Pizza Stuffed Portobellas with Arugula Pesto

New loves of my life: mushrooms and arugula. There was a day that I detested mushrooms, most of my days, actually. I am not sure why things changed, but now I can't get enough. As for arugula, I had just never intentionally had it until recently, and it was love at first bite.

My new loves met in these pizza stuffed portobellas. I want to thank Jess for the idea of using a portobella mushroom in place of a pizza crust. It is such a fun and easy idea, simply fill a portobella with your favorite sauce, veggies, and non-dairy cheese and bake. I chose to sauce my caps with arugula pesto and then stuff them with artichokes, tomatoes, and non-dairy cheese. Admittedly not the most common pizza flavors, but delicious nonetheless. 

Pizza Stuffed Portobellas
(Inspired by Get Sconed!) 
Serves 2

Arugula pesto sauce:
1 cup arugula, packed
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp onion powder
1-2 tbsp water

2 portobella caps, gills scraped, stems reserved for the filling
1 tbsp sherry
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup frozen artichoke hearts (or canned)
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
portobello stems, chopped
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried)
Mozzarella style non-dairy cheese
1 tsp nutritional yeast
Pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Pour the sherry and olive oil in a small baking dish (large enough to hold both mushrooms), and stir to coat. Put the clean caps stem side up in the dish and rub them around a bit in the sherry oil mixture. Set aside.

Combine all of the sauce ingredients in a food processor and puree. Start with 1 tbsp of water and add another tbsp if the mixture is not saucy enough. Set aside.

Heat a small skillet over medium heat and coat with cooking spray. Add the frozen artichokes, portobella stems, oregano, and thyme, saute for about 3-5 minutes, until the artichokes are thawed. Then add the cherry tomatoes and saute for another minute or two, until the tomatoes are a bit shriveled but not mushy. (If you are using canned artichokes put all of the ingredients in the pan at the same time and cook 3 minutes). Transfer mixture to food processor and pulse 3 or 4 times, to chop up the artichokes.

Now assemble the mushrooms. Spoon the pesto into each cap, half per. Next stuff half of the artichoke mixture in each mushroom. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of nutritional yeast on top of each, and finish off by sprinkling some non-dairy cheese and fresh ground pepper.

Bake uncovered for 15 minutes and then broil on high for 2-3 minutes to finish cooking the cheese, watching closely to avoid burning. Serve hot.

Vegan MoFo #9: New Glarus Brewery

Late this summer I went camping with a group of friends in New Glarus, Wisconsin. Nicknamed Little Switzerland, this town of about 2,300 people is among the largest Swiss American populations in the country, proportionally. Chalet-style architecture, mom and pop shops, and Swiss flags line the small downtown area. All around a super charming place, and exactly what someone who has never actually been to Switzerland would imagine a small town there to look like. 

What really puts this town on the map is the New Glarus Brewery. The brewery is outside of town on the gorgeous rolling countryside, very close to our campgrounds. It was a sweltering hot weekend so on the second day our group decided to take a field trip to the brewery for some air conditioning and cold brew. Spotted Cow, Fat Squirrel, Totally Naked, Moon Man, and Stone Soup are a few of their selections, and bonus, they use 100% vegan ingredients and brewing techniques. To go with the beer they were cooking up personal size pizzas in a brick oven outside. There were only about 5 pizzas to choose from, and I was pleasantly surprised to notice that one was vegan with no modification needed! Delicious and simple, a drizzle of olive oil, marinara sauce, and thinly sliced garlic. It was so warm and toasty out of the oven, a perfect accompaniment to the beer, not to mention a welcome change from the camping food!

Even though this was my first time to the brewery, I have enjoyed a cold Spotted Cow many a time in Wisconsin before. It is a special treat, because these beers are only distributed in Wisconsin. Visitors from Illinois often smuggle back cheese and fireworks, but you will only see New Glarus Beers in my back seat! So if you are ever in Wisconsin be sure to try some, and bring some back for me.

Fresh Corn Pesto

Corn-a-palooza 2010 continues! Of course I am referring to those 14 ears of corn I acquired recently. A few days after the bisque, I made this fresh corn pesto. My recipe was inspired by a recent pasta dish by fellow Chicago blogger, Tim, of Lottie + Doof. His pesto sauce was not vegan, incorporating things like bacon grease and Parmesan, but was screaming out to me to be adapted. My adaptations paid off, big time. I dipped a spoon into my food processor to sample a bit of my creation and actually caught myself smacking my lips, immediately followed by going back for more. It is rich and savory, with a slight sweet note from the corn.























I started by sautéing the freshly cut corn kernels with garlic, then pureed the mixture with pine nuts, walnuts, nutritional yeast, and basil. I went easy on the basil as to not overpower the other delicate flavors -- the result was a flavor-balanced cheerful yellow pesto with tiny flecks of green. You can use this sauce for anything you would use a more standard pesto for. Some of mine fatefully ended up atop 4 single-serving whole wheat pizzas, along with thinly sliced red onion, sun dried tomatoes, and a sprinkling of daiya cheese. The rest of it is tucked away in my freezer, where only I know, so don't even try to find it.

Fresh Corn Pesto
(Inspired by Lottie + Doof)
Makes 1-1/2 cups

3 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from about 5 ears)
2 large cloves of garlic
3/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, packed
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup walnuts
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place a large dry skillet over medium heat and add pine nuts and walnuts. Toast nuts until the pine nuts are lightly browned, about 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove nuts and set aside. Heat 1/2 tbsp olive oil in the same skillet and stir in corn, garlic, salt, and pepper. Saute about 4 minutes, until the corn is just tender, but not browned.

Scrape the corn mixture into food processor along with basil, pine nuts, walnuts, and nutritional yeast. Turn on the processor and drizzle the olive oil in through the feed tube, and process until almost smooth. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.

You may opt to thin out the sauce with a bit of water - I added 2 tbsp. If you are using this sauce for pasta you can do what Tim did and stir in up to 1-1/2 cups of reserved pasta water, added in 1/4 cup at a time until you achieve your desired consistency for serving as pasta sauce.

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In addition to churning out corn recipes, I have been baking! I was asked to bring something to share at a very large attendance barbecue this past weekend. Being the only vegan in attendance I wanted to make something that the crowd would remember. What better way to spread vegan love than with dessert?

Feast your eyes on these vegan delights! Clockwise from the left: Browned Butter Pecan Praline Blondies, Cookies 'n Fudge Brownies, and Double Chip Peanut Butter Blondies. All of the above are featured in Hannah Kaminsky's most recent e-book, Blondies and Brownies.

This massive platter was reduced to crumbs in a few short hours, despite there being plenty of sweet competition. People were shocked and intrigued that these were vegan, and asked me all about vegan baking and eating a vegan diet in general. Hoorah!

I'll leave you with a shot of me the night before the party baking up a storm! Check out my sweet new tofu pirate apron. I did not own an apron (what's up with that?), and when I found this handmade beauty by Panda with Cookie, I knew it was the one for me.