Vegetarian Gravy Recipe

This “recipe” happened out of necessity. I put recipe in quotes since I don’t actually have the measurements of my ingredients.
Here is why:
I was at my friend’s house for Thanksgiving this year and had brought my yummy, health food store gravy. We were getting ready to sit down soon so I popped my gravy in the microwave to heat it up. I set the bowl on the counter and went to the other room to help. When I returned, my gravy bowl was empty. The cooks had grabbed it and put it in the meat gravy instead.
Needless to say, I wasn’t too happy. No matter, I’ll make my own, I thought. Even though the last time I attempted gravy it ended up tasting like paste, I was determined to have gravy with my potatoes.
This is what I whipped together that day and it ended up being wonderful.
I started with Gold Medal Quick Mixing Wondra flour. I’m sure that other flours can be used; this is just what was handy.
I mixed this with some water and started adding McCormick’s Pinch of Herbs, a lot of it, and put it over a flame. I kept whisking it quickly to make sure it stayed blended. At one point it got too thick and looked like it was going to dry out but I just added a little more water and was fine. I then threw in some dried sage, salt and pepper, garlic salt, a little soy sauce and a little Worcestershire sauce. I continued tasting as I added to see if I needed more seasonings. It’s always best to start with a little and to keep adding, since it’s harder to move backwards sometimes.
That was it. That simple and it turned out better than the gravy I brought. I think next time I will try and add a little margarine or butter to add a little of that oil affect.
I’ll try and figure out the ratios and an actual recipe in the next couple of months. But hey, give it a try and let me know how it goes or if you have any questions.

This will now be a staple for me in holidays to come.

Fried Zucchini Recipe

Here is a great, quick recipe with yummy results.

Zucchini
Safflower oil (or another high heat oil)
Panko Bread Crumbs
Parmesan Cheese
Eggs
Salt & pepper

The amount used can be increased or decreased depending on how much you want.

In a bowl, crack the egg(s) and whisk the yolk and white together. In a separate bowl/plate, place the bread crumbs, Parmesan and salt and pepper.

Pour your oil into a deep frying pan and heat to 350 degrees.

Slice the zucchini length-wise. Or smaller depending on how you want to serve it.

When the oil is ready, take a piece of sliced zucchini and dip it in the egg bath. Make sure the egg drips off the slice and has not coated it too much. Then dredge the slice through the bread crumb mix. Pat the bread crumbs onto the slice and then carefully place it into the hot oil.
After about 2-3 minutes (your call on how fried you want it) use a slotted spoon or steel strainer to remove the piece from oil. Place on a paper towel to dry and sprinkle a little more Parmesan on it. Repeat with all the slices. You can fry multiple pieces of course, just make sure not to crowd the fryer.

I have used an aioli for dipping as you might want to use something thin on the chunky pieces. Marinara, ranch, and blue cheese would work well too.


I think I am going to add some herbs to the seasoning next time to liven up the flavor.

Enjoy!!!!

Artichoke Recipe

Since I have already talked about Artichokes here I thought I would share how I prepare artichokes at home. It is a pretty basic recipe and can be prepared in many ways once you get the hang of them and know what you like.

I start off with the largest one I can find in the store. I have only started this season cooking them and I was lucky to start at the height of the season (summertime) so I haven’t had to worry too much about picking a good one. The ones I have picked so far have all had pretty tight heads and have been about the size of 2 fists. Although they are really easy to cook, it can take a bit of time.
Start with a large pot, large enough that when you put the artichoke in it, it is almost if not fully submerged. Bring the water to a boil. With a sharp knife, cut off the stem of the artichoke right at the base.
Slowly drop the artichoke base down into the water. Be careful not to burn yourself with the splash. It will look almost like it is sitting up. Place a lid on it partially. The artichoke may not be able to fully submerge depending on your pot and that is OK, as long as the majority of it is in the water. For the large ones, I boil them anywhere from 35-55 minutes. Around 35 minutes, check to see how it is doing. With tongs, try to pull one of the inner leaves out/up. If it is still really tough to impossible to do, keep cooking. If it is close to coming out, check that leaf and see if it is to your liking. If not, keep cooking. Note, that the inside leaves will be just slightly softer than the outer leaves. I would check the artichoke about every 5-8 minutes after that until you get the hang of it. As once you have overcooked it, there is no coming back.
Once the leaves are as cooked as you want them, remove the artichoke from the water and drain it out upside down. Let cool.
For the aioli, grab a small (or not so small, depending on how much you want) bowl. I use Veganaise as the base for mine but you can use regualar mayo if you want. Scoop out a couple of table spoons into the bowl. Add in, about 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and 1 clove of finely chopped garlic. Stir and salt and pepper to taste.
Grab a bowl for the discarded leaves, a seat and enjoy.

If you have never eaten artichokes here is a quick lesson. Pull off a leaf, pulling up from the base and scrape off the inner “meat” of the leaves. As you get closer there will be some leaves that don't have much on them. Pull these off. You will then get to the covering of the heart as shown here.
Take a knife and carve this area out. Make sure to not get any of the fibers stuck to the heart. These little hairs can get stuck in your thought and irritate you for hours. The finished product should look something the the below picture here. This is the yummy prize. Dip it in the rest of your sauce and enjoy!!

Koji BBQ

It seems gourmet lunch trucks are popping up all over Southern California these days. These once gastral frightening “roach coaches” are now cleaned up and serving some delicious food. Today I had the pleasure of happening upon the Kogi BBQ truck. Having heard the whispers of this truck I was excited to see if there were any options for this veggie girl. I wasn't too hopeful since it is Korean BBQ but, to my wonderful surprise there was. They had a few options with one of them being Korean tofu tacos. Between you and me, I know I don’t eat meat anymore but that doesn’t mean I love all things tofu. I have had some good tofu here and there but I tend to eat it just to get protein in at times. I was a little nervous with this endeavor but as I am on a cuisine adventure lately, I had no choice but to jump in head first. It also helped that I was with one of my vegetarian friends as well. We ordered 2 tacos each and opted for the limes and radishes that come on the side by request. (All the people before us had ordered them so when in Rome…)
We got our tacos and grabbed a bench in the park. At first glance we were a little concerned about how to eat them. They were smaller tacos packed high with goodies. They had marinated tofu with a lettuce and cabbage topping with Korean chili-soy vinaigrette. When I dove in for the first bite, I was so pleasantly surprised with all the flavors in my mouth. There was a spiciness, vinegar, and peanut taste that wove together like a beautiful song. Truly, I didn’t come up for air until the first taco was done. A few bites of the radish did add a nice cooling flavor to the spicy taco too. It wasn’t a very spicy/hot seasoning but it did have a nice bite to it. For the second taco I added the lime to it which gave a refreshing dimension to it as well. Although I was tempted to order more, about 10 more actually, I decided 2 was good. At first it did seem like I could eat more but once it settled, 2 were perfect.
Koji BBQ has 3 different trucks driving around the city. To find them you can check their website or they have a very large Twitter following. Their Twitter updates are how you can find out exactly where they will be every day as they update that the most. They also serve food at the The Alibi in Culver City.

When I got home I saw on the website exactly what was on the taco.
• sesame-chili salsa roja
• julienne romaine lettuce and cabbage tossed in Korean chili-soy vinaigrette
• cilantro-green onion-lime relish
• crushed sesame seeds
• sea salt
• garnished with lime wedge, orange wedge and red radish wedge

There were a few other veggie options as well at the truck, so hopefully I can try those next time. You can bet this veggie girl will be stalking, I mean following, that truck again very soon. The followers of 44,408 grew one more today.

www.Kogibbq.com

Hotel Shangri-LA

I recently stumbled upon a restaurant in Santa Monica, CA when I was looking for a place to meet a friend on the west side for dinner. It is the Dining Room in Hotel Shangri-LA. It is located on Ocean blvd. at Arizona. The hotel was “the place to be” in the 80’s and I was recently updated earlier this year. shangrila-hotel.com
They had indoor and outdoor seating so we opted to be out on the beautiful patio under the white linen canopy.
For dinner, we choose to do a little sharing of some plates (my favorite thing to do) and started off with grilled artichoke.

(I promise this blog will not only be about artichokes but, I do love them.)
The artichoke was cooked OK although maybe a little undercooked for my liking. I know some people like them just a little on the raw side as I like to be a little softer. The dipping sauce was an aged sherry aioli. We enjoyed the aioli but it was a little sweeter than I normally prefer. Over all, not disappointing though as it did take care of my fix for the night.

After that we had the Heirloom tomato caprese. This dish was quite delectable. The usual buffalo mozzarella was substituted with Burata cheese. The soft, buttery cheese, was a perfect match with the seasonal tomatoes and the virgin olive oil that was drizzled over it.



For our main course we had the Heirloom Corn Risotto. This, my reader, was my favorite part about the restaurant. The Risotto was totally vegetarian. As most veggies know, or find out at some point, it is commonly made with chicken broth. They even offered to make it vegan but hey, I don't want to go to extremes here. This light, but still hearty risotto was delicious. One of the better risotto's that I have eaten at a restaurant. The portion was just right and the corn added a great texture to the dish. It truly brightened up the dish. The flavor was a nice change up from some of the more traditional versions.


After the wonderful dinner, we chose to have a small dessert. They had a peach crumb with raspberry sauce. This was the interactive part of the meal. The sauce was served on the side for you to decide how much you wanted to add. Of course we dribbled all of the sauce on it. The raspberry sauce was wonderful and not too sweet or tart. It did end up taking over the dish though so in hindsight, you might want to start with half of what they give you.











All in all, Hotel Shangri-LA is a restaurant I would definitely go back to.

Pierre LaFond restaurant

I recently took a trip up to Santa Barbara with some friends for the weekend. The city itself makes for a great getaway from Los Angeles where I live. There is plenty to see and do there that you could easily spend a few days up there and visit so many different places. On the first night of our trip we ended up at Pierre LaFond Bistro and Wine Bar.They are located on State Street and have been there since 1993. They are considered California cuisine and are known for using local ingredients.We started off with a few of the appetizers and shared most of the dishes. The favorite was the Garden tomato and Arugula Pesto Flatbread.

The flatbread was thin and soft and was a great canvas for the toppings. The fresh tomato’s and the goat cheese on top melted in our mouths. The pesto and reduced balsamic truly, helped pull the dish together. We also had the artisan cheese plate and their special, a breaded caprese salad. The breaded caprese was a little lacking in flavor next to the rest of the dishes on the table. We then had the Ratatouille stuffed artichoke.
As a big artichoke fan I was really looking forward to this dish. It sounded unique and tasty. Unfortunately, we found it to have a little too much going on. The ratatouille was cubed placed on top of the cooked artichoke and then bread crumbs were added and it was baked. It basically seemed like two dishes in one. When eating artichokes leaves you need to get in at them and usually dip them in a sauce. Putting vegetables on top of the leaves just made them taste dry. The sauce that was a the bottom was tasty and may have been a better addition to the top then all of the veggies. Although the artichoke was cooked well and the heart was great, it was a little bit of a disappointment to an artichoke lover. This however was quickly forgotten when our wonderful waitress brought us out dessert. She brought out a chocolate cake of sorts and a wine cake.

Let me just say that the chocolate part was good and all but oh my, the wine cake was great. This was the first time I had ever had a wine cake and it was so tasty. It was a moist yellow cake with a slightly crunchy outside drizzled with sweetness. This was easily the highlight of the dinner and a recipe I plan to try out soon.I would recommend trying this restaurant as the food was great and the service was truly excellent.

www.pierrelafond.com

Hello!

Welcome to my blog.
I am planning to use this to share my love of vegetarian food with you. I have been a vegetarian since 2001 and couldn't be happier. I enjoy finding new veggie friendly food, restaurants, and recipes and want to share what I have found. For years I have hosted themed parties and dinner parties for meat and veggie eaters alike. I always serve pure vegetarian food and have yet to disappoint any of my guests. I have found that if you cook "regular" meat types of recipes and sub out the meat and add in simple substitutes, nobody really notices.
This site will be for me to share some of my thoughts about food, places to go for vegetarian food and entertainment ideas.
Most of the restaurants and food spots that I review will not be your typical vegetarian places. As most of the people in my life are not vegetarians, the places that we go out to are not. As you may or may not know, for the most part, vegetarian restaurant options are usually either ethnic or somewhat abstract. Some of them are places that when you first look at the menu, unless you are a seasoned foodie, you may not know what it is. The places that I like to typically eat out at our not these places. Although I do love some of them, they aren’t always where we end up for the night.
What I am getting at here is that this blog is for everybody, not just vegetarians. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy working on it.
Feel free to share any thoughts or comments as well. I truly welcome all of them.