As a Christmas Special entry, I present to you, Gourmet (Magazine)Thanksgiving Update!
Pre-requisite reading: here
Morning dough for the cranberry apple pie, dUn, and into the fridge. It’s been almost a month since this happened, so I can’t remember the details of what I did immediately after this. I most likely went back to sleep, or went to the grocery store to get last minute things. But I remember clearly the previous day, when I bought these colorful carrots at the farmer’s market at end-of-the-day price.
As attractive as they were, the flavor was akin to unspectacular potatoes. As long as they soak up the flavors from the other stuff, they were good enough for shepherd’s pie filling.
After a long morning of chopping and mixing, around midday is a good time to pop a bottle of wine. You can also pour some into whatever you’re making if appropriate.
So the parsnip is boiled and cooling and draining for the top of the shepherd’s pie, and I think some cauliflower and celery root also made it into the mix. Anyway, here is the result-
But this is hours later. After this is assembled, it sat for a long time before going into the oven, while all the other things are being made, like the cranberry apple pie.
And, after-
Next to the pie is the ginger pear cake that Amanda made, her first vegan cake ever. It was perfect. Matt made candied yams. It’s something southern.
It seems like I’ve been hanging around the kitchen all day, but I only made 3 things. Of course, everyone brought something delicious, so there was enough for everyone. I’m happy to have managed to make all the things I had planned to, and my dear friends showed up. Here’s the menu (from myself, only):
Veganified Gourmet Thanksgiving 2009
Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie topped with Parsnip Purée
By the time we sat down, it was already dark.
My 1st plate.
By the end of the night, people started to show their true selves.
떡볶이 (tukbokgi). Or ddukbokki. (Or whatever. I really hate writing out Korean words in Roman alphabet.. sorry. But it’s so easy for you to learn.) The yellow pancake looking thing is my new favorite dish: butternut squash pancakes. I learned in from Maangchi’s video, and added some scallions, garlic, and ground black pepper to adjust to my taste.
The initial reaction I received from the ladies in the picture can be roughly translated to something in between , “I’ve never had 떡볶이 like this before.” and, “what the hell kind of a 떡볶이 is this?!”
For those unfamiliar, it’s not normally that colorful of a dish. It’s just orange-ish red, with way less veggies. It should look more like this:
This is the more proper version we made on our previous full-moon 떡볶이 get together, with the ramen, oden, and the whole thing. I get the relaxed, warm feeling just looking at the pictures from that night. In fact, I am convinced that one will find very few Korean people who cannot feel that warm, nostalgic sentiment when talking about this dish. It’s the ultimate after school snack, and it’s probably the meal that many people had during their first time ever dining out “only with friends” experience. Thinking back, I feel a little guilty for perhaps ruining the essence of 떡볶이 by making massive changes for my fellow aficionadas. But I think the real spirit of it is being chatty and overeating together, and we got that part down for sure.
But I had my own reasons for hippifying the street fast food supreme. The night before, I had went to the Lubalin exhibition opening at the Cooper Union, and afterward, conveniently ended up at Song 7.2, the soju bar/ Korean fast food place in the East Village where 75% of the food menu consists of empty carbohydrates, and the other 25%, deep-fried empty carbs. We had already planned our tukboki gathering days in advance. So that night, after devouring my plate of fried sea weed wrapped glass noodles drenched in more traditional tukboki sauce with my pumpkin soju, I realized that should respect the message from my body urging me to not repeat this two days in a row. That is how the tukboki turned out purple and orange.
The main adjustments that took place in this version is the amount of rice cake vs. vegetables (red cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, butternut squash, and mushrooms), the sea weed broth, and the substitution of tofu shirataki noodles in place of ramyun noodles. Ramyun is generally my favorite part about home made tukboki, so this was a bit of a risky experiment. My verdict: Ramyun can never really be replaced, but shirataki noodles are acceptable, especially counting in the lack of bloated feeling afterward. But the dashima, and the 3 different kinds of mushrooms I used really made the dish.
And this made me feel a bit like a real adult. There was a time when I didn’t care what the hell was in the red sauce. I just wanted it to be spicy with just the right amount of sweet. The biggest worry I had was to not get the sauce all over my shirt. I still worry about that, but I am worried more about the consequences of my intake. I considered Coca Cola to be ultimate accompaniment, but now I opt for Chianti.
It turned it into something completely different than what tukboki should have been, but I liked it regardless. I am growing up, slowly, and it’s just fine with me.
Oven roasted delicata squash and mushrooms, with kale dressed in tahini sauce
“Left over special” continues-
I think that I have expressed numerous times in one way or another that this Halloween weekend was unusually pleasant, but I left out the highlight. Sunday morning after the Samhain festivities, I woke up to the smell of garlic and thyme roasting in olive oil. It was already lunch time, and my guilt-tripping-Matt-into-cooking-for-me-after-the-master-cleanser had finally paid off.
He had oven roasted delicata squash and mushrooms, with loads of garlic and fresh thyme. He even toasted pumpkin seeds to sprinkle! With just the right amount of salt and pepper, it could have been the best thing he’s ever made for me. And the kale with tahini sauce was great too. Obviously, I was very pleased.
By the following evening, we only had just enough of the squash left for one person, and in the bottom of the baking dish was a little too much garlic and thyme infused oil to just wash away. In an attempt to make this last as long as possible, I turned it into a pasta dish. It was fantastic. I do succeed at times, thanks to other people’s hard work.
Oven baked autumn squash pasta with pumpkin sauce
1/2 or more of cubed delicata squash, and mushrooms, baked in garlic, fresh thyme, and olive oil until the squash is softened
a package of fusilli (this texture rules for holding on the thick sauce) or other kinds of pasta
2 or more cloves of garlic
2 scallions, chopped
1/4 or more of a red onion, chopped
1/2 cup of soymilk
1/3 cup of pumpkin purée (save the rest for pancakes!)
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
a handful of sun dried tomatoes, chopped
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Under cook the pasta, until it’s softened but not quite al dente.
Make the sauce by combining the pumpkin purée, soymilk, garlic and onions, and salt and pepper.
Mix the well-drained pasta, pumpkin sauce, and the sun dried tomatoes in a well-oiled baking dish.
Sprinkle the top with bread crumbs, and bake for 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
Serves 4-6
As a Christmas Special entry, I present to you, Gourmet (Magazine)Thanksgiving Update!
Pre-requisite reading: here
Morning dough for the cranberry apple pie, dUn, and into the fridge. It’s been almost a month since this happened, so I can’t remember the details of what I did immediately after this. I most likely went back to sleep, or went to the grocery store to get last minute things. But I remember clearly the previous day, when I bought these colorful carrots at the farmer’s market at end-of-the-day price.
As attractive as they were, the flavor was akin to unspectacular potatoes. As long as they soak up the flavors from the other stuff, they were good enough for shepherd’s pie filling.
After a long morning of chopping and mixing, around midday is a good time to pop a bottle of wine. You can also pour some into whatever you’re making if appropriate.
So the parsnip is boiled and cooling and draining for the top of the shepherd’s pie, and I think some cauliflower and celery root also made it into the mix. Anyway, here is the result-
But this is hours later. After this is assembled, it sat for a long time before going into the oven, while all the other things are being made, like the cranberry apple pie.
And, after-
Next to the pie is the ginger pear cake that Amanda made, her first vegan cake ever. It was perfect. Matt made candied yams. It’s something southern.
It seems like I’ve been hanging around the kitchen all day, but I only made 3 things. Of course, everyone brought something delicious, so there was enough for everyone. I’m happy to have managed to make all the things I had planned to, and my dear friends showed up. Here’s the menu (from myself, only):
Veganified Gourmet Thanksgiving 2009
Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie topped with Parsnip Purée
By the time we sat down, it was already dark.
My 1st plate.
By the end of the night, people started to show their true selves.
떡볶이 (tukbokgi). Or ddukbokki. (Or whatever. I really hate writing out Korean words in Roman alphabet.. sorry. But it’s so easy for you to learn.) The yellow pancake looking thing is my new favorite dish: butternut squash pancakes. I learned in from Maangchi’s video, and added some scallions, garlic, and ground black pepper to adjust to my taste.
The initial reaction I received from the ladies in the picture can be roughly translated to something in between , “I’ve never had 떡볶이 like this before.” and, “what the hell kind of a 떡볶이 is this?!”
For those unfamiliar, it’s not normally that colorful of a dish. It’s just orange-ish red, with way less veggies. It should look more like this:
This is the more proper version we made on our previous full-moon 떡볶이 get together, with the ramen, oden, and the whole thing. I get the relaxed, warm feeling just looking at the pictures from that night. In fact, I am convinced that one will find very few Korean people who cannot feel that warm, nostalgic sentiment when talking about this dish. It’s the ultimate after school snack, and it’s probably the meal that many people had during their first time ever dining out “only with friends” experience. Thinking back, I feel a little guilty for perhaps ruining the essence of 떡볶이 by making massive changes for my fellow aficionadas. But I think the real spirit of it is being chatty and overeating together, and we got that part down for sure.
But I had my own reasons for hippifying the street fast food supreme. The night before, I had went to the Lubalin exhibition opening at the Cooper Union, and afterward, conveniently ended up at Song 7.2, the soju bar/ Korean fast food place in the East Village where 75% of the food menu consists of empty carbohydrates, and the other 25%, deep-fried empty carbs. We had already planned our tukboki gathering days in advance. So that night, after devouring my plate of fried sea weed wrapped glass noodles drenched in more traditional tukboki sauce with my pumpkin soju, I realized that should respect the message from my body urging me to not repeat this two days in a row. That is how the tukboki turned out purple and orange.
The main adjustments that took place in this version is the amount of rice cake vs. vegetables (red cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, butternut squash, and mushrooms), the sea weed broth, and the substitution of tofu shirataki noodles in place of ramyun noodles. Ramyun is generally my favorite part about home made tukboki, so this was a bit of a risky experiment. My verdict: Ramyun can never really be replaced, but shirataki noodles are acceptable, especially counting in the lack of bloated feeling afterward. But the dashima, and the 3 different kinds of mushrooms I used really made the dish.
And this made me feel a bit like a real adult. There was a time when I didn’t care what the hell was in the red sauce. I just wanted it to be spicy with just the right amount of sweet. The biggest worry I had was to not get the sauce all over my shirt. I still worry about that, but I am worried more about the consequences of my intake. I considered Coca Cola to be ultimate accompaniment, but now I opt for Chianti.
It turned it into something completely different than what tukboki should have been, but I liked it regardless. I am growing up, slowly, and it’s just fine with me.
Oven roasted delicata squash and mushrooms, with kale dressed in tahini sauce
“Left over special” continues-
I think that I have expressed numerous times in one way or another that this Halloween weekend was unusually pleasant, but I left out the highlight. Sunday morning after the Samhain festivities, I woke up to the smell of garlic and thyme roasting in olive oil. It was already lunch time, and my guilt-tripping-Matt-into-cooking-for-me-after-the-master-cleanser had finally paid off.
He had oven roasted delicata squash and mushrooms, with loads of garlic and fresh thyme. He even toasted pumpkin seeds to sprinkle! With just the right amount of salt and pepper, it could have been the best thing he’s ever made for me. And the kale with tahini sauce was great too. Obviously, I was very pleased.
By the following evening, we only had just enough of the squash left for one person, and in the bottom of the baking dish was a little too much garlic and thyme infused oil to just wash away. In an attempt to make this last as long as possible, I turned it into a pasta dish. It was fantastic. I do succeed at times, thanks to other people’s hard work.
Oven baked autumn squash pasta with pumpkin sauce
1/2 or more of cubed delicata squash, and mushrooms, baked in garlic, fresh thyme, and olive oil until the squash is softened
a package of fusilli (this texture rules for holding on the thick sauce) or other kinds of pasta
2 or more cloves of garlic
2 scallions, chopped
1/4 or more of a red onion, chopped
1/2 cup of soymilk
1/3 cup of pumpkin purée (save the rest for pancakes!)
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
a handful of sun dried tomatoes, chopped
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Under cook the pasta, until it’s softened but not quite al dente.
Make the sauce by combining the pumpkin purée, soymilk, garlic and onions, and salt and pepper.
Mix the well-drained pasta, pumpkin sauce, and the sun dried tomatoes in a well-oiled baking dish.
Sprinkle the top with bread crumbs, and bake for 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
Serves 4-6
