Your Vegan Mom

Sorry about that impromptu hiatus.  It's a drag when life gets in the way of writing about it.  The fact that my week of summer lasted four days does not bode well for the Vegan Month of Food that begins tomorrow.  I intend to participate.  I wrote everyday last November, go look.  High five?  This year I'm doing weekdays.  And you? 

See you tomorrow.  

A Week of Summer: Sopes with fresh corn and chile salsa

This was the official food of late summer in our household.  With its crunchy corn shell, creamy beans, and bright crisp salsa, it has been a universal hit.  It celebrated the mother-in-law's birthday with us.  It came along on a Labor Day picnic with the other side of the family.  And now, it has firmly planted itself in the roster of regular meals at our house.  Paul and I have developed a perfect division of labor that brings it together right quick. He is in charge of the sope shaping and bean making, and I make the salsa and a salad to go with.  I highly recommend that you rope a pal into the production of this dinner - it's a perfect team sport with a delicious finish.    

1. For shaping the sopes, follow instructions on the side of the bag of masa, or right here on-line. 
2. Slather the fried cornmeal shells with refried beans.
3. And top with corn salsa:   

Ingredients:

the raw kernels of 2 ears of corn

1 pasilla chile, minced

1/4 cup lime juice

1 T. olive oil

1/2 red onion, minced

1 T. minced cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients.  Taste for seasoning.

P.S. To make this into a picnic food, slather the beans on the corn meal shells and carry the salsa separately,  assembling the whole shebang shortly before eating.

A Week of Summer: The Meal Salad

I really like the Vegan Cobb at Swinger's.  What's your favorite meal salad in Los Angeles?

A Week of Summer: Smoky roasted eggplant and tomato sauce

The Recipe

1 lb eggplant
1 lb roma tomatoes, halved
1 medium onion, cut into half-inch slices
8 cloves garlic, whole, peeled
drizzle of olive oil
pinch of chile flakes
about 2 T. chopped basil
2 t. balsamic vinegar
salt to taste

On a gas burner or under the broiler, char the eggplant on all sides.  This takes just a few minutes.  Watch and turn it.  

Heat the oven to 400.  Arrange the tomato, onion, and garlic in a baking dish.  Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat.  Put the whole eggplant with the charred skin directly on the oven rack next to the tomato dish.  Roast for about 40 minutes, until the eggplant is squishy and the tomatoes are crinkly.  

Scrape the soft flesh from the eggplant into a food processor, disposing of the charred skin.  Add the tomatoes, garlic, and onion, scraping all the juices into the bowl of the machine.  Add the vinegar, a pinch of red chile flakes, and salt.  If I were you I would add another swirl of olive oil here too.  Puree.  And taste for salt.

Serve over pasta.  Garnish generously with chopped basil.   

(Don't you hate it when a magazine obviously uses some old stock photo and thinks that you won't notice that it is clearly not of the corresponding recipe?  That's totally what's going on here.  This sauce will be creamier and smoother from the luscious, smoky roasted eggplant flesh.  And of course, the top should also be littered with basil.  Mmm summer.)

A Week of Summer: Tomatoes!

10 pounds of pesticide-free heirloom tomatoes for $5.  How could I pass that up?  Man, I love September in Southern California.    Since Saturday morning we have eaten:

• BLTs
• Pasta tossed with fresh tomatoes, twice. (You know - medium heat, a swirl of olive oil, a few cloves garlic, one big honkin' tomato, a handful of fresh basil, salt and pepper + a half pound of pasta --- feeds 3) 
• Pico de Gallo (on top of fried tortillas and beans)
• Toast with pesto and slices of tomato

There will be more pasta.  There will be Burmese tomato chutney (I just found a Burmese cookbook at the library, and I am a little excited.), and fajitas for the picky eaters tomorrow.  Oh, and pizza.  Always pizza.    

Homework:

Next Thursday I will post my review of Stuff I Eat.  (I'm experimenting with giving myself deadlines.)  You have until then to try this new vegan restaurant so that we can discuss.  Get busy!  Go support a fledgling vegan business.  

See you tomorrow with more summer!