Food Network Friday: Chickeny Scallopini with Capers and Lemon

Chicken Scallopini with Capers and Lemon

I know, Friday again? These weeks just keep rolling along, don't they?

Here's this week Food Network Friday recipe, originally by Sara Moulton and called Turkey Scallopoini with Capers and Lemon. This vegan version is a keeper! It's fast, easy and delicious. That is, as long as you've got some chickeny seitan cutlets in the freezer like a good vegan would. If not, make the seitan on the weekend and you can enjoy this in no time midweek.

Chickeny Scallopini with Capers and Lemon
Serves 2

2 chickeny seitan cutlets, about 8 ounces
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons oilve oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon capers, drained
1 tablespoon earth balance
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste
8 ounces spaghetti, cooked according to package

Salt and pepper the cutlets. Dredge cutlets in flour.

Heat 1 tablespoon oilve oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Pan fry the cutlets turning as they turn golden, about 3 -5 minutes per side. Transfer to plate.

Add remaining tablespoon oil to the skillet. Add garlic and mushrooms. Stir and cook until the mushrooms are just starting to cook, about 2 minutes, reducing heat if needed so garlic doesn't burn. Add broth to deglaze the skillet, scraping the browned bits off the bottom. Cook until broth is reduced to about 1/2. Stir in lemon juice, capers, margarine and thyme. Adjust seasonings and serve over spaghetti, garnishing with parsley.

Notes:

We loved this. Really loved this. But what's not to love about seitan, mushrooms, garlic, lemon and capers? And on top of pasta? Perfection.

This made just enough sauce, but if you like things saucy you might want to increase it a little.

Would I make this again? Definitely. Sara's recipe adapt so well that I'm starting to think she might be a secret vegan. Hmmmmm...."Sara's Secrets" is the name of her show. I might be on to something.

Happy Weekend!

New Lick It! Winner and Cool Cups Review

First off, I'm drawing another winner for Lick It! Instead of managing for myself, I rely on Jim to scan the number for me so I can post it, but he's at work. And I'm impatient, after having our DSL down for 2 days. So now is the time and you're just going to have to trust me. The new winner is #28, For the Love of Guava! Congratulations, G! Please send me your mailing address so I can get your book in the mail. I know you are going to love it!

I'm hoping to host another book contest in the near future, so stay tuned.

Now....A while ago I was contacted by Simon of Cool Cups about sampling their product. Rather than having them ship them, I just picked some up at Whole Foods on my last visit. They're available in 3 flavors: orange, peach mango and black cherry (our choice). If you liked jello, you will love these. They taste exactly like I remember jello and have the exact same wiggly jiggly consistency. They are so much like jello that I had a hard time not thinking about the horrible ingredients in jello. That was a huge hang up for me. I couldn't get over how these are so mind-bogglingly like jello. But they really are fabulous, once I let me mind go. I've got to say, jello has never had it so good.

These have a lot of cool things going for them (pun intended). Besides the obvious vegan thing, they are GMO, preservative and fat free. The website says they are also high in Vitamin C and only 95 calories. These would be wonderful for patients in hospitals (where vegan food is at a minimum) or for kids lunches.

Their website is now offering a new dry mix. Having been vegetarian or vegan my entire (legal) drinking life, I'm curious if the dry mix would work for vodka jigglers. That just might be a great summer experiment.

Coming next: Food Network Friday! See you then!

Garlic Scape Season!

Garlic scapes are finally in season! This is my third (I think) year in cooking with them and I love them more each go around. It's a highlight when we spot them at the Farmer's Market. Most people just pass them by, but a few people have struck up a conversation when they see what we're buying. I think they're pretty, but if I view it totally objectively, they really look a little like overgrown chives without the flowers. They might not be dropdead gorgeous, but they taste incredible.

They are delicious in stir fry's (just dice them) or even basted with a little soy sauce and olive oil on the grill. With some of this week's, I made a big batch of scape pesto, which I ended up in using in several dishes.

Garlic Scape Pesto

Scape Pesto Pasta Salad (with tomatoes, olives and FYH)

"Chicken" Seitan Panini with Scape Pesto Mayo

Scape Pesto Pasta with Roasted Tempeh (and tomatoes)

Roasted Corn with Scape Butter

And this last photo, which I think is my favorite way to use scapes so far this year.

Between you and I, I have a dream of moving to Vermont and becoming a garlic farmer. In truth, I haven't tried planting garlic and am a long way from being able to consider a move to Vermont (let alone a home there with room to plant garlic!), but you just never know. In case you're wondering about the connection, I had the best roasted corn of my life in Quechee, Vermont which was being roasted and sold in the parking lot right by the gorge. I can only imagine it with this delicious scape butter.

Here are the recipes for the Scape Butter and Pesto so you can give them a go for yourself. The scape butter is also wonderful on garlic bread, potatoes (or any vegetable) and I'm planning to try it on popcorn tonight.

Scape Butter
1/4 cup softened earth balance
1 tablespoon minced scapes
pinch red pepper flakes

Combine and refrigerate until needed. It's so good you won't believe it's this easy.

Scape Pesto
6 ounces (1 1/2 cups) scapes, rough chopped
1/2 cup packed fresh basil
1 cup packed fresh spinach
1/4 cup pine nuts
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup olive oil
pepper to taste
1 teaspoon agave (only if you scapes are on the mature side)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth, adding only as much olive oil as needed to get the consistency you want. This may be thinned with broth or dry white wine when using in a dish. (makes about 1 1/2 cups)

Scape Pesto Mayo
3 tablespoons pesto
2 tablespoons vegan mayonnaise
Combine until smooth. Besides being a terrific sandwich spread (try it with grilled eggplant!) this makes a great vegetable dip, too.

Now for a little business:

Are you interested in being a tester for my upcoming cookbook? I could use a few more people. If you'd be willing to test 2 recipes a week, please email me. You can find the address on the right.

Lola, please send me your mailing address! If I don't hear from you by the time I post again, I'm sorry to say I'm going to draw another winner.

Coming soon: another book contest! Keep your eyes open! I'd like to get back in the swing of Food Network Fridays, but it probably won't happen until next week.

If you've got some favorite ways that you use scapes, I'd love to hear about them!

Waffles from VB, Ice Cream and Hello, Strawberries!

Second Quart of the Season

That's right, it's strawberry season! I think strawberries might be my favorite fruit. Then again, I feel the same way about peaches. And blackberries. And really good blueberries. A nice, crisp apple straight from the tree....so you get the idea. I'm fickle about fruit. But since the seasons are spread out, I can enjoy them all and love each and every one the very most.

The first quart was eaten in the car on our way home from getting them. But the second went to the wonderful Old Fashioned Chelsea Waffles from Isa's Vegan Brunch. I was really lucky to be a tester for that book and you can see a lot of the stuff I made here. Jess of Get Sconed is always so amazing to post all her tester stuff in one ginourmous blog post....maybe I should do that, too. But in the meantime, there's that link.

It's so much fun to see what other people are making now that the book is out. What surprises me is the people who say they aren't 'brunch people' so haven't gotten the book. I'm here to tell you that almost all (if not all) of those recipes make great dinners! Don't miss out! And besides, aren't weekends made for brunch?

Old Fashioned Chelsea Waffles

And here's some delicious strawberry ice cream. I'm still tweaking the recipe a little, but let me tell you, it's another great way to start strawberry season.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Speaking of ice cream, lola, please get in touch with me to claim your book! I'm not able to email you through your blog. My email address is in the column at the right. Please send me your address so I can get Lick It! out to you! If I don't hear from you in a few days, I'm going to have to draw another winner. (Pssst...in case she doesn't see this, you can still comment on that post. Just be sure I can get in touch with you if you win!)

What's your favorite way to eat strawberries?

Winner of Lick It! And a Few Unsolicited Reviews

First up, the winner of the contest is lola! Congratulations! I'll try to contact you through blogger, but if you don't hear from me, please send me your address.



You may or may not have realized it, but we've been out of town. Like any good vegan, we explored co-ops and natural grocery stores for some cool food finds. We had some hits and a miss.....the miss first, just to get it out of the way.

Admittedly, I'm probably in the majority on this one. Apparently, Coconut Bliss isn't my thing. We got the vanilla because I have an ice cream theory. Yes, you read that right. My theory is that you always have to try vanilla first because it is the hardest one to make. Sure, you can add all kinds of berries or fudge or exotic ingredients, but without a good base it just won't cut it. So we got the vanilla and I'm sorry to say that it tasted like sun tan lotion to me. Keep in mind that I don't like coconut. I thought it would be more like like the V'con ice cream where even though it's coconut milk, you'd never ever know it. I was wrong. That said, I think it's probably extremely high quality, had an awesome mouth feel and would make any coconut lover dance with glee.

Next up: Tofettes. My mother in law picked some of these up and we had them in wraps. She got the teriyaki flavor and they are actually quite good. I haven't seen these in Ohio before, or if they're here, I've overlooked them. They've got a cool texture that is much firmer than regular tofu. They're little marinated, compressed squares of tofu.

I saved the best for last, 'cause I'm just like that. Sheffield Seitan! No photo, but it looks like seitan. It's made locally in Lyndon, Vermont and it's used in most restaurants up there. We picked some up at a co-op in New Hampshire and it was $7.00 for a pound. The packaging was minimal and it tasted great. If I could buy this around here, I'd probably make my own seitan a lot less frequently.

More of a travel wrap up is still to come but with summer around the corner, I wanted to get Lick It! on it's way. Congratulations again, lola!

Food Network Friday: Stuffed Portobellos

Yes, you read that header right. It's another installment of Food Network Friday! This recipe is originally from Michael Chiarello. It looks kind of tasty up there, doesn't it?

Well, it wasn't so great. To be fair though, I don't think it's the recipe. Stuffed mushrooms are something that I always want to like. But when I have them, they just don't cut it. Somehow, they're never as exciting taste wise as I think they should be. I've tried a lot of recipes and my favorite ones seem to be small and creamy-filled, but still....even those I think sound better than they taste.

But since we're getting ready go out of town (we're actually out of town as you read this, if blogger is doing what I hope!), I had mushrooms to use and these seemed like a logical step. Here's the recipe, then I'll give you more of a review after.

Mozzarella Stuffed Peppers
4 mushroom caps, stemmed and gills removed
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
1/3 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped basil (more for garnish)
1/3 cup parmesan (see note below)
1/4 cup shredded vegan mozzarella cheese (I used FYH)

Combine vinegar, oil, salt and pepper on a plate. Roll mushroom caps around in it, then place them cup side up in a skillet over medium heat. Divide the liquids in the caps and let cook about 3 - 5 minutes, then turn over and cook other side. Turn over as needed until they are cooked. Place on a baking sheet.

Combine bread crumbs, parsley, basil and 'parmesan' in a small bowl. Divide in the cups of the mushrooms. Top each with 1 tablespoon of cheese, then broil about 5 minutes until cheese is melted.

Parmesan:
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch white pepper
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor until it becomes well mixed crumbs.

Notes:

I'm sure I didn't come up with that parmesan, as much as I'd like to claim it. I know Isa uses almonds and nooch in her version and the rest of this is just an adaption. Still, it's the best vegan parmesan I've ever had, so that was a big win in this recipe!

Maybe I'd like them better if I didn't think I should eat a whole mushroom. I checked the original, and yes, it should be one per person. That's just kind of a lot of crumby mushroom to me. Half as an appetizer might have been better.

The cheese on top actually melted and was awesome!

Would I make it again? Nope. But you can bet I'll use that parm again and again. So it was a worthwhile experiment. And it's actually probably an OK recipe, just not my thing.

We're in the last days of the Lick It! Contest. Don't forget to enter!

Pom Pom! (a Review)

I'm not the cheerleader type, if you haven't guessed. And at the moment, I'm not feeling the most clever with this blog title, but stick with me. I'm getting to the good stuff.

Recently Molly of Pom Wonderful is that name crazy or what?) offered to send me some samples of Pom. Sure, I'd seen the wacky bubble bottles in the store, but had never actually purchased one. My only experience had been with another brand and I wasn't very impressed, which made me all the more interested in this one. I've got to say, it's delicious. Like straight out of the bottle good.

But that's not all. I tried it in a couple of tester recipes and played with it in some of my own dishes. The best thing was this awesome sorbet from Lick It! So good...so refreshing... and really bright tasting.



This summer, I'm going to be drinking that spritzer up top. It's Pom and a bit of 7-Up for extra sparkle. I've been thinking it would be especially good with a shot of vodka or lemoncillo. Doesn't that sound fun?

Along with the samples, I also received some information on the health benefits of drinking Pom. I'm not going to go into all that here, but the info is also available on their website. I know that Pom has some not so good history with animal testing, but from everything I've read, they've changed their way. Rather than hold that against them, I admire them for listening to consumers and making changes.

All in all, Pom is wonderful and I plan to buy it in the future.

And that awesome sorbet? Be sure to enter to win your own copy of Lick It!, courtesy of the Book Publishing Company so you can make your own. The number of the winner will be randonly generated next week.

Speaking of winners, thanks for getting in touch with me, Anna! your book is on the way.

Up next: Food Network Friday!