Yield: 1 9-inch bundt cake
I think I am obsessed with veganizing Cook’s Country/Cook’s Illustrated recipes!
My latest redux is their Classic Gingerbread Cake. And it is special!
It may well be the moistest and most deeply and complexly flavored cakes you will ever enjoy. I credit the Guinness Stout and the fresh grated ginger, among other things.
Find my recipe HERE at One Green Planet!
Yield: 8 servings
This beautiful and healthful salad was inspired by one that my close friend, Yvette Hetrick, makes with fresh figs caramelized in orange balsamic. Ever since she shared the idea for her dish with me, I had wanted to make a version for Thanksgiving.
When Yvette and her husband, Randy, lived in VA Beach (they live in Sausalito now), we used to start co-planning in earnest for our respective feasts as soon as the November culinary magazines hit the stands. And afterwards, we would pool our leftovers for a potluck dinner following a long beach-state park hike with all of our dogs in tow. She and I both miss that tradition so much.
Undeterred by the lack of fresh figs and orange balsamic in VA Beach, I plunged ahead using two kinds of dried figs, adding some dates for good measure, and substituting pomegranate balsamic vinegar which was readily available at our local Kroger and sounded very fitting for the holiday.
After marinating the figs and dates all day, I turned over their caramelization to our nephew, Curt Lindelow, a partner and manager of a Bonefish Grill in South Carolina, who knows his way around a kitchen. He did a beautiful job unsupervised by me and even recommended additional dressing, which was on point. The following recipe reflects our combined efforts.
8 dried Kalamata figs, stems snipped, and the figs sliced into 3 pieces each
8 Mission figs, stems snipped, and sliced in half lengthwise
8 dates, pitted, and sliced in half lengthwise
6 tablespoons pomegranate balsamic vinegar
6 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
4-2 inch sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced lengthwise
1/2 teaspoon yellow or Dijon mustard
1/3 cup smoked almonds plus a few more for garnish
8 cups shredded fresh kale (I fold the leaves lengthwise, cut out the stems with kitchen shears, and pulse the kale in a couple of batches in a food processor fitted with a metal blade)
Several hours or the day before you plan to serve the salad, place figs and dates in a shallow dish (I use a ceramic 5 x 9-inch loaf pan). Whisk together the vinegar and oil and pour it over the fruit. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and then add rosemary and garlic. Stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and let marinate at room temperature.
Just before serving time, heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high. Add the fruit and all of the marinade and cook down, slightly caramelizing, for about 7 minutes. Whisk in the mustard. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if desired. Place the shredded kale in a serving bowl and pour the contents of the skillet directly over the kale. Toss to evenly distribute the fruit and dressing. Add smoked almonds, toss lightly again, and serve the salad immediately garnished with a few more smoked almonds if desired.
Though my sisters-in-law travel to our home from Pennsylvania, they generously contribute to the Thanksgiving feast. For the last two years, Terri Ann Lindelow’s take on traditional cranberry sauce has graced our table and it is a keeper!
She simply follows the recipe on the bag of cranberries (one bag of rinsed and picked cranberries, 1 cup of water and 1 cup of natural sugar simmered together for 5 to 10 minutes or until cranberries pop and the mixture thickens), but she substitutes clementine juice for the water and adds a generous portion of walnut pieces. She doesn’t measure, so maybe start with 1/3 of a cup and see if you want more.
The brightness of the citrus and the texture of the walnuts makes this a very special cranberry sauce indeed!
Yield: 8 pancakes (4 servings)
After a little gardening, yoga, and errands, I didn’t get around to “lunch” until about 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
I was craving one of the fresh Virginia grown apples I had just purchased at the farmer’s market with a little peanut butter. But I was afraid I would be hungry an hour later.
So, I decided on filling–but not heavy– fall pancakes made from the same wholesome ingredients. What a good decision! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. (Okay, and Minnie too. I made one for our “little” Great Dane, my constant kitchen company aka chow hound.)
Just go to One Green Planet, where I am this week’s featured “Green Monster,” for the simple recipe. Now you can enjoy everyone’s favorite after school snack for brunch!
Yield: 4 servings (you may have left over Kale Sauce)
Now that school is back in session for the year, my schedule is dramatically different. So, I have a bit less time to cook, photograph, and post. But, as has been the case since the launch of The Blooming Platter several years ago, I plan to offer you delicious new recipes right here several times a week with only the occasional hiatus, as in the last week or so.
We had open house at school late one night last week, my 22nd(!) anniversary was Saturday, I had a book-signing at our fabulous “Farm to Fork” event sponsored by Buy Fresh Buy Local Hampton Roads, and then I caught a cold. Whew! At any rate, I hope you’ll agree that this one was worth waiting for!
This Spanish-inspired dish is so pretty with its warm golden stew-like base and it’s fresh green sauce. And the flavors complement each other perfectly: the spicy chorizo offset and cooled just a bit by the fresh kale sauce, made rich and creamy with buttery cashews. The sweet-tart apples temper the heat of the chorizo, as well, creating a beautifully balanced fall dish that goes together in a snap. I like to serve it as tapas, but no one would take issue with a big bowl of it!
For the simple recipe, just click on over to One Green Planet who generously shares a bounty of Blooming Platter recipes with their readers. Thanks OGP!
Yield: 8 servings (1/2 to 3/4 cup sauce)
In August, Joe and I joined his sisters, Terri Ann and Tina, and their families for a short vacation in Ocean City, N.J. (Our 14 year old niece, Gabriella, who is about as far removed from “Snooki” as one can get–thankfully!–does a great imitation.) The DiJulios spent part of the summers there throughout their lives and, now that both of their parents are deceased, have vowed to keep the tradition alive.
Family dinners are part of the tradition so, late one afternoon on the way home from a bike ride, Terri Ann and I couldn’t resist the Jersey peaches at a local market. Dinner was a grilled affair (marinated tofu for me) with my husband, Joe, in charge, so he put the peach halves on while we enjoyed dinner including Jersey corn and tomatoes plus sauteed kale from who knows where.
Before we sat down, I joined forces with Terri Ann (a good cook in her own right) and her husband’s son, Curt (a partner with Bonefish Grill who knows his way around a kitchen) and created a luscious, glistening, and not-too-sweet Cabernet sauce for the peaches. We all gave it a can-I-please-have-some-more? enthusiastic thumb’s up!
I served it over a plain grilled peach for me, but added a little scoop of peach yogurt that was in the fridge for everyone else, omnivores all. But, if you like, you can forget all the formalities and just eat it from a spoon!
Hopefully there are still a few summer peaches available in your neck of the woods, but if not, the sauce would be delicious over, say, grilled bananas, perhaps pears, vegan pound cake or ice cream (or both!), etc.
1 1 /2 cups Red wine (we used Silver Oak Alexander Valley Cabernet)
2/3 cup sugar
Bring both ingredients to a gentle boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat, and simmer gently until reduced by about one-half to two-thirds. You should have about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sauce. Remove from heat. Reduction will thicken more as it cools.
Serve over grilled peaches with or without a dollop of vanilla or peach vegan yogurt.
Yield: enough to generously frost 12 regular cupcakes or a single-layer cake
School started on Monday with an in-service week for teachers, so I made these beauties for a few of my teacher friends to wish them a “sweet” start to a new school year.
What a hit they were! One teacher wanted the recipe, one said they were “three minutes of uninterrupted heaven,” another sent me a text saying, “Awesome cupcake,” and still another said he was quite sure it was the best cupcake he had ever eaten! And, by the way, all of these teachers are omnivores.
What makes them so special? Well, the vanilla cupcakes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World are darn good. But the cupcake-frosting combination is out of this world. Truly, it was the frosting that sent everyone over the moon: fresh raspberries that I marinated in champagne! Actually, they were from a sangria recipe I created with Prosecco (I was testing a recipe for a major project that, fingers crossed, will come to fruition). But, for the purpose of recreating the frosting without having to make sangria first, I figured out the correct proportion of Prosecco and sugar. The flavor is bursting with berry freshness and a little tangy zip, but there is a subtle depth and complexity about it too.
These cupcakes are pretty enough for a wedding, but it would be a shame to save them for such rare occasions. Bake up a batch and make any day special!
1/2 cup sparkling wine (I use Prosecco, but champagne would be lovely too)
3 tablespoons natural sugar
1 cup fresh raspberries
2 tablespoons vegan butter
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese
5 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
The day before you plan to make the frosting, marinate the berries: in a small bowl, dissolve sugar in the sparkling wine, add berries, stir well, cover, and refrigerate for 24 hours. To make frosting, cream butter, shortening, and cream cheese with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, a cup at a time, starting the mixer on slow and gradually increasing the speed so that you don’t coat yourself in sugar. After you’ve added about 2 cups of the sugar, drain berries and add all of them with another cup of sugar, beating well. Don’t be alarmed if mixture looks curdled; it will smooth out as the remaining sugar is added. Continue beating and adding remaining sugar and vanilla until the frosting is thick and creamy. You may find that you need more or less of the sugar in the marinade, as well as in the frosting, depending on how sweet and moist the berries are, respectively. So adjust as you see fit. Use the frosting immediately or refrigerate until ready to use. I like to pipe swirls of frosting on top of the cupcakes using a pastry bag before garnishing with white nonpareil pearls for a very feminine look (I purchase the pearls at our local Kroger). However, a fresh raspberry perched on top , perhaps with a mint leaf, would also be lovely.
Note: I recently saw some Oreos (they’re vegan in the U.S.!) with a berry filling! So pretty in pink. I’m thinking that the frosting would be absolutely scrumptious between two chocolate wafer cookies, no?
Quick!
Before the birds get all the fresh figs…gather up a few and whip up this fresh summer salad.
It will have you “singing” it’s praises! And you might even want to “Tweet” it. 🙂 Okay, enough with the corny bird references. But, seriously, you will want to add this one to your summer repertoire.
Just click HERE for the recipe at One Green Planet.
These beautiful tarts are so easy to make from summer’s bounty of butter beans, figs and fresh herbs.
The availability of these ingredients along with my Southern-steeped heritage were the inspiration for this unusual but really mouth-watering combination.
The butter beans cook while you make and bake the crust and then just get processed with the other ingredients. And the drizzle is short on cooking time. So, the tart goes together much more quickly than you would think, especially for something so darn pretty.
Find my recipe at One Green Planet. Thanks OGP!
