Chocolate orange pie

Laura has a delicious recipe for a vegan chocolate mousse pie (where "mousse" means silken tofu). This is not it. Instead, this is my second non-vegan variation on that theme. This time, the filling is just as vegan as hers, but with some orange zest to liven up the rich chocolate.

The crust, on the other hand, is not vegan in the least—it's the pate sucree from Flour. It bakes up a bit like a crunchy shortbread or a HobNob, which I think complements the creamy filling much better than like a flaky pie crust and at least as well as a cookie crumb crust. And if you're already going non-vegan, definitely top with some whipped cream!



crust:
1 stick butter, softened
1/4 c sugar
1/2 t salt
1 c flour
1 egg yolk

Cream together the butter and sugar until light. Beat in the salt and flour until it's grainy, like wet sand. Add the egg yolk and mix just until the dough comes together (more or less). Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Roll the dough out into a 10-11" circle on a floured surface and transfer into a 9" pie pan. (I couldn't do this without tearing the dough, but pressing the tears back together worked just fine.) Make it nice and even around the edge, then bake for 30-35 min until golden brown. Cool completely before adding the filling.

filling:
1 block silken tofu
1 pack chocolate chips, melted
zest of 1 orange
1 t vanilla

Blend everything together in the food processor until smooth. Pour into the baked, cooled crust, and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving (ideally with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream).

Crumpet pancakes

Crumpet pancakes sound even more decadent than regular pancakes, right? Who would have thought that I came up with this recipe as a healthier, no-yolk adaptation of another pancake recipe. (Although the real motivation was to use up some egg whites left over from making mocha chip ice cream for Pat's birthday ice cream cake.) But these little guys really do have a tender, creamy texture that is very much like fresh crumpets, and they go so well with jam. Lester approves.



This makes 8 smallish pancakes, enough for 2-3 people. Since there's so little fat in the batter, I needed more butter in the pan than usual.

1 c white flour
1 T whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/3 c yogurt
~2/3 c milk
2 egg whites
1 T sugar
butter for the pan

Stir together the dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a medium bowl. Combine the yogurt and milk in a 1-c pyrex and stir until smooth. Gently stir the dairy into the dry ingredients until almost smooth, adding another splash of milk if the batter is too thick. In another bowl, whip the egg whites until soft peaks, then whip in the sugar until dry. Fold the egg whites into the batter. Cook the pancakes in a generously buttered pan, using about 1/4 c batter per 4" pancake. Eat with blackberry jam.

Roasted cauliflower, tempeh, and lemon salad

I finally checked out Beauty's Bagels today. Verdict: they have very nice bagels, and very nice-sounding brunch options. The salad special today was arugula with roasted cauliflower, fried capers, radish, and Meyer lemon vinaigrette, which sounded far too good not to try making for myself. It tastes just how you'd think it would—mildly peppery from the radish and arugula, mildly tangy from the lemon and capers, mildly sweet from the caramelized cauliflower and fennel, balanced and filling with the addition of tempeh. This is a keeper overall, and the combo of roasted cauliflower+tempeh+lemon zest is a keeper in particular.



1 pack tempeh, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 head cauliflower, cut/torn into bite-sized pieces
zest + juice of 1 large Meyer lemon (2 T juice)
2 T capers
1 t fennel seeds
1/3 c olive oil, plus more as needed
2-3 handfuls baby spinach and arugula
1/2 large watermelon radish, peeled, very thinly sliced
1 purple-bulbed spring onion, very thinly sliced
salt, pepper, lemon juice to taste

Preheat the oven to 400F and simmer the tempeh in a small pot of water for about 10 min. Toss the tempeh in a 9x13 pan with the rest of the things to be roasted (cauliflower through oil). Roast until the cauliflower is tender and everything is browned, about 45 min, stirring every 5-10 min and adding more oil if needed. Let cool to warm or room temp. Toss the roasted things with everything else in a large bowl, and adjust the seasonings. Serve with a toasted Beauty's everything bagel (which also has fennel seeds!).

Tempeh hash

Here's a continuation this week's theme of brunch for dinner, and of this year's theme of getting better at tempeh. (Actually, I don't appear to have posted any of the recent tempeh experiments, my bad. The main trick is to simmer it for at least 10 minutes in water or in a marinade, then to fry it up nice and brown.) We ate it with a bit of creme fraiche, but it would be good with sour cream, cheddar, or other texmex-style toppings too, or with a poached egg for extra brunchy action.



1 small red onion, diced (divided)
1 hot dried chili pepper
juice of 1 lime (2 T)
scant T honey
1/4 c water
1 pack tempeh, chopped in large bite-size pieces
5 red potatoes, chopped in large bite-size pieces
oil for frying
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 pasilla pepper (fresh not dried), diced
salt to taste

Make a sauce for the tempeh by grinding 1/4 of the red onion and the chili pepper to a paste, then mixing in the lime, honey, and water. Combine the tempeh and sauce in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer, cover loosely, and simmer over low until the liquid is mostly cooked off. Meanwhile, parboil the potatoes until just barely piercable with a knife.

Heat some oil over medium-high in two large frying pans (or one, but two is better for optimal browning). Put the potatoes in one and the tempeh with its remaining sauce in the other, and fry both until browning on at least a couple sides, flipping occasionally. Toss the remaining onion in with the tempeh and the peppers in with the potatoes, and fry until the veggies are softened and the tempeh and potatoes are well browned. Toss the tempeh and onions in with the rest and flip to combine, and add some salt if you haven't already.

Shaker lemon pie

I've had my eye on this pie ever since Alan made one around Thanksgiving time. I like the filling much more than typical lemon curd or custard fillings: it has a great marmalade-like texture, it's not too sweet and not too sour or bitter (at least with my Meyer lemons), and it's easier because it doesn't need a stove-top thickening step.

Since the resident pie crust expert Laura is off cavorting in South America, I got to try my hand at her dough recipe unsupervised—with surprisingly excellent results, if I do say so myself. She's been planning to do a guest post with a step-by-step tutorial on her favorite all-shortening pie crust, so I think I'll keep you in suspense about the crust until she does. In the meantime, don't hesitate to try out an all-butter crust like this one (which I haven't tried but I think is similar to the one Alan used).



3 medium Meyer lemons
2 c sugar
1/4 t salt
4 eggs (3 whole + 1 separated)
1/2 stick butter, melted
3 T flour
turbinado sugar

pie crust for a 8-9" double-crust pie

Slice the lemons very thinly with the mandolin and remove the seeds. Toss the lemon slices, sugar, and salt in a plastic bowl and let macerate on the counter for at least 2 hours; the lemon juice should seep out and dissolve the sugar into a thick goopy delicious soup. (Meanwhile, mix up and roll out the crust.) Preheat the oven to 425F. Whisk 3 eggs + 1 egg yolk, plus the butter and flour, into the lemons, and pour the filling into the unbaked lower pie crust. Top with the upper pie crust and crimp the edges together. Lightly beat the remaining egg white with a fork then brush it on the top of the pie. Sprinkle turbinado generously over the whole top crust, and cut air slits into the crust. Bake at 425F for 20-25 min, lower the temperature to 350F (and cover the rim of the crust with foil if needed), and bake for another 20-25 min. Cool completely and serve at room temperature, with or without a dollop of creme fraiche.

Wild mushroom crepes

Last weekend Lester and I went up to the Point Arena/Sea Ranch/Salt Point stretch of coast. Not only does this area have miles of thoroughly gorgeous beaches and bluffs, and vastly nicer weather than you would expect—it also happens to be great for mushroom collecting!



This little amusing and informative book led us to identify a swath of mushrooms growing in our cabin's backyard as the purportedly delicious Craterellus cornucopioides or horn of plenty:



My experienced mushroom-hunter friend Trevor concurred, and helped us identify another clump as Gomphus clavatus or pig's ear, another good edible:



Then we felt confident enough to cook them up.

To celebrate the great Brit tradition of Pancake Day, we used the mushrooms as a savory pancake topping (which works because English pancakes are more like crepes). Lester followed this recipe for the pancakes and, celebrating another Brit tradition of self-deprecating pun-based jokes that rely on words or usages I've never heard before, insists that I inform you that he "made a bit of a pig's ear of it." Because pig's ear mushrooms, get it? Anyway, I thought his pancakes came out well, even if they were slightly thicker than optimal because the small cast-iron pan is slightly smaller than optimal.



I cooked the two kinds of mushrooms separately, but followed the same fairly simple procedure for both. First trim the ends, tear into strips, and wash or brush the dirt off. Heat a dry cast-iron pan (no butter or oil) over medium-high heat until quite hot, then add the mushrooms and dry-saute until all the liquid has been released and cooked off; this took a few minutes for the Craterellus and very little time for the Gomphus. Turn down the heat to medium-low, add a bit of butter, and saute gently until cooked through (this is important because even edible wild mushrooms can have unpleasant digestive consequences if undercooked).



We ate the mushrooms rolled up in the pancakes, along with some caramelized shallots and a bit of creme fraiche. Both kinds of mushrooms were delicious, but the Gomphus was more flavorful and heartier; next time I might try drying the Craterellus first as some sites suggest. And hopefully there is a next time!

Pistachio cookies

But not just pistachio—there's also white *and* dark chocolate chips accenting the high and low notes, orange zest rounding out the middle, and enough salt to bring it all together. Besides that, it's just the recipe on the chocolate chip bag (which I always forget is improved by letting the dough firm up in the fridge).

2 sticks butter, softened (salted)
3/4 c white sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
zest of 1 large orange
1 t vanilla
2 1/4 c flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t allspice
1 t kosher salt
1.5 c pistachios (unsalted)
1.5 c chocolate chips (half white, half dark/semisweet)

Preheat oven to 375F. Make like cookies: cream butter by itself, cream in sugar then eggs+zest+vanilla, mix in dry ingredients (flour through salt), mix in nuts and chips. Drop onto 3 greased cookie sheets, stick in the fridge for a few minutes so they don't spread out as much as mine did, then bake for 8-10 min.