Web Dominatrix sends her apologies. She’s crazy busy finishing up websites for a couple new clients. And these are ladies you do NOT want to disappoint (unless you’re into that sort of thing).
So, you’re stuck with me as a last minute substitute. Sorry, kids.
I thought I’d post one of my favorite vegan recipes. I’ve been making this regularly since last summer (2017) and I really could just eat the entire pan by myself.
This recipe comes from America’s Test Kitchen cookbook Vegan for Everybody, which both Web Dom and I have mentioned before.
You may sub 1-3/4 pounds frozen peaches for the fresh. Make sure you thaw completely before using.
Peach Raspberry Crisp
Filling
2-1/2 pounds peaches (peeled, halved, pitted and cut into 1/2 inch wedges)
1/4 cup organic sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbsp instant tapioca (finely ground)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
10 ounces raspberries
Topping
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup organic brown sugar
1/4 cup organic sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup coconut oil (melted and cooled)
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup pecans (chopped)
2 tbsp water
For the Filling
Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Gently toss peaches with sugar and salt in bowl and let sit, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. Drain peaches in colander set inside bowl; reserve 2 tablespoons juice and discard extra.
Return drained peaches to bowl and toss with reserved juice, ground tapioca, lemon juice, and vanilla. Transfer to 8-inch square baking dish, press gently into an even layer, then top with raspberries.
For the Topping
Meanwhile, process flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in food processor until combined, about 15 seconds. Add melted oil and pulse until mixture resembles wet sand, about 10 pulses. Add oats, pecans, and water and pulse until mixture forms marble-size clumps and no loose flour remains, about 15 pulses. Refrigerate mixture for at least 15 minutes.
Sprinkle topping evenly over fruit, breaking into 1/2 inch pieces as necessary. Bake until topping is well browned and fruit is bubbling around edges, 30 to 35 minutes, rotating dish halfway through baking. Transfer to wire rack and let cool for at least 30 minutes. Serve warm.
I don’t have time to cook this week (or to write a long post) so I don’t have an “If I weren’t vegan…” post for you, so I thought I would do a quick roundup of vegan cookbooks. Over the coming weeks I’ll do these small roundups when I don’t have the time to do a long article for you.
Cookbooks
Vegan for Everybody By the folks at America’s Test Kitchen, Vegan for Everybody is one of those books I keep giving to people who say they want to go vegan, but aren’t sure how to do it. The tortilla soup recipe hits my craving for tortilla soup from Blue Corn Cafe in Santa Fe. Another favourite is Red Lentil Soup with North African Spices, by which they mean paprika, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, and ginger.
Simple Recipes for JoyIf you can get past the name, this is a really amazing cookbook. Written by Sharon Gannon, these recipes are largely drawn from the Jivamuktea Café she has co-owned in NYC since 1984. Recipes are plant based, and delicious. I haven’t made one dish from this cookbook that disappointed me. The maharani dal recipe is so good, and has the same comforting effect on me as sambar.
Vegans Know How to Party I have no idea how this book came into my life; it just appeared on my bookshelf one day, but it’s amazing, and the title cracks me up. This is the perfect book for the vegan who likes to host dinner parties, which isn’t me…I don’t like having people in my house, but it might be you.
On my cookbook wishlist:
Thug Kitchen: Eat Like You Give a Fuck Anyone who knows me personally knows that I love swearing and gangsta rap. Combined with vegan food, this cookbook looks perfect for me. Everyone I know who has this cookbook says it’s incredible and there isn’t one bad recipe.
Vegan Comfort ClassicsComfort food gone vegan. If there’s one thing I don’t do very well in the kitchen, it’s traditional American comfort food. It’s probably because most of my comfort foods are Indian, Thai, Japanese, or Middle Eastern, but sometimes I really want traditional comfort food like I grew up with. This cookbook has some promising reviews.
That’s it from me this week. See you all in the comments!
Even though I rarely use recipes, I love them. They provide me with inspiration and ideas for combinations I may never have thought of on my own. I also love cookbooks, especially those that focus on techniques or a cooking philosophy. It’s not unusual to find me spending a Sunday afternoon curled up on the couch with the dog and a cookbook. Today, I’d like to recommend a few cookbooks that I turn to over and over.
First is “An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace” by Tamar Adler. This isn’t your typical cookbook. She has modeled it after M.F.K. Fisher’s “How to Cook a Wolf” and it is thus more like a series of essays about how to eat. Each chapter is organized around a method or ingredient and her guiding philosophy shines through. I think her philosophy could be summed up as ‘Start and keep going.’ I just love her writing. It is beautiful and she really captures cooking – not just eating – as a sensual act. Take care with your cooking and plating and you will be satisfied with less because you have satisfied all your senses, not just taste.
Sprinkled through the chapters are recipes that illustrate the methods or use the ingredients she has just discussed. Reading her descriptions, you can almost taste the dishes. Her writing is reassuring as well. Yes, you’ll make mistakes. It will be okay, there are sections devoted to explaining how to save your mistakes. If your pork chop came out dry, it can be turned into hash. I wish I’d had this book years ago, but I’m not sure I would have truly appreciated it then.
Growing up, vegetables were usually boiled until soggy and served as is. I hated them. Boiled vegetables can be wonderful (see Tamar Adler’s book) if treated correctly, but it took me years to get over my hatred of boiled vegetables. If you grew up like I did, then Susie Middleton’s “Fast, Fresh, & Green” may change your life. This book is all about how to cook vegetables so you want to eat them Each chapter is organized around a specific technique like roasting or sautéing. She gives you a base method/recipe and then several specific recipes as examples. Her Sautéed Sugar Snaps with Salami Crisps is wonderful. I sometimes make it with snow peas.
The principle behind “Ratio” by Michael Ruhlman is that you don’t need a recipe as long as you understand the appropriate ratio behind the dish. He delves into the science of cooking more than Susie Middleton or Tamar Adler. The book is organized like a typical cookbook – Doughs and Batters, Sauces, Sausages, etc and carefully explains the science behind the ratio. This is the book that inspired me to start experimenting when baking and resulted in my Holy Mole brownies.
Another book that investigates the science of cooking is “Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food” by Jeff Potter. I love this book because it, more than any other cookbook I’ve read, encourages you to experiment. Want to test the calibration of your oven, it explains how to use sugar to do so. Why are copper bowls good for making meringues? Potter explains. There are directions to make your own seitan, a DIY sous vide and resources for finding molecular gastronomy supplies like meat glue. I enjoyed the recipe to make brownies using orange peels as a little cup. Fun!
The newest addition to my library is “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking” by Samin Nosrat. Like Adler, she is an alumnae of Chez Panisse. I find Alice Waters insufferable in interviews, but she raises good cookbook authors. This book is all about how to cook – how to use salt and fat and acid and heat to make good food. The first half of the book explains techniques, interspersed with her memories of learning to cook at home and in a restaurant. It almost feels like part memoir. The recipes start after she has explained how to cook. The book is illustrated and the illustrations remind me of Mollie Katzen’s work (excellent vegetarian cookbooks). Every recipe has variations at the end. I used her best pan fried chicken to make pork schnitzel.
If you watched Alton Brown’s “Good Eats”, then Shirley O. Corriher is likely familiar to you. She used to show up and lecture Alton about food science. Unfortunately, her cookbooks read like textbooks and she is giving a lecture. They delve deeply into the science of cooking. If you want to understand how to make a tender pie crust instead of a flaky one, she makes it clear. Each recipe explicitly lists what it is intended to illustrates. They are truly useful references, but not something you want to curl up with on the couch on a rainy day.
“The Joy of Cooking” is an all purpose cookbook. Each chapter and section starts by telling you ‘about’ the method or ingredient. For example ‘About Pancakes’ gives tips for success and is followed by a lot (I mean a lot) of recipes. If you need to know how long and what temperature to use for that four pound roast, “The Joy of Cooking” has got you covered. It is also useful for learning the tips of success (how do I make a good dumpling) and finding a basic recipe that can serve as a base for experimentation, but I rarely make any of the actual recipes here. I just learn what goes into a typical pancake or dumpling or beef stew and go from there.
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