Vegan Potluck Party

Dessert first. These were one of the two batches of cupcakes that I made for the 4th of July potluck.

Ginger Rhubarb Cupcakes with Butterfly Crystallized Ginger



I scored these cute little cookie cutters at a strange bakery/party store near my office. The store may in fact be called Party Store. Or something. It's a little much and sometimes entering it you get the sense that someone has just smacked you in the face with a big stick of invisible butter. Basically, it's stinky. Now, gentle reader, you know I do not shy in the face (or scent) of the sugar and the fat, but this place is, as my friend would say, next level. But they do have random little bits of things that I instantly decide to need, like butterfly cookie cutters. Likely, I will never ever use these to cut out cookies because it would drive me crazy...can you imagine? A standard batch of dough rolled out would yield approximately 13 million cookies. And I would probably ruin half of them trying transfer them to the baking sheet and then I'd ruin another half because they probably would only take 30 seconds to go from perfect to burnt. They are however perfect for cut-outs like this to top cupcakes.



The recipe was a riff on the Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cupcakes in VCTOW, with the pumpkin being replaced by cooked down rhubarb, different spices and no chocolate. I frosted them with leftover cream cheese frosting. As my second muffin tin was on loan, I used these nut cups again to bake. As long as you remember to make a snip in the rim before serving so they can be easily removed for eating, they're all good, though I think they make things bake up differently than when they're in the pan (although, I also opened the oven twice while they were baking, which is never good for cupcakes). Anyway, I only got to try a bite of these, but I was happy with how they came out--sour and sweet and spicy.

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Oh my god. Could people love these cupcakes anymore? I think more than any other cupcake I've ever made, this one is the one that people get insane for. Really though, with the creamy, boozey, bitter, chocolately vanilla-heavy sweetness? Who could be blamed?



Viewed from the top, these nine cupcakes look just as good as the ones above, but from the side, their pale pink wrappers reveal that packaging matters. To me, these cupcakes looked right at home, perfectly at ease with themselves in the brown paper, and in the pink? eh. I even briefly entertained the amazingly stupid idea that I shouldn't serve them because they weren't as attractive as the three in brown papers. Here's hoping that I can score some more brown cupcake liners because seriously, I may loose friends if I don't make these again and soon.



Chocolate Mousse Parfait



I'm in terminology panic on this. Maybe some of you smart dessert-minded people or reference librarian types can help me sort it out. Is the above a parfait or a trifle?

It's in a trifle bowl, that much I know... What makes it a trifle bowl, however, is unclear...the stem? I have small bowls though that are almost exactly the same shape as this with little stem/feet as well, which were called not tiny-trifles, but rather, sorbet bowls. Again, the difference between a sorbet dish and an ice cream ice? I'm baffled. It's likely just marketing with that, but there must be a real difference between the trifle and the parfait.

And then, to throw another layered dessert in the spokes, I just saw that Chris at Vegalicious (purveyor of high quality food porn on a daily basis) just made a verrine, which is defined as a "layering of different complimentary textures, aromas and flavors." Chris sent me this helpful and amusing link to the Hogwash Thoughts on Food and Life blog where the writer discusses verrines, saying that it is "something you’ve already eaten, just composed using considerably more manpower and eaten with more frustration. The possibilities are as broad as those for putting food on a plate, especially if you have access to snazzy glassware or an inordinate number of cool shot glasses..."

I very briefly looked around for information on verrines and didn't find much in the way of food definitions, though I did discover that Verrine is alternately the demon of health and the demon of impatience. As far as parfaits and trifles go though my general sense is that the difference may in the way the layers are made, in that parfaits have repeating elements whereas trifles seem traditionally to have layers, but only one of each item. Interestingly, the term parfait gets used a lot of different ways around the world. Apparently in Japan it basically refers to an ice cream sundae.

Anyway, whatever this beauty was, it was delicious. I was really into it. Layers of very chocolaty, super smooth mousse, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and mango, and cookie crumbs. I kind of wanted to sit crosslegged with this trifle bowl in my lap and a big spoon, but I shared.



Ok, so here's some of the non-dessert food. I ate very early and then promptly forgot all about my camera in the swirl of more food and drink and friends, so this is just a small sampling of all the food that was to be had. I can't even remember everything at this point, but there was also an amazing vat of Romanesco sauce, creamy white bean dip, grilled cauliflower and potato salad, balsamic soaked portabella mushrooms on the grill, fresh pineapple, tossed salad, berries, breads, snacks, drinks, all sorts of deliciousness.

Pictured on the plate above is half a "summer steak" (a gluten creation that has become a regular feature of dining around here--I have to write about it soon--trust me when I say it needs it own post), half a homemade chickpea burger, Jess's killer black bean/guacamole dip, grilled eggplant with homemade tahini dressing, a bunch of delicious salads, homemade hummus and baked mac and cheese. Washed down with glass of sangria. Not bad, not bad.

Here are some close-ups of the few dishes I did manage to take pictures of:

Terry's Mango Cilantro Salad

I totally adore the fact that Terry left the onions out of this salad for me (I'm allergic), but wouldn't compromise on the cilantro, which he knows I think tastes like dead socks. He thought I should give it another go. I was stubborn though and didn't. As Terry and I discussed my dislike of cilantro thing, someone chimed in to says that people who think cilantro tastes terrible have an allergy to it and that the negative way it tastes to them is a manifestation of the allergy. Later, I tried to find support for this claim and couldn't, though I did discover that there are websites devoted to the dislike of cilantro. I don't even hate it that much. Reportedly though, this simple summer salad was delicious, for people who, you know, like the taste of dead socks.




First Harvest



These were the cutest radishes, crisp and delicious. The first things pulled from Terry's new Somerville garden plot, now immortalized on the internet.

Serious Sangria



Sometimes I measure out the brandy and cognac. Sometimes I just keep pouring it in.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese



I threw this together, topped it with panako and paprika, and watched it disappear. Ok, and because Erik called me out on this, I will make some attempted to explain my mac and cheese strategy. This is an example of my problem with being a food blogger--it takes a lot of effort for me to slow down, really pay attention to what I'm doing and record it. I make this cheese sauce all the time, so it's just sort of muscle memory at this point.

Here's the basic idea though:
In the food processor: 1/2 a block of extra firm tofu or 1 full box of silken tofu (depends on texture), 1 block of Follow Your Heart mozzarella or jack cheese, about 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast, about a 1/4 cup of almond meal, juice of a full lemon (or more to make it really tangy), 1-2 tablespoons of mellow miso, roasted garlic (if you have it, or fresh or powdered if not) to taste, salt and pepper. Start mixing the ingredients and add unsweetened soy milk through the spout until you've reached a desired consistency. I do this with lots of soy milk, making it fairly thin, for things like baked pasta and cheese, a little thicker for things like alfredo (also some white wine for sharper sauces like alfredo), or really thick as a ricotta, which I use on everything--pizza, sandwiches, lasagna...

Em's Raw Borscht



We got Em in on our CSA, which means that she too now needs to deal with the metric ton of beets that farmer Steve doles out. Fortunately, beets can be delicious. Oh, and that's parsley on top, not that other green leafy herb.

Black Olive, Orange and Fennel Salad



I love this simple, but strongly flavored salad. When the fennel really comes rolling in through my CSA, I make this salad in larger quantities, but early in the season when we only get a few bulbs I make small quantities and use it like a kind of salsa/topping salad portion. This is what I do:

3 small bulbs fennel, sliced
1 segmented and deplinthed orange
4-5 cloves roasted garlic
4-5 kalamata olives, depitted
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Simply toss together and allow to marinade for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Meg and Sari's Hearts of Palm Salad



I hadn't had hearts of palm since Jay and I went to Costa Rica and I ate them out of a banana leaf in the rainforest. This awesome salad brought back those good memories and thrilled my taste buds--a clean and flavorful summer salad that I really would eat everyday.

And that's more or less it. A good and tasty vegan barbecue time had by all.