Category Archives: Vegan

When entertaining, it is always a good idea to serve delicious, easy recipes that friends who eat Vegan can also enjoy!

Pommes Anna : Recipe : Easy

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I love making Pommes Anna mainly for the pretty factor. That and of course the ease of making the recipe that you just throw in the oven after preparing. Your kids will also enjoy helping you layer the potatoes. 

 

Sliced Potatoes, Butter, Salt & Pepper.

Sliced Potatoes, Butter, Salt & Pepper.

Ingredients:

 

  • 6 peeled Russet Potatoes, sliced thin. 
  • 1/2 Cup (1 Stick or 4 ounces) Butter, melted in microwave in 10 second increments or alternatively, Olive Oil if you are a Vegan.
  • Salt and Pepper (I used Truffle Salt for an extra layer of flavor. You can add extra flavor as you like with Grated Parmesan Cheese, or Chopped Fresh Rosemary etc…)

 

Use a Pastry Brush to cover an Iron Pan with melted butter

Layer slices of potatoes. 

Brush with butter. Sprinkle salt on top of layer. Continue to layer, butter and salt.

Drizzle the remaining butter over the potatoes. 

Bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 35-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the potatoes are cooked through.

Just bake until golden brown. Slice like a pie.

Just bake until golden brown. Slice like a pie.

Slice like a pie and top with sour cream. A great gluten free side for any dinner.

Pineapple Juice – Rafael’s traditional recipe

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Fall is officially here. But here in California, it is still warm. While it gets darker a little bit earlier, and the sunless mornings feel like the middle of the night when the alarm goes off, there are just a few leaves on the ground and few people have started to decorate their homes for Halloween or even attempted to make any pumpkin recipes. While I am craving cool weather and the rain,  I discovered this beverage at my friend’s birthday party in Hermosa Beach from (what we in California refer to so eloquently as)  the “taco guy”.

 

Delicious Agua de Pina.

Delicious Agua de Pina.

This pineapple juice , or ” Agua de Pina ” (as Rafael said it’s called at his home) really hit the spot on a sunny Sunday. I was amazed at how delicious but so refreshingly real this juice recipe tasted. It was like drinking a fresh pineapple. How is it after all these years in California , considering this is an an easy, traditional way to make homemade juice that most Mexican families in Los Angeles make, I’ve never seen it before? Mixed with champagne or sparkling wine (which I did at the party) the drink evolves into something completely unique and new – a step up from a Mimosa. Just simply delicious.

Per Rafael, he used 6 ripe pineapples to 4 gallons of water to fill a 5 gallon container for the party. I’ve adjusted the recipe to make approximately a little over a quart.  

 

  • 1 ripe Pineapple
  • 3 1/2 Cups Water
  • Sugar to taste (about a 1/2 Cup) or Honey or Agave Nectar

 

Use a knife to cut the skin of the pineapple off.

Cut into small chunks.

Blend 1/2 of the pineapple with 1/2 of the water and strain into quart sized pitcher.

Blend the remaining pineapple and water and strain into the pitcher.

Done!

 

Margarita Recipe – Easy

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Margarita - Easy Recipe.

Margarita – Easy Recipe. I just had to drink some of it before I took a picture.

Where do I start? We first discovered the straight up Margarita at a restaurant in Los Angeles called, “El Coyote”. They mix their margaritas ahead of time in batches and then serve their recipe out of a gun either “up” (no ice), over ice or blended.The bartender told us that the secret to their margarita recipe is that they add a little bit of pineapple juice. 

 

Since then, my husband has perfected this very simple cocktail. When my husband was doing some real estate work down in Mexico’s, Loreto Bay on the Sea of Cortez, he had margaritas at a bar there that used the Mexican Controy Liqueur (instead of Triple Sec) and he said he could not believe how amazingly delicious the margaritas were there. He added that their drinks were really strong which of course makes any subsequent cocktail taste better than the first.  I make a slightly different version with fresh lime juice (or even lemon juice works well too) and Agave Nectar. A restaurant I worked at added a touch of Orange Juice to their margarita mix. Another popular version is the “Cadillac” margarita that uses premium Tequila and has a “float” of Grand Marnier liqueur on top. Frozen fruit can of course be added instead of ice (strawberry, mango, pineapple, kiwi etc…) for a delicious blended fruit margarita. Lastly, you can soak 6 halved chilis (like jalapeños, or serranos or even thai red chilis, whatever is easy to find) in a bottle of tequila for 30 days (or less) and use the spicy tequila to make a “Fire and Ice” margarita after the spiciness of the chilis has permeated the alcohol.

 

  • 2-3 parts Tequila (use a shot glass to measure, or a cup if making a batch).
  • 1 part orange liqueur (like any generic Triple Sec, or the Authentic Mexican Controy, the French Cointreau etc….) 
  • 1 part Concentrated Limeaid (this is my husband’s very simple secret because Sweet ‘n Sour mixes are expensive, full of chemicals and way too sour for my taste).
  • Or, Instead of Limeaid, I add the juice of either a half or a whole Fresh Lime (or Lemon if I don’t have any limes) with 1 Tablespoon Agave Nectar mixed in.This is how they make their margaritas at a Country Western Bar in Calabasas and they are delicious this way).
  • 3 parts water or ice
  • 3 parts frozen fruit (If you want to make a blended fruit version, just add frozen fruit instead of ice).
  • Kosher salt for rim.

 

Keep Kosher Salt in plastic container. Dip rim in saucer of tequila, then container. Done!

Keep Kosher Salt in plastic container. Dip rim in saucer of tequila, then container. Done!

We keep our Kosher Salt permanently in a small, round plastic container with a lid – ready for cocktail hour. Pour Triple Sec or Tequila onto a saucer. Then, dip your glass rim into the saucer to wet the rim and then dip the rim into the container of salt. 

 

Pour the ingredients into a glass flled with ice. Or, add all ingredients into a martini shaker filled with ice, shake and pour into your glass (this is the “up” version). For a refreshing blended version, blend in a blender. Substitute fruit for ice if you’d like. Enjoy!

 

Chinese Cold Spicy Sesame Noodles – a la Shorty Tang’s recipe

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Pasta like Spaghetti can be used instead of the Noodles in most recipes.

Pasta like Spaghetti can be used instead of Chinese Noodles or Soba in many recipes.

There’s a restaurant in Manhattan Beach that serves a great spicy sesame noodle recipe topped with peanuts that I was seriously craving the other night. When I worked at Cheesecake Factory, we had a similar dish called the Peking Salad although I don’t believe it is on the menu any longer. As I pondered how to recreate either of the sweet, salty, nutty, tangy noodle dishes, I wondered if there were an authentic, original version for Spicy Cold Sesame Noodles. 

 

After some research, I learned that there is actually a guy named Tang Win Fat, nick-named Shorty Tang who legend has it, is responsible for the first cold, sesame noodle

Shorty Tang gets credit for inventing the Cold Spicy Noodle Recipe

Shorty Tang was a well known New York restauranteur who invented the Chinese Cold Spicy Noodle Recipe.

recipe. His story is featured on his grandson’s WordPress Blog RiceWineVinegar and he was also featured in a story about his historical New York restaurant and in the recipes section in the New York Times. Shorty Tang was born in 1926 in Sichuan’s Nianchang, worked in restaurants starting at the age of 12, and left China for Taiwan in 1946 where he worked as a street vendor before opening his first restaurant there. Then, he moved to Queens, NY in 1967 and opened a restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown which was famous for among other dishes, his Cold Sesame Noodles. This recipe is supposed to replicate Shorty’s but I’ve also listed Madame Wong’s recipe below it which I just happened to have found (strange coincidence) when making a version of her Chinese Lemon Chicken recipe. We served these noodles with a simple Pork Loin Roast and it was a great pairing. 

 

 

 

The easy way to add Fresh Ginger to any recipe. Freeze it, then grate it in.

The easy way to add Fresh Ginger to any recipe. Freeze it, then grate it in.

  • 8 ounces Chinese Egg Noodles or Soba or Spaghetti, cooked and cooled. 
  • 4 Tablespoons Soy Sauce or Tamari 
  • 2 Tablespoons Sesame Oil
  • 2 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar
  • 1 Tablespoon Peanut Butter
  • 1 Tablespoon Sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon Red Chili Paste (or Chili and Garlic Paste or even Sriracha Sauce)
  • 1 Tablespoon Grated Fresh Ginger 
  • 1 Tablespoon Chopped Fresh Garlic
  • 2 Tablespoons Sesame Paste (I forgot this ingredient and it still tasted amazing!)
  • 1/2 Cup Chopped Peanuts
  • 4 Chopped Green Onions
  • 1/2 Red Bell Pepper, diced (my addition)
  • 2 Cups Spinach Leaves (my addition)
  • Feel free to add any other vegetables you like (like broccoli, bean sprouts, celery, cucumber etc…)
  • Feel free to add egg, tofu, leftover chicken, ham or turkey. 

 

Make noodles per package instructions. Drain and rinse in cold water. 

I add Spinach, Peppers and Grated Carrots to the mix.

I add Spinach, Peppers and Grated Carrots to the mix.

When cool, mix all ingredients with the sauce. Done.

 

 

 

As an alternative, here is Madame Wong’s Easy Cold Spicy Noodles Sauce Recipe Ingredients (a quicker, easier version but both recipes are delicious):

 

  • 1 Tablespoon Red Chili Sauce (or Chili and Garlic or Sriracha Sauce)
  • 1/4 Cup Sesame Oil
  • 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce or Tamari
  • 1/4 Cup Rice or Regular Vinegar
  • Salt and pepper to taste

 

Either of these recipes work well for a kids’ lunch, or to bring to a picnic or a party although I would use Cashew or Almond Butter and Cashews instead of Peanuts as you never know who might be allergic if you’re sharing this dish with a crowd. Summer is over, but it is still warm in California. Jackson Brown just played at the Santa Monica Pier last weekend. So, I will eat these noodles until it starts to rain and think of Shorty and his lovely family and how even a single recipe can touch so many for years down the road.