Hummus is Yummus

Paprika is like nature’s tamper-evident seal. I recall from when I was a child that I was always one to pick at the salads and dips that my mother made well before they were to be served. She could always tell because the paprika on top had been disturbed.

Another good use for paprika is for colour. I used a dash of paprika in my homemade hummus to make it bright, and a sprinkling on top for security.

Hummus is a delicious and healthy dip/spread that most people will shell out way too much money for when it’s ready made because they don’t realize how inexpensive it is to make at home!  Not to mention it tastes infinitely better when made with love (and fresh ingredients)!

My recipe is simple. You can add other ingredients like roasted red peppers, fresh onions or herbs and spices to make flavoured hummus like what you can buy at the grocery store.  But, I’m a woman of simple pleasures and tend to prefer to keep my recipes as minimal as possible.

I’m rarely one to measure when I cook, so you may have to augment this recipe to your own tastes, but I can assure you that my measurement estimations are accurate.

• 2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 can of chickpeas
• the juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp tahini (I use roasted sesame tahini as opposed to raw sesame)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 or 2 tsp sea salt
• dash of paprika

Blend all ingredients in food processor until smooth. Sprinkle paprika on top for show (read: security).

Enjoy!

A vegetarian Christmas

I must keep this short and sweet, as we are anticipating early dinner guests and still have cleaning to do.  The weather seems to be cooperating, so, our friends Sandy, Claire and Sheryl are coming from out of town. Sheryl is Sandy and Claire’s mother. Sandy used to live with Elli and I, long before she got her American citizenship and moved to Chicago to be in love. We are both very happy for her, but we miss her like crazy. Her mom is still in Ottawa, but Sandy couldn’t get a direct flight from the windy city to our nation’s capital, so she’s flying in to the Fartport (Pierre Elliot Trudeau International Airport) and Sheryl is driving from Ottawa with Claire in tow to pick her up. I can’t express just how much it means to me that they’re willing to take a detour from Dorval, into Montreal, to share dinner with us.

Being working artists, Elli and I can’t offer much other than our hospitality – so we tried to put a lot of thought in to our menu for our guests. Unfortunately, one thing we won’t do is cook meat, so we tried to come up with a few sans-carne dishes that would satisfy. This would be much easier if we had an oven. At first we didn’t even take in to account that we were lacking an oven. Elli wanted to make cupcakes and I wanted to do a baked brie, among other grandiose dish ideas that just won’t fly without an oven.

This is the menu we came up with:

• Elli’s secret recipe German potato salad (Not vegan, but vegetarian)
• Veronica’s own recipe spinach dip (one of Sandy’s favourites from when we lived together. Definitely not vegan)
• Stir fry with udon noodles and a spicy ginger peanut sauce (VEGAN!)
• Thai-style fried banana spring rolls with ice cream (VEGAN, when served with soy or rice “ice cream”)

I’m sure all of these recipes will be posted on Two girls, a cat & no oven at some point – but for now all we’re promising is to post the recipe for whatever seems to be the most popular dish with our guests – except, of course, the potato salad. Sorry.

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone! We hope that you get to enjoy some good food and good company tonight, too!

Love,

Veronica and Elli

Tofu Bacon

Bacon: The gateway meat. I’ve seen many veggies turn back after  succumbing to the sweet allure of lady bacon.  I wish I could honestly say that I know what bacon tastes like – but I can’t remember!

An omni I know recently tried to argue with me that no veg[an] form of protein could hold a candle to the taste of meat. We were specifically discussing jerky. I’ve never had jerky made from any animals, but I have had wheat jerky and I must say that it’s a tasty snack.

Perhaps my perspective is different because I’ve always had to season, marinade or otherwise flavour my tofu/tempeh/whatever before cooking and consuming. Most meats are, in fact, heavily spiced and flavoured before they are purchased. Even when purchased in it’s raw form, most consumers will then add flavour to their meat before cooking it.

Most seasonings are veg[an] anyway. If meat is just a vessel to get the flavourings in to your face, can other protiens not be used interchangeably, or, dare I say – instead?

Tofu is one of the most versatile foods available. It comes in different levels of firmness and can easily be manipulated.  I use firm or extra firm tofu for my tofu bacon. Because tofu is kept in water, it is saturated and water-logged. This keeps it moist and fresh, however – if you can drain the tofu, it will be more receptive to the flavours you are adding to it. The easiest way to drain tofu is to let it freeze and then thaw. Much of the water will drain itself in the thawing process. Squeezing the tofu gently with your hands will also rid it of a lot of it’s water.

The only problem with draining tofu is that it will lose much of it’s stability, that is -it crumbles easily. Drained tofu is great if you want to make tofu bacon bits, but for strips and slices – especially if you like them thin and crispy – it’s best to use straight-out-of-the-package, waterlogged tofu, as it will maintain it’s structure better when sliced.

And now, what you’ve been waiting for, The recipe!

• 1 block of tofu (approx 200g) sliced to your liking. (I prefer thick slices, about 0.25-0.5cm – but thin works too)
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup Braggs (or 1/3 cup soy sauce)
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 1/2 tbsp liquid smoke
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• a generous sprinkling of sesame seeds, or a dash of sesame oil (optional)
• cracked black pepper (optional)

Mix merinade in a dish deep enough to cover all of the tofu. Add Tofu slices. Let sit, in the fridge, for at least 4 hours – I usually leave it overnight.  Fry slices on medium heat to desired crispness. I’m in it for the flavour, not the grease, so I only use a little bit of oil and drain the slices on paper towel but Elli uses a little more oil and loves the thin, crispy pieces. She also cooks them for longer than I do. The vegan in my life has said that frying them in Earth Balance recreates the pleasant greasyness of real bacon.

Enjoy!

Two girls, a cat & no oven: An introduction

Together we are VeronicElli!

The inspiration behind the creation of this blog is simple. We’re a couple of food-loving vegetarians. We live in Montreal’s Plateau/Mont-Royal neighbourhood with a cat named Booby and an oven with no door.

I (Veronica) love to cook. I often tweet about what I’m making and I’m always being harassed for recipes. Elli isn’t as big on cooking as I am, but she does love to eat. She’s got some pretty awesome recipes of her own, and some hillarious disasters – like today’s spaghetti, tomato paste, olive oil and burnt tofu that’s still sitting on the counter, nearly untouched.

Upon the coat-hanger job that was Elli’s lunch, we decided that grocery shopping was long overdue.

We’ve been planning a grand meal for Christmas eve. We’re spending it together, not with our families and friend is going to be visiting, from Chicago, just long enough to share dinner with us. If we’re lucky, our friend’s mother and sister (whom we adore!) will be joining us. It took a couple of days worth of thought and discussion, but we’ve put together a menu that is sure to please our meat-eating guests. With this menu in mind, we wrote out a shopping list and braved the cold walk to Provigo.

Now back at home with groceries, we’re starting on the menu prep. Some foods are better when let sit for a day or two, like Elli’s secret recipe German potato salad that she’s working on right now. This potato salad is fit for a king!  I’ve begged for the recipe before, but she’s not budging. In my many attempts to replicate it over the years, I have come close, but have never made anything as good as hers. If you’re really really nice to us and come visit at the right time, you just might get to try some.

The potato salad should be ready in a few hours. I’m going to try to claim a little territory in the kitchen so I can make tofu bacon. After all, tofu is the only thing we remembered to put on the grocery list aside from what we need for our Christmas Eve meal.

I’ll post the recipe for my tofu bacon shortly. It’s passed the taste test with Elli (my vegetarian roommate), my vegan boyfriend AND a meat-loving friend of mine. Surely you’ll love it, too.

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