Sweet Potato, Kale, Caramelized Onion Pizza

Have you ever had your dreams literally realized? If your dreams consist of skydiving with your preschool teacher, your crush, and Jodie Foster, for your sake, I really hope not. But tonight one of my dreams came true. You see, last week I had an impeccably and bizarrely precise dream about making kale pizza with four particular people. In the dream I even promised myself that if it were in fact a dream I needed to make it a reality, ANY MEANS NECESSARY. Thus was born the first pizza night of 2013. Nobody was killed in the making of this pizza.

My friends Anna, Grace, and Ben came over and we made this delicious-a$$ pizza, dough and everything. As it turns out, making your own dough only takes about an hour-ish and the only semi-weird ingredient is semolina flour, which isn’t even that goddamn weird! Ben is a good bread-makin’ man, so I shamelessly made him do that. The result? Dope delicious delectable dough THE D IS SILENT.

Sweet Potato, Kale, Caramelized Onion Pizza

Dough recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod

• 2 1/4 teaspoons rapid rise yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• pinch o’ sugar
• 1 3/4 cups semolina flour
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, chopped
• 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup kale, chopped
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce or paste
• 1 Tablespoon rosemary
• 1 red onion, sliced

For de dough:

1. Combine yeast and 1 cup warm water in a small bowl. Add a pinch of sugar and let sit for 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl (or standing mixer if you’ve got one!), add semolina flour, all-purpose flour, and salt. Mix the ingredients until combined.
3. Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture. Add 1 Tablespoon olive oil and mix until combined. Knead for about 5 minutes on a counter surface.
4. Grease a large bowl with a bit of olive oil. Form dough into a ball and place in the bowl. Cover pizza dough with a damp towel and set in a warm area to rise (near preheating oven is ideal!). Let the dough rise for 1 hour or until dough has roughly doubled in size.

For de toppings:

1. Preheat the oven to 400º. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spread the chopped sweet potato, drizzled with 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil. Pop in the oven for 35-40 minutes, or until soft. Remove and set aside.
2. In the meantime, place a frying pan over low heat and add sliced red onion and ~1 Tablespoon olive oil. Cover, and set to simmer for 30-35 minutes. Remove and set aside.
3. Once the dough has risen and the sweet potatoes and onions are ready, turn the oven up to 500º. If you have a pizza stone, place the pizza stone in the oven to get hot. If not, get out a cookie sheet. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough using a rolling pin. Lightly brush the dough with olive oil and place on the pizza stone or cookie sheet.
4. Top the pizza with sauce (or paste) and sprinkle with rosemary. Layer the sweet potato, onions, and top with kale. Place in the oven to bake at 500º for 8-10 minutes, until the crust crisps up. Remove and set to cool. Enjoy!

Miso-Ginger Eggplant

Looze[r]day Tuesday is over, can I get a hallllllllelujah!? The caveat is that next week is gonna be the slow and painful descent from the sixth to the seventh circles of hell (spoiler alert: seventh circle is violence). Over the next two and a half weeks I have a dozen large projects/exams/presentations for which I have to dress “business casual” (REFUSING TO WEAR LADYBLAZERS). Think of me, friends, there should be a good amount of stress baking in my future, which means RECIPES galore.

To kick it off, here’s a meal in my Makin’ Dinner Wit May series (just made that series up, now that’s a thing). A few of the ingredients are a little out there (miso, thai basil, and Japanese eggplant should be available at an Asian grocer, if not at your normal grocery store). The dressing is sooooo garlicky and savory in the best way. Try this.

Miso-Ginger Eggplant

• 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
• handful of sliced basil (thai)
• 1/2 teaspoon miso
• splash of grapeseed oil
• 1/2 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ginger, minced
• 1 Japanese eggplant (or 1 small regular eggplant)

Preheat the oven to broil.

1. In a small bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the eggplant and stir well.

2. Slice the eggplant lengthwise and soak in cold water for 5-10 minutes. Place on a baking sheet and brush lightly with oil. Broil for 3-5 minutes each side. Remove from the oven, slice, then toss with the dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cranberry Sweet Potato Stuffing!

Hey my lovers and friends, sorry this is a bit belated but you know what they say; the best things in life are late. #isthatathing? #isthisthingon?

In apology I wanted to give you a really relevant vegan cooking tip but instead here’s a freestlye canoeing competition and 30 horrendous things to do rather than eat any goddamn mayo. Relevance, people.

Make this shit for dinner tonight/the next potluck you’re invited to/Christmas/your pet’s birthday/Hannukah/your next good grade on a paper/Martin Luther King Day. If you’re not eating with your hands by the end of the evening, give me a call.

• 2 large sweet potatoes, chopped
• 3 cups cubed sourdough (or your favorite) bread, toasted or stale
• 1 1/2 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced thinly
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh cranberries
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400º

1. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil- toss chopped sweet potatoes with olive oil and sea salt. Roast at 400º for 10 minutes, until tender but not mushy. Remove and set aside.

2. Reduce heat to 350º. In a medium skillet, heat 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil, then add chopped mushrooms and onions and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sauté 5-7 minutes, until mushrooms are soft. Set aside.

3. Place the bread cubes, carrots, celery, mushrooms & onions, cranberries and roasted sweet potatoes in a bowl. Add the vegetable stock and thyme and mix everything together until the bread is soft and everything is well combined. Grease or line a baking/casserole dish with tin foil and pour the mixture in. Bake at 350º for 35-40 minutes, or until golden on top. Savor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HALLOWEEEEEKEND RECAP:

Friday I marked my two year birthiversary of Veganizzm with a dinner party-turned-rager. I made an adapted version of my curried carrot sweet potato soup (+can of coconut milk and curry paste), rosemary flatbreads topped with butternut squash puree/rosemary/caramelized onions, wild rice salad w/ roasted sweet potatoes, and this pumpkin spice cake with coconut icing and hazelnuts, which was sooo flipppppin’ bomb. The night was filled with fun and debauchery and beer and R.Kelly. Thanks so all my homies and ma honies who came, my hangover would not have been so severe or sweet without each and everyone one of you.

Saturday I went as a wine bottle opener. On the way to a party I got asked if everything was okay because it appeared as though I was wearing a full body brace. If that’s not the sign of a good weekend I don’t know what is.

Autumn Spice Almond Butter

This Thursday I had the unique opportunity to mess around making peanut and almond butters in the kitchen at Yumbutter. The two guys who run it, Adrian and Matt, are total bad asses. Not only do they have an awesome and super fun approach to making delicious, sustainable, ethically-produced food, but they run a Buy One Feed One program where every jar of Yumbutter purchased helps feed a malnourished child.

Our group of Slow Foodies had a bust a nut-off [only I called it that] where we competed to invent the best new flavor of nut butter. My team (aptly named “Team Winner”) created a fall-inspired flavor with dried apples, cinnamon, ginger, and honey. AND TRUST ME, HONEY, TWAS GOOD. The other teams whipped up some highly tasty and highly creative shit which included ingredients like black pepper, dried strawberries, hazelnuts, and curry powder. They were all mad good and Adrian and Matt said we were “all winners” but, I mean, I think we all know who the winners were.

Huge thanks to the dudes at Yumbutter. Check them out and try some of theiramazing flavors of nut buddahhhhhs (I’m a huge fan of Asian Jazz). Seriously, this is the best peanut butter I’ve ever had.
Autumn Spiced Almond Butter

• 4-6 ounces almonds (I highly recommend roasted*!)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon dried ginger
• 2 Tablespoons honey or maple syrup

*to roast, simply throw on a cookie sheet with parchment paper for 12-15 mins at 350º

1. Place almonds in a food processor. First it will turn into nut dust. Scrape down the sides with a spatula or hold the processor and shake it around a bit. Allow the processor to run; eventually it will start to clump. Let the processor run until the butter becomes creamy and reaches desired consistency. The whole thing usually takes about 13-15 minutes.

2. Add the spices and dried apples. Process until incorporated. Pour into a bowl and add the honey/maple syrup and fold it into the nut butter. The honey will make it a bit drier/thicker. If you feel it is overly thick, you can pour back into the food processor and add 1 teaspoon coconut oil to smooth it out.

3. Enjoy on toast/bagel/apple/with spoon/fingers.

EMPANADAS FOR MILES

EMPANADAS FOR MILES.

Tonight I was the guest chef for Slow Food-UW (read about what SF is and the last time I cooked with them [post 2: main course and post 3: dessert]), which was really damn awesome. I had a great team without which I would have probably ended up sitting in a pile of uncooked quinoa and weeping. With their help I made quantities to feed about 100 hungry hungry hippos (Madisonians)— tonight the menu was empanadas with mango salsa, blackbean/quinoa/sweet potato burgers with a side of coconut rice, and cherry-almond cobbler squares. The recipes which are already on the blog are below, the dessert will be coming soon!

empanadas

sweet potato/quinoa/black bean burgers

mango-lime salsa

Photo credit Amy Verhey!

Veganizzm’s business cards at the moment:

Garlicky Balsamic Bruschetta with Basil

End of summer garlic and basil bruschetta with crusty bread and fresh tomatoes! Grab those end of summer tomatoes and throw these together before the warm weather is gone. For the full recipe and story, check out my friend Pati’s wonderful travel & food blog, prettytalkblog.com

Bomb Blueberry Muffins, Hello ‘Merica

It’s 10 AM. I’m standing in my underwear in my kitchen eating cherry chocolate chip Soy Creamy with a spatula. There are a lot of things I missed in Russia but I have to say this is fer sher at the top of the list. Also high on the list:

• drinkable tap water
• ability to be nood and rood all day
• plums
• sarcasm
• chia seeds
• Scrabble
• kale
• cheering obnoxiously for the US in the Olympics
• crying in public when I see cute puppies
• hiking
• talking with my friends on not a shitty Russian cell phone
• fresh air
• Fresh Air
• my dignity

Oh the list goes on! I had an amazing 6 months in Russia but now that things are back as they should be I’m wasting no time putting the old chef cowboy hat back on and cooking up a storm. I have a whole bunch of recipes coming your way but I also have an announcement! WoW with two capital Ws! Since coming back to the land of the free I’ve signed up to participate in a benefit bike ride called Bike the Barns, which helps bring fresh, organic food to low-income families in the Madison, WI community and supports the health of the land, farmers, and the local economy. Donate if ya can! Yanks a lot!

Now, back to the good stuuuuf. This week I went up to visit my friends Brian and Maria at the farm they’ve been working on all summer. While visiting, we went and picked blueberries (by the light of an iPhone in the middle of the night cuz we luv poor planning!) and in the morning we made blueberry muffins! Totes yums!

(Muffins AND buns!)

Bomb Blueberry Muffins

Makes 12-14

• 1 1/2 cups flour (WW or GF work too)
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
• 2 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries (or blackberries, raspberries!)

1. Mix the first 3 ingredients and soak overnight.

2. After soaking mix oil and syrup/honey in a separate container. Add bananas, salt, powder, soda, and any spices (cinnamon is good!). Combine flour mix and banana mix with blueberries. Bake at 350º for 25 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean.

My Babushka’s Borscht

Some things are inevitable.

It is inevitable that when I buy a new item of white clothing it will be dirty within four minutes of purchase.

It is inevitable that I will spill many a tear on my tacky 80’s pillow when in Russia because I miss kale and nutritional yeast.

It is inevitable that when I go to a club in a back alley in Russia by the name of “Jesus” I will dance with a guy and he will spin me over his shoulder (can someone please explain to me why this keeps happening?).

Most inevitable of all (inevitable-est) is the fact that I am posting a borscht recipe straight from my babushka’s top-secret old Russian woman vault.

Before I left for Russia I made my own borscht, which I liked but knew was far from authentic. My heart skipped a beet (punzzz) the day I came to the kitchen table and my Bab set a bowl of steamy hot borscht down at my place. Cabbage, beets, and the possibility of pink pee? Nothing better. Besides, her borscht is absolutely delicious. Can’t be beet. Alright, I’m done.

I finally got her to spill the juicy details of how to make this soup so damn good. I offered (begged) to help prepare it once but she promptly declined and demoted me to photographer/kitchen stalker while she sliced and diced her way to the masterpiece. My babushka believes her kitchen is her kingdom and my trying to help will cramp her style. We talk a lot about the importance of food as a means of bringing people together and how sitting around enjoying a meal is a tradition which we need to fiercely protect. I still haven’t gotten her to agree to let me help her but her resistance is futile. We will be the greatest cooking team there ever was. It’s inevitable.

My Babushka’s Borscht 

The taste of Russia in your mouth. 

• 1/2 head large cabbage, sliced thinly
• 1 large carrot, grated
• 1 small onion, chopped more finely than you think possible
• 3 potatoes, boiled, peeled, and sliced more finely than you think possible
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 5-6 cups water or vegetable stock
• 3 beets, boiled and shredded (pickled work best!)
• 3 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• 1 Tablespoon fresh dill
• 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley
• chopped green onion to garnish

1. Do all of the chopping. Combine cabbage, carrot, onion, potatoes, garlic, salt and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 25-30 minutes. Note: use pre-boiled potatoes and beets or the time will be a bunch longer and much redder.

2. About halfway through add the fresh herbs and shredded beets. Salt to taste. If not using pickled beets and want it to be bitter (the Russian way!), add the juice of 1/2 a lemon.

3. Garnish with green onion and fresh dill. Enjoy the feeling of real Russianness.

My Babushka’s Veggie Fried Rice

In our household, things run like clockwork. No, hold on, I said that wrong. Rather, clocks run like things in our household. There’s no joking around here on 4th Soviet Street, never, no way. [Particularly not when I wear my sparkly kitty sweater].

I come into the kitchen for breakfast sharply at 8:30. Breakfast table conversation can range from my dreams to whatever news is broadcasting on the TV to the weather. Yesterday we talked about her theory that aliens exist and are undoubtedly going to smite earth soon because humans suck (really). I leave for class at 9:00 and if I’m not ready my babushka stands outside my door and waits. If I can’t zip the janky zipper on my boots fast enough she hikes up her bathrobe, bends at the hips, squats on her 74 year old knees and does it for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I come home between 18:00 and 18:30 (that’s 6:00 and 6:30 PM, noobs) and within two minutes a pot of soup is on the stove heating up. I put on my slippers, wash my hands, and take my place at the table. My babushka commands information out of me regarding my day, which can vary from the weather to my classes to recounting my misadventures dealing with people in public. Yesterday she told me that women lose their ability to have babies after 25. By the time my soup is hot I have been thoroughly quizzed and am thrilled to have something to put in my mouth to turn it from a two-sided conversation to a monologue (hers).

Dinner in Russia a two-part ordeal. After soup there is always a second course. This is one of the most simple and delicious ones my Bab makes. No joking around.

My Babushka’s Veggie Fried Rice

• 1 large onion, chopped very finely
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped very finely
• 3 cups cold prepared rice (brown, white, wild)
• 2 Tablespoons sunflower or vegetable oil
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• fresh dill and green onion to garnish! (optional)

As with all of my babushka’s recipes, everything is done by taste. If she knew how the internet worked and were writing this herself she would stress the importance of doing things “по вкусу.” Nothing should be rigid, you should add as much salt as you like (if you are her, this is a lot). That being said;

1. Heat a skillet over a medium-low flame. Add 1 Tablespoon oil + chopped onion and garlic. Sauté until the onions are lightly browned and smell delicious (~8 mins). Push this to the side of the skillet.

2. Add grated carrot and add a bit more oil to the skillet. Cook 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally until lightly brown and wilted. Push to the side.

3. Add cooked rice and 1 Tablespoon oil or enough to lightly coat the rice. Cook 5 minutes, mixing occasionally, then mix to combine with the vegetables on the side of the skillet. Cook the rice and veggies all together another 5-10 minutes until lightly browned and smelling delish.

Garnish with fresh herbs and agree with your Babushka that aliens definitely exist.