Vegetarian Taco Salad

Sometimes you really just need tequila. And sometimes you need food to go with it. Here’s my favorite taco salad for tequila-necessary days. It’s pretty simple, but you can make it more complicated if you want to by adding more variations.

Vegetarian Taco Salad and Sotol

Recipe: Vegetarian Taco Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 tbs vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 package veggie crumbles (equivalent to 1 lb ground beef)
  • 2-3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
  • 2 serrano peppers, stemmed and chopped (seeds removed or not, depending on desired spiciness)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp chili powder (Penzeys, or some other high-quality brand)
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 cup water
  • tortilla chips (or taco shells)
  • fresh chopped lettuce, preferably green or red leaf
  • shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
  • roasted corn (optional)
  • roasted bell pepper, chopped (optional)
  • avocado, sliced or chopped (optional)
  • salsa (optional)
  • fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)

Instructions

  1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, and cook the onions, garlic, and peppers for a few minutes, until the onions just start to caramelize.
  2. Add salt, chili powder, black pepper, and cumin, stirring briefly to let the spices cook a bit. Then add veggie crumbles and water. Mix well, and reduce heat to a simmer. If adding additional ingredients that need heating (roasted corn, roasted bell pepper, etc.), now’s the time. Simmer for five minutes or so, until the veggie crumbles are heated through and most of the liquid has evaporated.
  3. To assemble, layer tortilla chips and lettuce on individual plates, followed by cooked mixture and fresh toppings as desired.

Notes

I’ve tried many veggie ground beef substitutes, and my favorite for this recipe is Morningstar Farms. Regarding spiciness, I usually leave all the seeds in the peppers, but it sometimes verges on a little too much heat if the peppers are particularly potent. If you don’t like things very spicy, serranos are pretty mild if you remove all the seeds.

Variations

I like to add whatever Southwesterny food I might have on hand, like some roasted bell peppers and fresh or roasted corn, both of which add some sweetness to counterbalance the spicy peppers. Fresh tomatoes, cilantro, and avocado are always nice, or guacamole…yum…

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time: 10 minute(s)

Diet type: Vegetarian

Number of servings (yield): 4

Posted in vegetarian | 1 Comment

Luscious Gluten-Free Fresh Berry Tart

Fresh Berry Tart

This week was the last week for blueberries at the farmers’ market, and considering how much joy they’ve brought me this summer, I felt like they deserved an honorable send-off for the season. Little did I know that a gluten-free tart crust would actually make me love tarts even more than I already did. Unlike some wheat tarts I’ve had where the crust is so thick in places that it’s hard to bite into, let alone cut, even the thickest parts of this gluten-free crust are light, flaky, and crispy—even the next day. And then when you fill it with creamy, delicious vanilla custard and top it with fresh berries…well, it’s simply heavenly. This tart elicited the highest compliment from my usually understated engineer of a husband (who doesn’t even tend to like sweets): “You can make this any time!”

Recipe: Luscious Gluten-Free Fresh Berry Tart

Summary: adapted from Annalise G. Roberts’s Gluten-Free Baking Classics

Ingredients

For the crust:
  • 1 cup brown rice flour mix
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp xanthan gum
  • 5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
For the vanilla custard filling:
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup corn starch
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 cups milk (I used 1%)
  • 1 tbs unsalted butter
  • 2 tbs pure vanilla extract (preferably Tahitian)
For the top:
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh berries, rinsed and dry

Instructions

For the crust:
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch tart or pie pan with cooking spray, and dust with rice flour.
  2. In a food processor or mixer, combine flour, sugar, and xanthan gum. Add butter and pulse or mix on low speed until the texture is crumb-like. Add the vanilla and mix well.
  3. Press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pan.
  4. Bake on center oven rack for 18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on rack in pan. (Remove sides only after completely cooled, preferably after being filled.)
For the vanilla custard filling:
  1. In large bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg yolks at medium high speed until they’re foamy. Add sugar a little bit at a time while mixer is running, until the mixture is thick and light yellow. Lower speed, add salt and corn starch, and then beat until well blended.
  2. Meanwhile, bring milk to a boil in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat.
  3. Once milk has barely boiled, gradually add the milk to the egg mixture while the mixer is on low. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then mix on medium speed until well blended.
  4. Return the milk and egg mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a whisk. (It may get foamy, but don’t worry.) Once it comes to a boil and thickens, lower the heat and cook on low heat for one more minute, while still continuously stirring. (The foam should miraculously disappear into the now-thick custard.) Remove custard from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla. Taste it, because it’s yummy.
  5. Transfer custard to a bowl to cool, covering the custard with wax paper or plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface. Cool in the refrigerator until ready to use.
  6. To assemble, evenly spread cooled vanilla custard into cooled tart crust. Arrange berries on top however it pleases you.

Notes

The original recipe included a glaze for the top of the berries consisting of 1/2 cup jelly and 1 tbs cognac or brandy, which is simmered until the jelly is dissolved and slightly thickened. I couldn’t find any jelly that didn’t have high fructose corn syrup in it, and then it turned out our berries were so sweet that we couldn’t imagine the tart needing the glaze. However, I think I may have a little glass of cognac on the side…mmm…

Variations

The original recipe for the filling called for whole milk, but I only had 1% on hand. I also couldn’t bear the thought of subjecting my heart to 4 egg yolks, butter, and also whole milk. The custard probably turned out lighter than it would have, but I can’t imagine it being any more tasty, honestly.

Number of servings (yield): 8

Gigantic blueberry

Gigantic blueberry from the Mountain View Farmers' Market

This picture here is another reason the blueberries deserved a farewell party. Dan and I actually split it, and it was still more than a little taste! (I swear I did not alter this picture in any way.) Hooray for the Mountain View Farmers’ Market!

Posted in gluten-free, vegetarian | 5 Comments

Variations on Basil Pesto

As summer begins to draw to a close, it’s time for me to share my main weapon for taming a basil forest (and also impressing guests with a fresh but simple summertime meal): basil pesto. It’s amazing as a base for pizza, or tossed together with warm pasta and grilled or sauteed veggies. I even sometimes just throw resilient veggies (like broccoli and carrots) into the cooking pasta during the last few minutes to blanch them, and, lo and behold, there’s a vibrant and quick summertime dinner!

My old basil pot in Dallas, now Jon's (Courtesy of Jon Haupt)

I’ve found that homegrown basil is often really pungent, and the addition of spinach to the pesto calms down the sometimes overwhelming bitterness of the basil. The store-bought basil I’ve had lately has the opposite problem, so I’ve had success adding arugula instead, which gives it a bit more bite. Another bonus to adding one of these greens is that it seems to slow down the rate in which the pesto turns brown.

Regarding nuts, any nut will do really—pine nuts are more traditional, but I’ve had excellent results with both walnuts and almonds. My most recent batch was with arugula, walnuts, and extra garlic. Mmm…

Though I haven’t yet perfected growing basil in Northern California (definitely need to plant the seeds earlier!), my friends in Dallas are swimming in basil. So here you go, guys!

Recipe: Variations on Basil Pesto

Ingredients

  • 1 cup firmly packed basil leaves
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed spinach or arugula (optional)
  • 1/4-1/2 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese
  • 1/4 pine nuts, walnuts, or almonds
  • 1-2 large cloves garlic, quartered
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/8-1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. Blend all ingredients except olive oil into a blender or food processor, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides.
  2. Once everything is about a uniform size and paste-like, slowly pour in olive oil while blade is running, until the pesto has a smooth consistency.

Notes

Taste the basil before choosing whether to add spinach or arugula (or neither). Also, don’t skimp on the salt unless you have to—it’s necessary to meld the strong flavors together.

Variations

For a lower-fat version that works especially well on pasta, use only 1/4 cup cheese and replace half of the oil with water when blending the pesto.

Preparation time: 10 minute(s)

Cooking time:

Diet type: Vegetarian

Diet tags: Gluten free

Number of servings (yield): 12

Posted in 15 minutes or less, gluten-free, vegetarian | 3 Comments

Una Pizza Napoletana

Margherita and Ilaria pizzas

Since April or so, I’ve been volunteering at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in their archives. I’ve spent most of my Wednesdays since then driving about halfway up the peninsula to San Bruno, parking my car, taking the BART into the city, walking to SFCM, working, then reversing that trip (often doubling the trip length due to rush hour). Today, however, a new era began in which Tessa (a.k.a. archivist extraordinaire) and I decided to come to work later and treat ourselves with dinner and drinks after working. After all, we’re volunteers in a city renowned as a foodie’s haven, so we deserve some fun, right?

A quick look on Yelp resulted in the most fabulous find: Una Pizza Napoletana is only a .3 mile walk from SFCM and had already been on my radar (thanks to my pizza connoisseur friends). Well, yum. You walk into this place and it’s not too long until you realize that this place is about pizza and pizza only. Well, and drinks. Pretty nice drinks. But mostly about the pizza.

Beautiful, piping hot pizzas

The minimalist restaurant centers around the most beautiful, turquoise-tiled, wood-burning pizza oven and Anthony Mangieri’s steady rhythm of pizza-making (three pizzas in the oven at a time). The food on the menu consists of five pizzas, with a total of ten ingredients between them (including sea salt and olive oil). So it’s not much of a stretch to believe that all five might be excellent. We had the Margherita (the salt, basil, and buffalo mozzarella really just make it sublime) and the Ilaria (smoked mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, and baby arugula sprinkled over the top of the piping hot pizza) which, as Tessa put it, “was the perfect combination of flavors.” The sea salt on both pizzas really just pushed the flavors over the top. The crust was a bit thicker and fluffier than most Neapolitan pizza I’ve had, but it was excellent and moist, with big, crusty bubbles from the hot wood-fired oven.

Tessa enjoying some scrumptious pizza

I can’t help contrasting this place with Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, which has an overwhelmingly large and detailed menu (complete with the type of dough, temperature of each oven, origin of ingredients…you get the picture) and spectacular pizza. I admit that my hips would probably prefer it if Una Pizza had a salad on the menu (half a pizza between two of us would have been too little on its own, but two pizzas was probably a tad too much). I guess I’ll just have to try both places a few more times before I can justify picking a favorite, though.

Posted in Beyond the Kitchen, vegetarian | 1 Comment

Spicy Dungeness Crab of Ridiculousness

Dan and I finally tried the trendy Vietnamese fusion Xanh Restaurant in downtown Mountain View this week. We always walk by and say, “One of these days we really need to go there!” but we’re usually sweaty from the walk from home or hankering for Thai instead. Well, we finally designated a date night on Monday and managed to get there in time for an hour of happy hour specials (definitely a great deal, as the cocktails and appetizers on the happy hour menu are pretty much 50% less than usual). We got Xanh’s version of a caipirinha (pretty yummy and mostly like a normal caipirinha with the addition of lychee), mojito (tasty, but not really that special—admittedly, my mojito tastes have been spoiled by Gloria’s!) and sangria/Xanhgria (quite yummy, plus a good pun on the restaurant name, which we were told is pronounced like “sun”). Our Buddha roll was tasty (though I wished the mushrooms in the description were actually in the rolls) and garlic noodles were pretty good comfort food (not garlicky enough, but I suppose we’re picky about that!).

To make up for the cheap happy hour specials, I couldn’t resist the most awesome sounding “Xanh Enlightened Crab,” which was described as “wok fired dungeness crab with roasted garlic, lemon grass, thai basil, kaffir lime leaf, green peppers, and fresh cracked pepper.” Since we have a thriving kaffir lime tree in front of our house, I was so curious to see how else to season with it other than in Thai red curry. Well, it did not disappoint, and, really, the picture does not really show how incredibly large it was (that plate took up a good third of the table!). I guess I should have known what I was in store for when the server brought out four moist towelettes before the dish came out. The seasoning was like a really complex, spicy, slightly sweet curry (the pineapple really made the sauce, and that wasn’t even in the description!), and since the crab took so much work, it canceled out the calories, right? Anyway, “ridiculous” is the word that kept popping out of my mouth—ridiculously huge, ridiculously messy, and ridiculously awesome.

Posted in Beyond the Kitchen | 1 Comment

Brown Rice Flour Mix (for Gluten-Free Baking)