Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

This is one of the recipes going on my super fancy vegetarian tapas plate at work. You can use canned roasted red peppers if you want to cut a corner or two, but if you want to roast your own there are two methods.


Gas Stovetop Method!

1. Lightly coat a red bell pepper in olive oil, or another vegetable cooking oil.
2. Turn your burner (this only works with a gas burner!) on medium-high heat.
3. Using heat-resistant tongs, hold the pepper directly over the flame (in fact, it should kind of be in the flame) until one side chars. Rotate to the next side, char it, repeat til done.
4. While the pepper is still hot, wrap it in plastic wrap or in a ziploc baggie and let sit for about five minutes.
5. Peel the plastic off. You should now be able to peel the skin off the pepper with relative ease.


Oven Method!

1. Preheat your oven to about 400 degrees F.
2. Lightly coat a red bell pepper in olive oil, or another vegetable cooking oil.
3. Place the pepper on a baking sheet, put in the oven, and bake until the pepper's skin looks shriveled, and the pepper is soft. Remove from the oven.
4. While the pepper is still hot, wrap it in plastic wrap or in a ziplog baggie and let sit for about five minutes.
5. Peel the plastic off. You should now be able to peel the skin off the pepper with relative ease.


Hummus is one of those easy-to-make recipes that people really love to screw up. This recipe is simple, delicious, creamy, and fool-proof. Not that I feel any of my readers are fools.


*2 medium cloves of garlic
*2 tbsp olive oil
*2 cups chickpeas
*1/2 cup to 3/4 cup roasted red pepper, depending on your preferences
*3 tbsp lemon juice
*1/3 cup tahini
*1 tsp salt
*1 cup water

1. Put it all in a blender or food processor, and puree until very smooth. The consistency should be thick and creamy, not dry and blobby.
2. Refrigerate an hour or two, to let the chickpeas soak up all the goodness.


This is yummy with warm pita bread, rice crackers, veggies, dolmades, sandwiches, and pretty much anything else you can think of.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Vegan Pizza

Since yesterday's recipe was a little labor-intensive, I'm giving myself an easy one today. There aren't any places in Southern Illinois willing to accomodate my need for vegan pizza, so I've decided to suck it up and make my own Supremely Excellent Holy Mother Of Vegan Pizza. I think that has a nice ring to it, don't you?

This will make one 16" pizza.


Oven 500

The Crust!
*1 cup warm water
*2 tbsp active dry yeast
*2 cups flour
*1 tbsp salt
*1 tbsp olive oil

The Sauce!
*1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
*1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
*1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
*2 tsp garlic powder
*1 tsp ground paprika
*1 tbsp dried basil

The Toppings!
You can really use whatever you want here. My favorites are:
*fresh spinach
*portobello mushrooms
*black olives
*roasted red peppers
*super thinly sliced white onion

1. Soften the yeast in the warm water. Set aside, and let soak for five minutes.
2. Combine the flour, salt, and olive oil.
3. Add the yeast and water to the flour mix, and combine until a dough forms.
4. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
5. Put the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise for 1 1/2 hours.
6. In a medium mixing bowl, mix all the sauce ingredients together.
7. Chop the vegetable toppings.
8. When the dough is finished rising, punch it down and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it about four times, and roll it out until it's about 1 inch thick.
9. Place your rolled dough on a lightly greased surface, spread the sauce over it leaving about an inch around the edges, and cover it with toppings.
10. Put the whole shebang into a preheated 500 degree oven and bake 7 to 10 minutes.
11. Eat it!


If you can find a parmesan cheese substitute that doesn't taste like feet that have been soaking in a Port-A-Potty for 40 days and 40 nights, feel free to sprinkle that over the whole pizza before or after baking.

Have fun!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Cinnamon Rolls

My new job is at a coffee shop/wine bar/cafe, and although I was hired as a barista it seems that I'm going to be working in the kitchen late at night, baking. For those who don't know me, this is my dream job. I will be working alone, allowed to wear whatever I want, allowed to listen to all my obnoxious music as much as I want, and baking. This is what I do at home, and now I'm just getting paid to do it in a much bigger, more well-equipped kitchen than my own. Needless to say, I'm swooning. So here's my new recipe for Cinnamon Rolls, and they probably taste better if you're listening to Pissed Jeans while you make them.


Dough!
*1 cup warm water
*1.5 tbsp active dry yeast
*1/2 cup margarine
*1/2 cup sugar
*1/4 tsp salt
*equivalent of two eggs (I would definitely use Egg Replacer for this)
*3 cups flour

Filling!
*1 cup sugar
*2 tbsp ground cinnamon
*1/4 cup melted margarine

Icing!
*2 cups powdered sugar
*1/4 cup-ish vanilla soymilk

1. Stir the yeast into the water and set aside.
2. Combine the margarine, sugar, and salt and mix until well combined, but not whipped light.
3. Mix the egg replacer in gradually, stopping when combined.
4. Add the flour and the yeast/water mixture and mix to a smooth dough.
5. Knead the dough for about two minutes.
6. Set the dough aside to rise in a warm place in a lightly greased bowl, covered with a towel or some slightly loose plastic wrap, for about 1 1/2 hours.
7. Mix the sugar and the ground cinnamon together in a small bowl.
8. Punch down dough to release gases and set on a lightly floured work surface.
9. Divide the dough into two equal halves. Roll each half out into a 20x10in rectangle. You can trim the edges if you'd like a neater roll.
10. Brush the melted margarine over the entire exposed surface of the dough.
11. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar evenly over the dough. Leave a narrow band of dough uncovered along the top edge.
12. Roll the dough up tightly from the bottom edge into a cylinder (make sure your cylinder is 20 inches long, not 10).
13. Using a serrated knife, each roll into eight 2 1/2in thick slices.
14. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and tuck the loose edge of the roll underneath. Using the palm of your hand, flatten each roll to about 1in thick.
15. Allow to sit in a warm place for 25 minutes.
16. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Glaze when cool.

To prepare the icing:
Put the powdered sugar in a small bowl. Very slowly add soymilk to the sugar while mixing continuously. Stop adding soymilk when you've reached a creamy (but not thick) consistency.


I promise they aren't nearly as difficult to make as they look!