vegetarian – Alice the Cook

October 2, 2013October 3, 2013

Love and Romance – Tarts

September 14 and 15, 2013 was love and romance weekend at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. We played things up a wee bit and make two types of tarts and made a few other dishes too! Keep in mind that these are for two separate tarts (not combined) and you will want to divide up the crust in half to make two separate items. *Dairy free and Vegan substitutions are offered below

Crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp granulated white sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled, and cut into 1 inch (2.5 cm) pieces (for a dairy free option, I use clarified bacon fat and for a vegan option I use coco butter)
1/8 to 1/4 cup ice water

Pear Filling:
3 medium pears
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp raw sugar

Raspberry Filling:
2 cups fresh raspberries
2 tbsp granulated white sugar
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp of fresh orange zest

Pear Tart Directions

Directions for the Pears: Core the pears and cut into 1/4 to 1/8-inch slices. In a large bowl toss the pear slices with the lemon juice.

Arrange the pears in a in a sunburst on the crust dough, leaving a 2-inch boarder. Fold the border over the filling. It will only cover the pears partially and does not need to be even. Sprinkle with the cinnamon and raw sugar.

Bake the tart for 15 minutes, and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, keeping the tart in the oven all the while, and bake for another 40 minutes, until the pears are tender and the crust is golden brown.

Raspberry Tart Directions:
Place raspberries stem side down until filled in and sprinkle liberally with the raw sugar and orange zest. Bake at 450 until the raspberries crust is done. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

September 19, 2013

Hummus & Pita

This is one of my favorite recipes. If you do not have a wood-fired oven, you can make this on a cast iron fry pan that is well heated. Our hummus was chunkier than the store bought versions as we mashed them by hand.

Pitas:
2 cups warm water (115°F)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp active dry yeast
5 and 1/2 cups to 6 and ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Add ¼ cup of the all-purpose
flour. Stir. With a whisk and let sit for 10 minutes to give the yeast a chance to react. Add the sale and enough flour to the dough so it can be hand kneaded. Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface until smooth and bouncy. Let it rest for 5 minutes to relax the gluten. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll each one out so that it is 6” in diameter and 1/8” thick. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle some cornmeal on it and place it in a very hot oven it should sear on one side and turn it over. Pull out when done.

Hummus:
1 cup dried chickpeas
5 cups of water
6 bay leaves
3/4 cup chopped onion (shallots make a great substitute)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsps lemon juice
3/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp black pepper
3/4 tsp sea salt

Sort and rinse the chickpeas and soak overnight. Drain them; add 5 cups of water, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and cook for approx. 1 and half hours, or until the peas are soft. When cooked, drain the beans and blend the chickpeas with the rest of the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Serve.

September 13, 2013

Tabouli & Coucous

Although Tabouli and Couscous are delicious, the couscous is very tricky to make because if it is too humid, you end up with large clumbs than desired.

Tabouli:
1 cup water
1 cup fine cracked wheat
1 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
1/2 cup minced fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
3 tomatoes, diced
2 cucumbers, seeded and diced
3 tbsps olive oil
3 tbsps lemon juice, or to taste
1 tsps sea salt

In a large mixing bowl, pour the water over the cracked wheat and cover,
let stand about 20 minutes until wheat is tender and water is absorbed. Add the chopped herbs and vegetables and toss with the mix. Combine the oil, lemon juice, and salt in a separate bowl. Add to wheat mixture and mix well. Chill. Serve and enjoy.

Coucous:
1 quart semolina (chickpea flour may be used instead)
1 pint water
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
Salt to season
Olive Oil

In a large bowl, add a cup of semolina, a pinch of salt and a few drops of water. Mix with fingertips in circular motion until small balls form. Drizzle more water as necessary.

Move the mixture to tamis (or drum sifter or similar fine mesh sifting device) to remove the fine semolina.

Reserve the larger couscous to another bowl.

Add the fine semolina dust back to the mixing bowl and repeat step 1 until there’s no semolina left.

Pick out the large pieces. In a couscousier (or steamer basket) fitted with cheesecloth, add 1 cinnamon stick, 2 bay leaves and 2 tbsp salt to the water. Bring to boil.

Steam couscous for 5 to 10 mins.

Season with olive oil and steam for 5 to 10 more minutes. Serve immediately.

September 10, 2013

Scones

Scones are delicious and fun to make. We had forgotten to add the fruit, so we just added cinnamon and sugar. If you do use fruit, use dried and berries and cherries work very well.

Ingredients
3 cups of flour
1/2 cup of white sugar
5 tbsp baking powder
3/4 cup of butter
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter. Mix the egg and milk in a small bowl, and stir into flour mixture until moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Roll dough out into a 1/2 inch thick round. Cut into 8 wedges, and place on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown

September 1, 2013

Oven Roasted Potatoes

When my assistants and I are performing demonstrations at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, we will often whip up soemthing to see what happens. We have lots of successful (experiments) and a few failed ones. This one was a popular success.

Oven Roasted Potatoes
1 lb of baby red potatoes
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp of fresh rosemary, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ tsp black pepper
½ tsp sea salt

Optional ingredients:
chopped bacon
green onions, diced
red peppers, diced

Wood-Fired Roasted Potatoes

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a ceramic dish, add your uncut baby potatoes (very small potatoes). Drizzle the 3 tbsp olive oil on top of the potatoes and stir until they are completely covered. Sprinkle the rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper and stir the potatoes again.

Place inside the oven and bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, stir the potatoes and place back into the oven for another 10 minutes; repeat until the potatoes are tender. Remove from the oven and let cool 2-3 minutes before serving.