Savory

Pierogi love

pierogies

It was 1990 in Banff, Alberta, in the heart of the Canadian Rockies when I had my first kiss. I remember it vividly. The Banff Mountain Ski Academy was hosting our team for a set of races at Nakiska. We’d be racing the same downhill course that had been used for the Women’s Olympics just two years before. I was terrified.

But I was turning 15, that tender age when you morph from innocent kid into hormonal teenager. Boys were a good distraction, and there was a kid on our team who stood out. He was strong and confident, cocky even. I was downright attracted. What girl wouldn’t be?  At least in the early teenage years, when the concept of boy-girl attraction is so new. The nice guys were a blip in my rearview mirror.

With a few days to kill before the race, we arrived in Banff ready to eat, sleep and train. We bunked up with our hosts and settled into our new schedule.

And then it happened. Out of nowhere, the kid started to flirt. I must have spun around in surprise. He hadn’t spoken a word to me all season long. But here he was, trying to make me laugh. I welcomed the attention. I had a huge crush on him after all.

So, one night after a Polish-themed dinner, we crept upstairs. With the smell of ski wax and the sound of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon filling the air, we kissed. It should have been an incredible moment, but it wasn’t. I expected romance and here was this guy, groping like he was searching for something.

Fortunately, I’d fallen in love with something else that night: pierogies.

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Fake steak

I must be a carnivore at heart because this week it was all about meatless meat. And I’m not talking about little veggie crumbles that look like meat. I’m talking about steak-style food. Thick cut, the kind of food that needs a serrated knife. There’s a reason I go by the nickname “the meat chef” in our house.

In early 2012, Bon Appetit magazine published an issue that featured a full-fledged cauliflower steak. Until that point I’d only seen cauliflower cut into dainty florets. But here was a cauliflower, unapologetic in its manliness, chest bulging, mustache intact, ready to ride its Harley into the sunset.

In other words: cut into slabs, seared, roasted, and drizzled with a hearty dressing.

And it was one of those life-changing moments. The kind of moment where you realize that by God, vegetables can be impressive. Cut them like they’re supposed to be cut, not into tiny little pieces, but into great big beautiful slices, and there you have it: a vegetable main that can win over the heartiest of appetites.

The problem is that I’d never actually experimented with prepping my veggies like this. No need, I had steak! And so I continued….trimming and slicing my way through my vegetable prep, primping and glazing them with a touch of soy here, a dash of cumin seed there.

But now that I’m vegan for a whole month, nothing is holding me back. By default, veggies need to be the main event. Veggies, start your engines, it’s road trip time. Here are a few fake steak recipes that scratched my steak itch last week.

1. Cauliflower steak

I dug up the old Bon Appetit cauliflower recipe for some inspiration and got to work. I followed the same basic principle, roasting and searing it  for a crisp exterior and soft but still-toothsome interior. And I updated the dressing, going for a Mediterranean style, with capers, olives, pickled onions, and a combination of olive oil + red wine vinegar.

The surprise result was that cauliflower does masquerade well as steak. It was meaty, rich, filling, but didn’t result in the gut buster feeling that so often accompanies meat.

Steak rating: 3.5 stars

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2. Mushroom sandwich

My step dad is a huge cheesesteak lover, and by proxy, I’ve become a bit of a steak sandwich lover myself. Although I’ve never had his favorite version from Rothman’s in NYC, I’ve smoked out my apartment on more than one occasion charring the perfect strip to wedge between slices of bread.

With the deep freeze temps that have rocked the NorthEast last week, I was in the mood for something hearty. A steak sandwich came to mind but my cursed (excuse me, cleansing) vegan diet was getting in the way.

So I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, splashed some water on my face, and told myself: “self: you can do it, figure this out.”

I headed over to Forager’s market where I bought a mountain of mushrooms, a head of garlic and a fresh baguette. Because if there’s any vegetable that can pass as steak, it’s mushrooms. Which is possibly why they’re such a great combo: you’re basically allowing yourself to eat twice the amount of steak in your sandwich, minus the guilt.

Just cut the mushrooms into big meaty pieces, give them a good sear in plenty of olive oil and you’re on the fast track to steak heaven…So steaky that I almost forgot that I wasn’t eating real steak. 

Steak rating: 4.5 stars

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The vegan kitchen

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Annnnnd we’re off to the races. Vegan cleanse is well underway, and to be honest, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

Other than the first day when I was suffering from a raging New Year’s Eve hangover and was craving an egg and cheese from the corner deli. But I made do with some terrific quinoa sliders from Bareburger in Chelsea.

On Day 2 of the cleanse I hit Whole Foods. There was no leaf unturned, no fruit unsqueezed (gently of course). It was fun to visit my usual stomping ground with a new lens. All of a sudden the once-neglected veggie burgers in the freezer case became a source for inspection, label reading and indecision.

But it was my healthiest shop in months, maybe years, with far more fruits and vegetables in my basket than usual. Gone were the packs of applewood smoked bacon, pork sausages, and triple cream cheeses.

Heading into my cleanse, I promised myself that I wouldn’t load up on vegan versions of the real thing, the Tofurky burgers and the Vegenaise. But once I was in the store, I started to second guess my ability to subsist on vegetables alone, so I made a few exceptions.

Here’s a snapshot of what I bought this week: 

As expected, a healthy dose of fruit and vegetables, including plenty of citrus, pomegranates, kumkuats, Japanese sweet potatoes, and a week’s pay in avocados.

Knowing that I should be drinking more, I got some detox teas and a few fresh-pressed juices. The French Vanilla soy creamer seemed like an indulgence (and not particularly healthy) but black coffee just doesn’t cut it for me. It has yet to be sampled, but I’m guessing that it won’t be my favorite purchase.

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From my research on vegan eating, I felt I’d be amiss if I didn’t include a truckload of hummus in my diet. I’ve made hummus at home and would prefer to eat a homemade version, but wanted to have enough on hand in case of a hummus emergency. That situation where you’ve turned vegan, you’re starving, and the only thing that you can make quickly is hummus and crackers. And yes, that is vegetarian chopped liver that you see at the top. It’s made with lentils, peas, and all kinds of spices. I don’t even like chopped liver but something about this called to me. My intuition was right. It’s good…Really good.

Like any good vegan/vegetarian, I had to buy a sampling of tofu products. I’m not the biggest fan of tofu, but figured I’d give them another go. While the Tufurky chorizo actually seems appealing, the Asian pressed tofu is an unattractive shade of brown. I’m expecting to eat it the day before its expiration date, swayed by guilt more than appetite.

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And now let’s talk about dairy. I was going to bypass this category altogether, but the fabulous write up about Kite Hill cheeses in last month’s Food & Wine magazine gave me pause. The cheesemonger convinced me to try Treeline as well. Once I’d passed the fake dairy threshold, coconut milk yogurt didn’t seem like a far stretch. I’ll now admit that The Earth Balance buttery spread was  the worst kind of impulse buy. Maybe I’ll fry my Asian tofu in it and call it a day.

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Vegan cleanse

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It’s no secret that I’m a little in awe of the vegan lifestyle. I’m in love with the founding principle: that animals are left unharmed and allowed to live as freely as we do. And of course the numerous health benefits of a plant-based lifestyle are hard to ignore.

I do feel though, that if I gave up meat, dairy and other animal-based products, I’d be taming my passion for cooking and food. Sure, I can get excited about vegetables. As excited as I do about high quality bacon or a well-marbled steak. But vegetables have always been a part of the equation, not the full equation itself.

That being said, I’ve always wanted to give vegan eating a test run, and after a month and a half of gluttinous eating  – the turkey, stuffing, egg nog, fruitcake, ham and bread pudding extravaganza that we call the holidays – January is the month to do it.

After all, don’t we all love a fresh start in January? A cleansing of the system, a New Year’s resolution to eat a healthier diet, with more whole grains and plenty of vegetables?

My arteries need a rest from my holiday binge. They’re panting at the finish line. Well done friends, you kept me alive for 60 straight days while I shellacked your surface with LDL cholesterol. Now is your time for reward. I give you vegetables, and lots of them.

Starting on Wednesday (Jan 1) I’m going to kick off month of healthy eating. For 31 days I’m going to eat a vegan diet to see whether eating this way feels like a sacrifice or a triumph.

I’m guessing a little of both.

And I’ve been preparing. I’ve been reading through some of my favorite vegetarian and healthy living cookbooks, including the latest from The Moosewood: Restaurant Favorites, classics like Chez Panisse Vegetables, and more recent additions from vegetarian guru Yotam Ottolenghi as well as Sarah and Hugh Forte, the husband and wife team behind The Sprouted Kitchen.

I’ve also been following some great online resources for vegan receipes, including:

And I’d be amiss if I didn’t mention the inspiration that I get from one of my favorite people on Instagram, Amber (RawVeganBlonde) who blows me away on a regular basis with what can only be described as fruit and vegetable art.

So despite preparations to give up some of my favorite foods for a month, excitement has been building, I’ve been tagging recipes and making notes.

I’ve also been updating my Pinterest boards to catalog my growing collection of vegan and health-focused recipes, which you can easily follow by clicking on the links below.

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Clean eating

summer peppers textIf you Google “clean eating”, it returns over 100 million responses. A popular term, no doubt. And why not? Don’t we all want to eat clean? Because if we’re not eating clean, are we eating dirty?

Clean eating is a not just a trend. It’s a way of life for people who want to be conscious and deliberate about the way they eat.

It goes by many names, making it hard to keep track of what eating “clean” actually means. I’ve seen a laundry list of diets that are categorized under the term “clean eating”, everything from Vegetarian and Vegan to Dairy-free, Gluten-free and Paleo.

And it’s for that reason that the term “clean eating” has become so popular. It’s broad, inclusive, and somewhat ambiguous, making it easy for people to adapt the term to suit their needs.

My favorite definition comes from HuffPost Healthy Living. They describe clean eating as the consumption of “whole foods — that is, foods as close to their natural state as you can get them. This means eating fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins instead of pre-packaged, processed foods or fast food.”

Clean eating has become a way of life for me. And through trial and error with my own diet, I’ve found 3 simple rules that I can stick to that allow me to eat a clean diet:

Eat Clean_FeedMeDearly

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