New Year’s First Course

I spent the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 house sitting. I had the luxury use of a Wolf range. It is gorgeous. I didn't have the time to use it to its fullest capabilities, but here is a little tasting of the amazing array of food from New Year's Eve. I was still feeling under the weather and didn't get to try everything. Everything includes a rich flaky veggie pot pie, baked beet quarters with pecans, vegan lasagna, tofu stir fry and these tasty morsels:

Kim Chi Soup

AI know I sound like a broken record, but I didn't record or measure the ingredients. It has been 2 weeks and I only remember what each tastes like not how I made them. I only had 90 minutes of free time between work and work to get everything done. So with some fast cleaning, chopping, and boiling you can have soup and rice patties and the warm brussel sprout salad from Christmas.

2 large carrots, cut to large matchsticks

1 medium red pepper, diced

½ bunch of Bok Choy, a few greens and a few stems cut

½ head Napa Cabbage, spines removed and leaves diced

1 container Crimini mushrooms, cleaned and stems removed

1/3 cup or so Apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup or less Bragg's amino acids

1/3 cup or less Garlic chili sauce

4 cups Broth

Lots of Basil and Cilantro, chopped

Fresh Ginger, julienned

I sautéed carrots and red pepper in oil for 5 minutes. I added the mushrooms and sautéed another 5 minutes. I added the broth, vinegar, bragg's, and chili sauce. I brought it to a boil, then let it simmer for 45 to 60 minutes. I added the bok choy, cabbage, basil, cilantro and ginger, covered the pan and turned off the burner. Soup is On!

Rice patties

1 cup Arborio rice

2 cups water

2 T minced ginger

4 minced cloves garlic

½ cup minced cilantro

juice of one lime

1/3 cup diced onion

Olive oil

Sauté onion in the oil, add the rice and stir continuously for 3- 5 minutes. Add the water and vinegar, cover until rice is al dente. This will not turn to creamy risotto rice. Mix in the cilantro, garlic and ginger. Using a shallow 2" diameter dish or ramekin; scoop, pack, and level rice mixture into the dish or ramekin. Pop it out onto plate. I think I made 14 patties. I heated a pan of oil and fried them on both sides briefly til lightly brown. I blotted the extra oil. 10 minutes before serving, reheat in oven. Tastes great along side or in the kim chi soup.

O there was dessert too. We had a friend with very special dietary considerations – we made a vegan, agave-sweetened, gluten-free cheesecake. Yep you read that correctly.

We googled a recipe so I am not sure where we got it but who ever created it, thanks! It was a hit.

It was supposed to be a firm silken tofu but we just got extra firm regular tofu. It would have been creamier than our results but no tastier! We only had a blender to mix the ingredients so we tossed all of this in at once.

Pie Filling

12-ounce package extra firm light silken tofu
8-ounce package Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
½ cup agave nectar
½ cup Silk Pumpkin Spice drink
2 T lemon juice
nutmeg and cinnamon to taste
3 T cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Drain the tofu and put all ingredients into the blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.

Crust

I had my harvest granola cookies from a couple weeks earlier that fell apart (sunflower seed butter, rice flour, hazelnut flour, pecans, and pumpkin seeds). I tossed those into the blender with a cup of rice flour to make a crumbled crust. I incorporated enough Earth Balance to press the crust into a glass pie plate.

We poured the contents into the crust and baked for an hour (don't let it brown). It will still be jiggly soft when you remove it from the oven. Let it set for 2 hours and put in fridge til ready to eat. And you will eat the entire pie.