Cauliflower-Leek Tart with Port Glazed Figs

When I graduated from Culinary School I wanted to open a tart shop and serve savory and sweet tarts as well as soups, salads and baked goods.  Unfortunately, I never opened my tart shop, but instead went to work for a restaurant and worked my way up the ranks.  Several months after I was hired and during the busiest month of the year (December), the pastry chef quit and I took over her position until they could find a replacement.  By the way, they didn't find a replacement until the following April--but that was fine by me because it was a great learning experience.  My favorite part about the pastry position was making tarts, both sweet and savory...and I made a lot of them during that time!

One of the tarts we served that was a favorite by customers was a herbed-goat cheese and leek tart.  It was on the menu for the entire five years I was there.  We tried taking it off but customers always requested it and so it stayed.  Since switching to a vegan diet, I've always wanted to recreate this tart, without the goat cheese of course, and so I substituted a creamy cauliflower puree and it's just as delicious or even better than I remember.  It's also a beautiful tart and will make a great presentation at your Thanksgiving dinner or anytime you entertain.   

Cashew Cream:

1 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight in filtered water, drained

2 cups filtered water

Method:

• Drain cashews and place in a blender, add water and blend until smooth for about 4 minutes.  If you don't have a high-speed blender, like a Vita-Mix, strain the cream and set aside.  You'll need 1 1/2 cups cashew cream for the recipe.

Flaky Pastry Crust:

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 cups unbleached white flour
12 tbsp Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks, diced, frozen
4 tbsp Earth Balance Natural Shortening, diced, frozen
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp unbleached sugar
1/4-1/2 cup cold filtered water

Method:

• Add flour, salt, sugar to a food processor and pulse to combine.
• Using the pulse mode add butter and shortening and pulse until the texture is crumbly and the fat resembles small peas.
• While still in pulse mode, drizzle in water slowly until dough sticks together when pressed in your hand.
• Remove dough from bowl and place on a cutting board and form into a 1" high flat disk/circle or rectangle, depending on the shape of your tart pan.
• Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Remove dough and place on a lightly floured cutting board and roll out to about 3/8" thick in either a rectangle or circle depending on your tart pan.
• Place dough in tart pan pressing along the bottom and edges and remove excess dough from the edge.  Prick dough about six times with a fork and place tart in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
• Remove tart from freezer and line with foil or parchment paper and fill with baking beans.
• Place tart pan on a sheet pan and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, rotating half way through the cooking process.  Remove foil/parchment and baking beans and bake 5-7 minutes longer.
• Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Sauteed Leeks: 

1 large leek, white and light green parts only, diced and washed
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

• Saute leeks in olive oil for about 5-7 minutes until tender.  Cook on a low enough temperature to keep the leeks light in color--you don't want to brown.
• Place in a medium sized bowl and set aside to cool.

Cauliflower Puree:

2 cups roughly chopped cauliflower florets
1/2 yellow onion roughly chopped, about 1 cup
2 cups low-sodium vegetable stock
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced thyme
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups cashew cream
1 tbsp cornstarch
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

• Heat a saute pan on medium-low, add olive oil and onion and cook for a couple of minutes for onion to soften.
• Add cauliflower, vegetable stock, garlic, thyme and salt and pepper.  Increase heat to medium and cook for about 20 minutes until all liquid is absorbed. 
• Using a spatula, scrape cauliflower mixture into a blender and add cashew cream and cornstarch.
• Blend on high until smooth and creamy and season with salt and pepper if needed.
• Add 2 cups of blended cauliflower puree to the sauteed leeks and stir to combine.

Assembly:

• Turn down oven temperature to 350 degrees.
• Spoon cauliflower-leek mixture into prepared tart shell and place on a baking sheet.
• Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, rotating half way through the cooking process, until firm to touch and tart shell is lightly golden brown.  If tart shell starts to get too brown, cover edges lightly with foil.
• Remove tart from oven and let cool for about 15 minutes on a rack before removing tart ring.
• Just before serving, drizzle with port glaze and garnish with sliced figs and micro arugula or micro greens.

Ruby Port Glaze:

2 cups ruby port
2 tbsp agave syrup
1/4 cup ripe figs, quartered

Method:

• Add ingredients to a small sauce pan and reduce on medium heat until it turns into a syrup and coats the back of a spoon, about 20 minutes.  Mixture will thicken as it cools.  You want it to be thicker than maple syrup, but not as thick as molasses.
• Slice figs and toss lightly in syrup and then garnish tart.  Drizzle with extra syrup.

 

Mushroom Duxelles & Spinach Phyllo Strudel

This is a nice appetizer to serve your guests for Thanksgiving or anytime you entertain.  During the summer I make this with a Spanakopita filling and serve it with Tzazaki, but decided that a mushroom duxelles would be more appropriate for fall.  I served these with a cabernet sauvignon mushroom sauce, but a simple lemon aioli or porcini aioli would work just as well.   Also, you can shape the phyllo pastry into mini triangles or cigar shapes for a different presentation.
 

Mushroom Duxelles Ingredients:

1 lb cremini mushrooms, washed and roughly sliced
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
2 tbsp finely minced garlic
1 tbsp finely mined fresh thyme
1/2 cup Maderia wine
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

• Place sliced mushrooms in a food processor and pulse until finely minced, be careful not to puree them.
• Heat a large saute pan on medium heat, add olive oil and diced onions and cook for about 10 minutes until onions are soft.
• Add minced mushrooms, garlic, thyme and salt and pepper to taste and cook mushrooms until all the liquid is absorbed, stirring frequently.  This takes about 30 minutes.
• Deglaze the pan with Maderia wine and cook for about another 30 minutes, stirring frequently until all liquid is absorbed and the mushroom mixture is sticking to the bottom of the pan.
• Check for seasonings, remove from heat and cool to room temperature.

Sauteed Spinach:

2 large bunches of organic spinach, roughly chopped and washed
1 tbsp finely minced garlic
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

• Heat a large saute pan to medium-low, add olive oil and garlic and cook garlic for a couple of minutes until it starts to sizzle, stirring and making sure that it doesn't burn.
• Immediately add chopped spinach (you may not be able to add all of it at once until it cooks down), and salt and pepper and cook for about 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Remove from pan and strain away liquid, pressing with the back of a spoon or spatula to remove excess liquid.
• Wrap spinach in a dish towel and squeeze to remove any remaining liquid.
• Place spinach on a cutting board and chop finely.
• Cool to room temperature and set aside.

 

 

 

Other Ingredients/Assembly:

Makes 2 logs

 

1 pkg frozen phyllo dough, thawed overnight in the refrigerator

3 tbsp Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks, melted
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Whisk butter and oil together in a small bowl.
• Remove phyllo from package and unroll.
• While working with phyllo, keep it covered with plastic wrap and a damp towel so that it doesn't dry out.
• Working with one sheet at a time with the longest edge facing you, brush the entire surface lightly with the butter/oil mixture.
• Repeat this process for a total of 4 sheets.
• Divide the duxelles mixture in half and place mixture evenly along the bottom edge leaving about 1/2" boarder along the bottom and a 1" along the sides.
• Divide spinach mixture in half and place on top of the duxelles mixture.
• Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.
• Carefully lift the bottom edge and roll the phyllo into a smooth log, brushing lightly with more butter mixture, until all the phyllo is wrapped.
• Score the phyllo lightly on a bias at 1-1/2 - 2" intervals.  You should have about 9 pieces per log.
• Place strudel logs on two separate sheet trays covered with parchment or silpats.  Bake in the oven for 16-20 minutes (depending on oven), turning/rotating trays half way through the cooking process until puffy and lightly golden brown.
  
  

 

Pumpkin Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

I rarely have to make recipes over for my blog, but I made these cookies four times to get the right texture.  All I wanted was a crispy cookie on the outside with a moist-chewy center.  The problem with pumpkin cookies is that they contain a lot of moisture because the pumpkin has a high water content and you end up with a cake-like texture instead of a cookie texture.  I also didn't want to use regular or brown sugar in the recipe, even though it would help crisp them up.  My sweetener of choice is maple syrup, especially if the flavor pairs well, and pumpkin and maple are a great combination.  However, I knew that by using the maple syrup that I would be adding even more moisture to the batter and I would have to make further adjustments to the recipe.   Anyway, I was about to give up (I had wanted to post this recipe in October), but I'm glad that I hung in there because I really like the texture and the flavor.  But it's time to move on--I'm so over pumpkin cookies!

Ingredients:

(Yield:  4-1/2 doz if using a small ice cream scooper)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground cloves

2 sticks Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks, softened to room temperature

1-1/2 cups pure maple syrup

3 tsp Ener-g Egg Replacer, plus 2 tbsp filtered water

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup canned organic pumpkin

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats, not quick or instant

1 cup dark raisins

1/2 cup golden raisins

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two sheet trays with either a silpat or parchment paper and set aside.
• In a small bowl, whisk together egg replacer and filtered water and set aside.
• In a medium sized bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and spices and set aside.
• In the bowl of a food processor (or large bowl) add softened butter and maple syrup and mix well to combine.  Then add egg replacer, vanilla and organic pumpkin and mix well again.  If you used a food processor to mix the wet ingredients, then scrape out the batter into a large bowl.  Note:  The batter may look like it's curdling because of the acid content of the maple syrup reacting with the butter, but it will all come together when it bakes.  Just make sure that your pumpkin is evenly disbursed and this is where it's helpful if you have a mixer or food processor. 
• Add flour/spices to wet ingredients and mix lightly just so that the flour is disbursed, but not all the way combined.  
• Add in rolled oats and raisins and stir until ingredients are evenly combined, but do not over mix.
• Using a small ice cream scooper, or what ever size you have on hand space batter evenly on a cookie sheet (12 per sheet) about 2" apart and flatten cookies slightly with your fingertips.  
• Bake for 16-20 minutes depending on your oven temp, rotating the baking sheets from top-to-bottom, and from left-to-right, half way through the baking process.
• Cookies will be lightly golden brown around the edges/bottom and firm to touch when finished. 
• When finished baking, remove cookies from the sheet pans and place on cooling racks.  As the cookies cool (about 15 minutes) they will crisp up even further.

 

Roasted Cauliflower with Raisins & Pine Nuts

While in Portland last week we went to a restaurant called Lovely's Fifty Fifty.  It's not a vegan restaurant, but the chef prepared for us a vegan pizza that was out of this world.  The pizza was wood fired and was covered with chanterelle mushrooms, grilled winter squash, radicchio/escarole and a red sauce that brought it all together.  The flavors were amazing and I was so glad that they didn't use any fake cheese products on the pizza.  The food was fresh, seasonal, organic and even though they are not a vegan restaurant, they had no problem creating a special dish for us--that's what I love so much at Portland.  You can basically eat anywhere and find vegan options on the menu, or the chef/cooks will create something delicious for you.
 

 
In addition to the pizza, we ordered a wonderful appetizer made with roasted cauliflower, currants, golden raisins and pine nuts.  Cauliflower, raisins, pine nuts/almonds are a match made in heaven and I thought that it would be a great side dish (not to mention super easy to make) to serve at Thanksgiving. 

Ingredients:
(Serves 6)

2 heads of cauliflower, broken or cut into florets
1 tbsp fresh minced thyme
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup currants or regular raisins
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
2 tbsp minced fresh parsley

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
• Toss cauliflower florets with olive oil, thyme and salt and pepper and roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown, tossing half-way through the cooking time.
• Remove from oven and place in a large bowl, along with currants, golden raisins and pine nuts.
• Add warmed sauce, parsley and toss to coat.
• Serve immediately.

Sauce:

2/3 cup good quality, low-sodium vegetable stock, reduced to 1/4 cup
1 garlic clove minced
1 tsp fresh minced thyme
Juice of 1/2-1 lemon
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt

Method:

• While cauliflower is roasting, add vegetable stock, garlic and thyme to a small sauce pan and reduce to a 1/4 cup.
• Add lemon juice to taste and whisk in olive oil.
• Season with salt and pepper and keep warm until ready to use.

 

Sweet Potato Tart with Candied Pecans

The filling for this tart is actually made with garnet yams, but calling the tart a Garnet Yam Tart doesn't have quite the same ring to it.  I prefer using yams over sweet potatoes or even pumpkin puree because of their natural sweetness and their deep orange color.  And because they are so sweet you can cut down on the sugar in the recipe and even use a natural sweetener such as maple syrup, which is what I used.  I also prefer serving tarts over pies.  I love the way they look with their perfect crimped edges and I prefer the filling to dough ratio.  If you don't have a tart pan, no problem, use your favorite pie pan and crimp the edges to your liking.  BTW, this is totally delish and I will definitely be serving this for dessert this Thanksgiving.
 

Flaky Pastry Crust Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/4 cup unbleached white flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp unfiltered sugar
12 tbsp or 1-1/2 sticks Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks, cut into small cubes, frozen
4 tbsp or 1/2 stick Earth Balance Natural Shortening, cut into small cubes, frozen
1/4-1/2 cup cold filtered water

Method:

• Add flour, salt, sugar to a food processor and pulse to combine.
• Using the pulse mode add butter and shortening and pulse until the texture is crumbly and the fat resembles small peas.
• While still in pulse mode, drizzle in water slowly until dough sticks together when pressed in your hand.
• Remove dough from bowl and place on a cutting board and form into a 1" high flat disk/circle.
• Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.

Yam Filling:

1 3/4 cup garnet or red yam puree, about two medium yams, baked, pureed
1 1/4 cup cashew cream, see recipe below
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/3 cup silken tofu
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tbsp molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp kosher salt

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
• Wash yams and stick with a fork several times and place directly on the oven rack and bake for about an hour until soft.  Remove from oven to cool.  
• Once yams are cooled, peel and place in a food processor and blend until smooth.
• Measure out 1 3/4 cup puree and place back in food processor--you may not use all of the puree depending on the size of your yams.
• In a small bowl whisk together cashew cream and corn starch and add to food processor along with all the other ingredients and blend until smooth.  Set aside until ready to use.

Assembly:

• On a lightly floured cutting board, roll out the dough to 3/8" thick and line a 9" tart pan, pressing along the sides and removing excess from the edges.  Reserve excess dough to make leaves.  
• With the prongs of a fork, prick the bottom of the dough several times and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to chill.
• Remove tart from the freezer and place on a sheet tray and using a spatula, add filling and smooth the top surface.  If using a tart pan, you will have a little extra filling left over.
• Position oven rack in the center of the oven and bake tart for 45-55 minutes, rotating tart/sheet pan half way through the cooking process.  When ready the tart will puff up, there will be no jiggle in the center of the tart and will be lightly golden brown.
• Set tart on a cooling rack and let cool for about 15 minutes before removing the tart ring.
• To remove the ring, position tart on a wide-rimmed can and let tart ring fall away from the bottom of the tart.
• Carefully place tart on serving plate and let come to room temperature (about 3 hours before cutting).
• Garnish with candied pecans and pastry leaves and serve with your favorite vegan whipped topping or ice cream.  Or add some maple syrup to the leftover cashew cream and drizzle over sliced tart.

Cashew Cream:

1 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight in filtered water
Enough water to cover in the blender

Method:

• Drain cashews and place in the blender.  Add enough filtered water to cover and blend on high until smooth, about 4 minutes.  
• If you do not have a high-speed blender like a vita mix, then strain the cashew cream to remove any solids.
• Measure out 1 1/4 cup and set aside

Candied Pecans:

1/2 cup whole raw pecans
2 tbsp powdered sugar
Pinch of cayenne
Pinch of salt

Method:

• Blanch pecans in boiling water for about 1 minute.
• Drain and toss in powdered sugar to coat.
• Cover a sheet tray with a silpat or parchment paper and bake pecans in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, turning pecans over half way through the cooking process.
• Remove from oven and let cool completely before using.

Sugared Pastry Leaves:

• Roll out remaining dough to 3/8" thick and using a leaf cookie cutter, cut and then score the veins of the leaves with a small paring knife.
• In a small bowl, whisk together 1 tbsp of cashew cream and 1 tbsp of filtered water.
• Brush each leaf with cashew mixture and then sprinkle with unfiltered sugar to cover.
• Place leaves on a sheet tray covered with a silpat or parchment paper and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes until golden brown around the edges. 
• Remove from oven and place on a plate to cool.

Herb-Focaccia Chestnut & Cranberry Dressing

Hands down, dressing/stuffing or whatever you want to call is by far the most favorite Thanksgiving side dish...yes, even favored over mashed potatoes.  You don't see someone standing in the kitchen at 8:00am the day after Thanksgiving eating cold mashed potatoes for breakfast, nope they're scarfing down cold leftover dressing (if there's any leftover) and loving every bite of it.  I guess it's America's love affair with anything and everything made of bread.  

There couldn't be a simpler dish to serve to make people happy on Thanksgiving and there are so many different ingredient combinations to choose from.  This is a rustic, peasant dish and you can add whatever you like and it will still taste fantastic.  If you don't like chestnuts, then add walnuts or pecans.  If you don't like dried cranberries, then add currants or golden raisins.  And if you you don't like apples, then add pears, or a combination of all of the above.  There is no right or wrong--there is no recipe.  The only thing you need to keep in mind when making dressing/stuffing is the flavor and texture of the croutons you will be using because this will determine how much seasoning you need to add, and the amount of veg stock that you will be using.  Even though it's just baked bread you want it to be flavorful and you want it to have the right consistency--nothing could be worse than eating a boring, dry or gummy dressing/stuffing, especially on a special occasion like Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:
(Serves 8-10)

12 cups Whole Wheat Herb-Focaccia, cut into 1" cubes and dried
4 1/2 cup vegetable stock (I used 2 cubes of Rapunzel Vegan Bouillon, No-Salt Added and 4 1/2 cups filtered water to make my veg stock)
1/4 cup vegan chicken flavored seasoning (found in the bulk section of Whole Foods), optional
1 large leek, white and light green parts only, diced and washed
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 1/2-2 cups diced celery, about 3 large stalks
1 1/2 tbsp minced fresh thyme
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced fresh rosemary leaves
2 tsp minced fresh sage leaves
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 large granny smith apple, peeled and diced
1 cup chopped, peeled roasted chestnuts
1 cup dried cranberries
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Note:  I baked off two separate focaccia recipes and cut the bread into 1" cubes.  I placed the cubes on two sheet trays and let them sit out for about 15 hours or overnight.  I preheated my oven to 200 degrees and I baked the cubes for 1 hour until they were dried out and crunchy.  I let them cool and then measured out 12 cups of croutons for my dressing, and froze the remaining so that I can use in soups or salads.  If you don't have time to make your own focaccia, purchase a couple of loaves of fresh focaccia (depending on the size) and cut into cubes, or to make it really simple just purchase your favorite pre-made bread cubes.  Just make sure that they're vegan and don't contain a lot of additives.

Method:

• Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
• In a small sauce pan, heat vegetable stock just to a simmer and whisk in vegan chicken flavored seasoning.  Remove from heat and set aside. 
• Add focaccia croutons to a large bowl and set aside.
• Heat a large saute pan on medium-low and add olive oil, leeks, onions, celery, garlic, thyme, sage, rosemary, poultry seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste and saute for about 7-10 minutes until soft.  
• Add diced apples and cook about 3 minutes longer.
• Turn off heat and let cool to room temperature.
• Add leek-onion-celery mixture to croutons, along with cranberries and chopped chestnuts and stir well to combine.
• Add two cups of vegetable stock and stir well.  Let sit for a minute or so before adding another 1 cup of stock and stir well.  Repeat adding about 1/2 cup of stock at a time until the croutons are soft, but still hold their shape.  You want them to be moist, but not mushy or dry.  Because my croutons are made with whole wheat, they are denser and I used the entire 4-1/2 cups veg stock.  If you purchase store-bought croutons or use white bread you may use less veg stock.
• Check for seasonings and add salt and pepper to taste if needed.
• Butter a 12x9 or similar size casserole dish with Earth Balance and spoon dressing into dish and distributing evenly.
• Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
• Remove the foil, rotate the dish and bake another 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
• Serve immediately.

 

Roasted Cranberry & Quince Chutney

Today was supposed to be my cooking day.  I had planned to make a Roasted Cauliflower & Leek Tart with Port Glaze, a Herb-Focaccia, Chestnut & Cranberry Stuffing, and a Roasted Cranberry & Quince Chutney.  Well, at least I was able to make one dish...one out of three is not too bad considering how lousy I feel.  How can something as simple as a common cold make you feel so bad.

 
Anyway this cranberry chutney couldn't be easier.  A little dicing, mixing and baking and it's done.  I know that quince can be hard to find at the market so you can substitute pear, or apple.  I actually used a combination of quince and Asian pears for this recipe, and when I make it again for Thanksgiving I will use Asian pears only.  I really like their flavor and texture.  The pears are shaped like an apple, but have the skin of a pear.  And they taste just like buttered-rum, seriously...they melt in your mouth.  But you may not be able to find Asian pears at your market either.  Again, just substitute regular pears or apples or a combination of each.

Ingredients:

1 12oz pkg whole fresh cranberries
2 quince, peeled and diced into 1/4" dice
2 Asian pears, peeled and diced into 1/4" dice
3/4 cup unpasteurized apple cider or apple juice
1/2 cup filtered water
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup minced shallot (about 1 large)
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
Zest of one orange
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp kosher salt

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix really well.
• Pour into a 9x13 casserole dish and bake for about 1 to 1-1/2 hours, tossing every 30 minutes until fruit is soft and liquid is absorbed.
• Remove from oven, place in a serving bowl and let sit until it's room temperature.
• The chutney can be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for about a week.