What a great job ... stay home, cook new recipes and then give your opinion. I got two new cookbooks recently: Veganomicon and Flour. Both are really great so far. Flour was my souvenir from my trip to Boston in March, so it is extra special.
So far, I have made a few recipes from both books. From Veganomicon, the first recipes I tried were Grilled Portobello Mushrooms and Lemony Roasted Potatoes. However, there are no pictures of the final product because I forgot due to extreme hunger (dinner at 11:00 pm, damn you Philadelphia International Airport!). The mushroom recipe called for sherry, but all I had was Marsala. I think sherry would be better, so I will get some next time I make these. And the potatoes - so delicious! Basically, cut potatoes into wedges and bake with olive oil, garlic, lots of lemon juice, and herbs. I like lemon recipes that don't skimp on lemon and have a powerful punch and this one sure does!
The second thing I made was Chickpea Cutlets with Mustard Sauce. I was especially excited for this, since I know BB loves these "meaty" recipes. It is interesting because you mixed mashed chickpeas with savory seasonings, breadcrumbs, and wheat gluten (what makes Seitan). They are really good and really easy. Not too difficult to make after a long day at work. I can also see many useful applications (basically could substitute for a chicken cutlet in any recipe). The mustard sauce is good. Definitely for mustard lovers! It also has capers, which is a plus in my book. We put capers in a lot of stuff. Probably go through a jar every month or two. The only thing I would change is to add less thickener (flour or cornstarch). I like my sauces not so thick, I guess. Both worth making again. We ate them with the leftover Lemony Roasted Potatoes. They are good leftover too.
The next think I made was Chickpeas Romesco and Saffron Garlic Rice. Romesco sauce is made with tomatoes, roasted peppers, and ground almonds. Very tasty indeed. We ate with a nice salad and green beans sauted in orange butter. More recipes worth making again.
I am looking forward to making more healthy and delicious food from this book. But I also bought Flour, a baking book. I didn't actually go to the bakery in Boston, but I've been interested ever since I saw the author beat Bobby Flay in the showdown show. I've tried two things from the book. I bought a pineapple to make the pineapple upside down cake, but got lazy and the pineapple got, well, too ripe. I did make my own creme fraiche (just add 2 Tbs of buttermilk to 2 cups of cream and let sit at room temperature overnight. I stuck mine in the microwave so my bad kitties wouldn't get into it!). I did, however, make maple scones. They have oat, pecans, and raisins. How could I not like these? Really easy and really good. I might incorporate whole wheat flour next time to feel less guilty. They have lots of butter, cream, and eggs.
I also made blueberry muffins. Now, I usually use the recipe my Mom always made but I wanted to use that creme fraiche I had made for the pineapple upside down cake that I didn't make. I also had blueberries that weren't going to make it much longer, so blueberry muffins were the only logical choice. These also have cream, in the form of the creme fraiche, butter, eggs, and white flour. But, wow, they are so good! Not everyday breakfast muffins. More like dessert or brunch muffins. This was actually a variation of the recipe. The main recipes is raspberry rhubarb muffins. Hmm, I think it is almost rhubarb season!
There are may more recipes I want to try from this book, like eclairs, lemon raspberry cake, lemony lemon bars, and cheddar scallion scones to name a few. I guess it depends on my motivation and how tight my pants get.
