Polygamy Outlaw Edamame Salad

I'm stealing facts from the NYT now (via Wikipedia. of course). Congress outlawed polygamy on March 22, 1882. I'm guess I'll state that without editorializing.

This meal came together in 15 min. It's leftover edamame and sweet corn fried with half an onion, half a tomato, and an avocado in soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and sesame seeds. Plus 1/3 c. quinoa. Simple. I realized that I often use spices too liberally.

This is the first time I've truly procrastinated in maybe two years. I've got a paper due 4pm on Thursday and I haven't written a single word. Time to get cracking. And then after that maybe I'll stop procrastinating with respect to what I'm doing after graduation.

How to be a plant.

Svetlana Alliluyeva Stir Fry

Stalin's daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, defected to the US 44 years ago. I guess she's living in Wisconsin now. Weird.

There wasn't any special method to this one, so I'm just gonna tell you what's in it. Tofu, edamame, corn, Red Chieftain potatoes, crimini mushrooms, shallots, garlic, soy sauce, turmeric, cumin, paprika. Use hot sauce too!

I made some cookies for a little get-together Saturday night. My brown sugar is a solid block for some reason, so I used all white sugar. Funny how they turned out like sugar cookies with chocolate chips tossed in, rather than proper chocolate chip cookies.

Not sure if I ever posted a link to the second installment of my comic, so here it is.

Also, watch these horrible yuppie foodies rationalize eating a live lobster. They eat an animal while it's alive. They ain't comfortable, but they do it.

Reichstag Fire Lentil Patties

In 1933 someone set the German parliament building on fire. Been reading about Nazis for my moral psychology class.

The reason I ate these patties on sandwich bread is that Whole Foods (where I had to go to buy bulk nuts) didn't have hamburger buns that were free of both animal products and palm shortening. Palm oil is bad, friends. This spread isn't as good as the others I've made, but it goes pretty well with these patties. Oh, and the avocado was unnecessary. Best keep it simple with tomato.

makes approx. 4-6 patties

INGREDIENTS:

Patties
INGEDIENTS:
3/4 c. green lentils
1/4 c. long grain brown rice
2 small red onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 small carrots, peeled and diced
6 large crimini mushrooms, diced
1/4 c. broth (e.g., water from boiling navy beans)
1 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. coriander
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/3 c. vital wheat gluten
1/3 c. bread crumbs

DIRECTIONS:
1. Simmer the lentils and rice together in a pot until tender. The lentils will be overcooked, but that's fine because you're just gonna mash 'em up anyway.
2. Sauté onion in a large pan with carrots and mushrooms. Add garlic, and couple minutes later add broth, lentils, and rice. Mash the lentils with a spatula. Mix in seasonings.
3. Preheat oven to 350F.
4. Let the mixture cool for a couple minutes. (Eat some to tide you over, it's good!) In a mixing bowl, mash it up some more, then add wheat gluten and bread crumbs. Knead with a wooden spoon — wouldn't want to get your hands dirty.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Form patties and bake for 15 min. each side.
6. Heat some oil in a pan. Fry the patties a few minutes on each side to brown them and firm them up.

Spread
INGREDIENTS:
1 c. frozen edamame, thawed
1/2 c. frozen corn, thawed
1 c. spinach, tightly packed
1/4 c. broth
1/4 c. water
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. tahini
1/2 tsp. chili powder

DIRECTIONS:
1. Purée everything in a blender. Get frustrated that it's too thick to get properly smooth. Scrape the sides, stir with a spoon, pulse, shake, etc.

Devil's Footprints Edamame Salad Over Noodles

Exactly 156 years ago, the Devil's Footprints appeared in Devon, England. No, seriously, cloven hoof prints continued for over 100 miles, crossing bodies of water and traversing rooftops and whatnot. SATAN. Or wood mice, or good old mass hysteria. Good thing we don't succumb to that anymore...

This dish I cooked up real quick after helping my roommate with an art installation that needs to be ready for Thursday, when all the wealthy donors come to the new Creative Arts Council building to ooh and ahh. I gotta be at work in half an hour! I maybe went a little overboard with the seasoning — my love of soy sauce and cumin.

makes approx. 2-3 servings

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. frozen edamame, thawed

9 oz. frozen sweet corn, thawed

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 handfuls pea greens

5 grape tomatoes, quartered, forgotten in the fridge by my roommate, who will never notice they're gone

5 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced

1/3 pack rice bran Pad Thai fettuccine

1/4 c. shoyu soy sauce

1/4 c. yeast flakes

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp. turmeric

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put the noodles in a large pot over high heat to get the water boiling. Once boiling, cook for additional 8-10 min.
2. Fry onion in oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once translucent, add  edamame, sweet corn, and pea greens. Cook for several minutes, until the greens start to wilt.
3. Add soy sauce, yeast flakes, and spices. Turn heat up to medium-high and cook for several minutes.
4. Add both kinds of tomatoes, cook for a couple minutes. Combine with noodles.

From Hyun Höchsmann's and Yang Guorong's translation of Zhuangzi, "The Great and Honored Teacher" (123):

Another day Yan Hui saw Confucius again and said, "I have made progress."
"What do you mean?" asked Confucius.
"I sit and forget everything."

Bonanza Curry Soup

I came up with this recipe while on the bus back from NYC. It was a Bonanza bus, hence the name. My memory of what was in my kitchen was accurate except that there turned out not to be a can of corn. Oh well.

I might suggest using a little less curry powder than I did, but I'm keeping the recipe as is to reflect what I actually ate for dinner. Discretion is always advised when taking my culinary advice.

makes approx. 3-4 servings

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 acorn squash
1/2 c. cashews
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb. tofu, cubed
1 1/2 c. edamame, shelled
1 c. broth
2 c. water
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp. chile powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne powder
1/2 tsp. salt
5 sun-dried tomatoes, julienned (sort of)
oil
Earth Balance


DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 425F. Fill the center of half an acorn squash with cashews. Bake for 10 minutes.
2. Heat a pad of Earth Balance margarine with some canola oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Cook the onion until translucent, then add the garlic and tofu. Let the tofu brown on the bottom, then scrape with a spatula.
3. Remove the squash from the oven. Empty the cashews into a blender. Cut off the rind of the squash and slice into chunks. Place in the blender along with broth and water. Puree until relatively smooth.
4. Add the edamame to the soup pot and cook for a few minutes. Pour the pureed cashews and squash into the pot, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
5. Add the seasoning and let the soup cook for 5-10 minutes. Garnish with sun-dried tomatoes.


"I don't think of love as — in this context — as emotion bosh. I don't think of it as a weak force, but I think of love as something strong, and that organizes itself into powerful direct action."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Green Lentil Patties with Spicy Green Spread

I didn't actually end up eating both of these. I went overboard with the spread so I was pretty full. If you anticipate liking the spread, consider increasing the recipe by 50-100%; I'm not sure I'll have enough to cover all the patties I made.

These were damn good, but next time I might cut down on the breadcrumbs a tad and substitute some wheat gluten. If you have a food processor (I don't), there's nothing to worry about. Also, I'm running low on spices so instead of using cumin and thyme or something I used garam masala, paprika, and coriander. Worked fine. The recipe for the patties is adapted from Isa's Olive Lentil Burgers.

makes 4-6 patties

Patties

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 c. green lentils, uncooked

1 small yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 handfuls shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and diced

1 c. breadcrumbs

2 Tbsp. oil

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1/2 tsp. garam masala

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. coriander

ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook lentils. Drain and set aside.

2. Fry the onions in a pan for a few minutes. Add the garlic, then a minute later throw in the mushrooms. Cook for another several minutes, then set aside.

3. Preheat the oven to 350F.

4. In a mixing bowl, combine the lentils, contents of the pan, and everything else besides 1/2 c. of the breadcrumbs. Mash for a few minutes until the mixture begins to coalesce.

5. Add in the remaining breadcrumbs (or wheat gluten if you're trying that) and knead until a dough forms.

6. Apportion the dough into between 4 and 6 patties, depending on how fat you want them.

7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the patties on it. Bake for 12-15 minutes, then flip and bake on the other side for approximately the same amount of time.

Spread

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. shelled edamame

1 jalapeno, chopped

6 sun-dried red tomatoes

1/3 c. pine nuts

4 Tbsp. oil

3/4 c. water
juice of 1/4 lemon
1/4 tsp. lemon zest

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook the edamame in a pan over medium heat for a couple minutes. Add the jalapeno, and after another couple minutes add the pine nuts. Pine nuts burn easily, but they shouldn't be too bad in there with other things. Cook until you can smell the pine nuts or until you catch a sight of some browning. Remove from the heat.

2. Place the sun-dried tomatoes, water, oil, and contents of pan in a blender. (Secret: I used 1 Tbsp. peanut oil. Magic.) Puree until relatively consistent.

Done! There is one major cost, though...

For those who read to the end, here's a special treat. I figure I'll start posting cool non-food links. I had never heard of Charles Cohen, Jeff Cain, or this album until the other day, but it has got to be one of the coolest things from 1981. I wasn't even alive!