cheese)
1 large can (19 oz/540 mL) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp brown sugar
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup minced fresh basil leaves

Filling:
2 cups light ricotta cheese
2 300g pkgs soft tofu
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
2 package frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry and chopped
2 eggs
2 boxes of oven ready lasagna noodles (I like having extra on hand)
2-3 pkgs shredded 4-cheese blend (we like ours extra cheesy)

Directions:

Sauce:

1. Pour 1/2 cup of boiling water over sun-dried tomatoes and let soak while you prepare the sauce.
2. To make sauce, heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add onions and garlic. Cook and stir until onions have softened, about 4 minutes.
3. Add mushrooms and heat until cooked.
4. Add all remaining sauce ingredients, except fresh basil. When sun-dried tomatoes are soft enough, drain and chop them (fine) and add to sauce. Bring sauce to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Stir in basil, remove from heat and let cool.

Assembling the lasagnes:

1. Combine all filling ingredients except the 4 cheese blend in a medium bowl and mix well.  Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375ºF (skip this step if making freezer lasagnes).
   Spoon some of sauce over bottom of dish.
3. Arrange noodles over sauce and layer as follows: sauce, noodles, cheese filling, 4 cheese blend, noodles, sauce, cheese filling, 4 cheese blend, noodles, sauce, 4 cheese blend.
4. If making a freezer batch, as I often do, cover with tinfoil and place in the freezer.
5. If you’re cooking it right away, cover lasagne loosely with tinfoil  and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 more minutes or until cheese is browned. Let lasagne stand for 10 minutes before serving.

I buy 2 of the 3 packs of 8x8” aluminum pans for this.  Store flat in the freezer until frozen, and then stack. 

Makes 6 8x8” lasagnes.

Baked Tofu Salad

I served this dish with the potato rosti from Rose Elliot’s Sumptuous Suppers.  The pancakes were okay, but not enough to post about (aside from this one-liner, I guess).  The salad however, was REALLY tasty.  It’s loosely based on the Tofu Salad in Terry Walter’s Clean Food Cookbook, but after realising I didn’t have mayo or mirin, I pretty much ditched the recipe.

Here’s how I made mine:

Ingredients:
1 pkg extra firm tofu

Tofu Marinade:
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp five spice
1/2 tsp brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Salad:
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsely
5 or 6 fresh sage leaves, minced
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/4 cup diced white onion
2 cups fresh spinach
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 Tbsp sesame or peanut oil

Directions:

1. Mix the marinade ingredients together, adjusting ingredients to taste.
2. Cut the tofu into 1 inch cubes and place in a bowl.  Cover with marinade and let stand for at least a half hour, tossing occasionally to ensure all pieces are fully saturated.
3. Preheat oven to 425F.
4. Spread the tofu over a lightly greased baking sheet, and place in oven for 15 minutes, turning tofu occasionally to ensure even coverage.    Be sure to save leftover marinade.
5. Remove from oven and let cool.
   Combine salad ingredients (except the oil) in a bowl.
6. Combine the sesame oil with 1 Tbsp of the marinade.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Toss tofu, dressing and salad ingredients.

The great part of this salad is that you can bake the tofu on the weekend, and serve this as a light dinner mid-week in a flash.  We found that the salad alone was filling enough without the potato pancakes, but it could also be a great side dish to any Asian styled meal.

If you’re not keen on the tofu, you could use the marinade on boneless skinless chicken breast (just don’t use the sauce in the dressing after you’ve marinated the chicken).

I’d put a Toughest Critic rating here, but he’s upstairs bathing the dog, and I’ve learned not to interrupt that special time, or risk being roped in to helping.  I’d rather not end up covered in dog shampoo tonight, so we’ll just assume he says ‘tasty cakes’.  :P

Ricotta and Tomato Tart

This is a great recipe based on the one in Rose Elliot’s Sumptuous Suppers (I really do like anything with the word sumptuous in the title). It’s one of my favourite cookbooks as it contains lots of great pictures and more gourmet recipes that are relatively easy.

It’s certainly not a healthy meal, though I do substitute some of the cheese with tofu to cut down on the fat (I said some!!), and serve with a spinach salad. I originally wanted to serve it with an arugula salad, but sadly our small town Thrifty Foods doesn’t know what arugula is.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1 250g pkg soft tofu
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
4 plum tomatoes, diced
1 bunch of fresh basil, loosely torn.
salt and pepper to taste
4 Tbsp Pesto plus more for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Put the ricotta, parmesan and tofu into a food processor. Blend until smooth.
3. Add butter, eggs and yolks. Season with salt and pepper, and blend until smooth.
4. Spoon half of the mixture into an 8” springform pan.
5. In a bowl, combined diced tomatoes with pesto. Add a handful of fresh basil to taste.
6. Add the tomato mixture to the springform ricotta mixture, spreading lightly until even.
7. Gently spread the remaining ricotta mixture on top.
8. Bake tart for 1 – 1 1/4 hours or until browned. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes and remove sides of the pan.

The recipe calls for a sauce made of 4 Tbsp pesto with 4 Tbsp water, but I found it made the pesto too watery and didn’t quite balance out the flavours of the cheese, so instead I added the pesto to the center of the cake. Instead, serve with a balsamic glaze and garnish with pine nuts.

Toughest Critic Rating: 8/10

Panko Crusted Tofu

Technorati Tags: recipes

This is a recipe inspired by the one in Quick Fix Vegetarian. It’s a handy cookbook, though I would appreciate pictures and cooking times, especially in cookbooks meant for busy evenings.

I have to say that as a former meatatarian, I’ve slowly grown accustomed to the single dish convenience of most vegetarian meals. I forget that from time to time, when looking through recipe books that I do occasionally have to make side dishes for things (ordinarily my laziness pretty much eliminates anything that requires pulling out more than 2 pots).

This recipe would be a great meat substitute if you’re having a few vegetarians over and plan to serve a meat dish with other sides. It’s even better if you’re serving with some sort of Asian inspired greens.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp tahini
1/4 cup water
panko crumbs
canola oil (enough for frying)
1 lb extra-firm tofu, cut into thin slices
1/2 of a white onion, cut into thin slices
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
garlic to taste, minced
1/2 cup vegetable broth
juice of one lemon

Directions:

1. Combine tahini and water in a bowl until they form a paste (add salt and pepper to taste). Set aside.
2. In a second bowl, pour the panko crumbs. (I start with a little, about 1/4 cup, and then add more as I need it).
3. In a frying pan, fry onions until soft, bordering on caramelized. Add the broth and garlic. Let simmer to reduce the liquid by about a quarter. Add butter and stir until melted, and season to taste.
4. Pour the oil into a frying pan. You’ll want enough that it will fry the panko crumbs to a nice golden brown. I had to continually add to the pan, so it’s hard to suggest a solid quantity. Coat the tofu cutlets in the tahini mixture, and then in panko crumbs. Fry until golden brown.
5. Pour onion mixture on to plated cutlets.

If you’re planning on serving these for a dinner party, you can prepare them just before the guests are set to arrive and keep them warm in the oven (don’t add the sauce until serving). Don’t let them sit too long though, or they’ll get soggy.

Toughest Critic Rating: 9/10

Wild Mushroom and Asiago Quiche

So Toughest Critic has done his best to get me back into the swing of things by documenting every successful dish I’ve made.  Lets face it, I’ve fallen back into the alternating dinners of eggs and grilled cheese, so it’s been rare that TC has even had to locate the camera.

Foodnetwork Canada has an app for blackberries that helpfully recommends a new recipe to try every day.  As wonderful as it is, it gives you no way to email the bloody suckers and has a built in ‘feature’ that deletes all your recipes every time it updates, which seems like every week.

This was my featured recipe a few weeks ago, that I managed to make before it disappeared into the ether:

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/Main/Cheese/recipe.html?dishID=7036

I’m not normally a fan of Christine Cushing.  It probably comes from my dislike of chipmunks, but this dish was really good.  The balsamic glaze really compliments the cheese, so I totally recommend plating with it, even if it gives you the excuse of drawing happy faces with goo. 

Toughest Critic Rating: 8.5/10

Palak Paneer

3 words: salty cheese balls.

See, now you want them too.

I know you’re fighting the desire to sing Chef’s ‘Suck on my chocolate salty balls’ from South Park, but the salty cheese bites in this recipe are sooo, so good.

If you can’t locate palak (the Indian squeaky cheese), you can substitute with halloumi (which we did because we had it leftover from the other night).   If you do cook with the halloumi, don’t fry it long.  Unlike paneer, halloumi does melt in high heat (though not as much as mozzarella), so you just have to get the outside melted a bit to get the flavour. If you can’t locate either cheese, or want to make this dairy free, use extra firm tofu, but add a 1/4 tsp of salt when adding the other spices.

I didn’t take a picture of this one, because lets face it, mulched spinach with white chunks won’t look pretty no matter which way you serve it.

Ingredients:

1 inch cube of fresh ginger, grated
garlic*
1 cup cubed paneer, halloumi or tofu.
1/4 tsp garam masala
2 pinches cayenne pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
2 pkgs frozen spinach (thawed) or 1 1/2 lbs fresh (will need to add 1/4 cup water)
1/2 cup cream or half and half

Directions:

1.  Heat oil in a pan.  Add tofu or paneer and fry until golden.  If using halloumi, add to hot pan and toss until outside is softened.   Sprinkle with garam masala and 1 pinch of cayenne.  Set aside.
2.  Fry spinach with ginger, garlic and pinch of cayenne for about a minute.  Add cream and continue cooking.  If mixture gets too thick, you can add a bit of water to make it a little more sauce-like.   Heat on low for 10 minutes for the flavours to blend.
3.  Add paneer and serve over rice or with naan.

*(recipe calls for up to 6 cloves…I used 6 and didn’t taste it, but my garlic detector could be dead). 

The original recipe includes directions to make paneer yourself, but I’m a long, long way from feeling the need to make my own cheese…but come the time that I start milking my own cows and grocery stores evaporate from the face of the planet, I’m set.

Toughest Critic Rating: 8.63

Toughest Critic is enjoying his rating duties way too much. 

Toughest Critic served me some sort of store bought angel food cake wannabe foam rubber thing (maybe it’s the dog’s chew toy?) for dessert today….am considering revoking Toughest Critic status until I question his tastebuds.

Tofu Fried Rice

This has been my go-to rice dish for quite some time now.  Originally it was from my copy of Help! My Apartment Has A Kitchen, but I’ve long since stopped using the book.   I was going to make home made spring rolls to go with it, but lets face it, I’m lazy, so I’ll save those for another day.  The Costco ones are a great accompaniment.  I’m sure Martha just serves those anyway.

For the record, fried rice is not the least bit photogenic.  Least it could do is smile.

Again, if you’re one of those ‘think ahead’ people, you could marinade the tofu in some soya sauce to give it some flavour.

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 pkg extra firm tofu
1 onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms (I like to use shitake and cremini)
1 cup frozen peas (or you could use one of those frozen pea/carrot combo bags)
3 cups rice
1/4 cup soya sauce
garlic
1 tsp ginger (optional)

Directions:

1.  Scramble the eggs until the yolk is fully cooked, set aside.
2.  Fry onion until soft, and mushrooms and cook until slightly brown.
3.  Add rice, peas, tofu soya sauce, garlic and ginger (if using) and stir until well mixed and rice is evenly coated. Cook until tofu and peas are fully heated.
4.  Mix in egg.  Serve.

This freezes well and makes great low fat lunches.

No Toughest Critic Rating….he’s stuck eating this anyway.

Greek Rice Pilaf

So I tried making a single meal portion of rice in my rice cooker and ended up with something that was a cross between soup and rice pudding, soo in order to avert any future epic fails, I’m collected recipes that use pre-cooked rice, so I can start getting rid of the containers full in the freezer.

Throw in some marinated chicken to make this a non-vegetarian meal…omit the tofu.

 

If you’re really planning ahead, which I’m incapable of, marinade the tofu overnight in a lemon, dijon and olive oil mixture to give it some flavour.

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped
garlic
3 cups cooked rice
1 pkg extra firm tofu, cubed 
1/4 cup water or broth
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 cup frozen peas
2 cups canned artichoke hearts, drained and quartered (can use the marinated ones for more flavour)
2 tsp dried oregano (or 1 tsp minced fresh if available)
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley
salt and pepper
3/4 cup pitted sliced kalamata olives
3/4 cup feta cheese

Directions:

1.  Fry the tofu until lightly browned and set aside. 
2.  Fry the onion until soft and translucent.  Add the garlic, rice, water and lemon juice.  Stir until rice is coated with the liquid.  
3.  Reduce heat and stir in the peas, artichoke hearts, tofu, oregano, salt and pepper. 
4.  Crumble feta cheese on top when peas are cooked and pilaf is ready to serve.  

Leftovers are really good rolled in a pita.

Toughest Critic Rating:  8.2

Three Cheese Baked Penne

This is one of those dinners that's so good that you really question brushing your teeth afterward because you want to keep that taste in your mouth....I said question...

If you're a meat eater (like me) and eat tuna (not me), then it might make a good addition to the the dish for those 'I can't eat a dinner without smeat' people.

Ingredients:

6 cups dried penne (you could also use macaroni)
1 500g pkg of marscarpone cheese.
2 tbsp dijon mustard
250g grated fontina cheese (I grated a 1" wedges worth...not sure what it actually yielded)
1/2 cup grated romano cheese
garlic*
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add penne and cook to desired tenderness.
2. Drain water and return to pot.
3. Heat the marscarpone until melted in a microwave safe dish.  Pour over pasta.
4. Add mustard, grated fontina, garlic, salt and pepper and 1/4 cup of the romano cheese.  Mix well.
5. Transfer mix to an oven safe dish and sprinkle with the remaining romano.
6. Preheat oven to 400F, and cook for 25-30 until cheese starts to brown on top and the rest is bubbling.

I made a penne dinner (with a homemade Alfredo gruyere sauce) the night before and assembled the dish from the extra noodles so it was ready for oven cooking today.  It keeps well overnight in the fridge as it helps the garlic fully penetrate the cheese...and we all know I love me some garlic.

This recipe is based on the one from this book:  Easy Vegetarian.

Toughest Critic Rating: 9.6  (with a few implied gold stars - insert happy clap).

On an unexpected note, Toughest Critic and I were sitting down for dinner when we looked out the window and saw a new neighbor:

Thought for a second I stumbled into a Jack Hanna special.

Chocolate Tart

This recipe is dairy-free, gluten free and egg free (but thankfully not taste free!).  It was originally taken from the book Clean Food, but somehow made twice as much crust as I thought was edible...unless you have a thing for crust.  This is my altered version, because the cake needed a little 'somethin' somethin'.

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup white rice flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 1/2 tbsp canola oil
2 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
pinch of salt

Filling:

2 300g pkgs silken tofu
1/2 cup cashew butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 tbsp sugar

Directions:

Crust:
1.  Preheat oven to 350F.
2.  In a food processor, combine pecans, flour, cocoa and salt.  Process until smooth and crumb-like.
3.  Add oil and syrup and blend until fully combined.
4.  Place mixture in a 7inch spring-form tart pan and press until even.
5.  Pierce crust with a fork and bake until browned, about 15 minutes. Let cool.

Filling:
1.  Using a stand mixer, whip tofu until creamy. 
2.  Add cashew butter, syrup and sugar, and blend until fully combined.
3.  Using a double boiler, melt chocolate until smooth, and combine with other ingredients.
4.  Pour chocolate mixture over top of the crust, and smooth with a spatula.
5.  Chill for at least 30 minutes before eating.

If you can, find a friend that makes FANTASTIC vanilla bean rice cream to serve with it.  Makes for a REALLY tasty vegan treat.   And just a note about plating, while Nesquick may have seemed like a wise idea to embellish the plate, it's really not....I mean, unless you're a fan of bitter, runny goo (in which case, you might also like the double crust thing too).

Toughest Critic Rating: 8.7

Spinach and Halloumi Galette

Halloumi is a cheese Toughest Critic and I fell in love with while honeymooning in New Zealand. If it's not readily available, you can substitute with mozzarella.

Ingredients:

1 pkg frozen spinach
1 pkg puff pastry dough
1 cup grated halloumi
1/2 cup feta cheese
2 tbps fresh oregano, minced
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk or cream
garlic*
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 415F.
2. Thaw spinach and press in sieve to remove excess liquid.
3. Roll out puff pastry to 1/4 inch thickness, remembering to dust lightly with flour to keep from sticking. Place on baking sheet.
4. Sprinkle spinach, feta and halloumi onto pastry leaving a 1.5 inch border on all sides.
5. Cut a slit into each corner of the puff pastry and fold the sides up around the filling. Use a bit of water to get the corners to stick.
6. In a bowl, mix eggs, oregano, milk and garlic together until well blended. Using a basting brush, brush a small bit of the mixture around the edges of the puff pastry, then pour the remaining mixture over top of the cheese filling.
7. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes. Keep an eye on it. When pastry and cheese filling starts to brown, the galette is done.

Toughest critic rating: 9/10

* I put in 3 cloves of garlic into this recipe, but I've been told I like my food garlicky enough to banish vampires from the planet with my very breath, so we'll just leave it as 'to taste'.

The awesome thing about puff pastry dinners is that they look so gourmet and require minimal effort. If rolling the pastry is too much, you can buy the pre-rolled pie crusts and use that without even touching a rolling pin. You can also make individual ones if you're going for that super fancy 'I watch lots of foodtv' look. Don't forget to garnish the plate with a sprig of oregano and a line of balsamic glaze...or at least that's what Martha would say.