Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

R and I used to joke that we should put "no one is allowed to become a vegetarian" in a prenuptial agreement.  At the time, we ate meat at almost every dinner.  But, over the past year or so, we've cut down on our meat consumption.  Before, a meal wasn't a meal without meat.  Now, about about 80% of our meals are vegetarian.

R really gets credit for this.  He spends a fair bit of time looking up and preparing new vegetarian dishes.  Interestingly enough, I don't really miss or crave meat.  Now if only I didn't crave carbs...then we'd be "in business."

I expected that I wouldn't like this recipe.  Mix a bunch of ingredients together, put potatoes on top and call it a meal?  That's not usually my cup of tea.  But, I was wrong.  This recipe not only tastes great, it has become a staple in our vegetarian repertoire.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie
(Shiksa in the Kitchen)

2 lbs. Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled (I plan to try substituting for sweet potato)
1 whole garlic clove
1 cup (1/2 lb.) dry brown lentils
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup corn
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley, divided
2 tsp vegan Worchestershire or tamari sauce
3/4 tsp dried oregano
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup milk or milk substitute (soy, almond, or rice milk)
3 tbsp butter or vegan butter substitute
Salt and pepper
Nonstick cooking oil spray
Sriracha sauce for topping (optional)

YOU WILL ALSO NEED 2 quart baking dish, potato masher

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place the peeled potatoes in a pot along with one whole peeled garlic clove. Cover the potatoes with plenty of water. Bring to a boil on the stovetop, then reduce heat to medium to the potatoes continue to simmer. Let the potatoes cooks for 25-30 minutes till fork tender.

Meanwhile, rinse and sort the lentils. Pour the lentils into a pot along with a bay leaf. Cover with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and let the lentils cook for 15-20 minutes till just tender.

Remove from heat as soon as they're cooked. If there is any excess water, drain it. As potatoes and lentils are cooking, heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add diced onion to the skillet and saute for 5-6 minutes till softened. Add the diced carrots and celery.

Continue to saute for 5-6 more minutes till the vegetables are tender-crisp. Add crushed garlic, peas, corn, 3 tbsp of the chopped parsley, vegan Worchestershire or tamari sauce, oregano, and cayenne pepper to the skillet.

Stir and saute for 3-4 minutes more till the vegetables are tender and fragrant. Stir the skillet vegetable mixture into the cooked, drained lentils. Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste. Drain the cooked potatoes; reserve the whole garlic clove that cooked with them. Mash the potatoes and softened garlic clove with milk and butter (or vegan milk and butter substitutes) till smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Lightly grease a 2 quart baking dish with cooking spray. Spread the lentil and vegetable mixture in an even layer across the bottom of the dish. Spread the mashed potatoes on top of the vegetable mixture, using a spoon or fork to add texture to the top of the potatoes for browning.

Top with cheddar cheese (or vegan cheddar shreds), if desired.

Place the dish in the oven and let it bake for about 30 minutes till the tips of the potatoes turn golden brown. Increase heat at the end of cooking for more browning, if desired.

Sprinkle the remaining 1 tbsp of chopped parsley on top of the pie to garnish. Serve hot.

Quesadillas & Sweet Potato Chips with Lime

Only a small handful of friends even know that I have a food blog. Usually when I take pictures of food around friends, they just chalk it up to me being strange.  But, when I invited friends for dinner a couple of weekends ago and started taking pictures, they immediately said, "Do you have a food blog?"

Uhhh....what?  I'm just taking pictures...why would you assume that I have a...what are they called....a food blog?

Yeah.  I'm not a good liar.

For this meal, I wanted to be as close to vegan as possible.  I knew that my guests would eat dairy products when out at friends, but I'd really prefer to make my guests feel as comfortable (and unconflicted) as possible when eating at my home.

As an appetizer, I served some melba rounds with preserved bruschetta.  Everyone that I serve this bruschetta to seems to really like it.  Personally, I'm not a big fan.

For the main, I wanted to do something interactive.  I think it sets an informal tone while allowing guests to customize their own meal.  This is particularly useful when you have guests that have food restrictions and are fussy eaters.  Of course, you don't get the 'wow factor' that you might get when you put down nicely plated food or even set out a large dish for a family-style dinner.  But, you can always add in these elements in your side dishes or for the dessert.

For the main, I prepared a mise-en-place of ingredients for quesadillas.  The selection of ingredients included black beans, mushrooms, shallots, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, chipotles in adobo sauce and vegan cheese (Daiya).  

Daiya is a Canadian-based cheese company that is known among vegans as being one of the better options.  It started appearing in Ottawa a couple of years ago.  It melts up well, tastes good and you wouldn't even miss mozzarella if you use it.  

The picture of the quesadilla is a bit shoddy -- due to time constraints.  But, basically, we put one fajita shell on the pan, flipped it after a minute and then added the desired ingredients.  Then, the second fajita goes on top. After a couple of minutes, we carefully flipped the whole thing.  I'd also recommend putting a lid on the pan while it cooks just to get a bit of steam to the cheese.


I think it went over well.  The only issue is that it wouldn't really work if you had a lot of guests because each quesadilla basically requires its own pan and you don't want people eating at different times or eating cold food while they wait for others to finish.

In addition to the quesadillas, I went with Noble Pig's Sweet Potato Chips with Lime.

Easy to make and tasted great!  I thought I might have too much with two pans of thinly sliced sweets potatoes (about 3 large).  But, they shrank down a fair bit and I'm sure if I had made more, they would have been eaten.

My guests brought a nice salad (no picture) and the meal was great!

The dessert was a bit more of an experiment. I thought it would be a calculated experiment to make trifle, which everyone loves, but use soy milk.  But I learned the hard way that soy milk doesn't work with regular instant pudding mixes the same way that milk does.  Apparently animal fat (found in milk) is required for the pudding to actually thicken up.  It probably didn't help the thickening issue that I also bought kosher instant pudding to make sure that it didn't have any gelatine in it.  Next time, I'll buy a vegan instant pudding mix.

In the end, I had to head up the milkshake-like mixture and add a lot of cornstarch (mixed into water).  Even then, it didn't thicken up until it cooled down in the freezer.   Thankfully, it worked out (despite burning some of the vanilla pudding when trying to get it to thicken.  Maybe a bit more of a creme brulee flavour than usual, but still very tasty!

I'll leave you with a photo of a recent knitting project that I completed.  A free pattern of this leaf-patterned baby blanket can be found here (if you're a Ravelry member).  The photo on the left is before blocking and the photo on the right is after blocking.

; \

Eating Well While Camping

Did I mention that Giz is an anxious mother?

Evidence #1: I thought Giz wouldn't have any nervousness about our upcoming trip to Australia and New Zealand (leaving mid-April - SO EXCITED). We finally booked our tickets and I sent the itinerary to Giz. Her response: "...it sounds pretty intense to me. Wouldn't you rather spend the night in LA and then continue on after a good sleep?

Am I crazy or does that make no sense at all? Why would I want to be well-rested in preparation for a 14 hour flight? You'd think it would be the opposite. My current plan is to take some night time cold medicine and sleep for as much of it as possible. Any other recommendations are welcome!

Evidence #2 of Giz's being an anxious mother - here's a recent telephone conversation:

PG : We're going on an overnight xc ski trip this weekend.

Giz: Oh yeah? Where will you stay?

PG: In a yurt, like usual.

Giz: Won't it be cold?

PG: No, it's fine. It's actually really warm in the yurt with the wood oven.

Giz: Are you going to take food?

PG: No. I'd figure we'd just rough it.

Giz: WHAT!?! No. You need to take food.

PG: I'm sure there will be wild animals out there. We can just hunt for our food.

Giz: Are you serious? I really think you should take some food with you.

PG: Seriously mom? Do you think I'm going to go on an overnight trip without food? Have we even met?

Giz: Well... I just wanted to make sure.

Rest assured mom. No one went hungry.


It started with picking up a sandwich from DiRienzo's, a xc ski tradition.


I know I've talked about DiRienzo's on here before. It's an Ottawa institution. You go into this corner store that looks pretty run down on the outside. Quite often the line wraps around the aisle of the store. But, the staff working behind the counter are so fast, you'd think they were moving in fast forward. As you work your way closer to the front counter, you pick up a bun (not my favourite aspect to have to select a bun from a bin that hundreds of people root through). You then select a sandwich number, based on the option posted (I always get #6 -- proscuitto, turkey and havarti cheese). The meat is sliced fresh and you tell the staff your preferred toppings (e.g., lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard, pickled eggplant). All of that for $4 (prices increased from $3.50 this year, but it's still well worth it).



After making our way to Gatineau Park, we set off for the yurt (our home for the evening).


This year, we decided to switch it up from the usual hot dogs and salad and make chicken fajitas.

Having everything cut up ahead of time makes this a really quick, convenient and tasty meal to make on a wood stove. Sorry, not a great picture, but it was dark out by the time we ate.

Breakfast was also delicious -- home made hasbrowns and omlettes stuffed with sausage and veggies.



By splitting up the meals between 6 of us, it was really easy to ski in carrying a good variety of food that was more interesting than the usual camping fare.

You can read about a previous ski trip here.

The Culinary Olympics: Dukkah-Rubbed Salmon with Honey Tarragon Potatoes

There's something about participating in The Culinary Olympics that makes me hear the Rocky theme song in my head. I keep wanting to run through the city and find a long staircase to run up.



BloggerAid: Changing the Face of Famine (BACFF) is hosting an event to promote both our sport (food) and mission (to actively promote the allevation of world hunger).

We have until February 28th at midnite to submit a recipe that represents your country to blogs4famine(at)gmail(dot)com.

BACFF has been actively working to raise funds and awareness of world hunger. Just this past November they completed The BloggerAid Cookbook. All of the recipes in the cookbook come from foodbloggers around the world. I have my own copy -- it's a very impressive accomplishment, completed by a devoted group of volunteers.



100% of the proceeds target children and education through the World Food Programme called School Meals. Purchases can be made by clicking the cookbook cover above.

Representing Canada, here is my submission:

Dukkah-Rubbed Salmon with Honey Tarragon Potatoes



The salmon is rubbed with Oregon Dukkah (I also added some paprika). The salmon is from Atlantic Canada. The rub is from the States. But, what's more Canadian than a recipe that includes American-produced ingredients? The rub was nice, but tasted mainly of sesame seeds.



The potatoes are a variation on this recipe. Except this time, instead of a plain dijon, I used a honey tarragon mustard. It was excellent!



This mustard come from Mrs. McGarrigle's, a well-known local manufacturer of mustards/savouries/chutneys/preserves/sea salts/peppercorns. Any food specialty store you go to in Ontario carries a range of Mrs. McGarrigle's products.

The Olympics start in one week. I hope you'll participate in The Culinary Olympics!

A Big Meal on December 25th

For some Jewish people, celebrating aspects of Christmas is a common occurance. Do a Google search on "Jews celebrating Christmas" and you'll find several debates on whether having a Christmas tree (or Hanukkah Bush) is acceptable. It's hard not to feel like you're missing out on something when everyone around you is preparing for Christmas.



Growing up, we celebrated Christmas because there have always been non-Jewish family members. Actually, we probably celebrated it more than a lot of Catholic families (we had all nine reindeer in our basement next to a manger scene, with so many presents that you couldn't even touch the tree) -- a slight glimpse into the insanity that is my family.

Nowadays, I go on a "we're Jewish and don't celebrate Christmas" soapbox starting about 1 month before Christmas. Inevitably, I still get "Hanukkah presents" on Christmas. It's a losing battle.

Never ones to miss out an opportunity to cook way too much food, here's the feast we had at Giz's place.

Spinach Dip

(the recipe toward the bottom of the post)

Yorkshire Pudding

Turkey


Stuffing


Salad


Potatoes

Challah

Cabbage Rolls

Brussel Sprouts

Giz will tell you about the desserts -- there were just as many selections of desserts as mains and sides combined. It's a good thing there were 7 of us The seven of us combined hardly made a dent in the food.

Canadian Thanksgiving

Autumn is my favourite time of year. Although I am a proud Westerner, the Fall in Ontario is pretty amazing.

One of my favourite things to do at this time of year is to walk around Parliament Hill and the surrounding area.

Canadian Thanksgiving is a sure sign of Autumn. Here's some of the meal I made for it....

Last year when making Butternut Squash Soup, I realized I had bought more squash than needed. I decided to partially cook it (boil it) and then flash freeze it. It worked out perfectly as a base for a delicious recipe from Whole Foods Market

Classic Butternut Squash Soup


2 tablespoons olive oil
2/3 cup diced carrot (about 1 (8-inch) large carrot)
1/2 cup diced celery (about 1 (11-inch) large stalk)
2/3 cup diced onion (about 1 medium onion)
4 cups cubed butternut squash (about 1 medium squash)
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
4 to 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (I used this broth)
Sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Method
Heat olive oil in a large soup pot. Add carrot, celery and onion. Cook until vegetables have begun to soften and onion turns translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add butternut squash and thyme. Stir to combine with vegetables. Stir in chicken broth and season with salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until squash is fork-tender, about 30 minutes. Use an immersion blender to puree soup. Alternatively, let the soup cool slightly and carefully puree in batches in a traditional blender.

Along with the soup, I served a pomegranate salad...


roast chicken and sweet potatoes:

Everything came out really well... Except for the dessert. I'll tell you about that in my next post.

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia & Mustard-Roasted Potatoes

I know you're usually supposed to have quick appetizers and junk food when watching football, but I opted for a regular meal when a friend came over to watch the Grey Cup. The Grey Cup is the award given to the winner of the Canadian Football League's (CFL) final. The CFL is very much like the NFL, with variation in rules and field size.

Actually, I'm not a big football fan. I'll go watch a game, but I may bring a book to help pass the time. For some reason, football fans don't like it when you read during the game. Really, my excitement about the game was having an excuse to put extra effort toward making dinner.

Along with Squash Soup, I made tilapia and potatoes. I got the tilapia recipe from Kristen at Dine and Dash, who got it from Recipezaar.

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

3-4 tilapia fillets, depending on size
1/4 cup breadcrumbs or crushed Ritz cracker
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt
pepper
garlic powder
olive oil

Thaw and wash tilapia fillets if frozen. Pat dry on paper towels.
Combine crumbs, parmesan, italian seasoning and garlic powder on a plate, mixing well. On a different plate, pour 1 tbsp lemon juice.

Working 1 at a time, place a fillet on the plate in the lemon juice, sprinkle with desired amount of kosher salt (be careful about how much salt is in your parmesan, crumbs, and other seasonings), black pepper, and garlic powder. Turn the fillet over in the lemon juice and sprinkle seasoning on the other side.

Dredge fillet in the parmesan mixture patting it all over to coat. Place in an oiled baking dish, repeat with remaining fillets. Sprinkle a little lemon juice over fillets and drizzle or spray them lightly with olive oil.

Bake at 425ºF for about 20 minutes or until they easily flake with a fork and edges are browning (you can sprinkle some more parmesan on top if desired). You can also bake these faster at 450ºF.





This recipe was very easy to make and tasted great. I would definitely make it again. Along with the talapia, I made Smitten Kitchen's potatoes.

Mustard-Roasted Potatoes

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1/2 cup whole grain Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick or 1/2 ounce) butter, melted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
3 pounds 1- to 1 1/2-inch-diameter mixed unpeeled red-skinned and white-skinned potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch-wide wedges

Position 1 rack in top third of oven and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 425°F. Spray 2 large rimmed baking sheets with nonstick spray. Whisk mustard, olive oil, butter, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, lemon peel, and salt in large bowl to blend. Add potatoes; sprinkle generously with freshly ground black pepper and toss to coat. Divide potatoes between prepared baking sheets, leaving any excess mustard mixture behind in bowl. Spread potatoes in single layer.


Roast potatoes 20 minutes. Reverse baking sheets and roast until potatoes are crusty outside and tender inside, turning occasionally, about 25 minutes longer.

Transfer potatoes to serving bowl.

Do ahead: Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand on baking sheets at room temperature. Rewarm potatoes in 425°F oven 10 minutes.



The potatoes were also very good. Surprisingly, the dijon flavour becomes much subtler than I expected after being in the oven.

Perogies

Whether we call them pyrohy, vareniki, perogy, perohi, pirogen or dumplings, it's all essentially the same unleveaned dough filled with a myriad of fillings. My hometown community had two very large populations of Ukrainians and Poles and there was always this ongoing banter about whether cottage cheese filling or cheddar filling was the "right" way to make them. At the end of the day - who cares - they're all delicious. This delicious dish is flying over to Potato Ho Down sponsored by Cathy at Noble Pig and Krysta from Evil Chef Mom . I mean I can't even imagine that you haven't visited either of these blogs but if in the very remote chance that you haven't, sit down, go visit and tell me later that you haven't been entertained. If you do, I just won't even believe you.



The ladies' church groups start very early in the morning and gather round a very large table creating this assembly line cranking out literlly hundreds of dozens of perogies. I doubt this tradition will live to the next generation but what an incredible site to see these arthritic but still nimble perogie fingers pinching dough at the speed of light.

This dough is really a no fail dough. It's another one of the country favourite recipes gleaned from the Keld Community Ladies Club in Ashville, Manitoba. It's fun to get a few friends together and make about 30-50 dozen and share them among families. The kids love pinching the perogies too and at the end of it all, everybody eats. What could be bad?

Ingredients:

6 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp salt
4 Tbsp cooking oil
Approximately 2-7/8 cups warm water

Method:

Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Add oil to water and pour over flour. Knead well. Use a little more flour if the dough is sticky, however, try not to add too much flour, as this will make the dough tough.

Perogie dough should be soft. Let rest in a covered bowl about 15 minutes. Roll out thin (as in pie crust) Cut into circles using a drinking glass or an empty soup can.



Place about one tsp filling on each circle.





Fold over and pinch edges well.

Drop into boiling salted water and cook until perogies float to the surface and appear puffy (a distinct culinary term).



Drain and pour melted butter over them (or not) Serve with onions fried in butter or with sour cream. These are just boiled with sour cream on top.

Psychgrad's note: Pan or deep fried perogies are also quite good!

This dough should make approximately 14 dozen.

Note: I don't cook them right away. I put them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and flash freeze them (very important for avoiding one big clump of frozen perogie), put them in ziplock bags and take out what I need when I need it. Perogies freeze very well.

Fillings

The fillings for perogies are plentiful - from potato with many variations such as fried onion, raw onion, bacon, and/or cheese, to meat fillings to fruit fillings. For this batch I went very easy - a simple combination of mashed potatoes and cheese whiz, more or less depending on how cheesy you want them. I could also have used shredded cheddar.

Psychgrad's note: Like, Giz, I really encourage you to try this recipe with a group of 2-3. 15 dozen perogies may not seem like much, but can be very tiring to do on your own.