SXSW

well, i've put this one off, because it's a big one. south by southwest. i ate unusual amounts of good food. something else unusual, this entry will contain a MEAT thing....mainly by accident (don't worry; i didn't eat any).

our first night in, td and i ended up at this delicious pizza place called east side pizza. it was new york style, thin and crispy, and there were tons of gourmet toppings. ryan's roommate worked there so i got the hook up with a pesto-based pizza with AVOCADO on it. check it out http://www.eastsidepizza.com/.

the next morning, we hit up cisco's, a local favorite (according to my limited sources) with authentic mexican. this was my first inadvertent encounter with meat. apparently cheese enchilada is quite beefy in texas.


as you can see, meaty red sauce above. still it was a good crispy taco. for a mid afternoon snack, we were served the most interesting free vegan goodies while we watched bands at emo's. it was barbeque-flavored coconut meat (texture) with collard greens and homemade pickles. DELICIOUS. i have no idea how to replicate this and wish i had the recipe. the collards were vinegary and much less sweet than what we're used to in AL.

we went to some place to dinner that night and i got a veggie burg but it wasn't any good so i didn't write the name down...

the next day i picked up a free veggie wrap for lunch at an outdoor show (not too much flavor but all the veggies had been food-processed which i did like) . that day for dinner i had the BEST MEAL EVER.

blue dahlia bistro. mostly vegetarian, you can peep the menu here: http://www.bluedahliabistro.com/menu_sept09.pdf. i had the porcini ravioli with basil pesto and parmesan shavings. on the side were mesclun greens you could dress yourself with good balsamic and EVOO. so so good.

the next day i had free birds for lunch, a local burrito place. legit. pretty much just a burrito place but it was enjoyable. for dinner we got more east side pizza.

in short, there was much good food to be had. any meals i did not mention above were either mediocre, or prepared by kate, a roommate at the house i crashed in who was a yummy and vegetarian friendly cook.

and unrelated to food though this may be, get your ass to austin if you have the chance. it's FUN

asses of fire

this weekend was my third time participating in the egan's "asses of fire" (yes, it's really called that) chili cook off. i spent the entire day saturday relaxing and watching a big pot of vegetarian chili simmer.

my first year was a disaster. a misguided decision to add rice about 30 minutes before show time ended in panic as i discovered it was uncooked. luckily, it spent enough time in the crock pot at the bar pre-judging that it had softened. we lost.

year two i was much more prepared. i went the route of a protein substitute (smart ground meat crumbles) which i loved, but i think it may have scared people. we lost.

this year i tried to pull out all the stops. 3 kinds of beans, a topping platter never before seen, and 2 kinds of booze. we still lost, but i think it was damn good.

also, i know this has a shit-load of expensive ingredients. normally i would be a bit more conservative, but this was for a competition!

"josefina tequila-face" (vegetarian chili)

2-3 tbsp cilantro base (look for goya brand in the mexican aisle)
2(ish) chipotle peppers in adobo
hot sauce (i like alabama sunshine...i think you can order it online)
1-2 tsp worcestershire
1-2 tbsp tomato paste
1-2 tbsp chili powder
1-2 tbsp cumin
1-2 tbsp paprika
1-2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp adobo spice (basically just powdered onion, garlic, tumeric; don't worry if you don't have it)
3 ears corn
1 head garlic
1 onion
1 serrano pepper
1 jalepeno
1 each red, yellow, green peppers
1 can diced green chiles
4-5 vine ripened tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
3 tomatillos
1 can each black beans, pink beans, red kidney beans
2 portabello mushrooms
handful of rice
1 12 oz corona
3 shots jose cuervo tequila (don't get montezuma...just don't)
1 cup vegetable stock

for the topping tray:

sour cream
taco seasoning mix
limes
avocado
green onion
cilantro
torillas
thinly sliced (pickled, if you like that) jalepeno
queso blanco
pepperjack

the most important thing to remember about chili: it's really hard to screw up. you can use all or none of the ingredients above. it's incredibly versatile and almost everyone likes it. some would argue that meat is an essential ingredient, obviously i'm not one of those people.

begin by tossing the tomatillos, tomatoes, peppers, and garlic in EVOO, salt, and pepper on a sheet pan and putting them in the onion at 400 degrees along with the corn. as these are roasting, dice your onions, garlic, and mushroom and get them going in your chili pot along with the cilantro base, tomato paste, hot sauce, worcestershire and chipotles (i add a little of the abodo sauce as well...this stuff is hot so just follow your own heat preference and be careful). at this point go ahead and add all your spices. i start on the low end (for example if above i have 1-2 tbsp written i will add only 1 and then if i add more broth later during the simmering process i'll add more spice as well)



take your corn, peppers, garlic, and tomatoes out of the oven. peel the peppers and the tomatoes, chop everything roughly, and add it all to the pot. cut your corn off the cob and add that, too. at this point, drain and rinse your beans and add those as well. also add the canned chiles and the canned tomatoes.

add the beer, tequila, rice, and maybe some vegetable stock. really, you just want to make sure you don't add too much liquid. although the good news is you can always cook it off; it just may take a while. i let this simmer at least an hour.

as for the topping tray (as you can see above) just arrange everything to your own personal taste. you can see what i used above. in the left-center there is sour cream flavored with taco seasoning and on the right it's flavored with lime zest (the lime zest was a great light contrast to the dense nature of the chili)

i cut the tortillas into strips and baked those for a nice crispy topping, as well. let me know if you have any interesting chili secrets...next year's competition preparation will begin soon.

creamed collards

one thing i've learned from having a garden: collards are indestructible. we have 3 plants in the backyard which have lasted for MONTHS (above is one of said plants). my roommate, danielle, doesn't like collards because she says they "taste like pickles" (which she also dislikes), so they've basically just been sitting uneaten. blake is here this weekend, so i decided to use as many as i could. warning: collards are also tough. they aren't exactly a quick dish as it takes a while for them to cook down.

another note: while making these on my own without looking at any recipes i decided to add only a few tablespoons of vegetable broth and let them mostly cook in their own juices. i noticed yesterday, however, that boiling may in fact be the traditional method.

creamed collard greens

2 cloves garlic
vegetable broth
red wine vinegar
salt
pepper
hot sauce
big bunch of collard greens (any green would work; up north i hear swiss chard is common)
butter (i used probably 3-4 tablespoons but you could go much lighter)
2 tbsp heavy cream

heat up the butter, vegetable broth, and red wine vinegar then add the garlic, hot sauce, collards, salt, and pepper. cover and let simmer for 1-2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes or so. after about an hour i start testing and adjusting the amounts of red wine vinegar, broth, salt, and pepper, as needed to get the taste i prefer.

when the collards have reached desired consistency add a pat of butter and the cream then you're done.

right after adding the collards

cooked-down goodness
no more greens...

volver

i have a blog. again. i guess it's an itch i'll always eventually have to scratch.

a deviation from my previous blogs, however, is that i plan to THEME this blog around cooking. i hesitate to use the word entertaining, though i guess that's sort of what it is, too.

there have to be at least 12 other broke vegetarians in the world that want some of these recipes.

last night was jamey's surprise birthday party! he said it was his best birthday ever, so i'm assuming it went well. i made some appetizers, and an apple cake. the apple cake recipe i can't take credit for, but i did whip up some pinwheels.

PUFF PASTRY. quite possibly one of the most delicious things ever baked, and useful in both desserts and savory dishes. for my pinwheels, i took a sheet of puff pastry, thawed it (about 45 minutes) then rolled it out to about 12'' by 8''. however, size is totally up to you. i started by spreading a thin layer of romesco sauce (another one of my favorite things to cook with) then adding a layer of sauteed veggies (spinach, onion, carrots, and celery cooked in a skillet on medium for about ten minutes then splashed with balsamic). definitely let the veggies cool as they could make the pastry soggy. finally, i topped the veggies and romesco with about a cup of shredded sharp cheddar.

now comes the interesting part, working from the short ends, take one end of the pastry and roll it up until you're left with a somewhat unappetizing looking log. chill this AT LEAST 45 minutes. you really want it to harden up or else slicing the pinwheels becomes difficult. after it's chilled, use a sharp knife to cut one inch (maybe slightly smaller, again this is to personal preference) rounds. lay them out, bake them for about 15-20 minutes at 350 (i went up to 400 for the last 5 minutes, but my oven is a piece).

what you're left with is savory, delicious, cheesy, flavorful goodness. that looks like this:




below is the recipe for my romesco sauce. they tend to vary widely, but the consensus i've found is that they seem to always include roasted red peppers and old bread.

romeso:

1/2 cup decent parmesan
1/4 - 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 red pepper (feel free to buy this pre-roasted in oil if you want to skip the roasting process)
5-6 sun dried tomatoes, in oil (add a little of this flavored oil to food pro when combining ingredients)
1-2 pieces bread (a couple days old is best, this is for texture and thickening)
4 cloves garlic
3 fresh sweet tomatoes (i really like the Campari brand in the winter when you can't find good large fresh tomatoes)
1/2 cup roasted almonds
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp lemon zest
salt
pepper


i like to buy plain, whole, almonds for this recipe and roast them myself at about 350 for ten minutes. be careful, they burn easily. i usually add the red pepper to the oven at the same time as the almonds then leave it after i take the almonds out and crank up the heat, allowing the skin to blacken and for it to finish roasting as well. once this happens, stick it in ice water for a few minutes so it's easier to peel. peel the pepper and roughly chop it. then, take the almonds and add them to the food processor along with a couple tablespoons EVOO and the garlic. Process this for about a minute until you have a paste of those ingredients then add your tomatoes (fresh and sun dried) along with the roasted red pepper, bread, lemon zest, parmesan, red wine vinegar, and salt and pepper. as you process this, stream in your remaining olive oil until the mixture is at your desired consistency.

you can use this sauce in SO many ways. i love it on roasted asparagus, tossed with any kind of pasta, as a sauce for seafood, or on the pinwheels. if you make a large quantity and want to store it in the fridge, pour a thin layer of olive oil over the top to preserve it for a much longer period.