Glorious Mushroom Risotto With Lemon Kale

Another comforting winter dinner!

Some people think of risotto as time-consuming, because of the stirring, but it doesn't really take that long, and it's fun to watch the risotto get soft, pudgy and full of flavour! The secret to making this go faster is using warm broth. Just put a documentary on your laptop or phone, stir away, and your risotto will be ready to eat in no time!

What you need:

6 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups sliced mushrooms of any kind, or mix and match
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1½ cups Arborio rice (do not wash!)
½ cup dry white wine or beer
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon thyme
sea salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 tablespoons finely chopped chives or green onions
2 cups chopped kale (or spinach or other greens)
2 tablespoons vegan margarine

You can also add:

2 tablespoons dried shitake mushrooms, reconstituted and chopped
1 - 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (adds a cheesy flavour)

Make it!

Warm the broth in a saucepan over low heat.

Put the greens in a bowl, drizzle the lemon juice over them and add a few shakes of salt. Massage the salt and lemon juice into the greens and let them sit.

In a large pot, heat up some olive oil, then sauté all of the mushrooms. As they make broth, pour that off and reserve. When they are done, remove from the pot and set aside.

In the same pot, add a little more olive oil, then caramelize the onions over low heat until they are transparent and soft, then add the garlic for 3-4 minutes. Add the thyme.

Add the dry rice to the pot, stirring until it is shiny and a light gold colour. Now add the wine or beer, and stir until it is absorbed.

Start your documentary!

Start adding the warm broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring slowly between additions until the liquid is absorbed.

When you have added all the broth, add the mushroom broth last, and stir until it is all absorbed as well. If you are using nutritional yeast, add it now.

Remove from heat,  then add the mushrooms, chives or onions, kale or spinach, and the margarine. Stir well to wilt the greens.

Eat it!

Oh my goodness, it's GLORIOUS. Now have seconds. You'll have enough for lunch tomorrow too.

Phenomenal Vegan Burritos!

These burritos fill you up and are impossible to stop eating. You can make them simply, with just beans, or add all the garnishes.

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Prep: soak the beans overnight!

Use 4-5 cups of dried beans and clear water.

I use traditional Pinto Beans for my burritos, but black beans are really good too. Soak the beans overnight in clear water to help with digestion. Don't add salt or anything. They'll about double in size so use a large bowl!

Drain and rinse the beans. Discard all the soak water. Put the beans on to boil with a good amount of fresh water and a couple of strands of Kombu seaweed, which helps a LOT with the problem many people associate with beans! Kombu can be found at health food stores and most organic groceries. Don't salt the water; this makes the bean skins tough.

Keep checking the beans. They'll need 3-4 hours on a slow simmer.

When they are done, they will be soft and easy to squish, and all of their spots will be gone. 

At this point you can remove and discard the Kombu, which by now will look like a sea-monster. If you don't get it all out, that's ok. It doesn't affect the final flavour. At this point you can either freeze the beans, which also helps with digestion, or move on into refrying them and making burritos!






Thanks, Kombu!

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Burritos!

You can either just have plain refried bean burritos, or you can make up a bunch of condiments to go with them, like guacamole, salsa, and cashew sour cream.

Refried Bean Burritos: What you need

• 3 cups cooked pinto or black beans - separate the broth
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2-4 cloves garlic, rough chopped (not pressed)
• splash of wine or beer or both (optional)
• olive oil
• Nutritional Yeast (optional - adds a cheesy flavour)
• salt
• pepper
• cumin to taste (optional)
• Flour tortillas

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Make It!

Chop the onions and sauté over low heat in a deep frying pan in a little olive oil. When they are nicely caramelized, add the garlic and cook for just a few minutes until it starts to smell delicious. Don't overcook the garlic or it will get bitter.

Add the beans, reserving the broth separately in case you need it. Using a potato masher, mash up the beans until there are some still whole and most are mashed together. If they are too dry, add a little broth, but not too much or they will run out of your burrito!

Flavour with salt, pepper, a little wine or beer (optional) and the optional nutritional yeast and cumin. Let the beans rest to soak up any extra liquid. If they are too dry you can add water or some of the reserved bean broth. They should be the consistency of mashed potatoes.

Burrito Time!

Heat up a large cast iron pan if you have one, or a frying pan of any kind. Drop in a flour tortilla and when it starts to bubble up, flip it. Both sides will have a few brown crunchy spots when it is done.


Put the tortilla on a plate and scoop some of the beans in a line down the middle. Roll up and enjoy!

You want more stuff? 

Try these on your burritos!

• Chopped Scallions
• Fresh tomatoes
• Guacamole
• Pico de Gallo Fresh Salsa
• Cashew Sour Cream
• Spicy Vegan Sausages, like Field Roast Chipotle

It just takes your already delicious burrito to the next level...!

You won't need to make anything else for a few days with these beans in the fridge!

Come back later to try the next recipe: Vegan Mushroom Risotto!

Two Mind-blowing Mexican Style Condiments!

Mouthwatering Pico de Gallo and Guacamole

These gorgeous tangy vegan Mexican condiments add a whole other series of flavour levels to your burritos and other Mexican-inspired dishes! Also great with tortilla chips, on tofu scrambles at breakfast time, and whatever else you can dream up! I always pair them with a cooling, creamy Cashew Sour Cream.

What's cool about making both of these at once is that they use many of the same ingredients.

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Pico de Gallo - what you need!

• 2 medium very ripe tomatoes
• 1/4 red onion or 2-3 chopped scallions
• 1/4 chopped jalapeño chile (seeds removed), to taste
• Juice of one half lime (or to taste - lemon juice will work too)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Oregano, to taste
• Cumin, to taste

Make it!

Chop everything with a knife or very minimally with a food processor. Add spices, mix together and serve!

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Guacamole - what you need!

• 1 very ripe avocado
• 1/4 red onion or 2 chopped scallions
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped fine or pressed
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh cilantro (optional)
• 1 tsp fresh lime juice (lemon juice works too)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the avocados in half lengthwise and remove the seed with this cool trick that I learned from watching a prep chef in a Mexican taqueria in San Francisco (video below), but be careful with that knife! Scoop the deliciousness into a bowl with a large spoon.

Make it!

Mash the avocados roughly with a fork. Add all of the other ingredients, tasting constantly to make it the way you like it. The lime or lemon juice will help keep the guacamole from going brown, so be sure to add it early. Some people add tomatoes to their guacamole but I like it without, especially if I am serving with Pico de Gallo.

Pictured: homemade Vegan Bean Burritos with Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, and Cashew Sour Cream. MMMMMMMM!

Mindblowing Chili with Cornmeal Crepes

This mindblowing supper will warm you up! Delicious vegan chili (my own version based on traditional recipes) with savoury cornmeal crepes!

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Prep the beans and batter the night before

Bean Soak!

Soak 'em out!

Soaking the beans helps a lot with digestion (I call it 'soaking out the farts' which is gross, but it's accurate), and reduces cooking time.

What you need

• 4 - 5 cups dried beans (I like traditional chili, so I use kidney beans, but different beans or a mixture of dried beans will also work) 
• water

Soak the beans overnight in water. Do not add anything to the soak water. Note that the beans will more than double in size, so leave lots of room! Just for reference, the beans in the photo have soaked for 8 hours and only half-filled the bowl when the soak began.

Crepe Batter Mix!

Mixing up the crepe batter in advance will make your crepes turn out a lot better. I've tried a bunch of versions of vegan cornmeal crepes and these are the best I've found. You can totally do this the night before, but if you don't get to it, even an hour of resting the batter will make your crepes hold together better when you go to cook them. Recipe found on smarterfitter.com.

What you need: Crepe Batter

• 1.5 cups unsweetened non dairy milk (I use Almond Milk)
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour (gluten free or wheat)
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 cup chickpea flour
• 1 tbsp arrowroot flour or cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup water

Combine everything in your blender or food processor (adding wet ingredients first and dusting in the dry ingredients helps with getting everything thoroughly mixed) and blend until the batter is beautifully creamy and smooth. Let sit in the fridge for an hour, or as long as overnight.

Now you can go to bed.

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Chili Day: Boil the beans 

Give these babies at least three hours to get soft. Great for when you have another project going on and can periodically check them.

What you need: Bean Boil

• Soaked beans
• Kombu seaweed (from any organic or health food store)
• Water

** Do not add salt to the bean boil! It makes the bean skins tough.

Drain and rinse the beans. Discard the soak water.

Put the beans in a large pot, cover well with fresh water, and add a couple of pieces of Kombu seaweed. This is the best thing I've ever found to help with digestion of beans.




Bring the beans to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Depending on the beans, the cook time could be anywhere from an hour to three hours, so I usually start this in the morning and check them every hour or so and make sure they don't run out of water. Stir every once in awhile to keep the beans from sticking to the bottom of the pan. The Kombu will swell into a sea-monster and the beans will begin to make a lovely broth.

The beans are done when they can be easily pressed into soft submission with a clean fingertip. See the supple bean on the wooden spoon below? The Kombu sea-monster may now be removed and discarded. At this point you can save the beans in the fridge or freeze them, but let's adventure on into Vegan Chili!

Thanks, sea-monster, for eating all the farts out of the beans.

Make Chili!

What you need:

Note: All measures are approximate. Make to your flavour specs!

8-10 cups cooked beans (originally 4-5 cups dry)
1-2 onions, chopped
3-4 carrots, chopped
3-4 sticks celery, chopped
4-6 cloves garlic, rough chopped like in the pic (below left)
about 4 cups chopped mushrooms
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
2 small cans (156 ml) tomato paste (or make your own)
4 vegan sausages
   (I use Field Roast non-soy sausages: 2 Italian, 2 Chipotle)
3-4 tbsp Corn meal (optional)
Olive oil for sautéeing
Beer or wine (optional)
Water as needed







Spices, flavours and herbs - approximate measures - add to taste

2 tbsp Cumin (essential)
1 tbsp Chili Powder (essential - can get spicey so watch it)
2 tsp Thyme
2 tsp Oregano
2 tsp Basil
1 tsp Paprika (optional - smoked Paprika is really good if you have it)
1-2 Bay leaves (optional)
1 tsp Cayenne (optional - this makes it very hot - go slow with this one)
2 tbsp Nutritional Yeast (optional: adds a slight cheesy flavour)
Salt and Pepper

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Cook it!

Remove the cooked beans from the pot, then drizzle some olive oil into the pot. Add the onions and cook slowly with a little black pepper until they are caramelized, just a little brown on the edges, and glossy and sort of transparent.

Remove the onions and sautée the carrots and celery together in the bean cooking pot. You can add some of the spices and herbs to this sautée if you want; it gives the vegetables a nice flavour, but you can also wait and add the spices to the combined chili.

Meanwhile, sautée the mushrooms in olive oil with a little black pepper in another pan. Pour off and reserve the sauce they make as they cook. If you are using beer/wine, splash it into the mushrooms to deglaze the pan and surprise the hell out of the mushrooms just before they are done. This gives them a lovely flavour!

Remove the mushrooms when they are brown and shiny, set aside.





Crumble and sautée the 4 meatless sausages of your choice. Here's a visual on the brand I like the best. Not only is the flavour amazing, but there is no soy in them. They are made from vegetables and legumes. I use two of the Italian (also great in pasta sauce or lasagne, by the way), and 2 Chipotle to add a little spice.

2 of each	crumble!
sautée!	deglaze! I use beer...mmmmm

Now it's time to put it all together! Add all of the cooked stuff: the beans, mushrooms, carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms, sausage and tomatoes to the bean pot. Add the reserved mushroom sauce, and the tomato paste plus 2 cans of water, or more as needed. Add the spices and herbs and simmer.

Play a video game or watch a show for about an hour while the flavours get to know each other.

When it is really looking like chili, you can stir in the optional corn meal to thicken the gravy and also to bring the flavour closer to the crepes... and speaking of crepes... it's time to make the crepes!

Make Crepes!!

Take the batter from the fridge, stir it well, and then heat up a nonstick pan over medium heat. I don't like the idea of nonstick pans, but they do make crepe-making easier. However, I draw the line at non-stick spray. It just seems weird to use spray on food surfaces. Call me old fashioned, but I opt for a light wipe of coconut oil with a paper towel between crepes instead. I am sure spray is easier. Your pick!

Ladle about 1/2 cup of batter into the middle of the pan and then -- working quickly because the crepe will cook very fast -- tip the pan around and let the batter roll itself into a thin, even layer.

  

Cook for about a minute, until the top is dry and the edges start to come up slightly from the pan. Flip and cook the other side for about 15-30 seconds.

Eat it!

Roll up the crepes and serve on the side of the chili. Put a dollop of vegan Cashew Sour Cream on top for extra mind-blowing-ness!

Freezing the chili and and thawing it takes it to another level of digestibility. You have probably made enough for an army, so go ahead and freeze a bunch. It will be even better when you have it next time!

Next time: Mind-blowing Pinto Bean Burritos!