The newest entry into the Great Gluten-Free Vegan Burger Experiment is an attempt to make the BBQ Black Bean Burger from Joni Marie Newman’s cookbook, The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet.

I say “attempt” because some things didn’t quite go right, but that’s the whole point in experimentation!

The recipe is gluten-free to begin with, calling for 1/2 cup of soy flour. I assumed we had soy flour and so progressed along with soaking the TVP and adding it with the black beans to a bowl. This would be when I remembered the soy flour.

Quinoa flour, fava flour, besan (chickpea flour), 3 kinds of gluten-free flour mixes, millet flour, almond flour… and…. soy milk powder.

At this point I decided my track record with using gluten-free instant oats had been pretty good and subbed them in for 1/2 cup soy flour I did not have.

Although I decided to start with 2/3 of the BBQ Sauce called for in the recipe, it still seemed very wet. 1/4 of potato flakes was added and I didn’t add in the final 1/3 of the BBQ Sauce called for.

Since I’d gone with oats + potatoes, I wasn’t sure if the fridge might inhibit the water those would soak up, so I let it sit at room temperature in the microwave (a.k.a., “cat safe”).

I’ll admit that I wanted to try baking in the drop-biscuit cast iron since it has been working so well to make very nicely shaped, cooked burgers. That perhaps isn’t a big deal, but I did try to get tricky and cook them at the same time as the french fries. So shorter time, higher temp.

At the halfway point I realized I couldn’t really flip them easily. Nor at the end point. Since the fries too seemed a little off, I switched the oven onto the convection setting and stuck everything back in for 5 minutes. Fries out, burgers another 10 minutes at 325F convection setting. They set up some in the pan, but we finally ate them. Still a little mushy, but way tasty.

The burgers sat in the cast iron for a bit, until they cooled and I put all the leftovers away. By that time they were very nicely set. This morning I had one along with a hashbrown patty from TJ’s, slices of the volunteer tomato that showed up in my zinnias, and a little avocado.

This experiment will be attempted again, this time using soy flour and really watching the liquid added to the TVP. I did sauté the onions, since they were very strong, which may have made for more moisture too. I do really like using the oats, but will see how the soy flour and refrigeration works before changing anything.

Something just seemed too wet with this version using oats, even through they ended up as well shaped burgers that reheated nicely and hold together well. I will add one to the freezer collection as well to see how it does with thawing. It may be these are a “make ahead” burger (the variation with oats), so they bake, set, and are lightly cooked again to heat through.

** Update May 25, 2012 **

Wow! I’m blown away that this recipe won the Lunch/Dinner category for the So Much to Love Givaway from So Delicious Dairy Free! I’m being treated to a BIG shopping spree as my prize – there’s sure to be a blog post about my purchases later.

The last of my recipes for the So Much to Love Givaway from So Delicious Dairy Free this May! A This recipe is a soy and gluten-free take on a good comfort food.

Since the cheezy sauce for this dish is already soy and gluten-free, choosing a brown rice pasta just continues the theme. While I’m fortunate not have an intolerance or allergy to either soy or gluten, I like to have some recipes to rely upon to make for others. I also really enjoy brown rice pasta, so I use it in most of my pasta dishes.

The richness of the sauce comes from blending raw cashews that have soaked in hot water. I think of this as something of a special occasion dish, but when it is paired with a big pile of veggies it makes for just the kind of hearty, rich meal I want on a cold winter’s night. Sometimes I like to make a little extra of the tasty sauce and add a bunch of steamed broccoli in when the pasta gets mixed in and make a casserole.

The Stuff

• 1/2 c raw cashews soaked in 1/2 c hot water
• 1 c almond milk
• 2 T cornstarch
• 1/2 c fine flake nutritional yeast
• 1/2 t granulated garlic
• 1/4 t turmeric
• 1 t dried marjoram
• 1/8 t mustard powder (a nice pinch)
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 8 oz brown rice pasta (elbows, penne, rigatoni, etc.)
• 1 t chickpea miso (soy free)

The Making

Start cashews soaking in the half cup of hot water in your blender jar. Cashews need to soak for at least 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 Fahrenheit.

Bring water in a larger saucepan to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to the directions on the packaging. Once pasta has finished cooking, drain and rinse in cold water to stop it cooking. Retain 2 tablespoons of the pasta water in the saucepan.

In the blender jar add almond milk, miso, and spices. Begin blending on a medium speed until the cashews are incorporated with the almond milk and water in a smooth mixture. About 3-5 minutes depending upon the type of blender you have.

With the blender still processing, remove the center cap of the lid and add in the cornstarch. Once the cornstarch has incorporated add the nutritional yeast in a slow pour. Continue to process for at another minute longer.

Return saucepan and 2 tablespoons of pasta water to a medium heat. Pour in sauce from blender and stir. As the sauce heats it will begin to thicken, keep stirring at regular intervals to make sure it doesn’t stick. Once it reaches a thick consistency, about 2-3 minutes, pour back in the pasta and stir to cover. Let pasta sit in sauce on medium, for an addition 5 minutes to thicken, stirring occasionally.

Pour pasta and sauce mix into a 8×8 baking dish that’s been lightly sprayed with Canola oil. Bake casserole for 5 minutes at 325. Then flip on low broil setting and broil for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and very lightly spray top of casserole with Canola oil. Return to low broil for another 4 minutes, tuning half-way through, until golden on top. Let stand a few minutes before serving.

You can skip the last step of baking/broiling if you’re in a hurry. Just be sure the pasta and sauce are thoroughly heated through in the saucepan before serving. It really takes about the same time and the sauce thickens up very nicely in the oven. I sometimes throw 3-4 cups of steamed broccoli in along with the pasta and serve it once the sauce thickens, after about 7-10 minutes.

Serves 4

Nutritional Info

Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 429
Total Fat: 15 g
Saturated Fat: 2 g
Sodium: 75 mg
Carbohydrates: 63 g
Dietary Fiber: 6 g
Sugars: 5 g
Protein: 19 g

For the past two years the “Recipes for Health” section in the New York Times has included a feature on vegan recipes for Lent. I didn’t get around to trying any last year, but this year’s dishes really caught my eye. I have been surprised by the huge amount of oil these dishes call for, but I honestly think they can be made without that much added oil.

Tonight we decided to give the lead dish of the article a try: Baked Beans with Mint, Peppers and Tomatoes.

Really, this is a three-chilies dish when you look at the dried, hot chilie added to the simmering beans, the paprika, and the chopped sweet bell pepper. The result was really delicious. Perhaps I should have left it in the oven longer than the 45 minutes or so, but we were famished. Longer cooking would just let the peppers and onions cook down further; the beans were tender and perfect. Honestly, after dinner I found myself standing next to the Dutch oven eating spoonfuls of these delicious baked beans!

I made a few other changes to the recipe as written, and I’d like to make a few more. That said, I’ll post a final recipe of my variation some other time. Here’s a quick recap of my changes.

• We used pinto beans, we had them on hand.
• I didn’t have 2 medium yellow onions on hand so I used 1 yellow and 1 red
• I did NOT use the 1/4 cup of oil, I used only a spritz of spray, high-heat canola oil in the cast iron skillet
• I used Muir Glen’s diced, fire-roasted tomatoes; delicious flavor!
• To my horror I discovered we were out of sweet paprika, so I used sweet, smoked Spanish paprika instead. This added a really marvelous smokey note that went well with the fire-roasted tomatoes
• In fact, I added a full teaspoon more of the paprika.
• I added MORE mint, probably 3 tablespoons. If I’d had more fresh mint, I would have added it in. At least 1/4 to 1/3 cup of fresh chopped mint would be great.
• I think some fresh, chopped parsley would also be good.
• I didn’t add any salt, just that added by the canned tomato products. Easier to salt at table if needed.
• In the future I plan to serve these delicious beans on a bed of steamed kale, collards, or other greens.
• I might cut the onions, especially, and possibly the bell peppers, into a smaller dice so it cooks down more quickly into the sauce.

I finally tried out my idea for a gratin! The sauce I experimented with last week using winter squash & raw cashews as a base turned out great and I ended up with quite a lot of it leftover. My mind immediately turned to the scalloped potatoes that I had as a kid.

Only better. And vegan!

I had 2 pints of the leftover sauce to work with. I used up two large Russet potatoes and half of a medium-sized kabocha squash (leftover from making Tom Yum soup this weekend). The thinly sliced potatoes and squash were mixed together in a bowl, by hand, with the sauce. I then put it gently into a 9 x 12 Pyrex baking dish that I’d sprayed with Canola oil. Baked at 375 for an hour with foil over the top. Removed the foil, put it under low broil for a few minutes to get a golden crust. Served with some balsamic glazed tempeh strips (those were fab, of course).

Yeah, it looks pretty fabulous

And…. well, actually, it was a little disappointing. We both found it a little on the sweet side. The kobucha squash is pretty sweet and when combined with the mild sweetness of the sauce it was too much. Maybe with a less sweet squash? Not sure, but I am going to roast up the acorn squash we have on hand and try making this again with just potatoes (the option seconded by Christie).

The leftover gratin? It is totally edible, but it is just not what I was going for. That said, I think the leftovers will become the base of a corn & black bean chowder.

Tonight’s experiment gave me another opportunity to play around with the Benriner Cook Help Spiral Vegatable Slicer we were given as a wedding gift. Tool verdict: still the most amazing thing ever for spiral cut, raw zucchini noodles and it worked great slicing super thin potatoes. However, the odd-shaped squash was a bit of a challenge. I think for this particular application I’d use the food processor slicing blade to get my thin pieces of squash and potato again.

I came up with this casserole quite a while ago. It started as a reconstruction of a recipe Christie had made once for us, but has progressed to a new and even tastier dish.

I called this dish “Three Sisters Talking Story” for two reasons. The use of “Three Sisters” pays homage to the ingredients that were once the staple of the Native American diet. Many groups doing outreach to Native communities are working to bring attention to the health benefits of the traditional diet. The Three Sisters refer to the corn, beans and squash that are the stars of this hearty casserole. “Talking Story” is a term we heard often while visiting Hawaii, it refers to a close conversation where each participant shares deeply from the heart and tells their story. In this dish the 3 ingredients all share the credit in this dish, each shining through.

The Stuff

• 3-4lb winter squash (pick something with more flavor than an acorn squash for this: butternut, delicata, carnival, dumpling, hubbard, etc.)
• 2 cups cooked pinto beans (1 15oz can is fine, just drain and rinse well)
• 2 cups fresh tomatoes, diced (a 15oz can will work, Muir Glen’s fire roasted would be perfect)
• 1/2 cup diced Anaheim chilies (or a 4oz can, I like Hatch)
• 1 small yellow or sweet onion, diced small
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup polenta
• 4 1/4 cups water
• 1/3 cup + 2 T fine nutritional yeast powder
• 1 t sweet, smoked paprika
• 1 t cumin seeds
• 1/2 t ground cumin
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

All of the steps for making this are split into separate steps that can be done concurrently. Each of the different steps will be combined at the end in layers.

Making: Roasted Squash

Pre-heat oven to 350. Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds. Lightly spray the bottom of a roasting pan with oil. Place squash in roasting pan, cut side down. Roast in oven until soft. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Roasting time will vary greatly depending upon the size of the squash you used. Delicata are very small and can be done within 15-20 minutes. A Hubbard is so large and dense that it should be cut into quarters, at least, and will take closer to 30-40 minutes to roast through.

Leave oven on, it will be used to bake full casserole.

Making: Cumin Polenta

Spray a little oil into the bottom the pressure cooker on medium-high heat. Add cumin seeds to heated pot and saute until the seeds are fragrant, darken and begin to pop & sizzle. Less than 5 minutes.

Add the water carefully and bring to boil. Add polenta and 1/2 t of smoked paprika while stirring. Put lid onto pressure cooker, bring to high pressure, reduce heat, and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Remove pressure cooker and let sit for 10 minutes. Release any pressure if cooker has not unlocked and open. Stir in 1/3 cup of fine nutritional yeast and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.

**If you are not using a pressure cooker you can cook this on the stove top. Just bring the polenta back to a boil, stirring often, once it is fully boiling again reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring fairly often.

Making: Stewed Pintos & Tomatoes

Spray a little oil into a sauce pan on medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until just translucent (about 5 minutes), add garlic. Continue to saute until the onions and garlic begin to caramelize (about 5 minutes more). Add fresh chilies and saute until they soften (about 3 minutes). If you are using canned chilies they can be added along with the tomatoes (fresh or canned), cooked pinto beans. Stir in 2 T nutritional yeast, 1/2 t smoked paprika, 1/2 t of ground cumin. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the fresh tomatoes have softened, or at least 20 minutes.

Making: The Casserole “Three Sisters Talking Story”

In a dutch oven or a 9×12 baking dish spray a little oil. Scoop roasted squash out of skin and put into the bottom of the baking dish. Press down with spoon or spatula to get a even, 1-2″ layer of squash. Pour stewed beans & tomatoes over the layer of squash and smooth out evenly. Top with the polenta, making as even a layer as possible.

Put casserole into the hot oven (350). Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and lightly spray the top of the polenta with oil. Return to oven and reset to low broil. Broil on low for 5 minutes or until the polenta is lightly browned and golden.

Remove from oven and let stand for at least 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with avocado slices if you want.

Makes 8 very hearty servings

We do not share a love of eggplant in our home. Christie prefers to avoid it and I really like it. In getting boxes of fresh produce I find that I often have more eggplant than I am sure of what to do with and have already thrown out one lovely one this summer. In our garden we found a Turkish variety that yields small, orange eggplant with a tomato shape.

I had seen a recipe on the NYTimes that referenced a staple of Middle Eastern cooking. Tonight I made a variation with the ingredients I had on hand and the result was very tasty. I’ll have to recreate at another time for exact measurements, but here’s a review.

2 cups cooked chickpeas were added dry to a pre-heated cast-iron skillet on medium heat. I very lightly spritzed them with Canola spray (Spectrum) as they browned. Once they were beginning to look toasty I added a small onion, thinly sliced. Sauteed 5 minutes or so, until the onion began to go translucent and then I added a generous amount of dried oregano, some dried marjoram, lemon pepper, granulated garlic, and a pinch of nutritional yeast. Tossed all of that around to coat the chickpeas & onions before adding 1/4 cup of chopped, fresh Italian parsley, the juice of half a lemon, and one diced medium green tomato.

While all of that chickpea stuff was going on I had sliced in half 4 small, Japanese eggplant. I pre-heated our cast-iron grill pan and then added the eggplant, sliced side down. I put the lid of my small casserole dish on top of them to press them into the grill. After grilling for a few minutes face-down I flipped them all over, skin-side down, replaced the lid to press them flat and grilled for a few more moments.

The oven had been pre-heating to 375. After the eggplant was done grilling and the chickpeas sauteed, I gathered my casserole dish and 2 cups of crushed tomatoes. 4 eggplant slices went into the baking dish, topped with half the chickpea mixture and followed by half the tomatoes. Repeat, cover with lid, pop into oven for 15 minutes.

Tasty all by itself. If there were guests or I was less hungry I’d have garnished with fresh parsley and a slice of lemon. This would also be great paired with some whole grains or stuffed into a baguette. I enjoyed it with a big salad.

This is truly a “Nothing but food porn” kind of post. Immediately after the post that I’d be making all kinds of updates for Vegan MoFo 2009 I was diagnosed with an apparently months old sinus infection. Many days of antibiotics later I’m feeling a lot better and am having the energy to work on projects, writing, etc.

Did I happen to mention that Christie decided we should grow winter squash this year? The result is pounds and pounds of the stuff keeping cool down in the basement. I’ve not yet started on creative ways to cook the spaghetti squash, but I’ve been doing the Delicata and Hubbard styles a couple of different and successful ways.

First of all, a very homey, Japanese inspired stew of Hubbard squash, tomatoes, garlic, onions, Aduki beans, cooked with red miso and black sesame seeds (honestly because they look more dramatic with the squash). Everything but the beans go into the pressure cooker and 8 minutes on high-pressure later you have piping hot stew. Add the pre-cooked beans, some Nappa cabbage, and a good teaspoon or so of toasted sesame oil. Simmer until the cabbage has softened and serve with brown rice, bread, whatever. There’s very nearly a recipe for this one done since Christie’s mom got out her notebook and grilled me on what I’d done when the family was up here earlier this month.

The other winter squash winner has been a complete re-do of a recipe we tried last year. We had liked the casserole of squash, pinto beans and polenta but found it kind of uninspired. Great base ingredients, but lacking in a lot of places. The big thing we thought wasn’t right was the polenta being at the bottom of the casserole where it never really firms up right.

This afternoon I slow roasted 3 of the Delicata from the basement stash and let them cool. I also put on a pot of diced, unsalted tomatoes and pre-cooked pinto beans. We had chili recently, so I threw a little in as well as adding sweet, smoked paprika, chili powder and cumin powder. I let all the juice cook out of the beans until it was just the chunks of tomatoes & beans coated in the reduction of the juice.

In checking around for cooking times, ratios, etc. for the polenta I discovered it is another thing that can be made in the pressure cooker. Fried about a 1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds (’cause that’s all that’s left in the house – yikes) in 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Added 3 large cloves of garlic, diced and two hot, dried chili pods (seeded). Then the polenta, water, sweet, smoked paprika, chili powder and cumin powder. 5 minutes on high-pressure then let sit to come down and release the lock (about 10 minutes). Perfect polenta!

The dish came together with the mashed squash in the bottom of a 9×12 baking dish, coated with spray oil (like soup/stew I can’t seem to make smaller quantities of casseroles). A generous sprinkle of nutritional yeast, add the bean/tomato mix, and top the whole thing with the polenta. Into a 350 oven for 30 minutes. Broil on high until the top is golden with a few toasty bits. Cool a bit and enjoy. Total redo of the recipe that we tried last year, absolutely what we wished it had been!

Real recipes for both dishes coming soon as well as my experiments with the spaghetti squash! We’ve also been experimenting with au gratin/scalloped potatoes and are on track with mucho yumminess in time for Thanksgiving!

Ingredients:

1 bag (or 12oz) of mock chicken of choice
1/2 white onion
3 tbsp minced garlic
1.5 cups frozen veg (peas, carots, etc)
1 cup sliced crimini mushrooms
1 cup chopped celery
3 cups Imagine Potato Leek soup
Salt & Pepper to taste
3 cups Bisquick** baking mix
approx 1 cup water or rice milk

1) Brown chicken in 3 tbsp canola oil on med heat in a cast iron dutch oven (aprox 5min).

2) Add in onion, mushroom & celery & brown for an additional 5 min, or until onion gets some color. Make sure to not over-brown garlic.

3) Add in frozen veg, stir in well, cover & let cook an additional 5 min, or until all is evenly hot throughout.

4) Take soups, empty into a mixing bowl, and reconstitute with half the called-for water. Whisk together. Pour into dutch oven, and stir to combine. Allow to come to a gentle boil at med-low heat.

5) Mix Bisquick powder & liquid, making sure not to over-mix. Get to a sticky runny dough. Add spoonfuls of dough to dutch oven, making sure to leave a full inch of headroom. Add all dough until stew is as covered as need be.

6) Cook on stove-top uncovered for 10min. For dumpling topping, cover and steam for an additional 10min, or until a toothpick comes out of a dumpling clean. For southern biscuit topping, preheat oven with broiler on HI. Turn broiler to LOW. Spray dumpling top with spray oil, and place dutch oven on 2nd to bottom rack. Broil until dumplings (now biscuits) are just golden brown (approx 5-10 min, depending on your oven.

** Yes, Bisquick is vegan. Who knew!?