Pistachio Rosewater Cupcakes with Rosewater Glaze

Ideally, these would have involved pink food coloring, and perhaps a sprinkling of chopped pistachio on top. Why? Because, especially when it comes to sweets, people can sometimes only taste what they see. If it's not pink, they might not taste the rosewater. So if you don't have pink food coloring on hand, either, just make sure to mention the flavor combo to your friends often as they scarf these delicious cupcakes.



Another winner from Isa and Terry's classic Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, these are vegan and sensational, based on a classic Indian pairing.

Ingredients

1/2 cup vanilla soy yogurt
2/3 cup soy milk
1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons rosewater
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, soy milk, oil, sugar, and rosewater. Sift in flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until large clumps dissapear, then fold in pistachios. Fill liners three-quarters of the way.
Bake 20 to 22 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

For the glaze, cream 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar with 1 tbs earth balance, then mix in a little rosewater and soymilk (tiny bits at a time so you don't thin it out too much). And a little pink doesn't hurt, either.

These are adorable, and not even snobby omnivores will know they are vegan.

Mocha Chip Cupcakes

Oh yeah, these were good. Originally designed for my friend Maria's birthday party way back in May (the lady enjoys coffee), I reprised them recently for a July 4th BBQ. The secret of intense coffee flavor is instant coffee - crappy to drink but amazingly handy in baking - which also gives the cupcakes a beautifully deep, dark color.



Mocha Chip Cupcakes

Ingredients

(Makes about 24)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup hot water
1/4 cup instant coffee granules, plus more
3/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners, or ready your silicone cups, and set aside. Dissolve 1/4 cup instant coffee into 1/2 cup hot or boiling water, and set aside. Make sure this isn't too hot (we want warm, not steaming) by the time you use it in the recipe.
2. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, coffee mixture, milk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed. Fold in chocolate chips (I used incredily tasty Trader Joe's milk chocolate ones).
2. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely, and top with lots of coffee buttercream frosting, and a chocolate covered espresso bean if you're feeling fancy.

Coffee Buttercream Frosting

Dissolve 1 tsp instant coffee into 1 tsp vanilla extract. Beat a stick of butter into a cup of powdered sugar, adding dashes of the coffee gloop until it's a nice color and consistency. You may need to add more powdered sugar as you go, too.



And save a cute one for yourself - because these will be gone very quickly!



Adapted, as many of my cupcakes are, from Martha Stewart's simple 1-bowl chocolate cupcakes.

Sweet Potato and Spinach Salad with Maple Dressing

This was one of those things I threw together with the crap I had around that turned out to be really good. I don't normally like to post things like salad - it seems cheap, since it barely involves actual cooking - but perhaps one day you, too, will have the following crap lying around, and will be able to make this delicious salad, which is definitely substantial enough for a meal.



Ingredients

1 small or medium sweet potato, sliced in 1/2" rounds
a plate worth of spinach
handful of hazelnuts, chopped
a sprinkling of blue cheese
equal squirts of maple syrup, olive oil, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar

Directions

There are hardly directions here since, this being a salad, there's not much to do. You do want to roast your sweet potato slices at around 350 for 15-25 minutes; lay them flat in a single layer on a baking pan, coat both sides with olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper on before you do. Meanwhile, assemble everything else. Whisk together in equal parts some maple syrup, olive oil, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar; adjust to taste. I find I need extra lemon juice to cut the vinegary taste of the vinegar, but I know some people are into that. For a nice presentation you should hold off on sprinkling the nuts and cheese until the sweet potato slices have been laid on your bed of spinach, but it certainly doesn't really matter. Then you just pour the dressing on top.

Voila.

Earl Grey Cupcakes with Lemon Buttercream

My friend Emma had a birthday recently, so naturally some cupcakes were in order. I wanted something with a theme, and she's English, so it was either these or Spotted Dick, and I didn't think the latter would survive the trip in to work very well. And if you know me, you probably know that both my sister and I are tea-obsessives and love working it into recipes. These delicious, delicately citrus-scented cupcakes were just the thing.



You'll find plenty of recipes for earl grey cupcakes on the internet, but none of them really satisfied me, so I sort of made up my own, taking a basic vanilla cupcake recipe from Martha and embellishing it in various ways. These were quite tasty and seemed to be received very well, but to be honest, even though I used more tea here than in most of the other recipes out there, the bergamot flavor still wasn't strong enough for me. Next time I might have to spring for a preposterously expensive bottle of bergamot extract, available here.

Earl Grey Cupcakes
(This recipe makes 24 - I was feeling generous. You can probably halve it with no problems.)

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups milk
8 bags of earl grey tea, not too fancy
Zest of 1 lemon

Directions

1. Before beginning your cupcakes, heat the milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it starts to shake a lot. Dunk in 4 teabags, turn off the heat, and cover for 10 minutes or so. Then squeeze out the teabags into the milk, getting all of that tea-i-ness in there, and refrigerate the milk so it's not warm anymore when it's cupcake time.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 and ready your baking apparatus. Empty the contents of the remaining 4 bags of tea into a food processor and grind up the leaves as small as you can. (This step is optional, I guess, but you don't want big chunks of tea in your cupcakes.)

3. Mix together the ground tea, flour, salt and baking powder and in a small bowl.

4. In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter together until real fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating each one in separately. (I don't know why this is important but everyone says it is.) Beat in vanilla and lemon zest.

5. Measure your tea-milk to make sure it hasn't evaporated; if it's not 1 1/4 cups, make up the difference with regular milk. Then mix in the flour mixture and the milk into your bowl of liquidy stuff, alternating, ending with flour. Mix until everything is just incorporated.

6. Fill up your cupcake liners (not all the way, of course) and bake for 20-22 minutes, or until they pass the fork test. Top with lovely lemon frosting and serve to the birthday girl.

Here they all are laid out for my friends at work. We had ourselves a little cupcake party.



Lemon Buttercream Frosting

This frosting has less butter than your average buttercream, which was really because I ran out of butter, but I think this ended up making the frosting more delicate. It suited the cakes better. (My friend Atalanti told me this, and she had a stint in culinary school.)

My methods are pretty inexact when it comes to frosting, so I'll just explain what I did. Squeeze out your zested lemon into a cup. Cream half a stick of butter with some confectioner's sugar, maybe a cup's worth. Add in a little lemon juice and beat. Keep adding more sugar and more lemon juice until you have an amount and a consistency that works for you. Refrigerate the frosting if you're not going to use it immediately, but let it sit out for 20 minutes or so before piping it onto the cakes.

Here Emma enjoys a birthday cupcake:



Our friends Camille (foreground) and Karina (background) eat their cupcakes.

Polenta Cakes with Carmelized Onions and Eggs

I love polenta and eggs - especially with tons of parmesan - but it's usually a binary proposal: either soft, porridge-type polenta, or set, firm, bread-like polenta. I, with my insatiable appetite for life, wanted the best of both worlds: a polenta that was soft and creamy inside, but with a crispy, delicious skin. I gave it a shot the other night, and I was quite pleased with the results. A perfect support for the eggs, and especially delicious with a topping of carmelized onions. And, like I said, lots of fresh parmesan.



First, you'll need some polenta. Cook it according to the package's directions (how much depends on how many polenta cakes you want - I can't decide that for you, child) but use broth instead of water and add some dried sage and thyme. Crumble the dried herbs between your palms as you add them; this is the way to release their flavor.

Meanwhile, grease a muffin tin and preheat the oven to 400. When the polenta thickens up and looks good, and is shooting yellow missiles all over your stove and skin, turn off the heat and spoon it into the muffin tin. Bake for maybe 15 minutes, then take out the tin and spoon just a little olive oil over each. Put them back in the oven and let them go for a bit, maybe 20 minutes or so. They'll fry a bit in the cups. Once there's no more oil to make funny noises and shapes, they're probably done. If you aren't finished preparing the rest of your meal by the time this happens, just turn the heat down to 200 and let them sit tight.

This is how the polenta cakes look fresh from the oven:



While the polenta cakes are cooking, carmelize some thinly-sliced onion in butter or earth balance. I used half a small onion for 2 cakes, but this of course is a matter of preference. When that's done put the onions aside and cook your eggs in the same pan. I recommend sunny-side up but anything works.

When everything's done, scoop the eggs onto your plate and top the polenta cakes with the onions. Since we didn't let the polenta set, the insides of the cakes should be smooth and creamy, but since we pretty much deep fried the outsides, you should have a lovely crispy golden skin. Top with lots of fresh parmesan and eat the shit out of them.



I've also found that these keep pretty well; you can put them in tupperware and toast them on high for 10 or 15 minutes. Of course, the insides will be set, but they'll still be delicious.

I dreamed the polenta cakes up to go with eggs, but I'm sure they'd work with other things too. Any ideas?

Hamentaschen for Purim!!

Happy Purim everybody!! This is a particularly upbeat Jewish holiday where we celebrate our escape from the clutches of a genocidal Persian guy named Hamen who wore a 3-cornered hat. I can't get into the whole thing now but basically, Hamen wanted to kill all the Jews, but Queen Esther saved us, so now we eat his hat. boo Hamen!!! On Purim you are pretty much commanded to get drunk and to share cookies with friends and loved ones and pretty much everybody really. Poppyseed fillings are most traditional; I made a tasty apricot one.



Hamentashen ("Hamen hats")

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar, white or light brown
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbs milk or orange juice (they're not kosher with milk)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups flour
apricot filling (recipe follows)

Directions

In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg, then stir in the milk/juice and vanilla. Mix in the baking powder and salt, then gradually incorporate the flour til you get a big ball of dough. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (you could probably get away with just a few hours).

Then, preheat the oven to 375. Roll out the dough to 1/4" thickness. Take a cookie cutter or just a thin-lipped cup and make circles. Place these on your cookie sheet and place a dollop of jam in the center of each. Pinch them together to form 3 corners. You can brush an egg wash on the dough if you're feeling fancy, but I skipped this on mine and they were still delicious (as my friend Molly said when I asked her whether we should've: "I have no regrets").

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, erring on the side of slightly undercooked, then let them cool and then get drunk and give them to all your friends. Yay cookies! Boo Hamen!!

Rolling out the dough with my fabulous silicone rolling pin:



Apricot Filling

Ingredients

A bunch of dried apricots (I don't know, maybe, 15-20?)
1/3 cup honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Cover your apricots in water and let them sit overnight. When they get all nice and bloated, puree them in a food processor, stirring in the honey and cinnamon. It makes a lovely and colorful filling for hamentaschen. As for what to do with the leftovers of this, I have no idea. My friend Daniel liked it over ice cream.

Molly:



These were surprisingly delicious (not to mention attractive) with chocolate gelato that Molly brought.

Mom's Polish Cabbage Soup

Oh man, am I excited about this one. I can't even convey it to you over the internet. You see, that "Mom" in the title of this post is not an abstracted standard of home cookin,' but rather actual Mom, the woman who gave birth to me and Erica. In case you don't know, she is a really fantastic cook, and our interest in food definitely comes from her. (Our dad is interested in food too, but his passion is more on the consuming side than the preparing side.) When we were growing up, our mom used to make this amazing cabbage soup as part of her regular winter soup rotation. It was very simple: onion, lots of cabbage, beef broth, bacon and rice. I remember how the little bacon bits got juicy in the soup, and how the wild rice blend my mom always used added an interesting texture. But once we went veg, this was just one of those things we figured we'd never see again. Sure, we can veganize muffins and marinate tofu with a marinade originally intended for scallops, but such a simple soup, so reliant on strong beefy and smoky and bacony flavors? No way it would have the same punch.

Well, my friends, I am here to tell you: yes way.



Sorry the pictures are so ugly, but this is pretty much stewed cabbage, after all. My veggie version, while of course not exactly the same, tastes similar enough to mom's original to transport me back to those family meals. It's delicious and just the perfect thing on a cold winter night, especially with some crusty bread, the way our mom always serves it. Since the flavor is so reliant on the broth, make sure you use a good stock. As usual, I recommend Better Than Bouillion. Or you can make your own if you're badass.

Cabbage Soup

Ingredients

1 good size yellow onion, chopped
1/2 a medium size green cabbage, shredded or chopped into strips
3 cups veggie broth
3 cups mushroom broth
7 strips fake bacon (Morningstar is best, but it's not vegan)
1-2 cups cooked wild rice blend
1 parmesan rind (optional)
Parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast

Directions

First, put a great big pat of butter or earth balance in your soup pot. You're going to carmelize the shit out of those onions; that'll really give the soup some flavor. Stir them around over medium heat for a while - it could take 20 minutes or so - until they get brownish and smell awesome. This is not the place to be stingy with your butter or butter substitute. Cabbage is super good for you anyway so we need to counteract some of that.
Then you can add the cabbage and the stock. If you have a parmesan rind, throw that in too; it will add a real depth of flavor to the soup. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. This is a good time to cook your faux bacon, and crumble it into small pieces (though they don't have to be tiny). Simmer the soup until the cabbage is tender and translucent. Then stir in the bacon and rice, turn off the heat, and remove the parmesan rind, if using.
Stir some grated parmesan or nutritional yeast into your bowl; experiment with how much you like. Whichever you choose, I don't recommend skipping this; the richness it brings is important to my memory of this soup.

Last night I had mine with an apple salad. Cabbage and apple are a classic combination, or so searches on Epicurious would indicate.

Black River Cafe Cupcakes

These were made as a tribute to the delicious banana chocolate chip pancakes at the Black River Cafe in Oberlin. They're incredibly moist banana cupcakes filled with chocolate chips and topped with maple buttercream. The original banana cupcake recipe is from Martha, although I found it made way more than 12 normal cupcakes. I had to overfill all of the cups and I still had enough batter left over for 2 more. But that probably had something to do with all the chocolate chips I added. Also, her recipe says to bake them for 25 or 30 minutes, but mine were done - though still extremely moist - at 20. You can choose to follow her recipe; what follows is what I did.



Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar (I used light brown cause it was what I had)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted or just seriously softened
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (or a little less, if you don't have the guts)

Directions

Preheat the ovento 350 and assemble your paper liners or silicone cups or whatever you use. Mix together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt)in a small mixing bowl. Mash the bananas with a fork in a large mixing bowl until they turn into pudding. Whisk in the sugar until it melts. Whisk in the butter until everything is smooth, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. You can puree this if you want - pureeing the wet ingredients makes for a fluffy texture in some recipes, like the banana walnut muffins below - but I think these cupcakes are best with a few small banana chunks. Still, you do want this pretty smooth.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing minimally. Add the chocolate chips when it's half-mixed and then continuing mixing until incorporated, always keeping in mind that cupcake batter is best when it's mixed less.

Fill the cups not quite to the top and bake for 20 - 22 minutes, until a fork/toothpick comes out clean. Top with chilled maple buttercream frosting and serve to anyone looking for a taste of Oberlin.

Maple Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

3 tbs maple syrup
2 tbs butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
around 2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

Beat the maple syrup and butter together in a bowl. This would be a lot easier if the butter was melted but that'll ruin the consistency so tough luck. Add the vanilla and some of the sugar and mix till smooth. Keep adding sugar until you get the desired consistency (may take more than 2 cups). Chill it for a bit, especially if you're going to pipe it, and then pipe or just spread on your delicious cupcakes.

My friends Matt and Kurt, current students, enjoy a taste of Oberlin:





The gorgeous insides.



You know, I could really go for one of these right now. Hell yes.

Big Fattie Banana Walnut Muffins

I made these the other day when I was sick and ansy. You may say, who the fuck wants to eat muffins made by a sick person? I don't know, man. That's not my department.



The recipe is from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's Veganomicon. I used all whole wheat pastry flour - a magical flour that allows you to make what my coworker Miriam disdainfully calls "health muffins" while still keeping them fluffy - and I replaced the wheat germ with milled flax cause it was all I had. And apparently you can do that cause they came out just fine. And obviously, I also put in a whole bunch of walnuts cause walnuts are so excellent.

The most significant feature of these muffins is that they are enormous, easily twice the size of mortal muffins. And that is probably also the best way to decrease their health quotient. Just eat muffins til you pass out. A muffin bender. Who's with me?

Arugula-Walnut Pesto with Peas and Faux Chicken

I just got this adorable baby food processor. I really should've taken a picture of it cause it's so damn cute. But anyway, this gadget was on my mind as I was coming home from work the other night, and I decided I had to make pesto. I didn't feel like spending tons of money on a huge bunch of basil and hunting down pine nuts, but I already had arugula and walnuts at home. I added a some peas for veggie flavor and sauteed Morning Star chik'n strips for protein.



This should make enough for maybe 3 bowls of pasta, or you could also use it as a sandwich spread, mix it into scrambled eggs, etc.

Ingredients

1/4 cup walnuts
Maybe half a bag of arugula
Plenty of olive oil on hand (maybe up to 1/4 cup)
Maybe 1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese*
Salt and (lots of) pepper
Optional: peas and sauteed fake chicken strips, cut into small pieces

*You can leave this out for vegan pesto, but you may want to add something else for flavor. Not sure what; maybe Erica can weigh in on this.)

Directions

Sorry the measurements are so imprecise, but pesto is really all about feel. You'll have to see for yourself what amounts work for you, and taste it frequently. Grind the walnuts for a bit, then start adding arugula. If you're using a little baby processor like me, you'll only be able to add a small amount at a time, which is okay. Pour in some oil when you add the arugula. Process it smooth and add more, adding a little more oil when needed. When you've got the amount you want and the texture and taste are good, add the cheese and some salt and pepper. You may need to add a little more oil.

When it's ready, toss your pasta and optional fixins in. Voila.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

Sometimes, I get these ideas in my head. And I cannot rest until I have executed them. Sometimes these experiments go awry; sometimes, as here, they are delicious beyond any imagining. I found a solid recipe for peanut butter cupcakes (this one is very delicious but not vegan; you can certainly substitute a vegan recipe if you like) and dropped pockets of strawberry preserves right into the batter, instead of filling them more traditionally with a pastry bag. This was easier, more beautiful, and allowed me to put in lots of jelly, which is what I wanted.



Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter, room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk (maybe an extra splash if the batter is too goopy)

You'll also, of course, need jelly or fruit preserves, in the flavor of your choice; I was using delicious strawberry preserves from Trader Joe's, but if your preserves are too liquidy, you might want to strain some of the liquid off first.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. Get your muffin tin ready with paper liners or set out your silicone cups (which is what I use).

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter and brown sugar until smoothly blended and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Mix in egg. Add vanilla and beat for 1 minute or until the batter is smooth.

Add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and mixing until the flour is incorporated and the batter looks smooth. I threw in an extra splash of milk here because I thought it looked too thick.

Plop a small drop of batter into each cup, using your spoon to smooth it up the sides of the cup a bit so you create a sort of well for the jelly. (This is something I didn't think to do at the time but should have done. But my cupcakes came out awesome anyway.) Plop in as much jelly as you want (but don't go crazy here) and then cover with batter. You can fill these pretty full; they seem to be able to handle it.

Bake about 20-22 minutes until the tops are just firm and beautifully golden; it will be hard to test them with a fork or toothpick, due to that whole filled-with-jelly thing, but you can try. Mine had cracks on the top, making them look like peanut butter cookies from above, which I liked. Cool them away from your still-warm oven and serve with a frosty glass of soy/rice/almond/cow/goat milk. Or a beer. Be prepared for your facial muscles to stick in an expression like this one when you eat them:



I was originally planning on making a frosting for these, but when I tried them I realized they were perfect and anything more would be too much. However, if you're serving these as a dessert and not just cramming them all into your face at once, I do think a simple scoop of vanilla ice cream (or your favorite vegan sub) would be a wonderful addition.

Here you can see the jelly pockets poking through.



My hand model, Chris Riggs, displays the inner workings of the cupcake. Luckily he works for baked goods.

Poached Eggs with Cilantro Tomato Sauce

I've been on a poached egg kick lately. Something about how fucking difficult they are to get right awakens a sense of adventure in me. And while plain old salt and pepper is hard to beat, sometimes I feel a little creative and want to do something special. I found an intriguing recipe on Epicurious but it was a little too fancy for a Thursday night. But I liked the idea of a substantial tomato sauce flavored with cilantro, so I thought I'd try an easy version. The result is really tasty and satisfying and something I've made a bunch of times since.



Ingredients

2 fresh eggs (best for poaching)
A couple tablespoons of apple cider or rice vinegar
1 small can tomato sauce
3 or 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 bunch of cilantro, finely chopped
salt 'n pepper
an english muffin or something
optional: a little fresh parmesan


Directions

First, take a decent-sized pot and fill it with about 3 inches of water. Decant your eggs, carefully - you're fucked if the yolks break - into two little cups; teacups with adorable little handles are perfect. Turn the heat on your pot of water, and while it heats up, you can start frying your garlic in a little oil. Once it starts getting brown, dump in the tomato sauce and stir it around a bit. Keep the heat low here.

Pour some vinegar into the water; the more you use, the better the egg whites will set. You can use regular white vinegar, too, but my suggestions above are tastier. Once the water boils, turn the heat down so there's little bubbles but the water is still. This is the slightly tricky part; I'm still mastering it. Stir the water to make a whirlpool and carefully dip an egg-cup into it so the egg slides out. If you do this right, the egg will swirl around in the water and the magic of centrifugal force will gather the white around it. Do the same with the second egg, obviously being careful not to mess with the first one. Once they're both in there, stir carefully to make sure they're not sticking to the bottom - that'll ruin em - then turn off the heat and cover the pot. If you like the yolks really runny, which is the only way serious people eat poached eggs, only leave them for about a minute, just until the whites set. You can leave them longer but they'll cook more.

Poaching:



A breached yolk:



Meanwhile stir the cilantro into your tomato sauce and let it wilt there. Scoop your adorable, fluffy eggs onto your freshly-toasted english muffin with a slotted spoon and top generously with the sauce. And actually if you've got some leftover cornmeal pancakes from the delicious chili you made a couple nights ago those would make a delicious bed for the eggs, too. Then shave some parmesan on top, liberally sprinkle with black pepper, and eat them eggs up.



One final note: this makes enough sauce for 4 eggs, so either invite a friend to dinner or save half of it for more eggs later! It'll still be good next time you want fancy eggs (which if you're like me will be in like 6 hours).

Sweet Potato Bisque with Corn and Jalapeno

The root vegetable base and hearty texture of this soup say winter, but the cheerful colors - bright orange, yellow, and green - say summer. And the taste says delicious!



I've copied the recipe here from the New York Times, who adapted it from a new cookbook of classic New Orleans recipes rescued from Katrina. Kind of a neat idea. And while I'm sure plenty of those recipes are loaded with shrimp and heavy cream (you know they've got like 8 ways of serving poached eggs down there?), this is naturally vegan and super easy to make. Well, alright, it's a little more complicated if you don't have an immersion blender - but if you don't then how do you LIVE anyway?? Go out and get one and then make this soup.

Sweet Potato Bisque with Corn and Jalapeno



Ingredients

1 tablespoon peanut or olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onions
2 teaspoons minced garlic
3 medium sweet potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds total), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1 medium jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (I doubled the recipe from 1 cup, cause I like corn)
2 tablespoons molasses
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Scant pinch ground cinnamon
Finely chopped scallions, green parts only.

Directions

1. In a large saucepan or soup pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and sauté until just soft, 2 to 3 minutes. Add sweet potatoes and stock and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Using an immersion blender or a food processor, purée contents of pot, in batches if necessary, until smooth.
3. Reheat soup, stirring in jalapeño, corn, molasses, salt, cayenne, black pepper and cinnamon. Taste, adjust seasonings and serve, topped with scallions.

The soup comes out very hearty and filling, despite the few and simple ingredients, and not as spicy as you might think. I served mine with cheesy whole wheat muffins I made for the occasion, though some nice crusty bread from your local bakery would probably be just as excellent. And it did seem to quite well with Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale.

Cheesy whole wheat muffin biscuit guys



I could only buy jalapenos in a package of 8, so I'll definitely be making this again soon... who wants to come over for dinner?

Pancakes: They're Not Just For Breakfast For Dinner Anymore

Seitan and Mole Chili with Savory Cornmeal Pancakes



I've been on a real pancake kick recently, ever since our mom served me pancakes with a runny fried egg on top. It was a delicious revelation, and opened my eyes to the many possibilities of the savory pancake. You can get all fancy and put stuff in your batter, but really, a savory pancake is just any old pancake used in a savory situation (just don't put too much sugar in the batter). So when I was planning to make a big beautiful pot of chili, I decided that rather than corn muffins, I would make some nice, moist, violently yellow cornmeal pancakes as an accompaniment.

The chili recipe is slightly adapted from the immortal Vegan with a Vengeance, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. The molasses and cocoa give it a fabulous mole flavor and deep color that I find very compelling. I do canned tomato sauce instead of crushed tomatoes because I'm picky about tomato-eating, but chili is super adaptable, so feel free to change that (and other things) around. The recipe makes a soupy chili, ideal for dippin.'

Chili



Ingredients

1 big onion, chopped
lots of garlic, diced (I like 4 or 5 cloves but it's up to you)
1 package good-quality seitan (Ray's is great in the Philly area), finely chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, finely chopped (optional)
1.5 tbs cumin
1 tbs chili powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 can pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
2 small cans tomato sauce
2 tbs molasses
2 tbs cocoa powder (unsweetened, duh)
lots of black pepper
1 cup good-quality veggie stock

Directions

Saute the onion and pepper in some oil for a few minutes; add the garlic and seitan and saute for another maybe 8 minutes. Add the spices and saute anotehr minute or two, to create a "flavor foundation," as Rich Landau of Horizons Cafe likes to call it. Add the beans, tomato sauce, molasses, cocoa, and stock, and stir it up with some pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, and cook covered for about 20 minutes, stirring infrequently to keep it from burning if you have a shitty pot like me. After that, turn off the heat and just let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Longer won't hurt it, and you can always reheat, so it's time to make the pancakes.

These pancakes use egg, but there are obviously many wonderful vegan pancake recipes out there. The main thing here is that I add black pepper and use olive oil instead of a more neutral-tasting oil.

Savory Cornmeal Pancakes



Ingredients

2 cups cornmeal
.5 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbs sugar
2 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp baking soda
Generous sprinkling of freshly ground pepper (try adding some pink peppercorns to your black)
2 cups milk or soymilk
.5 cup water
.25 cup olive oil
1 large egg
1 cup corn kernels, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to like 200 and keep a baking pan in there, so you can keep your pancakes warm as you make them. Mix the dry ingredients together; mix the wet ingredients together (leave the corn be for now if you're using it). Gently mix dry and wet together, moistening all ingredients but being careful not to overmix, which will totally ruin your pancakes. Let it sit for a minute as you heat up your pan, adding some oil - only a wee wee bit if you're using nonstick. Once the pan is nice and hot, I like to use a ladle or a 1/4 cup measurement to dole out the batter. Once it's in the pan, sprinkle corn kernels into it before it sets. As you finish the pancakes, put them on the pan in the oven to keep them warm.

You may want to add a little shredded cheddar, if you're into that kind of thing. Either way, you should dip the pancakes in your chili, get full as fuck, and then watch some cartoons or something. Perfect for a cold winter's night with friends.

Here my friend Molly demonstrates dipping techniques:



I've got a bunch more recipes to warm you up this winter, so stay tuned folks and folkettes.