The Jolly Fox

I thought I wouldn’t have time to post again, but guess what? I finished work a bit early and just found some time to do a post. Yay.

Empanadas are delicious little stuffed pockets of goodness. They originated in Spain and Portugal and can be traced back to the 1500’s. Damn empanadas, you’re old! Both empanadas and calzones are thought to have been inspired by the samosa. I guess everyone likes to put their own spin on stuffed pockets of food…. people just love to stuff food into other food. Empanadas can be baked or fried, but I have never fried them. I save frying for pupusas.

Anyhow, some of my favorite empanadas are the ones below from Veganomicon.

More recently, I was invited to a potluck by my awesome friend of I Dream of Greenie and I decided to make some….you guessed it, empanadas! This time I decided to veganize a recipe for Spicy Duck Empanadas w/ Citrus Blackberry Dipping Sauce. The end results were pretty yummy, although they were “spiced”, not spicy. They were a success at the potluck, the first dish to be completely eaten….although, I only made a baker’s dozen so there really weren’t that many. I was running short on time, so I just made enough to fill one baking sheet. I did have enough filling and dough for a second batch, but didn’t have time to let them bake.

Now the Spiced “Duck” Empanadas can be in your mouth with this recipe.

Spiced “Duck” Empanadas w/ Citrus Blackberry Dipping or Drizzling Sauce

Ingredients:

1 recipe empanada dough (you can use your favorite. I like the one from Veganomicon, so that’s typically the one I use)

2 cans vegetarian mock duck, drained & chopped  (omg what?!?!–You can try making your own mock duck from scratch, but just warning you that it is a process and a half because the majority of recipes you’ll find will use veggies rather than seitan. If you want to skip that step, find an asian grocer and check for canned mock duck. I get mine from 99 Ranch Market in Monterey Park. While you’re there, you can get all kinds of other delicious asian goodies. Don’t be scared that it’s in a can. It’s just seitan and only has like 3 ingredients so it’s not scary. I’ve never eaten actual duck, but from what I hear, the flavors are very, very similar)

3 tbsp Earth Balance

1/2 c port wine or other full bodied red wine

1 small red onion, minced or diced finely

1/4 lb button mushrooms, chopped (you can vary this up w/ different ones. Shitakes might be nice too)

1/4 c “beef” broth (I like Better than Boullion’s No Beef flavor, but Edward & Sons also makes good boullion cubes)

1/4 c smashed roasted garlic* (see tip at bottom for roasting garlic if you don’t know how)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp lavender

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 c fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Citrus-Blackberry Sauce (recipe follows)

Method:

Melt Earth Balance in a medium to large skillet or saute pan over medium heat. Add the mock duck to the pan. Saute for about a minute, then add the wine. Cook for another minute or so, then add the onion. Saute the onion until it starts to look translucent or close to getting there. Then add your mushrooms. Cook until the mushroom release most of their liquid and cook a lil longer until that liquid reduces from the pan. Stir in the broth, garlic, and spices. Cook until the broth starts to cook away. Remove from heat and let cool to room temp, then add your cilantro. Your filling will look like this:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with silpats (which you should TOTES have) or parchment if you fail at life and don’t have silpats. Sorry, that was mean, but get yourself a frickin’ silpat. It will save you $ on parchment and will help the environment by not creating so much waste w/ parchment and packaging.

Now, here you can get creative. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out your empanada dough until it’s pretty thin. Not too thin, because you don’t want it break open when you’re trying to fold these guys. Now, here you can either use a round cookie cutter, or pint glass to cut circles, or you can use a pastry cutter to cut out squares. I like to do squares so my empanadas take a triangle shape, rather than a half moon shape. Either way, cut yourself some squares or circles. The size is up to you.

Anyhow, scoop about a tbsp worth of filling into each piece of dough and fold. If you’re making triangles, you’ll want to fold one corner diagonally over the other, just like you would folding a square of paper, to make a triangle shape. Hopefully, we are all familiar with shapes so this shouldn’t be too difficult. If you’re doing circles, just place your filling in the middle and fold your circle in half to create a half moon. I generally have success just pressing the edges together to seal the empanadas, but if your fingers are failing, grab a fork and use that to press the edges down. Remember to poke or slice a vent or two for steam into the top.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the tops or edges of the empanadas are looking golden.

Whilst the empanadas are baking, make the sauce!

Citrus-Blackberry Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Earth Balance

1/4 c shallot, minced

1 1/4 c fresh blackberries

1/4 c raspberry vinegar

1/4 c white wine

1/4 c orange juice

2 tbsp orange zest (zest the orange before you juice!)

2 tbsp packed brown sugar

2 tbsp pure maple syrup

Method:

Melt Earthy B in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the shallot and saute for about a minute. Add the blackberries, wine, vinegar, orange juice & zest, brown sugar and maple syrup. Reduce heat to medium and cook about 10 minutes or until it starts to turn syrupy. While the sauce is cooking, I like to smash up the blackberries with my wooden spoon or spatula. If you like very smooth sauces, you can transfer this to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. I don’t mind the delicious little bits of food though, so I leave it as is. Use this sauce to either drizzle over the empanadas or to dip them in. 🙂

*To Roast Garlic: Preheat oven to 325°F. Start with a whole, unpeeled head and cut off the bottom with a sharp knife. If you don’t have a very sharp knife, cut off the top of the garlic. Oil a tiny baking dish (like a creme brulee dish or ramekin) with a high heat oil. Place the garlic in the dish and drizzle a tiny bit of oil on top. Cover with foil and bake for 45-60 min until the garlic is soft. Let cool slightly and the garlic should just squeeze right out of the skins when you give it a little push.

Lately, I have seen so many beautiful varieties of figs appearing at local farmer’s markets and Whole Foods. I decided to pick up some mission figs and some green ones. A few weeks back, I had heard something about some kind of Parisian style famous mac’ n cheese with figs and mushrooms. I have no idea whether or not people in France really eat mac’ n cheeze this way or not, but I decided to do a vegan version anyway, using both varieties of figs and cremini mushrooms.

I roasted the figs with black pepper, fresh rosemary from the garden, and honey. I drizzled a very small amount  of oil in the bottom of my baking dish so that the figs wouldn’ get stuck.

I sauteed some cremini mushrooms in Earth Balance and then boiled some spelt pasta shells. I then made this sauce using yummy Daiya cheeze.

Daiya Cheeze Sauce for Mac’ n Cheeze

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c non-dairy milk

2 tsp dijon mustard

1 1/2 c Daiya cheddar style

3 tbsp Earth Balance

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp all natural orange food coloring (optional)

Method:

Start by melting the Earthy B with the flour and making a yellow roux. Add non-dairy milk and dijon. Whisk about 10 min. When mixture is thick and bubbly, add Daiya and food coloring if using. Taste for salt, add some if it’s not salty enough for you.

This is sort of a heavy sauce, and makes for a richer meal than most meals that I eat regularly, but it’s good to be decadent once in a while. Also, be sure you like fresh figs. Sometimes certain varieties can taste rather earthy, other varieties are very sweet. Just use your favorite or a combination or dried figs. There is lots of wiggle room for the mushrooms, so don’t feel like you have to use creminis.

Crabs. Crabs have a bad reputation because they look like spiders of the ocean, they pinch and they’re an STD. Well, those are different crabs, but still….

Personally, I have always loved crabs….the kind from the ocean, ha-cha-cha-cha-cha! In my meat-eating days, crab was easily one of my favorite meats. I loved all different species of crab, from soft shell to Alaskan King crab and everything in between. I used to enjoy crab straight out of the shell, in the form of crab cakes, real crab salad etc.

Years ago on a trip to Maryland I ate so much crab that I got sick and swelled up from an allergic reaction. My body was like….srsly….enough with the crab already. Anyhow, that was when I started to eat much less crab. I decided a few years after that event to give them up entirely. My family used to go out to Red Lobster fairly often and I was always disturbed by seeing the crab and lobster tanks. Claws rubber banded….tiny tank….just sitting there waiting to be boiled alive….No thanks Red Lobster, no thanks. I always had a hankering to break into Red Lobster someday and steal them all to set them free in the ocean. Now y’all know who to point the finger at when you hear about it on the news 😉

Okay, moving on.

So, now I am vegan and don’t eat le crabs anymore. But, occasionally I still do miss being able to enjoy the taste of crab. Enter Match brand Crab Without The Meat.

Recently I picked up a package of this wonderful faux crab at Figueroa Produce Market in Highland Park. For those of you in LA, Figgy Produce Market is a FANTASTIC and magical place worthy of your dollar. I don’t say that often, but it’s a very well run business, with nice and accommodating staff/owners and they commonly stock hard to find items like tamarind paste, frozen yuca, and canned jackfruit. They are the only location in Southern California that sells Match products. They carry them in the freezer section and they also sell by weight in the deli.

I decided to give the faux crab a try. The guys at Figgy Produce encouraged me to try it, as they were fans and said it was delicious. I decided that I would do a Northwest Lavender Crab Cake w/ a Creamy Honey Sauce.** This recipe is easy and makes for a satisfying and yummy meal. I served this meal to a few friends and they all seemed to enjoy the flavors, so I thought I would share it with you.

Northwest Lavender “Crab” Cakes w/ Creamy Honey Sauce

Ingredients:

1/4 c minced celery, feel free to do this with your food processor’s shredding attachment or by hand

1/4 c minced green onion, feel free to do this with your food processor’s shredding attachment or by hand

1/4 c Vegan Mayo–I love/use Follow Your Heart’s Vegenaise

1 tsp Ener-G brand egg replacer or equal amount of potato starch or other egg replacer

1 tsp dry mustard

2 tsp dried lavender–lavender buds create a little flavor explosion in your mouth. If you’d like the flavor a little less like an explosion, grind the lavender in a spice grinder

1/4 tsp unbleached sea salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 c panko bread crumbs–I like Ian’s brand because they make a whole wheat version

1 package Match Crab Without The Meat, defrosted if frozen–or alternatively, you can make a veggie based crab cake from parsnips, carrots, celery, seaweed etc. There is a good veggie based crab cake recipe in “Skinny Bitch in the Kitch”.

2-4 tbsp Earth Balance

Creamy Honey Lavender Sauce–Recipe will follow

Method:

In a medium to large mixing bowl, mix the celery, green onion, Vegenaise, egg replacer, mustard powder, lavender, sea salt and cayenne. Then stir in your faux crab. Mix 1 c of the panko bread crumbs into the mixture. You should now have a mix that you can mold or press together with your hands. If for some reason your mixture is too wet, add more egg replacer and a bit more bread crumbs. Place your remaining bread crumbs in a shallow bowl or on a plate.

Shape the crab mixture into patties. You can decide if you want them bigger or smaller, depending on how many people are going to eat them or whether or not they will be served as an appetizer or a main course. I made about 11 cakes. Press the cakes down into the panko bread crumbs, making sure to get both sides. After you’ve made all of your cakes, store them in the fridge while you make the sauce, set the table or prep your other dishes like salad etc.

When you are ready to make the cakes, heat the Earthy B in a skillet or saute pan over medium heat. Once the Earthy B is melted and your pan is hot, add 4-5 cakes and cook them for a few minutes on each side. The smaller your cakes are, the faster they will cook–the larger the cakes, you’ll need to add a little more time. Use a spatula to give them a peak. If they look golden, flip ’em! If not, give them another minute. Place the cooked cakes on a plate lined with a paper towel. Wipe out your pan and then do the next batch, using the same routine as mentioned above.

Place a dollop of sauce on top of each cake. If you want to be really fancy, cut up some lemon wedges and parsley for garnish. 🙂

Creamy Honey Lavender Sauce

Ingredients:

3/4 c Vegenaise

1/4 c vegan sour cream–I use Follow Your Heart’s Vegan Gourmet Sour Cream

1/4 c lavender honey, or plain honey. If you are a very strict vegan and you do not eat honey, sub agave or brown rice syrup

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tsp dried lavender

unbleached sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Optional: 2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Method:

In a small bowl, whisk everything together. Then add your salt and pepper to taste and the cilantro if you’re using it.

I served my cakes w/ a simple side salad of mixed mesclun greens, and homemade croutons.

**I do eat honey! And…da da daaaaa, I still consider myself a vegan. I try to avoid honey when I don’t know or can’t find out what the source of the honey is. I will have to do a separate blog post on this subject, but bees are very important to me, all humans and Earth’s ecosystem and I try my very hardest to support and protect our little pollinators whenever possible. For me, this includes buying humane, unheated, locally sourced honey from bee keepers who deeply care about what they do and act as guardians to these little wonders that literally make our Earth beautiful and fruitful. 🙂 Buzz Buzz!