Sunday, March 27, 2011

Innovative Sunday

This weekend I decided to try out M-F's recipe for Vegan Pate. I know what you're thinking, VEGAN pate? Are you allowed to use those two words together in a sentence? Yes, my friend, you are. And they go together quite nicely.

I changed up the original recipe a little bit, accommodating for what I had or had not on hand.

4 cups cooked green lentils (original recipe called for 3, I just made the whole bag as it was smaller than normal. Ok, I'll admit, maybe my original intention was to save some to make lentil burgers, but all 4 cups went into the mixture in the fury that appears in my 1.5sq/ft of counter space when I'm cooking)
2 medium-large sized onions
4-5 cloves garlic
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup basil
8-10 sundried tomatoes
1 cup TVP (original recipe called for 2 boxes of mushrooms. I had no mushrooms, and I figured that their main purpose was for texture, so I threw in some TVP, it was my first time using this. Note my main reason for using it as a substitute was that the T stands for texture and that's what I felt I needed in this recipe)
2 tbsp hemp seed (original recipe called for 1 cup sunflower seeds, which I did not have. Hemp seed is tasty and rich in essential fatty acids, like the omegas. I only used 2 tbsp as that's all I had left)
Olive oil to taste
Salt to taste

Longest ingredient list yet, even though there are only 8 items. In a pan, soften the chopped onions and garlic in the coconut oil. This was my first time cooking with coconut oil. I had used it in cookies or something before, I was excited to see how the flavour worked with savoury! While that's cooking, rehydrate your TVP. As I said, this was my first time using TVP. They're little granuals, I bought Bob's Red Mill brand from the hippy section of my regular supermarket. You rehydrate it by adding 7/8 cup boiling water to 1 cup of the TVP. 7/8ths?! My thoughts exactly.

Add all of your ingredients together, if you have a regular sized food processor, you could use that here. If you have a mini one, as I do, use a hand blender. Blend until you have an even texture throughout. Taste, adding salt as needed. Spread into a baking dish, and place in a 300F pre-heated oven for 1 hour. The result:

It really does have the texture of pate. I might cook it for a little less than 1 hour next time so as not to get such a crunchy outer texture. It's yummy. It's light. It's easy. It's flavourful. The coconut works in this, it's not overpowering, so for those of you thinking that you won't make this recipe because you fear it will taste like tanning oil, drop the argument. It's just a hint of sweetness that makes the savouries go *pop*.

I had brunch at Murray Street Kitchen with a couple of girlfriends today. This is my favourite place for brunch in Ottawa. You have to make reservations as it's always busy. With good reason. They serve up innovative Canadian food, and every dish on the menu is $13. Today I had the smoked fish:

"In house hot smoked Whalesbone fish, vegetable & cheese scramble, in-house herb biscuit"

The featured fish was smoked trout. Yum. Their coffee is also delicious, and it's a bottomless cup. That's my idea of heaven right there. To top it all off, the service is good. Tip those good people!

So my friend A was telling us about how she's been having an awful lot of difficulty getting up in the morning. For those of you who know me, you realize one of the things that A and I bond over. One thing she said stood out to me:

"I'm thinking about setting up a timed coffee maker on my bedside table to see if that helps."

This one's for you, A:


Yes, that's my bedside table. I'll let you decide if this was for a photo-op only, or if that timer is on.

1 comment:

  1. Hahahaha omg, I LOVE YOU. Here I was hesitating because I thought it was socially unacceptable, but I am totally busting out the coffee machine in the bedroom!
    - Affa

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