Wednesday, February 17, 2010

A Vegan's World............

This week's menu is dedicated to the vegans whom I let down last time out. All six sides and soups are vegan. Update, there is one soup that is not vegan, at a last minute tasting, dairy was added and for those of you non-vegans, all I can say is “wow”. Look for the Spicy Sweet Potato and Red Pepper, if you don’t mind some heat, you are going to love this one. There is a vegan snack option (chipotle black bean dip) and the salad can be made vegan on request. I used to consider vegans to be cheese racists, but ever since “MY DIVERTICULITIS”, I have a different opinion. I actually try to eat vegan most of the time. That being said, let’s start with the least vegan part of the menu.

SNAX
The Chipotle Black Bean Dip is back and is the only snack vegan option this week. This works great as a dip, a filling for quesadillas, or a base for the classic 9-layer-dip (one of Joel’s all-time favorite “go to’s” for any party at our house or yours). It also has 13 grams of fiber per serving. So when I say this dip is the shit, I mean it. Really though, it does taste great. We were going to give the Cranberry Almond Chicken Salad a break, but we had a pretty firm request from our friend, Shannon, to keep it on the menu. Thanks Shannon for your undying love and support, (Love Joanna). Joanna has also requested the Ma’s Insulted Tuna Salad as well. Neither of these are vegan, but I do sub in whole grain mustard for some of the mayo to try and keep things lighter. The Sun-dried Tomato Feta Dip won the vote against the roasted garlic hummus. We really like this snack a lot around the house and just had hummus last week.

SOUPS
The Spicy Sweet Potato and Red Pepper is a new one. I haven’t made a test batch, but I have a plan. Using Sofrito technology, I thought I would caramelize the red bells with some onions and parsley. Just cook them down into indiscriminate bliss before adding the veggie stock and sweet potatoes then pureeing. Toasted pepitas would be a great compliment sprinkled on top. (This soup turned out superb).
The White Bean with Roasted Garlic normally has asiago cheese in it. We are keeping it vegan this time. To compensate for the richness of the cheese, I added some caramelized onions and bumped up the roasted garlic. That is why it made the title. The Hearty Veg Soup will feature yellow and green squash, beans, celery, carrots, potatoes, and sweet potatoes in tomato spiked homemade veg broth. This should turn out delicious, colorful, and beautiful, as well as good for you.

SIDES
The SpagheThai is back for the second time in a row. We got pretty positive reviews on that and I felt like making it again. Not really making it again, but eating it again. I do have whole-wheat spaghetti noodles this time. (Joanna demanded the original style). The Five Bean Salad with simple vinaigrette has fresh green beans, edamame, garbanzo beans, red kidney beans, and white beans along with some fresh herbs, diced onion and red bell pepper. It is a take on one of my mom’s classic weekend dishes we had growing up. The Roasted Sesame Ginger Carrots is a new one. We catered an event at the Umlauf Sculpture Gardens awhile back. Joanna was adamant that we not do the standard veg tray because no one ever eats them. That is exactly why I wanted to do one. We call those table anchors. To compromise, I did a roasted vegetable crudite which included carrots roasted with ginger and garlic and dressed with sesame and orange. It was very popular and we had to refill that tray multiple times throughout the evening. (Joanna inserts) He’s not telling you that this was the birth of the original brussel sprout that has been finding it’s way into the menus since.

SALAD
Recently, Tacodeli has been sourcing its spinach from a small farm in Poteet Texas. It is so delicious. Next time you are in, please order a side of the sautéed spinach. Hopefully, I can feature this on the Spinach Salad with Sherry Dijon Vin., Goat Cheese, Dried Cherries, and Toasted Walnuts.

Notes from Joanna:
Thanks again. It’s turned out to be a busy week all around but we are having fun in the kitchen and I'm learning how to make the Chicken Salad (a secret of which I have signed an oath to never tell the recipe, I might even learn how to make the tuna salad as well.) We look forward to seeing you on Thursday and hope you are all enjoying the sunshine.

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