california air-wedges

Overview

Time: 45 minutes
Dishes: skillet with lid, air-fryer, measuring cup, strainer, large bowl

Hello, hello Dear Readers!

I was going to call these meatless, vegetarian, and vegan fries, but I decided "fries" take too long to cut, so wedges they became.  I would have added the vegetables to the air-fryer, too, if the fryer would have had enough room, but as it was, three pounds of potatoes was pushing it. 

I have an extra large air-fryer so if you don't, use 2 pounds of potatoes instead of 3. This was a suprisingly filling meal and was quite delicious, even tough it has brussels sprouts in it! If you don't have them or don't want them, cook chopped zucchini, chopped green beans, even Gardein or seitan would be great. 

I wanted to make the lentils "fried" also, so I added them to the air-fryer. Vegan Richa has a technique to make crispy lentils, and that includes draining them well and pan-cooking them, but I wanted to get this done faster.

You can also use whatever ranch dressing you have on hand, even if it isn't too tasty, because the whole dish together masks any one thing that is a bit off. This is one of those dishes that proves that the sum is even better than the parts.

Enjoy!

Speedy Cooking Tips:

• Add the potatoes to a bowl of water as you cut them. This will allow them to soak for as long as possible to remove the starch.
• Drain the lentils next; they need to drain well. Place the strainer on a towel to absorb more water.
• Heat the water for soaking the tomatoes in the microwave. Don't try to chop sun-dried tomatoes without soaking them well. Save some of the soaking water to thin the sauce, if needed.
• Use a knife to cut the sprouts; the mandoline was a pain!
• The vegetables only take 10 minutes to cook; use a lid.
• Use a spatula to remove the potatoes; the melted cheese will spread over the potatoes as you do so.

 

California Air-Wedges

Makes 4 servings 

moderate

Preheat air-fryer to 400-F 

1. Potatoes: Chop the potatoes into 1/2-inch thick wedges. Soak them in water while the air-fryer preheats, 3–4 minutes. Drain well and season with chili, garlic and salt. Air-fry for 30 minutes total.

3 pounds red potatoes

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2. Lentils: Rinse and drain the lentils very well using a strainer. Drain while the potatoes are cooking. Add the lentils to the Potatoes in the air-fryer when the potatoes are half way through cooking (at 15 minutes) 

1 (15-ounce) can green or brown lentils

3. Sauce: Heat 1/2 cup water in the microwave for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes to soak for 5-15 minutes. Mince the tomatoes well and mix with the Ranch. Thin the sauce with 1/4-teaspoon soaking water if too thick.

3 sun-dried tomato halves

1/4 cup vegan ranch dressing

4. Vegetables: Finely shred the sprouts using a knife. Add the oil and vegetables to a large skillet, heated over medium-high heat. Cook, using a lid, stirring often, until tender. Season with salt.

1 teaspoon olive oil

12-16 ounces brussels sprouts, shredded

1 medium carrot, sliced

1 medium bell pepper, sliced

1 small onion, thinly sliced

5. When the Potatoes are crisp, add and cook for 1 minute to melt:

5 vegan cheese slices or 1/2 cup shreds

6. Serve: Layer the Potato mixture on a plate, add the Vegetables, top with the Sauce and garnish with any or all of the following:

1 jalapeno, thinly sliced

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1/2 avocado, chopped

© 2020 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

mediterranean burger

Happy Thursday! A bit of recap: if you haven't yet entered to win The Vegan Air Fryer cookbook by JL Fields, why not enter now? Contest ends June 26, 2017, and is open to US residents. Enter HERE.

This week's sandwich is another burger, but this one features a homemade patty. I was in the mood for something Greek or Mediterranean and something with olives and sun-dried tomatoes. And speaking of air fryers, you can pan fry these or air fry them.

This version of Mediterranean Burger (as I am sure there are quite a few!) features a tzaziki type of sauce, meaning it is yogurt and cucumber based.

The patty is made with white beans, kalamata olives, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, parsley and oregano. It features a lot of those familiar flavors from the region. It's actually a simple burger to put together.

The binding is dried bread crumbs and I was pushing the envelope in this case because I wanted to see how much is too much crumbs. It turns out the limit lies between a half cup and three-quarters cup, depending on the moisture of your beans. If you add too much the burger goes from being too soft to being so dry that it crumbles.

The burger has some delightful pops of flavor because of the minced sun-dried tomatoes and olives and it gets a hefty kick because of the garlic in the sauce. Enjoy!

Mediterranean Burger

Makes 4 burgers 

Tzaziki Sauce:

1/2 cup shredded cucumbers

1/2 cup vegan unsweetened yogurt

2 tablespoons tahini

2 tablespoons minced fresh mint or 1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Sea salt and black pepper

Patty:

1 3/4 cups cannellini beans

6 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup parsley

1/4 cup kalamata olives

4 halves sun-dried tomatoes, minced

1 tablespoon fresh oregano

Sea salt and black pepper

1/2 cup dried bread crumbs (not panko)

Other:

4 burger buns, toasted

Sliced tomatoes

Slices red onions

Baby spinach

1. Sauce: Squeeze the moisture from the shredded cucumber using your hands. Combine the cucumber, yogurt, tahini, herb, lemon juice and salt and pepper, to taste, a small bowl. Mix well and set aside. 

2. Patty: Add the beans, garlic, parsley, olives, tomatoes, oregano and salt and pepper to a food processor. Pulse until only a few beans are left discernible. Remove to a bowl and add the breadcrumbs. Set aside for 5 minutes and check if you need to add more crumbs. Don’t add more than a few tablespoons more. Season to taste. Form the mixture into 4 patties that fit your bun and air fry or pan fry. 

3. Assemble the burgers: bottom bun, spinach, onion, tomato, burger, sauce and top bun. Serve immediately. 

© 2017 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

baked broccoli and seitan pasta

Meal 3 in the Prep Ahead Week 4 plan is a creamy, cheesy, pasta bake. The sauce is a sun-dried tomato bechamel that coats the pasta perfectly. In fact, if you aren't a fan of whole grain pasta, this sauce is the ultimate foil.

The sauce has just the right amount of sun-dried tomatoes and gives the sauce its own unique flavor. I love sun-dried tomatoes but even I notice when there is just too much of it, so I was very pleased with the flavor outcome of this bake.

For the Prep Ahead meal the pasta and broccoli are cooked the night before and then melded with the sauce and seitan. For this stand alone version, you cook the pasta and broccoli and bake. You can even increase the broccoli in this dish to 2 pounds and skip the seitan altogether, if that's your wish.

I had a little bit of a Daiya block leftover from another dish that needed using up, so I finely grated some on the pasta, but that is just extra icing on the cake. If you like your broccoli green and crisp-tender, cook it separately and add it to the pasta in the last few minutes of baking.

Baked Broccoli and Seitan Pasta
Serves 4 to 6 

Béchamel ingredients: 
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons white miso
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon dried thyme

12 ounces penne pasta
12 ounces broccoli, chopped
1/2 pound seitan, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 400-degrees F. Combine the broth, miso and nutritional yeast in a bowl or blender. Whisk or blend until smooth. Set aside. 
2. Add the onion to a large pot over medium heat. Cover and cook. Chop the tomatoes into 1/4-inch slices and add to the pot. Add garlic to the pot. Add a splash of broth if the onion is burning. Cook until the onion is golden. Add the flour. Add the thyme and mix well. Cook for 1 minute, stirring.
3. Slowly add the broth mixture to the pot and use a whisk to mix until the sauce is smooth. Bring to simmer to thicken. Season with salt and pepper. 
4. Cook the pasta al dente. Add the broccoli during the last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain, reserving 1 cup of cooking water and add to a 13x9-inch baking dish.
5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Spray with oil or add 1 teaspoon oil. Cook the seitan until golden. Add the seitan to the baking dish.
6. Add the bechamel sauce to the baking dish and toss well. Add some of the reserved cooking water, as needed to make a creamy sauce. Bake until bubbly and heated-through, about 30 minutes. Stir once halfway through baking. Serve.




© 2017 Copyright Zsu Dever. All rights reserved.

broccoli and sun-dried tomato pasta

Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Recipe

Most conventional cookbooks will have a recipe for a Chicken and Broccoli Pasta. This recipe, Broccoli and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta, takes the place of those drab pasta dishes and replaces the lackluster broccoli and chicken with bright crisp-tender broccoli and flavorful seitan in a sun-dried tomato sauce. 

The broccoli cooks quickly in the same water that will cook the pasta. The broccoli is then spread out on a plate to cool and retain its bright color and texture, thereby avoiding the limp broccoli syndrome. The seitan is my Simple Chicken Seitan. The sauce is made with sun-dried tomatoes and vegan sour cream, which takes the place of the traditional dairy cream.

This dish doesn't take too long to make as long as you have seitan on hand. However, there is nothing wrong with doubling up the broccoli and skipping the seitan all together; the dish suffers none.

This was a great addition to our weekday meal round-up; not terribly difficult and relatively fast.

Cost Breakdown

seitan: $2

pasta: $3

sun-tomatoes, onion, garlic: $2

broccoli: $3

vegan sour cream, broth: $1.50

Total to make 4 servings:

$11.50