Real Sophisticated Hor d'oerves

At the risk of never being invited to another social event that includes food again, I am going to confess that I am a bit particular about what I eat.  People who know me well (or not so well) know this about me.  It seems like any discussion around the food being served is either preceded or followed up by "I'm sure it's not healthy" or "it's probably not as good as yours" or (my favorite) "Can you eat this?".  Yes, I can eat it.  And, you're right, processed Velveeta cheese is not healthy.  Besides it not being healthy, unless you are catering to eighth graders, it's completely unsophisticated.  How awkward!  Ok, I would never be that rude towards hospitality.  I love comfort foods and, truth be told, if a bowl of melted Velveeta cheese was in the vicinity right now, I would probably eat it.  But I would never serve it.  I want my hor d'oerves to be unforgettable, but not because my guest's bodies revolt against them for three days.

Tonya and I taught a class last Thursday with the simple request of "hor d'oerves".  My favorite!  I have been known to turn a holiday dinner or two into hor d'oerves only, because they are so fun.  You can get creative and your guests don't walk away feeling as if they swallowed a brick.  So, we turned to The Real Food Daily Cookbook: Really Fresh, Really Good, Really Vegetarian for some fun and delicious recipes:  Lentil-Walnut Pate (served with Elana Amsterdam's Sesame Crackers) and Brown Rice Sushi.  These hor d'oerves are filled with wholesome ingredients and are so impressive both visually and in taste (I will upload images soon!).  Real Food Daily may use some ingredients that you are not familiar with, but I would encourage you to be adventurous.  The first forty pages contains a lot of detail around these ingredients and it can be used as a useful handbook for delving into, well like it says, really fresh, really good, really vegetarian food.

Party on!

Lentil Walnut Pate
This recipe is adapted from Real Food Daily .  The saltiness of the miso and the tanginess of the umeboshi paste both pair well with the earthy lentil/walnut combination. 

3/4 cup dried lentils
3 cups water
1 bay leaf
1 small onion, peeled and quartered
6 cloves garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
1 1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 1/2 tsp dried
3 tablespoons yellow miso
1 1/2 tablespoons umeboshi paste
1 tablespoon fresh thyme or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried
3/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1/3 cup Tofutti (tofu sour cream)

Rinse the lentils in a fine mesh strainer.  Combine them with the 3 cups of water, onion, garlic cloves, and bay leaf in a medium sized sauce pan.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low.  Cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until the lentils are tender.  Strain the beans saving the cooking liquid for another use (soup, maybe?).  Remove the bay leaf and cool.

Add the toasted walnuts to a food processer and process until a paste forms, scraping the sides as needed.  Add the lentil mixture and process until smooth.  Add the basil, thyme, miso, umeboshi paste, and pepper and mix until combined.

Line a bowl or mold with plastic wrap leaving a 3 inch overhang.  Transfer the mixture to the bowl, smoothing and packing the top with a rubber spatula.  Cover with the extra plastic and refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.

When ready to serve, uncover the pate and invert it onto a serving platter.  Remove the plastic wrap entirely and spread the top with sour cream.  Serve with sesame crackers (recipe follows).

Sesame Crackers
Adapted from Elana's Pantry .  These little crackers are highly addictive, but are great to have around for a snack.  Make sure and roll them out thin.

3 cups almond flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 cup brown sesame seeds
2 eggs, whisked
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a medium sized bowl combine the almond flour, salt, and sesame seeds.  In a small bowl combine the eggs and coconut oil.  Add the wet ingredients to the dried and stir until well combined. 

Line two large baking sheets (12x16) with parchment paper.  Cut the dough in half and place one on each baking sheet.  Start with the first pan slightly pressing the dough to get it started before rolling it.  Cover it with a piece of parchment paper the same size of the pan and roll the dough out to cover the entire pan.  Remove the top piece of parchment paper and repeat with the second pan.  Score the dough into 2 inch squares and bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. 

Allow the crackers to cool on the pan and then break them apart.  Store in an uncovered bowl at room temperature for up to a week.

Brown Rice Sushi
There is a little bit of work involved in making the different components, but much of it can be done in advance.  The final rolls go together in a snap and it is well worth it.  All of these are adapted from Real Food Daily. 

6 cups brown sushi rice (recipe follows)
6 nori sheets
6 collard green leaves, lightly steamed for 2 minutes
1/4 cup umeboshi paste
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
4 ounces marinated tempeh (recipe follows)
1 avocado, peeled and sliced into thin wedges
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into 1/4 inch wide strips
1 large carrot, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch wide strips, and lightly steamed for 3 minutes
3 green onions cut into 1/2 inch wide strips
1/4 cup pickled daikon radish
Lemon-Ginger Dipping sauce (recipe follows)

Assembling the sushi:
Lay one nori sheet on top of a bambo mat (shiny side down).  Turn the sheet so one of the longest sides is closest to you.  Spread 1 cup of rice on the sheet leaving a 1/2 inch border on the long side furthest from you.  Spread 2 teaspoons of umeboshi paste in one horizontal line and top with one collard green leaf.  Now arrange horizontal strips of the remaining ingredients in the following order (1/6 of each ingredient per roll):

tempeh
carrots
cucumber
green onion
sesame seeds
green onion
daikon radish

Starting with the end closest to you, start rolling the bamboo mat, gripping tightly.  Moisten the nori at the opposite end and seal with the final roll.  With a sharp knife slice each roll into 8 equal pieces.  Sprinkle with more sesame seeds and serve with dipping sauce.

Brown Sushi Rice:
3 cups water
1 cup uncooked short-grain brown rice
1 cup uncooked sweet brown rice
2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
1 tablespoon mirin (rice wine vinegar)

Rinse both types of rice well.  Add the water and rice to a 4 1/2 quart pressure cooker and lock the lid in place.  Over high heat, raise the pressure to high.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow pressure to decrease before taking the lid off.  Combine the rice and the vinegars in a large bowl. 

Marinated Tempeh:
1/4 cup tamari
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh garlic
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
4 ounces tempeh
1 teaspoon coconut oil

Combine the tamari, water, garlic, mustard, and sesame oil in an 8 inch baking pan.  Slice the tempeh in half horizontally and add to the marinate coating it well.  Marinate for 1 hour, turning half way through.

Preheat the broiler.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and brush with coconut oil.  Lay the tempeh on the baking sheet in a single layer.  Do not throw out the marinate.  Broil the tempeh for 5 minutes and turn.  Brush the top with the reserved marinate and broil for 5 more minutes. Cool completely.

Lemon-Ginger Dipping Sauce:
1/4 cup tamari
1/3 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons mirin
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger

Whisk all ingredients and serve on the side with sushi.

Quinoa Stuffed Portobella Mushrooms

This is one of those ideas where you can literally take any leftovers, stuff it in a mushroom, top it with cheese and call it good. Here I have used "leftover" quinoa and beans and added flavorings that I typically have in my fridge. Use any grain or pasta, meat (or not), vegetables, tomato sauce, pesto, you get the idea. Goat cheese would pair nicely with the mushrooms, as well as, parmesan, feta, or fontina. Serve with a salad on the side for a nice, light dinner.
4 portobella mushrooms, stemmed and dark gills removed
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 cup cooked white beans (rinsed canned beans will work)
1 sprig rosemary, finely minced
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup stock
1/3 cup toasted pinenuts
1/2 cup grated manchego cheese
1/4 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rub each mushroom with oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes. While the mushrooms are baking, combine quinoa, beans, rosemary, lemon zest, stock, and pinenuts. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove mushrooms from oven and stuff each with the quinoa mixture. Top with cheese, breadcrumbs, and a little more salt and pepper. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of oil onto the breadcrumbs. Return to oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Chipotle Lima Bean Soup

Chipotle Lima Bean Soup

This recipes is adapted from www.101cookbooks.com, one of my favorite food bloggers.  I like to add tomatoes and use a good stock to add more flavor.  This is a very light soup great for any season.

1 pound dried baby lima beans, picked over and rinsed
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock (you can use all water, but the stock improves the flavor)
6 cups water
1 head garlic, top lobbed off to expose the cloves and loose skins removed
2 tablespoons coconut oil (butter or olive oil work, as well)
1 onion, halved top to bottom and sliced into thin crescents
1 to 2 chipotles in adobo sauce (see note below recipe)
2 cans stewed tomatoes
2 teaspoons fine-grain sea salt
Squeeze of lime juice (optional)

Pick over the beans, looking carefully for any pebbles or dirt clumps; baby limas seem to be magnets for dirt. Rinse the beans, then combine them with the stock, if using, water and garlic in a heavy soup pot. You might think putting a whole head of unpeeled garlic in the pot is strange, but just go with it. Bring the beans to an active simmer and cook for 60 – 75 minutes, until just a touch al dente and not mushy or falling apart. Test their doneness by tasting; you really can't tell any other way.

Heat the oil (or butter) in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, add the onion, chipotles, and 2 teaspoons of the adobo sauce, and sauté over medium high heat for 3 to 4 minutes, just until the onion starts to soften. Crush the tomatoes with your hands and add them, along with their juices, to the pan. Simmer for just another minute or two longer for the flavors to blend. You can always add more adobo sauce later for a spicier soup; just don't overdo it on the front end.

Add the salt and the onion-chipotle-tomato mix to the pot of beans and simmer gently for about 5 minutes. The broth should be thin, so add more water if needed. Add more salt and more adobo a bit at a time if the flavors aren't popping. Finish with a squeeze of lime if you like. You can remove the garlic or smash the cooked cloves into a paste and add it back into the soup (what I usually do).

Note: Chipotle peppers in adobo can be found in most grocery stores with the Mexican food. They are pretty spicy, so just remove 1-2 peppers and mince them up very finely so you do not have big chunks. You will not use the entire can for this or any other recipe. They will keep for a long time in the refrigerator.

Original recipe: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/baby-lima-soup-with-chipotle-broth-recipe.html