Tag Archives: menu

Vegan Dinner + Asparagus with Couscous

5 Oct

Just back from New York – what an amazing trip! Had lunch at Per Se on Saturday, and will review it soon. Friday was great fun too. I had my very curly hair cut at Ouidad – she is the Goddess of Curly Hair, and an incredible inspiration. And because this was New York, and I was having a wonderful time, I stopped in at Dean and Deluca on my way home and browsed.

Dinner!Oh that place is just a total culinary paradise. I wandered around for an hour, just inhaling the aromas, and browsing everything. If I had more room in my suitcase, I would have bought the store! It was as if I was in a curated foodie dream … the olive oils, the truffles, the ice creams, the cheeses… and the fruits and vegetables! Of course it was terrifically expensive, but so beautiful. I found such fresh fruits and vegetables – everything perfect, and at its peak. When I got home, I decided to study what I had bought and treat it with great simplicity and respect.

My hostess, and dear friend T, is a vegan. I wanted to make her dinner, and it was a cold and stormy night, so I was inspired by the end of summer wealth of fruit and vegetables available at Dean and Deluca. I wanted to make a meal full of strong sensuous flavours that would not overwhelm us, and yet would nourish the senses. It was such a pleasure to cook with this produce, at its height of freshenss. It was easy to make something bright and beautiful. We had:

  • Eggplant (aubergine) dip made from roasted eggplant, tomatoes and virgin olive oil
  • Beautiful fresh bread
  • Fresh figs (I was going to poach them in white wine, but I tasted them, and they were so perfect, I decided to leave them in their glory)
  • Roasted baby heirloom tomatoes and garlic, with fresh basil. Very easy and very quick – 200C (400F) oven – pop in a tray of sliced tomatoes, garlic and basil, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Roast until the entire house is scented and everything is soft and slightly burnt, and luscious.
  • Hand rolled couscous with asparagus, mint, basil and meyer lemon
  • Reisling poached pear sorbet by Jeni’s Ice Creams (I had a Salty Caramel for non-vegan me which was mind blowing) – you can order for delivery!

For the asparagus with couscous, which will serve four, or two, with leftovers for the weekend, you will need:

  • 1 bunch fresh organic asparagus (about 1 – 2 cups)
  • Salt and pepper
  • Olive oil
  • 1 cup couscous (I used this amazing hand rolled couscous but garden variety is just fine!)
  • 1 bunch fresh organic mint (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1 bunch fresh organic basil (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1 Meyer lemon

Prepare the asparagus first. For each stalk, snap the bottom off with your hands. The asparagus will snap naturally, and you will be left with shortened stalks, but the best part. Discard the bottom bits.

Chop the asparagus into 2 inch or so sections. Boil about 1 cup of water in a medium saucepan on high heat. Add a bit of salt. Dunk the asparagus into the boiling water. Watch carefully. The asparagus will turn bright green. You want to remove it from the water almost as soon as it cooks – taste and see but I usually only leave it in for a minute or two. This ensures its very fresh, slightly crisp and yet cooked. The asparagus we had was sweet and very pure tasting without any adornment.

Use a sieve if you have it and take the asparagus out of its hot water bath and immediately dunk it in ice water or put it in a bowl and run cold water over – this will stop the cooking process. If you can, save the water the asparagus was cooked in for the couscous. Once the asparagus has been well cooled, set aside in a little bowl.

Using the same saucepan (and the same water if youre lucky), prepare the couscous. You will usually need about 1 1/2 cups of water to 1 cup of couscous, but follow directions on the package. I usually add a dollop of extra virgin olive oil to the boiling water for flavour and a sprinkle of salt. Once the water is boiling, add the couscous, stir, and take off heat. Cover, and let stand, steaming quietly to itself, for about 5 – 10 minutes. Once the couscous has absorbed all the water, take the lid off, and fluff. It will then be ready to serve.

While the couscous is absorbing all its water, chop the mint and basil fine and set aside. Grate the skin of the lemon, and set aside. Squeeze at least 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and set aside.

I thought I would spice this up with some Moroccan spices, dark and dusky, but the flavours were so clean and beautiful, I left them out completely!

Couscous!Once the couscous is ready, stir in the mint, basil, lemon zest and lemon juice. Taste for salt, and if you want, add a teaspoon of olive oil for depth of flavour. Let stand for a few minutes to come to room temperature, and then stir in the asparagus. Serve at room temperature.

This is the perfect last hurrah of summer!

Please forgive the iPod photos! I forgot my camera!

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Birthday Party! Pink White Chocolate Frosting!

26 Sep

by Julia

Today was Z’s 1st Birthday Party! It was a group effort – I baked, MZ designed, organised, invited and created all the gifts, BSA Quality Controled and Julia arranged the flowers (arent they gorgeous?!). We are all full on exhausted. But it was so much fun! We made a lasting memory for Z – which is what birthdays should be about – memory, friends, and wonderful times together.

With loads of goodies

This was the birthday table… loaded with pink heart cookies, glittering pink flower cupcakes, a spinach and artichoke dip, tea sandwiches and a bottle for Z! All, of course, in a girly pink and lace colours. Very pretty.

It all looked really pretty, and tasted good too…

For Z

The cupcakes were lovely – fluffy and imbued with vanilla. It really makes a difference when you add real vanilla bean to a recipe. The tiny flecks of vanilla seed were gorgeous, and the vanilla frosting was tinted pink, with India Tree natural food colours. The decorations were all natural – and gorgeous!

Galore!

For the children, we had a red chili pinata filled with candy… And a cupcake station. We had frosted but undecorated cupcakes…

Cupcakes

And a cupcake tin filled with edible glitter and sparkles and hearts and stars

For Cupcakes

There were a lot of busy bees making beautiful creations!

Decorating

The Birthday Cake was quite insanely pink. I think this was about 15,000 smushed fairies worth of pink and glitter. (Photo courtesy of PFW)

1!

The cake itself was a buttermilk chocolate cake – lovely and fluffy. But it was the frosting (despite its liberal covering of glitter and sparkles and roses and pearls) that was absolutely awesome. It was made with a full pound of Callebaut white chocolate, and it was unspeakably good. I adapted it from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe. When soft, this icing is very very billowy and smooth… it has a satiny feel to it. Gorgeously lush like silk against the skin. But in the fridge, it firms up a lot, which is great on a hot day. It enabled us to serve and cut the cake without worrying about frosting melting everywhere…

Pink White Chocolate Icing

  • 1 lb best quality white chocolate, chopped
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp corn syrup
  • 2 tbsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste if you have it
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups cold heavy cream
  • A few drops natural red food dye (I used India Tree)

Melt the white chocolate. You can do this in the microwave by placing the chopped chocolate in a microwave proof dish, and running for about 45 seconds, stopping every 15 seconds or so to mix the chocolate with a spoon. Stop when almost all the chocolate is melted, and just stir – the rest will melt easily. If you dont have a microwave, melt the chocolate very gently over the stove top using a double boiler if you can, but if not, in a small pot over very very low heat. Stir often, and take the chocolate off the heat before it completely melts. Set saide.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and salt and turn the heat up to medium. Stir the mixture until the sugar completely melts and everything is incorporated. You will have a wonderful caramel.

In a medium bowl that will fit into a larger bowl, pour in the heavy cream. Add all the white chocolate and the butter mixture, and stir well. Add the food colouring, one drop at a time, until it is of your desired pinkness!

As soon as the colour is to your liking, pop the bowl into a larger bowl that you have filled with ice and water. Stir the mixture well, and leave to cool down for at least 30 minutes in its ice bath. You may want to check on it after 10 minutes or so and refresh the ice.

What will happen is that the frosting will start to stiffen up. You dont want it completely hard, so take it out of its icebath if it starts to get very firm.

Using an electric blender, whisk the frosting until it is light and fluffy. Use immediately, or store in the fridge. If it firms up again, whisk until it is of the desired consistency.

Let your most beloved ones lick the bowl 😉

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Vegetarian Baby Birthday Party!

22 Sep

So Queen Z turned 1 year old today (Happy Birthday darling girl!) and since its the middle of the week, we are having her birthday party this coming Saturday. Or rather, her high tea. M + I remember from our own childhoods a simpler time, when birthdays were about bright colours, pretty yet basic food, lots of laughter and running about. Neither of us are too into having a theme for the birthday, though we did tease M’s husband by suggesting fairies, Barbies and glitter pink!

When M and I thought about the menu for the upcoming birthday party, we decided to keep it simple, and bring our own memory into play. I think this is a very important part of birthday ritual. Memories that have resonance for our generation can be passed down to the next through parties like this one. We have a photograph of M’s 1st birthday, a long table set up outside, dogs playing under her high chair, M with her hand smack in the middle of the cake, grinning and wearing a party hat. The table is set with a variety of goodies – cucumber and sardine sandwiches, mee, pretzels, crisps, tiny cupcakes with sugar flowers, carrots and dip, little cocktail sausages. Many people growing up 30+ years ago had birthday parties like this, with games like musical chairs and pin the tail on the donkey.

When we thought about Z’s birthday party, we decided on a vegetarian menu that would be rich with our own memories, and yet updated enough to create new ones.

Since I will be posting several recipes over the next few days which relate to this momentous birthday party, I thought it would be a nice idea to give you the work-in-progress-menu. Any suggestions are most welcome … We still havent decided on the flavour of the cake… but for the rest, a vegetarian celebration for the Queen of our world, Z.

  • Fruit punch + Fresh Juices + Iced Tea
  • Vanilla cupcakes with pink icing
  • Cupcake decorating station for the kids
  • Hummus + Artichoke Spinach Dips with Baked Pita Chips + Carrot Sticks
  • Vegan Cocktail Sausages with Pink Dip
  • Sandwich Fingers – Cheese, Cucumber and Peanut Butter Strawberry + Honey
  • Birthday Cake
  • M+M’s
  • Crisps with Sour Cream Onion Dip

I would also love to make scones with fresh strawberries – tiny pink meringues – biscuits with tomato jam – mini spinach pies… But I have to convince my sister to let me cook! 😉

Food Colouring!By the way, I have done a lot of research about using food dyes (all that pink!) for children’s food. Red#2 is apparently particularly bad for young ones, and so I set about looking for alternatives. I found it in an amazing company called India Tree which creates the most stunningly beautiful products using vegetable dyes. So, for example, in place of the dreaded Red#2, they use concentrated beet dye. Because the dyes come from natural sources, the colours seem to me to be softer, sweeter, more honest. They dont look neon, which I find a bit scary in food these days. And they make every kind of sparkly decoration and sugar, as well as their food dyes. I have ordered a crateload, and will be using them for most of the cooking I will be doing. I will do a review of the products when I am done!

For now though, I will go to bed, dreaming of sweet treats for my beloved niece’s birthday party, and remembering my shared history with my sister. If any of you have suggestions for us, we would love to hear them — before Friday! 😉

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Perfect Dinner

30 Aug

Tonight, after all the celebrations, birthdays, feasts, intricate foods and menus, we had the perfect late summer dinner. Simple, direct, earthy, satisfying. Tasting exactly of the vegetable and fruit that were served because almost nothing was done to them except to cook them lightly and serve them with love. A feast for the senses, and pleasure for the palate.

Artichokes, steamed in the microwave – a methodology of MZ’s which worked well, and produced succulent artichokes in 15 minutes. Served with a sparkling bright yellow lemon butter sauce.

with lemon butter sauce

The lemon butter sauce was made by whisking together a melted stick of butter, 2 tbsp olive oil, some salt, and the juice of half a lemon. We ate the artichokes with our hands, sharing a paring knife when we got to the heart, to get the prickly bits out. The bowl of lemon butter was communal. Truly a family meal.

Finished by the most beautiful, ripe, sweet, honeyed cantaloupe. Cut into chunks.

Perfect summer taste

Unadorned, tasting of summer sun. So sweet, so succulent. M said it was the most perfect cantaloupe she had ever tasted. I agreed. I didnt think it could get any better than that. But then…

and cantaloupe

Vanilla ice cream and cantaloupe. Have you ever tried it? Unbelievable mind blowing perfection.

The simplest of meals… The most perfect combination. How gorgeous.

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Shopping as Cooking

29 Aug

So today was a big one for the family – it was ZPA’s naming day! She got all dressed up and gorgeous, and the whole family was on hand to celebrate. I knew that when we came back from the ceremony, we would be hungry, and want to eat. But I also knew that the house would be full the night before, making it a tad difficult to sort out any before-hand cooking. When there are two boys sleeping 10 feet away from the kitchen, you dont really want to be banging pots and pans, and frying up stuff. What to do? One of the things I do best… Cook with my credit card 😉

Shopping as cooking is a skill in and of itself. Presenting a meal to people, especially tired, hungry, happy people, is a delicate balance. You want to feed them well, and in a celebratory way, but you also dont want to keep them waiting. They (and you) want to walk in the door and be able to sit down and eat within a few minutes. They also dont want to be totally overwhelmed by a hundred different tastes – so even if you are going to make a spread, you need to edit. Sometimes I do cook ahead meals, but when I cant, I shop for the very best ingredients, wonderful prepared foods, and serve my family’s favourite kind of meal – a spread of breads, cheese, fish, vegetables, fruits and sweets that can be combined into delicious bites – and each person can pick and choose for themselves what they want, and how much they want.

This kind of shopping is something you must go into with forethought. Who are you presenting this meal to? What kind of occasion? How old are the people sitting around the table, and does anyone have allergies, special needs, specific likes or dislikes? If you know someone will be sitting down to eat this meal who has a peanut allergy, then dont serve peanuts in even one thing! A smorgasbord like this is asking for food contamination – dont do it! If you have vegans and vegetarians, cater heavily to them. In my opinion, people will eat loads of vegetarian offerings in a feast like this, and much less of the meats and things like chicken salad.

I love shopping for a feast of this kind because it so closely reflects the process of cooking. When I cook, I think about the people who will eat the meal. I think about their likes and dislikes, the things that they find luxurious, their special quirks. I try and cater to those things because in that service, there is an expression of love. Same thing here. Its a way to show the people you are serving that this is personal to them – and you include not only luxuries, but things that you think might interest or titillate their senses.

Plus, leftovers make a wonderful dinner for an exhausted household!

We were 7 sitting down to eat, ranging from 70 – 11 years old. This is what we had.

  • Fresh tomatoes, thinly sliced
  • Fresh sourdough bread
  • Bagels – plain, sesame, everything
  • Smoked salmon, a whole plateful, with sliced lemon and capers
  • Smoked whitefish salad
  • Taramasalata
  • Cream cheese + butter
  • Three different kinds of cheese – a soft ripe brie like cheese, made locally, a sharp cheddar, and a parmesan
  • Quince paste
  • Seaweed salad
  • Hummus
  • Apple cake
  • Fruit salad with greek yogurt
  • Cinnamon mini muffins
  • Cinnamon rolls
  • Ice tea
  • Lemonade
  • Coffee

It was a feast, and it was satisfying and delicious.

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Birthday Dinner!

23 Aug

Tonight was my beloved sister’s birthday dinner. It was a feast of feasts. I am so full I can barely type, let alone remember all the recipes! So am going to let the pictures do the talking. I will post recipes soon, I promise! Happy Birthday beloved MZ!

By the way, I decided that everything was going to be served cold or at room temperature except for the mushroom pie, which came hot from the oven. It is a hot humid summer’s day, and it was just so much nicer to eat things that were not burning hot. I also found that this really enhanced flavour… things just taste better, in my opinion, when they are not at extremes of temperature (the only exception to this is of course ice cream)… room temperature lets the full flavour come out undisturbed.

Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we enjoyed the meal – family, friends, laughter and a whole lot of love.

Broccolini with lemon and almonds

Broccolini – very easy, and astoundingly delicious. Toasted almonds. Broccolini (basically baby broccoli with little flowers) given a boiling water bath for a mere minute or two until just tender. Cooled for a moment in ice water. Then dunked into about 1/3 cup olive oil + juice + grated rind of a lemon. Bit of salt and pepper. Toss with almonds and refrigerate overnight. The almonds make this dish really nutty and beautiful, and the lemon makes it bright and sparkly.

Roasted Butternut + Arugula

Roasted butternut on a bed of arugula. A simple olive oil, balsamic, salt and pepper dressing sparingly poured over the top. Strewn with sprouts, which I dislike, but which the birthday girl adores!

Parsnip Mash with Truffle Oil

Parsnip mash with truffle oil and cracked black pepper…. easy peasy. Peeled, sliced parsnips, simmered in milk. When soft, drained, mashed with a bit of the reserved milk, some butter, salt and cracked black pepper. About a tablespoon of white truffle oil mixed in at the end. Sublime and silken.

Honey glazed carrots

Gorgeous organic carrots – honey glazed, with a touch of cinnamon and a heap of butter. A little burnt, and a lot delicious. Our Mum’s recipe…

Heirloom tomatoes

Chopped heirloom tomatoes, slicked with olive oil, salt + pepper, and chopped parsley and basil from the garden. So goood!

Fig, ricotta + goat's cheese tart

A fig tart from my imagination that turned out beautifully! A walnut crust, with a ricotta + mascarpone base. Sweet wine poached figs, sliced and stuffed with goat’s cheese. It was REALLY good. I will post the recipe tomorrow!

For the Birthday Woman!

Personalised mushroom pie 😉 Portobello, white button, shiitake, and truffle oil, bound with a bit of sour cream, panko and fresh parmesan, baked in a puff pastry crust.

:)

And finally a blackout birthday cake, with lashings of fresh cream.

Happy Happy Birthday to my most beloved sister. You are my heart 🙂

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Abundance

21 Aug

Sunday is my sister’s birthday, and of course I am planning a really lovely meal for her. I am trying to rein myself in a bit because its really muggy and hot here at the moment … and you dont really want to eat lots of rich overwhelming hot dishes when its a thick summer’s day. But I do want it to be an exciting meal, and to that end, I went mosey-ing along to Whole Foods (my personal mecca) to see what was in store. I have never been there during the summer months, and I have to say… WOW. Amazing, beautiful, gorgeous, luscious, astonishingly bright, delicious, fragrant, touchable, edible fruits and vegetables. I mean really, really stunning. I probably spent about an hour in the produce section. I couldnt believe how lovely and tempting everything looked…

These are just some of the things I picked up…

Such colour and texture and taste!

Check out these baby heirloom tomatoes. Seriously gorgeous. I chopped some up tonight to go into a bean (pinto and kidney) stew. They added brightness and freshness and a certain pizzaz to the dish. I just love how they smell… essence of tomato but each one subtly different.

Lusciousness

Peaches, with baby fuzz skin, and a scent like a perfect perfume. Flesh juicy and sun warmed, sweet and tangy and thirst quenching … like your first kiss. Unforgettable. And the avocadoes… bright green and creamy, we had one for lunch today, sliced thin and sprinkled with salt and pepper and a tiny drizzle of olive oil. With sour dough bread, and some smoked white fish salad. What a summer’s meal!

Cant eat just one...

Oh these cherries. So glossy they seemed out of a magazine. Such blood red colour, and tartsweet flesh. Staining our lips red, like lipstick. These cost ten times as much in Malaysia, and when I had these today, I realised the ones at home dont even taste like cherries should. These had such a complete and full flavour that all your senses are satisfied after eating just a few…

Oh My Goddess

These grapes were phenomenal. We had them for dessert with the cherries. Thick skinned, so you had to work at biting into it, but once you did … An explosion of juice, the essence of grape – but greenpurplered all combined. You had to spit out the seeds and skin after, but each bite was like a firework going off. Amazing!

Roasted for dinner tonight :)

Have you ever seen such beautiful kale? Frilly, thick, perfect. Roasted it for dinner tonight with bean stew and rice. What a great, healthy, vegan meal. Simple and yet infinitely satisfying. This kale was so vibrantly green it almost hurt the eyes. And it was absolutely delicious. Earthy, strong, vibrant.

Perfection

Strawberries. I was literally assaulted by the perfume of these berries in the store. I tried one, and they were sooooooo good. I couldnt resist. I got a four pound box first, but then decided may be it was overkill, so I compromised with a 2 pound box. Again, it cost about ten times less than it does in Malaysia, and these were so richly strawberry-ish I couldnt believe it. I plan on making a strawberry fool with some organic whipped cream to go with the chocolate cake for M’s birthday dinner…

There were so many other things – firm succulent mushrooms, tender delicate raspberries, red and green figs, leeks, parsnips, arugula, elephant garlic, bright broccolini… I was totally and blissfully immersed in these lovingly grown and sold fruits and veg. I was so happy today, and I am so thankful that my family and I can experience such abundance.

Speaking of which… I am still musing on the menu for the birthday dinner, but I think its going to go something like this…

  • Poached fig tart – made with a walnut crust, mascarpone and blue goat’s cheese base (all local cheeses), and wine poached figs on top
  • Mushroom pastry
  • Roasted butternut and parsnips
  • Broccolini with almonds
  • Honey glazed carrots
  • Heirloom tomato salad
  • Arugula + Avocado
  • Creamed spinach
  • Chocolate blackout cake with a raspberry coulis + Strawberry fool

What do you think? 🙂

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Memories of a Vegetarian Thanksgiving

23 Jun

A Thanksgiving for everyone – even the turkey!

M + I cooking together, for Z’s first Thanksgiving…

  • Honey glazed carrots
  • Green beans with crispy friend onions
  • Cornbread stuffing with jerusalem artichokes, mushrooms, kale, and dried cranberries
  • Cranberry honey whiskey sauce
  • Puff pastry roll with mushrooms and pine nuts
  • Garlic mash potatoes
  • Red wine onion gravy
  • Roasted butternut and sweet potato with a maple glaze
  • Berry crumble
  • Pecan pie
  • Red wine and honey poached pears dipped in bittersweet chocolate with vanilla ice cream

… and there are only 4 of us sitting down to dinner!

This was the first Thanksgiving I celebrated in my sister, M’s house in Washington DC. I was there helping to look after Z, my beloved niece. My sister is vegetarian too, and with the advent of her daughter, we found that she was pretty intolerant to milk and dairy products. So we held back on layering the butter everywhere, though we didn’t completely do without it. It was a sumptuous meal, redolent of the most beautiful produce of the season. The colors where phenomenal, and M’s non-vegetarian BSA and our TBH didn’t even miss the turkey!

One of these days, I will try and recreate it and post the recipes. But the menu itself is pretty phenomenal!

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