Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Vegan Feast Kitchen/ 23rd Century Table

A hurried shot of dinner last night-- tortillas get cold fast!


Yesterday we had to go to town on various bits of business, and we decided to have lunch at a little cafe, the Roadrunner Cafe, that's been in Courtenay for years, attached to a motel, but never really attracted our attention.  But I've been intrigued by their new sign "Tortilla Factory" for some time, so we thought we'd go check it out for lunch.  It's under new management, a couple and their daughter, it looked like, and the female half of the couple, and the cook, is from Mexico.  It's very diner-like inside, with colorful, but kitchy, Mexican décor.  The menu is small (they serve breakfast and lunch and close at 2 PM) and not terribly vegan-friendly, but, as they advertise, they have a few vegetarian entries and lots of gluten-free choices.  One, the Veggi-Lover's Quesadilla, can be made vegan, though, by asking for no cheese and more veggies in the filling.  It comes with mildly spicy pureed beans and fresh salsa.  (BTW, the tortillas are served soft, not fried, so nothing is greasy!) There is also a cheese quesadilla with a bean sauce.  Hmmm, I wonder if they would do the veggie quesadilla with the bean sauce??  One can only ask!  Anyway, the service was friendly, the tea was nice and strong and came in a Brown Betty teapot, and the price was right!  Of course, I had to take home some fresh tortillas!  (Those of you south of the border or who live in Vancouver, may not realize how hard it is to purchase fresh tortillas in small BC communities!)



On the way home, I asked DH for some dinner ideas, and he suggested crepes with asparagus (we had some asparagus in the fridge).  But I was still over-the-moon about the fresh tortillas, and wanted to eat them immediately, so I asked, why not asparagus in tortillas instead of crepes?  He was all for it, so this is what I came up with in a very short amount of time (making it up as I went).  It was very fast and easy and very tasty!


You could use more filling, if you like, and eat it with a knife and fork!

Printable Recipe


BRYANNA'S ASPARAGUS AND MUSHROOM SOFT TACOS WITH LIME AND CHILE CREMA
Serves 3

12 small fresh corn tortillas
Crema:
Filling:
4 tsp. olive oil
8 medium white mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 small onion, thinly-sliced
1 lb. asparagus, cleaned, trimmed and cut into 1" lengths
salt to taste
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. hot smoked paprika (pimenton) (you could use chipotle powder for more heat)
OPTIONAL:  about 1/2 cup grated vegan cheese (I used white Daiya)
Garnishes (optional):
chopped fresh cilantro or Italian parsley
hot tomato salsa
sliced avocado tossed in lime juice
hot sauce

Make the Crema before you start anything else.  (I had to make the Tofu Sour Creme, as well, but that only takes a few minutes and the rest will keep in the fridge for another meal.)  Whisk everything together.  If you have a small squeeze bottle, scoop the Crema into that.

Heat the tortillas in a tortilla warmer, or warm them in a covered casserole in the oven, OR in the microwave for a minute or two (if you use the microwave, heat them AFTER the Filling is done). Here's advice on using a terra cotta tortilla warmer in your stove's oven, and here is advice for using it in a microwave.  You can use other types of covered casseroles or tortilla warmers.  You can also wrap them in foil and use the oven.  You could wrap them in cloth and use a bamboo or other steamer.  Here is a page with examples of the many ways to heat soft tortillas: http://ask.metafilter.com/16385/Warming-Tortillas.

To make the Filling, heat the oil in a large wok, stir-fry pan or skillet (preferably well-seasoned wok or cast iron skillet, or nonstick pan).  When it's hot, add the onion and mushrooms, sprinkle with salt (to help release the juices) and stir-fry like crazy!  Add a small splash of hot water if it's sticking.  When the onion wilts, add the garlic and stir-fry a bit more.  Add the asparagus pieces and stir-fry, keeping the asparagus moving.  It's okay of it chars a bit.  Sprinkle with a little more salt and the cumin and paprika.  Add about 1/4 cup of veggie broth, white wine, or water.  Cover and cook over high heat just until the liquid is gone and the asparagus is crisp-tender.

If you use the vegan cheese, you can add it before serving or sprinkle it on top of each serving.  My Daiya cheese was frozen, so I crumbled it on top of the vegetables and put the lid over it for a minute to melt it.

Quickly microwave the tortillas if you haven't got them warming already (see above).

For each serving, place 2 hot, soft tortillas on a warmed dinner plate and top each with another tortilla (so you have 2 stacks of 2 tortillas each).  Scoop 1/6th of the filling down the middle  of each torilla stack. Drizzle of squirt some of the Crema over each mound of filling.  Serve immediately and let the diners add their own garnishes before folding the tacos and eating (leaning over the plate) with lots of napkins!  Very satisfying!


Enjoy!

Homemade vegan pizza-- mmmmmm!

It's been a busy week! Too much writing and not enough cooking, but that's the way it goes sometimes! I just wanted to tell you about a some new products I've tried

You know that I don't write alot about new products, and only if I really like them! Companies send me products to review sometimes, but I don't give bad reviews-- I just don't review them if I don't like them! Recently, I received a big box of products from Lucini Italia.



I was intrigued by the Lucini Italia "Cinque e' Cinque" product, made from chickpea flour, and totally vegan. They sent me 3 different varieties: -- Traditional, Savory Rosemary, and Tuscan Fiery Chili.



"Cinque e' Cinque" is basically a farinata, or chickpea pancake. I had never heard it called by this name before, but evidently that is what they call it in Livorno, in Tuscany. In Liguria, where my paternal grandmother's family originated, they call it fai'na, which is a sort of slurring of farinata. I've always made it quite thin, but the package suggested that you could make a sort of vegan fritatta (which is a baked omelet) by making the farinata quite thick.

I decided to try the Traditional first. The "mix" is chickpea flour (from Canada, I might add-- they grow alot of chickpeas in the Prairie Provinces), to which you add water and salt. (You could add your own seasonings, too.)  I made the thicker version, just to see what it was like. The baking technique is quite unique, but it worked!

Here it is right out of the oven, and then cut into wedges:





I served the wedges of hot, creamy Cinque e' Cinque as a main dish, topped with an Italian-style "Salsa Cruda", or raw tomato relish with black olives and basil (with our own homegrown tomatoes and basil!):

 Italian Salsa Cruda

 Cinque e' Cinque with Italian Salsa Cruda and potatoes sautéed with mushrooms.

It was delicious, and very satisfying! I am going to experiment with adding roasted or grilled vegetables to the thick version-- it would seem more like a real fritatta, I think.

They also sent some lovely balsamic vinegar,  extra virgin olive oil and a Fig & Walnut Balsamic Vinaigrette:



I rarely ever buy salad dressing, but this was very tasty!


Some of our homegrown tomatoes with the Fig & Walnut Balsamic Vinaigrette

The next thing I decided to try was the Lucini artisanal Pizza Sauce.



Now, I NEVER buy pizza sauce! It always tastes, well...canned...to me, no matter how expensive, organic, or whatever. But I gave it a try and made some no-knead pizza dough (the Light Whole Wheat Bread dough from "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois ) in the morning before we went shopping all day, came home and threw together some of the best pizza I've ever made! I used their Pizza Sauce, my basil, sautéed mushrooms and red peppers, and Daiya mozzarella-style vegan cheese.  I drizzled some of their Basil Infused Extra Virgin Olive oil on top before baking.  Out of this world!  The sauce was so clean and fresh-tasting, I couldn't believe it!

Here are some more shots of the pizza:


Ready for the oven!


Ready to eat!

I can't resist showing you what I made with the rest of the dough during the week--


Italian Prune Plum Focaccia!


Red Grape Focaccia!

So, I still have quite a few of the Lucini Italia products to try and I'm looking forward to it! If the pasta sauces are as good as the pizza sauce, we'll have some yummy quick meals while I'm finishing this book!



You can buy the Lucini Italia products directly from their website, and amazon carries many of them, as you can see from my links. They have a store locator on their website, though it didn't seem to work in Canada. Choices markets in Vancouver carries them, and I'll wager that any good Italian grocery store will have some of their products (some are organic). You can read about them on their website-- they get consistently good reviews!

I'll report back about my experiments and the remaining products I have to try!

Ciao!