Happy Friday, all! Being back home–and not in-between trips–has me a little giddy. (Bad joke of the day: I’m, er, worked up about down time.) I’m especially looking forward to all the habitual, creature-comfort stuff: For example, Camille and I are brunching with some incredible girlfriends at Blue Water Grill, a place we’ve been going to together for nine years now.
In the spirit of all that, I thought I’d post two recipes that managed to straddle both my “fun” and “nesting” boxes. Earlier this week, Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales (whom I–oddly, but keeping with the theme of things–first met at an international airport) challenged me to game of recipe roulette. The idea is to rally a buddy or two and all log onto Wiki Recipes early in the day. You’ll each randomly be assigned a vegan dish to make that evening. We weren’t in the same city, but I bet it would be fun to do this for a dinner party (and not tell each other what you had, other than “sweet” or “savory”).
On to results: Jimmy got a Pasta with Creamy Mushroom Sauce that, he said, was as delicious as it sounded (his pic, here). Mine was an “off-season” tofu-based Vegan Eggnog, which turned out to be a pretty perfect accompaniment for watching Shaun White take home the men’s Olympic halfpipe that night.
I’ve pasted the recipes below. If any of you try more of these Wiki entries (or add one to the mix!), let me know. I’m definitely a convert.
Pasta with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Ingredients
500 grams pasta
2 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 large onion (chopped)
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
3/4 cup cooking sherry
2 Tbsp Tofutti cream cheese
1 cup soy milk
1-2 cloves garlic (crushed)
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
In a large pot, boil water for pasta. While pasta is cooking, saute onions in olive oil for about 5 mins. Add sliced Mushrooms to the onions and continue to saute. Add the herbs and salt and pepper. Once the Mushrooms are cooked, add the sherry and mix in the cream cheese. Let the wine and cream cheese sauce reduce a little and then add the soy milk. Add the garlic and let the sauce thicken for a couple of minutes before pouring over the cooked pasta.
Away from the Holiday Eggnog (Note: I actually substituted 2 tsp rum extract for the alcohol; because I wanted the result to be a little thicker and more dessert-y, I didn’t make any other adjustments for omitting that cup of liquid.)
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups silken tofu
2 cups soy milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup rum or brandy
Directions: Blend all ingredients together in a food processor or blender and chill.
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