Veeegs: September 2008 Archives

The long foggy mornings of late are some of the few and brief signs that the seasons are changing in California. The Fall, known throughout the rest of our country as a time of foliage fireworks and chilling temperatures, typically means little more in LA than change is coming in vegatable patches and fruit trees. It's a time when our earthen denizens decide to take a break for a while, when we turn our attention to the vast networks of squash patches and winter green fields in anticipation of the holidays.

While the leaves on the palm trees never fade orange and red, we can always affect ourselves via our dinner plates and soup tureens. Here's a little ditty that will prove comforting on the closest thing we have to cold fall nights in LA.

1 kabocha squash
3 cups water
1 Tbs. vegeterian boullion
¼ cup sherry
2 tbs. sherry vinegar, plus extra

1. Split the Kabocha in two using a heavier knife and much care. When you cleave it in twain, use a metal spoon to scrape out the seeds and snot that usually appear in the center of pumpkin like things. If you're feeling industrious, scrub all the snot from the seeds and save them for roasting.

2. Set your oven at 400. Place the squash face down in a roasting pan and add the water, boullion, sherry and vinegar. Cover the whole shebang with aluminium foil and place in the oven. After about 30 minutes, check the squash by stabbing it with a fork. If the utensil penetrates the thick skin with ease, then the squash is done.

3. Remove both halves of the squash from the roasting pan, and carefully remove the skin. Its best to keep the squash face down on a cutting board and slice the skin away as if you were skinning a melon.

4. Place the meat of the squash in a mixing bowl and mash with a fork or a potato masher. Slowly mix in ¾ of the remaining braising liquid until the mixture is more liquid than solid.

5. Transfer the squash to a blender, a food processor, or grab your immersion blender. Add one cup of water and puree the squash until it is nice and smooth. Salt to taste and add another splash of sherry vinegar and a good many grinds of fresh pepper. Transfer the finished puree to a pot, and keep warm on a low heat until ready. Stir occationally to prevent burning.

1Tbs Olive Oil
8 scallion greens
8 oz tempeh,
2 medium knob o ginger
3 tsp. tuxedo sesame
2 tsp. maple syrup
½ tsp. smoked salt
1 tsp. soy sauce
6 ea baby summer squash

5. Chop the scallions, tempeh and ginger in as small a dice as you can muster, and saute on medium heat for a good ten minutes. The goal is to get the tempeh a nice crispy texture, so leave this mixture in the pan a little longer than you might think prudent.

6. When the tempeh and the ginger are starting to brown, add the sesame seeds. When the seeds are begining to become fragrent, add the maple syrup and the soy sauce and cook until the liquids have been absorbed. Finish with salt.

7. Slice eash baby squash in half width-wise and gently scoop out the center with a melon baller. Toss the halved and scooped squash in a hot and dry pan and cover. After the squash begin to sizzle a bit, add a little splash of water to the pan and cover agian. When the water is gone,the squash are ready.

8. Assemble the dish by placing a sprinkle fo the tempeh crumble at the bottom of six bowls. Add one cup of the Kabocha puree. Float steamed baby squash halves stuffed with more of the crumble in the soup and garnish with fresh thyme.

Beverage: The Bruery's Saison Rue
Soundtrack: Pavement, Gold Soundz

Talk about mangia, mangia, mangia, mannnn. On a recent herby Sunday afternoon, we popped a bomber of ale and picked some fresh basil and got the hankering for a sloppy trough of pasta. You know, the kind that clings to the corners of your open-wound of a mouth or the stained bib on your naked body. And you can't recreate that with just some vegan primavera. Now, neither of us at Hot Knives has ever watched a full episode of the Sopranos, but we know all about Sonny, Fredo and Michael Corleone, and face it, sometimes even a surly vegan wants to leave a horses' head in some bastard's bed and celebrate with a puckery pappardelle. This vegan bolognese dishes it out...

Here we salvaged some leftover pulsed walnut "dust" that was sitting in the fridge and coated garden-fresh, sliced vegetables with the nut crumbs and krunk I-talian spices. Sauted up in just a tad more olive oil than you might think prudent, the nuts toast and then glop, sucking in tomato sauce, not unlike a ground beef bolognese. Not fake meat, just real fat, errr, phat?

1/4 cup walnuts
1 zucchini
1/2 red onion
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. fennel seed
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup marinara of choice
1/2 packet of spaghetti
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves

1. In a hot sauté pan, toast your walnuts, toss them with a pinch of salt, no oil, for about 5 minutes or until toasty but not black. Now bust up yer walnuts in a cuisinart, blender or with a hammer. You want a fine dust. Set aside.

2. Heat marinara in a microwave or on the stove.

3. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Once rolling, add your spaghetti and let cook 6-7 minutes to al dente while the veggies get cooked. When done, drain and rinse and set aside.

4. Slice up the zuke into thick matchsticks and the onion into thin half moons. In a large mixing bowl, douse the veggies with ground walnuts and about half the olive oil and mix by hand. Add red pepper flakes and pressed garlic and keep mixing.

5. Add the rest of the olive oil to a large pan and put it on high. Toss in fennel seed and toast for 1 minute. Once hot toss in veggie mixture and sauté for about 5-8 minutes or until veggies are tender and the nut dust is starting to get brown and crunchy.

6. With your spoon push the nutty veggies to one side of the pan and keep the empty side of the pan over the flame and add balsamic vinegar to cook off whatever gook you've left caked to the bottom of the pan. Let it cook down for 1 more minute and then remove from heat.

7. In a large mixing bowl, combine lukewarm pasta with hot marinara, fresh basil leaves, and, finally, most of the nut-veggie mixture, leaving a small fistful for garnish topping.

Beverage: Vertical Epic 7.07.07 (Belgian aged in Red WIne Barrels)
Soundtrack: Billy Joel's "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant"